Loop

by Brian Caswell

  It was like she was half genius and half idiot.

  But she picked things up really quickly and never made the same mistake twice.

  And when she started school a couple of days later, she fitted straight in.

  I didn’t get to speak to her much at school. She wasn’t in my class for anything except French, and as soon as she arrived Rolf ‘the Hammer’ Aaronson decided she needed someone to ‘show her around’.

  ‘Someone’ meant him.

  Which meant that it wasn’t safe to try and communicate with her between nine and three-thirty.

  They don’t call him ‘the Hammer’ because he’s good at woodwork.

  Cassie’s story

  It’s really not such a bad school. Primitive, of course. I mean, you should see the way they do maths. But it’s better than a lot of schools I’ve been to on planets that are supposed to be more advanced.

  Naturally, they couldn’t teach me anything I didn’t already know. Most of the planets we study can’t. But I always go to school anyway. It’s a great place to observe the natives.

  Take the ritual of the alpha male, for example.

  I’d barely touched ground when this blond-headed Neanderthal tried to claim me – like a trophy or the choice portion of the kill.

  Rolf Aaronson. At first I couldn’t work out why everyone took a step backwards when he approached them. Then I watched him in action, and I thought of those fourteen thousand, seven hundred and twenty-one different words …

  I made a mental note to find a way to neutralise his aggressive tendencies, one which fell within the Grand Council guidelines, of course. But for the first couple of weeks I decided to just stand back and observe. I was new. I didn’t want to take the chance of making waves too quickly.

  It made it difficult to talk to Jamie, and that was a pity. After all, he lived in the same street, and for a member of a non-Federation proto-civilisation he really was quite cute.

  But back to the story.

  You’d think that being there with all those teachers and kids would be the time I’d be most likely to make a mistake and give myself away, but in the end it wasn’t.

  And when you think about it, I guess it isn’t all that surprising. The fact that it is dangerous puts you on your guard. You act more carefully; you watch what you say and do.

  It’s when you feel safe that you drop your guard. At least, that’s how it worked with me.

  Luckily, it was Jamie who caught me and not some suspicious adult.

  It wasn’t the kind of mistake an Observer Class One should make, but it’s hard to be at your best when you’ve caught a local virus that clogs your head up and makes you sneeze. On Earth they call it ‘the common cold’, but it’s not common anywhere except on Earth.

  What I did was … Well, I forgot to put my hair on.

  I was lying down feeling like my head was about to explode – which is an interesting, if painful, experience – when Jamie knocked on the door. Both my parents were out, so I opened the door. Minus my hair.

  I knew something was wrong when his mouth dropped open and he went white.

  ‘Cassie?’ he said.

  ‘Jamie,’ I replied.

  ‘Your head,’ he said.

  ‘Oops!’ I replied. And I immobilised him with a mind-lock.

  I got him inside and closed the door, but now I had a real problem.

  The rules say that if one of the natives blows our cover we have to leave immediately, report the incident and suffer the consequences. And the consequences are pretty serious.

  My parents had worked hard to get the Class One rating, and a mistake like this could bump us all back down to Class Four, which meant we’d only be able to observe on planets without any intelligent life-forms.

  Question: How do you tell your parents that you’ve just completely ruined their lives?

  Answer: You don’t.

  I decided to take a gamble and see what happened. After all, it couldn’t get much worse than it already was.

  Jamie’s story

  When Cassie un-immobilised me, she had her hair on. And I have to admit she looked much prettier that way. Her face was the same, of course; it’s just that Yyeddans don’t have hair. What they do have are these three small, bony ridges that run the full length of their head, which you can’t see if they wear a wig.

  The ridges – and their violet-coloured eyes – are the only things that give them away. In every other way they look human, which is why they get to observe on Earth and planets like Earth.

  I won’t lie. I was scared.

  I mean, I’ve seen loads of science-fiction films, so I know that not all ‘visitors’ are cute like E.T.

  I was definitely scared.

  But this was Cassie, and something told me she wasn’t anything like those other aliens.

  If she had been, she wouldn’t have un-immobilised me. She would have cut off my head, or zapped me with a pulse-laser, or eaten me.

  ‘I need your help,’ she said.

  ‘Mine?’ I replied.

  She went on to tell me what they were doing here and how much trouble she’d be in if I told anyone what I knew.

  It wasn’t a hard decision.

  I think I mentioned that I don’t have too many friends.

  I said I’d keep her secret.

  She leaned across and kissed me – which should have been embarrassing. I mean, it’s bad enough being suddenly and unexpectedly kissed by a girl – but a girl with three bony ridges instead of hair, and strange violet-coloured eyes, who’d just told you she was an alien from Yyedda …

  The strange part was, it wasn’t embarrassing. In fact, I quite liked it. So much so that I kissed her back.

  The good thing about having an alien as a girl-friend is that you suddenly get really good at things in school.

  I mean, they know so much more than we do and they do things differently.

  Cassie showed me tricks in maths that university professors had never thought of, and she taught me how to remember.

  Everything.

  Even French.

  So I’ll never have to worry about exams again.

  The least I could do was to repay her, and the only way I could do this was by helping her observe.

