Around 17:00 that day he entered his apartment. When he hung up the jacket and threw the key into the bowl in the hallway, he wondered why the bedroom door was open. He took a look in the room, found it empty. The bed was made, the bedside lamp was on and the room looked as if nobody had been in there. The room was cold as if someone had opened the window.
A quiet feeling of discomfort crept through Hannes. Or no, wasn't it just trouble? Because she just disappeared? But he didn't notice the quiet feeling of missing that crawled through Hannes.
Then he saw the backpack next to the bed and he knew she was still here.
He opened the bathroom door.
The bathroom was empty.
She was in the kitchen, sitting at the kitchen table, bare-chested. The lights were on, but the curtains were closed. She seemed to have been waiting for him. She had put her arms on the kitchen table and folded her hands. Hannes stepped into the kitchen, nodded in her direction, made himself a cup of coffee and sat down at the opposite side of the table.
The two looked at each other wordlessly, Hannes was sipping his coffee, she motionless. Then Hannes said to her, "Do you understand me?" No response. Hannes sighed. He turned on the coffee machine, pointed his index finger. "My name's Hannes." He pointed at himself again. "I - Hannes." He pointed at her. "And you?" She tilted her head and made a series of clicks, her lips barely opened. Hannes had to laugh. "I can't say that." He was thinking. "You know what? I can't pronounce your name." He had a sip of coffee. "So, I have to give you a new name." She waited with her head tilted, her black eyes were sparkling. Did you see a hint of ridicule and irony? No, Hannes said to himself, it's a completely strange creature. Mockery and irony won't know it.
He pointed at her. "You're from now on, hmmm, Ibby. Yes? He pointed to himself again. "Hannes!" He pointed at her. "Ibby!" He smiled. "You are an E.B.E., an Extraterrestrial Biological Entity, an alien biological entity. Therefore, Ibby, Ebe as a name sounds stupid." He stood up, put the cup down and looked into her eyes. "Let's try this one now."
He went into the hallway, closed the kitchen door. "Ibby!" he shouted. He waited, nothing happened. Hannes grumbled, thought for a moment. Sure, he thought I wouldn't let anyone call me like a dog. He had to be a little more polite, but if she didn't understand him, he could call something pointless behind the name, Ibby, it's Monday or something. But could he be sure that she really didn't understand him? Not really. Maybe the name was just too stupid. But he'd see. He cleared his throat. "Ibby, can you come here?" He gave himself the pointless sentence behind the name. After a moment, the door opened, and she looked at him.
He walked past her and sat down again. She followed him and sat down again, looked at him. Did he see the touch of a smile on her face? Yes, she had slightly pulled the corners of her mouth up. Ibby suddenly tilted her head a little forward, as if she wanted to bow slightly, closed her eyes briefly and straightened up again. She put her right hand on the chest between the breasts, then made a gesture with both hands, so fast that Hannes could not follow, and directed index and ring fingers of the right hand then on him. Hannes was amazed. "I didn't see right; I don't know what it means!" He gesticulated that she should be slower, pointing slowly towards the ground with flat hands. Ibby understood. She repeated the gesture: Left hand turned away from herself at half a right angle, left thumb down, right hand laid flat at right angles to left. Hannes squinted his eyes together and thoughtfully. That could mean anything from "thank you" to "I'll kill you."
Hannes got up, went to the fridge and took out a bottle of sparkling water, put it on the table. Then took a fresh glass out of the cabinet, grabbed a kitchen towel. Ibby watched attentively what Hannes was doing: He polished the glass with the cloth elaborately and exaggeratedly, placed it on the table, opened the bottle and poured the glass full. With exaggerated courtesy, he pushed the glass in her direction. She smiled, repeated the gesture and drank it out, put the glass back on the table. Hannes waited a moment, but Ibby lifted her left hand and held it back in the angle in front of her without putting her right hand on it. Hannes took the glass again and filled a sip inside, pushed it to her. She repeated the gesture of thanks but didn't take the glass.
