The silence lasted an eternity. No one was sure how long they should wait before venturing a look out of the doors of the barn in which they had hidden. They had not heard the footsteps of soldiers for at least five or ten minutes, but that was never a guarantee that they were not close. So many thoughts raced through their heads as they waited though the most predominant was concern for Michelle. While Blake had experienced the courtesy of their captors, that was the first time around. This time, she was a co-conspirator in a successful escape attempt. That would be far worse.
He hazarded a glance at his scanner for her biometrics, and he saw she was still alive. He figured she would be, but felt better through the confirmation. Her location had changed from where they had gone down, so the guards had already moved them. Given their prior escape, he doubted they would be placed where they had been before. He put his scanner away with a sigh, knowing all he could do was wait and hope.
“I’m going to have a look,” Janecia whispered. She crept out the door and padded softly away.
“How could you leave her like that?” Perry whispered.
“What choice did we have?” Blake replied. “She risked her freedom to rescue us. It would have been an exercise in futility if we had all decided to surrender. If it helps, I checked, and she’s fine for now.”
“What are we going to do?” Perry asked. “Roll with the tide as usual?”
“What else can we do?” Blake asked. “Our priority at the moment is to find a way for them to signal their people. Hopefully, if we can get that ball rolling, everything else will work itself out.”
“I’m not fond of that plan,” Perry said.
“You never are,” Blake noted. Soft footfalls sounded along the outside of the barn. The door opened, and Janecia snuck back in.
“I went to the street and looked around,” Janecia said. “There’s no one out there. Wherever they went, I think we’re clear. Let’s get going.”
“We need to go to our ship,” Tarlen said.
“I’m taking you to a safe place,” Janecia said. “We need time to figure this out.”
“If we can get to our ship, we can send a signal,” Tarlen insisted. “That is the answer. There is nothing to figure out.”
“Your ship is a few yards from the most heavily guarded place on our planet,” Janecia said. “I understand that it is probably the only place where interstellar communication is possible, but we had a plan. We go to the barn at my mother’s house and figure it out from there.”
“We were not part of this plan,” Tarlen said. “If we wait too long, the sun will rise, and then we will be stuck in your mother’s barn until the following evening. In the meantime, our countrymen are being held by yours. They were unpleasant to us before. I can only imagine the treatment they will receive now.”
Janecia looked uncertain. She did have a plan. That much was clear.
“Perhaps, we can go out there and have a look at what we’re dealing with,” Blake suggested. “Once we assess the situation, we’ll have a better idea of what to plan for instead of going on a lot of speculation, and then going out there only to find out that we were wrong.”
“All right,” Janecia sighed. “I’ll take you to your ship. It will take some time because it’s on the other side of the city. Stay close.”
“We appreciate this,” Tarlen said.
“I just want to do the right thing,” Janecia said. “If we’re lucky, perhaps we can create an era of communication someday.”
“We will see,” Tarlen, said.
Janecia opened the door cautiously and looked out. She stepped out and led the group out of the yard and behind the other houses in the area. Instead of following her previous path, she led them in the opposite direction. With the bright lights of the center of town off to their right, Janecia stayed to the backs of houses and in the grass off the road. She kept her pace to a slow jog allowing them to make better time without wearing them out.
Based on their position and where Blake remembered the ship to be, this was going to be a very long walk.
* * * * * * *
Everything hurt. Michelle’s head spun as it ached its way back into consciousness. She groaned as her body struggled to wake up and figure out what had happened and where she was. Her hands hurt. One of her arms stung like she had scraped it. She finally cracked her eyelids open to a bright room with plain white walls. She looked to find herself lying on a metal floor.
She propped herself on her elbows to look around but flinched as the stinging sensation in her arm hit her again. She looked at it and found she had skinned it. It was even bleeding slightly. She remembered running away from the building with everyone else when something hit her. Now she knew what a stun weapon felt like. As Blake stated before: it hurts.
She assumed that when she was hit, since she was running, she came down on her hands before landing on her arms and literally skidding to a stop. She felt lucky it was not any worse than that. Two of the Voraster were also with her, but only one of them was awake so far. She sat up, nursing her arm, and looked at the rest of the room. Two guards stood against the wall watching them. The door was closed with a third guard standing next to it. She figured this was the cell where Blake and the Voraster were kept before, but this time, they were being watched more closely.
A tapping on the door drew Michelle’s attention. The guard on the inside had rapped on it, and the door opened. “Tell him she’s awake,” the guard said to someone outside. The door closed again. She was tempted to ask him what they intended to do with her, but she figured it would get her nowhere. These people made no decisions. They were followers of the greater power who would likely be coming to speak to her.
She looked back up as the door swished open. A large man strolled in and looked at her condescendingly.
“Well, well, well,” he said. “So we have another one of you then. As I told your friend earlier, I am Captain Keller, and I’ll be your caretaker while you’re with me. This does not mean I’ll take gentle care of you. Its means that if you step out of line, you’ll be taken care of. Much like your friends here that you tried so hard to break out.”
