“Are you okay? Are you hurt?” he ran towards me.
“Yes, I’m fine. Thank you.”
“You’re a scientist, right? What happened back there? One moment I was here, talking to you, and the next moment I was jumping off that ledge.”
Okay. So, if I got that right, he just asked if I was okay because he wanted to make sure I would be able to answer his questions. This man is a true prick.
But he was right. I was a Chronicler, and to be honest, I had no idea.
“I don’t know Jay. I’m still trying to process this myself.”
“Also, there was a girl up here. Is she okay? She was the one that told me to jump.”
His voice was anxious and sharp, with short pauses. He was in a hurry to get answers.
“What girl? I was the only one here, and I’m sure I didn’t say anything like that to you.”
“No, no, I’m sure she wasn’t you. She was tall, with silver hair and beautiful, blue eyes. I’m not sure if she was a human at all. She certainly looked humanish, I mean, her beauty rivaled even some of the Changel.”
I didn’t know if I should take his sayings as a compliment or get really angry at him. I had no idea who those Changel were anyway, however, I was sure I would find out sooner or later. Nevertheless, I had no time to disagree with him. My phone started ringing, Silver made a holographic call to me.
“Eladia? Where are you? Are you okay?”
She looked really worried, way too worried.
“We’re fine. Look who woke up just now,” I said to her, trying to warn her. She got the hint and acted accordingly.
“Oh. It’s our good friend, Jasih the Prime Officer. It’s nice to see you, sir,” she said in her deepest, most servile voice. Silver only used that tone when she wanted something really bad or wanted to get off the hook from other human users.
She never used that voice with me.
“Oh, the female robot and the young man. I wouldn’t say I share the same feelings about seeing you, but this isn’t the subject now. Do you know anything about this stupid thing?” he said and showed the cube at her.
“About that, Eladia I think you should see this,” Silver said, demanding my attention.
A moment later, she showed me a recent report about Nusae readings. Since the day we arrived in Mosa, I had commanded—more like asked rather than demanded--her to scan the city regularly for reports about Nusae activity. It was not unusual when an active relic appeared in a planet for it to trigger reports about other relics never seen before, as well. At least, that was what had happened with the Morpher Relic.
I checked the report she had sent me real quick and saw that at the same time Dark Jay was holding the Nusae relic, another energy reading was recorded at the World Embassy, a building only three squares to the East.
“But that’s impossible. It seems that we started something. Where are you now Silver?”
“We’re on our way to meet you at the Embassy. We’ll be there in ten minutes,” she said.
I heard Zan shouting behind her, while he was trying to stand still. The poor guy must be having the worst day of his life with Silver pumping up the gas to get here in time.
I couldn’t decide if I did too or if it was actually the best. Either way, I grabbed Dark Jay’s hand and pulled him towards the stairway.
We ran all the way to the ground floor, the place where the bar was. I almost forgot that I had to return the pair of keys to Jessie, but she was nowhere to be found.
It’s okay, I can do it tomorrow.
While out on the road, Jay seemed to still be troubled about what had happened back there.
“I can’t understand. I was in another city, with buildings made of metal and glass, and there was that girl, and this intense light, and I was so afraid…”
Okay, the last word got me thinking. Last time I saw him, Dark Jay was fearless and killed for the gist of it. Now, he had seen something that got him scared?
“Tell me more. What else happened?” I asked him, not slowing down although I had trouble keeping up the pace and talking at the same time.
“This girl, the beautiful one, she stood right in front of me and asked me to jump off the roof. But she didn’t actually talk. Not out loud that is. She talked inside my head, and her word echoed inside there. It’s like she was trying to manipulate me.”
And in the end, she managed to do it. But I had no idea what he was talking about. The cube was flashing and then...and then…
I suddenly stopped.
“Let me see the cube!”
He quickly pulled it out of his pocket and showed it to me. The thing was redder than the last time I had seen it, and this time, there was an inscription on the top.
“What is this? When did this happen?” I asked him as soon as I noticed it.
“I have no idea. This is the first time I see this too. What does that mean? Is something wrong with it?”
“No. Well, I’m not sure. But I have a theory of what might have happened to you. The Professor thinks that the outside of this cube is a lock and you’re the key. Maybe it was something that you did, or maybe it was because six months passed after you first acquired it, but it seems like you’ve started unlocking it.”
I continued.
“So, what happened is that you must have peeked through the keyhole like you took a sneak peak of the data inside it. That might also explain why you’re the only one capable of unlocking it. In one of Silver’s exams, we discovered that your mind is capable of resisting the great stress that a direct data feed would cause to your mind. If it was me, it would have fried my head.”
