Chapter 19: Little Green…Blue Men…Females…Oh Whatever…
Mother/Swallow awoke to find she was attached to something. She tried to lean forward but found she couldn't move very far. In front of her was her yellow counterpart, still slumped in an odd position apparently unconscious. She looked down at herself but found no signs of restraints, so why couldn't she move. She reached behind her back and her eyes went wide, tentacles were protruding out of her spine and obviously back into what had to be the invader's craft.
What came next was another startling revelation; she knew a lot about this ship, who was in it and what exactly they were saying. Her eyes went wide again, she was downloading data from this ship. She relaxed and let everything flow, she saw everything. Co-ordinates for many worlds and all sorts of other things. She hoped her tiny brain could absorb so much useful knowledge.
She remained quiet, listening all the while. She didn't quite understand but she thought she must be connected to the audio sensors of the ship; for she didn't see anyone although she knew they were there. She didn't utter a word; this was a secret she had to keep.
Afain stared at the strange two creatures behind a one way force field. The creatures within couldn't see out all they saw was an empty reflection.
"They are too much like us Cleo…it's creepy. You are sure they have our technology?"
"Yes within those canisters and in their bodies. I did a scan of the building and found nothing although I did find the dwelling has an underground section."
"Did you find anything there?"
"Not much, my scans were being reflected. It seems the thick layers of rock and metal confused my scanners. I will need to return, if possible, to try to better my scans."
"Good enough, I think it's best if we returned to the main ship and did more refined scans. If these creatures are infected then there maybe others."
"Yes, that is a distinct possibility."
To move the creatures onto the main ship, Cleo stunned the Aliens once again. It was easier that way. Swallow's tentacles had retreated into her body long before the stun beams assaulted her.
They awoke hours later in very comfortable beds, with a heavy locked door and not much else. They weren't exactly sure where they were now; they only knew one thing for sure, they were prisoners.
Swallow/Mother rubbed her neck; she felt like she had been run over by several trucks.
"You feel ill?" Mother inquired, faring better than Swallow was for sure.
"Yes, that beam, what ever it is, packs a punch," Swallow/Mother said as she held her stomach.
"I seem to have adapted to it, it didn't seem to hurt this time round. So, have you seen our captors?"
"No; just that horrid little machine of theirs, it's quite the weapon."
"That I believe, did you see how it took out the defense system with one shot?"
"Yes, it must have very powerful scanners."
"So what do you think they want?"
"Oh you know what they want."
"What?" Knowing full well the answer to Swallow/Mother's question.
"Experiment 1.00"
Mother raised an eyebrow, "Ah…found that huh."
"It's in your archive, from there all your research and experiments began. Although no one will ever find it; Sub basement 7 vault 4," She said as she looked at her suspiciously.
"You and only you would understand full well why it's there, I can't ever be too careful." Swallow/Mother just nodded.
Alison was confused, this memory she didn't have or hadn't really searched for. "What is experiment 1.00?" She inquired of Mother in the silence of her confined space.
"So, did you find out any more than I did?"
"No, not really, I really didn't do too much; your research seemed extensive enough.. This creature had to be one of our predecessor's bodies. It was extremely well preserved, the cold kept it fairly intact."
Alison listened stunned, "Did this creature have a white fur line running down its back and down its muzzle?" She prodded at Mothers consciousness.
The slight pushing on her abdomen as well made her smile, it tickled. "Yes, I was surprised how well the condition of the fur was, even down to its white stripe." She said aloud only for Alison's benefit.
Alison floated there stunned, "You found my body!" Mother was surprised at Alison's revelation.
Swallow/Mother continued to talk, "From there you found the micro machines that inhabited its body and compared them to ours. They were of the same design. Then you began to try and manipulate them and so began our legacy of genetic engineering. To which this body is proof of our accomplishments." Swallow made a paw gestures showing off her furless body. "A very flawed one at that," she said since she couldn't resist in rubbing it in.
