13 - Any Friend of Yours...

Christina was a pragmatist. One of the reasons she excelled at football was her ability to focus on a line of attack, or particular tactic, and blinker everything else. If something got in the way of her plan, she sidestepped it or came up with a new plan. This wasn’t to imply that she couldn’t be deep when she wanted to be, au contraire. Christina could go deep; you bet your a*s she could. Anyone who said otherwise could take it up with her outside. But ‘deep’ was not in her natural comfort zone, and here and now it felt like she had been pushed into a pool of surrealism that Salvador Dali would have needed a life vest to float in. In the last two hours she had gone from: having a date(ish) with Gail; to visiting Nathan, out of concern for his well-being; to stepping into a magic elevator, and being transported hundreds of kilometers across Denmark; to standing face-to-face with an alien Orb which, according to her closest female friend (not platonic, at least not in theory) was sick. Half of this would qualify as surreal. All of it qualified as off the surrealometer. 

To make matters worse, Gail had apparently already struck up a rapport with this Orb, despite only having touched it, and diagnosed it (using her Jedi vet abilities) as sick. Events had spun out of Christina’s control, and this wasn’t a situation she was used to. So she was upset, and needed an outlet for her frustration. And, like many people in love, her frustration directed itself at the person who least deserved it. Somehow she couldn’t stop herself. No sooner had Gail announced that The Orb was sick, than Christina’s emotions poured fuel onto the already flickering sense of frustration that had been kindling since Nathan had first mentioned the word ‘alien’.

“What makes you think that you’re qualified to make a judgement like that?” Christina used the tone reserved for berating team members who had failed to perform to her own standards. Gail looked hurt, and even Nathan looked shocked. But before either of them could make a suitable riposte, a bright, mustard-yellow flash ripped across The Orb’s exterior. Suddenly Christina felt afraid. She started to back into the open elevator. The Orb closed on her, so that it filled her vision and she could only see her friends’ feet poking comically out beneath the curve of its shell. She expected a booming voice to shatter her eardrums, or electric bolts to arc out and fry her like those Nazis in Raiders who’d opened The Ark of the Covenant. It was a surprise then when The Orb spoke softly to her.

“Christina Jensen,” it crooned. “Do not be afraid. You have such strength in you, so much more than you know. We are approaching a crisis point, and you are the most important person here now. I have been waiting for you. Now that you are here, I hope you will join me, and together we can help to save your people.”

“I…I’m important?” stammered Christina, stepping towards The Orb.

It moved too, little by little so that after a few moments they were almost touching. “Yes,” it said. “Nathan has already committed to joining me and, unless I am mistaken, Gail will follow. They each have skills and attributes that will be important for the coming conflict. However, what you have will be critical I believe.”

“What’s that?” she asked.

“Courage,” The Orb replied. “The courage needed to see a plan through to its end. Courage to stand up for what’s right, and the courage to stand by your friends no matter what.” The Orb moved even closer. “Put your hand on me.”

This wasn’t a command. It sounded more like how Christina’s mother used to say “hold my hand” when she was a child, knowing that the act of touching would give her comfort and security. She reached out, and placed her right hand just above The Orb’s equator. As her palm came to rest she realized that she had expected its exterior to be cold, like metal. Instead The Orb was warm, actually warmer than she was. She could feel heat radiating through her skin. Heat and…something else. What was that? A sensation she had felt before when she had, during those precious, rare times, touched or held Gail’s hand. It was love. The Orb was radiating love into her, and she knew (although she did not know how) that it was not a general love, but a love specifically for her. 

Christina did not realize she was crying until a tear dripped off the side of her face and splashed onto her raised arm. The follicles on her skin recorded the impact, and at that precise moment a complex shape in soft orange passed across The Orb’s left hemisphere.

“I cry for you too,” The Orb said.

