Operation Earth

by Maria Hammarblad

  The man behind him held a cat. Odd.

  It was finally his turn, and he lifted an eyebrow as he glanced down on the tray in his hands. The gray sludge was familiar, but he had lost all will to eat it.

  Torsten headed for a table and Peter followed, trying not to smell the food on the plate.

  “What would they do if you weren’t fair?”

  The ground commander of Sundsvall lifted an eyebrow, and Peter elaborated, “The people in your area. You said they’d be fair as long as we’re fair.”

  Torsten laughed.

  “I’m just speculating, of course, but I think they’d pull out all their pre-electronic weapons along with a bunch of newly-invented stuff and wage a guerilla war on us until we were gone or every last one of them were dead. I strive to be fair.”

  He shoveled food into his mouth with a good appetite and Peter looked at his own plate. This porridge had been breakfast for as long as he could remember. He might never have liked it, but it hadn’t seemed too bad. Now, he could barely make himself swallow it, and he forced down a couple of spoonfuls just to fit in. He took the mandatory vitamins without touching the recycled water.

  At least the bread isn’t too bad.

  “You’re not eating that?”

  “No, you can have it.”

  Torsten gulped down Peter’s porridge too and grinned.

  “You’ve been eating their food, haven’t you? You should know better. This stuff isn’t bad as long as you don’t get used to anything else.”

  “I know.”

  The other man’s eyes fixed on him, suddenly all too knowing.

  “What else have you been up to?”

  Nothing. Just playing innocent games buying and selling railway stations, whatever those are, giving away pieces of our weaponry, and possibly falling in love with one of them.

  When he didn’t answer, Torsten put the spoon down.

  “No, you didn’t? Say you didn’t. June is going to kill you.”

  Chapter Six

  Rachael wanted to play cool and pretend she wasn’t head over heels in love, but it didn’t work out. Peter’s every touch sent sparks through her body, and every moment without him was as long as a day.

  Am I in love or in lust? Can it be both?

  He turned out to be considerate and dependable. He came home from work in the evenings, spent time with her, and went back to work in the mornings. The rhythm made life feel normal.

  She might be the only person on the planet content with the new order, but for the moment, it was easy to pretend life was just the way it was supposed to be.

  Who would have thought the best relationship of my life would be with a man from another world?

  Some days she worried so much she wanted to cry, but not over the same things that bothered everyone else. Through history, unusual couples had always gotten into trouble.

  Other days, she thought maybe they were pioneers.

  Peter avoided all her questions about his life, friends, and previous lovers, clearly unwilling to talk about his life away from her.

  She had to get some reassurance. Even if he didn’t want to talk about it, she had to ask.

  “Why won’t you tell me anything? Don’t you trust me?”

  “Of course I do, it’s just a bit complicated. I’d rather think about right here, right now.”

  Complicated? How can it be complicated?

  “We get new names on every world, speak new languages. It’s hard to tell you who I used to be, because I don’t know.”

  “Seriously?”

  He brushed a lock of hair behind her ear.

  “I know who I am now. Isn’t that enough?”

  It was. It had to be.

  She rested her head against him and sought out his hand.

  “I’m glad you’re here.”

  “I am too.”

  Every aspect of life was affected. Even the sky looked different. All planes and helicopters were gone, replaced with a wide variety of alien crafts. Most of the time she made a point of keeping her eyes at ground level, but when she confessed why she didn’t want to look up, Peter lured her into the back yard and pulled her onto his lap.

  He pointed at a brightly shining star moving from north to south.

  “See that dot up there? That’s home.”

  Imagining people living up there was almost impossible. What did the planet look like to them?

  Were they also scared of the unknown?

  “That’s your ship?”

  “Yes. There are five smaller spread out around the Earth, but that one is home for me.”

  “What does it look like?”

  He sighed and gave her a little squeeze.

  “I don’t know if you’d like it, probably not. Maybe I can show you when everything settles down.”

  “Can we see your world from here? Or, I mean, your star?”

  “I don’t think so. It’s too far away.”

  “Can we go there?”

  She wanted to slap a hand over her mouth.

  What a stupid thing to say. Why did I say that?

  To her relief, Peter smiled and took it as a joke.

  “Why would you want to go there when you have such an amazing planet right here? Look at the ship over there.”

  “I don’t like those. They freak me out.”

  The thing looked like a flying squid.

  “It’s just a transport ship, not even armed. They can take fifty people at a time. There’s a lot of them around here right now, flying in peacekeepers from other parts of the planet.”

  “Why?”

  “It doesn’t matter. You’ll see a lot of them for a few days, and then probably none.”

  It sounded like something that would matter, but she wasn’t up to pressing the subject.

  I bet all the street gangs are joining forces with the rebels. Please don’t fire at the aliens. You could accidentally start an interstellar war...

  “You take care, don’t you?”

  The question surprised him.

  “Of course. See that sphere? Those are automated fire fighters. If it detects excessive heat anywhere, it investigates, and if it’s a situation it can’t handle on its own, it calls for help.”

