Universal Code

by William Songy

  “I thought the Baraza Zima massacre was all about sending a message. Forgive me sir, but it is time we send them a message,” Cyperien said.

  “Yes, I agree.”

  “I will take Einar with me; he seems to have a lot of fight in him right now.”

  “He may have to get his nose fixed first. Assemble your team and let’s get her out of here.”

  Chapter 28

  Eerika guided Einar by the arm and walked with him to the hospital. The short walk was uneventful and quiet. She wanted to talk to him about the fight with Asger but wasn’t sure if it was her place to do so. Einar didn’t owe her anything and it wasn’t as if they were in a formal relationship. He was stubborn and probably wouldn’t listen to her anyway.

  Despite spending a considerable amount of time together due to recent events beyond their control, she didn’t have a role of prominence in his life. At least, not yet, and she found herself hoping that would change. On the return trip, she realized that her feelings for him had morphed into something that was unexpected and beyond that of simple coexistence. Eerika realized that she, oddly enough, had become attracted to him. It was Einar’s concern over her wellbeing, which he seemed to address with Asger before mentioning himself, that encouraged her to consider the possibility that he felt the same way. Eerika clearly noticed and appreciated that.

  It was stupid for him to attack Asger, but she was there when the renegade agent nonchalantly walked away allowing for his execution order to be given, having been drug off, stripped, and tied down to be raped by the pharaoh, she understood the need for retribution. It was Einar that found and untied her. While it was dark in that room, the look in his eyes when he found her seemed to go beyond relief. It was during the trip back to Econ when she stopped fighting the reality of the thoughts in her own mind. The truth was, despite her initial impression of being little more than a barbarian, he had become much more than that. Eerika decided that she needed to make the first move to see if the interest was mutual, “Can we talk later? When you are done here?” she blurted out nervously.

  “Cyperien told me we were leaving as soon as my nose is popped back into place. I don’t even have time to get a decent meal. I just got the word. It’s been, what…thirty minutes since we returned? Already being shipped off again,” Einar said holding his nose.

  “To where?” she asked looking at his injuries.

  “Sveka,” he said with a little displeasure in his tone but an understanding of the importance of the mission.

  “That’s way on the other side of Aigi. That could take weeks. You’re right, we just got back after being gone for a month. You don’t get a break?”

  He was surprised by the concerned tone of her voice and the disappointed expression on her face. Einar said the first words that came into his mind, “I thought you would be glad to get rid of me.”

  “Why would you think that. I’m perfectly fine with you around,” she paused and realized that her comment was somewhat odd. A nervousness crept in and Eerika felt like she needed a second to refine what it was that she wanted to say. “Look, while you are in there, I need to go and take care of something. I will return before your nose is back in place.” She stood on her toes, kissed his cheek, and walked quickly down the hallway turning to look back at him several times before turning the corner.

  Einar was stunned and wasn’t sure how to react. He couldn’t help but watch as she walked away and nearly had to sit down for a second. The blood and pain reminded him of the injury to the nose and the need for medical attention.

  Two men guided Asger past Einar toward the door. He paused and looked over raising his right eyebrow, “Lucky guy. She is beautiful.”

  Einar saw an opening and fired off another shot with his left fist smashing into the side of Asger’s head before he was out of range. Asger’s head was jarred down and to the left. Two SINSTER agents Einar hadn’t seen grabbed him as he pulled back to swing again. Through the pain of the impact, he looked at Einar and managed a smile before stepping through the doors of the hospital.

  “Hey man, you need to calm down. This guy is going to get off on a technicality if you keep this up,” Cyperien said getting in between the two men.

  “It would be better for him if he was locked up. He left us to die,” Einar repeated keeping his eyes on Asger.

  “I’d be mad too, but you have to let the system deal with him now. Is there something you want to tell me?” Cyperien asked.

  “Like?” Einar asked turning and looking back into the direction where Eerika had walked.

