Alien (part II)

It was almost out of Sproustown, about two miles from the northeast road. In a distant rural neighborhood called Little Quarry. There were no buildings here, and the houses were all built on the dirt, with large lots on the back. It was common for the lands to have no separation, or at most a low fence precariously fixed over the clay.

"Not surprising Hernandez snooped through Johnson's window without that much effort," I commented.

"In this kind of place there is not much secret among the residents..." Lowe said.

"Me and Joey are going to see our witness. You two take a look at the scene. We'll be right there."

"Ok."

Joey and I went to Gelson Hernandez's house. We knocked on the door and he quickly answered. As soon as we said we were from the police his eyes flashed and he got excited, inviting us in. He was an old man and didn't exactly seem to have his days busy, so he must've been eager to share his alien story with somebody.

"It was a ninja! I swear to God! He jumped off my roof and landed on my neighbor's. And then he jumped back to the back house. Like that: in just two steps, mr. Officer." Believe me, he called me 'mr. officer'. "Jumped on one and then on the other."

"How was he?"

"It was there!" He pointed to the front of the neighboring house's roof next to the antenna. "He was there when he jumped out of my house. Then he went to that roof there."

Hernandez was one of those old men who keep repeating the same thing.

"We'll investigate... But could you give a description of this?"

"And it was with one leap! Miss Thomas doesn't believe it, but I swear..."

As you can see, it was a difficult conversation, but with some effort we managed to get something. After the interview Joey repeated what he had noted in his pad:

"We learned that the suspect had long white hair, was young, apparently in his early thirties, and he probably had a cloak? A cloak: Lieutenant? Fluttering behind his body as he jumped? Wasn't it an exaggeration of Hernandez? It looks so out of the movies... A cloak!"

I just wiped the sweat off my forehead. I reached for my cigarette wallet in my coat pocket and lit one.

"Let's see how the girls are doing," I decided.

It wasn't on purpose, but it happened that Joey was a little farther away and I ended up entering the scene before him. There was still a forensic policeman around who had given Crane and Lowe essential information about the events. He was in the hall.

I heard there was not much information about Mrs. Johnson. In the hall, the locations of the bodies were still drawn on the back side of the boundary line. I walked quickly to the bedroom and could hear some of Lowe and Crane's conversation. Instead of taking the opportunity to pass the Bechdel test it seemed like they were casually talking about me:

"He doesn't talk much ... I mean, outside of the service business. It's hard to say exactly what's on his mind," it was Crane's voice, "but the way he acts makes it even harder. He's always spitting orders at me and Joey. And to Cole. He is even harsher with Cole."

"That's funny. I had the impression it was the opposite of harsh..." Lowe answered.

When I entered the room they stopped talking and stared. Lowe had a little bag with a knitting needle tied to some wool. The bag was closed.

"So?" I asked, as if I hadn't heard anything, "anything?"

She showed me the bag.

"It's an evidence. They left it here. It was lying on the floor beside Mrs. Johnson. Other than that, nothing much," she shrugged, "there really is no hint of conflict here. I think it's safe to say it was really ductu's work."

"If so we are dealing with a monster. I solved many cases in Sproustown, but never did I come across someone who could kill with ductu alone."

And it was true. I've been working in Sproustown for over fifteen years. I wasn't always a lieutenant, I started as a detective, just like Joey. But it is very rare for a paranormal being to be able to affect people that much with such a simple skill.

To understand the concept of ductu, think of a dog and analyze its instinct. When it glimpses an easy prey its instinct says "attack", when the instinct tells it the prey will bring it trouble if it was to engage in a fight with it, it says: "bark, but keep distance." Though humans have a less acute degree of instinct they still have a little they inherited from the evolution of their ancestors. When seeing a spider won't we all have a wince? It is a physiological inheritance back from the times when there were no means of combating poisoning and no means of reducing infestations, which made these animals dangerous to our race. Nowadays spiders are not as dangerous as they used to be due to technology and the presence of health clinics, but we still have an inherent fear of such creatures. However poisonous the spider is, there is always the shudder.

The ductu is similar. It is the manifestation of primitive instinct in an intelligent being. Faced with an undoubtedly stronger living being than you, ductu tells you "be careful, this creature in front of you is no small feat." Like I said, aliens are essentially mixed creatures of animals and humans. Not in the literal sense of the word, but mixed in the sense that many animal characteristics are found in them. No wonder instinct is one of them and is even sharper, as are all the other traits.

Aliens can essentially detect by far the presence of other paranormal beings just by using this instinct that functions as a vibration, propagated as a brain wave. Ductu warns the alien not only if there is danger, but also points out where the danger is.

Which brings us to the anti-ductu.

A natural countermeasure evolution gave to ductu-equipped paranormal beings like aliens was the anti-ductu. You see, if in a community of more than one alien there was only ductu, everyone would have an endless sense of fear within, whispering each one to avoid approaching the others, causing unnecessary social conflict and why not threatening the species. Since instinct warns them whether the presence of the sighted organism is dangerous or not, and since the aliens themselves are of the most dangerous beings, this instinct would be hammering within them all the time. To nullify this state of diligence, nature has also blessed them with anti-ductu, a technique that can be used to instantly lose the fear that came as instinct from nature itself.

