Invasion—Sweet & Sour
An observer, if there had been one standing in the back of the gas station near the intersection of 25 mile road and the 75 freeway access, but of course, there wasn’t, would have seen the tip of a foot, then half a leg, and then the whole body of a young man appear to slide into view, like a diver rising up out of the water. The angel looked like any other normal human on the outside, but on the inside, his mind was killing him.
The earthen blackness sank in and then hovered around each of his brain cells squeezing them tight. He'd known it would happen as soon as he stepped into the earth's atmosphere. The warnings were clear: “Stay away from earth. Earth is dangerous. It grabs souls and kills minds.”
He could feel earth killing him this minute, as if each second of earth time diluted another of his abilities. The power to hover above the ground a few inches was certainly gone. Other talents were beginning to diminish and fade as well. Quickly he reached into the pocket of his jeans and pulled out a small box with four pieces of hard-coated gum inside. He’d ground the herbs himself to produce the gum and then gave it a candy coating. The reports showed that earth people chewed breath mint gum all the time. His gum included special herbs meant to ward off the darkness that was even now trying to squeeze his brain cells and manipulate his thinking pattern.
The darkness had already dug deeply into his mind as he took the gum out of the package. Odd desires and cravings suddenly exploded out of proportion to warp his usual level headedness. He found himself looking with longing at a blue automobile left idling near the pump. The keys were in the ignition. He felt an urge to open the door, step in, and drive it through the rugged landscapes like the television advertisements he’d seen. It would get him into town much quicker than the intended walk.
He stepped closer to the blue car and grabbed the handle with his right hand, but popped the gum into his mouth with his left. Four chews later, the blocking effect took hold of his mind and he stood looking with horror at what he’d almost done. A man came out of the gas station, glared at him, got in the blue car and took off.
Thankfully, the darkness had dissipated into background noise, but still hovered like a waiting, open clamshell, ready to snap closed on his head. He sucked in a breath, looked up to heaven, closed his eyes, and checked in with God to make sure he'd not lost vital presence. As he did, his mind carved though the heavy, dark substance that seemed to cover all of earth and up into the blue sky, and then out beyond until he followed a rainbow’s path to the glistening golden fountain of God. God might be everywhere in the universe, but right now, he needed an extreme fix, a direct line. Warmed by the comforting feeling of golden light he dared continue his search.
He wasn’t sure how long a single piece of gum would hold. He guessed about twenty-four hours for each piece, but he suspected it might depend on the level of darkness he encountered. The search should go quickly because his mental range was quite large so he expected to detect her presence without too much effort, also he had an approximate of the area. If he didn’t find her within two days, he would leave for home. Before he came, he known he’d need an earth name, and had set one up for himself, but now couldn't remember the name he'd chosen. Had the darkness worked on him so deeply already? Not important now. He could read the identification papers in his pocket. Does the dark muddle up the most recent memories first? If so, he’d already learned more than he bargained for; this was an investigative study as much as a search for an old friend.
He read the bill boards that straddled the road as he walked. With all his attention concentrated on the steps his new feet made on the stones beside the ribbon of I-75 pavement, he was startled when a booming truck bellowed out steam and pulled to the side in front of him.
A voice yelled out to him, “Want a ride, fella?"
Thinking furiously, he remembered his mannerisms. He shrugged his shoulders and then had to admit, "I don't know."
And he didn't. The view was so interesting, he’d forgotten to check his internal map, or worry how far he needed to go. He felt energized as if he could walk around the circumference of the earth before tiring. His DNA was human normal, but his people, had evolved talents never heard of on this primitive planet. Talents, he had to admit, that only worked well on the home planets of light, places filled with the constant aura of God. His life depended on and derived from God, as did these earth humans, but he suspected that their link was so tenuous as to be absent much of the time.
"Come on, get in."
He walked over to the huge, smoking truck, but didn’t know what to do next. The driver had opened the door, but the step was waist high off the ground.
The driver laughed and shook his head. "Red neck kid. Grab hold of that bar to the side to pull yourself up."
Finally, sitting on the plastic seat and listening to the gears roar as the driver grinded them to get moving again, he looked at his arms and small body. The driver was right; he'd chosen a young body for the trip. Would that be a hindrance or a help? He didn't know. Many people who dared come to earth, never returned to tell the tale.
