by Rod Little
“Wait! We're a prison planet?” Shane croaked. “I live on a prison planet?”
Dexter held up his hand to shut the boy up. “In every sense, yes. And it's been hell for me.”
“What was your crime?” Sam asked, his voice cracking a little. He was slowly regaining some strength.
“Intelligence. I was too smart,” Dexter said bitterly.
“Seriously, what did you do?”
“Treason. In simplified terms you can understand, I opposed our government's increase in national authoritarianism.”
“You?” Bohai asked. “Of all people, I don't see you as a revolutionary.”
“I publicly opposed the actions of my government. It's more complicated than that, but such protests had recently been outlawed by my brother, Loxtan, head of the Security Council.”
“You're Loxtan Vhar's brother?” Kiern could not hide his amazement. His interest had been piqued by this newcomer, but now he felt a little intimidated. This Sayan living on Earth, this criminal, was somebody. He was the President's brother! Kiern had only heard rumors of the brother being cast off-world.
“I am Dextan Vhar. I go by Dexter on Earth. My brother is a heartless war monger. And he's a jackass.”
“You are President Vhar's brother?” Kiern was still thrown off balance by this information. In all his imagination he had not expected this twist of fate, and was having trouble coming to grips with it.
“President? That bastard is President now?” Dexter laughed. “You really are all lost. Idiots. And I thought Earth was stupid.”
“Hey,” Shane objected, but the protest was half-hearted.
“He's not going to kill any of you,” Dexter informed them brusquely and with some impatience. “He can't. Sayans are forbidden from killing other beings by their own hand. It is part of our religion. That is why they have created bio-weapons to do their dirty work.”
“But in the end these creatures wouldn't all be dead,” said Walter. “Some would remain alive after the fighting. How would they remove the last of them without guns, without killing them?”
“The new gene sequence of the mutations requires X02,” Dexter explained. “It's an invisible odorless chemical compound released into the air. It does not affect humans, but the mutations need it to live. When the time is right, the Sayans stop pumping the X02 into the air on Earth. The mutations die off. That is the purpose of those devices – what you call probes, like the one you disabled. Right now they are pumping X02 into the oxygen to keep the mutations alive.”
“Brilliant,” Walter whispered to himself.
“Weird science,” said Shane.
“So you see,” Dexter continued, “he won't kill any of you. If you keep destroying the buildings and infrastructure, he can't stop you. He can only throw more and more mutations your way. But you've proven quite adept at handling those, so far.”
Bohai whistled through his teeth. “That's a strange form of invasion, man. And the spiders? An accident?”
Kiern remained silent, still stunned by the news that the brother to Neptune 2's President was living here on Earth 1.
“Every planet has its aberrations,” Dexter said. “I'm sure they did not expect certain species of arachnids to increase in size, but again, they have the mutations to do their fighting for them.”
Finally Kiern spoke again. “Does your brother know you're here, Dextan?”
“No idea, and he can go to hell.”
“I should inform him right away,” Kiern said.
“I've created a surprise for you, Kiern. I started working on it the minute I saw your invasion, the moment I saw the green fog come down.”
“What do you mean?”
“I've created a concoction, a mixture of elements for release into the air. It's the perfect weapon.”
“What are you talking about?”
“My own toxic formula to screw with you,” Dexter spat the words and relished every syllable. “I released it in the air this morning. It's brilliant, really. I was actually able to compose it from the primitive chemicals here on Earth. I am a genius.”
“What did you do?” Kiern's face fell dark.
“I developed a compound that removes the X02 from the air, it nullifies it. I released it this morning,” Dexter grinned. He enjoyed gloating. “By tomorrow or the next day, all your mutations within a hundred miles will be dead. Over the next few months, I can cover the planet.”
“You are a traitor,” Kiern said.
Dexter put his hands out and smiled again, “As advertised.”
