by Adam Moon
The collector ship opened and Number One poked her head out. When no one fired she tentatively stepped forward. She put a handheld device to her mouth and spoke into it. Choppy English came out of the other end. She had fashioned a translator to speak to them in the short amount of time she’d been gone.
“Do not attack. I come in peace.”
David snarled at Henshaw, “Have your men lay down their arms.”
“Absolutely not!”
Number One said to Henshaw, “Today, my people are securing the fate of humanity. We are friends. Please do not kill me.”
Henshaw visibly deflated. It seemed that the absurdities that he’d been forced to deal with had softened him. “Stand down.” Then he said to David, “This had better not be some sort of trick.”
Number One said to David and Stacey, “I saw how your people coveted this ship so I decided to return it as an act of kindness. I removed the jump drive, though. You’re not quite ready for that yet.”
“Thank you,” David said, puzzled that One would keep her promise and return to them. He’d just assumed she said it as a nicety, to get them out of the way so the real warriors could get to work against the collectors. “How did everything work out with the collectors?”
“I traced the signal and sure enough, it led me to their planet. The attack should be finishing up any moment now.”
“When will you know if the attack was a success?”
She smiled awkwardly. “I already know. The collectors are advanced but my people have dealt with races like them in the past and we’ve never failed.”
“What are you going to do now?”
“I came back to help you.”
“With what?”
“There are still escaped aliens here, are there not? I could help you capture them.”
David smiled. “Thank you, but we’re making progress. You’ve already helped enough.”
“Are you certain?”
“Yes. I’m sure you’re homesick by now anyway.”
“I thought I was. I missed my home, but it's so different now.”
“What do you mean?”
“I was in stasis on the collector ship for over eighty of your Earth years. A lot has changed in that time. I used to be the best and brightest of my people but many of them have far surpassed my own accomplishments.” She paused and looked around at all of the expectant faces. “It’s no longer my world but I have begun talks with my people to partner with humanity. They are open to starting up a dialogue with you. If you accept our offer, we can forge a mutual alliance.”
Henshaw opened his mouth to dissent but David interrupted him with, “We accept your generous offer.”
“That's good. I'll make arrangements.” She paused and looked at the rocky ground and then up at David. “Are you sure you don’t want my help containing the escapees?”
David looked into her alien eyes and noticed sorrow in them. He realized she had fought to return home to a world she no longer recognized. Maybe that was why she was so eager to help them out on Earth. Maybe Earth was the closest thing she had to a home now.
He said, “As a matter of fact, we could use your help. We were just heading out. Will you join us?”
She pointed over her shoulder at the smaller craft. “I brought my own transportation. It’s state of the art, with weaponry and monitoring systems built in. Maybe you’d like to join me. With this we can capture them alive and even return them to their homes. Wouldn’t that be a better way to handle interplanetary relations than to indiscriminately slaughter them?”
David nodded eagerly. Number One was right. Some of the remaining aliens were frightened and homesick. Of course they would attack if threatened but no one had found a way to interact with them that wasn’t overtly threatening. To find them only to kill or capture them for experimentation was just cruel. Until Number One showed up to help, the plan was to attack first and ask questions later.
Henshaw yelled at them but they ignored him as they followed Number One into her ship. Stacey radioed Murphy saying, “Dad, we have a new team mate. We’ll be with you shortly.”
David turned to Henshaw and said, “Its people are willing to ally themselves with us. We haven’t earned the privilege and we sure don’t deserve it. Please don’t jeopardize it by overreacting. This could be a new dawn for our species. Let the right people know what’s going on and for the love of God, don’t screw this up.”
Henshaw’s mouth opened and closed. He finally nodded.
David was the last to enter the ship before it vanished from sight.
Ambassador Cole
They reappeared in Illinois, right where Number One had dropped them off earlier. Stacey showed her the way to Murphy’s makeshift compound and they clumsily jumped several times until they finally arrived.
The holographic image showed dozens of military men and women rushing the ship with weapons in hand.
Number One said sadly, “I thought I was safe with you.”
David put a hand on her shoulder. “You are. They're just reacting. They’ll stand down when we tell them to.”
Good because we have a lot of work to do. We have to clean up the Collectors’ mess.”
“We’re way ahead of you. As you know, we were already working on tracking down the escapees.”
“That’s only the beginning.”
David’s heart raced but Stacey and Gunner both turned pale.
Stacey asked, “What more can we do?”
“I’ve convinced my people to trust humanity. I told them about my interactions and how you helped me, but I also told them about your race’s barbaric ways, so they’re willing to make you honorary ambassadors for the time being until they can be sure you can be fully trusted. After we take care of the escapees here, I need you to join me on a mission to show my people you’re worth cooperating with.”
David rocked back on his heels in excitement. “What’s the mission?” Without realizing it, he had already made up his mind to rejoin the team.
“We need to track down every collector ship in the galaxy and return the abductees to their home planets. They don’t deserve their fates just as we didn’t deserve ours.”
David sighed. He was hoping for another battle, probably because he was getting used to using his reacquired skill set. His horizons had been broadened so much lately that space travel was no longer as thrilling a prospect as it should’ve been. He knew how odd that thought process was but he couldn’t change it. “That sounds boring.”
Number One made a sort of snort sound and said, “It’ll be anything but boring. If you thought the past few days were dangerous, the next few will blow your mind.”
The End
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