16

What Goes Around. . .

Dan was working on his third cup of coffee when he decided to make his next solo move. He would soon have to get the team together to work out plan to attack the next alien hotspot. He sat back in his chair. The radio was on and the announcer mentioned again that there was an unusual meteor shower happening this week and next week. unusual in that up until now it hadn't been detected by astronomers. it seemed to come out of nowhere. funny things was, these odd natural phenomena happened and people made a bog hoopla out of it for a few days and then went back to their daily lives and moved on to the next big story. Dan shook his head. he noted the meteor shower activity in a notepad app on his phone. Anything like that had a reason for happening.. Alien activity might be behind it. Who knew?
Dan turned off the radio when the news story ended, whistling to himself. It seemed these places were in low to no security locations, like the old building in the railyard. Or it appeared this way. A huge advantage for the team. He was studying his pin map of locations of possible alien activity, wondering if there was a pattern to discern that he couldn't see. This working alone had its disadvantages. Mary r perhaps Andrew might have discerned a pattern. What he did realize soon after was that there were several places they could destroy right here in the city. What weapons would they use? Bombs? Molotov cocktails? Jack was good at making those.  Semi-automatic weapons? Hell, he didn't even know where to get those. Jack would know. Dan himself had started the inferno that burned down the building he and Mary had been trapped in. But would such low-end tactics be enough? Would such things even be effective? Most would view such actions as terrorist activity, being that most people in society were unaware of the danger they were in. The aliens were hiding in plain sight. Making such obvious attacks would only land them in prison. The advantage he and his team had was also a disadvantage. They seemed to have rested on the fact that so far they hadn't come upon high security. After all, if you're hiding in plain sight, what need is there for high security? Such things would draw too much attention to your activities.
But then now that Dan and the others had been awakened, they could be easy targets, as of now.
He examined the little red pin where he'd stuck it in near a location at the waterfront. Tom McCall Waterfront Park. This place was a mile south of where he'd first been attacked by thugs, not as built up as the northern part of the waterfront. but ti did rest close by several small condominiums.he remembered the night well. He'd been tossed into the Willamette River and rescued by Trillion. That was when his powers first started to manifest. right after that life threatening experience. Trillion had once told him that that was how such abilities manifested. He felt them growing stronger though he wasn't sure how to truly use them to the full. But the darkness of a storm of destruction was coming. he didn't have time to train for long periods of time. It was only fitting that he would feel stronger. what to do with that strength was another matter. Could he even go back there without having a panic attack? To the place where he was nearly killed? His heart flailed within him at the thought. Dan would go. He was a different person and he had a mission. This particular place that he'd pinned down previously was close to where it had all started for him. Dan charged up his iPhone. He would need a decent working camera and recorder to see what he could see.

. . . 

It was late evening when he arrived, on a hot summer day. The breeze off the river came over him in small waves and made the walk comfortable. He was headed toward a place called Shafer Point, a small adjunct building near a newly built condominium called Shafer Point Heights. From his preliminary investigations coming here early in the morning and looking and asking around the waterfront he'd found out that there was going to be some sort of special function or event. Several people said that it was probably a Scientology event, others said it was a birthday bash for some corporate bigwig. An old man passing through walking his dog told him something that caught his attention.
"Some event for stargazers, I took it. Couple of days ago I saw a small banner outside the building here with a planet with large rings. The banner's gone now. I saw some folks coming and going with telescopes. Figured it was some gathering for amateur astronomers." The little dog sniffed around at Dan's ankles and having been satisfied with checking him out, started wagging his tail. Dan bent down to pet the dog.
"Have you seen anything strange going on around this area recently?" He asked the man. The man lifted a bushy eyebrow.
"Recently? Can't say recently, though there's been a lot of weird stuff that happened here some time ago and still does from time to time."
"Like what?"
"Well I don't live too far from here but sometimes at night I've seen strange lights at night flashing about, like its coming from underground. And sometimes strange vibrations where all the metal in the house or apartment in this area gets all stirred up and flies around the room. Some of the neighbors have talked about it but no one can seem to get the news folks to come out and take a look around."
