Trespassers: a science-fiction novel (43 page)

“
You
’
re going to block my memory?
”

“
No, I
’
m going to
unblock
your memory.
”
Stewart allowed a moment for this to sink in .
.
. but it never really sinks in
—
not at first.

“
That doesn
’
t make any sense,
”
Bruner said.

“
Doesn
’
t it? Aren
’
t there holes in your memory? Aren
’
t there things you can
’
t explain? Don
’
t you know deep down that there are aliens? But you have no evidence of their existence
—
does
that
make sense?
”

Stewart nodded to Web, who activated a video on an iPad and tilted it for Bruner to see
—
a video Stewart had held for just such an occasion. It showed the three of them
—
Web, Stewart, and Bruner
—
all sitting at a table. In the video, Bruner had the earpieces in his ears from that same iPod-looking device. The Bruner in the video had a smile on his face, but tears in his eyes.

“
You used to be my partner,
”
Stewart explained.
“
You saved me from the darkest point in my life, by pulling me back to reality and making me face my life. And now it
’
s my turn to do the same.
”

Bruner looked up from the video. It wasn
’
t making sense, but it was hard to ignore what he was seeing.

“
The reason you blocked your memory
—”
Stewart continued.

“
I
blocked my memory?
”

“
Yes, no one can block your memory against your will,
”
Stewart explained.
“
And the reason you blocked your memory .
.
. is because you lost your daughter.
”

Bruner didn
’
t react. He just listened.

“
Your daughter
’
s name was Kaitlin. She was killed in a car accident. You couldn
’
t cope with the pain. And you sacrificed all the memories of her to block out that pain. You persuaded me to let you go through with it, and I allowed it. But we
’
ve tried this method long enough .
.
. and it
’
s not working. You need to face it.
”

Web had put the iPad away and was now holding the earpieces.
“
You put these in your ears and close your eyes. Then just listen to my voice, and I will guide you through the process.
”

“
You
’
ll get your memory back,
”
Stewart said.
“
And you
’
ll get a second chance at life.
”

Bruner wasn
’
t convinced about any of this.

“
Keri has asked me a thousand times to restore your memory,
”
Stewart said.

That name shot right to Bruner
’
s heart
—
Keri
, his wife.

“
She
’
s waiting for you,
”
Stewart said.
“
So many people have told her to move on, but she
’
s waiting for you.
”

Bruner needed not another word of convincing.

When the restoration was complete, Bruner could see it all. His wife had been by his side through everything. But when she had needed him the most, he wasn
’
t strong enough to be there for her. He would have to be strong enough now. He could see his daughter
’
s face. He could hear her laugh. He could feel her sitting on his shoulders. The pendant
—
the one he wore around his neck, the one he found at the investigation site
—
was not a random discovery. It had belonged to Kaitlin. He had given it to her, and she adored it. She wore it everywhere. When she died, he buried it under her favorite tree in Cosgrove Park; that
’
s where he dug it up. That
’
s why he was drawn to that
investigation site
. That
’
s why he was drawn to keep the pendant for himself and wear it around his neck.

When the memories of Kaitlin had been pruned from his mind
—
along with the Limestone memories
—
he had been left with only the sorrow of a distant wife, with no explanation of why she had turned cold. It was that first night without the memory of Kaitlin that he stumbled into the Washington bar and met Harold Stanton. It was that night that he ranted about
knowing
aliens existed. It was that night he gave birth to the Alien Research Agency.

As Stewart walked from the old, dented door, down the tight corridor, into the open limestone lot to his car, he placed a call to Keri. Stewart hadn
’
t told Keri that he was planning to restore Bruner
’
s memory. He didn
’
t want to get her hopes up. Now he could give her the good news and let her know to expect a call from her husband. It wasn
’
t clear yet whether Bruner would be able to recall all the memories of the last six years, but most of them were intact. His memory block had been far less intrusive than Sara
’
s, allowing him to more easily connect his older memories to his newer ones. It was still going to be an uphill battle, though. Life had dealt Bruner and his wife a hand that most couples wouldn
’
t survive. But Stewart was confident they would make it.

