by Elin Wyn
The woman looked the most surprised out of the three EcoBright team members.
“Yes,” the smaller of the two men spoke up when no one else did. “He sent us a message telling us you were on the way.”
“Four hours ago,” the woman said pointedly.
“I wasn’t told anyone would be here,” I replied. “Had I known I would’ve hustled. I couldn’t help but stop to admire the snowy forest. Isn’t it stunning?”
“For the first twenty minutes, yeah. The charm wears off when you’re dumping snow out of every piece of clothing and still find some in your bed the next day,” the other man says.
I laughed but stopped when I realized he wasn’t making a joke.
I powered down my bike and walked over to the group.
“Do you have a name, geoscientist?” the taller of the two men asked.
“Maki Hotaru.” I stuck out my hand and gave his hand a firm shake, which took him by surprise. I loved catching people off guard. It was fun to see what people do when their expectations aren’t met.
“I’m Tovin, he’s Cam, and that’s Lorrva.”
After we get through the pleasantries, I was eager to get to work.
“What have you been working on so far?”
“We’re tracking the differences in the soil since the Puppet Master started actively participating in the planet’s agricultural program,” Lorrva explained.
“I didn’t realize EcoBright was involved with the Puppet Master and the Nyheim operations,” I replied.
Nyheim’s headed up just about every public interest project since the Xathi were defeated and our planet started pulling itself back together.
I’d noticed that the mayor of Nyheim and her partner, an alien General, liked to hire skilled individuals from other labs and occasionally contract work out to entire labs as well.
It was a smart move, getting more humans involved, spreading out the work. But I hadn’t heard about EcoBright being contracted.
“We aren’t affiliated with the Nyheim operations at the moment,” Tovin explained. “EcoBright is being privately funded for this operation. But to stay in compliance, we are required to host you and maintain independent oversight.”
“Oh.” I furrowed my brows.
“Nyheim doesn’t have the power to decide what private labs pursue in their research,” Lorrva said in a matter-of-fact tone. “However, we aren’t going to hoard our findings. They’ll be made public knowledge so everyone can benefit from them.”
“Found anything worth publishing?” I asked, hoping to skip past the politics.
“Not yet. We’ve only just gotten started. When we were informed we’d have to have independent oversight to avoid being shut down, Dr. Band recommended you highly,” Cam said.
“Well, I don’t like to brag,” I shrugged.
“Take a look at the photos,” Lorrva pushed the conversation on.
I retrieved the datapad from my pack and flipped to the photos. The first one was of a section of forest though everything was dead and the snow was brown rather than gleaming white.
“Is this the clearing we’re standing in now?” I pointed to the picture.
“The very same,” Cam said. “That was taken a week after Nyheim and the Puppet Master forged an alliance.”
“The Puppet Master did this in that short of a time span?” I marveled.
“Yes. We’re here to figure out how the Puppet Master did this and how we can replicate it. Our goal is to make replication possible at the household level so people can have their own rapid growth gardens.”
“Incredible.” I flip through the growth projections on the datapad. “This sounds like an exciting project.”
“We aren’t here for the excitement.” Lorrva fixed me with a look that was far from friendly. “We’re here to help the food crisis.”
“What’s more exciting than figuring out a way to make sure every single person has enough food?” I replied. “Besides, I love cracking a good mystery.”
“I like the way you think,” Cam chuckled, earning a look of his own from Lorrva.
“So, you’re in then?” Tovin asked.
“Absolutely.”
Tyehn
When my mind is troubled, I find that physical exertion is a great way to clear it. That’s why I headed to the gym the next morning after our deployment to Nyheim where we would be staying in the Central Barracks.
I stepped into the gymnasium and shook off the cold, hanging my coat on one of the provided hooks.
The place was nearly deserted, it being quite early. Only the real die-hard fitness buffs would bother being here just after the sun had peeked over the horizon. Not that I could see the sun at the time, given the snow that continued to fall.
After changing into my workout gear, I headed to the free weight section. I hung some metal plates on a dumbbell and set up for a bench press.
As I placed the last plate on and screwed down the clamps, the door opened up and my human friend Keith strode in.
“Greetings, Keith.”
“Sup. You ready to start?”
“I was born ready.”
We laughed even though it was an old, tired joke. Keith changed into his gear and came out just in time to spot me for my second set.
Keith was big for a human. His shoulders were broad and tapered down to a narrow waist. Then his thighs flared out like massive tree trunks. Obviously, I could out press him, given our anatomical differences, but Keith had been catching up fast. At the time, I was up to nearly half a ton on the bench press. Keith was pressing six hundred and on his way past that.
“Come on, big guy, you got to want it.”
My voice was strained as I struggled to get the bar off my chest for the last rep.
“I do want it.”
“You gotta want it bad.”
“I want it…bad.”
The bar moved two inches from my chest and then shivered there in my straining grip. Should I have lost it, Keith was there to catch it and avoid a broken sternum.