Christina stepped forward and hugged The Orb as hard as she could, safe in the knowledge that a hundred Christina Jensens could squeeze it and not hurt it. She stayed in this position for several heartbeats, her head resting on the curve of The Orb, her right ear pressed against its warmth. She listened for its heartbeat, but heard nothing. Yet in her heart she heard an echo of something, as if the movement of emotion inside The Orb was echoed in her own soul. Eventually she let it go, and stepped back. As she did so, The Orb moved back so that she could see her friends again. She wanted to say something, to apologize but there was no need. Both of them rushed forward at the same time, and they ended up in a group hug which said more than any words.

Nathan was the first to break. Smiling, he stepped towards The Orb and stood next to it, facing them. “So, is it time for formal introductions?” 

“It is,” The Orb replied, “and it is my honor to be the first.” It rose a meter in the air and addressed Gail and Christina in a formal voice. “Ladies, it is my honor to present myself to you. My name is When Does the Learning Inspect the Remarkable Cause?, and I have taken the task of helping your world.”

Gail did a wonderful curtsey and replied, with equal formality, “Sir, I am honored to meet you. My name is Gail Minnie Knitter, and I promise to do whatever I can to help you.”

“So be it!” The Orb’s voice rose in tone and intensity.

Nathan and Gail turned to Christina. She noticed that The Orb seemed to rotate in her direction It was hard to tell since it had no surface features and the patterns of light that played upon its surface seemed to hold to no particular design. “Oh for goodness sake,” she said. “Of course I’m in.”

“So be it!” repeated The Orb formally.

“I suppose,” Christina continued, “that I’ll have to reveal my secret middle name now?” She looked accusingly at Gail.

“Sorry,” Gail said. “It was my great-grandmother’s name. My mom didn’t want the memory of her to fade away.”

“It is a fine tradition,” The Orb said. “My next report to Orbic will suggest that families might wish to incorporate this in our naming ceremonies. It never occurred to us to repeat names down family lineages.”

Orbic, mouthed Christina to Nathan.

Homeworld, he mouthed back.

O, she mimed. “Well, I’m afraid my name’s not as exotic as Gail’s, but for what it’s worth I’m also pleased to meet you and introduce myself as Christina Margrethe Jensen.” She bowed at the waist. A a curtsey was a formality too far for her.

“A very royal middle name,” The Orb responded, and bobbed in what appeared to be its own version of a bow. “Now, please sit.”

Christina saw a table and chairs sprout out of the floor. One half of her brain was amazed; the other half scoffed in a ‘dude, what else did you expect?’ tone. Nathan took a seat at the head of the table. He pointed with both hands to the chairs on either side of him.

“Sorry to split you up,” Nathan said. “But I’d like you on either side of me.”

Being sat opposite Gail, where she could look at her, was not a problem for Christina. She pointed at the chair on Nathan’s right. “Dealer’s choice?” 

“Actually,” Nathan said, “I’d like you on my left, and Gail on my right.”

Christina shrugged, and took the left-hand seat. She saw Gail pause, look from Nathan to The Orb, then sit in the right-hand seat.

“Ok,” said Nathan. “Now that we’ve gotten the formalities out of the way, what the hell does Gail mean by you being sick?”

“She is both right and wrong,” The Orb replied. “But perhaps the more important question you should ask is how was she able to detect my condition?”

“Yeah, how did you get that?” Christina asked Gail.

“I’m not sure,” Gail said. “I just touched it…I mean…ummm…sorry what are you, male or female?”

The Orb bobbed. “That is a difficult question to answer I’m afraid. Gender is more complicated on Orbic than on Earth. For now it will be easier if you simply refer to me using the neutral form of ‘it’. I will not be offended, please believe me.”

Gail looked unsatisfied, but didn’t pursue the issue. “When I touched you I sensed something, like a flow of energy. And I could read it, just like I can read sheet music. This was like that. It was wellbeing given a form of readable musical energy.”

“That is a nice simile, Gail.” The Orb moved to the side of the table opposite her. “What you sensed could well be described as ‘musical energy’, but you have missed the important point.”

