Universal Code

by William Songy

  Ayla was watching from the time when Logan slammed his body against the strangers and forced him to move. She continued to watch as Logan seemed to be intently speaking to him. She turned and looked at Darius and wished that he would simply go away.

  Logan continued to speak, “How does one hold his breath for, well at least twenty-minutes…plus? I’ve spent most of my life in the water…never seen anyone do that. What was the light at the end of the jetty?”

  As the man continued to stare at Logan, the pupils in his eyes disappeared and became elongated and looked like green marble. In the center of the iris, a black V-shaped pupil formed and slid sideways to the left and right as they adjusted to the light and focused on him. The shape was the same as the marking on the box.

  “Okay, you are clearly screwed up…whatever you are. We had a little rendezvous with some underwater creature this afternoon. Know anything about that?” Without waiting for an answer, “Your…species, or not? Who are you, or what are you? What do you want with that lady,” nodding toward Ayla, “and why are you here?” Logan demanded.

  The eyes returned to that of a human and he turned to face the wedding party, “You die soon,” it said calmly. Its voice was unnatural and cold. “You all die soon.”

  “You can’t do anything to me right now. You would be exposed. Too many people watching you…would see you for what you are. So, that’s your game?” Logan thought of the piece of silver and pulled it from his pocket.

  Ayla returned her attention back to the men on the bench. Logan seemed to become more aggressive. Things took an odd turn when she saw Logan pull something out of his pocket. She feared that it was a weapon.

  “Your people want this?” he asked holding it up for the man to see. He turned to look at what Logan was holding and then his pupils dilated again as if recognizing it. “Tell you what Capitan, when you are ready to talk, bring this with you,” Logan said as he tossed it toward the man’s chest. Reflexively the stranger caught it in front of his face. An inhuman scream instantly filled the air as its fingers locked on the metal due to the electric shock. The stranger fell to the ground as torrents of electricity traveled back and forth through his body. Members of the wedding party ran over to give assistance to the screaming man but stopped in awe when they saw the changing likeness. Logan was sitting and watching. It was obvious that he was disinterested in helping.

  As the creature struggled to let go of the metal, it began to take on a less than human form. The eyes took on the deep V-shaped pupils, the white hair fell away, and the pigment of the skin turned dark red with black blotches. It remained the same height but transformed into a creature different than the one they had encountered in the water. Its human epidermis fell away from its face and hands and was lying on the beach. The newly revealed skin looked as if it was going to melt.

  Ayla watched as the creature transformed. It was not exactly like the creature that killed John and brutally ripped apart Doctor Smith’s team at Tulum. It caused fear to sweep over her. There was no doubt that the thing was alien to the planet. In the back of her mind, she considered the reality that this new creature was in league with the others. The thought made her legs weak causing them to nearly give out and send her to the ground. She believed that the alien was out to get her for surviving Tulum. Ayla felt extremely fortunate that it had not attacked before now.

  The realization that Logan must have known something vital was suddenly upon her. That was why he had confronted it. The scientific part of her mind wondered, how was Logan shocking the creature? Why was it burning? How did he know what it was? How did he know it would react to the metal in that fashion? What kind of metal was it? Where could she get some? A part of her wanted the alien to live and be captured so they could learn more about it. It was apparent that Logan knew a lot more about the creature than she had realized. He quite possibly had saved her life.

  Logan looked over the alien as it writhed in pain. To his horror, the metal came loose and flew from its grip. Despite being wounded and weak, the creature rolled over to push itself up. Logan wasted no time and kicked it in the side of the head. There was little response. He kicked it in the side and again the humanoid being didn’t seem to notice the impact. When the creature stood, it shoved Logan away, as if it was disinterested in fighting at that time and staggered toward the water. The last thing Logan wanted was for the creature to get into the water and get away. He ran, dove at its legs and wrapped them up like a linebacker. The beast fell, kicked Logan in the face and head and returned to its feet.

  Phil was at the end of the pier when he saw the metal fly out of the creature’s hand. As it headed for the water, he knew its intentions. He ran toward the boat and leapt in. “Get over there,” Phil said to Marco after pulling the line from the dock. The boat reversed as he slid a twelve-gauge shell into the bang-stick. “Maria, can you give me the shark dart for good measure?”

  The creature was halfway to the water as Logan continued to fight with it. The men of the wedding party stood and watched in awe too afraid to intervene, “Will someone help? We can’t let it get to the water!” Logan yelled.

  A man with curly black hair jumped on the beast and began to throw his fists at its head. Logan recognized him from the bar the night before. How ironic it was that less than twenty-four hours earlier he had considered punching the man and now he was the only one helping him fight the alien being.

  “Freaking thing has claws on both sides of its feet. Can’t grab them without getting scratched up!” Logan yelled as he struggled to keep its legs immobilized.

  Ayla looked at the metal lying in the sand and ran toward it. It seemed to hurt the creature when it was holding it, but not Logan for some unknown reason. Despite everything her scientific mind was telling her; she considered the possibility that it was harmless to humans.

