by Terry Mixon
She considered the security implications, shrugged, and handed him her phone. It wasn’t as if Brenda Cabot didn’t already have her number.
While the young man worked, Jess turned to Molly Goodwin. “This must all seem so strange to you. If it helps, you’ll adjust quickly.”
The other woman laughed a little. “If you say so. As I told Mister Rogers, I’m going to have to inform my superiors. I probably should do that now. Can I get someone to escort me back up to the surface so I can make that call?”
Harry had left the three of them alone. If anyone were going to escort Molly up it would have to be her or Kevin. She wasn’t sure she could trust the young hacker not to get sidetracked down some passage, so she’d have to take care of that herself.
A shout came up the passage from the other side of the gate. Jess couldn’t quite make out what was said, but she recognized the urgency in the man’s tone.
Her hand darted down to her waist and she pulled the pistol she’d begun carrying. Something was wrong.
One of the guards she’d brought with her from Freedom Express came tearing down the corridor and skidded to a halt just on the other side of the gate. “We found them, but there’s some type of military crisis involving other bad guys. I figure we have maybe twenty minutes. We need reinforcements. As many as you can get. Have them bring extra weapons and ammunition.”
He didn’t wait for Jess to respond before he turned and ran back the way he’d come.
“So much for having enough time to do everything nice and slow,” Jess muttered. “I’ll need that phone, Kevin.”
He handed her phone back. “I stuck the address in a text to yourself.”
“Thanks.”
She called Rex. He answered after a few rings. “Jamison.”
“I need the best fighting force you can gather ASAP. I’m going to call Freedom Express and get the troops they have on their way first. Be ready. I’ll text you the gate address.”
She disconnected and scrolled through her contacts until she got one of the gate addresses for Freedom Express.
Jess gestured for Kevin to hold up his comp so she could see it. She killed the gate and the connection to the alien world vanished, showing nothing but a plain stone wall.
Reading from the phone, she entered the address for their mobile base. The gate reconnected and she saw armed personnel standing in the loading bay.
“Get every single person that can fight in here right now,” she shouted. “I’d prefer people that have fought together like Harry’s forces, but I need everybody that can shoot. I’m going to disconnect the gate connection and get the forces Rex has under his command. Be ready to go as soon as I reconnect the wormhole.”
Once the woman nodded, Jess killed the connection and dialed the French base.
Rex was standing just on the other side outfitted for war. He had several dozen men standing behind him carrying backpacks and extra weapons. They rushed through as soon as the gate formed.
In as few words as possible, she filled Rex in on what she’d been told and what she suspected.
She connected the gate to Freedom Express as soon as she finished. Those forces boosted Rex’s numbers to about five dozen.
Jess wasn’t a trained warrior, but she grabbed one of the flechette rifles and checked it. She’d used one before and was trained well enough. At least she hoped she was.
She turned to Kevin. “As soon as you connect with where Harry went, I want you to take Miss Goodwin back up to the surface. Tell Colonel McCarthy he’s to take her down to the camp and then return to Freedom Express. If we run into serious trouble, we’re going to go back there directly.”
The hacker nodded, his face pale. “I should probably call Brenda. She’ll want to know what’s going on.”
As soon as the hacker opened the gate back to the dark, stone tunnel, Rex led their scratch fighting force forward. Jess followed them. She posted one annoyed man to stay behind and hold onto the comp controlling the gate.
The tunnel twisted and curved a little bit, but quickly led them to a chamber where Harry was already directing Rex to head farther up the tunnel.
She saw Clayton Rogers standing beside his son. There were a couple of civilians and what looked to her like some US Marines nearby.
Her eyes narrowed and she edged the barrel of her weapon toward what she assumed were the men that had kidnapped her boss.
The elder Rogers raised a hand. “Peace. These men aren’t our enemies. We’ve settled our differences. Mostly.
“Jess, meet Gunnery Sergeant Danvers. He has tactical command of the American forces here. Less than a dozen men. His commanding officer, Commander Karl Krueger, is out trying to save our allies. Which is what we need to help them do.”
She felt her eyes narrow. “Gunnery Sergeant Jacob Danvers?”
The man’s eyes widened. “I’m not sure how you knew that, ma’am.”
Jess lowered the barrel of her weapon a trifle. “It seems we have friends in common. I don’t know if you knew, but Michael and Sierra Crockett are working for us. So is Emily Adams.”
The man blinked in surprise. “I knew they had a classified project they were working on, but I didn’t realize it had anything to do with Mister Rogers. That’s awkward.”
“I couldn’t agree more,” she agreed.
“As unexpected as this is, we need to focus,” Clayton Rogers said. “We’ve got two armies just outside the cave. The Asharim—who are apparently devolved from their higher technology selves—are leading an attack against humans friendly to us. People that somehow got here around the time of the American Revolution. We’ve got to save them.”
Harry shook his head. “We’ve got a few dozen people. Even modern weapons won’t stop thousands. Not if they’re determined.”
