Mobius

by Vincent Vale

  I awoke to a shaft of morning light that slipped into the cave and warmed my face. I stood up and inspected a previously unnoticed opening, which overlooked the ocean. The cave we inhabited was within the face of the sea cliff, close to the surf. I watched the alien sun rise at the ocean’s edge, spilling an apricot light across the gentle fluxing waters. Winged creatures, like bald ferrets, flew above the water. One by one, they crashed down to catch small bundles of gray tentacles from just below the surface.

  “It’s beautiful,” said Orsteen, approaching from behind me.

  “Indeed.”

  “It means much to you. Doesn’t it?”

  “What do you mean?” I replied.

  “The necklace,” said Orsteen. He indicated the cobalt-blue infinity spiral that I caressed thoughtlessly. “I can tell it’s important to you. You’ve been checking its safety more often than the narcotic in your pocket.”

  “My drug is gone,” I said tensely.

  “And the necklace? What’s its significance?”

  “It was my wife’s.”

  “Of course,” said Orsteen. “I read your biography in the Neofrontier Chronicle. I’ve also lost a wife.”

  “I’m sorry, Orsteen. How did it happen?”

  “She was supervising a mining excavation when a subterranean tremor caused a cave-in.”

  I looked thoughtfully to Orsteen. “I think I understand you now.”

  Orsteen tilted his head inquisitively. “How so?”

  “We’re all stricken with tragedy in this life. This is part of what defines us as mortal beings. It’s how we choose to have those experiences shape our lives. After the tragedy of your wife’s death, you chose to become a leader, someone who protects those in need of protecting. From her death came something positive... someone positive. You’re a good leader, Orsteen.”

  Orsteen placed a hand on my shoulder. “You’ve given me a different perspective, my friend. Thank you.”

  I looked out to the ocean.

  What of my own choices? I wondered. Orsteen made good with his tragedy. What did I make with mine? I closed my heart to love. Lost myself in my work.

  “Are you all right, Theron?”

  “This life can be cruel and beautiful at the same time. Who knows if it means anything at all?”

  For a while we stood in silence, admiring the view.

  I thought about Allienora. “We should wake the others.”

  We found a bunch of the gelatinous-filled-sacks-with-legs hopping carelessly on Morion’s sleeping form. Orsteen and I laughed. Apparently, during the night, the creatures had made a nest of silver webbing on Morion’s chest. Thus, the day began with Morion in a rage, slaughtering the cave creatures. He crushed them against the cave walls, and those that dared to hop at his feet were instantly stomped. The rest of the creatures fled to the opening illuminating the cave. They toppled over the edge of the cliff and into the surf below.

  Morion trembled. “Didn’t I tell you these disgusting hobgoblins were out to get me? They’ve soiled my clothes. I now reek of their foul secretions.”

  Once Morion calmed down, we journeyed out into the alien morning, keeping a lookout for our armored pursuers.

  While Morion and Orsteen looked for food, Allienora and I ventured to the far perimeters of our surroundings to assess the risk of further alien encounters. We realized we were on a small peninsula of tropical forest. Sea cliffs, like castle walls, formed the outer edge of the peninsula and protected against the ocean tides.

  When we arrived at the tip of the peninsula, we discovered, to our breathtaking surprise, a floating city in the shape of an enormous teardrop. It hovered above the water, a few kilometers off shore. We could see a glowing, crimson beam of energy being shot from the base of the teardrop city and into the water’s depths.

  “What’s it doing?” asked Allienora.

  I found an ocular headset in my pack. Looking through it, I saw aliens traveling on walkways that wound up and around the great structure. The floating city was at least a thousand meters tall and shimmered with a golden luster.

  “I don’t know what the beam of energy is, but you should see the opulence of the architecture. The finely crafted railings lining the walkways, the robust columns supporting the various levels, even the enormous windows seem to reflect the light with an abnormally enchanting flare.”

  Allienora took a turn with the headset. “Quite picturesque. What one might expect from the Romans of old, had they ascended to an age of technology.”

  “Picturesque indeed.” I took the ocular headset from Allienora and pointed it toward her.

