Shifting Fate (The Neturu Chronicles Book 4)

by Sarah Carter

  “Your father would interrogate them, and they could possibly tell him about us,” Jenkins answers. “We can’t have that. We believe that it’s only fair that someone knows about the Neturu.”

  She nods. “I agree.” Stepping forward, Lexi asks, “What technology do you have of ours?”

  “Come, we will show you,” Jenkins says. He gestures for them to follow him. Stepping forward, they continue farther into the house. He opens a door, and it leads to the basement. Lexi feels a little uneasy. She just gave up their only weapon. Feeling kind of stupid because this could be a trap, Lexi follows Jenkins down the steps anyway.

  When they get to the bottom, she feels a little better. There are no jail cells. There are computer systems everywhere. “Wow,” Ashe laughs. “This stuff is old.”

  “Well, it’s we had to incorporate what we had with human technology,” Elizabeth replies. “I know it’s not full Neturu technology.”

  Ashe goes over and looks at the systems. “Yeah, but this is seriously old.”

  “We do with what we have,” Elizabeth says, sounding a little offended.

  “Ashe,” Lexi hisses. “Don’t be rude. It’s great that you have any. I can help where I can. I know a lot about our technology.”

  Elizabeth steps towards the equipment. “Like I said, there is human technology intertwined.”

  “That’s fascinating that you can even do that,” Lana says. “I mean, the two are so different.”

  “It wasn’t easy,” Elizabeth says, sitting down at one of the computer panels. “But, we do what we can.”

  “So, how do you know these people don’t have a million copies all over the place? I mean, that would be the smart thing to do,” Connor states, as he look around. “Have a million jump drives.”

  Andrew shakes his head. “No, Jose, the leader, wants all the credit. He feels like he’s going to be able to get a position of power from this.”

  With her shoulders falling, Lexi says, “That makes total sense.”

  “So, does it really have anything to do with the Neturu, or is this guy thinking he will rule the world?” Ashe asks.

  Tamesha shakes her head. “I think it’s a greed thing. I honestly think Jose thinks he will come out with this information and everyone will turn to him.”

  Connor laughs. “Has he ever studied human history? The whole term, shoot the messenger. People aren’t going to look at him like some sort of hero. They are going to turn on him sooner or later.”

  “This is the whole reason that we have tried for so long not to let the information leak,” Lexi says. “Humans are very unpredictable.”

  “We don’t want war,” John, the quiet teenager, finally says. “We have kept it a secret this long. We want to have it stay that way. The human race isn’t ready.”

  Agreeing, Connor says, “Ugh yeah, I could just imagine someone like my jerk of stepdad finding out. They wouldn't be able to handle it.”

  “We believe that it would be a very bad idea,” Jenkins states. “It isn’t time.”

  “What is your plan?” Lexi asks.

  Elizabeth punches a few things into a computer, and a picture pops up. It’s a map of Alaska. “This is where they are located. They have security systems that are built off of Neturu technology.”

  “That’s easy enough for me to shut down,” Lexi replies. “I mean, he has one stone, correct?”

  “Yes,” Andrew answers. “Just one. I would assume he has it on him.”

  “To protect him from me?” Lexi snorts.

  He shrugs. “It will also keep a Neturu from shifting.”

  Ashe shakes his head and says, “How do the Neturu not know about this?”

  “It was a well guarded secret amongst the Kenga,” Jenkins answers. “These were stolen from the Kenga king. I don’t think he knew what they could do.”

  “How did my mom know?” Lexi inquires. “If no one else knew.”

  “There were some old myths among the Kenga,” Denina replies. “There was something you had to do to the stones, and she did it. She figured it out.”

  Taking in a deep breath, Lexi sighs, “I wish she weren't so crazy. She could have actually done some good.”

  “She wasn’t crazy in the beginning,” Andrew says. “She wasn’t. She was angry, but she wasn’t crazy when they first left.”

  “How in the hell did they not know she didn’t age?” Lexi asks. “We were always a little curious about that. They didn’t come to Earth right away. How didn’t they know?”

  With a raised shoulder, he replies, “I have no idea. She was very smart and didn’t want anyone to know about her. We don’t have that many records of that time.”

  “Do you have her records?” Lexi gasps. “Do you know how she created us?”

  “I am not sure if I should answer that,” Andrew whispers. “I mean, we don’t want to make more of you.”

  Lexi jerks back. “No, I would want you to destroy that info if you had it. We can’t let this happen again.”

  “No, we won’t destroy it,” Elizabeth states. “No, absolutely not. It’s so far beyond anything anyone can do. Anyone on this planet. I don’t even think the Neturu know how she did it.”

  “They don’t,” Lexi replies. “And I don’t want them to know. You have to destroy that information. What if the wrong person gets a hold of it? They could make an army of me. There’s no way the Neturu can stop that. Because what if I wasn’t as good as a person as I am? I could wipe out everything.”

  “There’s a cheery thought,” Connor snorts. “I think you should destroy it, too.”

  Jenkins shakes his head. “We have thought about it, but the information is beyond anything we know.”

