by John Coon
“Looks are deceiving,” Paige said. “These two aliens do not belong to the same humanoid species.”
“Maybe they are from different races?”
“Or maybe they're genetic hybrids drawn from the same race.”
“Hybrids?”
Paige sensed skepticism in Sam's voice. It did not sit well with her. Someone in his position had no excuses for not knowing basic key facts. One pertinent and persistent fact stood out above the rest. The aliens she encountered had a track record for screwing around with human DNA.
“You should be more familiar with how aliens operate.” Coldness tinged her voice. “Genetic manipulation takes up page one in their world conquest playbook.”
Sam answered her with an unblinking stare and rubbed his chin as though stroking an invisible beard. Paige did not care if he believed what she said. It did not change reality. It also did not change how they would work in uncovering what agenda drove these aliens.
Paige and Sam went with the rangers as they transported the aliens inside a hangar. The interior did not resemble a hangar in the traditional sense. Rows of containment cells covered half of the floor space. Narrow corridors ran between each row. Fire resistant doors hung suspended above each end of individual corridors and could be lowered at a moment's notice. Numerous rooms covered the remaining hangar floor space and served sundry purposes ranging from research to medical examination.
The rangers dropped each alien into separate examination rooms. Paige and Sam followed the unconscious alien into an examination room where a bald man in a white lab coat waited. He glanced up from a small computer station when they entered the room and adjusted his glasses.
“We've got some work for you to do, Dr. Harter.” Paige motioned to an examination table where the rangers set the alien. “A ranger team brought in a couple of aliens. This one suffered a shoulder wound after apparently resisting capture.”
Dr. Harter lowered his chin and cast his eyes upon the alien laying on the examination table. He checked the alien's vital signs with his stethoscope.
“Still breathing. He has a heartbeat. Heart rate is elevated by our standards, but not in critical territory.”
“Can you revive the alien?” Sam asked.
Dr. Harter adjusted his glasses a second time and glanced at him.
“I need to check him for any internal injuries. If I only need to fix his shoulder, the alien should be awake and alert again in a short time.”
“Good,” Paige said. “Once it is conscious again, I've got a bunch of questions needing answers.”
“I suppose I should get Collin started on researching gadgets we recovered from the aliens.” Sam cast his eyes at the open door like he expected to see him already standing there. “He didn't come out here from Houston to stare at the mountains.”
Dr. Harter cracked a grin and ripped off a pair of surgical gloves. He tossed them in a bio-hazard wastebasket.
“Houston? I haven't visited East Texas much, but I love San Antonio. My wife and I attended Fiesta Noche del Rio a few years ago.”
“I've always wanted to go,” Sam replied. “I heard the music is pretty good.”
Paige scowled.
“If y'all are done discussing vacation plans, we need to get to work. We haven't even scratched the surface on learning why these aliens came to Earth.”
Dr. Harter tilted his head at her and twisted his lips into a confused frown.
“I guess you're not a fan of Fiesta Noche del Rio?”
“I'm not a fan of Texas.”
“Why not?”
Paige's eyes drifted past him as though focusing on some distant landmark on the horizon. For a moment, those eyes hinted at a deluge of tears held back by sheer force of will.
“Far too many bad memories. Aliens. Let's just leave it at that.”
One hope remained inside Paige. Perhaps they tracked down these latest aliens soon enough to avoid adding to her collection of bad memories.
22
Calandra searched for her home sun amid the moonlit sky. Peering at an overhead swath of distant stars became her refuge from a cluster of frantic thoughts bombarding her mind. Atch and Jbali should have made it back to the scout ship by now. She knew it. Everyone else knew it. Minutes turned into hours without a word from either crew member.
Their continued silence ate at her.
She tapped her foot against the bottom of the ramp and fidgeted with a black ring on her left hand. Calandra heard footsteps on the ramp behind her. Xttra dropped down beside her a second later. He slid closer and clasped her hand inside his own.
