When Aliens Weep (11 page)

Echo’s aura stabbed wildly. “Brother Forbation, what is the meaning of this? Brother Jose is part of our family.”

Forbation’s aura struck back, calm and resolute. “It grieves me, my Sister, but the rules have been broken. I’m sure you have absorbed the details. It is no longer safe for Sister Abby if Brother Jose is free to do as he pleases. The Womb is proven correct again. The male of this species is not to be trusted. If it were not for the fact that he is an Elder . . .”

Echo hung her head.

“What’s going
on,
Echo? Can you get me down from here?” shouted Jose.

Echo waddled over to stand unflinchingly in front of the house Kreyven. “Do not worry, Brother. I will stand for you in your trial.”

“Trial? What the heck are you talking about? Get me out of this mess.” Jose struggled against the Kreyven.

“Please, Brother Jose. Do not fight the Kreyven. It has orders. You will go to another part of the Womb while the trial commences. The Womb will decide what to do with you. I will argue for a position in the labs, something befitting your station.”

The Kreyven began to withdraw into the translucent wall of the Womb. “Stay calm, my Brother. I will make sure you are fine.” Echo hopped from foot to foot as Jose disappeared with the Kreyven.

Forbation moved forward to place a reassuring hand on Echo’s shoulder. Barney stood sniffing at the organic wall; a low whine testified to his distress.

“You know something like this was bound to happen. They can’t help themselves. You agreed to these measures before the decision to move them here was made,” Forbation admonished Echo. “We will do what we can, but please . . . don’t make this worse. His violence may just be related to his dispute with Sister Abby but you know he must be segregated for observation.”

The two minions turned to walk arm-in-arm down the hallway, the organic walls beating subtly with their every step.

“This will be quick. I will find something suitable for him.” Forbation shook his head from side to side, his disappointment keen. “I just did not think the first to break would be an Elder.”

***

Bonnie lay on her colorful bed staring up at the high ceiling. Squinting her eyes tightly, she thought she could see the ceiling move with the beats of her own heart. Hud sat quietly in a chair by the bedside, finding comfort in her company. Like most men, he found quiet easier to deal with.

“Why won’t you help me, Hud? How can you turn your back on Ginger Mae?”

“I’m not turning my back on her, Bonnie. There’s just nothing I can do. What do you want from me? Do you want me to go back into the portal with you? That’s only going to get us killed.” A tear slipped down Hud’s face. He wiped it away quickly with the back of his fist as he stood. His handsome world-weary face looked down on Bonnie, his shell-shocked eyes appraising her.

“You need to do your mourning and make your peace. Stop torturing yourself.”

Bonnie remained silent.

“Come on. Why don’t you come with me? The rest of the women are in the nursery with the babies. With
your
baby. He needs to see his mama. And Forbation wants to meet us after we eat. He has an announcement for us.”

“I’ll be there. Just not yet.”

“Okay, I’ll just head down to the nursery to give your son a look-see for you.” He bent down and gave Bonnie’s arm a squeeze. “See ya later. You
are
planning on joining us for chow aren’t you?”

“I’ll think about it, Hud.”

Nodding his head, the big, sad man left the room.

It didn’t take long before Bonnie heard another noise. She sighed to herself with frustration.
Never a moment’s peace
. She closed her eyes to feign sleep. Suddenly she felt a finger trace the contours of her face, slowly . . . tentatively.

Her eyes flew open to confront a minion with a disarmingly beautiful fire butterfly attached to her antlers.
Ivey
. Bonnie stared at the minion who stared back. Seconds passed as she wondered why the minion was here.

“You look good, Ivey. Are you healed?”

“Yes, Sister Bonnie, I am.”

Bonnie waited for more. Ivey remained silent as she carefully watched Bonnie. Finally the swirling auras in her brain engaged.

“Brother Baby and Sister Echo feel love for their humans. Do you feel love?”

“Why yes, Ivey,” she replied, startled and amused by the question. “Do you love someone?”

“No,” Ivey replied. “I love no one. Whom do
you
love?”

Taken aback, Bonnie searched her heart. “I love all of my people. We all love one another. And I love Baby and Echo and Tobi and Caesar and all of the animals that came with us from Earth.”

“Then why are you so sad? Brother and Sister said there is great joy in loving. I see no great joy in you. I find my joy in my duty just like every minion. But Brother and Sister have something else. Something they call complete happiness. I do not feel that.”

“You must be just like me, only sadder. I don’t think you have complete happiness.”

Ivey wrinkled her nose. “You smell bad.”

Bonnie bristled. “I don’t have complete happiness because my husband is missing. I told you about that, before the thing from the portal tried to sting you. Remember? I love him more than anything and
anyone in the world. And if you don’t like how I smell, you can leave.”

Ivey looked long and hard at Bonnie. Her butterfly’s wings flapped languid trailing lines of firelight over her golden fur. Ivey blinked her mesmerizing eyes. Her fur bristled. “I will leave.” She turned to leave Bonnie’s bedroom, the fire butterfly sucking greedily from her antlers, content and secure.

***

Bonnie picked morosely at the cake Dezi had made for the end of dinner. Echo sat along the wall with Barney and Chloe’s dog Teddy, happily feeding them pieces of cake while Baby watched, a puppy tucked under one skinny arm and flapping his elongated fingers in the air with consternation over the disappearing cake.
I see
not much has changed for Baby.

She saw that a nooglet had joined the group, Barney warily tolerating his rival. Looking to the other side of the room, Abby and Cobby sat with Wil and Netty; Hud and Kane helped Dezi with the dishes, and Kenya played on the floor with her baby and a laughing Maya, the little girl still unable to control her thrashing tail and drooping wings. Maya gallivanted around, begging for constant attention as usual. She could hardly blame the child after being cooped up for so many years with Father Garcia and the babies, unable to have playmates to develop natural social skills. If she was precocious for her age, the adults certainly took pains to humor her.

A cloudy veil of sorrow descended over Bonnie as she recounted the many changes Maya had been forced to witness in the last year or so since they’d ascended from the Hive and begun to build their new life above on Earth. Her hand to her mouth, she stifled a sob.
And now another different
life to live . . .
She wished she could be more like Daisy. Unemotional and committed to her calling. She noted Daisy’s absence.
Probably talking to some alien rocks
somewhere.

She wondered where Jose was and who might be taking care of her baby. She found she still wasn’t hungry but had taken pains to clean herself up and wash her hair, now swept up in a ponytail out of her way. She discreetly sniffed herself. A faint odor of vomit still clung relentlessly.
Oh well
. . .
I’ll get some new clothes soon.

“
Hi doll. How ya doin’?” Dezi slid into place next to her. Bonnie swallowed and shook her head, afraid to talk for fear of breaking down. Dezi reached out to give her a hug.

“I know it’s just not the same with Peter and Ginger Mae gone.” Dezi’s mournful tone was heartfelt. “I sure miss then. Especially Ginger Mae. She was the best.”

Bonnie looked up, her face deliberately alive and determined. “Will you help me, Dezi? We can find them. I know we can. We just need to make someone listen. I have all kinds of ideas. We . . .”

Dezi placed his hand down on hers. “They’re gone, hon. You need to accept that.” One tear slid down her cheek.

“No, not you too, Dez.”

Before Dezi could reply, Forbation walked into the room accompanied by a small group of minions who wore red ribbons hanging loosely around their necks. The room descended into silence as Forbation’s aura swirled in their minds.

“It is time for my Brothers and Sisters to begin a new chapter in their lives.” He swept his arm back to the waiting minions. “Each of you will be assigned a guide to begin your introduction to the other parts of the Womb. As you tour our facility, I am hoping you will discover a department that will interest you. We need to find your calling.”

A whispering buzz went around the room as the survivors wondered at Forbation’s pronouncement. Many couldn’t wait to see the magic of the Womb and others were excited to learn something new that might give them a rewarding life as the last of the survivors from the vanquished planet Earth.

Forbation began again. “Most of you will notice Jose and Daisy’s absence. Jose will not be joining you for some time. He is being kept busy and content, I am happy to report. He will rejoin you when we feel his . . . attitude . . . has mended. And our magnificent wunderkind, Daisy, will rejoin us in about a week. She is off on her first mission with a cadre of minions. This will be her first chance to explore a new civilization in person and utilize her new communication skills. They left through a portal last night.”

