Fear and Aggression (31 page)

“
So if our form is the
same, what is the difference in content or substance?”

“
We are alien from each
other; she is from this world and we are not. She is connected, I’d
venture to say, genetically to all things living on her planet; but
we are not—we are genetically connected to everything living on the
earth. I am genetically much more like a blade of grass, on the
earth, than I am to Aspiria; yet, I am not in the form of a blade
of grass, but I am in the form—the same form—as
Aspiria.”

“
So the content is our
genetic code,” concluded Kenny.

“
That’s true; and also the
matter, the atoms themselves; the atoms that she is made up of come
from her planet. The atoms that I am made of came from the earth.
The content is different; she contains her world’s atoms and
genetic language, but she is in the same form as we
are.”

“
I see, but now we are
sharing the same air and the same food. Her world’s content, and
ours, is being shared. I may have some atoms inside of me, oxygen
atoms that were from her world. Now they are a part of me. She has
a whole lot more than that in her. She is eating food from the
earth. She has lots of earth content in her now. So we aren’t
completely separate anymore.”

“
No, we are not. We are no
longer one hundred percent separate. Genetically we are still
separated, and I don’t see how that will ever change, but our
atoms, our languages, and our ideas are now connecting.”

Danny was listening intensely. “Maybe this,
‘world of the forms,’ is with God. If we are all created from the
same God, then it would all make sense.”

“
Maybe so, Danny,” said
Kenny.

***

“
Let me smell the spices.”
Aspiria took a whiff of the various spices. She was familiar with
milk, eggs, flour (though she said it tasted off) and sugar. She
really liked the sugar; it was the best sweetener that she had ever
tasted. She inspected the various vegetables, and turned her nose
up on most of them. “What you grow in your world is very different
from what we grow on mine.” It was clearly not a complement, but
she was trying to be polite.

“
What spices do you
like?”

“
I’ve put a few out; I
guess I’ll have to see how it turns out.” She selected veal and
potatoes for the main course. “You make a vegetable salad, Bob. I
don’t think that I can choose what everyone will like.”

Bob raised his eyebrows a few times as she
selected her spices and preparations, but he was really interested
in what she would do. “It smells good,” he said as she began to
dish out the servings. “It looks good, too; you are quite the
chef.”

“
Wait until everyone
tastes it. I’m not so convinced about it yet.”

Tammy, Danny, James, Kenny and Mike soon
joined Aspiria and Bob in the dining area. “Aspiria’s our chef
tonight,” said Bob with excitement.

Aspiria blushed. “I am sorry, if it is not
good. I don’t know what you like, and I’m not very familiar with
your food, yet.” Aspiria, herself, was not very impressed with the
meal, but she appreciated the complements that were coming from all
sides. Bob was over the top in his praise.

Kenny, who appreciated a good meal, was
shoveling it down like never before. “It’s good; real good!” he
said impolitely with his mouth full and still chewing. He tried to
cover this impropriety by covering his mouth, but it was only
partially effective. Still Aspiria appreciated the sentiment. She
was accustomed to impressing men with a good meal, and she never
grew tired of seeing a man scarf down one of her meals without
being able to stop.

“
It’s different; I like
it, though,” said Mike.

“
Yeah, Aspiria, it is
different, but I like it a lot,” said James. “I wonder what it
would be like with all of your own stuff.”

“
I’d love to show
you.”

James realized his error, felt embarrassed,
and became instantly quiet after that. Tammy was quiet also. She
had not been herself all day, and she was mostly just playing with
the food. She ended up finishing about half the plate, and then
took it to the wash area and left the room without saying a word.
Aspiria was a little hurt that she hadn’t said anything, but she
knew that something was wrong with her that day.

“
Do you enjoy cooking?”
asked Kenny.

“
I do. I was a little
nervous today, though. I hope that it was alright for all of
you.”

