Crazy in Chicago

by Norah-Jean Perkin

  Uncontrolled anger surged through Cody again. He turned to Erik. “And if she hadn’t agreed, what would you have done with me?”

  Allie jumped in before Erik could respond. “Please, Cody. You don’t understand. Zurans aren’t like us. They don’t have any . . . any appreciation of the emotional effect of their actions. Erik never meant to harm you. He just never considered how the abduction would hurt you. Humans weren’t important to him then. But that’s all changed now, hasn’t it Erik?”

  Erik nodded soberly. “Allie is right. Zurans despise emotion of any kind. They think humans are weak. I still don’t understand why they continue to hold a fascination for a race they scorn.”

  He paused. “As a part-Earthling, I was always suspect on Zura. I tried to suppress everything human about myself. It wasn’t until I came here, and met Allie, that I finally came to understand—and to value—humanity. I learned that every life, however humble, was of value.”

  He paused once more and held Cody’s gaze without flinching, meeting Cody’s anger and accepting it. “I am sorry now, for what was done to you. If I could change anything, I would. But that is beyond my power.”

  The apology only partially mollified Cody. He shot Erik a last angry look and turned back to Allie. “So what happened next?”

  “The night we were to leave, we went to a waterfront park. Erik had you ‘beamed’ down, I don’t know how. I checked you over to make sure you were okay. I felt really badly, but I was glad at least that you were back. Your mother—she’d been so upset.”

  Cody and Roberta exchanged glances. It was clear to both of them that everything that he had recalled under hypnosis was true. All of it.

  “At the last moment, Erik decided against taking me back to Zura.” Allie turned her head to gaze at Erik. Her voice softened. “He knew I would be scorned there, perhaps destroyed. And he loved me too much to take me away from my friends and family. But he knew he couldn’t return either. Failure to achieve his destiny would make him an outcast on Zura. So he threw his communicator into the lake and stayed here.”

  The couple exchanged another long glance, one that shimmered with a love and devotion that Cody recognized immediately. Recognized, because it was how he felt about Roberta. He glanced at her, but she leaned forward in rapt attention, eyes only for Erik and Allie.

  Erik continued. “After your recovery, Cody, everything looked as if it would be fine. You didn’t remember anything, but you didn’t seem to suffer any lasting effects. Then Star was born. We were pleased she had no birthmark like mine, nothing that would mark her as anything but an Earthling. Our secret was safe! But then, almost immediately, things began to change.”

  Allie moved the child from her shoulder back to her breast. “At first it wasn’t anything much. Star fussed a lot; she didn’t sleep much. I thought maybe she was colicky, or maybe that was just the way babies were.

  “But it kept getting worse, not better. She wouldn’t eat. When she did, she vomited. I took her to the doctor. He thought perhaps she was allergic to mother’s milk. But using soy formula didn’t help.”

  Erik cut in. “Telepathy is a major means of communication on Zura. We have technology that can heighten an individual’s telepathic powers, sending messages and probing from thousands of miles, even light years, away. I suspected a Zuran ship might be in the area, conducting the probes I know they do from time to time. But I couldn’t be certain. Because I’m part Earthling, my telepathic powers have always been weak. The longer I stay on Earth, the weaker they become. I am, in effect, becoming more human.”

  His hard gaze fell on Cody, who met it with one of his own, anger still simmering below the surface. “But then you came. When you said you couldn’t sleep, my suspicions strengthened. When you saw that blue light and Star screamed, I was almost certain.”

  Cody looked at Roberta, then back at Erik. “How did you know that I saw a blue light?”

  “I saw it too. I felt some of the same nausea you experienced. I knew then a Zuran ship was probing. You, me, my daughter. I wasn’t surprised at being probed. By not returning to Zura, I had committed an unforgiveable offense, one that the Zuran mind would not be able to comprehend. I wasn’t surprised that they would want to search my mind to try to understand why, or to see if I had capitulated. But you and my daughter, I didn’t understand why. I was worried for Star, especially since I no longer have the means to protect her from them.”

