Exiles

by Kaitlyn O'Connor

  Attacked by Angels!

  She thought for several unnerving moments that she might faint for the first time in her life.

  * * * *

  Ordinarily the bureaucratic portion of science—funding—worked with agonizing slowness and that was because reports had to be compiled and the petition for funding carefully worded and then processed through channels—sometimes many channels—before a decision was made as to whether the project warranted the research money the scientist was begging for.

  The most recent discovery was so staggering that the request for money zipped through the red tape like a lightning bolt and the President himself had decided to attend the committee that had been called to discuss the matter in the most secret chamber of the highest security secret base owned by the United States government.

  The scientists gathered around the table were as nervous and jittery as long tailed cats in a room full of rocking chairs. When the President entered the room, they leapt to their feet in salute so fast their chairs squawked in protest at being shoved across the slate floor and one of the scientists, to his chagrin, actually toppled his chair.

  “Gentlemen,” the President greeted them with a slight nod, “my regrets, but we need to get right down to business. I have a meeting in Washington this evening.”

  There were more loud squawks as the scientists grabbed their chairs and shuffled toward the conference table again.

  The head of the committee flipped through his papers with shaking hands, trying to compose himself to speak. “Mr. President,” he began after clearing his throat several times. “Our preliminary examination of the … uh … artifacts recently … uh … acquired and brought back from the Persian gulf seems to indicate that these are … simply astounding finds. We have … well, we are confident that when we have had time to properly examine and study everything, we will have taken a giant step forward in our knowledge of this galaxy and indeed the entire universe! And … we can’t be certain at this point—because we haven’t yet translated the scrolls—but they seem to be instructions for building technology literally light years ahead of anything we have now if the … uh … drawings are any indication and we are convinced they are.

  “Unfortunately, we have a problem with the data. It’s uh … well the language isn’t like anything we’ve ever seen. I mean the scrolls that actually seem to be a written language. Others look to be code of some sort and this is why we’re requesting additional funding and … uh … additional personnel. We need linguists and specialists in codes to break the codes and ….Well, we don’t know yet because we haven’t been able to decipher them, but probably specialists in many other fields.”

  The President blinked several times. “What you’re suggesting …. You’re saying this data is actually data?”

  “Yes, Mr. President. I’m absolutely certain of that! The maps alone are … priceless! We have a map of Mars … when it had oceans. Venus. In fact it appears we have maps of every known habitable planet or moon in the universe. It’s just … the data is mindboggling and the potential staggering and …. Well we just don’t have the manpower we need to do it justice! It could take lifetimes to sort through this much data and … well, frankly, I think we’ll want to sort through it a lot faster, Mr. President.”

  The President stared at him speechlessly for several moments. “But you don’t actually know at this point because you haven’t been able to decipher the scrolls?”

  “I’m saying, as far as we can determine at this point ….”

  There was an interruption from the other end of the table. “Excuse me! Pardon me for interrupting, but … Oh! I’m Dr. Polson with Genetic SETI, Mr. President. I think I must put in at this point that there’s every reason to believe this will turn out to be the most mind-boggling discovery of all time … for all us! The codes we’ve been working on—the code used in the scrolls—well it … it seems to match the ‘junk’ DNA codes we’ve been trying to break at SETI for years. And I … I think we may have had a breakthrough. I think we’ve found the Rosetta stone—the key to the code!”

  * * * *

  Madelyn had left a message for Robert that she would try again to reach him today. She was buoyed by the possibility that she might actually get to talk to him in a matter of minutes to assuage what she hoped were unfounded fears.

  Unfortunately, she couldn’t give Robert particularly good news.

  She honestly thought they would’ve been much better off if they’d simply stayed put, endured the discomfort and unpleasantness of the base at Gitmo and then gained their release via ‘normal’ channels.

  Not that she wasn’t grateful to Nick for playing superman! She felt just awful that he’d not only thrown away an excellent career with the Navy, but made himself a target and racked up charges that were probably going to land him in jail.

  Of course, he hadn’t done it for her! He’d been playing superhero for Claire, but she didn’t think she could, with good conscience, quibble over the matter. He’d still rescued her along with Claire so she still had an obligation.

  Besides, barring prison, it looked like he might be her brother-in-law.

  He must really be crazy about Claire to flush his entire life down the toilet for her!

  Truthfully, she was more than a little envious.

  Robert was so levelheaded she couldn’t imagine him dashing in to save her like a white knight. He would’ve hired a lawyer!

  So, to her mind, it was a tad brainless on Nick’s part, but his heart was certainly in the right place!

  She paused at the intersection and very casually glanced toward the Inn to make sure Claire hadn’t discovered she’d sneaked out. As she did, a man stopped abruptly and turned to look at the display in a shop window.

  Vibes of ‘wrong’ rippled through her, but she didn’t entirely assimilate what she’d noticed until she’d crossed the street and covered another block. By that time the hairs along the back of her neck were prickling. Pausing at a shop window herself, she stared at the reflection of the street behind her, searching for some sign of the man she’d noticed behaving so strangely.

