Casey frowned at me. “What about it?”
“There’s tons of it flying around, but maybe when it hits their spaceships, or at least the force field of the spaceships, it has to divert course. So, instead of continuing in a straight trajectory like we’d expect it to, the space debris moves above and below and around it, creating a clear space, which must be where the ships are.”
Space debris had become a real problem in recent years, especially with our increase in space travel. The number of orbiting fragments large enough to destroy a spacecraft had more than quadrupled in the last decade, and there were literally millions of tiny objects as well.
Casey stared at me. “That’s genius, Camille.”
I gave a tentative smile. “Thanks. But let’s not jump ahead of ourselves. The Trads might have already considered that this would give away their positions and have done something to counteract it.”
He leaned in and kissed me hard on the mouth. “We need to get word out to everyone who has access to the satellite radar. We’ll be looking for multiple ships, considering the Trads have landed all across Earth, and they’ll be large, too.”
“It’ll still be the proverbial needle in a haystack,” I warned. “There’s a lot of space to cover.”
“Then we need to get onto it right away. We need to contact Agent Faw, since he’s in Interplanetary Security. He’ll know what steps need to be taken next.”
I didn’t like the idea of needing to get Faw involved again, but the agent had been right when he’d said all of this was bigger than one person. I still condoned what he’d done, but if I let my own personal feelings get in the way of what was right for our planet, then I was no better than him.
“I’ll contact him,” Casey said, pulling up details on the data pad embedded in his wrist.
“You have his contact details in there?” I asked.
“Yeah, as soon as we entered the White House, it automatically updated with all the contacts we’d need.”
“Smart,” I said, still not regretting my choice not to have the implant. I could see how it would be useful, but still preferred an old-fashioned cell phone. I wasn’t the only one. Plenty of people rebelled against the use of technology, with abounding conspiracy theories about how the government would one day use the data it collected to control us. It wasn’t such a far stretch. China had already started using such data to make its population behave in a manner it wanted it to—such as forcing the population to drink less and do more exercise, and in return they were allowed things such as lower interest rates and access to travel. It was frightening, and while I liked to think I trusted our government enough not to allow such a thing to happen in America, it still made me wary enough not to let anyone to implant a chip into my body.
“He’ll be right here,” Casey said after sending Faw a message.
“Great.”
True to his word, within minutes, footsteps approached from the hallway outside, and then the door pushed open.
I automatically tensed at the sight of Faw, with his shaved head and lined face. He looked mean, and even if he had been doing his job, I had the feeling that meanness was innate within him.
“You have information for us?” Faw said.
Casey nodded. “Yes, though it’s only a theory at the moment.”
“Tell him what you said to me about how they’re moving women,” I encouraged Casey.
Casey repeated what he’d told me about the ships potentially still being in our orbit.
Agent Faw stroked his chin. “I think you’re right. Of course, we have no idea what kind of technology they’ve developed, but it would be highly unlikely they’d be able to beam from one planet to another. I’ve never heard of an alien race doing such a thing, and if that kind of technology was available, I’m sure everyone would have heard about it by now.”
“And if they are,” Casey continued, “there might be a way we can spot them.” Casey nudged me in the ribs. “Tell him about the space debris theory.”
So, I did, even though Faw still made me uncomfortable.
But Faw nodded. “I like it. Of course, even a ship of gigantic proportions will appear tiny taken in the context of space.”
“I’m aware of that. I never said it was going to be easy to spot, just that it gave us something to go on.”
“Excellent,” he said, standing. “I’ll feed it back to the rest of the team. Good work, both of you.”
“Thanks.” I gave Casey a half smile, suddenly feeling awkward. I didn’t know where we were supposed to go from here. I didn’t want to be kicked off the project now that we’d handed over the information to a different team. “I’d really like us to be involved with the search.”
“I’ll keep you updated,” Faw said, “but first you’re needed in the Roosevelt Room. The rest of your team have been instructed to meet you there, too.”
I exchanged a glance with Casey, wondering what was happening now.
Chapter Seven
We left the Situation Room and stepped back out in the hallway.
“Are you able to find your own way there?” Faw asked. “I have something else I need to attend to.”
Casey nodded. “Sure.”
“You’ll let us know what the rest of your team think about the space debris theory,” I reminded Faw. I didn’t want to have handed this information over to him, only to find ourselves pushed out. Maybe I was being selfish, but I needed to know the outcome.
He nodded at me. “As soon as I know something, you will, too.”
“Thank you.”
