Chapter 7

It's dusk and they've been at it all day in the dining room. They haven't eaten since breakfast.

"So what have we got," ask Jeff.

"Gross mutant cockroaches," answers Reana.

"Gross mutant cockroaches inhabited by space parasites," Brian clarifies.

"That have been exposed to radiation and toxic chemicals," adds Yvette.

"And apparently," says Steve, "the space parasites aren't happy with their roach hosts. They want human hosts. They want human hosts and they want us to help them. The parasites seem to be fine in fresh water," peering into a petri dish of tap water containing a space parasite they removed from a cockroach. Steve continues, "The roaches have unusually large sharp mandibles and sharp pointy antenna."

"The mandibles have to be how they're holding on at the base of the head," adds Yvette.

There's a knock on the front door. But before Jeff can answer it, it opens and Greta steps inside. She has on clean clothes, but she's still not driving.

She says, "The Greta remembers the doors are never locked. We need to know what you've learned."

"May I take a close look at Greta, please," ask Jeff.

"If it will assist you," answers Greta.

Jeff cautiously steps beside Greta and pushes her ponytail to the side, "Yvette, come look at this."

Yvette joins Jeff beside Greta, "The mandibles dig into the flesh and hold it in place. And this is why the antenna are so sharp, so they can stab through and connect to the brain."

"This connection is not adequate," says Greta.

"No," says Brain having a close look himself, "the area around the penetrated flesh is red, irritated, slightly swollen and showing signs of infection."

"This connection cannot be maintained indefinitely," says Greta, "The low life form needs to rest, eat, breed. The high life form is in pain."

Reana stands off to the side feeling helpless. She'ld like to run over, knock the roach off and stomp it. But she doesn't know what's outside. Perhaps millions of space parasite infected roaches waiting to swarm in on them.

"Tell us what you've learned," request Greta.

Jeff gives Greta an over view of what they've discovered so far and concludes with, "I don't know how helpful any of that is."

"We need to know how to merge with the high life form. The low life form ingest us. But ingestion hasn't worked with the high life form," shares Greta.

"Stomach acid," interjects Brian

Greta continues, "Our natural host had an orifice for us to enter and exit through."

"That's the problem," says Reana, "You and your previous host evolved together on the same planet. You're not a natural inhabitant of this planet. You're lucky to have found a host at all on this planet. You've already beaten the odds."

"Perhaps," Greta responds, "But together with our host on our home world, we had peace. We helped our host think clearly, logically. We kept them from being overly emotional. We could do the same for you, bring your world peace."

"That's for us to do for ourselves," states Jeff.

"Perhaps," Greta responds, "But are you telling the truth. Another flaw we could cure is your dishonesty."

"Jeff is not dishonest," defends Reana.

"How can we be sure of that," says Greta, "The Greta cheated on the Jimmy once and had an abortion. She told no one, not even the Reana while the Jimmy has woken up multiple times with different females. For us, what one knows, all know. There is no guessing how another feels or what another needs."

"No free will either," comments Jeff, "We don't do well when we feel we're being denied our freedom, our right to choose for ourselves."

"But you often choose wrong," points out Greta, "Base choices on illogical emotions."

"They're our mistakes to make," responds Jeff, "It's part of how we learn and grow. It's part of being human."

"But as a species, you're not living up to your full potential," states Greta.

Jeff shrugs, "That's your opinion. It's also possible you kept your previous hosts from fulfilling their full potential by crushing their free will."

"We will process the information you have given us. Run some tests of our own using the urgent care lab." Then Greta shows herself out.

Reana does something she's never done before. She locks the front door of the home she grew up in. Then she runs to the back door and locks it too. The house is at the center of a huge piece of property. The nearest home is a couple of miles away, and town is a twenty minute drive.

"Reana," Jeff concerned, "Sweetheart, are you okay?"

"Yesterday morning," Reana recalls, "She mentioned a queen."

"I remember," Jeff recalls.

"Yvette," Reana turns toward her, "A queen? Maybe like a queen bee?"

Yvette thinks for a moment, "Then that would make these in the beaker of water like workers, expendable. And they'ld need a safe place to keep the queen."

"I didn't know roaches had a queen," says Brian.

"Roaches don't, dingus," says Steve, "but apparently these parasites do."

"Why do you think they haven't taken us," ask Reana.

"Beats me," Yvette shrugs. Brian and Steve shrug too.

We're going to the urgent care lab. We're going to run more tests. And while we're at it, we're going to figure out where their nest is and how to kill them."

Reana shivers, a nest of giant alien infested cockroaches. That just doesn't sit right with her. "We're not going tonight are we?"

Jeff can see fear clearly in Reana's beautiful eyes, his Reana. "No, let's get something to eat and try to get a goodnight's sleep. We'll go after breakfast in the morning."