“I can see
you’re in need of some cash. “ Tell you what, stick with me kid until we get
downtown
This world also used a primitive form of money exchance. Money is cash? Well, he might need it.
“Sure. I could use some cash.”
“Hey, what’s you name, fella?”
“Tony.” Slipped out of his mouth. For some reason the name he had chosen came back to him easily. “Tony Splenda”
“Sounds like diet sugar. Gotta do better than that kid. Mine’s Jake.”
The driver chuckled, but said nothing further about the name.
Tony thought quickly of how to fix the gaff. Tony S. Pendia. That was the name he’d chosen. He’d made it up and wasn’t sure if it was appropriate. His studies didn’t cover everything, mostly out of date television and radio broadcasts. First hand experience of earth was slim to absent.
Jake said no more, maybe because he’d turned the radio much louder. They listened to an oldies rock and roll station most of the way into the city. Some of the songs were familiar and he especially liked listening to Johnny Cash. It was a pleasant ride until the news came on. Jake swore when the announcer mentioned the new business tax.
“Damn asses; take our money to put in their deep pockets.”
Tony didn’t
mind listening to the current happenings of the day. The announcer told about a
traffic jam on I-94 and 8 Mile, and other local news. One item caught Tony’s
interest because the newspaper folded open on the seat had a huge photo of the
man with the same name written in huge black letters. The announcer mentioned that Mayor Norm
Stevens was still missing after two weeks, but in his absence, a lot was coming
out about his alliance with dirty politics and the drug trade. Rumor says his
best friend is a drug king-pin straight from
So did
Jake. “Good riddance with that one.” Jake said. “Real bad. A cousin lost his
job because of that freak.
Tony didn’t let the horror he felt at Jakes language show on his face. He considered it part of his learning experience while on earth, but some of his words stuck into him like sharp needles.
He glanced down at the newspaper once more, “Mayor Norm Stevens Still Missing” was printed across the page. Tony was glad when the news was over and the music came back on, the music beat quickened his pulse and helped him forget the ugliness of the news.
The truck finally entered the city and Tony loved the tall buildings standing against the clear blue sky. Soon they drove down a main thoroughfare and stopped at a Faygo distribution center at Gratiot and Moran.
“Here’s my stop.” Jake said.
Tony helped Jake unload the heavy crates onto the loading deck and took the cash Jake handed out to him. A twenty dollar bill and a few singles.
“Hope I didn’t take you too far away from where you were going.”
“No, the girl
I am looking for lives near
He smiled and
walked north down
Where am I
going? He checked the map stored in his memory for
As it turned out, he never turned west. Suddenly, he detected a blip to the east on his mental radar.
She's here? Nearby?
That was his last thought before his knees gave way, causing him to fall down on the sidewalk, and then black out.
A bump jarred him awake to a severe pain in his head. He groaned and opened his eyes once more but the darkness was total and he was curled up in a small space. He felt himself slide and hit the side of something as a new bump jarred his body. Knowing he was in danger, the first thing he did was grope for his connection to God and home. It was there, but so faint he could hardly detect it. He panicked. He felt a quiver of fear run down his whole body to his toes shaking in his earth tennis shoes. Fear reverberated inside his head and left him feeling heavy and thick, as if he’d forgotten how to be. His elbows and knees ached from being scrunched up. Body pain he could take. The possible loss of God’s light would be far worse, a light now so dim now, it was a mere dot far off in the universe.
If he'd had power left, he would have lifted off earth right then, but his mental powers seemed completely blocked. His feeling of dejection and hopelessness seemed a prelude to death, nothing mattered now. His dream of finding his lost playmate was dead. And so might I be soon.
He felt a sudden jerk and heard stones slide, then an opening and blaring, harsh light that blinded his eyes. Two dark shadows stood in the light’s center. Tony blinked as the two shadows took on solid form and began to pull him out of the dark cave. The two men lifted him to his feet and stood on each side as if waiting for Tony’s legs to get their strength back.
One man, burly and white haired with deep black skin, said, “Come with us. She wants to meet you.”
