by Tony Teora
“No, I won’t,” said Doctor Mitchell, pointing the gun back at the alien. As his finger started to pull the trigger, the alien jumped like a deer jumping off hot coals. Bullets sprayed out and hit the empty wall behind it. The alien hit the floor near the door and quickly ran out into the hallway. He was fast and graceful, like a lion running after prey.
Ace walked over to Dr. Mitchell and slammed his arm against a metal cabinet, crushing its door. Dr. Mitchell stood frozen in shock, his hands trembling, shaking his gun. Ace quickly grabbed the weapon and back-fist slugged Mitchell in the face, knocking him out cold on the floor.
“You didn’t have to knock him out,” said Kiya.
“I think he deserved it,” said Ace. “Let him rest while we figure this shit out. We’ve got a big fuckin’ problem. We need to go after this alien, but I don’t think it’s safe.”
Kiya walked over to set of refrigerated doors and looked at the door numbers. “The alien spoke to me … telepathically. He said that Tucker stole some of the virus.”
“What?”
“He said the suitcase Tucker was carrying was loaded with both phase-one and phase-two Circinus viral units, or worms and viruses to create the worms.” Kiya moved quickly over to an industrial-like refrigerator unit. She opened it. Inside were vials. A whole row was missing. On the left side looked like two vegetable trays. Kiya opened one and revealed clear plastic packages with green worms floating in a solution. She opened up the other and saw that it was empty.
Ace and Janice looked over at the virus and worms.
“I have a bad feeling about this,” said Ace. “He’s gotta be planning on bringing that shit back to Black Operations. I bet they want to study the virus somewhere else, especially if they’re using it to try and control humans, if that’s what they were doing on the side … probably figure it’d help control spies or something crazy like that.”
Kiya shook her head. “I think you’re right Ace. I should have sensed it earlier.”
“It’s not your fault. You couldn’t have known. But that shithead knows we’re gonna sterilize this compound and he should fuckin’ know I’d never let him take that shit back home. That shit’s made half the base nuts … and almost killed Janice. What the fuck’s he thinking?”
Kiya frowned. “I saw a moon mining shuttle somewhere on the planet during my remote viewing session. I thought it might be our MLV, but it was different. I think BOT has a shuttle here. I wasn’t sure why I saw it here, so I dismissed it when Tucker harassed me about seeing the bugs and all. It didn’t make sense, but now it does.”
“Fuck! He’s gonna hook up with the shuttle to try and sneak out. He’s gotta be planning on meeting up with a BOT cruiser. They probably got one in the area. That dirty scum bag. He knew EC would never let him take the worms back. We gotta get this place on auto-destruct and get the hell outta here.”
Ace locked eyes with Kiya as the look of concern on his face deepened. “We’re gonna find him and stop his ride outta here. I hope the Aurora gets back soon—we need to warn them about the BOT ship.”
***
Kiya’s TekPad beeped. She looked at her vid link and saw channels opening up. “Someone must have cleared up the lockout.” She tapped a channel and stopped, her face frozen in awe. “Ace, this is really strange. I think we’ve got new problems.”
“New problems?” Ace looked at the video link. It looked like hundreds of the local aboriginal Nomads were around the GEN-6 facility. They were organized, working on GEN-6; welding, pulling wires, lifting materials. “That’s weird. The briefing said they were a ‘sticks and stones’ race.”
Janice nodded her head. “I read that report, too, and they are a sticks and stones society. Something must have given them technological intellect.”
“It’s the virus,” mumbled Dr. Mitchell in a groggy voice, slowly standing up. “The infected scientists started to infect the locals. They’re using the locals to rewire this base and build weapons. It’s how they built the laser cannon.”
Ace looked over at the Doc with piercing eyes. “What the fuck’s going on here?”
“It’s speculation, but I think the Circinus virus is not really a virus. It’s an alien. It’s like a maggot in a piece of meat. The maggot turns into a fly. Well, these worms are maggots, and the fly is the body they take over. They’ve infected the locals and have them building something.”
“Well, I don’t care what they’re building. We gonna blow this place. Kiya, look at the e-map of this place … where’s the power plant?”
