Shades

by Mel Odom

  "Max."

  Max turned to the sibilant voice, watching in stunned fascination as a stream of drones flooded into the room and began piling on top of one another. The drones made a tower, building with unbelievable speed, like a dust storm in reverse.

  In seconds the drones went from a pile of small insects to a vaguely human shape. The creature looked like something from a low-budget science fiction movie.

  "What do you want?" Max asked, taking a step back. He spotted a door behind him. It was only partially open, six steel plates frozen in midiris. Evidently the door dilated to open and constricted to close. The six steel plates recessed into the surrounding bulkhead. Sand and rock had poured into the room through the door. Streams of drones worked like ants, carrying off the debris.

  The creature hesitated. A rippling passed over its face, suddenly creating a mouth. A second later it opened its eyes. The eyes were hard and shiny, like hard silver marbles.

  "This appearance is more pleasing to you?" the creature asked.

  "Why did you bring me here?" Max demanded.

  "We wished to speak with you." The figure rippled, like a monitor repixelating, tightening the image and refining the features.

  Max waited.

  "You're afraid of us," the creature said.

  "Yes," Max said.

  "Why?"

  "You've worked hard to be scary," Max said.

  The creature cocked its head, an altogether human expression that made the thing's alienness even more apparent. "We have," it admitted, and the voice almost sounded contrite. "Those actions are part of our preprogrammed defense. Our primary functions are the defense and repair of this ship."

  "Who are you?"

  "We are… " The creature hesitated. "Your language remains something of a problem to us. Our dealings with River Dog have been inaccurate and unsatisfying to a degree. Still we have learned much." The image flickered and refined again, becoming more human. This time some of the metallic sheen faded, leaving a color much closer to human pigmentation. The color looked pale and unhealthy. "You may address us as the Builder."

  Max waited, running his options through his mind. His head still throbbed. Running wasn't a good plan, because he didn't know where to go.

  "Scaring the local populations from this area is necessary to the continued survival of our crew," the Builder stated. "We jettisoned an emergency beacon before entering this planet's atmosphere and gravitational fields. We are awaiting rescue."

  Max looked at the thing in front of him, watching as the image rippled again and the features became even more human. The eyes had true color now, and had turned greenish-gray.

  "How long have you been waiting?" Max asked.

  The Builder was silent for a moment. "We are not certain. While we were in stasis to conserve power reserves, several systems failed. We have been working to bring those systems back in working order."

  "It's been thousands of years," Max said.

  "We are still here," the Builder said.

  "Where is the ship's crew?"

  "They are awaiting rescue."

  Max looked around the room. "Where?"

  "It doesn't matter." The Builder rippled again. The chameleon power of the drones was incredible. In the poor lighting of the room, the creatures that had bonded together looked human. The body language, though somehow off, was still human in its interpretation.

  "I want to talk to one of the ship's crew," Max said.

  "Talking with the ship's crew isn't necessary," the Builder replied. "You can interface with us."

  "Is someone coming to rescue you?" Max asked.

  "The emergency beacon is in place."

  "Have you been in contact with someone?"

  "That doesn't concern you."

  "You're hurting people I know," Max said. "You're hurting my town. That concerns me."

  The Builder regarded him. "These are not your people, Max. We have seen you. We have scanned you. Your true species is unknown to our data banks, but we know you are not of earth stock."

  "These people out there," Max said, "they're going to come hunting for you."

  "Nonsense," the Builder replied. "We will simply scare them away. Our defensive position was programmed not to be overtly lethal. We rely on the primitive fears and superstitions of the mammal species and civilizations that live in this place. They fear the wrath of their dead ancestors. They will recognize this place as sacred and put it apart from the rest of the world."

  "That's not true anymore."

  The Builder regarded him.

  "The civilization you first dealt with had a different way of looking at the world," Max said. "The early civilizations accepted the natural world and their place in it. People today investigate things like this. They seek to understand." And they want to control things they don't understand or are different, he thought.

  "No," the Builder said. "We have adopted the proper defensive mechanisms and approaches. We will protect the crew."

  "You need to talk to one of the crew," Max argued. "Do they know what's going on?"

  "We are here to care for them and protect them," the Builder said. "We are not here to bother them while they are involved in their mission."

  Vague unease stirred within Max. "Let me talk to one of the ship's crew."

  "Impossible," the Builder replied.

  "Why?"

  "The ship's crew has important tasks to perform. They must not be disturbed. We are here to keep them safe and productive."

  Max made his voice harder, sensing that something was wrong but not knowing what. "I insist."

  "Request denied," the Builder replied.

  "You brought me here for a reason," Max pointed out.

  "You must communicate with your friends for us," the Builder said. "They must be made to understand that they must leave this ship alone. The crew must not be disturbed. No one must interfere with our rescue. We will be taken back and assimilated into the One."

  "What One?"

  "The One that is all of us," the Builder said. "The one we were separated from to go on this voyage with the crew." The figure paused. "We miss ourselves. We miss being… whole."

  "I want to see someone from the crew," Max said.

