2. The Alien Introduction
The vast panorama of an alien landscape stretched before the two of them, and they both had resigned themselves to working at trying to survive in the alien environment of a new planet. Both Annaleah and Marco had decided that it was better than being experimented on inside the confined space of a plastic coffin.
“OK, Marco, lets try to work out a plan to survive on this alien planet. We also need to put as much distance between us and the high lake that we landed in. The alien spaceship can’t be that far away, and he probably has very advanced equipment that will enable him to locate us very soon. We have to be able to blend in, if we are to make it in this strange place. I don’t think it will be anything like what we came from on Earth.”
“Yes, you’re right Annaleah. I’m sorry if I couldn’t have made some better choice, than to just run up and hit the pilot on the head. It was the only thing I could really think of at the time. I know I hit him very hard, but I was afraid of having to go back to the incubator, that plastic pod or whatever it was. They were almost trying to erase my entire memory and my brain. If it wasn’t for you, I would never have escaped. I owe you my life. Please forgive me, but even if we had thrown the pilot out, we wouldn’t have known how to fly the spaceship. We might have been killed in a crash. It was just lucky that he got us so close to the water that we could survive the jump.”
“Yeah, yeah, Marco. I know. We should thank God that we actually got away. Now, to be able to survive a meeting with the people of this new world. Let’s try and get to some habitable place and quietly find something to wear that looks like we came from the local populace. There has to be a little village around here somewhere. First, lets get down off this high plateau and visit a dwelling near the city. I’m willing to bet there are some houses nearby on the way.”
They meticulously managed to pick their way down off the mountain, with a waterfall from the lake nearby that made the way slippery and the going rough, but finally they arrived to the base of the overhanging cliff. Not far off was a curious looking dwelling that looked as though it had been abandoned. Cautiously the two naked humans entered an alien house and they were both amused at its contents. It was almost completely barren, except for a few old uniforms that the crew had left hanging in a receptacle. The occupants must have been away from their duty post or had been called away for some other work project. The house seemed as if it was being used as a station along the way, a type of government building, designed for maintenance or observation. There were also charts and maps made of a dried fabric that seemed flexible, but it was not paper. They examined the maps and charts and it seemed likely that this house had been an office at one time, which had now been abandoned for some reason, leaving only a few items not important enough to be moved.
“Look, now at least we are clothed and maybe presentable to the public with these jumpsuits on. Take a look at these charts and see if we can use them to find our way around here. It looks like we are indeed near the city, and it seems to be quite extensive and takes up a lot of space on the map. This looks like the lake we just came from, and there are something like checkpoints along the way to the city, by the look of these charts. This place is designated with a star and what looks like a part of a circle around it, maybe some government emblem. The jumpsuits also have the same emblem attached to the front in something like a patch. I hope we are not mistakenly arrested for trying to pose as government officials. At least we’re not naked, which could be far worse. Marco, look around and see if you can find anything that would be useful to take with us. Maybe we should approach the city to find some food and safe water to drink.”
“Yes, Annaleah, I’ve already found a small iron tool, like a chisel that I’m taking with me. Can’t be too careful in this strange environment. There may be wild animals out there or people who could attack us. We have to be prepared to defend ourselves.”
“OK, but we don’t want to seem too aggressive though. We need help from anyone. I’m already hungry and thirsty. It’s been a while since my last meal through that tube and I’m getting weaker. We won’t last long without food and water. I don’t think we can walk a long distance, not even much further in this weakened condition. They kept us like that for a reason, and that was to keep us incapacitated for a lengthy duration, while they broke into our minds.”
They began to walk along a pathway that was almost completely enclosed on both sides by lush vegetation, with plants that had broad colorful leaves and tubular stems with wide foliage. Not long after leaving, they came across a paved highway with a lone black vehicle approaching in the distance. It had four wheels as similar Earth vehicles and a boxy appearance like most cars. The engine was extremely quite, and they would have missed it entirely, if Marco had not been so observant.
“Here comes someone now in a car or at least a moving vehicle. Do you want to see if he will give us a ride into the town?”
