ALIEN FLAME

Tyrus knelt down before the small, wide, white candle. It was the only light in the sweaty, dark room. His bottom rested on the back of his heels. The rest of the room was shadow and emptiness, save the mat that protected his knees from the dusty, tile floor. The mirrors along the walls reflected his lonely image to infinity. His brown, muscular, youthful body was bare except for the baggy black shorts that covered his hips. The rest of his black clothes---a trenchcoat, doo-rag, t-shirt, jeans, socks, sneakers---were in a bundle behind the candle. His sword laid behind him in it's sheath.

"Why didn't you tell me!" a female alien voice called from the distance. Her protest broke his trance, bringing him back to Gaia.

"Go away, Vor," Tyrus said. "I'm meditating."

"Tyrus!" Vor slammed the door of the gym behind her and trotted over to him. She was a Grell---a race of gray, opal-eyed aliens that had slowly become the ruling class of Earth's sister planet Gaia. She stood at normal female human height, which meant that she was tall for a Gaian Grell woman. She flicked her long, thin blond hair. Tyrus always wondered if the Grell and humans had a common ancestor somehow, since some of them had rather human-like ways and atributes.

Vor stood in front of him, behind the candle. He looked at her body. "Go put some clothes on," he joked. "Don't nobody want to see your frog behind right now."

She yelled a command to the lights. "On!" The lights in the gym flashed on.

Tyrus's eyes hurt. "Damn! What you do that for?"

"WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME!"

Tyrus stood up. He put his hands up in surrender. "Okay, okay, chill! I know what this is about. I didn't tell you because I did not think you needed to know."

Vor glared at him. "What makes you think I would not have found out on my own?"

"Because, I can still hear you in my head and I can answer you back, that's why."

"But---but I---I can't control you. Not like the others!" Her voice carried a tone of sharp panic.

Tyrus caressed her shoulder with his right hand, reassuring her. "You don't need to worry about controlling me. I took the oath to protect you, right?"

Neither one of them noticed the door open. A grell male walked in the room. He was older. He stood at a distance and watched them.

Vor reached up and held his hand in affection. "No. It's not the same. I can't read you now and I can't be sure of your affection. I mean your loyalty."

Tyrus looked deep into her eyes. He caressed the side of her face. An alien tear formed under her left eye. He gently kissed it.

Vor smiled. She closed her eyes and pursed her lips. Then, the two of them kissed.

The grell male was annoyed. He spoke up. "So you HAVE been cheating on me!"

Tyrus and Vor were shocked. Tyrus quickly threw on his clothes while Vor confronted the male. She ran over to him. "Nar! Wait, husband, I can explain!"

Nar scoffed. "I don't care if you have sex with a sapien. My problem is with you giving your heart to one of them. It's not like you can bring home a child with one of them without gene therapy. But this---you---you kissing him and crying over Drogg knows what--- that just upsets the natural order of things!"

Tyrus was finished dressing. He put the sheath-belt around his waist, put his hand on the hilt of his sword and bowed out of respect to Nar. He started to bend down and blow out the flame. Instead, he walked over to the two of them.

Nar was furious. He shoved Vor aside. "Spare me the formalities. Not when you're trying to rob my wife from under my nose."

Tyrus took a deep breath. He took his hand off his sword and stood at attention.

That only made Nar angrier. "Drop the formalities. Now! I heard you and I saw you." He quietly tried to probe Tyrus' mind. He couldn't.

He couldn't. He could not read Tyrus'. Nar's mouth dropped open in shock. Human minds were supposed to be open books, even those of the elite yogin warriors like Tyrus.

"No. No! It's impossible." He turned to Vor. "Vor, dear, did he? Is this what? I mean, there is no way----"

Vor put up her slender, long hand. "Yes. That's what I'm so upset about. His mind is closed to us. Besides the fact that I can't tell if he loves me---"

Nar winced at the l-word.

"I can't tell how he feels about us. About our family. Our race. Our world, even."

Tyrus dropped the formal posture. "You mean MY world. We were here first. You people came from out of nowhere and took us over. I'll admit, you did an easier job on us than you did our sister world. You made the humans on Earth kill each other off." Tyrus gave a morbid chuckle. "Plus, you still have that dampening device that shields us from Earth's detection. I bet they still don't know we exist, do they?"

Vor and Nar both said "No."

"Didn't think so. They probably don't even know both races of humanity come from Primera." He squinted his eyes at them. "Or let me guess: you got them all thinking that they're different races based on skin color, just like you have done to us."

Vor and Nar were both silent.

The three of them stared at each other for what seemed like forever before Nar broke the silence.

"Well look. Um, we could---should---turn you in. Standard orders. Any yogin who breaks the mental link is considered a rogue. Automatic options of interrogation, fight for freedom, or exile."

Tyrus shook his head. "But you won't do any of that."

