When Aliens Weep (15 page)

Bonnie shook her head. “I don’t think so, Dezi. This is something different. Something personal.” Bonnie swallowed, pensiveness deep in her voice, “I can always use another friend but she said something about wanting to have a baby together. I get this gender confusion with them all the time. It’s hard to tell the males from the females in the first place and they don’t seem to care since either sex can have a baby.” She laughed ruefully. “I guess science really has come far on this planet.” Bonnie raised an eyebrow. “Do you suppose she’s serious?”

Dezi rolled his eyes. “I doubt it. It might be another form of worship. They’re all crazy about us, or haven’t you noticed?”

Bonnie yawned. “Yeah, I guess it’s just their way. Maybe if I see Echo, I’ll ask her about it.” Turning to pick up Baby Peter, Bonnie asked, “Wasn’t that something with Jose and Cobby tonight? I think Forbation and the rest of them have had just about enough from him.”

Dezi moved to the bed to take the baby from her, swinging the now-awakened infant to his hip. “We gunna take him back to the nursery or let
them
?” The minions swung into attention as they realized it was time for the baby to go.

Bonnie gave them a smile and asked, “Do you mind if we all go together?”

Their mind auras danced happily in her brain, “Of course, Sister. We would be honored.” They scrambled from the end of the bed to accompany Dezi and Bonnie with the baby.

As they carried the baby down the hallway toward the nursery, Dezi commented, “I can’t blame the poor guy, ya know.”

“What poor guy?”

“Jose.”

“Oh, yeah. I know what you mean. I feel bad for him too.”

“If anyone was putting it to my wife, I’d have to kill ‘em.”

Bonnie looked askance. “It’s not like any one of us are strangers, Dezi. Cobby’s like a father to me and a brother to so many others. That makes it sticky. I’m surprised nothing like this had happened before. We’ve all been married for so long. I’m happy for Abby and Cobby. Even though it means someone gets hurt.”

Dezi saw the damaged look coming back into her eyes. Changing the subject, he asked her, “So you’ve decided to work in the nursery with Chloe and Kenya? That’s a lot of squalling babies, isn’t it?”

Bonnie gave him a swift punch on the arm. “Yes, silly. What else would you have us mommas doing? Chloe is close to term and Kenya is gaga over babies now. Remember when she just wanted someone to cut the baby out of her stomach?” Bonnie rolled her eyes. “That seems so long ago . . .”

Dezi lifted Baby Peter from her arms, tucking the infant under one arm and slipping his other companionably through Bonnie’s.

“Yes so much has happened . . . so long ago. I feel like I could write a book.”

Bonnie turned and made a face at him. “You can leave me
out of
that
.”

Dezi gave her a bear hug, squeezing Peter between them. “I’m only kidding, you little dummy. Who would read it, after all?” They laughed together and happily made their way to the nursery, picking up more adoring minions along the way.

***`

Jose clenched his teeth painfully as he continued to pace in his segregated bedroom on the other side of the Womb. Banished again to his punishment
space, he had slept badly the night before. Now he was on Forbation’s shit list again and would be unable to join the rest of the survivors for quite some time. He wondered what assignment he’d be forced to do today.
Probably cleaning up shit, I’ll bet.
His bitter thoughts got the better of him.

He had thought he was making progress, especially when he tried to win favor with Netty by sucking up to Maya. The little girl had been walking around like the cat that ate the cream and resisting anyone that tried to play with her or get her to take off her fanny pack. With plenty of coaxing and one eye on Netty, he had managed to lasso the child and keep her attention long enough to recognize the odd bulge in her fanny pack. Unzipping it and nicking the small Beretta, he surreptitiously placed it in his own pocket as Netty’s brow furrowed over Maya squirming in his arms.

Letting the child wriggle away, he took a seat at the end of the table. His eyes swept the empty chairs, calculating how to position himself so he would get a chance to talk to Abby. He just
had
to talk to her and make things better between them.

“Hello, Jose.” Abby stood at the corner of the table looking down on him. She gave him a tentative smile. “I’m glad to see you back.” Before he could answer, he saw an arm snake around her waist from behind her wing and lift her off her feet.

