Punishment

by Guerin Zand

  “You’re overthinking it, Katie. You don’t have to squint and try and squeeze it out of your brain. You’re not taking a shit.”

  “It should be as natural as talking. Just look at me and do exactly what you would do if you were talking to me, but don’t vocalize. You should feel a connection to my comm link to you. Try and think about that when you try to respond.”

  “Can you hear me?”

  “Yes, except it’s not really hearing. See this is one of those things we’ll need to come up with a name for.” I was talking to both Steve and Katie.

  “Read me. The same term already used for comm checks.”

  “Very good, Steve. You seemed to have picked up how to use the comm devices. There is a lot more to learn though.”

  “STOP! This is giving me a headache.”

  “Ok, Katie. You and Steve can practice on your own.”

  “How do we focus our comm to only one person?” I think Steve was really impressed with this tech. He probably was a closet nerd.

  “It’s hard to explain but you may have noticed there’s a feeling associated with the comm link with me that is different from anyone else. Again, don’t overthink it. It will become second nature. It’s just like you don’t think about which of us standing in front of you is Katie and which one is Guerin. Your mind does facial recognition without you even thinking about it, right? It’s pretty much the same thing. You can probably even tell which one of us entered a room by your other senses. She has a different smell than me and her strides and shoes sound different. Blind people do this much better, but you still have that basic ability.”

  “Then how do we know if the person communicating is only talking to me?”

  “The same way, Katie. The link will feel different and you should be able to sense who is included in the link.”

  “How do you know all of this, Guerin? You just learned about the comms the same time we did.”

  “Cindy uploaded the information to me, Steve. One of the modifications they made to me allows them to download information like that directly to my memory so I can recall it later. I didn’t really know I knew it until you started to ask me questions. It’s weird.”

  “Can they upload information to our minds as well?” Katie asked. “If so, why didn’t they just upload the information on how to work these things?”

  “Well, as usual, I only know enough to make me dangerous. I think the answer is yes, but it might not work. I know they waited for my mods to develop before they first did this. It may be that one of the changes in me is that I now have a photographic, or eidetic memory. I’m not sure which term is correct or if that is actually what they did. I try and not think too much about what they did to me. I think if I knew I’d either be pissed or scared to death.”

  Roger returned with new tablet PCs for all of us. I showed them how to boot them from the USB drives and everyone got connected to the alien servers. Roger instantly was concerned about the security of the systems.

  “How can we prevent someone from getting hold of these thumb drives and being able to connect to this ‘alien cloud’?”

  “According to Tommy, this is not just a thumb drive. It has its own microprocessor, standard Earth tech, and integrated into this small system is a link to the comm network. The comm network is used to perform an ID check with your implant before it will boot from the thumb drive. Each one of us has a unique ID, so you have to be close for any machine to boot from one of these drives.”

  Steve, of course, had a question about that. “How does it decide it’s me that is trying to boot the machine? What if I was close and someone tried to boot with it? How could I stop them?”

  “I could tell you but then I’d have to kill you! Sorry, I always wanted to say that.”

  “Don’t worry about that for now. Spend some time with the systems and get used to what is available. You can see there is a messaging app on the desktop. You can send a message to any of our friends on our network and ask questions. Just don’t abuse it. They expect us to figure out a lot of this on our own and you can search the cloud for answers. See the SearchMonkey icon?” I pointed to it on Steve’s tablet. “I think that is their attempt at humor. I assume it’s filtered to prevent us from accessing any data we are not supposed to have, but you should be able to find answers to questions you have about our new tech.”

  Katie and Steve instantly opened the SearchMonkey app and started browsing the alien net. I didn’t bother to tell any of them that they didn’t need to use the keyboard and mouse since the comm network interface made these tablets work just like the viewers on the Collective ships. I wanted to see how long it would take them to figure that out on their own.

  “Roger, while Steve and Katie familiarize themselves with their new toys why don’t you and I go to my office. We can get Isabelle on a video conference and get you started on this new venture.”

  We both headed back to my office and I booted my PC. When Milly visited she had Ricky setup my home computers and iPad for secure access. I simply thought a connection to Isabelle and in a few seconds, the video feed came through.

  “Hello, Guerin. I’ve been expecting to hear from you.”

  “Hi, Isabelle. My, don’t you simply look delicious today.”

  “You don’t scare me, Guerin. Besides, I thought I didn’t look particularly tasty to you the last time we talked?”

  “What can I say? Sometimes our tastes change with time.” Isabelle was a Gandarsi and they were very close to human. Their ears and noses were typically smaller than a human’s and their bodies were on the slim side, usually standing under six feet tall. Their skin tone was slightly redder than a human Caucasian as well and most men would find Isabelle to be an attractive woman. When we first met she thought we savages might enjoy eating other races since we were meat eaters.

  “Well, I’m glad to see you haven’t lost your sense of humor after your little ordeal.”

  “And you’ve obviously been working on yours. I appreciate that. I want to introduce you to Roger Smith. He’ll be in charge of our company down here and you two will be working together closely on the business end of things. I probably won’t be that involved with that so you two should get to know each other.”