As Stewart made his way back to his house, stopping only for a few groceries along the way, he reflected on his new assistant, Mindy. She deserved high marks for her first assignment in the field. She was an asset, and he looked forward to having her on the team.

He then thought about Jeremy and Sara. Was theirs a short fling or something more substantial? Only they would know for sure. Lyntic had been right: time apart would help those two young lovers sort out their feelings
—
just as it had for Lyntic and him. Stewart liked Jeremy and Sara
’
s chances for survival. He was rooting for them
—
of course
he was rooting for them: he was in a good mood. He had no choice but to be in a good mood. He was carrying fresh groceries up the stairs to his house and looking forward to two days off .
.
. and he knew exactly what he was going to do with those two days.

Stewart warmed up the stove and laid out the raw ingredients that would soon be dinner .
.
. dinner for two. It had been a long time since he had cooked dinner for two.

Lyntic appeared from the hall and leaned against the doorframe, wearing one of his shirts and nothing else .
.
. an
orange
shirt .
.
. that vibrant orange that
’
s only found on Earth.

TRESPASSERS

October 13, 2014

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Abduction
: the process of drawing a local inhabitant onto a spaceship, usually for the purpose of extracting blood for a vaccination; also referred to as plucking; illegal on Earth, but still quite common
Adari Metraball
: a fabled propulsion system that has been lost for centuries; its discovery would revolutionize space travel
Adashi
: (uh-DASH-ee) an alien government, heritage, and language
Aeosic
: (ay-AH-sick) a method of stimulating the subconscious to allow the blocking of memories; more common than Protetic
Alien Research Agency
: a government agency tasked with proving the existence of alien life-forms on Earth; created six years ago by Karl Bruner; not affiliated with the Limestone Deposit Survey Group and not a member of the Redundancy Class; formally a large, proud agency, but now a dwindled husk of what it once was
Bruner
’
s Pendant
: a triangle of two twisted metals not found on Earth; Bruner wears it around his neck constantly, since discovering it at the base of a tree at an investigation site
—
he feels it has a deeper significance than he can understand
Camp Whatever
: nickname for the failed summer camp that Jeremy Borden
’
s father could never quite get off the ground; the camp still remains on Jeremy
’
s family
’
s property
Canned Vaccines
: vaccines offered by governments of Earth to alien visitors; considered by most alien tourists to be inferior to fresh vaccines
Chuman
: (CHEW-min) an alien language, derived from the Adashi language, native to a series of satellites in the Kalen Range
Cold Energy
: relating to a spacecraft, any energy expelled from the ship that serves a purpose other than propelling or hovering the vessel, such as the operation of deceleration slopes or abduction tunnels
Deceleration Slopes
: technology that allows cargo to be dropped from a ship to the ground at 10 percent gravitational force
Depth Paint
: a paint designed to allow the human eyes to see a full range of distance; reduces the fatigue on eyes from being indoors; found on the hallway walls of
Home
Dreamers
: a prototype nonlethal tranquilizer round designed to be fired from a standard .45 caliber handgun; still in the beta phase and not released for commercial, military, or government use
Earth
: vacation planet, the general population of which is oblivious to the regular visitation by alien tourists
Earthling
: a native of the planet Earth
Fire
: a colloquial term used to indicate the best of a certain category
Fire Unit
: nickname for Unit 4 of the Royal Expeditionary Armada, headed by Dexim;
fire
is a colloquial term used to indicate the best of a certain category
Flow Box
: a device designed to secretly intercept telephone calls and reroute them to a different line
Fort Fear
: nickname for a fort-style structure in
Camp Whatever
Heart Signal
: a natural pulse emitted by the beating of the human heart, as unique as a fingerprint
Heart-Signal Generator
: a hypothetical device capable of fooling a heart-signal tracker; thought to be an impossibility; a pet project of Gregory Webster
Heart-Signal Tracker
: a device designed to recognize a specific heart signal and indicate its location
Home
: nickname for the underground headquarters of the Limestone Deposit Survey Group; the most technologically advanced base on planet Earth
