Carrie Hatchett's Christmas Read online

“Their child?” asked Carrie.

  “I am translating correctly, I believe.”

  Emily nodded. “Beth has been ill these last few months. The doctors couldn’t figure out what was wrong with her.” She paused before turning to the Slev at Gavin’s side. “She...she isn’t human, is she?”

  “Correct,” said Gavin. “Beth is a Slev.”

  “That’s obvious, but how did she get to Earth?” asked Carrie.

  “It is most interesting,” said Gavin. “The Chief has explained that the Slev reproduce through spores that they spread among the stars. When a spore happens to drift to a planet and encounter favourable conditions, a Slev grows. The Slevs travel the galaxy gathering their children before they reach adolescence, which is when their green sensory organ begins to grow. At this age, the child requires a special compound to fuel its development, otherwise it fades and eventually dies. Time was running out for little Beth, and the Slevs were anxious to find her before it was too late.

  “They could tell Beth’s approximate position, but they could not make the final identification until they could see her close up. They are very sorry for frightening the children of Earth.

  “The Slevs sense the locations of their developing children through an extremely interesting method...” Gavin spoke at some length, but Carrie’s mind was on other things. “And so, when—”

  “Could you tell him I’m very sorry for frightening some of his people?” asked Carrie.

  “Tut, tut,” said Gavin. “What did you do? I heard Dave shouting.”

  “Hey, you aren’t my manager anymore.”

  “Hmpf.” A whiff of almond oil was an added signal of Gavin’s displeasure. “If I might continue—”

  “They want to take her, don’t they?” asked Emily. Her lower lip trembled.

  “It is not a matter of want, so much as must. Beth requires regular doses of the compound if she is to survive and grow normally, and the Slevs cannot stay here to supply her with it. They have other planets to visit, other children to collect. In fact, they must leave soon. They were only waiting so that they could explain to you.”

  “What?” asked little Beth. “I have to leave Emily? I won’t do it. I’m not going.” The little girl stamped her foot, folded her arms, and pouted.

  The Slevs seemed to understand the meaning of her words, for their happy faces fell. The Chief began chattering again.

  “He says he would like to thank you for caring for Beth so well that she does not wish to leave you. Usually Slev children are spurned by the natives of the planets on which they grow, due to their physical differences. But you have cared for her like a...a...I believe he is saying, mother.”

  At this Emily lost her composure. Woman and child held each other tightly. But finally Emily’s tears subsided and she broke the embrace. “Is there really no other way?”

  “I am afraid not,” said Gavin.

  “I don’t want to go with them,” said Beth. “I want to stay here. I won’t leave. I won’t.”

  “But you must,” said Emily, “if you’re going to get better.” She turned to Gavin. “Will I ever see her again?”

  Gavin chattered with the Slev. “He says yes, of course. They pass by this region of space quite regularly.”

  “No,” shouted Beth, “I’m not leaving Emily. I want to go home. I want to go home right now.” She began to sob hysterically.

  Carrie was sure it was contravening some galactic law or other, but she was going to say it anyway. “Can’t she...can’t Emily go with them?”

  “Yes,” exclaimed Beth. “You can come too. You can come with us, Emily. Oh please, please say you’ll come.”

  Emily looked down at the teary-faced child and around at the starship and its strange occupants. “Go with you? I...I...”

  “I am afraid humans are prohibited from leaving Earth without the permission of the Transgalactic Council. According to regulation—”

  “But, Gavin,” said Carrie, “aren’t you forgetting something? You don’t work for the Transgalactic Council.”

  Gavin’s transparent wings fluttered. “Yes, Carrie, you are quite right.”

  Chapter Eight – Christmas Feast

  Christmas dinner was held in Carrie’s living room that year. It was the only room where Gavin could fit. Carrie and Dave moved the sofa set out and the dining table and chairs in before Carrie laid out the Christmas feast. Luckily, there was still room for the Christmas tree.

  A nut roast took pride of place in the centre. Carrie had shaped it to look vaguely like a large bird so that Dave wouldn’t feel he was missing out on a traditional turkey too much. Serving dishes of vegetables, Yorkshire pudding, stuffing and gravy steamed around the nut roast, and at the periphery Carrie had placed three sets of plates and cutlery. She wondered if Gavin used plates and knives and forks.

