But the rest of the world is not Nebraska. It's a blessing and a curse for some countries. Greece enslaves all they can and puts them to work, even after their collapse, they still managed to figure things out. Russians shoot them on sight. Here, in the United States of America, mostly they are tolerated. India ignores them, I don't understand how, but in India there are not as many as there are here.
Scientists call them Homo Sapiens Idaltu after the men that were found at Herto, Ethiopia - Man's closest relative. I didn't like it. I believed something other than most. That they are not humans... That they are without mothers.
I was a child of the imagination, and therefore given to more fanciful thoughts. Though I've read everything I can on them, I still had a thousand questions. Were they from another place? Another dimension? Were they equal to humans? I believed that they weren't. That everything in them screamed out "ALIEN" to me was beyond doubt. Somehow, these entities were (in my mind) from another planet... But that's beside the point.
The building, as I was saying, was Snickerdoodle Vomit in color. It wasn't far from my dorm. I had gotten through school with passing marks and had wound up at Penn State. It was my second year. The world had changed and I guess I had changed along with it. Twins were now "resident aliens", legally here, and there was even a representative for them in the White House. Doctor Givvens. The real Doctor Givvens was a retired judge from Baltimore and apparently had given his consent to let his twin represent the others at some national level.
Jake called me in the parking lot. I answered. Yes I was here. Yes I was coming up. He was so pushy sometimes. I walked up the long porchway to the front door. "Closed for private event" it said. I opened the door.
"Here for the party?" A woman entirely in green asked as I walked into the vestibule.
"Yeah I guess." I told her. I cocked my head, unsure of myself. "What kind of party is this anyhow?" It was supposed to be a "safe" party.
She gave me a quick up and down. "You'll be fine dear," and began to talk on her phone. I hadn't noticed she had it in her hand. She turned away conferring with a friend. The front area of the building had been converted into the party-goers landing zone. A sign-in sheet was there if you wanted to get private referrals, e-mail sign up, a drawing for a fitness club. The kind of things you expected at a big company get-together. That sounded just like my brother.
After high school, Jack had gone straight into a broker's apprenticeship and I hadn't heard from him in several years. He sent me cards on my birthday, and one on my graduation from high school. I knew that the birthday cards weren't signed by him, but the graduation card was. Along with a debit card for four thousand dollars. It made my dad mad but there was nothing he could do about it really. It was in my name... And I needed the money. Mom had been committed to an institution two years before and it was just him and I at the house, never on speaking terms.
I pushed the elevator button and waited. More guests were showing up, better dressed than I was. I had on a polo and chinos and my Rockport Pro Walker 9000's. This was as dressed up as I came. The elevator dinged and I got on, not bothering to hold the door. They were too busy chatting it up with the hostess anyway. The doors closed and the elevator lit up one button on the grid. The penthouse. I pushed it and it took me up.
I hadn't been this high in a long time. Around three hundred feet in the air, you really began to feel the effects of the resonation. It's why no one flew anymore. It's why radio didn't work and all signals bounced off of ground relays or better yet, used land and underwater cables. It's why no one went into tall buildings. But here I was, going to the penthouse. God help me, I'd better not tell my mom about this. She would have an episode and have to be sedated.