A priori one might think that the two forces cancel each other out and they are like normal human beings, without vast danger discernment. But it's not like that. There is some degree of anti-ductu control. An alien does feel insecurity when there is another alien or other potentially dangerous organism nearby, but the anti-ductu is only triggered moments later upon realizing the other being is also of the same race

(Oops, there's something dangerous nearby. Oh! It's just you! Okay, now the fear is gone.)

And this evolutionary process comes to the skill I want to come across: the controlability of ductu. Some aliens have evolved to the point they can feel ductu and anti-ductu at will. But as the word itself already indicates, anti-ductu is not just the personal annulment of ductu, but the equivalent of inflicting ductu back on other organisms so that the sense of fear is lost. If everyone is equally afraid, no one is. Which means that some aliens may choose to inflict fear on other beings via anti-ductu.

The anti-ductu, in disparity with the ductu, is not the ability to dispel fear but to inflict at will.

Do you see where this is going? If a living being which can inflict natural fear on other organisms, fear that is strong enough to nullify the sense when present of a specimen of the same degree of danger, then when throwing anti-ductu at an organism devoid of this ability, as in an ordinary human being, for instance, the ductu becomes an indescribable sense of exaggerated, apparently inexplicable fear.

Since fear causes the heart to accelerate, what we were speculating about was the possibility that anti-ductu was inflicted on that elderly couple so hard it caused a heart attack, since they could be already suffering from some kind of heart problem and thus get killed from the acceleration.

Can humans be killed with anti-ductu only? That was the question.

So far I had never seen anything like it, but following the logical argument nothing precludes the possibility. However to make it possible it would have to be an alien provided with an extreme intensity of natural anti-ductu.

"What about you, Crane? What do you think?"

"Well, I don't know... Hernandez was the only one who saw the suspect... There's always the question: did he really?"

I scratched my chop.

It is true the whole story is very convenient for Hernandez. The only fingerprints in Johnson's house are his: on the windowsill and inside the house. According to him, he had bent at the window to warn the Johnson of the event and then when he spotted the deceased couple, he entered ending up leaving the impressions that were inside the house. The report stated he opened the door (which was unlocked, just pushed against) and stepped in, hoping to help the couple lying on the floor. Only when he got close he realized what happened.

His version indicated there was an alien involved, whereas the possibility raised by Crane indicated this would only be a common case, which could be left to conventional police, and Hernandez would then be the prime suspect.

"I think it's hard to know for sure, isn't it...?"

I just realized Joey was taking too long to get in. Remind he was only a few steps away when I invited him to check out the crime scene. Yet I had the time to enter the room and exchange all those sentences. As soon as that though crossed my mind we heard his voice:

"Lieutenant! Here!"

It sounded urgent, so all the three of us ran out of the Johnson house. Joey was right outside the door, pointing at the roof of the residence behind.

I tilted my head in the pointed direction and saw him: a young man in his early twenties with long hair, wearing a sort of unbuttoned overcoat that fluttered like a cloak behind its back. The description was too foolishly true to Hernandez's account. As soon as my eyes landed on him, the young man jumped from the neighboring house in the opposite direction to us.

There wasn't much time to think. Without uttering any orders to the others, I simply dropped my cigarette on the grass and began to imitate its movements in order to reach it. It was far away, but we couldn't lose sight of it. I jumped on the roof of Johnson's house, then reached the one in the neighboring house with a single jump. The ceiling of the other house was a little farther away, so I hesitated a bit before jumping.

Even though I could parkour like that alien, I wasn't as proficient. Luckily the houses were over and the road turned into a patch of forest. We came to a cluster of trees that stood beside a Little Quarry road. I couldn't see the suspect, but my anti-ductu indicated its direction. I jumped from roof to floor and started running on foot.

I noticed only Joey had reached me. He was carrying his 22-caliber in the hands.

"It's here!" I shouted at Joey and quickened my pace. Joey must have hurried even faster, for within seconds he already reached me.

A couple instants later we could see the target. We were on a descent that had few trees, it was really a bunch of grass with only one tree here and there. There wasn't much room to hide. It had a shiny object behind its back and kept running as fast as it could.

"Shoot!" I told Joey. He did as I said.

After the firing we heard a clang of metal clashing, and the bloke continued with its rapid pace. I figured Joey must've had somehow missed the shot.

Joey fired again, and the clang of clashing metals was even clearer. This time I noticed a slight, almost imperceptible movement of the object the fugitive had strapped to its back. It was some sort of blade. It was probably using one hand to fend off shots with the blade, pulling it out of its holder and then stowing it back quickly. That required admirable dexterity.

That's when I realized the fugitive had lost an object after the second shot, which had fallen either from its pocket or from its hand. Probably the second option, because if it was holding something and needed the hand to draw the blade, such object would eventually fall.

After some thoughts that occurred me there in fractions of a second, I decided that we would stop the persecution. I motioned for Joey to stop and then approached the package that felt from our target's pocket and picked it up.

