Alien Coffee by John H. Carroll Page B

you, Mister Fizziggle,” Nyxulla
responded deferentially. Her voice was trembling, while Buffy and
Sclurp were backing up a few steps forcing Jillian to step back
too.
    “No. Thank you. You truly did a wonderful job
. . . except for the part where you turned half the captors into
emo bunnies, a species not native to Earth.” Mister Fizziggle
thoughtfully rubbed his chin between a thumb and two of his six
fingers. “And something else . . . what was it . . . ah yes, the
part where you brought a human with you on the rescue mission, gave
her invisibility equipment and a transformer ray gun and then let
her help you zap other humans into said emo bunnies, putting her
life and the security of this station at extreme risk.” He crossed
a leg over the other and clasped his hands on the knee. “Other than
that, you did excellent work.”
    Jillian got the impression that Mister
Fizziggle wasn’t actually paying anyone a compliment. It seemed as
though her new friends were in a great deal of trouble and the fact
that all three were visibly shaking gave credence to that belief.
None of them responded.
    “I believe the human’s name is Jillian?”
Mister Fizziggle asked. At Nyxulla’s nod, he patted the seat next
to him. “Please sit by me, Jillian. I’d like to talk to you about
everything.” When Jillian remained where she was, he encouraged her
in a non-threatening voice. “I promise I don’t bite. Please sit.”
He patted the seat once again.
    Nyxulla and Buffy both nodded that it was
alright, so she went over and sat next to the imposing alien. She
noticed that he smelled like almonds, one of her favorite
scents.
    “That’s wonderful, Jillian. I’m certain we’ll
get along fine,” he reassured her with a winning smile. “Now please
tell me how you came to meet these fine beings.” Mister Fizziggle
gestured toward Jillian’s new friends.
    She didn’t answer. They were in trouble and
everything they told her indicated that all of them were going to
suffer badly. It was hard to keep tears from welling up in her
eyes, but she desperately wanted to avoid crying.
    Mister Fizziggle took her hand and patted it.
His skin was very warm and even softer than Nyxulla’s. Jillian
wondered if he used some sort of exotic lotion from another planet.
“Here now. You need to tell me everything you can. If you don’t,
then I have to take all of you to the Hub in order to sit before a
council. That’s not a good idea because they record all the details
and dole out official punishments.” He smiled again. “This station
is unofficial and it’s best if we kept things that way.”
    “Go ahead and tell him everything,” Nyxulla
said with a reassuring nod. “They’ll find out anyway and it’s
always best to cooperate with the whole truth.” She smiled
sadly.
    Jillian nodded and took a deep breath. Mister
Fizziggle’s solid purple eyes were entrancing and looked like they
had mist in them. She began with coffee, which is where everything
had started. “For quite a while now, my coffee has been
disappearing and I’ve known that I haven’t been the one drinking
it.”
    “Coffee?” Mister Fizziggle asked, his
expression brightening. “You have coffee? It’s been so very long
since I’ve had a cup.”
    “Jillian makes the best coffee ever,” Sclurp
said suddenly and hopefully. “She has a roaster and a big bag of
beans to roast too.”
    Buffy threw arms in the air. “This is just
ridiculous.”
    “She really does brew the best,” Nyxulla
agreed.
    “That sounds wonderful,” Mister Fizziggle
stated dreamily. “I would very much love to have a cup of coffee,
Jillian. Would you be willing to make me one?”
    “Umm . . . yes?” It was more of a question
than an answer. She wasn’t sure how to handle the sudden twist of
events. “I have everything at my house down the hill. Roasting
takes a while, but I have some bags of roasted beans from the store
I can grind if you like that.”
    Mister Fizziggle rose to