Returned

Angels from Hell

Two

Angels from Hell

Captain Roger Prescott, the Flight Engineer of the Expedition 51 Mission which had recently returned back to base from the Donald Trump space station for the Yuletide, was covering for his friend at the NASA Engineering and Safety Centre. He was lounging in his automated swivel chair and taking coffee when some bizarre image popped up on the screen to his computer and a red beeper indicated on a funny-looking electronic stick planted next to the computer screen. The stick was a protrusion from the control unit which was built-in as a desk; the screen was also an extension from the desk. If Tile had seen this type of computer here on earth, he’d have said the human beings somehow, copied this technology from the Eridians.

“Alien body detected sir,” the metallic, electronic voice of Bruno said. Bruno the only other being in the Observatory Booth was a robot whom Prescott had come to admire since their time at the Trump space station for his high level intelligence. Since then, he loved been assigned to duties with Bruno. Most times, he’d invite Bruno to stay with him during his shifting, when Bruno was not assigned any duties. Even today, he had called him from his widow in the robotic dormitories, to follow him, when his friend suddenly called in sick.

Bruno engaged gears on his swivel chair and rode all the way, over to Prescott’s position. They both looked at the strange ball falling through space towards earth in a thick cloud of mist like white smoke. Captain Prescott observed the strange ball a little more and then operated on the clear screen keypad to the desk and called Control. There was a beep and then he spoke as if there was some invisible earpiece to which he was listening. A red light blinked around his earlobe as he began to speak.

“Control, this is Captain Prescott from Observatory. Otherworld body detected sir.”

He listened intently to the voice receiver built into his earlobe, and then said, “Redirecting signal to your station sir.” After listening a little more, he said “Clear!” and the red blinker to his ear turned blue and soon went dead.

Turning to Bruno, he said, “We have a Mission Call buddy.”

***************

Tile stared blankly at the white singlet Jennifer had just dropped on the dining table. It took him a moment to recollect. All these years, he had thought; through Uzira’s cunning, or Ipotu’s carelessness, or even Lilah’s nonchalance, his singlet may have been misplaced back in Eris. It never occurred to him, for even one moment, that he had left his singlet behind on earth, as he had made haste to elude the Special Anti Robbery Squad operatives on the day of his departure.

“I looked for you until I found Divisional Police Officer Richard Azu, who was an assistant to the OC SARS at the time you left. He told me they saw someone of your description. But before his boys could go down to apprehend you; you had vanished in thin air. He went in and brought this singlet from his collection of police exhibits. He said that it was what you had left behind, possibly in a hurry to escape their wrath that night. According to him, the OC SARS had handed him the case to investigate, but he had no leads and no event pointed to the occassion subsequently, so he had kept the singlet in case any reports came by. But it was already seven years when I went to lodge a formal complaint of your disappearance.”

“Seven years?!” Tile asked surprised.

“Yes, seven years,” Jennifer replied flatly. “Alex Atir never left me out of his sight or his bodyguards’ until his death.”

Sensing that she was already saying too much in the presence of strangers she had never met, she turned and called, “Tile!” and there was an electronic “Yes please” from within. Soon, the robot appeared.

“Please take Mr. Charlatan and Miss Baxter to wash up. And see if you can give Charlatan a nice shave,” she told the robot.

“Oh, it’s just about time,” Charlatan said and rose happily to follow the machine, even not sure how to relate with it.

Rita was still munching reluctantly, but understood that her presence was no longer needed. So she too rose and followed the others. As soon as they were clear, Jennifer turned and faced Tile.

“Where in the hell have you been?” she asked.

“That is going to be a long story,” Tile said

“Please make it as short as you could try, so that my spirit can rest for the first time”

Tile said he had found himself in Eris. Clearly, Jennifer had not heard of this planet. Who could even blame her; hence the Nigerian educational system of her time had not given room for that? However, he took out time and explained the best he could muster and soon Jennifer came around to the idea. He explained all his adventures and how he had fathered a son with the alien queen.

Jennifer thought she was listening to the radio or perhaps, Tile was narrating some Sci Fi movie he had watched. But to convince her, Tile brought out a few notes of the Eridian money and showed her. She stared wide-eyed at the picture of a one-eyed creature with a cat-like nose, but… beautiful in her own way, she thought.

“You had a son with this thing?” she asked as if the notion itself was disgusting.

“Yes,” Tile replied. He fumbled in his breast pocket and found the bundle of one hundred thousand Naira, which had largely depleted by now. But it didn’t matter. Then he brought out his iPhone, which was what he was looking for in the first place.

Jennifer could not help but laugh. “You still have those?”

“They reminded me of you each passing day,” Tile said. Then he powered the phone, searched for the picture of his Eridian son, Azura, on the phone and showed to Jennifer.

When Jennifer held the phone, she laughed out loud. “Seems like ages. These are no longer in use. I cannot even remember when last I saw it.” However, when she set eyes on the picture of Azura, her laughter dissipated. “We were supposed to have our own children by now,” she said as tears welled up in her eyes.

*************

Somewhere in the United States, Captain Prescott was in a flying automobile with Bruno, his partner. The car was one of Tesla’s newest products. They were headed for the Mojave Desert where it was believed the orb from out of space had landed. A back-up team was been scrambled to follow up. The instructions were for Prescott to drop Bruno to make a survey before the back-up arrived.

“Do you have an idea what we are up against?” Bruno asked innocently.

“Seems we’ve been visited by angels from hell buddy. Brace up, we’ll soon be having fun,” Prescott said with a mischievous grin.