A Study in Extremes - Chap.8

After some time, they finally reached the boundary between the two bases.  This close, and in perpetual shadow, the temperature was considerably cooler.  The building he'd seen the majority of the trip was now hundreds of feet to the right, and he could see a second building directly ahead and just past the edge of the first.  There was a gate built into the fence, half as high as the fence itself and twice as wide.  On both sides of the gate were massive hinges attached to a series of automated mechanisms.  As they approached he could see a metal rectangular box built on a concrete island, to the left side of the gate.  As they approached, Aran slowed down, coming to a stop by the rectangle.  A camera was built at its top, angled downwards, with a monitor built into its face at head level.  "We're here, Emora.  Let us in."

The monitor flickered, and as it warmed up he could see the blue features of an Alareen.  Her hair was cropped short and silvery, her eyes a light pink shade, and her features undeniably similar to Avaliasa.  "I should make you go through the proper procedures, Aran."

"Oh come on!  You're the only one at the base."

He tapped Aran on the shoulder.  "What procedures?"

"Access has to be formally requested, and then the entire Alareen base has to be put on alert to let them know some of your people are on our side."  Emora stated.

Aran rolled her eyes. "It's intended for when there are more than one Alareen on location and more than a little overkill since you're the only one on location!  Besides, you already told me you were waiting at the workstation."

Emora sighed.  "Fine, fine, don't get excitable."  She pressed something off screen.  "Next time though, you have to go through the entire process."  The monitor winked off, and a klaxon shook the air.  Lights flashed along either side of the gate, and the massive gates slowly swung open.  As soon as there was enough room for the vehicle to squeeze through, Aran stomped on the gas and rocketed into the Alareen base.  He gripped the seat as the vehicle fishtailed slightly.  "She did it anyway!" Aran muttered, heading towards the building directly in front of them.

Motioning towards the building in front of them, and the other massive structure to their right, she said "The four buildings are set in a semi-circle, the back of which faces towards our portion.  This way when we do come across, it minimizes our time in foot traffic.  Right now it doesn't do much, as only one or two of them are down at any given moment, but if the base continues to expand they wanted to do whatever they could to prevent trouble."

"It's so hard to tell how far you've travelled – the buildings are so large, it almost feels like we aren't even moving." Erdis said, looking around.

"I've put it out a few times that we need to do something, even if it's just to paint highway lines on the ground.  Sometimes it's so quiet, and the run goes on for so long, that I'm afraid of dozing off.  A the moment though, there's very little traffic, so it keeps getting put to the end of the list."

As they drew closer to their destination, Erdis could see a hollow space underneath the building.  There were several small portable buildings as well as parking spaces laid out.  The entire area was set well underneath the building, though he was sure to the Alareen it was indistinguishable from the rest of the wall.  They pulled into the space and parked against the far wall.  "All but the bathroom locations have a similar facility built into the ground level.  It provides a safe location to park, and provides quarters and facilities for visitors.  Right now, it is only lightly used by our scientists working in conjunction with the Alareen."  Motioning towards the closest portable she started to walk that way "This one is a work station and lab, with audio visual feed so that the scientists can discuss their findings."

"Is that how I'll be meeting Emora?"

Aran stepped around the portable.  Following, he saw that behind the portable, set into the wall, were three elevators.  Two were very large; at a guess he assumed them to be freight elevators.  The third was smaller, and it was to that one she headed.  "No, my boy, you get to meet her in person."

He must have looked nervous, as she stopped and tilted her head.  "Changing your mind?"

His thoughts were in turmoil.  He remembered a few weeks back; the devastation caused unawares, the sheer magnitude of these aliens, how even the smallest of motions or actions carried such tremendous impact.  On the other side of those doors he'd find himself in an entire environment scaled to these beings.  He shook his head, both to clear his thoughts and to answer her.  "Just lost in thought for a moment.  Don't mind me."

