by James Aspen
“Now!” she yelled. She pushed the loveseat with a flare of unexpected strength. The loveseat flew towards the doorway, crashed through the battered remains of the door, and lodged itself in the doorframe. With a fluid motion, she pulled out her blaster and shot blindly into the hallway beyond while Paul ran.
The room exploded with return fire, and Paul sensed Edolit hurling through the air behind him. He turned and barely glimpsed Varanul scrambling to remove the couch that blocked their way before he made it into the bedroom. A few stray bolts burned through his “The Truth Is Out There” poster hanging by his bed, nearly taking off his head.
Edolit ran straight through the room to the window. With shocking strength, she ripped the window from the wall and tossed it to the ground.
“Get out, I’ll catch up!” she shouted. She pointed her blaster back towards the bedroom door and fired blindly toward the sounds of snarling creatures in the other room.
The Varanul let out frustrated roars. Paul heard them clamoring for cover as the quick burst of Edolit’s fire sent them backing away. Paul’s apartment burned as the super-heated blaster bolts ignited the walls and furniture. He gasped when he saw his computer explode with a puff of smoke, hit by a stray bolt. There wasn’t much in the apartment he cared about, but seeing the machine destroyed hurt.
“Go!” she growled. Paul overcame his paralysis and scrambled past her onto the fire escape, stumbling down the rusty stairs. The wail of the creatures’ return fire was loud behind him. He cringed as blasts shot out the window and splashed against the next building.
Edolit let loose another few shots and then ducked out behind him. She caught up to him on the next landing and grabbed his arm.
“There’s no time! Jump!.”
“What?!”
The surrounding air exploded with laser blasts coming from his apartment. They burned through the metal of the fire escape, showering them with searing sprays of molten metal. Edolit grabbed him and pulled him over the side.
She wrapped her body around his as they fell the last three stories to the ground, Paul's screams muffled by the laser fire and the rushing wind. Her body shielded him from impact with the lid of the dumpster as they landed with a loud clang. The air flew out of him, but she seemed unaffected. Not missing a beat, she rolled with him off the dumpster onto the ground and landed on her feet. He fell in a heap at her feet and groaned. Pain blurred his vision.
“Come on,” she yelled as she pulled him up smoothly and headed down the alley. She shot blindly towards the apartment window as they moved away. Paul glanced back in time to catch a Varanul tumbling from the fire escape and landing with a crash into some trash cans.
Paul ran as fast as he could, barely keeping up with Edolit as the heat of the Varanul’s blasts warmed the surrounding air. They burned through the cobblestone of the alley and shards of super-heated stone filled the air. The molten stone clung to him and burned him through his clothing, searing flashes of pain shot through him.
He expected to be torn apart at any moment, to feel a laser blast sear into his back and send him sprawling to the ground. His breath burned in his lungs and muscles cried out in pain as he dashed away, fueled by greater fear than he had ever known. But the blast never came. Within moments they turned the corner and ran into the street beyond, narrowly missing a swerving car. A cluster of pedestrians gawked as they ran by.
Paul slowed, his initial flood of adrenaline spent. The intense protests of his leg muscles filled his mind. His lungs burned and he couldn’t get enough air. His heartbeat pounded in his ear, pulsing through his temples and bringing a wave of dizziness over him. He braced against the building’s cool brick, his vision filled with a myriad of bright dots as he fought to stay conscious.
Edolit noticed he had fallen behind and appeared at his side as the dots faded. His lungs had finally calmed enough to get air, but he wasn’t ready to move again.
“Move, Paul, or you will die!” She pulled at his arm while she pointed her blaster at the edge of the alley behind them, her body tense and skin flashing bright sapphire ripples.
Paul took a deep breath. His head no longer swimming, he thought he could move without passing out, and willed himself forward. I swear I’m going to work out if I survive this, he thought, forcing himself to jog. He knew he couldn’t manage a full sprint and hoped a jog would be enough.