“We have a third gen nuclear plant,” said Dr. Mitchell. “It’s old, cheap, reactor technology … no laws here. You can’t safely blow that up.”
“Sure we can.”
“We’ll need to get at least five miles out or we’ll all be dead from radiation. And we’ll never get out that far, especially with the Nomads outside.”
“We have RADx pills to help with the radiation. Me and Ivan will attach explosives to the reactor and set it with a timer. It’s the best way for full containment. We have a ride outside the east gate. We’ll be fine. There’s only spiders out that side.”
“Spiders?” Dr. Mitchell looked at Ace Archer, thinking he needed a double shot of bourbon. But that bottle was locked up in the north side of the base. That fuckin’ damn college recruiter Pete Chester. Job for life …
***
Tucker had fucked up and he knew it.
He was securely strapped down in a chair watching bat shit-crazy scientists at their 3-D holo consoles. On first glance, you might have mistaken these folks for a bunch of NASA scientists, but the zombie-like stares, robotic body movements, and especially the pissed and shitted pants told you to keep the Thorazine shots ready. It was like a scene on the set of Dawn of the Dead Goes to Mars.
Tucker looked at the holo-screen showing technical diagrams of the base and some unrecognizable machines. The alien-wormed nutcases were designing something. It seemed pretty complicated to Tucker, but then again, cleaning up his TekPad from unwanted advertisements was challenging to him. He’d only studied Foreign Affairs in college. Engineering, math, and computers weren’t his forte. His forte had been getting a job at Black Operations Technologies and working there as a career man.
BOT had an inside track with Earth Command and that made difficult things easy. The work was sometimes dangerous, but since Earth Command was mostly controlled by the old USA, China, and Russia (and the CIA and Russian Federal Security Services), there were always some powerful people who’d help in any situation. The missions were usually top secret and were on top of other Earth Command ultra-secret missions. So in effect, Tucker only reported to the BOT Central Command. Money, power, and corruption were the names of the game. Hell, he was one of BOT’s elite GaxClub members. He was an insider insider. One of their secret tenets was that the ends do justify the means.
There were always too many pansy asses who wanted to play by the rules. Who the fuck got anywhere by playing by the rules? The strong ate the weak—period. Unfortunately, Tucker knew this blunder might cost him his life, but as a negotiator, he was hoping he could talk his way out. He looked over at the woman scientist who was wiring him up to some sensors and tried his charm. “Hey Miss, I work for Black Operations, and I’m authorized to pay a handsome reward to you all for assisting me with my operation here.”
The lady with long red hair grabbed a small sportsman electric hair trimmer and looked at Tucker with dark eyes—the whites were missing. They were completely black and gave Tucker a mindless stare.
“Did ya hear me?” asked Tucker.
The woman ignored Tucker and tightly grabbed his head and used the buzz razor to shave off a line of hair, then stopped to inspect it like a child does a new toy.
Charm was not working, so it was time for something stronger. “Listen, Miss, I don’t know what you’re doing, but I can assure you Earth Command and BOT will have your ass in a hot seat if you harm me.”
The lady pushed Tucker�
��s head back into the cushioned head rest and started to shave off all of his hair. She started slowly but soon increased her speed, moving as elegantly as a drunken orangutan would shed the rind off a tasty watermelon. The buzz shaver nicked and cut part of Tucker’s skin multiple times, creating small scratches that oozed blood, the cuts burning in pain. “What the fuck are you doin’, bitch? That’s my fuckin’ head—not a goddamn meatball!”
The woman continued on her frenzied haircut until Tucker’s head was mostly hairless. There were some small blotches of hair and at least ten or so bloody cuts, but the job was done. She then retrieved a medical machine and started to attach wires to Tucker’s head. Small suction cups at the ends of the wire automatically attached like an octopus grabbing its prey.
“Listen, lady, you need to get with the program!” Tucker wiggled in his seat, trying to see if he could get loose. He couldn’t. “I’m tellin’ ya, this base is gonna fuckin’ blow. Did ya hear me? I’m a BOT agent—you know about BOT, doncha? Fuck!”
