THE INVADERS
RUNNING SCARED
Six months had passed since Annette had moved in with Steve and Sarah Vincent and accepted her new role in the family. But, one thing still nagged in her and seemingly so in Steve, too. The third generation spores that they had witnessed being transported out of their Utah hometown to a new site of which was still unknown to them at that stage.
Steve went to the bureau one crisp morning in January, to talk with Edgar Scoville about the spores and their possible where-abouts.
"Haven't you had a response from your teams in any part of this country?" Steve said staring at him.
Ed looked up from the computer that was stuck in the bureaus' website at that point. "Nothing. I've even gone back to scanning newspapers. Maybe you should do the same." He said handing him the latest batch of hutch lining material.
"I have and, for that matter so has my brother." He said pushing the papers aside. "He can't understand it either." He said then sat down sighing. "I don't know… maybe what their doing is right for them at the moment…"
Ed looked at him.
"Right for 'them'?"
"Yeah… the third generation, if there is such a thing."
"Go on."
"Well, I've been thinking for a while now that, alright, let me run this by you for a second, ha? I saw those spores being shipped out and I know that they were different from say, Annette, but we're talking another generation here in only a short period of time. Now, if that manager was to be believed and these are a generation that don't need to be brought up by other aliens, would you take this much time to get them into society without even a word being uttered from either them or us?"
Ed stood up.
"You're actually counting yourself as one of 'us' here, ha?"
"Of course. Ed, I saw those spores, don't be fooled by them."
"Maybe it's not them who is fooling us." He said staring at him.
Steve looked at him.
"I can't believe what I'm hearing here. Look Ed, we've had our differences in the past, but over these spores, we are one, yes?"
"When you bleed you tell me then that we are one…"
Steve watched him then stood up and went out.
He walked through the offices and moved through the local typing pool.
"Steven Vincent, what brings you down here?" A female voice said behind him.
He spun round and smiled.
"Ellen." He said then moved up to her and kissed her.
"Hmm, watch yourself Mr Vincent, that might be catching."
"What, one kiss?"
"No, my cold. I've had this stinker for weeks now and I can't shake it."
"What are you doing around here then?" He said stepping back.
"Didn't you hear what I just said? I've had it for weeks. If I stay at home from the common cold for over a week I lose my entitlement…"
"Your entitlement? You've got a disease, take the rest of the year off."
"If you were my boss I'd smother you in kisses, but as your not…" Ellen now walked away.
Steve watched her go then left the office and the building and drove home.
David was waiting for him.
"It's about time…. How did your chat with Ed go?"
"It didn't. He was more interested in the fact that I don't bleed than he was interested in this new generation."
"That you don't bleed? Well, what's that got to do with…"
"I don't know and quite frankly bro, I don't care. This whole world has gone nuts, if you ask me. I ran in to Ellen McCormick from the typing pool while on my way out and she is working through a heavy cold. If that was me, I'd, well…"
David looked at him.
"Wait a minute, the typing pool? That's not on your way out. Ellen McCormick? Steve your not…"
"Well certainly not at the moment I'm not… I can't believe I kissed her with the cold she's got."
"A-ha." David said watching him.
"There is nothing going on between us."
"No, but you'd like something to be."
Steve stared at him.
"Look bro, I'm home now. Thank you for taking care of my kids while I was away. I can now take over, so if you don't mind…"
"I can take the hint. I just hope Ellen can." David said then left.
Steve watched him walk away and shook his head.
The next day Steve drove the children to school as a cold wind blew off the Utah hills.
"Hey, do you mind closing that window? I'm getting a chill right down the back of my neck!" Steve said adjusting his seating position.
"Sorry Uncle Steve. I didn't know you felt the cold." Claira said pressing the window button as the cold was shut away.
Steve looked back to her then touched his neck and rubbed it.
"Next minute he'll be complaining of a cold." Annette said now looking at the rear-view mirror as he looked at her.
He pulled over and watched them bowl out.
"Alright, back here by four, okay."
