Adamonde. Benjamin Vance

and ex-SEAL who knew his business and was as protective of the diminutive naked alien as if she were his own daughter. His name was Nic Ippos, and he was dedicated, deliberate, uncompromising and vicious when need be.

      Over the course of the next ten days, Adamonde was subjected to a comprehensive battery of tests, including a scraping of one of her spikes. She said it didn’t hurt, but worried one of the doctors would hurt themselves, so insisted on taking the scraping herself and inserting it into the test tubes. Adamonde seemed to like the attention, but repeatedly sought out Jonathan for reassurance and consent due to his status and his knowledge as an Earthling.

      Jonathan and Nic got along famously since both were from Oregon. Jonathan had never been in the military, but that suited Nic fine. He assumed it his duty to teach Jonathan everything worthwhile about weapons, tactics, strategy, security precautions and of course, politics. Nic was a Mormon or LDS, but was not privy to Adamonde’s concern about three planets and God’s creation of all living things directly or indirectly. When Jonathan explained it to Nic, he was caught flat footed.

      He asked, “You mean her people sent folks to that other planet of Aramats or whatever to warn them and they died on that planet with all the rest?” Jonathan’s head actually buzzed with the epiphany. It was the first time the thought occurred.

      Haltingly he said, “Damn Nic, that’s the first time I’ve thought of it. No, the Arama died from diseases according to Adamonde. There may be … several thousand of Adamonde’s race still on that … Aramat planet by now. Yeah, it appears Adamonde’s people have an active immune system that seeks out and kills any alien entity in their bodies. It’s sort of like our immune system, but not passive at all. Her race is probably the only living sentient beings on that planet by now … damn, why didn’t I think of that when Adamonde told me her history?”

      Nic went on, “Also, you mean to tell me, that little girl in there is almost immortal?”

      “Yeah, I guess I do. She told me she’s maybe 700 years old … our years, and her planet is bigger than Earth and turns slower … so perhaps disease kills us after all, by directly or indirectly making our lives shorter. It’s strange, without ever looking at our Bible as far as I know, she told me God put everything on our planet that we need to prosper and live almost forever. She told me that’s been the general consensus on her planet ... always, I guess.”

      Nic agreed, “Yeah, it basically says that in the Bible, and it makes man responsible for taking care of the Earth. We’re doing a shit job of it now, I can tell you. You should see some of the piles of floating trash I’ve seen on our oceans over the years. The Sargasso Sea is littered with all kinds of crap and we just keep throwing it in there and in every other ocean on the planet. I think if I were Adamonde, I wouldn’t bother.”

      They sat for a moment in relative silence deep within the mountain. One could hear it “talk” from time to time. Any miner can verify the moans and grindings. They looked at each other and then away again as if it would be a sin to interrupt the mountain’s spirit. Then in the subsequent quiet Nic whispered, “You know son, Adamonde reminds me of a phrase in the Bible, in Genesis that says something like, ‘And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and weren’t ashamed.’ It seems to me Adamonde’s species got it right from the get go. The Bible says people used to live hundreds of years too. I think Adam lived over 900 years and his son Seth over 900 years. Perhaps her people have tweaked the right chords and live even longer.”

      Jonathan softly said, “I don’t know much about the Bible, but I’ve been learning since I met Adamonde. I’ve never been a real church goer you know.”

      “Listen, don’t tell any of these church officials; they’ll be on you like stink on crap, trying to convert you.” Nic grinned at his own dark humor and excused himself to do his rounds. Jonathan went in search of a Bible.