Ennuturat cleared his throat and mumbled aloud: “I’m sure a butcher like you has no attachment problems whatsoever.”
Before heading back to Earth and continuing the research, Ennuturat decided to visit human reservations, which Argon had mentioned in the video message. Ennuturat wanted to know how the atrocious Katu brothers treated the kidnapped humans while Enkri were asleep.
Ennuturat was a close personal friend of Ambassador Taiber Enkri, and decided to catch up with him before he went to sleep. But the time was limited and he had to hurry because by that time Taiber Enkri had already fought drowsiness and it would be uncaring to force him to stay awake for much longer. Ennuturat sent a message to Taiber requesting a meeting at the reservation.
Year 2045.
Bangkok, Thailand
Fah opened the door to face a Western woman, dressed professionally and flawlessly.
Veronica Starr stretched her white elegant hand for a handshake, which was surprisingly firm and yet intimate.
An army of ants ran not only up Fah’s spine, but all over her body.
Meanwhile, Veronica Starr assertively entered the apartment. Seductively smiling from the corners of her eyes, she looked over Fah’s walls.
“So that’s what it is like…” Veronica Starr uttered.
Meanwhile Fah stormed to the kitchen, determined to call Jaden on his machinations.
“Jaden, the joke is over the top!”
“I have no idea what are you talking about!” Jaden protested a bit too emphatically to sound believable.
“Wait a minute, is she some kind of an escort? I appreciate the sentiment, but I am not going out with hookers, however classy.”
“Fah… Wait, you think it’s me?”
“Jaden, the joke is not funny.”
“Fah…”
“Cut the crap, Jaden!”
“Fah…” insisted Jaden, pointing behind her back. Fah turned around and saw Veronica Starr right behind her.
“Fah, you really thought I was an escort? Honey you cannot afford me.”
Finally the truth sank in. Fah stared at Veronica Starr, dumbfounded and embarrassed.
“Jaden, I take it, it is not your practical joke…”
Jaden negatively shook his head.
“Well then… Spare me any further embarrassment, Veronica Starr, and tell me what is it that you want from me.”
“Like I mentioned over the phone, I represent a powerful investor who wishes to remain anonymous. This investor would like to sponsor your research.”
“What kind of research?”
“The research you have plastered all over your walls.”
1602. Lenauri
Taiber was already expecting him when Ennuturat stepped onto the observation deck of the human reservation. Taiber was seated on a chair with his back to the entrance, observing the busy commotion of humans beneath the glass domes, several floors below on a large screen in front of a panoramic window. He was sipping from a cup of fuming energy drink, and yet his head kept dropping to his chest as he struggled to stay awake.
“Greetings, Ambassador Taiber. What an honor. Thank you for meeting with me at such a late hour.”
“Hr.. Hm… Who… I am…” mumbled Taiber, startled by Ennuturat’s presence.
“I am sorry, Ambassador, I did not mean to startle you.”
“That’s alright, Master Ennuturat. I am ready to call it a night, so let’s not waste precious time. If I fall asleep in the middle of our meeting, my apologies in advance.”
“None required, Ambassador. You are forever honored among Enkri for your life’s sacrifice.”
“It is not how I imagined it when growing up.”
“How so?”
“I was taken from my home very young. My family put so much pressure on me to be the best Enkri Ambassador I could be, and I… hrrrrrrr.” The Ambassador passed out, but only for a moment. Mastering an enormous effort, he awoke himself and nearly jumped off the chair trying to straighten up.
“It’s alright, Ambassador. Don’t worry. We shall have a long conversation one day.”
Ennuturat sat beside his esteemed friend gently placing a tentacle on his shoulder. Ennuturat felt deep respect mixed with sorrow as he watched Taiber struggling to stay awake. That was the kind of a sacrifice no Enkri would understand. Maybe perhaps only the rival Katu Ambassador, who was the only Unkari except Taiber forced to stay awake off-cycle, against their metabolic nature.
“I doubt we will ever have a chance for a longer conversation, beyond what this narrow dawn gives us.”
“They are working on breaking the cycle. I believe the research is getting close.”
“Don’t give me false hope, Ennuturat. I am smarter than that. The research is nowhere ready to be tested on the Unkari subjects.”
“One can hope…”
“Hope, my friend, is an empty… hrrrrrrrr.”
“Oh Universe…” Ennuturat tried to gently tap at Taiber’s shoulder but this time he had sunk deeper into sleep than before. However, Taiber miraculously pulled it off again, straightening up and looking directly in Ennuturat’s eyes.
“Let’s not waste any more time, shall we? What brought you here, Master Ennuturat?”
“The status of reservations, Ambassador. It is appalling.”
“You mean how badly humans are treated?”
“Not that, the proposal of giving them legal rights!”
“Why would you be opposed to that?”
“Ambassador, I understand that here, back home, this is a fad of the day. Enkri think of humans as their pets. But, with all due respect, they are research subjects. We are on a mission to crack the mystery of oscillation, how these pets are connected to the fabric of spacetime, and how can we use this ability to our military and economic advantage. To do that, we need to test the research subjects, study their consciousness in near-death experiences. I hate to say it, but as the head Enkri researcher, I agree with Katu on this one. There is no other way to study these species other than by dissecting them.”