  We spent hours over at her house or shut in my bedroom, with her asking questions and me answering them. And we spent lots more hours riding our bikes around town, just watching things happen.

  It’s amazing how much you learn when you really look at things.

  I knew she was pleased with what she was learning, because she kept saying things like, ‘You know, it’s so much better when you have a guide.’

  I even told her how to disguise those violet-coloured eyes.

  Cassie’s story

  ‘They’re a dead giveaway, you know. No one has violet-coloured eyes.’

  He was looking straight at me.

  ‘I wouldn’t say that,’ I replied. ‘Everybody on Yyedda has violet-coloured eyes.’

  ‘Maybe. But you’re not on Yyedda.’ He was smiling the way he did when he knew something that I didn’t. ‘Don’t they have coloured contacts there?’

  ‘Coloured what?’ I asked, sounding dumb.

  ‘Contacts. Contact lenses. My brother’s wife wears them. Her eyes are green, but she always wanted blue. So now they’re blue.’

  And that’s the way it was. There’s no way to beat local knowledge. I was sort of glad Jamie had caught me out. With my parents out most of the time working and observing, I was glad to have a friend. It’s not easy being alone.

  And it’s not easy putting up with a throwback like Rolf Aaronson, either.

  It came to a head when he caught Jamie talking to me at lunchtime behind the library.

  I knew there was a problem when Jamie stopped talking in mid-sentence and just stared over my shoulder.

  ‘Jamie,’ I began, ‘what is —?’ But I didn’t get any further.

  Rolf didn’t say anything. He just walked straig
ht up to Jamie with his fists clenching, and Jamie froze like a deer in the headlights. (For those of you unfamiliar with Earth idiom, a deer is a large mammal with beautiful brown eyes, a gentle soul, and almost no brain – which explains why it freezes when being run down by speeding vehicles, instead of stepping off the road.)

  Except for the ‘no brain’ part, Jamie quite resembled a deer, so I knew what would happen if Rolf got any closer. (I had also broken protocol and monitored his thoughts – not a totally pleasant experience.)

  I looked around to check that no one was looking, then I applied the mind-lock. He froze with his fist raised and a thin string of spittle hanging from his bottom lip.

  ‘Quick,’ I whispered to Jamie. ‘Before anyone comes, lie him down on the floor and stand over him.’

  He hesitated, but only for a second.

  ‘Good, now try to look dangerous. I’m implanting a false memory. It should convince him, but only if you look the part. You have to pretend you’ve just used martial arts on him.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘He has to think you’re dangerous, so he will believe the memory. And so he won’t pick on you again.’

  Jamie barely had time to stand with his legs apart, looking down at Rolf, before a group of Year Eights came round the corner of the library.

  ‘Fists!’ I whispered, and I saw him tense up, bending his arms slightly and curling his hands into two loose fists. He was bouncing on the balls of his feet, which I thought was a nice touch.

  As the group of kids stopped to take in the strange sight of someone – especially someone like Jamie – standing over ‘the Hammer’, I released the mind-lock and watched Rolf raise his arms in front of his face.

  He was really scared. I think I might have overdone the detail in the implant. There were tears in his eyes as he scrabbled to his feet and ran away towards the toilets.

  ‘Touch anyone again and you’ll answer to me!’ Jamie shouted after him.

  Within seconds he was surrounded by admiring kids, all asking questions at once.

  Whatever else he might be, Jamie is a quick thinker.

  ‘You have to promise not to tell anyone,’ he said. ‘If my Sensei found out I’d used the secrets of the Dragon brotherhood on someone so unworthy, there would be serious consequences. We aren’t supposed to use them except in emergencies. Can you keep a secret?’

  They all nodded and promised, but I knew they wouldn’t be able to. And so did Jamie – which was why he’d made them promise, of course.

  By the end of the day it was all over the school. Rolf Aaronson’s reign of terror was over, and Jamie was a hero, though no one actually mentioned it in his presence. After all, you don’t want to risk upsetting the kid who made ‘the Hammer’ cry.

  I was happy for him. Not only were his grades improving, but he had respect, and no one was going to pick on him again. Ever.

  On the way home he held my hand. It was nice.

  Having a native boyfriend isn’t totally against regulations, but it is frowned upon at head-office. It makes it harder to let go when your assignment is up.

  Of course, having a boyfriend can save your life too, as I was about to find out.

  We were riding our bikes out by the old quarry, the one out the back of town. For once we weren’t observing anything in particular, we were just riding. It wasn’t far from where my dad had hidden the spaceship. I was staring at the blue sky, thinking about whether I should show the spaceship to Jamie, when there was a warning yell from behind me.

  I realised that I was going too fast down the hill, and Earth bikes have such primitive brakes that I just knew I wouldn’t be able to stop before reaching the edge of the quarry.

  That was when I started yelling too. The edge was getting closer and the bike was going faster and there wasn’t anything I could do.

  Then there was a flash of bike and body beside me. Jamie was pedalling as hard as he could, and just as he reached me he leaned his bike over on its side and slid it into my wheels. I felt myself falling, and we slid in the dirt, a tangle of legs, arms, bodies and bikes.

