Jung Yunho Is An Alien! 1/8
Title: Jung Yunho Is An Alien! 1/8
Pairing: Yunho/Jaejoong
Rating: NC-17
Disclaimer: While I'm being ddelusionall and writing them as aliens, I may as well try to claim them as mine to do with as I wish.
Summary: Jaejoong lives alone on a farm outside of a small city. It's a perfect existence. Normal. Routine. Feed the chickens. Feed the goats. Weed the garden. Of course that means something ... or someone ... needs to invade and throw everything off kilter. Though Jaejoong never thought that he'd ever have to ask himself if he really believed in aliens.
A/N: This fic is done. Updates will be once a day or so.
Part 1: Take Me To Your Leader
Jaejoong woke up with a start. The loud noise echoed for a moment, and it took Jaejoong a few more moments to blink away sleep and realize that the noise had been wood snapping, creaking, and twisting.
Shit. Had one of his goats gotten loose again?
He flung the blankets off him and hurried from his room and into the living room. JiJi, his cat, was staring at the door, ears back, tail flicking madly. Hissing. Jaejoong swallowed. Maybe it wasn’t a goat. A mountain cat? Fuck, there were rumors, but Jaejoong had never heard of it being this close to town before.
There were more noises, like someone moving around on his porch. Footsteps.
Jaejoong took a deep breath. It was a goat, that was all. Just a goat. They were very smart and escaped their pen at least once every three months.
Just in case, he picked up his umbrella. It did have a very sharp point.
He turned on the porch light. A strange popping noise followed and the porch light blinked and went dead. Perfect. The perfect time for the bulb to burn out.
Taking another deep breath, Jaejoong opened the front door. He started calling the names of his goats. Aimee, Booboo, Danny, Lovely.
He froze for a moment. There was a hole in his porch. An actual hole in his front porch. A big, perfectly round hole. Like something had dropped a boulder and splintered all the wood. But there wasn’t anything in the hole. Jaejoong approached it cautiously, peering into the darkness.
He had no time to react when two arms wrapped around him from behind. One around his waist, the other around his mouth and nose. He kicked and tried to scream and bite, but the arms held him fast. Air, running out of air. He clawed at the fingers. One of them moved and let him take a very deep breath through his nose.
In that moment, a deep quiet voice said, “I apologize for the inconvenience, but at this precise moment, I need you to be still and be quiet.”
Jaejoong froze and then tried to fight again. The hand went back over his nose. The arm around him tightened. A leg got involved, twisting around his. It cut off his breath. The man was too strong to fight.
“I could snap your neck in one moment, but I do not want to start my time on your world as a murderer. Please be still.”
Jaejoong did as he said. And he was allowed to breathe again.
A soft humming permeated the darkness. He could hear his herd of goats bleating in panic. A soft beam of light swept over his porch, pausing at the hole and then continuing on. Jaejoong lost track of time. The beam of light came again and again.
What felt like hours, the man released him, and Jaejoong scrambled away from him, almost tripping, grabbing a wooden beam for support. He turned around. The man was stretching, arms high above his head, bare feet going up to his tiptoes. When he was done, Jaejoong looked away.
“That was close. They’ll send a tracker next. I’d love to be somewhere else when that happens, but they are too close to easily evade. Are there any sort of hidden rooms within your dwelling?”
Jaejoong bit his lip. There was one place, but ... “Are you a criminal?”
“Now, I am. I am not going back to their prison.”
“Prison?” Jaejoong glanced at him. In the dark, he could see no defining features except for his eyes. They almost glowed, but it was a darkness to them, a dark glow of light. Jaejoong’s skin tingled. He was taller than Jaejoong, obviously strong. Dark hair, maybe. The shadows made by the moonlight kept most of the details hidden
“In a sense. I need to be somewhere safe until their tracker passes me by. I am scrambling their sensors, but it won’t last forever.”
Jaejoong had no idea what he was saying.
“Hidden room?”
Jaejoong did not want to. “Can’t you just leave, please? Leave me alone.” He hoped he didn’t sound as desperate as he felt.
“I will leave as soon as possible, but if I leave before their tracker is here, then they will find me and they will take me. I am not going back.”
Jaejoong shut his eyes, tightening his grip on the wooden pole of his porch. The rough texture against his cheek told him this was not just a horrible dream. He did not want to harbor a fugitive, but he figured that he could call the police after the man left. For now, he just did not want to die.
Jaejoong let go of the beam, took a few shaky steps toward the front door. As soon as he was within reach, the man stretched out an arm, and Jaejoong was too wired to move too fast, and a firm hand landed on his shoulder.
“Do not try anything. I promise that I do not want to hurt you, but with my hand here, I can break your collarbone in a second.”
Jaejoong believed him. He entered his home.
JiJi sat on the back of a chair and absolutely hissed at the man, fur standing up, yowl growing louder.
