See No More

by W B Dineen

  I’ve also lost all innocence about how I view our government and world leaders. I no longer have that comforting human-security-blanket way of thinking that we’re the smartest beings ever created, and I wonder what in the heck other creatures are out there. And of course, if I never hear the word “antimatter” again, it will be too soon. But, needless to say, I’m no longer the woman I was.

  I’m stronger and more opened-minded than I’ve ever been. I’m ready to fight for my life and my planet. To quote my favorite cheerleader movie from my teenage years, bring it on, dammit!

  I sign off with Trina, without actually saying over-and-out, and go into the bedroom I’m sharing with Jake. I pack my meager possessions and prepare to return to Albany for the third time in as many weeks.

  We’re going to be staying at my dad’s and Jake’s cabins because we’ve officially stopped running. We’re now the cheese in the trap waiting for the mouse to arrive. Or should I say, rat? That seems a much more accurate rodent, given our current situation.

  We load into our cars at 7:00 p.m. and head to the Palm Springs airport, where once again, Tony has rented a private jet. When—because I choose to believe it’s going to happen—I go back to my real life, I need to work out how to keep flying in private planes. I’ve been ruined for commercial travel.

  Once we’re on the plane, Tony suggests we try to get some sleep. “We’re going to be taking turns pulling guard duty, so get your rest when you can. You might just come to think of two uninterrupted hours as a real treat.”

  My brain is sufficiently full of disturbing new things, so I have no trouble following his advice. I lift the armrest between Jake and me, throw my legs over his, and proceed to drop off almost immediately.

  It’s not a dreamless and peaceful sleep, though. A chain of numbers keeps typing themselves across my brain. They don’t make any sense, and I try to get them to go away, but they won’t. Symbols join the numbers and they show up in the same pattern over and over. I finally wake up, grab a piece of paper, and write them down. What in the world is going on now?

  CHAPTER 76

  Albany is a smallish town of fifty thousand people with no night life to speak of. On the twenty-minute ride from the airport to my dad’s house, we pass a few cars, but mostly it’s a ghost town at ten thirty.

  Tony has arranged for us to share two vehicles while we’re in Oregon, one pickup truck and one SUV. I’m driving in the pickup with Tony when out of blue he says, “Kate, you know something.”

  I look over at him, startled. “Know something, like what? I hate to break it to you, but I’m as clueless as the rest of you.” Then I try to see if my little telepathy with Trina will work nine hundred miles away. “Trina, Tony is questioning what I know. What do I tell him?”

  “Tell him the truth, Kate. Tell him his father will no longer be able to track him, but that the others will. Tell him about me. It is okay.”

  “What if he shares this information with my dad and Niko?”

  “He should. We are forcing a confrontation, and things will surely have to change from this point forward.”

  I don’t give Tony a chance to reply to my last comment. I just confess, “Yeah, I know something.”

  Then I proceed to tell him all about my connection with Trina. I mention how stunning I thought she was when I met her and how totally captivated I was by her. He looks at me like I’m delusional. “Trina, your dad’s assistant?”

  “Yeah, the gorgeous redhead from the lab.”

  “Kate, you might want to get your eyes checked when we’re through with this little adventure.”

  I absolutely cannot understand how I couldn’t see Trina’s beauty when I first met her, and how no one else can.

  Tony explains how he views her. He uses words like plain and ordinary. Instead of tall and goddess-like, he calls her towering and frumpy.

  I tune into Trina and ask her about it. “It is how I knew you were my contact, Kate. After hearing the music, you saw me as I really am and not the way I have been disguised for my visit to your planet.”

  “Why in the world would you disguise your beauty? My God, if I looked like you I’d never stay home, I’d parade my gorgeousness around for the world to see!”

  She laughs. “That is very sweet of you to say, but our looks are distracting for your people, so we place a sort of hypnotic shield over ourselves when we visit you. We appear in a way that is not overtly disruptive.”

