She was the product of a top-secret genetic experiment. Her embryo was put together in an ultra-advanced laboratory in an underground military base, and gestated in a tank. Her natural mother’s genes were meticulously spliced together with those of an extraterrestrial donor, in such a way as to make Caroline’s physical appearance and emotional makeup almost entirely human, but her neural network and brain mostly alien. Hence her enhanced reasoning ability and photographic memory.
She’d never met her genetic parents. Her foster parents were carefully selected, and she was placed in their care when she was two weeks old. They received a salary for looking after her, plus her living expenses.
The man supervising the experiment she knew only as the Colonel. He would visit every year or two, and take her out for lunch.
‘So have you asked him what the purpose of it is? – this experiment?’ asked Teri.
‘No.’
‘Why not? It’s you that’s being experimented on, after all.’
‘I don’t know. To be honest, I’m intimidated by the Colonel. I never know what to say to him.’
‘Have you asked your foster parents?’
‘Oh, they don’t know anything. They’re not very clever, you know. Don’t get me wrong – I like them. They’re very kind. Just not very clever.’
‘Probably one of the reasons they were selected.’
‘That’s what I think, too.’
‘But the Colonel’s people must have spent a lot of money on you over the years. Surely they’ll be wanting something back on the investment, don’t you think?’
‘That’s what worries me. I don’t know what they do want. But whatever it is, it has something to do with my coming of age.’
‘Why do you say that?’
‘I got it out of Mum and Dad, though they shouldn’t have told me. They were told from the start that their contract would end when I turned eighteen. And after that they wouldn’t see me again.’
‘So when do you turn eighteen?’
‘In six weeks’ time.’
***
Three days later, Teri was giving Caroline a foot-massage, working her way down towards the toes. This meant she could examine them closely without embarrassing her friend. They were both telescopic and fan-like, and as soon as they were liberated from her shoes they extended and spread automatically.
‘Does it hurt you, wearing shoes?
‘Well, it’s not that comfortable, but I’m used to it. And the shoes are hand-made to fit my feet.’
‘Posh!’
‘Yes, but I don’t have any choice about colour or style. The Colonel brings them.’
‘How does that feel?’
‘Fabulous. You’re good at this, aren’t you?’
‘I like doing it. Can I touch the webs?’
‘Yes, of course.’
‘They’re a very beautiful blue. Are you related to Krishna at all?’
‘Funny you should ask that. I’ve always had a soft spot for Krishna.’
‘You and sixteen thousand milkmaids. But you know, some of the gods were actually ETs visiting the Earth. People assumed they were gods because they came down from the sky. And some ETs have blue skin. Krishna could have been one of them.’
‘You seem to know a lot about all this.’
‘It’s my obsession… By the way, what other little anomalies have you got? So I don’t stumble upon them by accident. A two-foot tongue that shoots out and catches flies?’
‘No.’
‘Retractable claws? That could be really nasty.’
‘No.’
‘Retractable teeth?’
‘You’re thinking of vampires.’
‘How about suddenly going all hairy and baying at the moon?’
‘No, that’s werewolves.’
‘Go on, then. What have I forgotten?’
‘Nothing obvious. Except my legs really are extra-long, and so are my fingers. My cheek bones are extra-prominent, and my eyes are larger than usual. All deformities, really – but fashionable ones, so nobody notices. Oh, there is one other thing. I’ve got a few extra vertebrae at the base of my spine. Tiny little ones.’
‘So… you’ve got a tail,’ said Teri, grinning.
‘Yes, alright, I admit it. I’ve got a tail.’
‘You’ve got a tail.’
And they started to giggle, which turned into laughter, which turned into falling backwards onto the bed and laughing till their stomachs cramped and their eyes ran. Then they kissed again.
‘I expect it’s a very beautiful tail,’ said Teri as they lay looking into each other’s eyes. ‘No, don’t show me, I want to save it for later… You’re so beautiful, Caroline. Yes, you are. There isn’t a woman alive who wouldn’t want to look like you – blue webs, tail and all.
‘I can’t think why. Boys pester me, girls envy me. I don’t even get to see myself, except in the mirror. How on earth is it supposed to benefit me?’
‘I suppose the idea is that people give you preferential treatment when you’re getting served in bars, or applying for jobs, or campaigning to be President.’
‘Or trying to attract a lover.’
‘Exactly. Because if you weren’t so very beautiful you might never have won me over. I’m very picky, you know.’
And they kissed again.
‘So tell me,’ said Teri, propping herself up against the pillows, ‘why have you moved about so much over the years?’
