Posts Tagged ‘alien abduction’

 OBSERVATION RESUMES

 When they reached the hotel, Richard tipped the cabbie generously and entered the lobby. When the doorman stepped in front of him, Richard resisted the temptation to test the powers he supposedly now had. Instead, he asked for the concierge who, recognizing Richard as a five star guest, personally showed him to one of the hotel’s best suites. Richard asked for a razor, and to have the hotel’s personal shopper sent to his room in an hour.

As soon as he was alone, he poured himself a stiff drink. After downing it in a single swallow, he picked up the phone to call Nadine. Given the time difference, she’d most likely be at the university so he called her private line there. It rang through to voicemail. So did her cell. Richard couldn’t think of anything he could say in a one-minute message that would make the least bit of sense. He was going to call the university switchboard and have her paged, but decided he’d shower first. After all, as far as his wife knew, he was still in the middle of the Central American jungle. It wasn’t like she’d be worried about him.

Going into the bathroom, he started the water in the shower, stripped down and stepped in. He leaned both hands against the wall and just let the hot, steamy water run over him for a few minutes. He was just beginning to feel something close to normal again when he heard a giggle behind him. Turning, Richard saw Alea Chantal, as naked as he was, standing provocatively in the corner. “Hey,” he exclaimed, suppressing the urge to cover himself with his hands.

Alea Chantal laughed, moved toward him. At which point Richard realized that even though she might be naked, she wasn’t wet. “Very good, Richard,” she said. “I’m simply taking advantage of the mist in the air and the way your eye processes light to create an image of myself.” Then she glanced down, smiling broadly. “But thank you for the compliment.” Richard blushed. A disembodied throat-clearing from Sarsoneth broke the moment, and Alea Chantal continued. “We promised to begin to answer your questions, Richard. When you finish your shower, grab that second drink you wanted and meet us in the grove.” She disappeared.

“Meet you in the grove,” Richard repeated. “How the hell do I do that?”

Alea Chantal’s face reappeared. “Same as before, silly. Only this time, you don’t have to wait for Faloneth to knock you out. Just make yourself comfortable and we’ll do the rest.” She blinked out again.

Richard soaped up, scrubbed down and rinsed off. Stepping out of the shower, he towelled himself dry and put on the hotel-provided bathrobe. As he returned to the suite’s living room, there was a knock on the door. He opened it to find the personal shopper, who he invited in. It only took a few minutes for her to take his measurements and to make a list of the clothes and personal articles Richard wanted. He also asked her to book him on the first available flight back to the US.

After she left, Richard went back to the bar and opened the fridge. There was a decent selection of beer from a number of British and European brewers. He reached for a German brand. “Don’t be ridiculous,” Alea Chantal’s voice complained. “We’re in London. It’s got to be a Guinness.”

Richard picked up the black and gold can. “You do know Guinness is Irish, right?” When Alea Chantal didn’t answer, he shrugged and popped the can open. After taking a swallow, he picked up the phone and tried calling Nadine again, and again got no answer. He still didn’t want to worry her by leaving a message with a London telephone number. Instead, he called Thomas Jackson, his colleague and best friend. Jackson didn’t answer either, but Richard left him the number at the hotel and asked him to call as soon as he could. Richard knew his friend well enough to know that he’d be more curious than worried. Then he walked to the sofa and made himself comfortable. He was just about to ask what to do next when the room faded out and the now-familiar grove took its place.   

“Welcome back, Richard,” Alea Chantal said cheerily. Richard noticed that she was holding what seemed to be his can of beer. She saw the direction of his glance. “What? A girl can’t enjoy a good beverage?” she protested. Taking a long pull at the Guinness, she added. “God that tastes good. Not that I don’t appreciate the scotch you usually drink Richard, but there’s just nothin’ like a good stout f’r a gal raised in the pubs, y’know?” She took another swallow, belched; looked sheepish.

“Indeed. The sophistication of your palate is beyond question, my dear. Not to mention that you are French, not English.” Richard turned toward the second voice and saw Sarsoneth for the first time. The man was considerably older than Alea Chantal. She appeared to be in her early twenties. Richard would have guessed Sarsoneth was at least sixty. He was dressed in some sort of loose-fitting robe or toga or something but from what Richard could tell, he appeared to be in excellent physical condition. The most striking thing about him however, was his height. At six foot one, Richard wasn’t accustomed to having to look up to meet someone’s gaze. Sarsoneth, however, had at least six inches on him.