“Don’t turn on any lights,” he said. “I can see just fine.”
Jaejoong swallowed. His house was modest, his parents had raised him here, they had both died here, same with his grandparents. He lived alone in a wooded area, a small farm, where he grew his own vegetables, raised his own goats. No one would know if he died tonight. Not for a few days until Yoochun came to look for him.
In the kitchen, he moved around the table toward the back corner. There was a half door that led into a small, mostly underground shed. Before refrigerators, it had been used as food storage. His grandparents had apple trees. Apples lasted a long time during the winter under there. Jaejoong didn’t store anything in it.
“This is not hidden,” the man said harshly.
Jaejoong moved to the side and said, “Under ... under here. There’s a crawl space. Under the house. It’s not big, but ...” He tapped his foot.
He pushed Jaejoong to the side and glanced into the space.
Jaejoong still could not see any of his features in the dark, but his eyes almost glowed. Those he could see. His skin stood up and his body shuddered.
“That may do. They will come and question you. They will say they are looking for a fugitive. I will not go back to their prison. I am very sorry to involve you in my escape, but if you understood what they did to me ...” He trailed off for a moment. “Please, do not say anything. Please. I do not want to hurt you or your guardian animal. But if you say anything about me being here, I have one more failsafe that will blow up this house, this land, and every being in it. Drastic, but I will not go back. I’d rather die, and I do not mind taking others with me. Especially a few of their agents. I will leave as soon as I can.”
He dropped into the recessed space and then shimmied under the wood of the house and into the small storage space below. Jaejoong heard him moving for a moment, and then a piece of wood blocked off the entrance to the crawl space underneath.
Jaejoong stood there in shock, and then crumpled, leaning against the kitchen cabinets. He muffled his cries on his arm. But he wasn’t hurt, he wasn’t injured. There was just a hole in his porch that had to be fixed.
“Shit,” Jaejoong whispered.
He used the counter to stand up and headed to his bathroom. No sooner had he splashed water on his face than there were loud bangs on his front door. Heavy knocks like someone was using their fist and all their weight.
Gasping, Jaejoong stared at himself. He looked guilty. He really did. But ... the man, the prisoner, scared him. He kept his resolve that he would call the police once the prisoner left.
Stumbling, he headed into the living room. The pounding continued.
“God, hang on,” he shouted.
“Open your door immediately. We are the authorities.”
“I’m coming. Shit, it’s the middle of the night.”
Was his voice shaking? Maybe.
He flung a sweater over his upper body for some semblance of modesty. Faking a yawn, he opened the door. Almost immediately, three men and two women pushed past him into his house.
“What the fuck?” Jaejoong said. “You can’t just--”
“Have you seen this creature?” one of the women said and held up what looked like a tablet in front of his face.
“Creature?” Jaejoong said.
“This man. Have you seen this man?”
Jaejoong glanced at it. It was obviously the man hiding under his house. Attractive, small face. Wide eyes. Not Korean. Or maybe Korean. Jaejoong could not really tell. It was like he was raceless. He glanced at the others in the room. Their faces appeared Korean. But their accent.
“Yeah, no. I live in a farmhouse away from the city. I haven’t seen anyone since I was in town yesterday.”
The woman’s eyes narrowed. “You lie to us. That isn’t good.”
His eyes went wide, wondering if she could really tell. Was he shaking? The others had all gone into his house. He heard them moving things, opening closet doors.
“You can’t search my house without permission,” Jaejoong said. “That’s against the law.”
“We are chasing a fugitive. We have rights to do what we wish.”
Jaejoong definitely knew she was lying. Who the hell were these people? They were in uniforms. But their uniforms were gray, or black, or silver. It was like the color changed as they moved and Jaejoong could not settle on any of them. Their hair was short, no longer than the back of their necks. White skin. Mostly, it was just as hard to tell their skin color as their clothes color. Their eyes were all the same as the other. Dark. Almost glowing.
Jaejoong swallowed.
“He was here,” one of the men said.
“What are you talking about?” Jaejoong said.
“You heard nothing?”
Jaejoong shook his head, trying to find out a way to get through this without dying. “I’ve been sleeping. I woke up, I don’t know, an hour ago or so, and then went back to sleep before you were pounding on my door.” Mostly the truth.
All five of them looked at each other, and then one of the men nodded. “We are taking over your dwelling until we find him. He cannot have gone far.”
“The fuck you are,” Jaejoong said. “You can’t.”
There was suddenly something in his face. Something that looked like a gun, but was too silver, too sleek. A blue light weaved through it.
“You must leave now.”
Everything went blue. Jaejoong shut his eyes against it.
When he opened them again, he was not in his house. He stood in the middle of what was obviously a hotel room. There were three bags around him.
“What the fuck?” Jaejoong said.
The sun was shining brightly. Hours had passed. So many ... shit. What the fuck just happened?
He went to the door and opened it. One of the men stood outside the door. He held one of the sleek guns.
