April 30, 1966

Larrabee, Wisconsin, USA

They'd spent most of the evening in a booth in Shelly's, sipping Cokes and listening to the Beatles and others on the jukebox.

Melissa wasn't as relaxed as she normally would've been, though. Scott had been tense, on edge, about something all night. The way he kept looking at her, shaking his head.

Finally it got to be too much, and she grabbed his hand. "All right, Scott, out with it. You've hardly said two sentences together to me all night. Something's up and I want to know what."

His gaze held hers. "I know, Melissa. It is simply that...there are things you do not know about me, things it is time I told you."

Melissa wasn't sure what to think of this. Scott Keller had arrived in Larrabee last year, and still no one knew too much about his past. In a small town like Larrabee, that in itself was odd. It'd been that air of mystery that had attracted her, though.

She wondered what she'd hear now.

"Go on."

He held her gaze for a long moment, then nodded. ::It is time,:: he thought. Shifting the hand she'd taken so as to place his on top, he gave her hand a squeeze. "All right, but not here. If you...if you really want to know, then...would you come with me? What I have to say must be said somewhere we can be alone."

"We can go for a walk in the park..."

He shook his head. "There will be others there." He paused for a moment, then continued. "The wooded area that begins on the southern end of town--if you do not mind going there, I do not believe anyone will be there now. Please...this, this -is- important, in more ways than you yet know."

She was more curious now than she'd been before. What could possibly be so big that he couldn't tell her here? Or even in the park??

Her mind ran through possibilities. Did he have another girl somewhere? or was he one of those hippies from out West she'd heard about who were into the drug scene?

Neither of those fit with needing to be away from -everyone-, though. For a moment, she wondered if going alone anywhere with him was a good idea--what was she thinking? she asked herself a moment later. Scott had never once so much as raised his voice to her, she had nothing to be afraid of.

"OK, if it's that important, I'll come." she said softly.

"Thank you," he replied, leading her outside and to a parked bicycle. It was a primitive device, but the only form of terrestrial transportation he had been able to acquire without having to pretend documentation that did not exist. Not that he could not forge such if necessary, but that increased the chances of detection.

In another moment they were on the way, she held on to him as he pedaled through the streets, past the park and Sowerby's, then turning onto Main Street for the cut across town to where this road joined to the highway. Just at that junction was the outskirts of the Chequamegon National Forest, and that stretch of it did not have any rest stops or places where anyone was likely to be.

Once they reached the woods, Scott stopped the bike. "We will have to walk from here...this is too close to the highway, someone might stop to--neck?--and see us."

She nodded, whatever he wanted to tell her must really be important to come all this way. It was so dark, here, away from the town lights-- "I can't see..." she murmured, afraid she'd stumble into something.

His hand tightened on hers, "Hold on, I will guide you." he replied firmly yet gently, leading her with one hand while steering the bike with the other.

::I must be crazy,:: she thought as he led her along. ::All this to finally find out what his big secret is. This's almost like a, a movie or something...::

Eventually they reached a clearing.

Scott leaned the bike against a tree, then led Melissa over to a nearby large rock and sat down with her beside him.

He continued to hold her hand, and now even in the moonlight she could see his dark eyes still looking into her own.

"Scott--please, talk to me. What is it--now that we're all the way out here, please tell me."

"I love you, Melissa. More than I could ever say--that is why this is not easy. I would not have you thinking I had misled you. In a way, I have, but not about my feelings for you."

She could only look at him, confusion in her blue eyes.

"Look at the stars up there," he began, gesturing with his free hand towards the clear sky. "I tell you now that there are more than you can see, more than any numbering."

::He sounds so -certain-::, she thought. ::What could this mean? It's not at all what I expected he'd say::

"What're you trying to say?" she asked.

"I said I would tell you and I will. It is not easy, though, there is much you do not yet understand." He paused for a moment, then went on. "There *are* other worlds, other beings, Melissa. know this." His tone left no doubt.

She stared at him, He sounded so -certain-. "Now you're scaring me, Scott. I know you're not into smoking pot or anything, butthe way you're talking..."

He held her close, caressing her gently, hoping to reassure her.

