by Laer Carroll
“Doubtless you know that almost 20 years ago it was discovered by some probes of Lunar space that the L-points had big chunks of rock clustered in them. This was a surprise because astrophysical studies show that objects at the Lagrange points don’t stay there for more than a few dozen or few hundred years. There should be only a hundredth or thousandth of the material there.”
Behind him there had been an expanding image of a rock cluster as some spacecraft edged closer to it. The expansion slowed and stopped as the craft came to a halt near the cluster.
“My team of astrophysicists have decisively proved that it is impossible for so much material to be there—unless someone put it there. Further, the team has done a re-survey of the material using more advanced spectrographic methods. It’s impossible for the material to be so rich in valuable metals—unless someone put it there.”
He was silent for a moment.
Bethany looked at her two friends, then at others in the audience. Most of them were looking surprised, others afraid. Many of them had heard these speculations of aliens “gifting” the people of Earth with off-planet mineral riches. But to hear a reputable scientist sounding so sure of the truth of the speculations was a bit shocking.
The scientist smiled. “Actually, the word impossible is a bit of an exaggeration. Scientists only say that a theoretical result has an 85 percent or 95 percent or 99.99 per cent confidence level.”
He clicked a button on a remote. A photo of the great planet Saturn came on the screen. Viewed at an angle, the magnificent and complicated rings surrounding the planet almost filled the screen.
“Now let me tell you of another astronomical and astrophysical mystery which MIGHT involve aliens. This was done by a group of scientists at MIT on the east coast studying the rings of Saturn.”
“Viewed at this distance by the Scout 13 probe of last year the rings look solid and smooth. Yet when we magnify the image—” The image zoomed closer to the rings in several jumps.
“You can see here that there are faint patterns in the rings. This one which looks like a four-leaf clover is the result of tides created by a tiny planetoid called B312 in the ring material—which is mostly ice, incidentally. You can’t see B312 in this image—” The image zoomed in still more. “—But you can in this extreme close-up.”
He paused dramatically. The students leaned forward a bit.
“Now for the surprise. After identifying all the several hundred anomalies we’ve found several dozen whose causes are invisible. And further these anomalies are moving about in the rings far too fast for any planetoid.
“There are two possible explanations that come immediately to mind. One is that these are ripples in the rings like ripples in water. The other—
“Is that alien spacecraft are traveling near the rings, big enough and with enough mass to create the anomalies.”
He smiled. “That has a MUCH smaller confidence level.”
The lights in the auditorium began to return to their normal level and the speaker spoke one last time.
“Now it’s time for refreshments. If you’ll go to the doors to your right you’ll see that we have several snacks and drinks for you to sample.”
At that two double-doors were being opened from the other side. Through them Beth could see parts of several long tables holding the goodies. She and every one else stood and began to move toward the doors, bunching as they converged on them.
“Wow,” said Dean as the three friends went along the buffet picking up items. “Imagine that! Aliens are among us.”
Marisol shivered theatrically. Bethany rolled her eyes. “Yeah, right. And they look just like you and me. And they flip hamburgers and sell sports shirts and work at mini-marts. And they want to drink our B-L-O-O-O-D!”
·
They weren’t the only students to talk about aliens. Some were only interested in the sensational aspects. Some rehashed old discussions in the Astronomy Club about how frequent or not life was in the universe. Discussions Bethany never joined in, despite her special knowledge of the subject—all part of keeping her special nature secret.
The rest of the visit dulled the alien discussion. They got to see satellites up close being built. They had lunch in the main cafeteria among all the many RPL workers. They got to see the spacecraft control center where deep-space probes were monitored. There they even got to pretend to use the consoles via a playback on all the video screens of a recent launch.
·
That night Bethany dreamed. She was an alien similar to the ghostlike electronic creature under a hot sun whom she’d dreamed of being several times. But she was a cool creature better suited to an Earthlike environment.