  “Hello, Roger. It’s nice to meet you. Are you ready to get started?”

  “It’s nice to meet you too, Isabelle. Guerin says you’ve done most of the work for us. I appreciate that.”

  “That’s what I’m here for. First off, you probably need some money, correct?”

  “Yes.” I was letting Roger do most of the talking. As I said this wasn’t my area and I wanted them to build a relationship.

  “If you open up your messaging app you’ll find the information I sent you with the contact information you’ll need. You’ll find the phone number for a contact at a Geneva-based venture capital firm. Give this person a call and provide her the information requested so she can set up accounts for each member of your group. You can work out with her the amounts for each account and this should hold you until the corporation is actually formed.”

  “What about taxes, accounting and…”

  “Don’t worry about any of that, Roger. We have an accounting firm that will handle your accounts. We are ready to set up the company with just a little help from you. Guerin has already given us a name, New Future Technologies. If you want to change that we can. We’ll just have to make sure whatever you choose is available.”

  “That’s fine. No reason to change the name.”

  “Ok, then we have building plans for you to review. The current plan is to locate the facilities at the Kennedy Space Center. Exploration Park is an office park located off the main base and has all the room you will need for now with the possibility of expansion. We can provide a general contractor as well to oversee the construction. Just let me know and I’ll have them contact you. Any questions or objections?”

  “Why at KSC?”

  “Guerin requested it. I guess because it’
s close to where he lives but nothing is set in stone yet. I agreed with his decision since in the future I would expect the company to do a lot of business there. All of this is included in the business plan you can find on the node reserved for you in the business folder. Take your time and review it. Mark it up as you see fit and we’ll go from there.”

  “Guerin also said you could provide some of the employees we may need?”

  “For the day to day running of the business, the answer is yes. We have contractors to handle all your HR, payroll, accounting, IT, legal, and other basic services. For the R&D department, the company’s primary function, you’ll be responsible for recruiting and hiring. Again, Guerin has already been working on this and you can see what he has to start in your Recruitment folder. You need to work with Guerin on this. There is also a Patent folder that contains the information on patents we are ready to process once the company gets started. This will be your initial source of income and it should be substantial once you work with Guerin to introduce these technologies to manufacturing.”

  “Ok. It sounds like you and Guerin have a lot for me to review. I’ll get back to you on the business plan as soon as I’ve had a chance to look it over. When is a good time to contact you if I need your help?”

  “If it’s an emergency you can contact me at any time. For things that aren’t, we can message each other to set up a time. In the messenger app Tommy provided, you can see if I’m available or you can mark a message, or video link request, as urgent and I’ll respond quickly. If I’m available, don’t hesitate to request a video link if you need to talk.”

  “Thanks, Isabelle. I’ll get started here and I’ll be in touch. I don’t have anything else for now. Do you need to speak to Guerin?”

  “Yes, but you don’t have to leave. It’s nothing secret.”

  “What is it, Isabelle?”

  “That property we discussed in Chili is a done deal. We have contractors working on the renovations and it should be ready for occupancy in two months. I’ll keep you posted on the status.”

  “Thanks.”

  “Do you need anything else from me, Guerin?”

  “No. Thanks for your help. I’ll take you out for dinner next time I get out there.”

  “Hopefully, I won’t be on the menu.”

  “You’ll always be on my menu, Isabelle.” We both laughed and said goodbye.

  “Guerin, what is this about the recruitment ideas?”

  “You can review each of those when you get the time. The folder contains some names and bios along with a little recruitment help. They had me go over some recent papers, dissertations, engineering, and research projects from Earth that they currently find interesting. They made me get familiar with the topics and then we added a few markups and suggestions. The idea is to send emails to these people with rather unique hints to help them. Then we mention if they would like to know more they should consider working for us. I’ll provide my contact information and handle this end of the hiring. What you can do now is start security checks on these people. A lot of them already have security clearances and some actually work for the government in highly classified areas.”

  “Ok. What is your role going to be in the company exactly?”

  “I will not be listed anywhere in relation to the company. I will act as a consultant that is hired through a third-party consultant firm. There will be no direct connection between me and the company.”

  “Why is that?”

  “Because, that is what I was told to do. I’m not sure why, but I suspect it has to do with my lifespan. Publicly, I need to keep as low a profile as possible. I’m sure my identity may change over the years to cover this.”

  Chapter 11

  The Lodge

  We all went out to dinner together and then we split off for the rest of the night. Roger went back to the hotel to read through all the materials he had been given by me and Isabelle. The “kids”, that’s what I’d started calling Steve and Katie, went out for the night. They were going to have some fun, maybe a few drinks, and work on controlling the comm devices. I went back home to review more of the technical papers. The hope was that I would be able to understand and discuss the topics intelligently with candidates for employment.

  Cindy would simply provide the information to me and then I would download that information to my memory. This information included the candidate’s research papers and the related background education I would need to understand the topic as well as the candidate. Finally, there was just enough alien knowledge on the subject available to make me dangerous. With all of that having been done earlier, now I was just reading over some of the candidate’s work and marking the papers up as I read along.