"How long has this been going on?"
"For years, on and off. Most just stopped paying too much attention to it as it only happens rarely and briefly. Places around here get a lot of turnover."
"I would imagine so. So something weird this way comes," said Dan quietly.
"It's already here, son."
"Thanks," said Dan. "Thank you very much."
"No problem." Said the old man. The little dog gave a short, soft bark.
"Quiet, Sammi," hushed the old man. He took another look at Dan and smiled, nodding his head. "Well, I've got to get on so Sammi can do his business. "Say, you seem kinda familiar. Like my grandson or something." There seemed to Dan to be some kind of odd familiarity as well.
"I do?" The old man nodded. "Do you come around here often? To the waterfront? I'm investigating some odd phenomena and happenings and I'd like a neighbor's take on what's happening around here," said Dan. The man gave him an approving look.
"I come down by the waterfront to walk Sammi usually every Monday, around seven in the morning. I'll be going now. Take care around here, son. There's nasty folk about. Throwing folks off bridges and all sorts of other nonsense." Dan's heart pattered quickly as the old man walked away. The little dog turned and looked at Dan before  following the old man at his urging.
"Yeah, I know," said Dan quietly. A huge stroke of dumb luck had just fallen into his lap by meeting this old man. He'd learned more about the place than he ever thought he would. Dan watched the man and  his dog disappear down the street and around the corner, thinking that perhaps he'd met another blueshifter kindred spirit.

. . .

Late the next evening Dan came back to the waterfront,  a pair of binoculars in his hand, this time starting far up north near the very place he was attacked. Memories flooded back and he wondered if it was a wise idea but Trillion had said that pain and fear can be used to draw strength. Even remembering that sharp crash into the cold waters below, he felt calm tonight.  The blue-brown waters of the Willamette lapped up the sides of the pier and its long thin currents made brisk turns down stream. It was hot and the sky bathed in burnished brilliance, unlike that fateful might which was cold and dark. If he were able to get inside and just pretend to be part of the scene that would be great. He imagined himself ruefully as an investigative journalist here. He hoped he'd get out alive. After about twenty minutes he came upon the small building near the condominium complex. A water fountain stood beside it with small kids and dogs running and skipping through its rising and falling streams of water. Some feet ahead behind a gazebo, he saw people gathered and talking. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary to the naked eye but as he approached he felt the tang of redshift essence. Whatever was that was going on, it had something to do with alien activity.
From the outside it really did look like a stargazing party. a small banner hung outside the door. it said: The Metro stargazing Club. There were telescopes everywhere. There was an unusual meteor shower happening this week, Dan noted. Lots of people were fascinated with it. How much that would shake them up out of their slumber, he didn't know. He walked right in among them, smiling as if he belonged with his binocs hanging from his neck. It seemed a rather informal affair. Dan had managed to make himself look like part of this crowd. he made his way inside. Inside people were milling about in small groups and on the tables just outside were brochures and  flyers. Dan picked one up: The Metro Stargazing Club invites the community for a momentous, once-in-a-lifetime event! The Delphid meteor shower is happening! Come and watch an celebrate with us! said the flyer. The brochure had a similar announcement and more information about the club.  Interesting, he thought. Interesting way to get people sucked in. I wonder what happens after they join? Was it an astronomical event that coincided with the Expansion?
He walked around, gazing and taking in everything he could, even enjoyed some of the finger foods. The place seemed rather spare besides a few tables and chairs and equipment. Suddenly someone took to the stage and knocked on a wireless microphone.
"Excuse me. ladies and gentlemen, thanks for coming! This is our fifth celebration of the stars. Enjoy the food and drink before we get underway to observe the celestial phenomenon of the Delphid meteor shower. No. . ." as the man went on, Dan went over to a young woman wearing glasses standing by a sandwich tray. he took up a small glass of bubbly and downed it.
"Excise me, are you a member?" He asked, trying to be casual.
"Oh, yes," she said, smiling. She seemed innocent enough. He detected nothing sinister about her though she seemed a little vacant, which might have been why she was here. Minions came in all types.