“I tried to reach both Jbali and Atch again. Their arca voxes are still deactivated.”
“What are we going to do?”
“I don't know. I honestly don't know.”
Xttra could not disguise his worried tone. Calandra studied his face. Fear flared within his deep blue eyes in the same way she imagined it filled her own eyes. They both had valid reasons to feel alarmed. First, a wild Earth animal mauled Bo'un. Now, both Jbali and Atch had gone missing. Atch's report of seeing an alien attack vessel made their lack of communication more alarming.
A joyful energy surged through Calandra when their scout ship first landed on Earth two days ago. Those feelings soon vanished like fog before sunshine. A creeping dread now swarmed her like shadows in a thick forest and swallowed those earlier positive emotions. Still, she owed it to Xttra to support him in this situation. He did not deserve to shoulder the burden alone for all the terrible things that happened.
“You can't blame yourself for everything that's happened here.”
Calandra's effort at reassuring him did not chase away the gathering mental storm clouds. Xttra's troubled frown only deepened.
“I can't deflect the blame away from myself. With everything that's transpired, I can't help wondering what I should have done differently.”
He stared into the alien sky and gnawed on his lower lip. Xttra struggled to conceal his efforts to prevent an emotional dam from bursting. A flurry of thoughts bombarded her mind that Calandra wanted to tell him. They could not afford to give up now. She searched for the right words to let Xttra know where he stood with the people who cared about him on a deeper level.
Calandra found four simple meaningful words.
“I believe in you.”
She rested her head against his shoulder and gazed at him through her eyelashes. Xttra flashed an appreciative smile at her. He let go of Calandra's hand, circled his arm around her back, and planted a tender kiss on her forehead.
“I hope I never lose your faith in me.”
Calandra remained in his arms for a while as they gazed at stars together. Earth's moon bathed light on the mountain, bringing parts of the meadow out from under a shadowy cloak. Looking skyward brought images of the probe back into her mind. If they only knew how to reach the probe builders, things would be made right. Somewhere on this planet, an Earthian clan or tribe existed who wanted to cultivate a peaceful relationship between their two worlds. Calandra knew it. Ahm would bless their efforts to find these people.
“Any word from Jbali or Atch yet?”
Calandra pulled away from Xttra and they cast their eyes toward Lance atop the ramp. An empty holoscreen on an arca vox in his hand signaled more failed attempts to make contact.
“Nothing. I have a bad feeling about this and it's only growing worse.”
“I'm with you.”
Lance paused and studied his arca vox for a moment. When he raised his head again, a troubled frown crossed his lips.
“Maybe we should cut our losses and head home. There's something unsettling about this planet.”
“We're not leaving Atch or Jbali behind.”
“I'm not asking for us to leave them on this planet to fend for themselves. I want to find them. Once we do: then what?”
Xttra rubbed his neck and the color drained from his face as he weighed Lance's question. Calandra wanted to turn back time and undo ever
y wrong turn their expedition had taken. Lance raised a good point as much as she hated to admit it. Calandra could not ignore his logic. Alien attack vessels fired on their ship. They encountered many hostile Earthians in the alien city. Jbali and Atch disappearing only added to mounting evidence of a growing danger facing them on this planet.
“We'll set out on a search and rescue mission after sunrise,” Xttra said. “Once we locate Jbali and Atch, and bring them back here, we'll depart from this planet.”
Calandra's face fell upon hearing his decision. It was the right move under the circumstances. That did not lessen the gravity of the decision. She bowed her head while pondering the ramifications. They would leave Earth without ever contacting the probe builders. Their departure also meant no possibility of learning about Earth beyond a superficial level. Their chief sovereign would never sign off on a follow-up mission to this planet or the Aramus system.
“I know this is disappointing for you, but it's for the best.” Xttra also lowered his head and circled his arm around her again. “We can't risk this crew's safety any further. Earth will simply need to be studied from a safe distance for now.”
