A saying among human lifeguards goes, "It is better to beg for forgiveness than ask for permission." In other words, never let etiquette get in the way of saving lives.
I climbed into the ventilation duct, chasing my little friend's scent. The darkened passage took me past a register overlooking a messy laboratory with closed storm shutters, to a cluttered storage room.
The vent cover had already been removed. I climbed out.
A containing a variety of tools for repairing the trailers, as well as tubs full of objects with no apparent purpose, such as washers, knobs and square chunks of perforated metal or rubber, containers full of wires, clips and small lozenge-like cylinders, and a variety of other mystifying objects. Shelving and crates and boxes, crammed in everywhere. I suspected humans used some of the items to build radios, but I couldn't figure out most of it.
Ahead of me Hissandra gripped my little friend's neck. The girl struggled to break free from her claws, knocking over a stack of plastic containers. Nuts and bolts showered all over the floor, sounding like a hailstorm.
"Let her go!" I yelled.
Hissandra whirled around, growling at me.
I flexed my arm, and the blade shot out of the weapon. "I said, let her go!"
"You're not Mother. You can't tell me what to do." My sister grabbed Rebecca around the throat. "You killed everyone I care about. For what?" Her claws clenched tighter, making Rebecca cry. "For this! I should slit its throat right now."
The scarred one forcefully shoved my friend into a shelf full of vehicle parts. "I really should. But I've got a better idea."
She pulled Rebecca close to her body, dripping slime on the girl's shoes. "You see, the ssupaqulu is upon me. After everything you've taken from us, it's only fair to use this pet you love so dearly as a receptacle to continue the family line!"
I leapt at my sister, swinging the blade, but she caught my arm in mid swing. "You are weak, sister. You require strange devices because you do not have the muscles or the courage to kill me yourself!"
"The Lord alone gives me strength. But I will not test him unnecessarily." I punched her, wrenching my arm free from her grasp.
When Hissandra clawed at my probe covers, I raised the blade, slashing her across the face.
A surface cut. Only small amounts of blood seeped out, steaming as it melted through the floor.
Infuriated, Hissandra grabbed my head, driving her claws into my dome.
"Stop this!" Maria cried out behind me.
We both stopped to look at her.
She stepped out from behind the shelving, Ssavzotvi following close behind. Rebecca took this moment to run away.
Maria shook her head sadly, scampering up to us.
"Sh'kassk'dwuissueblik. Sidjendo. The three of us are S'Caizlixadac's only remaining children. If you destroy each other, what will be her legacy? Is this how we honor her memory? By fighting and killing each other?"
This cut us both to the heart. I put my `sword' away. The scarred Ss'sik'chtokiwij backed off.
"The human is mine," Hissandra growled. "I will have her as my uwberssud for eggs."
Maria shook her head. "No. She is my possession. Go find other prey."
The scarred one let out a defeated hiss and spat on me, for a Ss'sik'chtokiwij an unharmful but contemptuous act. She dove through the vent with an angry growl.
"Sidjendo?" I asked. "This is Hissandra's real name?"
Maria nodded. "It means smallest egg. She hates that name. She chose the other name for herself, to rebel against mother."
"I know this. But it has been a long time since I have heard it."
She smiled.
I gave Maria a low bow. "Thank you, sister. You are a true peacemaker. But I think I will one day have to kill Sidjendo. To save human lives."
"That time is not yet. I still see good in her. Perhaps she will change someday."
The storage area had the moniker `Machine Stores'. After passing a shelving unit, the wall to my right became a fence, beyond which people in black yellow striped shoe straps and blue electrostatic safe lab coats pushed carts around, counting mechanical parts, entering data into little devices that looked like calculators, sorting the items into buckets on shelves.
I watched with fascination as a woman turned a crank on a machine shaped like a wheel, automatically counting hundreds of tiny...capacitors?
I backed away from the gate when someone approached, unsure what would happen if they saw me.
I bumped into a mutilated body in a blue lab coat.
Maria and Ruth looked up at me, silently asking whether they could eat him.
"I'd prefer if you didn't. There is dog food in the lab, and we may yet find better food."
A gate clicked open. A bony teenager came wheeling a squeaking brown-black cart into the room, whistling the theme to Jurassic Park as he consulted his little computer, moving to a nearby row.
"It would not be good to be seen devouring this corpse," Maria whispered. "We would appear to be murderers."
"But if we were unseen..." Ruth suggested.
