by E. A. James
The space ship shuddered as it entered the Earth’s atmosphere.
“Keep it steady,” Bane said, putting his hand on Hocus’s shoulder. The pilot was good at handling the ship but they hadn’t been sure what they would find. Earth had looked like a good option. The readings had told them that the air was breathable and the atmosphere was similar to PAX217.
Bane closed his eyes and took a deep breath. His fingers felt numb. His stomach was hollow even though he’d been taking in what his body needed. Space ship food, the stuff that tasted like cardboard, just wasn’t the same as a good meal.
Bane turned his attention back to the window of the space craft and Hocus’s steering. The planet was rich, green and browns splattered across a canvas of ethereal blue. He was scared it was a dream. Since PAX217 had been destroyed he’d had so many dreams about homes that could give him what he’d lost. Give him a place to belong.
“There,” Bane said, pointing. Hocus shifted direction and they headed for a medium patch of Earth compared to the others. The US of America, the Internet had told him. They’d made an effort to tap into the Earth’s resource system to learn more about the place they hoped to call home.
The flight down to the surface was quick. Compared to the time they spent in hyper sleep when they’d traveled through space, their time awake felt surreal. The space ship touched down and the door opened with a suction sound and warm air rushed in. It was the first time Bane had felt anything other than the constant room-temperature interior they’d existed in on their quest to find the new world.
“What do you think?” Mage said, coming up next to Bane. Her hair was long and blond, hanging well past her hips. She would stand out in a place like this. He’d seen the pictures. Females seemed to have lost their classic look about a hundred of their years ago.
“I think that this might just work,” Bane said. He looked over the vast stretch of yellow sand, the formation in the distance that created a jagged line between the sky and the horizon. “One we establish that this is the place we can send for the others.”
Bane stepped out of the ship and his feet sank a little into the sand. It was warm, baked by the sun that sat high in the sky. Just past noon according to the daylight cycle on Earth. He walked a couple of steps and then his feet hit a harder surface. He knelt down and inspected it. Hard, it seemed to be formed out of many tiny rocks. A road, he believed it was called. He’d downloaded so much into his system that it was hard to sift through it all in one go.
He got up and turned around, waving to Mage.
“This will do,” he called out.
“Watch out!” Her voice was accompanied by a humming that started up, loud and intimidating. The sound of rubber on this road, spinning faster than fast. The wind whistled around the iron beast coming at him at lightning speed. White, with eyes that looked angered and a broad black mouth, tilted in a grimace.
Bane jumped out of the way, just in time. The beast made a whining sound and then charged on; leaving Bane behind in a cloud of dust that made him cough and heave for air.
“What was that?” Mage asked.
Bane leaned down on his knees. Hocus appeared in the doorway and raised his eyebrows. He had brown hair, slicked back against his scalp and curling around his ears.
“Their mode of transportation, I believe,” he said.
Bane nodded. “Stay off the narrow strips of tar. They run on them.”
It was strange being on Earth. The planet felt like home, but it was alive with energies that hadn’t existed on PAX217. Their planet had been a peaceful one. This one felt like it was constantly moving, spinning not just around the sun, but with a power of its own, something that drove the humans onward.
It was unsettling and addictive, all at the same time.
“We shall camp toward the north,” Bane said and pointed. Mage and Hocus both turned and looked. Bane had chosen a spot some distance from this road that spelled out his death.
They moved the ship. It wasn’t easy moving over the land that had a stronger gravitational pull than their home planet. Bane felt tired quicker. He would have to adjust if they were going to survive here. Fight here. Hopefully it wouldn’t come to that, but they had to be prepared.
They barely had their living spaces erected when a thunderous noise sounded from above. It didn’t stretch along the vast skies as it did at home. Instead it came from a singular spot in the heavens, a machine with blades that sliced the atmosphere into pieces of tension.
“They’ve noticed our arrival,” Hocus said. “Perhaps we could—”
A spray of bullets came from the flying machine – helicopter right? – And bit into the earth all around them. Bane ducked for cover.
“They’re shooting at us!”
Mage screamed. Hocus swore and then a crack sounded like lightning had hit rock. It was the sound of Bane’s own temper, taking over. They were here in peace, dammit! They didn’t ask for war. They had not done anything to instigate it.
There was no time to think as the beast ripped out of him. Anger, fear, possession, they all had the same effect. They set the beast free.
Bane felt as the animal rose out of him. His skin hardened, stretched across his growing body in a thick span of scales. He heard a roar and another pop to his side. Hocus had lost it, too. Only Mage held onto her humanity. Maybe it would be better for her that way. The males could take care of the war.
Hocus’s dragon was red and orange with touches of yellow and black. When he moved the sun fell on the scales and it looked like he was pure fire. He blasted sprays of fire at the helicopter and it looked like molten gold.
