by Lynne Murray
A group of Arachne warriors escorted the remaining lizard researchers off their ship and stood waiting before returning to their own ship.
“Don’t look,” Sophie tapped my shoulder. But I couldn’t take my eyes off the swarm of Arachne carrying the body of the lizard I had killed over their heads into their ship.
Kirby came to stand next to us. “We needed to get everyone safely out of there,” he said. “It was too late for you to revive him like you did Vole.”
“I know. He was dead,” I said the words to convince myself as much as Kirby and Sophie.
Kirby nodded to the lizard staff and they activated the portal. As the Reptile Planet faded from view, I could see the Arachne ship vanishing through the other own portal, leaving the damaged Rutban ship and most of its crew standing, watching.
We passed through the Earth side portal space and walked out of the small shed.
Chapter 18
It was fully dark in San Francisco. The wind off the ocean blew wisps of fog past us and fluttered the tatters of Grandmother’s disguise. After the heated interior of the Lizard ship, the cold set me to shivering. Dennis and the other three who had been in the Rutban goo-filled containers seemed not to notice.
“Let’s get in the minivan to warm up,” Kirby said, climbing in and clicking the door locks to open. He started the engine and turned the heat up.
“Our daughter, Mia, is she all right?” the older woman asked.
“She’s fine, Sarah, I’m calling her now to pick up you up.”
“She kept trying to get us to go into protective custody,” Sarah said. “But Matt and I never thought they’d take us away for good.”
“Those bastard lizards were going to kill us all,” Matt said.
“Mia’s taking you to a safe house until we make sure all the lizard scientists are gone.”
“Alien Lab Rat Mia?” Gabriella said. “I know her from online.”
“Well, you’re about to meet her in person,” Kirby said. “You’re probably not in danger of being abducted again, but you may want to stay with us until we can be sure. It’s up to you. Mia can either drive you home or you can stay at a safe house.”
We all piled into Kirby’s car to get warm. Grandmother sat in the very back. The pieces of the granny outfit hung on her with a big gap revealing her face and forelegs. The three rescued from the containers, cast occasional looks at her, but mostly looked away.
Mia arrived soon after and greeted everyone with hugs.
“Grandmother and her warrior kin saved our lives. But she can’t go out on the streets of San Francisco without major disguise repairs,” Kirby said. “There’s a disguise shop on Haight, we’ll drop her off on our way to Dennis’s place.”
“They’ll be closed,” Sophie said, “But I’ll call Ken and let us know we’re coming. I love that place.”
“Dennis, you were right about being abducted,” Wade said.
Dennis stared straight in front of him and said nothing. Probably still in shock. Or the goo in the stasis locker may have included a strong sedative, or both.
The disguise shop turned out to be Costumes for Rent or Sale store. The Closed sign hung on the door. Kirby drove into the alley next to the store. The door opened immediately and a man came out and beckoned to Grandmother.
“That’s Ken, the owner,” Sophie said. “Come on, Grandmother, I’ll go in with you.”
“You just want to check out the costumes,” Chad’s tone was affectionate.
“Like you don’t!” Sophie teased.
Chad ignored the remark and continued. “If you’ve no objection, Kirby, I’ll accompany the ladies.”
“No objection,” Kirby said.
The owner greeted them like old friends. He picked up one of the hanging shreds of Grandmother’s disguise and said something that everyone seemed to agree with as he held the door for them to enter.
Kirby pulled back onto Haight Street and headed for Dennis’s neighborhood.
I watched the night time city streets slip past. Dennis slipped into an exhausted sleep in the back seat next to me. He deserved to rest, but he began snoring. I risked a question.
“Grandmother’s daughter commanded that ship,” I said, “Are all the Arachne females, warriors?”
“Arachne battleships are segregated by gender,” Kirby said. “Mixing female and male adults in such close quarters has been judged unwise by their High Command. No non-Arachne has ever witnessed their mating frenzy and survived. All Grandmother has ever said is that mating casualties are unacceptable and battle readiness suffers.”
