by John Coon
Xttra hurried over to her side. Her lips hung slightly open as she breathed while fast asleep. He brushed his hand against her cheek. Calandra's eyes moved beneath her closed eyelids and she blinked her eyes open. When they fell upon him, she gasped.
"Xttra? You're alive?"
Tears rolled down her cheeks unbidden. Calandra instinctively tried to raise her arms to embrace him. The metal restraint around her healthy wrist clanked and blocked Calandra from fulfilling her desire.
"They told me everyone was dead." Her voice quavered as she recalled the earlier message her captors imparted to her. "I held out hope that they were lying, that I didn't lose you."
Xttra brushed back a lock of her hair.
"I would never let that happen."
Collin pressed a button on the side of the bed and raised Calandra into a sitting position. Her eyes darted over to the Earthian and she flashed a grateful smile.
"I remember you. You're the one who stopped the other Earthians from torturing me."
Xttra's brows instantly knit together and a scowl washed over his lips. Boiling anger bubbled up in his dark blue eyes.
"Torture?"
Before he said another word, he heard a cocking sound behind him. Xttra wheeled around. Both soldiers were back on their feet. Their weapons pointed right at him and Lance. The effects from the stun pebbles wore off quicker than he expected.
"Don't you even breathe," The nearest soldier said. "I'll drop you like a bag of rocks with this rifle if I see a single muscle twitch."
"No! Don't hurt them! They came to rescue me."
Calandra raised her broken arm as high as she could manage with the bulky cast. Both soldiers lowered their weapons. Xttra cast a puzzled look, first at her and then at the soldiers. His thoughts were zeroed in on creating a distraction, so he could escape the room with Lance and Calandra – without risking any of their lives. Xttra never expected to see the tense situation diffuse with such suddenness.
"That's Kevin and Fuller," Calandra answered Xttra's question before he could pose it. "They're the soldiers who saved my life a few hours ago."
Xttra gave an approving nod to the nearest soldier. He loosened his grip on his eliminator, holstered it, and extended his hand.
"I owe you a debt."
The soldier shook Xttra's hand.
"I'd do it again. The name is Kevin."
"I'm Xttra."
"Look, I hate to interrupt this meet-and-greet, but someone has likely noticed new aliens skulking around on the surveillance cameras. We need to find a way out before this place gets kinetic."
All eyes in the room turned to Fuller. He was right. Xttra understood they could not move around in this place much longer without drawing attention to themselves. They still needed to hunt down and rescue the rest of the captive crew and escape to the main gate without meeting major resistance.
They had much more ground to cover before anyone could wake from this nightmare.
32
Calandra sat on the edge of the bed and rubbed her right wrist. It felt so good to finally be free from that metal restraint. Xttra had no trouble slicing it up with his cutter. He angled the laser reinforced blade to melt through metal without burning or piercing her skin. Watching him cut with such skill amazed Calandra. She took a deep breath and rose to her feet. Both legs were limp and rubbery. Calandra stumbled, but Xttra caught her arm before she fell.
We won't let you fall, Callie.
Her mother's words, spoken long ago, stuck in Calandra's mind. She straightened up and stood still, trying to give her legs a chance to regain some strength. Calandra gazed over at Lance, who kept his distance from the rest of the group. His sudden shyness puzzled her. When Lance saw her looking at him, he cast his eyes down and away from Calandra.
"What's wrong?"
Lance refused to break eye contact with the floor.
"I'm sorry I let them capture you in the ravine." His voice hovered near a whisper, and not simply over concerns about being discovered. "I should have been more careful, so you didn't have to fend for yourself against alien soldiers."
"It's not your fault," Calandra assured him. "They shot you and sent you tumbling down a hill before capturing me. You couldn't have stopped things from happening the way they did."
"Knowing that fact doesn't make me feel better."
"I'm alive. You're alive. We all survived being captured. Now we can leave this place."
Lance finally raised his head and looked at her.
"I wasn't captured. Neither was Xttra. We tracked you here and mounted a rescue mission."
Calandra snapped her head toward Kevin.
"You said you brought in another member of our crew who's still alive."
The ranger nodded.
"I did. It wasn't either one of your friends here."
Kevin's words awakened added hope inside Calandra. If no soldiers captured Xttra or Lance in the mountains, this meant at least one other crew member remained alive and awaiting rescue.
Xttra cast his eyes toward the open door.
"So where do we find the rest of my crew? Are they being held in other rooms in this corridor?"
"Not here," Collin said. "My understanding is all other aliens are being held in containment cells on the other side of the hangar."
"Only one other alien survived," Kevin said. "Tracking them down should be simple."
Calandra grew teary-eyed upon receiving confirmation some of their crew had perished. She wondered who fell among Jbali, Doni, and Atch. It both saddened and terrified her when she realized their experience failed to save them on a hostile planet. Xttra and Lance both wore solemn expressions. Their somber reactions did not escape Kevin's notice.
"I'm sorry for your loss," he said.
Collin stuck his head outside the doorway and peered into the corridor. After turning his head in both directions, he popped back inside the room.
"I don't see anyone else in this corridor yet."
"Then this is our time to move," Xttra said.
