by Nick Braker
“Pinnacle my ass,” Brandon said to Weston and Greg.
Chapter 6
ALARA RETURNS TO EARTH
Earth - Paris, France
May 26, 1987
Alara cleaned the optics on her binoculars. She had smudged the lens with grease from the cheeseburgers and fries she’d ordered. Vapory tendrils of steam rose from the overly salted, deep fried potato sticks. She ordered her cheeseburgers with pickle only to ensure they were fresh. The steamy aroma of beef, bread and pickle smelled wonderful. It was something, so far, she had not gotten tired of, not in the least.
The French people certainly understood comfort with a touch of excess. The penthouse of this hotel room was decorated with numerous collections of furniture from the renaissance period. She had already verified that the pieces were not authentic but the hotel had spent a great deal of time and money creating that ambiance for their eclectic guests. She was not one of them. She was here because this hotel was in direct line of sight to a local church just over 2.1 miles away. She stared through her binoculars again. The built-in electronics extracted more than the spectrum of visible light and the image it created gave her far more information than current Earth technology could provide.
The Kron were already here on Earth. While she waited for the signs of their activity, her mind parsed through other subjects, one of which was Earth food.
Though some children enjoyed cheeseburgers and fries as staples during their childhood, Alara had never been given the choice during hers. It was something her father had mandated. Of course, it wouldn’t be fair to suggest abuse had occurred, he simply made sure she received the best nutrition an adoptive parent could offer. Things were different now. He had placed Alara on Earth just over three weeks ago, her first time back since birth, to begin the mission she had trained for since the age of two months. He had told her she held the distinction of being the youngest human to ever receive such training. As a result, she was the most advanced human her age.
Practically at birth, they had changed her mental and physical genetic makeup from what humans would consider above average to a level exceeding exceptional. The abilities they had ingrained in her would play an important part in the salvation of Earth. Alara knew father had done his best and would continue to do so. He also warned her that nothing could be guaranteed and Earth could fall with or without her help. For example, several highly probable timelines could occur that would leave Earth a cinder or completely irradiated, circling its star for millions of years with little chance of life occurring here again. She had to ensure those events did not happen and manipulate events so the timeline where Asher saves Earth occurs.
She would play her part. She would stop Kron from their ridiculous crusade of destroying all beings they felt could pose a future threat. To Kron, Earth’s threat comes from their newly discovered understanding and eventual advancement of wormhole technology. Earth’s discovery of nuclear fusion in 1929 gave promises ranging from unlimited energy to unlimited destruction. Nuclear fusion was the foundation to wormhole technology and now humans were actively creating their first portal. Unknown to humans, the advancement also gave the promise of an attack from an alien race they had no way to detect, let alone avoid.
She took several bites of her burgers and fries, chewing slowly, savoring the taste. It was not the best source of nutrition and father had warned her on numerous occasions not to eat fast food but her humanity was something even her father’s best engineering minds could not understand. They had tried to learn about humanity directly with her for 22.9 years and indirectly with the rest of humanity for 52.2 years.
She snickered, taking another bite.
She had avoided the subject of her first cheeseburger with him, knowing it would be one of her first stops on Earth. He likely knew it would be. He wouldn’t be good at his job if he couldn’t predict such a simple action on her part, which brought her back to her conundrum.
Alara realized early her father had more trouble with her, or more precisely, with humanity than any other race of beings in the universe, with the exception of Kron perhaps. Their engineers could quantify and classify other races quite easily but, when it came to humanity, their algorithms failed to accurately predict future timelines. The Aliri were always scrambling to adjust to new timelines presented to them as human events unfolded, changing their direction quickly.
For example, Josephina, or Seph as she now liked to be called, should have fallen in love with Weston. Their computer system had easily determined their compatibility and, based on events that were to occur, Weston’s kind and giving personality would have attracted Seph to him at the PDD party. That wasn’t going to happen now because of such a simple action on Greg’s part. Alara knew that Seph did not like how men reacted to her presence. She did not like being stared at and only Greg had avoided it. Greg saw Seph initially but he wanted to better understand where he had gone wrong with the directions, so his focus was elsewhere.
Greg should have ogled Seph, triggering a set of events that would put Weston in line as Seph’s love interest. Why had Greg been so involved with a set of directions that would dramatically change his predicted behavior? Had the computer system anticipated Greg’s distracted focus? Yes, but the chance of him deviating from that behavioral norm was astronomically small and yet he did. No other species had caused this much trouble. Even Seph, fifteen years before had been an unusual case. She had fought to stay conscious more than the other three and Alara had to intervene during the augmentation process to keep her calm. It would have been cruel to have done otherwise.
Earth - Massachusetts
Greg pointed ahead at the gas station that was indicated on the directions.
“There it is. That gas station is the one mentioned in the directions. Okay, just two more miles and it should be on the right.”
Asher pulled the Camaro up to the intersection and stopped for the red light. Brandon craned his neck out the side window wanting to match their location to the directions he remembered. Greg shook his head at Brandon.
“Hold on there, Mile Marker Announcer. You just sit back and relax. We’re almost there and then you can do what you do best, start the party and keep us entertained with your wit and banter. Other than that, we pretty much don’t want to hear from you.”
