by Lauren Wood
“I knew that none of you could be trusted. I told them from the moment that you arrived that things were going to get worse before they got better. They wouldn’t listen to me and I know for fact that they wouldn’t listen to James. I think they only have each other to blame, but that is being petty and vindictive. I will do these tests, but only because I feel a patriotism to my country and to those that are blind to what is going on.” She was what most people would call a blond bombshell, but she did nothing to feed into stereotype that she was brainless.
“I hope that you can do it quickly. Your husband and I have done some damage, but not nearly enough to make sure that their plans are not followed out.” “James showed me what sex with a human was like and I have to admit that I wasn’t expecting any of that. I do know that being here has made it impossible for me to stand here and do nothing. It’s taking all my willpower not to grab James and take him to someplace private and away from prying eyes. I’m even considering doing it in front of his ex wife, but I don’t think that would be appropriate.”
“I have some of the best equipment money can buy right here underneath this roof. I think I can handle finding out if this sample shows any signs of any kind of poison. It shouldn’t take me more than a few minutes to extrapolate the results from the machines. I’ve already put it into one machine that should spit out the results in a matter of seconds. If what you say is true, then we need to act quickly and without delay.” Normally, she would be teasing James mercilessly, until he couldn’t take it anymore. She would be touching him and grazing up against him and making it impossible for him to think of anything, but his own pleasure.
“You don’t know how much I appreciate this, Jessica. I’m at my wits end. I have Reina telling me one thing and the president telling me something else entirely. I need to find out what is true, so that I can make some kind of decision that will make sense. Whatever you find won’t be enough to stop the negotiations. Nobody can get in, once those doors are closed. I’m going to have to act on my own and that in itself is going to have its own problems. People will see me, as a traitor, but I can’t think like that.” He was standing behind Jessica looking at the way that her white lab coat flowed over her body like silk. He wanted to touch her, but he felt like he was caught between a rock and a hard place. One fantasy that every man has is to have two women at the same time and for him it was that close that he could almost taste it. He just needed to find a way to initiate something without causing undue harm to either one of them emotionally.
“I do believe that the results are in.” They all surrounded the computer and even though James and Reina had no idea what they were looking at, Jessica was vividly aware that what she was seeing had changed everything. “I’m afraid that I have some distressing news. The results are irrefutable and apparently your accusations about these pills poisoning humans are exactly what you predicted.” She didn’t like what she was seeing and according to everything, it was almost painfully clear that the world was going to fall apart at the seams.
“I was hoping that I was wrong, but I knew that I was right. I’m going to have to find a way to get on board the next transport to make sure that no other shipments are able to make it down here. I’m going to be putting my head in a noose, but it’s something that I think that I need to do. I will need help, but I don’t expect either one of you to stick your necks out where it doesn’t belong. This is after all something that I have to do, but it does affect the entire world.” “I don’t want to do this by myself, but I will if I have to. I can only hope that James is a man of his word. I want him by my side, but I sense that Jessica will never let us go without her. I’m giving him this out and maybe he will take it and maybe he won’t. I guess I’m going to find out sooner than later.”
“I can’t allow you to do it on your own. This concerns me, almost as much as it concerns anybody else. I’ve been playing the good soldier, but it’s about time to take off the kid gloves. As you’ve said already, we’ve done some damage, but it’s not nearly enough.” James watched Reina and he could sense that she was holding something back. “You’ve had that look on your face for a while and I now have to wonder what it’s all about. You have something on your mind, or at least you have an inkling of something that might help.” Jessica and James were waiting to hear this big revelation
“I would like to hear this myself. If James is going along for the ride, then I feel that it’s necessary for me to come along. With my scientific background, I might be able to help you in ways that neither one of you can do for yourself.” The main reason for Jessica for going along was to keep an eye on her investment. She never fell out of love with James. They had only separated because of his deep seated need to keep her at arm’s length. “I’ll bring some equipment with me that might come in handy.” Jessica went around her lab picking up various pieces that she felt could be of use.
“I’ve had this nagging suspicion for some time that something in my past that will keep my people from doing harm to others. I believe that it’s something that my grandfather used to tell me. Something about genomes and DNA sequences. I can’t really make sense of it right now, but I feel that it’s important enough for me to continue to try. In the meantime, we have work to do and only a couple of days to make sure that my people are stopped once and for all.” “I don’t know why I can’t remember and usually my memory is spot on. It could be that this air is muddling my thoughts, along with making my body into an instrument of pleasure that is above anything that I’ve ever known before. I want more of that and for some reason I find Jessica almost, as delectable as James.”
Jessica was feeling a little out of sorts, but she was riveted to the rush of endorphins from going into an insane battle that had no possibility of success. She didn’t want to say anything, but the proof was already read on her Computer System. Those poisons were going to take effect. Whoever took them in the past six months was going to fall victim. Whether they were able to stop the next shipment or not, people would die needlessly, unless they could come up with some kind of cure in a hurry that could be transmitted to everybody. It didn’t seem likely, but she wasn’t going to rule out anything.