The woman then got a hypodermic needle. Tucker had seen one like it before. It was a device to infect people with the green alien worm. “Listen,” said Tucker gasping. “We can work things out … yes, we can … I’ll give you whatever you need—money.” Shit, thought Tucker, panicking. They don’t want money … they’re infected. Power! That’s it! It’s power! “Listen, lady, you don’t need to do this. I’ll get you a ship. I’ll help you get you all out of here. I’ve got a spaceship hidden on Kabbalah.”
The women looked at Tucker with a cold, dead stare. “Spaceship?” she asked, quivering like an alcoholic.
Tucker continued. “Yes! Yes, a spaceship! I can then help you take over a BOT cruiser. It’s coming to pick me up, but if you fuck me up—they’ll know. Then you’ll never get out of here. They’re gonna blow this base if I don’t call them on time. You got that? ”
The women twisted her head as if she was thinking. A man walked up to the woman and looked at Tucker and then at the woman. The man was older, but he, too, had the dark black eyes. He grabbed the hypodermic needle from the woman and put his face in front of Tucker’s. He was no more than an inch away and staring at Tucker. Tucker felt the dark eyes enter his mind like a strong drug taking control. Fear gripped his mind. The hypodermic needle stood still in the man’s hand and near Tucker’s neck, almost touching his skin.
At that moment, Tucker passed out.
I imagine they [aliens] might exist in massive ships, having used up all the resources from their home planet. Such advanced aliens would perhaps become nomads, looking to conquer and colonize whatever planets they can reach.
—Professor Stephen Hawking
13
_________
Game Changer
Kiya checked her wrist comm; the signal was strong and clear. She looked over at Ace, who was eyeing up the situation like a hawk. “Hey Ace, I think someone shut down the jammer. We’ve got a good signal.”
Ace looked at the liquid display embedded in his hand comm. Sure enough, there was a full bar signal. “Musta been Jimbo. Bet he got that jammer … thank God!” Ace tapped his finger on the comm and connected into a secure channel. “Jimbo, you got your ears on, buddy?”
A second later came the deep, familiar voice of Big Jimbo, but with some hoarseness: “Ears on? Shit … almost had ’em shot off by a sharp-shootin’ alien—but me and Ivan are both okay. That alien fucker killed five of the infected scientists for us, dead-on shots. Never seen shootin’ like that.”
“Where ya at, Jimbo?”
“We’re near the mad scientist compound in their adjacent comm room. We got all kinds of shit going on outside and underground. Sounds like construction, not sure what the fuck they’re up to. How’s Janice?”
“She’s fine. The doc fixed her up. But I gotta know—did that Grey come from the rear or from the south? We got another Grey that’s loose.”
“Fuck! Another? No, it came from the front. I think this one’s from the original three. He came from the south side. How’d the other one get here? We got any more landing?”
“No, no, they’re not landing—there’s no more that I know of it. It’s a long story. But in any case, try not to kill either unless you have to—and don’t ask why, I’ll explain later. By the way, good job on taking out the jammer.”
“We didn’t take it out. Ivan and I are looking at the jammer now. Never seen anything like it. It’s a damn full, digital-enhanced spectrum job—with some weird signal amplification modulator. I’ve never seen a design like this … looks like it was a rush job, but state of the art. Someone built this thing with spare parts. Brilliant work, but it’s not jamming anymore. Someone ripped out the power couplers to shut it down … but it wasn’t us.”
“You think it was Tucker?” asked Ace.
“No way, Jose. That dumb birdbrain would be dead as a fried catfish chewing on underground power lines. Someone put in an electrostatic shield that connected to six thousand volts. Whoever took this apart was probably as smart as the one who put it together. Our idiot BOT boy would be dead if he got near this thing. He’d be a fried critter. Nope. Someone else did it.”
“I wonder who? Ah, it doesn’t matter. Shit, arm some C4 in the tunnels just in case and try to find that moron Tucker. He’s got a suitcase full of those worms and I think he’s gonna try to take them back to BOT.”
“Are you shittin’ me? That stupid ass,” said Jimbo. “Is the Aurora back yet?”