Mother sighed, completing the memory seemed the only way right now; besides she really didn't have anything else to do. "You failed to mention it took me years to get anywhere with those things, nothing worked. Not until the technology started to catch up, then I found I could do things."
"Yes...forgive me…your hard years of work… seems to have paid off." She sneered and pondered how she could use this new knowledge to her own advantage. She was going to have to bide her time, wait and see if an opportunity presented itself to make her escape.
"So, you think as I do that these creatures want us for these micro machines?"
"Yes, it seems the only logical answer. They had those canisters we looked at as well."
"Oh?" Mother said in surprise.
"I regained consciousness just enough to look around a bit."
"I did as well but I couldn't hold on. Well, they are going to have some problems on their hands if they think they can just take them."
"As well I know."
Colony 4549834-11bz or Zen for short.
The sun set on the tiny town of Greespa, a town that Zirkon found tranquil to the mind and body. Zirkon was the most powerful of all telepaths in the Empire with the added ability of telekinesis. She had escaped to this peaceful place to enjoy the total silence, to her it was a subtle pleasure that she rarely got to enjoy.
To her, all minds are open books. People's minds leaked so many cluttered thoughts that she had to concentrate… not to listen. Many times in her life she had literally forgotten how to speak with her voice, answering those who spoke with her with passing thoughts instead. At first she thought her mental blocks and non verbal communication were of little concern but in the long term it had devastating effects on her own mental heath.
In her extreme youth the Empire had found a good use for her given talents probing the minds of the criminal, insane and mentally ill of its citizens to look for clues to their crimes or to assess how to go about treatment. She also assisted the Emperor with delicate negotiations and the occasional political intrigue.
Over time though, her own psyche suffered horribly. To try and save her, they forced her to wear a mental neutralizer that in turn caused her great pain and anguish. Eventually she had enough of this and she ran away from those she felt were doing her harm. For a long time she searched planet after planet for peace and a mind she could share herself with. Her desperate search drove her insane for a time and it took the help of another telepath and healer to bring her around to the real world once again.
As part of her treatment, they brought her to a sparsely populated world called Promise. It was on this planet she found solitude and she was able to let her mind roam free. She was able to let the barriers that she created down. Of course she picked up the thoughts of the town folk but they were background noise by now. She had learned to tune them down but not out. A few she called friends always thought a hello, knowing that she was there and she thanked them.
Today she sat on a hillside and watched the sun go down, her jet black fur turned orange for a time as the sun slowly drifted behind the horizon. She liked sunsets, she usually felt at peace watching them; life was good…boring but good.
To most Zargozians, the word to best describe her was creepy. She was totally jet black from head to her long thin tail. She had very small ears that blended so well with her head that they were hard to distinguish. The one most startling fact that few knew was she had and extra set of arms below her main ones. They were smaller, although not by much, than her primary arms and she had complete mastery over them, each could do as she commanded.
Most would never know they were there because she took great pains to hide them and where her fur was thin the underlying flesh was black making them very hard to spot. She was indeed an oddball on many levels. Her eyes were deep pools of darkness but on rare occasions you'd swear they were crimson red. To this end most strangers avoided her, not knowing she knew their thoughts.
It took a long time to heal the damage done to her with her service to the Empire. Once it had progressed to the point where she could rejoin society she wandered the planet looking for the right place to settle down. She eventually found the perfect place to try to make a life for herself and so the peaceful community of Greespa had become her home. She had been there for 8 years now; the town folk treated her well and the Empire paid her a respectable stipend. She had done her duty for the Empire as best as she could, she had paid the price and now they looked after her. She had a full time servant although she really didn't need one. Life proposed no stress to her, she did the occasional community service work and she sewed in her spare time. It allowed her to perfect her control of her other appendages. Over her 8 years of practice she had become quite the seamstress, doing everything by paw. In fact her intricate embroidery was in demand off world and fetched a good price as works of art. She however took the money and helped people in the community with things that were needed. It was her sewing that had paid for the tri-space relay satellite that allowed real time communication with the Empire. To many she represented what all was good in the community but she rarely appeared in town or went to meetings. She feared the children would be frightened of her. Although, she reminded herself, there were a few that sought her out and she was always pleased to see them.
