by Sarah Carter
Ariel nods. “Yeah, it’s always super soft and quiet.”
“What does he say?”
There is a pause and then Ariel whispers, “It only takes one kiss.”
“That’s it!” Claire exclaims.
Her eyes snap open. “What?”
Claire walks over and shoves the locket at her. “Kiss it.”
Raising her eyebrow, Ariel says, “You aren’t serious.”
“What does it hurt to try?”
She takes the locket from Claire. “This is so embarrassing.”
With a quick nudge, Claire says, “Try.”
With a roll of her eyes, Ariel kisses the front of the locket. Suddenly, it pops open. Everyone freezes. “Oh my god,” Ariel exhales.
“What’s in it?” Aurora gasps.
“Hair,” Ariel replies. She takes it and hands it to Mr. Paulson. “Here.” She looks back at the locket. “But, there’s a little piece of paper.”
“What does it say?” Damien asks.
“It’s written so itty bitty,” Aurora whispers.
Xander says, “It’s in Kengan.”
Damien snaps his head towards him. “You know the language!”
“Yeah. We know everything.”
Mr. Paulson sticks out his hand. “May I see it?” Ariel hands him the piece of paper. “What does it say?”
Ariel says, “I know.”
“Knows what?” Claire asks. “That actually sounds a little creepy.”
Ariel sighs. “He always asked what I was thinking about. I told him it was a secret. He would tease me and playfully try and guess. It was the one thing that always made me laugh. He would always end by whispering, ‘One day I will know the secret.’”
“So, this obviously means he knows you have feelings for him. You had to figure out to kiss the locket. He knows.”
“I’m just afraid,” she whispers.
Claire steps up to her. “Love is scary.”
“Let’s concentrate on what we can right now,” Damien says. “Let’s test the hair.”
“I agree,” Dr. Galliger says. He puts some hair on a slide and then puts it into the computer. It takes a few seconds and then charts start to pop up. “How interesting.”
“What?” Ariel asks, wringing her hands.
“He’s full Neturu.”
“That’s impossible,” Ariel says.
Dr. Galliger points to the screen. “These are the markers and they are all Neturu make-up.”
“How does that explain his abilities?” Damien replies.
“I bet it’s a latent gene like the succubus gene,” Claire offers. “It makes the most sense.”
“But for The Collector to be able to pull latent abilities, they have to beyond educated and brilliant.”
“We told you. The Collector has to be old, like real old.”
Damien rubs her chin. “I’m starting to think that.”
“The research that had to go into this. The intelligence is immeasurable. We have nothing comparable,” Mr. Paulson states, shaking his head.
“I want you to get a group of researchers together immediately and see if you can figure out how The Collector is doing this,” Damien instructs Mr. Paulson.
“Yes sir,” Mr. Paulson says. “Should we see what more information we can get first.”
“Yes, of course. What can you tell us about Mason? Anything useful.”
Mr. Paulson looks at the screen. “His cells are unlike anything I have seen before. Much like Claire’s cells, his must be entirely different than a normal Neturu. This won’t give us any readings about how he dissipates. It just gives us his genes.”
“Hmmm,” Damien hums, obviously thinking.
“Maybe we should concentrate on what we can test,” Dr. Galliger says. “We need to see how their energy works. Ariel is right. We can see if we can scan them while they are doing different activities.”
“I want to go first,” Xander says. “If that’s alright. I really want to see how we work and I’m probably the most difficult to explain.”
“That is a very good point,” Dr. Galliger says.
“Pfff,” Aurora scoffs. “We can combine with each other into mythological creatures. That is way cooler.”
“I don’t think we would be able to do that in the scanner though, Aurora. We shift into pretty big things,” Ariel says, eyeing the scanner.
Aurora rolls her eyes. “Whatever, I’m just saying we are much cooler.” She is suddenly lifted up to the ceiling. “Xander!” She screams. “Put me down, right now! You promised never to do that again.”
“Yes, well, you promised you weren’t going to start anything again. Promises. Promises.”
She starts laughing. “I will turn into something and eat you!”
“I would like you to get to me to do that.”
“Oh, shut up,” she laughs some more. “Now, put me down.”
Claire watches Xander lower her down to the floor. “I, so, wish you knew how to fight. What we could be together. I swear though, if Mason joins our side, so taking him on missions with me.”
“Excuse me,” Damien replies. “I don’t remember you being in charge.”
“Like he wouldn’t be one of the greatest assets to the guard. Combine me and him on missions, along with Alex. Dude, people better stay out of our way.”
“Claire, we don’t even know if he is going to try and kill us. Let’s stay realistic. We need to find the guy first. Then subdue him and try to talk to him. I think asking him to go on missions is way far away. Anyway, that’s nothing we would discuss with you. No offense.”
Claire’s jaw drop. “What?”
“Claire, honey, you’re not on the council nor head of the guard.”
She gasps, “You wouldn’t tell me about that.”
“There’s a lot I don’t tell you,” Damien replies. “You’re not married into the family yet.”
“So, once we get married, then I get to know the secrets?” She asks.
“Sort of,” Damien says slowly. “You won’t technically be a council member.”
