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| - With one hand on his elbow, Dexamene led Alfred through a narrow corridor that channeled deplaning passengers past the airport security check point. She cringed to see a large clot of passengers waiting to have their carry-on bags searched before thy would be allowed to go out to the gates and wait for their departing flights. She was thankful that her trip was complete and she would not have to wait in any more lines. Nervously glancing at the security equipment, Dexamene wondered if even this small airport merited deployment of one of the new nanoelectronic signature detectors. Ferace had recently been issuing warnings about more sensitive detectors being installed on Earth. The problem with nanotechnology was that it could be easily hidden from human eyes and she dared not use any of her nanite prostheses here, not when airports were notoriously popular with Observers as surveillance stations. To a casual observer, Dexamene and Alfred would have looked like a fashionable young couple, perhaps returning from a short early season ski trip in the Canadian Rockies. Alfred might have seemed a trifle tired or confused...maybe hung over, or upon closer inspection and questioning, mentally handicapped. He seemed to follow Dexamene's lead and his shuffling gait lacked any indication of spontaneity. At customs the agents had quickly decided to ignore Alfred and addressed their questions to Dexamene, allowing her to answer for him. One such casual observer, a young man named Thomas, had Dexamene and Alfred in his sights, but he was concerned with his own affairs and at first was only barely conscious of Dexamene. Thomas noticed that she was somewhat taller than average and had the graceful skeletal frame of an athlete or a dancer. Normally Thomas would have quickly let her slip from his thoughts and only briefly suffered a feeling of wistfulness, but there was something familiar about her. Thomas wondered: was she some semi-famous athlete or minor celebrity? Dexamene and Alfred emerged from the narrow corridor and entered into a broader segment of the concourse where, off to the side, there were chairs and phones and a few shops selling food and magazines and trinkets. Dexamene pulled Alfred off to the side and into in a quiet nook where a few phones were arranged in small clusters for the convenience of airport patrons. She placed her hand on his cheek and a swarm of nanites went from her body into Alfred. Suddenly Alfred seemed to come out of his daze. Dexamene asked, "Feeling better?" Alfred looked around as if he were only just then noticing where he was. He replied, "Yes, I am back." Alfred turned away from Dexamene and quickly walked towards the parking garage, now navigating his own path. Dexamene watched Alfred depart, only briefly wondering if there might be a nanoelectronic signature detector between the terminal building and the parking garage. She let such concerns slip from her thoughts: even the Observers could not watch everyone all the time. At one of the nearby phones, Thomas was trying to call a friend who had promised him a ride back to his home from the airport. Thomas was becoming frustrated because he could not contact his friend, either at his home or by way of his cell phone number. While making the two calls and waiting for his friend to answer he had watched Dexamene and Alfred with growing interest. There was something very familiar about Dexamene, but almost like something remembered from a dream. Thomas hung up the phone and decided that his friend was probably already at the airport and may have shut off the ringer on his cell phone. People were always doing that and forgetting to turn the ringer back on. Thomas was ready to walk out to the curb and look for his friend's car, but he had become intrigued by what he had just witnessed and what he was now experiencing. It was now as if a subtle glow surrounded the young couple he had been watching. Then the man turned and walked away, but the glow stayed with the woman. Thomas knew that this glow was what his doctor called a hallucination and Thomas had been carefully instructed to ignore such things. He knew that he could not ignore them since they were a fundamental part of his existence. Thomas quickly took a few steps over towards Dexamene and said, "I feel like I know you-" He had one hand raised up and moving towards her. Hearing a voice close behind her, Dexamene turned quickly and seemed startled by the strange man's sudden approach. She looked at his none-too-clean hair and stubbly beard and instinctively took a step backwards. Thomas continued moving forward, backed her against the wall and put his hand on her face, imitating what the woman had done, moments ago, to her travel companion. Thomas asked, "What did you do to that guy? It looked like something came out of your hand and woke him out of a trance." Dexamene brushed his hand away and briefly wondered if she had been sloppy about the transfer of nanites into Alfred's brain. It had been important to alter his brain's electromagnetic signature during the flight and the easiest way to do that was to just drain out most of the nanites from his nanotronic brain. There should have been no way for an Earth human to see the nanites while they transferred in microscopically, no, nanoscopically narrow threads from her body into Alfred's brain. Dexamene quickly invented an excuse, "He always uses hypnosis when flying to calm his nerves. I just used a small magic trick to bring him out of his trance. Good day, sir." Dexamene walked away from Thomas and headed towards the baggage claim area, leaving the young man looking at his hand. His hand now seemed to tingle and then his whole mind came alive with what seemed like the static-laden noise of a thousand un-tuned radios. Thomas started slapping his hands together and did not pay any attention to where he was walking until he bumped into the plexiglass partition that separated him from the passengers who were in line and waiting to go through security screening. He looked up foolishly into their startled faces then looked down again at his hand. Now, as quickly as it had come, the tingle and static faded away. Within the context of his life, which had been full of hallucinations, seizures and cognitive challenges, these transient sounds and sensations did not greatly surprise Thomas. Thomas shrugged, re-oriented himself and went back to use the phone again. Now he was quickly connected to his friend's cell phone. His friend explained that he was now waiting at the curb outside the terminal. The young man hung up the phone, picked up his small travel bag and walked towards the exit, wondering where he had seen that woman before. End of teaser.Click here to continue reading the story.
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