Sam was right. We found two police cruisers and two trucks at the station, all with mechanical starters. I had Ella stand next to me as Sam smashed through the station door with a large rock. He used the rock to knock out the remaining pieces of glass and climbed through.
When he disappeared, Ella turned to me. “Miss Alex?”
“Yeah?”
“Are bad things going to happen to us?”
“No, sweetie. You and your dad are going to get into one of these big old stinky trucks, and we’re gonna give you as many chocolate croissants as your little belly can handle. Then you’re gonna go have a campout in a cabin. If you ask me, that sounds pretty fun.”
She smiled. “Yeah! Camp out! Are you going to come with us?”
I was close to crying. I sure as hell would’ve liked to go with them. Sam seemed like a great guy, and Ella was downright adorable. “I have friends who need me to get back to them,” I told her. “We’re gonna go check out what those funny planes are and make things all better.”
“Thank you, Miss Alex.” Ella said in a small voice. She was looking down, thumb to her mouth as if to suck on it but didn’t want to in front of an adult.
I crouched so we were eye-level. “You gotta do me a favor, okay?” I said, looking mock-seriously into her eyes.
“What?” Her eyes were big, mystified at being handed such a responsibility.
I leaned in and whispered, “You’ve gotta look after your dad. You gotta be big and strong for him. He’s worked hard to make sure you’ve been safe this whole time, right?”
She nodded.
“Okay. So now you gotta do the same thing for him. Make sure he eats and sleeps. You tell him that he’s got to be brave, and that you’re gonna be brave, too, okay? Can you do that?”
She nodded, mouth set, determination shining from behind impossibly blue eyes. Sam came out the police station door with two sets of keys, another handgun, and two rifles. Ella’s eyes widened at the sight of the weapons, but she had grown up around hunters and knew guns were just scary looking, not scary.
“Here,” Sam said, handing me a handgun and a rifle. “I always told Sarge his armory was going to get broken into someday. It’s a good thing he didn’t listen to me and add better security. Let’s get to the diner and load up. I figure you might need a quick shooting lesson.”
“You figure right,” I said.
We started the trucks and drove to the diner. I breathed a sigh of relief that the diner looked undisturbed. I made sure Ella had her new teddy bear and we sat her in the front seat of one truck while Sam and I loaded up. They had enough supplies to make it a solid ten days. Time enough, I hoped.
Sam opened the door to his truck. “Hey, honey, I’m gonna teach Alex a little about guns so she doesn’t hurt herself. You okay with sitting in the truck for a few minutes? We’ll be right over there where you can see us.”
Ella nodded and cuddled her bear. Sam set up targets for us—some cans and bottles from the diner garbage—placing them on a tree stump. The handgun was easy to learn, even if I did almost hit myself in the face from the recoil the first time I fired it.
The rifle gave me more trouble. “Not like that,” Sam said. “Sit the butt here so when it recoils it doesn’t slam into your shoulder.” I wildly missed the bottle again, but winged it on the third try.
We finished my lesson with two important rules. “Rule number one,” he said. “The business end goes towards the bad guy.”
I grinned. “Makes sense.”
“Rule number two. You are holding death in your hands. Toy with it, and it will take your life. Always make sure your safety is engaged when you aren’t about to kill something and, when you can, keep the bullets out of it.”
I smiled. “Thank you, Sam. I’ll try not to shoot myself in the foot and, hey, now at least I’m a pro at taking magazines out.”
He laughed. “That you are.” Back at the trucks, I gave them both a hug.
“Good luck out there,” I said. “Get somewhere safe, then get up north like you said.”
“I still wish you’d come with us,” he said. “I don’t like the thought of you out here alone.”
“I have to,” I said.
“Can’t we just take you where you need to go?”
I shook my head, then wiped my eyes. “No. Look, you’re doing great, Sam. You’re doing the right thing. You’re an amazing father, keeping your little girl safe and happy through all this. That’s your priority. I need to get back, and you need to keep her safe. I promise I’m going to do as much as I can to help get things back to normal.”
Sam hugged me again. “If you do, come back to Plainfield.”
I smiled and nodded.
“Be safe out there, Alex.”
I watched as they climbed into the ancient police truck and drove away. I hopped into my own truck, slung my bag into the passenger seat, then sat and wiped more tears away, trying like hell not to break down sobbing at the sudden loneliness.
I opened my bag and took Ko’s crystal out of it. I held it a moment, watching the colors glow and shift. My encounter with Sam and Ella reminded me of what Ko said about trust, that it must be built from actions on both sides. If Sam had not trusted me, he wouldn’t have been able to feed his daughter. If I hadn’t trusted him, I might have gotten shot.
I had a decision to make. If I was able to make it to Ko’s people and give them their computer back, it could be viewed as a goodwill gesture from humanity. Maybe it would help them see we were capable of negotiating. On the other hand, if I brought it to the military, it would be the best bargaining chip to broker peace.