She hit the button, and the elevator doors folded open.  He could see a second set of doors on the opposite side of the elevator.  Above and to either side of the doors were cameras, angled to catch full view of anyone entering.  They stepped inside, and he saw that there were a dozen unlabelled buttons in a single row to either side of the door.  She pressed the 3rd one from the top.  "We'll be stopping at work station level, about a 10 minute ride."

"10 minutes!"  He exclaimed as the elevator shuddered into motion.  "Well, I guess that makes sense considering how high we're going."

"Exactly.  You see there's a variety of stops.  They are for access to the different storage areas where the Alareen keep their samples.  This enables us to access the samples when there aren't any Alareen on site.  Each location has a lab set up for us to use, though right now the Alareen base is still so lightly used, the scientists prefer to take the samples back to their personal labs."

"Any particular reason?"

"A small storage area to an Alareen is the size of a stadium, if not larger.  We have a few people who enjoy solitude, but the majority find being in such a massive and empty location intimidating.  They realize that they're in just one of many such location, that they're surrounded by an empty multi-level complex large enough to house a small town's population, that at best the nearest person could be hour's away walking distance – "she gave a theatrical shudder and laughed.

"None of this fazes you?"

She shrugged.  "I was among the first of our planet to meet with the Alareen.  I was assigned command of this base from the beginning.  I was here when they leveled the land so that we could build the base, and watched as they built their portion of the base.  After you see sights like that, it takes a bit more to surprise me than the average person."

There was a chiming sound, and the elevator began to slow to a stop.  There was a slight shift as it locked into place.  As the doors slid open, he squinted as bright light flooded the elevator.  "Alright, time to meet Emora!" Aran said, clapping her hand on his back and shoving him into the light.

***

Erdis stepped out onto a vast open room, brightly lit by a vast glowing sky.  He shaded his eyes with his hand, and looked about him.  The surface he was on dropped off sharply a hundred feet to his left; to his right his view was cut off by a black wall twice his height stretching off into the distance, where it appeared to end against a vast  and bright red wall.  There was little else around him, and he while he'd never considered himself to be agoraphobic, he found himself closing his eyes for a moment as his mind struggled to take in the vastness.  As his eyes adjusted to the light, he removed his hand from his eyes and looked up, craning his head as far back as he could to see what he'd mistaken for a red wall was his hostess.

The Alareen's hair was silver like her daughters, but there the similarities ended.  Where Avaliasa's hair was long and braided, Emora's was cut very short, even shorter than Aran's.  Her eyes were a brilliant red that matched her clothing that narrowed as she squinted slightly to take in her small visitors.  Her face was thin but not narrow, and her mouth was a small, thin line.  She looked so serious, so intense, that instinctively Erdis found himself standing at attention.  For a moment the three of them stared at each other, Emora studying him intently, he too nervous to speak, and Aran seemingly lost in thought.  Erdis felt a drop of sweat inch its way down the small of his back.

"Oh, will you cut it out!" Aran shouted, causing him to flinch in surprise.  He looked at her to see she was pointing an accusing finger at Emora, and when he followed the finger he saw she was grinning ear to ear.

"Just following orders; Don said it was important I take meeting my daughters first male friend as serious as possible.   He said it was important, and I defer to him on these matters." Her voice, sultry and deep, seemed to fill the room and was a contrast to the mischievous tone in her voice.

"There's a difference between making a strong impression and scaring the hell out of someone." Aran said crossly.

A shadow fell across the two of them as Emora extended her hand to them.  Before he could react, her pointer finger – as high as he was tall and almost as thick – was hovering several feet from his face.  The fingernail was long, painted the same color red as her shirt (She must really like the color, he thought) and about as thick as his hand, extending several feet in his direction.  This close he could make out the thick ridges of her fingerprint.  He could feel the warmth from her hand radiating outward, carrying with it a faint smell of perfume.