I waved them to a different row, out of view.
"Did you know there's a long tunnel running underground between this base and the terraforming system?" Maria asked me.
"No."
She nodded. "They use sort of golf cart looking things to go back and forth..."
We passed a computer terminal and a shelf full of cargo containers.
"I visited Grandma. She's grown an egg laying sac. I think she might lay a thousand eggs."
I sucked in my breath in horror.
"Anyway, she can't go anywhere now. She's getting lonely."
"What about Hissandra? What about her other family members?"
"I don't know. I guess they're busy. Hissandra and Selitga occasionally brings her human bodies to feed upon, but that's about it."
The teen swore and yelled behind us, probably about the mess. We decided to put more distance between us and him.
"Grandma's been having nightmares again. About the curly haired lady who shot her out the airlock."
I just shook my head.
Rebecca's scent trail led us to a closed grate. Although it probably compromised a safe hiding place, I melted the fasteners away and climbed in after her.
The girl had climbed a ladder to a room on an upper level.
We found ourselves in a small Spartan looking bedroom. Mattress on a simple metal spring frame, a communication station, and stacks of dresser-like storage bins.
The room smelled of curry, and a green-orange flag hung from one wall, but it otherwise seemed unlived-in. An open storm shutter revealed the gloomy drizzle outside.
Rebecca hid beneath the bed. Maria and Ssavzotvi tried to rush over to introduce themselves, but I waved them back.
Very slowly, I approached the bed. "Rebecca..."
"It's Newt," she growled. "No one calls me Rebecca but my parents."
"Sorry. Newt...I didn't mean to scare you earlier. I was trying to help."
"Stop trying to help me. I don't need your help."
I lay down on the floor and just stared at her.
"Go away. And take those disgusting worms with you."
"There are more of my kind all over the base. And unlike me, they want to hurt you."
We silently stared at each other.
"Was there a...another little girl...with you?"
"I've changed." Maria slowly padded out of the vent.
Rebecca gasped, scuttling backwards into a corner.
"She won't hurt you."
Maria told Newt about how she transferred her mind into her current body. For simplicity sake, neither of us mentioned the previous Sarah clone or DAMBALLAH, for fear of a relapse.
"But why would you want to do that?" Rebecca cried. "Why would you want to destroy your body to become that?"
"I've...lived a sheltered life. I wanted to start over with a real life, with a real family."
"We live on a rock in the middle of nowhere and you complain about a sheltered life?"
Maria glanced at me, silently asking, `Can we tell her?' To Rebecca: "You don't understand. I have no parents. I only had a simulation. Rosedale Square. I didn't get to run around and have fun like other kids. They never took the probes off my head."
Rebecca flinched, like her brain had registered something it didn't like, didn't want to remember. "Who are they?"
Maria's face turned towards mine. I just sighed.
"Scientists."
Rebecca clutched the sides of her head, mindlessly rocking back and forth as she stared at the floor. "Lemon cake. Lemon lemon cake."
She'd filled the gap in her mind, just like I'd suggested.
Ssavzotvi, who had been hiding behind me, asked, "Can I come out now?"
"I...don't know."
The answer soon presented itself. All of a sudden the door to the room slid open, and I only had a brief minute to dive back into the ventilation duct.
So far, I had not been very well received among humans, especially when not chained up. I preferred to keep my distance.
An olive skinned Indian man in a suit and tie stepped into the room. The man had a small L shaped indentation in his forehead. A rather peculiar individual, to say the least. What use is such finery on this barren asteroid of a planet?
And then I noticed the bible.
"He is a Christian!" I whispered to Maria excitedly.
"I wouldn't jump to conclusions."
The dark haired man set his bible on a storage container, activating a video chat session on the computer.
A pale sickly looking man in a rain poncho appeared on the screen, starting up a conversation with the stranger. "Hey, Kumar. What's going on?"
"Are you coming in?"
The man on the screen stood among boulders that reminded me of Grandmother's place. In fact, the horseshoe shape of the Pale Ones' ship stood in the far distance, its horn-like ends pointing up at the sky. "I don't know if I should. It seems like every time it gets dark, another family dies. We've already lost the Lepleys and the Emeolas. I'm not sure I should come back. Is it true what they say about the giant bugs?"
Instinctively, I crept backwards in the vent.
