“So where are you two heading?” Dr. Broche, or Laura as she now insisted on being called, asked after they had sat and talked for a while, studiously ignoring the events of the past year.
Terry had spoken up quickly. “We’ll be heading to my place in San Francisco, at least for a while. I don’t need to hunt down anything for a while, so we plan on taking a little vacation. Then, maybe, we’ll find a new base of operations.” He smiled then. “Maybe even something Midwestern.”
Laura nodded. Then, in a voice that hinted at the things she wanted to forget, she asked, “Are there more of
his
kind out there? Doing what he did?” She still feared to say his name.
Charlie, still able to be heard by those present, as was Mir, all thanks to their exposure to Abshrd’s devices, answered her question.
“There is no way to tell. Our people have no centralized government. We exist as individuals. What one does, the others have no say on. The truth is we can only hope.”
“Yeah. Hope and be ready to stop one if he does.” Decker added. “And I’ll be there to help you if you need it. You know that, right?” The question was directed to Terry.
“We know that. And as one of the few that know about the Chrliti and can hear them, you can be invaluable. So, we never know what you might be good for.” Terry lowered his voice. “Or what you might run across. You know it might be best if you kept that ability under your hat?” He shifted his eyes to Laura and then back again. “Both of you.”
At that, the pair of them nodded and the conversation ended.
Terry and Traci slid into the rental car and headed for the airport. They had their lives to attend to and Decker and Laura had theirs, but all of them knew that there would be another chapter to this story. The when was the only thing in question.
As they drove away, Mir opened a private channel to Charlie and asked,
“So, now what do we do? We live, our people live, but how do we make them coincide with the humans?”
Charlie answered him somberly.
“We do what we can. We help them and let them do what they have to. With the powers we learned from Abshrd, we can do even more. Now that we know how, we can even improve on those powers and maybe find a way to reverse ourselves into something that can interact with them openly, without the need for occupation. Perhaps even be able to find ways to use our knowledge to help the whole planet. If there is any good out of this, that might be it.”
Mir seemed amused.
“That would be another good thing. But for my part...”
Mir issued a mental wink,
“I think that being able to integrate with humans and experience their feelings, physical and emotional, makes that one of the best things we get out of the deal.”
Charlie agreed.
“We do have a good thing going there. The rest, as they say, is up to those that look at it through history’s perspective.”
The two of them slipped back into the cocoon of their hosts’ minds, each enjoying the subtle happiness Terry and Traci experienced just from being in proximity to each other.
For Terry and Traci, there was a slightly different version. They were both trying to make sense of their new lives and their places in it. And the effect of their occupants.
Traci asked softly, “So, how does this work? The rest of our lives we have these guys in our heads and never be alone?”
Terry shrugged noncommittally. “The rest of our lives could be a pretty long time. And the way Charlie and Mir can learn things, there is every possibility that they may figure out ways to do things we have no idea of. They might find a way not to need us anymore, and then, we might even find we miss them. And besides, they don’t pry. The only time they come out is when we let them. We can keep them away from what we think with just a little practice.”
He leaned over at the next light and kissed her. Just a light peck on the lips, but it was full of promise of things to come. He smiled at her as he sat up. “And if they act up, I can teach you a secret.”
With that, he gave a shrill whistle. Instantly, both Charlie and Mir both gave groans of agony.
Charlie almost shouted,
“What the hell was that for?”
Traci stifled a laugh.
Terry grinned. After a second, he said, “Just keepin’ things in perspective, old friend. Just keepin’ things in perspective.”
I am an old sci-fi fan. Old enough to have seen the evolution of it over several decades. From the Saturday night Creature Features and The World Beyond, to the original Star trek and Battlestar Galatica. I have watched everything from the sublime, (Forbidden Planet,) to the ridiculous, (Plan Nine from Outer Space,). And on some level I’ve enjoyed them all. Sci-fi has never been a fantasy for me but rather a glorious display of what mankind could accomplish given the right circumstances. Or how badly it can be misused. Social commentary is always a factor in the best of these stories. But subtlety is a must for me.