Decay

by J. F. Jenkins

  “It makes sense. If Alan couldn't do his poof thing, I'm pretty sure we'd have been busted. Game over. There's nothing any of us could have done to stop whoever was after us. My teammates didn't have aggressive powers, and well, we all know I can't exactly do anything.” He looked down at his hands. “But we got it, the artifact, and some uh...dead aliens.”

  Angela scrunched up her nose. “Ew.”

  “Pretty much, but I don't have to deal with them, so whatever they need I guess. I'm curious about the artifact, though. It fits in a box that could probably hold my shoes. No clue what it does or how it works. Then again, I didn't exactly get to play with it much.”

  “I'm sure that was super disappointing for you too.”

  “It was!”

  Angela laughed. “What do you think they want with us tonight? Will it take long?”

  “I hope not, because I want to take advantage of the pool before it closes,” he said.

  She shook her head. “You have weird priorities. I want to go back to sleep and not wake up, for like, a week. It's been way too emotionally exhausting lately.”

  “Unwinding is not a weird priority,” he pointed out. He bit his lip. “Have you told Alan your theory?”

  “I mentioned it briefly. He told me we couldn't talk about it until later. Maybe that's why he wants us to get together again.”

  “Maybe,” JD said. With his usual perfect timing, Alan teleported into the room. The guy looked as exhausted as JD felt with dark circles under his blue eyes, and his posture was much more relaxed as he slouched onto a chair in the corner of the room. JD nodded at him in greeting.

  Alan gave a slight nod back. “Did you get some rest?”

  With a laugh, Angela sat up on the bed. “Yeah, I slept like a log. What's up?”

  “There is one more meeting for us to attend together. It won't be long, and it's more of a follow up sort of thing. Then we will talk about the things you mentioned to me earlier Angela. I haven't forgotten,” Alan said. “A lot has been happening since I brought you back here. Most of it things you do not need to be concerned with, but I want to keep you in the know all the same. My people are analyzing the artifact, so they can understand how to make it work. The yellow tribe has provided a lot of useful information, and history, about it. No one can crack it open however. We can make it work, but not to the fullest of its capabilities. From what I understand, it can't be hacked or it could internally destroy all of its information.”

  “What does the artifact do?” JD asked.

  The alien let out a soft sigh, and he appeared to be so much older than only his early twenties. “It has abilities that will allow for us to rehabilitate those who have already been tapped by the other tribes. There are rumors going around that it is a device that takes the memories of others and stores them into an electronic database of sorts. We would be able to not just take the memories from say, Bean and Sprout, but we could select which memories to take. Then we could store them and have access for whenever we'd need the information.”

  “All of that in a small box?” JD marveled.

  “It amazes me as well to be honest,” Alan said. “I would let you go home now, but I want you to spend a bit more time with the other charges. I need to make sure you are certain of your claims before we can move forward.”

  “You want us to make sure the others are cool people or not, got it.” JD offered a smile. For the most part he was a good judge of character. “We going to learn who these others work for and all that?”

  “That's another thing I'm hoping you can do. I have my suspicions. Some of them are Sir Tu...I mean, Jaes's charges. That much I know for sure, but I don't know which ones are. I can read the auras of the different tribes, so I know who is red, who is yellow, etcetera, but I don't know who is in charge of whom. There were a lot of us working on this particular mission. Each leader brought a couple of their own charges along. But that doesn't mean I know who they work for beyond their tribe,” Alan explained.

  Angela frowned. “That seems dishonest. Aren't you all supposed to be allies?”

  “Yes,” Alan said. “Supposed to be, but there is a leak on my ship, and it goes high in the ranks of my people. I don't think there is just one traitor. There are few I can trust, if any.”

  If any? JD blinked in surprise and frowned as sorrow filled his gut. Does he not trust us? No, he has to be talking about just the people on his ship. He forced a big smile on his face. “We'll do whatever you need man.”

  “I know you will. Thank you. Please be sure to keep your identities a secret. Tell them as little as possible, but get as much information as you can from them.” Alan exhaled slowly, his eyes closing for a moment. “Are you ready to head back to base?”

  “Yep.” JD said. Angela gave a rather reluctant looking nod.

  Once again, they teleported, and for the first time, JD wasn't uncomfortable or nervous about it. He'd gotten used to it a lot quicker than he anticipated. They appeared in the conference room again. Alan pulled out a chair for each of them.

  “Have a seat,” he said. “I am going to leave you as I have a meeting of my own to attend. The others will be along shortly.”

  Great, we're being ditched. But I guess it'll be easier for us to talk more candidly if we're not in the company of the boss. Giving a slight wave, JD watched as Alan left for whatever meeting he was supposed to be at. He glanced over at his sister and saw her playing around on her phone.

  “You get service up here?” he asked.

  She shrugged. “Barely, and I may or may not be roaming. Cadence has been giving me a play by play of what she's doing, so I don't care too much.”

  “And you're addicted to finding out.” He shook his head, not feeling up to giving a lecture on money and how tight it was at home. Besides, he was just as curious as to what was going on. Of course I wouldn't be getting any updates since Cadence doesn't exactly want to talk to me anymore. She used to tell me everything. He hated losing his best friend.