  “You and Eerika. That is one stunning lady. Next to Ovtave, one of the most beautiful I have seen in a long time. I can’t tell you how many agents working a detail for the senator came back raving about her,” he looked at Einar as if anticipating his response.

  Einar looked at him inquisitively, “‘Raving about her?’”

  “No…nothing bad. Just about how beautiful she is. After the third or fourth time, I eventually had to pay the senator a visit just so that I could see what it was all about. Quite incredible.”

  “Beautiful, yes. Look, I don’t know what you are talking about,” he said deciding not to play along.

  “The way she looks at you, holding your arm, the kiss on the cheek…” Cyperien said.

  Einar looked at him with a blank stare, “It’s nothing.”

  “She likes you. You can’t see that?” he asked almost shocked by Einar’s response.

  “We went through a lot these past weeks. She was just being nice. That’s all. A woman like that isn’t and could never be interested in someone like me. We come from two different places,” he said with a shrug of his shoulders.

  “No wonder you are still single,” Cyperien said shaking his head.

  Eerika knocked on the door before entering. It was the first time she had met anyone from Earth. During her time working for Senator Krico, she learned much about them as it seemed they were the topic of discussion more often than not. “Hello, Ayla, I am Eerika,” She reached over and shook her hand.

  Ayla looked up at her, “Everyone here is so good looking and tall. The bright red-green eyes, the hair, the perfect skin. Good genetics here. How do I get some of that?”

  “We would say the same of you. Econ has citizens of all body types, hair color, skin color. We have people far shorter than you,” limited on time Eerika wanted to get to the point, “I am not sure of how much you have been told. I am sure it was a shock to know that Earth has a sister planet.”

  “Much older sister, apparently,” Ayla said referencing the superior advancements of the Viennin people.

  “During my time on, well, we call it the Baraza Zima, but translated in your tongue it would be called the Universal Council. I worked with…Senator Krico,” the mention of his name unexpectedly summoned emotions. The fear and struggle of that day still shook her and talking about it was difficult. Her eyes began to water, and she fought off the urge to cry as she had done often since his death.

  Ayla had heard the rumblings of the incident and how the Senator was murdered. She compared it to her own nightmare and understood the difficulty of speaking of such an occurrence. She walked over to Eerika and took her hand, “It is okay. If you need to get it out. I still wake in the middle of the night and think that I am there and that they are after me. I imagine that it isn’t going away anytime soon.”

  Eerika nodded and took the reins of her emotions. “Thank you. He was a good man…an honorable man. He deserved better than that. Anyway, I was privy to a lot of information that came across his desk. I recall an incident with you…in a place called Tulum. You were in the company of a man who was taken…correct?”

  “Well, I don’t know. Everyone but me was killed. The body of Dr. Smith was never found. I have no idea what really happened to him. I saw a picture of what I think could be him in the lab…or whatever you call it. I think he is still alive and possibly out there somewhere. That image gave me hope that he is still alive,”
she said fighting off her own emotion.

  Eerika paused for a second, “Can you come with me?” she asked nicely waving her hand toward the hallway.

  Ayla looked at her for a second, then with no reason to distrust the Viennian, conceded and walked out of the room without asking questions in regard to their destination. The two walked beyond the metal pocket door and down a well-lit metal corridor. “What do you think of our…planet from what you have seen and learned so far,” Eerika asked genuinely interested in Ayla’s thoughts.

  As they passed through a pair of steel doors and walked down another flawlessly rounded section of the mountain Ayla replied, “Well, most of our time has been here. No real time outside of this mountain, so I really don’t know. Outside of being on the transport… haven’t seen much. I don’t know anything about the local population…the quality of life, what they eat, how they really live. Our only interaction has been with government personnel. To be honest, I don’t know what to think. So much of this is really hard to believe. The whole ‘Code’ thing almost seems made up. A sister planet that has taken up for us for the last five hundred years…I still can’t wrap my mind around that. I just don’t understand how you could have hidden an entire planet and three moons from us. It seems illogical. We have to know that you are here and for some reason have kept it a secret. I don’t know. I just can’t believe that Econ and its moons have evaded us all this time. Just about every ancient culture has seemed to memorialize in some capacity what many think were visitors from other planets. The civilizations of Central America and Egypt have drawings of beings that look exactly like you, only the eyes are just blue with no red in them. Nothing makes any sense.”

