“Our families are safe at the DIA base, so I’m not worried about them.” The soldier looks at his men and then back to John.
“And you know that for sure, how?” He sees the confused looks on their faces and waits. “Here’s the thing. That’s really not my concern right now, and really all I care about is protecting my family and friends. So as long as I can trust you all in my house, and feel confident that you are indeed here to help your fellow human beings and nothing else, then you’re all welcome . . . just as long as you stay in the triage area for now.” He points his thumb down the ramp.
“That’s an affirmative, sir.” The soldiers start to move out before John stops them.
“Before you go, how did you save their lives . . . those people said you—”
“We let them in our bubble until whatever was sprayed into the air killed the Infected.”
John nods his head. “They’re not dead, my friend, and we have most of them in triage as we speak. In fact, start transporting these people down there. And I really wish I had thought of asking those other people the same thing before they left. Oh well. Anyway, get goin’ transporting the people. And, by the way, what’s your name, soldier? Or, actually, what’re all your names?”
They all introduce themselves and shake hands before each soldier grabs a body and takes off down the ramp.
Ena looks at him. “I’m impressed, John. I know that wasn’t easy for you to do, but it was the right thing. And I think you may have just realized most soldiers do indeed join to protect and serve . . . to protect their fellow brothers and sisters, and are only victims of the same lies that the rest of you have been told.” She smiles at him.
“I know, and that’s why I let them in. And just so you know, I’ve never had a problem with military . . . I just don’t like them being used for offense, and not strictly for defense.”
“Oh, I know . . . I just think you think most of them join just to blow stuff up.”
John purses his lips while shaking his head. “Whatever . . . and hey, who knows, maybe they’ll turn out to be an asset and a blessing down the road.” He points his thumb down the ramp.
“Exactly, John. Because everything happens for a reason . . . you know that.”
“I mean, I don’t know that . . . same as I don’t know for sure if any of what you’re telling me is true . . .”
“It’s called faith, John . . . something I figured you’d know all about since you pray so much . . . or is it just for its healing benefits?”
“Healing benefits?”
“Absolutely. When you pray, you’re actually creating an electrical connection between you and the Creator, which physically heals you. It also works the same when meditating, just on a much higher level, and that’s why some monks are able to generate heat, because the electrical current is so strong that it can eventually create high levels of heat. Here, this is a video taken of a monk using our special camera.”
She shows him her tablet that displays a video of a monk obviously meditating. After a few minutes, a beam of light slowly starts forming from the top of his head that soon shoots up to the sky which the camera follows up and into a bright light at the top of the frame, but then quickly lowers back down to the monk. The light grows larger and more intense as Ena fast forwards to the end of the video.
“So there you go.”
“There I go, what? You do realize that could probably be done in Photoshop or using some special effects, right? I mean . . . this whole thing . . . these glasses or goggles or whatever you call them . . . they could all be fake, fabricated, and just made up using technology and special effects . . . so why should I believe you? What makes you so special that, not only myself, but the way you’re describing it, the rest of the world, should trust you and your people?” He takes his goggles off and holds them out. “How do I know this is real or some special effect? Show me . . . prove it, dammit! Prove it! You want us to prove things to you, but then how come you don’t prove things to us!”
“What did we just discuss about faith?”
John doesn’t say anything and just shrugs his shoulders.
“If everyone had proof, then why would we need faith? Part of why most of your planet’s souls continue to reincarnate on Opock, or if you’re lucky, back on Earth, is because so many of you don’t have faith. Even those who say and think they do, deep down inside fall short of what real faith means and is . . . it’s a complete and undeniable belief in all of this and in all of us, human beings, my people, our Creator . . . and how we’re all the same and all originally came from the same source . . . the same light, and only separated ourselves by our actions. Only then will you have complete faith. So do you really want to know that truth, John? Do you really want me to take away the ignorant Earthling bliss that was bestowed upon you ever since you came back to this planet? Is that what you really want, John?”
