Earth Alert!

by Kris Neville

  CHAPTER VI

  In the space station, Forential sat in his cubicle in mental conferencewith the other aliens. Behind their flow of thoughts was theunreferred-to but ever-present fear for their own lives. Cowardice wastaken for granted; it was so deeply a part of their own culture (if itwasn't somehow a racial characteristic) that it did not need to beacknowledged.

  The aliens always let other races fight their wars of conquest.

  Forential knew that his own personal existence might well hinge on theoutcome of the next few hours. None of the aliens knew how muchknowledge Julia possessed. Unlike the other mutants, she had not beenkept in ignorance of the basic laws of nature. How dangerous she mightbe, they could only guess. Was _she_ capable of attacking them?

  Forential was physically ill; he wanted to flee. If he had had a shipcapable of traveling interstellar distances, he would have embarkedwithout delay. But the huge interstellar ship of his race would not beback for another thirty years. There was no escape from the spacestation; there was no place to go.

  And if the earthlings were not destroyed, if the invasion of Earthfailed, retaliation from the planet would not be long coming. Once theEarth located the space station (and Earth would, once Earth realizedits existence) even human normals would be able to destroy it--onerocket with an atomic war head would do--long before the interstellarship returned.

  Walt could not fail; the invasion could not fail.

  **Let's try to make peace with the earthings,** one of the aliensthought. **It's better than ... than exposing _ourselves_ to physicalviolence!**

  **That would be suicide: once they realized what we had been planning todo to them.**

  **I don't trust them.**

  **Let Forential send down _all_ his charges to kill the female!**

  **Don't be hysterical!** the Elder thought hysterically.

  Forential knew that to send down his charges first might alert Earth tothe danger of invasion: twenty-seven saucer-ships would not gounnoticed. But even if they would, even if Earth remained unaware, sucha course would completely disrupt the plan of conquest.

  **She hasn't realized the menace yet,** the Elder thought. **Walt willkill her. Walt will kill her, won't he, Forential?**

  **Yes.** If only one of us went to make sure, Forential thought. To helphim ... no.... None of us would risk it. It's too dangerous.

  The aliens did not have any equipment to make their single person shipsinvisible. It took bulky distortion machinery; the single person shipswere too large to cover with mental shielding.

  Twenty years ago, yes (Forential thought) we could have risked it. Butnow the radar screens around all the major countries are too tight. Wecould not, like Walt, destroy our ship. We would need it to return in.

  **We must give him all the help we can,** Forential thought.

  **We must.**

  **We must.**

  **Lycan,** the Elder thought. **Can you cut the power of your charges?**

  **An extended period might have a bad psychological effect....**

  **They won't realize the implication--that they're not Lyrians, that wecontrol them--until too late.**

  **If we could give Walt twelve hours,** Forential thought. **... we'vegot to give him every chance!**

  **When do you think he'll be close to her?** the Elder asked.

  Forential consulted his maps. He calculated rapidly.

  **If he travels fast--if he has luck--by another five hours.**

  **Lycan,** the Elder instructed, **continue with training until then.We'll cut off the greater transmitter five hours from now. Twelve hoursshould give Walt more than enough time to kill her. It will be mutanttrying to kill an earth-normal. He can't fail!**

  **He can't fail,** they echoed nervously.

  **Will twelve hours be enough?**

  **If he does, somehow, fail, we can't risk delaying the invasion morethan that.**

  **I will see that it doesn't delay the invasion,** Lycan promised.**I'll train them right through normalcy.**

  * * * * *

  Walt had arrived in Hollywood. _Wait for me there._ Julia (dressingcarefully) projected to him. _I'll be right over to get you._

  She finished combing her hair. She went to her handbag, snapped itclosed decisively, and slipped it over her arm. She was smiling.

  On her way out of the room, she picked up the book on brain surgery thatshe hadn't yet had the chance to read. She skimmed through it in thetaxi on the way to pick Walt up.

  She paused a fraction of a second over one of the illustrations; in thattime, she was able to memorize it. My brain, she thought, is differentright there; but I can't see my own brain well enough to tell much; Iwant to look at his for a minute if I can.

  Having finished the book, she held it primly in her lap, tappingimpatiently on it with her fingers.

  There's a lot of things funny about this boy, she thought. I've got toget more information about him. I've got a suspicion he's going to be infor a few surprises.

  (It was less than an hour before the aliens would cut off the largertransmitter.)

  When I first located him for sure, she thought, he was traveling _much_too fast; faster and higher than any experimental rocket I've ever heardof.

  I've got to check on the old flying saucer reports, she thought. They'rethe only things I can remember reading about that were supposed to movethat fast.

  "This is him waiting up here," Julia said to the driver. "Just pull overto the curb."

  A moment later, opening the door, she said, "Get in. I'm Julia."

  "I'm Walt Johnson," he said, flexing his hands. "Let's go someplacewhere we can be alone."

