by Max Jager
"Where do you wish to go Matt?"
"Let's just stay in orbit, I want you to go over every control, test me, teach me, I'm ready to learn." For the next several hours, Amber carefully instructed Matt in the operation of the Nora-Lee. She also explained the ship's computer, but Matt found that it had absolutely nothing in common with any of the computers he was used to using. For one there was no internet, or pictures other than those of wiring or mechanical diagrams, for another, it was almost like the old DOS system, but you used a special type of "shorthand" to enter commands.
"Normally Greg had me fly the craft if there was danger, or we had to act quickly," said Amber. Gradually, Matt discovered that there was a "method" to the madness. The instruments and controls were laid out in a logical order, instrumentation that provided essential information was right at eye level. It was the same for hand controls such as switches and buttons, stuff you needed right away or used all the time was right there at your fingertips, everything else was arrayed in the order of its importance.
As they drifted over the earth, Matt turned to Amber and asked,
"Amber, what do you think about this arrangement?" She looked at him and replied,
"I'm not sure what you mean?'
"Well…Uh I apologize If I'm out of line, but Mr. Tate dragged you along on this project thing of his, now here you are probably light years from home, you get shuffled off on me, a complete stranger, so far you've had no say in any of this, I want to know how you feel about all this?"
"First of all, I willingly came with him, we were a team and although I'm unable to reveal emotions in the way you humans do, I am uneasy, my system simply doesn't feel right. Oh, I'm functioning at full level, but…"
"I think I know what you mean Amber, about three years ago one of my aunts died, I only met her maybe four or five times in my life, she was nice and all, and I felt bad for my uncle, but I just didn't feel sad. I knew I was supposed to, but I just didn't."
"Yes," replied Amber, "Possibly something like that."
"So how do you feel about me?" Continued Matt,
"I simply have not been around you long enough to become familiar with your thinking or behavior. We Motok's are capable of limited emotion, when we are around a particular human for a period of time, we tune to their brain patterns, their way of speaking to us, the way they treat us. All of these factors are eventually combined into an equation that determines the way we feel towards that person. Up to this point, you have not been harsh with me, or laid a hand on me, and you wish to learn, I believe we are off to a good start, if that was what you were asking."
"Thank you Amber," replied Matt, "That's more or less what I was wondering."
"Amber, could I ask you another question?"
"Matt, feel free to ask me anything you want at any time."
"Well, it seems to me you don't know too much about earth, or this galaxy, which isn't your fault, you just got here. Is there some way you can download information about earth and this galaxy so you can apply it to what we are doing?"
"Yes Matt, on Z'ha'dum the people had printed data, I can as you say…Download written and printed information."
"Cool," he replied, but our computers are so much different than your's, here take a look at this." Matt handed her a thumb drive,
"Among other things, large amounts of data can be stored on these things, they're called thumb drives, they go into what's called a USB port. It would be so cool if I could load all sorts of information on one of these and just plug it into you, or the ships computer."
"An interesting idea Matt," replied Amber; however your computer's programming would not be compatible with mine or the ship's computer."
"Yeah, your right," replied Matt, "Still…Wait, could you maybe study my computer and figure out how to access the data on it then maybe we could figure out how to share information."
"I think I know what you're trying to do Matt," replied Amber, "I'm not sure it's possible, however if I could find a way to study and analyze your computer system, we might be able to come up with something, but I would need a way to get into it's system, and know what I'm looking at."
"Well that will have to be a top priority," replied Matt, "Let me work on it."
Matt suggested to Amber that if she tired of orbiting, landing at the old ghost town, but to be wary of strangers coming around, and that there were large wild animals that could attack her.
"I will consider this," she replied,
"How long would it take to get to mars and back?"
"I'm not familiar with this planet you call mars, you forget, I'm new to this galaxy." "Oh yeah, I forgot," replied Matt, "All I know is that it's the fourth planet from the sun, earth is the third, and I think it's around thirty, or thirty-five million miles from here."
"Perhaps I could explore your galaxy while you attend this school you talk about?"
"Err, won't you run out of…Fuel if you do that? He asked.
Amber pointed to an indicator light that showed blue,
"We have plenty of fuel, and if I get low, I know where to get more, this spacecraft was designed for very long range travel, the amount of actual power it requires would surprise you." Matt shrugged,
"Well you're the boss Amber." The android gave him a strange look which surprised Matt.
"You are my master, I merely do as you ask." Once again Matt was shocked,
"Let's get one thing straight Amber," he snapped, "I am not your boss, we are in this together, you are not only smarter, but you have the experience, and the knowledge, I look to you for leadership, is that clear?"
"Yes," she replied, "This the agreement I held with Greg, I am pleased you wish to continue it."
