Starseed (7 page)

“
Coming right up.”  Dotty waltzed off, taking care of business.

“
How are you doing?”  He leaned forward, taking another fry.

“
Good.”  She was ready to do battle. Then for a moment she let herself meet the intensity of his gaze. When he looked back something softened in her chest and the fight went out of her. No matter how upset she was with him, he had the ability to put her at ease.

Dotty brought his drink which gave Elle a moment to compose herself
. “We met the man who manages the High Mountain Array,” she continued. “He's agreed to give us a private tour of the place.” 

“
A private tour. That'll be great.”  Kole seemed overly excited, almost like a young child on Christmas morning.

How odd
. It was only the Array. But then again, it was his job and apparently he just wanted to take some awesome photos. She had to stop reading more into things. She hesitated for a heartbeat, mesmerized by the sparkle in his enigmatic blue eyes. “There's one thing you have to promise me.”  She had to do this for Sara.

“
You're so serious. What's the matter?” he asked with a look of concern shimmering in his cool blue gaze. “Are you in a better mood, today?” he asked and took another fry.

Elle frowned, remembering how upset she’d been the night before
. “I wasn't in a bad mood last night. I was tired.”

“
It didn't appear that way to me.”  A sideways grin made his eyes crinkle at the corners. “It seemed you got upset when we were talking about the possibility of aliens.”

“
That's your imagination.”  She drew her thoughts back to the matter at hand. “Anyway, what I was getting to is that you can take all the pictures you want, but Sara and I don't do pictures. I mean we don't want to be in any pictures you take for the magazine.”

“
Why? You're beautiful women.”  He let go of a French fry. “I can't see why you wouldn't want to be in my pictures.”

“
Let's say we're not photogenic and leave it at that.”  Her look dared him to drop the subject.

He glanced back to Sara
. “I can't imagine you not being photogenic, but if that's the way you want it. I promise I won't take any pictures of either of you for the magazine.”

“
What kind of pictures are you planning on taking?” Sara asked.

“
I usually snap landscapes and wildlife. This Array is a new kind of subject for me. I was thinking about showcasing how it fits in with the natural surroundings. Rose told me it looks beautiful with the countryside.”

“
Yeah, it does blend in pretty good with the area. Will you need us to help you?” Sara asked.

“
No, just be my tour guides.”  His gaze sought out Elle, which gave her another zing of pleasure. “By the way, Rose sent a large picnic basket full of food for us,” he said. “It’s enough to feed us and a dozen more.”  He grinned. “I think it’s fantastic. I like the way she cooks.”  He licked his lips in pleasure.

“
She didn’t have to do that, but I’m sure it won't go to waste,” Sara added.

That’s for sure
. He eats like he’s never had a decent
meal
. Elle watched him practically inhale her fries.

“
I decided you looked extra hungry.”  Dotty placed a large platter of fries and a slice of apple pie in front of Kole.

Elle couldn’t believe it, but he dove right in as if he hadn’t eaten a bite
. The man was like a human garbage disposal. The way he ate he should weigh a ton, but there was nothing wrong with the way he looked. His weight was not an issue.

“
Thanks, Dotty.”  He watched her hurry away.

“
She knows I can’t get enough of her apple pie.”  He sat there munching his fries, thoroughly enjoying his food.

“
How long do you think it will take us to get out there?”  He asked Elle in between bites.

The man does like to eat
. She wondered where he put all that food and stayed so thin. “About an hour or so. It's almost sixty miles from here, located in one of the prettiest high mountain valleys you’ve ever seen. You’ll get some good pictures, I’m sure of it.”

“
That’s cool. I can’t wait to get started. I have to have my equipment so you two can ride with me.”  Kole swallowed the final morsel of apple pie as if it were his last supper and grinned.

“
Okay, let's get me to work.”  He threw several dollars on the table as a tip for Dotty.

Outside, Elle held the seat so Sara could climb in the back of the Jeep, letting her have the front
. She knew Sara wouldn’t mind and besides she couldn’t help herself, she wanted to be next to Kole.

“
So that's how it is,” Sara teased Elle. “You’ve got a thing for Kole.” 

“
Oh, hush. It's nothing. So what if I want to sit up front. You know I sometimes get carsick if I ride in the back seat too long and it’s a long way out there.”  When she raised her head to see Kole filling up the gas tank she smiled as there was another rush of that . . . whatever across her chest. The man did affect her in strange ways.

Chapter Six

Sitting in the High Mountain Array cargo van across the street, Benny watched the black Jeep pull out of Bruce’s gas station and head out of town
. He squinted his eyes to see better. One of these days he was going to have to break down and take the time to go and get some damn glasses. He sighed. His age was starting to catch up with him and he didn’t have time for this crap. He was so close to getting even with everybody in this pit of a town and having everything he ever wanted. He took a drag off his cigarette. “You know, Lee, I don’t like the idea of that kook, Herman, talking to the town psychic so much.”  He knocked the ashes off his cigarette out the window. “I have a feeling we’re going to have to keep an eye on that situation and do something about him. He’s getting too far out there. Maybe we should pay him a visit just to remind him he’s not alone.”  He puffed on his cigarette and then burst out in laughter. Then he started whistling the theme from The X Files.