  "Well," she said. "It's good to see you, Walt." She extended her hand.

  He had sealed off his thoughts. His hand was moist in hers; it respondeduncertainly to her warm pressure. She drew him inside. She caught a wispof thought that he was not quite able to conceal. "Back to the hotel,"she told the driver.

  Now I'm _sure_, she thought, that he really tried to teleport me out ofmy hotel room. I wonder why he wanted to? Why should he want to kill me?

  I'll have to keep an eye on him. But he's such a baby. He can't evencontrol his emotions.

  "Your clothing," she said, studying him with professional concern, "isall wrong. We'll just have to get some more. Some to fit yourpersonality better. I'll do that tomorrow."

  Anger crossed his face. He rubbed his hand over his knee and looked downat his trousers. "I like them," he said in a surly voice.

  She was not afraid of him. She had no need to be. He was such aninnocent!

  Why, she thought, he doesn't seem to have any information to draw onhardly at all; he'll be harmless as long as I wish him so.

  "I'm a Lyrian traitor, too," he said.

  "You are?"

  His accent. She could not remember any accent on Earth like that. He hadnot learned his English from an earthman. A Lyrian had taught him?

  "What are you doing here?" he said.

  Boy! she thought. Is his conversation naive! Keep him talking, girl!

  She studied his face. She thought: Get 'em young and raise 'em to suityourself, Julia.

  * * * * *

  She added up the facts she had already discovered. He was, like herself,a human mutant. (I must check, she thought, to see if there were anyhuman babies missing during the last flying saucer scare twenty-fouryears ago, the year I was born.) The mutants had been collected atbirth, but the collectors had overlooked her. Walt had traveled herefrom (where? Mars? Luna?) in order to rectify this oversight by puttingher out of the way. Why? Obviously he owed allegiance to the collectors(Lyrians?) from whom he had probably learned--among other things--hisatrocious accent. He was--

  She had ignored his question, so he asked another one. "Where is thewar?"

  "War?" Julia repeated. She frowned delicately. "There's no war. Not rightnow. The international situation is getting better, I think." War? sheasked herself. He's go
t a lot of misinformation about us.

  She kept trying to _see_ into the physical structure of his brain. Ah,she thought, yes. Right there--

  A bridge there, all right.

  It's probably an easy mutation, she thought. Probably latent ineveryone's genes. The next development of man? (But how many centurieswill it take for it to come out again?) How did the collectors producethe mutation in the first place--assuming they did produce (as well asharvest) it?

  Could, she thought, a surgeon--operate, as it were--on an adult brain toproduce the bridge?... I'll have to take up surgery. A few months tolearn technique. I think I could. It's easy to heal, because of thesubconscious pattern (the cellular pattern?) but to--operate--tochange--to build into a different structure, so that would requireexperiments and study, perhaps actual knife work....

  "There _has_ to be a war," Walt said. "Forential told us there was."

  "There isn't. Not now." Forential? A non-human? An alien?

  "He told us," Walt said.

  "He lied," Julia said.

  "He doesn't lie."

  Julia shrugged. Walt is a loyal follower, she thought. "There's no war.Maybe he meant there would be one shortly; maybe it was a prematureannouncement." Lord! do these aliens have some way of prodding theRussian bear? she thought. Or how the devil are they--Forentials,wherever they are--thinking of starting a war?

  Walt refused to consider her denial. He did not look her in the face. "Ilike you," he said. He was desperate to change the subject. "Your smile.You're so ... so ..." _nice_. He thought the last word; he took the riskthat she might peep his other thoughts. He was almost certain she couldnot; he hoped to peep hers if she thought a reply. Forential couldn't bea liar!

  Julia knew they were both incorrect: his statement and his conviction.But she liked to hear him say he liked her. I guess, she thought, he'strying to lull my suspicions. Maybe I better lull his, too....

  She smiled sweetly.

  "You see, I've never seen a Lyrian female before," Walt said."... except one on the ship just the other day; but just one, before."

  Is Lyria supposed to be a _planet_? she thought to herself. "You'venever been to Lyria, then, have you?"

  "... we were very young when we left."

  He doesn't even know he's a native of Earth! Julia thought. "You know,"she said, "I'll bet I know more about you than you think I do."

  That brought a fear reaction from Walt.

  _You don't need to be afraid of me_, Julia thought soothingly.

  (She had scarcely half an hour left before the aliens shut off the bigtransmitter.)

  "How soon.... When will we get to the hotel?"

  "Soon, now," Julia said.

  "We'll be alone?" Walt said.

  "We'll have a chance to talk; there are a lot of things for us to talkabout."

  "Yes," he said. He began to rub his hands over one another. His growingexcitement and his hatred bubbled just below the surface of his mind;Julia could feel the emotions without him being aware that she could.

