The Barrier

Note: This story includes some violence, blood, death and a gun. However, I keep everything PG and am not overly graphic with it.

Tal’k are an adaptable kind. Throughout the history of their species, they’ve had to adapt. From the frigid tunnels of ice planets to the arid deserts of planets perpetually covered by the light of their star; they have always found a way.

It was Tal’k interplanetary code to reserve an adjustment period of six to twelve days before exiting a pod. However, Captain Takla and her small crew had not the time to ease into a new temperature, pressure or air quality. The on-ship life support systems had failed before they entered Earth’s atmosphere.

It was a jarring shift in environment, coming out of a broken-down escape pod and into what humans call South America. The air was thick and moist. Sunlight permeated the Tal’ks scaley exterior, rejuvenating them with warmth after seven years in the cold of space with only an artificial heating system to sustain them. Captain Takla stood quietly, taking time to adjust to this lovely new world as her two crewmates; Sim and Korba stepped out of the escape pod.

“What d’ya say now? We made it!”

Korba, the crew’s communications officer leapt out onto the welcoming earth with her arms extended towards the sky.

“We are ALIVE!” She turned her head to look back at Sim with a smug grin. “Didn’t I say we would survive?”

“You also said we might get a welcoming committee…” Sim answered gruffly. He tossed a bag out onto the rich dirt and swung another two over his back.

“Oh, we will. The people on this planet are very serious about outside threats.” Korba said. She took a deep breath of the wet, earthy air and smiled with her sharp toothy grin. “We just have to explain that we’re peaceful. They’ll understand. There are so many people on this planet who would love to meet us. We’ll learn from each other, share languages and technology… It’ll be great.”

“I think we should stay on the down-low until we have a way off this earth…” Sim looked around at the vibrant world surrounding him hesitantly. “We found life. We have no obligation to do anything but observe it while we make repairs.”

“What do you say, Cap?” Korba sighed, turning her gaze towards Takla.

The captain looked at Korba, distracted. “I don’t know. I think.. I think that Sim is right. We should try not to interact with the people of this planet too much.” Her eyes grew sharper and she turned them on Sim.

“But don’t forget that Korba is our student of alien culture. If she says we should make ourselves and our intentions known, then I think we should do that before the humans find us in their midst without an explanation."

Sim nodded. “Fair enough.”

Korba stretched her arms out wide. “This star is amazing, you guys. Feel all that energy!”

Sim shrugged at the scenery and shied away from the sun. “Bah, when will we get to visit another cold planet? All of this tropical pollen is clogging my airways.”

Takla smiled. She started to say something when a deafening sound echoed through the forest.

“What was that..?”

Another boom sounded. Sim shifted his eyes to the hull of the escape pod, noticing a small dent in the metal shield. He ducked behind a metal wing and dug through one of the bags to find a weapon.

“Find cover! We’re under attack!”

Captain Takla ducked and flattened herself against the ground. “Korba!”

Korba didn’t answer, one claw now pressed against her midsection. She fell to her knees and slumped down on her side.

“Korba, respond!” Takla cried. “That’s an order!”

“Shix!” Sim hissed. He lifted a spear launcher up onto his shoulder and peered into the bushes. “Where..?”

Another bullet lodged itself into the ship wing. Sim ducked his head, but kept his eyes on the trees. He watched small flashes of light appear as bullets flew, and aimed for their origin. He released the arrow. A moment later he heard the pained cry of their attacker.

Takla rolled across the ground and her back hit the metal shielding of their pod. She was too far from Sim to take cover under the wing alongside him, but tried to raise her head to get a view of things, regardless.

“Throw me a smoke wad!”

Sim looked up and nodded. Takla felt something sharp in her back and reached back for it, her claws closing around a cylindrical object. She felt a soothing warmth wash over her. All at once, the world seemed to be moving a lot slower than it had been. She saw her crew member’s face twist with ferocious anger as he lifted his weapon at the last moment. He pointed it at her. No, behind her.

Smoke filled the air, clouding her already blurry vision. Every hair on her body stung with the sharp scent of fire. Sim shouted the last thing Captain Takla heard before the world went dark and silent;

“Release her!”

***

Remington Gardner had thought he would be well remembered one day. He was a man of Firsts. The first to implement energy-capture roadways in a major city. The first Green Party President. The first to test an artificial carbon recycler in a home setting. (That particular test was an unsuccessful mess. He had to admit to himself that not all of his firsts were great feats of progress… but reminded himself that anyone who wanted to change the world was going to fail every now and then.)

As the newly inaugurated seventieth president of the United States, he’d resolved himself with enacting real positive change in the four years ahead. With a background in environmental science and years of innovation in sustainable construction and urban development, he had been prepared to do so.

