Erika wiped the tears she’d cried in her dream off her cheeks and slipped from her bed. She quietly padded down the hall, out the door and out into the frigid night to resume her watch for Tex.
She flitted into and out of sleep. The sunbaked ground beneath her was hard and caused whatever part of her body she laid on to go numb. She’d shift onto her side and drowse until the numbness woke her and she’d start the process over again. A few times she ended up on her back and burning pain woke her. The sky to the east had just begun to show baby blue and light pink. She decided to give up on sleep.
She kept her lower half in the sleeping bag and pulled her knees to her chest making the rest of the bag look like a snake-like appendage. A woven-wool blanket was wrapped around her shoulders and her jacket hood was draped over her head. From a distance she likely looked like a pile of discarded clothing.
It was nearly full light when Ian came out with a thermos full of hot, black coffee and a napkin containing a pancake wrapped around a link sausage. She was so hungry her stomach felt like it was doubling back on itself but her vegetarian tendencies caused her nose to wrinkle up at the thought of eating sausage.
“Hey, beggars can’t be choosers.” Ian shoved the bundle of carbs and meat toward her. “It’s turkey sausage so it’s healthy.”
She took the bundle as he smirked at her. “I think you enjoy my misery a bit too much.” She plucked the sausage out of the pancake, wrapped it in the napkin and devoured the pancake in three bites.
“Torturing you keeps me entertained.” He winked at her and rubbed his arms to keep warm. “How’s the back?”
“It aches a bit but it’s not the worst pain I’ve ever had. When Freeman crushed my hand? Now that hurt.”
“Jesus, I’d forgotten about that. It seems like a hundred years ago.” Ian took a drink of coffee from the thermos he’d brought. “Any sign of Tex?”
Erika had a mouth full of dry pancake. “Do you see him?” She gestured toward the expanse of empty desert beneath the radio telescope where Tex had disappeared.
It had been about twenty-four hours since Tex had vanished into thin air before the eyes of dozens of onlookers. Dr. Lewis had told her that even if he slowed his metabolism, he likely had no more than eighteen hours of breathable air, maybe twenty.
But Erika did not give up on people easily and she knew Tex better than any of them did. Dr. Lewis had also said that the planet to which he went might have breathable air. She pinned her hope on that thought.
Ian stretched and yawned. “How long do you plan to stay out here?”
Erika wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and washed down the less-than-mediocre food with a swig of warm coffee. “As long as it takes.”
Ian laid an icy hand on her thigh. “Erika, at some point you’re going to have to accept the truth. He’s gone, chica.”
It wasn’t like Erika hadn’t thought the thought. Of course she had. She’d heard Dr. Lewis. She knew the facts. Maybe it was because she’d already lost so much, she wasn’t willing to lose any more. Or maybe it was the feeling deep in her gut that he was still alive out there, somewhere. Or maybe I’m just too damned stubborn to admit defeat.
Erika wriggled her legs out of the sleeping bag. They’d gotten too warm in the morning sun. “I know you’re probably right. But I’m not ready yet to let him go.”
Ian wrapped an arm around her shoulder and kissed the top of her head. He pushed her away and held his nose. “Dang, girl, you need to at least take a break from your vigil long enough to shower.”
He dropped another napkin-wrapped package on her sleeping bag pile before he left her sitting on the sandy ground. She opened the package and found a half-dozen fresh baked peanut butter cookies.
“Now we’re talking.” She downed half of the cookies by the time Ian’s form disappeared around the corner of the operations building.
Her eyes had closed and she was just beginning to doze off when the ground beneath her rumbled. Oh no, not again. She trembled at the thought of another orb appearing with another alien hunter trying to eat her.
In an instant she was fully alert. She threw off the blanket wrap, was on her feet with the Taser in one hand and a pistol in the other. Erika bristled at how quickly a little earth tremor had made her paranoid mind jump to the conclusion that she needed to defend herself.
