Invasive Species Part One (2 page)

They crawled down into a much wider and green-lit corridor. Tracks of orange light sprung out from beneath their hands and knees.

“They destroyed your planet?”

“
They
destroyed everything that made it mine, yes.” The memory agitated the alien, “Move softer, you’re sending out pulses. They’ll know we’re in here.”

“The orange light?”

“I knew you weren’t all brawn. That’s correct now keep moving. The chamber we need to reach is just ahead.

“I killed one of them in the pod room. Are they all that ugly?”

“Killed one? No, that was not one of the invaders. It was sent in like a guard dog to kill you, but that is not the beast’s purpose on this craft.”

“It’s an experiment, genetic right?”

“It’s not an experiment. It is training. The enemy is very strong not just in mind and technology, but also in fighting. They are better fighters than your Bruce Lee.” The Alien paused and looked at Derek as if he was hoping he made the right reference. Derek acknowledged it.

“You said training?”

“Yes, They fight the beasts as training. It enhances their muscles and minds with every fight they win, another muscle is trained and improved depending on how they approached the match. Every fight they get stronger. You understand?”

Derek remembered the strange warmth he felt and the sudden energy. “Will it make me stronger?”

“It has already, hasn’t it? A little. But don’t waste your time trying to fight those beasts. There are ones that would tear your Bruce Lee and your Navy to bits and unfortunately they don’t wear any obvious labels.”

The alien opened a hatch at the end of the green corridor and dropped down into a darkened chamber. Derek knew it was going to be a pretty good drop from the delay in hearing the alien land. Still he followed.

His knees hit and buckled and for a second he saw Melinda crying. But the pain was too jarring and he couldn’t shake his place inside the chamber.

“Pain,” he moaned.

“Yes, your body, I forgot. Gravity on this craft is heavier than you are used to.”

“No, I mean, pain blocks it. The one pretending to be me, he tried to connect but the pain kept me here.”

“Interesting, if that works for you then it is a method worth repeating.” The alien switched on a light and the room turned bright white, like a wedding dress made of glass. The alien touched the air and a translucent screen drifted down from the ceiling. Colored lines shot across it in three dimensions, the being twisted the shapes at different angles with a growing concern.

“Forget what I said about not fighting the beasts. One is headed this way. She is all yours.”

“All mine? What?”

A tall seam, three stories high formed in the white room, parted with the speed of an autumn leaf.  A gruesome and asymmetrical shape soon distorted the clean lines of the seam.

The beast was like a giant Hershey Kiss, with the color of a rotting peach. The bright light accentuated every callous-like growth that fell from its body like a hippie’s long hair. There was no sign of a mouth, no sign of legs or even fists until it twisted its form into a single protruding fist.

That was about as much detail as Derek wanted to analyze. He dodged the first strike. Where was his friend the alien? Why couldn’t he help out?

The beast hit the floor like a wave on a beach. It spread fast, spiking up tall pillars that fell at Derek as he ran into the sides of the white room. It was much smaller than he had assumed. Derek jumped at the last moment, the beast’s expanding flesh missed beneath him. Then he landed.

The beast reared back, sucked in its flesh and staggered along the far wall. Derek had hurt it. Its strings of calloused hair shook at him like spit that wouldn’t leave the spitter’s lips. It sounded like the rattling of muffler on pavement.

Derek struck again, sprinting fast and leaping feet first into the beast. It shook and rattled and flopped from side to side, unable to control its form. Derek continued to stomp as it began to move away from him. But Derek gained on the beasts form, reaching the calloused hair. He grabbed them and yanked hard.

Thud.

Derek slid down the opposite wall. His whole body hurt. It felt as if he had been electrocuted. The beast’s fear dissipated. Now it knew how to defeat Derek.

The beast splashed down onto the ground, it rose as a giant wave. The white room became darkness as the beast encompassed the whole stretch of room. Derek had nowhere to run as the beast targeted its electrocuting hairs and attacked.

Melinda flashed before his eyes. At least the aliens had granted him one final chance to see her. She looked right at him. He wished she knew it was him looking back and not the imposter. But she didn’t know the difference. Love hung on her eyes, in the shape of tears.

