The Nature of Predators - Farsul Abductee (6/8)

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Memory transcription subject: Tyler Cardona, UN Peacekeeper (Division of Space and Aeronautics)

Date [standardized human time]: January 16, 2137

It was difficult to believe that the humans we brought out of storage were from the literal past; of all the things I was expected to find on this mission, this never came close to making the list. Onso had asked me to accompany him to the Yotul room, though he’d gone on a brief excursion to help his icebox girl back to the submarine. That left me and a small security team waiting with Veiq, who looked rather antsy. My hand curled into a fist behind my back; I’d love to sock her in the jaw, as retribution for how she treated us like lab rats.

I distracted myself by thinking about how my exchange partner tried to nerd about cryopods, the second his poor human woke up. What he was saying about installing them on spaceships was insane to me. When I first joined the Yotul exchange program, it hadn’t been long before I realized I couldn’t keep up with Onso’s intellectual capacity. Sometimes, the bright-eyed marsupial strung long words together like he was a competitive Scrabble player. Actually, I bet he could kick people’s asses on Leirn if he Yotul-ized the game.

Onso would be the type to have a dictionary on hand, and use the game as an excuse to flex his vocabulary. I could picture him thumping a wordlist over someone’s head.

I brought myself back to reality, though I imagined my smile was out-of-place in the current setting. The Yotul was too adorable for any human to see him as a super-genius first. Archivist Veiq was slumped against the wall, giving me a strange look. Her shifty behavior tipped me off that she was hiding something, and perhaps weighing whether to tell it to me. I was tempted to threaten her into revealing the information, but my better judgment suggested to ask the nice way first.

“What’s your deal?” I demanded.

Veiq squeezed her eyes shut. “I…I have to tell you. Maybe you can help, or at least ease his symptoms? There’s a small compartment of spare pods behind that maintenance door at the back, right there…I…I put Danny there!”

“Danny. The human you said ‘got sick?’ You said he died!”

“No, I said humans have short lifespans, when forced to live as true sapients. He was dying, so I snuck him to a cryopod…and I made it look like I’d taken him to the incinerator. I don’t know what you’re doing with the Archives, but I can’t just leave him here. You’re his only hope. Even if you have to uncure him to fix the Hunger, I guess it’s better than dying…please.”

I gawked at her for a long moment, before waving my gun for her to stand. The other soldiers covered me, as Veiq steered me into a separate compartment. All the pods but one were empty; the man inside had jaundiced skin, gaunt ribs, and looked like he hadn’t shaved his tawny facial hair in weeks. My eyes bulged with horror, seeing how mistreated Danny had been. I thought the Farsul were at least keeping these kidnapped folks in good condition. A glare spread across my face, as I failed to mask my fury.

“You didn’t provide for him at all?” I spat each word with venom.

Veiq drooped her floppy ears. “We gave them everything. Danny wouldn’t eat at the end, or even get out of bed. If there’s the smallest chance you can help him…not that I really believe you could. Part of me hopes you Earthlings know how to circumvent your predator blood-requisites.”

I snorted with disgust; every time an alien raised the concept of us having some vampiric attraction to blood, it made me want to grab a packet of red Kool-Aid to troll them. Onso was the only alien I ever encountered that didn’t make that assumption, which had been refreshing. After studying us and acknowledging their lies about our culture, the Farsul still bought into that utter bullshit. I was so poisoned with contempt, that I almost didn’t react in time as Veiq began to release the pod.

“STOP!” I yanked her away from the control panel, and tried to regain my composure. “He looks like he’s already on Death’s door, and I’m not a doctor. Let me call for help, so we can have him sedated and treated before he does anything to make it worse.”

The Farsul sighed. “Okay. You’re in charge, human. I miss Danny so much…”

How could advanced aliens not understand the concept of vitamins? Sure, it was a good thing that they never figured it out, or Earth…well, I didn’t want to think about that. My voice was charged with anger, as I called for immediate medical assistance. Onso returned just before the unit doctors arrived, carrying a stretcher; only then did I order Veiq to open the cryopod, and provide the medics with all the details on the symptoms Danny presented. The doctors had a dose of something called “hydroxocobalamin” ready, jabbing it into his veins when the lid unsealed. Apparently, it was carried for cyanide toxicity caused by smoke inhalation. Go figure.

I pursed my lips with pity, thinking what the poor 20th century human would discover when he woke up. The United Nations would keep Danny sedated for his own safety, until we could return him to a better state of mind and a stable residence. Veiq demanded to know what we’d injected him with, but that information was kept well out of her earshot. The last thing we needed was the Farsul learning what was wrong with their curing plan, and taking it as a green light to gas our civilians.

