Blackshade looked at President Novatrix for guidance. They locked eyes, and he could tell she had no idea what he wanted from her. Then he saw her eyes flicker to his forehead, the look in her eyes changed from confusion, to comprehension. Blackshade suddenly felt very violated. He was used to being the one that could glimpse what people had on their mind, he was not used to having other people glimpse what was on his. He suddenly understood why Novatrix wore her hair in the style she currently did; he wished he had a hat.
“I will send a message to our allies. I have no doubt they will all be eager to plant one of these trees in their countries. I’ve already sent them the information about the diminishing oxygen in the world, so I think they’ll be very happy to hear the Omegas have provided us with a solution.” she told them. Then, turning her attention to Artificer she smiled, “I cannot thank you enough for this. You’ve saved our species.”
For the first time since meeting the engineer, Blackshade thought it actually looked a little uncomfortable, “You are welcome, President Elizabeth Novatrix.” it said a little hesitantly, “I am pleased that your species will not cease to exist. I am very fond of you.”
Novatrix and Tricia blushed at Artificer’s comment. Blackshade saw the word, ‘Flirt’ dart across Tricia’s forehead. Although, if she meant President Novatrix, or Artificer, he had no idea. Even though he could read their foreheads, women were still difficult for him to understand. The thought of difficult women brought Zahera crashing back into his mind. He still hadn’t heard from her since she yelled at him, and he had now sent her three separate emails apologizing for his mistakes. So far, she had replied to none of them, although he did receive notifications that she had read them. He wanted desperately to see her again, to explain himself and apologize for being so inconsiderate. This situation gave him an idea on how to arrange that.
“President Novatrix, I have a request,” he began a little more eagerly than he had intended.
Novatrix looked up at him, “Of course, Ambassador, what is it?”
“I request that my old squadron, now under the command of Colonel Vuloom, be assigned to Roswell to provide protection and support for the Wind Tree that will be planted there.” he said with practiced military professionalism.
He saw the corner of Novatrix’s mouth twitch in the hint of a grin a moment before she replied, “Colonel Vuloom? Why would you specifically ask for her when there are many other Commanders far more suited for the task?”
Blackshade felt his blood rush to his face, he told himself that she didn’t know about himself and Zahera, he also told himself that the blood rushing to his face was because he was angry at having to justify his request, and not due to embarrassment. He called on all of his years of military bearing to keep his voice even when he replied.
“Because Colonel Vuloom assisted me in securing that location when the Omegas made first contact. She reinforced the location and became familiar with the local terrain and populace while she protected the Omega ship before it moved to South America. She was also in charge of the resurrection operation that took place there when the Omegas brought the South Americans back to life. There is no one more qualified in Candaerica to run an operation there.” he answered a little too casually.
He didn’t need to read Novatrix’s forehead to know she wasn’t buying one ounce of his bullshit. The twitch at the corner of her mouth, and the way her head tilted slightly as she considered him was all he needed to see in order to know she saw right through him. It was then that he remembered she could read his forehead. As the thought occurred to him, his hand instinctively went up to cover it, but he caught himself half way through the motion and tried to make it look like he had meant to simply run his hand through his hair. Novatrix seemed to see right through this attempt at deception as well. He knew he was caught, and the discouragement that flooded into him with the knowledge disheartened him.
He fully expected the President to reprimand him for showing favoritism to her just because of their romantic relationship, but the President surprised him, “As you wish, Ambassador. You make a very strong argument. I will inform the Secretary of Defense to inform Colonel Vuloom that she and her squadron are to meet you back in Roswell, effective immediately.” she told him. Then, smirking she added, “I hope she likes you as much as you think she does.”
Tricia burst into laughter.
Epilogue
Dressed in non-descript civilian attire, she quickly made her way to the hotel she had booked a room in as she had been instructed. Using the false identification she had been given by the twitchy little woman that she had rendezvoused with on her way, she checked in at the front desk and made her way toward the elevators. Her heart was beating a mile a minute, and it was all she could do to avoid looking over her shoulder to see if she was being followed. She knew she was being stupid. She had been very careful to cover her tracks, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was watching her.
She had taken leave, only after her superiors had basically forced her to, which had been an outstanding bit of manipulation she was very proud of. She had traveled for the better part of the day, using random conveyances that used hard currency so that her personal accounts couldn’t be used to track her to this location, and even the currency she had used had been given to her by friends and co-workers over two years ago. She always knew keeping hard currency in her floor safe space would come in handy one day, although she never expected it would be in a scenario like this.