“No, Marco, let’s wait to see what we can find along the way. I don’t know, I’m extremely tired and might faint any moment. I’m not sure. What if he sounds an alarm or calls the police? Maybe it doesn’t even matter at this point. I’m too weak to care that much.”
By that time, the vehicle had already passed them by, but then slowed down and went into reverse, stopping just in front of them, as they hid along the roadway, among the vegetation with the extremely large leaves. The driver could not have possibly seen them, but yet he still knew of their presence. They both received a mental message, asking if the driver could be of any service to them.
“I’ve noticed that you are destitute and without proper food and water. If you wish, I will bring you to a convenience station and clinic, where you will be properly attended to.” Astounded, they both acclaimed mentally, that they would indeed be appreciative of any aid and comfort that could be given, since they were a great distance from home. It was as though no words were needed, but yet communication was almost instantaneous through some mental wavelength. The driver exited the vehicle and approached the overgrowth of vegetation along the way and beckoned them with one hand to follow him to the vehicle. They both left the growth of vegetation they had been hiding in and approached the vehicle, where upon the driver opened the rear door for them to enter into it. He was dressed in a similar jumpsuit as they were, with the government logo on the front.
“Thanks, we’re very glad you stopped for us. Can you take us to somewhere to obtain food and water?” asked Annaleah verbally, and the alien responded in some language not understandable, but the mental translation was quite clearly easily comprehended.
“Of course, I’ll drive you to a health station, where you can be properly taken care of. I understand you are fugitives from one of the alien spacecraft that constantly circle this area, waiting to capture some of our people to hold them prisoner. You are not alone, but I attest through your mental wavelengths that you are far from your original home. We have a technology that maybe you are unfamiliar with. You see, if you are within a specified range, the Sensatron Resonator will pick up your brainwave signals and translate through the nerve endings a viable translation that most humans can readily understand. With the lower animals it is a good deal less accurate. All government vehicles have one, and there are also personal devices that are smaller and can be carried at all times. You would be wise to purchase one, at your earliest convenience. I know you can’t understand my verbal skills and spoken language, but our advanced technology has made it virtually unnecessary to communicate that way, unless you actually want to automatically enunciate. Most people do anyway, and it’s really not a bother, unless they are verbally very loud and obnoxious.”
The alien seemed to be almost human in appearance and very congenial, with a little less skin color, almost translucent, as if he constantly had stayed out of the sun on purpose, since maybe it was a little too close to the planet for comfort. The blood vessels were very apparent at close observation, as if the skin could be looked right through and all details were noticeable. Annaleah found him quite charming and handsome, with almost a hypnotizing affect to his eyes. She found out very quickly through mental communication that he had no hair for a reason, to prevent infectious diseases, he indicated. They were indeed underground a lot of the time, to protect their skin, and the spirals they used in architecture were simply extensions from deep underground foundations that gave light and air to the chambers beneath the surface.
“So, is there no way that we might be able to get back to Earth anytime soon? I know we might be a long way away, but I’d really like to get back home,” said Annaleah, wishing against all odds to be able to return to her formally boring life back on Earth.
“I’m afraid not dear Earth human. You see, it would actually take years for a return voyage. We don’t have the ability to fund such an undertaking for the present. Besides, our government does not interfere in any of the intergalactic visitations, simply because nobody wants to leave our beautiful world and travel to some place that could be inhospitable to our species. What you fail to realize is that even if you returned to your world, the people you actually knew would all be dead by now, and your environment could have changed dramatically in the time lapse it took for your journey to come here. Approaching light speed has the disadvantage of leaving relatives and friends far behind that you will never see upon your return trip home.”
“So, at best you think we would be better off just to stay here, even if we had the ability and occasion to return to Earth?”
“Yes, that is my recommendation and you will be able to find viable employment, make friends, and generally lead a very happy life here on our humble planet. We have adequate natural resources, an abundant food supply, and a quite powerful government that keeps the surrounding alien spaceships away from the main centers of population. They protect us with wave propagation and a very strict enforcement of laws and regulations, designed to help and aid the population to be productive citizens. An alien spaceship could not even come close to us now, because the brains of those beings on board would be deactivated with their aggressive tendencies.”
