As Steve entered the room and Alizia ran up and bear hugged him. He tightly wrapped his arms around her. Steve pulled back and wiped the tears away from her face.
“I thought I would never see you again.” Alizia grabbed his hand as she rested her head in his palm.
“I’m sorry, I got back here as soon as I could.” He kissed her gently on the forehead.
“So, what’s going on?” Sam called out from the corner.
Steve looked over at Sam. “I told them everything I could. They told me the world is in a state of panic, everyone’s paranoid and scared.” He continued holding Alizia in his arms.
“Please forgive them, they’re just scared.” Steve whispered in her ear.
“I expected as much.” Sam shuffled in his seat. “I can’t wait to see the look on Stan’s face when they arrest him.” He chuckled.
“No one’s gonna get arrested son.” Hank stood in the doorway with his big cowboy hat and an even larger wad of chewing tobacco in his lower lip. As he closed the door behind him, they could see that there were guards outside.
“We may not be under arrest, but it sure seems that way.” Steve turned around, his annoyance etched on his face.
“Like I told you before, this is for your protection. Now, who’s Stan? Is he that commander you told me about?” Hank sat down in the nearest chair.
“He’s the commander of the Outpost.” Sam replied as he crossed his arms.
“Look we’ve been through this already. We need to see someone from the White House, NASA or JPL.” Steve ran his finger though his hair. “Someone who might actually listen to us.” He could not hide his sarcasm.
“I don’t think you realize what’s goin’ on. There’s panic everywhere, chaos worldwide. All trade and shipping has shut down. The economy’s stopped working, banks are not lending to each other or anyone else for that matter. It is like a major hurricane has hit the world and plunged us back into the Stone Age.” Hank raised his voice as he spoke, his anger increasing.
“The safest place you could be is right here with us. Now please, let’s go over this one more time.” Hank looked around the room making eye contact with everyone.
Steve rubbed his temples. His pounding headache wouldn’t go away as he tried not to imagine the chaos engulfing the country. He thought of his family and friends, how they might be reacting to all this. He wondered if they knew about his role in the unfolding drama.
Hank grabbed a remote and turned on a TV hanging from the ceiling in the corner of the room to a 24 hours new channel. The reports that were being played showed what looked like a riot. People were looting for food and water. Police were shown in riot gear and military soldiers were everywhere. It reminded Steve of scenes from hurricane Katrina, only this was nationwide. Panic breeding panic, growing like wild fire. Tears rolled down Alizia’s face as Sam’s turned ashen white. Steve turned away, he couldn’t watch.
Hank turned off the TV. “Now, please, we need to make sure we have all the information as accurate as possible.” Hank looked around the room. “Would anyone care to add anything?”
Sam cleared his throat and began to tell his story. “My name is Sam Haigensworth. I was born on July 4th, 1970. I grew up mostly in Nebraska and around the age of 15 my family moved to Los Angeles. I joined the Navy on my 18th birthday. I served in the 1991 Gulf War with the Marines as a medic, or corpsman, as they called it. I left the Navy in 1992 after serving 4 years and dropped in and out of school. I held a job no longer than 6 months, and had a drinking problem. Just when I thought I had turned my life around, they abducted me. I remember waking up and thinking I had been in a car accident because all these people were staring at me.”
As Sam told his story Steve clung to the edge of his seat. He now realized how dangerous information could be when taken out of context. Sam had been abducted because of bodyfarming. They were going to kill him to use his body. That part of the story had to be explained very carefully and Steve didn’t want to go there. If this got out it’d be like throwing gasoline on an already raging fire.
Sam could tell Steve looked nervous at where his story was going. “I won’t get into the details. To make a long story short, they sent me to the homeworlds and I joined a group of other Earth people that were already there. People from Earth are called freeformed humans, meaning that our emotional centers were allowed to freely form. You see, most of those people have had their emotional centers dampened because they fear human emotions.” As Sam finished Steve seemed to breathe a sigh of relief and he sat back in his chair.
“Humanity is in a state of flux, they know they need to change but they aren’t sure how. After coming to the realization that I’d probably never get home, I learned all I could about them. They’re completely dependent on machines, in one form or another. Machines provide everything for them; food, water, medicine. Everything. It’s hard to understand, but they seem like a bunch of children almost, very naive and lost in a sense. After a while I felt deeply sorry for them. I wanted to help but they resisted change. We only wanted to help.” Sam sighed, looking down and shaking his head. “They labeled us as dangerous radicals. Looking back I think about how naïve we were. How the hell can you change an entire society? An entire way of life?” Sam shrugged his shoulders.
