An Alien Love B. 01

Hi. I spent the day yesterday working on my newest book "One Strong Gale." I think I rushed some of it to get back to this silly story. I'm super into Murry right now. Anyway, there is more to come. Thanks again if you are reading! Cheers.

~M~ From C.M. Moore

*Chapter 7*

A new home for a cat.

Keltrix's room was a sea of silk blankets.

As Murry entered behind the alien, he passed a low table that was the same as his cell. When he strolled next to the metal coffee table, Kel waved to the piece of furniture.

"I will give you clear information about your new living area, Murry-cat. If you do not understand, you can ask me or use your mental connection to ask. For me, it is easier if you use a mental picture. The image is easier than the words. The translation is not always accurate."

"I can talk to you in my mind?"

"As long as I wish it. My mind is stronger than yours. If you connect and I do not want to communicate, you will have to wait until I permit you."

Permit sounded a little too close to slave and servant, but Murry refrained from commenting. Instead, he nodded at the table.

"This is where I pick up my daily green goop?" He thought about the food bowls humans left out for their cats. As long as he didn't have to poop in a litter box, he would be okay.

Around the silver metal coffee table sat pillows, but Murry couldn't tell how many there were. Everything was covered by multicolor silk. Briefly, he wondered if Keltrix had a fetish for the cloth. He'd read somewhere people got into latex. Maybe silk was Kel's kink.

"You do not have to ingest the green goop." Kel's sentence brought Murry back to the table. He grinned. Any way to dodge the yucky drink and Murry was all about it. "I created that," Kel continued as he placed his tentacle on the corner of the table and let it stay there. "The table reads what I want and what is good for me. It is examining me for what needs to be replenished in my system."

A square door in the middle of the table opened and a glass of green yuck appeared. Murry's nose wrinkled. It smelled like grass clippings and molding nachos.

"What if I don't want what the table wants me to eat?" Murry paused. "I think that's the weirdest sentence anyone has ever said."

"You can discuss your wants with the table."

"Okay. That is the weirdest sentence ever." Murry laughed. "Gee, fighting with the dining table sounds like fun."

"You can show the table a clear image of what you want, but the table will always work to give you the proper nutrients."

After Kel picked up the glass, Murry set his palm on the corner of the metal surface. He left his hand there and could feel a vibration. It reminded him of when a cell phone was on silent, buzzed, and no one answered.

While the table hummed, Murry closed his eyes and pictured a hamburger and French fries and a strawberry milkshake. He vacillated on his drink being chocolate or strawberry. He could almost feel the table disliking his request, but Murry held the image stubbornly. If he was going to get a decent meal today, it damn well was going to be a burger and fries.

The center of the table opened. A hamburger and fries and a large glass of milky water mystery liquid appeared. He didn't even care if the milkshake looked wrong.

"Yes! Human one, table zero."

Keltrix laughed. "Before you celebrate your victory, try the food. Table is particularly good at deceptions."

Murry picked up the burger. It didn't smell right but he took a bite. Veggie burger. Murry chewed and swallowed. Okay... so it wasn't perfect, but it wasn't a green goop. He ate at the fries and he was fairly sure they weren't potatoes, but by the time he was done, he started to like the food. He drank the milkshake that wasn't milk and then wiped his mouth.

"I'll get used to it."

"Next you asked to know time. You seem to have a fixation with the rotation of your planetoid around your star." Kel walked toward the living room. "We do not measure time as you do, but I accept your needs." As he strode, the silks moved and fluttered out of his way. When Keltrix reached the far wall, the alien pulled a smooth piece of glass from a shelf buried in covers. He handed the thin glass to Murry. The edges weren't sharp but rounded. He held the item out and stared through it.

"This is a clock?"

"I have not a word for this in any language you know." Kel crossed his tentacles. "This is a book or a computer or a tablet or a phone or a game." Kel exhaled. "You teach it with your mind." He tapped the glass. The image of a number appeared in white lettering in the middle "Humans have twenty-four hours as you watch your silly sun. This becomes days and weeks and years. This matters to you for some reason."

Murry glanced down. The number 19:58 blinked at him. Twenty-four hours? Murry nodded. This was military time. It was 7:58 p.m. on Earth. He smiled and hugged the clock to him.

