by Mike Luoma
BC begins looking through his choices as he settles in to watch, rest and wait for the Eldred leader. He drifts off watching a vid.
As he starts to sleep, a familiar throbbing begins behind his temples. Oh no! Not now! Not here! Not…
BC winces in pain. He curls up into a fetal ball on the bed. The pain is more intense, more insistent, more pounding, pounding, pounding on his brain!
Suddenly, everything shrinks down to a pinpoint. BC feels still, calm. His world begins to open up and expand. The walls fall away.
What? Where? Where am I?
IN THE CENTER, IN TOUCH WITH THE ALL THAT IS ONE
Oh… sure I am.
BC walks across an infinite ocean: a still, calm sea. The other voice echoes in from nowhere and everywhere, not heard by ears but heard, all the same.
YOU ARE CLOSE, NOW, SO, SO CLOSE. NEW ENERGY! FRESH ENERGY! YET
DIFFERENT! MIND UNAWARE, UNAWAKE? AWAKE! AWAKEN! LOOSED FROM THE
CONFINES OF CENTURIES SLUMBER! REACHING OUT!
BC is suddenly hit by another wave of pounding, crashing pain in his skull. He cannot tell if his eyes are opened or closed: All he sees is red. He feels the bed beneath him again. His head slowly stops exploding, and he drifts off into dreamless sleep.
Despite the headache and the bizarre dream, BC wakes up refreshed the next morning. I think it’s morning. I’m not quite sure what the day/night cycle is on this planet. Seems pretty close to Earth by what the room was saying last night.
“Room?” BC calls out.
“Yes, BC?”
“When is my appointment with the leader?” he asks.
“Whenever you are ready to go see him, BC,” the room informs him.
“Okay. Should I eat before I go?” BC asks.
“I cannot answer that question, BC,” the room tells him. “There is food for you, a planned meal at the leader’s later today, but it is a few hours until that occasion. They are not as well prepared to attend to your needs as we are here.”
“Is that pride I hear in your voice, room?” BC asks.
“Simple statement of fact, BC. This room was designed to take care of you. The leader’s home is not.”
“So, I’ll need to put the suit on again, then, won’t I?” BC says.
“Absolutely, BC, but they will have a room ready for you at the leader’s, so you will not have to continue to wear the environment suit the whole time you are there,” the room informs him.
“I see. Thank you, room. Is there a refresher attached to this room?”
“There is a full water shower closet here,” the room says, and a door opens in the wall opposite the table.
“Great!” BC says. “Then I should be ready to go in about an hour. I’m going to hop in the shower. Room, could you get me some breakfast? Something normal and human.”
“Are pancakes agreeable?”
“Sure,” BC agrees. “I’ll eat when I get done with the shower, after I get dressed.”
BC luxuriates in the hot, steamy, real water shower.
I wonder if it is a luxury here? Water might be plentiful. Either that or I’m getting the royal treatment!
He gets out, grabs a towel to dry himself. He notices the mirror and the window of the room have fogged over. He wipes them off, but they fog back up immediately.
Damn. No fan.
Without thinking, BC cracks open the window. Steam rushes out and cool air flows in. Fuck! What am I doing?
BC slams the window back down.
Stupid, stupid, stupid, BC! That’s directly outside! Could poison my…
Wait a minute. All I smell is cool, clean air. Could be an odorless, colorless toxin, I suppose. No way to analyze it, though. Let’s see if I fall over.
BC realizes he’s been holding his breath.
Heh! Well, let’s go.
BC sucks in a diaphragm-expanding lungload of air and closes his eyes. He exhales, breathes deep again.
Okay. So far, so good.
BC looks at the window.
The window didn’t seem to be especially sealed. I just opened it with a normal push. Frozen by indecision, BC stands staring at the window for a full minute, maybe two. He finally caves in to his curiosity and opens the window again. He puts his face right up to it and takes a deep breath of the outside air. He waits.
