Ben Archer and the World Beyond

by Rae Knightly

  * * *

  Laura Archer cut a lemon in half with a sharp knife. “That pesky reporter was here again this morning. I spotted him from the window upstairs, taking pictures of the fields.”

  Mesmo lifted his head from the maps he was studying on the living room table. “He was?” He stood and sat by the kitchen island, where Ben’s mother began to press the citrus juice into a jug of water.

  Laura nodded. “High Inspector Hao called and said someone from the Provincial Times had left him a message. James Hao said not to worry; he won’t make a statement.”

  “Good.” Mesmo nodded. “What else did our government agent have to say?”

  “Nothing good,” she said, grunting as a particularly hard fruit refused to release its juice. He took it from her, so she opened a drawer instead, picked out a large spoon and began mixing the fresh lemonade. “The government is hard of hearing. Preparing Earth for an alleged alien invasion is not exactly on their agenda.” She picked up the knife again and rested her hands on the counter, thinking. “Only the highest levels of government have seen enough evidence to make them believe in the existence of the Toreq. James says not enough people are informed, meaning things will continue to move at a snail’s speed. At this rate, two hundred years will never be enough to prepare a human defence against an alien attack.”

  Mesmo opened his mouth to speak, but she pointed the knife at him. “That said…” she pressed, “James continues to insist you do not reveal yourself to the world. At least, not yet.”

  Mesmo pressed his lips together. “Hm. You know what I think about that.”

  Laura raised an eyebrow at him. “And you know what James thinks about that. You’d cause chaos and put yourself in danger. Give him some time to work on world leaders, to prepare them and pave the road. There’s a right time for everything.”

  “You just said humans would never be ready to face my people. I still believe we need to speed things along. Give humans a nudge in the right direction. If I reveal myself as the extraterrestrial that humans have been searching for, we could at least start a worldwide conversation.”

  Laura dropped the knife on the counter, the metal clanking. Her face fell as she stared at him, then she admitted, “I don’t think I’m ready for that…”

  He placed his hand on top of hers. “I understand,” he said. “But it is something we will need to discuss again in the near future. And it is also the reason I am meeting with the Wise Ones next month.”

  She gazed into Mesmo’s honey-brown eyes. They acted like buoys she could cling to. The front door opened, so she put a finger to her lips. “Keep the reporter thing to yourself. I don’t want Ben to worry.”

  She picked up the jug of lemonade and filled the three glasses, watching from the corner of her eye as Ben plunked his backpack on the couch and joined them by the counter. “Hi, honey, how was your day?” she asked, keeping her voice as light as possible, even though she noticed his tired eyes as she slid a glass his way.

  “Fine,” he answered glumly, gulping down the lemonade and glancing at the maps on the coffee table. “What’s our next stop? Is it the Greenland ice sheet?” He questioned Mesmo with his eyes.

  “Hey, hey, HEY,” Laura called, waving her hands at them. “Guys, are you kidding me? There’s no way Ben is going on another neck-breaking trip this soon.”

  “Oh, come on, Mom. We have no choice. There’s too much ground to cover,” Ben complained.

  “Young man,” she warned. “I forbid it. And besides, you’re going to listen to me. Summer vacation starts in a week. I’ve set you up for a camping trip on Vancouver Island.”

  Ben set his glass down with a loud clunk. “What? Just like that? Without asking me?”

  “There’s no negotiating involved. You’re going, and that’s final. I want you to forget about your skill for a while. Go and have some fun, make friends, go hiking and swimming, eat marshmallows and tell ghost stories around a campfire. The world isn’t going to change that much in a month.”

  “A month? You’re sending me away for a whole month?” His eyes almost popped out of their sockets as he turned to Mesmo for help.

  Mesmo said sternly. “I agree with your mother, Benjamin. She knows what’s best for you.”

  “Oh, great! You’re taking her side now!” Ben jumped off the counter stool. He glanced from one to the other. “I see, you’re both in on it, aren’t you? You want to get rid of me, just when there’s so much to do, and so little time.”

