by White, Gwynn
Holding onto the tree for support, I dragged myself back up to a standing position, so that I could watch everything going on and keep track of where Waylon was. As I peered through an opening in the leaves, I saw more torches floating in the darkness, moving toward the group in the front yard. Word must have gotten out to people in the village about what was happening here.
Soon, I heard many angry voices filling the air. And then people holding the torches became visible.
The dogs continued to bite and tear flesh from Mary’s body. Her beautiful face was completely gone. I looked away. Sadness and horror welled up inside me. I fought back intense nausea.
Finally, the plantation owner shouted, “Enough! Call off the dogs!” Staggering, he walked around Mary’s body. Taking another swig from his bottle, he said, “And here lie the remains of a witch.” He pointed to one of the men holding a snarling dog by its leash and said, “You clean this up later, you hear me?” Pointing at another man, he said, “And, you, get a priest from the village to cast her demons out before her remains are put to rest. I don’t want our plantation haunted by Satan.”
The crowd roared and shouted.
The plantation owner said, “Men, we need to teach all our slaves a lesson. These three were planning to escape.” He waved his bottle in the direction of Jessey, Henry and Basil. “Nothing will stop them, now that the government has set them free. If I’m to lose them anyway, something that will seriously harm my profits, I say let me get one more benefit from them. Let them serve as an example to any more that think running away is a good idea. Hang them! And see if you can hang the demon!”
No! No! No! No!
The crowd descended on the three darker skinned humans and on Waylon. Several men carrying ropes placed a loop around each of their necks. They dragged them, writhing and kicking, to the area below a tree. Throwing the free end of their ropes over the bottom branch, the men pulled until the bodies flew upwards, necks snapped and the captives hung like dolls.
I didn’t realize it; but as I saw Waylon’s body go flying up off the ground, his neck snap and his body go lifeless, I screamed.
The next thing I knew, I was being pursued by a mob and their dogs. I ran as fast as I could all the way through the forest to the pod. Falling off the downed tree into the stream, I scraped up my knees and lost time. I barely made it to the pod before the dogs caught up with me.
It must have seemed that I was a supernatural being—another demon exactly as they perceived Waylon to be—to the people pursuing me. When I jumped into the pod, I became invisible under the protection of its camouflage cover. It was like I had popped into another dimension.
In the next moment, I did exactly that.
The ship flew up into the air and disappeared with an explosion of light.
13
When I made it back to the TTA, I felt like a shell of my former self. Reporting Waylon’s death was the hardest thing I’d ever had to do in my entire life up until that point.
Another team went back to retrieve his body. Had the angry mob and the dogs not been chasing after me, I would have done that myself—both out of respect for Waylon and in order to keep from violating the Law of Noninterference to such an extreme degree. Leaving a green-skinned body behind in times where our kind did not exist would mess with timelines to an extraordinary degree. Even so, we didn’t avoid the problem completely. It fills me with revulsion and horror every time I think about it, but some of the people from the village sliced off parts of Waylon’s skin and used it to make potions.
Just like the people of East Africa, or the cannibal tribes who ate their enemies for strength, they wanted to absorb supernatural powers they believed he possessed. It made no sense to me. If you thought someone was evil, why would you want to take that into yourself? The analyses I’ve read suggest that it’s an attempt to gain the perceived power of the demon or the enemy.
I couldn’t bear thinking about this happening to Waylon.
I went to his cremation service. It was a beautiful tribute. We saw his life story and his accomplishments play out across our lenses. His body was ignited upon the stone altar in the memorial hall of the TTA. His parents led the procession down to the stream that carried his ashes away on a tiny boat to the wasteland beyond. Our enclave felt that the ashes were going out to wide open spaces where only the dead could thrive, and we hoped the ashes of our bravest heroes might somehow fertilize those lands.
After the cremation service, I was sent to the hospital to recover from shock syndrome. The doctors turned my empathy completely off. I felt nothing. I floated in a kind of netherworld haze. The doctors monitored my body signs and gave me potions until it looked like I had recovered enough to face the world again.
After that, I had a month to rest, to wander the hospital gardens and swim in the fountains and under the waterfalls.
Eventually, when it was determined that I was strong enough to resume my time traveler duties, I was prepared for my next mission: Roswell, New Mexico in the twenty-first century to procure blood and other human substances that would be used for splicing aggression into our DNA. It suddenly dawned on me that this wasn’t completely dissimilar to cannibalism or making potions out of albinos…or out of Waylon. Even with photosynthesis, we seem to have a need to perform some kind of cannibalism in order to insure our own prosperity. I put those thoughts out of my mind. I would get consent from the people from whom I took samples or I would steal samples from a hospital or medical facility. I would never hurt a living human being in order to protect the future of the human race. That made no sense.
The place in Roswell where I was to conduct this mission was the absolute best and safest place I could possibly be sent. It was a compound built by a cult who had named their organization The Astral Plane. The name referred to their belief that aliens from another planet would visit them and take them out through the astral plane to their home planet. The members of this cult revered these supposed aliens as gods sent to rescue them from Earth’s problems.