  “Why could I see through your shield?”

  “I do not know. It is like that for some humans. They are the only ones we can share our truth with.”

  Huh, weird. Like Star Trek weird but cool at the same time. “Can I tell Tony this?”

  “Yes, of course, but he may not believe you.”

  So, I tell him about the shield Trina and her people have on themselves. He’s intrigued and believes me right away. Unlike me, Tony’s known and accepted alien involvement in our world for a long time, so this doesn’t upset his apple cart in any way. “And she telepathically communicates with you?”

  “Since yesterday,” I confirm.

  “And it’s been my father who’s been after you all along. Interesting.”

  “When I touched the back of your neck, she used me to deactivate the tracking device for your dad. He’s now going to think of you as his enemy.”

  Tony nods his head. “That suits me just fine. I’ve thought of him as my enemy for many years now.”

  “Did you ever hope you’d be able to change him? You know, find a way to reach him and turn him good?”

  He shakes his head. “That’s like asking if I’ve ever considered befriending a hungry lion. There are animals you don’t try to tame or change because you know you could never trust their true nature. My father is like that. He stood back and watched while two of his children committed suicide, and he didn’t mourn either of them. Instead, he called them weak and declared his life better without them. No, Kate. My father is past redemption.”

  “What about your mother?”

  “My mother is just as cold and dismissive. While she’s not trying to take over the world, she’s enjoying her role as First Lady of it. My mother is not someone I’ve ever chosen to spend time with. I won’t miss her at all.”

  CHAPTER 77

  My dad shows us how to activate and deactivate his security system. His little cabin in the woods is far more high-tech than it appears. He informs us that all borders of the property are under surveillance. When I mention I didn’t see any cameras, he explains that they’re housed within life-like animal statues—birds and squirrels primarily.

  Then he turns on his television to show us. There’s a four by four grid of pictures from all over his property line. All the frames are still, except one. He points to it. “That’s my friend Buck. He and his family live on the property. I’ve attached a camera to him.”

  My eyebrows shoot up in recognition. “Is Buck a deer, by chance?”

  My dad smiles. “I take it you’ve made his acquaintance?”

  “He stood in front of me for the better part of an hour. It was like he expected me to feed him or something. It was really weird.”

  Theo laughs. “That’s Buck and you’re right. He was waiting for apples. He loves them and when I’m home he stops by regularly for a snack.”

  I point to the screen. “I think he knows you’re here.”

  Jake laughs and goes into the refrigerator. He pulls out a bag of semi-withered Granny Smiths and hands them to me. “Why don’t you go feed him? The coast looks clear for now. Just don’t turn on the porch light.”

  My mom and Buddy come with me. Mom takes a few apples out of the bag and Buddy lies down on the porch like Buck’s presence is of no consequence. Mom says, “It’s nice to be here as a family.” Then she puts her hand out and Buck comes right up to her like a trusted friend, which I’m guessing she is.

  The stag won’t take anything from me, but he doesn’t seem to protest when his mate and fawns do. I�
�m very content, like I’m exactly where I should be. I glance over at my mom and smile. She looks at home here.

  I tell her about Trina and ask what she thought of her. She considers my question for a few moments. “I thought she might have potential. I didn’t have as strong a reaction as Tony appeared to, but maybe that’s because I’m an older woman. All I saw was the possibility of beauty, without really seeing any.”

  I understand what she’s saying. Men often evaluate women’s looks from the perspective of a potential mate. If they aren’t drawn to them physically, they lose interest. Younger women are ruthless when it comes to judging one another. We’re overly critical and often unkind in our evaluations. I guess it’s how we’re wired. For all that we talk, walk on two legs, and brag about our prehensile thumbs, we’re not too different from the other beasts on the planet.

