“Probably.” Floyd made his way off the porch, and stage-whispered to her.
“Find me a window!”
Valerie went to join the others, but paused when she saw herself in the hall’s mirror. She looked…not quite sane.
Flying takes its toll, apparently.
She pulled her hair back into a braid as she caught up with Moira in Orson’s office. The first thing she noticed was Floyd, staring at her from a medium sized window. She couldn’t even see his whole head. She opened the window, and he bent low enough to survey the room. Orson came in with water bottles. Floyd nudged her shoulder.
“Get me one!”
“No!” Valerie tried hushing him. “Can you even drink from a bottle?”
“Sure I can! And flying is thirsty work. Especially with you two on my back.”
“I do hope you’re not being personal…” She winked at Floyd.
No response.
Horse wanted his water.
There was plenty of water on the table. Valerie handed it out the window after twisting the cap off. Floyd ducked out of the window to drink it. And after taking a drink, he didn’t even swallow but let it roll out of his mouth.
“Yuck!”
“What?” Valerie stood with her back to the window, hoping she was inconspicuous.
She wasn’t.
“Are you okay?” Orson asked her. She was about to deny any problem. But she remembered. Floyd was basically, still a horse.
“Do you have any Gatorade?” She asked. “He doesn’t like the taste of the water.”
“Just the powder.”
“Even better.” Valerie pried the lid off the can, and Floyd’s head popped up, nostrils working to determine what this new scent was.
“Back.” She told him. “You’ll have it when it’s ready.”
She scooped a rather generous portion of the powder, and gently shook it down into the new water bottle. She closed the cap, shook the bottle and handed it to Floyd. He hesitated, but unscrewed the cap and took a drink.
“WHAT IS THIS???” Floyd shouted. He sucked down the rest until the bottle crushed in on itself, then he tossed it in the air. “You made the water taste great!”
Valerie blinked, and looked back at where Orson stood very still. He made no move, but just stared at Floyd. Valerie tried to think of some explanation and decided being truthful was probably best.
“He’s…special.” Was all she could manage. Moira arched an eyebrow at her friend and smirked. She was enjoying this. Valerie wouldn’t be getting any help from her. “He sent the email.”
Orson just kept standing, and staring.
“Floyd is my… I don’t know what he is. The storm came, the ocean went in the sky, he started talking, and then he flew us to the place where he emailed you. Now we’re here, and for some reason he thought you were an aquarium. Frankly, I’m relieved that you can hear him, and this isn’t a shared delusion that Moira and I have.”
“Excuse me!” Moira piped up. “I made a scientific examination.”
“What did you find?” Orson looked at her.
“Nothing.”
“And she was very thorough!” Floyd added.
“I got an email…from a horse.” Orson murmured. He nodded, and appeared resolved. “I can roll with that.”
Valerie let out a quiet sigh, and tried not to glare at Floyd. Especially when he asked for the keyboard. And when he broke out his fingers. Orson just stared as he watched Floyd’s fingers operate the keys. For him, Floyd deigned to give an explanation.
“They’re retractable, obviously.”
“Obviously.” Orson nodded, as though he were hypnotized by the sight. “From where, exactly?”
“Between my frogs and my hooves, it comes apart just enough for my fingers to slip through so I can use them. Otherwise, could you imagine how painful it would be running on your fingers all day?”
“Did he say frogs?” He looked back at Moira. She nodded.
“It’s the pad on the foot where the flesh meets the hoof, shaped like a V.”
Floyd held up one of his feet and waved it at him, to show him his frog.
“Does he have fingers on all of his feet?”
“What an imagination!” Floyd chuckled. “No, but I do have questions about your post on ocean activity.”
“Firstly,” Orson cleared his throat. “You should know that I’m not some kind of nut. I don’t believe in the conspiracies I’ve cataloged on my website. It’s just… a record of crazy theories, and the proof that refutes them. If I can’t find any proof, anything that disproves the theory, I mark it as ‘unresolved’, and keep looking in the meantime. Except sometimes, they’re actually true. But those ones, no one seems to believe.”
“A curious human trait.” Floyd mused. “When I get home, I’ll have to make a study of it. Know of any books on the subject?”
An alert dinged on the computer screen, and Floyd clicked on it.
“Apparently your keyword search has found something new.” Floyd backed away a little to let the others see. “I expanded it to include the whole planet’s databases. No need to thank me. There’s a video link.”
There was a sleek barracuda swimming in the middle of the shot. Then he turned like a whip and shut his jaw just in front of the camera lens.
“Do I have your attention now?” The fish seemed to bear a cruel smile, if that was possible.
“It is a shame you don’t care for your ecosystems. Did you know that if all the plants on this planet died, it would take about 30 Million years for oxygen to completely be gone from your atmosphere? Of course, I believe we can do better. You may have noticed your seas have emptied themselves into your skies. That was us.
You may also have noticed a significant increase in the random garbage piles on your land. That was us.
You may have kept a goldfish when you were younger. Or perhaps you still do. You believed it when you were told they had a 15-second memory. Sometimes the ones you flushed weren’t dead yet. We won’t speculate on how they got there. But they did tell their stories. They remembered your cramped prisons, especially your betta fish. Most did not live long enough to see their dreams of revenge fulfilled.
You didn’t have much respect for our home, either. Just dumping whatever you liked, trash, usually plastic, or toxic waste. You’re big on toxic waste. Well, not anymore.
No more!
Hydrogen and Oxygen is all we need to make water, and we’re already working on converting the rest of your supply to water. You have precious little time before the oxygen runs out for you.”
The barracuda turned to give a hard stare into the camera.
“I give you no ultimatums, only the courtesy of 6 days. 6 days before you all start to drop. 6 days to say goodbye to your loved ones. Your time is up. That was us, too.” He pulled back and the picture faded to black.
“Well…” Valerie let out a weary breath. “I’m fairly alarmed.”
“Just let me email this to myself.” Floyd seemed to know what he was doing. Right up until he said that famous last word. “Oops.”
“What?” Orson asked, scanning the screen for trouble. He found it. “You were on GOVERNMENT servers? That’s classified, I can’t have access to that!”
“300 Likes so far.” Moira grimaced.
“Likes?!?” Orson looked where Moira pointed. “You put this on youtube, on MY ACCOUNT!”
The poor man stumbled backwards until he landed on his couch.
“I’m dead.” He ran his hands down his face. “I’m done. I’m already on a watch list from that misunderstanding last year. You can bet they’re on their way here now.”
Valerie gave Floyd a disappointed glare. It was like he had no idea how the world worked. He was trying to learn, but if he didn’t start to understand soon, it was going to be a very long 6 days.
