“What?” Mary Green asked, startled. “Did you say something, Ben?”
“No,” he answered. “That was Mr. Bright.”
“Who?”
“Amos?” Ben called out. “You there?”
Amos stepped into the light of the center table. He was wearing what appeared to be a pale blue, one-piece jumpsuit. The men were surprised by his appearance. They were used to seeing him in ordinary human clothing. His face was in shadow.
“Yes, Ben, I’m here. Before we go any further, we thought that it would be better to do this introduction properly. We have removed our outer camouflage, so to speak, so that you will all see us as we really are.”
“Do you think they are ready for that?” Art asked.
“Ready for what?” Mary asked.
“We think it is the best way,” Amos said.
“Who is that?” Bess asked.
“Okay, ladies,” Joe said. “Here’s the God’s honest truth. We found this room by accident two weeks ago. We thought it was a health club, so we began to use the equipment. Well, it isn’t a health club, and the equipment you see in the room is not... well not really...”
“Not of this Earth,” Bernie interrupted. “It belongs to that gentleman and his friends.” The Antarean crew gathered behind Amos at the table. They were all in shadow.
As Bernie spoke, Ben urged the woman toward Amos at the center table. All their faces were in shadow, too.
“Who did you say they are?” Rose asked nervously.
“They are visitors,” Ben said. He felt uneasy. He wasn’t sure that revealing their actual faces to the women at this time was such a good idea.
Amos read him and telepathed a calming word to him. The sooner they see us, the faster they will become used to us. It is better this way. We have much experience in these matters.
“Look, girls.” Joe said firmly. “These folks are from another world.”
“What?” “Oh, my God!” “You guys have lost it!” “This is getting nuts!” The women blurted out all at once.
“Hold it and listen,” Joe said, raising his voice. “I’ll say it again. These people are from another world. And again, so it sinks in. These people are from what we call outer space. They are from far away. Another planet in our galaxy. You know? UFO’s. Roswell. All that stuff is true.”
At that point the group at the center table moved into the light. Bess screamed. Alma grabbed Joe’s arm. Mary stared and began to shake. Ben held her. Rose Lewis moved away from the rest, and with clarity and courage that none of the women had, she approached the Antareans. It was a magical moment. She reached the near side of the table and looked at each of the Antareans individually. When her glance came to Beam, she stopped. “And you. Lovely creature, are a female. Yes?”
“Yes, Rose.”
“You are beautiful.”
“Thank you.”
She was. The men had not seen them all together like this, nor had they ever seen Beam as she really is. There was a difference. No doubt that she was female.
The shape of her eyes was different from the others. They wrapped around her head and tapered to a fine point past where the temple would be. At that point there was a faint red spot. It began there and ran down her neck, circling back and joining at her throat. Alma thought of a ruby-throated hummingbird. Joe read her thought and agreed silently to her. She looked at him, wondering how he got into her thoughts.
Bess reached out her hand to Beam. Beam reached for Bess. Her hand was attached to an arm that was longer in proportion to a human arm. The hand had four fingers, three of equal length and a longer thumb. When her hand reached Bess’, the three long fingers appeared to divide and become six that enveloped Bess’ hand.
“Oh!” Bess exclaimed, feeling the warmth and friendship that Beam passed to her. “How very pleasant! I can feel you welcome.”
After that display the others needed no convincing. Beam didn’t come from a magic store. Not with a hand like that.
The three other wives approached the Antareans and exchanged greetings. Ben handled the introductions. All Light and No Light, commanders of the highest grade, were shy with the women. Amos explained they were showing respect. Historically, the females of species encountered were treated in this manner because they were usually responsible for the bearing and nurturing of the young, and the continuation of a race or species.
Alma marveled at the physical makeup of the commanders. They were smaller than the others. Their heads were larger and appeared to have appendages growing out from the sides and rear of their skulls. The two side bumps were red in color and glowing. The bump in the rear was white and kept expanding and contracting, as though it were breathing. Their arms were long and tapered, with hands similar to Beam’s. Their legs were short and stumpy, and their feet were flat and spread duck-like on the floor for support. Their skin appeared cream-colored and translucent with a slightly visible, complex circulatory and nervous system beneath.
Hal and Harry had shed their blond, beach boy covering. They had no bumps on their skulls. Their eyes wrapped around their heads and glowed like the others. They were a bit taller than the commanders, but much shorter than they had appeared when disguised as humans. The copper men were still metallic. But now their heads were Antarean.
Amos, whose stature and eyes were larger than the rest, had a long bump extending from between his eyes over the top of his skull and down his back.
They had no visible mouth, ears nor nose.
“The copper men, as you call them, are soldiers in the sense that you use the word,” Amos stated. “They are specially suited for combat, should it be necessary, and thus have the metal skin. We ask that you do not touch our skin, only our hands if we extend them.”
Then he turned to Ben. “Shall we show the ladies the equipment?”
“Good idea. Let’s start with my wife.” He motioned Mary to follow him and thought to Hal and Harry for their help. “ “How’s your back today, honey?”
“Stiff as always. Why?” Mary asked.
