Aliens Are Real: Part 2 (21 page)

The lieutenant whirled around and started typing.
As he
upload
ed
the proper commands,
he asked,
“Sir, does this have anything to do with the blue UFO I saw a few min
utes ago?”

The c
olonel stared at his face, surprised
,
but pleased that the man had seen it. “Yes, son.
I need to know where it’s going.
”

“It was headed toward
Lincoln
.
I’ll see if I can find it again!” T
he l
ieutenant
leaned toward
his monitors
, and
his fingers
danced
across the keyboard.

A
repeating recording of
the UFO’s last known trajectory appeared on the screen.

“I, uh, got a glimpse just before the scheduled calibration started so I dropped some quick code hoping I’d be able to find it again after the calibration was done,” the lieutenant explained.

The colonel
could see a bead of perspiration forming on the young man’s brow.
He
fought to contain his excitement, to maintain his composure in front of a junior officer. “Excellent.” He
leaned toward the lieutenant
,
and spoke softly. “You are not to speak of this to anyone except me and the general
. - I
f I find out you spoke to someone else about this, I’ll have you reassigned to a NORAD early warning station
deep in
the Canadian arctic.
Do I make myself clear, L
ieutenant?
”

The lieutenant
saluted again.
“Yes, sir. And don’t you
worry;
this is
exactly the kind of thing I signed up for
. I’m honored to have the privilege of working with
the likes of
you on it. You can count on
me, S
ir.” He saluted again quickly.

The colonel nodded quickly. “Good.”
H
e smiled,
and then
gave the enthusiastic junior officer
pat on the back.

It always helped to have motivated men on his side. He
thought he
might
finally
find some of the answers he had been
seeking
.

***

Honorio threw the car into drive after Tyrone
slipped into the back seat where Jasmine lay unconscious still
.
He directed the car toward
Lincoln
. They didn’t need this diversion to
Lincoln
,
but Honorio knew Joseph was right to travel in the opposite direction from their home.
He hoped to retrieve Joseph quickly
,
and return to
Omaha
to deal with Jasmine.
He was still unsure
of
the extent of her injuries.

Chapter
1
7

Buzzing noises;
Jasmine
was so tired of buzzing noises interrupting
her
sleep.
The buzzing
became
more distinct
,
even though
she
tried
to ignore them.
Finally, it dawned on
her
that
they were voices.
She
was too tired to open
her
eyes
,
so
she
just
listened.

Honorio’s voice raised,
“This is case in
point!
It is too dangerous for
humans
to be near us.
This one almost died.
Their bodies are simply too fragile
.
”

“She needs to go away.
She i
s endangering our mission
!
”
Malika insisted.

Joseph
, unusually serious,
said,
“As much as those arguments are sound,
I
think
we
need to explore this new development.”

Mali
ka’s voice dripped with disdain.
“Just because you are deluded into thinking you are faster around this
bazer
does not mean
we
should endanger our lives or our mission.”

Yumi’s voice interjected.
“
I
know she affects
me
.
I
somehow hear our home more clearly when she is around.
You all heard how loud
my
thoughts
became when she touched
my
designation crystal
.”

“This matter is too important to disregard.
We must at least take the time to discover if there is an influence from this being
,
and if so, what the limits are,
”
Tyrone insisted.

Since he
was usually quiet
,
and followed Honorio’s lead, his comment was surprising to
Jasmine
.
It must have startled the others as well because no one spoke for several minutes.

She
didn’t want them to stop talking
,
so
she
kept
her
eyes closed.
She
searched for clues
as
to where
she
was from
her
other senses.
She
could tell
she
was on something soft.
She
was lying down
and the
voices weren’t right next to
her
but they were close so
she
assumed
she lay
on their couch
,
and they were talking in the dining room
.
She
smelled citrus.
Either there was a bowl of fruit near
her
or there was a candle burning somewhere in the house.
She
listened for other clues
,
but other than a dog barking outside, it was quiet.

As
she
lay
there,
she
thought about
what
her friends
had discussed among each other
.
She
didn’t appreciate Mr. High-and-Mighty Honorio implying that
she
was weak.
She
tensed
thinking about Malika.
She was just plain mean.
Jasmine
wondered what development
had
happened while
she
had been
unconscious.
What
was a bazer and
a
designation crystal
?
Also, what being was influencing whom?
The longer
she
la
y in thought
, the more questions
she
developed.

Pain shot through
her
body
as a weight landed on
her
.
She
squealed in pain and
tried to
s
i
t up quickly.
Her
head swirled with white and black spots of pain.
As
her
eyes focused, the spots congealed into a moving shape.
She
lay
a
gra
y
,
plush couch
,
and a cat was staring at
her
with wide eyes
from the far arm
.
The cat was sleek black, one eye with a white patch of fur around it.

