“See you, Jon. Don’t worry, you’ll find a way. You always do…”
Jon looked back at Amy, forcing a smile on his face that looked even less convincing than normal.
“TV on. Coffee, black, one sugar.” Jon sat down in his air-molded relaxing chair and absently stared at the TV while a promising smell of coffee drifted over from the fully automated kitchen of his private apartment.
“The situation is very serious,” Jon heard Professor Abramov stating on TV. He had heard quite a lot about the Russian professor and his protégée Eva Ouspensky. She didn’t say much as it was always the professor who addressed the public regarding the spectacular discoveries he and his team had made concerning the Green Egg, but Jon thought he could see some deeper, hidden knowledge in her eyes, which always made him wonder what he was missing.
It had been the professor who published the information about the alien DNA that his team had secured at the site of first contact a few months ago and again it was he who made Jon’s genetic experiments possible in the first place. Jon felt a pang of regret. He had never thanked Professor Abramov for sharing samples of the alien DNA with ARC and half a dozen other global research centers.
Jon stared at the TV that now displayed a close-up of Ms. Ouspensky. He had read her theory of the Two Lovers over and over again and his opinion about it changed with every reading, from initial amusement at such an unbelievable explanation to utter amazement that it had finally proved to be accurate in so many ways, maybe even more ways than initially expected by the author herself.
Sometimes he wondered what it would be like to meet her in person and discuss his work and theories and besides that to maybe have a cup of coffee or dinner.
“Coffee is ready.”
Jon slowly got up and walked to the kitchen to fetch the steaming cup that sat in the food synthesizer. I’m sure coffee tasted like real coffee once… how things change, he mused.
He looked at the mug, an old, faded thing that he had meant to put into storage together with a few other personal items months ago, but an unconscious attachment always made him reconsider and put it back into the cabinet. There was some yellow, half faded writing on it, which originally said “I Love You More Than Myself.” It was a gift from his late wife Elena, who died only a few months ago when the first alien attacks on humanity became publicly known. She had gifted it to him more than ten years ago, for their one-year anniversary. At the time he didn’t really know how to react. He initially thought she was joking when she bought it for him at one of the art fairs that she loved so much. Now, after ten years of heavy use and hundreds of automatic, chemical cleaning cycles, not much of the writing on the cup was left. Only two words remained that he could still decipher “Love… self…”
Jon stared at it, holding it in his hands, while the TV still showed the interview featuring the Russian scientists.
“Love… self…” He focused on the writing on the cup. Suddenly it hit him like lightning. “Oh my God. That’s it! It is so obvious. I’m so stupid!”
Jon jumped up spilling coffee on his shirt, oblivious to it burning his skin. He rushed to his intercom. “Amy, are you still awake? I think I finally may have found the solution!”
Amy had tears in her eyes when she listened to Jon expounding on his new theory about how he believed he could solve the issue of implanting a proper set of instructions based on virtual memory and conditioning into the fourth subject, Delta. She had been fond of him for years and loved him like a brother. The loss of his wife and his self-destructive tendencies that followed her violent death brought them closer than she really wanted, but what happens in times of grief is similar to what happens in Vegas, it stays there and that’s that. Jon seemed to have forgotten about it and Amy was slowly getting there, but seeing him desperately trying to achieve the impossible made her feelings towards him stronger than ever. She didn’t want to admit it and she swore to herself she would never let him know, but she knew she really loved him.
She knew that he was unaware of her feelings, all that mattered to him was Delta, and before that Gamma, and before that his older brothers Beta and Alpha. A series of unfortunate and at times life-threatening disappointments slumbering like Sleeping Beauty waiting for their kiss of resurrection.
“OK, so what do you think?”
Amy sensed Jon’s excitement, but before she could reply he continued, “You know, we shouldn’t even wait for tomorrow. I can’t sleep anyway. Let’s meet in the lab and try it out on a small subroutine. Just to see if we find an opening.”
Amy sighed and agreed. It was not the first time that Jon had had great ideas and asked her to join him in the lab. The results had so far not been worth mentioning and that’s what they normally agreed upon after spending the night in front of their holographic workstations trying to modify an organism that had the potential to tear half the city apart in not much more than the blink of an eye.
Amy stepped into her travel pod. “To the lab.” The pod confirmed the destination and started its silent acceleration onto the Web. The Web formed the major part of the mobility solution that all mega-cities on earth had adopted to counter the unmanageable growth of individual transport, hopeless urban road systems, and the huge traffic jams that cost the global economy billions.
Now every decent apartment came with a built-in, fully automated travel pod, which, when not in use, doubled up as a little relaxation area. A cozy, drop-shaped piece of modern civilization constructed of carbon fiber and titanium alloy. It contained a holographic media station, an air cushion that could be formed into seats or a bed, depending on the length of the trip, and a few other creature comforts like a mini food synthesizer and a communication device. The pod was designed to follow a virtual net of airways resembling a huge spiderweb that had been placed over the city. The main spiral highway was intersected by radial roads, which branched out from the city center like the rays of the sun. When observed from the ground it looked like a huge web had been cast into the sky. At rush hour thousands of travel pods glittered in the sun like droplets of water on an enormous spider’s web. Travel speed on the Web was very high, only manageable by full automation, but once the pod had reached the closest exit point, it was up to the driver to manually navigate to the docking station of the desired destination. Amy hated this part of the journey. She considered herself hopeless at flying the pod, which had no proper view of the external landscape. All she was able to use for navigation was the holographic representation of the city, which always gave her shivers. She imagined observing her pod from below, hovering some hundred meters up in the air and zooming around corners at breathtaking speed.