“In the days when we first arrived,” Sarsoneth said, picking up on Richard’s unspoken thought, “the difference was even more striking.”

“I knew it,” Richard exclaimed. “You’re aliens.”

Alea Chantal placed a hand on her hip, struck a pose, and protested, “Not me bud. I am all girl.” After a brief pause, she added, “He’s the bug-eyed monster.”

Sarsoneth sat on a boulder, gave Alea Chantal a long-suffering look, and sighed. Addressing Richard, he said, “Although ‘alien’ would be technically correct in my case, Richard, both Alea Chantal and I, at least the original, living versions of us, are, or were, your ancestors.”

Richard looked from one to the other. “You’re ghosts?”

“More like memories, Richard,” Alea Chantal chipped in. “Very, very vivid memories.”

Richard picked up a stone, threw it into the lake, watched the ripples spread out. “Pretty damn solid memories; especially since I’ve never been to this place before in my life.”

“Not only your memories, Richard; our memories as well. Indeed, the memories of all of your ancestors are available to you. Everything that happened to each of your forebears up to the moment that they passed their genetic material on to the next generation is part of what my people call the d’na’tnek.”

Richard thought about that for a few minutes. He knew a little bit about the theory that memory could be passed from one generation to another just like physical traits such as red hair or a talent for math. “What about lifting the jeep, and fixing my arm? How does that work?”

“As with the ability to access the d’na’tnek,” Sarsoneth replied,” there comes a point in the evolution of a race when they begin to be able to manipulate the power generated by the planet itself. Humanity is reaching that point. It is Awakening.”

Richard had an idea. “Okay, so you’re saying that all the stories about faith healers, or people who had visions, or witches, or whatever … they were all really some kind of mutants?”

Alea Chantal laughed. “Awakening, Richard. Or evolving, if you’d prefer a human term. It’s a lot more complicated than that, but you need to understand what’s going on and where you fit in first.”

“When my people came to Earth, Richard,” Sarsoneth continued, “we were the last, shattered remnants of a once-proud race. Too proud. Our arrogance had led us to turn on each other to our utter destruction. Even the truce that allowed a few of us to reach your planet lasted barely long enough to complete the journey.”

The grove faded out momentarily and Richard saw what was obviously a spaceship descending toward a broad plain. When it had settled to the ground, doors opened and scores of men and women – four hundred and fifty nine, a memory whispered to him – emerged from the ship. Some gathered in the meadow around the landing site while others immediately took to the air and scattered. The scene faded.

“That was over ten thousand years ago, Richard. While those of my faction, the Ethicals, sought to aid mankind’s development, those like Faloneth, the Disaffected, sought only to dominate and control. Though there are only a few left, they still do. They must be stopped before humanity fully Awakens.”

Richard considered. “What about your group? The Ethicals?”

Alea Chantal jumped in before Sarsoneth could answer. “They’re no better, Richard. Their methods are different but they want the same thing.”

“Which is?” Richard asked.

“To control humanity’s Awakening. It’s the only chance they have of rebuilding their race; by using us.”

“How many Ethicals are there? Which side is winning?”

“There are only a handful of either,” replied Alea Chantal. We’re not sure how many. But even one is too many Richard. ”

Remembering what Faloneth had been able to do to, Richard tended to agree. Still ….

He’d been leaning against a tree during most of the discussion. Now he pushed himself off. “It seems like you’ve been at each other’s throats for a long time. Humanity’s still here and the bad guys are dying off. I think I’ll just leave you all to it, and go back to my life. If one of you could just point me at my hotel room, I’ll be on my way.”

Sarsoneth started to say something about destiny and responsibility, but Alea Chantal stepped closer to Richard and put her hand on his arm. “Richard, Faloneth killed Nadine.”

Richard spun toward Alea Chantal in shock when the phone rang and he found himself back on the sofa. Dazedly, he noticed that the can of Guinness was empty. 

OBSERVATION PAUSED BY REQUEST

 Enquiry Response: The Member is correct. The Sarsoneth Construct is deliberately withholding information from Richard. That it is capable of such action is without precedent. One of the tasks of this Panel is to determine if this is a characteristic to be nurtured, or if it signifies an aberration requiring sterilization.