“
Yeah, we could do that after work.”  Lee slurped his drink and started speaking with his mouth full. “Are we gonna do it tonight?” he mumbled.

Deep in thought, Benny took another long drag on his cigarette and stared after Kole’s Jeep
. “Yeah. Be ready to go. We’ll fly low over his house tonight if I can get the rotating lights to work right on the copter.”  Benny laughed again. “Let’s scare the crap out of him. Did you see the look he gave us the other day at the cafe. I didn’t like that one bit.”

“
He’s a dickweed. Let’s do it,” said Lee.

“
And maybe we should pay that psychic a visit as well. I wonder if she’s afraid of the dark like most folks in this pock mark of a town.”

“
Nah, I doubt it. Being a psychic she can talk to ghosts and all that stuff.”  Lee sipped his coke and munched on potato chips getting crumbs all up and down the front of his High Mountain Array work shirt. “She’s harmless, nobody pays much attention to her. Everybody thinks she’s a nutcase, too.”  He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

“
You might be right, but we have too much at stake to take any chances. After all, she is the sheriff’s daughter. We’ll keep an eye on her as well, just in case she’s the real deal and knows something.” 

He’d fought too long and too hard to let anything or anybody get in his way at this stage of the game
. This hick town of Sweetwater, Colorado and the Array owed his family big time and he was making them all pay. Stealing the gold was just the beginning. Not being a man of many words, he let the subject of Elle drop. The only sound was Lee crunching his chips. He glanced in his direction. Sure, the man was a pig, but he was his pig. Not too bright, but he made up for it with his loyalty and brawn.

In the gold mine he needed Lee’s strength
. And besides all that, Lee was like putty in his hands, malleable if he should ever need him to do the dirty work.
No way will I
let that idiot Herman or that snip of a girl destroy all I’ve worked for. She’s just one more bug to squash
. He tossed the stub out the window and drove out of the driveway and headed in the same direction as the black Jeep. He was curious to see where they were headed and followed at a safe distance always keeping a couple of car lengths between them. They didn’t have a clue that they were being followed.

“
Where do you think they’re going, Boss?”  Lee crumbled his potato chip bag in a ball and tossed it out the window.

“
What did you do that for?”  Benny’s voice shook with rage as he yelled at Lee. “You know how I feel about littering.”

“
Oh sorry, Boss. I forgot.”  He hung his head in shame.

“
Don’t let me see it happen again. You know we only have one Earth and we have to take care of it. There’s enough other people out there throwing trash around abusing our place to live. You don’t have to add to it.”

“
Yeah, Boss, you’re right. It won’t happen again. I’m sorry.”

“
All right, see that it doesn’t.”  He sighed. “I think they might be going out to Red Rock Canyon or the Array. They already passed the junction to Colorado Springs so they ain’t going there.”

“
I wonder what they’re gonna do way out there. There’s nothing there unless they’re gonna take the tour at the Array.”

Just then he watched the black Jeep turn off just above Red Rock Canyon
. “So that’s where they’re going. I do remember that busybody waitress saying some guy was here from Denver taking pictures for some magazine.” 

“
I bet that’s what they’re up to.”  Lee sucked the last drop of his drink through his straw making a slurping noise. He placed the empty cup on the floor of the van.

“
Good. If they’re doing that, they’ll stay out of our way.”  Benny watched them getting out of the Jeep in his rear view mirror. Tonight would be soon enough to scare the daylights out of them all.

* * *

“I want to get some shots from a distance before we take the tour,” Kole said and pulled off the road. “From here the disks look majestic.”  Once out of the car, he started snapping pictures. All of a sudden the hairs stood on the back of his neck. His ancestors were calling to him. This was the right area. He stood on the mountain top framing the High Mountain Array in his lens. Twenty-seven snow-white huge disks stood like sentinels slightly turned upward, facing west with a brilliant blue Colorado sky above them. Elle and Sara watched as he pretended to be lost in his work. But what he wanted . . . needed to find were the ancient markings his people had left behind.

Kole gazed out over the countryside and took more pictures
. Everything here was so different from his home. Blue skies, bright sunshine and a surplus supply of oxygen was incredible. He inhaled and took a deep breath. The environment on his home planet, Mars, had been destroyed and his people had to live underground. Sure, there were false skies, trees, plants and waterfalls underneath their dome, but it was nothing compared to Earth—the real thing.

When Elle turned away, he took a picture of her
. He didn't say he wouldn't take any pictures of her. He said he wouldn't take any pictures of her for the magazine.
I want to remember my experience here on planet Earth, every moment
with
her before she learns the truth about me.
When he was near her, there was this tug on his soul as if he were being drawn to her. He had been warned, but hadn’t expected the attraction to be so strong. The constant struggle to keep his relationship with her strictly platonic was top priority in his mind.

On Mars there was no such thing as sex, not in the sense of the physical coupling that he so desired with
Elle. Generations were created by test tube births. Male and female were paired genetically, then linked together after maturity to form a loosely regulated, monogamous family unit.

