Fear and Aggression (33 page)

“
I don’t understand,
Steve. He is the Son of God. What He did on your world had an
effect on all of God’s worlds—on all of His children. We are His
children, too; how would we not know about it?”

“
I understand what you are
saying, and I find it very interesting; but I need to know
specifically: did you read or hear us talk about Jesus, before you
asked me about it?”

“
No, Steve, I did not.
That is why I asked; I didn’t know what world you were from. Your
world is the only world that I know anything about at all. I know
that there are many worlds, but I know nothing about them, other
than that they exist. Your world is special. Every world knows
about your world.”

“
Why is it that we don’t
know about all of these other worlds, if they all know about
us?”

“
What do you mean that you
don’t know about other worlds? You are the ones that are here, in
this ship that was designed to study the children of other worlds.
Tammy has shown me, and I have seen all of the elaborate ways that
you have prepared for my being studied. If you didn’t know that
there were other worlds, why would you have come here, and been so
prepared?”

“
We didn’t know, but we
suspected,” he said contemplatively.

Aspiria sat back, and pondered. “I guess
that you do come from a different perspective. All of the other
worlds rely on events that took place on your world. Your world did
not require anything that took place on another world. So you were
not told about the other countless worlds of the creation?”

“
I don’t know. I never
really go to church, or read the bible. I really don’t know about
what God has told our world. I am a military man, and a man of
science. We seek the truth by exploring, experimenting, and
logic.”

“
Truth is truth, Steve. It
doesn’t matter what the source is; if it is true, it is true. You
have something special on your world, Steve. Numberless people, on
countless worlds, would do anything to peruse your bible, and read
about the firsthand accounts of His life. You have it in front of
you, and you don’t care what it says?”

“
You’ve sparked an
interest in me, I must admit. If it is true, what you say, then I
would like to learn what He has said. Now, however, I need to look
at your tablet with you. I need to look at the history of all that
you have read.”

Steve pored through the history files, and
looked at his log of events. It was clear that she was searching
only language files—precisely what she had permission to search.
Nothing looked suspicious at all and there was no evidence that she
had been playing around with the history or settings. She was doing
exactly what he thought she was doing. She had become quite adept
at working on the tablet, but she was no computer genius; she often
asked for help to do seemingly simple things. Her language genius
did not translate to genius in all areas. “I must be certain: did
you ever hear or talk with anyone aboard this ship about Jesus
before you talked with me the other day?”

“
Steve, I assure you that
that was the first conversation that I ever had with any of you
about God’s Son.”

“
I’m sorry, but my
commanders believe this to be very important, and they required me
to ask you directly. I believe you, and I am not upset about this,
but I did need to know.”

Aspiria smiled
comfortably, the smile of a person with a clear conscious. Steve
admired—even envied that about her. For all that he was, he was not
a person with a clear conscience. He was racked internally, and it
was getting worse. It was beginning to weigh more heavily on his
mind, now that Tammy was considering aborting his child. He did not
see how that would rectify the situation. It might allow him to
hide his circumstances, but it would not make it all go away.
Instead, it would add more heaviness to his heart; another weight
to add to his growing burdens. He was conscious of the fact that
this woman, Aspiria, was good and kind; yet, he had taken her from
her home, her family, and put her into this situation. She returned
this action by being honest and true. She treated everyone on this
ship with kindness. When she requested that she be returned, and
was continually told to wait, she continued in the same goodly
manner. Steve had met many people that he admired, but she was
unlike anyone that he had met before
. If
there is anything alien about her, it is that she returns evil with
good; that doesn’t seem human at all,
he
thought.

“
You speak nearly-perfect
English now; that’s amazing! I need to practice in your tongue.”
Steve had a greater ambition than before to learn her language. In
part, it was because he so admired her that he wanted to take in
something of her essence. He wanted to feel better about himself,
and he transferred that desire to learning her language. He had an
abstract, unconscious desire to atone for his
circumstances—circumstances that he had brought upon himself, and
he found that as he immersed himself in this project he did feel
somewhat better inside. Today was a day of breakthroughs for him.
His ability improved, and he found himself communicating at an
increased level. Even Aspiria was impressed, and that made him feel
good, also.

Upon leaving, he, feeling excited about his
success, gave Aspiria a hug. She was uncomfortable about that, but
did not say anything. She looked around to see if Tammy had seen
it, and she had. Tammy did not look bothered, and that felt better
to her. It was not her custom to hug a man that was not related to
her, as she was a married woman. But, she could see that this
custom did not seem to be the same among them. Still, she hoped
that it would not happen again. “Why did he do that?” she asked as
she walked up to Tammy.

“
Do what?”

“
He hugged me.”

“
You were helping him to
learn, and he had some good success. He was happy, and wanted to
thank you. I’ve been going over our photos and videos. You are
going to be a celebrity back on earth. Everyone knows about you,
and they want to see you. Look at this one, I think we look
great.”

“
I don’t look any
different than you. We are all the children of God, and we are in
His image. Why does it matter what I look like?”

“
They’ve never seen an
alien before. The people on earth are getting scared. Our
commanders think that if they see pictures and videos of you that
you might settle them down. You are not scary, Aspiria.”

“
Thank you. I’m glad that
I don’t scare you. I don’t think that I have scared anyone
before—although, all of you did seem frightened of me, at first. I
remember going to the bathroom with guns pointed at me. I couldn’t
understand what it was that you were scared of.”

“
That’s right. We are not
scared of you anymore, now that we know you. We want to help the
rest of our people to know you, so that they will no longer fear
you.”

