Legacy: chapter 3

Too much… the phrase echoed through Allie's head over and over. She was being expected to do way too much. The thought of it all! To 'gently' introduce an entire planet, full of different countries, cultures, and religions to the existence of extraterrestrial life! And then tell them that those Aliens want to initiate friendly relations on a global scale. Just fathoming the scope of her mission gave Allie a throbbing headache. A pain that was only amplified by the fact that she was on her own, know one else can know until the time is right, not even Ka'len, who had been sent to assist.

Assist with what?

For all her knowledge and insight into their ways, Allie could not understand the reasoning behind this. Send an assistant who cannot be told what she is assisting with? It was an aberration to logical thought, a trait which Allie believed the Xean high council immune. Had they had a lapse in judgment or was she in error?

Could they have a lapse in judgment?

No! Of course not. There had to be something Allie was missing, some minute misinterpretation. It would have been easy enough; the extremely efficient manner the Xe use to communicate leaves little room for error in understanding, if your mind works like theirs. Even with their parts in her genetic make-up, Allie's brain still functions mainly as a humans, and is prone to the errors in communication that occur so frequently on earth.

It would be easy enough to find her error, just remember the conversation with John, when he had told her the council's decision.

He had come up behind her as she gazed out at the endless expanse of shinny metal structures, all tinged pink by the setting star. "Earth is ready." He said plainly.

She had already known the subject of council debate so the cryptic statement was understood.

She suppressed a squeal, remembering the anti-noise ordinance in the council seat "Really? I… can go back?"

"Yes, you are instructed to pick one…"

"You!"

"No," he shook his head, "I must attend to other duties."

"Ka'len, then."

"She is acceptable, but you must not tell her the reason."

"Why not?" Allie asked puzzled, "If she is an assistant then she should know…"

"It is important," they both glanced out momentarily as a gigantic Trasligher roared over the top of the building, heading for a docking tower in the distance. John continued as if it had just been an insect crawling on the window: "no one can know until the diplomatic envoy is in position."

"Envoy… but I thought…"

John stiffened up, receiving a transmission to his auditory nerve implant.

"What is it?" Allie asked.

"I am sorry, I must go." John started moving toward the nearest transporter array at the end of the corridor

"But, you didn't…"

"You have studied the records of past contacts. You will succeed." With that, he stepped into the energy field, his body dematerialized for immediate transport to his ship, the Sally, Allie thought it was cute that he named the Staris class craft after her great grandmother.

Nope, no miscommunication there, Allie returned to the present with the image of that pink sunset still in her minds eye… But it still made no sense.

Maybe the thing to do is not think about it, let things happen like they're supposed to. But what happens when the mission Ka'len believes they're on starts to get off track following the hidden, real plan. She will ask questions.

I don't want to lie to my friend. Allie thought, she didn't want to lie to her parents either but not telling is much different then giving them false information. Dealing with the humans would be easy enough…

Humans? Allie questioned her own thoughts. Had it come to that? Was she that far immersed in the Xe culture that her subconscious mind no longer associated herself with the people of earth? It was possible; it had been documented before. And in all honesty, she wasn't human, neither was her mother. They were both the products of a grand genetic experiment, an experiment which Allie had secretly resented her whole time with the Xe. How dare they come to earth and treat sentient beings like lab rats! Ruin lives!

I just wanted to be normal! The angry thought brought Allie far enough out of her deep thought pattern to realize that the sun was getting hotter now, the sky a beautiful shade of blue, in lieu of the gray storm clouds that had greeted her arrival.

She took a step back in her mind; there was no need to be mad at them for what they did. It was all before they understood that they were destroying lives, before they could know that what they did was wrong. Empathy had been Allie's greatest gift to the Xe, in a sense a gift to themselves through her creation.

A bird flew overhead and landed in a tree nearby, Allie sat up in the lounge chair she had pulled into the back yard and watched it. Its joyful song sent her mind wondering again, this time to all the things she had missed. Even the rain was a sight for sore eyes. Rain is not a thing that happens on Xeln II, the planet she had made residence on for three of her five years, all the water was gathered from the atmosphereic filters and the ground.

