by Darien Cox
“And watch camera sometimes,” Fo said.
“So...you spied on me too,” Tim said.
Fi shrugged. “Only when we visit George. We see...humans in the forest and kill George invention! Shoot with gun!”
“You were watching that day, huh?” Brett said. “And you didn’t report George’s activities to anyone?”
The twins tightened their arms in front of their chests, shaking their heads.
“They know they do wrong,” Baz said.
“We maybe interest in humans but not interest like George,” Fo said. “George so very interest in humans. More than we.”
“So why is George so interested then?” Tyler asked. “What’s his interest in humans?”
“He learn about on his own, want to see his whole life. Those who keep him prisoner know this. So when need to stop at Earth in travel, they lock him up. His only chance to see real humans and they lock him in craft, no to let even see television signals! So he find way to see first human.” She pointed to Tim. “See first human with eyes of his creation that he made.”
“The drone you mean,” Tyler said.
“He make. Send up. See human in house on sticks.”
“Handsome and brave,” Fo said.
“Yes, handsome and brave.” Fi pointed at Tim. “Human in house on sticks.”
“So you knew this. That George was spying on Tim at the ranger station.” Tyler looked at Baz. “Are you certain they actually spoke to this person? And they’re not making it up?”
“Fi?” Baz said. “Stand up and show.”
The girl sighed and stood. She was about six-foot-three and rail-thin, but her long body was perfectly proportioned, and despite the weird jumpsuit and Dr. Seuss hair, she was a lovely, delicate creature. She turned around and gave them her back.
“See on her suit?” Baz said. “This I find on her this morning.”
At first all Tim saw were more swirling colors on her jumpsuit, but then his eyes honed in on a circle-pattern drawn between her sharp shoulder blades. “That’s...that’s the forest service emblem.”
“Yes,” Baz said. “Was on you jacket, yes?”
“Yeah, that symbol is on my ranger jacket. Where did she see it? Fi, did you see my jacket at the base?”
“No.” She turned around and sat back down. “George. He paint it on me.”
Tim shook his head. “Why?”
“So I can play to be you. Make stories about you.”
“Me?”
She pointed at Tim. “You. George likes you. First human he see. Special.”
Tim looked to Tyler, who raised his eyebrows. “Could be worse,” Tyler said. “Least he liked you. Maybe there was no bad intent.”
“Yeah, lucky me.”
“Does not like you,” Fo said, and pointed to Tyler. “George does not like gun man.”
“I’m crushed,” Tyler said.
Fi looked up at Baz. “What this mean? Crushed?”
“Never mind,” Baz said. “Human sarcasm. Okay. So, evidence. Twins also have these in their room at base. I find.” Baz picked up a black sack beside the couch and emptied its contents onto the coffee table.
Everyone leaned forward. “Are those...ears?” Elliot said.
“Oh my God,” JT said. “Please tell me those are not severed human ears, Baz.”
“No, is fake!” Baz picked one of the ears up, drew his hair back and stuck it to the side of his head. “See? Stick on. Is fake.” Baz removed the ear and handed it to JT. “You can touch.”
JT examined it with a wrinkled nose. “Okay, it’s fake.” He looked over at the hybrids. “These are yours?”
“George make them,” the boy, Fo said. “Give some to us to wear.”
Nolan grabbed one of the ears off the coffee table, and he and Tim examined it. “This ear has dark skin,” Tim said. “Like a human.” He glanced at the pile on the table. There were different colors ranging from peach to dark brown. “None of these ears are a hybrid’s skin-tone.”
“Because is not hybrid ears!” Fi said. “Is for being humans.”
“Being humans.” Tim picked up one of the ears. It was thin and soft, like rubber but silkier. “Have you been...wearing them?”
“Yes, like human.” Fi patted her own, flattened ears. “Put on look like human.”
“But...” Tim shook his head. “Why? And why are you wearing the design from my forest ranger jacket on your back?”
“George like to play,” the boy said. “Play human. We do for George.”
Tim let out a shuddering breath. “Okay, I’m officially freaked out. This George had these hybrids dress up as me?”
