by Don Cook
“And just who are you?” Mike said.
Mephistula/Stanton’s voice thundered over the stormy noise, “As if YOU don’t know already! I am one of two people seeking your nation’s highest office, and I am certainly NOT Donovan Turnbull!!”
“You mean…” Mike said. “You’re —”
“Mallory Ignacia Stanton, at least, that’s my Earthly persona. In truth, I am Mephistula — Queen-Mother of the Nephilimites, founder of the Shrion Intergalactic Empire, and the daughter of Satan by Eve — yes, her!
“And I know who each of you is. You, Ranger Pablo Ramírez, are a moderate, but you’ll vote for Turnbull’s party. Always have, always will. You, Ranger Kathy Reilly, are a 20-something who wants to vote for me just because you think it’s hip to do so. You, Bambi, you’re an ex-porn queen who is as liberal as they come like your gal-pal Jessica Bueller, yet unlike your Jessie-girl, you’re apolitical. I call being apolitical ‘gutless!’
“And you, Michael Donald Bonhoeffer, you support Donovan Turnbull because he represents every ‘American’ value you uphold.”
“It’s more than I can say for you, Mephistula!” Mike yelled.
“While you, Astra Downey… or should I say, Captain Khraa-Veh ven-Elheem of the Kannatikan Exploration and Research Commission’s Rubiaar IV Expedition, of the Kannatikan Confederated Dominion. You are an alien born on Planet Pertoraan and raised on Planet Albaskoba — both worlds being untold light-eons away from Earth!”
Mike was dumbfounded and outraged as Mephistula/Stanton laughed.
“I know, Mike, what it is like to be betrayed” Mephistula/Stanton ranted further with angry grief. “Captain Khraa-Veh can be quite the traitor. My son’s murder at boffing Bambi’s hands helped me temporarily locate Khraa-Veh to give you the truth about the woman who has been supposedly your lady-friend and the queen of the truthers, Astra Ruth Downey.
“Thanks to your interview with me, I cannot do as much anymore as I once could, no thanks to your heavy onion breath that limited my super-abilities. But now that I’ve unmasked you, Captain, I will get you! ONE WAY OR ANOTHER, I WILL GET YOU!!”
The lightning and thunder ceased. The clouds dissipated, and the last few rays of sunset graced the park. Mike was in a plethora of simultaneous mental and emotional states, none of them favorable to Khraa/Astra. She also saw Mike’s bitter confusion toward her and knew she had no choice but to come clean about her true, unearthly self.
“Rangers,” Khraa/Astra said, “is there a place we can all talk in private? If you wish to question me, you may do so. But the decision, Rangers…”
Khraa/Astra paused, not knowing how to address the Earthman whom she still loved dearly, yet might no longer view her as the love of his life, but instead as a threat to American national security.
She then said with humble fear, “And you, Agent Bonhoeffer. I know I seem pretty cold, but right now, but I honestly have no idea where I stand with you, good sir.”
Mike appreciated Khraa/Astra’s honesty, but still did not know how to view her.
Ranger Ramírez, who, like Mike and Ranger Reilly, had no idea about what to make of the “alien”, motioned toward the Ranger Station.
He said to Khraa/Astra, with some contempt, “We can go to the Ranger Station, whoever you are. Agent Bonhoeffer?”
“I’ll come,” Mike said, “even though I have no idea what to think right now.”
“What about me? Bambi asked.
“Do you want to come with us?” Ranger Ramírez said.
A tense pause that was thick enough to cut with a chainsaw held before Bambi said with trepidation and courage, “I think I’d better. I’m sort of in on this, too.”
“Alright,” Ranger Ramírez said. Let’s go.”
RANGER STATION & VISITOR CENTER,
TETTEGOUCHE STATE PARK, MINNESOTA, USA
10:45 PM CENTRAL TIME
“Now that you’re officially a person of interest, Ms. Downey,” Ranger Ramírez said, as he, Ranger Reilly, Mike, Khraa/Astra and Bambi were seated around Ramírez’s desk in his office, “I remind you that you are not under arrest. But if probable cause arises, we will place you under arrest. Do you understand?”
“Yes, sir,” Khraa/Astra said, with bowed head in dread and humility.
“Alright. First of all, are you Ms. Astra Ruth Downey?”
Khraa/Astra paused, not wanting to hurt Mike, but knowing she had no choice but to tell the truth.
