by Safa Shaqsy
Then the screen went off. I breathed in and tried to digest what my mom had said in that video. Will I go against the tide? Will I stop the institute from killing aliens? I had to find out where the rest of the files were kept. I looked at Star who was now awake and said, “Star. We’ve work to do.”
Chapter Eleven
“An Alien Buster should not investigate on matters that relate to the police, especially if it was related to aliens.” ~Alien Busters Manual, section eight, page 34 I sat on the sofa and inserted the chip in my Inhab. A hologram screen flashed from my Inhab, showing different files. I pressed on the file called alien species and scrolled to see pictures of different aliens and their names along with the description on the side for every alien. There were different names of aliens like, Korosorat, Sartica, Retaric, Liperat and other names of aliens I didn’t know about. Star walked up closer to me and stared at the hologram screen with innocent haziness.
I scrolled down further and found one alien called, Weritary, which looked like Star. I guessed that that specie is the same specie as Star. His family. “Star, look. They look just like you.”
Star titled his head to the side and purred. He waved his hand to the hologram screen, blurring the screen. I read more about Star’s specie and it said that their brain can develop really fast while growing up into
adulthood. Also, they develop wings for flying purposes and can grow long sharp teeth and claws. They breed by giving birth, they eat other small aliens and drink two liters of water a day.
Further down the screen I saw one alien which looked a bit like a human with two hands and two legs, but had sharp plates on its head. They also had sharp teeth and could walk on their two legs, not like other aliens who could also walk on their fours. They were called Exotiratic or Exos for short. Who have four fingers on their hands, and I reminisced about the day we went on a mission where aliens’ corpses were scattered on the field. And every alien had four claw marks on their skin. These aliens must have been the ones who killed those aliens.
That meant my parents had researched about this before. They must have known that these aliens were the killing kind. If these kinds of aliens were dangerous, that meant that they can harm humans as well. I had to tell someone about this. I had to tell Andie and Kraig, we should warn people about this. “Star, look. They’re the ones who killed your mother.”
Like he understood, he lowered on the floor and curled up.
“I’m sorry,” I said, “I shouldn’t have brought up the subject.” Star got up and climbed all the way to the sofa, and pressed the picture of the predator. He kept gazing at the picture for a while.
“We’ll get them. Don’t worry,” I comforted him. “For now, we have to tell the others about this. Deal?” Star made whirring sounds acknowledging my question. He climbed down from the sofa and went to the door, staring at the doorknob. I got up and walked to where he stood.
“Do you want to go out?” I asked.
Star scratched the door a few times and stopped.
“I’ll let you out when I come back, okay?” I promised him, “but right now I need to talk to Andie and Kraig.” I kneeled down and patted his head, “You stay here. And don’t ruin anything with your teeth,” I warned.
I got up and the door slid open, before I stepped outside I ordered R, “R, please take care of Star.” “Yes, Nathalie,” R replied in monotone. I went outside and the door slid shut behind me. The first person who came to mind was Andie. He must have been at home at that time. I walked on the side walk, passing a few houses. Andie’s house was a few blocks away, so I didn’t need any vehicle to get there.
I walked up the steps to the front door of his house and asked the screen beside the door to let me in. “Identify yourself,” the female voice said.
“Just tell Andie that Nat is here,” I said to the screen, leaning my head forward. After a few seconds the door slid open and Andie came out of the house with his dark sportswear. His dark hair was greasy and his sleeveless top was soaked with sweat. That outfit showed his arm muscles. He must have been working out. He approached me with a side smile.
“You were working out?” I asked, though I knew the answer. He wiped his forehead with a rag and replied while he was catching his breath, “Nope. Just got back from the desert.”
“Ha, funny,” I mocked. He slapped the rag on his shoulder and it lay there. “Something is up. I can sense it,” he said under his breath.
I nodded with excitement, “Yes,” I confirmed, “I’ve found something very interesting about the subject.” Andie knew what I was talking about. I feared that someone might hear our conversation so I didn’t want to say the word “alien.”
“Oh, then we should get inside,” he offered and indicated his head to his house. We walked inside to his living room. We took a seat on the sofa and I activated my Inhab to show him the files and the information I found out that my parents hid on the hologram screen. “You can see every species of alien in this file. Like every alien my parents discovered” I explained excitedly.
Andie nodded in interest, “Where did you get this file?” “In my mom’s ring,” I answered. “Can you believe it? I’ve found their secret file!” I showed him pictures and description about different aliens and showed him the type that Star belongs to. “Look, this specie is called the Weritary. This is Star’s specie,” I clarified.
Andie noticed the alien that had sharp plates on the back of its head and pointed to the picture, “What’s that?”
“This specie is called the Exotiratic or Exos,” I explained, “And it has four clawed fingers, just like the ones we saw on our mission.”
“So, these are the aliens who killed another species of aliens?” he asked. “Yes, it’s the predator,” I responded.
Andie looked at me, “Should I worry about this?”
I knew what Andie was thinking about. He was thinking that if these aliens were the predators, then we were the prey. “Maybe you should,” I told him.
