The Gods and the Builders

by Brandon Hale

  “Maybe one of them should try communicating,” Jerry said.

  Arthur smiled. “I agree,” he said.

  “Hush,” Alice said. “They’re talking about Jerry again.”

  “Stop saying that,” Jerry said. “It’s creepy.”

  “Yes,” the President said. “The reports are true, Kate. As I’m sure you already know. Of course, every report we‘ve had on it was hearsay. Someone saying they saw it happen.”

  “Any theories on it?” the reporter asked.

  “Why are the aliens trying to reach out and touch certain people?” the President said. “Some of our folks think they’re trying to apologize for hurting people. Others think it’s just random. And we have folks that think it’s just another attempt to communicate. You know, literally showing that they’re reaching out to us.”

  “We’ve had several reports,” the reporter said, “that the people they’re touching are folks that were claiming to have been abducted at some point.”

  The President was quiet for a moment, then said, “We received similar reports, but we’re having trouble verifying it. We can’t seem to get any direct confirmations. The people being touched just aren’t coming forward. We really wish they would. We‘ve set up registration stations in every local post office for this exact reason. If anyone out there has had this happen, please go to the post office and register the incident.”

  He looked to the back of the room. “Go, Ricky.”

  “Thank you, sir,” the reporter said. “I must say, you’re extremely knowledgeable about all of this. I would have expected you to have the experts talking to us by now.”

  The President smiled. “Technically, you are talking to the experts.” He pulled an earpiece from his ear, then replaced it. “I’m getting a constant feed from my advisors and such. I just decided I would be talking to you personally. I’m getting answers to the technical stuff, and just passing it along.”

  “Have you had any situations of citizens attacking the aliens?” Ricky asked.

  The President sighed. “Yes,” he said. “Several, actually. Luckily, the aliens seem to understand that it’s frustration and fear. There have been no injuries. Whenever it seems to be moving toward violence, they simply return to their ships. There was an incident in Mexico where a man opened fire on one of the aliens. The alien just turned around and went back inside his ship. Later, they found every one of the bullets lying on the ground in front of the ship. We’re still not sure how it wasn’t hurt, but we’re glad.”

  He looked into the camera. “To everyone watching this. Please don’t attack them. We know almost nothing of these people, but one thing is certain. If they decide to harm us, it could get… ugly.”

  “Forget it,” Jerry said as he walked across the grocery store parking lot.

  “Jerry, you need to register,” Alice said. “You have to do it.”

  “This conversation’s over,” Jerry said.

  Alice looked at Lauren and Arthur. “Some help here?”

  “Sorry,” Arthur said. “I’m not going to tell him he has to do anything. We weren’t abducted by these things. He was. It’s his choice.”

  “But if nobody steps forward, we can never know why they’re touching them.”

  “Good,” Jerry said. “They should’ve thought about that before causing us pain beyond our wildest imagination.”

  “Jerry,” Alice began.

  “No,” Jerry said. “I said this conversation’s over. There‘s a ship right over there. Why don‘t you go ask them why they‘re doing it.”

  A ship was sitting in the far end of the parking lot. As with every ship, it had crowds of people standing around it, watching. For now, the aliens appeared to be inside.

  Lauren was disturbed by the way these ships were starting to become normal. They were everywhere, all the time. People were getting desensitized to their presence. Rules were forming, and people were getting used to the rules. Don’t look them in the eyes. Don’t try to hurt them. Follow the rules, and you can go on with your life. Lauren wondered how long this would be true. And she wondered if that was the aliens’ intentions all along. Desensitization.

  “So who has the list?” she asked, trying to shake the thoughts from her mind.

  “I do,” Alice said. “Why? You think of something else?”

  “Sugar,” Lauren said. “You people have pretty much used all of Arthur’s stash.”

  “Hey, you‘re the one always fixing coffee,” Jerry said as they walked inside the grocery store. He grabbed a buggy and began to push it down an aisle.

  “Are we ever going back to our normal lives?” Alice asked.

  “Who knows,” Arthur said. “The college is still closed. So I’m off the hook.”

  “And I’m self-employed,” Jerry said. “So I’m fine.”

  “You mean unemployed,” Alice said.

  “I make a living,” Jerry argued. “A modest living, but still.”

  “I’m just wondering how long I can avoid church,” Lauren said.

  “If you’re actively avoiding church,” Arthur said, “perhaps it’s time to consider a new career.”

  Lauren didn’t respond, but Arthur’s statement rang true in ways she wouldn’t dare admit to anyone else. This entire situation had shaken her deeply. She still very much believed in God, but her perception of God was different now. She had never treated the Bible as a literal document of history. She considered most of it to be stories created to teach a lesson. Allegories and such.

  She wondered how religion would catch up to this new development. Until now, mankind had always managed to sculpt God into something they could understand. Now, that would be significantly more difficult. Was man made in God’s image? And if so, who was the basis for these aliens? Another God? And how did these aliens fit into God’s plan? It was all disturbing in ways that Lauren found fascinating and terrifying. And she knew that she had to come up with some sort of reconciliation of thought before returning to her church.

