“We have rules against that. That’s why I suggested I change myself to allow me to stay here with you.”
Alice stood up.
“I can’t allow you to do that. You would alienate your own family just because you want to be with me? I love you, and that’s why I say I’m not worth it.”
“But I can’t imagine living without you.”
“You can’t say that. There’s probably someone back in your world who’s just perfect for you.”
“But why would I want to go look somewhere else when I already found someone here that I love?”
“I’m just saying that you’re moving too fast. We should enjoy the time we have together here and now. I really don’t even want to talk about the future. I want to know more about you.”
“What would you like to know?”
“Well, how about why you wanted to come here and study us humans? That’s not something you can decide out of the blue, apparently.”
“My father was one our first historians. He taught me everything he knew about Earth’s history. He also taught me about mythology and religion. He blew me away with his stories. I knew when I was a child, that I wanted to be just like him.”
“A historian gets paid well, I imagine.”
“We don’t any money other than what our travelers earn. When I go back, the money I saved from my job will go to a special vault to be accessed by someone else. One of us made the mistake of getting a credit card and maxing it out badly. He knew nothing of how they worked, so now, nobody that travels here is allowed to get a credit card. We pay what we can, no more.”
“Do you really think it’s okay for you to be telling me all of this?”
“I might as well be telling you everything. I also want to try and convince my government to make an exception when it comes to the rules. We aren’t supposed to allow humans into our world, but I’m confident that they will make an exception for you.”
“Do you really think so?”
“Remember, our government exists for the fact that we need to keep track of who of us is in your world so we don’t have anybody who comes to your world looking likes this,” he said, pointing to himself.
“So, you have ways of dealing with that?”
“After one of us defected to this world, taking one our pendants with him, we decided to put up surveillance cameras around the portals in order to monitor them closely.”
“And what do you do if you ever catch someone trying to go through the portal in his true form?”
“We stop them. Usually, it happens when someone fails to get permission to come here.”
“How can one of you fail to get permission to come here?”
“We do if we don’t have a good reason to come here. Remember, I’m supposed to be here to study. Another condition, is that you have to be able to obtain work. That’s why I work at Burger King.”
She smiled when she saw him react with disgust at the very mention of Burger King.
“You really hate fast-food restaurants, don’t you?”
“That’s a euphemism. Eating dinner should not be a race. It’s all tied to a very disturbing trend we’ve noticed so far. Impatience. And this country is the worst in that regard.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means you can’t wait for something like food. But not every human being is like that. That’s one of the reasons why I’m so proud to be Italian. They like to wait for their food, especially knowing that it will come fresh. Food should always be fresh when you order it. But don’t take this like I’m lecturing you. It’s just how I see the world, that’s all.”
“I would definitely love to see your world. I bet you have some exotic plants there.”
“Well, yes, but they’re not that different from what you see here. Just like in your world, we have climates that affect the kinds of plants.”
“What about snow? Do you have winter over there?”
“That’s easily the best thing about knowing you exist. You found a way to make winter fun. When my father was a child, nobody wanted to go outside in the winter. Everybody was afraid of freezing to death. Before we found out about winter sports, we were pretty miserable during that season. But now, I can’t wait for winter to come. I love it.”
“Really, I don’t really like the cold or the slush snow when it’s not fresh. I’m a summer girl.”
“We’re the exact opposite, then. I can’t stand the extreme heat, and it has nothing to do with my blood.”
“That’s funny.”
Alice took a look at the clock. She suddenly realized it was past 9:30.
“Well, I guess I have to go.”
“Can’t you stay here just a little longer?”
“Sorry. Mom’s probably worried sick by now.”
Alice was sad when she left. She finally felt that Gianlorenzo was opening up to her in a way he simply couldn’t do before. She made a silent promise that day. No matter which way their relationship turned out, she would always keep his secrets, even if his race became known to the world. She would take that knowledge to the grave.
Chapter 27
Saturday, July 19, 8:49 p.m.
FBI Field Office
After a couple of days, the NYPD had found Tom Smith and brought him to the FBI field office for questioning. The curator looked like he hadn’t slept for a least a week. He was a train wreck when he arrived. Mike was going to conduct the interrogation, but when he entered the interrogation room, he felt Mika and Corey Rodgers breathing down his neck from beyond the two-way mirror. They were ultimately interested in what was going to be said during the interrogation and had put everything on hold in order to attend the interrogation live. And Tom Smith had a lot of explaining to do.
“Mr. Smith, my name is Mike Scatchard. I am going to be conducting this interrogation. You don’t look so good, by the way, is everything alright?”
“No, I’m alright. There’s nothing wrong with me.”
“Actually, I can only imagine what’s going through your mind. You seem to be a normal guy, at least at first, but there are several things I’d like to clear up, some issues we have to discuss. There are several holes we’d like to plug up as soon as possible. Now, bear with me, because it’s possible that some of our information is missing. In fact, we know there’s some information missing. It’s really weird how you seem to have just appeared out of nowhere twelve years ago.”