  “Benjamin,” Mesmo said gently. “I’ve seen you suffer from each of our trips. You carry a heavy burden, much too heavy for a human as young as you. It’s affecting your mood and your sleep. It’s all right to take a break. It will do you good. You’ll come back strengthened.”

  “But we’re meeting the Wise Ones next month! I thought…” Ben broke off, then shut his eyes and groaned. “You don’t want me to meet them, do you?”

  “I do,” Mesmo insisted. “But not just yet.”

  Ben lifted his eyes and glared at him. “I thought we were in this together!” When neither Mesmo nor Laura moved, he yelled. “Fine! Just send me away then!”

  Laura caught her breath as he turned and fled through the kitchen door. The hinges screeched as he stomped out into the back yard.

  Mesmo jumped off the counter stool, but she held him back. “Leave him,” she said. When he hesitated, she insisted, “He’ll be fine. You know we have to send Ben away until that reporter stops snooping around, don’t you?”

  “But Ben hates us. Maybe this isn’t a good idea after all.”

  Laura sought his eyes. “It is,” she said, trying to sound strong. “Trust me.”

  Mesmo’s shoulders relaxed, and he sat again. He puffed air out of his cheeks and nodded. “I trust you,” he said.

  CHAPTER 5 Trespassing

  Jeremy Michaels parked his car on the lonely road next to the cornfields. He stepped out and swung his camera over his shoulder, breathing in the fresh air and taking in the lush hills that rolled down to the town of Chilliwack. Crickets chirped, birds swooped over the corn stems, and a soft breeze blew through Jeremy’s curly hair. A bee buzzed by his cheek. He swiped it away with his hand.

  He’d been here twice already: first, when he had asked that woman for directions a week ago, and again this morning. Then he’d spent all day at organic farms, but now, instead of heading back to the office, he’d found himself driving up the same dirt road for the third time.

  What for? He didn’t know yet.

  Nothing of what he was seeing bore witness to the terrible event that had occurred here almost a year ago, when bus-sized meteors had plummeted from the sky and come crashing down in these very fields. It was as if The Cosmic Fall had never happened.

  How strange!

  Jeremy had at least expected some kind of commemorative plaque or government sign. He checked his smartphone again, making sure he had found the right spot, then scrolled over the articles related to the event, feeling stunned by the pictures of billowing smoke on the hillside, hovering army helicopters, worried locals…

  Too bad I missed it.

  He had spent last year’s summer in New York, working on an internship to wrap up his Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism. Yet, while the experience had been valuable, he had found himself butting against fierce competition from fellow graduates.

  Had he stayed on the West Coast of Canada instead, he would have come rushing over to cover The Cosmic Fall and made a career breakthrough right there.

  Sighing, he aimed his camera at the growing crops and took some pictures, more out of habit than because he had noticed anything of interest.

  A branch cracked. Whirling, he squinted into the gloomy forest to his left but saw nothing. His ears caught a strange sound, though, like some kind of motor running at low velocity.

  Not a motor… Something else…

  He stepped through the thick growth, trying to locate the origin of the humming. There was a weird blue glow in the trees
alright, maybe the sun reflecting on something, and next to it, a cloud of black spots that moved so fast he couldn’t tell what they were.

  Leaves vibrating in the wind?

  But there was no wind.

  He took pictures with his camera, advancing with care. His shoe stepped on a twig. It snapped.

  At once, the cloud of buzzing spots paused in mid-air. Then they charged at him, turning into a swarm of angry bees, and for a second, Jeremy saw chaotic darkness.

  “Help!” he yelled, falling hard on his backside in shock.

  Then, as quickly as they had come, the buzzing died down, and the bees disappeared.

  Jeremy lay on his back, gasping. He checked his hands and touched his face, but didn’t have a single bee sting on him.

  “You know you’re trespassing, right?”