Calandra gazed into his eyes and answered him with a slow nod.
“I know,” Her voice turned quiet. “I would never ask anyone to intentionally risk their life to satisfy my curiosity.”
Lance turned and headed back inside the scout ship. Xttra stayed at her side on the ramp and gazed at stars with Calandra for a little while longer.
When they both returned inside for the night, Calandra decided to check on Bo'un while Xttra retracted the ramp and sealed the hatch again. His condition weighed on her mind. Doni said their weapons officer was fortunate to even be alive when she and Xttra first returned from the alien city.
Fear flooded her from head to toe over the thought of enduring a wild alien animal attack. Calandra first adopted Bella when she found the young cala abandoned and injured on a mountain trail after surviving an attack from an unidentified animal. It took her several weeks to nurse Bella back to health.
The medical station door vanished into a slot as she approached. Calandra peeked her head inside the room. Doni sat in front of a small console in the corner. He jumped at the whoosh from the door opening and jerked his head toward her.
“What are you doing here?” Doni sounded more irritated than usual. “Can't you see I'm busy?”
“I came here to check on Bo’un and …”
Calandra trailed off and paused. She entered the room and cast a suspicious glance over at his console. A small holoscreen displayed Xttra's image. Information from his Stellar Guard personnel file filled the rest of the screen. What did Doni think he was doing poking his nose into those files?
“I should ask you what you're doing here.”
Doni's eyes darted back to the holoscreen. He reached over and toggled a switch on the console. Both the holoscreen and everything on it vanished.
“That's none of your concern.” His tone turned gruffer. “Bo'un is still in medical hibernation and will be there for a long time.”
Calandra narrowed her eyes and cast a sideways glance at the medical pod holding their weapons officer.
“How sad. I hoped that he would have shown improvement after a few hours.”
Neither said another word. Calandra did not break eye contact with Doni as she backed out of the room. His beady-eyed glare made her heart beat a little faster and her throat tighten. Once outside the room again, and hidden from his line of sight, she turned to sprint down the corridor.
Calandra needed to warn Xttra concerning their medical officer's suspicious activities. She almost collided with Xttra himself a few steps from the medical station. Calandra flinched and jumped back.
“Sorry.” He offered an apologetic smile. “Didn't mean to startle you. I'm on my way to get an update on how Bo'un is doing.”
“I just came from there.”
Xttra raised his eyebrows.
“You look worried. What's wrong?”
Calandra glanced over her shoulder. The medical station door had closed again. Good. She did not want to risk Doni eavesdropping on her.
“I caught Doni snooping around in your Stellar Guard file.” Calandra lowered her voice to a whisper. “I saw it only for a moment, but he had pulled up all sorts of personal data on you.”
Xttra grew stone-faced. Anger flashed through his blue eyes. He bit down on his lower lip and drew in a deep breath.
“Who does he think he is? He's not a commander within the Stellar Guard. Nor is he still a minister under the chief sovereign. This ends now.”
Calandra did not need to be an oracle to predict what Xttra planned to do next. Before she could say a word to dissuade him from a confrontation, Xttra barged past her and stormed inside the medical station. Doni abruptly rose from a chair near Bo’un’s medical pod. He appeared startled when he first laid eyes on Xttra. Those eyes soon narrowed, and his frown deepened, when Doni saw Calandra again.
“What is the meaning of this?” Xttra said.
Calandra glanced over at the console again. He did not reactivate the holoscreen during her brief absence. Xttra also glimpsed at the console before his eyes focused into an unblinking stare at their stoop shouldered medical officer. He crossed his arms and stood toe to toe with Doni.
“I know what you've been doing behind my back. What do you hope to find? What do you hope to gain from it?”
Doni's eyes trailed from him to the medical pod.
“What are you talking about?”
“Drop the act. I know you've been spying on me when you think you're alone in here.”
Doni sighed at his accusation.