Two strikes and the helicopter went down. It exploded in a pathetic display on the ground.
Another two suddenly appeared around Bane’s head, irritating like flies. They drew Bane’s attention away from Hocus, who seemed to fight with more machines that had arrived.
Bane breathed fire at the helicopters around him. Another spray of bullets, this time down his back. He roared. It stung like a bitch. His own scales were blue and green, with white and black streaks that shimmered like water when he moved. The downside was that he showed blood where Hocus’s injuries went unnoticed.
There was no time to think about what was happening. Canons appeared from the helicopters and fired at Bane. They left much more of a mark on his skin than the bullets. He managed to take out one helicopter with a blast of fire. Fury made his vision white, but the edges were tinged black. He was losing blood.
He fell. They’d underestimated the humans, expected they wanted peace with all their speeches about it. They should have brought more soldiers. They shouldn’t have come at all.
When his head hit the ground they were on him. There were so many humans it made his mind spin. They were all around him, scurrying like ants around his colossal dragon’s body. Bane lifted his head. Hocus was back in human form, limping, leaning on Mage as they headed to the ship.
As long as they got away there was still a change. Bane watched as Hocus looked back, but they kept going. Good. If the humans had him he would survive. And if he did die he would know that his race was till safe.
CHAPTER TWO
Washington D.C. looked just as it always did, but everything was different. Hannah sat on the little bench in the lobby; legs crossed one over the other, long nails tapping on the file in her lap. She glanced down at her shoe. It was one of those fashionable things with the sharp toe and the glaring finish that looked great and felt like hell to walk in.
She should have worn something else. But Mr. Stirling, president of Technico Industries, wouldn’t approve of anything else. Hell, it was hard enough just to get him to approve of the fact that she was his daughter.
“Mr. Stirling will see you now,” the secretary said. Her hair was graying at the roots like she’d been trying to hide her true age and her watery eyes were empty and cold. Perfect for the job of her father’s PA. No one with a heart could work with a tyrant and survive.
&nbs
p; The office was big and spacious, and looked nothing like his office at home. Here it was all business. There were no pictures of Hannah and her mother. There were no plants or any other semblances of life. There was a desk, a bookcase and a coffee station that only the PA used to serve her father on her hands and knees.
“Are you ready for this?” he asked, getting up when she walked in. He glanced down her body, taking in the women’s power suit she’d chosen to wear. He frowned at her shoes and walked past her.
Hannah pushed her hands into her hair, fluffing it a bit, and trotted after her father.
“I’m going to introduce you to Mr. Doyle. He’s head of the Foreign Lifeforms Department.”
Right. The idea that there might be life somewhere else out there, other than earth. Hannah had been preparing to work at Technico Industries her whole life. Her father wanted her to walk in his footsteps. His were damn big shoes to fill.
“Don’t blow this,” he said over his shoulder. She was just a pace behind, flanking him instead of walking at his side. Such was life with Mr. Stirling. Hanna would never be seen as an equal.
“We have a few specimens we’re working on and I want you to take the reins on this new project.” Mr. Stirling pushed open double doors. The staff all stood up when his presence spilled into the room. It was like he was king in this little domain.
A man with gray hair and little round glasses on his nose stepped forward and introduced himself as Mr. Doyle. He was friendly-looking. Hannah wondered how he managed to stay that way in a world that had no space for character.
“Please come with me,” he said. Hannah looked at her father. He nodded. Hannah followed Mr. Doyle and the old man started talking. They walked through a metal door into a narrow passage with more doors on either side that resembled the one they’d walked through. Doyle stopped in front of the first and gestured for her to work through.
“What am I looking at?” Hannah asked, speaking for the first time.
“What do you think you’re looking at?” Doyle asked. Hannah looked over her shoulder and realized her father wasn’t there. He’d stayed behind the door. She relaxed, feeling the tension slip out of her body. She turned her attention to the creature and watched it move in a bizarre, jerky fashion. Tentacles. A slippery body. And it hovered.
“No…” It couldn’t be.
“Yes.” There was a smile in Doyle’s voice.
It couldn’t be. Hannah had thought they were still in a speculative stage, but this? This was very real. And impossible.
“Aliens,” she breathed.
When she turned her eyes back to Doyle he had a ghost of a smile on his face.
“I think you’ll come to enjoy your work here with us. There’s a lot to learn. Of course, it’s all classified stuff, and all that implies.”
Right. This meant that if Hannah mentioned a word to anyone outside of the facility – hell, outside of the room – she was going to be in trouble. She nodded. Sure, she could keep a secret.
Doyle walked down toward the next door and motioned for her to follow him. Hannah did as she was told. At the next window, she peered in again, this time with her mind wide open.
