“I’ll take any heat on this. Now open ’em!” John shouted.
The two guards on either side of the locking mechanism shrugged, but apparently getting a new order overruled prior orders for them so long as someone was willing to take any blame. They unlocked the gate and manually pulled it back to allow the vehicles through.
Aunt Dana’s eyes were still glued to Tex, as were Erika’s. As they watched, his face quickly morphed back to the more human appearance he’d created for himself during the sweat ceremony. He was nearly angelic again, his gray skin now rosy-tinged alabaster, his eyes crystal blue, and his features so classically human as to be nearly inhuman.
“That’s damned unnerving. I do hope you don’t plan on making that a regular thing,” Aunt Dana said. She put the truck into gear and rolled forward. “Which of those faces is your true one?”
Tex responded in a matter-of-fact tone. “They both are. Now, drive please, Dana. Time is our enemy, and we have wasted enough of it.”
20
tEX
As Aunt Dana drove over the gravel drive, a series of guards used hand motions to urge her on toward the next guard, and finally one steered her to a place to park. It was a makeshift parking lot with sage-green desert plants beaten down by cars driving over them. At least thirty vehicles were parked there. While most had emblems on the doors denoting US Air Force, a car with a NASA emblem was there also, as well as some civilian cars.
The NASA vehicle intrigued Tex. He had planned to see whoever was normally in charge of operations at the VLA, but if he was to alter the timeline that led to the Conexus future, perhaps he needed to veer from the course his logic suggested he take.
As they disembarked, a man in desert camo addressed Aunt Dana. “Guard shack was a bit vague about who exactly you were here to see.”
Aunt Dana’s aura of confidence that she had feigned to get past the guard shack had worn off. Tex feared she’d falter.
He reached out to the mind of the man asking them who they wanted to see. He searched for a name to go with the nondescript white car from NASA. The man’s face scrunched up, and he rubbed at his temples. Tex took only seconds to retrieve what he needed from the man’s mind. He released his telepathic connection, and the man looked dazed and confused by what had just happened.
“We are here to see Dr. Susan Lewis,” Tex said.
The military man nodded. “All of you need to see Dr. Lewis?”
Tex stepped toward the guard. “In fact, only I need to see Dr. Lewis.”
Erika hurriedly stepped around the car and stood beside Tex. “And me.” She frowned at Tex.
Tex hadn’t excluded Erika because he didn’t want her with him. After the sweat ceremony, he knew one thing more than he knew any other—that he wanted to be with Erika.
But he also wanted to spare her pain and discomfort. Back in the forest after they’d taken care of Gary, he’d told her only a partial truth. He was worried that what he had to tell Dr. Lewis would prove difficult for Erika to hear.
Her hands were on her hips, her feet planted, her upturned face determined. She was so adorable when she was mad at him, which seemed to be most of the time. Her defiant stance made him smile, which had the effect of making her face scrunch up into an even angrier look. If they had not been standing in a crowd of onlookers waiting for Tex to tell them what to do, he would have liked to kiss the frown off her face.
He settled for appeasing Erika by giving in instead. “Yes, and Ms. Holt as well.”
“Wait a minute. I didn’t drive you all the way down here and put my neck on the line to be dealt out,” Aunt Dana said.
Tex drew in a breath and threw up his hands in concession. “Fine, you too. You may want to be more mindful in the future about what you ask for, though.”
The VLA facility was not large. As far as Tex could see, only three buildings were there, arranged in a nearly U shape with gravel and rogue bunches of spiky grass between. The buildings were not new, but they weren’t old either. The red brick seemed somehow out of place in the desert, which as far as he had seen, was dominated by stucco-and-plaster architecture.
They were led through a door at the far end of the building and into a bright room lit by overhead fluorescents and a bank of windows facing west with the blinds open to let in ample light. The room was filled with desks covered by computer equipment and stacks of books and papers. Tall filing cabinets and swivel chairs were crammed into nearly every remaining inch, leaving a few narrow walkways for people to fit through. The room buzzed with discussion from people huddled around a grouping of screens and monitors.
