Alien Campsite

Temecula, CA

January 20, 2013

The rain slapped against the dropship’s hull and windows and for a moment gave Jaruka the illusion of being still on Creos, before he had ever met Benali, despite the view of the valley.

He flopped down onto a cot across from the table, and then ate a rationed energy bar. Neither he nor his clothes had been washed since the relocation; his skindreads were longer and unshaved to look like wooly tree bark.

Jaruka drifted in and out of sleep until sirens broke the sound of the rainfall, indicating that someone was coming toward the ship.

“What now?” Jaruka wondered, he turned on his universal translator and prepared for the worst of his assumptions.

Before Jaruka was off of the cot, someone had banged on the hatch.

“If Deryl, shake his hand. If Mathews, glare at him,” Jaruka said as he stood, using the support beam to steady himself.

“Teal, you in there?” Mathews asked through the hull.

“Glare.” His plasma pistol he rested on a crate was pocketed in his pants. He opened the hatch, resisting the urge to punch Mathews in the face.

He held an open umbrella, dressed in his usual suit. “I tried calling you. Where’s that cellphone Porter gave you?”

Jaruka paused. “That junk tech?” he asked. “I turn it off to not talk to you. What do you want? I need a nap.”

“Not me, her. If you had that phone on, you would be ready by now to welcome her, and you better allow her.” Mathews motioned towards the black SUVs close to the shield’s boundary where armed Marines and umbrella-carrying Secret Service stood guard.

“Who?” Jaruka asked.

Rolling his eyes, Mathews said, “President Winchester. Remember?”

“Doesn’t ring a bell.”

“Right. Well, she wants to speak with you, personally.”

“My day is full.”

“She insisted. I wasted an hour to convince her otherwise but that woman never backed down.”

“Really?” Jaruka asked. “She came here…to talk.”

Although it was difficult for Jaruka to understand English due to his universal translator working on spoken words, he had come across several news articles and had heard about the country’s new leader. The article about Winchester taking her oath of office had been a short break from the usual anti-terran and transformation articles.

Mathews said, “I want this over with, without any injuries or threats and you better not backstab me or this country. Give her permission through the shield.” Mathews reached into his jacket pocket for a plastic bag. “I have her hair for the device.”

Jaruka sighed. “Look, the shield needs blood. Also, I am not in the croging mood to see anybody. Those ‘movies’ you toot about her kind and aliens never bode well.”

“Then join her in the van.”

“I’m not going out there, my dreads will swell up. And there’s lighting. Ever seen a flaming Halcunac? I’ll be bald and burned for weeks.” Lightning and thunder roared in the distance. “See? Potential fire hazard you’re looking at.”

“Teal!” Mathews yelled. “I don’t have time for your smartass remarks. Please, I promise this will be short. Do it and it will shut her up.”

Jaruka looked back at the SUVs under the dark clouded sky. No doubt there was a sniper or two in the hills. A lightning bolt struck five miles out, and thunder rolled through the land.

“The least you can do is clean up.”

“Oh so now you care about my well-being. Know any hot springs? I got some nasty bugs under my—”

“Just fucking say yes!”

Jaruka laughed, still enjoying messing with Mathews. “Okay, I give. Give me a second.”

Jaruka—before teaching Mathews—programmed the scanner to allow one person and no more, in case Mathews got wise. Mathews ran to the closest SUV with the scanner through the mud and soaked grass. Resilient campers outside the shield watched as the Marines kept them away.

It came to Jaruka finally. Why did she want to meet him, and in person?

The SUV’s rear door opened and Mathews entered. The bridge dinged from the DNA registration. “It better be her,” Jaruka said.

There were five humans registered—Scott, Katie, Deryl, Mathews, and Winchester. That thought made Jaruka’s shorter skindreads curl a bit.

Mathews stepped out of the SUV with Winchester, she walked with Mathews under his umbrella and passed through the shield; Secret Service became agitated as she went closer and closer to the ship.

“Like I want to hurt her,” Jaruka muttered.

Winchester looked up and down the dropship. “It’s bigger than the photos,” she mentioned and then noticed Jaruka blocking the hatch. Not once did she show fear.

“Ma'am, keep moving, please,” Mathews said.