Kumar nodded. "Satan is roaming like a roaring lion, seeking something to devour. But we are Christ's elect. You shouldn't be afraid. `If God is for us, who in heaven or on earth can be against us?''
"So you're saying come back to base anyway."
"No no!" I hissed. "Stay there!"
Maria clapped a claw over my mouth, or rather, tried to.
Kumar turned his head for a moment, like he heard me, but then shrugged it off, continuing to talk. "If you're truly in the Spirit, you will have faith, and trust in God to protect you."
What happened to not putting the Lord to the test? I thought. Just because the bible contains verses about God's protection doesn't mean you should insist upon it!
Of course, I also wondered if maybe a few Ss'sik'chtokiwij already searched for prey outside...
The man on the screen swallowed, looking uncomfortable. "You're right. I'm sorry. Are we...meeting in the same room?"
"Yes, Jim. Upstairs at Noah and Sunny's place."
The digital face suddenly squinted. "What's that under your bed?"
Kumar turned his chair around. "Do you see something...?"
Rebecca darted out from under the man's bed, hurrying to the door.
Kumar grabbed her by the wrist. "Hey! Who are you?"
Rebecca growled, struggling against the man's grip. I wanted to say something, but Maria got in front of me, shaking her head.
Kumar grabbed the girl by the shoulders. "What are you doing in my room? How did you get in here?"
"Ask her who her parents are," Jim said.
Rebecca sighed and stopped fighting. "Can I please go?"
"Not just yet," Kumar said in a crisp tone. "Where are your parents?"
Her voice got cold. "They're gone."
"What do you mean `gone'?"
"The monsters took them away. Can I go now?"
"I don't think so. Before we do anything, we need to find your parents. And since you're a flight risk, I'm taking you to stay with one of my friends."
He opened the door, leading Rebecca away from me.
I crawled through a connecting duct, observing the situation from another register.
A communal living room with a walk-in kitchen to one side, and a folding table for, I supposed, the dining room. Two other rooms connected to it, three including the man's bedroom.
A rather commonplace reproduction of Heinrich Hofmann's Christ Praying in Gethsemane hung from one wall. The other wall held a picture of some Indian palace.
In a corner, a tan-brown woman cradled a baby, reading something off a small computer with her free hand. She looked up from the device when the sliding door opened. After staring for a moment, she smiled and waved at the girl.
"Hi." Rebecca bashfully waved back. She frowned at the baby food stains on the stranger's orange jumpsuit.
The woman set down her computer, saying something or another in a different language to the man. They spoke thus for about five minutes. Judging by the glittering rings on their fingers, I assumed marriage.
Rebecca just stared absently at them. I could tell she didn't want to be there. "Are you Mexican?"
The two laughed in amusement.
"No," said Kumar. "We're from India."
Rebecca frowned. "Where's your dot?"
The woman smiled. "We're Christian. We don't believe in those symbols."
The girl didn't look impressed.
The woman introduced herself. "I am Aphita. My name means `scholar.'" She held up her baby. "And this is Deepali."
"Hi," Rebecca mumbled.
Kumar used a digital camera to take my friend's picture, and the husband and wife conversed some more. I assume it had something to do with adopting Rebecca, but I couldn't understand the language.
Kumar knelt in front of her, giving her a smile. "Have you met Calvin yet? Calvin Mann?"
The girl frowned. "...No." By the tone of her voice, it sounded like she did, at least a little.
Kumar chuckled, rubbing her head. "C'mon. I'll take you to meet him."
"I don't want to meet him."
The man sighed. "What's your name?"
"Newt," she said.
Kumar rolled his eyes. "Look. Newt. There are bad things attacking people in this base. You need to stay with an adult so they can protect you. All I'm asking is for you to stay with Sunny for a couple hours while I try to find your parents. If they're alive, I'll take you back to them."
"My parents are dead," Rebecca snarled.
Kumar frowned. "No offense, but I'd like to see that for myself. Too many young girls run away from their parents and claim to be orphans. I'm really hoping you're wrong, because if we can't find your parents or other living relations, we might have to find you a new family."
"I don't want a new family! I'm fine on my own!"
The Indian shook his head sadly. "You're not fine. The bible says to teach a child in the way they should go, so that they will not depart from it."
Rebecca glared at him. "The bible also says that, if you're truly in the Spirit, you will have faith, and trust in God to protect you."
Not a direct bible quote, just repeating what the man had said to Jim.
