“Bradley!”

            The man turned and saw Sarah, Todd, Randy, Kevin, and Alfred running towards the front of the crowd. He merely waved at them, not really surprised to see them. They would have been looking for him anyway. The plan had been to run and see how far he could get and hope that Arell would forget about them and just pursue him. He had gotten out of the apartment building without them noticing and Arell must have been distracted because she didn’t beam him up the minute that he set foot out of the place. He had driven a good few blocks when he noticed that military activity was increasing and he had parked the car to lay low. That was when Arell had shown up and that was when he knew that he couldn’t run anymore. She had him pegged. She had him marked. She could find him at any moment. Where could he go? Where could he hide?  There was nowhere. He had nothing, no possible way of beating Arell. Right now, Colonel Stark was living proof of that. His rag tag team of rebels hadn’t even fired a shot and they were already losing. He could not run. He could not fight. But Arell was not crazy. Or at least he didn’t think she was. He could, perhaps with a longshot chance of success, talk…

            “Where the hell have you been!?” Todd asked, sort of angry, sort of surprised, and sort of happy.

            “Why did you leave us?” Sarah asked.

            “You guys just stay back,” Bradley softly called to them. “There’s nothing you guys can do now. It’s me she wants…and it’s me she’s going to get.”

            “No!” Sarah cried. “You don’t have to do this Bradley!”

            “Why?” Peterson asked, a small, tired smile on his lips. “Believe me, if you have a great plan, I’m all ears.” Sarah went silent. “That’s what I thought. I don’t have one either, Sarah. To be honest, I sort of wish I did. But maybe it’s better in some ways that I don’t.”

            “So you’re gonna just give yourself up?” Randy asked.

            “That’s the idea,” Peterson nodded. He looked around. “What’s with the crowd? How’d you guys get all this organized so fast?”

            “We didn’t,” Randy replied. “Colonel Stark did. He went out and spoke to the military and…….Bradley! Look…WOAH!”

            People began to scream and run. Bradley had a brief feeling he knew what was about to happen but before that could turn to him looking behind him, her fingers seized him and he was plucked from the ground, hollering with surprise as he went.

            Arell stood back at her full height, flicked Bradley into the air like a quarter and then caught him in her palm and brought him to eye level.

            “Well, this is a surprise,” She said, smiling. “First you brazenly run away from me when my back is turned, and now…you’ve essentially walked right back to me.”

            “Peterson!” Colonel Stark called from Arell’s other hand. “What in the sam hell are you doing!? You better not be surrendering because we…!”

            “Be quiet.” Arell said softly, closing her fist, trapping Stark inside.

            “Arell…” Bradley sighed. “Can I talk to you for a moment?”

            “Oh, I’d love to, my tiny friend,” Arell replied, smiling. “But right now, I have to keep a promise. All of these people down here went against me, and I warned them about what would happen if they were to make that mistake. You were there when I made that broadcast. In fact…in some way, you could say that this is your fault, but…regardless. But when we’re back on my ship, oh, I promise you and I will…”

            “Arell,” Bradley interrupted. “Why are you hiding us from your planet?”

            Arell’s mouth stopped in mid-sentence and her eyes widened a little. One of them actually twitched in a minor wince, and Bradley saw he had struck a chord. Previously, he would have been extremely nervous right now. But, suddenly, he was calm and felt that he might actually be able to pull this off. Maybe…

            “…what did you say?” Arell asked softly. Shock and anger were in her voice.

            “I’ve been thinking a lot about the things you’ve told me,” Bradley explained. “And I’ve realized that there’s something very fishy about the picture you’ve painted. You’re a researcher, you told me yourself. You were sent here to study my planet. You were asked to bring some of my people to Avakon because they don’t know much about us. You’ve been here for over two thousand years!” Arell was silent. “You know where I’m going with this. The obvious question: WHY are your people so ignorant about us? Isn’t it your job to tell them about us? To report to them about your observations?”