She sighed to herself as the sun disappeared; it was time for her to head home. Her thoughts were interrupted by her servant, Mira. She seemed distressed but she pried no further within the recesses of her mind; she rose and waited for her to arrive. In a short time Mira appeared huffing and puffing.
"Mistress, did you have to stray so far from the home?" The light blue but heavy Zargozian said between breaths.
"It is a peaceful spot, don't you think Mira?"
She looked about quickly and agreed, "Yes indeed mistress," she said still trying to catch her breath.
"What brings you out here? I was about to return home." She did not intentionally read her servant's thoughts, she paid strict attention to that. She valued Mira as friend, a good friend and eavesdropping on her made her very uncomfortable. Zirkon cursed herself for just the gentle prodding a moment ago, she had let down her guard a bit too much. She considered it inconsiderate and this bothered her. She apologized to Mira for the intrusion.
Mira knew of Zirkon's great powers and the troubles that haunted her. A gentle prodding here and there was nothing, in fact if she needed to probe then it was justified in her own eyes. Besides, she had nothing to hide from her mistress. "It is long past your meal time, things are getting cold, you promised you'd be back. I became worried."
Zirkon sighed, "I'm sorry Mira, I did not mean to cause you to worry about me, let us go. Come to think about it I am hungry and you know I cannot resist your cooking."
"I know; you do enjoy your food."
Zirkon smiled, "You know me all too well Mira, sometimes I think you can read my mind." She winked.
Mira grinned. "You might be right."
Ship Orbiting Earth.
Cleo had found it, a vocal response to converse with. It was a vocal program, simplistic in design but from it Cleo was able to ascertain the syntax of speech in the language these aliens called English. In many ways it was convoluted in design, it was going to take a lot of study to get it perfected.
"You can communicate with them?" Afain said excitedly as Cleo announced its findings.
"Yes I believe I can converse with these creatures and make our intentions known."
"Then let's try talking with them."
Afain donned Cleo as a robe, a force shield of great power enveloped her as she stood before the door. As she opened it she surprised her two guests.
Mother and Swallow stood as they watched the light blue creature enter. It was a little taller than Mother but not by much, Swallow, however, towered over it. As they stood there they weren't exactly sure what to do.
"Greetings." Afain said, translated by Cleo.
"Hello." They both said in response, Cleo translated it back to Afain by a tiny ear piece speaker.
"I am Afain of the Zargozian Empire, I hope you are both well."
"We are." Swallow spoke up but quickly got to the point; she didn't like be caged, "What do you want with us?"
Mother sat down again, her feet ached and she felt extremely tired. The weight that was Alison pressed upon on the small body; it was now a burden as she entered into what were the final stages of pregnancy. As she rested, her thoughts turned away from her problems and to the Aliens they were curious looking creatures, extremely fragile in her eyes, small too but obviously highly intelligent. She wished she had access to their fantastic technology.
Afain was pleased that the translations seem to be working, "We are here to recover our property, some of which is imbedded in you."
"Yeah I know about your technology, helped me a lot in the past." Swallow sat back down, relaxed and listened carefully, this creature might have a solution to her big problem.
Cleo spoke internally to Afain, "This one is aware of the technology it could have spread it, we must ask."
Afain continued, "We hope to, with your co-operation, remove our technology and let you continue on with your lives."
Rid us of it, hmmm that might not be possible Mother thought, Alison agreed it might not be totally possible since they were a creation of that technology. "That's good to hear, but where are we?" Alison watched as the small blue alien spoke, cute she thought.
"You are on board our traveling ship, our next task is to scan you with your permission. No harm will come to you. I must ask of you, has our technology been spread?"
Mother looked at Swallow, who shrugged. "Yes," she pointed to Swallow, "that's one part of it right there."
Afain was confused, "You are a creation made from our technology?"
"In a manner, yes" Swallow answered, "the same could be said for her as well" she pointed. "We are in different ways both products of your technology."
