Encounters 1: The Spiral Slayers (11 page)

Adamarus took a deep breath and wondered how the Loud had
missed such a basic fact in all their studies. “Bugs, we…” he gestured to
himself, “only live for about ninety years. I’m sorry, I thought you knew.”

At this point Adamarus noticed that Bug’s eyes, the cream
colored mushrooms within the oblong green strips, did… something. Adamarus
would have sworn that Bugs had rolled his eyes before continuing back up and
immediately coming back down screeching out a response. Adamarus sat back down
and watched the indicator on the translator climb to100 percent. “No Adamarus,
it is I who am sorry. When we repaired you we took care of that defect. And we
will take care of it for the team we select and, of course, for your family.”

Adamarus stared at Bugs in total confusion. “I… I don’t
understand. You took care of what defect?”

“Adamarus, we removed the timer from you DNA. A timer that
all planet bound life must have, and we made other adjustments to your DNA.”

Adamarus’ brows compressed, “Please explain. What does all
that mean?”

“It means that unless you suffer an accident that terminates
your life, you will still be alive when we return 230 years from now, and in
fact, you will be here for all of our returns.”

Adamarus sat there for many minutes trying to comprehend what
the Loud had said. The Loud seemed to realize this and waited patiently. Finally
Adamarus spoke, “You mean that you’ve done something to make me live longer?” He
shook his head as a flood of strange emotions surged through him. “How much
longer?” he asked. He looked down at the floor and tried to think as the Loud
replied and the translator did its job. The happiness, wonder and shock he
felt…this he could understand, but the primary emotions hitting him were
sadness, anger and fear…slowly the full impact of what the Loud was saying
started falling into place.

The voice finally came from the translator, “How much longer
will you live? No one can know that. All that can be said is that your body has
stopped aging—physically you will not get any older than you are now. Also,
your health will always be excellent. If no injury takes your life, well,
theoretically, you would live forever except that someday this universe will
come to an end.”

 Adamarus looked up. His eyes were watering and he had turned
pale. “And…this is part of the treatment you will have waiting for my wife
tomorrow,” he asked?

“And your son.” Bugs replied.

‘My son?’ Adamarus thought! “My son is only five years old,
Bugs. How much younger can he get?”

“The treatment allows normal development and growth up to a person’s
prime age – the age where normally life takes the turn towards death. Or it
brings you back to that point as in your case and then it keeps you at that
age. So your son will continue to grow and develop normally until he reaches
his prime, and then he will be held there.”

Adamarus’ mind spun with the implications and possibilities. This
was…what? Immortality? Yes, that’s exactly what it was, immortality! And he
knew immediately how something like this might go…no, he corrected himself…not
"might", how it “would” go. How this would impact and change
everything.

Bugs apologized again, then said, “We assumed that you knew.
We felt sure that the medical exams and tests done by your doctors would reveal
this.”

It was then that it hit Adamarus. Of course they had known!
They had just kept it a secret. But why? It didn’t take long for the pieces to
fall together.

The fact that he was 20 years younger had been kept secret
from the general population, but it could not be hidden from him and his family.
The immortality part could and had been. If the fountain of youth were made
public, everyone on the planet would want it. However if the Loud gift of
immortality got out, most would kill for it. Would some try to grab and control
it—try to profit from it? Of course! It would have to be given to everyone
freely. But that would not work. In fact, the government would be forced to go
to any lengths to keep it secret. Why? Because if everyone got the treatment,
people would stop dying and in no time the population would explode beyond the
resources to support it They'd soon run out of food, energy, living
space…perhaps even air!

He dropped into a chair and put his head in his hands.
And,
what of himself and his family
,
he thought? The second the special
team and the government found out that he knew he'd been made immortal, everything
around him would be locked down, contained, silenced. The risk he and his
family posed would be a serious loose end that would have to be dealt with. Dozens
of scenarios played out in his head, all of them bad. At the very least he and
his family would be effectively imprisoned. And despite the impossibility of
treating everyone, the fountain of youth and immortality would be too desirable
to just give up. If the Loud refused to release the key to this, he and his
family could be forced to undergo a lifetime of tests to discover how his DNA
had been changed – reverse engineer the process.