“You stay. One week. Then you can go home. Do not call anyone. Do not say anything. One week. You come home before then, we will take you.”
Jaejoong inhaled deeply and then said, “Feed my goats, asshole.” He slammed the door and leaned against it breathing deeply. He sank to the floor and let himself cry again.
What the hell just happened?
-o(.V.)o-
Jaejoong paced the small hotel room. He couldn’t sleep, couldn’t eat, couldn’t relax. The man stayed outside of his door until dark, and then he left.
Or so Jaejoong thought. He had no idea if someone wasn’t watching from outside. Waiting in the parking lot. Should he call the police? The man had said not to tell anyone. Would they find out? Jaejoong was sure they would find out he had contacted the police. But they were authorities, chasing a fugitive. The police would side with them.
One week. Just one ...
He wondered what would have happened if he told them about the man. Did he really have a way to blow them all up?
At this point, Jaejoong would believe everything. He missed his home, and his farm, and his animals, and JiJi. He hoped they did not harm any of them.
Resigned to his fate, Jaejoong flopped on the bed. A week. They said he could go home in a week.
Would they find the man hiding in his house before then? Would they come back? Would they extend the time?
Jaejoong had no idea. This was beyond anything he could have imagined. It was just a week.
He fell asleep as he was and woke up with a start to a touch on his knee, almost flinging himself away from it.
The man stood in his room, smiling at him. The glow of the street lights through the window was enough to see his features. His clothes looked almost the same as the others, but there were numbers on the front and back. His hair was lighter than Jaejoong expected, brown. It looked soft.
He looked more Korean now than the picture on the tablet. Single lidded eyes. Were they like that before? Pretty, almond shaped. His skin was darker than the others had been. Jaejoong took a deep breath. He’d only seen the man in that image that could have been photoshopped and in the dark. It’s not like he could change his features.
“I am sorry,” he said, first thing. “I did not know they would evict you from your dwelling.”
“Fuck you,” Jaejoong muttered without heat and rubbed his face in his hands.
“They will only be there for one of your weeks. Then they will move on.”
One of your weeks? What the fuck?
“How did you get out? How did you get in here? God”
The man smile wider. “They are idiots and many times left the house empty.”
“How did you find me here? How did you get in? Shit, what is wrong with you people?”
“I followed their sensors. A scrambler can do that, retrace the steps of their codes. And the locks are not strong at this place. I opened the door.”
“Why are you still here? Go away.” He almost shouted that.
The man frowned. “I wanted to make sure they did not hurt you. I would not have been able to survive well if I knew that my escape meant you were harmed. I never meant to interact with anyone before I was prepared to.”
Jaejoong shut his eyes and sank into the uncomfortable chair near the window. “They didn’t hurt me. But ... oh god. What are they doing? Why are they doing this?”
“They are looking for me. They will look for me for a predescribed amount of time and then they will leave. They said one week.”
“This is ridiculous.”
He heard the man sit on the bed. He almost laughed in delight and then bounced on it. Jaejoong turned to look at him. He was laying flat, arms spread, and smiling.
“You might be crazy.”
“Your sleeping spaces are very soft.”
“It’s called a bed.”
“Your beds are very soft. Though the one in your home is softer than this one.”
“You slept in my bed?”
“No, just climbed on it to get out the window.”
“Who are you?” Jaejoong suddenly asked. “What is wrong with you? Why don’t you know that is called a bed? What is your name?”
“That is a lot of questions,” he said. “First, I guess are introductions. That is usually polite on any world. I am not sure about this one yet. I have not adapted or learned. But I do not have a name.”
Jaejoong stared at him. “Huh?”
“You have a name, Kim Jaejoong, the name your parents gave you at your birth. I do not have such luxuries. I was not born of parents. I was not really born. Maybe I was. I cannot remember. But I am U.N.O.”
“Wait, what?”
“At the facility, I was kept in building U, level N, cell O. Therefore, I am U.N.O. That is what the authorities call me.”
“Huh?”
The man looked over at him, face squished against the pillow. He looked relaxed and almost happy.
“Do you believe in other worlds, Kim Jaejoong?”
“Other worlds?”
He lifted an arm and waved it. “In space. The universe? Most on Earth do not believe in other worlds.”
“You’re an alien?”
“I am from Soleigajgiah.”
“What?”
“No matter. I am only a tool. A body for them. I am used only for their experiments. I was being moved to someplace else and I escaped. I will die before I go back.”
“Experiments?”
The smile fell. “I am not going to tell you. I do not wish for you to think about it. It is beyond this, beyond you, beyond this world.”
“So you aren’t from Earth? How did you get here?”
“They were transporting me to a different facility, one where they could do different experiments on my skin. We were orbiting Earth to refuel and I escaped and fell into your home. I am sorry about that. I fell toward what I thought was forests and could not change my trajectory before I realized it and I smashed part of your dwelling. I am sorry to involve you.”