  Jeremy lifted his head in surprise and blinked at the teen who had just emerged from the trees. The boy looked about thirteen or fourteen, though Jeremy couldn’t be sure because a light grey hoodie covered the boy’s head, and his hands were plunged deep into the front pockets of his sweatshirt.

  Removing a sharp twig that jolted into his back, Jeremy groaned as he got up on his elbows, then froze, because a black-and-white English Shepherd materialized from the bushes, lowered its ears and let out a barely audible growl. “Hey, control your dog, would you?” he said in alarm.

  The boy stared at him, then nudged his head at the dog, who plopped down beside him and lolled its tongue.

  “Just great,” Jeremy muttered. He cast away the aggravating twig, then scanned the ground for his camera. He reached for the strap and pulled the camera up with him, checking it anxiously for scratches. Finding it intact, he let out a low breath of relief, then glanced around. “Did you see that?” he said, remembering why he had ended up on the ground in the first place.

  The boy eyed him sharply. “See what?”

  “Those bees!” Jeremy burst. “They swarmed me! Hundreds of them! I thought they’d turn me into meat skewers, for sure! But then they just flew off.”

  Leaving me with a sore backside.

  The twenty-three-year-old wiped at the leaves and dirt stuck to his jeans and saw the boy shrug without answering.

  Humph! Friendly townsfolk.

  Jeremy swung the camera over his shoulder and frowned. “What’s that you were saying about trespassing?”

  The boy straightened with a slight air of defiance. “Well, you are. This is private property.”

  Jeremy snorted. “No, it’s not. At least, not anymore.”

  A veil of doubt crossed over the boy’s eyes.

  Ha! Got you, there.

  Feeling smug, Jeremy turned and headed through the brush, the boy and his dog tailing him. He broke into the fields and took in his surroundings, then pointed at an impressive mansion topping the hill to his right. “I did some research this week. This land used to belong to a wealthy businessman called Victor Hayward. But the government bought it from him recently. I figured they’d be wanting to turn it into some kind of national park or something, you know, so the public can come and learn about The Cosmic Fall, meteors and stuff…”

  “How would you know that?” the boy demanded.

  “Oh, right, sorry. Where are my manners?” Jeremy chided as he pulled his wallet from the pocket of his jeans and fished out a business card, which he handed to the boy.

  The teen eyed it as if it were some kind of snake, then snatched the card and stuffed it into his pocket without even looking at it.

  Jeremy lifted an eyebrow, then cleared his throat. “My name’s Jeremy Michaels. I’m a reporter with the Provincial Times.”

  The boy took a small step back, though Jeremy couldn’t tell if it was to balance himself or to put some distance between them.

  The latter, probably.

  He sighed inwardly. He was used to having people react like this when he told them he was a reporter. They either squealed with excitement at the prospect of being interviewed, or they backed away – either because they were shy, or because they had something to hide. “I came to write an article about the region’s farms and their organic produce for the tourism section. But then I remembered that The Cosmic Fall occurred here, so I came to check it out.” He paused. “You know about The Cosmic Fall, right?”

  The boy wouldn’t meet his eyes. “Sure. Who doesn’t?”

  Jeremy ground his teeth. “So, I guess you’re trespassing, too, huh?” he poked. “I mean, aren’t you a bit far from town to be on your own?”

  The boy shrugged. “I live here.” He gestured with his head in the direction of a large house, visible through a fringe of trees.

  “Oh!” Jeremy’s irritation evaporated like ice in the sun. He recognized the house. It was the one where he had stopped to get directions.

  Show some professionalism, darn it – even if this is just a kid.

  “So, you do know all about The Cosmic Fall! Do you know what it was like? I mean, it must have been terrifying!” He caught himself, realizing he was letting his emotions get the better of him.

  The boy shrugged. “I wasn’t living here at the time.”

  “Oh,” Jeremy groaned, unable to hide his disappointment. That’s what the woman had said, that she wasn’t living here at the time. He gazed longingly at the house. “I wonder who was, then?”

  To his surprise, the boy answered, “My Grampa.”

