Neither of them said a word. When the guard who had accompanied them entered after her, he took out a large caliber gun, pointed and shot at Tzedek’s head, who was thrown backwards. With a circular movement, he kept firing without hesitation and shot Juan Carlos in the chest, then Sofía, Althaea, and before she could react or scream, Damaris.
“Exactly what you deserve, pigs,” the guard muttered, smiling slyly. He went over to Damaris, pushed her with his foot and was surprised when he saw she moaned and tried to get up. He was aiming again when he saw something out of the corner of his eye. He turned his head to look, pointing his gun at the same time, and saw Tzedek pointing something. Out of sheer instinct, he pulled the trigger. His shot was true, hitting Tzedek in the chest, who was pushed back again. He fired again as a precaution, already thinking about emptying the magazine when, while Tzedek was receiving the third impact, whatever was in his hand was activated and a shock wave sent him flying against the nearest wall. The impact was tremendous and they could hear several bones breaking from the blow. The weapon he was holding went flying and his body fell, limp but alive, to the ground. He would not bother them for a while.
Tzedek managed to get up, holding his head, his nanites completely drained. He looked around him and saw that both Althaea and Damaris got up, in pain. Juan Carlos and Sofía, however, were conscious but in a pool of blood that was getting bigger. He checked their injuries and saw that Juan Carlos had a hole in his chest, and his pulse was getting weaker. Sofía had an injury to her side, but to save her she’d need emergency services that didn’t exist anymore.
“NO!” shouted Tzedek, bending over to check Sofía.
Damaris came over to Sofía, and Althaea to Juan Carlos, both in pain and with tears in their eyes.
“Father, hurry, save them,” implored Althaea.
Tzedek quickly checked them over and explained to Althaea:
“You know there is only one way. I can’t do it, they aren’t ready for that.”
“Please, Father,” cried Althaea.
Damaris held Sofía, also imploring:
“Please, Tzedek.”
Tzedek was surprised and stopped for a moment. He hadn’t thought it would happen like this. Sofía was very young. If he injected the nanites now, it would change her development. She might not be able to control it. But in one second, he decided. “To hell with it,” he thought, he wasn’t going to lose hundreds of years of experiments because of one jerk.
He moved quickly to his desk, pressed his hand on the panel and typed a key on the console. A compartment opened in the wall. He went over and with some difficulty opened a small gold chest. He supported it on the desk, opened it, and inside saw several gold cylinders with rounded ends, among other gold things. Tzedek took two thick syringes from the first aid cabinet. He grabbed one of the gold containers. When he touched it, a small yellow light lit up at one end. He pressed that with his thumb and the container opened with a snap. There was a kind of blister pack inside. He inserted the syringe into it and, pulling the plunger, filled it with a golden liquid. He repeated the process with a second syringe and another of the containers. The whole process took just a few seconds.
He went straight to where Sofía was lying. She was going into shock, and looked almost as white as Juan Carlos, but besides was cold and shaking. She was losing blood too fast.
“Sofía,” called Tzedek. When he saw that she reacted, he looked at Damaris and she nodded her head.
Sofía’s eyes were half-closed and she murmured weakly:
“Help Dad.”
“You, first.” Tzedek grimaced and injected the contents of the first syringe directly into the center of her chest. Without waiting to see the results, he took the other syringe and went over to Juan Carlos. When he knelt down close to him, Juan Carlos asked him weakly:
“I don’t know what you’re...going to do, but save my daughter...first...I...don’t...”
“Silence, we’re losing you,” observed Tzedek. “This is going to hurt.”
“More than...being shot?” Juan Carlos questioned, in pain.
“Yes,” Tzedek assured him, injecting the contents of the syringe in his chest. Juan Carlos saw the syringe. It was huge and contained a type of thick, golden liquid that looked threatening. It felt like liquid gold was being injected into him. When he finished injecting it, Tzedek headed to a console and looked around for a few moments. They finally heard him say:
‘Nogah, can you come to the Center? I need you urgently.”