Wade said nothing but even in the early morning light, I could see him go very still and the back of his neck turned red.
“There are limits to scientific curiosity,” Kirby continued.
I wasn’t about to ask for more details. We drove in silence until Kirby said, “Under the Treaty, scientists like the Rutban group who had ongoing multi-generational genetic programs were given 70 years to finish them. They were also prohibited from bringing their experimental subjects back to their home planet.”
“What were the rules before?” I asked.
“There weren’t any. The Rutban could experiment on subjects like Mia and her parents. They could pick them up for testing whenever they wanted, kill and dissect them. They could transport them, living or dead, back to their labs on the Reptile Planets for future study. The Rutban were outraged that the rules had changed in mid-experiment. They’ve been protesting ever since, but the Galactic Council stands firm on this.”
“The Rutban go directly to the Council, they don’t talk to humans,” Wade said. “They hate negotiating with a species they considered nothing more than experimental animals.”
“How could you enforce the new rules?” I asked.
“Good question,” Kirby said, throwing a quick look to Wade. “When the Treaty was signed, the Galactic reps gave us what I think of as baby-proof tech. Mostly camouflage tools and defensive immobilizing tools. We also received a detachment of Guardians to police the treaty terms worldwide. Barring emergencies, the West Coast Station has access to about four, which is usually enough.”
“There were three monitoring Vole when he came to the Station,” I said.
“That was a Death Dealer in our Station,” Kirby said. “Not an emergency, but a potentially dangerous situation.” He sighed. “Turned out to be worse than we anticipated.”
Wade said, “The Rutban Captain was right, the Guardians assigned to us wouldn’t come rushing to help with a minor problem like a couple of missing Earth citizens.”
We arrived at Dennis’s house. The street was quiet. Wade and Kirby helped Dennis out of the car. I joined them on the sidewalk.
Dennis stopped and raised his eyes to the night sky, weaving back and forth on unsteady legs. Wade moved to take his arm to keep him from falling.
We all looked up. Predawn haze masked the stars, but the Ekrot stared down at us.
I tried to send a mental image of Dennis’s rescue. The giant eye blinked. The thunderous volume of Ekrot’s thoughts filled my head.
Good.
I tried to send a “Thanks for telling us where to find him. message, but there was no reply.
“Did you hear that?” I asked.
All three men shook their heads. “It said ‘good,’” I explained. “The Ekrot told me where you were so we could rescue you,” I told them. “I think it likes you,” I said to Dennis.
“I need to lie down,” Dennis said. Fortunately, he had a key. Wade and Kirby walked on either side of him as he walked unsteadily inside. I waited outside, staring up at the Ekrot, which mildly stared back.
Kirby and Wade came back out a few minutes later.
“He went straight to bed,” Wade said. “I told him to call if he needed anything.”
The two men joined me on the pavement staring up at the giant eye.
“Incredible,” Kirby’s voice held a tone of awe. “Ekrots have never been known to communicate with
humans.”
As in answer, the eye blinked again and vanished into the mist.
Chapter 19
Kirby dropped Wade off first. A few blocks later, he stopped in front of my apartment and sat in his car until I got inside. I stood inside the door, staring down the hall for a minute. After a quick pit stop in the bathroom, I went straight to bed. I managed to put my glasses, keys and phone on the bedside table. I got my shoes off, but fell asleep on top of the covers without managing to get under them. I woke up a few hours later, disoriented and shivering with cold. I pulled a couple of blankets from the chest at the foot of the bed and curled up under them.
When I woke up again it was late in the day and I was afraid and still cold despite two blankets.