And the burning, yellow star, known as the Sun to earth people, known simply by a catalogue number to the Xe, a number Allie couldn't even remember. How different it was to be warm outside. All Xe homeworlds are on planets much farther from the star that created them, making an almost perpetual winter. Environments so cold that no plants could grow; oxygen generators were brought in to condition a planet long before the cites started going up. Cities that would end up covering the planets entire surface in very short period of time.

Allie suddenly thought of Ka'len. How strange this must be to her. She had never been off Xeln II, plants were a new thing to her, animals too. The only other creature she had ever known besides Xe had been Allie, a human. And now she was here, on a world so rich with life that it drew the interest of a race as advanced as the Xe… and she was sitting in the house watching Television.

That's not right! Allie thought as she determinedly pushed herself up from the lounge chair.

Inside the house, Allie found Ka'len right where she had been that mourning when she'd gone out back, and that was—Allie glanced back over her shoulder to the clock on the wall behind her—four hours ago! Time must fly when you're sitting and staring aimlessly off into the sky too.

"What are you watching?" Allie asked. Ka'len turned and stared blankly at her friends face for a moment, then:

"I believe you call it a 'talk show'."

"Oh…" Allie said, Ka'len could tell she had been thinking about something that troubled her. The ability of the human mind to worry over inconsequential matters never ceased to amaze, and fascinate her. Ka'len also found the humans on the television most intriguing, she watched spellbound as two huge women shot up from their seats and started screaming at each other.

"Do many humans behave like this?" she turned back to Allie, puzzled.

"No, fortunately." Allie read the topic as it flashed up at the bottom of the screen: 'my overweight lesbian lover'. She let out an exasperated sigh, reached for the remote: "I think you've seen enough daytime television." Then clicked it off just as one of the land-whales got her former life partner in a headlock. Ka'len did not comment but she was clearly disappointed.

"We need to go do something…" Allie said, "not sit around in the house all day."

"But your parents are not here."

"I know, I can call my mom…"

"She will be upset. You told them to live life like normal…"

"I know that too," Allie cut her off, put her hands on her hips, "I've had five years of plans, rules, logic… I want to do something spontaneous!"

"You mean chaotic…"

"No! I mean fun!" Allie laughed, "come on, your supposed to study earth culture, you can't learn anything from the TV."

"I suppose…"

"That's more like it! I'll go call my mom." Allie walked toward the kitchen, leaving Ka'len staring at the lifeless television screen. Several seconds later Lisa came in the front door,

"I'm home…" she cut it off as her cell phone started ringing.

Allie peaked her head around the kitchen wall, phone stuck in one ear, "oh… never mind." She said, stuck the phone back on the hook.

"What's wrong?" Lisa asked.

"Nothing, me and Ka'len just want to go somewhere."

Lisa heaved her heavy bag off her shoulder and sat it down against the wall, "where?"

"Somewhere…" Allie glanced over at Ka'len, back to Lisa, "with animals!"

Ka'len sat quietly through the conversation, still staring at the blank screen but listening intently to every word. Humans talk too much, she thought.

Allie and Lisa went on and on exchanging ideas about how to best introduce the entire world to her as quickly as possible. Not that the idea wasn't intriguing, Ka'len had studied the records of research done on lower animals, the non-self aware creatures that were of so little concern to the Xe, she knew it would be most interesting to see them up close. But for what possible reason? It was not in her mission protocol. And anything not in the protocol was an abuse of time… Allie was talking to her.

"… How does that sound?"

Ka'len found herself at a loss. Had she just 'zoned out' like Allie had described? "I was not listening."

Allie was shocked by the admission. Ka'len, not paying attention to every little nuance of activity around her? It was also somewhat amusing though. "I said, we can go to the zoo and then the aquarium, does that sound like fun?"

"It sounds enjoyable."

Lisa reached into her purse, produced a wad of small bills, "you sure you will be okay on your own? I hate to let you go by your self…"

"Mom, I'll – we'll be fine, you stay and work on your school stuff." Allie smiled, "remember, normal?"

"Yeah, your right. I just still think of you as a little girl I guess." Lisa said with a sigh, placed the money in Allie's waiting hands.

"Thanks mom." Allie reached up and hugged Lisa, then turned to Ka'len: "let's go!"

Infernal peanut shells! Mary flicked an empty husk off the seat beside her. How can anyone eat so many? She watched Keith crack open nut after nut, popping the edible part in his mouth and tossing the rest to the bag on the floorboard, missing almost every time. What a pig!

"The mothers home, you think they will leave together?" Keith glanced over at Mary, saw her starting at the bag of shells. "Want some?" he extended the plastic bag of whole peanuts toward her. She glared back; he took that as a no.

"It's a possibility." Mary said, returning her gaze to the house down the street where Allie now resided. She was so close now, just hundreds of feet away, but Mary knew better. The girl might as well be on some ship in deep space because there was no way Mary would risk getting close to her while this Keith idiot was near.

But then, some activity caught Mary's eye, someone was leaving the house. It looked like Allie and that other girl who…

Keith already had the binoculars pressed to his face, "its Allie, and that other one." He said, looked at Mary, "and they're alone."

Perfect. Mary thought. There's no way they could go near them now. If Mary was correct, Allie would be much more powerful then her last encounter, and with no Charlie or Lisa around for Allie to worry about, there was nothing keeping her from using the full force of her abilities against them. An idea that both comforted and terrified Mary, what she had seen was just a taste of what Allie could do. How much more would it be now?

"Who do you think that other kid is?" Keith asked, then came up with his own answer: "maybe she's one of them..."

"I doubt it." Mary tried to sound as convincing as possible, she had already decided that the other girl must be an Alien, probably sent to guard Allie or something along those lines.

"I think they're headed to the bus stop." Keith started the engine of the light blue Government Issue sedan and slowly eased down the street, keeping a safe distance from the pair. They ended up following them right to the bus stop, where Keith thought they were headed. Then watched as Allie and the other one got on the bus. They followed the bus until they got off at the Woodland Park Zoo.

"Why come here?" Keith questioned, looking up at the South Gate entrance.

"To look at animals." Mary said, effectively stating the obvious. A trait that was growing more and more tiresome by the minute to Keith, He looked forward to disposing of this tool, the sooner the better.

"Guess we're on foot." He said, pulling the car into the nearest parking space.

"You were right Allie, this is… fun." Ka'len forced the last word out, still unsure of its proper application after all this time. But the word did adequately describe the feeling inside her. She was having fun!

The two walked slowly along the main loop toward the 'African Savanna' section, Allie wanted to see the Lions, Ka'len didn't care what she saw, it was all new and exciting. Even the other people walking along with them fascinated her. Everyone looked so different, short people, tall people, fat people… but they were all the same, a concept that was new to her. Most Xe follow the same basic body shape with only few deviations from the standard. All her brothers and sisters on Xeln II looked no different then herself, in her natural form. And after seeing the Varity of this world, Ka'len realized that that natural form was 'boring'.

They came to a stop in front of the lion enclosure, With nothing to see, as usual. It seemed all the cats were asleep.

"What's in here?" Ka'len asked as she searched the visible nooks and crannies of the display for the animals within.

"Lions…" Allie trailed, Ka'len could feel an energy build up coming from her friend. Minute but still detectable, but then it faded, Allie said: "they were asleep."

Not long after she spoke, a majestic male lion poked his head out from around a clump of rocks and started heading toward the spot where Allie and Ka'len stood on the other side of the barrier, followed by five female cats. It came right up to the thick plexi-glass wall and plopped down, staring curiously at the two girls.

"Its… beautiful…" Ka'len approached the glass and pressed her hand against it, the great cat leaned its head in, scrunched up its nose and sniffed around where her hand was. The other cats came and gathered around, all their eyes fixed on Allie.

A crowd started gathering on the human side of the glass too, all mesmerized by the animals' anomalous behavior. Allie sensed the tense wonderment in the crowd around her, no fear, just amazement at seeing the creatures so close, and acting so strangely. It sent a rush through her, she could feel the energy emitted by this throng, it was an unusual feeling, like none she'd ever felt before. Large groups of Xe had a field about them but this was her first time in a large enough group of humans to feel the field, and it was much different, much stronger. A testament to the latent abilities locked within every mind on the planet.

Allie could clearly see the need for the alliance now, it wasn't that earth was ready, it was that earth was in danger, the human race was in danger. One more-good step forward in evolution and all humans would have the power she possessed. It would be a self-destructive cataclysm like the universe had never seen. The Xe had had a similar disaster at their own hands almost 500,000 earth years ago when they started to harness mental powers. Everything that happened now happened because they wanted to save earth from a similar fate.