He didn’t need extraordinary hearing to know they were in a heated conversation. Voices rose each above the other as they appeared to argue over the meaning of “the signal” and disagreement over whether the government knew more than they were letting on.
The guard coughed loudly to get their attention. When the din quieted and all eyes were on him, he announced, “Dr. Lewis, there are some people here to see you.”
The people huddled around the computer screens looked up. As their eyes fell on Tex, the buzzing chatter ceased.
A woman’s voice came from the back of the room, not from the crowd that had been quarrelling. “I told everyone I was not to be disturbed. I’m very busy and don’t have time to give tours or talk about a Mars mission with reporters.”
Dr. Lewis didn’t look their direction as she spoke. Her long, straight blond hair streaked with strands of white was pulled back in a ponytail. Her eyes were riveted to a screen as she typed furiously on a keyboard.
“They’re not reporters, ma’am.”
Dr. Lewis threw up her hands, stood, and shoved her rolling chair back from the desk with a quick kick. She stormed toward them, strands of pale hair flapping by her ears as she walked.
She stood just a few feet from the guard, her arms across her chest. She quickly glanced at Aunt Dana and Erika, but her eyes lingered a few extra seconds on Tex.
The guard whispered, “The guard house let them through because one of them is… Well, ma’am, he’s not human.” The military guard shot Tex a furtive look then as if trying to decide for himself if what his colleague had told him was true or not.
Dr. Lewis’s clear blue eyes were rimmed in red and bloodshot, giving her the appearance of someone who needed sleep. Her face was smooth, and besides the barest hint of crow’s feet around her eyes, she looked too young to have advanced to a high position at NASA.
A few of the other people behind the desks made their way toward Tex, Erika, and Aunt Dana.
Dr. Lewis’s eyes homed in on Tex as though the other two he’d arrived with were not there. She seemed to inspect him as if trying to see the alien within him but coming away empty-handed. Her brow creased, and her lips turned down in a frown.
“He does not look like the reports. Not nearly large enough. No, not by a long shot. And he looks far too human.” She turned her attention to the military guy. “Look, you all know that I was adamantly opposed to your mucky-mucks militarizing this civilian-operated facility and taking control. But dammit, if you’re going to be here, at least do your damned jobs. All I’ve asked is that you leave me alone to do my work, and now you let this guy in based on his word that he’s an alien.” She gestured toward Tex as if the military man had not seen him already.
With humans, many words seemed necessary to achieve the communication he had become accustomed to having instantaneously with the Conexus. He had never found conveying ideas to humans very easy in the first place. So much was mistranslated, and they relied so very much on gestures and facial expressions. Tex had found that visuals seemed to work well and cut through much of the clunkiness of human speech.
He contorted his face once again into its nearly original form. He accentuated the Conexus aspect of himself for effect. It had taken considerable energy the first time he had ordered his cells to rearrange themselves into a new pattern. The process caused a throbbing ache and his skin tingled
. Each morph took less energy than the last, though, and while morphing his features was still painful, he forced himself to ignore the discomfort.
Erika took his hand in hers. She seemed to have a way of knowing when he was in pain. Her touch comforted him, and the pain lessened.
Dr. Lewis’s jaw dropped open, and the angry crease in her brow vanished. The entire crowd of people stopped talking or moving. The room was utterly silent save for the gentle whir of computer cooling motors and the low but persistent hum of the fluorescent lights.
Dr. Lewis got out only a few words. “Son-of-a…”
Tex had gotten used to the new pattern of his face and found he had to exert significant effort to hold the shape of a Conexus face. He let the pattern reform back to the one he’d assumed after his sweat-lodge experience. He held out his hand to Dr. Lewis. “I have been called by several names. But you may call me Tex.”