“Help us now,” Kiern pleaded. “I can bring you back home, reunite you with your brother, your family. I'll get you reinstated, I promise.”
“I thought you said I am a traitor.”
“Help us now, help your own people. We need this planet! Our people are dying on that cruel moon. I'll get your record wiped clean.”
“You will?”
“I promise. Your life back, your home back.”
I miss my home. I miss it so much!
“What do you want from me?” Dexter asked.
“First, stop spraying the air with your twisted concoction. Let the X02 do its job.”
“And second?”
“Kill these people,” Kiern said, his voice regaining strength and confidence. “Kill all the remaining Earthians on this planet. You can do it, you're not a true Sayan anymore. Do it and I will bring you back.”
Dexter inventoried the seven people staring back at him. He certainly had no love for Walter, or Shane for that matter. He pulled out a pistol from his vest. It was a semi-automatic Walther P99. “How can I trust you, Commander Kiern?”
“We are Sayan. We do not lie.”
Dexter raised his gun and aimed it at Walter.
“Don't do this,” Walter pleaded.
“I need to kill all of them?”
“Absolutely. Kill all the Earthians,” Kiern ordered. “Even your companion back there.” He pointed to Mitch.
“What about the half-breeds, Sam and his brother?”
“Them, too.”
“Really? One of them has the spark.”
“Get rid of them all,” Kiern demanded. He could smell victory around the corner.
Dexter smiled and pointed his gun at Sam, Shane, and then Walter again. His grin took on an odd appearance, and at that moment he looked like a madman at a shooting gallery.
“Don't,” Sam said in a whisper.
The others stood helpless and silent. No one had a clue what to say. They stood like deer caught in the headlights.
All of a sudden, Dexter shifted his aim to Kiern and fired the gun. Three shots in rapid succession to the man's stomach, and the alien commander fell to his knees.
Kiern looked up at Dexter and hissed, “You will die alone on this forsaken planet.”
“I never doubted that. I've been dying here every day,” Dexter said poetically. He put his last bullet in the commander's head.
Kiern fell over dead. His body slumped onto the street, blood oozing onto the pavement. Seeing this, the lone alien soldier turned and quickly climbed the ladder back into the belly of his ship.
“Sayans die the same way Earthlings do,” Dexter muttered, looking down at the dead body. He looked up at Walter and added, “Just so you know. We're all human.”
He turned to the others, and they flinched. He realized he still had the gun in his hand, and put it back in his vest. “Calm down. I'm not going to shoot you.”
“Thanks, man,” Shane said. “Seriously.”
“Thanks,” Bohai echoed. “And not just for helping us, but for not shooting us. That's solid, man.”
Dexter ignored them and walked directly up to Walter. “I want my box back.”
“The box?” Walter sounded confused. “Why? Those formulas are worthless to you, aren't they? You never really had any interest in the projects we worked on. Now that I know who you are... I don't know why you would want them.”
“I don't care about your
primitive work, idiot.” Dexter had not lost any of his charm. He took a deep breath. “I need the box itself. It's a communication device. I need it to contact someone. It's not your concern.”
“Why would you hide something like that in a box of chemical formulas?”
“It's not in the box, it is the box. Hidden in plain sight. I never thought it would be out of my reach.”
Walter remembered kicking Dexter off the team and sending him away. The man's behavior made sense now, and Walter regretted some of his own actions, some of his sharp words. Their past had been fragmented by multiple petty slights.
“It's fine,” said Walter. “I'll take you to it.”
“Wait, who are you gonna call?” George asked. “Are we sure he's not using it to call down reinforcements?”
Dexter sighed impatiently. “In case you haven't noticed, reinforcements are already here.” He gestured toward the three spacecraft. “It's nothing to do with you. It's something for me.”
“It's okay. I believe him,” Walter said. He believed the man's hatred for his own people, for the invasion. Walter had learned to recognize stale hatred over the years.
