Flat Tire Read online

  Chapter Five

  He reached the mezzanine level, and stood in awe for a few seconds at the top of the stairs. Dozens of clusters of instruments were in front of him, and to the left and right of him. Different consoles were all around him with their dials softly illuminated and some flashed strange symbols. He could see needles at various degrees on some of their oblong dials and many instruments also had illuminated digital numbers changing continuously.

  He walked to the middle where the assumed pilot’s seat was and looked at the back of a large bulky, aluminum colored, suit. It was very similar to our astronaut’s suits he thought, but a bit larger. He could almost make out, what appeared to be, a view plate in the helmet from the side angle as he approached the suit.

  He came to within two feet of the suit when he froze in his tracks as a voice said: “Please stay where you are. I am rotating the pilot’s chair.”

  With that a whirring sound began and simultaneously the suited figure turned slowly counter-clock-wise in the large padded chair into which it was belted. The pilot’s console, as David guessed it was, encircled all but the rear of the suit.

  As the view plate came around David could still not see into the suit’s darkened view plate. The suit had four arms, two legs and a large helmet.

  Holy smoke, this thing has four arms. This being can’t be human.

  The rotation ended when the suit was aligned with the open end of the console. The sound of many clicks, and a low hissing sound replaced the whir of the motors. The suit began to split down the middle from a seam he could swear he could not detect just a moment before. He gulped and tensed up. His eyes opened wide as saucers.

  The halves of the suit slowly parted and swung down to each side. David’s curiosity intensified. His heart was pumping furiously; his brain was zooming at a thousand thoughts a second.

  This was the most energized I've been in years.

  The suit slowly opened up like a clamshell, and he strained to see its occupant. Once the unit opened to the point where he could peer into the split suit his eyes almost bulged out of their sockets.

  There seated within the large, padded and instrument studded, suit was a delicate female figure. She was the most beautiful female with green eyes staring back at him, petite in stature, coal black hair, and a figure like a fashion model, a very nicely rounded fashion model. She started to sit up within the large suit once both halves locked in the open position.

  The other two arms on the suit were apparently mechanical and operated from inside since this gorgeous female had only two arms, a left and a right. The total beauty of this alien visitor stunned David. He assumed that she was human. She certainly looked human.

  Her skintight, black, leotard like suit made her look like a dancer or cheer leader. It had long three quarter length sleeves and tights like legs all one piece, with a scoop neck showing some cleavage. It appeared she had house shoes, for lack of a better description, on her feet. She was absolutely gorgeous. Apparently bras on her planet were either not invented or not used. He could tell it was cold in the saucer.

  She began to rise, but her strength failed her, and she fell back down into the bulky, four arm suit. David instinctively moved forward and asked, “Are you all right?”, and he took hold of her left arm.

  The alien composed herself, and replied, much to David’s surprise, in English, “No, I am not. I need your help if you are truly a medical doctor.” she snapped and bit off medical doctor as if it were a curse.

  “Yes, I can assure you I am the top doctor in my field. I am just surprised that you are, uh...”

  “Human, Doctor? Your planet doesn’t have the exclusive right to populate itself with humans. We’re everywhere.” replied the female alien with rather irritated a scowl flashed on her face.

  “Of course, I,I, didn’t mean any disrespect. You are just not what I expected our first alien visitor to look like. I am just a little stunned by you. You’re, well, beautiful.” David exclaimed.

  “Thank you very much doctor. Maybe you were expecting one of those skinny gray aliens that your planet seems to be so intrigued with and convinced is the standard alien from another planet?” she sneered and jerked her chin up.

  “No, I…I didn’t know what I expected, to tell you the truth. I am in total shock. Oh, but I am sorry. Where are my manners. I’m Collins, David Collins, medical doctor. He said and couldn’t get over that he was talking to a beautiful female alien.

  He instinctively reach for his business cards but stopped at the ridiculousness of it.

  “Normally, I do not use the suit except in zero atmosphere, however, the way I was feeling, and the problems I was having with the saucer, I needed the strength of the suit and the safety it contains.” explained the female ET . She seemed to be calming down.

  “If you could help me to sit up, doctor.”

  “I’m sorry. Of course.” replied David, and he took the woman’s hand and helped her to sit up in the suit.

  He felt calmer now, like he was talking to a strange woman in a bar or something. The mood in the interior of the saucer was low lit. Rather like a bar, or an elegant restaurant. Patches of bright lights illuminated parts of the consoles, much like little high intensity lamps over a desk.

  He could see that most of the interior of the saucer seemed metallic. It was all the same anodized aluminum in color, and he could not detect if there were different construction materials or not. Most of the lines and architect of the interior were curves and round shapes. He could not perceive a corner or an angle anywhere within his sight. He was intrigued to say the least.

  “My name is Aleena Tourek.” she said rather explosively, extending her hand out from her seated position for David to shake. She sat up and David noticed she appeared to be in her early thirties. She was stunning.

  His eyes were moving up to her face, and their eyes met. Her vivid emerald green eyes mesmerized him. He couldn’t look away. And he noticed that she was staring intently back into his eyes. The moment sent chills down his back.

  David reached out and took her hand and they had a firm handshake and held each other’s hand for several seconds. Her skin was cool, and smooth and so soft. They both, however, were unconsciously staring into each other’s eyes as they shook hands. No words were spoken. The silence then became awkward.

  “Uh, Aleena.” David finally stammered as her hand slowly slipped out of his. “What, uh, why, are you doing here?”

  Aleena took a deep breath she seemed a little unstable,

  “I deliver packages and documents to various places in the galaxies. We guarantee on time delivery. We are the major parcel and document service in our quadrant of the galaxy, which Earth is a part of but not a customer yet. My saucer can travel two hundred light-years in eight of your Earth hours,” she said flatly and emotionlessly.

  “Really? You’re kidding? You’re like a space FedEx service? You just have a much larger territory.” retorted David and laughed a nervous laugh with a snort thrown in.

  “I mean we have the same kind of service here, but of course only on a global range. But two hundred light-years in eight hours. Wow. You must have an enormous fuel bill.” David was feeling a lot more comfortable now. It was almost like a dream, a very surrealistic dream he thought. He felt a little intoxicated, and a little goofy.

  “I am glad to see that you are loosening up a little. I know that you probably don’t believe what is happening to you right now. Very few of your planet’s inhabitants know of our existence. Most are stories like the Roswell thing, and of course the ever popular abductions. I will adjust the atmosphere in the saucer,” amusement washed over her face and the corners of her mouth turned up into a smile.

  “I injected a mild sedative into the air to calm you based on your genetic makeup. It only affects you and I can see I may have injected too much. Computer. Terminate atmospheric sedative additive.” she arched an eyebrow and gave David a warm
smile.

  “Acknowledged.” came the reply.

  Aleena continued, “My craft is powered by gravity. We use gravity from celestial bodies, wormholes, black holes, and other gravity sources. We travel through wormholes mostly. My saucer uses very little energy, and what energy it consumes is collected from the stars. Solar power is how our entire civilization is powered. We collect it, and store it, and use it to power everything from…” she began to trail off.

  Aleena was beginning to look faint. Her eyes went glossy, her eyelids fluttered, and she talked a little slurred. Her color turned from a rosy color to a sickly white. She sat back into the opened space suit and clearly looked weak.

  “The reason” Aleena began again, “that I am on your planet is that I took an illegal drug and dropped out of the wormhole to Alpha Centaur. I almost passed out and had to execute an assisted, emergency landing. I cannot operate my saucer in the condition I am in at this time. I had no idea it would affect me in this way.” said Aleena, looking paler by the moment.