Brandon kept looking anyway, not speaking. He didn’t even turn around to give Greg his one finger salute.
“Okay, I guess just your wit then.... Wait, we are talking about Brandon.” Greg said, pausing. “What do you do?”
Greg and Asher laughed. Weston joined in when Brandon finally showed Greg what he thought of him, again. The light turned green and three minutes later Asher pulled the car into a blacktop parking lot at Greg’s direction.
“Yep, this is the place,” Greg said.
Each of them climbed out of the car and walked toward the sorority building. The sign clearly indicated this was Pi Delta Delta and music could be heard coming from inside. The dark blue Ford truck that Jules had mentioned in the directions sat out front. The lot had three of ten spots still unoccupied with lampposts illuminating the area. The single story building in front of them was elaborate in design and aesthetics but Asher couldn’t help feeling it didn’t quite look like a sorority. Ahead of them on the left, attached to the sorority building, was a four car garage. All four garage doors were up and each spot had a vehicle in it. The first, left-most bay, contained a Chevrolet Nova with a custom mint green paint job. It was the only vehicle parked with the rear end in first. Next was a bright yellow Lamborghini Countach. The exterior sparkled from the lampposts’ light. Next was a dark red Chevrolet Corsica and, parked in the final spot, was a shiny black Ford Mustang. Greg moved first. He went straight to the Lamborghini, his jaw agape.
“This is the car of my dreams, dudes. Someone here owns one. Wow, where did we go wrong in life?”
“Dude,” Asher said, annoyed. “Figure out who owns it and make her yours.”
“Yeah, th
e wife would love that,” he glared back at Asher. “I’m just here to have fun, nothing more.”
“Noted. Your loss, my gain,” Asher said.
“Check out that green car. Wow, that is some paint job. Looks like something from a Batman episode,” Weston said.
“It’s shiny though. The color isn’t flat, it’s gloss,” Greg explained.
The three of them stared at Greg.
“Really? Thanks, Einstein,” Brandon joked but switched gears on him. “Are we here to look at cars or have a party?”
“Both,” Greg said.
“Let’s do it then,” Brandon yelled excitedly.
All four of them turned when they heard a female voice calling them.
“Hey you, over here. Come over here,” a woman said, beckoning them.
Her dark skin was clear but her face was gaunt and thin. She was somewhere in her thirties and spoke with a heavy Jamaican accent. Large locks fell past her shoulders and behind her. She had a flower patterned dress on that went all the way to the tops of her shoes.
“You four, come over here,” she said, smiling warmly.
The woman stood at the bottom of the steps to the large front porch.
“Let’s go talk to her. We have to go past her anyway,” Brandon shrugged.
As the four approached, the woman looked around suspiciously. He didn’t like that but she kept smiling as if she didn’t have a care in the world.
“You four here for the party?” she asked.
“Hell yeah,” Brandon said, a bit too loud. “We are the party. The sooner we get in there, the sooner the party starts.”
“Of course, man,” the woman said. “You sound so eager, too. Well then, let me help you have an even greater time. I have some things that will make your party even better.”
The woman reached into her purse and pulled out a baggie.
“Wait, are those drugs?” Asher asked.
“No worries, man. These are totally safe. They will make you feel so good. I guarantee it,” she said, smiling sweetly.
“Let’s walk, gents,” Greg said.
“Wait, I give you a great price for whatever you want. I have it all here,” she pleaded.
“Let me be clear. No,” Greg turned around and walked away.
“Good luck, little lady,” Brandon said, giving her a wink. “You’re gonna need it.”
“No, it will be you four that will need the luck,” she said calmly.
She turned and walked away.
“What the hell did she mean by that?” Weston asked.
“Who cares,” Brandon responded as he bounded up the steps.
Greg stopped and stood there longer than the others, watching the woman walk away.
“Dude,” Asher said, yelling back at Greg. “Get your ass up here.”
Greg looked down and then back to the woman walking away. He rubbed the side of his head.
“Greg?” Asher continued. “Let’s go.”
Greg relented, following the trio up the stairs. The sorority entrance had a large patio to their right raised above the level of the parking lot. The steps leading up to the entrance were clean, as was the rest of the exterior. The sorority wasn’t new but it looked well cared for. Light and dark brown paint made up most of the exterior wall coloring. The contrasting colors were well chosen and gave the sorority a homey feel, a place of warmth and comfort. Greg started to knock on the door but Asher pushed him aside.
“Let me handle this, man. This requires a smooth and experienced approach.”
“By all means, oh mighty phallic boy,” Greg responded.
Asher ignored him and knocked. The door opened and dance music flooded out from inside
“Party of four here to start the festivities,” he said.
Asher wanted to say more but the gorgeous woman standing in front of him demanded his attention. Her most intriguing feature was her extraordinarily well done bleached blond hair. It flowed down to her shoulders with large wavy curls. Carefully placed in her hair was a single, deep red rose which had bloomed and was completely open. It matched the color of her lipstick. She also wore a dress that perfectly matched her hair. The dress was skin tight and ended just below her hips. It was also low cut, revealing more than any modest woman should feel comfortable showing. She smiled at each of them.
