Cooperative: The Destination

Chapter 4

“Dude, you’re a mess.” Cory looked out from under the ultralight. He scooted a little and sat up. “Morning hair on steroids. Did you go to work like that?”

James looked at his reflection in the office window. “Oh my God.” He ran his fingers through his hair, feeling windblown tangles. “No. No. No!” 

“You forgot to comb your hair this morning. Dude, you’re like the most fastidiously manicured guy I know.” Cory shook his head in faux disappointment. 

James just gaped at Cory. He looked at the painting he was carrying. “It really happened.”

“Breath, James. You’re not the first guy to go to work looking like a slob.” Cory mussed with James’ hair. “Damn, it’s all knotted up. Like, did you have Samantha over or something, wild child?”

James could only tremble. He looked around and finding no suitable chair sank to the floor. Cory knelt down. “James?”

“It happened.” James waved at his hair. “Cory, I was over three thousand feet in the air and just falling. Falling!” He started trembling. 

“The jumpers weren’t here today, James. Are you base jumping?”

James shook his head. He winced, and removed part of a pine cone from his back pocket. Cory looked at it. “You went hiking? It’s only been a couple hours since you got off work.” He looked at James’ pants. “Dude, you’re covered in mud. Did you roll through a pig-pen?”

James twisted to look at the seat of his pants. They had mud and forest debris on them. “I just got off work. Eric had a retirement party and we went back to… nothing. Just office work.”

“Don’t tell me any secrets dude.” Cory waggled his finger at him. “I like black helicopters but not the folks who rappel down from them.”

James wiped his eyes. “This can’t be happening. It can’t be real.” He looked at the pine cone. “I was there. I was actually there.”

“Where?”

“I… I don’t know. Some medieval place, I think. But Aris. She’s furry. A furry Elf. Cory, I’m married to her.” James tried to get to his feet and Cory pulled him up. His legs wobbled a little and he found a shop chair to sit on. “I’m actually married.”

“Was this like a Vegas thing?” Cory sat on the workbench next to James. 

“Be serious, Cory. Something is happening to me. Has happened.” He gasped. “It had Jupiter in the sky! I almost didn’t notice it!” James stood up. “Forest. Furry girl. Jupiter. Like what I’ve been seeing.”

“You’re going mental.”

James gave Cory a look. “Watch a few Harry Potters and now you’re using that word?”

Cory grinned. “Hey, it fit.”

“Yeah, I’m going mental.” James scratched his head. “Eric got all weird on me today. Started talking about aliens and stuff. Did you know he plays golf with Brian?” 

Cory put his hands on his hips. “UFOs now?”

“Brian was there. At the market. He didn’t even blink when I… I… I landed on the ground.” He looked back at his car. “I bought like twenty paintings from that fella.”

“Brian?”

“No. The gallery curator.” James rubbed his face. He looked at the painting he brought in. “I touched this. Then I was there.” 

Cory looked at the painting. “I always knew you had an imagination.”

James held up the pine cone. “This is not imagination, Cory. I was actually there. I just… I don’t know how.”

Cory just looked at him.

“This morning, my bathroom was a forest. I opened the door and almost walked into it. Then this afternoon, the cafeteria. But that wasn’t real. I was able to make it go away. This…” James pointed at the painting. “This was real.”

“How?”

“I don’t know! You’re the MIT grad. I’m just a computer scientist!” James leaned back against the workbench. “I’m married. And I feel her. Here.” He pointed at his heart. “And here.” He pointed at his head. “Like she’s here. Now.” 

Cory grabbed his shoulder. “Dude. You’re freaking.”

“That!” James put his hand on Cory’s. “That’s real. You’re about to call Jenny. Try to talk some sense into me. Cory, I’m not imagining that. We have the same thing you two have. Aris and me. But… more. Like we’re in each others’ heads.”

“Maybe I do need to call Jenny.” Cory removed his hand and looked at it.

“I know another language.”

“Of course you do. Like three of them.” Cory gave him an exasperated look.

“No. This one is her language. I don’t even know what it’s called. But I know it. I can think in it even now.” James looked at the ceiling of the hanger. “I cannot be imagining this. It’s just too detailed. Too real.”

