Frankentown

by Aleksandar Vujovic

  Grasping a big mug in his shovel-like hands, which weren’t as transparent as the aliens’, he headed towards Frank and Weiss. Hector shat bricks and hid behind the other side of the nearest support pillar.

  Looking up at the being, which was a good six feet taller than Frank, it was a comical kick to see an alien holding a cup of coffee.

  The being initiated a line of thought with Frank. It got inside his mind. For a visit.

  He could communicate without language.

  Frank didn’t hear words but it was as if his own minds suddenly perceived concepts. And the concept was that he was welcome, and to not be afraid. He was trying to convince himself that he didn’t make it up in his head, but there was no telling, except for the muted smile on the being’s cat-like face six feet above.

  “The Grey communicate only in concepts.” Nor said.

  “Frank, meet Nor, our only person to regularly communicate and spend one-on-one time with the Grey.” Even before Frank had time to react to Nor’s strange appearance, Nikos explained. Nor didn’t say a word and entered Frank’s mind instead.

  Language is far too imperfect to get a message across. They communicate in absolute definitions; entire ideas. A recipient of the telepathic thought is introduced to a specific set of constrained preferences on a variety of thoughts, topics and opinions, like ones and zeros. Knowledge is transferred.

  This allows not only for shareing information, but immediately allows everyone to understand intentions and meanings behind each’s own specific aspect on a situation or topic. No room for misunderstanding.

  When Nor finished his toughts, Frank snapped back to with a visible twitch. Nikos took notice to explain what just happened.

  “It took us a while, but we finally figured out that the telepathy really travels identical to radiation, because, well, it is radiation.

  The patterns on the Geiger counter and the thoughts the whole attending staff

  had given it away back in June 1947.” Nikos explained.

  While he yapped on, Frank was quite taken aback by Nor who was leaving to go back to the kitchen because his coffeecup was empty as usual.

  Nikos continued on with his explanation.

  “Telepathy is the the directing of gamma radiation, in extremely small amounts, toward another being to communicate."

  That made sense enough to Frank.

  "I guess that little bugger communicated the shit out of me, ey?"

  Nikos smiled an affirmative grin but continued.

  "They can also move place to place. Like-‘Literally Teleport.’” Said the young, insane-looking Greek while doing air-quotes. “They decompose into a cloud of atoms. The neutrinos, parts of neutrons, which are parts of Atoms carry their mass. Everything else carries their stored thoughts, personalities and, I believe, what the neutrons really hold, is each beings’ soul."

  The concept of a 'soul' has been a very gray area in science, so both Frank and Hector perked up at this topic for would-be discussion.

  "Microscopic variations in the distribution of neutrons add up to entire personalities, entire memories; an almost infinite amount of knowledge could be contained within a single being. They have much a higher cell density in their brains, and they’re four times as big as ours. Compared to us, their abilities is near limitless in comparison to ours.

  Frank was excited at the realm of possibilities.

  “-And so- have you figured out a way to make telepathy work for us, too?” Surely they must have, Frank though. That would explain why Nor looked like that.

  “Well we can understand them. They communicate with us...”

  No shit Sherlock.

  “…however, we can’t yet figure out combinations of the neutrinos to decipher their meanings. That is what I do here.”

  “Can everyone understand them?” Frank asked.

  “Only a select few.”

  “And you want to translate them?”

  What makes you think there’s any chance of you ever figuring that out?

  “Let me show you.”

  Nikos became very excited. Frank could only guess that yet another big surprise was afoot. He led him over to an enormous, yet underwhelming machine. The exterior resembled an oversized and oversimplified photocopier the size of a tall spacious cubicle, much taller than Frank.

  “What is it?”

  “It measures gamma rays and interprets them as integers from the origin ray-“

  “Origin?” Frank sheepishly cut in and asked.

  “That’s right. It takes the point of collision of the ray inside this cube and maps the surrounding rays around it as numbers-“

  Frank was catching on.

  “So you get the whole sequence to decipher.”

  “That’s right. Well, some of them are helping with that. But it’s practically impossible to convert it into human speech. They describe feelings and subjects we have never even heard of.

  Here, let me show you to your locker.”

  “I…have a locker?”

  He had zero interest in having a locker, after being kidnapped into an underground base without the option of even packing.

  Frank’s mind already felt a little enlightened, and yet burdened by the information, hoping they have alcohol at the base. Although his brain would crunch the information for days to come, it all fit together well enough. It all made sense, in some weird way.

  “How long have you been here?” he asked Nikos who just didn’t look right in the head.

  “Four years, three months and two days.”

  Frank shrugged. “Why haven’t you left?”

  “Given that you’ve signed the contract, the only way you’re getting out alive is in -a- coffin.”

  Frank wasn’t so startled because he already knew that. Hector didn’t.

  “Or under full disclosure.”grinned Nikos added, staining it all with sarcasm.

  “Don’t hold your breath,” he continued,“that won’t happen.”

  When the door of the locker clicked open with a special key Nikos placed on Frank’s hand after he opened his locker. It already had his last name on its door. It was as though he stepped through time back to high-school, but this time the locker wasn’t stuck with gum and stuffed with a rotting sandwich and unidentifiable fruit mold farms. Instead, there was a clean change of clothes- right from his own wardrobe.