He turned to the Voraster who was awake and was looking at him. He pulled a pistol from his belt and shot him. Michelle flinched as the Voraster slumped to the ground.
“These weapons don’t kill, but they sure hurt like hell,” Keller said. “The other one woke up before you did, and he got dosed as well. As for you…” Keller reached down and grabbed Michelle by the front of her shirt, easily lifting her off the ground with one arm. He planted her against the wall, holding her feet well off the floor. Fear raced through her as her heart rate quickened. “You’re going to tell me who you’re working with.”
Michelle did not answer more out of paralyzed fear than in protection of Janecia. She only stared into his blazing eyes and struggled to just breath as he held her in a grip that could probably crush her given the chance. This was a man who did not need a weapon capable of killing; he could do it himself without a second thought. He pulled her away from the wall and slammed her against it.
“I asked you a question,” Keller demanded. “We clearly have some warped Voraster loving group who has decided to betray the ideals of our people. Who are they? Where can we find them?”
“I don’t know,” Michelle said. He slammed her against the wall again.
“How can you have gotten here, and learned what you knew if you don’t know who helped you?” Keller demanded. “And for that matter, who are you?“
“Michelle Palmer,” she whimpered.
“You think I’m stupid?” he retorted. “I’m to believe you’re some legend from a hundred years ago? Some fairy tale of magical travelers who helped us? We did that on our own. We didn’t need the help of angels or demons to make this world our own. Now, who are you?”
“I just told you,” Michelle said. “I don’t know what you want me to say.”
Keller tossed her to the floor. She landed on
her skinned arm and whimpered. She felt his heavy steps walking toward her. He grabbed her by the arm and flipped her over. He stood over her.
“You are going to tell me what I need to know,” Keller warned, “or you go to sleep for another couple of hours, and when you wake up next time, it won’t be as pleasant. The choice is yours.”
“My name is Michelle Palmer,” Michelle said. “I swear to you that is who I am.”
“Where did you come up with these clothes?” Keller asked. “They are unlike anything I’ve ever seen. Your friend, Blake, has this symbol on his shirt as well. What does it mean?”
“I’m not from here,” Michelle said. She flinched when he gave her a look of disbelief. “That’s the truth. I mean it. You just told me you've never seen clothes like mine before. My pants are made of denim. Cotton. They’re called jeans. I don’t know what my blouse is made of.”
“Never heard of it,” Keller said. “How am I supposed to believe you?”
“I have nothing to prove what I’m saying is true,” Michelle said. “If I did, I would give it to you. We always go where we go without carrying anything except ourselves. We dress how we want, but that’s it.”
“Why are you helping the Voraster?” Keller asked.
“Because they needed it,” Michelle said. “That’s what we do. We help people who need help. That’s what we did for your original ship too. It doesn’t matter who you are. It doesn’t matter what you look like. If you need help, we’ll give it freely.”
“They don’t deserve help,” Keller sneered. “Do you help one people destroy another?”
“There is no evidence they tried to hurt anyone,” Michelle said. “There is plenty that you intend to harm them.”
“It’s all about who strikes first,” Keller said.
“Only a fallacy if the other never intended to strike at all,” Michelle said.
“How are we to know that this isn’t an invasion waiting to happen?” Keller asked coldly. “How are we to know they don’t have a fleet of ships up there waiting to come down, and this one got too close too soon? What proof do you have that they aren’t there?”
“What proof do you have that they are?” Michelle asked. Keller reached down and picked her up off the floor again by the shirt. He pushed her against a wall but left her standing on the floor. He stood directly in front of her pinning her against the wall.
“You are not in a position to challenge me,” Keller said poking her in the chest to emphasize his point.
“I never was,” Michelle said defiantly. She felt a fire burning within her. Somehow he had touched a nerve, and she was done with him. “I doubt anyone ever is. I’m sure you take your way with people whenever you wish. You use your strength and position to win the hearts of people over through fear and intimidation. You’re a child in the body of a big, strong man. I know you can crush me without even trying, and I suspect you wouldn’t bat an eye doing it. You also know I don’t stand a chance against you, so you intimidate me instead of taking on someone that might have a chance of standing against you. Strong in body. Weak in character. You want to scare me, but you can’t. What do you think I have to lose? Go ahead. Intimidate me. Try to belittle me in front of your men. You can’t break me. Who do you think you are? I am capable of carrying on a reasonable conversation with you without all of the dramatics. Why don’t you back off?”
He reached out and took her throat in his grip forcing her to stop talking entirely. He squeezed slightly. She struggled and grabbed his hand.
“Congratulations,” she choked out, unwilling to allow him the victory, “you beat someone weaker than you. I’m sure your men are so proud to follow you.”
He released her, and she fell to her knees gasping for air. He took a few steps away from her. Suddenly, he swung his foot around and kicked her in the gut flipping her over and rolling her across the floor.
“No one talks to me that way!” Keller screamed. “No one!”
