by Sarah Carter
Putting her hand to her chest, Lexi says, “I can shut those down from far away. They may not even detect us.”
“You can shut it down from a distance?” Elizabeth gasps. “That’s incredible. We had no idea.”
Lexi nods. “Yeah, I could shut down every nuclear device on this planet, but I would pass out. See, this is how I work. I’m like a nonstop vortex of energy, usually doing things doesn’t drain me anymore, but if it’s a big thing, then it will drain me. But, I usually make it through the day. When I battled my mom when I was little, it drained me rather quickly, but the older I got, the easier it was.”
“Remarkable,” Jenkins says. “We didn’t know much about that.”
“I’m a huge power source,” Lexi replies.
“Is it true about your mother?” Andrew asks.
She shakes her head. “I don’t know what you are asking about.”
“What she is?”
“Anything concerning my mom isn’t up for discussion,” Lexi replies, vigorously shaking her head. “Nope. There’s top secret stuff that I won’t talk about.”
Andrew bows his head. “I understand. We know she’s a succubus.”
With a shrug of her shoulders, Lexi says, “I don’t know. Like I said, my mom is off limits. I will help you, but I will not give you information that you don’t already have. I’m sorry. There’s going to be limits.”
“Maybe we shouldn’t tell you what we know, then,” Denina finally says.
Jenkins puts his hand up to her. “Stop, that’s not how we are going to work. I understand why Lexi wouldn’t give us any information. That makes total sense.”
“It’s top secret,” Ashe scoffs. “That would be stupid if we gave it to you.”
“I just thought this was going to be a two-way street,” Denina says.
Turning to her, Jenkins says, “Denina, I know you are passionate about this, but don’t be rude, and you’re not in charge. Please, leave this up to us.”
“Sorry,” Denina says. “This is the first Neturu we have come across.”
“They aren’t fully Neturu, I am the only one,” Ashe replies. “So, you’ve met a Neturu. Not sure what you would call them. Lana and I can shift. Lexi can’t.”
Lexi frowns. “No, I have always wanted to though. I can do all this fancy stuff but I can’t even do the simplest of them all. It seems stupid, but I’m more Kenga than Neturu.”
“We have that information,” Jenkins replied. “We will give it to you. I’m not sure you will understand it. We don’t get some of it.”
She raises her eyebrow. “Do you have any idea what I understand? I could build a ship by myself. Like, there’s so much info in my head. It’s a bit crazy.”
“That’s the only thing your mom didn’t explain,” Jenkins says. “We don’t understand how you are so intelligent.”
“I think it has to do with seeing the past and future. My brain just has so much information in it. I think it’s adapted to understanding it all. I can look at anything with science or mathematics and just get it. It’s been that way since I was a kid. School is a joke.”
“I wish it were a joke for me,” Connor laughs. Lexi smiles at him. “This whole thing is still a little shocking for me. This is so beyond anything I could have imagined.”
John smiles. “It’s a little shocking when we first find out. For me personally, it was a mixture of anger and awe.”
“I didn’t feel anger,” Connor says. “More shock and disbelief. I woke up the next morning wondering if I dreamt it all.”
Tamesha interjects, “I just wanted to know everything there is to know about them. I was always into sci-fi. So, to know it truly existed, I needed to absorb as much information as possible.”
“How much are you allowed to know?” Lexi asks. “I’m not sure I’m excited about passing on all our info to new people constantly.”
She shakes her head. “It’s passed down in families.”
Jenkins says, “There is a lot of thought put into it. We don’t just say, hey, guess what!? No, there’s much scrutiny about the people that we bring in.”
“How did Jose get past you then?” Ashe asks. “If you guard everything so tightly.”
“He was our second in command,” Jenkins replies. “He and I got into many arguments. I tried to lock the information down when I suspected him, but it was too late. He must have been planning this for a while.”
Lexi sighs. “Well, he needs to be stopped.”
“Yes, for sure,” Jenkins agrees. “The world is in much turmoil right now. This would be the last thing that we would need to come out.”
