Beyond the Stars (23 page)

“You ruptured a blood vessel in your head. I repaired it. But I also had to give you the vaccine early. I’m afraid it was the only way to keep you from getting worse. It will have to mature in you,” informed Urit.

“Is that all right, to give it to me
early?
” I asked nervously.

“Well, there was no other option.” His lips thinned. “You will live,” he said nonchalantly. He sounded like he didn’t believe himself and was unsure of the risks. “The only drawback is that you are going to have to drink massive amounts of cold water. The agent undergoes an exothermic reaction and produces some heat as it matures. But it has already begun to cool down and will not cause you any sort of internal thermal injury.”

“Thanks, doc,” I muttered. I leaned back against the back of the bed. I was not sure I totally understood. It didn’t matter. He could do whatever he wanted to me. I needed no explanation. My life was spared, and my intellectual curiosity was all but gone. Urit and Noah talked on as though I was no longer there while they stepped outside my cubicle to further discuss the premature treatment. I lay there powerlessly watching them from my bed when Gaelan entered the office. He rushed right by them and was instantly at my side.

“Sami, I came as soon as I heard. Don’t scare me like that! I’m so glad you’re okay. I feel so terrible for bringing you aboard and risking your health.” He took my hand and squeezed it with conviction.

“I’m sorry to be such a wimp.” I tried to lighten his mood.

“On the contrary, you have been amazingly tolerant, resilient … really. I was starting to take your perseverance for granted. Most people would have been incapacitated and bedridden much sooner.” He shrugged.

“I haven’t been at my best,” I admitted.

“Don’t worry. Urit’s vaccine works remarkably well. Before he came up with it, this place was overcrowded. I think he devised it just to get some peace. He’s a loner by nature,” he joked, trying to elicit a laugh.

“Can I leave now? Will you walk me back to the room?”

“Oh, um, I don’t think …” Gaelan turned around to look at Urit. Their eyes met and they exchanged glances before he turned back to me with a serious expression on his face. “No, Sami, you have to stay here as a precaution,” he said reluctantly, as if he had just read Urit’s mind. Their faces scared me.
Jeez
, was there something they weren’t telling me? “Urit needs to watch you for the time being since he has all the gadgets to cool you down quickly. The vaccine is going to cool down much slower in your body than it would have in Urit’s freezer. Plus, the rest of the ship is going to get uncomfortably hot tomorrow.”

“Why? What happens tomorrow?”

“We are opening up a port key,” he explained.

“
What?
Say that again.” I had difficulty focusing on what he was telling me.

“We’re burning a hole through the fabric of Space. The conditions have to be just right. We have to position ourselves closely to the Ortara sun when we fire the laser beam. We utilize the solar winds produced by the sun to propel us through the opening. Plus, the heat from the sun provides a steady temperature while it generously expands the pathway for the passing of our ship. Our shields only work to a point. It will feel like, how do you say … the tropics.”

“Why heat?” I struggled to pay attention.

“To stabilize the space between the molecules … to hold the door open, if you will.”

I sat in disbelief. “You mean you actually
create
your own wormhole?” I said after a moment. Gaelan gave me a worried look. Apparently, I was still lagging behind in the conversation. “I don’t believe it. We have been looking for wormholes that already existed for travel across the universe.” Einstein’s equations allowed for the existence of wormholes. Only a handful of scientists theorized that it was possible to create them. They were scrutinized by the rest of the scientific community as dreamers, so-called victims of the giggle factor, where scientists ridiculed their own kind. Most of them felt it was impossible to generate enough energy to create the distortion in Space. It was believed that the mass of a Spacecraft would instantly collapse the opening. But the energy of a powerful laser could do it, and the addition of heat could possibly prevent gravity from crushing the wormhole shut as long as you don’t burn up. “Remarkable,” I muttered as I pondered the idea.

“It’s the only way to cover large distances. We like to skip across Space to save time. Zaric and I are constantly mapping new stars and galaxies. We target the best places for our port keys. It’s exhilarating to find new shortcuts.”

