by Darrell Bain
"Just let us know as far in advance as you can," Elaine said.
"We will, Mom." She squeezed Juan's hand reassuringly. He was on his best behavior, not displaying much of the off-beat humor he was sometimes prone to.
The evening ended in a convivial atmosphere, helped along by several glasses of wine by the adults and one small glass Samantha was allowed.
When Juan was ready to leave she stepped outside with him. The evening was balmy enough to take a walk around the block, stopping occasionally for a kiss before saying goodnight. She didn't want to let go of him after they embraced a last time.
"It won't be that long, sweetheart."
"It seems like it will be forever right now."
***
Anton had not told the three new scientists he had brought in about the alien. He was already worried that too many people were aware of the project. He knew they must have been curious over the specialized testing of both Samantha and Juan they had been asked to perform. He could only hope that they didn't try to follow up on whatever tidbits of words and partial sentences they heard occasionally. They must have wondered about the conversations that were suddenly stopped or channeled into a new direction when they came near the others, but there was nothing he could do about it.
Gene came to see him three weeks after Samantha and Juan became engaged. "I'm worried, Mr. McAllister. Since you gave me access to the intelligence summaries you receive, I've run across several instances that cause me to think we may have a leak somewhere."
Anton sat upright in his chair. "Tell me about it."
"A couple of NSA reports and one from the CIA indicate the same group of Jihadists that killed the Zimmermans at the Sanctuary are active again. I'm afraid they may have tracked us down, although I'm not certain yet. At the same time I think the NSA, or possibly the FBI has gotten interested in us, and it isn't one of those rogue elements this time."
"How? The regular agencies aren't even supposed to know about us."
"I may be reading more into the hints I've been seen in the intelligence summaries than I should, but in this instance we can't be too careful. If any government agency gets wind of us, then the Congressional oversight committee will want to be advised of what we're doing with all those black funds. You know what will happen then. Someone on the committee will leak the information."
"What do you want to do?"
"All I can do right now is tighten up security, but if you have the funds I could produce a diversionary shadow project to lead them astray. That would suffice until after the alien returns."
"Unfortunately, we're rather short right now. After the fiscal year is over I could probably shake a little more money loose."
Gene looked aggrieved but realized there was little more he could say. "I guess I'll just have to do the best I can until then."
After the security specialist had gone, Anton sat and contemplated the situation. It all seemed to be coming to a head. Gene's report was disturbing enough, but he hadn't been told everything. The red shading on the circle on the alien instrument had taken a sudden jump, just as it had occasionally in the past. Assuming Juan and Samantha were correct about its meaning, they now had considerably less than a year before the alien returned. Juan had learned to communicate haltingly with mammals but his progress with avians was much slower and that might be the key. Fortunately, Samantha was progressing very well with the parrot to help.
Then, there was the event of Juan and Samantha's romance and impending marriage. He had been half-way expecting something like that, but not nearly so soon. They were asking for a full month for a honeymoon before the alien made its appearance again, if it did. He couldn't deny that they deserved it. Both had put in many, many long hours of study and work, especially since Samantha's arrival. On the other hand, the increased security risk Gene was just becoming aware of made that an added risk. And last of all, he was becoming increasingly weary. It was old age catching up with him and he knew it. No matter how he felt, he wanted to stick it out, at least until the alien showed up again. His two original colleagues had died. He might very well pass on himself soon. He knew that at his age he could never be sure he would wake up the next morning after going to bed.
He had already picked Juan as his successor, which might put the noses scientists older than him out of joint. He hoped it wouldn't. He didn't want anything to shake up the project now. He sighed and looked at the artifact masquerading as a paperweight again. Had that central spike moved? Was it pointing in a slightly different direction? He thought so and realized he should have been measuring its movements, if it was indeed moving. Old, he thought. Time for new blood, but he could hang on for another year, maybe less. Or try to.
***
"You know, sweetheart, I have an idea about the alien," Samantha said a few days later as they were working on a second year college calculus course Samantha was squeezing in among all the other duties she had taken on, as well as the testing which still continued.
"Let's hear it. It won't do any good stuck in that beautiful head of yours," her fiance replied.
She stuck out her tongue at him and smiled. "We're still thinking the alien displayed avian characteristics. That means it would have evolved with a three dimensional viewpoint, like that of Sheik."
"Assuming it didn't evolve from a flightless bird," he cautioned.
"Well, yes. But say it came from a flying bird or the alien equivalent. We've agreed that the idea of time passing has been communicated. Right?"
"Uh huh."
"So why don't we get Anton to buy us a laptop computer with a large three dimensional screen? I know they're still expensive but I believe we could put it to good use."
"I think I see what you mean but go ahead and tell me."
"We could put together a 3D representation of time, using a CGI program and the computer and then use that as a basis to begin learning each other's language."
"That's what I thought you meant. Good idea. You're not just a pretty face and a great figure. Let's go see Anton."
"Let's wait for a little while," she said and moved into his lap. A little later she was almost sorry she had. It was becoming increasingly difficult to wait.
