Blue Maneuver Read online

  I yanked out my home office chair and shoved it toward the far wall. The wheels squeaked across the wood laminate floor. Roommate? I didn’t want a stinking roommate anymore than I wanted to be executed, but did anyone care what I wanted? Noooo. Putting my full weight behind it, I shoved my black desk toward the window and winced at the screech.

  That was bound to leave a mark.

  Tobias Werner UED dropped the duffle bag we’d stopped by his Parks and Rec truck to pick-up. “Now is not the time to rearrange your furnishings, we have work to do.”

  “I’m getting your room ready.” I snapped, heading for the Murphy bed hidden behind a wall of black cabinets.

  Tobias leaned into the small hallway and glanced toward the bedroom next door. “What’s wrong with the other room?”

  I opened the cabinet and folded the doors against the bookshelves on the sides. “That’s my room.”

  My personal space. No douche bags allowed. I grabbed the bed frame of the queen-sized bed. The metal was cold under my hand.

  Tobias scooped his duffle off the floor and hitched the strap over his shoulder. “Not any more.”

  “Fine!” I yanked on the metal. The frame glided soundlessly toward the floor. Even the legs unfolded smoothly. Crap on a cracker! How was I supposed to get any satisfaction when I couldn’t bang things around? “Then I’m getting my room ready.”

  I sensed more than heard him walk toward me. Son of a monkey’s butt! Couldn’t the man make some noise?

  “You don’t understand, obecht.” He brushed my arm as he bent over the mattress. “We’re sharing a condo, a room, a bed.”

  I set my hand on my forehead. Holy Toledo! Was it hot in here or was it just me? I stepped away from him. And just why did he have such wide shoulders? Didn’t he know that they were pushing out the air and cramping the space?

  Tobias eased the bed back into its cubby. “Until this mission is complete, I’ll barely leave your side. We’ll be as close as lovers.”

  Aw snap. My lungs seized then burned for oxygen. I could do this, but first I needed to breathe. I inhaled through clenched teeth.

  “Did you say something?” With one hand, he slid the doors back in place, hiding the bed.

  Say? No, I knew better than to speak. Not that my wishes made a difference. Like most men, he’d just do whatever he wanted.

  He arched an eyebrow.

  Right. He wanted a response. I dried my damp palms on my baggy shorts. Somehow I doubted grunting would suffice for an answer. Crossing my arms, I stared back at him.

  “We’re roommates sharing…” I swallowed the lump in my throat. Before I said the word bed, the four riders of the Apocalypse would have to storm through my house. “Everything. That’s just fine and dandy!”

  His lips twitched.

  What a douche. Laughing at me was so not cool.

  “Good.” He cupped my elbow and steered me toward the hallway. “Now let’s get you in the system.”

  I turned left toward the great room and bounced off his chest. He didn’t even grunt. Rubbing my tingling nose, I eyed his blurry face and blinked back the tears. “The living room is that way.”

  I pointed around his duffle bag.

  “I know.” He set his hand on my shoulder and turned me about. “But you’ll be more comfortable lying down on your bed.”

  Not if he was going to be around. Still, I obediently trudged down the short hall and entered my bedroom. The creamy walls and plush tan carpeting that had always been a refuge, now closed around me. I glared at the king-sized bed on its maple platform before switching my attention outside.

  Gray storm clouds pressed against the open blinds. Heat radiated off the asphalt, mirroring the dance of the morning sun’s rays in the puddles, souvenirs from last night’s rain. Cicadas hummed while lavender Texas sage blossoms stuck to the glass.

  “What do I have to do?” Shaking off my shoes, I stared at anything but the mattress.

  Tobias dropped his duffle bag onto the carpet and reached for the top button of his orange shirt. “Get on the bed.”

  Heat speared me and liquefied my knees. Holy Toledo! I stumbled against my dresser pushed along one wall and propped myself up on shaky arms. “When you said we’d be as close as lovers, you were talking metaphorically, weren’t you?”

  Please God, make him say yes.

  Tobias slid two more buttons out of their holes then tugged the fabric out of his jeans. Light brown hair appeared in the gapping orange material. He paused, his green eyes fixed on my face. “You act as if I’m your first.”

