Chapter 47

Jason

Getting weird

Jason finishes dressing and looks in the mirror at the fake Jason. He can't help rolling his eyes, but he has to put the fake eyes in as well. One thing he is grateful for is that he is no longer with those SSG officers. It had been one weird trip. He is most grateful that every word is not being recorded, every movement not monitored. Jason finds he is still looking around to see if there is someone noting his every move. That poor Downstairs Kid Carl; he generally hid behind Aloohula whenever he possibly could. Brian was certainly not kid friendly. Yes, leaving Sechin Bajo was good, but he certainly found out how some individuals were very devoted to occult teachings.

Then he hears something, Jason puts his ear to the door. It is his new roommate Alex and his friend Kelly. Kelly is Brian's roommate. No, that would be Youth Leader Brian; at least he knows how to deal with children. He didn't blame Carl for being afraid of Brian. Ah, SSG Brian. He begins to go out the door, but decides to finish putting in his fake eyes. Then he hears something that he can't believe. . .

"So you haven't seen Brian at all?" Alex says with a surprised tone. "How are we going to know if the program took them out of the bonding slash conversion thing?"

"Don't know. I haven't heard anyone talk about him or any of the other Youth Corp members being strange. I want him, I want his friends to be their true selves. They deserve it," Intones Kelly passionately. "We really, really didn't think this through. Let's say they come out of it as we hope for, are they going to go get a bunch of weapons and start shooting officers?"

"Well the program we used to take them out has been used yesterday and this morning Brian I heard made a dedicate yourself to the Regime speech. So maybe it didn't work. Remember you said there was another program, maybe it didn't allow them to come out of their bonding." Alex takes a long pause, "Or they never will and we need. . . "

This is where Jason accidentally makes a noise. All he can do is take a breath and open the door. "Ah, just because the bathroom is smaller than our closet. Well, you know people could still be in there." He shrugs.

"Ah," Alex smiles, "Hi."

Kelly's mouth is still open in surprise. Finally he blurts out, "Got used to you not having a roommate."

"I thought you were in some place called Peru," Alex says with a deep breath.

"I'm back," Jason waves as he sits on his bed. "Okay, what it is going on. What truly. . .have you two done!"

"Just being ourselves, just talking nonsense," Pipes Kelly. He gives what is obviously a forced smile.

Jason just shakes his head and speaks indulgently, "By all means tell me the nonsense." He knows that Kelly is more than a programmer; Kelly is a gifted hacker. Brian is his roommate and the two have become good friends. However, he and Alex have done something dangerous. Jason looks at them intensely as he speaks. "I have a feeling you did something to help your friend. I won't tell, trust me I like the idea of you helping your friend. Remember Diana ruined my education for a career I truly wanted in order to advance hers."

"No!," Snaps Kelly. "I am leaving." He gets up and begins to walk to the door, but Alex jumps up from his bed and grabs Kelly by the arm stopping him. "Look we can't have him involved. . ." The rest of what is said is spoken so quietly Jason can't make it out. They walk back to where they had been sitting and Kelly gives Jason a hard look.

Alex looks at Kelly and shrugging says, "It is too late. My fault, I should have checked the bathroom. Got used to just being me here and not having a roommate." Then he looks to Jason giving him an intense stare. "You won't just hurt us, you will be hurting all of Youth Corp. Do you really want to know?"

"Yes," Jason says. He finds himself impressed with their willingness to make a sacrifice to help those they have become friends with. Individuals that most would have a hard time trusting. "In fact, I will share something as well. However, I didn't try to reverse brainwashing of an entire division of the Regime. I have to say, I can't see how a program would do that."

"Okay," Alex says and he and Kelly look at each other for a moment. Then taking turns they tell him about how bad the last bonding was and how Brian was changing day by day after it had been done to him. They wanted to take him and his friends out of it, actually out of the last bonding. They didn't think then or now that they could remove all of the brainwashing done to them. They share how Kelly found an unused program and with Alex's ability to place visuals to get the correct emotional reaction they wanted, they started the process. When they felt the time was right, they enacted the program. They have fears now that Kelly has found that there is another program, one that the supposed unused program name he was using as a deception, is actually awaiting a certain date or code to enact the encrypted program. The last thing he has found was a script that runs every day, it was checking for something that Kelly is yet to figure out completely. They fear they accidentally allowed the script to believe that it met a true statement and it did something to the heavily encrypted program that Kelly found and it ran. Kelly is now nervous to try and track it down further as he is unable to delete or manipulate the history any further as he has done so much already as they are at risk of being found. They have deleted everything and now are living in fear that they may have made things worse.

