THE RETRIEVER (standard:science fiction, 619 words)
Author: Danny Raven	Added: Sep 03 2004	Views/Reads: 3456/0	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
The reason for the killing of John Lennon...and others.

Personally, I've never seen what's so damned interesting about that
shoddy little planet of yours -  Earth, I believe you call it. All your 
silly little games and your plots and your counter plots. One half of 
your world starving while the other half destroys food. How ridiculous. 
Then there are your war threats. They really make me laugh. Facing up 
like beasts in the jungle, each hoping the other will back down so you 
don't have to use those ridiculous, puny weapons you've developed. Your 
‘nuclear arsenals' I believe you call them. Designed to wipe each other 
out too. How pathetic. If you could only see yourselves. We can. 
Anytime. We can watch you continually from this dimension, although it 
beats me why anybody wants to waste their time on you when we're so 
advanced here. However some people do. I suppose what starts out 
initially as mild amusement eventually must become so engrossing that 
they want a closer look. Which is when they go and see the Director and 
put in their request – to enter your dimension on Earth and study the 
person or event in detail. The Director doesn't usually refuse because 
everybody's permitted one trip across. They're allowed a six month 
stay, then they must return voluntarily. It's so easy once they've 
crossed over. So simple. They just locate the person they've been 
watching and infiltrate their mind, occupying one of those dark, unused 
corners and they're right at the centre of what interests them. Hey, 
you have to admit – you can't get closer to a person than if you're 
inside their mind ! Watching. Listening. Understanding why they make 
certain decisions. Their true reactions to events around them. We've 
been doing it for thousands of years now and you've never even 
suspected. However now and then we have a problem. Sometimes the person 
who crossed over won't return when they're supposed to. They get so 
involved in the person they're studying, so curious about how things 
are going to turn out, that they don't want to leave. And there's only 
one way to bring them back. Which is where I come in. The Retriever. I 
shouldn't complain really because it's interesting work and just 
recently I've added a new twist to make it even more interesting. 
Well...everybody's got their little games, haven't they !? You see, in 
your dimension there are two kinds of minds – the weak ones and the 
strong ones. Now I suppose I must give you some praise for your strong 
minds – the ones we usually infiltrate and observe. They can't be 
pushed around or influenced, those minds. They're too strong for that. 
Too Independent. But the weak ones ! Ha ! Once they're infiltrated they 
can be taken over completely – their thoughts, their actions, their 
whole lives can be dominated. When the Director sends for me, tells me 
someone from our dimension has to be brought back and I cross into your 
dimension, it's a weak mind I go for. There are so many to choose from. 
It's childishly simple to select one, dominate him then direct him to 
kill the person with the strong mind and thus retrieve the person from 
our dimension. Like the way I infiltrated the mind of one Mark Chapman 
and directed him  to assassinate one John Lennon. There have been 
others. Lots. I'm sure you can recall them easily enough. There are 
several from our dimension who are overdue at the moment and I'm 
working on them. Maybe I'll use that new twist I mentioned, the one I 
added just for my own amusement, the one The Director hasn't cottoned 
on to yet......like every now and then when I fail in the 
assassinations. Deliberately. 


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