Chapter 28:
“Uhh… what is that thing, and why is it floating?”
Will was not disappointed, as the utter confusion on Cierra's face was truly fantastic. While speaking, the duo had arrived at their destination, and Sil had released the cloaking on The Cube at the appropriately theatrical moment.
“Cierra, meet Sil and Artie. Sil and Artie, meet Cierra.”
Cierra was blinking, clearly not sure what to say, so Sil spoke up.
“It is lovely to officially make your acquaintance, Cierra.”
“How is a floating box talking to me? Oh, and why are you British?”
“The priorities of your friends continue to confound me, Will.”
Will just shrugged. It wasn’t like he was any less ADHD than his friends.
“Cierra, please allow me to share my story with you.”
At that, Sil, with the occasional input from Artie, proceeded to give Cierra roughly the same story they had used to introduce Will and his friends to their new wild world of weirdness.
It was a few hours later when Sil and Artie opted to give Cierra a chance to process what she had learned, similar to how they had given Will and his friends space after the same revelations. She and Will were still at the training spot in the desert. He was watching to see how Cierra was taking everything, but for the most part she seemed mostly lost in thought. After several minutes of this, Will spoke up.
“So, what do you think?”
He could see she had heard him, so he just waited while she organized her internal musings.
“Well, it’s… a lot. I mean, I just got answers to so many questions I’ve been asking my entire life. Those answers just happen to lead to so many more questions. On top of that, they involve actual proof of life outside of Earth.
That’s something people are talking about all over the world. Especially since the government confirmed the authenticity of actual UFO footage, then released more. Hey, remind me to ask them about that evidence.
Anyway, we haven’t even talked about the fact that I just met someone from a race of people that an entire world of mythology was based on. I mean, what else might be based on the people from that race? How many of the different mythologies in history were based around actual beings with abilities that normal humans saw as magic?
My dad’s family is Greek, and big into tracing their family line. He’s told me some stories that passed down through our family over the generations that always just sounded like superstitious nonsense to us. What I’ve learned today has seriously made me start to question everything I’ve ever just written off as crazy or old-timey nonsense.”
“Damn, you’re way ahead of me in thinking about the implications of Sil and Artie’s obviously very real existence. I hadn’t considered the fact that just because they only came here five hundred years ago, doesn’t mean the influence of their world doesn’t go back a lot further.
If we were a popular destination for their people, how long were they regularly coming here? What did they do?
Well, shit, I honestly don’t have answers for any of that. All I can really say is focusing on what's right in front of us really helped me to come to grips with everything over time. Taking everything one step at a time, basically."
“Right. First things first, I need an energy drink or huge ass coffee. Let’s head back to your place. At least your roommates are already in on this. Trying to dodge them while keeping something like this a secret would be a nightmare. Not to mention, pretty fucking stupid. Never understood that trope in fiction.”
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“Can’t disagree with you there. More importantly, caffeine is definitely calling our names if random tangents like that are starting to rule the conversation. Let’s go.”
An hour later, Will, Cierra, Jake, Paige, and the Sil and Artie duo via drone, were gathered in the living room of the house rented by the three friends.
They had drinks, and Will began telling the story about everything he’d been up to. He made sure to share as much detail as he could when talking about his late-night adventures. When recounting everything he had found so far, Will had to admit nothing he had seen yet was really damning.
“It’s weird, but everything I found out there, especially in Frankston’s place, seemed a lot more sinister when I was in the moment. I’m not sure if I’m just primed to be suspicious of those guys and assume they’re up to some dark shit, or something else.
Is it possible that the feeling those guys radiate to my energy sense is messing with my perception?”
Sil and Cierra both considered the question for a moment, before Sil responded first.
“While it is certain that those empathic impressions will alter how you perceive the things around them, I don’t believe assuming that bias is unfair would be wise.
That aspect to our abilities has never been well understood, and my people were arrogant to the point of disregarding whatever emotional impressions they received. It’s something I have never been able to understand about my race.
Essentially, we were raised to view empathic and instinctual reactions as remnants of the animals we had evolved from. We were taught to disregard anything not based in logic, as logic is what separated us from animals.
That same reasoning was how they justified interfering in societies developing on other worlds. Essentially, they believe that people who base decisions on anything beyond pure logic are lower forms of life. Therefore messing with those populations is seen as innocent fun.”
Cierra picked up the conversational thread at that point.
“So, we know Sil’s people are pretentious dicks, but that went a bit off topic. Will, I’ve relied on my instincts for most of my life, and they have yet to be wrong.
As far as your impressions, chances are you’re right about being influenced by the people involved. In your shoes, I would trust those instincts and follow the thread. You need to keep in mind that objectivity does need to be what ultimately guides your actions, though.”
Will thought about that briefly, before responding.
“Right. My instincts tell me they’re up to something I’m not going to enjoy finding out about. Objectivity tells me I need more evidence. Add to that, I feel like I need to do something about this situation. I can’t just ignore it. So, I need to keep going.”
Cierra briefly smiled, before nodding to Will directly.
“I agree, but from here out, you don’t have to do it alone.
Hey Artie, I’m going to need one of those ninja outfits like you made Will.”
That caused everyone in the room, at least those capable of facial expression, to smirk and audibly chuckle.
A couple of hours later, Paige and Jake had gone to bed and the drones were off doing whatever Sil and Artie did when not working with Will or his friends. Will and Cierra had decided to watch a movie, and Will was finding it increasingly difficult to pay attention to what was on the screen.
He knew why, of course. Tonight had been a very good night for him. He’d been able to bring Cierra in on the big secret behind everything going on in his life. It felt extremely… freeing.
It wasn’t that keeping the secret had been weighing on him. He genuinely understood Sil and Artie’s cautiousness in putting their presence out in the world. He also didn’t think it was his place to spill the secret of their existence.
He didn’t even have moral issues with the concept of lying. He believed it to sometimes be right, necessary, or even just the best of bad options.
That did not mean he particularly enjoyed it, as he felt it often just made things more complicated than they needed to be. To him, it just seemed annoying, a lot of the time.
So, being able to just be upfront with everything was great. He also had to admit, this girl had rapidly become someone he cared about a lot. Now he could actually have everyone he cared the most about truly involved in his life. That support was huge.
It also didn’t hurt that she was extremely attractive. Her current position, leaning into his side with his arm wrapped around her, was just plain distracting. He was a guy, after all.
Will realized he’d been lost in thought when he noticed she was looking at him with a skeptical look on her face.
“Sorry, I was totally off in space there.”
At that she smirked before replying.
“I got that. Thinking about anything super interesting?”
Will realized they were extremely close now, as if she had moved closer by a few inches. She was wearing an intense expression. It was an odd mix of intense focus, curiosity, and invitation. He was almost certain he was wearing a similar look, and he was positive his heart rate had gone through the roof. He responded in a quiet tone, almost unaware of the fact his mouth was even working.
“Just some things…”
“Things liiiiike…”
It wasn’t a conscious decision on either of their part, but at that point they both knew what they wanted. Leaning forward, they kissed each other, and they were almost immediately caught up in the heat of the moment.
After a few minutes of hotly making out, Cierra broke off the kiss long enough to tell him she hoped his bed was clear. Getting the hint, Will nodded and stood up. Putting a hand out, he pulled her to her feet, and moments later they closed his bedroom door behind them.