"How many of these clubs are around the country?"
"Excuse me? I don't understand?"
"Are there more clubs like this one under this name in other states, or just one?" By her expression Dan immediately knew he'd asked a wrong question, or had given off some strange vibe to her.
"You're not a member?" Dan shook his head slowly, watching her face. Her smile faded a bit and her eyes grew wider as if in alert but she remained cordial enough.
"Does one have to be a member to attend this event? I mean, it seemed open tot he public," he said putting a tad bit of accusation in his voice.
"Well, we do have several around the country, on the Pacific Northwest. It's actually for members but there's no. . ah, rule, in outsiders attending," she said slyly. Outsiders? Well!  She went on and Dan didn't like her sudden slyness at all.
"Perhaps you'd like to meet-"
"No, that's fine, actually. I'm from The Rose City Astronomy Club, you see. Just checking it out. We're actually having our own stargazing event for the Delphis Thursday, it's all so exciting!" He lied. She laughed, a sound silvery and fake. He sauntered away but could feel her watching him. This function felt more like a cult to him. He managed to get some information, though. There were possibly more  of these cells operating around, mainly in the Pacific Northwest,  if she told the truth. Fiddling around with his binocs he saw from the corner of his eye that someone was shadowing him as he moved through the crowds. Dan could feel the emotion emanating from the crowd that these were willing minions, in full and complete control over themselves as of now. Minions were supporters of the aliens and there were different levels or kinds within this group of human redshifters. Dan had taken to calling them base-level minions, who had not had their minds taken over - yet. His suspicion was that these kinds of minions did not see or know the real level of danger involved in what they were supporting. They were shown somethings, probably only what the aliens wanted them to see, Dan suspected, but not the real plan, He feared that one day these people would have to have their minds erased and they would cease to be human. Aliens would them take them over. A place like this was a sort of preparation for the expansion, getting them ready for those would take over their bodies. It reminded him of an old film he saw years ago with his dad called Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Only now he was seeing it unfold before him in real life. 
Dan looked around the room and in the back was a doorway hidden behind a curtain. Moving his way toward that door as nonchalantly as he could, he slipped down the hall through the doorway towards another open room.
 In the middle of this room were a bunch of old telescopes, likely there to give the appearance of amateur star-watchers gathering here. Dan could feel a power, a dreadful power somewhere beneath the place. There must be a wormhole or doorway here or some other power source they were using, hidden beneath this building. Perhaps taking over the whole block near the waterfront. He marveled at how utterly banal this place seemed. They were hiding right in plain sight. Dan put a hand along the wall, feeling a slight warmth. He felt a buzzing sensation that he was sure no one else could detect. His senses were growing more powerful. Yes, the old man was right. There was something here, hidden far beneath the ground and they had a way to it, some doorway. If only he had more time. He heard footsteps coming. Dan went to one of the telescopes and pretended to be adjusting it. Upon doing that, just under the mass of standing telescopes he say a faint flurry of lights flash on and off between a thin crack in separation in the tiles in the floor. He bent down to stare and examine it. Again the flash of lights came, blue, green, white, yellow. The floor seemed smooth and seamless but he saw a circular pattern of mosaics, nothing special, but this pattern of mosaics set in the center of the room was different from the rest of the floor, which was plain white tiles. Dan decided that either it opened up or one could probably fall in beneath deeper underground like a lift. But he knew his preliminary investigation was coming an end. Into the room came two people
"Excuse me. Can I help you?" Said a small, wiry, venal looking man with large rimmed glasses.
"Oh I was just noticing your vintage telescopes here-"
'We use them for elementary school class groups that come to study," he interrupted briskly. he looked Dan up and down."You don't belong here."
"What do you mean? I thought this event was for amateur astronomers?" Said Dan feigning an indignant expression. 
"I would have seen you here before if that were the case."
"Hey, look, i just saw the flyers outside and thought I'd come and celebrate with you guys."
"Which doesn't explain why you're snooping around in back rooms." The man turned to the larger, bruising looking man that Dan thought he'd recognized.