Eyes cleared now, he saw that he hadn't been pulled from a cave but the back end of a black automobile. He was now being led away from a large garage, past a flower garden set between the garage and the largest house he'd ever imagined, up a wide curving flagstone path that wound between a profuse arrangement of flowers bordering a curving path, itself set on a wide field of sweet smelling grass. Within minutes, he saw that he was being led, a man on each arm, to the front of a house with four pillars and a set of black double doors in the center.
His weak legs could hardly make it up the stone steps to the house, but once there, they stopped to rest as the blond haired man with light skin, knocked once then stepped back and waited. They must have been waiting for the buzzer to sound because as soon as it did, the man put his hand on the knob and opened the door.
Inside, they stood in an entranceway of splendid polished white marble floor with milk white walls. A small carving of a black, female nymph on a white pedestal on was all that broke the whiteness. Tony saw through a curved archway into a large room filled with modern furniture, again stark white décor with black art pieces set here and there about the room. Everythng white except for a glass wall that ran the length of the room.
A heavyset women wearing a black dress stepped from the room, nodded, and led the group up a step and onto the room. Tony’s feet sunk into its thick white carpet. The women told them to be seated, that Mrs. Evelyn would be with them shortly.
The two men stayed standing but directed Tony to sit down on the white couch. He did and busied himself by looking at the art forms and baby grand piano in one corner the room and then out the window. Perplexed as to why he had been knocked out and what he was doing here, and why he wasn’t dead he cringed at the sharp pain that still filled his head. He felt boxed in, helpless and doubly blinded by pain.
A tall women glided into the room on dainty feet wearing a long, gown that shimmered in red and gold. She had dark hair pulled up and fixed on top her head and a long angled face of great beauty. She stopped and stood directly in front of Tony. Her eyes stared at him, into him, hard like black ice. He cringed beneath her steady glare.
She suddenly spoke to the two men still standing as if at attention next to the couch. Tony noticed that the men wore black suits as though they were each one of the art forms in the room.
"I want to speak to this man alone, but stay close by." She told them.
When they had left the room, she began to speak a run of phrase questions that he thought came from worlds he had studied, but then she spoke four words from his home world, and he was sure she was no mere human.
“What is your place?”
His surprise must have showed on his face.
She smiled in a grimace, then said, “We will speak English from now on. That speech was just to let you know that I know what you are and where you come from.”
She certainly had caught him off guard. Should he ask a question? Beg for his life? He wasn't sure how to conduct himself, so he stayed quiet. Could this be the friend he had played with once, the friend who had romped over meadows with him, the friend who'd come to earth? If so, she would be disguised in a new body for the same reason he had used a new body for disguise. All these questions ran through his mind as fast as fire on the wind but he couldn't reach a conclusion because his usually sharp mind refused to function correctly. Perhaps that should be his first question.
"What is wrong with my head?" he asked her as she turned and sat in the white chair set at an angle close to the couch, for conversations such as this?
"I am what is wrong with your mind."
"Then you are an angel who has not lost ability? You still feel God?"
At his last question, she frowned. He thought he detected a flash of pain in her eyes.
“I don't usually receive stray angels in my home. We do damage control in order to protect the earth system. Most of the angels we locate are from the Blinded Eye Constellation. You are not. I could detect this right away from your mental energy. So I ask who you are and I expect a good answer, or your fate will go the way of the other angels.”
He couldn't help asking, “What was their fate?”
“Death.”
Her beautiful face smiled at his discomforted reaction to her words, but her eyes stayed hard.
“You have not answered my question. Who are you?”
Quickly, because the pain seemed to get more intense with every minute, he said, “I can tell you who I am by telling you who you are.”
It had been a calculated guess, pure and simple, but he must have hit a nerve of truth because her reaction was to jerk her head to the side. As she did so her dark hair flowed around her face like a dark ocean wave.
“Who am I then?”
Tony bent forward slightly as he spoke. “Eeryem,” he whispered
She sat statue still at his word, a piece of marble goddess carved into stone. The window light shined on a spot that sparkled by her eye. Was that a tear threatening to roll down that frozen cheek?
“Why have you come?” She asked looking at him full face, the tear, if that’s what it was, now gone.
Her question was as hard and icy as her eyes and hurt his sense of balance. He couldn't understand this change in her. This wasn't the friend with the happy laughter he'd come looking for, this women was steel, forged and shaped…by what?. He felt frightened of her, for her, and could not speak from the hurt in his heart.
