“Or died yourself,” Mary said softly – perhaps to make him feel better, but it didn’t work.
“I would have rather died trying to save her than lived and not been there,” he replied.
I wondered how this traumatized man had ended up running the camp there, but in the end, everyone was traumatized by the same event. Almost every single person in the world had been through similar situations and had lost someone close to them. My mother, cousins, old co-workers, friends, and countless others. We were all bonded in our loss.
“I’m really sorry, Skip,” Mary said. “Losing a spouse is one of the hardest things anyone will ever endure. Dean and I have been through it too.”
He frowned. “Weren’t you guys married to some of them?” He nodded his chin at Mae. “I’m not sure it counts.”
“Now wait a damn minute,” Mary started. I set my hand on her shoulder and could feel how tense she was.
“Skip, I think we can agree to disagree, but this isn’t conducive to what we’re doing here. Now can we see the video surveillance, and then talk to those two that seem to be causing all the stir from inside your gates?” I added emphasis to the word “your,” so he knew I tossed a little blame at him. He might have been through a hard time, but he was still being a jerk, and had likely been one long before the Kraski had lowered to our world.
With a swift motion, he slid the Scotch down his throat, quietly setting the glass on a wooden coaster on the desk. “Of course. President Dalhousie says you’re members of our new Earth Defense, and she evidently trusts you, so why don’t you follow me?”
We left the office and were soon walking through a long hall with a freshly polished floor. I noticed someone who looked just like Vanessa sweeping the corners of a room as we passed. We continued on, and there were plenty more hybrids with familiar faces doing different tasks; some were unfamiliar outside of the news feeds. There were six different “models” of them. Janine had been one of them, Bob another. Then, of course, our friendly neighborhood saboteur, Vanessa. Ray’s girlfriend Kate was the other model, and I had met her once at my wedding so many years ago. After that, we had an Asian man and an Indian woman, whom Magnus had described as matching the two he and Natalia had known overseas.
Mae smiled at some of them, and a few waved to her like they were old acquaintances. I was sure most wondered what one of their own was doing with the visiting strangers, but many recognized her as their savior. A lot of them knew it was with her help that they were alive. Others blamed her for their imprisonment and wished they had burned in the sun like planned. Those were the ones we were after.
“Mae,” someone called as we passed a gymnasium. There was a group inside playing a strange-looking game, with four small nets and a silver disk. It looked fun, and maybe a little dangerous. The man was sweating profusely but had a wide smile across his face. “Hey, Mae. I’m not sure if you remember me, but my name’s Richard. We met…well, right after we arrived. I was from vessel seven. Anyway, I just wanted to say thank you again. And to you guys too.”
He extended his hand, and I shook it despite the sweat dripping from him.
“Of course I remember you, Richard. How are things going here?” Mae asked.
The game had paused, but when they saw Richard was tied up, someone sitting on the sidelines jumped in and the game started up again. I looked at Skip, and he clearly wasn’t enjoying the delay. Mary, noticing this, smiled at me and took the dean aside, speaking softly to him and taking him away from us. Richard guided Mae and me into the gym, and we sat down on one of those wooden benches I hadn’t sat on since my days of riding the pine on my varsity basketball team.
“This is a nice place to live. We work a bit each day, but I mean, it’s no slave labor.” He paused, looking embarrassed at his choice of words. “I just want you to know that most of us are so grateful for your part here. We were real slaves before this. Genetically created to invade a planet and act like humans. The Kraski never cared about us. There are a few who drank the Kool-Aid, if you will, but they’re few and far between. They also seem to know to keep it to themselves, because I guarantee you, if I heard someone plotting against Earth, I’d string them up and call the dean over there to send his guards. This is our home now.”
It was nice to hear this from one of them, but it didn’t mean he was being one hundred percent honest with us. Even if he was, it didn’t mean there weren’t more of them against us than he knew about.
“Do you know Leslie and Terrance?” I asked him.
He shrugged. “Yeah. I mean, I know of them, but not close to them or anything. I think I saw Terrance walking around last night. He looks like me, but I’m sure it was him. We all have our own way of things, slight differences in hair, clothing, walk. Why, do you want to talk to them about something?”
Mae looked ready to say something, but I tapped her with my hand, without Richard being able to see. “Nothing important. We’ll find them later. Thanks for stopping and chatting, Richard.” I held out my hand to shake it again. The goodbye shake.
He smiled widely, and said he looked forward to talking again sometime. Mae gave him a quick hug. It held for just longer than seemed normal, and I turned away, trying not to watch. Mary was in the hall, still with the dean, who was waving his arms around and smiling.
“…and my tennis game sure has improved. There you guys are. Care to come and do what you’re here for?” His good mood dissipated as Mae and I approached them. Mary gave me a cute look and crossed her eyes when Skip was turned around.
We followed him outside and into the fresh air once again. The sun was now over the buildings, casting its warm glow on our faces as we walked down the cobblestone pathway to a small brick building with a plaque saying Alumni on it. Two guards stood on either side of the door, beads of sweat dripping down their faces in the morning heat. I wouldn’t have wanted the afternoon shift if it was that warm already. I gave them a quick nod as we passed by them and through the thick dark wooden doors. There was something I just loved about the turn-of-the-century architecture in this part of the country. It was also nice to be back in the state of New York, even though I’d just left upstate a couple of days ago. It felt like home.
“We have our guard station here, and our camera surveillance. The actual security office was across campus and consisted of a fourteen-inch television and a grilled cheese maker.” Skip led the way through a foyer with a twenty-foot ceiling, and into a room on the left side. Another guard was stationed there.
“Where’s Clendening?” Skip asked the woman.
She shrugged. “Didn’t show up, so they called me in. Rayez thought he might have come down with something. I guess he was talking about feeling a bug coming on at the end of his shift.”
The room beyond was dimly lit and had about a dozen flat screens mounted on the far wall. Inside were a few desks; computer fans whirred in the otherwise silent space. Three white-shirted people sat at desks, each with large headphones on. One of them turned to us, and he had a shocked look when his eyes stopped on Mae. It probably felt like he was showing the hybrids behind the Wizard of Oz’s curtain.
The dean tossed him a thumbs-up, letting him know it was okay. I’d judged the man a little harshly, and maybe he wasn’t quite as bad as he’d initially let on. He did have a big responsibility here.
“Good morning,” he called to them, just loud enough for the other two to hear him, and they also turned around. “Louise, can you bring up the Level Seven file for our guests, please?”
She gave him a look, as if to make sure he wasn’t asking her to show the strangers in the room a classified piece of information. I noticed Skip nod lightly to her, and she brought it up, taking her headphones off. Three of the screens flashed to different scenes. The top left was playing, and we could hear some grainy sound. It was taken with night vision, and there were two people in the shot. One looked like Janine and Mae; the other looked like Richard, the Asian man we’d talked to in the gym. Leslie and Terrance, no doubt.