Thus far...
Finally hit the 15k mark. I'm hoping for 18k by the end of the night and since I'm at my parents house, I will use and abuse the internet for word warring purposes. :)
Wordcount: 15,221
Later the next day, Mark was helping his mom unload the car of casseroles and things for the after service picnic. Mark couldn't believe they'd fit it all into their car but he was all for food. Especially potluck kind of food. Their church potluck picnics sometimes got the neighboring people to come out and have some as well. It was something everyone could agree on, eating food.
As he carried the hot dish gingerly through the people milling back and forth, Mark saw James across the green grassy lawn. He'd been recruited to help set up tables for the food. James saw Mark coming his way and his face brightened. Mark knew what he was going to ask before he even got close enough to speak to him. "Yes, I brought it," Mark said as he set down the casserole dish on a hot plate coaster. "And no, I didn't read anymore of it yet."
"Right, once we start eating, we can park near the tree swing or something," said James, lugging another table over.
The boys could barely wait till the food was served but once grace had been said and they'd gotten into line, James gave Mark a nudge to look over at the tree. The younger kids had proclaimed it their land and were trying to build a fort out of small twigs and blankets from the nursery.
"Rats," said Mark, scanning around for another spot. He really didn't want to be caught reading a girl's journal out in the open. "I got an idea," James said, dishing some jello onto his paper plate.
Mark followed James over to his dad's blue pickup truck and the two boys got into the back loading bay area with their food and Mark's backpack. He grabbed a couple of bites of food, looking around to make sure they weren't too terribly conspicuous. "Good idea," he told James, leaning back against the bump over the wheel.
"I thought so. Come on, get to reading," said James, licking a pickle off on the end of his fork.
"What? I'm hungry too," Mark said, pulling the journal out of his bag. "Why don't you read for awhile?"
"Me? You found it."
Mark gave him a look and finally James sighed and put down his plate of food to take the journal from him.
"Don't get it sticky," Mark warned, settling back to listen. James made sure his hands were clean before flipping through to the spot where Mark had put the necklace. "That does work good as a bookmark," James said, tossing it into Mark's bag. "Where did you end off...right, that girl was paralyzed and the guy couldn't help..."
"Keep your voice down too, just in case," Mark said. The two boys hunkered down in the back of the truck as James slowly started to read aloud.
I didn't know how long I laid there but it seemed like forever. The aliens had put me back into my room, as far as I could tell. I was back on my bed laying on my back, useless as a shop window dummy. All the while, I wanted to talk, to say something. To try and get someone to hear me. But it all stayed inside my head, none of it would make it to my lips. It seemed like ages before I could start to move...
Mara found her hand up close to her face and managed to smile with relief. She slowly wiggled the fingers, trying to get the feeling back into them. In a few moments, she was able to get herself to a sitting position. Of course, it took a few tries, but Mara was determined to move even if it meant falling off of the bed. Thankfully it didn't come to that. Mara rubbed her shoulders and legs stiffly. "Note to self," she muttered aloud. "No more getting shot....ever."
She looked at the back of her guards' heads again in the other room. They looked as if they'd never left their post but Mara could tell one of them was a bit shorter now so they had changed the guard somewhere in her absence.
The door slid open in the other room and Mara saw one of the maintenance aliens coming in with a small white bag under one arm. On a whim, she lay down quickly again before she was seen and played that she still couldn't move. She hoped there weren't any hidden cameras or anything in her room.
"Worker 14 report to fix data anomaly in door. Acknowledge?" The maintenance alien's voice was being translated in a higher, somewhat younger computer voice, if that was possible. Mara tried to slow her rapid heartrate and held as still as possible.
She could imagine the guards checking his credentials or something similar. "Subject may begin to move soon. Be quick with your work," one of them said in a deeper computer voice.
Mara heard the door slide open to her cell and shut behind the young alien. Then there was a pause before she heard a slight clattering of tools against each other. She risked lifting her head slightly so that she could see.