  The two women stopped at a doorway at the end of the tunnel and Eerika paused for a second as if considering what Ayla just said. The look on her face suggested that the Viennian was mildly perplexed. Without responding, she turned and knocked. The door opened and they entered a large, warm, open room with illuminated medical equipment on the four walls. Lying on a table was a man.

  Eerika walked up to the table and touched the resting man on the arm. He woke and turned to look at her while sliding on a thick pair of glasses. The eyes widened nearly to the size of the lenses when he noticed Ayla standing behind her, “Ayla Brown? Is that really you?” he asked through a cough, “how can this be? I knew it, the American government does know about this place…probably has for a long time. Some of those alien sightings were technologically advanced vessels that were traveling back and forth. I knew it. But why would they bring you here?”

  “Dr. Smith?” she asked and wept mildly as she seemed to do so often when remembering John and the other men that were brutally killed that day. She would always feel especially guilty about John’s death. She approached the bed almost believing he was an illusion.

  “Please don’t cry, dear. You want to see an old man make a fool out of himself? It is so good to see you,” he coughed loud and forcefully a second and third time.

  The relief of seeing Dr. Smith alive conjured a positive emotion but she managed to push it back needing to confirm the information given to her by Gunner prior to leaving Earth, “Did you know those things were out there? I was told that you saw them…even before you contacted me and asked us to help.”

  The look in his eyes revealed the answer. He looked away for a second, “Yes, I was hoping you could help me learn more about them. There were no attacks, no signs of danger at all at that time. We weren’t sure what they were or where they were from. They didn’t seem aggressive. If I thought you were in danger, I never would have let anyone go out there.”

  “You didn’t think we had the right to know everything?” Ayla asked firmly while looking angrily down at him.

  “I didn’t think you would believe me. Put yourself in my shoes. I was hoping that after you saw the hieroglyphs and the drawings in the cave that I could tell you then and you wouldn’t think I was crazy—” he coughed and lost his ability to breathe for a second.

  Ayla could tell that the illness was deep in his lungs. She considered his perspective for a second and realized that he was right. She wondered how she would have handled the situation had the shoes been on the other foot.

  “I want to go back to Earth, I want to go home,” he said while pushing himself into a sitting position.

  “We really can’t go home. It’s…I don’t know, millions of miles away. We are exactly on the other side of the Milky Way,” Ayla said drying up her tears.

  “Why are you here? How did you get here then?” the doctor persisted.

  “We’ve had quite the adventure since you left. I will tell you all about it, but after two years of worrying about you, I must know what happened to you. If you don’t mind telling me,” Ayla said.

  He spoke as he cleaned his glasses, “Well, they took me that day they killed everyone. For a while, I thought you were dead too.”

  “I heard them coming and hid behind the vines. But, when I peeked out, I think they saw me. When they attacked, I saw this…” Ayla wasn’t sure how to express what it was that she saw, “the only way that I can explain it was the ghost of an ancient Mayan man. He was waving me to the other side of the clearing by the base of some large rocks. I was afraid but decided that I should listen and ran over. There was this hole in the ground, but I wasn’t sure about getting in. Then something grabbed my ankles and pulled me down into the hole. As I was going in, the aliens attacked the very spot by the vines where I was originally hiding. Had I not listened; I would have died.”

  “Ironic, that is where I was taking you anyway. If I were quicker, perhaps we both would have made it out and evaded capture. After they killed everyone, they shot me with something. It seemed to paralyze me. I could think, see, and hear, but I couldn’t move a finger. They must have gone looking for you. I heard them…sounded like they were tearing up the woods. They came back and drug me away.”