“Nat, we should tell someone in the institute about this,” Andie reasoned.
“Andie, how can I tell someone in the institute if half of them think I’m nuts?” I tried to enlighten him. “I don’t know, Nat. But this is important. What if our city is at stake?” he asked. “We will do this the right way,” I retorted.
He pursed his lips not convinced, “Okay.”
We will do it the right way if we weren’t labeled guilty and called for investigation. How will we be able to spy in the institute if we were watched every second by the investigators?
I recalled the day of the results and sighed, “Are you nervous about the results?” I asked Andie.
He crinkled his nose and said, “Are you?” I gave him a doubtful look and he got up from the sofa and patted me on my shoulder and went to the kitchen. “Want something to drink?” he yelled.
“Um, Zipops.” I yelled back. “With extra sugar— “ “Ya, ya I got it,” Andie interrupted.
I went to the kitchen and took the glass full of Zipops from Andie. I sipped the sweet liquid and thought about Star who needed to get out of the house for a walk outside. I needed to borrow Andie’s car to take Star out for a ride. Ask him Nat.
“Andie I need a favor,” I finally said.
“Uh, oh,” he said and leaned on the kitchen counter, crossing his arms.
“Star needs a ride and I need to borrow your car,” I pleaded.
He chortled and covered his face with his hand and wiped his cheeks.
“I’m serious!” I spat. He calmed down and said, “Okay, the last time you borrowed my car was in Soplea and I don’t have to remind you what happened.”
In Soplea, I borrowed Andie’s car and ended up crashing it into a police car. I was sent to jail until my father bailed me out the next day, because they knew my father knew Dean the president. I got grounded for a month and Andie hasn’t forgotten about the accident.
“I promise, I’ll be careful,” I begged, “Come on Andie, please.” He
rose both his eyebrows, “This is priceless,” he said with confidence, “How about I take you and Star for a ride and no one gets hurt.”
That was his offer? Really? If I didn’t agree, I won’t be able to get Star outside. I had to say yes. I sipped from the glass and placed it on the counter. “Okay” I gulped, “But you take me wherever I want to go.”
“It’s a deal,” Andie said delighted and he walked to the front door. I followed him outside to his car and got into the passenger seat. “Buckle up,” Andie said and winked at me.
I rolled my eyes and buckled up. He drove to my house and stopped in the driveway.
“Okay, get your Star. We’re heading somewhere special,” Andie suggested. I got out of the car and got inside my house to see Star in the living room. I bent down and said, “Star, we are leaving now. We’re going for a ride, okay?”
Star titled his head to the side and purred. “But I need to cover you up.” I went to my bedroom and took a bed sheet to cover Star with it. I went to the living room and covered Star, picking him up in my arms. I headed outside and placed Star in the backseat with the sheet. I got in the car and said, “Let’s go.”
Andie glanced in the backseat where Star was laying and took off. The sun was setting and the city houses were glowing from the bright rays of light. The wind blew on my face as he drove the car away from the city and we reached the city borders where the fences were located to protect the city from the dangerous aliens.
Andie stopped the car in front of the big gate in the fence where the guards were patrolling to protect the city from anything getting in or anyone getting out of the city.
The guard approached Andie and asked, “Going somewhere?” Andie gripped the steering wheel harder it made his knuckles white, “Uh, just doing our research in the field before our next mission.” he said. “Because I’m an alien buster as you see.”
The guard moved his jaws, staring at Andie and he took a scanner out. The guard scanned Andie’s eyes and checked the screen carefully, “Yes, it says here that you work in the Alien Busters Institute.”
“Yes, that’s true,” Andie answered, catching his breath. The guard’s serious face turned pleased, “It’s an honor to meet an alien buster. You do so much to protect our city,” he said with sheepish excitement. Then he motioned for the guards to open the gate for us. When the gate opened, Andie drove us out of the city to a land where dangerous aliens were. I glimpsed back to look at the closing gate and looked around where desert started just after the city’s borders.
I took Andie’s shades and wore them over my eyes to protect them from the sunset rays. I took a look around the field where large rocks filled the deserted land. I got scared for a moment that any alien will try to attack us any moment. “We came without weapons,” I gave him a hint.
“Yeah, but don’t worry, we’re not going very far from the city,” He comforted me. I turned to look at the backseat where Star was uncovered from the bed sheet and was gazing at the landscape with innocent curiosity. Andie stopped on the side of the dirt road beside a field of golden wheat. Andie got out of the car and picked Star in his arms and placed him in the wheat field on the area where they had harvested. I got out of the car and went behind them as they walked further into the field.
Star chomped one wheat stalk with his teeth and the straw broke and lingered in his mouth. He spat the straw on the ground and coughed. I leaned closer to Star and said, “Star, go on. Run and have fun. This is your day.”
Star stared at the field and dashed into the wheat and disappeared out of sight. Andie tucked his hands in his pants pockets and watched Star run towards him. Star jerked his head up and bit Andie’s pants’ fabric and pulling it with his teeth.
“He wants you to play with him,” I explained Star’s movement.