"Okay." Sarah said as Steve kissed them.
"Hey, I'm not kissing him, he's got a cold." Annette said moving back.
"Don't be stupid Annette, aliens can't catch colds." Claira said looking at her.
Annette looked at her.
"No, I can't catch a cold. He's not my generation. He's different." She said pointing.
"Now that's enough!"
"Come on Claira, Sarah… quick, before he gives it to you two." Annette said pulling them away from his car.
Steve watched them run in then he drove off back to the cottage and parked up. He reached the door and then stopped as he sneezed. He was so taken aback by this one action that he fell in to the door and straight to the floor.
He soon got up and moved into the kitchen and carried on like normal.
Later that day he noticed that it was getting cold in the cottage and he started to put the temperature on the central heating up a few degrees.
When the children walked in that evening the place was totally unbearable.
"What's been going on around here, dad?"
"What do you mean?"
"You could cook eggs at this temperature." Sarah said going to the thermostat on the wall.
"Hey, leave that gauge alone. It's just right in here for once."
"Just right? Look at the gauge, hey that's nearly one hundred degrees Fahrenheit!"
"See Sarah, I told you that he was catching a cold. There's your proof." Annette said looking at him.
Sarah went to him and touched his forehead.
"Yeah dad, Annette might be right. You do feel hot."
Steve pushed her hand away.
"I haven't got a cold. That's a human failing, I am not human."
"No, but you've changed in such a way that even something as simple as a human cold can do something to you. Maybe something more than what it does to the average human being." Annette said looking at him.
Steve looked at her and tried to laugh it off.
"Maybe you should go to the doctors, daddy."
"The doctors? Have you see any alien doctors in the phone book lately, Sarah?"
"You could phone Uncle David, he might be able to help you."
"I am perfectly fine. I have not got a cold because I cannot catch a cold." He said turning away and then sneezing.
"Want to bet?" Annette said looking at him.
Steve looked at her.
The next day Steve was awoke by Annette and Sarah running around the cottage. He sat up and realised that his nose was completely blocked and his throat was killing him. He could hardly get himself out of bed as Sarah and Annette run in and stared at him.
"Well, look at you." Annette said folding her arms.
"Don't say it."
"Say what?"
"I told you so." He said holding his head.
"Well, you know I did. What does it feel like?"
"What?"
"To have a human cold?"
He looked at her.
"I think we better get out of here Sarah. This looks set for the rest of the winter."
Steve tried to follow them out but he was so achy he couldn't even get past his own bedroom door before he turned round and went back in and closed the door behind him.
"Well, I'd have to see it to believe it." David said walking in to his bedroom some hours later.
He focused in on him.
"David?"
"Yeah. Don't tell me it's got so bad that you can even recognise your own brother now?"
"It's getting that way."
"How can you catch a cold?"
"Cold? Who says it's a cold? This is worse than death for me."
"Strange, I don't see the room glowing red." He said trying to raise a laugh.
Steve stared at him.
David realised he was being serious and moved closer.
"Steven, it's just a cold. You've never had one before, take some time out to enjoy it. It will be an experience for you."
"But, don't you get it yet. How can I have a cold? We don't get colds. I am not a human, David as I am sure you know."
"Maybe it has something to do with Annette and her new generation. We'll get to the bottom of it."
"Yeah, with the death of an alien."
David stared at him then left.
Steve stayed in his bed for the rest of the day as the cold took hold of him in a way that no one on Earth would imagine a cold to.
David finally managed to take him to the bureau the next day where they placed him in an isolation room as tests were carried out on him.
Ed walked in to the outer room and moved to stand next to David as they watched the doctors testing Steve.
"David how is he?"
"Not good. The cold is affecting him in a way that no one could ever have measured. Well, certainly not by human terms, at least. It has got to have something to do with the way that Steven has changed to be so accepted by us, by me, it may even be genetic, if he was my own brother, of course."
"But, he's not, so you cannot look towards that for an answer."
