Not Your Ordinary Alien Story

CHAPTER NINETEEN

A red crossbill up on the branch of a spruce tree cracks a cone with its yellow beak before sending out a warbled jip-jip-jip-jeea-jeea. It's early in the morning, just after sunrise. I'm on my way to the clearing where the beacon lies hidden inside the fallen redwood. 

As the warm glow of the morning mist slowly disappears, I make my way through the trees. I feel so at home in the forest - it is my home, the only home I've ever known.  I can't help but wonder, are there forests on Belita Mpash? If there aren't, how could I live there? And even if there are forests, there isn't this forest, the forest I've grown up in, the forest Blue and I grew up in together. GranAna has taught me everything she knows in this forest.

I look around, the smell of mulch and pine and wildflowers filling my nostrils until I can almost taste it. I think of GranAna and how she has taught me everything she knows in this forest. If Qi is extracted, I'll be risking her life. How can I do that? 

How can I not?

The people of Belita Mpash will die if I don't.

When I'm about halfway to the clearing, I stop and look at my compass, the magnetic needle wavering. Ever since I realized how real this situation is, everything in my life, from the smallest details to entities larger than anything I can imagine,  all of it has taken on new meaning. As I watch the magnetic needle on my compass waver ever so slightly, I think about how some unseen force in space, a force we call magnetism, is making the needle move. I think about all the unseen forces  in the Universe yet to be discovered.

The air changes as I get close to the clearing. The warm breeze through the trees feels like the breath of some enormous slumbering beast. The colors of the trees and ferns and wildflowers are so intense, it appears as though they are vibrating in the electric air. I pause and take a deep breath in before I approach the fallen redwood. 

The pile of branches is still there blocking the opening.  I toss the branches aside then peer into the enormous tree. In the dim light, amidst the dust drifting through the air, the beacon shines bright.  I pull, push, and tug at it until I finally have it all the way out. Sitting next to it just outside of the enormous tree, I catch my breath. The materials it's made of are so shiny, it's like looking up into the sun. The dazzling diamonds, if that's what they are, blink on and off, and the two emerald-like stones on the gold sphere twinkle looking as though they are moving.

I reach out and touch the filmy wings; they feel so strange. I count the colored rings on the pole - there are twelve of them. According to the instructions in the journal, I'm supposed to slide the rings into a specific order. Next, I'm to open the two sliding doors in the triangular section and press my three middle fingers of both hands into the three indents on each side until I feel a vibration. Last, I'm to place all of my fingers and two thumbs into the indents on the gold sphere and bring my eyes in close to the two emerald-green stones and some sort of laser will shoot from the green stones into my eyes.

And that's it. Activation will be completed. Only that isn't all there is to it. It's not just a matter of me activating the beacon. If I carry through with this, will GranAna survive the extraction of Qi? Even if she does survive the extraction, will I be able to leave her? Will I be able to leave Mom and Blue and Rocky too? Will I ever be able to return to Earth? I don't want to go!

I ache inside. I ache for the people of Belita Mpash who will die if I do not transport Qi. I ache for GranAna who might die if I do, and I ache because of the unfairness of it all. I shouldn't have to make this choice. I drop to the ground and as I stare at the beautiful contraption shining in the sunlight, I begin to cry - loud crying like I've never cried before, crying that's half screaming and half crying. If there was anyone here to see me, to hear me, I would have looked like some sort of crazy person.

But there's no one here. I'm alone and my cries echo through the forest sounding like something that's not me at all, something that isn't even human.

                             ***************************

"I'm driving over to Grants Pass," Mom tells GranAna and me when she gets home from work. "Helen and I are going out to dinner." Mom is as dressed up as she ever gets, wearing one of her newer looking shirts and her good pair of jeans. She's even wearing earrings.

"Helen the woman from the Farmers Market?" I ask.

"One and the same."

GranAna doesn't look up from the afghan she's knitting. "That's nice," she says. She gives me a sidelong glance and winks.

"Don't wait up for me," Mom says as she grabs her purse and walks out the door.

"GranAna," I say as I sit on the couch. "Do you remember the year I was found in the forest?"

Her knitting needles pause but she doesn't look up. "Of course, I do."

"Do you remember anything unusual about that week?"

"Well, let's see. There was the tsunami in CrescentCity. Everyone was talking about it."

"Anything else?"

"Not really. Just the tsunami. That was enough!" She begins knitting again. "Why?"

"Just wondering."

She looks up, staring into space. "There was another thing. An old man who lived here in Gasquet just disappeared without a trace."

"What was his name?"

"John Smith."

"Who is named John Smith? It sounds like a fake name."

GranAna shrugs. "Who knows? Maybe it was. Folks have a right to call themselves whatever they want."

Starky jumps up on the couch and settles on my lap. "What was he like?"

"John Smith? Oh, he lived alone. Kept to himself mostly. Let other folks know that's how he wanted it so no one bothered him. Live and let live."

"No one knows where he went?"

"No. When he went missing, the sheriff went into his trailer. All his stuff was still there. No signs of foul play. Everyone thought maybe he'd gone into Crescent City that day and the tsunami swept him up and carried him out to sea. But his body was never found."

"How old was he?'

"Eighty. I remember because he said something strange to me shortly before he disappeared. It was one of the few times he spoke to me. He said, I've been on Earth for too long, for eighty years, and now I'm too old to do what I came here to do."

"Weird."

GranAna nods her head. "I don't know what he meant by that but he looked so sad when he said it. He had the most beautiful eyes. Kind of like yours."

"So...  a tsunami, an old man disappearing, and me being found in the forest...  and it all at the same time."

"Yes," GranAna nods her head. "The thing I remember the most throughout it all, was you. You were the most beautiful baby I've ever seen in my life."

"I wonder, how long did I lay there in the forest before the hikers found me? Was I cold? Was I hungry? Was I thirsty? Did the hikers say anything about how I was when they found me? Was I crying?"

GranAna tilts her head, her lips turning up. "You know what they said? They said you were smiling and making unusual noises. They said the noises sounded like happy sounds."

GranAna looks down at her knitting. She doesn't say anything more. The room turns quiet except for the sound of her needles sliding and clicking, the creak of the house settling, and the thump of Starkey's feet hitting the floor as he jumps off the couch.

Voting  is  easy.