This was surprising and interesting, "Then scans are needed, will you allow them?" Afain asked, if not it seemed they might have to force the issue; they really didn't want to do that though.
Swallow stood up, "Lead the way creature."
Afain nodded and lead the way to the lab all the while Cleo was ready to stun them if they tried to harm Afain.
The scans took some time, Tolare had her hands full on both of them. When she finally finished a couple of crew members escorted their guests back to their room. Hours later Tolare thought it best to have a meeting, this had become far more complicated.
Kira just looked at Tolare waiting for her to speak. "Well?"
"Kira!" Afain said, "that was impolite, apologize this instant! Tolare will speak when she is ready."
Kira did immediately.
"Thank you Kira but it's understandable Afain, what we have here is something beyond my comprehension."
They all looked at each other, "What?" Afain exclaimed, "But you are the foremost expert in genetics and the body."
"One moment, let me explain; for one thing you have forgotten quickly-I might say -that these creatures are aliens."
"My apologies Tolare, I was…" Afain started but Tolare put up her paw to stop her.
"No need to apologize although alien they are still organic beings, or at least I thought they were."
"They're not." Lyja said in surprise, "They're machines?"
Tolare quickly put up her paw again, "Let me explain things first then we can question what I have found out." The group nodded.
"Let me start with the small one, she is with hatchling. She is a puzzle for she really doesn't have much of our technology within her, although there is some. I believe she is related to that creature we have in storage."
The group all looked surprised, "The organic pods?" Kira said.
"Precisely Kira", Tolare said in praise, "I believe she came out of one of them. To go on, she is defective in skeletal structure, some things don't match and are out of place. I could repair her easily, the part that is Zargozian mostly is in the neural pathways; they are highly complex and I believe -it's only a theory- that she can communicate with her hatchling."
"We can do that on a mild level." Afain interjected.
"Yes but from my scans this hatchling's mind is mature and much too active for normal. I am relying on my experience to explain this, again I could be very wrong."
"I doubt that." Afain said, she smiled at the young one before her.
"The other is a big mystery, it is a direct product of our technology but is also from this world. It is a combination of both and has very unusual brain activity. It's as if there were two minds inhabiting the body; one dominant one recluse. I've stared at it and it puzzles me, to make matters worse there is a growth within its brain that runs down her right side and her spine. It is metallic in origin, but I cannot fathom what it is."
"You are referring to the things on its paw?" Lyja said.
"Yes."
"I saw them when we brought them aboard; you're right about them being strange. If I had to make a guess at it; they are probably access ports." Lyja commented.
"What?" The group said.
"Cleo has something very close to what I think these are, it allows them to interface with computers using tendrils; like which I found on the pod. Why they have grown on her that I don't know, but that's what I think they are."
"Then we'll assume that for now, unless I find anything to contradict that. She also has a very interesting digestive system, which I believe belongs to another creature. It doesn't fit this body type, the modifications are extensive. She is hybrid of two creatures, one that could swallow a meal whole."
The group just looked at each other, they knew of no creature on their planet that could do that.
"Is she dangerous?" Afain said.
"From the scans, she is very strong even though she doesn't look it, she is mostly muscle; probably to hold her prey until she can render it unconscious. In that I would say yes."
"Then we will avoid physical contact." Afain said.
"There are other abnormalities but nothing too out of the ordinary, they are of two sex's. Like our ancestors, possessing one set of reproductive organs."
"Interesting." Kira thought out loud.
"There is one other thing to consider," Tolare said with warning in her voice, "since this creature was obviously made with our technology could there be others out there? The answer I believe is yes and if that is the case we must find them for their lives depend on it."
Afain, Kira and Lyja just looked at each other in shock.
Another part of the ship:
As Swallow relaxed, her mind sorted and converted the data that she had absorbed. She knew what these creatures were and where they were from. A planet so far away and in a different area of space we hadn't even discovered yet. She also knew of their technology and from there she began planning, she searched for a way to rid herself of this horrid body. She also formulated a plan to escape to an almost perfect hiding place once she was free of these tiny captors.
