United

by Melissa Landers

  When Cara opened the conference room door, she found Alona’s hologram at the head of the table, but not in miniature form. Somehow she’d magnified her image to life-size, so she blended seamlessly with the dozens of other leaders seated around the long table. It was a wise strategy that demonstrated her understanding of human culture. Despite what people claimed, size mattered.

  Alona noticed Cara, though her face remained impassive. “Welcome, Miss Sweeney. I’ve finished recounting the most recent events for the Council. They’re now aware that the last transport has arrived, and the L’eihr ambassador has been returned home. If Syrine, Aelyx, Larish, and Elyx’a remain hidden on Earth, the Aribol will have no reason to doubt we’ve complied with their demands.”

  Unless Jaxen tells on us, Cara thought. She doubted he would, because it wasn’t in his best interests. If the Aribol destroyed mankind, he’d have no one to rule. But despite that, she couldn’t deny his behavior had grown harder to predict. She never would’ve expected him to abandon Aisly.

  The representative for the European Union raised his hand. “They’ll know when your Voyager ship arrives at their planet.”

  “Irrelevant,” Alona dismissed. “As long as the Voyagers arrive before the deadline, we’re in no violation of the terms. The Aribol demanded the surrender of all intergalactic travel technology by a specific date. They didn’t expressly forbid exploration in the meantime. The official Voyager directive is to engage in peaceful negotiation with Aribol leaders. If the commander is unsuccessful, his orders are to surrender the ship.”

  “But what about the crew?” Cara asked, thinking of Jake and the other human colonists she’d encouraged to volunteer for the mission. She’d had no idea about this. “They’ll be trapped there.”

  “Assuming they’re not executed,” added the representative from China.

  “Perhaps,” Alona droned. “They may die, they may be returned home, or the Aribol may use them to seed a new race. Regardless, I consider it a worthy risk.”

  Cara was still trying to process the news when Alona added, “Now that you understand what has occurred during your … mental absence … I invite you to join me in conferring with the Aribol representative, Zane. The transmission will begin momentarily.”

  Alona was full of surprises today.

  “I ask you to remain silent while I lead the discussion. The less information we reveal, the better.” After scanning all the faces in the room as if to ensure their cooperation, Alona tapped a set of controls out of view, and Zane appeared, his head and shoulders floating above the middle of the table.

  His image looked the same as Cara remembered, a masklike porcelain façade that loosely resembled a human face. She wished her Noven brain was capable of seeing his true form, because the curiosity was killing her.

  Once again, his mouth remained sealed when he spoke. “Greetings, children.”

  Cara fought back a shiver. His computerized voice was eerie.

  “And to you,” Alona replied. She swept a hand toward the opposite end of the table, where Cara stood, not having found a vacant chair. “As you can see, my Chief Human Consultant has returned to her home planet. The colony is vacant, and the last intergalactic transport has returned to L’eihr. Once it is destroyed, your demands will have been met.”

  “Not quite,” Zane told her. “We’ve discovered an error in our original calculations. When we destroyed your Voyager fleet, there was one ship unaccounted for. Where is it?”

  Everyone in the room went collectively still, Alona included. The head Elder didn’t respond. She had to know that if she told Zane the truth, he would order the Voyagers to return home at once.

  Cara thought fast for a way to dodge the question. On a whim, she employed a tactic she’d used countless times on her parents—deflection.

  “The fleet you destroyed?” she asked Zane. “Don’t you mean Aisly? Because I know your secret. She was the one who blew up the spaceport. Oh, she’s dead, by the way. Whatever technology you gave her, it didn’t save her from the laws of physics. She fell into the phosphorus mine she was trying to destroy—on your orders, I assume. But you’ll be glad to know Jaxen’s still alive, wreaking havoc with the clone you made for him.” She narrowed her gaze. “A clone of me, which, for your information, I don’t appreciate very much.”

  “None of this is relevant, young human.”

