by Rae Knightly
Hao heard her shushing the baby, then her voice came clearly again. “What was it you were calling about again?”
Hao searched for the right words. “Oh, er, I was calling to let you know that your husband is doing a great service to his country…”
“Oh, will you shut up already!” Tamara blew up. “I had a baby girl two months ago, Mr. Hao. Are you listening to me? Ted became a father for the second time, and he hasn’t come home once to meet her!”
Hao heard her burst into tears. It took her several minutes to calm down.
She sniffed and said with a broken voice, “It’s just not like him. We were happy, before. But I’ve had enough! You can tell him I want those divorce papers signed. I’m tired of waiting. Goodbye, Mr. Hao.”
He thought she would hang up, but instead, she added. “And tell him…tell him, if he won’t talk to me, to at least call his son Kyle for his fifth birthday. It’s the day after tomorrow, April third.” Her voice broke again. “That’s the least he could do.”
Silence fell between them, Hao at a loss for words. Then he heard a click, and the line went dead.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Light Years
“Well, hi there, lazy heads,” Bob said.
Laura entered the living room, following Ben who rubbed his hair and yawned. Bright sunlight seeped into the apartment.
Bob was sitting on the sofa with one foot leaning on the coffee table, his hand on the TV control. “I thought you’d never get up. It’s two in the afternoon! Were you partying all night or what? I heard you come in at dawn.”
Ben glanced at Laura.
“We met up with an old friend,” Laura said quickly. “We had a lot of catching up to do.”
“I see. The friend with a cat name, huh?”
Laura opened her mouth to answer, but Bob had already lost interest and was pointing the control at the TV. “Hey, didn’t your dad know this guy, Victor Hayward?”
Laura tensed and stared at the screen. They watched as the pale businessman was led away by police in front of the Victory Air building.
He looks like he’s seen a ghost!
Even Laura could tell there was something going on with the man. But there was no time to analyze the thought because Victor Hayward’s image was replaced by one of Mesmo.
POLICE SEARCHING FOR CRIMINAL IN CENTRAL TORONTO, the caption read.
The image was a grainy black-and-white one. Mesmo’s high cheekbones, square chin and straight nose, along with his white hair, was unmistakable.
Laura slipped in front of the TV. “Victor Hayward?” she said. “Yes, I think that was my parent’s neighbour back home. I don’t remember, really.” Anxious to change the subject, she asked, “So, what are your plans for today?”
Bob sighed, switched off the television and said, “I know it’s Sunday, but I’ve got to head into work for a couple of hours. Want to meet up at the park later?”
Laura straightened some cushions nonchalantly, while Bob picked up his jacket that hung from a kitchen stool. “Uh, I think Ben and I are going to stay here and rest,” she answered. “Tomorrow’s a big day, you know? With school and work starting…”
Bob cast her an annoyed glance. “I was hoping to take you guys out for dinner. I know this really great place.”
Laura’s heart did a double flip. She knew why he wanted to take them out.
“How about we do that next Saturday? Let’s see how things work out with the new job and school first. Then we can celebrate,” she said.
Bob finished straightening his jacket while he stared at her.
Laura swallowed.
He’s becoming impatient.
Bob picked up his keys and wallet and said, “Right. Saturday it is then.” He pressed the elevator button. The doors swung open, and he disappeared inside, without saying goodbye.
Laura let out a long breath of air.
Ben came up behind her. “Mom, but I don’t want to stay here. I need to go to the park.” He held up his hand; the queen bee rested on it.
She nodded. “I know, so do I,” she said. “I just wanted to keep Bob away from the park, now that Mesmo is all over the news. While you take care of Beetrix, I’m going to bring Mesmo some of Bob’s clothes and dye his hair; otherwise he’s going to stick out like a sore thumb.”
***
Laura placed a towel over Mesmo’s back to prevent the hair colour from staining his clothes. She checked that the creamy substance was spread out evenly over his hair, then nodded satisfactorily to herself as she sat beside him.
