by I. O. Adler
Peter swung his free hand up. His fingers hacked into the base of the mom-creature’s neck. He then pulled his other arm away before leaping up to slash at her a second time. The mom-creature’s head tumbled as the body collapsed.
“Peter, what did you do?”
He spun on her. Took a step forward. Then the screen with his face went dark. His body froze in place. Carmen watched him for a moment and waved a hand before his eyes.
No response.
“What happened to him?” Jenna asked.
“I don’t know. Let’s not wait for him to wake up again.”
When she headed for the exit, Jenna followed. But even as the doorway reappeared, the walls, the ship, and the room around them became hazy. It felt as if her head was stuffed with cotton. The hot itchy feeling returned for a moment before she went numb. She thrust out a hand and leaned on the wall.
Her sister ran to her side. She was saying something, but once again Carmen couldn’t hear her.
Carmen tried to speak. Her voice wouldn’t work.
The encroaching haze became blackness.
Chapter Ten
Someone wearing a bright yellow space suit pointed a gun at her.
All Carmen could register was the barrel of a black pistol waving in her face. Shouting, too, but the words were a blur and she couldn’t see past the reflective face shield to read their lips.
She put her hands up. Took a breath. A real breath. She was breathing air. Had been for the past minute, and she understood that once again she was back inside her body.
A second figure in an identical space suit and carrying a flashlight stepped forward. The light blinded her. She tried to speak but felt faint.
“Jenna?” she managed before collapsing.
One of the spacemen rushed to her side and held her, preventing her from falling.
Dizzy. More hands were on her and soon she was being helped onto a gurney, where more spacemen in yellow strapped her down. She was too weak to fight them.
The air tasted hot, and a pungent smell stung her nose. She now realized the robot body hadn’t been able to smell or taste.
The spacemen were pushing the gurney past light stands and through a dilapidated hallway. It was nighttime and she was back inside the Bumbleberry restaurant. But soon they were wheeling her into a rippling plastic corridor with even more bright lights.
“What are you doing with me?”
The spaceman who had prevented her collapse remained next to her. “You’re safe for now, Carmen.”
“What do you mean safe? Where’s my sister?”
“She was with you inside the sphere?”
Carmen was about to answer but then tried to remember. What had happened just before she had stepped into the body of a robot on board a spaceship?
She had been attacked. Grabbed by a robot that had emerged from the sphere as they had explored the ruins of the restaurant. Everything had gone blank, and then the nightmare with her mom, with Peter, their fight.
And then there was the mystery voice on the opposite end of the red cone of light that had accused her of stealing the thing.
The spacemen stopped the gurney inside a white tent. Judging by the machines she saw, the room was half hospital room, half mad scientist’s laboratory. Her straps came off. Someone rolled up her sleeve and checked her blood pressure. Another spaceman flashed a light in her eyes. Her mouth was swabbed, her skin and fingernails scraped, and a scissor-wielding assailant snipped a lock of her hair. The personnel came and went through a flap to a neighboring tent.
Carmen shivered. Gooseflesh rose on her arms. Unseen fans were blowing cold air through several ducts. A spaceman sat her up on the gurney and checked her with an icy stethoscope.
Through it all, one of the men who had helped her from the sphere remained nearby. He held a tablet and swiped a few times at a screen before slipping it into an oversized bib pouch. His handgun was strapped to a thigh holster.
The crowd of spacemen finally thinned, with only two remaining who were writing numbers on a whiteboard labeled “C. Vincent.”
“Well congratulations, you’re not radioactive,” the man with the gun said. “I’m Agent Barrett. I was trying to reach you.”
Carmen nodded. Her jaw trembled. She couldn’t tell whether it was the chill or her nerves. On his lapel was a tiny camera. The lens stared at her and she had no doubt everything inside the tent was being recorded.
He took a blanket from the foot of the gurney and wrapped it around her. “How are you feeling?”
“I…don’t know. Jenna…”
“In time. Tell me about what happened?”
“Am I sick?”
“We’re taking every precaution. But so far, no, there’s no indication you were exposed to anything toxic. What do you know about that sphere?”
“I don’t know anything about it. I came here looking for my sister. Something attacked us. I need to know if Jenna’s okay. Is she here?”
He pulled up a stool and sat awkwardly, the billowy suit making him appear off balance. “You’ll have to be patient while we conduct our investigation. I’ll need more information from you about what happened. Then I can share what we know.”
“What do you mean? Just tell me if she’s okay.”
“Calm down.”
She pushed one of the spacemen away who was trying to clamp a sensor on her forefinger. “Don’t tell me to calm down. Am I under arrest? Just let me know if you have Jenna.”
“Look, Carmen, your sister is inside the sphere. It’s open. She’s connected to something and we don’t understand what it is yet. But you have some of the smartest people in the country working on it. You’ve just been through trauma. I’m here to help.”
“Let me go to her. Maybe I can figure something out.”
“Out of the question.”
She swung her legs off the gurney. “Take me there. Let me at least see her.”