Too much… the pain was back, throbbing in her head. Allie, for the first time realized just what was riding on her 'mission'. The fate of the entire race. There was no way she could fail, but she had no idea how to succeed. How can she bring the two races together peacefully and quickly by herself? She needed help, and for some reason, a name popped into her head: Mary Crawford?

"…Allie? Are you okay?" Ka'len nudged her friend, it appeared that Allie had 'zoned out' now. She glanced up at the ring of people now around them, now staring at Allie instead of the big cats, who, in turn, were still staring at Allie.

Allie turned her head toward Ka'len, her eyes were dilated but within seconds they refocused and Allie gasped, as if shocked.

"What?" Allie asked, disoriented, face somewhat pale. She looked around at all the eyes peering down on her, some concerned, some amused, most just looking because everyone else was.

"You do not look well." Ka'len said.

"I… I'm fine." Allie reached up, taking Ka'len's hand from her shoulder, "lets go…" she pulled Ka'len toward the nearest thin spot in the crowd. The sea of bodies parted for them, all eyes watching their passing. The lions watched too until one by one they all got up and ambled back to their place behind the rock, out of sight of the normal people.

"Well, I don't see them anywhere." Keith said, slightly angered. Mary walked beside him as they passed under a sign that read: 'African Savannah'.

"Your guys are watching all the exits, don't worry." Mary said, although she was worried because of that very fact. There was no way out, this was the perfect scenario for a snatch-n-grab job. Without a gun, Mary had no way to stop it if it started happening.

Hell, if I had a gun I'd take care of him right here! Mary thought, looking over at Keith. She had no idea why, but each time she laid eyes on him it made her blood boil. A conditioned response probably, she had steeled herself against getting attached to him in any way, attachment in this situation brought weakness, the inability to act as circumstances demand.

"We'll check this one last exhibit then we'll go back to the car." Keith said.

"It was weird… I could feel everyone." Allie tried to explain what happened at the lion exhibit to Ka'len without giving away her grand revelation, or the true nature of the mission.

"You had similar experiences on Xeln?" Ka'len asked, although she knew the answer.

"Yeah, but nothing like that. It was a raw energy, untrained, extremely powerful."

"The powers locked in the human brain are more potent then the Xe…"

"I know," Allie cut her off, "but there was something else… a name."

"Who?"

"Mary Craw--" Allie and Ka'len rounded a corner and came face to face with Mary and Keith, "--ford?!"

Breathless silence followed from all four as they stood, staring at each other. Allie took one step back, leaned up against Ka'len's shoulder and tensed her body up, preparing to run.

Mary's mind was working faster then it ever had before. She had to make a distraction, and quick! But what could she do that wouldn't tell Keith who's side she was on? Her thoughts raced 'round and 'round till one memory came up, the most horrible memory she had. That of her foray into the 'ship' that night, of her reaction to looking into the imagined Owens eyes, the pure mental anguish and… and the tendency of the body to collapse under such circumstances.

She looked into Allies eyes, as sincerely as possible, hoping that Allie could see the intentions in her actions. With quick jerks of her eyes to the left, she signaled the direction to run in. Allie had picked up on her motives! She nodded very slowly to show she understood.

It started like a blur, Mary tipped herself off balance toward Keith, began wailing as if in extreme pain, collapsing on top of him, bring them both to the ground.

Allie grabbed Ka'len's arm and spun her to the left, "Run!" Allie said firmly into Ka'len's ear and both of them were off, as fast as they could move. Neither looking back.

"What the hell?" Keith lay, shocked, with Mary on top of him. "Hey, what the hell was that?" he demanded angrily.

"She… she was in my… my head." Mary clutched her head and rolled off of him, appearing to be in intense pain. Keith didn't really buy it; it was too obvious that the girl didn't do anything. She was scared stiff just by seeing them.

"She… she… I saw…" Mary babbled on, Keith hoisted himself off the ground and brushed his jacket off. Then he noticed the group of people, many just coming from the spectacle at the lion exhibit, that was gathering around them.

"Get up," he held out his hand to Mary, she grabbed on and he hauled her back to her feet. "Can you walk?"

"I… I think so." She muttered low, her eyes fixed on a spot on the ground several paces ahead of them. Yes, Keith was right, his plan was working perfectly; Mary will lead the girl right to him.

