Karak Contact

by Ruby Ryan

  "I SAID DROP IT!" I repeated, and this time he obeyed. The gun clattered to the snow.

  Both men remained frozen, their hands in the air. Waiting for my command.

  I relaxed a fraction, but no more than that.

  "Stay right there." I moved quickly from the window, unlocking the front door and striding out into the cold. My bare feet protested at walking on the frozen snow, but that was far from a concern just then. I approached the men, stopping when I was ten feet away.

  I squinted. "Liam? Liam Jones?"

  The chubby man nodded, and removed the beanie from his head. His brother, Max, did the same, and I recognized them then. They looked just like they had in Andy's store yesterday, though a touch more scared. Stupid conspiracy theorists.

  I lowered the shotgun a few degrees, but no more than that.

  "You two are lucky I didn't blow a hole in you wide enough to spit through," I muttered, trying to steady my breath. "What in the sweet fuck are you doin' snooping around my cabin like a pair of redneck ninjas?"

  Both of them kept their hands in the air. "You, uhh, ain't gunna shoot us?" Max asked.

  I lowered my gun until it pointed directly at the ground. "I was gunna ask the same of you. What were you carrying there?"

  Slowly, after asking my permission with a gesture, Liam leaned down and picked up the black object. Up close I could see that it was more of an antenna than a gun, with wires running down what I'd thought was the barrel. I'd nearly killed them because of a fucking toy. A shiver went up my spine.

  "This is an EMF and EVP meter," Liam explained, as if that made any goddamn sense to me. He stiffened with pride. "These are the tools we used to snoop out the ghosts in Andy's old barn."

  "Wow," I said patronizingly. "Well I hate to break it to you, but there aren't any ghosts on my property. No barns, neither. Just little old me."

  And Eric, naked in my bed with a cock as hard as this shotgun.

  The two brothers looked at one another. "See, here's the thing," Max said.

  "Our equipment disagrees," Liam added.

  Max bobbed his head in a nod. "That's right. But it's not ghosts we're--"

  He cut off as his brother elbowed him. They looked awkward for a few seconds.

  "We'd like you ask you a few questions," Liam said carefully. "Do you consent to our inquiries?"

  "Consent to your inquiries?" I barked a laugh. "Good lord you two. If you've got a question, ask it, but make it quick because I'm freezing my toes off out here."

  "Mind if we go inside, then?" Liam asked.

  "As a matter of fact, I do mind. Right here's just fine."

  Liam handed his EMF whatever to his brother and pulled out a notepad and pencil as if he were a beat cop from a 1950s TV show. "Have you seen any strange lights in the sky recently? Specifically, in the past 72 hours?"

  "What, like flying ghosts? That's a mighty bit scarier than regular old ghosts. Glad you boys are here to help me."

  They stared at me, blank-faced.

  "No, I haven't seen anything like that," I muttered.

  "Are you certain?" Max insisted. "No blinding lights? Like a shooting star, only closer?"

  "I'm sure I would remember if I had."

  Liam scribbled something in his notepad.

  "It sounds like you're asking if I've seen a UFO." I snorted to let them know what I thought about that.

  Both of their eyes widened, but then they visibly tried to relax. Tried, and failed. It was like I'd wafted catnip in front of a herd of kittens.

  "What made you use that term, Jo?" Max asked carefully. "Have you seen something?"

  I rolled my eyes. "Good lord, I was only reacting to your questions."

  "What about strange men?" Liam blurted. "Or women, I suppose. But a stranger, not from around here, acting abnormal."

  I opened my mouth to laugh at him, then stopped.

  Eric.

  Eric was the goddamn definition of a strange man. Appeared out of nowhere in the middle of the night, looking like a cut-and-pasted copy of my book cover. And there was that bright light I thought I'd seen, a few feet tall in the middle of the road...

  But that was silly. Eric acted strange because I'd hit him with my car, had rung his bell so bad he barely knew who he was.

