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Chapter 2: An Impossible Story
🕑 Added 2022-04-10 02:03:36 +0000 UTCThe rain was rapping gently against the window as Tessa tried to stay awake. This paper on gender in Sumerian mythology wasn’t going to write itself, and she hadn’t even gotten to Inanna.
Suddenly the door swung open, revealing a rather excited Garcelle.
“Chérie! We’ve got a nouveau projet! I... right, but I can not actually tell you about it. It’s for the US Army—or maybe Navy? Air... whatever, one of them. So it is top secret, but I am allowed to tell you it is vraiment cool,” Garcelle explained, her French accent heavy with her excitement.
“Wait... the US Military? I... but you work with fungal electricity currents?” Tessa asked, firmly distracted from her own work.
“Well, yes. You see it is... non. I can not say. But it is so amazing,” Garcelle continued, practically vibrating from her urge to disclose more. “I wish you didn’t know French right now, then I could tell you all the things, without actually telling you.”
-b-
Tessa woke up to an empty bed. Groggily, she checked the time.
3:21am
Blinking from the light of her phone, she realised there was a noise coming from the living room. While Garcelle’s sleep schedule had been a little odd since the new workload started, her being up this late was rather out of even her new norm. Still half asleep, Tessa blew some of her bright red hair from her eyes and stumbled out to see what her girlfriend was up to.
Garcelle was sitting in front of her laptop, watching some sort of video. Tessa wandered up, curious what it was.
“Going Nuclear, part 7? What are you watching?” Tessa asked, a bit surprised that Garcelle jumped when she spoke (she really didn’t think she was all that quiet).
“Mon dieu... you snuck up on me. I, well, the first one showed up in the auto-suggestion area, and I was feeling curious, so I clicked. The history of nuclear weapon’s development is much more interesting than I realised,” Garcelle explained, her eyes seeming to sparkle with excitement.
“Huh... well, you’d better get to bed if you want any sleep tonight,” Tessa replied. “Didn’t Dr. Warrens want you in for 9am tomorrow, doesn’t he?”
Garcelle paled. “Zut! I forgot! Thank you, chérie.”
-b-
Tessa came home to find Garcelle passed out at the desk. Tessa closed the door quietly, slipped off her shoes, and moved over as silently as she could, planning to gently wake her dozing love.
When she approached, however, she realised Garcelle was muttering. Usually she spoke French in her sleep, or, occasionally, English with French grammar. This wasn’t either however. Tessa knew enough about linguistics to be able to tell it seemed to have structure to it, but fit no language Tessa knew.
After a moment of listening to the strange tongue, Tessa nervously nudged Garcelle’s shoulder.
When the French woman’s eyes opened, for a brief moment, there was no recognition in them. It was like staring into the eyes of a stranger.
Then Garcelle re-emerged, and a smile spread across her face. “Ma chérie. How are you?”
“F-fine. You?”
Garcelle stared at her a moment. “I am fine... Tessa, what is wrong?”
“Nothing. I’m sure it’s nothing,” Tessa replied as firmly as she could.
That had probably just been gibberish that managed to sound like it was a language of some sort.
A disturbingly alien language.
-b-
Peeling potatoes was far from Tessa’s favourite activity, but she didn’t like mashed potatoes with skins in them. So she slogged through the process. Slowly, however, the redhead realised she was being watched and turned to see Garcelle watching her.
Only it didn’t feel like Garcelle. Her eyes were cold, and her face devoid of any expression.
“G-Garcelle?” Tessa asked, not sure what to do if her girlfriend didn’t respond.
‘Garcelle’ looked at her a moment longer before nodding and closing her eyes. When they opened again it was Garcelle once more, her eyes filled with confusion.
“Quoi? C’est... what am I doing in the kitchen?”
“I... I don’t know,” Tessa replied. “You were staring at me, but... I don’t know how to explain this, but that didn’t feel like you.”
“Pas encore,” Garcelle sighed.
“Wait, this has happened before? We need to get you to a doctor then!”
Garcelle shook her head. “We’re monitoring it. It, well, it has to do with the research. I... I can’t explain it, but Tim says it’s nothing to worry about just yet. The Navy attaché agrees. They say it happened with another research team, and it was temporary.”
Tessa felt her eye twitch. “Dr. Warrens is a mycologist! This is a job for a medical doctor!”
“The Navy brought in a specialist. She said all my signs were positive,” Garcelle countered.
“I don’t think you can trust the military. Especially not the US military,” Tessa muttered.
“Trust me, chérie. This is the most important work of my lifetime. I can accept some odd symptoms.”
Tessa let out a tired sigh. “I don’t like it.”
-b-
Garcelle had been reading quietly for hours now. Curious just what her girlfriend was reading, Tessa did her best to sneak up. She just had to know something about this assignment that was devouring Garcelle’s life.
Only there was no way this reading was related. Garcelle was pouring over a website displaying the military capacities of various nations.
