The Heaviness of Knowing

by Sharolyn G. Brown

  “Hello, Lauren. I’m Graham McKenzie,” he said as he extended his hand when he was within arm’s reach. The armed soldiers who had walked out with him had stopped some distance back, but were still close enough that they were a deterrent from her making any sudden moves.

  “I know who you are, and I don’t care. I want my fiancé and I want to be allowed to leave with him,” Lauren spoke, ignoring his outstretched hand and trying her best to keep her voice from trembling.

  “I know, and we will reunite you with Kyle shortly. But before we can let you leave, we need to talk.”

  Lauren heard a vehicle approaching from behind. When she turned to look at it, she saw that it was Estella and got angry about her situation all over again. She watched the woman get out of her Lexus, and Lauren stared her down while she walked over to where the driver of the Suburban was now standing. In the light of the garage, she took a good look at him.

  He was definitely tall, likely over six feet, with tanned skin, like he mainly worked outside. And he was, as he had appeared in the SUV, a large guy. Not overly muscular like a body builder, but solid like a football player. She tried to remember his face so that if, no, when she got out, he could be described to the police.

  “What do we have to talk about?” Lauren asked angrily, rejoining the conversation.

  “More than you realize. But we can start with Trebor, Dream Travelers, and aliens conquering the Earth.” When he finished his statement, he turned his back to her and walked away.

  The four soldiers who had escorted him out allowed him to pass but remained in their spots. Lauren assumed they were waiting for her to follow Graham. She started walking, and when she was past the quartet, they began following her. She didn’t bother looking back to see who else was following. At this point, she just wanted to get this conversation over with. She was tired of everyone knowing more than her. It put her at a disadvantage. And being disadvantaged would make it hard to figure out how to get her and Kyle out of this situation.

  She followed Graham to a door, past which was an enclosed hallway that led to another door. Though he was ahead of her a small distance, Lauren was still able to see that he stopped and did something before opening the door. When she was close enough, she saw the numbered keypad he must have used to access the door. Another soldier was holding the door open as she walked through and into a controlled entry point that reminded her of the security checkpoint at the airport.

  Graham was on the other side of the security scanners and he wasn’t slowing down or waiting on her. Lauren approached the first scanner that looked like an ordinary metal detector and walked through. It was silent as she walked out of the other side. However, once through, there was another detector. This one looked like a small room with clear doors on each side. The door nearest her opened and she stepped in. The door closed behind her once she was inside.

  “Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and hold your hands above your head,” a voice from unseen speakers in the ceiling commanded.

  Just like the airport, Lauren thought.

  She did as instructed and heard the machine whir for a few seconds. Then the door on the opposite side opened and she stepped out. Once outside of this scanner, she was patted down by a female soldier who was not shy about searching every crevice where she could conceal something.

  Once this was completed, a member of her guard quartet stepped in front of her.

  “This way,” he commanded and started walking.

  Lauren followed. He stopped in front of a door and opened it by placing his left hand on a sensor pad while swiping a card with his right. A beep and a click signaled the door was unlocked and he then pushed it open. When she peered into the room, she saw Kyle sitting at a metal table with his head down on his arms.

  “Oh my God, Kyle,” she said and rushed to his side.

  He raised his head and looked at her as if he was half asleep. Then his eyes brightened with recognition.

  “Lauren! Thank God, Lauren. Are you here to get me?”

  Before she could answer, the door swung closed behind them and she heard the lock click. She grabbed a chair and pulled it close to Kyle, and they embraced. It was a strong hug. Like they were holding on to one another for survival.

  “Kyle, are you okay? Did they hurt you?” She looked him over as best she could but did not see any blood or sign of pain in his expression.

  “I’m okay, I guess. If you overlook the being kidnapped.” He yelled the last part at the closed door. Lauren had no idea if anyone was on the other side of that door, but even if there was, would they be able to hear them from outside?

