Chapter 9
Two hours later, after midnight, they moved into their new position up the hill. The view was better.
"I'm glad we don't have to wear these HazMat suits anymore," Nisha said.
"Me too," Rachel said. "I don't know how they accomplished the feat of not endangering us with their microbes. We've identified 178 new species. However, they aren't harmful to us or the unprotected lab animals we brought here. A few birds are having some problems but none have died. The egg laying process has slowed in some of the chickens. The alien microbes are so similar to our bacteria and viruses that we're immune to most of them or there is little interaction between us and them. Other alien microbes seem to die or not reproduce when exposed to our environment. We'll find out what happens over the next few days."
Nisha gazed out over the two newly built towers. They were different than the first one and different from each other. They both possessed elegance on a massive scale.
"They appear like a small sculpture Quinn might create," Nisha said as she examined the towers. "However, they're over 1,000 meters tall. A few human-made office towers are taller than these, but those are fragile compared to these massive structures. The builder drones are creating a round structure over there."
"What do you suppose that is Nisha?"
"I don't know, but the shape is more industrial than the towers. This structure doesn't appear to be a place where they would want to live. But what do I know about this species? I know nothing."
Rachel glanced skyward as another sphere descended.
"Ugh, I hate those sonic booms and the ground vibrations! How many does this make? I'm losing count now. These huge spheres are only shuttles to them. They seem to be moving about 10,000 at a time into the towers."
"I think this makes 10," Nisha said. "This means 100,000 of them have moved into the towers. If 10,000 are in each of these spheres, a million of them might be in the big sphere in orbit right now. This seems like more than a little scouting expedition. Rachel? What's happening?"
"Hold on. I'm getting an update from our monitors."
Rachel talked to someone at the CDC headquarters as Nisha listened.
"Really? Are you sure? Okay ? thank you."
"Tell me," Nisha said. "Don't keep me waiting!"
"Now I'm worried, another large sphere has entered Earth's orbit."
Rachel zoomed in on the bases of two towers and said nothing.
"Rachel, they're streaming into those towers. ? Rachel? What are you so interested in?"
Rachel said nothing for several seconds.
"I think you better zoom in on the stream entering the closest tower."
Nisha blinked and her Eyepiece magnified the view by a factor of 20. The world watched the video stream.
"Smaller life forms are mixed into the crowd," Nisha said. "They might be alien children but they have tails, unlike the adults. Are they pets? Maybe they lose their tails when they become adults. This is fascinating!"
"Zoom in more," Rachel said. "What are walking near the alien children?"
"They're human! They've got our children!" Nisha said. "Priya must be alive! I thought I had heard her in my mind a few minutes ago. Our children are walking unprotected right alongside the alien children."
They observed for a couple of minutes. Nisha shook her head.
"What's odd is our children aren't looking around. They're marching along looking straight ahead. They don't seem to be talking. I'm happy! How many of our children have been abducted?"
Rachel searched for the answer.
"We estimate about 25,000 children were abducted with zero new abductions in the past few days."
"This is exciting but I can't stay awake any longer," Nisha said. "It's 3am, let's get some sleep. If it were daytime, I'd go over and talk to them. A month ago, I couldn't imagine sleeping within walking distance of thousands of alien beings. I guess I'm getting used to them now. They haven't hurt us, so they probably won't tonight. My heart isn't even racing. I'm relieved that the kids are alive."
Nisha left her video feed on while second camera pointed towards the colony as she and Rachel got a few hours of sleep.
She awoke to a voice in her ear.
"Nisha wake up!"
Nisha rubbed her eyes as she struggled to wake up.
"Quinn, is that you?"
"Yes Neesh. I'm watching your video feed and a minute ago I thought I saw some aliens poking their heads into your tent. You and Rachel were sleeping. They were small compared to the other ones. I think they left because you were snoring!"
"I'll get you! You know I don't snore."
"Whatever you say Neesh!"
"Okay, I'll check it out. I miss you so much. Keep watching, okay?"
"I'll keep an eye on you. Keep your Eyepiece video feed on at all times," Quinn said.
He disconnected.
"Rachel, wake up," Nisha said as she nudged her shoulder. "Alien children were in the tent."
"Oh," Rachel said in a sleepy voice. "Where are they now?"
"I don't ?"
Nisha hesitated when she heard a little movement outside.
"I think they're walking behind the tent. Let's go see," she whispered.
They got dressed and walked around to the back of the tent where their satellite dish transmitted their video feeds to the world. The children looked over with those eyes.
"What are they doing?" Rachel said.
"They seem to be inspecting the dish," Nisha said.