“
It was great. If you
enjoy it, then you can join me in here whenever you want to,” said
Danny. He was actually more interested in having further
conversations with Aspiria, than he was in getting help in the
kitchen.

“
That sounds nice; it has
been nice being in a different part of the ship this afternoon. I
might get better at cooking here, with some practice.”

Tammy’s voice was heard over the intercom.
“Get Steve to the lab!” The familiarity of hearing Captain Jenners
referred to as ‘Steve,’ was a bit stunning to the crew.

“
What’s the matter,
Tammy?” asked Kenny getting up to go and get Steve.

“
Hurry, I’m sick…” They
could hear the sound of her starting to throw up.

“
Danny, you get Captain
Jenners. James, Mike—
Aspiria
, you come with me to the
lab,” ordered Kenny.

“
I don’t like it at all,”
said Mike

“
Bob says that he watched
Aspiria the whole time that she was cooking. He said that there was
no chance that she could have poisoned anything. It could have been
a bad piece of meat,” suggested Kenny.

“
She didn’t seem to feel
well, even before she started eating, but still something is
awfully fishy about this. We haven’t had a single episode of food
poison, and then Aspiria cooks a meal and someone is
sick.”

“
Maybe we haven’t been
fully exposed to her bacteria. With the meal, Tammy may have gotten
a dose of something that she hasn’t been exposed to,
yet.”

“
Maybe she has been
getting sick with it for a while, and is just showing symptoms now.
Tammy is with Aspiria all of the time. She is the one that has had
the most exposure. I hope that this isn’t the start of something
serious going on.”

“
Tammy says that our
antibiotics knock out all of the alien bacteria easily. We haven’t
been on anything prophylactically—maybe a short course will fix
this right up.”

“
Tammy didn’t want to take
anything. I don’t get that. Captain Jenners didn’t seem all that
impressed, either. I think that I will have a talk with him. He
didn’t seem himself today.”

Mike walked to the bridge. Steve was up
there alone. “Hi, Captain; may I join you.”

“
Sure thing,
Mike.”

“
I’m not very happy about
Tammy getting sick.”

“
Yeah, she’s doing better
now, though.”

“
There is a lot that we
don’t know. I don’t want to accuse Aspiria of anything, but isn’t
it a strange coincidence that someone gets sick, the first time
that she prepares the meal? Anyway, Tammy is around Aspiria more
than anyone else. If we are susceptible to something of Aspiria’s,
isn’t it more likely for Tammy to get it first? Tammy would be the
most exposed.”

The arguments made sense, but Steve seemed
to be hardly paying attention. “No one else got sick after eating,
and Bob was with Aspiria the whole time,” said Steve, blowing off
the discussion.

“
Bob? Bob got us here on
accident, remember? I like Bob; he’s a good guy. But I would’t
trust Bob with my life.”

Steve just smiled.

“
Are we running tests on
Tammy? I would like to know if we culture an alien bug in her. We
might eradicate it easier if we all got on some antibiotic right
away. I think Tammy should take something broad
spectrum.”

“
I’m glad I’ve got you on
this mission. Every crew needs at least one worry wart.”

“
Just doing my
job.”

Tammy came on the intercom again. “I just
got sick again. I’m okay now. It wasn’t as bad as the first
time.”

“
Do you need me to come
down?” asked Steve.

“
No. Aspiria’s with me.
She got me some soda. I’ll be alright.”

“
Just let me know; I’ll be
down if you need me.”

Mike looked at his Captain with a very
serious and curious look. There was more to this than meets the
eye. “I thought Kenny locked Aspiria up.”

“
Yes, he did. I let her
back out. It wasn’t necessary. Tammy feels better having her out,
anyway.”

Mike remembered the moment that they were
getting on their space suits in preparation for capturing Aspiria.
He remembered Tammy kissing Captain Jenners. It was all becoming
very clear. They did spend a lot of time together. The past few
weeks had been so eventful, that Mike had not spent time reflecting
on this, but now he could see the picture opening up before his
eyes.