They had found a spot behind some boulders and a patch of sand long enough that they could sit with their legs stretched out towards the lake.
She observed the alien closely and found his skin to be a healthier olive tan. The sun on his face was going to help a great deal, too. But it was clear he had lost a lot of weight while in captivity. Her stomach tightened at the idea he had been cooped up for so long inside four walls–something his people could not cope with, he had said.
He must have realized she was staring at him because he turned his honey-brown eyes her way.
“How are you holding up?” she asked, trying not to blush.
He smiled, laughter lines creasing at the corner of his eyes. She realized he must have been a fundamentally cheerful person before his troubles began. “Better, thanks to you,” he replied.
She smiled back and crossed her arms over her knees. “So, what’s going to happen now?” she asked softly.
He didn’t let go of her eyes.
Feeling giddy, she had to force herself not to look away.
“Now, Laura Archer,” he said. “You will go on your way, and I will go on with mine.”
She swallowed and was unable to speak for a while. “What about Ben’s skill?” she asked finally, pretending not to be affected by his words.
“What about it? It is Ben’s, now. He can use it as he pleases.”
Laura frowned. “You don’t want it anymore, then?”
“It was never mine to want. Ben provided the information I needed, that is all.”
“Yes, he told me. The animals are sick and at risk of dying out.” She stared at the ground uneasily, afraid to analyze the thought. “That night, when we saw the Northern Lights, you said something. You said ‘We cannot invade what is already ours.’ Does the Earth belong to the Toreq?” She knew her voice was coming out a little too anxious, but she couldn’t help it; the idea that aliens were secretly running the planet gave her goosebumps.
His smile did not reflect her concern. He picked up a twig and planted it in the sand. “Your species has a strange habit. You believe that, when you plant a stick with a flag into the ground, the surrounding land suddenly belongs to you.” He drew a wide circle in the sand around the twig.
“You create borders that only exist in your brains, as if physical walls were separating one country from another, as if a flowing river, a passing rabbit or a branch from a tree belonged to one place or another, depending which side of the wall it was on. These borders change over time, depending on where you place the stick with a flag. It is a strange concept that makes no sense to me, considering that you are one and the same species living on one and the same planet.”
He placed another twig on the circle and drew another circle around it–knocking down the first twig.
“If the Toreq were to apply this theory, then yes, you could say that the Earth belongs to us, because we were the first civilized beings to ‘plant a flag’ into your soil, before the era of the great giants.”
“Before the dinosaurs…?” Laura gasped.
Mesmo nodded. “Fortunately, the Toreq do not abide by your old-fashioned flag theory. And besides,” he smiled, “the Earth is a pebble with limited resources, lost in the confines of space, isolated from any cluster of civilized planets. There is nothing of interest to the Toreq here.”
Laura shuddered, her arms and legs feeling woozy at the idea that humans were stuck on a lonely speck of
rock in the great void of space. “And yet, here you are…”
He wiped away the sandy circles with his hand and nodded. “And yet, here I am.” His eyes bore into hers, and her mouth went dry. “We simply like to keep track of the development of advanced species.”
Laura bent her knees and wrapped her arms around them, shivering in spite of the sun on her skin. “Maybe that’s why you always make me and Ben feel safe,” she said, thinking out loud.
Mesmo frowned. “What do you mean?”
Laura shrugged. “I guess it feels good to know we’re not the only ones out there. Plus, you know all these things. It’s as if you could predict our future and give us a heads up warning before we strayed too much. If only you could stay and help.”
She felt him tense ever so slightly, so she changed the subject quickly. “Then, there’s my asthma and Ben’s panic attacks. They seem to have evaporated since we met you. I wonder why that is?”
Mesmo smiled. “You never really suffered from them,” he said. “It is your mind that is convincing you that you suffer from these illnesses. But when you feel secure, you forget that you are supposed to show the symptoms. The Toreq have long learned to suppress certain illnesses with their minds. It will be a while yet before you learn to do the same. But I guess you and Ben are unconsciously following the right path already.”