“You gotta want it real bad.”
“I want it real bad.”
The bar rose up to the maximum, and I gratefully set it back on the rack with Keith’s assistance.
“Not bad, buddy. Not bad at all.”
“Yeah, let me just take away some weights here. Don’t want you lifting as much as a man.”
“Ha ha,” he said. “Very funny.”
We set up the bar and Keith did his sets with no problem.
As we moved about the gym using the various equipment, we chatted about current events. I hadn’t been to Nyheim in a couple of weeks, so we had a bit to catch up on. Apparently Keith started dating a woman from one of the refugee camps, a medic or something.
“So when are you actually going to get laid, Tyehn?”
“As soon as I get off duty and the matriarch of your family signals my comm—”
“Bro, I told you. It’s ‘your mom gives me her number’. Anyway, it might help you lose some of this tension that’s holding you back in the gym.”
“Seen any Valorni women around?”
“No, but I’ve seen plenty of human women. Look, chicks dig big dudes. Why do you think I started working out in the first place?”
I grunted out a reply as I shoved the weight bar up over my head for the final rep. As it settled back down, I fixed him with a glare.
“I’m way too busy for dealing with any of that srell right now. The anti alien riots have been keeping us jumping like dogs.”
“Like frogs. The phrase is jumping like frogs.”
“Dogs aren’t the little green hairless ones?”
“No, they’re the hairy ones that bite.”
“Well, jumping like one of those other things, then.”
Keith took his place and started banging out his sets. The smug bastard could talk and lift at the same time.
“Man, that anti alien shit is such bull. People are people. Don’t matter what planet they’re from.�
��
“I heard that.”
“I should hope so, you’re standing right next to me.”
“Such a comedian. So funny I forgot to laugh.”
He finished his set while I jumped onto the squat press. I was slapping plates onto the bar, getting ready for some serious hanging and banging, when Keith all of the sudden grabbed his head and swayed on his feet.
“What’s the matter? You getting a cold from all this snow?”
Keith looked up at me, confusion in his gaze. Then, a weird flash went across his eyes. His gaze suddenly narrowed, and his face grew red.
“You alien son of a bitch.”
“What?” I laughed, thinking he was kidding. “Not funny.”
“You aren’t going to eat our food and steal our women anymore.”
“What? You were just saying that I should—“
Keith snarled and lashed out at me with a fist. His speed was incredible, and before I could react he’d smashed my nose good. Blood spurted from my face as I backpedaled away from his hostile advance.
“Keith? What’s wrong?”
“Die, alien asshole!”
Keith leaned to the side and unleashed a furious snap kick. I managed to deflect most of the blow from its intended target—my groin—but my forearms ached from the impact. Keith was strong as hell.
“What’s gotten into you? Snap out of it.”
His face a mask of rage, Keith raised his hands into a boxing stance and unleashed a dozen blows in a flurry. Despite my greater reach, he managed to tag me two more times, once in the solar plexus and once in the jaw. My face and gut stinging, I continued to back away before his assault.
The only problem was that there wasn’t much room to retreat. Soon I was going to have to run or fight, and since Keith was between me and the exit fleeing didn’t seem a good option.
I raised my hands up in standard Valorni hand to hand position, with one arm slightly bent at my waist, and the other up in guard position. I deflected a few more of his blows, but then he threw in a knee that caught me right in the groin.
My cry of pain mixed with the slap of bone on bone as our scuffle continued. I gave up all hope of reasoning with him and concentrated on defense, because he was my friend and I didn’t want to hurt him.
I thought back to what was said last night, about how people had been suddenly changing their entire attitudes and growing violent. It appeared it was no longer a second hand experience for me.
Soon, it became woefully obvious that I could not remain on the defensive. Keith was a good fighter, well trained in his world’s martial arts. Given his greater speed, and surprisingly nearly equal strength, I took a half dozen more good shots and was now spattering the gym mats with my blood.
I had to go on the offensive. Keith came in for a superman punch, actually flying off his feet and extending his arm for more power. I caught his wrist, and pivoted on my back foot to send him flying over my shoulder. He crashed to the floor, and I held onto his arm in a joint lock for good measure.
“Keith snap out of it, man. Can you hear me?”
“Fuck you, alien scum.”
Keith couldn’t escape from my joint lock without risking a broken arm, but he found another way. His leg snapped up and caught me square in the jaw. Reeling, I stumbled back a few feet, releasing his arm.
He went right back on the attack, landing another hard roundhouse kick to my temple. The gym walls started wavering, my vision growing dark as I struggled to hold on to consciousness.
Then Keith upped the ante. He grabbed a twenty pound barbell and hurled it at me. I just barely ducked my head out of its path, but the iron weight still clipped me painfully on the shoulder.
Keith hurled another one at me before I closed the distance. We grappled for a bit, and I trapped his arms to the side in a bearhug. Now my greater strength came into play and he couldn’t budge.
“Srell, Keith. Don’t make me hurt you.”