  When we’re out of fruit, we go back into the house and find the men have hashed out a schedule. They’re going to take turns sleeping in four-hour shifts. Two of them will cover the eleven to three time slot, and the other two will cover three to seven. I’m not in the least disappointed not to be included in keeping watch. I’ve never shot a gun and I’m liable to take off my foot or kill my partner if it turns out I need to do so. Neither is an auspicious start to saving the world.

  Jake and Tony are on first—so much for any thoughts of hanky-panky on my part. I fall right into the same bed I slept in before, the one with the cabbage roses on the comforter. As soon as my eyes close, a picture forms in my mind. It almost looks like a glyph of some kind, like it was chiseled into rock then molded in bronze.

  There are two large humanoid beings sitting on chairs facing each other. I say humanoid because I clearly don’t feel like they’re from our planet, but they look an awful lot like us, like Trina does. They’re wearing formfitting clothing that has a bird similar to an eagle engraved on the chest.

  On their laps they’re each holding a person, who is much smaller than they are. I’m fairly sure this is a human person. The large beings look down at them with real love in their eyes. On top of the picture there are three suns of varying size. Each one has rays radiating from it, and at the tip of each is an arrow pointing to different looking faces. Some are human-like, a couple look like the grays from the movies, one looks like Mothman from that old comic book, some look reptilian—on and on they go.

  I can’t make heads or tails out of the picture, but I keep wondering where mankind fits into it. I hear a dreamlike voice in my head say, “You are the cherished child.” And at that moment I feel like I am.

  I wonder if Trina is sending me images and equations, like the one I got when I was on the plane. I tell myself to remember to ask her, but she pipes right in and explains, “When we first met, I told you I was putting the light on you. As a result, you are being brought enlightenment. Write down everything you remember, and in time, it will form a story.”

  CHAPTER 78

  Now that we’ve laid ourselves out as bait, no one leaves the property alone. Early this morning, we go to Corvallis together to do our grocery shopping. We buy all the supplies we anticipate needing until this thing is over. It’s amazing how much stuff I impulse buy, thinking it could be the last time I ever have it.

  Take cheese puffs. I don’t particularly like cheese puffs, but at Trader Joe’s, I get almost teary-eyed as I pick up a bag and drop it into my cart. Then I grab two more just in case I’m persuaded to share them. My mom questions my need for two mud pies, since she’s planning on getting right to work in the kitchen once we get back. I tell her I don’t want to take the chance she’ll run out of time to make them.

  Food is comfort, and my crazy mother and I are right there buying into the hype. Mom is purchasing multiple cans of baking powder and bottles of vanilla because apparently, she thinks she won’t be shopping for another twenty years. Please don’t let that be so, or I’ll need a heck of a lot more cheese puffs.

  The men are buying things like rope, propane, an ax, and a lot of medical supplies, which kind of worries me. The only alcohol purchased is for Stefano. The rest of us are aware this is not the time to have our wits dulled.

  Dad claims to have enough supplies at the cabin to last him and Jake for two whole years, but even he picks up twenty extra gallons of water. You never know how you’re going to react in a crisis and let me tell you, you find out stuff about yourself you never imagined—like my latent need for cheese puffs and my newfound worry I’ll run out of dental floss.

  When we get back to the house, Tony makes a call to Stefano. Even though he doesn’t put him on speaker we can all hear the conversation quite clearly. It’s ten o’clock in the morning in Oregon, making it eight o’clock at night in Rome.

  Stefano: Allo?

  Tony: Stefano, it’s Tony Forscha calling.

  Stefano: What do you want? Why do you call me outside of usual protocol?

  Tony: Stefano, I think we have a problem. I think my father is turning rogue. He’s removed his chip and has been traveling without it.

  Stefano: How do I know this is true and you and your father aren’t setting a trap for me?

  Tony: You don’t. But I can tell you this, I hold no love for my father. He’s an egotistical, narrow-minded son of a bitch, and I don’t trust what he’s trying to do within the Trēdecim.

  Stefano: What do you mean?

