The Alien Mind (free)

A New Friend

LATER THAT MORNING RIVI ENTERED health class, only to find that Daniel, Bill, and his two cronies were there already. Rivi introduced herself to the teacher sitting at the desk at the front of the room and then took a seat.

After a few minutes the teacher stood.

"Okay," she said, picking up a piece of chalk.

Facing the chalkboard, she proceeded to review with the class their lessons on human anatomy— how certain drugs affect the body, both negatively and positively...

"Now," the teacher said afterward, writing neatly on the chalkboard, "we will be doing end of term class reports, which will be due in two weeks. You may work in groups, and you may choose your own topics, as long as they pertain to what we have learned so far in this class. Because Rivinaig is new, can I have someone volunteer to partner with her?"

Rivi looked down at the smooth surface of her desk, remembering the projects she'd done with the rest of the Earth children while they were on Aun. A silence filled the room, and then the lunch bell rang.

"We'll finish assigning partners after lunch," Mrs. Jameson called, as the classroom emptied.

Rivi stood and followed the students to the cafeteria, where she picked up her lunch plate like everyone else, but unlike the others, she went to sit at an empty table. Rivi ate some of the food, and when she realized she had no taste for it, she went to walk on the school grounds. She hadn't been walking long when she saw a familiar sight: Bill and his crew bullying Daniel Peterson.

Rivi shook her head as Daniel took one punch after another. As she approached, she manipulated Bill's shoelaces so they tied themselves together. Rivi walked up behind Daniel as Bill turned his head to laugh at his cronies. Before he turned back around, he picked up his right foot to kick Dan, who had fallen to the ground and was trying to stand. As Bill did so, his tangled shoelaces caused him to fall flat on his back. Rivi mentally untied his knotted shoelaces, as Bill demanded to know who tripped him.

"Was it you?" he demanded of Daniel.

"No, it was me," Rivi answered rolling her eyes sarcastically as she tried to pretend she was joking. "Only someone who doesn't know any better would try to pick on someone smaller than him."

"I can squish you like a cockroach!" Bill retorted.

Rivi locked eyes with him as he got up and struck a fighting stance, fists up. As he threw one of his fists at her, Rivi dodged, then jumped over his foot as he tried to kick her leg. Bill drew back his other fist, but as Rivi's feet landed, she fell down into a squat and, thrusting her right leg out, spun and tripped the bully flat onto his back.

Rivi stood, walked over to Daniel, and helped him up. She escorted him past Bill's posse, who were hovering around their windswept leader.

"How did you do that? Bill Torres is bigger than both of us." Daniel asked, shocked.

"That's no reason to let him scare me. To tell you the truth," Rivi said, surprised, "that's the first time I've done that. I wasn't about to let him push me around, though."

"I'd never be able to do that," Daniel said, looking at his feet in dejection.

"Yes, you can!" Rivi exclaimed, very irritated. "To say that you can't do something is to kill every hope you have of ever accomplishing anything!"

Daniel turned, confused, to look at Rivi. Rivi closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to calm herself before she started levitating everything in the schoolyard.

"Your brain tells you that you can't, so even though you have not tried, ultimately, you won't. Things don't have to be that way," Rivi said sadly.

Daniel looked down and shuffled his foot in the grass.

"The mind affects how the body reacts to stimulus. Fear can sometimes work as a stimulus. I can teach you how to convince your mind to allow you to react differently to fear. We could work on it as part of our class project, if you'd like."

She sure is strange, Daniel thought, not quite sure of what to make of this new student. Then again, it's not like I have anyone else to work with.

"Sure," Daniel admitted. "The teacher is normally stuck assigning me a partner anyhow."

#

Later that evening after dinner, Daniel arrived at Rivi's house as they had planned. Miss Tate told him that Rivi was in the back yard. Daniel walked straight through the clean, friendly-looking house and into the back yard. He froze on the top step at the sight that met his eyes. His face blanched as he grabbed the railing to turn to go back into the house.

"Wait," Rivi requested.

She was sitting on top of the picnic table with her legs crossed and her eyes closed. Her arms were extended straight out from her shoulders, palms down. All around the back yard, various large objects were floating in midair around her.

"I did not wish to alarm you," Rivi explained.

"What are you?" Dan asked in alarm.

Rivi frowned with concern. She relaxed, opened her eyes, and looked at each object in turn, lowering it. She then looked straight at Daniel.

"I am human. 150 children, myself included, had the unique opportunity to be taught by an alien race called the Aunantet. We have been taught to use more of our minds in ways very few humans dare to dream of."

