Dulce Truths

Heather scoffs. “Why, because I’m a woman, that’s why! As soon as they get a woman they shoot someone’s — or something’s — sperm into her and boom, just like that she’s pregnant.”

“And that happened to you?” Ellis asks.

“Three times.”

“Three…” Stu starts, but trails-off.

“Three times,” Heather repeats. “They impregnate us and then about three months later they come and harvest the fetus, taking it out of us and then… I dunno, off to some lab somewhere, I guess.”

“And this happens to all the women that wind up in Dulce?” Ellis asks.

“All but the ones they mutate into something else.” She glances around and then lowers her voice. “Did you see the tanks?”

Both men nod, but Ellis is the one to speak. “Lots of women in those tanks, lots of women that look like you.”

“He means, ‘beautiful’ women,” Stu says, and Heather blushes for a moment before an awkward silence falls.

Ellis takes on an amused smile. “And I guess you’re about what they’re looking for, then… huh?” Heather looks up at him as if she doesn’t know what he’s talking about, so he fumbles forward, nearly tripping over his words. “I mean… uh… they want petite women in their early twenties — maybe early thirties — am I even halfway right?”

Heather laughs. “I’d say you about hit the nail on the head there, sir.”

“But there was more than just women down there,” Stu says, and Heather nods as she collects herself.

“They like small to medium size men in their mid-twenties to mid-forties. Their favorites, however, are dark-haired boys between five to nine. The boys are favored because at that age their bodies are rapidly growing, and their atomic material is adaptable in the transfer chamber.”

“Transfer chamber?” Ellis says.

Heather shakes her head and looks down at the ground. “I’m not sure what it is exactly, just that it strips the flesh from the bones and the soul from the body… or something like that.”

“God!” Stu says.

“Anything else?” Ellis asks after a few moments of silence have passed. “Anything.”

Heather cocks her head to one side, as if trying to shake out any remaining memories that might be stubbornly clinging to her mind.

“The young women are usually small in size and frequently very fertile. The men are used for sperm, that’s it. I have no idea why they prefer small to average size men.”

“Might be for control purposes,” Stu says.

“Might be,” Heather continues. “I only mention the most common people you’ll find down there are the small, young men and the petite women.” She shakes her head and stares at Ellis. “But, let me stress that there are all types of people being held against their will in that base! There are tall, heavy men and women that are big too. There are, teenagers, elderly folks and very young girls in those cages… grade school kids.” She frowns and shakes her head. “They’re in the vats, too.”

After that last Heather buries her head in her hands and starts to cry. Ellis looks at Stu guiltily, as if he were the cause of this, while Stu just rushes forward to put his hands on Heather’s shoulders to comfort her.

“I’m… sorry,” Heather says through her tears, trying to look up at Ellis and Stu again.

“No, no!” both men say at the same time, their hands out in front of them in placating gestures. It doesn’t work and the tears continue. Ellis finally finishes with a, “Maybe we should—”

“Heather!”

The shout comes from behind them, and both Ellis and Stu turn.

“Mark!” Heather shouts out from behind them, and just as both men’s eyes focus on Ellis’s son. Neither are able to say anything, for Heather jumps from the exam table and nearly knocks them over as she begins rushing across the room.

“Oh, Heather!” Mark says when the two of them meet in the middle of the room and embrace. They look into each other’s eyes, and Mark begins to wipe away her tears. “I never thought I’d see you again,” he says. “Thank God I was wrong!”

Heather just looks up at him, smiling, with a fresh round of tears coming… though tears of happiness this time.

“Um…” Stu says, looking from Ellis to Mark and back again, while Ellis gives an audible clearing of his throat. Neither Mark nor Heather look over at them.

“Do you two know each other?” Ellis asks a moment later. That finally elicits a response from Mark.

“Yeah, dad, we do. And I’ll tell you what, I think we’ll be leaving.” He says that last looking from Heather to his father. “It’s been a long day — for all of us — but for the abductees like Heather here the most. She needs rest, and I’ll walk her back to her room and make sure she gets it.”

Both men nod to that, though Mark doesn’t notice. He’s already helping Heather to her feet, his arm around her shoulders and a concerned look on his face. He gives a nod to both men as he passes them, then gets the door open. A moment later they’re out in the hallway and Ellis and Stu are alone once again.

6 — Abductions