Chapter Fifteen
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Alienn, Arkansas – almost a month later
Stella waited by the landing pad in the woods a hundred yards from the Big Bang Truck Stop where an incoming spacecraft touched down.
Soon after the engines were shut down, the vehicle was basically pulled down and into the hidden way station below the truck stop for any maintenance and to refuel. The occupants were offered the chance to disembark and walk to the facility. It was the biggest reason no cell towers were available for a signal within a ten-mile radius; the towers hampered their ability to hide a spacecraft from earthling technology during launches and landings.
Stella had been rather difficult all the way up to and including the hour before the ship carrying Draeken had departed. She couldn’t remember what she’d told Thorne after he put the shackle on her wrist.
She’d pulled her Big D out, knowing it wouldn’t impact him, and considered beating him with it—which she threatened to do with glee—until he told her what she’d revealed about Draeken and his intentions.
Thorne had taken Stella aside right before he left Earth for XkR-9 to tell her he was Riker’s backup. Her relief had been profound and immediate, but Thorne warned her not to give anything away. “You never know who’s listening in or their level of reliability.”
Stella had nodded in Thorne’s direction before removing herself from the area to do a quiet dance of joy. Three and a half weeks later, Axel had brought her a message that a spacecraft from XkR-9 was returning to the way station and due to land late the next day.
“Is Draeken on board?”
Axel shrugged. “I don’t know, but Thorne is. Maybe he’ll have information for you.”
Stella contemplated all the things she wanted to say to Draeken, including a corny old Earth tradition in his honor. Regardless of how many ships from XkR-9 landed, she planned to recreate the old tradition each time a ship stopped.
A horn sounded, echoing across the area behind the truck stop as it signaled a spacecraft was about to land.
Stella straightened in anticipation as she waited at the edge of the platform, hoping Thorne would exit so she could grill him about Draeken and when she could expect him to return.
The door to the spacecraft opened, but Thorne didn’t emerge.
Stella squealed in surprise. “Draeken?” Before she finished asking the question, her legs were moving toward him. He grinned and opened his arms wide.
She practically toppled him over when she landed against him, pushing him instead into Thorne, who was exiting just behind Draeken.
Her lips landed on Draeken’s. Nearby, she heard Thorne say, “Good gravy. Aren’t there rules about public displays of affection here?”
“No. It’s a regular love fest here all the time on Earth,” Stella said, breaking her initial lip lock. “Better get used to it.” Then she planted her mouth on Draeken’s again until Thorne walked away, shaking his head in mock disgust.
“I can’t believe you’re already back.”
“I can’t either. Turns out I didn’t like the gulag as much as I expected. XkR-9 is a particularly filthy, cold and a very unjust place.”
She turned and pointed to a tree next to the platform. “I did that just for you. It’s a corny old Earth tradition based on an even older song.”
Draeken squinted. “You tied a huge yellow ribbon around a tree for me?” He pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Because of an Earth song?”
“Yes. Do you like it?”
“I love it. Will you always do that when I leave and come back?”
“Only when you come back from the gulag.”
“Then I’ll enjoy this one and only time I’ll be seeing it. I’m not ever going back to a gulag.”
“Actually, that’s good. Do you know how difficult it is to get a big ribbon of any color around a tree?”
“I can only imagine.” Draeken looked toward the Big Bang Truck Stop. “Can I meet Maxwell the Martian?”
“That’s who you want to meet? Maxwell?” Stella had planned to introduce him to her extended family, starting with Diesel and going all the way through Axel, Cam, Gage, Wheeler and Jack, and then the only girl cousin she had, Valvoline, or rather Valene as she preferred to be called.
Uncle Zebulon and Aunt Xenia were on an RV road trip across the country on their way to California so they could pan for gold like the miner forty-niners. Draeken could meet them when they came back.
“Yes. The last thing I saw before leaving Earth for the gulag was the billboard with Maxwell. I really do want to get a big bang for my buck. I just have to earn a buck first.”
“Speaking of that, have you decided what job you’d like to do here on Earth?”
“I want to be a Bauxite miner, of course. I’ve even watched Earth videos to see how it’s done.”
“Videos? How old were they?”
Draeken shrugged. Stella was fairly certain that these days Bauxite was mined by machines, quite different from years ago when the first settlers from Alpha-Prime arrived.
“I don’t know. I just wanted you to understand that I will work hard and be worthy of you. The last time we spoke, you were worried about me giving up my family, but you can stop. They never expected me to stay on Alpha-Prime if I didn’t want to. They just want me to be happy wherever I end up. You make me happy. My parents and Riker think very highly of you. Of course we’ll live on Earth and explore it fully.”
“Really? Are you certain?” She was stunned, resisting the urge to jump up and down like on a television gameshow.
“Of course I’m certain. I love you, Stella.” He kissed her softly. “And it’s not like we can’t ever visit Alpha-Prime, right?”
“Right.”
She hugged him tight. “Thank you, Draeken. Thank you for understanding.”
Draeken released her, but grabbed her hand. “I don’t have the ring I selected with me, but I want to marry you, Stella. Please say you will.”
Stella teared up. “Yes. Of course I’ll marry you.”
“I’d planned to ask you before leaving for the gulag, but we got interrupted.” Draeken glared at Thorne, who stood several paces away talking to someone she didn’t know.
“Yes. But Thorne turned out to be a secret weapon for you, didn’t he?”
Draeken nodded. “One last thing I’d like to propose.”
“What’s that?”
“We should spend our honeymoon in Nocturne Falls. What do you say?”
Stella laughed. “I say yes. It’s the perfect place.”
He kissed her again and Stella knew they’d be together forever and deliriously happy for just as long. They would definitely keep on truckin’ alongside each other.