by Barlow,M
“I like you,” Mara said and placed her hands on Violet’s temples. “My mother likes you, too. That doesn’t happen often.”
Her eyes glowed, Violet’s, too. The young agent screamed. Her body trembled like a leaf in the midst of a powerful storm. She fell to her feet when Mara let her go.
“You’re not just enhanced. You bear the Mark of Korr,” Mara said and watched her stand up. “I want you and your team in Western Australia. Don’t worry about Gabriel.”
*****
Queen Carilia and Gabriel sat down in the command center when Mara walked in. They discussed logistics to speed things up before they had to leave for the US.
“They’re intelligence agents,” Mara said.
Gabriel’s eyes widened. “What?”
“Your intelligence agency wanted our technology to analyze it and duplicate it for other army divisions. But I don’t think the director knew.”
Her mother glanced at her. “Where is the extraction team?”
“They have them. I didn’t want to interfere in an internal matter.”
The Queen smiled. “Since when?”
Mara shrugged.
“You did the right thing. Come on, we have work to do.”
She followed her mother for a few steps, but before she exited the command center, she spun around to face Gabriel. “Does the name Noah Williams mean anything to you?”
His nostrils flared, and his face turned red. “It won’t mean anything to anyone once I get my hands on him.”
Mara smiled and followed her mother outside, leaving Gabriel fuming in his office. Nothing was more satisfying than a little mischief.
“Did you have to tell him?” The Queen asked, with her iconic, stern look.
Mara’s smiled widened. “No, but I don’t like the guy.”
She parted ways with her mother to see Shara in the geeky quarters. With her scientific brain, she was easier to convince. And Mara needed her help to convince Ms. goody two-shoes to join them or stay out of their way.
Shara was busy, supervising the manufacturing process. Her face lit up when she saw Mara approach. “Did you destroy the city?”
“No.”
“What happened?”
Mara used her serious voice. “An agent staged the whole thing to talk to me alone.”
It worked because Shara stopped what she was doing and strolled to a quiet corner with her.
“What are you talking about?”
She stared straight into Shara’s eyes. “Remember the defense surveillance officers, we convicted on Korr?”
Shara lowered her eyes to the floor in melancholy. “Mother?”
“Yes, the agent thinks they can extract the secondary core without hurting her, but they need our help.”
Shara waved her hand to stop her and her eyes widened in terror. “She could die.”
“I know, but she will die if we don’t do anything.”
Shara didn’t utter a word.
“Remember what happened to the officers on Korr.”
“Do you trust the agent?”
Mara shook her head. “Noah? Not with my mother’s life. But we’ll be there.”
“I know him. He’s a good agent.”
“Okay, let’s talk to Alissara. If we’re lucky, she won’t kill us both.”
“If she doesn’t, mother will. Have you seen her fight?”
Mara chuckled. “Always the optimist.”
They hovered deeper into the facility to meet their sister. The second core weakened the Queen. They could take her without losing a sister.
*****
Next morning, Alissara strolled into the royal ship where her mother sunk in one of the comfortable chairs. She looked peaceful, almost asleep.
Was she and her sisters doing the right thing? Her mother could die and by the hands of her daughters no less. If they didn’t do anything, the second core would kill her or turn her against her own daughters.
Alissara cleared her throat. “I’m going to the demonstration. Would you like to join me?”
“I didn’t know.”
“Mara hasn’t told you?”
“No. I might demonstrate parenting afterwards.”
Alissara chuckled. “Please do.”
Within minutes, the ship hovered above the vast desert until it reached its destination. Alissara landed the ship next to her sisters.
“The soldiers aren’t here yet,” her mother said, and exited the ship.
“Forgive me, mother,” Alissara said, her eyes dim.
The Queen tilted her head, a questioning look in her eyes.
“You have a second core inside your body.”
The Queen’s eyes narrowed and a mixture of denial and anger seeped from them. Then she lifted off the ground. Her eyes opened wide and ignited. Her posture transformed into a more threatening one. And her face turned blue.
“That’s a lie.”
“I wish it was.” Mara’s voice came from behind her.
“You!” The Queen said, and swung around to face Mara. “I should’ve known you’re behind this.”
The three sisters floated in the air around the Queen. Their arms stretched in front of them in a defensive stance.
“You’ll regret this,” the Queen said, gritting her teeth. She brought her palms together before she pushed them forward toward Mara.
Mara warped out of the way as the power wave continued past her to explode in the sand.
Alissara and Shara pulled their guns and fired waves of green energy at the Queen. The Queen jumped from one spot to another in quick succession. She avoided their shots that dispersed in the air. Then she pushed a button on her belt that generated small rings of green energy around her body. The rings expanded as they traveled away from her body.
Alissara warped with her sisters up and down, avoiding the individual rings that leveled a small hill nearby. In a synchronized motion, they fired their guns with their right hands and pushed power waves with their left.
The shots and the power waves chased the Queen. Most of them exploded against the sand, but one hit her, and she dropped to the ground.
Mara warped behind the Queen. She clasped her hands around the Queen’s arms and chest and wrapped her legs around her mother’s thighs.