“I do, too,” Sam agreed, not sure why, but fairly certain that Dexter would not betray them. The Sayan was a traitor, but not to them.
Dexter regarded Sam a moment, said, “You're not a Sayan, son. Don't ever let them convince you of that. You're whatever you want to be. You're an Earthling, if that's who you are.” He tapped Sam's chest. “Listen to no one.”
“Thanks,” Sam said. He didn't know what else to say. It was an odd piece of advice.
Listen to no one.
Through weary bloodshot eyes, Sam and the others looked out over the land. The three alien ships remained, but all the reptiles in sight were now dead. Apparently those in hiding would be dead by tomorrow, without the X02 in the air. That is, if Dexter spoke the truth.
The city wasn't in ruins, but it had seen better days. Its downtown corner was a flaming, broken mess. Rubble and debris covered half the downtown streets. A fire burned on the top floors of the US Steel Tower, eating the desks and other wood pieces like a ravenous devil. Fractions of the top floor's contents – bricks, furniture, pipes – sporadically continued to plummet to the ground below. A shelf unit severed the torso of a dead lizard, and a burning wall soon covered it up. Patterned steel bars poked upward from concrete slabs, one with the head of a hapless lizard impaled on its end, like a macabre scene from the gates of Transylvania.
Overhead, the sky darkened with more storm clouds, thunder rolled faintly, but still no rain fell. The scene was haunting and surreal, an image not soon forgotten by those unfortunate enough to witness it.
The stink of dead bodies intensified. Rain would be welcomed to wash the blood off the streets.
“What about them?” Sam asked, pointing to the other ships.
“They will not do anything today,” Dexter said. “Not yet. They have no guns with which to fight you. I told you: guns are illegal in our religion. The mutants are their only weapons.”
“No death rays or laser beams?” Shane sighed. “I'm almost disappointed.”
“They still control most of the planet,” Dexter reminded them. “We shall have to do something about that soon enough. But not today. I want my communication box first.”
Walter consented to let Dexter come to the lab and take his box. With a fresh perspective on his old colleague, he shed some of his bad feelings toward the man. Wonder and a little admiration took the place of bitter rivalry, for today, anyway. His former adversary and friend was an alien; it's hard to top that.
Sam and Shane, the sons of a Neptune agent, carried a great deal on their shoulders, as they began the journey back home. A lot of new information had been thrust upon them in a very short time. That's a strain only the strongest minds can bear. In the coming days, both of them would have to struggle not to break under the weight.
Walter, Dexter and Sam's group of Peak Lodge survivors drove away and left the broken city behind. The jeep and pickup followed the tanks, while the alien ships remained silent and still, poised like sentinels watching the Earth – watching the Earthlings.
It feels so creepy to be among them, to be watched by them, Sam thought.
That view was shared by everyone.
Chapter 37
The combined parties drove back to Walter's house. There was an uneasy tension between Mitch and the others, especially with Camila, who glared at the man constantly. She wanted to stab him, but managed to suppress the urge for the time being. They took separate vehicles and didn't interact with each other.
Again the tanks took up the front and rear for protection, with the jeep and pickup in the middle. The return trip to Walter's house was quiet and without incident. Nothing appeared on the empty roads for miles – not until they passed a fourth ship. It was parked in a field, just sitting there with landing gear fixing it to the ground, lights spinning along the hull and wings. Further on, they spotted a fifth ship perched on a hill, distant.
These ships dotting the land, like crows on a power line, watching our every move. Calculating.
The presence of the ships unsettled Sam and his friends, but they passed on without engaging them.
At Walter's house, Dexter had a few more words for Sam and Shane. While he never knew their father, he felt he knew something about the two sons. Like them, he was an outcast. He could empathize with Sam in particular.
“Don't think too much about this,” he told them. “Maybe you're Sayan, maybe you're Earthian. Or something in between. It doesn't matter a whole lot, does it?”