"Okay," Daniel said, not understanding, much less believing, what she was saying.

"I knew you needed to see the capability of the human mind to understand your own ability to turn fear into something else. I know I am taking a risk showing you this, but I had a feeling that you wouldn't believe me otherwise."

Daniel looked once more around the yard.

"How did you do it?" he asked.

"I simply changed the molecules in the objects until they were lighter than air."

Daniel frowned and shook his head, still not believing what she was saying.

"Okay. At least you've seen that it can be done," Rivi said, as she then used her mind to move all of the large objects in the yard over to one side.

"Now, do you think that both you and I can put everything back in under an hour?" Rivi asked.

"Without levitation?" Daniel asked with a slight chuckle, as he sized-up the large pile of objects.

"Yes, Dan," Rivi answered with a laugh.

Daniel bit his lip for a second and then turned to face Rivi.

"Yes, I think we can, but it will be a bit close."

"All right then, let's get to work," Rivi answered.

"Should we mark the time first?" Daniel asked.

"No need. I am in almost constant communication with my personal computer."

Daniel frowned for a second, shrugged, then went to pick up the first object. Rivi followed suit, and soon, they were racing back and forth across the yard. They finished with three seconds left.

"We did it!" Rivi exclaimed.

"Whew!" Dan sighed.

"Remember, the more you believe in your ability to handle something, the more your confidence will improve."

Dan nodded.

"Seeing that we now have a good foundation from which to start, I think you ought to head home before it gets too dark," Rivi said with a smile. "We should meet earlier tomorrow."

"How about six in the evening?" Dan asked.

"At the park?"

"Deal," Daniel answered.

"We can continue working on this on the way to school tomorrow. Shall I meet you at your house?" Rivi asked.

"No," Daniel replied, as if a bit unsettled. "How about if I come around seven tomorrow morning?"

"Sure," Rivi answered, contemplating his reaction.

Daniel started walking back toward the back door. He paused at the bottom step as though considering something.

"Everything okay?"

"It's nothing, I just ..." He started, turning back toward Rivi.

"It's ok," Rivi said, cutting him off. "If you don't mind, I need to ask you for a favor, though."

"Sure."

"Please don't tell anyone my secret. Everyone is being told that I am from another country, not another planet." Rivi pleaded.

"No problem," Daniel said, smiling back at her. "Who would I tell?"

With that, Daniel left and Rivi, once again, sat on the picnic table to ponder.

#

That night, Rivi woke with yet another nightmare. Thankful that she did not wake Miss Tate again, she walked over and opened the window to her room overlooking the kitchen roof. She grabbed a blanket off her bed and climbed out to sit on the barely slanted roof. Bringing her knees up to her chin, she pulled the blanket around her shoulders and gazed up at the stars. It was not long afterward when she fell asleep, leaning against the wall of the house.

As the sun came up in the morning, and seven o'clock arrived, Daniel came to Rivi's house as he said he would, and proceeded to knock on the front door.

"Hey, Daniel," Miss Tate exclaimed. "Rivinaig was down here earlier, but she went back upstairs. I'll call her."

"No need," Rivi called from the kitchen roof.

Rivi grabbed her book bag and jumped off the roof. As she fell, she changed the ground to absorb her impact so painful shock waves would not travel back up through her legs. She landed squarely on the balls of her feet.

Miss Tate raised her eyebrows and went back inside.

"It's all right. She knows that I already told you. It feels better to not have to hide my abilities all the time," Rivi said with a small smile, as they turned to head toward the school. "She was cross with me at first, but I told her you wouldn't tell anyone."

"Miss Tate ... She isn't your mom, is she." It was more a statement than a question.

"No," Rivi answered.

"Then where are your parents?"

Rivi sighed, looking up into the early morning sky before she answered.

"I don't know where my biological parents are. I haven't seen them since I was kidn*pped and taken from them at the age of four," Rivi answered. "My guardian parents are on planet Aun."

"Planet Aun?" Dan asked.

"Yes."

"Okay, then ... How did you get there?"

"Our kidnappers attacked our parents here on Earth and kidn*pped me and 149 other children and took us to Aun. They were part of a terrorist faction on Aun called the Aruk. The Aunantet government discovered the Aruk base two years later and rescued me and the other earth children. We were given families and raised as both Earth and Aun children."

"So then, your alien parents are still on Aun?" Daniel asked, raising his eyebrows as if he did not believe a word of Rivi's tale.