The loud wail of Edolit’s blaster next to him made him jump. He turned to see a Varanul fall into a heap on the cobblestone. Shocked pedestrians screamed and scattered as she pushed Paul harshly.
“Go!” she shouted.
Edolit shot back towards the alley as she gave him a moment to flee before she caught up.
She kept pace beside him now, not letting him fall behind again. She watched the rooftops and street behind them, ready to blast any beast that showed itself. Around them, startled people scurried from their path, shying from the alien woman with the strange gun and rippling skin.
Blasts rained from the rooftop and the street burst into a chaotic storm. Cars swerved off the road or crashed as drivers reacted to the laser fire streaking from above. Pedestrians ran in all directions, their screams over shadowed by the crashing chaos of explosions, stray blasts igniting the gas tanks of parked cars.
“Turn here,” Edolit ordered, pushing him off the main road onto a side street. She spun and fired, and Paul heard a creature’s wounded roar. Paul kept running as fast as he could, his lungs starved for air and legs shaking. Pinpoints of light sparkled in the margins of his vision.
Not again, please. Paul’s head was swimming, and he felt himself slowing, as much as he tried to keep moving.
Edolit halted and pointed her weapon straight up just as one of the Varanul attempted to jump the gap between buildings. The shot burned into the creature’s torso, and it crashed into the building beside her with a sickening splat, landing in a heap. It stirred, struggling to rise, until a second shot from her blaster made it slump to the ground.
Paul was still running when she caught up to him half a block away.
“We’re okay now, I got the last of them,” she said. Screams and car horns echoed from the main street, but there was no more weapons fire.
Paul lurched to a stop and leaned down, propping his hands onto his thighs as he hunched over. He was dizzy again and swayed a little on his feet. He put his head between his legs and tried to catch his breath. Edolit scanned the area, weapon at the ready, but more relaxed. Paul thought it strange that she didn’t seem to be winded at all. Her skin pulsed a steady, calm rhythm. Watching her more closely, he could see she was less unaffected than she seemed, her muscles twitching beneath her lilac skin.
“How did they find us?” he asked. He stood up straight and placed his hands above his head to open his lungs, ignoring the sweat pouring down his face. Yep, definitely need to work out.
“They must have cleaned up the battle site from yesterday and found my blood. Wouldn’t have been hard to track it back to your dwelling,” she said.
Paul remembered his computer exploding in a hail of laser blasts and his brand new loveseat catching on fire. Besides his computer, he couldn’t think of much of anything in his entire apartment he would miss. Was his life really so empty that he had nothing to lose? The thought struck him deep in the chest.
He hoped the other residents got out before the fire spread out of control. The rent was cheap, and the building was full of poor families and elderly who had much more to lose than him. Guilt hit him as sirens sounded in the distance, still a few minutes away. He wondered how many people were injured on the street.
“What do we do now?” he asked.
She studied him, her vibrant eyes impossible for him to read and skin pulsing clashing tones. Paul thought she looked sad. Or hesitant. Something was going through her head, and he not being able to decipher her expressions and skin signals was making him uncomfortable. It was as if she was having a silent argument with herself, the way her expressions flickered
.
With a nod and a bright flash of green along her cheeks, she seemed to reach a decision.
“You are no longer safe here, Paul,” Her voice was solemn, quiet. “The Varanul likely think you are a Resistance agent now, and will attempt to eliminate you. You must come with me to my ship.”
“Me? But I know nothing about this! What would they want with me?” His voice cracked, and he felt like an awkward teenager again.
“They don’t know that.” She stepped closer and holstered her weapon. “They will do anything to protect their plan. The best I can do for you is get you somewhere far away before I leave your planet.”
Paul looked at the Varanul’s smoking body and shuddered. The image of people running away popped into his mind, people who had witnessed the Varanul chasing them through the streets. “What about the people who saw everything? Will they be hunted, too?”
