The Missing Town

by Marcel Liemant

  Natalie laughed. “Oh, Monica. I love that small town humour.” She said.

  Will eyed the Doc carefully.

  “I think William’s a credits or cash only kind of guy. Contractors. Right, William?” Natalie continued.

  Will grunted in agreement.

  ‘Monica’ withdrew the pineapple and laughed. “I couldn’t help myself.” She said.

  The tension didn’t ease. ‘Monica’ reached into her pocket and handed over a wad of cash to Will. He took it and counted it. It wasn’t anywhere near his fee, but he wouldn’t push things further.

  “Cheers,” He said, finally.

  Natalie hurried out onto the porch. “Thanks again for breakfast,” She said.

  Will nodded and stepped outside as well. ‘Monica’ looked between them and waved, then shut the door.

  Will and Natalie walked down the front steps side by side with Wolfgang a step behind.

  “You look terrible by the way,” Natalie murmured, as they neared their cars.

  Will stopped. “How’d you figure out it was me.”

  Natalie let out a breath she had been holding. “Oh, thank god. I didn’t know for sure until just now.”

  Will shook his head, the pain was almost blinding. “Damn it Doc. I still might be an alien.”

  Natalie took a step back.“Well, me too.” She said weakly.

  “I’m me. Okay?”

  “That’s exactly what an alien would say.”

  They stared at each other.

  “I don’t know enough about these aliens to know the best way to test you. Do they gather personal information? Or is it species based?” Natalie said.

  Will shrugged. “They torture you and learn what they can. And no offence, but you don’t look like you’d do well under torture.”

  “I manage to withstand my time with you.”

  “Not without calling the cops.”

  “That was a mistake. I admit that. But we have other problems right now.” Natalie said, exasperated.

  “We had a deal.”

  “Well, now I know for sure it’s you. No alien could ever be this infuriating.”

  Will snorted.

  Natalie went to her car, and pulled out her tablet.

  “Is there an official name for these mind swapping aliens?” Natalie asked.

  Will shrugged. “It could be any number of species. You should get out of here while you can.”

  Natalie’s fingers hesitated over the tablet. “You’ve been paid, why aren’t you leaving?” She snapped back.

  “Jobs not done.”

  “It’s not done for me either,” Natalie said.

  Will watched the Farrell’s front door. He could tell that ‘Monica’ hadn’t believed him. She was too quick, too focused. There was something different going on here that he didn’t quite understand. His lack of understanding made his blood boil. The green door opened and the family of three hurried down their front path with ‘Monica’ leading the way.

  “Oh wonderful, you’re both still here,” ‘Monica’ said.

  Will couldn’t bring himself to look at the kid. His pulse quickened and he clenched his jaw so tightly his teeth ground together.

  “The town wants to thank you both for your efforts,” ‘Monica’ continued. “With a celebration this evening.”

  Natalie stepped forward, a new confidence straightened her back. Will couldn’t bring himself speak.

  “That would be wonderful. We’ll both be there,” Natalie said.

  “Everyone will be so pleased,” ‘Monica’ said and then laughed. “Though, with the Quuorn police blocking all exits out of town, you don’t really have a choice.”

  16

  Natalie sipped her drink, which was supposed to be a latte. She had her tablet on her lap, beneath a small circular table that wouldn’t stop wobbling as Will shovelled in food. They’d been escorted - there was no other word for it - to the main street of Quuorn and confined to a small cafe at the North end. The cafe was filled with aliens in human bodies. Natalie could feel their eyes on her at all times. She worked hard to keep her features calm, like any of this was normal. While Will ate, she read.

  There were a lot of search results about mind swappers. There were government warnings and research papers, but most of all there were conspiracy theories. There wasn’t a world leader on Earth without a dedicated website explaining - in excruciating detail - how they had been mind swapped. It would’ve been funny if Natalie wasn’t being held hostage by mind swappers as she read it. She looked up at Will, who was shovelling a pile of scrambled eggs and whatever the aliens could find. She couldn’t understand how he could be so relaxed. Every time Natalie took a breath, she felt like she was doing something wrong and that they would be caught out. Whenever she looked up at the aliens, they were looking at her. When they saw her looking they turned back to what they were doing, or should be doing, instantaneously and in sync. It made Natalie feel sick to her stomach. She focused on her terrible latte and read as quickly and as broadly as she could. There was some comfort in having Wolfgang at her feet and Will, in all his human glory, across from her. But she couldn’t see a way out of this situation, let alone a way to help Tom and the rest of the people of Quuorn.

  After his plate had been licked clean. Will took a breath and finally looked up.

  “Half of that didn’t look cooked,” Natalie murmured.

  Will shrugged. “I’ve had worse,” He leant forward. “I reckon they’re bluffing about the coppers.”

  “I don’t think we can check. It’ll be too suspicious if we’re driving around to every exit.”

  Will sat back, his face screwed up in concentration.

  “I’ve been reading and…” Natalie lowered her voice further. “I think we have to just play along and pretend we believe they are the real people of Quuorn.”

  “It won’t work.”