"Well Amber, I'd like us to be a team, if we're going to be tear-assing around the galaxy let's do it together OK?" Matt than looked over at Amber and smiled.
They spent more time going over the ship's operation until Matt felt that he was starting to get a feel for how it all worked. Returning to the old little league field shortly after dark, Matt said goodbye, and reminded Amber to call him.
"I'm going to be pretty busy this week but I will get as much stuff together for you to go over, see ya later Amber."
His mom wanted to know where he had been,
"Playing video games over at Kevin's house mom, I wasn't planning on spending so much time over there, but you get caught up in that stuff." His made-up excuse seemed to work for now, but Matt realized he was going to have to come up with something better. Normally Matt would have felt like an outcast at school, but all he could think of was Amber, and getting as much information together as he could, everything else was secondary. Matt didn't have a regular job like the other kids at school; instead, he worked for his grandmother who owned a small motel on the edge of town. He cut the grass, painted when it was required, and even performed certain plumbing jobs. On most weekends there was usually something to do, but he had been making it a point to stop by after school to check on anything that might require doing on the following weekend. His grandmother had been talking about having him re-do a couple rooms this winter when she went to Arizona, which concerned him, since it would keep him from fooling around with Amber. There was another problem he was concerned with as well, and that was the data Greg had given him detailing the kidnapping of the people from Coryville. Matt couldn't make up his mind what to do, he could throw everything in a Fed-ex envelope and send it on to NASA or someone like that, but he was afraid they would think it a hoax and ignore it. He had located people on the internet who might be of help or were involved with so-called alien abductions, but there again, he didn't know enough about them to take a chance there either. Another avenue he debated about was calling that guy on late night radio, who was always talking about weird stuff like this, but again, Greg had entrusted him with this information and he was determined to do right by him.
There was one other option Matt had considered, but he would really be taking a chance. Her name was Kaitlyn P
arkinson, and to be seen around her was inviting trouble least of all from his parents, for Kaitlyn was a girl you didn't take home to mother. She was a dyed-in-the-wool Goth. Dressing entirely in black, boots, cargo pants, outlandish red hair, body art all over her face, and a tongue that could peel paint off the wall. He mother worked at the WalMart, as well as being divorced from her second husband. Kaitlyn also had a reputation, very little redeeming social value here, but for reasons known only to Kaitlyn, she considered herself an "expert" on aliens, and just about anything to do with them.
Matt weighed his decision to talk to her very carefully, for word about them being seen together would be all over school, face book and twitter would be a-buzz with gossip in minutes. Feelings against him were still running pretty strong in some quarters, and news like this would be made to order. In the "court" of social media, you were guilty until proven innocent, but since that rarely happened; you were just simply "screwed." Finally he made up his mind to speak with her, but first, he watched her carefully, where she went, who she talked to, and even what route she took going home.
Since the damage to his already battered image would be un-repairable, hurting his parents more than anything else he settled on a drastic plan of action, first, we would have to speak with Amber. He was expecting her to call on Friday night, but it wasn't until Sunday he got the call on his phone. She agreed to land around nine that evening, he wasn't planning on going anywhere, but needed to run his plan by her first. He was waiting for her when she landed on the old ball field, and as usual, she appeared in front of the ramp so he could find his way inside.
"How ya been Amber?" he asked,
"I've been exploring your galaxy as you suggested," replied Amber, I believe I now have a good understanding of how things are laid out."
"Well that's good," replied Matt, but I've got a little problem Amber, and I wanted to discuss it with you first."
"I'm listening Matt, what is the problem?"
"Well as you know, Greg gave me all that data concerning the people taken from Coryville all those years ago. Well I want to get all of it into the right hands, but I'm not sure how, I could just send it to NASA, the space agency but I'm afraid they wouldn't take it seriously, same with several other sources, I've really been racking my brains about this. I've got an idea, it isn't a good one, but it's all I can think of right now."
"Well tell me what you have in mind Matt, although I'm not well versed in the why's and how's of your world, I'll try and do what I can."
"Well that's all any of us can do Amber," replied Matt, "Here's the situation."
Matt carefully explained Kaitlyn, what she was, and how he hoped she might be able to help.
"Would you object if I asked her to come here and meet you, it's the only way I can think of to make her realize I'm serious, I don't like it, it's dangerous, but I'm at the end of my rope here."
Amber said nothing for a few moments, then replied,
"I agree, it is risky, but perhaps I can take certain precautions should she become untrue."
"Well Amber," replied Matt, I'll confront her on Thursday while she's on her way home from school, you be here at nine o'clock sharp OK?"
"I will be here."
All week long Matt fretted, Kaitlyn was not in school on Tuesday and Wednesday, but he spotted her on Thursday. Getting a head start on everyone after school, Matt rode his bike to a place he knew Kaitlyn would pass, and hopefully she wouldn't have one of her friends with her. Luck was shining on him as he spotted her coming down the street all alone, taking a deep sigh; he peddled out on to the sidewalk coming right up to her. Kaitlyn scowled as he approached,
"What the fuck do you want asshole?"