“I didn’t see it on the transponder yet, and I don’t wanna sound negative … but if it doesn’t get back soon, we may need to take another ride back.”
“Really—on what? Our good looks?”
Ace laughed. “Jimbo, have you looked in a mirror lately? No, not our good looks. We’re gonna sneak a ride on a BOT ship. Patch in, Ivan, I want to talk to both of you.”
“BOT? Whaddya talkin’ about?” Jimbo waved at Ivan who was staring at the broken jammer and talking to Yogi. “Ivan, get over here, you’re starting to get on my nerves. Ace wants to talk to us.”
Ace continued. “During her last remote view session, Kiya saw a BOT shuttle out here in Kabbalah. I think Tucker was sent out here to steal some of this virus and bring it back to BOT. They gotta have a cruiser out here to pick up the package with Tucker. I wanna blow up this base, the crazies and the virus, and take that ride back with Tucker. He’ll do anything to save his dumb ass, including getting us a ride out of this sector. I’m hoping Karr can get back here, but with that EBE-C3 alien ship out there, who the hell knows if they’ll ever get back alive?
“So, orders are to get to the central power reactor and set it to overload by destroying the cooling rods. We’ll line them up with C4 and then we’ll regroup on the east end with the scientists and Tucker. We’ll use the BOT shuttle to get to the BOT cruiser. I’m sure Tucker will see it our way once I talk to him.”
“Ace, you know blowing up the nuke reactor with a critical mass overload is essentially the same as a tactical nuke explosion. It’ll take out a good ten kilo sector. That’s a little overkill—don’t ya think?”
“It might be, but I wanna make sure we kill and radiate anything that’s been near this base. Karr gave the okay to nuke this place if we couldn’t save it. I know it sucks, but there’s a bunch of infected Nomads surrounding this base. We need to be double sure we wipe it out … otherwise, some assholes like BOT will come back looking for the virus to study again. You with the program?”
Jimbo nodded. “I sure am, Ace. We got it. We’ll proceed to the crazy sector and see if we can get a hold of Tucker. Once we get him, we’ll push out to the east gate. There’s a northern route I think we’ll take. Gotta feeling it’s gonna get messy with those Nomads.”
“I’m sure you and Ivan can handle it. But with or without Tucker, I want you back on time. Okay? We’re gonna first meet up with Dr. Mitchell’s folks and then hook up at the east gate in one hour. Set your watches on T minus one hour for the rendezvous. Set your charges for T min
us two hours. That’ll give us time to get the fuck out before the fireworks. Good luck with the rainy day operation.”
“Ace,” said Ivan, talking into his badge and looking at his finger.
“What’s up, good buddy?”
“Yogi ? How do you know?”
“Yogi showed me some black blood on wire. Alien cut his hands on cable.”
Jimbo walked over to the jammer. Sure enough, there was some black, gooey liquid. “He’s right, Ace. I see that blood. Looks like our shooter cut out the jammer. Probably cutting into his signal, too.”
“Doesn’t matter, just proceed as instructed. See you guys in an hour. Be there with or without Tucker. If you have to kill him to stop him—kill him. We can’t afford to let him get on that shuttle with that virus.”
“Roger that,” said Jimbo.
***
“Doc,” said Ace. “You get back to your scientists. Tell your people to head out to the east tunnel.”
“Aren’t you coming?” asked Doc Mitchell. “You said you were gonna help us get there. There could be crazies out there.”
Ace looked over at Kiya and was about to speak, but she cut him off.
“Ace,” she said with a smile that said “I already know what you’re thinking.”
“What?”
“You believe the comm line is bugged, don’t you, Ace? That’s why you’re gonna go and help Jimbo and Ivan. I heard you use some kind of code to Ivan about a ‘rainy day’. You want me to take the scientists out the east side and hook up later—don’t you? I can read you pretty well when I want to, can’t I?”
Ace smiled at Kiya, who smiled back and put her hands on her curvy hips. She had a real sexy tight ass that Ace had uncontrollably looked at more than once, as well as big, soft, rosy lips and somewhat large breasts for an Asian. He didn’t want anything to happen to Kiya or Janice, and he knew that Kiya could do more than a fine job in protecting the scientists.