"No," Nar admitted. "I should. It would get you away from my wife. I don't like the fact that she loves you so much."

"Fool, you could have found that out by reading my mind before."

Vor reached over and put her hands on Tyrus' strong chest. "No, he couldn't. I put a lock on your mind to other Grell. Only someone stronger than me can break it. He can't. Only a high level mentaguard could. Besides, even if he could, he knows it would not make me happy." She held Tyrus close. He didn't return the gesture of affection. She pulled away and looked up at him with hurt in her alien eyes. "Why are you so cold to me, Tyrus?"

"Because I don't think you really love me."

"What? Why not!"

Tyrus spoke. "I think you want me to love you so that you can have control. But, you don't really love ME. You may like having sex with me and like my protection, but you don't love Tyrus the human being. I bet my attraction for you was planted in my mind in thought seed. It bloomed when I reached puberty. Probably the only reason why I ever felt anything for you. The only human woman I ever loved was Laneetha." He glared at Nar. "And thanks to your husband, she's dead."

Nar took on an angered defensiveness. "She was a surrogate. She knew the risks."

Tyrus pushed him. Nar flew back. Tyrus raised his voice. "Like she had a choice! Like any of us have a choice when it comes to what you people want!"

Tyrus put his hand on his sword.

Vor stopped him. "Ty! Please stop! Don't strike him with your weapon. You know the law! You'll be hunted down like an animal if you slay a Grell without orders."

Tyrus stopped himself. "This is what I'm talking about!"

"What?" she said.

"If you loved ME, you would not tell them that I killed him without orders. You'd say you ordered me to kill him because he hit you or something."

Nar got nervous. He started panting and sweating. Beads of stickly moisture poured over his body---typical habit of a scared, corned Grell. Plus, his body gave off a rank, bitter odor.

Tyrus turned up his nose. "Damn you people stink when you're afraid."

Vor got even louder. "You stop that racist crap right now! Nar is my husband. I love you, but I---I can't claim you. Not out in the open. Too much at stake, at risk. I will not be one of those fools who divorces her Grell for a human. I don't care if it is my right. All we'd do is end up being killed by some extremists. And you and I would die at the hands of your own peole."

Tyrus replied. "That's only because you gray bastards are too scared to do it yourself. Or too stuck-up. You have to order a yogin to do your dirty work. That's all we yogin are to you people: the lowly sapes who do your dirty killing. On Gaia, on Earth, everywhere! I'm so glad my ancestors didn't let you people land on Primera!"

Tyrus started walking away. Nar stood still, frozen in fear and rage. Vor took off after him.

Her voice trembled in sadness and desperation. "No! Tyrus, you're special. You're a yogin. You're our chosen protectors. And--- you're special to me because I care about you!" She hugged him from behind.

Tyrus did a jujitsu escape to break her grip. But, he controlled the throw so that she landed softly on the ground. He stood over her and looked down. "Are you the ONLY Grell who beds one of her yogin? Or is it common practice for you gray whores to use us as toys, then turn around and run home to your husband."

Vor hung her head. She was frustrated. "I admit it, okay. Fine. I did start off just using you, and I did use the thought seed when you were younger. But after I got to know you---your mind, your soul---I realized that I loved you. The words, melodies and imagery that float around in your mind are magic. We grell don't have poetry, art and music that has the feeling you humans do. Particularly humans like you Tyrus." She reached up and took his hand. Then, she kissed it. "All I know is that I love you now, and I need you. I need your love. And, I fear for you."

Tyrus gazed into her smooth, onyx eyes. Even in her inhuman face, he could see that she cared. Or that she thought she cared. He knew she either believed her own lie at this point, or that she was giving a command peformance in order to keep him in her thrall.

He chose to believe the latter. "You don't love me. You CAN'T. There is no way real love can exist between a master and a slave. Even if I hated you, I'd be forced to give you my body, as I am forced to protect your life. Maybe---maybe if we moved to another world beyond Grell and Humanity---maybe there, where we could be equals. Maybe there, we could find love. But not here. Not now. Mistress Vor, I'm sorry. I will continue to serve as your protector, but there is no way I can ever love you."

He pulled away. He stepped back, gave a warrior's bow, turned and started walking out of the room.

"Tyrus! Tyrus! Tyrus!" Vor fell into a trembling fit of tears. Her pain shook Nar out of his fear. He knelt down and put his thin, gray arms around her back to comfort her.

Tyrus closed the door behind him. Nar and Vor were alone in the empty gym. Vor sobbed on his shoulder. "He---doesn't love me. I'm sorry---sorry you have to hear me say this." She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.

"But," Nar sighed, "he still honors his duty. I'm afraid that is going to have to be enough."

Nar stood up, walked over to the candle where Tyrus was sitting. He knelt down. With a sharp breath, he blew out its flame.

If you'd like to read more about Yogins and Grells, click HERE.