"He's going to die from this if we don't find something to help him now. His whole internal system is shutting down and I can't do anything to save him."
Ed stared at David looking on.
"I wish that there was something we could do for him David, I'm, I'm truly sorry."
David looked at him then Steve lying on the bed so helplessly.
A curtain was put around Steve and David slowly entered the room.
"What's this? They finally accepting family now? I must be on the way out." He said turning away.
"They thought that as it's just a cold to us it wouldn't really make that much of a difference."
"Well, how considerate of them. Just a cold to you, life or death to me, right?" He said staring at him.
"Would you put your narcissism to one side for a moment…."
"Why should I? Who's flat out on the bed here, you?"
"Don't you think that we're doing all we can? Ed is using the bureau to put an alert out so that hopefully someone from your side will read it and come to our assistance."
"You honestly think that they'd help you after what I've done to them? Their probably handing out the cigars back home right now. One less traitor to deal with." Steve said looking away.
"I'm going to help you brother, I'm not going to watch you die from this."
"Well, it's not like I'm the first, ha? I can see it now, test case, Steven Vincent, twenty three, alien!"
David stared at him.
The doctor now came in.
"What more tests?" He said looking past him.
"The more tests you have Mr Vincent the closer we can get to a cure." The doctor said checking the chart.
"A cure for the common cold, how about that bro? My name up in lights, Steve Vincent gave his alien life away to cure humans of the common cold. Don't forget to bury me with Claira's alien parents, right!" He said staring at him.
David now shook his head and moved away.
"I'll see you later."
"If you don't I'll leave a trace of ashes where my body was, okay?"
David now went out.
The children were outside and waiting for some kind of an answer from David now approaching them. They moved around him.
"What's going on, dad?" Claira asked watching him.
David touched her then looked at Annette and Sarah.
"He's at his eleventh hour darling."
Claira looked back.
"You mean, you mean nothing can be done for him?" Sarah asked staring at David.
David just looked at her.
"It's just a cold…." Claira said moving into his side.
"He's just an alien!" Annette said looking on.
David now looked at her.
As expected, no one came forward to the pleas put out on the bureaus' website and Steve steadily got worse.
David met Ed in his office for a crisis meeting.
"I just received the doctors last report via email, of all things."
"Are they worried that the computer might catch this virus now?" David said trying to raise a laugh out of the very serious situation.
"Something like that, yeah." Ed said using the mouse on his desk to scroll down all the information listed. "We've had no response from out friends around the country. I have someone working on something in London, one in France, but still nothing definite."
"Does it say in there how long they give Steve to live?"
Ed looked up from his computer.
"Sorry, no."
David stared at him.
"All that information and he doesn't give my brother a time slot? Look, who's bull shitting who here, Ed?"
Ed looked at the screen and sighed as he sat back.
"All he says is that if these two contacts don't come through with anything by this evening he asks that Steve try to get his affairs in order before the end of the week."
David looked away.
"I'd like you tell him."
He nodded and slowly left.
Steve looked at the respirator that was connected to the oxygen mask around his face watching it slowly go up and down. He then heard a noise and looked round to see his brother standing by the door watching him.
"Is that how far you have to stand away from me now?"
"I thought that you were asleep." He said moving up to him.
"Asleep? Good god, no. If I sleep I'll never wake up again, I know that for sure."
David looked back.
"I, I erm, the children, they want to see you."
"No!"
"Steven…."
"I said no David! What part of that don't you understand?"
"You! That's what part I don't understand. They are your family, like me."
Steve looked away.
"Well, you might as well know, the doctor has asked me to get your affairs in order by tomorrow because no-one has come forward to help you."
"Figures. No one loves an alien. All we cause is misery and heartache in the end."
"You're the real life and soul of the party, aren't you?"
"What do you expect from me? Hey bro, don't worry about me. You can go out tomorrow, find another alien to take over from me. You could easily find another one brother, to love those kids!"
David stepped forward.