‘I don’t know – Mum and Dad get told to move, and they move. But I suspect it’s to stop me getting too close to anyone.’
‘In case they find out?’
‘Yes.’
‘Well, they didn’t move quickly enough this time, did they?… But look, Caroline, there’s something I want to talk about. It’s pretty heavy stuff, I’m afraid. Is that okay?’
‘Go on.’
‘You can always tell me to stop if it gets too much. Okay. Have you heard of the Cabal?’
‘The Cabal?’
‘Yes. Some people call them the Secret Government or the New World Order.’
‘Yes, but I haven’t really paid much attention to that stuff.’
‘Well, these people have been the hidden controllers of the planet for a very long time. They control everything, including Science and Education. So for example, they control the funding for Scientific and Medical Research, and withdraw it from anyone who’s moving in a direction they don’t like. And if people are too difficult to control, they destroy their careers or kill them.’
‘But what evidence do you have for this, Teri?’
‘None, personally. But there’s loads of stuff on the Internet.’
‘But you can’t trust the stuff on the Internet, surely.’
‘Well, you definitely can’t trust the stuff on the mainstream media. It’s all propaganda. The Internet’s a Godsend. For the first time ordinary people can share what they know with millions of other people at the touch of a button.’
‘But there’s so much disinformation on the Internet. How can you tell what’s true and what’s not?’
‘By seeing whether it makes sense. By comparing it to personal experience. By listening to my intuition – and my spirit guides.’
‘Spirit guides? Teri, this gets more and more way out with everything you say.’
‘That’s rich, coming from a hybrid.’
‘Hey, don’t get cross with me, Teri. I’m just saying what I think.’
‘Yeah, okay.’
‘I can’t just accept things without question, can I? I’ve got to test them.’
‘True.’
‘And you’ve got to remember – you’ve had plenty of time to research this stuff and see whether it makes sense to you, whether it’s internally consistent, whether the sources are reliable. I haven’t. It’s not that I don’t trust you, Teri. I’m sure you believe everything you say. But you could have got it wrong, couldn’t you? I have to satisfy myself about that. So please be patient with me.’
‘I’m sorry. You’re right. I was being touchy, and I apologise. Shall we change the subject?’
‘No, go on. Please.’
‘Sure?’
‘Sure.’
‘Okay, so another thing the Cabal does is prevent new technologies from being developed. They’ve suppressed loads of patents for free energy technology that could have taken us off oil and gas a long time ago.’
‘But why would they do that? Free energy would benefit everybody – including the Cabal.’
‘Oh, they use it. They just don’t let us use it. They own the oil companies, after all.’
‘But look, the oil industry is killing the planet, Teri. Why would they risk killing the planet if there’s a viable alternative?’
‘Because they don’t give a stuff about the planet. There are plenty more planets out there in the galaxy.’
‘In the galaxy? Are you saying they’ve got interstellar travel?’
‘Absolutely they’ve got interstellar travel. The Apollo Space Program was just a smoke-screen.’
‘And they go faster than light?’
‘Of course.’
‘My God… You know, it’s always puzzled me, Teri. Because according to the physics I’ve been taught, you shouldn’t be able to go faster than light. But on the other hand, if that was true, how did my ET parent get here?’
‘Exactly. I’m sorry, sweetie, but the physics you’ve been taught is just very old, very out-of-date physics.’
‘Shit.’
‘I know. All those years of study! It’s just as bad with History.’
‘So when did they get space travel?’
‘In the 1930s.’
‘That long ago?’
‘Yeah. And once they started travelling round the Solar System, they came across all these ET races – some nice, some nasty. And some of them are carrying out long-term genetic experiments on the human race. Which is why the people on this planet are so varied in shape and colour. The fact is, we’re ALL hybrids. Our DNA has been diced and spliced and cut and pasted until we’re a real mish-mash.’
‘So you’re a hybrid, too?’ asked Caroline.
‘I’m a hybrid too.’
‘You never said.’
‘You never asked.’
‘So is that what all those abductions are about?’
‘Some of them. Some of them are for other purposes. And that’s another thing. The Cabal saw that all these people were being abducted – and some of them were never seen again. So what do they do about it? Do they say, “Oh those poor people, we’ve got to put a stop to this.”? No. They say, “Oh look, a business opportunity,” and they set themselves up as the middle-man, abducting people and trading them to ETs in exchange for technologies.’
‘No.’
‘I’m afraid so. About a million people a year. I’m sorry, Caroline. I don’t mean to freak you out, but it’s something you need to know.’
