Earthborn Alliance

by Matthew DeVore

  Her eyes shot open, and she gasped for breath.

  “You did it,” Ethan whispered excitedly before ducking back down beneath the bush. “Hey, are you all right? What happened?”

  Grasping at her chest, Aleena dropped to her hands and knees and heaved.

  “Aleena, are you all right?”

  She looked to Ethan’s face, but it was a bit blurry. She could feel her heart pounding. “I’m….”

  “What happened?”

  “I’m….” She sucked in another large lungful of air. “I’m all right. I’ve never—” She stopped herself. She didn’t want to scare him, but it terrified her.

  Her vision began to coalesce. Ethan looked very worried. “I’m fine,” she told him. She sat, putting her back to the bushes. “I’m fine.”

  Ethan didn’t look convinced.

  “Really.” She pushed herself back to her feet, remembering to keep her head low.

  Just inside the entrance, the men were lying by the wall on opposite sides of the room. She pulled her head back. “What happened to them?”

  Ethan looked more concerned now.

  “They were tossed across the room like rag dolls. They hit the walls and fell to the ground,” he said. “You did that right? You just knocked them out.”

  Aleena tried to piece together her memories, beyond the terrifying plunge into…. “I think so,” she said.

  “You think so?”

  “I….” She straightened her posture and looked straight at Ethan. “Yes, it was me. They’ll be fine.” I hope.

  “Then let’s get inside before this gets harder.”

  Aleena nodded and looked up and down the street. “It’s clear. Let’s go now.”

  They ran to the entrance and the doors opened automatically. The room was sleek, wide at the front, then funneled back to a single entrance leading into the rest of the building. Halfway back, a row of body scanners was positioned.

  With the guards lying on the floor, they simply walked around the scanners to the second entryway farther back.

  “No barriers?” Ethan commented.

  “They probably didn’t expect an intruder to get this far.”

  They scoured the lower regions of the building, which were eerily empty. Beyond the sheer creepiness of it, Aleena was relieved that they could move around easily.

  “This is it,” she said, standing before a large, very secure-looking doorway. This time there was a barrier, just in front of the solid door. The energy filling the space was red and sizzled with power.

  “I don’t suppose that’s like the other shields,” Ethan whispered.

  “Not exactly.”

  There was a keypad to the right of the entrance, a hand scanner, and a retinal scanner.

  “Well, I guess we see if this ancient thing works.”

  Aleena placed her hand on the scanner. Around her hand, a narrow opening formed.

  She hesitated a moment. She’d never been afraid to use magic until just few minutes ago. Pushing back her anxiety, she reached for the small piece of power she’d always felt. It was there, just as it had always been. Drawing from it, the armor on her forearm extended out into the scanner.

  Then she lined up her eye with the retinal scanner. The panel flashed green and she backed up slightly to use the keypad.

  She entered her personal security key and waited. The panel flashed green a second time, and the red energy barrier dissipated into nothingness.

  “How?” Ethan asked. “You weren’t stationed here, right?”

  “No.” Aleena smiled. “My dad was pretty high up the chain. Just before the end, he told me he granted me access to every Earthborn facility on the planet, just in case I survived. He said he wanted me to have every possible chance.”

  “Was that okay?”

  “Oh gosh no. They would have court-martialed him under normal circumstances. But nothing was normal by then. Survival was all that mattered. No one even knew he did it. He made me promise only to use it if necessary.”

  “Well I’d say this counts,” Ethan said.

  “Yeah, me too.”

  “Did he do that for anyone else?”

  “Just my brother and me.”

  She walked to the heavy door and touched the handle. The door beeped three times, reading her biosignatures, then unlatched with a deep mechanical sliding noise.

  She pushed the door open and stepped inside.

  “Are you coming?”

  Ethan fidgeted, looking at the doorframe where the barrier had stood moments before. “Is it safe?”

  “Perfectly. The security measures won’t reactivate until I shut the door.”

  Ethan stepped through, just brushing her as he passed. “If the Urlowens missed this place, what are the odds that they missed more?”

  “I’ve been wondering the same thing.”

  After closing the door, she stopped to get her bearings.

  They were standing on a metal grating overlooking several rows of computer stations that encircled a central terminal. The screens were mostly dark except for the center console. Above it hovered a hologram of the base surrounded by a flashing red dome.

  “That’s not good, is it?” Ethan said.

  Aleena walked down the floor-lit steps and wound her way to the center console. She selected the dome and the image shifted to an overhead view. Scattered around the perimeter, four of five illuminated nodes flashed red. The last beat yellow in a steady rhythmic fashion.

  “They’re almost out of power,” she said.

  “For what? Everything?” Ethan asked.

  “No, not everything. Hold on.”

  Aleena selected each of the nodes one at a time. Below, curvy Elvish script appeared on the console. Aleena flipped a switch on the side of the terminal and a chair rose out from the floor beside her. She grabbed the hovering, well-cushioned white seat and sat down.

  “How’d you know that switch would do that?”

  Aleena looked up at Ethan and pointed next to the toggle. “It says ‘chair.’”

  Ethan ran a hand through his hair. “Oh.”