Now that he was here on Earth there was so much he wanted to do
. It was one thing to study and read about the Earthlings and quite another to experience exactly what a human male was feeling toward a woman.

Feeling his gaze upon her, Elle turned to watch him work
. “Are you getting some nice shots.”

“
As you said, this is a beautiful spot. I think the best pictures will be taken from a distance.”  He pointed his camera toward the valley below them trying to pull his thoughts back to his mission. When she was around he had a hard time concentrating.

“
True.”  She looked out over the telescopes filling the valley floor alongside the large red sandstones rising up from the ground. The sparsely spaced pine trees and sage brush sprouted here and there among the sandstone.

Kole came over to her side, forcing himself to remember why he was here
. “Want to go exploring and find those caves?”  The first part of his mission was at hand. He had to find the markings and get in the caves. He couldn't let this beautiful Earthling distract him.

“
Sure, let me ask Sara if she wants to go.”  She ran over to where Sara sunned herself on a large rock. “Hey, do you want to go exploring? Kole wants to try to see the caves.”

“
No, you go ahead. I'm feeling quite content sitting here reading and enjoying the sun. It's been ages since I've had the time to sit and do nothing. I feel like a lazy cat. Go and enjoy yourselves.”  She winked at Elle. “We can have our picnic when you get back.”

“
Okay, we’ll probably be gone an hour or so. See you in a bit.”  Elle walked back to where Kole stood, snapping pictures.

“
Come on, Kole, we go this way.”  She pointed toward a towering red sandstone rock in the distance shaped like a crooked finger.

Instinctively, he raised his camera and took a photo of her before she could notice
.

“
Great, I want to get some shots of those caves,” he said and snapped more pictures of flowers, plants and a rabbit running over the rocks. “Look at that big red sandstone rock surrounded by the flowers.”  He pointed toward it. “That makes a nice contrast.”  He strolled through the field with his camera clicking, loving being carefree on Earth. He’d put Elle at ease so now he could ask more important questions.

“
Isn't it somewhere near here where the sightings happened?”  He felt her tense for a second before she relaxed.

“
Yes, over off of Drifter's Ridge, a couple of miles from here.”  She pointed toward the red rocks in the distance. “Many of the caves in the red rocks area have strange markings on them. Some say, aliens put them there thousands of years ago.”

She had no idea how close she was to the truth
. On the starship he had studied those markings and knew them by heart. He would be able to read them. They were his guide. “I’d like to get a picture of those.” 

“
Sure, they’re up this way.”  She walked in front of him. “I’ll show you.”

He couldn’t let her know how much he needed to see the markings and the caves
. “So there's been talk about aliens around here for a long time?”  His whole body tingled. He didn’t have to be psychic to feel the vibrations from his ancestors. He was in the right place. He could feel the magnetic pull. The markings would lead him to the remains of the last failed expedition to Earth. His heart thumped in excitement at being so close to his destination.

“
Yes. There are lots of stories about sightings, abductions and the like. Especially, since the High Mountain Array was built.”  She sighed. “Some of the locals say the aliens are being drawn here to the big array of antennas.”

“
What do you think?”  He wanted to hear her opinion.

“
Me? I think there's something to it. There have been more sightings in the last few years.”

“
By the way, I’ve heard you’re psychic.” 

For one moment, she froze in her tracks and stared at him, her face unreadable
.

He raised his eyes to hers and spoke slowly
. “Is it true?”

Before she answered, she stumbled on some loose gravel almost falling
. Catching herself, she responded, her brilliant green eyes defiant. “Where did you hear that? Or should I say whom did you hear it from?” 

He thought her knees might buckle as she walked shakily toward a big rock and sat there.

“Liz, at the diner.”  He sat next to her, waiting for the reaction to come.

With her face burning, she looked away and sighed
.

He knew the surge of blood to her face was caused by feelings of embarrassment since it had already happened to him about the clothes he had worn the first night he had landed on the planet
. They were sorely outdated and had made him stand out instead of blending in. Magazines at the bed and breakfast had set him straight and shown him the error of his ways.

“
Well, with Liz, that explains it.”  She took a deep breath and seemed to be collecting her thoughts then turned back to him. “You see, every time something unusual happens I’m always to blame.”  She sat there and gazed out over her surroundings probably not seeing anything. “And of course, she insists I know all about aliens.”

Kole simply listened till she talked it out
. Then he gently turned her face toward him so she could look into his eyes. “Elle, you shouldn’t let Liz or anyone else upset you about your abilities. You should celebrate yourself, your uniqueness, your special gift.”

She seemed to be caught off guard by his response
. “You believe in psychics?” she asked in a quiet whisper.

“
Yes. Absolutely.”  What was not to believe? It was second nature for his people to use their sixth sense.

“
Well, for the most part, I don’t.”  She gritted her teeth and nearly spit out the words. “Most of them are kooks.”  Frustrated, her voice was low, a sexy sound that made her seem more vulnerable. She calmed a bit and sighed. “However, some people are for real and do have these abilities.”  She shrugged. “I happen to be one of them.”