  She didn’t see him and, struggling to dismiss the incident, she hurried on her way, finally reaching the public phone that was her destination almost right on the dot. After glancing at the clock on the tower across the street, she dug out the coins she needed and placed the call.

  While she waited, she glanced around at the city streets, searching.

  “The number you dialed is no longer in service ….”

  Her heart skipped a half a dozen beats, but she hardly even registered the recording that told her Robert wasn’t going to be able to answer any of her calls. She’d spotted the man she’d thought might be following her on the corner across the street from her.

  And he was looking dead at her.

  Maddie dropped the receiver, jerked the booth door open hard enough to tear it off the tracks, and took off down the street in the opposite direction from the one she’d taken to get to the booth, her mind divided between the need to escape and her fear of leading the man back to the Inn where they’d been staying.

  Fortunately, her work was physically demanding enough that she was in excellent shape. She managed to put a little distance between herself and the man even though he also took off running.

  In some respects, it would’ve been easier if the streets had been empty. Unfortunately, there were throngs of people and that made it difficult to maintain an all out run. But the foot traffic also impeded the stalker’s attempt to catch up to her and, beyond that, since she wasn’t more than average height, she had some hope of losing the man in the crowd.

  She’d traversed nearly a block trying to run and dodge the people on the streets when she heard an abrupt and notable change in the rumblings of the crowd she and her chaser had disturbed. From startled gasps and the occasional curse, question, or demand, she heard sharp inhalations that sounded both male and female and then screams.

  The screams j
olted her enough that she whipped a look behind her. As she did, someone grabbed her from the front.

  “Maddie! Oh my god! Run!” Claire screamed, switching from relief at finding her sister to horror in two seconds flat as she spied what at first looked like an enormous bird dropping to the street.

  As shocked as she was, she instantly knew what it was, though, for although she didn’t recognize the face of the flying being, the expression had figured in her nightmares since her own encounter.

  “Fuck! It’s one of them!” Maddie screamed.

  Claire was pulling at her and trying to run. “No! It’s one of the others! One of the crazy …!

  She hadn’t even managed to finish the sentence when the angel began laying about him with the five foot sword he was carrying, cleaving heads from torsos and upper torsos from lower. The man who’d been chasing Maddie went down before he even knew what hit him.

  The crowd had been so stunned by the mere appearance of the winged being that most of them were still frozen, staring at him with their mouths agape.

  Maddie gagged, clamping a hand to mouth.

  Claire gave her sister another jerk to get her moving. “We have to go! Move, Maddie, god damn it!”

  The screamed demand finally penetrated Maddie’s shock.

  Unfortunately, it also seemed to trigger everyone else’s survival instincts. Screaming mindlessly, they began to scramble in every direction, slamming into each other and inanimate objects in their panicked efforts to escape. Tripping and falling, when they sprawled out on the pavement they tripped others, forming mounds for more panicked pedestrians to fall over or barricades to trap them and divert them in new directions.

  By the time Claire managed to get Maddie up to running speed they were caught in a raging river of panicked people and had no choice but to move with the current or be knocked down and trampled.

  The tide rounded a corner and the terrifying sounds behind them dulled sufficiently that some people began to drop away from the fringes—some to head in other directions, many with the clear intention of heading back to the scene of mayhem to watch.

  “Claire!”

  Claire’s head automatically snapped in the direction of the sound. She caught a glimpse of Nick, but she and Maddie were still too caught up in the mad, stampeding tide of terrified people to do anything about it at that moment.

  “It’s Nick!” she exclaimed, tugging at Maddie and trying to move sideways in the hope of freeing the two of them from the current of panicked madness.

  They didn’t seem to make much headway until a group of men joined them, shoving them toward the fringes as they struggled to disentangle themselves.

  At least, that was what Claire believed was happening until they neared the edge of the crowd and the men abruptly seized both her and Madelyn.

  And she still thought, at first, that the men were trying to help them.

  It wasn’t until the strangers strong-armed them from the street and into a narrow alley where they saw a dark SUV waiting that it clicked in her mind.

  She and Maddie had fallen into a trap! She didn’t know how they could have found them, but she didn’t for a moment think they were anything other than government agents.

  Before Claire could even gather her wits enough to try to fight, the men holding them were joined by three others and she and Maddie were bound and gagged and shoved into the SUV.

  * * * *

  Bypassing the facility on the dark side of the moon, Dante headed directly to the main base of the overlords on Mars.

  They were fucked if the gods had figured out a way to bypass their shielding. Because, if that was the case, the gods would know the plot they had hatched. They still had some hope that that was not the case, however, since the overlords had not behaved in any way as if they had been forewarned.

  He would have liked to have been reassured by the fact that the overlords had not attacked them as soon as they came within view, but he had had ample time to discover just how devious the gods were. And, unfortunately, he knew they could not count on a lack of immediate action as a certainty that the overlords knew nothing. They were entirely capable of waiting for the angels to spring their trap and nixing their attempt with a counter trap.

