Alien Manifesto (2 page)

He knows who I am!
That strange voice caused a cold chill to run
down my spine.
What the hell is going on
here!

Slowly the stranger
dismounted his bike, swinging his left leg up and back over the
seat, leaving the bike between us. Standing, he removed his helmet,
tucking it under his left arm. He remained in the darker shadows of
the two huge oak
trees that guarded the
entrance to the dock
. He was
right-handed.
I crouched, tensing,
preparing my attack, waiting for his, remembering my S.E.A.L.
hand-to-hand and small arms combat training.
But Who? And Why?

“
You ssseee,” he hissed
softly as he began moving toward the front of the bike, getting
closer, “I saw you get your assss kicked by ssShorty in the
sssecond grade. And I sssaw you covering for that girl they caught
sssmoking on the playground, after ssschool. What wasss her name?
Jill? Jan? No matter,” he hissed, “what isss important isss that
you ssstood up for sssomeone weaker than you. I doubt you thought
the whole thing through at that age. But you ssstuck to your gunsss
and never told what really happened, no matter how hard the nunsss
punissshed you. They forced the church’sss twisssted versssion of
right and wrong on you for all thossse yearsss. Thossse church run
orphanagesss can be ssso dehumanizing if you are not a believer or
at leassst pretend to be one. Later in high ssschool,” he
continued, as I was still speechless to say the least, “Good at
sssports but not good enough to go pro. Then a little trouble with
the law and it wasss the military or jail. Followed by 2 toursss in
Iraq then 3 toursss in Afghanissstan with the ssS.E.A.L.s You have
become quite the bad-assss, my boy. You will, however, be very
sssorry you fell in with thisss group of losssers sssoon enough.
That bringsss usss to why I am here,” he hissed.

He knows all about me! How
could he? No one knows me that well!
Regaining my voice I growled, “Who are you and what do you
want? Tell me quickly, I’ve no patience for this kind of
game.”

By now, my eyes had completely
regained their night vision. I could make out what could only be
described as an alien, not the kind from Mexico either. The shadowy
voice had stepped in front of the cycle’s headlight revealing the
identity of the mysterious stranger, who knew all about
me.

It, or should I say he, was well over
six feet tall. Complete with small, slender tentacles surrounding a
very large mouth full of long, needle sharp teeth. His bulging,
muscular arms had hands with claws on the end of the fingers. His
equally muscular legs ended in bare, clawed feet. His skin was
leather-like, a dark, dull green, almost reptilian.

He was wearing a plain, black,
short-sleeved fabric tunic, much like the fighting Gi used in Earth
martial arts. Around his waist was some sort of equipment or
weapons belt. He wore a small, square, metal device on his neck, as
to its function I could only guess. His voice seemed to emanate
from it. Equally strange was his bike, it had no wheels, made no
sound and it was suspended somehow in mid-air, seemingly
floating.

As he moved even closer, I
moved my right hand, reaching to bring the Beretta .40 cal. on my
right thigh to bear on mister mysterious
.
He was getting too close
. In a blur of
motion, I was facing a similarly fashioned hand weapon.
I had not even seen him begin his reach for his
weapon.
Frozen, poised to draw, I
waited.
I would have never drawn my weapon
in time, I realized
.

“
Now, Tom, I am jussst here
to talk, I have sssomething for you,” he hissed softly,
carefully.

“
What could you possibly
have that I might want?” I growled, fully tensed, intending to
strike, and just waiting for an opening, my right hand gripping the
still holstered Beretta.

“
My name is ssSnarth and I
have a job offer for you,” he hissed ever so gently.

“
What kind of job? Why
should I trust you?” I asked, relaxing my stance and sheathing my
knife.

“
Becaussse if I wanted you
dead dear boy, I would have just disssintegrated you long ago, and
sssaved myssself consssiderable time and expenssse,” Snarth hissed
louder, confidently, relaxing his stance in kind, holstering his
weapon with a twirling flourish. “Keeping tabsss on sssomeone from
acrossss the galaxy getsss expensssive, no matter what planet you
are from.”