“My name is Rose, which is short for Rosalyn. Jule warned us you would be coming tonight,” she said. “But, before you can come in, you have to introduce yourselves. The catch is that your name, while at our party, must consist of only four letters and you cannot refer to yourself or anyone else except by their four-letter name. If you do, you drink a shot. Think quickly. We don’t like those slow of thought.”
Asher stepped up close to Rose, extending his hand as if to shake hers.
“My name is Aeon. Mainly because in front of me is an incredible beauty that, from past experiences, I feel confident will not be surpassed for eons... of that I am certain, my lady. He stepped in, bringing her hand up and kissing the back of it with renaissance flare. Her startled look made him smile inwardly. She recovered quickly and returned his smile, nodding.
“Welcome, Aeon. Next?” she asked as Asher stepped inside the door and waited.
“My name is Grep. I hope it will suffice,” Greg said.
Greg’s choice for a party name had just made it easier on them. Greg had been called Grep for years when he was younger.
“Of course it will, GREP. General Regular Expression Parser is a UNIX command used for searching. Are you searching?” she asked.
“Uh... no, just Grep. Ahem,” he said, a bit choked up.
“Well then, welcome to the party, Grep,” Rose said, and she kissed him on the cheek and whispered in his ear, “I like the shy type.”
Brandon pushed Greg on through the door to stand with Asher.
“Okay, okay, the name’s Rock and where the hell is the booze?” he said.
“Welcome, Rock. Straight ahead, through the foyer and turn right. From there, you can just sniff your way,” Rose laughed. “I’m sure you’ll find it.”
Brandon pushed past Rose, Asher and Greg heading straight for the booze.
She turned to Weston.
“Finally?”
“The name is Clay,” he said.
“Welcome, Clay. Aren’t you a cute one? I love the gentle curls in your hair,” she said.
“I love your hair too,” Weston said. “It matches your dress so well.”
Rose ran her fingers through it gently and smiled at him.
“Thank you, Clay. Since your friend, Rock, is already well inside, let me show you three to the great room. It’s just off the main kitchen area and is pretty much where you can sit and relax or dance ‘til you drop,” she said. “Please, let me introduce you to everyone.”
The four walked through the entry way and into the foyer. The interior of the sorority was similar to the outside in its warmth and charm. The place was much more like a home than a sorority. So much so, Asher felt it had to be. The foyer had openings both left and right. To the left was a hallway to several bedrooms and to the right was a large kitchen and dining area. Rose stopped in the foyer. Sitting on the sofa along the far wall was a red haired young woman with mint green eyes reading a book. Asher recognized her from the first sorority they stopped at earlier. She set down her book and stepped forward to greet them. She smiled.
“Grep, Clay, and Aeon, this is Seph,” Rose said.
Seph lost her smile and glared at Asher.
“We have met,” she said sourly.
He would be wasting his time with her so he went with a quick exit strategy.
“I can tell you’re damn glad to meet me, again.”
Asher smiled at her but turned and walked into the dining area toward the great room while waving his hand mocking her from earlier.
“Ass,” Seph mumbled.
“You two know each other?” Rose said, confused.
“Yeah, he is,” Greg said to Seph but th
en answered Rose’s question. “Yes Rose, we all briefly met Seph at the sorority before this one.”
“My name is... uh... Clay tonight,” Weston said. “Glad to meet you, Seph.”
“Likewise, Clay,” she said.
“And if I may, please call me, Grep.”
“Grep? Interesting choice. I like it. You know, I heard his little comment when I walked out of Delta Omega Mu,” Seph said. “I hope you are not with him.”
“Well, yes and no. Yes, I showed up with him. No, I don’t like most of the shit that comes out of his mouth. His lips flap a lot but nothing much comes out worth listening to.”
Asher had just reached the kitchen area which opened into the great room. He could still hear the conversation behind him. He took notice that Greg had gotten all that out without choking up, all while talking with two beautiful women. Something was different about him. He had changed.
He must be angry right now, probably because of my ‘deer in headlights’ comment earlier. He’ll get over it.
“Good. So, your name tonight is Grep. Is that short for your real name?” Seph asked.
“Actually, yes. Gregory E. Patterson. So I just grabbed the letters to come up with a four letter name.”
“Quick thinking. My name is not Seph but I have been called that for years.”
“Well, truth be told, I’ve been called Grep for years too.”
They both laughed. She cocked her head to the side.
“I suppose that means you and I have made it quite easy for the rest of them with Zara’s drinking game,” she said.
“Yeah, I guess we’ll have to stay sharp tonight since we’re at a disadvantage,” he said, laughing.
She nodded at him.
“Who is Zara?” he asked.
“You will meet her later, I am certain of that. You know, I like your laugh, Grep. Want a drink?” she asked.
“Absolutely. What can I make you?” he asked, enthusiasm evident in his voice. “I know nearly every drink there is.”
“Interesting, as do I. I bet between the two of us, there is nothing we cannot do,” Seph giggled at him. Apparently she had already been drinking.