He would have to play this one ever so carefully. It was a
good thing the meeting chamber was controlled by the Loud – a good thing the
meetings could not be listened to or recorded. And a good thing that he had been
able to dodge the truth serum!

The translator interrupted his thoughts, “Adamarus, is
something wrong?”

Adamarus looked up and realized that many minutes had elapsed
in silence. He leaned forward in his chair wondering how to explain, “Bugs, you
live forever, yes?”

“Our cells regenerate perfectly – we do not age. We have a
highly evolved immune system – we don’t get sick. Accidents may kill us but we
will never die of old age or sickness. Just like you. Space is vast, Adamarus.
Those who travel beyond their own solar system must have very long lives.”

“Yes...I see that,” Adamarus said realizing the fact for the
first time. “But the transition…” He went on to explain everything he had been
thinking about, the problems and scenarios he saw. Because it was almost
certain that testing done while he was in the hospital had revealed that his
cells were no longer aging, they had to assume that people already knew and
that this knowledge was already being kept secret from him and his family. This
was not a good sign and supported Adamarus’ fears.

When Adamarus was done expressing his concerns, the Loud
summarized the issues as he saw them to make sure he understood them all. He
did this by using solutions to each.

To avoid anyone trying to keep the treatment a secret and/or
attempting to control it, just as Adamarus had concluded, everyone on the
planet would have to find out about it at the same time.

To minimize riots and mayhem in the general public, the
treatment would have to be delivered to everyone on the planet en masse within
one to two days, and would need to be readily available to anyone who missed
out on the first delivery days. This would alleviate fears of being left out
and would keep the public too busy to riot or freak out in any way.

The above would nullify any reasons of wanting to detain Adamarus
and his family for secrecy or to make test subjects out of them.

It would also negate the problem of the Health Department
tying up distribution for years while it tested it.

Everything had to be done in a way that did not get Adamarus,
his family, or the Loud in any kind of serious trouble with the government.

 The effects of the planet’s population explosion—shortages
of living space, food, water, electrical power and others that might arise
would need to be addressed before the shortages occurred.

After Bugs read off the list, the Loud was silent for almost
three minutes. Adamarus was just about to say something just to break the
silence when Bugs expanded upwards. “Okay, here’s what we’ll do…” and Bugs
proceeded to create a plan. Adamarus added details or alternatives. An hour
later they had the details worked out. The plan was bold and daring but it
seemed like it would work. A lot of people would not be happy, but as far as
they could see, this would not matter.

The Loud seemed to stretch and rub his eyes with his
tentacles. Again, somehow it mimicked a very human gesture. “Now,” it
continued, “is there anything else?”

Adamarus was on overload, overwhelmed by the intense planning
session as well as their bold plan. He laughed weakly and said, “You seem to
have it all figured out.” Adamarus swallowed – he was putting so much trust in
this alien after only a few weeks: the life of his wife and son, the future of
his world! He looked at the ungodly creature below him on the dome floor. “When
would we want to do this?”

“Your wife and son are being treated tomorrow so… it must be
done tomorrow.”

Adamarus felt like he’d been kicked in the head! The entire plan
had been somewhat hypothetical, but not now. How had it come to this? After a
moment Adamarus said, “Bugs, I’m not sure we can do this.”

“Sleep on it. We will do nothing unless you agree.”

Adamarus realized he was in a state of shock. All he could
say was, “Okay.”

Bugs raised his tentacles, “Then…until
tomorrow…probability…fold in your favor!”

Yes, we must hope like hell that probability folds in our
favor
, Adamarus thought.

---

Adamarus tried like hell to get control of his emotions as he
was led to the debriefing room. He told them what he could of what Bugs had
said about how interplanetary trade would be conducted, leaving out anything to
do with immortality, and they discussed this. However, it quickly became
apparent that this had not taken up the entire meeting.