"Thanks."

Kel hummed and then turned and waved his bottom right tentacle. The curtains opened and Murry was speechless.

Space.

"Yes. Space, little cat."

Far and wide and glittering with stars was half the wall. Kel was correct. No sunny windowsill but certainly a window. Murry would've dropped the glass plate but Kel's left tentacle caught the tablet. He was overwhelmed with the sheer beauty of the vision.

"Are you alright?"

Murry stared. He'd never seen anything more magnificent or more frightening. Deep space was vast and intimidating. Unexpectedly, Murry felt so insignificant standing before the cosmos. His problems were tiny, and he was this little thing of nothing. Galaxies, universes, they were all more than the world. This expanse was more than Earth. He was seeing what only a few astronauts had ever seen.

"You are not insignificant to me." Kel wrapped a tentacle around Murry's wrist and began to tug him away from the window. "Your problems are not small. This is your bathroom." Kel grinned like he was proud to get the word correct. "Not a litter box, Curious-cat." He pushed Murry toward the door. "You will clean yourself now?"

Murry was going to nod yes, but instead, he froze in the doorway. This wasn't like the last place. The bathroom was exactly like Murry pictured. The shower, the deep clawfoot tub, and the toilet were all there. The alien even added the bidet. Kel had forgotten nothing from his image. The toothbrush was next to the sink.

"Thanks, Kel." Murry spun on his heel and tossed himself into Kel's chest hugging him. Keltrix leaned back looking wide-eyed and shocked. He pulled Murry's arms off him.

"That is too many thanks." Kel walked away from him and toward the bed as if desperate to put some distance between them.

As Murry stared at the large round mattress on the far side of the room, he almost commented that going closer to a bed was a bad idea if he was fighting with himself over being with Murry again.

Frowning, he looked for how the bed was put together. Different colored strings of silk hung from the ceiling as if attached to nothing. He wondered if there were pillows somewhere. How Keltrix could find anything under all the fabric was beyond him. Murry couldn't even tell what was furniture or cloth.

"You can call it silk if it makes you comfortable." Kel turned from the bed and lifted a small mint-green strip of satin.

"I call it silk fabric. What do you call it?" Murry stepped closer. Did the aliens have another word for silk?

"This is Nebos." The green satin wound around Kel's upper right tentacle and then moved like a tiny spinning snake winding up and down. "We are given our Nebos at birth. It grows with us."

Murry took a hasty step back and then glanced around. Now he could see the fabric rolling so slowly as to be subtle. There was a shift in the corner. Next, he caught a change in color in one area of the room. There was a glimmer in another. Murry had the urge to jump onto the metal table or into Kel's tentacles. He was standing on it... whatever it was.

"It's all alive? This is all Nebos and not fabric?" Murry swallowed hard. Gross. This wasn't silk fabric like on Earth. He shifted from foot to foot. "You have had this from birth?" He gazed at the piles. "How old are you?"

"I do not have a number you will understand, Murry-cat. And once again your fixation with time has returned." Kel moved his tentacle to Murry's arm. "Think old vampire, and then add some time to that. You will not be correct but if it helps you, there you have it." The green mint-colored satin slipped tightly around Murry's forearm. The cloth then glided to his fingers and fluttered in between his knuckles like a dog doing the poles on an agility course.

"Is this going to kill me?" Murry pictured falling asleep and the fabric wrapping around his face and filling his mouth. The cloth could turn him into a mummy until he couldn't breathe.

"Why would the Nebos kill you? They do not understand this mummy you picture. They are caring." Kel chided as if Murry had insulted him. The alien tucked some of his tube hair behind his ear as he continued. "If the Nebos bothers you, you can go back to the other room. They live with me. This is their home."

Murry shook his head. The fake group home thing was out. He wanted the damn bathroom.

"No. I want to stay here." Murry wiggled his fingers. "We will become friends." The satin looked like the cloth was playing a game before the green piece glided up his arm and tied around his bicep. "Cat's like to play with string," Murry added.

Since he'd been captured, Murry had to laugh at the tiny scrap of fabric around his arm. This was the most clothed he'd been in a while.

"The Nebos will clothe you. I do not see the point, but they will."

"They'll listen to me? Like I can get pants?"

