"I HAVE AN ALIEN IMPLANT IN MY BRAIN! MY GOD I'M NOT CRAZY!! I HAVE AN ALIEN IMPLANT IN MY BRAIN! YOU BASTARDS! GET IT THE FUCK OUT OF ME RIGHT NOW! GET IT OUT, GET IT OUT, GET IT OUT!" I beat the floor with my fists and pitched a tantrum to beat all tantrums. I knew what needed to be done and that flying off in a tantrum wouldn't help, but I couldn't stop myself.
"Can it be taken out now!?" I asked and the SuperAgent didn't respond.
"Can it be taken out now, I asked!?" still no response.
"CAN IT BE TAKEN OUT NOW?!" Then I felt a slap across my face and the naked Russian girl shook me and screamed at me.
This was enough to snap me closer to sanity and I realized I was speaking out loud and not thinking to the computer.
Can my implant be removed now without harming me?
Yes.
Do it now!
I waited for some sign, a pain in my head, a bloody nose, anything like I had seen in bad UFO science fiction movies, but nothing happened. I was beginning to get disappointed.
I said remove the implant now.
It was removed when you asked the first time. Is there a problem?
You mean, it's gone now?
Yes.
I thrust the naked girl away from me and stood up in front of her, all six-one, two hundred and forty pounds of my hairy self. I reached for my clothes. Give me the girl's clothes, cleaned. They appeared in the same fashion that mine had. Her clothes, if you want to call them that, were merely an oversized cotton tank top. My guess was that the Grays had grabbed her out of bed. I pulled my underwear up and nodded to the girl and at her clothes. She grabbed the top and frantically pulled it over her and then she squatted and began hugging herself and crying.
I realized then that she must have one of those damned tracking device things in her as well.
Is there an implant in the girl?
Yes.
Is it affecting her emotions?
All implants do. Yes.
REMOVE IT NOW!
Okay.
I was beginning to notice that the mood swinging had stopped. My rage and depression were slowly subsiding; if the implant is gone why do I still feel . . . bad?
It will take a few moments for your body to compensate for the extreme chemical differentials. You will soon return to normal.
I slipped my shirt on. How long has that implant been in my brain?
Three years seven months two weeks four days thirteen hours and twenty-seven seconds from insertion to removal.
I thought about that for a second. That was just after The Rain! I had never been able to recover from the emotional losses I suffered from The Rain because of that damned alien implant!
The girl jabbered at me again. I held up my hands and then put my finger to my lip as if to shoosh her. Then I pointed to myself and said, "I'm Steven. Steven."
"Steevyen?" she repeated.
"Yeah, Steven." I smiled at her and don't think her nakedness now that it had been slightly clothed didn't still flash in my mind. Is the urge to procreation a sign of regaining sanity? I thought to myself that I had not really had a thought like that in years. . . . Three years seven months two weeks four days thirteen hours and twenty-seven seconds . . .
"Tatiana," she smiled and pointed to herself.
"Tatiana," I repeated and nodded. Then I thought to myself, Damn, I wish I could speak Russian.
Okay.
And then all at once I understood every word the girl jabbered, so I spoke to her and explained as much as I understood. This took a few seconds and then I thought, If you can make me speak Russian could you make her speak English?
Yes.
Do it.
Okay.
"Listen to me Tatiana. Can you understand what I am saying to you?" I said slowly to her.
"Of course I can, what is wrong with . . . Holy shit, I am speaking perfect English."
"Ha ha, I would say so, expletives and all. This is amazing, isn't it?" I asked her and chuckled a bit more. I chuckled . . . I chuckled!
"But how?" Tatiana asked.
"I don't know. Hold on a second." I told her and then thought to the SuperAgent, How did you make us speak the different languages so quickly?
I redesigned your neural pathways and imprinted the memories of the language.
Yes, but how did you do that? I asked.
Please refine your question.
How did you physically alter our brains so quickly? I was getting a little annoyed.
The nanomachines were instructed to reconstruct portions of your brains in order to display the proper memories of the languages.
What nanomachines? I looked around the room as if I might see them.
The swarm of nanomachines in this room.
I understood it all now. This room must have been the experimentation or operating room and these Gray aliens used nanomachines in here to conduct these operations. I explained it to Tatiana.
"All of this is neat, Steven, but won't they be coming for us soon? Shouldn't we try to escape?" She pulled her flimsy oversized shirt tighter around her and reacted as though she were still cold. Of course she was, she was basically naked and the perky attributes of her breasts suggested she was either very excited or freezing to death. She was also covered in chill bumps from head to toe.
Tatiana was absolutely right; they would be coming for us.
"I don't know, I'll check," I told her.
Are the other aliens aware of our coup yet? I asked the SuperAgent.
Yes. He replied.
Why haven't they come for us?
They are trying.
Why haven't they succeeded?
I will not talk to them and only I can open the door to this room, for now.
How long until they get in here?
Five minutes and seven seconds.
How many of them?
Eleven.