He wasn't sure what to do until he felt Aran push him forward.  "Go ahead, shake her hand!" she said.


He stepped up to the waiting digit and gripped the nail, feeling equal parts nervous and foolish.  She moved her finger up and down in a range undoubtedly imperceptible to her but enough to jerk his arm up and down.  He felt himself awed by the repressed strength in the gesture as he was sure with very little more effort she could easily send him flying.  When she withdrew her hand, he realized he'd been holding his breath and let it out in a long, shaky exhale.
"Pleasure to meet you Miss.…" he paused, trying to remember her last name.

"Oh just call me Emora.  I don't think anyone calls me by my last name."

"Then, pleasure to meet you, Emora."

"I'm already getting a crick in my neck looking at you two, and I'm sure you're both getting one as well.  How about you both come up to the observation deck?"

"Works for me." Erdis said.  He turned to head back to the elevator, but had only taken several steps when a shadow fell over him.  He turned to see Emora's massive hand descending towards him.  He opened his mouth and started to scream as her trunk-like thumb and forefinger swept to either side of him and pressed together, muffling his voice.  Encased in pliant but unyielding flesh, he felt overwhelmed by the combination of her body heat and the smell of soap.  Unable to move even the tiniest amount, he struggled to breathe.  He felt himself rising through the air fast enough to tear what breath he had away.  Just as suddenly the motion stopped and the fingers separated; for a moment he stuck to the pad of her thumb from her body oil, but then he fell free and collapsed to his knees.  While he struggled to compose himself, fingers came back and deposited Aran nearby.  She wobbled, but stayed on her feet.  She looked a bit unsteady, but when she turned to look in his direction she was grinning ear to ear.

Not trusting his legs, he remained kneeling on the floor.  Glaring at Aran he looked around, taking in his surroundings.  They were on a large octagon shaped platform, anchored at its corners to the ceiling by thick chains.  It was easily several hundred feet in diameter and towards the center were several chairs and a table.  He looked behind him, and saw that they were now level with Emora's face, looking like she was struggling not to laugh.  He felt a tap on his shoulder, and looked to see Aran extending her hand.  "Need some help?"

"That wasn't funny." He muttered, embarrassed, pushing her hand away and rising to his feet.  He still felt a bit weak in the knees, but was proud that he was able to remain standing unaided.  Moving stiff legged and slow, he walked over and sat in one of the chairs.

Making no effort to hide her amusement, Aran walked over and sat in the chair closest to him.

"I'm sorry Erdis.  I didn't think it would startle you as much as it did." Emora said her apologetic tone at contrast with the smile on her face.  "Unfortunately, this deck was something jury rigged by us, and there's no other way to get up there at this time."

"I'll be okay.  Just – if you have any other surprises like that, please – give me some fair warning first."  Desperate to shift the focus of the conversation, he said "I'm honored you wanted to meet me, but no one's told me why."

Emora leaned in closer, her face now filling his entire view.  When she spoke her breath, warm and humid, washed over both he and Aran.  "When we first spoke, I gave the impression that we were unaware of you and my daughters conversations online.  The truth is we were aware that she had been getting around the restrictions placed on her system to get onto your planets data sphere.  I was concerned, so I had a crew member monitoring everything she did."

"So you knew she had set up a meeting with me?"  Erdis couldn't hide his surprise.

Emora shook her head.  "No.  She chatted with you so much, and had been going on for so long without incident, that by the time she'd scheduled your impromptu meeting I was no longer having her monitored daily.  While she was on the away mission the crew member was catching up to all she'd been talking about – so we found out shortly after Avaliasa had arrived at your location and you'd taken off."

"I had alerted Aran, and was about to recall Avaliasa, when you surprised us all by returning back to her location.  Both of us –"a massive blue finger pointed at Aran "- wanted to see what was going to happen next.  I only sent the recall notice when my daughter began to forget herself and looked like she was about to knock the entire road into the ocean.  At that point we were concerned for your safety."