As the others gathered at the first cabinet, Ben helped Mary into it while he explained that she should relax. Harry set the dials and they enclosed Mary in the cabinet. It turned on and the mist began to rise.
“Hmm...” she said. “Now that feels good.” Mary smiled.
While she relaxed and enjoyed the sensation, Bernie Lewis took Rose’s hand and guided her to the second cabinet. Amos opened it. “Rose, when was the last time you could bend and touch your toes?”
“Are you kidding, Bernie? Longer than I care to remember.”
“Try this cabinet. I guarantee you will be as supple as Nadia Comaneci in a few minutes.”
“But will I be as young?”
Amos thought a smile to the human men. Alma Finley heard the thought, although she didn’t know where it came from or why.
As Joe and Beam were guiding Alma to the third cabinet, Joe had a thought. “Alma is physically quite healthy, so I propose we show her a different piece of equipment.”
Beam picked up on his idea. “Good. Put her on the second cot. I will adjust the lamp.” They took Alma to the cot and as she lay down, Beam reached up to the lamp’s controls. The lamp turned on and its beam descended down to Alma and spread over her body in a pattern that duplicated her nervous system.
“Relax,” Joe told he wife.
“That tingles,” she said, “but it feels wonderful.”
Bess stood apart from the rest. She somehow knew that a miracle was taking place and was surprised at how easily she, and the other women, accepted the strange happenings.
Art came to her side. “I know what you are thinking.”
“How can you know that?”
“Because I can read your thoughts. This stuff isn’t just for the body. It affects mental powers, too.”
“Can it cure Betty?”
“Well…yes. I believe it can. But don’t get your hopes up too high. We have more to discuss after you all see what this pla
ce can do.”
Amos Bright listened to the conversation between the Perlman’s. He came over to them. “Let me be alone with Mrs. Perlman for a moment, Arthur. I think I can answer her questions.”
Art moved away.
“Place your hand on my forehead, Mrs. Perlman.”
Bess put her right hand on the bump between Bright’s eyes. She felt her hand drawn to and adhered to his skin. His eyes glowed for a moment and her body shook. Then it relaxed. “Oh, God,” she said softly. “How absolutely beautiful!”
Then his eyes glowed again, brighter this time, and Bess saw her sister sitting up in bed in the dingy Nursing Home room. Betty was smiling. Amos Bright’s skin released her hand.
“Can you do that?” she asked.
“What you saw we did together. Now your sister rests comfortably. She is not cured, but she feels us. I have given her rest. You have given your thought of love. She knows we will help her.”
“Thank you. Thank you so much.” She reached up to kiss his cheek, but he pulled away and offered his hand instead.
Mary and Rose were moved to the second set of cabinets to complete their treatments. Alma was up and around and having the time of her life reading everyone’s thoughts. Joe kept sending her thoughts of love and she began to get embarrassed because she knew that everyone could feel her loving responses to him. They were like children with a fabulous new toy.
Suddenly Alma felt a jolt to her body. Then sadness. She was confused. Panicked.
“A leader is gone in the second group,” Amos announced. “That is what you felt.”
“They will go quickly now unless we replace them in the cocoons very soon,” Beam said.
“Gone? Someone died?” Alma asked. “I felt someone leave. I was sad.”
Joe came to her. “It was one of their army up on the roof.”
Then he thought to the commanders. I think we should do what we have to as quickly as possible. The ladies will believe.
All Light directed Harry and Hal to remove the two women from the cabinets. Immediately, Mary knew her backache was gone forever.
Then they watched Rose Lewis get out of her cabinet and proceed to stretch her arms in the air. Then she bent and touched her palms to the floor.
“Wow. Did you guys see that? I’m fifteen again!”
They all gathered at the center table.
“You women now believe who we are,” Amos began. “Allow me to tell them why we are here and what has happened. Then we may discuss the future.” He told the Antarean story to the four wives.
It was dawn when they all came to an agreement. The hardest part was to figure out how they would tell their children that they were leaving Earth.
Unlike the assumption their husbands had made, Amos assured them they could return for a visit sometime in the future.
Bess agreed only on the condition that Betty could join them. Also, Bess did not want to be a commander. However, she was sure that Betty would.
The only person in the room who was disappointed was Jack Fischer. Beam had explained that because of his age, he could not go with them. The equipment and processing would work only in human bodies that had reached a certain stage in the aging process. The muscles, tissues, organs and bones of the older Earth people had begun degenerating. It was only at a stage of fairly advanced aging that rejuvenation and change would be effective.
When Amos felt Jack’s disappointment, he went to the charter captain who had been so helpful to the Antareans and whispered a promise. “Keep our secret and help us with the tasks ahead. We will return one day when you are old enough to join us.” The promise of eternity, for doing only what he would do anyway, cheered Jack immensely.
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE - THE FIRST RECRUIT
Energized, the four couples sat in the Greens’ apartment and discussed their commitment to the Antareans. They marveled at how radically their lives had changed, and how calmly they accepted the situation and made their decision.
“We are really going into space!” Rose Lewis kept repeating her feelings. “I keep picturing Neil Armstrong stepping foot on the moon. It all looked so forbidding and cold and barren.”
