V - the Visitors

Detroit, 1983.

Thanks to generous donations from the Visitors, the Detroit Police Department Central Station was looking like something out of a science fiction movie now, the kind with scheming A.I.s and sentient robots.

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Truth be told, the Visitors couldn’t care any less about crime in Detroit. But they were taking threats to themselves serious and made sure to equip their human allys with the instruments to combat those threats.

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Rika: “A package just arrived for you, Detective!”

Gavin: “Thank you, Rika!”

Rika: “What is it?”

Gavin: “Just some chemicals Forensics ordered. They’re for coloring slices of cells to better see the details.”

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Rika: “Really? But didn’t we get a machine for evidence analysis along with all the other stuff from the Visitors?”

Gavin: “I guess so. But our nerds don’t understand how that thing works.”

Rika: “Misplaced the manual?”

Gavin: “Haha, no! The book only tells you what button to push and how to interpret the results the machine spits out. Nobody knows what it does, exactly.”

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Rika: “Does that mean our forensics department mistrusts the Visitors?”

Gavin: “Nah! They are just naturally curious.”

Rika: “And why were YOU ordering the chemicals, anyway?”

Gavin: “Since we have the machines now, Captain Fowler cut Forensics’ budget. I still have plenty unspent expenses credit, so I chipped in.”

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Rika: “Oh my…”

The one co-worker who was known as a highly competitive opportunist was suddenly dishing out money? But, wait, not to just anybody. Gavin Reed was aiding specifically the scientists in the basement, who seemed to distrust the Visitors. Reed’s own brother was a scientist, too…
“Oh my” didn’t even begin to cover it in Officer Tachibana’s eyes. The Scientist Conspiracy apparently was real! And it had infiltrated law enforcement!

After his shift, on his way to the parking lot, Gavin passed by one of the posters advertising Human-Visitor cooperation, even friendship.

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“We’ll do great things together, huh? Wrong city for that, Amanda-dear.”

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Fingers unfamiliar with the task moved a spray paint can left and right, up and down, until eventually two rows of crude letters were formed:

GO HOME

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Gavin turned around and ran away. He might not have accomplished anything, and in fact, the man didn’t even feel any better after letting out his frustration.

For once Detroit had gotten graced with something good: technologically advanced aliens that were do-gooders through and through. But they were also… Gavin didn’t know what exactly the Visitors were doing wrong, only that it was showing “in everything” and that the aliens just didn’t want to see the damage they were doing. Something like that. In any case, they needed to go away!

Chapter 3: The Exhibition

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One of these days the Kasbah Gallery for Contemporary Art hosted an exhibition of local celebrity artist Carl Manfred’s paintings. The man living even more reclusive than Gavin’s (still missing) brother, nobody expected him to stay for longer than a couple of press photographs, but then the miracle happened:

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In young Lieutenant Markus of the Visitors Carl found a conversation partner who both understood and challenged the human. That came as a surprise, because Markus’ bridge crew had the reputation of tourists romping through the city. They drank, played loud music and stared uncomfortably long at humans in swimwear – definitely not into their eyes.
But today the same Markus who usually was the most rambunctious lout of the bunch showed a different side of himself, one that was eager to engage in discussions about the art and philosophy of two worlds. If he didn’t understand something about any given painting, the Visitor said so instead of steering towards allegedly safer topics like the paintings’ colors. In fact, Markus didn’t mention the colors at all…

Carl in turn was patient to a degree that few people would have given him credit to possess. One of those few who knew better was Carl's out of wedlock son, Leo, a young man who conveniently remembered his blood-relation to the painter whenever he was short of money. Standing a bit aside from the discussion, Leo directed his resentment against the world as a whole against the young Visitor. Why didn't Carl adopt Markus?!

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Captain Amanda felt out of place at the exhibition. For the first time the Visitor Captain was interacting not with a pre-selected group of humans in a formal environment, but with dozens of them, coming and going as they pleased. Conversation partners changed as quickly as topics, and there was no concept to follow at all. What was posing a problem, because Amanda could not read human body language quickly enough.
Humans’ skins didn’t change with their emotions and energy level. At most they blushed a little. And so, when one Caroline Phillips innocently asked what was on Amanda’s mind, the Visitor blurted out: “Colors!!!”

“Pardon me…?” Caroline snapped.

