Alien Caller

by Greg Curtis

  “Of course your people weren’t skulking around in the bushes like criminals either, playing I Spy with the unsuspecting natives. No they were open and up front about things.” This time Cyrea took the trouble to examine her toe claws while David tried not to look too self-righteous. He knew it would only come back to bite him. He kept quiet and waited for her to run out of invective. It didn’t take long. For once.

  “Intelligence! Hummph!” David guessed she’d lost the thread of her story. Alice was occasionally prone to doing that, especially when there was something else that caught her attention. Unfortunately he knew what it was, and that she wasn’t finished with them.

  “Two highly trained members of two high powered intelligence agencies and they end up rolling around on the floor like a pair of children in a snit!” And she ‘hmmph’d a few more times for good measure while David and Cyrea looked at each other startled. He hadn’t even considered the possibility that she might be an operative, and by the looks of things no more had she.

  Neither of them in all likelihood had the foggiest what to look for in an alien operative, but they both realized the one thing all agents would have was some ability at sneaking around. Then there was the combat skill. It went with the business. So she - Cyrea he corrected himself, was probably more of a fighter than her contemporaries. That was useful to know. But then she knew the same about him.

  Then there came the question of how Alice could know the details of their fight when she’d arrived late. He instantly suspected bugs, and planned a sweep the second they were gone. Of course what an alien bug might look like was anybody’s guess. And how did she know he was an intelligence agent? He’d certainly never mentioned it to anyone, posing instead as just an ex-army major. She didn’t give him the opportunity to wonder as she continued with their lambasting.

  “Thank God you didn’t do anything serious. And I do mean thank God, because obviously neither of you has the brain power to spare. Not even enough to restrain yourselves. Pulling weapons on each other, are you criminally insane? Can either of you imagine the obscenity of what you nearly did?” They both felt the need to crawl back into the sofa a little, while she stared at them with blood in her eye and dressed them down. But at last she seemed to calm down, allowing them some breathing room.

  “Major Hill, these people don’t pose a threat to Earth. They never did. All they want is to understand us a little so that when we’re ready to meet them in the big bad universe, they’ll be ready to welcome us.” He wanted to butt in and point out that he wasn’t a major in the army any longer. That she didn’t have to worry about him reporting back to his superiors. He had retired. But then he realized that she knew that and was still worried. And she knew he was an intelligence agent. She knew he was more than he pretended. How? And how much did she actually know? She’d accused him of being a member of a high powered intelligence agency, but not which one. CIA? NSA? He didn’t know which one she thought he was a member of. He wasn't sure if she had actual information or was just guessing. But he hoped he would find out in time.

  For them though, the details didn’t matter. Any intelligence agency was a threat. That he guessed was why the others had kept him out of the loop. A group of people, hell, perhaps even the whole community, were protecting the aliens from him and there was something decidedly shameful in that. The shame was both that they felt they needed to and that there was some justification for their views.

  “And Officer Cyrea, he’s a decent man, not a gun toting lunatic”. But her eyes wandered somewhat deliberately to the pile of metal on the table he’d left behind. David would have pointed out Cyrea’s own collection but realized it would get him nowhere. Alice would just see him as a little kid pointing the finger. He kept quiet and took his punishment.

  “Well not a lunatic anyway. He means your people no harm, and as long as he knows your people mean no ill to ours, he’ll not bother you. In fact looking at him, I suspect he’d rather pretend the whole thing was a dream.” Or a nightmare, but David carefully didn’t add that to her words. Nor did he want to tell her that he might very well mean her people harm. He simply didn't know yet. But he said nothing. He just nodded.

  “The tragedy of it all is that you two are so similar you should be the best of friends. Instead you treat each other like enemies and damn near killed one another in the process. But even that’s not as bad as the fact that in doing so you risked the future of both our people.” Visions of interplanetary wars ran before David’s eyes as he listened. It was true he knew. He hadn’t thought beyond his most primitive fears. And that was a shameful thing for him to have to admit even to himself.

  “David, if you had shot Cyrea, her people would have instantly left the Earth and all hope of our joining with them among the stars would be destroyed for too many years to come. And when we finally did make it there, it’d be a harder road to travel than it should. Much harder. And by the way, if these people can travel the stupendous distances between stars, what the hell made you think they weren’t a thousand times more advanced than us? Surely even a soldier should know about the stupidity of attacking a superior force.” Which was unfortunately true. David should have known better. But when he wondered, had Alice started reading books on military tactics and interstellar diplomacy? Someone had coached her he guessed, and that someone wasn’t from the U.S. army.

