by Jay Morris
“Yep” Amy said.
“That’s messed up” Diane said.
“Yep” Amy said.
“You got to love a guy like that” Diane finished.
“I suppose so” Amy answered.
About that time both of them looked around,
“Hey where is our little gray friend?” Amy asked.
I drew my pistol and chambered a round, “Lucy?” “Gina?” “Silent Bob?” we all started calling for them, we burst into the store room, it was well lit by an oil lamp, and there sitting in a circle was Lucy, Gina, Silent Bob, and a little gray alien apparently having a tea party. The girls were chatting away about “Mrs. Dryfinkle’s new pink cat”, Silent Bob was being quiet and the gray was happily sipping Tang from a red solo cup.
“Now what?” Diane asked.
“I guess we wait until tea is over” Karen offered.
So Diane waited in the store room with the alien, Amy went to watch Tucker, and since the sun was up, Karen and I started breakfast.
Day 35, Continued, Command Area, Vehicle 1-3
He had dreaded contacting the other 99 Senior Directors from around the planet, he was opening himself up for ridicule for losing three of his type 3 family vehicles, numerous other vehicles and worst of all the lives of his people. Da-Nah were nothing if not compassionate. He thought his situation was a disaster, the only thing the Director had going in his favor was the new Aggressive Life Form Protocols. He had given full credit to his sub-director 20, that was only honorable and he had a good meeting earlier with his directors approving genetic modification along three very different lines of the new Bio-Tech Defender, but only for Pods 8, 10 and his, Pod 1. Those were the closest to the last attack. Now he was rethinking that in lieu of the Senior Directors conference.
He had thought things were disastrous the previous morning, he had no idea things were as bad as they were. There were similar events to his on every continent the Da-Nah had selected for colonization. His losses were not even the worst, not by far, one Colonization Pod Group had half of their pods either not responding or known to be destroyed. HALF! His Director 1 ranking had gone from 32 planet wide to 6 because; first, the deaths of three Directors level 1 ranked above him, second, he had called the meeting, and third, and most of all, he had new protocols to offer. True the protocols were not perfect but he was sure the Defender Protocol would continue to show improvement in effectiveness. He would have given all that away if he could have only saved even one more Da-Nah from the beast. Not for the underlings of course, they were, well, underlings and therefore disposable assets. Director one rose from his seat to check on the genetic modifications to his Pods Defender. One could make predictions of course but one never really knew, did one?
Day 35, Continued, Storage Area, West Virginia Welcome Center
Like any of his kind the underling did not speak, but his shared thoughts were quite active:
“Observation-Indigenous-Life-Theoretical-Composite :{
Inverse-Ratio (size, Social Rank)
Communication-Composite :{
Estimation-Oral (60%). Estimation-Inflection (28%).
Estimation-Non-Verbal (12%).};”
“Observation-Indigenous-Food-Liquid-Color-Orange Tasty.
Rectangular-Solid-Coloration-Highly-Composite Warning-Outer-Shell-Removal Required.”
Communication-Response-(We, leaders-small) Response-Required-Negative.”
Diane West watched in amusement as Gina and Lucy, who were apparently channeling Wilma Flintstone and Betty Rubble, were showing their male counterparts; Silent Bob and the little gray alien, exactly what was expected at a tea party. Silent Bob complied but at least he remembered how to roll his eyes when the girls were not looking, the alien how ever did not understand that this was a game and just bowed, turned both hands palms up, then politely held his red plastic cup up for more military issue tang, much to the delight of both girls. Whatever the alien was it did not seem dangerous and even Tucker had said he let at least one go. She marveled at its round, hairless face, huge black eyes, that reminded her of some kind of cartoon character, and its patient, almost kind mannerisms. It didn’t even seem to mind that she was watching him with a semiautomatic 9mm pistol pointing at him.
Karen came in with what she called a ‘Tucker Update’ – still sleeping, fresh dressings and an improving color since the bleeding had mostly stopped. Diane had an idea,
“Girls? Do you have those crayons?” she asked.
With a high pitched “Yea!!” the two ran over to a hello kitty back pack and produced not one but two Crayola 64 packs. Lucy explained that Mr. Tucker said it was a “Coral imposition” to have them. Diane thought about it for a bit then asked
“Moral imperative?”
“Yep, that’s what I said” Lucy explained.
“Yep, that’s what she said” Gina agreed helpfully.
Silent Bob nodded then a moment later the gray mimicked the boy and bobbed its head like it was on a spring.
The crayons were dumped onto the middle of the square lunch table, everyone got several sheets of paper but Lucy had to waggle her finger at the alien and threaten him with dish washing duty if he didn’t give up his tang. The girls started drawing right away, Silent Bob looked as if the blank sheet was his enemy. The alien seemed most curious and peered at what the girls were drawing, then as if he suddenly understood, picked up a crayon and began to draw.
