The Cocoon Trilogy

by David Saperstein

  The second fact was fascinating and unique. As she scanned the bodies of the aging Earth men, she realized that by some accident of nature the processing equipment meant for the cocoons was transforming them into a condition that would make them super-human on this planet and perfect space soldiers. She kept these thoughts blocked, storing them in her mind to discuss later with Amos.

  Beam moved around to the commanders on the cots. She transferred her knowledge to them at close range, much like one might speak to a baby. Her thoughts were soft and whispered.

  Commander All Light got up and moved to the center table.

  Amos moved aside to give him a space.

  “I am All Light, commander of our expedition. I apologize for our foolish attack. Your response was deserved. It will not happen again.”

  The four men understood and gave their apologies too.

  “When we were here, that very long time ago, and left our cocoons buried, Florida was a primitive place. Now it has changed. Our intelligence is good, but it seems we have overlooked some rather important facts.”

  Amos could not read All Light’s thinking. All of the Antareans gathered around the table. Everyone listened as the commander continued.

  “Jack has seen our real faces and bodies. What you see now are coverings to appear Earth human. Later we will show you. The coverings are so that we may work among you. I am sure you understand. You will not find us ugly. We are humanoid, too.”

  Commander No Light picked up the discussion. “The covering we have serves another purpose. It has, underneath, a thick skin-like substance that allows us to keep our bodies at the correct temperature and pressure - an environment like our home planet, Antares. Beam is our medical officer. She is a commander, too. She has discovered our problem.”

  Beam stepped forward and continued. Bernie Lewis wondered what a female Antarean really looked like. If she was anything like the attractive blond woman facing them now, he thought, he’d like to take a trip to Antares himself. His thought was heard by everyone in the room.

  Beam smiled at him and continued. “The protective skin is four molecules thick. Normally, that is enough. At least it was when we came here before. Now your atmosphere has changed. It is breaking down our protection. The molecules are being changed by several caustic, carbon-based chemicals that were not in your air before.”

  “We’re not only killing ourselves with bad air,” Bernie muttered. “We also screw it up for visitors from outer space.” No one laughed at Bernie’s joke. “Sorry,” he shrugged.

  “It has taken three of your Earth weeks for our protection to deteriorate,” Beam went on. “We can visit our mother ship and obtain new skins, but they will last only for the same period. Then we will have no protection left.”

  “Jesus,” Joe said.

  “That’s a damned shame,” Art added.

  “Is there some way we can help?” Ben asked.

  “You do not have a technology capable of making these skins,” Amos answered. “And we do not have the material on board that can accomplish the task.”

  “What temperature and pressure do you require?” Bernie asked. “In Earth terms.”

  “We need one hundred forty of your Fahrenheit degrees under five hundred of your pounds per square inch pressure.”

  Jack Fischer now understood why the room had been so unbearable for him when the cocoons were opened. Although each soldier had a protective skin, it had to be activated when the last layer of the cocoon was peeled away. For that instant the room pressure and temperature were brought to Antarean conditions -thus, the red wall and the feeling of being hit with a shock wave.

  “But Commander, when we release the soldiers from the cocoons you simulate those conditions in this room,” Jack said. Then he realized that he might be telling the Earth men something that the Antareans didn’t want them to know. He didn’t continue, but the four men understood what he was trying to say.

  Beam spoke again. “There is another matter we must discuss.” She looked toward Amos and whispered thoughts about the conditions of the humans who had used the equipment. The four men strained, but could not read her.

  “I will convey what Beam has discovered,” Amos began. “Before I do, we will need to agree on a method of private conference. I am sure that you dwellers will understand that we wish to remain undetected by any others of your race. It would be disastrous to our mission, and to the delicate religious and societal balances in your world, if our existence was known.”

  Joe Finley was way ahead of him. “Mr. Bright, I think that we need to talk among ourselves as much as you do. The solution could also show good faith. I know that if I don’t want to listen in on your thoughts, I can block them. Each time I try to do it, it gets easier. I am sure you can do the same.”

  “Yes,” Amos concurred.

  “Well, then let’s agree not to eavesdrop on each other.”

  Amos liked this man. “Agreed.” Then he continued. “You four men have used our equipment. We know that this has affected you in certain ways, shall we say? Mr. Finley has been cured of a disease. All of you are extremely healthy and energetic. Our readings show that other changes have occurred in your bodies and minds that are of great interest to us.”

  “What other changes?” Art asked.

  “You have become, or are becoming, capable of ...” Amos paused because he was about to break one of the cardinal rules of contact with other planet’s beings. “Capable of accepting the programming scheduled for our cocoon’s regeneration.”

  A surge of adrenaline coursed through Ben Green’s body, and the others.

  “What exactly does that mean?” Ben asked.

  Amos decided to tell them everything. He had broken the rule. There was no turning back. Only the copper men resisted. Beam, Harry and Hal were neutral.

