Trust by David Moody Page A

Wanted to be one of the first.’
            The fact that Joe was interested amazed me and for a couple of seconds I couldn’t think of very much to say. `How is your back?’ I eventually asked. `What did the doctor say?’
            He shrugged his shoulders. `Didn’t go in the end. I see Dr Ellis every month, didn’t think it would hurt if I missed one appointment. And anyway, he was out there with me. I saw him and the nurse in the crowds.’
            I drove along the high street (which was still busier than usual), turned left onto the road that goes to Yarnell and then pulled up in the car park (which was still fuller than usual) outside the warehouse that Joe wanted. `Back in a minute,’ he grunted as he got out of the car.
            I watched him disappear into the warehouse and sat and waited.
            And waited.
            It was a glorious late summer’s day and even with the windows and sunroof open, the heat inside the car was rapidly becoming unbearable. I got out and sat down on a narrow grass verge which sloped down between the edge of the pavement and the tarmac of the car park. The temperature was adding to my mounting frustration. I wouldn’t have minded if Joe had said he’d be back in three hours - what bothered me was sitting there wasting my time not knowing whether he was going to be out in the next five minutes or whether he’d be talking to his mates in the warehouse for another hour. I could have got up and gone inside to see what was going on but, if I was completely honest, I just couldn’t be bothered to move. I didn’t have anything else to do and, anyway, it was too hot… `Excuse me,’ an unexpected voice suddenly said from somewhere behind me. There was something about the tone and the accent of the voice that was unusual. I knew before I’d turned around that it was an alien.
            I stood up and tried to reply but I felt inexplicably nervous and my mouth was dry. The alien (which was a good six inches taller than my five foot eleven height) attempted something resembling a smile and shuffled awkwardly on its feet. I knew I was staring but there was nothing I could do to stop myself.
            `I’m sorry if I disturbed you,’ the visitor said gently. `I’m lost.’
            What kind of a species can travel halfway across the universe and then get lost in Dreighton I found myself wondering silently? I didn’t dare say anything even remotely facetious. `Where are you trying to get to?’ I asked instead. `I’m looking for Lime Street,’ the alien replied politely. `I’m supposed to be meeting a friend there.’
            Again I found myself staring at the creature in front of me. It had obviously seen many more humans than I had aliens and I sensed that I was of little reciprocal interest. Its baby-blue eyes quickly scanned my face and the thin lips of its small, delicate mouth gently curled at the corners again. I’d heard that the aliens had two separate sexes in much the same way we do and I guessed that this one was female. There was something about its movements and mannerisms that was innately feminine. `You’re a long way off,’ I said, eventually remembering to reply. `Lime Street’s on the other side of town.’ `Oh,’ she said quietly. `When I say you’re a long way off,’ I continued, blabbering like an idiot, `I’m talking relatively. It’s only half a mile away.’
            I was talking before thinking. A bad mistake that was making me look like an idiot. What kind of ambassador was I for my species? `I don’t understand,’ the alien said. `I don’t know what you mean.’
            There I was, talking to a visitor from the other side of the galaxy who had been speaking English for just a few weeks and who was speaking it like an expert. I, on the other hand, had been using the language for more than twenty years and yet I was still having trouble making myself understood. `What I meant to say,’ I