Alone again in the interrogation room. I wish they'd given me a newspaper, or something. Or a toy. But I guess it doesn't matter. I was so tired from having been up all night, plus minimal sleep, plus being grilled by two FBI agents for Lord knows how long. So I just put my head down and hoped to sleep. Ah, life. What have you done to me? Er, well, what have I done to life, is more like it. But whatever. It's sort of nice to enjoy the weirdness of one's situation, not knowing what will happen next. Kinda makes you feel like vomiting profusely.
Oh yeah, my donut girl, I suddenly thought, for no reason. I really should get that back from Aldaris before he leaves.
"Bethany? What is this location?"
Aldaris found me? I froze, for a second unable to answer. Then I noticed the way his question was phrased. Dude was looking out of my eyes. He could see the interrogation room. He could also hear my loud thoughts, so he heard me think "interrogation room." ...There's a way to keep a 'Toss out of your mind, right?
Okay, once more, even though this entire conversation took place in my thoughts, I'm going to write it as though we were speaking out loud, because nobody wants to read that much italics at one time.
"We got caught, Charlie," I said, simply. "They can target your teleports, and they even have a satellite photo of us in North Korea. You're blurred out for some reason, but I'm not. Sorry, Charlie, I forgot to mention satellites. Stands to reason some of them would be pointed at the world's most oppressive nations."
If he was upset, Aldaris didn't show it. "What have you told your interrogators?"
"Everything, from beginning to end. Oh, except about your condition, of course. That would just be rude. I'm sorry, Charlie, but I'm not on your side. Not really, anyway. I didn't mind not saying anything for your sake, but I won't lie to my government for you."
"...For once you display principle. It is long past time you honored your rightful loyalties. Though you will nonetheless be punished for your actions."
Silence. I put my head back on the table. Besides being tired, I didn't want took look like I was having a conversation with a psychic when the agents reviewed the camera footage. Huh, at the time I assumed by "punishment" Aldaris was referring to my government, but as I'm writing this, I suddenly realize that he could have been talking about consequences he might have for me. ...I wanna barf.
"It's not that bad," I answered, completely unaware of the alternate meaning like a doofus. "Sure, things are tough at the moment, but they can't arrest me without proving you're real. After all, if I'm suddenly arrested, my family and coworkers are going to be wondering what the uber-honest doofus did that's really so bad. The government can't exactly tell them that I was associating with a ficititious character."
"Stop being a fool. No longer can you hide behind your false predictions when this is the clear outcome. It is easy enough for your authorities to assign to you a crime which seems within your capabilities, and you would not soon be revealed to the light of day to correct any false perceptions of yourself."
"Again, dude, we're not dealing with the Terran Dominion, here. I mean, come on, supposing they did arrest me. How illogical would that be? Why bother arresting someone who's their primary contact to an alien entity?"
"Allow me to make myself entirely clear. I shall not reveal my presence to the humans for your sake, nor make any attempt to alleviate your punishment, nor remove you from it. You are entirely at the whims of the consequences to your actions."
"Okay, I understand."
"Is that the truth?" Aldaris got really angry at this point. "With every word you make obvious your absense of understanding. What you have done is no petty crime, but high treason. Were you a Protoss child engaging in analogous behavior, death by execution would be a likely outcome. I myself could give such an order and feel no regret. Will the humans be more merciful to you? Will they forget that you withheld information from them of a power beyond their understanding? I restrain myself for my own reasons, but can they see your actions in this light?"
"Yes...? I mean, after all...I didn't do anything to make you think you needed to attack Earth. That, uh, probably...counts for something..." At least I sure hope it does. "Am I correct in assuming that you would respect me more had I blabbed about you from the first?"
"Bethany," Aldaris said, almost as though he was sighing. "How can I not comment when a young person behaves so foolishly?"
I sat up. It's so hard to rest when an alien in your brain is yelling at you. "You're not going to kill me, are you?"
"I should have done so sooner. Ending your life at this present time will only alert your government."
"In other words," I thought out, trying not to smile. "You're a nice person."
"No. I am, or have been, misguided. Indeed, I have proved altogether too 'nice' until this point. That is the cause of my trouble. I shall not soon repeat my mistake."
I thought about Cheonha. Yeah, his niceness was the cause of his trouble. If he hadn't tried to save Cheonha's mother, then Cheonha wouldn't be fighting for her life in a hospital. Ordinarily I wouldn't bring up such a sensitive subject, but, I could kinda tell that Aldaris was thinking about that too. Seriously, for a guy who hates humans, sometimes he just doesn't seem like it.
"Well, I wasn't going to ask you to help," I said. "Not to get me out of here, anyway. But if you would, the FBI agents said that they had Statkus and Toby in custody, or they like, have them under survellience or something. If you could tell me about the guys, Cheonha, and her mom, that would be cool. Just let me know if they're okay, alright?"
"Have I not just mentioned that I shall no longer be 'nice'?"
"Well...whatever. If you feel like it, or something." I pulled off my synthetic emerald ring, and started to spin it on the table. "But I think I'll be able to contact them again."
"You seem so certain of this."
