BENEATH - A Novel (40 page)

Robert chuckled. "You know, I kicked myself for years for not waiting to see if you fell out of that thing. Looks like it was all for nothing."

Connelly smiled, feeling as relaxed as she did on that day ten years ago.

"Could have fooled me. You hid your interest well."

Robert looked surprised. "Wait a minute. You didn't say that."

"And you didn't gape at my boobs."

"Then you're you? You're really you?"

Connelly realized that she was talking to the real Robert. She wasn't sure how, but she knew it was him, the current version. She wrapped her arms around him and planted a kiss on his young lips. It was the first kiss they should have had, but never did.

"Hate to break up the party, guys, but where the hell are we?" Connelly jerked away from Robert and looked toward the source of the familiar voice. Willard, looking just like Willard, was sitting behind the steering wheel, looking back at she and Robert. He was wearing shorts and a gaudy Hawaiian shirt. "And why did I just relive my eighth grade class portrait?"

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The small door that accessed Orca One's inner cabin opened from inside. A woman dressed in a flowing, see through, white skirt and a matching tube top stepped onto the deck. Her golden hair hung down past her shoulders and seemed to reflect the blue water rippling around the boat. She stood sensually next to a stunned Willard, yet her brilliant cobalt eyes revealed an intelligence beyond her years.

Connelly didn't recognize the woman and she certainly hadn't been on the Orca One with her and Robert. When Willard finally found his tongue, it was apparent
he
knew the woman.

"Ms. Tamworth?" Willard's eyes were wide. His lips spread in a wide smile.

The woman nodded and flashed Willard a smile that seemed to paralyze him. He slowly shook his head. "But…"

"A friend of yours?" Robert asked, scratching his bare, curly haired chest.

Connelly noticed that apart from the amazement on Willard's part, neither she nor Robert felt threatened by the woman's sudden appearance. In fact, everything felt fine. This ranked at the top of Connelly's weird events list, but she was taking it all in stride. Even the realization that she felt no fear or anxiety failed to spur some kind of negative emotional reaction.

"It's Ms. Tamworth…Heather Tamworth…my eight grade teacher," Willard said as his eyes followed the outline of her scantily clad curves. "But I never saw her like this."

"Why are you here?" Connelly asked. She may be experiencing some kind of bliss, but she still knew how to get down to business.

Heather turned to Connelly and said, "You have all experienced defining moments in your life. You have just experienced them again. I was watching…to understand."

"Ms. Tamworth," Willard said, "Are you…were you an alien?"

Heather laughed loudly. "Ethan…I was your first love. When you think of me, even to this day, you feel a real, physical pain in your chest. You're feeling it right now."

Willard leaned away from Heather. "How?"

"The Europhids," Connelly said, "They're doing this."

Heather nodded and looked at Willard. "I am the consciousness that you rescued from the belly of the oceanic predator. I was on my way to the surface, to attempt direct contact with your crew. The predator, whose mind is too feeble to control, did as nature commanded, ate me as it later did you. But you, in your act of mercy, saved me."

"You're a Europhid?" Willard asked.

Heather nodded again. "That is the name you have given my species, yes."

"Why do you look like Ms. Tamworth?" Willard asked.

"After sensing your feelings for this woman…I wanted to repay your kindness by fulfilling the desires of your heart." Heather leaned towards Willard, took him by the back of the head and laid her lips upon his. Willard's rigid body soon went slack and he enveloped Heather in a tight embrace. When they separated, Willard slouched back on wobbly muscles. His face was gleefully relaxed.

Heather turned to Connelly, who had watched the entire event as though it were a Broadway play. When she met Heather's other-worldly blue eyes, she remembered that this was a real experience.

"I have questions," Connelly said. She crossed her arms as if to accentuate she meant business. It was hard to do considering how wonderful she felt.

Heather sat in the seat opposite Willard and crossed her smoothly tanned legs. She smiled and bounced her foot back and forth. She was waiting for Connelly.

"You're speaking English," Connelly said.

"We're communicating directly mind to mind," Heather said. "Pure thought has no language. You hear my words as English, because it is the language of your thoughts. My species has no language. We do not speak at all." Heather shifted in her seat and leaned forward, elbows on knees. "Let me clarify. I am what you would call a blue Europhid. We have no name for ourselves, so Europhid is appropriate for your understanding. We are conscience. We are logic. We are thinkers. Like you, we seek to understand. We value life. All life."

"We've been attacked continually since arriving on Europa," Robert interjected.

Heather looked at Connelly with an intensity that almost broke through Connelly's misty sense of joy. "We sent a warning."

"My dreams," Connelly said.

Heather nodded. "Unfortunately, you did not understand the origin of the message."

"But why attack us at all?" Robert asked.

"The attacks on you and your crew have been and
are being
carried out by what you call red Europhids. While we represent the mind of Europa, intelligent as they are, the red Europhids represent instinct. They are the protectors of this sphere and their work has kept our world alive."

"Can't you stop them?" Connelly asked.

"Can you stop your white blood cells from acting when a germ enters your body?"

Connelly didn't answer. She didn't need to. She understood perfectly now. Europa was like a living creature, a body unto itself. The blue Europhids were the brain. The red Europhids were the immune system, reacting to perceived threats as they had been programmed to do by millions, perhaps billions of years of evolution. They attacked, and would continue to do so until the invaders has been wiped out. She and the crew of the Surveyor were simply germs invading a body.

