The Visitors (14 page)

“No, I didn't know that. Looks like that is just one more thing that was hidden from anyone who wasn't directly involved.” Noah let his breath out slowly. “What if I come forward with the truth? If I confront the leaders and explain the situation, and ask to leave? How will they respond?”

Ramona stared straight ahead, looking right through us as she sat in silence. “Sir Andrew still wants you to be removed from the society, as do Sir Thomas and Sir John. But…” She paused again, deep in concentration. I was on the edge of my seat, trying to keep my patience as I waited for her to finish. Finally, she continued. “Several of the leaders are curious about your situation. No one understands how this has happened. Your body's defiance of the chip's suppression commands baffles our technology specialists. It is discussed that this relationship may be to serve a higher purpose.”

“Wait, a higher purpose? Like, something to do with God? Is that what you mean?” I asked, trying to make sense of what she was telling me.

She nodded slowly. “Yes. Some of the leaders discuss what it could mean that your body is stronger than our knowledge. They want to let you go to Earth, if only for a short time, just to see how it develops.”

I practically jumped out of my seat, unable to contain my enthusiasm. “They're going to let you go!” I shouted, but Noah grabbed my arm and pulled me back down.

“What about Sir Andrew and the other leaders who want to take my chip? What is their reaction to the other leaders who want to let me leave?” He was not ready to share my excitement just yet. I could see the worry in his eyes as he waited for her response.

She sat perfectly still, staring through us as she considered Noah's questions. Finally, she responded. “Sir Andrew is worried about your safety, because some of the humans don't want you to go with them. Another concern in his mind is how you will live your life on Earth and how dangerous it could be for our society if so many humans learned about our chips. He will agree to let you go, but only on one condition.”

“What is it?” Noah asked as hope filled his voice.

Ramona stared ahead for what seemed like hours. I could see how hard she was concentrating as she tried to answer Noah's question. But before she could answer, she blinked rapidly and her head shook violently several times, and her eyes were back to normal. When she spoke, her voice no longer had that strange high pitch. “I don't know; I couldn't see it.” She turned to Noah as her eyebrows wrinkled. “I'm sorry, Noah – I don't know what he wants from you.”

Noah smiled. “It's okay, Ramona. You have helped me more than I could ever repay you for. Thank you so much for agreeing to see us, and for everything you told us. This will be very useful as we decide how to handle the situation from here.” He stood up and nodded to her, and she mirrored his actions before she led us to the door to show us out.

“Good luck to both of you,” she said as we left. “I hope everything works out for the best.”

“Thank you,” we replied in unison before he grabbed my hand and led me back toward the untamed land we had come through to get there.

I pushed through the tall weeds and brush as Jady flooded me with questions. “What do we do now, Noah? How are we going to approach the leaders? Why couldn't she see what the condition is going to be?”

I tried to be patient with her, but I needed to think. “I don't know, Jady. I'm going to think of a plan. As far as why she couldn't see the condition, I don't know, but that doesn't matter. Whatever it is, I'll do it.” The truth was, I wasn't surprised she had trouble seeing everything. Suspicions that Sir Andrew and the other leaders had some sort of block against our powers had entered my mind on multiple occasions. Just like I could never read his emotions, and Lucy had trouble reading his mind most of the time, Ramona could not see everything when it involved him.

I remembered one small detail that Jady and I had not yet discussed. “Ramona said some of the humans did not want me to go with you. How are we going to handle that?”

Jady sighed as she ducked under a branch. “I don't know. We need to figure out how to present this idea to the rest of my crew.”

That was the one thing we had ignored in our brilliant plan. Even if I got permission from the leaders, I hadn't even thought of whether or not the humans would accept me. I pictured the rage and jealousy I saw in Luke every time he looked at me, and realized that could be just as difficult as dealing with Sir Andrew. This wasn't going to be easy, and we didn't have much time left.

“Maybe this whole thing was a bad idea,” I mumbled. “Maybe we should forget it.”

Jady shoved me from behind, causing me to trip slightly. “We can't forget the whole thing! Sir Andrew already knows about us, and even if we don't speak for the next two days, he is going to…” She stopped without finishing the sentence.

She didn't need to continue her thoughts; I knew exactly what was through her mind. It was the same thing plaguing my own thoughts. I would be put to death. All these years, and I never knew what it meant to dismiss someone from society. We had learned in our young studies of only a very few society members in the past who had been forced to give up their chips and leave society because of their failures – breaking the rules, not performing appropriately in their jobs, or some other incident that had made them fall short of the expectations set for us. Although I knew they had to remove their chips and leave society, I had never realized they were put to death. My entire life, I was allowed to believe that those people were sent to another planet to live amongst another species or group. No one had ever clearly explained the truth to us in all our years.

