The Birth of a Rebellion

by Adam Sipperly

  “The what?” Patrick was still half playing dumb but also still half out of it.

  “Don’t play games with me. Two of my guards heard you mention the orb. We know that you have it. So, where is it?”

  “The orb? I’m sorry, but my minds a bit fuzzy right now. Happens when you get hit like that.”

  “Yes the orb. The one you took from where it was hidden, the one you stole from its rightful owner and my King.” The alien was talking through clenched teeth now.

  “Ohhh, that orb!” Patrick laid the sarcasm on thick, wondering if the aliens even understood sarcasm. “Yeah, I do know where that is. But I’m not sure it’s wise of me to tell you that.”

  “Oh, you’ll tell me. You’ll tell me everything I want to know. By the time I’m done with you, you’ll be spilling secrets you didn’t even know you had!”

  “Negative, Captain.” Patrick winced a little as the words came out, maybe I should take it down a notch.

  “You’ve got a strong will, but I’ve broken stronger. Perhaps we’ll torture the girl instead. How long do you think she would last?”

  “You mean how long until she escapes and kills all of your men?”

  “You are pushing your luck!” The alien jumped up from his seat and landed a blow to the side of Patrick's head.

  As he fell to the floor, Patrick tried to call on his powers. But nothing was happening.

  ◆◆◆

  “Time to wake up little one.” Flupotia moaned as someone poked her in the ribs with the hilt of their sword. “We’ve got some questions for you.”

  “Where am I?” Everything rushed back as she opened her eyes and took in her surroundings.

  There was an alien in the dark across the room from her. “So,” he slid his sword slowly into its sheath, “want to tell me what you know about the orb?” He paused and made his way slowly into the light. “You’ve been busy Flupotia, that much is for sure.”

  With the realization that this alien knew who she was, she knew she only had one way out. She had to tell him everything.

  ◆◆◆

  Patrick was dragged from his cell, still bound to the chair. The sound it made as it scraped along the floor sent chills up his spine, like nails on a chalkboard. It wasn’t until they entered a new room, one that Patrick hadn’t seen before, that he was untied. Several other aliens in the room rushed forward and quickly restrained Patrick in a new position. He smiled as he made eye contact with the alien in charge. He wasn’t really sure why, but even in his current predicament, he wasn’t really worried.

  ◆◆◆

  “So, this whole time you’ve just been playing the human?”

  “It was the only way I could get the power. The King never would have shared it with me. You and I both know he is a weak king, hiding behind the power of the orb. Magic doesn’t make great leaders. Someone stronger needed to step up and lead our people. But I can’t do it alone. I need strong Chiefs by my side.”

  “Chiefs, huh?” I like the sound of that, a respectable promotion. “Let’s say I was to buy into all of this. What’s your next move? There’s a lot of ground between here and Arapholanx.”

  “Look,” Flupotia knew she was close to winning him over, “I’ve already told you more than I should have. I’m not telling you anything else until you free me.”

  “HA!” the alien shouted as he stepped closer, bringing his face within inches of hers. “And there it is. You have no play here, Flupotia. The game is over for you.”

  “Is it though?”

  It was the moment she had been waiting for. Her head had finally cleared enough from the earlier blows to access the rolodex of species in her mind. Within seconds she could feel the power coursing through her veins. Her wrists, arms, neck, legs, and torso all expanded rapidly, snapping the ropes with ease. Fur sprouted from her skin, blinding white. Her nose stretched out as her teeth all came to a point. Taking the alien in front of her by surprise she slammed her head into his. She was now much larger and stronger than the alien, and the blow sent him stumbling backward. He fell over his chair, crashed into the wall and fell into a heap on the ground. Now it was time to get out of here and find Patrick.

  ◆◆◆

  “First things first.” One of the aliens pulled a large syringe of liquid from a nearby cabinet and handed it over to the one in charge. “I want you to be fully aware of everything happening to you. Want to make sure you feel everything.”

  The alien shoved the needle into Patrick’s right arm, trying in no way to be gentle. As he pushed down on the plunger, Patrick felt a cooling sensation rush from the injection site through his entire body. As it reached his mind, he felt his senses come back online. With this new surge of energy and clarity, Patrick reached into his mind and began to transform.

  His bindings snapped as he transformed into a gorilla with large fangs hanging from his mouth. Grabbing the alien closest, Patrick tossed him across the room like a rag doll. He crashed into some machines in the corner and didn’t get back up. A gunshot rang out and Patrick felt an all too familiar burning sensation in his left shoulder. Turning back around, he saw the lead alien, hands shaking as he held the gun out. A few more shots rang off, each missing Patrick by a mile. Patrick made it across the room in a few short leaps and the alien dropped his arms to his side in defeat.

  “I guess you knew more about the orb than you let on.” The alien tried to put on a brave face, but his voice was shaking uncontrollably.