“Ennuturat, I can’t help but think that the humans on Earth and here would not recognize each other. They are capable of such plasticity in culture, such an aptitude to create a highly ordered, intellectual society; and, at the same time, to be pure savages, beasts driven with nothing but instincts. And yet they carry a potential to oscillate, savages and intellectuals alike.”
“Yes, Ambassador! They can, and we can’t! This truly frightens me! What is so bloody special about these worms that gives them the key to reality?”
“Ennuturat, I hope you are always mindful of the big picture. We don’t know if these species could be important to understanding the universe itself. Can you imagine, Ennuturat, one day we may discover where we came from, where everything came from!”
“Taiber, I hope you are not partial on siding with that cult of human worshipers, whatever they call themselves.”
“I keep an open mind. And so should you.”
“I cannot believe it! You can’t be possibly thinking that these species are essential to the foundation of the universe!”
“Well that’s up to you to find out, Ennuturat. I only wish…. hrrrrrrrr.” And with those words Taiber dropped his drink, spilling it all over the floor. His body became soft and filled out the form of a chair, while his breathing became deep and slow. Ennuturat scanned Taiber’s life monitor and realized that he would not be wake again until his hibernation cycle was over.
Frustrated with this development, Ennuturat called Taiber’s assistant who was tasked with delivering the Ambassador to his chambers. If this obsession with humans among Enkri continued, he thought, his project might be shut down ‘for ethical reasons’, or stricter regulations on the experiments might be imposed. Who knows, they might even shut down Lenauri reservations. What then? Give h
umans citizenship? Ship them back to Earth?
Ennuturat headed to the exit when an enormous explosion shook the observation desk.
BOOOOOMMMMMM!
Ennuturat fell to the ground, but managed to roll over to look outside the panoramic window. The force field that shielded the observation deck was intact, but the deck swayed from the explosion. Struggling to stay steady on a rocking floor, Ennuturat crawled closer to the observation window. Several stories below, Ennuturat saw hundreds of glass domes that housed various reservations of humans in climate-controlled barracks. One of the domes had exploded and was spewing fire and a copious pall of smoke.
A young security officer crawled to check if Ennuturat was ok.
“Master, are you alright?”
“I am alright, officer. What happened there?”
“I am not sure, I just stepped in to take my shift. Katu shift was relieved just moments ago.”
“Escort me down there, I want to know what happened”.
“We cannot be sure it is safe. The ruptured dome leaked human atmosphere into ours, the temperature and pressure difference may be unhealthy to be around, let alone all the oxygen in the area.”
“I need a suit then. Hurry up, officer. Take me to the chamber where we can suit up.”
***
Suited up, Ennuturat and the security officer were headed to the explosion site. From the top floor of the deck the domes seemed tiny, but on the ground floor it became evident that each dome was the size of several city blocks, buzzing and hopping with humans, breathing their human air, naked and completely unbothered by it. Some of them clung to the glass walls watching the alien masters hurry to the place of the explosion. They threw rocks at the glass walls, smothered their faces to the cold glass surfaces making crazy faces and, in general, behaved like animals.
“Master, if you don’t mind me asking, I heard, on Earth they don’t behave this way. Is that true?”
“They don’t, officer. There they have many different cultures, but most of them are more civilized than this.”
“Fascinating. Don’t you think that it is a shame to keep them like this?”
“Officer, if I were you I’d be concerned with where to get a ride. Walking to the dome will take too long.”
“Got it, sir. Let me check on the nearest security vehicle.”
While the officer was messaging for a ride, Ennuturat paused at one of the dome’s walls and looked inside. That was the female reservation dome. Human males and females were kept separately in order to control breeding. Except for the mating times, males and females did not interact. Over the generations living separately, men and women had developed mutual disinterest in each other. They were like completely different species that hardly saw benefit in each other.
Meanwhile the patrol glider arrived, and Ennuturat hopped in. As they approached the explosion site, Ennuturat observed the reservation from the air: hundreds of domes arranged in tidy Fibonacci spirals, connected with sky bridges. The geometric perfection of the reservation was mesmerizing. Also it was mesmerizing because of the sheer scope of the reservation. It had grown literally overnight, whilst Ennuturat had been sleeping. Argon Katu was not wasting time here.
The glider descended a safe distance away from the plumes of dark smoke. A crew of first responders were measuring the air composition to assess the damage to the methane-rich native Unkari atmosphere. They shook their heads, indicating that the problem was serious.
“Evacuation of all non-essential personnel!” Ennuturat heard one of the first responders’ voice patching through the com link.
Ennuturat opened his channel to ‘public’.
“I need to talk to someone who knows what happened. Ennuturat Enkri here, the head researcher for the Oscillation Project.”
“Greetings, Master Ennuturat!” a voice came through. “Commander Farnau Tan. This area is dangerous. There is a 38% chance of a secondary explosion. However, if you meet me in Dome 745 in 40 minutes, I’ll be glad to fill you in.”
“Thank you, Commander Farnau Tan. Your assistance is much appreciated.”
