Battle of Earth

by Chloe Garner

*********

  They jumped to the warehouse.

  Troy looked around, feeling alert and alarmed, but nothing moved.

  “My orders were to stay outside,” he said wryly, and Cassie shrugged.

  “Whoops,” she answered. “Come over here.”

  He followed her over to the body on the ground. He only barely recognized it as the same foreign terrestrial who had been in Secretary Young’s office.

  “I assume because no one is shooting at us, no one is here?” he asked. She closed her eyes for a minute, just breathing, and he looked down at the foreign terrestrial on the floor again. There wasn’t much blood, purple, and Troy didn’t have anything to go off of, for body posture, but he did see three holes in the Wob-wob’s head. They suggested a fast death, but Troy had a suspicion that the foreign terrestrial had died badly.

  “There are still six guards downstairs, going through the rooms to see what else is there, and a technician working on the generator that you took down,” she said. “Violet really did a job on it.”

  He frowned.

  “How do you do that?”

  She smiled.

  “Practice. So. You’ve got a decision coming at you. There are a lot of secrets in this building, and in any other major property that the Lumps owned or controlled while they were here. Point-to-point theory, anti-matter weapons, security and imaging and a lot of other things. Your friends are going to be here in about four minutes, and this building is full to the brim with things that we’ve always said were at the core of our secrets.”

  He waited. She looked over at the control room.

  “Even ignoring the foreign terrestrial body in the middle of everything you need to decide if you’re going to stick with the old paradigm and try to keep all of this away from everyone, or if you’re going to let the program and maybe some of the people around the program start figuring out what’s going on.”

  “The law is clear,” Troy said, and she nodded.

  “It’s better for Earth, really, if everyone stays in the dark,” she said. “But you’re going to have to keep hiding and distracting and pretending. You know things you shouldn’t legally know.”

  He nodded.

  “I see.”

  She nodded back, stooping down to touch the foreign terrestrial.

  “It would be easier for you if all of it came out.”

  He let that sink in.

  “What are you going to do about Violet?”

  She looked up at him, face calm.

  “I’m going to offer a trade,” she said. “Citizenship or asylum in exchange for my help engaging them.”

  “That’s not a trade,” Troy said. She shook her head, looking at the Wob-wob again.

  “No. I’ll also pledge to be here to help defend the earth against foreign terrestrial invasion. I won’t ever permanently leave.”

  “Jesse might,” Troy said. He didn’t know why he said it, but it seemed right. She nodded.

  “He might, you’re right. But I won’t. No matter what.”

  “In exchange for a few foreign terrestrials getting to stay?” Troy asked. “Palta live… a really long time.”

  She nodded, standing.

  “It will leave me with capital to spend, in the future. You shouldn’t say anything to anyone, especially not Jesse, but I don’t think I would have ever left. Not for good.”

  “It’s a long time to commit to that,” Troy said.

  She drew a slow breath and nodded.

  “I haven’t heard an answer from you,” she said. “Do you want me to hide it all or not?”

  “How would you hide it?” he asked. She pressed her lips in a tired smile.

  “Not your problem.”

  He thought about it, then nodded.

  “Hide it,” he said. “We play by the rules.”

  She nodded.

  “Make sure I talk to Greene before you do,” she said. “I don’t want you getting in trouble for something I did. I’ll fix it.”

  “It’s a lot,” Troy said. “Just for you.”

  “You’ve done the same, the last few weeks,” she said. “Don’t worry about me. Go take care of your guests.”

  He frowned, but went out through the office, making it to the parking lot before the first of the black sedans toting men in black suits arrived. It took about ten minutes more for them to get organized, and Troy gave them Cassie’s estimate about the number of people who were in there, then he stayed outside, as instructed, as they stormed the building.

  They came back out about twenty minutes later with six men in handcuffs.

  “Wouldn’t believe the story these guys are telling us,” one of the agents said.

  Troy nodded.

  “I bet I’ve heard stranger,” he said with a smile and the agent nodded.

  “No sign of how they managed to get away with your friend. We didn’t find any weapons. How’d you find this place?”

  “Tip,” Troy said.

  “Well, whatever they were planning, I’m glad you found them. We’re going to have to take the Lieutenant in for questioning.”

  Troy shook his head.

  “OSI will handle it, back in Kansas,” he said. “You’re welcome to file an interview request, but she’s our responsibility.”

  “What about the other one?” the agent asked. “There were two of them on the arrest.”

  “He left,” Troy said. “Known foreign terrestrial. Only tangentially under any of our jurisdictions.”

  The agent frowned.

  “My boss isn’t going to like that.”

  “Tell him to take it up with my boss,” Troy said.

  “Strange one,” the agent said, watching as they finished loading the last of the men into cars. “Very strange. Warrant was for her, last night, and then this morning she was the victim, and no one could tell me how it changed.”

  Bridgette.

  It was the only thing Troy could think of. She’d managed to convince someone that they were looking at it wrong.