The reasons I opted for this route were as follows: First Joey never misses his targets with a pistol. So he had certainly got it, which means that while running and on its back the fugitive managed to defend itself from two 22-gauge shots with an object which was behind its back, using only one hand. That indicated how skillful he was. Second, Joey and I were exceeding the human limit with those jumps between rooftops and keeping strides of over thirdy miles an hour on rough terrain. Exceeding the human limit wore me out. I figured that if the alien was the fast-running type, he planned to wear us out and then, if necessary, easily beat us with a surprise counterattack, since he had considerable skill.

It was a shame to have to lose the target, but at least it left a clue, which would hopefully bring us information with which we could identify it with less physical exertion.

"What is this?" Joey approached me, referring to the fallen alien's object. He probably also realized we would only get tired if we continued the persecution so he didn't ask about the mute order of cessation.

"It looks like an envelope with some papers in it... We better take it to the head office," I sighed, "damn... I'm getting too old for this kind of activity."

"Don't blame yourself, Lieutenant. The guy was actually unreachable."

"Whatever... Let's go back. Now we know whether or not Hernandez was actually inventing a suspect."

It wasn't always that the field trips end the way we like. Sometimes we meet a dead man in the alley with no suspect, sometimes we corner the suspect when it's about to leave the city by boat, sometimes we expect no suspect and although we found one, it escapes our clutches.

It's all in a day's work.

However, the fact that we just didn't reach it because we were inferior in the matter of 'indarra' leaves a bitter taste in our mouthes.

Indarra is another characteristic ability of the so-called paranormal beings, objects of interest of SAD. I said earlier that zombies are vastly stronger than the average man. The truth is that most of the ten dangerous races are. To cite the example of the alien, since it has animal characteristics in its species, its strength and physical endurance is accentuated. Imagine a giant human-sized ant. Carries up to ten times its own weight. It can be pressed by a giant shoe and still be virtually unharmed. It may fall from a height of a hundred feet and walk normally. Looks a lot more physically resilient than the average human, doesn't it?

Just like paranormal beings use their quick cognition to acquire finesses impossible to humans, they can also use their surplus strength to achieve new deeds unimaginable to humans.

Strength doesn't exist only for hitting others with a fishing box. An interesting application is speed. Imagine this: A 100-meter runner can run at over 25 miles per hour if strong enough. Of course, no one can hold this speed over a longer course, but in the 100-meter sprint, it all depends on how hard you tiptoe to get the kick off. In this race mode the runner applies all his or her strength to his / her fingertips for greater thrust, allowing him/her to achieve greater speed. It is an application of the strength to obtain another physical characteristic: agility

Indarra is the intrinsic force of the prominent races. Zombies, aliens and other races all have a degree of indarra. But this force can be applied in a variety of situations, allowing its owner to perform actions such as jumping from the floor straight to a roof, jumping from one roof of a house to another, running more than 30 miles per hour on rough terrain. Another application of indarra would be Chapman's aforementioned finesse, which manages to mimic the shear force of a nylon thread without the need for the target's thrust. As you can see, going around punching jewelry glasses with brute force is by far not the most useful application of this particularity. This natural factor when used decently can become much more dangerous than it seems

What I believe happened here is that the alien, coupled with its application of indarra to speed up, still possessed the characteristics of a quick animal. Since neither me nor Joey are aliens, we could only use indarra alone, so we ended up falling behind.

"Are you nuts? Hernandez was watching! What do you think we had to invent in order to explain your absurd speed?" Crane exploded as soon as we returned to the crime scene.

"Sorry, but I wanted to catch the suspect..."

"And failed! Of course. He was too far away. It wasn't even worth trying."

"We got this." I handed her the envelope

"How was he?" Asked Lowe.

"Physically it was exactly the same as the description of the report. It was far better than the inmate from the day before in terms of skill. He stopped two Joey's bullets with one hand."

Crane looked at me bewildered.

"Without looking back," I added.

There was a moment of silence.

"No excuses... Let's get this bloke. SAD has been through a lot worse. Now that we have this." I pointed the envelope with my head. "I hope we have some relevant information. Or at least I hope that's important enough for it to come back to retrieve it."

They all nodded and then we started getting ready to go back to the headquarters. A last thought crossed my mind.

"Joey?" I asked.

"Yes, lieutenant?"

"How did you find the alien? Did you just spot it by chance?"

"No. My anti-ductu warned me. One could just feel him outside there..."

"As I thought. And the three of us were here inside, about thirty feet away and we didn't feel any... So the intensity of the ductu was weak or average at most."

"Yeah. It wasn't that big of a deal. It was similar to your intensit... I mean ... Not that the lieutenant is no big deal, but..."

"I get it, Joey."

Lowe understood where I was going

"But if the intensity was weak..." she completed, "then the Johnson couple..."

"Exactly. They could not have been killed with just that."

"Hummm," did Joey.

If it were two cachectics elders in an wheelchair, surviving in base of devices, it would probably be possible to kill them with a less intense ductu. But middle-aged adults with no visible health problems ... That'd be a lot harder.

"Anyway, for now let's get back to the head office," I concluded.