INTERFERENCE (A Short Novel)

VII. The Source

VII. The Source

            Minutes later, the phone rang.

            “There it is,” Cliff said excitedly.

            “Hello Alizé,” Jeremy said.

            “Hi earthling. You really should stop calling,” the girl said.

            “I will if you’d answer my questions,” Jeremy said. “What are you using to call me?”

            “A cellphone. Duh.”

            On Cliff’s monitor, a satellite readout slowly registered.

            “Smart kid. Okay. For the last time… where are you?”

            “I’m in heaven.”

            Jeremy sighed. He’s slowly losing his patience. “I mean… your address… what is the name of your place?”

            “This is Heaven. I’m an angel. Angels live in Heaven.”

            “Where is that?”

            “Everywhere. Heaven is everywhere.”

            “Crap. Look here, kid. It’s getting late already. I don’t have much time…”

            “Earthling,” the voice interrupted. “What is your name?”

            “I’m the one who asks questions here…”

            “Relax, Jer,” Clifford whispered.

            “What is your name again?” the girl asked once more.

            “It doesn’t matter…”

            “I just wanted to know. Will you tell me? Please?” the girl’s voice said in a very sweet tone.

            “Jeremy. My name’s Jeremy. Now, tell me…”

            “Earthling Jeremy. We shouldn’t be talking.”

            “Why?”

            “It’s dangerous. The more you expose yourself to the celestial forces, the more dangerous it gets for you,” the voice said in a singsong.

            Jeremy heeded Clifford a glance. “What’s that supposed to mean?” he whispered.

            “You earthlings are cute,” the girl said with a giggle. “The last time I’ve got an Earth mission, they sent me to Japan. I love Japan. They have a lot of kawaii stuff in there. Too bad I have to deliver a tsunami…”

            “What are you talking about, kid?”

            “I’m not a kid. I’m an angel,” the voice implied.

            “Angel…”

            “I have a name. It’s Alizé, remember?”

            “Listen now, I…”

            “Oh. The choir is here. Byebye earthling Jeremy.”

            Jeremy heard a humming tune from the girl and a chorus of girlish giggles before the call disconnected.

            “What… the… hell…” he murmured.

            “’What the heaven’, you mean?” Cliff offered. Things are getting weirder now, Jer,” he said, shaking his head in disbelief.

            “What’s your take, Cliff? An A.I.? A prankster?”

            “Could be. But here’s the catch.” Clifford pointed at the screen. “The satellite can’t detect the source. Normally, you could see red circles rippling from a certain spot. But if you’d look here, the readout says UNDETECTABLE. That’s… kinda impossible since I’m now linked to all satellite feeds from NASA and they cover practically the whole globe.”

            Clifford clicked a different window.

            “I also used a program to graph the waves from the call that you made – or rather, she made, and it says here that the waves originated from beyond the ionosphere.”

            “’Beyond the ionosphere’… How’s that weird?”

            Clifford tapped his eyeglasses. “You see, Jer. Ionosphere is the wave medium that we, humans, use for communicating via wireless devices. It’s our virtual ‘wire pathways’. It is a part of our atmosphere.”

            “Uhuh…” Jeremy said, feeling lost.

            “So… if our wave comes from beyond the atmosphere, there’s gotta be only one reason for that.”

            “What is it?” Jeremy asked nervously.

            “Our source is not of earthly origin,” Clifford said, deadpan.