"I suppose so. I haven't heard from my father, Ankh, since I got here two days ago."

"Got here? Do you mean this town, Eatonville, or do you mean—"

"Earth," Rivi replied even more quietly, as they turned left down a new road.

"Wait a minute. Let me see if I've got all of this straight. You expect me to believe that you were kidn*pped by aliens at the age of four, were raised by them, were taught how to do things using a separate part of your mind, that you've been living with aliens on an alien planet, and have only just arrived here two days ago?" Daniel demanded.

Rivi stopped walking so suddenly that Daniel continued a few steps before he realized she was no longer beside him and turned to face her. Rivi lowered her eyes. She knew this was the test that would tell her if she had a chance of fitting in here on Earth.

"You don't have to believe it, but it is the truth," Rivi answered in a hushed voice.

"Okay," Daniel said.

Rivi lifted her head to look at her new friend.

"I believe you."

Rivi smiled and resumed walking.

"Good," she said, "then you've almost completed stage one of our project."

Daniel laughed.

"For someone who hasn't been to Earth in—what, almost ten years?—you certainly seem to understand how we do things well enough," Daniel replied as he caught up with her.

"We were largely kept up-to-date on what was happening here on Earth, on the chance that we were ever able to return."

"Will the other children come?" Daniel asked.

"I think so, Dan, perhaps one day."

"You know, I've just noticed something. You keep calling me Dan."

"Sorry," Rivi began, but Daniel cut her short.

"No, it's okay. I just thought it was surprising that I hadn't noticed, that's all."

Rivi smiled as they approached the school. "If I don't get a chance to talk with you later, I'll meet you at the park after school."

"Do you know where it is?" Dan called, as they had been turning to go in opposite directions.

"Yes. I found it when I took the long way home yesterday."

"Good. See ya!" Daniel exclaimed, as they both headed to their separate classes.

#

Rivi found all the classes on her schedule a bit boring. She learned all the material and in greater depth from her Aunantet teachers years before, but there was one class that she was looking forward to—her second class of the day.

Rivi walked into the school's computer room and glanced around at the three rows of computer cubicles.

"You must be the new student yesterday's substitute told me about. My name is Mrs. Griffin," the computer teacher said.

"Rivinaig Tate," Rivi answered with a nod and a smile.

"Well, come on in. You can use number twelve. I'll go and get your password," Mrs. Griffin said, as she pointed to the twelfth computer and walked to the back of the classroom to a desk.

Rivi would not have needed the password. Being a comp amalgamator, she could simply communicate directly with the machine, she thought it was best to let the teacher give her the password anyway.

As she sat down in the chair in front of computer number twelve, Mrs. Griffin came back and handed her a small piece of paper with a single line of numbers and letters. As Rivi looked at the password, a knot tightened in her stomach. The password was exactly what the Aruk called her when she had been their captive. To them she was only "PS3-36-9G11."

"Excuse me," Rivi called, right as the teacher turned around.

"Is there a problem?" Mrs. Griffin asked.

"No, it's just ... I know this number. Is it used for anything besides my computer password?" Rivi asked.

"Yes, that is your personal identification number. You know, 'PIN'. You'd best not let anyone else know it. They are supposed to be kept private."

"Yes, ma'am," Rivi answered, turning to face to the computer and trying to close the voices out of her head.

"Let's bring out PS3-36-9G11 and see how she fares," a menacing voice said in her memories.

Flashes of her past filled her mind, reminding her of the dread she felt each time she heard that number. She tried to find the corresponding keys on the keypad to match the password but her shaking hands made the task time-consuming, and in her case, pointless. She closed her eyes and cleared her thoughts so she could amalgamate into the computer. She told the computer the password with her mind, and immediately, her thoughts were filled with the many intricate patterns of ones and zeroes of the computer's binary language.

Taking a moment to connect herself to the Earth's World Wide Web, she soon found what she was looking for. Her heart plummeted.

Rivi pulled herself from the connection with the computer and laid one hand over her chest in an effort to slow her racing heartbeat and covered her face with the other.

"Is there something wrong?" Mrs. Griffin asked, coming over to Rivi when she noticed Rivi's distress.

Rivi moved the hand covering her face, until it supported her forehead.

"May I be excused, Mrs. Griffin? I don't feel very well," Rivi asked quietly.

"Go ahead. Do you need someone to go with you?"

"No," Rivi said, as she walked slowly out of the room with both of her arms wrapped around her stomach.