I relaxed my combat stance
completely now and stood facing the alien, Snarth he called
himself.
Having been raised in an
orphanage
I was not one to let
opportunities pass me by no matter how strange they may be.
“Where might that be?” I asked, releasing my grip
on the Beretta, yet not letting my hand stray too far.

“
Where isss what, dear boy?
Snarth hissed, confused.

“
The planet you are from!”
I said evenly, trying not to let the strangeness of this encounter
show in my voice, yet unable to stop the sharpness in my
answer.

“
Oh that, noticed did you?
ssSuffice it to sssay it isss a very long way from here,” Snarth
hissed with a guttural chuckle and a casual wave of the hand
opposite his weapon.

As if this happened to him
all the time, meeting an alien for the first time: and who is to
say he did not?

“
To dessscribe it to you
would be an exercissse in futility azsss you have no frame of
reference to underssstand it in. It would be a sssafe bet to sssay
that I am not from Earth,” Snarth hissed casually. “No matter, that
isss a dissscusssion for another time. My ssship isss nearby. Won’t
you join me in a chilled glassss of the finessst Belgian abbey ale
you have ever had? Or a sssmoke of the finessst, if you prefer
itsss delightsss inssstead.” My now gracious, new-found, seemingly
best friend hissed smoothly with what must pass for a smile on his
tentacle-wiggling face.

“
Besssidesss,” he hissed,
“thisss whole job isss a ssset up by Metro-Dade police department
and Homeland ssSecurity. There isss no money ssshipment in that
warehoussse. Your friendsss are walking into a trap that will
either get them killed or arresssted. And when they do they may
blame you. It would be a ssshame to wassste all that talent of
yoursss locked away in sssome jail cell, now wouldn’t it, my boy? I
am here to help you essscape if you would rather. I do wisssh you
would look passst who I am and hurry up and make up your mind. Time
isss very ssshort, the authoritiesss are on their way, a large
number of them,” Snarth urged in response to the trill of some sort
of sensor alarm on the bike.

Snarth was right, they
would think I was an informant.
I had
fought with some of those guys in Afghanistan; they would make some
very bad enemies.

Throwing caution to the
wind: “Why not? They are no friends of mine,” I answered as I
climbed onto the back of the strange, still-silent bike.
I knew he wanted something, just not what. I
decided that I owed no allegiance to those I was about to leave
behind. This was not my S.E.A.L. team; there is no honor among
thieves. Not even one of my newfound crew would hesitate to leave
me behind if it meant saving their own ass. A saying from my
warfare academy sensei echoed through my memory,
a warrior must have patience and knowledge as
well as courage to ensure victory.
I
decided to let the events unfold as they would, realizing that I no
longer had control over this situation.

“
Here, put thisss on,”
Snarth hissed as he handed me a helmet. “Now hold on tight,” he
advised. “We will have to hurry. In fact, we may have waited too
long already.” In the distance, I could see red and blue lights
flashing, headed our way, cops. Like Snarth had said, lots of them.
With a sudden burst of incredible acceleration, we left my stomach
back at the dock. I hoped it would catch up soon.

Seeing my whitened knuckles as I held
on for dear life during the ride and laughing in a fit of tentacle
movement, Snarth shouted back over the speed of the wind, “Too
fassst for you?” His bike still made no sound.

“
No, just my first time on
a bike like this,” I shot back, embarrassment coloring my now
wind-burned cheeks. I hated being laughed at by anyone. It brought
back all those times at the orphanage when the nuns used to single
me out for ridicule just because I did not believe the lies they
passed off as faith. That and the way Shorty tormented me, bullying
every time the nuns turned their back, laughing, taunting me,
trying to make me angry enough to strike, then beating me senseless
every time I tried to defend myself.

That is why I joined the S.E.A.L.s. So
I could learn how to take out anyone who did laugh at me. Not many
made that mistake, none more than once. No one would ever make me
believe or do anything I did not want to ever again. That fight
might come later. For now, I was more curious than mad.