We turned in opposite directions, Casey and I hurrying down the corridor together, side by side. I couldn’t help but feel emotionally attached to this project. Tara could be in one of those ships, and if we were able to locate them, it might mean we’d be able to save those who’d been taken. The magnitude of attempting such a thing threatened to overwhelm me, but we couldn’t let the Trads get away with this. It wasn’t only that they’d already killed so many—it was the idea of the suffering that would continue for years to come, not only for the people on Earth who were trying to rebuild while remaining mistrustful of any new male they came across, but also for the women who’d already been taken. They would have essentially found themselves plunged into a life of sexual slavery on a new planet. And what would happen to them once they were no longer fertile? The Trads would have no more use for them, and it wasn’t as though they’d return them to Earth. No, they would be killed, but then perhaps death would be more of a blessing that being forced to live that kind of existence.
“Earth to Camille,” Casey said from beside me.
I realized I’d been lost in thought. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay. You just looked worried.”
“I am,” I admitted with a sigh. “I was thinking about Tara and what sort of life she’s going to have if we’re not able to get her back. And I’m worried that this is all too much for us. Yes, our space travel has come on leaps and bounds over the past thirty years, but we don’t have the sort of technology that could be used to fight a determined alien population.”
It did feel as though we were woefully underprepared.
Two figures crossed the junction of corridors ahead of us. I recognized the broad shoulders of one of the men, and the dark hair and tattooed arms of the other, and my heart lifted.
“Aleandro?” I called. “Mike?”
Both men hesitated at my voice and glanced back to where Casey and I hurried after them.
“Hey,” Mike said. “Are you coming to the Roosevelt Room, too?”
“Yeah, we are. Do you know what’s going on?”
“The president is about to go on a live call with Emperor Elrin, the leader of planet Athion. Since I was the first to communicate with them, she wants us there for the call.”
“Wow. We’re going to speak with the actual Emperor of Athion?”
Mike nodded. “Well, I doubt any of us will do any of the speaking, but yes.”
; Emperor Elrin was a hugely important person on his planet, and him taking the time to contact us must mean he had something important to say. The Athions had been the ones to point us in the direction of what the Trads were up to, and I figured they were allies, but that could all change quickly enough.
We set off again, hurrying down the huge, wide corridors. I wondered if either of the other two were aware of what had happened between me and Casey, but, if they were, neither of them gave me any hint that they were annoyed or upset about it. How did they speak about me when I wasn’t around? Had they discussed this setup between themselves, or was this something that didn’t need to be defined, and we could simply slip into instead?
We reached the room. Two armed agents I didn’t recognize stood either side of the door, blocking the way.
“ID,” one of them said, nodding to a scanner embedded in the wall on the left-hand side of the door.
I pressed my finger to the scanner, and it read my print and flashed green. The guys did the same. The agents nodded to us in greeting and then opened the door and let us step through.
The space was already filled with people—the majority of whom I didn’t recognize. At the front stood President Dana Wesley. Someone was adjusting a microphone on the lapel of her suit jacket, but she glanced over and gave us a welcoming smile as we entered. I returned the smile, and then we found ourselves a spot at the rear of the room where we wouldn’t get in the way.
A huge screen took up much of the wall on the far end. Instead of there being one long table, like in the situation room, here numerous desks were positioned facing the larger screen. People I hadn’t seen before sat at the desks, each of them dividing their attention between the computers in front of them and the main screen on the wall. A hushed sense of anticipation lay like a blanket across the air. For the moment, the screen was blank, but I had a feeling it wouldn’t stay that way.
“Satellite will be making connection in three, two, one...” one of the women at the desks called out, and the president stood straighter, adjusting the hem of her jacket.
“And we’re a go,” one of the men announced.
I sucked in a breath, my shoulders tense with anticipation. Though we’d been in contact with alternate races for several years now, it still blew my mind that we were able to communicate with them in this way.
Mike nudged my shoulder with his and shot me a grin. He loved this, too—after all, it was what he did as a job—and his excitement emanated from him.
A white line appeared across the middle of the screen and then flickered to life.
A man appeared. I guessed him to be in his late sixties in human years, though I had no idea if that was the same for the Athions. His long, white beard covered most of his chest, and equally white hair tumbled down in waves across his shoulders. His amber eyes appeared wise beneath his bushy, gray eyebrows, and a silver cloak was held together at his throat by some kind of precious metal clasp. But the thing that made me stare the most was the color of his skin. The blue contrasted starkly against the white of his hair and beard, and when he lifted both hands to steeple them against his lips, they were of the same hue.
This was Emperor Elrin of planet Athion.
“Madam President.” He ducked his head in a half-bow of greeting. “It’s an honor to make your acquaintance.”
“Emperor Elrin,” she replied, moving to stand in front of the screen. “The honor is all mine. I can’t thank you enough for offering to help us with our current situation.”
“The attack on your planet is nothing short of a disgrace. The Trads are known for their cruel and heartless ways, and I apologize that Earth has become their target.”
“You have nothing to apologize for.”
“I would like to offer you our help. As you know, planet Athion suffered from a similar virus to the Trads. Many of our women were killed, and others left infertile, so our species is also on a downward trajectory when it comes to our population.”