            “You know, I could decide I don’t want you anymore…” Arell said lowly, frowning.

            “You get so evasive and defensive whenever I try to ask about this,” Bradley said. “You got mad the last time before I escaped, and you’re doing it again. You know everything about me, and yet I know little about you except for the bits and pieces you told me. You really are a human woman, Arell. You love to talk. You love it so much that some things come out of that big mouth of yours that probably would have been better to keep to yourself.”    

            Arell’s expression darkened at that.

            “So why don’t you tell us why you have kept us a secret?” Bradley went on. “I don’t hear you denying it. You avoid the topic everytime, but you’ve yet to deny it.” Arell opened her mouth. “I know what you’re going to say. You’re going to say, ‘You think you can tell ME what to do. I could grind your bones to make my bread!’, and you know what? Yes. You could. A small flex of you fingers right now, and I’m more dead a million times over. That’s your choice, Arell.” Arell closed her mouth and just stared at him. “But, I just want to know, before anything else happens. Tiny, little Bradley Peterson wants big and powerful Arell to fill him in on some details. I’m being sincere right now. Please. You said you never lie, so I know you…”

            “I wish I could say that!” Arell snapped suddenly, silencing Bradley and causing the crowd to scream. “Oh, how I WISH I could say that. How strong my wish with all of my heart that I could say that I never lie and truly mean it…for it used to be true. My race…we view lying with almost the extreme way of Immanuel Kant! We loathe the practice…and I never lied…NEVER…” She held Bradley up close to her eyes. “…Until…I found…you wretched Earthies! Ocha-la a posia nardak!”

            “So…you’re saying you lied about something?” Bradley asked.

            “There never was a ‘zoo’…” Arell explained hotly. “I lied about that. Not entirely, however, I WAS asked to bring some of you to Avakon. But it wasn’t supposed to be like a ‘zoo’. We’re not monsters, I…”

            “HA!” Colonel Stark barked from her other hand. “That’s a laugh! Last time I checked you were the one stomping on people like the big bad giant from the fairy tales, you oversi…” He cried out when Arell squeezed him again.

            “No matter what you think of me, my people are not monsters!” Arell shot at him, angrily. “The only monsters are you Earthies! All of you! Every. Single. One of you!”

            “Colonel Stark, be quiet!” Braldey yelled to the old man. “Ignore him, Arell. Please…you were saying.”

            “We do have other species and races from other planets on Avakon,” Arell went on, breathing hard. “But they aren’t locked up. Most of them live in almost inhospitable conditions. We take them and we shelter them, build their ecosystem in our own and relocate them. We value all kinds of life on Avakon, and…”

            “Bullshit!” Stark roared. “Utter shit and another lie! You don’t give three…”

            “STARK!” Bradley cried. “Shut up!”

            “WE DO!” Arell cried, furious. “Don’t you dare insult my people! Don’t even begin to think you know enough about the humans of Avakon to judge them! You don’t have the slightest clue what life on my home planet is like! And if you insult them, I will…I….I…” With the obvious death threat clearly contradicting the words she was saying, Arell let out a long cry of frustration. “I hate you, Earthies! I hate everyone of you! I wish I had never found you pitiful excuses of life!”

            “But why?” Bradley asked. “Why do you hate us? We never did anything to you!”

            “Not directly…” Arell grumbled. “That much is true, yes. You never knew I was here. But I’ve been watching you all. One noticeable difference between Avakon and Earth is that the humans on Earth live significantly shorter lives. As I said, I have seen all of you history. You Earthies have books of your history in your libraries, screaming all manners of valuable lessons…but you ignore them. Time and time again. Generation and generation…nothing but war, murder, stealing, lying, hurting, betrayal, fighting…always fighting….you Earthies are constantly at each others throats and it sickens me!”

            “Oh, you’re such a saint!” Stark spat.