  “You bet I am. Come on Cadence, you just sent me something like twenty minutes ago saying you had a lead! Update me!” Angela whined. “Oh! It's thinking, that usually means something is getting sent.” A second later she squealed. “They found him!”

  “Orly?”

  “Yes!”

  He let out a sigh of relief. “Finally. One less thing to worry about. Do you know if he's okay?”

  “She didn't go into details outside of he's alive. I'm calling her the first chance I get.” She stuffed her phone back into her pocket just as the door opened, and the rest of the charges walked in. They all took a seat around the table. No one said anything for a long time.

  Ophelia was the first to speak up. “Does anyone know what we're doing in here?”

  JD shrugged. “Moral support, I guess. That's what I got out of it. Make sure we're not all having a mental break down before we go back home.”

  “It's not like it was that traumatic.” She scoffed.

  “I agree, but you know, I'm not the guy in charge.”

  More silence. One guy tapped his hands on the table, another couldn't sit still and shifted in his chair a lot.

  Finally, the one who was tapping his hands, spoke. “We did a good job. Maybe we should introduce ourselves to the people we don't know, or we can talk about where we come from.”

  Sneaky, JD thought. “All right, I'll go first.” One by one they all said their names− code ones at least – and tribe affiliation. Beyond that, no one expanded on details, let alone said who their alien boss was exactly. They were all playing the same game. Who could play it the best?

  Drone cut to the chase. “We're all on the same side here. This doesn't need to be so awkward. There's a reason this meeting was held, and it's not for some kind of teenage group therapy session. It's so we can become better allies. So how about we talk about that instead. This won't be the last time we see each other.” He pulled off his mask.

  “Drone!” Gabriel gasped.

  “I'
m not ashamed or afraid of anything they might be able to do to me,” he said, with so much confidence JD was a little envious. Usually he was the bold one, but this guy was even more so.

  All at once Drone's features became clear as day. He was slightly older than JD, probably around nineteen or twenty actually. Originally, JD had thought he had dark hair. That was the impression he got from the static filled image the masks presented. In truth, Drone had sandy blond hair and hazel eyes. He was thinner than JD had originally thought as well. Thin, but strong. JD wasn't sure he wanted to take the guy on in a fight because knowing his luck Drone would have a black belt in some kind of martial arts. That was the kind of build the guy had, like he was a secret undercover weapon.

  As the others at the table all began to reach for their masks as well, Angela fell out of her chair, crawled over to the garbage can, and hurled. Wincing, JD went to make sure her hair was out of the way at least. That seemed like the decent thing to do, and he felt a little guilty. It might not have been his fault that the war from Altura was happening on Earth, but he should have known her limits better. He put a hand to her forehead, and the heat she produced was alarming.

  “You're burning up,” he said. “Why didn't you tell me you weren't feeling well?”

  “Didn't think you'd believe me. Besides, I wanted to help.” She groaned pitifully. “What's one more...”

  “Now we all might catch it,” he said. “Come on, let's go get you back, so you can rest.” He helped lift her off of the ground and was caught off guard by all of the maskless faces staring back at him. Not everyone had pulled theirs off just yet, but the table was at about half and half.

  Ophelia stood from her chair, as did Potion. She came over to help get Angela balanced. “All of our supervisors are in a meeting of their own. I know where it is, so I'll get whoever you work for and let them know you need to get back. Potion should be able to give her something to help settle her stomach. If you want to stay, I can –”

  JD shook his head. “She's my family. I need to look out for her.”

  “It's okay. I understand,” Drone said, as if he were giving JD permission to leave, despite the fact that he wasn't in charge. At least, if he was, JD didn't get the memo.

  “Thanks,” JD said in an effort to be polite and then walked Angela out of the room. Ophelia and Potion were right behind him. They went two doors down, and Ophelia practically shoved them inside the room. It was a significantly smaller room with a couple of chairs and a desk. In fact it reminded JD of an interrogation room.

  Ophelia rolled her eyes and moved a chair over for Angela to sit in. “That was too close. You, are a good actress.”

  “Thanks,” Angela said.

  “Whoa, are you trying to tell me that you faked being sick back there? Chunks and all?” JD asked.

  She nodded. “I had to make it believable. If I'd just gotten a little woozy, nobody would have bought it.”

  His eyes went wide with disbelief. “How did you learn how to puke on command?”

  “I didn't.” She groaned. “Wasn't too hard to fake with how much this whole thing freaks me out. I just focused on that and my stomach turned in knots and...you know.”

  JD winced. “Gross, but it worked. Something tells me we aren't going to be getting out of staying in the dark forever. Too bad I missed everyone else pulling off their masks.”

  “I got them all,” Ophelia said. “While normally I wouldn't be against the idea, something about Drone and some of the others sets me off. Okay, not something, I know what it is. I'm pretty sure I saw them all attacking a woman in a parking ramp. Up until now, I hadn't gotten a good enough look at the group to figure it out, too much going on. Sitting in the same place as them for longer than three minutes, I definitely recognized them.”

  “Even with the masks?” JD asked.