  Logan saw Ayla and knew her intentions, she was going to get the metal, “No! Don’t touch it!” he desperately yelled while struggling to hold the creature.

  Ayla was focused and her adrenaline was at full throttle. She could not hear him yelling for her to leave the metal. Now, he had to decide who to stop, Ayla or the alien fighting to get to the water where it would disappear. Exhaustion was beginning to get the better of him and the beast’s strength was increasing as if getting over the initial shock from the metal. Logan let go of the legs and ran toward Ayla. He pushed her hand away from the silver rod just before she was able to grab it. While fighting for breath he said, “Don’t touch it. It might kill you,” then turned and picked it up.

  The creature threw its fist into the chest of the black-haired man with superhuman force sending him flying backward. The man rolled in the sand gasping and wheezing desperate for air. He rolled over onto his hands and knees coughing while struggling to recover.

  Logan’s legs burned, pushing through the soft sand as fast as he could run with the metal in hand. Ayla watched as the piece of silver transformed into an elongated shape like that of a knife. She was in awe of this crazy man, with an uncanny weapon that was chasing down what was unquestionably an alien creature possibly as dangerous as any human had ever encountered. She didn’t know what to do and opted to help the man with black hair who seemed to be in quite a struggle to catch his breath.

  Logan was halfway across the beach and the creature was about to enter the water. There was no way he was going to catch it. His exhaustion and the resistance of the sand made it impossible. Without intervention, the creature would get away.

  Phillip and Marco were watching when Logan initiated the fight with the creature. Neither had realized that the being was not a man but something more cryptozoological. It was the second such encounter that day. As soon as he realized that an altercation was imminent, Phil left the boat with the intent to help. By the time he had reached the end of the pier, Logan had made the decision to let go of the creature’s legs to pursue Ayla. Phil knew they had to cut the thing off before it reached the water. If not, it would be gone.


  Phillip pulled out the bang stick and made sure it was loaded. He stood on the bow of the boat and pointed it at the humanoid creature on the beach. Marco pushed the throttle down pointed in its direction. The hull met the sandy bottom of the beach, ejecting Phillip from the hull. The bang stick was aimed at the red creature who was more concerned with getting to the water than the oncoming boat. He flew into the creature, driving the powerhead into the chest area discharging the round. A twelve-gauge slug exploded from the bang stick and into the creature. It fell backward and rolled over. The hole from the impact could be seen. There was no blood or exit point. The slug was still in the creature. Had it been human, the round would have been directly in the heart, but its anatomy was unknown. After a second, it seemed to recover some strength. It was obvious that it was not the kill shot he had hoped for. It lunged at Phillip, grabbed him by the throat, and was choking him. The creature saw Phillip raise the shark dart then tossed him to the side before he could punch it through its epidermis. It dove headfirst into the water and was gone in the blink of an eye.

  Chapter 8

  After hours of cleaning the wounds on his chest and trying to cope with the fact that his entire world view had been drastically altered, or more accurately, blown to bits, Logan wanted to return to the beach. He needed to make sense out of all that had occurred and the room was closing in on him. Without much need of deliberation, he knew it was time to get out for a while.

  In the back of his mind, he wondered if he would ever look at the water the same ever again. Usually, it was the fear of sharks, drowning, rip currents or bites from sea snakes that kept people from the water, not attacks by aliens. The water was his life and he refused to be afraid.

  He would be better prepared the next time he was diving. Then he recalled the strange piece of silver. He discretely buried it on the beach before the authorities had shown up. Then proceeded to lie and tell the government officials the metal was gone along with the strange humanoid creature. His excuse for no longer possessing it was that it was lost in the fight. Lying to authorities in a foreign nation did not give him comfort and had not come without heavy consideration. But it was apparent that the strange substance was one of the best weapons any of them had to use against the things in the water. He could kill a shark with a bang stick or a shark dart, but this was different. The creatures were of two different species, but both were quite intelligent. It even threatened him in what sounded like a Russian speaking broken English and told him he was going to die. So, lying was quite possibly a matter of life or death and life was the obvious choice. He rationalized his decision by noting that all they would do with it was lock it up as evidence of a crime that really wasn’t a crime or send it to a lab for testing to be lost to them forever.

  With or without the metal, Logan refused to be afraid or back down. There was no way he would run inland and live out the rest of his days landlocked on a ranch hiding out in fear of the creatures in the water. This was now his fight. He knew they were there, lurking in the trees or just offshore beyond the waves. He would never doubt that they were near. Logan was more concerned about Ayla. She did not carry a weapon and had no way to protect herself. Perhaps, he wondered, he should tell her that she needed to hang out with him for a while until they figured the whole thing out. He almost chuckled at the thought. It would sound like a cheesy come-on. She would certainly laugh and accuse him of being, it took a second to recall how she had said it, ‘sus.’

  Ayla had made no attempt to speak to him since the incident at the beach. He had knocked her hand away. Did she truly understand why? he wondered. If she ever spoke to him again, he would do his best to explain.