  It stopped me. I slid to a halt centimetres from the edge.

  Jamie wasn’t so lucky. I heard him cry out, then he disappeared over the edge.

  My heart stopped.

  But then I heard him calling. ‘Cassie,’ he shouted. ‘Help!’

  I crawled to the edge. He was hanging on to a small ledge about two metres down, with about a hundred feet of nothing between him and the rocks at the bottom.

  There was only one thing to do.

  I ran to where the ship was hidden, de-activated the force-shield and climbed in. Then I started her up and took off towards the quarry.

  It’s a small ship but powerful, and it has all the necessary equipment, including the latest traction-beam. In no time he was back on safe ground.

  ‘Thanks,’ he said, brushing the dirt from his clothes. ‘I could feel myself slipping. I don’t …’

  His face changed and he stopped mid-sentence. I turned and saw Mrs Preston and her poodle standing there staring at me – and at the spaceship.

  She was barking. The poodle, that is.

  That was the moment I realised that in all the commotion I’d lost my wig.

  Jamie’s story

  This time there was no choice.

  By evening Cassie’s house was empty and there was no evidence that anyone had ever been there.

  And I’d lost my best friend.

  It wasn’t so bad, she said. They didn’t punish you for blowing your cover if you did it to save someone’s life. So their Class One rating was safe. It was just impossible to stay any longer. She thanked me for saving her life, kissed me, and held my hand for a long time.

  Then they were gone.

  Mrs Preston was busy telling everyone what had happened and reminding them that you can’t trust anyone with violet eyes. But I denied everything she said, and people decided that she was finally cracking up, like they’d been expecting for years.

  It was harder to explain away the fact that Cassie’s family moved so suddenly, but it wasn’t anyone’s business so I didn’t even try.

  Still, it was lonely not having her around.

  At least it was until the new people moved in.

  They have a girl my age, too. She’s really pretty and she has the bluest eyes.

  Keira.

  I took them over some scones last night and the weirdest thing happened.

  She opened the door, looked at me and said, ‘Hello, Jamie.’

  I was speechless, wondering who could have told her my name, when she went on, ‘Cassie sends her love.’

  I stood there doing goldfish imitations.

  ‘But …’ was all I could manage to say.

  She smiled and rubbed at her eye, like she had something in it.

  ‘Great idea, these,’ she said. ‘But they take a bit of getting used to.’

  On her finger, she had something that looked like a small blue dot.

  I looked up at her.

  Do you know how bizarre a person looks with one blue eye and one violet one?

  IN NOVEMBER

  They are able who think they are able.

  Virgil

  My brother Mick just got a new 7.1 modular surround sound system for his bedroom. He’s got his CD, his TV, his DVD and his iPod running through it. Not to mention his stupid digital sequencer.

  Now, I don’t suppose that’s such a big deal in a lot of houses, but in ours it is.

  It’s not the system itself that’s the big deal. It’s just that he doesn’t seem to realise it has a volume control.

  He’s into dance music, which means the sub thumps like a jackhammer right through the house, and no one else can do anything they want – like watching TV or playing their own music … or thinking.

  I didn’t bother saying anything to him. What’s the point? If he’s in a good mood he just ignores his little sister, and if he’s in a bad mood and I mention the volume he�
�s just as likely to turn it up until the windows rattle.

  At least he doesn’t hit me. Francine’s brother does, and she hates him.

  I don’t hate Mick. I even quite like him at times – when he’s in a good mood, like when he has a new girlfriend. At times like that he even smiles.

  I don’t even mind the music so much. But Mum does.

  She can’t help it.

  Her idea of entertainment is Bette Midler or sixties rock ’n’ roll – the type they play on the ‘golden oldies’ FM stations. She’s even been known to play those ‘relaxation’ CDs. You know, the ones with the quiet music and the sound of waves or bird-songs in the background.

  So, she screams at him.

  Not straightaway, of course. First, she asks him quietly if he’d mind turning it down. But he can’t hear her, because the music’s too loud.

  So, she shouts at him. Still no good.

  So, she screams at him.

  And of course, he screams back. Things like, ‘Why are you always screaming at me? I’m not deaf, you know!’ Stuff like that.

  You’d think they didn’t like each other or something.

  The reason I’m telling you all this is because Mick didn’t run away.

  Even though he’s always fighting with Mum, and Dad too, when he’s home, he still kisses them both when he goes out or before he goes to bed; even when his friends are around.

  Mick didn’t run away.

  But Chris did.

  Chris is Sasha’s brother, and if there was anyone you’d bet wouldn’t run away, it would have been him.

  He always did well at school. Not just well – freakish. He read three or four books a week, topped Maths, Science and History. He was good at just about everything. And his parents were totally proud of him.

  Sometimes I thought Sasha might be a bit jealous of him. Of the way her parents were always boasting about him. She never said anything, of course. Sasha wouldn’t. But you could see it in her eyes sometimes.

  Sasha wasn’t dumb herself, but she wasn’t Chris. And she wasn’t the type to put her head down and her life on hold and study like he did. She likes to enjoy herself too much.