She blinked. “Of course. This rain is dreadful.”

“Back up, Jaruka. Let her in.” Mathews threw the device at Jaruka, and he caught it.

“Easy, Mathews. He’s our guest.” She walked closer to the hatch. “A rather…odd guest.”

“Don’t mind doofus, his ego’s all twisted,” Jaruka said.

Winchester paused for a minute before entering. “Can’t believe I’m doing this,” she whispered, but Jaruka caught it. “Oh wait. Where are my manners?” She coughed. “President Sarah Winchester. Nice to finally meet you on such circumstances.”

She held out her hand to shake his. Jaruka, figuring that she was not like Mathews, accepted the gesture. His hand swallowed hers, and Jaruka caught a barely audible gulp from the President.

She wore a dark grey pantsuit with a buttoned green shirt underneath, with tennis shoes for the weather and mud. She was young, Jaruka suspected that she as in her mid-thirties from what he had seen from human aging graphs. She had auburn hair styled just below her ears and stunning blue eyes that might cause someone to mistake her as a primed terran after plastic surgery to prevent tail and ear regrowth.

Winchester smiled. “And just like that, I shook hands with an alien from the stars.” She paused. “Right, the rain. Can we have this inside?”

Jaruka thought the request for a good moment. There was no use denying someone whose blood was already registered with the shield entry into the ship. “Why not?” Jaruka stood back to let them in. “Mind the trash.”

Mathews was the first inside the dropship, he scoped the insides for just about anything he could think of, namely traps and weapons. He eyed Jaruka’s plasma rifle and katana hanging on the wall. “Clear,” he said.

Winchester stepped inside. “Trash never bothers me just…wow,” she said. “Just what the reports said.”

“Don’t be star struck, Ms. President, we are here because you asked to come,” Mathews reminded her. “Jaruka, close the hatch.”

“No,” Winchester said firmly. “It’s please close the hatch. You weren’t hired to make Jaruka mad.”

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

The muscles in Mathews’ neck tightened, indicating that aggravating Jaruka may have been his intention.

“Anyway,” she said to Jaruka. “I understand what happened last month. I’m truly sorry no one with the right mindset to tend to your needs. For the record, I sincerely apologize how my country and the former administration….”

“And Victor,” Jaruka added.

“And how Mathews treated you. I assure you that it will never happen again. Ain’t that right, Mathews?” She eyed Mathews behind her and he looked away.

Jaruka sniffed at the air, now laced with Winchester’s floral perfume. “That’s it? An apology? You came all this way just to say your sorries? What a waste.”

“Among other matters today.” Winchester looked around the dropship. “But not only to apologize. See I came here because I was against talking to you by phone or Skype. I didn’t want you to travel to Washington with military personnel that might trigger the spires. I went through a lot of trouble within my administration to even come here in the event that I don’t have another opportunity in the future.”

“So does every idiot from other countries.”

“I heard about Russia and Spain.”

“They’re okay, just not cool with one all nuclear prone.”

“Good point.”

Jaruka crossed his arms and asked, “Is that all?”

“We’re just getting started.” Winchester smiled. “Mr. Mathews, can we have a moment alone?”

“Certainly. Come, ma’am, before the storm gets stronger,” he said and approached the hatch.

Winchester coughed. “I mean me and Jaruka. Alone.”

Mathews did a double take. “Ma’am, it’s not wise—”

“I’m aware of the risks, Matthews.”

“Jaruka is unstable.”

“And so is this country. Be aware where you stand on this issue.”

“But he killed people. He’s reckless. You’ve seen Site A. You’ve seen Groom Lake’s devastation.”

Winchester turned around and stared at Mathews with a hard jawline, making Jaruka rethink his image of her. “Don’t make me repeat what I said earlier, especially your status,” she said. “Now, if you please, walk out.”

The muscles in Mathews’ neck tightened as she spoke. Winchester’s authority had gotten Jaruka’s attention, not that females in a male dominated sector mattered to him, it was the power in her voice compelled him to pay attention.

“Fine,” Mathews said, “your call. Ignore what I said, this country is going to shit for all I care.” He walked out into the rain, but Jaruka heard an audible “bitch” in Mathews’ voice.