"Now you want to hit me while I'm down, that's just great. Go grab that scalpel bruv; you'd be doing us all a favour. Get me out of this miserable existence for a life!" Steve said taking off the mask and tried to hand it to him. He now started to cough so he put it back on again.
"That wasn't even two seconds that time." David said watching him
Steve looked away.
David now went out.
"David!" Steve said trying to call him back but it was too late. He looked back to the respirator and wiped a tear from his eye.
David returned to the farmhouse that evening and grabbed the bottle of whiskey as Claira ran out from her bedroom with Annette and Sarah in tow.
"Dad! Where have you been? We've been trying to reach you. Your mobile has been off all day."
"I didn't feel like talking to anyone today. I've just come back from seeing my brother." He said knocking back the shot of whiskey.
"Show him Claira, show Uncle David." Sarah said pushing her forward.
"Will you give me a chance, cus…."
"Show me what?"
Claira went up to him and handed him a slip of paper.
"That contact in London came through. There is an alien doctor over there who is prepared to fly over here and treat Uncle Steve."
David focused in on his child's' handwriting then grabbed it and moved to the phone.
"We've got to call Ed, get this guy out here."
"It was Ed that I took the call from. A doctor Daniel Wood will be at Manti Ephraim airport by seven in the morning. Door to door service, how good is that?"
David looked at her then grabbed her and kissed her. He looked at the other two children and grabbed them for a hug.
The next morning David drove out to the local airport with the children in the back and waited in arrivals for any sign of an alien. He now noticed one and slowly moved up to him.
"Excuse me, are you by any chance Dr. Daniel Wood?"
"Yes, are you Mr Vincent?"
"David Vincent, could I see some kind of I.D.? I just need to be certain."
"Oh, of course…"
David watched him fumberling for his wallet and take out a card. The doctor made sure that he could see his finger as held up the card to his face.
"I hope that this satisfies your needs."
David stared at his finger for a second then remembered where he was.
"Yes, yes it does. My car is waiting. I can drive you straight over to the bureau where my brother is."
"Thank you." He said putting his card back and following David out of the airport and into the car and on his way to the bureau.
"Have you dealt with this problem before?"
"To be quite honest with you, Steve O'Brien is the first test subject."
David stared at him then the children looking on.
"Test subject?"
"Yes… Certain members were selected to hold dormant genetic codes that once prevailed upon would render the subject to twice, sometimes triple the effect that it would have caused upon a human subject. With Steve O'Brien's case it was the simple most commonest human cold."
"His name is Steve Vincent, in case you need reminding." Claira said moving forward from the back seat.
"I don't need reminding Miss Vincent. I am dealing with the alien inside him, not the human side that you believe is in there." He said looking back.
David pulled up outside the bureau and made sure the children were all right before leading him into the room where Steve was. Ed Scoville was waiting for him.
"He's been asking for you."
"This is the doctor that can help him."
"Doctor…." Ed said sharply.
He looked at him for a second then moved to the screen and stared at Steve through the glass. David moved up to him.
"Can you help him?"
"I can't exactly make a diagnosis through a three inch glass panel, now can I?"
David stared at him then opened the door and they walked in.
Steve now watched them walk in and noticed that the doctor was an alien.
"Ed told me you found someone to help."
"That they did Mr O'Brien. I would like to be left alone with my patient, thank you."
"Out of the question. You could do anything to him and he'd die just like that!" He said clicking his fingers.
"And so would I too, Mr Vincent. I'm here to cure my patient not destroy him."
David looked at him then Steve.
"Steve, it's your call."
"I trust him. I'll be fine."
David touched Steve then looked at the doctor as he left.
"Right then, lets give you a proper examination." He said grabbing a device from his pocket.
Steve grabbed his hand, which made the doctor look at him.
"I trust my brother more than you doc. If I feel any changes in me you'll be the one not walking out of here."
"In all fairness Mr O'Brien, haven't you already felt something change in you?" He said looking back at David staring into the goldfish bowl of life.
Steve allowed him to carry on with the examination.
