by Kody Boye
She simply said, “You can’t do it.”
I merely replied, “I don’t know what Dubois is going to say.”
“Screw Dubois. We can get out of here!”
“I don’t think it’s going to work that way,” I sighed as I set my food down, no longer hungry in light of the current topic of conversation. “There’s armed guards everywhere. They know who I am. They know who you are. There’s probably somebody walking down the hall right now to see if I’m awake.”
“You haven’t talked to her yet,” Asha said, matter-of-factly, as if this were a statement true regardless of the fact that it had not been confirmed, “have you?”
I shook my head. Asha swore and balled her hand into a fist until her knuckles popped. “God…” She took a deep breath, as if remembering my Catholic upbringing. “Ana Mia… you can’t go through with this. You just can’t.”
“I already promised Dubois that I’d do whatever she said in exchange for letting you out of your room. I can’t go back on that deal now.”
“But you—”
I shook my head.
Asha, defeated, lowered her chin and said, in a voice that was barely above a whisper, “I don’t want you to get hurt.”
“They haven’t hurt me so far, and honestly… I don’t think They will.”
“But you don’t know that.”
“No. I don’t. But I do know that I have to do whatever it takes to potentially resolve this conflict. We’re on the brink of total war, Asha—annihilation.”
“It isn’t fair that you have to be the one to make peace.”
“I know it isn’t.”
“Why can’t They just take Dubois into Their ship? I mean, it’s not like They can’t speak English.”
“I think Dubois is scared,” I said. “I think she—”
A knock came at the door. “Ana Mia Sofia Berrios?” that same haunting, electronically-distorted voice said as the door was opened. “You are to report to Commander Dubois’ office immediately to report on last night’s mission.”
“I understand,” I replied. I stood, turned to face the man—or woman, I couldn’t tell which—beneath the heavy-duty SWAT gear, then returned my attention to Asha before saying, “I’ll be back later.”
“I know,” the girl sighed.
Then I turned and walked out the door.
“There’s no way They will leave?” Commander Dubois asked after listening to the fifteen-minute segment I’d recorded onboard the Harvester ship.
“Their sun was dying,” I replied. “And They’re running out of food.”
“We could easily stalemate Them,” the Commander said, lacing her fingers together as she studied the tape recorder. “All we’d have to do is wait Them out.”
“Though starving Them to death seems like a good option, ma’am, you already heard what They said. They’ll take by force whatever it is we don’t give to Them.”
“Which presents a conundrum.”
“They’ve already landed on the planet’s surface. Remember what I said about the abduction in Austin? There were creatures navigating the alleyway between the house, and I’m fairly certain that They weren’t Coyotes.”
“How can you be certain if you didn’t see Them?”
“I can’t, but I saw one of the creatures Sin called the Reapers in the woods along the county road leading to Austin from Johnson City.”
“What’s your point?” Dubois frowned.
“The point is: They can land whenever They want to. And the largest of Their ships aren’t even in our atmosphere. They’re likely orbiting the planet and waiting to descend at any moment.”
At this Dubois said nothing. She merely sighed, reached up to run a hand through her blonde hair, and turned to look out the nearby window. “This city used to be great,” she said, standing, then making her way over to the porthole that looked out at the world. “This world used to be great. Then They came and ruined everything.”
“I know how you feel,” I replied, rising, then making my way over to stand beside her. “I feel the exact same way.”
“We can’t get rid of Them. We don’t want to work with Them. So what are we supposed to do? Placate Them?” The commander sighed and shook her head. “This entire thing is just one big, jumbled mess.”
“But we have answers now,” I said. “That’s more than what we had before.”
“Very true, Miss Berrios. Very true.” The commander turned to face me. “Are you willing to do what it is They ask from you? Circumnavigate the world and be the human voice to the alien plight?”
“I don’t think I have much of a choice at this point,” I sighed, thinking not only of what the Gray alien had said, but the hold Dubois had over me. “If I don’t, They’ll just continue to kill even more people. And if I do… I’m betraying everything I ever believed in.”
“You would be wise to decide before long, especially given the timeframe They are on.”
How long would it take for the aliens to truly begin starving? And what would happen once that occurred? Would They come en masse, swarming the planet with Their ships, or would They just begin searching for and killing any humans that got in Their path?
Either way, neither option seemed pleasant.
Knowing that I could not dwell on the matter at hand, I sighed, nodded, then said, “I’ll do it.”
Commander Dubois blinked as she turned to face me. “You… will?” she asked. It was obvious she hadn’t expected me to be so willing, given the way I’d fought with her before.
“I want to keep everyone safe,” I said. “That includes Asha. And myself. And—I hate to say it, because of everything you’ve done to me—I want you and everyone here to be safe. I know that this place can be my home, so long as I let it be. And if helping… no… saving… the human race means stepping outside of my comfort zone for a while to help the aliens deliver Their message, then I’ll do it.”
“You’re a brave young woman, Miss Berrios.”
“I don’t feel like it,” I sighed.
If anything, I felt like the weakest person in the world.