What else were they keeping from us?

“Maybe that's what's best,” I said as I turned to face Jady. “At least that way, you won't be in any danger. You can go back to Earth and return to your normal life, without me.”

“Hey, that's not even an option,” she replied firmly. “I won't leave here without you. If something happened to you, I would…” Her voice cracked and the words trailed off before she finished her thought. Part of me wished she hadn't heard Ramona's predictions. She was going to fight every voice of reason she heard.

We continued back to the society, finally coming out of the weeds and back into civilization. There was still a ways to go before we would be back at the visitors' chamber, but at least the rest of our journey would be easier. Jady slowed down as she put her arm around my waist and rested her head on my shoulder. “I have an idea,” she said softly.

“What's that?” I asked as I kissed her forehead.

“Let's talk to my crew tonight. Come back to the visitors' chamber with me. We can be selective with the pieces of information we decide to share; they don't have to know everything. If we just tell them about our relationship and tell them that you're in danger if you stay here, they'll have to let you come back with us.”

I shook my head. “You think Luke will care if I'm in danger?”

“Yeah, I do,” she said stubbornly. “I know he seems like a complete jerk, but you don't know him like I do. Luke's my best friend. He would never wish harm on anyone.” She paused. “You need to worry more about my dad than Luke. You're messing with his baby girl.” She elbowed me teasingly as she spoke the last sentence. Obviously, she was attempting to lighten the mood, but I was clearly missing the joke. I still didn't fully understand the relationship between father and daughter, and something else was bothering me too much to question it at that moment.

I had to tell her what was weighing on my mind. “Jady, don't you think Luke is the one who told Sir Andrew about us in the first place?”

She stopped in her tracks. “No! He would never do that!” Even in the dark, I could see the anger roll off of her at my accusation.

“Then who did?” I asked softly. “There aren't a lot of options.”

“What about Lucy?” she asked cynically. “Your
friend
who's been trying to keep us apart the whole time?”

“Jady, we both know better than that. Lucy is against us because she is concerned for our wellbeing. She would never go out of her way to tell Sir Andrew about us when she's spent so much time and effort trying to keep us safe from him.” I couldn't believe she was so adamant in her defense of Luke. Why was she choosing to ignore the obvious facts? I really didn't understand the relationship she had with him.

She shrugged. “So it wasn't Lucy. But it wasn't Luke either. I know he would never do that.”

I let it go without arguing further. I wasn't going to change her mind, and it was pointless to try. There were bigger things to worry about at this point. “Regardless of who it was, the point is he knows. We have to figure out the best way to handle it.”

“Well, I'm going to tell my crew tonight, with or without you. I just think it would be a lot more effective if you were with me.” She looked at me with pleading eyes. “I'll do all the talking; you won't have to say a word. It will be a lot easier for me to have you standing by my side.”

I took a deep breath and exhaled it all at once. Although I was dreading everything that was to come, procrastinating would only prolong the inescapable. Taking her hands in mine, I nodded. “Okay. Let's do it tonight. I'll come in with you.”

She threw her arms around me as she buried her head in my shoulder. “Thank you. Now let's go before I lose my courage.”

It didn't matter how slowly we walked to the visitors' chamber; it seemed like mere seconds before we arrived there. My heart felt like it was going to pound out of my chest as Jady pulled me inside and had me sit down on the couch. “I'll go wake everyone up and have them come in here. Don't turn on any lights. We don't want to draw any attention this way.” Without waiting for a reply, she bolted down the hallway.

I watched her as she walked into the seven sleeping rooms that were being occupied by the other humans, and listened to them stir as she asked them to come into the common area. After just a few minutes she emerged back in the room and joined me on the couch as we waited for the others to join us. Luke was the first one to enter, rubbing his eyes and looking groggy as he dragged his feet into the room. With one glimpse of me sitting on the couch, his sleepiness disappeared and his eyes popped wide open. “What's
he
doing here?”

Jady's father appeared right behind him, along with the captain and another man I didn't know as well. “What's going on, Jady?” her father asked as the rest of the crew made their way inside the room. The confusion radiating off of all of them was so thick that my head felt cloudy.

Jady took a deep breath. “Before I tell you what's happening, you need to know that this meeting is a secret. You can never repeat anything I say tonight outside of these walls. Is that clear?”

Jady's father frowned. “I think you need to start explaining.”

“Not until I have a promise from each and every one of you that this remains between us. You don't repeat any of this here or back on Earth.” I had to admire her tenacity. While the waves of angst surrounding her body showed me that she was as terrified as I was, her voice and demeanor didn't show it. She looked impossibly strong as she stared her father in the eyes.