Laura cocked her head, unsure she believed him, but she said, “If only there were time, to get to know your people better, under friendlier circumstances. You have so much to teach, and we, so much to learn.”
***
An hour later, Laura gave Mesmo the green light to venture out in the open among picnicking families in the park.
She checked on the alien regularly, trying to decide whether he was fit to walk among humans, and found that his now dark-brown hair, jeans and matching brown sweater with a three buttoned mock neck was more than satisfactory, even if–she had to admit–Bob’s clothes were a bit small for his tall stature.
She led him to the spot where Ben had found the hive. They made their way through the thick shrubs which had grown around the unused, rundown pedestrian bridge.
Reaching the clearing, Laura gaped at the sight before her.
Ben stood in the centre of the open space, at the foot of the bridge. Sunlight seeped through the trees, illuminating him. But what made Laura start was the dense swarm of bees that circled around him, while he held out glowing blue hands to them.
Laura stayed glued to the spot, mesmerized by this surreal vision of her son. He seemed oblivious to their presence, absorbed in a deep conversation that only he could hear, until the intense buzzing dissipated and she realized the insect frenzy was dying down.
The glow around Ben’s hands diminished, the sun dipped further behind the trees and the bees zoomed by Laura’s ears, away from the clearing.
Ben dropped his hands to his side, and his eyes lost their glaze as if he were once more becoming conscious of his surroundings. He turned to face Laura and Mesmo and said, “They say there is only silence.”
By they, Laura figured he was talking about the bees. She approached him. “What do you mean?” Ben looked different, she thought. More determined, less overwhelmed by the use of the skill.
I’m the one who has to get used to it now, she realized.
Ben held out his hand, and Beetrix landed on it. “They are able to communicate with other hives over great distances,” he continued. “Their senses are so developed that they can capture the vibrations produced by other bee colonies located miles away. But they say now there is only silence. They feel lost and alone. Beetrix says this common web of vibrations is like life itself to them. Without it, they become confused and depressed.”
Laura stared at the peanut-sized bee in Ben’s hand. “What can we do?” she breathed.
“It’s worse, actually,” Ben said. “Beetrix says her hive is poisoned. She has lost many bees already. She’s afraid other hives may have suffered the same fate.”
“Poisoned?” Laura repeated, a heavy realization seeping into her mind.
Ben nodded. “…by the flowers they feed on. She thinks the very thing they need to survive on is the one that is slowly killing them. How can that be?”
Laura rubbed at her brow. “Beetrix is right,” she said, feeling ashamed to be the one telling Ben the news. “I’ve read about it. Apparently, millions of hives are disappearing across the globe because of something called Colony Collapse Disorder. Worker bees in a colony have been disappearing, leaving behind their queen. There is no explanation for it, but it’s thought that it has to do with the pesticides we use and the loss of bee habitat from our sprawling cities.” She paused.
“The problem is serious, Ben. You see, bees pollinate all types of flowers from which fruits and vegetables emerge. That’s food that humans depend on.”
Ben’s mouth fell open. “You mean, no bees, no food?”
Laura nodded. “Pretty much. You wouldn’t think such a tiny animal could have such a big impact. But entire crops have been lost because there were no bees to pollinate them.”
Ben stared at Beetrix, who buzzed her wings while remaining on his hand. “Beetrix’ hive is not yet lost. Her worker bees are still here. She can be saved.” He kept his eyes on the queen bee and said determinedly, “I’ll save you.”
Laura put her arm around his shoulders. “We can Google local beekeepers and ask for their advice. But right now, it’s getting late. Let’s go home.”
She glanced at Mesmo as they walked by. He had been standing silently behind her the whole time. There was something in his eyes, something she couldn’t quite put her finger on. Was it sadness? Or a longing for hope?
It only took them two minutes to return to the bustling side of the park, where parents were gathering their picnic boxes and their children. It wasn’t summer yet, and the spring air tended to cool down by early evening.