Erdis opened his mouth,  about to speak up in Avaliasa's defense.  Then he remembered the path smashed through the woods; the flattened metal railing; the road buckled and curled around her arm – his mouth snapped back shut.  

Emora continued, not noticing his reaction.  "At that point, Aran had planned to meet you as you headed back home.  I gave the order to shut down my daughters data pad to prevent her from asking you to return.  We didn't count on you suddenly taking off down the road towards the base!"  She closed her eyes, and a part of him noted absently that her lashes were as thick around as his arm.  "I am to blame for your accident and your injuries.  Had I paid closer attention to what she was planning, you never would have been there in the first place; had I not shut down her pad, she would have been aware of your presence."

"I can't say that I'm all that happy to have come so close to death.  I was also pretty fond of that car – I've had it for a long time.  That said, though, I'm glad you had not noticed her plan, and I'm very happy to have met your daughter.  As for what happened the blame is all mine.  It was my brilliant idea to chase her down.  If I'd thought things through a bit more than I did, I would have realized that."

Aran leaned forward.  "So you're saying that if you'd thought it out, you wouldn't have tried to catch up to her?"

He laughed.  "No, I would've still tried to catch up.  I would have made more of an effort to make my presence known though.  I could've turned on all my lights, turned up the volume on my radio as much as I could, even kept honked the horn the entire time."  He smiled ruefully.  "I also should have looked around before flying out of the tunnel at full speed."

Emora's eyes snapped open, and he found himself wilting a bit under the intensity of her gaze.  "That is exactly why I wanted to meet you!"

"Come again?!"

"Even knowing what you know now, both about who she really was as well as the risk, you still would have tried to chase down my daughter."

Erdis looked to Aran for help, still confused.  She rolled her eyes and sighed.  "Emora, I think you'd better just lay it out for him.  At the rate we're going, it's going to be years before he gets it."

Emora's eyes rolled wetly to focus on Aran, then back to Erdis.  At his confused look, she nodded and leaned back.  "It's no surprise to say that we're here to help with the study of the biological abnormalities in your world.  Not only is a world scaled to your size unheard of, but this peninsula shows signs of this world having been much larger in the past.

"We're also here for a second reason, and that's to try and look at different ways that we can explore space together.  Spirits of our Fathers is a prototype of sorts – it's designed so that its insides can be reconfigured easily.  In fact, this workstation-"she motioned with her hand, the action causing the platform to sway gently, causing both Aran and Erdis to cling to their seats "-is one of the modules from the ship, as are the other buildings here.  Part of the ship was converted for human habitation, and Don and his team of engineers have spent most of their time churning out ideas and devices to integrate themselves into the ship's crew."

"Don?" Erdis asked, and looked askance at Aran.  "Emora's human mate." She whispered.

While he was wrapping his brain around that bit of information, Emora continued oblivious to the interruption.  "They consider it a challenge to try to find ways to integrate your people into the ship as well.  That is where you come in."

"Me?"

Aran spoke up.  "I'll take it from here."  Leaning towards Erdis, she said "The biggest problem we're having is in finding people willing to help with the project.  As you know, among our people there's a sizable number that feel that it's not safe or possible for our species to co-exist.  Even among those not completely opposed to the idea, we've yet to have any viable candidates to live aboard the Alareen ship."

"Are you asking me what I think you're asking?" Erdis pointed to himself in surprise.

"Yes.  We'd like you to live aboard our ship, both to assist the Human Engineering team with their project, as well as show your people that it is possible for us to work together."  Emora said.

Both women looked at Erdis expectantly.  He looked from Emora to Aran.  Both looked anxious, though they both seemed as if they were trying to hide it.  Grinning ear to ear, and hopefully not looking as nervous as he felt internally, Erdis stood and bowed at the waist.  "It would be an honor to join your crew." He stated with a theatrical flourish, elation and nervousness clear in his voice.