14
"Hi Estelle"
"Hello sweetie" the woman lit up as Ianto entered her house, the little boy being pushed before him and she lunged, grabbing him in a hug and carrying him in by the fire "So cold out there for little fingers. Come on, Moses can help warm our fingers with his fur."
She watched the little hands stroke the cat, then then plunge in. She smiled like a proud parent then settled "Now then. What brings you to my home? You are usually only at my bookstore."
"Well I have a problem and want to pick the brain of someone who has a… larger more locally based mind… than some around here" Ianto said as his eyes roamed the walls. Photographs of weird lights in the sky, anomalies and strange things. Fairy poems and Alien Quotes. Ah. Good, he had picked right.
She frowned.
"I have a story for you." He said softly "Once upon a time there was a weirdness in the sky…"
Ianto told the entire thing like it was a book he had read, then settled back "Now Estelle, the problem is… the Men in Black will circle around and look again for whatever their sonic EMP thing shot down and the little Alien is in such danger. He is not only harmless he is an innocent and what can be done to protect him from becoming a specimen in a jar."
"Well. There are two options. Flight or fight" she replied as she looked over at the little one now rubbing his face in the fat cat's fur as the cat purred happily at the love it was getting "flight seems a bit silly since going on the road makes you more vulnerable and easier to pluck off in the middle of nowhere. Witnesses means backup. Fight means you have to dig in and prepare for a battle. You need to check your ammo darling."
"What I was thinking. I mean, if I buy a car, put him in the back and take off, they just chase me. It would be silly when we are safer here. Safety in numbers right?"
"Exactly" she smiled "And besides, they are the outsiders. Coming here and trying to overturn rocks. We all agreed to accept the Plane People as part of our town and you have all become part of the family. They are threatening one of our own" she burst forward in her chair, "It's him isn't it. This is not hypothetical?"
"The Drone that was not a Drone. Yeah. Why they appeared out of nowhere within a day or so of the crash. When we have been here how long without help? I think the entire anomaly was a set-up to catch him. I think this entire town is some sort of lock-down situation" Ianto asked "He came from the woods, from that area. He doesn't talk. He is… scary mad smart. I think he is not from these parts… at all."
"They are spooks" she sniffed "We all thought so. The talk around town behind the curtain twitching is that these men are here to cause trouble and noting good comes from men in matching suits."
"Agreed. What do you think the next step is?"
"I think I need to do some quiet talking with my book group for a start. We are Sky Watchers too. There are some amazing literary minds. We can come up with several scenarios, then we talk to Radar."
"Radar?"
"Remmy's boy. He is the local Kook. You know, conspiracy theories abound. He will know better than anyone the various things that can happen depending on what we do" she rose from the chair "Come on love. Let's get to it."
"Eddie, come on Cariad" Ianto held out his hand and the boy … well… let's still call him that as it is easier to maintain a façade if you sort of try to believe it yourself… the boy took the hand and smiled up at him.
Ianto leaned down to kiss the tiny fingers, then followed Estelle to their next step in foiling those fuckers.
.
.
Radar was a pinched faced little man who bore little to no resemblance to the man off MASH and more to Klinger really. But the walls were covered with newspaper clippings, old magazine covers and such that foretold of disasters and doom.
"You're one of the Plane People?"
"Yes. I am. Came from a lovely beach resort holiday thinking I was heading home to wet Wales and instead… we went through a wormhole to this veritable universe full of kindhearted people. Well… not really but it is like that" Ianto smiled.
"Why I like it here. We are all our own kind of crazy here and no one cares" he took a look down at the boy "and is this your son? He doesn't look like you. More like… well, that handsome Captain who swanks abut in the old WWII Great Coat."
"Ah, you know what vintage that is? Apparently, his father flew in the war. He takes it everywhere like a good luck charm. He is my captain, and my boyfriend, I think. But no. Eddie is not mine… not ours. Not anyone's, I think. He doesn't speak but from where he comes from… I think he is fully grown and they all look like this." Ianto knelt "Eddie love. You are all grown right?"
The little head nodded, a hand began to wave at his head height, then after considering he looked over at Estele and took his hand a little higher.
"Shit. Your women are bigger? God, you poor henpecked things" Ianto laughed as he reached for the hand to pull it in and kiss "Poor Eddie."
Radar watched with growing interest as Ianto looked up at him "The Drone that crashed near the lake. Near the old Sheriff house. I purchased it, I was the one who ran to the crash site. This is… this is Eddie. The Men in Black are skulking around because of him. They are not sure if the ship was unmanned or not, they suspect there was a pilot but can't prove it."
Radar was on his feet a finger pointed at Eddie as his mouth opened and closed then let out a low sort of growl "ET?"
"ET? Eddie. Right."
"He was in the trees. I thought he was from one of the other planes and ran off. An unaccompanied minor kinda thing but… he's not. He will not eat meat, he loves animals of all kinds and is very quick to learn…. Shit. Eddie... here. This is called a mouse. See? It moves the little pointer on the screen. When you want to see something from the little boxes... those are links to websites… you click the mouse like this… see? It opened a new screen, and you can read it."
Eddie reached out a finger to touch the screen, then pick up the mouse to examine and he hummed, placing it back down. Then he started clicking at hyper speed, screen after screen opened as those little black eyes flicked back and forth, speed reading each screen in a matter of seconds.
"OK… that is creepy" Radar said, then gushed "So cool."
"So, what do you suggest we do?" Ianto asked as he rose to face the man.
"First, we need documentation. Like… paper is law. I know someone… if we can get him some documentation, like… make him real." Radar said as ne pulled over a laptop, allowing the boy to remain on the other computer.
"Hang on… you are on the internet. They said we were all cut off" Estelle pointed at the computer as she finally saw what Ianto had clocked straight away.
"They are keeping up that way. This entire thing… it' been a rouse. This was all to lure in the ship and create the crash, the MIB probably even set off the pulse that downed the planes just to down this one too. Now we are kept in this blackout and they just go through us. Of course, on the dark web, you can find patches, undercurrents and I know how backdoor out of places too." Radar said with pride "No one can keep me boxed in."
Ianto knew he had to tell Jack.