I didn’t know how I was going to be able to do this—to board Their ship, strap myself in, and tour the world, delivering a message of peace and hope and ultimate prosperity to the humanity that had been under siege for the past six years. Why would They believe me, of all people—a seventeen-year-old girl?
Regardless, I knew I had to try.
The fate of everything—including the world—depended on it.
“You can’t do this,” Asha said after I’d explained the plan to her. “This is crazy.”
“I know how it sounds,” I said as I watched Asha pace back and forth in front of me. “Trust me. I above anyone else know how crazy this is.”
“Then why are you doing it?” Asha asked as she spun to face me. “Is it because you feel like you have to? Because you have a messiah complex? Why, exactly, do you feel like you have to do this?”
“Because I need to keep you safe,” I said, standing. “And because this is the first shot we’ve ever had of ending this entire thing.”
“It doesn’t end once the aliens are on the ground, Ana Mia. There’ll be uprising. Civil war. Complete and utter annihilations of people. Whole cities—whole countries—will be wiped out. I mean, do you think Russia is going to agree to peace with extraterrestrials, or the Middle East?”
“That doesn’t matter.”
“It doesn’t matter?” Asha laughed. “How can you say that?”
“Because what matters right now is what happens to us,” I said, reaching out to take hold of her arms. When she shied out of my grasp and stepped back, I was able to look at her face for the first time since she’d started pacing. In her eyes lay a malevolence—not born out of rage, because Asha was anything but mad, but out of fear. I understood that fear because I felt it—bearing upon my shoulders as though I were Atlas carrying the world upon my back. It made me squirm, made me tingle, made me feel as though I
were wrong and dirty for thinking all these things. It was as if I’d just stumbled into a muddy puddle and had no way to shower, and was meant to perform in front of the cleanest men in all the land.
Rather than try and argue Asha’s point, I sighed and said, “I’m just trying to do what’s best for us.”
“I know, Mia. But if you go on that ship, it isn’t just about us anymore. It’s about the entire human race. Are you sure you can handle that kind of responsibility?”
Could I? The question wasn’t unwarranted. Given my age and lack of experience, it was any wonder They wanted me to be the voice of humanity in the upcoming delegations. Why not someone like Dubois? Or even the president? Both women would have been more capable than me, and were far superior in terms of intelligence and power. With that in mind, it begged the question: did They want a pawn, or did They just simply want the most convenient tool at Their disposal?
Struggling, now, with the enormity of it all, I settled down on the bed and reached up to take my face in my hands. Asha, in response, stopped seething and attempted to come forward, but this time it was my turn to shrug her off.
“I’m sorry,” Asha said as she sat down on the bed next to me. “I shouldn’t have dumped all of that on you.”
“No. You should have,” I said, forcing myself to lift my eyes so I could look at her. “You’ve given me a lot to think about—stuff I need to think about.”
“I just don’t want you doing something you’ll regret.”
“I regret existing at this point,” I laughed. “I mean, don’t you?”
“We have each other,” Asha said. “That’s something to live for, right?”
The girl reached down, flipped my palm right-side-up, and took my hand.
It was I who laced our fingers together.
I stared into her eyes for several long moments—struggling to accept the emotions that were currently overwhelming me—then leaned forward and pressed my lips against hers.
She didn’t shy away. She didn’t try to push me back. She just let me kiss her. And by the time I pulled away, tears were coursing down my face, along the expanse of my cheekbones and then the scope of my jaw.
“Ana,” Asha said.
“Yeah?” I replied, sniffling.
“You’re not alone in this. You know that.”
“I know.”
I leaned forward, wrapped my arms around her, and bowed my face into her neck.
The daylight was waning, the afternoon eclipsing into early evening.
Soon, I would be asked to go back up into that Harvester ship and perform what was undoubtedly the most important act of the 21rst century.
I couldn’t believe how absolutely scared out of my mind I was.
It was determined, in the later hours of that afternoon, that I would allow myself to be Harvested one final time before I began my circumnavigation of the planet.
“Do you know how it’ll work?” Dubois asked as I stood before a long mirror in her personal quarters, looking at my reflection and at the fine navy-blue ensemble I was dressed within.
“No,” I replied. “I don’t.”
I imagined it would be a simple process that would begin with me being Harvested and then me presenting myself to whatever recording apparatus They would use to project my image to the world and its various leaders. I would, in essence, be the human face of the sympathizer movement—and would, as a result, fall under the intense scrutiny of the world and all its governments. How I would communicate with those whose languages I did not speak I didn’t know. Why, I could barely even understand Spanish, despite my Mexican heritage, and I cursed myself for having not learned it from Mama or Xiomara before They’d passed. Hopefully there’d be some sort of translation process that I could go through, or a translator that would be present in order to speak for me in the languages I couldn’t.
But what was I thinking? I was getting ahead of myself already. That served no purpose, especially when my whole thought process was based on speculation. All I knew was that I was meant to speak for Them—nothing more, nothing less.
As Dubois came up behind me to adjust the collar of my dress uniform, I sighed and bowed my head.
“You bear a heavy burden, Ana Mia.”
