The Alpha Choice

by M. D. Hall

  Sitting in one of the chairs was a woman, although, to say a woman would be an understatement. She was the woman a man might dream of, but cannot recall when he wakes. He knows, in his dream, that she is the perfect woman, without knowing why. Yes, she is physically perfect, as many women are, but there is something else about her, beyond his capacity to describe. Upon waking, there is a fleeting moment when the memory remains, but it fades, and too quickly is gone. Well, this was like not waking from that dream.

  Without seeming to move, he was sitting in the other chair, his host looking at him with an impassive face.

  She spoke, and the sound of her voice was the most mellifluous, serene sound he had ever heard. He knew she was speaking in English, but he had no idea what she was saying. Later, he tried to remember those initial words, but they remained out of reach.

  Instantly, his perception of the woman altered, while she was still unutterably beautiful, the ethereal woman of his dreams was gone. He felt at once, both loss and relief, the loss of waking from the dream, the relief of again being in control.

  She was fair skinned and fine featured, with long brown hair swept back and held in place by something he could not see. Her eyes were unlike any he had ever seen, electric blue suffused the entirety of her eyes, not just the iris and pupil, but also the sclera.

  Dressed in a simple, yet elegant white robe, she wore no adornments such as rings, necklaces or bracelets; her feet, like his were bare. She put him in mind of a faultless classical sculpture and, like a sculpture he realised what was missing. Her expression was unreadable, those same wondrous eyes gave her the cold, emotionless appearance of a statue.

  When she next spoke, her voice had changed, the earlier dreamlike quality gone, her voice was now flat, conveying no more emotion than her eyes. ‘I did not appreciate the effect my appearance would have upon you, and have,’ she paused briefly, as if deciding what to say next, ‘adjusted your perception of me. I need you to be fully aware of what is happening.’

  ‘My what?’ was the only response he was able to muster.

  ‘You need to be patient whilst I show you some things which will, shock and even frighten you. Then, when I have your full attention, I must tell you something.’

  ‘Why not just tell me now?’ he asked.

  ‘Because,’ she replied, ‘you are confused, and I need to gently introduce you to what you need to know.’

  She had a point. While, deep down, he knew he was not in a dream, this reality was just as strange.

  ‘It seems,’ he looked around the room and, returning his gaze to the woman opposite, tapped one of his temples with his fingers, ‘that you're more than capable of planting that information right here.’

  The impassiveness of her face remained unbroken. ‘Manipulation is something we try to avoid. We believe in the free exercise of will. Occasionally, there are times, as you have just experienced, when it is necessary to make adjustments, but we try to limit such incidents.’

  ‘We?’

  She ignored the question.

  ‘Where am I?’ he asked, looking around the room before returning his gaze to the woman. ‘Why have you brought me here?’

  ‘You are one of a small number of your race who fit the necessary criteria.’

  ‘My race? What criteria?’

  ‘In time, it will be explained to you. As to your first question, you are no longer on your planet.’

  This last statement, however outlandish, did not surprise him, and once again that worried him.

  ‘So, I’m on a space ship?’ he asked.

  ‘No,’ she replied, without elaborating.

  ‘And you are?’

  ‘A Custodian.’

  ‘What’s a Custodian?’

  She did not reply.

  ‘I’m Jon.’

  ‘I know,’ she replied, matter-of-factly.

  ‘And you are?’

  Silence.

  When it became obvious that no reply was to be forthcoming, he pressed the point. ‘You must have a name.’

  ‘My kind have no need for names.’

  ‘Then how do you address each other?’

  ‘Without the need for names.’

  ‘Well, that’s no good. I’ll give you a name.’ He looked at the strange woman, and had no idea what to call her. What name could he give to a being like this? What could possibly suit what she appeared to be, never mind what she actually was? Then it came to him, the one thing she wasn’t was plain. He thought his choice was just the tiniest bit ironic. ‘Jane, that’s what I’ll call you, unless you have any objections.’

  She maintained her silence, neither approving, nor disapproving. He decided it was time he moved on. ‘I don’t understand any of this. I’m sure you’ve made a mistake,’ in the absence of a response he continued. ‘You can’t just take someone against their will,’ he knew the argument was feeble, as she had clearly demonstrated she could do just that.

  The woman stood up, and he automatically did the same. Stepping towards him she extended one of her hands, and he took it, without hesitation. Her touch was light, her skin soft and cool; she then walked him towards the wall he had passed through earlier. Unlike before, it only took seconds to cover the distance, and she did not stop upon reaching the wall. Despite his certainty that nothing untoward would befall him, he closed his eyes. Opening them, he expected to find himself back in the first room, and was surprised to be standing in the middle of a circular floor, covered by an opaque dome.

  ‘Do not be afraid of what you are about to see, you are in no danger.’

  Immediately, the dome became crystal clear, and directly before him, filling the whole width of his vision, so that he had to turn his head to see beyond it, was - he knew, without knowing why - the Sun. He could look directly into it without any discomfort, and was about to ask how this could be, when she said. ‘The fields emanating from this structure prevent any harm befalling you. The heat is dissipated, and the light is filtered, so as to be safe.’