  “The research says it will. They’re in their acclimatisation phase, which means they know very little about human life. If we’re convincing-”

  A waiter appeared, his long hair falling into his eyes. “Do you want more?” He said, his voice breaking.

  “Yes please! I’ll have another latte,” Natalie said.

  The waiter smiled and returned to the coffee machine to make another drink which was definitely not an Australian latte. The other three aliens who were posing as waitresses, polished the counter in sync. There was one other customer, a fake one, who was sitting two tables away and sipping something out of a bowl.

  “It won’t work,” Will said again.

  “Why not?”

  “There’s something different this time.”

  Natalie waited for Will to explain himself. His face was coming up in purple bruises but he didn’t seem to notice or care. Whatever had happened to him, it must have been painful, it also clearly hadn’t worked. When he didn’t elaborate, Natalie shook her head, exasperated.

  “Talking to you is like pulling teeth,” She said.

  Will’s expression darkened. “You know that you’re in over your head here, right Doc?”

  Natalie placed her tablet on the table. The waiter returned with another imitation of a coffee and she thanked him. When he had returned to his station, she gripped the coffee, which was warm at least, to hide her shaking hands.

  “Don’t you think I know that?” She hissed, with more emotion than she had intended.

  Will’s face was tight with anger. “If you screw this up, that kid isn’t coming back.”

  “So now you care about, Tom?”

  Will slammed his fist onto the table, spilling Natalie’s coffee over onto her hands. Natalie’s eyes widened. She looked over at the waiters and waitresses and smiled at them, trying to indicate that everything was still okay.

  Will let out a heavy sigh. “Sorry,” He said and then ran his hand through his hair. His knuckles were mottled and swollen.

  “I get it,” Natalie said, she leant forward. “Neither of us expected to be in this situ
ation. But we are and we’re in it together. We need to listen to each other and work out a solution together.”

  Will seemed to think this over. “What happened with the cops?” He asked.

  Natalie told him and then added that she had no idea where they were now. “What happened in the portal?”

  Will clenched his jaw but told her what he’d seen. When he was finished, the bruises made sense.

  “Okay, we need to get back inside of the portal and get to the people of Quuorn as soon as possible. But I don’t think they are going to let us out of their sight. From my reading, they want to know we’ve been convinced that they are human. Then they should let us go.”

  “Reading is all well and good, Doc. But I’ve got a nose for aliens and there’s something off here.”

  “What do you suggest?”

  Will shook his head. “I don’t know yet. We just have to see what happens next.”

  “Yeah, that’s not really my style.”

  Will smirked. “I’ve noticed,” He stood up. “Come on, ” He said and then strode out of the cafe.

  Natalie grabbed her tablet and hurried after him, ignoring the alien gazes boring holes into her back.

  17

  A drop fell. As it hit the rock, the sound reverberated through the air. Tom was looking for his feet. He knew where they were supposed to be, but they were not there anymore. He could hardly see anything, but not because it was dark. It was like when he went swimming in his auntie’s pool and opened his eyes. But Tom knew he wasn’t underwater because he could breathe. Tom tried to blink it away. He turned his head which wobbled in places it hadn’t before.

  Tom screamed and the scream wasn’t his own, so he screamed again. A giant slug was pressed close to his side. There was another behind him. And another. He was surrounded. But, they weren’t attacking, they weren’t even moving, it looked like they were sleeping. Tom realised he was must be in their nest, like what birds made. Why was he here? Where was his Mum and Dad? Wolfgang? Where was his room?

  Tom couldn’t find his feet. His hands were freezing, he looked down at them. His arms had shrunk somehow and his hands looked like his grandpas. There was seven fingers instead of five.

  Tom sighed with relief. It was just a funny dream. He’d wake up in bed soon and he’d have his legs and his own hands again. His mum would push back his hair and he’d eat his favourite breakfast of pancakes with sugar on top.

  Loud footsteps came from the darkness. And then voices in a language Tom didn’t understand.

  “We need to start.”

  “It’s too early.”

  “We don’t have a choice.”

  “What if we need the bodies back?”

  “That’s not an option. We need to dispose of them. All of them. Tonight. Those are the orders.”

  Tom still didn’t understand the voices. He closed his eyes and waited for the bad dream to be over.

  18

  Natalie’s cheeks hurt from smiling. She had spent the whole day confined in Quuorn; being passed from alien to alien. Each alien had made a show of the various roles they had taken up around town. Her and Will hadn’t been allowed anywhere near the portal or the exits of the town. The extent of the police presence remained a mystery. As did the nature of the mind swappers.

  As Natalie watched the alien’s empty smiles and forced performances. As she felt their gaze on her every movement. And had conversations of strained desperation on both sides. She began to feel very, very isolated. Somehow, without her knowing it, she had entered a new world. There wasn’t any guarantee her or Tom or any of the people of Quuorn were going to make it out intact.

  Will, despite his palpable frustration remained collected. He tolerated the aliens show and didn’t seem to feel the same dread Natalie had turning over in her stomach.