  “Our Galaxy... our Universe... is vast. In time, your race may learn to travel through space. They will learn to survive other environments. They will learn to be with other races. In time. Much of what is required for space travel and for communication with other beings depends on the full development of you brains and nervous systems. Your race is barely one-tenth of the way to that goal. But that is not true of the four of you.”

  Amos was telling facts the four men had only begun to suspect. They listened intently.

  “You have become superior to your fellow Earth dwellers, and you will always be that way. We cannot reverse the process that has altered your bodies and minds.”

  “My God!” Jack Fischer gasped. His expression was one of exhilaration.

  “God of us all!” answered Amos Bright. “Wondrous!”

  CHAPTER THIRTY - WHO’S WATCHING WHO?

  Judy left her exercise class at five P.M. and drove to Arnie and Sandy’s apartment. She had called them earlier to tell to say that she had found out where Jack was. They asked where, but she said she would tell them in person. As she drove she thought about those four old men who had helped her. There had been something weird about them. They were obviously well over sixty but she sensed something about them that was exciting, even sensual. What Judy didn’t know was that they found her exciting, and the feelings that she had about them were due to their newfound ability to telepath their own thoughts and physical emotions.

  The four wives had spent the afternoon together. Their first goal was to calm Bess Perlman and promise to help her find a way to get her sister out of the home. They made a pact among and that brought them closer to each other. They spent the rest of the afternoon trying to understand what was happening to their husbands.

  The four men spent their afternoon on the Manta III. It had been decided that the Antareans would remain at the complex to discuss their problems while the Earth men used the privacy on Jack’s boat to have their meeting. By separating it would make the blocking of thoughts a little easier. It was also imperative that the Antareans set the processing room to the proper atmosphere and pressure to feed and regain some of their strength. That would h
elp, but they knew it was only a temporary measure.

  With the excitement of the day, Amos Bright had forgotten his conversation with Mr. Shields the night before.

  But Shields had not forgotten. He remembered Mr. Bright telling him that his appreciation would be shown in his paycheck.

  Shields had called Wally Parker at home early the next morning and told him to be in by eight A.M. They met in the office and Wally had spent the day secretly watching the four men while they were on the condo property. Wally had been aware of the fact that his employer, Amos Bright and several of his friends used Building B from time to time. His instructions were to never to go into the building. Therefore, when he saw the four men leave the young girl in the parking lot and go into Building B, he had stayed outside, pretending to inspect the shrubs that were in tubs, waiting to be planted along the path leading to the main door of the building. He had watched the two boats arrive and tie up. His curiosity peaked as the crews from both boats ran to the back door of Building B and disappeared inside.

  Later, the four old men and the boat’s captain had boarded the Manta III in silence. Wally watched the sleek cruiser back out, turn, and proceed slowly up the canal. Then he watched Building B for a sign of the others. After twenty minutes he walked back to the office to report to Mr. Shields on the strange happenings at the unfinished Antares building B.

  Dr. Morris Feldman sat in his office waiting for Dr. Fred Breedlove. He had called his colleague and asked him to come to the hospital at five-thirty. The Finley case was on his mind all day. He couldn’t shake it. How had this miraculous recovery occurred? But it was more than a recovery. He looked at the microscope slide again. Joe Finley’s blood was amazing. No disease, not a hint of foreign bodies. Perfectly formed platelets. He was sure there was something else, but he couldn’t get a handle on it. So Fred Breedlove would have a look, too, because Fred was the top, numero uno, when it came to lab work in hematology. Fred would find the answer.

  Frank Hankinson didn’t comment about his wife’s take on Ben Green and his friend’s being with the pretty young woman. He knew Ben was not the kind of man who would flaunt an affair in his wife’s face. He also knew that the other three men were solid citizens. No, something else was going on. Frank’s background as a reporter before becoming a partner in the St. Louis radio station pushed him to decide to do a little investigating of his own. So when he saw Wally spying on the guys and then make a beeline for the office, Frank excused himself from the Amato’s and his wife and followed Wally into Shields’ office.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE – A TRIP TO FOREVER

  Bernie, Art, and Joe sat quietly as the Manta III passed the sea wall and turned north toward Miami Beach. Ben Green was finishing his conversation with Mary on the ship-to-shore. “It’s a business deal honey. Nothing more. All we want to do is check out the boat. We were going to surprise all of you, so don’t say anything to the other wives if you can help it. Just tell them it’s business and we’re going to be late for dinner. Bye, love.”

  He switched off before she could respond. He felt guilty knowing Mary would tell the others the story so at least they wouldn’t worry when their husbands were missing. Ben didn’t know that the women had seen them talking to the young girl in the parking lot that afternoon. Now Mary was convinced that the men were going to meet the girl and her friends to practice their newfound sexual prowess.

  Ben stood next to Jack Fischer. He had taken a liking to the young charter captain. “You must have had quite an interesting time these past few weeks.”

  Jack, glad to be among his own kind for a change, chuckled. “Interesting isn’t the word, Mr. Green. It’s been downright weird. But, to tell you the truth, I have never been so excited in my life. These are good people…or whatever, and they sure know a lot about things we can’t even imagine. It’s screwing up my private life a bit, but I really feel honored to be part of all this.”

