Tex stood for a few minutes and gathered strength in his legs. As he walked toward the Conexus being in the room with him, it stepped backwards.
“It is not possible for you to see Dr. Randall. You are not yet Conexus.”
As if suddenly mired in quicksand, Tex’s legs were immobilized. He might as well have been glued to the floor. He tried to sever the bonds of the invisible restraints as he had before, but it did not work this time.
“I have to see Dr. Randall and my friends. They came here because of me. I must see them now.”
“That is not possible. The ones you refer to as Erika and Ian will serve the Conexus.”
“Serve? What does that mean?”
“All must serve the Conexus or be terminated.”
Tex did not know Erika that well, but he knew her enough to know that she was unlikely to willingly ‘serve’ the Conexus, whatever that entailed. She will be killed.
“Most likely.”
Tex had thought he was liberating Erika and Ian from Commander Sturgis. He had not known he was putting them in danger once again. His body filled with white-hot anger. He reached out with his mind, intent on strangling the little creature that stood between him and the exit from the nightmare he had stepped into. Tex imagined crushing its windpipe. He was rewarded with its gasp as it tried in vain to take in air. Tex watched passively as it tugged at its neck.
The door swooshed opened and a light breeze blew on his face. There was the light patter of small feet and the rustling of fabric as more greys swarmed into the room and surrounded him.
“Enough,” the voices said.
There were at least a half dozen beings identical to the one who now knelt a few feet from him, its face an alarming shade of eggplant purple. Another creature, slightly larger than the rest, glided up next to him. It was nearly identical to the others, but its ears were somewhat pointy while theirs were not. And the creature looked more feminine while the rest appeared neither male nor female. Her bottom lip had vertical purple lines that continued below her lip and joined together at the edge of her chin.
This larger being hovered over him and locked her eyes on his. His mind was again filled with a buzz so loud and all-encompassing that all he knew was pain. He released his hold on the grey. It was like an ice pick had been thrust deep into his skull. He fell to his knees then dropped to the ground as he held his head in his hands. An involuntary scream came from his mouth and he was near to passing out.
The Conexus he had tried to strangle choked and gasped as it gulped in air. He hovered in the air like a feather floating on a warm breeze. The pressure inside his head lessened as he left the floor. Soon the cold, hard table was beneath him once more and he was held again by the invisible restraints. He tried to reach out with his mind and sever the cords, but it was no use. His head throbbed from the pain of the invisible ice pick, his mind unable to focus on anything other than his desire for the agony to stop.
Tex was able to move his head, and he forced it up despite the dull ache that still throbbed in his skull. He was surrounded on all sides by Conexus. The larger one stood over him, staring unblinkingly.
Tex had lived through many medical procedures and existed with the constant knowledge that he was not free, but he had never been more afraid than he was in that moment. He had the sensation of being watched by at least a dozen identical, locust-like eyes. His friends would die and there was nothing he could do to prevent it. I am in a waking nightmare.
“Please,” he pled. “Do not kill them. They came because I told them you would protect them. They are innocent. Please …”
“The need of the many has been calculated. The plan has been set.”
“What plan?”
“The humans shall serve the need of the many or they will die. The Conexus does not feel guilt or shame. And soon neither will you, 9. Now sleep.”
Tex shuddered as a dozen tiny, thin hands touched his arms, legs and head. It felt as though roaches were crawling all over him. He tried to jerk and flail and fling them off. But it was no use. He was like an insect stuck to flypaper on the cold table.
Sleep was the last thing he wanted. But his eyelids became heavy. They drooped, and though he blinked them open, finally he was unable to move even his eyelids. As he drifted off, he knew that he had made the biggest mistake of his life. The only two people who he had ever cared for – the only two who had ever cared for him – would likely soon be dead. And he, Tex, would cease to exist, subsumed into a collective of beings without a conscience or remorse, without love or honor, and without the knowledge that they could be anything other than a machine.