Now it is Jason whose mouth is open with a look of surprise on his face. "Ah, WOW!" He takes a deep breath, "And you have no idea if it is working?"

"Don't know," Kelly looks unhappy. "My shift has been changing and after we ran our program, Brian was asleep or gone when I am in our room. I haven't seen his friends either. Everyone seems real busy right now. However, if something bad happened we would know right? I mean, damn! I don't know." He shakes his head, "We honestly don't know. We kind of got ahead of ourselves. We wanted to help and we either did or didn't. We just wanted to make a difference even if we got caught."

Alex is nodding in agreement. No, one speaks for sometime each with their own thoughts.

"I am inspired, I wish, I wish I could make such a difference," Jason says looking at the floor. When he looks up he can see that the two are giving a look that makes him feel they have shared, but he has not. "Ah, you want to know how you can trust me when I have not shared. Am I correct?" Both Kelly and Alex nod in agreement. "I will tell my story and you can get me in trouble, but nothing I have to say is in the same major category as what you have done."

More time goes by and nothing is said, finally Alex shrugs, "I know you work for Diana and you likely have a lot you just can't share. Please don't betray us."

"Yeah, trust," Kelly growls.

"Okay, I have something." Jason gazes at Kelly as he speaks, "I trust you not to betray me. I can't talk about Diana, I am uncertain of all of the facts. However, that trip was just plain weird." There is an odd feeling inside himself; he really needs to speak to someone. "I did go to Peru with two SSG officers and a Downstairs boy named, Earth name Carl. We all know that there are many believers in the occult. I think that the SSG are actually a cult and not a true division. They believe that aliens came to our world and forced many Dahax to leave their lands. These that left became the Ibrea and us; the Depol. Apparently, the Whipelli are not part of this mystical concept."

"It's no secret about ancient aliens. It is a growing cult," Alex says his brows furrowing as he speaks. "I believe that Our Great One is a believer."

"What! I have heard of all of this mystic weirdness, but those people are crazy." Kelly says with a look that shows his disbelief.

"Yeah, your attached to your computer." Alex says with a sneer. "Look all of the occult nonsense makes me want to puke." Then he looks to Jason, "Something bothered you."

Jason takes a long breath and lets in out slowly. "Well, it is thought that these ancient aliens came to Earth as well. Unlike our world where originally there was only one species, Earth actually had more than one humanoid species. It is said that the aliens destroyed all but the one species it wished to continue on somehow. Then just as they did with the Dahax they ensured changes would happen to create the Ibrea and our people, they instigated changes in humans as well. Again, the Whipelli are not supposedly part of the alien's great plan for our two planets. The existence of the Whipelli was a branch that happened later on by chance after the aliens came and left. I heard the SSG talking about why didn't they load the Whipelli on ships and then once far enough out in space push them out into the void. Return and do it again until all Whipelli are gone; instead of shipping them off to Avena. If you ask why, well because they are not part of the plan. Those SSG's were crazy."

Kelly cringes, "Almost all of the Youth Leaders are Whipelli and over a third of the rest of the Youth Corp division is Whipelli as well. I thought because they were supposedly more similar to humans." He shrugs, "And they eat the same food, even though humans don't chew their food into paste."

He becomes very tight-lipped uncertain how to explain what he has seen. Even he has a hard time trying to believe it all. Also, he knows that the Leader finds those Whipelli women with a certain gift to be a value to him. Still the thought of all he saw will never leave him. "I don't know how to to say this. We went to this place in Peru, we saw the carvings and odd drawings. So very similar as the ones at home on the wall in Siviley."

Alex tilts his head for a moment as though trying to remember something. "I actually saw drawings once that someone showed me from Siviley. They came out in the public for awhile and some made copies. Seems like there were three circles with stick figures standing on the top two. Don't remember the third one."

Kelly is giving is head a hard shake, "Seriously! People care about that stuff."

Jason gnashes his teeth together, just the thought of what happened has left him wondering about so much. He also, had not realized that just regular people knew so much of these ancient oddities and he was just now learning about them. He may not be sitting in front of a computer all day, but he hasn't been anymore aware than Kelly. Shaking his head a bit he finds it hard to speak of this eerie memory. "There is this Downstairs Kid and I was to get to know him. This was fine, he's just a kid and I was told he could read the writings. I was to take care of him, get him to trust me and feel comfortable around me. We also brought a trooper that he is comfortable with. All was fine, I got to know him and we went down and he looked at the drawings. I thought it was all over with as he had already described everything he had seen and what he felt the message was saying." Jason just stops speaking and frowns as he feels a cold shiver embrace him.