  My, she thought. He's going to take a lot of re-educating before hemakes a very good husband.

  * * * * *

  When they entered the hotel room, Walt found his throat expanding withexcitement.

  Forential, he thought, will be pleased that I have killed her in secret.No one on Earth will ever know who she was killed by. When she is dead,I can slip out of the hotel and ... and invisible, I can steal food anddrink and stay in empty rooms until the invasion comes; and when itdoes, then I can start teleporting earthlings and slaying them with myhands, and.... She doesn't suspect, he thought, that I am going to killher in just a moment.

  He complimented himself on how cleverly he had concealed his intentions.

  Covertly he surveyed the room. The pitcher on the table? The chair? Whatwith? A sudden numbing blow--like the blow Calvin delivered to John.Then, afterwards, hands, knees, fingers--and she will be dead.

  He saw himself rising triumphant from her still body. Saw Forential(when, later, he heard of it) smiling approval, saw his mates listeningawe struck.... His breath trembled in his throat; his arms ached to bemoving.

  "Won't you sit down?" she said.

  I will wait until she is off guard, he thought. Smiling in anticipation,he sat down.

  ... she doesn't, he thought, seem like a traitor. Such bright, cleareyes. She seems, so nice, so trusting, so innocent. It was foolish tohave been afraid of meeting her. She's small and harmless. I wish sheweren't a traitor; maybe--

  But Forential knows.

  (How about the war? Why did Forential say there was a war?)

  Forential knows. He said to kill her.

  Julia, studying him with faint amusement, said "Have you looked at yourbrain? I have a picture of a human brain here. I want to show you howalike they are."

  "Lyrians have a superficial resemblance to earthlings."

  "Look at this. Very similar. The same, almost."

  Walt shifted uneasily. Her eyes did not move from his face. What was shegetting at?

  "I wonder," she said, "why we ... Lyrians ... have had certain powersgiven to us just recently? Why, before, we were no different thanearthlings?"

  Walt frowned. He didn't want to think about it. He had a job to do.

  "There's a--call it--a bridge in our minds. It's just recently beenclosed."

  (It was ten minutes before the larger transmitter was to be turned offfor twelve hours.)

  Walt decided on the pitcher. The answer to her question was suddenlyobvious. "That means we're ready to invade."

  She watched him very closely. Her fingers tapped her knee. "... you saidyou were on a ship?"

  It's almost time to kill her, he thought. I'm sorry, he wanted to say:but I really must. "Yes. A space station."

  "How many of you are there?"

  "Twenty-seven; twenty-eight, counting me."

  "That's not many. Not enough." She bent forward. "You said you saw aLyrian female on the ship. I think there's another group of Lyrians onthe ship. I think they're going to invade first. That's the war yourgroup is supposed to come in on the end of. You're going to be used as aclean-up group."

  "Forential would have told us," Walt said.

  "The question is: _Why didn't he tell you?_"

  Walt realized how terribly sly and dangerous she was. She was too smartto be harmless. Suppose she should warn--but who could she warn?Earthlings? Could they get their atom bombs ready?

  He felt his skin prickle. _Look behind you!_ he thought to her. It hadworked with the officer; it worked with her.

  She turned.

  Savagely, he grasped the pitcher with the mental fingers ofteleportation. He hurled it as hard as he could at the back of her head.

  * * * * *

  Julia was ready for the blow. She had the molecules of the pitcherdisplaced before it was half way to her. It passed through her bodyeasily and smashed against the far wall.

  She turned quickly enough to avoid Walt's rush.

  On her feet now, she wavered into partial displacement.

  Snarling harshly, he advanced on her.

  (There was less than five minutes remaining. One of the aliens hoveredat the larger transmitter.)

  He tried to grab her. His hand passed through her body.

  She smiled.

  He tried to adjust to her level of displacement. He choked. Quickly herealized what was wrong; he rectified the air so he could breathe. Shechanged to normal just as he sprang. He hurtled through her as throughthe air itself.

  She turned to face him. He was panting. "When I was a kid," she said, "Iused to throw rocks when I got mad."

  _Damn you!_ His fists clenched. He towered over her.

  She did not have any more time to waste with him. 'That means,' he hadsaid, 'we're ready to invade.'

  How much time did she have? The full extent of the menace was graduallytaking form in her mind. With an army of indoctrinated mutants....Invasion!
Murder! Destruction! For an instant she wanted to collapse andcry like a frightened little girl.

  What am I going to do? what am I going to do? what am I going to do? shethought frantically.

  I've got to see someone! I've got to convince someone--I've got to showpeople my mutant powers: they'll have to believe me! The President, theArmy....

  How much time?

  She made a distortion field. Invisible, she rushed to the door. Shepaused, returned for her handbag. Holding it, she passed through thedoor.

  I haven't got time to beat reason into his head, she thought. I'll tendto him later.

  Half way down the stairs, she suddenly became visible.