“Eek, you nut . . . let me down.” Abby pealed with laughter as Cobby swept her off her feet and gave her a big kiss, not seeing Jose steaming in his chair. Abby rolled her eyes, trying to signal Jose’s unexpected presence to Cobby.

Finally spotting Abby’s soon-to-be ex-husband, Cobby set her down with a shrug and devilish grin, not missed by Jose.

“
Excuse me
. . . Abby and I were talking,” said Jose, rising to his feet, his face a mask of tightness and controlled fury.

Fully understanding the boiling pot that was Jose, Abby stepped between the men. Attempting to be casual, she commented, “I’ll have to get back to you, Jose.” Glancing around the room, she saw most of the survivors had taken seats. Raising a hand, she waved to Chloe. “Save us a seat, hon. We’ll be right there.”

In desperation, Jose grabbed her arm as she began to walk away with Cobby. “No, Abby.
Now.”

Before anyone could take a breath, Cobby shot to Abby’s side to grip Jose’s arm, his bloodless knuckles and flashing eyes attesting his anger. “I think she said
. . . some other time.”

Jose jerked his arm free and in a blink had Cobby in a headlock. A furniture-splintering free-for-all ensued. When all the feathers had settled and screaming had stopped, Jose was left with a broken wing, entire handfuls of feathers yanked out of his limb. Cobby had blood seeping from an ear and Hud stood between the two men.

“If you two can’t stow your testosterone, we’ll need to make new arrangements. Now
cut the shit.”
His eyes bore into Jose. “Do you get my drift?”

Jose’s face steamed. He took deep gulping breaths of air, trying to get himself under control.

Hud turned and continued. “You okay, Cobby?”

“Sure, I think we’ve had enough.” Abby clung to his side, a cloth tossed from Dezi cleaning up the dribbling blood.

From the corner of his eye, Jose watched Cobby throw an arm around her shoulder and slip a kiss on her forehead. “Thanks, babe. I’ll be alright.”

That was the final straw for Jose. He lunged at Cobby, his lion-like tail snapping in the air. Cobby went down hard with Jose on top of him, Abby screaming. “Jose. No!”

Hud and Wil pulled Jose off Cobby but not before they all realized Cobby had hit his head on the hard floor; Jose’s entire weight, wings and all, adding to the force. He was out cold.

Back in his solitary room, Jose scrunched his eyes closed and rubbed his forehead with both hands. He hadn’t meant to hurt Cobby so badly. He just couldn’t help himself. Who the hell was Cobby to be so possessive with Abby? She was
his!
He cringed when he remembered the faces of Kane and Kenya, Bonnie and Chloe. He hadn’t been able to look Chloe in the eye after getting a peek at her tear-stained face. He knew the tears were for him while everyone’s anger screamed for him to be banished. Before anyone could do anything, he turned on his heel and limped back to his hole-in-the-wall, but not before he got a clear look at Netty’s cold expression and the disappointment in the lowering of Echo’s golden furry head.
That means it’s already all over the Womb, including Forbation
.

He flopped down on his bed, the stress of the day exhausting him as he watched the walls vibrate with movement, faintly expanding as the Womb breathed. It was becoming nauseating.

Feeling a lump in his bed, he reached under the mattress to feel the Beretta he had secreted. He didn’t know what he planned to do with it but just having it there made him feel more like a man. With that thought in his head, he settled down and fell fast asleep. The long complex of niches and corridors cooled outside his meager room, silent as always, not even the soft flutter of minion wings to disturb the night.

Chapter 12

Jose rose hurriedly, having overslept. He flapped his left wing gently; six inches of missing feathers and another hole further down made him look like something that would make even an earthly peacock hang its head in shame.

The minute he stepped outside his room, he knew something was different. No Forbation. The usual fawning minions fluttered above, taking a break from their usual duties to simper over their catching a glimpse of him. But instead of the Elder minion of the Womb waiting to castigate him and force him to grovel, there stood a miniature minion that stood only two feet tall, and she was rocking back and forth on her feet in excitement. Jose’s mind accepted the minion’s aura.

“Hello, Brother Jose. I am Sister Doodiet. Brother Forbation sent me to take you to your permanent work assignment. I will be in charge of you. We must hurry, hurry. The day is getting away from us.”

“You’re a female and Forbation put you in charge of me?”