He spoke softly, gently, as he continued. "I have no wish to frighten you," he began. "In the short time I have been here I have come to care so for you. I had never known what it was to love, until we met. This is why I must say this now."

She couldn't shake the feeling of foreboding. Having him hold her, though, had helped, along with his words--again she knew why she loved him.

It still wasn't clear what he was trying to tell her, but she would have to trust him, what else could she do? "Go on," she encouraged him.

"There -are- other worlds, other beings, Melissa. The reason I know this, is because--because I am one of them."

-That- was not at all what she'd imagined his secret would be. Oh, they'd all seen the movies, the little green men, the ray-toting bug eyed monsters, but--no. This was impossible, wasn't it?

"You're trying to tell me you think you're an--an alien?" ::Was he playing some joke on her? or was he...heaven forbid...crazy?:: Her eyes were misting with concern and worry and he could see that, he shook his head, squeezing her hand. "No," he said gently. "I am not deluded, Melissa," he said gently. "I am not one of your race at all.:

::Had he -completely- flipped?:: she wondered. ::Or--no, what was she thinking?:: She shook her head. It was, it had to be. "Scott, if this is some sort of joke, I...I'm not laughing..."

"I know it is hard to believe. But I assure you it's true. Look. I'll show you, only please don't be afraid. I'd never hurt you, I promise you that."

He stepped back from her, slowly letting go of her hand as she did so.

She blinked to stop the tears that threatened to come out, then as she stared at him she saw something else.

The night was clear, the moon and stars were out, and in this part of the forest there was enough of a space between the treetops for the moonlight to be easily visible.

As she looked at Scott, she realized he was beginnning to glow--that was impossible, though, wasn't it?

No. She wasn't seeing things. He was glowing, brighter and brighter--what in the world...? She didn't know what to do, what this meant. Part of her wanted to run away, though something else made her stay and watch. She had to see, to *know*, whatwas going on here.

The light around him blazed brightly for a moment, so much so that she had to cover her eyes.

When she could see again, Scott--at least the Scott she'd known all these months--was gone.

In his place stood something alien, a figure sheathed in gleaming silver. He had the shape of a man, though he was unlike any she had ever seen. There were no details, no parts, just smooth gleaming silver skin. The hair was silver also...he was silver all over, except for his eyes, which glowed a solid yellow.

The being which had been Scott walked over to her and took her hand. "What...are you?" she whispered aloud, not knowing what else to say. She couldn't bring herself to run away though a part of her wanted to.

"This is the real me, Melissa. What you've seen all this time, was simply a means of blending in, as it were."

"Blending in..." she repeated. "Then--what, what -are- you, where are you from...why are you here--" the questions began surfacing so fast she was getting tongue tied.

He raised a hand as if to cut off the flow of questions. "First," he began, "my name is not Scott Keller--as you have already guessed. I am Jessaryn."

" 'Jessaryn'..." she repeated, not taking her eyes off of him, as she tried to just take in the incredible sight before her.

"The world I came from is not anywhere within this galaxy." he continued.

She looked from him to the starlit expanse of sky as his words sank in. "What...what are you, though--what kind of people...?"

He shook his head. "The people of that world are not that different from those here, physically speaking."

"That--that doesn't make sense. You don't look anything like...us..."

"No, I am not." he replied. "I was not 'born' in the traditional sense. I was created by artificial means. Those who made me sought a thing they could use as a, a weapon with which to become rulers of their world. When I saw that darkness, that evil, in them I could not be part of it and so I left. I could not serve their purpose, thus had to find my own."

"So you're telling me you came out of a test tube or something, and you ended up landing here in your flying saucer?" What she was saying sounded crazy, but no crazier than the rest of this. Either she'd flipped out, or she was having a really weird dream.

Well, if it was a dream, she was in no hurry to wake up. If nothing else this'd make a great story for the next creative writing assignment in English class.

"A 'test tube'...that is essentially true." he replied. "But I did not come here in a...'flying saucer' as you put it. I have no need of any vessels to cross the vast distances."

Her eyes widened as she struggled to digest the incredible. "How...how did you get *here*...then?" she wondered, waving her free hand to take in their surroundings. Then the other question came spilling out. "-Why- are you here...?"