  “Protect her?” Roberta spoke for the first time. “Why do you need to protect her?”

  “As you can see, they took her. I feared they would take her for good, in effect in exchange for me.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me then?” Cody cut in, his anger boiling again.

  Erik shrugged. “Besides your temporary symptoms, I didn’t think you were at risk. Likely you would never have believed us. And if you had believed us, it would have been worse. Your discovery would have threatened our daughter’s safety and destroyed her chance of ever leading a normal life. We couldn’t take that chance.”

  “So it was your voice in my head?” Cody pressed, wanting answers to everything now.

  Erik nodded. “I wanted to hold you off, to delay your investigations until the spacecraft left the area and halted its telepathic probes. I knew your symptoms would disappear when the spacecraft left. Telepathic probes from that distance are invasive. Anxiety and fear exacerbates them. Humans do not react well. They can’t sleep. They feel sick. They have flashbacks.”

  “But my symptoms haven’t stopped,” Cody snapped, his willingness to believe stretched to the limit.

  “They will now.”

  “How can you be so sure?” Roberta asked.

  “Because. Lorad, the commander of the ship that has been orbiting Earth, has just communicated with me. As Star was being returned. He said their ship is leaving our galaxy now and is unlikely to return for many more Earth years. They no longer have any interest in me, and have also determined my daughter is of no interest. In your case, they are satisfied with the results of their tampering with you. You won’t be bothered again.”

  A chill ran down Cody’s back. “Tampering? What do you mean, tampering?”

  “Remember that you told Allie the psychic said she heard voices while you were held in a strange room?”

  Cody nodded.

  “Well, you did hear voices, repeating the same message, over and over.” Erik grimaced and looked at Allie. “Zurans consider themselves superior to humans. Our research determined two major faults in you: sloppiness and disloyalty. During your, er, abduction, a form of subliminal message was played to you to attempt to change your behavior. Apparently Lorad’s researchers are satisfied they were successful.”

  Cody’s fury rose to a fever pitch. “Damm you. What gives you the right to—”

  “Nothing. Nothing gives us the right,” Erik responded implacably. “And as I said, I’m sorry. What has been done cannot be undone. But you should know that subliminal alteration, or training, if you will, can only be successful if the subject is receptive to the changes suggested.” Erik’s lips twisted slightly. “You, obviously, were ready for a change. And you are not unhappy with the changes, are you?”

  Cody bit back the words chomping to get out, only because he knew that what Erik said was true. Instead he asked, “But what about the blue light? What was that all about?”

  Erik walked to the window. He stood staring out. “Many Zuran technological processes involve huge amounts of a type of energy you don’t have here on Earth. The blue light is basically a residue, or byproduct of that energy. Sometimes the byproduct is used to blind or confuse victims.”

  Cody got up and followed him to the window. “But why would I have seen the light in my car? And when I held Star?”

  Erik frowned. “In the car, I don’t know. It could be nothing more than a memory, a flashback to something traumatic. Holding Star, well, I think the Zurans were probing either you or Star at that time, perhaps both of you. In your case,
the probe may have triggered another flashback.”

  Cody shook his head, trying to take in all he’d been told. Everything troubled him. He didn’t want to believe any of it. But what else was there to believe?

  “Something else I don’t understand,” he said slowly. “After my disappearance, I lost all interest in women. Until recently, that is. Did you have something to do with that, too?”

  “No.” Erik’s eyes narrowed. “That I cannot explain. As far as I know it had nothing to do with your kidnap.”

  Allie came up and stood between the two men. She held the baby against her shoulder and patted its back, but she looked at Cody, a spark of mischief in her eyes. “Maybe it’s because you were waiting for the right woman to come along,” she suggested.

  Cody and Allie’s eyes met for the briefest of moments. Cody knew exactly what she meant; despite himself, he softened towards her and Erik. As his mouth curved upwards, most of his anger dissipated. He glanced over at the couch, and the woman he knew now he had been waiting for, even if he had only just realized it.

