Chapter 4

"Looks like we need a plan B," said Chris as he looked out the tinted window of the large SUV he was in towards the field where Ikaros came crashing down over his head.

He then pulled out his camera and attached a large lens to the body. Then he started taking pictures of military trucks loading large objects covered in black wrapping to be taken away. He then took pictures of groups of soldiers walking around to maintain a perimeter around the area. The police road block ahead of the car, the military adding further enforcement to the road block. There were also Air Force officers walking towards the scene. Any view of the area in question was obstructed by barricades and heavy vehicles.

"Impressive response time," mused Sugata.

"I have to agree. To be this far along they had to have come sometime in the night. Tells me they probably had a lot of eyes on that hole and have people ready to move in case something like this happened. What I'm more concerned about is if anyone saw any of us after I passed out. Or if they managed to spot Ikaros falling out of that hole," said Chris while snapping as many pictures as he could of whatever caught his eye.

"If they did, I doubt they got more than a glimpse of her, it was very dark. I doubt any images taken a night could give them enough resolution or detail to get a description of her," added Sugata.

"Let's hope so. This is Roswell shit right here. Annoying as it is to have Ikaros chained to my arm I'm not letting them drag her and my left arm to Area 51," said Chris with a grim sort of resolve as he continued to snap away with his camera.

"Ikaros. I have a question for you. Being a machine of some sort do you have any kind of sensors that were active while you came down from the sky? Do you know if there was anyone else in the area who could have seen you last night?" asked Sugata.

"I should have thought of that..." he mused in disappointment with himself.

"Don't feel bad Christopher. You haven't been using your mind like this in a long time. We just need to spray a little lube on your gears," said Mikako with an amused voice.

"I'm trying really hard here... But when an attractive girl says lube... Grr! Ikaros, just answer the man's question!" said Chris while Mikako laughed at him.

"Unfortunately they were not functional at the time of my arrival master. However when I took flight to bring you to your home I did not detect the presence of any others besides Mr. Sugata in the immediate area," explained Ikaros who was seated beside Christoper in the back row of the SUV.

"Took flight... Guess your wings aren't just for show..." he said casually and then looked up from his camera's view finder and then to Ikaros with a twitching eyebrow. "Wait! You flew me home?!"

"Yes master. I did."

Chris was about to smack his face with his left hand when he remembered the chain. He closed his and tightly a few times just to be sure it was safe and then proceeded to face palm and groan loudly in annoyance. "The stupid... It BURNS! Half the city probably saw you!" Chris yelled and then put down his camera and pulled out his phone.

"What are you doing?" asked Sugata and Mikako.

"Checking social media... I'm sure everyone who saw Ikaros flying around took a video and snapped a picture and put it on Facebook or Twitter... Or whatever the fuck... Oh thank you merciful God!"

"You found nothing?" asked Mikako.

"I found three mentions. No images or video. Someone asked for video or pictures of it but nobody seems to be forthcoming. I'll keep an eye on that and I'll check again later today in case someone was just too lazy to upload their video. The mentions say they just saw an angel flying and take it a sign... Religious nutters get ignored or laughed at on the internet. If any of them post video or pictures it'll get laughed off as a fake by serious people... Which might actually be useful for us later on if we need some plausible deniability..." Chris looked around at all the blank stares, "File that away for later. Right now, we need to wait until the heat is off this to take a look around at the scene. I doubt they'll miss anything but we might get lucky."

"Right now I should probably get you more up to speed on my research. I'd also like take a closer look at Ikaros and-" Sugata was silenced by a harsh stare from Mikako and then raised his hands up defensively, "Nothing like that my love! I swear it! This is for science!"

Chris narrowed his eyes at Sugata, "When I first met you yesterday you compared to the unknown to what's up a girl's skirt. You'll excuse me if I won't let you 'look' at Ikaros unsupervised, and place a strict moratorium on any up skirt exploration."

"I have to agree with Christopher..." said Mikako in a hard voice that even gave Chris the chills.

Chris looked at Ikaros' blank face. "You know Mikako... I'm glad you're here. Ikaros seems oblivious to a lot of things that I frankly can't help her with. I hope you don't mind if we use you as a female role model for her."

"Oh I think you'll come to regret saying that once you get to know- Ooff..."

Mikako silenced Sugata by stomping on his foot. "Lesson one Ikaros. When your man is running his mouth when he should be staying quiet, a proper lady should promptly silence him."