"Please see him out," the little man snapped and he turned abruptly and left. The other one cracked his knuckles.
"Look, I was just-"
"Shut up! How did you get in here?"
"The doors were open. Like I said, I thought everyone in the community was invited," Dan said. He felt fear and something else, an adrenaline rush that gave him boldness. Something seemed to erupt in him. Remembering Trillion's words on using his powers of telekinesis. He stared intensely into the man's eyes as he came forward to grab him and when the man was only a foot away, he stopped as if he had been shoved away physically. Dan remembered him. Red Rag.
"You don't remember me, do you?" Dan asked. The man shook his head as if confused.
"Remember what?"
"You and your friends threw me into the river. I remember you. Dan recalled vividly the night and as he stared hard into the man's eyes, the man grew fearful.
"Yes, now you remember, don't you?" Dan said. Dan recalled the pain, the abject terror and then the blue light from the bottom of the river coming up to envelope him, and then blackness. When he'd come out of his grim reverie Red Rag was on his knees, whimpering. Dan stepped back, afraid and confused for a moment. Realization washed over him. He had made the man see and experience through his own memories what he'd been through. He wondered how these abilities would eventually morph and grow. Whether they would eventually engulf him.
"I can't see, I can't see!" the man cried, groping in his own perceived darkness. His eyes were completely black, even the irises polluted with black. Dan hurried from the room, leaving Red Rag stumbling and crawling on the ground. Dan saw that the crowd had gathered closer around the man on the podium. He hurried from the building, making as much distance as he could from the place. He felt the vicious looking little man's eyes following him. Dan felt afraid but he also felt a renewed sense of vigor and power. He could fight back without even using a weapon. His weapon was his mind. He needed far more training but what started out as a sickness from what would have been a murder was something that made him stronger.
He'd have to call the team so they could share information. he hoped he'd meet the old man again. get more information from him. This place was sitting on top of a minor alien stronghold. It was time to figure out how to get rid of it.

15

Breaking And Entering

Jack spent half the next day in an old coffee house across the street from the little curiosity shop, sipping coffee and leisurely reading various newspapers. He'd positioned himself on a worn leather armchair. he had a perfect view of the curiosity shop across the street. He had arrived at six o'clock in the morning and like half the patrons in the coffee house stayed nearly all day, nursing coffee and pastry. All day he watched the shop. No one had come or gone from it at all. Not even the owner. Jack recalled his first encounter with the man. he was friendly enough. Talked on and on about his shop. Jack hadn't detected any red aura about him but something was off. He just couldn't put his finger on it. Something had to be here. Something hidden.
Angela had gotten that strange gift for Frankie from here. The red boxes had come from here. Things the aliens used to lure and trap humans. From the brief info Frankie had decided to tell him about his ex-girlfriend, it seemed Frankie himself was struggling with not being compromised.
Frankie was scared. Jack had never seen his old friend like this. He knew for a certainty that he had to investigate the place again. Jack had a long and colorful history of theft and breaking and entering when he was a teenager. But this time it was for a good cause.
When the coffee shop closed he went to his rental car parked across the street about a block down from the shop. He hated spending the money for it but it wouldn't do to perform a stakeout on a motorbike. Jack got in the car with a last cup of coffee in a paper cup, setting it on the dash, with a small panini, and settled down for a long night. As the sun went down and the color of the neighborhood quieted down and faint street lamps came on he remained focused on the curio shop. Just like in the morning and afternoon, it seemed dead. He saw no one come into or leave the shop at all. How does the man stay in business? He wondered, eating his sandwich. Nevermind, dude. There's more than meets the eye going on in there. He recalled the store owner. Strange little man.
