Elise gasped. The attire was different, but the gold eyes and blond hair were unmistakable. “I thought I’d dreamt you.”
“Tell the pilot not to go in, yet.”
Merek’s voice came from the cockpit. “Something’s happening in the docking area of the shuttlebay. Everyone make sure you’re belted in and braced.”
Elise stared at the apparition and shouted to the pilot, “Go around. Abort the dock.” She clutched her seat as she felt the shuttle bank steeply and curve around as he complied.
Her hallucination nodded.
The shuttle swooped out making a large loop. At the cockpit, their pilot yelled into his comm. Finally, the pilot lined up once more and headed in to land. As they entered the shuttlebay, laser fire scored the craft’s side and flares flashed through the dim light. Shadowy forms appeared, ducking and weaving about the area.
“What the hell’s happening?” Merek drew his phaser and peered out the cockpit viewport while the pilot completed the docking maneuver and shut down the engines. No one appeared to tie up the shuttle. The pilot motioned to Merek.
Outside, voices shouted. Merek cracked open the hatch to determine what was happening. Laser flares tore past, scorching the shuttle’s side and singeing his hand. He yanked it back in with an angry exclamation.
Elise crouched-walked toward him. “Wait, don’t go out yet,” she said. “What’s going on?”
“Deuce and his men are fighting attackers in the dock area.” Merek leaned closer, squinting. “I think Deuce finally has them nailed. Two of the attackers are down, and two are wounded. His men are rounding them up.”
Two guards pounded up from the back of the shuttle, phasers drawn. “What’s going on?”
Merek leaned farther in, his nose almost touching the front pane. “Here comes Jacob, and it looks like Director Steele coming out from behind some crates.”
“Richard is out in that firefight?” A rush of fear for his safety swept over Elise. She lurched forward to grab the hatch handle as three men grabbed her and held her back.
“It’s not safe out there yet.” Merek tightened his grip.
Elise scanned the area. Where’s your other guy?”
“What other guy?”
“The one in dark pants and shirt. Blond hair. Young.”
Merek and the others shook their heads. “It’s just the three of us. We didn’t expect trouble.”
Richard was outside banging on the hatch. “Elise, are you all right?”
Jacob came up behind him. “Commander, open up.”
Merek opened the hatch.
That’s when her body started shaking and didn’t stop. Realization coursed through her. “What was that about?” Seeing her become unsteady, Merek reached out to grip her arm. She got her panic under control.
Richard and Jacob exchanged glances.
Jacob coughed. “We think someone sent assassins to attack you. Because you delayed your landing, Deuce and his men were able to capture them. Thank the Lady, you didn’t land earlier and walk into the middle of the attack.”
Elise widened her eyes as the full import of the situation hit home. “No, I waited, and it saved my life,” she choked out.
***
Back safely in her spare headquarters at last, a distraught Elise collapsed into a hard chair with an ungracious plunk. She slapped her desk with a loud crack, staring at the hard blank walls, white cabinets, and blinking electronics.
Richard’s eyes stared at her, then they narrowed.
Elise struggled to control the roaring fear that was building inside of her. “Some Alysians just tried to kill me. Why would they do that?” She started shaking again.
Richard didn’t answer. He stood rock still, staring at her chair.
She jumped up. “They tried to kill me!”
His eyes widened, and he acted as if he hadn’t heard her. “The gravity has changed. You changed the gravity.” His eyes blinked in disbelief as he turned to stare at her.
“Yes, a while ago.” She flailed a hand through the air in front of her. “But right now, explain why professional hit men from Alysian just tried to kill me.”
“They expected to kill me too, but you disrupted their plans by leaving so abruptly.” Sighing, Richard felt his way into an opposite chair. “You are the invading aliens, aren’t you? And I’m seen as your ally—abetting the enemy.”
“Well, we’re somewhat alien but, curiously, not totally different from your kind. Would you like to explain that?” She started pacing to relieve the pent-up anger and fear.
Richard scrubbed a hand through his hair as he followed her back and forth movements. “An evolved race of beings called the Enjelise brought us here from Earth a long time ago. They were dispersing humans around the universe to create diversity and to protect the human race.”
She halted as fear shivered through her. “Around the universe? That’s a lot of real estate. A more evolved version of us? Like way advanced?” The thought of aliens so advanced they slipped through the universe with ease was very unsettling.
He nodded. “Yeah. Now you know how we feel about you and why we’re so scared.”
Elise spun around and slammed a fist into the palm of her hand. “We saved your world… I, personally, helped save your world, and this is the thanks I get?”
“Don’t you see how moving a moon frightens them? They are a panicked people. They’ve been devastated by a comet, and now here comes an alien invasion. They aren’t thinking positively about stuff that arrives from space.”
She fell into the chair again and sighed, feeling like a deflated balloon, all the anger leaking out. “They don’t want us down there, ever, do they?”
He sat up alarmed. “No, don’t think that. They just need time. They need to know more about you. We hardly know anything, and what we know is disturbing.”
“We’re human. We may be your original ancestors.”
