Authorial Magazine - Manila Edition

higher foreheads to the point where he
no longer thought of them, although
some Krenth did not have them. The
woman he spoke with now had a
human-sized forehead.
He had also grown accustomed to
the gray skin, and now it just seemed
natural to him while his own skin
seemed anomalous. He had also
grown to appreciate their outfits,
which were modest yet flattering of
their forms, and elegant. At first he
never would have imagined that he
would be attracted to the Martian
women, but even though they were
aliens, the fact remained that they
were women and he was a man.
Nathan invited the young woman to
eat dinner with him, and the whole
time he enjoyed her company, while
Gor-Kaal looked increasingly tense
and uncomfortable. The other two
guards remained aloof.
After dinner, they walked and talked
together for a while, but suddenly the
young woman became tense after
removing her mobile device to take
another picture.
“I’m going to be late for my economics
class!” she said anxiously. “I have to
run. But, tell me your mobile number
before I go …”
“My what?” Nathan asked.
“Your mobile number, maybe we can
meet again?”
“I don’t know what that is.”
“You don’t have a mobile phone?
Like this?”
She held up the device that she had
been using to take pictures.
“That’s a phone?” Nathan asked.
“Of course silly! What did you think?”
“I don’t know…”
“Are you on Karm Profiles?”
“What is that?”
“What about Happy Tracker?”
“I really don’t know what you’re
talking about.”
“What’s your electronic mail address?”
“I don’t know what that is either.”
“My goodness!” she said as she took
his hand and held it. “Well here …”
She took a pen from her purse and
wrote a number on Nathan’s hand,
then she wrote her name beneath it
in large letters.
“Bye now!” she said with a smile. “I
have to go.”
She turned from him and walked off
at a rapid pace, her boots clomping
loudly against the floor, and at one
point she tripped and stumbled to the
side, but she quickly steadied herself
and ran off at a faster louder pace.
Nathan and Gor-Kaal watched her
go, and once she was gone Gor-
Kaal spoke up.
“What a stupid woman,” he said.
“I was growing concerned that she
would never leave.”
“She seemed nice, and she’s not that
stupid,” Nathan said. “We had a nice
long conversation.”
“About animals and food.”
“And family. She seemed like a
nice girl.”
“She is a fool, and she has a
stunted sense of dignity, propriety,
and manners.”
“Come on …”
“Flaunting her emotions in such
a brazen fashion and unrestricted
fashion in public, as if she had no
proper upbringing or education.
Completely lacking in basic manners
and discretion…”
“That’s a lot of judgment.”
“Speaking of which, I sincerely hope
that you will not judge the Krenth
people based upon that individual.”
“I won’t.”
“Good, there are always those
among us with low intellect and
a poor upbringing, but they are a
small minority. Will you actually
call her later?”
“I don’t know, I hadn’t thought
about it.”
“Cavorting with our women may
adversely affect the diplomatic
endeavors your people are making,
but then, if you were to take such
a foolish and intellectually stunted
creature from our gene pool and
return to Earth, it would certainly be
no loss to us. Pragmatically speaking,
it would be in our interest to allow
you to do so.”
“For goodness sake …”
“But I could not bear to live with such
a foolish woman. Her low intellect
and cloying emotionalism would
grow extremely tiresome.”
“Listen, I’m here on a mission, that’s
all. All I’m doing now is experiencing
your culture, like Kor-Neev did when
she was on Earth. Just because I’m
talking with people you probably
never would does not mean I’m
getting ready to marry them. I just
said she was a nice girl, that’s it. No
reason to read anything into that.
Now let’s get going, I want to buy
some souvenirs …”
AUTHORS PRESS
authorial magazine | 63
To be continued…