Yet Another C B A Story

 

Blaise and the ... hip hoping people?

 

 

By Thelma Mary Caroline

 

 

 

 

She's gone more.  Blaise.  Oh, she always used to spend the days wandering around town, hanging out with the hip hoppers.  Now, though, she never brings Hai.

 

It used to be that she always brought that girl everywhere.  That way she could constantly supervise her.

 

I think she must be having an affair. 

 

So I asked her one evening, while she was sitting on the couch with me, watching the game. 

 

She wrinkled her nose.  "An affair?  No."

 

"Why do you keep leaving Hai here alone then?  That's not very responsible."

 

I was only on that planet for six months -- six months their time.    I don't know all the rules that Blaise follows for their relationship.  But I know that she tries really hard to take care of her.

 

"I just got things to do, that's all."

"You can tell me, Blaise.  We're homies."

 

"I just hang out with Sno.  That's all."

 

"Sno?" I said, flabergasted.  "She's only sixteen!  That's illegal!"

 

She hardly lifts an eyebrow.  "I'm not sleeping with Sno.  You want to go back, don't you?"

 

"I dunno.  Sometimes I think life was easier."

 

"Me and Sno are just following up on some leads.  See if we can't find a way to go back."

 

"But why did they even let you go?" Sheila asked from behind us, and both of us turned.

 

"Well, no one really knows," Blaise said.  "That's the problem."

 

"Though Dan heard from a very official source --"

 

"Very official?  What, Wiki?  Answers dot com?"

 

"I think he googled it.  But anyway, the Intergalactic Federition of the Constellations is this alien's rights group, and I guess they got involved."

 

"So why doesn't he contact them, though?  Or do they not have a website?"

 

"I'm pretty sure they don't," Sheila said.  I hate when she gets involoved.  This is between me and Blaise, she's not part of it at all.  Why does she even care?

 

"So what have you two found out?" she asked Blaise.

 

"Shouldn't you be in bed?" I cried, secertly wishing she was more like Haichelle.

 

"I don't mind, Kale.  We haven't really found anything yet.  It's too bad, but it is what is it is."

 

Seceretly, she raised her eyebrows at me.  She was lying to Sheila.

 

"Anyway, I'm going to go smoke."

 

"Me too," I said, following her outside.  She might 'smoke' those little caffine sticks she picked up on Hyoiq Qyul IX, or whatever they decided the planet was called, but I smoke real cigerettes.

 

"What did you guys really find out?" I asked, leaning over the railing.

 

"That the 'lieums are still capturing people.  Without the I G Feds knowing about it, I think."

 

"The I G Feds?"

 

"Intergalactic Federal Express.  The Galaxy on time.  The Intergalactic Federation, Kale."  She took a long drag.

 

"They're real?"

 

"Of course they're real.  There's got to be some kind of law and order in space.  You can't just go around enslaving people from other planets."

 

"So you'll get to go back?"

 

She sighs.  "Hard to say.  I guess there's a lot of red tape.  We've got a meeting with some of them on Saturday.  I'm hoping that Sheila wants to take Hai to the mall.  I don't want her to know."

 

"Why not?"

 

"I think it will upset her."

 

"You think she wants to stay here?"

 

"No, I don't think so.  I think she thinks she wants to stay, but she's too far gone.  Like me."

 

"Be careful meeting the aliens," I said, trying to change the subject.  She was probably right, after all.  "Don't stare at them."

 

"Oh, I already know what they look like.  One is a Lava Ant, I think is what they called him.  He looks like he's made of ice, and has lots of long legs.  Another is a 'Neural HagsOf Canopus Gamma' -- she's massive, like as tall as a school bus and round as a tree.  And there's also a Wormhole Wraith, but it's probably best not to talk about that one."

 

"Wow.  You're sure they aren't going to eat you?"

 

"They can't; they're under contract," Blaise answered.  "Anyway, they don't look scary, they look like characters from Lilo and Stitch."

 

"Oh.  Can I come to the meeting?"

 

"I thought you were happy here."

 

"I could have been someone there.  I want a second chance.  Life there is so different than here.  No one there cares about anything you do.  Even if you're a pedophile or something, they hardly blink an eye.  I guess being captured by aliens you're perception changes.  Things like that aren't a big deal.  You've got better things to worry about."

 

"Kade, if I left ... would you take care of Hai?"

 

"But you're going to take her back with you."

 

"No ... if it doesn't work out.  I can't stay here.  I can't live a settled kind of life."

 

"You'd really just leave?"

 

"I don't know that I'd have a choice.  I don't think I could take Hai -- she doesn't deserve that.  She wants this kind of a life.  With family and friends around her.  I can't."

 

"I'm sure they'll let us go back.  Why wouldn't they?"

 

She sighed.  "What kind of an idiot would want to go back to being a slave?"