Derek roared and jumped into the beast as it looked to flatten him. He squeezed its flesh as it blanketed him. Squeezed tight until the flesh bulged, like a pimple ready to be popped. The beast whipped its form around the room, Derek’s grip held firm. He would hang on until his last breath. He couldn’t let the imposter hurt Melinda. He had to survive.

The pimple burst; violet sludge like Mount Vesuvius.

The beast wasn’t through yet. Neither was Derek. He stretched the torn flesh, tearing it all the way up to what Derek had assumed was the beast’s head. It rattled like a dying car, screeching brakes and all. Then it dangled in silence, like a popped birthday balloon, wrinkled and pointless.

A tingle of warmth radiated through Derek’s body. It didn’t feel as nice as the first time. But he knew it meant the beast was defeated.

Derek was violet. His steps required extra effort as he worked his way out of the beast’s carcass like he was knee deep in the Everglades. At the open seam of the white room stood his alien
friend
, waiting with an impatient look on its face.

“That took longer than I expected.”

“You could’ve helped.”

“That was an easy one, plus it has increased your immunity to their poison stings.”

“I’ve been poisoned?” Derek asked.

“Don’t you recall when you hit the wall? Ah, I see I must correct my word usage; poison may mean electrocution from what I am gathering from your shift in physical nature. The invaders view electricity as a poison. I must remember not to translate from my culture to theirs, to yours. The error has been corrected.”

“You’re a strange little dude,” Derek said and looked down the darkened seam, which formed a vast empty space. No walls were in sight, but within ten feet on either side of him, the floor disappeared as well. “What’s this way?”

The alien turned and looked down their darkened path. “More beasts, opportunities for death and enhanced chances of failure.”

“Is there another path we could go?”

“No.”

Melinda thanked him. The being posing as Derek put his arm around her, kissed her. Her tears began to dry as the being said something like, “I’ve just had a really bad day is all.”

Derek, the real Derek, saw it all and even felt his girlfriend’s lips against his own. But he was trapped behind the eyes of the imposter, unable to move or communicate with Melinda. He was not on Earth anymore. He was on an alien space ship.

“Hey!”

Derek’s arm stung, he had a bruise from fighting strange beasts on the alien space ship. It hadn’t been the kind of day he could call average. A small, but large headed alien who claimed to be friendly, let go of Derek’s arm.

“You said pain worked to bring you back.”

“Yeah, but that still hurts,” Derek said.

“You have to stay here, we have to get to their communications hub and jam their signal. You can’t offer them any help. You will be able to explain all to your partner only if you stop the invasion.”

“I didn’t know he was going to tap into me like that. It wasn’t like we were in the middle of an attack, this place is empty.”

The alien returned to its hurried gait across an electric blue channel, forcing Derek to keep up by jogging. All around were large metallic looking tubes that went up and down for what seemed like infinity. Blue channels of light connected these tubes in almost random patterns, but the friendly alien had warned Derek not to touch them. On occasion, all of Derek’s mandatory training as a special government agent was useless and he had to call upon his youth and play hopscotch. He wasn’t much good at that game then. He preferred the seesaw or the swings, playing tag or pretending to be a warrior battling monsters on a far away planet. Derek wondered if this might be destiny, if his youthful imagination was more the product of preparation and providence.

“Why me?”

“What?”

“Why did they choose me?”

The alien grunted in a rather unfriendly way. Then begrudgingly said, “You were compatible. Do you recall your dreams?”

Derek nodded. Even though he was behind the alien, the alien knew and continued.

“Do you recall dreams that felt like alternate worlds, so close to your own, but there were obvious differences? Like your mother worked for a different company or your father was still only a child?”

“Yeah, well not those specifically, but weird dreams like I’m still in college only it’s a different college or a class I never took. Very real feeling, and I’m left feeling exhausted when I wake up.”

“Precisely. Many people have these dreams before the invasion. The invaders cannot simply connect with any human. Human genetics are full of so many errors that keep there from being one simple connection. Most people wake up immediately. They say in their minds
this is all a dream,
and the connection fails. But people like you can be led around, fed plot and consequence and will stay in that dream state until something from the world outside wakes you. Those with good connections are perfect candidates for replacement. Otherwise the imposter down on Earth would not be able to tap into your mind now to maintain its charade.”

