H.A.L.F.: ORIGINS

by Natalie Wright

  Jack let out a loud breath. “Oh boy.”

  Anna untangled her legs and bolted off the couch. “Thomas, what did you do now?”

  “Listening. Hacking. Tracking. Same as always.”

  Anna put her fingers to her temples, closed her eyes, and let out a loud breath. “Tell me you didn’t get caught.”

  “I don’t think so. Not yet, anyway. But he’s here. They’re here.”

  “Who?” Jack asked.

  “Both,” Thomas said. “The old man and Lizzy. Their private jet landed at Sky Harbor less than an hour ago. And they’ve got men on the move.”

  “What are they doing in Arizona?” Anna asked, but she wasn’t asking it of Thomas. Her eyes were intently focused at a spot on the floor, and her brow was crinkled. That was her thinking face.

  “In these communications you intercepted, did they say what his plans are?” Jack asked.

  “You don’t expect a guy like that to write a detailed memo, do you? I know it’s his plane because of the call sign. I monitor communications for that, and I got a positive ping. And I know he’s got men moving because I traced his phone to a local Phoenix number. I hacked that phone and intercepted a text message that said, ‘All men move out. Code Alpha Henry Delta Nancy Alpha.’”

  Anna nearly screamed it. “A.H.D.N.A.” She grabbed Thomas’s arms excitedly. “They’re on their way to A.H.D.N.A.” She kissed his cheek. “Great work.”

  Thomas smiled at her. “Thanks. I was worried you’d be mad.”

  She put on a fake frown. “Well you did put yourself in harm’s way again, and that makes me unhappy.” The mock frown disappeared and was replaced with a genuinely large smile. “But you learned where Aunt Lilly, is and that’s worth the risk, I think.”

  “Wait a minute,” Jack said. “I thought he was talking about Croft?”

  Anna nodded. “Oh, he is. But why do you think Croft is in Arizona? The man hates to be anywhere but London. He barely tolerates New York. What would bring him here? And specifically A.H.D.N.A.?”

  Neither Thomas nor Jack answered.

  Anna threw up her hands. “Think, guys.” When they were still silent, she groaned as if they were being unbearably dense. “Thomas, he let you get that information. Don’t you see? He wants us to go to A.H.D.N.A. because that’s where Aunt Lilly is. It’s a trap to snag Alecto back.”

  “I don’t know why he wants her so badly. I mean, it’s clear that she’s not going to side with him. Lizzy couldn’t break her,” Jack said.

  Anna put a finger on her chin and thought for a few seconds. “Croft is the ultimate in conceited, Jack. He probably thinks it was just that Lizzy didn’t do a good job. You know, like let me show you how it’s done. He’s probably livid that your friends hijacked the antivirus. And with the alien attacks in Europe, he’s running out of time for his long-game plan. The hybrids were supposed to be his insurance policy for survival. I bet with the attacks in Europe, he’s crapping his pants. He wants Alecto by his side to protect him.”

  “And he still thinks he can control her with water,” Jack said.

  Anna’s face got even more animated. “Ha, I’m going to love seeing the look on his smug face when they hit her with water cannons and she just laughs at him.”

  “You don’t plan on going down there, do you?” Jack asked. He’d spent more time in the creepy A.H.D.N.A. cave then he needed in a lifetime.

  “Hell yeah, I’m going down there. And if Lizzy’s there too…” Anna’s small hands were balled fists at her sides, but she still wore a smile. Her right eye still wore the ugly scar slashed across it, which Lizzy had given her, the iris still milky white. “Alecto and I owe that bitch some payback.”

  22

  ERIKA

  Dr. Lewis had shown Erika and Aunt Dana to a room and Tex to a separate one in the dormitory-like sleeping quarters of the easternmost building on the grounds. Dr. Lewis then excused herself so that she could work on setting up the meeting with the military commander in charge of VLA operations as Tex had requested. Erika leaned against the doorframe of Tex’s small room while he looked out the sole window.

  Her arms were across her chest, her fingers nervously tapping her arms. He was standing so calmly that she wanted to shake him. “You’ve known about our future—about nuclear Armageddon—since when? Since we left the Conexus? And you didn’t tell me?”

