Eighteen
Suki
“Let’s come back to when this creature… woman… touched you between the eyes. What exactly happened then?”
Suki looked at Ms. Kamata who had been assigned by the airline to assist with her rehabilitation and prevent her suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. It was considered a standard procedure that had to be followed after traumatic events.
Suki was sick of repeating the same story over and over again. She hadn’t mentioned the message about her brother that she had received from the woman yet, but she felt that somehow Ms. Kamata knew that she was not telling the whole truth, that she was holding back an essential piece of information.
She would have to tell her. It seemed there was no other way to get her claws out of her mind. “There was something else… Something I now remember. There was this thought… I somehow knew that it was a message, delivered from the woman directly into my mind. She told me to find my brother.”
Ms. Kamata looked surprised. “That’s very interesting indeed. Have you contacted your brother yet?”
“I don’t have a brother. At least not anymore, he died many years ago.”
Ms. Kamata took off her spectacles and started cleaning them slowly, obviously processing this unusual bit of information, trying to fit her story into one of her psychological boxes that would result in a standardized follow-up routine of questions and most likely a prescribed course of medication that her preferred pharmaceutical company provided.
The question and answer game reminded Suki of playing with her dad when she was very young. She would ask him a question and he would give an answer, which always resulted in a new question based on the reply he had just given. The game could be played ad infinitum or at least until one of them grew bored.
Ms. Kamata was playing her game. She wasn’t truly interested in Suki’s story, but rather was trying to fit her into prefabricated treatment options, something that seemed rather ridiculous considering the circumstances.
Suki suppressed a laugh and continued, “I believe the woman knew that I don’t have a brother anymore. It felt like she was trying to direct me to someone that knows me as his sister, but not in a physical way, more in a spiritual context.”
Ms. Kamata raised an eyebrow as she made some more notes on her tablet. “Thank you, Suki. This is very helpful. I think we should wrap it up for today, but before you go I‘d like you to meet someone that is waiting outside.”
Suki felt annoyed. She was sick of talking to the police, to intelligence officers, psychologists, and who knows who else. Couldn’t they just leave her alone?
“Yes, sure. Thank you, Ms. Kamata.”
* * *
Amy was waiting outside of Ms. Kamata’s office, and smiled at Suki as she entered the waiting room. “Hello, Suki, I’m Amy.”
Suki was surprised to finally meet someone who didn’t make a big deal out of her professional title. Suki looked into Amy’s eyes. There was recognition, a certain familiarity that she was unable to substantiate, but it was there anyway.
“Do you mind if we go somewhere else? Maybe a café where we can have a decent cup of coffee?”
Suki smiled at Amy’s request. She had never understood how people could be so dependent on a drink brewed from roasted beans. “There’s a café down the road. I don’t drink coffee so I can’t vouch for its quality, but the place is always busy so I guess it’s not too bad.”
Amy followed Suki’s lead. She was amazed at the lack of English signage that was the norm in most other cities on this planet. She truly felt like she had been transported to another world where life was different in so many ways while it was still somehow the same. “It’s a strange world,” Amy said to herself.
“I agree.”
Amy was surprised that Suki had overheard her thoughts, which had found their way past her vocal chords, intermixing with the bustling noise of the street.
“I guess I find it less strange since I’ve been flying internationally for some time, but it sure felt strange in the beginning.”
Amy liked Suki. She seemed to be a mindful and compassionate young woman, something that had become a rarity in a society that rated human beings based on their virtual popularity rather than on ethical values. The global SociMe Rankings, often colloquially just referred to as “What’s your SMR?” defined a global popularity ranking amongst human beings from all countries, religions, and levels of society. To Amy it was an abominable outgrowth of the social media revolution that had taken place in the first few decades of the twenty-first century. How could you justify putting a value on a human being based on his virtual status, connections, opinions, and mostly fake personal values?
“What would you like to drink? I’ll order.”
Amy had been wandering down the street lost in thought when Suki opened the door to Café Suzu.
“I’d love a cappuccino.”
Suki pointed to a small table with two chairs and walked up to the counter to order Amy’s coffee and green tea for herself. Suki returned with two glasses of fresh, cold water and sat down. “So… what can I do for you?”
“I know of your recent experience in the plane and I also know about your report regarding the mysterious creature, the woman that was responsible for the attack. I’m working at ARC in San Francisco. We’re running a project that aims to cross alien and human DNA. We’re trying to find a way of countering the alien attacks.”
Suki wasn’t sure if she liked what she was hearing. Amy didn’t seem to find her story ridiculous like most people did, but experimenting with alien DNA didn’t sound like something that Suki felt comfortable with.
“There’s nothing to worry about. We’re not breeding super-soldiers or anything of that kind.”
Suki hesitated. She sensed Amy wasn’t truly convinced of what she had just told her. “So what exactly are you doing?”
Amy took a sip of water. “We’ve been successful in crossing the DNA structures…”
Suki looked up in surprise.
“…and the resulting organism, Delta, he’s human or… rather he looks perfectly human, but he has abilities that are beyond our wildest dreams. He has asked for you.”
