Puppet

  "I mean it!"

  "Hey, I'm not moving."

  The two of them stared at each other.

  "Um...where is everyone?" asked the soldier.

  "I thought you would know better than me."

  "Well, I'm going to have to take you to the prison camp as a POW."

  "Alright, where's the camp?"

  "About 10 miles outside of town."

  "And how do I get there?"

  The soldier scratched his head. After a moment he disappeared into the tank again. A second later he reappeared.

  "Don't go anywhere."

  "Right."

  The man ducked back into the tank. Mike could hear bits of some sort of discussion from inside. The soldier reappeared.

  "Are you a civilian?"

  "I guess so."

  "Answer me!"

  "Yes!"

  The soldier disappeared again for another conference. Then reappeared. He seemed somewhat put out.

  "Alright, " he said glumly "I guess you can skip the prison."

  "Thanks."

  "Go about your business, move along!"

  "Right."

  Mike turned around and headed back the way he came. As soon as he was around the corner he broke into a run.

  * * *

  The military announced curfews over loud speakers, radio and TV. They raised the Stars and Stripes over the city again. They also put soldiers on most blocks, though they seemed upset that nobody had materialized to fight them. As the days passed it seemed like more and more of the soldiers were becoming hosts for the Puppeteers.

  After a week, Mike was sure of it. After two weeks he couldn't find a soldier that did not seem to be a host. Three weeks after the army had rolled into Denver, the Stars and Stripes was lowered and the blob flag was raised again. The announcements over loudspeakers, radio and TV ceased and things went back to "normal" for blob control.

  The TV, which had been broadcasting stuff about how the "alien menace" had been stopped in its tracks, was strangely silent about what was going on. Whereas before there had been newscasts about how Denver had been "pacified," now there was nothing at all.

  Alice even remarked on the situation during one of their coffee meetings.

  "I'll say one thing for the blobs: they're good at infiltration."

  Blobs: 1, Humanity: 0!

  Oh be quiet.

  The waitress came by with their order. Both of them had taken to getting water along with their coffees. Alice took a sip of her coffee and made a face. Mike didn't even try his and instead just sipped his water.

  "What do you think they'll try next?" Mike asked.

  "I just hope they don't use a nuke."

  "Yeah."

  "Unless someone brightens up, this thing is over."

  As it turned out, there was some pretty bright people who were working for the government. In particular, there was a large contingent from the Centers for Disease Control that escaped enslavement by the Puppeteers and came up with a very effective plan.

  The Puppeteers were extremely susceptible to any form of encephalitis - a condition that cause the brain tissue to swell. For the Puppeteers, the condition was close to 100% fatal. It wasn't that great for human beings either, but a mild case was often mistaken for flu.

  The alien habit of having "conferences," where two or more Puppeteers physically touched, resulted in an exchange of fluids, as well as making it possible to rapidly share information. This also meant that the disease could spread rapidly from host to host.

  * * *

  Mike was walking down the street to one of his "coffee meetings" with Alice when he noticed that he felt sick. He was tired and his sense of balance was off.

  He made it to the diner anyways and sat down opposite Alice.

  "You don't look so good." She observed.

  I don't feel so great either. Mike's Puppeteer chimed in.

  "I think I'm coming down with a cold."

  Alice frowned and sipped her water. "It seems like a lot of people are getting colds these days. Must be something going around."

  "So, have you heard anything?"

  At that moment the waitress came to the table and promptly sneezed on both of them.

  "Ick" said Alice.

  "Thanks a lot" said Mike. "Didn't anyone ever teach you to sneeze into your hand?"

  The waitress glared at them then stalked off without asking if Mike wanted anything. When he saw her sneeze into someone's order he was just as glad.

  "I think I'm going to head home." Mike said groggily. "This cold is getting to me."

  Alice actually looked concerned.

  She's just worried about me.

  Oh shut up.

  "Would you like any help getting home."

  "Yeah, that would be great."

  Oh woe is me! Sick I am!

  Shut up, this is the about the only time we've gotten her to come back to my place since...since you split.

  I prefer the term 'divided'.

  Alice took his arm. Mike tried to put his arm on her shoulders, but she batted it away.

  Nice try.

  Thanks.

  When they got to his apartment, Mike staggered over to his bedroom.

  "How do you feel" Alice asked.

  "Got a headache."

  Doh!

  Oh shut up.

  "I'll get some aspirin."

  "Maybe you should help me take my clothes off."

  "Don't push it."

  Oh, very subtle.

  You would have probably tried something like "let's screw."

  Well, it would have been more direct...see if she can get me an aspirin or something.

  "What's weird is that my Puppeteer seems to be feeling ill too." Mike said as he sprawled on the bed.

  Alice didn't respond, but came in a minute later with some aspirin and water.

  "Thanks" Mike said and took the aspirin. "I think I'll try to sleep now." He was already drifting off.

  Mike woke up that night with a splitting headache. He staggered out of bed and got some more aspirin. There was something else wrong, but he couldn't put his finger on it. He staggered back to the bed and fell onto it.