  The Jones brothers instantly recognized my hesitation. "Who's been here, Jo?" Max said, stepping forward. "You can tell us. We'll protect you."

  "Protect me with what, your plastic radio antennas?" I barked another laugh. "Nobody's been here. It's just me, like it's always been."

  Liam's eyes narrowed like he'd caught me.

  "We spied two sets of unique boot prints along your driveway. Care to explain that?"

  I shrugged one shoulder in annoyance. "Probably just Leslie come out to check on me."

  Liam flipped his notepad back two pages. "Actually, these boot prints were approximately size eleven. Most likely a man."

  "I'd love to watch you tell Leslie to her face that she's got dainty lady feet," I joked. But of course they were right: the prints were Eric's, wearing Fred's old boots.

  "We found these identical prints farther up the road, traveling into the woods and back." Max look at the ground and shifted his feet. "We, uhh, found something there yesterday."

  "Something very interesting," Liam added.

  "How far up the road?" I asked. "Still on my property? Because I'll happily let this misunderstanding here slide, on account of I very nearly shot you both, but if you've been snoopin' around the rest of my property without my permission then we're gunna have a problem." I pointed at them with a cold finger. "Now, I know Leslie's warned you two about doing some such nonsense around other pieces of land. If I call her and tell her what you've been doing, I doubt she'll be lenient this time."

  Liam stepped forward, eyes so intense that I almost raised my shotgun. "You can't hide it from us, Joanna. We have the craft itself. Whoever you're hiding, all you have to do is turn them in and we'll be out of your way. You have a responsibility to the human race."

  The human race? Craft? Good God, these two were nutjobs. And I was at the end of my patience. "Whatever you say. I'll take that under consideration, thank you very much."

  But neither of them moved.

  "If you've nothing to hide, then you won't mind us taking a look around your cabin?" Max raised his electronic toy, and I saw the lights on the end begin blinking rapidly. That excited him for a heartbeat, before he covered it up. "We'll be quick. Just a simple look around, then we'll be out of your hair."

  "You'll do no such thing." I raised the shotgun lazily across my body, and stood up straight. "Time for you two to leave. And I will be making that call to Leslie."

  They looked like they wanted to argue. Like I was a blockade they would not accept--hell, they looked like they wanted to jump me, even though I had a shotgun and they had plastic toys. But then the courage drained from Liam's face, and he grabbed his brother by the arm.

  "You can't hide forever," he said, picking up the other device from the ground. "The truth always comes out."

  They retreated down my driveway, an urgency to their shuffling steps.

  *

  I watched them until they disappeared in the distant woods and feet began to ache from the cold, then finally turned to go back inside.

  What the actual fuck? The Jones boys were strange, but they'd never bothered me before. They were always an abstract phenomenon, something Leslie or Andy told me about in annoyance. I couldn't believe I'd almost shot them.

  Something must have happened to pique their interest. Maybe a meteor had landed, or the boys up at the Warren Air Force Base in Chayenne were testing some new drone. Conspiracy nuts were always latching onto something reasonable and warping it into the exciting.

  I closed the door behind me and savored the warmth of my cabin. And when I opened my eyes Eric was standing in the far doorway, an unmoving sentinel. He'd put on his jeans, but nothing else.

  "False alarm," I said, shaking o
ut my hair. "Just some idiots from town snooping around."

  When Eric spoke, his voice was low and urgent.

  "Did they know I was here?"

  I shook my head. "Don't worry about them. Conspiracy theorists with nothing better to do. Think life out here in Wyoming is more exciting than it really is."

  But Eric still stood across the room. "Jo. Did they know I was here?"

  I gave a start at his tone. He looked more alarmed than I'd ever seen him, like fear was radiating from his body. A cornered animal whose options were dwindling.

  I considered him for a long while.

  "So you are running from someone," I said carefully. "I figured that was true, but wanted to wait until you were ready to say so. There's no shame in that, Eric, so long as you tell me the truth."

  "Yes."

