The Infinite Evolution - Conversion (29 page)

“
Good, we are running short on
time. What about her father, how is he doing?” inquired
Izri.

“
He is fine, I gave him direction
to one of our local residents and plan to meet up with him by the
end of this month. Are we still planning on bringing Jade and
Spencer back together?” asked Serafina hoping the answer was
yes.

“
I do not think that is a crucial element at
this juncture. Once you are finished briefing Jade we will
introduce her to the local Floaters. There you will monitor her
actions until further notice. I also want you to make sure Spencer
stays within New York State until we need his services. I will be
uploading back to our planet tomorrow.”

“
How long will you be away?”

“
I am not sure, but my Earth shell will be
left at this facility in stasis until I return, so I will be nearby
just in case of an unexpected emergency. That is all for now, any
questions?”

“
I do have one,” Serafina paused and
demonstrated a little bit of hesitancy.

“
Well go ahead, I am listening,” said
Izri.

“
First, this is not affecting my
judgment, nor will it, but I am developing feelings for Spencer,
you know, personal feelings, and I do not understand
why.”

“
We figured this was going to
happen at some point. That is why we matched you with Spencer and
Jade.”

“
Jade, what does she have to do with
this?”

“
Let me ask you, do you feel protective over
her?”

“
Of course, she is my responsibility, any good
protector would.”

“
Yes, they would, but do you feel
more protective over her than you have in the past with other
humanoids you worked with?”

“
In some ways, yes, but I
attributed that to her being a child. What does this have to do
with my personal feelings towards Spencer?”

“
Everything. What I am about to
tell you must never fall on Spencer’s or Jade’s ears,
understood?”

“
I understand,” replied Serafina with a
curious and confused look.

“
The predominant field program that
constructed your matrix was once the wife to Spencer and the mother
to Jade.”

“
I am sorry, say that again,” asked
Serafina.

Welcome Home

“Are you sure this is the correct
address?” asked Spencer after the taxi driver slowed to a stop and
said, “Welcome home.”

The taxi driver ignored Spencer’s
question, gave him his contact number, which Spencer committed to
memory, but not his name, and said his goodbyes. When the rear
passenger door opened by itself, Spencer exited and felt leaving a
tip was certainly not necessary.

The residence he was dropped off
at had seen better days. It was a cookie cutter Victorian home,
nearly identical to the rest of the houses that lined the street.
If it was not for the dull gray paint peeling off the exterior
siding, the broken windows patched with plywood, and the overgrown
shrubbery, the exterior would not have been half bad. Spencer
showed no signs of concern at the lack of upkeep and felt he would
be able to deal with whatever came his way. As he walked up towards
the front door, Spencer avoided the piles of dog feces as if they
were landmines. He grabbed the iron knocker attached to the center
part of the door and announced himself. The front door swung open,
missing Spencer’s face by only a few inches, and on the other side
answered a wrinkly old man.

“
Ah, yes, welcome, yes, yes, come
in. I have been expecting you, but unfortunately for you, I hate
company! But, certainly don’t be shy come in,” replied the old man
who was no more than five feet tall.

“
Hello, I’m Spencer, Serafina sent
me.”

“
Yes, yes, I know who you are.
Just because I’m pushing seventy-five doesn’t mean I don’t know
what is going on, put this on,” said the old man as he handed
Spencer a torn black and purple tuxedo coat and top hat. As Spencer
studied the clothing, he concluded these items had to have been
pulled out of a trunk from the 1930s.

“
Why do I need to put this on?” asked
Spencer.

“
Excuse me young sir, but you
will not enter this fine residence wearing such wretched attire.
Now put it on and come in! There is much to do,” replied the old
man as he dropped the clothing on the floor and walked
away.

As Spencer stood there in
disbelief, he could not get over the outfit the old man wore. A
plaid sports coat with striped pajamas and moose slippers. After
Spencer placed on the so called “proper attire,” he followed in
behind the old man. As he took in the interior, he noticed large
amounts of cobwebs complimenting the peeling wallpaper, the broken
light fixtures, and the stained multi-colored carpet. Spencer found
this to be a perfect match with the exterior.

“
Now, we have one rule in this
house,” said the old man as he banged the floor with a wooden cane.
There will be, under no circumstances, any of that fancy and highly
annoying technology you young people like to use. Don’t think I
can’t detect when that techno crap is in my house. I’m not blind so
don’t try it! Get it?”

“
Ah sure, I mean yes sir, you don’t have to
worry about a thing,” replied Spencer with a surprised
tone.

“
Good, other than that your bedroom is
upstairs and to the right. Oh and before I forget, when you turn on
the water let it run for at least three minutes or so, after that
the brown color will go away. Got a lot of rust in these old pipes
and I’m not just talking about the ones in my house, if you know
what I mean,” laughed the old man while trying not to
cough.

“
And what should I call you my
fine sir?” asked Spencer while he stood there, still trying to
process his new environment.

“
Most certainly not ‘fine sir.’
That makes me sound like some rich snobbish old fool. My name is
Oliver, Oliver Sutton, but since we’re going to be roommates you
can call me Oliver or Oliver Sutton.”

Spencer paused for a moment and simply responded,
“Will do, Oliver.”

“
Great, well I need to go and
take my mid afternoon nap. Go do something, read a book, or maybe
take up gardening. Oh and don’t try to steal any of my stuff, I got
it all catalogued, don’t need anything going missing. Good
afternoon,” said Oliver as he walked down the hall while avoiding
the holes in the floor.

“
Good afternoon to you also,”
said Spencer as he nodded his head in disbelief while trying to
maintain a smile.

