It had been a couple of months since our trip to Boston and Ed never mentioned a word of what happened to him. I hoped that whatever guilt or shadow feelings, that Darla called them had faded. Eileen McCoy had returned home to San Diego with a whole new view of life I was sure. I don’t know if that was a good thing or a bad but in time it would all work itself out. Years later she would refer to those events as “The week that woke me up to my life.”
I felt like I had been working non-stop since I took the job with the Elite Squad. It was going to be great to have the weekend off. I booked a room in Atlantic City at the Holiday Inn, Packed up a few things in a duffle bag and rented a car. On my way out there was some commotion in the hallway as new tenants were moving into the apartment next door. I was lugging my stuff over my shoulder to find the two women trying to get a sofa out of the stairwell.
“Here let me help,” I volunteered dropping my bag on the floor. They had it wedge in the doorframe pretty tight it took a little skill but I got it loose without revealing my true strength. Setting the sofa down in the hallway I said to them, “Do you need help getting it the rest of the way in?”
“That would be nice, Thank You,” the older of the two women said. “I’m Paula and this is my daughter, Julie.” she told me. They picked up one end and I took the other. We carried it into their apartment and sat it down.
“By the way, I’m Steve Roberts, I live next door with Paddy Berger,” I said reaching out to shake Paula’s hand. She was around Paddy’s age and her daughter was a few years younger than me, just out of High School, I would bet.
“Nice to meet you Steve, we met Paddy a few days back, when we signed the lease,” Paula told me. “You guys are policemen?”
“Sure are, look I’m on my way out for a weekend trip, it was really nice meeting you ladies,” I said smiling and turning to leave.
“When you get back, you and Paddy need to come by for dinner,” Julie said.
“Julie, could we get unpacked first,” Paula chided.
“Of course, Mom, I didn’t say tonight,” Julie giggled.
“I’ll talk it over with Paddy and we will let you know,” I said smiling as I left for my weekend.
The Holiday Inn
Atlantic City, NJ
I checked into my room and got changed into my swim trunks. Grabbing a beach towel I had brought along I headed down to the beach. It was late afternoon and the beach was already crowded. I found a small space toward the back, not far from the boardwalk. Spreading out my towel on the sand I sat down pulling off my T-shirt. I felt like the summer was half over and I still had a farmer’s tan. I sat there for a while looking around at the people from all walks of life enjoying a sunny day at the beach.
One thing that was always great was I never got sunburn, My skin would be tanned in less than two hours. Gary always called me Malibu Ken, like the Barbie dolls that tanned in minutes in sunlight. There were so many clues that I was different but Gary never seemed to put them together. I thought I should be grateful for that and I was right. I laid back on the beach towel taking off my sunglasses so as to not get a goggle tan as the sun did its work evening up the tone of my chest and face. I continued to think about Gary and how much I missed our friendship. Ever since that night at the Enchanted Suites my premonition dreams had been oddly different. The effect that talisman had on me seemed to linger. The lingering effect lasted until somewhere around the end of that year.
As I laid on the beach I don’t think I fell asleep not completely anyway. My thoughts of Gary turned to our reunion as adults. I hadn’t seen Gary since High School there was no way I could have any idea of how much he would have changed. From the time you are eighteen to twenty-five the human body is still growing and changing. Gary had changed a lot. Through most of our teens he was shorter than me by almost a foot. Now we stood eye to eye and he had bulked up quite a bit. He said he had a growth spurt in college and had been working out. I was proud of him, he was never one to commit to anything. I was glad to see him in my daydream but I couldn’t say the same for him. Once the niceties were over he took a swing at me making contact with my jaw. It felt so real I sat straight up on the beach grabbing my face. I looked around and there was no one near me. Rubbing my jaw it really didn’t hurt but I still felt like I had been hit.
I gazed down the beach to the water to see kids playing in the waves. Then a man caught my eye. He seemed different than everyone else as he emerged from the surf. His hair was a wavy shoulder length blonde, as he shook his head like a wet dog it seemed to dry almost instantly. His hard muscled chest a golden brown, for a second I thought he was Fabio. I looked down at myself, I couldn’t be sure how long I was laying there but my pink chest was gone, having turned a nice tanned brown. I looked back to the man in the water his skin tone was oddly different than mine and everyone else on the beach for that matter. I guessed that he must use some kind of self-tanner that makes him appear so golden brown. Maybe he was Fabio on vacation in Jersey I chuckled. As he walked up out of the waves I could see another difference, his bathing suit. He was wearing the smallest manikin I had ever seen. As a cop I almost thought I should arrest him for indecent exposure. But most noticeably there was something different about his eyes, his eyes appeared golden as well, probably just contacts I rationalized. Looking at his face was when I realized he was much too young to be Fabio. There was something so appealing about him but it made me feel strange for staring at him so intently, I flipped over to laid back down on my belly to tan my back.
I must have dozed off again because I was suddenly sitting in the Sands Casino at a slot machine. I was dressed in jeans and a T-shirt sliding silver dollars into the machine. It was odd because I’m really not much of a gambler. “Not much of a gambler?” a voice said from next to me. “I’d say you gamble everyday you go to work as a Philadelphia Policeman.” I turned and it was the Fabio guy in the manikin sitting next to me at another slot machine. He wasn’t playing the machine, he appears to be there for no other reason than to talk to me.
“That’s different,” I told him. “As a cop, I’m gambling for other people, trying to help them to keep them safe.” “Not gambling for myself to win some unearned fortune.”
“You are a very brave man, Steve Roberts,” he said.
“I don’t think I caught your name,” I told him as if we were two guys just meeting in the casino and he wasn’t practically naked while I was fully clothed.
My name is Prince Benue from the planet Srann, but you can call me, Ben,” he said smiling like some super model as if what he told me was perfectly sane.
“Prince Benue from the planet Srann,” I chuckled, “What brings you to Earth, Ben?”
“It is a war in my home solar system, I’m in hiding,” the golden man told me. “I’ve been here for several years now and I’ve met people like you before.”
“People like me, you mean Earthlings?” I joked pulling the arm of the slot machine again.
“I think you call them Zeni-humans,” he said his words finally drew my attention away from the slot machine.
“Why would you think I’m a Zeni-human?” I said defensively.
“Because you are, I can see it inside your mind.” “That is why I have created this dream to meet you,” Ben said. “But that is not why I was drawn to you.” “There is something else about you that attracted me.”
“Look buddy, I don’t know what you are talking about, but I am not interested,” I said getting up to walk away from the slot machine.
He followed after me, “That is not what I’m doing.” “I sense a remnant inside you,” he said grabbing my arm.
“A what?” I asked pulling away from him.
“A remnant of an alien parasite,” Ben’s words were now ringing a bell with me. “You may have resisted the parasite somehow and it didn’t hurt you but it left behind something inside you that needs to be removed.”
“What do you mean removed?” I asked as we walked out of the casino. “I feel fine!” “Never better!”
We walked out onto the boardwalk as Ben told me, “That is just it, that is what it is designed to do.” “The parasites are designed to create mutant warriors for the Vega-Sirius war or kill the host trying.” “You were the exception to that design.” “That remnant inside you is meant to track you because of your status as a threat to the Spartans.”
“How do you know so much about these parasites?” I asked sitting back down on my beach towel.
“The Spartans tried to use the parasites on my people, but they were incompatible with our powers,” Ben explained holding up his glowing hand. “But it gave us the opportunity to study the parasites.”
The flash of light from his hand woke me suddenly. I opened my eyes and I was still laying on my belly on the beach. Flipping my face from left to the right I spied the golden tanned thigh and hip of the manikin wearing man sitting next to me in the sand. Instinctively I did a handspring and back flip away from him. I took a defensive stand in the sand.
“You are really talented at that,” Ben laughed.