“
Captain, you know what’s
going on with Tammy, don’t you? There is more going on between you
two, than a great working relationship. This isn’t what I think it
is, is it?”

Steve glared at Mike with a look of wounded
but recovering pride. Mike was his friend and confidant in many
ways, but Steve was his Captain. He didn’t say a word, but Mike
knew what was going on. “I’m sorry, Steve. I’ll do what you need;
just let me know.”

***

“
Mike knows.”

“
Did you tell
him!?”

“
No. He figured it out. He
talked with me, I didn’t say anything, but he knows. I trust Mike.
That may not be much consolation to you, but I do trust
him.”

“
It’s pretty obvious, I
guess. I don’t want to take any medication, and I’m not worried
about Aspiria causing this—but I am throwing up and no one else is
sick at all. We can’t keep this a secret much longer, anyway. I
don’t want this baby. I love us, and who knows where this could all
go in the future. But I don’t want it right now. I want to continue
my research. I want to go home to a hero’s welcome, with you. I
want to write papers, and speak to large audiences. I want to bring
Aspiria, and let the world see her. I don’t want to be caught up in
a scandal. It will be bad for me, but it will be worse for you. You
will be removed from the Space Force, and instead of getting a
hero’s welcome, you will be testifying in front of Congress, and
maybe getting court marshaled. This could get really ugly, real
quick. I feel like such a fool. We are both a couple of
fools.”

“
I thought that I was
invincible. I thought that I could do and have whatever I wanted,
and that I could fix up any of the consequences. I am so sorry that
I brought this upon you. It is all my fault. I just somehow didn’t
think…”

“
You can say that again,”
she said softly and with a gentle smile. She leaned up and kissed
him softly.

“
I agree with you, that
this will get really ugly. Mike is the biggest worry wart on here.
If he stops stirring everyone else up, and if we act like it is all
under control; no one else gets sick, and we work your rotations
around it—maybe we can buy ourselves some time; finish the mission
at least. The consequences will come, but if we can start off back
home as hero’s, maybe public opinion won’t stay against us. The
Space Force has a vested interest in us being heroes—so does the
White House; we might get more support than we think. It’s worth a
try.”

“
I’m not sure that I want
a baby at this point in my life. Even if it doesn’t turn out as bad
as I think it will, I will still be lugging around a child as I try
to give public appearances. I just don’t want this right now,”
Tammy said adamantly.

“
I know. It’s the worse
timing that I could ever imagine. Still, it is us—you and me. I
love you so much, and I still think that I can conquer
anything—even this. You and I, together; we can definitely conquer
it. We are Captain Steve Jenners and the amazing Tammy
Rogers!”

“
You’re sweet, but it was
this kind of attitude that got us here in the first
place.”

“
Exactly!”

“
I don’t mean here around
this planet. I mean here in my room talking about a pregnancy that
is not allowed to happen.” She gave him another kiss. “I’ve got to
get some sleep, before I start feeling sick again. I love
you.”

“
I love you too, Tammy.
Somehow, we are going to make it. Maybe you should leave off the
‘I’m sick’ announcements on the intercom.”

She winked and Steve left the room.

“
Mayor Palador, please
come in.” A short and portly man with thick round glasses greeted
Roloff warmly, and stood up from his desk. He attempted to button
his dress coat around his obese mid-section, but quickly gave up
after two tries. Instead, he waddled around his desk and offered
his hand to Roloff.

“
Thank you for seeing me
on such short notice, Mayor Tinron.”

“
My dear sir, it is always
such a pleasure to see you, please sit down.” The two men took
seats across the desk from each other. “I am so sorry to hear of
the disappearance of your lovely wife. My wife and I always so
enjoyed her company. I am sorry that I have not been able to come
to you personally since the event. I trust that you received my
note.”