Bermuda

by Karim Soliman

  "This expedition is over," Powell spat. "Our priority now is to survive this situation until we find a way out."

  "They are coming!" Linda announced, alarmed.

  "Another boat?" Burke wondered.

  "No. It's the ship itself. It's moving!"

  Heather gazed through the nearest side window to confirm the news. The yellow lights were flashing again from the mysterious ship, which was slowly approaching the HG-3.

  "I guess it's time to decide, folks." Burke stood between Heather and Powell. "If we have no problem to be caught by those humanoids, then we can just quarrel until they arrive." He turned to Powell. "We must admit we have lost the HG-3 already, Major. No need to throw anybody anywhere."

  "I don't know which is safer." Daniel rubbed his chin. "Following Burke, or getting caught by those humanoids."

  "No question, it's getting caught by humanoids." Burke tittered.

  "This is ridiculous," Powell muttered. "I can't believe this is the best team the US government has got."

  "The capsules are good to go." Santino's voice came out with the first good news in a long time.

  "Are you 100% sure?" Heather asked.

  "Don't worry, Heather. The shell of HG-3 took the worst of the electromagnetic shock, but the capsules are fine," Santino promised.

  "What are you waiting for, guys?" Burke watched through the glass window. "Their ship is getting closer."

  Heather had to voice the final say to urge her team to move. "Alright then, everyone. To the capsules. Go! Go!"

  The team hurried to the hatch in the floor that led to the life capsules. "After you." Burke ushered Heather with a smile.

  "We have no time for this." She grabbed him by the arm, motioning him to follow her colleagues. Only Powell and she remained. The Captain was the last one to leave, she knew. And in this case, Powell should go first.

  "Now, Dr." Powell's eyes widened as he gazed at something behind her. Startled one more time, she turned, but all she saw was the humanoid that lay motionless on the floor.

  Well, almost motionless. She swore, those slim gray digits made a move.

  15. The Island

  Through the glass window of the life capsule, Heather could see nothing but the dark water. "What about the other capsule, Santi?" she asked Santino, the captain of the encapsulated lifeboat under water.

  "They're just behind us, Heather," Santino replied. "According to the radar, the two capsules are on course."

  Heather pondered the situation. She had split the team into two groups, one led by Powell in the capsule behind them, the other included her and Burke. Luckily, radars were still working in both capsules.

  "We need to coordinate with Powell when it's time to surface. We're blind in this ocean." She glanced at Burke. "We need him up for the constellations."

  "I can hear you, Heather." Through the line already open with the other capsule came Powell's voice over the communicator. "We shall rise after two miles to make sure we're out of sight. Then it's up to your guy."

  "You can count on me, Major," said Burke.

  "I hope so." Powell's voice was impassive.

  Minutes were heavy for Heather, who kept her eyes glued to the window, waiting for stars to show up in her line of sight. Damn! Can't this capsule go faster? she thought.

  "We are rising," Powell announced from the other end of the line.

  As the capsule approached the ocean surface, Heather felt herself lifted up with her seat. Being surrounded by dark water made her so nervous she couldn't wait until she would have a view of the sky.

  "I guess it's my number now." Burke rose from his seat and stood by the hatch after the capsule had risen to water level.

  "We don't need you now, Burke." Santino sounded excited. "I see land on the radar."

  "No way." Heather was not less thrilled.

  "Confirmed." Powell didn't sound as thrilled as everybody was. "Estimated time to reach land is twenty-four minutes."

  "Really?" Burke jerked his head backward. "I guess I can go back home, then."

  "Lucky you," Powell's voice came through the communicator. "We will never know whether you are a real scientist or a fraud."

  "We risked our careers to get you on board with us." Santino glanced at Heather, a hint of rebuke in his tone.

  "Your what?" Burke scoffed. "I'm sorry to ruin your career, mi amigo. I must say I admire your optimistic spirit."

  "Keep your focus on the radar, Santi," said Heather, who noticed how Santino clenched his teeth.