I was not a big fan of running, but the thrill of finding another piece of the puzzle exhilarated me, making me able to endure a whole marathon if I had to.
Fortunately, I didn’t.
The World Embassy Building was straight ahead. It was dark except for the top floor, the Conference Room. It was the place where the world leaders met each other when visiting Mosa. Certainly, not a place for late-night visits. Right ahead, Silver and Zan were standing in front of the main entrance. Right about then I started thinking of an attack plan, a way inside without drawing the security’s attention to us.
I used to sneak in there many times when I was little, to meet mom and dad, but now I didn’t know if I had it in me anymore.
Suddenly, it came to me. I forgot that now I was an adult and that my father was still an immensely influential man. If the right person was there, and if I said the right thing, I should probably get inside without making a scene.
We finally got close enough to Silver and Zan for the latter one to see that Jay had changed. He quickly snarled and got ready to protect Silver and me.
“You don’t pass. You dangerous,” he said, growling.
“Down boy. I’m not here to fight you, although I would love to go a round with you when you’re older. Now we’re busy, way too busy, to stop. Shoo, shoo!” he said to Zan.
“Both of you stop! Zan, Jay just saved me. You don’t have to protect me from him. Jay, Zan isn’t a dog. He’s perfectly capable of understanding English. Now, Silver, I’m gonna need your help. I think I have an idea on how we can get inside.”
I took a quick look around and saw the faces of the people around me, the people I loved. There was something wrong about the cube, and Jay, and his parasite, and yeah, seeing him like that, not being able to recognize me or remember what had happened between us earlier, it’s less embarrassing that I thought it would be. But still, this was a mission that we had to complete.
This mission was sure to make us get closer to the truth about the Nusae and the heritage they left behind.
And I am dead set on finding it.
“Listen. We’re gonna have only one chance at this.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Jay
When the short, black-haired human wanted something, she would make sure to get it no matter what. Her eyes seemed more vivid than ever before, more than that
time when the underground human had captured her. I didn’t know why or how we ended up fucking before, but now I kinda saw it.
Girls like her drew me like fire drew moths. She was dangerous and safe at the same time, and I was ready and unprepared for what would follow. I wanted to make sure her plan worked because it sounded fun, plus I wanted to actually find out more about this little artifact.
Nusae, the three-eyed dwarfs, the garbage of the galaxy, ended up becoming a Great Mystery, and my people, Esuh, completely vanished from the archives. If that wasn’t unfair, then I didn’t know what was. The one thing I knew was that I had to follow her and act drunk.
It took Eladia some time to explain this to me, but humans came up with a substance that intoxicated their organism and made them do stupid things, things that a sane person wouldn’t do otherwise. It was something like inhaling Timedisol, but they actually drank this thing. Nevertheless, after many endless nights of Timedisol-infused paranoia, I kinda knew the feeling she described.
“Okay, are you ready? Here it goes. Don’t talk, don’t say anything that a drunk person wouldn’t say, and don’t stop walking. We only have one chance.”
I nodded. I started to stagger all the way to the main entrance where a thin, gray-haired man was waiting outside. By the time he saw us, he moved closer to us and tried to stop us when Eladia got in front of me and blocked his vision.
“You kids. You can’t be here. This is the World Embassy, not a bar to continue your drinking. You can’t get inside.”
“I’m really sorry. You misunderstood us. I’m Eladia Matthews, and my friend here is really drunk. We need a place to let him lie down for a moment before he returns to his mothership. They don’t tolerate behavior like that there, and he can get in jail if they catch him drunk. Would it be too much if we spend half an hour inside? We really don’t know where else to go.”
The man checked me, then Eladia, then Silver and Zan.
“Matthews? Like the politician Matthews? Oh my, are you the young Eladia, the girl with the buns that used to run back and forth all the time? I’m Ron. Do you remember me?”
“Ron? Of course, I remember you! How are you? Oh, my god, I’m so embarrassed now, you must think I’m some type of miscreant or something. I’m so sorry,” she says to him, adding a tint of drama to her voice.
At this part, I decided to improvise a little. The guard seemed like he needed one last push to break.
“Eladia? Baby? Where are we going? I can’t return to the ship. I have to sober up first. Eladia?” I bellowed like I was amidst a drunken stupor.
The guard casted me a critical glance like he wanted to stab me with his eyes.
He really thinks I can feel remorse or something like that? Poor, little human. I shed away all those feelings when I was just a kid, unlike you overly emotional humans.
“Look, you have thirty minutes tops. But one bit of advice? You have to start choosing your company better, young lady. You don’t deserve--” he said, but Eladia interrupted him, waving goodbye, asking for forgiveness on her way inside.
