Escape to Earth 1: Running From Fate (15 page)

• • •

Lukas walked out of the restaurant as Trevor was entering. Trevor grabbed his arm and Lukas said, “Gotta go talk to a man about a dog. Talk with Joey.” Trevor released his arm and swore. Lukas smiled as he walked toward Salud’s red BMW. He got in the passenger side and said, “Got him!”

Salud shook her head and looked over her shoulder. She waited and they saw four blue-grey colored Ford Fusions drive past them. On the door of the front Fusion was lettering that read, United States Department of Defense. Salud watched them pass and looked at Lukas, who was shaking his head, “I hate being right all the time.”

“You think they’re here because of you.”

Lukas nodded out the windshield and she turned and saw six more Fusions moving in the opposite direction across the street. “Look at the roofs.” Salud looked back at the cars and saw four antennas sticking out of the roofs and trunks on every Fusion.

“If they’re looking for you, they’re starting late, wouldn’t you say?”

“There’s less interference this time of night.” Salud looked in her rear view mirror and knew he was right. The Stalkers were gone but a new breed of Stalker had arrived. She pulled out and headed toward Tremont Street. They saw eleven more Fusions as they headed toward Calumet.

“What are you going to do?” Lukas shrugged.

• • •

They arrived at Lukas’ apartment and he opened the door for her. She went to the trunk and took out a backpack. “What’s in that?”

“Something I brought for the meeting.” Lukas took it and put it over his shoulder; it really wasn’t heavy. She followed him up the steps and he opened the door and allowed her to enter first. The apartment was clean and everything was in place. She saw a flash of light and looked over at a table next to the wall, where a laptop computer was turned on. “What’s this?”

“That’s my first piece of the project.” Salud walked over and looked at the screen. She saw it split in half with Ameritrade on one side and Scottrade on the other. She looked at him and tilted her head. “Before I sent my Escape Pod away, I used it to produce gold to sell. By the time it escaped, I had acquired about three hundred thousand dollars.”

“How did it provide gold?”

“It used its converter.”

“How are your investments going?”

“I’m a little over four million now.”

Salud jerked her head around, “In less than a week?”

“Actually, it’s been eight days.”

“How do you make that happen?”

“My Wrist Unit scans the various companies listening for anything that might affect the value of a stock, up or down. It then issues orders to buy or sell short.”

“That’s called insider trading and is a crime.”

“Not if you uncover the information. It’s a crime if someone gives it to you.”

“That’s a pretty thin argument.”

Lukas nodded, “My unit tells me that my success is starting to draw attention. I’ve had to factor in some losses to prevent my bank account from being investigated.” Lukas looked at her, “Do you have a bank account?”

“Actually, I have two.”

“Would you mind if I use them?”

“I only have ten thousand dollars in one and three thousand in the other.”

“What about a savings account?”

“I’d rather not say how much is in that.” Lukas stared at her and she rolled her eyes, “I have half a million in it.”

“It took you that long to decide if you trusted me?”

“It was only a second!”

“It was still too long. Transfer a hundred thousand into each of your accounts and I need you to go online with this computer and set up an account at two different trading companies.”

Salud walked over to the laptop, minimized the screen, and started a search. In less than an hour, she had both checking accounts set up. She excused herself and went to the bathroom and, when she came back, she glanced at the screen and saw the values in her two stock accounts were at three hundred thousand. “What the hell!”

She looked at Lukas who said, “The Asian Markets are open.” She shook her head and transferred another hundred thousand into each account. Then she went over to the couch and sat down. Lukas looked at her, “That’s the second time you demonstrated a lack of trust in me. Why didn’t you put the entire amount in at the beginning?”

“Lukas, this might be hard for you to understand, but that money is all I have to use to support me in my old age.”

“I really hope you live long enough to have one.”

“Lukas, it will be long after I’m gone before anyone on Earth builds a star drive.”

“And just what do you think the ships I’m going to build will be using?”

