Free Forever's Not Enough (Galactic League of Planets) by Roscoe James Page A

cloth, and then showed him how to find the bumps on the floor that would open the wall again.
    He had to have some answers. There was no denying he’d been caught, no, trapped by this Meline woman, just as there was no denying he had no real desire, beyond the intellectual, to escape or understand. He resolved to find out.
    When she stepped through the wall, he grabbed her arm and shoved her out.
    “What is it?” she asked in a panic.
    Pulling her arm up enough to make his point he marched her toward the bed and shoved her roughly onto the mattress.
    She laughed and rolled onto her back, “Uh, so you really are a beast!”
    He didn’t get it at first, then realized her knees had come up, thighs were open, and she was waiting for him to join her.
    “No, damn it!”
    She was up with a quickness he couldn’t follow, “What is it, my love?”
    “Stop that!”
    “What, my darling!”
    “That! My love! My darling! The purring! All that!” He started pacing.
    She sounded disappointed when she answered sans purr, “If that is your wish, Sergeant Hillsborough.”
    He cringed. The words grated and the lack of endearment felt…he couldn’t decide what it felt like, but it didn’t feel right. And for some reason he felt bad because he’d hurt her feelings. “Look…” he said and spun on his heel to stare at her, only to find she was halfway to the pool of water.
    He jogged to catch up, grabbed her arm, spun her around to discover a defiant stare, and softening his tone said, “Look, Madame Ambassador, I just want to know what you’ve done to me.”
    She huffed and stared at his big hand on her arm until he released her. Continuing on toward the pool, she was angry when she said, “I have done nothing to you, Sergeant!”
    When she stepped into the pool he heard a soft tone like a wind chime in a breeze. As she walked to the middle of the pool, the water undulating with her movements, her body disappearing, the wind chimes became numerous.
    “Damn,” and he followed her to the pool. “I’m sorry.” But he didn’t understand why. “I don’t get it. I don’t understand what it is you do to me.”
    She splashed around and dipped her platinum hair, ignoring him completely.
    He felt crazed, but at the same time resigned. To what? He had no idea. He sat in a funk on a stone seat or shelf, he didn’t care what it was, beside the pool.
    “It’s like the first time I saw you.” The wind chimes continued to play. “I, well, I couldn’t take my eyes off you. My mind seemed to get all weird and the only thing I could think about was, well, petting you. You know, touching your fur or whatever it is.”
    With that she laughed.
    “But then you touched me or leaned into me, and well, purred, and I haven’t been the same since.”
    Then she giggled and he wanted to be mad at her. He wanted to grab her by her neck and jerk her out of the water and demand she explain. But he didn’t. He dropped his chin on the palm of his hand and planted his elbow on his knee, and moon-eyed, just stared at her playing in the water.
    “I truly am sorry, Sergeant Hillsborough. My mother says that, given my age, I can be such a child sometimes.”
    When her voice soothed him, he wanted to run from the room screaming. But he didn’t. He just continued to sulk and watched her play in the water.
    “I have read books by your writers that spoke of true and lasting love.” She flipped, her ass surfacing before she disappeared beneath the water. When she came back up, she cleared her face and went on. “Of men and women that love each other so much they almost become sick with it. I think they call it love sick.”
    He grunted and enjoyed the wind chimes she made.
    “And I’ve heard of something else. I think I saw it on an ancient flat screen movie from your planet. Something about love at first sight.”
    He sighed like a love-sick puppy when she pushed onto her back and floated.
    “Well, I say that because, while your species seems