  His phone rang and he held up a finger for the agent, who gave him a wave and turned away.

  “Ma’am,” he answered.

  “They tell me it’s all over,” she said.

  “There’s a lot of cleanup to do, certainly,” Troy said. “I told them that they couldn’t take Cassie for questioning.”

  “Good luck holding onto her,” Senator Greene said. “Usually the guy with the witness is the one who wins, but those fights are epic.”

  Troy nodded, smiling. It was permission.

  “I’m just glad they weren’t trying to arrest her anymore,” he said.

  “Thank Malcolm and Bridgette for that one,” she answered. “I was in session until after one in the morning.”

  Troy checked the clock on his phone and shook his head.

  “You keep worse hours than I do,” he answered.

  “I often think I’m getting too old for this job, but you’ve managed to keep it interesting, these last few weeks. We have things to discuss, including what happened to the foreign terrestrials I’m hearing weren’t in the building where you supposedly rescued Lieutenant du Charme.”

  “You should talk to her about that,” Troy said.

  “Should I, now?” she asked. “Not what I was expecting to hear from you.”

  “She asked that I not have any official conversations with you until you two have spoken,” Troy said.

  “Very well,” Senator Greene said, amused. “I’ll get you on my calendar for next week, then. We should have the first extraditions complete by then, and we can talk about next steps. We’re getting closer to a confirmation on your new general.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Troy said. “If it’s all right with you, ma’am, I’m going to go find a bunk and crash for a few hours.”

  “Yes, of course,” she said. “Good work, Major. I’m very interested in receiving all of the details that are missing from the narrative in the very near future.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” he answered, w
aiting until she hung up to put the phone away. He yawned and stretched, noticing Cassie standing against the wall.

  “Is it done?” he asked.

  “Your part is,” she said. “Do you really want to take a plane home?”

  He closed his eyes.

  Not really.

  Just… showing up in his bedroom and going to bed sounded like bliss.

  “It’s what I’ve got to do,” he answered, and she nodded.

  “All right. I’ll see you when I see you.”

  He nodded.

  “I’ll see you when I see you.”

  *********

  Jesse sat on his couch at home, holding a glass of bourbon between his fingers. Alcohol was alcohol most places in the universe, and it was different this way or that, but the high-end alcohols, once you got to a certain level of civilization, they were all worth at least trying.

  It didn’t have an intoxicating effect on him, but he could appreciate the art that went into it, and he liked to sit with one, from time to time, when he was feeling sentimental about humans for whatever reason.

  “You had no right,” Cassie said.

  “What did I do?” Jesse asked.

  “To tell me not to kill them,” Cassie said. “I was there when you killed a room full of Gana, and they’re actually endangered as a species. No one would have missed the Lumps.”

  “No one but their son,” Jesse said, not looking back. He knew that that was the only reason she might not have killed them, and she knew that he knew.

  It was all they were going to say about it.

  “Do you want a bourbon?” he asked.

  “What’s the point?” she answered, and he smiled.

  “Not just a Palta, huh?” he asked.

  She came to sit down next to him.

  “I fixed it for the foreign terrestrials who are here,” she said. “So long as we both sign off on them being non-threats, they’ll be given an opportunity to stay.”

  “And if we’re wrong?” Jesse asked.

  “Didn’t come up,” Cassie answered. He smiled.

  “What did it cost you?”

  “I’m staying here,” she said. “Permanently.”

  He looked at her sharply.

  “You can’t make that promise. Not for anyone.”

  She shook her head.

  “I mean I’m based here,” she said. “I’m allowed to leave, but this is my home planet, and I’m contract-bound to return at least three months out of the year for the rest of my life.”

  “Or what?” Jesse asked.

  “Or they can send the foreign terrestrials home.”

  “And after they all die?” Jesse asked, setting down his glass. “Cassie, you aren’t thinking like a Palta with a thousand-year lifespan. This planet is a child that is going to grow up in your lifetime.”

  She sighed.

  “I’ll stay because it’s home and because I said I would,” she said.

  He leaned back against the couch again.

  “This isn’t home, for me,” he said.

  “Your home is gone,” she answered mercilessly.

  “It may be, but that’s like your mansion falling down and you pledging to live in a tent next door for the rest of your life.”

  She shrugged.

  “So be it.”

  “You could live in Minan Gartal,” he said.

  “Not anymore,” she said playfully. “They know I shut down their power plant.”

  “Have you seen what it’s like, since you did it?” he asked.

  “Nope. Figured it wasn’t a place I should go back to until they’ve all died and forgotten me.”

  “Gana live longer than you do,” Jesse said, and she shrugged again.

  “Seems to settle it.”

  “The universe is so big and so beautiful,” he said. “How could you say you’re going to stay here?”

  “It’s done, Jesse. This is my home and my refuge, and I’m willing to pay to share it with others.”

  He leaned forward to get his bourbon again and sipped it, feeling the burn of it in his throat and the way the scent and the flavor played off of each other.

