“So what will we be doing?”
“Let me think about this,” Krinkle said. He focused his attention on the radio on the bedside table. He startled Nerber when he rushed over to turn up the volume.
The radio reporter said, “Here’s real news. Saying ‘Who cares what the hell it is, we need to reassure the people by rushing out and destroying something’ the president has ordered that a science test unit on the back of the moon be used to destroy a large object thought to be in stationary orbit back there. We’re waiting for an official announcement to get full details. Apparently they’ve sent a shoot-it-down signal but that will take several hours to reach the unit because it has to go by some kind of a relay system. Coming up in sixty seconds, the latest sports scores.”
Krinkle turned the volume down again. “I know what they’re talking about. They soft-landed a big machine on the dark side a year ago to send a strong laser beam into space. Those experiments work better blocked from the noise of energies from earth but for exactly that reason they can’t send it signals directly, they have to be sent and the test results from the equipment relayed back to earth by an orbiting satellite. The fire-the-laser-at-the-big-thing-above-you-but-close signal was sent to the satellite and when it gets to the right position on the back side of the moon it’ll relay the commands. Among other things, that means when the satellite itself won’t be targeted by the laser. That would be the plan but we don’t have a perfect record of not making basic mistakes that mess up what we tried to do.”
“You have the making of suspicions what this big thing is?”
“Yeah, I strongly suspect they’ve spotted your space ship and are going to blast it with one of the most powerful laser beams we’ve ever made. I think that means your way home is gonna go to pieces as soon as that satellite gets to the back side of the moon and relays the command,” Krinkle said.
He could see that this development agitated Nerber but there was no point in denying this bit of reality and no way he, George Krinkle, could do anything to keep that destruction from happening. So he was back to thinking about what to do now.
Chapter 18
At even the best of times Krinkle was a worrier although he sometimes still bravely or foolishly defied Fate and went ahead and did what he was considering. In the present situation he knew full well that the reality if officialdom found him harboring this very foreign visitor would be harsh; what would happen to him if it were a mob who found him with Nerber was beyond anything he was willing to let himself imagine. Yet he still felt driven to protect Nerber for as long as possible.
That meant they couldn’t stay here at the Byde-Hour Wink-Wink Motel for more than today because he didn’t have enough cash to pay for the room. They would also need food and possibly other incidentals so he would need a wad of cash. A credit card paper trail would bring the authorities to whatever door they hid behind once his name and known interests came up and he couldn’t be found to explain himself. He had never wanted that kind of notoriety and now its down side was clearer than ever.
The understandable but hobbling complication was that, as had became clear from the case of parking the car away from their front door here, Nerber wouldn’t agree to be left alone while Krinkle went to find an ATM, do food shopping, or do anything else. The alien had good reason to worry about being thrown to or left for the wolves - or in this case a mob of slobbering wild-eyed crazies intent of killing something because it wasn’t like them.
By Krinkle’s calculation of likelihoods, risks, and consequences they needed to move to a rural area where the isolation would reduce the chances of someone snooping and discovering the visitor. That brought up two immediate considerations. When should they make their move? And was there any way to reduce the chance of Nerber being identified as alien if they had to pass through roadblocks, military or vigilante?
Thinking about that made him realize that his own costume might attract unwanted attention. His attire was in fact so unique and remarkable, many would say bizarre, that it could be used to identify him even from a distance if any alert to locate him were issued. But going around in public without any clothes on would be worse. He had no others with him and Byde-Hour didn’t provide guest bathrobes. Drive-up window food was standard; drive-up window clothing was unheard of. And taking Nerber into any store sent the risk of discovery sky rocketing. He pondered the risk and consequences of being caught raiding a charity clothing donation box and decided against that.
It all came together in the same problem – how to do things without himself or Nerber leaving the relative security and obscurity of the car. Find a drive-up ATM and he could get out his daily maximum which would tide them over for a few days. Maybe he could find a sidewalk sale with suitable clothes on racks so he could sit in the car, point out items and have them brought to him. Neat idea but not likely to happen, starting with the problem of knowing where to look for such a sale. Where would he find clothes that wouldn’t be associated with him and where his own current outfit would seem less remarkable? He needed clothes that no one had seen him in earlier today.
Then it hit him – a costume shop! The people there would expect unusual outfits and would not only have a range of one-size-fits-all outfits for him but also for Nerber, in case those the alien talked to earlier could describe his appearance. A costume shop would give them much of what they needed.
Now that he was thinking along these lines he could envision ways to substantially change Nerber’s appearance so he could even pass through Army check points with little risk of being recognized as worth a closer look. A few items from a hardware store would take care of that.
He startled Nerber who had been watching him and waiting for his decision by saying, “The shopping center we passed back up the road before we crossed the railroad tracks. I saw signs for a Halloween costume shop and a hardware store in there. We’re in business. We change what we look like, hit an ATM, and go hide in the sticks. This is gonna be okay.”