  When he told her about the different types of crafts they too became less scary. Not as familiar as the planes once were, but definitely less scary.

  If everyone knew someone on the other side, like I know Peter, getting along could be easy. Maybe if we still had TV, but we don’t...

  The next day, she still thought about TV. It made her remember how bored she really was every minute he wasn’t there. The world was so silent too. In the old days, something always made noise.

  It made her sniffle, and when Peter came home, the first thing he said was, “Have you been crying? Why are you crying? What happened?”

  She shook her head, but everything spilled out anyway, of course.

  “Just stress... I miss TV, and computers, and videogames. These things were great but someone came and destroyed everything.”

  It wasn’t his fault per se, but ranting about it made her feel better.

  He made a pacifying gesture.

  “I’m sorry. Is that it? No one hurt you?”

  “No... I guess we were pretty dependent on technology.”

  He pressed his palm against her cheek and the look in his eyes made her forget all about electronics. She wanted to take her clothes off.

  No, wait, I want to take his clothes off, and after that we can talk about mine...

  She still did her best to hold on to the will to discuss.

  “How do you expect to learn from other societies when you begin with wrecking them? I’m lucky I had an old fridge, or I bet not even that would be working.”

  “Once we know societies won’t self-destruct we put them back together.”

  He didn’t sound convinced.

  “Seems counter-productive is all.”

  He put a hand on the small of her back and pu
shed her towards the living room.

  “I’m not saying you’re wrong or that I don’t agree with you. It’s just... it has been decided to do it this way to spare the largest possible number of lives.”

  Rachael sighed. She didn’t have the energy to fight. What was done was done anyway, and he hadn’t pushed the button. Staying angry, or sad, seemed impossible when he touched her.

  Peter watched her for a few long moments.

  “Can I tell you a secret?”

  “Of course.”

  Don’t we already have piles of them? I’m sure if people knew about you and me, and everything we’ve been up to, we’d both be in over our heads in trouble.

  He leaned back in the sofa, still keeping his eyes fixed on her.

  “We have all data stored. It’s like... a snapshot of the planet as it was before. It will take time to sort it out, but I could duplicate your computer just as it was. It wouldn’t be networked of course, since the rest of the world isn’t there, but it’s something.”

  It took several seconds for his words to sink in.

  “What are you saying? You could restore everything?”

  The thought was both appealing and eerie. How much weird and perverted stuff had the aliens already seen? All those computers and servers must have contained everything from bomb making for dummies to child pornography.

  I hope we’ve produced enough good material to make up for all the bad. If I saw everything mankind does for the first time, I’d want to nuke us to make sure we didn’t spread.

  His eyes burned through the physical flesh and blood version of her and gazed into her very soul.

  “We can and we will. I could start with yours. I’ll need to bring it to the ship.”

  It wouldn’t be the same without the Internet, but the very thought of having something back made her heart take a leap.

  “Would you do that for me?”

  “Of course.” He entangled his fingers in her hair.

  “I understand that it’s complicated and a lot to replace, but our world was kind of dependent on TV and radio. It’s how we got our news, messages, anything someone wanted to communicate.”

  He murmured, “I know,” and kissed her neck.

  “All humans are really green little monsters.”

  Peter snuck a hand up her skirt.

  “Sure...”

  “I’m thinking you’d look really cute in a pink dress.”

  “Mm-hm...”

  His lips made her skin tingle.

  Okay, I give up. He has no blood left in his brain, so why should I have to think? Maybe their pheromones or whatever it is amplifies on us, I wonder if he sees me the same way. Oh, oooh!

  *****

  Ryan stayed on his side of the hedge, and for this, Rachael was grateful.

  She saw Melissa in the yard a few times. The other woman looked away, and it took a while to figure out she kept her eyes on the curtains of her own home.

  Did Ryan watch her?

  Was he worried they might share some form of female bond?

  Being under Peter’s protection and having his pistol helped her gain confidence, and she began to spy back. It took a couple of weeks before the moment was right, but it finally happened. Ryan and Martin left, and Melissa stood alone on the grass.

  Martin’s there a lot. Does he keep me under surveillance? Maybe he’s homeless and doesn’t have anywhere to go.

  She sauntered into the yard. There were no troops and no other people in sight, and she approached the little hedge as casually as possible.

  She knows I’m here. I’m sure she knows.

  “Hey, Neighbor.”

  The other woman twitched and glanced toward the door, as if determining how many steps she’d need to get inside.

  “It’s okay, no one’s here but us.”

  I feel like I’m trying to coerce a frightened animal.

  Melissa didn’t flee, but she didn’t come closer either.

  “It’s a nice flower you have there.”

  “I’m sorry he threatened you with the gun, but you have an alien here, every day.”

  Her voice was very quiet, and Rachael strained her ears to hear.

  “Peter is a nice guy.”

  “Ryan says he’s using you to get to us.”

  Really? Do you hear yourself when you talk?

  She exhaled and forced herself to speak in a soft voice.

