The Temporal Key

by Adam Benson

  "We're here." Came an alarming whisper.

  As soon as the startling words were uttered the plane's right engine started up and began loudly vibrating the entire plane. Naomi jumped in her seat and let out a high-pitched yelp.

  "You alright back there, Captain?" General Ramey chuckled.

  "Sorry sir. I... I... Sometimes I get nervous when I fly." She lied. "The engine just startled me."

  "You can come and sit up here with us if you like." He said to her.

  "Thank you, sir." She replied with a smile. "I'm fine here. Being over the wing makes me feel safer,” she lied again.

  "Suit yourself." He said and turned his attention elsewhere.

  When he looked away, Naomi turned her head back to where the voice had come from. "Hello?!" She whispered loudly. The din of the engines easily drown out her voice beyond a few feet.

  "I'm right here." Dayk replied. He reached out and touched her arm just as the plane's second engine started up. Naomi jumped again, but not as far and without the yelp. The tiny, warm, invisible hand on her shoulder had startled her. An alien had just made physical contact with her! It was the warmth that surprised her most. For some reason, she expected his touch to be cold.

  The General and the other men all looked back at her again. She smiled apologetically and they all smiled back. "Sorry." She said to them. "The..." She said pointing toward the other engine. Smiling along with the pretty girl on the plane, they all turned back to their own business.

  "Sorry." She whispered back to Dayk. "You startled me." She said.

  "It wasn't my intent." He replied as quietly as he could. "There's no place to hide on this thing. How long does this trip usually take?"

  Naomi collected herself quickly, "Um... usually about thirty to forty minutes. Not much longer than that."

  How long is that? Thalia asked Dayk.

  Between two and three kilos. He replied. "We're going to need a place to hide as soon as we arrive. Can you help us with that?" He asked Naomi as quietly as she could hear him.

  The plane began moving, turning around to begin taxiing down the runway. The engines buzzed a little louder and everyone got jerked around just a bit.

  "Why do you need a place to hide? You're invisible." Naomi asked.

  "The power on these devices won't last forever. Without our ship, they have a very limited charge life. After a few kiloChrons we'll be completely visible." He told her.

  "What's a kilochron?" She asked.

  "Who are you talking to?" Harvey Moorhead called back to Naomi. Something about the way she was behaving made him very suspicious, and he seemed almost back to his usual aggressive self for a brief moment.

  Naomi turned and caught eyes with Harvey. Her heart was racing in her chest. "I wasn't." She said loudly over the engines.

  "I thought I heard you talking to someone, and you looked like you were having a conversation over there." He said rudely.

  General Ramey turned and looked down the plane at her. Whatever Major Moorhead was babbling on about had caught his interest.

  "Major, I wasn't talking to anyone." Naomi said again.

  "It's just nerves, Harvey." The General said dismissively. "Leave her alone." Naomi often resented men treating her like a ‘little lady’, but in this instance the behavior had served her well.

  The plane reached the end of the taxi and started turning around to face the runway. It stopped for a brief moment with a jerk that threw them all slightly forward. The captain called back. "We have clearance for takeoff!" The engines started running incredibly loudly and the plane lurched forward down the runway. Dayk and Thalia were both thrown back and down onto the floorboard. Within moments the front end of the craft began to rise off the ground and then suddenly they were climbing into the air.

  What a horribly unstable machine! Thalia thought nauseously as the plane bounced and shook in the turbulence. Is this normal!?

  Hang on! Dayk yelled. Try and get back up to the woman!

  Is there nothing on board to dampen all this inertia? This is terrible! Thalia screamed. I thought the truck had been bad enough!

  As the plane climbed the ride got only a little smoother and the two invisible passengers were able to start climbing their way back to Naomi. Just as it felt like they were going to be able to manage themselves the plane banked right and threw them both to the ground again.

  How do these people live with this? Thalia asked uncomfortably.

  Once again, they climbed back up next to Naomi. This time both of them grabbed the chrome eyelets that held the seat belts and gripped them tightly. Naomi was facing forward trying not to look like she was talking to anyone, but as they approached, they could tell that she was, indeed, talking.

  "...there until then. But again, that all depends on how long you need it." She said.