Fine, thought Hannes, Ibby and Hannes, please and thanks we have already clarified.
Hannes's stomach grumbled suddenly, ravenous hunger, he didn’t eat yet. Ibby put one hand on her stomach and repeated the sound, tilted her head. "I'm hungry. I need to eat." He wanted to say "starvation", but he thought it was important to use the right words so that communication could work better and faster in the future. Hannes got up, went to the fridge again, fetched butter and cheese, took a slice of bread and made himself a cheese sandwich. He chewed and sat down. Ibby had watched him motionless and once again Hannes asked herself what she was eating. He pointed to his bread and then to her, with a questioning expression on her face. She shook her head after a moment. Then don't. Ibby got up and went into the bedroom. Hannes was actually satisfied so far. The first reasonable communication, she had thanked him, probably for the rescue and for the accommodation, then they had clarified thanks and requests, she had learned her new name, no, rather accepted it. She had also learned that the strange sound from Hanne's stomach meant that he was hungry. Fine, Hannes thought, first steps. On now, he reminded himself, a shower and then shopping.
Hannes marched into the bathroom, closed the door, took a shower. When he was finished after a quarter of an hour, he noticed that he still smelled quite like diesel, which was due to the repair of his forklift. He showered again, then he was satisfied. He shaved, threw some more aftershave on his face and dressed.
He bought fresh bread, cheese at the supermarket, a few bottles of beer and a bag of chips to celebrate the day.
Loaded with his groceries, he was back half an hour later. Ibby was in the kitchen, had moved the kitchen table to the side and placed the chairs in the middle of the room. She was naked, her legs crossed, her hands folded and laid on her legs.
Hannes took off the jacket in amazement, put it on the table. Ibby shook her head and pointed into the hall. Hannes raised his eyebrows but hung his jacket in the hallway. He came back and was asked by Ibby to sit down. Hannes wasn't sure where this was going to lead, but he sat down. The chairs were only half a meter apart. Ibby stretched out her hands, Hannes put his in hers. She put Hannes hands on her head and told him that he should feel the hair. Maybe, Hannes thought, she assumes that I see so badly that I have to feel everything. He laid his hands and felt the hair, thick and curly. He bent over and smelled it. They smelled like shampoo but had a strange smell that was hardly noticeable. Hannes took her head in her hands and fumbled with her thumbs for her zygomatic bone. No difference to a human head, except for the eyes and the strange structure above the eyes. Hannes carefully scanned the structure; it wasn't bones but cartilage or solid tissue. It could be pressed in a little and moved as if it were sitting under the skin and had not grown together with the skull bone. Ibby didn't move. He stroked her hair aside with one hand and Ibby turned her head. He saw an ear that was no different from a human ear. He followed the line of the chin, no difference here either. When he tried to separate her lips, he pulled her lower lip down a little with one finger, pressed her lips firmly together and shook her head. Then Hannes put a finger on her nose and found that the bridge of the nose was not as with humans in the lower part movable, but consisted of bone, was immovable.
He followed the line of the neck with his hands, felt the pulse on the sides, very strong but slow, felt the tendons and muscles under the skin. Strangely enough, they could only be felt, if you looked at her neck, you could see nothing of it. He noticed, however, but he could not pin down why the pulse was visible on the neck, but alternately, once left, once right.
The neck vertebrae were clearly to be felt, but there were up to the shoulder not four, but six vertebrae, which Hannes felt. The shoulders were also shaped like human shoulders, with a clavicle, but clearly protruding from
the skin, giving the impression that it had grown from very thick bones. Ibby leaned forward. Hannes stood up and walked around her, looking at her back. He noticed that there were considerably more vertebra to be seen than it was usual for humans, but he did not bother to count them. Beside the vertebrae, these strange elevations, like pustules or pimples, were recognizable. They were as big as the nail of the little finger and next to each elevation of a vertebra one of these pustules was always arranged to the left and right. He stroked his hand over his back and felt the ribs, which were arranged like human ones.