“I repeat,” a frustrated Ranger Ramírez said, “are you or are you not Ms. Astra Ruth Downey?!”
“No, sir” Khraa/Astra said with grim sadness. “I am not.”
“Then who are you,” Ranger Ramírez said, “and where in the world is Astra Downey?”
“Astra Ruth Downey is dead, sir.”
“Dead?!” Mike said.
“Yes, sir! Astra Ruth Downey is dead!” Khraa/Astra snapped defensively at Mike. “Dead! Dead as Jimmy Hoffa! Dead as Elvis Presley! Dead as John Lennon! Dead as Marilyn Monroe! Dead! Passed on! No longer with us!”
“Then tell us just what did happen to her!” Ranger Ramírez snarled angrily.
“First, let me tell you who I truly am” Khraa/Astra said with matter-of-factly humility. “And yes, that scary voice ‘Mephistula’ is right about me…”
“And that’s it, dear Earthlings” Khraa/Astra said wearily, after she related for over one hour to Mike, Rangers Ramírez and Reilly, and Bambi her tragic account of Mephistula’s brutal sneak attack on Rubiaar IV, the terrifying murders of her family and Expedition colleagues on that planet, how she and Mephistula came to Earth, the fate of the real Astra Ruth Downey, and that Mephistula had taken on the form of Mallory Ignacia Stanton.
“I know it sounds bizarre, impossible to believe,” Khraa/Astra continued, “but it’s all true.”
A tense, prolonged silence gripped Ranger Ramírez’s office, as the Earthlings tried their best to process what she said, especially Mike.
“So,” Mike said, in his FBI mode, “you say you did not kill Astra Downey.”
“That is correct, good sir” Khraa/Astra said, with a cold, matter-of-factly sigh.
“And that the real Ms. Downey died purely by misadventure?”
“Yes, sir. She did.”
Mike, feeling the pain of Khraa/Astra’s coldness borne of fear, pressed on with the questioning as he asked, “And this claim that Stanton —” Mike, in apologetic acknowledgement, motioned his hands slightly. “Okay, Mephistula, that this ‘being’, for lack of a better word, has been behind the setting up of what is commonly known as the New World Order. And she has posed as, or rather been, numerous key persons throughout Earth’s history.”
“Or backing them, sir” Khraa/Astra said.
Knowing that she still loved Mike (and felt Mike’s love radiating from him, despite the present circumstances), she wanted to reach out to him, but didn’t quite know how. She then decided to take a chance.
“Mike…” Khraa/Astra said, in pleading softness. “…do you still love me? And please... Please don’t lie to me. As a telepath, I can detect a lie ten thousand light-eons away. I ask again, do you love me?”
“If I loved you…” Mike countered, with fear and mild rage held back by a scientifically open mind, “…would I be in love with… Are you a human being like me?”
“I’ll tell you, Mike. Our sciences have proven conclusively that the love we have shared, starting with our falling in love at first sight which I know we saw in each other’s eyes — that kind of attraction never, ever happens between a male of one species and a female of another. Despite your political correctness freaks’ assertions to the contrary, your people know that, too. Even if one person is drawn to another romantically but it does not happen the other way around, such an attraction cannot happen between beings of two different species, and to Hades with that French cartoon skunk!”
Everyone laughed at Khraa/Astra’s attempt at comic relief. As the laughter died down, Bambi wanted to know who or what Eggers rea
lly was.
“Was Eggers really this —?” Bambi asked. “Was he really the son of this monster masquerading as Mallory Stanton?”
“Mephistula wasn’t merely masquerading as Stanton” Khraa/Astra said. “She is Stanton.”
“And what made Eggers look like some reject from Childhood’s End?” Bambi said, her literate side showing to the derisive amazement of everyone else. “Okay, so I read a lot! Can’t an ex-porn queen read good non-porn books?!”
“First, Bambi,” Khraa/Astra said, “what was in the drink you gave that bat-boy Eggers?”
“It was vegetable juice seasoned with garlic powder. Why?”
“First, you know your people’s myths about garlic being a substance that kills a vampire?” Khraa/Astra said. “There’s actually some truth to it. This also applies to those of Eggers’ kind. Eggers was a ‘diabloid’, a Shrion who looks almost exactly like the devil. Their mother is Mephistula, who can and usually does reproduce any and all diabloids at will without any, shall we say, ‘natural birds-and-bees’ assistance from any other life form. You see, garlic is fast-acting poison to Shrions, and will kill them the same way we saw Eggers buying the farm in hell.”