---

Memory transcription subject: Danny Palmer, Human Law Enforcement

Date [standardized human time]: February 3, 2137

My head pounded something fearsome, but this time, it was from the bright lights flooding my vision. I groaned, recognizing that I was in a rather-human hospital bed; IVs and monitors were clustered around me, displaying some information I’d seen before, and a lot more I hadn’t. The last stretch of time in the Archives was hazy, but I could piece together enough of what happened. The cognitive decline seemed to have reversed itself, though I wasn’t quite at my old level of sharpness. The beeping noise assessing my heart rate spiked, as I racked my brain for every possible detail.

Veiq told me I would wake up at some indefinite point in the future, if they ever received a cure; the fact that I was here and in a proper mindset must mean that they’d reversed the disease’s effects. How many years had it been? Where was I now? If I didn’t know better, I’d say it was Earth. Hell, for all I knew, Danny Palmer was in a coma for years, and my brain made the whole alien tale up.

How would it be possible to feel pain in unconsciousness, and to remember such vivid detail? Besides, there’s so much tech in this hospital I don’t recognize. I’m mostly certain the Archives were real.

In my receding awareness, Veiq’s final words had registered. The archivist who once looked at me like a starving lion professed her love for me in our final moments together. I wished I could ask her about it, but the Farsul could be long dead by now. Everyone I ever knew might be deceased, and that left me feeling hollow. Grief and guilt threatened to swallow me whole, and sobs racked my body as the final piece clicked into place.

My brother was dead, but it was worse than that. Greg, locked up and going mad, was consigned to a horrid fate. I wouldn’t wish how I felt as the sickness progressed, descending into senseless insanity, on anyone. My mind was the one thing I’d cherished, and my cognizance fled before I realized its failure. Why hadn’t I done more to help Greg, or tried to look after him at all? Veiq told me what happened, yet I let myself be dragged around like a sock puppet.

“Greg died alone, while you couldn’t get your ass out of bed,” I croaked, in a hoarse voice that was hardly audible. “You failed everyone. You turned into an animal.”

“There was nothing you could have done.” I hadn’t even noticed the human doctor enter my room; she must’ve been alerted that I was awake. “I’m Doctor Brownlie. Listen, your brain is just a series of neurons firing electricity. Your nerves were starting to break down and your hormones were in disarray. The machinery that makes you you stopped working, and that isn’t your fault. Any further along, and you might have died of a massive seizure.”

“How did you reverse that? Where am I…what year is it?”

“Easy, Danny. One question at a time. A simple vitamin deficiency was making you ill, so injections of B12 brought back your chemical balance. Secondly, you’re in Vienna, Austria, the current headquarters of the United Nations. I—”

“Should I be on Earth at all? I could spread the disease to you…oh my God. Was there ever a disease at all?!”

“The Farsul did make you allergic to meat through a genetically-implanted disease, so that was real, but it’s not transmissible through human-to-human contact.”

“What? No, you have it wrong. It wasn’t the Farsul. It was the…”

“Danny, I don’t know what they told you, but the Farsul orchestrated all the human abductions on a mandate to ‘cure’ us. They wanted to turn us into herbivores to assimilate us into their deranged Federation. Back to your last question, the year might come as quite a shock, but it’s 2137.”

The stated number almost gave me whiplash, and lightning coursed through my veins. It had been 150 years? It was obvious much had changed; I remembered treaties being signed in Vienna, but the United Nations was housed in New York. Future humanity knew about aliens, and somehow acquired custody of me from the Farsul; the world must be very different. This was confirmation that everyone I knew was in fact long gone. The prospect of moving on from this ordeal and catching up with the world was overwhelming.

Worse, there was the doctor’s calm assertion that the Farsul were the reason for all of this, from my suffering to Greg’s death. Realizing that I’d been duped and used as a pawn, left to sniff down the wrong trails, dumped primal outrage into my veins. The neural decline must’ve been inhibiting my deduction skills, or else I should’ve clued into it when drunken Veiq admitted that she thought they might be killing humans. How could I even confront her, when that alien snake was long-gone?

Why didn’t you see it sooner? You were so close to figuring it out; you knew they hated us for being predators. You’re only alive because you cozied up to the monsters who played us for fools.

I gritted my teeth. “Those Farsul fucks need their heads on a pike! What did I ever do to deserve this? My brother is gone, my life is ruined—I had years stolen from me. What am I supposed to do now?”

“Well, we contacted the American State Department to have your citizenship reinstated. It’s a unique circumstance, having people who were pronounced dead return more than a century later,” the doctor said, in a calm voice. “You’ll probably get some sort of compensatory stipend, and there’s plenty of opportunities for work. Historians would drain their bank accounts for an hour with you.”