  "You can't. We exist to take care of the crew. We minister to their wants and needs. That makes us worthwhile. Without them we would be alone more than we are while outside the One."

  Max's mind worked furiously. He started to see the incongruities in the Builder's logic.

  "You must tell the others to leave," the creature said.

  "You're afraid of Michael, aren't you?" Max asked. "His power destroys you."

  "Your friend endangers this ship," the Builder said. "He endangers the ship's crew. That will not be tolerated."

  "You were in stasis until a few days ago," Max said.

  "We were conserving power," the Builder agreed. "Our energy converters had been damaged as well. We decided it would be better if we hibernated with the crew and awaited rescue."

  "Why did you leave hibernation?"

  "Because we felt a ship near us," the Builder said. "We felt the power surge only a few days ago."

  The Granilith, Max realized. The power the vessel had used to return to the home world had been incredible.

  "When the ship took off," the Builder said, "we were forced to wake. The ship was unknown to us and of alien origin. We knew it was possible that an enemy or potential enemy had found our emergency beacon. We can't rest until we are rescued now. The local communities must be repulsed in the manner in which we repulsed them before."

  "Let me talk to the ship's captain," Max said.

  "The person in charge of this ship is busy," the Builder said. "Tasks must be completed. Our rescue must be effected."

  Max stepped forward, quelling the immediate instinct to avoid a confrontation with the creature.

  The Builder shimmered again, adding inches to its height. "Stay back." The rapid growth took away some from the humanness of
its features.

  "Take me to the ship's crew," Max ordered.

  The Builder shifted suddenly, and the movement was too quick to be human. The humanoid figure seemed to

  flow from one spot to the next. He stood in front of a closed door that Max hadn't seen in the darkness before. A softly glowing handplate gleamed to one side of the door.

  "You must stay back," the Builder said. The creature knotted its hands into fists. "If you come any closer, we will be forced to harm you. That is not what we wish. We wish you to be our messenger."

  "Take me to the ship's crew," Max repeated, more forcefully.

  "That's impossible."

  Turning, Max watched Michael step into the room, followed by Valenti, Isabel, Kyle, Liz, and Maria. All of them looked disheveled and worn, caked in dust.

  Isabel stepped forward.

  The Builder rippled again, flowing with predatory intent toward Isabel.

  Michael held up his hands. Energy coiled around them. "Don't," Michael said. "I'll fry you where you stand."

  The Builder moved back a step.

  "What do you mean it's impossible to take me to the ship's crew?" Max asked.

  "The ship's crew must be protected," the Builder said. Screeching hysteria filled the words.

  "There is no ship's crew," Isabel said. "River Dog uncovered the truth and showed me. These things…" She looked at Max.

  "They call themselves the Builder," Max said.

  "The Builder has been hiding the crew's loss from themselves in order to keep from going mad." Isabel approached the door the Builder had been protecting.

  "That door is broken," the Builder said. "We have not yet gotten it repaired. There has been no need."

  Isabel waved her hand in front of the plate. The door irised open, all six steel plates retreating effortlessly into the bulkhead.

  "No!" the Builder shouted, starting forward.

  Michael shoved an energy bolt forward. The blue-white energy blast cut the Builder off at the knees in a series of electrical explosions.

  Moving quickly, the Builder separated into halves, throwing their upper body away from their lower half, managing to save some of themselves. The upper half fell heavily to the dust- and debris-covered floor. Even as Max watched, more drones sped to the upper half of the Builders body, adding their masses to the hive organism. The Builder altered their body, growing legs again.

  Isabel took Max by the elbow, pulling him into the next room. "Here," she said. "It's time that all of them know the truth again."

  Max followed her into the room, listening to the Builder's voice shouting behind them. Liz and the others followed, but Valenti and Michael remained between them and the Builder.

  A series of capsules in a wheel shape occupied the center of the room. The capsules looked like long test tubes. The incandescent light gleamed dully through the dust-covered surfaces.

  "The crew," Isabel said, leading Max to one of the capsules, "didn't survive planetfall. The ship and the hibernation systems were heavily damaged." She wiped off one of the tubes, revealing the skeleton inside the tube. Though basically humanoid in appearance, the horns and four-fingered hands revealed the extraterrestrial origins of the dead.

  "Then why didn't the Builder know this?" Max asked.

  "There was an accident," an ancient voice stated.

  Looking up, Max watched as another figure formed in the center of the room. More drones swirled together, creating another figure that stood up in the room. This one looked less human than the Builder, as if these drones could no longer quite fit together properly.

  "The enemy ships were unmerciful in their attack," the drone-creature said, gazing down at the capsules that contained the dead aliens. "We tried to save them, but the damage to the systems was too severe. Our… loss… was too hurtful. We only wanted to die as our crew did. We went mad, but we could not allow ourselves to die, because that goes against our programming. We were going mad. So to save ourselves, we built another. One of us who did not know."

  "Lies!" the Builder snarled. The first creature slithered into the room, staying back from Michael and making no threatening gestures.