The children walked over to Nisha and Rachel and began sniffing them.
"They're also inspecting us. I'm glad they're not bigger than us, but the way they watch us is unnerving. I imagine they're looking over prey with those eyes of theirs and the way they sniff us out."
"Yeah, they make me uncomfortable," Rachel said.
Nisha nodded her head, but said nothing as one child inspected her closely.
"I don't like it touching me like that. Get away!"
Nisha lightly slapped the alien child's hand away. The child's skin turned a bright red, but another child stepped in silently to prevent a possible attack.
"Well, at least we know red is the universal color of anger," Nisha said. "Be careful, they're not as big as the adults but they're still much stronger than us. Also, this feed is being distributed around the world so whatever we do here has the potential of affecting history. And I'm sure the aliens are monitoring every move we make."
Nisha turned to the intervening child and said, "Thank you!"
She smiled and bowed her head.
It silently watched Nisha for what seemed like an entire minute.
"Rachel, I think it's trying to communicate with me. I can detect something in my mind, but I don't know how to reply. Let me try a few things. I'm thinking they may know our language already. They pick things up quickly. After all, they knew who ordered the missile strike in New York."
Nisha pointed to her head and her ears and said, "I know you spoke."
The alien child stared at Nisha for a while longer.
Nisha pointed to her ears once more.
"You spoke again!"
The children simultaneously turned and walked away towards the closest tower.
"Whoa, they're abrupt!" Rachel said.
Nisha nodded her head in agreement and said nothing at first.
"Yes, maybe their parent or parents summoned them all at once so they walked back. They have their elders' same curiosity in our gadgets, but they also seem to take a real interest in us. I began to lose hope I would be able to communicate with them. The adults aren't interested in us, but with the children there's a difference. I can feel it."
"You're right. I wonder why they let their children visit us without supervision," Rachel said.
"We might not be perceived as a threat. We let our children go outside and play with lizards and other harmless creatures. They may consider humans to be harmless creatures."
"Yes, human adults rarely play with c
ommon lizards but children are more curious," Rachel said. "I guess their children are more curious too."
"I think we can use their curiosity to learn more about them," Nisha said. "I'm dying to know where they came from and about their culture and home world. It's possible that through the alien children, we can gain access to our children and get them free."
"You're being optimistic, but that would be wonderful!" Rachel said. "I thought of ways to communicate with them. We can't use sign language because the structure of their fingers and hands is significantly different than ours. I think we should speak to them and try to teach them. Maybe we can use a keyboard and computer or something. Their fingers are more dexterous than ours. They're smart, so they can probably learn our language faster than we can learn theirs."
"I agree," Nisha said as she watched the stream of alien adults, children and human children walk into the closest tower. "You know what Rachel?"
"What?"
"I'm going to walk over to them right now and find out if I can spot Priya and her friend Sophie. Want to join me?"
"Well?"
"Things will work out okay. I keep reminding myself that they would have exterminated us a long time ago if they wanted to."
Nisha often monitored the size and interests of her Twitter video stream audience. They showed great interest in having Nisha move close to the aliens which were walking into the closest tower. She noticed the President and many people high up in the military were watching.
"Okay let's go!" Nisha said.
"All right, we're on our way," Rachel said. "Those big ones on the right side of the tower seem to be guards. Watch how their eyes follow us while their heads don't turn. Wow, their eyes can rotate at least 120 degrees either way from straight ahead."
"Yeah, I'm glad they're only looking," Nisha said. "They're watching us and they're doing nothing. Let's continue over to the stream of them entering the tower. My heart is racing again. The closer I get, the louder the voices get."
They walked to within 10 meters of the stream of them entering the tower.
"Wow, they glance at us with such indifference," Rachel said. "We might as well be a rock on the side of the path. They notice us, but they aren't curious about us at all."
"Yes," Nisha said. "However the alien children are looking at us with curiosity. Notice how some of them seem to want to break out of the line and check us out? They're kept in line by the adults. The children are the best chance we have to get to know them better. I'm sure they're monitoring my video broadcast stream so they must know we mean them no harm. We're just curious."
"Here come some human children," Rachel said.
"Yes, they're around Priya's age."
Nisha began to tear up as memories of Priya played in her mind. She tried to be strong and not show her emotion.
"I didn't get to celebrate her 16th birthday yesterday. I miss her so much. I'm not going to cry. ? The kids appear to be between 14 and 18 years old. All of these children have parents who want them back. How can we get them back?"
Rachel said nothing for a moment.
"I don't know, but I think for now we need to focus on learning as much as we can."
They watched for a few hours as tens of thousands of aliens and human children continued to stream into the tower. Priya was nowhere in sight.