Calandra glanced down at her bare feet and up at him again. She would not make it far outside this hangar without shoes or boots.
"The Earthians confiscated my boots and my gear – including the things we brought with us from the probe. We need to get it back."
Kevin at once shot her a funny look.
"Earthian?"
"Isn't that what you call yourselves? You're from Earth. I'm from Lathos. We call ourselves Lathoans."
He cracked a smile and glanced over at Fuller. The other ranger went a step further, pressing a hand against his lips to stifle a laugh.
"It doesn't quite work that way."
Calandra sensed they were having fun at her expense. She was in no mood to let it go.
"Fine. Would you rather I call you dumb aliens?"
The smiles melted off their faces. Xttra did not allow the argument to progress.
"Just stop it!" he snapped. "We don't have time for this nonsense."
Calandra's lower lip jutted out into a pout. She pulled her arm away from Xttra's grasp and limped forward a couple of steps.
'I know where the bureau is keeping the gear they confiscated," Collin said. "I can go get it and meet you outside the hangar."
Xttra nodded. He unsheathed his cutter and handed it to him. Collin held the cutter awkwardly as though he feared the blade would accidentally slice the skin in his hand open upon contact.
"Better take this with you. They may have limited your access to that storage area."
"I'll need a ranger to come with me too. Need someone to watch my back over there."
Calandra turned and glared at Xttra.
"I'll go with them. I do need footwear after all."
Xttra held up his hands and shot her a dumbfounded look when he caught the chill from her icy tone. She crossed her arms and continued giving him a scowl.
"Let's hurry," he said, turning away from Calandra. "We haven't got much time."
***
/> Sam tossed and turned. He kicked his blanket off to the opposite side of the bed. The same words repeated in his mind. Collin's voice spoke those words each time.
The female alien told us she came to Earth in peace. Shouldn't we take her word for it?
His eyes finally popped open. Sam flicked on a lamp near the bed and sat upright. He punched a fist into his pillow.
What if Collin is right?
This single thought struck him with a gnawing dread. Sam wanted Collin to be wrong. If he were right, Sam did not know how he could live with himself. It meant the Earth Defense Bureau had innocent blood on its hands.
And the same blood also stained his hands.
Sam glanced over at his small Baby Yoda alarm clock sharing an end table with the lamp. Only a few minutes left before midnight. Sleep could wait. He needed to find evidence to clear his conscience.
Sam changed clothes and grabbed his ID badge. He left his room at a brisk pace and marched to the main bureau office. Chirps from neighboring crickets outside the perimeter fence filled his ears. Thunder rumbled above the mountain peaks in the distance. Sam splashed through a shallow puddle on the asphalt. He hoped the earlier rainstorm was not returning for a midnight encore, since he left his jacket back in his room.
Darkness and silence blanketed the main bureau offices when he entered the lobby. That suited him fine. It gave Sam a chance to visit the storage room and search through gear seized from the aliens. How many gadgets were tools of war? Which ones were designed to be used for peaceful communication or exploration? Finding answers could help him sleep in peace again.
Sam rode the elevator to the second floor. When the doors opened, he stepped out and turned down a darkened hall. Sam took a few more steps and froze. A glimmer of fluorescent light escaped out from underneath the storage room door.
He was not alone.
Sam tiptoed toward the door. It lay open a crack. Just enough to hear hushed voices inside the room. He sidled up next to an adjacent wall to listen.
"Make sure you find my chest pouch. It contains objects we found on the Earth probe."
Sam recognized the voice. It belonged to the female alien. How did she get into this room? He and Paige made a point of locking both alien prisoners in restraints to prevent either one from escaping their cells. Someone else must have brought her here.
"So, this is indeed a flash drive from Earth? I suspected as much when I first looked at it."
Sam hung his head and his lips melted into a frown. Collin freed the alien. Helping her escape must be his way to get back at them. What would making this choice accomplish? Sam knew what consequences awaited him. His friend would be jailed as a traitor for violating national and planetary security.
The same fate awaited Sam if he let them leave.
"Let's hurry," the female alien said. "Xttra and the others have probably freed Doni by now."
Sam pressed tight against the wall and scooted into a doorway down the darkened hall. If he stayed out here, he would stick out like a sore thumb. Who knows what would happen next if Collin and the alien caught him snooping around? Desperate people do desperate things.
Sam gently tried the doorknob behind him.
Locked.
He concentrated on slowing each breath. If no one heard him, perhaps no one would see him.
The storage room door opened. Collin and the alien stepped out into the hall. A ranger followed. Sam recognized him as Corporal Fuller, a guard Paige ordered posted outside the alien's room.
He stiffened as the ranger turned and glanced down the hall. Sam swallowed hard and tried to stay as motionless as a statue. When Fuller finally turned away and disappeared around the corner, Sam closed his eyes and slowly exhaled. That offered a closer shave than he liked. He needed to put the base on alert and then figure out what they took from the storage room.
Sam crept toward the room and ducked inside. The box holding the alien gear now lay half-empty. Several alien gadgets were missing.
He pulled out his smartphone and brought up his contact list. Before he could dial, the door nudged wider. Sam glanced up from the screen into a rifle barrel pointed at his face.