  Ophelia pinched the bridge of her nose. “You recognized me even though I had a mask on. It's not that we're made to be completely unknown, but that we can't be seen in our usual state. Your face is a mystery, but somehow I'd know it was you while we were in the field. Passing you on the street as your normal self, not so much.”

  “And you think you saw Drone and the others attacking someone?”

  “Not think, I know that's who I saw. I don't think I'd ever forget that cold stare, okay? Pretty sure Gabriel was with them as well. One of the other guys is on my team, and the other one I didn't recognize.” She took in a deep breath. “Drone though... he mugged a woman, broke her arm, and then said she'd be an example for the police. I'm not sure what it meant, but I don't trust him enough to find out. People who hurt innocents for no reason are bad news in my book.”

  Angela nodded, rubbing at her arms. “I think he's the leak. Something about him rubbed me the wrong way too, and he'd been nothing but nice to me. He was understanding and sweet, and he'll deny it, but he was hitting on me too. But he knew too much, like he was expecting everything to happen. Everything about our part of the mission was too easy, and then the bad guys started following you guys around? And Drone is a...he's a...cyborg.”

  “Cyborg?” JD's jaw dropped. “Are you serious?”

  “Yes, why would I make something like that up? He said he has a whole database and network. Who's to say he wasn't downloading and sending information all over the place?” She rubbed her forehead with a hand. “He weirded me out, and Gabriel is his sister, and she's a whole other pile of issues.”

  JD could only blink. “This is nuts. So, don't trust the others, got it.” But could they trust Ophelia and her team too? He wanted to. Time to be bold. He made a grab for his mask and was surprised when Ophelia took his hand and placed it on her own.

  “Like this,” she said. Her hand moved to the edge of his mask. “My people do this as a custom. It's kind of like when you present a sword to your enemy with the point toward you. You're making yourself vulnerable to them on your terms. So on three, we pull. One, two...”

  “Three,” JD whispered, and gave it a pull. Ophelia's image softened in front of him, the details about her becoming defined. He could see the slight roundness of her face and her smooth light tan skin. She wore heavy eyeliner around her dark eyes.

  Her gaze moved up and down the length of his body. “Interesting, and what's your name? Because calling you Chihuahua Man is ridiculous.”

  “JD,” he said. “And you are?”

  “Nia.” She offered him her hand.

  He took it. “Well met.”

  Angela and Potion took their turn next. Potion did not look anything like what JD expected. She was tall and had at least three inches of height on him. Granted, he knew he was a bit vertically challenged already. Shorter than the average male, he found a way to make himself more masculine in other ways. Potion was the first girl he’d met who was actually taller than him. Cadence was close, but Potion had to be at least six feet tall. The next thing he noticed about her was how thin she was. Almost like a stick. The girl had no curves on her, but healthy lean muscle, so she couldn't have gotten so skinny because of lack of nutrition. Her hair was long and dirty blonde in color as well as frizzy. She was plain. For some reason, he'd expected different.

  “My name is Claire,” Potion said. Angela introduced herself as well, and a tension lifted from the room. It was nice for them all to be on a first name basis with one another.

  “So what now?” JD asked.

  Ophelia, Nia, leaned against a wall. “I don't know about you, but I still have another assignment to do. I've been given the lovely task of raising up that dead family again and finding a way to get them to talk. Hopefully it doesn't involve reconstruction because that's draining as all get out, and takes a lot of time. Plus, it's kind of gross. Not something I'm interested in doing.”

  “What's so important about them?”

  “Beats me.” She shrugged. “I'm pretty sure you guys are free to go. It's just us two who have to stick around.” She pointed at Potion.

  He couldn't help but scowl as he thought. Some
thing tells me the dead people were the mission and not the artifact. Hopefully Alan knows something and can fill us in.

  First, he had to find Alan so they could get back to the hotel and preferably in time for him to make use of the hot tub by the pool area. Nothing sounded better than unwinding under the hot jetted water and letting his muscles soak. They'd had a long, productive, and confusing day. A small reward had definitely been earned.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Dallas's wake had been the longest day of Orlando's life. It was five million times worse than the funeral, and he had acted as a pallbearer and everything. Something about spending several hours in a room with his best friend's corpse was unsettling. Even more so was the fact that hardly anyone came to pay their respects. Those who did kept asking him how he felt, or tried to make senseless small talk with him. He wanted to scream at them. How did they think he felt? His only real friend was gone – forever. His girlfriend, at the time, had stood by his side through most of it, which surprised him. He wouldn't have blamed her if she wanted to bail on him, but she also probably thought he'd reward her with a shiny and expensive treat for sticking through the ordeal. He hadn't, which was probably why she dumped him for Jesse Jordan roughly three days later. It wouldn't have surprised him if he had been cheated on.

  The night of the wake, everything had become all too real. Before he had actually seen the body, the whole thing was just a joke in his mind. Dallas was playing a prank, skipping school to play video games, and he would pop back into Orlando's life at a random moment shouting “Boo!” For the first hour of the wake he thought the same thing. That it was all just a game. Dallas had always been into pulling bad, sick, jokes on him.