by Rae Knightly
“That’s enough, Benjamin. You have some explaining to do. I want you to go home and talk to your mother now. I will join you in a minute.”
“But…”
“I said, now!”
“Ok, ok. Back off already. I’m going!” Ben shot him a stupefied look. “Er… Goodbye, Amaru,” he said, stumbling a little as he shook the Bolivian man’s hand.
“Adios[7], Benjamin,” Amaru smiled.
Ben headed off towards the fringe of cornfields. “See? I’m going already,” he yelled without turning around.
Mesmo grinned. “Benjamin?” he called.
“What?”
Mesmo waited for Ben to glance over his shoulder. “I’m proud of you.”
Ben rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah, whatever,” he yelled back, but Mesmo caught the smile that spread on the boy’s face just before he turned to walk away again.
Mesmo and Amaru watched him until he disappeared from view, insect sounds taking over the silence. Even then, they waited several minutes more, until Amaru figured it was safe to speak. “Einar has taken a dislike to the boy,” he said.
“Einar dislikes many, Amaru,” Mesmo pointed out, then pursed his lips. “Though I wish I hadn’t had to involve Benjamin in this.”
“I don’t agree. Everything went as planned. By involving the High Inspector, and then the boy, you forced Einar to make a move, which, in turn, forced the others to take a position.”
“Clever, that,” Mesmo complimented Amaru. “To make Einar believe you were going to vote in his favour.”
“He will not forgive me that easily. And he will not forgive you, either, which brings me to the next point. All Einar needs is to sway a single vote his way to be rid of you. And that leads me to another worrisome thought.”
Mesmo grimaced. “I’m sure you’re going to tell me.”
Amaru stared at Mesmo. “You do realize, of course, that once you are out of the way, the boy will no longer fall under your protection in the eyes of the Wise Ones?”
Mesmo placed a hand on Amaru’s shoulder. “Then, let’s make sure it doesn’t get to that. Let’s not lose sight of our goal. A great milestone has been achieved. The High Inspector is our trusted link to human leaders; Benjamin is our link to the animal kingdom; and I am the link to you, Wise Ones. Together, we can move mountains. Let us make sure The Great Gathering is successful.”
“Muy bien[8],” Amaru said. “Then, that leads me to one last thing.”
“I can’t wait,” Mesmo grimaced.
Amaru glanced at the large shed at the back of the house. “We have to talk about your spaceship,” he said.
Mesmo frowned, following Amaru’s gaze. “My spaceship? Ah, yes, I know the shed is not the best hiding place. I haven’t gotten around to finding a better spot yet…” He trailed off because Amaru bent to pick up a bag made of colourful cotton ropes with a rough llama design on it.
The Bolivian man pulled out an iPad, which he activated. “Mesmo, amigo[9], I strongly recommend you start using human means of transportation. Or, at least, you could be more discreet when you use your spaceship.”
“What are you talking about?” Mesmo asked, leaning over to watch a video that Amaru selected.
Undeniable proof aliens are here, the title read. The ten best UFO videos. Watch before they get removed!
Mesmo shook his head in disapproval. “Amaru, don’t tell me you watch these things. You know they’re all fake, don’t you?”
Amaru gave him a sideways glance. “Not this one,” he said, selecting one of the videos.
A grainy image showed the roofs of a heat-stroked city on a yellow afternoon. The person shooting the video gasped into the camera and zoomed towards distant mountains, lost in hazy heat. A black spot sped before the camera, then came to a sudden full stop. The cameraman commented excitedly, clearly mentioning the unidentified object.
Suddenly the UFO shot up into the sky in a flash of light and disappeared into a lone cloud, which followed it with wisps of air. The video replayed in slow motion with a much stronger zoom.
Mesmo gasped. “But that’s my spaceship!”
“Yes, amigo. You need to be more careful about how you fly it in the future, especially with so many smartphone-obsessed people out there.”
Mesmo leaned closer. “Wait a minute,” he said. “It says ‘Stunning video footage of UFO over rural Istanbul, as seen yesterday.’” Mesmo straightened. “I never flew over Istanbul, Amaru. I was here with you all day yesterday, remember?”
Amaru stared at the video, as if, by doing so, it would somehow make sense. He turned to Mesmo with troubled eyes. “But, Mesmo, if that wasn’t you, then who was it?”
EPILOGUE
Jeremy Michaels placed his elbows on his office table and leaned his forehead in the palm of his hands. As soon as he closed his tired eyes, memories flashed before his eyelids: the SOVA, fighting off rogue sailors, the two kids, falling into the freezing water and then…
And then… what?
He pressed harder with his hands.
Feeling horribly, horribly sick, sea creatures everywhere, weird lights in the water…
That last part couldn’t be right, of course. He must have hallucinated. That’s what the deck officer on the container ship had said. Jeremy just wished he could distinguish fact from fiction. He knew his severe dehydration had affected his memory, but he also had a keen intuition, and that intuition told him major things had happened. His notebook full of questions made this painfully evident.
Questions are good, he reminded himself. Questions helped reporters discover what needed to be put in the spotlight.