Winchester turned back to Jaruka. “Men,” she said, “such power-hungry egos. Care to shut the door? This is something that I don’t want eavesdroppers to hear.”

Jaruka took a breath. “Is this what you humans call ‘you got balls coming here’?”

“I got more than that, sir.”

Jaruka hummed. “Fair enough.” He closed the hatch. Winchester sat on a bench without asking, and simply watched him, ignoring the trash. “Thank you. That man is atrocious for security,” she said.

“You tell me. Why isn’t he fired already?”

Winchester shrugged. “Director Haze’s orders, and the department is short staffed if you weren’t aware.”

“I do.”

“So Mathews staying with the CIA is vital. Firing people in a time of need disfavors the people.”

“Threatening to go against my government is stupid. Remember that stunt?”

Winchester nodded.

“Then listen,” Jaruka said while palming the plasma revolver between him and the President. “Standing in this crap-hole dropship is a big mistake,” Jaruka said. “Knowing there is more than one Reaper, and maybe you did not know, but wasting time to see me is not what I call resourceful, or necessary.” He turned the revolver’s cylinder. “If you are enthralled, I will not hesitate. It takes the same bullets at my rifle, but the rifle has a bigger kick, and I prefer it. Any blood in your eyes, I will not hesitate. Get me?”

If the Secret Service had been with her, they would have had every right to draw their firearms at Jaruka, but Winchester was alone. Jaruka needed assurance, he had only theories to go on as far as how Reapers enthralled humans. He knew the signs due to recent research from other species, but none of the signs surfaced in Winchester. She had only ever seemed aggravated with Mathews.

Winchester did not flinch from where she stood. “Understood,” She said without a flutter.

Jaruka hummed and put the pistol back in his pants pocket. “That’s one danger settled,” he said. “Even with an empty weapon, you are resilient as the news said.”

“Oh so you heard of me?”

“When the terran news isn’t on and my friends are asking for help, I learn much.” Jaruka sat across from her and she did too. “Sarah Winchester. Daughter of Tony and Sammie Winchester, unrelated to that rifle company or the funhouse up north.”

“I hate that note.”

“Parents died when you were five and lived on Skid Row until seven. Put in an orphanage and at eighteen you graduated high school with honors and went to CSU to study ethics on a scholarship. After graduation, you busted yourself into politics, right to Secretary of the Interior. The former president’s seat fell on your lap by default while you were in a hospital recovering after the zombie attack. You are an active boxer and hiker, hence why I tested your resilience.”

“I’m sure it was more than my boxing hobby,” Winchester said.

“Whatever. But it was the riots in New York that gave you the favoritism from the country when you called in the National Guard to stop it.” He leaned where he sat on the crate, resting his back on a support beam. “Did I miss anything?”

Winchester laughed a little. “You’re educated, but you missed that I wanted to be a president back in eighth grade.”

“I fell asleep before that, I swear,” Jaruka said.

“Does it bother you that I’m a woman running a man’s job?” Winchester asked.

“Do I look like I’m from a culture with sexism issues?”

Winchester paused and said, “No?”

“No.”

“Finally, an honest answer.” She paused again. “How about my turn?”

“Is there?” Jaruka shrugged.

“You’re a spire button.”

“Don’t say that, it sounds degrading.”

“Apologies. The media calls you that,” Winchester said. “There’s that one page résumé of your battles and association with the battlegroup…Nova Company, correct?”

Jaruka nodded once. “And that’s all you need to know.”

“That is a trust breaker.”

“It’s to keep you and everyone in the country alive. Let it go.”

“But there are questions,” Winchester said and Jaruka immediately regretting inviting her inside. “Who are you really? Who or what are your Halcunac people? Who do you work for? Have you done anything professionally besides being Nova’s corporal?” She leaned forward. “Why did you protect those people at Site A?”

“Ms. Winchester,” Jaruka said. “That’s far enough. What did I just say? I’m not sharing my histo….” He stopped himself and stood up abruptly. Jaruka towered over Winchester and he suddenly doubted her sincere intentions. “Unless you tell me the reason you came to see me, then leave.”

Winchester nodded, and then pulled her hair behind her right ear. “An agreement.”

Jaruka shrugged.

“Ever since I took the oath, my campaign is to restructure the government and rebuild from the Wave. People called me an idiot and other unappreciative words,” She said as she stood.