The president’s shoulders stiffened. “I’m sorry to hear that.”
“I’m willing to offer you our help in two different ways. Initially, I will send teams of Athion males down to earth to help you fight against the Trads. I understand they are hard to pick out from your human men.”
“Yes, they are. I don’t know if that’s what they look like on their planet, but down here on Earth they appear to be just like us.”
“The Trads can take on different forms, and can often shift from one to another. As you can see, however, us Athions are a little easier to distinguish.” He lifted his hand and gestured to his face.
It was true—it would be impossible not to notice the blue skin tone. I’d heard that the depth of the blue varied according to what parts of their planet the Athions came from, and that they had some other different physical anomalies depending upon their origin, but we would definitely be able to tell who was human and who was an Athion.
The president nodded. “We would be grateful for whatever help we could get.”
“As I’m sure you understand,” he continued, “it will take a considerable amount of time to reach you, though we have some teams in orbit who were already on a training mission, who will be able to reach you far sooner than the usual six months’ traveling distance between our two planets.”
“And what will you expect in return?”
“If we can help rid you of the Trads, then I will expect nothing. Consider it a favor from one peaceful nation to another.”
“And if we’re unable to find a way to separate the Trads from the humans?” she prompted.
“Then I’d like you to consider planet Athion as a safe zone. Just like with the Trads, the two of our species are compatible when it comes to reproduction—we have some differences, of course, but essentially we are biologically similar. If Earth is no longer a safe place for your women to live and reproduce, I would like to offer Athion as an alternative.”
I gasped in shock. Around me, a murmur of a combination of dismay and excitement rippled around the room. Was he saying that women could go to Athion and live there instead of Earth? My mind swam with the possibility. I’d been fascinated with space since I’d been a young child, and now he was offering the women of Earth—myself included, I assumed—the chance to go and live on an alien planet.
The president lifted her hand to quieten us. “You understand that would be a last resort, Emperor Elrin? If we were to send all our women to you, then Earth would be over. There would be no future for us.”
“If the Trads continue to impregnate and abduct your women, there will be no future for you anyway,” he pointed out.
“I hope we’re able to end this before we reach that point.”
He ducked his head. “Of course. And as I said, I will send you Athions to help with your fight. They should be able to reach you within a matter of days. Please understand, Madam President, that we are not a manipulative race. I only wish to offer your kind the chance of a different future, and for us to work together to help each other. There’s no malice in my offer.”
She cleared her throat. “Thank you. I appreciate that.”
“I’ve already given the order to divert several of our specialist military teams, the Custos, to Earth. I’ll be able to give you an estimated time of arrival within the next Earth day or two.”
“If there’s anything we can do to assist with the landings of the Custos, don’t hesitate to contact me.”
“Thank you, Madam President.”
Emperor Elrin gave that slight bow again, and the screen went blank.
“Satellite connection ended,” the same woman who’d counted the call down announced.
President Wesley exhaled a long sigh and then turned back to her advisors.
“We have a lot to think about,” she said. “I suggest we take a couple of hours and then reconvene.”
The room burst into movement, people shuffling papers and standing and packing things away. The president swept from the room, a number
of agents hurrying after her. We hadn’t yet had the chance to tell the president about our theory on the location of the Trad spaceships and how to detect them. It seemed important that she had all the information before she made such a life-changing decision. But I wasn’t about to start interrupting what felt like a monumental moment in our history. The president had plenty of people feeding her all the information she needed. We were nobodies in the grand scale of things. Besides, we’d told Agent Faw, and I figured he’d be the one who’d regale her with that information at the correct time.
The other agent we’d traveled here with, Agent Craig Miller, spotted us from across the room and approached us.
“They’re serving dinner down in the Navy Mess,” Miller told us. “Feel free to go and get something to eat if you’re hungry.”
“Thanks,” I replied and glanced to the others who nodded. “We’ll do that.”
It had been hours since we’d eaten the sandwiches and fries down in my room, and my stomach gurgled. The men were all bigger than me, and I thought they probably needed to eat even more than I did. Besides, I reminded myself that this access to food may not last. The White House would be stocked up in case of an emergency, but it wasn’t as though we’d be staying here forever. Outside of these walls, I suspected the shelves in the stores were already empty, and what would happen when the food in people’s homes ran out as well? People would be reduced to stealing and fighting to feed their families.
Guilt swamped through me over the amount we had when so many others were suffering. My thoughts went to the Observatory where I’d left my sister, too. How long would supplies last there? They not only had the army there, but they also had civilians, too. Sergeant Byrd would send his men out to get supplies, but they’d be foraging from the same pot as the civilians who remained in the city. At some point, that pot was going to run dry.
We left the Roosevelt Room and made our way down to where dinner was being served.
Her Resistance: Planet Athion Series (Darkest Skies Book 2) Page 6