It mewed
, rubbed Jasmine’s feet with its head
,
then jumped down
,
and strutted to an open doorway.
Just inside that doorway were Yumi and Honorio.
They both looked concerned.
Malika was behind them, leaning against the doorframe
,
sneering at
her
.

“Are you ok
ay
?”
Yumi asked.

Jasmine still felt a little woozy.
“Uh.
My
arm stings a little.”

Malika snorted her derision.
Jasmine
was sure she was thinking about how weak
humans were
.

Yumi drooped her head sadly.
“Unfortunately, there is nothing
we
can do to speed the healing.
Your species is still new to us
,
so
we
have not developed advanced healing techniques for these bodies.”

“Well,
so?
People get hurt all the time.
Human bodies are pretty resilient.
I
’ll heal.”
Jasmine said.

“Yeah, well your squishy body
took
quite
a beating.
I am surprised you did not die,
”
Malika said.

Yumi glanced at her and shook her head.

Malika threw her hands up incredulously.
“What?
It i
s true.”

Honorio shot her a stern glance.
“Malika,
I
am sure there is
something
better you could be doing.”

“Are you kidding
me
?
She almost gets all of us killed
,
and
I
a
m the
bad person
?” Malika put her hands on her hips
, leaning
in
to glare at Honorio.

“Sh
e did not cause the explosion,
”
Honorio stated.

Malika clenched her teeth.
“She did
no
t have to
cause it
.
Her presence endangered us and our mission.”

“It could have been any one of us standing there when the floor gave way
,
”
Honorio said.

“We all would have been outside already and out of harm’s way.
If there
had been
a complication, the rest of us would have moved out of the way or landed better to minimi
ze the damages to our bodies.
”

Yumi interrupted the enraged security officer politely.
“Malika
...” she paused to see if
Malika
would listen. “W
ould you please get
me
some mint ice cream?”

Malika stared at
Yumi
, caught off guard by the request.

“
Actually,
Malika,
I
believe
I
ate the last of what
we
had in the freezer so if you would be so kind, the convenience store w
ill be open for 15 more minutes,
”
Yumi said.

Malika’s
jaw
tensed
.
She opened her mouth a couple times as if she was about to say something then clamped it shut again.

Finally, she accepted the task.
“Fine.” Malika stormed out of the room.

Jasmine
heard a door slam, a car start, and then an engine roar with sudden acceleration.

Jasmine
looked at Yumi
who
was fingering her necklace
and
looked tired.
In fac
t, she didn’t look better than before the first mission
.

“Yumi,
I
thought getting you those hair brushes would make you
better,
”
Jasmine said.

“They will
,
Jasmine
.
Unfortunately,
I
need time to become well again
,
and your well
-
being is more important
than mine
at the moment.”

Jasmine delighted that her friend worried about her
, but could
n’t stand the idea of her
suffering.
“
I’
m not more important.
You need to get better.”

“
I
will survive more
days
before my health becomes critical
.
You must be
healed
.
It i
s imperative that you are not in danger.”

“It’s a sore arm.
I
’ll be better in a couple days.
You
,
on the other hand need to get better soon or
...
well
...
I
don’t really know what will happen
,
but you look sick so it can’t be good.”

Honorio walked over to the couch
,
and put his hand on Yumi’s shoulder.
“
Jasmine
is right.
You
must begin the process or risk...” H
e looked at
Jasmine
then back at Yumi, “harm.
Jasmine
is fine.
Please attend to yourself now.”

Yumi nodded.
She leaned over and gave
Jasmine
a gentle squeeze.
The pain from Yumi’s touch seared Jasmine
,
but
she
hid
her
grimace in the hug.
Yumi stood up
,
and walked out of the room slowly, gracefully.
She was Asian nobility even if she were alien.

Honorio’
s eye
brows were furrowed
,
and his mouth
a straight line;
the same expression
her
father would get when he wa
s about to scold
her
, so
she
knew this was going to be a lecture.

“
Jasmine
,” he said

She mimicked his tone
.
“Honorio.
”

He sighed
,
and frowned at
her
.
“This is serious.
I
have tried to explain from the start that your very association with us puts you in harm’s way.
You must find it in yourself to walk away
,
and pretend you do not know us.
It is for your own good
.
”

“Not a chance
,
”
Jasmine said.

“Listen to
me.
” He
looked ready to reach over and shake
her
.
“There are consequences.
If
we
were discovered by the authorities,
we
w
ould
be imprisoned, examined, dissected
, and
embalmed.
We are not playing small games like your football or even drug running.
Your government views our kind as the enemy.
If you are caught in our presence, you will be jailed at the minimum.
At the worst, they would mistake you for one of us
. They would dissect and
perform tests
on you,
as well.
You must protect yourself
,
and stay away.”