How to Date an Alien (20 page)

“Now you’re going to deploy your flaps at
ninety degrees,” he yelled into the communicator, trying to keep up
with me as he hurried down the runway.

I found the switch for the wings and let them
out. “Check.”

“Now you are going to go full stick and once
you’re up to about sixty, you’re going to pull back on the throttle
and go airborne,” he yelled breathlessly as he stopped following
me.

I closed my eyes while everything moved in
slow motion. I pushed on the gas and opened my eyes just as the
RPMs went up to sixty. Pulling the throttle as hard as I could, I
let out a sigh of relief when I felt the wheels tuck away and the
plane start heading toward the sky.

Malcolm, Justin, and Jen cheered from the
ground. “Congrats, Juliet, I think you just earned your wings.”

“Yeah." I swallowed hard and watched the
ground below me get farther and farther away as the plane traveled
higher into the clouds. Hopefully I wouldn't lose my wings on the
same day that I earned them.

“So isn’t 120,000 feet kind of high for a
regular plane?" The desert floor disappeared below me and all I
could see was the blue sky and tiny puffs of clouds.

I heard Malcolm laugh at the other end of the
communicator. “Do you really think that Circe has normal
planes?”

“Touché.”

I looked around, hoping to see some signs of
life in the sky. Even though Circe and the surrounding area had a
pretty restricted air space, I still expected to see something as I
accelerated into the air. The clouds disappeared and I was
surrounded by a sea of blue sky, the same blue as my little
brother's eyes. I wondered if I would ever see him again. I didn't
have a plan for what I would do once I was in the air, but I knew
where the entrance to the ship was. I hoped somehow I could get in
and eventually get out. I didn't know what would happen if I
couldn't, how my dad would tell my mom, and how on Earth she would
explain it to Elijah. He had cried, clinging to my leg, when I left
for the airport and begged me not to go. Tears welled up in my eyes
when I considered that the airport would be the last time I would
see my little brother.

I was knocked out of my reminiscent daze by a
call over the plane’s radio. “We are asking that all troops retreat
back to Circe. I repeat, we ask that all remaining troops return to
Circe.”

“Juliet, this is Big Poppa. It looks like
something went down up there. Are you alright?" Malcolm called over
my communicator.

“Yeah, I’m fine, I don’t see—" I stopped,
catching my breath as I saw four small black W-shaped planes
heading toward me.

“Crap,” I yelled. “What do I use to
shoot?”

“There should be a small button on the
control stick," Malcolm said as calmly as he could, but I could
hear Jen asking questions in the background.

I looked down to see a small button on the
side of the control stick. I pressed it as fast as I could and
moved the stick from side to side, figuring that was what I did in
video games, so it might work on a real plane. Too bad video games
weren’t like real life.

My plane started spinning into barrel rolls
as missiles screeched out of the nose of the plane. Some of them
hit the targets, but mostly the other planes just got out of my way
to avoid me spinning into them. I shrieked each time my plane came
charging toward another one, afraid I might crash into them and
leave both of us stuck in the sand below. I jerked the control
stick, thinking that might steady me out, but it just caused me to
move faster and spin even harder. Droplets of sweat started to drip
down from my forehead and into my eyelashes. I shook my head,
trying to keep the sweat out of my eyes and to figure out what I
needed to do to get away from the ships and stop spinning.

“Juliet, this is Big Poppa, do you read me?
Your plane is out of control. You need to release the control
stick," Malcolm yelled over the communicator.

I let go of the control stick and the plane
finished its last rotation, putting me right-side up. “I think I
may vom.”

“This isn’t some rollercoaster ride; this is
the real deal.”

I pressed my palm to my forehead, hoping that
would make my dizziness stop. “You don’t have to tell me
twice.”

The sky ahead of me was blocked by a dark
blue triangle that glowed like an icy orb against the backdrop of
the setting sun. It was almost beautiful as it loomed over the
clouds with such force and presence that it made me gasp. The ship
had to be a few miles long and maybe even that wide, with a mass
that I was sure could crush my tiny plane in an instant.

