Dexter Gray spent the next two hours happily following behind Alex Dalton as she made her way from one boutique to the next systematically building up the hopes of the sales clerks, but in the end always walking away without buying anything.
Several times throughout the afternoon Dexter or Alex would spot the strange alien tourist still contentedly wandering through Serenity Park, sometimes referring to the big sheet of paper it carried, sometimes pointing its tiny camera at things, but always with a happy, toothy grin on its hairy lips. Once they caught it lying on its back and dumping the contents of a public trashcan onto its chest. Once they spotted it sitting high up in a eucalyptus tree munching on an apple it had skewered on a wicked, six-inch claw.
The two of them sat now on their favorite park bench again, side by side, eating ice cream cones. The warm summer sun was making a general mess of things, but they took it as a challenge.
Alex looked sideways at Dexter and made a face. "How come you always just get plain vanilla?" she asked. "That's so boring. It's like the boringest flavor in the universe."
Dexter shook his head. "Au contraire, madam," he replied. "Vanilla is all the rage here in the Serenity Sector."
"Oh go on," chided Alex. She took a bite of her strawberry cone just to prove that other flavors besides vanilla indeed existed.
"It's true," insisted Dexter. "With the Mulluran Empire so close by and Serenity being right on the edge of the Federation's borders between the dark unknown and the treacherous Briar Patch, what could be safer and more comfortable than good ol' vanilla?"
Alex smiled. "Is that why you eat it? To feel safe and comforted? Because you're afraid of what's out there?" She waved her free hand vaguely in the direction of the sky.
She was just teasing Dexter, but a shadow fell across his face and she instantly regretted her words. At the same time, though, she wondered what had triggered Dexter's mood change. She nudged him gently with her elbow. "Hey... What did I say?"
Dexter managed a reassuring smile, though the pain in his eyes was still there. "It's nothing," he said, and took a bite of ice cream.
"Come on. Tell me," prodded Alex. "Someone you know get killed or something?"
Dexter snorted. "If only it were that simple," he said.
"I'm gonna bug you about it until you tell me, you know," said Alex. "It's what girls do."
That elicited a smile from Dex. He took a deep breath. "It was before I was assigned to Banshee Squadron and met you," he began. "Me and Mike Trehyrn -- he was my best friend from the Academy -- were working on a small Starfleet supply transport that shuttled back and forth through the Briar Patch between Federation space and the archeological digs on Oo-oo-ah. We knew it was dangerous duty -- flying through the Briar Patch has never been safe -- but what did we care? We were both just out of the Academy and wanted to take on the universe! We thought we were ready for anything that came our way!"
Dex lowered his eyes. "But we weren't ready for what came looking for us that day. None of us were, not even the old hands. The captain was the first to go. He tried talking to them, but they wouldn't listen, didn't even bother to acknowledge our hail. They just came alongside and grappled their ship's hull to ours. We tried to resist, but they took control of our minds. My hands and legs suddenly weren't my own anymore. All we could do is look on in horror as they started feeding... waiting for our turn..." Dexter's voice cracked and faltered.
Alex was stricken and choked back an upsurge of bile. "You mean they ate the crew? That's awful, Dex! I'm so sorry! How did you manage to get away?"
Dex pulled himself together. "No, not 'ate'. Worse! They sucked their minds out until there was nothing left but an empty husk, the victims' blank eyes staring but not seeing, their life force stolen... their souls! I didn't get away. I was as helpless as everyone else. They just left before they got around to me. Guess they'd had their fill."
A cold chill froze Alex's spine. "Why does all this sound familiar?"
Dexter nodded. Alex had guessed correctly. "Because you've met those monsters too -- one in the dilithium mines under Rostella and one at the bottom of Blue Lake. The Jelly Brains. They almost got you too."
Alex guessed the rest. "Your friend was killed, wasn't he?"
Dexter nodded. He raised the hand holding his ice cream cone to his mouth, but discovered that during his grisly story the ice cream had melted away. Half of it covered his hand and the other half was pooled in a yellow puddle on the ground between his feet. He laughed, more to dispel the heavy gloom that had descended over him and Alex than at the confectionary faux pas.
"Guess we better go for seconds!" he declared with forced chipperness. A few seconds later, his natural male bravado was fully back in place.
"Me too," said Alex, holding forth her own melted, pink mess. She felt bad about having made Dex remember such a horrible experience, but on the other hand she was glad he'd been able to share his feeling with her.
They got up from the bench in unison, intending to head back to the malt shop, but a rustling in the shrubbery behind them made them pause and take a closer look.'
A big, brown, hairy head poked up from the leaves. It lowered the tiny camera from its eye and smiled its toothy grin.
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