"Hey, this is that princess chick," one of the soldiers watching Sariana said.
The lead M.P. glanced over the hood of the truck to take a look at the girl. "The girl from the internet?"
"Don't you mean TV?" Alicia asked.
"Let's get these two in the transport. Take them to Ground Zero." Alicia and Sariana were helped into the back of the military Humvee and sat, handcuffed, surrounded by armed guards as they made the short trip to the radio station. One soldier held Alicia's purse.
"Here it is," a soldier said, holding his smart phone up so the girls could see. It was the video of Sariana from the day before. "Princess Sariana. You're at the top of Google trends today. Like a million views on YouTube."
"I guess you got popular," Alicia said to the girl. "You've gone viral."
"This is good?" Sariana asked.
"It could be, yeah."
"You really from another dimension?" another soldier asked.
"Yes."
"Some people are sayin' you're sick in the head."
"I assure you, I'm not." The soldier's cold stare bore into Sariana. She sensed that this man could easily harm her. "Please, stay out of the rain. We need you, sir."
"Need me for what?"
"All of you. We need soldiers."
"You startin' an army?"
"Yes. She will," Sariana said, nodding to Alicia.
The soldiers laughed out loud. The stern one's cold gaze now wavered. "Well, y'all would be the prettiest C.O.'s I ever had." More laughter. "You all right, Princess. You all right."
At the station, Milan watched the radar screen in an upstairs office as the fog made its way across the globe. Charles entered with two Styrofoam cups of coffee and sat down across from him. Outside, the world was shrouded in a yellowish green tint. The crowds had significantly dispersed but from the office window, Milan could still watch a sea of people wander the streets of downtown Tuscumbia. The radio station, now on auto-pilot with Graham at home, provided a steady soundtrack of music interspersed with station announcements and commercials for local car dealers. All the while, the yellow stream of clouds poured like water from the tear in the sky.
"It's nearly complete," Milan observed, pointing at the radar screen.
Charles stood up and craned his neck to get a better look. "It does look that way. It's almost reached China. I suppose we'll soon see if they've truly been hiding their miraculous cloud busting technology," Charles smiled.
"It would be a strange thing for them to bluff."
"Yeah but from what I understand their machine is based on Wilhelm Reich's concepts. It's pseudoscience."
"I thought Reich's cloud buster was designed to actually create clouds, not disperse them."
Charles shrugged. "I guess they've found a way to reverse the process. We'll see."
"Reich's machine was thought to work, correct?"
"According to a few witnesses in Maine, yes. They say he made it rain. He also claimed to have cured cancer with orgasms, Milan. That didn't exactly happen."
"True," Milan admitted. "Interesting nevertheless."
"Theoretical physicists; always intrigued by the impossible, aren't you?" Charles laughed.
Milan smiled and turned his attention outside. "I told a man that I would get him to a phone so that he could call his family," he said.
"At the network?"
"Yes. I never came back. I feel terrible."
"Milan, you've had more important things to concern yourself with."
"I know. I just can't let go of the fear in his eyes. He was absolutely terrified."
"Well, who isn't?"
Milan turned from the window to face Charles. "You don't appear to be frightened."
"I think if I let myself, I'd be curled up in a corner in the fetal position," Charles said.
Milan sensed he was only half-joking. "There seems to be a lot of that going around. I heard that this vibration is causing some of the soldiers to have massive anxiety attacks."
"What about you?" Charles asked.
"I'm certainly anxious. I guess I'm still more intrigued and excited than anything. I just want to see what's going to happen next. Have you spoken with your family?"
"Yes. They're well. They're en route. Do you have anyone that you need to get in touch with?"
"No. I don't believe so," said Milan. His parents had passed away many years before. Milan had no siblings and he never did marry. While he'd long since come to grips with the fact that he might face his final moments alone, it would be untrue to say that this stark reality had not hit him especially hard in the past few days. Milan's education and his work had always been his primary focus and his relationships, romantic or otherwise, had always suffered for that. He took his solace in the fact that, as a scientist, he was lucky to be alive for the events unfolding before him.
A soldier entered the office. "Doctors, you're needed downstairs."
Milan and Charles stood up and followed the soldier down the ornate, wooden staircase and into the conference room. At the conference table, the soldiers were removing the handcuffs from Alicia and Sariana. They rubbed their wrists and were told to have a seat. Milan immediately recognized Alicia. She had been hoping to see him.
"Hey.”
"Hey. You got yourself arrested?"
"Kind of, yeah. You never came back to the studio."
"I got a little wrapped up down here. I'm sorry; I can't remember your name."
"Alicia. Alicia Parker."
"I'm Milan."
"I remember."
"Oh, okay. Alicia, this is Dr. Charles Trumboldt. And this is...?"
Alicia paused for a moment as Sariana waited for an introduction. She still felt strange referring to her as a princess. She braced herself for the laughter. "This is Princess Sariana."
"Sariana. That's a pretty name." Milan didn't miss a beat. He must have seen her on television, Alicia thought. The truth was Milan and Charles had met a number of world dignitaries since their arrival at Ground Zero. For all he knew, she was a head of state. Strange that she might be arrested, of course, but he didn’t over-think it.
