He has essentially sentenced himself to confinement within this building, even though his lawyers had a good shot of wiggling him out of the charges. Worst-case scenario, he would have served a few years in a cushy minimum-security prison. Now, if he leaves, he’ll have additional charges added for running away. It could mean decades in prison for him.
After getting to know Kyle, I wasn’t surprised. He rarely thought about anything other than the immediate future. Going to jail would have meant halting his work. He’d rather endure a life sentence trapped inside a stuffy office building than interrupt whatever he’s no doubt obsessively working on now.
As I approach the building, I try to make eye contact with the security guard posted outside. I don’t want him to think I’m trying to sneak in. He’s a big guy, with close-cropped black hair and a neatly trimmed short black beard. He’s wearing mirrored aviator sunglasses that make it impossible for me to tell if he’s noticed me or not.
“Can I help you?” he asks as soon as my foot lands on the first step outside the door.
“I have an appointment to see Kyle. My name is Connor Connolly.”
“Of course. Right this way, sir.”
He steps out of my path and waves me inside. I’m more unsettled by him treating me with professional courtesy than I would have been if he’d sneered and waved me away. Feels like I’m stepping into a trap. Then I remember that Midnight is tracking my position and I have the nanosuit on me if things go sideways.
Harming a US citizen within the Kaldonian embassy would invalidate all the protections in place and allow federal agents to storm the building. They’d take not just Kyle, but everybody into custody. Kyle’s demonstrated that he has no problem hiring others to do his dirty work, so if he wanted to exact revenge on me, he would have already tried.
Probably.
The guard holds the door open, and I step into a small reception area. A woman, whose hair and smile are frozen in place, sits behind the reception desk. Her blond hair has been shellacked into a beehive atop her head. Her eyes follow me as I approach her desk, her huge smile never wavering.
“Hello, how may I help you?”
Considering the lack of relations between the US and Kaldonia, especially after Kyle’s rampage and escape, not many people are coming through their doors. The US has leveled additional sanctions against Kaldonia and are monitoring the handful of Kaldonian citizens left inside the country. Almost all US businesses refuse to do business with Kaldonia. They would have done this even if the country wasn’t sanctioned. Kaldonia has a long history of failing to pay their bills, along with passing off counterfeit goods and currency.
They’ve only kept this small embassy open thanks to their powerful allies in the region, and those allies have been getting incredibly cheap metahuman-produced energy for a while. In return, they have Kaldonia’s back when the US threatens things like shutting down an embassy to arrest the Kaldonian president’s son.
The federal government doesn’t want to risk starting World War III over the deaths of a handful of metahumans.
This is why the staff’s behavior feels unusual. The embassy doesn’t normally receive guests. Few people work here, and even fewer visit. Every person here knows who I am and who I’m here to see. Hopefully, they don’t know everything about who I am, but I find it hard to care about that when there’s an alien spaceship hovering over the city.
“Hi, I’m Connor Connolly. I’m here to see Kyle,” I tell the receptionist.
She looks at the monitor and types my name into her computer. She grabs her mouse and skims her finger across the scroll wheel, seemingly searching for my name amongst a huge list of other visitors. It’s all for show.
“Ah, yes, here you are, Mr. Connolly.”
She reaches into a filing cabinet under her desk, pulls out a visitor’s badge, and hands it to me. I clip it to the front of my shirt.
“Mr. Toslov is expecting you. You’ll find him in his room, which is up the staircase behind me and down the hallway to the left. I will let him know you are here.”
“Thank you.”
I expect her to pick up the phone on her desk, but instead, she slowly swivels in her chair as I move past her. Her eyes are locked on me, and her smile doesn’t crack. Whether she’s making sure I don’t wander off or trying to be polite by waiting to place a call to the boss once I’m out of earshot, it’s extremely creepy. The sooner I can find out what’s going on between Kaldonia and this ship and get out of here, the better.
The door at the end of the hallway is open halfway. The room is lit by a single reading lamp in the far corner. It’s hard to make out the details of the dark room, but it may have been an office or library before coming into Kyle’s possession. Floor-to-ceiling bookcases line the walls. I knock on the door and carefully poke my head in.
“Come in, Connor,” Kyle says.
Nine
I hear his voice but can’t see where he is. I ease the door open and step into the dark room. It’s larger than I expected from the outside. Kyle is seated in an overstuffed upholstered armchair, facing the center of the room. Shadows conceal the expression on his face. I close the door behind me.
“Have a seat,” he says as he gestures to a chair similar to his. “I have to admit, it’s quite nice having a visitor. I’m sure you’ve heard I haven’t been able to get out much lately.”
My eyes are adjusting to the darkness. I notice there’s no bed, so this isn’t where he sleeps. No computer or lab equipment, so this isn’t where he works either.
“Seems like they’re treating you well here,” I say.
“It could be worse. The lack of cooperation between our two countries means I’ve been given the run of the place. Lots of empty space for me to spread out. All in all, it’s not bad. Certainly better than prison, which I’m sure is where you think I belong.”