She was with several hundred similar companions on a spaceship like a huge transparent egg. They came out of an invisible something her mind translated as a subspace subway station. In front of them was the glory of Saturn. Actually Saturn, she somehow knew, not just a Saturn-like planet.
They zipped away from Saturn toward a planet which was clearly Earth when they came near it. They descended somewhere in Europe, on an island just off the coast. She thought it was Ireland but the trip down was very fast until the very end and it might have been Britain.
And that was where the dream/memory ended. For then she woke, got up and dressed, and went on her routine jogging session. Or at least that was what her family thought it was. They were used to seeing her come in the door just as they got up. They thought she’d only been out 45 minutes or so instead of the usual three hours.
During those hours she had her usual two breakfasts, all the while puzzling over her dream. One memory fragment answered a question she’d long had: What was the “eyt” part of Maelgyreyt’s name? It was the ghostly aliens term for themselves, rather like “it.” For the aliens were neither “she” nor “he” but a neuter. Eyt was a pronoun.
Which meant that Maelgyreyt was part human and part alien in some strange fashion Bethany only dimly understood. And so perhaps was Beth. She guessed that when she died she woke up some alien memories which had been sleeping inside her. Or maybe some tiny fragment of an alien. And from that “micro-eyt” she got her powers.
Well, it was a theory. Who knew, maybe it would help awaken other powers in her.
And indeed she did gain another power a couple of months later, two weeks after graduating to become a Junior.
·
“Hurry UP Brigitte!”
Lee and Bethany looked at each other, smiling faintly. Brigitte was always late and Naomi always early when going somewhere.
“Somewhere” this time was to VeniceBeach south of Santa Monica, which was west of L. A. All three girls were in bikinis covered by tee-shirts and shorts. Each carried one or more baskets or bags stuffed with towels and sun-block and bottled water and other essentials for a day at the beach. Naomi’s large pearl-finish SUV already carried light-weight lawn chairs and a large beach umbrella.
The front door of Brigitte’s house opened and she hurried through it, dressed as the three friends were. Behind her came Gerard, lugging two loads of essentials, his and that of Brigitte. Who carried only a large canvas purse and wore a big white floppy hat of straw with a pink hat band.
Naomi heaved a greatly exaggerated sigh of relief and everyone began to load her big SUV with their loads and pile into it, pulling on seat and shoulder belts.
Soon they were on Interstate 5 traveling south. Naomi remotely rolled up all the windows because at their speed the wind coming in the windows made speech impossible.
But for long minutes no one said anything, not wanting to distract Naomi. She was tense while carefully merging smoothly into the fast thick traffic. She’d had her SUV for two years since graduating from middle school but only recently could drive without an adult in the car.
As she began to relax Gerard said, “So, is everyone ready to go to summer camp?”
Brigitte said, “I am. All packed and everything. We leave tomorrow.”
He said, “
What? The Princess is going to be ready when it’s time to leave?”
Since Beth, Lee, and Gerard had bonded with Naomi and Brigitte when they met in high school they’d cycled through several insulting nicknames for each other. They’d finally settled on glacially beautiful Brigitte as the (Ice) Princess, Gerard (Gay as) Spring(time), Naomi (Deadly) Earnest, and Lee Flipper for her habit of flipping her hair. Bethany was Wonder (Girl) because she was often wondering out loud about this or that .
Brigitte’s answer was a slightly raised eyebrow and a superior expression. “When it’s truly important I’m always on time.”
Which “it” was to her. An advanced rider in horse shows, she was ready to graduate to the big leagues of equitation competitions. The fireteam had several times cheered her on in such.
“Lee?” said Bethany.
“Science and Math camp starts Monday, but they’re taking me there on Friday so I’ll have the whole weekend to settle in.”
Gerard was attending a summer camp for body builders and was highly psyched. Beth knew body builders weren’t typically gay but guessed he was nevertheless looking forward to possible romances. But mostly she knew that he was excited about being free for a summer from a somewhat rigid family life imposed by his very religious parents.