He sat down again and Ibby straightened up. Hannes put his hands in his lap and looked at her. She was pointing to her chest. Hannes carefully followed the curves of the breasts with one finger, but Ibby grabbed his hand and pressed it against her breasts. There was no emotion on her face. Hannes sighed, it was somehow not quite right for him, then took her breasts with both hands. The breast was firm, as human ones. The nipples were also normal, as well the areolas. Hannes let the hands glide further down and felt her belly. More than anything else he was irritated by the lack of a belly button. He asked himself how these beings are born, how they grow in the womb. He also found that there was not a single gram of fat on her stomach. Carefully he took a skin fold between thumb and index finger and pulled a little. No fat, skin, and then probably muscles. He carefully pushed her belly with his index finger, rock-hard, rock-solid. It was all muscle.
She held out her arms to him. He grabbed an arm, felt the muscles and bones. He took a closer look at the hands. The fingers were very narrow and delicate and, as he noticed, slightly longer than they should be. He laid his hand on hers for comparison. He noticed that there were small wounds on the fingertips, small cuts that did not bleed but looked as if she had cut open all the fingertips. He looked at her with his hands in front of his face. She smiled restrainedly, then she moved her fingers slightly so that he looked there again. From her index finger came slowly a kind of claw, half as thick as her finger, slightly bent, and apparently razor sharp. Fascinated Hannes watched as she extended the claw, it was almost two centimeters long. Carefully he tapped the tip of the claw with his index finger. A slight pain, Hannes pulled his hand back, a drop of red blood had appeared on his finger. Reflexively he put his finger in his mouth and sucked on it. Ibbys eyes sparkled. Suddenly she tore her arms back, growled loudly and bared her claws on all fingers, hinting that she was going to jump at him. Hannes froze, almost swallowed his finger, and fell over with loud rumbling while trying to flee together with the chair. He tried to flee like a cat on a smooth floor, but he couldn't find a place to stop, he feared that at that moment her claws grabbed him and tore his guts out of his body. In a panic, he tried to get on his feet until he heard a strange sound, a kind of cooing chuckle. He turned his head with his eyes wide open and saw Ibby, a hand in front of her mouth, laughing in her own way.
Her eyes sparkled. Hannes got up, walked in, put the chair back down and sat down again. She moved her right hand back to the chest, her thumb to the chest, her fingers bent 90 degrees so that they pointed to the left. This gesture could mean anything from "hoax" to "sorry." Hannes decided since he called himself a positive person, to assume that it was some kind of excuse.
She looked at him, then stood up and waved at him to follow her. She went into the bedroom and laid down on the bed, indicated to him to sit next to her on the edge. Hannes did as he was told.
Ibby bent his legs and spread them a little. Hannes looked at her shame. It was smooth. He carefully stroked a finger over the skin over her sex and found that it was not smooth because she shaved the hair, it was smooth because there was never hair growing. She reached under herself and pulled her labia apart. Also, here there was no difference to humans, as he could see. She turned around. Gently he pulled their buttocks apart, at first sight, no difference to humans, but something was different: he looked more closely. Under the anus, there was something on the dam that looked like a smaller anus as if it had two intestinal outlets. He let go and she turned back on her back, looked at him. She pointed to herself and then to the door. She looked at him questioningly. Hannes didn't really know what to say or do now. He decided to thank her for her trust with the familiar gesture and she nodded.
He left the bedroom without another word, grabbed a bottle of beer in the kitchen and sat down on the couch in the living room. He tried to process his impressions.
He was sure she was intelligent, probably even highly intelligent. They had communicated in a way that was very exhausting because Hannes had no idea of sign language and probably would have to learn everything with a lot of effort. But she could laugh, made jokes that Hannes didn't find funny at first, she attached importance to communication and Hannes appreciated that he could "examine" her or find out similarities and differences to people. Since she had a sexual organ like an earthly woman, she would also reproduce through it. She had breasts, so she was a mammal. She had claws, so she had to use the claws where she came from, perhaps to climb, perhaps to fight. She was very muscular, probably also very strong. Nobody you like to mess with. And she had some weird structure on her back, these pustules. It was a mystery to Hannes what those things were made for.