"I have wandered the starways for millennia, as you measure time." he replied. "Seeing, learning, what there was and is out there. As I went on I came to realize that...that there was something missing. Then my wanderings brought me here, to this world, and I met you, Melissa. That was when I...I began to realize that I had at last found what I had been searching for." he said tenderly.

"You...you mean...-me-?" she asked, more for confirmation than anything else.

"I love you," he whispered again, softly, holding her close as he continued. "Melissa--I could not stand it if anything happened to you, but you humans are so fragile, so easily broken beyond repair."

She looked at him confused again. "What are you saying...?" she wondered.

"You are also unable to exist outside this world, not without spacecraft and environmental suits."

She'd kept up with the space program, she knew what the astronauts had to do just to make orbit around the Earth (that was as far as they'd gotten, though there was talk that maybe one day they'd actually get to the moon.)

"You're telling me--you could exist out there--without a suit?" she said, drawing from what his words implied something that seemed impossible. Not even in the science fiction movies she'd seen had people in space not had spacesuits...!

"That is just one of the abilities I was given, to exist in the starry depths and move through them as easily as you move through the atmosphere of this world."

It sounded almost too incredible to be true, yet--yet here was the proof, standing right in front of her. She had more questions than she could sort into any kind of order. If even -half- of what he was saying was true...!

"There...there must be so much you've seen--so many places you've been. I--" she took a deep breath. "I want you to--to tell me all about it. Please?"

"I could do that," he replied slowly, continuing to stroke her hand as he went on. "I would much rather -show- you what I have seen, the places I have been."

"You're asking me to, to come with you, out there? Is that it??" she asked staring at him. She looked up into the heavens for a moment or two seeing all the twinkling stars the blackness in between then she looked backat him, and it was as if she could see all that incomprehensible distance in his eyes. "But that--that's not possible. I'm human and you're...not."

"You are human, yes. Now. To come with me out there, you must become as I am. I can give you that, if you wish it."

::'Now'?:: she wondered at his choice of words. "Sc--I mean, Jessaryn..." she reminded herself, "I...I do love you but what you're talking about isn't possible..." she trailed off, the implications of what he was saying were really beginning to add up. "or is it...?"

"There is so much out there," he whispered intensely. "So much...let me show you. You've seen what those of your world who have begun to explore have brought back...I tell you now that they have not even seen the tiniest fraction of what is to be seen."

He went on, his voice sending thrills of excitement through her as he talked of the things he'd seen. "There are beings out there so large that just one of their ships is almost the size of your moon, Melissa. There are others of living crystal...and still others that exist as clouds of gas, or pure energy. There are worlds where there is no surface land at all, but only the seas..." His gaze held hers. "Let your imagination run free," he continued. "Whatever you might envision, the odds are good that something like it is somewhere out there."

The images his words conjured up in her mind were incredible enough, the stuff she'd only thought could exist in the movies...but then so was he, when you got right down to it. She looked up at the starlit sky again, trying to imagine what it was like for him out there. And--and what it could be like for her, too.

What was she thinking? Did she actually want to, to let him do this?

Part of her did, she realized. She -did-..."All those nights...I'd sit up and look up at the sky." she whispered. "and wonder what might be out there. I'd watch the orbiters go up, look at the pictures they sent back--and wish we could go further than that. We can't even land on the Moon yet...if we ever do. Now...now I'm sitting here, -talking- to someone who's actually been across the...the *galaxy*...?" She shook her head. "I...I want to see all those things, Scott. I *do*. But..."

"Then come," he said, gently coaxing. "let me make you as I am. it will be only a little time...and then we will be together...forever." his gentle voice urged her again.

"I...I don't know..." she whispered. She wanted to go but she wanted to stay too, the idea of walking away from her whole life frightened her and yet somehow attracted her all at once. She did want to be with him. But she wasn't sure about what he was offering.

She looked up at the stars again, their twinkling brilliance, and her imagination took flight again, filling her mind with all sorts of fantastic places and creatures. He seemed so certain he could make it happen for her, make it real.

But did she want that now?

