Dark Dream

18. Babel of Thoughts

Everything word it spoke was being recorded for future study and dissection. The more they heard it speak the more they wanted it alive. Alive at all cost.

The information the head contained was priceless and could potentially save a whole human species and their lives and their family's lives in with the deal.

If this cost the lives of a few errant soldiers, then so be it.

***

"What's it going to be then? Time is ticking. As we speak, guns are being brought into play. Soon they'll be trained on the back of your necks. Orders are in place to take you out if you make an aggressive move towards me. I'll survive your bullets, as I don't truly exist in this dimension, but they'll kill you anyway.

Save your bullets and spare your lives. Do it for your friends and family. This is not your time or place to die, your faces floating in the shit and the mud. See this as a kindness between or species. No sacrifice has to be made."

John looked over his shoulder and saw criss-crossing beams of red light which marked them all. "He's right, they have us covered," he whispered to the others.

"Talk to them, let them know you are in control of the situation and pose no threat to what they seek. Walk away. They have a radio-controlled robot which will salvage what is left of me. No human hand will touch me while I'm still alive. They fear me too much. At this point in time I'm the most valuable item on the face of the planet," it said, with a certain sense of pride and great beaming smile that made their collective stomachs crawl from this life into the next.

"John, go tell the other team we're coming out."

"Yes, Sir," he said, reluctant but relieved to be given permission to leave. Backing away, he did as he was told and was glad of it.

"What are you?" Said the one called Mark, as he turned his attention back to the head.

It paused, as if trying hard to make itself known to a small child. Finding the right words to fully translate its existence in a language that could be easily understood.

"We are many things to many people. We are the breaking dawn, the crashing waves. We are the harvester of souls, the darkness in the night. To some we are considered demons, to others we are far far more. If you were bad I would have responded as such. You would have seen a demon and that demon would have played its part so very well. As any good demon should." It smiled with the irony of these words.

"As it was, you saw deeper than that. Which is to your credit, by the way."

"Although we are all much alike and have a common aim, what we are fundamentally depends on the reader. Depending on you, we can be angels or demons. But we are all of these and we are none of these. Indeed, we are so much more and yet, we are nothing at all. Just bodies, vessels with a message from this planet. It's the message, not the messenger, that you need to listen intently to. We are merely the conduit between worlds, a message in a bottle that was sent out many millions of years ago." It paused as if deep in thought and decided on its last words on this matter. "All will be clear in the fullness of time."

"But why are you here? What is it that you want?"

It smiled warmly. Despite its grotesque choice in teeth, all three of them saw the image of its face dissolve and shimmer briefly to reveal a less benign version of the face it had so far presented them. Its brown skin became slightly translucent and seemed to radiate an inner light which seemed at odds with its currently demonic appearance.

"We're here to set you free – free from the slavery you have all imposed on one-another. We are here to dissolve the mindless complexity you have built between each other and deliver you from the hell you build each day. This can only be done through hardship and pain. We have a long road ahead of us. Much of what you take for granted will change beyond what you currently know and understand on an intrinsic and very real level. Your drive to conquer us will bring greater unity among the people of the world and miracles in technology will bring you closer to to the world you live on, rather than further away. As a species, you share this world with many more life forms but your ignorance and stupidity sees them as disposable commodities."

"So there is a reason to all of this?" Mark asked, hopefully.

"Oh, yes," said the creature, casting aside its normal sermons for something more concise and to the point.

They were all convinced. Something deep within each of them seemed to penetrate the thick and distorting ice of their conscious minds.

Lowering their guns, they backed away and retreated to where the other team lay in wait. This very act saved them a bullet to their heads. An act not done out of fear, as now they felt a strange reverence for what they'd just seen and heard

-----

The creature was right. No human hand would go near it.

When they reached the surface, they saw a robotic buggy being offloaded from a shiny black van. They recognised it as the type they used to remotely disarm bombs. It had a big pincer like hand which would be perfect for plucking the creature's head from the darkness of the sewers, like a crusty jewel.

Plucked like the forbidden fruit of old. It would either enlighten or poison the minds of humanity. Only time would reveal which....