Aliens Are Real: Part 2 (2 page)

Jasmine felt Yumi watching her
pace
. The friendly alien said nothing
for a minute
, making the silence worse
.
“It is
my
job to learn as much as possible about what motivates your species.”

Jasmine scrunched her nose in dis
d
ain
.
“Why?”

Yumi shrugged.
“So that
we
can understand your people more fully.
If there comes a time when it is deemed prudent to make our presence known,
we
need to know how to talk to your leaders.”

“Take
me
t
o your leader.
” Jasmine
mocked in mono-tone
as she mimed a
robot impression.
She felt a giggle trying to force its way up her throat from the hysteria she
kept
squashed down
into her gut
.
A glance at Yumi’s cocked eyebrow and squinted eyes showed that the cultural reference was lost on her friend.

“Honorio is down
stairs
,
but why do you want to talk to him and what is wrong with your voice?”

“
I
was being silly.
You know, the whole you’re an alien, you want to tal
k to leaders of the country,
classic alien talk ..
. never mind.”
Jasmine looked down at her feet, embarrassed.
Obviously, Yumi didn’t watch the science fiction channel
s
on her
television

Yumi clasped her hands together. “You
are so fascinating
Jasmine
.
”

Jasmine wandered back to Yumi’s bed.
“Um.
Thanks?
”
S
he
sat
on the bed
facing the bookshelves where she first encountered Yumi in
her
true form
.

“You are most welcome.
”

“So why did you want
me
to come over?”
Jasmine
asked as
she
sat next to her.

“To talk.”

Jasmine folded her legs onto Yumi’s bed and faced her.
“Really?
Just to chat?”

“Yes.
Is that not acceptable?”

“No, it’s fine.
I
guess
I
don’t understand why you defy your group
and are nice to me when everyone else hates me
.”
She picked at a sma
ll ball of lint
.

Yumi briefly touched Jasmine’s hand.
“
They do not hate you.
The problem is they do not understand you.
We each have a role.
Mine is to understand humans.
Honorio is our leader, Tyrone is brilliant, Joseph is known for his agility and
s
tealth
, Malika is our security.”

“That’s why she went
bouncer on
me
earlier
?
”
Jasmine
rubbed
her
shoulder
.

“She takes her role very seriously.”

“You
know what I don’t understand?” She paused. “
Why are you masquerading as teenagers? If I could take any form I wanted, I’d be an adult. They have all the power. You can get credit cards, make tons of money,
and do
what ever you want to do without someone watching over your shoulder. As a teen, you have to study dumb stuff, do homework,
and obey
rules. There’s no power.”
Jasmine
waited for an answer.

Yumi thought for a minute then answered carefully. “Being teenagers was not part of the plan. We found ourselves in need of a cover quickly and used the first sources we encountered.
An added benefit is no one would look
for an alien amongst teenagers.”

Jasmine chuckled.
“So we ended up meeting
by
accident?”

“Yes, in a way.”

“Why don’t you just become adults
now
?”

“We have considered changing. Our hope is to leave soon and make creating new ide
ntities unnecessary.”

“It can’t be that hard
. Just grab some hairs and be done wit
h it.”

“It is more complex than you might think. We can’t absorb just anyone’s DNA. Certain strands react poorly with our
energy
frequencies
. We can make guesses by running tests but mostly it’s convenient to find one DNA source
that works
then
stick with it.”

The memories from
the
previous
night
f
looded back into Jasmine’s mind;
Following the group, seeing Tyrone change into a ball of energy, watching the group rummaging through the bags of the musicians from the International Youth Symphony, the kiss
...
Jasmine shook her head, determined not to think
about
The Kiss
.

“So why did you have to get hair brushes from the
Quest
Center
since
you
obviously
already have DNA sources?”

“Well, something about our natural body’s energy breaks down the samples we use.
” Yumi sighed.
“
When they s
tart breaking down, we get sick.
”

“Which is what’s happening to you?”

Yumi nodded. Jasmine studied her face. She did look sick with pale skin and dark circles under her eyes. Jasmine’s heart hurt seeing her friend so miserable. She
wanted to reach out and hug the
petite
girl
to make everything better somehow.

Jasmine shook her head as though to shake off an enchantment. How much did she really know about these aliens? She didn’t spend that much time with Yumi so why was she so invested? She scooted away from the girl.

“Yumi, do you guys have mind-
control devices?”