Germs that needed to be exterminated.

"Yes," Heather said, "You understand. While we recognize that you mean us no harm, the others sense that you are a threat…and to be honest, after seeing into your minds, I believe they are correct."

If fear, outrage and defiance were emotions Connelly were capable of feeling at that time, she would have been filled with all three. A blue Europhid in the form of Willard's eighth grade teacher had just accused her of being a threat to the denizens of Europa. Few things made her angry more than being falsely accused. She wanted to deny the accusation, but she couldn't bring herself to say a word.

Instead, she thought about things from the perspective of the Europhids. Her crew had come from space, landed on the surface of Europa, taken and killed sample Europhids, even genetically altered one in a plant incubator. They had unintentionally committed atrocities against sentient beings.

Europhid Heather was right.

"I'm sorry," Connelly said quietly. "We had no idea…we didn't understand what you were. We thought…we thought you were—"

"Vegetables," Heather said. "I know. And the mistake is forgivable given your ignorance. Knowing what you know now,
you
would never repeat those mistakes." Heather stood and walked to the starboard side of the boat, her taut frame bobbing up and down with the motion of the ocean waves. "Your world is beautiful and full of creatures as spectacular as those on our world…but your people must never learn of our existence."

Robert huffed lightly. "We can't just hide what we've discovered from the world. This is our first contact with an alien species."

"This is our first contact as well," Heather said. "I would say it's not going well, wouldn't you?"

"We can learn from our mistakes," Robert said.

Heather crossed her arms across her breasts. "Neither species is ready for prolonged contact."

Robert took a step forward, "But—"

And then he was gone. He simply vanished as though he had never been there. Willard quickly protested, placing his hand on Heather's shoulder. "Eighth grade crush or not, you better tell me what you did with—" In a blink, Willard ceased to exist.

Even with the disappearance of Willard and Robert, Connelly felt no fear or ill will to or from Heather.

Turning to Connelly again, Heather's eyes took on a seriousness that locked her into a forced staring contest. "I have seen into your hearts and minds and know your crew has the best intentions, but your people do not always."

After mulling over the statement, Connelly nodded slowly, ominously. "We would destroy your world for resources, in the name of science and…"

"For pleasure," Heather finished, a hint of sadness in her voice.

Connelly agreed. She could see the hunting excursions that would bring Europian species to the brink of extinction, the territorial wars fought between humans over parcels of ice. They had put Europa in danger by coming here.

"But that's not the worst of it, is it?" Heather asked.

"War?" Connelly said.

Heather nodded. "You've seen the defense system of this world. The only way to exploit Europa would be to exterminate my species. There would be casualties on both sides, but ultimately, I fear we would be eradicated."

Tears brimmed in Connelly's eyes. It seemed she was still able to experience despair, or the Europhid was allowing her to experience it. Either way, Heather was right. Humanity could never know about what they'd found on Europa. It would inevitably lead to the destruction and exploitation of all life on Europa. It was the same sick pattern played out on Earth time and time again. When a new resource, biological or mineral, was discovered on Earth, it was consumed until it ceased to exist. The cycle was threatening to continue on Europa, and Connelly had brought it. She cursed herself for it.

Heather took Connelly by the hand. Her skin was unusually soft and warm. "The burden is not yours to bear alone."

"You don't understand. I can't stop what's begun. If we survive, if any of us survive, Earth will learn about you. I might not tell anyone, but the others…I don't think they will be convinced." Connelly's eyes opened wide. "That's it, isn't it? You wanted me to realize this before you killed us. Our deaths are the only way to protect Europa...to ensure your survival."

Connelly looked down at the floor of the boat. Her jaw became tight and her fingers gripped down. "Do what you need to do. I understand."

"I knew you would," Heather said. She took Connelly's other hand and squeezed it. Heather leaned her face in close to Connelly's. The warm breath from Heather's lips slid across Connelly's cheeks. "Before you go…I give you a gift." Heather pulled Connelly forward and brought their lips together in a soft embrace.

The kiss was like nothing Connelly had ever felt before. Raw energy coursed through her body and into her mind. It felt like Heather was breathing fire into Connelly's soul. A bright light formed at the apex of Connelly's vision and exploded with the violence of a nuclear blast. Connelly screamed as her world turned scorching white.

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The transition from boating in the tropics to the starkness of a stone cavern cast in blue light took Robert's mind several moments to process. He realized he was back in the cave system beneath Europa's ocean a second before Willard toppled down next to him. Robert slid over and inspected him.

He was breathing.

He was alive.

Sitting up came as a challenge. His stomach muscles felt oddly numb, as though he'd done a marathon of sit ups. He propped himself up, leaning back on his wobbly arms and found himself, once again, confused. A wall rose before him, as massively tall as it was wide, coated in blue Europhids that blanketed the smooth stone cavern in a soft, comforting glow.

Willard stirred. Robert looked down at his companion and then back to the wall. Had they both been inside the horizontal field of giant blue Europhids? He shook his head, determined not to focus on the eerie details. The events of the past few hours were almost beyond comprehension. He really only had two questions that needed answers.

Where is Kathy? And how do I get her back?

He needed help. "Ethan, you awake in there?" Robert gave Willard a shake.

Willard grunted and rolled from his side onto his back. He shrugged away from Robert's touch like a grumpy teenager taking refuge in a cozy morning bed. "Ugh, just trying to get my thoughts to make sense."