Alien Coffee by John H. Carroll Read Free Book Online Page A

and analytical processes, so my parents sent me off to the
finest boarding school. I haven’t seen them since.” She frowned and
took another sip of her drink. The subject obviously bothered
her.
    “I’m sorry to hear that. I thought . . . For
some reason I figured life would be wonderful and perfect in a
galactic civilization,” Jillian told her, placing an empathetic
hand on the alien’s shoulder.
    Nyxulla smiled in response. “No . . . I mean
it’s better than the mess you humans are making, but everything is
most definitely not perfect.” She looked at the image of the
jungle and moved it back to the compound. “The Amalgamation is
enormous with thousands of races living on tens of thousands of
worlds, but each race brings its own challenges and beliefs. The
result is a big, exciting mess.”
    “It sounds fascinating,” Jillian replied,
taking another sip. She wanted to see all those worlds and races.
Science fiction was her favorite genre and she had dreamed of
exploring the universe ever since she was a little child looking up
at all the stars in the Milky Way.
    “It really is,” she agreed. “I haven’t been
very many places. I went to . . . the equivalent of one of your
universities I suppose. Although we learn more in our basic schools
than you do in your most advanced institutions,” she stated with a
look of embarrassment. “But in many ways, the experiences are
similar. I had a lot of fun at University and still managed to
graduate at the top of my class even though I spent a great deal of
time partying.” She grinned.
    Jillian grinned back. “I did a bit of
partying too.” She tilted her head in curiosity and asked. “Is that
where you started . . . drinking coffee? I know I experimented with
marijuana when I went to college.”
    Nyxulla shook her head, the purple hair
flowing back and forth like silk curtains. “I got hooked on coffee
when I was in boarding school. Put a lot of rich kids together and
they’re bound to test every breakable rule out there.” She sighed
and put her feet up on the table, which erased that part of the
image. She wore silver boots that matched the rest of her outfit,
so Jillian couldn’t see if her feet were like a human’s. “It
bothers me that Buffy is so judgmental of these teens we’re going
to rescue. Their sports ship was probably some sort of guilt gift
given to them by parents who don’t want to be bothered with raising
them.”
    It was clear the issue was personal to
Nyxulla. Jillian’s parents had struggled at times, but always
provided food and shelter for their children. More importantly,
they cared. Jillian felt herself fortunate for having a good
childhood. Most of the time she didn’t even mention it to people
because she felt guilty when people talked about neglect and abuse
they experienced as kids. It was extraordinary to her that this
alien was saying similar things. “We’ll rescue them,” Jillian told
her reassuringly, placing a hand on hers. The alien skin was
unbelievably soft and cool to the touch.
    “Yes. We’ll definitely rescue them. I know
they’re probably brats.” Nyxulla blushed. “I’ve been a brat most of
my life too. Still am.” She put her feet down and looked at the
image of the compound that reappeared. “Honestly I don’t really
care. I like having fun.”
    “I can’t imagine there’s too much fun for an
alien here on Earth . . .” Jillian didn’t know if there was or not.
She could think of all sorts of trouble for anyone to get into.
    “There could be, but I would be caught
quickly if I tried,” Nyxulla admitted. “It’s easy to go to your
house because it’s within immediate range of the station. We can’t
go into town though and any further excursions would have to be
approved. Our basic locations are tracked at all times, although
individual rights laws prohibit the government from paying
attention to the details of our lives.”
    “Interesting,” Jillian replied. She sipped on
her