“Orbit ... You fell from space? How did you not die?”
He smiled. “I am stronger than you think. Very sturdy. I adapt to conditions. It is what I am used for.”
Jaejoong turned back to the window. “Will they find you here?”
“No. The only way they can find me is through my numbers, but I stole a scrambler. They cannot find me anywhere.”
“Your numbers?”
He pointed to his chest. “My numbers. U.N.O. 730247238.”
Jaejoong stared at him. “So you’re an alien, who escaped an experiment facility, and now you’re on the run? This makes no sense. You’re crazy.”
“For wanting to be free? No. I think I am very sane for wanting to run away from them and their sharp instruments that hurt me.”
Jaejoong buried his face in his hands. One week, Kim Jaejoong. Just one week.
“So where are you going to go?”
“Anywhere I want. I can adapt to any situation. It is what I was created for.”
Created.
Made.
“Are you a robot?”
The man laughed. “No! What are you even saying?” He laughed harder.
“What are you even saying?” Jaejoong shouted back.
“A robot! Ha! Do I look like I am made from high grade tetnoctratiam cinaget?”
“Maybe? What is tetno-tra....”
The man sat up and laughed. “I am not a robot. I am ... “ He frowned. “I am not really anything. Not really. But I am made of flesh like yours, bones like yours, but stronger, sturdier. Nothing on this planet can hurt or injure me. Not like ... not like there.” He shivered and whispered, “I don’t like pain. Pain is not fun. I was made to feel it. Others were not. I do not like pain.”
Jaejoong bit his lip. His voice had gone soft, scared almost.
“I am not even sure I can explain the things they can do to me because of the pain.” He looked over at him and said, “You have fire here?”
“Yes,” Jaejoong said carefully.
“They can make my skin, underneath, on fire. Burn the underside of it.”
Jaejoong winced.
“But not just here,” he said, pointing to his arm. “Everywhere. All at once.”
Jaejoong rubbed his arm.
“Your technology here is very primitive. The more it grows, the more they will try to understand the things that we do. I hope that your authorities do not make experiments in pain.”
Jaejoong turned away for a moment and then his stomach grumbled. It’d been more than a day since he ate.
The sound startled the man and he looked over at him. “What was that?”
“I’m hungry,” Jaejoong said. “It happens.”
The man laughed and sprang up from the bed. “Your body makes noises? When you are hungry?”
Before Jaejoong could stop him, the man was on his knees, face pressed to his stomach. He laughed again.
“This is so funny,” he said. “Your body makes noises.”
Jaejoong put his hands on the other’s broad shoulders and pushed him away. The man went easily, falling back to sitting on his feet. “Do you eat?”
“Yes. We need sustenance like all creatures. I am not a robot, remember?”
“What do you eat?”
“Whatever sustenance is given to me. I have not eaten sustenance for a long time. I probably should though.” He looked pensive. “There is sustenance here, on this planet?”
“We have food. You are weird.” Jaejoong put his foot on the other’s shoulder and pushed. But the man caught his foot. His grip around Jaejoong’s ankle was firm. But his touch of his other fingers on the top of his foot was almost a whisper.
“Your skin is so soft. So fragile.” He dug a sharp nail into it, and Jaejoong cried out and tried to jerk away.
“That hurt?”
“Yes, that hurt, you dickhead.”
He frowned and rubbed his finger over the red skin. “So fragile. You would not last very long in the facility.”
“Good thing I do not plan on going there.” He tried to pull his leg away again.
“I want ... this is so different. I want to explore you.”
Jaejoong swallowed. “Excuse me?”
“Your body. It is so different. We look the same, but your skin does not change, your body makes noises. I want to explore it and see how ...” His hand went up Jaejoong’s leg, under his sweatpants. “Muscles, and bone, and skin, but it’s so different.”
“Please let me go,” Jaejoong whispered.
The man pouted, but he did.
Jaejoong pulled his legs up to the chair and curled his arms around his shin.
“Is that wrong?” he asked. “To want that? To want to touch you?”
Jaejoong took a deep breath and did not answer. He finally got up and moved to the phone. He felt fingers on his waist, but said nothing, trying to curb the tingles on his skin from the man’s soft touch. He ordered some food from a place just down the road.
“Did you just ask for sustenance? From the phone?”
Jaejoong went back to the chair. “It’s called delivery service. They will make it and bring it to me.”
“It is not on a schedule?”
“No. It’s available whenever I want it.”
“I like this place,” the man said. “There is a lot of freedom here. I walked here, from your dwelling, and no one asked me why. No one stopped me. No one really even looked at me. It is all very strange.”
With the way the man was dressed, Jaejoong was sure that everyone had looked at him and then just did their best to ignore him. He was obviously crazy.
Or maybe Jaejoong was crazy. Or hungry? Could you hallucinate when you were hungry?