Gunnery Sergeant Danvers held a hand to his ear. Based on the way he was frowning, someone was saying something into an earbud.
“Copy that, sir. We’ll be ready.”
He looked at Harry Rogers. “That was Commander Krueger. The Volunteer army has broken out of the ambush. They’re coming to us and they have hostiles all over them.”
“Then we better get ready,” Harry said grimly. “Let’s go set up a warm welcome for the Asharim.”
* * * * *
Chen stepped into Secretary of State Queen’s office with a smile on his face. He felt certain he understood the true reason he’d been called here so abruptly. It had to be the attack. Somehow, the US government believed that the Chinese were behind it.
Good luck to them in proving it.
Once the assistant had closed the door behind Chen, he bowed slightly. Somewhat less than a person of Queen’s rank was entitled to, but more than enough to seem as though he wasn’t slighting him.
“You wished to speak with me, Mister Secretary?” he inquired politely.
The other man glared at Chen. “You’re damned right I do. I want to know what the hell you think you’re doing.”
Chen raised an eyebrow. “I’m afraid you’re going to have to give me a little more information to go on, Mister Secretary. Precisely what do you think I’m doing?”
“I want to know why you attacked our facility at Area Fifty-One.”
He spread his hands slightly. “I’m afraid that you’re under a misapprehension, Mister Secretary. My government has conducted no such operation. Was there an incident?”
Queen slammed his hands down on the top of his desk and stood. “Don’t play innocent with me. I heard the recording of your phone call. I heard your voice when they told you the attack had gone off just as you wanted.”
That last bit sent a chill down Chen’s spine, but he didn’t allow his expression to change. The Chinese as a people were well known for their ability to conceal their emotions and he was better than most. One of the best, actually.
“Many voices sound similar to the ear, but I can assure you I did no such thing, Mister Secretary. I realize that our governments have placed us into conflict,
but I urge you to seek restraint. Don’t allow external events to color an already difficult situation. Don’t make accusations that you have no proof of.”
“Ah, that’s where you’re wrong. I do have proof! You’re probably aware that the NSA captures metadata from all calls that take place into or out of the United States. That includes calls within our boundaries.
“You probably feel fairly confident that we can’t save every single scrap of audio data, and you’d be right. Unfortunately for you, I do have audio of your conversation. My government is quite capable of comparing that audio to the voice print we have on file for you.”
Chen maintained a mildly curious expression when Queen paused expectantly, but said nothing.
After a few moments, Queen continued. “Since you’re going to make me tell the entire story, I suppose that I should just get on with it. The voice in the recording matches yours to greater than ninety-five percent. That’s enough for an actual conviction in a court of law. I’d call that proof, wouldn’t you?”
Chen spent a few moments considering his options and then shrugged. “I of course deny all of that. I don’t understand why your government would forge evidence in such a fashion, but it hardly matters. I have diplomatic immunity. This farce serves no real purpose.”
Queen sat back down and leaned back in his chair. “I expected you to say that. While I can’t arrest you, as much as I want to, I can have you take a message back to your country for me.
“The United States hereby revokes permission for you to be here and declares you persona non grata. In fact, we’re expelling the entire staff of your embassy. We consider this event to be an act of war.”
Chen smiled slightly. “Don’t you believe that is taking measures a little out of scale? Did someone blow up one of your cities? I have not heard of any occurrence that would constitute an act of war.”
“So that’s the game you’re going to play? Fine. You’re quite aware of what my government came into possession of. You took steps to make certain we didn’t retain it. I regret to inform you that your actions were less than total as many critical pieces are still in our possession.
“That doesn’t negate the fact that you attempted to destroy them on our own soil. When added together with your seizure of the Yucatán Spaceport, it’s obvious that your country seeks direct conflict with us. I gave you many opportunities to step back from the abyss, but you chose to push this fight. Now you have it.”
“Critical pieces of what,” Chen asked curiously. “If you want me to transport a message to my government, you’re going to actually have to say it out loud. Use your words, Mister Secretary.”
The other man snorted bitterly. “We know you know about the Asharim. I’m not sure how long you’ve been aware of them, but you’re not going to be able to keep that knowledge to yourself any longer. Even as we speak, our ambassador to the United Nations is making a presentation to the Security Council. This is all going to be out in the open now.
“That’s not going to change your fate, however. I want all Chinese diplomatic personnel out of my country within twenty-four hours. If you are still here by sunset tomorrow, I’ll arrest you no matter what your status is. Is that clear enough for you?”
Chen bowed lower. “As clear as spring water, Mister Secretary. I cannot wish you luck in your endeavors, but I hope that your regret is brief. Now, it seems I must go pack. Good day.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Kathleen felt a lot more uncertainty than she allowed her face to show as the chamber slid into a large building where the space elevator anchored to the planet. Once it stopped moving, she lost all control over events. She would be at the mercy of whoever ruled this place.
The floor vibrated as the chamber came to rest. The large hatches set along the outer walls all opened at once. Her son held his weapon at the ready and turned slowly, looking for threats.
