table in disgust and stood up from the chair, seeing that L’aida was watching him. They had not spoken in several days. “Do you need something?” he said.
“They will execute you when they uncover your treachery.”
“Yes. I know.”
“And me as well, if I do not report you.”
“I expected that you already had.”
“They will destroy this entire planet if they suspect we have tampered with the humanoids.”
“As opposed to harvesting them for food or turning them into cannon fodder?”
L’aida looked down at the molecules of repeating nucleotides on the screen and said, “The sequence’s structure will collapse if you do not wind it around the helical axis. You are doing this wrong.”
Klatu watched her sit and begin moving strands of proteins and molecules into different positions. “There is something I have been thinking about,” he said. “I see a potential in these beings that would allow them to someday come to the Consortium on their own terms. Not just wait to be scooped up and used for whatever means we see fit. But they are lacking something.”
He held up his golden box and opened the lid, removing the data card of religious texts. “They need to believe that anything is possible. I want to encode parts of this into the sequence.”
***
Night fell. The desert plains were silent and empty except for sheep grazing in a desert meadow. Klatu scanned the village’s perimeter but only saw small reptiles slithering over the sand. He went to the first dwelling and let himself in.
A female slept atop an animal skin in the first room. She turned over onto her side and he waited until her breathing slowed to deploy the syringe from his glove.
He crept toward her, bending until his helmet was directly over her face. Her eyes opened and she gasped just as the tip of the needle slid into her neck. She struggled against Klatu’s invisible form until her eyes rolled back in her head and she went limp. He undid her robes, revealing her milk white flesh as he spread her legs and aimed the device downwards.
She moaned softly as the probes slid inside of her. Klatu fit a vial inside the device and took a deep breath as he coded the sequence to initiate the insemination process.
The female reached up and touched his helmet.
Klatu froze, held by the look in her eyes. They were dilated and glossed over from the narcotic, and she smiled when he lifted his helmet’s visor and revealed his face to her. She ran her fingers over his face, touching the dry, smooth surface of his skin in wonder.
***
Joachim woke at the sound of his front door closing. He looked over at his wife and said, “If that boy was in her room, I will kill him. I do not care if they are betrothed.” He got up and went out to look, but saw nothing. He opened the door and peered into the night. “Joseph? Are you out there?”
He shut the door and opened the curtain to his daughter’s room. Mary was sleeping soundly. “I suppose it was just my imagination,” he said before closing the curtain and returning to bed.
Digestif
I grew up in a converted farmhouse on the outskirts of Horsham, Pennsylvania. We were surrounded by open space—woods, corn fields, big sky, and a small airstrip down the street where Cessna’s and other light airplanes would fly in circles overhead for hours.
There was a house at the end of the airstrip where Poppy and Mrs. Springer lived. Poppy Springer was born in the late 1800’s and had fought in the First World War. He wasn’t allowed to drive a car anymore, so he would get around on his riding lawnmower. Over the sound of chickens and airplanes, you would hear that thing’s engine puttering down the street toward you and know that he was coming to visit.
Poppy Springer was missing a few
“They will execute you when they uncover your treachery.”
“Yes. I know.”
“And me as well, if I do not report you.”
“I expected that you already had.”
“They will destroy this entire planet if they suspect we have tampered with the humanoids.”
“As opposed to harvesting them for food or turning them into cannon fodder?”
L’aida looked down at the molecules of repeating nucleotides on the screen and said, “The sequence’s structure will collapse if you do not wind it around the helical axis. You are doing this wrong.”
Klatu watched her sit and begin moving strands of proteins and molecules into different positions. “There is something I have been thinking about,” he said. “I see a potential in these beings that would allow them to someday come to the Consortium on their own terms. Not just wait to be scooped up and used for whatever means we see fit. But they are lacking something.”
He held up his golden box and opened the lid, removing the data card of religious texts. “They need to believe that anything is possible. I want to encode parts of this into the sequence.”
***
Night fell. The desert plains were silent and empty except for sheep grazing in a desert meadow. Klatu scanned the village’s perimeter but only saw small reptiles slithering over the sand. He went to the first dwelling and let himself in.
A female slept atop an animal skin in the first room. She turned over onto her side and he waited until her breathing slowed to deploy the syringe from his glove.
He crept toward her, bending until his helmet was directly over her face. Her eyes opened and she gasped just as the tip of the needle slid into her neck. She struggled against Klatu’s invisible form until her eyes rolled back in her head and she went limp. He undid her robes, revealing her milk white flesh as he spread her legs and aimed the device downwards.
She moaned softly as the probes slid inside of her. Klatu fit a vial inside the device and took a deep breath as he coded the sequence to initiate the insemination process.
The female reached up and touched his helmet.
Klatu froze, held by the look in her eyes. They were dilated and glossed over from the narcotic, and she smiled when he lifted his helmet’s visor and revealed his face to her. She ran her fingers over his face, touching the dry, smooth surface of his skin in wonder.
***
Joachim woke at the sound of his front door closing. He looked over at his wife and said, “If that boy was in her room, I will kill him. I do not care if they are betrothed.” He got up and went out to look, but saw nothing. He opened the door and peered into the night. “Joseph? Are you out there?”
He shut the door and opened the curtain to his daughter’s room. Mary was sleeping soundly. “I suppose it was just my imagination,” he said before closing the curtain and returning to bed.
Digestif
I grew up in a converted farmhouse on the outskirts of Horsham, Pennsylvania. We were surrounded by open space—woods, corn fields, big sky, and a small airstrip down the street where Cessna’s and other light airplanes would fly in circles overhead for hours.
There was a house at the end of the airstrip where Poppy and Mrs. Springer lived. Poppy Springer was born in the late 1800’s and had fought in the First World War. He wasn’t allowed to drive a car anymore, so he would get around on his riding lawnmower. Over the sound of chickens and airplanes, you would hear that thing’s engine puttering down the street toward you and know that he was coming to visit.
Poppy Springer was missing a few
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