  “It’s relevant to me,” Cara argued. “Me and everyone else on Earth. You call us your children, but look how you behave. You tear us away from our loved ones on L’eihr, and deny us the wonder of exploring new worlds. You send hybrids to our planet with the unchecked power to kill and destroy, the same hybrids who wanted to enslave mankind and use our people as an infantry against you in a preemptive attack. Are those the actions of a benevolent parent?”

  Zane stared at her with shadowy eyes. “It is our wish to preserve the worlds we’ve seeded, but do not mistake our investment for paternal kindness. Not all gods are benevolent.”

  Gods?

  Cara drew back, struck by the weight of that word. Maybe she couldn’t remember the last time she’d confessed her sins or attended mass, but that didn’t make her beliefs any less sacred. Her faith had never wavered, not even when she’d learned of mankind’s Noven origins. She believed in a Creator for all living things, including the Aribol. She pointed at Zane and told him, “You are not my God.”

  “As you wish. We do not require worship, only obedience.” His veneer swiveled to face Alona. “The next time we speak, you will account for the missing craft.”

  Then he vanished.

  The setting sun painted the sky in a kaleidoscope of pastels, but Aelyx didn’t stop to admire the view. He towed Cara by the hand up the front steps of the safe house porch, eager to claim one of the two existing showers before Elle, Syrine, and Larish beat him to it. He was so filthy he could scratch his name into the grit on his forearm.

  The colonel had returned them to the woods in the interest of hiding the L’eihrs from view, and to ensure that news of their presence on Earth didn’t leak to the media, he’d reduced the security detail to a handful of guards with top-level government clearance. Bill and Eileen Sweeney were also on their way to join them, and if Aelyx hurried, he might be able to share a shower with Cara before her parents arrived … the kind that involved more than bathing.

  But the instant he and Cara crossed the threshold, two pairs of arms pulled them into a hug and the questions began flying. Are you okay? Where have you been? Why haven’t you called? We’ve been worried sick! Then Eileen pulled back to inspect her daughter’s face and gasped in alarm. “Oh, Pepper. What happened to your face?”

  This was why Aelyx had wanted to use the healing accelerant on Cara’s bruises. Her fight with the clone had blackened one eye, and her brother’s recent attack had left a purple, hand-shaped ring around her throat. The damage was only cosmetic, but it wouldn’t appear that way in the eyes of a parent.

  “I’m fine,” Cara insisted. “Believe me, it could’ve been worse. In the last two days, I’ve been attacked by the president, punched by my clone, and strangled by my own br”—she cut off before saying brother and finished smoothly—“bracelet.” She held up her bare wrist. “It fell off in the desert and the clone tried to choke me with it.”

  “That settles it, young lady,” Bill declared, folding his thick arms over his chest. “You’re not leaving this house again.”

  Cara didn’t argue, likely because they’d achieved their goal of finding Jaxen’s ship, and now there was nothing to do until they heard from the Voyagers.

  Troy and the others came bounding through the door. Larish made a beeline for the computer, Eileen snagged Troy in an embrace, and Elle and Syrine darted up the stairs to the bathrooms. Aelyx groaned. The girls would use all the hot water.

  Bill clapped Troy on the shoulder. “I’m glad you looked out for your sister, son.”

  Cara slid a look at her brother while coyly fingering her bruised neck, and Tr
oy admitted, “We looked out for each other, really.”

  Larish called to them from the computer desk in the living room. “The phosphorus mine was destroyed an hour ago. Jaxen must have returned and detonated the explosives.”

  “Rune could’ve done it,” Aelyx pointed out.

  “Either way, Jaxen’s probably alive,” Troy grumbled. “Those hybrids don’t go down easy.”

  Eileen slashed a hand through the air. “No more talk about hybrids, or alien invasions, or secret plots. Let the authorities handle it.”

  “Your mother’s right,” Bill said. “I want you all to clean up, and then we’re going to have a nice dinner in front of the idiot box”—he thumbed toward the television—“just like a normal family. I think the twenty-eighth Batman movie is on.”

  “Sounds perfect,” Cara said, and smiled a bit too sweetly for Aelyx to believe. She led him and Troy up the stairs under the pretense of finding a change of clothes, then tugged them into a vacant room and whispered, “I figured out what our next move should be.”