He opened his eyes and glanced at the pile of research papers he had pulled up about beached whales, factory ships, governments allowing the plunder of the ocean… He could have written a major piece, one that would have been picked up by the media worldwide. But it was all in his head, and he didn’t have a shred of proof.
Feeling miserable, Jeremy pulled up a search engine on his computer screen and slowly typed a name with his index finger, pressing one key at a time in a bored manner: S-O-V-A. Then he pressed ENTER. The search results appeared.
SOVA: Russian word meaning ‘owl’.
Jeremy sighed.
Well, that’s just great. Not helpful at all.
Had he really expected a picture of the grim ship to appear on the screen magically? He hadn’t found a trace of the ship in any maritime listings and, anyway, the crew could have painted over the name plenty of times by now.
With an angry swipe of his arm, he shoved the pile of documents into his trash bin and stared at it as if it were going to solve all his problems.
“Hiya, rookie. I didn’t think you’d still be here.” His colleague peered over the office space panel. He rested his arm on its edge and smiled smugly at the reporter.
Jeremy scowled. The guy wasn’t referring to working late at the office; he was referring to the fact Jeremy hadn’t been fired.
“’Course I am,” he mumbled, fighting to make his voice sound matter-of-fact. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
His colleague shrugged as he pushed his glasses further up his nose. “Oh, it’s just something I heard about the boss being livid because he sent you to cover a surfing heaven, and instead, you somehow managed to lose your professional competence in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.”
Jeremy focused hard on his screen, boiling inside. “Are you done already?” he seethed.
“Not quite. Does he know you also misplaced your camera?”
Jeremy’s eyes sent invisible lightning bolts at his computer.
His colleague chuckled. “Didn’t think so. Good thing it’s your lucky day.” He reached over the panel and plonked a very smelly waterproof bag on the desk.
Jeremy’s eyes popped out of his head.
His colleague clicked his tongue. “You can thank me later,” he said as he turned to leave.
“Huh? W-Wait. W-What?” Jeremy couldn’t stop gaping at the bag. He
blinked, willing the wheels in his brain back into action, then ripped the zipper open. His camera and a very smelly wrapped piece of fish lay inside. “Hey! Wait a second!” He leapt out of his chair and glanced over the panel.
His colleague was already halfway across the spacious office room, strolling with one hand in the pocket of his classy suit pants.
Jeremy grabbed the camera, incredulous to be holding his favourite object, and rushed after him. “Wait a minute. How did you get this?”
The guy straightened his glasses and shrugged. “Dunno. Ask the receptionist. She…”
Jeremy didn’t listen. He left his colleague stranded with his mouth open in mid-sentence and weaved through the employees who were leaving for the day.
The blonde receptionist lifted her head as he charged towards her.
“Where did you…?” he started, then heard one of the elevators ping. The doors began to close on a crammed lift, with Ben Archer staring in his direction.
“Hey, you!” Jeremy shouted, sprinting across the hall. “Hold it!”
Too late! The doors shut just as he slammed against them. The elevator call button refused to respond.
Jeremy spun around and headed towards the emergency stairs, flying down them two steps at a time. He burst into the main hallway, but the elevator had already emptied, its last occupants zigzagging around each other in their haste to get home. Jeremy stretched his neck in search of the kid, then, not finding him, rushed outside and scanned the busy street. A person with a grey hoodie slipped into a service street.
Gotcha!
Jeremy followed close on his heels. He turned a corner, then skidded to a stop.
Ben Archer stood waiting for him, his hands in the pockets of his hoodie sweatshirt, his side fringe covering part of his left eye.
All senses alert, Jeremy approached the kid slowly, looking left and right, half expecting to be ambushed by the ship-tattoo guy.
“It’s just me,” the kid said. “No-one knows I’m here.” He wouldn’t meet Jeremy’s eyes. The kid cleared his throat. “I slipped out of the house. I’m supposed to be grounded.”
“Is that so?” Jeremy asked, lifting an eyebrow. He lifted his camera and waved it in Ben’s face. “And this?” he demanded.
“It’s your camera. I thought you’d want it back.”
“Did you now?” Jeremy snapped, taking a good look at the object for the first time.
“You’ll find it intact.”
Jeremy grimaced. “Intact, huh? Does that count for its contents, too?” Kid must’ve wiped out all my pictures!
As if reading his mind, Ben said, “It’s all there.” He gestured at the camera. “Everything.”
The way the kid stressed the last word, startled Jeremy. He stuck his tongue in his cheek and sized up the boy, trying to decide whether to hug him or scold him. “Tell me. What am I going to find? I need to know.”
“I’m sure you remember.”
Jeremy hesitated. Lights in the water, a swarm of sea creatures… “I saw… things… under the water. I need to know. Was I hallucinating?” Stomach twisting, he hissed, “And don’t play games with me.”
The kid held his breath as if he were about to plunge into the deep end of a pool. Then, he said, “No, Jeremy. You weren’t hallucinating. It was all real.”
Jeremy lowered his hand that held the camera. There wasn’t an inkling of mischief in the kid’s eyes.