Naomi was now relaxed enough about her driving, now that the SUV was solidly in smoothly flowing traffic, to volunteer that her parents and she and her younger brother were taking the company’s private jet to France to stay at a succession of very expensive resorts.
“Will you go topless at those French beaches?” said Gerard.
She raised an eyebrow. “Of course. Europeans aren’t as hung up on bourgeois morality as we Americans.”
Lee giggled. “‘Bourgeois’? This from the daughter of two of the richest NON-BOURGEOIS people in the whole world?”
Naomi knew better than to re-open that can of worms. She’d been on the end of quite enough jokes from her fireteam friends about being a Black American Princess. She spoke over her shoulder.
“Beth? What about you? We’ve heard all about everyone else’s plans for the last month. You still haven’t said yours.”
“That’s because I don’t have any. Just loaf a lot, go to a few astronomy lectures over at CalTech. Spend some time with Ken and Miguel. Maybe they’ll introduce me to some of their celebrity customers they’ve body-guarded.”
Explore my superpowers. Fight crime. Stuff superheroes do.
Hah! As if!
·
It being the middle of the week traffic wasn’t as heavy on the way south and then west to VeniceBeach as it would be this weekend. They made good time and Naomi parked in a covered garage structure two blocks off the beach and a bit south of its middle. There were plenty of open-air parking areas at the beach, but she hated to leave her wonderful vehicle to bake in the sun.
They piled out, taking only part of what they’d loaded into the SUV. They’d come back later when they needed some of it, and shed some of what they now took with them. This was mostly small bags. They remained clad in cutoff shorts and tee shirts over their bathing suits and Brigitte wore her big straw hat.
At the end of the street that they’d come in on the street ended in a sidewalk as wide as a two-lane highway. They stopped to breath in the sea air and bathe in its breeze.
Beyond Ocean Front Walk was sand and rolling ocean. The Walk, Lee had once told them, was 6.2 miles long, the longest uninterrupted sidewalk in the world. It extended from Marina del Rey to their left and south to Santa Monica and Pacific Palisades to their right. Just at the boundary of the marina with Venice was a long pier stretching several hundred feet into the ocean. Beth could see many small figures on it. She zoomed her super-vision (which wasn’t all that super) and could just barely see the fishing poles of the several dozen people standing and sitting on the pier .
“OK, time for sun block,” said Naomi.
“Yes, Earnest.” “Yes, Earnest.” “Yes, Mother.”
The five of them placed their burdens on a concrete picnic table on the green strip between the Walk and the hundred or more feet of sandy beach and proceeded to apply sun block to their bodies and to the hard-to-reach parts of the others. Gerard, long accepted as just one of the girls, was in the midst of it.
Their skin well protected, not without a good deal of criticism of each other’s efforts, they took up their bags and began walking north on the Walk. Ahead of them the beach curved slowly westward, displaying Santa Monica and the Palisades and the many-miles-long beach, disappearing into grey distance and the far Santa MonicaMountains. A rare few cottony clouds adorned the sky.
The tourist season had barely begun but the Walk already was busy with crowds, most walking, a few skating, and a few biking. Soon the bikers and most skaters peeled off to the left onto a separate bikers’ path where they could move faster.
To their right was a wall of buildings two-to-four stories or more high, most housing small businesses selling everything a tourist could be induced to buy: sun shades, hats, tee shirts and Hawaiian shirts, post cards, books and magazines on metaphysics and spirituality, incense, supplies for cameras and camcorders, and much more.
There was also the occasional eatery, some with indoor dining, more with umbrella-shaded outdoor areas. Most of those were small, but they came across an Italian trattoria with a large outdoor and indoor dining area.
The green area to their left grew larger, shaded not very well by palm trees, containing more concrete picnic tables and seats. The crowd thickened. Small tables, some shaded with umbrellas or small open-sided tents, appeared at the edge of the green. Paintings and photos were popular sale items, but so were other small items. At one table a weathered artisan with bushy hair crafted small personalized medals and neck pendants for customers.
