The Elevator Pitch – The Daily Prompt: Elevator

A work of Science Fiction in response for the Daily Prompt: Elevator. Prompt can be found here: http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/05/24/daily-prompt-elevator/

Story begins after the image. 750 words.

The Elevator Pitch

I’d seen about people like him on the Discovery series, “Taboo.” They were into body modification and some, like him, had implanted horns on their heads. Repellent. Disturbing. And here I was, stuck in an elevator with him.

He turned and looked at me as I started feeling nauseous. He said, “Ever hear of an ‘elevator pitch?’ ”

I didn’t want to encourage him or talk to him, but I hated being rude even more. “No. What’s that?”

“A salesman wants to sell to anyone he meets, right? So he meets a guy in an elevator and he has to sell the guy on a product before they arrive at the potential customer’s floor. The sales pitch has to be quick, concise, and convincing. Very difficult.”

“So this means you want to sell me something.”

“Yep.”

Silence. It stretched on. The elevator dinged softly, repetitively, remorselessly.

Fine! “Okay, what are you selling?”

“First of all, I’m an alien.”

I looked, pointedly, at his horns. “Agreed!” I said with enthusiasm. “I’ll buy that. Are we done?”

“Not so fast. Then there’s that stomach cancer that your doctor cannot cure…I can offer you a cure.”

I stared at him fully now. “How do you know about that?”

“I told you. I’m an alien.”

“Bullshit! You tell me who the hell you are right now, you freak.” Horns or no horns, he had my full attention now.

He reached over, and with a six-fingered hand he touched a complex code into the elevator’s control panel. The elevator stopped suddenly and the doors opened. They opened to an enormous space, far larger than the building and teeming with activity. Complex structures and machinery moved with purpose. Strange vehicles filled with Humans and aliens drove by. Five spaceships hovered above the opalescent tarmac. Each the size of a city block. The, alien, stepped out of the elevator and gestured a welcoming. “How is my ‘elevator pitch’ so far?”

Numbly, I followed, staring in awe at the incredible technology before me. “What is this place?”

“This is the launch pad for explorer vessels and colony ships.” Too stunned to answer, I just stared. He continued. “Not all species are inclined towards exploration. Humans are. That’s why we like to recruit you, especially people like you with no living relatives or attachments. Let me introduce you to Prinni.”

A Human woman, stepped beside him. At first glance, she seemed fairly ordinary, but as her eyes drew me in I realized how perfect she was…for me. She was the Moon seen by the Earth for the first time. She was the sky kissing the horizon on the first day. The sun, caressing the oak, in the first hour. I was in love in an instant.

Oblivious to the intense energy between us, the recruiter continued. “Prinni is Human, recruited and cured of a terminal disease like you. The cure, is a cure-all, releasing special abilities that all Humans have but never realize. Prinni can see into a person’s very soul and understand them on a fundamental level. Most of the time, this ability is a curse, a torment, for her. To see a person the way she does is to understand the light, and the dark of any being. The company of most creatures is torture for her, but something about you means the opposite. It is bliss, apparently. Since she found you on a recruiting mission, she can no longer work, no longer think of anything else but you. Personally, I don’t understand this connection she has with you…”

“Shut up,” I said. “Where do I sign?”

“You don’t know what I’m offering yet.”

“Okay,” I said, staring at her as she stared at me. My heart beat hard and I almost panted. Her breaths too, came short and quick. “What are you offering?”

“You’ll be cured first, of course. We’ll send both of you in an exploring vessel. Long periods of time alone with just you two. You seem, compatible, so there is…”

“Works for me. I’m in.”

“You can think about…”

Prinni and I stepped forward as one, as though one mind guided both. We embraced. Our kiss may have lasted minutes or hours. Hell, it could have been days for all I know. Time didn’t matter as long as that perfect spark of life touched mine. When at last, our forever kiss took time to merely pause, I looked over at my alien host.

“That’s a pretty good, Elevator Pitch.”