  Troy snorted. “I’ll bet it doesn’t involve the Dark Knight and a bowl of popcorn.”

  “I want to find Jaxen and talk to him,” she said. “Face to face.”

  Aelyx was so shocked by the absurdity of the idea he could only laugh. He and Troy told her, “No,” at the same time.

  She held both palms forward. “Hear me out. Zane made it clear that he cares for the human race about as much as I cared for the sea monkeys I ordered off the Internet in third grade. Assuming the Aribol don’t blow our Voyager ship out of the sky, odds are they’ll capture the crew before they can tell us anything useful. That leaves one person with the information we need, one person who doesn’t want to see Earth destroyed.”

  Aelyx didn’t know what a sea monkey was, but he imagined Jaxen saw humans in much the same way. “One person who’s part Aribol and has no regard for human life.”

  “Except for my life,” Cara said. “Jaxen’s always liked me.”

  Aelyx scoffed. Liked was putting it mildly.

  “He could’ve killed me at the factory and the mine,” she pressed, “but he didn’t. He said the universe is a better place with me in it.”

  Troy pointed back and forth between himself and Aelyx. “But he’ll whack both of us without batting an eye, which means you’d have to go alone.”

  “Which is out of the question,” Aelyx added.

  “Syrine and Elle can—”

  “He would kill them, too.” Aelyx shook his head. “You’re asking me to risk my l’ihan, my sister, and my best friend. I won’t agree to it.”

  Stubborn as ever, Cara propped a hand on her hip. “I promised I would talk to you about things like this, but I didn’t say I’d ask permission.”

  “Oh, yeah?” Troy grinned. “Then I’ll tell Mom and Dad your plan. Should make for interesting dinner conversation, don’t you think?”

  She glared at him. “You wouldn’t.”

  “You have a short memory, Pepper. Let’s review all the times I’ve snitched on you.” He began ticking off items on his fingers. “There was sophomore year, when I saw that douche Eric sneaking through your bedroom window. And then the night you came home smelling like a distillery and yakked in Mom’s begonia bushes …”

  “Fine,” Cara spat. “Never mind. It was just an idea.”

  Troy patted her on the head. “I’m glad we understand each other.” The noise of running water stopped, and he pointed to the nearest bathroom. “I’m calling dibs on this one.”

  “Whatever. I’ll take the master bathroom.” She jabbed a finger toward Aelyx and clarified, “Alone,” before charging away, angry because he didn’t want to send her unprotected into the arms of a genocidal sociopath.

  He rolled his eyes. Females.

  “Hey,” Troy said while peeling off his shirt. He pointed the garment in Cara’s direction. “Keep an eye on her. She can be sneaky when she wants someth—”

  Just then, the bathroom door opened, releasing a cloud of steam, and Elle stepped out wearing a towel wrapped around her waist. Troy went mute at the sight of her bare chest, and in turn, Elle froze at the sight of his. There was much blushing and stammering from Troy until he blocked his view with one hand. “You can’t walk around like that. This isn’t the Aegis.”

  “I forgot.” Elle adjusted her towel to cover herself. She backed away but couldn’t seem to tear her gaze away from Troy’s navel. “It won’t happen again.”

  Aelyx bit back a laugh. He considered giving the two their privacy, but the exchange was too entertaining to miss.

  “Listen,” Troy said, and twisted his shirt nervously between both hands. “I already thanked Syrine, but I didn’t get a chance to thank you for what you did at the mine.”

  “For giving you a concussion?”

  “For saving me from myself.” Troy glanced at the floor, then up again. “If I had hurt Cara, it would’ve ruined me—my whole family. You don’t know what she means to us. I hope I can pay you back someday.”

  Elle didn’t appear to like the idea of Troy in her debt. She mumbled, “You don’t owe me anything,” and then she turned and darted down the hall. The slamming of her bedroom door soon followed.

  Troy shook his head and shifted his glance to Aelyx. “Girls confuse the hell out of me sometimes.”

