George continued the story.
“The crew was able to launch almost all the pods,” he said. “Only two remained: Lorraine and Marty. Lorraine, perhaps because of her small size, somehow changed before she was found. But something went wrong with Marty’s pod. It must have floated until he was found, looking exactly as he had when he left our planet.”
Eric walked over to LaBerge and looked down at him.
“That’s why he kept asking Lorraine what she knew of him,” he said. “They were found together, and LaBerge was crazy to know what an Earth child had to do with an alien.”
“Or what he thought was an Earth child,” Wil said.
“It makes me wonder,” Rachel said. “Maybe other children landed in different parts of the world and did not change.”
George shrugged. “We were not told of them.”
Samantha reached toward Julie and brushed back her hair.
“I’m glad Julie found me,” she said. “I don’t understand, though, why we weren’t just told about our children. Did our superiors think we’d reject them?”
“Of course not,” Judy said. “But remember, your minds were blanked. You had no recollection of creating your offspring.”
“Were you afraid of the police?” George asked.
Both Samantha and Rachel nodded excitedly.
“That’s because it would have been unsafe for you to involve any authorities,” George explained.
“Seems like you built in a lot of protective devices,” Wil said. “I’d hate to imagine what a mind-blanking session is like.”
Barbara huffed. “They didn’t build in enough to keep some of them from getting caught. And what about Raoul Henley?”
“Who?”
Samantha told Judy about the man who had supposedly given Julie to her, and what had happened to him. Rachel mumbled something.
“We also lost someone mysteriously,” she said. “Nina Blair was a social worker. She practically begged me to take in Steven. Then she was killed, her body burned beyond recognition by some kind of chemical. Do you suppose she suffered the same fate as your man?”
“It’s possible,” Samantha agreed.
“The pods are set to help us change,” George said. “But in human hands . . .”
They all looked to the Plexiglas case, where the pod hung suspended. It was no more threatening than a carved-out piece of wood.
“But what about all those pods we found?” Eric asked. “Do you mean someone died horribly each time one of them was exposed?”
“I think they lose their potency after a time,” George said.
Wil walked over to the display case.
“I don’t see much in the way of technology here,” he said. “Just a few controls at the front. Hardly the kind of thing to keep someone alive through space.”
“But the lack of technology is precisely the reason it works,” Judy said. “Those pods aren’t manmade . . . or should I say Ixtauran-made. They are Ixtauran.”
“I don’t get it,” Wil said.
“They are the reason we were able to travel through space,” George said. He looked at the pod, and a sort of reverence came into his voice.
“We all strive toward the highest level of physical and spiritual existence,” he said. “The Cetacu achieved these aeons ago, when they became one with nature. They gave up their corporeal forms and, shall we way, ‘linked’ with various types of flora. In doing so, they were able to find the answers to questions all beings have been asking since the beginning of time.”
“It was the Cetacu who discovered the secret to ‘faster-than-light’ speeds,” Judy added. “They are the ones who allowed us to break free of our own planet and explore the galaxy.”
On the floor, LaBerge had been quietly listening to every word. His heart began to pound now. Ten years of research, and at last he knew the answer! It was the pods! All the time, he thought, it had been those strange wooden “boats” they’d found floating in the ocean. And he was lucky enough to have a new one, one that was almost completely intact.
Suddenly the room filled with the blare of sirens. Everyone looked around in confusion, except for George and Judy. Samantha turned to them.
“What’s happening?”
“Not to worry,” George said. “We set the alarm system to go off at this time. It’s to clear everyone out of the building.”
“But why?” Eric asked. “What are you going to do?”
“We’ve come to rescue you,” George said. “But we can’t just leave this place as it is. No one must know we are here. The entire complex must be destroyed.”