I ended up going to the park to help with the clean-up after all. The Sharing guilted me into it.
They didn't guilt me on purpose. I told Eva I wasn't coming, and she didn't ask again. But she and the others were so kind and helpful, I felt bad for not doing anything in return. I mean, even if I wasn't really a member, wasn't the point of the Sharing for everyone to do their part? Wasn't the point of me being more than the basketball champ to be more responsible and do good work?
On Saturday, I parked my mom's car and stepped onto the grass. They called this place a national park, but that was using the term very loosely. It was really just a patch of empty grass between where the city ended and the woods began. I saw on the map that on the other side of the woods was some sort of farm. And in a third direction the woods stretched out and out towards the mountains.
Here in the park, the place was empty. No sign of the Sharing or any volunteers. Did I get the time wrong?
I walked along the edge of the woods, looking for anyone. Before long, I saw Mr. Chapman coming out from the trees in the distance. I jogged over to him.
"Why are you here?" he asked.
"What happened to the clean-up?" I asked.
Mr. Chapman looked exasperated - like, more than usual. "We canceled it. Not enough people signed up - which turned out to be a good thing, because a new problem came up and we didn't want to get them involved. Why are you here?"
"I felt bad about not signing up. I changed my mind and came to help."
"Well, that was very kind of you, but like I said, it's been canceled. You can go home now." He tried to be polite, but he spoke briskly, like he wished the conversation was over already.
He grabbed my upper arm - not firmly - but enough to lead me away from the woods. I was more confused than anything as I walked along. "W-What's going on? What's the new problem?"
"Don't worry about it. We have it under control."
"But, like, I'm here anyway. Shouldn't I stay and help?"
We stopped a short distance from my mom's car. Mr. Chapman let go and turned to face me. He tried to be reassuring, tried to be patient - emphasis on tried.
"Tom, really, it's fine. We have it all under control. You just go home. Relax. Do whatever you do. Have a normal day, don't get involved, all right?"
Mr. Chapman turned around and quickly walked back to the woods. I was left standing there, trying to understand what just happened.
I walked towards the car. I could have just driven home. There was literally no reason not to do as Mr. Chapman asked. Going home and minding my own business would have been the smart thing to do.
Instead, I turned right around and went into the woods. Maybe I really was stupid.
I stepped cautiously around the trees. The area Mr. Chapman disappeared into wasn't anywhere near the nature trail. There was no path; just pure nature. I looked around silently, trying to find Mr. Chapman - or anyone else - and trying not to get lost.
I wondered if it was just Mr. Chapman here or if all the Sharing's full members were involved. How far into the woods had they gone? I didn't see any sign of a problem. What the heck was going on?
Finally, a sound. A loud crack of a tree branch. A sign of movement in the distance.
I moved closer. I tried to be stealthy, but I felt too big and out-of-place to be really good at it. My sneakers crunched over pine needles. I hid behind a tree and carefully peeked out around it.
In the distance, in a darker section of the woods, I caught just a glimpse of it. I thought it was a fallen tree at first, but it moved. The smaller branches were legs, moving the giant animal away from me.
Whatever it was, it was no ordinary animal. And I was alone in the woods with it. I suddenly felt scared.
A hand reached out from behind me and covered my mouth. I almost made a distinctly un-masculine scream, but I held it back. It was Mr. Chapman. "I told you to go home," he whispered, more annoyed than ever.
Once he released my mouth I whispered back, "Yeah, well, I didn't. Sue me."
He glared at me. Took a deep breath through his nose. And then he very calmly whispered, "I suppose you're not going to leave without an explanation. All right, here it is: You're not safe here. Some very dangerous creatures appeared in these woods, and if we're not careful, they're going to kill us both. Now do exactly what I tell you, don't make a sound, and follow me."
I didn't argue.
He led me by the hand through the woods. But we only took a few steps before there was a rustling in the brush, followed by a hissing sound. I didn't know much about wildlife, but I could tell it wasn't a snake.
"Run!" We took off. We twisted around the trees for a few seconds, but then we stopped abruptly. A giant centipede appeared to block our path.
Now, when I say "giant", I don't mean "ew, a giant bug, somebody squish it". I mean GIANT! It had to be twice as long as I was, and it was thicker than any of the trees around us. It was a copper-colored tube with a dozen spider-like legs on either side. The top-third of its body was held upright, and instead of legs that section had lobster-like claws. Big red blobs surrounded the tube near the top. I assumed they were eyes. Most terrifying of all, the very end of the tube was a huge open mouth packed with pointed teeth.
