And What of Earth

Chapter 15



The next morning, Jennifer got more money out of her bank account and went to the All-in-One store, 3 doors down from the bank. She bought the only long-sleeve dress that fit her, and a pair of slacks to go along with it. She wanted to make sure that the symbiote wouldn't show the next day at church. After having lunch with her father, she shrugged off the clothes she had been wearing, and walked down the slope to the field, wearing nothing but the symbiote. She still despaired at the thought that she might look like a cheap kinky escort, but she reminded herself that to the Wakira, she was the Chosen.

Pokaifashta was busy compiling and analyzing some data for Myka's survey report, so Jennifer wandered the ship and stopped to talk to whomever she came across. She tried to reassure them that they would be leaving in a few more days, and that those who were scheduled to be home for Reflection would make it, albeit a couple of days late for the start. She listened to their concerns, to their observations, and to the descriptions they gave of their jobs. When each of the conversations was over, they all thanked her, with almost all of them calling her Mother.

She wore her new dress and slacks to church the next day. The sermon was entitled Bright futures and new beginnings. Jennifer started to wonder how the pastor could've discovered that she was leaving with the aliens, but then chastized herself for being so egotistical as to think that he wrote it specifically for her. The Stones and her dad piled into their car immediately after the service to drive to the truck stop/grocery store just off Highway 83 to pick up the chicken breasts, burgers and potato salad for that evening's barbecue on the football field. Jennifer walked the 9 blocks to the clinic to drop off the sermon notes and the previous week's audio recording to Barb.

While she and Barb joked and played with the stuffed toy dog, a face familiar to Jennifer passed by the window. It took her several seconds to realize who it was. She hurried to the door and stepped out, looking down the slight incline of Main Street towards the south end of town. She couldn't see him. She called over one of the soldiers standing guard at the corner of Twin Elm and Main and told him that she had spotted one of the bad guys heading down Main. He had to have turned down Amethyst -- east or west (who knew?) -- before she had gotten out the door. The soldier radioed the information to command. In less than two minutes, two jeeps appeared. One turned left and the other right onto Amethyst. Jennifer returned to the clinic and excused herself. She invited Barb, John and Billy to the chicken barbecue and wished her a quiet shift.

Back on the ship, Jennifer took off her new clothes then started playing with the weapon's "see-through" capability. She was still having trouble with "ranging" the images -- sometimes, she saw too far and other times not far enough. After making sure that the three indicators in the heads-up display were black (indicating that the weapon was safed), she peered into the various rooms and cabins of the ship she was in. She then pointed the weapon skyward, and looked around the interior of the massive ship hovering just overhead.

She then pointed the weapon southward, towards Sapphire and the edge of town. She saw Candy Underhill sunbathing in the backyard of her parents' house on Sapphire. It took two or three seconds before guilt caused her to move the weapon and peer in and around the other homes on Sapphire.

Next, she pointed it westward. After some difficulty, she managed to look into Bethy's home, on Bramble, just a few houses north of Sapphire. Bethy was trying to get some sleep in -- her overnight shift at the clinic was due to start in just over 3 hours. She "pushed" the view out further, onto Thistle, the westernmost street in Jewel, where the Baptist church was.

There, she saw the dark van with the tinted windows. She had noticed it when she had arrived at church with her dad that morning, and that it was still there when she left. It had to have been the person the army had posted to keep watch on the church. She pushed her view inside the vehicle. The sole occupant was slumped over in the rear seats, head tilted forward. "Oh my God, he's dead," she said under her breath. Turning to Poke, she said, "Poke, get the barrier up. Get the ship overhead to activate the barrier. Hurry!"

She pushed the image through into the bell tower of the church. She saw two men, and what looked like a long cylindrical object. They were aiming it at the football field. "They've got a rocket! Poke, barrier. Now!" She told the weapon to activate and to set itself to heavy stun. One burst caused the man wrestling with the launch rail to collapse. The second burst struck the man getting the ignition device connected.

Jennifer lowered the barrel slightly and tried to see if there were others in the church. She saw one more, in the pastor's office behind the platform, holding several people at gunpoint. She fired again, and he too collapsed into unconsciousness.

"Where are the others?" Jennifer asked herself. "Poke, what the hell is going on?"

"They are not accepting my authority, Jennifer. They want a superior officer to order it."