  Embarrassment heated my cheeks. I fanned myself with a few lazy waves then scampered onto the bed. My hands and knees sunk into the pillow-top mattress. Scrambling over the rumpled sheets, I sat at the head of the bed. “Don’t be ridiculous. I’ve had lots of lovers. Lots and lots.”

  I shut my mouth with click of teeth. Okay, now I sounded a little slutty.

  “Relax.” Reaching over his shoulder, Tobias grabbed the collar and pulled the shirt over his head. “I’m not the virginity police.”

  I stared at the gray tank covering his well-muscled chest. An inch wide brass bracelet encircled his upper arm and accentuated the bicep.

  Then I noticed the scars.

  Bright red welts ringed the joints where his arms met his torso. Quatar had said Tobias had lost his arms… Could it really be true? I’d swallow my tongue before I asked. Still…

  Tobias caught me staring and set his hands on his hips. No emotion showed on his face.

  How did he do that? Even mannequins showed emotion. I resisted the urge to fidget and instead tossed my ponytail over my shoulder. “You are such a douche.”

  Smiling, he dropped the shirt on the floor then crouched beside his bag.

  Why did I feel as if I’d just passed some sort of test? I hugged my legs to my chest and rested my chin on my knees. “I’m not your maid, you know. So don’t expect me to pick up after you.”

  “I can look after myself.” Without glancing up, he unzipped his duffle. He removed balls of white socks and rolled up shirts, stacking them in neat pyramids on the carpet before tugging out a black toiletry bag. “First, we need to enter your biometerics into the system, and then we’ll set your entry protocols, define system limitations and establish species differentiations for the CeeBees.”

  Clutching the bag in his hand, he strode toward me.

  “Huh?” I hugged my knees tighter.

  The mattress dipped as Tobias sat on the bed. He set the toiletry kit down and opened it. “What part didn’t you understand?”

  “Everything after first.”

  He dug out an electric razor and looked up. Hash marks appeared above the bridge of his nose. “Did my speech become garbled? Or did my voice cut out altogether?”

  Aw snap! I bit my lip. He thought something was actually wrong with me, not that I just didn’t understand anything more technical than thingamajig and doohickey.

  “Rae?” Tobias popped the plastic cover off the rotary blades. “Can you hear me now?”

  “I can hear you just fine.” My muscles twitched. The man had better not be planning on shaving parts of me. Despite current trends, several locations on my body should remain covered by hair.

  He flicked on the shaver and a soft hum filled the air. He clicked it off and glanced at me over the top of the still blades. “So your hearing comes and goes?”

  “No.” I wiggled on the bedspread. Confession time. Dang, I hated looking like a fool. But I would hate having my head shaved more. “Everything after first came out as blah, blah, blah. I’m not a technical person and you lost me at biological meters.”

  My brain groped to make a connection and ended up with thermometers. That might not be too bad, unless… Crap on a cracker! What if it was a rectal thermometer? My butt cheeks clenched.

  “I see.” Tobias set the shaver on the bed and delved into the shaving kit. “Good to know.”

  I wiggled my toes in my socks. Red nail polish appea
red through the worn cotton above my big toe. “Will it hurt? When you insert the meters, I mean.”

  “Nothing’s inserted.” Tobias removed a square box from the black bag and lifted it open. An alarm clock popped up, forming the third side to a triangle. He moved a switch on the faceplate to the left. “And I’ve been told, the experience is quite restful.”

  The hair on my arms rose and a bluish cast filled the room and spread out into the hallway.

  “Your house is secure. No sentient being will be able to enter without your consent.”

  This from a clock? Why not? I’d seen a water dude in a man form standing on Vivian’s stoop.

  Tobias set his hand on my ankle. “I need you to stretch out, flat on your back.”

  I sucked on my bottom lip for a moment. I felt safer this way, much safer, but if I didn’t cooperate…

  “Get comfortable.” He released my leg and pushed to his feet.