Kumar sighed through his nostrils. "That's...true, but God also tells us to love our neighbors, and their children...C'mon. Let's go see Sunny. Maybe she can get you some cookies or show you some games."
Rebecca didn't look that thrilled, but let the man drag her out into a hallway.
"What do you think?" Maria asked me. "Is this safe?"
"I don't know. But I think someone should be caring for her. Young humans generally require the support of larger ones for survival." I swallowed. "These people seem like good, faithful Christians, though I'm not sure I agree with everything they say."
Maria nodded. "I hope this works well for her."
I had to climb a vertical shaft to follow Rebecca, and when I reached the duct above the hallway, I could only see down, since that's where the air flow went. The register, filthy with dust, didn't allow much of a view, but I did see where they went.
Though a little awkward, I followed a branching fork on the ventilation system, climbing headfirst down another duct, Maria and Ruth hanging from my back as I did so.
Rebecca had been taken into another shared living room space, this one featuring an electric piano and a pulpit, apparently crafted from scrap. It smelled of kimchee, boiled seaweed and wonton wraps,
A table and a stack of folding chairs, old looking bibles and song books, and a plaque on the wall bearing Korean writing and a strange looking picture of Jesus. A video monitor along one wall displayed earth nature scenes and bible verses in Korean.
Sunny, a small, tan faced older woman, swung a small fat faced toddler by his arms like a monkey as she waddled to the door. The boy I presumed to be Calvin.
When the gray-black haired woman saw Rebecca, she laughed, staring wide eyed through her glasses. "Oh! Hello! How are you?" She said these words like someone had printed them on a cue card and wasn't sure if she said them right, something to do with her native tongue.
"I'm fine," Rebecca mumbled.
"Sorry? I see you before, but I do not remember your name?"
"Newt," she said.
Sunny furrowed her brow, her curly hair appearing to wrinkle along with it. "I'm sorry?
"Newt. N.E.W.T."
The woman looked puzzled. "I...do not think that is your name."
"Well then you don't think much, because it is."
"I caught her hiding in my bedroom," Kumar said. "Would you mind watching her for a few minutes while I try to find her parents?"
Sunny chuckled. "Okay! I will do it!" She paused. "Good luck."
Kumar put his hand on Rebecca's shoulder. "Don't worry. Sunny's going to take good care of you." He left her in the company of this other stranger.
The boy pointed to Rebecca, crying something I couldn't understand, probably in Korean, though with a child that age it could be nonsense.
"Yes, yes! That is Newt!" Sunny spent a moment coaching Calvin how to pronounce the name, explaining what newts were.
"Please. Have a seat," Sunny led Rebecca to a padded bench in front of the vent. "Would you like snack? Or juice?"
"Um..."
"I have pizza. Would you like some?"
"Yes please," Rebecca stammered.
Poor girl, I thought. She probably hasn't eaten much of anything after her parents died.
As Sunny took her baby into a nearby kitchen, Rebecca took advantage of the situation by dropping by the vent cover and unscrewing the bolts with her device.
She had three bolts removed before she noticed me staring back at her. She gasped in shock.
I gave her a friendly wave. "Hi."
"Move away from the hole. I'm getting out of here."
Although happy she wasn't scared of me, I worried about her tendency of running off by herself. "I can't let you do that. You're safe here. There's safety in numbers. These people seem nice."
"They seem weird. I don't like them."
I just shook my head. "You need someone to take care of you, and they want to help."
"I don't need help."
Maria crawled up to the opening. "You're lucky to have people that actually want to care for you, weird or not."
Rebecca frowned. "Are you really Sarah?"
"Yes."
Our discussion got interrupted by Sunny bringing out a glass of brown juice and a slice of pizza with an extremely thick crust.
"I make." She pantomimed the kneading of pizza dough. "It's good!"
Rebecca took a couple bites off the slice, then grimaced at the taste. She didn't seem to like the juice any better. "Thanks." I could tell she didn't mean it. She took another sip of her drink. "This tastes weird."
"It's organic. Before they put fruit through process center and add sugar and chemical. Delicious!"
Rebecca silently disagreed.
The woman marched to a bedroom, her back facing the girl. "Noah! Someone is here!"
Rebecca flipped the vent cover open, shoving the pizza slice through the opening.
I nibbled a little. The crust contained a sweet sauce that tasted like ketchup. After tasting regular pizza, I could understand why Rebecca would discard it, but food was food.