“I’m on my way,” they heard the response after a moment.
Tzedek looked at Damaris and Althaea and asked them:
“Can you take charge on taking care of them? It would be better if you explained their new situation, not me. I...I have to take care of the trash.”
That said, he went over to the guard’s body, grabbed him by the neck of his uniform and dragged him along the floor, making him scream in pain until he passed out. He opened the door, pressing the plaque with the palm of his hand and left, dragging the guard.
“Tzedek,” they heard someone come running.
“Nogah, come with me to the interrogation room,” he asked, as the door closed.
REPAIRS ON BOARD
MSC Grandiosa, November 27, 2027. 5:30 p.m.
When the submarine advised them that there were no longer missiles flying nor dangerous radiation in the air, they decided to go out. The show was, however, overwhelming. Even in daylight, an aurora of blue and green colors could be seen throughout the sky, as if they were near the North Pole.
A good number of the passengers and crew had come out on the decks to watch the sky.
At one end of the ship, a lifeboat was in flames. Apparently its motor had exploded. Several crewmembers were already putting it out.
Seeing the lack of electricity, the officers started coming to the bridge where Leora was finally able to talk to the chief engineer. She was discussing the problem of the electromagnetic field and he was sure that in theory the ship was prepared for this problem, it wasn’t something that had been pushed to the side.
“Captain, I’m sure we aren’t as bad as it seems. The ship depends completely on the power supply, it isn’t only protected but redundant. I’m going to check the mechanisms, maybe some cheap spare was burned or we need to restart a circuit.”
When it was getting dark outside, suddenly the lights came back on provoking exclamations of joy from everyone. The chief engineer called Leora through the internal communications system.
“Yes, give me some good news, Chief.”
“Captain, it’s as I thought. I’ll have to go through everything, but the induced energy was discharged to the hull and the greatest impact was absorbed by special fuses and thermal protectors. By replacing the fuses, restarting the thermals and fixing a couple of burned circuits, we rebooted the secondary generator. Now I’ll continue with the main power plant and the engines.”
“How much time do you think it will take to fix everything?”
“The whole maintenance crew is on it. To fix the most important parts and get the main generator running, I’d say twenty-four hours. To check the whole ship, especially the engines and guidance systems for the lifeboats, probably a couple of days more.”
“Excellent, go ahead, Chief.”
“Yes, Captain.”
She’d just hung up with the chief engineer when the internal communicator rang. She picked up again.
“Captain speaking.”
“Captain, this is the chief of medical services. I’m sorry to bother you, but I wanted to let you know we have one dead and two injured. One passenger stayed on deck and apparently had a pacemaker. He died when it stopped working. I’ll know for sure when I do the autopsy. The other two passengers, a couple, have gone blind, as well as having skin burns. They stayed out to look at the first explosion and didn’t listen to the orders to take cover.”
Leora raised her hand to her head. A tragedy, but it could have been much
worse.
“Any other injuries?”
“Nothing important, some cuts and bruises from the shaking of the ship, though we haven’t finished checking everyone.”
“Very well, thank you for the report. Keep me advised if there are any other serious cases,” ordered Leora and hung up.
Well, they had a lot of work for the next few days.
INTERROGATION
Rho November 27, 2027. 5:50 p.m.
Tzedek held the guard by his shirt collar, dragging him towards the interrogation room located on the lower floor.
“May I ask what happened and who this is?” asked Nogah.
“You may.”
He succinctly told Nogah everything that had happened in Central Control.
“And as far as who he is, that’s what we’re going to find out now.”
“He really shot you in the head?”
“Directly between the eyes, as well as twice in the chest. And my head still hurts. Damned loser, if it weren’t for the nanite force field, my brain would be splattered all over the Center. My energy is wiped out. He didn’t hesitate. He entered, looked at us, and started firing. But the worst is that he shot at Althaea and Damaris, and at our human guinea pigs. I think they’ll be saved, but I don’t know yet.”