  Tony: I don’t think he has any intention of stepping down when the weapon is found. I think he’s setting up his own targets and will use it to intimidate the rest of the group. (This appears to be what Stefano is planning to do, so it’s particularly funny to hear his reaction to Tony’s declaration.)

  Stefano: Your father is a stronzo, Tony. He’s a first-class asshole. Just so you know, I’m aware he’s been plotting against the group. I think you and I should meet as soon as possible to figure out what’s to be done.

  Tony: I agree, Stefano. Unfortunately, I can’t come to you. I’m in Albany, Oregon. I’ve found two of the scientists who built the weapon. Recently, my father had the third killed in Los Angeles.

  Stefano: That is no problem. I can come to you and be there by eight o’clock your time, tomorrow night. Wait to hear from me.

  Tony: It’s too bad we don’t have the actual weapon, because these scientists have a facility and the blueprint. If we had it, they could go right to work on increasing its size and making it ready to carry out our plan.

  Stefano: Tony, let’s not share this conversation with any of the others, yet. Let us meet first and develop our strategy.

  I want to jump up and down in excitement. This, right here, is what we’ve been waiting for. We need to get that gun and, with any luck, the olive oil king is about to deliver it right to us.

  The problem is, if Stefano brings it, he’s sure to have adequate protection for it, which means goons with firepower. The plan is to get him to give the gun to Dad and Niko and let them take it to the lab to work on its amplification.

  Of course, that’s not what they’ll really be doing. They’ll be dismantling it and making it unusable for all time. That’s when things will get tricky. No one thinks Stefano will leave Albany without test firing his new toy’s capability. Once he finds out he’s been duped is when the trouble starts.

  CHAPTER 79

  I’m currently lying in my dad’s hammock in his front yard. We all feel relatively safe until Stefano gets here, so I’m taking some time to reflect on my world.

  When I was a little girl, I used to lie in the hammock under one of the lemon trees and stare up at the sky through the pattern of dark, waxy, green leaves. They formed beautiful designs, allowing splotches of blue to peek through. I would lose myself for hours on end doing that.

  In retrospect, it was probably my kid version of meditating. Those were the moments when I felt totally connected to the world around me. It was almost like I ceased to be a separate entity. The particles that made me and the ones that made everything else, blended together in perfect harmony.

&nbs
p; When I was a teenager I watched a show on PBS about fractal geometry. Math has never been my thing, so I don’t quite know how I came to watch this program, but there I was, captivated for two hours. They essentially claimed everything that exists in the world is geometry—trees, rocks, people, snowflakes, all just a bunch of math.

  As I watched, I felt like I was in an altered state. I formed an instant and deep connection to this thinking, even though I didn’t fully understand it. For weeks afterward, I looked at everything through new eyes. Even the most mundane objects seemed magical to me. I studied shapes and sizes and was in awe how everything fit the way it did. I kept thinking, if this is math, then I love math!

  I often think about that program. Amazing things can exist in our world of which we have no idea, solely because we aren’t looking at them through the right eyes.

  Lately, I feel like my mind is being opened to remarkable possibilities, which both excites me and scares the crap out of me. There’s security in feeling like you understand your world, even if that comprehension is false. Becoming aware of bigger ideas, like alternate worlds and other forms of intelligent life, infuses me with awe and fear.

  I close my eyes and my mind fills with an image of ants. There’s an ant hill above ground with a few little creatures scurrying about, two of them work together to carry a crumb of food to the opening of their hole, but then I see the rest of them working underground. There are tunnels and pathways that lead everywhere and nowhere. They rush all over the place with seemingly no destination—moving for the sake of moving.

  The next image I see is of mankind. We’re like those ants, in a hurry to get from here to there, gathering our food, fluffing our nests, and interacting with each other. We’re far more simple creatures than we think we are, yet we don’t realize it because we consider ourselves intelligent beings in control of our destinies.