It stepped towards us very, very slowly. I think it was drooling.
"Tom, don't move. Don't do anything," Chapman ordered while keeping his eyes on the creature. Very, very slowly he reached into his coat pocket.
"I know," I said quietly and nervously. "It's like a bear, right?"
That puzzled Chapman so much he actually took his eyes off the creature to look at me. "A bear?"
"Well, it's obviously not a bear. I meant we treat it like a bear. We just play dead and it'll leave us alone, right?" I asked hopefully.
Chapman looked back to the centipede monster. "No, bad idea. If it thinks we're dead, it won't leave us alone - It'll eat us faster."
A second before he said that, I actually thought I couldn't get more nervous.
The three of us stood still, sizing each other up. Chapman's hand was inside his coat.
"RUN!" Chapman called. He pulled out a laser weapon and fired. A beam of red light hit the creature. I saw no wound, but it staggered back like it was struck with a hammer.
"SSSSWEER!" the creature cried.
Chapman grabbed my hand and pulled me away. He led me zig-zagging through the trees. I didn't have any trouble keeping up. I suspected I could run a lot faster than Chapman if I let go, but he knew the way. We were obviously following some kind of path I didn't know about.
Another monster came at us. Chapman fired the weapon again with his free hand. While it was stunned we ran in another direction. I could hear the awful half-hissing, half-whistling sound they made all around us.
"How many of these things are there?" I yelled.
"I don't know! I didn't stop to ask them," Chapman shouted back.
We came to an open clearing. A large meadow within the woods. In the center was a short hill of dirt, rocks, and broken tree branches, only a few feet tall but wider than the front and back yards of my home put together.
Chapman ran up to the edge of the dirt mound. There was what looked like a small sheet of glass that somebody dropped onto the dirt. Chapman pressed his hand onto it, and a second later it lit up. A big square of earth flipped upwards - a door lifting on hydraulic hinges, revealing brightly lit stairs going down.
Before I could even process this, Chapman pushed me towards the opening. "Inside! Now!" The whistling of the creatures were in the woods behind us.
I went underground with Chapman right behind me. The dirt-covered mechanical door closed and sealed us in.
It was only a short flight of steps down. Instead of an underground cavern, I walked into a clean, metal room. I stopped with my mouth hanging open.
Eva was there. Shocked, she pointed at me while looking at Chapman. "What's he doing here?"
"He didn't know the clean-up was canceled," Chapman wearily explained. "I did tell you that doing volunteer work this close to the ship was a bad idea."
"So you brought him inside?!"
Chapman gestured up towards the door they came through. "Well, I couldn't leave him outside to get eaten by Taxxons, now could I?!"
Eva nodded. "Fair enough."
I examined the room as they argued. There were doors leading to other rooms, but the main room was already large and open. The walls were lined with computer screens, work consoles, chairs, and cabinet doors. Everything was very high-tech looking, and labeled with letters and symbols I didn't recognize. At the end of the room, for some strange reason, was what looked exactly like a metal hot tub. I could see an opaque liquid sloshing around inside.
I found my voice. "What is all this?!"
Eva looked at me. "Tom, I'm sorry, but don't ask any questions because we can't answer them."
She sat down at a computer again and looked closely at the screen. Chapman looked at the screen over her shoulder. "Well?" he asked.
"I found three heat signatures, moving away from us," Eva said. "And I also found a signal which is probably their ship. That's where they're heading; they're regrouping."
I spoke up again. "Are all the Sharing members involved in this, or is it just you two?"
Frustrated, Eva replied, "I said no questions. As soon as it's safe, you're leaving."
"Why can't you tell me?" I asked. "Is this classified? Are you like secret government agents or something?"
"What? No!" Chapman said. "We're nothing like that."
"You said you couldn't answer questions," I said triumphantly.
Eva winced and ran her hands through her hair. "Tom, you weren't supposed to see any of this."
"Too late for that! There were aliens out there! I can't un-see that!"
"What makes you think they were aliens?" Chapman asked, suddenly calm.
I blinked. "I dunno . . . What else could they be?"
"In my experience, people usually guess mutants or mythological monsters or something. They don't usually go for aliens right away."
"Your 'experience'?"
"Answer the question. What made you think aliens?" Chapman looked at me like he was genuinely interested in the answer.
For some reason, I felt like a student who hadn't studied being grilled by his teacher. "Well . . . If there were things like that on Earth before, someone would have noticed. So if they're not from Earth, then they've gotta be aliens. Besides, this is definitely an alien spaceship!"
