“Members of the council, I agree that I owe you all an apology for allowing the Jameson woman to run free for far too long, we should have neutralised the woman long ago. However, the human agents we instructed to do the task messed up the task and she escaped to the safety of Captain Rogers and the Texas Rangers, now there is no point in killing her, for she has told the authorities everything that she knows. As for my retirement, I am not only the figurehead behind our party; I am also the only one of you capable of winning the planet for our people.” Phairlis now sat down, and a smile came to his face as many more of the council applauded his words.
He had successfully beaten off a move to replace him, but he knew that he would have to do better if he was to win his dissenters back.
“Consul Phairlis, if the infertility chemical is unlikely to work, then we need another way to rid the sixth planet of the indigenous population, are we now to assume that we are going ahead with our original plan, namely bacterial warfare?” Councillor Jorman demanded to know.
“Councillor, I will use whatever weapons are necessary against the cavemen, and as their numbers decrease we may even turn our energy weapons upon the survivors.” Phairlis informed his grand council. “I am in the process of formulating a new plan of campaign, it will be ready to put before you in just a couple of days, until then please be patient, I promise you that it will be worth it.”
**********
Three days later and the alien commander in Houston, Texas, had completed the move into his new headquarters; it was set up beneath the New Texas Steak House, an expensive and very swanky restaurant set in the suburbs of Houston. He just hoped that the new chef, that had been brainwashed the week before, was as good as his Facebook site stated.
**********
Increasingly worried by the changes in her husband, Debra Pearson, the wife of astronaut Johnny Pearson, began to worry about their future together. He was no longer tolerant of minor mistakes made by her or others, and their sex life was different, it now seemed to be more a task for her husband, he was not worried about her anymore, it was simply wham bam thank you mam. He stayed out late talking to new friends that he had made, while she stayed at home crying. Little did she know that she too was down for the fiendish alien mind bending machine, and that morning. Johnny was driving her to the plush New Texas Steak House, supposedly for a treat, normally she would have been over the moon about it, but just lately his new domineering attitude had really begun to scare her, she could not even settle down to think of what the restaurant had to offer.
“Debra, just do as I tell you and we will get along fine, ok.” Pearson said angrily, they were talking about their relationship once again, well he was telling her how she should act; she did not have a choice in the matter.
Debra really flipped at this, and as her husband stopped their car at the traffic lights, she boiled over. “Fuck you Johnny; you can stick your orders.”
Debra opened the door before Pearson realized what she was doing, and she almost leapt out from car, she ran quickly into a large department store and disappeared, knowing that he could not follow for a while, not until he had parked his car, but by then she had decided to be long gone.
Pearson looked after her angrily, but he was not overly bothered, she would return home, and then she would make the trip to the restaurant unconscious.
Debra rushed through the large store and out into the mall attached to it; sitting down on a bench, she pulled out her cell phone and in tears she called her best friend. “Mary can we meet up, I really need to speak to you, Johnny and I had a blazing row, and I left him.” Debra sobbed out.
“Oh baby, do not worry, I will be right there, now tell me, where are you?” Mary Willey asked.
“In the mall, but let’s not meet here, how about the small diner on South Main Street.”
Ten minutes later and Mary Willey pulled up at the diner, and she saw Debra waiting outside. One minute later, they were sitting at the counter while Debra told her friend how her life was falling apart, and how her marriage was over.
“Debra, your life seems strangely familiar, Bob is no fun anymore, and he has also arranged for us to dine out at the New Texas Steak House, tomorrow, strange they did not arrange for us to go together.”
**********
The alien area commander for Houston sent a message to Petras Furling, instructing him to watch for Debra Pearson, she had run away from her husband after an argument. Furling worked in the CCTV control centre in Houston. He soon found her on one of the CCTV monitors, and he watched as she walked quickly down South Main Street to a small diner where she met up with Mary Willey. The identification of the two women was no problem, for he had the pictures of all those associated with the clones and brainwashed people on an alien hand held computer, so finding out the identity of Mary Willey presented him with no problem at all. However, he did not report his findings to the area commander, instead he redirected the CCTV camera to look at another part of that street, and he then took an early break and went to meet them. For if they were taken he knew that brainwashing would follow, and nine months later her death, when replaced by a clone, should the supply have finally caught up with the demand. He had decided to take a stand that day and begin his battle to save his people from turning into the vilest of beings, mass murderers on a planetary scale.
Furling knew what the problem was; he had seen the results when the marriages of other clones had almost disintegrated. It was because the clones felt nothing for their human partners, this had almost led to the exposure of the alien infiltration, and more than once, when the clones, injured by their partners needed medical attention. This was why the partners were now being brainwashed, and were down to be replaced by clones, this was the reason behind Debra and Mary`s trips to the new restaurant.