  I wanted to come around the couch, to put a hand on his chest and comfort him, but something stopped me. Nothing seemed right, then. A strange aura hung in the air like a smell.

  "What are you running from?" I asked again. "What made you go out in the snow without proper clothing? I need to know, Eric, and you need to tell me now."

  He stood dangerously still, like the moment in a duel before the first man drew his gun. He's a criminal, my imagination conjured up. Or a thief.

  "Tell me," I said, a quiver in my voice. "Whatever it is, I'll forgive you. I promise."

  I didn't know if I could keep that promise, but I wanted to. Oh God, did I want to.

  Nothing could have prepared me for the truth.

  "They took my craft," he said in a small voice.

  My mouth hung open. "What craft?"

  "I crash landed. I was confused. And when I sensed you coming, the light of your vehicle like a beacon of safety, I shifted into a form you would accept." From across the room I saw him blink slowly, almost in slow motion. "And then you hit me with your truck."

  My brain bucked against what I was hearing. "Are you a pilot? From the base up Cheyenne way?"

  "I am a pilot," he agreed, but then he shook his head. "I am a scout. From somewhere else, a world you have never seen. I left yesterday to return to my craft, but it had been taken. Stolen by the men you saw today. They are searching for me, as you have seen, and I cannot let them find me." His face turned determined. "I cannot let anyone find me. I will die before that."

  A world you have never seen. A scout. A question came to my lips, the same one that had plagued me again and again.

  "Where did you come from?" I asked. "What are you, Eric?"

  "You misheard my name when we first met," he said, barely more than a whisper but clear as if he spoke directly into my ear. Directly into my brain. "My name is Arix, and I come from a planet called Karak."

  A planet called Karak.

  A planet.

  Another planet.

  A thousand emotions ran through my head, and the defense mechanism of humor won out.

  "A planet?" I laughed. "So, what. You're telling me you're an alien? A hot, chiseled alien hunk come down to pleasure me?"

  "I was never meant to land here. I crashed, and now I fear I am trapped."

  "You don't have you make up some crazy excuse," I said, running a nervous hand through my hair. "If you're running from the law, I won't turn you in. At least, unless it's something really bad, like murder or rape or something. But somehow I doubt--"

  I cut off as if I'd been muted.

  Across the room, Eric... changed. There was no easy word for it. One moment he was a tanned man with bulging muscles, and the next he was being rearranged. Like the pixels in a photograph being disconnected and shuffled around, swirling in some silent wind. The pixels whirled and changed colors and began to glow, until what stood before me was nothing remotely human. It was like a beam of light, roughly the same height as before, concentrated light suspended in the air. The core was bright and long, like an Ibuprofen pill, with two dimmer appendages on the side.

  And I remembered the beam of light that night on the road, what I'd seen in the flash instant before hitting Eric with my truck.

  This is my true form, the light spoke into my mind, the voice the same as Eric's. This is what I am, Jo.

  If I were any other woman, I don't know what I would have done. I might have fainted. I laughed at women who were weak-hearted like that, but if seeing an alien materialize before you wasn't cause for fainting then I didn't know what was. Another woman might have screamed, pushing the air from her lungs in the evolutionary cry for help, the sound coming automatic and without thought. Or worse, whimpering and begging for help. As weak an action as that was, it certainly would have been understandable right then.

  But that's not what I did.

  In a flash, I grabbed my shotgun from where it rested, aimed at the alien light, and fired.

  Buckshot crashed into the wooden walls around and behind it, throwing splinters chaotically into the air. I fired a second shot, then a third, ignoring the deafening sound in such a closed space. The smell of sulfur stung my nose as I waited for the thin smoke to clear.

  The light remained, unmoved and undamaged.

  Why, Jo? Eric's voice demanded in my ears. Inside my brain. Why would you do that?

  The voice wasn't angry. It sounded hurt, like a puppy who'd been kicked and couldn't understand why.

  When fight didn't work, flight was the only option that remained. My chest aching with guilt and confusion, I sprinted from the house and jumped in my truck before I could change my mind.