That challenged Wowseyla’s translation skill but at least Nerber got the idea that his protector had ideas for making them more secure.
Those ideas resolved the one of timing. They needed to get to the stores while they were still open and while it was light so they could find a place to stay out in the country since that would become much harder in the dark.
“You’ll need to put on your boots and wig and get the Wilburps thing out of the closet so we can go,” Krinkle said. “The longer we wait, the more crazies there’ll be on the streets. By tomorrow they’ll have lost interest but we can’t stay here that long. Be sure to take everything you brought in away with you.”
Nerber stared at his boots for a long moment, not relishing the thought of squeezing his feet back into them.
“Do you need help with anything?” Krinkle volunteered. He hoped the answer was no since the prospect of getting close to those scaly appendages definitely didn’t excite him but he felt it was a necessary politeness to offer.
Nerber gestured that he could deal with this, then as Krinkle watched in amazement while trying not to stare and gawk, one at a time the Ormelexian distorted his feet in ways not possible with human feet, and inserted them into the boots. He then put his wig and hat on, and attached Wowseyla to the hat.
The two put the now normal seeming limp mattress back to the bed and tossed the bundle of linens on top. He was content to let the maid amuse herself speculating about what did or didn’t happen in here.
Then Nerber opened the closet door and retrieved Wilburps.
When it was released from its state of forced inactivity the zerpy vibrated almost violently as it, or more exactly those remotely controlling it, tested all its systems.
The strongest kinds of protests are presented. The ever patient producers are forced to seriously consider disqualifying you for repeatedly staying outside the effective range of my sensors, Nerber.
“Tell them to jigplink it out their zamtrucks large time, Wilburps. If I am disqualifi
ed there is no reason for me to let you record any further events. I will turn you off to keep interference from you out of my way. With great danger not far away that will spare them the sights and sounds of battle and victoriousness or vanguishment. They will never know. They seem unwilling or unable to move me to safety so what does it matter to me if they neprist oglimp vinx crupsmimp.”
The producers recognize that you are under great stress and are makening not much sensible talk-talk so they are forgiving your mistake and not making you be disqualified. We should make to going on like that was not happening what was recently did.
“Accepted for now. We are on the move.”
The positions of things around this space might mean I missed out on some fighting or chasing or something. You are required by your contract to give a detailed account of these being dones.
“Maybe later.”
It is in your contract term so that is not a maybe.
“The maybe is from what is only possibly for doing if I am living by the end of this revolution of the planet here. I am repeating for the dunkipfeck prisdinks on Whizybeam that I am being chased to be killing me by many of the inhabitants. Dre!”
No need is calling for saying shaming names for others.
“Enough. Concentrate I must, so protest more and silence you I will. Be cautious and alerted.”
Krinkle had watched the alien closely through this. He could only hear one side of it but grasped the general tenor of the get-off-my-case interchange. He was impressed with Nerber’s take-charge ways.
* * *
Outside in the motel parking lot Gorilla and Sparker, the nasty looking dudes that Regimentator had noticed, prowled the area looking for cars with items inside that might be of value to someone else if offered to them for cheap sale. Gorilla got his name from his shambling size and general Do it, don’t think or talk about it attitude. Sparker was small, sly, and often called a feral sleazebag which he didn’t take as a personal slight. The two complimented one another, muscle versus small space access, so they often worked together without being close.
The recent brief but heavy rain shower had left the area wet with a few puddles to avoid. No cars parked by the rooms showed anything worth the risk of breaking into so they were moving on when they spotted Krinkle’s car parked in a vulnerable spot off to the side. It was too old and beaten up to be worth stealing for parts itself but it would only take a minute to check it out. Sometimes the junkers had good stereo systems they could easily be relieved of. Always a market for those.
Krinkle with his backpack and Nerber with Wilburps over his shoulder backpack style came out the back door of their room to find Gorilla and Sparker, their backs to the building, looking in the car windows and considering whether the cartons on the back seat were interesting enough to make opening up the car worth the effort.
“What made to happen out here,” Nerber asked noting the wet pavement and puddles.
“Just the little passing rain shower that we saw out the window. This is the result. It’ll dry before long.”
“I am much interested in your rain since we have no such events on Ormelex.”
“You’d be really fascinated by snow then. Uh oh,” Krinkle said. “Trouble.”
“These are searchening for us?” Nerber asked.
“No, they’re thinking about stealing my car which will leave us stranded here.”
“So they are bad ones who should be defended against, is okay correct?”
“Yeah. Why should I coddle them.”
Sparker glanced over his shoulder as Gorilla prepared to break a back window. He alerted the big man.
Gorilla turned to assess the threat. He smiled and guffawed. These two weirdoes would be no problem. He’d even enjoy roughing them up to teach them not to be so strange. Heck, the one with metallic-looking backpack was even turning his back like he was too scared to look at the would-be thieves.
