Terror on Arrival: An Apocalyptic Science Fiction Novel
Getting To Know You

Jayde dreamed—beautifully, by the way. She never contravened her mind its mental adventure. She was anywhere, any when. Her imagination was unbounded. She could be the first woman president. She could be a famous astronaut. She could be the first woman president astronaut that saves the world. Imagination was a bawdy, intractable cuss.

A knock woke her. She had to repudiate her world-saving for a later date—oh, that was coming. She opened her eyes, and looked at the clock. 0500 hours!? She was ready to slay whoever woke her from her world-saving!

She walked to the door, and yelled out, “Who’s breaking my sleep pattern so early this morning!?”

She heard a muffled, Slavic voice through the door. “It is Sergeant Doshmononov, Lieutenant!”

She was angry, but surprised. She opened her door during Alexi’s second sentence.

“I decided to come by early to get dirty with the mollusks.” Alexi was cut off by an upset Jayde. She was wearing her shorts. She had to shed her sweats, being in Belize at 86 degrees. She didn’t think sleeping in a pool of sweat would suffice.

“It is 0500 hours! You’re a tad early, Alexi!” She became boisterous.

“I would figure that you would be excited to get to work, Lieutenant,” Alexi explained.

“Didn’t you work out last night!?” she asked, rhetorically. “Never mind, come back in a half an hour. I need to take a shower, and put on my face. I need some privacy, instead of a gung-ho Spetsnaz waking me this damned early!” she yelled, and closed the door harshly on Alexi.

He did the ‘oh, well’ face, and began to walk to his room.

“And call me Jayde! I thought we went over that last night!” he

Alexi was apprehensive about knocking on Jayde’s door, after his head was bitten off forty five minutes earlier. He was usually punctual; however, he wanted Jayde’s embers to fade from their redness before he bothered her again.

This was his moment of truth. He knocked on the door. He heard some bustling, crashing, and cursing. He had to be prepared for herbrimstone.

She opened her door. Alexi expected for her to damage his feelings.

“Come in, Alexi,” Jayde offered, pleasantly! “I knocked over my erase board on the way to the door. You have to forgive me.”

“A-all is... forgiven, Jayde,” Alexi said.

Wasn’t he just having his head bitten off by the pleasant, acquiescent Jayde? Where did the beast go?

“Come in, Alexi. I’ll be with you in a second. I have to pick up, and adjust my board. Those peptides aren’t going to conjugate themselves,” the transformed Jayde said.

“I am confused,” Alexi began. “Earlier, this morning, you wanted to crucify me. Now, it seems as though you have stayed my execution, and have become cordial, why?” he asked.

“I’m sorry Alexi, I’m a Gorgon Medusa at 0500. Put some coffee in my system, and I calm down,” she said. “I have some percolating. Do you want a cup?”

Alexi could usually control his psychotic troops. Dealing with a psychotic woman was... antithetic.

“Black would be excellent.” Alexi decided to let his female confusion go.

Jayde grabbed a clean beaker—she didn’t expect company. He could probably drink his coffee from a muddy combat boot.

“I hope my waitress skills are fine. That beaker isn’t laced with renegade microbes.” Jayde gave him the beaker full of hot, black coffee.

“Everything is... surprisingly amicable. Why have you changed?” he asked.

“Haven’t you ever had a girlfriend before?” Jayde asked. “I’m a woman. A finely tuned woman can go from zero to bitch in 3.2 seconds.”

“Being Special Forces has been my girlfriend for years. She is tough, but I understand her,” Alexi said.

“That’s another thing I have to train you on, relationships. Then you’d be a well-rounded commando,” she said. “Just remember my first lesson. Even when a woman is wrong, she’s always right.”

Alexi knew females were complex, irrational, discombobulating bemusing queens. He decided not to joust with Tiamat, the Mesopotamian chaos monster with a broken twig.

“I have decided to follow my mantra. Do not try to conquer the impossible,” Alexi said. “In Russian, it is ‘ne pytaytes’ zavoyevat’ nevozmozhno.’”

“Well, my mantra is ‘even if it’s impossible, go for it, anyway’,” Jayde responded. “I guess our mantras are slightly different.”

“You are a dreamer. I am a realist,” Alexi said.

“Haven’t you ever dreamed before?” she asked.

“A dream is a voluntary vision of indulgence, reality is existing facts that can affect you. When I am shot, that is a reality I cannot just dream away,” Alexi explained his reasoning.

“Everything about you is centered around combat,” Jayde deduced.

“If you cannot love what you do, your love will betray you,” Alexi said.

“I guess you have relationships down pat. Just substitute your job for a woman,” Jayde said.