He drank the beer, switched on the TV, looked at the clock, until nine he could still watch TV, then to bed, tomorrow morning work again. He went into the kitchen, made himself two sandwiches, sat down in front of the TV and fell asleep after a few minutes.
He didn't notice that Ibby quietly opened the door to the living room, looked at him for a long time, scurried inside, took the sandwiches and disappeared again.
Communication Two
Mike and the cell phone man were sitting in the police president's office, it was already dark, and they let Sabine von Hansenwerders excitement go through their heads again. Mike and the cell phone man had listened to everything, the bugs and cameras had been attached during the briefing. The two special agents had reported in detail what Sabine had bought, how expensive it was, how often she was in the dressing room and everything else. Mike didn't need a receipt from Sabine von Hansenwerder, the agents already got the receipts and they were already on Mike's desk.
One of the agents had climbed onto a chair, at a wave of the cell phone man, and had deactivated the smoke detectors so that the cell phone man could smoke.
Mike and the cell phone man were not impressed by Sabine von Hansenwerders' emotional outburst. Often enough, they had followed abysses and bizarre rituals visually and acoustically. But Sabine's excitement was new and made the two men smile with amusement.
"I'll charge her extra for the panties," Mike said laughing and turned to the cell phone man who grinned. He put his cell phone away and looked at Mike.
"There are still unanswered questions, Mike."
Mike sighed and bounced the executive chair. "I know."
"First of all, what do we do with Hansenwerder?"
Mike shrugged his shoulders, looked out the window. "We'll let them observe her first. Nothing more. All this shit with the duty schedule is handled, isn't it?
He looked at the cell man. He nodded. Mike went on. "We'll give her a badge tomorrow, with some limited rights. I want her to shoot the new weapon a few times to know how it works."
"The ammunition is a prototype. The whole weapon could explode."
Mike didn't go for it. "Let her observe our man first. I want to know what he's doing, how he's spending his day."
"We already know all that, Mike."
Mike stood up and walked slowly to the big window, looking at the city whose lights were shining in the darkness of the winter evening. The cell phone man also got up and strolled to the window, stood next to Mike and put his hands in his pockets, the cigarette in the corner of his mouth. "Mike, why were the bodies transferred to Cologne?"
"I don't know," Mike said quietly. "This should never have happened."
"So, there's has to be someone who ordered it, right?"
Mike looked at the cel
l man. "That's what it looks like, my friend."
The cell phone man took the cigarette out of his mouth. Ash fell to the ground. "Mike, I'm not sure if you realize the trouble, we're all in." He clearly emphasized the word "all." "If we don't deliver soon, the others will take care of it."
Mike waved off. "What do they want to do? Wipeout Cologne with a hydrogen bomb? All the pubs, the architecture, the cathedral."
"That's exactly why Cologne is still standing," the cell phone man replied dryly. "Mike, we need to clarify why the bodies were transferred here, although clear orders said they should go to the base."
Mike took a deep breath. "Look, we'll make the best out of it. Hansenwerder was the escort, together with him, what was his name, Kohn, yes, Arne Kohn, for the transport of the corpses. Kohn saw a body, that problem's solved. We had also solved the problem with the witnesses who were present in the pathology. And for all we know, Kohn didn't talk to anyone about what he saw. It could've just been our driver or the passenger. And with that one, you had to look closely to see differences. Well, he hasn't spoken to anyone. Neither with friends, nor with family, nor with Hansenwerder."
"And why is he dead now?"
"Well, he had told a friend on the phone this morning that he had seen something strange and wanted to talk to his friend about it. They were supposed to meet tonight. Don't say we're not fast. He called at 6:45, he was dead at 7." Mike grinned.
E.B.E. 21- the Hunt Page 7