Strange Brain Parts Read Online Free

only if they gave them the secret to the A-bomb."
    Buford nodded his head like it all made sense to him. Cindy took a big gulp of her coffee, a look on her face that said she was still deciding whether Stetson Joe’s stairs went all the way to the attic or not.
    "That started it all," continued Stetson Joe. "When the A-bomb worked, the government started dealing for more information. And the only thing they had left to trade that them aliens wanted was people. The more abductions, the more technology the government folk get."
    "Lasers is definitely alien," said Buford.
    Stetson Joe nodded and said, "Bet you a thousand or more people got abducted for that information."
    "Microwave ovens," said Buford, making a list on the fingers of one hand. "Them fiber optics. CD players. All kinds of that technology. Bet it's all alien.”
    "What about stuffed crust pizza?" I asked. "Figure that's alien too, Buford?"
    "It's a known fact that aliens don't eat," scoffed Buford. "Why the hell would they be handing out recipes?"
    I shrugged. Galactic cuisine didn't seem that far-fetched to me at this point. "Just wondering."
    "Well, forget your wondering and bring that coffee pot over here. Feels like refill time to me," said Buford.
    "Ditto," said Cindy.
    "That there's a fine idea," said Stetson Joe.
    I filled their cups and decided against one for me. The coffee just didn't sit well with me tonight. There was something about the taste of it that set me right off. I even found the smell kind of nauseating. No one else seemed to mind, so I figured it was just me.
    At the time I was also more than a little distracted by a series of images that flashed through my head. A lonely stretch of road. I’m in a car. There’s a funny light up ahead. The light is above me. I’m looking into the light and feeling scared.
    I tell myself that the conversation is just getting to my head and I’m thinking things that never happened.
    Cindy said, "All these abductions don't make sense if they're doing all this stuff just to let us go after they capture us."
    That wrong feeling hit me again, and the new filling taste came in strong. There was a sudden jolt of pain in my ear and I heard two small clicks, like distant deadbolts popping open inside my head. Then there was a feeling of clarity. A weird but distinct moment of understanding.
    "Maybe not everyone is let go. Maybe specific types of people are kept behind and experimented on after we’re abducted,” I said.
    It was then that I noticed the stranger in the booth turning to look at me. His skin looked a lot grayer than I remembered it being a few minutes ago. His eyes were blacker than anything I had ever seen. His face had no expression. His appearance and manner lacked any sense of recognizable humanity.
    From somewhere I can’t place, I hear a flat, unemotional voice say, “Malfunction. Terminate. Preserve subjects.”
    Words start spilling out of me like a priest at an important point of an exorcism. I don’t know where they come from, but as I’m saying them I know them to be true.
    "All those abductions aren't for cataloguing people, but for cataloguing people’s personalities . They’re stealing our personalities and putting them on little computer chips."
    "Our?" asked Cindy. She sounded light years away.
    "Yes. We're test subjects," I said, still not really knowing how I knew this, but knowing I wasn't wrong. “Not only have they stolen our personalities, but they’ve inserted chips in our heads to give us new personalities.”
    The stranger stood up, coffee mug in hand, and started walking towards me.
    "I think we're being used to work out the kinks in these personality chips so it'll be safe for them to use," I said, trying not to think of the stranger, wishing the thoughts in my head would stop. "Once the chips are proven to be good, they'll do some fine tuning for their brains. Then they can finally walk amongst us unnoticed. It has to be something they can't do yet. They can