“Fine, Jady,” her father said with a sigh. “I promise never to repeat whatever it is you are about to tell me. Now explain.” I couldn't help but notice how much she resembled her father as he crossed his arms and stared at her stubbornly. It was uncanny how alike they were. Oddly, it made me wonder briefly about my own existence. Somewhere out there, were there once people who gave me my traits, too?

Jady didn't respond, but looked to each member of the crew until she got a promise from each one of them. Luke was the last one to respond with a measly, “I promise,” that didn't convince me in the slightest as his eyes shifted to the ground, but Jady seemed to accept it.

“Here's the situation,” she said confidently. “Noah and I have been spending some time together alone. I've been sneaking out of the chamber, mostly at night, to see him.”

The look on her father's face made me want to crawl into a hole. His emotions ranged from confused to angry to disappointed in a matter of seconds. This was what Jady had meant when she said her father was the one I should worry about. I could tell I was not going to win his affection and support for being with his daughter any time soon.

Jady seemed unfazed as she continued. “To make a long story short, the society here does not approve, and when we leave in two days, Noah will be in danger.” She paused as she looked around the room and gauged the reactions to this point. I couldn't bring myself to look at anyone but Jady, but I didn't need to. Out of the many different emotions enveloping me as they went swirling around the room, the strongest presence was anger. These humans didn't seem to be any happier with the situation than my society would be.

“What do you mean by danger?” one of the female humans finally asked.

Jady glanced at me as she formed her answer. “Basically, they'll kill him. And the only way to keep that from happening is to take him back to Earth with us.”

“Whoa, hold on, Jady. Slow down. We're going to need a little more information than that,” her father said as he walked over and put his hand on her shoulder. His anger and disappointment had lessened somewhat as they were replaced with patience.

Jady sighed. “Dad, I wish I could give you more information, but some of this you're just going to have to trust me on.”

“That's convenient,” Luke said, breaking his silence to this point.

Jady and I both looked at him as he stood in the corner of the room, surrounded by a cloud of hatred. “What's convenient?” Jady asked as she stood up and put one hand on her hip.

Luke smiled, but he was not happy. “It's convenient that just when we're about to leave, suddenly Noah's in this ‘danger' and needs to come with us. This way you don't have to lose your boyfriend when we go.” He rested his hands behind him as he leaned against the wall.

Jady rolled her eyes. “We don't have time for this…this…immaturity, Luke…”

“Immaturity?” Luke exploded. “Maybe you need to tell everyone here the real truth, Jady. Then you can talk to me about maturity levels.”

“What are you talking about, Luke?” Jady screamed back at him. “I'm trying to tell as much of the truth as I can without putting all of you in danger, too! Did you ever think of that? That maybe I'm protecting you? Maybe things around here aren't as peaceful as they seem!”

“Jady,” I interjected calmly. “Relax. Getting angry won't help the situation.”

She looked down at me as I spoke, and while the fury surrounding her did not fade, her breathing slowed as she sat back down beside me. “Okay. Let me tell you the most watered-down version of the story that I can. We don't have a lot of time. The sun will be coming up soon, and we will start our day, and we need to have this settled before that happens.” She paused as she looked to me with wide eyes, silently pleading for help. I knew this conversation had not gone the way she had hoped to this point.

Even though she had told me to let her do all the talking, I decided this was the time to step in. “What Jady has told you is true; I have been coming to see her in secret.” I tried to keep my voice steady as I carefully avoided the eyes of her father and Luke. “We have become very…
close
during your stay here. The problem is I went against all the rules of my society by doing so.” I chose to leave out the fact that my feelings were also supposed to be impossible. “Some of our leaders have apparently found out about the relationship that has developed between Jady and me. They're not going to confront the situation now, while you are all still here, but I have been told by an inside source that as soon as you leave…”

“They're going to kill him!” Jady blurted out. “I know that seems ridiculous because the punishment seems so harsh compared to the crime, but I swear it's true.” Jady looked up at her father, who was still standing above her with a frown on his face. “Dad, you have to believe me. You know I would never lie to you, especially about something this important.”

Jady's father stared ahead, lost in his thoughts. He began to pace back and forth, running his hands over his short hair as he considered the information we had given him. “Jady,” he finally said after the most uncomfortable silence I had ever endured, “I'm not sure things are as easy as you think they are. Suppose we took Noah back to Earth. There are so many questions to consider. How would his body adapt? And if it did, where would he live? What would he do? Would he go to school? Would we tell everyone where he's from? How would people react?”

The captain of the crew spoke up. “Well, we couldn't tell the general public. It would start a frenzy. We would create the necessary paperwork and invent a background for him. The government would cooperate; of that I'm sure.”