I sat down, sandwiched between Mary and Natalia. Magnus and Mae finished the group off to our right. I held my cup of coffee in my hand, waiting to see why we were here. I glanced at the rest of the group and thought some of them might be familiar, but I wasn’t sure. There was a man in uniform; a lot of medals hung from his breast. Before I could guess who they all were, Dalhousie stood up. The room was silent as she took in a breath.
“We have to talk about the threat at hand. We asked you five to come for your insight. You are the saviors of our race. We owe you so much. Everything. It’s because of your efforts that we’re here today. First off, we want to make sure you have everything you need. If there is something you’re lacking, let me know and I’ll personally take care of it if I have to.”
“One of the others left behind might have saved you,” I said, unsure why I felt the urge to say anything.
She shook her head, and a few others did as well. “I don’t think so. We were hours at most from driving into the sun. It was all on you.”
Over the course of the year, we’d found out there were eleven others left on Earth. Their stories were close to the same as ours, and they were from all over the world. Clusters from Africa, Australia, and even two from Canada. The closer the hybrid to the Shield, the more effect it would have on their health. The ones who tried to land in the southern US, or South America, died in weeks, sometimes. Turned out the ones from Canada were only a day and a half behind us. They arrived to find the Shield gone, and a few alien corpses. I tried to imagine how crazy that must have felt, and how gut-wrenching. They wouldn’t have known what happened or if anyone had succeeded. They found out a week later as the massive black vessels broke atmosphere and lowered to the Earth once again.
“Thank you for your generosity, Madame President,” Mary said.
“Please, call me Patty,” she replied. “Allow me to introduce everyone. On my left is General Joshua Heart. Beside him we have Jeff Dinkle, our head of White House Communications,a position formerly know as Press Secretary.” The man nodded at us, and I realized where I knew him. He had a talk show on one of the major news networks, where it wasn’t unheard of for him to discuss extra-terrestrials, or outer space in general. Not the farmers’ fields and drunken farmer interviews, but more of an intellectual, theoretical discussion-type show. There were a few sleepless nights a few years ago where I could recall being bleary-eyed and watching his show, thinking it unlikely we weren’t alone. Boy, was I wrong.
“Across from you is Allana Lockley, and her partner in crime, Harry Middleton. I’ll spare you the old-world titles they would have had within the government. They are our resident physics wizards, and finally, we have Clare LeBlanc and Trent Breton, engineers like none other,” Patty said, smiling wide.
It was an odd mix of people for us to be meeting with.
“You’re probably wishing I’d just get on with it.” She waited, and when no one replied, she continued. “We’re creating something of an Earth Defense Unit. We have delegates from around the world coming this week to convene and figure out a plan. The world will soon have a unified government. The one thing this Event has done is take down borders. Crime is down, we have space for everyone, war is almost non-existent, and we’re going to work as one to build a stronger world. One we’re going to protect with our lives.”
Magnus and Natalia were nodding, being sucked in by her words. I was getting a small knot in my stomach as she spoke, and Mary squeezed my hand.
“What does this have to do with us?” Mary asked.
“We need your help.” There it was, the favor, as if we hadn’t done enough for them yet.
“What exactly do you need from us?” I asked.
“We just want you to be on the team. The defense team. You four did something so amazing, and it showed strength, resolve, tenacity, and intelligence. Mae, you helped convince the others to save us, and continue to lead your kind. Perhaps sooner rather than later, we can have them intermingling with the rest of the world, rather than caged like they are. We’re sorry for the way it has to be now.” Patty looked sympathetic as she spoke.
Mae’s eyes glistened a little as she took it all in and responded. “We actually understand, and if I can be honest, appreciate the treatment. Most of us were ready to die and kill your kind just because we were trained to do it. We may not have thought it was right, but most of them are good people, and do want to be members of society. I can’t say that all of them are cooperating, but we’re keeping tabs on them.”