Fortunately there was a different color related thought that had crossed the Captain’s mind several times:

“Oh, I meant… Seventy percent of your city’s population is black, but I only see pale skinned humans at this exhibition. Why is that so?”

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Caroline: “There are… uh… lots, though? Of them?”

Amanda: “The cloakroom attendant. The toilet lady. Some cops. But only very few actual museum visitors.”

John: “Oh, speaking of the cloakroom! I think I left my… driver’s license in my overcoat. Let’s go check for it!”

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Caroline: “Lost your driver’s license?”

John: “It was the first thing that came to mind, okay? Or would you have liked to stay and explain our history and how it is still echoing in today’s economy to Amanda? Things are just the way they are, but then those aliens make you see the world through their eyes and it suddenly looks like a much meaner place. The Visitors are oh-so enlightened… innocent… everything… My mind cannot decide whether to adore them as wide-eyed puppies or hate them for being so utterly perfect. - Oh, hello, Daniel!”

Daniel: “I heard you lost your driver’s license, John?”

Caroline: “No! Yes! He misplaced it. It didn’t get revoked.”

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Meanwhile in the Detroit suburbs, police officer Chris Miller and a Visitor named Timothy were watching the Bellamy family residence, where a “scientist family” was living.

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Chris: “What science exactly do the Professors Bellamy teach?”

Timothy: “I dunno. Does it matter?”

Chris: “…probably not. I’m just a bit annoyed at all the “Scientist” Conspiracy talk, as if that was an occupation like baker or hair stylist.”

Timothy: “Yeah. How about we call it “Nerd Conspiracy” instead?”

Chris: “That sounds a lot less intimidating, lol.”

Timothy: “Haha, you’re right! Or, here’s is a good one: Comparative Literature Studies Conspiracy!”

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Chris: “Thank you for the laugh, Tim! I sure feel silly watching this house on a random day.”

Timothy: “It’s not that random, you know. With the big art exhibition in Detroit today, Captain Amanda suspects the Bellamys might use that as a distraction to slip out of town. And if they try that, we shoot them. You ready to do that, Chris?”

Chris: “Of course! I mean, why would they flee, if not because they are guilty? If they have nothing to fear, they’ll calmly stay put.”

Timothy: “…guess so.”

Back at Kasbah Gallery, Daniel was still talking to the human who shared his first name with the Visitors fleet’s Supreme Commander: John Phillips, car dealership owner and driving teacher.

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John: “So how’s my best driving student doing? Your reflexes are astonishing, Daniel! I take it you have a military background?”

Daniel: “Me? Haha, no! I’m a teacher.”

Caroline: “A teacher… just like you, John! Haha, that’s so surreal! Aliens drop out of the sky and they are cops and teachers and accountants! Not to mention human.”

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John: “True, but come to think of it, what else should they be? Only primates have the capability to advance to sapience and invent space flight. Birds lack hands. And reptiles would laze around on heated rocks all day.”

Daniel: “Advanced reptiles would build houses with heat lamps. If you installed those at your workplace, that would function like a coffee shower for humans.”

John: “They’d still spend much of their time resting.”

Daniel: “They’d use the time to think! A lot!”

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Caroline: “But there wouldn’t come anything out of it. You know how the innermost part of our brain is called the Reptile? Because they passed it down to the proto-mammals. And to this day the reptile is still the best actual reptiles can bring to the table in the brain department.”

Daniel: “That’s where you err, Caroline! Reptiles are actually pretty clever!”

Caroline: “It’s cute how you defend them, Daniel. Got a pet lizard?”

Daniel: “I used to, back home, but that’s beside the point!”

Caroline: “Let’s face it, reptiles are outdated creatures that evolution has discarded long ago in favor of primates.”

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Later the bartender wouldn’t be able to explain just how Daniel had crossed the distance between himself and the Phillips couple. Everything had happened so fast, like an alligator attack. For half a minute the man watched the brawl in stunned silence, then he hit the panic button that would alert the DPD. Fortunately a police car was parked right outside the art gallery.

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The first responder’s name was Antony Deckart and he went ahead full of confidence. Alien or not, Daniel wasn’t Antony’s first arrest in a bar and would hardly be the last.

“Come on, lad, drunk tank’s waiting! Consider it a rite of passage, then it’ll sting less!”