Chris turned his attention back to the window and started taking a few more shots at new angles while the car started driving away from the scene. "I can say with confidence that before this is all over I'm going to wish I never met you Sugata..."

"I do believe the feeling will be mutual..." he replied while massaging his aching foot.

"Driver. Take us to Sugata's camp site," she ordered and then turned to Chris who was disassembling his camera and putting it back in the bag. "So Christopher-"

"You can call me Chris if you want to."

"Very well. Chris. So you're ex-military. What exactly did you do before you became a reporter?"

"I'm surprised someone like you would walk into my house without already knowing everything there is to know about me. No, I'm inclined to believe that you already know the answer to the question, in which case I'd ask why you would bother making idle conversation when we have a million other things we could be discussing about our present circumstances."

Mikako smirked, "I heard you don't like to talk about your past. I wanted to see how deep it went. That was quite the evasion."

"I wouldn't be very good at asking questions if I wasn't also good at dodging them."

"I'm sure you probably have a few questions you'd like to ask right now."

"Like now that we know the military is somehow involved in this if I can trust you not to turn around and try to make some money off of whatever secrets Ikaros might be keeping?"

"I was wondering how long after that discovery it would be before you asked me that... Even if I say I won't, you have no reason to trust me. So I'll go ahead and give you one. I wasn't raised to make stupid decisions. I'll admit the thought had crossed my mind. But I like to think long term. Screwing you over now would only bring a short term gain. Working with you, earning your trust, and helping Sugata discover the truth about what's happening. That would lead to potential long term gains. Good enough for now?"

"Yes. And my respect for you just went up a few points. You didn't have to admit to any ulterior motives for being involved in all this. Hell, you don't even have to play nice with me. It's not like I have the power to go against you if you decide to make me cooperate with you at gunpoint."

"Guns don't frighten you. You're self destructive because you've lost interest in life. What I have to offer appeals to you because it's dangerous, exciting, and above all, interesting. It's the greatest mystery of our time. So why should I have to do anything besides give you what you want to get you to work with us?"

"I sure hope you had no idea what was going to happen when you asked me to meet you there last night Sugata... Because if you did I swear to God-"

"Of course I had no idea! Remember I tried to tell you to get out of there!" he protested.

"Fair enough. But the signal went bad right before the sky started dumping on me. So how did you know the shit was going to hit the fan?"

"Right before I called you I noticed the hole started emitting radiation and the magnetic fields started to-"

"Right. Geek speak... Blah blah blah... So what kind of radiation dose did I get?"

"Nothing lethal master," said Ikaros.

"Whatever... I don't even want to know anymore... Either I'll get cancer or develop super powers," said Chris with indifference.

"Do you have a favorite super hero Chris?" asked Sugata.

"Ironman. Hands down."

"Doesn't surprise me, you're just as much of an asshole as he is," said Sugata while looking out the window at nothing in particular.

"I know no greater compliment," answered Chris while doing the same.

Ikaros flew around the camp site in a demonstration of her flight capability. Sugata took notes in an effort to understand how it worked while Chris was simply stunned. "I knew she could fly. It's how she saved me last night..." he said while touching the bandage on his forehead. "But actually seeing it like this... How the hell does she do it exactly? From what I understand flight is a pretty complicated thing, it's just a matter of sticking wings on a person. Right?"

"Indeed. The evolution of flight is very complicated and I won't bog you down with the details. In the case of Ikaros there's more to it than just her wings. Ikaros! You can come down now!"

Ikaros nodded and landed gracefully on her feet in front of the two men.

Sugata made a few more notes before looking up at her, "How fast can you actually fly Ikaros?"

"I am capable of reaching twenty four times the speed of sound. Or twenty ninthou-"

Chris choked on that information and start coughing and gasping for air. "Are you alright master?" asked Ikaros with evident concern in her otherwise emotionless tone.

"How is that even possible?" he asked while looking at Sugata.

"I don't know. But I'm curious to find out. Ikaros, could you explain how exactly you are able to fly?"

Ikaros shook her head, "I'm afraid I have no information on that."

"Could you explain to us again what you are exactly?" asked Chris.

"Yes master. I am a Pet Class Angeloid. Type Alpha."

"Could you be more specific? What is an Angeloid, and what does it mean to be pet class?"