“Are you sure you're ready for this?" Malcolm
called again.

As I crept closer to the massive ship, a
swarm of Circe drones came toward me, whizzing by and making my
plane teeter back and forth.

“Soldier, what are you doing? Fall back, fall
back,” a voice came over the plane’s radio.

I looked over to see Circe planes on either
side of me, the pilots staring right at me. I shook my head, not
answering the radio, too afraid that my dad might recognize my
voice.

“Don’t be a hero, soldier. This is no time to
go rogue. She’s already taken down half of our planes. We don’t
want to lose another man,” the voice called again, in a hazy
two-pack-a-day tone.

I glared right at the plane to my right and
took all the courage I could muster to speak into the plane’s
radio. “Well, then I guess it's about time you sent in a woman to
finish the job."

I left the pilot staring as I pulled back on
the throttle and rose higher, accelerating to full speed toward the
ship.

“Alexandra, is that you?" dad called over the
plane’s radio.

“I think our cover’s been blown," Malcolm
mumbled over my wrist communicator.

“Alex? Listen to me. I know you want to save
Ace, but the best plan right now is to let the soldiers do their
job." Dad tried his best sympathetic tone, but he couldn't control
the urgency in his voice. "You don't know what you're up against.
You need to turn back right now."

I shook my head, not taking my eyes off the
giant Circe ship. It looked even bigger than I thought. My plane
seemed like it was a tiny fly compared to the massive vehicle in
front of me.

“Dad, please understand this is just
something that I have to do. You would do the same thing if you
were in my place.”

“Alex, I am a trained colonel. I have years
of experience and I would never go in without backup. If you just
come down we can talk this over and see what we can negotiate with
the queen.”

I shook my head again, sucking in a huge
chunk of air through my mask. “What do you think will happen if we
try and negotiate with the queen? Have you ever tried to negotiate
with an evil dictator before? Ace never backed down all those times
he put himself in danger to save me, and now I have to do the same
for him.”

Dad sighed into the radio. “Alex, you’ve
never flown a plane. How do you plan on landing?”

“I’d like to know that one myself,” Malcolm
added. “I never did teach you that part.”

I gulped. I hadn’t even thought about landing
or even where I would land. Before I could even consider how I
would get that far, another set of smaller Caltian drones came
barreling toward me. They were so fast that they were next to me in
an instant. But instead of shooting at me, they were herding me
like cattle, trying to bring me closer to the bigger ship.

“What the hell is going on up there?" Malcolm
asked, the panic rising in his voice.

“I have no idea." I looked into the other
ships, only able to see the wicked smiles of the Caltian
pilots.

“Try spinning again; see if that helps,"
Malcolm yelled.

I shook the control stick back and forth as
fast as I could, sending my plane into a headfirst spiral right
toward the opening of the ship. But my spiraling didn’t stop the
Caltian pilots this time. They just circled me closer, the blades
of my plane colliding with theirs as we went at lightning-fast
speed toward the bigger ship. I let go of the control stick, my
ship came to a halt. All of the lights turned off inside the plane
and I heard Malcolm’s panicked voice over my wrist
communicator.

“Alex, are you there? Are you alright? You
went off the radar.”

“Yeah." I started pushing different buttons,
hoping something would turn on as the Caltian drones circled even
closer. Their wings were pressed against my plane, pulling me
toward the bigger ship.

“I'm trying, but nothing is turning back
on.”

I tried not to freak out and moved the
control stick and throttle, trying to shake away from the Caltian
drones, but my plane wouldn’t budge. My plane headed straight for
the opening of the bigger ship and I knew at that moment there was
no turning back.

I slowly opened my eyes to see five sets of
dark Caltian orbs staring at me through my plane's canopy.

"It's time to come out, Alexandra. We don't
want to hurt you," one of them cooed, his lips curling into a smile
that rivaled the Grinch.