  “What happened to you? The last time we talked, you were coming to get me for dinner.”

  Kyle rotated his chair so that he now faced her. He held her hands and then began to speak.

  “After we talked, I kept working, trying to catch up on work I’ve missed. Around 5:00, just as I was shutting down, this guy walked into my office and said he was new and wondered if I could help him find the paper to load into the printer because it was out. I said ‘sure’ and started following him to the printer room. I figured we were the only people still in the office because you know most people are gone by 3:30 on Friday.

  “Before we could get to the printer, he turned and pointed a gun at me and told me I was coming with him. I was speechless, but I walked out. I mean, he had a gun. What else was I supposed to do?”

  He angrily pushed the chair away and stood. Now he paced back and forth along the mirrored wall where they were sitting.

  “When we got to the parking garage, I was afraid he would kill me or something right there. Then, all of a sudden, another guy jumps from behind the cars and starts to fight the man with the gun. I ran, but two other guys caught me before I could get back to the elevator. They put something over my face and I passed out. I woke up in this room and no one else has come in before you.”

  He returned to the chair and sat back in it. “Do you have any idea what’s happening? You walked in here and you weren’t drugged. So what is this?”

  “I don’t really know what this is. But I think I have an idea.” Lauren leaned over and took Kyle’s hands. “I think it has to do with why I haven’t been able to sleep.” She paused, unsure what to say to him.

  “Why would your insomnia lead to us being kidnapped?”

  “Because my insomnia, it seems, is tied to an…” She didn’t want to say the word alien. “It’s tied to an impending attack. And they think I know something.”

  “You aren’t making any sense. Why would you know about an attack? An attack by who?”

  “I’m trying to explain this, but it’s not easy. I need to tell you something, and I need you to trust me when I tell you. No matter how farfetched it may sound. Can you do that?”

  “I guess,” he answered. “Why have we been kidnapped?”

  Lauren took a deep breath and squeezed Kyle’s hands. “Apparently, there are beings on a planet named Trebor who want to invade Earth. They’ve found a way to use people, like me, to help them invade. My insomnia was the result of a war between the aliens that want to invade Earth and another group that is fighting them also on Trebor.” She paused to allow him to take this information in.

  He pulled his hands from Lauren’s and stared at her. He opened his mouth, but didn’t say anything. He then stood and paced the floor again.

  “Is that what you really believe? You believe that aliens are using you to invade Earth? And that for some reason that’s led to us being kidnapped?”

  “Yes.” She exhaled loudly.

  There was nothing more she could do or that she could say to Kyle to get him to believe her. So she sat in silence. Eventually someone would come in and talk to them. Until then, she sat at the table and watched him as he stared at her in disbelief.

  They didn’t have to wait long. The room they were in looked like an interrogation room from a television cop show. Complete with nondescript metal table, hardback chairs wi
th worn padding in the seats, and a large mirror running the entire length of the wall opposite the door. It was likely someone had been watching her and Kyle while they talked, because they were only waiting in silence a few minutes before someone entered the room. And that someone was Graham McKenzie.

  Sending in the big guns, Lauren thought as she watched Graham close the door and casually walk into the room in his expensive-looking navy suit.

  He slowly pulled out a chair on the side nearest the door, the side opposite her and Kyle, and sat down. Lauren turned and looked at Kyle to see his reaction to who had just entered the room. If not for the seriousness of the situation, she probably would have laughed. Kyle was staring at Graham with his mouth open in apparent disbelief, much like she probably had been when she first saw Graham, moments ago, in the parking garage.

  “You,” Kyle said and then paused before absentmindedly taking his seat. He looked at Lauren briefly before looking back at Graham.

  “Are you,” Kyle stopped his question before finishing it. “Is that what this is about? You and your job? Is this some sort of corporate espionage?” He was now fully facing Lauren.

  Before she could respond, the door opened again and Estella walked in, faster than Graham had, and took a seat beside him.