Nisha gazed up in awe as she talked to Rachel.
"I can't get used to those spheres coming and going. They are so commonplace from their perspective that they don't notice. I've recorded over 50 landings, which means about 500,000 aliens have entered these towers. The landings are increasing in frequency too. That's probably because of the second large sphere now in orbit. My guess is a million live in each one."
Nisha stopped talking for a moment.
"Hmm, for a fraction of a second I thought Priya spoke to me!"
"Do you think she's close by?"
"She seemed much closer," Nisha said. "I perceived her voice for a fraction of a second, but I think it's her."
They watched in silence for several more minutes. Then, Nisha's eyes opened wide.
"Priya!"
Her heart filled with joy. She also noticed Sophie walking a few steps behind. Nisha waved and shouted from about 30 meters away but there was no reply.
"Did she hear you?" Rachel said.
"I think she did."
Nisha tried to get rheir attention.
"Pree! ? Sophie!"
Priya glanced over but she said nothing. Nisha waved again and ran towards them. However, Priya and Sophie walked without hesitation into the tower. The liquid reflective exterior of the tower enveloped them.
Nisha stood in front of the massive tower in silence. She walked back over to Rachel in tears.
"I don't understand, Nisha said. "Priya didn't acknowledge me. What does that mean? Do you think they've done something to her? Maybe she hates me for letting her get abducted. None of the human kids walking by are fully aware of us. And none of them are talking. There's something wrong with them."
"Do you want my honest opinion? Or should I sugar coat it?" Rachel said.
"No sugar coating."
"Okay. These are extremely advanced technological beings. They seem to be socially advanced too, though I'm not as certain of this. They have the ability to screen harmful microbes from our environment, build autonomous robots, travel between stars, 3-D print skyscrapers built overnight into any shape they want, communicate telepathically by some electronic means, and who knows what else. When I watch these human children walk by, I think something has been done to them. They aren't talking, and they aren't playing. They're paying attention only to ? there's no way to put this delicately, their masters. Based on their behavior, I think something has been done to all 25,000 of them. They don't appear to be physically tortured or abused. However, they seem different somehow. Watch them and you'll know what I mean."
They watched in silence for a few minutes.
"I agree Rachel. I want to take one out of the line and learn what has happened. If I can't help Priya, I want to help someone's child."
"No, I don't think that's a good idea. But I suppose if you weren't aggressive about it, they might let you have one. Let's go."
They slowly walked over to the line of children entering the tower.
"Rachel, the big ones still act disinterested in us. Maybe we can sneak one out."
"I'm not sure about this. That mean looking one is watching us closely."
"Oh, he's okay," Nisha said. "He's only a little pinkish-red. I'm almost there. Maybe if I move slowly I can grab ? Ugh."
"'What's the problem Nisha?"
"I'm hot on the inside, as though I'm being microwaved or something. I've got to get out of here."
"Good idea," Rachel said. "That big red one is pulling something out and pointing it at you."
Nisha backed away from the children in line.
"I'm better now. The red one did something to me. A microwave weapon would do that."
A gunshot rang out and a bullet ricocheted into the dirt right between the mean looking alien and Nisha. The alien looked into the distance.
"Wow!" Nisha said as she ducked behind an obelisk. "That almost hit us. I think the bullet bounced off of the mean looking alien. Did you spot that Rachel? He's turning bright red now."
"Yes, I looked right at the mean one when the bullet hit. I noticed a strange opaque barrier surround the alien for a fraction of a second. The bullet hit the dirt and almost hit us."
"That's incredible. They seem to have an instant shielding technology that's fast enough to activate before the bullet can hit! What can't they do?"
"I don't know," Rachel said. "As time goes on we might find out."
Nisha looked in the direction of the bullet's path. They magnified the view in her Eyepiece.
"I notice some commotion happening at the public viewing platform. I think the aliens killed the shooter. Security forces are supposed to check for guns as people enter the area. I
guess they'll increase security from now on. I'm thankful they don't punish all of us for the actions of a few."
Rachel looked up to the sky as a sonic boom shook the ground.
"Here comes a shuttle. Another 10,000 of them will be living in these towers. This is getting serious. And over there, a fourth tower is rising. This means one million of them might live here in this small area."
"Yes," Nisha said. "They'll keep building. I'm beginning to understand their intent, though I'm not sure. I hope you were right and these towers are like tents in a temporary campground. Once they finish their vacation, they'll move on. I doubt this however. ? Rachel, what's happening?"
"Hold on, I'm receiving an update. Several spheres were observed near mines in China and Russia. They're digging tunnels and are setting up mining operations for rare-earth minerals and more common metals."