  He did not turn to face her.

  “So is it that you think I’m too stupid? A mere human. Am I so unworthy of talking to?”

  His head dipped slightly but he still had his back to her.

  Erika moved a few paces into the room and stomped her foot. “Dammit, look at me.”

  Tex turned to face her, and she looked into the familiar black eyes surrounded by purplish-gray skin. His angelic features were gone once more. “What do you want me to say?”

  She sucked in a breath and let it out slowly. His alien features seemed to frighten others, but to Erika, they had always made him look smaller and more vulnerable. The edge in her voice was gone. “Why did you keep it from me?”

  He looked down at the ground. “I do not know exactly. Perhaps the time never seemed right to—”

  “Tell me we’re all going to die.”

  His eyes met hers. “I need you to know—to understand—that everything I do, all that I will do, I do it to protect you.”

  “What do you mean all that you will do?”

  Tex rubbed his temples. “I apologize, Erika. I know that you have many questions. But I am fatigued. I need to regain my strength. Please, allow me to rest. We can speak of this later.” He fell onto the bed, curled himself into a ball and was gone to her without another word.

  Erika didn’t know what to do with herself. She had been in survival mode for months. Her next move had been dictated by immediate necessity and survival. She finally had a moment to relax and think about what she would do next, and her heart was racing with the fear she’d pushed aside for weeks in order to get through the day.

  She sat on her small bed, her knees to her chest, and realized she had no idea what she should do. She could go back to Aunt Dana’s house and try to make a life there, but she was still sore at Dana. Trust had been torn, and the rip wasn’t repaired yet.

  And what if Tex still needs me? She didn’t relish the idea of sitting around with nothing to do, though, waiting to be needed. Dr. Randall was on his way. Maybe he’ll have a job for me? The thought of seeing the old man again brightened her mood.

  That evening, she and Tex sat at a small, round table in a break room filled with vending machines, a microwave, and a musty-smelling refrigerator. The military had set up a makeshift mess hall, but Tex preferred to dine on frozen dinners and avoid the stares of others. Erika couldn’t blame him. They stuck out like a sore thumb on the campus, fitting in with neither the military personnel nor the scientists.

  She attempted to draw more information out of him about what exactly he planned to do.

  “Patience,” he replied. “You’ll learn more at the meeting with all the rest,” he said.

  “All the rest? So I’m just lumped in with the military guys?” Is that what he thinks of me? I’m just like everybody else? Even as she thought it, she knew it was wrong. He had come to her in his sweat-lodge dream. He had sought her out, not anybody else.

  Tex sighed and closed his eyes. He opened them again and said, “No. That is not what I meant. It is only that once you know what I must do, you may try to talk me out of it. And I may let you.”

  He picked up his half-eaten sodium-laden dinner and threw it in the trash, leaving Erika still sitting at the table, staring after him. She scurried to throw out her trash and caught up to him as he headed out into the quad area between the buildings.

  Tex had stopped on a gravel path and was staring at a car that drove toward them, kicking up dust. Ian parked the midsize sedan beside the building that housed the dorm-like temporary living quarters. The sun was setting, and the wind sweeping across the low
desert valley was chilly.

  As soon as Ian was out the car, Erika grabbed him in a bear hug. The sight of Ian, healthy and in a significantly improved condition, made her happier than she’d been in months. He was still too thin, but she had no doubt he would eventually be back to normal.

  Ian hugged her tightly. When they separated, his eyes were filled with tears. He tucked a few stray hairs behind her ear. “Looks like you’ve managed okay without me. But dang, girl, when’s the last time you bathed?” Ian pinched his nose shut with his fingers then flashed the impish smile that Erika had missed so much it hurt.

  Erika had been too busy worrying about how they were going to prevent nuclear Armageddon to shower. She lightly punched Ian’s shoulder and returned the smile rather than blurting out the grave fears occupying all of her mental energy. They would talk about the dire situation later.

  Tex stood beside her and said nothing. Dr. Randall approached, his mouth open in awe, his eyes wide and unbelieving.

