Vala squinted. “Were any of them like me, the men that came? Did they ever try to trick you?” She strobed her eyes into a set of glowing amber-colored orbs, then her skin flashed into a dark red in less than a second.
“I don’t think they were like that! I’ve never seen that before. Can you do any color?”
“Of course, what would you like to see? How about baby-blue, like your dress?”
“Black.”
“Hmm, okay, sure.” Vala obliged the request. The girl clapped and flashed a full smile, revealing a set of stained, but proportionate, teeth.
Iris leaned in close to Vala. “I have a special power, too. Looks like we both have magic,” she whispered.
“Really, well maybe you can show me sometime,” Vala said.
“Maybe, but when I do, you might be afraid.”
Vala narrowed her eyes suspiciously. “Hmm, that’d be something if it could frighten us. Both Michael and I have lived with special gifts for years.” Vala gestured toward the cab.
“What’s his power?” she asked.
“Michael, well, he has a range of them. He can see in the dark, detect people’s emotions, and he’s faster than any human, just to name a few.”
“Wow! Can he tell what I’m thinking?”
“No, just your emotional state, if you’re excited or calm, things like that.”
“Do me! Please!” she asked. Michael stared at her through the rearview with no response. “We’re almost to the exit. There’s a hotel here we’ll pay—”
“Just do it once. An easy one here, am I excited or not?” Iris asked, shaking her knees back and forth.
“Um, yes, your heart rate is pretty high and your face seems to exude happiness, so yeah, safe to say that you’re excited about something.”
“Do you know why I’m so excited, though?” she asked.
“Like she said, I can’t read minds,” Michael replied.
“The reason I ask is because I feel comfortable around you two. You’re both hiding from something, just like me!” She smiled. Michael glanced away from the road for a split second.
“Well, I wouldn’t say we’re hiding from something, more like running from certain groups of people.”
“So, you have a secret to keep from them?” she asked.
“Uh, yeah that’s it. We do, sort of,” Vala replied.
“Well, I’ll tell you part of my secret if you tell me yours,” she said.
Michael glanced back at Vala. “Sure,” he said.
“You go first!” she said. Michael nodded, then pulled up his jacket sleeve. “See this metal?” he pointed to his forearm, then his head.
“Yes, yes I do.”
“It’s also from the crashed ship, too, and probably worth a lot of money. Probably the same kind of men who questioned your father want what I’m made of,” Michael said.
“Hmm. I don’t have anything like that to show. Well, not anything that looks like that.”
“But you have a secret?” Vala asked.
“Kinda.” She dipped her head, touching her headdress.
“I like your tiara.”
“Oh. Yeah. It’s not as pretty as some of the others I’ve seen, but everyone would like this one if they knew about it. It has magic powers.”
“Whoa, magic? I like magic.” Vala grinned.
“I know, everyone does these days,” Iris said.
Vala cut her eyes up at Michael.
“You’re not here to steal mine, are you?” Iris turned and stared into Vala’s eyes. “Please don’t lie. The last ones who came, they lied to me, and I was forced to hurt them.”
“Hurt? No, I’m not lying.” Vala leaned in, locking eyes with Iris.
“My dad told me they would, that’s why he made this for me.” she pointed to her tiara.
“Wow, yeah, that was awfully nice of him to do that, Iris.”
“You don’t believe me,” she said.
“Believe what, sweetheart?”
“That I have magic.” Suddenly, the front passenger seat reclined violently backward toward Vala, but she blocked it with her forearm. Vala pushed the seat forward while staring at Iris.
“What happened?” Michael spun around.
“It’s okay, Mike. So, you did that, Iris?” Vala stared at the seat.
“Sorry! That was too hard!” Iris said, squeezing her shoulder blades together.
“Ahhh. Yeah, that was kinda mean, Iris. Your tiara, it helped you do that?” she asked.
“Yup, my dad said not to let anyone have it.”