5
ERIKA
Erika’s head throbbed and her vision was blurry. She was lying on something hard and cold. She blinked her eyes slowly, then rapidly a few times more and pushed herself up. A wave of nausea washed over her. She swallowed the bile down and took a few deep breaths. The air smelled stale and tasted dank and bitter.
“Ian?” Her voice was dry and hoarse. She didn’t know if it was from disuse or wear and tear from screaming, trying to make her voice heard in a place where sound apparently could not exist.
“I’m here,” he said. Ian’s hand was on hers. Warm and strong. His heat seeped into her and it was as if his touch contained magical properties. She was instantly more alive.
“Where are we?” Erika’s vision came into focus, but sight didn’t help her get her bearings. The place was so dark, she couldn’t see even outlines of objects. Or maybe there isn’t anything to see. A shiver ran up her spine and chills returned.
Ian sat on the floor beside her and took her into his arms. In the dim light she could barely make out his scruffy, unshaven face. He shivered too, but not as uncontrollably as Erika. “I don’t know where we are.”
“Are Tex and Dr. Randall here?” Erika searched the darkness but could see nothing beyond her toes.
Ian yawned. “I’m so tired.”
Erika pushed herself to standing. “Let’s find them.” She gave Ian a hand up and kept his hand in hers. They took only a few steps before they bumped into a wall.
She put her hand out and felt along the wall as they walked, hoping to find a door or at least a light switch. After another ten steps or so, they found themselves in a corner. Around the room they went, feeling with their hands to guide them in a room lit only by dim, bluish-white lights along the floor.
It took less than two minutes to walk the entire perimeter of the ten-by-fifteen room. They found no light switch. They also didn’t find Tex or Dr. Randall. And the only door had no hinges, knob or opening mechanism, at least not from inside the room.
“How the heck do they open this door?” Ian inspected the opening with his fingers and tried to force it apart. The door didn’t budge.
Erika hunched her shoulders. She didn’t like being separated from Tex and Dr. Randall. Tex at least could communicate with the greys. And Dr. Randall’s presence comforted her. “Why would they separate us?”
“Don’t know.”
They sat back down on the cold ground, their backs against the powdery wall. Ian wrapped his arms around her. His stomach quivered against her side. “So … cold.”
“We’re going to die.”
Ian squeezed her. “Don’t go DEFCON 3 negative on me. We don’t know anything yet. Yeah, it’s cold. And yeah, it feels like we’ve been thrown into a dungeon to slowly starve to death.”
Ian’s dark hair fell in greasy strands across his forehead. His chiseled face looked brooding with a week’s worth of beard growth. There were dark circles and puffy bags under his brown eyes. A small tear had gathered at the corner of his eye.
“Ian –”
“The point is, we don’t know anything, and no sense in our minds racing to the worst conclusion. And –”
“And what?”
“And no matter what happens, even if it’s really awful, don’t go thinking that it’s all your fault. I came because I wanted to. You don’t have u
nlimited power over me, you know. You’re not that charming.”
Erika lightly punched Ian’s arm with her small, balled-up fist. “Yes, I am.”
Ian squeezed her against him again, and Erika leaned her head back and rested it on his shoulder. She tried not to think about how she would have liked to rest her head on Jack’s shoulder instead and have his arms wound around her. But try as she might to get her mind away from the subject of Jack, the vision of his calling out as the alien ship took her was emblazoned on her mind. Her body shook with long, slow, silent sobs.
“I know, hon. I miss him too.”
Erika snuffed snot up her nose and wiped her face with her sleeve. “How did you know I was thinking about Jack?”
“Maybe ’cause I know you so well. Or maybe ’cause if holding you makes me think about him, then I guessed it probably made you think about him too.”
“You love him too, don’t you?”
