Читать книгу Adamonde - Benjamin Vance - Страница 12

Logan Cowdery met Jonathan during a lengthy stay in which Jonathan became the only dependable draftsman Logan had. Logan depended on Jonathan so much that when Jonathan left Utah, Logan promised him if he ever needed anything he had only to call. Such are most shallow promises, but Logan did arrive at the small, beautiful log cabin where Jonathan stayed previously, what seemed like a hundred years earlier. He arrived the same night Jonathan called, because he knew him well enough to recognize the urgency in his voice. Jonathan warned him amply, but when he called Adamonde from the bedroom, he thought Logan would swoon.

Adamonde said, “Ihhmmee Aahhdde … hemonntt” and summoned her most elegant smile.

Logan started shaking like he was cold and sat down, but told Jonathan he always did so when confronted by naked alien females. It took Adamonde’s hand to steel him some. Tears came to his eyes when she revealed how she arrived, why she was sent, how worried she was and how much she loved Jonathan. They waited calmly for his slowly returning composure.

He looked at them both with tear filled eyes, still averting from Adamonde and blowing his nose. Jonathan said, “Logan, this is almost too much to ask of you right now, but I want you to look at her and become familiar with her. You can’t think properly while continually averting your eyes. She won’t bite … well she could, but she is the kindest alien on our planet.” Adamonde giggled and moved to stand directly in front of Logan. Jonathan continued, “She is pregnant thanks to her and me and she has four breasts, all starting to grow now, twelve fingers and toes, poisonous barbs in her heels; she came from a planet about as far away as one can get from ours and she says God created beings on only three planets.” With that last revelation, Logan’s head whipped toward Jonathan; his mouth slightly open in astonishment.

Jonathan said, “Look at her damn it; if you don’t I’m going to ask her to give you a lap dance!”

Logan finally got a silly grin on his face, turned to study Adamonde and she tinkled and chimed. When she crossed her eyes at him, he burst out laughing with a bit of residual snot caught in a Kleenex just in time. When he finally got control of his frustration, embarrassment sinuses and fear, he said, “Adamonde you are truly beautiful. Jonathan is a lucky man. I’m sweating like a pig and don’t know why … well heck yes I do, it’s sexual frustration, and I apologize. I carry it like a banner since my wife left me.”

Jonathan leaned forward and said, “I’m sorry man; of course I didn’t know though ... how long ago?”

“Oh, about a year and a half, 550 days, more or less; she didn’t like my religion.”

“Yeah, I remember her going on about it, way back. What took her so long?”

“Well, there was that and the fact that we had no kids.” Adamonde chimed and thundered.

Logan asked, “What the hell was that sound?” Adamonde didn’t respond, but Logan put his hand to his head and said, “Oh, I get it. Thanks Adamonde. Jonathan, can you clue me in about why you’re here and why you have her … or why she has you?”

It took several calm hours of thinking and talking, chiming and chirping and yellow “Teeeveee” typing, and taking breaks to eat and drink, but in the end Logan finally realized that scientifically and theologically, he was in the middle of one of the most important occurrences in recorded history. The implications were unfathomable … even at that early juncture.

He asked Jonathan and Adamonde for two days to talk to trusted Church and Political figures who he thought might help protect and vouchsafe Adamonde and Jonathan a reasonable place to hide and live. He said he’d need to assure himself of her complete authenticity as well and asked for a demonstration of her spikes. She agreed, demonstrated and knew it would scare the hell out of Logan. It did, but she was holding his hand when she ejected, and it reassured him. Jonathan was glad she scared Logan. He also reminded Logan that Adamonde could read minds at focal distances.

***

The Mormon Church gladly established a small facility deep in the bowels of the Wasatch Mountains of Central Utah, close to where it kept genealogical files. It was one of the safest places one could be on our planet and was outfitted with all the symbols of home. Adamonde didn’t like it, but managed to understand her babies would be safe within the temporary confines of their new “home”. Ten days after they moved in, Linda Donaldson arrived with three MDs. Jonathan, but mostly Adamonde had asked for her.

