Aeolus Investigations Episode 1

Available on Amazon.com.

The year is 2026. When Lexi first met Ron, she was a doctoral student at a western university with clear goals for her life. So was Ron, except it turned out he was already an undercover insurance investigator. She hopes to be on the first space mission to Titan, although Mars will do.

While it wouldn’t be fair to say she was knocked off her feet, she certainly felt an attraction. Ron abruptly left after their first date without much of an explanation. Bummer! What does a young woman brimming with curiosity and determination do? She followed him. Who knew he was an alien? Right? Determined to save Earth from (an imagined) invasion, what could a girl do except stow away on his small starship.

Her plans of space missions quickly go out the window. Joining forces with her alien boyfriend Ron, his mother Geena and the sentient starship Urania, they recover the 50,000-year-old, alien artifact known as the Rose of Light. That’s when the fun starts, or more precisely, the havoc begins.

A lighthearted space adventure that is first in a series.

Join Lexi, Ron, Geena and Urania, the Aeolus Investigations team, in Stowaway, the first of their adventures.

Stowaway — Chapter 2 Ducks, Turtles, and Lattes

She found me sitting on a bench by the lake. I was enjoying the relative silence, the earthy smells, the ducks, and the occasional turtle. These were among the simple pleasures I would soon miss. The pigeons, yeah, not so much, although I admit, I have been as guilty as the next guy of feeding them from time to time.

It was still early spring in the Pacific Northwest. The weather could have justifiably been unpleasantly cold and dreary. Today, though, I sat in bright sunshine with my jacket draped over the back of the park bench. Even the breeze that wafted off of the lake was fresh-smelling and gentle. I realized I wouldn’t be happy about leaving. I was smart enough to understand that I didn’t really know why I felt that way.

I chuckled when I saw her; I really had no clue that I was quite so predictable. I doubted I mentioned my enjoyment of this spot to her more than once, and that was nine weeks or more ago. I knew there was a good chance she might be one of the reasons I held doubts about leaving. There were others, most of which carried more weight.

The first time I met Lexi was a few months back at the coffee shop where I worked part-time as a barista. She came by a couple of days a week, ordering the venti size of our boldest blend, taking it black. A woman after my own heart. Or at least my own tastes in coffee. Once in a while, she bought a scone to go with her coffee. She seemed to prefer the raspberry almond buttermilk scones. She avoided our triple chocolate variety, saying that if she wanted something that tasted like a brownie she’d order a brownie. Made sense to me. I always felt slightly distracted while she was in the shop and wistful once she left. She tended to flirt with me in a low-key sort of way. I may have been guilty of flirting just a bit too.

Every once in a while we ran into each other at the gym. She was strong for a woman. I know because we spotted for each other a couple of times when we used the free weights. She’s a nice kid. I sighed. I probably shouldn’t think of her as a kid. At twenty-four, she’s only three years younger than me. In retrospect, I’m sure it was foolish of me to not have asked her out by now, but I had other considerations. Seems like there always were. Now, of course, it was too late. When I left here, I wouldn’t be coming back. I mean, I could fit in a dinner date, but assuming she accepted, it wouldn’t be fair to either of us. Might be fun though.

This afternoon, though, she arrived like a goddess bearing two venti lattes in a cardboard tray. The actual contents of the two steaming cups was an assumption on my part, of course, but the times I had an afternoon coffee with her, that was what we both ordered. And yes, OK, maybe it’s irrational to picture a goddess bringing me a latte, but I doubted they were both for her. Besides, she looked like a goddess. Her long red hair hung just below her shoulder blades in what I understood to be a classic French braid. She corrected me about the color one time. It was lighter than auburn but darker than the stereotypical red, a shade referred to as deep red. I didn’t care what it was called; it looked good. Her deep blue eyes sparkled. The ghosts of faded freckles scattered across her nose were extra prominent in the bright, afternoon sunshine. She lowered herself onto the bench next to me, close enough for her thigh to touch mine, handing me one of the coffees.