  Somebody had packed for him and delivered the clothes here, along with the liquified alien.

  “You can take a shower here,” Nikos explained, pointing at a row of dark doors opposite.

  “and you can relax a little in the lounge,” he said pointing over to the corner of the hall, inside a tall doorway, “and we eat here, in the cantina.”

  That word always irritated him.

  Cantina.

  The doorway was right beside them.

  Inside, Frank saw Nor sitting lone at a table, clutching a tall thermos with hands almost as big as the alien’s. No idea how he slipped past them to get inside.

  “Can he teleport too?”

  “No, he’s just sneaky. He’s still mostly human as we figure, but…” he looked far off in the distance, even though there wasn’t any. “…It’s as if his body adapted for communication with the humans. Even after the initial shock of seeing such an unorthodox figure wear a lab coat wore off, it was not difficult to notice similarities between Nor and the Grey. Kind of terrifying, really.

  Nikos turned to Hector.

  “Could you come with me, Mr. Weiss?”

  “Okay” and went back to his station, with Weiss on his heels, like a good boy.

  Frank took his favorite cardigan out the locker and closed it. Now a little warmer in the comfort of his sweater from his home, there was no other place to hide down here. Hesitantly, Frank made for the kitchen. The AC blew up a storm and Nor looked up from behind his steaming bottle, and caught Frank’s eye with a look of slight constipation.

  “So you’re the doctor here?” Frank asked.

  “I
guess you can say that,” said the giant man who now more than ever resembled an alien.

  ”Welcome aboard.”

  Nor’s ears protruded inches from his head like antennas, one of the strangest traits about him was also the most human. The unusual slope of his forehead, flush with the rim of his nose.

  The enormous cranium. Wispy hair robed his semi-sympathetic cat face. Overall, Nor was a pretty convincing human, if you squint and all the furniture is bigger than usual. At least for someone who’s never seen an alien.

  “Are you..human?” Frank didn’t think it impolite or necessary to be indirect. Though the question didn’t come as a surprise, Nor couldn’t help but be little hurt by it.

  “Are you human?” he defended himself.

  “I’m sorry, it’s just - I’ve never met anyone-“

  “-that looks like me?”

  Nor knew he wasn’t trying to be impolite, but his enlarged reddened eyes gave away grief and hurt. For the first time his posture gave away weakness and vulnerability. Nor was as pale and sickly as a junkie.

  ”Side effects of prolonged exposure to Them.

  And their radiation.”

  Jerk.

  “How long have you been down here?”

  “Few…i dunno, two maybe three decades?”

  Before Frank could ask, Nikos burst into the room, followed by Weiss, carrying two binders.

  “Frank, if you would care to join us, we have some work to do. You can grab a coffee with Nor later. -Hi, Nor.” He said waving at him.

  Nor nodded and gazed at the vending machines in the corner of the kitchen.

  A candy-bar fell down.

  “Let’s go Frank, let’s go.”

  As Frank passed, he pulled Hector up by the nostril and went after Nikos.

  Chapter Fourteen

  On The Dragon's Hearth

  Hector Weiss and Frank Cabella studied at University where they ended up teaching at the same time, in the mid 60’s. They were classmates.

  And Sworn enemies.

  Weiss always had better grades, but that also meant he was mostly alone, studying.

  There was a time during the fall of sixty seven when Frank thought he might give Hector a chance, but he rejected with a ‘No. Thanks.‘ and moved on.

  Later that month, Weiss ratted Frank out for sneaking onto campus with friends at night to drink. Although nothing was really provable in the campus at night, and Frank was getting away with the little midnight rendezvous, ratting out on colleagues just isn’t in fashion.

  Since then, Hector has, in certain circles, adapted the nickname ‘Sourpuss”.

  So it was that now they were together whether they wanted to or not.

  Several more days passed at the base with being introduced to current and past prototypes of spacecrafts; from barely-floating donuts to discs that can travel at extreme speeds and penetrate both space and time (“…and have fried several testers…”) and everything between. With the light never changing underground, it was easy to lose track of time. Frank hadn’t dared to fly out the hole he hid earlier…before his nose got almost broken.

  Nikos led them out the main door of the first complex to go to the next ‘wing’.

  Several confusing dark corridors later, enormous steel panels slid apart once Nikos typed a shape-based code into the keypad.

  After several stifling seconds - the lights came on.

  What else will blow my mind? Frank now thought ahead.

  Weiss wore the same facial expression he used to wear around school. Realizing this, he stuck his tongue out at Frank before any mockery ever had time to arrive.

  Frank was too proud to flip him the bird, so he remained calm instead.

  Ahead of them was an enormous room, apparently connected to an even bigger tank. The walls were lined with a strange dark element not unlike the foamy one in the caves.

  It seemed to absorb light.

  Or you know, it might’ve just been dark. Frank was in a small spotlight and it was very hard to see anything further than three feet so he saw nothing.