"I better contact General Sherman," Nisha said.
She blinked to open her secure DHS app. The General answered.
"Dr. Chandra, I'm happy to speak with you. Are you interested in the events in China and Russia?"
"Yes. So you know about them?"
"We've been following the events and we're getting ready to talk to the presidents of China and Russia. We would like to include you on the calls. Are you ready right now? The President is right here ready to go."
"Yes, I'm ready," Nisha said.
"Okay Nisha, you're connected. Hold on."
Soon the Presidents of China and Russia were on the connection.
"Hello President Chu and President Arkhipov," Emma said.
"Hello Madam President," the presidents said.
"Call me Emma, please. We understand the aliens are initiating mining operations in central China and Siberia.
President Chu and Arkhipov nodded in the affirmative.
"We're trying to decide what to do," President Chu said. "They're stealing valuable ores which are important to the stability of the world economy. And the world economy is already having severe problems since the visitors arrived."
"We will not stand for the theft of our natural resources, President Arkhipov said. "If they keep doing this, we'll stop them."
"How do you propose to stop them?" Emma said.
"All options are on the table," President Chu said with a firmness of conviction."
"Yes, all options!" President Arkhipov said.
"Be careful," Emma said. "I can't tell you what to do, but you know what happened to my predecessor. She died within seconds after ordering the missile launch. I'm not sure how they knew. They might have arbitrarily decided to execute the top commander, which is the President. So even if neither of you give the direct order to strike, you might be killed."
"I will die to protect my country if necessary!" President Chu said.
"I will too," President Arkhipov said.
"Your valiant gestures are admirable," Emma said. "However, your deaths would serve no purpose. We've all built a solid relationship and I want you guys to stay alive. We need each other right now. Please be careful. Stay in close communication."
They talked a while longer. The Chinese and Russian presidents disconnected.
"Nisha what do you think?" Emma said.
Nisha shook her head and looked down.
"I think they're about to do something foolish. I hope they don't get everyone killed. As I witness more and more of their technological capabilities, I realize there's no way we can use force to stop them. We humans need to learn lessons the hard way. I'm convinced now that some other way besides force must be found."
"I agree Nisha," Emma said. "Hold on."
Silence.
"We're getting word that a third large sphere has entered into Earth's orbit. Our best source of information is your Twitter video feed, so keep it turned on. We want to keep a low military profile. You're providing valuable information in a low-key way with no troops required. They think you're harmless, so try to gain their trust. You may be our greatest hope."
"I'll do my best," Nisha said. "I'm estimating one million alien entities live aboard each large sphere. Four of the 1,000 meter towers currently being built can house one million of them. The shuttle spheres are now coming and going like an efficient transit system. I guess they have no Star Trek-like transporters. Perhaps it's not possible."
They talked for a short while longer and signed off.
Nisha glanced at Rachel and out into the developing alien colony. "Rachel, the pace is picking up, don't you think?"
"Yes, a fifth tower is being constructed. The base looks much wider than the earlier towers. Also, other smaller circular buildings are being built which must perform other functions besides living quarters. I've seen various strange looking vessels coming and going which might be carrying the ores mined in China and Russia. See the pile in back there?"
"Yes," Nisha said. "The pile keeps growing and the crawler drones take bits away somewhere. I can't tell where ? Rachel, check this out!"
"What?"
"I have the facial recognition app configured to pick out Priya and Sophie from the crowd. They're walking with those alien children on the right side of the closest tower. I'm going to get her out!"
Rachel grabbed hold of Nisha's hand as she stood up to go.
"Nisha, I'm not sure if that's a good idea. They don't like us getting too close."
Nisha broke free and ran a hundred meters towards Priya with Rachel running behind her.
"Pree!" Nisha cried out.
Her Eyepiece broadcasted the drama to the world. As she got to within a few feet of Priya, two large unfriendly looking adults stepped in between them and turned red.
"Nisha, don't move," Rachel said. "I don't think they like you being so close."
"Priya!" Nisha shouted.
She tried to get around the aliens to see Priya. She waited for a reply but none came. Tears streamed down Nisha's face. She realized she was holding onto the dull-red arm of one of the aliens. She let go, waiting for a response, but none happened. It glanced at her briefly and looked away with disinterest. Nisha stood motionless for a minute and walked back to Rachel.
"I touched an arm. I didn't mean to. I was focused on Pree."
"Yeah, I noticed that. What was it like?" Rachel said.
"The skin had the rough texture of a cat's tongue. My hand left an impression for a few seconds. I left a gray hand print on a red arm. I guess the coloring is a surface feature. Okay, I'm calm now. Did you notice how Priya reacted?"
