Alien Coffee by John H. Carroll Read Free Book Online

side.
    “We’re in a spaceship. Surely we don’t need
to take the road . . .” Jillian suggested.
    “Well of course not,” Buffy replied. “But we
need to know what dangers are around. Next is the matter of the
ship.” The image moved sideways through deep jungle, bringing into
view the crashed spaceship. There were a few armed soldiers as well
as other people who were milling around in a makeshift camp nearby.
Jillian immediately noticed that it didn’t look like a snail even
in its broken condition. Buffy pointed at it. “It’s a nice sports
ship their parents likely bought them. We’re to destroy it and any
parts that may have been taken off of it.”
    “That’s our first priority,” Nyxulla stated.
“It has a self-destruct feature we can activate remotely once we’re
certain there’s no one on board. The self-destruct should spread to
any parts that have been taken, but we’ll have to scan the area to
make certain.”
    “There are thousands of snails in the area,
so once we have the teens they can take one back to their parents
who will certainly be thrilled to hear how they wrecked an
expensive sports ship on a forbidden planet,” Buffy proclaimed
haughtily. The image lit up with countless tiny purple dots that
Jillian guessed were snails. With a wave of a hand, Buffy made them
disappear.
    “So we need to destroy the wreckage, rescue
the teens, get them in a snail,” Jillian giggled as she said that
out loud, “and then send them off to their parents. Does that sound
right?”
    “Yes. That’s exactly it,” Nyxulla replied
happily. Buffy nodded.
    “Okay. How exactly are we supposed to rescue
them from the compound?” Jillian asked. “A bunch of soldiers with
deadly weapons seems like a fairly serious obstacle to
overcome.”
    “We have invisibility devices,” Nyxulla
patted the one on her belt. “We have one you can use too.”
    Buffy stood. “You’re not supposed to have
that either. At this point, if anyone finds out, you’ll be executed
and the rest of us will go for reconditioning, lose our positions
and shame our families. But that’s alright as long as we’re all
having fun,” Buffy sniped derisively, patting Jillian on the
shoulder. “I’ll go get the device for you.” The crabby alien walked
to the back of the ship and disappeared through a door to the
shell.
    “Don’t mind Buffy,” Nyxulla told her with a
dismissive wave in the direction of the departed BEM. “Everything
will be fine.”
    “I am worried about it. It sounds like
we could get into a lot of trouble,” Jillian replied. “I’m
mostly worried about you. I don’t want you to get into trouble for
taking me with.”
    “You’re not worried about dying?” Nyxulla
asked with a raised eyebrow.
    “Well . . . maybe a little, but I trust you
even though I don’t know why. I honestly don’t think anything bad
is going to happen to me,” she answered with a smile and shrug.
Jillian didn’t know if she was being overconfident or just didn’t
think she could die, but she really did feel that way. “If you
don’t mind my asking . . . I don’t know what to ask actually, but .
. . what brings you to Earth? Can you tell me anything about
yourself?” Jillian was genuinely curious about the alien’s
life.
    Nyxulla dialed up two drinks that appeared
from an opening in the wall and handed one to Jillian. “I’m the
youngest of four children. My parents love me very much . . .
providing they don’t have to see or talk to me.” She shrugged and
sipped from her cup. Jillian tried her own drink and found it to be
delicious. It was some sort of exotic fruit juice from what she
could tell. “It’s quxoma juice,” Nyxulla told her. “It’s from my
world, but completely safe for humans.”
    “It’s yummy,” Jillian told her, taking
another sip. Drinking an alien juice was thrilling and she couldn’t
help but smile. She hoped Nyxulla would continue talking.
    “As a child, I received high scores in
science