“Can I ask you something?” Sam asked. “Do you think the Sayans killed my parents? It was a car accident, but... do you think it wasn't really an accident?” He sounded like he had already made up his mind.
Dexter furrowed his brow and thought for a moment. He wasn't thinking about the answer, but how to phrase it. “It is possible, if he had been voicing opposition to an invasion. Possible.”
“So you think so?”
“I don't know, young man. I lack the information needed to form a conclusion.”
“Thanks... for your honesty.”
“I did not know your father, but it seems he found a bit of solace on this planet that I could never find. Good for him.”
He squeezed Sam's shoulder, pointed his finger in a form of wave toward Shane, then walked away.
They split into two parties at Walter's house. Walter, Dexter and Mitch stayed at Walter's place, while the tanks and jeep headed back for the Peak Castle Lodge. They hoped Jason, Tina and the others were still alright, and wondered if the war had reached their walls.
Sam's party entered the lodge near nightfall, and were relieved to see a calm quality shrouding the hotel and grounds. The fort stood strong and untouched. The Peak had seen no fighting today.
As ever, Jason sat in the watchtower with his gun and scope. His hair was short now. Later they would find out Lucy had cut it.
Sam hugged Tina and Mark, then touched Lily's cheek. He was glad to see them all. All of them slapped hands with Jason, and then found Lucy cooking and sober in the kitchen; Tina had kept the wine bottles well hidden.
Quietly Sam slipped the Magic game card out of his back pocket and handed it back to Mark. It was creased and damaged now, but Mark just smiled and took it back. They exchanged a moment that needed no words, warrior to warrior.
The group enjoyed a reunion dinner around tables pushed together in the hotel reception hall, and exchanged stories about the last few days. There had been no decisive victory this day, but the dinner felt like a victory celebration. Information can do much to ease one's mind, and now they had more information about the state of affairs on their planet, the cause and reason for the changes that had brought them together.
Later during Shane's turn in the watchtower, Sam accompanied him to talk in private. They had a lot to talk about.
“So,” said Sam. “We're half aliens.”
“Dad was an alien, but we are simple Earth boys,” Shane said firmly. “Same as everyone else.”
“Except I'm not the same. I'm different.”
“You're one of us, Sammy. You're different, but the same. Maybe a little bit special. And definitely a little weird.”
“Thanks. You're just as weird, you just haven't found your chi yet.”
The older brother beamed. “Yeah, maybe. Time will tell. Someday I'll wake up with psychic powers, like an X-Man.”
Sam rubbed one of the bruises on his left arm. “Do you think Mom knew? She had to have known, right?”
“I doubt it. She never let on. And there was no reason for Dad to tell her. I doubt he ever intended to go back to his home... planet. That sounds funny to say: home planet.”
“To me, they seemed in love. Maybe she wouldn't have cared where he was from.”
“We always hid your lightning, Sammy. Dad didn't even know about your abilities, or else he might have clued us in.”
“I think you're right.” Sam smiled and sighed. “They were good parents. Dad was a good father. A lousy double agent, but a good father.”
“He couldn't come up with a better last name than Summer?”
“I guess not,” Sam laughed, thinking about his dad's process for creating a last name. He found some amusement in that.
Bohai and Jason climbed the steps and joined them.
“So, I heard,” Jason said. “You guys are like Martians and whatnot. That is so righteous. Can you plow Martian girls, now? I mean, it all works the same, right?”
“Screw you,” Sam smirked again. “I'd rather be an alien than a weed. You're all weeds, you know. Didn't you hear?”
“Yeah, yeah, we're all weeds in some cosmic Garden of Eden.” Jason flipped a middle finger at the sky.
“What's with the hair?” Sam asked, running his hand over the top of Jason's head. “Your trademark seventies flashback look is gone. You look all modern and stuff. Normal-like.”
“Long hair makes it real hard to aim and shoot,” Jason explained, pushing Sam's hand away. “Survival and fashion don't mix. I needed a change.”