Bernie looked at her as though she were a stranger. He couldn’t recall her ever being so alive and excited. The others let her go on. She was expressing all of their thoughts.
Alma helped Mary with the coffee and Danish. It was nearly eight o’clock in the morning. “Remember, you have to meet Frank Hankinson in an hour,” Mary reminded Ben.
“Right, Hon. I think we should start recruiting as soon as we can. He can be the first.”
“My sister is first,” Bess reminded everyone.
“Right,” Joe told her. “So, how do we decide on whom to approach?” he asked. “We have certain criteria that will narrow the list, but nine hundred forty-one is a lot of people.”
“Old people,” Art said.
“Exactly,” Alma said. “I figure if we get everyone in Building A, assuming they are all old enough, we would have about one-hundred-thirty. So we should all start making lists. Time is short.”
The ladies were in their element, approaching the task as though it was to be a large party. They quickly gained control of the logistics.
“It’s like a big wedding reception,” Rose said. “I think each of us should make a list of all the people who we think would be old enough, and whom we think would like to go. Assuming we all have about the same number of friends and family and people like that, I guess that would give us about a hundred or more.”
Arthur did some fast calculating. “So that leaves about seven hundred more people to find. I think we’re gonna have a problem.”
Rose and Bess spoke at once. “I can think of ...” They laughed.
“Go ahead, Bess,” Rose deferred.
“Well, I was thinking of the nursing home where my sister is. If there was some way to get those people out of there ...”
“We could buy it,” said Art.
“And how do you explain the disappearance of all those people?” asked Ben.
“We don’t,” Art answered. “We won’t be around to be asked.”
They all laughed and agreed.
“I had a little different idea,” Rose said. “A few months ago I went to see my Aunt Ruth down on Collins Avenue. There must have been hundreds of old people down there living a meager existence. Maybe there is a way to organize them. Aunt Ruth knows a lot of them and they sort of look up to her.”
“I know we all have good ideas,” Ben said, “but a word of caution. We have to remember that if the word gets out and the authorities get wind of what’s happening, there won’t be any space trip for anyone. So let’s be real careful of how, and who, we approach. Okay?”
Everyone understood and agreed.
They spent the next hour planning during breakfast. Each of the women took a piece of paper and began making their lists. The men added a name now and then. Within the hour, much to their surprise, the four couples had over two hundred candidates. They also knew that it was going to be tricky identifying and convincing the rest of the people to complete the army.
Meanwhile, Commander No Light communicated the situation to the Antarean Council. “We are assured that these dwellers can be trusted, and that they will serve well on Parma Quad Two. It is our belief that others of their age will adapt. But until we have completed the return of the cocoons to their resting place, and secured it, and have gathered and processed the replacement army, we suggest no communication to the Parmans about this situation. We must be on our way to Parma Quad Two before that is confirmed. We will send a probe with a history of what has transpired here. “
No Light knew that his superiors would understand when they knew all the facts, but for now, detailed messages that spoke of interference with life forms, and radical changes in plans, were best presented in person. He paused in his communication to consider the coincidence of the damaged cocoons and the ability of the aging dwellers to adapt. He had trav
eled in space for a very long time. Coincidence and purpose had often been partners in his experience. These events served to strengthen his conviction that there was a universal plan, guided by a force that they believed in, but did not comprehend. It was referred to as The Master.
Above, on the roof, the second row of soldier’s eyes flickered, then glowed bright, then dimmed slowly until they were dark and life passed from them. He reported the event to the mother ship and uttered the prayer for the departed.
Now they would have to move quickly to replace the remaining soldiers in cocoons and back under the sea. He slid from the center table and went to the cots where his companions rested. He turned off the lamps above the cots. The Antareans awoke and went to work.
Tony Stranger sat in his car in the bank parking lot, waiting for it to open. He mulled over the story he would present to Mr. DePalmer. Shields and Parker had been vague about what was going on at the complex, but through their drunken muttering, Tony was convinced that something had seriously scared them. It wasn’t his business, or so he told them, but he knew that he would make some good money when they opened Building B. So he was interested. He also saw the possibility of getting rid of Shields and managing the complex himself. He had gone along with the two men and told them he would find out what he could from Mr. DePalmer because DePalmer had hired him. What he didn’t tell Shields and Parker was that he would keep the information to himself if it proved to be useful. He had a feeling that this was going to be his lucky day. He flushed with excitement as DePalmer’s car pulled into the lot.
Judy awoke to the ringing telephone. It was Arnie reminding her that he would have the keys to his boss’ boat by late that afternoon. Sandy and he would pick her up at 4:00P.M. She agreed and then went back to sleep. The events of the previous day and too much grass had knocked her out. She felt she would need her strength later.
Frank Hankinson sat by the pool as the four men walk toward him. He wondered why Ben had brought the others. “Hi, guys,” he greeted them.
Ben smiled and reached out his hand. Frank extended his, thinking that to shake hands was a rather formal thing to do. The men read his feelings and communicated to each other to put him at ease.
The Cocoon Trilogy Page 18