Anton listened and nodded at the end of the presentation they had worked up for him. "I've got just enough money in reserve to obtain the computer and the CGI program you want. It's a good thought and worth trying."
"See?" Juan said as they left the building. "I said you're not just a pretty face and that doesn't even count the rest of you."
"How do you know that's not why he decided to spend the money, smarty?"
"Because I've got a pretty face, too."
"Nut. But a nice nut."
"Uh huh, and you get to put up with me for the rest of your life."
"I just know I'll suffer agonies the whole time but I'll try to be brave."
They laughed and walked on hand in hand.
Chapter Forty Two
Samantha could hardly contain herself any longer. Her breasts were free and Juan's hand moved slowly and gently over them while she moaned with pleasure. At the moment she no longer cared when the alien returned or what the age of consent was or anything else. She wanted Juan. She freed her lips from his to tell him.
At that instant Juan's phone, which was sitting in its holder on the bedside table being charged, rang. "Damn," he muttered and reached to silence it. Instead he saw the number displayed. "I have to answer it, Sammie. That's Anton's number."
She knew something unusual had occurred when she saw the look on his face after he replaced the phone. He didn't seem scared but he appeared apprehensive.
"What is it, sweetheart? What's happened?"
"The red circle suddenly filled all the way in. Anton sent Gene to look. The alien is back. I'm sorry, but we have to go. Anton said to get there as quickly as possible."
Her heart sank for an instant. Of all the ways for their day together to end! Then her mood revived quickly. "I'd rather it be
now than six months from now. If it works out that we can talk to our alien then we can take time out to get married. If not, we can get married anyway and move on to something else. Or we can move in together and to hell with the age of consent. Or get a place over the state line and commute. Any way we do it is fine with me so long as we're together." She sat up and gathered her bra and blouse and began looking toward the future.
***
"Who's going to meet the alien first?" Samantha asked Anton after she and Juan arrived at his office. "And by the way, can we give it a name? I hate to keep referring to it as 'the alien' ".
"Sure, why not? Think of a name and if the majority agrees, that will be it."
"I've already thought of one," Juan said. "How about Reddy, for that red circle we've been watching so long?"
There was no disagreement and Reddy became the alien's name when referring to it personally. As Samantha said, if it turned out that they could communicate and naming was one of the conventions of its species, they could always change it.
"With that out of the way, I'll meet Reddy first, but you two will be right there with me, to the side and slightly behind. I don't want it to disappear when it sees me and thinks nothing has changed."
"I hope we meet your expectations, Mr. McAllister," Juan said. Despite Anton's request for informality, none of the younger individuals could bring themselves to call the elderly scientist and leader of the clandestine project by his first name. "Sammie will try talking to it first since she's still much better at both mammalian and avian conversation." The three hurried outside, with Juan pausing only to grab the 3D laptop that had been left in Anton's office. They drove quickly to the area, then ran through the brush and up a shallow hill to its top, where the boulder Anton had used for his musing still rested, as immobile as the granite it was made of. Anton was panting heavily by the time they arrived.
"Stop here," Anton said.
Almost instantly the craft appeared, as if it were blinking into existence rather than simply turning off whatever mechanism it used to keep it from being seen. Just as it had been earlier, the craft appeared exactly the same, rectangular and boxy on three sides and rounded on the other, with flat top and bottom. It was the same bronze color. In fact, he was almost certain it was the same craft.
As they watched, the rectangular opening that he believed was an airlock came into view and the alien was standing inside, just as Anton remembered.
***
Samantha stared at the being. Seeing it in person was much different than it had looked while being shown on the shadowed and grainy images of the phone-recorded videos. It was humanoid to a degree but unworldly, like something created by a CGI master. A crest that vaguely resembled Sheik's feathers began as a point on the top of its oval shaped head and continued on, widening as it presumably went on down its back. Anton didn't know, since it had never turned around during the time he had tried to initiate communication all those years ago.
It was shorter than humans but had four appendages in approximately the same places as humans. The double jointed arms had two opposing thumbs on each hand and one thumb on each foot that looked as if it might be an unused relic of evolution. It wore no clothing but sexual denotation was not obvious because of innumerable loose flaps of material that might be skin, a keratin-like substance or perhaps the evolutionary remnants of feathers. They were colored erratically, like a mixed-up rainbow. The face, if it could be said to have one, had a round, featureless bulb tacked to the middle of where a forehead on a human would have been. Slightly below and on either side of the small protrusion were large, human-like eyes that moved independently of each other. In order to look straight ahead it had to move both eyes toward the center of its head. Watching the movements was faintly nauseating at first, like wearing glasses with an incorrect focal correction. What they assumed was its mouth looked more like a very short beak with dozens upon dozens of tiny rasp-like teeth along its edges. There was nothing resembling a nose unless the featureless knob between and slightly above its eyes served the purpose.
"Go ahead, Sammie. Do your presentation before it decides to leave," Anton said nervously.