  She giggled, then returned to reading the console.

  After some time, she heard shuffling and looked up to find Ethan searching for something on a nearby station. He flipped a switch and a chair came up beside him. He sat down, then realized she was watching him. He grinned. “Take your time.”

  “I think I’m starting to understand.” She selected another dot on the screen. “These are power nodes that I think are responsible for the cloak.”

  She reached up and turned the image, then selected a node just to the side of the command center. “This is the power terminal for the shield.”

  “All right,” Ethan said.

  She looked up at him. His stare suddenly made her feel self-conscious—a feeling she wasn’t all that familiar with. “What?” She brushed a strand of her blonde hair back behind her ear. His smile grew, and butterflies leaped in her stomach.

  “Nothing. Keep going.”

  A little sheepishly, she looked back to the console. “The cloak is about to fail,” she said, regaining her composure. “The shield will last longer, but I’m not sure how long.”

  Ethan leaned forward. “And if the cloak fails….”

  “The Urlowens will see them.”

  “Geez, but after ten thousand years. That’s all sorts of impressive.”

  “Bad timing, if you ask me.”

  Ethan laughed.

  “What’s funny about that?”

  “Nothing. It’s just how I handle impending disaster.” Ethan stood and walked to her side. “Can it be fixed?”

  “I don’t know. But don’t you think they would’ve already?”

  “Maybe they don’t even realize it,” Ethan suggested. “Norman and Robert certainly made it sound like the Royals don’t know much about this place.”

  “I guess we’ll have to ask.”

  All right, just one more thing. She entered a few commands into the cons
ole. “Crap.”

  “What?”

  “The interstellar communication network is down.”

  “So we can’t send a message?”

  Aleena turned the base hologram again, then pointed to a building not that far away. “The main transmitter is in that building. We’ll have to see if we can send it manually.”

  After reading a few more entries, she stood up and backed away from the station. “We’re ready. Let’s meet the king.”

  CHAPTER 16

  Aleena looked at the selection of buttons in the elevator. “This should take us to the command center above.” She glanced to Ethan beside her. “Stay behind me.”

  “That I can do.”

  She pressed a button, sending the elevator into a hurried climb. Soft music played as they made their ascent.

  Ethan chuckled.

  “What?” she asked.

  “Nothing, just didn’t realize cheesy elevator music would stand the test of time.”

  The cab slowed and stopped, and the elevator opened in the center of a large, round observatory. The floor was polished white, with strips of royal blue spiraling out toward the transparent view shield that reached from floor to ceiling.

  Standing on either side of the exit, two guards dressed just as the others whirled around, bringing to bear their rifles, which were just as polished as the floor.

  Aleena paid no heed to the new threat, just simply pushed them aside, knocking their weapons from their hands, with her magic as she strode into the room.

  Straight ahead, arching rows of consoles were draped in purple silk and velvet. By the window, a small Elven girl wearing a slim tiara dropped her doll and ran out of sight, screaming, “Grandma! Grandma!”

  At the sound of her voice, five guards came around the central shaft, two on the left and three on the right. Before they had a chance to take aim, tendrils of purple wrapped around Aleena’s arms, concentrating into a small sphere. The ball of energy split into five smaller orbs, each speeding toward a target. Just before colliding with them, the purple balls burst into a net, slamming the men to the ground and restraining their movement.

  Aleena turned around, facing the elevator, and began to back up toward the outer windows. As she walked, she looked back and forth to either side of the central shaft. With each step, she could see a little farther around the corner, confirming no other guards were waiting just at its sides. But she still didn’t know what lay directly on the other side of the large pillar.

  Ethan stepped out of the elevator, picking up a rifle from the floor. He looked it over in his hands, then brought it up to his shoulder.

  Together they slowly crept around the shaft at the room’s perimeter, giving themselves the best view. At last, they found a row of seven guards standing shoulder to shoulder in front of the king, who was sitting on the base command chair. Directly behind the chair, a very old-looking Elven woman stood clutching the little girl.

  Royal blue banners hung from the ceiling, the Earthborn crest emblazoned on the front, a phoenix encircled by fire.

  Aleena materialized a shimmering energy shield in front of her and Ethan that moved just before them.

  The guards hesitated momentarily at the sight of Aleena in her armor, then opened fire on the two of them. The shots tore through the air, ripping molecules apart and filling the room with the stench of ozone. The impact on her shield was deafening, a high-pitched ringing layered on top of low-frequency, solid impacts.

  “Enough,” Aleena called out from behind the shield as she and Ethan took position directly in front of the line of guards. “We are not here to harm you. We seek an audience with the king.”

  The flashes of brilliant white light from the weapon fire impacting the shield made it difficult to see, though she kept each of the king’s guards accounted for.

  A female soldier on the far right began distancing herself from the others, moving around toward the side of the shield.

  Aleena extended the barrier completely around herself and Ethan, turning it into a half dome. Ethan moved toward the front of the shield to get a better view.

  “Wait,” the elderly Elf yelled from behind the throne.

  The king, a red-haired Elf with a trimmed, short beard and long, slender nose, lifted his hand in the air. “Do as she says,” he ordered.