"Fairly certain, though I admit things are starting to feel pretty serious now. It's so scary now that I actually know we're - us humans - are being watched. Though if you think about it, it makes sense for them to let me go. I'm more likely to do something that either confirms or denies my story, so they'll be able to collect evidence one way or another. Besides, they've got this law that says nobody can be held more than 24 hours without being charged with a crime, so they've got until noon tomorrow to let me go before I start quoting law books."
"And you still insist you will go unpunished?"
"...That's less certain. Then again, that does depend on you. Not planning on any more crazy adventures, are you?"
"Did I plan the first?"
"Still," I spun the ring again. "What are you going to do? If you're going to leave for the K Sector, you might as well leave now. There's nothing you can do here that will help the Protoss. Best case scenario, they let us go, you're not there to give evidence, and everything continues normally."
"...I am reluctant to leave while Cheonha's life remains in jeopardy. I bear some responsibility for this outcome, and departing while her future is in doubt is undesirable."
I chuckled. "Do you want me to warn you every time you're being nice?"
"Do not be absurd. I am not motivated by kindness, but a preference for clarity. In any case, remember my words. You can expect no aid; whatever punishment you are assigned you deserve, and I shall not interfere."
"What you're saying is fair," I sighed and jammed my ring back on my finger. "And I'll accept whatever happens. But I still argue that everything I did is reasonable, and has a logical basis."
"Then in that hope I leave you. We shall speak again, ere the end."
Wow, what a freaking spooky way to say goodbye to someone. Then again, whatever happens to me next is going to be spooky, so he might as well be morbid. Being morbid is fun. Or at least it seems fun to the person who has no choice but to accept it.
Man, I really wish I wasn't missing work. I can't afford to lose money on my paycheck.
I was too out of sorts to really do anything. I tried to think of how I could make more money. I tried to review all the reasons why the second half of Death Note fell flat. I tried to think of pretty dresses. Nothing distracted me. By the time I was mentally exhausted enough to try and fall asleep again, agent Michael came back in again.
"Ms. Beverly," he said. "Just to let you know, we have already obtained a warrant, and your home is being searched right now."
"'Kay." I thought about the clothes in my hamper, still stained with Cheonha's blood. Well, they heard my testimony, so whatever.
"Also, you will most likely be released this evening. Please do not speak of anything you said here. I'm giving you a number to contact, and you will immediately report anything unusual as it happens. Failure to do so will be considered grounds for arrest."
My face went cold as the blood drained away, but I managed to hold it together. "I understand."
"Also, you will do your best to pursuade the alien to speak with us."
Bffft. Lol, no, as if that's going to happen. Then again, I don't know how serious he was being. With his tone, it's kinda impossible to know if he even believes a word I said since I got here.
"Uh, I don't really see what the point of that is," I said. "He said he's going to leave soon."
"But you'll try?"
"...No, he's already repeatedly got on my case for even implying that he'll talk to anybody on Earth. Even when I wasn't implying."
"And you're certain he doesn't have any intentions for Earth?"
"Prolly woulda done something by now if he did."
"Alright then, keep in touch with us if anything changes," Michael gave me a weird glance, but otherwise seemed friendly. "Come on out and get some coffee. You look like you need it."
I laughed. "I need a nap, that's what. Ugh, my life. There's some place to lie down around here?"
"They've got a couch in the station, I think." Michael said. "Oh, and just in case, if we happen to discover 'Aldaris' before he leaves, how do you recommend we react?"
"Just remember that he's a person. People all expect aliens to be weirdos, but he's really normal. He's perfectly capable of being rational and talking things out, if you give him a chance."
"John said the opposite. He claimed that Aldaris threatened to kill you if John didn't keep you from talking."
"What? Oh, that's funny." I only grinned a little. "Nah, he bothered to save my life once, so it'd be a waste if he did. He wouldn't really kill me unless I did something stupid like mess with his ship. Nah, he's perfectly reasonable."
"Okay, I suppose." Michael started to stand, but then rested back in his chair, puttering about with his hands. "There's no easy way to say this, but you probably want to know."
I stared. That pose and that tone were not good news.
"Eunha Lee didn't make it. She's dead. On top of this, Cheonha lost so much blood that she's in a coma. Given that her brain has been deprived of oxygen, it's not likely she's going to make it either."
Nothing happened. Ever. The world didn't turn, the sun didn't shine, and time was vanity. And because time refused to go forward at a pace perceptible by man, the electrical impulses from my ears didn't reach my brain. I stood there in silence, comprehending nothing at all.
"Er, excuse me?" I blinked, and the world resumed its usual state long enough for me to understand what was going on. "I mean...I mean...thank you...for...telling me..."
And then everything silenced. Hunger and exhaustion didn't exist. Talk was just a scorching wind in the desert. I shut down like a lump, saying and doing nothing, waiting until my brain received some further input. One way or another I managed to get out of the interrogation room, but my only prevailing memory of that night is that people saying words, even though they had no voices.
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Author's Notes:
Given that my hard drive just died today (I'm on the library computer now), it's probably going to be a while before my next update.
Author's Notes New:
- I researched gemstones for another story of mine, and apparently synthetic stones are chemically identical to natural gemstones, and aren't technically fake. Emeralds make sense for being synthetic, as natural emeralds very typically have inclusions. This one guy I read said that some emerald can come out looking basically like broken Coke bottles.
