Alien Coffee Read Online Free Page B

took his company two
months to realize he wasn’t showing up even though they were still
paying his salary,” she relayed with a gleeful laugh. “After they
finally fired him, Raymond realized his job wasn’t fulfilling and
he really preferred golfing anyway. So we talked and it came out
that we had both always wanted to live in the mountains since
childhood. We traveled for a few weeks before finding Priest Lake.
We found a house and moved all our things. Then Raymond took a job
at the local course as their golf pro while I stay home and do my
editing here.”
    “How extraordinary,” Buffy stated. “Just
remarkable.”
    “I make more money than I did in New York.
Between the sale of the apartment and our savings, we were able to
buy our house outright and still have enough money to live off
comfortably awhile. We work because we enjoy what we do now,”
Jillian stated blissfully. She and Raymond had been truly happy
since moving. Once again, reality came rushing back. “So what do we
do now? Are you going to turn me into an emo bunny and ruin our
lives?”
    “No. We’re not going to transform you or hurt
you in any way,” Nyxulla stated decisively. “The fact that you’ve
seen us is a serious problem though and I’m not certain how we’re
going to handle it yet.”
    “Well I’m having a tough time dealing with
this right now. I’ve always believed there was other life out
there, but the three of you. . .” Jillian gestured helplessly. She
was coming to like them, but they were still aliens and had a
secret they wanted kept. How was she supposed to go back to her
pleasantly mundane existence knowing they were right next door?
“What is this place anyway, since I already know too much?”
    The three exchanged looks as though trying to
decide how much to tell. It was Buffy who answered. “This is an
observation station. We monitor deep space signals for the most
part, but also gather data from your sun and solar system as
general research. I am a data analyst, meaning I spend most of my
time looking at numbers and filing reports.” He gestured toward
Sclurp. “Your coffee addict friend is our maintenance technician.
And Nyxulla is in charge as well as being a fine young deep space
scientist.” He bowed toward the green-skinned alien
respectfully.
    “Earth is a perfect place to put an
observation station, but as far as anyone is concerned, we don’t
exist. Earth doesn’t officially exist,” Nyxulla said with a
frown.
    “What do you mean?” Jillian asked in
curiosity.
    “I mean this is an outlawed planet not on
galactic charts,” Nyxulla answered, leaning over to inhale the
aroma of a plant. “And it’s not just the fields of coffee. The
reasons are so classified that we don’t know anything more.
We’re never allowed to tell anyone we’re here or that this station
is here.”
    “I’m fairly certain even you aren’t allowed
to know you’re here,” Buffy interjected with a light laugh that was
neither masculine nor feminine. “That is part of the dilemma. We
should report that you’ve seen us to the nearest hub, but they
don’t want us to report anything if it can be avoided. Dealing with
even the slightest problem without anyone noticing the outpost is a
daunting task for them, so we’re under orders to handle situations
ourselves wherever possible.”
    “Which actually benefits you in this
situation,” Nyxulla stated. “Normally we would have to report you,
but that would cause numerous problems, so I don’t intend to. The
question is what do we do?”
    “Let’s not do anything,” Sclurp suggested
hopefully. He stood and held up a suction cup finger. “She won’t
tell anyone about us and we won’t tell anyone about her. It’ll
work. I know it will.”
    “That plan has some flaws in it,” Buffy
observed.
    “So does turning her into an emo bunny,
reporting her or executing her,” Nyxulla pointed out.
    “Executing?!” Jillian exclaimed in alarm. Her
heart skipped a