by Darrell Pitt
What language is that? She didn’t recognise it. The up button was the only thing that mattered and it was obvious enough. She pushed it and waited.
A few seconds passed. The doors opened and –
Brodie’s mouth fell open. The occupant of the elevator was over six feet in height, covered in scales and had a face not unlike that of a fish; its eyes were placed back on the sides of its head. The hairless creature fell back in surprise as it stared in astonishment at Brodie. Its mouth fell open to reveal two thin rows of even teeth. A weapon vaguely resembling a pistol hung from its belt.
“I’m looking for handbags.” Brodie recovered quickly. “Which floor is that?”
She didn’t wait for a reply. The creature reached for its weapon as she leapt into action. Brodie aimed a kick directly at its groin – she assumed its physiology was similar to that of a human – and followed up with three rapid punches to its jaw.
The thing hit the back of the lift before slowly sliding to the floor.
“You’re the ugliest modification I’ve ever seen,” Brodie said. “You make Jabba the Hutt look good.”
She had to hurry now. Dragging the ugly brute out of the elevator, she grabbed his sidearm and jumped into the recess. Her eyes searched the display. Once again, the symbols were unfamiliar, but it was easy enough to ascertain the button for the top floor. She stabbed the control. As the elevator zoomed up through the ship at an amazing speed, she checked the gun. The barrel of it ended in a metallic grill; obviously this thing did not fire bullets. Apart from that, it was a simple enough weapon and seemed to have only one setting.
Shoot, Brodie thought. That’s easy enough.
Her heart was thumping now. She had the element of surprise on her side, but not much else. This was not going to be easy.
The elevator doors whizzed open.
Brodie realised two things at once. One was that she had successfully reached the bridge of the ship – she could see a massive row of windows. Through them she could see that night had fallen and an ocean of stars filled the glass.
This detail fell to insignificance, however, as she realised the command centre was being run by twenty creatures similar to the one she had just dispatched several floors below. She stood staring at the bizarre-looking creatures for all of five seconds before realising that going down to another floor would be a good choice.
Except at that moment an alarm sounded – a long peal of doom that made every fishhead look up at each other. One of them happened to glance sideways at the open doors of the elevator.
“Nuts,” Brodie said.
She started forward, firing wildly and taking down eight of the creatures in a matter of seconds. At that point one of them fired back, stunning her, and she dropped the gun. Taking a woozy step forward, she shook her head to clear it, slammed her fist into the stomach of one of the nearby creatures and lifted it into the air.
The unfortunate victim then became a live battering ram as Brodie used it as both a weapon and a shield, smashing several of the other creatures to the ground while deflecting shots with its body. She had successfully taken down fifteen of the monsters before one of them came up behind her and stunned her a second time.
She sank to her knees, dropping her living shield head first into the floor. It was only when she was picked up that she looked through half open eyes to see the scene outside the window. It was crisply black, blacker than any night sky seen from Earth.
That’s when the planet rolled into view. She saw the thin layer of atmosphere, an enormous expanse of ocean, layers of cloud and the East Coast of North America.
I am on a ship, Brodie thought. A spaceship.
Then everything went black around her.
Chapter Five
I arrived at the warehouse with five minutes to spare. By then I felt so stressed that the back of my head was throbbing with tension. The Agency forbade us from using our powers for anything other than Agency business, but this time I was prepared to make an exception. I had flown around the outskirts of the city before landing behind a warehouse in a rundown section of town where Las Vegas crumbled into desert.
This was the part of town that tourists didn’t get to see. Abandoned buildings fighting a losing battle against nature. Decaying roads in need of repair. Even the homeless didn’t come to this part of town; there was no one to panhandle from and there was nowhere to buy food anyway.
I had done my best to stay focused on how to handle this situation, but by the time I landed I realised I’d barely moved forward an inch in my plans. There was one all-consuming thought that had taken over my brain.
They had Brodie.
They had kidnapped my girlfriend.
I felt as helpless as anyone else who has ever been blackmailed by a kidnapper. My powers had not given me an advantage; at least, not yet anyway. The short message sent on my phone was succinct and straight to the point: the kidnappers would kill Brodie if I did not follow their instructions; I was not to tell another living being about her kidnapping. Not anyone at The Agency. Not the police. Not any of my friends.
I was alone.
Looking out at the desert, I saw the never-ending horizon stretching away into the distance. The warehouse was surrounded by a wire fence. There was no sign of cars or other vehicles. No tracks in the sand. The building was little more than a huge sheet metal shed. It looked like one big wind might knock it down completely. The front door was slightly ajar. As I slowly walked toward it, I threw up a barrier around myself. At least if anyone attacked me, I would be prepared.
Easing myself through the gap in the door, I found the interior to be dry and dusty. A timber mezzanine level ran around the top floor of the building. Old wooden boxes lay everywhere on the ground floor, but they all appeared to be overturned and empty. It was impossible to see what lay behind the boxes on the upper level.
Here goes nothing, I thought.