  As they gathered food and supplies, Alice continued to harass Jerry about registering, and Jerry kept telling her to shut up.

  “I think you’re the key to it all, Jerry,” Alice said.

  “I think you’re stupid,” Jerry said.

  “Maybe that was what they were doing to you,” Alice said. “Preparing you for this, so you could be the translator.”

  “Then why would they have gone to the governments first?” Arthur asked.

  “Yeah, that,” Jerry said.

  On the other side of the aisle, a woman was shopping with a little boy, probably about five or six years old. “We’re the builders, Mommy,” the boy was saying.

  “That’s nice, honey,” the woman said, not listening.

  “That was odd,” Lauren said as they entered another aisle.

  “What?” Arthur asked.

  “That kid,” Lauren said. “I’m just trying to figure out what he was saying there.”

  “I gave up on figuring out children a long time ago,” Arthur said. “I guess he just likes building blocks.”

  “Register, Jerry,” Alice continued, determined to change Jerry’s mind.

  “It’s not going to happen, Alice,” Jerry said. “Give it up, already.”

  “Then I’m going to register you,” Alice said.

  Jerry stopped walking. “No,” he said. “You’re not. I’ve spent years trying to get over this shit. I’m not doing anything to put me in the spotlight with these things. Contrary to what you think, they’re not here to cure all our diseases and bring about world peace. The President, the press, you, the whole fucking world is blinded by their own skewed, Hollywood influenced view of the world.

  “You know why I think they’re here? I think they’re here to watch us struggle with this. I think they’re just curious. We’re a scientific curiosity to them, and they keep adding elements to the experiment to see what we’ll do. They show up, we all freak out. When that calms down, they land all over the world. Then they
decide it’d be neat to see what we do when they actually start putting us into comas! They’re testing us, Alice, to see how much we’ll take before we fight back. And when we do fight back, they’ll probably just kill us all and move on to the next experiment.”

  “I don’t believe that,” Alice said.

  “Believe what you want,” Jerry said. “But I know one thing. When they had me on their ship, they didn’t give a shit about my pain. Or my feelings. They don’t care about us, no matter how much you wish otherwise. And eventually, they’ll tire of us. The human ant farm will get boring. When that happens, hopefully they’ll leave and never come back. I doubt it, though. Most likely, they’ll keep pushing us, just because it’s interesting to watch us react. And before they move on, they’ll probably kill us all, just to see how we deal with the death of our species.”

  “That’s ridiculous,” Alice said. “Good will come of this. I know it.”

  “You go on believing that,” Jerry said. “I hope you’re right. But you weren’t on their ship. You know what I felt when I was on it? Apathy. Complete and total apathy. And that’s worse than if they were trying to take us over. If they were trying to conquer us, at least it would mean they had an ounce of respect for us. It would mean we have something they want.”

  “Stop trying to scare her,” Arthur said. “You’ve made your point.”

  “Look,” Jerry said to Alice, “you might be right. I hope you are. I really do. And I love that you have this optimistic view of them. I love that about you. But I’ve had different experiences. Maybe those experiences have jaded me. Maybe those experiences have made it impossible for me to look at this objectively. So you go on being optimistic. Maybe your view will end up ushering in this new age of humanity. But you are not going to put my name on some stupid government list. That is my choice, not yours.

  “I love you, Alice. I always will. And I’ve always understood that your attempts to help me came from a good place. And I’ve always appreciated that. But please, just this one time, back the fuck off.”

  “Okay,” Alice said quietly.

  “Was that necessary?” Arthur asked.

  “I think so, Art,” Jerry said with wide eyes. “I think so. Are we done here?”

  “I think so,” Lauren said.

  They turned the corner and got in line at a register. A man was in front of them with a young girl, most likely his daughter. She looked to be about four or five years old.

  “She was just trying to help,” Arthur said.

  “I know,” Jerry said.

  “It’s a tense situation,” Alice said. “We’re all on edge. I shouldn’t have pushed you so hard.”

  “I suppose I could have freaked out a little less,” Jerry said.

  “We’re about the weirdest group of people on the planet,” Lauren said. “And that’s saying a lot, considering there are aliens in the parking lot.”

  Jerry laughed.

  “They’re God,” the little girl in front of them said.

  “Okay,” Arthur said. “That’s a little disturbing.”

  “Sorry,” the girl’s father said. He turned to the little girl. “Allie, I explained this already. They’re not God. They’re just people. Like us. Only their home is another whole world.”

  “It’s an easy conclusion for a child to come to,” Lauren said.

  “Yeah,” the man said. “It’s hard for her to differentiate.”

  “It’s tough for some adults to understand the difference,” Alice said.

  The man chuckled. “No kidding,” he said.

  “But they are God,” the girl insisted.

  “Allie, they‘re people,” the man said. “They just look different.”

  “They’re God and we’re the builders,” the girl said.

  “What did she say?” Arthur asked. He looked at Lauren for confirmation that he had heard the girl correctly. The look in her eyes told him he had.

  Lauren looked at the girl and said, “How old are you, Allie?”

  “I’m this many,” the girl said, holding up all the fingers on one hand, and one finger on the other.