"What was the message?" Alex asks. "It really must have made you nervous or something."

"It was what happened yesterday. They brought Carl down, poor kid he basically hid behind Aloohula. . ."

Kelly interrupts him, "Aloohula was with you?

"Yes," Jason sighs. "You know him?"

Both Kelly and Alex nod. Kelly mutters, "Aloohula is part of Doing Our Own Thing. He's Brian's friend," He snorts. "They have a weird friendship. I think Brian likes him because he speaks his mind and kind of puts him in his place. My roommate needs that at times, he tends to think up stuff all of the time and then wants to do it in a mad rush. As he may be really smart, but he's over-opinionated and way too stubborn." Both Kelly and Alex chuckle.

Jason takes a long deep breath letting it out slowly. "Ah, I know him. If you see him, maybe warn him that you should always do what Diana wants if you like living." Donny and what happened will never leave him. Diana does not like being told no and sometimes not doing what she wants has dire consequences. The Doing our own phrase though, is certainly popular, the Downstairs Kids Carl and Anthony, and of course Alex, Kelly and apparently Aloohula. Makes him wonder if he has not been paying attention to the people around him. How many more are using this phrase, or is this more than a phrase.

"Ah!" Kelly shuts his eyes for a moment, "He has some sort of weird love fantasy or sex dream going for her. So, I don't think you have to worry about him saying no. In fact, he'd likely do whatever she asks of him, just to be with her."

Jason looks puzzled for a moment. "He wants to be with that crazy lady! She is literally crazy." He pauses for a moment, "Then again that is good maybe." Another pause, this is good as he is afraid that another Donny escapade is on its way. Then it dawns on him about saying Diana is crazy. "Oh! I should never said anything. Please that wasn't going to be my share. If you tell, that may be the last day you see me again. People dying from accidents, are not an accident if it involves Diana."

"Pleassse! Don't worry about that, but I am going to make a broad hint if I see him tonight. Not about her being crazy, but do as requested." Kelly declares and then he shrugs, "I probably won't see him anyway. This is crazy."

Time passes for a few minutes and Alex looks around before speaking. "Been pretty quiet. I would like to hear about the drawings, that is if you feel you can share."

"Me too," Kelly chimes in. "Lets go for the horror story."

Jason finds himself actually trembling from the thought of what happened. "It was kind of a story, or maybe more like a weird dream. They brought Carl down again to the ancient drawings, and as I said he tried to hide behind Aloohula." He shakes his head remembering Carl's fear, "But Mr. Nasty or Brett and Mr. Scary Brian. . .they demand that Aloohula bring Carl to the drawings. They sprinkled some black dust on him or something and say crazy things. It was like some ritual, I actually thought they were going to make some weird sacrifice out of him." He holds a hand up to halt any interruptions. "No, they didn't. Nonetheless, something weird happened. The kid puts his hand on the wall and starts shaking and then he starts talking in some unworldly voice." His voice trembles, "You don't know. . .You can't understand how frightening this was."

"Okay, scary so far." Kelly says with perplexed look. "Can you say. . ."

Jason cuts him off, "Just hard to describe. He says that ancients have come to this planet and to this sacred site and left the path for those chosen to take their place in protecting their assigned space in the universe. Then the one named Brett starts talking about how it is the same message as Siviley. That the Great One is the protector of the universe." He pauses for a moment, "I heard, space meaning only a section of the universe. Then Aloohula and I were ordered out when Carl started talking again in what seemed like rambling weirdness to the two of us. I mean to Aloohula and I; we suddenly were being brought into this strange conversation. Don't think the SSG liked that at all. After we left, we were both shaking and didn't want to talk about what was happening. I felt odd." He tilts his head, "There was one more thing which is why I think we were asked to leave, besides that suddenly Aloohula and I were the ones that Carl's strange voice wanted to speak too. Something about the third circle, something about it and honestly I don't think the SSG understood either. I'll tell you they sure didn't want Aloohula and I involved in whatever they were trying to do. I just hope they didn't hurt Carl. He didn't seem like he was drugged, but you never know and he wasn't bruised so I don't think they physically hurt him. He never said anything when he got back to us, but he wouldn't let go of Aloohula and he liked it best when he could be next to both of us." Again the cold shivers come to him. "I guess the message was; Our Leader, is the protector with special powers to be given to him by the ancients." Blowing out the breath he has been holding, it sounds like a whistle. Jason closes his eyes for a moment trying to stop the shaking.