“I thought you guys were staying home?” a voice said behind them.
Laura whirled to find Bob walking up to them. She caught him casting a sullen look Mesmo’s way. He stopped before them, the muscles on his neck twitching tightly.
There was no way around this, so Laura cleared her throat. “Oh, hi, Bob. I’d like you to meet our friend, Mesmo. Mesmo, this is Bob. He’s…” she trailed off.
“He’s my uncle,” Ben jumped in.
Bob scowled at Mesmo, then reached out to shake his hand. “Mesmo, huh?” he said with a slight edge in his voice. “I hear you’re visiting?”
Laura bit her lip as she exchanged a glance with Ben.
Mesmo nodded, staying eye-level with Bob. “Yes, and I’ll be on my way again, soon.”
Suddenly Ben wrapped his arms around the tall man. “Don’t go yet,” he said. “Please.”
Mesmo tipped his head to the side, then placed his hand on Ben’s shoulder. “No,” he said gently. “Not just yet.” His eyes fell on Laura, who felt heat rising to her cheeks.
“Come on, Ben,” she said quickly. “I’m sure Mesmo has things to do. And you have a big day tomorrow.”
I need to break this up, pronto!
Addressing Bob, she said, “Shall we go?” She slipped her arm under Bob’s own and led him away, waving at Mesmo.
Eager to pull Bob’s attention away from the alien, Laura chit-chatted lightly, pretending not to notice that he was brooding. “Well, that was perfect timing. We were hoping to bump into you.”
Bob scoffed. “Bump into me? Or bump into him?”
She forced a smiled and squeezed his arm. “There’s no need to be jealous.”
He didn’t answer right away but frowned at the ground while they walked. Then, he stopped and looked at her directly in the eyes. “Listen, I don’t want to see you get hurt. I know you’ll always see me as the irresponsible teenager I was. But can you believe me when I tell you I have you and Ben’s best interest at heart?”
She returned his gaze. She liked this honest side in him. It was a fair question that required
a truthful answer. “Of course, Bob. I believe you.”
His shoulders relaxed and they continued walking. “It’s just that, sometimes I feel like I’m not the only one who’s making bad decisions.” He glanced at her meaningfully. “Just watch out for yourself, ok?”
Laura avoided his eyes.
What’s he getting at, exactly?
She shrugged. “Sure, Bob.”
He offered her a smile. “We’re bursting with secrets, aren’t we?”
Laura returned his smile. “I guess so. Maybe I’ll tell you all about them, one day.”
They reached the pedestrian crossing.
In a teasing tone, Bob asked, “So, your Mesmo guy is from out-of-town?”
“Oh yes,” she replied casually. “Light years.” She bit her inner cheek.
CHAPTER TWELVE
The Lie
Hao studied Victor Hayward from behind the one-way mirror. The man slumped on a chair in the interrogation room, his green eyes empty. Only when the police officer sitting opposite him pushed back his chair, did the former businessman jolt, his eyes darting.
The police officer exited the bare room and met Hao on the other side.
“Well?” Hao said.
The officer shook his head. “He’s lost it–he’s spooked out of his wits. There’s nothing to pull out of him.”
Hao rotated his body on his crutches and hopped to the door. “I’m expected in the High Inspector’s office. Keep me posted if there’s any change.”
“Yes, Sir.”
Hao headed down the plain corridor to the big, metal elevator that would take him to the first floor, which was located just below the surface. As he reached for the elevator button, one of his crutches slipped from his hand and fell with a clatter.
Hao grunted irritably. Man, how he hated these crutches! He couldn’t run or defend himself, and everything took double the time to get done.
But I’ll get them done–eventually, he promised himself as the elevator rose to his destination.
The doors slid open and he headed for his boss’ office. His crutches clicked on the concrete floor, irritating him. He could bet on it that the High Inspector’ assistant was watching him struggle all the way to her desk.
