A gentle knock came at our door.

  Rose went over to open it.

  Enoch stood there with Sister Monroe. The former hadn’t lost his welcoming demeanor, the latter looked like his polar opposite. The blood was gone from her face. She looked like she’d seen a ghost.

  “Might we have a few moments of your time?” Enoch asked. “It seems those you travel with bring some disturbing news with them.”

  “I’m going to go shower,” Angel said with a wave. “Good luck with this one.”

  Angel walked to the adjoining wash area and closed the door.

  I told them everything I knew, with Rose peppering in details as I went. Jax remained silent for the most part. I told them of being captured, our escape, and that we had no idea what happened to Preacher, but we were going back for him.

  Enoch listened intently. I thought Sister Monroe was going to have a panic attack at any second. Her eyes bulged out of her head as if she couldn’t believe the words coming out of my mouth. I didn’t blame her. I could barely believe the words coming out of my own mouth.

  “We’re going to get word out, rearm, and go back for Preacher,” I finished. “But you should gather your people and head back with the supply craft that’s coming. It’s not safe for you out here anymore.”

  A long silence passed as Enoch and Sister Monroe digested the information.

  “Is that what you have in there?” Enoch asked, motioning with his chin to the cold chest. “You brought one of them with you?”

  “Proof,” Jax said. “No one besides Immortal Corp thought this could happen. When we try and get help from the Galactic Government or other factions, we’ll need more than a crazy story to tell them. Seeing is believing, right?”

  “May I?” Enoch asked. “It’s not that I don’t believe you. To the contrary, your tale is too amazing not to be true. It’s just that I’d like to see it.”

  “Sure,” I said.

  Rose went over to the cold chest and kicked open the lid.

  Tendrils of cold wafted up into the room. A thin layer of frost had covered the alien. Its four arms were crossed over itself as if it were trying to fend off the cold. All six of its eyes were closed as if it were asleep.

  Sister Monroe gave out a short scream then clamped her hand to her mouth. She looked unsteady on her feet. She sat down hard on the lower bed of one of the bunks.

  Enoch swallowed hard. He shook his head as if he too were having some kind of mental break.

  “I don’t—I don’t know what to say,” Enoch stammered. “How can this be possible?”

  “I don’t know, but what I do know is that this settlement is no longer safe,” Rose said. She spoke softly. “You need to get to the safety of one of the cities. Even that might not be far enough away when the fighting starts. We’re not sure if it will begin next week, next month, or next year, but war is coming. You can’t stay here anymore.”

  Enoch nodded dumbly.

  “Take a minute to come to grips with this new reality and then come up with a plan,” Jax told Enoch and Sister Monroe. “I’m not sure what the Way’s stance on aliens is, but I imagine that you can do more good alive than dead. You’ll want to clear out of here when the supply craft comes like Daniel suggested.”

  Enoch nodded along with Jax’s words.

  “We need to tell the others,” Enoch said, leaving the building. “For whatever reason the Lord has chosen to allow this to happen, I rest assured it is part of his plan. And I am grateful for all of you coming to warn us.”

  “We do what we can,” Jax said.

  Enoch and Sister Monroe left.

  “I almost feel sorry for them. Dropping a bomb on them like that, I mean,” Rose said with a weary sigh. “But they have to know. Everyone has to know.”

  The rest of the night was short lived. We took turns in the shower then fell asleep for the night. In the middle of the night, I woke to hear Hessian girl screaming away her past sins.

  Atta girl, I thought to myself as I fell back to sleep. Let it out. You let your demons go.

  Sixteen

  The next morning, the settlement was alive with the tense anxiety of knowing we weren’t alone in the universe. It was strange how panic could set in and even fracture normally grounded people.

  After a hot breakfast in a long building with benches, I was on the way back to my designated housing unit. The idea was to pass the day getting as much rest as possible and the following morning would see the supply craft to the settlement. Once that happened, there was no telling when the next time was I’d get food or sleep.

  My plan was to spread the word about the aliens to those in power then leave it to them to do the rest. We needed to reequip and go back in to find Preacher. We could do it with a small team or even a larger assault squad. It didn’t matter to me.

  The sun was still fighting the cold in the morning air when I arrived back at my designated building. A group of men and woman in white robes had gathered there.

  Scowls written across their faces told me they weren’t there for a social call.

  Sister Monroe had her back to the door, trying to calm them.

  “They only brought the news to us,” Sister Monroe was saying above the hubbub of the crowd. “They had no hand in the aliens coming to Mars.”

  “We want them out!” a woman shouted.

  “They can’t stay here anymore,” another voice from the crowd yelled.

  “What’s going on here?” I asked, pushing my way to the front door. I stood next to Sister Monroe, who looked grateful for my arrival.

  “We want you out of here!” a burly man with a thick beard and bald head said, stepping forward. “You bring nothing but bad news and hungry mouths with you. Normally, that would be fine, but now you want us to leave our home? We already left everything we had in the cities for a life here.”