The guards weren't even watching him, they had resumed their backwards position to her. The young alien was inside, dressed in the yellow tunic that came just past his waist. If aliens have a waist, Mara thought to herself, slowly sitting up so as not to startle him. He had opened a panel from seemingly nowhere on the wall section next to the invisible wall and was applying a thin glowing rod to the different colored contacts inside of it.
Mara saw the familiar symbol on the back of his hand. The one with the black rainbow and X through it. It was the small alien from the lab, the one she'd been looking at when her handcuffs failed. At least, she hoped it was the same one. Hopefully that tatoo or whatever it was wasn't a common symbol. She sat quietly on the edge of the bed, watching him work.
She couldn't be sure, but he seemed to be humming or at least the alien equivalent. It was a sparse whistle here and there that wasn't translating to anything in her head. It wasn't exactly a tune but it was kind of nice.
He suddenly noticed her as he turned around to his bag for another tool. He paused, his white eyes on her. Mara didn't budge an inch, hoping that she didn't look intimidating. She was taller than him but hopefully it wouldn't look that way while she was sitting down. He made a deep clicking sound twice in his throat. "Oh," the computer in Mara's head translated it. The monotone voice couldn't really convey surprise but Mara smiled a bit at that anyway. At least that had been a normal reaction, not the absence of reaction that she'd been getting from everybody else all this time.
The two of them stared at each other, each of them unsure if they should move or not. Finally, Mara tried to break the awkward silence by showing she wasn't going to do anything. She carefully put her hands into her lap in, she hoped, was a nonthreatening way. The small alien took a step back, putting a hand against the wall. He looked as if he was going to call to the guards for a second and Mara braced herself for another round of shooting. But the alien seemed to change his mind. He slowly reached for the tool he had been reaching for before and picked it up out of his bag. It looked like a two pronged fork with a light on each tip, one blue, one red. He whistled softly. "Human needs to stay there please. Worker 14 will finish his job and leave. Yes."
Mara was on pins and needles, realizing this was the first time a human and an alien of their species had talked directly. If only she could speak so he could understand. From his sentence, she figured he wanted her to stay put while he worked. Mara figured if the situations were reversed, she wouldn't want an alien jumping her from behind while she was working. So she nodded a yes and backed up a little bit to sit cross legged on the bed.
The effect was stunning. The alien dropped his tool with a clatter and Mara was surprised to see him blink grey eyelids over his big pearl eyes. So they can blink, she thought to herself. He picked up his tool and moved it from hand to hand woodenly. Mara wondered if that counted as a sign of nervousness to an alien. He said, "Humans do not understand speech. That is what First Scientist said." He made a low sharp guttural sound at the door. "Guard!"
The guards turned around to see Mara as she was before, splayed out on the bed unmoving as if she was paralyzed. "What do you need?," one of them asked, opening the door between them. The young alien started to point but stopped. Mara heard him say, "I am ...confused...You did see the human move. Yes."
"No," the guard said and Mara could make out his clicks were a bit sharper than usual. "Hurry with your work and do not pretend again."
The door slid shut and the guards resumed their positions again. The small maintenance alien looked from them back at Mara. She didn't move till she was sure the guards weren't watching before she sat up. The small alien's eyes blinked again as she gave him a little wave. "That was not amusing," he said.
I thought it was pretty funny, Mara thought to herself.
She didn't want to speak aloud for fear that the guards would find out she wasn't really paralyzed anymore. "They did not believe me," said the alien, picking up his tool again from the floor. He kept watching Mara as he started to work on the door again, his head moving back and forth between his work and her. Mara sat quietly, just watching. This alien didn't seem as bad as the rest, maybe because he wasn't as important as the others. It did seem there was a sort of caste system going on and maintenance aliens were somewhere below military and science.
"I will say it was clever," the alien said, adding a part to the glowing fork to adjust something specific. "First Scientist had said humans could be taught to speak but I was not sure." He put the tool away, picking up another as he watched Mara. "It may be amusing but I will ask. Can you speak?"
Mara swallowed, her eyes flicking to the guard's backs and back again. She knew the guards ignored her yells before but they might be a bit more alert now that one of their own was in with her. "Yes, I can understand," she said quietly, knowing full well she might have said "apple, jump, boat" and it would have made as much sense to him.