Part 2: No Sign Of Intelligent Life Anywhere
.
Pairing: Yunho/Jaejoong
Rating: NC-17
Disclaimer: While I'm being ddelusionall and writing them as aliens, I may as well try to claim them as mine to do with as I wish.
Summary: Jaejoong lives alone on a farm outside of a small city. It's a perfect existence. Normal. Routine. Feed the chickens. Feed the goats. Weed the garden. Of course that means something ... or someone ... needs to invade and throw everything off kilter. Though Jaejoong never thought that he'd ever have to ask himself if he really believed in aliens.
A/N: This fic is done. Updates will be once a day or so.
Part 1: Take Me To Your Leader
Jaejoong woke up with a start. The loud noise echoed for a moment, and it took Jaejoong a few more moments to blink away sleep and realize that the noise had been wood snapping, creaking, and twisting.
Shit. Had one of his goats gotten loose again?
He flung the blankets off him and hurried from his room and into the living room. JiJi, his cat, was staring at the door, ears back, tail flicking madly. Hissing. Jaejoong swallowed. Maybe it wasn’t a goat. A mountain cat? Fuck, there were rumors, but Jaejoong had never heard of it being this close to town before.
There were more noises, like someone moving around on his porch. Footsteps.
Jaejoong took a deep breath. It was a goat, that was all. Just a goat. They were very smart and escaped their pen at least once every three months.
Just in case, he picked up his umbrella. It did have a very sharp point.
He turned on the porch light. A strange popping noise followed and the porch light blinked and went dead. Perfect. The perfect time for the bulb to burn out.
Taking another deep breath, Jaejoong opened the front door. He started calling the names of his goats. Aimee, Booboo, Danny, Lovely.
He froze for a moment. There was a hole in his porch. An actual hole in his front porch. A big, perfectly round hole. Like something had dropped a boulder and splintered all the wood. But there wasn’t anything in the hole. Jaejoong approached it cautiously, peering into the darkness.
He had no time to react when two arms wrapped around him from behind. One around his waist, the other around his mouth and nose. He kicked and tried to scream and bite, but the arms held him fast. Air, running out of air. He clawed at the fingers. One of them moved and let him take a very deep breath through his nose.
In that moment, a deep quiet voice said, “I apologize for the inconvenience, but at this precise moment, I need you to be still and be quiet.”
Jaejoong froze and then tried to fight again. The hand went back over his nose. The arm around him tightened. A leg got involved, twisting around his. It cut off his breath. The man was too strong to fight.
“I could snap your neck in one moment, but I do not want to start my time on your world as a murderer. Please be still.”
Jaejoong did as he said. And he was allowed to breathe again.
A soft humming permeated the darkness. He could hear his herd of goats bleating in panic. A soft beam of light swept over his porch, pausing at the hole and then continuing on. Jaejoong lost track of time. The beam of light came again and again.
What felt like hours, the man released him, and Jaejoong scrambled away from him, almost tripping, grabbing a wooden beam for support. He turned around. The man was stretching, arms high above his head, bare feet going up to his tiptoes. When he was done, Jaejoong looked away.
“That was close. They’ll send a tracker next. I’d love to be somewhere else when that happens, but they are too close to easily evade. Are there any sort of hidden rooms within your dwelling?”
Jaejoong bit his lip. There was one place, but ... “Are you a criminal?”
“Now, I am. I am not going back to their prison.”
“Prison?” Jaejoong glanced at him. In the dark, he could see no defining features except for his eyes. They almost glowed, but it was a darkness to them, a dark glow of light. Jaejoong’s skin tingled. He was taller than Jaejoong, obviously strong. Dark hair, maybe. The shadows made by the moonlight kept most of the details hidden
“In a sense. I need to be somewhere safe until their tracker passes me by. I am scrambling their sensors, but it won’t last forever.”
Jaejoong had no idea what he was saying.
“Hidden room?”
Jaejoong did not want to. “Can’t you just leave, please? Leave me alone.” He hoped he didn’t sound as desperate as he felt.
“I will leave as soon as possible, but if I leave before their tracker is here, then they will find me and they will take me. I am not going back.”
Jaejoong shut his eyes, tightening his grip on the wooden pole of his porch. The rough texture against his cheek told him this was not just a horrible dream. He did not want to harbor a fugitive, but he figured that he could call the police after the man left. For now, he just did not want to die.
Jaejoong let go of the beam, took a few shaky steps toward the front door. As soon as he was within reach, the man stretched out an arm, and Jaejoong was too wired to move too fast, and a firm hand landed on his shoulder.
“Do not try anything. I promise that I do not want to hurt you, but with my hand here, I can break your collarbone in a second.”
Jaejoong believed him. He entered his home.
JiJi sat on the back of a chair and absolutely hissed at the man, fur standing up, yowl growing louder.
“Don’t turn on any lights,” he said. “I can see just fine.”