"Listen up Kaitlyn," began Matt, "I know who you are, and I know you are really into UFO's and all that stuff. I wouldn't be wasting your time if this wasn't important. Meet me at the old little league park tomorrow night at nine sharp, I'm deadly serious about this, I really need help with something, and you're the only one who can help me. Please, come, you'll never regret it." With that, Matt sped off.
Chapter 5
Titan Stand Chapter 5
That night as Matt lay in bed, he wondered if he had done the right thing by inviting a stranger in on this. He was taking a big risk, she could blow everything, and really fuck things up, well it was too late now, tomorrow would be a show-down.
Matt avoided Kaitlyn as best he could, but as they were passing in the hall she hissed at him,
"This better be good or you're in big trouble." His anxiety only grew during the day, and it was a major effort to keep his mind on class work. Back at home suppertime was torture; all he could think of was the meeting tonight. Slipping out of the house around 8:30, Matt arrived at the old ball park around a quarter to nine. The sky was overcast, which would help. Matt was looking up when a voice called out,
"I don't know why I came here, I must be crazy."
"You're not crazy Kaitlyn," he replied, "No crazier than I am."
"Say you're that kid who got kicked out of school for wearing that tee-shirt, aren't you?"
"Yeah…So?" Kaitlyn shrugged,
"So nothing, that took guts. I hear your folks were gonna sue the ass off of everybody, I would have loved to have seen that."
"Well I lost a lot of friends because of it," replied Matt, "My girl for one."
Kaitlyn snickered,
"You didn't loose nothing, she was screwin around behind your back."
Matt sighed,
"You know this for a fact?"
Kaitlyn chuckled, "Believe me, I know, say why did you drag me out here?" As if on cue, there was rumbling from overhead.
"Hey look, it's gonna start raining, I gotta go!"
"Just hold on Kaitlyn, she's here,"
"Who's here? She demanded. Pointing skyward, Matt exclaimed,
"We'd better move over here, wouldn't want to get squashed." Kaitlyn gave him a funny look, as the rumbling grew louder,
"What the fuck?" She exclaimed, "What is that? Matt could tell that the Nora-Lee was down just as the rumbling quit.
"Watch…Over there," he said pointing to where the pitcher's mound used to be.
Suddenly Amber appeared, causing a gasp from Kaitlyn,
"Goddam! What is that, is she naked?"
"That is Amber," announced Matt, "Come on, I'll introduce you."
Kaitlyn suddenly realized that Matt didn't invite her out here to fuck, something else was going on, that shouldn't be, her brain was over clocking. "What the fuck was going on here?" she thought. Cautiously, she followed Matt as he walked right up to this strange naked lady who had just appeared from nowhere.
Things only got weirder when she realized that this strange looking woman was standing in front of some kind of doorway. Stepping back inside, Amber allowed Matt to enter as he called out,
"Come on Kaitlyn we've got to get going." Stepping through the doorway, she could now see things in a better light, this lady was indeed naked, but a strange color, and some sort of mask over her eyes. She also realized this was some sort of spacecraft, Kaitlyn's brain was spinning, nothing she was witnessing was making any sense, Matt opened up a jumpseat, and guided her to it.
"Sit here Kaitlyn, let me buckle you in, we're going back up over earth where we can talk, just hang on."
Kaitlyn felt like she was stoned, like the time she took those pills her ex-boyfriend gave her, what the hell was going on? She could feel whatever she was in quickly rising, just like one of those carnival rides, but this was faster, she started to feel sick. She bent over placing her head between her legs as much as the seatbelt would allow, finally things started to feel a little better, and the sensation of rising stopped. She could hear Matt talking to the strange looking lady, behind her, saying something about orbiting earth, what the fuck! Finally Matt stepped around the corner.
"Are you feeling better Kaitlyn?"
"Yeah…A little,"
Well I asked you to come to the old ball park be
cause I knew that you were really into UFO's and stuff, if your ready I've got a story to tell you, but first, you can remove that seatbelt, there's gravity on this ship, I also want to introduce you to Amber." Also stepping around the corner, Kaitlyn was able to get a better look at the strange lady.
"Amber, this is Kaitlyn Parkinson." Amber held her hand out but Kaitlyn being unsure of her motive didn't extend hers.
"Amber is a Motok, or in other words, an android, make yourself comfortable Kaitlyn I've got a story to tell," said Matt.
When he finished, all Kaitlyn could do was just stare at Amber, she simply didn't know what to think. On one hand, she felt vindicated, she always knew UFO's were for real, and now she was riding in one.