And What of Earth?

by Stuart Collings

  “C’mon Tiger,” her dad said, gently pulling on her arm. “I’ve got to get you into bed. You have more training to do tomorrow, and another meeting with the Emperor.” They both wished Candy a good night and walked down Thorn to their home.

  “No!” Candy hissed under her breath, once they were out of range. “No! I’m the one who was supposed to be successful. I’m the one who was supposed to be famous. I should be the one who is the princess. Not some mutant freak! I was always going to be a princess. If I can’t have it, no one can.” She gritted her teeth then smiled a malevolent smile. “Well, I know just who I need to talk to to stop this. I can get him to do just about anything.” A wicked sneer appeared on her face. “Time to use my weapon,” she told herself, as she strutted over to Thicket to pay a visit.

  Though she was exhausted, sleep didn’t come easily to Jennifer, nor did it last long. In the predawn hours, she quietly slipped out of bed and into the bathroom, and looked out the window that overlooked Thorn. Just up the street, she saw two Wakira, one male and one female, wandering down the street, each holding some sort of rifle-type weapon. It annoyed her that she had been surprised that the aliens had been doing armed foot patrols during the overnight hours. For the first time since they had arrived, Jennifer felt that she was living in occupied territory. That feeling made it even harder for her to fall back to sleep.

  Chapter 19

  She got up just after dawn. My last full day on Earth, she reminded herself. Her dad was still asleep, so she sat on the front step and watched the shadows on the houses opposite retreat as the sun came up behind her. “How did I miss this?” she wondered aloud. Songs of birds filled the air — songs that she had never really noticed before now. The scent of her mom’s lilac bush. Pleasures she never realized she had until it was too late. The beauty turned into sadness. She went back inside before the sadness turned into despair.

  The sound of the food cooking in the fry pan finally roused Gerry Hodges out of bed and upstairs from his room in the basement. “Mornin’ Tiger,” he said then kissed her gently on her cheek.

  “Morning Dad. I have capitulated and decided to cook us some French toast for breakfast.”

  He smiled at his daughter. “My favorite.” He squeezed in between Jennifer and the counter, and pulled out two plates, and the requisite cutlery. After setting them on the table, he went to the small fridge and got the syrup. They ate in silence.

  Jennifer did the clean up for a change, then dressed in slacks and a short-sleeve top. She realized that the symbiote would show on her arms, but she no longer cared. If it produced gossip, she’d be gone before the gossip had any chance to reach her ears. If the aliens were planning on destroying the planet, then it wouldn’t really matter much anyways.

  She told her dad that she was going to take one last walk around the town, and headed out the basement walkout. She looked for Pokaifashta as she walked down the gravel slope but couldn’t see her. “She must be sleeping,” she told herself. She wasn’t going to deprive her friend of that much needed relief. She greeted several of the aliens as she walked past the rear of the ship and down the hill where she had taken Myka the evening of that first full day, on the way to the school. It was now mid-August. Ten years ago, she would’ve been impatiently waiting for the school year to start. Impatient to get it over and done with so she could start high school the following year. So she could actually get to learn new stuff.

  She hopped off the retaining wall and landed easily on the ground right next to the high school. Wading through the tall grass, she headed onto Emerald and walked to the barrier down at the bottom of the street. Three males were there. On the other side, she could see four soldiers standing guard, just a dozen feet from the Rock. She greeted the males and told them that she was going to exit onto the rocky beach.

  Because these soldiers had never experienced anyone coming through the barrier, she pushed one hand through and waved at them, then pushed her second hand through. They straightened but did not point their weapons in her direction. “Hi boys. I’m coming out,” she said, as soon as her head had cleared the barrier. Once they recognized her, they stood at attention. As she pushed the rest of the way through, she told them to relax, that she was an officer in name only.