“Was that real?” I asked.
“As real as any dream,” he replied. “Something about your gifts makes it rather easy for me to tap into your subconscious and manipulate your dreams.” “I thought it might make our first meeting more relaxed.”
“Relaxed?” I exclaimed. “Freaky is more like it!” “Who the hell do you think you are?”
He smiled at me like some Greek god, “Someone who needs your help.” He gave off this aura of trust that was very seductive. “When I came to Earth I was pursued by enemies,” he told me standing up from the sand. “I believe that thing inside of you maybe a clue to finding them, if you can help me find the nest.”
“Nest, what nest?” I asked confused because I thought the original parasites came to Earth alone.
“I thought I had disposed of all of the enemies who were chasing me,” he told me. “The presence of the parasites tells me different.” Someone must have escaped and they had a Parasite Queen with them.”
“Parasite Queen?” I questioned trying to make sense of this new information. “I thought the parasites were asexual, multiplying by splitting in two.”
“Yes, they can do that but when they do each parasite is in a weakened state putting it at risk,” Ben explained. “The Queen produces parasites that are at full strength at birth.” “She can produce as many as are needed, multiples at one time.”
“Then why hasn’t the city, the country been over run?” I asked finding the flaw in his story.
“Because there is a military mind behind the plague, controlling it, using it in the most beneficial way,” Ben told me. “I believe that the tracer you carry and your unique gifts can be used to find the Queen and possibly her master.”
I sat back down on my towel in the sand to pull on my shirt. I thought about everything he had said. It was strange that Janet seemed to know so much about the parasites and not this information. On the other hand, Janet had proven to me that she could not be trusted. Pulling my sunglasses back on I looked up at the golden eyed man standing over me, his junk practically in my face. I had no way of knowing if this alien was telling the truth either. But from the moment I first spotted him at the water’s edge I had no sense of danger from him. If he meant me any harm that first dream I had would have been about him and not Gary. “I’m going to give you a chance,” I said standing up. “Prove to me what you are saying is true and show me you can get this tracer out of my body and we will go from there.”
“Let’s go for a swim then,” Ben said.
“What?” I questioned.
“Follow me and bring your things with you,” I was instructed as I watched him walk back down the beach toward the water. I kept my shirt and sunglasses on but I left my towel on the beach as I followed after him to the water. He began to swim and I began to swim after him. Ben was a good strong swimmer but I had no problem keeping up with him. I found it odd that there were no blowing of whistles or shouts from the lifeguards as I followed him way out past the cresting waves.
We were about a mile or so off shore I would say when he stopped in the water. “You doing okay?” he asked.
“Fine, this is nothing for me,” I told him trying to not sound like I was bragging. “How much farther?”
“This is it, we are here,” Ben said pointing in front of us in the water. For a moment my vision blurred and then there was a spaceship floating on the water in front of us.
“Where did that come from?” I asked.
“It’s been there along, I just hid it from prying eyes,” Ben told me as he began to climb up the divots in the side of the hull. “Come on, I’ll give you a hand,” he said reaching back to me.
“Not a problem,” I said brushing his hand aside and reaching for the first divot. It was like climbing one of those molded rock walls, only the side of the ship was softer. I followed him up the side of the ship, that reminded me of the side of a whale I saw once at SeaWorld. Looking up at him was not a nice view as I climbed behind him, I might add. On the side about ten feet above the water line was a door that opened in the shape of a horizontal eyelid when he placed his hand on several lit ridges. I followed him through the opening.
The inside the ship was strange too. It was almost as if we were climbing into a living organism. The walls were a smooth grey, rounded at the top with no visible seams. Looking closely at the walls I could see faint veining like on a tree leaf. Ben reached for a metallic band that hung on the wall not far from the door. He slipped it on around his head saying, “If you want to get out of those wet clothes you can leave them here.”
I watched as the door closed without Ben taking any action. “No, I’m good,” I said as he stripped off his skimpy manikin and hung it on the hook on the wall where the ring of metal previous hung.
“Follow me,” he instructed as he walked nude down the dimly lit tight passageway in front of us. There was clean breathable air inside the ship but it almost felt like it was flowing down the passage and then back up again, making a low respiration sound. This was all getting a little too weird for my taste. Like something out of a sci-fi porn movie where there was a heavy breather in the background at all times.
As I followed him through the tight space his skin seemed to give off a glow that almost lit our way, making him seem like a true golden man. I also noticed that the ship was not rocking on the water as a boat would. Nevertheless, I hung back behind him not knowing where I was going I didn’t want to collide with his nude body if he stopped suddenly. I’m as proud of my body as the next guy but this bordered on uncomfortable to me. Ben took me to a cabin sized compartment room, a little bigger than a large master suite bathroom. The door to the room opened and closed behind us like the flexing of an iris. It was set up as some kind of alien laboratory with and exam table in the center. The room was also curved like being inside an Airstream camper. Everything in the room appeared to be one with it, even the exam table looked to be part of the floor.
“I need to know where the tracker parasite has lodged in your body,” Ben told me setting up at a control panel on a ledge at the side of the small room.
“I don’t say this to offend you but could you put some clothes on before we start?” I asked him.
He turned with a big grin on his face. “I am from a planet where my people are sun worshipers,” he began. It was something I could have figured out myself from his all over tan. “We generally don’t wear clothing except for ceremonial or protection purposes.” “I forget how uncomfortable you Earth people are about nudity.” He stepped over to the side of the room where he slipped on a short lab coat that was laying over a raised part of the floor that looked like a chair. It only came down to mid-thigh on him but at least it was something. “I’m going to need for you to lie on this platform so I can do a scan of your body to find the tracker.” I still felt no danger in what he was asking me to do so I did as he requested. My suit and shirt were still wet and the water was dripping on the floor as I stepped over to get on the table. “Wait, wait” Ben called out. “You are going to need to take off those wet clothes first.
“I have to admit, I saw this coming,” I told him. My danger sense could tell me if he presented a danger to me but not if he was up to anything lascivious.
“It is because the salt water will damage and interfere with the scanning process that is all,” Ben explained. “Here put this on if you wish,” he told me starting to take off his lab coat.
“Whow, no need for that,” I said. “I would much prefer that you keep that on.” He smiled his perfect smile again as he turned back to adjusting the controls. He seemed completely uninterested as I pulled off my wet shirt and wiggled out of my bathing suit, making sure to adjust myself before climbing onto the platform as he called it. “Okay, I’m ready,” I said not knowing what to expect next. The exam table was surprisingly warm for appearing to be made of metal. I half expected shackles to appear and restrain me. But there were none as Ben turned back to look at me.
“You have a very nice physic,” he said. “Nothing to be ashamed of.”
“Never said I was,” I replied still feeling vulnerable. He pressed a few more controls on the wall console and a viewing screen appeared on what I previously thought was a window. Then a blue light moved down over my nude body from head to toe. I looked over at the screen to see an identical photo of myself develop as the light moved down my body. It was odd looking at it, I had never seen a full body photo of myself nude before. Not to brag, but I did look good.
“All done you can get up now and put you clothes on if you wish,” Ben told me. “Let’s see what we have here.” Ben flipped another switch and my skin and hair on the screen vanished leaving my muscular exposed. I sat up on the table watching the show, not really caring about my wet clothes anymore. On either side of my full body portrait a readout in an alien language ran. “Not a decimal of body fat on you is there?” Ben said looking at my muscle structure on the screen. “Your muscle density is incredibly thick too for an Earth man.” “How much can you lift, about a ton?”
“Maybe a little more than that,” I answered, feeling cocky for the first time in my life. I wished I could read the print on the screen as it continued to appear.
“I can see why the parasite had a hard time with you, your immune system is phenomenal,” Ben told me. I’d guess you have never been sick a day in your life.”