"Wait here, I'm going to go after her." Keith tried to step away but Mary Grabbed his arm. "What the hell are you doing?" Keith held his intense anger in check, but just barely, violently ripped his arm from her grasp.

"Shouldn't we… they…" Mary yelled after him but he had already plunged into the crowd. Damn! She thought. That was too much, he'll suspect something.

"Keep going!" Allie ran beside Ka'len as both girls entered a clearing in front of the South Gate visitor center. "There's the exit! Just a little further."

Ka'len could see that there was something more wrong then just running into those two people, Allie seemed scared, rushed. Something urgent was pushing her.

"I do not understand why we are running. You could have just…"

"No… I need to think…" Allie slowed to a walk as they both rounded the back of the public restroom building. "It's too soon! This changes everything…"

"What is 'everything'?" Ka'len asked innocently but Allie knew she was already suspicious. Anyone could see by her actions that there was something more going on here then meets the eye. Ka'len would start asking questions now.

And what about Mary. Why did she just help them? And why did her name come so suddenly, almost like a vision? Again, Allie found herself assailed with many more questions then she had answers, when all she needed right now was just a measure of calm normalcy to figure things out

The way things were going, she began to long for the complex life among the Xe again. At least with them, you always knew what was around the next corner. Every aspect of almost every action was meticulously planned, no surprises, no wasted energy. Totally safe and stable, and the complete opposite of life on this planet in almost every way. But, life with the Xe had been a perpetual bore. This, unstable, unpredictable, horribly chaotic life on earth was truly exciting. An excitement that part of her longed for.

"Should we not continue?" Ka'len asked.

Allie glanced around the wall, that man was out there, somewhere. She couldn't see him but felt his presence, he was getting closer.

"This way…" Allie grabbed Ka'len's arm and started running toward the exit turn-styles that had come into view around the opposite side of the building. She glanced to the left after hearing a sound, a balloon popping. Her eyes returned forward just in time to see a black hared boy cross right into her path.

The surroundings went into a slow motion blur as Allie's mind searched for an escape from the inevitable impact that was but a fraction of a second away. Then, her eyes locked with his, and she found herself lost in them. Every other thought fading away until the physical pain of impact.

Their foreheads came together with a thud that resonated through Allie's skull, followed by an immediate sensation of pain, which was extinguished even before she hit the ground. The boy fell too, in the opposite direction.

Allie lay there for a while gazing up into the sky. Her body was fine, any injury healed its self-the moment it was inflicted, but her thoughts were spinning so fast she couldn't concentrate enough to sit up. Then she saw Ka'len move to stand over her, giving her a point to focus on and slow the spinning.

"Are you alright?" Ka'len asked, her voice even more flat then usual.

Allie moved her arms, pushing herself up onto her elbows, "yeah… I'm fine." Then she looked over at the boy, who was watching her and rubbing a spot on his head that was already forming into a nasty bruise.

"I'm sorry-,"

"Sorry, I-,"

They both spoke in unison, cutting each other off. Allie continued:

"I didn't see you…"

"No, it's my fault." He said, looked at her with those eyes

Again, Allie found herself lost in them, gazing helplessly into the unfathomable green depths. She tried to look away but she couldn't. A new and disturbing sensation compelled her to continue staring even though her consciousness was screaming at her to get up and continue running

Ka'len watched, intrigued by this display. She scanned between Allie, the boy, and back to Allie. There was defiantly something going on here, but what, Ka'len didn't know. There had been no records of such behavior in the research she had studied. Was this some new emotion being displayed? She would have to make Allie give her a full report later.

But now, a commotion across the plaza in the direction they had just come from caught her attention. The man who was with Mary Crawford was pushing his way through the crowd. He stopped and looked around for a moment until his eyes fell right on Ka'len, he began running in their direction.

"We need to go!" Ka'len pulled Allie up with a combination of her bodies own strength and telekinetic energy.

"Go…" Allie snapped back into reality. "Oh, yeah!" she ran with Ka'len past the boy, then stopped, looked back, said: "I'm really sorry."

"Come!" Ka'len tugged on her hand.

Several minutes later they made it back to the bus stop, right as a bus stopped. As they climbed in, Ka'len asked: "what happened?"

Allie replied with a silent look of confusion, not understanding the question.

"With that boy…" Ka'len clarified.

"Oh…"

Ka'len studied her friend, it was apparently something that Allie did not understand either.