  “I don’t want you to do anything,” I said, looking the man straight in the eye. “You can stay here and burn for all I care. But you need to know the truth. The aliens are here. When they attack Mars, you’ll be the first to go. They’ll kill most of you and enslave the rest.”

  I got it. They were scared, and for most, fear turns to anger.

  “We want you to go,” the man yelled in my face. He bunched up his fists. “You and everyone who came with you. Go back to your cities and leave us be.”

  “That is not the consensus of the elders, Eli,” Sister Monroe said back to the man. “They are our guests and bring us a warning. We should be thanking them.”

  “Thanking them?” Eli spat. “I want them gone. Now!”

  “You look like you want to hit me,” I told Eli, stepping up to him. “I get it. Really I do. You have a family, friends, an entire way of life you’re about to lose. You gave up everything for this and now everything you rebuilt is about to be taken away. You’re frustrated, angry, and scared. Those are all human emotions. It’s good to have an outlet. Go ahead, hit me.”

  Eli looked at me, confused. The crowd quieted.

  Even Sister Monroe stopped trying to calm them. She turned to me, mouth open as if she had never heard anyone welcome violence before.

  “Go ahead, hit me and keep on hitting me until you feel better,” I told Eli. “Don’t back down now. You were doing good. Come on. Where’s all the righteous wrath you just had a moment ago?”

  Eli glanced at me, then Sister Monroe, and then back at me. He still looked angry, but now that same anger was laced with confusion and frustration.

  I needed to push him over the edge. It would help quell the chaos for the time being. We only had to make it until tomorrow when the resupply craft came in.

  “Come on, Eli!” I lifted my voice and shoved him, while being sure to hold back. I didn’t want to knock him to the ground. “I’m the one you’re angry at. I’m the one that came in with the news and ruined your life. Come on, where’s all that talk now? Are you all bark and no bite? Come on, come on, hit me!”

  Eli wrapped his hands into fists and struck me across the jaw.

  “There you go, just like that, now come on,” I coaxed him, wiping away the blood from my split lip. “Come on, let’s go, keep it coming, brother.”

  Eli had the taste of what letting his anger out in the form of violence felt like now. He wanted more. I could see it in his face. He rained blows down on me from both his fists. His attacks were clumsy at best. Had this been a real fight, I would have blocked all of them and put him down in seconds. But this wasn’t about me. It was about him.

  I covered up, absorbing the blows and protecting my face with my hands and arms. Eli hit hard but not very effectively. He got in another good shot or two, but that was about it.

  Like most fighters not conditioned for a real battle, he began to tire after a dozen blows or so. Moving all that weight in his arms was wearing him down faster than he thought.

  “There we go! Come on, Eli, come on!” I said, urging him on when I saw him getting gassed. “A few more. You got a few more good hits in you, don’t stop now.”

  Eli was sweating, air coming into his lungs in long hard pulls.

  I could hear the aghast whispers in the crowd as his friends looked on, mortified by the violence taking place in front of them.

  Eli finally took a step back, his arms hanging by his side. I felt for him. I knew what it was like to be that tired.

  I lowered my hands. The metallic taste of blood filled my mouth. The cut on my lip was already healing. My left eye was a bit swollen, but that too was already starting to heal up.

  “Feel better?” I asked, Eli.

  The large man’s shoulders dropped. He looked at me with tears in his eyes. “I’m so—I’m sorry.”

  “You’ll be alright,” I said, spitting a wad of blood to my right. “You get to be angry and frustrated, but only for a time. You’ve got to move on. Live in the past, die in the present. Trust me.”

  Eli nodded slowly.

  The tense moment broken, Eli and his band of white-robed followers slowly dispersed with their heads down. It was as if I had shamed them all just by letting Eli take a few swings at me.

  “I’m so sorry,” Sister Monroe offered with a wince. “It’s usually not like that around here. Violence of any kind isn’t allowed in the settlement. Eli will be dealt with—”

  “It’s okay,” I told her. “They’ve been through a lot and they’re going to be through a lot more before this is all over. If a few clumsy blows diffused this situation instead of bloodshed, then I’m all for that. I’ve seen too much blood spilled for no good reason. I’ll be the cause of a lot more blood spilled before this is all over.”

  Sister Monroe took a step back, eyeing the MK II at my hip.

  “Do you have some kind of workshop or shed here?” I asked, remembering X was still in the circular alien tech.

  “We do, I can show you,” Sister Monroe said, swallowing hard. It was clear she had been disturbed by the acts of violence that had just taken place beside her.

  I followed her to the north side of the compound where the building had burned the night before. She led me to an identical building to the left and opened the door.

  “In here,” she said. “You’re free to use anything we have.”

  She hesitated for a moment longer, studying my face.

  “You—you could have hurt him, couldn’t you?” she asked. “I mean, really hurt him. You could have killed him and I don’t mean with the weapon at your side. I mean with your hands. Why—why did you let him do that to you?”

  “He needed it more than I did,” I told her. “You want to ask another question, though. Go ahead.”

  She took a moment to gather her thoughts. She licked her full lips moving in to touch my face. My own lip and eye had already healed.

  She touched my lip and ran smooth fingers over the eye that had been swollen only a few moments before. It was fine now.