One minute.
Two minutes.
BC, wearing only a towel, stands leaning over at the window, breathing in the air for a full five minutes.
Five minutes!
And nothing!
“BC you shouldn’t be doing this. The window is open!” the room finally cautions him. BC straightens up from the windowsill.
“Oh really? The shower room steamed up,” BC says innocently.
“I was told you were not to be exposed to the outside environment,” the room tells BC.
“Room, are there any special filters in place on the air systems that lead into this room?” BC quizzes the room.
“I really cannot answer any questions along that line of inquiry,” the room says, voice stiff, formal and mechanical.
I just bet you can’t! Can’t have the babysitter giving away any secrets now, can we?
“You are running short of time. Your transport will soon be here to take you to the leader’s residence,” the room informs him.
“You’re trained to change the subject, huh?” BC quips, “Pretty advanced AI.”
“Thank you,” the room says. “Please close the window.”
BC complies with the room’s request. He finds his clothes and dresses for his meeting with the Eldred leader, deep in thought.
The air outside is fine. Unless there’s something in it that’s harmful low level and long term. But then why worry about a quick visit? They seemed fine in our air back at the base! If there was a strange compound or substance in their air, wouldn’t they be likely to need to breathe it on some level?
Maybe they think this will help keep me under control, limit my mobility – keep me boxed up in my room.
“You should get into your atmosphere suit now, BC. The transport is arriving at the front door. Your escort will soon be here,” the room informs him.
“Right, thanks,” BC says.
I don’t like being kept boxed up in a room! I won’t put up with being kept in a large closet. Not again!
BC suits up, but leaves his suit’s helmet just slightly unsealed.
Okay. Let’s see what gives. Hope it’s not my lungs.
“They are outside the door,” the room says. “If you are ready, I will open the door.”
“Go ahead,” BC says.
His Eldred escort stands outside, including the tallest Eldred BC has yet seen, nearly his own height.
“Bernard Campion. We are here to take you to the eldest of the Eldred,” the tall one says.
“Great! Thank you,” BC says.
“Follow me to the transport,” the tall one says.
He turns and walks away, not looking back. BC has to scramble a little to keep up. Two more Eldred
“escorts” fall in behind BC as he walks behind the tall one. They go back through the courtyard and out the front door to the street to a waiting silver transport.
“Please get in,” The tall one says to BC, stepping to the side. BC complies with his request. This transport is roomier inside than the last one.
The tall Eldred gets into the transport and sits down beside him.
“The trip will not be long,” the Eldred tells him as the transport door seals and disappears. The transport floats up and away from BC’s building and then whisks them down several “blocks”. It turns, flits down another half a block, and then descends in front of another non-descript silver box of a building. Only this building’s immense size distinguishes it from other buildings in the city in any way. Big place! Looks a little more worn on the corners, maybe a little older. Or maybe I’m hallucinating! Wouldn’t that be something: the reason we can’t breathe their air is that it makes us
trip!
Nah… Anita never mentioned that. I think she’d know something like that. I don’t actually feel at all funny or different or lightheaded. No ill effects. And none of them have noticed the unsealed helmet.
The outline of the door once again appears in the wall of the transport next to the tall Eldred. The door opens up. The alien exits the transport and steps to the side so BC can get out. BC steps out of the transport and looks up, taking in the height of the building. Impressive.
“Bernard Campion, please, follow me,” the tall Eldred says. He turns and leads BC into the big building.
This building’s interior is a hectic contrast to the plain interior of the other Eldred building BC has been inside.
BC walks into a large, open lobby area. Numerous Eldred slink through the space in front of him on unknown errands. They carefully pass inches away from each other as they quickly dart through the lobby on their way to other parts of the building.
His escort commands respect. As he leads BC through the lobby, the passing Eldred part before him and BC, letting them pass by unmolested.
