by J. A. James
Yuck. Human injuries were grotesque. He stepped into his suit, realizing with relief that it wasn’t as badly damaged as he’d assumed. He heard the distinct hum and beeps of the suit fusing with his body as soon as he slid into it.
He ran an observant eye over the suit as a small blue light ran along the suit, zipping him fully into the fit. There were several areas which had thinned out a few millimetres from the explosion. Which could be expected given the heat and intensity of the explosion. But everything seemed to be intact…
Then, the door opened again. He froze - coming face to face with her once again. She stood there, slack-jawed.
Praggt!
Their eyes met with a silence.
"You're - you're..." she uttered, failing to put the sentence together.
While the suit may have been damaged, it had remained one hundred per cent functional. His hands no longer had the burns. It repaired all his damaged cells. The reflection in her eyes told him so. He had healed completely in record time… one of the suit’s major functions.
The technology for whole-body healing had already been discovered by human scientists decades ago. But, as were all discoveries with huge political, economic and social implications, the discovery was kept and buried with the group of six scientists who had made the discovery. The Acruvae, however, harnessed the technology for their own purposes.
He stepped towards her, seeing the scared look on her face. He didn't blame her.
"Look," he said to her in a calm voice. He modulated his voice to stay at this tonal range, hoping it would calm her. He saw her irises soften, and felt a wave of relief. The last thing he needed was a nurse alerting everyone to the miraculous recovery that had just occurred.
"You didn't see me here. I just disappeared, ok?" He paused for a moment, thinking about what he ought to tell her. "I work undercover. I’m a special agent.” That wasn’t far from the truth, was it?
He hoped she believed him.
"It was a mistake that I ended up here," he said slowly. "It would be in your best interest to have not seen me...like this. Don’t mention this. To anyone."
She nodded, her eyes still round saucers. "Okay. I never saw you. I… I didn’t know where you went."
As far as he could tell, she believed him. But then again - maybe everything was so unbelievable that she thought she was in a dream.
"Thank you," he whispered. He reached out with one arm directed towards her, and began walking towards her, closing in on the few feet between them as her eyes began closing.
“What - what is going on…” she murmured woozily as he caught her slumping frame.
The skin contact with her brought an instant sensation through his hands. She was warm. He could sense that she wouldn't be any trouble. It wasn't in her aura. Or her lifeline.
“It’s just a mild sedative,” he said quietly to her, as he pulled her onto the cot. He had released it quietly when she had come back into the room without notice.
He didn’t think he would have to employ one of the suit’s more defensive functions so early on, but he couldn’t afford to take a chance. The sedative was harmless. It would put her unconscious for a little while, with no side effects when she woke up.
He turned around, and quickly strapped his bag over his head.
He opened the window to the room. He was at least forty-odd floors above the street level. He glanced around. The sun was setting, and the shadows were hitting this side of the hospital almost exactly at the perfect angle, shielding him from clear view. But he couldn’t wait for the perfect moment. It had to be now. He pulled his helmet on and slid out the window, shutting it behind him. Then he jumped.
CHAPTER 13
Gravity plummeted him downwards. He spotted the overhang just below him, at the 25th story level. He kept his body facing the building as he readied his arms to grab the plastic overhang - and as he did, he felt the impact force of his arms hitting metal just before he gripped the bar.
He grimaced from the reverberation of pain. It was surprising, actually. He really had to remember that he was simply human now, equipped with Acruvae gear. He dangled briefly on the edge of the overhang, held up by his arms. He turned his head to the left to spot a narrow stucco patio beneath him.
He gingerly slung himself feet-first onto the patio. He looked through the glass sliding door to see if there was anyone there. No sign of movement.
He slid the door open and looked inside. It was another hospital room, but empty. He had to get out of the hospital and into a safe zone.
Safe Zones allowed the Acruvae on Earth to work without the fear of being detected. If they hadn't already found him, he thought, something in his suit had been damaged in his escape. But since it was nearly fully operational, it was only a matter of time.
He had memorized the coordinates of the closest Safe Zone. It was no more than four kilometres away. He had to get to the ground floor, then to the street.
But wait. If he was already hunted from above, likely he would be here as well. What if his name was all over the safe zones? What if Ithes was waiting for him to come into one?
Griesen skidded to a halt. No. He couldn’t go. He closed his eyes in frustration. What could he do now? He stood in the middle of a street, where dozens of uninterested passerbys walked past him. It was past dusk; the smell of almonds and fried fish wafted through his nose.
Only one answer came to mind. Halva. He had to find her and see if he could still bridge her. If there was still a chance.
His helmet rapidly mapped the coordinates of her apartment. He looked at the sky; night was falling. Soon, he would have the protection of the night sky. He approached the building quickly. The building he had seen a thousand times and knew from inside out after countless hours focusing on his case study.
The sun was quickly coming down in the humid heat of the city. Now half the buildings were already shielded in darkness; and for that, Griesen felt a momentary relief. It was another thin veil of protection which somehow provided an antidote against his growing sense of vulnerability. He felt like he was moving in molasses; gravity was an unavoidable force he would have to grow accustomed to.