“Lie back down. That’s not a request. We know nothing about what’s on board the sphere. We don’t know if you’ve been infected with something. And we don’t know how your mother managed to contact you and Jenna to summon you here. You came here hours ago. I need you to tell me everything you can about what happened since then.”
Carmen fought to control herself. Knew that screaming at the fed or the other spacemen or trying to rush the door would only result in them strapping her back down or maybe even sedating her. But there was something about Agent Barrett’s tone that set her on edge. She’d had her share of run-ins with local police, usually unwarranted traffic stops with a side helping of intimidation.
Agent Barrett wanted information from her and was going to do anything to get it, including lying or using Jenna against her.
But the tent and the spacemen and all the machines let her know he was more than a pushy cop. He was a federal agent with Homeland Security. The tent and all the people inside of it had to be part of his or some other agency, be it Department of Defense, CDC, Army, Navy, or the Men in Black.
She had encountered an alien spacecraft and Agent Barrett was going to get his answers. But her instincts screamed at her to be careful in how much she shared.
Play it cool.
She was surprised when Agent Barrett offered to get her a cup of tea.
“There’s also water or coffee. It’s instant, but it’s what we can get you without breaking containment.”
“Water. Thank you.”
He returned with a bottle. She opened it and sipped and realized she was parched. She drank half of it as he consulted a device strapped to his wrist.
A light in the tent began flashing. A couple of the spacemen hurried past from the other room.
“We have a third survivor,” one of them said.
Agent Barrett moved to follow. “You wait here.”
Carmen set the bottle down. “What about my sister?”
“You’ll be informed of any change as soon as possible.”
She was alone. Surely th
ere were others in the network of tents, but for the moment at least she was free to try and learn something. Because Agent Barrett wasn’t telling her much.
Through the tent came the flashing lights of emergency vehicles. A motor revved and a reverse beeper alarm sounded.
She examined the nearest table and found several drawers with specimen containers, glass slides, first aid supplies, and lots and lots of needles. A cabinet held medicine and drugs. A flat-screen monitor appeared to be connected to a mobile MRI. On a folding table near the door she discovered a laptop. When she opened it the interface asked for a user ID and PIN.
No good.
On the MRI a yellow stenciled label read USAMRIID.
She moved to the next tent. A spaceman had his back to her and was typing with his index fingers at a workstation. A tray filled with the vials of Carmen’s various tests sat near him next to a small machine that hummed.
Beyond the workstation lay another plastic doorway like the one they had passed through from the restaurant.
An exit?
But even if it weren’t guarded, she wouldn’t try to escape. They had found their mother. Or something with their mother’s face and voice who was confused about Jenna and Carmen’s identities. And now Jenna was inside the sphere and apparently connected to something.
“You need to go back to the exam room.”
The spaceman had turned on his stool and was getting up.
“I’m trying to understand what you’re doing here. No one’s identified themselves.”
Carmen saw enough of the face to realize the spaceman was a spacewoman. She seemed distracted as she got up and escorted Carmen back into the exam room.
“USAMRIID. Is that you?”
“Yes, that’s us. The agent in charge should have told you. Our commanding officer isn’t here yet to meet you. You’ll be properly interviewed soon. Then you’ll have time to ask your questions. I’ll need you to also undress and put on a gown. There’s a changing screen here.” When Carmen hesitated, the spacewoman added, “It’s not a request.”
After Carmen moved the screen so she’d have privacy, she paused to listen. Voices approached, followed by a rustling at the restaurant-side entrance. Agent Barrett led the spacemen as they wheeled another gurney into the exam room.
Carmen hurried to see Jenna. But it wasn’t Jenna who lay on the gurney, but Peter. His eyes had rolled up into his head and he was foaming at the mouth. She was unceremoniously pushed out of the way as the team tore open Peter’s shirt and began to attach white sensors to his body and hook him up to the machines. Peter’s entire body was shaking.
There were so many people working around him, she could no longer see him.
She felt herself tensing up as she watched. Her throat tightened. She didn’t like Peter. But she needed to understand what had happened to him on board the spaceship. He had attacked them. Might have killed her mom. Yet at that moment, watching him suffer and perhaps die, she could barely hold back the tears.
Agent Barrett stood next to her and was likewise observing the team work on Peter.
“He was inside the sphere too, wasn’t he?” Carmen asked. “You said Jenna was attached to something. Was Peter also connected? So why is he having convulsions?”
When the agent looked at her as if deciding to answer, she grabbed his arm so she could see his face.
“What did you do, Agent Barrett?”
“One of the scientists tried to sit him up. That was when he started to have a seizure. We got him out of there and then the sphere closed.”
“Is Jenna still in there? Did you touch her?”
“She’s still inside the sphere but she was breathing and doing fine when we last laid eyes on her. And no one tried to move her.”
“Take me to her. Before you make another mistake like this. I’ve been inside that thing and it took us someplace without moving our bodies. For some reason I woke up and they didn’t. But they were both with me wherever I was.”
“You know we can’t put you at risk.”