Jaejoong swallowed. His house was modest, his parents had raised him here, they had both died here, same with his grandparents. He lived alone in a wooded area, a small farm, where he grew his own vegetables, raised his own goats. No one would know if he died tonight. Not for a few days until Yoochun came to look for him.
In the kitchen, he moved around the table toward the back corner. There was a half door that led into a small, mostly underground shed. Before refrigerators, it had been used as food storage. His grandparents had apple trees. Apples lasted a long time during the winter under there. Jaejoong didn’t store anything in it.
“This is not hidden,” the man said harshly.
Jaejoong moved to the side and said, “Under ... under here. There’s a crawl space. Under the house. It’s not big, but ...” He tapped his foot.
He pushed Jaejoong to the side and glanced into the space.
Jaejoong still could not see any of his features in the dark, but his eyes almost glowed. Those he could see. His skin stood up and his body shuddered.
“That may do. They will come and question you. They will say they are looking for a fugitive. I will not go back to their prison. I am very sorry to involve you in my escape, but if you understood what they did to me ...” He trailed off for a moment. “Please, do not say anything. Please. I do not want to hurt you or your guardian animal. But if you say anything about me being here, I have one more failsafe that will blow up this house, this land, and every being in it. Drastic, but I will not go back. I’d rather die, and I do not mind taking others with me. Especially a few of their agents. I will leave as soon as I can.”
He dropped into the recessed space and then shimmied under the wood of the house and into the small storage space below. Jaejoong heard him moving for a moment, and then a piece of wood blocked off the entrance to the crawl space underneath.
Jaejoong stood there in shock, and then crumpled, leaning against the kitchen cabinets. He muffled his cries on his arm. But he wasn’t hurt, he wasn’t injured. There was just a hole in his porch that had to be fixed.
“Shit,” Jaejoong whispered.
He used the counter to stand up and headed to his bathroom. No sooner had he splashed water on his face than there were loud bangs on his front door. Heavy knocks like someone was using their fist and all their weight.
Gasping, Jaejoong stared at himself. He looked guilty. He really did. But ... the man, the prisoner, scared him. He kept his resolve that he would call the police once the prisoner left.
Stumbling, he headed into the living room. The pounding continued.
“God, hang on,” he shouted.
“Open your door immediately. We are the authorities.”
“I’m coming. Shit, it’s the middle of the night.”
Was his voice shaking? Maybe.
He flung a sweater over his upper body for some semblance of modesty. Faking a yawn, he opened the door. Almost immediately, three men and two women pushed past him into his house.
“What the fuck?” Jaejoong said. “You can’t just--”
“Have you seen this creature?” one of the women said and held up what looked like a tablet in front of his face.
“Creature?” Jaejoong said.
“This man. Have you seen this man?”
Jaejoong glanced at it. It was obviously the man hiding under his house. Attractive, small face. Wide eyes. Not Korean. Or maybe Korean. Jaejoong could not really tell. It was like he was raceless. He glanced at the others in the room. Their faces appeared Korean. But their accent.
“Yeah, no. I live in a farmhouse away from the city. I haven’t seen anyone since I was in town yesterday.”
The woman’s eyes narrowed. “You lie to us. That isn’t good.”
His eyes went wide, wondering if she could really tell. Was he shaking? The others had all gone into his house. He heard them moving things, opening closet doors.
“You can’t search my house without permission,” Jaejoong said. “That’s against the law.”
“We are chasing a fugitive. We have rights to do what we wish.”
Jaejoong definitely knew she was lying. Who the hell were these people? They were in uniforms. But their uniforms were gray, or black, or silver. It was like the color changed as they moved and Jaejoong could not settle on any of them. Their hair was short, no longer than the back of their necks. White skin. Mostly, it was just as hard to tell their skin color as their clothes color. Their eyes were all the same as the other. Dark. Almost glowing.
Jaejoong swallowed.
“He was here,” one of the men said.
“What are you talking about?” Jaejoong said.
“You heard nothing?”
Jaejoong shook his head, trying to find out a way to get through this without dying. “I’ve been sleeping. I woke up, I don’t know, an hour ago or so, and then went back to sleep before you were pounding on my door.” Mostly the truth.
All five of them looked at each other, and then one of the men nodded. “We are taking over your dwelling until we find him. He cannot have gone far.”
“The fuck you are,” Jaejoong said. “You can’t.”
There was suddenly something in his face. Something that looked like a gun, but was too silver, too sleek. A blue light weaved through it.
“You must leave now.”
Everything went blue. Jaejoong shut his eyes against it.
When he opened them again, he was not in his house. He stood in the middle of what was obviously a hotel room. There were three bags around him.
“What the fuck?” Jaejoong said.
The sun was shining brightly. Hours had passed. So many ... shit. What the fuck just happened?
He went to the door and opened it. One of the men stood outside the door. He held one of the sleek guns.