“
This is very strange. You
come to our world, and yet your people are afraid of us. I don’t
see how that can be. We would never harm you, or even want to
travel to your world. We don’t know how to travel like this. There
must be much sadness on your world, for the people to have so much
fear.”

“
I’m feeling sick again.
Watch this one, I’ll be right back.” Aspiria tried to focus on the
video, rather than the unpleasant sounds coming from the bathroom.
After cleaning herself up, Tammy returned. “I hate that feeling.
Did you have that?”

“
You are with child,
Tammy?”

Tammy looked down, and then gave her a
smirk.

“
Steve is the father? But
you are not married, are you?”

“
No, we are not married.
We are not supposed to be together, on this ship. Please do not
speak of this.”

Aspiria nodded knowingly. “It does not last
long, for most women. I did not get very much sickness at all. I
have known some women that it lasted for a while. I think that it
is normal, what you are experiencing.”

“
Yeah, it won’t be much
longer.”

“
You and Steve will make
beautiful children; I do wish that you were married. It is better
for the children, and for you.” Tammy did not acknowledge her last
statement.

The women looked over the videos, and
laughed. “You are sure that you want your whole world to see you in
this dress?” Aspiria repeated.

Tammy looked over and smiled at her.

“
Would you want this child
that you are carrying, to see you like this? I would not want
everyone to see me dressed like that, but I would be most concerned
about my son seeing me like that. If you want to reconsider, I will
do all of these videos again.”

“
I think that I look
great. I want the world to see me. We are both going to be
world-famous.”

“
It looks good…a little
big, but not bad,” commented Miigal who was dressed up
beautifully.

“
I don’t have to go…if I
look funny.”

“
You look great; I am so
excited. You’ve never been to a theater all lite up. It will be
amazing tonight.”

Caryell, who was in his Uncle Toreen’s suit,
did look like he was drowning. But at the same time he looked
charming. Miigal was excited to take him with her and Jeriyal to
the theater. Caryell had spent the night with his Uncle Toreen
because Roloff was visiting with the city’s Mayor, and because of
the night out at the theater. He loved staying with all of his
uncles, but he preferred to be with Uncle Toreen, Aunt Zilnir, and
Miigal. Roloff was closest to Priori, and so, often when staying in
the city, the Palador’s would stay with him and Aunt Kaytil.
Caryell, however, would often find his way over to Uncle
Toreen’s.

Miigal had changed. She was a young woman,
and nowhere near as much of a child. It both bothered, and endeared
Caryell to her. He loved the way that she was reminding him of his
mother, but he felt younger and less mature in relationship to her.
Still, she was as kind and friendly as ever; and even in her new
grown up state, she was happy to have him with her.

Punctual as usual, a knock came to the door.
Miigal’s countenance brightened, as a smile came across her face
and she glided to the door. Caryell looked down at his feet, and
played with his sleeves of his jacket that were too long. The door
opened and the couple embraced like magnets in sympathetic harmony.
The moments felt like minutes to Caryell, and he was less
comfortable than ever. He was really regretting being there, and
felt as though he wanted to crawl under the carpet. Soon, however,
Miigal had Jeriyal by the hand and practically dragged him toward
Caryell. “Hi Caryell, I’m so glad that you are coming tonight; I
think that you will really enjoy yourself,” said Jeriyal.

Caryell simply looked at him and offered an
awkward and uncomfortable smile. They had met before; Jeriyal had
come to help on several searches after Caryell’s mother first
disappeared. He had always been friendly with Caryell, and clearly
took an interest in Miigal’s extended family.

Jeriyal was a handsome, tall, muscularly
built red head with striking blue eyes. His wavy red hair was
accented by facial freckles, but not so many as had accompanied his
youth. He featured a nearly perfect, straight, white toothed smile,
and exuberant confidence. Miigal was justifiably smitten, and she
always felt these feeling reawakened when they met up. His feelings
for her were no less profound. He saw in her charm and beauty that
made her instantly attractive, mingled with innocence and intense
spiritual sensitivities. She was a perfect gem as she was, and yet
like her Aunt Aspiria, seemingly destined to bloom into an even
greater beauty as time would go on. The couple was mutually
attracted and in love with each other. It oozed from each of them,
in every word, glance, and touch. To Caryell this was all too
sickly sweet to stomach.

“
Shall we go,” Jeriyal
said, more as a directive than as a question. Miigal placed her
left arm through his right and proceeded to the door. Caryell
followed behind much more slowly, almost hoping that they would
take off so quickly that he would be left behind and
forgotten.

“
Come on,” she said as she
turned around to the young man trudging along, head down, behind
her. No, he was not going to be forgotten, and so, he came up to
them as they left the front door and walked beside Miigal. She put
her arm around his shoulder, but he cowered and moved a little
further to her right. She, probably unconsciously, understood his
discomfort and removed her arm from Caryell’s shoulder, and instead
crossed her torso and put her right arm on Jeriyal’s prominent
bicep.

“
A lot of people have seen
that star. Once Miigal told me about it I started asking around. It
was definitely not a falling star. It would have never crossed my
mind to think that it could be a large craft up in the sky; but now
that I know…when I think about it, it couldn’t be anything
else.”

“
Has everyone seen it, the
same night that we did?” Miigal asked.

“
No, it has been seen by
different people, on different nights since the time that she
disappeared. I guess everyone just thought that it was a falling
star; I don’t know. But when you think about it; it is pretty
amazing that we have visitors here. No one would have thought, I
guess. I wrote down all the days and who saw it. Most people can’t
remember the exact date, but still I hope it helps. I gave the list
I had to your Uncle Priori. He told me that he had a lot of other
sightings documented as well.”