Xenophobia - Chapter 18 (Rewrite!)

    The council sat in eerie silence, watching the image on the hologram. Before them was an operating table with the body of a Guillae sprawled out atop it. Its torso had been opened up and tools were scattered all around it.
    Despite being mid autopsy, no one could be seen attending to the body.
    "What do you think is happening?" asked Ferris quietly.
    Darrian glanced over at him, shook his head, and gave a non-committal shrug before returning his attention to the nearly still image. If it weren't for the blinking lights of a nearby computer console, he'd have thought that the holographic imager had frozen.
    When the Guillae had been taken to the laboratory, the analytics team had acted with surprising fervor. Through some skillful infiltration of the humans' technology, the team had managed to gain control of a camera on one of the personal computers within the lab. All before the first incision had been made.
    It had been very risky, but none of the humans had noticed. They were too preoccupied with the discovery of life outside of their own.
    At first, the lab had been a hive of activity. At least four humans in full protective gear were seen working on the body at any given time. Another dozen could be seen behind the protective interference of a viewfinder that overlooked the operating table. For hours, the council watched and waited.
    The human scientists worked diligently. They slowly began to dissect the long dead Guillae which, to Darrian's surprise, was incredibly well preserved. His guess was that it probably related to the atmosphere of Mars.
    Piece by piece, they would make an incision and investigate what they found. Countless samples were removed. Notes were taken vocally to the computer system as well as by two other humans, one inside and one outside of the lab. They had catalogued at least a hundred or so samples when they found what the council had been waiting for.
    Darrian knew it was a learned behavior, but it didn't make it anymore shocked when he heard the old judge gasp.
    The main scientist slowly and smoothly drew out a long, podlike object from the body of the dead Guillae. It was about a meter long and a half meter wide and reminded him of the samples of "Soy Beans" that the analytics team had sent them from Earth. One of the humans made the same observation but qualified it as being "fuckin' huge". Some of the humans laughed while others chastised him.
    Slowly, carefully, one of the scientists took the pod away somewhere off camera. Darrian could hear a door open and close. A moment later, there was a shout from that same direction and all of the humans looked up. Some of them looked confused, others scared at what they saw. Very quickly, all of them disappeared off screen. All of them running towards where the pod had been taken.
    That had been at least an hour ago.
    The council waited patiently for something to change. They had heard nothing except a clatter of metal about twenty minutes before. Except for that and the blinking lights, the image was seemingly static.
    It would seem that Harris felt the same way.
    As if on cue, the image of the laboratory and the dead Guillae dissolved. It was replaced by Harris' form. To everyone's surprise, he was lounging with the face plate to his robotic exosuit wide open. He looked utterly exhausted.
    "I don't think there's much more to see." he said to the old judge.
    "I agree. Update us when you have more, Captain."
    Harris gave a nod but said nothing else. They could seem him enter a sequence on his control panel before the holographic image disappeared entirely.
    The table sat in silence for another several minutes, digesting what they had seen and what might be happening. No one knew what to say. While they hadn't seen anything "bad" per say, the last images they'd seen of the humans left an uneasy feeling in their guts. Darrian's discussion with A'alan't 32 and the old judge still rang fresh in his mind.
    This could be an exciting learning opportunity. he remembered again for the thousandth time.
    "Well..." said the old judge with a mechanical sigh. "I don't believe there is anything else that we can cover today. If you would, I would like to reconvene-"
    The door of the meeting room slid open as the old judge tried to wrap up the meeting. Many of them didn't bother looking up. They were frankly too tired. It wasn't until the old judge stopped what he was staying and stared at the person who had walked in that Darrian glanced over.
    Jin'thun.
    The heavy set, furry Gorderian made his way towards his spot at the council table. The exhaustion and fear in the room quickly gave way to shock and awe as everyone turned their attention to the long-missing ambassador.
    For a moment, no one said anything. And then, everyone started speaking at once.
    "What did they say?" demanded Ferris.
    "They s-"
    "Where have you been?!" asked Ugul.
    "If you-"
    "What took you so long?" chided A'alan't 32.
    "It was-"
    "Are they going to-" Darrian begin to ask when the old judge bellowed over all of them.
    "ENOUGH!"
    The table fell silent as Jin'thun, looking quite ruffled and annoyed, straightened himself out. The old judge smiled softly.
    "I see you've returned." the old judge said quietly. "It's good to have you back."
    "Thank y-"
    "Yea. Took you long enough." grumbled Cagool.
    Jin'thun jumped from his place and let out a bellowing, threatening roar right in Cagool's face. The slimy little Yool squeaked and looked as if he was attempting to crawl inside himself to get away from the Gorderian's ferocity. He was still quivering when Jin'thun settled back down.
    "Thank you, judge." he finally said, giving everyone a threatening look as he did; as if daring them to try his patience further.
    "Now," he continued, "I come with the results of your plea to my government."
    "And what have the Gorderians decided, Jin'thun?" asked the old judge.
    Jin'thun threw Cagool one more threatening glance, however the Yool was still shaking from his last misstep.
    "The Gorderians will be sending aid to the humans."
    The room let out a collective sigh and Darrian could even hear Ferris let out a quiet "Yes!" under his breath. Everyone looked relieved.
    "That's wonderful, Jin'thun. Your government has our sincerest gratitude."
    "Yes, of c-"
    A loud beeping filled the room as the old judge's datapad began to flash. A priority one message.
    Quickly, he tapped the message and the holographic imager once more glew with life. Harris could be seen once again but this time he looked a great deal more frazzled then before.
    "Harris?" the old judge asked. "What is it?"
    "The Tulgucks." Harris said with barely contained panic. "The Tulgucks are here! They've entered the solar system!"