I drained the rest of my now-cooling coffee and set the cup down, the noise a little jarring in the pin-drop quiet room.
The man who’d guided us down here walked over from his spot by the door, and slid a panel on the wall, revealing a large flat screen. He touched it on the lower left side and a video loaded.
“What you’re about to see is what we’ve been working on for the last year. If we’re going to have a shot at defending ourselves, we have to be prepared,” Patty said, voice climbing as she spoke.
The video started playing and the camera showed a shot from the ground, probably filmed with a military vehicle driving. It was of a massive desert landscape, possibly in Arizona or New Mexico, or maybe even somewhere else in the world. As they moved along, we got sight of a huge building. It was hard to tell the actual size of it from this perspective, but I was guessing at least five hundred thousand square feet. Beside it was one of the gargantuan transport vessels. It sat on the ground, juxtaposition to the light sand, a black monolith looking out of place on our world. I thought back to the first time we’d encountered one of them in space, some way away from the sun. That’s where we met Mae… after killing all her counterparts. I had a lot of blood on my hands and wondered if there was any way I could decline whatever position they were going to ask me to fill. I knew I could never go back to being an accountant after all of this, but… I could be something else. I’d had enough of killing, that much I knew.
They got closer, and as they stopped, a vehicle akin to a large golf cart came to greet them. The camera showed the president and General Heart getting off the Humvee, with Harry and Clare in the cart. They loaded up into the unit and large bay doors slid open. Inside the building hovered one of the gray ships we’d flown in. The Kraski ships were there. Beside them were some black ships, similar in design.
“It turns out there were a dozen of these vessels in all the transport units,” she said, the camera showing them all lined up inside the huge open room.
“What are those?” Magnus asked, pointing at the black ships on the right side of the screen.
Patty smiled. “Those are prototypes. You see, the team here has reverse engineered some of the technology we found. It was quite amazing. I’ll let Clare describe it a little better.”
Clare stood up, her face turning a light shade of red before she started speaking. I wasn’t sure if she was nervous or just excited. “The things we found were quite remarkable. First off, you flew these ships.” She nodded to Mary and Natalia. “You know how amazing it was to fly something that doesn’t lurch or toss you around as it speeds up or slows down. These inertial dampeners, as we call them for a lack of a better term, are quite impressive. We learned how to simulate it and have tested it in our own units. After a few faulty runs, and a couple banged-up test pilots, we have it down to a tee.
“We’ve added tracking into each new ship, and” – the screen shot switched to a man putting on a suit, much like the ones I’d worn into space, only it appeared these fit humans — “the suits have been perfected. They have built-in communicators, and with the data from the ships’ computers we found, built-in translators too. We’ve tested them with the Kraski records, and the Deltra we had, and they work like a charm.” Clare smiled widely, proud of everything they’d accomplished.
“That’s pretty cool,” I said quietly. I, along with a couple others at that table, had experience with those Kraski suits, and imagined they would be much better-fitted to our
bodies. I still didn’t want to be one of the people testing an air-tight suit in space for the first time. It was scary enough using one of them when I’d had no choice at all.
“To what end?” Mary asked. “Why are we doing all of this?”
The president turned to her. “They’ll be coming for us. We know that. We have to be ready for it. We’ll need ships, suits, communication…” She paused. “We’ll need weapons.”
My skin crawled and, for a moment, I thought I could feel the hybrid blood pulse through my veins, the transfusion they gave me to save my life still reminding me it happened. My back tensed then too; I tried to calm down and loosen my tight spine. Ever since that day, getting shot up by a hybrid that looked just like Mary’s dead husband, I got daily reminders of that moment. I always seemed to notice my back was just a little off when I thought about the Event; otherwise, I usually felt normal. Unfortunately for me, I thought about it a lot.