“Oh” Andie said and kneeled down and patted Star’s head, “You want to play fetch?” I rolled my eyes, “He’s not a dog,” I refused. “So?” Andie replied with a shrug.
“He won’t fetch,” I said.
“We’ll see about that,” Andie insisted. He went to his car and got a small ball from the trunk. When he came back Star jumped continuously trying to get the ball. Andie waved the ball around, “Who’s excited? Who’ll fetch the ball?” he said playfully.
Star shrieked.
Andie swung his hands back and threw the ball so far away that it disappeared in the field. Star ran for the ball and disappeared in the wheat again. Andie grinned and raised his hands in the air, bragging about his playful skills.
“He won’t fetch,” I simply repeated. Surprisingly Star came with a ball in his mouth and placed it right beside Andie’s feet. Andie took the ball and threw it back again, flying over the field and landing somewhere. Star ran towards it and got back inside the field again.
“You seem to have gotten used to him,” I said to Andie.
He shrugged casually. “I’m doing this for you,” he confessed and looked away.
I smiled, “Well, thank you for that,” I said and punched his tight arm lightly. We waited for Star for several minutes, but he didn’t come back yet. I started to get worried about him. “What’s taking him so long?” I asked Andie.
“We should look for him,” he said.
We got inside the wheat field, waving away the straws and called, “Star!”
“Star!” Andie called with me.
The more we searched the more terrified I became. “Star, where are you?!” I called. We searched and searched and finally reached for a stop when we saw Star staring at something or someone. He was staring at a dead human’s body and that person’s farming cloth was soaked with blood. Red stains everywhere in the empty area of the field. And I saw the four claw marks on the person’s neck. It was male. A farmer in that wheat field.
I gasped, “Star!” and picked Star in my arms away from the dead body. Andie looked at the dead man with shock, “We need to go now before the other farmers know we’re here,” he said urgently.
“But...” I trailed off.
“Now!” he yelled and we ran away from the crime scene to the car.
Chapter Twelve
“If aliens outside the city borders did any harm to humans, further investigations will be applied.” ~Alien Busters Manual, section one, page 56
Kraig, Andie, and I gathered around to talk about the incident in the farming area, in my living room. “So, you think some alien killed that man?” Kraig asked shockingly.
“Yes, what else will kill and has four claws? Seriously Kraig,” I responded. Andie started fidgeting on the sofa, “Nat discovered a chip that has all the information about aliens.” Andie started, “Nat, show him.”
I activated my Inhab and showed him aliens on the screen. I pointed to him the alien we thought had killed that man. The Exos.
“I see,” Kraig suspected. “So, this alien is the one with four claws?” “Yes, and it’s the predator. The one who killed the other aliens. Remember our last mission? When we found dead aliens with four claw marks?” I remarked.
“Yes, I do,” Kraig replied, “but what are they doing near the city’s borders?”
“We don’t know for sure,” Andie stated. “We’re afraid that they will attack the citizens in the city.” Kraig stared at Andie with suspicion, “Come on Andie. How will they enter the city with its highly secured borders?”
Andie shrugged, “I don’t know.”
Kraig snickered mockingly, “Aliens break into the city. How dramatic.” “What if he’s right?” I asked. What if Andie was right? Somehow those aliens broke through the security and attacked our people. Should we tell Gale about this to warn the citizens, or maybe Dean? What if these aliens were a hazard to our city?
“It can’t be,” Kraig insisted. “It just can’t.” “Let’s listen to the news to find out what happened about the case,” Andie said and waved at the TV to activate it.
The screen showed news about the murdered farmer who we saw in the wheat field. The reporter was standing
near the crime scene with her uniform, “And there were some witnesses of the crime,” she stated and approached three farmers. Two women and one man who were the witnesses. They looked worried and devastated for their coworker’s death. “Can you tell us what you saw?” the reporter asked one woman.
“My coworkers and I was working with him and we saw a large alien on the field from far away, so I told him that we should hide,” the woman said, shaking. “But he insisted to see that alien, so when he went to it…it…” and started weeping in her palms.
“So, you’re saying that an alien killed him?” the reported asked.
The woman nodded her head, then the man answered for her, “That thing…whatever it was, killed him.” The crying woman calmed down and said, “And after a while that alien ran away and when I got out to see him…I saw another small alien staring at the dead body. A different species I suppose and my coworkers saw it as well. So, we ran away from it. We feared that it would do something to us.”
The reporter got more excited about the news, “A different species you say?” she pushed.
“Yes,” the man said, “A small one.” My heart skipped, and I turned to look at Andie who got what I was thinking. The other small alien they were talking about was Star. I got terrified that those people saw him and hoped they didn’t raise an issue about him instead about the other alien, the predator. I grabbed Andie’s arm and pulled him to the kitchen. “It’s Star!” I whispered.
“I know,” he whispered back and glanced back at Kraig who was still watching the news.
“What should we do?” I asked in a whisper. Andie pursed his lips thinking and exhaled from his nose, “I got an idea,” he said hesitantly.
“What is it?” He looked at Kraig making sure he wasn’t listening and turned to look me in the eyes. “We hide Star far away from the city, until the case is closed,” he suggested.