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(Hello Lovelies. I do hope that you enjoyed the re-write of Chapter 18. As I mentioned before, I have no intent of making this a regular habit (with the exception of when I do my official editing for the book release) but I felt Chapter 18 was a special exception. I hope you are all doing well and enjoyed the slight alteration compared to the first time it came out.)

Xenophobia - Chapter 15

   "I...I don't understand." stammered Cherryl from her place at the table. "How can they have found a G-Guillae?"
    "I concur." agreed the old judge. "The Guillae vacated that planet dozens of rotations ago."
    "Indeed they did." confirmed Harris. "But all the same, the humans have recovered one."
    "Alive or dead?" asked Darrian in utter confusion.
    "Are you kidding me?" snapped Cagool. "That thing has been there for who knows how many rotations. Alone. Under the ground from how it sounds. Why would you think it's alive?"
    Harris cast a sidelong glance at Cagool before responding. "It's certainly dead."
    "W-well that's good news." said Cherryl looking notably relieved.
    "No. It's not." said Harris and the old judge seemingly simultaneously.
    "It's not?"
    "No." confirmed the old judge.
    Cherryl looked like she had more to ask, but quickly reconsidered as the old judge and Harris turned their attention back to each other.
    "Sir. Is it normal for Guillae to leave one of theirs behind like this?"
    The old judge shook his head.
    "I'm not completely sure. It's been an exceptionally long time since the Consortium had any interaction with the Guillae. Likewise, as a general rule we never authorize colonization of old Guillae planets. Researchers rarely favor such locations either."
    "So this could be a norm?" questioned Harris.
    "We simply don't know."
    "Why are we even discussing this?" groaned Cagool. "Who really cares?"
    The old judge flashed Cagool a threatening glance before responding.
    "Do you know anything about the Guillae, Cagool?" he said.
    "Nothing more than you've told us before. Plant people. Like to eat planets. That sort of thing."
    "I also mentioned that they travel together in a great cluster. A spore." explained the old judge. "Because of this, or maybe it's the other way around, the Guillae have a number of innate capabilities."
    "Capabilities?" questioned Darrian.
    "Well, for one, the Guillae are linked to one another. Each Guillae is connected to all of the others. Think of it almost like a hive mind, not unlike insects..."
    "Or a flora-network." added A'alan't 32. "Like roots or a forest."
    "Precisely." agreed the old judge. "It functions even across deep space."
    "While creepy to think about, I ask again, who cares?" said Cagool. "It's dead."
    "That brings us nicely to their other capability. Just one Guillae can repopulate an entire planet. One. Dead. Guillae."
    "You can't be serious!"
    "No. He's right." confirmed A'alan't 32. "I've been studying them on my down time. Not unlike some plants, Guillae essentially convert to giant seed spores upon death. Their only purpose is to sprout when exposed to water."
    The old judge nodded in agreement before turning his attention back to Harris.
    "Thank you, Harris." he said with a nod. "Is there anything else?"
    "Uhm...no, Sir."
    As the old judge reached down to turn off the holographic imager, Harris spoke up.
    "Actually, a moment, Sir."
    "Harris?"
    "Should we...do something about this?"
    "No."
    There was excitement and confusion as whispers littered the table.
    "Of course, Sir."
    "Keep us up to date when the Guillae spores."
    "I will."
    With that, Harris terminated the transmission and the old judge sighed. Darrian found the action peculiar for a robot. But with the number of other peculiar learned programming the old judge had demonstrated, this was hardly the strangest.
    "So we're not doing anything about this?" asked A'alan't 32.
    "We must maintain the quarantine." said the old judge. "We would need to discuss the matter with the Consortium before we could take any true action."
    "But what if they accidentally spawn more Guillae. More live Guillae?" demanded Darrian.
    "When the humans do, we will wait and watch to see what happens. This could prove to be an exciting learning opportunity."