"An Angeloid is a combination of organic and mechanical engineering created to serve a specific function. My function as a pet class Angeloid is to serve my master and satisfy his every want and desire."

Chris smacked his face with both of his hands while Mikako and Sugata gave him dirty looks. Chris then lifted his face from his hands and glared daggers back at Sugata, "Should we go ask your 'assistant' if you have the right to judge anyone?"

"You didn't... You know..." asked Sugata with a curious brow raised.

"I'm not even going to dignify that with an answer. I'm going to go sit down and ignore you now."

Chris went into the test and grabbed a folding chair, her opened it up and sat down by Sugata's tent near the river. He kept a close eye on Sugata while he went about trying to develop an understanding of how Ikaros was able to fly.

"Why aren't you more interested?" asked Mikako as she unfolded a chair and set it down next to Chris.

"I'm plenty interested," he said plainly. "But I'm interested in the why of it all. I don't honestly give a damn what she is, or what she is capable of. I want to know why someone would send her to me specifically to be my servant as she stated. I find the idea of it disgusting and when I find out who's sick joke this is I'm going to take out all my frustrations on them."

"So it's a revenge thing for you? You want to hurt the person who turned your life upside down?"

"Something like that yes."

"Ever considered that maybe your life needed to be turned upside down so that it would be right side up again?" she asked with the same indifferent tone that Chris was taking with her.

"Your statement implies a higher power taking an interest in my life. I don't believe in a higher power. Therefore the statement that my life needed this level of upheaval to be corrected is flawed. I don't think there was anything wrong with my life that needed correcting."

Mikako snickered, "I didn't say any of that at all. My implication was that you were literally bored to death, and this is interesting. Positive or negative, you're being stimulated by this experience. So maybe instead of hurting the person responsible, you should thank them."

"When I woke up yesterday morning I didn't ask the universe to jerk me off by sending me to interview a mad scientist, and then have an angelic robot slave thrown at me from the sky, and I certainly didn't ever want to be mixed up with organized crime. Now here I am. I should probably be laughing at the absurdity of this situation," explained Chris with an indignant tone.

"It could be much worse you know. Ikaros isn't unattractive. Most men would find the idea of having an angel to satisfy their every desire to be heaven on Earth," she pointed out.

"Those men would be idiots. I could never in good conscious exploit someone who has no free will."

"Coming from a soldier, that's a bit contradictory."

"A soldier volunteers to surrender their free will to the chain of command, and still retains the free will to disobey orders given to them if they are unlawful or too morally questionable despite the consequences. But someone with enough sentience to exercise free will but is compelled to obey someone no matter what. That is something I can't abide. Who would make such a thing?"

Mikako burst into a laugh, "Maybe that's exactly why someone thought you were the right person to be her master? Exactly because you revile that power and would never abuse it for your own gain."

To Mikako's surprise, Chris seemed to be giving the thought serious consideration. With a hand on his chin and his eyes gazing up at the sky. "I've been having these recurring dreams for a while now-"

"About the wars?" asked Mikako with a cautious tone.

"No. Well. I have those too. But I also have this dream where I'm in a grassy field with this woman. She has long blue hair and white wings similar to Ikaros. In the dream it's like she's my lover. When I'm with her I feel happy and content. But then the sky opens up and seems to pull her into it. She keeps saying something to me in that moment but I can never hear what it is."

"You think it's somehow connected?"

Chris gestured to Ikaros. "Stranger things have happened recently."

Meanwhile Sarah sat at her desk with ear buds blaring music into her ears. The person working next to her tried to get her attention but she was oblivious to him until he started tugging at her sleeve. She paused the music on her phone and turned to him. "What's up?"

"Are you listening to Ozzy Osborne?" he asked her.

"Yes I am. Why do you ask?" she wondered.

"Look... I have a deep respect for the Oz-man. But could you maybe turn it down a bit? It's kinda distracting. Not to mention you're gonna blow our your ear drums before your ride on the crazy train is over."

Sarah's eyes narrowed at the man which made him slide his chair away from her nervously. "You have no idea what's happening on the crazy train I'm on right now. If I wanna blare my music in my ears that's what I'm gonna do so deal with it newbie!"

"Hey Sarah! Need you in my office now!" yelled the managing editor from across the room.

"Be right there!" she yelled back and then glared at her co-worker again before standing up and walking away from her desk.

"The fuck is her problem?" he wondered in a low voice as she walked away.