  "What?" Dayk asked. "Sorry, I didn't get most of that. We got... tossed around.”

  "Oh. I said that I didn't know how long you needed to hide for, if you need something really short, like a couple of hours, or something then we'll have to work it out, but if you need something longer you could stay at my place. I live alone, so you wouldn't be found out, or anything. But that depends on how long you need to stay there, too." She said again.

  "Our rescue is supposed to happen in about five days." Dayk said. "But I'd like to get to the ship sooner."

  "Five days. How long can you stay invisible?" She asked.

  Dayk did a quick conversion in his head, roughly calculating the time into her terminology. "About nine hours."

  Nine hours? Thalia thought. I like the sound of thirty-eight kiloChrons a lot better than nine hours.

  "Nine hours?" Naomi said out of the side of her mouth with some alarm. She started turning her head to face them, but then stopped and tried to maintain the illusion that she wasn't speaking to anyone. "If you can get to your ship will you be able to stay invisible longer?" She asked.

  "Unfortunately, no. The ship has to be functional for that. No, Nine hours and we're visible. At least, if we leave them on. If we can hide and shut them off, then we'll be able to use them for longer, but either way, we can only stay cloaked for nine more hours total." Dayk told her.

  "Alright. Then as soon as we land, follow me. And stay close! A friend of mine was going to pick me up at the air strip and she's not going to wait around for a couple of invisible Martians to hop in the car with me. We'll head back to my apartment"

  "We'll stay close. You better watch it. You've got an admirer at the other end of the plane." Dayk said, watching Harvey Moorhead watching her. "We'll talk more when we're alone. Until then, just assume we're nearby, and I'll let you know as often as I can that we're still with you."

  Naomi turned to Major Moorhead and smiled broadly. "I'm much better now. It's not so bad once we're up here. It's just the takeoff and landing that gets me." She said warmly, hoping that her charms would mask any curious suspicions that Harvey might otherwise be feeling.

  Harvey shook his head, and then went back to ignoring everyone.

  The plane landed some three and a half kiloChrons later. The turbulence had been rough and pounding the entire length of the flight, letting up just a little when they reached the apex of their trip. The plane taxied around the runway at Alamogordo and finally came to a stop in front of a large, opened hangar that housed a couple of small experimental aircraft.

  The navigator once again walked to the rear of the plane and opened the back door with the built-in stairs for their passengers to depart from. General Ramey and Major Moorhead left first, quickly followed by the other two men. The flight officers were collecting their things and finishing up with the airplane and were beginning to depart themselves. The navigator walked back up to the front of the plane to assist his crewmates. "Watch yer step on th' way out." He said to Naomi as she passed.

  "Thank you, I will." She said and then got up and departed the plane.

  Shortly after she got onto the tarmac, she heard a small voice below her sa
y, "We're here." Then, she started marching away from the plane and toward the hangar.

  "Captain Saulf, you need a ride?" General Ramey asked as he saw her approach.

  "Oh, no thank you, sir. I've got a friend coming to pick me up. I just need to give her a call to let her know we've landed." She replied politely.

  "Nonsense. Hop in, we'll take you home." He said. He was pointing to a black sedan that was approaching them.

  "Oh, sir, I don't think there'll be enough room." She said, trying to deflect his offers.

  "Ma'am, this car's bigger than it looks. We can fit one more in. Come on, Captain. I insist." He said.

  "Oh... alright sir." Naomi said. She didn't know how else she was going to deflect him. "What should we do?" She mumbled out of the corner of her mouth, slowing her pace toward the General. "I won't be able to get you home if I ride with him, but I'm stuck."

  "Can you come back for us?" Dayk asked.

  "I don't have a car!" She said. Then something occurred to her. "Actually, sir." She called out to General Ramey. "If it's all the same to you. My friend Julia was going to pick me up because we were going to grab a few cocktails and catch up on some girl talk. If it's all the same to you, sir."

  "Suit yourself." He said. "Just remember that this whole business is classified."

  "Yes sir. No, only girl talk, sir." She said.

  "Have a good night, Captain." He said, and then he and Major Moorhead got into the sedan and drove away.

