Page 23 of Rock Hard Alien

He slowly looked at me. His eyes were deep vortexes of sadness and resignation. He was giving up.

“No,” I snapped. “I didn't have you almost drop me twice and play question-answer games with you to turn back into a statue. I won't allow it. Tell me what to do.”

Cairn looked back at his finger again. “I do not know. I thought I knew. I thought...” His voice shook. “What if this was it? A short reprieve, just enough to raise my hopes but not long enough to achieve anything?”

I gently took his hand in mine. I ran my fingers over his thumb, desperately hoping that my touch would make the stone go away. But it didn't. I could almost watch it spread. His index finger was becoming harder already.

“Shall I call Pam? Maybe she knows. Or the aliens she works with.”

“No. Only another gharrgoil might know, and by the time she got a reply from the IA, it might be too late. I'd rather spend my remaining time with you.”

“That makes it sound like you're dying,” I whispered.

“I would rather take death than spend another rotation as a statue.” His voice was cold now. “I should fly and perch at the very edge of a roof, so that when petrification takes me, I fall and shatter into a million pieces. Death at last.”

The room suddenly felt darker. When had the sun set? I hadn't noticed, too engrossed in our conversation.

“Please don't say that. There is always hope.”

He laughed harshly. “Is there? I don't see it. I had hope, a tiny fraction of it, when our ship crashed. But what did survival get me? Pain and more pain. My friends dead. No chance of ever returning home. And my mate having to witness me turn to stone. Hope has long vanished, Georgie.”

I kept stroking his hand. On an impulse, I lifted it to my mouth, kissed his thumb. It was already turning cold. My lips brushed the stone, but nothing happened. No miraculous cure.

“Will you make me one last cup of hot chocolate?” Cairn asked. “If this is to be the last thing I ever drink or eat, I would like it to be something you made for me.”

My eyes burned. Don't cry. Not now. He needed me to be strong.

I hurried over to the kitchen area and started making his cocoa. I kept looking over my shoulder, just to make sure he was still there, still moving. It seemed a waste of time to do this now, when I could have spent it next to him, touching him, trying to find a solution. But he had asked for this one simple thing and I wasn't going to deny him that last wish.

Had we been laughing just ten minutes ago?

I struggled to understand what was happening. And why I felt so upset about it, as if my best friend was dying, not a man who I'd met only this morning and an alien at that. Of course I had empathy for anyone who was in pain or unwell, but this went far beyond it. I was grieving the time we'd never have. The conversations we never got to share. And even the flights he wouldn't be able to take me on.

I was falling for him. Hard.

And now it was too late.

“Georgie,” he said weakly. I turned and swallowed hard. His entire left arm was now stone.

“I've got your hot chocolate.”

He forced a smile. “Thank you. I might not have long enough to drink it all. The petrification is getting faster. I can feel it inside me. My organs are starting to turn to stone.”

“Think, Cairn! There has to be something. Anything. Don't just give in. Fight it!”

“I should leave your dwelling. You don't want a stone statue taking up most of the space of your sofa. And I don't want to have to sit here and watch you live your life. Without me. I should fly away.”

“No. Stop. Think.”

Tears ran down my face. I didn't care. I handed him the mug and he took it in his right hand. The tips of his fingers here were already turning to stone. His left was in his lap, frozen and useless.

He took a deep breath. “There is something, but it may just be a story. A legend of old, passed on over generations and changed over time.”

“Tell me.”

“Gharrgoils did not evolve on Spiris. It is said our ancestors came to our planet because their original home got destroyed. At first, they had trouble adjusting to Spiris' air, until one chief accidentally pierced his mate's lips with his fangs. Her blood instantly cured him.”

“Her blood. You want to drink my blood? Like a vampire?”