"What do you think you're doing?"
Fuller's no-nonsense tone told Sam his luck had run out. He raised both hands, one still clutching the phone.
"Stay calm, corporal," Sam said. "I don't want any trouble. Let's talk about this for a minute."
Fuller gave him a sideways glance.
"What's there to talk about?"
"I think I can help you and your friends. Just lower your gun and we can discuss it."
He backed his finger off the trigger and lowered the rifle. From the corner of his eye, Sam spotted a large red button jutting out from a square metal box on the near wall. The button triggered a silent alarm when pressed. He backed up three steps, so he stood parallel to the box.
"That's much better, corporal."
At once, Sam lunged toward the wall. Fuller raised the rifle again, but not quick enough. Sam mashed his hand down on the button. A flashing light soon cast a dull red glow through the hall. Fuller's eyes widened when the red light blanketed his peripheral vision. He backed up a step and cocked his rifle.
"Go ahead and shoot me." Sam took on a confident and defiant tone. "We both know you aren't getting off this base now."
Fuller scowled. He blasted a restraining bolt off a wall shelf and pushed the entire shelf down in front of Sam. Numerous objects bounced on the floor and, combined with the shelf, to form a pile of debris blocking his path.
"I hope you like this room. You're staying here."
Fuller switched off the light. The door slammed shut and the lock clicked a second later, leaving Sam stranded in the dark.
33
“I'm reminded of something my father once said that applies to our situation."
Xttra raised an eyebrow at Lance.
“What could he possibly say that applies to mounting a rescue mission on a hostile alien planet?”
Lance closed his eyes for a second while visualizing the exact moment in time when he first heard the advice in question.
“We cannot control everything that happens to us,” he finally said, opening his eyes again. “We can control who we are. We alone determine if we will choose good or become evil.”
Lance's father always imparted wise counsel. Xttra still did not understand how these particular words applied to their current situation in the same way that Lance did.
Kevin did not care one way or the other.
“Cut the chatter.”
He pressed an index finger against his lips to drill the point home.
The ranger led them toward a dim corridor filled with containment cells. Xttra and Lance each extracted a stun pebble before rounding the corner. Two more soldiers guarded a cell at the corridor's midway point. Both soldiers turned and instinctively raised their rifles after laying eyes on the group.
“This is a restricted area.” the first soldier said. “Identify yourselves.”
Kevin stepped forward and raised his hand.
“At ease. We've come to take the prisoner to another interrogation session with Earth Defense Bureau agents. Capt. Pollard's orders.”
The second soldier gave him a funny look. He reached for his shoulder-mounted radio.
“Our CO said no such thing to us, Sergeant. Let me clear it with him first.”
Before he could speak into the radio, Xttra and Lance tossed their stun pebbles. Kevin raised a forearm to block his eyes as soon as the pebbles went airborne. A blinding flash illuminated the length of the corridor. Both soldiers shouted and dropped to their knees. Kevin cracked each one over the head with his rifle.
They fell to the floor in a heap.
“I gave it a shot,” he said with a shrug.
Lance blasted two surveillance cameras with his eliminator as they advanced down the corridor. These cells used a different design from the room where they found Calandra earlier. Xttra coun
ted three long horizontal bars intersecting a series of vertical bars to form a see-through metal wall. A door made from the same metal was built into the barred wall. Solid stone composed the remaining three walls.
A prisoner sat on a bed bolted against the wall near the back of the cell. His head remained bowed as they approached. A glimpse of his balding white hair confirmed the prisoner was Doni.
“Cut it open,” Xttra ordered.
Lance holstered his eliminator and unsheathed his cutter. He set to work slicing apart a lock securing the cell door. Sparks from cut metal scattered in multiple directions. Doni finally looked up from the floor. His eyes widened and his mouth dropped open.
“I didn't expect to see you here. I thought I was the only one left alive after the aliens captured me.”
“They salvaged a wrecked aerorover and we tracked it here,” Xttra explained. “From there, we just had to determine where the aliens held you and Calandra.”
“Calandra is here?”
“She's waiting for us outside.”
Lance cut through the last piece of metal holding the lock in place. It fell in a rough square on the floor. Xttra slid open the cell door. They sprinted over to the bed and Lance used the cutter to free Doni from his restraints.
Kevin dragged both unconscious guards inside the cell. He tore strips from bed sheets and bound their wrists to the bed frame with the fabric. Once he determined neither guard could reach for their radios or escape from their makeshift restraints, Kevin rose from a kneeling position near the bed and sprinted for the door.
“Let's get out of here before unwanted guests pop in and crash this party.”
Doni rubbed both wrists once all his limbs were free again. Red marks remained where metal pressed against his skin. When he stood on his feet, Xttra noticed his medical officer wore no boots. Just like Calandra. The Earthians were thorough in confiscating footwear for unexplained reasons.
“Do you suppose Calandra recovered her arca vox yet?” He asked, turning to Lance. “I don't think Doni will get far without boots.”
“Worth checking,” Lance said.
Xttra brought out his arca vox and tried to reach Calandra. It did not connect with her arca vox.