He arrived at the diner less than five minutes after the two women had entered it; he found them still seated at the counter. He approached them and in a quiet voice that would not carry to the other diners spoke to them.
“Mrs Pearson, Mrs Willey, I am glad that I have found you two together, for I must advise you not to go to the restaurant with your husband, if you do you will regret it.” Furling began.
“Regret it, why, and who the hell are you to tell us what to do?” Mary Willey demanded to know.
“It is a long story, look can we move over to the far booth, what I have to tell you is not for the ears of the other diners, please?” Furling asked his hand indicating the empty booth at the far end of the diner.
Mary Willey and Debra Pearson looked quizzically at one another and then Mary decided. “OK, why not, today cannot get any worse than it already is.” She said, not knowing just how bad it was going to get.
When they had moved to the booth, Furling began to explain why he had spoken to them, and of their own very real problems. “Although I cannot know for sure, I can guess, you are both probably wondering why your husbands are both acting so strangely, well I will tell you, they are no longer in control of their actions.” He lied a little, for initially they may not believe the truth, but one thing is certain, he had their attention now.
Debra looked at him, quizzically. “Pardon? Do you even know my husband?” Debra asked angrily, and just a little fearfully.
“I know of him Mrs Pearson, and I know why you ran away from him, you find him a little strange after his return from Mars don`t you, I will tell you why in a moment, first I have to get you to trust what I have to say to you both.” Furling said.
What he was saying now was making the two women`s blood run cold, fearing him rather than trusting him, even so they waited impatiently to hear what he had to tell them.
“First I will show you both something, do not cry out or bring attention to us, it could be dangerous to all three of us if you do.” Furling warned.
With that, he produced a thick iron bar from beneath his jacket and bent it, much to the surprise, and relief, of the two women, who both had wondered what he was going to s
how them.
“Is that it, a circus trick?” Mary asked, contempt fairly dripping from her mouth.
Furling smiled and handed the bent bar across to her, she took it and found herself holding a short piece of steel, no more than 18 inches long and about 1 inch in diameter.
“That is some circus trick Mary, I would be really surprised to see it duplicated.” Debra said, clearly impressed.
“Listen both of you, I only did that to impress on you that I am different from normal men, in fact my body was cloned and my consciousness transferred into it from my own body. I am an alien from another world, many of my people are also here on Earth, and they want to steal your planet away from you. Like me they are also clones, some of them have replaced humans without anyone noticing.”
Debra had been drinking her glass of white wine when he told her this, what he had said sent her into a coughing fit, sitting next to her Mary tried to hide an attack of the giggles, bringing everyone’s attention to them.
“Listen, I do not have green blood, or a scaly backbone, this body was made to blend in with human bodies, the only difference that I can show you without an MRI scanner is how strong I am.” Furling argued quietly.
“Look, let`s say we believe you, why are you telling us this, you`re an alien right, one of the bad guys according to you?” Debra asked after getting control of herself.
“Forget that for the moment Debra, look friend, are you trying to tell us that our husbands are replacement clones, is that what you are leading up to, and if so where are our real husbands?” Mary asked angrily, her voice rising and once again attracting the attention of the other people in the diner.
“Perhaps we should speak about this later, at my apartment; I can drive you there, as I know how to dodge the CCTV cameras.” Furling suggested. Worried by all of the attention that they were attracting.
“CCTV cameras, what are you talking about?” Maria asked quizzically, this time a little quieter.
“We have taken over your CCTV control centre, how do you think I found you so easily?” Furling replied. “If you were to take most routes away from here, my people would soon find you, and then...” Furling did not finish his sentence, he did not have to, for they both remembered what he had said earlier, and just thinking about it sent a chill through Debra.
Mary had wondered how he had found them; she looked at Debra and both of the women thought over the matter for a moment before Mary replied to Furling’s suggestion.
“Ok Pal, we will go with you, you have successfully freaked us both out so that we need somewhere to hideaway, somewhere to talk this out between ourselves. First though, where are our two husbands, are they ok?”
Furling sighed and looked at the two women before him; he really did not want to answer this question, especially here with so many people nearby.
“Debra, Mary, your husbands never returned from Mars, they were captured there and the two men that you now know as your husbands took their place.” Furling said very quietly.
“Are you saying that our husbands are still on Mars, is that it?” Debra asked incredulously.
“Yes, Debra they were taken aboard a starship and put into cryogenic stasis for transport at some time in the future to the planet Magenta, however, Mary, Debra, there is something that you should bear in mind.” Furling hesitated here, wondering how to carry on, but he finally decided to come straight out with it. “The leader of the invasion, my leader, is a ruthless man, a very cold man, who may...” Furling broke off here, once again just a little unsure how to phrase what he had in mind.