  Ben understood and agreed. Now they were part of it, too. But how much of a part? That had to be decided this night.

  He asked Jack to excuse them. The men went out onto the fantail. It was time to begin.

  Ben spoke first. “I would like to preface our discussion with my personal feelings about who we are, where we are, and why. If you don’t mind, I’ve been thinking about this little speech since Mr. Bright told us what we have become and what we will remain being. We’ve become very close in the past few weeks. I consider you guys my best friends…well, after my wife, that is. I want to tell you about my feelings. They are just what I think, given the fantastic things we’ve learned today. Just bear with me, please.”

  “Go ahead,” Joe said. Bernie and Art nodded their agreement.

  “I never thought of myself as an old man. Never, that is until we moved down here and were cut off from business, from the hustle of the big city, from the day-to-day action that we call work. That happened and I began to feel old, and more. I began to feel useless. Tired. Bored. The spaceman called us superhuman. Ten times more ability than the rest of our human raced. Well, let me tell you that I sort of always felt that way... Maybe not ten times better, but I certainly knew I was and am a capable man. But for some reason, today particularly, that attitude seems ridiculous. We live in a society that tells us that old is useless ... old is being finished ... old is being unable to make a contribution any more ... old is ugly… old should be out of sight at a place like Florida. Retire, they say. You earned it, they say. And we believe it! Bullshit!”

  The other three men listened and felt Ben’s anger as their own.

  “I don’t know what I really feel now except I am more alive than I have been in quite a while. It’s not only the physical awakening. We know the room did that. It’s also a mental reawakening of that part of me that used to be there. I don’t ever want to lose it again. I guess what I’m trying to say is that we have been touched by something special. A miracle? God? Who knows? I feel like we’ve been singled out. Made unique for a reason, and I don’t want to blow it.”

  Art was staring out at the setting sun. “What don’t you want to blow, Ben?”

  “The greatest most important event to take place on this earth since the birth of Christ.”

  Bernie Lewis stood and walked to the stern. He was deep in thought. Joe Finley got up and walked out to the ladder that led to the flying bridge. He began to climb slowly. He too wanted to be alone for a moment. Ben’s words had shaken him; awakened him to the core.

  A quiet settled over the boat. The hum of the diesels and the slapping of the bow onto the calm canal water mixed with the evening cries of gulls and pelicans to create a background for thought.

  Twenty minutes later Jack heard their minds come alive and call to each other. They gathered again in the cabin.

  Art Perlman spoke first. “Jack, we know you have some ability to read our thoughts. But you are nowhere as advanced as we are, because we have used the Antarean equipment. We would like to be able to speak freely here and know that you will respect our desire that what is said tonight be kept confidential.”

  “Sure, guys. But they can read my mind, so they may pick up some of my thoughts by chance.”

  “We’ll take that chance.” Ben said. “You know things about them that we need to know.”

  Jack began to feel as though his brain was community property held by the Antareans and these four old men. But he also felt like a middleman, an intermediary, and that felt good.

  “The way I see it,” Bernie said, “is that we are in a negotiation. A business negotiation.”

  “A contract.” Art added.

  “Exactly,” Bernie replied.

  “Before we get to the terms, can we agree to go all the way with these people?” Ben asked.

  Joe Finley held up his hand as though he were in a classroom trying to get the teacher’s attention.

  “What is it Joe?” Art asked.

  “When you say all the way, exactly what do you mean?”

  “I mean that Mr. Brigh
t exposed two problems to us and, I believe, inferred the solution to both rested on our cooperating with them.”

  “I have no problem helping them operate the room and helping them to conserve their strength. We can certainly do that,” Art responded.

  “You miss the point, Artie,” Bernie interrupted. “The man, Bright, and the shiny white, uh. Commander All Light told us something else.”

  “Correct,” Ben agreed. “They don’t think they can get the army up and running. It was spoiled is what they said.”

  “Water damage,” Jack chimed in.

  “Right. Water damage. So in addition to helping them,” Ben continued, “I think they were saying that the four of us, and people like us, would or could become… replace their army.” There was silence.

  Jack throttled back and stopped the boat. “Holy shit! You mean they want to take you guys into space?”

  “You got it now, Jack.”

  “I wonder where,” Joe said softly. “I wonder what kind of place. And what would we do there?”

  Art Perlman began to pace. “To tell you the truth, I feel like I could fight a whole army myself, but well, we’ve been to war. I’m too old and too smart to be a soldier anymore.”

  “Wait a minute, gentlemen.” Jack got their attention. “Last night I was alone with the female commander, the one they call Beam? She’s the one who examined you guys while we were talking. Anyway, she told me a little about the planet where the army was supposed to go. It was called Parma Quad Two. It’s near the Dog Star, uh, the one we call Sirius. But it wasn’t for war. This is like an army of education...something like that. The inhabitants of the planet are quite advanced technologically and have agreed to let the Antareans onto their world.”