The Deep Beneath (16 page)

Commander Sturgis pushed herself back in her chair and steepled her fingers under her chin. “I’m listening.”

“They’re afraid of these things. Truth is, you may have done
too
good of a job. One or two are manageable. Maybe. But when I delivered your latest report to the inner circle and they heard that you were ready to commence with the cloning … well, it spooked them. And with one on the loose. Can you imagine ten of ’em getting loose? A hundred? How can you hope to control dozens of these things when you can’t control one?”

Commander Sturgis had never imagined that her reward for delivering exactly what they’d ordered would be a pink slip. It made no sense to her, and she liked things to make sense.

The beauty of cellular structure, of DNA and enzymes. At both the macro and micro level, nature had always made sense to her. When she had needed to ground herself, she escaped to the forest or desert or to a microscope.

But she was surrounded by grey concrete and fluorescent bulbs that buzzed persistently over her head. She took a deep breath and wiped her now sweaty palms on her skirt. But despite her attempts to calm herself, her lower lip quivered. The heat once again rose up her neck and into her face. Her eyes stung with the tears that welled behind the lids and threatened to spill down her cheeks.

Stop it. You are Commander Lilly Sturgis. You have commanded A.H.D.N.A. for twenty years and created a new species. You are your father’s daughter and he did not raise a crybaby. You do not cry in front of generals.
But despite her attempt to keep her tears in check, a single drop leaked from the corner of her left eye.

“Aw, Lilly. Don’t do that. Come on, it’s not the end of the world.” General Bardsley moved forward in his chair.

Commander Sturgis took a deep breath and blinked back the tears. She could hear her mother’s voice in her head.
“You are a Sturgis, Lillian. Show some pride. Sit up straight.”
She straightened herself in her chair and thrust her chin up and out. “I apologize, General Bardsley, for this unprofessional display of emotion.”

“It’s all right. Hell, I’ve seen marines cry harder than that.”

“But I am commander of A.H.D.N.A. – at least for now – and it is unseemly. I assure you, it will not happen again.”

General Bardsley’s face softened. When he spoke, his tone was more of a father than a general and commanding officer. “Don’t be so hard on yourself. Look, I’m sorry. If there was anything I could do. You know I’ve pulled for you. It was because of me that they kept it going as long as they did. But it’s time.”

Commander Sturgis cleared her throat. “They are making a huge mistake. Something big is about to happen. In hindsight, a few dead homeless women and a burnt-up soldier will pale in comparison to the millions that will perish in the coming attacks. And yes, they will attack, and soon.”

“You know this? You have evidence of an imminent attack that you haven’t shared?”

“I have no evidence. It is just … I just
know
it.” Maybe Bardsley and the Makers didn’t pay attention to the news, but she did. The increase in UFO activity and abductions over recent months had made her stomach knot up.

General Bardsley guffawed and shook his head as he rose from his chair. “Ah, a woman’s intuition. I didn’t figure you for the type of woman to mistake her menstrual cramps for ‘intuition’.”

Commander Sturgis’ face was once again aflame.
How dare he try to belittle me, the creator of a new species?
If he weren’t a general, she would have spit out her rage in a venomous tirade. But if there was any chance that she could still save the project, she had to bite her tongue and keep the peace with Bardsley.

He reached into his inner chest pocket, pulled out a thumb drive and placed it on the desk. “Here are the instructions from the inner circle for how they want you to go about shutting this operation down. Follow it to a T. Do this by the letter, Lilly, and you’ll be well rewarded for your work here. You’ll be able to continue with genetic research. But step one toe out, and …”

“And what?”

“And I won’t be able to save you.”

Commander Sturgis reached for the small, grey rectangle that contained the instructions for how to dismantle the world that she had created.
Fitting. It’s grey as well.

“The usual protocol. No downloads. No prints. FYEO and destroy it completely when you are done.”

“Yes, sir,” she said. She stood and saluted the general though she would have preferred to show him the door rather than respect.

He gave her a wry smile that crinkled the deep furrows at the corners of his eyes. He put his hat back on and left.