  “Cyrea, if you had shot David, all of the same would apply, and worse still when we finally made it into space, we’d have every reason to believe you hostile. In one simple move you would in fact have achieved exactly the opposite of everything your people are trying to do here. Besides, hadn’t he treated your injury which in turn suggests his intentions are not hostile? Or did you miss the bandages?” Cyrea herself, didn’t look too flash at that moment either.

  “And all of that because two silly little children are too stupid to simply trust each other. Surely both of you were taught that you should extend the hand of friendship to strangers, not gun barrels.” They both wilted even further, and the devil of it was that she was right. They could have, no, should have been much more open and less suspecting. Together they both nodded their agreement and were rewarded as her stare softened, at least a little.

  “I’m tempted to suggest you two kids should just kiss and make up, but even I’m not that wicked. But you will shake hands.” The first idea rocked them both, and it took a second for them to even think about the second. But they both knew Alice wasn’t going to let them off the hook. She stared at them long and hard, while they wilted further into the couch. David was the first to crack, hesitantly offering his hand, which Cyrea took it just as awkwardly. But they shook hands, and it seemed to be enough for the old battleaxe.

  “Good. If either of you ever dare hold a weapon against the other I will personally flay your hides.” It was a threat which, while David knew it was one of Alice’s favourite pronouncements of doom, was also one he knew she meant. She might be letting them off the hook, but it was only for the moment as she let her anger subside and eventually resumed her tale.

  “To cut a long story short, we met, the Leinian research team and the locals, and agreed that we could be neighbours. After all, there was nothing particularly hostile about them, they’re here to study our society and world to prepare for the day when we can come and meet them out among the stars. And they didn’t really want anything major from us. Just some insight into what made humans tick, how we think, and why we do the things we do.”

  “So once or twice a month maybe, some of us go and have a sit down with them on their ship, just to discuss what they’ve observed and tell them what we think of it. We give them a local perspective as it were. In return they’ve done some wonderful things for us. With some of their technology they’ve managed to heal some of our sickest people, and all of us in the valley now are in the best shape we’ve ever been in our lives.” Which was something David had actually noticed. There’d been very few deaths or serious illnesses in the area. Someth
ing he’d put down to healthy living and a clean environment. Fool! He kicked himself mentally.

  “They cleaned Fire Lake which was still showing the signs of the gold mining that was done around the turn of the century, and with their science they started keeping those pesky visitors who kept ruining the peace of the valley with their damn choppers and hunting away from us all. The arrangement has been good for both of us.”

  David tried to keep from groaning as he suddenly saw the connection between what they had done and why he had first come to the valley. It wasn’t a complete coincidence that he had retired to a place where aliens had set up a base on Earth.

  Just over five years earlier the army had been looking for a new base for a weapons research facility, and the surrounding valleys had seemed perfect. Remote from civilization yet also quite close to air transport if need be, the land was cheap and plentiful, and the terrain could be defended and hidden. Yet five separate teams of surveyors had returned from the area saying they would never like to see any army base here, but without ever having been able to explain why. That had set the alarm bells ringing back at headquarters, as the brass started wondering if there was more going on than met their eyes. They sent their own man to find out.

  David’s report had been number six and had supported all of the others, though he at least had been able to come up with some good sounding reasons. Regular hunters were scattered throughout the region and often there were helicopter based parties making security a problem. Then there were the threats of avalanches in winter, flooding in spring and fall, and a summer that brought with it masses of lake flies and tourists. Access too was likely to be problematic at best, especially for anything larger than a four wheel drive, and any significantly sized base was going to be noticed by the locals if they used the town. And if they didn’t use Redwood Falls then supply and staff morale would be a problem. Better to build at the Oregon site as he’d suggested.

  But the thing that had stood out for him was that he had felt the welcoming nature of these lands, while the others had not had a single good thing to say about any of it. His bosses had thought that they had all somehow been got at, and had set up barrages of psych tests for them. After all, there were plenty of ways to make people want to leave a place without knowing why. Low frequency sounds, chemical agents, drugs or plain old fashioned brain washing could all be used, and provided they were done well, they would leave no mark. But the tests had all come back negative, and yet David had had a completely different sort of reaction.

  So did that mean that he was immune, or had they somehow changed the outputs just for him? Years of suspicion told him that the latter sounded likely. After all he was an agent and had a detailed knowledge of things no civilian should ever even imagine. He would be a real catch for a scientific research team. But then how could they have known? He had come as a hunter, like any of the other thousands that normally passed through the region every year, and he’d left the same way.