  "We'll walk." Said Naomi. "This base isn't very big, and we could be home by the time anyone showed up to collect us. It's only about a mile. Come on." She said, and started walking onto the rest of the base toward the military apartment that she lived in. The two invisible aliens were hot on her heels.

  "Why are you helping us?" Dayk asked Naomi as she shut her apartment door behind them. Without a single word, Thalia immediately started moving through each of the rooms as quickly as she could, looking for signs of danger or betrayal. She glanced into the bedroom, and did a quick look around, and then she stepped into the bathroom and checked it for enemies. In a flash, she was back into the main living room and around the corner to check the kitchen. Nothing. The place looked safe, just as the woman had said it would be.

  "I don't really know." Naomi replied, as she pulled the curtains shut. "You both looked so scared when I saw you. And after the day I had... I just felt bad for you."

  Looks clear, Dayk. Thalia said upon returning from her scouting.

  Thanks Thalia. He replied. I get the feeling she's really telling us the truth, and that we can probably trust her.

  I hope you're right. She said.

  "When you asked me to help you hide... I just couldn't say no." Naomi continued. Unaware of the telepathic conversation taking place by her invisible guests. "After that, I just sort of... wanted to."

  I'm sure we’ll be fine. Dayk said to Thalia, only partially listening to the woman as she went on. "I mean, when I woke up this morning, I had no idea that you existed, but then I landed there at Roswell, and they take me into this giant hangar. There's all these lights and a tent set up inside, next to all these trucks loaded with strange stuff like I'd never seen." Naomi continued. "Then when they took me into that tent, I saw..." Naomi said, her brow wrinkled and her eyes terribly disturbed. "... I saw... One of you. Dead. I knew I was coming to Roswell to assist with an autopsy, but I didn't have any idea that it would be...."

  "An autopsy!?" Dayk said, giving his full attention to Naomi. "You did an autopsy on one of my crew?"

  "I assisted Doctor Moorhead. But I swear I didn't know that you were still alive! I had no idea there were more of you." Naomi said very apologetically.

  "It's alright." Dayk said. "I suppose it's to be expected. It's just such a... we don't do autopsies the same way that you do. It's just a bit shocking." Without another moment's hesitation, Dayk powered down his cloaking device and suddenly appeared right before her. Naomi’s eyes locked on to him. She couldn't stop staring.

  Dayk! Thalia said nervously.

  "It's alright Dr. Thalia. Save the power on your cloaking device." Dayk ordered.

  Naomi started looking around the room waiting for the second alien to appear. Suddenly, there was a flash and the other alien stood before her, staring right back.

  "My name is Dayk," he said. "Doctor Dayk. And this is my colleague Doctor Thalia."

  Naomi stared with her mouth open for a few moments before she finally spoke up. "Oh, hi! Nice to meet you." She said. "I'm Naomi Saulf. I'm a Captain in the Army here. I work in the lab as a biologist at the White Sands Proving Grounds. We deal with a lot of odd cases around here, which is probably why they asked me to come to Roswell." Naomi volunteered openly.

  "What kind of base is this? A proving ground sounds like you're testing something,” Dayk asked.

  "Yes. It's top-secret, but most folks know about it now. We tested the bomb here. So, it's kind of a famous top-secret base." Naomi said with an ironic smile.

  "The bomb?" Said Dayk.

  "The atomic bomb." Naomi added. "It was built here. Or at least, it was tested here. It was actually designed and mostly built in Los Alamos. They used them to end the war."

  "If memory serves me correctly, that was a nuclear fission reaction weapon, yes?" Dayk prodded.

  "I think that’s right." She said. "I work in the biologic weapons lab. I've had to deal with some radiation and sometimes we've worked with the guys in the V-2 lab, but... I don't know anything about the actual bomb. Other than it's the atomic bomb."

  "That's why they're bringing the ship here. That makes perfect sense." Dayk said aloud to himself. "You must have a lot of scientists here." He said.

  "Well, it’s a research facility, so most of the people here are scientists. Some of the most brilliant men and women in the world work here." She said proudly, her eyes always locked on Dayk. "Do you mind if I ask you some questions?" She asked shyly.

  "Sure." Dayk said.