When the doors to the elevator finally opened, she got on so quickly she almost knocked over the middle aged man she had been standing behind. Her annoyance at the man for getting in her way infuriated her, but instead of showing her teeth, she showed him her warmest smile. She could tell the man was attracted to her immediately by the way he smiled goofily and dismissed the incident. The pathetic man even went so far as to tell her it was his fault for not letting her get on the elevator first. She wanted to claw at his sexist face for his audacity, but once again, she only smiled at him bashfully and looked sheepishly at her feet.
They rode in silence as the elevator made its way up to their floors. For security reasons, this elevator no longer had inputs you pressed to indicate which floor you wished to go to. Instead, the elevator scanned your tissue-ware to see what room you were booked into and brought you to the floor it was located on automatically. It also did not indicate which floor it was arriving on, so that no one on the same car as you could see what floor you were on and return later. Also, if you tried to leave the elevator on a floor your room wasn’t on, an alarm would sound at the front desk, and after security checked their cameras to see why someone was on a floor they weren’t staying on, they would either call the police, the military, or handle the situation themselves. Silently, she prayed to God that the man sharing the elevator car with her wouldn’t try to ask her out or follow her to her room. Or even worse, be checked into a room that was on the same floor as she was. Not that she was worried about the man attacking or raping her, she was more than capable of defending herself. She was worried about the man remembering her and possibly informing the authorities if things didn’t go the way she and her compatriot were hoping they would.
To her extreme relief, the elevator door opened and the man got out, offering her a pathetic farewell before exiting the car and leaving her to her thoughts. She didn’t bother returning his nicety, for she didn’t see any need to keep up her façade with the man. If she saw him again, she might kill him. She hadn’t decided yet.
When the doors opened again, she was delighted to see that the hallway in front of her was blissfully empty. Walking quickly, she made her way down the hall to her room and used her tissue-ware to unlock the door. It took all of her considerable willpower to not slam the door and barricade it with the furniture inside. She was so nervous about this meeting that she was trembling, and she knew that she had to get control of herself fast, or she would look like a fool to her contact.
; Taking multiple deep breaths, she felt her heart beat go from the speed of a jackhammer to that of an excited rabbit. It wasn’t ideal, but she was pleased with the improvement none-the-less. Walking briskly across the room, she closed the blinds on the window and ran her tissue-ware around the room, making sure there were no listening devices or cameras that were activated. After her fifth pass of the interior turned up nothing, she allowed herself to relax just a little bit more.
Then she sat cross-legged on the only bed in the room, and waited for her contact to call her. After what felt like hours, she checked the time on her tissue-ware and was dismayed to see only a few minutes had passed. She thought about bringing up the internet, but then she remembered she had been expressly forbidden to open any links to the web, or go online in any capacity. The only exception had been her tissue-ware, and her security settings had been configured by one of Humanity’s Paragons’ best techs.
Alone, nervous, and fearing discovery, she did what she always did in these situations; she began to pray.
“Dear God, please grant me the courage to get through this. With the soulless aliens that have invaded our glorious world, all I wish is to be a vessel you can use to help thwart their plans and remove them from our home. I know they are not of your creation, and I know that their arrival here is not a part of your marvelous plan. I want to be brave, God. I want you to be proud of me, but I am weak! Please! Please give me the courage I need to see this through to the end and hopefully make you proud of me in the process. Also, please give your faithful servant and diligent prophet- AHHH!” a vigorous buzzing from her arm stopped her prayer cold, as the unexpected sensation caused her to scream in surprise. She covered her mouth with both hands in some childish effort to contain the sound before anyone nearby could hear her.
She waited in abject terror for someone to knock at her door, or for the front desk to call to ask about the reports of screaming they heard from her room. She waited for a full ten seconds, before releasing the breath she didn’t know she was holding. No one knocked at her door. No one called her from the front desk, and no one pounded at the door asking her if she was ok.
Laughing delicately in relief, she reached over and hit the “ANSWER” input on her arm. When she saw the face of the man she loved more than life itself appear on her display, all of her fear and worry melted away, and she instantly began crying.
