by A. L Butcher
2489
In a world where crime no longer exists, there are a few of us that still fight for our freedom. We are the outlanders.
The worlds have joined forces, taking sides with aliens to bring about world peace. But for those of us who see the fault in this system, we continue to fight for our right to survive.
The human population has now been ‘chipped.’ In the event that they attempt to break a law, the chip sends a current to the brain and said human becomes nothing more than a vegetable that is carried away to a human storage factory. Since said law and chips were placed, the human population has dropped drastically. Now instead of airplanes and helicopters flying in the skies, spaceships hover everywhere and they are not friendly. As the sun goes down, the ships leave to hover over the other side of the world. For a species that is so smart, they leave us open at night to do what our cause tells us we need to do. Survive.
Humans have exchanged their automobiles for flying cars that burn more energy than before and cause more harm to the atmosphere than the out of date, gasoline-burning vehicles of the past.
But for those of us who stay hidden, we travel by means of animals. Our planet is now overrun with animals brought from other planets. Some friendly, some not. Those that are friendly are better than any mode of transportation. They are quiet, stealthy, and have the ability to read your mind, letting them know what we need them to do. They adapt quickly to the world around them. We use the flipptors. They fly and have an overpowering urge to protect those they bond with. They are now part of our cause. They are now our protectors as well.
We have over one hundred flipptors now, and each of them has a purpose. Some are warriors fighting alongside us, others are protectors for our children, and others are hunters. Searching for food for us. Their heightened sense of smell allows them to find meat a lot quicker and more sufficiently than we could on our own.
* * *
“Kia, you have to be more careful. You don’t know how close you were to getting caught last night.”
“I know, Jona. I know. But we were running low on supplies. I don’t know how much longer we are going to be able to do this. We really need to come up with a way to run a projector, without using electricity.”
“We have tried. There is no way.”
The idea hits me quicker than before. “What if we were able to get our hands on one of the smaller ships? They have beacons, but we could disable it. Then we would have the means to run the projector and we wouldn’t have to worry about food, water, or anything else we need. I just want to sink my teeth into a chicken salad sandwich. Wouldn’t you like to eat something that we haven’t grown for ourselves? I mean, salad is great, potatoes are wonderful, and I love the stew that Mrs. Johnson makes, but come on. I want shrimp. I want something that we don’t get every day and I want Mrs. Johnson to be able to take a damn break. The woman cooks from sun up until sun down and I can’t stand that her hands bleed from peeling potatoes.”
“I’m sorry you feel that way. We all have a part to play. All of us. We don’t have another that can take your place if you are caught. So the answer is no. And just so you know, don’t you dare say a word to Mrs. Johnson. I talked with her and she enjoys feeling like she is contributing. If we take that from her, she will find something else. Keep your mouth shut.”
It isn’t very often that any of us have witnessed the wrath of Jona. Watching him become upset is like wishing for the apocalypse to hit. But I feel so strongly about this. Mrs. Johnson is in her eighties, she won’t be with us much longer. I don’t want her slaving away her last few days. I can’t allow this anymore. I won’t allow the few small children we have here to be neglected of a childhood. I can do this and I will do this.
The sun is down, and I haven’t heard the first person move. I know this is the only night I stand a chance of getting out of here unseen. Rolling off of my cot, I creep down the cave walls. I know the risk I am taking by going out alone, but no one will go with me without Jona’s okay. I tried to convince him, I did, but he and I don’t always see eye to eye. My hand smoothes down the dirt walls. It’s not really a cave. They are tunnels that we have dug and then slowly, piece by piece, built an underground home. It took years for this to be accomplished. I am twenty three now, and I remember the men working all night long, digging, shoveling and pulling out large pieces of rock. I had asked them once: why not just build down into the ground? They had just smiled.
I realize now why they chose to build under the north mountain. The mountains are thick with lead and we can’t be tracked by any heat seekers. Unless we are followed in, we are safe here. Safe, but we have nothing.
I take one last look as I climb out of the opening. As always, I blow a kiss back down. It’s my way of saying goodbye and I love you all in the event I don’t make it back.
I close the opening and walk about a hundred yards away. I can’t take the chance of anyone hearing me call for Buua. She is my flipptor. She is beautiful in multiple bright colors. I didn’t choose her name. Little Andy had. His favorite color being blue, he named her Buua after the vibrant shades of blue that circle her ears.
I whistle and on cue, here she comes. Flying silently through the air, she lands in front of me without even a sound at touchdown.
“Good girl,” I say and rub my hand down her neck. She towers over me, but when she comes to me, she always kneels on one knee. I feel honored to have her, because it is I that should be kneeling in front of her. She is marvelous and the most loyal creature that I have ever been gracious enough to call mine. Little does she know, it’s her that owns me.
We fly over the top of the plant that I know I have to gain entry into. It doesn’t seem like it is going to take me long to get in and out. Since the worlds have combined forces, there are no longer night shifts. No one is up at night. They climb into their sleepers and with a small amount of gas being released, it is lights out for everyone.