“He may not bother keeping his prisoners alive, he may simply kill them.” Debra finished for him, tears coming to her eyes, but she succeeded in holding them back, for the moment.
Mary sat there too stunned to say anything, and Furling decided that they should leave before either of the women broke down and made a scene, and that could be fatal for the three of them.
Furling stood up and helped Mary to her feet, Debra managing to stand without his help, both women were in a partial state of shock and were still struggling to take in all that Furling had told them. Feeling a little relieved that he had surmounted this problem, and had successfully managed to convince these two women to listen to him, he urged them to leave the diner.
“Come on we should find somewhere safer to talk, you never know when one of my side might walk by and see the two of you. I will drop you off at my apartment and then I must return to work or they will come looking for me, I will be home later this evening, then we can talk more.”
“Before we go, tell us one more thing, why did you say we would live to regret going to the restaurant?” Debra asked quietly, her voice quavering just a little.
“Because that is where they will brainwash the two of you, if they catch up with you, with luck that will be the full extent of your ordeal, but you could be replaced by clones, should it become necessary.” Furling replied to a hushed audience.
He then rushed the two women out of the diner, stopping only to pay the bill, the woman behind the till looking at the three of them and giving Furling a quizzical look as she took in the state of the two women.
“I just had to give them some bad news.” Furling explained to her and he almost dragged Mary and Debra from the diner. Five minutes later Furling dropped the two women off at his apartment, leaving them he returned to work, for he could not afford to go missing, for then one of his colleagues would come to his apartment in search of him.
Mary and Debra looked at each other as the door closed behind Furling, and neither of them said a word for a moment, then Debra voiced what both women were thinking.
“Could Johnny and Bob still be on Mars, have we been living with a couple of alien clones and only now found out about it?” She asked incredulously.
“Up until today I assumed that Bob was space happy.” Mary said, tears threatening to fall once again. “But an alien?” She said looking straight at her friend.
Up until this moment she would have ridiculed such a suggestion, but Bob was very different from the man who had gone to Mars, and like Johnny with Debra, Bob really did not seem to love her any more. The two women decided, against their better judgement, to stay at Furling`s apartment, and while he was gone they talked over all what Furling has told them. Deeply shocked by everything that he had said to them, they wondered about him. Was he simply a crazy, but then, as they had both said, they had been worried before he had arrived.
“Debra, if we are going to be away from home for more than a day then we need to take a few clothes with us.” Mary said, and after a moment, Debra nodded her head in agreement.
“We should both stay together, just in case either of our husbands is home; we will go to your place first Debra, and then mine.” Mary decided.
“How do we get back in hear, when we return?” Debra wondered.
“We slip a little tape over the latch and just pull the door closed, this is a fairly safe looking apartment; it should be all right.” Mary replied, and she raided Furling`s medicine cabinet and found a box of sticking plasters.
The two women took a taxi to the diner and here they picked up Mary`s car, then they drove to Debra`s house and she quickly packed two cases of her clothes and other personal things. As they were about to leave they heard someone enter the front door of the house. The two women looked at each other in fear as they heard footsteps coming up the stairs, and then a voice.
“Debra, have you finally returned home, because let me tell you, I am pretty mad at you for running out on me.” Johnny Pearson said angrily.
He walked in to see Debra cowering against the bed, and swearing he walked quickly towards her. “Johnny please don`t.” Debra cried out in fear, for her husband had raised his hand, and he slapped her, hard, Debra fell to the bed crying, a red mark on her pale face. Pearson raised his hand to strike her again; he did not though, for Mary appeared from behind the door and struck him hard on the head with a heavy vase.
Pearson dropped to the floor, amid a crash of the broken vase that now littered the ground around his fallen body.
“The bloody bastard.” Mary said angrily.” Do you know what Debra? I am beginning to believe our handsome spaceman.” Mary said to a stunned friend who now really broke down in tears, for her husband had never attempted to hit her before today, and a thought flashed into Debra`s mind, just momentarily, had it been her fault that he had struck her?
Mary grabbed a hold of one of the suitcases and looking at her friend saw the indecision in her eyes. “Don`t you dare excuse him Debra, nothing is your fault, the bastard deserved it.” Mary said angrily.
Debra looked at her friend and nodded slowly, she then grabbed hold of the other case and they quickly left the Pearson house and drove over to Mary`s house where they packed two more suitcases. Then they drove back to the only safe place they knew of, Furling’s apartment, here they talked over the strange situation that they had found themselves in, they were still talking when Furling returned home with news for them. He noticed the red mark imprinted upon Debra`s face but did not mention it immediately.