“That would be a good guess,” I said. “What else can you tell from the scan?” I asked very curious to see what was going on with my body.
“The parasites usually attach to the nervous system of a host to feed off of nerve responses,” Ben told me as he pushed another control on the console to strip away my muscle making my organs and nervous system visible. “It would seem with you the parasite attached to your Endocrine system.” “Wow, that must have played havoc with your hormone levels.”
“You don’t know the half of it,” I confessed remembering how horney I was with that thing inside me. “What is that on my neck?” I asked about a strange dark orange mass on my throat.
“That is the tracker, it is attached to your thyroid,” Ben explained. “It is surviving on the smallest amount of hormones from your body, so that you don’t even know it is there.” Ben adjusted a few more knobs making only the organs of my endocrine system remain on my skeleton. “From what I know of human anatomy all of the organs in this system are slightly larger on you.” “Is that natural?”
“I really don’t know,” I replied looking at my glands on the screen. I knew I was different but I had no idea how.
“Haven’t you ever had a scan like this before?” Ben asks.
“I don’t even know if a scan like this exists on Earth,” I told him. “What does it say on the sides of the scan?” I asked, curious to learn more about my body.
“It would appear that the extra size of your gland organs allows them to produce an unidentifiable chemical that is stored in your prostate,” Ben explained pointing at the screen. “The scan shows that it is the same unidentifiable chemical that makes your immune system and metabolism so amazing.”
I knew exactly what he was talking about, it was the chemical that produced the immortality gift I had been warned about since I was fourteen. “Let’s get back to this tracker parasite,” I said, changing the subject.
“Of course, with my people the parasites could not take hold because of the solar radiation naturally stored in our bodies,” Ben told me. “I’ve put this ship’s science technology to work creating a serum that will force the tracker to release from your thyroid.”
“Then what will happen to it, will I vomit it out?” I asked.
“Not right away, it will take awhile for it to die,” Ben told me. “We can’t risk the Queen knowing that one of her trackers had been killed.” “The removal of the tracker parasite must be handled gently.” Then there was a bell ring from the equipment. “Ah, it’s ready.” Ben reached over to a panel in the console that opened. Inside was a cup size flask full of yellow liquid that looked like apple juice. He picked it up and handed it to me. “Drink this down all at once, you can’t waste a drop.”
I took a sniff of the liquid, it didn’t smell like apple juice. But I still wasn’t getting a danger read on any of this, so I put it to my lips and gulped it down. “Awwhha, that was awful, it tasted like piss and old sweaty socks!” I exclaimed almost wanting to throw it back up.
“But it will do the trick,” Ben smiled. I got up off of the table momentarily holding my belly.
“How will it do the trick?” I asked.
“The parasite entered your body through the respiratory system and then seeped out into your tissues,” Ben explained. “This serum will force it back into your digestive system where it will be passed.”
“Passed?” I questioned, pretty sure I knew what he meant.
“You will be fine in a few hours or so, until then, perhaps I can help you with your wet clothes,” he said. His hands glowed brighter in the dark than the rest of his body did and a shimmer of heat came from them toward my swimsuit and shirt. For about a second steam rose from my clothes on the floor and then they began to shrivel.
“Stop, stop what are you doing?” I shouted as my clothes burst into flames.
“I thought I could dry them for you,” Ben said apologetically. “The fabric must not be organic to burn so quickly like that.”
“Shit! now what am I going to wear?” I exclaimed standing there in the lab buck naked.
“I’m sure I can find you something to wear,” Ben told me a true look of sadness and sorrow in his golden eyes. “Come on follow me,” he said walking toward the passage back into the corridor.
Not only was it weird walking around this strange ship naked, but I still felt like I was going to be sick. Something I was not used to feeling and did not like. “What is going on inside me, it doesn’t feel too gentle,” I said as he led me to another compartment. This room was smaller than the laboratory. It had two attached bunks on the wall that made it looked more like a barracks than the last room.
“To hide what we are doing to the tracker parasite from the Queen, we must first change it,” Ben told me as he looked through a tilt out drawer he opened from the wall on the opposite side of this compartment from the beds. “Here this should work!” he said pulling a small piece of dark blue fabric from the drawer and handing it to me.
Taking my hand from my gut, I took the fabric and held it up. It was a very small one piece jumpsuit that looked like it was made for a teddy bear. “You have got to be kidding me with this!” I said.
“It stretches,” Ben replied. The cramps in my gut were settling down as I looked closer at the jumpsuit. “Pull it open at the neck,” he told me. He was right it was very stretchable as I opened the collar to get one of my feet in it. I forced my foot into the fabric and it clung tightly to my leg as my foot popped into an attached shoe. The fabric felt like it was made of spandex only softer and with no seams. I slid my other foot in and soon I had both calves stretching out the fabric. The suit stretched and expanded as I pulled it up my legs to the waist. “You might want to adjust that before you put on the sleeves,” Ben commented pointing at me below the waist. He was right the alien fabric contoured to whatever was under it, making me look like I had an erection pointing up my belly. I reached inside the suit to tuck even though everything was still clearly visible only camouflaged slightly by the dark fabric. I slid my arms in and was finished dressing. I turned looking in the slightly reflective metal wall of the room. I felt self conscious in this outfit but like Ben said earlier I had nothing to be ashamed of. “Here take this,” he said tossing me another scrap of the same fabric.
“What is this for?” I asked.
“It’s a hood, I know how you Zeni-humans are about showing your faces,” Ben told me. “What we are doing next might become a public.” I pulled on the hood, which was even tighter than the suit.
I watched as Ben took off the lab coat and dressed in a dark brown suit like the one he had given me. It was slightly different, on the chest was a weird looking emblem. It looked like a golden planet mounted atop an upside-down octopus with six tentacles draped down over its head. “What does that mean?” I asked pointing to his chest.
“It is the crest of my royal family,” Ben replied. “It symbolizes how the six great nations of my world no matter how far they reach away from each other still are united under one king.” His answer intrigued me but I held back anymore questions as he put a brown belt around his waist that had several pouches on it. It appeared to be some kind of utility belt that made me think of Batman.
With the hood pulled over my head, I looked at myself in the reflection on the wall again. I spotted the two tabs on either side of my head, that looked like cat ears. I reached up to feel around to find the tabs. “What are these for?” I asked pitching the tabs.
“To pull it off, of course, there is no other way to get a hold of the fabric,” he told me.
I gave it a try and he was right the fabric was so tight you couldn’t grip it without the tabs. Well my last adventure in disguise was as Turtleman why not have one as Catman. “It is a strange fabric, I feel like I’m still wearing nothing, even though I can see the suit.” Then it struck me what he had just said. “How many Zeni-humans do you know?” I curiously questioned.
“Let’s see, you would make three, or is it four?” he answered. “The fabric is a synthetic created my people.” “It is very durable and you can tan through it.” “It should resist most Spartan attacks.”
“Who are the Spartans?” I asked.
“My enemies I stole this ship from,” Ben said nonchalantly as he exited the cabin.
Following after him back into the narrow ship passageway I asked, “So this isn’t your ship?”
“No, my ship was destroyed when I crashed on Earth.” “This ship belonged to the Spartans that were chasing me,” Ben answered. “I stole it from them with the help of a Zeni-human girl in South America some years ago.”
I began to put the pieces together in my head, this guy may not be a danger to me but that doesn’t mean that he isn’t a bad guy. “What did you do to those Spartans to take this ship?” I questioned fearing the worst.
“I was wondering how long it would take you to ask that question,” Ben said smiling back over his shoulder at me. As we walked he began the tale of the Spartana.