“It confirmed their worst fears. That freeformed humans were dangerous and couldn’t be trusted. They banished us to the Outposts and most freeformed humans are no longer allowed anywhere near the homeworlds. Even though their emotions are dampened, fear still overtook them. Joe tried again after a few years and they banished him too. Now things are different because a major power source has stopped working. They can tap into the planets gravity and create an almost infinite source of energy. There’s one such power source on each of the three homeworlds, but now only one is fully functional and no one knows how to fix the other two. But, it goes beyond fixing their machines since they haven’t had any meaningful advancement in their society for thousands of years. They’ve stopped growing as a culture. They’re, in a sense, slowly dying, withering away into nothingness and they need our help.” Sam sat back letting out a big breath.
Silence filled the room. Then Steve spoke up, “Well there’s more to it than that. They’re also under attack.”
The creases in Hank’s forehead became visible as he raised his eyebrows.
“It would seem that the base creatures that we’re decedents of are attacking one of their Outposts, far away from here. Those are the ones you should be afraid of.” Steve pointedly glared at Hank. “They have attacked them in the past and now they’re at it again. That’s why the group split up, because Joe had to get back to the homeworlds. Like I said, they’re here for our protection.”
“Care to add anything to that?” Hank looked at Alizia.
“I’m also a freeformed human. I grew up on the homeworlds.” Alizia hesitated when she mentioned the homeworlds. She didn’t want to recall her past, she wanted to bury it. There were many aspects of her life that brought her tremendous shame, including the fact that she had resurrected several times. Her recent past was a blur, her life had degraded to nothing but pleasuring of the senses. She looked at Steve with sadness and he put his arm around her. She looked down for a moment then looked back up at Hank.
“Well, those were very dark and confusing times for me. You see, on the homeworlds everything is provided, no independent thinking is required. For most of my life I’ve never been concerned about the future or even the next day.” She paused and struggled for the words to express her feelings. “I have led a very selfish existence and unfortunately I cannot add much beyond that. I’m not really qualified to comment on the current situation. It’s best you ask Stan.” Alizia sunk her head into Steve’s shoulder.
As Hank jotted down some notes he pressed his lips together knowing they were hiding something.
Joe pushed away his plate, he didn’t feel like eating anymore. He just wanted to be alone. He rose from the table and asked Nell if he wou
ldn’t mind showing Tom and Bill around. Joe actually wanted to get them out of his hair and focus on the Krell system. Before he left he told Tom and Bill to go anywhere they wanted and gather all the information they needed. He also asked them to tell Dr. Becker and Dr. Zanagar the same thing, feel free to roam anywhere. As he left he could see Dr. Becker and Dr. Zanagar talking with the new council members that were members of the linies. He hesitated in going over to them but thought the hell with it. They’re grownups and can handle themselves. He needed to focus on dealing with Krell. If that system fell into the attacker’s hands it would only be a matter of time until they found their way to the homeworlds.
Joe left the dining area and walked outside to a viewing platform overlooking the city. He forgot how truly beautiful the homeworlds were. The council building stood on top of a large hill and the entire place resembled a university campus back on Earth. The sun was setting, the sky was turning crimson red and clouds were interspersed throughout. Dusk, the precarious time between day and night. As time went on, small pin pricks of light started to appear, distant stars coming to life. He scanned the night sky and found the one that Earth orbited. He loved Earth for all its perfections and faults. He hoped all of humanity would emulate them. As he watched the sky slowly turn to night, a horrific vision assaulted his mind. He saw meteors reigning down on the entire city. Fireballs streaking across the sky as others exploded on their way down in a deafening thunderclap. Many impacted the ground creating huge craters throwing massive amounts of buildings and people into the air. The ground would shake with such violence and nothing would be left standing, everything would be gone. Joe grabbed his head trying to wrestle away the gloomy thoughts. It was hard not to be pessimistic in such a situation. The creatures in the Krell system had to be the same ones he had fought so many years ago.
Joe walked into the building where most of the council member’s offices were located. He looked, but he couldn’t find Katan. Wandering through the halls caused more distant memories to spring to life. The nostalgia of this place hit him harder than he thought possible. He became more determined to save all of humanity. He ventured further into the building and off in the distance he could hear music coming from the circle.