  Ahead lay the Rock. The glacial erratic had been the center of activity for the teens in Jewel for as long as people could remember. Scaling the Rock was a rite of passage for the youth of the small town. Some tried too soon, before they were strong enough and long-legged enough to ever be successful. Sprained muscles and broken bones were usually the result. She strode purposefully towards it. “I haven’t climbed this baby in almost 6 years,” she told the soldiers (and the aliens) behind her. There were several different “paths” up it — series of crevices where a teen could stick fingers in which to grab hold, and flat non-vertical spots where rubber-soled shoes could find purchase. She decided on the so-called “southern” path — not the hardest, but certainly not the easiest. “Let’s see if I can still do this.”

  Physical memory helped her with her climb. She instinctively knew where to grab hold, where to brace her knee or her foot, and how to pull up and reach for the next handhold. As she was climbing, one of the Wakira stepped through the barrier and asked her to come down. She paused her climb, looked over her shoulder and told him that there was nothing to worry about. He offered to get a personal antigrav device to help her up. She snorted and asked him what would the point of climbing the Rock be, if she used an antigravity device. A handful of seconds later, and she was at the top.

  She stood and looked around. Of course, because of the barrier, she couldn’t see the school, the stadium or her house, but it still felt exhilarating to stand on the top and to look around. So many hours spent sitting on top — thinking, dreaming, wondering. A cool breeze continued to blow down the ravine from the northeast. A cooler drier airmass would be moving in in a day or two. The Wakira were going to miss out on the less-oppressive weather.

  After turning slowly around to take in the views, she got down onto her bottom and prepared for her descent. The soldiers looked up at her in admiration of some kind — do they actually think that I’m desirable? she asked herself — while the lone Wakiran male looked up in worry. Might as well put on a show, she decided.

  She descended crab-like, with her back to the Rock, placing her feet blindly into little divots and flat spots that she knew were there. She was still almost seven feet off the ground when she found the perfect spot. Two protuberances on which to place her feet. Once she felt that her footing was secure, she carefully arched her back and gently pulled herself upright, balanced on those two bumps, each scarcely bigger than a fist. She smiled at the men. “Let’s see if I can still do a clean dismount.”

  “Mother?” she heard in Wakiran. “Please wait. I will get help.”

  “No,” she replied. “There is no need.” Switching to English, she added, “I haven’t felt this alive in years.” She closed her eyes and visualized the dismount. Nothing fancy — she was out of practice. But something showy. Something these guys would remember her by. Deep breath. Arms back. Swing them forward, and spring up and outward.

  Five sets of eyes (plus two more behind the barrier) watched as she flew up and out from the Rock, twisted and did a blind layout to a perfect landing. She held her arms out as her feet touched the flat stones of the beach, whooped and hopped and turned to face the others. “That, males, is how you dismount the Rock!” The soldiers applauded. The sentry looked relieved.

  “The name is Hodges, gentlemen. Jenn Hodges. Too tall to be a gymnast, but too good to stop.” She went over to the sentry and caressed his cheek. “I was in no danger, my son,” she told him. “But I thank you for your concern. You may go back behind the barrier. I will be heading into town by way of Twin Elm Road.” She went back to the soldiers. “Whatever you do, don’t go all macho on the Rock. It has broken many a bone, and as far as I know, 4 people have died in falls from that thing. And
don’t try a dismount like I just did, unless you have years of experience as a gymnast. Please.” With that, she wandered north along the beach to where Twin Elm finally reached the bottom of the ravine.

  The walk up Twin Elm seemed longer than she remembered. She had to walk along the beach almost a half-mile to where the street reached the floor of the ravine, then she had to walk back towards the Rock uphill, on the leg where Tony the skateboarder had face-planted not quite two weeks earlier. Then the walk around the perimeter of the lower switchback, and another climb up to the blind switchback, where the John Doe had gone airborne with his car. She paused once she got to that point in the climb. With the guardrail and warning signs long since gone in an accident that predated her return to town, she could see why Mr. Doe had thought that the road went straight. Down on the ravine floor, the road seemed to be in perfect alignment with this part of Twin Elm. An optical illusion made it seem that you just had to crest a mound in the road to see the rest of the road’s descent down to the bottom. He never stood a chance.