I rubbed my head. It started to hurt again. “I can’t think right now.” I shivered. The air around me became unbearably cold against my skin.

“Sami, rest. You need to get well. I will explain the port keys to you another time.”

“Thanks. But how come I’m the only one who’s sick? Why does Noah seem just fine?” I asked. Gaelan glanced through the glass at Noah and bit his lip.

“I think I better let Noah answer that one. Get some rest. I’ll check back later to see how you are doing. I have to get back to work. I’m still on duty.” Gaelan leaned over and squeezed my hand once more before leaving. I clung to the touch of his strong hand. The sensation seemed to linger—even though he’d let go. I watched him stop to talk to Noah after leaving my cubicle. Neither one of them looked happy. Each of them glanced over at me with a look of despair on their faces. This looked like a serious discussion. I saw Noah nodding his head, agreeing with whatever Gaelan had said. Why did this glass have to be soundproof? Noah gazed at me with a torn expression on his face. He walked slowly into my cubicle.

“Sami, you look better.” He smiled.

“Thanks,” I said. Seeing Gaelan could perk anybody up.

“Sami, there’s something important I need to talk to you about. I can’t bear hiding it from you any longer,” Noah said with a somber look in his eyes. He sat down on the side of my bed beside me and turned to face me.

“What, Noah? Are you okay? There’s nothing wrong with you, is there?” My heart stopped as I thought about how devastated I would be if something ever happened to him.

“No, Sami. I’m fine.” He sighed. “I was trying not to hurt you. It would kill me if I ever lost your friendship.”

“
Never!
What is it?”

“I have to tell you something I’m not very proud of.” He gulped. “First of all, let me tell you how much I’ve always loved you and Jack, and Leah and Jackson. You are the closest thing to a family I have ever had. I feel terrible right now because I haven’t always been honest with you. You know how I told you that my parents lived in Hawaii as an explanation as to why they never visited? Well, the truth is that they died. I lost everybody. My whole family was killed when I was thirteen,” he said in a serious voice. He looked at me to assess my reaction.

“What? Why didn’t you ever tell me this, Noah?” I blinked in shock as his voice echoed in my head. I felt a lump in my throat, making it difficult to speak.

“I couldn’t tell you because … because they didn’t die on Earth. They were killed on a Space mission. Our people were just learning how to manipulate energy fields and open port keys. It was an accident. No one saw it coming.” He frowned.

I braced myself and quickly put the facts together. I knew he must have been referring to the same disaster that killed Azil’s parents. “No … no way! Noah, you’re from Kataria! You’re an alien. Why didn’t you tell me?” I was now shouting angrily. I felt my body heat up as the vaccine surged through me. My heart pounded in my chest. I could hear my racing heartbeat pulsating in my ears. I was sure my face was bright red. It felt so hot. “I don’t believe you! After all these years we’ve been friends, you never said a word!” I lashed out at him—feeling betrayed. I never doubted my trust for him.

“I’m so sorry that I never told you. Please, calm down,” he pleaded. “You look like you’re going to catch on fire. Maybe this isn’t the best time to tell you.”

“No, it’s not! We should have had this discussion years ago!” I huffed. I tried to regain my composure. I wiped my forehead when I felt a bead of sweat run into my eyes. “Did you have to wait until I almost died to tell me the truth? You could have trusted me.”

“Sami, of course I could have. I would trust you with my life. I wanted to tell you so many times. I just didn’t want to give you the burden of hiding my secret. You’re the first person from Earth that I’m telling,” he offered as a consolation. “You have no idea how hard it’s been for me. I regret not telling Jack the truth every day, and here I was about to make the same mistake with you.”