"Listen Tatiana, there are eleven more of these alien things outside the room trying to get to us. Since I am controlling the computer they can't get in. But the computer says they will get in in less than five minutes from now."
"Can't the computer help us, Steven?"
"It doesn't work that way. The damned thing will only do what you tell it to. It doesn't offer advice."
"Then tell it to stop the aliens, please." Tatiana looked at me and then around the room watching for an invasion.
"I didn't think of that. Hold on."
Is there a way that you could kill the aliens without harming us?
I am not programmed thus.
How about just sucking them out into space?
That is one way perhaps, but a hole must be made in the spacecraft which could not be repaired easily.
Even with the nanomachines?
The hull is made of a special material built from condensed matter that takes time for the nanomachines to construct. It would take time.
How much time?
Two months, three weeks, four days . . .
Okay, I get the idea. We would be stuck in here for that time right?
Yes.
I don't like that, but keep it in mind as a last resort.
Okay.
How about just killing them with the nanomachines?
They can neutralize the nanomachines.
Damn, if I only had a gun!
Please refine that statement.
Could you make a gun for me that has more than eleven shots?
Yes.
How long would it take?
It depends on what type of gun you desire.
Give me the information of all handheld man-made guns you know how to make. A few seconds later, I had a catalog of firearms that would make the NRA jealous in my head, and, in addition, I knew everything about them.
Make me two MP5s, fully-loaded, with two extra magazines each. And teach Tatiana how to use one.
Okay.
The small machine guns appeared on the floor between us. I grabbed one and set it on three-round-burst mode and handed it
to Tatiana. "I take it you know how to use this?"
"Odd, yes I do," she said.
"Tatiana, listen, we can fight them now, or let the computer kill them. But, if the computer kills them we are stuck in this room for nearly four months. We can wait it out or shoot it out. It's up to you. Which one?"
Tatiana placed the strap of the MP5 over her shoulder, causing the tank top strap to fall over her left shoulder revealing one of her boobs. "Screw waiting, Steven. Bring 'em on." She pulled the strap back up.
Okay, we will fight them.
Okay.
"They're coming. When they do, we kill every goddamned one of them. Okay?" I looked her sternly in the eyes to see if she would falter any. I wasn't sure about her. Her implant had not been out as long as mine had.
I picked up my MP5 and put it on rock 'n' roll and looked around the room, understanding that I had no idea which way they would come from.
Where will they come from?
Everywhere.
What do you mean everywhere?
They will enter doors in each wall.
Can you time it and let them through given walls at given times.
Maybe.
Can you warn Tatiana, and me, where they are coming from, before they do?
Yes, but she must put on the other headband interface.
Okay, I'll have her put it on.
Okay.
"Tatiana, they are coming now. Be ready. The computer will try to warn us but you must put this on. Just listen in your head for the computer's voice." I handed her the other headband and we stood back to back in the middle of the room, waiting. I felt like praying or something.
Give us strength. Let them in!
Okay.
The wall to my left opened up and two Grays rushed inward, moving rapidly across the small room, Tatiana fired first. Several three-round bursts and the first blue-green blood was spilled on the floor. I started rock'n almost as quickly, and the SuperAgent told us to move from the center of the floor.
The floor rippled. Two more aliens burst through it and then the wall to our right opened almost as quickly as the computer told us to watch out. We fired and fired. My mag ran dry quickly. Seven aliens lay bloody on the floor around us but more were coming.
"I'm changing, cover me." I popped the mag on the floor and had the new one in before it fell to a thud on the dead pile of aliens at our feet.
"I'm out," Tatiana warned me.
The ceiling opened up and four aliens dropped on us. I managed to kill two of them before we were overpowered, but then it was hand-to-hand.
The first two aliens that I had killed by hand earlier were not expecting my attack and were easy to kill. These last two were expecting us, and didn't seem too happy that we had killed eleven of their chums today.
Tatiana was rolling and screaming, "Get off me, you shit," and then she was screaming in Russian.
I was rolling and trying to find purchase on the little thing's body somewhere to get him off me, but the damned thing moved fast. I felt claws dig into my flesh, and I could hear Tatiana screaming in pain and terror. Then it dawned on me that I hadn't used the computer for much help.
Help!
Please refine the question.
Kill these aliens without harming us.
I cannot affect them in this room.
I rolled and tried to bear crawl with the thing on my back. It continued to claw and cut at my flesh with its three-fingered hands. I couldn't get out from under it so I forced myself up to my feet. The alien wrapped his arms around my neck and started choking me and his left hand forefinger jabbed into my face. I caught it just short of my right eye and tried to hold him off. He was amazingly strong for such a small creature. I couldn't hold him off much longer. The thing was on my back and was not going to let loose until I was a goner.
Make a sharp pointed stick protruding one foot out from the wall directly behind me.
Okay.
I just assumed it was there and forced myself backwards thrusting the alien, with all my weight, into the wall and onto the newly formed stick. The creature screeched in my ear and let go. I immediately rushed the creature that was slashing away at Tatiana. I grabbed the creature by the top of the head and pushed my left knee through its neck. It went limp as I pulled it from Tatiana. She screamed and grabbed the MP5 lying next to her with her left hand and fired it just over my right shoulder.