His face gentled. “You’re so much more.” He gazed around and rubbed the arm of the chair. “You can control gravity. You move moons. That’s scary stuff for us.”
She put her chin into the palm of her hands. “It’s only science. Even I don’t understand the physics involving the graviton, but Carter does. However, I see your point.”
“Commander…” He paused.
She sighed. “All right, all right, you can call me Elise when we’re alone like this.” She could no longer deny the bond they had. She felt it every second she was near him.
Sitting up, he leaned forward. “Elise, my dearest…”
Her hand, palm out, went up to his face. “Too much. I’ll insist you call me commander again if you get too friendly.” She needed to keep this situation under control.
He grinned. “Okay, I promise to behave.”
“Somehow, I don’t think you follow the rules very often. I think you like to break them anytime you dare.”
“I like to make the rules.”
She drummed her fingernails on an arm of the chair. “I have to ask you something, but I feel uncomfortable doing it.”
“So, ask anyway. It’s only me here.” He spread his hands and offered her a smile meant to calm her.
She nodded. “Okay, here it is: at first, I thought I was losing my mind, but now I think it was more than a hallucination. I think I saw something in the shuttle, but he disappeared too.”
Richard leaned forward with interest. “Disappeared? Describe what you saw.”
“Black pants, black shirt, white blond hair, fantastically handsome face.”
“Black? That sounds odd. Hmm. I’ll look into it.”
“You’ll look into what?”
Closing his eyes, Richard said, “I’m not sure yet.”
“It’s that evolved race of beings that you just mentioned, isn’t it? The apparition knew what was happening and said to wait. His warning saved my life.”
“Did it have wings?”
“Wings! No. That I would have noticed. But the first one glowed, and it did
have wings. It was dark and blurry, but I remember its piercing gold eyes.”
“Two different beings appeared to you?”
“I think so.”
“Oh my.”
Elise set her jaw. “Richard! What aren’t you telling me?”
He sighed in defeat. Gazing into the distance, he said, “Few people know about the Enjelise or that any are here on Alysia. They have isolated themselves because they have wings and that makes them stand out as different and subject to abuse. They are sensitive but powerful. Even so, only two exist on Alysia, and I brought them together. One is a male and the other female. The one you saw may be their son. I’ve heard rumors.” He paused to study her. “You must be important.”
“They promised to protect me.”
“Did they now?” He rubbed the arm of his chair.
“Look, we saved your world once already. Maybe we can do more. We want to live here. The better we make your world, the easier it will be for us to live here, too. Take me down to Alysia and let me see how we can help.”
“You’ll have to go through decontamination before you land, and you won’t be able to talk with other Alysians. Also, it will have to be a small group.”
“Understood. I can keep us small if you can keep us safe.”
“If you have the Enjelise watching over you, nothing I do matters.”
“Not true. A lot you do matters.”
Chapter 10
Planetfall
Elise stared past the back of the shuttle pilot’s neck to the blinking electronic panel beyond, her hands itching to take control. With the way the craft slewed about, she could tell the idiot didn’t know much about flying in space.
She felt Richard look over at her, so she deliberately relaxed her clenched fists and turned to smile. Actually, it was more a grimace than a smile.
“It won’t be long now.” He obviously misunderstood her expression for discomfort rather than impatience.
Although, when she gazed over at him, she noticed his clenched jaw and white-knuckled grip. He was afraid.
He returned her look with an expression of chagrin. “I must admit, I’m not very good at traveling in space, but a shuttle is better than a spacesuit any time. I get space rhapsody, rather like rapture of the deep in oceans.”
She blinked at the comment, surprised to think he’d done any EVA, much less deep-sea diving. He didn’t seem the type. Then again, she didn’t know much about him.
“This is hardly traveling in space.” She squinted out the viewport, not liking the mass of dust and debris that filled the atmosphere. “Has your pilot found an opening? Trying to plow through this mess will be dangerous. I’d rather he plot a clearer path for us to punch through.”
As if to punctuate her remark, a splattering of debris ticked against their hull. The shuttle lurched to the side to avoid a chunk of rock, causing Richard to sway violently and grab his stomach as agony rippled across his face.
“I’m not one to appreciate anyone throwing up all over me,” she commented, watching him.
He closed his eyes. “I’m trying hard not to.”
Leaning in, she whispered, “I can fly this thing with one hand better than that jerk does with two hands and ten toes.”
In the back, she heard an exclamation from Elija and Merek who held a similar opinion. “Commander.” The shout held a pleading protest.
“You aren’t legally licensed,” Richard said as he opened his eyes and raised his eyebrows at her, shutting down the discussion.
“Suck it up, guys,” she shouted back. “I’m not legal yet. Give me time.”
Grumbles answered the comment.
The shuttle spiraled down. Overhead, the black starry sky turned blue. They plunged into a mass of dirty yellow particles that pinged against the sides in a symphony of ticking sounds. Furious winds buffeted the ship with teeth-clenching violence. She watched the altimeter plummet while nothing but yellow haze showed outside the viewport.
Richard looked positively green while exclamations from the back left her no doubt that Elija was beside himself with frustration. Like her, he wanted to be at the controls and in charge. It was a shared trait locked into their DNA.