“You stay. One week. Then you can go home. Do not call anyone. Do not say anything. One week. You come home before then, we will take you.”
Jaejoong inhaled deeply and then said, “Feed my goats, asshole.” He slammed the door and leaned against it breathing deeply. He sank to the floor and let himself cry again.
What the hell just happened?
-o(.V.)o-
Jaejoong paced the small hotel room. He couldn’t sleep, couldn’t eat, couldn’t relax. The man stayed outside of his door until dark, and then he left.
Or so Jaejoong thought. He had no idea if someone wasn’t watching from outside. Waiting in the parking lot. Should he call the police? The man had said not to tell anyone. Would they find out? Jaejoong was sure they would find out he had contacted the police. But they were authorities, chasing a fugitive. The police would side with them.
One week. Just one ...
He wondered what would have happened if he told them about the man. Did he really have a way to blow them all up?
At this point, Jaejoong would believe everything. He missed his home, and his farm, and his animals, and JiJi. He hoped they did not harm any of them.
Resigned to his fate, Jaejoong flopped on the bed. A week. They said he could go home in a week.
Would they find the man hiding in his house before then? Would they come back? Would they extend the time?
Jaejoong had no idea. This was beyond anything he could have imagined. It was just a week.
He fell asleep as he was and woke up with a start to a touch on his knee, almost flinging himself away from it.
The man stood in his room, smiling at him. The glow of the street lights through the window was enough to see his features. His clothes looked almost the same as the others, but there were numbers on the front and back. His hair was lighter than Jaejoong expected, brown. It looked soft.
He looked more Korean now than the picture on the tablet. Single lidded eyes. Were they like that before? Pretty, almond shaped. His skin was darker than the others had been. Jaejoong took a deep breath. He’d only seen the man in that image that could have been photoshopped and in the dark. It’s not like he could change his features.
“I am sorry,” he said, first thing. “I did not know they would evict you from your dwelling.”
“Fuck you,” Jaejoong muttered without heat and rubbed his face in his hands.
“They will only be there for one of your weeks. Then they will move on.”
One of your weeks? What the fuck?
“How did you get out? How did you get in here? God”
The man smile wider. “They are idiots and many times left the house empty.”
“How did you find me here? How did you get in? Shit, what is wrong with you people?”
“I followed their sensors. A scrambler can do that, retrace the steps of their codes. And the locks are not strong at this place. I opened the door.”
“Why are you still here? Go away.” He almost shouted that.
The man frowned. “I wanted to make sure they did not hurt you. I would not have been able to survive well if I knew that my escape meant you were harmed. I never meant to interact with anyone before I was prepared to.”
Jaejoong shut his eyes and sank into the uncomfortable chair near the window. “They didn’t hurt me. But ... oh god. What are they doing? Why are they doing this?”
“They are looking for me. They will look for me for a predescribed amount of time and then they will leave. They said one week.”
“This is ridiculous.”
He heard the man sit on the bed. He almost laughed in delight and then bounced on it. Jaejoong turned to look at him. He was laying flat, arms spread, and smiling.
“You might be crazy.”
“Your sleeping spaces are very soft.”
“It’s called a bed.”
“Your beds are very soft. Though the one in your home is softer than this one.”
“You slept in my bed?”
“No, just climbed on it to get out the window.”
“Who are you?” Jaejoong suddenly asked. “What is wrong with you? Why don’t you know that is called a bed? What is your name?”
“That is a lot of questions,” he said. “First, I guess are introductions. That is usually polite on any world. I am not sure about this one yet. I have not adapted or learned. But I do not have a name.”
Jaejoong stared at him. “Huh?”
“You have a name, Kim Jaejoong, the name your parents gave you at your birth. I do not have such luxuries. I was not born of parents. I was not really born. Maybe I was. I cannot remember. But I am U.N.O.”
“Wait, what?”
“At the facility, I was kept in building U, level N, cell O. Therefore, I am U.N.O. That is what the authorities call me.”
“Huh?”
The man looked over at him, face squished against the pillow. He looked relaxed and almost happy.
“Do you believe in other worlds, Kim Jaejoong?”
“Other worlds?”
He lifted an arm and waved it. “In space. The universe? Most on Earth do not believe in other worlds.”
“You’re an alien?”
“I am from Soleigajgiah.”
“What?”
“No matter. I am only a tool. A body for them. I am used only for their experiments. I was being moved to someplace else and I escaped. I will die before I go back.”
“Experiments?”
The smile fell. “I am not going to tell you. I do not wish for you to think about it. It is beyond this, beyond you, beyond this world.”
“So you aren’t from Earth? How did you get here?”
“They were transporting me to a different facility, one where they could do different experiments on my skin. We were orbiting Earth to refuel and I escaped and fell into your home. I am sorry about that. I fell toward what I thought was forests and could not change my trajectory before I realized it and I smashed part of your dwelling. I am sorry to involve you.”