  Aleena could barely make out the words over the weapons still firing at her.

  Ethan leaned toward her and whispered, “Maybe they’ve realized who they’re dealing with.”

  The guards stopped shooting, and the room went quiet, though every weapon was still pointed directly at them. She could see the Elven woman squinting, trying to see through the shimmering barrier, but the lady wasn’t looking at her.

  The woman said something in the child’s ear, then began approaching the shield.

  The king rose and grabbed the woman’s forearm. “Mother, no. What are you doing?”

  She gave her son a sharp look, and the king dropped her arm and sat. The woman crept toward, them staring intensely at Ethan.

  “We, um, we come in peace,” Ethan called out. “We seek an audience with the king.”

  The woman stopped mere inches from the shield, her purple robes swaying from the abrupt change in motion. She held her hand up to the barrier but didn’t touch it, an enormous grin growing on her lovely pale, wrinkled skin. “An audience you shall have.” The woman glanced back at the king. “Tell the guards to lower their weapons.”

  “Mother.” He leaned forward, squeezing the arms of his chair. “Surely you must be kidding.”

  “Do it, Cameron,” the lady scolded.

  The king hung his head and sighed, clearly exasperated. He waved his hand and his guards lowered their weapons.

  Ethan leaned over to Aleena and whispered, “I’m a little freaked out right about now.”

  The woman faced Aleena. “Do I have your word that you will not harm us?”

  “You do,” Aleena replied in Elvish.

  “You are as surprising as you appear,” the lady said, looking up and down Aleena’s green armor. She continued, this time in Elvish. “You speak the ancient tongue?”

  Aleena nodded. “Yes, but it’s not old to me.”

  “Then you have my word as well. No harm will come to you during this audience.”

  Ethan leaned over to Aleena once again. “What is she saying?”

  Aleena pushed Ethan’s weapon down and allowed the shield to dissipate.

  “Okay then,” he said. “I guess we’re friends now.”

  “Take his weapon,” the king commanded.

  The female guard began to move forward, but the older woman placed her hand in the air, causing the girl to hesitate.

  “If they were going to harm us,” the regal-looking woman began, “I don’t believe they’d need a weapon to do it.”

  That time the king’s sigh was even louder. “Why do I even bother to sit in this chair?” He waved off the guard.

  “No, no, it’s all right. Not a big deal,” Ethan said, placing his weapon on the floor.

  The woman’s smile grew even larger, a feat Aleena didn’t think possible. She read her emotions and found joy—sincere, unabashed joy. And… love?

  The woman walked forward and reached out toward Ethan. She ran her hand down his cheek, which clearly made him extremely uncomfortable.

  “You look so much like her,” the woman said. “Welcome home, Ethan.”

  He stepped back. “What are you talking about lady… Your Highness, or whatever. This is some sort of trick, right?” He looked at Aleena.

  She raised her shoulders, just as confused as he felt.

  “She never told you about us?” the woman asked, clearly a little hurt. “She sent me photos every year. She was so proud of you.”

  “We’re just here to get your help,” Ethan said.

  “Where’s your mother? She can explain everything.”

  “My mother’s dead. So’s my father. Killed because of this war.”

&
nbsp; A tear rolled down the woman’s cheek. “I’m so sorry, Ethan.”

  “Who are you?” Ethan asked.

  She wiped her tear. “I’m your grandmother.”

  Aleena searched the woman’s emotions. She was sincere. She believed every word she spoke.

  “No, that’s crazy.” He looked at Aleena. “This is crazy.”

  It certainly wasn’t the conversation she’d been expecting to have.

  The old woman swept her hand back toward a large photo hanging from the ceiling. An elderly man stood shoulder to shoulder with a slightly younger-looking version of the elderly woman. It was clearly a family portrait. Directly in front of them knelt the king, though clearly just a prince at the time the photo was taken, and a woman who looked a lot like Ethan, wearing a rolling yellow dress and the silver tiara in her hair. The same tiara the little girl hiding behind the king wore now.

  The king rose from his chair. “It’s not surprising that she’s gone now. Killed because of her idealism.”

  “She died because of the Urlowens,” Ethan said scathingly.

  Aleena sensed his anger boiling to the surface, and she hid her smile. He loved his mother, which made her like him even more.

  “Don’t speak to me that way,” the king commanded. “I’m a king.”

  “Not my king,” Ethan replied. “And no one insults my mother. Not even a king.”

  “Enough,” Aleena said. She took Ethan by the shoulders. “I’m sorry, but we’ll deal with this later. Right now, we need their help.” She sensed relief seep into him. Based on his emotions, he was far too overwhelmed to deal with these revelations at the moment anyway.

  “And who did my long-lost nephew bring with him, breaking into my palace and accosting my guards?”

  “To be fair, they’re not much for guards,” Aleena retorted.

  The king furrowed his brow. “I thought you wanted my help.”

  “The world needs your help,” Aleena said, stepping forward. As she did, all he guards took two steps back, which made her smile.

  “You claim to be Earthborn,” she continued, pointing at the banners hanging on either side of the command chair, “and yet you cower behind this facility’s cloak and shield as the Earth itself is invaded by our rival.”