  “What’s she doing here?” Kyle snapped.

  No one in the room spoke. Lauren turned and faced Kyle as he stared at her. “I told you what it’s about. But you don’t believe me.”

  “I don’t believe you because you’re talking about aliens. So maybe it would make sense for a psychiatrist to be here for that. But an anti-tech terrorist? How do they even know each other?”

  Lauren turned to face him fully. “How am I supposed to know? Why not question our captors who are sitting across the table from us?” She looked intently at Graham and Estella. “Now, could you please tell us what this is about? Because it’s time I learn what you all seem to know.”

  “Gladly,” Graham said. Estella remained silent beside him. He eyed both Lauren and Kyle before he continued.

  “Kyle, you’re right when you say this is about Lauren. All of this”—Graham extended his arm out and over his head, waving it around the room—“is because of what she was born with the ability to do. As she tried to explain to you, she is one of the few people on Earth who is able to mentally link to a member of an alien race living on a planet named Trebor. Generally speaking, these people are able to link while dreaming. And by ‘few,’ we believe the number of Dreamers on Earth to be in the low millions or less than 1% of the seven billion or so people on the planet.”

  Kyle made a guttural growl through clenched teeth. “Aliens? You want me to believe this is happening because of aliens? Who Lauren can contact? This has to be a trick or something.”

  “A trick?” Lauren said. “Are you so set on not accepting that aliens may be part of the answer that you’d rather believe I’m crazy? And that Estella and Graham McKenzie, an internationally known celebrity, have joined forces to trick us? Really?”

  Kyle crossed his arms, slumped into his chair, and sharply turned his head away from her. Lauren could easily imagine how hard this was for him to hear. But a part of her was disappointed. Though it seemed impossible, she would like to have believed that he would trust her, and not just totally dismiss everything she was saying. Especially since Graham McKenzie had just told the same story. Why would he lie to them?

  Lauren decided to use Kyle’s silence as a chance to get the answers she needed.

  “So there are several million people like me on the planet, and we can communicate with aliens. Continue,” she said to Graham.

  “Yes. We don’t know how long they’ve been communicating with us. There’s some debate among those of us who know about them. As evidence, there are notable historical figures as far back as the 1600’s who say their discoveries or contributions to science were inspired by dreams. Rene Descartes, for example, is one of the earliest people to say his dreams inspired his work. Then there are Nobel Prize winners such as Dr. Frederick Banting, Niels Bohr, and Otto Loewi. Also, people like Dmitri Mendeleev, August Kekulé, Elias Howe, and Mary Shelley. All of them say their works were inspired by dreams.”

  “This is unbelievable. Do you know why these aliens are doing this?” Lauren asked, hoping for a different answer than what she already knew.

  “Yes. They’re doing this because they want to conquer Earth. And you, Lauren, and all of the other Dreamers have been helping them. You are part of the early invasion troops.”

  “But how am I involved? Roxal told me that the microprocessor I am, or rather, I was designing at work was important. But how?”

  “Though I’m sure she told you why, I’ll tell you again. For Kyle’s sake,” Graham responded. “You know the technology adoption rate is getting faster and faster. Once your chip becomes the ‘next big thing’, a chip they designed, in a few years, it’ll be everywhere. Then, as far as we can surmise, a simple hack will likely give them control of every device on this planet.”

  Lauren now sat in silence. It was true. She was assisting with the future defeat of the Earth. Then Lucas came to mind. “So what is your part in all of this? Both you and Estella. And why are we here?” Lauren pointed back and forth between herself and Kyle, who was still sitting silently in his chair.

  “My part,” answered Graham, “is I’m one of the leaders of a group whose purpose is to fight the oncoming invasion. ENL is not the anti-tech terrorist group that we have been characterized as. We make it our business to know about all technological advances. And then, with a team of specialist on our side, we figure out how they can be used against us and make plans to counteract them.”

