Page 52 of I Think I’m in Love with an Alien

Seeker: Then I shall become the most debonair Zeltron the world has ever seen.

Jeneticist: It’s a plan, but only if you promise not to steal the show. I want people to ask me for pics too.

Seeker: I make no guarantees. The stars cannot dim their radiance and neither can I.

Jeneticist: Ha! I like it. Confidence is sexy.

Seeker: Sexy? 🤭

Jeneticist: Sweet talk will get you everywhere, Mr. Worldly Explorer. 😊

Seeker: I’ll do my best to impress you in person when we meet. ❤️

19

Jennette

“Lead the way, Captain,” Jaz says to Tad.

Rushing from one of the side paths, a woman practically jumps at Jaz, eyeing her with avid interest. “How did you get your makeup blended so well? It looks like your skin!”

“I’m a professional,” Jaz says.

I blink at that response. Because she’s a musician, not a makeup artist. But it feels like she gave the lady the fastest response to shut her up.

“Let’s go,” Ravik says.

“Yeah, we’re gonna miss the start,” Poppy calls.

We hurry past booths bursting with cosmic curiosities as I guide us to the panel discussion area. I have my obsessions, okay? And I still love Nebula Odyssey, even if Colin McFarland is gross. I’m positive Chelsie Linnloch, who played Captain Zara, is as awesome as she seems on social media.

“There!” Poppy points at a cluster of empty seats, miraculously unclaimed.

We dart through the throng of people, dodging a duo dressed as galactic bounty hunters and a trio of robots clinking with each step.

“Good eye. Prime real estate!” Tad says as we settle into our seats, unobstructed by errant antennae or oversized headpieces.

Seeker chooses to sit beside me at the end of the row. I wonder if he’s nervous about being out and about as himself. So far, he’s fielded compliments from Poppy and Tad on his cosplay, but nobody has given him too much attention. There’s a papier-mâché Hutt being towed around on a wagon, so he picked quite a lively day for a debut.

The Nebula Odyssey moderator strides out in uniform, knowing we all want Chelsie. But she wins the crowd over by dropping the phrase that true fans know by heart. We even shout it with her.

“Here’s to new worlds and new friends!” She continues, “I’d make a long introduction, but that guy might shoot me with his blaster rifle.” As she intends, people laugh when she makes finger guns. “Without further ado, I give you Chelsie Linnloch…and special surprise guests!”

The panel kicks off with thunderous applause as Chelsie takes the stage. I wonder how she feels about doing cons in the middle of nowhere. But this is a big crowd, too much to be contained indoors. She’s flanked by two costars, each dressed in screen-famous regalia. I suspect this is damage control. These two, Ensign Franks and Commander Ryn, don’t have billing in the program. They must’ve been booked in a hurry when McFarland acted up. I don’t think I’ve seen either of them in any other series.

Out-of-work actors sometimes wind up with regular jobs. Maybe that’s what Franks, played by Steve Jenns, and Ryn, played by Miriam Werner, are doing now. For a while, they share stories, ribbing each other gently, and it’s so much fun to get a glimpse of the behind-the-scenes magic that I can’t stop smiling. I glance at Seeker, who’s watching me instead of the guests onstage. I smile at him, feeling a blush warm my cheeks.

God, he’s sexy.

“Remember when we got stuck in the escape pod?” Chelsie says. “And it turned out, someone’s pet Fluvian snarler had chewed through the wiring.”

“Hey, that snarler puppet had better acting chops than you,” Miriam retorts.

That sounds a little bitter since Chelsie is still working and Miriam isn’t. She’s an older woman, late fifties now, and I hear it can be tough to get acting jobs past a certain age. Steve smooths over the moment with a cute anecdote about a crew reunion party that happened five years ago in Vegas.

“But what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, right?” He grins.

It’s so strange that Ensign Franks is older than me. I’ve seen him on TV as a kid for years. But he’s a grown man with a salt-and-pepper goatee, not a super genius who graduated from Nebula Academy eight years early.