“Well, I can assure you that I’ve lived here my entire life. Whatever information you were able to gather wasn’t complete.”
“Really? See, I beg to differ, especially since researching and obtaining information is my specialty. If I was that terrible at my job, I would have been fired years ago.”
It was one thing to have Mika and Rodgers question his abilities. They could do so since they had a combined 25 years of experience of him, but this man was insulting him for the simple reason that he was trying to delay the inevitable.
“Furthermore,” Smith continued, “I don’t understand why I’m here or why you felt compelled to research my background. I’ve done nothing wrong, as far as I know.”
“You know, you can drop the charade right now. We know of the journal you gave Jason, and we know about its missing pages. We also know that he’s been trying to find you, and you never reappeared at the library, despite it being your favourite place to visit during your spare time. We also know that you quit your job as a museum curator. These actions make you look suspicious, and it’s because of these actions that we’ve brought you here. Now, you can tell us the truth, or we can hold you for obstruction of justice.”
“You can’t do that.”
“Try me. My supervisor is behind that mirror right now. Would you like to talk to him?”
Smith twitched in his seat. This revelation had made him uncomfortable.
“You know what? I’m tired of running away from this, I will tell you everything, though I think it would be best if the information I will give you remain off
the record, or at least classified. Would you please keep this information a secret? I’m already in trouble such as it is, and it can only get worse.”
“The public will only know so far. If this concerns the other world, then you can count on us to keep your secret.”
“Then you know that what’s stated in the journal is actually real?”
“We know for a fact that it’s real. We’ve seen it with our own eyes.”
“You’ve been there? How is that possible?”
“No, but my partner has seen one of the “aliens” up close and personal in his true form.”
“That’s impossible. We are forbidden to do that.”
“Well, however that happened, it happened, and now we know. Now, we have to keep this secret, so we would appreciate it if you tell us everything about this journal, which is turning out to be a lot of trouble and I have to say, you managed to scare a young teenager, who’s sensei and friend is a talking reptile, so badly that he begged me to take this seriously. I thought he was kidding when he said that it was possible that people would come after him because of this journal because of it’s contents. And what scares me, personally, is that he may be right. You, or someone else who had the book before you, tore several pages. I’m guessing you did that. You knew that Jason was going to come to the library one way or another, and he would see you there and come talk to you. I think you also tore the pages to the Silmarillion, and just waited for Jason to bring it back to the library. You must have known that Jason wanted that book, and that he would notice right away that pages would be missing from that book. What I don’t understand is, you gave the journal for Jason to read, even though there were several pages missing, and even if you didn’t tear the pages off yourself, there is no way you can tell me you didn’t know they were torn. So, what happened?”
“I’ll tell you everything. If I’m going to fast for you, please, don’t hesitate to stop me.”
“Go ahead.”
“I was a Keeper in my world, do you know what I mean by that?”
“I’m sorry. I’m sure my more experienced colleagues know, but I have no idea. Can you please explain to me what a Keeper is?”
“A Keeper is a member of government, one of the few members of government we have that guard these.”
Smith pulled out a pendant he was wearing on his neck. It had a simple metallic design to it, with a reddish stone in the middle.
“If I were ever to take this off, I would turn back into my true form in a matter of minutes.”
“And what does that true form look like?”
“Well, it… looks a little bit like Arex, although there are a few differences. For one thing, I am much more like an alligator than he is. I even have that snapping reflex, though, thankfully, I’ve managed to learn how to control it. It’s something I’ve had to hide everyday since I’ve been here.”
“Hang on a second.”
Mike got our of the interrogation room and met Mika and Rodgers in the hallway.
“Okay, before I ask this guy any more questions, can you please fill me in on the whole otherworldly people situation. How many of these people are here? What do they want with us and why are they here? Where is this other world, anyway?”
“As far as they know, they live in a different universe from our own,” said Mika, “when I discovered Gianlorenzo in his true form, that’s what he said. They are to study us, because technologically speaking, we might be more advanced than they are. Smith wasn’t kidding when he said that if he removes his pendant, he will transform back into a reptile. Their world is populated by anthropomorphic reptiles of different races. The people who really own these pendants are Keepers.”
“So, this guy owns the pendant?”
“Not really. What his job was, was keeping track of the pendants to make sure that nobody came here without other people knowing. You know, now that I think about it, he must be the guy Gianlorenzo was talking about. He must be the reason their world has security, cameras, and a more serious governmental body. He’s a deserter and it’s possible he will not want to go back to his world. It’s possible that he will want to stay here. We just have to see what he will tell us next.”
Mike got back to the interrogation room with a different outlook on this investigation. In fact, the only reason there was investigation was because of the journal. There were still a lot of questions to ask, but at least he would have a better idea of what to expect from Tom Smith.
“You deserted your government, didn’t you? That’s why you’ve been here and that’s why you wanted to avoid this interrogation. What would happen if you were to come back home? What’s the punishment for deserters?”