            “You don’t understand!” Arell shouted. “These things…they’re unheard of on Avakon! There, we are taught to value and respect members of our own. We are strongly united, no one suffers discrimination or prejudice. Going to war with ourselves…such an idea is so abhorrent that the thought of it made my skin crawl! It truly is a ghastly and unfathomable act that any intelligent race would surely realize to overcome if it wanted to truly thrive. Yet, you Earthies do it without thought every day! It reflects in your culture! Do you realize that most of your movies involve you being forced to kill each other, or is about you backstabbing each other, or stealing from each other? You Earthies can’t even imagine a world where all of you can co-exist peacefully without war!”

            “Oh, please!” Colonel Stark called. “You mean to tell me that your precious Avakon is a place where everyone is happy and sappy and loves each other!”

            “Of course not!” Arell replied, bitterly. “I will be the first to say that we aren’t perfect! Nothing is! We argue, we disagree, we get into conflict. The difference is the motivation. It is like when a parent passionately tries to stop their offspring from doing what they perceive as wrong. We fight, but we do so because we genuinely care for our own, and we wish to resolve our issues through communication, not with guns, bullets, and bloodshed!”

            “I’m confused,” Bradley spoke up. “What does this have to do with you hating us? Surely there are other species that fight? Even other races who are semi-intelligent, who fight with one another like we ‘Earthies’ do? You don’t seem angry with them.”

            “No…we aren’t,” Arell nodded. “They are another species, they are not us. We full heartedly loathe their ways sometimes, but we take them in, and we try to educate them to change their behavior towards each other. Sometimes we succeed. Sometimes not.” Arell glared at Bradley. “But you Earthies…you’re a special case.”

            “Because we’re so similar…” Peterson replied slowly.

            “That’s right…” Arell nodded again. “It’s very much like if you were to find out you had a long lost brother. You find out, and you’re excited to meet him. You go on the long drive to his home, dreaming up plans of what you will do, questions you want to ask, things you want to know. You want to meet him, interact, get to know him. Then…you find out that he is a murderer, a low-life, a high time criminal. You find this out…and suddenly you want him gone. You isolate him, you almost wish you had never discovered him. And…you wish he didn’t exist.” Arell took a deep breath. “When I first found you Earthies…I was so happy. It was supposed to be the biggest discovery of my work. When I announced my discovery to my people, they were excited. You had just begun building some primitive form of society, and we began thinking of a time to make contact, to connect with you. You were smaller, more primitive, more…fragile. You didn’t have our livespan, but that was okay. All of that was okay. We could change that. We could make you bigger, healthier…we could make you our extended family. But…but then…I…”

            Her anger was still there…but now her lower lip trembled and her eyes began to grow wet.

            “It was nothing like what I had dreamed of,” Arell went on. “The things I’ve seen…they go against almost all of my most deeply held and cherished beliefs about how humans should act. The wars, the discrimination, the torture…the Holocaust…oh….oooohhh…” Arell sniffed, a tear rolled down her eye. “I…I saw children….old folk…families….erased from the universe and then crudely buried. It…it poisoned my mind. I couldn’t report this to my people…I couldn’t think how. So…I remained silent. I am allowed great flexibility in my work. Out of respect of the person’s work, they are granted complete control over the project. You Earthies were my project. But…I couldn’t say anything…and my people were all too curious. I told them some things here and there in attempt to satisfy them…to stall them, but I knew that someday…eventually…”

            “Stall them?” Bradley asked.

            “Yes.”  Arell nodded. She laughed bitterly. “I know how you all view me. I’m the big, bad, evil, thoughtless, soulless Arell who is out to take your planet, out to take what’s yours for no other reason than she’s bored. The irony is…I’ve been protecting you. This entire time.”

            “By taking over the planet?” Bradley asked, skeptically.

