The Visitor (23 page)

“
This is Ekklamisa. Kkagaryne, what’s going on? What’s that thing?”
 

He didn’t hear the question. Before him, fixed to the body of the Visitor, there was something insane. Something that could not be, but which yet seemed to be. He held out a gloved finger to that object which could only be an illusion. However, he found that it could be touched.

Am I the victim of a double hallucination, visual and tactile?
he asked himself.

“
This is Ekklamisa. Kkagaryne! Answer! Answer! Where did you get that? Please, stop fooling around! Okay!”
 

 
Kkagaryne remembered that part of the ground crew was seing the same thing as him, including Ekklamisa who refused, too, the existence of this thing. She had to believe that he had tampered with his helmet cameras or he had brought with him the object to play a trick. She was angry:
 

“
This is Ekklamisa. Kkagaryne! I order you to get rid of that grotesque thing and finish your work!”
 

“…
I... I swear that I’ve got nothing to do with it. I only just discovered it like you. You can see that there are four bolts! When would I have had the time to install them?”
 

It was basically what Ekklamisa had understood. And she wasn't the only one; all those who shared this view had the same thought. It was against her own best judgement that she got upset.

“
I’ll be damned...” murmured Kkarms forgetting to switch to the private communication channel.
 

It was a golden metal plate slightly more than twenty by fifteen centimeters. Different patterns were etched on it. It was clear to see a drawing of the Visitor and also one of a star and its planets, a curved line, obviously a trajectory, indicating from which of these worlds the space craft had come from, the third in this case. All this to say that there could be no doubt about the usefulness of this plate: it was a message providing information about the provenance of the machine. Of its provenance and of its designers, because there was a drawing of two creatures. That was precisely what had inspired the concise but explicit, remark from Kkarms and the amazement of the ground crew.

Without any possible ambiguity, these two creatures were bovs. A female and a male. A female bov and a male bov. There couldn’t be any doubt. Their representation was too clear to leave room for the slightest uncertainty. The Visitor had been designed by a population of bovs.

It was the middle of the afternoon.

Okkala knew that Ykkypol’s and Akkoronta’s vital functions weren’t threatened. Ukkosal hadn’t committed murder; he had only used projectiles filled with a strong narcotic. However, his legal situation remained a concern, but it could have been much worse.

The prison employee, a large mixed-race woman looking annoyed, made Okkala sign a register prior to accompanying her to the visiting room.

“
You have a maximum of fifteen minutes,” she said entering a small room divided in two by a grid behind which Ukkosal was already seated.
 

“
I have to lock you up. If you want to leave early, ring,” said the guardian, showing a button near the door.
 

The latter closed with a metallic clunk that froze Okkala’s heart.

“
So? What’s gotten into you? You’ve gone completely crazy, huh!”
 

Four hands in the pockets of his prisoner clothing, he replied:

“
That was the solution. We needed to trigger media hype. It was necessary to create an event that focused attention, to get everybody to talk about it.”
 

“
Can you stop talking a second?”
 

“
What?”
 

“
So, first, there’s next to no one talking. The network has done everything to stifle your buzz.”
 

“
Huh?”
 

“
Then, you did much more for the cause with the videos that you brought back than with your spectacular action. Because it has done only one thing: make us look crazy.”
 

“No one’s talking about it?”

“No.”

“You’re l...”

‘
You’re lying
’ he was about to say, but he saw in her eyes and the expression of her crest that she was telling the truth.

Ukkosal raised his two upper hands to massage his eyelids. With the other two, he leaned onto the grid.

“I'm exhausted,” he said. “I have nightmares day and night. Everything that I saw at your brother’s haunts me.”

“I'm sorry. Get a grip on yourself. I'll see what I can do to out get you of here. And above all, don't make statements that might be turned against you. It would be best if you don't say anything.”

Watching her press the call button, he refrained from answering.

*

“
We were six to see it,” said Ekklamisa to Ikkarix. “Kkagaryne and Kkarms, of course, plus you, me and the two communication technicians. I insisted that the usual discretion rules be applied. Everybody knows to keep silent. I asked Kkagaryne to transmit his cameras recordings in private, to you, me and Kkarms.
 

“
Come home with me to review this quietly.”
 

“
Okay...”
 

During the trip in Ekklamisa’s car, Ikkarix scratched his throat, diligently joined his forty fingers, as if they had been the only reason for his concentration, and said:

“
Okay... Let's summarize. We have in our hands a device designed by bovs living on the third planet of a star that they…”
 

“
Who lived, most likely, on the third planet from their star, at the time when they designed the Visitor,” corrected Ekklamisa.”
 

“
You're right. A population of bovs, I should say, living in a star system that we have yet to identify, but...”
 

Looking in the rear view mirror to change lanes, she completed to show that she understood his thoughts:

“
But even without identifying it, we know that they designed this machine at least a million years ago.”
 

“
And that, if they still exist, they would necessarily have today such a technological advance over us that for them we would be no more than worms.”
 

“
And still!”
 

“
And still, as you say! And that…”
 

“
Given that we are torturing and slaughtering by millions ours that look like them feature for feature, here on Teruma... I mean that used to look like them.”
 

“
If they find out, it may piss them off! And I think it will take much more than beautiful beak polish to make good impression!”
 

“
Same conclusion!” she exclaimed while parking in front of Ikkarix’s home.
 

