Telif, Arxur Defector

  Date [Standardized Human Time]: December 15, 2136

  I groaned as I pulled my aching body out of bed. Ever since Beth had called Jacob and me into her office Monday morning to chew us out for being idiots, she’d been giving the two of us extra work as punishment. From our text conversations, Jacob was holding it together a lot better than I was, but I had barely seen him in person. We were temporarily banned from working together as a consequence of risking revealing my existence last Saturday. Even though Kevin had promised not to tell anyone about my presence, it seems the delivery driver couldn’t resist bragging about meeting a real live alien. Luckily he had at least kept his promise not to post the picture, so no one seemed to believe his story about a “giant lizard man” living in Colorado and “seducing our men with their seductive hissing language”. This was apparently not his first time making such claims, but Beth had still seen his posts and was absolutely furious with us.

  Looking through the replies, there was a large mixture of different responses. Some acted like they believed him, before calling him names. A few said they were tired of him trying to get attention with his outrageous claims; that aliens wouldn’t visit a loser like him. Asking if his “pill head mom” saw the alien too this time, or if she was passed out in the bathroom again like when he saw [bigfoot] walking through their backyard. A few exceptionally harsh responses seemed to pick up that he had claimed he met an Arxur, and said they wished he had so “It could have ripped your fucking head off and we wouldn’t have to hear from your dumb ass again.”. Even though Kevin had broken his promise and almost exposed my existence, I still felt bad that everyone was treating him this way. He was a bit dumb, but I don’t think he deserved this.

  I wanted to spend the entire day in bed, but, in spite of everything, Jacob had managed to convince Beth to let him bring a friend over to meet me today. When he first brought it up to her after she finished lecturing us on not taking stupid risks, her face turned so red she looked like she popped a blood vessel. Jacob did have a good reason for this excursion. He pointed out to her that despite it being a late winter this year, it was getting colder and colder, and I didn’t exactly have the natural insulation of their other alien allies’ fur to keep me from freezing to death. So he wanted to take me to get some cold weather clothing, that way I wouldn’t turn into an “Arxsicle” as he called it. She had asked him why I needed to meet his friend for this, and he pointed out that I wasn’t exactly standard human-sized and he doubted a random jacket would fit me. She refused to let me leave the site again, but she begrudgingly agreed to let his friend the [seamstress] come to me so she could take my measurements and make me some custom clothing.

  I wasn’t too keen on the idea of wearing artificial pelts like the humans did, but I did have to admit it was getting harder to work outdoors as I found myself shaking from the cold. I had never experienced this kind of weather before; my home on Wriss never saw temperatures below freezing and I had spent most of my time since I was drafted on temperature-controlled space ships. I much preferred feeling the warm sun on my scales instead of these harsh winds.

  I was dragged from my thoughts by a beep on my datapad. Jacob was sending his daily checkup to make sure I was eating, and to let me know he had just picked up his friend and the two would be here in about two hours. I sent a quick reply that I had just managed to crawl out of bed but would grab something soon. My sleep was still haunted by visions of what I could have become if I hadn’t escaped the Dominion, but knowing Jacob would be disappointed in me if I didn’t at least try to eat something made the meals go down a little easier.

  With great effort I managed to pull myself to the fridge. Jacob and I had been forced to give it a deep cleaning last weekend, but we managed to get most of the smell of rotten meat out. He warned me he would not help me clean it again, so I was determined to keep it in good condition. I grabbed a chicken breast and snapped it up before my aching legs caused me to fall back onto the couch with a loud groan.

  “Fucking hell, I almost wish Beth had just given me lashes instead of this torture,” I grumbled, rubbing the scars on my legs. Back in the Dominion I could have found some marsith leaves, a potent numbing agent they would give us to help fight through severe injuries, but on Earth I was just stuck dealing with the pain. Maybe I should give Doctor Havashir a call and see if there are any Earth medicinal herbs I could use? Until then I decided the next best thing would be attempting to steam away my pain in the shower. I climbed into the cramped bathroom, turned the hot water on full blast, closed my eyes, and did my best not to collapse onto the floor.

  The hot water lasted about an hour before I had to give up and return to the cold, cruel, dry world. I didn’t have the energy to dry off my scales, so I just tossed my towel onto the couch and collapsed face first on top of it. I was still too tired to browse any of the streaming sites for a show I actually wanted to watch, so I just hit power on my TV and let fate decide what would entertain me until Jacob arrived. Unfortunately the prophet had forsaken me, and the TV turned on to some talk show that was raving about how the Venlil were actually puppet masters who were just using humanity to defeat the Federation and Dominion, then they would turn on Earth once power was theirs. Their rambling was so vitriolic, but for some reason I couldn’t turn away. It was completely insane, but it was absolutely fascinating. I would have to remember to ask Jacob if he had heard anyone spouting this rhetoric.

  ~*~

  A knock on my door caused me to jump in surprise. I checked the time on my pad and realized I had fallen back asleep watching that awful show. I stretched out my aching limbs and hoisted myself off the couch.

  “Oi! Open up it’s fuckin’ freezing out here!” I heard Jacob shout.

  “Sorry, sorry!” I shouted back before throwing open the door. The brisk Colorado air filling my trailer. Jacob was standing next to an unfamiliar human female with… blue hair? I didn’t know their hair could come in that color.

  “You gonna let us in or just stand there lookin’ dumb?” Jacob teased.

  “Oh yes, come on in!” I stepped to the side and allowed the two into my trailer. I looked towards Jacob’s friend. “Apologies for not introducing myself. My name is Telif. What is yours?”