The little minion’s aura darkened. “You speak with disrespect, Brother. I am disappointed to begin our long relationship with such behavior. I will make a note of your disposition and hope that it will improve as we begin your duties.” Doodiet took to the air. “Come, we are late as it is.”

Doodiet joined the flock of minions overhead, each one’s flight a syncopation of pathways in the air. Jose quickly shook out his wings to fly but realized walking would need to be his mode of travel until his plumage grew back. Further humiliated, he kept an eye out for Doodiet and followed her from below.

As he reached the main artery that ran through the Womb, he squinted his eyes against the Oolahan sun that streamed down to him from dizzying heights. When he looked up to locate Doodiet, he was overcome with vertigo and made faint by the layers and layers of minions that flew above him; golden wings fluttering, tails flying and crystal antlers flashing their black and red deadly emissions. It made for a stupendously blinding sight as the sunlight lit up the massive cathedral that was the ceiling.

Soon, his trek led him to an enormous metal plate sheltered in an alcove. A steady stream of minions collected at the base of the plate. Some pushed carts laden with parcels that were stacked with trays of weirdly fragrant organic material, rocks and a wild variety of mysterious objects for which Jose had no name; the silence was broken only by the wheels that carried their burdens.

Doodiet landed deftly before him, folding her delicate wings close to her body, not a strand of fur out of place. “We stop here. The plate will soon open. We must be in line.”

As they joined the melee near the plate, Jose asked, “What’s the big deal? Why is everyone waiting?”

Doodiet responded, her aura sharp and clear. “This will be your first lesson, Brother Jose. Behind this safety plate is the entrance to the most dangerous place on this planet. We are charged with the honor of caring for the wide variety of species as they are brought from the portals linking our worlds. We must study their behavior before actual work can be done on them.”

Jose’s mouth was agape. “What kind of work is done on them?”

“That is none of your concern, Brother. It will be up to us to monitor their behavior and make sure they are fed and kept comfortable and clean. When we have ascertained their level of danger, they will be put into rotation for study.”

“Holy shit!”

Doodiet stood and stared blankly at Jose. Her aura finally sent him questioning fingers, which he ignored in his burgeoning anger.

“This is an effing zoo. And you’re trying to tell me I’m just going to be a janitor for the inmates?”

Doodiet bristled. “You are sadly mistaken if you think you can take this assignment lightly, Brother Jose. If I were you, I would work very hard. Just like the rest of us. And if you are lucky, maybe Brother Forbation will forgive you for your demonstration of violence. I’ll tell you a little secret, it is only due to the fact that you are a human, our very descendant, that has saved you from expulsion from our planet. Violence, when detected in any of our charges, is bred out of the species. That’s part of why they are here. We will reintegrate the altered member back into the population of his planet and return with another member to alter. Over the multitude of generations, we have found the altered or non-violent members have an easier time of breeding, increasing the odds that someday in the far-off future, most violence will be vanquished from the planet.”

“You must be kidding me.”

“I assure you, Brother, I am not. Come, now.” Doodiet moved forward with the crowd. An unexpected surge found all minions jockeying for position. “Hurry, Brother. The lock will not stay open for long. We have only a few moments to get through before it closes. There is no telling when it will open again.”

“Well, that certainly sounds like a screwball system if ever I heard one.”

Doodiet kept walking but her head twisted around to face Jose. “Please, Brother. There are necessary reasons for everything on Oolahan. Perhaps it would be best if you just listened until you learn your duties.”

With those words, Jose crossed into his new working area he had dubbed “The Zoo”.

It wasn’t long before even the muttering stopped as Sister Doodiet escorted him around the most exemplary, mind-blowing and unending collection of never-before-seen life from all corners of the cosmos. He observed creatures of every size, shape, and color. Organic and inorganic. Most of the life forms were kept in a sealed room of safety glass with airlocks for ease in feeding and taking of cell samples.

“Sister Daisy was very useful when she was here,” Doodiet’s aura seemed to sigh in his mind. “She won’t be back from her mission for weeks. I hope she has time to give us. We need her to speak to the new arrivals. It takes quite a while for them to settle down and get used to hearing voices in their heads. Some of them just . . . flip out and fail to adjust. When Daisy can communicate with them, they become a lot more cooperative.”