  The last leg up was steep and taxed her breath somewhat. She once again paused once she had reached the end of her climb and was able to look along Twin Elm into what she euphemistically called ‘Downtown Jewel’. Though it wasn’t quite noon, she decided to stop at the Burger Shack to have her last Terran-style meal. Mrs. Summers didn’t even bother asking her what she wanted to have, and her double-patty and cheese fries were ready in a couple of minutes.

  She sat on the white-painted rock that sat at the near corner of the small parking area for the Shack and ate her lunch. Some high cirrus clouds had moved in and the cool breeze from the northeast had picked up a little. As usual, there was almost no traffic in town — few in Jewel had the money to pay for gasoline or insurance. Many had sold their vehicles years ago to try and make ends meet. As she ate, she looked around. A handful of people were walking around Twin Elm on the other side of Main, near the bank and the last store in town. As an Army patrol drove by, they saluted and she waved back at them. I thought they weren’t supposed to salute if I wasn’t in uniform? she thought.

  The meal was done before she had even realized it. She felt cheated — she had hoped to savor every mouthful, to commit the entire experience to memory, so she could recall it at will decades from now when she wanted to remember what the Earth had been like. What being human had been like.

  John Summers showed up with Billy before she had a chance to discard the paper wrappers. He was going to pick up Barb’s lunch and bring it to her before returning to give his mother a rest. Jennifer asked him to tell Barb that she’d be in to see her in about 30 minutes.

  She cut through the back of the Shack, through the empty lot that supposedly would eventually become #7 Topaz Street, if the official municipal plan was ever going to come to fruition. She walked along Topaz, past the buildings that housed the army’s offices, all the way to Thistle, then headed south. To her right, on the western side of Thistle lay the industrial park. Empty of buildings except for one small factory, boarded up and abandoned. She crossed Twin Elm, and Amethyst and Turquoise, then turned left onto Ruby. Then back three blocks to Nettle and left again, so she could walk past Barb’s house. She fought hard to hold the tears back. This small town that she had hated for so many years — it turned out that she secretly loved it. Even the abandoned houses and storefronts. She loved every square inch of the place. Why hadn’t she noticed this sooner?

  Back up to Twin Elm, she turned left and hit the ATM at the bank one last time. She pulled out the daily limit and continued down the street to the All-in-One store. There, she bought as much tinned and packaged food as she could carry. She couldn’t buy 40 years of food for her dad, but at least she could cover the first two weeks. She would leave the rest of the cash out on the kitchen table, in case he forgot her PIN number and would be too embarrassed to have it changed.

  Then the walk to the clinic. She was dreading this. Barb was always emotional. How was Jennifer going to be able to keep herself from crying uncontrollably along with her friend? She prayed for strength, for peace, and for the farewell to not turn into an ocean of tears. Refusing to look into the clinic, she used her butt to push open the door.

  “Hey Barb, how —?” She stopped. Dozens of people were there, along with a cake. Bethy looked guilty. “Captain Bratten, what have you done?”

  “You deserve a proper goodbye,” she told her. “It wouldn’t have been much of a party, if it were just us three. So, I sorta let people know that you were leaving town tomorrow. The rest just happened.” She smiled mischievously.

  David Stone took the bags from her hands and Amelia steered her over to the refreshments. Before Jennifer’s arrival, Bethy had told the people that Jennifer was “going to be with the mucky-mucks advising them on how to deal with aliens”. Which, technically, was true, if ‘mucky-mucks’ meant the Emperor and the general staff, and ‘dealing with aliens’ meant defending the Empire from outside attacks. Jennifer decided to not correct the misunderstanding it caused.

  By the time 2:30 rolled around, the last of the guests had left, and just the three of them remained. Barb let Jennifer sit in the ‘perch’ one last time as they talked about the things that had happened to them over the last 16 months. At about 3:15, they heard a voice say “Mother. I’ve been ordered to tell you that the launch will take place in 3-tenths.”