“I thought that I would become one.”
He grimaces, “Like half of one. My mom doesn’t know everything and my sister definitely doesn’t.”
“So, you have to have a penis to know the important stuff.” Claire growls, putting her hands on her hips.
“No, it’s totally because I’m taking my Dad’s place. Nothing to do with us being male.”
“Did you not notice that the only people who get to know the top secret stuff are male and all the females are left in the dark?”
“We have women on the council,” he counters, putting his hands up in defense.
“This is what we were taught,” Ariel says. “That the females aren’t considered as important. It’s a patriarchal society. The females are the powerhouses. We should have as much say.”
Damien grabs his head. “You do. We have three women on the council.”
“Three out of how many?” Claire asks, crossing her arms.
“Eight,” Damien says slowly. “So, it’s not that bad.”
“Two are your sister and mother.”
Exhaling, Damien says, “Yeah.”
“So, even though they are on the council, they don’t know everything. How does that work?”
“There is stuff only my Dad knows,” Damien replies.
“You aren’t even honest with the council,” Claire exclaims.
“Why has this turned into an argument?” Damien groans. “My father rules. That’s just the way it is. He addresses the council with what needs to be known.”
“Does the council know this?” Claire snaps.
“Of course.”
She narrows her eyes. “Does your mom and sister know that they are left in the dark about stuff?”
“Claire…”
“They don’t. Oh, if you think that’s what I am going to walk into, then you have to be smoking something.”
“We can’t smoke anything,
” Damien replies.
“Did you just say that!”
He throws his hands up. “You’re the one who said it.”
“It’s a figure of speech.”
“What would he be smoking?” Xander asks. “I’m confused.”
“I meant he had to be on drugs.”
“You do Lursa?” Aurora gasps. “That’s legal?”
“Lursa?” Damien replies. “What’s Lursa?”
Dr. Galliger furrows his eyebrows. “It’s a drug from Jiub, but we didn’t bring any with.”
“We were given it if we were really hurt. Man, it messes with your head. I can only presume it’s like the humans being high. Except you feel so out of control, it’s not fun.”
“I thought it was fun,” Aurora snickers.
“Of course you did,” Ariel snorts. “Anyway, we were taught what it was. It was illegal on Jiub. I figured it still would be here.”
“I have never even heard of it,” Damien replies. “Are you sure it was something from Jiub?”
Mr. Paulson says, “It has to be. Human drugs don’t affect us. Though, we didn’t bring anything with us.”
“See! The Collector has to be originally from Jiub. Kintas and Lursa,” Aurora exclaims. “We have it and you don’t.”
“Kintas?” Mr. Paulson says, eyebrows shooting up. “The animal?”
“Yeah, we have like a whole herd of them,” Aurora says. “We can turn into one if you want to.”
“Will you fit in the room?” Dr. Galliger asks.
“Oh, I can turn into one myself,” Aurora replies. With that, Claire watches her turn into this awkward looking bird. It looks like a combination between an ostrich and a chicken. The face of a chicken on a long neck, with long legs underneath it. It’s feathers are blue and red.
Claire raises an eyebrow. “Do all our animals look that stupid? Or do Earth animals look stupid and I think they are normal.”
“No, not the Kinta are weird,” Damien replies. “Even compared to Jiub animals.”
“Whoa,” Claire exhales. “That has to be the ugliest animal I have ever seen.”
Xander turns to her. “Though it tastes really good.”
“Let’s kill her and eat her,” Ariel cheers.
Aurora changes back and her jaw drops. “My sister finally makes a joke and it’s about being a cannibal and eating her twin.”
“It sounds like something from Criminal Minds,” Claire laughs.
“A criminal’s mind?”
“No, it’s called Criminal Minds. It’s this badass show. You would probably see someone doing that,” she states, with a shrug.
“I hope it’s a fictional show,” Xander replies slowly.
“Yes, though there are real shows about that stuff. If you want to watch it.”
He puts up his hands and shakes his head. “No, we’ve seen enough of the horrible stuff humans do.”
“What about the Neturu? What do they teach you about us?” Damien asks.
“That we are by far superior to any race we have come across. We could conquer the humans and take over the planet within days.”
“Wait, what is this about conquering the humans?” Damien says, narrowing his eyes.
“We were taught that the human race was evil and we could take over the planet if we wanted to.”
“I know what they are doing,” Damien breathes out, with a shocked look on his face.
“What?” Claire asks.
Damien shakes his head. “They are engineering Neturu so when they take over the planet, so they have a way to keep the humans down. Think about it. Yes, we can shift into scary things and attack. Yes, we have, by far, way advanced weaponry, but if we were going to conquer the humans, we would need more of a force. Could you think of thousands of Masons, or you guys or even Trinity? It wouldn’t have to be everyone knowing how to fight. It would be about intelligence and out maneuvering humans. They want to start a war.”
Xander asks, “But why?”
“I don’t know,” Damien sighs.
Aurora slowly raises her hand. “I think I do.” Everyone turns to her. “They want to bring Kenga here. If Jiub is dying, the Kenga will die too.”