“I know,” I said.
And I did, more than I wanted to. There was no pulling back, withdrawing, sneaking away from my duty or even bargaining with Dubois or the aliens at this point. I didn’t want to risk endangering Asha any further than I already had, nor did I want more unnecessary bloodshed.
It was time for this war—conflict, dispute, whatever They and humanity wanted to call it—to end.
After straightening my posture and looking up to face myself in the mirror, I nodded, turned to look at Dubois, and said, “I need you to promise me something before I leave.”
“What might that be?” Dubois asked.
“In exchange for my doing this, I want you to allow Asha free run of the establishment and whatever role in the hospital she wishes to take part in, including the militia.”
Commander Dubois said nothing for several long moments, during which time we exchanged hate-filled glances filled with contempt. It felt, at any moment, like she would simply pounce on me and tear me limb from limb, but since she couldn’t, she merely watched me, her eyes hard and her lips pursed.
When finally she did speak, it was to say, “All right. I agree to your terms.”
I sighed my relief. “Good,” I said. “What you’ve done with her isn’t right. She deserves to have some leeway now that I’ve agreed to work with you and the Grays.”
“I only did it because—”
“You needed to force my hand. I know.”
And I did. I understood it completely—knew that, if I hadn’t been forced, I would’ve never committed myself to what she’d requested in the first place; would’ve never even dreamed of walking out in an LED vest in the middle of a darkened street with Coyotes all around, much less to be taken into one of the ships that had killed my father. She’d had her reasons, as unjustified as I once thought them to be, and though I still didn’t agree with what she’d made me do, I could understand the importance of it now that it was in the past and I was facing a most uncertain future.
Commander Dubois reached out, took my hand, and squeezed it with one solid handshake. “Thank you for your service to our country, Ana Mia Berrios.”
I could only nod.
Beyond my solid exterior, I was scared out of my mind.
What would happen if I couldn’t convince the world of peace?
I didn’t know, and wouldn’t until I tried to spread Their word.
For that reason, and that reason only, I turned and began to make my way out of the room, all the while dreading what would happen come time I boarded that Harvester ship and recorded Their message for humanity.
Chapter 6
My ascension into the Harvester ship that evening was unlike anything I had previously experienced. Unlike before—when I’d been flanked by Coyotes and guarded at a distance by armed men and women—I was left to my own devices by both man and alien alike as I walked the barren streets in the dress uniform and LED vest while waiting for the Harvester to capture me. When it finally did, it lifted me slowly, with a grace like that of a rising saint, and took me into its mortal folds as if I were a child pulled fresh from the crib.
By the time I appeared in the ship, the Gray Overseer who had been communicating with me for the past several days was the one to greet me. “Hello, Ana Mia Sofia Berrios,” it said. “Welcome back to my ship.”
“Hello,” I replied, no longer afraid but wary of the creature before me. “I’m sorry it took so long for me to arrive. I hope I’m presentable.”
“You are as perfect an icon as any could be,” the creature said, stepping forward and then extending its three-fingered hand to run its digits along my dress uniform from ribcage to hipbone. “You will inspire sympathy within the hearts of many and bring peace to a world that
is currently in turmoil.”
“Thank you,” I said, closing my eyes.
Though I was seething on the inside, I had to push those emotions away. I didn’t want to be in the presence of this creature, much less have it touch me, yet I knew that it could destroy me with one blink of an eye in whatever fashion it desired. I was, in a way, perfectly expendable now that They understood the human language, and though I wanted nothing more than to be lowered to the Earth at that moment, I knew I had to keep my cool.
If I did even the slightest thing wrong—if, for some reason, I screwed up royally—I was toast.
“So… what do you want me to do?” I asked as the Gray withdrew its hand, then allowed its long fingers to dangle placidly at its sides. “You said I was supposed to give a speech. Correct?”
“Correct,” the alien said, turning and making its way over to the center console. It lifted its hands and began to navigate, via a series of intricate movements, the holographic display that detailed the Earth’s readouts—which included, it appeared: the number of ships present and at what parts of the world They were in, as well as the trajectory of the massive ship that hovered in orbit around the planet. It did this for several long moments until the screen was replaced with a wall of text, which quickly converted from an alien dialect that resembled something like Morse code into what was undoubtedly English.
I began to read slowly, albeit carefully, not wanting to know what it said but at the same time curious as to what I would be recording for the masses of the world.
Planet Earth,
My name is Ana Mia Sofia Berrios. I—the human ambassador to the Gray peoples—am here to explain what is to occur now that the initial phase of Their prospects has ended.
I turned my attention to the nearby alien—surprised that its people’s name resembled exactly what we had called Them throughout the legends of science fiction and fantasy—but didn’t say anything. Instead, I turned my attention back to the monitor and continued to read.
Six years ago, the Gray people—of a once great and now dying planet—came to our world in an effort to save Their dying species. Though it is with regret that They have studied us in a way we may deem uncouth, They took our people in an effort to learn what it is that comprises the human condition, and as such, They greatly apologize for the sacrifices that had to be made in order to come to this point.
