Helen's Tale
The Gray Men were back. The Gray Men who had been coming every night. Helen knew They would be back. They still had more experiments. She knew that. It was the only thing she was certain of anymore.
There would always be more experiments.
She felt Them coming even before she saw the first one appear at the gate to her back yard. She still had time. She could run back inside and lock the door behind her. Barricade it. Hide inside and hope They would go away this time. But she didn’t bother. There was no point. They would only shatter her door again, and use one of Their Devices to move away whatever heavy furniture she piled up in Their way. And then They would that same Device on her. Just like the last time.
And yet, she almost did want to run this time. She wasn’t sure why at first, but then the reason came to her.
This time was going to be different. This visit wasn’t going to be like all the others (though she had lost count of how many there had been). This time They would be taking her away with Them. And she would never be coming back. Her life, her friends, her mother, her dog, everything she had and everyone she loved. She had already seen them all for the very last time.
She gave up trying to make her hands stop trembling.
They were here now, surrounding her. They still looked just like They did in that movie, and on the covers of all those books. They were only half her height, with gray bodies so thin and delicate and graceful. And those big, beautiful eyes she once thought she would have loved to fall into forever. But that had been back during Their first visit. Back before she had learned why They were visiting her.
“Please,” she started to beg, but one of the Gray Men waved the oblong-shaped object. Helen clutched her throat and mouthed a silent, “NO!” even though she knew her voice would be silenced for hours to come.
She wouldn’t even get one last scream for help.
Her body felt so heavy. So, so heavy. And now one of the Gray Men had come up to her and taken her hand. His hand was so delicate and smooth. But his grip unbreakable as steel. And now he was drawing her forward, on to Their dazzling, silver-hued, terrible ship and to her new life as Their--.
“Evenin’, fellas. Looks like you boys are having quite a party.”
Startled, Helen looked up at the row of trees bordering her property. A man dressed in a black suit had stepped out from the shadows.
“Aw, hell, I have to admit. I sorta knew you’d be around tonight. You gents are just so damn predictable. Could set a clock by these visits of yours.”
Helen tried to yell, but the silence was still tight around her throat. She had to warn this man. Tell him to run, while he still had a chance. But Helen already knew it was too late for him. The poor man could not possibly know what awful danger he was in.
“You know, I have to say I’m a little disappointed.” The man was walking right into Helen’s yard. The Gray Men were moving around him, cutting off any hope of escape, but still the man kept talking.
“How many times have you dropped in on Ms. Conroy here?” (How did he know--?). “Twelve, thirteen times? That’s how many the sub-space tel-nets picked up anyway. I’d have been by earlier, but you know how it goes.”
“My point is, you boys have had plenty of time to send me an invitation to these parties, but did I even get so much as an ether-beam? I’ll tell you what: I didn’t get a damn thing. Now you and I know how bad the Aldebaran mail branch is around these parts, but after all, fellas, you could have made an effort.”
“Especially,” and now the man’s voice grew hard, “Seeing as how you’ve made over a dozen unauthorized landings on Terran soil. Not even two months after I recited for you every single word of regulation thirty-eight slash bee vector alpha nine comma jay comma tau. And the preamble from the Treaty of Gamma Prime.”
Glaring now, the man stopped in front of the Leader and dropped his voice to a dangerous growl. “And you know how much I hate to repeat myself.”
The man leaned over, forcing the Leader to take several steps back. “So now, why don’t you tell me: Is that authorization request for a Grade Three Planetary Excursion already in the mail? Or is this little Encounter of ours going to get ugly?”
Helen’s eyes were wide, but they got wider still when she realized that the Gray Men were no longer calm and superior. In fact, they were agitated, their thin arms waving around frantically. Chattering and screeching at the man in those voices that always made it so hard to think straight and gave her the awful headaches. But the man just seemed to get more angry.
Suddenly all the smaller Gray Men were shaking their heads and jabbing fingers toward the Leader. Helen had the strangest feeling They were trying to blame Him for something. The Leader seemed to have the same impression. And He didn’t seem pleased about it.
The Gray Man had let go over her arm. Feeling very dizzy, Helen plopped down on the ground.
“Regulation seven code alpha three nine subsection-cee sub-subsection delta mu specifically states that no alien expedition may have unauthorized congress with a Terran civilian. And I’d say what you little bastards have been having is a god-damned sight worse than a 'congress'--.”
The Gray Leader had pulled out the shock-gun! Oh god, not tha--!!
But the man just grabbed the barrel, and snarled, “Give. Me. That,” as he ripped it out of the Leader’s sinuous hands. “As if you aren’t in enough trouble already.”
Glancing at the shock gun, the man’s eyebrows raised. “I take that back. Look who must have stumbled on that missing Dentazi shipment from Betel Gee Alpha. Let me guess. It sort of fell off that transit-freighter, and there it was sitting by the side of the space-lane gathering dust and you were going to report it, but you got so busy with Ms. Conroy here, it just slipped your mind. Is that it?”
The Gray Leader looked one step away from swallowing his tongue.
And for the first time in many weeks, Helen felt a faint glow of hope.