The Alpha Choice

by M. D. Hall

  Once inside she sat down and indicated they should do likewise. ‘This room,’ she said, ‘is not monitored and so we can speak freely,’ she looked at each of them, in turn. ‘Who exactly are you, and why are you here?’

  Δ

  ‘Before we say anything, perhaps you can tell us who we’re talking to,’ replied Jon.

  ‘I showed you her details on the computer,’ Emily said, ‘you mustn’t have been fully awake.’

  ‘I’m Liz Corcoran, Hugo Black’s personal assistant, is that enough information?’ Jon raised his eyebrows, more out of embarrassment than anything else, and Emily added. ‘When I checked out Black, it was obvious he doesn’t move without consulting her, and if she couldn’t be trusted, we wouldn’t be here now, would we?’

  He looked from one woman to the other. Finally, he nodded then proceeded to tell Liz Corcoran everything, from the moment he woke up and met Jane, to their arrest just moments before. When he had finished, there was a short silence during which, he guessed, Liz was considering what she had heard, the silence was broken with a question. ‘May I see the Artefact?’

  Jon removed it from inside his jacket pocket and handed her the felt-clad object. Bearing in mind its protective state, he wondered if she would even register its existence, but the Artefact ensured his fears were groundless. She unwrapped and held what, Jon had informed her, possessed unimaginable power, but it remained inert and uninteresting. ‘So this is what could save our planet?’ Within moments, it was rewrapped, and returned to him.

  He could see that she was, as yet, unconvinced. Still looking at the woman, in whose giving lay the fate of mankind, he uncovered the Artefact and placed it on his open palm. Immediately, his hand was bathed in a soft glow. Liz was mesmerised until Jon placed the Artefact back into its cover; the light from the mysterious object faded, and was gone. She blinked her eyes and rubbed her fingers up and down her temples, before stepping back and saying. ‘I need to bring Mr Black to see you as soon as possible. He has to be made aware of what’s happening.’ She took a phone from her pocket and typed something into it.

  Emily had watched the interchange between Jon and Liz and chose this time to speak up, injecting a cautionary note. ‘You seem to have accepted our story very quickly. For all you know the Artefact is a clever toy with a hidden switch, yet you’re prepared to have your boss undo everything he’s done, for what might be nothing more than a trick. I know we aren't in the strongest of positions here, but it seems very odd that you’re prepared to take us at face value. It’s even more surprising that you risked lying to that Neanderthal back there. What are you not telling us?’

  ‘It must seem odd.’ Liz gestured around her. ‘This room is the only place in the complex that isn’t monitored, but now isn't the time to explain how that came about. The Te monitor the entire building, and everything that goes on in it. The three guards who were with me, are Te’an, and they’re already on their way to the monitoring station to see what we’re up to. When they get there, some time will go by before they realise this room isn’t on the grid. That will be reported to either Beron, their second in command, but more likely, Tala, head of the Te’an delegation. Once she knows there’s a safe room, and that I took you to it, matters are likely to get very dangerous.’

  Both Jon and Emily were riveted by the woman’s explanation, and said nothing to interrupt.

  ‘For some time, I've suspected that the Te aren’t all they’d have us believe. What’s more, Tala has been watching me recently, I was careless a little while back. What matters, is that while most of what you’ve told me is completely new, I was hoping you were here to help, and so I lied about Rachel who, by the way, is currently in New York,’ narrowing her eyes she added, ‘which goes a long way to prove you are who you say. How else would you be able to fool the Secret Service checks?’

  ‘What you saw me type into my cell, a little while ago, was an urgent text to Hugo, Mr Black, he should be here any moment. Once he arrives, we’ll have, by my estimation no more than fifteen minutes before Tala comes in through that door. When that happens, if we’re still here, it’s all over…’

  Δ

  The door opened, and a handsome, athletic looking man in his late-thirties entered the room. ‘This,’ Liz Corcoran said, turning to face them, ‘is Hugo Black, CEO of TeCorp, and the man to whom you wanted to speak.’