  “Guerin, are you planning on working all night?”

  “Cindy? How are you communicating with me? I’m not wearing my earbud.”

  “It probably is close enough to still work. It doesn’t have to be worn in your ear. It would work if you carried it in your pocket as well. If it was a cell phone you wouldn’t find it unusual if it could transmit your voice even if you were several feet away, right?”

  “Ok, I see your point, but how can I turn it off?”

  “Put it in the box we gave you for it. It will isolate the device and it won’t receive or transmit.”

  “You couldn’t have told us that before?”

  “It wouldn’t be as much fun if we had. So, are you going to be working all night?”

  “For most of the night, probably. I don’t sleep that much anymore. I’m sure it’s just another part of Julie’s gift to me. I miss sleeping. It was my escape from all the crap in this world and she’s taken that away. I maybe sleep two hours a night now.”

  “Do you want any help? What are you working on?”

  “I’m reviewing the research from the one candidate we’re looking at to work on quantum computing. It’s just so boring. I don’t really care about qubits and quantum algorithms.”

  “Why do you find it so boring? No human has ever understood it like you can now. Isn’t that exciting?”

  “No, it isn’t. I downloaded all that info. I’m not discovering it on my own and to me, it’s not new. It’s old technology just like it is to you. I don’t know but this just seems like the same old job I’ve been doing since college.”

  “Why don’t you take a break then? Do something different.”

  “Like what? I tried reading and it just made it worse. It was one of the sci-fi series I used to like, but he was complaining that there were no space babes. All the aliens were lizards, furry rodents, or bugs. You know, the usual made up shit. If his story had any truth to it, he was probably just lying about the aliens because he wanted to keep all the space babes to himself. He had a pirate ship with a military crew and a super smart AI helping him kick all sorts of alien ass in the universe, and he was complaining? It’s not like there weren’t women in his crew which would technically make them space babes, right?”

  “What I’m hearing is you’re just not happy. Is this because of what happened with Milly?”

  “I don’t want to talk about that, Cindy. It just makes it worse.”

  “You never ask about her. Why not?”

  “What would be the point, and didn’t I just say I don’t want to talk about it?”

  “Ok. I’m just bored and thought you might want to talk.”

  “What do you want to talk about?”

  Cindy and I spent the rest of the night talking. We talked about the discussion Roger and I had with Isabelle and about the upcoming trip to South Dakota. I knew Cindy had a bit of a crush on me and I didn’t want to encourage her, but she was nice to me. I guess I needed someone like her in my life and we slowly became close friends. She was Bree, but for some reason I trusted her. She didn’t have an agenda with me, other than flirting. As time passed I found myself depending on her more than any other alien I was in contact with.

  Sunday finally arrived and Steve, Katie, and I flew off to Rapid Cit
y to start our little adventure. We arrived early in the afternoon and checked into the Residence Inn before heading to the local Cabela’s to get me outfitted. I was right, and everything we needed was available so we only had to make the one stop.

  The next morning we got up early and grabbed breakfast before we ventured out. We took I-90 over to New Underwood Road and then SD 34 East. We got off on BIA Hwy 8 and headed for Cherry Creek. There isn’t much in the town of Cherry Creek, not even a gas station, so we just drove through. From Cherry Creek, we headed out for a bit on BIA Hwy 6 and then BIA Hwy 5 which is where we left, what some might generously call, the main road and headed for our destination. We went as far as our four-wheel-drive pickup would take us before finally heading out on foot.

  Steve started looking for what had appeared to be a rough trail leading up to the lodge that we had noticed from the photos Cindy had supplied us.

  “Over here,” Steve called out. Katie and I went to join him. Steve was standing next to an old four-wheel drive pickup hidden under a camouflaged canopy hanging from the surrounding trees. There were four 55-gallon drums of fuel hidden as well. “It looks like this is where our friends probably park and the trail is right over here.”

  We hiked for about 30 minutes up the trail. It was a steady, but not too steep incline that led to a strange flat area that appeared to have been carved out of the hills. It was like someone had just cut a 90-degree wedge out of the top of the hill. About 300 yards away from the edge of this flat area was the lodge which appeared to be built into what was left of the top of the hill helping to conceal the building. This definitely wasn’t the result of natural erosion. It could have been done by men with explosives and heavy equipment, but I didn’t see how you could have gotten that type of large machinery up here. Not without clearing a road up the hill we just climbed.

  We hid off the edge of the hill and used our binoculars to survey the land around the lodge. Everything looked quiet and there was no sign of life. No smoke came out of the chimney and the windows seemed to be blacked out. Other than the shapes and locations I don’t know if I would call what we saw windows. There was no reflection or glare coming off them. They simply were black as if they absorbed the light rather than reflecting it. We continued to observe the lodge for 15 minutes and then a man appeared. He exited the front door and he was carrying a rifle. It was a common looking lever action rifle that was not unusual for the area. This type of rifle was still quite popular with hunters so it didn’t raise any alarms with me.