  There was no way to know what to expect in the dark of this room. Everything they could see appeared to be organic, though hand-built; as if a stone quarry came alive with glowing gems inside, forming tall stations.

  As soon as Frank’s eyes adjusted, he could see behind them, where in the low light, four tall beings stood at least 8 or 9 feet in height, each sloping over to better see the visitors.

  “Go on, go in.” Nikos said, gesturing them inside. Frank slowly and cautiously made for the room. Hector cowered by the door which closed shut behind him a mere half second later.

  Frank looked over and saw Weiss cowering, scared out of his mind, but didn’t feel the least bit scared himself.

  Frank gestured Hector to come over, and he did, despite all the fear, because he couldn’t let Frank have the satisfaction.

  “Hello?” Frank cautiously but curiously asked. There was no denying at least trace amount of fear in his voice.

  Nikos spoke again in reply, making Frank jump. They didn’t see him walking in with them. But when they looked around, Nikos was not there and the door to the outside had been shut.

  Welcome, Frank Cabella∴

  We’ve been expecting you∴

  “How is it-“

  Need not speak with us aloud∴

  “How is it what, Cabella?” said Hector, impatiently trying to scare his fear away.

  Share your mind∴

  The instruction was clear enough, so he tried to speak to himself.

  How is it that you know who I am?

  It worked. It beings in the room understood clearly. One of the tall dark figures, cloaked in a dark ochre glow, stepped into what little light fell through the water in the tank.

  Weiss still cowered by the door with a look of terror mocking his own face.

  Can he hear you?

  Nikos’s voice answered inside Frank’s head, speaking for the giant before him.

  His judgement and fear clouds his mind∴

  He cannot hear us∴

  The slightly taller, older looking being rose majestic. Frank had to tilt his head back to look them in the face, which he might have found extremely frightening, under ordinary circumstances.

  There was something royal about them.

  Besides, Frank thought, It’s hard to not be intimidated by someone 4 feet taller than you. Hector’s reaction was excusable.

  We’ve heard from our brother of your arrival∴ You’ve met him in the northwest wing∴

  Nor? Where am I? What happens here?

  Before he could be answered, something had to be done about Weiss.

  He wasn’t of much use cowering in the corner, and thus didn’t pass the test.

  The tallest of the beings in the far back raised its right, three fingered hand up. With fluid motion, the being’s wide hand, which almost resembled a baseball glove in size sprung radiant light from the breadth of the palm, and commanded the heavy steel doors to move. As they opened, Hector Weiss felt pushed back by a phantom force, tilted backwards onto his heels, and paralyzed, was being willed out of the room by the Grey.

  The doors opened up just enough to get Hector out tilted and then slid shut once again, this time with a thud.

  Outside, Hector’s impending heart attack seamed to ease out and get replaced with a combination of envy and spiteful resentment. And euphoria.

  Frank stood in silence inside, in the dark, trying to ingest it all. It was strange for him to find that with Weiss outside, he feels more at ease, despite the unorthodox nature of his companions.

  The tallest of the beings, apparently the leader, rose his huge palms up into the air.

  He held them together almost closed for a brief moment and then moved closer to Frank.

  After the gulp, it felt quite strange for an alien being to be so close to him.

  The hands were broad and rough and would cover his entire back, but they didn’t.

  The tall b
eing held its hands over his head.

  In less than a second, Frank had fallen into a deep sleep, so strangely comfortable, as though it was meant to be; as if he was supposed to be there. Then He strayed into a dream.

  He was in a tall room with dozens of people standing in line, getting a backrub.

  Then the four tall beings in the room, holding onto something that looked like rounded orange glowing rocks. A literal out-of-body experience. The words came to him as quick as the images.

  “No backrubs,” Nikos’ voice said aloud.

  not our area of expertise.

  Where do you come from?

  It seemed to stand on the edge of reason to confirm their origin.

  The room started fading off, dematerializing into space.

  It must’ve been inside his head; they couldn’t have possibly left earth like that. At least so he thought. It was epic, being a person flying through distances that can be only measured in lightyears, moving through the space faster than light.

  It was like the greatest roller coaster ride of all time and he wanted to get off.

  Within a New York minute, he realized they had not moved at all.

  Instead, everything moved around them.

  The perfect blackness was always only an illusion. Frank’s eyes compensated for the lack of detail in the nothingness of the universe and he saw beautiful fractals.

  To say the least, It was a very humbling experience. For the first time, Frank realized how insignificant our little planet is. And that it was only ironic that we take care of it so poorly.

  Standing at a single point in space was something Frank had never even dared to imagine in a dream. The density of the stars all around formed a circular ‘room’. When Frank had the time to realize he is no longer standing in a weird cave in Area 51 but was getting flied through space by the Greys. Gravity has left the building.

  Coming to from the shock of everything, he realized he has been suspended in air, locked in a position vaguely resembling the posture of a flying squirrel.

  Feeling pathetic, Frank straightened into a human being in the state of ‘parachute falling’ and looked around. Two gray beings turned into sharp, radiant points of light. Then Frank dared to have a thought. Blurry, indescript blurry shapes started appearing around them, flying by.