  “As for me,” said Estella, finally speaking for the first time since she entered the room, “I work with ENL to identify Dreamers. Lauren, I was being totally truthful when I said I study people with large parietal lobes like you. What’s not generally known is that this is one of the primary indicators of a Dreamer. I’ve specialized in identifying Dreamers for over thirty years. As Dr. Jackson told you in our first meeting, I’m quite well known here in the U.S. So when he saw your fMRI and needed a consult, I was the obvious person for him to call.”

  The mention of her neurologist’s name sparked a question. “Is he in on this? Is he out there somewhere but afraid to face me?” Lauren asked, turning to look back into the mirror she assumed was a two-way mirror.

  “No, he has no idea about any of this,” Estella responded.

  Everyone was quiet once again. Lauren was thinking over all that she had heard and figuring out what her next questions would be. She still had no idea what ENL had planned for her and for Kyle. So she wanted to ask all of her questions now while they were answering.

  “What about Lucas? From what he told me today, he is a supporter of the invasion. So are you guys enemies?”

  At the mention of Lucas’ name, Kyle spoke up. “Lucas? As in your boss from work, Lucas?”

  “Yes, Kyle.” Estella answered on Lauren’s behalf. “TomGen Tech is a company that works to support the invasion. Lauren, when you mentioned he was at your home when we were on the phone, I knew what it meant. It meant he and his side were going to make a move on you to recruit you for their team. We were already keeping an eye on Kyle, just as a precaution, and were able to save him when they made a move to kidnap him.”

  “So you used a kidnapping to stop a kidnapping,” was Kyle’s response. No one said anything.

  Lauren continued with her questions. “But why is there a side supporting an invasion? That doesn’t make any sense.”

  “Maybe it doesn’t make sense to you. But to them it does because they believe the advanced aliens from this other world will put them in positions of power after they arrive and conquer the Earth.” Graham had a look of impatience on his face. Like he was tired of explaining the same thing over and over to a child. Lauren ignored the look on his face and continued.

  “But how can they be so sure the Eart
h will be conquered? I understand what you are saying about how my chip can be used against us and, I imagine, these aliens have other plans similar to that in the works. But won’t we see them coming? There’s the Hubble telescope and who knows how many astronomers watching the sky. Once we see their ships or whatever are coming, wouldn’t we have time to prepare for a fight?”

  “If they were coming from outer space, then yes, we’d maybe have time to prepare,” Graham answered. “But these aliens aren’t coming from space. They are coming from a parallel world. Trebor is the ‘Earth’ in their universe. And once the machinery needed to connect our two worlds is completed on this side, they’ll be able to create a doorway and walk through and attack.”

  Lauren stared at Graham and Estella, wondering how much weirder this situation could get.

  CHAPTER 28

  All at once, the soreness of her body, the pain in her head, the urgency of her thirst, and the nausea in her stomach hit Roxal. She had never given much thought to the afterlife; the teachings of The Keepers and their Representatives mainly focused on what they wanted you to do in the here and now. But even though she did not know much about what happened after death, she thought soreness, sickness, and thirst would not be part of it.

  Coming to the conclusion that she was most likely still alive, Roxal opened her eyes to determine where she was. As the light entered her eyes, stabs of pain shot through her head, causing her to quickly close her now watering eyes again. She repeated this process over and over until the pain from the light was nothing more than a mere throbbing instead of a stabbing pain.

  The first thing she saw was the ceiling of the room she was in. She looked to the left, and fear made her nauseous stomach start to flutter. She looked to the right for confirmation and, unfortunately, found it. She reached to the edge of the sleeping unit on which she was lying. She was able to reach the edge on both sides. She rolled over to her left side, hoping to avoid causing any more pain in her still sore right tailbone, and used her upper body to pull herself up to a seated position. She sat with her legs over the left side of this flimsy sleeping unit and her feet touching the floor. And looked around the room she was in again.