Like a blue koala Moses parting a blue koala sea! Heh, could be a song in there somewhere!
When they reach the other side of the lobby, a large, rounded door opens in front of them. They continue on through the door into a section of the building that is clearly older. They walk down a corridor rounded like the door, walls bowing out at their center.
Walking down a tube. Kinda reminds me of old Lunar Prime. Or a ship. Like their ship! Man, look at how worn it is!
You just know this place is ancient.
Looks like they built the bigger building around an older one. Or maybe an old ship?
They arrive at another rounded door at the end of the corridor. The tall Eldred escort steps to the side as the door opens. He motions for BC to go on ahead of him.
“What? Me first?” BC asks.
“I will not be following you into the place of the eldest of the Eldred,” the tall one says.
“Only those who are summoned may attend the eldest. I have not been summoned. You have been summoned. Be honored, Bernard Campion. The eldest does not receive many visitors. Go on. Go in.”
“Thank you,” BC says with a nod. He walks into the dimly lit “place of the eldest of the Eldred” and the door slurps shut behind him.
Slurp? That’s not right! Sounds wet. The air is humid and damp, too. Why is that not encouraging?
BC’s eyes adjust to see he’s standing on the edge of a large, round and domed empty room. A big room full of nothing and no one.
Slick gray walls.
They look kinda wet, too.
Not that I want to touch them and find out.
A door slurps open across the room from BC. A small, hunched Eldred shuffles in towards BC. Small like the other was tall. He does look old. And even more like a koala!
Do koala bears bite?
BC nods as the Eldred approaches. The Eldred does not acknowledge him, but instead shuffles past BC to sit down in a gray chair that had not been there before.
Where the fuck did that come from?
The floor?
Finally, after sitting down and settling, the Eldred nods back at BC.
“Please,” the Eldred says in a clear voice, “remove the atmosphere suit and sit down.” He indicates another gray chair that has appeared next to BC.
“Thank you,” BC says.
Funny. I thought he would sound “older”, somehow.
He looks old.
“You are welcome,” the Eldred says.
BC takes off the unsealed helmet and the rest of the suit. He sits down. The air still kinda smells like lavender.
Definitely damp in here.
“I have been eagerly awaiting a chance to speak with you,” the eldest of the Eldred tells BC. Really? What, “Say, how are you liking our attempted genocide? It’s quite something, isn’t it?”
“I have also looked forward to meeting and speaking with you and your race,” BC tells the eldest of the Eldred. “I have only recently learned of your existence. I’ve been learning a lot, lately,” BC says with a smile.
Try to be diplomatic! Remember diplomacy, BC?
“I understand you are the leader of one of your human ‘religions’?” the Eldred asks.
“Yes, I am,” BC admits. “The circumstances that have made me the leader have been extraordinary, however. I must caution you that were it not for the plague that has wiped out so many of my kind, I would not be in this position today.”
Sounding good, BC. Humble, even. And reminding him why I’m here.
“I see,” the Eldred says. “But you do lead. Today.”
“Yes,” BC answers.
“I would like to speak to you, then, about your human ‘religion’. We have never encountered anything like it before.”
“What, nothing like Christianity?” BC asks, a little confused.
“No,” the Eldred tries to clarify. “Nothing like ‘religion’. You humans are the first race we have ever encountered that attributes powers and personalities to other beings, invisible beings, or greater consciousness larger than yourselves. It is quite fascinating.”
“Really? No other race has ever believed in God?” BC asks, incredulous.
“‘God’?” the Eldred asks, puzzled for a moment. “Oh, yes, ‘God’ is one of your names for this ‘power’, isn’t it?”
“One of our names for it,” BC confirms.
“Yes, you do seem to have many names for this power. And many disagreements between you over what the name should be. We see that you kill each other over your disagreements.”
“Some do. This is true,” BC admits. “But most humans are content to worship God in their own way.”