"Thank you, Dr. Milan. I sense you serve a great purpose here."
“Well,” Milan laughed. “I like you already. See, Charles? I told you I was important.”
The men smiled as General Ramsey entered the building, carrying a large binder and a cup of coffee. He placed the items at the head of the table and sat down. He made his introductions to Alicia and Sariana.
"Princess, huh?"
"Yes," Sariana assured him.
"Okay. Ms. Parker, my men indicate that you have quite a remarkable story to tell us."
Alicia recounted the details of how she met Sariana on the country road the day before. She explained the triclopod and how Sariana had killed it with her knife. "It was already dead," Sariana corrected. "I just silenced it." She told of the on-air interview that was now the latest online sensation and the General provided information she didn't have.
"It seems you've gathered quite a fan base, Sariana. At last count, there were at least a couple of hundred fan websites for you, Facebook groups..."
"Is this good?" Sariana asked.
"I suppose it depends on your point of view. You see, Sariana, we have already advised the world's citizens to immerse themselves in the rain."
"You must tell them that you have changed your mind."
The General laughed. "It's not exactly that easy...”
"But it must be."
"Well, first things first. Sariana, will you go with these gentlemen, please?" Two soldiers appeared from around the corner and Sariana and Alicia were visibly alarmed.
“We don’t want to be separated, General,” Alicia objected.
"It's okay," he assured them. "You must understand, we just want to do an ID check on Sariana; run her fingerprints, that sort of thing. You're not in any danger, young lady, I assure you."
Sariana looked to Alicia. For what it
was worth, Alicia trusted the General. After all, it probably wouldn't be in his best interest to do anything other than assume that Sariana was telling the truth at this point. If they were Human, wouldn’t they have killed them already? Stranger things were happening, though. Alicia didn’t exactly know what she was looking for when it came to the Humans. The General might unknowingly be putting her in peril.
"You can't come with me?" Sariana asked Alicia.
"Well, we'd like to ask Ms. Parker a few questions too," the General answered. "You’ll just be in the next room. Here." The General stood up and opened the blinds on the window behind him. "Ms. Parker will be able to see you right through here. Okay?"
"Is that all right, Sariana?" Alicia asked.
She put on a brave face. "Yes. This is acceptable. Thank you."
The men took Sariana into the next room and Alicia watched as she was introduced to Ms. Hendrix. She had a seat at her desk and Alicia could see their dialogue. Everything appeared to be fine.
"It seems you've become quite attached to her," Milan noted.
"Yes. I have. She did something to me last night that I can't explain."
"What happened?"
"I realize that this is going to sound crazy...”
"Ms. Parker, these days, we're in the business of crazy," General Ramsey assured her.
"I had an out of body experience. She made this happen somehow...” Alicia explained the phenomenon from the night before. She did her best to recount the history that Sariana had made her privy to. She stopped short of pronouncing herself Queen of the insurgency. She didn’t want to appear to have a vested interest in the story and sacrifice whatever credibility she might have. For the moment, she reasoned, it wasn’t relevant.
"And you let her story get the better of you?" Charles asked.
"It’s not that," Alicia countered. "I believe her. Everyone she encounters feels some sort of kinship with her, even the soldiers who brought us here. It's bizarre to say the least."
"You said that you saw visions when she did this to you. What, specifically, did you see?" Milan asked.
"I don't know... a rush of things. Blood, a baby, a lot of stuff. Some sort of demon, I think. It was all so fast."
"You think we should take her seriously?" the General asked.
"If you had asked me that question 24 hours ago, I would have said no. General, it’s my job to see through bullshit. When Lindsay Lohan said that she was sober, I broke the story that she wasn’t. She caved with me. I don't think I'm crazy. I believe her."
Ms. Hendrix entered the room and put an open file in front of the General. "The girl is Grace Barlow, sixteen, of Muscle Shoals," Hendrix read. The men in the room shifted in their seats with the new information. Alicia, too, felt awkward. "Her parents and brother died in a car accident two weeks ago...”
Alicia felt herself turning a bit red. Once again, she questioned whether her initial instincts about the girl were correct. Was she just some crazy, traumatized teenager, distraught about the death of her family? Was it just the booze that had lured her into her world the night before? No, she assured herself, that wouldn’t explain the bug. That didn’t explain the girl sucking her soul out of her body. That happened. It really did.
"According to this, she died of a brain hemorrhage yesterday morning, but that's clearly incorrect intel."
Alicia looked through the window and saw the girl sitting on the couch, biting her nails as an armed guard stood nearby. She looked nervous and naive. Alicia was torn. Part of her wanted to take the girl and protect her from this scrutiny, another part of her wanted to strangle the little bitch. A lot still didn't add up.
"Well, unfortunately, Ms. Parker, this explains your dilemma." the General said. "Pretty cut and dry to me. As you initially suspected, the girl is mentally unstable."
"Wait a minute," said Alicia. She was becoming defensive. "This doesn't explain the out of body experience thing...”
"Ms. Parker...”
"Or the giant, fucking bug. What about that?"