Spartana is a planet different than most in the universe. It exists on an orbit around the star Vega that takes a hundred years to complete. For fifty of those years it exists in this dimension and for the second fifty it shifts into another dimension called Gerblt. Gerblt is a barren and ravaged dimension, where nothing else lives. When Spartana last emerged into this dimension its people, the Spartans were prepared to wage a war. They sought to conquer a new world to colonize as their new home so they would not have to return to Gerblt. All of the planets in their star system of Vega were too small or uninhabitable for them. So they moved on to the planets in the Sirius star system. That is the system where Srann orbits. The planets of the Sirius system resisted and a great war began.
The Elders of planet Argo discovered that the Spartans had only one weakness. Their bi-dimensional makeup made it possible for them to be forced back into the dimension of Gerblt. But the process of doing so was a long and tedious task, we needed to find another way. The planets of the Sirius system united to begin to search the universe for a solution. It was then that the scientists of Srann found Earth. For some unknown reason the dimensional barrier on Earth is thinner. King Rondo sent the only man he trusted, his son Prince Benue to investigate.
Prince Benue was pursued by two Spartan cruisers. He managed to destroy one before being forced to crash land on Earth destroying his own ship. But before Prince Benue lost all power in the ship he managed to scan Earth to find a strong source of dimensional flux. To his surprise that flux focused on a teenage girl in South America. His last action at the controls of his ship was to aim an escape pod to crash off the coast of Peru. Finding the girl was easier than he expected and the answer to how to stop the Spartans even easier. The girl’s body produced a bio-energy that when used on the Spartans instantly shifted them back to the dimension of Gerblt. It took some training on his part to teach the girl to use her power but once he did, she was an amazing asset.
After parting ways with the girl Ben used the stolen ship’s technology to replicate the her bio-energy into a weapon he could use without her assistance. He held up a device that looked like a garage door remote that he slipped into a pouch on his belt. The weapon would be the turning point in the war against the Spartans if he could get it home. Ben never mentioned the girl’s name and I really didn’t have any reason to ask it, so I had no way of guessing who she really was.
“So why are you still on Earth?” I quizzed.
“This ship was damaged as well, it is no longer capable of space travel,” Ben told me. It was almost like I could feel his sadness at being stranded on Earth.
“So what have you been doing while you have been stranded on Earth?” I asked.
“Mostly trying to find a way home,” Ben said. “I haven’t had much luck but I hope that if we can find whoever is behind the parasite infestation, they either have a ship or the know how to fix this one.” I felt bad for this alien, I knew what it was like to feel like an outsider who just wanted to go home from my years in Jr. High.
“What are we doing next?” I asked not sure I wanted to know the answer.
“We find the Queen’s nest,” he told me.
“How do we do that?” I quizzed as we came to the room at the far front of the ship. It was unquestionably the cockpit. My question to why the ship wasn’t rocking on the water was answered when I looked out the front of the ship. All the time we were on the ship it appeared we must have been in flight. Because we were no longer on the surface of the water off the coast of Atlantic City. We were over land, headed toward what looked like New York City.
“We need to get some more help first,” Ben said. “Taking down a five year old parasite colony is going to be a lot of work.” I remained silent watching out the window as the ship flew over New York City and beyond.
“How are you controlling this ship anyway?” I questioned after awhile when I realized Ben didn’t seem to have to work any of the controls in the cockpit.
“Telepathically,” he answered, pointing to the metal band he had placed on his head when we boarded the ship. “Most of it is like what you would call an auto pilot, but I tell it where I want to go by telepathy through this mental relay.”
We continued to travel for about a couple of hours to what I guessed was the upper tip of Greenland. I had never been to Greenland but in July it was rather cold, now that the sun had already begun to set. The ship continued its landing on an open field, apparently by the same autopilot that had been flying it all along. Surprisingly when we emerged for the ship the jumpsuit Ben had given me was rather warm in the cool near arctic air.
The moon was already visible in the sky even though the sun had not completely set. Ben pointed to the sky where the Aurora borealis was in full view. It was magnificent to watch almost hypnotic. The shifting of the colors flowing through the atmosphere was an amazing sight to behold. Gazing over at Ben, I hadn’t noticed at first but he was holding a small device in his hand as he pointed. I could hear a high pitched hum coming from the device, that I could barely hear, almost like a dog whistle. “What are you doing?” I asked.
“Calling a friend,” Ben replied. I watched as the green band of the Aurora changed funneling down to the device in Ben’s hand. It then stretched out into the atmosphere behind the natural phenomena in the sky pulling all of the green color from the Aurora. The beam of green light did the impossible reaching out into space touching the moon. I couldn’t imagine how wide the other end of the beam must have been for me to still see it hit the moon’s surface. I didn’t ask anymore questions although I had many.
After a few minutes the green beam began to retract back from the moon. As it entered back into the Earth’s atmosphere I could see that there was something, or rather someone tethered to the end of it. When the figure reached the band of the Aurora, Ben turned off the device and lowered his arm allowing the green band to reform in the sky. The green figure float gently down to the ground to join us.
He was humanoid in appearance. I used the pronoun he because of the curled goatee on his chin, but I really had no idea if he even had a sex. His entire body was a smooth pale green hue. There was no sign that he was wearing any clothing at all, but there was a lack of nudity, if you know what I mean. From his hands to elbows and feet to knees it was a darker shade of green that looked like gloves and boots. His eyes were deep set with that same dark shade around them. The hair on his face and head was more of a yellow-green. He did not speak as Ben introduced us.
“Steve Roberts this is Green Fantom,” Ben said and I reached out my hand to the green figure that simply nodded at me. “He is not much on talking or formalities,” Ben told me lowering my hand.
“Well, nice to meet you,” I said as the Green Fantom gave me another nod. “Do you mind if I ask what you are exactly?”
“Well, lets just say he is a spectral phantom,” Ben said vaguely. “His power will come in handy against the parasite queen.” I was feeling naive at this point about everything that was happening. I don’t know what made me so surprised at any of it. It was foolish of me to think that Janet was the only alien on Earth with all I had seen in the past year.
The three of us returned to the ship and I asked, “So is it Green here that finds the Queen for us?”
Ben smiled at me, “No, that job will be up to you.”
“How exactly am I going to do that?” I asked confused by Ben’s statement.
“The serum I gave you also works to reverse the tracking aspect of the parasite fragment that still remains inside of you.” I had almost forgotten about the serum, as my gut was feeling better now. “Combined with that and Green Fantom’s power we can follow that trail right to the nest.” “Take a seat here,” Ben told me guiding me back into a chair that jutted up from the floor.
The green man step up in front of me and held his hands a few inches from either side of my head. I felt a sharp pain behind my eyes that moved down my spine in an instant. I must have flinched slightly because Ben said, “Be patient this shouldn’t take long.” The burning pain lodged in my throat, I would guess at my thyroid. Then it moved again back up to the front of my face. A beam of green energy then shined painlessly from my forehead and all of the pain was gone. The beam launched out through the front windshield of the ship out over the horizon. I turned my head from side to side but the beam remained true to its course. “Now all I have to do is readjust the ship to follow the beam and it will take us right to the nest,” Ben confirmed.
By the time we got to our destination it was night. As the ship landed Green Fantom waved his hand and the beam for my head vanished. From what I could tell we were somewhere in the forest of northern Virginia. I could hear the sound of cars on a highway at a distance that must have been out of range of the others to hear. I was concerned that we were so close to Washington hunting aliens, but Ben assured me that whoever was in charge of the parasite nest had no desire to take over the country or the planet. “These parasites just don’t work that way,” he said as we disembarked.
Green Fantom flew about six feet off the ground continuing to follow the residue from his magic or whatever it was he had used me to do. I remember thinking how wonderful it would be to be able to fly like him. Completely free and unhindered by gravity. Then mind returned to that fall I took in Themyscira and all desire to fly was gone from my fantasies.