            “No,” She shook her head. “Do you have any idea what would happen if all of Avakon realized the true nature of you Earthies? How every day you perform actions that are so unspeakable that they are more than just taboos to us but grotesque injustices of the highest caliber? They’d act no different than me. Some would be worse. To see something of our own species to do these things…it would offend and anger them to no end. And they’d want to be rid of you just as I wish to be rid of you now!”

            “But why didn’t you…”

            “Tell them?” Arell asked, laughing bitterly again. “Because…despite everything…I still feel some sort of kinship to you Earthies. I still feel that you all are a part of me. It’s been the only thing that’s stopped me from simply destroying the planet. And believe me, there have been many times where I have yearned to do just that. Many, many times…”

            “I don’t buy it!” Colonel Stark called. “You’ve been killing us ever since you made your big self known, you…”

            “I know that!” Arell cried, enraged. “Do you think I don’t know what I’ve done!?” She paused breathing hard again. “I never wanted to kill any of you. I don’t care if you believe me or not, but you should. It’s one of the reasons I took you in the first place.”             

            “Me?” Bradley asked. “But…you said…”

            “I lied…” Arell spat even more bitterly. “I DID once consider taking an Earthy for individual study…but that’s not the real reason I took you. I just told you that because you didn’t need to know the real reason. When I realized that I was starting to kill too many of you Earthies…I knew I needed to stop. So, I took you in to pose as a sort of channel for me to focus my frustrations on. The physical pain I inflicted on you was the emotional pain that I feel. I was trying to find a way to stop myself…even though I was sure it was too late…”

            “Too late for what, Arell?”

            Arell didn’t respond. Her eyes dropped and she seemed to be staring at the ground. After a few moments…a large tear rolled down her check and the bitterness went out of her face.

            “…I’m scared…” She said. “…that they won’t take me back. My people…I’ve lied to them for so long now….all these years…ignored, lied, mislead, deceived. I abused the authority of my position to do this. But that’s not all…when they see what I have done…what I have become…they will never forgive me. They won’t kill me, of that I’m sure…but I will surely be banished from Avakon. They will send me away…I’ll have nothing…” She glared at Bradley. “You Earthies…you have brought out something in me…something dark and cruel that I had no idea resided in me. The first Earthy I killed was very much like THIS man…” She turned her glare to Stark. “He insulted me…my people…what I believe in and hold dear in my heart…and….I….lost my temper. Without thinking, I squished him in my hand. As I watched his blood run down my fingers…I was horrified and sick…but I also felt a cold sort of satisfaction. It was then that I discovered something…something that I hated so much that I cannot begin to make you understand. I realized that I liked killing you Earthies. I liked it…I liked it…oh….oh, they’ll never forgive me!”

            Arell wailed this last part. With tears in her eyes, she violently kicked a nearby building, sending a lethal rain of debris and glass shooting off to the side. The crowd at her feet screamed. They had to run to escape some collapsing buildings…and Arell when she suddenly sank to her knees as her legs unlocked.

            “I can see why you’re upset…” Bradley said. “I guess I’m not completely sure I comprehend how this has affected you so much…one more question. Why did you decide to take over Earth? What were going to do with us?”

            “There were a good number of reasons for this,” She answered. “I wasn’t being completely insincere when I said that I need you alive. Without you Earthies, I have nothing to report to my planet. I can’t have you killing each other…and I can’t kill you…which is why I brought you on board. But…there was something more….I thought there could be a chance that I could change you….I thought I could make you Earthies change who you were…even if by force.” She shook her head. “It won’t work. Even if I succeed, it won’t be the same. I’ll just be conditioning you like Pavlov’s dogs. It will be artificial…fake….that won’t do anyone any good at the end…”

            “So…what are you going to do?” Bradley asked.

            “That’s sort of the big question, isn’t it?” Arell said, suddenly smiling bitterly. “Maybe I should just destroy the planet and be done with it!”