“This is about Samantha, isn’t it? She’s a real possibility and you’re sabotaging it.” Cory crossed his arms. “I want my kids to have cousins too.”

“We’re not brothers.” James waved a hand dismissively.

“Same difference!” Cory looked at his phone. “Speaking of the angel. Hey honey. James is having a meltdown. Think you can… what?” He looked at James. “Yeah, we have one here. Yeah, we stream.” He waved at James and pointed at the television.

James sighed and plodded over to the big-screen hanging on their office wall and grabbed the remote on the little shelf below it. “What station?”

“Any of them. Just turn it on.” Cory said. 

They both stood there watching a replay of a battle between two alien spacecraft. “Honey, what movie is that… calm down. Jenny.” 

“No, watch it.” James pointed. “It’s from a news crew.”

“Bullshit. You know they did that with War of the Worlds too. Made it seem like real news. Scared the crap out of a bunch of people.” Cory looked at his phone and put it in his pocket. “She’s on her way.”

“Eric mentioned… he said…” James stopped, stunned. “Aris is an alien. I’m married to an alien.” He looked at Cory. “And the Younger, she’s like, another alien. Like a goddess or something.”

“Chill, man.” Cory said, staring at the news. The video of the spacecraft was replayed on a loop, and slowed. “How did this even get to us? It can’t be real.”

James pursed his lips. “We would have clamped down hard on it. They had to have streamed to obfuscated servers.” He squinted. “They’re in a Cessna filming this? Cory, Eric knew. My boss knew about this.” 

Cory waved his hand behind him and found the chair. Sitting down he just gaped. The video cut out to static, then repeated while a news host commented non-stop as if in a daze.

Jenny rushed in and threw her arms around Cory, trembling. 

James looked at her. “Jenny, it’s okay.” He looked at the television, then out the hanger doors into the sky. There was no Jupiter out there anymore, but suddenly he was relieved beyond all measure. “I’m not crazy.” He looked at them. “And I’m married. To one of them!” He pointed at the television. 

Jenny wiped her face, looking at him. “Come again?”

“Yeah, me being married is so far-fetched it’s distracting you from evidence of a first contact.” James waved his hand at the television.

“Well, yeah.” Jenny stood up. “Married?”

“Not Vegas, apparently,” Cory mumbled.

“I can’t explain it. But, I have this. This!” James held up the pine cone fragment.

Jenny just stared at it.

“I was there.” He pointed at the painting he still carried. “Actually there. One minute I was at the market, then suddenly, poof. Like magic.” 

“There’s no…”

“I know that!” James waved his hands. “What else do I call it? I’ve been seeing Jupiter in the sky. I saw a forest from my bathroom door.”

“I thought you kept a clean bathroom,” Jenny said slowly.

“A forest, Jenny. It hit me at work too. The cafeteria. And Samantha? Every other time I looked at her, she was furry. Something inside me was working something out. My subconscious. It has to be. My wife is furry!” James turned around in a circle. “A furry Elf. What the hell?” 

“So, Vegas?”

“We didn’t just get married. I… we… I got the impression we had been married for a while.” James leaned against the workbench and looked at the painting. “She’s gorgeous. I wish you could see her.”

“James, you’re scaring me.”

“Did you tell her?” James looked at Cory.

He just returned his look blankly.

“The telepathy thing?” James said, exasperated.

“I… no.” 

“Telepathy, now?” Jenny put her hands on her hips.

James grabbed her around the waist and pulled her to him. “Think of anything obscure. Anything I wouldn’t… no, I would guess I was crazy. Challenge me.” James rolled his eyes. “What the hell is it with November 4, 1979? The embassy bombing?” 

Jenny pushed him away, staring at him. 

“Oh, you saw it on the History Channel. My coworker saw it too.” James deflated a little at her reaction. “Jenny, something is happening to me. This… this isn’t in my head.” He pointed at the television. “I’m not crazy!” 

“Well, you’re a little manic currently,” Cory said, glancing at the television. He stood up and squinted at it. “That’s new. We lost a pair of F-22s!”

James put the painting down and looked at the television. “Crap. They just vanished. How did that become public?”

