by John Bluck
As his eyes adjusted to the dimmer sky, Wilson saw eerie forms of bushes, trees, and deserted park benches in the gloom.
The sky became almost as black as night. The stark darkness of the storm triggered sensors which switched on garden lamps, spawning welcome pools of orange-yellow light. The group moved with stealth towards the cloaked ship. Wilson's senses were attuned to possible danger in the shadows. Over the whistling wind he heard a branch crack in the bushes, and he and the aliens froze in place.
He opened his mouth and kept it open to improve his hearing, a trick he had learned from an army combat veteran. As he strained to look for movement with his side vision in the gloom, another army technique, he saw a cyborg. Wilson tapped Raven's shoulder, and then in slow motion, Wilson pointed to the man-sized cyborg soldier.
Raven nodded as the wind whipped his long, grey hair. Wilson knelt behind a large boulder along the garden's brick pathway, and Raven hid behind a second big rock. He aimed and fired, and the cyborg exploded in sparks and smoke, like a firework. Then a firefight began with shots illuminating the darkness with bluish flashes.
Silent ray fire cut holes into the boulder behind which Wilson hid. Rays hit stones and soil, and they sizzled. The cold wind carried the sharp odor of burned rock. Like lightning in a dark sky, the blue lines of ray shots persisted across his vision. Though the battle was furious, it was silent except for loud voices and the sounds of bits of rock and soil as they were kicked up into the air and then fell to the ground. From behind boulders Raven, Lena, the two alien soldiers, and Wilson fired at the sources of enemy ray shots.
"Go, Lena!" Raven barked. She stood to a crouch and ran. Partway into her sprint towards the ship she slid to the ground and rolled. Her team protected her with cover fire. All of a sudden the ship uncloaked while she was prone on the grass.
She was fifty feet from the ship's door. It opened. She sprang up and ran for the opening. Ray beams crisscrossed at chest level in front of her, forcing her to dive to the ground. She rolled once in front of the ship's entry and slid inside.
Wilson continued to fire at the sources of the enemy's ray shots, and there was an explosion. He had hit one or more cyborgs.
"Good shot," Raven said. "Now, run."
"No, you go first," Wilson said. He knew Raven was still injured, and if he went first, it would give him the advantage of getting to safety sooner. Even so, he looked good for a man who had been on the verge of death.
"Okay," Raven said. He sprinted towards the ship. Rain began to fall in sheets, and it hit harder and faster on the brick walkway. The downpour limited Wilson's sight and hearing.
Raven needed cover fire. He slowed, still weak from his wound, splashing in the direction of the ship's door. Wilson and the two alien soldiers laid down rapid fire. He had been right to let Raven go first.
Raven fell and hit the muddy ground still short of the entrance. He rolled into a puddle, got up, dashed, and hit the wet ground again. He zigzagged, going left, then right, and got to his feet. He ran some more and dove to the ground in front of the ship's door, ray beams hitting the rain-soaked ground around him and burning holes into the mud. Raven arose, bounded forward, and slid feet-first into the ship like a base runner barreling into home plate.
Wilson inhaled and smelled strong odors of vegetation on fire, hot rocks, and steaming mire.
The ship began to spit out bursts of death rays at the enemy cyborgs. Explosions followed in a display of light that startled Wilson. Steam rose from where ray shots had hit, and robot parts clanked into the pathway, making tin-like noises as they bounced over the brick surface. Blobs of organic matter, human tissue that made up the cyborgs along with their mechanical parts, fell near him.
"Wilson! Come on!" Raven managed to yell above the din of the rainstorm from the ship's entryway.
Still Wilson hesitated.
"Go now, Wilson!" Raven bellowed even louder, as the rain intensified. "Maximum fire!" he commanded, speaking into a microphone in the ship's wall.
Like a laser light show, the ship's heavy ray weapons discharged one-inch beams that hit like bolts from electronic crossbows. At the same time, rare California thunder began to boom as lightning flashed in the dark rain clouds above. People in the hospital must think the battle sounds are loud storm noises – lucky, Wilson thought.