“But I know Eggers’ folks!” Mike said. “The Eggers were the most pious churchgoers I’ve ever…” Mike recalled something about Eggers’ past. “Wait! Eggers was adopted! It all fits. Eggers’ parents constantly complained that he was a bit of a devil. Still, I don’t see how this devil-woman managed to make her son at least look human.”
“Through the vilest of means” Khraa/Astra said, with fear lacing every syllable. “Did Eggers know of his, well, ‘birth-family’?”
“Eggers told me during a lunch break,” Mike said, “that he was the sole survivor of a car crash that killed his parents, natural brothers and sisters.”
“Or so he claims!” Khraa/Astra said.
“What do you mean?” a highly-confused and fearful Ranger Ramírez asked.
Khraa/Astra got up from her chair and paced around like a learned professor as she talked with her hands, “I don’t quite know the full details myself, but I can hazard an educated guess — and what I’m about to describe is not out-of-character for Mephistula.
“The accident did take place,” Khraa/Astra said while pacing, “but with the entire family being killed. Mephistula must have picked one of the deceased babies, made her devil-boy into a duplicate of the dead kid, just like the Mysterons in Captain Scarlet —”
“Captain Scarlet?” Ranger Ramírez asked. “What’s a ‘Captain Scarlet’?”
“The main character from Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, an old British sci-fi TV show from the 1960s” Khraa/Astra said. “That’s usually how Mephistula does her dirty deed. She likely changed her devil-boy’s form into that of the real deceased infant, then destroyed the body, and that devil-child was adopted by his foster parents as a human boy named Austin Reginald Samson Eggers. I don’t blame you if you’re all terrified. I am, too, and I’ve been aware of this tactic of Mephistula’s for decades.”
Everyone was stunned and revolted by Khraa/Astra’s revelation about Eggers’ true identity as she returned to her seat.
“Captain,” Ranger Ramírez asked Khraa/Astra, “just how deeply and thoroughly have these ‘demon-aliens’ infiltrated the governments of the world?”
“I don’t know, Ranger” Khraa/Astra lamented. “I don’t know.”
After a few moments, Mike came up with an idea, based on facts that he, his ex-CIA Director-friend Jim Stock and a select relative few others knew of.
“You remember that CIA friend of mine I told you about last Christmas,” Mike said, “when Jack High tried to burgle your RV, I mean, Astra’s?”
“Jim Stock?” Khraa/Astra asked.
“That’s him. I could have him help us, uh…”
“Please, Mike, call me Khraavie” Khraa/Astra spoke gently. “My friends and loved ones, even my late husband, did back in my home section of space. And as for there being an us — do you still want there to be an ‘us’?”
“Well… I may be fighting every cop instinct I’ve got, Khraavie,” Mike said, still seized by his doubts, “plus I’m mentally duking it out with my belief in God, America and the best interests of America’s national security. But, well… yes, I still do.”
Mike asked Ranger Ramírez, “Ranger, do you have a room where I can be alone for a minute?”
“Yes, over there” Ranger Ramírez said, pointing to a small cloakroom to the side.
“Thanks” Mike said. He walked to the room and closed the door behind him.
“Agent Bonhoeffer’s a brave man in love” Bambi said. “You’ve got a great guy there, Khraavie. Can I call you that?”
“Sure, Bambi” Khraa/Astra said.
“Your guy’s awesome. Don’t you ever let go of him, you hear?”
“I won’t.”
Mike left the cloakroom a few minutes later and said, “I just talked with Jim Stock and it’s all set, Khraavie. And Bambi, you’re coming with us as a material witness.”
“Why me?” Bambi asked, in fear. “Why do I gotta go with —”
“National security, Bambi. Or, rather, Universal security.”
“What about Reilly and me?” Ranger Ramírez asked anxiously.
“As an FBI Agent,” Mike said to the Rangers. “I’m ordering you not to let anything said in this matter go beyond this room. I’ll have you both sign Oaths of Secrecy.”
“Yes, sir!” Ranger Ramírez said. “Anything to help the FBI.”
“Thanks” Mike said. “Khraavie, Bambi, to the RV!”
Mike, Khraa/Astra and Bambi scooted out the door.