  Wolfgang kept close to her legs, his eyes kept darted around. She knew that he could sense her unease but had yet to smell out the cause. To his eyes, it was a perfectly regular day in Quuorn. The sun was warming up the autumn air. The few trees around the town cast stretched shadows across the streets. The people were busy, like all people were. Nobody appeared to be in danger.

  The contrast of what she knew and what she saw, made Natalie question herself many times throughout the day. At one point, when Will and her had a rare moment alone, she’d asked him whether he was sure the town had really been mind swapped after all. He’d just looked at her blankly and hadn’t bothered to reply.

  The thank you party started at sunset. Will and Natalie were lead to the small town hall. The aliens had clearly been preparing all day. There were decorations everywhere. Primarily, unblown up balloons and toilet paper strewn across the room. Picked flowers were stuck to the walls with glue. When Natalie and Will entered the room, she heard him snort with amusement. But the sight left Natalie cold. There was a desperation to it that unnerved her. In her experience, desperation never lead to rationality. At the door, they took Will’s gun and knife, which he handed over with a grimace.

  Natalie took a deep breath, and accepted a glass of something red from ‘Monica’.

  ‘Monica’ was wearing a yellow dress and had attempted a layer of makeup, but only on the right side of her face. ‘Richard’, in a mismatched suit, stood beside her. ‘Tom’ was on his other side, his hair parted and gelled in the middle. Natalie noted that he too was holding a glass of whatever it was ‘Monica’ had served them.

  The rest of the ‘townspeople’ were milling around tables and the speakers. A Christmas carol that Natalie distantly recognised, played through the speakers, despite the fact that it was April.

  Natalie gripped her drink. She took a sip and tried to ignore the burning in her mouth and throat. It wasn’t wine. She wasn’t even sure if the drink was from Earth.

  “Woo Dog,” Will said, after he had taken a sip.

  ‘Monica’s’ eyes narrowed. “Welcome to your party. Is there a problem with the drink?”

  Natalie’s eyes shot to Will, who grinned.

  “No problem here,” He said, cheerily.

  Natalie gingerly took another sip of her drink. It was so strong she could almost already feel its effects, no wonder Will was pleased.

  “Thank you, this is wonderful,” Natalie said, gesturing to the room.

  Every alien at the party was looking at them. When ‘Monica’ turned to face them, they returned to what they had been doing; busying themselves in displays of conversation, picking at the table of food or swaying. Natalie made a mental note that ‘Monica’ seemed to have some sort of authority.

  Natalie stood stiffly with the Farrells. She had no idea what she should be doing at the party. Wolfgang had been left outside and Will was now making his way over to the bar.

  She excused herself and went to the bathroom where she locked herself in a stall and pulled out her tablet. If she could just find the right research paper, with the right classification of these mind swappers, she’d know what to do. There was no internet connection. Natalie frowned, even in a remote town, there should be internet, after the global internet act, there was even service on the moon communities. She checked her phone, it couldn’t access the internet either, there wasn’t even reception to call anyone. Natalie swore under her breath. Her head spun and she sat down on the closed lid of the toilet. She kept trying her devices, one after the other, over and over. Finally, with shaking hands she put them away in her bag. She was alone. Truly.

  “Dr. Natalie Kyle?” Said the small voice of Tom from outside the stall.

  19

  Will pounded his glass onto the bar. “Another,” He announced.

  A group of ‘townspeople’ had gathered around him. They were swaying back and forth. The bartending alien fumbled as he poured Will another drink. Will grabbed it and finished it in a few gulps. He could smell the tension in the room. It moved in waves of anxiety from the human bodies. Waves drenched with desperation. Will had had to get away from the Doc, whose terror was most palpable of all. He hadn
’t encountered fear like hers in a long time. Certainly, not since the world accepted Newton’s Gate. Still, the Doc stuck around, despite her fear. A fear which Will could tell, must be nearly unbearable.

  Will shook his head.

  “No!” Yelled one of the aliens over his shoulder.

  Will swivelled around in his chair. The alien was smiling from ear to ear, his eyes were almost crossed.

  An idea occurred to Will.

  “That’s right!” Will roared. He held up his glass and the twenty or so aliens, hovering beside him, did the same. Will cheered and slammed his glass into the glass of alien who had spoken. The others copied and several glasses broke. Will roared with laughter and then offered his glass to the bartender for another drink. More of the aliens gathered and also asked for refills.

  Will started to tell a story. He made sure to keep drinking. Laughter drifted through the crowd, some forced, some genuine. One of the aliens fell backwards into a table covered in food. The plates crashed to the ground and Will laughed harder. He drained his glass.

  “Bartender, everyone needs a new drink.” He declared.

  The strong, red alcohol flowed freely around the room. The human faces were flushed red. Laughter and hysterical chatter began to fill the room with sound. Will placed his arms around two of the aliens and swayed, shouting an old Australian song about verandas. When it was finished, he caught ‘Monica’s’ gaze on him. He strolled over, a bounce to his step that only appeared when his drinking was about halfway through.

  He noticed that her hands were empty.

  “That is unacceptable,” He said.

  “I am the deso tonight,” She said.

  “Yeah? Nice.”