  They had lulled him into a false sense of security before—to his sorrow—when he had taken the Earth woman, Nahla, as his lover and gotten sons on her. They had allowed him to believe he could protect the family he was not allowed to have and then they had sunk the entire city, killing thousands to ensure that they destroyed all that had become dear to him.

  That thought sent uneasiness slithering through him.

  Had he been lulled into a false sense of security again? Was Claire truly safe where he had left her … shielded from their malice?

  Or had they all played into the hands of the gods? Believed the shielding in their crafts and fortresses prevented the overlords from prying into their thoughts? When, in truth, they were only laying in wait for the right moment to strike?

  He shook the thought. Once they had discovered what it was that the gods were up to and whether or not they had had a hand in changing Daelin and Gaius from thinking, rational beings to berserkers, he would return for her and protect her from any murderous intentions the gods might have.

  But their best hope was to stop them before it got that far.

  And, if they were right and they could find evidence that the changelings weren’t out of control but rather were under the control of the overlords then they would have what they needed to convince the assembly that the gods must be removed as overlords. They could not be trusted to guard the human preserve.

  He saw when he had docked his ship that a dozen others had arrived before him.

  Feeling his tension increase tenfold the moment he stepped from the ship, he focused on trying to control his body’s reaction and to shield his thoughts.

  Proceed to the med center, bay 12. Acknowledge.

  Acknowledged.

  You have had no difficulties with your communicator?

  None that I am aware of, Dante responded as he strode briskly through the hanger and entered the main facility.

  Strange.

  Dante hesitated. Alright. I will bite. How is that strange?

  We have had some difficulty communicating with you. But you say that your communications with us have gone through with no problems?

  You are always swift to respond. I assume that that means there were no difficulties. He paused when he reached bay 12 and removed a respirator, fitting it over his mouth and nose before he activated the door. Unlike the angels, the overlords found the oxygen mixture of Earth did not especially agree with their constitutions. It was primarily for that reason that the angels had been appointed as watchers—that and the fact that humans found the overlords repulsive and tried to kill them on sight.

  Which, he had to suppose, was one of the reasons the overlords despised humans so much—they lacked the physical beauty of the human form, he thought with amusement.

  Intermittent failures are so difficult to track down!

  In, Dante responded.

  Intermittent.

  Dante had difficulty controlling his response—a jolt of surprise. There was some relief that they apparently thought he had not understood what they had said but uneasiness persisted since he had intended his comment as a signal to the others and had thought the telepathic communication was shielded.

  * * * *

  Galen signaled the others. They formed a telepathic shielding around themselves as they exited the ship, preventing the detection devices from alerting the overlords to their presence.

  They hoped.

  No detectable alarms were activated, however, and they proceeded with more confidence after a few moments, reaching Bay 12 just as the surgeon robots made the laser incision.

  Stop it right there! Galen growled as he and the other six angels swarmed the room, easily seizing the three gods that were overseeing the surgery and shoving them a
gainst the walls. When they had subdued the overlords, Nhile and Baen moved to gurney Dante had been strapped to and released him.

  Galen had seized the lead scientist and the overlord’s eyes bulged as he felt the telepathic grip of Galen’s mind. He fought it, but at such close range he had no hope of preventing Galen’s probe.

  After a few moments, Galen cursed and released the bastard. The overlord slipped to the floor in a lifeless lump.

  It is far worse than we thought, Galen said grimly.

  How could be it be worse? Dante demanded, holding a hand to the incision on his head to close the gaping wound left by the laser cut.

  They mean to use the changelings to destroy the humans. Once they have, if they succeed, the assembly will hold our people responsible and will order our world destroyed.

  Dante cursed, his mind instantly leaping to Claire.

  We have to warn our people! Nhile exclaimed.

  We have to stop them! Baen growled angrily.

  We will have to do both, Galen said grimly. They have already released dozens of angels upon the humans!

  The shielding! Dante roared. We need to activate the shielding! Once they realize we have figured out their plans—and have evidence—they will try to destroy all of us and then they can still claim that it was the angels who destroyed the humans and they were justified in destroying us!

  That? We do not know that that will even work! When was the last time it was activated? Ever? The overlords have almost certainly taken that possibility into account and will have prepared to circumvent the use of it.

  Dante glared at Galen. We have something to lose by trying?

  Good point! Galen said, following Dante as he charged out of the bay and down the corridor toward their ship.

  To their relief, they saw that angels were flooding out of the facility far faster than they had arrived and loading into their ships.

  Our first task, Dante said once they had powered up their ship, will be to find the changelings and prevent them from completing the mission the overlords have set them on.

  Our first task, Galen countered, will be to get out of here in one piece. Physically, they may be inferior little bastards, but they make up for it in treachery and technology. He glanced at Dante as they breached the doors of the hanger, studying him for a long moment. You should get something done about that hole they left in your head.