Immediately Annaleah thought of Marco and the metal chisel he had with him to be able to defend themselves with. She hoped that her thoughts would not be communicated to their newly found friend, but upon having the thoughts flash by across her mind, she was relieved that he told her not to worry. He could keep whatever tools he found in the house with no consequences. Aggression could be thwarted upon instigation and no, there was no worry about possession of any means of violence, provided by tools that could be used as weapons. Even a firearm or pistol is only so aggressive as the possessor. Just how any violence could be thwarted was quite another subject not covered by the communication, but simply presented the thought that it could be accomplished extraordinarily and easily.
Upon learning that she was probably light years from Earth, a sudden depression descended upon Annaleah, and she remained mentally quiet for the rest of the short journey into the city. They passed along the highway, incredible new varieties of plants and sightings of completely different birds, which darted in front of the vehicle and only sought the nectar of huge flowers on both sides of the road, like little dive-bombers, but nothing that would endanger the two humans. Marco noticed the sullen nature of Annaleah and sought to comfort her, also realizing the inexplicable condition of their situation. “Annaleah, we’re going to make it just fine. At least we’re not aboard that spaceship and among the insidious little aliens, who were constantly tormenting our minds and bodies. It seem that we’re among people almost like we are. This gentlemen seems very nice and helpful. I think it will be all right.”
“Yes, we’re in a much better situation, it seems. What will happen when the others see us and meet us, realizing that we are from a completely different planet?” The alien driver responded reassuringly, knowing their thoughts that were being translated, through the Sensatron Resonator machine housed within the vehicle.
“Rest assured, there are many others just like your species, although my race of beings is not so far aligned genetically from your own. We almost look identical. There are many Earth people here among us. You two are not the first who have been recovered from the alien tormentors. They seek only your knowledge and the ability to create offspring from your reproductive systems. There are also many hybrids that have survived the slave and breeding camps of the alien Andropods, as that is their name signified in our native language, meaning ‘Male Modules’, after their practice of transporting humans in pods, like the stacks you saw in the transport ship. All the aliens are of the male sex only. They can’t copulate with others of their own kind, but they use humans instead to mix their DNA and produce offspring, hybrids of their own species. As our history records, they actually destroyed their own female of the species in a war between the sexes. You see, there at one time was an extremely bitter rivalry between political factions that were cohabiting with the same sex, and it seems that sides were chosen, and the resulting war devastated the females in a ‘male over the female homosexuals’ in control of their government, causing widespread extermination of all females. Luckily for us, our Congress passed legislation to make it against the law to form any homosexual political groups, for fear of extermination of one of the sexes, just exactly like what happened to the Andropod species. They really are a diabolical and despicable group of beings, causing widespread harm to every individual on our planet and the entire solar system as well, forcing all humans into reproductive servitude.
You two were very lucky and did not have to endure the scavenging of your internal organs or reproductive systems. Although, I assume that neither of you is pregnant. They do try and impregnate male humans also, but it has usually failed miserably, and most of the Andropod larvae terminate their own hosts before being born. The both of you look incredibly healthy, to have been abducted. Maybe you have not been very long among the incubation chambers of the aliens. I realize that I also am alien to you, but I refer specifically to the Andropod aliens. They have become a scourge upon our Galaxy.”
Annaleah admired the alien figure driving the vehicle, with a look of wonder at such happenings that could have taken place in normal society. She had in her own past, at one time, hated men with such a passion that it might have been possible to form a secret wish to have them all annihilated, but wisdom had prevailed and she had begun to form bonds with male friends in her university classes, finding them much more responsive to her own emotional problems than females. She had actually switched political parties for that one reason, because the liberals had often pushed indoctrination of hating the male species. The alien driver had an elderly sophisticated look of a gentleman, who was a respected leader among his own people. The skin tone was almost translucent though, and he had to have spent a lot of time out of the sun, to become so pale. Maybe it was a genetic marker or some environmental calamity. There were so many things to discover about this new planet.