  I watched him walk across the carpet and crouch by his bag. Silence crept into the emptiness. Slowly, I released my knees. This is it, Rae. You want to live, don’t you? I did. I do. After scooting my bottom down, I stretched out and tucked the pillow under my head. The ceiling fan purred overhead and I stared at the blur of spinning blades. When the air conditioning clicked on, the chill sowed goosebumps along my exposed skin.

  Tobias returned to loom over me. “Better?”

  I shrugged. Why did the guy insist on asking questions where my answers didn’t matter? “Fine.”

  He held his hand over me and uncurled his fingers. “Take it.”

  I stared at the purple Smartphone in his palm for a moment. “I already have a cell.”

  Although not one with cool apps. Actually not one with any apps, just a simple phone with text messaging and a camera. I plucked the phone from his palm. The plastic was warm.

  “It’s not a cell phone as you know it.” He raked his hand through his short hair. Fatigue bruised the skin under his green eyes. “Hold it between your palms.”

  Following instructions, I clasped my hands together like I was praying and sandwiched the phone between. My fingers started to tingle, then my hands. Soon the sensation spread up my arms. “Is it supposed to prickle?”

  “Yes, it’s syncing to your body’s natural energy.” Picking up his razor, he sat on the bed, turned it on and stared at it. Emotions flickered across his face, coming and going so fast I couldn’t really decipher any of them.

  What was he thinking and why did I care? I was the reluctant partner and still under informed. The humming of the electric shaver swelled in the silence. I cleared my throat. “What does the razor do?”

  He scratched the stubble on his chin. “Shaves this off.” He ran the blades along his jaw. “Travel to Earth is rather rudimentary because of the primitive level of technology here. No luxury liners or private yachts bringing passengers. Just a UED military transport that inserts us into the Ort cloud and we pilot our way here, disguising our craft as part of a meteor shower.”

  “So aliens really are real?” The tingling spread to my head and my scalp tightened. I tried to release the Smartphone but my fingers refused to obey. Maybe I should have asked more about this syncing business.

  “As real as humans.” He clicked off the shaver and ran his fingers over his cheek before powering it up again and circling a patch of stubble under his chin. Apparently satisfied, he switched it off and snapped the plastic cap over the rotary blades.

  And speaking of which, for all I knew he could be a lizard under that human skin. “Are you? Human, I mean?”

  He tossed the electric shaver into his kit. “Yes, I’m human. The CeeBees will allow you to see sentients in their true form. Of course, they can’t compensate for lust-blindness.”

  His lips pursed before he shook himself slightly.

  Even though he hadn’t said Konstantin’s name, we both knew who he was talking about. I bit my tongue to stop from denying a relationship with Mr. Tall, Dark and Latino. Tobias didn’t seem inclined to listen. Besides the tingling had reached my thighs and my toes curled from the sensation. I wanted to shake my legs but couldn’t move. All I could do was talk.

  “So you’re a human from Ort?” Did that make him an Ortian?

  “No. And unlike most of the nine hundred billion humans in the galaxy, I was actually born on Earth.” He ducked his head and rummaged through the shaving kit.

  Nine hundred billion. I had been an accountant before my unfortunate encounter with budget cuts so I knew numbers. I also knew he was way off on his population count. “There are only a little over seven billion people on Earth.”

  “True.” He jiggled the toiletries bag until he pulled out a green toothbrush still in its packaging. “But humans have millions of settlements in the galaxy. It’s not really in our nature to stay put. We’re genetically predisposed to explore and wander.”

  That certainly fit my parents, but I craved permanence with every cell in my body. And speaking of cells, the tingling had stopped. I tried to lift my pinky. Nothing. I hoped this was normal but fear kept me from asking. Sometimes, it was better not to know. Too bad conversation was my only distraction. “Man has barely traveled to the moon and you’re telling me that there are humans on other planets?”

  “This incarnation of man has only achieved that much.” He tugged out a travel-sized tube of toothpaste and emptied it from its box. “In earlier incarnations, humans have traveled outside the solar system and colonized planets, moons, and asteroids in other star systems. Plus they’ve set up trading posts, outposts and embassies to interact with other sentients. We’ve achieved so much because unlike civilizations on Earth, we don’t self-destruct every ten thousand years.”