  “Have you eaten?”

  “No.”

  They both needed to eat, but he’d been waiting for her.

  Shouldn’t have.

  It didn’t make sense.

  But he had.

  “Do you want to order delivery?” he asked.

  “What do you want?” she replied.

  “Chinese.”

  She laughed.

  “Sounds fine to me.”

  “What did he choose?”

  “Secret,” Cassie said. “He’s going to try to keep things how they are.”

  Jesse sighed.

  “It’s silly, the number of secrets he’s supposed to keep.”

  “It is, but it’s how we are,” Cassie said. He looked at her and she raised her eyebrows. Yes, she’d said it. We. She wasn’t just Palta.

  “No one out there is going to protect them,” Jesse said. “They made contact. There’s no assumption of innocence, out there, anymore.”

  “Didn’t ever make much difference, anyway,” Cassie said. “We’re a noisy planet that likes attention.”

  He grinned at this, getting out his phone and dialing the number for Chinese delivery by memory. It was early, but they’d be open, by now.

  “You’re a dangerous person,” he said quietly after he’d ordered and hung up again.

  “I am,” she answered. “Can you live with that?”

  “I’m the son of a diplomat,” Jesse said. “I don’t like to believe that the universe needs dangerous people, to run right.”

  “And yet, you always know how to find someone with a gun and a grudge,” she said. “You use your weapons, and I use mine.”

  He frowned, and she put her head on his shoulder.

  He didn’t think he’d touched her since she’d been possessed by the Siren. He used to hold her hand everywhere they went, to be sure she didn’t get lost, and now he wouldn’t even touch her.

  It had been easy, before. He’d been selling it.

  And it had been real.

  “I’m too old, Cassie,” he said.

  “And too damaged,” she answered.

  “You don’t know what you’re doing,” he said.

  “I killed your daughter,” she said.

  “I killed my entire species,” he countered.

  “I already got the damaged thing,” she said. “You have to top it.”

  He tipped his head back onto the couch cushion. They needed to eat, and here he sat, drinking, instead.

  “Palta relationships aren’t anything like what you’d understand.”

  “Apparently human relationships aren’t anything like what you’d understand,” she said.

  He sat up, shifting away from her as he turned to face her.

  “Cassie, you aren’t human.”

  She raised her eyebrows, sliding across the couch and crossing her legs so that her knees rested on his shin.

  “Jesse, I’m not Palta, either.”

  He shook his head.

  “Human relationships are, intense, passionate, emotional, and short. You are genetically a Palta and I don’t think either one of us think that you have anything less than an eight-hundred year lifespan coming at you.”

  She shook her head.

  “If Palta relationships are so dry and emotionless,” she jerked her head toward him, “then why is your heart racing?”

  He licked his lips.

  He didn’t do that. It was a nervous affectation he’d picked up off Troy.

  She tipped her head down toward him. Predatory.

  “You’re the one who kissed me,” she said. “And that was with a pathological megalomaniac in my head. I conclude that either you found that attractive or nothing has changed, and you’re afraid.”

  “Palta are… powerful,” he said. “Coupling is no simple, trivial event.”

  Her eyebrow
twitched and he glared. That wasn’t what he had meant.

  He scooted back into the arm of the couch, his knee still up on the couch in between them. She reached across his lap, putting a hand down to either side of his thighs, wrists putting pressure against him as she leaned forward.

  “Then tell me it isn’t what you want,” she said.

  “All we do is fight, now. Don’t you see?”

  “All I’ve ever done with anyone is fight,” she answered.

  “Where is this coming from?” he asked as she leaned further across him and he inched back at the same rate. It was a real question, an honest one, one he genuinely wanted an answer to, and yet they both saw it for exactly what it was - another wall, hastily thrown up.

  The corners of her mouth twitched inward.

  “Chase instinct,” she said.

  And then it was funny.

  He grinned, despite everything.

  Shook his head.

  Put his hands on either side of her face.

  “Explore the universe with me,” he said. “Hate me half the time, I don’t care. I’ve never had fun like I’ve had with you.”

  She grinned back.

  “There’s nothing else I’d rather do,” she said, closing the gap between them.

  What the hell.

  The End

  Thank you so much for reading Portal Jumpers III! I hope you've enjoyed the ride, and while the next Portal Jumpers adventure isn't out, yet, if you like adventures on other planets, you might like Sarah Todd. This is a western on another planet, with its own set of rules and a very Sarah Todd set of problems. Some retailers or devices may redirect you from this page to help you go find other books you already own or that you might want to buy, but if you check out the next page, I've got a useful link or two.

  About the Author

  I'm Chloe and I am the conduit between my dreaming self and the paper (well, keyboard, since we live in the future). I write paranormal, sci-fi, fantasy, and whatever else goes bump in the night, I also write mystery/thriller as Mindy Saturn. When I'm not writing I steeplechase miniature horses and participate in ice cream eating contests. Not really, but I do tend to make things up for a living.

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