“Take me down easy, girl,” I say, pulling back the reins. She does and I give her a quick send off. I know when I get home, she will meet me there. I walk into the building and go straight for the back. I know they keep the ships back there. It shouldn’t be hard to grab one. I have never flown one before, but intelligence tells us that it’s easier than riding a flipptor, and that is pretty damn easy.
I spot a holding bay. I just need the small one in the back. I climb up inside of it without any problems. I am surprised by the inside. I thought it would be dark and alien-like, but it’s not. It’s white and the walls are padded. I make my way to the front, or what I believe is the front.
There is one padded seat and the entire front of the ship is glass, giving a one hundred eighty degree view.
With a deep breath, I take my seat. The controls are easy. I see the hand control and the sensors there. I have heard this only hurts for a moment when the ship pierces your hand and enters your mind. That is how you control it. I am about to find out.
My fingers tremble as I bring my hand down and it is immediately like a knife pricking in several places and I tense. The pain isn’t the worst that I have ever felt, but it isn’t something that I would do on a daily basis.
After a few seconds, the pain is gone and the ship lights up. Slowly beginning to move, it knows exactly what I want to do and where I want to go, and it begins our flight.
I had imagined what the ship would sound like on the inside, but to my amazement, it is silent. When they fly over during the day, even in the deepest area of our home, we can hear the roaring of a whistle, but inside, I hear nothing.
The spaceship flies higher into the sky and it is marvelous. The sky is clear and the stars are shining bright. It’s amazing. A once in my life opportunity and I have never been more at peace.
I hear a click behind me and turn, feeling the blow to my head. I fall, losing my connection with the ship. The room is spinning and I know that the ship is falling as well. This is it, I think. This is how I am going to die.
* * *
I wake with a raging migraine and grab my head.
“Hold still.” It’s a deep voice, a warning voice.
I turn my head, glaring up at the person speaking to me. I expect to see a man because of his voice, but it’s not. It’s one of them.
Its skin is dark, shiny grey. Its eyes are large with black pupils. No, not pupils, something else. There is no nose or mouth, so how was he talking to me? This alien is large and muscular, with large arms and hands. No, not hands, they are… The room spins again and everything goes dark, but I can hear the alien talking.
“Damn it!” it curses. I can’t believe that it is cursing.
I feel my body being lifted and it’s almost effortless, graceful even. I smell a gas and shake my head. My eyes open. My heart is racing and, sure enough, this alien is holding me with a mask over my face. I hit the mask, seeing it fall to the floor, and the alien growls at me, tossing me back down on the soft, smooth bench.
It begins pacing and throwing its hands up in the air. I don’t know how, but as I look to the front of the ship, we are hovering high above earth. I stand and its hand—for lack of knowing what it really is—pushes me back down.
It leans down, face to face with me. “What are you doing on my ship?” it asks, but it’s like it’s forced, as if it is trying to hold on to its temper.
“How are you talking to me? You have no mouth.”
“Answer my question, human,” it yells.
“My name is not human, ALIEN, it is Kia!” I scream back.
It reaches out with both hands and grips my head, and then quickly lets go. Leaving me.
I hear things moving and then I hear grumbling. The door opens and out walks him. A man. He is tall, muscular, dark hair, brown eyes, a five o’clock shadow, perfect lips, a dimple in his chin. He is naked and I turn my head. I can feel heat rising in my cheeks. I have never seen a man naked.
I hear him grunt and then, “I am covered.”
I turn and look at him. He is dressed with a red towel around his waist.
“What are you doing here? You have to get out of here. There is an alien in the back,” I warn him. I should be up, moving, trying to hide, or find a weapon, and yet I am completely frozen to my seat.
He begins laughing, and if we were in a different place, I might have enjoyed that sound.
“I am Rone. I sensed a human in our ships and flashed down, expecting to find a male human. Why are you here?”
“That’s none of your business.”
“It is, as you are on my ship.”
“What, do you own this ship?”
“I own all of these ships. I own this world. I am leader of the worlds and it would do you well to keep your mouth shut and only open it to answer my questions.”
“Not going to happen. Just land this damn thing and I will leave.”
“Why do you want my ship?”
“That’s none of your business.”
“You can answer me or I will read you.”
“Then read away, because I will not tell you anything.”
His hands almost instantly wrap around my head and I feel it. Pain that is almost indescribable. From the point of contact to the deepest part of my brain, it feels like there are sharp nails scratching their way through my skin, deeper and then deeper still. I can’t scream, I can’t breathe, I can’t do anything except hope it doesn’t last long.
His hands release and I gasp for air. The pain is instantly gone. I stare up at him and he has this knowing glare on his face. He knows what I am thinking. I am secretly wondering if I kick him in the balls if he will drop to his knees and feel the slightest comparison to the pain that I just felt.
“I am a lot stronger and faster than you, human. It wouldn’t be wise.”
“Let me go,” I say, clenching my teeth.
“No. You will be taken to the others. Now sit there and shut up or I will move you to holding.”
