Davy Jones' Locker
Chapter 31
XXXI
Kyle ran toward the men, as they tossed Tess –with the cinder block around her ankles- into the sea. He caught one of the men broadside before the man could turn around completely to face him. The much larger man, knocked off balance, fell over the side. The second man, who was at least as big as the first, grabbed Kyle by the neck and literally lifted him off the deck. Kyle gasped for air, as the large man's hand wrapped almost completely around his neck, pressing like a vise against his trachea and closing off the airway. Though well-toned and muscular, and no small guy himself, Kyle found himself nevertheless unable to reach the hulking ogre that held him effortlessly in the air with one hand as it strangled the life out of him. He tried to kick or punch the man, but it was to no avail. His arms and legs simply wouldn't reach him.
"Damn," Kyle thought, as he began to lose consciousness, "Just my luck to be killed out here by the Incredible Hulk's evil white brother."
Suddenly, a bolt of power flashed past Kyle's face and struck the large man square in the middle of the chest. The powerful burst of energy sent the large man backwards right through the rail and over the side… with Kyle still in his hand. Michael watched as Kyle went over the side. He hadn't expected to go this far, but what had to be done had to be done. He quickly kicked off his shoes and pulled off his shirt then jumped overboard. The larger man had released Kyle when they hit the water, and Kyle was floundering, half-conscious, on the surface. Michael grabbed Kyle by the chin and lifted his face out of the water, as he swam back to the side of the boat with him.
"Liz! …Liz! …Drop me a ladder or something," Michael yelled, spitting out some salt water. He waited a few moments then yelled again. "Liz! Where are you? I need a ladder over here!" Getting no response, Michael looked around for a way to get himself and Kyle back onto the small ship. He spotted the anchor line at the bow. "Liz, you'd better have a real good reason for disappearing on me up there," Michael said, more to himself than to anyone in particular, as he paddled with one hand toward the anchor line while holding Kyle with the other hand. Kyle seemed to be regaining consciousness. At least that was a good sign. He could keep himself afloat if need be. Michael reached the anchor line at last and grabbed hold of it with one hand, testing his remaining strength.
"Can you hold onto me, Kyle, while I get us out of here?"
"I think so," Kyle said. "Is Goliath gone?"
"Yeah. Hold on tight. We're going up."
Kyle put his arms around Michael's shoulders.
"Not that close," Michael said, looking Kyle in the eyes. "I can't move my arms… and I can smell your breath."
"Naw, that's just the fish in my shirt," Kyle said, grinning as much as he could under the circumstances. Kyle slid down a little and grabbed hold around Michael's waist to allow Michael to move his arms freely. Michael grabbed the anchor line with both hands and began to climb, pulling himself and Kyle up the chain one stroke at a time. As he climbed, Kyle began to help, finally grabbing hold of the chain himself and pulling himself the rest of the way up. The two climbed over the bow onto the yacht and looked around.
"Where is Liz," Michael asked, his voice now showing genuine concern.
**********
One hundred and twenty feet below the surface of the sea, a silvery, mirror-like apparition appeared in front of a panicking young woman whose feet were stuck in a cement block. Tess had held her breath about as long as she could, and she had tried every way she could –and a few that she couldn't- to get the block off of her feet or to somehow swim or move with it on, but it was useless. Now she was at the point of sheer exhaustion and panic. She saw the silvery apparition appear in front of her, looking hazy through the water, and her only thought was that she must be ready to die and this was some light leading her to the next life. She was relieved to think that it wouldn't all end here, but it saddened her, too, to go this way… this suddenly… this… needlessly. Tess closed her eyes and prepared to succumb to the overwhelming urge to breathe. She knew that her burning lungs would merely fill with water, but she had already held her breath longer than she had thought was humanly possible.
As she started to breathe in, a hand reached out and grabbed her, pinching her nose and mouth closed. Tess opened her eyes wide in shock and looked through the haze of the water at the figure in front of her. If she was being taken to Heaven or… some place else… either way, she hadn't expected to be taken like this. She momentarily almost forgot that her lungs were burning as though being seared by flames with a desperation to breathe. The figure swimming in front of her laboriously moved the cinder block a few inches at a time toward the silvery apparition. It took only a matter of moments… twenty, maybe thirty seconds… to reach the apparition, but to Tess it was an eternity. She was losing consciousness as the figure pulled her into the apparition. The next moment, the hand came off of Tess' nose and mouth, and Tess gulped in air… real air… delicious air… with several deep reflexive gasps. Collapsing at the feet of the unknown figure who had pulled her through the apparition, Tess looked up thankfully into the smiling face of a young woman with brown eyes and hair. She was sure that she was looking into the face of an angel. Whether she was dead or alive, either way, she was looking at the face of an angel.
