CHAPTER FOUR

* * * *

It had only been an hour since Agent Vay had been dismissed by the grand councilwoman when she was being called upon again for her 'Ee-arth expertise.' Re-entering the meeting room, Vay paused nervously at the sight of the two dark-suited humans. Both men sat together at one end of a large, circular stainless steel table, directly opposite from the grand councilwoman and three other aliens, each one an ambassador and a member of the Galactic Council. With a slight gesture, one of them beckoned her to come forward, then pulled out a chair for her to sit on. Slowly, she complied, watching the humans from the corner of her eye. Even inside the ship, they still wore their shades. Though she could not see their eyes, she had the distinct feeling that they were observing her closely.

She climbed up into her seat (which was a little high given that she was the shortest individual aboard the ship) and gazed unconcernedly across the table. Without looking directly at them, she studied the humans' features. The man on the left was an unremarkable being of very pale skin and short, sandy-brown hair slicked straight back. He appeared so plain that Vay did not think she could pick him out among even a handful of humans, but the man on the right… Tall, dark-skinned, muscular and intimidating to look at, this was no ordinary human.

"Agent Pleakley, I assume?"

Vay was startled to hear the dark man speak her name. Neither one of them had so much as looked at her earlier, let alone attempted to address her as he was doing now.

"Yes?" she said timidly, suddenly realizing that she did not know either man's name.

"I am - Vay Pleakley. And you -?"

"Bubbles," the dark man replied, tilting his sunglasses in order to peer over them at her. "Agent Marion Bubbles."

Vay nodded. "Pleasure."

"Yes," said Agent Bubbles flatly, surprised at her lack of curiosity in his name. Perhaps 'bubbles' did not translate; all the aliens had appeared to be struggling with the English language, or perhaps it did not seem strange at all for someone to bear such a name. Either way, it was a nice change, not having the person you were just introduced to do a double-take over your crazy ancestor's choice of legacy.

"We are members of the CIA - Central Intelligence Agency. We are currently investigating a series of extraterrestrial encounters and UFO sightings in this general area. Your superior -" he said, nodding toward the grand councilwoman "tells me that you are one of the universe's foremost experts on this planet. Is that correct?"

Vay blushed. "Well, sorta…"

Agent Bubbles tipped his shades again. "Sorta?"

"Well, what I mean is, I am an expert, as far as my work in the Federation is concerned, but of course I don't know nearly as much about Ee-arth as you do, seeing as you live here."

For a moment everyone, including Vay, looked surprised at her sudden mastery of English, although it wasn't really as surprising as it would seem. She had spent many nights hooked up to a translator in order to teach herself human languages; over two dozen different ones, to be exact, but because she had no immediate use for that knowledge, it had all fallen into vague remembrance in the back of her mind. Until today. As she had begun to feel more and more at ease among the humans, her tongues had loosened and she had begun to communicate with them as naturally as she did in her native Plorginaar. The rest of her ship mates had not been as lucky, as they had not bothered with subliminal language learning until their ship had departed from Turo. Agent Bubbles regarded the young woman with a mild interest.

"First of all, the planet's name is Earth. And second, I am curious as to how you acquired your knowledge of it. Have you been to this planet before?"

"No, sir. I haven't, but my father has. And my aunt and cousin. A few other relatives have also, but this is my first mission to Ee uhhh - Earth."

"Then I take it your family taught you what you know?"

Vay nodded. Inside her, the baby fidgeted.

Agent Bubbles continued. "Tell me, Agent Pleakley, do you know anything about the mosquito?"

"Mos- what?"

"Mosquito. It's an insect."

Vay shook her head, then added "No," as an afterthought, in case the human did not understand her gesture.

Simultaneously, the two men stood up, startling their extraterrestrial guests. For the first time, the pale man spoke.

"Would you mind stepping outside for a moment?" he asked. "We have something to show you."

* * * *

Outside in the desert twilight, the atmosphere was tranquil, sleepy. The once blindingly bright sands had dulled to a cool gray. The sky was a deep indigo with pale gold dying on the horizon. A few stars had come out, and as the night descended a little breeze brushed by, relaxing them as they exited the stuffy interior of the ship. The military had long gone, and it was as silent as space outside, save for the nearby chirp of a solitary cricket. Waddling down the ramp, Vay glanced about cautiously before stepping out onto the desert sand. It took a long moment for her eye to adjust to the dim light. For an even longer moment, everyone stood still and silent, obviously expectant of something. Vay wanted to ask what was going on, but thought it best to keep quiet and let someone else voice the questions that were now weighing on all the aliens' minds. But before she could stop herself, Agent Pleakley let out a yelp as something stung her neck. Automatically her hand flew up to swat at the source of the prick. Her sensitive antenna picked up the shrill whine of something either far away or very tiny, before she felt a similar sting on the antenna itself. She yelped again.

Agent Bubbles looked at her questioningly. "Something wrong?"

"I'm -" (swat) "- being attacked by something!" (swat) "OUCH!"

"Mosquitos."

(swat) "Huh?"

"Mosquitos. They drink blood."

"I see." Vay grumbled irritably, swatting at yet another one biting her cheek. "Is this what you wanted to show us?"

She turned to look at her colleagues. Aside from the grand councilwoman and one of the other council members, none of them appeared to be bothered by the mosquitoes. In fact, even those two did not seem to be very annoyed by them. Then she looked at the CIA agents. Their intermittent flinches told her they were also getting bitten, but still not nearly as much as she was.

"What's with these things?!" she demanded, waving her arms around to ward them off. "Why aren't they attacking anyone else?"

"Apparently they are attracted to you. You must have something in your blood that they like," Bubbles explained.

"Well -" (swat) "they're not venomous or anything, are they?"

"No, but they have been known to carry diseases."

Vay stopped in mid-swat and gaped at him. "Diseases?!! Like, deadly diseases?"

Bubbles shrugged. "Occasionally, although it's highly unlikely that any of these mosquitoes are diseased."

Vay was unconvinced. The possibility had already horrified her.

"Well, likely or not, I can't stay out here a minute longer with that risk. I'm pregnant, you know, and Dr. Haanlaan's going to be all over me for allowing myself to get bitten by these things."

But just as she was turning to go back into the ship, her attention was caught by a speck of light in the distance, a light as far and tiny as a star, but growing bigger and brighter by the second. It was quickly followed by more lights, all lined up horizontally against the dark silhouettes of the mountains. The roar of engines told them what it was, and they all froze. It was the military. They were back. Agent Bubbles and his partner turned to the aliens and shouted at them to get back into their ship before they arrived, but it was too late. From out of nowhere a helicopter appeared, swooping low over their ship as it beamed its day-bright searchlight on them. From up above, a voice boomed over a megaphone:

"EVERYONE REMAIN WHERE YOU ARE AND PUT YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR! ANY ATTEMPT TO ESCAPE OR RESIST WILL BE MET WITH AN IMMEDIATE OPEN-FIRE. YOU ARE NOW IN THE CUSTODY OF THE UNITED STATES MILITARY POLICE, WHO WILL BE TRANSPORTING YOU TO THE NEAREST DETAINMENT FACILITY UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE."