Intelligent Design: Revelations to Apocalypse (12 page)

Riesman glanced at her tablet. It looked like a solid piece of black stone.

“I can imagine that this is all confusing, Riesman.”

She looked up. Vespere held another pack, opened for her to see shoes and clothes inside.

“At the very least, take these clothes and come with us for a short while, until the Keeper talks to you. Then make your decisions,” she said in a calm, kind voice.

Riesman glanced from her to the clothes, then took the backpack. What other option did she have? Vespere turned her back to give Riesman privacy.

“Thank you.” Riesman put the heavy backpack down and took out a warm jumper and track pants—much more appropriate than her torn dress for going on a yacht.

“Yes, but in all fairness, I suspect that like many of you Earthers you are nearly hairless all over … which is simply too much for me,” Vespere said. The disgust in her voice was so obvious that Riesman stopped in mid-stride to rewind the last comment to make sure she understood what Vespere said.

“Well, of course, I have some hair on my legs when I don’t shave, but the only hair I have is—”

“Please, no more! The image of a hairless woman is difficult to get rid of once envisioned. I would like to enjoy my breakfast tomorrow.”

An airplane roared overhead. Riesman shook her head in amazement and went back to changing clothes. Three hours ago, she’d wanted to leave an awful Thanksgiving dinner to get away from these people. Now she was going on a cruise with female ninjas from a silent spaceship.

And it’s my being hairless that’s a crazy thought? What have I gotten myself into?

I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.
- Confucius

Andrea Perez, hands deep in her pockets, walked to the Great Library with a heavy heart. She figured it had to be after Thanksgiving on earth. The Christmas stuff would be out in the malls—baby Jesus in his crib, the three Wise Men surrounding the Son of God, and carols floating in the air.

Unable to sleep, she’d taken to getting up early and doing her new calisthenics routine. Normally, she would wait until the fourth shift broke from work, but today was different. She’d discovered that there was more to the solar system than Terra. More than the hand of God. Mortal beings, not God, designed life as she knew it.

“Is there a God?”

The dark carpeted walkway, empty and quiet, hushed her voice. The fourth shift had hours before their morning meal when the first shift took their place, and the sentries had passed her twenty minutes ago near the residence habitat. She walked with measured steps, thinking of the past, present and future—dark thoughts that matched the concourse’s low lighting.

Jesus Christ’s birthday. Son of God.

It was easy back then with only one planet and no intelligent life anywhere but Earth. And humans were the ones made in God’s image.

But now … What else am I going to find? Were we a mistake, too?
Her anxiety increased with every step towards the library and its books that challenged her notions of herself and her place in the universe.

Bad enough that there is Terra, but life on Venus too?

Perez stopped. She’d been so busy with her existential thinking that she’d lost track of where she was, and it felt strange to see the food courts and markets closed, but a quick scan of the area confirmed that she was on track to her destination. She noticed new edged weapons—short swords, javelins and serrated knives—with their impressive blades placed in breakaway clips hanging on racks throughout the hall, an indicator of either a great hunt preparation or a recent attack by the huge rats.

Rattus! I hate those things.

She glanced down and felt along her waist. “Dammit! I forgot my sidearm again. When are you going to learn, dumbass?” But her fingers found her sheathed combat knife, a gift from Dux Cloelius for her journey and protection. She walked on and picked up her pace at a rustle behind her. She remembered her conversation with Clematis and the recent increase in rattus attacks. Perhaps such a late sojourn to her studies wasn’t a good idea.

Perez stopped a hundred feet from the library. An air vent just to the left of the door hung off its hinges, as if pushed from the inside.

“Dammit.”

Perez backed away to the weapons rack she’d seen several feet back. She kept her eyes peeled for any movement and cocked her head, listening, but the continuous vibration of the air and heating machines made it difficult to hear anything subtle. When she reached the weapons rack, the tension in her chest eased a little. She grabbed two large, serrated blades just as a loud, guttural scream pierced the stillness.

“Percutiamque vos monstra!”

“Dammit!”