“Yes, absolutely . . . along with the rest of the world. Whether it was ignorance or deceit, to avoid any of it from happening again we all need to educate ourselves on the truth and what’s really going on out there . . . and what did you mean by came back to this planet?”
“You, along with most of your family, are direct implants from planet Enock. And most of you have, in fact, only had a few lives here on earth; most of your reincarnations were on Enock. Over the past thousand years or so, only when you thought you could help out this planet did you want to come back, but usually you ended up disliking it because it’s not anything like Enock, and deep down inside you remembered that . . . not to mention that most of your friends are still on Enock, and only a handful reincarnated around the same time you did. But that is why you’ve always considered yourself a loner, John. And why you pretty much hated everyone before you met Kate.”
“How would you know that?”
“Seriously, John. Are you kidding me?!”
“Sorry, sorry. I forgot, I forgot, you’re an alien sent to watch over me; I forgot.” He tries not to laugh when he finishes, but he doesn’t do a very good job.
She shakes her head. “Fine, you want proof . . . you seriously want proof . . . fine, I’ll show you proof . . . not only will I show you proof of the vessel in which I traveled here, but I’ll even go as far as to actually show you our Creator, along with proving to you that we all come from the same light.” She waits for John’s skeptical-looking response before turning toward the control panel and then tapping on her tablet. The sound of the doors moving is soon followed by a crack in the doors and then light pouring in.
“What are you doing? You’re going to let more in!”
“Relax . . . what did I just say about faith . . . so have a little.” She turns and walks toward the opening with nothing running in.
They get to the opening and she stops and turns. “Please put on your goggles.”
He hesitates for a moment before putting them on and then follows her out the door to the sight of people in strange rubber-looking suits canvassing the area, attending to the fallen. They are prepping the Infected onto some kind of boards, and then shooting off into a trail of light leading up to a massive spaceship hovering above them.
“What the—” He looks at Ena, and then at the spaceship, and then at Ena again. “What am I lookin’ at right now . . . it looks like a freakin’ spaceship?!” He pulls his goggles up over his eyes. A cloud appears, and it confuses him.
“Oh, hold up . . . let me take care of that.” She taps on her tablet and the cloud dissipates and the spaceship can be seen again.
He puts the goggles back on and takes them off a few times while his jaw gapes wider and wider. “Holy crap, dude . . . that is definitely a fucking spaceship . . . and I’m not wearing my glasses!”
Ena looks at him and smiles. “Okay. So, I take it you believe me now.”
He nods his head, grinning ear to ear. “That’s amazing . . . so that means everything you said is true.” He looks at her as his smile melts. “My mind is literally blown . . . I . . . yes,
absolutely, I believe you one hundred percent . . . wait, what’s the deal with the cloud? Does this spaceship not have the same invisible capability as the smaller craft we used to get up there . . . why isn’t it just invisible like that?”
“It does have the same capability, but my people thought the clouds would be a good distraction for anyone looking into what caused the EMP, hoping it would be determined to be lighting strikes . . . but anyway, now that you believe me, prepare to have your mind blown again. Do me a favor. Put your glasses back on, take a look at me, and tell me what you see once your glasses adjust.”
“O-kay?” He pulls the glasses down from his head and stares at Ena until her aura starts to shine just like before.” Okay, you’re definitely glowing again. Now what?”
“Now look down at your chest and tell me what you see.”
He lowers his chin and stares at himself until he starts to shine. “It looks pretty much the same.”
“Okay, now slowly look up at the sky, and wait for your glasses to adjust.”
He looks up at the spaceship.
She puts her hand on his cheek and gently moves it. “The sky all around us . . . pretty much anywhere but the spaceship.”
He looks around and the brightness makes him quickly look away. “What, why did you make me look at the sun?”
“Because that’s not the sun. Just wait for the glasses to adjust to the brightness.”