Jennifer kept scanning the nearby houses, concentrating on the ones that would have a clear shot at the ships. "Tell them that their new Mother orders them to activate the barrier." There. On the roof of the Hudson home on Emerald, between Briar and Thicket. "They are on the roof with a rocket! Barrier now!" She screamed the last words in their language.

She saw a puff of smoke come from the back end of whatever the projectile was. The projectile exploded against the barrier that had appeared just milliseconds earlier. Now, she had a clear shot at one of the two men on the roof. She fired and he fell backwards off the roof of the two storey home. It took a couple more seconds, fighting to get the weapon to see through the brick chimney, before she could stun the second man. He too fell backwards off of the roof.

She lowered the barrel and looked into the house. In the living room, she saw a third armed man, and several members of the Hudson family. On the carpeted floor, lay someone. The small pool of blood told the story of the person's condition. "You bastard! You killed Mrs. Hudson!" She took aim, but the weapon had changed its setting to lethal projectiles. "No! Heavy stun! Heavy stun! I want him alive!" As the armed man readied his assault rifle to kill the remaining hostages, the weapon obeyed and Jennifer stunned him.

"The guard detail!" She lowered the barrel again, and forced the weapon to see through the westside stands, a number of feet of soil and bedrock and a house. "Oh my God! Rafe's hurt!" Without hesitating, she ran out onto the football field and up the stairs to street level. "Disarm. Hide," she told the weapon as she sprinted up the last of the stairs.

"Mother, you cannot go out there. It is not yet secured." The male looked like he wanted to physically restrain her, but couldn't bring himself to do it.

"My friend is hurt. I am going out there. Do not try and stop me." She unmasked and stepped through. Rafe Dixon was on the asphalt, propped up on his right elbow. "Rafe, are you okay? Stay down!"

The male exited right behind her. "Jennifer Hodges, please return to the field. It is unsafe out here."

"I will in a minute. First, I will tend to my friend. I'm a trained medical technician." She used the Wakiran term for nurse. "Stay still, Rafe. Let me check you out. Did you hit your head?"

Rafe licked his lips. "I never thought a girl could look beautiful in orange."

"Answer my question. Did you hit your head?"

"No," came his reply. "I thought that I felt heat from behind my left shoulder, so I dropped down. I could've sworn that it exploded."

The male spoke. "The barrier absorbed the energy." He switched to their language. "Mother please. I beg of you. Get behind the barrier. I cannot protect you." He started to reach for her arm.

"Hold!" she yelled at him, in his language. "I will go with you in a moment. I must tend to my friend."

She checked his pupils, and got him to follow her finger with his eyes. She helped him to sit up. "Anything broken? Are you dizzy or feeling confused?"

"I'm fine. I probably will have a sore arm for a day or two. That's all."

Two jeeps pulled up. On their radio, she heard that people had been seen running from the church, screaming that there was a rocket in the bell tower. A man in a captain's uniform jumped out and hurried over. "Is everything alright? Are the aliens unharmed?"

Jennifer pulled Rafe up to his feet. "Captain, there are three terrorists in that grey and white house you passed near Briar. Two are either unconscious or dead in the backyard. One is unconscious in the living room. He killed the owner of the house, Mrs. Hudson. There are three others in the church, two in the bell tower and one in the pastor's office. The man that had been in the van watching the church is dead, I think. Send teams to go door-to-door to see if there are any others hiding nearby. And, come to think of it, send a heavily armed team to the electronics factory -- it's the only building in the industrial park. If I was trying to hide, that's where I'd go."

"Yes, Ma'am!"

Ma'am? Just being polite? "Radio General Comiston and tell him that everyone behind the barrier is unharmed. He's probably having kittens right now." She turned to Rafe. "Are you sure you didn't smack your head on the pavement?" He shook his head. "The minute you start feeling dizzy or confused, or you get a headache, head for a hospital immediately. Understood?"

"Yes, Ma'am. I understand."

Ma'am? From a friend? Then I am right!

"Jennifer Hodges. Please come with me now. It is not safe."

"I'm coming. Try to stay safe, guys." As she got to the barrier, six hands reached through to pull her back in. To the male who had exited with her, she said, "Notify the Mission Commander that he will be receiving a guest momentarily." She turned around to look through the barrier. Sure enough, a third jeep arrived, carrying a distraught general.