They got to the interrogation room, dragged the man into what looked like a dentist chair, and closed the door, blocking it from the panel. There were many instruments in the room, some computers and a couple of closets.
Nogah straightened the man in the chair, and tied his hands, torso and head firmly. Tzedek ran a facial recognition from his cell phone and the files from the City identified him as Norberto Almeida, a security guard.
Tzedek injected him with a stimulant.
“This will make you pay attention to us.”
The subject opened his eyes and moaned in pain.
“Let’s start with your name.”
The man pursed his lips.
Tzedek concentrated and tried to read his mind, but had to stop. He was tired, had no energy and the man was very determined not to give up any information.
“Very well, as you like,” said Tzedek, resigned.
He ran a gadget over the man’s body and a computer analyzed the results.
“Broken bones in twelve places. Not much, considering the damage you tried to do.”
He studied the medical telemetry for a moment, looked at a cabinet with some drugs, and chose three of them. He filled a syringe with each one, took the first and injected it in the guard.
“This will keep you from fainting, no matter what happens. Except if you die, of course, but until then we can revive you if necessary. So, for example, if I do this...” demonstrated Tzedek, pressing forcefully where he knew there was a broken bone, “...you won’t get the relief of fainting like you would do normally,” he concluded.
The man moaned, turned white as a sheet and was covered in cold sweat, but conscious. He pressed his lips together again.
“I really don’t like to do this, but you just tried to kill me—me, my guests, and my daughter. I think you would have been happy to have achieved it, and I want to know who ordered it, when, how you got into my city, why you wanted to kill us and some other things, but it bothers me to speak with someone whose name I don’t know. Now, in this other syringe, I have another drug that multiplies the pain you feel by ten. Keep in mind that you won’t be able to faint to escape the pain. I prefer not to use it, they say it’s unbearable, and in fact, they all sing like birds when it takes effect and many even beg us to kill them, but of course I won’t do that.”
The man stubbornly kept his lips pressed shut.
“Very well, I’m sorry but you don’t give me any choice. I need to know what you know, and fast. You see the third syringe?”
The subject looked at it and looked at Tzedek.
“It’s the antidote and it has a sedative. When you’ve told me what I need to know, and not before, I’ll use it and you won’t feel any pain and you’ll be able to rest, in a cell of course.”
“Fuck you, you bastard!” the guy yelled.
Tzedek sighed, and injected a tenth of the second syringe.
A few seconds passed, and then tears started to fall from the man’s eyes. He started with a moan that he tried to control, but it turned into a scream.
“It hurts, doesn’t it? How about if you tell me your name?”
The man screamed and screamed without being able to stop. Tzedek gestured to Nogah, who injected a tenth of the third syringe. After a few seconds, the man calmed down until he burst into tears.
“You don’t want to go through that again, do you? Now, what was your name?”
“Damned alien brain-suckers, just kill me now!” shouted the man.
Tzedek shook his head.
“We aren’t aliens, my friend. Someone has lied to you. I’d like to know who and what gave you that idea, but we’ll start with your name. And understand, we’re not going to kill you. And we can make this last hours...or days,” threatened Tzedek, and gestured to Nogah.
Nogah picked up the second syringe and stuck the man again.
“Wait,” sobbed the man, his eyes wild with panic.
“Yes? I’m all ears.”
“My name is Norberto. Norberto Andrés Almeida,” he said with a certain Spanish accent.
They had got the man to start talking. Tzedek already knew that the data and images matched the man in front of him. However, the file said that he himself had approved his admission and he didn’t remember having done it.
“Very well, Norberto Almeida, let’s start at the beginning. Who contracted you to work in the city?” Tzedek interrogated him.
Norberto pressed his lips together, but Nogah made a gesture with the syringe and he quickly confessed:
“A guy like you two, named Marsan.”