None materialized.
She picked one of the exits at random and strode through it.
The room outside was at least ten times the size of the chamber itself, though that was hard to see in the dim light cast through too few windows. Overhead, the domed roof soared into the darkness.
Parts of the space held what had likely been cargo at some point. It had collapsed into piles of rubbish. It was obvious that this place had not been occupied in a very, very long time.
While that added to her safety at the moment, it was a negative in the long term. Allies would be better.
“This place is as deserted as the ship,” Nathan said, lowering his weapon.
“Perhaps,” she conceded. “Perhaps not. It may just be that no one was close enough to the building to get here before we did. Or they wanted to have more numbers at their back when they did. We don’t know the situation here, so we’d best not assume anything.”
“What are you hoping to accomplish here, Mother? Do you really expect to find anything useful? We could’ve just tried one of the two gate codes that you have in your phone. Once we get back to Earth we can—”
“We can what? Scurry around like mice in the dark, hoping that no one finds us? Don’t be an idiot. We need weapons and allies. It’s entirely possible this place can provide both.”
Nathan looked around meaningfully. “It doesn’t seem that way, does it? Anyone that still lives in this place is probably a gibbering savage.”
A flicker of movement to her left caught her attention. “I’d keep that opinion to yourself. It seems we have visitors.”
She couldn’t see where they were coming from because it was behind a large pile of debris, but she could hardly miss the people that walked brazenly into view. They didn’t seem the slightest bit worried that she or Nathan posed a threat to them.
The first thing she noticed about the new people was that they were human. Built wider and a bit squatter than she would expect of a normal person, though. Each of the men looked as if he could break them both in half without any effort whatsoever.
Kathleen would hardly call their clothing modern, but it wasn’t primitive like a savage’s might be. They also carried weapons that she recognized. Asharim weapons.
They surrounded Nathan and her at a distance of about a dozen meters and stood there silently, as if they were waiting for something.
She took a deep breath before stepping forward.
The men directly in front of her raised their weapons, but one of them held a hand out to his comrades. Perhaps he was their leader.
He considered her for a long moment and then said something in a language that she was unfamiliar with.
No, that wasn’t quite true. As she considered the noises he’d made, she was able to extract meaning from it. Perhaps it was another of those implanted memories, but she could understand what he was saying if she focused.
The real question was going to be whether or not she could answer him.
“My name is Kathleen Bennett and, yes, I did come down from the sky.” Astonishingly, it seemed she could speak the alien language.
From the man’s expression, he hadn’t been expecting her answer. Or perhaps he just hadn’t believed she’d understood him.
“You do not look like any of the images of the Masters we possess,” the man said, his voice a deep rumble. “You look more like us. Weaker, though.”
“That is true,” she admitted. “We are not the Asharim. Have you been waiting for them long? Or have you hoped they’d never return?”
The man’s weapon lowered slightly and he allowed himself a brief smile. “Some of both. I now know your name, but I do not know who you represent. The fact that you have come from the sky frightens my people. You must explain yourself to my satisfaction.”
She could imagine what the unsaid “or else” might mean for her and her son.
“We do not serve the Asharim.” Kathleen knew she was taking a very large risk with that pronouncement, but she was fairly good at reading body language. In her position, she had to be.
“Then whom do
you serve?”
“I come from a planet called Earth. The home of humans like ourselves.”
The man seemed to consider that for a long moment. “Humans. I don’t believe I’ve ever heard the word before. It’s not Asharim nor is it one that the People use among themselves.”
She could hear the capital letter in the word People.
“That’s a very long story,” she said. “The short version is that I come from the place they took your ancestors from.”
He nodded slowly. “How did you use the sky bridge?”
Kathleen assumed he was talking about the space elevator. “I have some knowledge of the Asharim technology. It would be helpful for me to know who you serve. Are you still loyal to the Asharim?”
The man shrugged. “That is a complex question with many answers. Some elements of the People still long for the return of the Masters. Others are pleased that we have lived on our own for so many lifetimes.
“If you had been the Masters, I am uncertain whether your arrival would have caused celebration or war.”
He stared at her for a long moment more. “I believe that we shall start with celebration. My name is Kerrick Vidor and it is my honor to lead the People. I declare you our honored guest, Kathleen Bennett.
“We shall arrange a great celebration to herald your arrival. Meanwhile, it might be best if we meet privately to discuss the true reason for your visit and what it means for the People.”
She suspected that if her answers didn’t please him, there wouldn’t be a celebration. At least not one where she was the guest of honor. Was the prisoner at an execution considered the guest of honor? She’d really rather not know the answer.
Kathleen inclined her head. “We have much to talk about. I assure you that I have no ill will toward your people. In fact, it may be that we can help one another.”
“Perhaps. Perhaps not. In any case, we shall come to know one another shortly. Come.”
The men formed an opening among their ranks and she gestured for Nathan to follow her. The men formed up around the two of them and led them away from the space elevator.