  Barb and Bethy looked around. Jennifer smiled, and gently turned them to face the clock and the microscopic device just above it. “You talk! I wondered if it was 2-way or not. Ladies, wave to the nice male who is in the ship hovering overhead. That is where you are, isn’t it?”

  “Yes Mother.”

  “What’s going on?” Bethy asked.

  “Remember the night you thought you fell asleep? One or more Wakira descended from the ship overhead, stunned you through the window, and installed a tiny little device just above the clock. I didn’t know anything about it beforehand, and I remember expressing my displeasure that you had been stunned. Perhaps I should have let you know about it, but, then again, you never told me about the device the army installed in the corner of the small window that overlooks Twin Elm.”

  “You knew about that?” Barb asked, looking guilty.

  “I guessed.” She turned to face the clock again. “I thank you male. If I remember correctly, 3-tenths refers to 3-tenths of 1-tenth of a standard day. A little over 40 minutes, I think.”

  “Yes Mother. It is about 40 of your minutes.”

  It was then that Jennifer’s eyes started tearing up yet again. “So what happens, ladies? To you, I mean.”

  Barb started weeping. Bethy answered “I come in to do my shift tonight, as usual. Barb comes in tomorrow morning, again, as usual. Once the ships leave, the army brings in a small portable hospital. They’re going to set it up across the street where the community center used to be. Two surgeons, three additional nurses and 3 corpsmen. The people in this town will have the best medical care in all of Nebraska.”

  “But what about the clinic? I mean, the building and everything?”

  Barb tried to answer but couldn’t. “There’s talk of preserving everything south of Twin Elm and east of Main, including the clinic. It’ll be a tourist attraction. The Place We Befriended Aliens, or something. I was never into that science-fiction stuff.”

  They stood silently, afraid to spoil the bittersweet moment. “I’m going to miss this place. And you two. Thank you for taking me in when I came back to look after my dad. I don’t know how we would have managed if you hadn’t forced Mrs. Brown to hire me on the spot. My savings would have lasted about another 3 weeks, I think.”

  They gathered together in front of the counter for one last group hug. “Like I told Bethy, if there is some way of establishing 2-way contact between Jewel and the palace, I’ll make it happen. It might have to wait until I’m appointed the new Mother, but it will happen. I will speak to both of you again. That’s my promise.” She squeezed between the two and picked up
the toy dog. Holding it up to her face, she said “You take care of mommy and Auntie Bethy for me, okay Snuffers?” Then, in that childlike voice she used just a few days earlier, she said “I will, Auntie Jenny. I’ll keep them in line for you.” She handed the dog to Barb, and sniffed back some tears. “I think you’ll need Snuffy more than I will.”

  She grabbed the shopping bags and backed towards the door. “I pray you both will live long and happy lives. I —.” Her lower lip trembled. She hesitated, then hurried out the door, crying.

  Myka, Poke and Jennifer watched the launch from Myka’s office. They tapped into a network news feed and listened to the commentary while waiting for the countdown to hit zero. One of the alien ships gave a bird’s eye view of the assent, and shared it with the Terran broadcasters. All-in-all, it seemed anticlimactic to Jennifer. After the show ended, she doffed her Terran clothes and got last second instructions from the other two prior to her private meal with the Emperor.

  The interview (for that was what it was) seemed to last forever. The Emperor would ask questions between bites of the spartan Wakiran meal. Jennifer tried to impress upon the Emperor that she was keenly aware of how important her future role would be, and how much more difficult it would be for her because she was not one of them. She tried to give in-depth answers to his queries, expanding on what could have been simple ones, to show that she understood the interrelationships between the various facets of her upcoming responsibilities. Not just defense. Not just health. Not just welfare. Not just education. Not just colonization, but how creating new colonies would impact defense needs. How the growth spurt to the population as a whole (and the economy as a whole) from new colonies would impact education needs, healthcare needs. And how it, in turn by increasing tax revenue, would allow an increase in defence spending 30 years into the future. He seemed pleased that she was able to grasp the big picture (thanks to Pokaifashta’s teaching). Many of his fears and concerns seemed to be assuaged by their long conversation.