            This was accompanied by several screams down below. “You can’t be serious!” Edgar Stark shouted. “You don’t have any right! Who do you think you are to come here and judge us, you self-righteous bitch! Like it or not, this is our planet, and we should be allowed to do what we damn well please, even if it goes against everything you believe in! Besides, by your own admission they’d banish your sorry ass for something like that!”

            “Do you think I don’t know that!?” Arell cried at him. “Of course I do, but I can’t keep doing what I’m doing. I can’t keep lying to my people anymore. I’d rather disappear than continue to lie any further. But if I have to ruin my life…then I’m taking you Earthies with me! More specifically, your planet!”

            “Do your worst!” Stark shouted. “At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter! You’re a monster! And you always will be!”

            “Well, if I’m such a monster!” Arell shouted back, her voice booming in the ears of everyone. “Then I guess I have nothing to lose then!”

            “Arell…” Bradley spoke up. “He’s right…you can’t do this.”

            “Oh?” She hissed. “And why is that? What are you going to do to stop me?”

            “Nothing,” Peterson said simply. “Absolutely nothing. If that’s what you mean to do, there’s nothing I can do to stop you. You’re bigger, you’re stronger, and you have tech that I couldn’t even begin to understand. I’m powerless against you…we’re all powerless against you. At your mercy, so to speak. I know that better than everyone.” He sighed. “But, if you decide to blow up Earth, then you’re giving up. You’re simply committing murder, hiding the body, and making a run for it. I know you’re smart enough to realize that’s hardly an option. I know you’re being sincere about the things you’ve said. You’re right…there are some things the body is really good at showing…and yours is displaying just how honest you’re being now.”

            In spite of herself, Arell smiled briefly, and Bradley relaxed. He was getting through.

            “It seems to me,” Bradley went on. “That your race isn’t so different from mine. You guys are probably some of the most emotional people in the universe. My mom was a Christian, and she always said that such people think with their hearts. You’re passionate people, I can tell. Probably great to be around when you’re caring and gentle…not so great when you’re pissed off.” Arell nodded. Bradley assumed she was agreeing with him. “But Arell…you’re going about this whole thing wrong. And I think some of you knows it.”

            “All of me knows it,” Arell sighed. “But…what else can I do? I can’t go back…no amount of preparation will prepare me for the pain I’ll feel if they turn me away…”

            “No, you’re right about that,” Bradley agreed. “But if you leave without saying something, just try to leave them and forget about them…that’s some serious shit to do to yourself. You’re basically banishing yourself. You’re throwing a vital piece of yourself away.” Arell was silent. “The simple truth is you have no choice but to go back. To tell them about us. And you’re right…in some ways…hell, in many ways…we’re a terrible species. We’re greedy, arrogant, close-minded, selfish, egoistical, and we go to war with each other so much because, at the end of the day, we really can’t stand each other. But, if you really are superior, Arell…then you’re not showing it. All you’ve done is stoop to our level. You’ve shown that you’re just as fucked up as the rest of us, deep down.”

            He hitched a breath, waiting for Arell’s anger to come back at that insult. But…remarkably she didn’t get angry. She sighed deeply and nodded. And then…she did something even more remarkable.

            “So…what do you propose then, Bradley Peterson?” She asked him.

            “Well…it’s your choice,” Bradley said. “But I think you need to let us go. Give back our networks. Then…leave. Return to your planet and do what you need to do. Maybe they’ll keep you…maybe they won’t.”

            Arell looked at him for a long time. She was skeptical for a moment. Was all of this just a ruse to convince her to leave so they could get their planet back? Was all of this some act just to trick her? She examined Bradley carefully…and saw that it was not. And she was touched by this.

            “Why are you trying to help me?” She asked, curious. “I’ve done nothing but hurt you. Threaten you. Keep you prisoner. I…can’t see any sign that you’re trying to fool me or just get me to leave. But why help me?”