“I don’t know how I even wound up here in the first place. You sure seem to know an awful lot about the Farsul. How long have humans known about these aliens snatching civilians?”

“Honestly? About three weeks. We’ve only known any alien life existed for about seven months. It’s a lot to catch up on even for the people who lived it, but let’s just say Earth’s major cities got bombed after we tried to talk to the Federation.”

“…they what? The Farsul did that?! I…never imagined that Boston wouldn’t exist anymore. How many people are still around…don’t tell me we’re the remnants of humanity.”

“No, goodness, no,” she placated. “We lost about a tenth of the planet’s population, but NYC and LA were the only American cities hit. Boston is fine. The United Nations has been in a galaxy-wide war against the Federation since then. Probably should throw in the disclaimer that a handful of the species were relatively sane, and allied with us. So any aliens you see on Earth are friendly.”

A bizarre, curly-furred alien that lacked a nose peeked out from behind a wall. “I’d be a lot more friendly if you’d helped, Marsha, rather than laughed at me, when I got my paw stuck in the vending machine.”

“You were screaming like a headless chicken, and cursing the ‘wicked predator contraptions’ for ‘eating’ you alive. Now scram, you scatterbrained Venlil fluffer. You’re gonna scare the poor guy.”

The name “Venlil” rang a bell in my head from Veiq’s discussions on Federation uplifts. These aliens were with the entity that apparently sieged Earth to the tune of a billion deaths, and was responsible for my suffering. I groaned, burying my face in my hands. Information was being hurled at me too fast to process, but this war didn’t leave me with an optimistic first impression. Why did these species hate us so much, that they’d slaughter us on our homeworld like we were a termite infestation?

I don’t see how we could have any hope against an advanced alien society with hundreds of members, when I can approximate that we’ve only had spacefaring technology for a few months.

I wanted these extraterrestrials to pay for what they’d done, but it would be suicidal to enlist in my current physical condition. My arms looked bony and frail, since my muscles had atrophied long ago. I had to live with how I’d failed to discern the truth and protect Greg. Knowing that he was gone was worse than a kick below the belt. The agonizing void inside me cried for a remedy, and I had nothing to ease the pain. No amount of planning could bring anyone I loved back.

The doctor gestured to the buzzer in my hand. “Call if you need anything. We’ll want to keep you a few days for observation, but then you should be good to go. Rest up; I know this was a lot. What’s important is that you’re home and you’ll be healthy in no time. There doesn’t seem to be any permanent damage, which is a blessing.”

I tried to sit up, as Marsha went to shoo the prying Venlil out of sight. “Hey, Doc? I know she’s dead, but I’d like to see any records you have of an alien named Veiq.”

“I’ve heard that name before; definitely not dead. Pretty sure that’s the one who showed our boys around the base. The Archives’ prisoners were moved to a variety of locations, but I’ll ask the UN to arrange a visit if you’d like.”

“How the fuck is she still alive? Ugh, never mind. Do that.” To think Veiq had the audacity to act like she cared about us; to even utter the words that she loved me. Shit, I hope I didn’t give her any useful intelligence to plot against us. “I have so many things I’d like to say. That bitch lied about everything.”

“You have every right to say it, Danny. I can only imagine how betrayed and hurt you must feel. Don’t worry about a thing; I can take care of your request. Once you’re cleared to leave, I’ll ask that you’re taken for a visit.”

I scowled at the ceiling, as the human doctor and the Venlil left me in solitude with my thoughts. Before my faculties began to elude me, I had thought to myself that I wasn’t ready to die, and lamented how much longer my life was supposed to be. The chaotic uncertainty before me wasn’t how I’d wished to carry on. Confronting the alien archivist gave me some direction to pursue, and a way to plant my feet on solid ground.

Even as I mulled it over now, I had no idea how to begin to express my emotions. All I knew was that the Farsul owed me an explanation of how she deceived me to my face, for years, under a farce of good intentions. Love wasn’t arranging events to bring about a person’s painfully slow demise. If she loved me, she would’ve helped Greg rather than leaving him to die in a cage. To think I’d been partial to her and her ramblings!

Whether Veiq felt any genuine guilt about her actions or not, I intended to let loose on her for the sum of her crimes.

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A/N - Part 6 is here! A guest POV from Tyler shows how Danny was found by the UN, and we then see our main narrator waking up in better health on Earth in the present timeline. Danny learns the truth about Veiq and the Farsul, as well as being in the far future, and is mired by guilt and anger. What will our popsicle have to say to his archivist "friend"? How will he adapt to the 22nd century?

As always, thank you for reading and supporting! Human Exterminators 2 launches August 2nd!