The Unlikely Defenders

by Scott Haworth

  Everyone in the room, which was now full of the entire human population of the station, was taken aback by the news. Shawn was too overwhelmed even to gloat about the fact that he had been right to the biologist.

  “What… why… how are we doing?” Jerry finally managed to ask.

  The scientist shook his head. “I don’t know. McMurdo doesn’t have a whole lot of information. They were surprised to hear about the alien landing here though. None of the other Antarctic research stations are reporting any sightings. They’re going to relay our report to the military since we can’t seem to get a stronger signal out. We should get word back in a little bit.”

  “Do they need us to find its weaknesses?” the biologist questioned. “Should I start dissecting it?”

  “It almost froze to death, and it was just overpowered by you,” Shawn said. “I think a bullet to the head would do just fine against it. It’s hardly the most threatening looking creature in the world… or… galaxy.”

  The biologist lowered his head in defeat as the rest of the scientists began various debates about the creature. The scientist who had just entered the room exited to man the radio once again. Shawn took a step closer to Jerry but could think of nothing relevant to say.

  After a very short amount of time, Shawn became annoyed with the random speculation of the scientists in the room. He took a step towards the alien and bent down closer to its face. “Hi little guy!” he said cheerily. Everyone else in the room went quiet instantly. “I’m Shawn. Ssshhhaaawwwnnn.”

  Mervny shrunk back in terror once again. He kept his forearms crossed in an X, but he raised his head up to examine the terrifying primate. “Please don’t kill me!” Mervny stuttered.

  “Jesus, did you hear that?” the biologist asked. He, of course, had no idea what the Kessiam said.

  “That didn’t sound a whole lot different than a human language,” Jerry responded.

  “You think that whole thing was its name?” another scientist asked.

  “Nah, it was way too long,” replied another.

  “How do you know they don’t just have really long names? Shawn, give it another shot. It seems to have warmed up to you.”

  The scientist returned from the radio room before Shawn could again attempt communication. “The military wants the bug,” he said unemotionally. “McMurdo station is sending a LC-130 to pick it up.”

  “In this weather? That’s insane,” Jerry scoffed.

  “It’s equipped with skis so it’ll be able to land.”

  “That’s hardly the only problem. The bug was outside for, like, two minutes and it almost died. It’s probably cold-blooded. It might not survive the trip to the plane let alone all the way to McMurdo.”

  “The military was quite insistent. I think that they’ll be willing to take that chance,” he said. He took a moment to observe the Kessiam who was still frozen in fear. “It looks pretty docile. We’ll wrap it up as best we can before we take it outside.”

  “We?” Jerry asked.

  The scientist nodded his head. “They want two of us to go along to McMurdo to escort the little guy. I guess it’s in case it gets sick or something on the flight. Any volunteers?”

  Shawn spoke up immediately, “Shit, I’ll go. Anything to get the hell out of here.”

  The rest of the scientists were less enthusiastic. They exchanged looks and mumbled excuses as to why they could not leave. Reluctantly, Jerry Carrey agreed to go.

  “So we’ll have a geologist and a meteorologist on the plane in case the bug has a problem?” the biologist asked sarcastically. “That makes sense.”

  “You’re more than welcome to take my place,” Jerry replied.

  The biologist mumbled something incomprehensible and turned away.

  “What good is bringing it to McMurdo Station going to do?” Shawn asked the scientist who had been manning the radio.

  “None. McMurdo is just the first stop. After that it’s going to Auckland Island.”

  “Auckland Island?” Jerry questioned. “There isn’t anything on Auckland Island. It’s uninhabited.”

  “I think that’s the point,” the scientist responded. “The aliens are concentrating their attacks on our population centers.”

  Shawn and Jerry waited uncomfortably for the LC-130 Hercules aircraft to arrive. They made several more attempts to communicate with the alien but to no avail. After what seemed like an eternity, the scientist returned from the radio room and informed them that the Hercules was ten minutes out. Cautiously they attempted to wrap the tiny creature in more layers. Mervny, whose body temperature was still low despite the comfortable atmosphere inside South Pole Station, made no attempts to stop them. By the time they were finished the Kessiam looked like a misshapen, bundled baby.