“My job does not have anything hidden. It lays everything, good and bad, on the table. A woman can hide things from you, for years. They are not as open as my job. I think I will stick with my job,” Alexi said.

Jayde wanted to win her individual debate. She was like Alexi in that way. If someone challenged her opinion, she wanted to hit her opinion home.

“I’m 5′-11”, in metrics that’s around 180 centimeters. I’m about 61 Kilograms. I like rhythm and blues, classical, alternative, trip and hip hop music. I visit museums. I’m a football fan. I can sit in front of a great love story, and cry like a baby,” she began to rattle off who she was.

“What are you doing, Jayde?” Alexi interrupted.

“I’m trying to show you, not all women hide things from you. I’m laying myself out on the table.” Then she thought about what she said. “I’m laying my personality out on the table, not myself, pervert.”

Alexi began to smile. “I understood what you were talking about. I am not a pervert. A Russian cannot think as fast, or as dirty as an American.”

This was when Jayde felt strange. Most of the guys she knew would break their necks to make a joke at her actions. Alexi didn’t even have that intention brewing.

“Well, anyway, Paladin, ask me anything. Well, notanything. I still have a top secret clearance, and I don’t want any errant, classified pillow talk. Just keep the subject on my personality,” she said.

“I do not want to know anything about you personally. I am your bodyguard. We are not dating. Why are you doing this?” he asked.

“I just hate to see honest, strapping, young men being alone because of their beliefs. Call it my moral duty.”she said.

Alexi looked at her peculiarly. “It is what you people call official. Women are strange.”

“Look, even you said women don’t tell you everything. I’m your stool pigeon. I’ll let you know the dirt. Just consider me your femalemole.”

“How did we get on this subject in the first place? I just complimented you on your civility, and now, we are talking about my relationships. You should have gone into interrogation in the Air Force,” Alexi said.

“That’s a power all women have over men, driving the conversation to where they want it to go,” she said. “That’s another advantage women don’t speak of. You see why I’m a good operative?”

Alexi’s coffee was cooling. He looked at the beaker, and decided to down it, quickly. He guzzled the entire beaker, sat it back on the table, and began to ask his questions.

“All right, Secret Agent, why do women get upset at soap operas?” he asked.

“Hold on.” Jayde held the awe this time. “You had an entire beaker of hot coffee, and you chugged it, as if it were a sip?”

“That coffee was warm, not hot. I chugged it like I would chug a liter of beer, and that beaker was not a liter. Now, stop avoiding my question.”

“That was just amazing to me. I’m sorry, the reason women cry at soap operas is because we have this innate ability to be able to escape reality for hours at a time.”

“So, they believe that junk?” Alexi asked.

“You aren’t asking the correct question. The query should be ‘do they allow themselves to believe that junk’. The answer is yes,” Jayde informed him.

“When I get sprayed with mace in the eyes, I cry. That mace is real. It confuses me that women can cry over imaginary people,” he said.

Jayde looked at her watch.

“We have to pick up this discussion later, it’s 0645 hours. I always get to my job early. Don’t worry, I’ll dish the dirt later.” She began to walk towards the door.

“Do you need anything, Jayde?” Alexi reminded her.

“That board is too bulky to carry.” Then Jayde tapped her temple with her finger. “I already know whatever we need to know about peptides up here.”

Alexi saw she had everything she needed to tackle the problem. A soldier never wanted to think, if I only would’ve brought that, we’d be victorious.

They walked out into the hallway.

“All I can say is that I am new in town. Where is the laboratory?” Alexi asked Jayde.

“Give me your I.D.” she said.

Alexi had an impertinent look on his face as he reached in his back pocket to get his wallet and pull out his identification. He gave it to her.

“Now, I know you’re Spetsnaz, and the top of the combat food chain, but are you sure you have top secret clearance?” she asked, seriously.

“I guard nuclear missile silos. They do not just pat you on the shoulder, and say you are cleared.” Alexi felt kind of offended.

“The only reason I’m asking you these obvious questions, is we’re about to enter a top secret facility.”

“Do you mean it is not here?” Alexi was in a conundrum.

Jayde began to walk down the hall. “Follow me, Soldier Boy.”

Alexi was curious, but eager to get to the facility.

They walked down the hall, and took a right. They saw a sign that said MESS HALL on the wall. They walked to the mess hall, past all the soldiers, to the kitchen. They turned down a corridor where the latrines were. Between the latrines was an unassuming supply closet.

“Here we are,” Jayde announced.

“We are where?” Alexi was in a quandary. “If I wanted to use the latrine, I had facilities in my room.”

“You’ve never been in a covert, cloak and dagger type of area, have you?” Jayde asked.

She walked to the supply closet, and unlocked the door. When she opened it, Alexi didn’t see the typical mop bucket, mops, and cleaning supplies. It wasn’t even a room!