Commander Sturgis held the thumb drive in front of her face, sighed, and shoved it into the top drawer of her desk beside the lighter. She had no intention of beginning the self-destruct sequence that day.
I’ll delay until I find a way to convince them they’re wrong.
Besides, she had more important tasks at hand and a very large headache still at large.

She picked up her phone receiver and pushed a button. “Sewell, do you have any news about 9?”

She listened as Sewell told her that they’d picked up the signal of the GPS tracker installed in the Hummer and that they were heading north on I-10. The vehicle was on the north side of Phoenix.

“Good. Keep tracking them and get two copters ready. I want a dozen men suited up and armed with heavy artillery. Oh, and have them scramble a firefighting chopper. Yes, you heard me right. Make sure it’s loaded with water, not chemicals. Meet me at the train. Tell the captain of the squad that I’ll be meeting them at the hangar in fifteen.”

Commander Sturgis would think of a plan to render the instructions on the grey thumb drive obsolete and, if she could not, then how to protect the latest phase of her work from being handed over to the inner circle. Meanwhile, it was time for her to go pick up her son.

The Hummer kept a steady pace as it climbed the hills north of Phoenix. Tex stared out his window. Columnar cactus gave way to short trees and bushy grasses. Ian turned off of the wide highway and onto Route 179 at a sign that indicated Sedona was ten miles away.

Erika, Jack and Ian continued to pepper Tex with questions about what he had referred to as the ‘alien war’, but he told them no more. He should not have revealed the information in the first place. Commander Sturgis would punish him severely if she knew that he had told them about the alien war.
She’ll have to capture me first
. But the further away from A.H.D.N.A. that they drove, the less afraid he was when he thought of the commander.

He would have disclosed more if he had more to tell. Commander Sturgis claimed that the reason for creating the H.A.L.F.s was so that they could fight in an imminent war with a species from another planet. But she told him no more and, in keeping with his training, he did not ask questions. Tex knew next to nothing about the aliens that he was driving north to meet and this much he had told Erika.

“So how do you know their intentions toward you are good? How do you know they won’t kill you?” she asked.

“I do not.”

“Then why did you hijack my car and force us to drive all night to meet them?”

“Because I do not see how it can be worse than going back to A.H.D.N.A. Death at the hands of my alien cousins, if that is in fact what they have planned for me, would be preferable.”

There was another possibility that he had briefly considered. What if the greys wanted him for experiments too? Tex decided that the thought likely arose from fear rather than reason, so he put it out of his mind.

“Why Sedona? I mean, they could have landed out there in the desert and beamed you up,” said Jack.

“They referred to a vortex. I do not know why it is necessary for me to be at a vortex, but that is part of the image they planted in my mind.”

Ian swiveled his head to look back toward Erika. Tex was certain that Erika did not have telepathic ability, yet she seemed to be able to read Ian’s thoughts because she nodded in response to a mere look from him.

In the arid environment, Tex was able to read some human thoughts. He could not speak to them telepathically, as their brains were not wired that way. But he could pick up images and words from them. And he knew that Erika Holt thought he was ‘mental’. He was unsure what the word meant in the context in which she thought it, but he was fairly certain that she did not hold a positive view of him.

Tex had never cared about what the humans he encountered at A.H.D.N.A. thought of him. But it bothered him that Erika would think ill of him. Tex enjoyed being in her company and wished that she felt the same about him. As they drove north of Phoenix and up into twisty, hilly roads, he envisioned himself going aboard an alien ship. And in his imagination, Erika took his hand and went with him.

He knew it was a flight of fancy. She probably wanted nothing more than to be rid of him and back to her life the way it was before she met him in the desert.

Yet … there was something else playing in her mind too. Perhaps it was curiosity? That, yes. But maybe more. As he concentrated on her thoughts, he received a mental image of a compass. And the needle pointed east.
Why is she thinking of a compass?

Erika had curled herself toward the window to sleep, but he knew that she was awake. Her heart beat far too fast to be asleep.

“Erika, may I ask
you
a question?”