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When Marlon Wilson arrived just a couple of moments later, he almost dripped over Antony. K.O.ing an officer that quickly attested the Visitor a respectable strength, so Marlon switched to a Martial Arts style that he hoped Daniel would not be able to match.

Daniel: “What’s that going to be? A dance competition?”

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THUD!

Marlon’s boot connected with something solid. There wasn’t just skin under the Visitor’s jacket. A security vest, maybe.

On second thought… Visitors in general were moving slowly and Daniel was no exception. Only after he had entered combat mode had Daniel sped up and was now acting with astonishing reflexes. Adding that to superhuman strength and the mysterious dermal plating, Marlon came to a conclusion about what he was facing off with here:

“A robot! Holy plum, I’m fighting a robot!”

On and on the fight went, until suddenly small feet skipped down the stairs. They belonged to Cole Anderson, one of the children Daniel had brought to the art gallery today.

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The boy either wasn’t aware of the police operation downstairs or he was under the impression that being the Lieutenant’s son cleared him to watch it, in any case Cole arrived in a cheerful mood - that died the moment his eyes fell on his afterschool teacher.

“D…d…daniel? What are you doing, Daniel?! Are you drunk?”

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His ward’s arrival caused to Daniel to momentarily hesitate.

“Daniel! Stop attacking people!” Cole called out in his squeaky voice that was reminiscent of a mouse’s. “The cops won’t hurt you! Just fine you, and I bet you can even put that on your expense list! Please surrender! I promise it’ll be okay!”

Daniel didn’t care for any of the words, but Cole’s tone resonated within him. The boy’s disappointment was more than the Visitor could take now. He started moving slower, less coordinated, although far from sluggish.

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Slowing down didn’t make Daniel any less of a danger in melee, but he was now a valid target for David Allen, the third cop who had been in the police car. David didn’t take any chances. Soon as he had an unobstructed line of sight, he emptied a full magazine of gel rounds into Daniel.
As the Visitor went down, he cursed little Cole for “tricking” him.

The cops grinned, after all, a little spite in the face of this defeat was to be expected. And then they smiled with relieve, because Daniel was still breathing, his heart beating. Uncanny combat powers notwithstanding, this was a living being, not a robot.

Chapter 4: Naked Truth

That evening Lt. Hank Anderson stayed late at work. The reason for this decision was kept in the rightmost holding cell, a certain prisoner Hank needed to make sure didn’t get mistreated. With no other pressing concerns, the man tried to familiarize himself with the computers the Visitors had donated to the DPD.

Meanwhile Hank’s son from a failed marriage was playing on a carpet on the floor, waiting for the second prisoner, his afterschool club teacher Daniel, to come back to his senses.

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Cole: “Swoosh! Bam! Pow! Pow!”

Hank: “What’s going on down there? Sounds serious!”

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Cole: “It is! The evil robo-overlord has captured Simon in a stasis tube. Amanda battles him, but robo-overlord is stronger. So Markus sneaks around robo-overlord and frees Simon!”

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Hank: “That was clever of him. Aaaaaaand - kiss!”

Cole: “Ew, no, kissing is gross!”

A couple of hours after getting K.O.ed in the art gallery, Daniel woke up in a prison cell.

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Surprisingly that wasn’t new for the teacher. Life on the Visitor mothership was organized in a military fashion and ending up in detention now and then was pretty common across all ranks, the actual military members and the former civilians alike. And in any case getting locked up in solitary was still better than some of the chores you could get put to.

The question now was just how angry was Amanda at Daniel?

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A quick look around revealed that the cell came with breakfast of the catch-it-yourself variant. The breakfast was wearing a leather jacket and was far too large to get swallowed whole. So that was the first chicanery during Daniel’s detention. Visitors were perfectly able to sustain themselves on dead meat, but smaller, live game was preferred and believed to be healthier.

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Daniel (internally): I’m not going to eat this! It’s unhygienic, not to mention that a whole human for a single person is wasteful.

It was a moot point anyway, since Daniel was still feeling like having collided with the mothership. The Visitor was in no condition to hunt large game.

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While pondering his food options, Daniel noticed that the constant hum of a mothership in hover mode was missing. Maybe he was at the Visitor base at Belle Isle?
The prisoner took a step towards the cell door. A quick look outside revealed a mixture of human furniture and Visitor tech. A handful of humans in police uniforms were present, pretending to work.

Daniel: “Wait, what, are we at the DPD?!”