He squints his eyes and slowly looks up at the sky, and once his goggles adjust, the brightness and beauty of such a massive glow that seems to envelope the entire sky puts him in awe.
“Now, tell me what you see.”
He takes a second to respond. “Huh . . . that’s incredible . . . it looks the same as us.”
Epilogue
John walks into his wine cellar and goes to the back and unlocks the freezer. He grabs a few edibles and closes the door before grabbing a bottle of wine on his way out. He runs back upstairs and sets the wine on the table before sitting on the couch waiting for Kate. He hasn’t had a night alone with his wife in what seems like forever, not to mention that this is one of the very few recent-stress free times they’ve had in what seems like an eternity.
She walks into the room, plops down next to her husband, and pops the bag of veggie chips before breathing in the aroma. “Mmmm. I love these chips . . . I thought we ran out . . . I’m so happy!”
“Well, I’ve got some weed and wine, so mine’s better . . . and you can’t start with the munchies already; we haven’t even eaten our edibles yet. But now that you mention it, if I had known that’s all it took to make you happy, I would have stocked up years ago.”
“Yeah, but then they’d lose their appeal if we had them all the time.” She tosses the bag on the table, grabs the edibles, and hands one to him.
They both finish their edibles and John grabs the bottle of wine. “Wine?”
She shakes her head. “No thanks. Not if we’re getting stoned . . . maybe later.”
He lets go of the bottle and sits back. “Hey, by the way, I’ve been meaning to ask you, how’s my niece doing working with you?”
“Oh my goodness, John. She is so amazing, and one of the brightest apprentices I’ve ever seen. You can tell she really loves it . . . reminds me a lot of myself when I was her age.”
“Really!” His smile quickly fades. “Wait, are you just sayin’ that because she’s my niece? Because you’re not going to hurt my feelings or anything if you don’t like her working with you.”
“What?! No, I’m completely serious. She’s incredibly intelligent, and one of the brightest minds I’ve ever seen . . . she’ll probably be my replacement one day.”
“Can’t say I’m surprised.” He smiles and then kisses her. “But you have no idea how much that means to me . . . to take care of her like that . . . means a lot.”
They kiss again before she responds. “Well, she’s my niece too, and I love her like blood . . . speaking of love, I’m pretty sure her and Peter are in just that.”
“Yeah, I know . . . it’s pretty obvious . . . seems to be a bit of an age difference there, but—”
Kate cracks up laughing. “You’re joking, right! Need I remind you our age difference!”
He does his best DeNiro impression while bobbing his head. “Oh, right. What’s it like seventeen, eighteen years?”
She squints her eyes and looks at him straight faced. “You know I just turned thirty-four, right?”
“Yes, of course . . . but anyway, it’s different. Everyone knows it only goes one way and not the other! Not to mention, I’m rich . . . so.”
“Whatever! Love is blind, and age is meaningless, as long as the younger one is mature enough to date the other . . . as long as you have that, anything is possible . . . and that’s what we have, right? And hopefully that’s what Maggie and Peter have, or will have some day as well. And that’s all you can hope for, right?” She looks at her husband with eyebrows raised.
She doesn’t wait for him to answer. “Anywho, he’ll be a good protector in times like these . . . ya know, someone else to look out for her.”
John slowly nods his head and smiles. “Good point . . . he will watch out for her . . . but I just can’t help wondering, now that we know the Opocks were the ones who tampered with the teargas that started it all, who were obviously technologically advanced enough to travel to our planet over a century ago . . . that maybe . . . just maybe, they possibly designed it to somehow enable the host to mask what they truly are and blend in with the rest of us until they exposed themselves as evil Opocks just like Adam did!”
“Wait . . . what?” She looks at him, confused.
“Think about it . . . what if the infection just turned them into Opocks that somehow learn to control their aggression until one day it’s time to unleash hell?!” He looks forward and at nothing in particular. “Like, holy shit, what if that happens to Peter?!” He looks at her with a gaped mouth.