“I have not seen this to be true,” the eldest of the Eldred says, disagreeing with BC. “The humans who call the power ‘Allah’ want to kill you who call it ‘God’, do they not? We have observed your war!”
The Eldred nearly lectures BC.
“But enough of your differences,” the Eldred says, turning away from discussing the war. “Your race still seeks this ‘higher power’, as some of you call it. Your race seems drawn to some concept of a greater, more powerful whole. You are unique among the races because of this belief.
“I want to know why this is.”
Well, of course! That’s an easy one! Why do we believe? It’s like this, see? It’s ‘cause…
“That’s an interesting question,” BC says, stalling for time as he thinks of what to say. We could discuss religion all day! Rather cut to the chase.
“An interesting question,” BC says, trying not to sound sarcastic.
Don’t know if they’d appreciate or even understand my sarcasm.
“You know, we humans have been trying to figure that question out for as long as we’ve been able to ask it,” BC tells the eldest of the Eldred. “And we could spend a long time, you and I, discussing the human need for religion. That would be a fun discussion, I’m sure. We can do that right after we first discuss why someone is trying to wipe out the human race.
“That’s why I’m here, actually. All the signs point to you, the Eldred, as the agents of our attempted genocide.”
So much for diplomacy.
“Hmmph,” the Eldred lets out a little grunt and shifts in its seat.
He almost looks uncomfortable! I know I shouldn’t put human traits onto an alien, but, damn!
His actions sure do look familiar.
“You are quite direct,” the Eldred tells BC. “It is, in some ways, all connected. Genocide, you say?”
“The plague now killing my people?” BC prompts. “We believe an Eldred agent introduced it into the human population during a covert trip to the Moon. Under the escort of The Project. We have further reason to believe that you introduced a similar plague to kill Van Kilner of The Project,” BC accuses the Eldred.
“I see,” the eldest of the Eldred says.
“We’re ni
nety-nine percent sure it was the Eldred,” BC tells him. “I’m here for one reason: to find out why. Why kill us all?”
The eldest of the Eldred remains quiet for a few minutes, apparently lost in thought. BC is about to speak up to prod him back into conversation when the Eldred finally speaks.
“If I do not accept the premise that underlies your question,” the Eldred explains, “I cannot answer the question itself.”
“‘If’ you don’t accept my premise?” BC says, pointing out the framing of the Eldred’s response. “I heard that ‘if’! Do you deny that your people have engaged in genocide, or not?”
“Well, yes, I see. You see,” The eldest of the Eldred pauses, tries to answer carefully. “We may have, er,
‘exploited’ a certain weakness, triggered an inherent flaw in your species as an, er, control mechanism, as it were.”
Must restrain the urge to snap the ancient fuzzy little blue koala neck!
“Inherent flaw?” BC manages to ask normally, keeping his voice under control despite his growing anger.
“Well, er, yes, you see,” the eldest of the Eldred shifts in his seat again, almost squirming. “We have been, er, watching you. Observing your race. For quite some time. Longer than you know,” the Eldred says with a knowing nod.
Trying to play wise man.
“We could not help but see that your race is, well, quite dangerous,” the Eldred tells BC.
“Dangerous?” BC asks almost involuntarily.
“You kill each other quite a lot, you must admit,” the Eldred insists. “What you say the Eldred have done… is that any different?”
“Who are you to judge us?! Who are you to exterminate us?!” BC shouts. He realizes he’s stood up in his anger.
The Eldred cowers, pulling back into its chair, “Even now you show the signs of your human hostility,”
the Eldred tells BC. “I had hoped for a less hostile exchange!”
BC sits back down and tries to calm himself.
“So, what, then? Did you agree to meet me here to ask one of us some questions before you wiped us out entirely?” BC spits out. “Question me then kill me?”
“Never!” the Eldred says, standing up to face BC, pulling itself up to all five feet of its height. “We do not kill!” he says, staring up at BC defiantly.