The doctor soon left him and went outside to find David and Ed waiting for him. They watched a nurse bring in some bottles of blood and start to store them away.
David now turned to watch the doctor put the device back in to his pocket.
"Hey, what is that?"
"It's a genetic analyser. It reads the codes set out in the alien body under the human shell. His body characteristics have been completely rewritten due to the cold that has affected his true body and the realisation that, that he is more human than any alien has ever imagined up to now."
"Meaning that he's going to die unless he can somehow become more alien again?" David said staring at him.
"You cannot change an aliens code more than you could change a humans. We are all born unto someone Mr Vincent and those codes whether human or alien dictated cannot be changed, altered or tampered with. Steve Vincent is going to die and it's all thanks to fact that the alien inside him was not prepared for the human cold like all aliens have been made to accept."
The doctor walked away.
David moved to the glass and stared at him. He now turned to look at the bottles of blood in the fridge. He looked down and mumbled.
"More human than any alien has ever imagined."
The doctor looked back.
"Excuse me?"
He looked at him.
"How human is he?"
"My analyser hardly registered him at first."
"A blood transfusion…" He said looking at the doctor.
The doctor looked at him then the bottles of blood then back to David.
"You want to give an alien your blood?"
"You said that the alien inside him was hardly recognisable now. Maybe the shell can be cohered to support the alien enough to fight the virus. A human genetic code could fight the cold for him."
"If the alien accepts your genetic code and your blood to that matter. If it doesn't it could kill him."
"He's dead anyway we go, isn't he?" David said looking at the doctor.
The doctor looked at him then nodded.
"I'll set up an I.V."
"I'll go break the news." David said going in to the room.
The doctor went to the cabernet.
David now moved in to the room.
"What have you two been talking about in there? My ultimate death no doubt." He said starting to cough again.
"How about your ultimate life. Would that sound better?"
Steve stared at him.
Within the hour David was lying in a bed next to him watching the bottle slowly fill with his blood.
"I think that we're ready to start."
"Wait a minute, what blood group are you? I mean, I want to know what I'm getting here."
"Listen to him." David said laughing.
"For your information Mr Vincent your brothers blood group is A positive which means that if you are not compatible we do have other stocks on supply."
Steve watched him place the needle in his arm and then the blood enter his arm.
"Just try to relax." The doctor said checking the machine.
"Relax, right?" He said now looking at the machine doing its work.
Within a few hours the cycle was complete and David sat up.
"I wouldn't try standing up yet Mr Vincent, the effects might be some what un-nerving for you."
"I have given blood before, doctor."
"Not to an alien you haven't."
David looked at him. He now looked at Steve.
"How is he?"
"How, we wont know for a while, yet. I suggest you try to get some sleep like your brother is here."
"Well, when will you know if the operation has been a success?"
"The common cold takes at least three days to work into the human system and from a week to a month before it fully leaves the system. If we don't see some kind of an improvement by say thirty six to forty eight hours…"
"Two days…?"
"Your brother is basically human now, Mr Vincent. Everything in moderation." The doctor said then left the room.
David looked back at his brother sleeping silently.
The doctor moved through the main building of the bureau totally un-noticed by everyone that worked there.
David finally felt better and moved in to the outer room where Ed was now walking in.
"Well, how do you feel?"
"Better than I did half hour ago."
"That's good to hear. The children are still in my office, in case you have forgotten, if you wouldn't mind going up to them and getting them out of there I would be truly grateful. I just can't visualise it being a play den somehow."
David laughed and looked around.
"Wait a minute. Where's the doctor?"
"I thought he was still here."
"No, he left while I was still with Steve."
The alarm was raised and the security now went rushing around everywhere.
The children heard the commotion and went outside to see the security running around.
"What's going on, Claira?" Sarah asked watching the men.
"I don't know. Come on, we better go down to the private ward Uncle Steve is in."
"But Ed told us to wait for your father up here."
Claira looked back.
"You want to find out what's going on, don't you? How can we do that shut away in an office?"