  “If he wanted to get you, don’t you think he had a good opportunity when Ryan wanted to shoot me?”

  “He didn’t want to shoot you.” Melissa sounded close to tears. “And... that man uses you so he can keep his eyes on us. He’s watching us, Rachael, trying to get to the resistance through us, through you.”

  “You don’t have to believe everything your husband says. Think about it, figure out for yourself what makes sense. You don’t have to take part in anything you don’t want to.”

  The other woman shook her head.

  “I can’t. I just... I can’t.”

  This time she did run for the door, and Rachael chewed on her lip. Was the same thing going on all over the planet?

  The mailbox held a letter from her mom, with a recipe for Swedish love cakes. The name seemed fitting, and she yearned to write a long letter spilling everything about her newfound happiness.

  It would be too dangerous.

  Her mother would understand, but the wrong eyes might see her words and put them all in grave danger. Letters must be kept short and neutral.

  She lifted Bonbon up and gazed into the cat’s bright eyes.

  “Am I thinking everything is normal because I’m used to it now, or have I changed?”

  As usual, her furry friend didn’t offer any answers.

  Normal or not, Rachael was happy when Peter was home, and bored when he was away.

  How the hell did housewives back in the day survive? I bet a lot of them were alcoholics.

  She needed a sense of accomplishment and wanted to do something, but not even work offered work anymore.

  “Baking, huh? Is that what I’m supposed to do? What the hell is a ‘tsk’?”

  The back of the recipe offered advice, and she squinted at the conversions.

  “Oh, it’s a teaspoon. And these cups aren’t the same size as our cups. This will be a lot of work.”

  The cat didn’t even acknowledge her with a glance, so she rummaged around in the cupboard, hoping to find cocoa.

  If I make this, I hope he likes it. I don’t know if he really cares, it’s hard enough to know with an ordinary man, and a man who’s also an alien soldier, well... Maybe he just comes by to eat and get laid. Oh well, I don’t have anything better to do, so why not try this?

  The cupboard held more than cocoa.

  “Eureka! I knew you were in here somewhere, you little buggers.”

  The tidy row of wine bottles didn’t answer, and she muttered, “Sinful, this is sinful, but it’s Saturday. I’m a big girl, and I can have a glass of wine if I want to.”

  At least until they do house-to-house searches or Peter comes home.

  The fridge revealed cheese and pears, and with a package of almost not stale crackers, the lonely afternoon appeared much brighter.

  *****

  If Rachael spent much time brooding, Peter did his best not to think at all.

  Hooking up with an Earth woman was a horrible idea. It might work for the people in following levels of re-assimilation, but not for someone like him.

  At first, he told himself he was curious, wanting to learn more about the planet’s people. Then, he pretended he just wanted the food and company. It was true to a certain extent, but he really wanted her. The mere thought of her spending time with someone besides himself made his blood boil.

  Ideas of passion and even love were definitely better kept suppressed, as far from his conscious self as possible.

  He kept going back every day, hurrying even, as if he couldn’t reach the little house quickly enough. Every day, he tried to pla
n a route past her house at the time when she generally came home, just to get to see her, and if he was lucky, touch.

  It wasn’t just desire. It was a deep, pounding need.

  He was slipping, and no one must know.

  One day when he came in, a sweet smell attacked his nostrils. It was bread, definitely bread, but sweet and chocolaty. Then, Rachael bounced through the hall and threw herself into his arms so hard he had to step backwards to regain his balance. She sought his lips and kissed him hungrily.

  She tastes strange.

  “I’m happy to see you too, but I wasn’t gone that long.”

  “Oh yes you were, and today we’re going to be so naughty.”

  Something wasn’t right.

  “Are you okay?”

  “Yes. Definitely. C’mon, kitchen.”

  She tugged at his arm, but he only followed one step.

  “What’s going on? Are you sure you’re okay?”

  “Yes. Come.”

  This time he followed, and lifted an eyebrow when he saw a mess of cheese, crackers, grapes, pieces of a pear, glasses, and a bottle with dark red liquid. On a counter next to the stove stood some form of brown cake.

  That’s what smells so good. Has to be. Did she make it?

  Rachael danced over to the cake, cut a big piece off, and shoved it into his mouth.

  “Eat. Good. Right?”

  “I...” It was good. Unexpected, but good.

  She grabbed the bottle and poured a generous helping into a glass.

  “Here you go.”

  He took it, smelled it, and lifted an eyebrow. Rachael looked very happy.

  “It’s wine. It’s... uh... good for your blood pressure, and stuff.”

  “This is forbidden, isn’t it?”

  She rolled her eyes.

  “Depends on who you ask. It’s a 1995 Rioja, it’s at peak maturity, and not drinking it should be a crime.”

  This smells like you taste, so I suppose that’s where the rest of it has gone.

  He took a sip, half expecting to be poisoned and falling dead down. A moment later, he grimaced.

  “Well, that’s different.”

  “I guess it’s an acquired taste.”

  She didn’t sound worried, and she was right. The second sip definitely tasted better than the first.