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  “Oh, I know your name darling,” she smiled at me. “As for mine, it’s Samantha but you can call me Sam,” she looked at Jacob, “since apparently someone forgot to tell you it.”

  “Sorry Sammy, not my fault you’re so forgettable.” He shrugged.

  “Oh fuck you!” She punched him in the shoulder.

  “Please don’t fight because of me!” I said uncomfortably.

  “Oh hun, we’re just playin' around. Humans like to give each other shit when we’re friends,” she explained gently.

  “Why?” I tilted my head.

  “Not sure exactly, I’m no [psychologist].” She scratched her chin. “I think I remember reading it’s a sign that you know each other well enough to pick on each other without going too far and that you’re close enough to know what will make them laugh, but I could just be pullin' that outta my ass.”

  “I don’t think I understand,” I admitted.

  “Don’t worry hun, you’ll get used to it if you keep hangin’ out with this dick head.” She elbowed Jacob in the side.

  “Oh like you’re such a saint,” he shot back. “Anyway, I could stand here all day telling Telif about how awful you are, but let’s do what we came here to do. I don’t think Beth will give us another chance and I don’t want this big goofy lizard to freeze to death.”

  “Alright let’s get to it,” she said cheerily. “Jacob, I might need a bit of help from you since I might have trouble getting my arms around this big boy.” He held out his hand and extended a thumb to her.

  “What do you need me to do?” I asked.

  “Just stand like you naturally do and look pretty for me.” She gave me a warm smile. I stood in my normal slouching position as she grabbed a long white cord from her bag.

  “What’s that?”

  “It’s a tape measure,” she replied. “I’m going to use it to measure your arms, torso, neck, and legs so I can make you some warm pants and a coat.” She looked down at my footpaws. “Hmmm, those feet of yours might be an issue. Maybe something that zips up along the side? I’ll figure somethin’ out.”

  She hopped up onto my couch and wrapped the tape around my neck, jotted something down on her pad, then repeated the process with my arms and torso before hopping back down and moving to my legs.

  “Oh right, tail. That’s gonna be a first for me.” She wrapped the tape around the base of my tail. “I think I can make something to work around it.” Sam stood back up. Alright, I got everything I need for measurements. Jake, ready to head out when you are.”

  “Oh, you two are leaving already?” I felt my tail droop slightly.

  “Oh hun, I would love to stay and get to know ya, but the inlaws are in town and my wife will kill me if I’m late to dinner with them.” She paused for a moment. “Not literally of course, but I’ll be sleepin' on the couch for sure.” She grabbed my paw. “Tell ya what though, give me your contact info and the two of us can chat sometime. How’s that sound?”

  “I’d like that,” I replied.

  “Alright Tel, I’ll see ya Monday.” Jacob gave me a quick hug. “Don’t get into too much trouble without me.” He began heading for the door before stopping. “Oh shit, almost forgot. I got you something.” He reached into his jacket pocket and tossed me something that looked similar to the welding goggles I had seen a few of our coworkers using.

  “What’s this?”

  “You’re always bitchin about how much the sun hurts your eyes, so figured these would help ya out and save me from your whining,” he said with a goofy smile on his face. “I was gonna just buy you some sunglasses, but I remembered you ain’t got ears, so I got you some goggles instead. Anyway, we really do gotta go. See ya round!”

  “See ya Telif. It was nice meeting you!” Sam waved her hand at me, which I imitated, earning a chuckle from her.

  “It was nice meeting you as well!” I replied as the two stepped back into the cold.

  “He is nothing like I expected the Arxur would be.” I overheard them whispering outside.

  “Told ya. Tel’s a good guy.”

  “All those scars… Poor thing.”

  “Yeah.. Most were done by his own people too.”

  “That’s horrible!”

  The rest of their conversation was cut off as they entered Jacob’s car. As strange as it was to have them talking about me, I took some solace that at least this time I wasn’t overhearing someone calling me a child-eating monster.

  Wait, did she say her wife earlier? I thought that was the human term for a female partner. Why would they mate with someone they couldn’t have children with?

  I made a mental note to ask her about that when we spoke on the messaging app later, but for now I was still exhausted and decided to enjoy the rest of my Saturday by collapsing back onto the couch and watching some more mind-numbing television. I flicked on the TV and tuned into “Law and Order: Mars” before laying down on the couch and dozing off.

  ~*~

  I was once again startled from my sleep by a knocking on the door. Had Jacob come back? I checked my datapad and didn’t see any messages besides one from three hours ago saying he had dropped Sam off and made it home safely. Who in the prophet’s name could be outside? Beth would wait till Monday if she needed anything from me or just give me a call. Whoever it was they had not stopped pounding on the door while I tried to figure out the puzzle of their existence.

  “Jacob, is that you?” I called out to no reply, but the pounding on the door got louder. Who was out there? Had a human from town wandered onto the job site, become lost and needed help? Would it be a mistake to open the door and reveal myself as an Arxur? Curiosity was getting the better of me and I found myself reaching out towards the door.

  Well, they already heard your voice and aren’t going away, no harm opening it now I guess.

  I turned the handle, and a scent that should not be here hit my nose as the door cracked open.

  No, why would one of them be here? There’s no way.

  I swung the door the rest of the way open, looked down and saw something I never thought I would see in person again.

  “Ah, so the rumors were true,” the gray Venlil said without a hint of fear in his voice. “May I come in?”

  Beth is going to kill me.