Edolit put her hand on his shoulder gently and leveled her eyes with his. “The Varanul’s controllers will feed them a lie, most likely through your planet’s leaders. Enough will believe the lie to make it fade away. Humanity is not ready to accept the truth, and whoever controls the Varanul knows that. But you have been seen with me. They will assume you to be a threat and hunt you. This city is too small to hide from them.”
Paul nodded. He knew too well how small Franklin was. Most days, he ran across a dozen people who knew him. He never thought of himself as popular, but lack of anonymity was part of growing up in small places. There was nowhere to hide in a town like that.
“Okay, I’ll come with you. Now what do we do?” He was overwhelmed. His entire being screamed for him to run, but what other option was there?
Edolit pat his shoulder. “Now, we’ve got to get to my ship before the Varanul find it.”
She pressed the screen on her arm and a small map of the city sprung to life in between them. He assumed the small flashing dot just off the main street showed their location. She glanced at it and seemed to get her bearings. She closed the map with a swipe of her hand.
“This way.” She motioned away from the main road. “Pay attention for anything out of the ordinary. You might spot an ambush before I do.”
“Great.”
Edolit glanced down and seemed to realize she no longer had her cloak. Her lilac skin was brighter in the sunlight than it was in the dim light he’d seen it in the night before. She’d be easy to spot in any crowds, especially with a blade strapped to her shoulder and a blaster on her thigh.
“And let me know if we’re getting close to a crowded area, I don’t want to put anyone else in danger.”
Edolit didn’t wait for his reply before she moved away. Paul gulped and followed her down the street.
CHAPTER SIX
EDOLIT PEERED AROUND the stone building and muttered something that sound like a curse. She pushed Paul back down the alley, away from the courtyard. They slunk to the end of the block and hid behind a dumpster. A low growl vibrated in her throat and her skin flushed a deep indigo. Paul wondered if the color meant irritation.
She pressed her screen and a small picture of the area popped into view between them.
“They found my ship,” she whispered, pointing to red figures on the rooftops of the buildings surrounding the old factory courtyard.
“I saw nothing there,” Paul whispered, pointing to the strange wedge shape in the middle of the courtyard.
“My ship’s cloak shield is engaged. Trust me, it’s there. Nian, switch to tactical view and overlay projected enemy fields of fire,” she said.
“Who’s Nian?”
“My Ambra,” she said. She raised her left arm and pointed to the device on her forearm. “Your people would call it artificial intelligence.”
The image shifted to an aerial view of the area, with yellow triangles emitting from each Varanul. Almost the entire courtyard was now yellow except for slivers along buildings.
“Ka’ilk,” she muttered in a low growl. Paul didn’t need to understand the words to recognize a curse.
“That bad, huh?” He hoped she couldn’t see how badly his hands were shaking in the low light. He was terrified, but letting her know how bad seemed like it would make it worse.
“They have all access points covered, and more have to be on their way,” she said. She motioned for him to follow her to the dilapidated old building further away from the courtyard the ship was parked in.
Paul always wanted to explore the abandoned factory outside town, but had never gotten around to it. As they slipped through the gaping hole in the side of the old factory office, what had once seemed like an exciting prospect was now terrifying. The roof had rotted away long ago and the ceiling sagged, threatening to collapse at any moment. The musty smell of mold overwhelming his senses. Remnants of an abandoned vagrant’s camp added to the gloom of the building. The place was so far gone, people on the fringe of society no longer bothered to use it.
Edolit took him to the backroom and took a small glowing rod from her utility belt. The pale green glow it cast over the room did nothing to change how creepy the place was. Then she exhaled sharply and pulsed her disappointed heather tone.
“I didn’t want to do this, but we don’t have many options,” she said. Her voice was mournful as she fumbled with a small leather case on her belt.
“Do what?”
Edolit pulled out a small, flat piece of metal, identical to the one embedded in her forearm. This device was stained with dark carbon scoring across the backside and chips gouged in the metal around the screen. She held it out to him reverently.