In the darkness of the forest, the glow that Ben put off grew brighter lighting our way through the trees. The trail Green Fantom led us along ended at an old abandoned mine of some kind. No one had been out here for at least several decades, it was boarded up and marked with dangerous warning signs. Ben step forward reaching out the palm of his hand. From his palm a blast of pure solar energy leaped, much stronger than the one he used to burn up my clothes. The bolt hit the boards over the mine entrance causing a blast that sent both Ben and I back into the forest.
“What the hell was that?” I asked laying on my back in the darkness. “Are you guys okay?” I called out to my companions.
“Just a bruised ego here,” I heard Ben call back from somewhere to my left in the woods. Green Fantom’s silence could mean anything I thought as I got up and brushed off the dirt on my backside. I looked over to see Ben doing the same and we walked back the hundred feet or so that we had been thrown. Green Fantom still stood at the mouth of the mine as if he was completely unaffected by the events of the physical world around us.
He nodded at our return as he looked back to the sealed mine. He reached out his arms and giant green hands appeared floating in the air in front of him. The hands glided forward to the boards on the mine entrance. The disembodied appendages grappled at the board passing right through the old wood like ghostly apparitions. From the look on his face I could tell Green Fantom was frustrated by this event that he did not anticipate. As he turned back toward the forest the giant hands floated out in front of him taking hold of a large tree. I watched in amazement to see the hands did have solidity as the tree was torn from the ground. Then he turned back his large hands carrying the tree that he intended to use as a battering ram.
“Hold it, stop!” I shouted stepping into the path of the tree. “You’ll cave the whole mine in!” I told him. “We have no idea how old or weak the shaft is after the blast that Ben caused. Green Fantom relented and turned to lower the tree back to its original place in the forest. One hand held the tree ups as the other filled the dirt back in around its base. “Sometimes the simplest way is the best way,” I said stepping up to the boards that barred entrance to the old mine. I couldn’t understand why they were having such a problem with this. Using my own hands and strength I easily pried open the boards and tossed them aside. One after another I took down the boards and tossed them to the ground. When the boards were all down and the entrance was cleared I spotted small blinking lights inside the mine. There was a panel on the wall that looked similar to the ones on Ben’s ship. “I see what the problem might be now,” I told them as my companions stepped forward.
*Destroy it!* I thought I heard Ben say. Picking up one of the boards from the ground I jammed it into the panel causing it to erupt with sparks and a squeal. “That would be why neither Green Fantom or my powers could open the mine,” Ben said his voice sounding different this time.
I looked at the board in my hands and I really didn’t understand why I had done that. It was the strangest thing like I was a child doing what I was told. I stood there staring at my hands on the board not sure what was going on. “Then that was stupid to do,” I said throwing the board to the ground, “Now they know we are here.”
“Our presence was known the moment I blasted the entrance,” Ben told me. “Whoever built these defenses intended to keep out the enemy, us.” “But not you,” he told me. “You are our wild card.” “That means it is you who must lead the way.”
“So now I am the leader of your mission?” I said looking at him in confusion.
“Any traps set ahead of us would be for Fantom or me so you are the unknown element to the Spartans,” Ben explained not making me feel any better about the situation. I turned to walk down into the dark mine shaft with them following me. I wished I had a weapon other that a catsuit and hood. I was never more aware of how dependent I have become on my gauntlets than that moment as I walked into the darkness lit only by the glow of this alien stranger behind me. “I don’t expect there to be any Spartans on guard here but you never know,” Ben said as I turned back to look at him. It was odd that his glow penetrated his suit. It was like he was a walking sun, a Sun Man. I wondered if that was why he picked the lighter of the two suits.
“Ooowwwhhhh, what is that smell?” I gasp moving my hand to my nose.
“Not a good one, I would say,” Ben commented. “It is the smell of a dying parasite Queen.”
“A dying or dead?” I asked pitching my nose tightly. Before Ben could answer I felt that familiar pain at the base of my skull as we met the first thing to be guarding the Queen. There was a figure moving in the shadow ahead of us. I must have spotted it before the others because the moment I did they were gone.
“Who is it?” the voice from the shadows asked. I felt confused almost paralyzed for a minute as the voice called out again. “Is that you?”
“Mom?” I questioned not having any idea why I would assume such a thing. Then the figure stepped out into the light that seemed to grow brighter, to fill the mine shaft. It was my mother, dressed in her full Amazon armor. I was fifteen the first time I saw her that armor and it was the most impressive thing I have seen in my life. This time was no different. “Mom what are you doing here?”
“I’ve come to warn you that this mine is much too dangerous, you need to turn back,” my amazon warrior mother told me.
“I thought we were past this,” I replied. “Your over protectiveness has worn thin long ago, Mother.”
“That isn’t it at all, I just wanted you to know how dangerous this place is before you go any farther,” she told me. It was a strange thing for my mother to say to me, because there is one thing I hadn’t felt since this adventure began and that was danger. That was until she appeared. Then something else caught my attention. The sword that she wore on her back over her left shoulder. It would make the perfect weapon for me on this trip.
“Mom, I’ll be fine but I could use your sword,” I said to her knowing that my mother would gladly give me her sword if it was going to protect me from immediate danger. She seemed surprised as I watched her reach back and draw the fifteen hundred year old blade that was just as I remembered it.
“Perhaps you should prove you deserve it by taking it from me,” she said taking a defensive stance. Then my surroundings changed again, I was back on Magic Island in the arena where I trained as a kid. I was no longer a man asking his mother for help, but a sixteen year old boy being challenged. I don’t know if it was some kind of weird flashback I was experiencing or if I was just losing my mind as I stepped forward remembering how this challenge ended last time.
For a split second I heard Ben’s voice in my head, “It’s not real.” Is all he said and it confused me more than I was already. I looked up as my mother was charging me her sword out and ready to impale me. In an instant I knew this was not my mother. I leaped up doing a mid-air flip and twist to land behind her on the ground. When my feet touched the ground I was my adult self again and the arena was gone. We were still in the mine shaft but it was still my angry mother I was fighting but I knew it was all a lie. Knowing the truth I could see this woman had no skills with a sword and it would be easy to disarm her. She charged at me again the sharp blade aimed for my chest. Her speed was less than impressive now to me as I stepped aside, bringing my elbow down on her back as she passed. It wasn’t a hard hit but it was enough to disorient her. As she turned trying to appear unhindered, even with the sword dangling to the ground. I almost felt sorry for her, I wondered if she even knew who she was pretending to be.
It was my turn to make a move on her. It was clear to me that she had no idea how fast I could move when I wanted. I was in her face in an instant taking hold of the hilt of the sword and giving her a slight head butt. Her hand released the sword as she crumbled to the dirt floor of the mine. “Sorry, Mom,” I smirked as she fell unconscious.
“Good work Steve, for a minute there I thought you couldn’t see through her spell,” Ben said as he and Green Fantom reappeared next to me. “From the moment she spoke you zoned out.” “I would guess it was some kind of hypnotism.” “We were immune to it, but you were almost an eager participant.” “It took everything I had to make that small break in her trick on you.”
“I would have figured it out soon enough,” I said looking at the shaft in my hand. It no longer looked like my Mother’s sword, but it was a familiar weapon nonetheless. “She was not the warrior my mother is.” I looked back to the figure on the floor and it no longer looked anything like my mother. She was female or used to be anyway. She was severely deformed on her left side, it looked almost like some kind of burn.
“A product of a parasite,” Ben said standing next to looking over the sad form in the dirt. “But what is her weapon made of?” he asked.
“It is a polymer created by another victim of the parasites I met before, Jayson Roberts,” I told them holding up the jagged orange spear. “It is the hardest piece I’ve ever seen,” I told the others as I banged it against the stone wall of the mine. “It will serve me well if Jayson is here too.”
