24. Jumper
Chapter twenty-four
Jumper
Today
DENIAL.
That’s the first stage right? Estrellas thought to himself as he drove across the country, only stopping once besides gas refills and restroom breaks to purchase some new clothes, and food. How could he have been so naive? No. Not naive. Overconfident, cocky, conceited, smug-just fucking stupid. All these years, millennia, Stathos-6 had been wrapped around his finger, like a puppy dog licking up his scraps. He’d been buried so deep in his ego that he had failed to see when Stathos-6 had begun to fight back. Now, it was too late. He had her. Stathos-6 was going to win.
I grew a conscience too late.
Fuck.
Night had fallen by the time Estrellas carefully pulled into Talia’s parents’ driveway. The fog had crawled in from the ocean and swirled underneath the glow of the streetlights like a strand of seaweed waiting to strangle him. If her parents didn’t do it themselves, Estrellas was sure to choke on his anxiety.
He sat for a few moments in the silence of the dark strumming his fingers on the steering wheel, slowly forming a plan. He not only had his memories back, but Angela’s, and with both, things were much clearer. The only thing he knew for certain… fate, wanted him and Talia together. Time and time again the universe thrust them together, and how he ended up in Angela’s body was no exception…
Angela was hopeful for the first time in months. Dating apps, it turns out, were a cesspool of experimental college kids, cheating spouses, and people just looking for a free meal. Finally, she had found a good one. Jeremy wasn’t exactly her type, but what he lacked in melanin he made up for with excellent manors, charm, and ambition. He didn’t want to live in his father’s powerful shadow as a politician, he wanted to break out on his own, as a formidable healthcare attorney, determined to make the system better, just like her.
The date was going so well, not only did he actually walk to her door and knock to pick her up, and not just honk from outside or share the cost of an uber, but he also asked to pay for dinner at the best restaurant she had ever eaten at. He didn’t insist like some testosterone fueled alpha male, or even worse, insist that she pay like some uneducated dumbass because she was a quote unquote feminist, he actually said he would like to pay and asked if that was okay with her. I mean talk about swoon worthy, that had never happened before, the closest were dates that offered to split the cost.
Neither of them wanted to end the night, so they decided to take a walk to the ice cream parlor down the street, which was perfect because she had promised Talia she would pick up a gallon of french vanilla with black cherries and caramel. And when he asked if he could hold her hand, she thought she might just float to the stars.
They were about a block away when they came across a blocked off section of the sidewalk where some construction was happening during the day, they would have to go around the back alley to get there.
Suddenly a bright green light illuminated the darkness around them from above. Angela tried to block the light as she looked up squinting. A loud groaning and whirling sound started coming from the light, like something huge and mechanical warming up. Her heart raced and she had trouble breathing. Jeremy slowly dropped her hand as he became entranced in the light and before she could understand what was happening, they were both being sucked upwards into the sky.
Brad was having a hard time focusing, his mind was all muddled. He knew he wasn’t really Brad, he was something else. Spencer had said he needed an assessment, no not Spencer, Stathos-6. Something was wrong. He didn’t know what it was, but he knew he needed to fight. He was on a slab, some tall gray humanoid figure was standing over him, but then it went out of view and came back, and the figure was now a bi-ped giant lizard, no not a lizard, Stathos-6 inhabiting a lizard.
Then he was rolling him to a different room where there were two bodies in a tube, a white male and black female.
Stathos-6 was saying something about the male being the son of some prominent politician. He rambled something about two humans being on a date, but the male wasn’t alone often enough and he took the risk and abducted them both.
Brad realized then, he was supposed to be reassigned to this male. If that’s what Stathos-6 wanted, then he couldn’t let that happen. When the transition began, he focused all his energy, all his consciousness on going inside the female next to him, not the male as intended.
When Stathos-6 realized the switch he must have been infuriated. There is a short window of time when a soul can’t be retransferred immediately, or there is a risk of shredding the consciousness, the soul. Stathos-6 would have been forced to return Jeremy’s body, and must have kept Estrellas inside Angela until he could find a suitable replacement, not realizing who her roommate was.
No wonder he attacked them in the apartment. He must have lost his shit when he figured it out.
Fate.
Estrellas and Talia were meant to be.