The perfect time finally came around eight o'clock in the evening.came. Jack had fallen asleep sometime at dusk. He woke with a start, it was dark. A few streetlamps and porch lights down the street were on but it wasn't so bright that he felt uncomfortable. He froze. There was the movement of a shadow in the window of the old Victorian house. As luck would have it, someone was finally coming out of the house. Jack tossed the empty coffee cup on the floor and lay down on the passenger seat, then peered over the dashboard again. The man looked around quickly, then he turned and locked the door. He was carrying a large bag strapped on his arm as he walked down the steps and disappeared into the garage. A few minutes later a car backed out of the driveway, its headlights briefly illuminating Jack's car. Jack bowed down low so as not to be seen as the car drove past and down the street. He watched in his left side-door mirror until the tail lights had disappeared into the nightscape. Time to rock and roll. Watched the house with hungry curiosity. What are you hiding in there? He watched for any other movement near the front of the shabby Victorian house. No shifting shadows or shapes to suggest that there was anyone else left.
Jack walked up the stairs and slipped a tension wrench into the lock, turned and worked it until he felt a little give by turning it counter-clockwise. he slipped the pick inside the upper part of the keyhole.
He heard voices of people walking home from dinner from a restaurant around the corner. He ducked down and moved to the left of the porch to hide himself until they passed. A car rumbled down the street. When things quieted down he tried again After a few seconds he was in. It was an old and rather easy lock. There was no gate and Jack was relieved for that.  He quickly slipped inside and closed the door.
It was dim inside, the back of the main store room  in shadow. The windows were wide open. but as most of the other houses and businesses on the block were empty this didn't trouble him. Jack took his time listening out for anyone and anything,  his eyes slowly sweeping the entire room. There were the usual curiosities and knick-knack items he saw the first time. Some quite glorious in their strangeness. Some rather macabre. But what was he looking for? The smell of incense was intoxicating and it was a different scent from what he picked up the last time he came. A very heavy scent. Almost. . .drug-like in its sensuous, rich overtones. Jack hoped it wasn't really a drug. He couldn't afford to lose his sense of urgency. He didn't feel his senses becoming fatigued or dull but certain drugs could work insidiously.
He wandered through the store looking for anything that might suggest something alien. This would be difficult. Curiosity shops by nature had many alien-like things in them. He passed by the old cast iron cages full of stuffed taxidermy creatures or terrariums full of odd looking plants and other odd things Jack wasn't sure of. The wind-up antique dolls were in their display case,except tonight they were still and silent, staring out at him with those creepy innocent looking faces. He remembered the flowers and plants of the colors he couldn't describe. These had fascinated him to no end. What if these things are like material from another place in the universe. Who ever heard of colors they couldn't describe? But he forced himself away from these. That woman Angela seemed to have a connection to this place. She was either one of The Others or working for them. He thought he heard something from the back of the display and shop room. He followed where he thought he'd heard it. At the back of the front room was a door. Jack slowly turned the knob. It was locked though with an old fashioned lock and keyhole. A sudden blast of car headlights sped through the room making him turn around and freeze. It was a large truck rumbling by down the street. He  listened out for any other noises. Hanging on the wall beside the door was a golden chain were two keys. He took up the chain and tried both keys. The second key, a long skeleton key unlocked he door. it let out a creaky sigh. Jack looked around. This room felt very warm and something about it disturbed him greatly. Which meant there was something in here that he needed to see. There were bookcases with glass cases filled with all sorts of liquids, even the requisite fetuses, animal and human. There were other objects too, strange looking metal boxes, armor, swords and many wooden boxes.
He heard the sound again. It was coming from behind. It was like a slight gurgling sound. He turned to see one of the fetuses moving around. Horrified and fascinated he edged over to the creature. The fetus was inside a hermetically sealed glass case filled with a reddish fluid. The case itself was lodged inside a wrought iron carrier.  It opened its eyes, or what passed for eyes. It spoke.
"Who are you?" Jack was taken aback but he'd seen enough strange things that he would find a way to take it in stride. After all, what had he come here for anyway?
"What are you?" Jack retorted..
"A prisoner," it lamented. Jack carefully stepped forward carefully to examine it. Inside its case was some kind of contraption that looked like a large glass tube by its mouth that served as a mouth piece. At the top of the case this tube flared out like a horn. it spoke through its little horn contraption again.
"Please, help me escape!" 
"But who are you? What are you? Really?" jack was wondering if someone had entered the house again while he was busy having a conversation with a fetus.