Since I had eaten my fill of dog food, I shared the strange baked good with my companions instead. Ssavzotvi found it delicious.
The door near Sunny opened, revealing a pair of men studying in a bedroom.
A beady eyed man in a white shirt and slacks sat at a little desk, reading bible passages to a young man in a jumpsuit.
"Noah!" Sunny called again.
The brown man at the desk set his papers down. "Yes, Sunny?"
"Noah, we have guest."
Noah stood up. "Oh!"
When he saw the girl, he chuckled. "Wow. Who is this?"
"She...call herself `Newt.'"
The man chuckled some more. It seemed he found everything amusing. "Newt?"
"Yes. Like eye of newt." She pantomimed stirring a pot.
"Oh! Ha ha." He ran his fingers through his slicked down salt and pepper hair. "You know, there was once Senator with name `Newt' as well. Perhaps she is named after him?"
"I...do not think that is her name. I see her before, but I do not think so. I think this is nickname."
"Oh," his voice took on a tone of concern. "I see."
"Kumar is searching for parents. Maybe someone will know."
"When you find out, let me know. I would like to meet them." He gestured to his companion. "Please excuse me?"
"What chapter are you reading now?" Sunny asked.
"Oh..." Noah spoke in a bragging tone. "Luke the twenty first chapter."
"Wow. That's good!"
Rebecca kept shrinking in her seat, eying the vent like she intended to climb in and join me. For this reason, I maintained my position.
A few moments after Noah stepped back into his room, Calvin muttered something to his mother, and she brought out a potty chair, encouraging the boy to void his bodily waste right in front of everybody.
This personally didn't bother me, but Rebecca cringed.
"She seems safe enough," Maria said. "We should try to help other people on the base."
I shook my head. "Rebecca won't stay here. Already she's attempted escape. Maria, you're on good terms with other Ss'sik'chtokiwij. You have done very well on your own. Perhaps you can search the area and find out if anyone else is in danger?"
"Certainly."
"Maria, I trust you. You have grown into a fine young Ss'sik'chtokiwij. The Lord is using you for great things."
She beamed at this.
"Come get me if you run into trouble."
Maria bobbed her head. "You love her, don't you?"
"Yes. Sarah was a best friend to me, but Rebecca is just as dear." Not wanting to leave her out, I quickly added, "Of course, neither is as close as family."
Smiling in appreciation, Maria disappeared into the ventilation system, leaving me behind the vent cover.
Rebecca now stared at some religious cartoon Sunny had put on for her. It lacked the sophistication and polish I'd seen in other cartoons, and the characters lacked personality, but I admired the attempt.
Rebecca didn't agree with my assessment, for she kept glancing at the vent.
I fell asleep.
I stirred for a moment as Noah and his student stepped out of the other room, apparently finished with their study for the day, then drifted off again.
I awoke briefly when Rebecca tried to sneak out again, but Sunny caught her before she could get the panel all the way off.
Kumar returned, looking a bit glum.
"Oh!" Sunny cried, marching up to him. "What did you find out?"
The Indian handed her a clear plastic trophy. "She's right. She's an orphan. I just checked the home. I don't know how anyone could live in a place like that. Her real name is Rebecca Jorden. Her mother and father were wildcatters, and they got attacked by something. Administration is reviewing her case."
Not sure what a `wildcatter' was, but I accepted the term as a job title.
"They're going to try to find the next of kin, and either move her in with them or ship her to earth. In the meantime, they say she can stay with us, as long as they have someone to contact in the event of finding her family. You have a very good civilian record."
"So does she!" Sunny cried, waving the trophy at my friend. "You win Young Citizenship Award?"
"Maybe," Rebecca muttered without enthusiasm.
Sunny frowned. "She...does not look happy."
"Would you blame her? She's been living all by herself for weeks." Kumar's expression now reflected puzzlement. "You know what's odd? Her teachers say she has been regularly attending classes this whole time. They didn't even know there was a problem until I asked about it.
"They admitted some of her stories about staying with an uncle seemed suspicious, but nobody bothered to check if she actually had one on planet.
"Her attendance hadn't been good before, especially around the time of the explosion, and when her father went in for medical treatment, but after that, perfect attendance."
"Oh! I think she...avoid adoption." Sunny pantomimed being Rebecca. "Hello! Nothing is wrong!" she gave a fake grin, waving. "You do not need adopt-me! I am fine! See? I go to school!"
Kumar nodded, looking grave. "You're probably right."