  She wasn’t there.

  “Roberta?” He frowned and walked back to the sitting area. “Roberta!” He looked around. Where was she?

  Abruptly he turned back to Erik and Allie. “Where’s she gone?” A horrifying thought gripped him; he glared at Erik. “You didn’t—”

  “No.” Erik frowned. He too looked from one length of the long room to the other.

  “But could another Zuran . . .”

  “No,” said Erik flatly. “I would know.”

  “Maybe she’s in the bathroom,” Allie offered.

  But the bathroom door hung open; the room was empty.

  Cody scratched his head. He looked from Allie to Erik. “Did either of you see her go?”

  Allie shook her head. Erik said nothing.

  Suddenly Cody knew why Roberta had left. He raked his hand through his hair and groaned. “Oh no.”

  In an evening full of shocks, this was one more he didn’t need.

  Chapter 17

  Erik, his strange metallic gaze colder than ever, stared at Cody. “What do you mean, oh, no?”

  Cody raised his head from his hands. “I guess you don’t know,” he said slowly. “Roberta works for SUFOW.” He paused and looked gravely from Erik to Allie. “The Society of UFO Watchers. She’s desperate to have her own alien abduction case to expose to the world.”

  He swallowed. “And now I guess you’ve just handed her one.”

  Allie clung to the baby, now sleeping peacefully in her arms. Panic raised her voice. “In all the excitement, I’d forgotten who she was. But she’s your friend, Cody. You don’t think . . .” Her voice trailed off, but her eyes burned with fear.

  Cody shook his head. With the strange revelations and events he had just witnessed, so many of them directly involving him, he felt disoriented and woozy, his head stuffed full of cotton wool. He was still too stunned to know what he thought, what he believed. But not too stunned to recognize fear when he saw it.

  Cody watched as Erik, his expression fierce, put his arm around Allie, and the now peacefully sleeping baby, and hugged them close.

  Was the child’s world, so recently wrenched apart and now returned to normal, about to be devastated? Cody wondered. Devastated first by the media in its mad hunger to supply the world with ever more strange and thrilling stories. And then by the men and women of science, ready to put a family’s life under the microscope all in the name of knowledge.

  But only if Roberta, in her hunger to prove herself, to have her own abduction case, exposed them and the details of his abduction to the world. Would she do that? wondered Cody.

  “I don’t think so,” he said. “But I can’t be certain.”

  Erik’s harsh, flat voice cut through the room. “We knew the danger of this happening all along. We knew we had to be prepared to deal with exposure. Perhaps now is the time to act. Quickly, before any news can get out.”

  “And do what?” Cody tried to concentrate. His head still reeled with the confusion of what he’d just learned and what it meant.

  “Disappear,” sobbed Allie. “Change our names. Go to Australia. Anywhere, as long as it’s safe for us and for Star.”

  Cody stared at Allie in dismay. He knew how much it would hurt Allie to leave Chicago and her family. Much as Erik must have realized the same thing one long year ago. But maybe none of that was necessary.

  Concentrating fiercely, Cody mulled the possibilities. “You know,” he said finally, “despite everything all four of us saw here, there isn’t any physical proof. Of my disappearance, yes, but not of my abduction by aliens, and not of anything that happened here. Even with everything I’ve seen and heard, I still have trouble believing it.”

  Allie shook her head. “No, you’re wrong. There’s Erik.” She looked at the child in her arms. “And there’s Star.”

  The truth of her statement hit Cody harder than anything else. How could he have missed that?

  He headed for the door. “I’ll find Roberta right away. I don’t know what she’s planning to do, or why, but I’ll find her, and I’ll find out. I’ll make sure she doesn’t expose you—or me.”

  The thought of being exposed to the world as an alien abductee was horrifying. He didn’t know if he would ever come to terms with it himself, much less have people world-wide discussing and ridiculing him. But the ramifications were far worse for Allie and Erik.

  He opened the door.

  “She’ll listen to you?” Erik sounded skeptical.