"That was close," the dark-haired woman said, attempting to press some of the salt water out of her long, drenched hair. "I'm glad we made it in time. I'm Liz, by the way."
Tess gasped again, gulping in more of the precious air that her lungs and body were starved for. Then she surprised Liz by grabbing her around the legs and starting to cry. Liz slid down next to her and put her arms around her.
"It's alright. You're okay now. You're safe."
"I know," Tess said, tears streaming down her face. "I know… thanks to you. I don't know how you did it, but thanks… so much! You're an angel!"
"Pshhh… just someone who knows a few special tricks," Liz said, holding Tess and rocking with her back and forth.
"How did you get in this mess anyway," Liz asked. "Who were those guys?"
Tess looked away momentarily. Then she looked back at Liz with a sense of determination.
"You deserve to know. I've never told anyone before, not even my husband when I was married."
"Kyle?"
Tess looked surprised. "You know Kyle?"
"Yeah. He's here… somewhere."
"I thought I saw him right before they threw me in the water… then I thought maybe it was just my life flashing before my eyes, you know."
"Yeah."
"You wanted to know why they were trying to kill me?"
"If you want to tell me."
"I'll tell you. Like I said, you deserve to know. I wouldn't be here if you hadn't saved me… I still don't know how you did that!"
"That's my secret," Liz said. "But I might tell you later. What did those guys want?"
"They're just hired thugs," Tess said. "It's who they work for that matters."
"Who's that?"
Tess looked around again. "I don't want you to think I'm making things up. You might think I'm lying to you, and I wouldn't do that… not after you saved my life."
"I won't think you're lying."
Tess nodded. Somehow, she sensed that Liz really would believe her.
"Okay… well, the people the thugs work for… they're not from around here."
"Not from… I don't even know where here is," Liz said, just realizing this fact. She and Michael had asked the sphere to take them to Tess. She had no idea where that might be, though.
"Well, we're about twenty miles east of the Bahamas," Tess said. "But that's not what I meant. I meant that the people those thugs are working for are… aliens."
"Aliens… like Mexicans? …or aliens like, you know, Martians?"
"Like Martians," Tess said. "They're shape-shifters from a planet called Copro… and from Antar."
Tess thought she noticed a look of surprise in Liz's eyes at the mention of Antar. She wasn't sure what to make of it, though.
"Did the thugs come from there, too," Liz asked.
"Oh, no! They didn't even know they were working for aliens. They just know they're well-paid. It's just business for them."
"Some business!"
"Yeah. Did you put them out of business, Liz?"
"Me? No, I think Michael and Kyle did that." Liz looked around with a look of concern on her face.
"You're worried about your friend and Kyle, aren't you?"
"Yeah, well, they were here, and now they're not… But I trust them. They'll be okay."
Tess smiled and nodded. But she could see the worry in Liz's face.
"What did these aliens want with you, Tess?"
"They've always wanted me," Tess said. "Ever since I came here I've been hiding from them."
"Where did you come here from?"
"Well…" Tess looked down again. "Don't think I'm lying to you…"
"I promise."
"Antar."
Tess noticed that same look of surprise in Liz's eyes.
"You know something, don't you, Liz? How do you know about Antar?"
"You won't think I'm lying, will you?" Liz asked.
Tess smiled. "Okay, I had that coming, I guess. No, I promise."
"I've been there," Liz said. She decided to wait until she knew more about this girl before telling her that Michael was from there.
Tess looked surprised but then nodded. "I knew there was something about you. You aren't a shape-shifter."
Liz laughed. "No!"
"I know that. You don't look like you're Antarian… but I can't be sure. There's not that much difference."
"I'm from Roswell… New Mexico."
"Oh."
"Why were these shape-shifters after you, Tess?"
"Because they made me."
Liz could not conceal the shock that this statement caused in her. Tess noticed it immediately.
"I guess you aren't here to take me back if you don't know who I am," Tess said.
"No. I'm only here to help you, Tess."
"I can tell that. Thanks, Liz."
"What did you mean, 'they made you?'"
"They work for a real bad type known as Kivar."
"I've heard of him."
Tess looked surprised but just barely.
"Well, anyway, Kivar bribed someone to get him some of the queen's hair from one of her hair brushes then he had his scientists isolate her DNA and combine it with human DNA here on Earth."
"Why?"
"Because he hoped to kill the real queen, Ava, and replace her with his creation."
"You."
Tess nodded. "I was supposed to be indoctrinated and raised to be obedient to Kivar while I grew up here on Earth, but I escaped. Another shape-shifter, Nasedo, took me away when I was little and hid me. The sheriff in Roswell helped us."
"That explains that," Liz said to herself. "How could you replace Ava, though? I met Ava. She's like ninety years old now. You're nowhere near that."
"The plan was to age progress me over time until I was the same age as the queen then kill her and put me in her place. Then Kivar would take over, because I would be there helping him from inside the palace. No one would ever suspect the queen."