“That would make sense,” Ben said, “A dying Queen would draw in the successful parasite creations to feed on them.” “The thing that doesn’t make sense is why would a Spartan who created a Bernr Queen that had successes than abandon her.”
“There is only one place to find that answer,” a deep whispery voice said. I looked to see who spoke and I was surprised to see it was Green Fantom who was pointing down the mine shaft.
“I was wondering when you were going to speak,” Ben grinned as he motioned for me to lead the way down the shaft.
“What about her?” I asked of the disfigured woman lying unconscious on the ground.
“There isn’t much we can do for her now,” Ben told me. “The Bernr Queen has been feeding on her, she will die soon, within hours.”
I thought about how sad it was that this innocent woman had been used by these aliens like the others back in Philly. I lead the way into the dark tunnel regretting that I had to leave the woman behind. “Ben, you said the Queen was created, what did you mean by that?” I asked. “Wasn’t she brought here?”
“No,” Ben replied, “The Bernr parasites were created in a Spartan lab, but like the other Zeni-humans made by them a human, a native host must first be used to create a queen.” “A queen host is not easy to find, the candidate must be healthy and strong enough to endure the transformation.”
“So the Queen was also originally a human too?” I asked to confirm what he had said.
“Yes,” Ben replied. “Most likely a Zeni-human herself.”
“Is there anyway to reverse the process and save the host?” I quizzed hoping to save a life in all this mess. “Like we did back in Philadelphia with the parasites victims?”
“Unfortunately, no,” Ben confirmed my disappointment. “Only before the full transformation into the Queen can a host be saved.” “And if she has been feeding on her creations to survive it is far too late to save her.” Looking around the mine shaft as we walked Ben suggested, “I have to wonder if the Spartan how created the Queen is alive or not.” “This place being so remote, something could have happened to the keeper on a return to feed the Queen.”
“I hate to ask but what does a Bernr Queen eat?” Before Ben could answer my question we meant the second line of defense. I turned to see a large man, clearly over seven feet tall, dressed in work overalls, on the breast pocket a patch read “Mike”. His hair was dark and cropped shorter than the goatee he worn on his chin. He too had burns on his face in a pattern that looked similar to a large misshapen hand.
This new threat had Ben by the neck in a headlock from behind. Ben’s hands were glowing brighter on “Mike’s” arm, appearing to have little effect on the hulking man. I took one step to help but it was then that the low pain in my gut instantly flared doubling me over in agony. “Shit!” I cried out unable to take another step, crumbling to my knees. I struggle to look up and I saw Green Fantom go into action to help save Ben. For a little guy who didn’t say much he was very powerful it turned out.
I felt like my stomach was about to explode from my gut. I could feel the movement of a large mass around inside me from both within and without through my hands on my belly. Through the thin material of my suit I could see it moving around my stomach. My eyes began to water, all I wanted was whatever was inside me to come out.
“Hold it in!” Ben shouted drawing my attention back to their fight. Ben was free of “Mike” and he looked over to me as a bolt of solar energy leaped from his hand. There was green plasma everywhere it was shaped like missiles that launched from mid-air into the attacking brute. *Calm down, you can do this,* Ben’s voice said in my head. I realized now that he was using his telepathy to some how control my actions. *You need to relax so I can help you bury the pain for a little longer.*
What he was telling me was ridiculous, this was the worst pain I had felt in my life. I felt as if a softball covered in spikes was being dragged around inside my guts. How could I bury such pain? It was worse than when I fell out of the sky on Themyscira, dislocating my shoulder and breaking both my ankles. I couldn’t even focus to call out how stupid his request seemed.
“It’s not working I can’t get him to focus,” Ben called to Green Fantom I presumed he was talking about me. “Our combined powers maybe holding this brute back but I think mine are making him stronger!” “We need him, you have to do it now!” Ben commanded, it would seem that his telepathy didn’t work on Green Fantom like it did on me, forcing him to speak his commands out loud. I looked up to the two aliens and the Green Fantom stopped fighting to turn his attention on me.
The Fantom’s green eyes glowed brighter nearly blinding me as he dissolved back into pure light. His green light drained into my eyes entering my body. I felt his presence inside of me but it was not an intrusion as the parasite had been. He felt more like a loving embrace to me. The movement in my gut began to slow to a stop and the pain faded quickly. Green Fantom was inside of me I could feel it but it was me who was still in full control of myself. I looked to Ben still trying to hold off the brute who looked like he had grown in size.
“Clear!” I shouted as I leap into the air. Ben’s solar blast stopped as I flipped overhead to bring the heels of my feet down hard on “Mike’s” head. The brute flew back against the mine wall as I flipped back to land on my feet squatting not far away. The brute was dizzied by the attack as he staggered forward from the wall. I didn’t give him a minute to recoup. I leaped forward again hitting him with a right cross followed swiftly with a left to the breadbox. I had given him nearly everything I had and he was still standing. Then a knee to the ribcage and clasp fist to the back of his neck. I used my foot to roll him over onto his back, he was out but for how long, there was no way to tell. The burns on his face almost look as if they had healed since I first saw him attacking Ben. “He might not be out for long,” I said looking to Ben who was worse for wear. The golden skin of his throat was more brown than before. “Are you okay?” I asked, almost forgetting about what I had just been through.
“I’ll be fine, I just need to get out into the sun,” Ben replied rubbing his throat. “My guess is the sun would do him more good than we would like.”
“What is the Queen doing to them, these burns,” I asked gesturing to “Mike’s” face.
“She is trying to draw back the mutations they got from the parasites to strengthen herself,” Ben explained. “Looks like she has had less time to work on him.” “He might survive this if she doesn’t get a hold of him again.”
“So she is feeding off of the mutants that her parasites created?” I quizzed.
“Sadly yes, it will not sustain her for long,” Ben explained.
“What about Green Fantom, what has he done to me?” I asked fearing the answer.
“By entering you body he has put it into status,” Ben explained. “So that you will not pass the parasite tracker until the time is right.”
“What does that mean, the time is right?” I said to him. Ben did not answer me as he took the lead down deeper into the mine. I guess he realized me leading the way didn’t matter anymore, it made me feel strangely at ease. I wondered if it was something Green was doing inside my body or if I was just fully trusting these aliens now. In my head I knew I really had no reason to trust them, after all, one of them was now violating me the same way the parasite did. By now my danger sense had almost become a background noise to me. There was nothing but danger all around me. If Green could manipulate me from the inside he would have stifled that reaction.
“Green Fantom has only put your digestive process on hold, you are too strong for him to do much else,” Ben told me without me asking. It was clear to me that he was still in my head and I didn’t like it. “If it makes you feel any better I can’t read you memories only your surface thoughts.” It didn’t make me feel any better for him to say that to me. I would be glad to be done with all of this alien telepathy and possession. The idea of having someone in my day to day life who could read my mind was very disconcerting back then.
As we walked we could see a light up ahead around a bend in the tunnel. At first I was relieved that this adventure would soon come to an end then I saw what waited for us. We stood at the end of a large open cavern that was clearly not natural or dug by any human machinery. The entire cavern was like a living membrane of flesh and mucus. From the walls and ceiling sacks of orange goop hung, most of them appeared motionless except for one or two that squirmed.
The smell of the stench from when we first entered the mine shaft had faded into the background by now, but at the mouth of this cavern it was even stronger here. It was all I could do to keep from vomiting. Ben on the other hand took the opportunity to show me what he had for lunch. I tried to hold my breath for as long as I could, which took away my ability to speak as Ben heaved on the tunnel floor. Ben did not need to speak out loud as I heard his telepathic voice say, *It’s time, let him go.* Green Fantom must have heard Ben as well, because my vision suddenly turned a green tint as the spectral spirit emerged back out of my eyes. As Green took form again on the ground in front of me the sharp pain returned even worse than before.
I gasped at the sudden pain and it was enough for the stench to overcome me. Dropping the makeshift sword I pulled off the mask covering my face as I began to cough and gag. Whatever was in my belly was ready to come up. I hunched over in both pain and necessary as I choked on what was scraping its way up my throat. I motioned to the others for help as I feared the mass was caught in my throat but they did not respond. Green cast some kind of breather onto Ben’s face ending his bout with sickness but did not offer me the same help. I bent forward with my hands on my knees as I gagged and my gut churned. Every muscle in my torso convulsed trying to expel the foreign body that slowly shifting in my throat. Then with a massive heave what was left of the parasite tracker erupted from my mouth onto the ground in front of me. I opened my teary eyes to look down at the bloody mess that landed near the orange polymer sword. My vomited blood seemed to be repealed by it as it lay in a puddle of vomit. It was a brownish-yellow and about the size of a golf ball. I couldn’t believe it came out of me, this vomiting alien life forms was getting tiresome. Although vomiting was a new experience for me. it was something I never wanted to do again. I wiped my mouth on the sleeve of my suit that also repealed the mess, leaving me to just smear it more on my face.
Green Fantom at last stepped forward to help me. He waved his hand to spray my face with a green mist that washed away the mess. Then the mist reformed into a breather like Ben wore. “Thanks,” I said still recovering from my ordeal. Green nodded as Ben walked over to look at what I had done.
“We are going to need that, Green,” he said and Green used his power to create a glowing green capsule around the brownish-yellow golf ball. Ben bent down to pick up the green capsule and place in another one of the pouches on his belt. It was too large and the pouch wouldn’t close again. Then he turned to back the open cavern. He pointed down to the center of the open space. “That is her, can you see it.”
After wiping my eyes again, I pulled the mask back on over the breather to step up behind Ben. At the center of the cavern was a raised pillar that had what appeared to be a the upper half of a human torso sticking up from it. It was about fifty feet down to the floor of the cavern, that was a jump I could easily make without injury. I looked to the capsule in Ben’s belt. “What do you need that for?” I asked.
“It is the only thing that can kill the Queen quickly,” Ben answered. I was not at all happy with his answer. There had been enough death around this whole parasite invasion.
“Is that really necessary?” I asked. “Didn’t you say this Queen started out as a human host?” “Can’t we just try to cure her first?” Ben gave me a look I didn’t quite like. “A few months ago I met another alien who used a ray gun to drive the parasites out of a host’s body, can’t we do the same for this Queen?”
“I’m sorry but there is no way to reverse the damage done by the Queen parasite, it is permanent,” Ben explained. “It is not just a parasite inside of them like with you, it has become part of her body.” “Killing the Queen is the only solution.” “Whoever that woman was, she is now lost.” “Even if she could somehow be freed she would have to live the rest of her life with the memories of what she has done.” My danger sense flared for a moment as I looked angrily in Ben’s eyes, as if to say he was up to something. *I’m more interested in this other alien you speak of,* By now I had become familiar with his mind invasion tactics, I knew what he was up to the moment I heard his voice in my head. I took action instantly, doing a backflip off of the ledge down toward the floor of the cavern.
Spinning in mid-air I landed facing away from the wall. At this distance Ben would not be reading my mind anymore. The strange floor of the cavern was almost like thick foam rubber. I began to run, but it felt more like a prance, toward the Queen parasite. I looked up over me to discover that not only could Green fly but so could Ben, he glide along behind Green. No matter I was still going to get to the Queen first.
“Look out!” Ben shouted from overhead. I glanced back up to see that many of the sacs hanging from the ceiling had begun to burst open. From the slimy alien bags numerous small creatures began to fall down at me. I stopped running to shield my head and began to swing the orange sword. As they fell past me to the ground I could see what they were and it was not pretty. I sliced as many as I could in two with the sword but the creatures that hit the floor alive organized like a great pack of alien rats that swarmed around me. They drew together in number forming a circle as if to trap me, hold me prisoner. Their beady green eyes in the dim light of the cavern were eerie to say the least. The alien rats encircled me for about ten feet on all sides. I fought a shark creature when I was fifteen in a cave not so different than this one, I was not going to be deterred by some rats. I stepped forward skewering several of the little beasties on the blade. The others quickly closed ranks as I swiped the sword flinging the alien rat corpses against the wall.
Several feet away behind me, I heard a loud thump and some swear words I had not heard before. I turned to see it was Ben trying to stand up from the cavern floor. I looked up to see that the rats Green and Ben were fighting were winged like bats. Their attack brought Ben down to the ground with me. “Are you okay?” I shouted.
“Fine, fine,” he called back, but I could see that his head was bleeding matting his blonde hair on one side. I was concerned but that didn’t mean that I had forgotten to keep my distance from him. I was done playing around now. I turned back to spot the Queen on her pillar and I took a massive leap toward her. My feet touched the floor again on the other side of the ring of rats. Instantly the rats turned and swarmed after me, trailing behind as I leaped again. This time the flying rats swarmed toward me. I swung the sword, slicing at their wings sending a few to the floor. There were just so many of them all around me it was hard to concentrate on anything else. For a moment it almost felt like I was airborne, flying under my own power, then gravity told me different as I fell back to the ground.
The alien rats and bats must have had some way of communicating because when I touched down the ones on the floor were waiting. Their sharp teeth and claws chewed and slashed at my legs. The fabric of the suit was not damaged by the attacks but that didn’t mean I couldn’t feel the bites and scratches. I reacted in anger as I began skewering and stomping the pests. There were too many to even count as the last of the sacks on the ceiling ruptured freeing more of them.
Then suddenly like a wave crashing on the beach a sheet of golden energy washed over the floor around my ankles. I felt the surge of heat that came with the sparkling light energy, but it was little more than a match flame to my skin under the alien suit. The alien rats were a different story, Ben’s solar energy barbecued the pests instantly. A couple of the slimy little monsters had managed to crawl up my legs to my waist and chest. I pulled them off to toss them into the scorching wave. The threat gone, I didn’t hesitate to take the next leap up onto the edge of the pillar where the Queen sprouted.
I had made it at last to try and help this poor victim of these alien parasites. When I moved around to the face of the woman, I was taken aback. From the back she looked completely human. The front was a very different story. I guess I believed she was sitting on some kind of throne. That was not the case, from mid-hip down she was buried in the slimy rock of the pillar. Even if she still had legs under there it would be a job to get her out. On closer inspection it looked as though she had become one with the cavern floor.
When she raised he bowed head I could see that under her matted red hair all resemblance to human features on her face were gone. Honestly, she looked as if her face has been torn away by someone to be used as some kind of grotesque mask. From her eye sockets and nose a thick yellow crust had hardened, looking almost like sandstone rocks. Her jaw hung slack with her teeth replaced by something that looked like tusks made of the same yellow crusty material. The tusk must have been over three inches long and stabbed into what was left of her cheek flesh. There would be no way anyone could ever identify her except for her long red hair, perhaps that was the idea.
I don’t even know if she could see me standing over her through those crusty eyes, but she lifted her arm that was little more than skin and bone. Above us half of the airborne creatures dove down away from Green. I looked to see their new target. It was Ben, he was slumped over on the floor at the base of another pillar. His usual glow was gone, the release of solar energy must have drained him, leaving him vulnerable. In his hand he held the green capsule that contained the parasite tracer I crapped out. The reduced number of attackers gave Green the chance to release a wide blast to take down most of them, in the hope of helping Ben. It was clear that the Queen was controlling these creatures leaving me little choice other than putting her out of her misery. I gripped the orange sword raising it over my head, closing my eyes I plunged it down into the Queen’s chest in one thrust.