Alissara and Shara inched closer and conjured power waves. The Queen continued her futile efforts to get rid of Mara’s grip and escape their shots, but it was of no use. The waves hit both the Queen and Mara. They rendered Mara unconscious. The Queen was down on her knees. Her face was blue.
Alissara and Shara warped in front of the Queen. In quick succession, they fired bursts of power waves at her head over and over and over. The waves overwhelmed her. The Queen’s eyes burned. Her skin glowed with a bright, green color. She brought her fists together. Then the light in her eyes went off, her skin stopped glowing, and her body froze.
She lost consciousness.
The royal ship arrived minutes later. The pilots helped them restrain the Queen and cover her head to make sure she didn’t hurt anyone. They carried Mara’s limp body inside and took, while Alissara returned to her ship. She felt worse than she did when Korr was destroyed. The person she loved most lay lifeless on a metal chair. The ship headed to Sydney for a dangerous procedure. If the agent was wrong, and if Gabriel didn’t get him, she’d kill him. Then she’d kill Mara.
*****
Malik
January 2, 2031
Malik’s airship landed at the edge of Badoc Island—a small, tropical island in the north of the Philippines. As he stepped out of the ship, the hot and humid weather overwhelmed him. Good thing he ditched the suit for a T-shirt and camouflage pants. He put on his sunglasses and watched the bright sun reflect on the crystal, clear water surface.
The second alien was here, on Badoc Island. He could’ve remained undetected like he’d been for a hundred years. But yesterday, the alien sent a message to a far destination in space, and the CIA caught it.
What was so urgen
t that he risked his life to send to his people? Analysts in Langley couldn’t decipher the message, but Malik knew capturing the alien would be easier and better.
This alien was old, and with some luck, weak. Besides, Malik had brought a solid special forces team with him. Still, he worried. He’d seen what Mara—single-handedly—did to a small army.
The island was small—less than a mile in diameter—but it’d take them hours to cover every inch. To locate the alien within the island, Malik brought a tracking officer with him.
“This way,” the tracking officer said and pointed to a rocky, makeshift walk path.
Malik jumped over the rocks to follow him until the officer stopped and pointed under their feet.
A rocky area, no different from the rest of the island, but the officer was adamant the bunker was under their feet.
Malik removed the rocks that covered the ground, and right in front of him on the ground, he saw a locked, medium-sized, square metal door with a small latch. He bent down to pull the door, but it was too heavy. He motioned an agent to help him open it. They opened the door to reveal a large room, lit with a faint, blue light.
The opening had no ladder or stairs. Without hesitation, Malik jumped and landed on his feet.
It took his eyes a second to adjust to the dim light before he could make out his surroundings. The alien carved the three-meter wide and ten-meter long room in stone. To his right, makeshift devices covered the surface of a rusty metal table, in contrast to high tech suit of armor, weapons, and what looked like communication devices on another table to his left. On the far end of the bunker, he noticed the double bed and the alien who lay in it.
“You’re a century too late,” the alien said in a deep, hoarse voice before he sat up. His feet rested on the floor.
Malik stared at the alien who looked worse than their dead captive. The alien left the bed to stand on his feet. His big, blue eyes were milky with age, his back bent, and his body frail as a spider web. The alien had to grab hold of the bed stand to stay on his feet. An exoskeletal, bone-like armor surrounded his torso and weighed him down. Did the first alien have this armor? And if so, what happened to it?
“Man, you look like hell,” Malik said.
A feeble smile appeared on the old wrinkled face. “Just as the thing falls apart, it can shine one last time.”
Malik motioned his agents who strolled past him to detain the alien. “You sound like a fortune cookie.”
The feeble smile morphed into a wide grin, showing a full-set of radiant, blue teeth. “No one called me sweet before.”
“You need to come with us.”
The alien’s features stiffened. His frame straightened with a cracking sound like an old bike chain, and he moved.
He was as quick as a bullet—not what Malik had expected from a fragile, old pilot. The alien used the last burst of energy in his body to make his last seconds memorable. The alien punched an agent in the chest with inhuman strength. His fist went through the agent’s body and continued to hit the wall behind him and punch a hole in it.
With a hissing sound, a small, metal tube emerged from the alien’s left wrist. Then he fired a projectile. It exploded, turning another agent into an unrecognizable pile of blood and bones.
Part of the ceiling collapsed.
Malik fired his weapon at the alien, but he moved before the bullets reached him. The remaining agents fired their guns, with no better luck. The alien was too quick for their bullets, and blasting grenades in the small room would kill everyone.
With another shot, the alien took out another agent. He lifted his right arm to protect his head from falling rocks. Malik jumped to avoid a falling rock and fired his weapon as his body hit the ground.
The alien dashed to the last remaining agent. He carried him and slammed his head against the wall with brutal force. It killed the agent on the spot. Malik screamed and fired his weapon until he ran out of bullets. The bullets hit the exoskeletal armor and bounced off it.
The alien spun around and stomped toward Malik, who got to his feet and pulled a knife from his belt. If it was his time to die, he’d take the alien with him. With a mocking grin on his face, the alien stopped in front of Malik. A powerful stench of sulfur overwhelmed Malik’s nose.