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OBSERVATION BEGINS

SUBJECT – Richard Redmond

FILED BY – Gerry – Danaerean Observer

As is customary, this Observation will be delivered in narrative form to accommodate members who are not visually equipped.

At the point this Observation begins, its subject, Richard Redmond, is not yet aware of the pivotal role he will play in the development of the System I Observe. For members who have not, as requested, reviewed the previously filed Danaerean Prologue, you may find it expedient to Diverge a portion of Awareness so that you can review that Observation concurrent with this. Definitions, references, and cultural context can be accessed in the Universal Repository using the primary search terms Danaerea, Yannoneth, or Humanity.

The few lights strung around the central chamber of the temple were powered by an electrical cable snaking along the passageway and out to the generator in the jungle camp. The illumination they provided was dim and they flickered frequently. The flashlight that Richard had with him would probably have done a better job of lighting the room but he had turned it off an hour ago. He was just standing, trying to get a better sense of how the room would have looked to the ancient Mayans who built it.

“Communing with the spirits” was how he half-jokingly described the process to his students when he was lecturing at the university. Truth was… he wasn’t exactly sure what it was that he did. He just knew that, if he spent enough time immersing himself in the atmosphere of a ruin like this, he often came away with insights that others missed.

“Oh, please,” a woman’s voice came faintly, dripping sarcasm.

Richard whirled around, startled. He thought that Jaimie, his dig boss, must have followed him into the temple. She was the only woman on the expedition. He waited, peering back up the passageway, but no one appeared. Probably just an echo from someone talking near the entrance, Richard thought. Sound did funny things in a place like this.

He returned his attention to the relief carvings and murals on the chamber walls. Three thousand years of accumulated dirt and cobwebs couldn’t obscure the central focus of the place. A single object appeared in every scene. It had a central, basketball-shaped body of gold crowned by a red gemstone and supported by three wooden legs equidistantly spaced to form a tripod. Not that Richard had to depend on the murals for a description. They had the artefact itself. Until yesterday, when he’d had it removed to the camp, it had rested on the altar he was leaning against right now.

“Too bad you hadn’t left it where it was, bright boy.” Richard jumped at this second whisper, grabbing his flashlight and shining it into the corner of the chamber where it seemed the comment had come from.

“Professor Redmond? Are you okay?” Richard spun around toward the entrance to find Jaimie staring at him, a concerned look on her face.

“Were you talking to someone just now?” Richard asked.

“No one, Professor. I’m alone.” When Richard didn’t say anything more, she went on. “I thought you’d want to know the results of my tests on the artefact.”

Richard shrugged off the strange incident. Hearing things. Better be careful, he thought to himself. Next thing you know, I’ll be believing that the poor bastards who were likely sacrificed here are haunting the place. Getting creeped-out was a hazard of the profession. Aloud, he simply said “Good. Thanks. Yeah. What did you find out?”

“Well, the red crystal on the top is exactly what you thought it was – the biggest ruby I’ve ever seen. But the design on the setting doesn’t match anything in the Mayan database. At least not the limited database we have in the laptops. I still can’t get the satellite phone working so I haven’t been able to access the university’s computers. Ted’s still working on the uplink.”

Richard frowned. The glitch in the satellite phones seriously curtailed the amount of analysis they could do onsite. Not to mention it meant that he couldn’t talk to Nadine. Today of all days. Trying to put the disappointment out of his mind, he said, “Well, the carvings make it pretty clear that it was central to some sort of sacred ceremony. It was probably part of a funeral ritual.”

“Or birth,” suggested Jaimie. “There seem to be depictions of both.”

“Yeah,” muttered Richard, looking from one carving to another. He waited; he knew his assistant well enough to know when she was holding back. When Jaimie continued to hesitate, he prompted her. “And …?”

Jaimie looked unhappy. “I’m sorry, Professor. I must have contaminated the sample somehow. The analysis of the gold globe is screwy. It came back only ten percent gold. The rest is steel – an alloy of some kind – the field equipment we have here couldn’t even identify some of the elements. I don’t know what happened. I’m rerunning the test right now.”

Richard smiled sympathetically. “Happens sometimes, Jaimie. Don’t beat yourself up about it,” Suddenly though, he felt absolutely certain that there was nothing wrong with the sample. Or the results. He dismissed the feeling as ridiculous, remarking instead, “I’m more disappointed that the satellite phone is still down. I’d hoped to talk to Nadine today.”