Taking off her lab coat, she grabbed for her motorcycle jacket. From the moment that she found herself out of a relationship with James, she had turned to more extreme ways to get that rush of adrenaline. Racing her motorcycle and playing in a roller derby league had certainly given her something to hold onto. It was nice that James would welcome her into his home any time that she got drunk enough. It may have been a stereotype, but women have this right to show up at a moment’s notice to have sex. A man couldn’t do that without feeling ridiculed and having the door slammed in their faces.
“I have my car outside. We need to get to one of the transport sites. I think that Reina might be able to help us to find out which one is going to leave, as soon as possible.” James watched Reina and her eyes were flitting up and down like some kind of internal computer. There were no real answers that would describe the alien physiology. Doctors from earth wanted to get their hands on one of them, but it became a contingent that made it impossible. They were worried that they had these powers and wanted to make sure that they weren’t biting off more than they could chew. They had no idea how right they were or how dangerous the Nexus had become.
“I just want to go on the record to say that I’m not exactly happy about her joining us. She’s an alien and what makes you think that she won’t turn on us when it benefits her? I know that you’re not going to listen to me and it’s that stubborn streak that makes it hard not to love you.”
Chapter 6
They arrived at the transport and thankfully Reina saw an old friend that could lend a hand. This guy had always had a crush on her and she decided to capitalize on that with a bit of flirtatious attitude. It wasn’t long before she had credentials for her and her two companions to take a tour of the ship. They were even able to bypass security measures, which was a g
ood thing considering that they were carrying items that were going to destroy the mother ship.
They got on board and were Airborne within seconds. This was the first time that Jessica had taken this journey, but James had been an old hand at it. He was used to the feeling of weightlessness and that lightheaded feeling that came from been enclosed in such an environment.
“I don’t want either one of you to speak. Let me do all the talking and maybe I might be able to squeeze by those that are standing at the ready to make sure that the ship is safe.” “Working with James has been a pleasure, but it remains to be seen how Jessica is going to act under pressure. She is not a soldier and thinking outside the box is not something that she does on a regular basis. I’ve learned to play the game and I know that James has been in many tight situations, including the one between my legs.” Reina sat there thinking about how this was going to work, when suddenly the alarms began to go off.
She knew exactly what it was, but she didn’t have a chance to tell James or Jessica that their ruse had been found out. She should have known that Everly was never going to be able to keep his mouth shut. He was loyal to a fault and that was not something that she could blame him for. Getting up on her feet, she was faced with two guards in black shield armor. She placed her hand against the one and the armor exploded off the alien’s body like nothing. She went to do the same thing to the other, but got a right hand shot to the jaw for her troubles.
“You are combatants and you will be detained, until we determine what to do with you.” It was the same rhetoric that was given to each guard at the moment that they came on duty.
“I don’t have time to make you understand.” Reina felt the shock to her jaw, but it did very little damage. She lifted both hands and moved her fingers in the same way that she had done with the silver box in the ground at the facility. The guard was coming closer and was reaching for a weapon that was known to incapacitate any adversary. “I’m sorry that it has to come to this, but I’m afraid that I have no choice.” She managed to find that same frequency using the specter of colors and vibration. She found a way to break through the defenses of the shield of armor. It fell apart from his body, until he was standing there in only his civilian white tight jumpsuit.
He looked down momentarily stunned, until he looked up to find himself on the receiving end of James. James immobilized the guard. “I’ve been on these things before and they have only one motion. They go from the mother ship back to the transport with no deviation in between. We’re not going to be able take the ship.” A normal man would panic, but with him it was a matter of strategy and what tactic would work. “We’re going to have to be ready for a fight.” Even though he was ready to do that, it didn’t mean that he could fully comprehend the fact that they were going to die here today.
“I knew that I shouldn’t have come with you, but I was naïve to think that you knew what you were doing. We’re going to leave Michael an orphan and we both have each other to blame for that.” She was using her analytical brain to come up with something, but so far there was absolutely nothing that they could do to prevent from being discovered.
Reina was thinking hard and then she realized that there was no way that they could stop the inevitable. Instead of lamenting over something that she couldn’t control, she decided to try something else. “If we’re going to be discovered anyway, then we may as well take the fight to them for a change. It’s not ideal, but if I can get into the cockpit, then I might be able to make this trip worthwhile.” “This has to be the stupidest idea that I’ve ever come up with. It depends on getting into the cockpit and that in itself is going to be a feat. Even if I am able to do that, then I’m going to have to break through the locking mechanism. There is no physical pilot, but I don’t think that there’s any other way.” She went towards the cockpit to see that there was no way in. She needed the code and it would take too long to figure it out manually.