There was no ball of electrical current this time. Dust swirled in a mini cyclone under the radio telescope. At first it was no larger than a dog but continued to grow until it blew so hard that she had to cover her eyes with her arm to keep out the dust and tiny rocks and debris.
As suddenly as the mini twister began, it stopped. The dust settled and the rumbling earth was still, the air silent once again.
Tex lay on the ground. His space suit was so caked in sandy dirt that he blended into the desert soil. Only his wavy white-gold hair revealed him.
Erika shoved the Taser into her jacket pocket and the pistol into her waistband. She ran as quickly as her sore and tired legs would allow. She truly had not entertained the idea that he was dead before now. But he lay motionless and her heart raced with fear as her eyes filled with tears.
She pulled the two-way radio from a clip at her belt and radioed Dr. Lewis. She screamed into the com. “Hurry. Get medics out here. He’s back!”
There was squawking on the other end but she ignored it. She could never understand what they were saying anyway.
He was face down and she rolled him toward her. Dr. Lewis had been so adamant with him that he not remove his helmet but it was gone. Whether he’d ditched it while on the distant planet or lost it in transit, Erika could not say. Tex’s face was in its more human form and covered in pale orangey-pink dust. There were tear streaks on his smooth cheeks.
He didn’t make a sound when she moved him. Her fingers shook as she tried to find a pulse point to check for a beat. She reached inside the tight collar of his suit and bent to listen for a breath as she felt for a pulse. At first she felt neither breath nor pulse. She trembled all over. Finally she felt a faint beat beneath her fingers.
Erika collapsed over him. Tears of joy and exhaustion traced lines down her dusty cheeks. Tex was alive.
40
TEX
Tex awoke in his quarters with an IV in his arm. Plastic tubing snaked up to a bag full of clear liquid taped with duct tape to the wall behind the headboard of his bed. There were plastic tubes in his nose connected to a portable oxygen tank. He blinked his eyes a few times to clear his bleary vision. He jerked the oxygen tubes from his nose and yanked off the tape holding the IV needle. He took a deep breath, bracing for the pain and pulled the tiny IV needle from his vein. There was only a small trickle of purply red blood.
It was dark outside and the only light came from the hall lights that spilled in from under the door to his room. The digital clock said 2:30. He had no idea if he had been back on Earth for a few hours or weeks, but what he had to tell Dr. Lewis could not wait.
Tex rifled through his duffle bag at the end of his bed. He found a clean T-shirt and pulled it over his head as he slipped on a pair of shoes. He didn’t bother to tie the sneakers.
He passed Erika’s room and stopped briefly outside the door. He considered letting himself in and curling up next to her. The dream they had shared during his sweat had carried him through his journey to Elosia and back. He wondered if she was as soft and yielding in reality as she had been in his imagination.
His hand was on the knob but he did not turn it. He pulled his hand back and continued on to Dr. Lewis’ room.
He knew that humans valued their privacy and were modest about being seen in various states of undress. He hoped that Dr. Lewis would not be too aghast at the interruption of her sleep but he was ready for the reprobation.
Tex flung open the door to her room, flipped the light switch and was at her bedside before her eyes were fully open. He stood beside her bed as still as a stone and waited for her to sit up and wake fully.
/>
She blinked and squinted at him while she yawned. Tex handed her the glasses sitting on the stand beside the bed. Dr. Lewis clumsily put the glasses on and blinked again then smiled.
“My, don’t you look a hundred times better. I’m glad you’re feeling well but kind of wish you’d waited until morning to –”
“The gods have spoken and I must tell you what they said.”
Dr. Lewis’ smile faded. She pushed herself up in the bed. “I’m going to need coffee for this.”
____________________
Tex and Dr. Lewis sat in the small, musty break room. Dr. Lewis clutched a hot cup of coffee in her hands while Tex mustered the patience to wait for her to wake up fully.