His response was to snap his head forward, smashing the bridge of my nose with his brow. As pain exploded in my face, I lost my grip on him. Keith snarled like an animal and tackled me around the waist. He bulled me back a few yards until I spread my feet wide and stopped our momentum.
“Sorry Keith, you’re not giving me a choice here.”
If I didn’t do something to stop Keith, he was going to kill me. As he redoubled his efforts to knock me flat, I bent over and wrapped my arms around his waist. With a grunt of exertion and pain from the numerous injuries he’d inflicted, I straightened my torso and pulled him into the air.
Keith wound up with the small of his back over my shoulder, legs dangling over the other side. Before he could react, I brought him back down, straight onto his head and shoulders. Keith hit hard, his eyes going glassy for a moment, but then he started struggling again.
Fortunately, I’d retained my grip around his waist. I lifted him into the air a second time and power bombed him back to the mat. This time he bounced a foot into the air and then lay still, eyes closed.
“Keith. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”
He groaned a little bit, meaning he was still alive.
I bundled him up into my arms like a child and carried him out into the cold, even though I was still in my skimpy gym gear.
I ran all the way to the detention center, because I knew there was a medic always on duty and he needed to be locked up before he hurt someone. Well, someone else.
I explained everything to Evie, the current person in charge. I stressed several times that Keith was my friend, and he was not like this. Not at all.
Evie promised to take good care of him, and I had nothing left to do but leave him in their care.
I couldn’t stop thinking about the way he’d changed, that weird flash of light and how he’d become so vicious.
Maki
After I agreed to work with Lorrva, Tovin, and Cam they brought in tents to set up a temporary lab in the area. Their equipment was pretty nice. Better than what I had to work with at my lab, at least. Though my lab was nothing compared to what they have set up in Nyheim.
I wasn’t sure how I felt about what Lorrva told me the first day I met them.
Yes, I knew there were still privately funded labs on Ankou but I didn’t realize any of them were up and running once more.
The Xathi didn’t just topple our cities, they damn well toppled our economy. I wanted to know exactly who on this planet had enough spare money to fund a project like this.
My suspicions were probably misplaced. This project was all about making farming more accessible to the average person. That was a good thing that was also desperately needed. Still, I didn’t like the fact that I didn’t really feel like I knew who I was working for.
Dr. Band must’ve done some vetting before sending me off to supervise.
That counted for something.
Still, I’d been working with the EcoBright team for two days now and I couldn’t say I fit in.
Obviously, I didn’t get one of the cool matching jackets with my name on it but it was more than that.
None of the team members, not even Cam who I thought was the least likely to kill me with one look, were willing to share information.
New people joined the project every day so far. However, I noticed that the people who joined us yesterday were not the same people to show up at the site today. Only me, Lorrva, Tovin and Cam were the constants. I’d only been working here for two days but I expected this project to run like any other project.
There was almost zero collaboration.
Lorrva, Tovin, and Cam must have determined their daily tasks before anyone else arrived. That was the only explanation. They barely spoke to anyone, including each other, when they were at the site.
Yesterday, I noticed Tovin storing a soil sample at the wrong temperature. I offered him help like any sane coworker would.
And...he didn’t acknowledge me in any way.
Weird.
It was pretty damn hard t
o ignore the only person within one hundred yards. Especially if that person was me and I was hovering over his shoulder.
I planned to fix the sample, or take another one when his back was turned but he put the samples somewhere else.
The tents on site were small.
There were only so many places someone could hide something. I doubted that the official Nyheim labs had this much security.
What was even weirder was that I wasn’t allowed in the tents. I didn’t know what I was doing there on my second day. I’d never felt more useless in my life. I hated feeling useless. Why was I even here?
Miraculously, today I arrived before the odd trio and their band of ever-changing interns. Knowing my time was limited, I ducked into the first tent I saw. It was filled with portable lab equipment with exactly enough space for a single person to work.
There was something strange about the equipment. It wasn’t the kind of equipment necessary for tracking growth.
I wasn’t sure what the equipment was for but if they wanted growth results, they weren’t going to get it this way.
As strange as Lorrva, Tovin, and Cam were, I didn’t once get the impression that they were incompetent. They must’ve known the experiments and tests they ran here wouldn’t yield the results they told me they were looking for.
So, what was all this in aid of?
“You aren’t supposed to be here.” Tovin’s voice nearly made me jump out of my skin. I whirled around, hand over my heart.
“You should wear a bell or something,” I sputtered.
“This is a secure facility,” he said with a straight face. I bit back a laugh.
“It’s a tent in the middle of the woods. What’s this stuff for?” I gestured to the equipment behind me.
“That’s none of your concern,” Tovin replied.
“Yes, it is.” I folded my arms across my chest. “None of this correlates with the job description I was given.”
The corner of Tovin’s mouth twitched. I thought he was attempting to smile but it was far too unsettling to be a smile.
“What makes you think you’re privy to every detail of this job?” He asked.
