by Liza Probz
Suddenly the woman was on her, tackling her to the ground and knocking the laser pistol out of her grasp to skitter across the cargo bay floor and out of reach. Brook groaned and closed her eyes as her head banged against the floor. When she opened her eyes, she was staring up at an exact duplicate of herself.
Brook’s eyes widened in realization. It wasn’t Talia at all, but a Hareema agent. Her self-defense skills kicked in and Brook grabbed her doppelganger’s shoulders, yanking sideways as she rolled herself out from under the creature.
The agent wasn’t quick to let go, and the pair rolled across the floor, struggling for domination. They hit a large storage container and wrestled one another for a moment, each attempting to get the other in a submission hold of some kind.
Brook spared a glance for the FIDOs and realized that the four of them had frozen, their lasers at the ready, but not firing. Apparently they could recognize the distinction between the captain and her identical twin.
Her opponent took advantage of her lapse in attention and shoved her head back against the floor, the impact making her ears ring. Then suddenly, the Hareema did something so strange, Brook was unable to respond.
The creature, mimicking her so perfectly, leaned in and pressed her lips against Brook’s own. It wasted no time shoving its tongue into the captain’s mouth in a sloppy kiss that made Brook want to retch.
Using all her might, the captain shoved hard against the Hareema. The agent’s head flew back, and its face crashed into the storage container, coming away with a cut along its cheek.
It smiled at her, and Brook wanted to vomit. It was a strange sensation, watching the creature wear her skin as if it belonged in it.
“Intruder alert.” Brook’s eyes flew to the FIDOs. Four lasers charged in tandem.
The Hareema released her and fled backward, seeking shelter behind a support beam. Two of the FIDOs branched off to pursue her, but the other two still held their lasers pointed directly at her.
“Shit.” Brook rolled to the side, then scrambled to her feet, speeding out of the cargo bay and narrowly avoiding the beams of red light that blasted in her direction. She slid down the hallway and into the mess hall, ducking underneath a table and trying to catch her breath.
What the hell is happening? The FIDOs had seemed to know the difference between their human companion and the Hareema, until suddenly they didn’t. What had changed? Had there been a malfunction? Or did it have something to do with her one-on-one struggle with the creature?
Brook held her breath as she heard the FIDOs coming her way. They marched through the mess hall, scanning the area, then headed towards the bridge. She stayed put, trying to formulate a plan.
Knowing there was a dangerous shapeshifter loose on her ship was terrifying enough. Now she had lost her defense weapons. Even worse, those very weapons were being turned against her. What was she to do?
Brook considered her options. If she could get to the bridge, she could turn the FIDOs off, dealing with one of the problems. But if she deactivated the FIDOs, she might not be able to use them against the agent in the future.
You could free Ontarii. He could help you figure out what’s happening with the FIDOs and maybe help you capture the hiding Hareema.
It was a good idea, unless the Zantharian major was also an alien infiltrator in disguise.
As much as Brook wanted to trust the major, as much as she wanted to lay all of her worries at his feet and watch the strong, capable Alpha-male take care of business, she knew that she could only depend on herself.
Besides, she barely knew the guy. He was almost as big a mystery as the Hareema haunting her ship. And what was worse, he had to hate her by now.
She’d seen the betrayal in his eyes when she’d locked him in. Although it had made sense at the time, it still hurt when she’d witnessed his reaction. The things he’d said to her bordered on unforgiveable.
No, she couldn’t count on Ontarii to save her. She had to use her own wits and skills to take her ship back on her own.
Brook decided to make a move, but paused when she heard a noise coming from the direction of the bridge. The four FIDOs were on their way back, marching in formation through the mess and back toward the cargo bay.
She bit her lip, afraid that this time they would spot her. Thankfully they kept moving and were soon out of sight. There wouldn’t be a better chance to make an escape.
Sliding out from under the table and praying that she made no noise, Brook picked her way through the chaos of the mess hall and into the corridor that led to the bridge. With as much speed as she could muster while remaining silent, she rushed to the bridge.
The whoosh of the door opening forced her to pray that the FIDOs weren’t around to hear it. Once the door closed behind her, she headed to the control panel and locked the door against intruders. Although the FIDOs’ lasers could probably burn through the door’s surface, she didn’t think they’d be likely to do so without a specific order. Since she didn’t think anyone would get close enough to the robots to give that order without getting fried, she immediately experienced a sense of relief.
Taking a seat at the main console, Captain Brooklyn took stock of her situation. According to the display, their course was still taking them straight towards Zanthar. That worried her. She didn’t want to cruise into a heavily-defended planetary zone in a ship housing Hareema. Especially since she didn’t know exactly how many were on the ship.
Brook considered altering course, but she wasn’t sure where to go. Heading home would likely be the safest course, although the prospect of taking the Hareema back to Earth with her was stomach-turning.
Still, at least one of the creatures had to have boarded the vessel on Earth. Maybe heading back toward home would enable her to warn her people and get assistance before landing. She could set down on the moon base and call home. If Hareema got loose in the small base, they could be easily kept in quarantine until reinforcements arrived.