She stares at him for a second. “Wait, hold up . . . back it up. I had a question I had to ask . . . oh, yeah! Adam was an Opock?”
“Fuck, yeah, he was an Opock. And just look how he fooled all of us! Ena recently had him transported back to Opock after being brought up on intergalactic war crimes or something . . . freakin’ crazy! Turns out we were actually harboring him from them for years, right under our noses . . . just goes to show you can’t trust anyone.”
“You know that’s not true.” She flutters her eyes.
“Well, besides you . . . and the kids.”
“Well, anyway, I’m not surprised . . . you know, I never told you, but he actually came onto me while you were away . . . real piece of work.”
“Wait, what . . . he came onto you . . . like he hit on you?!”
“Calm down, tiger. He only tried to kiss me, but I was quick to end that.”
“Wait, what! That cocksucker tried to kiss you!” He turns to look at her. “Well, how’d it happen . . . like, what were you doing that made him attempt a kiss?”
“Language! And it was after my team and I successfully completed cloning on multiple levels, and we were celebrating with some champagne when Adam walked in. Once everyone else left I showed him my research and then we started talking about you, and—”
“Wait, hold up . . . you were talking about me? What were you talking about?”
“Well, pretty much about how you wrote a book and never wrote again because of what a few critics wrote about it.”
His face crinkles. “I didn’t stop writing because of some critics . . . why would you think that? I stopped because I got a great job offer as an associate producer on a film and couldn’t pass up the opportunity . . . not because of some critic.”
“I thought you were mad at what some people said about it?”
“Not at all. Everyone’s entitled to their opinion, and to each their own. And, just so you know, I always loved reading the good reviews and probably sometimes even learned a few things from the bad ones . . .
as long as they were legit . . . heck, I’d even sometimes go back and read the good ones . . . you know . . . whenever I needed some motivation or a little confidence boost” He smiles and laughs. “But what can I say, they just meant so much to me.”
“Oh . . . oops, guess I was mistaken. Sorry.” She looks at him with a sad face and fluttering eyes. “But I did mention you stopped writing because you got a good job . . . so.”
“So what . . . was that your way of having my back?” He finishes with air quotes. “And don’t be tryin’ your little eye flutter hoping to get you out of this; you talk about someone behind their back, prepare to suffer the consequences . . . that’s a pretty serious offense in my book.”
“Whatever! I—”
“Didn’t have my back, now did you? And I gotta know you always have my back, babe . . . what can I say . . . it’s a guy thing.” He looks at her with soft eyes.
“I always have your back, my love . . . always. Not to mention, I was intoxicated, and you know how chatty I get when I’m that way.” She puts her arm around his shoulder and pulls him closer toward her to touch foreheads, and they look directly into each other’s eyes. “Always.”
He looks down and then back at her again and then kisses her. “I know . . . I know.”
She stares right back at him while exhaling loudly. “Okay, so you really gave up because of a job?”
He drops his head and exhales loudly. “Not this again.”
“I’m just curious because my conversation with Adam reminded me that your ability to never quit was something I always admired about you . . . so I guess I’m just curious as to what made you . . . you know, quit? It could help satisfy the fascination I used to have, in the pre-apocalypse world, of course, for the main reason why people, in the age of social media, gave up or never even tried risky things . . . was it because they were afraid what people would say about it, or because they were afraid of failing?”
He squints his eyes and pulls away from her forehead. “What?” He shakes his head. “I take it your edible kicked in, because I’m pretty sure there were like five questions in there. But I’ll do my best . . . and I think people do things or don’t do things for their own reasons. Like I said, to each their own . . . and who cares, because we can only control what we do, not what others do . . . but then there’s also times when you just know if something’s meant to be or not.”
The Ark Series (Book 3): The Ark of Alliance Page 25