“I couldn’t even imagine,” Connor replies, grimacing.
“We need to come up with a plan,” Lexi states. “What ideas do you have?”
Turning to the human teens, Jenkins says, “I ask that you guys leave now.”
“Oh, come on,” Tamesha groans. “Why do we have to miss this?”
He shakes his head. “Absolutely not. You can’t be around for this. Only a few should know.”
“It’s fine,” Denina says. She grabs Tamesha’s arm. “Come on, let’s go.”
Everyone watches as the two girls and John leave. When they hear the door shut, Andrew turns to Lexi. “Okay, we think they may have hired some...thugs.”
“Thugs?” Ashe laughs. “What are you, eighty?”
“No, it’s hooligans,” Lana laughs.
Andrew rolls his eyes to the ceiling. “Mercenaries, then,” he groans. “Is that better?”
The teens laugh, and Lexi says, “We get what you mean. Do you know how many?”
Elizabeth shakes her head. “No, we have no idea. That’s why we need your help. If it was just the original members, we could probably handle it.”
“I can see if I can shut everything down from a distance,” Lexi replies. “Then we can go in. Ashe, Lana, and I all know how to fight. I’m deadly. Uncle Mase is lethal. We can handle anyone they have. Uncle Mase also has a few Neturu weapons. He isn’t supposed to, but he does. The only thing is that my father will notice if a Neturu weapon is discharged somewhere. The sensors in the major tracking systems would identify it. So, I think we will have to stick with guns.”
“Makes sense,” Jenkins replies. “We have many human guns.”
“Are people going to die?” Connor gasps. “Real guns have real bullets.”
Jenkins looks at him. “If it comes down to it, we may have to.”
“What!” Connor screams. “Nowhere did I sign up that we were going to kill people.”
“The fate of Earth rests in our hands,” Andrew says. “There’s nothing we can really do about it. It is what it is. We have to stop them.”
Lexi turns around to Connor. “No one will have to die.”
“Bullets kills people Lexi,” Connor snaps.
“And I can heal people,” Lexi replies. “It’s something I can do. As long as they're not completely dead, I can heal them. When we shoot, we shoot to stop, not to kill. It’s the way of the Neturu. That’s why we have so many things that will stop a person. We rarely use anything that will kill.”
Andrew steps towards Connor and puts his hand on his shoulder. “You may not want to come with. They will shoot at all of us with real bullets, most likely to kill. Are you really going to risk your life for the Neturu race?”
“Someone’s going to shoot at me?” Connor stammers. “Lexi...”
“You don’t have to come with, Connor. You can come to Alaska, but you don’t have to go on the mission with us. My mom went on all her missions without my father. My father did have a few adventures himself, and he came out alive. Don’t do anything that you don’t feel comfortable with.”
He puts his hands up. “I will go to Alaska, but I will skip the mission. I don’t know how to fight, and I am not a very good aim. I have nothing to offer.”
“That is a wise choice,” Jenkins replies. “It is probably safest.”
“I would have to agree,” Lexi repli
es. “My dad doesn’t go on missions, so Mom doesn’t have to worry about him. If you went with, I would have to make sure to protect you at all times.”
“Okay,” Connor agrees. “I still want to go to Alaska.”
Nodding, Jenkins says, “That’s fine. I have no problem with that.”
Lexi walks over to the computer. “What is the layout of building?”
“There are three floors. It was converted. It used to be a mansion,” Andrew answers.
“Show me,” Lexi instructs.
Andrew walks over and punches a few things into the computer. Blueprints of a building appears on the screens in front of them. “That’s their bunker.”
“I can walk through walls,” Lexi replies. “I could just jump there.”
“We aren’t sure if you could do that,” Elizabeth interjects. “We aren’t sure if the stone will stop you. I think that should be the plan, but we have to come up with alternate ideas.”
Everyone walks over to the computers and stare at the screen. “Do they know you contacted Lexi?” Lana asks.
Jenkins shakes his head. “I don’t believe so. We didn’t decide this before the rogue group was already gone. They know about Lexi and all the other kids.”