“This was K’tal’s Ambra. I retrieved it from his body before the Varanul chased me toward you last night. I need you to put it on, or you don’t have a chance.”
Paul took it from her carefully. It was lighter than he guessed it would be, not much heavier than his cell phone. “What is it?”
“The Ambra is an experimental combat enhancer and artificial intelligence. The AI directly interfaces with your neural pathways and musculoskeletal system. It will enhance all of your senses, reflexes, strength, and stamina. It will also heal you from most wounds using nanotech, but you already saw that part.” She pointed to the slashes in her jumpsuit from her stomach wounds from the night before.
He stared at her, not believing what he was hearing. “How could that device do all those things?”
She ignored him and continued. “The AI has access to the Federation complete knowledge databanks, access codes for communications relays, and locations of all hyper-Gate points. This one has a copy of all the scouting data we collected about the Varanul’s movements in this system. If I don’t make it, I need you to get this data to my base. The AI will help you get there. My superiors need to know the Varanul’s controller is about to claim Earth, so they can stop it.”
Paul’s mind was swimming, grappling with an overload of information he didn't completely understand. He stared down at the alien device in his hands, a gateway to an entire galaxy of information and power. The secrets of an alien culture, unfathomable to him mere hours before, nestled in the palm of his hand.
“Why are you giving me this?” he whispered. A heavy weight pressed on him.
“Because there is no one else. I need you to join us, Paul. Your world needs you.” Edolit placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.
“But I’m just an average, normal guy. I’m not special. What makes you think I can help?” He wanted to let the device drop to the floor and run, Varanul be damned.
She looked at him coolly and held out her arm, showing him her Ambra. “Because. I wasn’t special either when I got this. It saved me, and it might save you.”
He looked at her skeptically.
“The choice is yours. I can’t make it for you. For what it’s worth, I would rather give this power to an average being who is good than see it with someone who would use it for personal gain.”
Paul wanted to run. He wanted to disappear and pretend none of this had ever happened. A fam
iliar sense of panic welled up his throat. The one he experienced any time he had considered talking to Rachel or standing up to his father. The one that made crowded parties and nights at the club a special brand of torture for years.
Joining a group of aliens fighting to protect Earth and dozens of other worlds wasn’t what he had in mind when he daydreamed about leaving Franklin. He had imagined working at a coffee shop in a small beach town or something, not charging into battle against a foe he didn’t understand.
“This is crazy. I shouldn’t be here,” he muttered. His hand was shaking. The Ambra was icy against his palm.
“Neither should I. I should be running through the Fields of Hali with my family, but they’re gone. The fields. My family. Everything and everyone on my world. Gone,” she growled. Her skin rippled waves of blood red. “They will do the same to your world. Soon. They are almost ready to strike. This will give you a fighting chance to change it.”
Paul looked at Edolit’s face and deflated, shoulders falling with his resigned sigh. He didn’t have much choice, it seemed; run and be hunted, or stand and fight. He handed the Ambra back to her with a slight nod. He’d at least give himself the best chance to survive. Maybe he’d be able to help along the way. “Okay, what do I need to do?”
CHAPTER SEVEN
“THESE WILL ANCHOR the Ambra to you, attach it to your bone.” Edolit pointed to the large needles on the underside of the Ambra. She shifted and pointed to smaller fibers, like delicate fibrous hairs. “These will integrate into your systems, nerves, and muscles.”
“Sounds… uncomfortable.” Paul wasn’t excited about an alien device boring into his bones. Not even a little.
“It is alarming, especially at first. Most of ours get installed under sedation. Unfortunately, we do not have that option for you should you.”
“Will it hurt?”
“At first, but after the first probe injects you, it will feel like a burning sensation until it bonds with your nerves. After that, the AI will block your pain response for the remainder of the bonding. It will be disturbing more than painful, especially when it speaks to you.”