The video switched scenes, and it cut to large metallic gun-shaped devices in the field near the base. Large targets were on display in the distance. Had to be a few hundred feet away. The sound was silent; then we could hear a light whine. Before we knew it, the noise was constant and a red light widened like a sphere around the weapon shaft. One instant, it was there humming; the next, the shaft was gray again and a target far in the distance exploded.
“So, we have some badass guns. Good.” This from Magnus, my large red-haired friend. A smile crossed his face, and I couldn’t help but smile back at him being excited by this. The ex-mercenary was always hoping to blow stuff up.
“We have other things in the works too. Things the Bhlat can’t know about. My apologies about not showing them to you now.” She looked around the room, catching everyone in the eyes. “We have to be one hundred percent sure word won’t reach them. Sure, we’re in a safe room, but we can’t show all our cards quite yet.”
Mae’s upper lip twitched a tiny bit, probably indiscernible to anyone else. I knew she wouldn’t hold it against the president, but she was still probably assuming the mole threat was her, since she was the only off-Earther there.
“Mae,” the president said, turning her attention to her, “we need you out in Long Island. We think there are some bad apples out there, and we can’t have that. The Bhlat name has been uttered on our surveillance a few times, and we need to know who’s saying that name, and who they’re saying it to. We also detected a couple odd transmissions leave the area, and we have no idea where they came from or what kind of message was sent. I know most of them trust you. It might be tough to track down, but can you do this as your first task as a member of the Earth Defense?” She said it in an odd mixture of authority and hopefulness. I knew what Mae would say.
“Of course,” she said.
“We can go with you, Mae,” Mary said, reaching over and squeezing my hand.
THREE
The bar was my favorite kind. Lots of wood everywhere, and cold micro-brewed beer on tap. Carey joined us and the bartender almost told us “no pets,” until he recognized who we were. He didn’t say anything about it, just brought over a bowl with fresh water in it, and a piece of sausage. He quickly became Carey’s best friend. I looked around and thought about how much Ray would have probably loved it here too. My heart twinged at the memory of him.
“Earth Defense Unit. Who comes up with these names?” Magnus took a pull from his beer, spilling a little bit as he set the pint glass down with a fling of his arm. “It just sounds so ridiculous.”
Mary nodded but didn’t say anything, and I could tell she was deep in thought about the whole thing. She was probably leaning toward telling them no to the position, and I was leaning so far over, I almost tipped on my face.
“I don’t know, I think it’s fitting.” This from Mae.
“That’s because you aren’t from around these parts, m’lady. On Earth, it sounds like something out of a bad video game,” Magnus quipped.
“It doesn’t really matter what they call it. It’s probably necessary to have. But if they really want to honor us for saving the world, they might want to do it another way than shoving ships and guns in our hands,” I said, hoping I was on the same page as the rest of them.
Everyone was quiet for a moment, until Magnus barked out a laugh. “Dean, you’re something else. I’m with you one hundred percent. But what if? ‘What if’ has been playing an earworm in my head for weeks now. What if they’re right? What if these alien bastards are making their way here? The Kraski did it. Hell, the Deltra led them here in a centuries-long game. That means for hundreds of years, they’ve known about our world. That doesn’t bode well for us, my compadre.”
“So what would you have us do, Mag?” Mary asked, speaking for the first time since we’d left the Capitol building.
“I say we suit up, join this EDU, stop Earth from being invaded, and then kick back and retire on a beach with a stockpile of cigars and Canadian whisky.” He smiled widely, and I couldn’t help but get swept up in his enthusiasm.
“I’m in.” This from Natalia. Her eyes shone bright and she smiled at Magnus.
“I have nowhere else to go. We have a job to do,” Mae said. I knew she was probably hesitant to become a spy on her own for the humans, but she did seem to want to be helpful, and not only that, we all liked her a lot.
That was three in. I looked to Mary, who grabbed her beer, held it high and said, “Why the hell not? I’m in if you are, Dean.”
How could I say no, then? It was determined for me right at that moment. I was going to stay in the fight, be a part of the Earth Defense.