The circle, a cross between a bar, a dance club and a rave party. All the cities had them and they all looked pretty much the same. Eventually he found his way there. As he approached, he could feel the music, a rhythmic thumping in his chest. The music came from Earth, the only human colony to create such a gift.
Things had clearly changed, there were people staring into pental boxes and others were gazing off into space, completely wacked out on too much reen. Most everyone wore similar tight fitting jumpsuits, while others were completely naked.
He walked further into the club where side rooms with no doors displayed decadent sexual orgies. He felt shame for those people and their behavior. He was no longer desensitized to such vulgar activity. Humanity had become morally diseased, perhaps with no cure, Joe thought to himself as he passed by the rooms.
Joe suddenly felt someone slap him on the shoulders, “I sure hope you are not thinking of going into one of those rooms?” Katan had sneaked up behind catching him off guard. Startled, Joe turned around to see Katan grinning.
“Ah, no. I thought I saw you at the bottom of one of those piles.” Joe pointed with his thumb into the room. He could feel his face turning red. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“Me?” Katan pointed to his chest. “What the hell are you doing here?” Katan waved his hands toward Joe. He paused, waiting for a response.
Joe opened his mouth but could not find the words and after a few moments he just shrugged his shoulders. Joe knew he had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. They both looked at each other and laughed.
“Why don’t we go over here so we can hear ourselves think. Follow me.” Katan pointed over to an area away from all the commotion. As they passed by the bar he grabbed a few drinks. The two settled down at a small table. Most of the people in this part of the circle were talking and drinking socially. They weren’t high, at least not openly.
Katan sat down and pushed a drink over to Joe. “How are you my old friend?”
“I’m really anxious to get to the Krell system. I want to get this over with.” Joe picked up his drink, sloshing the liquid around. The ice cubes clacking against each other. “I can’t stand just waiting around.”
“There’s no reason to rush things my friend, you have to think this through. Don’t go off without being properly prepared.” Katan pointed at Joe raising his eyebrows and the two fell silent for a while.
“What’s on your mind? Please tell me.” Katan curiously peered at Joe, worried about his old friend.
Joe broodingly looked away for a moment, then back at Katan. “While on Earth I had time to reflect, look back at things and I gained a different perspective.” He swirled around the ice in his drink. “I also studied the transmissions we intercepted from the last attack and I believe I can communicate with them.”
“What makes you think they’re the same creatures?” Katan lowered his voice as he rested one elbow on the table.
“Of course they are. I’m sure of it.” Joe confidently looked Katan in the eye as he took a long pull from his drink.
“You said you studied some transmissions, what does that mean? Did you decipher them?” Katan shuffling in his seat.
“I think so. I can’t be 100% sure but,” Joe grabbed the table with both hands, hesitating. He couldn’t find the words.
Katan leaned forward anxiously. “Well, what did they say?”
“Like I said, I can’t be sure, it’s only a guess, but, it sounded like they were after something or someone.”
“What do you mean someone? Who could they possibly be after?” Katan blinked twice, baffled.
Joe paused for a moment. “It was as if the attackers were after the actual beings we call the creators.” Joe looked around to see if anyone was listening. Satisfied they weren’t, he continued. “The attackers were hunting them in the Earth system, to capture or kill, I don’t know. But, their communications suggest they were holding some as prisoners.”
Katan's face went pale as he listened. He looked at Joe for a moment then stared off into the distance.
“They were ruthless. They killed almost everyone they found. Like animals in a feeding frenzy.” Joe looked down into his drink, holding it with one hand. He unknowingly rubbed his chin.
“My God, killing everyone, captured some of the creators, holding them prisoner.” Katan pulled out a handkerchief and wiped the beads of sweet off his forehead. “Have you told anyone of this?”
“No, you’re the only one. Of course, it is only a guess. The language is very hard to understand. It sounds like Chinese.”
“Like Chinese? What’s Chinese?”
“Oh, Chinese is a language that’s based on tone instead of syllables. You see our language is based on,” Joe stopped, realizing that Katan had no idea about different human languages. English was the major language to all humans, having been transplanted to all colonies to make communication easier. It took hold on Earth but since Earth had freeformed humans, it hadn’t developed everywhere.
“Never mind. Look, this is mostly a guess and I don’t want to start a panic. But, there’s more,” Joe extended his arms placing his hands on the table while taking a deep breath.
Katan looked at Joe with anticipation.
“I also think that these homeworlds were originally the attacker’s home planets. The creators never built them for us. They stole them and put us here.” Joe looked away for a moment. He then raised his eyebrows as he looking at Katan. “My guess is that the attackers want them back.”