The creature called Afain returned to speak to them. "We have questions." She said quietly.
"I bet you do." Mother responded lazily sitting upright.
"I'd like to talk to you individually if possible."
Mother and Swallow looked at each other and shrugged, what could they do?
"I'll go first." Mother said, Swallow/Mother shrugged and lay back down.
"Take your time small one, seems we are not going anywhere soon." She closed her eyes and began to formulate a plan to escape from these creatures.
Afain nodded to her, not understanding the sarcasm in Swallow/Mother's last statement.
Afain lead Mother to the medical bay where Tolare was waiting. On the way Mother stumbled and fell, twisting her ankle. She felt really tired, Afain felt deep concern for this one for she too understood bearing such a weight and this creature was smaller than she. She commanded Cleo to become a chair and from there they traveled quickly.
"More poking?" Mother questioned, she really didn't want to be scanned anymore; it itched.
"Well, you do want me to look at your foot don't you?"
"Yes I guess, it had begun to hurt more and more. I guess the weight is too much for these small feet."
"Yes, you are correct about that but there are bones that are misshapen in both feet, under normal load you wouldn't feel the difference but now since you are heavier it is putting pressure on those flaws. I can correct it with your permission."
"Please do, anything to relieve the pain."
It took Tolare about an hour to finish the procedure…Mother's feet were placed into a device where Tolare could see in fine detail below the skin, with careful adjustments bones were reshaped and smoothened to relieve the pressure. Anti inflammatory drugs were introduced and by the time she was finished Mother's feet were completely healed.
During the operation, Tolare asked her questions.
They turned out to be basic; asking if she knew her origin and if she knew if there were more out there like herself. Then the question came up about her hatchling, as they termed it.
Mother wasn't sure she should remain quiet but then decided it was in her best interest that if she were ever to be separated by anyone it would be these creatures. So she explained the whole story as she and Alison knew it; pausing here and there allowing them to grasp the situation. At the end she made sure that she told them that the other creature was not to know of this exchange for she feared for her life.
She explained to them that the other creature Swallow couldn't be trusted and warned them. It was not exactly the truth but closer than what she was sure Swallow or her counterpart would say.
Mother walked around with no pain what so ever, it felt fantastic. "I feel great, you are a master of your profession."
"I am glad you are well again."
"So you have determined that we're definitely a weird bunch…huh?"
Afain took a min as Cleo translated, "Yes, definitely weird." Tolare responded.
The aliens took Mother's advice under advisement, from there Tolare explained to her that they might be able to do something for her but it wasn't totally certain.
Soon she was back in her designated room and fell promptly asleep, if they wanted to talk to Alison then they could. She was incredibly tired trying just to keep awake, she yawned and stretched, seems today turned out to be an interesting day after all.
Again they had a conference as they orbited the planet known as Earth. It was necessary for the Aliens had now been talked to…all three of them. The fact there were three different entities intrigued Tolare.
"So now we have three aliens to deal with." Kira said in surprise.
"Yes, the one known as Alison seems to know more than the other about what's gone on. Its memories are far more intact than the other." Tolare explained the story that Alison had relayed to them. They were all surprised by what had transpired over the vast amount of time that the pod had been on this planet.
They all sat in silence, then Afain spoke. "Which one is speaking untrue Tolare?" It seemed that these creatures had something to hide.
"The yellow one did tell us of the others mistrust and the hairless one denies the existence of another mind within it. I am sure there is one, I've done the scans several times."
"Is there anything you can do for them now?" Afain asked concerned more for the small one than the mysterious one.
"No, Shearah will have to look at them. We need to compare notes, I have theories but they are only that."
"Then we'll put them in suspended animation and see if we can find these others they spoke of. Cleo put up a map of this world."
Cleo displayed the small blue planet in the form of a hologram, making it slowly rotate. Afain stood then waited for the appropriate landmass to appear. Then she pointed, "We must go here, according to the yellow one, to this land mass; they call it Europe."