Free Xen Episode One by Odette C. Bell Page A

low, warning growl.
    Adam seemed to understand it.
    “It is ironic,” Jenny added after a
moment, “but characteristic of this race.”
    “Characteristic or not,” John grabbed the
steering wheel and tapped his hands on it heavily, “we don’t get
that signal off and...” he trailed off.
    She understood. So did Adam. It was a
conclusion no one in that vehicle could escape.
    Unless they got off their message they would
be trapped on Earth, with no possible hope for escape.
    As Jenny waited, her body tense, her
shoulders locked under the light touch of her cotton blue sweater,
she thought.
    Everyone else in that field was
tuning in to a broadcast about extra-terres trials. She and her fellow crewmates
were tuning out, trying to get a message to the beyond.
    It would not work. The three of
them under their assumed names of John, Adam, and Jenny, would be
stuck. Earth ’s newest inhabitants. Three aliens huddled in a pickup
truck, staring at a field full of humans imagining the above and
beyond.
    As the window closed, and it became clear
they would not send their message, silence descended upon them.
Heavy, laden, and bitter.
    Jenny returned her attention to her hands.
Her human hands.
    They did not look like her own, and she knew
instinctively it would take years, if not centuries to become
accustomed to this new body. It had been built for her to hide the
alien within. Without it there would have been no way she could
blend in with the humans of Earth.
    As they sat in silence, she
felt her fingers curl into tight fists. “What do we do now?”
    She knew the answer. Yet still she
asked.
    “We hide. We blend in. This is our new
home. We are now humans,” John said, eventually tearing his gaze
from the dashboard. His narrow dark eyes rippled with unmistakable
sorrow.
    Hide. Blend in. Those were their only
options. There would be no rescue, there would be no escape.
    Just life on Earth as a human being.
     

Chapter 1
    It had been over 60 years since that night
in the field. If I closed my eyes, I could conjure up that memory
perfectly. I could still smell the damp scent of the wet grass. I
could still hear the hum and crackle of the radio. And I could
still remember, in exact detail, the expressions of John and
Adam.
    I had done as ordered. I’d assumed a life as
a human. I’d blended in. I had endeavored to always keep the secret
of my existence and my arrival on Earth. And I had not given it up
yet.
    Blinking my eyes open slowly, I pushed
myself forward, standing from my chair. A blanket fell from my
knees and tumbled to my feet. I stepped over it lightly. If I’d
felt like it, or circumstances had dictated, I could have leaped
over it, curled into a somersault, thrown myself at the wall, run
up it, and flipped backwards. I could have turned around, and with
a single, easy blow, shattered the chair. I could have obliterated
it as easily as a human child slapping a hand into a puddle.
    Though it had been 60 years, I had not
aged.
    I had the appearance of a human, but that
was it. I was not one. My true identity was as a Peacekeeper. A
member of a rare and ancient race capable of withstanding extreme
conditions, and built for brutal if elegant combat.
    Leaning down to grab up the blanket, I
placed it on the chair behind me and walked out into the kitchen.
Sun was streaming in through the windows, and though I barely
glanced its way, it still warmed up my cheeks and arms.
    It was a pleasant sensation. One I had
trained myself to enjoy over the past 60 years. It had been hard,
egregiously hard at first, but I had settled in.
    I’d trained myself to accept a life of
eating, work, and sleep. Of biscuits, TV, coffee, and blankets.
    I had adjusted.
    ‘I have adjusted,’ I said out loud,
reinforcing that fact.
    In the 60 years I’d been on
Earth, I’d never had a single incident. No fights, no run-ins with
the law, and to my knowledg e, no one but my two other crewmates knew of my
existence. Peacekeepers were known to