"I am sorry." Sunny smiled apologetically to Rebecca. "But you must stay here until we find you good-home."
Rebecca didn't say anything.
"Her family was out when they were requiring people to put the biometric trackers in. Anyone that tries to find her normally can't."
"I do not either. Tracker is mark of Satan! I refuse on religious-grounds." Sunny held up a stopping hand for dramatic emphasis. "I sign form." She pantomimed writing, unnecessarily.
The Indian sighed. "I'm only saying, it'll be difficult to find her if she runs off, so we need to keep an eye on her."
"We will be careful! I watch."
Sunny watched, all right. She passively observed Rebecca pacing the floor, examining various panels, more than likely searching for avenues of escape. I guess Sunny assumed that little girls always run away through doors.
Rebecca probably would have tried something, but then a crowd of strangers filed into the room, and the girl got asked to help set up chairs and help out with other things, and people kept introducing themselves, trying to talk to her.
She met a young Korean man and his wife (Martin and Lydia Ri), and their baby. Martin wore a suit, carried a wooden guitar.
Rebecca set another chair out. "What are we doing with all these?"
"We are going to have service," Noah answered.
"You mean like church?"
Noah chuckled. "Yes."
"There's a church down at the north end. It has actual pews. Why don't you just go there?"
"Because they teach a false gospel."
"Why don't you go there and correct them?"
He laughed. "It is not so easy. They have not been chosen, so God has hardened their hearts. They stand in judgment, but we can save the faithful chosen."
The philosophy sounded strange to me. Rebecca didn't look too convinced, either. "You...don't want them to change their mind and join you?"
"No. If God makes them into his vessels, and later join us, perhaps, but otherwise, they were chosen by God to be his vessels of wrath."
In short, the man believed God designed certain people to be thrown away. I sighed, hoping and praying that someone else would be taking care of Rebecca.
Still, the man was faithful, and Rebecca didn't currently have anyone...I decided to watch and listen a little while longer.
Calvin waddled over to Rebecca, pawing on her and babbling incessantly. The girl slumped her shoulders, shaking her head in annoyance.
The man from the video screen dropped by, as promised. They stood by my vent, engaging in idle chatter. "What do you think those things are?"
"I don't know, Jim. The bible says that in the Last Days, all sorts of things will come out of the earth. I know we're living out in space now, but who's to say that Satan hasn't sent some of his demons to follow us out across space?"
"Are you sure they weren't already there? I mean, demons are fallen angels. What if the traditional view of cosmology is right, and we're really in heaven? God put angels outside Eden so man couldn't get back in. What if these things are serving the same purpose?"
The idea fascinated me. Could I really be an angel? But why did I have so many temptations and weaknesses and frailties? Alas, I couldn't add to the conversation. I figured my presence would be unwelcome.
"This isn't heaven," Kumar argued. "I know that the moment I get up in the morning and reprogram those machines in a downpour."
"So maybe we're outside heaven. Like that passage from Revelation talking about the Gentiles marching around heaven's outer walls..."
"I...don't think you're reading that in the right context. Let's ask Noah."
The two pulled the older Korean man aside.
"Yes?"
"Noah," Jim said. "What do you think about extraterrestrials?"
"Oh!" he laughed. "That is a myth. There is no such thing. Satan has planted the lie of evolution into the hearts of scientists. They say, `Since evolution is true, there must be other planet with evolved intelligent thinking men. All lies." He waved his hand as if to disperse the theory of evolution like a puff of smoke.
Personally, I thought that maybe God could create life on other planets, but again, couldn't `Add my two cents.'
"I've seen pictures of them. They looked real to me."
"So do movies. They are fake. Like Photo Shop." Noah chuckled, literally saying, "Yuk yuk."
Rebecca, who had been silently listening in this conversation the whole time, spoke up all of a sudden. "I've seen them. You don't know what you're talking about. I saw one of them kill my mother and the other one tore a hole through dad's chest."
Noah sighed. "Devil takes many forms, but sometimes when person is traumatized, they see things because they are afraid, or guilty."
Rebecca's voice gained a cold edge. "What are you saying?"
"I believe there are no space aliens. Maybe a man killed your mother and you were frightened and thought you saw a monster. Maybe also your father get sick, and your mind made it seem like an alien attack him."
"And maybe you're stupid. And maybe if you get your nose out of that bible and walk around the base once and awhile, you'd see I'm right."