Then the two were blasted by a force which they couldn’t see and maybe couldn’t hear but could definitely feel. In fact it sent them reeling off to the side wondering if they were dying then and there. The two collapsed in a pile, Gorilla on top of Sparker - which made things very uncomfortable for the small guy.
The pair stayed sprawled there, unable to focus their eyes or their brains, while the others got in the car, Wilburps in the back seat, and drove off.
“Your car has changed its look,” Nerber noted.
“The rain washed off the layers of dust and dirt. It was always like this underneath all that. It rained hard for those few minutes but it didn’t hurt it,” Krinkle assured him.
Only when the car was at the far end of the motel building were the hoods able to sit up and look around. They were dazed and unsure of what had happened or what they had been doing for the last half hour or so. That would present a problem when they felt able to stand because they wouldn’t remember where they had parked their car back in the trailer park so it wouldn’t be associated with them or their nefarious deeds if they committed any of those.
* * *
Regimentator drove back to the motel by way of the trailer park. She had decided to drive around a bit so she would know the general layout of the area in case she decided the best way to proceed was to box Krinkle’s car in some spot where she could get pictures before she let him go. With digital images from her camera and wireless Internet access with her laptop she could be taking bids for those while she continued to follow him around. She had loaded up on grab-and-go sandwiches and snack foods so she felt ready for a stake out.
As she got near the motel parking lot she hesitated. Gorilla and Sparker, obviously confused and not happy with that state of being, stumbled this way. Why risk any distracting encounter with them, although she felt confident she could take them since she would fight dirty as a matter of routine.
When those two moved out of the way she pulled past them. Normally she would have taken a moment to make some disparaging gesture but she was focused on the spot where Krinkle’s car had been parked but now was not.
She drove by the motel at high speed, only to have to slam on the brakes when she got to where the car had been and confirmed that it really was not anywhere in sight. One vehicle was pulling out of sight up the road to the main highway and another one was pulling out of sight at the far end down behind the motel building. Was one of those Krinkle?
Torn by indecision, she screamed and pounded her fists on the steering wheel for a moment which vented enough of her rage to allow her to then function.
She backed and turned sharply so she could see that the vehicle moving onto the road and into the trailer park was a pickup truck. So the one that went up onto the highway was her better bet. But first she drove down in front of the building to scrutinize the cars outside rooms and up behind it to make sure Krinkle’s car wasn’t there.
Then on to the highway as fast as she could go. She drove right over the spot where the would-be thieves had been piled up and we can only speculate whether she would have made any effort to avoid them if they were still there.
* * *
Wary of inviting scrutiny by the police, Krinkle drove at the speed limit and let most of the vehicles pass him. He had been lucky to find no traffic when he got to the wide highway so he easily made the left turn across the traffic lanes. At the traffic light he turned left and retraced his path over the railroad tracks. Now he was getting close to the area where the shopping center he wanted was located but couldn’t remember exactly which of the several local shopping meccas that had been.
He checked his rear-view mirror for police trouble and saw that he had Reggie trouble instead. She was coming up fast in the left lane, maybe not yet realizing who he was.
Something like that was the case. She was almost on top of it but didn’t recognize the washed off car as the one she wanted to find. She strained to see what vehicles were farther ahead that might be her quarry.
Since he wasn’t going fast and had no tailgater at that moment K
rinkle risked slowing a bit more so he could slide down in his seat as much as possible to be less visible to Reggie as she passed without totally sacrificing control. Noting the man’s action Nerber also slid down some in his seat.
Regimentator sped by with only a quick glance in his direction. There was a traffic light a block and a half ahead and she intended to get across that intersection before it changed so she wouldn’t get farther behind the dweeb Krinkle wherever he was ahead.
The very next cross street was small and didn’t have a traffic light. Krinkle was able to make a smooth right turn onto it without any giveaway screeching of brakes or having to fight the strong centripetal force that would be trying to roll the car onto its side.
Partway into the turn he pushed himself back up into his normal position behind the wheel and took a better look at what the new street had to offer. After a short straight drive he turned right into a bank driveway. Continuing to adopt to what he saw ahead, he pulled through the bank’s canopied drive-thru space that was now directly ahead. According to the arrows on the ground he was going the wrong way but no one else was using the space so it worked.
As calmly as he could in case he was being watched, he pulled behind the bank and parked close to the building. Whoever reviewed the security tape might wonder what his maneuver was about but there would be no reason to connect anyone visible in the grainy pictures with an effort to hide an alien being.
“Sorry if I scared you but I saw someone who’d turn you in and I had to avoid her. We’ll just sit here for a few minutes. I don’t expect anyone to be upset about the way we drove in and come to complain.”
Nerber gestured to suggest sliding down low in the seat. “Sitting like that was to make somebody go away?”
“She was coming by on my side in her car. I did that so she couldn’t see my face well as she went by. It’s hard to control the car slid down like that though. I could barely see out the windows. But it was only until she passed us. I hope we won’t see her again – and even more, that she won’t see us.”
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