The latter released his fingers to leave the car.

Ikkarix also had a large wall screen connected to the space agency. He turned it on and said:

“
Make yourself at home. I'll get something to snack.”
 

“
Above all, no bov, okay!” she said seating herself on the couch.”
 

“
Sure! I'll completely empty my freezer and hide under a sheet,” he answered from the kitchen.
 

She made a little laugh. Hollow, the little laugh.

“
But, didn't you tell me you were vegan?”
 

“
Yes, of course! I'm just kidding about the bov. I don't have any meat at home.”
 

“
...”
 

“
I warming up two pieces of pizza for us, vegetarian,” he suggested coming back. “Okay?”
 

“
Right! If I understand correctly, you are likely to be spared if the designers of the Visitor decide to punish us. While me…”
 

“
I’ll hide you under my bed.”
 

He connected his mobile phone to the wall display to send the image of the object.

“
Okay... So?...” he said.
 

“
So, I don’t have the right to keep it secret for too long. Just the time to recover and to better understand the thing before making information about it public.
 

“
There’s binary markings, for sure…”
 

“
That’s obvious, yes. Still we need to understand what that means.”
 

“
I confess that I'm still under shock so...” she admitted.
 

“
Well, me too, it so happens. I won’t be able to solve this puzzle in a minute. We’ll have to ask for help. I propose we submit the thing to the sagacity of as many heads as possible, taking for the time being the precaution to erase the two bovs and without saying where it came from.”
 

"Yes, that's a good idea. Let's do that as quickly as possible. I would like you to take charge of that. Better to remove the two creatures rather than share this space puzzle to the best brains on the planet. I'm exhausted. I slept less than an hour these past few days."

“Okay, I'll get on it right away.”

“Thanks... You know... Just thinking... What's to prove that they were really the designers?”

"What do you mean?" he asked surprised.

“
That perhaps these two animals are only for... well for another reason than to say: ‘Cuckoo!  It’s us who did this!’”

“You see another explanation?”

— …

“
To decorate it?” he jested.
 

“…
Uh...”
 

“
Because bovs were sacred in their world?”
 

“
You're right! I'm ridiculous,” she capitulated. “It's because I just can't imagine that bovs could... Otherwise, something else...”
 

“
Hum?”
 

“
I think we should contact someone you know. Maybe even start with that.”
 

“
Who?”
 

“
The one we saw on television, ...the vegan.”
 

“
Okkala?”
 

“
That’s her, yes. You know her well, I guess.”
 

“
No more than that. I'm a simple Two One Four member there to help a little. But I know her a little, yes. Do you think that...”
 

“
Yes. You can. You've got my approval. With your false look of surprise, I'm sure that you want to go. Admit that you thought of it.”
 

“
I confess...”
 

“
Do you think we can trust her? I mean I would like her to be asked what she thinks, but that she keep it secret the time to let us find the best time to formalize the info.”
 

“
Yes, I think you can trust her for that. If we don't keep it secret for years, of course.”
 

“
Then go ahead, call her.”
 

*

“
Hi!” Okkala initiated upon entering.
 

She found Ykkypol lying in his hospital bed. He was watching television. A voice spoke of the thing from outer space that astronauts were going to intercept.

“
Well well, it’s you?” he said surprised.
 

He lowered the sound from the TV.

“
Did my brother come to see you?”
 

“
Not yet.”
 

“
He’ll surely be coming at any moment now “
 

“
What do you want? Don't tell me that you care about my health!”
 

“
No, I confess. You wouldn't believe me if I told you.”
 

He looked at her for a while, touched the controls to raise his bed to an almost sitting position and said:

“
Give me that kit, there, on the bedside table.”
 

Okkala gave him the object that he had pointed out.

“
Thank you. So?”
 

He opened the pouch to retrieve a mirror, a bottle of beak polish and a brush. Then, looking at her with an interrogative look, he added:

“
What’s so hard to say?”
 

“
Well, not that much. First of all, glad to see you looking better. You've recovered quickly.”
 

Holding the mirror with an upper hand, he used the other three to make small touch-ups here and there on his beak.

“
Okay, thank you. Then, now... the purpose of your visit.”
 

“
I would like to know if you pressed charges against the person who did this to you.”
 

“
You can name him, you know! I think you know him. For my part, indeed I recognized him. He worked with us a while. He was probably a spy sent by you, if not by Ralchadomac. Of course I'll press charges! Why wouldn't I?”
 

“
Precisely because he is indeed a spy sent by me, I mean by me... let’s say by Two One Four, instead.”
 

He moved his mirror around and turned his head in different ways, to observe his beak from several angles before he answered staring at her:

“
Two One Four or you, whatever! It's the same no? Why would that deter me to lodge a complaint?”
 

“
Because I have enough video to cause a great deal of harm to Nature Foods.”
 

“
You say so! Let me laugh! Even the television networks doesn't want your videos!”
 

“
TV networks, no doubt, but Ralchadomac would be happy to use them to make some publicity for you.”
 

A little stern, he put the mirror on the bed, closed the bottle of beak polish and put it back into the pouch.

“
You would cause harm to your brother’s firm?”
 

“
You know very well that I would and with no afterthought whatsoever.”
 

“
Poor Akkal! He’s not lucky to have a sister like that! But...”
 

“
But what?”