  The next morning, he felt a lot better, but there was still something wrong. Then he noticed that he was naked.

  Hey! Do you think she took my clothes off after all?

  No response.

  Hello?

  Mike reached around to his back. It felt wet. When he brought his hand around it was covered in grey, foul smelling gook. Mike realized why he had felt strange.

  Hey! Little buddy! Speak to me!

  But the voice of his Puppeteer was forever stilled.

  * * *

  The "Liberation Plague" as it was later called, wiped out over 80% of the Puppeteers. The official death toll for their human hosts was about 50 million people.

  For Mike, the cure was worse than the disease.

  For a week after he recovered from the encephalitis, he stayed in bed. Mike didn't know what Alice's phone number was or where she lived so he could not call her or see how she was doing.

  Where the world had seemed to be bathed in light before, it was now gray and dull. Mike knew that things were much as they had been before, but everything seemed to be turned way down.

  Finally, one day, Mike got up and went down to the diner where Alice and he had occasionally had coffee together. The service was still terrible but at least the coffee had improved. Mike mostly just sipped and stared out the window.

  Now he could go back to his life, he thought. His bleak, miserable life.

  Mike went to the diner most days, but it was a week before he saw Alice again. He had been staring listlessly out the window when she came by. When she saw him she waved frantically and then came into the diner.

  "Hi Mike!" she said loudly.

  "Hello Alice." Mike smiled wanly. "I don't suppose your..."

  "Nope, gone for good!" She grinn
ed, but Mike noticed that her hand was clenched into a fist.

  Mike stirred his coffee.

  Alice raised her voice to call over the waitress. "So is the coffee any better?"

  "Yeah, I suppose." Mike said, lifting his cup and taking a sip.

  The waitress came by with Alice's order.

  "Thanks!" Alice said.

  Mike looked out the window again. The silence grew between them.

  "So, do you still want to fuck me?"

  Alice's offer jarred Mike out of his thoughts. She had a skull's grin on her face.

  "Um...ah...yeah, sure, I suppose."

  "Let's do it!"

  Now both of her hands were clenched, but her grin remained.

  "Look, I have to go."

  "Fine, we can go back to your place."

  "No, look, I need to think."

  Mike almost ran out of the diner. It wasn't until he was a block away that he realized he had left her with the bill. He turned around to head back but then remembered the grin on her face.

  Mike turned around again and headed home.

  * * *

  In the days that followed the liberation of the Earth, the world’s governments decided to pool their resources to combat the alien menace. The new organization was called Planetary Defense, and all things Puppeteer were of interest to it. There was also a lot of old fashioned military style recruiting going on for the "the Force" as it was sometimes called.

  At first Mike didn't care or notice PD. As the days passed, Mike realized that his life was steadily heading downhill: unless he did something, he was in for the same train wreck of a life that he had been heading for before the Puppeteer had come into his life.

  In a moment of inspiration, Mike realized that if anyone would know about where to find any remaining aliens, it was the Force. It was for that reason that Mike found himself one day talking to a soldier with the PD...

  “So you want to fight the blobs eh?”

  “More or less.”

  The soldier quirked an eyebrow at Mike.

  “That’s an interesting answer.”

  Mike shrugged.

  “Do you have any special qualifications?”

  “Just one.”

  “And what’s that?”

  Mike had been dreading this.

  “I’m willing to...serve as a host for one of the Puppeteers.”

  “You are willing to let the Blobs control you again?!”

  “That’s right.”

  The soldier looked like he was trying to decide whether or not to shoot him.

  “Just a sec.”

  The soldier turned away and made a call on a cell phone. He talked for a while, occasionally glancing at Mike. Finally he hung up.

  “Follow me.”

  Later on that day, Mike found himself in a windowless room being interviewed by a couple of men in black.

  “Most people would do anything to avoid being controlled by a blog again. Why is it that you want to host an alien again?”

  Mike sighed. This was the fifth time today that he was explaining this.

  “The Puppeteers - aliens - have a different effect on me than they seemed to have on other people.”

  “Because you’re crazy.”

  “Depressed.”

  “Whatever.”

  The two guys glanced at each other.

  “And why would we want to do this, I mean what even makes you think that there are any blobs left on the planet?”

  “There have been tests all over the place for them - and I can’t believe that some of them were not in an isolated location or weren’t captured before you unleashed the plague. I mean, how else would you have tested it?”

  “As it turns out Mr. ah” at this the guy glanced down at a sheet of paper “Smith, there are no more blobs...anywhere. So while we appreciate your ah...willingness to sacrifice on behalf humanity we have no need of your services.”

  Mike stared at the two men for a while.

  “Alright, mind if I leave?”

  “Actually, we do. There are some questions we’d like to ask you...starting with where you live...”

  What followed was several tests to satisfy the agents that Mike was not actually harboring a blob. Then there were many questions to make sure he didn’t know of any free blobs. Then there were several questions that appeared to be gratuitous.

  Mike spent several uneventful days in what amounted to a cell, although it was somewhat nicer than your average prison.

  * * *

  “And you are sure you want to go through with this?”