Ian didn’t answer. Erika pulled herself away from his arms and looked back at him. His eyes were closed, his head bowed. “Ian, are you in love with Jack too?” She’d suspected Ian had a crush on Jack when they’d first met him, but she figured Ian had moved on when he learned that Jack would never feel the same way about him.
Ian nodded. “Maybe. I don’t know. All I know is that I think about him all the time. And when I see him kiss you or hold you or hug you, it’s like I feel so jealous. At first, I thought it was because I feeling protective toward you. But then, toward the end of summer, I realized it was because I didn’t want you touching him.”
Erika took his hand in hers. “I’m sorry.”
“You don’t need to be. Not your fault I fell in love with a guy that can’t love me back.”
She squeezed his hand. “Doesn’t matter now, does it? For either of us. We’re here – wherever here is – and he’s there. Millions – maybe billions – of miles between us. Looks like it’s just you and me, at least for now.”
“We’re both going to die virgins.”
Erika laughed a hoarse, dry laugh.
Ian didn’t join her laughter, but he smiled and held his arms open for her. “You’ll have to settle for body warmth from me,” he said.
Erika’s body and mind were exhausted though she couldn’t remember doing anything other than hovering in a void, sleeping and talking to Ian since they ascended into the ship. Was that an hour ago? Or days? Erika’s eyelids were heavy like she’d taken nighttime cold medicine. She shook her head and slapped at her arms. “I can’t sit here anymore. I’ve got to find a way out of this room.”
She took a few steps toward the door.
“I tried to open it. If I couldn’t get it –”
“I know it’s probably useless, but I have to at least try.”
There was a sound coming from outside the room. The door slid open smoothly.
Bluish-white light spilled into the room from the doorway. A large figure filled the door frame, flanked on either side by diminutive, thin beings with bulbous heads. They stood no more than four feet tall.
“Dr. Randall!” Erika cried. She quickly closed the space between them and took his hand.
Dr. Randall’s chin was covered in a sparse, scraggly grey beard. He forced a wan smile to his lips, but his eyes did not brighten. In fact, he looked as though he was on the verge of tears.
The two beings with Dr. Randall had the same large, black, mirrorlike eyes that Erika had seen when she was on the alien ship. They wore identical clothing that was nearly as grey as their skin and gossamer thin, almost papery. It had a slight sparkly sheen that reflected the dim light and made them look as though they glowed. The fabric covered them from neck to toe and down to their wrists. There were no zippers, buttons, tabs or openings of any kind. How do they get that on?
While their eyes were enormous, at least twice the size of a human eye, their noses were small bumps on their face, their mouths nearly nonexistent. They had tiny ears on the sides of their bald heads, as if hearing was God’s afterthought for these beings. The greys looked like smaller, exaggerated versions of Tex and Alecto.
They did not speak, but both raised their spindly arms and pointed into the room. Dr. Randall shuffled forward and planted himself beside Ian. The silence in the room was suffocating and offered no answers to the dozens of questions in Erika’s mind.
The beings turned to leave, taking any answers with them.
“Wait,” Erika called. “Where are we? Why are we here, in this dark room? Where’s Tex, and why didn’t you bring Jack with us? And …”
Erika’s questions were muted by the return of the buzzing pain that filled her skull. Her hands flew to her head, and she fell to her knees from the torment. She feared that the alien would strangle her with his invisible hand as she had seen Tex do to people.
Ian rushed forward toward the small creatures. “Stop it. You’re hurting her.” But before he could get his hands around one of their scrawny necks, the door closed. The room was again dark save for the dim blue lights along the floor.
The buzzing inside Erika’s head quickly subsided when the greys left. But the throbbing ache was back.
Ian gave her a hand and helped her up. “Are you all right?”
Erika nodded. “How about you, Dr. Randall?”
“Physically? Yes, I’ll be fine.”
“And emotionally?” Erika asked.
Dr. Randall shook his head slowly. He took off his glasses, rubbed his eyes and put them back on. He sighed and let out a long breath.