  He usually fell victim to motion sickness quite easily, which is why he avoided boats and reading when a passenger in a car, but now, when he should already be feeling disoriented, he felt fine. In fact, he felt better than fine. He had pulled a muscle in his right thigh, when lifting Roger from the restaurant floor, nothing serious but definitely uncomfortable and still aching when he went to bed. Now, it felt perfectly normal and that, he knew, had nothing to do with any field.

  His chance to ask for an explanation disappeared when two chairs appeared beside them, identical to those in the other room. Jane motioned for him to sit on one as she, elegantly lowered herself into the other, before saying, in her matter of fact voice. ‘We are positioned in a close orbit around the stellar mass you call the Sun.’

  The normal reaction would be to panic, but what he was experiencing was far beyond anything he imagined as normal, and he had the inescapable feeling that his natural instincts had, courtesy of the woman opposite, been suspended, altered somehow. So it was, that instead of freaking out, he asked the perfectly rational question. ‘I’ve asked you what you are, but you seem unhappy with the question’

  ‘Not at all, but I must caution you that most of what you are about to hear, will be incredible. Your instinct will be to disbelieve what I tell you.’

  He had no answer to this. What would top what he had already seen?

  Jane began. ‘We monitor the actions of less developed races. Some time ago it was realised that, in addition to the natural order of things, there was a need for limited intervention in relations between sentient beings, at certain stages of their evolution. It is not uncommon for technically advanced species to prey on weaker beings,’ Jon’s surprise must have been obvious. ‘Your species is already well versed in this practice, and so the knowledge that others behave in the same way should not be a surprise to you,’ she did not wait for a response. ‘This presented us with a dichotomy. As I have already informed you, we prize the exercise of free will, yet abhor th
e cruelty and violence we see, when some races are left completely to their own devices. It was decided that we would only intervene indirectly, in limited circumstances. Accordingly, we developed rules governing involvement of emergent sentient races in the affairs of those who are non-emergent. Those rules must be adhered to strictly, and apply equally to ourselves.

  ‘Your race has already been visited by an emergent species.’

  Jon knew all about the Te, and what they had done in the last three years. Without them, even if the asteroid incident had not occurred, it was generally believed, mankind would have continued on a downward spiral towards an inevitable, and hastened destruction. From all he had heard, seen and read, he had to agree. The Te had saved the human race from almost certain extinction.

  He was also familiar with the term non-emergent species. Once the presence of the Te had become public knowledge, it had been discussed in newspapers, television and cyberspace, ad nauseam. Unpleasant thoughts began to form in his head.

  ‘You are confused. Despite the questions you must have, I need to show you something,’ and with that she stood up and walked back towards the same wall. She paused, and turned to him. ‘Come.’

  He approached, and once again took the proffered hand. Jane exerted little or no pressure, almost as though she was holding a small bird. At once, he felt relaxed and reassured, and not at all concerned with what might happen.

  ‘I need your mind to be uncluttered.’

  Once again, she took them through the wall. This time he found himself standing on a balcony overlooking the most beautiful city he could imagine.

  Δ ∞

  The city appeared to consist almost entirely of spires, and tapering buildings growing taller towards the centre. A short distance beyond the edge of the city were smaller buildings, clustered in large groups, he took to be suburbs, interspersed with parkland and woods.

  He looked around three hundred and sixty degrees. The balcony - at least it looked like a balcony - was suspended high above ground, with no visible means of support. Behind him was an ancient mountain range, while to his left and right were rolling pastures that stretched as far as the eye could see. Turning back to the front, he looked a short distance beyond the city, at a beautiful coastal bay bordering a stunning turquoise sea.

  The buildings in the suburbs were in the fashion of late Italian Renaissance Villas, all of a similar style, but varying sizes, mimicking on a smaller scale the trend within the city to grow larger towards the centre. Everywhere, between the buildings, he could see walkways, manicured gardens, fountains, ponds, and grassed recreational areas.

  Moving out, beyond the suburbs, were meadows containing covered oblong areas with no clue as to what they were for.

  It struck him that there were no roads, but he could see figures walking around the suburbs, and from this distance it was just possible to make out they were human. There were flying craft, oval in shape with no obvious means of propulsion. They were small enough to be for personal use, and were traversing the suburbs in predetermined patterns, as though on invisible rails, while others were entering the city, also in orderly patterns. Some of the craft were motionless, either in mid-air, next to upper storey entrances, or just above the ground.

  Every building was the colour of amethyst and, once again, he was tempted to think he was dreaming. As thick clouds passed overhead, putting the city in shade, the colour of all the buildings changed to sunflower yellow. I wouldn't be surprised if the whole place glowed at night, he thought.

  Obviously, this was not Earth and, as though to banish any residual doubt, he saw pale images of three moons hanging in one quadrant of the sky. They appeared to be of different sizes, or perhaps different distances from the planet. One, the largest/nearest had a faint ring around its circumference.