"Ingenious. Nasty… but ingenious. You spoiled their plans, huh…"
"Yeah… big time. I escaped from Kivar and his shape-shifters when I was only seven. Nasedo found me before the others did; and instead of taking me back, he helped me get away. The sheriff helped us, too, for a while, as I said before. He found us a place to hide… a safe house. Nasedo explained everything pretty much to the sheriff, I think. He trusted him. Not so much at first, but later he did. That's how I met Kyle. But Jim never told anyone… not even Kyle… what I was. He kept my secret. He wanted me to tell Kyle, but I never could. How can you tell someone you care about that you're not real," Tess asked, swallowing a sob and looking at her own hands as though she didn't know what they were.
"You're real, honey," Liz said. "You're as real as me! You may have been brought to life by the scientists who combined Ava's DNA with human DNA, but you're every bit as real as I am."
Tess smiled. "Thanks, Liz. You're nice… a lot like Jim. I miss him… and Kyle, too, in a way."
"Somebody killed Jim," Liz said.
Tess was stunned… then tears began to well up in her eyes again. "Jim's dead? How? When?"
"A couple of days ago… at the old quarry outside of Roswell. We don't know who did it. He was shot with his own gun. The deputy… the new sheriff… Hansen… thinks Jim slipped and fell into the quarry and accidentally shot himself."
Tess shook her head vehemently. "No! Jim would never do that! You don't know about the quarry, Liz. Stay away from there! It's a dangerous place!"
"Well, I figured that out," Liz said. "Kathleen told me that. She said it's spooky. There's no sound out there… not a bird or a cricket, not even a breeze to rustle the leaves of the trees or bushes. She said it's like being inside a strange invisible box."
"Don't let her go there again if you care about her," Tess said. "Please!"
"Why? What's the deal with the old quarry?"
Tess grimaced. She didn't want to say too much, but she felt somehow compelled to tell Liz everything.
"The shape-shifters' space craft is there. They put a force canopy over the whole area."
"How were Jim and Kathleen able to get in there then? If a space ship is there, why didn't they see it?"
"The ship is buried under the rocks at the bottom of the quarry. The force canopy doesn't keep people out… people won't even notice it. Animals seem to be aware of it, though, and they stay away. The purpose of the force canopy is to provide the shape-shifters with remote information about what's happening there. It's like a radar field. They're… connected… somehow… to the force canopy. Anything that happens there, they can see it or sense it in some way. If they feel it's a threat to them… they eliminate the threat."
"Why didn't you tell Jim this?"
"I wanted to tell him… but I was afraid he'd go out there and try to do something and they'd kill him. I didn't want anything to happen to him. There was nothing Jim could have done against the shape-shifters. He wouldn't have had a chance… He didn't have a chance."
"They killed him?"
"I'm sure of it. That's probably how they found me."
"Jim wouldn't have told them where you were… not even if they tortured him."
"He wouldn't need to," Tess said. "I'm sure they knew he wouldn't give up any information. But all they have to do is touch someone's forehead to see all their thoughts."
"You think Jim let them do that?"
"No. They would have sneaked up on him disguised as something… a bird, a cat, a puppy… it could be anything. If Jim picked it up, it could have had his gun and shot him before he knew what happened. They could get the information in the seconds before he died… maybe even after he died… in the first few seconds."
Liz was appalled and shocked by what Tess was telling her.
"So Jim really would have been defenseless against them," Liz said.
"Yeah."
"Someone could have notified the military."
"The Secret Service and the military aren't high on my slumber party invitation list, Liz. Jim wasn't just protecting me from shape-shifters and from Kivar…"
"Oh! I see."
"Besides, anything that drew attention to the presence of aliens and appeared in any way to be connected to Jim would have caused nothing but trouble for him from the military."
"You're probably right."
Liz looked around again for Michael and Kyle. She was more that a little worried now by their disappearance.
"I think we'd better look for Michael and Kyle. You up to walking?"
"Yeah… I'll be okay now. Thanks, Liz. I'll go with you. Maybe I can help."
Liz nodded and headed off toward the front of the yacht, walking along the port side, with Tess beside her. As they reached the bow, Liz looked around for any sign of her two missing friends. She saw nothing. Then, suddenly, two large hands closed around her eyes and mouth from behind. She heard Tess let out a muffled cry and knew that they had her, too. Moments later, the hands came off, and Liz and Tess looked around. They were inside a large stateroom. A couple of large men left the room and locked the door behind them.
"I'm so glad you could join the party," a voice behind Liz and Tess said.
Both spun around at the same time.
"It was really not very considerate of you to escape when I wanted you to drown, Tess."
Tess gasped. "Nicholas?"
The boy grinned. "At your service… temporarily… very temporarily."
tbc