Forbation smiled and bowed at the various surprised expressions. “I think it is time to begin the tours.” He swept his arm toward the door. “Shall we?”

One by one, the survivors stood, a myriad of emotions waltzing across their faces: hesitation, anticipation, fear and duty. Excitedly, they joined Forbation and his team of minions to take their first step into their futures.

Chapter 9

Jose sat stewing in a tiny room somewhere far from the survivors’ quarters. Echo had left a few hours ago, instructing him to get rest, her fire butterfly trailing gay sparks of light behind her.

He scoffed at the overly sensitive nature of the minions.
You’d think Echo would get it after living with us for so long. Especially after the debacle with the Kane, Emma and Elias love triangle so many long decades ago. Shit happens, people change . . . well I haven’t changed
. Ironically, Jose glossed over the similarity in his own predicament and the one that had wrought such disaster in the Hive so long ago and so tragically with Emma and Elias.

These minions just don’t understand humans.
Now, he was relegated to this boring room. He surveyed his new quarters, cramped and spare with a bed, a chair and a small table. No opportunity to call a Kreyven for special order comfort items. He eyed the walls with suspicion. Organic as he expected, the throbbing appeared more apparent, more alive in this part of the sanctuary.

As his thoughts turned to Abby and Cobby, he clenched his fists, his knuckles turning white as he squeezed off his blood supply. Shaking his hands to bring back blood, he wondered what he’d done to deserve this betrayal. Hadn’t he always gone along with everything Abby wanted? Except now she didn’t want him. She wanted the old washed-up yacht jockey. In his anger, he refused to admit that Cobby had been just as instrumental as anyone in their efforts to survive the last century or so.

His face flamed with shame as he remembered standing in front of a black slab of onyx where Forbation and three other minions sat judging him. Echo sitting off to the side, waiting to be called. The four minions at the table conferred, their heads bent together, auras being cast, but Jose found himself unable to understand. At one point, Forbation picked up a red staff and pointed it toward Echo. The trial went on for many minutes but concluded abruptly. Forbation and the other minions rose and turned their backs to Jose. Without a word, Echo trundled to his side, grasped his hand and tugged until Jose realized the trial was at an end.

Even as he fruitlessly questioned Echo, Jose refused to accept that Forbation and his council had dismissed him so easily. He was an Elder for Pete’s sake.
The minions worship Elders, don’t they?

He pounded his pillow in frustration, wondering what would happen next and how long he’d be stuck here. A sound at the door drew his attention. Echo entered, his tiny hand clasped tightly to an apprehensive Abby.

He sprang up from the bed, a relieved smile stretching from ear to ear. “I
knew
you would come, Abby. I just knew it.” He swept her into his arms, chatting on and on. “You wouldn’t believe what Forbation put me through. How embarrassing. You would think I’d committed a crime.” He cringed at the sound of his thoughtless words. He pulled back quickly to look into her face. “Gee, I’m so sorry, Abby. I didn’t mean to sound so . . .”

She pressed her fingers to his lips as she extricated herself from his embrace and moved to the only chair in the room. Echo perched at her feet as they left Jose standing alone with his arms empty. “Sit down, Jose.”

He hesitated, unnerved by the tone in her voice. He flopped back down on his bed, turning toward the woman he had loved for so long. Even as his hopes ran high, he ground his back teeth silently.
Yeah, this is the woman that betrayed me for so long
. As he took in her beauty, he wondered for how long and who exactly knew what a cuckold he’d been. Clearing his throat and assuming a bright tone, he asked, “What’s up, guys?”

Abby smoothed her smock, her wings hugged tightly to her body and swallowed. “I’m here to explain a few things to you, Jose. Forbation asked me to convey his . . . warm . . . feelings and to let you know where to report in the morning.”

Jose sat further back on the bed, stunned. “That’s it? His warm feelings?” Jose looked incredulous. “And what about you?” His voice developed an edge. “What about
your
warm feelings? Or do you save them for when you’re fucking someone behind my back?”