Touched by an Alien

sure that if any of you don’t want certain, ah, portions of the film with you in it shown, we can remove it before airing.” I looked at Gower, Martini, and Reader, all of whom were managing to keep their mouths shut. “Gentlemen, we need to move. We’re due in the women’s restroom in fifteen. Sorry, folks,” I said, as I grabbed Reader and moved him along, “no autographs right now, we’re on a tight schedule.”
    We scrambled out of the bathroom, and Martini headed off. The rest of us followed. He was still moving at human speed levels, so Reader and I were okay. “When do you think they’ll realize we weren’t holding any cameras?” Reader asked me as we raced along.
    “About the same time they realize no one’s coming in with release forms. Or when they go to the information desk to ask why the release forms aren’t coming. How does he know he’s going in the right direction?”
    “I don’t know if he’s told you, but …” Reader seemed uncomfortable.
    “Oh, right, he’s an empath. Who’s he tracking?”
    “Whoever’s the most terrified. Didn’t freak you out?”
    “Did, but I was too busy being glad he’d realized I was going to barf and pass out and was fixing that to care.”
    “You could do a lot worse,” Reader added as we rounded a corner.
    We headed toward the runways, not baggage claim or the arrivals and departures area. It was already night here, which, as I thought about it, made sense. At least the time zones were working normally.
    “Thanks for sharing. I’m more worried about my mother than whether or not Martini and I have that special spark.”
    “They make great mates,” Reader said. “I mean, really great.”
    Yes, we were indeed heading toward the planes, which meant that, shortly, we were going to have to deal with security. I wasn’t looking forward to that. Martini slowed, nodded to Gower, then Martini grabbed my hand and Gower grabbed Reader’s. They now moved us at hyperspeed, though at the slower pace, so we were less likely to barf or pass out when we stopped. We raced past security, through the terminal, and out the gate that seemed the farthest exit point in this entire airport.
    We hit the tarmac and slowed down to human speed. I noted that Gower and Reader didn’t seem at all uncomfortable holding hands. “What speed?” Gower asked Martini.
    “Human. Need to conserve energy.” There was nothing at all in his demeanor to suggest humor or frivolity. He let go of my hand, and Gower did the same with Reader’s, and then we started off again, Martini in the lead.
    “You and Paul?” I asked Reader as we brought up the rear.
    “Yep. You caught that one a little late.”
    “Not really. I thought you’d joined up because you were recruited, not because you’d, well, married in.”
    “Actually, I was recruited. Like you. Superbeing created at a photo shoot. Everyone else freaked, I killed it. The gang showed up, I got the tour and was in. We didn’t have this much excitement when I joined up, though.”
    “Lucky you.” We were running under airplanes. I’d been in a lot of them, but it’s a daunting thing to look up and see the belly of the plane and realize you don’t have to duck to get under it. “So, when did you two hook up?”
    “Oh, a while after I’d been an agent. Just started working together, found out we liked the same things, started hanging out, realized we both wanted to be more than friends, that sort of thing. A-C’s don’t have the same hang-ups about homosexuality that humans do. It’s refreshing.”
    “They do seem, well, nicer than us.”
    “This group, yeah.” He was quiet while we dodged several baggage carts and were yelled at by a lot of airport workers. “When we’re through this situation, ask Jeff about why they came here. I mean, them, in particular, not in general.”
    “I don’t think he wants to tell me.”
    “He probably doesn’t, but he will if you ask him.”
    I would have pursued this, but we weren’t alone on the tarmac anymore. There were several men running toward us, all looking terrified. From what I could see, they’d been driving baggage carts. The tarmac was fairly well lit, and the moon was out. As I looked farther in the distance I could see what looked like a big monster out of a Ray Harryhausen film up ahead of us.
    “Take a cart,” I called to Reader.
    “Why?” he asked as he jumped into one of the two nearest us. “We can run faster than these things move.”
    I