  “What are you doing?” she asked.

  “Taking a picture. If we ever return home, I’ll need a memento.”

  “I’ve never looked worse.”

  “You’ve never looked better. You’re an adventurer now. The first woman to stand on an alien world.”

  “I like the sound of that.”

  I waved her back a step. “Quit fidgeting and smile for me.”

  The sun had risen to its zenith and now began its leisurely descent.

  Allienora and I returned to the cave and found Morion alone, sitting next to a small fire. He held a sharpened stick, on which were impaled a number of gelatinous-filled-sacks-with-legs. He hummed a tune as he cooked them delicately over a small flame. He turned to us with wild eyes and grinned.

  “You’re just in time for the feast. I’ve taken my ultimate vengeance upon these hobgoblins. I believe if you eat them, you’ll absorb their powers!”

  “What are you talking about?”

  Allienora picked Orsteen’s flask off the ground. “He drank all the Neuro-Rature.”

  I shook my head at the idiot in front of me. “What if you eat me, Morion? Will you absorb my powers?”

  Morion’s eye widened. “Your statement has blown my mind.” He looked at the skewer in his hand. “I’ll need a bigger stick.”

  “You’re insane, Morion. Snap out of it!”

  He raised up the skewer of gelatinous-filled-sacks-with-legs. “Power or no power, they’ve turned out to be quite tasty. Their gelatinous centers cook nicely into a white meaty texture. Sit. There’s plenty for all.”

  “Where’s Orsteen?” I asked. “Didn’t you return together?”

  “Orsteen’s the insane one, not me. He decided to spy on the community of aliens we encountered near the archway. I told him such boldness could get us captured and we parted paths.”

  “How long ago was this?” asked Allienora.

  Morion tested the firmness of the gelatinous-filled-sacks-with-legs and then spoke through a crazy smile: “Roughly five rounds of my little hobgoblin friends.”

  I gave him a fierce look.

  Morion cleared his throat and straightened his posture. “At least two, maybe three hours ago.”

  I attempted to contact Orsteen over the communicators, but he didn’t respond.

  “Do you think he’s lost?” asked Allienora.

  “I don’t know,” I said, “but he’ll have to find his way back alone. Morion’s right. We can’t risk being captured.”

  “Sit and eat,” said Morion, handing us each a skewer of cave creatures and some small green fruits. “The scanner in my pack showed these fruits to be edible—however, my initial trials found them to be the cause of uncontrollable flatulence. Eat at your own risk.”

  I ate scantily and told Morion of the great teardrop city, which floated over the ocean.

  Finally, after hours of waiting for Orsteen to return, we gave up and slept.

  In the middle of the night, Orsteen charged into the cavern, his expression that of a lunatic. “They’ve arrived! All three of the armored aliens! I was at the edge of the alien community, observing customs and routines to get better acquainted with our new neighbors. Without warning, the armored aliens arrived in the center of town, as if still in hot pursuit. They immediately sought counsel with the native aliens. At that point, I raced back here.”

  Orste
en caught his breath and then snatched up one of the green fruits Morion had harvested. I grabbed desperately for it, but Orsteen devoured the fruit in a single gulp.

  “We’re doomed,” uttered Morion, lying on the floor like a corpse. “Inform the aliens of my surrender.”

  Morion seemed unable to filter his thoughts. I had the urge to throw him into the sea, but decided against such an indulgence. “Must you be so negative, Morion?”

  Orsteen puffed out his chest. “It’s time to fight.”

  “Agreed,” I said. “But how? Our plasma guns are useless against them.”

  “I don’t know,” replied Orsteen.

  What could we do? Our resources were limited. I became distracted when Morion started talking to himself. The effect of the Neuro-Rapture had apparently diminished, and Morion again cast paranoid looks to the looming stalactites.

  “Your claustrophobia has inspired me, Morion!” I collected everyone’s anti-gravity belts and carried them to the corridor giving entrance to the cavern. I took apart three of the belts and removed their anti-gravity nodes, which I then placed around the walls of the corridor. I adjusted their emitters so they projected their anti-gravitons to the ceiling, causing the upper region of the corridor to be void of gravity.