Noah let out a nervous chuckle. "Did your...parents, teach you speak disrespectfully like this?"
"No. I learned it from you being an idiot."
"Your parents must have been...very interesting."
Rebecca looked ready to punch him, but before the situation could escalate, Martin played the opening bars to Because He Lives on his guitar, signaling the beginning of service.
Noah turned away from the girl to sit in the front row, close to the pulpit.
A small gathering, but a fair amount of seats ended up being filled. In addition to the people I mentioned, others joined: A young woman, also Korean, a talkative Indian woman named Basarthra, a burly American man and his twin brother.
The heartfelt, beautiful song made me cough and sneeze a little. Despite Noah's unusual belief system, the song had scriptural grounding, as did the bible readings. I enjoyed that part, having been previously unable to attend a real service.
I found the sermon also acceptable, a lesson from John 3 about Nicodemus, though the style a little academic, the speaker breaking off each thought, point or idea with a "First," "Second," and "Third," and ending with a "One Word" at the conclusion. This pedantic quality came to my attention when Kumar got up before the group to do a secondary sermon.
I guessed it had something to do with English as a second language, perfect for me, but Rebecca, unimpressed, fell asleep in her chair.
Smiling kindly, Martin and Lydia carried Rebecca off to rest in a nearby bedroom. The service continued with another song, Lord Let the Lower Lights be Burning. Nice people, I decided.
They did not have communion, which I thought strange, but a lot of what they did seemed a bit odd.
Sighing in satisfaction, I stretched on the floor of the duct, preparing to nap a bit more, and see how Rebecca fared before moving on to help others on the base.
The song got interrupted by a startled cry, the congregants shouting and muttering amongst themselves, gesturing to the ceiling, backing away to the sides of the room.
I stared through the register in astonishment. Somehow a large gray Ss'sik'chtokiwij had noiselessly entered the room through an opening in the ceiling, impaling the guitarist with its scorpion-like tail stinger, whipping him up into a hidden crawl space between their ceiling and the roof.
The creature had created a hole above their heads without spilling a drop of acid on anyone, the carpet, or the furniture, in complete silence.
The Ss'sik'chtokiwij lowered herself, opossum-like, into the room by means of that spear-like tail, opening a row of swollen protuberances on the sides of her head.
The growths resembled the eyes of a gecko, in their appearance and in the way they moved independently of one another.
The protuberances swelled, spraying porcupine-like barbs everywhere, striking their targets more often than not.
The creature's body had more in common with a spider than a Ss'sik'chtokiwij. Wire brush-like hair follicles sticking up all over, six arachnid-like legs, swollen arachnid's abdomen patterned with a fiddle shaped birthmark.
The victims screamed and collapsed on the floor, unconscious but still breathing, some falling over chairs as they collapsed.
At once, she set about cocooning the first victim, that younger Korean girl, to a folding chair, shoving an egg down her wind pipe.
I put a claw to the vent cover, prepared to climb out and do battle, but then noticed the Ss'sik'chtokiwij do something to her next victim that gave me pause:
Noah, convinced that he directly confronted the forces of Satan, took out a cross and read the bible to the creature. You know, the sort of passages that are great to read if you are under a demonic attack, about Jesus protecting you and you being saved, and all that.
Not so good if you faced a creature, like a lion, that just wants to eat you. You've doubtless heard the joke about the missionary and the lion. I will not belabor the point by repeating it.
I admit this Ss'sik'chtokiwij did have horns, but so do cows, and puppets, and puppet cows.
The creature turned to face him with a growl, muttering, "Oh great. A snack that reads to me." She attacked.
Not quite what I expected.
I thought she intended to merely tear him open, or wrap him in a cocoon like the first victim.
Instead, when her mouth came open, she vomited what I can only compare to threadworms.
Noah tried to scream and fight them off, but to no avail. The worms buried themselves in his body, wiggled into his orifices, burrowed through his skin. He couldn't pull them out, he could only swallow.
The Ss'sik'chtokiwij closed her mouth, leaving him prone on the floor. "Ahh. That's much better!"
Noah suddenly gasped and sat up, glancing around the room.
He appeared to be perfectly normal. The fact that a bunch of worms had disappeared into his face didn't seem to faze him. He just gave his clothing a casual brush off and stood up.
Without a word, the pushed the door button and walked out, like the events that just transpired did not concern him at all.
Perhaps they didn't.