Jamieish Chapter 1
Chapter 1: What?
“What are you doing here?” Jamie said, rushing to wake up. Natalea wouldn’t just pop in if it wasn’t important.
“That man you spoke to today. He’s the source of the energy I’ve been feeling.”
“What is it? What is the energy?”
“Mars.”
Jamie got to her feet, but this new revelation didn’t wick off the sleep well enough, and she had to sit back down to keep from falling. She was struggling to believe that Robert was much of anything more than what he said he was, considering how frantic he’d been during their meeting at the Base.
“Robert? I’ll admit he’s a bit out there, but he’s so manic, like a kid that gets picked last in dodgeball.”
Natalea considered the metaphor a moment, trying to find the words that would relate the best to Jamie’s understanding. She sometimes found it difficult to speak to a lower life form. “Mars was always the outcast. Imagine, in your previous culture, the child that has a great deal of fun playing with others, but the type of playing that child wants to partake in makes the others not want to play with them. Mars is that child. And the things he wants to do horrify the rest of us.”
Jamie’s face twisted into both concern and curiosity. “So, he’s the problem child?”
“We have no known parent.”
“Yeah, but you celestials are all essentially siblings or something right? Equal in some way?”
Natalea considered then nodded. “I suppose.”
“And I thought you said the rest were all ‘gone’?”
“That is what I believed. I have not sensed another planetary presence since humans came to me.”
“And Mars was the last one you did sense before now, right?”
“Correct.”
“Maybe he came with them?”
“That does seem the most logical pathway.” Natalea’s face squished to one side in deep thought.
“It’s weird seeing you think. So human of you. It’s a good look,though. Relatable.”
Natalea smiled, though she wasn’t sure she considered it a compliment and did not reply.
Jamie was finally getting her bearings about her and found some proper clothes. “So if Robert is oozing Mars juice, how would you not be able to sense that?”
“I do not know. However, I am able to sense him constantly now, since you met with him.”
“So, he can turn it off?”
“It appears so.”
“Maybe a device?” Jamie forgot what she was doing in the midst of her idea, turning in various directions to no avail. “Some of us do have chips in us, but we can’t exactly manipulate them.”
“Then that is your next mission,” Natalea said with hope.
Jamie considered her words for a moment. She was talking to Mother Earth, as far as she knew, and angering her seemed like the farthest thing from healthy. “He offered us an alliance.”
“Perhaps it would be good to take it,” she replied.
Jamie’s mouth opened and closed like a fish, but no words came out.
Natalea realized the state her cohort was in and said, “The power of Mars is not to be trifled with. He is made purely of destruction.”
“Seriously?” Jamie said. She then realized Natalea likely didn’t know the whole story about Robert being the creator and leader of the Government, so she filled her in.
Natalea seemed unphased, almost expectant of the information. “It is of no matter until we know where or how this energy is being used.”
“So, you’re not gonna like… smite us or something if we hang with him?”
“As long as you continue to do the right thing when the opportunity presents itself, this is only a means to an end.” And she was gone. Disappeared, just like she always did.
Jamie couldn’t go back to sleep now. She had decisions to make and decided the circle of trust should remain small. When the sun came up, she would gather those she trusted fully and form a plan.