  I located ten of the biggest stalagmites. One by one, I attached the remaining anti-gravity belt and uprooted them from the cave floor with a blast from my plasma gun. I carefully positioned the stalagmites within the weightless upper region of the corridor. I then interlinked with the anti-gravity nodes and manipulated their sensors.

  “At the first sign of the aliens, the anti-gravity nodes will disengage, sending the crushing weight of ten stalagmites down on them.”

  “Very creative, Theron,” said Allienora.

  With the plan in effect, we huddled in a dark corner, waiting like skittish chickens. With each drip of water, we flinched. With each scurrying hobgoblin, we reeled. The two moons at the ocean’s edge poured a rich light through the opening, into the cavern, and down the corridor. Our one chance for survival was held in the weight of a hulking mass of mineral deposit. Despite the uselessness of our plasma guns, we held them at the ready.

  I glanced sidelong to Allienora. Her face glowed in the moonlight. I noticed her hands trembling and attempted to steady them with my own. She smiled timidly and then looked back toward the corridor.

  A concussion jarred my senses. In a daze, I realized the trap had been tripped. The impact shook the cave with such intensity that a mass of rock collapsed in upon the opening, leaving us in total darkness. I turned on our electric lantern.

  “Did we get them?” asked Morion. He held his plasma gun close to his body, turning frantically this way and that way. “Do you see them? I see none. Did we get them? Did they get past?”

  I crept up to the pile of toppled stalagmites. “At least one hasn’t escaped.” An armored leg splayed out from the pile. I poked at it with the barrel of my plasma gun and it remained still. “I’m not sure about the other two.”

  From the shadows, one of the aliens jumped toward me. With tremendous strength, Orsteen struck it, sending it flying. Before hitting the cave wall, it vanished into a blue light that only I could see.

  “Thank you, Orsteen.” I rushed to the blocked opening that had overlooked the ocean. “Quickly, let’s clear this rubble so we can escape.”

  “I’ll hold off the aliens,” said Orsteen, as another sprang from a dark hole. He successfully wrestled it away and it retreated back to the shadows.

  As Allienora and I worked to gain access to the outside, Morion came forward with plasma gun in hand. “Stand clear! I’ll blast it open.”

  Allienora pushed down his weapon. “Are you crazy? You’ll cause an avalanche that’ll sweep us all into the ocean with a hundred tons of rock.”

  Morion grunted. He tucked his plasma gun into his belt, and continued to clear away rocks, piece by piece.

  Orsteen stood in a defensive crouch, arms held at guard. He cursed the two remaining aliens as they hurled themselves forth from the shadows. He moved fast and caught them by their heads with his massive hands. He lifted them high into the air, roared angrily, and then cast them to the ground as though to drive them to the very depths of Hell.

  The two aliens merely bounced on the ground and rolled back into darkness. An instant later, one of them reappeared and performed an unexpected dance. As Orsteen watched in disbelief, the other alien came out of hiding and jumped on his back. In an instant, both Orsteen and the alien disappeared.

  I launched a boulder toward the remaining alien. It dodged it effortlessly.

  While Allienora and Morion continued clearing the opening, I grabbed a splinter of stalactite from the pile of rubble and poked and prodded at the alien, trying to keep it at bay. The other alien reappeared from wherever it had taken Orsteen.

  “Allienora! Morion!” I screamed. “Behind you!”

  Allienora smashed a rock over its head. Morion, in a panic, fired his plasma gun, only to miss the alien. The plasma molecule shot to the ceiling, where it broke free a slender stalactite. It fell like a spear down on Allienora, goring her through the abdomen. Her face froze in absolute horror. She grabbed the stony sliver extending from her belly, exhaled a profound breath, and fell to the floor.

  Before Morion could fire another shot, the alien jumped onto him and they crashed down on Allienora’s body. A second later, the three disappeared.

  My emotions swelled. Kill them! Murder them!