“They will recognize me,” Lexi sighs. “I will have to wear a wig. I have a few, so it’s okay.”
“Keep your contacts in, too,” Ashe states.
Connor turns to her. “Why do you wear contacts?”
With a laugh, Ashe gasps, “You haven’t shown him yet!?”
“No, someday I will, when I can put them back in, but I can’t take them out right now,” Lexi growls.
Putting his hand on her, Connor asks, “Why do you wear contacts?”
“My eyes are emerald green,” Lexi groans.
“Like really green? What’s wrong with that?” Connor asks.
She shakes her head. “No, emerald. Unearthly.”
“Ummm Lexi, you don’t need to wear contacts,” Connor snorts. She furrows her eyebrows and looks at him like he’s stupid. He smiles and squeezes her shoulder. “Your hair is purple. If you let your natural eye color out, people are going to think you are wearing contacts then. Your hair is purple. People will just think you shop at Hot Topic or something.”
“That’s a really good point that we never thought of,” Lana exhales. “People will totally think that it’s fake.”
Lexi shakes her head, again. “No, absolutely not. I couldn’t let people really see. What if they told me to take the contacts out? Should I take out my eyeball?”
“Have you ever tried?” Connor asks. “Just try. See if people even say anything.”
Looking frustrated, Lexi snaps, “Do you want to see what we are talking about?”
“Yes,” Connor cheers.
She bends over and pulls them out. When Lexi stands up, she looks at Connor. His jaw drops. “See, it’s not a natural color at all.”
“They are so cool!” he yells. “Keep them out. How neat! Wow! I would totally play it off that they are fake.”
“I don’t like drawing attention to myself,” Lexi mumbles.
“You will have to wear the contacts and wig when we go on the mission,” Jenkins states. “They will know who you are otherwise.”
Nodding, Lexi replies, “I understand.”
“You are so beautiful,” Connor exhales.
Shaking her head in embarrassment, Lexi says, “All right, what should the plan be? My parents are going to wonder where we are.”
“If you can shut down their electronics, we rush them,” Jenkins instructs. “It’s as simple as that.”
“I know computers,” Ashe says. “So I can help. I can easily find the files. Neturu. Human. It doesn’t matter. I got it.”
“They are under the codename ‘ET’,” Jenkins mumbles.
“That’s ridiculous,” Lexi laughs. “Who made up that name?”
He shrugs. “It was Jose.”
“You would think it was some top-secret code name,” Lexi laughs some more. “How dumb.”
“You know, he may have changed it now that he left,” Ashe says. “That would have been the smart thing to do.”
Jenkins puts his hand up. “Jose isn’t that smart. Like, in some ways, yes. Common sense, not so much.”
“Did he come up with the original file name?” Ashe asks.
“Yes,” Elizabeth replies.
“Then we can just assume it’s one of the stupid file names,” he snorts.
With a nod, she says, “That’s true.”
“We should just wipe everything,” Lexi replies. Then her eyes widen. “I’ve got it!”
“What?” Connor says.
“Strong magnets will wipe hard drives,” Lexi says. “We just need to get some vancrusers.”
Jenkins raises an eyebrow, “What is that?”
“Neturu technology,” Lexi replies. “It’s the strongest magnet in this solar system. You actually turn them on. My grandfather gave me one when I was a kid. Really small one. I played with it all the time. If I got like a bunch of them. We just slap it on every piece of machinery that we find and turn them on. If it is anything like human technology, it will erase it.”
“That’s great for the computers,” Jenkins says, with a nod. “But, I bet he has a jump drive on him.”
“Leave him to Uncle Mase and me,” Lexi replies. “We have done mock missions before. My mom has trained me well with both her and Uncle Mase. Now, Dad doesn’t know about it, but that’s okay. Just goes to show you I have the coolest mom on the planet!”
Punching in a few things, a picture of a twenty-something-year-old guy pops up. “That’s him. Though I have heard he’s grown a beard.”
