Page 100 of Malliko
Clara was quick to dismiss the whole thing. “There’s always been crazy people postulating those sort of things, but you can’t trust them.”
Nerix crossed his arms. “How do you know?”
“Well. because…” Clara stopped talking and looked at all of us. “Honestly, I can’t know. It’s just that people like her have always been ridiculed because the consensus is that aliens don’t…”
Zobran crooked an eyebrow waiting for Clara to finish her sentence. She screwed up her mouth and sighed. “Well, ninety-nine percent of humans don’t believe that aliens kidnap and impregnate women for the same reason that they don’t believe in aliens to begin with.”
There was a moment of silence and then Nerix said the obvious. “They’re wrong.”
“Do you have a sense if this woman is sane?” I asked Nerix.
He uncrossed his arms and leaned closer. “I wondered the same thing, but some of the things that she says are eerily accurate. There are details that have me extremely concerned. That’s why I wanted to talk to you, what with your expertise on humans. Could she have picked it up in some other way than experiencing it herself?”
“You’ll need to share with us what details we’re talking about,” I said.
Zobran pressured Nerix, “It’s okay, Malliko won’t judge.”
With a displeased expression, Nerix held out a device. “Just pretend not to read the racy texts or see the pictures. Jade and I chatted a while before she opened up and told me about the abductions.”
“What is that?” Clara asked and pointed to the panel in my hands.
Zobran answered her. “That’s a low-tech device that allows us to connect with humans. Are you familiar with something called the internet?”
There was suppressed laughter in her tone. “Yes, I’ve heard of it.”
“Your technicians have also developed certain programs that they refer to as apps. We are using those as ways to communicate with humans.”
Nerix added to what Zobran had said, “I met Jade in a group calledThose of Us Who Believe in Aliens. I told her from the beginning that I was an alien soldier who could never meet with her in real life.” He looked to Lios. “Just like you ordered us to.”
“She wouldn’t have believed that,” Clara said. “I think you can safely assume that she thinks you’re making it up.”
“Yes. She told me as much, but we still kept talking and things got a bit spicy between us…” Nerix moved a little from side to side. “Anyway, if you move past the images we exchanged then you’ll find her describing her abductions.”
“Alleged abductions,” Clara said before she bit her lip. “I’m sorry. It’s just that my mind has been programmed to think of people like Jade as crazy and it’s hard to shut down.”
Nerix didn’t comment on that but started explaining. “Jade was twenty-five the first time it happened. In her dreams, she sees details and sometimes she’ll remember them when she wakes up. She has made drawings and scribbled down details from those dreams. She keeps remembering a man. According to her he looked human but because he had yellow rings around his irises, she told me that she thinks he might have been a hybrid of sorts. Here, look, she sent me a drawing she made of him.”
We all looked at a poorly made drawing of a male.
“Definitely a Thaddoinian,” Zobran said. “Look at that jawline.”
“Alright, I’ll give you that it’s strange she has details that include a description of a Thaddoininan,” I said and kept scrolling down.
“It’s not just that. She drew a symbol she remembers from his body and one that she remembers from the room she was held in.”
We all went quiet when two different symbols appeared in the amateur drawings.
“That can’t be,” I muttered.
“We all had the same reaction but tell us what you’re thinking,” Zobran said. “We need to know that you’re thinking the same thing as us.”
“Sival.” I muttered and felt my spine straighten.
The name hung in the air for a moment before Clara asked me. “What is a Sival?”
My voice shook a bit when I explained, “Sival is a former crew member that worked with us a long time ago. We lost him after a visit to Scilmor. We always assumed that he deserted us.”
“Are you okay?” Clara asked me. “You look pale and shaken.”
