Alien Collective (23 page)

T
HE SAND FLEW EVERYWHERE,
all over us. Worried that Sandy was going to try to do something really horrible—like burrow into our skin—but thankfully all it did was form another dust devil.

A really big dust devil. Bordering on tornado. Not good.

On the other hand, every A-C was probably faster than a tornado, and the princesses were from the Alpha Centauri system and like all the beings from there, speedy. Meaning only half the men standing with me, and every human working at Home Base, was in danger. Considering this was an air base and A-C reflexes were so good that they actually couldn’t drive or fly because they’d destroy the machinery, that meant a lot of humans. Back to not good.

Took a deep breath and really hoped I was doing the right thing. “Mahin . . . do your best to get Sandy under some kind of control. The rest of you, help her. Don’t bring in military, they can’t fight this.”

“What are you planning to do?” Jeff asked suspiciously.

I’d challenged Sandy. And I’d fought him before. If I was right—and I really hoped I was—the only one who’d have to deal with Sandy, therefore, was me. “What I have to.”

Took off running, so Jeff and Chuckie both just missed grabbing me—Jeff because he was still holding Mahin up, Chuckie because he wasn’t an A-C. Someone else caught me grabbed my hand just before I hit into Sandy, though.

“Paul, let go—” But before I could insist Gower get back, or he could actually choose wisdom, we hit the tornado. And were instantly sucked up into it.

Unlike when he’d been Sloshy, we didn’t go out the other side of the tornado. Which was disappointing in a variety of ways.

Gower’s hold on my hand tightened, which was fine with me. I now knew how Dorothy and Toto had felt inside the tornado. Only I knew we weren’t going to end up somewhere awesome like Oz.

Struck out with my free hand and my feet. Wasn’t sure if I was having any effect, but I also wasn’t being hurt. Despite being inside a violent whirlwind of sand, my face wasn’t being hit and I could safely open my eyes. To see Gower not fighting at all.

He was still and calm, and as I slowed my thrashing, he pulled me to him and held me. “I don’t think violence is the right answer,” he said. “In this case, anyway.”

There was less sand hitting me now that I was staying still. I could tell we were moving, not just randomly around, but in a direction. Hoped it was toward Groom Lake, versus through billions of dollars’ worth of military equipment.

Felt something going around me. Sand was sticking to us now, but not in a hurtful manner. Realized what Gower undoubtedly already had—if we were inside Sandy, then Mahin had something solid to start to build control around.

“Close your eyes, Paul.”

“Ahead of you.”

“Yeah, picked that up.” Gower and I remained still. Felt more pressure, which I assumed was more of Sandy’s various grains being pushed against us. As this happened, the spinning slowed down proportionately.

Felt like hours but it was probably only minutes and the pressure was intense, but the spinning had stopped completely. We were on the ground, and on our sides. And then we were on Gower’s back, our other sides, on my back, and so on. Realized someone was rolling us.

The rolling stopped. So figured they had us and Sandy wherever they wanted us. The issue was now that Gower and I were trapped inside of Sandy, and I wasn’t willing to bet on how long before Sandy would decide to let us smother.

We started to vibrate, faster and faster, and then felt a hand grab my arm and tug. Tightened my hold on Gower, but whoever was pulling was stronger than me, because I couldn’t keep my arms locked.

I sailed out of the giant ball of sand and into Jeff’s arms. “Ooof. Couldn’t you have tossed her a little less enthusiastically?” he asked Christopher, whose arm was back inside Sand Ball Sandy.

“It’s hard to do this through Mahin’s control. Unless you’d like to give it a go,” Christopher snarked.

Groom Lake was fairly circular. Home Base was located on the southern part, with low mountains opposite around the northern portion. There were roads all around it, some paved, some not, because this was an active airbase and people needed to get from one side to the other, and not all of those people were A-Cs. The bunker that had blown up had been on the northern side of the Lake.

We were on the eastern side, happily far from both Home Base and the still-smoldering remains of said bunker, near a small outcropping of rocks that, because of the flatness of the Lake, seemed quite tall. So, happily, there was nothing nearby to hurt or damage other than all of us. Chose not to question my current definition of “happily.”

The princesses were holding the ball steady. It appeared to be taking all their strength, which considering that those from Beta Twelve were stronger than A-Cs, meant Sandy was fighting back—hard. And yet, I hadn’t been able to tell when I was inside it.

Mahin was clearly still concentrating with all her mental capacity and being held up by Buchanan. Chuckie and Tim were touching her. Got the distinct impression she was getting energy from the three of them. Hoped it wasn’t going to hurt them—Tito was here, but he and White looked like they’d already done the energy drain thing and were regaining their strength for the next round.

“No thanks,” Jeff said to Christopher as he put me down. “You’re the fastest. You, stay,” he said to me in the stern voice he still somehow thought I obeyed. I only obeyed it in bed, or when he was telling me to do what I was going to do anyway, but apparently Jeff was Mr. Optimism. “Ready to catch Paul whenever you find him.”