  Mervny was a good deal less happy after the aircraft arrived and Shawn carried him back into the cold. He had already decided on not fighting the humans, and given how tightly he was wrapped he would not have been able to anyway. Jerry followed close behind the two. He was carrying the alien’s knapsack which he had grabbed as an afterthought on his way out. The trio made their way the short distance to the LC-130 Hercules. It had managed to land safely despite the weather. The plane’s engines were still running as they boarded.

  “Grab a seat!” the copilot yelled at the two men as they entered the airplane. He slammed the door shut as soon as Jerry was on board. Without so much as a second glance he ran back up to the cockpit.

  All three passengers were relieved to find that the cabin of the plane was heated to a nearly ridiculous temperature. The two humans let out happy sighs. Mervny made a chirping noise, which was the Kessiam equivalent. Jerry moved up to the second row and sat on the seat left of the aisle. Shawn followed and sat on the seat to the right of the aisle. At first he sat with Mervny on his lap. Feeling silly for coddling the alien like an infant, he set Mervny down in the seat to his right.

  The take off was rough as the plane scrapped against the frozen tundra. Shawn and Jerry clutched onto their armrests in terror. Mervny was used to bumpy rides through the atmosphere. Feeling warm for the first time since he had landed on the planet, Mervny finally began to calm down. Eventually the plane took off and began to climb.

  The copilot came out a few minutes later to address the two men. “Sorry about rushing you in here before. We wanted to get in and out as quick as possible. Ice accumulation on the wings and what not,” he said. He moved closer to Shawn and saw Mervny sitting on the seat next to him. He was tightly bundled, but the copilot could see most of the creature’s triangular head. “Jesus Christ. I’ve seen pictures of them on the satellite television but… Jesus Christ!”

  “Well I think he’s cute,” Shawn said, feigning sincerity. He put his face close to Mervny and puckered his lips as if he was talking to an infant. “Isn’t that right little Shawn Junior? A koochie koochie coo!”

  The copilot shot Shawn a disturbed look before turning on his heels and returning to the cockpit. He shut the door behind him.

  “You’re a freak,” Jerry said.

  Shawn turned back from Mervny, who was more confused than terrified by the human’s actions, and shot Jerry a mischievous grin. “What can I say? I’m excited to be out of that shit hole,” he said. He patted his hands against his legs.

  “And for all we know you were the first to capture a creature from another planet. You’ll be famous. You’ll never have to go back. It’s stateside for you, mister.”

  “My God! I didn’t even think about that,” Shawn said as his eyes grew wide. He turned to look at Mervny once again. “You’re my ticket back into society little buddy!”

  “Of course that’s assuming its people don’t annihilate or enslave humanity,” Jerry said casually.

  “Naturally.”

  “But even then you’d probably never have to go back to South Pole Station,” Jerry continued.

  “Right, cause I’ll either be dead or mining iron ore for the bug people,” Shawn nodded.

>   “Sure go ahead and scoff,” Jerry started with a hint of humor in his own voice. “I’m just saying be prepared for anything. Remember the mistakes of our namesake.”

  Jerry was referring to a story widely known and discussed by the members of the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station. Robert F. Scott had been so eager to reach the South Pole first that he set out with little planning and substandard supplies. He managed to reach the South Pole, but he lost the race to his competitor Roald Amundsen. Then he and his team got caught in a particularly nasty storm on their return trip and were all killed. It was a rather depressing history for modern scientists to learn upon reaching the South Pole. The story did, however, serve as a useful warning to humans living on the most inhospitable part of their planet.

  Shawn nodded his head over to the bag Jerry was carrying. “Anyone look at what’s inside there yet?” he asked curiously.