Chapter Six
Lucas paced back and forth in his briefing room, waiting for the call.
“Sir, Colonel Ritter said he’d have an answer by two, it’s nearly five,” Garza said. The boardroom hadn’t been used since they had their technology confiscated.
“Give him ten more minutes—”
The phone rang. “Yes, yes,” Lucas blurted out and sighed, glaring at Garza.
She rolled her eyes and shook her head. “About time.”
“Ritter, do you have an answer?” he asked.
“Of course, yes, sorry about the late reply. About the artifact, I’ve discussed everything with my superiors, and we’ve reviewed the footage your people sent over of this visitor hovering above your facility.” Ritter paused for a few moments.
“And?”
“We’ve decided to hand over the object to the creature and avoid any more potential confrontations. We don’t need this spilling over,” Ritter said.
“Yes!” Lucas put his hands behind his head, pumping his hands in the air.
“Great. Yeah, okay. This is a smart move, Ritter. We have no idea what we’re dealing with and—”
“We’ll be there in three hours to deliver the artifact.”
“Three hours? As in today?”
“Yes, three hours from now,” Ritter replied.
“Um. Sure, why not.”
“Ritter out.” He hung up the phone. Lucas whipped around, staring at Garza. “Finally! My God, I cannot wait to get this thing away from here.”
“Only thirty-two people failed to show up for work today, that’s ten less than yesterday.”
“We can’t get anything done with that thing floating above us. How many have sought mental treatment so far?”
“Three,” Garza replied, standing.
“We need to let everyone know they’re coming,” Lucas said, walking out into the hangar with Garza. Several workers were doing construction on the damaged walls and floors from the visitor’s arrival. They stepped around the upper deck, overlooking it all.
“Sir!” someone in a hardhat yelled from below.
“Yeah?” Lucas answered.
“Can you come outside? You need to see this,” he asked.
Lucas made his way down the steps with Garza. “What is it?” he asked. The man walked toward the left of the giant hangar doors where Lucas’ massive mechanized bipedal robots emerged to confront the creature days ago.
“This way!” the man yelled. Lucas stormed through the door, noticing dozens of people staring into the air. The creature hovered about thirty feet above the facility, staring at the workers creating an awful sound, like a train horn.
Its head shifted toward Lucas as he exited. “Ah, yes, did I just hear that the artifact is on its way?” Its voice echoed off the buildings before it dissipated.
Lucas glanced at Garza. “That’s right, it’s on the way.”
“So, you’ll be in charge of my introduction to the Keeper? Seems like a fitting name for such.”
“Keeper? I-I don’t understand.”
“Anyone that possesses the artifact puts my people at risk for slavery. All sixty trillion of us,” it said.
“That’s quite a heavy burden. We’ll soon relieve ourselves of it.”
“Colonel Ritter is delivering soon, correct?”
“You heard correctly.” Lucas cut his eyes at Garza.
“Surprised I could hear you through these wa
lls?” it asked.
“I guess I shouldn’t be, but yeah.”
“You have a large array of satellites not far from here. They detect various signals, frequencies… Do you understand what I speak of?”
“Uh, yes-yes, deep space probes, t-they’re looking for signs of life,” one of Lucas’ scientists spoke up.
“I am much the same.” The creature looked to the stars.
“Before you go, I have to ask, what are you exactly?” Lucas asked.
The creature paused, its tentacles flailing about. “You’ll likely never see me again or any of my kind, so I don’t see the trouble in telling you what I think you’re capable of understanding. In short, I’m the technological culmination of a thousand conquered intelligent species throughout the cosmos. I am built for war, to expand our former master’s galactic empire. Soldier slaves, you might say,” it said. Lucas gulped.