“So stylish,” Lexi snorts. “Okay, got it. Can you send that to my phone or print it out.”
“I can send it to you,” Jenkins replies. “We will have to stay in contact. We got you a burn phone that hopefully your father can’t track.”
Lexi starts laughing. “Please, tell me it’s a flip phone.”
“It is.”
“Oh my god, yes,” she laughs some more. “I hope you don’t expect me to text on that. It’s a pain.”
“No, we don’t want to leave any evidence,” Elizabeth says. “Only voice calls and never in your house.”
Connor looks at them. “Why not in your house?”
“It’s bugged,” Ashe says.
His eyes bulge. “Then your dad knows. We talked all over your house about you guys being aliens!”
Ashe starts dancing around. “Not when you put everything on a loop. Oh yeah, no one should have trained me so well.”
“Yeah, we thought of that,” Lexi laughs. “I just didn’t want to make you paranoid.”
He narrows his eyes and says, “I don’t want my brain messed with.”
“Nothing will happen as long as you don’t say anything to anyone,” Lexi replies. “Keep it a secret.”
Taking his fingers, he gestures zipping his mouth shut. “Lips are sealed.”
“Good.” Lexi turns to the rest of the group. “So, we sort of have a plan. I shut everything down from afar because I doubt the rocks can work at that great of a distance.”
“I don’t think they can,” Jenkins agrees.
“We get the suits to protect us,” she states. “How many of us are going?”
Looking around, Ashe says, “Probably, the six of us and your uncle?”
“That’s what I was thinking,” Andrew replies. “We can’t make it too big of a group. We don’t want the Neturu to notice.”
“I will also pick up the magnets,” Lexi states. “That will be easy enough. My family won’t blink an eye. They know I like doing science experiments. I will just say it’s for that.”
Jenkins nods. “Sounds good.”
“We can storm the place. Ashe, Lana, Uncle Mason, and I know how to fight.”
Elizabeth holds her hand to her chest. “We can shoot very well.”
“Remember, do not s
hoot to kill,” Connor stammers. “Please, for me. I would hate to be part of this and someone dies.”
“We don’t want anyone to die, either,” Jenkins replies. “We are going to erase their memories.”
Spinning around on him, Lexi exclaims, “You have the technology to do that.”
“Early forms of it, but your mother tweaked it enough. Only Elizabeth understands how to do it,” Andrew answers. “We don’t do it very often, if at all. But in this situation, we feel as though it’s warranted.”
“That sounds better than killing someone,” Connor says. “No killing.”
Lexi smiles. “I will heal people.”
“Can you heal anyone?” Connor gasps.
“Well, I have never gone around and tried on a million people,” Lexi replies. “But my father was very injured and close to death when I was a little girl, and I saved him. My real mother made me to take back to our home planet and heal the alien race there. She wanted me to bring the two species together.”
Andrew turns to her. “What do you mean by that?”
“I can merge the two species,” Lexi answers. “I can combine the energy and make the girl pregnant. That’s how my aunts have gotten pregnant. Aunty Trinity never thought she could. I surprised her when I was a little older. I didn’t tell anyone because no one was supposed to know yet.”
“What all can you do?” Jenkins gasps. “We didn’t know about that.”
Shrugging, Lexi says, “I think that’s all that I can do for now. I’m not sure. My memory from my childhood is a little hazy. I blocked out my own memories so that it didn’t scar me for life.”
“It’s amazing what you can do,” Jenkins exhales. “You are so beyond anything anyone could have ever imagined.”
“If humans found out about me, it would be horrible,” Lexi replies. “I would have to live on a ship. Does he have video of me?”
Jenkins shakes his head. “I don’t believe so. You have always been so careful not to use your powers in public. Anyway, even if you did move things with your mind, someone could claim that’s just effects of some sort.”
“I would have to agree with that,” Connor says. “But, that shifting video seems way too real. And those ships...there’s no explaining that.”
“We need to do this soon,” Lexi says. “This weekend sounds perfect. We shouldn’t wait very long.”