Derek gasped, “I’ve had those dreams forever.”

“They have been planning to take your planet forever.”

They passed through a thin yellow light. Derek hesitated even though he watched the alien pass through with no effect.  He shook his head and stepped forward.

The alien stopped dead in its tracks, big head turning so fast it almost rolled of its shoulders. “What did you do?”

“Huh, what? I stepped through the yellow light, just like you?”

“I did not see any yellow light. It was an alarm. They are coming!”

Aside from the alien’s yelling there were no sounds, no bells or horns. It was eerily quiet.

“You’ll stay and fight with me this time. Right, Bub?”

“Quickly,” the alien said and dashed off at a speed Derek knew he couldn’t keep up with, but he tried. The additional gravity could really be felt now as his knees lifted with the ease of opening a jar of pickles. Derek felt it was time to be honest with this alien, inform him about his training and his job as a special government agent. Perhaps the small alien’s research into humanity had involved one too many James Bond movies. The term analyst had been thrown about, but that undersold Derek’s abilities as much as special agent oversold them.

Three oblong spheres appeared before him about a meter off the ground. They were gray and opened on the bottom third with a pulsing green light. The intention of the object became clear quickly. The green light swelled then hissed, a trail of light chased Derek as he ran through. It cut him on both his biceps.  The swells hissed again, this time both shots found his shoulder blades. It wasn’t just the extra gravity. The shots forced Derek to the ground. He let out an unflattering sound that called back his alien friend’s attention.

“Get up!” the alien yelled.

Derek tried, and the shots kept coming. Peppering his feet and thighs as the spheres moved in closer to ensure their kill. Derek watched the alien scale a wall and disappear into a shaft. The spheres were right above Derek. He swung upward, striking one of the spheres into the other. They popped as easily as a soap bubble.

Derek dragged himself onto his hands and knees. His body stung and burned. The places he’d been shot itched, too.  He wished he could see Melinda, begged the imposter to make the connection. Somehow he found the strength. He crawled all the way to the wall where the alien had fled. He reached up the wall, and found the hole. He had no use of his biceps, and couldn’t muster the strength to pull up. He let go and fell to the ground.

“I got them!” he called to the alien. He waited in silence. The alien did not return. “I’m alive still!” he yelled before mumbling, “for now anyway.” He looked back from where he came. It was empty space. But if an alarm had been sounded he’d do best to keep moving.  Derek limped into an upright position and hobbled forward without a clue as to where it would lead.

He knew the pain was blocking him from connecting to the imposter, keeping him from seeing Melinda’s soft features.  He could hardly stand up straight and leaned against the railing that had appeared shortly after the last archway he passed under.

Back on Earth, Derek had worked a desk job. He did data entry. Not surveillance or analyzing data. But making the effort to type in notes and data on a secure data program. He traveled if they required him to, but generally he lived in the mess that was Springfield, Virginia. He’d given up trying to drive and would bike as much as possible. That must’ve kept him in shape enough to fool the alien into thinking his position was more like a Tom Clancy character. In High School, Derek had wrestled and run cross-country. He was never one for actual team sports. But he had been captain of both teams and that had looked nice on his application to the Central Intelligence Agency.

It helped that the rest of his record was so squeaky clean that it looked suspicious, like he was good at hiding things. Derek thought someone would be really tickled when his imposter reveals itself as part of the plot to invade Earth.
Bet they didn’t see that coming.

Area 51 and things like that were water cooler jokes. They debated alien life out of fun, but more recently people’s obsession was over zombies and the undead. The C.I.A. was prepared for zombies. They all had great ideas. Derek had one that even ended up in an intra-office email about re-directing the traffic from cities in such a manner to stop vehicles that could be used later by important people leap frogging their way out of the plagued cities. Derek even saw where they were drafting legislation for Detroit’s automakers to implement a specific technology for
public safety.

But how does one really plan for an alien invasion? Secret space shuttle? Underground lairs? Giant laser beams?

Derek stopped walking for a moment. Almost all thought drained from his mind as he stared ahead. The blackness before him was speckled with radiant snowflakes, frozen in time. His steps drew him closer, his heart racing as he finally believed it.

He was in outer space.