The appearance of her bodiless head and chest sticking through the barrier startled the general. He seemed oblivious to the 'clothes' she was wearing. "Deep breaths, General. Everything inside is fine. None of the Wakira were hurt. I take it that you've come to apologize to Myka."

"I had thought that we had the situation under control. I can't believe this has happened." He removed his holster and handed it to an adjutant. "Is he angry?"

"I don't know. I haven't spoken with him yet. He does know that you're on your way to see him." She reached out both hands to grasp his. "It's freaky the first time, General. Just walk forward and let me pull you through. You'll find it easier if you close your eyes."

He balked. "Just walk through?"

"Yeah. You'll feel a weird tingle, and if your eyes are closed, you'll see bursts of color. Just don't stand in the barrier for too long. It hurts. Just like it is right now." She smiled what she hoped was an encouraging smile. "C'mon. Welcome to my daily routine."

Hesitantly, he moved forward, closed his eyes, and stepped through the barrier.

"You can open them now." As he did, she said, "Welcome to Wonderland."

He turned and looked back through the barrier. "We can see them! And hear them!"

Her smile was wolfish then bashful. "Kinky cool, huh? C'mon, I'll walk you to Myka." They headed down the stairs to field level. "As far as I know, they don't actually bite off the heads of people who have displeased them, so you should be okay." She looked closely at him. He said nothing; his eyes fixed straight ahead. "That was supposed to be funny. You were supposed to laugh and relax."

"I don't find any of this funny, Miss Hodges. My job was and is to keep us safe from the Wakira, and to keep the Wakira safe from us. Five thousand troops manning two perimeters, and another 100 patrolling the town, and they still got a shot off at the aliens. This is totally unacceptable. If it were me -- if I was the alien commander in this scenario -- I would be livid. I would think that the natives were either sloppy with the protection or complicit with the attack. How do I face him?"

She put a hand on his shoulder as they finished the last dozen steps to field level. "Like you did with me just now. Tell him how shocked and dismayed you are. And ashamed. Tell him where you think your scheme failed, and what you think you need to do to fix it. It has to be fixed in less than 5 days. This place has to be safer than the White House. This whole town has to. That's how you face him. They publicly humiliate those who don't try hard enough and fail. Those who take their failures seriously, and show that they are taking corrective steps are forgiven. Show him that you are horribly distraught over what has happened. And I can tell that you genuinely are. Hide nothing. Be completely honest and forthright. It will win you back the respect that he had for you when he first met you."

They reached the main hatch of the survey ship and stopped in front of the sentry. "The Terran general is here to apologize to the Mission Commander," she told him in their language.

"The Mission Commander is expecting him in his office."

Jennifer discreetly took the general's arm and boarded the ship. "I thank you, male," she told the sentry. She walked the general down the corridor to the office that had become so familiar to her.

To his credit, Myka was not sitting behind his desk. Rather, he was sitting in a chair next to the couch. This was going to be a discussion between two equals, not a dressing down done by a superior. Jennifer guided Comiston to a spot on the couch next to where Myka was sitting. There were no pleasantries.

Jennifer spoke to Myka in the language. "You look like I need to exit the ship in order for you to be able to think clearly."

He raised his left hand and swivelled it back and forth. "I am still Walking in Bliss, Beloved. It should have subsided by now, but it hasn't."

Jennifer smiled. "I have never had that effect on males in the past." She hesitated a second, then said, "Myka, I think you should tell him. He needs to know." He looked quizzically at her. "I'm not ordering you as your mate. I am recommending that you do so, as your Terran advisor. He needs to know. In order for him to understand the gravity of the situation, he needs to know."

After a moment's hesitation, he said "I agree," in English.

Jennifer turned to Comiston. "I'll leave you two alone to discuss military things. I'll go around the neighborhood and reassure everyone that everything is okay. No barbecue tonight though. See you at lunch tomorrow?"

"If the president hasn't demanded my resignation, or called me to Washington to get reamed, I'll be there."

"The three of us make a good team. You tell whomever you have to talk to that I said so. Replacing you would be the worst mistake they could make." She walked to the door, and turned back to face them. "I thank you, Beloved," she told her mate in his language, then quickly left the ship.