"I exist halfway between time and space. I must remain inside this glass case or I will no longer exist nor can I hang onto this world or dimension. I do not actually look like a human fetus in real life. This body only a shell or a place-holder I use to exist here."
"But I don't understand. Why a fetus?"
"I was punished for suspected crimes against my people."
"Crimes? And you think I'll help you?"
"Suspected crimes," it emphasized. "The suspected crime of helping humans captured by my people and killed. They have no true proof against me so this is how they punish me - they put me in the form of a completely helpless human being. a fetus."
"Your people have a real macabre sense of humor," said Jack.
"This is my punishment. To see but not to act or interfere with The Expansion. Not to sense, taste, touch or truly live, here or anywhere. My prison."
"How long have you been in there?"
"We've been here a very long time. Many, many years. Longer than you know. I don't need help out of the case, you can't do that anyway but take me with you. even if i die, I don;t want to stay here anymore," wailed the fetus.
"Look, calm down! I'll take you but quiet down. I'm not supposed to be in here. But first I want to know more about this place."
"What do you want to know?"
"What is this place hiding? What's here? i can't believe I'm talking to a fetus-"
"You're not talking to a fetus."
"Right. Are there any red boxes sold here in this shop? The owner told me no, but I think he was lying. Little red boxes that hold a way for aliens to get into here? if you are what you say you are, you'll know what I'm talking about." Jack demanded. The creature was silent for a moment.
"red boxes," it said. The fetus then twirled in its fluid for a bit then turned to look at him, its monstrous little body crawling up the glass wall of its prison.
"I've seen the little red boxes. He keeps them in the shop under the floorboards under a dingy, threadbare Persian rug. It's in the corner there by that totem." Sure enough, in a dark corner there as a tall wooden totem pole of a turtle ,a whale and a crow.
"Over there?"
"Yes. Why? Those things are deadly."
"I know. And how much do they cost?" The little thing gurgled. It sounded like laughter.
"You don't want one, do you? Oh, no-"
"Tell me! I don't have much time, kid, er, whatever!"
"Those aren't sold. Those are given to people who wish for some kind of suffering to end, some kind of problem they can't handle to go away. The price is their life. They are taken over by the Quantumin once they do open that box ad use it."
"Quantumin?"
"The best word I can use to describe my people."
"Is the owner of this place an alien?"
"No. He's a servant. A worker for them. There are different levels of these humans who willingly or unwillingly work for the Expansion. He's a willing one as far as I've seen." Okay, so he's a minion.
"I need more information before he comes back.-" the house shook and all the lights blinked on and off for a split second.
"That's happened before here," said Jack more to himself. "What else is here? Something's hidden here, isn't it? A wormhole? Tell me!" he demanded.
"I know many things. If you want more information Please, get me out of here. I can tell you all you want to know. I promise!" It pleaded. Jack grabbed the case by its top iron handle.
"This house is a conduit for entrances for my people where they can travel through and see into this world. Albeit a small one. I've seen things. Glimpses of where other conduits are." Jack could see the soft red halo pulsing off of the creature even in its fluid. And he was tempted to take it and chuck it down a dumpster or against the wall here. But for a brief second its halo changed from red to a violet color to blue, and then red again. It gulped and gurgled, looking up at him through reddish fluid.  Jack's heart started to race. Would this be a good idea or the worse idea in the history of the world? Suddenly, he heard the front door opening.
"He's come again! You don't know the awful things he allows here! Get me out of here!" The thing whispered frantically. Jack no longer had time to think. He hid behind one of the large bookcases waiting for some one to walk in. But the owner didn't come into this room. Jack waited for what seemed forever, the room hot and stuffy to the point of suffocation. He heard the shop owner whistling and pacing slowly to the back of the house and then he heard a door open and shut and he heard footsteps going downstairs. Jack then tip-toed from the room, the floor creaking more than he was comfortable with. Closing the door as quietly as he could, he then raced from the house and into his car. Throwing the case into the passenger's seat he started the car and sped away just in time to see the owner of the shop struggling with his cane to come out on to the porch with a distraught and aghast look on his face as he watched Jack speed  away into the night.