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Interviews with an Alien
By
Raman Jalota
Chapter 2
"Fucking Jesus Christ", he screamed as he stared at Brahmaratan.
Brahmaratan had turned into a man with long dark flowing hair, a full
beard, and shining brown eyes. He had a long white garment made of
rough cotton and a brown shawl around his shoulders. He did look like
Jesus Christ.
"Put
your hands up."
"Why?"
He looked at me and then the cop. My hands were up ever since the door
had been broken down.
"Put
them up where I can see them" he snarled, "I don't want to shoot you,
you asshole."
Brahmaratan gave him a
cold look and stood up. Three shots rang out. He was hit twice in the
chest and once in the head. He fell down on his side. He rolled on the
ground, pushed against the carpet with his hands and stood up. There
were powder burns on the front of his tunic but no blood at all. He
looked at the cop with distaste, smiled at me and rose up in the air.
He arched his body towards the window, went through it and disappeared.
The cops started firing hysterically at the flying figure of Jesus. I
ran out of the room and towards the stairs.
.....
I
didn't get too far. The cops were everywhere. And the military police
too. They seemed to be in charge. Sergeant Ross was the first one to
interrogate me,"Who was that man? How do you know him? When did you
first meet him? We need to know everything you know. Start talking."
"You
heard the cops. He looked like Jesus Christ and flew out of the hotel
window."
"Who is
he? Is he the alien we heard reports of?"
"What
reports? I didn't see anything in the papers or on the TV."
"Smartass. You know how deep the hole that you are digging is! This is
not an ordinary situation. We have been ordered by Washington to take
over this investigation. You better start from the very beginning. When
did you first meet this man, this alien?"
They
didn't know shit. I knew I could wriggle out of this, but I wanted more
information from Brahma or Jesus or whosoever he may turn up next as. I
wanted the 'Hugo' winning story ... maybe even 'Pulitzer'. A tingle
started on the right side of my head. This was exactly how Brahmaratan
had read my thoughts. I looked around. The army base was full of
military police. No familiar or friendly faces here. I was certain
Brahmaratan was reading my thoughts. But where was he? Who or what was
he this time?
"All I
know is that I got a phone call from someone who knew about corruption
in the D.A.'s office. I was willing to listen and see if there was a
good story in it. Something that I could sell to the local
papers. He told me his name was James Ryan. I arranged for us to meet
in the hotel. We had barely started to talk when the cops barged in."
"When
was the first time you talked to this man?"
"He
called me yesterday morning."
"This
James Ryan, is that his real name?"
"I have
no idea. He looked like an ordinary guy .... dressed like Jesus but
otherwise quite average. I was quite shocked at first, but he talked
like a normal guy, said he was James Ryan."
"What
did you talk about?"
"We
really didn't talk much. He said he knew of certain deals that the D.A.
was making. Some unethical practices ... something about only
prosecuting cases that he was sure of winning. Apparently, the D.A.
wants to run in the next election for the seat of the governor of the
state and will use his 100% success rate as a campaign theme. He was
telling me about the cases that had been dropped or deals made for
guilty pleas for lesser crimes; crimes without prison sentences; when
the cops broke in. I was as surprised to see him fly as everyone else."
Sgt.
Ross was taking notes. What an idiot. Everybody knew Dan Jacobs was
itching to run for the governor's office. I could make up anything to
feed these guys. I repeated my story to three more military officers. I
was allowed to leave with stern warnings not to leave town. For some
reason, I didn't feel afraid. Perhaps the contacts with the alien had
made me stronger.
.....
For
three days, I had no contact with Brahma. I wondered, if I would hear
from him again. Wednesday morning, I woke up with a severe headache. My
eyes were blood shot. I started a pot of coffee and gulped down four
Tylenols. I washed my eyes with cold water and put a wet towel on my
face. Four cups of coffee hadn't helped at all. My head was pulsating.
I couldn't think of anything to do to relieve the pressure. I tried to
relax by breathing deeply.
"Turn
on your computer. Turn on your computer. Turn on your PC." The thought
kept flashing in my head as the pulsating became unbearable. I walked
into my study and switched on the PC. My headache disappeared
magically. The password screen came up but went on to Windows XP
without my typing in my password. A blank white screen came up and big
friendly blue letters appeared,"This is Brahmaratan contacting you. Are
you alright?"
I
typed,"Yes. My headache is gone. Was that you who made me turn on the
PC?"
"Yes, I
tried for a long time to get you to understand me."
"Is
that what gave me the headache? Perhaps I am not ready for telepathic
communications."
"You
will learn. We will teach you, when we feel you are ready."
"Where
are you? Why did you turn into Jesus? What happened?"
"I want
to know what happened to you. The military questioned you, didn't they?"
"Well,
they are not very smart. I gave them a story about an informant from a
governmental office and they bought it."
"They
paid you for it? I don't understand."
"No,
they ... accepted my story. They are very easily fooled. What happened
to you?"