She turned toward him. “Sure, why not? I can’t sleep anyway.”

“Why are you thinking about a compass?”

Erika’s brows came together and her lips pressed tight. He did not need to read her mind to know that she was angry with him.

“How dare you.”

“I do not understand your anger.”

“You were reading my mind? So not only did you hide this ability to stalk our thoughts, but you invaded my privacy as well?” Erika’s face was red, and Tex could feel an increase in her body temperature.

“Erika, you may want to tone it down a little,” said Ian.

“Why? Because he can kill me? You know what, go ahead. Kill us all and drive yourself to Sedona.” She turned her back toward Tex.

“I do not think that you really want me to kill you.”

“No shit, Sherlock. It’s called sarcasm. You claim to be half human. If that’s true, you need to start acting like it and use common courtesy. My thoughts are my own, got that? Stay the hell out of my head.”

No one had ever suggested to Tex that he act more human. Up to that point, he had always been encouraged to act more alien. Commander Sturgis had, in fact, denigrated him for displaying what she referred to as ‘human traits’ such as crying when he was hurt or showing empathy toward his attendants.

“I am sorry, Erika Holt. I did not know that it was wrong. I ask your forgiveness and that you please understand that until this night when I escaped A.H.D.N.A., I was unable to read thoughts due to the sedation.”

Erika turned back to face him. Her brow had released its tightness and her mouth had softened. “I accept your apology.”

“I am still interested about the compass.”

Erika sighed and held out her arm with her palm facing Tex. Even though the moon had set and the night was black, Tex easily saw the image on Erika’s hand. It was a picture rendered in black ink of a compass with the needle pointing forever east. The image was done with a fine hand.

“You have been marked too?” Tex rolled up the sleeve of the shirt he had taken from Nacho’s dead body. He held out his right arm to Erika. She looked down at it and squinted her eyes, straining to see. She found the switch to the overhead light and turned it on.

“Ack,” said Ian. “Bright.” He put his arm up to shield his eyes.

“Sorry,” Erika said. “The number nine? Why did you have that tattooed on your arm?”

“I did not choose to have the mark. Each H.A.L.F. has their number inked on their right arm for identification.”

“But I thought you said there were only two of you alive,” said Jack.

“As far as I know. As I said earlier, I saw eight others that had come before me. The ones that had a fully developed body were marked with a number on their arm. And I have no way of knowing if there are more that were made after ten. Why did they mark you, Erika?”

She laughed. “No one marked me, Tex. I chose to get this tattoo. I guess you could say I marked myself.”

“Intriguing. Why a compass?”

“It’s kind of a long story. Let’s just say it reminds me of my dad.” Erika turned away from him and looked out her window.

Tex had never seen a human with such a mark. He had been ashamed of his mark, as it made him feel different. Other.

Erika curled back up to the window and finally fell into a light sleep. Jack, too, found sleep at last. Tex required sleep but found himself unable to rest. His mind raced with thoughts and questions. He was on his way to a new home and a new future. At least he hoped he would have a future.

But the more he thought of a future with aliens that he did not know, the more he found himself wishing that his new companions could come with him. He could not call them friends. He had, after all, forced them to come on this journey with him. He knew it was unlikely they would ever consider him a friend. But he enjoyed being in their company. They spoke to him not as a test subject but as a … human.

Tex glimpsed the first light rising over the hills to the east, filling the sky with the faintest blue. Tex had seen photos of sunrise in books on his computer, but none of the pictures could compare to what unfolded around him. It was as if the sky had been painted. After the light blue came a silvery lilac that faded to a blush of pink. Tex had lived in a grey world in which the only color he knew was the blue of his pants and the pale pink or dusky brown of human skin. He had not known that color could create such emotion in a person.

My first sunrise on Earth. And my last
. The thought brought with it the faintest hint of regret that he would likely never see such a beautiful sight again. But he had no choice but to follow the course of action he had set into motion the night before. Commander Sturgis was unrelenting. If he did not go with the greys, he would end up back at A.H.D.N.A.