Internal Data Processing Division
: agency that manages all the paperwork in the Redundancy Class of the US government, which is the government
’
s highest level of secrecy; intentionally nondescript for reasons of security
Limestone Deposit Survey Group
: cover name for the agency in the US government that is tasked with regulating alien activity on planet Earth, primarily by monitoring the
optimal cone of entry
; headquartered in an underground base known as
Home
, located under a limestone quarry
Luxury Cruiser
: an expensive spacecraft designed for intergalactic travel catering to the wealthy
Malcor
: a corporation that produces transport vessels, specializing in industrial cargo transporter, but also dabbling in high-end luxury cruisers, where it is quickly building a reputation for excellence
Melkon Box
: a cube designed to teach foreign languages through direct stimulation of the brain, allowing a new language to be mastered in thirty days complete with idiomatic expressions, accents, cadence, and even spelling, depending on the individual
’
s intelligence and willingness to learn
Metraball
: see
Adari Metraball
Nawmas
: (NAH-mus) an alien material resembling leather; porous, with almost microscopic dimples across its surface, creating a seemingly wet texture
Optimal Cone of Entry
: a geographical location on a planet where conditions align for the best possible success for safe transition into the atmosphere; on Earth, the 121-mile radius around Muncie, IN, USA
Pepsi Machine
: a vending machine in the outer entrance to
Home
, which, contrary to some assumptions, serves no higher purpose than distributing Pepsi products
Plucking
: see
Abduction
Portik
: (POR-tik) named for its designer Lance Portik, one of the top three models of luxury cruiser produced by Malcor; known for its top-of-the-line decor and unsurpassed performance
Protetic
: (pro-TEH-tick) a method of stimulating the subconscious to allow the blocking of memories; less common than Aeosic
Quoret
: (KWOR-it) a handheld device that channels energy; usually carried in a set, each quoret has a specific function; often in the shape of a cube and made of wood
REA
: see Royal Expeditionary Armada
Redundancy Class
: the highest level of secrecy in the US government; all agencies in the Redundancy Class have full cover identities and are secret from Congress, the White House, and the President
Resolution 419
: considered to be an idle threat, a measure adopted by a multinational alliance of world powers, mandating that in the face of an alien invasion that proved too massive to resist, a strategic network of atomic bombs would be detonated to torch the Earth
’
s crust and obliterate all life
Roosevelt, Montana
: home of a restricted storage facility that stored all confiscated alien spaceships, before Stewart Faulkner pioneered the use of vertical landmarks as holding stations
Royal Expeditionary Armada
: traditional name for the agency in the Adashi government charged with arranging official transportation for dignitaries through the Royal Office of Security; known as the REA
Sound-Wave Modifier
: a common and inexpensive component found on most intergalactic spaceships, it neutralizes engine noise to allow the vessel to operate in complete silence
Stealth Generator
: any of the multitude of devices designed to refract, reflect, or transmute light to render a vessel or object invisible or virtually invisible to the naked eye
Stellen Agreement
: a pact governing the relationship between Earth and its alien visitors and serves to keep the peace; outlines the responsibilities and boundaries of each party
Stone Ridge Cabin
: a cabin in Indiana acquired as an outpost by the Limestone Deposit Survey Group after a recommendation by Stewart Faulkner, who wanted to hold on to the memories he had created there
Telephone Feeler Search
: a low-tech method of searching for an individual by calling local businesses and asking for the subject by name; extremely effective technique pioneered by Karl Bruner and used by the Limestone Deposit Survey Group
Theramane
: a highly effective tranquilizer designed to work directly on the muscles to prevent the body from moving; often used during abductions
Transpose Technology
: a stealth-generating system for rendering ships invisible, which is incorporated into the structural design of the vessel, as opposed to being an aftermarket
feature, as most stealth generators are
Trespass
: an unauthorized visit to the planet Earth by an alien life-form
Trespassers
: aliens who are illegally visiting Earth