David Larson - The Myth of the Anal Probe

The fact that the man also kissed the others in the group, including the men was lost on Mike. The interloper had touched the love of his life and then had the temerity to kiss her.

None of this was lost on Bob or Kate.

“Leaving,” Bob asked. He was trying to sound as casual as he could and cover the alarm in his voice.

“What?” Mike asked.

“It would seem as though you have someplace you need to be,” Bob said.

“Yeah,” Mike said. “I’m tired. I’m going to go home and get some sleep.”

“Good idea, brother,” Bob said.

Mike slunk off in the direction of his home leaving the others in stunned silence.

“What was that all about,” Brizio asked.

“It looks like someone has tasted the forbidden fruit,” Bob said as he watched Tawny across the room.

“What?” Mia said, “Mike and Tawny? Lucky girl.”

“Maybe not so much,” Kate said.

“Yeah,” Bob added. “Maybe not.”

“I don’t know a lot about the customs on earth,” Brizio said, “But from what I do know that wasn’t a very smooth move on her part.”

“Why not?” Mia asked.

“Because,” Bob said. “People there tend to get a little possessive when they have a physical relationship with another person.”

“Possessive how?” Mia asked.

“Possessive as in that person belongs to them,” Bob said.

“That’s crazy,” Kate said. “How could one person own another one? That doesn’t even make sense.”

“No, it doesn’t,” Bob said. “And crazy is pretty much the operative word here. Entire wars have been fought for love. People on Earth think that kind of thing is romantic.”

“Romantic?!” Brizio said. “It’s barbaric.”

“Yes, it is,” Bob said. “And once that green-eyed monster is unleashed it’s almost impossible to drag that sucker back into the cage.”

Tawny smiled across the room to Bob, and he smiled back as he stroked his beard. Things were going to change here and he had no idea how to stop the runaway train that was barreling down the tracks straight at all of them.

“What exactly were you thinking?” Bob asked Tawny.

“What do you mean?” Tawny said.

“I mean what exactly were you thinking, when you decided to have a sexual relationship with a person that comes from a species that is only removed from the rest of the animal kingdom by the thinnest of possible threads?”

“I didn’t see any possible way that it might be an issue,” Tawny said. She was surprised that Bob was reacting with such obvious alarm. “He seems to be grasping everything here pretty easily. What harm could something as innocuous as sex do?”

“Seriously?” Bob said, “I guess I’d understand if you had never been on a mission to Earth before. But, you’ve been there. You’ve seen how they act when someone trespasses on what they perceive to be their property.”

“I guess you’re right,” Tawny said sadly. “But Mike seems to be adapting pretty easily to life here.”

“That’s exactly what we need to be more conscious of,” Bob said. “He’s adapting . I don’t think he has any intensions of leaving here. I think that he plans to stay here, and spend the rest of his life with you raising Axel.”

“That’s crazy,” Tawny said. “We’ve made it very plain to him that this was all just temporary. He has always said he understands that. Why would he think anything else?”

“Crazy,” Bob said. “Let that sink in as far as it can possibly go. Those people are crazy and they don’t even realize it. I’m sure that Mike has – or had, before he fell in love – the best of intensions. I would guess that all of that is in the toilet now.”

“Love?” Tawny said. “What does love have to do with anything?”

“Come on T,” Bob said incredulously. “You know the answer to that as well as anyone does. You ran a ship to earth. You’ve studied them. Love comes in many different levels to these people. The love that they have for pop-tarts isn’t even close to the love they have for their country, and that is nothing like the love they feel for someone that is important to them. These clowns are wading around in a cesspool of insecurity that should rightfully drown them, and they don’t even know it. I’m afraid you’re getting dragged right in there with one of them.”

“Where is all of this coming from all of a sudden?” Tawny sked. “Did you see something that makes you think there might be an issue?”

“Do you remember when you were talking to the group from the space committee last night in the common area?”

“Sure,” Tawny said confused. “How is that an issue?”

“Well, my friend, with normal stable people it wouldn’t be,” Bob said. “But when John kissed you goodnight, our Earth buddy came out of his chair like he had been blasted out of it. I’m 100% positive that if I hadn’t said something to him he would have gone across the room and attacked him.”

“What?!” Twany said. She was clearly horrified. “Why would he have done that? John kissed everyone when he left. I don’t get it?”

“You had sex with it,” Bob said. “Now it owns you.”

“He’s Mike,” Tawny said. “He’s not an it.”

She wasn’t being defensive. She just couldn’t begin to understand why someone that had been so open to the way life worked on Hale would do a complete turnaround simply because they had enjoyed each other’s bodies.

“You had better start looking at him as a subject,” Bob said. “And I think it would be a good idea to keep him away from the children’s center.”

“Why should I do that?” She asked in surprise.

“He brought up Axel,” Bob said.

“Yeah,” she said. “What does that have to do with anything? He met Axel at school.”

“He was acting like he and I might be in some kind of contest for Axel’s affection.”

“Did he say that?” Tawny asked.

“He didn’t have too. It was way too obvious by the way he was acting. I think we might need to bring this experiment to a close… soon.”

“I think you might be right,” she said sadly. “How could I have not seen this?”

“Humans can be extremely convincing when they want to be,” Bob said. “Especially when they’re lying to themselves harder than they’re lying to the people around them.”

Mike sat alone in the tram. The majesty of Hale slid by completely unnoticed by him. His mind was running liked a doped racehorse with an unconscious jockey. He felt like he hadn’t cemented his relationship with Tawny the way he had wanted. He couldn’t think of anything else to do, until the light came on. He had clearly not made the right impression at the most critical time. He knew he could fix that if he was given a chance. And there was no better place to start to repair that issue than right at the source.

The tram drew silently onto the arrival pasture and the doors whooshed open. Mike stepped out and stretched. He was surprised he was able to find his way back here without help from anyone. But when the going got tough, the tough got going.

Kids, and a few adults, were milling around the front of the building as Mike walked up the steps to the children’s center. First, he figured that he’d just go over there and ask until someone could tell him where Axel was. He knew that if he had the opportunity to just talk to the boy one on one he would have the chance to square things with him. He knew fixing things with Axel was the only thing he needed to insure his place with Tawny.

Then he figured that if he were to just walk into the building and start asking for a specific kid people might get a little suspicious. Since no one was apparently in charge of keeping an eye on the comings and goings of strange people at the center he was pretty sure he could just start walking around until he found Axel’s classroom. What he was going to do once he located the kid was still outside the purview of his plan. But he figured he’d cross that bridge when he saw Axel standing on it.