As soon as we took a turn to our left and disappeared from the old man’s vision, I stopped acting drunk. Zan and Silver laughed, and I followed their example.
“That was the most reckless thing I’ve done in my whole life,” the android said.
“Fun, fun. It was too much fun,” Zan said in his broken speech.
I got ready to speak as well when Eladia got closer to me and slapped me. Her petite hand didn’t seem strong at first, but the scorching mark ached more than I believed.
“You’re such an asshole. Why did you go and implied that I’m your girlfriend?”
“You’re delusional. I just acted that way so the guard could feel sorry for you and let us in faster. What’s gotten into you?” I said to her, rubbing my hot cheek.
“I had it under control. You don’t get to decide when to bud in or when it’s the right moment to do anything. This man is an esteemed worker that knows my father. What would he say if he found out that I barged in with a strange, drunk person telling everyone that he was my boyfriend?”
I wanted to reply to her, but the hair on the back of my neck started to prickle. I had felt like this before, back on Earth, before those strange creatures attacked us.
“Zan? Zan what’s wrong?” Silver suddenly muttered.
The young man got in front of the silver android and started snarling at the world. He must have picked up on the danger as well. Only Eladia seemed totally disconnected from the rest of the company.
“Don’t change the subject. I want you to--”
“Shush! Get behind me,” I said to her, but I was out of time.
Two trained fighters, in full, battle gear appeared out of nowhere from into the shadows. I suddenly forgot that I was with Eladia and the rest of the bunch and my blood pumped.
My hands were itchy, and I felt my heart ready to burst from anticipation. They took out their weapons, two buzzing swords each, and started swinging them fast. Their first attack aimed at Eladia whose back was turned to them.
Shit! She always gets in trouble and I have to save her.
When I leaped and got between her and the buzzing sword, dropping her on the ground so that both of us could dodge the attack, a smile covered my face.
“At last, some fun!!! Bring it on!”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Eladia
I didn’t know who Jay was anymore. His Dark, parasitic self, the bloodlust filled monster than never missed a chance to fight, had saved me twice now in less than a day. I was certain he didn’t do it for me, but I couldn’t deny the fact that he had first plunged at me and then at the warriors.
The three of them moved too fast for me to keep up with their moves. I didn’t know who was winning or losing, and I certainly couldn’t find a good way to help Dark Jay.
But, at the end of the day, I didn’t know if he needed any help. He seemed to be going par-to-par with the two warriors, if not get the best out of them. From what I picked up, Jay used the back of his hands to minimize the damage, and his feet to attack.
So good a job he did that his two enemies were starting to back away. They talked to each other to a strange language, something from the North Quarter of the Known Galaxy. I couldn’t pick up a word, but I stood up and ran towards Silver.
“What did they say?”
Only a moment later, my assistant translated everything to me: “They have a mission. They want to stop us from getting to the top, even if they have to die in the process.”
Shit. They’re ready to go down to stop him.
At that moment, I felt like I couldn’t pick sides in this battle. Dark Jay had saved me twice now, but his monstrous strength intimidated and frightened me. But the other two men tried to kill me, so it was not easy to feel compassionate about them.
“Zan, no! Stop!” I heard Silver suddenly shouting.
I turned and saw the young Zan running to take part in the battle. He blended in quite well, using his young and supple physique to help Dark Jay. Only that something was wrong with him.
“He’s losing speed. He’s turning back to the other Jay,” I finally noticed.
I felt somehow relieved that Dark Jay returned to his slumber, but right now I thought that there was no way he could handle the two men in front of him.
Zan must have realized that before us because he got there just in time to save him. The young boy wasn’t so physically adept as Jay, but he seemed like he had a plan.
“Jay, attack!” the boy said, shouting.
Jay used his hands to punch in front of him. One of his two adversaries tried to stop him only for Zan to kick the man’s arm. Jay’s punch connected, breaking his target’s neck, while the other guy fell on the ground with a broken arm, unable to move.
The battle ended with Jay stomping the other man to the head, making him lose his senses. At that moment, he turned and looked at me.
“Where am I? What’s going on Eladia?
”
And that was when it dawned on me. Every time in the past, when he turned to Dark Jay, we could somehow explain the transition. Now, many hours later and after changing our location, he must have been really confused on what had happened.
“Jay, I’ll explain things to you later. Now we have to hurry to the top floor.”
He didn’t move. He stood there, looking at his hands, searching for a clue of what had happened but he was unable to find any.
Shit, I fucked everything up.
Alien Romance Box Set: Romantic Suspense: Alien Destiny: Scifi Alien Romance Adventure Romantic Suspence Trilogy (Complete Series Box Set Books 1-3) Page 82