  "We should have left you with Longface, Dr. Burke." Powell didn't sound joking about it.

  "I'm afraid it's too late, Major. But you may need to have me for lunch when you starve on this island after you finish all your supplies." Burke's suggestion made Heather feel sick.

  "I won't hesitate if I have to do so." Powell's answer wasn't less disgusting.

  "Enough!" Heather blustered. "I will close that radio if you both don't stop this nonsense."

  Silence reigned over the capsule for ten minutes. Heather kept staring at the radar that showed the two capsules as two yellow dots approaching the island. Shortly, two more dots appeared on the radar following their capsules. "What's this?" Heather asked.

  "They are after us," replied Santino, alarmed.

  "They must have spotted us when we surfaced," said Powell from the other side on the radio. "We must dive again."

  The two capsules dove below the surface once more. Again, Heather found herself surrounded by the ocean water.

  "Did we lose them?" Heather asked.

  "Change the course by thirty degrees to make sure," instructed Powell.

  Santino changed the capsule direction as Powell said. The two chasing dots on the radar remained on their course.

  "We have lost them," said Burke.

  "Good," said Powell. "With their speed, they could have caught us before reaching the shore."

  For a minute, Heather, Burke, and Santino kept their eyes on the radar, watching the two capsules getting away from the two mysterious followers.

  "Thank God." Heather sighed. "Santi, how long until we reach the shore?"

  "Thirteen minutes," said Santino. "Unless we return to the original course."

  "Negative," Powell answered through the communicator. "We will stick to our current course. We don't want to—"

  "Damn!" Santino cut him off. "They are after us again."

  "Forward with maximum speed," Powell urged. "Take the shortest route to the shore."

  The two capsules adjusted their directions, the two chasers closing on them.

  "Why is Powell a bit faster than us?" Burke asked.

  "Funny you ask." Santino glared at Burke. "Because we carry an extra passenger."

  Burke looked at Heather. "He doesn't mean me, right?"

  "In fact, we wouldn't need to surface if it were not for you," Linda pointed out.

  "So much love." Burke smirked.

  Heather had enough of that nonsense. "Would you please give me a damn break? We have lost our vessel and now we are chased by. . . whatever they are. So, stop it."

  "Is it only me who notices this?" Burke pointed at the radar. "Our chasers have slowed down."

  Heather stared at the radar for half a minute. "You're right. They are keeping their distance from us. Their velocity is almost the same as ours. Could this mean anything?"

  Nobody replied. Even Burke had no smart remark to add now. Powell broke the silence when he said, "I have no explanation for this, Heather. Anyway, we have to stick to our course until we reach our destination."

  The minutes remaining to reach the island passed slowly. As the two capsules approached the coast, they rose to the water surface, the capsule lights revealing the rocky shore.

  "The water is getting shallow, Santino," said Powell. "Time to get off."

  The two capsules slowed down until they stopped twenty meters from the shore. The moment Santino opened the hatch, Heather urged her crew, including Santino himself to abandon
the capsule. When Heather joined them outside, she found that all passengers of Powell's capsule had exited their vessel already. Holding the few flashlights that had survived the EMP storm, in addition to the gadgets they could carry, her team followed the marine's lead. "Hurry up. We have four minutes to disappear from here."

  "What about the capsules?" Santino wondered.

  "We don't have enough time for them," said Heather.

  The crew trudged in the water with their backpacks until they reached the rocky shore. The flashlights revealed the heavy forested area behind the beach.

  "Let's hurry to the woods," Burke urged. "We shall hide there."

  "I guess he's right this time," Powell seconded him. "Into the woods."

  The options for Heather and her crew were not that many. The ocean was behind them and the forest was upfront, the arrival of their chasers only a matter of a few minutes. And to add a little spice, Heather and her team had to cross that choppy shore with enough caution in this darkness so as not to stumble.

  "Freeze," Powell whispered. "Turn off your flashlights."