HITMAN
Madrid, May 20, 2023. 12:30 p.m.
Norberto looked suspiciously at the tall dark guy who had sat down at his table. They had agreed to meet in a public place, and the Galayos restaurant seemed as good as any other with tables on the street. He could run off fast if he needed to, and lose himself on Imperial Street, going into any of the numerous businesses in the extremely commercial area. And meanwhile, the suckling pig was delicious.
The guy took off his dark glasses, revealing very impressive clear sky blue eyes.
“I’m Marsan, good to meet you.”
He didn’t put out his hand, so Norberto didn’t, either.
“I’m Norberto. They told me you had work for me.”
“That’s true, a very well paid job, for sure,” Marsan assured him, raising a briefcase that he had with him and putting it on the table, next to Norberto. “Be discreet.”
Norberto looked at the briefcase, unlocked it and cracked it open carefully. He could see inside that it was full of euros. 500 bills.
“Holy shit, who do I have to kill?”
“Four very bad people. There are five million euros in the briefcase. If you accept the job, they’re yours and when you’ve done it, you’ll get three more briefcases like this one.”
Norberto whistled. Well, the police didn’t usually use traps with this kind of money. He cracked the briefcase again and picked up the piles of money. They all looked the same and went down to the bottom of the case. It didn’t look like a trick or fake money or full of newspapers. On the other hand, looking at a guy like Marsan, he totally gave the impression of being someone capable of killing another person.
“Why don’t you do it yourself?”
“Unfortunately, I don’t have access to where these people are. But you could get it. It would be easy to pass for a guard there. You just need to have the patience to wait until all four people are together. If you kill just one of them, you probably won’t have the chance to get to the others.”
“And where are they?”
“That’s the best part. In a luxury city in South America. You just have to go there to work,
and you’ll get a house, health, food and incredible accommodations, while you wait for the perfect opportunity,” explained Marsan. “In the briefcase there’s an envelope with the photos and names of the ‘contract’ and other data, like the plans to the city where you’re going, what you need to say in the interview and other things.”
“And what would keep me, once I’m living comfortably in that city, from wanting to just enjoy the money and not get involved in this mess?”
“They recommended you to me for your professional integrity. But okay, first of all, money won’t do you any good in that city. They use a different system to get things there. But more importantly, when you know why you have to kill those people, you’ll want to do it.”
“Really, you think so? What terrible thing are these people supposed to have done?”
“Well, first of all, they’re not ‘people’, they’re extraterrestrials.”
Norberto laughed. Marsan continued on.
“And second, they’re planning to exterminate all of humanity. It doesn’t matter if you don’t believe me. If you kill them now, maybe you’ll save the earth. But if you wait, you’ll see that I’m right, when the whole world starts to die. Although you’ll definitely be safe inside the city. They’ll offer you a vaccine there, make sure you get it.”
Norberto was still smiling when they said good-bye, but he accepted the job and followed it through. He calmly finished eating and went to his house with the briefcase.
Once in his house, he opened it carefully. He verified with a gadget that it didn’t have any kind of microphone or transmitter, made sure there was no explosive device or anything, and finally opened it completely. The briefcase was full of bills. He took them out, looking at them, and counted a hundred piles of bills. He took a random stack, and counted that it had a hundred, all five hundred euros. Counting it up, it was five million euros. A fortune. Under the bills was an envelope. He took it out and found first four photos of two women and two men. In a way, they looked like Marsan, they were dark and they all had clear eyes, very strange. He saw under each one a name, ‘Tzedek’, ‘Althaea’, ‘Nogah’, and ‘Damaris.’ What a shame, he thought, the women were really beautiful. Not that the men weren’t handsome, but men weren’t his thing. He wondered if he could have a little fun with the women before killing them. A few times in the past he’d got the cooperation of some of his victims, making them believe that in exchange for their ‘favors’ he wouldn’t kill them. Of course, after enjoying them, he always did his job. He had a reputation to protect.
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