  “Enoch said you’d be different, but I don’t know how this is possible.” Sister Monroe’s hand fell to the side of my cheek.

  “I’m not what you’re looking for,” I told her, removing her hand from my face and letting it fall by her side.

  “How do you know?” Sister Monroe asked with her eyes lowered to the ground.

  “Because my past is one of death, and there’s a lot more killing that’s going to take place before my story is over,” I told her. “Thank you for showing me the workshop.”

  I didn’t wait for her to argue or say something else that would only prolong the inevitable.

  I walked into the shop, taking stock of the room. There were worktables along the wall as well as cages of tools and equipment. I was surprised by how well-equipped the settlement’s workshop really was. I expected them to have something, but not an entire store full of tools.

  “X,” I said, taking out the alien disc. “I’m just going to be honest with you here. I have no idea what I’m doing.”

  “Well, you don’t want a relationship right now, so you did the right thing,” X answered. “You could have let her down a little easier, though.”

  “I didn’t mean with my love life…actually, I have no idea about that either,” I said with a grin. “You a love doctor too?”

  “I’m just here for you, in whatever capacity you need,” X said quietly. “But enough of this bonding. Get me back in your head.”

  “I’m trying.” I laughed out loud. “What am I looking for?”

  Over the next few hours, X walked me through the process of transferring her data to a chip and once again implanting her in my neck.

  The alien disc was nothing more than a communication device that was now dead. Either the Voy had turned it off or we were out of range from any of their transmissions.

  Once that was completed, I attached the chip to a sizable needle-like anchor that would need to be shoved into the space right behind my right ear. X seemed hesitant.

  “You might want to get Jax or Angel for this next part,” X informed me. “The spot has to be specific and you’ll need to really press hard to implant the anchor.”

  “I got it,” I said. “I’ve done it before.”

  “Yes, but the anchor you used was small the first time, this one—”

  I slammed the needle point into the area right behind my ear.

  X was right. Of course she was right. I worked my jaw up and down, trying to deal with the pain. A metallic taste flooded my mouth.

  I blinked a few times, gathering myself.

  “Wow, that was different,” I mumbled. “X—X did it work?”

  “Yes, yes, it’s good to see again,” X said inside my head. “You should really listen to me, though. You’re going to have a headache for a while now and taste metal for the next day.”

  “I’ll make a note of that,” I said, blinking a few more times.

  Weapons fire from inside the settlement tore me from what I was going to say next. It was as though the sky opened up and a thunderstorm raged just outside the door.

  What now? I thought to myself. In all honesty, I didn’t even want to know.

  Seventeen

  I ripped the door open, practically taking it off its hinges. I raced outside, my MK II already in hand. I had been in the workshop longer than I thought. The midday meal was already over. My stomach reminded me of that. The sun was going down.

  I scanned the area as people in the settlement ran in fear. Others looked at me for direction, still others shouted questions.

  The sounds of the weapon being discharged reached my ears again. It was coming from somewhere near the front gates. I skidded to a stop where a crowd was gathering in front of the open gates.

  Angel was there with her smoking blaster. The silencer she normally used was removed. At her feet, the corpse of a Voy lay spasming.

  Settlers screamed when they saw the thing. By now, they had all heard we weren’t alone in the universe, but seeing was something much different.

  The dead Voy meant so much more for them than a simple alien presence in the universe. It was enough to challenge everything they believed at their very core.

  Jax and I reached Angel at the same time.

  “They’re coming,” Angel said. “I should have known they wouldn’t just let us go. I found this one scouting out the perimeter of the settlement. When it tried to sneak in, I let him have it.”

  Jax kneeled down with pursed lips. “If this is a scout, the others won’t be far behind.”

  “What are you saying?” The voice was Eli’s. “More...more of them are coming here?”

  “They’ll probably attack tonight,” I answered.

  “How—how do you know that?” Eli sputtered.

  “Because that’s what I’d do,” I told him.

  Enoch and Sister Monroe appeared a moment later. Both of them looked from the dead alien to me and then back again.

  “When did you say that supply ship is coming?” Jax asked, looking up from the dead alien.

  “Tomorrow—tomorrow morning,” Enoch said.

  For the first time since I had met the man, he looked disturbed. Thus far, he had taken the news of aliens like a champ. This was too much for him and I didn’t blame him.

  “We have to make it through the night,” Angel thought out loud.

  “Should we try and leave?” Rose asked. The hard woman didn’t sound scared in the least. After what she had been through, I doubted very many things were going to scare her now.

  “And go where?” I asked. “Out in the open, we’ll be easy targets for them to pick off. Our highest chance at survival is to fortify this place as best we can and weather the night.”

  “The freed prisoners who stayed behind in the dropship?” Rose asked.

  I shook my head.

  “If they’re already here, you can bet they found the dropship,” Angel said. “Daniel’s right. We need to secure this place the best we can. We need a list of any armaments this place has.”

  “Armaments?” Sister Monroe repeated as if she had never heard the word before. “We don’t have any weapons. We’re noncombatants.”

 

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