  ‘Hello,’ the man said, ‘from what I've picked up on the way here, I take it I'm speaking to my niece and her friend. How was New York?’ he asked, looking at Emily, unamused.

  ‘I'm sorry, but...’ Emily began.

  ‘Don't you mean. I'm sorry, Uncle?’

  ‘It was the only way we could get to see you, without raising suspicion,’ interjected Jon. ‘I'm sorry, Mr Black, but if Ms Corcoran is right we only have a few minutes before some very dangerous people follow you through that door, and I don’t think they’ll be knocking.’

  Hugo looked at Liz. The fact that she had divulged information, he had no idea what, to these strangers, meant she had some reason to trust them. That, of itself was enough give them a hearing. ‘Very well,’ he replied, ‘you had better be convincing.’

  Jon repeated everything he had said to Liz. When he had finished, Hugo, silent until then, walked over to Jon. ‘May I see this, Artefact?’

  Jon smiled. ‘Feel free,’ he opened his jacket and said, ‘it’s in this pocket,’ motioning with his head to his inside jacket pocket, but making no attempt to remove anything. Hugo Black, tentatively reached forward, put his hand inside the pocket, and frowned. Removing his hand he looked at Jon, his face beginning to harden. ‘What are you playing at? There’s nothing in there,’ he looked back at Emily who also smiled.

  Without speaking, Jon put his hand into the same pocket, and withdrew the covered Artefact.

  ‘I…don’t understand,’ Hugo’s confusion was palpable, ‘there was nothing in your pocket.’

  Emily spoke. ‘Apparently, the Artefact only makes itself known when it wants to be discovered.’

  ‘You mean it does what it has to, in order to protect itself?’ Liz asked.

  ‘I don’t think so. It’s most likely indestructible, even the Custodians don’t seem to have any control over it. I think it’s acting as it is, to protect its keeper,’ Emily replied. She then stepped closer to Jon, as though by standing together it would somehow lend weight to what she had said.

  Hugo looked over to Liz. ‘You believe all this?’

  Without a moment’s hesitation, she replied. ‘It’s pretty hard not to!’

  Hugo was troubled. It was a given that Liz never bothered him with the minutiae she dealt with on a daily basis. It was as if, in their professional relationship, they had settled on their respective roles, he was the ideas man, and she made things happen. Neither of them had ever disturbed this arrangement before, there was no need to, but this was different, he felt as though he was no longer the man with the ideas. She had spotted something that went far beyond her initial misgivings when the Te appeared in his office, even beyond their shared suspicions concerning Tala. He had gone along with her after her run-in with Tala, but wondered whether he had only humoured her, more concerned with his loss of status with the Te. His own fears had gone no further than the Te'ans assuming control, it never occurred to him that they wanted to destroy. What if I’d got more directly involved back then? he thought. Liz’a instincts had always been right, and he would be insane to ignore them now, whatever the consequences. He turned to her. ‘I missed this.’

  Liz could see the self-recrimination in his eyes before the admission, but he would have to beat himself up later, if there was time. ‘Neither of us could guess at their ambitions. Until now, I had no idea how to stop them, but,’ she gestured to the two visitors, ‘that problem seems to have been partially resolved. We still have to figure out a way to get them to the President.’

  Hugo nodded. ‘I take it this room is off the grid?’

  ‘Of course,’ she replied.
/>
  ‘I give us no more than fifteen minutes…’ he looked at his PA, ‘less?’

  She nodded.

  ‘OK, we need to create a diversion,’ realising, as soon as he had uttered the words, how impossible it would be to achieve. It then came to him. ‘Liz, you need to contact Tala and tell her that our friends have run off…say they’ve gone in the direction of the chamber, with something that looks like a weapon.’