"How could you possibly know that?" he challenged. "Have you ever seen a spaceship before? Do you have any idea what a real spaceship would look like?"
"I know what Earth ships look like, and it's not this!" I shot back angrily. "I may be stupid, but I'm not that stupid, Chapman! Now stop trying to hide it and just admit it!"
We glared at each other. He managed to be very intimidating despite being slightly shorter than me, but I didn't back down. Then, surprisingly, Chapman smiled. I don't think I ever saw him smile before.
He turned to Eva. "I like this one. He reminds me of a younger me."
"Much younger, Chapman," Eva quipped as she worked the keyboard. "Much, much younger."
"I think we should tell him. God knows we need more people," Chapman said.
"I think we shouldn't be involving children," Eva said.
"And I think I'm not invisible!" I said. "Come on, Eva. I get that you don't want me to get involved, but I'm already involved. I've seen enough."
She sighed deeply. She turned away from the computer and faced me. "It's a long story."
"Then I better get comfortable." I turned one of the other chairs around and sat down . . . It actually wasn't comfortable at all, but I wouldn't let that stop me.
Eva sighed again. Then she looked at Chapman while pointing at her computer. "You can handle this, right?"
She stood up and Chapman took her place, doing whatever work was needed. Eva took a new chair directly in front of me, and started her story.
.
"Remember what you said the other day? About the sheer size of space and how there had to be life out there? It's all true. Aliens have secretly been coming to Earth for some time now. Not just the ones you saw outside - all types. Some are hostile. Some are peaceful explorers. And some crash here by pure accident. Either way, we try to help out. The Sharing is . . ." She hesitated. "I don't want to say 'a front', but -"
"But all the full members deal with aliens, and you don't want the part-timers to know," I figured. "And you're gonna ask me to keep it secret too."
Eva smiled at me. "You catch on fast. And you were worried you weren't smart."
"Don't change the subject."
She nodded. "Right. You must have questions. Where do you want to start?"
I stared at her. Then I looked over to Chapman, and back to Eva. I asked, "Are you guys aliens?"
Overhearing us, Chapman paused at the keyboard for a second. Eva hesitated, then simply said, "Yes." She tilted her head. "Well, yes and no."
"How can it be yes and no?"
Eva stood up. "Come with me."
I gratefully got out of the chair that obviously wasn't designed for humans. I followed Eva to what looked almost exactly like a Jacuzzi. The tub was about eight feet across and stainless steel. I looked down into the liquid that wasn't water. It was sludgy. Brown. Viscous. Honestly, kind of gross. The liquid wasn't completely opaque, but it was murky and a little hard to see through. There was movement under the surface.
"Look closely, but don't touch," Eva said.
I bent down low and strained my eyes. Through the murky liquid, I barely saw a creature swimming around. It wasn't a fish. It was more like a slug. Four or five inches long. Gray, maybe. Then I saw there was more than one. A lot more.
"They're called the Yeerks," Eva answered my unspoken question.
"They look like slugs," I said stupidly, not knowing what else to say.
"My apologies to slugs, but they're just dumb animals. Not sentient. Yeerks are just as intelligent and emotional as humans, if not more." She went on to explain, "The Yeerks are born deafblind. No eyes, no ears. They can't move on land. But they have a special ability no other creature in the universe has. They can become part of other lifeforms. Now, I know how gross this sounds, but a Yeerk enters the ear canal of another creature, and connects with that creature's brain. The Yeerk sees what the host sees. And the host hears what the Yeerk thinks."
"They're parasites," I realized uneasily as I stood up straight. "These things crawl inside people and hear their thoughts?"
Chapman spoke up without turning away from his console. "It's worth mentioning true parasites don't harm their host. They just do what they need to survive."
Yes and no. I understood what Eva meant. "There's a Yeerk in your brain right now," I said. "Yours and Chapman's."
She nodded with a concerned expression, like she was afraid of scaring me. "Yes." She placed a hand on her chest. "I am Eva, and a Yeerk. Two people talking to you." She gestured to the man at the computer. "That is Chapman and a Yeerk. Two people listening to us."
"And Mrs. Chapman and Mr. Tidwell," I realized. "The whole Sharing is made up of people with Yeerks in their heads, isn't it?"
"Yes."
This was a lot to take in.
"You're saying there's literally a space alien controlling your brain right now?" I stared at Eva.