  Stepping forward, Lexi emphasizes, “You need to destroy that information. They can’t make another one of me. What if they make something worse? What if someone bad gets the information? Does this Jose have the information or access to it?”

  “No, we don’t believe so.”

  Her eyes widen and her jaw drops. “You don’t know! What’s wrong with you? What if they sell that info to someone?”

  “What could a human possibly do with it?” Denina asks.

  “I don’t know,” Lexi spits out. “I demand that you destroy it. I will not help you, if you don’t.”

  Jenkins jerks. “You won’t help us? He will out the Neturu!”

  She knows she’s stuck. Lexi folds her hands together. “Please, I’m begging you. Destroy that information. We can’t let it get into the wrong hands.”

  “What if we gave it to you?” Andrew says. “Would you keep it safe?”

  “You'd give it to me?” Lexi gasps. “What about my dad?”

  Andrew crosses his arms. “Would you tell him you have it?”

  “No,” Lexi answers.

  “I didn’t think so,” Andrew replies. “We would give it to you. Who better to have it? You’d never let it get out.”

  Raising an eyebrow, Lexi has to agree. “That is true.”

  “We will give it to you,” Jenkins says. “You can keep it safe, but only if you promise to keep it and not get rid of it. Can you do that?”

  She thinks about it for a minute. “Yes. I can do that.”

  He nods. “We will get it for you then.”

  Ashe walks over to the computers. “So, do you have the videos, too. The videos that this guy, Jose, has?”

  “Yes,” Elizabeth replies. “I can show you.” She opens a few files and then a video starts to play.

  “I don’t recognize the Neturu,” Lexi says, looking at the screen. It’s a blonde woman in a field.

  The woman laughs and says, “If humans only knew the truth, right?” She looks around and then winks. Shifting into a deer, a guy can be heard laughing.

  “That could be CGI,” Ashe says, though he grimaces.

  Connor shakes his head. “No way man, that’s so real.”

  “Do you think the dinosaurs are real on Jurassic Park?” Ashe scoffs. “No one’s going to belie
ve that.”

  “They will believe this, though,” Elizabeth sighs, opening another file.

  There, looming before them, on the screen, is a runner ship. “Oh crap,” Lexi exhales, her eyes widening.

  “That is not CGI,” Connor gasps.

  The video follows a group of people into the runner ship. It scans around. “Where in the world did this come from?” Lana asks.

  “Lexi’s mother,” Jenkins answers. “It’s from a while ago.”

  “That is really bad,” Lexi groans. “I mean, Hollywood could create this, but no one is going to believe that.”

  “There are more,” Andrew sighs. “We have to get those videos.”

  “Why do you have them?” Ashe snaps. “I mean, destroy them. Then we don’t have to worry.”

  Andrew puts his hand to his chest. “We are keeping it safe.”

  Ashe rolls his eyes. “Obviously, not too safe, if this other group has it.”

  “You really should destroy it,” Lexi agrees. “Because what if someone comes across this?”

  “We can claim it’s many things,” Jenkins replies. “We don’t have to out the Neturu.”

  Lexi waves her hands. “What? Obviously, your measures aren’t safe. You are keeping an eye on us. This is keeping evidence. What if other humans came across this? What would you do?”

  “We keep it safe,” Jenkins says, holding his head up.

  “Obviously not too well,” Lexi replies, not holding back the sarcasm.

  Jenkins nods his head. “I understand what you are saying. No one has come across it before. Like we said, this group was once part of us.”

  “Yeah, obviously you can’t trust people,” Lana snorts. “I mean, that’s just in general. Maybe you should keep your group smaller, more private.”

  “We have taken additional steps,” Andrew declares. “Only Elizabeth, Jenkins, and I can access the files.”

  Ashe looks at them. “And you guys aren't going to jump ship at any point?”

  “No,” Elizabeth answers. “We will keep it safe.”

  “How will you trust the people you pass it on to?” Lexi asks. “You should destroy it. You can monitor the Neturu without keeping the information.”

  With a heavy sigh, Jenkins replies, “I understand your concern, but we have better plans in place.”

  She shakes her head. “I guess we can just hope for a better future.”

  “What we need to be concerned with is this other group and what they have now,” Jenkins says. He walks over to the computer and pushes a few buttons. “This is where they are located.” A map of Alaska pops up, and then they center it. “They are there.”

  “That’s like an hour away from my Uncle Mason,” Lexi whispers. Then her eyes widen. “We can tell my Uncle Mason!”

  “No, absolutely not,” Jenkins states seriously.

  She turns to him. “Do you know what Uncle Mason can do!?”

  “Yes.”

  “He can jump and fight!” Lexi exclaims. “He would keep it a secret. He would totally be on your side. HE HATES MY DAD! He would help.” Jenkins continues to shake his head. “No, listen. Think about this for a second. If we go visit my Uncle, we have to give an excuse to leave. He is not stupid. He won’t believe anything I tell him. But he would help if I tell him the truth. Trust me on this. You have to trust me. Uncle Mason isn’t going to tell anyone. He isn’t like that. He barely listens to the Neturu.”

  Jenkins looks at Andrew. “What do you think?”

