Chapter 10: This isn't Earth.

Chapter 10: This isn't Earth.

Murry was expecting more alien sex. The way Keltrix pulled him all frantic had him hoping they were going to find a bed. What was in the other room wasn't more sex. In fact, as Murry entered, he stopped in his tracks.

Behind Kel, Murry gapped as his jaw dropped. The all-pink room had been transformed. Now his prison cell was a replica of the group home where he lived on Earth. Everything was there, down to the threadbare throw blanket over the back of the worn couch.

The coffee table was still in the room, but that furniture was the only thing that didn't match his old living space. Keltrix turned around and faced Murry.

"Now it is home? Not a prison?"

Damn. Keltrix wasn't lying. The alien could totally see into his mind. Murry balked at that. Alien reading his mind was right out of a sci-fi horror movie. The alien had taken the memory of the day one of the other residents had broken a chair. The three-legged chair was tipped against the dining table because one of the workers planned to glue the leg back together. Murry shook his head as he walked on the gray carpeting.

This must be what a caterpillar felt like.

"Caterpillar? Is this another rescued animal?" Keltrix crossed his middle tentacles over his chest. "I do not understand."

"Human children will catch bugs like caterpillars. They stuff them in a jar. But they think to fool the caterpillar into thinking the jar is their world. They get a branch or a stick or a leaf, and they think that they will recreate their home." And they fail at it, he added silently. The caterpillar must look around and think... jerks.

"This does not please you?" Kel swept a glance at the items around the room like they meant nothing to him. "But this is your habitat, is it not?"

"I don't want a habitat like a monkey at the zoo. We don't create habitats for our cats and dogs." Murry rolled his eyes. He couldn't believe he was back to the cat thing again, but the association was the best he could come up with at the moment. "A cat lives with us. With us. We make our cats part of our home. We love our cats and dogs and take care of them." Murry hated that this was the best example he could come up with, but he didn't know what else to say. He supposed he should just say thanks and see if the TV worked.

"You could see if the TV works. Why explain this to me?" Kel asked. "Do you want me to love you and care for you?" His voice was soft as if he were hurt somehow. Murry exhaled his annoyance. This listening to his thoughts was a little hard to wrap his head around.

"I don't know why I'm explaining this to you. I just wanted…" Murry frowned. What did he want? Unfortunately, he liked Keltrix. Maybe Murry liked the alien because he was drinking from him, or perhaps the attraction came because Kel had saved him. Keltrix was the first person, be it an alien, that Murry could talk to and who understood him. That was special. Whatever his reason for liking the alien, he didn't know. Murry simply liked Kel. He shoved that thought away. Instead, he considered the question. Why explain it at all? Shouldn't he like this new room? It was better than living in pink nothing.

"If it is better, why are you unhappy?"

Good question.

"I only wanted to know what time it was or where I was. I know I'm on a spaceship in space. This doesn't fool me into thinking I'm on Earth." Murry walked around the couch. "It's like…" he hunted for the right words. "This is fake. I'm not with you in your home. I wanted to be with you." Murry ran a hand over the low coffee table. "I only wanted food that I could stomach and a toothbrush in the bathroom. I wanted hot water and maybe a toilet. I didn't want to live in a pretend world. That's worse."

This time Murry felt the question form in Kel's mind. Like a tiny creek, the idea trickled into his brain. The image was on the word toilet. The alien also asked about the word love and the word bathroom as well. Since Murry couldn't clarify love at all, he pictured a bathroom with a bidet. In his mind, Murry put together the big bathroom image with all the comforts, complete with a toothbrush and toothpaste.

The image was crystal clear, and it made him sad. Murry's wanting these things was as dumb as Kel trying to recreate the group home. Maybe Murry had to get over Earth. He wasn't there, and he liked an alien instead of a woman or a man. Murry should get over that too.

Sighing, Murry picked up the green cup on the center of the coffee table. Time to get over it. He could handle this. This gross drink, he supposed, was his new food. The empty pink cell was his new normal. Closing his eyes, Murry drank. He made it through half the green sludge before he gaged.

"You do not gag when you drink from me." Keltrix took the cup from his hand.

"I don't gag because I like your taste."

Like before in the bathroom, Kel used his top right vacuum tentacle to drink from the glass. The sucking reminded Murry of a vacuum cleaner hose with no noise. The end opened, and Keltrix drank all the time watching Murry.

"You must not have taste buds." Murry's nose wrinkled when all the liquid was gone.

"I taste, in a way." Kel set down the cup. "I sometimes forget how much information you lack. While you were sleeping, I came here and built you a drink suited for nutrients to help your body heal. I did not think about flavor. You seem to be focused on taste."

"Wait." Murry's brow wrinkled. "If you came in here before, why didn't you wake me or talk to me?"

"Because I did not want to kiss you again. I was afraid of my attraction to the pleasure you give me. I worried it would override my resolve to place you back on Earth. Now I must wait again to return you to your home planet. Once more, I let you drink from me. I am in your system more so than before." Kel sounded mad at himself, and his annoyance made Murry grin.

"So, you thought you would want me so bad you wouldn't come in here, but then you came in here anyway?"

"I could no longer watch you take such poor care of yourself. However, I was correct. My attraction to your mouth did override my resolve." Kel wrapped a middle tentacle around Murry's forearms. "I promise I will not let my want of you steal my discipline again." Kel tugged on him. "Come, my troublesome cat."

Murry walked behind Keltrix, and he opened the door that Murry could never get to move. The alien drew him out into a hallway.

"Where are we going now? Another cell? Because really, I'll live in the mock group home. TV is better than nothing."

"We will go to my quarters. Cats sleep at the end of their owner's beds."

"Or on a sunny windowsill. And I'm not doing that."

"No sunny windowsill in my room, but you can look out at space."

Murry would've commented on seeing the universe, but as he stepped into the hall, his eyes scanned a narrow fabric jungle. Huge pieces of silk hung from the ceiling and over the walls. Waves of different colored satin covered the walkway, and sateen pooled in piles and was shoved against the walls. Murry followed Kel down the hall to a door hidden in the fabrics. The curtains parted, and Keltrix drew Murry into his room.