"As you
know, we were sort of cornered. I could have turned into you, but that
would have been very suspicious. I wanted to turn into someone the
earth beings would trust and respect. I was wrong. The character I
thought of was Jesus. The best example of a human that the earth beings
have; is the one they can tolerate only in their imagination. They
can't bear to see him in person. The earth beings are completely and
absolutely pretentious."
"But
... you turned into Jesus ... he is considered to be God ... the
creator."
"Isn't
that appropriate? The name I chose and the body I turned into."
I shook
my head. We, who aspire to be so religious, so Christian; had proven to
an alien our intolerance for our own God! Our psychosis was apparent to
an alien but mercifully well hidden from our own selves.
"Can we
continue where we left off? Will you be willing to communicate with me
this way?"
"Yes,
but for limited periods. This communication uses energy that we may
want to use elsewhere. Turn on your computer in about seven earth hours
and we can continue then."
Toasters started flying on the screen as if the system had been idle.
.....
A Jeep
with military insignia stopped in front of my house and three people
came out. I waited for the knock and opened the door. "Mr. Galt, we
have orders to bring you in for further questioning."
"Give
me a few minutes. I'll change and be with you, shortly." They followed
me and kept an eye on me as I got ready. There was no escaping from
them, but the thought of escape had not entered my mind.
I was
taken to a room with a large desk and several chairs. "Major Branden
will be in shortly." They closed the door behind them. There was a jug
of water on the desk, I poured myself a drink and waited.
Major
Joseph Branden was almost six feet tall with clear brown eyes and a
rough complexion. His eyes seemed to look through everything.
"Mr.
Galt, your story doesn't check out. You of course knew that. There is
no trace of anyone named James Ryan ... not in the D.A.'s office ...
not in the city ... not in the state ... nowhere." He paused and stared
at me. I was about to say something but decided on playing his game. I
just nodded my head. "How do you explain that?"
"Well, he obviously wanted to talk to me about
something and seemed to have some knowledge of the workings of the
D.A.'s office. I write occasionally for the local paper "The Daily
Mirror", he seemed to be aware of that and was willing to give me
information ..."
"That's
all lies. Your story about the D.A.'s office is a lie to hide what you
know."
"I
think you will be surprised by the corruption in the D.A.'s office. I
hope to obtain enough material through my sources to do an article
exposing Dan Jacobs."
"We are
not interested in the D.A.'s office. We want to know about the aliens.
When did this man, this alien first contact you?"
"As I
said before, he contacted me on the morning of September 17th and we
arranged to meet in the hotel in the evening."
"We
know of the search around your home the previous night. The police
report mentions you being questioned but denying any knowledge of an
alien craft or creatures. But you may have lied. You could easily have
hidden someone. The police never searched your home, did they?"
"So,
that's what it was? I was questioned about a plane crash and possibly
someone from the crash. You think there was an alien that walked into
our town? That's amazing."
"You
could have talked to this alien and may have hidden him in your home. A
search of your home is being conducted right now. We will wait and see
what turns up."
He
walked out of the room, leaving me alone. What the hell were they
doing? What will they find? What were they looking for? I had been
destroying whatever notes I took each day. All my notes were saved as
part of my bank records with the password 'Cobalt'. Will they go
looking that far deep? I didn't think so, but ...
.....
I
didn't get home till 8:30. I ran to my PC and turned it on. Brahmaratan
had been waiting for me.
"What
happened? Did you forget?"
"I was
taken in for questioning. They searched my home. Luckily they found
nothing. I have been careful and destroy most of my material once I
transcribe it to my protected computer files. They were not looking for
anything that devious. They were hoping to find you hiding in my home
somewhere. Isn't that ridiculous? They are pretty stupid. I think I ...
we ... are safe from them."
"What
do they know? How much do they suspect?"
"They
seem to know that an alien craft has landed here and that an alien or
aliens may be in the area. They seem to think that I am one of the
contacts and of course I was there when you flew away. I am hiding
behind my old story but they do know the basic facts. How did you
manage to fly? And why didn't the bullets harm you?"
"Flying
is not difficult. But I didn't fly away. It was an image they saw. They
did not see me. An image flew out of the room and I escaped unseen.
Earth beings can be manipulated so easily. The weapons that they used,
they are so primitive. These weapons are quite harmless to us. When
will they learn to give up their weapons and use their brains."
"Well
Brahma ... can I call you Brahma?"
"Sure."
"I want
to go back to the history of your planet? How did it evolve? What do
you know of your history of three million years? Isn't that what you
said the first time? Three million years of history?"
"Our
history is basically divided into three parts. Our present period is of
course the 'Cobalt' period. The Cobalt period has been in existence for
almost a million years. The period before 'Cobalt' is known as the
'Cadmium' era. The Cadmium period extends from about one million years
back to two and a half million years back. Anything prior to the
Cadmium period is simply called pre-Cadmium. The pre-Cadmium period
lasted for nearly half a million years."
"What
do all these periods signify? I don't understand the meanings of any of
these."