"Good plan, let us make the crazy one a god." Alex then puts his hand over his eyes before looking suddenly at Jason. "Should not have said."

"You're fine. I learned a lot more as well. I felt like I just entered the world of the demented ones. I am not going to talk about all of it. I haven't had time to even sort it out myself. I am worried that they seem to be following him so obediently and blindly, it is alarming. For a group of people that think the Whipelli are worthless they still want this organ of those women who have the gift of Future Dream." Suddenly he realizes what he just said. "Oh, you please, please don't, don't. . ." His voice trails off, he knows that he has never told anyone and that this has been weighing on him since Diana changed his assignment of becoming a doctor to being her assistant in some very bad things from what he is seeing.

"Looks like we have all managed to insert ourselves into some really bad stuff," Kelly says with a smirk. "I think mine all started with Brian and his need to collect favors. He must be rich by now when it comes to collecting those. Then it just escalated as I came to know his friends, then I became part of the Twenty and Under Gang, now it's the Doing Our Own Thing and the membership is growing."

"Maybe you should stop talking," Alex hisses. "You are telling way to much."

"I am going to go with it was meant to be," Jason smiles; there is something more to the doing our own thing, for now he will let it go. "I mean you had no idea that I was in that bathroom, smaller than our combined closet, just an accident. I now know a lot about how you really wanted to save your friend. You now know that your friend needs to be careful around Diana, do what she wants or your dead. Then again, sounds like he will do what she wants anyway."

"An accident," Kelly says smiling. "Yeah, I think we were all in need of someone being there for us. What is that saying, 'Got your back.' Wonder how many on this ship are as unhappy and may even try to do some sort of opposition against the Regime. I guess, I am just not that fearless." He shrugs.

Alex also gives a smile, "Thanks for sharing the occult horror story. It has been going around that not just the Leader, but many of his devoted followers are into some weird alien ancients coming to our world. Once it was said it was gods that came. Wasn't so long ago that the Dahax and us believed in a whole lot of gods."

"I worry about the feast of Ramalon coming back. I mean with a sacrifice and not an animal, but one of us." Kelly says frowning, "Coders are passing this about. Gossip is what you are going to say, but something happened to get it started. Bringing back something like that means someone is trying to change things."

"Humans once did that as well," Alex says with a displeased look. Suddenly he smiles, "The one time I wish I was Whipelli. They don't believe in making living sacrifices to their god. Then again, they have only had one god since the beginning. I guess if you only have one, then you don't need to do that."

"Remember, the Whipelli religion is the same as the Ibrea," Jason mutters. "Ibrea one of the chosen people or rather created by the ancients. So why do they not share the same religion as us? Any ancient findings have never found them following more than their one god. If the ancient aliens influenced our people to worship many gods, why just one god for the Ibrea."

"Interesting thought." Kelly frowns, "I don't mean to change the subject, but I don't think Brian and his friends know this story about the SSG saying the Whipelli should be annihilated."

Jason shakes his head, "I doubt they do. Please don't say anything. Right now probably isn't the time. Besides we all know they are needed and I think their leaders on the mountains are sadly being dealt with. The Regime is still moving large numbers of Whipelli steadily to another planet to colonize and prepare it as a base for further exploration. Not a planet anyone seems to care about, I heard artifacts have been found that show others have come and left immediately. They even think that the Banteen visited and deserted quickly." He shrugs, "A planet not friendly to aliens and yet is the one made for getting rid of those you don't want and yet prepare for the Regime to use when ready."

They talk about why Avena has not made their people uneasy as it has made other alien peoples. They then move to the changes that appear to be coming and how old religious teaching may be returning and worse sacrificial rites. They also discuss all of the different occult stories and they find how extensive Alex's knowledge is on these stories. He once knew people interested in the stories and had shared their research with him. They also find it interesting that humans have similar ancient stories as Kelly finds and brings them up on Alex's computer.

Jason also can see the fear the two have on their friend Brian and his friends that have come into their lives. There is also discussion on could there be a movement or movements on all or just one ship to fight the Regime. The growing unrest amongst the crew is escalating so much that even they can see it and their ranking officers would be blind not to know something would happen eventually. He wishes he was doing his own thing.