  Cody nodded grimly. “She loves me.”

  As he shut the door, he prayed he was right.

  * * *

  Hyped on excitement, Roberta raced into her apartment. Where was her laptop computer? She ripped through the dining room, the kitchen, and finally the bedroom before finding it on a chair under a pile of laundry.

  She yanked it out, flipped it open and on, and sat on her bed. Impatiently she pulled up the word processing program and started to type. She wanted to get this all down before she forgot a wonderful, wild word of it. Before she let any doubts or questions get in the way. Before . . . .

  “Wow!” she murmured as she typed. She paused to catch her breath. She still could barely believe it. Erik was an alien. Cody had been abducted by aliens. Her hunch had been right after all. This was better than anything she had imagined.

  She started to type again, eyes glowing, heart speeding. The world needed to know about the fact that aliens, and humanoid aliens at that, were coming to Earth. And she would be the one to tell them. The case would be so unusual, so different, it would be the talk of UFO journals for years.

  She paused again, that thought inserting a grain of worry into her head. Or maybe not tell them. She hadn’t had time to consider the hows and whys of telling the world, or the implications. She just knew she had to get this stunning information down while it was vivid and alive in her mind. Time for the details, the lengthy interviews with Erik and Allie and Cody later.

  That thought brought her to a full stop. She loved Cody. She really did. She knew he didn’t want to be a “case”, didn’t want anything “weird” revealed about him. In fact, she thought guiltily, he probably was struggling right now with the shock of finding out what had happened to him. And she wasn’t there!

  Her hands tensed on the keyboard. I will help you. I’ll help you accept this and live with it, Cody. I will, I will. I’ll make sure no one is hurt, no one is exposed, she promised. But I need to do this now, before I forget.

  She knew Cody would be distressed that she was writing it all down. He wouldn’t understand her need to document his story. In fact, if he were here, he’d probably try to stop her.

  Abruptly she shut off her computer and got up. She’d have to go to a hotel. Cody would be sure to look for her here. Guiltily she zipped the computer into its case. She grabbed a toothbrush and toothpaste and threw them into her purse.

  She felt guilty and edgy as she slunk from
the apartment. I won’t hurt you, Cody. Or Erik or Allie or Star, she promised over and over in her head. But I have to get this down. I just have to.

  She got into the elevator and shifted impatiently as it made its slow descent to the parking garage. Despite her worries, excitement got the better of her again. She could hardly wait to get started once more. She’d write all night, and in the morning she’d go straight to Garnet.

  He’d know how to present this case so no one would get hurt. No one at all.

  * * *

  One minute after midnight, the Corvette squealed to a stop in front of the building housing SUFOW. Cody, his heart pounding, squinted through the window. The building was shrouded in darkness. If Roberta was inside, writing about what had happened this evening, she was doing it in the dark.

  Leaving the car running, Cody jumped out, and ran up the walk and the front steps, the pounding of his feet echoing in the silence. He yanked at the door. Locked. He peered through the front window. Nothing.

  He stopped and considered. If she was working in Garnet’s office, perhaps the light wasn’t visible from the street.

  He jumped the porch railing and jogged along the driveway to the parking lot in back. He frowned. Roberta’s car wasn’t in the lot, nor did any light shine from the window of Garnet’s office. Where is she?

  More troubled with each passing moment, Cody trudged back to the street. He stopped beside his car and, in a effort to clear his head of the wild and panicky thoughts whirling through it, took a deep breath. He had to get a grip. Had to think clearly.

  He took another deep breath. If Roberta wasn’t here, where had she gone? And why? For a fleeting second, fear gripped him: had the aliens taken her, too?

  Swearing violently, Cody dismissed that idea. Even if he still didn’t trust Erik, he had to believe what he’d seen with his own two eyes: When he’d arrived home, Roberta’s car had been missing from their building’s underground garage. That could mean only one thing. She’d grabbed a taxi outside Allie and Erik’s apartment, gone home, and then left immediately. But why? To go where? And, more importantly, to do what?