He pushed up, dashed, and fell to the mud, twisting his ankle. A jolt of pain shot through his leg. He was soaked to the skin and cold, to add to his misery. He rolled to his right. Though he was in extreme agony because of his injured ankle, he struggled up again. Wilson half ran and half hopped as fast as he could towards the ship's door, just ten yards away. His ankle throbbed in pain so intense it almost made him yell.
He felt a sudden shock that pierced his guts. Then he smelled the dirty odor of his burned clothes and singed flesh mixed with steam after a ray had struck his belly. Wilson felt as if he had dived into a dark, deep lake and then into blackness.
He awoke on his back, and he looked up into Lena's face, close to his. Her hazel green eyes were unusual, vibrant. Wilson was inside the dry ship on a bunk bed. He wore a hospital gown, tasted a laxative-like liquid in his mouth, and smelled a fruity odor. His guts were on fire.
"I was worried about you, Dr. Wilson," Lena said with her real voice, in a beautiful accent. She wasn't using her translation box, which she wore only in stressful situations. Her long, straight hair hung down near him. "We weren't sure the nano medicine would work on your body."
"Is the fight over?" Wilson asked.
"Yes, and our ship has jumped away," she said. "You are wounded, but you'll recover."
"I need to check my wound," Wilson said. He shifted his body and felt pain when he moved his unbuttoned hospital gown aside to look down at his middle. The injury was ugly, and Wilson was scared. The round, bullet-sized hole was red and sooty and cut into his lower belly, piercing his small intestine. Blue-green fluid had seeped from his wound.
"What's that blue-green stuff?" he asked.
"The nano meds train your body to generate the fluid," Lena said. "It helps wounds to mend. You'll recover in a day or two."
"Maybe not," Wilson said. "Could you take me back to my hospital?"
"I'm sorry, but it's unsafe. Your image is in the cyborgs' data base, and they'll kill you, if they find you near the hospital," she said. "Anyway, you don't need to return there. The nano meds within you work at top speed to repair the damage. You'd be dead by now, if we hadn't given it to you."
I feel far better than I should, Wilson thought.
The aliens had attached an IV to his arm. "What's in there?" he asked, pointing to the IV bottle.
"Nano nutrients," Lena replied. "They will speed your recovery."
"Thank you," Wilson said as he lifted his gown again. There was an inky, black substance on his abdomen, next to the wound. The skin had begun grow on the edges of the round, half-inch injury.
Raven entered the room where Wilson lay. "I am pleased to see you're on the mend, Dr. Wilson," the alien said.
"How long was I out?"
"About three hours," Raven said. "Don't worry. You'll recover. Look at me." He showed his wound to Wilson. It had healed so fast that it was now just a small red mark.
"How did you know that your medicine would work on me?" Wilson asked.
"We didn't, but we had no choice. You were going to die," he said. "Your body's processes are unlike ours, but not so dissimilar that nano medicines wouldn't work. They and nano robots changed themselves so they would operate correctly in your body. Healing is taking longer than it would with one of us, but it's happening faster than I thought possible."
"Where are we?" Wilson asked.
"In between dimensions, on the way to Sunev, my world," he said.
"So, we're in spaceflight?" Wilson asked.
"We're not in flight. We're in the same spot, but it takes a few hours to transfer from one dimension to another. Sunev is a planet parallel to your Earth and is much like
it, but our planet's continents have somewhat different shapes and positions, and our climate is warmer. The sun in our dimension is a bit larger than your home star. To make the transfer, Earth matter changes to Sunevian matter."
"Why does it take so long?" Wilson asked.
"Because a special machine within the ship must change our atoms from one kind to another. The process is complex," he said. "Our entire beings transform. This happens in a way that's indiscernible to us."
Wilson nodded as if he understood, and he wondered, Am I in a dream?
As Raven sat down in a chair near Wilson, Lena glanced away from her fellow alien to study Wilson. She was close, and he enjoyed her attention and the delicate scent of her foreign perfume.