  Allienora’s deathly expression fueled my rage. I lashed out at the remaining alien with all my substance, smashing rock and fist upon the little creature. Despite all the strength and speed I summoned, I couldn’t harm it. I punched it away, but a moment later it returned with twice the effort. It leaped and plunged at me, snatching and grabbing with armored hands, trying to take hold of me.

  Defeating the alien no longer seemed possible. I pulled out my plasma gun. “Fuck you, you little troll!”

  I sent a stream of plasma molecules to the ceiling. Rock and stalactites rained down, and the cave began collapsing in on itself.

  I waited for the end.

  The alien darted around, trying to avoid the falling rock. It could’ve easily escaped with the use of its transporter, but, for some reason, it chose to risk life and limb to capture me.

  By some divine favor, the pile of rubble blocking the cave’s opening gave way, and moonlight spilled through. I rushed through the opening, and threw myself over the cliff’s edge into air. A ten-meter drop took me to the cold waters below. I hit the water with a jolting whack. I struggled to stay afloat—I was tangled in a mesh of alien seaweed.

  I flailed at the water’s surface, trying to grab a nonexistent edge of land. Beginning to sink, I realized something had my foot and was pulling me down. It crawled up my legs. I felt what I knew to be two armored hands. The alien had followed me down. I kicked to no avail. Before I became fully submerged, I took a deep breath.

  I continued trying to break free, until the reflex to breathe overpowered me. In a violent contraction, cold water overwhelmed my lungs. My head filled with a burning pressure and my consciousness failed.

  BIOLINGUISTIC

  LOBE

  I woke up to a dream, to a nightmare, to an afterlife—I wasn’t sure. I hung in an upright position. A cold metal restraint pressed against my naked chest. I felt like a deflated balloon—weak and flimsy.

  I saw a figure, like a shadow, passing in front of me. It came closer. It was one of the lank aliens with backward-bending knees. A closer look revealed its sophisticated skin. The surface was glossy and nearly transparent. Embedded within the skin were fiber-optic-like filaments, causing the skin to glow ever so slightly.

  It must be a machine, I thought.

  It turned its tall, narrow head in my direction, as though it heard me thinking. Two oversized eyes looked at me intensely—they seemed almost human. Polyps around its small mouth quivered with a high-pitch trilling sound and
I heard a whisper, “I am alive. I am sentient.”

  I couldn’t respond.

  It suddenly revealed a vicious-looking mechanism ending in two metal talons. I shuddered as the talons veered toward my eyes with a slow, deliberate motion. They spread open like those of an eagle before snatching prey. I tried to close my eyes, but they refused. I tried to beg the alien for mercy, but my mouth failed me.

  The two talons grasped the tender orbs of my eyeballs. Pain! Horror! My mind screamed. I heard a bloodcurdling crunch and pop before again losing consciousness.

  I stirred after what seemed an eternity of slumber. Still half-asleep, I had the wishful thought that the past few weeks were just a fading dream. Sadly, everything flooded back and I remembered what happened to Allienora.

  I’ve lost you already, my dear. Everyone dies in my path.

  I was still in an upright position, bound and paralyzed. I inspected my prison. The walls glowed with an electric-yellow light. Below me sat a large basin of fluid, in which floated unusual masses of tissue. Their gray, glistening substance resembled brain matter. I tried not to think of their purpose or origin.

  Upon a small table sat an assortment of strange surgical tools, including the two-talon mechanism I had believed to be a figment of a passing dream.

  What have they done to me? Why can I still see?

  I realized the ill-effect of my synthetic eyes was gone, leaving me to wonder if the aliens had replaced them with new ones.

  There was something behind me. I felt strange emanations. It was like I was secured to some kind of machine. Something penetrated my skull, possibly linking me to that machine.

  I hung there for a while, staring at the air in front of me. All I could think about was Allienora and the short time we had spent together.

  My sweet Allienora, I thought. You deserved longer. Ever since we met, I felt something I hadn’t felt in a long time. Life is so much better when you have someone to share it with. We could’ve been happy together. I’m sorry, my dear.

  Allienora’s soft voice filled my head: Such passionate words. If we’re being honest, I think you may be a little too old for me. But as they say, love has no boundaries, right?