The weight of the decision felt too heavy. This was a matter for the highest of our leaders, the President—if she was still alive. I was just some professor, an idealistic woman who fumbled her way into some weird psychology. Being the one to make this decision seemed ridiculous, yet here I was, the only one who could. I put the crystal into my bag, started the truck, and headed toward the highway.
22
David
“Wake up, human.” An unfamiliar alien appeared in the silhouette of my cell door. “You are expected.”
“Who’s expecting me?”
“Move it! Bathe quickly. There will be clothes provided for you. You have fifteen of your minutes.”
I stood and took the fastest shower of my life. A new fabric garment had indeed been supplied for me. Like last night, I was given no shoes or underwear. I stepped out of my cell and found the alien who had woken me up standing next to the door. He was holding a spear that was tipped with a black metal and nasty-looking prongs. He used the butt of the spear to hit me across the backs of my calves.
“Ow! No need for the hostility.”
“Quiet, human. Move.”
I walked ahead of my alien guard, surprised to hear almost no noise, as if the ship had been cleared ahead of us.
“Turn here.”
I entered what looked like a conference room. At the head of the table sat another red-crested alien in light armor with metal bands encircling his wrists. Other soldiers stood next to him, motionless.
“Please, sit. Are you hungry? Thirsty?”
“I would like something to eat, thank you.”
An alien set a tray of seaweed-like plants and slices of some kind of meat—at least I guessed it was meat. I sniffed at it. The meat definitely smelled strange, and I wasn’t sure it would sit well but, as I did not want to offend them, I put a small piece in my mouth. It tasted like steak well beyond its expiration date, but I somehow got it down and chugged my entire cup of water.
I nodded across the table. “Thanks.”
“Lt. Col. Jackson…I understand that this is the proper way to address you, one warrior to another?” The alien removed his crested helm and set it on the table.
“Sure. So, who are you?”
“I am the captain of this ship. My name is too complicated for your tongue, so you may address me as Ka’thak.”
I blanched. I was speaking to the officer in charge of the vessel I downed with a nuclear missile. I doubted the aliens would poison me, but the food sat heavy in my stomach.
“Lt. Colonel, I have brought you here because, simply put, we need information. Your people have one of ours named Ko in their possession. It is imperative Ko is returned safely to us.”
It wouldn’t do me any good to admit I knew about the quantum computer, so I nodded in acknowledgement of his words but kept my trap shut.
The captain continued, “I need to know what we should expect from your people. Most of our warriors believe that because you attacked us without warning, there is no point negotiating with you humans. They wish to accept the loss of our comrade and wipe your species from the face of your planet. It would not be difficult with the destruction to your atmosphere and the ongoing collapse of your civilizations. You are scattered, and largely defenseless.”
He was right. Their beam weapons could scorch an entire city in less time it took for our forces to muster.
“However, there are more humans than us. We have pushed your forces back for now, but larger forces are mobilizing. At this rate, it is a matter of time before the humans regroup and return to our ship for another attack. If they do, we will have no choice to use stronger weapons against your countrymen and your species as a whole. We will deploy forces to destroy what is left of humanity, take what resources we need, and we will find our way off your planet before the supernova effects become too severe.”
I still kept silent. I wasn’t sure if he was bluffing but, given what I had seen during that battle, I knew from experience the aliens wouldn’t back away.
Ka’thak blinked at me and sighed. “As I said, a faction of us wishes to strike first. I am not one of those people. Your planet will soon be destroyed anyway. As captain, my priority is the safety of our people. In our current situation, it will be difficult to gather resources in time. Ideally, cooperation between our species is best. We can trade some of our technology in return for your help gathering the resources we need. If we do this it’s possible that both our species can survive.”
I didn’t know what to say. For the second time this week, I was thrust into a situation which could determine the fate of humanity. I thought of Alexandra and the quantum computer the aliens were so desperate to recover. I hoped she was okay. She was a resourceful woman, so maybe she’d made it someplace safe.
Damn. This situation should be handled by top brass, not some lone pilot. But I was the guy in the hot seat, and I had to come up with something.
“It…it…” I coughed and cleared my throat, the taste of the ‘meat’ lingering in my mouth. “Maybe I can start a dialogue with our American leaders. Maybe arrange a cease-fire, a truce. I don’t know yet. But I’m willing to try.”
The captain nodded.
“That is good. I’m glad to know you humans understand these concepts. You may go, while we discuss how we wish to approach your leaders. You will be consulted if we need further information.” Ka’thak waved me away, and the guards returned me to my cell. It might have been my imagination, but they seemed less rough in their care than they had been before.
23
Alexandra
As I drove toward the alien ship, I listened to the radio. The few snatches of broadcast that I could hear made it sound like it was War of the Worlds come to life. I flipped through the stations and caught the voices of a panicked woman, a minister proclaiming that Armageddon had come, and an angry man who insisted that this was all a government exercise gone wrong. I shut the radio off. Listening to that shit wasn’t doing my mental state any good.