He walks away, taking the pilot’s seat. I watch as he doesn’t even flinch as his hand is placed into the activator. I am doing what I do best, assuming he doesn’t feel pain like he does. But then, I assumed that this would be a piece of cake as well.
His back remains towards me and I wonder if there is anything I can hit him over the head with, knock him out and then, of course, take over the ship and get the hell out of here.
“I wouldn’t,” he says.
“How are you in my head?”
“I have linked with you. I can link with many of your kind and process your thoughts simultaneously. We are a much more complex species than you. Now sit there, be good, and don’t move, or you will regret it.”
“Fuck you!” I scream, and immediately his shoulders tense and the ship slows to a hover. He moves towards me, just as quick as he had entered my head.
“I warned you.” He waves his hand over my face and a greenish yellow gas appears. The room begins to blur. I can’t hold my eyes open.
“You poisoned me,” I mumble.
“No. Sleep.” I hear him before I succumb to the power of the chemical restraint.
* * *
My eyes open, squinting at the bright light above me. I try to sit up, but I cannot. I am bound to whatever it is that I am now on.
“I was beginning to wonder if you would wake up. Nocpo had a lasting effect on you. Most likely because you suffer from a lack of sleep. Another reason your species has a lack of…intelligence. Your brains still work if you are exhausted.”
“What do you care? Aren’t you going to just kill me? Get it over with already.”
He comes into my view now, standing tall, looking down at me. With the light behind him, my first thought is, ‘oh my god, he is a god.’ But then, I know he isn’t.
“We do not kill those that we bring here. We teach.”
“Really? You teach us what? Your ways. What about ours? Have you ever stepped into our shoes and witnessed our day to day struggles? No, didn’t think so.” I knew he hasn’t. None of the alien races have.
“Am I not in your shoes now? I have morphed my body into a shape that you should not fear. One that is familiar to you and yet I can sense your fear, and then something else.”
Shit! “Looking like a man and living like a man are two very different things.”
I see the look of questioning and realization at the same time in his eyes. He knows I am right. I have scored a point against an alien. I want to high five, but at the same time, I am still strapped down to this freaking cold-ass table.
“If I let you up, will you give me your word that you will stay by my side while I show you around?”
I roll my eyes. “Yeah, I get it.”
The binding instantly falls from me and I sit up quickly, noticing a sore spot on my neck. I reach up and I can feel it. He has chipped me.
“You son of a bitch. Take it out now,” I say, standing chest to chest with him.
“No. The chip cannot be removed. It is linked with your brain now. Lose the link, lose your life. The choice is yours. Follow me.” He turns, walking away from me and I am glad he has. Tears flood my eyes. Now that I have been chipped, I cannot return home. Everyone I know and love would be placed in jeopardy. I have just lost everything.
I don’t look around as he leads me. My eyes stay on my toes. My toes? He has taken my boots, probably to keep me from running quickly across the ground. Is there even ground here? The floor is one solid, black piece of material. Perfectly smooth and surprisingly clean. It’s not like the flooring I am used to. There is not a speck of dirt anywhere, where mine is nothing but dirt. Or mine was nothing but dirt.
I silently wipe away the tear that has now left my eye. I want to die. My life is over. I am nothing more than a prisoner to the aliens that I despise the most in this world. The ones that have taken everything that used to be great and turned it into a controlling way of life that took every ounce of free will from those that are now chipped. Like me. My life is over. I am a ticking time bomb entrapped in a world I wish d
idn’t exist.
“I can feel your anger and sense your pain. It is not without cause, but what is done is done.”
I don’t respond. He stops abruptly and opens a door. I know that we have made several turns along the way, but I didn’t pay attention.
“Here are your quarters. You will find that everything you need is available to you. I will see you shortly. I would suggest that you sleep while you can.” With that he turns, leaving me.
I walk in and I am surprised. Tears fill my eyes again. This is the room from my imagination. The one that I have dreamed and thought of so often. Little Bree. She lost her mother a few months ago and, at the age of four, will more than likely forget so many precious things. Everyone has taken her in, but I want so much more for her. This is the bedroom that I have imagined for her.
The walls are a light pink with white crown molding. The bed is a full size princess bed with a white and pink comforter on it. At the foot of the bed lays a purple area rug. Throw pillows on the bed are purple. Pictures of butterflies hang on the walls. This is the room I only wish she could have. It’s nothing in comparison to having her mother, but maybe it could give her some happy memories to cherish forever. Or those were my thoughts. I know that this room will only exist here and she will never be able to sleep one night in it.
I collapse onto the bed, crying and drowning in my own misery. I should have listened to Jona. I shouldn’t have tried to complete this mission on my own. I should have said goodbye to Bree, to Jona, and to Mrs. Johnson. So many regrets.
* * *
The door slides open and in comes an alien. It is trying to communicate with me. It moves to a door in my cabin that I have yet to open. Why should I? It’s not like this is permanent, or that I even want to be here.
The alien pulls free a white robe-like piece of fabric, tossing it on the bed.
“Dress.” This alien is female. I can tell. Her voice is soft, almost sweet even.
“I don’t want to,” I say.