After Mike, Khraa/Astra and Bambi had left, Ramírez, who was devoutly Catholic, trembled, fell to his knees, and prayed, “Querido Jesús, María y José ... incluso si la mitad de lo que esos tres que estaban aquí es verdad estamos en un profundo problema. ¡Ayúdenos a todos, ¡Dios mío, ayúdenos a todos! ¡Amen!”
Ranger Ramírez made the sign of the cross with anxious speed, while agnostic Ranger Reilly, her mind in turmoil, said with fearful quivering, “God help us all.”
LOUNGE OF ASTRA DOWNEY’S RV
TETTEGOUCHE STATE PARK, MINNESOTA, USA
11:27 PM CENTRAL TIME
“That was cool!” Val said, after she, Glenn and Donny watched a recording of one of “Astra’s” Moody Pinks concerts in the Internet, even though it was long past their bedtime. “The music, and the way Astra played it! It was real trippy!”
“Yeah” Donny said. “Astra would make a cool mom!”
“Aww, you’d both say that!” snickered Glenn at his siblings.
“Why not?!” Val said, defensively happy. “If you had a mom who rocked like that, she would teach us all a thing or two bazillion about life, the Universe, everything!”
“Speaking of Dad and Astra,” Glenn said, worried about Khraa/Astra and Mike, “where are they anyway?”
Val looked at the clock and said, “You’re right! It’s 11:27, and they’re still not back yet!”
“Break camp! Break camp!” shouted Mike from outside, as he pounded repeatedly on the door. Glenn, Val and Donny knew, because of their father’s FBI work, major trouble was brewing.
“Right, Dad!” Glenn said, before he told Val and Donny, “Get your asses in gear! You guys know what to do!”
Glenn, Val and Donny obeyed their father, and swiftly started to break camp, with Val shutting off Mike’s computer.
ASTRA DOWNEY’S RV
REMOTE BACKROAD, KANSAS, USA
26 JUNE 1:23 AM PACIFIC TIME
“Who’s she, Dad?” Donny asked about Bambi, who wore Khraa/Astra’s bathrobe and was strapped into her seat just like the three Bonhoeffer kids were in theirs. Khraa/Astra was in the driver’s seat, with Mike beside her, as they drove through the lonely Kansas night towards a prearranged point that only Mike knew anything about.
“Guys,” Mike said, “this is Bambi Bambino, a possible material witness in a
matter of life and death!”
“Where are we going, Daddy?” Val asked, frightened.
“It’s classified, sweetie. That’s all I can say.”
“How far is it?” Khraa/Astra asked Mike.
“The abandoned truck stop’s just up ahead. There will be a wide load tractor-trailer that looks like it’s broken down with flares all over the place. Its gangplank will be let down just before we get there.”
Khraa/Astra drove the RV to the abandoned truck stop Mike mentioned, where the seemingly broken-down black tractor trailer was surrounded by lit flares. A signaler motioned to Khraa/Astra to drive the RV towards the truck as the modified trailer’s gangplank was secured.
The RV rolled up into the trailer. Several white coverall-clad workmen then withdrew the trailer’s gangplank and closed its back door. The same workmen next secured the RV to the inside of trailer, ensuring that Khraa/Astra’s vehicle was stationary.
The rig uncoupled from the trailer and drove off into the night, as a black, unmarked civilian Erickson Aircrane heavy-lift helicopter flew towards the abandoned truck stop and lowered itself over the trailer.
The workmen secured the trailer to the helicopter, with the lead workman signaling to the pilot once the trailer was secure. The workmen snuffed out the flares, disposed of them in special cases, and quickly boarded the helicopter before it lifted off into the night.
CARGO AREA WITHIN TRAILER ATTACHED AIRCRANE HELICOPTER
2:30 AM MOUNTAIN TIME
“What’s with the cloak-and-dagger stuff, Dad?” Glenn asked.
“Yeah, Daddy,” Val asked, even more scared than before, “what gives?”
“Part of my job, guys,” Mike said. “It’s classified.”
Eventually, Trudierre’s Kannatikan Surveillance Corps (a sub-service of the Kannatikan Armed Forces that Trudierre created at the compulsory behest of the Shrion Empire) did receive my distress-signal, with disastrous results — for them...
Dr. Khraa-Veh ven-Bonhoeffer
Admiral, Platinum-Class, AMKEXPRA (Ret’d)
My Cosmos-Spanning Memoirs*
STOKARR ASTEROID WARNING BASE 3-GAMM (SAWARB 3-G)