  “I sure did.” Patrick took the gun from his hand and crushed it. “And so did my friend, Flupotia. She’s probably already escaped and is waiting for me.” Patrick tossed the fragments of the gun into a nearby corner.

  The alien looked at Patrick questioningly. “You may think you’ve won, but you haven’t. We still outnumber you immensely, all of your pathetic humans imprisoned.”

  “That’s the least of my worries. I have to know though, how did you get here? Who called you?”

  “Nobody called. We were flying a routine flight around Venus when a distress signal was sent from the King himself. He told us we needed to secure the orb immediately and return it to him. We sent down some rainclouds to cover us and landed. Sneaking in and recapturing the base was easy.”

  “Even easier for you to lose the base again though, wasn’t it?” Patrick tossed him on the bed and tied him down with ease. “I’m going to free my friends, I’ll deal with you later.”

  Patrick turned around and came face to face with four aliens standing in the doorway, guns all pointed at him.

  ◆◆◆

  Gunshots. Flupotia was sure she heard them come from this direction. She took off down the hall, crashing sounds up ahead confirming she was going the right way.

  Three more gunshots were heard, the sounds echoing loudly. She turned a corner and watched as a small group of aliens ran out a nearby door and down the hallway. She followed at a fair distance, waiting to make her move.

  The four aliens slowed as they approached a door and peered in cautiously. When they moved into the room with weapons drawn, Flupotia made her move.

  ◆◆◆

  It was quite the sight from Patrick's point of view. One second, he thought he was going to come under fire, the next second a polar bear charged in the room and took out the small group.

  “Flupotia?”

  “Here to save the day! Everything good in here?”

  “Right as rain. I think we’re safe for now, but we have to get to Gin-us.”

  With the aliens dealt with, Flupotia and Patrick quickly made their way back to the main cave. Upon seeing the size and ferocity of them both, the remaining aliens immediately surrendered. Once again, the aliens were locked up and the prisoners released.

  They decided the fastest way to get back into town with the human prisoners was to steal an alien ship. Ushering the humans on was no easy task, each of them trying to make sense of the situation. Just as Patrick was about to follow them onboard, the engine of a nearby ship started up
.

  What now? Patrick looked up at the ship and saw a figure on the main deck, waving down. No, no, no! He took off running back inside to the room he had just been tortured in. Sure enough, his knots hadn’t been strong enough to keep the alien restrained.

  Knowing there was nothing that could be done about it now, Patrick moved on to more pressing matters. He rushed back up to the ship, closed the doors, and gave Flupotia the all clear to take off.

  Most of the humans who had been rescued were still in a daze. This was mostly due to a combination of the drugs they had been exposed to and the events that had transpired. Most sat almost stock-still, unsure what to make of the situation. A few asked questions; wanting to know where they were, why they couldn’t go home, how long had they been missing, who was Patrick, where was he taking them, was he saving them or just transferring them? Patrick tried to field as many questions as he could, but it seemed like with every answered question two more were asked. The flight to the studio wasn’t a long one, but it sure felt like it.

  Both Patrick and Flupotia were surprised to find a large crowd already waiting outside the studio to greet them. But they soon realized the cameras weren’t there for them. Each and every camera was pointed in the opposite direction, towards the roof of the studio. Following their gaze, they saw Gin-us standing there holding a dead alien in his hands. Looks like we arrived just in time, Patrick thought.

  As the crews on the ground noticed the spaceship flying in, the cameras swiveled back and forth, trying to decide which scene would attract more viewers. To be fair, Patrick himself wasn’t sure which was the bigger story. The man with burnt orange skin holding a dead man with dark fuchsia skin in his arms, or the UFO flying in.

  Once the hatch of the spaceship opened, everyone decided this was the more interesting story. Patrick stepped out to a flood of flashing lights and reporters pushing microphones in his face, the questions firing faster than answers could be given. Overwhelmed by the sheer volume of reporters, Patrick grabbed a nearby reporter, a young-looking guy, likely new to the field, and motioned back to the ship.

  “You want the exclusive interview?”

  The reporter nodded eagerly, dragging his camera crew with him as he raced onto the ship. Patrick looked up to where Gin-us had stood, noticing he had disappeared but left the aliens body behind. With no time to wait, Patrick made his way back on to the ship and closed the doors behind him.

  Gin-us was already on board, having transformed yet again to sneak his way past the reporters. The young reporter quickly began settling in as his camera crew got set up. Within minutes there were two bright lights pointing in Patrick’s face as he sat in front of the cameras. He could feel the heat of the bright lights warming his skin as the reporter settled in. Motioning to his cameraman, Patrick saw the red light blink on and the microphone was all of a sudden in his face. The reporter was clearly inexperienced, stumbling over his questions and getting his story mixed up multiple times. But Patrick did his best to tell him everything. He started with following the kid from school into the woods, explained how he had found the base and been imprisoned. He talked about Flupotia freeing him and helping him battle giant snakes and the Martians. He told him about the Jaguar, the Firemen, the Icemen, getting the orb, fighting in the alien base, reuniting with his family, freeing the human prisoners and ended with the current situation.