"Dr. Wilson, may I use your first name?" she asked.
"Of course," Wilson said. "May I call you by yours, too?"
"Yes," she said. "I need to tell you a few things, Bill. The medicine that we gave you has an added benefit. You will live for many more years than your fellow citizens of Earth."
She sat on Wilson's bed next to his legs. "Nano medicine improves one's health, and repairs damage from aging. The clock of aging within your cells no longer ticks."
Wilson was astounded. He glanced at Raven who had struck Wilson as having a cold personality, but now the alien seemed friendlier. Raven crossed his legs, and he smiled at Wilson.
"After you saved my life twice, I didn't hesitate to give you nano meds," Raven said. "They'll repair your body and keep it young."
"Thank you," Wilson said, at a loss for what more to say. Raven had granted him a fountain of youth.
"I broke the rules about how we're supposed to use nano medicine," Raven said. "Only after I had already given you nano meds, did I ask my commander for permission to save you." He paused. "We only request that you keep your long life a secret from all earthlings for the time being."
"I promise," Wilson said. What else could I say? How long could I live?
A huge explosion that would destroy Wilson’s body would kill him, but disease and less vicious body damage might not end his life, if what Raven said was true. Wilson also realized the aliens probably had decided to let him return to Earth, but he couldn’t be sure.
"Our leaders are good people," Lena said, sensing Wilson's anxiety. His life had changed in a major way because of his split second decision to go with the Sunevians. Wilson pondered if he had made the wrong choice, but the big plus was that he might live for hundreds of years or more.
"I decided to go with you because of the danger I was in, but I also wanted to learn about your advanced medicine," Wilson admitted. "I didn't know what a big step it would be."
Lena smiled and said, "You obviously trusted your Inner One to lead you," she said. "Our experience is that if you follow your Inner One's guidance without hesitation, it's usually for the best."
"I did go with my gut feeling," Wilson admitted.
Raven chimed in, "And that was a wise decision. For one thing we'll train you in techniques that go far beyond the simple use of liquid nano medicine," Raven said. "You won't be sorry. For now, I'll tell you some nano medicine history."
"That'll be interesting," Wilson said. He shifted his position in bed to face Raven. Wilson felt a twinge of pain, but it wasn't bad.
Raven sat back in his chair and entwined his fingers. "Sunevian medical nano fluid contains a mixture of nano parts, proteins, and chemicals that scientists first learned would extend the lives of primates," the alien began. "Our researchers then changed nano medicine to keep it from making all organisms long-lived, except for humanoids."
"I guess that otherwise, the nano fluid would cause havoc in the ecosystem," Wilson commented.
"You're right," Raven replied. "If there were a kind of nano fluid that made all living things nearly immortal, and it were to get loose on Sunev, our planet would soon be choked with life. Even so, Sunev's humanoid population has exploded. So our leaders had to pass mandatory birth control laws to ensure that only people who die in accidents and wars are replaced by new babies."
"How did nano medicine come about?" Wilson asked.
"At first, our scientists created nano meds to overcome specific medical problems. One of the first nano meds ate away blood clots that could result in strokes or heart attacks. Doctors added more and more capabilities to the medicine including molecular machines and chemicals to combat many conditions, even cancer," said Raven. He took a sip from a glass of water.
"What about anti-aging?" Wilson queried. He sat up against his pillow.
"One key discovery was a chemical that halted aging by stopping the biological clocks in cells," Raven said.
Wilson felt much better. "I remember a scientific article, which told how scientists in the United Kingdom had studied a kind of flatworm that is long-lived. These worms can stop telomeres from shortening in their DNA. The telomeres act as aging clocks in cells."
"We don't use the words DNA or telomeres, but I believe our Sunevian scientists found the same kinds of things in our bodies," said Raven.
"The article also said that the English scientists learned that telomeres shorten during the lives of most animals, even human beings," Wilson said. "Your scientists must have learned how to stop shrinkage of the telomeres."
"Exactly," said Raven. "You'll be glad you came with us when you get to work with our researchers. Now, I must go," Raven said. He stood to leave.