It now seemed that he might end up remembered as another noted figure who’d done nothing in the grand scheme of things. Another watcher who stood by as the world ended. An hour ago he drank coffee with his wife and read the newspaper. Now he sat at a desk with his good friend and vice president Charlie Freed at his left. At his right, a woman who had introduced herself to him five minutes earlier as Diana Almond. She placed a heavy-cased laptop in front of him and told him to watch.

His fingers traced the outline of a ballpoint pen sitting on his desk as he tried to comprehend what he was seeing. On the screen in front of him played an amateur recording of these horrendous looking creatures… They stood upright reaching a height of six feet tall and resembled spiders, having four long legs and four spindly arms. Their heads were small in comparison to their long bodies, with six eyes moving in unison.

But they wore clothing. Somewhere in the back of his head, beyond the disbelief and the fear, he noticed that they wore clothing.

The camera spun around and stopped on a young boy who couldn’t have been older than nineteen, eyes wide and skin moist with sweat.

“Mi nombre es Benjamín Thiago. Soy el primer hombre en ver el fin del mundo-”

“Benjamín! Aquí! Aquí, tonto!”

A deeper, gruffer voice interrupted him.

The camera swung back around to focus on the alien creatures and their ship.

“What.. was he saying?” Remi asked without looking away.

Charlie frowned deeply as he answered.

“It translates as; “My name is Benjamin Thiago… I am the first man to see the end of the world”.”

Remington rubbed the side of the pen with his thumb, pressing his nail into the rubber around the middle.

One of the aliens stood tall and threw its arms out. It opened its mouth, releasing a shrill clicking noise that shook the air.

“Benjamin! Esto aquí!”

The deeper voice said again. The camera turned and focused on a young man who looked about twenty-five, his shoulder-length hair dark and wet.

“Verás?”

He lifted a large gun into view and cracked a genuine smile, despite the wide eyes and sweat plastering his hair to his skin.

“Puede que seas el primero en ver a los monstruos, pero yo nos rescataré de ellos!”

He positioned the gun and looked through the scope. A moment later, he took the shot.

The camera swung once more. One creature, hit, stood silent for a moment before it fell to the ground.

The others were buzzing and clicking now, making noise with something other than their mouths. Another shot rang out. Then another.

“Dónde están, Ben?!” The man shouted.

“No poder ver!” The boy answered, franticly. “No poder!”

Something long and sharp shot through the air, making an ark across the screen before the young cameraman even reacted. A deep, pained cry from the shooter pierced the air.

“Esteban?!”

The camera swung, shaking up and down now as Benjamin ran closer.

“Esteban!”

The man now identified as Esteban lay on the ground, blood seeping into his shirt and the ground beneath him. An arrow fashioned of wood stood planted in his chest.

“Esteban, no te mueras!” Benjamin’s voice cracked as he cried.

“Respira! Háblame!”

The camera hung from his neck, only capturing the ground and pieces of arms and legs when they happened to come into focus amidst the turmoil.

Charlie reached out and closed the video player with two clicks. The three were silent for a long moment.

“What happened to the boy…?” Remington asked, his voice absent of inflection, monotone. He didn’t look up from the computer screen.

“Members of my branch found him this morning and confiscated this video.” Diana answered. “Our online division has already taken it down from a hundred websites… but we’re afraid he also shared it in multiple physical copies.” Her thin lips shifted into a frown. “It’s already out there and we don’t know who’s seen it.”

“So what happened to the.. the..” Remi lifted a hand to aid his words, motioning at the screen.

“Our team captured one of the aliens on site. The Argentine government got their ship and the one Benjamin’s brother shot. The third creature is missing. We haven’t been able to locate it.”

Remington looked at Diana with his eyes wide and his mouth open, grasping for words. “They have to.. shut down the parks. They’ve got to capture that thing as soon as possible.”

“I’m sure they’ve got that covered.” Diana lifted one eyebrow. “The reason we’re involving you, is because people know about it now. With all these physical copies of that video floating around and more being made, we can’t track them all down.”

“So… what is it you want me to do, if you don’t want me to handle this?” He tilted his head at her with incredulity.

She stood, closing the lid on the computer and sliding it back into its case.

“Come up with a good lie for me.” Diana gave him a hard pat on the back and turned away. Her heels clicked as she walked towards the door.

“I want to see it.”

Remington wasn’t certain that those words had actually came out of his mouth.

Diana turned her head and looked back at him over her shoulder. “You want to see what?”

“The creature. The one we have in captivity.” He answered. “I want to see it.”

She paused quietly for a moment then looked on. “I suppose I can arrange that.”

