CHAPTER TWO – SLIG
120 Human years later
Whisps knew it would be inevitable that somewhere along the future timeline, serious contact with Humans must be attempted and Slig was in the forefront of taking up this initiative. Slig needed to enter the physical world. But how? It reasoned that the likely way of doing this was to leave the Whisps’ Aura boundary – the one surrounding the planet – it needed somehow to go beyond that limited area. Humans were already quite capable of leaving the planet in their machines; indeed they had been doing so for 55 Human years. This would be a daunting task – it meant leaving the Aura and in so doing, try to discover some method of touching the untouchable. What happens to a Whisp when it enters the physical realm? – No Whisp knew. It’s plan become one that required contact with the humans while far off the planet and far away from each others’ Aura and to do that, it decided that it would follow a machine when one left the Earth.
Slig had studied the Humans for some time and became to know how they communicated, their habits and how they survive, and even though Whisps did not have very much in the way of emotion, it learnt that Humans were shackled not only with varied and sometimes extreme emotions, they had to adapt to their own environment, they had to cope with various senses, they were all individual yet were enslaved to a relatively short existence. A lot of things about Humans were totally beyond Slig’s understanding. Initially, it saw Humans as backward creatures, never seeming to just be satisfied with their own existence or of keeping harmony within the realm of the world. Not all Humans were like that, but in general, it was the highly organized and adventurous ones who would group together and overrun the rest – most times by the destruction of those who would not group.
It appeared that Humans did not have the foresight to understand that by their constant hunger for advancement, they were degrading the planet – somewhere along the timeline, there must be an effect. Yet somehow, someway, here they are, living creatures, constantly reproducing as other living creatures do, but evolving so quickly that they are capable of leaving their own planet, indeed the Aura. This very fast and accelerated progress by the Humans gave rise to things new to Whisps; one of these things was a sense of foreboding and concern. Slig’s plan (should contact with the physical world be made), was to somehow put a stop to Human advancement, migration and movement - if necessary, eradicate the Humans entirely from the planet. The planet and the Aura would be better off. To achieve this, Slig knew that the utilization and distribution of selective microbes and organisms would be most effective. It put these ideas to other Whisps who saw this course of action as one of a perfect and final solution.
Dwarg saw Slig go off on this adventure; however, from its study and knowledge of Humans, Dwarg had reservations about Slig’s future success.
Slig fluxed to the area on the planet where the last machine had left Earth. There had been a Swirl Chaos resulting from that activity.
By reports from other Whisps, it knew that there was a lot of Human activity and saw that another machine was being prepared for a possible push to outside the Aura.
It had no way of entering the machine (humans called them rockets) so it planned to wrap itself around the top of one and, by doing so, simply be piggy-backed off the planet and into the unknown – somewhere in this unknown, Slig would have to make contact with Humans.
Slig fluxed around Cape Canaveral for some time, following Humans around, getting to know some of their complex personalities, their strange ways, their need for replenishing energy for themselves and their machines and many other facets that it would take to be a Human.
Through the timeline, some Whisps had tried various ways to contact the physical world, in particular the Humans, but never in such a dedicated and serious way in which Slig was planning to do. Slig knew thus far, actual contact had never been made. Sometimes Slig would follow a Human and try to devise a way for that Human to notice it - but the separation Aura would not allow this. Slig had known of certain Humans who may become susceptible to the awareness of Whisps, but these Humans were mostly not complete or in some way were defective. Other Humans ingested chemicals and gasses which changed their “normal” existence for a while.
Oddly, many Humans accepted the possibility of a nonphysical world while in these altered conditions, but it was always a world without Whisps. In their earlier state of evolvement, Humans were more susceptible to an understanding of the non-physical world. Many recognized gods, spirits, elves, fairies, dead Humans, and even creatures not known to them. Perhaps the closest comparison that a Human might have made to a Whisp would be their belief in an entity called a Guardian Angel. Some thought that a dedicated Guardian Angel would follow its allocated Human around, somehow protecting him or her from some unforeseen peril or harm. Whisps cared little for Humans; it was the humans’ threat of destructive evolution upon the planet that was of importance.
Slig followed certain Humans in the Cape Kennedy and Cape Canaveral area. It knew that these people were the ones destined to go into the rockets and exceed the Aura’s limit. After a great deal of study and observation, Slig chose a female Human whose name was Eva Redcliffe. It (and very much unlike a Guardian Angel), would try to use her as a vehicle for the onset of the destruction of Humankind. This Human was a little different to the other designated Humans, in that her life path was not one of the same training, orientation and experience of her elite group. Slig saw that this Human had some of those difficult emotions that constantly confused studying Whisps - in particular, an enquiring and open mind.
She was a teacher and mentor of other Humans. Given the lesser degree of martial discipline, especially mental strength, she would be the ideal subject for the acceptance of some alternative and unknown form of communication. Perhaps she would acknowledge Slig or ideally, make physical contact with it. Eva was one within a special group at Cape Canaveral, undergoing various medical and other examinations. Having done all that, the group was then sent to a training facility in Huston Texas to ready themselves for leaving the planet.
Eva Redcliffe never knew that she was being constantly followed and surrounded by Slig. It would still be a number of weeks before being harnessed into her rocket; however there were times when she felt “strange” sensations and feelings out of the ordinary. She could not put her finger on it and put it down to the excitement of her forthcoming adventure.
One occasion, Eva was toweling after a shower and whilst looking into her mirror, thought she saw “something” behind her and spun around – nothing. This happened a number of times; she would walk past the hallway mirror and quickly look around because she thought something was there, yet nothing. This rattled her a little but was she was not going to tell her mentors of any of this and Eva avoided mirrors from then on.
Slig often wondered what a Whisp would look like as physical – would it look like a Human? - probably not, Slig didn’t have limbs or bones or noses or any of the human attributes – but that didn’t stop it from trying to look into a mirror to see if it could see anything of itself. At least Eva had a sense of Slig – yes, it was another step closer.
Slig would have to find a way somehow to present itself to the Human female whilst outside the Aura, without causing her too much distress. Slig would seize the moment before she could make any form of rejection – Slig would be as fair or as firm as it needed to be. It did not know exactly how it would materialize. What shape or image would it become? What would a Whisp look like to a human? - In fact would another Whisp recognize it? If its materialization proved untenable, Slig, as a final resort, would enter and completely takeover the Human.
Slig insisted that Dwarg not be anywhere near it during its exploits. It needed Dwarg to remain with the Whisps’ body group and to continue the work of seeking a solution to the Swirl Chaos… should Slig fail in its quest.