I couldn't see anything past those eyes and
started wondering how I was going to escape. Something poked into
my back and I remembered the gun in the back of my belt. I heard
the scratching at the side of my canopy and knew they would have
the hatch open soon. Without looking away, I slowly slid the gun
out of the back of my belt, cradling it behind me and holding my
breath as one of the Caltians finally got the canopy open.

Five pairs of gloved hands reached for me.
Before they could grab me, I thrust my foot forward and kicked one
of them in the head. He flew backward and off the plane. The others
reached farther, their gloved fingertips only a few centimeters
from my face. I threw my hand out from behind my back and caught
another one off balance, knocking him off the plane. I was still
out numbered three to one, and before I could pull the trigger on
my gun, one of the Caltians knocked it from my hand. Another
grabbed me by the hair and dragged me out of the plane.

I screamed, kicking my legs and waving my
arms, trying to hit the guy dragging me. He made sure that I hit
every step on the way down. A sharp pain stabbed me in the back and
I realized that I still had two other weapons that could be of use.
I reached around to the back of my belt and pulled out the Carrie.
The Caltian looked down to see what I was doing. I squeezed a large
glob of red liquid into his face. He squawked and released his grip
on me to claw at his eyes.

The two other Caltians came rushing toward
me, pushing the guy who was rubbing his eyes out of the way. They
crouched down in front of me; their lips peeled back to reveal
sharp white teeth as they hissed.

"What, are you all part cat or something?" I
cocked an eyebrow and held the Carrie out in front of me.

That just aggravated the Caltians more and
one of them lurched at me, swiping at the Carrie. A huge pool of
red liquid floated into the air before the Carrie fell to the
ground. I slid to the left, avoiding being hit with any of the
liquid. I looked over to see that the two Caltians were back in
their crouching position; their eyes narrowed into tiny slits as
they lunged in my direction. I quickly reached around my belt and
pulled out the freezeray, pointing it at them. "Don't step any
closer, or I'll shoot."

They cackled. "Another human contraption? Do
you really think that's going to stop us?"

"Yep." I pressed the freezeray's button,
shooting a cool blue steam that instantly left the two Caltians
looking like ice sculptures. I smiled and ran in the other
direction. I had a brief idea where certain parts of the ship were
located and thought I could find some hiding places on my way to
find Ace.

I started running down the landing pad and
farther into the ship when I ran face-first into a dark object that
I thought was a wall. I turned to move to the left when a pair of
ice cold hands grabbed me by both shoulders. I fumbled to press the
freezeray button when another pair of hands came out and knocked it
from my grip.

Crap
.

The two sets of hands belonged to more
Caltians, who were stronger than the last five and instantly had me
wrestled to the ground. One of them stuck a small needle in my arm,
a dark blue liquid pushed through my veins, making my body tingle
all over before it went completely numb. They then grabbed me by
the hair and started venturing deeper into the ship.

"What do you want from me?" I yelled as they
dragged me across a cold metal floor. The room grew darker and
darker as they dragged me farther into the ship. I looked up to
catch glimpses of Caltians hanging over small metal balconies.
Their laughter filled the darkness as I went from the ship's large
landing area and down dark hallways that were lit only by tiny
glowing lights that lined the copper walls.

The two Caltians joined in on the others'
laughs. "Oh, human girls, they are so insignificant." One of the
Caltians looked back at me with a wicked smile crossing his face.
"The queen has given us orders to keep you alive, but we'll see how
long that lasts."

I tried to kick and break my arms free from
their grasp, but my body was completely numb. I couldn't move
anything below my neck, but I could feel everything as they dragged
me through a small doorway and into a room that was colder than any
Illinois winter.

"The queen wants you to wait in here," one of
the Caltians said and pressed a button, letting a large steel cage
fall around me. It was so small that I couldn't move from my
sitting position and wouldn't have room to stand. "We're sure that
you'll be very comfortable."

The two of them let out a laugh that sent
chills through my body. They turned off the dim lights, so that I
was left in a darkness that felt like something from my
nightmares.