“No, is okay!” Fi said. “Not always you. George likes many humans.”
“Many humans,” Fo said.
Fi picked up a pair of ears and slapped them on. “See? Wear human ears. Wear long hair for George and make breasts bigger, I am Beyoncé!” She shimmied her bony shoulders. “Dance, dance, dance, Beyoncé!”
“Oh my God,” Nolan whispered.
“Okay, now I’m creeped out too,” Elliot said.
“Fi!” Baz said. “Take those ears off.”
“No to yell at me!” Fi removed the ears and threw them forcefully on the coffee table, her long chin jutting out in a kind of pout. “George like. Say is beautiful. Beyoncé.”
Tyler cleared his throat. “Was George creeping on any other celebrities?”
“No creep!” Fo said. “George like music. He watch the sing and dance.”
“Hang on,” JT said. “I thought you said this prisoner had no access to outside feeds. TV signals and such.”
“No signals,” Fi and Fo said at the same time.
“You just said ‘He watch the sing and dance.’ You just basically said he likes to watch music videos,” JT said. “If he wasn’t tapping into Earth signals then how was he watching Beyoncé?”
Fi’s shoulders hunched.
“What is it?” Baz said. “You tell now!”
Fi looked up at Baz. “George not allow to access any signals on planet. Make him sad. So we...we bring our signals to him. Give him music to watch.”
Baz, in a rare show of emotion, slapped the wall, making everyone jump. “How many time you visit this George? How many time and not tell anyone?”
“He had nothing!” Fi said. “He so bored. No harm! We just play!”
“This was deceitful,” Baz said. “He could be a danger! You should have tell you were visiting with. You know you do wrong thing!”
“Stop yelling!” Fi squeezed her eyes shut and covered her ears.
The lights in the room flickered.
“Fi. Be calm.” Baz walked over and knelt down before her, taking her hand and speaking softly in his own language, his tone soothing.
“Apology,” Fi said. “Do not tell.”
“I will not. But to be calm.” Baz got up and looked around the room. “Apology. I get angry because worry. The twins should not have visit whoever was on this craft. They work at dock and Baz is responsible for twins. Parents are not happy. With them, or with Baz.”
“Um, what just happened with the lights?” Tyler asked.
“Is my fault,” Baz said. “I get angry and upset her. Fi and Fo at age where hormones make difficult to control things inside.”
“Don’t tell,” Fi repeated.
Baz sighed. “She worry I will tell her parents she lose control. I will not. Was my fault for get angry. Apology.”
“It’s okay, Baz,” Brett said, glancing at the light fixture over his head, which swung back and forth like someone had hit it. “But maybe we should speed this up. Fi, Fo? Can you tell us more about what George is? And please, no more double-talk. Is he a hybrid or not?”
The two hybrids shrugged their bony shoulders in sync. “Hybrid but not like us,” Fo said.
“How so?”
“Deformed.” Fi touched her face. “Face is not right.”
“Okay,” Brett said. “But he is a hybrid.”
&nb
sp; “By birth he is hybrid,” Fi said. “But bad birth.”
Tyler was playing with one of the ears, but now he flicked it across the room, where it bounced off JT’s head. “Told you.”
“Hey!” JT threw the ear back at Tyler. “You can have your ‘Tyler was right’ party later. Are you two twins sure this George has left the base now?”
“Yes.” Fo made an upward motion with his hand. “Fly away. Gone. Because him.” He pointed at Tyler. “Gun man.”
“Because of me?” Tyler stepped away from the wall and knelt down by the coffee table. “George left because of me?”
“Yes, you break his Tutti Frutti,” Fi said. “You break.”
Elliot chuckled. “His Tutti Frutti?”
“His invention,” Fo said. “That go to surface and crawl in woods.”
“The gator-worm,” Nolan said.
“You kill it.” Fi pointed at Tyler. “His Tutti Frutti. He name Tutti Frutti. Like song.”
“Like song,” Fo said. “Awop-bop-a-loo-mop.”
“Oh, Christ.” Elliot rubbed his temples. “These kids are tripping me out.”