Perez’s grip tightened around her weapons, and she moved in the direction of the yell, eyes darting everywhere. Glass shattered below her level, followed by the sound of breaking wood, perhaps a chair or table. Without thinking, she ran down the flight of stairs, taking several steps at a time. She burst onto the lower stores level and caught her breath at the sight of a young Terran girl, maybe a teenager, waving her weapon at four rats the size of large dogs with ugly tails that doubled their size. She’d seen skulls, skins and tails of these creatures hanging up to dry, but their similarity to the smaller versions on her former planet surprised her. Only their huge size made them grotesque and evil monsters, and seeing four of them surrounding a young woman pushed Perez from shock to disgust to loathing and hatred. Anger burst from her heart and she let go a scream of her own.

“No!”

She ran, clutching the hilts of her blades, into the battle. Her first blade crashed into the back of one rat as it turned to face her, and her second blade struck out at the rat’s nose. For a moment, Perez felt disoriented, as if she’d bumped her head, then something stung her right side. She ignored the sensations, yelled again, and struck out at the retreating creature. To her satisfaction, it scurried away with one of her blades sticking out of its back.

Screw you, bitch!

With one out, she shifted her focus to the others. Two of the rats slunk off, startled by her appearance, but the third seized the moment of distraction and snapped at the young woman’s hand. Her blade clattered to the ground, along with three of the fingers that had gripped it. The woman grimaced but didn’t scream. She just tried to grab her fallen weapon with her other hand, while the rat devoured her fallen fingers.

Perez, shocked by the girl’s stoicism, yelled and tossed her remaining edged weapon to the girl, then drew her combat knife. Perez glanced at her small weapon and realized she needed more. Without a thought, she grabbed a broken chair leg and attacked the rat as it made a run at the girl. Though losing blood, the girl, clearly well trained with edged weapons, slashed out at the rodent who’d taken her fingers. After tasting blood and flesh, the rat looked determined to kill her.

“Hodie non turpis linguis! Not ever, you scum!” Perez yelled as she advanced to the woman’s side, but before she got there, another rat appeared and scurried towards her.

Perez screamed and swung the chair leg into the creature’s legs. She heard a bone break. The rat snapped and she backed away, but she struck the creature repeatedly in the head until it stopped snapping. The injured rat stepped back, favoring its broken leg. Perez lunged and shoved her knife in the monster’s eye. It screeched and flailed around, tail swinging. Perez jumped aside but the rat’s tail brushed her left side and ripped her pants, cloak and skin. Nonetheless, the creature slunk off with her knife embedded in its eye.

She stared defiantly at another rat that watched from the distance, and it fled along with the other two. Down to her chair leg, Perez turned to the injured girl. She looked very pale and her movements had slowed.

Blood loss, shock—shit!

The rodent hunched down, hips up, eyes focused on its victim, preparing to attack. With a scream, Perez raced in, drawing the full attention of the rodent. It bared its ugly teeth, stiffened its tail, and wriggled its haunches, about to spring. Only the young woman stopped it. She jumped on top of the creature and drove her blade deep into its back. The rat jumped, knocking the girl off, and swung around, trying to bite the blade protruding from its back. Perez swung her chair leg like a bat and made full contact with the creature’s head, but her club, though solid, broke in two. Only a makeshift wooden stake remained. She grasped it firmly, but her leg began to go numb and her head ached. The young woman lay face down on the ground, not moving.

Not good.

The dazed and bleeding rat backed away from Perez and turned to the downed girl. Without hesitation, Perez stepped between the predator and its prey. She waved her stake and crouched low, bracing herself for another attack. She looked for the best place to strike. Though slowing, the rat appeared determined to have its meal.

“The underbelly … I’ll get her fingers from your stomach, you bitch!”

The creature crouched lower, once again poised to attack. Just as Perez thought she would get her shot, something struck the rat from behind. It vectored to the side and slammed into a group of tables and chairs where it remained, unmoving. Two spears and a throwing knife stuck out of its body. Perez breathed a sigh of relief and looked around for her rescuers.

“Ad arma!” A group of women yelled from the floor above.

The sentry group … thank God.

Satisfied that the danger had passed and help was en-route, Perez fought the banging in her head and growing pain in her side and limped towards the young woman with one leg trailing. The numbness was spreading.