“How would they get them?” Damien asks. “Our ships are highly secured. Nothing could get past our defense systems. Let alone the guard.”
“They have that serum,” Aurora says. “Do you think that’s all they have? They can engineer us, but they don’t have weaponry of any sort.”
“Yeah, but ships?” Damien counters.
“They don’t need their own, they have yours,” Aurora exhales.
With his eyes widening, Damien jumps over to a computer panel. He punches in a few things and alarms start to sound. “What are you doing?” Claire says. “It’s a theory.”
“A theory that may be true. It’s better to be prepared than not to be prepared.”
His phone starts to ring. “Dad, we need to get the council and Mr. Grandin together as soon as possible. I may be jumping to conclusions but this may have been a plan for a while. We need to sweep our people. What? We think they are engineering Neturu to take over the world. Think about it. Why would they do all of this and that? To get Kenga here. They will need our ships. I know this all sounds ridiculous, but can we risk pushing it aside? What if it’s true? We can’t lose one of our ships. What, the kids?” Damien looks up at everyone. “No Dad, it’s not Xander or the girls. They are the ones who came up with the theory. Why in the world would they tell us if they were part of it? Talk about taking away the element of surprise.”
“We are so not a part of this,” Ariel says, crossing her arms.
“I don’t think you are,” Claire says. “Don’t worry. They are just trying to be cautious. If this is a real threat, it means massive counter maneuvers. They will need to check out everyone. We have thousands in the guard, let alone everyone who are on the ships. It’s going to be out of hand.”
“I understand,” Damien finally says, pulling their attention back to him. “We have our priorities set. Get the council together as soon as possible. Even if it’s video conferencing. We will stay on yellow alert. We will see if we can get energy markers from them and continue testing. Alright, I will keep you posted.” He hangs up. “Okay. We need to see if we can read your energy markers or imprint. Then we can search for your friends.”
“We can do multiple testing all at once if it works,” Mr. Paulson says. “Xander, go stand in the scanner. Don’t walk through it. Stand in it.”
Xander looks at Claire. She smiles. “This is alright. We aren’t going to hurt you nor do we think you are going to hurt us.”
“Alright,” Xander exhales.
Claire follows him to the scanner. Xander eyes it up. “You’ve walked through it before,” Claire says. “Don’t worry.”
He smiles at her. “What if it secretly sucks your brain out?”
She looks up like she is thinking. “Well then, we will try and put it back in. But not before messing with it and make believe you are a big, fluffy, happy panda bear.”
“It can’t be something cool. It has to be a panda bear?”
“Would you rather be a chicken?” Claire counters, tilting her head with a smile. Xander shakes his head. “Go, get scanned.”
He stands in the scanner and crosses his arms. “Alright.”
“We are going to start it up and see if we can keep it running,” Mr. Paulson says. “Give us a minute.” Everyone is silent as they watch him and Dr. Galliger pushes a sequence of buttons and icons. “Okay,” Mr. Paulson says, turning around. “We have your energy signal. We need you to do activities to get a better reading. We are going to have you move different size objects. Start with this pencil.” He takes one out of his pocket and holds it up.
“A pencil?” Xander laughs. “I could do more than that when I first started doing this, but okay.” The pencil is elevated into the air.
Mr. Paulson turns around and starts to read the charts. Xander turns to Claire and
rolls his eyes to the heavens. She puts her hand over her mouth and giggles. They had put her through really simplistic tests too. She knew what she was capable with her strength before anything else happened. She presumes that’s how Xander feels right now. She walks over to him. “Don’t worry. I’ve gone through so much testing. I know how you feel right now.”
“It’s a pencil,” he whispers. “I can pick up a car and throw it.”
“We have to get every sort of reading we can,” Claire sighs.
“You seem to know a lot about this.”
“I’ve gone through it,” Claire replies. “I had to go through so much physical activity. It was grueling.”
“That sucks,” he whispers.
Claire starts bouncing from side to side. “Hell no, I love physical exercise. I would do all the stuff The Collector wanted and then given the finger.”
“You would have been punished, but that would have been awesome.”
“I’ll make you a deal when I capture them or if I have to kill them, I will give them the finger and say, ‘This is from the kids.’”
Xander smiles and nods his head. “That sounds like a great idea. Hopefully, you get them.”
“We are going to do everything we can to put a stop to this,” Claire says. “It’s sick.”
“I would have to agree with you. We would watch these horror story movies and realized our lives were very similar. We could never say anything. These scars will always be a reminder of what we went through.”
“We can get rid of them,” Dr. Galliger says.
“What?” Xander gasps.
“We can get rid of them. It will have to be in stages. You have so many of them. But yes, we can get rid of them. We regenerate skin for you.”
Claire turns to him. “So, you do have some technology to engineer things.”
“We never said we didn’t. We can grow animals, but the technology to build new Neturu is out of our realm. Also, you add in the abilities and it’s something we haven’t come across before.”
Damien crosses his arms. “I still want you to get a group of our top scientists together and see what you can come up with.”
“You also need to come up with the gloves and cuff for Mason. Quickly,” Claire says.
He nods. “That’s true. We are going to be very busy. We need to do this as fast as possible.”