“Well, we also talked more about trade items, specifically entertainment
items like videos, films and books. The Loud has a problem understanding
fiction, that is, they understand it, they just don’t know why people would be
interested in made up stories.”
Pun intended
, Adamarus thought as he
told the lie and focused on not making any telltale micro expressions or other
mannerisms that would show he was lying. He did not like being untruthful-it
went against his nature-but there was simply no choice. He reached for the
glass of water but then only pretended to take a drink afraid it might contain
a truth serum. He snuck a look at the clock—thank God the debriefing would soon
be over.

“How long would you say you stayed on that subject,” the
presidential advisor asked?

“Of fictional stories?”

“Entertainment.”

“Oh, most of the day,” Adamarus said. Then he remembered something
important he’d almost forgotten, “Oh, a couple of things regarding the visit of
my family tomorrow. I’d like to bring Grace and Nero in at the end of the session
so I can leave with them. Meeting an alien being may scare or disturb them and
I want all of us to drive home together – basically, I want to be with them
immediately afterwards. Perhaps we could do tomorrow’s debrief early the next
morning.”

Leewood nodded, “Very well. And the other item?”

“Yes, we don’t know for sure what will happen when my wife
and son visit with Bugs, but I want some freedom – if this turns into a one or
two-hour visit, I want to go along with that.”

Leewood stared at him for a beat. His face clouded but then he
nodded, “Okay.”

---

That night, Adamarus had much to discuss with Grace but not
while Nero was awake.

After dinner, in the middle of rinsing dishes while Grace
washed, the doorbell rang.

Adamarus dried his hands, “That’s Radin. This will only take fifteen
minutes.” He kissed her on the cheek and went to the door.

Radin rushed in, “I’m on duty tonight so I can’t stay long. Can
we retire to the drawing room for a few minutes?”

Adamarus led the way. “I’m glad you showed up – a lot of
things happened today.” They walked into the Drawing room, closed the door
behind them, turned on the video screen and sat down. Adamarus said, “You go
first.” Adamarus noticed that Radin was staring at him strangely. Adamarus was
not in the mood for this and his almost explosive response was a sign of the
stress he was under. “Oh come on! What now? What? What?”

“I’m sorry,” Radin said. “My contact had some very
interesting stuff for us today. He…”

Adamarus interrupted waving his hand, “Just say ‘she'. I know
who it is.”

“What? How do you know? Who is it?”

“Dr. Lorraine Harrington.”

“Shit! How?”

“Power of deduction.”

Now Radin lost it. He shook his head, “Bullshit! Whatever! According
to her, the results of certain medical tests were classified and withheld. These
test results show that – okay, brace yourself …”

Adamarus cut in again, “They show that basically I’m
immortal.”

Radin’s face went slack and he was quiet for several seconds.
“Of course, the Loud told you. When?”

“Just today.”

“And they told you why they made you immortal?”

“Yes.”

Radin took a deep breath. “Well the specialists only have
educated guesses on this so, tell me, why?”

 “Mostly to save my life, they say, but also consistency in
trading with us.”

“Those were some of their guesses. Another was a visit to
their planet.” A moment of silence passed between them. Radin was getting warm
and unzipped his coat. “You know what will happen if this becomes public?”

Adamarus sighed, “Yes.”

 “Do you really?” Radin shot back.

“Yes, I do.”

“Then you also know that the government “must” keep this a
secret…and…in order for them to do that…” they looked at each other, letting
the meaning sink in. The only way the government could insure secrecy was to
round up everyone who knew about this. And…then what? Somehow contain them.

Adamarus barely moved his head, nodding only once. So it had
come to his worst fears. They actually planned to grab everyone who knew
anything about it. How bad was it? Surely they didn’t plan to kill anyone.
Adamarus knew one thing, this was not the President’s doing. It had to be
Congressman De Bella. He was sure Wicker didn’t even know. “When?” Adamarus
asked.