  The others all looked at him as though he was mad. Continuing to look at Liz, he said. ‘We know you’re on her radar. While it won't allay her suspicions, the last thing she’ll expect is help, from you. Mentioning a weapon their systems haven’t detected, will at least disorient her, perhaps long enough for us to get to President Conway, he turned to Jon and Emily. ‘This will make things a lot more dangerous for the two of you, but from what you’ve told me, it’s already very dangerous for all of us. Liz, would I be right in guessing you did more, during the rebuild, than keep this room hidden from prying electronic eyes?’

  Without speaking, she walked over to a console in the centre of the room and, by waving her right hand over the smooth black surface, produced a holo image of the entire facility. She turned to the others. ‘Don’t worry,’ she assured them, ‘like the room itself, this handy device is hidden from prying Te’an eyes. The downside? The information is frozen as at the moment the room went off grid. If we try to access data in real-time we’ll be seen in an instant. What it will show, is a layout of the building.’

  ‘We’ve already seen a layout,’ said Emily.

  Liz shook her head. ‘It would be an official plan, filed with the authorities, they don’t show everything,’ seeing the surprise in Emily’s face, she added. ‘You did well to get any details’

  Hugo walked over to the projection and the others, dutifully followed. ‘You’ve certainly been busy,’ there was no hint of criticism in his voice. He scanned the image before pointing to one particular section. ‘This is the room we’re now in,’ despite knowing this was not a particularly good time to ask, Jon felt that he and Emily needed to understand the position they were in. ‘I thought we were hidden from the Te?’

  ‘This room doesn’t appear in their surveillance system,’ Liz replied, ‘but it can't be hidden. The most certain way to find us would be to show a blank where the room is supposed to be. By now Tala will have discovered that none of us appear on any live feeds. She’ll have instigated a diagnostic to discover which rooms have a defective, or missing camera. As there’s only this and one other, her own room, by a process of elimination she’ll know where we are.’

  ‘That’s why,’ interjected Hugo, ‘we need to send her in the wrong direction. Tell her one thing and do something else. Once Liz contacts Tala, the two of you need to make your way down this corridor,’ he highlighted the route in the hologram, ‘while we go in the opposite direction.’ Another route became highlighted, in a different colour. ‘That’s where the Te will be coming from and we’ll intercept them, here. Tala can't send guards to the signing room without raising suspicions, and she’ll never think to look in her own room, so if we get you there you’ll be safe,’ he turned to Liz. ‘Your teleport id?’

  She removed a plain signet ring from the small finger of her right hand, and passed it to Emily. Likewise, Hugo removed a similar ring, and gave it to Jon. ‘These rings are encoded to enable the wearer to use all teleports within the building. They’re not unique to us, and so you’ll be able to use them. All teleport stations down to level three have already been disabled, as a standard security measure to isolate the signing room. To operate the teleport, just picture this location in your mind’s eye, he pointed at what must have been Tala’s room. The rest happens automatically, you’ll be sent to the teleport station nearest to your destination and don’t worry, the technology works.’ He then gave them a cursory explanation of the system and how to recognise the room. ‘You need to lay low until I can get to the President. If I can persuade him to meet with you, we’ll rendezvous at your hiding place. From what you've told me, once we get him involved, the Te won't dare stop us. If they do, all bets are off, and they lose.’

  ‘Knowing Tala as I do,’ added Liz, ‘I’m convinced her room isn't monitored in any way. She doesn’t trust her associate, Beron, and needs at least one place out of his hearing,’ she told them of the overheard conversation between the Te’an agents.

  ‘Once there, how do we gain access?’ asked Jon.

  ‘The same ring will get you into the room, just wearing it will open the door,’ Hugo answered. He could see in their faces, that they found the thought of easy access to Tala’s room more than a little incongruous. ‘There’s nothing in the room that’s personal to her. One of the things I've found a little strange about Te’ans is that they don’t seem to place much store in personalisation. Maybe when they’re on mission they keep everything impersonal, but that’s by the way,’ he continued, ‘whatever the reason, it’s just a bare room and as I’ve said, it’s the last place she’ll expect you to go. What I don’t know is whether she’ll be alerted to you getting in, but I don’t see any other option open to us.’