Dr. Lewis absentmindedly took his hand. Her eyes were still riveted to his face, her mouth still slightly agape. “You’re really… I mean you’re not—”
Tex smiled at her. “I am many things. But that is of no matter right now. We have much to discuss, Dr. Lewis, and not much time.” He quickly scanned her mind for evidence that she was linked in any way to the Makers. He found no thoughts of the Makers and decided she was trustworthy, at least unless she did something to prove otherwise. “Is there somewhere that we may speak more privately?”
When he let loose her hand, she stood there for a few seconds without responding.
“Dr. Lewis?” Tex pressed.
She shook her head and swept some stray strands of hair behind her ear. “Forgive me. Yes, yes. Upstairs. Follow me.”
Tex had no problem keeping up with her agile speed as they climbed concrete stairs that led to a second floor of offices. The place smelled of aged paper and harsh cleaning fluid. Erika and Aunt Dana trudged behind him.
Dr. Lewis led them into a cramped room that looked like a computer graveyard. Dingy, aged-tan machines were there in various stages of being torn apart. Tex didn’t know if they had foraged them for parts or tried to repair them but gave up. Old keyboards were strewn about as were computer mice and what seemed like miles of wire.
Plunked in the middle of this disarray was a plastic table with a top made to look like wood, surrounded by several plastic chairs. Dr. Lewis sat on one of the chairs and gestured for the others to sit. “Best I can do in this situation.”
Erika closed the door behind them and was the last to take a seat. “After all the places we’ve been, this is just fine,” she said.
“Why did you ask for me?”
Tex considered using his telepathic powers to simply command Dr. Lewis to do as he needed. That way, he could continue to spare Erika the harsh truth as well, but he had used his newly discovered ability very little. He had no idea what permanent damage it might do to humans, and he needed Dr. Lewis’s mind at full capacity. Besides, she seemed far too intelligent and strong-willed to be easily manipulated, even by him.
He decided to follow his first instinct, which was to tell her the truth. “I need someone I can trust. I believe I can trust you.”
“You can, but trust me with what?”
Tex folded his hands on the table and looked at her evenly. “What do you know about what has happened in Europe?”
Dr. Lewis stated the events as though reading a transcript from the news accounts they had heard on the radio, but she did not look him in the eye.
“That’s all bullshit,” Erika said.
Tex held up his hand to her, and to his surprise, she merely folded her arms across her chest and leaned back in her chair, defiance written on her face, but her mouth remained shut.
Dr. Lewis’s eyebrows rose, and she appeared ready to argue, but Tex spoke before any fireworks started between the women.
“We know that the events in Europe are due to an alien attack, not due to terrorists, and clearly that’s why you and the military are here at the VLA.”
Dr. Lewis attempted to work her face into a stoic mask. “I can neither confirm nor deny anything that you said.”
Tex had assumed that once she saw his ability to shape-shift his appearance, she would cut the… What was it Erika said? “Bullshit” was her word. It was a good word for the situation. Tex took a breath and recalled the wisdom he had received from Niyol in the sweat. “Patience, Bodaway.”
“We do not have time to play games. The survival of the human species is at stake, and the people giving orders are going to make all the wrong choices if we do not intervene.”
Dr. Lewis remained silent, but her attention was fixed on Tex.
He sighed out his impatience. “Perhaps once you understand that I know at least as much as you about the situation and possibly a good bit more you, will relax from the rules dictated to you from chain of command and be more helpful.”
Her eyes softened a bit, but her lips remained pressed closed.
“The European attack is not from terrorists but instead from an alien species. Of course, you knew that, otherwise you would not be here. My supposition is that the signal from their ship was detected by the instruments here at the VLA when their ship entered the outer solar system and that a team was assembled here shortly after. That means that certain persons within the federal government knew that aliens were on their way long before the attacks in Europe. But that information was not shared with the world, was it?”
Aunt Dana had been sitting quietly, but she thrust herself forward in her chair. “Is this true?”
Erika let out a loud breath. “Just look at her face. Of course it’s true.” She shook her head, and her voice dripped with disgust. “Protectionist crap.”