The creature that was once human let out a blood curdling squeal, like nothing I had ever heard before in my life. When I opened my eyes the sharp orange polymer impaled the Queen out her back and into the ground, but nothing had changed, she still lived. I looked over to see Green had made it to Ben’s side to shield him from attack by creating a bubble over them. I looked down at the creature in front of me thinking I should cut off its head like something out of an old vampire movie, but before I could reclaim the sword she motioned with her other hand and some of the bats targeted me. I tried to punch and swat them away as I looked to Green flying back up. His right arm had transformed into something that resembled a cannon. He slid the green capsule into the barrel and shouted one word at me, “JUMP!”
He didn’t have to tell me twice. I did a backflip off to the pillar, I heard the shot before I hit the floor. I didn’t look back as I ran for Ben. He was still out of it when I grabbed him and made the leap back to the ledge where we came in. The moment my feet touched down I felt the blast on my back. With Ben over my shoulder I just kept running feeling the heat and dust closing in behind me. As I passed through the cavern I noticed that “Mike” was gone. Without the Queen’s influence I guessed he left while we were busy. I had almost out run the cloud of debris by the time I got us to the mouth of the mine. I dove to the side of the mountain letting the blast rush by us. ` `
Outside the sun was rising over the mountain. The moment the sunlight touched Ben’s face he woke up and started pulling at the neck of his suit. “Get this thing off of me!” he demanded.
“I thought you said the material was tan through?” I asked finding the edge of the collar.
“I need full exposure now!” Ben demanded grabbing the fabric opening and pulling it over his shoulders and arms. The more of Ben’s skin that was exposed to the sunlight, the stronger he became. His chest glistening in the morning sun. He sprang to his feet pushing the tight suit to his ankles. I pushed back away from him when his junk came to eye level with me. I looked down to his feet that lifted off the ground. He floated up into the cool Virginia morning air, higher and higher. Soon he was above the treetops as I sat on the ground.
I looked back to the mine entrance, Green Fantom hadn’t come out yet. The smoke and dust had cleared, so I stood to walk back. I wondered if I should go back in after him. “That will not be necessary,” Ben said having returned to the ground. “Our mission finished, he has already returned to the abyss.”
“The abyss?” I questioned.
“Where he came from,” Ben told me coolly. “It would be best if you did the same.” Ben’s sunbath must have made him stronger than I could have guessed. Before I could chastise him for reading my mind again, I blacked out.
The next thing I remember was waking up back on my towel at the beach. If not for my new black suit I might have believed I had just dozed off again and it was all another dream. I quickly reached for the tabs on my head to pull off the mask before I sat up to have a look around. It was still early morning and the only people on the beach were surfers trying to catch some waves before the crowds arrived. I decided to peel down the top of my suit to the waist, hoping it would look like a wetsuit to blend. It seemed to work because a guy walked up to me a jammed his board in the sand next to me.
“Hey, where’s your board?” he asked as if we were old friends. He smiled down at me as if he knew me. I would make a note in the back of my mind, that Atlantic City Beach is not a place to be left alone.
“Didn’t bring it, figured I’d just watch this morning,” I replied, hoping the dude would let me alone.
“Haa haaa,” the guy laughed. “Steve, you don’t remember me, do you?” The fact that this stranger knew my name was really unnerving, I just wanted the rest of my weekend to be a quiet, normal one. I guess my surprise showed on my face because he explained who he was to me. “David, David Rogers, Gary’s cousin, we spend a week in Wildwood together when you guys were in Junior High?” “Ring any bells?”
Wow, the memories came rushing back to me. It was the end of the summer just after I began my training. Mom suggested I go with Gary to visit his cousin in New Jersey to have some normal time before I went back to school. David was a few years older than us and we had such a get time. He taught both of us “Schubies” how to surf and talk to girls. I don’t know if I learned much about talking to girls though. “Wow David it’s great to see you,” I said standing up to shake his hand. “I see you are still surfing.”
“When I get a chance,” He replied. “I remember you were a pretty great surfer too, you picked it up fast.” “We should catch some curls.”
I laughed, “Honestly that was the first and last time I surfed.”
“Come on then, it’s like riding a bike!” David insisted. “Plus, there is no better workout than surfing,” he told me. “Not that it looks like you need it.” “Still in great shape for your age I see.”
That was the first summer with my “new body” and David always said I looked like a man but acted like a little boy in his how to meet girls lessons. “I feel safe in saying I’ve had my workout for this relaxing weekend getaway,” I said probably sounding a little too sarcastic. “I’m not headed home until tomorrow, why don’t we meet later to catch up?”
“How’s lunch sound at Billy’s Boardwalk?” He suggested. “Can you still eat like a horse or what?”
I laughed again, that was a great week. Billy’s was a chain that had a place in Wildwood too, both have since gone out of business. Back then they had a challenger to anyone who could eat five pounds of their steak fries. Gary and David dared me to take the challenge and I did it winning us our bill paid. Which was good because David told us he had the money for lunch but it turned out he didn’t have enough money to pay the bill. “Sounds good, but I’ll have the money to pay the bill this time.” “I don’t need to spend a day on the crapper again.”
David laughed too and he suggested, “One o’clock sound good?” “I’ll bring the catsup!”
I went back to my room to get out of my second skin suit. I could see the bruises on my legs and feet from those little monsters. I was glad that as they climbed up my legs they didn’t know to bite more sensitive areas. The bruises looked worse than they were, I knew they would fade in a couple of hours. It had been a rough night so I had the longest shower in history, trying to massage my body back to life.
After going down to the Continental breakfast I went back to my room to lay around most of the morning thinking over the adventure I had the previous night. It really felt good again to go all out and not have to worry about someone finding out what I could do. I looked to the tiny black suit laying on the floor where I had taken it off, maybe I should keep it, use it again in secret.
Around noon, I got dressed and got in my rental car to head over to Billy’s to meet David. I didn’t recognize him at first because of the way he was dressed in a suit and tie. I have to admit I was surprised I would never have pegged this beach-bum as the type. Turned out that he owned his own business, a private detective agency, he had to meet a rather upscale client after lunch. He explained that it was a time sensitive case that demanded a Saturday meeting.
We got a table and ordered a few beers. We laughed over memories of that summer in Wildwood and how much this place looked like that Billy’s Boardwalk. Right down to the hot waitress. He suggested I asked for her number like he always did when we were kids. I told him I was still waiting for Miss Right, not Miss right now, which I knew always made him laugh. As a surfer David always had a different girl on his arm, something that always impressed Gary about his cousin. Even made him jealous to some extent. It was Gary’s idea that David teach us to pick up girls, which of course led to us learning to surf.
“You are wasting those nature talents of yours, you could have fifty percent of the girls on this beach, just not my fifty percent,” David said to me with a smile, just as he always did back then. I think that always pissed Gary off too, because David never said that to him.
He talked about how Gary had told him I went to the police academy, he asked how I liked being a cop? I might have been a little too honest with him but recent events have made me question my calling. I told him, “Sometimes I feel too restricted by the rules of being a cop, I feel like I could do more good without them.”
“That’s the good thing about being a private detective, no rules only results,” David told me with a smile.
“How is Gary doing?” I asked remembering the dream I had on the beach yesterday. “I haven’t heard from him since he left for college in Ohio.”
“He’s doing okay, but I wonder if he could make better choices if he still had your good influence around him,” David told me. I didn’t question that statement, I just let it lay.
We continued to talk over lunch for about an hour and a half until David had to get going to his client meeting. Before he left he handed me his business card and said, “I could use you in my business, give it some thought and give me a call if you want to put aside the rules and get some results.” We shook hands and David was on his way. I have to wonder now how different David’s life would have turned out if we had never had that lunch. If Prince Benu, the Sun King had not returned me to that beach a day later.