Wanted: Handsome Alien Abductor (6 page)

Still, it was hard to watch the Allosaurus rip into the other dinosaur with clawed feet, and then tear chunks from its screaming, thrashing body. Amber finally looked away.

"It's okay,” he said softly. “Remember, they can't see, hear, or smell us."

An ear-splitting roar that literally shook the ground, made her freeze in place. Stiffly, she swiveled, and squealed at the sight of a huge T-Rex standing no more than 30 feet from them. Its fierce eyes looked right at her, in spite of what Ryja said about them being invisible.

Amber tried to run, but ended up stumbling. She barely maintained her feet. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Ryja moving swiftly toward her. He pressed buttons on the black box as he moved next to her. Their shields merged and then he reached for her.

Her legs were quaking and she took a step and fell to her knees, dragging Ryja with her. He flipped his body, landing on the bottom. “We're safe. They can't harm us in the shields."

Rubbing her back, he seemed to be waiting for something, and after she calmed a smidgen, Amber realized it was for her to stop shaking. She stared at him. “Thanks for saving my butt from the hard ground."

"Can't say it did me any good,” he groaned, but his mischievous grin told her he was kidding. “Better?” At her nod, he gave her a quick peck on the nose.

Her trembling subsided, but Amber clutched his waist as the mammoth beast headed their way. “It seemed to be looking right at us."

Sitting up, he pulled her to sit beside him. “We're just in his line of sight."

Amber turned in his arms and gasped. Another T. Rex stood twitching its tail, its neck outstretched in a roar. They were directly between the two. “Can we move back,” she whispered. In spite of Ryja's assurances, she felt exposed.

Standing up quickly, they walked backwards, and had only moved a few feet when the dinosaur nearest them charged. His large thigh brushed their shield and it spun in a circle, then backwards. It stopped after a few rotations and Amber stumbled, bringing Ryja down with her.

This time she landed on her butt. She couldn't believe she'd fallen twice.

A quick kiss to her mouth and he said, “At least we're out of their path now."

Amber didn't care for his flippant attitude or his wide grin. Her heart was hammering against her ribs. Regardless of Ryja's confidence in the shield's invulnerability, it had appeared they were about to be trampled by a 12 foot monstrosity.

While all these muddled thoughts were in her head, Ryja was sitting beside her, rubbing her back. Amber found she was relaxing. Was that all it took, a few back rubs from him?

"Feel better?"

She realized this was not the time to self-gripe about controlling her fear. Amber appreciated his gentle smile and nodded. The ground shaking roars drew their attention back to the dinosaurs. Ryja stood and drew her up beside him, keeping his arms about her waist.

The T. Rexs’ were snapping at each other, roaring, and circling one another. So far it was a lot of aggressive display. Without warning, the larger dinosaur lunged at the other one, taking a bite out of its shoulder. It jumped back out of reach as the wounded Tyrannosaurus Rex snapped.

The smaller one seemed more angry than hurt and ran at the bigger one, knocking it down. Immediately it jumped, gripping its larger opponent by the throat.

Amber gasped, wondering if David was about to slay Goliath in the dinosaur world. But then the big T. Rex raked the smaller one's stomach with its long, clawed back feet.

The severely wounded dinosaur released the other T.Rex's throat and shrieked in pain. The big beast jumped to its feet as if its bloody neck didn't hurt, and ripped his attackers wounded stomach. Long shreds of red meat was torn from its belly.

Amber looked away, feeling sorry for the smaller dinosaur. She put her hands over her ears, trying to cut out its screams. Unexpectedly there was total quiet. She glanced at Ryja. She'd forgotten he could control noise, and even odors.

"Better?"

"Yes, thank you.” She knew he was recording the event, and she hoped she hadn't ruined it for him.

"I'm going to beam us back."

"I've messed up your report."

"Don't be silly. I can come back later and record the whole fight."

Amber turned and wrapped her arms around his waist. The push back was less

stressful, maybe because she was clinging onto Ryja. Once back in the jump room, her legs felt like jelly. The experience with the warring T. Rexs’ had been terrifying and upsetting. She was startled by the abrupt appearance of the empty shield on the second pad. Amber had forgotten about it.