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Fade to Grey

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    "Jake. Jaaaake. Jacob! Wake up, man!"
    Jake's eyes snapped open. He was in bed and staring up at Taylor who had the same shit-eating grin that he always did right before they both got in trouble for something.
    "I don't wanna." Jake moaned, settling back into his pillow.
    "Too fucking bad." Taylor wrapped his burly arms around him and lifted him straight out of bed.
    Jake was by no means a little guy but he was stilled dwarfed in comparison to the massive Army Ranger. He accepted his fate and, after being set back on the ground, quickly dressed while Taylor practically jumped up and down.
    "Why?" Jake asked curtly as they made their way out the door.
    "The party, man! Don't tell me you forgot."
    "Of course not."
    As sleepiness began to fade, it was all started coming back to him, the get together at Emilia's house. They had been planning it for months. He must have forgotten to set his alarm clock the night before or something.
    The ride to Emilia's was quick. Before Jake even realized it, they were walking in the front door to a room full people who were all laughing and cheering and having a good time. A cooler full of drinks sat next to the table and at least a few people had joints in hand.
    "Jake! There you are!" Emilia's screamed happily as she ran up to hug him. "I haven't seen you in forever."
    Taylor didn't say anything as he walked away to retrieve a beer from the cooler. Instead he just gave Jake and Emilia that same shit eating grin as before.
    "It's been too long, Em." Jake agreed.
    Once upon a time, Jake and Emilia had dated. They even thought they might get married at one point but when things happen, people just can't go on together like they thought they would. Jake was with Meredith now but was happy the Emilia didn't have any hard feelings about it. They made small talk and settled at the table with everything else.
    "So how's everyone been?" Jake said with a huge smile.
    He looked around the table and saw so many people that he hadn't seen in years. Taylor had been away at war, playing Army Ranger and fighting for the rest of them. He and Emilia hadn't seen each other since their relationship was broken up. John had always been the quiet artsy type who kept to himself and locked himself away from the world. And Caitlynn had always been a much bigger fan of the club scene than any of them and had become a world famous DJ that toured the world.
    There were so many more with so many stories, but as Jake's eyes wandered to each of them, he noticed something that grabbed his attention.
    Emilia had a number of paintings around the table. Some she had done but most were John's. Something was wrong with the paintings. The colors were faded to grey. What was once a beautiful play on paint thickness and color was now just a blob of greys and blacks.
    Jake looked at Emilia and pointed at the painting but she didn't even bother looking at it.
    "So!" she said with a huge smile. "Earlier we said that we'd discuss what we wanted to do when we all got back together. What are we thinking?"
    "I'm voting for something outdoors." Taylor chimed in as he took a long swig of beer.
    "Of course you do." Caitlynn said in her normal sarcastic tone. "God help us if we ever did something inside."
    "Hey, not my fault that buildings can't contain my awesome."
    Everybody chuckled at the terrible joke and John quickly chirped up.
    "I don't know, something outside sounds kind of nice." he said, his voice oddly quiet.
    "I'm in." Jake agreed.
    Caitlynn groaned and let out a sigh. "Fiiiiiiiiine. What are we thinking anyway?"
    Jake found himself staring at Caitlynn now. Not to hear her opinion, but to literally try to hear her. Just like John before, Caitlynn was suddenly growing quiet. As if someone had grabbed the "Volume" nob and cranked it lower.
    "I wanna going fishing." Taylor said, nodding his head as if he were agreeing with himself.
    Again, just like Caitlynn and John, his voice was too quiet. Everyone's was. He looked at them all in confusion. Were they playing a joke of some kind? No one seemed to think this was weird at all.
    Just as he was going to say something, he noticed that the grey of the paintings was spreading. It was boiling over the frame of the painting and draining the color from the walls, moving to the ceiling and floor.
    Jake snapped up with surprise. What the hell was going on?
    "Guys...?" He said, pointing at the slowly creeping loss of color.
    No one paid him any heed. They just kept talking about their plans.
    "No fishing." Emilia said, "What about something like go-kart racing? Or we haven't gone rock hounding in a while!"
    "Rock hounding?" John said with surprise. "I've never done that."
    The grey was spreading across the floors and ceilings now. Climbing up the legs of his friends' chairs.
    "Guys!" Jake yelled, panic welling up inside him.
    Still, no one paid any attention. Instead, each time one of them talked their voices got progressively quieter.
    "Oh, it's awesome!" Emilia said with a smile. "We have to do it. You can find all sorts of stuff like opals and fossils!"
    " It's true." Caitlynn said with a begrudging smile. "I found a few dinosaur bones once."
    The grey started to engulf his friends. It drained the color from their faces, from their clothes, and seemingly took the last of their voices. All around him, the color had been sucked out of everything in the room. Everything except himself.
    Taylor must have made some snide comment because everyone started laughing, but he could no longer hear his friends. It was like Jake was standing a vacuum listening to the roaring silence of nothingness.
    Jake's heart pounded as he looked around in panic. What the hell was happening? What was he supposed to do?
    Than, all at once, he realized his friends were looking at him. They seemed almost expectant as if they were waiting for an answer.
    What had been said? What did they want?
    What do you think, Jake? Taylor asked more in his head than anything else.