As if she could see into his heart, she turned her face away to look towards the windows. Both of them remained silent for a long while. Tony because he'd reached the end of his faith in their shared past. She because of what?
Finally, she spoke first. “You don't understand.”
His continued silence piqued her into further speech. “Your image of me is simple just like the disguise you put on to visit earth, young, ignorant, and naive.”
“Please help me understand,” he lowered his voice and whispered her endearing name once more, “Eeryem.”
It was her private name they had bound to each other as children. His name from her had been Oeryem. Both words defined small, fuzzy animals on their home world.
At the repeated name, she jumped up from the chair and began to pace back and forth across the rich carpet in front of the tall window wall.
He watched her nervous walk grow more uncertain. The glide with which she'd first entered the room was now gone. Her face also had slackened and now showed the riggers of earth life in its curves and hallows. A glare of green shadow from the reflected glass tinged her features and made her look sick, as if the sun had passed on by and ignored her.
He shook his head to clear it of the image.
"If I decide to help you understand, that body you took on as temporary dress could become your fate forever. The information I would give you might bind you to earth so tightly you could never leave." Her voice took on a high, angry tone, “Do you understand?”
He cocked his head in agonized thought, agonized, because she hadn't stopped her attack on his mind yet. Had earth destroyed her mind? Made her, he groped for the earth term--nuts? Another word came to mind as well—crazy?
“I am not crazy.” She said, as if he had spoken out loud.
Her eyes glared in a daring pose as her face smirked, “I will show you.”
She walked to the wall and pushed a buzzer that sounded with a low twang. The two men who had brought him to the house came into the room as if they had been waiting outside.
“We have a new recruit,” she said to them. “Use kid gloves, but show him the chamber. Then bring him back to me.”
Tony followed the two men through the house and then down a long narrow, twisting flight of enclosed stairs. The white haired black man, Horace, he said his name was, lead the way, and the smaller, blond haired man, Lance followed behind Tony. It was a long way down past five landings before they reached the bottom. There they confronted a steel door that Horace began to unlatch. It took a while. Tony counted five hasp latches and three key holes in this single, large door.
Finally, the door slid open and rolled into the wall on oiled smooth tracks. Five feet away, another steel door blocked their way. Only two keys opened this one, and once opened, a dank dimness flowed out from the opening's depths along with a soft eerie howl that turned Tony's skin to goose bumps.
Horace went to a sidewall where ten eye glasses incased in rubber were hanging. He grabbed three pairs and handed one to Tony.
“Here, take this pair.” He hesitated then added, “She said to treat you nice.”
Tony thanked his God, even though he couldn't make contact at the moment, that he was being treated nice. He assumed these were nighttime goggles, but he must have been only half-right because Horace added with an uninviting chuckle , “Yours blocks some of the meaner stuff out.”
Lance smirked at this as he put his own goggles on.
With the goggles on, he could see the room past the door was a dim red corridor with a series of cages running down its length like in a penitentiary.
“You're lucky. Only one of them here today.” Lance, the taciturn one, said.
It was the first time Tony had heard his voice.
Horace busied himself closing and locking the outer doors before he led them further into the dungeon. They came to a line of caged windows at the end of the corridor and this time, Horace took out an electronic button of some kind and pushed it.
The door slid open on silent wheels and Lance pushed at Tony to follow Horace inside the room and then turn to the right to another locked door. As soon as this door was opened, the glair that hit Tony's eyes from the room was almost more than he could stand, even wearing glasses. A rainbow of lights danced in mesmerizing patterns to fill every part of the room centered by a person glowing in red, lying on a steel cot.
Groaning and clanging in its chains was the most beautiful person Tony had ever seen or imagined. He began to cry at the beautiful form that he now saw chained down by steel straps. Tony held out his hands in a helpless gesture, as if to show the person his shared his sorrow, and stepped toward the red, glowing form to unhinge the chains.
Lance grabbed hold of Tony before he could take a step and pulled his arms behind his back, then tied them together with something so strong it bit into his wrists. The hurt in Tony's arms was nothing compared to the torture he felt looking at this beautiful form chained down and affixed to a steel slab. He sobbed in his need to end the being's suffering.