Salud stared at him and then went over to the laptop and put the remainder of her savings into the two accounts. She noticed the value of the two accounts was at seven hundred thousand. She looked at Lukas, “I made a mistake planning for the future.” He took a deep breath, blew it out slowly, and nodded. She came over and sat down beside him on the couch. She suddenly felt her anxiety start to grow and right behind it she was inundated by a wave of fear. This stuff was real. She had come along watching everything develop and never really did more than observe. Now she knew that Earth’s future was in the hands of the man sitting next to her. It was also in hers as well and that caused her to panic. She wasn’t up to this!

Lukas put his left arm around her shoulder and took his right hand and put it on her chin. He turned her head to him and said, “No one has ever survived a meeting with a Sentinel.”

She stared into his eyes and what he said finally made it into her consciousness. Her fear began dissipating and after a few moments she leaned into his side and snuggled against his chest. “Everything from that moment forward is borrowed time.” Lukas nodded and kept his arm around her. He closed his eyes and went to sleep. A few moments later, she joined him.

• • •

Lukas felt his Wrist Unit vibrate and he put his hand on Salud’s arm and shook her softly. She opened her eyes and Lukas said, “Joey and Trevor are here.”

“How do you know Trevor is with him?”

“It’s eleven fifteen. Joey got off at ten thirty.” Salud shook her head as Lukas went to the door and opened it as the buzzer went off from downstairs. She stretched and was amazed she had been able to sleep. She hadn’t had a good night’s sleep since the meeting with the Sentinel. She heard voices coming up the stairs and recognized Trevor’s. Lukas was amazing with his powers of observation.

Joey came through the door first and smiled, “How’s it going?”

“Good, Joey.” Trevor came in second followed by Lukas, who closed and locked the door. Trevor looked at Salud and Lukas and said, “So let me get this straight; both of you are aliens from another planet?”

Lukas and Salud’s face both showed their shock. Lukas looked at Joey and he said, “You are, aren’t you?”

Lukas burst out laughing and Joey and Trevor looked at him with surprise written all over their faces. Trevor turned to Joey, “I knew you were pulling my leg.”

Salud said, “No he’s not…”

Trevor jerked his head around to her, “You’re an alien!?”

“No, I’m not but Lukas is.”

Trevor looked at Lukas and he was still laughing. “What’s so funny?”

Lukas looked at Joey shaking his head, “I thought you were light years ahead in your perceptions of every other human I’ve met. You’re just good.”

“You mean she’s not an alien.” Lukas shook his head. Joey looked at Salud and shook his head, “Those hours after hours sitting at the bar is not normal human behavior.”

Lukas smiled, “She’s not your average human.” He looked at Trevor and Joey, “None of you are. Let’s sit down and talk about it.”

Salud sat up and went to her backpack, “I’m going to make some coffee. This is going to take a while.” She looked at Lukas, “I do hope you have either milk or cream.”

“I have a half gallon of two percent milk.” Salud went with them into the small kitchen and pulled a coffee maker out of the backpack. The others sat down at the kitchen table and Lukas said, “A little over ten months ago, I was serving on a Welken Major Battleship out near what you call Orion’s Nebula. My squadron stumbled on a Myot planetary system where they were building an entirely new class of warship that dwarfed anything in the Welken Fleet. More than forty powerful disruptor beams hit my ship and the ship began falling apart. I barely managed to jump into an escape pod and eject from the ship a moment before it exploded.”

Trevor said, “When you say disruptor beams…”

Lukas interrupted him, “They’re just like the one in the drawings I gave you, only much larger and a lot more powerful.” Trevor stared at him and then nodded. Salud took the milk out of the refrigerator and put it on the table along with a one-pound bag of sugar and a box of Splenda. She put a paper towel along with a spoon in front of them but neither of them noticed as they listened to Lukas.

She started filling the three cups and one glass and heard Trevor interrupt Lukas and say, “You mean your civilization is one of those out there?” Lukas nodded. Trevor shook his head, “How can we trust you? You might be trying to hold the others off so your people can take Earth.”

Salud picked up the cups and brought them over to the table, “If that were the case, he would have taken the force field projector and left with the Pod. Once his civilization saw the force field, they would have the first actual evidence to invade and would have beaten the others here while the others wondered what they were doing.”

Lukas looked at Salud as she put the cup in front of him and she smiled, “Or something like that.”