Ennuturat requested the glider to take him to Dome 745, which was a short distance from the explosion site. As the glider flew in the air again, Ennuturat observed the first response crew roll out the containment field around the explosion area. A wide area around the dome was enveloped in amber resin that immediately hardened and forever trapped all the surviving humans, if there were any. Under the resin shield, the mass grave of the research subjects together with their homes and the dome itself was excavated and recycled by the robots that spewed out cubes of raw materials, recycled from the debris.
Arriving at Dome 745, Ennuturat walked to the command post attached to it. A new shift of Enkri guards had just arrived, relieving drowsy Katu officers from duty. A crew shuttle was there to take Katu to their homes and to make sure they did not collapse into sleep on their way. Dragging their alien feet, the Katu officers stepped into the shuttle, lumbered in their seats, pulled the safety bar in front of them, and placed breathing masks over their faces. With an obvious look of relief, they closed their eyes and submerged into their sleep, as if they could not wait one second longer.
Ennuturat identified himself to the incoming officers, and they allowed him to enter the premises of the dome. The door to the main dome opened and Ennuturat found himself in a snaking tunnel with transparent walls. There he could observe the humans without exposing himself to their hostility or their environment. He walked through the tunnel that separated him from the human habitat, like in an aquarium. Humans swam in their oxygenated air like stupid fish, ignorant of the world outside their fish bowl. Born and raised in isolation from their mother civilization, these humans were like tumbleweed in the desert, blown here and there by the cosmic winds: no roots, no understanding; and yet, somehow, full of hidden complexity, as if password-protected, hack-proof, outside of the Unkari’s reach.
“What are you, beasts or gods?” mumbled Ennuturat, observing two women with long matted hair, naked, engaged in a fist fight, which looked as if to the death. A group of women of all ages and shapes gathered around the fighters, heckling and rooting for their side. The tension was palpable, and although Ennuturat was completely safe, he instinctively took a step back, feeling the cold glass wall pressing upon his back.
Kaboom!
A loud sound occurred right behind Ennuturat’s back. Quickly turning around, he saw a giant fierce-looking woman standing behind the glass wall, right in front of him, looking into Ennuturat’s eyes without fear. She was holding a bunch of rocks in her fists.
Kaboom!
The woman threw another rock at the glass wall, with a look on her face: “Come get me, you bastard!”
Ennuturat sprayed a few puffs of color in the air and immediately felt embarrassed for such a public display of emotion, even though he knew humans could not read the color language. But it was a sign of weakness, a momentary irrational fear, and Ennuturat had thus exposed himself to one of his laboratory animals. Silently chastising himself, Ennuturat walked away from the fight scene, deeper into the dome.
Moments later, Commander Farnau Tan reached out to him over the com link and instructed him to meet in the Unkari Circle. The Circle was the area where the Unkari workers of that dome took breaks and collected their thoughts, trying to clear their minds from the scenes of human violence and cruelty. The circle contained a garden with a methane lake in the middle and artificial methane fog floating above, reflecting the light a certain way and creating a bizarre light show. It was a spectacular and calming place, and Ennuturat was happy to spend some time here before he had to return to Earth.
“Greetings, Master,” announced Farnau Tan as he walked into the Circle. “It is an honor to meet with you in person. What brought you here?”
“May the universe open to you, Commander. Soon I am departing for Ear
th to continue the research. However, I found the note about this facility from my Katu counterpart. I was going to read the reports later, but since I am here in person, I wanted to see for myself what he was implementing in my absence.”
“I see, Master. I arrived to my shift early as per demand of my Katu counterpart, because he wanted to make sure I understood the scope of the reservation project before he departs. And I must admit, I’m glad I did. There are some remarkable experiments taking place here. I’d like to show you.”
With these words, Farnau Tan swirled his tentacles in the air a few times, bringing to life a large screen. There he selected a recording of the laboratory experiments. The video demonstrated a laboratory facility with stasis pods. A scientist in a protection suit appeared before the camera and began explaining.
“Stage 3 of the experiment Oscillation Network. Since we are failing at isolating the oscillation gene and making it work outside of human consciousness, we decided to take a bold step and link humans into a multi-conscious network. This was achieved by surgically stitching several pairs of new-born twins into a network of eight subjects. These eight subjects grew together to adulthood, and were fostered to develop telekinetic abilities. For that we used a combination of meditation (or prayer, as some call it), mind-altering chemical stimulation, electric shock and sleep deprivation. All of that was at the previous stages. Now, the subjects are considered to be ready to oscillate in a special field that we created. This field is designed to propagate oscillation between the subjects on a quantum level. We previously were close to achieving individual oscillation cases for small projects like flipping a coin. Now, the eight modified subjects are tasked to change composition of one glass of liquid. To add some artistic touch to this project, we decided to take inspiration from one of the human miracle myths, about turning water into wine. The historic context of this myth, we believe, is from the time when one of the humans went unchecked and developed a functional oscillation capacity. We overlooked the case for long enough that it developed a major following and it was difficult to keep the story under wraps. We just gave up on trying to contain it. Anyway, I digress…”
329 Years Awake Page 13