  Jerry narrowed his eyebrows. “Of course we did. You must have been playing with the bug at the time,” he said. He overturned the knapsack onto the seat next to him. “Not very much in here. There’s a child-sized sweater,” he said. He paused and frowned at Mervny. “It’s so cute that his mommy helped him pack on his trip to invade Earth. There’s this thing that looks like a pistol… which we assume is a pistol—”

  Jerry was cut off as Mervny suddenly started yelling rapidly in his own language. He rolled back and forth violently, managing to loosen the blankets enough for him to poke his forearms out. He waved his forearms around wildly in long circles.

  Jerry put the pistol back in the bag and turned his palms towards Mervny. “Settle down little guy. It’s gone, see?” he said.

  Mervny quickly settled down. Shawn was relieved as he had been startled by the outburst from the previously docile creature. He eased back into his seat but kept a wary eye on the alien.

  “I guess that little temper tantrum would seem to support your theory,” Shawn said. “No one tested it?”

  “No, we decided that if it was an alien weapon firing it was probably a bad idea. You know how the big wigs hate it when we blow holes in their multi-million dollar research facility.”

  “Good point. What else does he/she got in there?” Shawn asked. While they usually, and unknowingly accurately, referred to Mervny as a “he” they did not actually know his gender for sure. A quick visual check had been inconclusive, and everyone had agreed that a more thorough examination might be misconstrued by the alien.

  “A jug of water,” Jerry started. He anticipated the question forming on Shawn’s lips. “We know it’s water because the chemist tested a sample. Nothing out of the ordinary… no fascinating microbes. It’s just pure, clean H20. The only other thing is this lovely picture of some other bugs,” he said. He handed the photograph to Shawn.

  Shawn looked at it for a moment and then began to snicker. He turned the picture over and looked at the blank backside. “Fucking thing looks like it could have been made by a Polaroid. It’s hard to imagine that this little guy could have a wife and kids. Or a husband and kids, or whatever. It just looks so different from us, yet it does something as characteristically human as carrying a photo of its loved ones.”

  “Who says that’s its loved ones? It could be a picture of its tennis instructor and two of its deviant sex slaves for all you know. The insects on Earth aren’t exactly big on the idea of a nuclear family, especially the praying mantis. The male tends to get eaten after it has served its purpose.”

  “Yeah, but this isn’t a praying mantis no matter how similar it is in appearance. It may not look like us, but think in terms of intelligence. These aliens have technology, they have culture. They’re kindred spirits in the vast emptiness of space.”

  “Deep,” Jerry mocked. “I could relate to them a lot more though if they hadn’t attacked my planet.”

  Shawn could not argue with that point. As it turned out he did not have time anyway. The copilot threw open the cockpit door and shouted from his seat, “There’s an

  alien ship approaching!”

  “Do you think they know we’ve got their friend aboard?” Jerry shouted. The copilot had already returned to his controls though. He either did not hear the question or was ignoring it. “Well, what the hell are we supposed to do about it?” he asked Shawn.

  Shawn did not respond. He buckled his seatbelt and leaned back in his seat. Jerry followed suit.

  They received no further warning from the cockpit, so the energy blast that ripped through the cabin came as a complete surprise. Two softball-sized holes seemed to appear simultaneously at the top left and bottom right parts of the cabin. Luckily the energy had not expended its full force inside the aircraft. Such an explosion would likely have destroyed the plane. As it was, the energy blast only took one life instead of five.

  Shawn frantically removed his seatbelt and stood up in order to tend to Jerry. As he did the plane began to nose down, throwing him forward into the cockpit door. He stood quickly and fought the momentum of the plane to climb back to the second row. Jerry was as white as a ghost when Shawn arrived. He was staring blankly at his right arm. It was lying on the floor of the plane.

  Shawn looked around frantically. He grabbed one of the blankets Mervny had recently shaken off and moved to put it against Jerry’s arm. When he turned back though, he realized that the stump was not bleeding. The extreme heat of the energy projectile had cauterized the wound. It was not blood loss that would be Jerry’s undoing.

  Shawn threw the blanket around Jerry’s chest as the latter man began to shake uncontrollably. “It’s okay. It’s all right,” Shawn repeated to his dying friend over and over again. “I need help! He’s going into shock!” he yelled up to the cockpit.