  He looked around the room and was greeted with silence. Nodding to Liz he added. ‘Liz will make the call in the corridor to try and generalise our location.’ With nothing more to be said, he led the little group out of their temporary, safe haven.

  Once in the corridor, Jon simply said. ‘Thank you,’ while Emily just smiled and shrugged her shoulders, then the two of them turned and jogged off down the corridor.

  Hugo put his hands on Liz’s shoulders. ‘Ready for this?’ Nodding, she took out her phone and made the call, as the two of them began walking in the opposite direction to Jon and Emily.

  Δ

  Jon had never seen anything like the teleport stations they were approaching; unsure what he had expected, part of him felt a little underwhelmed. Each station simply consisted of two posts, far enough apart for someone to stand comfortably between them. There was nothing to suggest their otherworldliness unless being suffused with green counted. Hugo had explained that green meant the stations were ready to be used. If they were about to receive an incoming teleport, the colour would be red and a force field deployed around the immediate vicinity of the station, to prevent the possibility of someone stumbling into the teleport area.

  Emily, on the other hand, seemed fascinated and, despite the urgency of their situation, wandered around the stations. ‘How do you think it works?’ she asked.

  ‘Another time perhaps?’ ventured Jon.

  Her cheeks puffed out and she blew, before answering in the manner of a child who realises she must behave like a grown up. ‘Fine!’

  Ω

  Tala issued instructions that all teleports were to be disabled. This would make the task of finding the intruders so much easier.

  Ω

  Aware of everything that was happening within the TeCorp building, Gorn/Avatar released the lock on six of the teleports, and neither Tellurians nor Te’ans, prey or hunter, were any the wiser.

  Δ

  ‘Ready?’ asked Jon, not convinced in his own mind that he was. Emily nodded, eager with anticipation.

  Each of them stepped between the posts of their respective stations. Jon, standing stock still, had his eyes tightly shut and could only think of his atoms being scattered to the four winds, never to be reassembled. Emily, on the other hand, had her eyes open and was turning around to look at her surroundings, before the two of them simply disappeared.

  Jon experienced no sensation of movement, it felt no different to the teleport to and from the anti-grav ship. The pillars on this station were red, telling him he had arrived. He immediately looked at the adjacent station to see his young friend looking right at him, beaming. ‘I've got to do that again,’ she exclaimed. He could not help but smile. ‘Maybe, if we get through this and,’ he added, ‘if we do, I promise you can have an ice-cream as well.’

  ‘You're on,’ she replied, as the t
wo of them stepped off the platforms and made their way down the corridor. After a few paces, they turned and saw the colours change, Emily had managed to get Jon caught up in her youthful fascination. The red disappeared, to be replaced by…no illumination at all.

  Ω

  Gorn thought it prudent to reset the teleport stations. The Te’an operatives needed to remain ignorant of what was happening…for a little while longer.

  Δ

  Jon and Emily tore their eyes from the inactive teleports, and looked at each other. Jon took a deep breath. ‘Maybe they’re on to us?’

  ‘If that’s right, then it’s pretty quick. They can’t know what we’re doing, or where we’re going, it has to be a reflex action,’ Emily replied.

  Following Hugo's instructions, they moved several more paces down from the, now inoperable teleports and found the room. The door was recessed and, if Hugo was right, simply stepping within the recess would signal their intention to enter. What they did not know was that the lockdown initiated by Tala included this room, what Tala did not know was that her precautions were being circumvented.

  So it was that Jon and Emily entered Tala's lair, and began their wait for the President.

  Δ Ω

  Liz had no sooner finished her call to Tala, than the Te’an agent came into sight, rounding a bend just ahead of them, a dozen of her security personnel flanking her. Bringing up the rear was the grim-faced Beron, although it would be fair to say that all of them shared the same look, with the exception of Tala who, as always, radiated calm.

  Hugo stepped forward, subconsciously placing himself between Tala and Liz. The Te’an agent gave no indication she noticed the gesture. ‘Have you any news of their whereabouts?’ he asked.