Dr. Lewis had wanted to gather all of the scientists and even General Hays for Tex’s briefing on his experience on Elosia. Tex had probed her mind and knew that Dr. Lewis wanted to believe that he had actually visited another planet. But she was having a hard time wrapping her head around the possibility even though she had seen him vanish into thin air and reappear on the same sandy soil days later. If Dr. Lewis only half believes me, the general and his men are unlikely to give it any credence at all.
He had no proof that it had happened. His helmet cam had recorded hours of video. But the helmet lay now like just another bit of detritus on Elosia, a relic waiting to be found by some future explorer. Or burnt to a crisp when the sun finally eats the planet.
Tex implored Dr. Lewis to forego gathering a crowd to hear what he had to say. She said he had been out for nearly twenty-four hours but he was still weak. He did not have the energy to contend with questions from a dozen people. He again considered waking Erika. She would want to hear about his experience. But he needed to be frank with Dr. Lewis and what he had to say, he didn’t want Erika to hear.
Dr. Lewis was still dressed in her pajamas, her feet in fluffy slippers to ward off the chill that permeated the barracks. She held the coffee like it was life-giving nectar from the heavens.
Tex told her everything in as much detail as he could from the first sight of the alien world to the eerie walk through the abandoned underground city. Her eyes never left his. She asked a few questions but mainly listened intently.
But after nearly an hour of Tex speaking in great detail about his journey over the deserted planet and through the empty city, Dr. Lewis became impatient. “Tex, are you telling me that there was no one? That you did not learn how to close the Mocht Bogha?”
“Oh no. I know how to close it.”
“Cut to the chase. You don’t need to tell me about every grain of sand or mote of dust you saw.”
“But I thought you would enjoy the details, Dr. Lewis. To share the experience even if vicariously.”
She chuckled and sipped her coffee. “Well yes, ordinarily I would want you to regale me with every second. But we’re running out of time, friend. In the brief time you were away, the M’Uktah have killed thousands in Paris. But with the help of NATO forces including a good deal of our own troops, several of them have been taken out too. Our generals fear that our resistance will only hasten the arrival of even more ships through that portal. We’ve got to get that gate closed. Now.”
“I see.” Tex quickly pushed his story ahead to his meeting and conversation with Cynothian. Dr. Lewis appeared to barely breath as he told her of the truth of human origins as well as their relationship to the M’Uktah.
She didn’t seem as shocked as he assumed she would be. She said only, “We’re related to them?”
Tex nodded. “But the good news is that I can close the gate. I will need some help from you – and the machines here. But I can do it.”
The look of awe mixed with fatigue vanished from Dr. Lewis’ face and was replaced with joy. “You can? What do you need me to do?”
“It’s quite simple really. In hindsight if seems like I should have figured it out on my own.” Tex shook his head. “Anyway, all I need from you is to simply align this array to the exact coordinates in the Kuiper belt where the Mocht Bogha appears.”
The smile on Dr. Lewis’ face was gone. She threw up her hands. “Oh, is that all?” Her voice was laden with sarcasm.
It truly had seemed like a simple thing to Tex. “Yes. Is that going to be difficult?”
She put her head in her hands and rubbed at her temples. “Dammit, it shouldn’t be. But the general cut us off from the controls. He wasn’t happy, you see, that I had gone behind his back to orchestrate your travel arrangements to another planet. So I have no ability to align these dishes nor does Dr. Fisher. Our hands are tied.”
Tex rose from the table and stretched his arms over his head. “You concentrate on the science and leave the general to me.”
“Yes, you should got to him. I got so wrapped up in your story that I forgot to tell you that General Hays wanted to see you as soon as you regained consciousness. He hopes you can communicate with the creature they captured.”
This was a new and surprising detail that Tex had not known.
“One of the M’Uktah is here?”
She sipped her coffee and nodded. “But little good it does us. We have no ability to communicate with him. And he has tried to speak but our best linguists have no clue what he’s saying. Hays wants you to take a crack as speaking with it.”
Tex let out a wry laugh. “The general had no use for me before. Now he thinks I have some ability to speak in the language of an alien?”
“Actually, it was your friend Erika’s idea. She suggested to Hays that you might be able to communicate with the alien telepathically.”