“Dumb ass.” Horace said with anger. “If it weren’t for them glasses, you'd be kneeling on the floor right now peeing your pants with joy.”
He then flicked a switch on the wall, a spark like lightening struck out at the red being and it glowed brighter for a moment. It looked as if lightning had hit the form lying on the steel bed. At the thought of such torture, Tony screamed.
“Take him out of here,” He heard Horace say to Lance.
Lance pulled at Tony's arms from behind until he felt the pain so bad he thought his arms were going to come out of their sockets. He was pulled backwards through the dark jail cells until they came out once more to the second steel door and room with the hanging goggles. There Lance tore off Tony's goggles and his own and hung them up on the wall, still holding on to Tony’s bound hands.
When Tony began to mumble something about the pain, Lance said, “Shut up. Don't say another word.” He jerked on Tony's arms once more. Tony shut up.
They waited in silence for Horace to join them. When he stepped out of the darkness, he said nothing, just hung up his own goggles, took out the keys from his pocket and unlocked the outer steel door, then relocked it again.
Finally, back in a normal basement environment, and thankful that he hadn’t been left behind in one of the cages, Tony breathed a huge sigh of relief. His face and eyes were still wet with tears, and when he looked at Horace and Lance's eyes, they were dry and as cold as a desert night. Tony shuddered.
When Tony was brought back up into the soft, warm, sun lit living room he almost collapsed with relief at the carpet that felt like a cloud beneath his feet and the lovely green grass that shown through the huge window. His body, though, was trembling badly, so badly that his gait was wobbly. The shock of what he'd seen had been so unnerving, he knew that what ever that being was in truth, the image and memory of it would be with him for the rest of his life.
He was led to the same white couch and pushed down into its cushions. He felt like a butterfly set back into its display cage, comforted for the moment, but as close to serious danger as ever.
She walked into the room and once more sat in the chair next to the couch. This time a lap top computer sat on the table between them. She turned the screen to face him. As she did, he wondered if the hardness of her eyes softened just a little? He thought so, but his judgment was tarnished by the trauma that still racked his body.
“Watch.” She commanded.
There in the screen was the beautiful rainbow creature, but not tied down by steel straps. Its glow was dampened by a blue filter as it stood next to a bookcase wall. Tony watched the blue tinted person walk across the room past the bookcase and a stuffed chair towards a large desk. As he watched, it began to change. Its glow dimmed even further as it built up its skin and sinews. Its face began to pull together into a human mask with dark hair and normal eyes.
Tony recognized the face at once, the missing Mayor Norm Stevens. Tony remembered the news announcer saying that some people cried for his loss but many more cried in joy at his absence. At the time, the statement had been inexplicable. Now he watched the form that had once been so beautiful, revert to a normal man in business attire who walked to an ordinary desk, sat down, and picked up an ink pen. Suddenly, the scene was gone and the screen turned black.
“What you have just seen is an angel from the Blinded Eye Constellation posing as an elected leader on earth. Each one of these monsters is extremely powerful and deceitful. It was they who blackened the Eye Constellation millennia ago. To stop them from turning this whole sector of the Milky Way dark, I must act even more powerful and deceitful then they.”
It must have been his look of dumb surprise that prompted her to continue. “Surly, you've heard of the Blinded Eye?”
He knew about the Blinded Eye. It was a frightening story that parents refused to allow children to learn about until they came of age. A whole galaxy of stars that had blinked out, one after another. Now that area of space looked like an eye gone blind, hence the name.
“Yes, yes,” he stammered. “But we have a barrier net that protects the whole planet from their darkness. We hardly acknowledge its existence.”
“That makes you little better then these ignorant earth people. Don't you see what your self serving neglect has done?”
At the venom in her voice, his thoughts jumped to his home world, their home world, and his soft and gentle life. A touch of homesickness rolled through his bones.
“But we have people who work hard to help people on earth, even if they don’t come here directly. They spread God’s light all the time.”
“Yes, but direct involvement has a much greater effect.”
“I think you misunderstand.” He said.
“I think you do.” she answered.