"You need something to eat,” he said gently.

"I don't think I could."

Ryja took one of her hands after they changed, strolling with her to the dining room. The garden scene was still there, and he didn't alter it. Amber knew it was due to her loving it so much. A warm glow spread through her, warming her chilled skin. He was being so sweet and thoughtful.

Ryja pulled out a chair for her. Almost immediately, Mica came through the hidden door carrying a tray. He had impeccable timing. When he set the tray down, Amber had to admit it looked scrumptious. One platter was piled with finger sandwiches, the other with bite sized assortment of fruits. Her stomach growled.

"Please,” Mica waved a hand with gracious ease. “I sweated and slaved over these little sandwiches."

Amber couldn't imagine the android sweating and didn't know if he could. Then she realized he was joking and glanced up at him. There was the slightest smile at the corners of his perfect lips.

She smiled back and picked up one sandwich, and took a bite as he watched. Cucumber. “It's delicious.” She finished it in two bites, then picked up two more with different mixtures inside. One was tuna, while the other was bacon and cheese. She looked over at Ryja, who was eating with gusto. His plate was filled with little sandwiches.

Three more sandwiches later, her stomach was content. But there was still room for dessert. She selected one each of the juicy looking fruits. There were large strawberries, pineapple, peach, pear, apple, melon, and cantaloupe. They were fresh and tasted home grown. She suspected from her conversation at breakfast, Mica had bought these fruit from a farmer's market.

After lunch, Ryja told her he was going back to record the dinosaurs fighting. Amber was wondering what she'd do while he was gone, and when she expressed this, he took her to a small room.

Two comfy looking chairs sat near the far wall, with a delicate table between them. The room had blank white walls but then Ryja said, “English library,” and the room sprang to life.

Three walls were filled floor to ceiling with columned bookcases, packed with books, while the fourth wall had a fireplace with a crackling fire. On either side, more books and shelves filled the space, while the chairs were placed on either side of the fireplace. A small object, that looked like a book sat on the table.

"The library."

"I see.” Amber walked toward the chairs. “It's amazing, but I wished those were real books."

He strolled over to the table and picked up the thin, metal piece, about the size of a Kindle. Ryja handed it to her. “Better than a library of books."

"It's an electronic book?"

He nodded. “But more advanced of course."

"How does it work?"

"Say the name of a book."

"The Good Earth.” The screen on the eEader popped to life, and a list appeared. The titles were all The Good Earth, but after each it said what language it was available in.

"English,” Ryja spoke.

The list cut down to a short one, with availability in Braille and large print.

"English, normal print,” Amber stated, understanding the system now.

The book tile page popped up. “Neat. But how does it know to turn the page?"

"Two ways. Either say
turn page
, at which the page flipped to the first page of the novel. Or read down the page.” He grinned at her. “Go ahead, read."

Amber was a fast reader, and when she read the last word, the page flipped to page two.

"Wow."

"It's pretty simple,” Ryja said. “If you want to go back say
previous page
. The reader responded by going back to page one. “You can also ask the book for written or spoken instructions."

"How do you search for books?"

"Kind of like your search engines on the web. You like history, so let's do a search.” He paused, then said, “Search Earth history, Jurassic period."

A long list appeared, and catching on, Amber said, “Page two.” When the next page of lists came up, she said, “Predators of the Jurassic.” The book she wanted became highlighted, and then the table page popped up.

"Ryja, thank you. I certainly won't get bored."

[Back to Table of Contents]

Smiling, he took his leave. Amber spent almost an hour simply looking around the massive book list. She finally chose a book about Washington she'd been wanting to read.

After a few hours she was ready for something less text book like, and chose a romance. She was deeply engrossed in the novel and didn't even notice the door opening. Ryja stood there.

"You hungry?"

Amber put the high-tech book down reluctantly and realized her stomach was grumbling. “It's dinner time already.” It wasn't a question, but a statement. She joined him at the door. When Ryja stuck out his elbow, she slipped her hand into the crook.

