Alien Caller (8 page)

The questions
came out broken and flat, the result of having so many of them, and
so many more doubts as to whether he really wanted to hear the
answers at all, but it was far too late. He already knew too much.
He had to know the rest, whether he liked it or not. Mrs. James, or
Alice as she usually preferred to be called, apparently understood.
She told him he needed to know what was going on before he did
anything stupid, and that was the end of his resistance.

As she spoke,
something changed in the air between them. The elderly lady somehow
began to dominate them in that room. He had known Alice now for
over three years and in all that time he had never found her to be
anything other than a sweet old lady with a penchant for gossip and
lecturing people about their misdemeanours. But in that room she
became an empress and neither of them could argue with her.

She was also a
very angry ruler. Angry with them. And the more they cowed to her
authority, the angrier she became. She knew they had been fighting,
and that to her was a sign of utter stupidity in her own words.
They couldn’t deny the truth either. Under her commanding presence
they both finally surrendered their weapons, David placing his on
the table, his former patient giving hers meekly to Alice who
dropped them in a shopping bag with a grimace of distaste. Nor was
she deceived into thinking that that was all they had and she stood
there tapping her feet, waiting for the rest.

It was a
lengthy process, as they both discovered how much the other was
carrying. David had his shotgun, another machine pistol and two
automatics, as well as a set of knives, two hand grenades and a
pair of knuckle dusters. And while Ayn Cyrea had already ceded her
belt, she still had a multitude of knives and other objects
secreted around her clothes. Things he’d never even noticed. Things
that looked like they might have helped her to pick locks he
realized with some chagrin. He’d not thought to check. Together
they would have been a walking arsenal.

Disarmed and
feeling distinctly naked, David discovered the old lady still
wasn’t finished with them. She treated them as if they were naughty
children and there was no way she was going to let them off the
hook that easily. Somehow she had them both sitting down side by
side on the couch, after they’d righted it while she took the easy
chair. There was no mystery about it actually. She ordered and they
obeyed. Slowly, hesitantly and unwillingly, but they obeyed. At
least she didn’t take a wooden spoon to them!

David’s first
instinct was to sit as far away from Ayn Cyrea as he could, worried
that she might attack him again, and oddly that seemed to be her
belief as well. But Alice wouldn’t accept that sort of childishness
as she termed it, and made them both sit in the middle, touching.
It made sense he realized, trying to cut down on the hostility
between them, but he was also sure Alice was enjoying their
discomfort. She could be quite petty when she wanted, and she had a
sense of humour. It certainly wasn’t easy for either of them. But
as time went by they found it easier to relax and listen.

Then Alice
began lecturing them. There was no other word to describe it. She
started speaking down to them both as though they were children,
and for some reason they both seemed to accept it. Maybe they both
had an extremely deferential view of the elderly, or perhaps they
both understood she was the only one who could explain the
situation. Then again, maybe they simply knew she was right.

They both took
the dressing down with as much dignity as they could, for the first
time united in their common shame, and the understanding that
sooner or later Alice would run out of steam, and after that would
answer their questions. Questions they both needed answered.

For all that it was strange to
be sitting on a couch beside an alien woman, and talking about
spaceships and little green men, it also seemed familiar, and David
found himself relaxing as he listened closely. Very closely. No
matter how he denied it, he was fascinated by the reality of aliens
living on Earth, especially having one sit so close to him, and as
a retired agent he badly needed to know about it, if only so he
could kick himself as he worked out what to do. So he endured the
telling off and waited impatiently for the explanation. Of course
there was a lot of abuse, followed by even more sarcasm.
Alice had an acid
tongue.

“So David, this
will have been fun for you! Attacked by a brain sucking space
vampire! Living in the middle of an alien invasion for years and
never knowing. Didn’t even notice the pod people I suppose.” While
sarcastic, her words actually helped to put him at ease. Since if
there was one thing that it didn’t seem to be, it was an invasion.
Nor did Ayn Cyrea seem to be particularly ghoulish. But living here
for years? And just how many people knew? He said nothing knowing
that at least answers were coming.

“And Cyrea,
sent out to keep your people from interfering with the locals too
much, and the first thing you do is crash your scout ship in the
mountains, and then walk in on the one person in the valley who
didn’t know about your people. The one person we didn’t want to
know. It’s a fine mess.” His ex-patient’s head crashed down even
further, and he felt more than a twinge of sorrow for her. And
shame for himself. The only person in the valley who didn’t know?
That was embarrassing. Suddenly he didn’t want to know.

But he had to.
Now he not only had aliens on his doorstep, he had sympathisers for
want of a better word. Every one of them would be rounded up by the
various intelligence agencies when they learned of them and
interrogated until the cows came home. Then they'd likely be thrown
in a top secret jail never to return. Including Alice.

“Still, what’s
done is done. It can’t be taken back. So instead I suppose we’ll
just have to explain and count on David being reasonable. Something
the military’s not exactly known for.” Alice stared at him, asking
and accusing all at the same time, and he stared back, trying to
look cool and in charge of things while wondering what he could
possibly say? What he could even do?

There was an
uncomfortable silence which Alice didn’t seem inclined to break.
Neither was David, but ultimately he had no choice. He knew she was
waiting for something. For an answer. And he knew he had to give
her one.