“Dock 2902,” the pod announced. Amy felt relieved. She had made it, again. The pod’s side wall slid open and Amy jumped out of her seat, which had now lifted up to make her exit as comfortable as possible. “Off. Secure,” Amy instructed, and started to make her way to the lab.
Jon was already busy setting up the Halo. That’s what he liked to call the robotic, crown-like ring that was used for implanting sequences of memory into the subject’s brain cells. Imprinting certain memories was the easy part of the procedure, generating the chemical links that governed the conditioned and automated responses to real-life situations was the tricky part. This was where things normally went wrong. The reaction of Gamma, the previous subject, to Amy smiling at him when he first opened his eyes was disastrous.
When Gamma became aware of her mouth displaying a set of glowing white teeth, he changed. A natural recognition seemed to take place. He identified her facial expression as a sign of aggression, which prompted a fight or flight response hardwired into most living organisms. Gamma reacted by shifting his human appearance into its astral form. A process that was testament to such a frightening display of energy, but at the same time creative beauty, that Jon and his team were frozen in awe when they experienced it the first time.
The alien intelligence that made up the better part of Gamma’s DNA structure con
tained a functionality that allowed the subject to change its appearance from particulate matter to pure energy. It seemed to be able to initiate a controlled, localized quantum shift where all physical matter of his body was shifted into its wave state representation resulting in a red-orange glowing, ghost-like appearance. One could basically see through the subject while being able to make out all the inner organs, bones, and tissue. Blood cells flowed through the subject’s arteries like tiny dots of glittering stars, each giving the impression of containing a whole universe in itself. The fierce beauty of this display was comparable to seeing the sun after spending weeks underground. It held such power and glory that Jon got caught up in its spell, overlooking the danger radiating from its fiery form.
The metal braces that secured Gamma on his metal rack melted away like butter in a hot oven. Once he got up, the acid-proof floor below his feet turned black and smoke started rising from the now bubbling concrete. Red glowing rods of steel became visible as the floor fell away under the invisible weight of this being that was made of pure fluctuating energy.
It’s like standing on the surface of the sun, thought Jon, which shook him out of the hypnotic state of utter amazement and made him realize the danger he and his team were truly in, standing next to something that had the power to control the fabric of the universe itself.
Looking back, Jon thought he reacted as if he were being guided by a higher force, when he slowly and without any fear approached Gamma, not smiling or showing any other sign of emotional reaction, and simply held out his hand towards the glowing spirit, which was unsure of what was going on. Time seemed to be passing by in slow motion when Jon saw Gamma answering his gesture, accepting his hand and placing it in his own. Jon still remembered the surge of pure energy and a deep knowing of unity when Gamma’s hand touched his. It was not hot or painful; it actually felt like sticking his hand in silky, cool water.
Jon closed his hand firmly and led Gamma to the sun room. He looked into his eyes or rather through his eyes onto the other side of the room where the door still stood open. Then he walked out of the small chamber, closed the door, and switched on the heat. Gamma didn’t flinch. He simply stood there as his body slowly reverted back to its human form. After a minute he closed his eyes and went into a stasis. A bit like a bear going into a deep winter sleep. Jon turned around and looked at his team. Nobody had moved since Gamma’s initial transformation. It’s like time is standing still, thought Jon.
Amy was first to react, stumbling towards Jon and embracing him like he had just returned from a mission to Mars.
It’s OK, Amy. Next time we’ll know better.
Jon still remembered those words. He really hoped they held at least a grain of truth. Yes! This time I do know better!
Five
Eva
It seemed like only a few minutes had passed since Eva had finally fallen asleep when her intercom system started beeping. It was Professor Abramov, a call she had been expecting, but which still triggered a rush of excitement as well as sensations of fear in the depths of her stomach.
“Eva, it’s Mov, I guess you know why I’m calling you at 4 a.m.?”
“No, what’s going on, Mov?”
“You’re a good liar, but anyway, it seems you’ve got the job. An ambulance took Erik away a few hours ago and it’ll be a few days, maybe weeks, before he’s back on his feet. Too much of his superjuice, I guess…”
It was lucky for Eva that Professor Abramov couldn’t see her face turning bright red, but he knew her too well not to be suspicious.
“Oh no, that’s bad news. I’ll get ready immediately. When do we depart?”
“I’m sure you know the agenda perfectly well. Don’t bullshit me and don’t do anything stupid. Too much ambition is unhealthy!”
Eva was slightly taken aback by the professor hanging up on her like that, but she knew that he secretly enjoyed her emotional engagement and that he might even have counted on her acting as she did.
