Help: a Short Story

The Mistake

"No! Nonononononono!"

"What's the matter, Joe? What's going on? You need to tell me. Now!" Janet yelled.

"They are invading." He slumped down in the desk chair, defeated.

"Who, Joe? Who's invading?" She waited for an answer for only a second before saying, "I don't know what your talking about. You need to talk to me, Joe. Tell me what's going on!"

"I'm sorry." He said.

"What? What are you talking about?" She asked hysterically.

"I'm sorry. I didn't tell you and in turn put you in danger you need to leave." He said despondently. To him, all was lost.

"You didn't tell me what. How am I in danger? You need to tell me more!" She was never gentle in situations like these. Every beep of the alarm and passing of the red lights over them put her nerves on an edge that she couldn't explain.

"I didn't tell you about the research I was doing. I'm sorry. I'm so so sorry." His eyes were on the brink of tears and that scared Janet more than anything. This man never cried. Even when his greatest invention was destroyed in the fatal fire that he lost his father in. He didn't even blink when he saw the building collapse on top of his life and dream.

"I still don't know what you're talking about. What research?" She insisted a little softer.

"I knew you would tell me not to research on extraterrestrial life, even though I found a signal coming from a different planet. You would tell me it was fake. 'It'll go away after a while and you'll be left with nothing to show for it, so just stop now,' you'd say." He was about to turn to mumbling some other thing about what Janet would say if he'd discussed the plan with her, but she stopped him.

"You mean you went on without me? You tried to make contact with foreign life without telling anyone? You know what could happen to a scientist who researches without anyone knowing about it. You always need to have someone with you in case something went wrong. That' like the first rule of being a scientist." She realized she was lecturing him again, so she cut it short. "You knew that. Now what's gone wrong? I can help you now that you've told me."

"They're invading, I already told you that. And there's nothing we can do about it." He said solemnly.

"What did you tell them? How do you know that they're invading? You need to tell me more." She went to the sleek computer and logged in. "Show me what you have done."

This finally made him get up and start working, though sluggishly at first. "This is what I wrote to them, in their language, of course."

Hello, fellow residents of the Milky Way (our galaxy).

I am contacting you from Earth, another planet full of

life. I am Lieutenant Joseph McDowell of the United

States of America. We intend no harm on you or the

people of your planet, we are merely trying to establish

a connection of sorts. You see, we are a very curious

people and are fascinated with life on other planets. If

you would be so kind as to respond to this message, we

would be grateful. Thank you for allowing this message

to be sent and received. I hope to hear from you soon.

"How did you figure out their language?" She asked. "Can I see it in their language?"

"Oh, yes, of course." He switched the screen to an image of what he sent to the signal. "I found some of the words of the signal to other planets and there was a guide to their language, at least I think it was a guide."

She gasped. "You assumed?" The last syllable of the last word was raised an octave in her angry astonishment. "What happened to all of your sensibility and logic?" That wasn't the only reason she was taken aback, though. She knew that language from a far away memory that seemed more like a dream. What he actually sent was a threatening and confusing message about health care.

"I know, I know. I don't know where my brain went. Wait!" He jumped up from the chair startling me from my seat. "We need to get out of here! This is where they are going to hit first!"

"Did you observe anything else about them that might help us fight them?" She asked. He nodded while trying to pull the information up. "Is it on a flash drive? Can we take it with us?"

"Working on it right now." He was already putting the nearest flash drive into the port. He quickly downloaded all of the gathered information onto the flash drive, grabbed her arm, and ran out the door. They ran into the street and looked around. Nobody thought anything was wrong except the people who think something is wrong all the time and have learned how to hide it well.

The options were warring in Janet's head. Do I warn everybody or do I try to figure it out myself. Nobody else would need to know about it and I can speak their language. "Let's go to the Under. Quickly, now, quickly!" She urged. They would figure it out on their own and save the world, and the world wouldn't need to know any better of them. The only problem is that she would have to reveal her most closely kept secret. Nobody knew about her. Nobody knew what she was.