    Jake snapped awake in his bed again, this time staring up at his ceiling. All around him, color had returned. He could hear the birds chirping outside and the cars racing by on the street.
    With a sigh, he heaved himself out of bed and went to the closet.
    It took a few moments of digging, but there, at the bottom of his closet beneath discarded old shoes and a knapsack that had long ago lost its usefulness, he found a box filled with pictures and mementos.
    The first picture he found was him and Emilia, together and happy. She was smiling than, holding a candle that she had made at one of those "Make-Your-Own-Candle" booths at the state fair. It was green and blue and looked almost like the ocean, he had thought. That was before she had gotten sick. Before she had gone to the hospital and never come out.
    The next picture was a drawing. A rough and dirty sketch Jake himself had done of a rather sullen looking John. The proportions were off but you could clearly make out the sad expression on John's face. It was that depression that eventually locked him in his room for the last time. His mom found him the next morning.
    With a chuckle, he found the professionally done picture of Caitlynn. She was behind her turntable while people danced by the hundreds in front of her. Jake couldn't help but wonder what she might have been on when this picture was taken. Coke? Heroin? Jake had never paid much attention to her drug use and now he really did.
    The last picture he pulled out was Taylor and him standing together when they were 10. Now in his 30's, the picture was taken well over 20 years ago, but you could easily see the men they would both become.
    Tears rolled down Jake's cheeks as he looked at it.
    Taylor had joined the Army and become a Ranger while Jake, having blown out his knee and back, was never allowed in. He had served for years without his brother at his side but managed to come home safe and sound all the same. That's why it hurt all the more when he was told a year later that Taylor was killed in a motorcycle accident. He had survived years of bullets and bombs and explosions only to be taken down by a 42 year old drunk driver in a rent-a-car.
    Jake carefully replaced the mementos, taking care not to damage anything, and slid the box back where it came from at the bottom of the closet. His wife had asked why he didn't hang the pictures up somewhere in the house.
    "I'd rather not," Jake had said. "I don't want to take the risk of them fading."





(I hope you guys enjoyed. Yes, I know the whole "it was all a dream" metaphor is a bit over played however this one seemed appropriate as it was based on a real dream I had and real people I've known. Obviously a number of details have been altered here and there but the message is hopefully the same: cherish the time you have with those you love. Even the mundane stuff will be a blessing if you can ever relive it.)