She knew that the intelligence meeting would start at 4.30 a.m., giving her just short of half an hour to be completely prepared. If she hadn’t organized all her gear it would have been nearly impossible for her to be ready in time.
Yes, Mov definitely knew I would be ready...
Suddenly she felt like a child again, trying to play a trick on her parents who had been aware of her intentions all along. No! I’m no little girl anymore. It’s about time for him to finally accept that.
* * *
The meeting was uneventful. There simply was not much known about the Green Egg. The military specialists were intimidating as always, looking down on her and her assistant Ivan as if on an unloved bag of old clothes. She smiled back at the grim soldiers but didn’t receive any human feedback, just stares that seemed to go right through her.
“Whatever you do, try not to touch anything. We have no clue what caused this artifact to appear and we know even less what might be hidden under the dense canopy of trees.” Stating the obvious, Eva suddenly felt an empty space expanding inside her stomach, a space that seemed to be filled with a nervous nest of ants, but the soldiers were blissfully unaware of her delicate state; for them it was just another mission.
“Thank you, Ms. Ouspensky. OK, guys, you heard the lady. Don’t touch anything, just pretend you’re at home with your girlfriend.” Commander Petrov was a tall, sinewy man. He was well respected by his men and his comments seemed to break the ice and provoke at least a few minor emotional reactions on the men’s faces. “And just like at home, you do what the lady tells you. Understood?”
“Yes sir!” came the reply as if spoken by one single person.
Well, at least now there are some little smirks on their faces. They are human after all, thought Eva.
The flight was short enough, but even a short time can feel like hours when you are at the mercy of fearful thoughts and a horizon full of darkly foreboding clouds. Eva gazed at the steel grey towers of mist from her window seat in the Russian army’s standard light troop carrier drone. The craft only offered two dozen seats, but her landing party was not even large enough to fill half of the space available, leaving her in unexpected solitude.
Commander Petrov sat down next to her with a big smile on his face. “Are you OK? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
“I’m fine, Andrei. I’m just a bit nervous about this mission. I’ve been working on my theory for three years and now is the first time there’s something that seems to be connected to it; something that I can touch. Something real.”
“I thought we weren’t supposed to touch anything?” replied Andrei, still smiling.
“Ah, yes, you know what I mean.”
Eva felt better now that Andrei was sitting next to her. He was always looking out for her, a bit like an older brother who was protecting his little sister.
“I miss you so much,” mumbled Eva, thinking about her brother who died five years ago after suffering all his life from an inherited genetic dysfunction. He was born with sickle cell disease, a rare blood disorder resulting in an abnormality in the oxygen-carrying protein hemoglobin found in red blood cells, which leads to a sickle-like shape. Eva was lucky; she had been spared her brother’s fate, but tests indicated that even while she was not affected she was still a carrier of the sickle-cell gene, something that made her very cautious when in contact with the opposite sex. As a result she was perceived as being cool, dismissive, and at times even arrogant. Eva knew that this was how people viewed her, but she had given up caring about it years ago, and even more so when her brother died. At his deathbed she finally promised to herself that she would never inflict this kind of suffering on her children and thus decided to remain alone, alone with her work.
“Five minutes to touchdown,” the fully automated carrier drone announced. Eva didn’t react. She stared at the clouds that grew in size the closer they came to the Green Egg.
“Ivan, please check the charge on the extraction devices, we need them all fully powe
red,” Eva remarked absently as the drone initiated its rapid descent.
Ivan nodded and vanished behind the cargo door.
“He adores you,” remarked Andrei.
“What? Who?” replied Eva who had now shifted her attention back to their mission. “Ivan? No… why?”
“Oh well, just an observation. Not to worry.” Andrei smiled at her before getting up to give out some final instructions.
“Everyone check BSS.” Eva pressed the control button on her biosphere shield, a square, matchbox-sized device attached to her camo-suit just below the left shoulder. It was designed to generate an invisible shield that would incinerate harmful chemical compounds as well as aggressive organic organisms up to the size of a beetle at a safe distance from her body. She noticed the shimmer of the transparent membrane appearing about thirty centimeters in front of her face. It was barely visible but when doing its work would start shimmering like a huge bubble of soapy liquid refracting the rays of the sun, isolating her from the potentially deadly environment. Just that it won’t be sunlight but colors emitted by tiny explosions of lethal gas molecules or something even worse, thought Eva as the doors of the drone opened revealing a peculiar view over two hundred meters of unforgiving landscape, which abruptly turned into a tropical wall of steaming, deep green vegetation.
“The Green Egg…” Eva was sure she felt something touching her. Not a physical touch but rather a feeling as if somebody were watching her out of the shadows, someone who was hiding behind the massive vines, making it impossible for her to pinpoint his position. A cold shiver ran down her spine and the hair on her neck stood on end. Andrei must feel it too, thought Eva, observing how the smile vanished from his face. The soldiers, on the other hand, seemed to be unaffected and started to busy themselves arranging all the equipment required for the expedition.
Humans and other Aliens: Book 1 Page 2