John's Mind-Controlled Mommy
Alesyian
"Status report,"
I thought to my ship.
"I'm ready to broadcast to Alliance!"
she answered in far too chipper a manner.
"Coordinates locked! Please think your thoughts."
"Alesyian here. Nemesis comet 91330 tracked to Solar System 01394104. Eight planets, multiple planetoids and dwarf planets, two major asteroid belts, one G Class Star. Radio waves indicate the presence of primitive life on the third planet. Nemesis comet to make contact in ten standard hours. Will commence a search for suitable representative."
"Well sent, Mistress!"
my ship answered.
"Your thoughts were just so sublime. They radiated out into the galaxy. I am so certain that they were heard loud and clear. Everyone is going to love them. Just love them."
"It's a status update about Nemesis!"
I thought, grinding my teeth. My wings fluttered as I headed to my landing crèche.
"How is the scan going?"
"I have found the perfect candidate. Male. 854,685,025 Galactic Standard Minutes in age. In the vicinity of the predicted landing of the first of Nemesis's spores."
The lights flashing on the console seemed to grin.
"Aren't I just amazing?"
I breathed deeply as I settled into my landing crèche.
"Just plot us an intercept course. We have to hurry. We can't let Nemesis get a foothold on such a primitive world. They will be defenseless against it."
"Right-O! I am just so amazing. You'll be down on the planet in no time."
I sighed. "Why me? Why did I get a ship that is so cheerful and arrogant?"
"Look at that, course already set. Get ready for deceleration, Alesyian."
I tensed in my landing crèche. My hands gripped the counter as the world appeared in the view-screen fast. At the speed of light, it raced towards us, growing bigger and bigger until it was all I could see.
The gravity drive engaged. I felt smashed into my seat for a moment as I went from as fast as you could go to slow enough to survive reentry in about seven galactic seconds. I groaned, every bit of me feeling like paste.
And that was
with
the landing creche's inertial dampeners.
"Ooh, perfect,"
the ship in my mind.
"Aren't I just so brilliant and awesome? Just in time for re-entry. Yay!"
The ship hit the atmosphere. Fire burst across the view-screen. I had spent all this time relying on the ship to navigate me here. I shouldn't be scared. I should have complete faith in her. But...
"Fire is burning all around me!"
sang the ship.
"Hot stuff! Burning through the sky. Hot stuff! Blazing through my heart!"
"Don't sing pop songs!"
I shouted at her with all my mental energy, the ship vibrating.
"But I love that song! Hot stuff! Sing along with me. Hot stuff!"
I sobbed the entire way down.
/ *
John Marlin
"It was a good game," I said for the tenth time as I walked my girlfriend home from the football game. "I mean, we gave it our all."
"We did," said Nora. She held onto my arm. A cute redhead, nineteen like me. I had known her all my life. We lived on the same street, just a few houses down. We turned onto it, the early fall evening cool even with the stars coming out.
Not cold.
Nice.
Pleasant.
"It was fun," she said, a bright smile on her lips. She made my heart pound so hard. I was so aching for our first time. We were so close. I could tell. Just both scared of going over that line. It had to be perfect.
And coming home from our college's football game just wasn't that. But soon...
"Hey, hot stuff," Andre Martin said, standing up from the porch swing.
I groaned, my teeth gritting tight. The neighborhood bully. Graduated from high school three years later and now was a deadbeat his single mother let him do whatever he wanted. He was a tall and strapping Black guy who leaned against the post, leering at us.
"Why don't you ditch that little dweeb and come sit on my lap," Andre called. He grinned, his white teeth almost shining. "You'll like it more."
"Just ignore him," I muttered, my hand on her back.
"Yeah," she whispered, her shoulders tense. Frightened. I hated that guy so much. If he didn't have a hundred pounds of muscles on me, I'd pop him one, but...
"Damn, I love watching you walk away, hot stuff! You sure you don't wanna have a real good time. I know you want it. I can smell that hot stuff." He laughed as we hurried on.