“What happened?” Ian asked.
“Yeah, why did they separate us?”
“I’m not sure you really want to know,” Dr. Randall said.
Erika planted herself mere inches from him. She looked into his pale grey eyes, her fists on her hips. “Tell us everything you know. Don’t leave anything out.”
“I’m afraid their intentions are not honorable.” A small tear came to his eye and he sniffed, and a quivery breath escaped his lips.
“No shit, Sherlock. What was your first clue? Oh yeah, throwing us into a dungeon,” Erika said.
“Ease up, Erika. Hear him out.”
Erika unbunched her shoulders from around her ears and took a step back. Ian was right. It wasn’t Dr. Randall’s fault they were a gazillion miles away from anything, stuck in a dark hole God knew where. And if Tex had been separated from the three of them, maybe he had betrayed them and sided with the greys.
“Sorry.”
“No need to apologize. It’s all my fault. I should have known,” Dr. Randall said. He shook his head, his fists at his temples as though he could somehow make sense of it that way.
“What should you have known?” asked Ian.
“They lured him to get to me. Oh, they probably wanted him, too. But mainly they wanted me.”
“You’re talking about Tex?” Erika asked.
“Yes, of course. Who else.”
“What do they want with you?” Ian asked.
Dr. Randall shuffled around the room as if searching, but for what, Erika could not guess. Apparently unable to find what he was looking for, Dr. Randall eased himself to the floor, using the wall to help himself down. He leaned forward, his elbows to his knees, his head in his hands.
“Tell us what you know,” said Erika.
He raised his head. “That horrible buzzing in your head? That’s them trying to communicate with you.”
“It hurts like a son of a –”
“Exactly. So you know that it is quite painful and we can catch only a word here and there. Likely our brains have not evolved the capacity for telepathic communication as they have.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Ian said.
“You didn’t get that awful buzz in your head?” Erika asked.
“Yeah, I felt that, but I didn’t hear them speak.”
“Not even inside your head? Like a word was just planted there but you knew it wasn’t your own thought? Like you were hearing a voice in your head
?” Erika asked.
Ian shook his head.
“Then some of us may be more receptive than others. The point is, what I can tell you is only fragments. I don’t have the whole picture, and the torture of them trying to communicate with me caused me to pass out. I suppose that’s why they brought me back here. To rest maybe, at least until they decide to try again.”
Erika went to Dr. Randall and knelt beside him. She put her hand on his, and he looked up at her with his tired eyes. “What do you know,” she said. Her voice was softer now. “Why do they want you here?”
Dr. Randall took a deep breath and let it out. “As far as I can tell, they want me to help them create a hybrid, like 9. I mean Tex.”
“But why?” asked Erika. Dr. Randall was only confusing her more than helping.
“That, I do not know. But they want me to recreate my work from A.H.D.N.A. here. That much I know.”
Ian sat down on the other side of Dr. Randall, folding his legs into a cross-legged position. “But what about Tex? Where did they take him?”
“I don’t know,” Dr. Randall said. “I didn’t see him with them. I assumed he was with the two of you.” He gave a tired look first to Erika then to Ian. “But it appears that Tex brought them exactly what they wanted. Me.”
“Do you think he was, I don’t know, working for them?” asked Ian.
Dr. Randall hunched his shoulders.
The notion that Tex lured them to a trap made more and more sense in Erika’s mind. He was never our friend. It was all an act to get our help so he could deliver Dr. Randall to them. But it had been so convincing. He seemed to have a crush on me. Was that a lie too?
“Do you know what they intend to do with us?” Ian asked.
“I’m sorry, Ian. I do not know. But if they intended for you to walk among them – to explore their planet and be free – then why are you locked in this dark, empty room?”
Neither Erika nor Ian responded to the question to which they all suspected the answer. There was no use saying the shared conclusion out loud. Voicing the fear only gave it life.
H.A.L.F.: The Makers Page 3