She walked in a daze to the school's restrooms and sat on the bench between the two doors. She sat for quite a while, staring at the ceiling tiles above her.

#

"Rivi?" a voice said, sounding a bit worried. "Rivi?"

Rivi frowned and, blinking her eyes, looked up to see Daniel standing in front of her.

"Oh ... Hi, Dan."

"You didn't show up for health class. I thought maybe something was wrong," Dan explained.

"I must have lost track of time," Rivi said listlessly.

"You don't look well. What happened?" Dan asked and sat beside her on the bench.

Rivi took a deep breath and explained.

"Earth's 'Internet' is connected to orbiting satellites. Each satellite has a special filter designed to filter out something humans think of as interference or 'space static.'" Dan nodded in understanding as Rivi continued. "When I communicate with a computer, I can enter the satellite's filter. What sounds like static to you is actually many different species' communication signals. Each one is different, so they sound like static when they are all listened to at the same time. But even if you were to separate the different signals, you would still have to know the language to decipher the gibberish produced by the raw computer data. I can separate the signals and also decode quite a few of the languages. It's like getting a broad-spectrum news report on the universe. It is not hard for me to find any messages the Aunantet, the Aruk, or the children may have sent."

"So, you heard something then?" Dan asked.

"The Aruk are getting closer to finding the children. They have already found and taken over the planned hiding place to which the children were traveling. Luckily, the Aunantet who went with the children decided that the hiding place wasn't safe enough, and they evacuated the children before the Aruk arrived. The Aruk are now chasing the children's ships, which have split up and scattered. The Aruk keep getting closer," Rivi answered, shaking her head in despair.

"Can't you do something? Call and tell the other Aunantet that the children are in danger. Maybe the children could come here. You could go back the way you came and go help them," Daniel suggested.

Rivi shook her head.

"All of those scenarios would be like flying a red flag and showing the Aruk right where the children are or who to follow. No, it would be best to just hope and pray for now."

"Sorry," Dan replied, realizing that the children were like family to her.

"It's all right. It is lunchtime. We'd better go to the cafeteria and get something to eat. I've been interested in trying meatloaf for the first time," Rivi suggested, in an effort to deflect the conversation.

"You've never had meatloaf?" Dan asked. "What kinds of food did you eat on Aun?"

"We had food preparation generators, but they only had a small assortment of Earth meals programmed into them."

"Wow, you really don't know what you have been missing!" Dan said with a laugh.

#

After school, Rivi met Dan at the edge of the town park.

"So, what are we doing today?" Dan asked, as they walked along a stone path into the park.

Rivi gestured to indicate that they should sit on one of the benches. She set the plastic box she had been carrying on the bench between them.

"Actually, before we continue our project, I was wondering if you know what these items are," Rivi asked, as she opened the plastic Tupperware box.

Inside, there was an assorted collection of brainteaser puzzles. Try-to-get-the-square-through-the-smaller-metal-hoop type puzzles. These puzzles were especially designed to frustrate and upset a person. They often have a tendency to make a person feel inferior, especially when someone else can figure it out, and you can't. Rivi knew that making someone feel inferior is something on which bullies thrive.

Dan must learn to have confidence in himself, Rivi thought to herself.

Dan picked up one of the puzzles and studied it.

"Yeah, I know what these are. They were a fad among students a few years ago."

"Miss Tate really enjoys them. When I found her collection, I asked if I could borrow a few. I thought it would be fun to try to figure some of them out," Rivi said.

"I've never been very good at them, but I'll try," Daniel answered with a smile and a shrug, and began inspecting the first puzzle.

Rivi smiled inwardly. She had deliberately not told Dan that this was part of the project. If Dan was ever going to get out from under the heel of bullies, he would need to start letting his mind help him out of sticky situations.

Rivi allowed her mind to wander into memories of Ankh and Enuet, giving her similar lessons to help her get over her fear of the Aruk. They had slowly helped her to realize that if she didn't give up, she would never be truly defenseless. Rivi also remembered Ankh telling her that, one day, she might meet the Aruk again. Rivi told herself that, when that day came, she would no longer cower from them like a child. Yes, memories of her past were still very painful, but the fear that ruled her when she first met Ankh no longer held her hostage. She would face the Aruk bravely and perhaps ask one simple question: Why?

"Why?"

Rivi was pulled back into reality.

"Why what?" Rivi asked.

"Why can't I figure this out?" Dan asked, frustrated.