Sarah knocked on the office door before entering, "What can I do for you ma'am?" she asked as she walked in and shut the door behind her. She looked at her boss who was rubbing her shoulder, an open bottle of Vicodin on her desk. "Are you alright Kathy?"

The managing editor shook her head, "No. It's really bad today. I'm sorry to do this to you, but I have to get this typed up in twenty minutes. Could you do me a solid and-"

"Say no more, I got this. You should just lie down on the couch until the pain stops," said Sarah while standing beside Kathy's chair to help her up if she needed it.

Kathy stood up and nodded to Sarah, "Thank you. I owe you one, the notes are... Sort of all over the place..." she said while gesturing with her good arm to her note book.

"Don't worry, I'll figure it out. Just relax."

"Thanks..." replied Kathy as she lay down on the couch in her office.

Sarah sat down at the desk and looked at the notes which were indeed jumbled and seemingly incoherent. The hand writing was strained and difficult to read but deciphered it as she went along without too much difficulty. "You know, you should try a voice recorder from now on. You shouldn't put too much stress on that arm."

"I think it's about time I started adopting technology. Yes," she muttered in response. "By the way, how's the new guy settling in?"

Sarah chuckled for a moment, "Sports boy? He's doing alright. He's always worried about making mistakes. But lately he's been asking questions about Chris, and just now he was complaining about the volume of my music."

"What kind of questions?"

"About why we put up with his shit," she replied while typing up the notes.

"What did you tell him?"

"That it was none of his damn business," she said over the monotonous clicking of the keys.

"Maybe you should tell him discreetly. Before he gets curious enough to ask Chris directly or worse makes a scene about the unprofessionalism like the last guy."

"Good point... I'll tell him later and hopefully it'll shut him up about it."

"How is Chris by the way? And what exactly happened to him?"

"He'll live. He fell off his motorcycle last night. I didn't get the whole story I was too busy bandaging him up."

"Why didn't he go to a hospital?"

"I can barely get him to go to his VA clinic appointments. Keeps saying people who need it more should get the spot ahead of him every time it comes up. It really pisses me off!"

Kathy turned her head at the sharp rise in Sarah's tone and looked her in the eyes to take note of the fury in her eyes, "You really care about him don't you?"

"Someone has to! He doesn't care about himself one little bit!"

"That's part of the reason I keep him around though. He's selfless to a fault. Yes he can be a jerk, but when the shit hits the fan, he'll be there for you no matter what it takes."

"I believe you. I just wish..."

"So do I. But he'll get through this rough patch."

Sarah stopped typing and finally looked over at Kathy, "What makes you so sure?"

"Because he's got you," she answered with a sincere smile.

"I always thought you kept him around because you wanted to... You know."

"Oh hell no. Nothing like that. He's here because of a debt. I'm alive now because of him. And as long as I'm alive I'm not going to let him end up in the street. So if you want to, go ahead. I'm not in your way."

Sarah's cheeks turned red while she slowly nodded, "Now if only he wasn't so dense..."

"I think you both have that problem..."

Sugata went though his equipment in a search for the right tools. "I was sure I had one somewhere here..."

"Alright Professor X, I'll bite. What are you looking for?" asked Chris in a sarcastic tone.

"A scale and tape measure. I want to take her measurements so I can do the math on her flight characteristics."

Ikaros stepped forward and began to speak, "I am exactly one hundred and sixty two centimeters in height, my weight is forty eight kilograms and I have a variable wingspan of-"

"Ikaros... Please! A lady shouldn't be giving so many details about herself... Tsk tsk," protested Mikako.

Chris folded his arms and looked down at Sugata with a raised eyebrow. "What's the relevance? We know she can fly, and she can apparently fly pretty damn fast."

"I'm not exactly sure yet. But she's an inhabitant of the new world. The more we can learn about her the more we'll understand what the people there are capable of."

Chris grunted in frustration, "Let me help you out then. What we know about her so far is that she was designed to be a servant. She can apparently fly at speeds which would generate enough g-force to compress you or me down into a singularity. She's says she's part organic, but her organic components are obviously not the same as ours because she can evidently withstand the immense g-forces. Which means she's a lot tougher than us. So the question I give to the floor is this, why give something designed to be a servant such capabilities?"

"Yes, that is exactly the question I was hoping to find evidence to answer," said Sugata while standing up and dusting off his pants. "Very impressive deductions."