“When did you come to Earth? I’ve known you forever.” I shook my head in disbelief. “I thought you went to college at Caltech,” I ranted. A thousand images rushed through my brain. I remembered watching Noah listen to our colleague’s ideas. It always seemed like he had something to add but was afraid to say it. Even more amazing, all of his suggestions always worked on the first try. Oh, yes, and then there were those strange documents I accidentally uncovered in his orientation binder that made me worry that he might be a spy. But he was so much more than that! He was an alien spy! Why didn’t I notice this before? Wasn’t he just incredibly smart? I thought I knew him. He was more than a friend. I considered him family.

“I did go to school at Caltech. Earth has become my home away from home. When I first got there, I felt a little out of place. We decided the best way to blend in was to enroll in college. It helped us to learn about your culture. It also didn’t hurt that anything I did that might seem unusual or strange was instantly accepted and totally overlooked by my college co-eds. Your teenagers are the most open-minded members of your society.”

“True,” I agreed.

“I wish your culture didn’t stifle your youthful habits. Your young have so much potential. Most people on your planet do nothing to stretch themselves, and waste away all their creativity instead of embracing it. They settle for mediocrity because they believe that’s all there is. I think your people would be shocked by what they could accomplish if they stopped living just to earn a paycheck and acquire things,” he preached. I couldn’t believe my ears. He was talking to me like I was an outsider. He was judging the people on Earth. It seemed like he was trying to use his artful skill of changing the subject. I wouldn’t let him. He wasn’t getting off that easy. I needed answers—now!

“Noah, you said
we.
Are there a lot of
you
living on Earth?” I asked bluntly.

“There are a couple of us. Some of my friends came with me. They are living in other countries all over your planet. We thought it was best if we spread out.”

“Why, so you don’t stand out?”

“No, to be more effective,” he corrected me. “We wanted to cover as many bases as possible.”

“I don’t understand. Have you been spying on us?”

“It’s not exactly like that. My people are just sort of keeping track of your technological advancements over time. We are only slightly ahead of you. We felt drawn to you since we are so much alike. Finding a planet so similar to our own and, most imperative, people just like us was an invaluable discovery. Our society and yours are practically carbon copies. A parallel universe if you will. We thought about introducing ourselves, but your world seemed slightly unstable. We noticed the ongoing internal wars on your planet. We couldn’t be sure how we would be received. You might see us as a threat. We decided to conceal our presence while we occasionally visited to see how you were progressing. Finally, you seemed to reach a pinnacle of discovery we couldn’t ignore. A group of us concluded that, after all of our historical blunders, we should get more involved. We wanted to help you avoid making the same tragic mistakes we endured. It seemed like the only way to guide you was to join your engineers, scientists, and physicists.”

I felt betrayed. It hurt to realize everything I believed to be true was a mirage. Of course, I had already believed in the existence of other intelligent life in the universe. It would be completely foolish to think otherwise. I wasn’t even totally surprised when the SIG informed us about the Katarians visiting our Space center. But I wasn’t expecting to discover that Noah was from another planet or that there were others like him living across our planet—right there, out in the open, blending in effortlessly. How could I have been so blind?

“What’s your real name?” I snapped impatiently.

“Noah. Yeah, I was real happy when I didn’t have to change it.”

“Oh ….” I sat quietly for a moment and stared at my hands, thinking about what I wanted to ask next. Noah remained quiet, giving me time to accept the news. “Noah, weren’t you homesick? Didn’t you ever want to go home?”

“Well, actually,” he paused, “I went home five times.” Now Noah was the one blushing. “You know, the times I was supposed to be in Hawaii visiting my folks. I really went back to Kataria.”

“But you always took such great photos,” I said in disbelief.

“Fake. All of them. They weren’t mine. I printed them from the internet.”

I glared at him. “Liar! No wonder you never brought home any souvenirs, you little sneak.”

“I don’t blame you if you’re mad at me,” muttered Noah, “but I’m still glad I told you. It’s like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. Will you forgive me? Do you hate me?” He looked at me tenderly.

“Of course I forgive you, and I could never hate you. I love you, Noah. You’re the brother I never had.” I decided not to make this any harder for either of us and didn’t have the strength to fight, so I leaned over to give him a tight hug.