Breakfast Cellmate: “Where else?”

Daniel: “Oh.”

This detention had just went downhill from icky breakfast to no breakfast at all. Nothing species appropriate for a Visitor at least.

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Gavin: “So now there’s no place you Visitors haven’t visited, ey? Haha! You’ll make the news, dude, the first alien to get fined for a drunken brawl! How did you get plastered in the first place, even? The way you went at my co-workers, one would think a guy with your condition would be able to keep his booze.”

Daniel: “Shut up! I wasn’t drunk! The Phillips were being jerks! - Wait, your co-workers you said? Then why are you in here, if you’re a cop? Spying on me?!”

Gavin: “Graffitti’ing the building… I'm getting better at the actual act, but didn't improve in the Get-away-quickly-afterwards department.”

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Daniel: “Ah, so. And do you by chance know Lt. Anderson?”

Gavin: “He’s been my partner for years.”

Daniel: “Then you also know little Cole?”

Gavin: “Sure!“

Daniel: “I think I just lost my appetite…”

Gavin: ???

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Gavin: “I don’t know what that meant just now, or what got into you in the art gallery. But I DO know that I’m fed up with you “Visitors”!
Hank is staying late today to make sure I’m “safe”, from what- or whoever. Because you criminalized my brother (nevermind he’s perfectly able to criminalize himself), my career, too, is going down the drain!”

Daniel: “Hey! Hands off!”

Gavin: “You wish! How many more bruises do you think Hank can explain away as you having sustained them in the brawl, hm? I’ll spell it out it for you: A whole d--- lot!”

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Daniel: “Kch… kch…”

Gavin: “There the mighty hero from outerspace is… Ha! Even you need to breath like any living creature. So, what are you gonna do now?”

Daniel couldn’t tell. He was, however, quite certain what his body would do reflexively, if the human didn’t let go of him in one… two…

*GOB!*

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Gavin: “Ouch, ouch, ouch! Did you just SPIT at me?!”

Squirting acid that could leave a large mammal such as Gavin temporarily blinded was a tried and true defense mechanism of the Visitors. And it would have worked against a random pedestrian, but not a detective who had learned the ropes in the streets of Detroit. It took more than a little pepper spray to incapitate Gavin Reed.

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Gavin quickly wiped the acid off his face, then attacked his cellmate again. The human was better trained, more experienced in dirty fighting, the Visitor was naturally stronger and quicker, but a non-combatent in addition to just having woken up from unconsciousness. Gavin didn’t expect his opponent to flinch away instead of attacking back, and so his fingers scraped across Daniel’s skin… that suddenly gave way, revealing a second layer underneath.

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Gavin: “A mask? You’re wearing a rubber mask? And this is what you’re looking like underneath? Like the proverbial little green men from Mars?!"

Daniel: “Wrong, human. This is how I look with the glue that holds the mask in place smeared all over my face. And with contact lenses.”

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Gavin: “Hank! Hank, come quick! There’s some weird critter in my cell!”

Daniel: “Says the little pink man from outer space…”

Gavin called a few times more, even when he could already hear Hank Anderson approach the cells.

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Hank: “Coming… coming! Geeze, Gavin, what’s with the commotion? A spider in your cell?”

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Gavin: “I think Daniel would like that a lot. It spit acid at me, Hank! With a forked tongue! And the “dermal plating” Marlon and Antony spoke of are scales. It’s a plumming lizard!”

Hank: “Oh, crap! - I think I need a coffee now.”

Gavin: “Make it two!”

Hank: “So, two coffee and a… What are you going to have, Daniel? Not really a spider?”

Daniel: “A chipmunk, please, if it’s no too much of a bother.”

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Hank: “So… do we panic now?”

Gavin: “Maybe later. I’m too angry now. Too much of a professional to panic, probably. Or maybe the sight of Daniel munching down on the basement’s spider population has numbed all emotions in me.”

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Hank: “Hey, I was trying to lighten the mood! I didn’t expect Daniel to really eat them! - So what will we do now? For now we locked Daniel in the basement, out of sight, but we cannot keep him there forever in the hopes his kin will forget him.”

Gavin: “Maybe he’d like to hibernate down there?”

Hank: “That’s the point, there are too many Maybes involved here. So let’s do our job and start eliminating a few of them. Soon as the suspect has finished his meal, we’ll interrogate him.”