His house was right at the entrance to the street. If he wasn't such a loser, we wouldn't have to deal with him. We lived at the end of the cul-de-sac, two blocks further down. We walked quickly. I could feel Andre's eyes on us.
"That asshole," I muttered. "You want me to..."
"No!" she gasped, giving me a sharp look. "It's best if we just... just ignore him, okay."
I was relieved, but I didn't say that. "You sure," I said, unable to drop the bravado. "I'll do it."
"I know." She gave me a quick kiss on the cheek. "You're sweet, John. And Andre..."
"Is a massive cock-sucker," I growled. "Can't believe him. I miss when he just shook us down for lunch money. Having him pant after you..."
"Just... drop it, okay," she said, hugging herself. "Don't worry about him."
"Not worried," I lied. I was. What if he tried to do something to her?
She stiffened. "Really?"
I frowned at her outburst then saw movement ahead. Someone was skirting across the shadowed lawn of Esmerelda Martinez's house. She was the new neighbor, been here about three months. A single woman, in her twenties, who bleached her hair blonde and had some tech job or something. She had money. How else could she afford that place on her own at her age?
"Who is that leaving Esmerelda's house?" I asked.
"My mother," muttered Nora. "She's banging Esmerelda while Dad's working nights. Can you believe that shit?"
"Wait, what?" I gasped. "Why would she... I mean... Esmerelda's a woman."
"Yeah, and a dyke." Nora shook her head. "And my mom's dyking out with her. It's so disgusting. Esmerelda's half her age. I thought she and Dad had a great relationship, but she's over there munching on Esmerelda's carpet."
"Maybe they're just friends," I said, Mrs. Carter coming into view as she hurried up the streets in a dress, skirts fluttering.
"Nope, she's trying to get home before me," Nora said. "And look. She's got heels on. I bet she's wearing stockings, too. No, no, they're lovers. I saw them kissing once. God, cheaters are the fucking worst. You know."
"Yeah," I said, not sure what to make about learning Nora's mother was... gay now. I had known her parents as long as I'd known Nora herself. So it was weird thinking her mother was cheating on her father. Really weird.
Nora slowed down, letting her mother hurry down the sidewalk towards their house. She swept through the streetlamps then headed inside without a backward glance. We were just passing my house when she did it.
Nora sighed. "I guess I better get home," she said. "Thanks for the night. It was fun."
"You don't want me to walk you to the door?" I asked.
"Fishing for a good night kiss?" she asked, smiling. She rose on her tiptoes and brushed my lips. "There. I don't want to deal with Mom. I'm just going to sit on the porch swing for a while. You have a good night."
"You sure you don't want to talk about it?" I asked as she turned and headed up the street.
"Yeah," she said, her shoulders hunched.
I hesitated, wanting to chase after her and stop her, but I didn't know what I would say to her.
"Sorry your mom is a cheating dyke,"
just didn't feel like it cut it. I hated seeing Nora so bummed like that. Sighing, I turned.
A shooting star flashed across the horizon, drawing my attention for a moment. I made a wish on it. A simple one. For everything to work out okay. Then I headed up the porch and into the noise of my house.
"Mom, Mom, she won't let me borrow her old top," Andrea, my eighteen-year-old sister, cried. "It doesn't even fit her any longer."
"And?" asked Viv, my older sister. She was twenty and going to beauty college. She wanted to be a hairdresser. I didn't get it since her dyed-blonde hair looked so tacky, especially how long she went between dye jobs, her brown roots showing. "It's mine. I don't have to let you borrow it."
"Why not?" Andrea asked. "I want to wear it on Monday. It'll look cute with my new jeans."
"Get your own cute tops," Viv said.
"Why don't you just let your sister borrow it?" Mom asked. She emerged from the kitchen with a cup of tea in hand. "Oh, hey, John, how was the game."
"Fine," I said, shrugging. "Dad still working?"