  “Seriously? Do you think I could meet him?”

  The teen avoided eye-contact. “You can’t. He passed away last year.”

  “Shoot.” The word left Jeremy’s lips before he realized that this boy had recently lost close family. “Um, my condolences.”

  This week was becoming duller and duller. First, the boring organic veggie assignment, and now a missed opportunity to print a never-before-released interview with a possible direct witness of The Cosmic Fall.

  But there weren’t any witnesses – or were there?

  He lingered on the thought. There were several houses in the area after all, yet he couldn’t remember any mention of direct eyewitnesses to the meteor crash.

  Weird…

  Then there was the eerie glow he had gone to investigate in the forest behind him, just before the bees attacked him. It had to have been the sunlight, of course, but still…

  “So, I’d better go now.” The boy’s words pulled Jeremy out of his thoughts. The teen had already retreated several steps, the dog never leaving his side.

  “Oh, hey,” Jeremy called after him. “What’s your name, anyway?”

  “Ben,” the kid said, then turned and ran off.

  Jeremy put his hands on his hips.

  Ben… Just Ben. So now what?

  Then it dawned on him that people around here were probably tired of shooing away curious onlookers who came to search for left-over meteor scraps. That would explain the woman and the kid’s blunt attitude, for sure.

  Must be her son, he realized.

  CHAPTER 6 Tofino

  Ben watched the waves hit the hull of the ferry as it coursed across the Strait of Georgia. He did this for over an hour, sulking. Mountainous Vancouver Island stretched on the horizon under a blue sky scattered with clouds.

  The island contrasted drastically to the little tropical bump that was Motu Oné, as this one was similar in size to Taiwan. Not only was Vancouver Island vast, but most of it remained empty of inhabitants. Covered in dark green Sitka spruce and snow-capped mountains, only a handful of towns and cities – Victoria and Nanaimo being the biggest of them – sprinkled the coastline.

  Yet Ben wasn’t heading to any of these. Once the ferry docked, he’d take a bus westward across the island to the Pacific side. There, he’d join a camping group in a town called Tofino, the population which had a grand total of two thousand.

  Ben kicked the side of the railing in annoyance.

  Could Mom have sent me anywhere more remote?

  He sighed heavily at the thought of spending week upon week of boredom in a place wher
e there was nothing to do. It was all the more frustrating when he thought about the ginormous task he and Mesmo were facing. And now he wasn’t going to be able to do anything about it for a whole month.

  Sure, it would be another two hundred years before the Toreq returned to Earth to judge whether the human race was worthy of survival, but there was so much to do!

  In that time, humans would have to learn to live alongside animals, clean up their mess, stop sending more pollution into the air and the sea, drastically change their way of living and show more respect for their natural environment.

  Just to name a few…

  In the last couple of months, Ben had tried to offer himself as a bridge between humans and the rest of the animal kingdom. But that idea had failed.

  He hadn’t been able to communicate meaningfully with any animals at all. Either they had fled, or they were sick, or they avoided him at all costs. They didn’t trust him. And with good reason.

  Ben had seen firsthand the destruction left behind by greedy human hands. Why would animals ever want to trust one of his kind?

  If the Toreq returned today, things would not go well.

  This worrisome idea followed him as he exited the ferry and got on the packed bus.

  He looked around, surprised anyone else would voluntarily travel to the end of the world. He checked for other teens who might be going to the same camp, but most were young adults, couples, or young families who seemed overly excited at being there.

  Ben flopped onto an empty seat and stuck his face to the windowpane.

  Crazy tourists.

  He’d vaguely heard about Tofino being a tourist destination, but for the life of him, he couldn’t remember why. It couldn’t be because of the coastline, which was rocky, jagged, and extremely dangerous. It lay on the Pacific Rim, after all. The water there was cold, and currents could drag you under in the blink of an eye. Not exactly your typical beach vacation.

  Maybe young adults went there to party away from their parent’s eyes while couples spent entire evenings drooling over romantic sunsets.