I and my new assigned partner, Zander, would be gods. That had to be a whole lot better than being viewed as demons.
Part IV
Jade Whitaker
14
I started watching the news on my flight to Roswell, but turned it off and watched a daytime talk show instead. The news was covering a story about people who had lost their ability to concentrate and started having hallucinations after a bright light exploded over Roswell, New Mexico—exactly where I was headed. Several doctors commented on the situation, saying they thought this was the result of an alien virus. I did not need to hear that. It scared the living daylights out of me every time I thought I might catch a virus that would scramble my mind. I already felt scared to death that I had cancer. The talk show was all about people who had silly dance moves. Now, that I could handle.
When I finally got to Roswell, I took a taxi to my hotel. It was the cheapest hotel I could find that was close to the compound where my biological mother was doing research.
There were stencils of silly-looking aliens with green skin, huge heads and large black eyes on the windows of the reception building. Faded by the sun, they were seriously out of date. No one thought goofy alien images were funny anymore. People were afraid. Recent comic strips showed them with fangs, and horrible red rashes to illustrate the virus they had brought to Earth with them.
The guy at the check-in desk seemed to hate his job. He didn’t smile, just robotically went through everything he had to do for each customer. Name? Looking at his computer: Yes, we have your reservation. Here are your keys. Breakfast is served in the room across the hallway from 8:00 AM to 11:00 AM every morning. I’m required to warn you to be careful about a virus that may be spreading in this area. If you feel exceptionally dizzy or experience hallucinations, we suggest you contact Public Health to report your symptoms and find a doctor. He pushed a pamphlet toward me. Here’s a list of local Urgent Care facilities. Anything else I can do for you?
Wow. How many times had he repeated that spiel? He seemed positively bored by it all. Hello. You might catch a virus here that will infect your mind and drive you crazy. But, hey, have a nice day. Most likely, he didn’t believe all the rumors about the alien virus. Not everyone did. Also, he seemed fine. When you feel healthy, you tend to think you’re invulnerable to stuff.
I took the key and found my room. It was OK. It had a bed and a chair and an air conditioner/heater unit. That’s pretty much all I needed. I hoped to God there weren’t any bedbugs. Those were definitely real and they could give you some pretty nasty bites.
I lay down on the bed just to take a short nap, but fell asleep for hours. I was woken up by the most intense pain I’d ever experienced in my right side. I felt petrified. I was in a strange town where I didn’t know anyone and didn’t have a regular doctor. I curled up into a fetal position and rocked back and forth, trying not to scream or moan too loudly. When the pain finally lessened enough to stand up, I went into the bathroom and took a shower, letting the warm water relax my muscles that had tensed up while I fought through the pain.
The next day, I took a taxi to The Astral Plane compound. I should have watched the local news first. There was police tape across the front yard and cop cars everywhere. The police refused to let me onto the property.
Two guys in orange astronaut-looking jumpsuits were hanging around outside the area marked off by the tape. They seemed to be deep in discussion. They kept gesturing emphatically with their hands. I walked over to them and said, “Hello. I’m looking for my mother, Dr. Cora Frost. I have a very important message for her. I’ve been trying to reach her, but haven’t had any luck. I flew all the way across the country to find her. It’s a family emergency.”
I hoped to God they’d never repeat exactly what I’d said to her. She’d think I was a lunatic, probably refuse to ever have anything to do with me.
The taller of the two guys said, “Yeah. Reception’s really bad out here. Plus I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if the police haven’t blocked our signals. They’re treating us like we’ve all committed murder.”
I was going to ask if someone had been murdered, but I decided against it. I really didn’t want to know. I was scared to death over this whole trip and I didn’t need anything else making me too frightened to go through with finding my biological mother. I was here. If I didn’t do this now, I’d probably never do it.
The shorter guy said, “I can take you to your mother if you want.”
I asked, “Is she inside?”
He said, “No. She’s not here. She’s just down the road a bit.”
I said, “Sure. Thanks.”
I followed him to an old beat-up black van with desert dust all over the lower half. I climbed in. Normally, I would never hop into a van with a stranger, but these weren’t normal times.
He drove to a barn out in the middle of the desert. I couldn’t see another building anywhere in sight. He pointed at it and said, “She’s in there. I gotta get back, but I’m sure she’ll take care of you.”
I hesitated a moment. What if she wasn’t in the barn? What if this was a trap? What if there wasn’t any cell phone reception out here? I’d be stranded. This was the desert. I’d die from dehydration.
Then I have no idea what came over me, but I said to myself that it was now or never and stop being such a coward. I opened the van door and climbed out. The driver turned off the engine, walked me over to the barn and opened a side door. I heard voices inside the building. The driver said, “Go on in. I have to get back.”
I stepped inside. The floor was covered with straw, which felt soft under my shoes. I walked around a stack of hay bales and came out into the open area of the barn. There were three people there…and two aliens.
Oh, my God. They were real…
I froze. My heart raced out of control. I wanted to run, but there was nowhere to go, other than to die running across an empty desert. I felt desperate. I shouted, “Is Dr. Cora Frost here?” There was only one woman. Either she was Cora Frost, or I had made a terrible mistake getting in that van and coming over here.