None of them made good passengers. Craning her neck around, she saw Merek sitting stiff and straight, looking as if he considered every moment to be his last.
They burst out beneath the clouds as a runway magically appeared in front of them. The shuttle skimmed tarmac, hit, bounced, and hit again with bone jarring ferocity. Then, it rolled down a long, smooth runway.
A mass of people around an opened hanger door hastily parted as the shuttle rolled to a stop and tow trucks emerged. A line of guards tried to hold the crowd back, to little avail.
“What are all these people doing here?” she asked.
Richard sighed. “The draw of curiosity has overcome the fear of contamination, it appears. They want to catch a glimpse of a real live alien.”
Fortunately, the trucks cleared a path into the hangar where more guards managed to get the doors closed before too many news reporters and general gawkers squeezed in. Those that did found themselves firmly escorted out.
“What the hell kind of landing was that?” Elija shouted as he stormed up to her.
Richard shrugged. “Any kind you walk away from, I consider successful.”
Behind Elija, Merek placed his hand on the outraged captain’s shoulder. “Elija, calm down.”
As she tried to stand, Elise felt the heavier gravity. She saw Elija stumble into a seat with a grunt, feeling the same.
Richard was already talking on his comm. “Yes, we’re down somewhat safely. There’s a mob outside the hangar. Okay, underground tunnel, decontamination, car, and cabin. Got it. Who’s driving? Jacoby? Oh, why him? Trace, driving like you is not a positive.”
A guard tapped Richard. “We need to go, sir.”
Richard nodded at the guard. “We’re heading out now.” He closed the comm and shook his head.
Six guards encircled Merek, Elija, Elise, and Richard and marched them forward.
“Decontamination?” Elise groaned. “I’ll have no skin left at this rate.”
“Be glad we don’t have to wait the required isolation period here. That mob out there is only the beginning. I convinced Trace and the President that the car would be sealed as tightly as an isolation chamber and could serve as one. Besides, this situation here isn’t safe.”
A roar of voices filtered in from the outside. The large hangar doors reverberated against pounding hands and feet. “Hurry,” urged one of the guards.
“Lead on,” Richard answered, waving a hand as they headed down a tunnel toward decontamination where hopefully transportation waited at the end.
***
The sleek black limousine powered up the steep mountain. Grabbing a strap as they skidded around a curve, Richard complained, “You drive as bad as Trace.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment,” their driver responded with a grin. Military brush cut, hard featured, Todd Jacoby could have posed for a recruiting poster.
The stink of chemicals from decontamination stuck to Elise’s skin, and the heavier gravity weighed on her body. Her experience with Alysia, thus far, had not been pleasant. Encapsulated in a speeding car, she could barely get a sense of the planet she had wanted to experience for so long.
Merek shot a tortured glance at her, agony written all over his normally tan face, now a pale cream, while Elija stared out his window with an expression of rapt curiosity.
The limo angled up, winding through towering trees that loomed over the accelerating car. The vivid green of the foliage, the hazy blue of the sky, and the brightness of the yellow sun warred with a previous reality that she had lived with all her life, enclosed in a metal spaceship. Mom had indicated that Earth had huge trees, but she bet they weren’t any larger than those that towered over them now. And so many! They all jammed together forming a dense wall on either side of the road.
�
�Slow down, Jacoby. It’s not like you’re late for your wedding.” Richard glared at the muscular white-haired driver who turned icy blue eyes on him.
“I want to arrive before nightfall. You think these roads are bad now, you don’t want to be driving them after dark.” The big man gripped the steering wheel, his jaw clenching.
“What is this place like where we’re going?” Elise tried to divert Richard’s attention from the blurred scenery.
He gazed out the window, quickly averting his eyes from the deep gorge that appeared and plunged down outside his side of the car. Gulping, he swung around and faced her. “It’s a family cabin in the mountains with a spring-fed lake nearby.” He gave a small shrug. “At one time, I thought I might want to live where I could fish and read for the rest of my life.”
“What happened?”
“I found out that I’m not that kind of person. I was soon bored. I appear to like excitement and challenge.” His eyes twinkled a bit. “Must be your attraction.”
Ignoring his comment, Elise said, “So your family owns a piece of this land?” She gestured out the window.
Giving a shrug, Richard nodded. “Pretty much this entire side of the mountain. Hammerslag owns the other side.”
“And you’re donating it to the invading aliens for settlement? That’s not going to make you friends and allies at the home front, I’ll bet.”
“No, it isn’t, but that’s the plan. It’s my decision.”
“Mighty generous of you. What did your father do to acquire so much land?”
A wry smile emerged on Richard’s face. “At first, he was a government spy, then an ambassador for the Ching T’Karre, and before he died, he ran I.N.Sys.”
“I’m sorry to hear he died. Recently?”
“Yes, not long ago. He died when the comet hit… an early casualty.”
“So what’s I.N.Sys?”
“It’s the Information Network System. We gather intelligence. Trace Walker runs it now. You’ve met him.”
Somewhat Alien: The Station (Terran Trilogy Book 2) Page 7