"Yes. She didn't react at all."
"They've done something to her," Nisha said. "She isn't responding to us, but she's interacting with Sophie. They aren't saying anything audibly to each other but it's fascinating."
"Yes, they're acting like they're talking but they're silent. Maybe they're communicating telepathically. Their body language says so. If your ears were plugged and you couldn't see their mouths, you would think they're talking by their body language."
Silence.
"Wait, I think Priya spoke," Nisha said. "I might be imagining it. I think they've performed modifications on the children. I agree, they're communicating telepathically. The kids might have devices implanted in their brains, but I'm not sure. I think natural telepathy between organic brains is impossible. Brain chemistry doesn't make signals which propagate out in a precise way."
Nisha walked up to Priya again, but the unfriendly adults stepped in front of her again. Nisha got upset with the aliens and looked them right in the eyes.
"You don't own my daughter! I have a right to visit with my own daughter!"
They stared at Nisha without emotion.
"You guys aren't stupid. You must understand what I'm saying. What would you think if I took your children? What if I turned your children against you? How would you feel? Are you only organic engineering machines?"
They reacted with mild curiosity and their red color faded a little. Nisha continued her rant.
"You might have better toys, but that doesn't make you a
better life form. There's more to life than engineering."
"Nisha," Rachel interrupted. "I think you're wasting your time. Let's go. We'll come back later."
Nisha stared at the aliens.
"You haven't seen the last of me!"
As they walked back to their tent, Rachel received a message.
"Nisha, they're telling me new alien microbes have been identified. Their DNA serves the same purpose as ours. However, the DNA sequences are composed so differently that their microbes and ours don't interact much even though they appear the same. They mostly ignore each other. Experiments are being done now to understand what effects they will have. We're all infected, but thus far no ill effects are identified."
"I've been a little sick to my stomach lately. I think some of their microbes have worked their way into our systems," Nisha said.
"Time will tell how our bodies will handle the new microbes. We might build up immunity to them. Or, immunity might not be necessary."
"I wonder what they did to the children," Nisha said. "They appear healthy and aren't wearing protection. The aliens don't seem to be externally protecting themselves from Earth's microbes. What's going on with them?"
"Well, remember when they first came and took all those samples with those mosquito drones?" Rachel said.
"Yes."
"I think they learned about our biology and engineered ways to defend themselves from our microbes. They may have engineered their microbes to not destroy our ecology here on Earth."
"You might be right. They're a race of engineers. They might be able to manipulate DNA in a similar way to how we program computers. Synthetic biology is no big deal to them. I hate their attitude, but they're awesome engineers."
"Yeah, they can do anything," Rachel said. "Just imagine what we could do with complete mastery of DNA. You can make drones the size of bacteria to do anything inside a human body."
Nisha agreed.
"That's what I love about DNA. It's the ultimate programming language. Do you realize we create about 6,000 miles of new DNA in our bodies every second?"
"Did you say 6,000 miles per second? Hmm, let me think about that. It seems impossible," Rachel said.
"It's possible. The average human body contains 40 trillion cells, not including more numerous bacteria. The total length of a strand of DNA from a single cell is two to three meters. Let's say two meters or six feet to be conservative. Therefore we have about 80 trillion meters of human DNA in our bodies, excluding germs. That's 50 billion miles. That's about 500 times the distance from the Earth to the Sun!"
Rachel thought about it for a while.
"Hmm, yeah that's about right."
"Cells are constantly being replaced," Nisha said. "So I looked up how long some human cells live.
Red blood cells, 120 days
Muscle cells, 15 years
Taste receptor cells, 10 days
Intestinal lining cells, 3 days
Skin cells, 30 days
Nerve and brain cells, most live a lifetime."
"Yes, the variety of cells we have is incredible," Rachel said.
"Yes! Now, to do the calculation, you need an average lifespan for all of our cells. Nobody has a perfect estimate of this number, but we can guess. Every minute, about 300 million cells die and must be replaced. That's 5 million per second."
"It's hard to imagine that so many cells die and are regenerated every second but your numbers add up," Rachel said.
"Yeah, it's hard to believe. Since each of those 5 million cells has about 2m of DNA, this means we create 10 million meters of DNA each second. That's 10,000 kilometers, or 6,000 miles per second. That's a little longer than the distance from San Francisco to London! Every 40 seconds, we create enough DNA to reach the moon."
Rachel laughed.
"I guess we better eat well and get enough sleep. We have a lot of DNA to make!
"You're right," Nisha said. "We better get some sleep."
They managed to sleep restlessly until a few minutes before sunrise.