“Orbit ... You fell from space? How did you not die?”
He smiled. “I am stronger than you think. Very sturdy. I adapt to conditions. It is what I am used for.”
Jaejoong turned back to the window. “Will they find you here?”
“No. The only way they can find me is through my numbers, but I stole a scrambler. They cannot find me anywhere.”
“Your numbers?”
He pointed to his chest. “My numbers. U.N.O. 730247238.”
Jaejoong stared at him. “So you’re an alien, who escaped an experiment facility, and now you’re on the run? This makes no sense. You’re crazy.”
“For wanting to be free? No. I think I am very sane for wanting to run away from them and their sharp instruments that hurt me.”
Jaejoong buried his face in his hands. One week, Kim Jaejoong. Just one week.
“So where are you going to go?”
“Anywhere I want. I can adapt to any situation. It is what I was created for.”
Created.
Made.
“Are you a robot?”
The man laughed. “No! What are you even saying?” He laughed harder.
“What are you even saying?” Jaejoong shouted back.
“A robot! Ha! Do I look like I am made from high grade tetnoctratiam cinaget?”
“Maybe? What is tetno-tra....”
The man sat up and laughed. “I am not a robot. I am ... “ He frowned. “I am not really anything. Not really. But I am made of flesh like yours, bones like yours, but stronger, sturdier. Nothing on this planet can hurt or injure me. Not like ... not like there.” He shivered and whispered, “I don’t like pain. Pain is not fun. I was made to feel it. Others were not. I do not like pain.”
Jaejoong bit his lip. His voice had gone soft, scared almost.
“I am not even sure I can explain the things they can do to me because of the pain.” He looked over at him and said, “You have fire here?”
“Yes,” Jaejoong said carefully.
“They can make my skin, underneath, on fire. Burn the underside of it.”
Jaejoong winced.
“But not just here,” he said, pointing to his arm. “Everywhere. All at once.”
Jaejoong rubbed his arm.
“Your technology here is very primitive. The more it grows, the more they will try to understand the things that we do. I hope that your authorities do not make experiments in pain.”
Jaejoong turned away for a moment and then his stomach grumbled. It’d been more than a day since he ate.
The sound startled the man and he looked over at him. “What was that?”
“I’m hungry,” Jaejoong said. “It happens.”
The man laughed and sprang up from the bed. “Your body makes noises? When you are hungry?”
Before Jaejoong could stop him, the man was on his knees, face pressed to his stomach. He laughed again.
“This is so funny,” he said. “Your body makes noises.”
Jaejoong put his hands on the other’s broad shoulders and pushed him away. The man went easily, falling back to sitting on his feet. “Do you eat?”
“Yes. We need sustenance like all creatures. I am not a robot, remember?”
“What do you eat?”
“Whatever sustenance is given to me. I have not eaten sustenance for a long time. I probably should though.” He looked pensive. “There is sustenance here, on this planet?”
“We have food. You are weird.” Jaejoong put his foot on the other’s shoulder and pushed. But the man caught his foot. His grip around Jaejoong’s ankle was firm. But his touch of his other fingers on the top of his foot was almost a whisper.
“Your skin is so soft. So fragile.” He dug a sharp nail into it, and Jaejoong cried out and tried to jerk away.
“That hurt?”
“Yes, that hurt, you dickhead.”
He frowned and rubbed his finger over the red skin. “So fragile. You would not last very long in the facility.”
“Good thing I do not plan on going there.” He tried to pull his leg away again.
“I want ... this is so different. I want to explore you.”
Jaejoong swallowed. “Excuse me?”
“Your body. It is so different. We look the same, but your skin does not change, your body makes noises. I want to explore it and see how ...” His hand went up Jaejoong’s leg, under his sweatpants. “Muscles, and bone, and skin, but it’s so different.”
“Please let me go,” Jaejoong whispered.
The man pouted, but he did.
Jaejoong pulled his legs up to the chair and curled his arms around his shin.
“Is that wrong?” he asked. “To want that? To want to touch you?”
Jaejoong took a deep breath and did not answer. He finally got up and moved to the phone. He felt fingers on his waist, but said nothing, trying to curb the tingles on his skin from the man’s soft touch. He ordered some food from a place just down the road.
“Did you just ask for sustenance? From the phone?”
Jaejoong went back to the chair. “It’s called delivery service. They will make it and bring it to me.”
“It is not on a schedule?”
“No. It’s available whenever I want it.”
“I like this place,” the man said. “There is a lot of freedom here. I walked here, from your dwelling, and no one asked me why. No one stopped me. No one really even looked at me. It is all very strange.”
With the way the man was dressed, Jaejoong was sure that everyone had looked at him and then just did their best to ignore him. He was obviously crazy.
Or maybe Jaejoong was crazy. Or hungry? Could you hallucinate when you were hungry?
Part 2: No Sign Of Intelligent Life Anywhere
.