Cory looked at him. James noticed and fidgeted. “We wouldn’t release that to the public. Not right away, anyway. Not something like this.”

“We. Your super secret secret job of secrets?”

“Just, forget I said anything.” James rubbed his temples. He looked at the painting. “Cory, I’m not crazy.”

“You said that like…”

“I thought I was losing my mind man!” James pointed at the television. “I mean, I still might be, but, it’s all real.” He felt the bottom of his pants, and dirt caked off into his hand. “This is mud. From, what, another world?” 

“Yeah, but, you weren’t abducted or anything. How did you get there?” Cory looked at the soil on his hands.

“And who is your wife?” Jenny said, raising a brow.

“Aris. I even know her language.” James found a jar and dumped the dirt into it. He followed that with the pine cone fragment. “I can have this tested.”

“Yeah. They’ll spend a million dollars to determine that it’s dirt and pine cones.” Cory snickered.

“They can test it for radioisotopes. Other goodies.” James looked at the evidence seriously. “She dropped me out of the sky.”

“Aris?” Cory glanced at the television. 

James looked at him blankly, then shook his head. “No. No. Another lady. The Younger, I think.” He looked at the painting. “I was in that castle. Then… just poof and I was in the air at least three thousand feet above it. I was falling. She told me to see the market. To make it real. Then poof, I was back at the market landing on my butt.” He rubbed his rear. “That concrete was hard.” 

“You’re poofing across the universe?” Cory snorted. 

“I’m apparently a poofer.” James nodded, half serious. “I have no idea what physics is behind that. I got the impression that no time passed here. But I was there for over an hour.” 

“Are you the Doctor now?” Jenny crossed her arms.

James grinned at her. “Well, my bathroom was most certainly bigger on the inside than the outside.”

Cory snorted, then started laughing. “Your Tardis is your bathroom!”

James giggled a little. “Don’t knock it. I just got it renovated.” He sobered, looking at the painting. “If she’s real, and we’re married…” He looked at Cory and Jenny, eyes wide. “I need to get back. I need to find her!”

“Touch me again,” Jenny said.

James pursed his lips, then grabbed her hand. He looked down. “Samantha asked if she could bring her boyfriend.”

Jenny nodded, putting her hand on his. “They just got back together. So…”

“Nothing awkward.” James nodded. “So, you believe me now?”

“This is really happening.” Jenny looked at the television. 

“Shh, don’t get worked up again,” James said calmly. “We’re not alone. But Jenny, I’m not alone either.”

She smiled wistfully at him. “I’m glad you found her. Only you would end up with a lady from another galaxy.” 

“She apparently didn’t get the social media post about me making Susan throw up in the Cessna.” James deadpanned, nodding.

Jenny laughed out loud and hugged him. 

“Cory’s trying hard not to laugh,” James said. 

“Dude, that went viral!” Cory chuckled. “You were a media star.”

“Kinda thought about offering tickets and fancy barf bags.” James grinned. He sobered. “Are we still flying tomorrow?”

Cory looked down and shrugged. “Well, life doesn’t stop, does it? I have a contract to fulfill and you have a plane to fly.”

“I want to dig into this.” James nodded at the television. “I can learn more at… um… I can… you know.”

“You’re slipping man. Not a peep about your job. I don’t want to know.” Cory waggled a finger at him. “You never work weekends anyway.”

James looked down. “Well…”

“No. If you’re not called in, you’re flying. We have to get this thing going.” Cory crossed his arms.

“I’m married, dude. She’s out there somewhere. She’s one of them.” James pointed at the television. He looked at it. It was a weather report now.

“Fly the plane for Cory. Take time to… you know, decompress,” Jenny said. “I see it already. You were really uptight last night.”

“I thought I was losing my mind last night.” James sighed. “I still feel her. Like she’s just out of sight.”

“James and his furry.” Cory chortled. “Never struck me as a furry type.”

“It’s too freaky.” James shook his head. “When I was hallucinating, I knew it wasn’t right. But on her, it… it fit.” 

He looked at the evening sky. Still no Jupiter. Just a Moon two days from full. “Whatever happened today, I think it healed me. I just see the Moon now.”