“I’m a little young for retirement. I’m in.” We all clinked glasses and drank deeply.
We had more than a few beers, followed by some food and a few more, knowing that the next day reality would sink in once again. We let loose, hit a dingy karaoke bar, and sang bad songs until way too early in the morning.
My head swam from the alcohol as we lay on the hotel bed, the three of us exhausted from a long day and an even longer night. I couldn’t help but feel like we were making the wrong choice.
__________
“Dean, we’d better get up. We have to catch the train to New York in a few hours.” I heard Mary talking, but my head pounded and I couldn’t see her, considering my eyes were closed and I had half the bed’s blankets over my face. I pulled them down, squinting against the sunlight creeping through the blinds. The clock at the nightstand read nine AM.
Carey stretched at the foot of the bed, making a grumpy noise. He would be tired after all the beer-spilled floors he’d had to trudge through. I suddenly felt like a horrible pet owner. I’d make it up to him with a nice walk before the train ride.
“Long Island by this evening, then we go out to this secret area where the ships are being held,” I said, and Mary nodded. She looked no worse for the wear, and though she must have felt as bad as I did, she didn’t show it. I could tell she’d already showered and was surprised that I hadn’t even noticed her getting out of bed.
“I wonder how they keep that place a secret. I mean, did you see the size of that building, and the black transport vessels? They must have a no-fly zone or something over it.” Mary was packing her things up, and I knew it was time for me to get my slow-moving body out of bed.
I thought of the black cubes that had come down that ominous day. An omen of a new era for Earth. Then I could see them in space, some turning around, some burning up in the sun’s intense heat. Millions of lives snuffed out in an instant. Just like the Kraskis’ lives. They had come to our planet to rid themselves of us first, but it was a weight Magnus, Mary, and I would have to live with forever. The genocide of a race. I could feel my pulse racing and my head spinning. Over the past year, I’d thought about it many times, but never let myself dwell on it. There was too much going on, and I knew nothing could change what we’d done. I also knew that none of us would change bringing that Shield onto their ship. We’d done what we had to do.
Par
t of me still wondered if diplomacy could have worked. Was there any way we could have had a parlay with their leaders and made some sort of arrangement? Could we have all lived in peace: the Kraski, Deltra, and humans? Judging by the fact that they were all so eager to destroy each other, I doubted it. Still… the chance that it might have worked still lingered in the back of my mind, and it might always linger there.
I looked over at Mary after a too-long moment of silence and could tell she’d been thinking about the cubes as well. About the Kraski and the Deltra.
“We still have the hybrids. We can still try to stop these Bhlat from destroying us.” The idea of us having to help save the world again seemed ridiculous to me. Weren’t there more qualified people out there than a widow, widower, bodybuilder turned mercenary, and a former kidnapped mute woman?
She just smiled at me, a smile that crinkled her eyes just the right amount to feel the love emanating from her face. My heart melted, and the hangover suddenly felt less oppressive.
“Dean, meet Carey and me at the café down the street in twenty,” she said, reaching for his leash. Carey hopped off the bed and rolled around on the carpet.
A half-hour later, I rolled my luggage into the elevator and held the door as I heard someone call out. A prim middle-aged woman entered, bringing a waft of expensive perfume with her. She passed me without a glance.
“Lobby?” I asked, and she turned to me. A moment later, her jaw fell, and she blinked a couple times.
“Dean Parker?” she asked, her voice a squeak. I didn’t have any idea who she was.
“That’s me. I’m sorry, I don’t think we’ve met.”
“Of course we haven’t, but I know you. Everyone does. I was on thirteen.” She meant the number that later had been assigned to every transport vessel. There were books being written about each of the vessels, and what they’d endured. I wasn’t sure I could ever read them, knowing every delay I’d had on my journey had amounted to more deaths out there in space.
New Threat (The Survivors Book Two) Page 2
