Alien Caller

by Greg Curtis

  While he pretended to be rummaging around in the flier, looking for a cushion to sit on, he managed to tell her a little of his thoughts. Mainly he told her that he believed it was vital for both kids that they have as long and untroubled a honeymoon as possible, if they were to stay together. And Cyrea, after some more kissing for good measure, gave in.

  They returned without a cushion, but with a travel blanket they’d thoughtfully thrown in before they left, and a packet of coffee. No-one human or Leinian went camping without coffee, and David had been sure that their supplies would be running low after a week. He’d planned on using it to break the ice anyway.

  They ended up sharing a pot of coffee, cooked on the kid’s fire, while David and Cyrea told them how they had met in turn. They guessed that the kids had probably been interrogated enough for one day, and that they might want to ask some questions instead of answering them. And David knew the last thing he wanted was for them to be upset. Not now. Not before their bond was stronger. Besides, he wanted them both to know that a human Leinian relationship could endure. It might give them hope.

  As such he gave them as full an account as he could of how Cyrea and he had changed their lives to be together. Knowledge is power as they say, and every mistake he and Cyrea had made he hoped the kids could learn from. And every joy they’d found, he hoped they would learn from too. It hurt knowing that every word they spoke would be heard by the perverts back at the base, but it was also wonderful to be able to tell it to people in a similar situation. Besides he hoped it might give them the wisdom to look beyond the immediate physical gratification of their needs to something more long term.

  In the end it seemed to go well. The kids both listened intently, curious rather than prying, but for all that, fascinated. Oddly they hadn’t even considered most of what David and Cyrea had agonized over. The fact that they were different peoples from different worlds was nothing to them. Politics and world security was irrelevant. Diseases and pregnancy forgotten a second after being thought of. Once they’d met, once they’d discovered that attraction, nothing else had occurred to them. Nothing else had mattered. The innocence of youth and the lust of teenagers. It was a powerful combination.

  They discovered they could all find common elements in their stories. The way that touching seemed to be so powerful in bringing out their desires, the unbelievable power of their sexual hunger which simply dominated them, and the way that once their urges had been satisfied, they could find so much peace together. The similarity they had with each other, regardless of where they came from. But was that really something peculiar to human Leinian relations, or just to young love?

  Before they got back in the flier, Cyrea and he promised to look for Becky’s gear as they flew back, though David knew he would not be returning it to her for some time to come. The longer she physically depended on Ayer for her survival the better he figured. Likewise the longer she spent in her bikini, driving Ayer’s young hormones crazy, the better. They also promised to come back with some camping equipment and food, the next day.

  As they flew away, David took the time to watch them talking and holding hands, no doubt amazed by their good fortune. He wasn’t fooled by their modesty though. He had seen them eyeing each other up, growing fidgety and becoming more and more impatient while they shared coffee and stories. He knew the second they were out of sight the two of them would be at it again like rabbits, which seemed entirely for the best. But afterwards, perhaps they’d think on their words.

  They flew the path of the river slowly, tracing Becky’s swim, while David explained to Cyrea what he believed the truth was, and why he’d done what he had. For the most part she tried to accept his version of events, if only because he was human and should therefore understand other humans better, but she found it hard, and they could still find no evidence. It was hard for her to accept something so horrible without at least a shred of proof. It was just as hard for him to have to tell her.

  That was when they reached the top of Dead Man’s Leap and found her clothes sitting there, neatly piled under a tree even after a week in the open, just in front of the barrier that stopped people getting too close. The barrier she had stepped over only a week earlier. Cyrea stared at it for the longest while, almost accusing it of destroying her world, and he had to hold her close for a while.

  Then when she approached the barrier, looking for her guilty footprints, David panicked and quickly gathered her up in his arms and pulled her firmly back. The cliff wasn’t just dangerous for people who wanted to jump. It was treacherous even without the will. The grass sloped ever more steeply underfoot, all the way down to the edge, and in the rain it was certain doom. It was a nightmare to see Cyrea so close. He silently promised himself that he was going to come back to this place soon, with a few sticks of dynamite. Someone should have done it long ago.

  The clothes were pretty much what he’d expected. An expensive looking silk jacket with matching short skirt, and a blouse of silk inlaid with hand embroidered designs. Matching silk underwear, complete with garter belt and stockings, and Italian high heels. She’d brought no towel with her, and from the fact that she’d worn underwear, he knew she had to have carried the togs with her and changed out in the open, neatly folding and laying down each item of clothing as she removed it. It was a chilling image. Rebecca’s had been a very slow and methodical preparation for her jump.