‘Shit.’
‘And these are the people who think they own you.’
‘So you reckon the Colonel is part of this Cabal?
‘Yes, I do. Not a major player, but they’ve got plenty of henchman like him. So the question is, what does he intend to do with you now? I mean, I expect he’ll want to run tests to see how you turned out. But after that?… To be honest, I’d be very surprised if he intends to offer you a job, despite your high IQ. If that was his intention, you’d have been raised in an underground base and educated in the real science, wouldn’t you? So it’s far more likely that he intends to use you for breeding purposes. Or to trade you. But whatever his plans are, they certainly won’t include asking what you want to do with your life.’
‘So if he traded me to ETs, what would they want to do with me?’ asked Caroline. ‘More genetic experiments? Use me for breeding? Eat me?’
‘I don’t know. Your guess is as good as mine. I’m sorry, Caroline.’
‘I’ve been such a fool, haven’t I? Sitting here passively waiting to be told what to do. What an idiot!’
‘And I’ve been a fool, too. They could be monitoring this conversation at this minute.’
‘How?’
‘Oh, easy. Remember, their technology is far ahead of anything we know about. But then again, maybe they won’t bother. After all, you’ve been very co-operative up till now.’
‘But what can we do? I mean, what can I do? I don’t think you should get involved, Teri. If you’re right about all this, it could be dangerous.’
‘Are you kidding? I’m already involved, Caroline. Not only am I involved with you, I’m also a light-worker.’
‘What’s that?’
‘I’ll explain later. Okay,’ she continued, ‘So these are the things we’ve got going for us: One, we probably know more about the situation than they know we know. Two, your brains. Three, my spirit guides. And four, our guardian angels.’
‘What guardian angels?’
‘We’ve all got guardian angels.’
‘I thought they were a myth. ETs I can get my head around – well, I have to, don’t I? But angels are a bit of a stretch, to be honest.’
‘Well, the way I understand it, they’re like super-advanced, super-evolved ETs, who don’t need bodies. They’re very benevolent, very powerful and very intelligent. And they absolutely love to help out. But the thing is, we have to ask for their help. They won’t intrude without us asking, because that would be violating our free will. We have to ask.’
‘And how do you do that?’
‘Well, meditate, get yourself into a good space, and then ask.’
‘Can we do it together?’
‘Of course. We can do it now.’
***
‘Emma doesn’t expect to marry,’ said Tom Price. ‘Anyone got any comments about that? Yes, you. What’s your name?’
‘Fran,’ said Fran. ‘The reason women had to marry historically is because it was the only way to survive financially. But Emma’s going to inherit her father’s estate, so she’s going to be financially independent and very well off. And if she married, she’d have to give up control of her money to her husband. So why marry? There’s no point. ’
‘I can think of a reason…’ said a girl at the back of the class, to general amusement.
‘What, sex?’ sneered Fran. ‘I don’t think so. Completely overrated, in my opinion.’
‘Woo-hoo!’ said the heckler, to more laughter.
‘Okay,’ said Tom Price. ‘That’s your opinion. Let’s get another perspective on that. Who’s the most beautiful girl in the class?’
Silence fell. Tom Price had crossed yet another boundary. But everyone’s eyes were drawn to Caroline.
‘Now, let me see,’ he said, surveying the class as if there was more than one candidate for the title. ‘Ah yes, the blonde girl in brown. Yes, you. What’s your name?’
‘Caroline.’
‘Well, Caroline, what do you think of Emma?’
‘I think she’s in an unusual position for a young woman of her time – to have so much choice. She’s well off. She can have whatever she wants. And she is loved and approved of whatever she chooses. So she has power and freedom that other women don’t have. And maybe she’s a bit intoxicated by that. Maybe that’s why she overestimates her own importance, and behaves badly.’
‘But what about marriage, Caroline? What about the fact that she doesn’t expect to marry?’
‘Well, I agree with Fran up to a point – she would have to give up a lot of her power and freedom if she married.’
‘You agree ‘up to a point?’ So where do you disagree? About sex?’
‘It’s certainly a factor. Companionship is another. They’re human needs, after all.’
‘Human needs, you say?’
‘Yes.’
‘And what do you know about human needs, Caroline?’ he asked, smirking and raising his eyebrows.
‘Well, I…’
‘Not much, I would think. Still, full marks for using your imagination.’
Part 4 soon
© Sue J Davis 2016
Please see Copyright Notice on the ‘About’ page.
Dreams of New Earth 