It was a metallic, brushed aluminum panel that the door hid! She placed hers and Alexi’s identification cards in an ATM-like slot. Parts of the smooth panel sank deeper to reveal a rectangle about eye level to Jayde. It was a panel that flipped downward to reveal goggles! They readjusted, so Jayde could place her face in the goggles.

“Two patrons requesting access to Chambre d’Expérience,” Jayde spoke out loud.

After a few seconds, the panel responded. “Access Granted.”

The panel clicked, hummed, and slid to the side.

“Chambre d’Expérience is laboratory in French,” she informed Alexi.

“Knowing Doctor Chalet is the lead, I suspected that,” he said.

They walked into a square cubicle. The panel slid shut, and they began to drop. Alexi felt as if he left his stomach on the ground floor. It was the same feeling he had when he was about to reach terminal velocity when he jumped.

“How fast are we dropping?” he asked her.

“Around 120 miles an hour. I’m sorry, 193 kilometers an hour. I keep forgetting. Your country has evolved,” she told him.

That was that same feeling! Terminal velocity was 200 kilometers an hour. He felt his stomach drop at around 193.

It didn’t take too long to get to their destination. Alexi heard the pistons activate, and felt like he was being crushed. Then he felt nothing, and the door slid open. They walked out of the cubicle, and into the laboratory.

Jayde opened her arms, and looked up, around, and twirled slowly. “Welcome to Shangri-La.”

“Did you shut the closet door to Shangri-La?” he asked.

“The supply closet door shuts automatically when we transported down here. You really haven’t been in a covert area before, have you?” she asked.

Alexi ignored her, because of how vast the laboratory was.

“Udivitel’nyy,” he said to himself, and then saw Jayde’s confused look. “I am sorry. That means amazing.”

“Yes, I said ’udivitel’nvyy’the first I saw it, too,” she said.

She saw Doctor Chalet looking into a microscope. He looked up, and over to the two. He stood up, and walked towards them.

“Zergeant Doshmononov und Jayde. Eet iz belle to zee jou!” Chalet greeted them.

“Hi Doc. Who kicked my reef?” Jayde asked.

“It zeemz az doe evoluzion keeked jour reev,” Chalet said. He walked to an observation window, and the two followed.

Chalet began to tap some buttons on a panel. A spotlight peered in the murky darkness of the ocean floor.

“Ve ’ave traveled razer var vrom ze baze. Ve are at ozean zhelv leevel,” Chalet explained, mainly to Alexi.

Chalet began to direct the spotlight at the base of the reef.

“Do jou zee zhe probleem?” Chalet asked.

Jayde saw her reef. It had been picked clean! It was like ravenous hyenas had their way with it! No plant life, no fish, not even a deep sea angler, which was indigenous to the ocean floor!

“It looks like Mom cleaned my reef!” Jayde expressed.

“Not jour muzer. Eevoluzion cleaned jour reev,” Chalet said.

“This is more than a hiccup, Doc. We have a missing food chain link!” Jayde said.

“I deed not vant to alarm jou. Jou got ’ere een time, before ze ’erricane,” Chalet tried to calm her alarm. He just added to it.

“We have to get some samples from the vegetation that isn’t gone. We have to corral some fish also. We also have to put the natives in the shelter, before the storm hits! We have no time to waste! Why didn’t you say anything yesterday!?” Jayde was getting frazzled.

“Eev I told jou vhen jou arrived from vorld vide travel, jou vould be more irrazional, and jou’d make razh designazons,” Chalet tried to make her listen to reason.

Jayde thought about it. She didn’t want to land in Hades, especially in her summer home.

“You just cut my discovery and rescue time in half, Doc!” Jayde expressed.

“Ve ’ave a zubmerzible prepared vor jou to launch, cutting jour prep time,” Chalet said.

“A submersible is exactly what I need,” Jayde said, and looked to Alexi. “Do you have SCUBA training in your vast repertoire of skills?”

“I have never had any underwater missions before. It is, normally, too cold to swim in Russia,” Alexi said.

“No problem, we’ll be in the submersible for the duration. Let’s get moving.” She was sounding impatient. “Doc, I’m going to be on channel 2, frequency 717. I’ll contact you when we’re in the drink.”

Jayde jogged to the elevator, and Alexi followed. He knew she was an energetic woman, however, it was time for her to stretch her legs.

“I vill direkt jou in ze dark, by backing jou up vit ze spotlight, guud luck Jayde,” Chalet said.

“I gotta rely on my skill, Doc,” Jayde said, as she accessed the elevator.

They both jumped into the cubicle, and sped topside. She hoped they were ready, because it was showtime.