“Oh?”

Richard idly traced the outline of the artefact in the altar’s dust with his finger, not quite touching the marks so as not to disturb anything. “She’s being honoured for her latest work tomorrow. Black tie affair, rubber chicken and all. I was supposed to be there.”

Jaimie looked as though she wished something would come out of the shadows and drag her away. Richard and Nadine Redmond’s devotion to each other was one of the classic love stories on campus. “Professor, I’m so sorry; you’re only here because of me. I shouldn’t have asked you to come early. This could have waited.”

Richard shook his head. “No, you did the right thing. This is an absolutely incredible find, Jaimie. As soon as I saw the pictures I knew I had to come. This chamber, and that artefact, whatever it is, don’t fit into any of our accepted theories about the Mayan Pre-Classic period.” He looked at the altar again. Something was tickling the back of his mind.

“He he, that’s me,” came the whisper a third time.

Redmond looked sharply at Jaimie. “What?”

“I said, ‘I’m going to go back and take another crack at that analyzer.’ And I’ll talk to Ted. We’ll find a way to make that phone work if we have to run two tin cans and a string across the entire continent.” When Richard just nodded absently, Jaimie turned back to the entrance and left.

After she was gone, Richard turned again to the spot where the artefact had rested. Why was he so certain that Jaimie’s analysis wasn’t contaminated? The ancient Maya couldn’t make steel; that was ridiculous. Of course there was an error in the results. The simplest explanation was usually the right one. Still… His finger continued to trace the pattern in the dust; a pattern that, even though he’d never seen it before, seemed totally familiar. This was way beyond the hunches and feelings he’d had in the past. In fact, he realized he’d had the damnedest sense of déjà vu ever since he’d arrived.

“Well, duh.” No longer a whisper, the voice was clearly coming from somewhere in the chamber.

Richard whirled around, grabbed the flashlight and shone it into the dark corners of the room. “All right, that’s it. Who’s there? Show yourself.” Richard drew the revolver he was wearing, pointed it vaguely into the gloom.

The woman’s voice sounded irritated. “We don’t have time for this. I told you we should have acted when we first realized what they’d found. Now we’re in a hell of a mess.” She spoke with an accent that Richard couldn’t quite place.

He started moving cautiously around the room, looking for the woman’s hiding place. “Damn it, I said show yourself.”

A second voice, male and equally unseen, responded, speaking dispassionately, “Richard, this is not the way in which things were intended to be revealed to you. Unfortunately, your removal of the d’na’nish from its shielded vault has precipitated something of a crisis. You must trust us and allow explanations to be deferred until later. Otherwise, the probability is high that you are going to die in the next few minutes.” This dire pronouncement was delivered in a tone so devoid of emotion that the speaker seemed as though he might be commenting on the weather or some inconsequential bit of trivia.

“Is that some kind of threat?” Richard demanded. “Because if it is…” Richard stopped speaking as he heard the sounds of a skirmish, including weapons fire, coming down the passageway from the camp. The string of lights suddenly went out. He immediately started to run back up to the entrance, shining the flashlight ahead of him. When he got close to the end of the passage, caution returned. He turned off the light and ducked low to use some fallen stones as cover. What he saw when he peered cautiously around the debris sickened him. The camp was a shambles. The neat piles of supplies had been knocked over; the tents were collapsed. One was burning, probably from a lantern overturned inside. He could see at least one person on the ground, unmoving, although he couldn’t tell for sure if they were dead or alive.

Then someone called him by name. It wasn’t one of the voices he had heard in the temple. Nor was it disembodied. Quite the opposite; he could see clearly who it belonged to. The man was standing in the middle of the destroyed camp, beside the table with the artefact which, surprisingly, had not been overturned. Something in the way the man moved cautiously around the thing gave Richard the feeling that he held it in great reverence. Or maybe fear.

“Come on out and join our little party, Richard. Don’t be shy. It is, after all, thanks to you that we’re all here.”

OBSERVATION PAUSED BY REQUEST

Enquiry Response: Regarding the Member’s comment on death. At the time of this Observation humanity is experiencing a period of shortened lifespan. As Members will be aware, this is done to facilitate rapid evolutionary development and will be maintained until Awakening is achieved.

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