“There is a very severe punishment for what I did. Not only did I go against my code and reveal myself as not human, but I also revealed certain things that weren’t in the journal I gave Jason. The mandatory sentence would be the complete deletion of my memories.”
“That’s harsh, but then again, I know someone who was punished without having committed any crime. Well, before you tell me about those other things, can you first tell me about the journal itself? Are you the one who tore up the pages of the journal containing what is basically the most vital information in the journal?”
“Yes, I am.”
“What stuns me is that you would do that and then give the journal to Jason. Did you really think the kid wouldn’t notice the missing pages?”
“Yes and no. You must understand where I’m coming from with this. I was debating with myself on whether or not I would actually tell anyone the truth about me and my world, and here’s why. I came here on Earth seven years ago in order to conduct more studies into your culture. Your culture is actually very interesting to us. Our culture is very much like yours because we’ve decided to emulate it somewhat. I’m sure you’ve read what’s left of the journal, so I don’t need to tell you what kind of state our society was in when we were discovered. In fact, you can argue that we discovered ourselves when we discovered you. We had no real concept of exploration, technology, or the pursuit of knowledge. It’s something that inspired me. When Dr. Tselios came back to our world, he brought with him several scientific references with him of different types and difficulty. He then proceeded to explain to us what a school is and how it works. Unfortunately, he contracted what I could only describe as pneumonia 40 years ago. With him, came our contact with your world. We were devastated by that. So, I took it upon myself to find a way to make contact with humanity. I had taken a DNA sample from Dr. Tselios, and was able to recreate the racial shift that we do with our races with your species. Genetically speaking, we are a close cousin to you despite our cosmetic differences. We already knew at which point Dr. Tselios came in, so we decided, with the use of these pendants, to study human society in its entirety. I cam here to study computer technology at Harvard and with my knowledge of the human brain, I spent months creating a specialized computer who’s sole function would be the ability to erase and replace one’s memories using the fundamental principles of the brain’s mechanisms. You will recognize the computer as the Mind Shifter.”
“Wait a minute. Are you saying that the Mind Shifter was your idea? But there’s a patent for it here under Patrick Sandlak’s name.”
“That’s the reason why I am in exile now. I had this journal on me when I was in Harvard. I wanted to show it to one of my Archaeology teacher, Jochen Shultz, because he was curious about the fate of Dr. Tselios. You see, his father had been a member of the expedition when Dr. Tselios vanished. The story was that he had found the professor alone and somewhat fatigued from his experience, though he wouldn’t say anything about it until they were alone. Dr. Tselios had informed him of what had happened to him and he, in turn, passed the knowledge on to his son. I figured that the teacher would be a great human contact who could coordinate between our two worlds and provide us with a means of integrating into your society. He was a university professor and was already aware of our world, but when I
was expositing to him my idea for the Mind Shifter and the reason I was able to look like a human being, we discovered that Patrick Sandlak was eavesdropping on our conversation. He threatened to tell every department in the University and eventually the world, of what he knew, unless he could get his hands on the means to transform himself and come to our world. I couldn’t let that happen, so I left Harvard after that one semester.”
“He found you again, didn’t he?”
“I was trying to find Dr. Shultz again. After all, I hadn’t really given up on the idea that our two worlds could one day communicate with each other and maybe live in peace. I contacted Dr. Shultz around a month after I left Harvard, since I was still in the area and he had given me his address. Unfortunately, when I got there, Sandlak was there as well. He had managed to convince Shultz that if they could get my DNA and my pendant, they could figure out the manner of which they could transform themselves and eventually, the rest of humanity. I felt duped and betrayed by a man whom I admired and then I was trapped in their blackmail. I knew that if they didn’t get their wish, they would have me arrested and then taken to a facility to become a lab rat for any experiments that could be thought of. I had to cave in to their demands. I told them that I needed some time in order to become a Keeper, which would allow me to obtain control over the secrets of our society. They also wanted the knowledge of how to create the Mind Shifter, and I had to give them that, too. I had told them that I hadn’t perfected the Mind Shifter, that it had a fatal flaw in its system. I met Patrick Sandlak in the Amazon in April of 1996. That’s where I handed him the secrets to the A.R.EX. serum and the Mind Shifter, which I had finally been able to figure out completely. The flaw was still there, but there was a way to fix, which I told him about. I suppose I should have been thankful that he took that knowledge with him to the grave. I didn’t know it at the time, but Dr. Shultz was dead by then, so I thought that I still had to deal with them both. When I gave them that information, I knew that I couldn’t come back to my world, so I decided to stay here. I really hoped that if the A.R.EX. project actually came to be, that I would be able to change things somehow, I don’t really know how. When the project was dismantled and Sandlak committed suicide, I was actually very much relieved, but the whole thing with the reptile Arex created some more problems. I really didn’t know how to handle this situation. I knew that I had to find some way to meet him.”
The A.R.EX. Origin Page 14