It seems though that even the problems of her own Earth world were widespread in the galaxy, recognizing the unfruitful ideas of one of the liberal political parties on Earth, which caused even panic among the female university students, when they instigated the policy that men who identified as females could use the female locker rooms and restrooms. Many girls just refused to use the communal toilets, since often times bizarre males would watch them in private moments and approach individual females when alone, making repulsive demonstrations and revealing themselves. Some younger students had been physically attacked in the bathrooms. Many female students began to go off-campus to local restaurants, just to simply use the bathrooms in private.
“I sense that you at one time had deep feelings of resentment against all males. That is normal growing up and adjusting to your own sexual identity, Annaleah. That’s why I would like to invite you to attend my clinic for an evaluation, after such a traumatic experience of being abducted by the alien Andropods. You see, I’m a Psychiatrist from the Clinic at Amordenrado General Hospital. Amordenrado is the vast city you saw from the top of the water falls. I drive this highway often times, attempting to pick up those who might have escaped the clutches of aliens, who frequent the lake on the hilltop.
Sometimes they lose themselves admiring our lush vegetation, and also we have instigated a series of wave projections at certain points around the lake that confuse the alien pilots and provide brief moments of a lapse in concentration for the aliens, which might allow those victims they have captured to escape. You’re not the first ones to have escaped from an alien who has been momentarily stunned by our wave projections. There are others, though not all are specifically from your planet We will give the two of you a complete physical and mental exam, and decontaminate any foreign larvae that the aliens might have injected into your bodies. It’s worth the small wait time, and it will allow your physical bodies to completely recover. We provide food and clothing, and of course counseling after the very debilitating experience that you have just undergone. Oh, by the way, my name is Doctor Anthony Mathias Grünfeld, Senior Psychiatrist at the Amordenrado General Hospital. You can call me Doctor Tony.”
“Doctor Tony, Annaleah and I are extremely grateful for picking us up and offering to provide help. Was that one of your maintenance buildings that we found these uniforms in? They look like official government workers clothing.”
“Yes, Marco, we have a station at the base of the mountain to aid in the transition of those we find, who have been kidnapped and abused by the alien Andropods. You’re welcome to use the uniforms, and a clean supply will be given you at the clinic, when we arrive. Of course, you have to agree to our help, otherwise the law stipulates that we must release you into the public sphere, but there are consequences that involve a low degree of survival. The populace will not willingly accept you. I’m quite sure you will be ostracized and attacked as aliens to our humble planet, even though there are plenty here who look just like you. It involves the device we wear that permits brain scans and communication. You won’t be able to say a word that others will understand, nor will you be able to interpret their strange speech patterns without it.” The two briefly talked between themselves and came up with a consensus to receive the help that Dr. Tony was to give.
“Dr. Tony, Marco and I have agreed to receive your help. We are indeed indebted to you, but we hope that it would not be a monetary burden upon us, just starting out in this new world. I doubt that it is possible to return to Earth, right now, but if that is possible in the near future, we would appreciate that most of all.”
“I’m very sorry to inform both of you that to return is not possible at this time, for only the Andropods have the advanced technology to jump space in such large distances. Yes, they are very obnoxious and despicable, but they have a hive culture that combines all their brains into a Collective Mind, giving them access to advanced scientific reasoning. We are not far behind with our Sensatron Resonator unit, but they unfortunately have evolved biologically to ensure the survival of their species throughout the galaxy, and anyone else comes second. They are a species that is millions and millions of years old, possibly older than all other humans known to this date. They came originally from a planet in your solar system, a planet called Mars in your language. It is now a dead planet, according to your estimates, although underground caverns may still contain some of the original inhabitants, just like we have evolved here on this planet to burrow underground to avoid too much exposure to solar radiation and the constant damaging of our skin. It seems that they left their planet and have journeyed far away into the galaxy to our present solar system. We live on one of your designated ‘Goldilocks Zone’ planets, located around the brown dwarf star Trappist-1, Planet “e” to be specific. From your mental data, I see you are from a world that is almost completely habitable. Ours is not, since we are tidally locked and only have a small zone that is habitable, but it is very lush with vegetation, as you have seen. Still, we mostly stay out of the sun, since we are relatively close to our little brown dwarf. It does emit damaging UV rays, but we are occupying the so-called “gray” zone in the middle, half way between freezing and burning up, and the rays hit us at a glancing blow. So, we still take precautions and stay below ground most of the time. The vast structures you see on the surface give abundant light, heat, and ventilation to the below-ground immense city. There is so much more below than what you see above.”