Nearly an hour went by before Diane walked over and began to innocently look at some of the completed drawings, the little grays drawings were at first not much different from the childrens but its skill was rapidly improving. Especially after Diane took down the “Very Important Picture” that the girls had done showing images of all those friends and family they had lost, and had the girls explain what it was and who it showed. Although neither the alien or Silent Bob showed any sign of actual understanding the quality and subject matter of the aliens drawings continued to become more detailed. I joined them about that time, Diane waved me over and handed me a few pictures, I complemented Lucy’s, and Gina’s, and how well Silent Bob was so carefully planning things out before he actually drew a picture.
Then I looked at gray’s pictures. The first one was clearly abstract/impressionist/drug induced, but by the third he or she had figured things out. I could clearly make out the burning alien vehicles and a large and fierce looking human, well human-ish creature pointing a flaming weapon at a frightened looking gray that had a superfluous abundance of heads. I looked at the gray and almost laughed, it was mimicking Gina by sticking its short, pink tongue out that for some reason reminded me of a cats tongue, as it drew as if it thought maybe that was part of how you did it. I asked it “Is this you?” and tapped the picture. No response, so I knelt next to it and asked again, but then feeling silly I pointed to the gray being on the picture then I tapped its chest. The little gray just blinked its huge black eyes. I did it again, this time the creature gently took the picture from my hand and pointed at another pinkish human like form that I had over looked before. Then it tapped my chest. I blinked, me? “Is this me?” I asked excitedly. It just blinked but I laughed out loud,
“Diane, this is me and Tucker, and our little gray here is the one Tucker let live!”
Day 35, Continued, Storage Area, West Virginia Welcome Center
While the little gray continued to draw, he had a silent conversation that was not without hope.
“Statement-Factual Communication-Illustrative-Generation-Manual.
Effectiveness-High Rate-Minimal.
One-of-We Risk-Quantity-Estimation (.20).”
“Query-Aid-Assistance-Ally-We Potential.”
“Unknown-Probability-Estimation Nonzero.”
Day 35, Continued, Command Area, Vehicle 1-3
Yet even more terrible news, at the extreme peninsula of his continental assignment, an indigenous-life-aggressive, subsurface-vessel had launched a sub-orbital unmanned rocket propelled vehicle. Upon re-entry, the ve
hicle’s nose divided into 8 separate sub-vehicles. Each of them exploded over a cluster of Pods. The thermonuclear detonations resulted in the complete loss of sixteen Pods including Colonization Ship 14, Prime Director 1’s Pod. The loss of Da-Nah life was horrendous and the damage to the ecosystems was beyond comprehension. Of small consolation was the fact that a survey vessel from the southern continent was only a few planetary sections away and was able to track the subsurface vessel down and crush it using only its standard propulsion emitters.
He rose from his seat and went down the ramp, as he walked the length of his vehicle towards the exit he gently touched the technicians, emitted a friendship scent, and spoke to a few of them, asking about mates or offspring, urged them to continue to put forth their best efforts. Several of them had mates or siblings down on that peninsula, he wanted them to know but the other Prime Directors chose to keep their deaths a secret for now, afraid of what panic it might cause. It was a legitimate concern, there easily could be more of those subsurface vessels, while fragile constructs there was no denying their destructive potential.
Once outside he was handed a communication pad by an underling, Pod 8 was submitting images of their completed defender, theirs was the easiest to achieve so he was not surprised that they were the first to finish. That being said they had far exceeded their projections. The new type II defender was more massive than he expected, this form almost doubled the mass of the original weighing almost 1,500 pounds. It was taller too, at 11 feet, 4 inches it was the largest bio-tech ever constructed. The Da-Nah had used primary genetic base pairs from what a human would call a Priodontes Maximus, the Giant Armadillo. A dozen hinged boney plates wrapped band-like around the torso protecting the body, and a further four covered the neck. Brown and yellowish, boney scuta covered the face, chest and abdomen. These horn-like scales were separate from one another making the defender II look like it was covered in shield-like freckles, the pink flesh beneath still showing through.The plates on the back of the torso, arms and legs were dark brown in color, with a lighter, yellowish band running along the sides with only a slightly elongated gap for the feeding and excretion connectors. The fingers also possessed extremely long front claws including a wicked sickle-shaped third claw almost 18 inches long, which was a pleasant surprise for the Defender II was originally a defensive design.
The Da-Nah had made such terrible destructive creatures on a routine basis of course, but they never had the desire to actually see their work in action. With luck he would get one of the new defenders tear their monster to pieces first hand. He gave the pad back to the underling who silently studied the image long and hard.
Day 35, West Virginia Welcome Center
Diane was on over watch, Weir was sleeping, Amy was on Tucker watch and Karen and I were expanding interspecies communication through the use of crayons. At some point Silent Bob drifted off to take a nap and was soon joined by Gina and Lucy. Our little gray was an art machine. We now knew that he was a he, more or less, that he was born or at least grew up on a world that either had a dim star or the many giant blue green plants filtered it out. We also knew or at least thought we knew that it had an affinity for a dark purple fruit the size of a cantaloupe that had thin yellow stripes and he seemed sad that we were fresh out. Whenever he drew a White, all grays were shown with head bowed and their palms up while the Whites did not bother to look at the grays. Of course the fact that the grays were always shown with 6 to 10 heads was a mystery. At no time did he display any anger for my or Tuckers attacks on the Whites, even the deaths of the grays were viewed as a sad reality that could not be avoided. Oh, he also made it clear that he liked having tea parties if orange tang was on the menu. Lots of orange tang.