“You’re just delaying the inevitable. The sooner you leave this building, the sooner you can get your punishment over and done with.”
“You may be right, but who knows? There may not be a government around to prosecute me by the time I leave, considering the way things are going outside.”
“What do you know about what’s going on outside?”
I inconspicuously look around the room for cameras.
“Don’t worry, this conversation is private. This room is used for diplomatic negotiations, and as such, it is routinely swept for surveillance devices.”
Guess I wasn’t so inconspicuous.
“And if there’s one thing I can trust, it’s your country’s government,” I sneer.
Kyle purses his lips. “I’ve been made aware of your recent discoveries in Kaldonia. You have little reason to take me at my word, but for what it’s worth, you don’t have the full picture as to why that action had to be taken.”
“Why that action had to be taken? You mean slaughtering innocent metahumans who were forced into slavery to produce cheap energy for your corrupt government?”
“They were anything but innocent. Those were prisoners serving life sentences for unimaginable crimes. No pleasure was taken in their executions, but they were necessary for the greater good.”
“What exactly is the greater good?”
“You’ll soon see.”
“I’d rather you cut the theatrics and just tell me.”
“I see you’ve brought my old friend,” Kyle says, gesturing at my hand.
I look down, and gasp. My forearm is covered in magtonium.
The nanosuit worked its way out of my pocket without me realizing it. My heart is pounding. I’m angry at Kyle’s games, and the suit is responding to what it perceives as a threat. I take a deep breath and focus on dismissing the magtonium. It reforms into a disk, and I shove it into my pocket.
“You seem to have trouble controlling your temper. That can be very dangerous for the nanobots, you know. They’re learning from you, adapting themselves to your behavior, to your impulses. It’s much like a child in that way, l
earning from your actions and predicting how you would like it to react and behave. You should be careful with the emotions you expose it to until you have it more firmly under your control.”
“Don’t worry about the nanosuit. It’s not your concern anymore.”
“It’s pretty gutsy bringing it here with you. I’m surprised.”
“I have it under control.”
“Do you, though? I thought I had it under my control, and look what happened. And I actually understand how it works. You’re relying on others to interpret how to control it for you. I suspect that won’t end well.”
“I’m not relying on anybody. I’m trusting them. You see, when you’re not a murderous psychopath, you can establish something with other people called friendship. It means they actually care about you and want to help you. I know it’s probably a foreign concept to you, but you’re a smart guy. I’m sure you can try to wrap your head around it.”
Kyle’s smile finally fades. I need to pull it back a bit. I took a risk bringing the magtonium here with me.
I would never admit it to him, but he understands it better than Sarah, Jim, and Midnight combined. I wouldn’t put it past him to have devised a way to get it back under his control. Accepting my request to meet with him could have been a trap. He could be attempting to transmit code to it right now to override my control and take it back for himself.
On the other hand, leaving the magtonium behind and walking into the Kaldonian embassy with no way to defend myself would also have been foolish. I need to stop messing around and get the information I need so I can get out of here.
“I’ll cut to the chase so you get back to whatever it is you spend your days doing in here, Kyle. We know about the signal coming from Kaldonia.”
“I’m not sure what you’re talking about.”
“Come on. Why invite me here if you’re going to play stupid?”
“Perhaps I’m focusing too much on semantics. I think I know what you might be referring to. However, it’s not a signal as one would traditionally understand it. It’s much more complicated than that.”
“I don’t care what you call it, I want to know what it’s saying.”
Kyle rises from his chair and begins pacing around the room. “You know, when your vigilante friend paid my country an unexpected visit, I was disappointed to learn he overlooked several interesting artifacts inside the vessel. I know he was short on time, but the holographic message he retrieved was far from the most fascinating item on board.”
“Why don’t you enlighten me, then?”
“That would be difficult. I’ll admit, even I could not fully grasp some of the technology on that ship. I was consulted, of course. Many of the scientists within our community are too set in their ways, using an outdated set of rules to describe the world around them. They are unaware of how much they do not know, and as such, they approach unique problems using the same tired methods. They needed a mind like mine not just to help them, but lead them to the breakthroughs necessary to understand the new paradigm we are looking at as a species.”
“Which is?”
“Isn’t it obvious? We are no longer at the top of the pecking order. There are others out there who possess technology that makes metahumans look like primitive apes. Some, most in fact, will respond to that knowledge with fear and rejection, but they’re not seeing the potential. Rather than looking at these new guests as a threat against our way of life, I choose to see them as a means for human beings to reach our full potential. The advances possible with their help will make metahumans an uninteresting footnote in our collective history.”
“So, Kaldonia is communicating with them. What are they saying to you?”
Kyle stops pacing and smirks at me. “I’m afraid I wouldn’t know. I’m stuck here, thousands of miles from my home. Even my position has its limits.”
“You’ve never worried about limitations in the past.”