“Then why don’t you put me out of my misery in dealing with your weak ass?” Michelle chuckled.
And he did. That stun gun really did hurt, but at least it came with a nap.
CHAPTER TEN
The path around town was long, but as they passed the last house, they saw the original ship and its shrine shining in the distance with the darkened Voraster ship sitting next to it just on the edge of the lights. Janecia stopped while they were still a considerable distance from it to discuss what was to come next.
“You can see what we’re up against from here,” Janecia said. “This area is patrolled day and night. The Terraformer is considered our most sacred relic and this is our most sacred of places. We all would defend it with our lives, because without it, we have no lives.
“I’m not going to lie to you. There was panic when that ship came down so close to the Terraformer. Panic from everyone, including me. I understand it was an accident, but it scared a lot of people. We saw our lives flash before our eyes as an accident almost ended it all.”
“I know an apology is hardly enough,” Tarlen said. “Unfortunately, it is all we have.”
“I want to do what it right,” Janecia said. “But I also want you to understand why people feel the way they do. Everything we are came from this place. Everything we will be continues to come from here.”
“You said that the planet was viable about twenty years after you arrived,” Blake said.
“That’s right,” Janecia said. “I understand that it could have been ready earlier, but they wanted to allow plenty of time to be sure. We were already in trouble, and the Mirificus was able to support everyone during that time. It not being in orbit helped draw that out.”
“Thing is,” Blake said, “most terraforming devices are made to do their job, get the planet running on its own, and then stop. They don’t need to keep running forever. That would be silly.”
“I only know what I was told,” Janecia said. “It’s still in there, and it’s still running. We still have scientists, and they still go out there to maintain it.”
“I don’t suppose we could actually talk to one of them,” Blake said, a thought brewing in his mind.
“Maybe,” Janecia said. “I’ll have to see who knows who.”
“I want to see how close we can get so we can get a good idea of how closely our ship is being watched,” Tarlen said.
“We can see where the edge of the light is,” Orest said. “If we stay to the side of that, they should have trouble seeing us.”
Without checking with Janecia for any kind of confirmation, the Voraster moved towards their ship walking incredibly delicately across the grassy expanse. Blake, Perry, and Janecia quickly followed them.
With every step, they watched the guards they could see in the light. None of them showed any reaction to their approach, and they were careful with every step to ensure that they stayed out of even the edge of the light. It forced them to stay quite a distance from all of them given how far the light stretched across the open field, but the Voraster continued walking.
“Are we going behind it?” Blake asked, walking up beside Tarlen.
“The light has a very clearly defined line,” Tarlen said. “It focuses its gaze outward. Our ship rests in a dark spot to begin with, and the front of it is well out of sight. If we are lucky, we can furtively move around it from front to back and pass inside.”
As they got closer, although only illuminated by starlight, they started to get a sense of how big the Mirificus was. They had seen it during the day although their attention at the time was stolen by the activity of the smaller vessel. It was as if a shadow of a dead city was rising before them blotting out the lights of the sky. Here and there, the sky broke through cracks in the structure, but it completely dwarfed the tiny Voraster ship sitting next to it, and the “shrine” was actually a decorated entrance to an airlock. The lights were part of the ship itself, likely redirected running lights of some kind, and so they would go on shining until the internal power su
pply of the ship finally gave out.
The nearer they drew to the Voraster ship, however, the further it looked from the Mirificus and its prize. It was true that the landing did not miss it by much from a galactic perspective, but from the ground level, it was about fifty yards or so from the guarded entrance down the side of the Mirificus. The ship was no longer smoking and was simply a dark blot on the landscape.
They stopped again to have a look at their target. The guard level had increased from that morning, and now in addition to the guards surrounding the entrance to their shrine, guards patrolled the grounds between there and the Voraster ship with another pair circling the ship as well as a third pair standing next to the door to the ship itself.
“This is bad,” Perry noted.
“Why put so much effort into it?” Tarlen said. “The ship is destroyed. It’s not as if anyone could do anything with it.”
“You wanted to send a signal from it,” Blake said. “That’s something to them.”
“You think all this is to keep us out?” Tarlen asked.
“Not entirely,” Janecia said. “There are sympathizers to the idea of what the Voraster could do to help us. You all are part of the Unified Planets, right?”
“We are,” Tarlen said.
“You could contact Earth,” Janecia said.
“I imagine it is possible, yes,” Tarlen said.
“I knew it!” Janecia said. “Many of us want Earth contacted to get help out here. We were not supposed to be cut off from them. However, the leadership does not trust you, so they don’t want any communication to be made with you. That includes not only you but us as well. There are definitely a good number of people who would want to try their own hand at making contact, not only on your behalf but to see if we can be helped as well.”
“And they would actively prevent that?” Orest asked.
“Fear runs deep,” Blake said. “Once that door is opened, it is hard to close it. I doubt this incident will help that effort, nor do I believe any new era of communication will open between your worlds.”
False Invasion Page 7