Greg Krojac - The Schrödinger Enigma

“Why does it always happen to me? I’m sick of being carried off by aliens. I mean, who was nearly carried off during that awful battle? Me. I’m a fucking Argon magnet.”

Sitara was shocked to hear an Amish woman swear. She looked at her cell-mate.

“Did…did you just swear?”

Miriam blushed.

“Sorry, Sitara. I didn’t mean to. It just slipped out.”

“No need to apologise. I was just surprised, that’s all.”

Miriam grinned.

“I do feel better for cussing though.”

Sitara laughed.

“I bet you fucking do.”

The two of them collapsed burst out laughing.

“I didn’t know Muslim women swore, either.”

Sitara’s eyes glinted.

“Well, I’m not your regular Muslim girl either. Thoroughly modern Muslim, that’s me.”

Having composed herself, Miriam tried to keep a straight face, but a fit of the giggles overcame her. She fought to control her breathing again.

“Well fuck me.”

By now the two girls were in hysterics, both having completely blown away their respective faith’s stereotype. A banging on the wall from an adjoining room brought them back to their senses. It was followed by a male voice.

“Is someone there?”

The women weren’t sure what to do, shushing each other.

“Please answer. These alien guys don’t appear to be able to speak English.”

Miriam nudged Sitara.

“Do you think we should?”

Sitara nodded.

“We’ve nothing to lose.”

She went up to the wall and spoke in a voice loud enough for their fellow prisoner to hear, but not so loud that it might attract unwanted attention.

“Hi. My name is Sitara Khan and my friend is Miriam. Who are you?”

The voice sounded audibly pleased.

“Sitara Khan? It’s Roger Nelson.”

“Roger Nelson? Administrator Nelson?”

Miriam tugged at Sitara’s sleeve.

“Who is he? Do you know him?”

Sitara quickly turned to her friend.

“It’s my boss, Miriam. My big, big boss. Administrator Nelson is the boss of NASA.”

The voice sounded sad.

“I’m not boss of anything now, NASA’s gone. The UN is gone. The whole infrastructure has gone. So many people dead. So many dead, Doctor Khan.”

Sitara had mixed emotions. She was happy that Administrator Nelson had survived, but had suddenly been reminded of the millions that were not. She banished the thoughts from her mind temporarily.

“How did you get here?”

“I’ve been surviving on my own and saw a group of people crossing the bridge. I thought maybe I could hook up with them. But I was spotted, caught, and brought here.”

Miriam finally opened up.

“That was us. We were heading -.”

Sitara pressed two fingers to Miriam’s lips.

“Shhh. We don’t know if they have those translating things.”

The fingers removed, Miriam whispered a thank you. Sitara turned her attention back to the wall.

“We’ll find a way out of here or get rescued. I’m sure we will. And we’ll take you with us, Administrator Nelson.”

“Call me Roger, please.”

“Only if you call me Sitara. I’m tired now, Roger. I think we should probably get some sleep. We don’t know what time we’ll be rescued.”

Miriam’s face brightened up.

“You’re sure the others will rescue us?”

“Of course,” Sitara lied. There was a hope, but a slim one; the rest of the group wouldn’t even know that they were still alive.

Enak, Eled, and Roberta, the Marine Corps Nurse, woke up just before dawn. The plan was to find an Argon sentry patrol, overpower them, and take their uniforms. Then they would head for the hotel with Roberta as their prisoner, another piece of merchandise for the upcoming auction.

Jason and Samuel watched as the three rescuers turned into silhouettes in the half-light, and headed in the direction of the hotel. Samuel was nervous.

“Do you think they’ll get them back, Jason?”

Jason wasn’t sure of anything, but couldn’t show his own doubts about not only the rescue mission, but about whether they were doing the right thing by going to 1812 North Moore. The rest of the group might think that he knew what he was doing but, in reality, he was just winging it, improvising as he went along. But the others looked to him for guidance, for leadership, and he couldn’t let them down. Without hope, what else did they have? Without hope, what was the point of going on?

“I’m sure they will, Samuel. They know what they’re doing.”

The rescue party had only walked about two hundred yards from the bridge, and were under the George Washington Memorial Parkway, when Eled spotted a two-man Argon patrol approaching them. He pulled the others into the shadows and whispered urgently.

“Two warriors approaching from the left. This is our chance.”

Enak reminded the nurse what would happen from thereon.

“Roberta, we will change clothes with these two and then Eled will carry you under his arm while we take you to the hotel. Apologies in advance for any discomfort. From this point we will speak Argon only. Do not worry, just follow our lead. Are you ready?”

Roberta nodded.

The warriors were almost upon them now. Enak and Eled let them pass and then, without a murmur, each one grabbed a warrior’s neck, putting their victims in choke holds before pushing the warriors’ heads sharply forwards before [39] you already used this in the sentence jerking them rapidly backwards, breaking the Argons’ necks and ripping their windpipes apart for good measure. Roberta was shocked at the ease with which the two Argons were able to kill the sentries; she knew that the Argons were strong, but no human could have done so with so little effort. Enak and Eled quickly swapped clothes with the warriors and Eled checked that Roberta was ready before scooping her up under his arm.

As they passed the low hedge in front of the large black sign that proclaimed the building as the Key Bridge Marriott hotel, a warrior approached them. He gestured at the helpless Roberta, who had obviously given up struggling and resigned herself to her fate.

“ Atapemu enigniwm ?”

Enak grinned.

“ Oyidn. Iznizu enigniwm aw umadanib awk adanm. Akatmanuipaw ?”

The warrior looked Roberta over more closely.

“ Akewmuk ajomap an enignew, akitak abmuhc ahc imuk an enn. Anizal ilabukin, azewukis aununmuk eweynewm – eyey aituvuh onogn, kwa umadanawm .”

Enak joined in the banter.

“ Adnepegnin aununumuk amak awukilin an asep. Imim teb eyey in abmotuk awbuk .”

The three Argons laughed heartily and the rescuers continued into the hotel foyer, thankful that Roberta hadn’t understood a word that they had said. It hadn’t been complimentary. They ignored the other six Argons in the foyer, focusing only on getting to the tenth floor. Fortunately there was an elevator already waiting and they ducked inside. Enak counted the buttons and decided – correctly – which button served the tenth floor. Their universal translators were great for translating speech, but he had no idea what the strange marks meant when human words were written down. [40] nice detail!

Upon reaching the tenth floor, the elevator doors opened out onto a corridor. Should they go right or left? Which way led to room 1014? A warrior was standing in the hallway. He couldn’t have been there by accident. They approached the warrior and Enak gave the traditional greeting gesture, the palm of the right hand placed over the heart. The guard reciprocated. Enak pointed at Roberta.

“ Atun enigniwm awk ilija uney. Aodno abmahs al uvugn .”