MISADVENTURES OF AN ALIEN(ATED) LANGUAGE TEACHER

Part 11

PART 11

I put the phone to my ear and heard a recorded voice from the other end:

"Do not speak. Just stay on the line. I am triangulating your position. Stay where you are if possible, and you will shortly receive assistance."

The message was repeated three times and then there came some soothing music. After about two minutes, there was another message: "Hang up. You will be contacted in the next ten minutes." Could it be that easy? Maybe miracles existed after all!

I returned the phone to Sherlock, thanking him profusely, and assuring him I would be fine because my aunt was on her way. He offered to stay with me until her arrival but I persuaded him not to. Better not to involve witnesses.

Seven and a half minutes later, and old lady with a cane approached slowly from my left. She seemed to have trouble walking.

"Here I am, my dear", she said to me.

I narrowed my eyes in amazement:

"Auntie? Is that you?"

She didn't look as my aunt Flora at all, but again, we are shape shifters, so she could appear to me in any form she chose.

"That's right, kiddo. Come on up, we have to get out of the open", she offered me a hand.

I took it reluctantly, she seemed so frail that I didn't want to tax her with my weight, but she pulled me up with a strength that belied her appearance. She embraced me affectionately and whispered into my ear:

"You'd better close your eyes."

I did. I immediately heard a strong buzz in my ears and felt a little nausea. I knew what these symptoms meant: we were teleporting.

When I opened my eyes, I found myself in a large modern living room.

"Take a seat", said my aunt. "You look quite shaken. Why are you in this state?"

"I ran a lot", I answered, sitting on a comfortable couch.

"You should learn to teleport", she advised, while going to the kitchen to put the kettle on.

"You know that is not possible for me", I reminded her.

"Nonsense!" she said with a gesture of dismissal. "I'll put you up with Bill, he'll teach you."

"Thank you, auntie, but I don't want to put your friends in danger. It is bad enough getting you into trouble for helping me. I appreciate you coming for me and bringing me to your new home to protect me, but the sooner I get out of this undercity, the better for you. Harbouring an outcast is a serious offense."

She came back from the kitchen with a tray bearing two cups of tea and some biscuits. She had changed her shape to a younger version of herself (she looked thirtyish), and she had shifted her clothes to match. Neat trick, that. I didn't know we had the ability to change shape together with the clothes. This knowledge would have saved me a lot of money in clothes along the years (a lot of laundry, as well). She handed me one of the cups and sat down with the other on a chair in front of me.

"We are not in an undercity, sweetheart", she said, "and don't worry about endangering anyone, I'm quite capable of taking care of myself."

"What? Where are we?"

"In a human city, of course. Bringing you to an undercity right now would be suicide."

"Why? I mean, apart from the fact that I am an outcast...", I said while I sipped my tea. It was Earl Grey, my favourite. (Yes, my favourite tea is the same as Captain Picard's from the Enterprise. What's wrong with that?)

"All in due time, dear. Now, tell me about your troubles."

And I did. I told her about the men in black, the cuffs, the puffy guy, the hideous cell, the meditation, the electroshocks, the straps, and Carter and the symbol test. She frowned at the men in black and the cuffs, was amused at the puffy guy, wrinkled her nose at the cell, got really worried at the electroshocks.

"You mustn't allow doctors to give you electroshocks, I thought you at least knew that", she admonished me.

"I do know that", I protested. "I was out of it when they did it, I couldn't stop it", I explained.

"Hmm... So how are you holding up? Are you stable?"

"So far. I may have unknowingly transformed for a moment in front of a nurse, but there were no more incidents after that", I answered.

"I will have Charles check you", she said.

"Auntie, please, remember what I am, medical care is not..."

"Stop giving me all that outcast crap!" she interrupted me. "You don't get it, do you?"

"Get what?"

"I'm an outcast protector, child."

"What???!!!!"

"Why do you think your mother gave you my number?"

"How...? Why...? When...? Where...?" I stuttered, totally confused. Maybe I was in need of some human psychotherapy myself.

"Stop babbling", she gave me a stern look. "Do you think you are the only outcast in all the history of our race?"

"No, but..." I tried.

"There are a lot of aliens like you, unjustly cast out because they sought a more congenial relationship between races. They need protection and my organization provides just that."

"What do you mean, your organization?"

"I'll have to call Charles as soon as possible", she mused. "Your brain is not working properly. You didn't use to be this dumb."

"I've been through a lot", I grumbled, mildly offended.

"I'm sorry, dear, you are right. I didn't mean to upset you", she apologized. "I'm the head of a clandestine organization that works from inside the undercities to protect outcasts that show promise."

"Outcasts that show promise?" I repeated, more confused than before.

"That's right. Outcasts that show promise of becoming part of the Conciliation Force."

"What the bloody hell is the Conciliation Force?" I frowned.

She sighed with impatience.

"Mind your language in the presence of your elders, child", she warned me.

"I may be younger than you, auntie, but I'm not a child", I objected.

"Yes, you are, you have a lot to learn, so shut up and listen", she ordered.

I don't like orders, but I understood that it was a good idea to obey this one.