Suki dropped her glass, spilling water all over the table. “What? He doesn’t even know me, how can he ask for me?”
Amy started wiping up the water from the table as Suki seemed to have forgotten her air-hostess training and completely ignored the water that was now dripping off the table and onto her shoes.
“He hasn’t directly asked for you. He has asked us to find his sister.”
Suki’s eyes went wide in disbelief. Amy could just make out Suki mumbling something, something that sounded like “Find your brother!”
“Are you OK? I know this sounds very strange, but we believe that you’re essential in a process that will hopefully be able to save humankind. Delta said that he wouldn’t be able to help us without his human half-brother and sister and now…”
Suki suddenly got up without uttering a single word and walked outside, stopping a few meters from the café. Amy knew that news like this was difficult to process. It meant making a leap into the unknown, swapping a life of seeming certainty with one that was shaped by the utter lack of it.
“One cappuccino and a green tea.” The waitress smiled at Amy as she served the drinks, wiping up the remains of Suki’s water spill.
“Arigatou gozaimasu.”
Amy hadn’t noticed Suki coming back in.
“I’m sorry if I’ve frightened you. I know this all sounds crazy and…”
Suki held up a hand. “No, you haven’t frightened me. You’ve made me very happy. When I get too excited I have to be alone for a minute. I needed some time to process it.”
Amy looked surprised. “So… you’re saying that you’ll come with me? That you’ll help us?”
Suki’s eyes glowed with anticipation. “Yes! When the woman in the plane touched me I somehow knew that this was the beginning of s
omething… I don’t know, something that was always meant to happen. My whole life has felt strange so far and suddenly it seems like there’s a sign pointing me in the right direction. When do we leave?”
Amy was amazed at this woman. “Right now if you wish. But I guess you’d like to pack a few things first. So how about we meet in the JAL business lounge at 6 p.m.? That gives us some time to relax before we board our flight.”
* * *
Jon called Amy on her way to the airport, his face appearing on the holo display of the CATI travel pod. Amy was glad to see him. Being so far away from home made her feel vulnerable and seeing Jon provided a certain familiarity that she cherished.
“I’m meeting Suki at the airport in half an hour. She’s a great girl and she’s very much looking forward to helping us.”
Jon smiled. “We’ve heard back from a detective in the New York police department. He says that he knows of a man that has survived an attack or even two. He’ll be talking to him and bringing him to San Francisco tomorrow, if possible.”
Amy suddenly felt like saying something that if not uttered right now might not be said at all. “I love you!”
Jon was caught by surprise. “You… what?”
Amy didn’t know what had happened and quickly added, “I mean… it’s lovely to hear your voice and see you excited again. We haven’t had any success for so long. You deserve it.”
Jon smiled. “It’s lovely working with you too. Have a safe flight. I’ll see you tomorrow morning at work.”
Amy was confused. Why had she told Jon that she loved him? Did she secretly hope he harbored the same feelings? What had she expected? Had he even noticed her saying the words?
The travel pod docked at the airport business class lounge, the clunking sound of metal on metal interrupting Amy’s chain of thought.
She stepped out of the pod, feeling relieved to be on her way back home. “I think I deserve a champagne.” She smiled at the waitress and fell back into the air-molded relaxation chair.
“Moët or Veuve Clicquot?”
Amy looked up at the waitress unsure what to decide upon. “Both,” she thought out loud. The waitress smiled and had just picked up a glass when her head was suddenly jerked back by an unseen force. Amy jumped out of her seat when the silver tray, holding the champagne glasses, flew out of the woman’s hand, and crashed onto the floor. Amy was trying to help her up, touching her hand in the process. There was a hideous-looking creature hovering behind the waitress who was frantically trying to get away from it while green insectlike arms held her firmly in place. The poor waitress only had time for one more scream before her attacker cut the head off her body with a claw that looked very much like it belonged to an oversized praying mantis.
The creature itself seemed to be mostly human, female, Amy thought, with long, green arms extending from a slender, muscular body that was covered by flexible bands of armor that emitted a fluorescent glow. The deadly arms were able to rotate backwards at the end where massive spikes made sure that no prey was able to escape her firm grip.
Her face was beautiful, with long silky black hair framing large, glittering eyes that resembled those of a fly, sparkling in rainbow colors all over.
Amy kept low as she slowly crawled away from the waitress’s dead body. The alien creature moved fluidly and extremely fast, taking out another two people while Amy got back on her feet.
“Amy! Oh my God, not again!” Suki stood right behind Amy.
“Suki! We have to get out of here!” Amy was about to grab her hand when she heard a shrill scream behind her back. Amy froze in fear for a fraction of a second, before turning around only to find the nightmarish creature closing in on her.
“Suki, go, leave me.” Amy was no hero, but she knew that Suki was more important than anyone else in the room. She had to be saved no matter what. Suki suddenly stepped in front of her, blocking the creature’s path of attack. Amy stood unmoving while observing how the strong, insectlike arms gently touched Suki between the eyes, sending her to the floor unconscious, but leaving her otherwise unharmed.