“I can think of a few.”

“Hear me out, Mr. Teal. I asked Congress, no, I begged them to hear reason to pull almost all of our troops back to the states. Filling the empty Congress seats after the zombie attack was difficult, even firing politicians that disagreed with change. We are finally assessing our laws to our Constitution that we never done, and should have since Nixon. Most of all, make sure that equality between humans and terrans is set. So it would be really app—”

“Let me guess,” Jaruka interrupted her with leveled eyes. “You want me to join you.”

Winchester coughed. “Yes.”

Jaruka leaned in. “No,” he said. Winchester blinked from the alien’s breath. “I’m not involved.”

“You are. Those spires, you being a citizen of the United States, the research for your people. That makes you involved. More importantly, it’s the magic. These people…some think of it as demon powers. I don’t. You have to know magic. From what I deduced from the Groom Lake footage, magic exists in this universe. You are a valuable asset. Your experience is needed.

“Please, come to D.C. Let me put you in front of Congress and the UN. This world needs your help.”

Jaruka shook his head and stood. “I said no. I want to live out my two years on this rock in peace, not become political leverage. I have to stay close to Walsh Estate Winery.”

“With friends?” Winchester asked.

“It’s called a boundary curfew.” Jaruka pointed at the black band on his ankle. Winchester said nothing else but thought for a minute. He stopped her before she could open her mouth, “anything you say I’ll counter, miss.”

She turned back to Jaruka. “You could tell us who Griffon is.”

Jaruka laughed. “I wondered when you’d bring him up. One, I don’t know. Nobody does. Second, and maybe this is the only advice I’ll give you, Reapers are dangerous.”

“I’m aware, I’ve read the reports.”

“Words and reality are two different worlds. After all, he’s crippled and has only half a brain thanks to Mr. Dunne.” Jaruka went for the hatch. “Talk to him, he knows.” He opened the hatch and motioned for Mathews to be ready.

“Porter told me you’d be stubborn,” she said and stood, adjusting her jacket, “but coming from an outdoors enthusiast, living in seclusion has its limits. I guarantee this country will need your help. Maybe the whole world.”

“Tell it to someone without an execution date.” Jaruka pointed his hand out the open hatch. “Are we done here?”

Winchester was disappointed, but she knew that there was no point in arguing. “I still see you as a valuable asset,” she said as she offered her hand to him.

“Yeah, yeah, just go,” Jaruka said without shaking her hand again.

Winchester clenched her hand softly and slowly lowered it. “I might understand your reasons, and I’ll respect them,” she said as she left the ship. She turned back to Jaruka briefly. “Other government ambassadors will come asking to join them.”

“And they will get the same answer.”

“Why? To protect humans or yourself?”

“Don’t test me anymore, miss,” Jaruka said, grinding his teeth.

Winchester sighed, and then nodded at Mathews.

“Thought you two would never come out,” Mathews said, holding the umbrella over her.

“I wished it was longer,” Winchester said.

“Don’t flatter yourself, miss,” Jaruka said. “My answer is just, but getting any information, and I mean anything, will be your species’ downfall.”

Winchester clasped her hands behind her. “Are you saying that to protect us?”

“Miss, don’t…”

“Or what? If history told me anything is that humans can adapt for the better. After all, plants evolve at rapid moments. Like autumn leaves or harvesting food, actions must be taken for change.”

Jaruka was quiet, he could feel his short skindreads curl. He stood still, staring into Winchester’s blue eyes.

“I left my card on your bench. If you want to talk, don’t hesitate, but I will respect your privacy and security for the time being. You have my word.” Winchester bowed her head a little and walked off with Mathews.

Jaruka watched until all the SUVs had left. Campers noticed Jaruka and waved, but he quickly closed the hatch afterwards. He leaned on the closed door, thinking over what Winchester had said last.

Halcunacs were known to humans, Winchester could not have known how his biology worked. She might have been enthralled, but he noticed no signs, her strong stance might have given it away, but he had known people with similar characteristics.

There was no way to trust Winchester without having solid proof that she was not enthralled. His head pounded with a headache from too many unanswered questions.

Jaruka went back to the console to make notes, and then went straight to sleep.