Halva was on the fifteenth floor of the brick building. He needed to see whether she was still there. It worried him - if Ithes' guards had been so intent on capturing him, would they have somehow eliminated her?
Why would they want to stop Halva from ascension? He didn’t have the answer, yet – but it was becoming painfully obvious that they intended to stop him from finding out.
He stopped in front of the building. He saw the emergency stairwell snaking itself up the building in an elongated Z configuration, to which lead directly to Halva’s bathroom window. He grabbed the rungs and began climbing, reaching the fifteenth-floor opening quickly.
Was it open? Yes. He took a look around before sliding it open and pulling himself inwards, feet-first. He grunted as he compressed his shoulders as much as he could to get through the final third of the way. Hopefully this was the last window he needed to get through today.
The white tiled floors were spotless. He silently moved through the bathroom and opened the bathroom door, waiting to hear any noises. He was greeted by a long moment of silence. Acruvae hearing was ten times more sensitive than a Human’s, and now everything seemed muffled to his Human ears.
Nobody was home. That was expected. He checked his watch. It was ten to eight now.
Griesen walked slowly into Halva’s living room, an open floor plan illuminated now with the reflecting city lights glimmering from surrounding buildings. And then, footsteps. He cocked his head towards the door. He heard not one pair, but two pairs of footsteps. Halva had company.
The door rattled with the jangle of keys. Griesen sprang from the kitchen to her bedroom, where he left the door slightly ajar.
The sound of voices came through a few moments later. Halva. She was with Edith.
“Damn him,” Halva said as they walked through the door. “He’ll be there tonigh
t?”
“Of course.” Edith’s voice sighed. “He’s like a pesky little fruit fly. Everywhere you don’t want him to be.”
"Want a drink?" he heard Halva ask her.
"Of course," Edith said.
He held his breath. The fridge door opened, and he heard Halva ask, "White? I’ll drive. I’d almost ask you to… given our company tonight."
Edith laughed. "You know how much I adore white wine. And it’s too late. I’m taking the drink.”
He heard the sound of glasses clinking. From the narrow opening, he saw both their backs turned to him. They were still dressed in work attire as Halva poured a glass of wine for Edith.
Then his visor flicked, and he startled, seeing two red dots in close proximity. His internal alarm bells were buzzing. Someone else was here - or close by.
He gingerly opened the door another inch, which gave him a wider angle into the living area. His face paled in an instant when he saw not one, but two - men who had rappelled down to the patio door opening the moment he had glanced through the crack of the door. He knew they were not ordinary mortals - their fluid motions, sylph-like, landed without a sound as they looked through the glass.
Halva and Edith continued talking as they moved to the dining table.
Ithes' guards. Griesen recognized them straightaway - they were dressed in the same garb he was. They were here to eliminate Halva. He felt it, then. He knew it.
"We're in position A." A voice came through quickly on his helmet. Griesen nearly jumped from the closeness of the noise, and realized then that he was on the same frequency as Ithes' guards. It was from the helmet - this made sense, he realized. As long as he wore the helmet, then he could also be on top of the communications from Ithes' team. As long as they didn't realize that he had the helmet and was alive…
"Take cover. Where did that woman come from?" The second voice almost overlapped the first one. "She was not in the plan. Who the hell let her in?"
They wouldn't jeopardize their cover by eliminating Halva with another human witness. There would be too much to cover up.
"Taking cover. Now." And then the two shadowy men disappeared upwards as quickly as they had appeared.
That instant, Halva looked over to the patio door. "Weird," she murmured.
"What?" Edith asked her.
She looked out in a moment of silence. "I thought I heard something."
Oh, you were right, Griesen thought. He tried to shake off the sense of foreboding that continued to follow him. They were here. Tracking her already. He would have to somehow make sure that Halva stayed protected and away from the hands of the guards.
Edith finished her glass of wine, placing the empty glass down on the table. "Well, that’ll take the edge off,” she said. "Shall we? Ready?"
Yes, Griesen thought. Go with her. You'll be safer with her than here alone with me. And them.
"Give me a moment,” Halva said. “I just need to freshen up.”
Then he heard Halva walking towards her bedroom. Griesen's eyes widened as he jumped to the other side of the bed and rolled in towards the underside, holding his breath. Griesen turned his head towards the opening as he saw Halva’s feet in front of the closet door. Clothes fell to the floor. He could smell the perfume permeating through his clothes and through his nostrils. His nose itched slightly, and he forced himself to hold his breath.
"What should I wear tonight, Edith?" she asked loudly while rifling through her closet.
"It's business casual, isn't it?" Edith responded. "What was wrong with what you were wearing?”
Halva groaned. “It smelled like soup. I don’t want eau de cilantro on me, even though it might be somewhat good for business.”
Moments later, Halva slid the closet door closed and her footsteps retreated to the bathroom.
"Well, look forward to the hors d'oeuvres because I hear they are going to be catered by the fabulous Special & Supreme Brothers!” Edith called out.
Griesen felt momentary relief. They were going off together. Halva would be safe for that duration of time. Safer, he corrected himself. Who knew what Ithes' guards had planned. He shuffled himself out from underneath the bed and onto the floor.
