Alien Deception (35 page)

When he had mustered enough control, Leumas went back inside and began a search. Nothing had been left untouched. Furniture was overturned, drawers emptied onto the floor. Paper littered the area, some also stained by blood. A desk lay on its back, one leg broken off and nowhere in sight. He found the first body on the other side of a sofa that had been overturned and lay skewed with its back facing the door. It was Snarg; his chest had been burned away by a direct burst from a laser weapon. Leumas felt his stomach protesting again, but fought the feeling back with another, stronger feeling. Anger.

Why?
He slammed his fist on the wall.
Why would someone do this?
He felt his rage trying to wash him away. Tears were burning his eyes, but he fought them.
Time to mourn later.

Returning to the search, he quickly checked the remaining two rooms. They were in similar disarray. The other two agents were nowhere in sight, but there was enough blood and signs of a battle to indicate that they, too, had likely been killed here.

But why kill them and take the bodies away? Why leave this one—my friend? Perhaps to taunt me?

He placed a blanket he found over Scarg's body. Before he covered the young man's face he murmured some words, some little things that he remembered of their times together and remembrances of his family. He also said he would tell Scarg's parents their son had died for the betterment of this planet. He would explain the death had not been for nothing and that other agents—Scarg's colleagues, his friends—would learn vital things that would help them do their jobs better and possibly save lives. He ended the eulogy in a broken voice.

"I'm sorry, Scarg."

He picked up the body as gently as he could and carried it to his ship, placing it in storage for the trip back to Earth. He returned to the facility knowing what he had to do next. After all, he had written the procedures for such a situation, never thinking he would ever have to use them.

He opened the control panel for the shelter and keyed in his master override code. His hand moved slowly and nervously, his fingers pressing the number pad, his mind struggling to remember the codes in between thoughts of Scarg and the fate of the other two agents. He paused as he prepared to enter the last sequence of the destruct process.

The rules were quite specific if a planet's inhabitants or other races had discovered the presence of agents and it was likely hostilities were possible or already had occurred. All evidence of the Council’s presence on the planet was to be destroyed and a thorough review conducted by the Council to determine what had happened and what the future direction of action might be regarding the influencing or development of the planet.

Leumas keyed the last numbers in the sequence; the red display lit up with the numerals indicating two minutes remained before destruction. However, instead of immediately moving off to a safe distance, he stood staring, eyes mesmerized by the numerals as they marched downward.

Suddenly, a cloak of paranoia covered him. Whoever had done this might still be here.

There is someone watching me! Watching me right now, waiting to kill me as soon as I move away from the facility so they can get a clear shot.

He turned around, keeping his back to the facility wall. He stared off into the distance, scanning the area, looking for any signs of his sensed observer. He saw nothing; yet the fearful sensation unnerved him so much he began to shake uncontrollably. He grasped his head with his hands. Looking down, he closed his eyes, trying to control the shaking.

Watching me right now, waiting to kill me as soon as I move away from the facility so they can get a clear shot.

When the shaking subsided, his closed eyes jerked open and saw the time display. Sixty seconds remained on the clock. He looked to the left and then to the right. He pivoted around in a half-circle, again scanning the area for any signs of movement.

Watching me right now, waiting to kill me as soon as I move away from the facility so they can get a clear shot.

Thirty seconds. A warning sounded; a low shrill followed by a monotone voice: "Evacuate to safe distance, this is the final warning. Evacuate to safe distance, this is the final warning…"

He couldn't move.
Watching me right now, waiting to kill me as soon as I move away from the facility so they can get a clear shot. Better to stay here, they can't get me if I stay here. They want me to move out into the open and then—

::Leumas. Can you hear me?::
Dora's voice called.

The voice entering into his mind was familiar.

::Leumas.::

The paranoia and fear began to leave his thoughts, washed away by the reassuring voice in his mind.

::Dora?::

::Yes, Leumas. You need to move away from the facility. Do it now.::

::I can't; maybe in a little bit.::

::You must move now, Leumas, or you will be killed. There are approximately fifteen seconds until the hut explodes. While monitoring you, I determined you have been under the influence of a powerful delayed mind push. It took considerable time and effort to initiate a neural block and weaken the push. Now, get out of there.::

His mind cleared enough to understand what Dora was telling him. There wasn't any threat. He was only led to believe there was one. He glanced back at the time display. Ten seconds. He ran.

Once in place, a delayed mind push sat in the mind until activated by some thought or action. His initiation of the self-destruct device had triggered his. Whoever had done this to him had probably affected him on arrival.
Someone who knew Council procedure.

Leumas felt time ticking away as he reached an outcropping of rock and jumped behind it. The explosion followed a second later, causing his ears to pop, not from the noise (since the explosion was silent to avoid attracting any attention) but from the release of pressure from the explosive. Fiery debris flew over and around him, disintegrating as it moved away from the blast center.

He stood on wobbly legs and looked. The facility was totally obliterated, all traces of its existence gone
. I was almost part of it,
he thought. It was too much to comprehend. One agent dead, two missing but probably dead also, a delayed mind push used and he himself almost killed by an explosion he had initiated.

What the hell is going on?

Still, there was nothing else to be accomplished here. Best to return to the Council and make them aware of what had happened and inform the loved ones of the agents that they had been killed. Sadness attacked him once again, but his anger forced the door on his grief closed. It would remain so until he found out who was behind this.

Leumas began the short walk back to his ship, wanting to put distance between himself and this planet as soon as possible.
Whoever is behind this is very clever and demented,
he thought. Pausing at the entry port, he turned back one more time to look at the surrounding area.