  In a human gesture of solidarity, Aelyx extended a fist, which Troy then bumped lightly with his own. “For once, you and I have something in common.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Though her brother didn’t know it, Cara would’ve chosen the master bathroom anyway, because it was the best place on the second floor for sneaking out. A sturdy pine tree grew right outside the window, close enough to allow her to climb down. Her tree-scaling skills left much to be desired—her tailbone could testify to that—but as perfectly as these branches were spaced, not even she could botch it.

  The real trick was returning before anyone noticed her absence.

  She got right to work, locking the bathroom door and turning on the shower. She found an old clock radio beneath the sink and cranked up the volume to a pop rock station. The blaring music would give her an excuse for not responding if someone knocked on the door.

  With the gears of her ruse in motion, she raised the window and removed the screen. A few precarious moments later, she stood on the adjacent tree limb, surveying the backyard for security personnel while the night breeze tossed her hair behind her shoulders.

  The moon glowed full and bright in a cloudless sky, allowing her to pick out each soldier in the skeleton crew Colonel Rutter had left behind. Once the men finished their sweep of the backyard and strode to the front of the house, Cara descended the tree branches as if they were rungs on a ladder and jumped to the ground.

  She wiped her sap-sticky palms on her pants while jogging across the lawn to where the shuttle was parked. She had no intention of taking the craft; the engine’s noise would give her away. Instead she rooted around the backseat until she found what she was looking for, then stuffed the object in her pocket and sprinted toward the woods at the rear of the lot.

  She didn’t know how long she ran, but she stopped when the glassy bay came into view between the trees. She scanned the area until she found the best spot for what she had planned, a wide clearing in the woods bordered by thick oaks and maples. Then before she could change her mind, she scrolled through the list of contacts in her com-sphere and selected the frequency to the shuttle Jaxen had stolen.

  She couldn’t see him with the hologram function switched off, but he answered with a smile in his voice that was easy to picture. “Why, Cah-ra Sweeney. What a nice surprise.”

  “How’d you know it was me?”

  “Your frequency is programmed into the system here. I imagine the same is true for your companions. If I cared enough to make the effort, I could track all of your spheres and pay the group a surprise visit tonight.”

  Cara felt a pinch in her stomach. She hadn’t thought of t
hat.

  “Perhaps I should,” he added. “After all, you did kill Aisly.”

  “That was an accident. She fell off the ledge … after you ditched her.”

  “Semantics.”

  From beside him, Rune demanded in L’eihr, “What does she want?”

  “Rune makes an excellent point,” Jaxen said. “To what do I owe the pleasure, Cah-ra?”

  Cara drew a deep breath and hoped she wouldn’t regret this later. “I want to meet with you. I’m unarmed and I’m alone. If you don’t believe me, track my sphere and compare it with the others.”

  “That only proves where their spheres are located, not their bodies.”

  “I give you my word. Nobody knows I’m here. But if you don’t feel safe meeting me in person, we can talk like this. All I want is information. If something doesn’t change soon, the Aribol will destroy both our worlds. I know that’s not what you want.” When he didn’t respond, she told him what he doubtlessly wanted to hear. “I need you, Jaxen. Please help me.”

  There was a brief pause. “I’m locked on your signal. I’ll be there soon.”

  By the time he touched down in the shuttle, Cara had positioned herself at the opposite end of the clearing, in front of a massive tree trunk at least four feet thick. Jaxen and Rune exited through the front doors and took a moment to sweep the area with a handheld device, likely scanning for weapons.

  During their inspection, Cara noticed a shift in the dynamic between the two, a mutual intimacy that hadn’t been there before. Jaxen curled his arm around Rune’s waist, protective as ever, but now the clone reciprocated with casual touches to his chest and along the nape of his neck. At times she grew distracted from the scan and stood on tiptoe to whisper in his ear. Whatever she said made him smile, and he responded by lowering his hand and squeezing her bottom.

  Cara hitched her upper lip in disgust. But then she noticed something that made her take a closer look at Rune. The clone hadn’t simply lost weight in her face. The chiseled angles of her jaw line made it seem as though she’d aged—significantly so—by at least ten or fifteen years. Jaxen had said he’d used Aribol technology to speed up her development. Maybe it had backfired.