“Please! I may not know much, but I know my mom sent that sphere here for us to make contact. She’ll talk to me.”
“I’ll take it under advisement. Let the professionals do their work.”
“Like killing Peter?”
Agent Barrett ignored her.
All the beeps and pings of the machines along with the rumbling motors outside and the incessant reverse alarm bore down on her. She felt exhausted. But she made herself watch as the spacemen continued to try to save Peter Vogel.
Chapter Eleven
According to the monitors, Peter was breathing and had a heartbeat. His skin was pale. Carmen couldn’t figure out the purpose of some of the machines he was hooked up to. At least the convulsions had stopped.
A pair of spacemen remained at his side. They ignored Carmen.
Agent Barrett remained busy on his device. She tried to see what he was doing but his blocky suit prevented her from getting a clear view. He had spent the past thirty minutes alternately tapping on his wrist text interface and reading the screen. His device pinged. He took a phone call on a headset he wore beneath his helmet but the conversation was too muffled for her to make out. Once the call ended, he began consulting with one of the spacemen whom the others had referred to as “doctor.”
“That’s all we can do for him right now,” the doctor said.
They continued to speak with each other in low tones, the doctor showing Barrett a tablet and going over some figures.
Carmen’s stomach grumbled. She realized she hadn’t eaten since breakfast and doubted she would be allowed to leave anytime soon. Sipped the last of her water. Escaping to return to the sphere wasn’t an option. There were too many spacemen in the next tent and others lingered in the corridor leading to the Bumbleberry restaurant.
Then Peter’s eyes were open and he was staring at her. Carmen moved to take his hand.
His voice was a halting whisper but she could read his lips. “I was dead.”
“You’re alive. You’re okay. These men are with the government. They saved your life.”
“You don’t understand. I died. I was in hell. You were there too. Your mom…she…”
“We don’t know what’s happened to my mom.”
“I hurt her. But then I saw what she saw. I saw what lies below. The fires. A burning place. And your mother? She’s Him. The Devil. Why was I there?”
“What does that mean? What did you see?”
He was crying. “She’s in the dark place. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
She forced herself to remain calm as she listened to him. “What happened was an accident. Our minds were taken someplace. It happened to me too and to Jenna. You’re going to be okay. Don’t worry about what you did. Try to forget it. But Peter, where is she? Where did my mom go after you attacked the robot that last time?”
“Forgive me. Oh God, forgive me.”
“He does. Don’t worry, Peter. He does and He will.”
She could only hope it was the right thing to say. Peter was a creep but she didn’t like to see him hurting. And maybe if he calmed down enough he might pull himself together and answer her questions. Where else had he gone? Was her mom still alive? Jenna might never be disconnected from the sphere if she couldn’t get him to open up.
Agent Barrett and the doctor finished their conversation. The agent motioned for her to join him at her bed. She went to sit.
“Let’s try to unravel what happened to you. Your mother contacted you?”
“I don’t know. It started with emails. Then a voice which sounded like her called me using her old phone. Jenna was contacted too. The last message told us to meet here.”
“Why did you come if you thought it wasn’t real?”
Carmen was tired but she felt her pent-up frustration simmer. She had been stonewalled by NASA regarding any news of her mother’s fate, and now this cop was acting surprised that Carmen would jump at a sliver of a chance that he
r mother was still alive?
“She knew things about our childhood that aren’t common knowledge, including this location. So we came. We were ambushed by a robot which stepped out of the sphere. I don’t remember anything after that.”
“Surely you can recall something. You were taken into the sphere. What happened there?”
“It was like a light switch in my head turning off.”
“What can you tell me about this robot?”
“Thin body, like a stick figure, but tall. Its head was like a monitor with lights inside it.”
“Did it say anything?”
“If it did, I didn’t hear it. I’m hard of hearing.”
“Yes, your father mentioned that.”
She bristled at the thought of the agent having investigated her and interrogating her dad, even if it was through a closed door. With the space suit she couldn’t see his expression. But he was studying her.
“Let’s say you can’t remember,” he continued. “But it’s important that you try. Because we believe your mother, or someone pretending to be her, has come a very long distance to be here. And besides visiting her two daughters, we don’t know why.”
She shrugged. How much of her memory of what had happened on board the spaceship was real? All of it, she feared. She could only wonder if Peter had experienced the same thing and why his mind had slipped. Apparently he had seen more after killing the mom-creature.
A fire. A burning place.
But relating the contents of the conversation with her mom might make Agent Barrett suspicious or disbelieve everything. She had to be careful.
“Your mother didn’t just send messages to you and your sister. She also contacted us two months ago. The message was brief. ‘I’m coming home.’ The transmission came via the mission radio frequency. But then a few days later the message appeared on NASA’s private servers. Everyone in the organization got an email or instant message. We thought this was a matter of the server being hacked. Seeing the message signed as Sylvia Vincent and coming from her user login caused a stir, especially since she’s been dead for two years.”
Carmen’s chest grew tight. “What happened to her?”