I said, “Thank you,” and took a sip of the very hot latte. I hadn’t been paying attention to exactly how long I had been sitting here, but a quick glance at my watch told me it couldn’t have been for more than twenty minutes. Jameson would have dismissed class early after giving his assignment, especially after my outburst. She must have gone directly to the campus coffee shop after class and then come straight here.

Based on the temperature of the coffee, along with the probable wait at the coffee shop at this time of day, there wasn’t enough time for her to have done anything else. I’m trained to notice things like that. Yes. Really. She didn’t spend any time looking for me. I apparently am exceedingly predicable. While that is intrinsically good to know, I don’t think it is applicable in this situation. No worries. Other than detouring by the campus coffee shop, she would have had to come straight here.

She took a sip of her latte before shrugging out of her pack. “That was really stupid, Ron. You’ll never pass Jameson’s class now, even if you turn in a perfect paper, or at least one he likes. I mean, I don’t disagree with anything you said. He’s a disgusting human being. Why did you do it?”

Lexi Stevens was one of the students I had in mind during my earlier outburst. She’s far more intelligent than James Jameson, PhD. Hell, I’m almost certain she’s more intelligent than I am. “I agree, he comes across as disgusting, but he’s not really a stupid man,” I replied. “If it gets him to think… Well, maybe it will do some good for his future victims.”

She smiled, presumably at my terminology. Lord, she was beautiful. I wished I could stay and, I don’t know, really get to know her. That would be nice. I hadn’t allowed myself a social life for the two years I was here, because, dammit, I wouldn’t be able to see it through. While I felt an undeniable attraction to this woman, I’m not the love ’em and leave ’em type. And I would have to be leaving. There was no getting around that.

I haven’t stayed in one place for very long for years. Even when I was attending as an undergrad, I was in and out of different schools, usually after only one semester, always with faked transcripts. That was easy to do here. Thinking about it now, I haven’t ever stayed in one place for long. My partner and I were pretty much experts at faking documentation. My driver’s license wasn’t even legit. “Will you still be able to graduate?” she asked. “Interstellar Matter is practically a requirement for your field. That’s generally the only reason anyone takes it.”

“Probably not,” I admitted. I shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. I’m dropping out before graduation. I’m going away.”

“No, Ron, you can’t,” she protested, sounding almost angry. “You’re the only freakin’ challenge I have here.” And then she managed to blow my mind by leaning over, placing her free hand on the side of my face, and kissing me. Believe me, it was not an, “I’m going to miss you, buddy,” type of kiss. Something started to move of its own volition in my pants. The hardest thing I have ever done was to make it stop, to pull back from her, take a deep breath and blink at her stupidly. Well, maybe that last wasn’t all that difficult. Blinking stupidly, I mean. At least I held on to the latte. Probably a good thing it had a lid, though.

She sat back, seeming to intently examine my face. After a moment she smiled. “You’re not fooling me, Mr. Samue. Where are you going? Why the rush? What can’t wait until after graduation? If you leave now, you’re going to have to take the semester over if you change your mind about dropping out.”

What could I say? I didn’t want to lie to her. I couldn’t really tell her the truth either. “I’ve got a job. It’s secret. I’m not really allowed to talk about it. I guess it’s OK to say that it’s out of the country.” Was that to grandiose? Should I have just said out of state? Or should I have just told her the full truth, that it’s on another planet? Eh, probably not.

She was even beautiful when she frowned. “We’ll let that go for now,” she decided. “Will you still be here Saturday?”

“Yes. I’m not leaving until Sunday evening. I have a few things to clear up before then. Stopping mail, closing bank accounts, that kind of thing. Why?”

“Come to my place. I’ll email you the address to your student account. Show up around six o’clock. I’ll cook dinner. You can bring a bottle of red wine. Something you like.” With that, she got up and left me there. I watched her until she was out of sight before going back to sipping the latte, enjoying the relative silence, the smells, the ducks, and the occasional turtle. For the first time I could remember, I found myself feeling flustered and confused. And, damn it, horny.

Stowaway is available on Amazon.com.