I stepped into the building, keeping my eyes trained on the mezzanine at all times. If anyone was up there, they –
A thing stepped out from behind one of the piles of boxes.
I say thing because it was not human. It was either an alien or a seriously enhanced mod. Enhanced humans were no surprise to me. I had encountered several of them already, although this thing looked radically different. It was tall, covered in scales and had a head not unlike a fish. A weapon’s holster hung from its waist, but its gun was firmly planted in its hand. This was the last thing I expected, although when I thought about it I realised that Brodie would never be brought down by a regular kidnapper.
“Where’s Brodie?” I asked.
“I am Graal,” the creature said. “I am from a planet many light years from here. A planet called Tagaar. And I am disappointed. I had hoped you would attack me on sight.”
So I obliged him.
Lifting my arm, I used a ball of air to knock the gun from his hand. Then I dragged him down off the floor above and crashed him into the ground. Racing over to him, I slipped an arm around his neck as he started to rise. He looked momentarily dazed, but responded by flipping me over into a pile of boxes.
To really rile me up, he slowly rose to his feet and laughed.
I got ready to throw a hurricane at him.
“That would not be advisable,” he said. “You have proven my point. You humans are a warlike race. You relish in your bloodshed. Your whole history is made up of killing those who are weaker.”
I was not interested in defending the history of the human race. “Where’s Brodie?”
“She is safe.” Graal tilted his head and regarded me through one eye. “For now. If you want her to remain uninjured you will follow my instructions exactly.”
As I looked at him I realised his lips were not matching his words exactly. They seemed to be out of sync.
“You are a primitive people,” he said. “Of course, I am using a translator to communicate with you. My species was spanning the stars while you were still living in caves and eating raw
meat.”
I decided to challenge him. “Why are you kidnapping an innocent girl if you’re so advanced?”
“I have my reasons.”
I felt like beating him to death so I could find out those reasons. He lifted his head and laughed again.
“Good. I see your anger,” he said. “I like rage in a species.”
“I want evidence that Brodie is still alive.”
“I will not give it to you.”
I took a single step toward him and heard the sound of muffled feet from above. Glancing up, I saw a dozen similarly dressed aliens step out from behind boxes with their guns trained on me.
The headache in the back of my head switched to full gear as I felt the urge to tear Graal into pieces.
“What do you want?” I asked.
“I wish you to run an errand for me.” He paused. “There is a vault deep within The Agency building where you are housed.”
“So?”
“A weapon is located in that vault. It was developed by the country known on your planet as China. I want that weapon stolen and delivered to me.”
“The Agency is built like an underground fortress,” I said. “How am I supposed to break into the vault?”
“I have instructions on how to reach it. You will use your powers to steal the weapon.”
“What does it do?”
A smile played across the alien’s lips. “It is most ingenious. It is a type of gun called the Stonekiller. It converts its victim into a type of living rock. They are unable to move a muscle, yet they remain alive, locked within the rock for all time.”
I tried to imagine such a fate. “That’s sick.”
“It is creative,” Graal laughed. “Even my own people have not developed such a weapon. Only a perverse and violent species such as you humans could develop a torture so terrible.”
“We are not all like that,” I said. “Most people want to live in peace.”
Graal shook his head. “You misunderstand me, boy. I praise the savagery of your species. The Tagaar are a warrior race. We have driven more species to extinction than you can imagine.”
Great. Another unwanted history lesson.
“I want proof that Brodie is still alive.”
“You will simply have to take my word for that.”
“Why should I trust you?”
“Because you have no other choice.” He tapped a patch on his wrist and a holographic map appeared in the air before me. I recognised it immediately. It was a three-dimensional schema of The Agency. How they had acquired a map of the secret organisation was anyone’s guess.
“I will show you how to retrieve the Stonekiller,” Graal said. “When you have delivered it to me, I will talk to you about saving the woman you love.”
Chapter Six
“Boys?” Ebony asked. “Have you seen Axel?”
Dan and Chad looked up at her from their respective positions in the games room. Chad was doing bench presses. Dan was in the middle of a computer game called Burning Swords.
“No.” Dan did not look up from his game.
“Uh-uh.” Chad continued to push the weights up into the air.
“Fine.” She glared at both of them. “It’ll have to be you two then.”
“Us two…what?” Dan asked. He was at level seventy-two in the game and so far had been defeated by a three-headed, six-armed medieval warrior no fewer than fifteen times. He felt certain that if he –
Ebony folded her arms. “We’re going to spend some time with Ferdy.”
“We already spent some time with Ferdy.” Chad continued to work out with the barbell. “We sent Mr. Robot Man to jail and made the world a better place. Don’t you remember, sis?”
“I remember.” Ebony pursed her lips. “I also remember that you boys have hardly spent any time at all with Ferdy over the last week.”
“That’s not true.” Chad rested the weight on the support bar. He slipped his shirt on. “I’ve spent plenty of time with Ferdy.”
“Really? When?”
“Oh…” He thought for a moment. “Oh, just lots of time.”