  One of the men in black, Tom, was asking Mike one last time.

  “Yes.”

  After a few days of sitting around in the cell, Mike had been flown out to some "facility" where some more testing had taken place. After a couple of weeks of this, it looked like they were finally going to take some action.

  Tom nodded once and led Mike into a room that had a stool in the middle of it. Mike experienced a sense of deja vu at this, but sat down on the stool and started taking off his shirt.

  “Please take off your shirt” Tom said, stubbornly ignoring that Mike already doing this. Once Mike had done this, Tom nodded to a couple of orderly types who left the room and then returned shortly.

  One of them held a box. They approached Mike and opened one end of the box. They placed the box against Mike’s back and tipped it forwards. Mike felt the familiar sensation of the Puppeteer flowing onto his back.

  “Welcome home” Mike said under his breath.

  This time, the experience was different.

  For one thing, the Puppeteer was a lot weaker. Mike figured they had been keeping the ones they had in some sort of holding area. Whatever the case, it was not a good environment for them. The one that they had given Mike was barely alive.

  Despite the state it was in, the alien tried to talk to Mike immediately.

  We’ve got to warn them.

  Warn them about what?

  The rest of the people the Puppeteer said weakly, they will try to kill you.

  Why would they want to kill me?

  Not just you, everyone.

  * * *

  Mike was sitting behind a plexiglass window speaking to Tom.

  “Where do you come from?”

  I’m assuming that he means “where do the Puppeteers come from.”

  “I’m assuming you mean where do the Puppeteers come from.”

  Tom frowned. Mike did not react the same way that most of the other subjects did to “possession” as it was informally known. For one thing, he maintained a sense of self aside from the alien.

  “Where do the aliens come from?” Tom rephrased.

  I’m assuming he means “where do the Puppeteers come from” as opposed to “where do illegal aliens come from?”

  “Now stop that.” Mike said out loud.

  “What?” Tom said.

  “Not you.”

  Well? Mike directed the question at the Puppeteer. It took the thing a while to answer.

  I don’t know.

  “I don’t know.”

  “You don’t know?!”

  Mike shifted about on his seat. His hosts required him to keep his shirt off so that they could ensure where his Puppeteer was. Mike scratched his back. The Puppeteer moved obligingly out of the way so that Mike could reach the spot.

  “I’m guessing that the Puppeteers erased the memory of where they came from so that you couldn’t find out.”

  Did not.

  Then why don’t you know?

  I may have just forgotten for a little bit.

  Tom jotted something down on a notepad.

  “Why did the aliens invade?”

  It was a terrible mistake, but we felt we had to do something before you destroyed yourselves.

  “It’s strange – on the one hand they seem to have a total disdain for human beings” at this Tom grunted “but on the other hand they seemed desperate
to…”

  Mike paused.

  “To what?” said Tom.

  “To, well, save us.”

  “What?!”

  “They thought we were going to destroy ourselves through war.”

  Tom rolled his eyes. “Is that your opinion or is it what the alien says.”

  Tell that twit that it’s the truth.

  “A combination of both and with some observation of other guided.”

  “Other...guided?” Tom asked.

  That’s not what I told you to tell him.

  “Shut up.” Mike said out loud. Mike looked Tom apologetically. “Sorry, not you, I’m just…getting accustomed to this new Puppeteer.”

  Things were so much simpler when I just ordered that other guy around.

  “Sorry, that’s my term for people who are being controlled by an alien.”

  Tom glared at Mike for a while.

  “Do they understand that being a host is not a pleasant experience for most people?”

  “Yes.”

  “And they have no empathy for them?”

  It was a mistake. We’ve got to stop the rest of the People before they make an even bigger one.

  “That's the strange part. My first guide felt like human beings were only mounts for them. This one is...different.”

  "How so?"

  "This one seems to think that the whole invasion was a mistake."

  "Hmph. You mean they got their butts kicked and now they wished they hadn't messed with us."

  And you killed off 50 million of your own people in the process…

  Mike frowned. "That may be the case, but it doesn't feel like it."

  “Is there anything else you would like to say?”

  “Yes - the Puppeteers are probably planning on wiping out the human race.”

  Tom stopped writing. “What?”

  Finally some progress!

  “It’s weird, but the Puppeteers think that, in order to preserve the human race, they need to wipe out our civilization and start over.”

  Tom was dumbfounded. “How would they do that?”

  They would probably bombard the planet with asteroids.

  “My guess is that they would bombard the planet with asteroids.”

  I just told you that they would…I mean that’s hardly your guess!

  “They would throw rocks at us? That’s ridiculous!”

  “Remember the crater in the Yucatan peninsula? The one that they think killed off the dinosaurs? That’s the sort of rocks the Puppeteers will throw at us.”

  Mike leaned forwards to the glass.

  “We have got to start working to stop them now if our civilization is to continue.”

  Tom loosened his tie.

  “But…but you just said they wanted to save us.’

  Mike sat back.

  “Yeah, that’s the weird part. They seem to think that if they cannot save us that they should destroy us. I think they’re a little crazy.”

  “A little crazy?!!”