  “Six?” Lauren said. “Wow, you’re a big girl.”

  “Nah,” the girl said. “I still can’t touch the thermalstat.”

  Lauren laughed. “Oh, I see.”

  “She was playing with the thermostat,” her father explained, “and her mom told her that was only for big people. She had the house up to about ninety degrees before we realized she had ‘fixed’ it.”

  “Allie,” Lauren continued, “who told you about the builders?”

  “God told me,” Allie said. “When we walked by his spaceship.”

  “I was right!” Arthur said as they walked in the house.

  “Yes,” Lauren said as she picked up the remote and turned on the TV. “We know. You don’t have to keep telling us.”

  “They were going in the wrong direction,” Arthur continued. “They were looking for the top minds, but the problem with that is those minds are already molded. They’re closed up by experience. A kid believes in monsters under his bed. A kid believes in Santa Claus. It makes perfect sense that a kid would be able to handle the thoughts they were projecting. A kid‘s mind isn‘t closed to any possibilities.”

  “Yes,” Alice said. “You explained that about ten times on the way home.”

  “Sorry,” Arthur said. “I’m just excited.”

  “Is nobody else disturbed that they refer to themselves as God?” Jerry asked.

  “I don’t think they do,” Lauren said. “I think the President was probably right in that they don’t think with words. The children probably just interpret the thoughts in a way they can understand. In this case, the thoughts were of something that the child could only interpret as God.”

  “I don’t buy it,” Jerry said. “Two kids said ‘builder.’ Both of them used the same word. That tells me it was a word that was put into their heads.”

  “That’s a point,” Lauren said. She was switching from channel to channel, looking for any breaking news about communication with the aliens. “Maybe the difficulty isn’t with the children’s minds. Maybe it’s the aliens. What if they‘re having trouble finding the right words for us to understand. Perhaps by God, they just mean a higher power or something.”

  “Or maybe they just mean they’re God,” Jerry said.

  “This is infuriating,” Arthur said. “We figured out how to communicate with them. Surely others have discovered the same thing.” He paced back and forth. “How does an average person in small town America get the attention of the federal government?”

  “Or the world,” Alice said.

  “Or the world,” Arthur agreed.

  “We could use the registries at the post office,” Alice said.

  “Alice,” Jerry said.

  “Not you, dumbass,” Alice said. “I mean me or Arthur. We could lie, but it might get us an interview with the right people.”

  “It’s a thought,” Arthur said. “What about the local paper? Maybe we could call the local newspaper and they could contact the appropriate folks.”

  Lauren was still flipping through the channels. “I can’t believe this hasn’t been discovered yet. You mean to tell me we’re the first town in the entire world that had children close to them?”

  “They probably already know,” Jerry said. “Just haven’t released it yet. For all we know, every government in the world is currently using kids to talk to them.”

  The doorbell rang, causing everyone to fall silent.

  Lauren put the remote on the couch and walked toward the door. “Relax, people,” she said. “Someone’s at the door. No big deal. It doesn’t mean the world’s about to end.”

  “No,” Jerry said, “that was what it meant when the aliens arrived.”

  “Hush,” Alice said.

  Lauren opened the door to see a man wearing glasses and a suit and tie.

  He smiled, and said, “Hello, ma’am, I’m from the Departmen
t of Extra Terrestrial Research and Communication.”

  “There is no such department,” Lauren said.

  “There is now, ma’am,” the man said. “It was made official yesterday. You’ll see it on the news today. I’m Special Agent Theodore Johnson. Feel free to call me Theo.”

  “Sounds like bullshit to me, Theo,” Alice said.

  “I assure you, ma’am, it’s not,” Theo said. “If you prefer, I can stay here until you see it on the news. The announcement is going to be made,” he said, glancing at his watch, “in about a half hour.”

  “Why are you here?” Lauren said.

  “I’m looking for a Mr. Gerald Simmons,” Theo said.

  “I don’t know any Gerald Simmons,” Lauren said honestly.

  “You probably know him as Jerry,” Theo said. “I would like to speak with him if it’s possible. We were told he‘s staying here.”

  “He’s not here,” Lauren said, surprised by her own ability to lie so naturally.

  “That’s not his car in your driveway?”

  Lauren looked at the car, then said, “Yeah, that’s his car, but he’s not here.”

  “All due respect, ma’am,” Theo said, “but that’s him standing behind you.”

  “No, it’s not,” Lauren said.

  Theo chuckled. “I have his picture from the DMV right here. That’s him.” He turned to Jerry. “Hello, Mr. Simmons.”

  “What do you want?” Lauren asked.

  “I just want to talk to Jerry for a few minutes,” Theo said, still looking at Jerry. “We’ve had reports that one of the aliens tried to make physical contact with him.”

  Jerry’s eyes shot toward Alice.

  “Jerry, no,” Alice said. “I did not contact them. I swear to God, I didn’t call them.”

  Jerry looked at Arthur.

  “Hey,” Arthur said, “I was on your side, remember? I didn’t call anyone.”

  “It wasn’t any of you,” Theo said. “A neighbor witnessed the event.” He looked at Lauren. “May I come in?”