“Ferdy needs us,” Ebony said. “He needs human contact.”
Dan sat down his computer game. The medieval warrior had defeated him for the sixteenth time. “Come on, Ebony. We give him lots of attention. He’s like a brother to us.”
“You certainly don’t act like he’s a brother.”
“Maybe a cousin.”
“Whatever.”
“He acts like we’re in the way,” Chad said. “He seems to like the computer more than he likes me.”
“A lot of people probably feel that way.” The sarcasm was lost on Chad. “Ferdy needs people. He needs us.” She paused. “Whether he knows it or not.”
“Sis…” Chad made one last feeble attempt.
“We’re a family,” she said. “Come on.”
She waited until she knew the boys were following her, then started down the corridor to Ferdy’s room. The Agency had given him his own private chambers in the middle of one of the floors of the hotel. It had no windows, a feature that Ebony had opposed, but she could understand the logic of it.
It wasn’t that The Agency considered Ferdy dangerous, but Agent Palmer had pointed out to them that Ferdy sometimes didn’t know his own strength. He could lift a car and throw it fifty feet with little effort. What if he suddenly got it into his head to pick up a computer and hurl it at a passing vehicle?
Ebony was determined to make Ferdy feel wanted. It was the only way to bring him out of his autistic shell. She knocked at his door.
No answer.
She knocked again.
“Ferdy!” she called. “Are you in there?”
“Ferdy is playing chess,” his voice replied.
“Can we come in?”
“Chess originated in India in the sixth century!”
“That’s great, Ferdy. Can we come in?”
There was a long pause and then the door inched open. His face appeared in the gap.
“You are Ferdy’s friends,” he said. “Ferdy is playing chess.”
“Can we come in?” Chad asked. “We thought we might hang out.”
“Spend some time together,” Dan said.
“Time is relative,” Ferdy said. “Technically it is time/space.”
The three of them looked at each other before returning their gaze to Ferdy. They tried to look friendly.
“Come in,” Ferdy said.
They entered his room. Ebony glanced around. His quarters had changed little since they had arrived at The Agency. He had little in the way of possessions – not that any of them did – but his room looked more Spartan than their own. The few possessions he had acquired were neatly placed on shelves. A dozen computer monitors lined the walls. A chess set sat on the table in the middle of the room.
“You’re very tidy,” Dan said. “You can come and tidy our room if you like.”
“Ferdy cannot do the impossible,” Ferdy said.
“Oh,” Dan said. “Look, I was –”
“Ferdy is joking,” he said. “Ferdy was making a funny joke with his friends.”
Chad’s eyes settled on the chess set. “Who were you playing against?”
“The computer,” Ferdy said. “Ferdy is playing one hundred and seven games.”
Ebony thought she had misheard him. “You mean you’ve played a hundred and seven games against the computer?”
“No. Ferdy has played nine thousand, seven hundred and forty-one games since coming to live at the Las Vegas branch of The Agency.” He went over to a control panel and the dozen monitors sprang to life. They showed a multitude of chess games in various stages of play. “Ferdy is concurrently playing one hundred and seven games against The Agency computer.”
“Concurrently?” Dan said.
“At the same time?” Chad said.
“That is the meaning of concurrent,” Ferdy said. “Ferdy likes to play chess.”
“Are you win
ning many?” Chad asked.
He looked at Chad as if he had said something strange. “Ferdy always wins.”
“Always?” Dan laughed.
“Always is a period of time without barriers, but traditionally understood to continue into the future,” Ferdy explained. “There have also been more than twelve musical albums entitled Always as well as over thirty individual songs with the same name. In addition –”
“Uh, we get the idea,” Ebony said. “We were thinking about going up to the roof to play ball.”
“Ball?”
“Yeah, you know, Ferdy,” Chad said. “A spherical object typically made of –”
“Chad!” Ebony snapped.
“We’re going to throw a ball around,” Chad said.
“Around what?”
“To each other,” Ebony explained. “We’ll throw it to each other. You know, for fun.”
“Ferdy finds this difficult to understand,” he said. “If each of us wants a ball, then we should just all go and purchase our own balls.”
Dan shook his head. “You could destroy the world of football with that kind of thinking.”
Ebony ignored him. “Let’s go.”
They found an elevator and ascended to the roof, stepping out into the light of a bright afternoon. The Agency owned the entire building, but most of it was still restricted. Fortunately the roof had been left to them, probably because a high wall ran around the exterior, shielding them from the outside world.
“I’m going to throw the ball to Chad,” Ebony said. “Then he will throw it to Dan and he will throw it to you.”
Ebony threw the ball and each of them passed it to each other. When it reached Ferdy, he caught it and stood looking at it. Ebony realised she had left out an important detail.
“Now you throw it to Chad,” she said.
Ferdy threw it. Chad caught it and the game continued. After the ball had done the rounds a few more times, Dan went to catch it, but he winced in sudden pain.
The others hurried over to him.
“What is it, buddy?” Chad asked.
“It’s my head,” he explained. “I’m getting images. It’s Brodie…”