“Oh praise God! Praise God!!” she said as her apprehension drained away. She suddenly felt ten times lighter just by looking at his face. “I was beginning to think you weren’t going to call! I thought you had been discovered! I’ve never been so scared in my life! After you told me your plan, I thought you had been caught and that they had put you in jail or executed you! Oh, J-“ She was abruptly cut off.
“NO NAMES!” her beloved yelled at her with such venom that she once again put both of her hands over her mouth. She could still see his face on her display, but now his picture was sideways and somewhat blurry.
“I’m sorry!” she said, genuinely meaning it. She brought her hands away from her mouth and placed them in front of her again, “I’m sorry! I just…. I was just….” she stopped, feeling foolish, “I’m just so glad to see you’re ok.”
The harsh look on her beloved’s face softened considerably at this, “I understand, my love, and I am not mad at you. I didn’t mean to be harsh, I’m only trying to protect you from yourself, just like I’m trying to protect the world from the alien abominations.” he told her in a voice that was as smooth as silk. “Are you ok? Do you need anything?”
Feeling vulnerable, she answered without thinking, “Can you meet me here? Can we see each other? I just want you to hold me in your arms again. I miss you so much!”
The sad smile on his face told her the answer long before his words did. Her heart almost broke with the disappointment. “I’m sorry, my love, you know that I can’t do that. They’re watching me all the time now. I think some of them might actually suspect something. I have to do everything in my power to make the heathens believe I’m on their side. If we were to get caught together, we could doom humanity.” he told her sorrowfully before adding, “You know I want nothing more than to be with you though, right?”
Her heart filled with joy and love at that, “Yes! Yes, I know that!” she answered passionately, “I love you so much…” she choked on his name, “…I love you!”
He smiled warmly, bringing fresh tears to her eyes, “That’s enough of that for right now, my love. We are being selfish and need to put the needs of the flock over the needs of the shepherds.”
Shame shot through her as she realized how right he was. She mentally chastised herself for it. Her beloved, as always, was correct; they were here for a purpose far more important than her petty lust, “You’re right. What are your orders?” she asked, her demeanor all business once again.
“That’s my girl.” he told her approvingly, “What I am going to tell you, only a handful of people know. Candaerica’s government has made yet another ill-informed deal with the devil Omegas. Blackshade and his ilk have convinced them that our planet is going to run out of oxygen in the next eighteen months. As if God would ever allow that to happen!” he told her in disgust. He made a holy gesture across the front of his body before continuing, “The abominations, of course, have a solution and sold it to our government as easily as convincing a child to eat candy. They’ve given them a tree to plant at their original landing site in Roswell, and have told them it will cure all of our ills.”
She sneered at this, “Sheep! Idolaters!”
Her beloved held up a hand to silence her. She knew he hated to be interrupted and was mad at herself for letting her emotions to get away from her yet again. Usually, she was far better disciplined than this.
“Yes, my love, you are correct, but it is worse than you realize, for I know what this… tree… really is. It is another terraforming device that will slowly poison our world and make it uninhabitable. Then, once the abominations have made our Lord’s greatest gift to us a wasteland, they will invite us on their ships, where they will cage us and use us for slave labor, experimentation, and force our women to bare children for them to feast upon and abuse. It sickens me that our leaders are so easily fooled by such an obvious farce!” he told her angrily.
“What can we do?” she asked him before considering her question. Then, without prompting, “What can I do?”
His smile sent a warmth through her that saturated every part of her body, but settled in her loins. She did not mind the sensation.
“The heathens, that have forsaken humanity to worship the aliens, are going to build a base in Roswell to protect the tree and nurture it. By their own hands, they will usher in Armageddon and the end of humanity. I am going to do everything in my power to see that you are assigned to a command position at this base, working as closely with the Base Commander as possible. You are to look for any opportunity to sabotage the tree, and if possible, destroy it.” he paused here and fixed her with an intense gaze that took her breath away, “Can you do that for me? Can you do that for God?” he beseeched her.
The questions her beloved asked put her whole life, the whole purpose of her life, into crystal clarity. Everything she had done, everything she had accomplished, every one she had wronged, elevated, and brought down, had all led her to this pivotal moment that was before her right now.
“Yes.” she answered breathlessly, “Yes, I can do that! For you! For God! And for Humanity!” she told her beloved, meaning it with every fiber of her being.
Outside her hotel window, she heard it begin to rain.
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