Decision reached, Brook plotted a course away from Zanthar and back toward Earth’s moon. She locked in the course with her personal access code, hoping that the Hareema would not be able to override it.
It would take a few days to reach her home system, and she hoped she could survive long enough. If not, she needed to warn the people of Earth about the threat of alien invaders.
Taking a deep breath, Brook keyed in the commands to start the ship’s visual log. “This is Captain Jennifer Brooklyn of the Earhart. We were unable to complete our mission to attempt to locate Dr. Sylvia Cohen due to unforeseen circumstances.”
As Brook laid out the situation for the ship’s log, she reflected on how confusing the circumstances really were. She could be sure of nothing. Was Dr. Sylvia Cohen alive? Were the Zantharians friends or foes? How had the Hareema infiltrated her ship? What had happened to her crew?
Each question led to another question, then another. She hoped whomever received the message wouldn’t think she’d come down with a case of space sickness, and ignore her log altogether. At last she signed off, frustrated and feeling like a failure.
She looked to her left as a blinking light on the panel lit up. The airlock had been opened.
Brook bit her lip. It seemed the major was loose. But how?
There was no way Ontarii could have opened the airlock from the inside. He would have needed someone to let him out, and that someone certainly wasn’t her.
More likely, it was a Hareema agent. Which meant Ontarii had probably been replaced by the Hareema as well. What other reason would the enemy have for letting him out? It would be more likely that the infiltrator would have jettisoned him out the airlock if given the opportunity, wouldn’t it?
Brook frowned, surprised at the way her heart contracted in her chest when she thought of the alien major being ejected into space.
Get over it. He’s probably not the major anyway, but a Hareema agent.
The memory of him kissing her and holding her tight rolled over her. She
’d felt so incredibly safe in his arms. She didn’t think he’d been a Hareema then. And now he was...where? He’d been replaced, which meant the real Major Ontarii was…
Dead?
The word echoed in her head like church bells at a funeral. Tears burned her gaze and she pressed a shaky hand to her face, feeling so overwhelmed all of a sudden.
Apparently the alien major had made her feel deeply in a very short time, which was highly unusual. Now he was gone, replaced by an evil twin bent on destroying his planet.
Not on my watch.
Suddenly there was a commotion outside the bridge door, alerting her to the fact that they were there to get her.
Brook searched the bridge for a weapon of some kind, hoping the closed door would keep whoever or whatever was on the other side at bay. Remembering how effective Ontarii’s bioelectric weapon had been on the Hareema they’d met in the engine room, she wondered if there were anything electrical she could use to defend herself.
Time ran out faster than she’d anticipated. There was a small popping sound, making Brook turn around to watch the door. A green hand appeared, gripping the door and pulling it open.
Then Brook was left facing an angry Zantharian major with her identical twin standing by his side.
Chapter 18
Major Ontarii’s eyes widened in surprise. Beside him stood the human female, Captain Brooklyn, but across from him, beside the main console, stood the human female, Captain Brooklyn.
Only one of them could be the real captain.
The thought crossed his mind that neither could be the genuine one, that both could be Hareema imitators. He wanted to tear out his tendrils in frustration.
“How did you get in here?” the female next to the console asked. Her voice sounded like the captain’s to him.
“I used the manual override lever,” he said. He’d watched her open the bridge door using the lever previously.
“Of course.”
Ontarii watched a flurry of emotions play over her face. Fear. Anger. Frustration. And another one, one that caused his stomach to clench into a knot that tightened and tightened.
Defeat.
“What are you waiting for?” the captain beside him asked. “That’s the enemy right there. Use your electricity and zap it before it gets away!”
The captain in front of him turned to the console and hit a couple buttons. Ontarii heard the door whoosh closed behind him.
“What did you do?” he asked.
“Sealed the bridge. Maybe I can’t overpower you both, but I can lock us in to try and give my crew a fighting chance if they’re still alive.”
“He’ll just use the manual override again to get us out,” the captain beside him said, rolling her eyes.
The female in front of him crossed her arms over her chest. “Really? How exactly?”
The captain beside him scowled. She marched over to the panel in the wall beside the door and knocked on it. “Take this panel off and pull back the lever.”
The human female by the console shook her head. “That panel can’t be accessed from inside the bridge. For security purposes, the manual override for the doors from inside the bridge is somewhere else. But you’d know that, if you were the real captain of this ship.”
The words hit Ontarii like a punch to the gut. The Captain Brooklyn next to the console was right. That meant the Captain Brooklyn nearest to him was a Hareema agent.
He looked down at the creature by the panel and it looked back, its eyes narrowing.
“I know what you’re thinking, but she’s not telling the truth. She’s trying to confuse you.” The creature beside him extended its arm and pointed at the captain. “They’ll say anything to gain your trust. That’s how they operate. If you give her an inch, she’ll use it to strangle you with. Blast her now, before it’s too late!”
Ontarii couldn’t blast anyone, even if he wanted to. His powers hadn’t recharged yet after using them to take down all four FIDOs. He felt the lack keenly. If he had his bioelectric power, he could send a charge through both the women to determine their true form.