I’d made my decision. The military had chosen to execute a nuclear strike against a species that until then had taken no hostile action. When that species counter-attacked, human forces hadn’t just fought against them, they massacred them. I felt certain that if I handed this priceless artifact to the American military I would be dooming humanity to a short war and a horrible death.
The commanders would never negotiate. They were probably too busy discussing whether or not they should use another nuclear bomb to wipe out the rest of an entire civilization. If I was hurt or killed trying to make amends for what my species had done, I would consider it a worthy end.
I laughed. If this ship had come down over European soil, or hell, anywhere except America, the aliens would be dealing with a very civilized delegation of top politicians. They would be greeted with all the pomp and ceremony still possible after the EMP. Instead, they’d crashed on American soil and now faced war with humanity simply for existing.
I hadn’t run into any alien forces on the road yet, but that didn’t mean that they weren’t patrolling the area. As if on cue, I heard the whine of one of the alien fighters. It was flying low over the highway toward me.
I thought about pulling over but that would only draw their attention to me, so I kept driving, hoping they would think I was a random human driver. I revised that expectation after considering that most humans would be cowering in their houses, not driving a police truck down the highway toward the crash site. The fighter glided over me. I watched for it in the rearview mirror. It swiveled around and started back my way. So much for hoping they wouldn’t notice me. It flew above me and slowed.
I swore under my breath and flipped on the lights and sirens. I wanted to make it clear to the fighter that I saw it and make it easier for it to see me. I might have spooked them. The fighter backed to follow at a distance. I guess it must have figured out that I wasn’t about to attack it because it resumed its watch over the truck a few minutes later. I waggled the truck’s path, swerving to the left and to the right. The fighter mirrored me. Guess I had an escort.
My tail and I drove ten or so miles together when I found the turn that headed toward the ship. A column of smoke was still streaming from the forest into the sky. I turned my gaze back to the road and slammed on the brakes. Less than a hundred feet ahead of me were four alien soldiers, their guns leveled at the truck.
I put the vehicle into park and put my hands up. Two of them advanced. on the vehicle, beam weapons aimed upwards. Before they got too close, I grabbed the computer from inside my bag and slipped it underneath the passenger seat. Then I shoved my jacket under there to hide its glow.
The alien on the driver’s side yanked the door open. “Get out, human.”
I kept my hands level with my shoulders and carefully stepped out of the truck. The solider kicked me in the back, knocking me to my hands and knees.
“Hands on your head,” it growled.
I pushed myself up to my knees. I heard its companion searching the truck. I prayed that it wouldn’t look under the passenger seat. The two aliens who hadn’t approached the truck went around the back of it and threw open the tarp covering my supplies. It barked to its companions and I heard crumpling as it tore into the food I had taken from the diner.
I rolled my eyes. Introduce a new species to humanity and of course the first thing they’ll do is develop a taste for is pastries and chocolate.
Its companions ate some croissants while I stayed motionless, waiting for one of the soldiers to discover the quantum computer. When no such exclamation came, I turned my head and watched them stand together speaking their language. One gestured at me. The other three seemed disinterested and chittered in reply, going through more of my supplies.
The alien that pointed at me walked to where I kneeled and crouched to eye level. “What is your name, human?”
I hesitated. I could lie, say I was someone else, that I was just a lone traveler trying to get away. Yet, seemed to me these aliens didn’t have much interest in helping humans—pretty evident by them consuming my food and water stores. I gritted my teeth as I heard one of the soldiers tear the passenger side door off the truck. It rummaged in the front of the vehicle, checking the glove box and tossing items out of it onto the seat.
“My name is Dr. Alexandra King.”
The alien st
ood, slit eyes widening. It barked at the others. I imagined something to the effect of “We found her!” Great.
“The humans have captured one of our people,” the soldier said, peering down at me. “Did you aid in his capture?”
“No.”
“Where is the orb of our people?”
“I don’t know what that is.” Lying wasn’t my best skill, but the truth wasn’t gonna keep me alive. Give them what they were seeking and I would end up sliced, diced, and probably eaten right here on the road. I hoped maybe they were full now.
The aliens chattered, then the one looming over me hauled me to my feet and shoved me forward. “You’re coming with us.”
24
David
I couldn’t sleep, so I counted the rivets in the wall until my cell opened. Instead of the alien leader or captain, the alien I assumed had ambushed me my first night and two others entered. I jumped up and backed way, but the two rushed me and snatched hold of my arms.
The third leaned in, breath stinking of foul meat. “Hello, pathetic human.”
I didn’t reply.
“I thought we agreed you would speak quickly when the time came. If you’re not feeling chatty, don’t worry. We’ll get your tongue loosened up soon enough. The time to eradicate your disgusting species has come. We will take what we need from this planet and wipe your species from history. You should be grateful. I am told if we allowed you to live you would all die very nasty deaths. As much as watching that would give me pleasure, slaughtering you like the fattened animals you are will feel much better. Have you a mate, human? Offspring? Tell me, so I can rip them apart first. I’m going to feast on their organs after I get my revenge for what you did.”
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