  Mixed in with her clothing David found her jewellery. She had an expensive looking ladies Rolex, gold, silver and diamond necklaces, bracelets and a quartet of rings with massive stones. Hundred’s of thousands of dollars worth of jewellery at a guess, just sitting in a heap of clothing in the woods. And she considered herself bankrupt! Before she’d jumped Becky had divested herself of everything from her previous life. He was almost surprised she’d been wearing anything at all, but guessed that she’d either found some trace of happy memories in her swim suit, or else she wanted to make a good looking corpse.

  They gathered up the clothing and threw it in the back of the flier, before returning to the air. If someone had spotted it, there would have been an immediate outcry about someone jumping followed by a week long search, and then Becky’s formal presumption of death. It had happened twice in the time since David had lived nearby. It had happened too many other times as well. Dead Man’s Leap attracted a regular trickle of people either morbidly curious or actively suicidal. They were just lucky no-one had found her clothes.

  Two miles back along the trail to the cliff, they found her car, a top of the line Jaguar sports car with all the extras, and a collection of spirit bottles in the back. Jack Daniels and bourbon mainly. Becky had a serious drinking problem, and from the smell she had also been smoking some grass, though at least he could find no needles as they went through the contents. A promising sign as he told Cyrea. Hard drug habits were notoriously difficult to break. It was parked under a tree at the end of the road, and even after a week in the open, it was still untouched by vandals. The forest park was a very quiet, very law abiding area.

  On the dashboard he found her note, and breathed a sigh of relief. All it said was ‘I’m Sorry’, and it was addressed to no-one at all. But it was enough to tell him everything he needed to know.

  The first person to see it would have phoned the police. That, more than anything else would have stuffed up the kids’ lives. The fact that there wasn’t a man hunt going on, and that her car and clothes hadn’t been touched suggested no-one had yet seen it. The fact that the note was in her car, told him she hadn’t left it somewhere else, like her home where friends might find it and call the police. The lack of an address told him she hadn’t wanted anybody in particular to know she was dead. The kids were safe, for a while. After showing it to Cyrea, he tore it up into little strips, set fire to the remains, and tossed the ashes out the window.

  After searching the car thoroughly, David placed her clothes on the passenger seat, her jewellery in the glove box, chucked the bottle collection in t
he back of the flier, and decided to drive it back to his place. No point in creating a panicked search and rescue by the first ranger to find the car and wonder where the owner was. To his surprise and happiness, after checking with her people, Cyrea sent the flier back to their place on autopilot, another huge advantage over any earthly plane, and shared the ride back with him.

  It was a slow drive as the sports car was totally unsuited for the gravel roads even on a sunny day, but it was surprisingly enjoyable for all that. David had never owned such a road going monster and probably never would. A hundred thousand odd dollars’ worth of car would be a huge bite out of his savings, and he couldn’t justify it. But the feel of the heated leather seats, the totally orgasmic roar of its V12, and the sheer luxury that surrounded them was enough to make him regret that decision, just a little.

  Meanwhile Cyrea had her hands full mastering the air conditioning and the stereo, which required a degree in rocket science to operate. Though when it did they discovered it could just about lift the car off the ground by itself. The top popped down at the push of a button at least, and the warm sun suddenly streamed down on them. They quickly rejected Becky’s own CD’s as unbearable. There was something about the completely tuneless, toneless modern groups that was simply annoying, and those that had any quality at all seemed to be remakes. But once she had the radio figured out they quickly found a classic hits station, and started singing their lungs out while the car slowly bucked and slid its way through mile after mile of paradise.

  The sun was shining, the engine singing, fresh air blew in their faces, and a cloud of dust disappeared in their wake. It was as though they had been reborn somewhere along the way, and they felt wonderful. The gloom had left them beginning with the burning of her note, and the music sent the last of it packing. After all as Cyrea told him, she was alive and well, living in the land of lust and love. This was her past. David just hoped she was right.

  Back at his place, the car looked absolutely perfect beside his cottage, making it seem more like a chalet rather than a modest cabin. But it showed up the four wheel drive in the most terrible way. It was bad enough that it looked so big and clumsy by comparison, but then every dent, every well-earned scratch on the truck looked like centuries of neglect and abuse compared to the perfect paint of the bright red sports car. And he liked his truck. It had a certain ruggedness to it that spoke to him of strength, reliability and of getting through, no matter what, and it had served him well for the past four years. Besides, a sports car was completely useless on gravel roads.

  He parked the Jaguar behind the house, determined to keep the temptation out of his sight. Besides, if no-one knew it was there, no-one would know Becky was either in the region or missing.

  On the dash he left a note, which simply said she’d gone hiking and would be back in a few days. If anybody did spot the car, at least there was a ready explanation, and a way of averting panic by the authorities.