With his memories freshly returned, he was able to piece together that the pink goo Stathos-6 had formulated acted as a type of mind wipe, but it wasn’t permanent. Every time Estrellas was forced into one of his ‘assessments’ he became almost a blank slate. He counted about twelve different assessments over the years, far too many. If only he was able to fight back sooner, he wouldn’t have lost so much time with Talia, she wouldn’t have had to go through so much heartbreak. It was of no consequence now, getting Talia back was the only thing that mattered.
He lay his head against the steering wheel and sighed deeply.
Time to face the music.
When he raised his head, Stathos-2 was in his eyeline, staring him down through the windshield like he was a petulant child in need of a good time out.
Arms crossed, she walked to his door and knocked on the window. “You coming inside, or you just going to sit there stewing in your misery?” Without waiting for an answer, she walked back up to the house and left the front door ajar.
The estate was warm and inviting, a clever mask for the real energy in the home which was a mix of self-loathing and excessive pompous pride. He shrugged off his coat and shoes and followed the long hallway to the sitting room. It looked the same, with the exception of some new decor. Stathos-2 sat on the sofa with her back to him staring at the night view of the beach, the waves crashing against the shore reflecting the moonlight, a wine glass in one hand, waiting patiently for him to join her.
He sat across from her. “Where’s Mr. Garcia?”
“Gone.” She set her glass on the table before her. “His nights are spent in the beds of varying young girls.” She said it in a way that made it clear she had resigned herself to this reality quite some time ago.
They sat in silence and the minutes ticked by. Estrellas didn’t know where to start, he was bouncing the balls of his feet and wringing his hands.
She picked her wine glass back up and took another swallow. “Why are you here Stathos-1, you know there’s only so much I can sense, you will have to speak eventually. Nice new body by the way, I haven’t seen you inside too many females.”
He hung his head low as he laced his fingers behind his neck, his words came out stilted, trying to hold back the wave of despair that was trying to flood him. “He has her, Stathos-6 has Talia.” He looked up, felt his tears hanging on the lids of his eyes. “I need your help to get her back, please .”
She leaned close to him and said with spite in her words. “And why would I do that? Hmm? Why would I risk my life when I warned you, told you to stay away from Stathos-6.”
He enclosed his hands around hers that were gripping her wine like a lifeboat. “ Please, I am begging you. I can’t save her without your help.”
She pulled her hands from his, spilling wine on the white carpet where it splattered like a blood stain. “What is it with you and this human!?” She set her glass down roughly and stood with her arms crossed, glowering down at him.
“I love her.” He rose and placed his hands on her crossed arms, heart beating wildly against his ribs, pulse throbbing in his ears. “In all our years, Stathos-2, I have never felt what love is. I need her, to be able to breathe again, to live again. I am incomplete without her.” He squeezed her. “Damn the planet to hell without her in it!”
Tears fell down her cheeks as she pulled back and wiped them away angrily. “It’s not fair, Stathos-1! You think I don’t crave what you have found! And if I help you, I’ll never have a chance of my own to find it.” She shook her head. “You know I won’t come out of this alive.”
“That’s not true. I don’t know that, and you don’t know that.”
“Oh, but I do. I do know it, Stathos-1, we won’t all walk away from this.”
If only he had the air in his lungs to scream right now, he'd rattle the walls. How could he ask her to lay down her life for him? But Talia was all that mattered. He had to save her.
He turned away, running his fingers through Angela’s thick black hair, bowing his head, and desperate words falling out without remorse. “You’re right, I don’t know that we’ll all come out of it alive. But I have to try. I won’t force you to help me.” He paused and turned back to face her, words cold and calculating. “But I would remind you, that your key to a new life is on that mothership.” His brow raised and a smirk threatened to tug his lips, he held it back and said. “You could have a fresh start, a new body, a new path.”
Her bottom lip quivered, and she sucked it in between her teeth.
He spoke gently. “You don’t have to be trapped in this home. Help me. Get us on that ship and you can start again.”
Slowly, he walked towards her and placed his soft brown hands lightly on her crossed arms, covered in a buttery soft white sweater. “Please, Stathos-2, you’re the only other one with a connection to get us onboard without detection. I need the element of surprise, it’s the only way.”
She sniffled and wiped away her snot and tears on her sleeve, then nodded. “Okay, I’ll help you.”