“You charge against a powerful warrior and think you measure up, the way a primate charges against a massif and thinks it can move it if it pushes hard enough.”
Malik jabbed him with the knife. The alien clutched his wrist. Twisted it, breaking his elbow. Malik screamed. He punched the alien with his left. His fist hit the alien’s face, but Malik felt as if he punched a thick plate of steel.
The alien held Malik’s left arm against the wall, punched through it, crushed it. Blood gushed out. Another loud scream. The alien’s left hand grabbed Malik’s head, and his long fingers dug into Malik’s skull.
The pain was unbearable. Malik became dizzy. The last thing he saw was the alien’s right fist, flying toward his skull.
*****
Noah examined Michael Rivers, the CIA agent who sat across from his desk. He’d always been friendly. Today, Mike was on edge. Something was wrong.
“Thank you for having me,” Mike said, his tone nervous.
“How can I help you?”
Mike sat down. “Yesterday, a team of CIA agents were killed in the Philippines.”
“What happened?”
“We caught it on video.” Mike handed him a small tablet.
Noah started the hologramic video and watched Agent Malik and his team confront the alien in his underground bunker. Noah’s eyes widened when the alien attacked. He’d never seen this level of brutality anywhere. Even after his long career in ASIO, he found it too bloody, and confronting, but he watched the entire video.
He gave the tablet back to Mike and tried to stay calm and mask his repulsion. If he’d stayed in Melbourne, he would’ve never had to see people get ripped apart.
“Is he one of the aliens coming our way?”
Mike nodded and briefed him on the Roswell Ship, the surviving alien, and the attempt to capture it.
Unbelievable! Americans had a spaceship and a dead alien for a hundred years, and another alien survived and stayed hidden over the same period.
“I need your help to capture him alive,” Mike said.
“You mean with enhanced soldiers?”
“Yes, the aliens and your enhanced soldiers are the only ones who can capture him.”
Were the soldiers ready to take on such a challenge? The alien in the hologram was a powerful, ancient killing machine that didn’t only excel at fighting, he reveled in it. The enhanced soldiers were still trying to come to terms with their newfound powers. They needed extensive training.
Noah took a deep breath. “I’m not sure they are.”
“What about the aliens?” Mike asked, his eyes lit up with hope.
“They haven’t left their mother’s bedside for days.”
“Can you at least ask them?”
Noah didn’t respond.
Mike shot up to his feet and waved his hands. “Every day this alien is free he sends information to the Manakari’s survivors.”
Noah sat quietly, with his chin resting on his left fist, which further agitated Mike.
“Oh for god sake,” Mike said.
“I’ll see if one of the daughters is willing to help. If not, I’ll send a large team of enhanced soldiers.”
Mike sighed in relief. “Good.” He pointed at the tablet. “I’ll leave this with you. I don’t have to remind you how confidential this information is.”
Noah nodded and watched Mike leave before he sank back in his seat and rotated it to face the window.
Mike was right. They had to do everything in their power to capture the alien or kill him. Americans could launch a large-scale attack and kill the alien, but they wanted to capture him alive. That’s why they came to him for help.
The question remained. Did the enhanced soldiers have
it in them to take down the alien, or did he have to bring in the big guns? And would they answer his call?
*****
Mara sat on a metal chair next to a small bed where her mother lay motionless. Her sister, Alissara, sat on a similar chair on the other side while Shara stood at the end of the bed. The three of them looked at their mother’s limp body in dismay.
A day had passed since the scientists and physicians extracted the secondary core from her chest to free her from the influence of the Manakaris. The Queen was fine until the core left her body. Then she lost consciousness and entered a ‘persistent coma with no sign of when she’d recover’ as the lead scientist put it. The core weakened her body, and she needed to gather her strength.
“Sorry to interrupt, but I need your help.”
It was Noah—the last person she wanted to see. He hurried into the room. If he knew what was good for him, he’d leave and never show his face around here until her mother recovered.
None of them spoke, icing him out, but he ignored it.
“Americans found the second pilot of a fallen spaceship from a hundred years ago. But he killed an entire team of agents.”
Mara took her eyes off of her mother for a second to glare at him. Surely, he wouldn’t be as stupid as to ask them to leave their mother alone in this condition to hunt down the Manakari pilot.
“It can wait.”
He became silent for a while. Perhaps thinking of a clever way to recruit them to his cause, same as last time.
“I know you care for your mother,” Noah said and moved his eyes between the three of them. “But you are soldiers, and this is war. Not only that, it would be good to have one of them alive, but we must stop him from feeding them intel. Americans detected him when he sent a message to space yesterday around the same time we extracted the core from your mother.”
Well, she saw this one coming. Always a reason, a clever answer. Did he not see the Queen, lying lifeless in bed?
“We’re not leaving our mother until she recovers,” Alissara said, her tone colder than snow.
He lowered his gaze for a moment. “I understand. Can you at least recommend a team?”
“Send your first officer with the first ten enhanced soldiers,” Mara said, and turned her attention back to her mother.