"If you think that's impressive we're in trouble. I think a three year old could arrive at those conclusions." Chris then looked at Ikaros, "Can you tell us about your design philosophy Ikaros?"

Ikaros looked at Chris blankly while answering, "I'm afraid I have no information on the intentions behind my design beyond my intended purpose to serve as your Angeloid, master."

"Stop calling me master... It's creepy. Call me Chris. Can you do that at least?"

"I'm afraid I cannot do that master."

"Does it matter to you at all that I never consented to be your master?" he asked Ikaros directly.

The Angeloid looked at him with confusion and then her head sank low, "I don't know master... My purpose is to serve you. If you do not want me. I am without purpose..."

Chris groaned loudly in frustration, "Alright Ikaros, just relax. I'll find something for you to do. Just... Don't look so pathetic," said Chris while stepping over to Ikaros where he cupped her chin with his hand and lifted her head up. "Keep your head up. We'll figure this out and come to an arrangement that'll satisfy your purpose and my morals."

"I am glad to hear that. Master."

"For now though. I would like you to help us understand as much as you can. Answer our questions the best you can and volunteer any useful information you have. Is that acceptable?"

"Yes master. If that is your desire I will fulfill to the best of my ability."

"Thinks fly because they need to. That's why nature evolved certain animals with the gift of flight. For the Angeloids to fly as they do, I suspect the inhabitants of the new world created her with the ability to fly because it's a useful ability in their environment." explained Sugata who seated himself in front of a computer and started typing.

"God created man in his image. Man is presently devoting a lot of resources to creating machines in our image. Wouldn't it stand to reason that they created her in their image?"

"Yes. I believe it would. Hence why I wanted more data on her flight characteristics. But if they did create her in their image. I think that speaks volumes about who and what they are."

"So we can assume they're people who look like us, but evolved with the ability to fly. As you said, things fly because they need to fly for their own survival. So I would postulate that they fly because their environment requires it somehow. But did they create Ikaros as a hybrid between us and them, or is her appearance entirely based on their image?"

Sugata contemplated it for a long moment, "That's entirely possible. But I would say the evidence leans more towards Ikaros being created in their image. To be so technologically advanced requires that they have certain features, such as prehensile limbs with opposable thumbs to make and use tools. Flight however is the most interesting characteristic,

"You see. Flight evolved many times in our world. In completely separate and unrelated creatures. Bats and birds for example. The primate features could be evidence of an arboreal nature for their species. The gift of flight could be an evolutionary response to natural predators or an exaptation for the purpose of predation. I could come up with hundreds of theories to fit the available evidence."

"You're also proceeding on the assumption that there really is another world on the other side of that hole in the sky," Chris pointed out.

"Before Ikaros showed up you could have made that point. But she is unequivocal proof that there is another world, and another civilization on the other side of that hole. At this point the evidence strongly points to the hole being some kind of doorway between our two worlds. What that other world is though, is an open question. Is it an Einstein-Rosen bridge between two planets in our universe? Is it a link to the Earth of a parallel universe? A higher dimension? There are so many unanswered questions... But regardless of which one it turns out to be, based on my observations of Ikaros thus far I surmise that this isn't the first time the doorway between our worlds has been opened."

"I was hoping we could avoid that conversation..." muttered Chris.

"We can't. Because our historical and mythological record can now be looked at in a whole new light. They've obviously had an influence on our development. I think perhaps you should be the one to gather evidence on that front while I work at it from a scientific point of view."

"Of course you do..." muttered Chris.

"You're the journalist. This kind of research should be child's play to you."

"Alright Professor X... I'll drink the Kool-aid. But let me just be a voice of reason for a moment here. Assuming you're right and there really is another civilization on the other side of that hole. They're obviously very far ahead of us in terms of their technology. It wasn't so long ago that Professor Hawking warned us about contact with Alien life. Pointing out that when Columbus reached the new world, it didn't turn out so well for the natives."

"I've considered that. But don't you think that's even more reason for us to learn as much as we can before the wrong sorts of people do?"

"From personal experience..." said Chris with a resigned voice, "I'll concede you that point. They obviously already know more than we do. In fact given what we already know, rather than looking at the historical record I'd rather take another look at the Geo-political situation since the hole first appeared. Given what we know now, that might be more insightful."

"I agree," said Sugata.