  Erika had forgotten that neither of them had been there to witness Tex’s transformation. Ian turned his attention to Tex, and his mouth also opened in astonishment, his eyes wide with wonder.

  “Tex?” Dr. Randall said. “Is that really you?”

  Tex nodded. “It is.”

  “But… how?” Dr. Randall asked. “And why?”

  “A long story, Dr. Randall, and one we do not have time for at this moment. We must hurry to the conference room in the main operations building. Dr. Lewis has gathered the military personnel and scientists we require to help us get this project off the ground.”

  While they had waited for Dr. Randall to arrive, Dr. Lewis had worked feverishly to arrange a meeting between Tex and the general that had taken command of and militarized the VLA, the officers under him, and the scientists that had worked at and been in charge of the VLA for years. Gathering the relevant military personnel and scientists for a meeting had seemed simple to Erika. They were, after all, all on the grounds.

  Apparently, doing it was not that easy, though. The military personnel were busy planning a war in the air and the sea and on land. The general groused at giving Tex and Erika even fifteen minutes of his time as he was not convinced that an option other than armed conflict existed. The scientists were also dismissive of Tex’s request, not because they had anything to plan so much as they thought it was pure fantasy, not science. The lead astronomer at the VLA, Dr. Fisher, was appalled that Dr. Lewis from NASA was going along with it. While neither side agreed with Tex, they also did not agree with each other on what should be done. The tensions on the grounds of the VLA were running high.

  Dr. Randall pulled his jaw back up from the floor. “Yes, yes, of course. Lead the way.”

  Their shoes crunched on gravel as they walked the fifty or so yards to another, larger building in the U-shaped compound. Tex opened the door, and the din of arguing voices filled the air.

  “We need to face facts,” a man said. “We’ve lost Europe already. Our men are getting mowed down. Time to nuke Europe and preserve what’s left.”

  “You can’t just nuke the continent,” Dr. Fisher said.

  “The hell we can’t,” Brigadier General Hays said. His green uniform was immaculately ironed, and his left chest was covered with colorful pins of rank and honor. “This is about preserving American lives, Dr. Fisher. I doubt you’ll be so damned principled when these M’Uktah barbarians land on American soil and start ripping people to shreds over here.” His bright blue eyes were pulled together, forcing a deep furrow between his brows. His square jaw was set, his thin lips pulled back and down into a derisive look. “We can deploy nuclear on foreign soil and end the invasion before they reach North America. Yes, Europe will be a shambles. But we’re talking about saving the rest of the world.”

  A chorus of voices rose in assent, and someone yelled, “Nuke the bastards!”

  Erika still wanted to vomit at the thought of the death she, Ian, Jack, and Tex seen around them in Apthartos. The idea that possibly billions would perish in a nuclear war made bile rise to her throat. She had not seen the invaders. The idea of them was an abstraction to her. But like most people, she had seen photos and movies about the aftermath of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. She knew what nuclear war looked like, and she wanted no part of it.

  The scientists’ voices rose in a chorus of opposition, all speaking at once. Finally, Dr. Fisher yelled for silence. “What we’re saying is you should at least try diplomacy. Work with these invaders toward a treaty, and if one cannot be reached, you should be giving humanitarian aid and sending ground troops and air support to Europe, not a nuclear bomb. If you bomb Europe, you’ll wipe out some M’Uktah, yes. But you’ll also kill millions of innocent people and destroy the environment. Bombing of the magnitude you’re talking about will affect the entire planetary ecosystem.”

  Erika moved farther into the room. “That’s right!”

  Her voice was drowned in a sea of everyone speaking at once, though. The room was soon filled with a cacophony of voices in which no one truly heard another.

  Dr. Lewis stepped forward and added her voice, high and loud to the mix. “Shut it!”

  To Erika’s surprise, they did shut it. All eyes turned to Dr. Lewis’s diminutive form.

  “There is another option. It is out of the box, but it may be a way that we can avoid the nuclear option and will lead to the least amount of bloodshed.”

  Dr. Lewis motioned Tex to step forward. All in the room stared at him, and some shifted uncomfortably in their seats. Though Tex again looked nearly human, his appearance was so otherworldly in its perfection that it made some antsy.

