Touched by an Alien

want to be with me, that’s fine; you tell me, I’ll deal with it. But you do something like this even once more, and I’ll never speak to you or touch you again.”
    That seemed fair. I nodded. I was afraid to say anything.
    Which was a good thing since my walkie crackled. “Jeff, Kitty, move !” Christopher sounded panicked. Apparently, our few minutes of breathing space were over. Oh, well, at least they’d been well spent.
    Martini didn’t hesitate; he grabbed me, and we rolled, fast. Which was good, because Mephistopheles’ hoof landed where we’d been. We scrambled to our feet, Martini grabbed my hand, and we started off, but not at hyperspeed. It dawned on me that Martini was probably out of hyperjuice.
    Thankfully, the remaining SUV was barreling toward us. It screeched to a halt, skidded and turned sideways. It stopped with its right side in front of us with about two inches to spare. Martini opened the passenger door, picked me up, tossed me in, and leaped in behind me. “Go!”
    I was on the floor. “Um, a little help?”
    Christopher put his hand down. Martini cleared his throat and Christopher’s hand retracted. “I can handle it, thanks.”
    “There’s nothing amorous about pulling someone off the floor,” Christopher muttered.
    “There is when I do it.” Martini lifted me up and put me onto the seat. Somehow, he did manage to make this feel amorous. I decided not to question and just go with the fact he didn’t hate me anymore.
    “I want my iPod back.”
    “Now?” Christopher turned around. “You do know Mephistopheles is right behind us?”
    I looked back to see the big red fugly running behind. “I want my iPod.” I needed to hear music, or at least have the means with me. I was getting too nervous and frightened, and all the angst with Martini had made me tired.
    Tim pulled the unit out and tossed it back to me. I dropped the car adapter into my purse and dug out my belt clip and earphones. “How does that thing hold all that’s in it and not burst?” Martini asked as we sped back toward the main action.
    “It’s big and it’s made out of cheap leather. It works for me.” I hooked the iPod to my waist and put the earphones around my neck. There, ready for whatever was coming next. I looked behind us again—Mephistopheles was falling behind.
    “You know, those things can tangle and strangle you,” Christopher said as if he were passing comment about the weather.
    “You sound like my mother. I think strangulation by earphones is the least of my worries right now.”
    “Good news,” Reader’s voice came through the intercom. “I think the planes with hot water are here.”
    We were close to the Serpent now, and it was fighting with the Pachyderm. “Tell them not to drop the water yet!”
    “Why not?” This was Gower, and he sounded exasperated.
    “Because the Serpent’s pissed at the Pachyderm, and I think it’s winning.” As I said this, the giant snake wrapped itself around the Pachyderm’s neck and torso. The jets were still buzzing around, and the big beast was freaking out. The Serpent sunk its fangs into the Pachyderm’s neck, and some sort of fluid started jetting out.
    “We’re out of here!” This was from one of the jets.
    “We need to help James,” Lorraine protested.
    “We can’t hit that thing, it’s too thin,” the other pilot said.
    “Don’t be silly. It’s a simple trajectory.” Claudia sounded annoyed but in a fond way. “Here, let me calibrate.”
    “If I’d said that, she’d tell me I was a moron,” Martini mentioned.
    There was some arguing in the jets where the girls were occupants, but they were winning. I was proud, but I had to figure much of this was because they probably had their chests very close to the pilots’ heads.
    “She’s right,” the pilot with Claudia said. “I’ll give you the info.”
    “No need, my girl’s already done.” My girl, huh? Oh, there was going to be some serious hell raised when we all got back to the Science Center or Home Base, but at least Lorraine and Claudia were having a good time now.
    Christopher had his head in his hand. “I can’t wait to explain this to my father.”
    “I’ll do it, no worries.”
    “Oh, I feel so much better.”
    “Hey, my girl’s handled things so far,” Martini said with a grin.
    “So glad you two worked that out,” Christopher said snidely. “Of course, you almost died.”
    “And that makes today different from every other day