"Damn you, whoever you may be," he said aloud. "Damn you."

* * * *

Later, Leumas reclined in his chair on board the
Blessed
after he'd finished programming the coordinates for the return flight to Earth. As he sat, he tried to organize what had occurred on Beta-747.

Why was Scarg killed and where were the other two bodies?
Lay out the facts,
he told himself. Was it possible that the attackers came from the planet's population? All reports indicated the inhabitants were a peaceful race; one of the major reasons why they were approached. They revered life and all creatures. He doubted strongly that the murderer or murderers were natives. Did they come from off-world then?

But what purpose could it serve to murder the agents? Who knew we were there? Just the Council. And the delayed mind push… The research of the planet showed no telepathic capability. Could they have been wrong?

He rubbed his forehead. He was tired, angry, sad—a veritable hodgepodge of emotions. He needed to rest his mind from the images of his dead friend for a while so he would be able to think clearly. There was something he had missed, something just inside the shadows waiting to be exposed; he could feel it. He closed his eyes and willed his thoughts to another direction.

Influencing through thoughts had initially developed as an hereditary ability on Zire after war-induced radiation produced a useful mutation, but the natural ability to influence other species had eventually been lost. Now it required physical cerebral alteration followed by a strict mind-training regimen in order to control the ability and to keep the altered life form from going mad. The odds of success were less then two percent on a good day. Still, having more time now to focus on the task, Leumas’ success rate in developing new agents had been gratifying. With the help of Dora, his computer, he had—

"Dora," Leumas called aloud, breaking his own train of thought. Now that his mind had cleared from his earlier troubled and confused state, he wondered why he had simply not asked Dora in the first place.

"Yes."

"Do you have all the background data on Beta-747?"

"Yes."

"What is the probability that the inhabitants of Beta-747 discovered the agents and killed them?"

"Working…" Dora stated. "The probability of such an event is twenty-one percent."

"What is the possibility the inhabitants have the mental abilities and equipment to produce a delayed mind push?"

"Working…" the female voice said again. “The probability of such an event is eleven percent."

"Dora, what is the probability of both those events occurring simultaneously given those same inhabitants?"

"Working…the probability is nine percent."

"It has to be an outside party, then," Leumas said. "It's the only thing that makes sense, considering how perfect everything was up to this moment. Someone from outside this world has done this. But why?"

Then, as if a giant light bulb had gone off in his head, the factor he had missed came to him. If someone were able to procure the equipment to perform a delayed mind push, even possibly possess some mental capabilities, they might have been capable of using influence on the agents. It was a long shot, but if this turned out to be the case then their problems were only beginning.

All those capable of using influence were supposed to be under the Council’s cognizance or so they had thought. If a person or group had developed this ability or was surgically altered and was outside the control of the Council, they could do a great deal of damage.

"Dora, in the cargo hold area is a body. I want you to scan the brain and determine if there was any mind tampering, altering or influence applied. If so, try and establish a record of the brain pattern that applied the outside influence."

"Working… The solution to your query will take approximately ten-point-two-five hours to compute."

"I've got time." Leumas began to contemplate these revelations he did not like. He tried to imagine what a rogue that possessed such power would be capable of.

"Incoming message from the Leader of the Council," Dora said, startling him.

"Patch it through."

"Leumas?"

"Greg, we've got problems," Leumas began without even any form of greeting. The nervous energy inside him engendered by what he was considering was consuming him. "The agents on Beta-747—"

"Are dead," Greg said, finishing the statement for him in a nonchalant manner that shocked Leumas so much he was silent for several seconds.

"How did you know?" he asked finally.

"Get back as soon as you can. We've got trouble. Big trouble," Greg said, ignoring Leumas’ question.

"I'm on my way. ETA is in five hours."

"Good, I'll see you when you get here."

"What kind of trouble are you referring to?"

"Communication terminated at the source," Dora said. "Do you wish to reestablish?"

"No," he said, wondering at Greg's abruptness. That was not normal for him. On the other hand, given the circumstances, normalcy would seem to be the least of their problems at the moment.

Leumas exhaled deeply and closed his eyes. The fond memories of the past two years faded from his mind.

Chapter Six

“I’ve never liked reporters who feed the populace a mixture of scum and discontent. However, at times I wonder if they are fulfilling a need of the human psyche?”

Sarah McClendon

"I don't understand what you mean, Mr. Schume," Sarah said, trying to hide the fact his accusation had caught her off-guard. She needed a few seconds to regain her composure, so she opted to let him talk and find out exactly how much he knew. More importantly, though, how did he know—and from whom?

"I think you know exactly what I mean, Ms. McClendon," Schume replied, smiling sardonically. "And I believe President Samuel knows what I am talking about also."

Edward stared at the reporter without any sign of emotion.

Schume turned to the other reporters and announced, "I said it once and I will say it again. I claim that the president and a select group of individuals have developed an alliance with some secret organization staffed with aliens. This organization's headquarters is here on Earth." He paused for effect, then continued. "They conduct clandestine meetings to decide the fate of this world and many others. In fact, this organization has been tampering with the progress of several planets in order to ensure they develop in accordance with some alien blueprint. Our own lives at this very moment are being altered without the people's knowledge or consent."

Sarah maintained an outward look of disdain, but inside she was appalled at the level of the man's knowledge. She looked out of the corner of her eye at the president.

"Perhaps we should stop right now," he murmured.