Thank God it didn’t kill her, Amy thought as she cautiously moved back to the door that led to the travel pod dock. The alien woman took her eyes off Amy, spotting a group of men trying to sneak past behind her back. She spun around at lightning speed killing the first man in the group, sending the others looking for shelter behind a buffet table. Amy’s back was against the wall, her hands trying to make out the touch panel that would open the door to the lounge’s docking area. Here it is…
Amy pressed her hand against the cool glass surface while the alien creature was busy hunting down the other men, swinging her menacing, spiked arms, sending the buffet table flying to the other end of the room.
It looks like she’s playing with Lego pieces, thought Amy as the creature killed the men who were hiding behind it with one single stroke of her barbed claw. Amy felt a breeze of cool air flowing past her legs as the door slid open behind her back. The monster must have sensed the change of air pressure. It spun around. Her eyes fixed on Amy who cautiously moved back, out of the lounge, trying to reach the safety of the closest travel pod. The alien woman launched herself forward, utilizing the power of her muscly legs, closing in fast. Amy was already outside. She put her hand on the touch pad. The door started closing.
“Faster, please, close faster…” Amy stood frozen, watching the door close. A process that only took a second stretched out in time making it feel like an eternity. Finally it closed, but not before a green, spiky claw had been inserted in the little gap that remained. Amy stumbled back as the door was ripped out of the wall as if it were made of cardboard. The monster jumped through the gap, lashing out at her at lightning speed, stabbing her through the chest, nearly ripping her in half. Amy lay on the floor, bleeding. Her heart took one more beat as she witnessed the creature turning around, moving back into the room, killing another two passengers. A final thought moved through fading consciousness. I believe in you, Jon. I love you.
Nineteen
Eva
Mov walked into Eva’s lab, glancing curiously at a display showing a holographic representation of the world. A few red dots were blinking in Russia and northeastern parts of Europe: Moscow, Riga, now even Vilnius.
“What are these red markings?” Mov took a seat next to Eva and kept on staring at the projection.
“These are alien attacks currently taking place in the referenced cities.”
Mov looked at Eva in disbelief. “How do you know? What the hell were you two doing last night?”
Eva took a sip from her morning protein shake. “We’ve been able to extract and store copies of the signatures of the power spikes emitted from the Green Egg and are now comparing the signatures with the electrostatic patterns detected around the globe. The red markings indicate perfect matches. The occurrence of such a signal spike is a sign of the energetic information itself materializing as matter.”
Mov took a sip from a glass of water that sat on the table “Go on.”
Eva tried to compress the information as much as possible while still painting a comprehensive picture. “Ivan, please zoom in on Moscow.”
Ivan selected the Russian capital and brought up the detailed information.
“Moscow, Russia, Pushkin State Museum, ulitsa Volkhonka; Detected: 58% Human, 28% Hyaenidae, 14% Accipitridae; Materialized: 10:43 a.m. local time; Casualties: 14.”
Mov looked at the information in shocked disbelief. He grabbed his phone. “Connect me to the Pushkin State Museum, Professor Vasili Volkov.” Mov’s face twitched in anger.
“Mov, it’s you. Thank God you’re calling. We have a serious problem here… Oh my God… what is this thing…? Looks like something out of an Egyptian fairy tale…”
Mov listened in horror. “Vasili? Are you there?” Mov slowly put his cell phone back on the table. He looked shocked and enraged at the same time. “So you can detect them. Can you also kill them?” Mov’s eyes sparkl
ed in fury.
“Yes… we can detect them,” Eva replied, “but so far that’s pretty much all we can do.”
Ivan continued, “We believe the solution is to make it impossible for them to materialize in the first place. They seem to be harmless as long as they’re in their wave-like state, which is a state of pure information, a bit like a field of potentiality if we’re talking quantum mechanics.”
Mov didn’t like it when people tried to impress him with their technical knowledge, but he knew Ivan very well and this was just his way of expressing something simple in a complicated way. Ivan was great at confusing people without having any intention of doing so. His way of thinking simply worked in complex patterns and Mov knew that this also had great benefits.
“So how do we stop them from materializing?”
Eva looked at Ivan and slowly continued, “The only thing we can think of is that we have to pull the plug.”
This time Mov really didn’t understand. “Pull the plug?”
Eva knew that her solution wouldn’t go down well, that it was totally impossible and not really a solution at all, but for now it was all she had.
“Pull the plug on all electrical devices, all computers, all media and communication devices, all transport pods, the World Wide Web, the Ring, essentially all power generation.”
Mov looked at her in utter disbelief. “Are you mad?”
Eva blushed. “No… well maybe… I know that this is simply not possible, or at least it seems impossible. It would basically destroy our way of life. All of our comforts and technological advances would be lost. Everything we take for granted would have to be reconsidered. Still, the alien ghosts seem to require an electrical charge to materialize. Without power they’ll remain in their nonmaterial state. Wherever there is power there is the imminent risk of death.”
Humans and other Aliens: Book 1 Page 11