  The Major's warning unnerved Heather. "What's the matter, Powell?" She looked around, but she saw nothing.

  "I hear something." Powell was still whispering. "Footsteps."

  It was total darkness without the flashlights. Standing in her place, Heather felt somebody next to her.

  "It's me," whispered Burke. "Don't be scared. We have to stay close to each other on this moonless night." The calmness in Burke's voice made her doubt if that guy was totally sane. In the last few hours, she had fallen with the HG-3 into the ocean, seen a gray-faced humanoid, and survived a water pursuit. Now she was on an unknown island, cornered by chasers she couldn't see thanks to the darkness that curtained the world around her. She was a physical geography scientist, not an adventurer who could tolerate such events. How was Burke able to keep his composure so far?

  "We must get away from here." Burke held Heather's hand. "Our chasers will appear at any moment from behind. We can win some time in this darkness until we hide in the—"

  "Do not move."

  Heather's heart sank into her boots when she heard that commanding voice. This time it didn't come from Powell or Daniel or even Burke. It didn't come from anybody among her crew.

  It didn't come from any human at all.

  16. Never Mess with the Humanoids

  Heather was sure of what she had just heard. The creaky voice that uttered those three English words resembled that of the gray-faced intruder who encountered her crew in the HG-3.

  Obviously, Powell's idea to turn off the flashlights didn't work. Someone had spotted the team anyway. Someone they could not see. Perhaps it was about time to ignore the Major's brilliant plan to lay low.

  Heather opened her flashlight despite Powell's protests, and so did Daniel and Susan and Kenneth. Four flashlights were not enough to illuminate the entire woods, but they revealed six figures closing on them in a semi-circle. Six figures of tall, slender frames that resembled those of the HG-3 intruder. As the humanoids came to the light, Heather could see their gray faces and their brown leather-like outfits which covered their bodies from shoulder to knee.

  "Who are you?" Heather tried to make her voice sound commanding. It didn't stop the humanoids from approaching them, though.

  "We are outnumbering those fragile creatures," Powell whispered. "We can take them out if we all engage them."

  Heather wasn't sure if anybody other than Powell would regard the humanoids as fragile creatures. No one among her crew had the Major's mighty fist. And why should they fight those. . . ?

  "Wrong."

  The creaky cry from the humanoid in the middle startled her. "You-not-defeat-us." The humanoid drew an apple-sized white shiny spheroid strapped to his belt. Heather and, surely, the rest of the crew had never seen that thing before, but from the way the humanoid raised the spheroidal device, she could safely presume it was a weapon.

  And he was aiming at them with it.

  "I guess it's not wise to attack inhuman creatures that speak English and threaten you with a mango," Burke muttered. "This can be dangerous."

  "Only one of them is armed." Santino seemed to be considering Powell's bold suggestion. "And obviously, he is the only one who can understand and speak English."

  "With an accent better than yours, Santi," Burke teased.

  "Don't call me Santi."

  "He is bluffing." Powell tightened his jaw as he peered at the armed humanoid. "The silly ball he holds won't scare us."

  "We can't count on that." Heather must bring her crew to their senses before doing something really stupid. "Everybody, stay cool. No surprising moves."

  "This is not the time for hesitation, Dr," Powell grunted.

  "You are killing us all, Major." Heather forced through clenched teeth, her eyes still on the slim digits gripping the spheroid.

  "Heather is right," said Daniel. "There is no need for any hostile actions."

  "You fools," Powell growled. "I can't believe you will surrender to these creatures like this."

  "Oh my God!" Linda whimpered.

  "This is insane." Heather felt her nerves shot. The darkness, the creaky voice, Powell's rage, Linda's whimpering; everything was driving her mad.

  "Enough."

  The gray-faced humanoid demanded as he raised his hand and compressed the spheroid. A beam of light flashed past the entire crew, striking one of the life capsules behind them. In a second, the life capsule turned into a fireball, the explosion shock wave sweeping the other capsule away as if it was a paper boat. With a new source of light behind Heather and her crew, darkness was no longer their main problem.