And there it was, the difference stripped bare. He was guilty of a lack of knowledge. He’d ignored the debates. What did he care? Some said earth was too dangerous to send emissaries any longer. Some said that was the chance they must take. He'd let it all slip away as he puttered within his own studies and concerns. Now he was sorry. He should have listened better to the arguments. He hardly knew how to answer her.
Suddenly, the large women dressed in black came back into the room. She was rubbing her hands together in distress as she said in a low voice, "Mrs. Evelyn."
“Yes, what is it Miranda?”
“Dinner will be 15 minutes late.”
Mrs. Evelyn looked down at the black watch on her wrist. “It is two minutes to five. You know I eat at five thirty, exactly. I won't tolerate a late dinner. Bring me a sandwich instead.”
“Ah, will your guest be eating?”
“No.”
Miranda turned and quickly walked out of the room.
Tony, wondering why he wasn’t going to share dinner and exactly what his fate was to be, was surprised when Eeryem looked at him and asked, “How is your head?”
He had forgotten his headache, which meant that it was gone. ”It seems to be gone.”
“I am no longer holding your mind.”
“I see.” He spoke quietly. “Should I thank you?”
He shook his head as if to clear it because his thinking still felt confused, but not his morals. In the most forceful voice he could manage, he said, “You tutored that angel”.
“Do you not see the necessity? Are you still so naive?”
Just then the large woman, Miranda, stepped into the room with a silver tray holding a sandwich on a plate, a cup, and silver teapot. She set it down and Mrs. Evelyn began to eat as if the subject of the torture was now ended.
“I still hurt with that person’s pain.” Tony said to her.
“The lightening did not hurt him as much as you think. The thing is made of stronger stuff then you realize. If it doesn’t convert to our side soon, it will be killed.”
“Do any convert? How will you know?”
“No, none do. And, yes, I will know. I still have many of my talents.”
He had felt her talents and cringed at the use being making of them.
“You are heavier and darker now because of what you have seen here.” She said.
He frowned at the news. He didn't feel dark.
“Tell me,” she added, “Do you feel any connection with God?”
At the question, he jerked his back straight up in the seat. He blinked. Tears came to his eyes. It was true. The connection was gone. Had it been severed by Eeryem or that creature or the dark aura of the earth system. He could not give voice to answer her.
She pressed a buzzer that called Horace and Lance back into the room. With a hand motion, they stopped and stood at attention awaiting her orders. She turned and spoke to Tony.
“We have grown into a vast organization that is very rich and powerful. On this earth, money and power is a necessity. How else would we have the resources to kidnap such a powerful person as the mayor and that thing that lived inside him. I tell you this because we will make a place for you among us.”
She must have seen the look of horror on his face because she added, “You will not need to help with the torture, most of our business is legal. We will find a spot for you.”
She motioned with her hand to the men and said, “Take him to one of the apartments while I think about what work will fit him best”.
Shrunken in spirit, he stood to follow Horace and Lance.
She called to him as he was leaving the room, “Did you think to bring identification?”
He nodded, “Yes.” As he said this, he put his hand on his jean pocket to pull it out and felt a small square box. Momentarily puzzled, he pulled out the box and opened it. Lying in the white cardboard were three pieces of the coated gum he’d brought with him to earth.
Quickly, he popped two pieces into his mouth and began chewing. Every juicy bite brought more light into his mind. Even the room brightened as if more sunshine had suddenly flowed through the glass, but more than that, his whole body began to feel lighter. Once more he was in touch with God and felt vividly alive. His heart almost burst with unbounded joy. He looked at his lost friend, Eeryem with sorrow.
He held out the box to her. “I offer this to you.”
He could see by the look on her face that she knew he was no longer heavy or dark, that he was once more an angel of light.
She looked at the box hungrily, it seemed to him. So he took the last piece of coated gum out of the box and held it out to her.
“No,” she said. “I don't want it. My work is here.”
His heart felt tears at her loss. Rather than deprive her of the gum forever, he dropped it into a small, round glass dish he saw sitting on the table. It rang with a bell like tinkle inside the round crystal. Still listening to the bell sound, he turned away.
The next step he took was into a long, invisible tunnel that lifted into the sky, a passage of love for those still able to leave the torture of earth, for those angels who hadn’t come to resemble their enemies. His next step from out of the tunnel took him home.
The end