Katan face grew even paler and his stomach started to feel queasy.
“If we don’t make peace with them they’ll continue to look for us and destroy us. We’re no match for them, not even with our gravity manipulators.” J
oes arms fell to his side as he grasped his hands rubbing them together, he gazed fixated on them.
After a few moments Katan finally spoke. “That’s the reason you made contact with the Earth colony.” His handkerchief had become drenched in sweat as he wiped his face again.
“Yes. I wanted Earth to know the entire truth about us, about themselves. If we were destroyed then they would be the last surviving freeformed humans in existence.” Joe sighed as he grabbed his drink, finishing it.
Katan shook his head, refusing to believe any of this. “Your imagination is getting the better of you. How do you know this? What proof do you have?” Katan angrily threw down the sweat filled cloth as his denial turned to desperation.
“Look, I’ve been studying those transmissions for years. I have even had language experts on Earth help me.” Joe looked over toward the bar wanting to refill his drink.
“What? You let the Earth people know this?”
“No, they had no idea what they were doing. I only gave them certain parts. Bits and pieces. With all the different languages on Earth, they were the only ones that could decipher it.” Joe shrugged his shoulders, he stood up and pointed to his empty glass. “Want another one?”
Katan shook his head, his glass was full. “Well, I’m glad this is in your hands. You’re the most capable person for this task.” Katan replied under his breath, mostly trying to convince himself as he sat motionless.
“Ah, cut the crap, I don’t know what I’m going to say to them. In a way I have empathy for them. If someone took my home and destroyed my people, I’d be out for bloody revenge as well.” Joe turned and walked toward the bar.
Katan ran his finger through his hair deep in thought, trying to digest what Joe was telling him. Joe returned with another drink and sat down.
“Look my old friend, this is our home now, and we cannot go back and change the past. You have to reason with them and convince them we can live side by side with each other. We’re victims as well in a way. We didn’t put ourselves here, we were forced here.” Katan shuffled nervously in his seat. “Your responsibility is to the human race, the entire human race, freeformed and all.” Katan grabbed his drink, looked at it for a second and hastily drank the entire thing. He threw the empty glass on the table and it tipped over, spilling the ice everywhere. “You have to preserve the homeworlds. This is our home now.” He could not hide the fear etched on his face.
“Why do you think I’m here? Why do you think I’m doing this? I’ll do everything in my power to preserve these worlds so that the human race will live on. I have been preparing for this since the last attack.” Joe grabbed Katan’s empty glass and started picking up the spilled ice.
“You know, I had hoped to convince you to stay awhile, I didn’t feel any sense of urgency. I thought the Outpost would be able to protect the colony with the gravity manipulators. But now, listening to what you have to say, I feel this attack is far more dangerous than we expected. I more than agree with you, we must open a dialogue quickly.” Katan leaned forward on the table with both elbows and he balled one hand into a fist, clasping it with the other. “When will you leave? Shouldn’t you wait until we have contact with the Outpost?”
“If we don’t establish contact with the Outpost in a few days I’ll have to go no matter what.” Joe responded as he sipped his drink.
“What about the Earth delegation?”
“They should stay here. Let them mingle around this place and see what it’s really like. Give them all the information they want. Let them take it back to Earth so they can learn and hopefully never make the same mistakes we did.” Joe put down his drink and gazed off into the distance.
“There’s also another thing to consider,” Joe paused with a grim look on his face. He knew Katan would get upset with what he was about to say. “We have to consider some kind of evacuation of the homeworlds, in case I fail. The Earth system would be the best place. Eventually Mars and Venus could be shifted back into a sustainable orbit and maybe made inhabitable again.”
Katan’s cheeks clenched and his eye’s grew wide. “NO! NO WAY! THIS IS OUR HOME!” As he slammed his fist down on the small table, the drinks tumbled off, shattering as they hit the floor. Everyone around them turned to look.
Katan took a deep breath and calmed down. “Let’s get out of here and continue this in a more discreet location.” His face was flush with embarrassment as he stood up.
“Yeah, I think we’re scaring these people.” Joe got up from his chair. He’d never seen Katan get so worked up.
The two headed toward the entrance area where Joe had first come in. As they were walking by Joe could not help but notice all the drugged out people. In a strange kind of way he envied them. He wished he could numb his head and forget about reality, just turn all his feelings off.