  “Why?” Ayla asked.

  “They thought I could provide information that would help with the Central American people. It was hard to understand really. They wanted me to interpret hieroglyphs that they think have some kind of significance. For what, I don’t know. When they showed them to me, I told them that I had no idea what they were talking about and that I couldn’t interpret the writings. Then I thought I heard something about going after you to make you read them. That was when I suspected that you were either alive or the electronic interpreter was wrong. After that, apparently, they decided against killing me and put me in a cell for a long time. I was being transported somewhere when they stopped and picked up a bunch of Mayans, Incans, and Aztecs. I tell you, it was like stepping back in time,” he coughed again, “if I hadn’t been sick…this dang cough! They looked and acted the same as I would imagine they did at the time of the Spanish Conquest. It was just too strange. That was when these people intercepted the ship or whatever you call it and brought me here,” Dr. Smith said.

  “I was being followed for a while by these aliens that were able to take on a human likeness. That was how I met this guy Logan. I kind of pulled the poor guy into this mess. It just so happens that his sister was abducted twenty-years ago. She also managed to escape just recently. It’s really strange how all of these events seemed to pull us all together. Anyway, his sister has a son with both Earthly and alien DNA.” The doctor’s eyebrows lifted as he listened. “I don’t know how many of these kids exist, but they have some pretty remarkable abilities. I wonder if that had anything to do with why they wanted you. They aren’t Central American, but I can’t help but wonder if there is a connection. I guess that is irrelevant at the moment. Now, there is about to be a war of the worlds…it seems, and Earth is in the crosshairs. Anyway, I am not sure what you know, but there is a lot to go over. First, we need to get you well. If you want to make it back home, we need to get rid of that cough.”

  “I’ve had it since I was sitting in that prison. They treated us like animals. People would die and they would drag them o
ut and bring them back to life somehow and toss them right back into the cell. I am not sure what kind of medicine or supernatural ability they have. This is all so strange,” he replied fighting off the urge to cough.

  “That is horrible. Look, you are going to be heading back soon and there will be plenty of time to share information. I suspected that you two were both from the same event in Tulum, I am glad that I was right. It is good that you were reunited. Stay and visit, but I need to catch someone before they leave,” Eerika chimed in.

  Eerika exited the door and ran out of the tunnel and into the corridor. She stopped by the medical facility, which was packed and overcapacity. She pushed her way in and searched for Einar but was unable to find any sign of him. After questioning a few of the medical staff, who indicated that they had no clue where he was, she ran to the hanger. Eerika made it in time to watch as three Imil and the Stur Craft with the Nekark symbol, which had been painted over in what looked like a rushed manner, pushed through the waterfall and disappeared. She looked around and didn’t see Einar and realized that he was gone. If he survived the mission, it would be no less than a month before they returned. Eerika let out a sigh and sat in a chair that was up against the wall intended for those waiting to get into the hospital. She sat back and placed her head against the wall while looking up in disgust for not waiting with Einar and seeing him off.

  She retrieved a small device called an arao from her pocket and considered for a moment what needed to be done. Despite her reservations, Eerika decided that she needed to send Einar a message and began to type, “Hello, Einar. I wanted to see you, but you left before I could get back. I wanted to thank you for everything you did for me on Aigi and RA. You are a special person. I know we come from different places and I hope to get to know you better when you return. I pray for your safety. Until then, I will be here. Eerika.” She read it over several times. It wasn’t as strong as originally desired, but she decided against being too forward. Eerika would need to wait and see if, and when, he replied as it was a process. The delay would depend on how long the message would take to get to him. The response would help to truly understand if the feelings were mutual. Pressing the send button was surprisingly difficult. Eerika was so lost in her thoughts that she did not notice the building overflow from the hospital that was split up into two lines flowing in each direction of the hallway.