***

Remington had no idea where he was. All he knew was that he’d gotten into a car with dark windows at the White House and an hour or more later, he got out of it in a parking garage filled with cars that looked identical to the one that had brought him there.

Miss Almond stepped out of the car and handed him a pair of glasses.

“Put these on.”

“What do they do?” He asked, inspecting the glasses.

“They protect curious eyes from dangerous secrets.” She walked on and beckoned him to follow.

Remington put the glasses on, seeing no difference.

“How does it work?”

“Sir…” Diana only shook her head.

A deep gurgling sound exploded from his left. Remi stopped and turned towards the sound - but found… nothing other than a grey concrete wall. He felt his heart racing in his chest and the hair on his neck stood on end as they walked on.

Eventually they reached a door. Diana pulled him inside and the door shut itself behind them.

“You can take them off, now.”

He pulled the glasses off and startled at the sight. Where there had been nothing, now stood a six-foot tall creature. He’d known they were spider-like from the video, but he now saw that the alien’s entire body was covered in small, prickly hairs. Its upper body was longer than that of a spider’s, with a neck and head that rested on top. It had two smaller pedipalp-like arms tracing the edge of its jaw. The face was curved towards the center. All six of the creatures eyes seemed to be focused on him, much in the same way he was focusing on It.

The creature buzzed and walked up to the bars of the enclosure cautiously. It reached into the pocket of the jacket it wore and pulled out something small. Remington stepped closer to see.

It opened its claw flat to reveal a piece of silk in the shape of an octagon. The alien slowly lifted another claw and traced lines within the shape.

“I think It’s trying to say something.” Remi gasped in wonder. He looked the alien over once again, a little less afraid.. and a little more afraid.

“Who’s going to translate?” Diana crossed her arms and shook her head, fitting the alien with a stone cold gaze. “We don’t know how their brains work, or if they even understand words in the same way we do.”

“But maybe someone could find out…” Remi looked into the alien’s eyes, gold and green clashing like molten lava over an ocean. “Can you understand me…?”

The alien only looked back at him with her mesmerizing eyes. She clicked a soft series of clicks and traced the octagon once more.

“She’s sad.” He nodded.

“Rude. It might be a He.” Diana scoffed and smiled, the closest she’d come to any sort of laughter.

Remi shrunk into his shoulders and offered the creature an apology. “Sorry.”

“So, do you know what you’re going to tell the press?” Diana eyed him carefully… dangerously.

“No.” He answered plainly, eyes still on the creature in front of them. “But I’ll figure something out.”

“The world isn’t ready for something like this.” She warned.

“Of course not. I know I can’t tell them the truth.” He pursed his lips tightly. “I couldn’t.”

Diana looked down at her watch and placed her hand on the wall. At her touch, the door lifted itself open.

“It’s time.”

Remington looked at the alien for one last long moment, then began to step away.

“Bzzrp.”

He looked back. Reaching through the bars with the tip of its claw, the alien held the small piece of silk out to him. Quickly, he took it and walked away, tucking the cloth into the top of his pants with one hand as he donned his dark glasses with the other.

Captain Takla watched the stone wall slide back into place as the humans left. She hoped the one with blue eyes would return. Maybe if any of those humans Korba once spoke so well of made something of her interplanetary emblem, they would attempt communication with her. If they spoke to her, maybe she could find Sim and get off this planet.

She had no one to talk to and nothing to do but think, so she thought to herself. As the hours went by, she tired of ruminating over the memories of the last three days and found herself composing a poem to the tune of a traditional Tal’k song instead. She vibrated her two mandibular claws softly.

“I cannot speak

My claws may as well be fashioned of stone.

Your words are lost on me.

I understand bits and pieces, but not enough.

Without the ability to communicate, will we die?

Or will we have the patience to seek understanding?”

Thanks for reading! Down here I’ve included Spanish/English Translations for the dialogue between Esteban and Benjamin:

“Mi nombre es Benjamín Thiago. Soy el primer hombre en ver el fin del mundo-”

“My name is Benjamin Thiago… I am the first man to see the end of the world.”

“Benjamín! Aquí! Aquí, tonto!”

“Benjamin! Here! Here, stupid!/fool!”

“Benjamin! Esto aquí!”

“Benjamin! Over here!”

“Verás?”

“See?”

“Puede que seas el primero en ver a los monstruos, pero yo nos rescataré de ellos!”

“You may be the first to see the monsters, but I will rescue us from them!”

“Dónde están, Ben?!”

“Where are they, Ben?!”

“No poder ver! No poder!”

“I can’t see! I can’t!”

“Esteban, no te mueras!”

“Esteban, don’t die!”

“Respira! Háblame!”

“Breath! Speak to me!”