A dream lingered in my mind. In the dream, I was in a trashed room in a cold twilight that made everything seem like a black and white picture. The room was filled with lifeless bodies and damaged furniture. Children’s toys were scattered around, and the only thing that moved were pages of a torn Wonder Woman comic book. I crouched behind my big girl bed. A man’s face loomed over me and some of the fear went away. A woman’s face leaning down next to him and I unfroze enough to begin to cry.
The man pulled me out of the place I’d found refuge. He picked me up effortlessly, I must have been very young and small.
“I’m afraid she will keep on doing this,” a woman’s voice said.
“I’m afraid she won’t. She protected herself when we didn’t even know she was under attack. She’s showing unprecedented skills,” the male voice said. “But you’re right, they’ll be tracking her now.”
“We have to hide the child,” the woman said.
“I know,” the man said. “I hoped it wouldn’t come to this but we do.”
“Sister, can you take her? It may be the only way to save her.”
Another woman’s voice said, “Yes.”
I couldn’t see her in the dream but I recognized the voice. My aunt.
My heart rate started to subside and I sat up and looked at the clock. I’d slept most of the day.
Then I happened to glance down at the amulet around my neck. It was no longer blank. A faint trace, a faint silvery dotted line like very small etched dots on metal followed the edge of the circle about a quarter of the way around before it faded away. If the circle had been a watch, it would have started at 4:15 and ended at 4:30.
The doorbell rang and I flinched. I made my way down the hall. A strange metal clicking sound echoed through the apartment in the silence of the night. Someone was snapping the top of the metal mailbox. Larry had installed an antique iron grill speakeasy peephole. I cautiously opened the inner door of the peephole.
The mailbox snapping stopped and a man’s face pressed against the square grill. Grandmother’s protective threads didn’t seem to stop him. All I could see was a blue eye and a gray eyebrow.
“Stand back, I can’t see you, who are you?”
You know who I am. His voice echoed in my head.
It was Caroll Caine.
But he was dead.
He laughed as though he could hear my thoughts.
You know what you did to me. It’s payback time. Let me in.
He tried to reach through the grill, but the cross-hatched iron bars of the peephole were too small to admit his fingers. He scrabbled at the metal as he had at the mailbox.
I slammed view door shut and latched it. I ran down the hall pressing the amulet.
I went to my bedroom to retrieve my phone. It rang as soon as I picked it up.
“Angie, I just got your alert,” Wade answered. “What’s wrong?”
“A man is standing on my steps trying to get in. He looks just like my boss I k—who died last week and he’s telling me I’m responsible and I have to let him in.”
“Stay on the phone, I’ll be right over. Are you wearing your glasses?”
“Bring the phone with you, get your glasses.”
I hurried down the hall. “This is so confusing.”
I had found out about so many things I never believed possible. Could Caine haunt from beyond the grave? If UFOs were real, how about ghosts?
“Okay, I’ve got my glasses.” I stood in the hall outside my bedroom, far back from the door. I felt foolish, but I had to ask. “Could this be a ghost?”
“More likely it’s a Mindworm. Put on your glasses. I’m getting in my truck.”
“I’ve got my glasses on, should I look at it? I kind of don’t want to.”
“Good instinct. I’ll stay on the phone with you. Stay well back from the door, but don’t look out at it, and absolutely don’t open it till I get there.”
I went into the front room. Carroll Caine’s voice, demanded that I look at him. It sounded like he was right next to me.
“It sounds like he’s inside, but I didn’t let him in. Is this like a vampire where it needs permission?”
I heard Wade start the engine of his truck. “This kind of alien may have contributed to the vampire myths. They sniff out strong emotions and they can get into your head. If it did get in, the glasses would help. The important thing is to concentrate on something else.”
I sat at my grandfather’s roll-top desk as if the furniture would protect me. I looked at the picture of my mother, my aunt and my grandfather.
I want to meet your daughter. Carroll Caine said right into my ear. I jumped and looked around, but he wasn’t in sight.
“I don’t have a daughter I whispered, feeling half foolish and half terrified.