  “We need her help,” Andrew replies. “If he will help, then maybe it’s a good idea.

  “Can I try and use my abilities to talk to him?” Lexi asks. “Or, are those stones going to stop me?”

  He shrugs his shoulders. “You can try.”

  She nods. Closing her eyes, Lexi thinks, Uncle Mason.

  What’s up Little Bit?

  I have a problem, and I need your help. You have to swear not to tell Dad or Aunt Ariel.

  Ummm, I don’t like keeping stuff from your aunt, but what’s going on?

  You have to promise not to say anything. Promise me, Uncle Mason.

  I don’t know if I like this, but I promise.

  My friends and I need to come visit you this week.

  Why does that need to be a secret?

  I’m helping a group of people out, and that is what needs to be a secret. They are human.

  Okay Lexi, you have to explain. I’m still confused. Why can’t we tell anyone?

  I was approached by a group of humans. They know about the Neturu.

  What!?

  Yeah, this group knows all about the Neturu. My real mom started them a long time ago. They have kept it a secret and want to keep it a secret, but there is a problem.

  What’s that?

  There’s a rogue group. They were once part of this group, and they have info on the Neturu, videos. They have videos of Neturu shifting and of our ships.

  Oh, that’s bad.

  Uncle Mase, you can’t tell anyone, especially my dad.

  Lexi, we can’t let that info get out.

  That’s what the original group says. They say humans aren’t ready. That’s why they approached me. They don’t want to go to Dad because he will break up their group and erase everything. They think it’s only fair that a group knows about the Neturu, but they don’t want it to get out. So, they want us to go in and stop them.

  You, they want to use you. I’m not sure how I feel about that. You’re a kid.

  Uncle Mase, come on, give me a break. What were you all doing when you were my age?

  Well, okay, that’s true, but still. This could be very dangerous.

  We need to stop them. We need to make sure this info doesn’t get out. This group is in Alaska. About an hour away from you. We haven’t come up with a plan yet, but I wanted to bring you in. If we are staying with you, you needed to know. Are you in?

  I’m not going to let you do this on your own. Are you crazy? Yes, I will help. Who are these humans? Can you trust them?

  They know all about me. They haven’t done anything. They have some Neturu technology and tons of info on everything that we are. They just watch to make sure we don’t do anything crazy. But they approached me. Ashe and Lana know. We are with this group right now. We want to come up with a plan.

  I think that’s a good idea. Keep me in the loop. If things go south, I will have to tell your father.

  I get that, but it’s only fair that we help them out. They have kept our secret this long. They haven’t told anyone.

  How many are in this rogue group?

  Not many, so it shouldn’t be too hard. They do have stones that stop our abilities.

  Like magic?

  I don’t know, but it stops my abilities. The rogue group only has one.

  You are definitely not doing this alone!

  I’m going to sneak onto one of the ships and get us suits. We will be protected then.

  Your dad is going to notice that. There aren’t many of those suits.

  He won’t suspect me. Why would he think it was me? I will hide them at my friend’s house.

  They will scan all Neturu homes.

  He’s human.

  You told the boy, huh?

  Yeah. He knows everything and hasn’t told anyone.

  Lexi, I really hope you know what you are doing. This could turn into a big mess that your father can’t fix if this gets out. Too many humans know.

  Uncle Mason, don’t you trust me?

  This has nothing to do with me trusting you. This has everything to do with this getting out of hand. You are sixteen years old. Even at that age, we needed help from elders.

  That’s why I contacted you and most of the people in this group of humans are adults. I promise, things will be okay. We just need to stop this group of humans.

  I agree. Keep me informed please.

  I think we are coming up with a plan now. I’m not sure how we are going to get everyone up to Alaska, though.

&n
bsp; Let me deal with that. Just plan to leave Friday.

  Got it.

  Talk to you soon, Little Bit.

  Love you, Uncle Mase.

  Love you, too.

  Lexi takes a deep breath and then sighs. “He’s in. He’s going to figure out how to get us all up there.”

  Ashe replies, “Your father will get the three of us to your Uncle’s house, but I am not sure how to get Connor up there. Or you guys.”

  “We can take care of that,” Jenkins replies. “We do have things that fly in the air. They are called planes. We can rent a house or something near her uncle’s.”

  “Then what’s the plan if we can’t rely on my powers one hundred percent?” Lexi asks.

  “There is a range with the stones,” Andrew replies. “So, I think you will be able to get us into the building. It’s when you get close to them, that there may be a problem, but we do have weapons.”

  Nodding her head, Lexi says, “Uncle Mase has a few weapons of his own. Will these stones stop him?”

  “We aren’t sure. We weren’t even sure they would work on you, but they do, so I would have to suspect that they work on your uncle.”

  “Can they fight?” Ashe asks. “Uncle Mason is like an extreme fighter. Her mom has been training him for years. He’s a scientist now, but he still knows how to fight.”

  Andrew shakes his head. “Not that we know of.”

  “So, what do they have protecting them?” Lexi asks. “What do they have to stop us?”

  “The building itself has defense systems,” Andrew answers. “We have to be careful.”