  “What are you talking about?” Heat nipped at my toes and I flinched. Now what?

  Tobias set his hands over mine. “Relax. You’ll be fine.”

  Fine? I didn’t want to be fine. I wanted to be normal. I’d never been normal before. It had become my life’s ambition. And three Spam dots from Hell had shattered any hope of achieving it. For a moment, I squeezed my eyes closed and forced out the negativity. Positive thoughts. The heat lapping at my ankles was quite relaxing. And Tobias was actually talking, providing real information, not just threatening to kill me. “What are incarnations?”

  “Stages of man’s civilization with the pinnacle being space travel.” Tobias set his toothbrush and tube of paste on the nightstand. “Modern humans evolved millions of years ago. Do you really think it took that long for us to leave the planet? Think about it? In your incarnation, humanity went from horses and manual power to moon flights and near full automation in less than a century. Yet, most people on Earth think humans sat on their thumbs for untold millennia before that.”

  When he put it that way it did sound foolish. Still… “Why hasn’t anyone found any evidence of these great civilizations?”

  The heat had reached my hips. Why bother trying to wiggle my toes when it would probably cause the whole tingling process to start over? I preferred melting to pins and needles jabbing my skin any day.

  “All evidence of previous incarnations is erased.” Standing, Tobias shoved his shaving kit to the top of the bed and grasped the edge of the flat sheet.

  “That’s convenient.” Nothing like trying to prove something when you’ve deliberately eliminated the proof.

  “It’s expensive and a pain in the ass.” With a flick of his wrist, he tossed the sheet over me.

  The scent of mesquite wafted from the warm part of the sheet where Tobias had sat. I could get used to his Parks and Rec disguise. I pressed deeper into the mattress. I don’t know when I’d felt this relaxed and warm. Warm, not the hot/cold cycle as the air conditioning clicked on and off.

  “We replant the Earth, replenish her resources and watch humanity reinvent the wheel, re-harness fire, relearn how to forge steel and wage war all from the safety of our bases on the moon.”

  I yawned and blinked. My eyes seemed too heavy to keep open. It ha
d been a long day. Perhaps a little nap was in order. “You have a moon base?”

  “Had.” Tobias tucked the sheet around me. “In the 1940’s when Oppenheimer built his rockets, we pulled back to Mars and currently have observers stationed around the world to lend development a hand.”

  “Like me.” I snuggled into my pillow. Five minutes. I’d sleep for five minutes.

  “No.”

  “No?” I forced my eyes open. “I thought I was supposed to act as a go between.”

  “You’re a steward.” Tobias brushed my bangs out of my eyes. Was it the CeeBees or did his touch linger just a tad too long? “Your job is to help the aliens who have been relocated and humans who have been repatriated adjust to their new life on Earth.”

  Help people adjust to life on Earth? Wait a minute. I wasn’t adjusted. Holy Toledo! I could seriously screw up some people. Aliens were people too, weren’t they? An ache built in my head then quickly subsided under a tidal wave of fatigue. Right. I’ll think about it later. “Why do they come here?”

  “For the aliens, this planet is a sanctuary.” The bed dipped as Tobias sat back down. “The UED guards Earth and ensures her isolation.”

  “The UED?” I yawned again so widely my jaw creaked.

  “United Earth Defense. It’s a coalition of First and Third incarnation human settlers who have banded together to protect our worlds and interests.”

  My accountant brain perked up at the mention of numbers. “What happened to the other two? You said we’re in the fifth incarnation.”

  Despite my fatigue, I could pay attention. Or at least count to five.

  “Many of Two’s worlds have joined the UED. Almost none of Four’s have.” He gathered his toothbrush and paste from the nightstand. “You can read up on it once you are connected. How are you feeling?”

  “Tired.” My tongue felt thick in my mouth. And the thought of reading thousands and thousands of years of history was like a tranquilizer on top of it. Hopefully someone had written cliff notes on humanity’s past. I could get through those. Maybe.

  “That’s perfectly normal.” Tobias pushed to his feet. “The Cee-Bee’s use the body’s stored energy supplies to power the connection.”