"As I
told you. We are Cobalt based and have evolved to our current level of
existence. A million years ago, we had not learned to use Cobalt and
our existence depended on Cadmium technology."
"Cadmium? Like the chemical we use?"
"Correct. We used our first million years to evolve into Cadmium based
life. Our technology evolved to the extent Cadmium based technology
could evolve and the presence of Cadmium on our planets could last.
When Cadmium was almost totally exhausted, we moved onto Cobalt. We
have been evolving ever since then.
"Our
first half a million years were spent going through Plastic, Silica,
Ferrous, and several other evolutionary forms. Earth has been in
existence for more than two million years, yet it's progression seems
to be painfully slow. At this rate, earth will not be able to keep pace
with other life forms. The earth beings have barely stepped into the
'Silicon' period of their evolution. They have yet to evolve into
Silica based living beings. That transformation should occur
simultaneously to avoid incompatibility with their environment. The
earth beings are not evolving to the same level that their technology
is evolving to. Such incompatibility will lead to extinction."
My head was spinning.
Evolution with the elements of the planet ... this was very strange and
frightening. On the other hand Brahma looked like a human with arms and
legs and a face. I typed, "With all these evolutions, how come you
appear like humans? You have arms and feet and a mouth ..."
"You
are so funny, Galt. Have you been believing what you have been seeing?
Do you always believe everything as it appears? The form we use is the
form we need to use to accomplish what we are trying to accomplish.
Earth beings communicate most easily with someone who appears
human-like, so we used a human-like form. The human form in reality is
very inefficient. A monkey or a gorilla moves better than a human, has
more strength, is part of his environment and uses more of his brain
capacity. A human form is not suitable for prolonged use whether
standing, sitting or lying down. Humans evolved to overcome their
environment but evolved in a less efficient form. This is what we
consider a mutation and an interesting subject for exploration."
"So, as
I understand it, your history has revolved around changes from one
chemically based life form to another."
"You
could put it that way. However the change was the change needed to
conform with our environment, our planet, our technology."
"You
said you evolved into Cobalt based life forms when Cadmium was
exhausted. What is the status of Cobalt deposits on your planet?"
"I have
to go now. I will contact you in the next thirty to forty hours. I am
trying to make up my mind if I should let you initiate the next contact
or not. I'll let you know."
.....
Two
military jeeps arrived early the next morning. Major Branden walked
towards the home. There were two more uniformed men with him. They were
carrying automatic weapons as usual. The major seemed sure of what he
wanted from me.
"Even
though, we didn't find anything in your home, we are certain that you
have been in touch with aliens and are trying to cover up. We need to
know the truth."
"Major,
you know that this alien guy contacted me just once. I thought he was a
normal person with some confidential information. I had no idea it was
an alien I was talking to in that hotel. He never talked about anything
other than the D.A. Why would another life form contact me? I have no
power to help them. I can't do anything for them. I am in enough
trouble not knowing anything about this incident."
The
major stared into space. He seemed to be making up his mind.
"If an
alien was to contact you, what will you do?"
"I
suppose, I will inform the cops. I will be too scared to try to do
anything else."
"You
are an author, a journalist; wouldn't you get the story before
divulging your sources?"
"But
there is no story here. All I know is what you guys have told me. A
space ship crashed and an alien got away. I don't know how he turned
into the man I met. Why can't you just leave me alone? I don't know
anything. A story is not worth all the harassment I have to put up with
... all this suspicion from the cops and my neighbors."
The
major conferred with his men and they left taking one of the jeeps with
them. He turned to me.
"Let's
go out in the backyard. I need absolute secrecy for this."
He
opened the backdoor and held it open for me to pass through. He looked
around to make sure no one was around. He had a gun in his holster. Was
he going to kill me? Surely, he won't gain anything by killing me. Did
he have a silencer on that gun? I watched him nervously.
"I have
a message for you."
He
reached inside his shirt and pulled out a blue piece of paper. He gave
me the folded sheet of blue paper. It read, "We think you are ready to
board our craft and meet the rest of the crew. We feel we can trust
you. You have convinced us of your loyalty. Follow the courier, he will
lead you to us."
I
couldn't breath. What was happening? Who was this major? Was this a
trick to get me to divulge what I knew? I re-read the note.
"I
don't understand what this means. Who asked you to give me this note?
What does it mean? Are you playing games with me?"
"Follow
me." He walked towards the jeep, keeping an eye on me. I felt trapped.
I couldn't do anything but follow. He opened the passenger door and let
me in. He got in the driver's seat, started the jeep and drove
out of the subdivision. We turned north on Tower Road and picked up
speed. We drove past the airport and headed towards farm land.
Major
Branden stopped the jeep and turned towards me. His cold face softened
and he smiled. His face turned grey and his nose disappeared. His eyes
turned completely blue. He turned into a Cobaltian for a few seconds,
nodded his head to assure me and turned back into the major.
I
heard a familiar
metallic voice,"Welcome."
End
of Chapter 2
(3229 words)
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