“Angie,” Wade said on the phone, “Don’t talk to it.”
The clank of the mailbox lid on the door snapped back and forth. But his words spoke inside my head.
The one in the picture, Caine’s voice added.
“No that's my mother." I couldn’t seem to stop talking to it. Another wave of terror washed over me.
“Angie,” Wade said urgently over the phone. “What’s your favorite song?
“What?”
“Let’s sing together, I’m almost there. How about Happy Birthday? Come on. He started to sing, ‘Happy Birthday to you.’ Come on.”
“Happy birthday to you,” I joined in feeling silly and scared at once. “I really can’t carry a tune.”
“Doesn’t matter. Keep singing,” Wade continued, “Happy birthday dear Fill-In-the- Blank, happy birthday to you. And again.”
I felt the pressure loosen and Caine’ voice faded away as we went through the song three times.
Then Wade announced. “I’m on your front steps. Hang on a second while I deal with this interplanetary garbage.”
His tone changed to one of command. “You, get out of here. You’re only allowed on this planet on sufferance. Now you’re bothering an ETPA official. That can get you imprisoned in a null zone. No emotions. No other life forms. Maybe the occasional parasite. Don’t try that crap on me. Excuse me while I hit this guy.”
The unmistakable grunt of someone being punched.
“Angie, you can look out now,” Wade said.
I opened the peephole door rather than the front door and saw Wade holding very thin, bedraggled rat-like creature by the scruff of its neck. It had staring, orange eyes and it breathed hoarsely through a pointed snout with rodent-like teeth.
“Obviously, this is not your late boss. He’s about to go quietly but first, open the door. It’s safe, I’ve got a pretty firm grip on Mr. Mindworm here. What do your glasses tell you?”
The red readout showed:
Mindworm, a mental parasite common on worlds with intelligent life. Considered too well established on Earth to be eliminated. Caution, dangerous if allowed to infect minds. If detected attacking human residents, restrain and deport to designated null zone.
“I’m not going to detain you this time,” Wade said giving the Mindworm a rough shake. “Stay away from humans. Next time we catch you, you’re gone. Okay, he’s going now.” He let go of the Mindworm and gave it a gentle shove.
The cre
ature cast one last look over its shoulder at me and shambled off across the street and into the trees.
Chapter 20
I opened the door. Wade slipped in and I slammed the lock shut and let out a sigh of relief. “Can I ask about that thing?”
“Absolutely. You need to know about Mindworms in case more show up.”
“‘More’ as in several?”
“I hate to say it, but they often travel in groups and mimic the Mindworm with the most effective disguise.”
I shuddered. I went into the front room and sat on the old-fashioned wheeled office chair in front of the roll top desk. Wade took the wooden straight chair next to it. I always used to sit in that chair when my grandfather was alive.
“I was sitting here while the Mindworm was trying to get in.”
Wade said. He leaned forward and peered into my face. “What did you notice about it?”
“When I saw him outside the door he looked like my boss, Carroll Caine.”
“You must have strong emotions about him. That’s the kind of thing Mindworms pick up on.”
I looked at the floor. “I feel guilty about killing the old man.” I left it at that. All the times I had wanted to kill someone who bullied me. How I’d always managed to hold back. The fear of disappointing my aunt kept me strong. Now she was gone and killing was easier and easier. What was I becoming?
“Angie, are you there? What was it I heard on the phone? I heard your side of the conversation but you seemed to be talking to it.”
“It felt like he got into the apartment and stood over me, looking at this picture.” I picked up the framed picture. I hadn’t had time to replace the glass. “It was like his voice was in my head. He kept asking about the picture of my daughter. I told him it was my mother. I’m not really sure if that’s true. I just found this picture and recognized my grandfather and my aunt. I’ve never seen a picture of either of my parents.
“Wow. I’m sorry. That must have been lonely growing up.”
“Does that mean that I gave him the information he can use?”