  As Patrick told his story, he motioned to Gin-us while talking of the Martians, Flupotia while talking about the aliens and his escape, he even went so far as to take out the orb when talked about and shared a quick transformation. When they reached the end of his tale, the young reporter’s eyes were wide and full of excitement. With no more questions to ask, Patrick let him off the ship along with the humans they had rescued. The reporter took off for the studio to put together what was sure to be a career-breaking story.

  With the reporter off to tell his story and the released humans handed off to the remaining crowd, the trio headed back home where Bonnie and Hugo rushed outside to greet them.

  “Patrick, where have you been! You’re famous now! You’re all over TV!”

  “Yeah, I know Mom.” Patrick was slightly distracted by the thoughts of what was to come next. “Sorry it took so long for us to get back, we ran into a few setbacks,” he saw the worry in her eyes and quickly added, “nothing to worry about though!”

  “Everyone has been calling me to find out more, but I just don’t know what to tell them!” She put her hands to her sides, exasperated.

  The small gesture warmed Patrick's heart. It was a typical Mom pose he had seen hundreds of times before, she was finally back to herself. While he was shocked by how well he was handling everything himself, he was even more surprised at his Mother’s attitude. All of this had been thrust upon her suddenly with little time to adjust. Despite all of that, she was still in great spirits.

  “You know, we should take this conversation inside.”

  The neighbors were already starting to pour out from the houses, gathering around the alien spaceship parked outside. Patrick had endured enough attention to last him a while and just wanted to be left alone. He quickly hurried inside, his Mother, Gin-us, and Flupotia following close behind. As soon as he was inside, he rushed around the house closing all windows, doors, and blinds. He didn’t want anyone coming in or trying to sneak a picture through an open window. All he wanted was to sit down and talk through what needed to happen next. But as Patrick sat down on the couch and waited for everyone else to join him, his fatigue won out and he collapsed into a long nap.

  ◆◆◆

  There was no telling how much time had passed since Patrick fell asleep. The clock on the wall just above the TV read 12:17. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, Patrick made his way from the living room to the den, the light pouring in around the curtains showing him the way. At first, Patrick accepted the fact that he must have slept through the entire night and into the next afternoon. But as he sat in the den, he realized things were far too quiet. Where is everyone?

  He felt his chest tighten as his heart begin to beat faster, the worry and panic seeping in. There was no way either of his parents had gone to work today, and he was certain that Gin-us and Flupotia wouldn’t leave without him either. Jumping from his chair, Patrick ran back through the living room and into the kitchen. Finding nobody he continued upstairs and found that he was alone in the house. It wasn’t until he was back in the kitchen trying to think of a rational explanation that he realized, there wasn’t any light coming in the back windows. Peering around the corner, he saw that the front of the house was still bathed in light. Feeling his gut sink even lower, he realized this wasn’t daylight. There was something unnatural about the light that shone in through the cracks. Placing one hand on the door handle, Patrick pulled the door open and stepped outside, ready for anything. But what he found still managed to surprise him.

  ◆◆◆

  XV: As One Journey Ends

  Stepping outside, Patrick was surrounded by sound and light. He stood still, mouth slightly agape. It seemed that his street was flooded with news stations from all over. His story had caught the attention of the world, and everyone was here hoping for their own big break. At one end of the road, there were several police cruisers. The lights were flashing as they attempted to divert several vans away from the already overcrowded block. The other end of the street was still open, with more news vans cramming in by the minute. The cameramen and reporters were so eager to get in line for questions they were jumping out before their vans had even stopped.

  There were additional cops spread throughout the crowd, doing their best to hold people back from both the house and the spaceship. Gin-us, Flupotia, Bonnie, and Hugo all stood at the edge of the crowd fielding questions from different reporters. But when Patrick stepped into the light, all attention was turned on him. The lights, cameras and shouting reporters were far too much for anyone to make sense of.

  “Patrick, what is like to be the one leadi
n…”

  “… to save the planet?”

  “How have you managed to survive this?”

  “… transformation for us?”

  “… aliens an active threat?”

  “… reached out to the President yet?”

  “What real evidence do you…”

  “Has anyone from the government made contact in …”

  “… trust you?”

  “Are you being played?”

  As the reporters pushed closer toward Patrick, he felt himself grow dizzy. Fighting Martians, snakes, jaguars and little men of ice was no problem. But this was absolutely overwhelming for him. Each flash seemed a little brighter, each question a little louder and each reporter a little pushier. A pit grew in his stomach, and a flash of regret ran through his body. Why couldn’t this have been someone else?

  Patrick never wanted this kind of attention and wished he could take back his interview, keep his identity a secret and move on with his life. He didn’t need to be in the spotlight, never wanted to be the hero. This is too much, I need a break. He was only a senior in high school; he should be worrying about going to college in the fall and locking down a prom date.