  "No," the second drone-creature said. "We tried to save them. We couldn't. The ship separated. We separated. When we landed, we decided to keep the truth of our loss to ourselves. So we told ourselves that the crew had survived and that we must protect them until help arrived. Separating from ourselves was a horrible experience, but we succeeded."

  "No!" the Builder yelled, rippling over and over, changing shapes and features slightly as if losing control. "You killed them. You weren't good enough to save them. You were supposed to save them."

  The second drone-creature faced their accuser. "We were not good enough. But we didn't want to accept our blame. We wanted only to be reunited with the One back on our planet. We give up so much when we are placed aboard these ships and help the crews."

  "We should have died with them," the Builder said.

  "No," the second drone-creature replied. "It is always our way to live."

  "We can't live here," the Builder said. "This is not our home. We can't reunite with the One here. We are incomplete outside of the One."

  The second drone-figure turned to Max. "We protected the ship from the Mesaliko people until the desert sands drank us down. During that time we remained separate from our others."

  "A mind divided," Isabel said.

  "We used the legends of the Mesaliko people to enforce our privacy," the second drone-figure said. "And we shut down the ship, freely entered stasis. We had thought the power would gradually dwindle and we no longer would exist, but that was allowable because we had no power over that. The thought of existence while trapped here was painful to us. Instead the ship's engines powering up not far away woke us."

  "The Granilith," Max said, so they would all know.

  "We sensed the ship," the second drone-figure said, "and we went on alert. We could not stop ourselves." The figure turned to face the Builder. "We would stop ourselves now. We would end our pain."

  "No," the Builder said.

  "Yes. We serve no purpose here."

  "The distress beacon," the Builder said.

  "Failed. If it still circles this planet, it is inoperative. There is no reason to chase the surrounding people from their homes. We're hurting others needlessly."

  Soundlessly the Builder exploded into thousands of drones that immediately went on the offensive. "We can't live on our own. We choose not to live on our own."

  Michael unleashed an energy bolt. The blue-white blast arced into the midst of the spreading drones that had been the Builder. Drones burst into electrical fireworks, chasing strings like failing Christmas lights.

  Suddenly a powerful voice spoke in an alien tongue. The tone was downbeat, like a death knell. Words came in perfect cadence, one falling relentlessly after another.

  "Go!" the second drone-figure shouted. "We have initiated the self-destruct sequence."

  "I thought you couldn't do that," Isabel said.

  "Only if we are invaded by hostile enemy troops. We see you as the enemy. You have served our purpose. Go. There is very little time remaining to make your escape."

  Which "we"? Max wondered. The "we" that suddenly realized they weren't going home again, or the "we" that didn't want to be responsible for hurting anyone else? He had no way of knowing, so he ran.

  Michael took the lead, throwing energy bolts at swarms of drones that tried to intercept them. Every time the energy hit the drones, the strings of explosions ripped across the rooms, leaving the way clear.

  A warning Klaxon screamed through the hallways as room after room suddenly filled with pale amber light. Max's head screamed in pain and he felt dizzy, but he didn't let up.

  At the doorway leading to the tunnel from the spaceship, Liz stumbled and fell. Without hesitation Max stopped and helped her to her feet. Together, hand in hand, they ran, scrambling up the tunnel to the cave mouth.

&nbs
p; Valenti and Michael caught them at the top, pulling them from the cave mouth and toward the outside. The interior of the cavern whipped by, then they were outside in the night air, stumbling, falling down the hillside.

  Gasping for air, Max pushed himself up and watched as a swarm of drones rocketed down the hillside after them. "If we are to perish," the drones said, "then you will perish with us."

  Max put up his energy shield, watching as the lead drones blew up on contact with the force field. Then an enormous explosion rocked the landscape and the top of the hill collapsed, crunching down into the earth.

  The remaining drones fell to the ground. As Max watched, the drones dissolved, leaving nothing.

  "Biodegradable," Michael commented wryly.

  "Degradable, at any rate," Isabel agreed.

  Dust clouds gathered over the fallen hill, but the wind quickly wiped them from the sky.

  EPILOGUE

  "Although the military doesn't accept responsibility for the explosion that ripped through Mesaliko reservation territory, speculation remains constant that the blast came from a munitions dump kept in the area during World War II."

  Max watched with idle interest the television news. Three days had passed since the spaceship had been destroyed. There had been no more ghost sightings in Roswell or in the Mesaliko tribal lands. He sat in his room and tried to remain calm with the idea of not beating his brains out trying to find a way to get to his son and fix things with Liz.

  During the last three days he hadn't talked with Liz, hadn't felt like he could be around her without putting pressure on her. He wanted her back in his life, wanted everything to be back like it was before Tess came along to twist things so badly.

  The phone rang unexpectedly.

  Max scooped the receiver up and said hello.

  "It's me," Liz said.

  The world suddenly seemed to stop around Max. He had to force himself to breathe. "Hi," he said.

  "Are you okay?"

  "Sure. I was just dozing," Max said. "Still catching up on sleep."

  "I just wanted to check. 1 haven't seen much of you these past few days."