We arrived a short while later at a
large private estate, heading straight for the huge boathouse,
after a spine tingling ride through Miami’s dimly lit, and
fortunately at this time of night, empty outskirts. This cycle
moved through the streets with no sound and at unbelievable speeds.
I doubt any human pilot’s reflexes would be fast enough to handle
it at full speed in these close quarters.

Snarth’s ship was a very
long and sleek, modern style motor yacht moored inside the
boathouse.
That was a deep-water slip!
There would be much more under the waterline,
I realized as I dismounted the bike, making a mental note to
myself.

As we approached, a door slid silently
open, spilling out an intense white, lighting our way up the
gangplank.

“
Welcome aboard, Tom,”
greeted the most stunning redhead I had ever seen, as I stepped on
board for the first time.

“
Thisss isss Tasssha,”
hissed my host, introducing us, reaching for my helmet. “ssShe will
sssee to your every need while you are onboard. Pleassse make
yourssself at home. Now if you will excussse me for a moment, I
mussst ssspeak to the captain.” With that, Snarth disappeared up
the stairs, presumably leading to the bridge, leaving me in the
company of Tasha.

As if on cue, she said, also in
perfect English, “Would you like a chilled glass of Belgian abbey
ale? Or would you prefer a smoke first? Snarth only keeps the
finest of things on hand for his guests. I recommend a chilled mug
of Snarth’s favorite ale. It is a very small Belgian abbey ale.
Snarth is their only customer,” she said as she smiled. “That
should be followed by a bit of Snarth’s smoke of the finest kind.
If you indulge in its pleasures as well, that is. Maybe then you
will be ready for your bath,” Tasha said as she led me by the hand
into the ship’s forward lounge.

~

Much later I asked, “Are you human?”
regretting it immediately.

In a sultry voice Tasha answered, a
faint smile on her pouty red lips. “You don’t know me well enough
to ask that, yet,” she said, letting long, red hair down, her
almost see-through teddy sliding down her now nude body to the
floor. She stepped into the stone whirlpool tub, joining me. The
sight of her flawless curves and stunning beauty sent me instantly
from aroused to a painful urgent need.

~

Sometime later, I awoke to:
“On your feet, sssoldier,” bellowed in a voice like my old master
chief’s. In reflex, I bounded out of bed straight to attention,
still naked. It was my host, Snarth; my companion from the night
before had vanished.
I will never get used
to the tentacle fit that passes for Snarth’s laugh.

As I reached for a robe,
the large viewports behind Snarth slowly opened. I was awe struck
at the sight of mother Earth spinning below in her magnificent
blue. It was an awe-inspiring sight. In silence, we watched for a
moment.
This is a space ship, not a motor
yacht like I had thought it was.

It suddenly occurred to me
that an alien would have to have some kind of space ship.
Or else he wouldn’t be an alien now would
he
.
I just didn’t
think I would ever be onboard one
. I was
trying not to let my excitement show, but this was
awesome
.
No one
would ever believe that I, Tom Scott, was now an
astronaut.

“
Did you enjoy yourssself
lassst night?” asked Snarth.

Relaxing to a normal stance I
answered, “Yes, yes sir I did. Thank you for your
hospitality.”

“
Not the leassst bit
curiousss why I brought you here?” Snarth asked.

“
A warrior knows when it is
a time to be silent and learn your opponent before you attack. To
reveal tactics is to lose,” I answered, again quoting my sensei at
the warfare academy.

“
Well sssaid young Human
Tom, well sssaid. OK, here it isss. I am in need of a sssmall team
of honorable warriorsss and thievesss. I want you to be part of it.
Sssomeone owesss me a great deal of profit and I want it back.
Thisss perssson isss alssso in possssessssion of an artifact of
great value to sssome of my clientsss. Ssso I am recruiting a hand
ssselected team to sssteal the artifact ssso I can get my profit
back.”