  Tex’s voice was low and clear. “For any of you who do not yet know, my name is Tex, and I am a human-alien hybrid.”

  The crowd murmured, and most looked at him with complete surprise, but General Hays’s stare remained fixed, even, and unflustered by what Tex said.

  “I have been to the future. Your future.” He waved his arm across the room to indicate all the people sitting, their eyes riveted to him. “I know how this ends. It is not pleasant.”

  The room was so utterly silent that Erika doubted anyone was even breathing. She realized she wasn’t and took a deep breath, silently cheering Tex on.

  Tex turned his attention to the side of the large conference room where the military officers were sitting. “If you employ your nuclear options, it will lead to the destruction of this world.”

  General Hays interrupted. “We won’t employ nuclear on American soil. In fact, the President has already made it clear that he will not deploy any nuclear capabilities in North America. We’ve run the simulations. A half-dozen strategically detonated nukes in Europe will take out those invaders and, yes, destroy some cities of Europe.” He looked around the room. “But it will not ‘destroy’ the world. The President and the joint chiefs are putting Americans first. If we survive this, we’ll be here to help rebuild Europe. If these invaders take us out too, then we’re all lost.”

  People talked amongst themselves again and ignored Tex as he tried to speak again. Erika tried her best whistle between the teeth, but no one even noticed it.

  Tex’s jaw tensed, and his hands balled into fists at his sides. Erika knew he was trying his hardest to be a more peaceful person, but they were surely trying his patience to the breaking point with their refusal to hear him out.

  The ground quaked slightly, and pens and cups on the conference tables clattered. Erika put her hand on Tex’s shoulder to lend him some calmness.

  The shaking stopped. The room had become quiet. Someone said it was a small earthquake, but Erika knew that had been the beginnings of a Texquake.

  Dr. Randall stepped forward and coughed to clear his throat. “Some of you know me—others do not. I am Dr. Randall, former head of the A.H.D.N.A. program and the H.A.L.F. project and long-time consultant to General Bardsley.” Dr. Randall looked at General Hays when he said the last bit.

  Hays’s look remained stoic.


  Dr. Randall continued. “I have worked as a military consultant on above–top secret weapons programs for over forty years. And I, too, have seen our future.”

  Though Dr. Randall more often than not appeared to be a myopic, introverted scientist with underdeveloped people skills, he had the ability to turn on a more political side of himself when he chose to. He had more of a knack for it than he admitted. All eyes were on him, rapt with attention.

  He looked at the side of the room where the scientists sat together. “We cannot negotiate a treaty with a species whose language we do not understand. It could take months, even years, to learn their language. We do not have months. Also, these M’Uktah are here not for land or mineral resources. It is not a matter of negotiating who gets the larger slice of the pie.”

  Dr. Fisher interrupted. “Then what do they want?”

  Dr. Randall was matter-of-fact. “To slay us like a herd of elk and carry our carcasses back to their planet in the refrigerated hull of their ship.”

  The scientists murmured amongst themselves. Dr. Fisher looked gobsmacked by Dr. Randall’s blunt statement.

  Dr. Randall ignored the scientists again and turned his attention back to the military chiefs. “In at least one timeline, we utilized our nuclear capability. It did not end well. You seem to be forgetting, General Hays, that the United States is not the only country with nuclear capability. We are not clear how it came about in the Conexus timeline, but we do know that for some reason, there were nuclear strikes worldwide. These strikes beat back the M’Uktah threat, but in the end, the planet was not habitable. Life—the life that led to the twisted creatures known as the Conexus—happened underground in a world destroyed by nuclear war.”

  Dr. Randall pulled himself up to his full height and straightened his glasses. “There is another alternative. It is not one that existed in the Conexus timeline.” Dr. Randall put his hand on Tex’s shoulder. “This young man did not exist in their history, and he is the key. He has a plan to shut down the galactic highway the M’Uktah used to get here, to strand the ships that are already here and prevent new ones from coming through the gate. I suggest you listen to him. I’ve seen the alternative, and I guarantee you this”—he pointed around the room—“none of you will survive it.”