She went back, picked up the glass, and put it in front of her chair. Lukas took the glass and replaced it with the cup she had given him. She started to protest but stopped. That little thing showed her his heart. She sat down and was amazed at what she saw.

“She’s right. However this turns out, I am staying here on Earth. This is now my home.”

Joey stared at him and said, “Please continue.”

Lukas nodded and began telling them about the gang he killed along with the struggle to avoid being discovered by the Stalkers. Trevor said, “I agree with you, Joey; that thin faced weirdo just wasn’t right.”

Lukas said, “He’s the one that killed Tony.”

Joey’s eyes narrowed, “Tony committed suicide.”

“No he didn’t. The Stalker saw him rush out of the restaurant the night he had the falling out with Rachel and had him followed. They drained his brain of everything he knew and then made it look like a suicide.”

Trevor looked at them and said, “He’s the one I replaced.” Lukas nodded. “Everyone really liked him.”

Lukas shook his head, “Everyone loved Tony.”

Joey sighed, “Including you.” Lukas looked at him and nodded. Joey shook his head and nodded for Lukas to continue.

Salud listened in and heard Lukas tell them what life was like living in the Welken Confederacy. This was something she had not heard before and she wondered, just like the Sentinel, why Lukas had changed so much. At the end, she had to know, “What caused you to change?”

Lukas looked at her and saw Joey and Trevor were staring at him as well. He took a breath and said, “In my entire life as a Welken Warrior, I’ve never had anyone to care one iota for me or what happened to me. If I died in battle, no one would care and no one would remember me.

“From the moment I left my apartment, I encountered humans who did care. Tony became my first friend, followed by Jack, who though he was my employer, treated me with kindness and consideration. The staff at the restaurant liked me and wanted to be around me. It was like feeding a starving man.” Lukas looked at Salud, “And you came back to reward me for helping you. I can’t describe to you how much that affected me.” Lukas looked at them and said, “Even Kathy, in a manipulating sort of way, showed me a kindness that was something I’ll always remember.” Lukas paused, “Your species is something beyond what I’ve ever known and I will not allow you to become slaves if I can prevent it.”

The three humans stared at Lukas in silence and, after a very long moment, Joey said, “Well count me in even if I don’t get a space ship.”

They burst out laughing and Trevor said, “Are you going to be able to build a ship that can take on those battleships you described? It will have to be a giant won’t it?”

“No, Salud’s force field development will keep them safe. I just need to develop a weapon strong enough to hit them from a distance. That’s why I need you working with us, Trevor.”

Joey leaned back, “So how do you see this going down?”

“First, I have to get enough money to fund our little enterprise. I’ve started that by buying and selling stocks online.”

“How have you done?”

Lukas walked in the other room and said, “I started with three hundred thousand dollars and now have five million in eight days.”

“Get out of here!”

Salud smiled, “He’s right, Joey. I just set up two accounts tonight with all my savings of half a million and it’s now double that amount.”

Lukas nodded, “My Wrist Unit scans the planet for any information that will make a stock price change.”

Joey nodded, “And then you either buy or sell short.”

“Exactly.”

“That kind of success will probably draw unwanted attention.”

“My Wrist Unit has already detected an outside agency taking a look at my account.”

“I think I can help with that. I have more than twenty blind corporations set up with me as the only officer. I can have each of us listed as officers and start using those to place your orders.”

Salud shook her head, “Won’t they still be able to track it back to us?”

“No, I’ll have my attorney set up other corporations overseas that will have the ownership located there and those countries will not cooperate with any investigation. We will remain hidden. Besides, while you’re working on that, I probably have enough capital to get us started.”

Salud shook her head, “Joey, it’s going to take millions.” Joey just stared at her. “Did you hear me?”

“Salud, I have a personal account with ten million in it and another account offshore that has ten times that amount.” Everyone at the table stared at him. Joey shrugged, “My Great Grandfather made his fortune with a fleet of commercial ships. His son was hired by several Middle Eastern countries to get their oil out of the ground. He charged them a dollar a barrel and by the time they breached his contract, he had already made more than he could ever use.”