“You’re correct. However, these constraints are ultimately necessary to meet our goals. While it may be physically impossible for you or anyone on Earth to decipher the communications, it would be a trivial matter for a nation state or your masked friend to intercept communications between myself and my home, no matter how many precautions we took. It’s too big of a risk, considering the stakes. This is an extremely delicate time. You’re just going to have to trust that Kaldonia has the best interests of Earth’s citizens in mind in the end.”
“See, it’s the in the end part of that sentence that I don’t like. I’ve seen firsthand the compromises you’re more than happy to make for what you think is some greater good.”
“Maybe if you had let them play out to their conclusion instead of standing in my way, we’d be having a much different conversation, but unfortunately, to the best of my knowledge, neither of us has the ability to turn back time. We may, however, be given another chance to course correct. That’s what that ship in the sky represents: another shot at changing the world, this time for the better.”
There’s a knock at the door, and the receptionist pokes her head in.
“I’m terribly sorry, Mr. Toslov, but I have your father on the line.”
“Thank you,” Kyle says.
He turns back to me and offers his hand for a handshake.
I rise from my seat but refuse to take it.
“Suit yourself,” he says as his arm falls back to his side. “I know the anticipation is killing you, but please trust me that you will learn everything soon. Have patience. But know this, Connor. No matter what you do, no matter how hard you try, you can’t stop what comes next. Have a good evening.”
Ten
As I leave the embassy, my phone lights up with a message from Midnight. He asks me (i.e. tells me) to return to Skyville Academy instead of going to his base as a precaution, in case I’m being followed.
The Kaldonians are aware of Midnight. Kyle knows we’re working together and likely passed that information along. Whether they’re following me or not, Midnight informs me he has no updates and that it’d be better if I kept up normal appearances and got some rest. There’s no telling what will happen over the next few days, so it’d be smart to rest up while I can.
On my way back to campus, I notice that the city has cleared out. Public transit is still running, but I’m the only one on the bus. The city is only keeping the subways and buses running to maintain the illusion of normalcy.
My eyes are glued to the sky during the ride. The driver steals glances at red lights too. It’s strange having a ship hovering silently over us when we don’t know what it wants or why it’s here.
At my stop, I disembark to walk the rest of the way to campus. This stretch of road is always quiet at night since students aren’t supposed to be coming or going without permission. I doubt anyone will care about me being off campus when there’s a gigantic spaceship hanging over the city.
These assumptions are confirmed when I reach the unmanned guard post. I duck under the gate and keep walking.
It’s been a good twenty minutes since I’ve seen another person. Everyone who hasn’t already left the academy must be holed up in their rooms, glued to their televisions or computers, and awaiting further news about what the hell is going on.
I’m nearly back at my dorm when I see someone else out here. They’re smaller than me and wearing a hoody pulled up over their head. They’re also clearly walking right at me.
My guard goes up while I simultaneously try to reassure myself this isn’t that strange. If there are only a handful of us left on campus, it wouldn’t be weird for someone to approach me. Maybe they’re wondering if I know if any of the dining halls are still open?
Maybe?
Or maybe they’re an assassin sent by Kaldonia to get Kyle’s revenge on me once and for all. It could go either way.
“Hi, Connor.”
Okay, now my guard is fully up. I reach into my pocket and grab the magtonium disk just as the approaching figure lowers their hoody and proves
that I am indeed overreacting.
“Iris?”
“Yeah, it’s me.”
I haven’t seen or heard from Iris in weeks. Not even a note to tell me, Hey, I heard about you taking down that psychopath! Great job. Sorry to hear about you losing your metabands, though. That’s a bummer.
I’m not even sure it’s her at first because she looks … normal?
Not to imply she looked weird before, but I’ve rarely seen her out of uniform. Come to think of it, I can’t remember if I’ve ever seen her without her eyes glowing. Okay, I guess that part always looked a little weird. I would have walked right by without recognizing her if she hadn’t said my name.
She’s wearing a navy blue hoody, jeans, and a t-shirt. Her eyes are green and piercing. Even dressed like this she still has an intensity about her.
“You know, you could have left a note or something before you disappeared. It wouldn’t have killed you.”
She rolls her eyes. Not sure what I expected.
“What are you doing here?” I ask.
“Um?” She points at the Volarian ship overhead.
“That’s all it takes to bring you out of hiding? A gigantic alien spacecraft? I wish I’d known that sooner.”
“Forget it,” she says and turns to walk away.
“Iris, come on. I’m kidding.”
She pauses and turns back.
“I’m glad you’re here,” I say, “and I hope you have some ideas, because I could really use them right now.”
Eleven
We wander the empty campus, talking for nearly an hour. She surprises me by opening up about where she’s been. She’s spent most of her time trying to find and help other people like her, people who have abilities that aren’t from metabands. There’s even a name for them: neohumans.
According to her, they have a lot in common with metahumans, but they aren’t the same. The biggest difference is that not all neohumans have helpful powers. Some are burdened by their abilities, especially since they can’t turn them off with the click of a pair of metabands. All of them are young and have few places to turn to for help. That’s where she tries to come in.
Meta (Book 5): New Empire Page 4