They came across a reggae-klash band playing loud enough to compete with the crowd’s chatter. They passed one block entirely taken up with a six-story motel.
They browsed the shops but bought nothing, being too experienced at shopping to buy anything this early in the day and have to lug it around. They bought drinks and watched the crowds, being watched in turn, four hot girls and a hot guy.
They passed a large area containing a dozen tennis-like paddleball courts and watched parts of a few matches. Further on there were a few basketball half-courts. They had to drag Naomi away from watching. She was a fierce b’ball player and intended to pursue it as a career despite her 6’1” height. Then they had to do the same to Gerard at the MuscleBeach competition area.
Bethany watched the several men and a couple of women determinedly lifting weights. She thought a bit of their reaction if she were to join them and lift huge 400-pound barbells with one hand without any effort. Not a friendly one, for sure.
It made her feel a bit lonely, poor little supergirl. That was her lot now, never to reveal her secret to anyone.
They passed the busiest part of the Walk and a little beyond it entered a Chicago Pizza Parlor and ate a leisurely lunch, sitting out of the sun under an awning close to the edge of the Walk and still able to watch the crowd. Then they went about a quarter mile beyond before turning back. This time they bought various trinkets.
They also dared each other to go into the Freak Show Exhibitorium but no one would take the lead in doing so. Ditto the tattoo parlor .
Finally they returned all the way to their entrance onto the Walk and turned east to leave their purchases in Naomi’s SUV.
It was now early afternoon, the perfect time for Operation Suntan. They collected a different mix of supplies, took off their shorts and tees, and exchanged tennies for flip-flops. They each picked up a Superlite beach chair except for Gerard, who took out Brigitte’s Superlite beach umbrella with its heavy base and spike bottom. Brigitte returned the favor by adding his chair to hers. Then he picked up one handle of an ice chest and Naomi the other and led the way to the beach.
There they applied sunblock again, left the green strip beside the Wa
lk, and walked toward the ocean over the sandy beach. Nearing the water, at Naomi’s direction, they turned north and walked until they came across a boxy life-guard hut raised on stilts. This one was occupied by female guard in a bright orange two-piece bathing suit.
“Now,” she said. “Let’s find a good spot directly in line with the guard and the beach.”
“Yes, Earnest.” “Yes, Mother.” “Boy, is she bossy.” “But she means well.” “Yes, she means well.” “It makes her feel in control in a universe full of chaos.” “Where did you get THAT?!”
Meanwhile they trekked toward the white foam-flecked waves just beyond the waterline, angled a bit to fit between a large Latino family all brown and lively and a pair of prone young couples who seemed as Nordic as pale Brigitte, and set up in a small empty area.
At its center Gerard and Naomi set down the ice chest. He raised the closed umbrella and plunged it into the sand beside the chest. Its spike anchored it in place. Its wide base added its weight and its plate-like bottom kept it from keeling over when he opened the umbrella canopy. The steady breeze off the ocean did bend the shaft away from the water but only by a little. Superlite metal-foam structures made in space were much stronger than steel.
Brigitte placed her chair on the sand beside the base opposite the ice chest and sat in it, shielded from the sun. The rest arranged themselves like a queen’s guard around the chair, Gerard and Naomi a little behind and the two shorties Lee and Bethany a little forward. This arrangement was done all by the purest instinct.
Bethany spread a towel atop the spider-web metal-foam back-and-bottom of her unfolded beach chair. Its upper body was only tilted a bit upright so that when she sank onto it she was almost lying on her back. She closed her eyes, sighed deeply, and relaxed.
Fully in the sun her body was bathed in light. It showed red against her closed eyelids. Her body was also bathed in the breeze off the ocean, bringing with it the scents of water, salt, the dead and living bodies of all the plants and creatures of the sea. Occasional air currents also brought her dozens of scents from the people and their property near her. Despite her closed eyes, all her other senses let her “see” her surroundings almost as well as if her eyes were open.