            “Because I don’t think you’re a monster, Arell,” Peterson said. “I really don’t. I used to. When I first met you, yeah, I thought you were the very devil. But now…after really hearing you…I know you’re just another human. With flaws, failings, irrationality, and every other thing we have that makes us not perfect. Everyone on Earth knows what that’s like, Arell, as I’m sure you know.” She was silent. “But you and your kind are smarter than us in some very important ways. There are probably many things we could learn from you. Hopefully…when this is all over, we’ll see your dream become a reality. Maybe Earthies and Avakonians will be able to live together someday, and we’ll both prosper from it. But that won’t happen until you tell them about us. That won’t happen until you get out of this emotional hurricane you’ve placed yourself in.” He paused. “Plus, I’m forgiving and helping you because that’s what humans do for each other.”

            Arell looked taken aback by this…and then smiled. It was brief, not long before a regretful look came to her face…but it was a beautiful smile nonetheless, and Bradley was happy to see it.

            “Well…I guess that’s it then,” She sighed, and began to lower her hands to the ground. “I’ll accept your proposal then…I…you’re right.” She paused. “You know…passionate discussion like this…they happen frequently on Avakon.” Arell sighed. “You Earthies really do have the potential in you. I’ve known for quite some time. It’s why it’s so frustrating to see you continue to not use us, always succumbing to your violent nature…but I guess I know how easy…and somehow appealing…that can sometimes be now, don’t I?”

            “Yes,” Bradley nodded. “I suppose you do.”

            Arell placed Bradley Peterson and Edgar Stark on the ground and then stood up. The crowd of Earthies looked up at her, and she looked down at them. Arell sighed again.

            “I wish you guys weren’t so small sometimes…” She admitted. “Things might have been different if you had been bigger. It’s very hard, when you don’t like something, to respect it’s natural right to live when you’re so much larger than it.”

            With that final word, Arell activated the transporter and disappeared from Earth one more time.

EPILOGUE

It took a year and a half for the damages that Arell caused to be completely repaired. It took two years for the heated conversations amongst world leaders about the planet of Avakon to slow down. It took even longer for the average person to stop, and that was something that probably would never happen. And, to this day, astronomers are still looking for the planet of Avakon. They have not found any sign of it, though the do believe that they have found some evidence of an element that is used in propulsion tech, suggesting that Arell truly has left.

            Two more birthdays have passed since Bradley first met the giant space woman with the purple hair and the blue body suit. Every now and then he thinks of her. And he is sure that every now and then she thinks of him, where ever she is. He has not heard from her or seen her ever since. He is now thirty two, and he has come to terms with that. After fearing death during his thirtieth birthday, Bradley Peterson has learned that it is wiser to spend time enjoying life rather than waste it worrying about running out of time. His life returns to the simple way that it was before his visit to space, and that is just fine by him. Some television networks have asked him for an interview about his experiences with Arell, but he has declined them all. What happened was not something he needed to tell people to satisfy their simple curiousity.

            Sarah and Todd eventually got engaged and still live in New York City.

            Kevin, with the help of Randy and Alfred, got their apartment building rebuilt, and Ward even began a new comic series that starred a giant woman from space. It didn’t do well and was cancelled not long after its beginning.

            Colonel Stark has become influential in trying to start a new federal department for “Galactic Security” (the working title), but has not found much support due to uncertainties about how such an organization would even work.  Not deterred by these rejections, Stark has written several angry letters to the President of the United States. After some time, they stopped replying.

            Everyone slowly goes back to their normal way after awhile, but some people can be seen casting a weary eye to the sky every now and again. Bradley Peterson is one of these fellows.  Each night, especially on his birthday evening, he looks up to the stars and wonders about her. He still keeps in light contact with Sarah and Todd, and occasionally Kevin, Alfred, and Randy. Very rarely with Colonel Stark. He tells them the same thing every time the discussion glides to their previous Overlord.

            He tells them that he cannot shake the feeling that they have not seen the last of Arell.

            Not by a long shot.