“What are you reading, love?” Tessa asked.
“Research,” came the reply, though the tone sounded unsettlingly flat.
Tessa stepped back nervously. That wasn’t her girlfriend, and she didn’t know if this new… whatever it was could be violent or not.
Suddenly the woman before her shifted slightly, and Tessa felt she could breathe easier. That felt like Garcelle again.
“Mon dieu, I get so distracted by wiki links sometimes... un moment, chérie, did you say something?” Garcelle asked, turning to face the redhead.
“I’m—uh, it’s okay,” Tessa lied. She was going to go talk to Dr. Warrens tomorrow. This couldn’t be allowed to continue.
Garcelle smiled. “I could really go for chocolate right now. Need some sugar to focus... did you want anything from the store?”
“N-no, I’m good,” Tessa replied, watching Garcelle go put her shoes on.
-b-
The corner store was 5 minutes away. Even if it had taken Garcelle a while to decide what to buy, she should be home by now. It had been over an hour. Tessa was panicking.
Pacing back and forth, Tessa wasn’t sure who to call. The store? The police? Dr. Warrens? An ambulance?
Suddenly her phone began to vibrate. Frantically, Tessa swiped to answer and brought it to her ear.
“Yes?”
“Tessa Atwell?” a masculine voice asked. It took Tessa a moment to place it as Dr. Warrens.
“What the hell is going on, Tim?”
“Ah, so she’s displayed symptoms at home... well, we need you. Stay put, I’ll be there with the jeep in a couple minutes. I’ll explain everything then.”
“You had better,” Tessa hissed, before hanging up angrily.
Half debating decking the professor when he arrived, Tessa grabbed her backpack and began packing whatever she thought she could possibly need. A notebook. Some pens and pencils. A toothbrush. A bottle of water. A change of clothes. Some trail mix.
She had no idea what to expect.
She was pacing about, trying to figure out what else she could possibly need, when her phone buzzed again. This time it was a text from Dr. Warrens, saying he was outside.
The redhead stormed out of the apartment, racing down the two floors of stairs, and half charging out towards Dr. Warrens’ jeep in the parking lot. The slightly portly middle aged man emerged from the jeep, no doubt planning to open Tessa’s door for her.
Instead, he found himself grabbed by the collar, Tessa filled with rage as she blew some of her red dyed bangs out of her face.
“Explanation. Now.”
“I--if you could get in the jeep first? It’s soundproof and... I’d explain out here, but... I don’t think the Americans would treat anyone who overheard us very well. They... this is rather more an important project to them than I realised,” the professor explained nervously, his eyes filled with honest fear that wasn’t all directed at Tessa.
Reluctantly, Tessa released him and went around to the passenger side of the jeep. She tossed the door open, fell into the seat, and then slammed the door back closed. A terrified Dr. Warrens scrambled into his side, closing the door behind him.
“It’s alien,” the man said flatly, as he turned the ignition and restarted the vehicle.
“Aliens? Seriously?”
“Just the one... sort of. I mean, it’s fungus-like, but it could be argued it’s colonial,” Dr. Warrens continued as he pulled out of the parking lot. “It... well, it can absorb electricity at an amazing rate. The Americans said NASA found it on an asteroid, and they were hoping to turn it into a capacitor. Apparently their initial research team tried to just keep it alive when they had a lab assistant get a zap from it and start to act odd. I think it must have been some sort of coded shock? I’m not sure if it’s possible, neurology’s not exactly my specialization, but it seems not implausible for it to somehow encode thoughts electrically?”
“That’s terrifying,” Tessa said, as the professor paused to check a stop sign based intersection for traffic.
“Oh, very. Of course, they didn’t tell us until after Garcelle got shocked by it and started having odd impulses. Like... well, it tended to just start as the munchies. She’d keep heading off to get sugary snacks. But, well, it grew from there. The Navy suits said everything was fine, the woman they brought in from... I don’t know, she sounds Texan or something? Anyway, she did checks, said Garcelle was healthy. But her episodes got more frequent, and longer and... well, today, she just marched right into the containment room without any protective gear.”
Dr. Warrens paused to take another breath. Tessa dreaded what he’d say next.
“The organism... it released a spore while she was in there. One rather large spore. There was also a massive burst of energy. Afterwards, Garcelle’s expressions were gone, like one of her episodes, only... her eyes were glowing. Some soldiers tried to grab her, but she released some sort of electrical defence. Luckily Garcelle regained control before the injuries were serious, but she’s drifting in and out of control.”
“What can I do?” Tessa asked, as they pulled up to a rather nondescript warehouse not far from the highway in Bedford.
“She’s able to regain control with emotional responses,” Dr. Warrens replied, as he brought the jeep to a stop. The older man paused a moment, seeming to brace himself for what was coming, before he opened the door. “I think you’re the only one who can get through to her enough to give her a fighting chance.”