Unfortunately, he had only his own intuition to use in the situation. Logic would only get him more confused.
“If you won’t do anything about her, I will,” the captain by his side said, a knife suddenly appearing in her hand. “I’m not going to wait for her to shift into some terrible creature and kill us both.”
“Where did you get a knife?” the captain by the console asked, her hands coming up instinctively to block the expected blow. “We don’t have knives on this ship. Our only defensive weapons are laser pistols, and none of our food rations would require the use of a knife.”
“Shut up, you silly cow,” the creature with the knife said. In a flash it slid forward, slashing at the other one’s cheek.
The captain by the console was fast, but she couldn’t dodge the cut completely. Soon there was a small, jagged line of blood on her cheek. It was nearly identical to the one marring the face of the creature doing the slashing.
“That’s to pay you back for the fight in the cargo bay,” it said. “But this, this will be just for fun.”
Ontarii wished he could freeze time until his powers recharged, but that wish was as foolish as trying to turn back time to before the Hareema had started infiltrating planets in his system. He had to deal with the present, and if he wanted to do something, it had to be done fast.
He leapt forward, grabbing the woman with the knife by her hair and dragging her backward.
“Oww,” it said, turning around suddenly to press the knife against his chest. “Knock it off, or I’ll cut you too.”
Before Ontarii could respond, the other female had slid her arm around her double’s neck and squeezed, moving back a few inches so that the knife no longer touched his skin.
Ontarii flushed yellow, unable to control his anger and frustration. He slammed his hand into the creature’s wrist over and over, but it would not drop the knife.
“Let go of your weapon,” the captain said, squeezing her twin’s throat tighter. “Let it go!”
The thing in front of him smiled, an evil, cruel smile. Then its arm extended somehow so that the knife was back at Ontarii’s chest. It slashed, the knife slitting open his skin and causing him to gasp in pain.
“You bitch!” The captain grabbed her wrist with her other arm, increasing the power of the hold around her double’s neck. At this point, the female being choked should have been losing strength. Her face should have been changing colors, and her breath should have been wheezing in and out.
Instead, there was absolutely no reaction. Just a sinister smile.
Ontarii knew what to do.
Faster than a flash, he grabbed the captain’s arms and unwound them from the creature's neck, flinging her backward after forcing her to release her grip. Captain Brooklyn fell to the floor of the bridge, a look of angry betrayal painting her features.
Ontarii ignored the look. He had no time to comfort the female now. Instead, he grabbed the creature in front of him. His powerful hands slid around its neck and with all his might he jerked its head around.
For one terrifying moment he doubted himself. If he’d made the wrong choice, the human’s neck would snap like brittle coral in his grasp.
But it didn’t. The head just turned and turned, until he was facing the back of its head.
“Holy crap!” The woman on the floor was scooting backward, clearly unnerved by the sight of her own twin with its head twisted a hundred-eighty degrees around.
Having ascertained that he was dealing with a Hareema infiltrator, Ontarii moved his grip so that his arm was encircling its neck, elbow under its chin. Then, using all the strength he could muster, he pulled upward hard.
There was a keening sound, coming from the creature beneath him, he assumed. He could feel its neck begin to stretch, like an Earthling confection called salt-water taffy he’d once tasted. As soon as it started to give, he jerked harder, pul
ling with everything inside of him.
Suddenly the head popped off of the thing, the connection between head and body turning into a red goo. He could feel the thing vibrating in his hands, and he turned it around so he could see its face.
“You might have won this round,” it said, its evil eyes glinting golden. “But you won’t win the war.”
Then the head fell apart, becoming jelly and joining the body on the floor. One moment it looked like a human female, the next it was a pool of red slime.
Faster than lightning, the pool solidified into a gelatinous mass and scrambled forward. It beat against the bridge door and then liquefied itself again. In a few seconds, it had managed to squeeze itself through the miniscule crack beneath the door. Then it was gone without leaving a trace.
“Unbelievable,” Captain Brooklyn whispered from the floor.
Ontarii moved to her side, going down on his knees to face her.
Her hands were shaking as she extended one toward his chest.
“You’re hurt,” she said, her voice low.
Ontarii shrugged. “I’ll be fine. How are you?”
The captain gave a shaky laugh. “Scared shitless. That was disgusting.”
Ontarii pulled the woman into his arms and tucked her head under his chin as he held her tightly. “I’m sorry that you had to see that.”
“No. Don’t apologize. Thank you for saving my life.”
Cupping her head in his hands, he turned her face up toward his. “I would do anything to make sure you were safe. I would fight any creature, kill anything I had to, if it threatened your life.”
Her beautiful golden eyes filled with tears.
“I’m sorry I mistrusted you. I couldn’t be sure. I was so afraid after we found Mike’s body that you’d been replaced by an enemy plant.” She laughed, but it was a bitter sound. “Instead, I was replaced, and you still figured out which one was me. How?”
Ontarii gave her a small smile. “Because you’re smarter and braver than them. She was nothing like you.”