Clever Erika. And perhaps she was right. He had been able to communicate with the Conexus and the Elosians. Maybe he could “speak” with this captured M’Uktah telepathically.
He refocused on aligning the array to the Mocht Bogha. “How much time will you need to get the telescopes aligned?”
Dr. Lewis rubbed her temples more. “Observations. Calculations. Confirmation. Two days, maybe three.”
Tex put a hand on her shoulder. “Tomorrow. At dawn.”
Dr. Lewis checked her watch. “But that’s little more than twenty-four hours. How–”
Tex did not hear the rest of what she had to say. He was already gone.
____________________
Tex stood by Dr. Randall’s bedside just as he had stood by Dr. Lewis’ bed. The old man’s mouth was open and a loud buzzing sound emanated from it.
Being above ground seemed to agree with the old man. When he had seen Dr. Randall at the school just a few weeks ago before he and Erika escaped, Tex had figured the old guy for dead within days. But even asleep, Dr. Randall looked more alive than he had in years. He was glad of it. His feeling about Dr. Randall had been confused. He had left the world of the Conexus bitter and angry with his creator. But as he stood there looking down on him, Tex was happy to know that Dr. Randall was still in the world.
Tex considered standing there until the old man woke naturally. Many people seemed to have a way of knowing, even in their sleep, when they’re being stared at. He wondered if the doctor could sense it.
After waiting a few more minutes Tex decided he did not have the time for the experiment. He whispered his name. “Dr. Randall?”
The old guy let out a loud snore.
Tex shook his shoulder and said his name again only more loudly this time. “Dr. Randall.”
Dr. Randall snorted out a loud snore and his eyes snapped open. He searched with half closed eyes and they finally rested on Tex. A quick smile lit up his face. “Tex my boy.” He sat up and coughed. “Oh, I’m sorry. Old habit. I know you don’t like me to call you that.” His eyes were downcast, his lips curled into a frown.
“It’s okay. Don’t worry about it.” Tex stepped back from the bed giving Dr. Randall room to swing his legs over the side. “I have a task for you.”
“Anything you need. What can I do for you?”
Tex hesitated briefly unsure exactly how to put it. Dr. Randall reached for his glasses f
rom the bedside table, put them on and looked up at Tex expectantly through thick glass.
“I want you to contact mother. The gate must be closed and I need my sister’s help to do it.”
Dr. Randall’s shoulders sagged and what little color was in his cheeks drained from them. He wiped his eyes behind his glasses. “I do not think I am the best person to talk to her. Though I helped her with the gene therapy, the last time we saw each other she put me in house arrest.”
Tex did not know the full story of their history together. Tex had wondered from time to time if they had been lovers. Or maybe they were merely colleagues that had had a falling out. He did not know but at this point it was irrelevant. Tex needed Alecto and if Dr. Randall could not get through to Sturgis’ paranoid mind and get her to command Alecto to assist, then no one could.
“You’re the only one that can do this. I need you to do this.”
Dr. Randall smiled wanly. “You know I cannot refuse you. I never could.”
Tex smiled back because he knew it was true.
He left the doctor to take care of his morning routine and work on getting Commander Sturgis to bring Alecto into the heart of a military operation. The thought of working with Alecto brought a mixture of anxious stomach roiling and heart pounding thrill. She had, after all, twice done her best to kill him. But she was also the only other person on the planet that was of his same species. Regret brought tears to his eyes but he blinked them away. If things had been different, maybe they could have been like real brother and sister. Perhaps they even could have learned from each other and become friends. But he had no time for might have beens. He only hoped now that she would agree to lend the assistance he so desperately needed from her.
Tex sped by Ian’s room and Erika’s without stopping to speak to either of them though he very much wanted to. He could withhold the truth of what he had to do from Dr. Lewis and even Dr. Randall. He probably could get through a conversation with Ian and not tip his hand though he wasn’t willing to risk it.
H.A.L.F.: ORIGINS Page 31