Upon entering the dining room, Amber was pleasantly surprised by the table setting. An elegant white tablecloth was draped over it, while a silver candelabra sat in the center. The lighting was subdued, with only the five pronged centerpiece throwing light on the table.

"I think Mica's a romantic,” she commented as Ryja pulled out her chair.

When he smiled, she realized it was Ryja's doing.

"
Arrak
scene at sunset."

She gasped as Ryja's homeland appeared on the walls, at least a small part. They were surrounded on three walls by craggy mountains. It was impossible to tell their color, for they were shadowy brown and black shades. The fourth wall was a deep purple ocean, its spray crashing against a rocky shore.

The sky was black except for a huge moon over one of the mountains, and a deep magneta over the ocean. A spectacular sunset strewn with yellow, rose, green and orange spread across the whole wall above the water. It could have been a sunset on Earth except for the large size of the moon, and the bold colors of the sunset.

She realized the midnight sky was sprinkled with dozens of tiny stars. Nothing in the constellation looked familiar. Her uncle Herb had been interested in astronomy, and she had watched the night sky many a time with him. She had become familiar with Earth's constellations.

Ryja had sat silent while she gazed around. “It's so beautiful."

"Wait to you see the daylight scenes."

Mica chose that moment to enter. This time the door was hidden between the mountain ranges and impossible to spot. Amber's mouth watered as a fragrant odor drifted toward them. Setting the tray on the side table, he took her plate and started filling it.

When Mica set the plate in front of her, Amber's stomach growled loudly. A large lobster tail with butter dripping off the sides, took up most of the plate. A loaded baked potato was in the space left. The android gave Ryja a plate, and then set a bow of delicious looking salad next to their glasses.

Amber took a bite of the lobster. So fresh. Next she had a forkful of the potato. Melt in your mouth good. The salad was crisp and as delicious as any four star restaurant she'd been to. She glanced over at Ryja, who was eating the food with enthusiasm.

When they finished, he asked if she wanted to watch a movie. It was too early for

bed and she was curious about Ryja's movie viewing area. They entered a small room which could have been a duplicate of the library, except the two chairs were different. They resembled the reclining chairs in many home theaters.

They were black leather and once seated, extremely comfortable. Amber ran her fingers along the material. It was much softer than Earth's leather, the closest she'd felt was lamb's leather. She didn't bother asking Ryja about it. He'd tell her the name of some strange animal from some other planet.

The lights dimmed when Ryja asked the room's computer to lower them. The wall in front of the chairs remained white, while the three other walls darkened to black.

"What movie do you want to watch?"

"I have no idea."

Ryja looked thoughtful, and then smiled. “Earth movie, Jurassic Park."

Amber laughed. The choice seemed appropriate, and it had been years since she saw it. She enjoyed watching it again, especially after their experiences today. She was surprised just how close the movie producers had come in getting the facts correct. Sure, there were some differences in coloration and stripes on the dinosaurs, but the major points were similar.

"Did you get your recordings?” She asked after the movie finished.

"Yes, and some other interesting life sequences."

"More fights?"

"No,” he chuckled. “A pair of Brachiosaurs were mating. It was quite a show."

"Sorry I missed it. I can always watch it on the recording later.” Amber yawned. It had been a long day.

"Bedtime.” Ryja pulled out her chair graciously. They discussed dinosaurs on the way to the room.

"Earth, sunset over the ocean.” He spoke when they entered the room.

Amber was pleased. It was hard to say which ocean was depicted, but the water was a beautiful aquamarine, turning darker near the horizon. The sky was a deep blue, making a lovely background for the multicolored clouds strewn across the wall behind the bed.

The other three walls were of sandy beaches, the waves gently lapping the edges. The odor of ocean water pervaded the room and she breathed deeply, loving that rich nature scent. The splash of the waves was soothing and hypnotic.

"I can sleep like a baby,” Amber plopped on the bed, and stretched out, letting the ocean experience flow through her senses.