Yumi blinked. “What?”

“You know, some device that makes people do what you want?”

The sound of
wind chimes
rang through the room as Yumi laughed. Tears sprang
from
her eyes as she shook with mirth. Her laughter devolved into coughs and Jasmine felt drawn to help, to put her arm around the alien’s pretend body.

She
started to reach out, but stopped herself before making contact.
“I don’t see what
’s so funny.”

“I could ask the
same
question of you.
Do
you
have a mind-
control
device?” Yumi scrunched her eyebrows together.

The change from laughter to concern confused Jasmine.

Yumi assumed an air of wistfulness.
“You are a mystery to me. From the first day we met in Art class, I have felt as though we
were born on the same frequency.
”

Jasmine nodded. “I feel like I grew up with you.”

“I don’t understand
how
, but you a
re different from other humans and
I wa
nt to know why.
”

She
fidgeted as Yumi
stared
,
as
though boring in
to her soul.
Jasmine
stood and paced
in front of the bed
again
.
The whole situation was ridicu
lous –straight out of a science-
fiction show.

Her temper flared
.
“You make it soun
d like I’m special
or something.
”

Yumi nodded once, abruptly.
“Precisely.”

“Yeah, maybe if being totally boring is special.”

Jasmine wished she had something to throw against the wall.
Nothing about her was extr
aordinary. She didn’t do sports.
S
he didn’t play in any bands
.
S
he didn’t dance
.
S
he didn’t do anything that anyone would find interesting. If she were special, her father wouldn’t ignore her and
drag her
all over the country all the time.
He might take her feelings about being ripped from home after home into consideration before
requesting
each new assignment with the Air Force.
If she were really special h
e might
even
trust her e
nough to tell her what he did for the government
.

Yumi interrupted Jasmine’s thoughts.
“I
c
an
see that you are upset. Why?”

Jasmine stopped
pacing. “Why
? You don’t know why this is
so
upsetting?”

Yumi shook her head no.

“It’s because of this whole thing. You, an alien, on earth. Me, a human, meeting you. Then, you’re like my best friend instantly. How? This is so weird!”
She threw her hands up in the air then flopped on Yumi’s bed face-down. Her frustration chased away her discomfort at being in the alien’s room.
The thoughts about her dad flew through her mind but she couldn’t say them out loud. She wasn’t
so pathetic
that she would make an alien try to tell her that her father loved her.
“
Why me?” S
he
turned
her head to look at Yumi.

“I wish I had an answer for you. All I know is that you
are
my best friend and my safety and the safety of my team is in your hands.
”

Jasmine rolled on her back and looked at the ceiling. Her frustration was spent. It helped that Yu
mi was as clueless as she
.
A thought occurred to her
as she traced the swirls in the ceiling with her eyes
.

“You know, I’m probably breaking
a law or something. N
ational security
and all that.
”

Yumi nodded, her face grave.

“So how much longer are you going to be here?”
Jasmine asked.

“Not much longer. We just need a little more
research
and then we can go home.”

“And you’re not capturing humans, cutting them open then vaporizing them?”

Yumi’s jaw dropped open.
“Of course not!
I am merely observing.”

“Okay.”

Jasmine looked at Y
umi who sat with perfect posture on her bed. Her clothes were neatly pressed and her hair was pulled back into a tight bu
n. She looked so stiff and grown-up
.

“You know you’re not very teen-ager-ish, right?”

Yumi sat up
even
straighter. “What do you mean?”

“Well, you talk like adults; w
eird,
overly-proper
adults. You know, you say ‘I am’ instead of ‘I’m’. ‘You are.’ ‘There is.’ Have you heard of contractions?”

Yumi thought for a moment. “I suppose we concentrated on learning proper English, not the nuances.”

“
Maybe
learn how to slur your words some
if you want to fit in better
. Also;
your posture. Teenagers slouch a lot.”

Yumi hunched her shoulders but kept her back straight
and pulled her chin in
.

The
turtle-like
stance caused Jasmine to laugh.
“No, relax your spine.”

Yumi collapsed forward, assuming a hunchback posture.

Jasmine smiled and shook her head.
“Um, that’s not quite right either. Watch me.”

Jasmine slouched slightly into a comfortable position. Yumi watched her carefully and tried to imitate her but fell short of a comfortable looking pose.

“W
atch a bunch of TV
and observe how the teenagers stand. Then try to copy it in the mirror.”