  Shawn received his answer when the plane lunged hard to the right. He shot out his arm and used the row of seats to steady himself. The pilots were obviously both still busy.

  Mervny watched as the primate went over to tend to its injured comrade. When it spoke again its voice was much higher and faster than he had observed before. It appeared to be frightened. They’re so much like us, Mervny thought to himself. It’s concerned that the other one will die. At that moment Mervny made the decision to help. The gravity was even worse than normal as the aircraft plunged downwards. He fought his way out of his seat and towards the two primates. The uninjured primate had his back towards Mervny. He reached out and tapped it with the end of his forearm.

  Shawn turned around startled. He took the alien’s outstretched arm to be a sign of aggression. Shawn flopped back and ended up sitting in the foot area in front of the left row of seats. His hand brushed against the knapsack that Jerry had set in the middle seat. He threw the bag open and pulled out the pistol. Whipping around he pointed the pistol right at Mervny’s face. The alien froze and crossed its forearms in an X.

  “Get back!” he yelled, pushing the pistol closer.

  Mervny did not understand what Shawn said but the meaning was clear. He backed up quickly until he bumped into the right side of the fuselage.

  Shawn kept the pistol pointed at Mervny as he turned back to check on Jerry. The short time it had taken to confront the alien had been Jerry’s last moments. Shawn reached up and closed his friend’s eyelids. It had happened so quickly. Not two minutes before he had been making jokes with the man, but there was nothing funny now.

  The plane began to level out and the turbulence died down.

  “We’ve regained control!” the copilot yelled from the cockpit. He seemed more surprised than elated. “The alien ship is gone. They must have assumed we were crashing.”

  Shawn did not respond.

  Shawn fiddled uncomfortably with his bowtie. He hated formal events almost as much as he hated his boss. Now he was stuck at a formal event that was in honor of his boss. As a proper scientist he did not believe in Hell. However, if there was such a place he knew it would certainly be something like this.

  Shawn took a deep breath and entered the main hall. It was filled with scientists who look
ed similarly uncomfortable in their tuxedos and elegant dresses. He glanced at the women in the vicinity and shuddered. I thought formal wear was supposed to make women look more attractive, he thought to himself. A waiter passed by with a tray of glasses that were filled with Champagne. Shawn’s spirits lifted as he took two glasses.

  The waiter smiled politely at Shawn, assuming that he was bringing one of the glasses to his wife or girlfriend. The waiter was mistaken.

  As he reached his table Shawn was surprised to see a truly magnificent sight. Sitting alone at the table, just left of his designated position, was a stunningly attractive woman. She could not have been over twenty-five years old which in itself was unexpected at a geology convention. She wore an elegant black dress that she seemed completely comfortable in, much unlike the rest of the women in the hall. She had shoulder-length blond hair and a very light amount of makeup. The makeup was probably unnecessary. She looked like the type of young woman who would roll out of bed in the morning looking gorgeous.

  “You are far too beautiful for this place,” Shawn said as he took his seat.

  “My, aren’t you forward?” the woman said elegantly. “What makes you think I don’t belong here?”

  Shawn gently took her left hand and pretended to exam it. “These are not the hands of someone who studies rocks,” he said.

  “I’m Karen,” she said while sliding her hand away from his.

  “Shawn Humphrey. Don’t let the occupation fool you. I’m much more fun than your average geologist.”

  “Is that a fact?”

  “Oh, yes. Yesterday I climbed K-2. On Monday I competed in the Iditarod. Now I know that seems unbelievable, but I’m going to be completely honest with you. I only took second place.”

  “That’s so disappointing. If you had taken first I’d have ripped off my dress and mounted you right here on the table,” she said, pounding the table with the bottom of her fist for emphasis. “You certainly must like the cold with all those activities.”

  “Me? I love cold weather. It never really gets cold enough for me here in Menlo Park. But enough about me. What’s an elegant young woman like yourself doing stuck here on a Friday night? Is your father one of the speakers?”