The cell was occupied by a gelatinous square that sat right in the middle. It didn’t look like anything special, just a colossal waste of space.
“And this?”
Doyle looked at Hannah. The intensity of his stare made her look at the cell again. She became aware of a very deep sound, a bass drone that vibrate through her core.
“Oh.”
Doyle walked on without saying anything. Hannah followed. Everything she knew about life and what was supposed to be real was changing in front of her eyes. Aliens didn’t exist. The science was still unstable. And yet, everything she saw now proved that she’d been wrong. The world was wrong.
The next cell had a creature in it that would definitely not be mistaken for something inanimate. It resembled a gorilla except it had scales rather than fur. It sat with its back to the door, but even so, Hannah felt like it was watching her. She shuddered and stepped away from the door.
“Your gut is accurate,” Doyle said behind her. She glanced over her shoulder. “Knowledge is great but if you can’t feel it in here,” he put a fist just under his ribs, “then you’re not cut out for this job. It’s the difference between the academics and the heroes.”
It felt like an immense compliment. Hannah tried not to beam and they walked to the next door together. Yellow caution strips was taped across the door in a cross. She peered through the window. A man sat on a bed, his hands in his hair. His cell was a hall compared to the other cells.
“What’s this?” she asked.
“The most dangerous one of them all.”
“A man?”
The moment she said it he looked up. He had ice blue eyes that pierced her soul. She felt him in her head like he was digging around in her mind, and she shivered. The hair at the back of her neck tried to crawl down her spine.
“He’s human,” she whispered, and at the same time she knew it was a lie. Humans didn’t have eyes like that. While she watched him he got up and walked toward her. On the way over his body started changing. A loud pop sounded and it was like something ripped free. A moment later green scales covering a colossal monster was in front of the door instead of the man she’d watched walk closer.
Those same eyes blinked at her from rubbery lids. It blinked, and then fire consumed the creature and shot out like a wave. The glass shattered, fragments of glass spraying across the corridor and the heat of the fire seared Hannah’s face.
There were shouts behind her but they sounded muffled. Everything suddenly felt far away. Hannah felt lightheaded. Her legs became wobbly. The edges of her vision blurred and then darkened until everything was black. The shouts came closer but she was already spiraling down into the blackness.
CHAPTER THREE
When Hannah opened her eyes again she looked into the smiling face of a nurse. The woman had dull brown hair and brown eyes and face that looked like kindness was part of her job description.
“There we are,” she said. Hannah pushed herself up and a wave of dizziness hit her. “Not too fast, miss.”
Hannah lifted her hand to her head. Doyle appeared in front of her.
“You okay?” He looked concerned. What had happened?
The images hit her in quick succession, her memory rebooting slower than her body. Her new job, the aliens, the handsome man. The dragon. She could almost feel the flames on her face again. She could feel him in her head again.
“What happened?”
“You fainted. You’re not the first one.” The nurse sounded like she didn’t approve.
“It’s an occupational hazard,” Doyle said dismissively. Hannah looked around the room. There were three other beds like her in the small medical room but she occupied the only one. Her shoes had been removed and her stockinged feet looked out of place in the crisp white room. Her father was nowhere to be seen. Did he know what had happened? Maybe better he didn’t. She would just be a disappointed, passing out first day on the job.
“Are you ready to try it again?” Doyle asked.
“I really don’t think that’s a good idea…” The nurse’s voice trailed off when Doyle waved a hand in her direction and looked at Hanna. His eyes were full of questions. And full of secrets, Hannah realized. Secrets she wanted to know.
“I’m ready.”
The nurse rolled her eyes. Hanna hopped off the bed and found she was stable. Her dress suit was slightly creased and she felt like leaving the shoes off. What had Doyle said? Occupational hazard. Doyle nodded and the corners of his mouth tugged up in a smile that spelled approval. Hannah felt a surge of pride. A little acceptance was all anyone needed.
“Put this on,” he said. He handed her a white coat, the kind everyone else in the building wore – the people that had the titles. It was a compliment. She shrugged into it and decided to put up with the shoes, after all; it would
n’t be professional to walk around without them and she wanted to be worthy of the coat.
“Come on. I need you to get used to this one so that we can sample him. It’s the most complex one and if we don’t understand it we won’t be able to deal with more of its kind.”
Hannah nodded. More of those dragons? One had seemed more than enough. If it could knock her out with that kind of power… and she was sure she’d been knocked out. Hannah didn’t just faint. That had been power with the fire, power that worked magic in other ways.
When they were back in the corridor Hannah cleared her throat.
“I wanted to apologize for passing out. It’s not the best impression on my first day.”
Doyle waved his hand in much the same way he’d done with the nurse. “Don’t think about it. The first day is usually the worst for everyone.”