  He suddenly noticed that the others were looking at him and quickly tried to look as though he had been listening carefully. They didn’t believe him of course, but were too polite to mention it.

  “David you have something you want to say?” Alice realised his thoughts had been wandering.

  “I ahh, found the valley rather pleasant when I first came here, same as the rest of the region. It’s why I moved here when I had the chance.”

  “We know. The Leinians picked all the hunters and agents up immediately. Their weapons and determination to shoot something was simply too much for them, and so they sent them packing. You on the other hand, while obviously scouting for something, never pulled your rifle in a week, and seemed to be simply enjoying the countryside. So they let you stay, figuring you were harmless. No-one realized at that time that you were an agent. Not until after you moved in. Some of the others that have visited though might as well have been wearing signs saying ‘government snoop’. They scared the Leinians witless as they thought they were there hunting them”. And more than that David realised, they had been close to finding them. That was why the aliens had such defences in the first place. Whatever defence it was it had sent the other agents running. If he’d been a betting man he would have wagered that their ship was somewhere in the Wrath Valley near where the base had been planned. Naturally they wouldn’t want anyone that looked official nearby, especially when they looked like they were hunting them.

  Sadly that was about par for the course. Often the government parties didn’t even try to hide their nature. They tended to drive up in expensive government looking vehicles, carrying far more equipment than would anyone else. They would ignore the townsfolk and speak only among themselves, and all the while look incredibly official if not downright threatening. That and their stony silence was usually enough to drive the curious strangers away and set tongues wagging.

  “Which does bring one question to mind. I don’t suppose you know why so many parties of agents were here before you?” Her eyes, normally so meek and mild suddenly bored into his again.

  “I can tell you only this much; they weren’t hunting aliens. Also, based on my report, they won’t be back.” Which was as much as he could say, and probably more than he should have. But given the situation he could understand her need to know and in the scheme of things, it was a minor leak.

  Alice stared at him, obviously wanting to ask more questions, but subsided as she guessed that she would learn no more from him. Which gave David the chance to ask the one question he most needed answered.

  “Five years of living among us, and no one knows. How is that possible?” Sure, maybe they wouldn’t have told him, but someone should have told someone.

  “Easy. We are all friends around here, we like the Leinians and we want them to stay. These are good people round here, you know that. We look out for one another, always. And we look out for our new neighbours. We only tell those people we know, those we can trust, and a few like yourself who stumble on to them. And we explain the consequences. What will happen if they are found out. That they’ll leave. We don’t want them to leave. This is no great government cover up. No national secret. They are just good people. They're our neighbours.”

  She was telling the truth. Years of being an investigator told him that. But it made no sense. Especially if she was talking about as many people as he suspected she might be. Someone always talked. But then again, the locals were a very tight bunch. They didn’t mix so much. They didn’t travel that much. Maybe? He had no answer and knew he would get none. Not yet anyway. So he nodded as if he understood, and let her carry on.

  “So Mister army man. After hearing the truth, I don’t suppose you’d like to tell us what you are going to do? And I do mean ‘us’.” The way she emphasized it, David guessed there were other’s listening to them. And from the silence of the local wildlife, there were more people, most likely alien people, outside. Probably waiting to come in. Alice hadn’t come alone.

  “The people about to come in are no threat?” Yet he didn’t really doubt her. Alice was often honest to a fault. Annoying, opinionated, and often just plain ornery as the locals called her behind her back, but always honest. He just wanted to hear it one more time. Alice glanced at the door, and then back at him, a question in her eyes. He nodded slightly, giving her permission to let them in. Better meet the rest of the visitors he figured. Judge them for himself.

  Alice stood and walked over to the door, letting three more of Cyrea’s people in. One was clearly a doctor as he carried a medical bag and immediately on entering he walked over to Cyrea to examine her with a metallic box. David ignored him and was ignored in return. The other two grabbed chairs facing him, almost as though it was an interrogation. But their words, their tone was anything but that.

  “No Mr. Hill. We don’t want to harm your people. Such a thing would be wrong. We just want to continue studying them, in peace.” His tone was very certain, his words direct, and David liked that.

  “I'm
Ayn Lar by the way, the officer in charge of security for this expedition. Beside me is my second Ayn Tylar, and Ayn Cyrea who you've been caring for is my newest officer. She was sent here to help us remain hidden.” The one who spoke was a ginger furred alien, with greying fur around his beard and shoulders. He was more solidly built than Cyrea, but possibly not as tall. And to add to his words he carried himself and spoke like the leader he claimed to be. He also spoke perfect Bostonian English, as though he’d been raised in one of the more prestigious suburbs and sent to the finest schools.