The Tiny Terrors Part 3

Biff waved the gun rather carelessly. "Sit down, commander," he hissed. "I'm asking for a small favor. A port clearance permit. If you give me that, I won't have to tie you up."

Dongal sat and glared at the young, bulky space officer with spiteful scorn. "And what if I do nothing? Will you kill me in cold blood?"

The major laughed. "This thing MIGHT kill a small dog. But the four bullets can, and will, cause major pain should I choose to use it. But no, I'm not going to shoot you."

"Well, then, if you're not prepared to shoot me, then you have no footing to exact a promise!"

Biff HATED when the commander was right. He decided to go with beg...er, pleading. "Look, Commander, there is something I simply must do. If I fail, I will return in fewer than fifteen minutes. Come on, sir, you KNOW I'm a good (he almost said 'great') officer. Just give me this one thing!"

For a good ten seconds, Dongal sat motionless. Then he shrugged and said, "I will sit here for precisely fifteen minutes. But your ass is grass if you're not back by then!"

Rippleton quickly saluted and exited the room. His thorough knowledge of the space base allowed him to quickly find a jet. His destination, that tall white building where Annie now resided.

2

A short, somber faced Dr. Hanchar met Biff at the end of the corridor and beckoned him into a small white walled room. The young woman who sat under the bright lamps, her eyes swathed in bandages, told the major all he needed to know.

Annie smiled and held out her arms as her husband entered the room. Rippleton went up to her and kissed her softly, his large, awkward hands caressing her long brown hair.

Despite her attempts to hold them back, tears gushed out of Annie's eyes. "I'm going to see again! I just know I am! I wouldn't let them remove the bandages until you came to me."

"Of course you are!," Biff told her. "And you'll have better sight than ever before!" Should he mention the other thing? No, not unless she talks about it first, he thought.

"I was afraid you were hurt, darling!," Annie Rippleton whispered. "I used my special sight that makes me so different, and terrifies people so much more than it should! They were hunting you like a criminal!"

Well, she mentioned it, her 'second sight'. The government, almost as soon as she was born, blinded her, so that she could open her mystical 'third eye'. Any female born with any noticeable defect had the 'honor' of having this done to them, and Annie had been born without a left hand. This policy was instituted when the government discovered that the Others were doing this in order to psychically spy on them; so turnabout was fair play, all's fair in love and war, and other such tripe being used to justify this policy. The surgery she had undergone was both experimental and illegal. Biff marrying Annie was illegal, no member of the military was allowed to marry a 'witch' (the official government term for them); which was why he had never informed anyone outside of his immediate family of it.

Biff looked up. The physician pressed his finger to his lips and gestured towards the door. A cold wind seemed to enter the room.

Just outside the door, the doctor told Biff, "I won't give up hope, but the chances are not that great. What our government does to our handicapped women in the name of 'peace' is just monstrous, and difficult to reverse." Biff nodded in agreement. "I did my best," the doctor concluded.

"I need to tell you now, doctor," Biff began, "I need to use her third eye, her clairvoyance. I know she just used it recently, but will she...?"

"Will she still have it if and when her regular sight is restored? Yes, I believe so. In the rare cases where people have regained their sight miraculously, they still had the ability."

The doctor and the major re-entered the room. Biff went to his wife and held her hand. "This is it, darling."

The doctor's fingers fumbled a little as he gently turned Annie's head away from the light and began unwinding the bandages. "Don't open your eyes until I have removed everything! Don't look directly at the light. At first you may not see anything, you must be prepared for that." Or ever, the doctor added silently. When the doctor finally finished removing everything, he declared, "Now, Annie! Open your eyes! But remember, you may not see anything at first."

Annie's eyes fluttered, "I can see, doctor! I can see! Everything! Clearly!"

The doctor was shocked that Annie seemed to KNOW that she would see again. Oh! Of course! She used her psychic abilities on herself!

Biff was on his knees sobbing convulsively into his wife's arms. The doctor quietly left the room. Biff recovered and told Annie, "There is something I need you to do for me, and as quickly as possible..."

"You need me to tell you where that alien ship is now..."

Wow! She's good, thought Biff. "Yes, please. Okay, I'm thinking about the ship right now, exactly as it appeared on my view screen."

Annie sat still a moment, saying nothing. Then, "Oh, yes. Yes, I can see it! It's so large, and strangely beautiful!" Biff thought the ship was a marvel of engineering and architecture, but when he thought about it, he could see why one would say it's beautiful.

"Yes! Yes, exactly!"

"I sense a presence inside the ship--something alive. No, MANY things alive. And they are thinking. They are all thinking the same thing! It's a hive mentality!"

Biff was shocked again. Of course, if it looked like a bee, why SHOULDN'T these creatures have a hive mentality?

"But there's a leader. And that creature is terribly agitated! It thinks your spaceship is a threat. Its brain is humming, it's full of fear. It is preparing something to warn you. It has something prepared for emergencies. It's like...a small, shiny ball?"

"That's right! My ship picked up that ball last time!"

"Please don't interrupt, dear. It blocks my abilities."