The woman said, “I’m Dr. Frost. Who are you?”
I said, “I’m your daughter, Jade Whitaker. I need your help.”
She literally rolled her eyes. She said, “Are you stalking me? I have no legal connection to you. I’ve received your text messages. I was ignoring them on purpose.”
At that moment, it felt like my abdomen was going to rip wide open. I grabbed my side and screamed bloody murder. The pain had gotten progressively worse. It was now unbearable.
One of the aliens placed her hand on my mother’s shoulder. In a gentle female voice, she said, “Wait. She really is in trouble.”
She walked over to me, this tall green creature with enormous black eyes, and said, “I can help you. I’m a doctor. Do you mind if I touch your stomach, to see what’s wrong?”
In too much pain to speak, I shook my head no. I meant: I don’t mind. If that had been interpreted to mean the opposite, I would have shook my head yes. Tears streamed down my face.
Apparently, the creature knew what I meant. She placed her hands on my abdomen.
Images flew up into the air in front of me. No one else seemed to notice them. There was a doll-like baby, only partially formed, with hair down to its knees. A beating heart stopped beating. Women were giving birth to green-skinned babies; nurses kept taking them away. Black people and one of the aliens hung from a tree, nooses tightened around their necks. Dogs snarled, barked, bared monstrous teeth. I saw windswept lands and rising seas. People begging for food. There was a spaceship hurtling through an explosion of light.
The alien said, “I’m going to focus. Do the same. Tell me what you see.” Her fingers felt warm and comforting against my stomach.
All the images disappeared except two: the partially formed doll baby, straggly hair flowing like a mop down to its knees, and a beating heart which stopped beating. I described what I saw.
The alien said, “That’s what’s inside of you. It’s a vestigial twin.”
What?
When I didn’t answer out loud, she said, “Your mother…Dr. Frost…had been pregnant with twins. The other twin became absorbed into your body while you were both forming inside the womb. It’s been there since before you were born. It’s been growing, even though its brain isn’t formed. The cells have just kept multiplying. It has to come out or you will die. It’s on your ovary.”
I felt extraordinarily dizzy. I said, “I’m going to faint.”
The alien said, “You’ll be OK. I’m a medical doctor. We have a surgical room inside our spaceship. I can remove the twin right now with techniques more advanced than any other you have access to. You’ll have a better outcome. You could do us a huge favor as payment. You saw images of dying lands, am I right?”
I shook my head yes.
She said, “That is Earth where I come from. I’m not a creature from another planet. I’m a human being from the future. Our bodies are green because we now produce some of our own food inside our bodies through photosynthesis, just like plants.” She bent her head into her hands. Two black disks popped off her face. I felt completely freaked out. I thought those were her eyes! It turned out they were special AI lenses. She continued, “See. I have human eyes.” Her eyes were green and very human. She said, “We need to splice our genes once again. We’re in very big trouble. If we don’t get back some of the genetic material from your time period, the entire human race will die. Your twin would supply many stem cells. If we remove her from your body, may we take her with us? She won’t survive outside of you, but she could save the human race.”
I was stunned by all this. I blurted out a rather mundane question: “How do you know it’s a girl?”
She said, “Along with our photosynthetic genes came the side effect of having such extreme empathy we can read each other’s thoughts and feelings. That bothers most humans from your era. It scrambl
es their minds, and receiving images from our brains makes them feel like they’ve gone mad and are experiencing hallucinations. Your mother and you were both twins. You already know how to share thoughts with a similar mind. It’s why we can communicate with both of you. I know you have a girl twin inside you because I can see it.”
At that moment, pain gripped me so hard, I thought my stomach was going to tear open or my ovary explode. I said, “Yes! Just do it. Do the surgery. Take the twin.”
The other alien-like creature did something that made a UFO appear in a corner of the barn. This was all so surreal! These people looked like all the pictures I’d ever seen of aliens from outer space. Their ship looked like a typical UFO.
The woman who’d been talking to me took me by the hand. Her fingers were long and slender. She led me to a surgical room. I lay down on an operating room table. She gave me something to drink. That’s all I remember.
When I woke up, I felt amazing. I checked my stomach. A completely healed scar! In the future, doctors apparently know how to heal us quickly. That’s one thing future generations can look forward to.
I found that I’d been moved to a bed in a different room than the one where the surgery had been performed. The green woman stepped into the room, black lenses once again covering her eyes. She said, “You’re awake. Everything went great. There’s someone here to see you.” Before she left the room, she added, “By the way, my name’s Paloma.”
A few minutes later, Cora Frost walked into my recovery room. She said, “Maybe we can work together. Not very many people have seen what we’ve seen. I plan to write a book and I’m going to try to land a TV show. Are you interested?”
It wasn’t exactly a hug for a long-lost daughter, but I’d take whatever I could get. A green woman from the future had been much more of a mother to me than my own biological mother who was bound to me by blood and the era in which we lived. Paloma had comforted me and eased my pain. Hopefully, my relationship with my biological mother would grow over time.