  Rogue and Toodles had eaten the last of their Advent calendar treats and received their presents. Rogue’s had disappeared almost too fast to see, but Toodles was still drooling over hers in a doped-up stupor. Carrie had also given Dave the shaving toiletries she’d bought him. She’d felt a twinge of disappointment when he hadn’t given her anything in return, but she didn’t say anything. Some people were just forgetful. She didn’t have a present for Gavin, but then she hadn’t been expecting him.

  Carrie wondered where her guests had got to. The insectoid alien had turned invisible and popped out to stretch his legs, and Dave had been upstairs for ages. What was he doing up there?

  The front door opened and closed, letting in an icy breath of wind, and Gavin became visible again in the hallway.

  “Great, you’re just in time,” said Carrie. “Come in and...squat down.” She squeezed past the alien and went to the bottom of the stairs. “Dave, dinner’s ready. Come and eat before it gets cold.”

  “Just a minute...whoops,” came Dave’s voice.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Come back here,” exclaimed Dave.

  A creature swept down Carrie’s stairs. A large, pale brown, furry creature with translucent bat wings. It landed on the bannister rail and groomed itself. Its head was like a lemur’s, with large, liquid chocolate eyes and wide furry ears.

  “I wanted to give you it myself,” said Dave as he came down. “Happy Christmas.”

  “What...what is it?” asked Carrie.

  “I am a he, not an it,” said the animal.

  “Amazing, isn’t he?” Dave said. “I’d like you to meet Flux.”

  “He is amazing, but, Dave, you really shouldn’t give pets as presents.”

  “Hmpf,” exclaimed Flux. “I’m certainly not a pet. You can think of me as a visitor. I expect to stay one or two Earth years, providing your accommodation is satisfactory.”

  “Wh...what...” Carrie stared at her friend, her eyebrows raised. “That’s what you were doing upstairs all that time yesterday and today. You were...”

  “Yeah.” Dave looked a little sheepish. “When I came over to help out, I realised I hadn’t got you anything for Christmas. I didn’t want it to make it obvious by rushing out to the shops, so I went somewhere else.”

  “You went by transgalactic gateway to another planet? But you can’t do that without a good reason. It isn’t allowed.”

  “You’re right, but, well, you helped, actually. You’d done such a good job of explaining the importance of Christmas to the Council, I got special permission. I persuaded Flux here to come and stay for a while. I thought you’d like another pet.”

  “I am not a pet,” exclaimed Flux again.

  “Sorry.” Dave whispered in Carrie’s ear. “He’s actually on the run. Long story.”

  Carrie’s mouth opened and closed twice. She shook her head. “Thanks, I think. Shall we go and eat? Come on, Flux.”

  When they were all seated at the table, they pulled their Christmas crackers, put on paper hats and read out terrible jokes before tucking into the feast.

  “How do you think Emily and Beth will get on living with th
e Slevs on their starship?” Carrie asked Gavin as she piled roast potatoes on her plate.

  “The child will adjust quickly, I imagine. She is young and her brain is as yet unformed, and of course she is a Slev. The human female may take much longer to become accustomed to her new life. But she was extremely attached to the child. I believe the option she chose was the wiser alternative.”

  Carrie looked from the shiny golden alien, to her bestie, Dave, and Rogue, who was begging with his eyes, and Toodles, who was blissfully high on catnip, to her new friend Flux, who was perched on a chair back, nibbling a Brussels sprout. Yes, Emily and Beth would be fine, because they were with the people they loved.

  Thanks for reading!

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  ALSO BY J.J. GREEN

  CARRIE HATCHETT, SPACE ADVENTURER SERIES

  SHADOWS OF THE VOID SERIES

  THERE COMES A TIME

  A SCIENCE FICTION COLLECTION

  DAWN FALCON

  A FANTASY COLLECTION

  LOST TO TOMORROW

  Copyright © 2016 J.J. Green

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any written, electronic, recording, or photocopying without written permission of the publisher or author. The exception would be in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  First Edition.

  ISBN: 1519505957

  ISBN-13: 978-1519505958