She pointed at the stack of papers in front of her. “Past couple of days, I went over all the operations pertaining to you over the past two years. You went out of your way to not kill my guys. Sure, some died, and others got hurt, but you tried to avoid casualties.”
“Like I said.” Roen tried to act as casually as he could. Did she want him to incriminate himself? “We’re not the…”
“… bad guys,” she finished. “I believe that now.” She paused. “I want to work with you and your people.”
“With the Prophus?” he said, surprised. Now he really did wish Tao was here.
“You specifically. I want you to be the liaison between the IXTF and the Prophus.”
“Do you even have the authority for this?” he asked.
Kallis broke into a smile. “You’re looking at the new North America Deputy Director of the IXTF, so yes. Capturing two huge alien bases in the span of a couple of days gets you all sort of accolades and promotions.”
“Well,” Roen said, “you’re welcome again. So what are you offering?”
“Full immunity for all the Prophus,” she pressed, “as long as we receive complete cooperation between IXTF and your… organization, with you as the intermediary. Only you. I don’t trust anyone else.”
Roen’s mind raced. He was pretty sure he wasn’t in a position to make a treaty with Interpol’s Extraterrestrial Task Force. This discussion should really be between Kallis and Jill, not a guy like Roen, who was supposed to retire. Hell, he should be the last guy in the world to drive Prophus policy.
“Why me?” he asked. “We have diplomats who will work better with you. Heck, we have people working for us who are already part of the IXTF.
Kallis scowled; she didn’t like hearing that. “Because these aliens inhabit people. They all have their own agendas. I’m sure you do as well, but you’re the only person I trust right now on that side. Because I have a file this big on you, and the enemy you know is safer than the enemy you don’t.”
“That’s it? I’m the least bad option?”
“That and we have no idea what we’re up against. From what I can tell, something bad is going down, but our lab boys can’t make heads or tails of what we found in that giant facility. Care to shed some light on it?”
Roen grimaced. “It’s part of a giant terraforming operation that will remake Earth into a new Quasing home world, except that process will kill all life on the planet. We’ve been trying to stop it. There’re a couple of these facilities hidden in the United States. We don’t know where they are exactly, but we can help you find them.”
Kallis sat across from him, looking stunned as he spoke. The blood had drained from her face and she sat very still, as if Medusa had turned her into stone. It took a while for his words to sink in. Finally, she coughed and cleared her throat. “That’s some deep shit. So assuming it’s all true, then I’d say our goals align. We both want humanity to continue breathing, so let’s do it together. As long as IXTF leads the operation, I’d like you on board. What do you say?”
For the past few years, the Prophus had been teetering on the brink. Still, this was probably the greatest opportunity they had of turning the tide against the Genjix. Otherwise, this recent victory might have bought them a few years, maybe even ten, but the writing had been on the wall now for a long time. The Prophus weren’t going to make it out of this century. By his estimation, the Earth wasn’t going to, unless something extreme and drastic happened. Maybe this was it.
He swiveled to his left and aimed his right arm at Kallis. “Deal.”
She shook his hand. “There’s one more thing, Rutherford.” She accentuated that name. “I need the truth from you.”
“My real name is Roen. Roen Tan.”
“That’s a start.” Kallis looked toward the mirror and then back at him. “But I need to know everything. If this is to work, let’s have a fresh start and be completely honest with each other.”
“There’s a lot to go through,” he said. “We could be here for a while.”
“I’ll have coffee and Chinese food delivered.”
“How about pizza?”
She smiled. “Pizza it is.”
She turned the camera back on and spoke in a clear voice. “Let’s get started. Timestamp: 0001. From the beginning, shall we?”
Roen made himself comfortable and looked directly at the camera. “My name is Roen Tan, and I am a Prophus operative. I used to be a host to a Quasing alien named Tao. ‘Used to’ because, well, let me start from the beginning. I first met Tao in Chicago…”
About the Author
Wesley Chu’s best friend is Michael Jordan, assuming that best friend status is earned by a shared television commercial. If not, then his best friend is his dog, Eva, who he can often be seen riding like a trusty steed through the windy streets of Chicago.
In 2014, Wesley Chu was shortlisted for the John W Campbell Best New Writer Award. Chu’s debut novel from Angry Robot Books, The Lives of Tao, earned him a Young Adult Library Services Association Alex Award and a Science Fiction Goodreads Choice Award Finalist slot. His other novels are The Deaths of Tao and the upcoming Time Salvager.
wesleychu.com
twitter.com/wes_chu
