“Well, if it’s not an engagement ring, what is it?" He lifted my hand again and studied the ring. “It’s a... ‘I promise to be with you forever, or at least until you’re totally sick of me’ ring,” he declared. “I see. A bit wordy. But seriously, next time you want to buy me jewelry - think ‘small’.”

“Cool!” he said. “Did you know if you wake someone up when they’re sleepwalking, they’ll die?” I threw him a cynical look. “Where’d you hear that?” He shrugged. “I read it somewhere. We should try it. Next time, I’ll wake you up, and if you die…”

“Can you imagine what I’m going to have to write on the insurance claim form? Attacked by aliens and blood sucking vampire things.” “I don’t think that would go down well!” “Yeah, I may have to come up with another, more plausible scenario.” “Attacked by Big Foot instead?” He chuckled. “Yeah, much more believable.”

“I sat back in my chair - it was almost impossible to take all this in at once. The dinosaurs were wiped out by an... intergalactic council? “Dinosaurs were wiped out by a meteor.” I stated, trying to hold on to some vestige of normality. He shrugged. “Believe that if you want to.”

“I waved back and pocketed the money with a guilty conscience. As I turned and headed for the cafe, it struck me a teenage girl being forced to spend money was pretty bizarre.”

“No, I mean, why are the Innaki here, visiting Earth?” Its eyes narrowed, and I sensed it was reluctant to answer. "We are improving the human gene code.""Why?”"The human creature is sub-standard, stupid and prone to disease. We are working to advance its makeup." How philanthropic of them, I thought wryly.”

“The ring is a copy of my mother’s. I took the stone from her engagement ring and had a jeweler place it in a titanium setting.”“Titanium?” I asked.“Dick knew a guy."“Of course he did.”“You’re a bit rough and tumble with jewelry, and I knew it would have to be able to stand up to…”“Nuclear winter?”His eyebrow lifted. “I never know with you.”