We headed back to the sleeping complex in carts and were quiet the whole time. There was a lot to take in, and the idea of staying behind while our friends left for a new world was something that would take getting used to.
After saying good night, and a quick pre-sleep routine, Mary and I were in bed, two single beds pushed together with a queen-sized sheet overtop. Her hand rested on my face, and we looked at each other as Carey snored at our feet. “If I have to train an Earth Defense unit with anyone, I’m glad it’s you,” she said.
I didn’t reply, just kissed her softly and closed my eyes. I saw ships in the skies, strange planets, and the burning sun as I dozed off to slumber.
The morning air was dense and warm, instantly making my new uniform cling to my skin as we made our way toward the ship hangar. Beside it sat the transport vessel, just like the one I’d floated in space to affix the tether to, saving a large chunk of lives. It seemed such an insanely immense task now, but then it had just been the end goal of a long journey. The outside of the vessel was the same matte black I remembered, and I was curious to see the adjustments they’d made to the interior. They had been functional before, but they would need better plumbing and other systems to make them work for a large group going for an extended trip. We learned that the Kraski had been planning on moving their whole population in them, but where I thought of interstellar travel using cryogenics to put the travelers out, they were going to just gas their people with a drug that would keep them in a sort of stasis that wouldn’t need food or water for extended periods of time. They’d tried to use them on the humans so they wouldn’t know what hit them as they ran into the sun, but almost all of them had failed.
I supposed the Kraski would have been upset if they got their people on board, only to find out many would die before arriving because of a lack of supplies. Turned out they didn’t need them, because the mystery race called the Bhlat ended the need when they invaded and killed the whole planet’s worth of Kraski. They’d already left in anticipation, since the vessels were being stored deep in their system.
Could I blame them for being an ornery bunch, wanting a new world? No. But I also wouldn’t let myself feel bad for killing the ones that had come to Earth. Karma and all that. I just hoped it didn’t come back to bite me, but if it did, that was the universe.
“I can’t believe you guys are going to another planet,” I said to Magnus and Natalia as we approached General Heart and Clare, the other main engineer alongside Trent. She smiled widely at us, and it was nice to have a friendly face around. Heart seemed to have a perpetual scowl that wouldn’t lift.
“Yes, my friend. I wish you three were coming with us. Maybe we can talk them into it. Won’t be the same without you all there.” Magnus smiled as he spoke.
Heart looked extra perturbed and he motioned me aside.
“Why don’t you all go ahead? I just have to speak with Mr. Parker for a moment,” Heart said, taking my arm in a light grip and walking me twenty feet past the door. When he spoke again, it was in hushed tones. “Dean, something is off about our guests you brought in. They claim they did have a part in the shooting, but it was intentionally not deadly. They wanted to escape and create chaos among us while doing so, but they also said they really just want to get their people, the hybrids, off-planet. There’s somewhere else they know out there that will take them in, and they don’t want to be a burden to us any longer. They feel like sitting in a prisoner of war camp, though we aren’t calling it that, but let’s call a spade a spade here, is a horrible fate. They understand now that they were brainwashed their whole lives, and they’re acting remorseful.”
I held up my hand. “Wait now. General, if you saw the bloody corpses they left in their wake back in Long Island, you wouldn’t believe a damned word those psychos said.”
“That’s the other thing. They say they had nothing to do with those deaths. When we brought them up, they genuinely looked shocked and upset at Clendening being dead. Leslie cried, saying they’d been lovers. I don’t trust them, but something doesn’t add up here.” Heart wiped his forehead with a handkerchief.
The images of the dead guard on his bed and the other hanging in the loading dock office hit me, and I felt sick to my stomach. If they hadn’t done it, then who had? Could Skip have been off his rocker enough to do it, so he could blame the hybrids he hated so much?
“We’ll keep it up, but I wanted to let you know. They asked me to tell you specifically that they’re innocent and just want to leave Earth. According to them, most of the hybrids from Long Island would leave willingly. They also don’t trust Mae.”
I thought about this and didn’t blame them. She was the first one to help us, and without her, they would have succeeded in killing off the human race.
“They just see her as one of us now,” I said, and Heart and I made our way to the hangar doors.
“Maybe you can talk to them later? They asked for you,” he said, looking desperate for answers. I got the feeling that Heart was happy to have someone else there to divert the hybrid or alien business to. While I was sure he made a hell of a general pre-invasion, he looked older now than even the few days earlier when I’d met him, and much older than the interviews I’d seen with him on television months after we were returned.
“I’m not sure what I can do, but I’m here to help,” was all I could think of to say.
He looked relieved and together we walked into the building. Its ceilings must have been one hundred and fifty feet high, and inside were half a dozen of the Kraski ships. There was a charge of energy inside the room, causing the hairs on my arms to lift a little bit.
Heart passed me a green pin, and I placed it on my uniform lapel. I was looking forward to someone explaining the technology behind these devices that allowed us to pass through a solid wall.
The ship closest to us was black, not the silver-gray of the other Kraski ships.
“What’s this?” Mary asked, running her hand over the smooth surface of the ship. Where the original Kraski ships were about eighty yards long, this one was almost twice that.
Heart smiled wide but waved his hand over to Clare to take over the answering period. “This is our newest design. We took everything you know and love about the original Kraski ships, and we’ve integrated some great features for humans: toilets, Bluetooth speakers for music, and just the right amount of mix in the air.”
“Why does the outside look different?” I asked, seeing not only a color difference, but a texture variance.
“You know the technology we use to stay hidden out here in the dome? This ship has the same thing. It isn’t as effective in a closed building, but out in the sky or space, you have to literally run into the thing to know it’s there. We also found a way to block it from the Kraski and Deltra radars, and we’re hoping that means it will stay hidden from other potential threats out there.” Heart didn’t have to say that he meant the Bhlat, because it was obvious.
Carey pulled against his leash and barked at a Kraski ship near us. It looked a lot less ominous on the concrete floor of a hangar than searching for us on our journey, ready to blast us into oblivion… if that had even been their plan. In the end, they were only trying to herd us to Machu Picchu to turn off the Shield. I wondered where the Shield was, guessing it was probably safely tucked away somewhere nearby.
Magnus and Natalia stood to the side, and she slipped her arm around the large man’s waist and pulled him close. He leaned down to kiss the top of her head, and I couldn’t help but feel happy for the two of them. They would be among the first people to go to a new world, and I couldn’t think of anyone I’d rather have relish an experience like that than them. The fact that I’d miss them went without saying. The urge to call my old best friend James overtook me, and I shoved it down, deciding I’d ask for a way to reach outside the dome later. While I was at it, I’d call my sister, whom I also needed to talk to all of a sudden.