“Katan! Where have you been, I haven’t seen you in a while? Have you been hanging out at the Islands again?” A young nymphet woman stood right in front of them, blocking their path. Katan face grew bright red.
“Um, not right now, I’m very busy.” Katan looked away pretending not to know her.
“That’s what you always say.” The young nymph grabbed his shirt, pulling herself towards him.
Katan shrugged his shoulders looking over at Joe, “What can I say? After all, I’m only human.”
Joe sighed as he grabbed Katan by the arm. “Not right now miss, but I’m sure he will be back.” He led Katan away as he shook his head side to side.
“Well that was embarrassing. I must apologize.” Katan pause for a moment. “I too fall victim to my desires. I guess I’m not always the person I strive to be.” He shamefully looked at the ground.
“Your only human my old friend.” Joe patted Katan on the back. “Come on, let’s go.”
As they made the long walk back to Katan’s home, Joe became lost in his thoughts as he wondered about the uncertain future of the place. These utopian homeworlds where the controlled comfortable weather and machines provided all the daily need led them to believe they had achieved perfection.
The cities had no roads, the transportation system ran underground. In fact, they could hardly be called cities, more like big villages. The council chamber stood only four stories high and it dwarfed all the surrounding buildings. There were trees everywhere and streams flowed in different places. Small pathways meandered through simple one story buildings that resembled cabins as if it was one giant vacation resort. Every so often there was a pond with a bridge across it in the style of Japanese tea gardens back on Earth. One could lay down on the grass and fall asleep, never having to worry about being bothered all night.
But of course, paradise is paradise lost. In amongst all this beauty and visual perfection was a snake, waiting to eat them alive. Perhaps the attackers were only a symptom of an underlying problem, that being themselves.
The two walked side by side until Katan finally broke the silence. “Your wisdom and experience will carry you through this, my friend. I stand completely beside you.” Katan walked with his hands clasped behind his back. “We must do everything we can to open a dialogue with them.” He stopped and raised one hand. “That is why I am coming with you.”
“No, you must remain here in case things don’t go as planned.”
“If things don’t go as planned then ‘here’ won’t be here for very long.”
“Ok, I’ll consider it. I think we should sleep on it.” Joe stretched out both arms and yawned and the two parted ways to get some much needed rest. Joe left feeling really good that Katan wanted to go but someone he could trust had to be. Someone that would make the right decisions if things went horribly wrong. Hopefully he could talk Katan out of wanting to go with him.
Steve woke up to the sound of someone pounding on the door.
“Yeah, Yeah. I’m coming.” He threw some clothes on and opened the hotel room door, coming eye to eye with two secret service people standing in the hallway with their sunglasses on.
“Secret Service,” they announced. “You need to get ready right away. We have a plane to catch.” The men had expressionless looks on their faces.
“You gotta be kidding me? I just woke up. I haven’t had breakfast!” Steve peered around the half open door in disbelief.
“There’s food on the plane. Now, you have ten minutes to get ready. Please sir, important people are waiting.” One of them pushed the door open and started to walk inside.
“No, hell no, I’m not going anywhere. I refuse to be treated like a criminal.” Steve backed up and defiantly put his hands up, shaking his head.
“Sir, we have orders to get you on that plane by any means necessary.” The man opened his suit jacket, revealing a taser gun. Steve let out a big sigh and rubbed his temples. His headache had returned.
“Alright, alright. Can you at least wait outside?”
“10 minutes sir.” The two men stepped outside.
Steve went into the bedroom to see Alizia standing there.
“What’s going on?” Alizia yawned.
“I have to go. I guess they want to talk with me some more.” Steve looked down ashamed things were going so badly.
“Can I go with you?” Her voice quivered, she could not hide her emotions.
Steve looked up at her. “No, I think they just want to talk to me. Why don’t you wait here and rest some more? Hopefully it won’t take that long.”
“What’s going to happen to us? Will they ever let us go?” Alizia grabbed Steve and embraced him.
He didn’t know what to say to her and he feared for her safety. He didn’t imagine, even in his wildest dreams they would be treated like this. He directed his anger at himself for being so naïve in thinking they would be treated like foreign dignitaries.
“I’m so sorry for bringing you here. I didn’t know it would turn out like this, please forgive me,” Steve pet her hair and gently kissed her forehead.
“I don’t blame you. I know they’re scared as well.” She leaned into him and they embraced again.
“I’ll be back and I’ll do everything I can to take care of you.” Steve held her tight. “I’ll come back, I promise.”