Night of the Aurora (Salmon Run - Book 1)

Chapter 24

Sasha rushed around the house getting linens for the spare room and helping her mother quickly change the twin bed for their guests. Her mother brought out one of the roll-away beds from the back of one of the closets. Her father, Grandpa and her brother rooted around for spare clothes.

She tucked in the last of the sheets on the roll-away bed, her sleeve getting pushed up to reveal the dark green of the translator. She touched the soft surface.

It had been so real.

She shook herself, standing up to flip a blanked over the sheets. She found a pillow at the top of the closet and threw it on the bed.

"The casserole is ready," her mother announced. "Can you finish the twin?"

Sasha didn't mention the bed was pretty much done already. She only nodded and finished tucking in the edges of the blankets.

"Can you believe it's not even midnight yet?" Zach asked from the door.

Sasha looked back. His hair was still wet from the shower, her brother's sweatsuit hanging loose on Zach's smaller form.

"Time feels different when things get exciting." Sasha sat down on the bed. "Feel better?"

"I'll feel even better once we have dinner." Zach pointed to the roll-away bed. "Is that mine?"

"Or your Dad's. Whichever."

Zach sat down, pulling up the big baggy socks on his feet. "I'll be glad when our luggage gets here. How long do you think it will be?"

"Tomorrow, I'm sure. But don't think you have to get up early. You've earned the right to sleep in." Her fingers strayed to the translator.

"Oh yeah, right. Sleep after everything that happened." He glanced at the door before whispering. "They're still out there, watching."

Sasha crossed her legs, not caring that she was causing creases in the newly made bed. "And they have been for a long time. I told you, I didn't sense anything dangerous about Nanuk or Yenni. And they helped us get out safely."

"Feelings?" Zach scowled at her. "That's it? You have a feeling?"

"Don't dismiss them. Mine are almost as good as Grandpa's," she said stiffly. "There are some things science can't yet explain. Case in point: we just met aliens. There are a bunch of human scientist that don't believe they exist at all."

"And many of them do." 

"Look at it all as a great adventure. How many people get to see what we did tonight? We were inside an actual alien spaceship and met a few of the aliens inside. And an engine room." Sasha shook her head, hardly able to believe her own memories. Of Qeet slipping in and out of openings that were impossibly small. "It's amazing."

"You can't ignore what we saw with our own eyes."

"And what is it you are referring to?" Sasha demanded.

"Plenty of things." Zach stopped, his eyes on the open door.

Jacob shouted into the room even though he was standing right in the doorway. "Dinner is ready. Get a move on!"

Sasha scowled after his departing figure. "Annoying, isn't he."

"An adolescent at the rebellious stage," Zach mocked.

They both fell over laughing. Sasha wiped a tear from her eye, "Nanuk could get years of study out of my brother. Maybe we should offer him up for the benefit of science."

Zach's face sobered. "Someone who studies us as an occupation. That doesn't bother me as much as the weapons."

"They need security," Sasha reminded him. "Everyone does. We do. State Trooper Ed Barrow comes through several times a year."