“It would’ve been so much easier if you had your sidearm,” she said to herself. She made it to the young woman and turned her over to make sure she was still alive. Not sure, Perez ripped off her blouse’s sleeves and made a tourniquet for the woman’s wrist. Every time she looked down to attend to the woman, something dripped from above, and she wondered where it came from. The first responder arrived with her weapon still drawn. She stopped and stared wide-eyed. Perez finished her work on the injured girl, then looked right back at the staring woman.

“What …” Perez started to say, but the effort winded her.

Three more women arrived. They too stared at the scene, jaws slackened as if in awe. The first woman’s expression changed from surprise to a broad smile at their reaction. Perez ignored them and took a deep breath for the first time since the battle. She felt drained; her leg felt dead, her side was on fire, and her head hurt. She put her hand on her head to see what was dripping on her and assumed the warm liquid was sweat. She tried to speak, but her voice sounded different.

“That young woman is hurt and she needs medical attention. Now.”

Perez lowered her hand and stared, eyes widening at the blood and hair smeared across it. She did remember feeling disorientated at one point, as if something had hit her. Perez looked back at the woman. She’d sheathed her weapon and the other three had gone to take care of the young woman and look for the other rats.

“There will be such a lore about this, Earther. You have no idea what you have done. You are now Terran—battle-hardened and bound by blood to a noble name,” she said solemnly.

Beyond her hand, a pool of Perez’s blood puddled around her injured leg.

“Oh hell,” she said, recounting how many times she might have been struck.

The woman continued speaking, but Perez, swimming in confusion, didn’t register the words. Her eyesight tunneled, and she felt as if the floor rushed up to meet her. Strong arms stopped her from crashing into the ground. Tiredness overwhelmed her and she drifted off.

Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance
- Confucius

Riesman turned over in her snug bunk. Resting had given her a chance to put the Thanksgiving events behind her or, at least, to take a break from thinking about them. She’d already slept a couple of hours, but her new alien women friends were singing and dancing above deck louder than usual. Under normal circumstances being on a yacht anchored at Bimini just west of the Bahamas would be enjoyable, especially in December, but restlessness, anxiety about the future, and knowing things she preferred not to know about spoiled it for her.

“Really? A hidden world with more of those people?” she said aloud, her voice competing with the festivities above. Satellite news and internet reports that she and Administrator Damon, along with a number of guests, were presumed dead from a horrific fire made everything seem more real. She snickered at the constant reports from a Christine Reich’s spokesperson in Hamburg who reported that ‘Ms. Reich never made her flight out to be at that party,’ and that she was ‘saddened by the terrible events.’

Lucky you. Several dead, assassins killed, intended victims MIA, and world’s biggest secret revealed. It’s the best flight you ever missed.

But the four women on the boat distracted her from the truth of that night. The new arrivals acted like children in a toy shop, delighted by their fresh experiences—the ocean, chestnuts, lemons and fish. Meal times had a festive atmosphere, filled with laughter, singing and talking about their own planet, Terra.

Riesman learned that the tidal-locked planet on the other side of the Sun had advanced technology to hide it from Earth, but the technology was failing. If she hadn’t seen the spaceship silently landing and lifting off, and the similar, though alien, nature of the women around her, she would’ve thought such ideas meant she was high or psychotic.

Yet, it was all real. She knew, but the rest of the world didn’t, and it would be chaos when it found out.

How could Jesus Christ save another species when he was the human son of God? And Genesis? We’re supposed to be special, a chosen people in the image of God.

In addition to the existential dilemma, the aliens liked to walk around naked. They couldn’t do it on their home planet, but Earth was apparently ideal for the lack of clothes. And to Riesman’s surprise and chagrin, they took great pride in their bodies. It took her several days to learn not to stare. Nearly every part of their bodies had hair except for their breasts, the majority of their face and neck, and the back parts of their limbs. The hair on their head was thick and coarse, while their body hair appeared fine and silky. She discovered that her walking around in a one piece bathing suit was just as revolting to them. To reduce the mutually discomforting visual images, Riesman spent much of the day topside, enjoying the sun and clearing her head with either Lux or Vespere, while the others slept, rested and worked below. Unfortunately, that meant they typically stayed up at night, all night, navigating the vessel and partying as if on spring break. The days slipped by, and they stayed very close to Bimini. It finally dawned on Riesman to ask why they were there.