“Which is?” Christina prompted.

“That Gail has a gift. Her empathic abilities are astounding. She is able to sense the feelings and, I believe you would call it the ‘life force’, of other living beings. This is a very valuable trait to have Gail, I congratulate you.”

Gail looked like she’d just received a Nobel Prize in being amazing, and blushed accordingly.

“Alright then,” said Nathan to The Orb. “But I still want to know what’s wrong with you? Why was Gail both right and wrong?”

“She is right because I am suffering. There is a simple enough explanation. My presence on your planet necessitates concealment, and for this I have chosen to live underground. But this is not a natural state for my species, we are used to being ‘outdoors’ as you would say. The sickness I have comes from ultra-violet radiation withdrawal symptoms.”

Christina stamped her foot. “Well then let’s get some UV in here.”

“I’m afraid that the levels of ultra-violet radiation I require would cause you to suffer serious skin problems,” The Orb responded calmly. “I have set ultra-violet emitters around the Cavern so that I can artificially increase the radiation when none of you is here. But I must be careful not to let the radiation reach a certain level, which would attract attention from military surveillance satellites. Additionally, the artificial light isn’t as nourishing as the light from Orbic’s sun.”

“Bugger,” said Nathan. “So there’s nothing we can do?”

“I am sorry there is not, Nathan. But I thank you all for your concern. It will not cause me any long-term damage, unless I remain substantially beyond the time span projected for this embassy.”

“And how long is that?” Christina asked bluntly.

“It changes according to multiple variables. Currently my embassy is predicted to last approximately three of your months, by which time an event will render it pointless.”

“And what,” Christina demanded, “event is that?” Nathan gave The Orb what Christina could only describe as a ‘look’, and as strange as it seemed she got the feeling they were communicating. 

Nathan said, “Before we get into that, The Orb wants to tell you a few things.”

Gail and Christina turned to look expectantly at The Orb, which rose so that they could see the bottom of its sphere above the table.

“Firstly,” it said, “I have begun tunneling connections to your bedrooms. They will be completed by the time you return home. Secondly, I have upgraded your phones’ operating systems to the same level as Nathan’s.”

“Awesome!” exclaimed Christina.

“Wait,” said Gail. “I’ve only got this crummy Nokia!” She fished an ancient phone out and slapped it on the table.

“Look again,” said The Orb.

Gail picked up her phone, and thumbed the snooze button to re-activate it. A holographic image jumped out of the screen and rotated above the phone. It showed a picture of The Orb, and below that a number of directories and subdirectories. “Oh my,” she exclaimed.

“Your phones will appear normal except when you are alone with them. Then they will activate in holographic mode and relay any information you request from my memory. They now have unlimited capacity and will not require charging more than once every six months. But I apologize, in company they must act like a normal phone. So if you need to contact each other, or myself you must use them as you would before.”

“I can live with that.” Gail smiled broadly.

The Orb continued, “Now we can communicate at all times, and you can travel to my Cavern via the travel devices.”

“I call them tunnelators,” Nathan said.

Christina stifled a snigger, and saw that Gail also had an amused twinkle in her eye.

The Orb said, “Now, it is time to discuss the crisis you are facing, and tangentially the duration of my stay on your beautiful planet.”

Christina got a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. “What is the crisis?”

The Orb returned to the end of the table, opposite Nathan. Christina saw him lean forward expectantly. Whatever was coming, it was news to him as well. The Orb said, “North Korea intends to detonate a nuclear bomb under the South Korean city of PyeongChang next Wednesday, and lay the blame on China. This will certainly lead to an American retaliation, which will likely escalate to a global thermonuclear war. Thus my embassy here is projected to last less than three months, by which time I estimate that ninety-seven percent of living organisms on the planet will be extinct. Cockroaches excepted of course.”

Nobody said anything for a long time.

Finally, Christina put into words what she imagined they were all thinking. “Oh s**t,” she said.