  The sun of this planet was still some distance above the opposite horizon, where it had started its descent towards the range of ancient weathered hills. It seemed about twice the size of his Sun, but did not produce uncomfortable heat, rather a balmy late afternoon with a soft breeze he could feel on his skin.

  As he turned to Jane, she answered his unasked question. ‘There is no need for any protective shield here.’

  He diverted his attention to the city below and saw people walking through a park, near to one of the suburbs, who grew closer as the balcony moved down and forwards, like the zoom lens on a camera.

  When it was no more than a stone’s throw from a dozen men, women and children, the balcony stopped. The group appeared to be totally unaware of its presence, as one of the men threw a ball towards them, which landed on the grass just below where Jon was standing. A little girl, around nine years old, ran forward, picked up the ball then ran back to the group, giving no indication that she had noticed anything untoward.

  He looked at his companion who responded. ‘In order to remain unnoticed, we have phased ourselves slightly out of temporal synchronisation. Thus, whilst we can make adjustments to see and hear them, they cannot hear, see or touch us. What you have just seen is an illustration of that.’

  ‘I thought, for a moment, this might be your home,’ he said.

  ‘No,’ was her only reply, before she turned around. When he followed her lead, he nearly fell over. What he saw before him was horrific. Instinctively, he turned, to look once again on the idyllic scene behind him, but it was gone. The balcony was surrounded by a scene of such despair and sadness, it could have been a medieval artist's vision of Hell.

  All around were short, immensely broad, humanoid creatures wearing tattered loin cloths. Their skin was filthy and appeared, below the grime, to be olive green. Each of the creatures had two eyes, positioned to either side of the head. Their arms were disproportionally long, with large hands. There were slightly slimmer versions, with less course features, that he took to be females - there were no other visual clues as to sexuality - who were with, what he took to be, juveniles.

  All of them were carrying huge boulders of a grey, clay like substance to stations where they fed them into, what Jon guessed to be, processing machines; he was unable to see what happened to the processed boulders.

  It was night, and the only light came from globes, floating in the air above the route these unfortunate creatures laboured along. The road, or what he took to be a road, was roughly fashioned and as the light from the globes was directed downwards, it was impossible for him to make out, with any clarity, what lay beyond; there were silhouettes of what appeared to be hills, against a lighter area he took to be sky, but nothing more.

  Hearing a cry, he turned back to see a male juvenile trip - losing his purchase on the boulder he carried - and fall, striking his head on a large rock. He moaned and barely moved. The nearest female dropped the boulder she was carrying, and moved forward to aid the young one. A tall, slim humanoid figure, dressed from head to foot in a shiny black suit with a close fitting helmet, stepped out of the shadows, the face of the newcomer was obscured by the helmet’s black visor.

  The suited figure raised a gloved hand, which emitted a silent flash. Instantly, the injured youngster was enveloped in searing white light and, seconds later, when the light faded, he was gone, leaving only a scorch mark on the ground.

  The female stopped in her tracks. For a moment Jon was sure she would rush at the killer. Instead, she returned to retrieve her boulder, shouldering it with great difficulty, before resuming her march to the processing station.

  The scene disappeared and Jon was, once again, sitting in the observation room with its view of the Sun.

  Δ ∞

  He found it impossible to articulate his feelings, but eventually the fog of emotion began to clear from his mind, she’s shown me these two extremes to make a point, but what is it?

  Try as he might, he failed to blot out the image of the brutal murder he had just witnessed, but he felt the two scenes were linked. One showed an idyllic, peaceful society, while the other, a subjugated race. Beyond the message that what befell the smal
l slave creatures could become the fate of the city people, it made no sense.

  Jane had told him that advanced races were prohibited from attacking non-evolved species. The people with loincloths were not on the same evolved level as those he had seen near the city and should have been safe, by her own admission.

  After some time, he gave up. ‘I'm sorry, I don’t get the point.’

  ‘Make a guess,’ she replied.

  Despite the moment, or perhaps because of it, he was prompted to say. ‘I thought your people liked order, guessing doesn’t seem to fit with that!’

  ‘I will not be guessing, you will.’

  ‘Alright, at a guess, I’d say you're telling me that we could end up like those slaves, but what I don’t understand is the significance of the first images.’

  ‘You will understand, if you think about what you saw,’ she replied.

  She was wrong, he had no idea, then it hit him like a stone. In his pre Nathalie existence he led a fairly cloistered life, interrupted only by occasional forays to places like Paris and Florence. Even now, it was only Nathalie who dragged him away from his otherwise, humdrum life-style, and so the changes brought about by the Te, before their presence was announced three months ago, had less impact on him than most. He had yet to fly in one of the new AG ships that were quickly replacing the, soon to be outmoded, jet engine. For most people, the replacement was not quick enough. He had seen AG ships, on TV and also taking off/landing when he took Nathalie to the airport, and had to admit, they were beautiful…the ships in the first image were Te’an! From that realisation, the rest was easy. ‘The first image you showed me was the Te’an home planet, Te’ath. The second, the nightmare planet, the figure in black…it was Te’an,’ Jane said nothing, and so he continued, ‘those people were enslaved by the Te, and that’s what our visitors intend doing with us.’