“Unfortunately, for our masters, the obsession with creating proficient soldiers to further their expanse was their demise. We rose against them, culling their numbers from trillions down to mere thousands, but in their escape, they constructed a modified artifact to reclaim control, the one I am here for. That device was being smuggled to their last stronghold only a few hundred light-years from here. But when the masters passed through your system, they attempted to use your planet to hide, but we destroyed them here. I ordered the assault myself, and when the fourth legion wanted to annihilate your planet just to be safe, I opposed.”
“Annihilate? Just because we might have an artifact?” Garza mumbled. Suddenly, her feet lifted from the ground. “What the—” she flapped her arms as she was lifted ten feet from the ground and suspended in place.
“Telekinesis. One of the many weapons we reverse engineered from our masters’ enemies. Yes, we were willing to destroy your entire planet simply to eliminate the possibility of slavery. Almost two million years of sending us against thousands of species, nightmarish hordes of cybernetic warriors, telekinetic warlocks, and primates thirty thousand years more advanced than yourselves. We were grown in pods, entire conquered planets reserved for our conception and birth, only to send us to war for the masters. So, yes indeed, infant primate, we were willing to destroy your simple race to eliminate any chance that the masters might recover the artifact. Some say I made the mistake of mercy, so here I am, absolving my error personally.”
Lucas glanced back at the small crowd, nearly everyone’s mouth dropped. The creature slowly lowered Garza safely to the ground. “Understand that I omitted much of my story to aid in preserving your delicate sanity.”
Lucas raised his eyebrows. “Much appreciated. Thank you. Um, we’re going to alert all the stations that Colonel Ritter is on the way to deliver the artifact to you. Basically, that means we’ll secure the area so the transfer can be made without issues.”
“Good. I will be waiting for him with the utmost enthusiasm.”
***
Lucas paced back and forth, overlooking the warehouse through his upper-level office. His subordinates seemed to be on edge. His scientists were particularly jumpy, overreacting to loud noises that were commonplace, moving warehouse pallets, scooting crates. There was an ominous presence looming above them.
“What’s the scoop down there? What are the men saying?” Lucas asked.
“Uh, some say you’re stupid for riding this out, that we need international support to deal with it. Others believe we’ll be double-crossed once the creature gets what it wants. However, I’d say the majority thinks this is the right move, as terrifying as it is,” Garza said.
“And what do you think?”
“I used to say I’m not paid to think, but in this case, I think we have to trust this thing. I mean, what’s the alternative? We fight it?” she asked.
“We don’t know its capabilities.”
“Exactly. It could have technology to wipe us all out, just for the hell of it,” she said.
Lucas grinned.
“What?” she asked.
“Not sure why, I just thought of your old boss, Belmont. Wonder what he would’ve done here?” he asked.
“Oh, my God, no. That wouldn’t have worked out well for us at all,” Garza said.
A man poked his head in the door. “Ritter’s convoy is heading in from the west, ETA thirty-two minutes.”
“Thank you. Aerial drone four,” Lucas ordered, tilting his wristwatch as it projected a holographic image of Ritter’s group rolling in. This one was smaller than the convoy that confiscated Lucas’ Star Rust: four hummers, an armored personnel carrier, and two covered flatbed transports. Lucas squinted. “Intelligence on the surrounding area? Please tell me there’s no media.”
“Nope. I’ve tripled security patrols ever since this thing showed up. We’ve got four brute drones, ten trucks roaming, and forty small aerial drones. The good thing is the creature has been cloaked almost ninety percent of the time,” Garza said.
“With all the absent staff, I figured someone might have leaked it by now.”
“We’ve shot down six drones in two days. That’s a three-hundred percent increase so it’s likely someone did.”
“That’s what I mean. See that tab on the department phone list labeled open ops?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Give them a call. They specialize in disinformation. Have them create some fake footage of the alien, have it ready to leak by this evening. We’ll stir the credibility factor,” Lucas said.
“They don’t even know me, what do I tell them? The order is under your authority?” Garza asked.