  12

  ARIX

  I've made a terrible mistake.

  I felt Jo's emotions in my Karak brain... and somehow, even though I'd shifted, I felt it in my human chest. An ache that burned like a fire, flames flicking higher into my throat.

  I am a Karak scout.

  It was a feeble thought.

  I watched Jo sprint from the door, and then I went to the window and watched her jump in the truck. The vehicle spit snow and gravel behind it as she peeled out of sight.

  I've made a terrible mistake.

  The thought echoed in my consciousness, hollow and true. I shouldn't have shown her what I was. Alien species never reacted well to first contact, especially intelligent species. Fear overwhelmed them, and sometimes madness, their brains unable to comprehend and accept what they saw.

  I thought my coupling with Jo would elicit a different reaction. That she would accept me for what I was. I felt the love of her embrace when we were in bed, the concern she felt when she leapt up to confront the intruders. The desire to protect me was a warm blanket in her mind, a feeling I had never experienced in my entire Karak life. She felt affection for me, and the need to protect me, as if she was mine and I was hers.

  That emotion made what had come next several orders of magnitude more crushing.

  I've made a terrible mistake. That was the thought that flashed across Jo's mind when I revealed myself to her. The thought that made her grab her weapon and attack me as if I intended her harm. As if I was a threat.

  I showed her what I was, and she regretted everything she'd done.

  The ache persisted in my phantom chest as I watched Jo's truck disappear out of sight.

  Beyond that, less intense and immediate, was the regret that I'd brought trouble to Jo. My presence had caused those men to come to her cabin, destroying any peace she had. It was my fault, and I regretted it almost as much as my choice to show Jo what I was.

  But unlike that, it was a problem I believed I could solve.

  I reached out with my consciousness, recoiling when I sensed Jo's bubble of emotions in the truck: aching pain, sharp pain, regret and confusion and fear. I slid away from that consciousness until I discovered the two intruders closer, still walking on foot back to their own vehicle. They were bundles of excitement and curiosity, and they spoke to one another as if they had great plans.

  The human part of me, which still lingered like smoke from an extinguished fire, hated them in that moment. They had caused Jo significant pain, a
nd would continue to do so even if I removed myself from the area.

  Remaining in my Karak form, I left the cabin.

  I moved across the snow gracefully, leaving a trail of melt as I went. I honed in on the Jones brothers like a pointed laser, a singular purpose to my actions.

  Then I could see them, up ahead near the main road. A tow truck was parked on the shoulder, and they were climbing the snowy road bank up to it.

  I moved faster, and when I knew they would be able to see me I reached out once again.

  JONES BROTHERS.

  My voice boomed in their minds, which had the effect of knocking them to their knees with shock. The chubby one, Liam, whipped his head around in confusion, but Max had already locked onto my form with his eyes. He smacked his brother in the leg until he looked too.

  Their jaws opened wide, but no sound came out.

  YOU HAVE DISTURBED JOANNA.

  Max blinked a few times, then mumbled, "I, uhh..."

  Joanna is innocent of what you suspect, I said, a fraction quieter. She knows not what I am or what I do. Leave her in peace.

  Max had an intrusive thought: he wanted to reach for something called a photon isolator, which was in the back of their tow truck. I made myself laugh in their minds, though it was a foreign sound for a Karak.

  You are foolish if you think your earth technology can harm me. Do not reach for your photon isolator or you will regret it.

  Max began whimpering, then.

  So again, I command you: leave Jo in peace. Tell no one of what you have seen. No one will believe you.

  I shifted then, as slowly as I could for emphasis. When I was back in my human form I grinned a friendly grin.

  "Because if you return here," I said with finality, "you will regret it. Please tell me that you understand."

  Max bobbed his head like his life depended on it. Liam tried to say something, but his jaw moved without sound.

  Then they were scrambling up into their truck, yelling at each other as they went. The engine roared to life and they disappeared faster than Jo had before.