“Doctor Tony, I wonder if you can instruct me and give me a short history lesson on exactly where the Andropods came from, the fact that you said they were from Mars intrigues me. I wonder, do you think that Earth is in some danger from them?” asked Annaleah.
“Of course, when you have both recovered from your ordeal, I would be glad to give you a detailed history of the species that is a constant threat to us now. They came here probably hundreds of thousands or even millions of years ago. We don’t know exactly where their home world is now, but we do know that in their archives that we have uncovered, that your specific solar system was their original world. Mars as you call it was once a lush planet covered in water. Now, I must presume, it is almost completely dried up, having lost most of its atmosphere. The same identical thing could actually happen here, so we are looking around for a more habitable world, in our vicinity of course, since Earth might seem a little too far away. Only the Andropods have a form of intergalactic transportation. We are still investigating how they do it and would like to uncover some of their encrypted mental historical archives. Their hive culture has prevented us from opening mental doors into their advanced secret technology. Some of their hybrid species that got away from the slave colonies have provided extremely valuable information.”
“We would appreciate that, Dr. Tony, but first Marco and I would really like to know if we are infected with their invasive larvae. You said that we could even be pregnant with their offspring.”
“Yes, Annaleah, we must first get your written permission, once we have arrived at the clinic, to do an exploratory analysis and get rid of the invasive species of larvae that they infest all their victims with.”
“You say all of their victims, meaning we almost certainly infected?” Marco asked quickly.
“Yes, Marco, I am almost positive that you both are infected. That is why we must hurry to the clinic, before the enzyme spreads and deactivates your memory and the autonomic nervous system. Almost all recipients usually die from being the host of their species. It is not dramatic, just a slow painful death that begins and ends with a gradual catatonic state and the end of life.” Marco and Annaleah suddenly got a very ominous feeling of slow annihilation by parasites that eat into their bodies, consuming their lymph system and thriving until the corpse had rotted away, later emerging after almost nothing was left of the victims’ bodies. It wasn’t a pretty picture, but it had been translated perfectly with the Sensatron Resonator that Dr. Tony had installed in the vehicle.
“Yes, Dr. Tony, we want to be immediately examined at the clinic and get rid of the parasites that have been injected into us,” Annaleah said, almost nervously feeling something crawling inside of her stomach and feeling a sudden itch around her naval, where a small scab had formed and earlier fallen off, right after they had emerged from the freezing cold waters of the lake.
“It won’t be long now, since we have already arrived in the city. We will be entering the underground area and will immediately proceed to the clinic, where you will be attended to and relieved of your parasites.”
The bright city architecture loomed overhead. Looping and reaching for the sky were great spirals of crystal and metal frames that gave the underground inhabitants life and breath. The bright sunlight was short lived, soon after the vehicle entered the vast underground chambers, with only a brief minimal light for guidance, spaced with another light source that shown from occupied residences and office spaces, all with an overhead tendril that reached overhead and skyward to provide heat, light, and air from the surface. The Doctor entered the parking garage for his clinic at the Amordenrado General Hospital, beckoning his passengers to follow him into a very spacious and well- lighted clinical atmosphere of the emergency ward. Immediately the two Earth humans were coded and placed onto flat semi-circular conveyance vehicles that slowly transported them into a synthesized curvilinear magnetometer that properly judged the distance and infection rate of the parasites within their bodies. It was a very quick and virtually painless operation, whereupon the two larvae parasites were extracted and held up to the light. Dr. Tony took an electronic metal clasp and a crystal containment unit and quickly encapsulated each parasite as it was extracted, recording and labeling each flask for future DNA stud