A white invitation card caught his eye. It was sticking out of Halva’s jacket pocket. He pulled it out. Indeed, it was tonight's function - a charity event. It included a silent auction to raise money for a local school scholarship.
He honed in on the address of the function. It was in forty-five minutes - and Griesen was going to make sure they got there in one piece.
Griesen was betting on the fact that the guards could not risk taking Halva out - in front of everybody, anyways. It would be too delicate of a situation to extricate themselves from. That was his gamble. He hoped he was right.
CHAPTER 14
He sat in a car across from Halva’s building, waiting for them to come out. Within minutes, the garage door opened and her silver Ford pulled out with both expected parties.
He waited until the Ford was several car lengths in front before he started the ignition and began to follow them towards their destination. The charity auction was being held not far from Halva’s place - roughly twenty minutes away. These things were oftentimes dull, but necessary to attend, in order to further one's selfish ambitions, Griesen thought. The tax deductions helped too.
They arrived shortly, rolling into an undercover garage.
Griesen watched them walk into the building as they saw other colleagues, greeting them. He didn't have as much time as he wished, with the guards already on his tail. He was going to have to expedite his plans here on Gaia to close the gap with Halva. He had to. There was no other choice.
The hotel was a well-preserved renaissance building that didn’t need much dressing up. It was a handsomely maintained structure. The marble staircases with ornately carved vaulted ceilings lent itself well to any occasion, including this one.
Griesen waited a few minutes before going up the stairs. En route, he had ducked into a dry cleaners and found himself a well-fitted shirt and dress pants for the occasion. He entered the ballroom, following the noise of the crowd. He was greeted by the sight of 70-foot ceilings and crystal chandeliers. Already there were close to a hundred people present.
He caught sight of Halva, and made his way towards her. She was dressed in a minimalist grey sheath, laughing with a couple standing next to her. Her hair was up in a ponytail, and she had earrings on that sparkled from a distance. He knew they had been a gift from Edith - for her first birthday after she had begun working for the Silver Spoon.
"Halva," he said. “It’s been a long time.”
Halva turned towards him. He had a ready smile on his face as he stuck out his hand. "Garrett. It’s wonderful to see you again."
Again. Those words reverberated. This had to work.
Halva’s pupils widened as she took Griesen's hands hesitantly. "Garrett," he repeated.
Griesen could see the gears turning in her head.
"Elementary school," he said. "We had the same teachers almost throughout." He looked into Halva’s eyes as they began to register.
"Ohhhh!" Halva then exclaimed. Her smile then expanded generously, becoming real then. "Garrett! My god, how on earth did you find me here -?"
Griesen's smile then matched Halva’s enthusiasm. Inside, he was almost giddy with relief. The memory plant had worked.
He started to explain, forcing himself to go at a slower pace, wanting not to seem nervous. "I started work at a firm close to your catering company. Someone there mentioned your name and it kind of came to me that it might have been you, after I asked a few questions to my colleague. I actually looked for you since then because I never thought -"
" - Never thought we would ever meet anyone from our small crackerville town again!" Halva finished his sentence for him.
They both started laughing.
Griesen was relieved. The memory had worked. Garrett had been a real person in Halva's life back in
the elementary school days. Real back then…only Garrett had moved away, and been a safe bet as a memory plant.
Griesen's smile widened, and his eyes shifted over to Edith.
Halva noticed. "And this is my dear friend Edith, proud owner of the Silver Spoon. Edith, meet Garrett. He's a longtime friend of mine. We go back a long time."
“The world is small,” Griesen said, smiling as he extended his hand to her. He felt her return a firm handshake and warm smile. Human skin was much warmer than Acruvae skin. Something he had to get accustomed to.
"Lovely to meet you," he said nodding slightly to her. He spoke to Halva again. "We should catch up. Coffee sometime next week?"
"Love to." Halva smiled back. “What a small world,” she remarked to him. She reached into her pocket, fishing out a business card and handing it to him. "I'm looking forward to it."
The auctioneer's voice, a female's, suddenly was overheard on the microphone.
"Ladies and gentlemen," she said. "We will be starting the auction shortly. Please take your seats."
The auction ran its course for about two hours. Griesen tried not to yawn through all the proceedings, having settled himself into one of the roundtables near the back.
Halva and Edith were sitting a few tables up from him, alongside a handful of other local business owners. Edith placed quite a few bids on the items that came from the local businesses, law firms and non-profits.
Griesen was all-too familiar with the social scene from the information-gathering work he had done on Halva. The evening was Ross Caines’ annual fundraiser, a wealthy business owner of considerable influence in the city who had gone on to raise awareness of breast cancer since his wife died from it over a decade ago.
It was a pity that the Caines' legacy would be neutered with his daughter. Alice was relatively well-behaved tonight in her seat at the head table. Griesen guessed there was little that interested her about the auction, as her head was bent over on her phone for most of the event. She was a wild party-goer who filled the tabloid headlines with her antics. Her father donated large sums of money to the local papers in order to keep most of the stories tamer than they would have been without his greenbacks.