“
No technology, I certainly
wasn’t expecting that. How does this person tie in with Serafina
and Telmar and this so called movement? It seems he is the complete
opposite of what everyone else is all about. My days keep getting
stranger and stranger,” thought Spencer as he walked upstairs to
his new nesting area and found it to be as dilapidated as the rest
of the residence. Spencer soon noticed there was considerably more
dust and cobwebs collecting than what had accumulated downstairs,
as he maneuvered through the immense amount of clutter. While
Spencer attempted to find his bed, he was amazed with the amount of
newspapers scattered about. He quickly cleared the bed off and laid
himself down for a long needed nap.

Approximately two hours after
Spencer fell asleep the knocking on his bedroom door commenced.
“Wake up Spencer, we need to talk,” muttered Oliver. “Come on now,
wake up, no need to sleep the entire day. We have work to
do.”

Spencer raised his head, gathered himself, and once
his eyes came into focus, he realized this was not a nightmare and
responded with a simple, “Be down in a minute.”

“
Don’t fiddle dattle,” said Oliver.

“
Fiddle dattle, who says fiddle
dattle?” asked Spencer as he scratched the back of his head
thinking, “What have I gotten myself into?” As Spencer left the
comfort of his bed, he walked over to the mirror in an attempt to
brush his hair. As soon as he saw himself, he momentarily jumped
back, forgetting he had acquired a new and improved image. “Well,
if anything good came of this fiasco it’s this body,” thought
Spencer. After he was finished marveling over his good looks,
again, he headed down the stairs, attempted to avoid any loose
floorboards, and found Oliver in the kitchen.

“
Have a seat,” said
Oliver.

Spencer looked around and picked
the stool that would allow him to move the least amount of clutter.
After Spencer cleared off this area, he sat down near the edge of
what he thought was the counter.

“
Would you like a cup of coffee?” asked
Oliver.

Normally Spencer would accept his
lifeblood, but after he studied the variety of filth on the
surrounding mugs, he decided to opt out.

“
No, thanks, I’m trying to cut
back on my caffeine.”

“
Oh really? Well your file does
say you’re addicted to drinking lots of coffee.”

“
My file, you have a file on me?”

“
Of course I do, any member of the cause has a
file. We need to know the ins and outs on how our members operate.
We certainly can’t just be involving any of the local
crazies.”

Spencer wanted to ask, “How did
you get on board?” but thought it would be better if he kept quiet
and said, “I see.”

Oliver turned around and grabbed
a can of soda, poured some into his coffee, then followed up with,
“So I have just learned from command we’re going to start working
you a little sooner than we thought.”

“
Really, what will I be doing?” asked Spencer
calmly.

“
You’ll be going out and gathering information
about the virus outbreak in Australia.”

“
Are you talking about the Weed
Virus?”

“
Ah yes, I see you know about it.”

“
I remember certain aspects of it from my
other life.”

“
What do you remember?”

“
Three things specifically,
first the outbreak had been contained and it appeared to have
arrived from a group of tourists from a location the government
didn’t want to release. Second, according to our government the
geographical location these tourists came from was not infected.
Third, the known
symptoms are numbness,
blurred vision, dehydration, and nausea.”

After Oliver sipped his coffee
and soda concoction he replied, “I see you cannot count, but that
information is correct. However, Earth’s government is lying to us
Earth humanoids. The officials of this planet have no idea where
the virus originated from, they’re spreading this propaganda in
order to give the illusion they have control of the situation.
These are tactics employed by most rulers and governments. You
know, standard cover stories,” explained Oliver.

Spencer replied, “That doesn’t
really surprise me, but what does shock me is you’re saying that
you are a humanoid from this planet. Did I hear you
correctly?”

“
Of course you did. What’s the matter, you
think you’re the only native helping? You’re a naïve little man,”
laughed Oliver.

“
I don’t think you should be calling people
little.”

“
Really? That’s the best you can come up
with?” grinned Oliver.

Ignoring Oliver’s taunt, Spencer
asked, “Have you been downloaded into a new body?”

“
Does this look like a new body? I’ll have you
know, I was born and raised in this body. There aren’t enough
humanoid shells for them to use without certain natives taking
notice, so they employ people like me, you know, the unique
ones.”

“
If your definition of unique encompasses
crazy then, yes, I understand where you’re coming from,” replied
Spencer.

“
Ah, you young-uns think you know
everything, when in reality, you know only what comes out your
other end - crap!” snapped Oliver.

“
No need to get ornery, I was
just pointing out the obvious.”

“
Let me explain something to you. People who
don’t fit the norm of society standards tend to be overlooked and
treated like trash. What better group of individuals to recruit
from?”

“
Are you saying people who are
considered ‘crazy’ are working for the Tureissians?”

“
I’m saying there are many
homeless and mentally challenged people who are just as human as
you and I and they deserve the same respect as the rest of us.
Believe it or not, they can be very useful when it comes to
completing tasks and gathering information. So regardless of how
you feel, deal with it.”

“
I have no problems with these
people, but why would they betray their planet for an alien species
who treats us all like a crop? These aliens don’t care what happens
to us, as they have shown by planting these viruses and diseases in
order to purposely kill humans,” argued Spencer.

“
You bite that tongue young lad.
First, the aliens you speak of are the ones who seeded this planet
and gave us the lives we have today. Secondly, not all of them want
us killed; the movement that we’re part of is trying to prevent
this from happening. Moreover, who are you to judge what they do
with us after we die. I have been on this planet for decades and
I’ve seen many terrible things, things I wouldn’t want to share
with anyone. There have been and still are people who were born on
this planet that have created wars, famines, as well as genocide as
if it was just another natural phenomenon. You sit here and judge a
species that is trying to do away with all of this by weeding out
the impurities that cause these terrible events. If you’re so much
against what we’re doing then why did you choose to come back? Why
didn’t you just have them terminate your program when you learned
what was going on?”