"Thanks for the information about nano medicine," Wilson said.
"You're more than welcome," Raven replied. He walked to the room's exit, and as he left he glanced back at Wilson and smiled.
"I've got to go, too," said Lena. "I must help prepare for arrival. But I'll see you soon, and I'll have something to tell you – a surprise."
"I'll look forward to it," Wilson said. She grinned and departed.
As a doctor, I have an ethical problem, he thought. If I have access to nano medicine, how could I withhold it from my patients on Earth? The Sunevians probably won't give me medicine for my professional use on Earth. But I swore to save people when I took the Hippocratic Oath.
Will Sunev let me carry nano medicine for my personal emergency use on Earth?
And what if I learn how to make nano medicine? How could I go back to Earth and not share my new knowledge? Would the Sunevians ask me to pass it on to earthlings? Could I include these findings about alien nano medicine in my post-sabbatical report next year?
And, oh yes, what is Lena’s surprise?
Chapter 4 – Lena's Surprise
Lena's mention of a surprise for him popped into Wilson's mind every so often after he arrived on the alien planet.
Within a week Wilson began to feel much better, mostly because his ray wound had healed quickly.
One day at lunchtime, he sat in an easy chair in his cabin on the extraterrestrial ship. Beside him was a bottle of beer and a chilled, long-stemmed glass.
A knock sounded at his cabin door. When he opened it, he was stunned to see Lena Lavelle. Her hazel green eyes were liquid, doe-like, and she wore a vibrant green blouse and a red mini-skirt that accented her legs. She was perfectly proportioned like a classical beauty.
"May I come in, Bill?"
"Of course." He stood aside, and she walked in. She turned to face him.
"May I sit?"
"Any place you'd like," Wilson said. She took a seat in a second easy chair that faced his recliner and beer, and he sat in his chair.
"I don't know how to approach this, but I might as well just tell you," she started, forcing a smile. "I've been assigned to learn about you because we want to be good hosts while you're here on planet Sunev."
"I'll be glad to talk with you," he said. "Would you like a beer?"
"That would be nice," she said.
He took out a bottle of beer from the refrigerator and removed a long-stemmed glass from the freezer.
"Here you go," he said.
"Thank you, Bill. To be honest, I feel ill at ease because I'
m supposed to ask you some personal questions." Her face colored light pink.
"I'd rather have you question me than some bureaucrat."
She poured beer into her glass and took a sip. "Tastes good," she said.
"What would you like to know?" he asked.
"We were quite surprised that our nano medicine worked well on you, even though your physiology is a bit different than ours," she started. "Your physical condition is excellent, so we wondered if you exercise."
"Because I'm a doctor, I know that workouts are vital, if someone is to stay fit. My exercise routine includes jogging, weight training, and stretching. I like sports, too."
"We thought that might be the case," she said. She opened her purse, took out a small notebook, flipped its pages, and glanced at some notes. "Let's see, we've looked at your driver's license. We have learned that you are thirty-five, six feet two inches tall, and 195 pounds. Your license picture shows you're gray around your temples. Is that right?"
"Yes." He wondered, What's she getting at?
"We took pictures of you when you were out cold," she continued. "We observed that you had lost some of the hair on the crown of your head. I was told to remind you that your bald spot is now gone, and your gray hair has turned brown."
"I did notice my hair had grown back," he said, "and I'm grateful." This must be an attempt to remind me that my health will improve, and I'll live longer thanks to their nano meds. These aliens are a strange bunch, he thought.
"There are more questions that I'm supposed to ask you," she said, as she glanced at her notes. "In the last few years, has your metabolism changed? Have you gained weight?"
"Yes. I decided to jog every day or so because I had started to put on a few pounds."
"My superiors also asked me to remind you that after you took nano meds you lost weight and didn't have to exercise. Your body is now more youthful." She crossed her legs.
"I guess that's why I'm allowed to drink beer," he joked, and he poured more beer into his frosty glass and took a sip.
"Can I turn on a small recorder so I don't have to take notes?" she asked.