Ben took another deep breath and said, “I need your help. I need you to write an article, about the beached orcas, about the SOVA, about the packaged fish we found in the ship’s hull, how you saved us and how we escaped and… about the rest.”
“The rest?”
The kid nodded. “Yes. I need governments to take action on ships like the SOVA. They mustn’t be allowed to operate; overfishing needs to end. The local orca population needs to be restored. The subjects you could write about based on your pictures are endless.”
While the kid spoke, Jeremy had turned on his camera and swiped through the most recent pictures. Goosebumps rose on his arms. He felt like he was hallucinating all over again. There they were: the hundreds of manta rays jumping out of the sea, massive whale snouts surging from the surface, glimmers of bioluminescent krill visible on the waves in the dawn light, an orca pod basking calmly near the boat and, in the midst of it all, the boy. Jeremy raised his head and stared at him.
Ben said, “I came to say I’m sorry for taking your smartphone and for keeping your camera. It wasn’t right. And I wanted to thank you for saving Kimi and me. Who knows where we’d be if it weren’t for you.”
Jeremy’s mind whirled. “But why? Why didn’t you come forward before? Why did you keep the camera?”
The kid bit his bottom lip, sizing him up, then said, “Because there’s something else I need to tell you.”
Jeremy raised an eyebrow. “What’s that?”
Full-fledged resolve shone in the boy’s eyes. “I need to tell you about my skill.”
THE ADVENTURE CONTINUES:
Ben Archer and the Star Rider
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CHAPTER 1 The Animal Whisperer
The half-open briefcase revealed row upon row of neatly stacked dollar bills, ready for use.
The man in the white leather chair did not seem very interested in it, however, as he did not take his eyes off the large television screen on a TV stand. Beside it, an office desk held two computers.
The man pressed the buttons on his handheld gaming control, watching intently as his avatar got slammed from all sides by the enemy. His concentration did not waver, even when a servant slipped into the room and stood by his side.
The servant with a clipped, dark-brown beard whispered something in the man’s ear.
The man’s fingers froze on the control, his avatar getting trampled under the words: **GAME OVER**
The man leant back into his chair, deep in thought. He then picked up a different control and pressed the replay button.
“Thank you! Thank you!” A woman filled the screen and grinned at the audience, before sitting in a plush sofa on the set of a television program called Charlie’s Chit-Chat Show, the name of which was sprawled on a glittery backdrop behind her.
“I’m so glad you’re here to welcome our special guest tonight. He’s a young boy who comes to us from Canada and who made headlines recently when he was photographed in a rather unusual setting. But let’s ask him to tell us his story. Please welcome Benjamin Archer!”
Loud applause followed as a boy entered the scene and sat opposite the blond host. His brown eyes matched his brown hair, which was neatly combed to the side, though, unfortunately, the show’s make-up artist had missed a rebellious mesh that stuck out from the back of his head. He wore jeans and a navy-blue collared shirt under a dark grey hoodie sweater that was unzipped at the front.
The show host crossed her slim legs and said, “Hello, Benjamin. Thank you so much for coming out here from your native town of Chilliwack, located on the West Coast of Canada.”
The boy cleared his throat. “Um, thank you. And, um, people just call me Ben.”
“Right you are, Ben. Now many of us have seen the stunning pictures which were taken by the famous reporter Jeremy Michaels. For those who don’t know what I’m talking about, let’s take a look…”
The glittery screen disappeared behind her and turned into an image of the ocean, the waters of which were crawling with the most unusual gathering of sea creatures, ranging from whales to orcas, to
manta rays. Several similar images scrolled before the audience, who let out exclamations of wonder, not only because they were so spectacular, but also because, in the midst of each one, Ben Archer’s head bobbed in the water.
“Isn’t that amazing?” Charlie gasped. “Benjamin… Ben. I think I voice everyone’s question when I say: what on Earth are you doing in those pictures?”
A ripple of laughter came from the audience.
“Um… it’s a gathering of animals that live in the ocean. They come together like this, once or twice a year, but it had never been recorded before.”
“But you’re in the middle of it all! Weren’t you terrified?”
“I was, at first, until I understood what the animals wanted of me.”
Charlie let out a little chuckle. “Hm, yes. These images are astounding in themselves, but it seems there’s more to it than that. You claim that you can actually talk to these animals. Some people are even calling you an ‘animal whisperer’. Why don’t you tell us about that?”
The boy shuffled in his seat, then said in a clear voice, “An animal whisperer? Yeah, I guess you could say that. It happened about a year ago. I started hearing my dog’s thoughts…” – his voice faltered briefly while the audience chuckled – “then other animals started talking to me, like crows, whales, bees… They were all telling me the same thing. They are sick. And we’re making them sick. It’s not just that we’re destroying their habitat and causing their numbers to dwindle, it’s that more and more are showing signs of illness that will spread like wildfire if we don’t do something soo…”
“Wait a minute, wait a minute!” Charlie interrupted. “Go back a bit. You said, ‘other animals began talking to me’. Do you realize what you are saying?”