"Ms. Parker, there have been a lot of unexplained things happening in recent days," the General started.
"Exactly! That's exactly what I'm talking about."
A soldier entered the room and handed the general a plastic bag and manila file folder. He began to look over the information as the soldier exited. Alicia drummed her fingers on the table and felt her temper rising.
"I think what the General is trying to say," said Charles "is that everyone deals with this sort of stress in their own way. It might manifest itself any number of ways. Have you considered that you might have been prone to believing these things were real or, perhaps exaggerated, because of this stress? A field reporter during a trying time like this is a very stressful job."
"That's bullshit. I didn't dream all of this. The knife; at least check the knife for DNA or something."
"We did, Ms. Parker," said the General, holding the file folder. "There's nothing unusual on it. Just the girl's finger prints. In fact, it was manufactured right here in the U.S.A., in West Virginia."
"But...”
"You said you don't have any footage of this supposed alien being...”
"I have another witness. We can get him on the phone."
"There’s still no proof. The body just disappeared?"
"Yes, it just fucking disappeared."
"You know, little lady, getting hostile only makes me want to listen to you less."
"Little lady? Seriously?"
"I think what the General means," Charles interrupted.
"I know what the fuck he means. I don't need a god-damned translator, Doctor." Alicia stood up. "You said she was dead. Isn't that what you said? Does she look dead to you?!"
"Unfortunately, this sort of thing happens all the time," Ms. Hendrix said calmly.
"What? How can you mistake someone for being dead? It doesn't happen all the time."
"The hospitals are incredibly busy right now. Record keeping isn't exactly at the top of their priority list. At least, that's what I'd chalk this up to. Obviously, she's alive." Ms. Hendrix held up a photo of the girl. It was a high school portrait. She looked exactly the same, except that she had braces in the photo.
"Okay, how come no one has recognized her?"
"What do you mean?"
"Her video is all over the web. She's been on national television over and over again. You're telling me that not one person has seen that video and said 'Holy shit, that's my dead niece'?"
"I'm sure someone will come forward, Ms. Parker," the General said. "Then, you'll no longer have the burden of caring for her. I'm sure that will be a relief."
Alicia took a deep breath and rubbed her eyes. Nothing felt right about this but she was beginning to feel out of options. Milan had been sitting quietly for quite some time. He was considering the implications of what the reporter described. Alicia turned her attention on him. "You've met me," she said to him. "Do I seem crazy to you?"
Milan quickly thought back to the only time he had previously met Alicia. He did think that she was a little nuts. "No," he nearly whispered.
"Good. One vote for I'm not bat-shit crazy."
"I do think that you need to consider...”
"I need to consider something? Listen, you people are perfectly content to accept the fact that there is a giant fucking hole in the sky and an alien talking to you on the radio but this doesn't even land on your radar?" There was no response from the group. "All right. So, what now?"
"You can go if you like," said the General. "You're not under arrest."
Ms. Hendrix went into her office and retrieved the girl. She entered, looking innocent as ever, aware that an argument had taken place but unaware that it had centered on her credibility. Alicia had a final thought.
"Sariana, do the thing," she said.
"The thing?'
"Rip their souls out. Do it."
"But... I... can't," the girl stammered.
"You can't do it now or yo
u can't do it at all?"
"I don't understand."
"That thing you did to me last night was it real or did I dream that?"
"You gave me permission to do that...”
“What? No I didn’t. You just did it.”
“The Grand Revelation, left to my Father, allowed for me to do this under dire circumstances.”
"So you say. You can't do it without permission?"
"That's right."
"Okay, who wants their soul ripped out?" Alicia asked the room. Perhaps understandably, no one immediately volunteered. "It'll just take a second." Still no answer. "Fine. Sariana, I give you permission to mind fuck them. Go ahead."
"Ms. Parker!" the General said, losing his temper.
"It doesn't work that way," the girl said.
Alicia grabbed the file folder that sat in front of the General and read from it. "You are Grace Barlow. You're sixteen years old. You were born and raised in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. You attend Muscle Shoals High School. Oh! You're on the Dean's List. Congratulations...”
"No...” the girl protested.
Alicia held up the picture. "Is this not you?"
"Ms. Parker shouldn't this be a conversation you have in private?" the General asked.
"This is my vessel," the girl said, now clearly nervous, referring to her body.
"Your vessel?" Alicia asked suspiciously.
"Yes. I know that I mentioned this.” Sariana thought for a moment. “Didn’t I?”
“Yeah, no, this didn’t come up. Like, at all.”
“It was the only way I could cross."
"You thought that the best way to cross dimensions was to inhabit the body of a dead girl?"
It was becoming clear to the girl that Alicia doubted her again. "That’s how it works...”
"So, when I supposedly planned this meeting between you and I, it never occurred to anybody that you being recognized as a dead chick might be a bit of a fly in the fucking ointment?! Better yet, this little detail didn't strike you as relevant to tell me before we arrived here?"
"You were supposed to wake up.” Sariana was starting to get angry herself.
"You know something, Grace Barlow or Sariana or whoever the hell you are? This mission you're on from another dimension? You suck at it!"
Ascension: Invocation Page 16