“Ah ah ah I do not trip you!” Fi said. “I sit right here!”
“Yeah, I know, Fi,” Elliot said. “So George left because Tyler shot his robot and we took it from the woods.”
“The keepers who hide him,” Fo said. “They find out what he do when he lose Tutti Frutti. They be scared base find out they hid George. That they be trouble. So they leave. Fly away.”
“Fly away,” Fi repeated. “Gone.”
“Baz,” Tyler said. “Do you think this is legit? A hybrid with a fucked-up face being hidden aboard a craft somewhere?”
“I do not know,” Baz said. “Only that they tell me same thing. That George is hybrid with deformity.”
“What kind of deformity,” Tyler asked. “Fo?”
“Strange shape. Strange face. Strange hair. Strange.”
“What’s strange about it?” Tyler asked. “Can you be more specific?”
“Is just strange!” Fo said. “Do not know how to explain.”
“Bad birth,” Fi said.
“This is all they will say about how George look,” Baz said. “I think they lie to protect.”
Both twins sighed and rolled their eyes.
“Is that a common thing?” Tim asked. “A hybrid born with a deformity?”
“It happens,” Baz said. “Hybrid babies can come out...different sometime.”
“Different,” Fi said. “Look different so they lock him. Lock him away so no to see.”
“Hybrids do not do this,” Baz said. “Do not lock others away because of deformity. Is unlikely this is truth.”
“Aaayyyyyy....” Fo threw his arms up. “I tell you this what he say! What you want? We tell truth!”
Baz pointed at the boy. “Maybe you tell truth. But if you do, then George lie to you. No hybrids to make prisoner because of different look. Is not the way things are done.”
“Is what George said,” Fi rasped. “He say they lock him because of strange.”
“Okay, we’re getting off-track,” JT said. “Baz, is this the crux of it? Anything else? Any more evidence about this alleged prisoner? And if he is in fact gone now?”
“This is all I know.” Baz leaned his butt against the sofa arm and looked at JT. “I check all craft that leave base this morning, all detail. Nothing unusual. None list holding prisoner. This all I can tell. I do not know how much truth is here, because I do not trust the twins tell all.”
A peach blushed stained both hybrids’ cheeks. “They’re blushing,” Tim said.
“Yes.” Baz nodded. “Because they know they lie. Lie to protect. They say they do not remember which craft George was on. This is unlikely as they work at dock where all craft are. Is their job. They would remember.”
Fi and Fo remained silent, arms crossed, staring at the floor.
“Long as he’s gone, I’m tempted not to give a shit,” Tim said.
“Yes! He go!” Fi said. “No to bother anymore. Mean no harm and have to cry now because gun man kill Tutti Frutti.”
“Yes.” Baz rolled his eyes. “Seems Tutti Frutti was tragic loss.”
“He only have three and humans take one!”
“He have only two now,” Fo said. “And Elvis. Spider. Big spider name Elvis. George build himself. Genius.”
“Okay.” Tim chuckled. “So in addition to the gator-worms, the ones like Tutti Frutti, George also has a big spider called Elvis.”
“Make himself,” Fi said. “Elvis. George make spider. Genius.”
“I think someone here is a genius,” Nolan said. “But I’m not sure it’s George. I think you twins have one hell of an imagination.”
“George does not like,” Fo said. “Does not like swollen man. Swollen man with angry face.”
“Does not like,” Fi concurred. “Swollen man.”
Tyler shook his head. “Wait...I’m confused. Who is swollen man?”
Fo pointed to Nolan. “Swollen man.” Both hybrids laughed. “Ah ah ah!”
“Excuse me?” Nolan said.
Fi clapped her hands. “George call you swollen man because human body swollen. We say swollen Nolan. Ah ah ah!”
“Oh, wow,” Elliot said. “Someone’s got a new nickname.”
“No, someone does not,” Nolan said. “And I’m not swollen. These are called muscles.”
“I never see them before like this.” Fo pointed to Nolan. “So round human body.”
“I’m not round!”
“Nolan,” Brett said. “Let it go.”