What would she have if she stayed here? A couple more years of high school, then college, and then if she made it that far the Air Force, with no guarantee they'd even let a woman -try- for the astronaut program.

Even if the incredible happened and she did make it where would she go? Into orbit a couple times, or maybe if they'd managed it by then to the Moon. She didn't see manned rockets going to Mars anytime soon, let alone out of the Solar System.

She bit her lip. I would hurt leaving Jeff, her parents, everything--but she would be going to so much *more*...the life he was offering her was her dream multiplied beyond measure. She looked back towards the town, then to Scott, and took a deep breath. "If...if you can really do this..." she closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them again and pushing her lingering doubts and questions firmly away stared firmly into his yellow eyes. "then go ahead. Now."

His fingers gripped her hand, tightening ever so slightly, she felt a jolt go through her almost like an electrical shock she stared into his yellow eyes and he was glowing brightly again only this time she could *feel* it it was coming into her becoming part of her.

Then she couldn't think only feel energy burning through her all around her she seemed to be floating in a warm light she couldn't feel his hand on hers anymore rather a sense of being inside something she was safe inside it, and there was also a sense of...*changing* that came from the light but was part of it too, it was doing something to her...

Scott/Jessaryn let himself smile, slowly. He hadn't been sure he could do this, he'd never attempted it before...but it seemed to have worked.

Now all he had to do was stand guard and watch while he waited for the process to take its course. Though he had never done this before, he remembered reading the records of his own creation...and from the time his first cells had cocooned themselves to the time he'd emerged in his final form had only been a couple of weeks, as those of that world had measured time. And while that differed somewhat from how this world reckoned the passing of time, it was similar enough that he felt safe assuming a similar timeframe.

Of course, this meant that "Scott Keller" had to disappear, or else there would be too many questions he did not wish to answer. Too many people knew he'd been with Melissa tonight, and would be asking such questions as soon as her absence was noticed.

He had dreamed of this for so long...and now, now it was within reach. His eyes closed as he let himself envision what would happen when the cocoon opened again...when she stepped from it, her body become as gleamingly silver as his own.

::we -will- have forever, beloved...:: his mind whispered, just as if she could hear him. ::just as I promised you::

Suddenly the power flowing through the cocoon surged...he reached for it, trying to regain control but it was too much too soon too fast...

The more he tried, the worse it became the cocoon was glowing as brightly as a star oh no no no not now not when he was this close...he could feel her life slipping away NO....

He was so focused on trying to save her that he did not notice the dark figure descending towards him.

"What have you -done-?" it demanded.

A moment later Scott found himself enveloped by a tractor beam, even as he struggled to break free he was pulled from not only the Earth's surface but out into deep space...out of the Sol sytem, out out out.... the stars flickered past at a speed he knew he could not have attained under his own power.

0And then as suddenly as it had begun, the journey ended, as the ship released him on an asteroid that was little more than a chunk of barren rock drifting in space. "*This* is your proper place, until you learn the folly of such rashness as that. You have just destroyed a human life--but then that was the purpose for which you were made, was it not?" The Pilot launched himself back into space before Jessaryn could reply...

He could not match the Pilot's speed, but he would find him, no matter how long it took. He launched himself into space, along the trajectory the Pilot had taken..

* * *

Meanwhile, back on Earth...

The soldiers had begun closing in on the silver alien and the glowing meteorite or whatever it was when the second alien appeared and dragged the silver one away.

Their attempts to fire their weapons had failed, the aliens apparently had been able to shield themselves somehow...but there was still the meteorite (if that was what it was) which had seemed to stop glowing after the two aliens had left.

And at the forefront of the watchers stood two men, both in black suits and wearing dark glasses. One of them, by his stance and the way the other deferred to him, was unquestionably the one in charge.

"Get a transport here stat." the elder MIB finally said. "We may have lost that one but we've got this. It seemed important to the silver one for some reason until the lightshow started...and we're damned well going to find out why. I want this so called meteorite in 51 *yesterday*!"

As the others rushed to carry out his orders, they didn't realize that within the rock there was -something- just barely aware. Something that dimly sensed the light going away, the warm feelings with it. Something that sank into a darkness and knew nothing more.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

But wait, there's

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