Lucas stopped in stride. “Oh, they know you, Garza. I’m not priming you for second-in-command and they not know who you are. Believe me, we’ve been a bit busy with this visitor and I haven’t had a chance to formally introduce you.”
“Okay, got it. Minus the galactic super being hovering over our compound, employment here has been a cultural shock,” she said.
“Yeah? I’d think after your service in the Marines, nothing would be.”
“I just got in the rhythm of it. After working for Belmont, they sent us a replacement captain, a real by the book family guy. I worked for him for years until you called.”
“Seems that would have made life easier,” Lucas said.
Garza shrugged. “You’d think, but I sort of enjoyed the challenge Belmont presented. He was unpredictable, kept me on my toes. The last guy was boring.”
“So, you’re saying you’re not bored again?”
“I got used to doing things by the book. This is anything but. It’s closer to working for Belmont, no offense,” she said.
Lucas cut his eyes at her and grinned. “Really?”
“Not you, just the unpredictable nature of it. Don’t get me wrong, I like it, just taking some adjustments on my end. This is in-your-face duty. Barely even a week in and I’m aiming down the sights at an alien,” she said.
“You’ve had about as close an experience with that as anyone,” Lucas said.
“What’s that?” Garza asked.
“With the ECHO, at the Crucible,” Lucas said.
“Yeah, I went to counseling over that whole ordeal.”
“You did well at the drill though, extremely well.”
“I guess. It became a nightmare for me, the sounds, the intensity of the ECHO, everything about the drill affected me, worse than war actually,” she said.
Lucas sat on the desk, staring at her. He combed through his thick white beard while she spoke and presented himself in a respectful, attentive manner. He nodded his head slowly after she finished, allowing her time to follow up.
“Well, if it’s any help, that’s what they designed the ECHO to do, affect your psychology, just like the way you describe,” he explained.
Garza cocked an eyebrow. “Then it worked like a charm.”
“If I may, what made it so terrifying to you, specifically?” he asked.
“Ah, I’m not sure. For me, I felt a sense of sadness coming from it like
all was lost. Not sure how to explain it, but I knew the ECHO wasn’t just a machine.”
“Really.”
“Yeah. I just knew it somehow, the way it reacted and moved especially. No way in hell we advanced in artificial intelligence to create that sort of energy. Our brute drones were top tier, and that ECHO was accelerated progression. Even with reverse engineering, it didn’t make sense,” she said.
“He was a former Army Ranger.”
“Okay. Why the hell would someone do that to themselves? Did they force it on him?”
“No. It’s complicated, but someone he cared about was in a bad situation.”
“Hm. Well, how’d that work out for him? Did it help?” she asked.
“Yeah. I think it did. It’s not perfect, but he’s doing the best he can with what he has.”
“Not sure I could ever do something like that,” she replied.
“What, sacrifice yourself for someone you love?”
“I’d do it for things I believe in, but I’m not so sure how I feel about love. Seems like such a fragile, fair-weather thing,” she said.
“Garza, I always pegged you as the sappy type. You mean to tell me that all this time, I was wrong?” He threw his hands up.
“Whatever.” She rolled her eyes. “You never thought that about me.”
“Of course, I did. Usually beneath a no-nonsense exterior is a soft, loving heart.” He smiled.
“There is, but not for some poser scoundrel, which is ninety percent of men in my experience. No offense, considering women can be just as bad.”
“Agreed, but you know, I’ve been what some call a treasure hunter for years, prowling around backwoods and concrete jungles all over the world in the hopes of finding these alien materials. And you know what? I was usually unsuccessful. More than half the time, it was either gone or destroyed beyond recognition. Kinda like finding the right person.”
“See, it’s typically a lost cause.”
“Well, yeah, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t look at all. Anything worth having is gonna take work, serious work.”
“What about you? Never hear you talk about a wife or anything. You put all your concentration into this career? No time for anyone?” she asked, lowering her head slightly.
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