Wordcount: 15,221
Later the next day, Mark was helping his mom unload the car of casseroles and things for the after service picnic. Mark couldn't believe they'd fit it all into their car but he was all for food. Especially potluck kind of food. Their church potluck picnics sometimes got the neighboring people to come out and have some as well. It was something everyone could agree on, eating food.
As he carried the hot dish gingerly through the people milling back and forth, Mark saw James across the green grassy lawn. He'd been recruited to help set up tables for the food. James saw Mark coming his way and his face brightened. Mark knew what he was going to ask before he even got close enough to speak to him. "Yes, I brought it," Mark said as he set down the casserole dish on a hot plate coaster. "And no, I didn't read anymore of it yet."
"Right, once we start eating, we can park near the tree swing or something," said James, lugging another table over.
The boys could barely wait till the food was served but once grace had been said and they'd gotten into line, James gave Mark a nudge to look over at the tree. The younger kids had proclaimed it their land and were trying to build a fort out of small twigs and blankets from the nursery.
"Rats," said Mark, scanning around for another spot. He really didn't want to be caught reading a girl's journal out in the open. "I got an idea," James said, dishing some jello onto his paper plate.
Mark followed James over to his dad's blue pickup truck and the two boys got into the back loading bay area with their food and Mark's backpack. He grabbed a couple of bites of food, looking around to make sure they weren't too terribly conspicuous. "Good idea," he told James, leaning back against the bump over the wheel.
"I thought so. Come on, get to reading," said James, licking a pickle off on the end of his fork.
"What? I'm hungry too," Mark said, pulling the journal out of his bag. "Why don't you read for awhile?"
"Me? You found it."
Mark gave him a look and finally James sighed and put down his plate of food to take the journal from him.
"Don't get it sticky," Mark warned, settling back to listen. James made sure his hands were clean before flipping through to the spot where Mark had put the necklace. "That does work good as a bookmark," James said, tossing it into Mark's bag. "Where did you end off...right, that girl was paralyzed and the guy couldn't help..."
"Keep your voice down too, just in case," Mark said. The two boys hunkered down in the back of the truck as James slowly started to read aloud.
I didn't know how long I laid there but it seemed like forever. The aliens had put me back into my room, as far as I could tell. I was back on my bed laying on my back, useless as a shop window dummy. All the while, I wanted to talk, to say something. To try and get someone to hear me. But it all stayed inside my head, none of it would make it to my lips. It seemed like ages before I could start to move...
Mara found her hand up close to her face and managed to smile with relief. She slowly wiggled the fingers, trying to get the feeling back into them. In a few moments, she was able to get herself to a sitting position. Of course, it took a few tries, but Mara was determined to move even if it meant falling off of the bed. Thankfully it didn't come to that. Mara rubbed her shoulders and legs stiffly. "Note to self," she muttered aloud. "No more getting shot....ever."
She looked at the back of her guards' heads again in the other room. They looked as if they'd never left their post but Mara could tell one of them was a bit shorter now so they had changed the guard somewhere in her absence.
The door slid open in the other room and Mara saw one of the maintenance aliens coming in with a small white bag under one arm. On a whim, she lay down quickly again before she was seen and played that she still couldn't move. She hoped there weren't any hidden cameras or anything in her room.
"Worker 14 report to fix data anomaly in door. Acknowledge?" The maintenance alien's voice was being translated in a higher, somewhat younger computer voice, if that was possible. Mara tried to slow her rapid heartrate and held as still as possible.
She could imagine the guards checking his credentials or something similar. "Subject may begin to move soon. Be quick with your work," one of them said in a deeper computer voice.
Mara heard the door slide open to her cell and shut behind the young alien. Then there was a pause before she heard a slight clattering of tools against each other. She risked lifting her head slightly so that she could see.
The guards weren't even watching him, they had resumed their backwards position to her. The young alien was inside, dressed in the yellow tunic that came just past his waist. If aliens have a waist, Mara thought to herself, slowly sitting up so as not to startle him. He had opened a panel from seemingly nowhere on the wall section next to the invisible wall and was applying a thin glowing rod to the different colored contacts inside of it.