He didn’t know how many humans had actually left earth, but he was one of them now—an astronaut.

The walls around the opening suddenly vibrated with blood red light. The vibrations came from behind Derek as well. His heart already raced from the sight of the stars. His adrenaline was ready. He turned and saw a lanky creature. Arms dragged at the elbows, fingers playing piano or something on the floor while the long legs stood above Derek’s head and the torso leaned forward with a large gaping mouth like a piranha.

Such a thing did not need to exist in the beauty of space. Derek forgot about his pain, made fists like they might offer him a chance, and then stood there waiting for the fight to start. The creature wasted no time. It spun, its arms helicoptering at Derek. He fell over trying to dodge, found the strength in his legs to roll away.

The creature stopped spinning its arms. It dropped its lengthy forearms flat on the ground, and then swung its body feet first. Derek didn’t have the energy or the thought to dodge it. He hit the force field separating him from the infinity of space. The field suspended him for much longer than gravity would have recommended. He slid down as the creature wound up for another attack. Something seemed obvious in the creature’s build. Its chest was thin set; the translucency of its flesh was like a tan plastic grocery bag, inflating and deflating. Derek thought he could tear through it with his bare hands, no problem.

His feet settled on the ground. The helicopter attack swirled in towards his head. He ducked, and jutting forward he reached the unguarded chest. It wasn’t paper thin, but Derek had experienced piecrusts with more vigor. Blackberry filling plopped out from the wound, followed by cherry afterbirth.  It smelled like Cajun spices and ash.

The warmth that followed removed the awful smell. It felt better than before. It felt like the bones in Derek’s body had been crooked before and now they were straight. He felt healed.

Derek worked his way further through the spaceship. Something about the hallways looked familiar to him as if he’d walked in a circle. He reached a closed doorway. He might’ve continued down the corridor if he hadn’t been interested in how it was opened. In that moment of wonder he heard something that glued him to that door.

He heard English.

“Where am I?” A female voice demanded.

Someone answered in a calmer and more muffled tone. It almost sounded familiar. Derek tried to press his ear against the door to hear it better.

“No, you tell me where I am!” she said.

The door swished open.

Derek stumbled inward towards a beautiful naked young woman and a rather familiar bigheaded alien.

The alien held clothing similar to what it had first handed Derek, though it wasn’t handing it to the woman. Its mouth was gaping at Derek, unable to process another explanation for the confused redhead.

“Hey, bub. Did you miss me? I beat those stupid little ball things and I beat a really lanky stick monster. I thought you had my back?”

“Who’s this man?” the woman asked.

“Derek Vogt.” Derek said, “Did this guy tell you there’s an alien invasion happening on earth and only we can stop it?”

“I hadn’t gotten to that part yet,” the alien said.

The redhead didn’t look like she believed it, but was getting angrier every minute she stood naked and wet in a room full of people in tubes.

“Give her the clothes, bub.”

The alien apologized to the woman having remembered that humans are embarrassed by their bodies on most occasions.

“Pardon, Beth Bailey. I am impressed Derek Vogt has survived. He set off an alarm and almost killed us both. My calculations were wrong somewhere and I expected him to die.”

Derek turned away as Beth Bailey slid into the garment. Hers was a pleasant pale blue that complimented her red hair, it was almost as if the alien had considered this when picking out her form hugging outfit.

“This is insane,” Beth said. She glared at Derek as if this were all his doing and not the little alien standing next to her.

“So what, she was the second best option to save the world after I died?”

The alien shrugged, “She was the better option, but I had not discovered her presence until I was forced to look over the logs again. She just arrived.”

Beth waivered. Her eyes rolled back and she just kind of rocked in place like a spinning top on its last few turns.

“What’s wrong with her?”

“Her imposter has made a connection.”

Derek couldn’t let that happen. He jumped forward and punched Beth in the shoulder. Her eyes rolled back and she gasped for air as if she’d just remembered to breathe. She clutched her triceps where Derek struck.

“Did you hit me?”

“It breaks the connection.”

“What?”

“You just dreamed you were somewhere else, but if felt like you weren’t in control.”

“Derek, is trying to tell you what I was going to get to in a moment, but it seems a connection was made and is owed some explanation.”