  He also lifted her wallet from her very expensive jacket, wanting to do some checking on the net in due course, just in case a man hunt was underway, and also knowing he had to make some selective purchases for her in town later. Perhaps a miniskirt and a tiny top. Enough to make her believe she had some clothes, while still driving Ayer out of his tiny adolescent male mind. Then again perhaps he’d get Alice to do the shopping since she seemed to have a penchant for buying scandalous clothing to bait men.

  Lastly he locked the car, making sure it would be there for her when she returned for it if she wanted it. But he had a feeling that her values might be changing with every day she spent with Ayer. He certainly hoped so. The Leinians had a dreadful way of converting everybody they met into better people, as he continually complained to Cyrea.

  Before he had a chance to get on with the rest of the day’s chores, Cyrea reminded him that they also had a tendency to make them very happy, as she placed him in a lip lock. He kissed her back automatically, and for his effort was pushed down backwards over the car’s bonnet as she informed him of her intentions in no uncertain terms.

  “The rest can wait. I won’t.” Her arms started crushing him too her, and he could feel her exquisite curves pressing him as he wanted. He didn’t exactly object, and as a result found himself being guided firmly, backwards into the house, and then into the bedroom. If he had tried to resist he suspected she would have carried him there. He was surprised by the intensity of her sudden passion, but as always welcomed it totally. Pretty soon she had him pressed up against the bed, with the door behind them slammed shut.

  “You my Love, are the most wonderfully kind and decent man. So very clever and insightful. The more I know you, the more I wonder why I or my people have ever doubted you. And the more I know you the more I love you.” Her shoes were quickly shucked off into the corner of the room, while her hands started playing as they both wanted.

  “Today you made me so proud to be your mate that my heart wants to explode.” She started pulling off his top hurriedly while his shoes quickly joined hers with a thump.

  “Don’t do that. I want your heart to keep beating.” He kissed her happily. “Besides, does this mean I’m entitled to a reward?”

  “Such as?” She pushed him down on the bed and then covered him with herself as she worked on his belt. This was her game and she was in a hurry to play it.

  “Flying lessons?”

  “You’re about to fly love. I promise you that.” And when it came down to it he knew she was right.

  Chapter Twenty One

  'Doctor Frankenstein Lives!' David stared at the headline on the front page of the newspaper and a chill ran through him. He didn't need to read any of the print below to know what it was about. Or the other articles on the front pages of the other papers in front of him.

  Still he planned to, and he grabbed a copy of each of the papers on the stand as he stood waiting to go through the checkout. He even started reading them since there was something of a queue in front of him.

  It wasn't the project that had built Dimock that had been unearthed. As far as he could tell. It was another one. One of the many. But it still ran along the same lines. Human experimentation, often on unwilling subjects, and with disastrous results. It was always the same. But as terrible as that was it wasn't what bothered him most. What set his heart racing and his hopes crashing was that he knew where the story had to have come from.

  It was the Leinians.

  They'd broken their word to him. Crossed the line in the sand that he'd drawn for them. They had done what they had said they wouldn't. They had released confidential security information.

  It was them. The information was too good. There were too many names, too much information. There were photos.

  He should have felt betrayed, and maybe he did a little. He also knew that now that they'd started down this path it had become his duty to turn them in. After all now that they'd started down this road there was no telling where it would end or what would be exposed. But he wasn't going to do that. Instead he was going to trust them and pray that they knew what they were doing. For good or ill he had been turned, and he could never betray Cyrea. And strangely that decision came easily to him. He knew no guilt for it. No remorse.

  What had been done by these monsters in white coats was unconscionable. It should never have been allowed. And if they were held to account for their crimes that was as it should be. If they dragged others down with them, so be it. In the wake of Dimock he understood only too clearly that these things should never be allowed, and if all of this had been out in the open from the start it never would have happened.

  In the wake of Dimock he saw many things so much more clearly than he had. And he guessed that Dimock was also the reason the Leinians had done this. They understood the danger. And they understood right and wrong. As idealistic and naïve as this was, they were on the side of right. As he should have been.

  That they had done this; in the end it wasn't even an issue for him. The only issue was how.<
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  The only way anyone could have got it was to have hacked into the project's computers. To have dug out all the files. The records of what had been tried and what had happened. And that was on computer systems that were the best protected on the entire planet. The chances were that many of them weren't even on line.

  And if he knew that, others were thinking exactly the same thing. Others who would not be happy. Others who would even now be hunting them.

  So what to do? He couldn't help them. That would be a step too far, though of course he would try to impress on them the danger. Very carefully. But he couldn't stop them either. That would be wrong. Morally wrong even if it was his duty. And he couldn't turn them in.