  "Now what, Major? This Longface has made his point." Burke kneeled, putting his hands over his head.

  The rest of the crew stared at Burke before they exchanged looks with each other. They were not sure of what should be done now, and neither was Heather. You are the leader, Heather. You must make a decision.

  "It doesn't hurt, fellows," said Burke. "Trust me; I did this stuff many times before with the agents of the NSA."

  Daniel and Santino looked at Heather, as if they were waiting for her to decide. You must make your move now before Powell does something stupid. Heather nodded to her colleagues before she knelt next to Burke. The rest did the same except for Powell, who remained standing on his feet.

  "Come on, you fool," Burke muttered. "Time to stop this cowboy crap."

  "Damn!" Powell gnashed his teeth as he finally acquiesced and went down on his knees. For a moment, she felt that the humanoid was about to destroy the marine with his weapon.

  "I hope they won't torture us," said Burke.

  Oh thanks! The last thing Heather needed at the moment was such a suggestion of cheerful thoughts.

  The six humanoids surrounded the whole crew and started to tie every two with a wire-like material. "That's it?" Burke's eyebrows rose in astonishment. "I thought they would contain us in an energy field or something."

  One humanoid holding a long wire stood just in front of Heather and Burke. When the humanoid started wrapping Burke's wrist with the wire, Burke winked at Heather. "Look at the bright side. They will tie both of us together. I hope they will pair us face to face." When she glared at him, he cleared his throat. "Or back to back; it will just do."

  She really wanted to slap him. Instead, she found herself bursting into laughter.

  "So back to back, then?" Burke suggested.

  "You are a real jerk, Burke." Heather meant every word. "You must be sent to an asylum after we finish this mission."

  Heather felt the humanoid's cold digits grasp her right hand, wrap the wire, and tie it to Burke's left hand. The humanoid pulled them both from their backs to help them get up on their feet.

  "Finish this mission?" Burke scoffed. "And you call me a jerk?"

  With a not-so-gentle push, the humanoid urged them to start walking. All the crew was wired in pairs, except for Powell who was tied from b
oth hands.

  "Where are you taking us?" Heather asked the nearest humanoid to her, but again, there was no reply. "Answer me. What are you going to do with us? We are lost here on this island, and we mean no harm. I know you can understand me."

  "He-cannot."

  Someone else at the front spoke. When Heather looked, she found it was the humanoid pushing Susan and Linda, the only humanoid talking to them from the beginning.

  "I-can," the humanoid went on.

  "Interesting," Burke muttered. "A well-educated humanoid."

  The humanoid kept moving. When the group reached the heavily-forested area near the island shores, Heather bellowed at the leading long-faced creature. "You, alien! You can't ignore me like this! I'm talking to you!"

  Though it was Heather who asked him to reply, she was startled when the humanoid turned his gray head toward her. With the narrow eyes he had, it was hard to interpret his facial expressions, if he had any.

  "You-wrong." The alien stopped the group and slowly, he returned to Heather and Burke. "We-not-aliens."

  Now she found someone whose jokes were worse than Burke's. Then what else could you be? she wanted to ask the long-faced dude, who stood just in front of her and Burke, bending forward toward them.

  "You-aliens," said the gray-faced creature with his creaky voice before he pointed at Burke. "He-know."

  17. Minds Do Not Lie

  Heather looked from the alien to Burke and back. The gray-faced creature did refer to him, to the guy who had brought her to this island.

  "Excuse me?" Even Burke looked astonished. "Who knows what?"

  "Obviously, he is talking about you." Heather glared at the former assistant professor.

  "No need to give me this look, Heather." Now Burke wasn't able to smile.

  "What do you know, Burke?"

  "I don't know what he thinks I know."

  "You always know something nobody else knows." Heather gripped Burke by the hand. "We were almost drowned in a flipping hovercraft, encountered those humanoids, been chased till we reached this island, and still you look so comfortable."