Rivi looked at the puzzle he was holding. It was a wooden triangle pegboard. Every hole except one held a peg. Each peg was a different color.

"I need to get all of the pegs out but one, and I can't!" Dan explained, frowning at the puzzle as he ran his fingers absently through his short brown hair.

Calmly, Rivi took the puzzle from him and inspected the problem carefully. She then turned the board upside down, holding only one peg in its hole. All of the pegs but one fell out and into the Tupperware box.

"There!" Rivi exclaimed in triumph.

Dan laughed, which, to his surprise, relieved quite a bit of his stress.

"No. You have to jump over each of the pegs in turn and take them out one by one," Dan said, still laughing.

"Yes, but even though I didn't follow the rules, I still showed you that it could be done, right?"

"Yep," Dan answered with a smile.

"No need to feel inferior to a puzzle just because the solution eludes you. Don't let it bother you, and try even that much harder to outsmart it."

Dan closed his eyes in thought.

"You're referring to Bill and his sidekicks, aren't you?" Dan asked.

"Well, that is our project, is it not?" Rivi asked receiving a chuckle from Dan. "I do see that even though the triangle confused you, you have managed to outwit most of the other puzzles."

"Yes. You've been sitting there quietly for a long time," Dan began.

"Sorry, I was concentrating on some memories from my early days with the Aunantet," Rivi explained.

"That's all right. Hey, do you think you could help me figure out the rest of these?"

"They are a bit addictive, are they not?" Rivi answered, laughing.

"Yeah, I guess so!" Dan replied with a soft chuckle.

Rivi picked up one of the remaining puzzles, and before they tried to figure it out, Rivi showed Dan how to hypothesize the solution by inspecting the puzzle's design and not just the problem the puzzle created. She taught Dan how to think like the creator of the puzzle itself—to analyze why the designer created certain situations within the puzzles. Figuring this out enabled Dan to solve the remaining puzzles quickly.

"Wow, we finally finished them!" Dan exclaimed, as Rivi packed the puzzles away into the box.

"Yes. With a little perseverance and knowledge, it is amazing what a person can do," Rivi replied grinning as she lifted her head to smile at Dan, who smiled back.

"We should head home. It is getting late," Rivi answered with a tilt of her head. "Would you like me to walk with you?"

Dan's smile faded, as he turned forwards and looked at the gravel in front of the bench where they were sitting.

"Uh, no. I'll be fine. I could walk with you 'til you get to your house, though," Dan replied in a cautious tone.

Rivi narrowed her dark brown eyes and considered his reaction then and decided to back down for now.

"No, that's all right. Miss Tate will not worry about me if I'm out late, but your parents might."

"My parents have no worries where they are," Dan said, in a barely audible mumble.

Dan got up and with a quiet "See you tomorrow," he left, walking toward the direction of his home.

#

"Miss Tate?" Rivi called, as she entered the house.

"I'm in the computer room, Rivinaig," Miss Tate called back.

Rivi made her way past the living room and into the small computer room.

"Here are your puzzles," Rivi answered.

"Thank you. By the way, how is the project going?"

"We still have a few things to do, but we're close. Do you know where Dan lives? I was hoping to meet him before school tomorrow."

"Yeah. He lives at the end of Oak Street," Miss Tate answered, as she finished typing on the computer and closed the program.

"Thank you," Rivi replied with a smile. "I'm going to go upstairs for the night."

"Okay. Goodnight, Rivinaig," Miss Tate said as she opened another program on her computer and Rivi turned toward the stairs.

Suddenly, Miss Tate's computer froze. Sensing the machine's confusion, Rivi stopped at the foot of the stairs and went back to Miss Tate's computer room.

"Oh, come on!" Miss Tate said in frustration.

"I believe I can help," Rivi answered.

"You can try, but it has been doing this all afternoon."

Rivi smiled, "Never try. You either do it or don't do it."

She then closed her eyes and amalgamated with the computer, linking her mind to its systems.

"Virus," Rivi mumbled, as she followed the trail and destroyed the culprit file.

She then gave its description for further reference to the anti-virus program installed on Miss Tate's computer.

"Perhaps I need to get a new anti-virus program," Miss Tate suggested, as Rivi pulled out of the computer.

"No. You could update it more often, but there would still be a few that would slip by. It happens with every anti-virus program. However, your computer will tell me when there's a problem. It did earlier, but my mind has been preoccupied."

"Thank you," Miss Tate said, slightly dazed and confused.

"You're welcome. Goodnight," Rivi answered, retreating to her room.