Terry Neale - Jo-el

“I could overwrite her computer. She might freak out.”

“Let’s do that, I don’t like the eavesdroppers. Tell her that the FBI are monitoring her emails and that’s why I changed how I’m communicating.”

“Do you want me to put her on the monitor?” Sally asked.

“Sure.”

Sally placed the disc monitor in the air and almost instantly a Three-D hologram of Cathy Vogel appeared in my family room. She was crouched over a laptop computer in a small office. The office was cluttered, with papers strewn all over her desk. I could see a framed picture of a female, college student, amongst the mess and a mug of what was probably coffee. A solitary plant that looked plastic, broke up the line of dull grey filling cabinets around the office edge. One chair faced the desk. Not a lot of space for anything else.

Vogel was plain, her short, brown hair, unkempt and her face contained little makeup. Her eyes were grey-green, the signs of long hours beginning to show in the crescent bulges beneath the lids. She appeared to be late forties and dressed simply in a dark blue pant suit. There was no wedding ring.

I viewed her expression as she read the words that now overwrote everything else on her computer. The font was large and the type face white. Her fingers instinctively raised off the keyboard, her eyes widened and her mouth gaped open just a little. She pushed back slightly from the screen, Sally typed ‘just type, it will reach me.’ I stood behind her looking over her shoulder, I could read the type. She began typing again. ‘What happened?’

“Type, ‘please don’t be alarmed.’” I told Sally.

I looked around her office, there were no windows to the corridor just windows behind her chair, to the outside. I noticed a simple turn lock in her door.

“Add, ‘I would like to come to your office.’”

Vogel typed, ‘there are agents all over the place.’

“Type, ‘Cathy, I can bounce into your office.’” I immediately worried I’d scare her.

She typed, ‘what do you mean?’

“Tell her I want to speak face to face, if she agreed, she should lock her door and then sit back at her desk.” This was it, the telling moment, let’s see how tough you are, Cathy Vogel?

She hesitated and just gaped at her computer screen, then she looked up and around the little room as if someone was watching. She rose from her chair and locked the door, then took her seat again. I could see her take a deep breath. She typed, ‘okay.’

I smiled at Sally. “Let’s do it, Sally.”

I bounced into her office, sans wings, but as Jo-el, right in front of her desk. I sat down in the solitary guest chair.

Cathy Vogel jerked back, her arms came up and her hands wrapped around her face.

“Good God! How did you do that? Oh, my God, who are you?”

“I’m sorry to startle you, but please don’t be frightened, I’m friendly.” When she heard my voice, she regained her composure and breathed a little easier. “Cathy, there is a lot to understand about me, but I’m not sure I or you have the time right now. If someone comes to your door, I’ll leave, okay?”

She nodded. “Why are the FBI and God knows who else out there? Are they after you?”

“Because of what you just witnessed. I met with the CIA, FBI, Homeland Security and the Marines, they’re having difficulty believing my story and what I can do. They’re frightened, or that’s my best explanation. They are trying to accept me, based only on known technology in 2016.”

“Are you…. are you what some people are saying, an Alien?” She found it difficult to ask, it just went against all normal beliefs.

“No, I’m an average human who’s been given technology far advanced from what is currently available now. But I haven’t time to explain everything yet, I just want an opportunity to begin showing the world who I am and what I can do.”

“My God, just what I’ve seen so far makes you the biggest story on the planet.”

“Obviously I can’t appear on a show in the US right now so I’m happy to do the show in Australia, I can be there any time. I can travel at almost the speed of light, so whenever you can set it up I’ll be there.”

There was a pause as Vogel digested what I just said. “You can travel at the speed of light?”

“Almost, yes.”

“Good God! How?”

“Not now, okay?”

She nodded.

“How did you know where to come, here, this office.”

“I can see most areas of the earth; I’ll explain another time.”

“Can I report what I’ve seen?”

“Sure,” I replied.

“Troops coming, Jo-el.” Sally in my ear.

“Get ready to get me out.”

There was rattle at the door, I stood up. “Miss Vogel, we need you to open your door.”

I turned to Cathy Vogel, “time for me to go.” I smiled and bounced back to my family room.

“Sally put it on the monitor.”

Cathy Vogel’s office came back on the Three-D screen. She was still sitting at her desk, a stark look of bewilderment across her expression. The door rattled and the voice said. “Miss Vogel, please open the door.”

Vogel rose and in a trance-like state crossed to the door and unlocked it. Two men in full combat gear came into her office and glanced around the small space. “You need to leave the building, Miss Vogel.”

She looked at the two men for a few seconds, picked up her laptop, power cord and handbag and walked out of the office not saying a word.

“Follow her, Sally.”

My view changed, I followed her down a corridor. It was mostly empty except for a few guys in military uniforms.

“This is nuts, Sally. Don’t they know I can bounce out of anywhere? Is doesn’t make sense to me.” I was fraught with incredulity.

“They don’t know any other way, Jo-el. Whoever is running the show probably can’t explain who you are to all the troops, they just have to go with what they know.”

“What on earth do they expect to gain from this?”

“Keep you away from the media and try and capture you before you say too much. That’s would seem to be the direction they’re taking.”

“But I can just go to another country?” I sat down on the sofa and marveled at the spectacle. The confusion I’d instigated just amazed me. I thought it was going to be relatively straightforward to educate the world about who I was and why I was here, but the reaction had been totally contrary to what I imagined.

“Turn it off, Sally.” I wanted to think.

I shut my eyes and pictured my life two weeks ago, prior to the events that had upended my existence. Fifty-seven-year-old widower, well-off, lonely, two children, motorcycle fan, enjoys an evening whisky. Okay, so now I’m watching TV and a reporter is describing a rescue in the Caribbean by a man with wings. I would be skeptical, a hoax but a great video to see. Then this winged man is in Shanghai rescuing people from a burning building. I pressed deeper into my sofa and wondered what I would think of that? Perhaps there is a man with wings, incredible. I want to see an interview on TV. I want to hear how he came to have wings. But nothing, just fascinating video. Then there’s a report that he rescued three hikers in Southern California. Man, this guy gets about, perhaps there’s two of them? The TV has a myriad of loony people claiming everything from, Aliens to the second coming of Christ. I want the truth; I don’t believe any of the crazy people. The talking heads are just repeating what happened, they don’t have anything new. The winged man doesn’t appear in public, no interviews, no more rescues, where did he go? Perhaps he died. The media has nothing new so the story starts to drop in the standings. Perhaps it was all just a hoax? There’s reports of sightings but no pictures. Everybody is claiming to be the guy; billionaires are offering stupid money to have dinner with him. I’d lose interest.