Chapter V

The engine roared with energy, yielding vibrations that I could feel under my seat as the truck rolled over the freeway. The time flew in delightful silence that was but indulged by the rumble of the tires and the engine that held the current speed. Minutes after, the car came to a stop and the front windshield was filled with the radiance of a red traffic light, flooding smoothly the glimmering, black leather upholstery inside of the pick-up truck. As the silence of all the women aboard teemed about, I struggled to balance the weight of both of those possibilities that I had previously considered, and it was not something one could just figure out with absolute certainty. Added to this, my mind wandered back and forth, trying to come up with a more reasonable explanation for such events, but there was nothing. What was I even expecting to get?

I followed the path of the shine emitted by the red light for a moment, which was stunningly reflected over the lustrous black leather all over the car. ‘It is definitely a very expensive vehicle to use for a joke,’ I weighted once again to myself. The light went even hither, being reflected over the texture of Lualeen’s clothing, creating two slick lines over her smooth legs. She was wearing an odd outfit, made out of a texture that could be described as a fusion of, apparently, latex and cloth. It was about the same outfit for all of them, some kind of uniform I dared to guess, but in different colors and with diverse shapes garnished into them. Some of these uniforms had skirt extensions; others had shoulder pads and so on. And before I could notice anything else, the shine over her legs turned green, and my foot instinctively stepped on the gas, gradually accelerating.

From this point, I made a left and reached the gate of a residential property, where a security guard scrutinized the inside of the vehicle with a simplistic gaze, which was altered at the sight of the women in the inside, and the two on the outside.

“Hello sir. Having a party tonight?” he asked, maybe jealousy taking over him.

“Nah, just visiting a good friend,” I said plainly.

He didn’t like too much my answer as a support for my womanizer profile at the moment. “May I have some identification please?” he stretched his hand, almost as if to say hello to the women, who ignored him.

I leaned to the side and pulled from the chain that was fixed to my wallet on one end and to my belt on the opposite and produced my identification card; it ended on the guard’s hands as I told him who I was visiting. The man walked away towards the phone quietly so a thin silence permeated the atmosphere once again as we waited for the guard to call my acquaintance’s residence. In the meantime, the silence was broken and I was able to overhear Riole muttering about how pathetic Earthlings were, followed by a rather abrupt sigh. The man got back with my identification and a piece of paper that he handed to Lualeen as he stretched himself into the car, extending his arm over me. Knowing immediately what it was, I seized my ID from him and growled scornfully, enraged against him for trying to play entrepreneur. I hated those who were always trying to be too clever. I snatched the paper from Lualeen and threw it back at him. “Don’t ever do that again,” my voice pronounced every syllable, separating every word with a grave and threatening tone. I accelerated faster than usual, which made the tires screech on the pavement.

Everyone remained silent. Perhaps none of us, including me, were expecting my reaction. Lualeen broke the silence “What was in that paper?” she asked somewhat intrigued.

“Probably the pig’s number or his Facebook account.” They looked at me, as if they didn’t understand quite well the meaning of my words. “Contact information, that is. He was flirting,” I explained myself. I hoped they had not pictured a serial number for an animal and an account of a book with some peculiar face.

The car drifted effortlessly into every turn around the huge complex. I eased myself over the comfortable leather chair and guided the truck to its first destination. When I saw the golden car parked outside I slid the truck to a stop in front of the house and, after placing it on neutral, I reached instinctively for the keys to kill the engine. A shiver ran up the tips of my fingers and up my back as the texture of the empty ignition reminded me that there was no key to begin with. “Here’s the first subject,” I said, almost reluctantly. The passengers exchanged looks quietly and nodded. As I turned around, I noticed that there was a blurry image on that round plasma thing that resembled Ignis’s house. I thought back to where Lualeen instructed me to think about my chosen ones at the beginning of this mess and frowned. ‘Can they really read my…?’ I shrugged it off and shook my head. My afternoon didn’t turn out that bad, after all. I searched into my pocket for a second, and then I felt Riole’s grasp over my throat.

“What do you think you are doing?” she challenged me, not afraid to make a move.

The other women stayed put in their places, and looked at me. “I was reaching for my cell-phone. I need to call him and ask him to come outside. Or would you rather have everyone watching you around as you pace towards the house?” I blinked, and chuckled simply at the thought of a parade of dancing women behind me, headed for Ignis’s place. I recapitulated really quickly and wondered why they would even be dancing.

Riole didn’t let her grasp loose “Go ahead. Communicate with ‘im, quick. No time to waste.” I had the feeling that they could track my cell phone if I tried to make any attempt to dial an emergency number. ‘Perhaps I am starting to believe this crazy story?’ I wondered.

I searched the directory of my phone, clicking through the numbers and then I hit the green button. All of this took place under the heavy watch of the women, whose eyes remained vigilant of me and of the device. Just then, as I was pondering in how strict had their watch been over me since they found me, a familiar voice answered on the phone. “Hay-o sir,” I managed to say at first, “I need to see you ASAP right outside your house. – Look out. – Yes, yes that’s me.” I lowered the window and waved at him. I think his expression could have been one of bewilderment because the only thing I could hear on the other side of the phone was his breath. “Come down, we need to talk.” Beep. The line died and I stared at my phone for a few seconds. I looked back to Riole. “Chief, I need to go outside.”

“What for?” she demanded, obviously suspicious.

“Well, as I said, we can all go outside and get you exposed for every ‘Earthling’ around the corner to see, or you will trust me to take a few steps away from the car and explain the situation of why we are abducting him and he’s probably never going to see Earth again? Capisce?” I answered plain and calm.

“How do you know that he is going to accept just like that?” she wondered, targeting the apparent simplicity of my plan.

“I know he dislikes Earth and many of our… co-working human ants. He will be delighted.” I was again sure that it was all a joke.

“Fine, fine, hurry up,” she finally said.

Ignis was out in a second. I exited the car and shut the door behind me. We embraced for a second as we always did, and he stared at the vehicle behind me.

“Is this yours?” he merely asked, probably still shocked.

“No, it’s not. We stole it… or they made me help them steal it. Look, there’s not much more time. I know it’s going to sound extremely weird but… the people in the car are actually… kinda’ aliens and they need three specimens from Earth to take with them. Even funnier, they are all women as I’ve seen so far; …and I’m not too sure what comes next after that. They are making me choose two of the people that I know and we are all supposed to come with them.” I said it, babbling, in one throb so I would not stop or be stopped. My ideas were an absolute mess. “If you resist I’m not sure they will take it smoothly, so I would recommend…” he raised a hand, asking me to stop.

“Alien women from outer space? We are leaving Earth? Count me in! Give me two minutes to grab some stuff and say good bye!” he ran back to his house.

I looked back at the women, who were peeking into the conversation and Lualeen had a hint of a smile that appeared rather kind, as if to apologize for this, but there still was much fresh misanthropy in her eyes as to corroborate if she actually had any apologetic thoughts. My mind wondered how silly I might appear to an outside audience and how utterly incredible that sounded. ‘This would all make a fantastic story if I ever had the time to write it,’ I chuckled at the thought. I turned back to Ignis’s house and said in a low voice “I forgot to tell you it might just be a scam.” I sighed and stretched, feeling almost absolutely recovered by now. The night was almost at its darkest phase, and the moon was nowhere to be seen. I turned back to the women and leaned on the door “I need to buy something before we leave the planet. It will take five minutes.”

Lualeen asked somewhat bothered “And what would that be?”

I turned back, still leaning in the door, while watching Ignis rush towards us. “Supplies,” I murmured.