  From the balcony, he saw that the sun was working its way to the horizon. Just twenty-four hours prior, life was so different. But there was nothing to be done about that now. It was time for him to go down to the beach for sunset and then dinner. Perhaps he would ask Ayla to join him if she was around.

  Logan still planned on going to the jetty later that night to watch and see what occurred. He was uncertain of the creature’s condition and his ability to defend himself if there was another incident. During the scuffle, it seemed as if the electricity conducted by the metal was going to deliver a death blow before it inexplicably was shaken free from the alien’s grip. The creature was undoubtedly wounded and struggled to get to its feet. Rather than attacking him, it had opted to make a run for open water. It was unquestionable that as it made its way to the water it seemed to recover and get stronger. The twelve-gauge slug that Phillip put into the alien’s chest would have been lethal to a man, but the creature was still able to toss Phillip aside and get away.

  It was highly unlikely that the alien was the only one of its kind. There had to be others like them. Perhaps hundreds or thousands. What else was yet to be seen? What if there was an invasion? Too much weird stuff for one day. Surely the evening would be less eventful, he considered attempting to subdue his imagination. It was initially focused on Ayla. But why? Why was she worth being exposed? The manner in which it followed her wasn’t exactly stealthy. She had no doubt that it was there. Why did it seem to want her? Who was she? What kind of threat did she pose to it or them? She would no longer be the only one they were interested in. If they were vengeful like humans, he and Phillip would be in the crosshairs. What if the creatures descended onto the beach, or hunted them down? What if others were able to take on a human likeness and did a better job of blending in? Any one of the people in the resort could be one of them. What if they were harder to detect? Who truly knew where they were skulking?

  What about the creatures from the reef? Maria referred to them as mermaids and mermen, which seemed to be an accurate description. Was it also here because of Ayla? It attacked them with a weapon, so it was intelligent, tactical, and aggressive. Would it be after them? All the years under the water and never saw a thing. Now two in one day. For the first time, he allowed himself to wonder if they were from another world. Was he wrong about aliens? He was in uncharted waters and had nowhere to go for answers…except to Ayla. On the beach, she was close to telling him something, then seemed to back off after he told her about Sonia. Was it related? He regretted not giving her more time. Logan needed to find out what it was.

  When he stepped through the French doors and toward the beach, people were looking at him and were pointing. It was as if he had gained some kind of celebrity status. That was of no interest to him. By the position of the sun, it was less than an hour from reaching the horizon. The crowds would only get larger as the daily ritual of watching it set would lure the masses to the beach or balconies.

  There were no odd men on the benches or walkway to the beach. The wedding was in progress and Logan couldn’t help but look for Ayla, who didn’t take long to find. She was standing next to the bride. He couldn’t help but look at her for a second. She seemed to sense that he was looking at her and met his eyes. She smiled and gave a subtle wave. His heart seemed to stop for a second. Sitting down would have been a good idea, but the bench was already occupied, so he was forced to tough it out. Logan returned the wave and smiled. Ultimately, he needed to continue to the location of the metal before some older gentleman with a metal detector found it and was shocked to death. He waved one more time and continued down the beach and the matter at hand.

  Sitting at the edge of the elevated walkway was a medium-sized dog. The mutt was thin with short brown hair and white splotches. It had large ears for an animal of its size. It was wagging its tail and looking intently at him. Logan knelt and scratched it between the ears while using the situation to survey the beach area.

  “Eh… you okay, mate?” a voice asked from behind him.

  He recognized the accent and turned toward Ayla. Before he could catch himself, he audibly said, “Wow…” he paused for a second. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to…it just that you look incredible all fixed up like that…not that you weren’t pretty before.” He said awkwardly trying not to sound like he wa
s coming on to her. She appeared as if she had walked out of the wedding to chase him down, “The wedding is over already?”

  “Yeah. Simple kind of ‘Do you….do you? Then kiss already and get on with it,’ kind of thing,” she smiled.

  “That’s my kind of wedding,” he said.

  “You’ve been married?” she asked looking intently at him squinting her eyes attempting to read his face.

  “No, you?” he replied without hesitation.

  “Came close once. Found someone he liked betta,” she said with a slight shrug of the shoulders.

  “Was the guy blind? I mean this only as a compliment, but you aren’t exactly lacking in the area of being attractive. He some kind of nutter? His loss.” She flashed a girlish smile then he asked, “What about the reception, don’t you need to go?”

  “Yeah nah…,” she hesitated and looked nervously at him, “Earlier I walked around for an hour looking for you. I have no idea which bloody room you were in and the chap at the desk wouldn’t tell me.”

  He stood and faced her, “Why are you looking for me?”

  “I want to thank you. You may have saved my life…not to mention my reputation. I am not sure how you knew, but you did. You created a situation where even those who doubted me saw something unexplainable. Now, they know that I’m not spinning a yarn. They have no choice but to believe that what happened to me was the truth. Video and photos of you fighting that thing have gone viral. Millions of views already. It’s out there. The press was here looking for you, in fact, they are still looking for you. You are a bloody celebrity now.” She looked away toward the beach for a second considering her thoughts and then back to Logan, “I need to share something with you.”