I shuddered and moved out of the way as Tatiana emptied the machine gun into the alien I had stuck to the wall. It was a tough one. It had pulled itself free and was coming for us.
The machine gun clicked empty and there were now thirteen aliens oozing blueish-green syrup on the floor. Tatiana and I were bleeding profusely from many wounds, our clothes tattered and sloppy red with blood. I was afraid that we wouldn't make it without medical attention. Tatiana's right arm was broken and her earlobe on the left side was gone. She was also bleeding very badly from her thigh.
My right wrist was cut and I was bleeding out and there were slashes on both our necks close to our jugulars. The little bastards knew just how to kill us.
"I think I am a goner, Steven." A tear rolled down her face and she started tunneling out on me.
"No way!" I told her. I had lost everything and everybody I had ever known. Even though I had only known Tatiana for a few hours, she was not going to die. Neither was I.
Are you there?
Yes.
Heal us.
Okay.
CHAPTER 12
We both lay there not moving but holding each other for several minutes. The bleeding had stopped and the wounds had all been healed as though they were never there. Tatiana's broken arm was mended and there was little pain for either of us. Mostly we were in shock as we surveyed the little white room filled with dead alien bodies and the blue-green syrupy blood—mixed with a lot of our own red blood splattered everywhere. It was a hell of a lot to take in.
After several more minutes I could no longer endure the scenery.
Clean the room please.
Okay.
A few seconds later and there was nothing left in the room but Tatiana and myself. She was shivering and clinging to me.
"I'm freezing, Steven," she said in Russian.
Make her some jeans and a long-sleeve pullover shirt.
Okay.
The clothes appeared on the floor in front of us. "See if those fit you."
She grabbed them and was in them in the blink of an eye. She tossed the torn and bloodied tank top to the floor and pulled the new top over her. The clothes were a perfect fit.
"What about shoes, Steven?"
"Oh, sorry. Hold on."
Make her some socks and sneakers.
Okay.
A pair of socks and shoes materialized and Tatiana put them on.
"That is amazing technology," she said in English.
"I agree." The shock began to subside and survival instincts began to take over. "I wonder if it can make food. I haven't eaten in days. How about you? Could you eat?"
"Sure! I'm more thirsty though," she said.
Can you make food and drink for us?
Yes.
Anything we want?
Yes.
Then make us a two-place dining table with chairs and . . .
I told the thing a full six-course meal menu complete with wine, dessert, and music. We had also gotten tired of staring at the white walls, so I had them turned into monitor screens that would display the view outside the spacecraft. Slightly below us was Saturn in all of its majesty. The rings were amazingly brilliant from this distance. We were in orbit around Titan, which was beautiful in its own way. I didn't know it was Titan; the SuperAgent told me.
As we ate and relaxed a little, we got to know each other. The computer had assured us that we were in absolutely no danger and could be returned to Earth whenever we pleased. Tatiana filled me in on her story, which was about as sad as mine. Her family had been completely wiped out from the met
eors as well. Only her father had survived, and he was now the Russian Deputy Ambassador to the United Nations and had very little time for her. She had apparently been an emotional mess since The Rain and had not recovered well either. She was lonely like I was. We talked about the damned implants and the different drugs we had each been exposed to.
You might think that we should have been more amazed and dazed by the alien technology than we seemed to be. But keep in mind that the two of us had been alone and literally nuts for nearly four years. The most important thing to us at the time was interacting and being with someone and just, well, not being alone. And, of course, there was nothing in the alien spacecraft that my generation hadn't seen in movies or games or on television, so we were quite adapted and prepared for things like nanomachines. Talking and being with someone else was more interesting for us at the time. And I finally had someone to share my loss with, so I told her all of my story—except, that is, for the classified parts.
"That is the saddest thing I have ever heard, Steven." Tears rolled down her cheeks. "Your poor puppy dog!"
"I know. My folks had given him to me when I went off to school. He was my only connection to the family I had left." I started to cry and it made me a little nervous. Tatiana was crying also.
Are you there?
Yes.
Why are we both crying?
You are both very sad.
It's not because of side effects from the implants or anything?
No. You are just sad. Both of you are healthy.
That reassured me some and so I reassured Tatiana.
"How do you tell the computer what you want? Like the food, the guns, the clothes, and everything else; I mean, I can hear it in my head but it doesn't respond to my questions or orders," Tatiana inquired.
"I just think it. Oh my, I wasn't thinking. You should be able to talk to the computer, too. Hold on a minute." I paused and thought about the implications of Tatiana being "online" with the SuperAgent. I could think of no reason she shouldn't have access to it.
I want you to let Tatiana have access to you.
I'm sorry that is not allowed.
What do you mean, not allowed?
My programming specifically prohibits her from gaining access to the program control functions.
Why? This made no sense to me. It let me take over the thing; why wouldn't it do what I told it?
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