A vibration rumbled through the floor and everyone jumped. Fi looked up at Baz. “I do not do this. Was not me.”
“I know,” Baz said. “That was craft calling. They want you back now.” He pointed to the ceiling. “Parents up there.”
Fi and Fo both stood.
“You to say goodbye to humans?”
“No,” the twins said in unison.
Baz shrugged. “I be back,” he said and then led the twins out of the room.
Once they’d gone, JT laughed. “No goodbye for us. I think Team Teen Q-Tip just basically told us to fuck off.”
Elliot chuckled. “Well. We pissed off their good friend George.”
“If George even exists,” Nolan said. “I’m still not sure I’m buying that crazy story.”
“Same,” Brett said. “They definitely know something about the drones. But they’ve clearly been indulging in human entertainment media, and George sounds more like a dark fairytale character than a real person. Poor deformed misunderstood prince locked away in a tower with only the rats to keep him company.”
“But they’d be mechanical rats,” Elliot said. “That he built himself, because he’s like, the smartest ever.”
Brett laughed. “Yes, poor, poor George, with only his genius brain and scraps of superior alien technology to play with.”
“And Beyoncé videos,” Elliot said. “Don’t forget that.”
“Yeah.” JT chuckled. “George definitely scored one of those cushy white-collar prisons.”
“I agree it’s funny,” Tim said. “But we know someone spied on me with those drones. That’s not a fairytale, it happened. I just hope whoever it was will stop screwing with me now, whether they’re gone or not.”
“Agreed,” Brett said. “I’m sure we’ll know soon enough if the activity has ceased. But I do think it’s a valid theory that ‘George’ is actually the twins themselves.”
“I agree,” JT said. “And like when we first met Baz, we have to remember not to get distracted by the baby-talk and remember these beings have far superior intelligence to ours. I’m sure those twins are crazy brilliant. They admitted Baz has been teaching them about being our ambassador and about human culture. Beyoncé is one of the biggest popstars on the planet, it’s reasonable they might have stumbled upon her videos.”
“Right,” Elliot said. “But what I think is even more telling is the two se
parate things mentioned from the dawn of rock and roll. Elvis, plus the song Tutti Frutti by Little Richard? Things one might learn studying music history. Even if the twins have been sneaking off and creeping around some genius drone-builder, I tend to think they might have been the ones using the drones to spy on Tim. Fi did have the forest service emblem on the back of her jumpsuit.”
“But she claims she never saw the jacket, that ‘George’ drew it on her,” Brett said. “If caught and cornered, blame the imaginary friend.”
“Right,” Tyler said. “And their English is great, yet they claimed they didn’t know how to describe the details of George’s deformity.”
“And that they couldn’t remember what ship he was on,” Brett said. “Even Baz called bullshit on that one.”
“Well...that actually would be kind of a relief if I knew for sure it was them,” Tim said. “The twins were weird but they certainly seemed innocent. Not malicious at all.”
“They called me swollen Nolan.”
Elliot snorted. “But even that is a child’s taunt. They’re just...precocious.”
“Okay let’s not go that far,” Tyler said. “We’re still dealing with advanced beings here, and they seem a bit reckless. They could have caused harm with their antics. Those drones did have us running around the forest with guns out, after all. I’ll give them a pass as long as it stops, but I’m stopping short at calling them cutesy names like ‘precocious’.”
“Ah, there’s the buzzkill we all know and love,” Elliot said. “Welcome back, Tyler.”
“I never went anywhere.”
Baz stepped back into the room, his silky white hair somewhat disheveled. “Ugh.”
“You okay, Baz?” Brett said.
“Yes. They gone now. Drive me crazy.”
“So that’s it,” Tyler said. “That story. It’s all we’ve got to go on.”
“Yes. Apology. Will continue to look into.”
“Yeah, so, we were just talking,” Brett said. “We’re really wondering if this George is an imaginary friend those twins made up from studying too many ‘Earth signals’ in their spare time.”
“They obviously have an interest in us,” Tyler said. “Speak the language, study our culture. Could this ‘George loves humans’ thing be them projecting?”