Linda looked scared and lost until she saw Adamonde and Jonathan. She started crying and apologizing, and Adamonde did the most profound thing. In the midst of Linda’s yammering, Adamonde gently took Linda’s hand and placed it on her tummy. Linda stopped in midsentence, but didn’t stop gushing tears. In a moment she said, “Oh my God, I can feel the babies … there are two after all. Adamonde smiled and looked around at everyone as proudly as a lottery winner.

One official, who was watching the reunion, would have overall responsibility for their safekeeping. He was a retired Navy Captain and ex-SEAL who knew his business and was as protective of the diminutive naked alien as if she were his own daughter. His name was Nic Ippos, and he was dedicated, deliberate, uncompromising and vicious when need be.

Over the course of the next ten days, Adamonde was subjected to a comprehensive battery of tests, including a scraping of one of her spikes. She said it didn’t hurt, but worried one of the doctors would hurt themselves, so insisted on taking the scraping herself and inserting it into the test tubes. Adamonde seemed to like the attention, but repeatedly sought out Jonathan for reassurance and consent due to his status and his knowledge as an Earthling.

Jonathan and Nic got along famously since both were from Oregon. Jonathan had never been in the military, but that suited Nic fine. He assumed it his duty to teach Jonathan everything worthwhile about weapons, tactics, strategy, security precautions and of course, politics. Nic was a Mormon or LDS, but was not privy to Adamonde’s concern about three planets and God’s creation of all living things directly or indirectly. When Jonathan explained it to Nic, he was caught flat footed.

He asked, “You mean her people sent folks to that other planet of Aramats or whatever to warn them and they died on that planet with all the rest?” Jonathan’s head actually buzzed with the epiphany. It was the first time the thought occurred.

Haltingly he said, “Damn Nic, that’s the first time I’ve thought of it. No, the Arama died from diseases according to Adamonde. There may be … several thousand of Adamonde’s race still on that … Aramat planet by now. Yeah, it appears Adamonde’s people have an active immune system that seeks out and kills any alien entity in their bodies. It’s sort of like our immune system, but not passive at all. Her race is probably the only living sentient beings on that planet by now … damn, why didn’t I think of that when Adamonde told me her history?”

Nic went on, “Also, you mean to tell me, that little girl in there is almost immortal?”

“Yeah, I guess I do. She told me she’s maybe 700 years old … our years, and her planet is bigger than Earth and turns slower … so perhaps disease kills us after all, by directly or indirectly making our lives shorter. It’s strange, without ever looking at our Bible as far as I know, she told me God put everything on our planet that we need to prosper and live almost forever. She told me that’s been the general consensus on her planet ... always, I guess.”

Nic agreed, “Yeah, it basically says that in the Bible, and it makes man responsible for taking care of the Earth. We’re doing a shit job of it now, I can tell you. You should see some of the piles of floating trash I’ve seen on our oceans over the years. The Sargasso Sea is littered with all kinds of crap and we just keep throwing it in there and in every other ocean on the planet. I think if I were Adamonde, I wouldn’t bother.”

They sat for a moment in relative silence deep within the mountain. One could hear it “talk” from time to time. Any miner can verify the moans and grindings. They looked at each other and then away again as if it would be a sin to interrupt the mountain’s spirit. Then in the subsequent quiet Nic whispered, “You know son, Adamonde reminds me of a phrase in the Bible, in Genesis that says something like, ‘And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and weren’t ashamed.’ It seems to me Adamonde’s species got it right from the get go. The Bible says people used to live hundreds of years too. I think Adam lived over 900 years and his son Seth over 900 years. Perhaps her people have tweaked the right chords and live even longer.”

Jonathan softly said, “I don’t know much about the Bible, but I’ve been learning since I met Adamonde. I’ve never been a real church goer you know.”

“Listen, don’t tell any of these church officials; they’ll be on you like stink on crap, trying to convert you.” Nic grinned at his own dark humor and excused himself to do his rounds. Jonathan went in search of a Bible.