“Please tell me
what you can and I’ll listen. I’ll even tell you what I’ll do. I am
a reasonable man. I want to be. And I really don’t want to report
any of this to anyone. It’ll just get me in trouble and drag me
back to a place I left years ago and don’t want to return to. But I
can’t make promises until I know what’s going on. Until I know my
country is safe.” There was nothing more he could say, and Alice
surely knew that. But did she realise that her own life was in
danger too? He didn't know how to tell her. His elderly neighbour
said nothing, while her eyes studied him carefully as she searched
for any clue as to his intentions. He hoped if she found one she’d
let him know, since he didn’t have the slightest idea of what to
do.

Eventually she
gave in and did as she’d promised. He could see it in the softening
of her eyes even before she spoke.

“It’s safe.
Believe me. These are good people who only want to help.” Strangely
enough he did believe her. He didn’t know Alice that well, but in
that moment he knew she was telling the truth. Or at least, as she
understood it.

“But it’s not just the country
that you need to think about any longer. Not just the United States
of America. It’s strange how our perspectives have changed over the
last few years. And though it may take a while, yours will too.
These people are here to help the world, not just America.” She was
right
David
suddenly realised
about it affecting the world and not just America. Aliens
were on Earth and any boons or risks they might pose were to all
humanity, not just his country. It was an unsettling thought for
someone who had dedicated his life to his country. He wanted to
believe that she was right about them only having good intentions
too.

“For us it
began a bit over five years ago when our visitors moved in.” As he
should have expected by then, her words took him completely by
surprise. Five years! For five whole years they’d been here.
Wandering around, doing whatever they were doing, and he’d never
known. No-one had. Except the locals of course, who’d carefully
avoided telling him anything. They’d arrived even before he
had.

“They landed
one night in the middle of the Wrath Valley, totally unobserved,
and it was at least a few months before any of us noticed anything
out of the ordinary. But in time little oddities began to make
themselves known, and we knew something was up.”

“At first it
was just the small things. Hunters for whatever reason, seemed to
be avoiding the Wrath valley, despite its resident elk population.
And they never really seemed to be able to say why. They just kept
mentioning they had a feeling about the place. The rangers too
stopped inspecting the valley for signs of poaching. It was as
though people just naturally seemed to want to avoid it, without
ever having any real reason.” As if ghost stories weren’t enough,
but David bit his tongue.

“Later the
sightings began. Like you David, people started seeing cougars
everywhere, but cougars with strange tracks. I’d guess you must
have noticed that for yourself, with the way you skated around the
truth with old Bill and Emery. They’re still giggling about it by
the way.” Colour began to rise in his cheeks but David suppressed
it. After all how could he have known that they knew there were
aliens about? He had acted properly after all. It was just that
they had superior knowledge. Of course it was beginning to look as
though the entire valley had that knowledge, while he had been
sitting quietly in his cabin for a little over three years, in
blissful ignorance.

“To be totally
honest I’m not really sure why they saw cougars. Cyrea doesn’t
really look very cat like at all. More sort of Oriental perhaps,
with a lot of body hair.” David found himself agreeing with Alice,
noting Cyrea’s small nose and almost slanted eyes. When she
mentioned it he could see the Asian aspect to her features. Her
build too, apart from the claws and tail was compact and athletic,
also quite Asian.

“Then we
started finding the equipment. Odd bits and pieces of metal and
other strange materials, fashioned into inexplicable devices,
everywhere.

We thought for
a while that a jet had started losing bits and pieces of itself as
it flew over one day. But that didn’t really make a whole lot of
sense, not when they were everywhere and undamaged. Nor, when we
took the things along to old John at the store could he tell us
anything about them.” David knew she was talking about John
Prescott, the electrical store manager. A nice enough guy who’d
talk your arm off if you gave him the chance, especially about the
world of computers. He’d dealt with him regularly when he needed
something repaired or his computer upgraded. But now it appeared he
too knew about the visitors and had told David nothing. Just how
many people were involved in the cover up? How many were in
danger?

“Then finally
one day Isaac took a wander over the hill into the Wrath Valley,
and they made themselves known. Poor old coot nearly had a heart
attack when he saw them and a stroke when he tried to tell the rest
of us about it later and we just laughed. I suppose it was hard for
him to come face to face with aliens for the first time in human
history.” Which was something David could understand.

“But then Isaac
never actually tried to start a war with them. Threatening people
you don’t even know with weapons. Why? Are you insane? Or just
feeble minded?” Alice suddenly changed tune in mid track, something
else she was prone to doing, and launched another verbal assault at
him. Yet David knew it was only what he should have expected. If
there was anything Alice hated, it was violence, of any sort.
Whether it was two people having a fistfight, or children rough and
tumbling, Alice would take them apart with her words the instant
she found out. At the start at least, she’d held back, for as long
as she could. But that period of grace had apparently passed.

“You imbecile!
You stupid, stupid child! No wonder they say army intelligence is
an oxymoron. Soldiers thinking with their guns!” Suddenly his
elderly neighbour was nearly shouting at him. David started looking
at his feet once again, suitably chastised, even though as he told
himself, it wasn’t his fault. There were a lot of things that
weren’t his fault. Ayn Cyrea he noticed was managing to look
suitably vindicated by her words. She should have known better.

“Of course your
people weren’t skulking around in the bushes like criminals either,
playing I Spy with the unsuspecting natives. No they were open and
up front about things.” This time Cyrea took the trouble to examine
her toe claws while David tried not to look too self-righteous. He
knew it would only come back to bite him. He kept quiet and waited
for her to run out of invective. It didn’t take long. For once.

“Intelligence!
Hummph!” David guessed she’d lost the thread of her story. Alice
was occasionally prone to doing that, especially when there was
something else that caught her attention. Unfortunately he knew
what it was, and that she wasn’t finished with them.