“So now I'm a spy? When did you decide to embrace full paranoia?”
“I don't have enough time or patience to deal with your duplicity.”
“Your inept leadership grows more alarming by the second. We've seen one obvious warning sign after another. Now one crew member is critically injured, and two others are missing.”
Doni paused and locked eyes with Xttra again.
“Yet, here we remain.”
His expression toed a boundary between genuine concern and sheer arrogance. Doni knew how to push the right buttons. Xttra dived in and took the bait. He marched up and seized him by the collar.
“Xttra! No!”
Calandra instinctively cried out to him while staying frozen in place. Doni carried considerable influence as a former minister. Threatening him with violence would only place Xttra in a precarious spot upon their return to Lathos. Calandra harbored no doubts Doni would press the matter until he got Xttra stripped of his rank and permanently expelled from the Stellar Guard. Xttra ignored her plea. He balled the collar inside his fist and jerked Doni forward, forcing him to stand straighter and raise his chin.
“Who do you think you are?” Xttra made no effort to lower his voice now. “I will not abandon Atch or Jbali on this planet.”
“Occasional sacrifices are required at the hand of any true leader.”
“I'd sooner leave behind a spineless setaworm like you than sacrifice anyone else.”
Doni forced a smile onto his lips and cast an unblinking stare at Xttra. Calandra laid her hand on his shoulder and pleaded with her eyes to not let this confrontation escalate. Xttra glanced down at her hand and then at her face. His scowl softened and he released his grip on Doni's collar.
Doni backpedaled and smoothed out his uniform. Xttra stabbed an index finger at him.
“I will not tolerate you undermining my authority or this expedition any longer. If you plan to get me hauled in front of a Stellar Guard tribunal, prepare for the fight of your life.”
“Is that a threat?”
“What do your eyes and ears tell you?”
With those words, Xttra wheeled around and stormed out of the medical station. Calandra hurried after him and finally caught him halfway down the corridor. Worry, rather than anger, filled his eyes.
“We can'
t leave him alone on this ship,” he said. “Doni will go with me everywhere until we find Atch and Jbali.”
23
Every part of Jbali’s head throbbed when he first cracked open his eyes. His surroundings appeared so blurry. He tried to lift his head. A wave of dizziness smacked him like an ocean wave splashing his face. Jbali gasped and laid flat again. He could not remember the last time when he felt so disoriented. That included one morning after downing an entire jug of Uzakian Ale the prior evening.
His eyes gradually regained focus as he stared at the ceiling. Each one hurt as much as his skull, but at least his vision had improved. Jbali found himself laying on a small bed attached to a stone wall. The bed was wide enough to hold his body and not much else. He turned his head incrementally to the right. Two chairs and a small table occupied a spot in the center of the room. Nothing about this place looked familiar. Only a small room with dim lighting.
Where had the alien soldiers taken him?
Jbali gritted his teeth and lifted his head a second time. The woozy sensation returned, but Jbali fought through it and sat upright on the edge of the bed. His wounded shoulder felt numb. Jbali checked his arm. It rested in a sling. Fabric from both his uniform and flex armor had been cut away, exposing the entire length of his arm. Heavy padding and bandages covered his shoulder.
He opened his eyes wider and leaned forward to stand but stumbled off the bed. Jbali reached out and steadied himself with his healthy arm.
Both armored sleeves had vanished from his forearms. He looked down at his torso. His belt and chest pouch, along with all gear and weapons, were gone. Even his boots were confiscated.
Jbali pushed off from the bed and took a few tentative steps forward in the cramped room. White stone walls surrounded him on three sides. Gray metal bars formed a door and wall marking the remaining boundary. His surroundings resembled a prison cell.
Images from the mountain forest flashed through Jbali's mind. Crawling on the ground. Helmeted alien soldiers emerging from among trees. Atch falling dead between the aerorover and the lake. Jbali now found himself imprisoned in an unknown location. New questions arose in his mind.
