Rock n Roll Babes from Outer Space by Linda Jaivin

took a reading. From the Sebel Townhouse in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, Newtown, in the inner west, represented a major hike-o-rama in Earthling terms. To a pack of intergalactic jetsetting alien babes, it was a mere rocking stroll. ‘Unless you girls have something else you’d like to do,’ Baby said, as casually as possible, ‘I’d actually like to go find Earth Boy again. I feel like we haven’t really finished with him yet.’
    ‘Whatever,’ said Lati agreeably, licking her lips at a small grey cat. The cat turned into a tiger, growled sexily, and then, cat again, rubbed itself against her legs.
    Doll shrugged. Earth boy shmearth boy. But you could never tell who else they might meet along the way.
    Revor vaulted into Baby’s shoulder bag and the babes strolled along Elizabeth Bay Road, soaking up the rays of the sun. Amazing star, the Aussie sun. Its daily schedule of arrivals and departures prompted the sky to riot and party. While it hung around, colours sang and danced upon the sparkling beaches, the mirrored towers of the CBD winked at the sandstone edifices glowing softlybeside them, and a peculiarly Australian combination of physical vigour and sensual languor coursed through Earthling veins. Its impact on the ayles was even more dramatic. All three were visibly pulsing now with an erotic energy: the sunlight suffused their skin, made sultry their gaze and left a glossy dew upon their lips. It also left them looking less vividly green, which was probably not a bad thing in context.
    Crossing through a small park, they found themselves in the heart of the Cross, a magnet for sleazebags and booners of every description. A carful of hoons revved by in a purple Valiant. ‘Oi!’ one shouted out the window. ‘What planet are
youse
from?’
    The girls looked at each other, bemused. Was it that obvious?
    ‘Nufon,’ answered Lati.
    ‘I wanna lick your anus,’ shouted another, as the car sped off, the sound of raucous laughter thinning into the air behind them.
    ‘Did you hear that?’ said Doll. ‘Uranus? I mean, who’d want to lick Uranus? It’s a
disgusting
planet.’
    As they passed by the strip joints and adult bookstores and doorways overhung with signs promising GIRLS GIRLS GIRLS, spruikers whistled, sex workers cheered, bikies revved their engines and all along the street men dropped to their knees. In Alien Planet, the video game arcade, baseball caps spun around on adolescent heads, virtual villains crawled out of their screens and surrendered, and plastic machine guns turned into plastic ploughshares before the dazzled eyes of the players.
    Gone, perhaps, were the days when any old alien crew landing on Earth could count on being received as gods or having monumental temples or cave paintings dedicatedto them. But rock n roll babes from outer space could still make a fairly big impression.
    The babes crossed the Williams Street intersection. There was utter chaos as both drivers and pedestrians forgot where they were going and tried to follow them instead. They were now approaching the King’s Cross fire station. A discreet doorway led upstairs to a needle exchange and STD testing centre. A woman with vacant eyes was putting a dollar coin into a vending machine in the doorway. The babes crowded round her, thoroughly engrossed. What sort of game was this?
    ‘Oh,
baby
,’ Baby greeted the woman, grabbing her crotch.
    Sadly, it must be reported that there
was
the occasional Earthling who proved immune to alien charms. ‘Fuck off, ya slags,’ snapped the woman, pressing a button labelled ‘fit’. As the girls watched, oblivious to her annoyance, a thin black plastic container popped out and the machine chirped tinnily, ‘Thank you for your custom.’ The woman, after giving them the finger, slouched off with her prize to the tiny park around the corner. A fireman, who’d been enjoying a smoke in the driveway of the fire station, watched with interest.
    ‘Cool,’ said Lati, pressing her