She was so excited she fumbled the keys and touch screen at first. She quickly got herself corrected and brought up the graphic she and Juan had painstakingly created. She turned the computer screen to face the alien and set it on the stand it had come with. She touched the key that began the animation.
"It's at least following it," Anton said. "See its eyes moving?"
"Shh," Juan cautioned. He didn't want anything to disturb Samantha while she was working.
She had brought Sheik along, as well as Shufus, hoping they might rouse something in the Alien if it noticed her talking to them. She had cautioned both not to make a sound while the animation was playing in color and sound and full three dimensions.
The alien stood mute when it was finished. On a hunch she asked Shufus and Sheik simultaneously, "Shall I play it again?"
"Yes," Shufus said and nodded his head as well. His nose twitched, but she couldn't tell whether it was a smell he liked or not.
"Play it again! Play it again!" Sheik said loudly in Avian.
The alien moved. It stretched a hand out to Sheik. Samantha noticed it possessed what looked like retractable claws but if so, they were almost completely sheathed. Sheik flapped his wings and landed on the alien's outstretched arm. The being brought its hand back toward its head and examined the parrot closely while Sheik was doing the same to it. Sheik stayed for a few minutes as they watched then flew back to Samantha's shoulder. The alien's reaction had given her another idea.
"Juan! I wonder if it speaks in a sound wave we can't hear? Don't some birds sing above 20 Megahertz? And isn't that the maximum that humans can hear?"
"Yes, and the minimum is about twelve hertz. Seems like I've read somewhere that females have a slightly higher range, and of course the higher frequencies we can hear deteriorate with age. I wonder... Sammie! Can you get Sheik to do the sound of our animation if you said it first, then asked him to repeat the words to the alien in as shrill a voice as he can manage?"
She thought for a moment then shrugged. "I don't see why not. Sheik is smart enough to do that and he can repeat words even if he doesn't know what they mean." She reached up her hand to her shoulder, a signal for Sheik to come down. When the parrot was sitting on her hand, she asked it, "Sheik, I want say some words to Reddy there, and I want you to repeat them after me. Repeat them real shrill. Can you do that?" She had to explain again before he got it.
"Can do! Can do!" he shrieked. The alien moved again, a shrug of its almost non-existent shoulders.
"You'll have to handle the animation from the side, Juan, and stop it every fifteen or twenty seconds while I give the words to Sheik and he repeats them to the alien. I'll be on the other side so I can make sure I'm following in sequence."
"Got it. Let's try." He had already put the animation back to the beginning.
It went much slower this time as Samantha had to say the words matching the animation each time when Juan stopped it, then wait while Sheik screeched the same words to the alien, hopefully in a sound register audible to it. It was certainly shrill enough, being comparable to a fingernail scraping across a blackboard. The noise grated on her auditory nerves and made Samantha think of bringing partial ear plugs the next time they came, or even sending for some. When the animation reached the end, Reddy flapped its arms.
"I wonder what that means." Juan said.
Samantha shrugged. "If we're lucky it means it understood at least partially. Juan, you're much better at animation than me. Can you fix up a quick CGI that will ask it to wait for two days by using a representation of that red circle the way it did?"
He thought for a moment. "Yeah, I can do something like that. I'll make a circle and then an extension to show a small part of it, then on that part try to expand it to represent only two days, in correlation to the time it took for the circle to complete
ly convert to red. Mr. McAllister, do you know exactly how long it's been since it was visible the first time? I want be as accurate as possible."
"I'll never forget. I can give you the exact day and year."
"Do it then and I'll get busy."
While he worked Sheik talked to the alien but not much of it made sense to Samantha. It was making sounds she hadn't heard before. She doubted the alien understood either, but perhaps it would get the idea that the parrot was a friendly helpmate to humans. A sudden thought almost made her giggle. What if Reddy thought Sheik was the master race, not the humans? Wouldn't that be hilarious!
It took Juan only fifteen minutes to complete a new graphic, this one without sound, and far sooner than Samantha could have done it. "I'm ready," he said and turned the computer screen to face the alien. It began to play. When it was completed, the creature flapped its wings. Then it and its craft disappeared into stealth.
"What was the wing-flapping about?" Anton asked.
"I hope it means okay or yes or something like that," Juan said. "Anyway, now we have to get an acoustic engineer to convert the sound of our original graphic to a megahertz range both higher and lower than our hearing. I think that birds can sing in a range above the ultimate of our hearing, about twenty megahertz. Also we'll get it converted to different ranges of sound above and below our hearing just in case, but I'm betting on a range between twenty and thirty megahertz. We've got two days so we'd better get busy!"
Chapter Forty Three
"Jane, I know you have contacts with some sound engineers. I want the best one you know, and I want whoever it is here by tonight."
Jane Carruthers stared aghast at Anton. She had never seen him so agitated. "Mr. McAllister, that sounds a bit unreasonable. Everyone has a job they have to attend to and families and so forth. I can get you a good one but--"
"I said tonight. If I have to call the President to have one here, I will. And while I'm at it, I want David standing by to do some astronomical work using CGI animation. Now get to it. No excuses."