Tessa nodded and opened her own door. She was stepping out when they were hit by the sound of an explosion. Unnatural crackling noises, with the occasional burst of thunder, followed. Briefly Tessa felt like her stomach was turning upside down, before the sensation ended.
“That was her, wasn’t it?” Tessa asked.
“I... I can’t say for sure,” the professor stammered, fear etched across his face. “If it is, then we have to act fast.”
The grey haired professor hurried forward, swiping a keycard to open the door. Tessa ran after him, not wanting to get locked out.
The interior of the building was in chaos. Red alarm lights were flashing, and military personnel were hurrying about. Dr. Warrens weaved his way between them, and Tessa followed awkwardly in his wake. There were certainly more soldiers here than she expected. (She briefly wondered if they were technically soldiers, or if that was an army only title, but dismissed that as something to worry about another time.)
The professor swerved into a small office, grabbing a machine that looked like a geiger counter to Tessa.
“I’ve tuned this device to read organic-electrical frequencies. We’ve been using it to track Garcelle’s episodes. I... I think the organism is working to re-work her brain patterns? I’ve not really had a chance to get any valid peer review,” Dr. Warrens explained, visibly a bit embarrassed he lacked more information.
“I suppose we should ask which way she went then?” Tessa asked.
“She’s heading to the bay,” a raspy female voice said, just a touch of some sort of Southern US accent.
Tessa turned around, glaring at the older woman who was standing in the doorway with a lab coat over grey camo. She looked to be pushing 60, her greying hair tied back in a long ponytail.
“Who’s this, by the way?” the military woman asked, sounding only mildly curious.
Tessa bit her tongue, knowing that if she spoke she wouldn’t be able to stop herself from screaming at this uncaring cog in the machine of the military.
“She’s Garcelle’s partner, and about our only hope for helping Garcelle regain control against that alien thing controlling her,” Warrens explained, sliding between Tessa and the American woman, no doubt sensing how close Tessa was to punching her.
“It’s a lost cause that’ll get you killed. Trust me, our new friend isn’t so easily stopped. Best to back off and watch what it can do.”
With a sickeningly nonchalant smile the woman gave them a quick wave and headed back into the hallway. “We’re pulling back to Truro.”
Adrenaline was pumping through Tessa’s veins as she struggled against the desire to run after the woman and trying to beat her senseless. It would be so satisfying.
Strangely, the alarms in the building had begun to shift, sounding more like a car alarm.
-b-
Tessa’s eyes opened. She was in her bed. Sitting up, she gasped for air and tried to ground herself. That had been a horrifying nightmare.
“It’s noisy, isn’t it?”
Tessa nodded, vaguely sensing that Garcelle was over by the window, looking out at the parking lot.
“I swear that dumb car goes off every night,” Tessa muttered, still trying to bring her breathing and heartbeat under control.
She heard Garcelle opening the window, and winced as the car alarm noise grew louder. Then there was a crack and a flash of red, before a sound that could only be a car exploding rocked the building.
Tessa, not expecting any of that, fell off of the bed in surprise (and fear). Nervously, she poked her head back above the mattress, glancing over to see that Garcelle had not, in fact, been standing by the window, but rather was floating. At least her hair seemed to generally be accepting gravity’s influence, but the crackling red energy from her eyes reminded Tessa that her nightmare had not been imagination, but rather a confused jumble of memories still being processed.
“It’s quieter now,” the being said, its voice still sounding pretty well exactly wrong for a human.
“W-when did we get back to the apartment?” Tessa asked, not completely sure why that was the first question she was able to properly form.
“I was carrying you, then you looked down and passed out. You started snoring soon after. So I placed you in bed... oh, and the front door shall need repairs. I couldn’t remember which key opened it,” the being explained, before glancing out towards the main part of the apartment. “On second look, I think ‘replacement’ may be more apt than ‘repair’ for a description of what needs to be done.”
Tessa tried her best not to faint again.
Her best didn’t quite cut it.
-b-
“You lost it?” Dr. Selma Montgomery asked, inhaling roughly half a cigarette in one go to calm her nerves.
“Whatever it is, it’s human sized and shaped, and doesn’t really have any lights attached, so yes. We lost the flying woman when she took off into the night sky,” the Canadian Colonel across from her grumbled. “Now, do you mind explaining what exactly the United States Navy was up to that resulted in large chunks of Dartmouth being ripped up by some sort of superhuman... thing? I had men disintegrate and then suddenly find themselves alive and well. The city is panicking right now. So you’d better start talking.”
The Naval doctor sighed. She never liked having to deal with the Canadians and their delusions of actual independence. “It’s need to know, Colonel. You’ll find we’re acting within our NORAD rights. So please, just let me interview the witnesses.”
“Not a chance. It would take nothing short of a direct order from the Governor General to get me to cooperate with you.”
Dr. Montgomery shrugged. “Fine. It’s your career.”