That was when Amy called to us, Tucker was awake. When we went into the main reception area, Amy was holding Tuckers head up and helping him drink from a canteen. Amy had rolled a jacket and slipped it under Tuckers head as a pillow.
“John, come here son.”
He spoke in a voice that sounded dry, weak like rushes on the side of a dry creek. I cringed at the use of the word ‘son’ but I pushed that away because he seemed so serious. He told us briefly about his successful attack and then about the failed second. He described the pink monster, I guess I looked skeptical but Karen left but quickly returned,
“Is this what you fought?” and she handed him a drawing.
“Yes, yes that’s it.” He exclaimed. “Then what’s this?”
She handed him grays last picture, a full face on drawing of the pink monster, and next to it a far larger, far more lethal looking brown, yellow, and pink one with huge claws that looked like scimitars on each hand.
“Jesus, where did you get these?” he asked.
“From him.” Amy said as she urged the little robed gray forward.
“Holy Crap.” Was all Tucker could say.
To the delight of the alien we then all had tang, and Tucker described his battle with the pink giant. When the gray drew a picture that looked like a pink man with a gray one inside it, Tucker bestowed the name Golem on the giants, he said they were mythical men of clay, giants who defended the Jews in times long past. Tucker then insisted Weir be awakened, they spoke and Weir took off to fetch the Humvee if possible and if not to retrieve the weapons and supplies. Weir grabbed a cup of coffee and a rifle and set out like a blue streak. Lucy came out of the store room and took the gray away. The manner the little guy shuffled it reminded me of a Ewok without the cute voice. Karen went with Lucy and I stood in the doorway so I could continue to watch the alien and also listen in on Amy and Tucker.
More or less for the first time since his return they were alone, Amy and Tucker stared silently for a full minute, and let me tell you a minute in silence is a long time. Finally, Amy moved a little closer and laid her hand on his, Tucker moved his away. Amy looked at him with a little irritation, but instead of pointing it out she asked him with a wry grin on her face,
“So, John, you going to break my legs?”
He did not flinch from her gaze, his answer surprised her for sure.
“I came back to warn everyone about the Golem.”
She nodded, “I see, so in no way did you want to come home?”
I thought her use of ‘home’ was a strange choice of words but whatever.
“If I can protect everyone here, I will” he said not really answering her question.
She got a little more irritated,
“John, will you quit being such a jerk?” He looked at her in disbelief
“Amy, are you out of your mind? A little girl is dead because you couldn’t keep your panties on.”
Ouch, I thought, it was true of course, but ouch anyway.”
“Screw you Tucker” she snapped.
But she didn’t actually deny it, instead she turned the direction of the conversation.
“You can bluster all you want John, but you and I know that isn’t the reason you left!”
She said crossing her arms across her chest. Tucker looked away for a moment and when he looked back his jaw was set, all I could think was ‘oh oh’. His small dark eyes narrowed into slits,
“I won’t deny I had feelings for you Amy” he began. “But I look at relationships differently than you do. I was a fool for thinking there could be anything between us, I am an old man, and I knew true love once, I should have been happy just to remember that.”
“You are a real pain in the ass. You know that?” she said. “Look we didn’t have any understandings or anything, you have no claim on me, and frankly it is not any of your business who I sleep with. Got it?”
I really didn’t understand why she was getting mad but since he said nothing; she kept building up steam,
“And while I’m at it, your outdated male centered universe drives me mad, don’t think I didn’t see your sideways disapproving looks when I was with Darnel. Are you some kind of racist or something?”
Tucker didn’t say anything which made her even angrier.
“Answer me God damn it!” she said between gritted teeth.
Tucker slowly sat himself, and slowly he swung his legs off the edge of the counter.
“What are you doing? Lay back down you stubborn ass!” Amy said.
She put her palms on his chest to force him back down, she couldn’t do that but she was able to stop him, at least for a moment.
“Get out of my way” he said.
“Why? Where are you going?” she responded.
He slid forward until his feet hit the ground, after a world class grimace of pain he said
“I’m going to kill aliens, as many of the Whites as I can, then if I can, I’m going to kill a Golem before...”
“Before what? Before what John? Until they kill you?”
He looked in her eyes then said in a low, menacing voice
“People die in war. It’s the price of the ticket.”
She snapped back instantly
“But they usually don’t look for it now, do they?”
Tucker was never in a hurry to say anything but this was an exceptionally long delay before he said
“Why do you care?”
She looked uncomfortable for a second then said
“Because I care about all of us.”
He started to walk away so she said
“Oh there you go again, things get tough and you run away, you shut yourself off in that house of yours with your guns and your memories, now instead you run off to fight a war and get yourself killed. No wonder she left you! You, you coward.”
He stared at her, I had heard the word fury before but I didn’t really understand it until that moment. I wondered if he really was going to keep his vow and break her legs.
All at once his face softened and his shoulders sagged he said in a voice uncharacteristically soft and gentle. He didn’t look away as he spoke,