“I think that this is where I come in. I don’t know what you have planned, but I’m hoping that you’re not just throwing your hands up in defeat.” He had more of those explosives and placed one brick at the door and set the timer for 1 minute. He ushered both girls back behind the seats and hoped that it would be enough to stop them from getting any shrapnel from the explosion. “I just hope that I didn’t use too much. This is not an exact science and using explosives at any time is risky at best.” He was trying to instill a little bit of fear into the girls. He felt that they needed that kind of wakeup call to stay on high alert. He wanted to issue an ultimatum, but he had no idea what that came from.
“According to my calculations, I believe that it might be exactly what is needed to open that door.” Reina’s calculations had been perfect for what was needed. They raised their head cautiously to see the smoking crater where the door had been. They looked at each other and there was a moment of triumph, before they realized that there was still a whole lot of work to do. “That’s only part of the problem and we still need to break the locking mechanism. I really don’t know how to do that, but if we were able to, I should be able to fly this thing into the belly of the beast.” She was getting used to some of the slang terms on earth, but there were others that still stymied her any time that she tried to use them.
“I’m not exactly an engineer and I’m not versed on the makings or the blueprint of this ship. We’re basically the blind leading the blind and I have no idea how we’re going to rectify the situation.” James was a soldier and he would lay down his life for the chance to bring peace to any third world country. He was happy that he wasn’t in the thick of things anymore, but there were times that he had that ache. That old feeling had returned and he was basking in the adrenaline driving him into the kind of action that was needed.
“I might be able to help. I don’t know much about their systems either, but I think that I can find out what we need to know. There’s been a lot of chatter on the dark web. People have been coming forward with ways to fight back, but so far it hasn’t been necessary. I believe that I recall a discussion about how to break the locking mechanism. It was all conjecture, but I don’t think that we have any other options.” Jessica pulled out her laptop and began to connect to the wide world of web. They were still amazed that they were able to make a connection up here in space.
“I’m familiarizing myself with the controls. It seems primarily basic and not something that is going to make it harder for me. I know exactly what I need to do, once we get up there, but getting up to there is the only thing that matters. They know that there’s a problem and are probably going to send out scouts, which of course are going to fire on this transport on sight. I need those controls, so that I can move into one battle plan after another. I have a way of keeping them on their toes that they won’t even see coming.” “I wish that I didn’t have to fight my own people, but they brought it on themselves. The choices that they’ve made and the alliances that they have formed are only going to lead our world to destruction. Eventually, some of those alliances are going to fall apart and then they will turn their attention towards the weaker.”
“I’ve found the discussion board and the person that is speaking thinks that these directions are exactly what we need. He’s apparently been on one of the ships and had used seduction to talk his way into the cockpit with one of the ladies that were in charge. I guess you are not the only one that has been curious about a man’s anatomy. I have to admit to having a bit of curiosity myself about the male of your species. I haven’t had the pleasure, but from the looks of it, I don’t think that you can say the same thing for our species.” She decided to throw it down and see if anybody was willing to admit to dropping their defenses.
“I really don’t think that we have time to debate this, Jessica. Keep your jealousy to yourself, until we have time to discuss this in a more open forum. James was able to separate his feelings. His personal and his professional life should never mix and he was damned and determined to make sure that it d
idn’t happen. “I know that sometimes you don’t have a filter, but this time I am asking you to try and concentrate on something other than any kind of pettiness. I understand that we have a lot to talk about, but we really don’t have that kind of time to get into it. I will say that it wasn’t planned. It wasn’t an accident either. Her libido is a little charged from our atmosphere and I got caught up in the excitement of the moment. That’s all I’m going to say about it for now.” He was anxious to try his tactic of getting them all together in one room. The heat between them and that tension that they could cut with a knife would be exactly what was needed for an explosive memory.
Not to get into an argument, Jessica decided to make this huffing motion, before walking past James with this chill in the air. “I’ll follow these directions to the letter. Apparently, any deviation will be catastrophic in more ways than one. He’s not even sure that it’s going to work, but it is our best shot.” Jessica used some connection wires to connect to the computer and the console. She had to make those connections by using duct tape to make sure that they held strong.
“I’m not sure how much I like that people from your planet know about how to break into our locking mechanism. We pride ourselves on security and this is a bold slap to the face. I believe that what they’re doing is wrong and I have been put into a position where I can help to make things right. I suppose I understand your skepticism and those conspiracy nuts had decided to act on their own behalf.” This ship is a little bit different from the one that I was on previously. The design is similar and I hope to god that I can fly it in the same way that I’ve done the others. I have to imagine that this is an upgrade and whatever they are planning is built around these new designs. I can see the weapons and these are not the same usual laser cannons that have been seen in the past. According to the instrument panel, I would say that one blast from this turbo cannon and something bad is going to happen. It could take out one of their air force jets in one shot without the pilot even able to get off a shot.