Annette now pushed Claira aside.
"Bags me gets to dad first."
"Hey…" Claira said running down the corridor after her.
They ran down the stairs to the basement and walked straight in on the alien doctor who was making good use of a computer in the outer office to Steve's room.
"What, what are you doing?" Claira said moving forward.
He moved the screen away.
"Case history. I'm just making a medical journal on Steve O'Brien…."
"Vincent!" Sarah said now moving forward.
Claira now stopped her.
"Easy cus, I don't think…."
He looked at her.
"You don't think what, Miss Vincent?" He said reaching into his pocket and taking out one of the aliens devices.
Before he could use it on her Annette realised what the other alien was planning to do and grabbed Claira and Sarah.
"Sorry cus, sis, forgive me!" She said pushing them down and grabbing his device.
The doctor now grabbed Annette as the security arrived with David and Ed closely behind.
Claira and Sarah managed to stand up and watched him holding Annette.
"Case history? You'll be history in a minute…." Claira said starting to move forward.
" I wouldn't finish that sentence Miss Vincent, you want me alive to save Steve O'Brien, don't you?"
Claira looked back as David pulled the children away.
"Lower your guns or do you want to see the both of us turn red?"
Ed looked at him holding Annette.
"Alright, do as he says. He's right, we do want him alive, for a while longer, anyway."
"How did you find out about Steve being ill? We only put the call out on the bureaus' website…?"
"And we have friends within that website that would easily do anything to help us, when we want them to."
David now tried to move forward.
"David, easy." Ed said grabbing him.
"What have you done to my brother? How long have you kept him out for? Days? Months? The whole season?"
"For as long as it takes, Mr Vincent…"
"And what's that supposed to mean?"
"Steve O'Brien is a traitor. I am also now in possession of a second generation traitor, but I may have found a way to help her…" He said looking down at Annette. "I'm full of tricks Mr Vincent. Who knows what I can accomplish when I have a full house?"
He now felt someone behind him and spun round.
"Try the ace in the hole!" Steve said grabbing Annette away from him.
The security men now opened fire on the doctor and he fell to the floor in a flame of red.
The children now ran to Steve and hugged him.
"Hey, easy. I'm not one hundred percent yet…"
David now moved up to him and shook his hand.
"Bro…"
He smiled and now hugged him.
"Well, if I knew that I was going to get this much attention from a common cold I'll catch one more often."
The children now started sneezing.
"Come to think of it, I've been feeling a bit chesty lately." Ed said slightly coughing.
EPILOG
Steve changed from his gown into his clothes. David walked in watching him.
"Are you sure your okay to go home?"
"I'm fine. I still feel a little bit of a sniffle, but that's what colds leave you with, ha?"
"Apparently so, yes." He said folding his arms looking at him.
Steve looked at him.
"What's on your mind?"
"Ha? Oh, nothing…."
"Come on bro, you can't fool me, we're brothers, body, soul and erm, blood now, I'd say." He said touching his arm.
"Well, I was just thinking, earlier… when I left you, you were out for the count and then, back there…"
"I just came round, heard the alarm, and noticed the doc on the computer. Then the kids ran in and it all kicked off as you saw."
"You've been on your back for the last three days…"
"Listen, when your kids are being threatened you have one thing on your mind. I was hurting, but I knew I was the only person who could help you back there."
"He could have killed you at any time, even me, it was only a matter of time…"
"Time that he didn't have and I did."
David just looked at him.
"I could have lost you at anytime over those three days."
"But you didn't. I'm a fighter, as an alien and as a human. Hey, I might even grow a heart, who knows what possibilities might arise from this?"
"Nothing! The next time you feel the slightest sniffle it's straight down the chemist for you and you can stay away from that typing pool!"
"Ah, Ellen McCormick. Hey, she's fair game now bro."
"Yeah, how come?"
"We've both been bitten by the bug." Steve said going out.
David watched him go and started to laugh as he followed him out.
THE END