  Dayk! What are you doing? You can't give her any information! Thalia argued again.

  Dayk shot her a glance. Thalia, would you please just trust me? I know what I'm doing here!

  "Can y'all read each other’s minds?" Naomi asked as she watched them.

  Why don't you tell her? Dayk said. I'm serious Dr. Thalia. Speak up, be friendly.

  Thalia glared at him reluctantly, and then turned to Naomi. "Yes, we are telepathic." She said.

  Naomi smiled and looked over to Thalia. "It would sure make working with men a lot easier!" She joked.

  "It has its moments." Thalia replied, giving Dayk another sharp stare.

  "What do you want to know?" Dayk asked Naomi.

  "Are you Martians? What planet are y'all from?" Naomi asked excitedly, "Is it different than Earth? Is that why y’all wear the masks? Is it far away? Can you see it from here?"

  "Oh..." Dayk started with a smile. "You can definitely see it from here."

  "Could you point it out to me when the stars come out tonight?" She asked.

  "I can point it out to you right now." Dayk said with a smile. He glanced over to Thalia to let her know that everything was going to be alright and gave her a smile as well. "You're standing on it." He said to Naomi. "We're from Earth."

  "What?" Naomi said, her expression melting into confusion. "How can y'all be from Earth? That doesn't make any sense."

  "Captain Naomi Saulf,” Dayk began.

  "You can just call me Naomi." She interrupted.

  "Ok. Naomi..." He said. "We're from the future."

  "The future?" Naomi's face had completely changed its expression to something that resembled distaste. Her head cocked slowly to one side. "I don't understand."

  "We're time travelers." Thalia said jumping in. "We are what you will evolve into several million years in the future."

  "That's right." Dayk said. "For all intents and purposes, we call ourselves 'Humans'. We live and work in what used to be called India, although we call it Myrkiwidu."


  Naomi's face lit up with understanding, pieces of the puzzle from earlier had begun fitting into place. "That's why everything was so similar!" She said excitedly.

  "What do you mean?" Dayk asked her.

  "In the autopsy! So many things seemed so remarkably human to me. Nobody else seemed to agree, all they saw was an alien. And a lot of it was, but then so much of what we found in that body was..." In her excitement of her revelation she suddenly saw the look of sadness growing over the two small people's faces. "Oh... You probably don't want to hear about that, do you?" She said.

  "It's alright Naomi." Dayk said. "They all died in the crash." He lied.

  "Do you know who was autopsied? I don't expect you to know their names, but can you tell me about him?" Dayk asked.

  "I have no idea." She said. "They told me that he was the least damaged of all of them."

  "Captain Nocta." Thalia said.

  "Yeah. Captain Nocta." Dayk agreed.

  "We couldn't really figure exactly what killed him. It almost seemed like he'd been electrocuted." Naomi said. "So much of it was beyond anything we could figure out."

  "Captain Nocta was killed by an energy discharge of sorts." Dayk said. "Your analysis was mostly correct."

  "What are the little gold things in your bodies?" She asked. "I mean, there was strange bits of metal and machinery that none of us could make any sense of all throughout his body."

  "Over the millennia, our species evolved. Yours and mine. The more we interacted with technology, the more we developed, the more we ended up implanting into our bodies. Eventually, some of the devices got so advanced that some of them actually grow in us naturally. In some ways, you could argue that what you guys are doing here at this base is what started it all." Dayk said, trying to lecture and keep his secrets at the same time. "The ‘gold things’ in our bodies are various sensors, transmitters, and micro-holographic projectors." He opened his palm and a sphere of light and images appeared above his hand. "Our bodies are tuned to pick up many different wavelengths of various kinds of radiation, and all of that information can be translated in our brains into something that can be projected in a holographic format for our manipulation and review. Some of the objects in our bodies work like sensor grids, that extend our perceptive abilities far beyond what our natural senses can detect. Some of that data we can see directly, since our eyesight is also enhanced by our abilities. We can see in the dark, we can choose to illuminate certain things, like life forms, or technology at our will. We can highlight things that can guide us anywhere we want to go. The holograms in our palms give us a fuller view of the world around us. We can move around in three dimensions and view things many kilometers away from us at any time."