She shook her head firmly. "No. Not controlling. The Yeerks have been . . . devolving . . . for generations. Now they simply don't have the strength to control a host that resists them. They can only use a body when the host allows them. Two minds, sharing thoughts, working together as one person. And it's a big risk for the Yeerk too, you know. They need to return to the pool every three days to feed. If a host rebels at the wrong time and keeps them away, the Yeerk would starve to death. But they take that risk anyway because it's the only way to have eyes and ears and move around . . . The Yeerks aren't invaders, Tom. They're refugees. All they want is to live in peace and see the world."
Eva went to a cabinet and took out a clear pitcher filled with water. "Don't freak out, but you need to see this." She lowered and tilted her head so her left ear was above the water. A moment later, her ear glistened. I could see the long, gray slug squirming out of her ear like toothpaste coming out of a tube.
I wasn't grossed out. In retrospect, I probably should have been grossed out beyond belief. But at the time I was too busy being fascinated.
The Yeerk dropped out of Eva's ear into the pitcher with a soft "plop!" It was long and thin like a pencil, but quickly contracted into its true slug-like shape. Eva gently put the pitcher down on a desk. We both had a perfect view of the Yeerk floating in the water.
"Why did you do that?" I asked.
"Because I needed you to know that I'm just Eva now, speaking to you without a Yeerk in her head," she spoke emphatically. "Everything you heard is true. The Yeerks don't control people against their will. You have to believe me."
"I believed you even before the Yeerk came out," I replied.
She was surprised. She clearly expected me to need a lot more convincing than that. "Really? How come?"
I shook my head. "I dunno. I just did."
Eva blinked. Then she smiled.
I pointed to the pitcher. "What's its name, anyway? Do Yeerks have names?"
"Her name's Edriss," Eva answered.
"That's nice."
"She hates it, actually."
"Why?"
"It's a family name," Eva explained as she gently pulled Edriss out of the pitcher and held the Yeerk to her ear again. "This Edriss is named after Edriss Five-Six-Two, a famous historical Yeerk who was, to put it mildly, not a nice person."
I looked over to Chapman. "And you?"
Chapman - or rather, Chapman and the Yeerk - finished their work at the computer and turned to face us. "Iniss. My wife has a Yeerk named Niss, and Tidwell is with Illim. So, any more questions?"
"Uh, yeah!" I gestured around the spaceship. "How did you guys get involved in all this? I mean, how did it all start?"
"It started with me, actually," Chapman said. "When I was your age, I was abducted by aliens - not Yeerks. A different race called the Skrit Na. I got back to Earth fairly quickly, but ever since then, I've been sort of an expert on aliens. Whenever I heard about UFO sightings, I'd investigate."
Eva resumed. "This was a refugee ship piloted by two Hork-Bajir hosts. It crashed here not too long ago, and Chapman found it right away. The Hork-Bajir passed away, and Chapman took it upon himself to protect the Yeerks in the pool. We're old friends, so he got me involved too."
"And eventually, my wife and my friend Tidwell asked to join."
"What does that make the Sharing, then?" I asked. "A way to recruit people to become Yeerk-carriers?"
Eva looked disappointed. "That was an idea. But I admit, I didn't fully think it through. This isn't something we can blurt out to the whole world, after all. If the wrong person found out about us, they might come and destroy the pool. For the most part, the Sharing really is just a way to support the community."
"It's also a good cover for all the time we spend together," Chapman said. "Earth is in a sort-of intergalactic crossroads, and like Eva and Edriss said, different species are secretly passing by fairly often. With this ship's technology and our Yeerk allies, we try to make sure they don't cause any trouble." He rolled his eyes. "I really wish I had this ship when the Skrit Na returned to Nevada six years ago."
I stared at Chapman, still struggling to wrap my head around the whole situation. "So . . . What you're telling me is . . . This whole time, my former vice principal was secretly a part-time alien investigator? With real aliens?" I'm not ashamed to say I reacted like an excited child. "Oh, my God! I had no idea you were so COOL! Man, I wish I knew this back in junior high!"
Chapman smiled, struggling to control his ego and look modest. "Thank you, Tom. I suppose this all does seem very cool to a student who wanted to be an astronaut."
I stopped smiling. I looked over at Eva and silently glared at her.
She shrugged. "What?" she asked innocently. "It slipped out."
Author's Notes: One thing I wanted to make clear in this chapter is that Eva's Yeerk is not Visser One. Even in an Alternate Universe, I couldn't bring myself to depict Edriss 562 as a good guy. If you have any questions, leave a review.
I think of this fanfiction as "Animoprhs" meets "The Sarah Jane Adventures".