Mara saw the familiar symbol on the back of his hand. The one with the black rainbow and X through it. It was the small alien from the lab, the one she'd been looking at when her handcuffs failed. At least, she hoped it was the same one. Hopefully that tatoo or whatever it was wasn't a common symbol. She sat quietly on the edge of the bed, watching him work.
She couldn't be sure, but he seemed to be humming or at least the alien equivalent. It was a sparse whistle here and there that wasn't translating to anything in her head. It wasn't exactly a tune but it was kind of nice.
He suddenly noticed her as he turned around to his bag for another tool. He paused, his white eyes on her. Mara didn't budge an inch, hoping that she didn't look intimidating. She was taller than him but hopefully it wouldn't look that way while she was sitting down. He made a deep clicking sound twice in his throat. "Oh," the computer in Mara's head translated it. The monotone voice couldn't really convey surprise but Mara smiled a bit at that anyway. At least that had been a normal reaction, not the absence of reaction that she'd been getting from everybody else all this time.
The two of them stared at each other, each of them unsure if they should move or not. Finally, Mara tried to break the awkward silence by showing she wasn't going to do anything. She carefully put her hands into her lap in, she hoped, was a nonthreatening way. The small alien took a step back, putting a hand against the wall. He looked as if he was going to call to the guards for a second and Mara braced herself for another round of shooting. But the alien seemed to change his mind. He slowly reached for the tool he had been reaching for before and picked it up out of his bag. It looked like a two pronged fork with a light on each tip, one blue, one red. He whistled softly. "Human needs to stay there please. Worker 14 will finish his job and leave. Yes."
Mara was on pins and needles, realizing this was the first time a human and an alien of their species had talked directly. If only she could speak so he could understand. From his sentence, she figured he wanted her to stay put while he worked. Mara figured if the situations were reversed, she wouldn't want an alien jumping her from behind while she was working. So she nodded a yes and backed up a little bit to sit cross legged on the bed.
The effect was stunning. The alien dropped his tool with a clatter and Mara was surprised to see him blink grey eyelids over his big pearl eyes. So they can blink, she thought to herself. He picked up his tool and moved it from hand to hand woodenly. Mara wondered if that counted as a sign of nervousness to an alien. He said, "Humans do not understand speech. That is what First Scientist said." He made a low sharp guttural sound at the door. "Guard!"
The guards turned around to see Mara as she was before, splayed out on the bed unmoving as if she was paralyzed. "What do you need?," one of them asked, opening the door between them. The young alien started to point but stopped. Mara heard him say, "I am ...confused...You did see the human move. Yes."
"No," the guard said and Mara could make out his clicks were a bit sharper than usual. "Hurry with your work and do not pretend again."
The door slid shut and the guards resumed their positions again. The small maintenance alien looked from them back at Mara. She didn't move till she was sure the guards weren't watching before she sat up. The small alien's eyes blinked again as she gave him a little wave. "That was not amusing," he said.
I thought it was pretty funny, Mara thought to herself.
She didn't want to speak aloud for fear that the guards would find out she wasn't really paralyzed anymore. "They did not believe me," said the alien, picking up his tool again from the floor. He kept watching Mara as he started to work on the door again, his head moving back and forth between his work and her. Mara sat quietly, just watching. This alien didn't seem as bad as the rest, maybe because he wasn't as important as the others. It did seem there was a sort of caste system going on and maintenance aliens were somewhere below military and science.
"I will say it was clever," the alien said, adding a part to the glowing fork to adjust something specific. "First Scientist had said humans could be taught to speak but I was not sure." He put the tool away, picking up another as he watched Mara. "It may be amusing but I will ask. Can you speak?"
Mara swallowed, her eyes flicking to the guard's backs and back again. She knew the guards ignored her yells before but they might be a bit more alert now that one of their own was in with her. "Yes, I can understand," she said quietly, knowing full well she might have said "apple, jump, boat" and it would have made as much sense to him.