Dr. Lewis’s jaw had gone rigid, and she blinked rapidly.
Tex waved his hand in the air. “But that’s no matter now. Let me tell you a few things you may not know. These invading aliens refer to themselves as the M’Uktah.”
Dr. Lewis eyes grew wide. “How do you know that?” She quickly closed her lips again as if to keep herself from saying anything else that would reveal more than she should.
Tex did not answer her question. “They come from a planet on the far side of our galaxy and traveled through a conduit of warped space which they call a Mocht Bogha.”
Dr. Lewis stood and visibly trembled. “Look, I don’t know who you are or how you know these things, but somehow you’ve breached the highest levels of national security and—”
Tex remained seated, his face placid, his body still, yet an invisible force pushed Dr. Lewis into her seat and pinned her there. Her arms were immobilized at her sides. Tex’s face morphed once again into the shape and color of a Conexus, his eyes as black as night.
He had infiltrated nothing. All the knowledge he had about the M’Uktah came from the Conexus archives, but explaining all that to Dr. Lewis would take more time than he had.
She likely did not even see him move, but within the span of time it takes to blink an eye, Tex was at her side, glowering down at her with his ebony eyes.
“The M’Uktah will use that galactic highway to send ship after ship here, Dr. Lewis. What we’re dealing with now is but the first round, meant to subdue and disarm. They’re readying us for colonization, doctor. First come the hunters. Next, the farmers will come to prepare humans for continued harvesting.”
Her face wrinkled in horror and revulsion. Tears sprang to the corners of her eyes though Tex was not sure if it was because she was frightened of him and what he might do to her or in terror over what he told her.
“We are simply a food source for them, you see. And a plentiful one at that. Despite the US government’s attempt at protectionist zeal, the US will fare little better than Europe. And after a million or so have lost their lives and it appears that all hope of winning is lost, our government will use its weapon of last resort.”
Dr. Lewis’s eyes widened. She sniffed and whispered, “Nuclear?”
In an instant, Tex was back in
his seat, his hands folded on the table again, and his face stoic and morphed back to its more human form. He nodded. “It will succeed in destroying M’Uktah ships. But the number and extent of bombings required, coupled with counterstrikes made in retaliation, will lead to the large-scale destruction of the ecosystem of this planet. Allowed to continue on its present course, this planet will be doomed within a year. And the only survivors will be the elites, hand-picked by the leader of the Makers, to live in an underground world paid for by the US taxpayers.”
Dr. Lewis shook her head. “But none of this has happened. How do you know this?” She shook her head more vigorously. “Listen to me. I sound like a fool.” Her voice hardened again. “There is no such thing as a crystal ball. I don’t know who you are or what your game is, but I won’t be played by you.” She made a move to get up, apparently forgetting about the invisible restraints that held her. She yanked and pulled with her arms and legs, but she remained in her chair as if glued there.
Aunt Dana shifted with discomfort in her plastic seat, making it squeak.
Erika sighed loudly. Apparently, she was done with sitting quietly. “Look, lady, he could have gone to anyone, but for some reason he chose you. He could go back to living underground and tell you all to screw yourselves. But he’s here trying to do the right thing, so cut the crap and listen. Just because your science hasn’t gotten there yet doesn’t mean it’s impossible. I was in the future with him. And with Dr. William Randall.”
Dr. Lewis turned her full attention to Erika. “Dr. Randall? The William Randall of A.H.D.N.A.?”
“One and the same,” Erika said.
“He is my father,” Tex said.
Dr. Lewis blinked. “Your father?” She shook her head again. “I didn’t know—but wait, how is that possible? You’re—”
“Half human,” Tex said. “Dr. Randall contributed DNA and was the lead scientist of the project that created me.”
Erika cut in. “You can contact Dr. Randall if you want. He will confirm all that Tex is saying and vouch for him. But do it quickly because time is wasting.”
H.A.L.F.: ORIGINS Page 16