"Most will listen to you. The ones in this room will because they are mine. Have a strong image in your brain and they will do your bidding. I will put my will behind the picture."

Walking to the door, Murry stared at the fabric hanging over the exit. He pictured the sea of cloth he'd seen in the hall on the way here.

"On the ship is other Nebos that will not listen to me," Murry said.

"In the halls of this area are my siblings Nebos. Rhylent and JP. In other areas of the ship are a few other warriors who are traveling with us. They have theirs." Kel stepped up next to the door and then stood in front of the exit. "I will not make you a prisoner, but outside of this room you will risk your safety."

"But not because of your silk friends."

"Other warriors have heard of pleasure slaves." Kel held up a tentacle. "Do not correct my term. That is what other species we use are called. The other Dagerstanteens may force you to drink from them not knowing my claim. JP and Rhylent have kept you a secret. For your benefit, do not leave."

"I got it." Murry stepped away from the door and set his hand on the table. He got more fake French fries. He shoved them into his mouth. As he chewed, he thought about the fact that he was a secret. Why? What would happen if he drank from another Dagerstanteen? It wasn't as if sucking or drinking hurt him. The act wasn't like the pain he'd endured with the hairy aliens.

"Give it all to me," Murry said after a few minutes. "I can handle it. What happens if I drink from another Dager... whatever, warrior alien guy? Are you going to be mad at me or fight him or something?"

"When you drink from me, you connect to my mind." Kel shoved some of his black tube-hair over his shoulder. "You hear my thoughts even if you do not notice it yet. We share your mind. Two aliens in you would break you. I am even surprised you can handle me. I am brilliant. You have drunk from me twice, yet you stay sane. I am trying to keep you safe until your return to Earth. I do not want you to lose yourself. In the past, in all the species we have interacted with, the madness has the creature killing themselves within days."

Murry wiped his mouth and then scrubbed at the light hair on his cheeks. He was never one to grow much of a beard, but no razor had him scruffy. He considered that. If he'd had a razor in the last cell, would he have killed himself? Was he losing himself to Keltrix's mind hold?

He shook his head and then walked to the window. Kel followed him and stood by his side. They both stared. The vast starry scenery was spread out before them.

No, Murry decided. He wasn't losing who he was. In the other room, it wasn't Kel in his mind that bothered him. It wasn't even the yearning for the watermelon flavor like a drug. What had almost crushed his will to live was the loneliness and the emptiness. If that had continued, maybe he would've gone insane.

"I'm not going to kill myself."

"I know." Kel grinned. "I am monitoring your thoughts and I try to stay out of your head, so you have room to think."

"Because you're so brilliant." Murry laughed.

"Yes, I am. And do not worry. I will not kiss you again and then soon I will be out of your system. When you are clean, you can go home."

Clean sounded like Murry was a drug addict. He pictured Earth and the group home. That was going to be a trip after all of this. He would miss someone understanding him. Murry nodded.

"And you must not go out and let others use you. Do you understand? That would be trouble." Kel said after a few minutes.

"I thought you liked trouble." Murry teased.

"Not trouble like that," Kel growled. The alien acted like Murry didn't understand his wishes, but Murry had no intent of bucking Keltrix's orders. From the beginning, Kel had been looking out for him solidly.

"I got it." Murry turned to Kel and their eyes met. "I can handle it." Leaving wasn't something he was thinking about doing anyway. He wanted to stay here. This is where the kickass bathroom was. "I'll stay here."

"I will have to remember that this bathroom situation is very important to you." Kel smiled and then strolled to the exit and stopped. "I have work I must accomplish. You will wash and eat to gain strength. I will not have to worry about you, Murry-cat?"

"Yes." Murry glanced around and then his eyes dropped to the Nebos still tied to his bicep. "You don't need to worry about me and Petey."

"Petey?" Kel's eyes widened. "Did you name some of my Nebos?"

"Well, yes." Murry chuckled. "I'm making this my new home. It is what cats do. They play with their yarn."

Kel laughed and then left. Murry stared at his green armband.

"I guess it's just you and me, Petey. Let's make pants."

***

I had some fun with this chapter. I know I'm a bit of a slow burn, so if you are still here. Awesome. Thanks.