“I was holding onto him, I just couldn’t keep hold. But he’s fine,” I reassured Reader, who wasn’t looking any happier with me than Jeff was, and who also looked like he’d taken his turn with Mahin. “Why are you shaking? Sandy wasn’t actually hurting us, I promise. Paul will be okay.”

“Adrenaline shot,” Reader said. “In a vein, versus heart, so it’s not as bad as it could be.” Looked around. Yeah, White and Tito were both shaking, too. And Tito was prepping more syringes.

Christopher grunted and Gower came flying out of the sand ball. I assumed I’d looked just like this—limbs askew, clothes disheveled, a giant fish being flung out of the sand ocean, complete with writhing. Only Gower was bald and I wasn’t—figured my hair was probably terrifying to look at right now. Made the executive decision not to look in a mirror.

Jeff ran to catch Gower and thankfully White did as well, because it took both of them to catch him and not all go slamming into the ground.

“Thanks,” Gower said, as they put him down. “Sandy wasn’t hurting us—”

“So Kitty said,” Reader interrupted. “I’ll ask you what I know Jeff wants to ask her. What the hell were you thinking?”

“I was thinking that I need to go mano-a-mano with Sandy because I think that’s what he’s expecting.”

“I was thinking that was exactly what Kitty was going to do and that she shouldn’t,” Gower said. “So I went with her.” He shrugged. “I say again, Sandy wasn’t actually hurting us. At all.”

“That’s true. So, is Mahin drawing energy from other people? And if so, how?”

“Yes, she is,” Christopher replied. “I thought it would be a useful thing, to see if we could do it, so that in case we were in battle and no one could get adrenaline or whatever, that we could share energy. Hyperspeed works through touch, after all and Abigail and . . . Naomi used to do that all the time, essentially, and they were able to connect with me, Kitty, and Tito, as well as others. I figured, if they could do it, maybe we all could do it. So, Mahin and I have been working on that, since her talent is so externally focused.”

We all stared at him.

“What?” he asked, shooting us all Patented Glare #1.

“I’m going to relish what I’m about to say. We’re all just shocked to hear anything like intelligence and thoughtfulness in terms of powers and training coming out of your mouth.”

“I’m not an idiot and I’m not exactly inexperienced in battle, or training.” I got a shot of Patented Glare #3 all to myself.

“Yeah, I know. See how you like it when your friends and family insult the skills? Excuse me, I just want another moment to revel in this total Got You Back moment.”

“Whatever,” Christopher muttered.

“Kitty’s right,” Chuckie said. “About both the impressiveness and the fact that you’re usually the head jerk insulting her at any given time. Save the wit retaliation effort, however, because we still have this situation to deal with. What do we do about Sandy here? Power from the rest of us or not, Mahin can’t hold this forever and we can’t all afford to be drained into unconsciousness, either.”

“Paul, what do you think we should do?”

Gower stared at me for a moment. “You really want my opinion?”

“Would I have asked otherwise?”

“I suppose not. I think we should stop treating Sandy as our enemy. Differing views and rules don’t mean beings are evil, just different from us. And it’s powerful enough to have destroyed us all already . . . and hasn’t.”

“So, you’d like to try diplomacy?”

“If you’re willing.” Gower’s lips quirked. “Interstellar diplomacy
is
your specialty, you know.”

“Supposedly.”

“Sandy panicked,” Jeff said. “When you threatened its people. It wasn’t feeling aggressive until then.”

“Yeah, that ‘I shall name you’ thing really is their Achilles’ heel, isn’t it?”

“Make a decision,” Tim said. “Mahin and the rest of us can’t hang on with this much longer.”

“I have to either contract the ball, and therefore destroy the contents, or release it,” Mahin said through gritted teeth. “I have enough left to destroy, if you want me to, Kitty.”

Took a deep breath and really hoped Gower was correct and I was doing the right thing. “No. Mahin . . . let Sandy go.”

T
HE SAND BALL DISAPPEARED.
Mahin and the three men with her all visibly wilted. Tito trotted over and gave the four of them adrenaline shots. We were all going to be the most jittery people on the planet for a while. Hoped we were still going to have a while.

Sandy reformed quickly. Rahmi and Rhee moved into fighting stances, battle staffs at the ready, but Sandy did nothing aggressive toward them or anyone else.

The sand was still shifting in that totally icky manner, but he looked far more formed—definitely male, definitely humanoid. “Why did you release me?” he asked, sounding confused but not angry. “I did not ask for release.”

“Not out loud, no.”

“Your actions weren’t harmful,” Gower added. “Threatening, yes, which is why Kitty charged. But you didn’t hurt us when we were inside you.”

“And therefore, we didn’t want to hurt you in return.”

“We call it mercy,” Chuckie added. “It’s a concept you’ll find throughout our history. Not used nearly enough, but still, one of our better qualities.”

“Yes . . .” Sandy said. “And those showing mercy are not always . . . rewarded.”

“No,” Gower agreed. “Not always. We prefer to look on the positive side of life, however. We understand why you’re here. You have a job to do. We just don’t want you to harm our world. And taking ACE away will harm us.”

“But our laws must be obeyed,” Sandy said.

No time like the present to try what Gower wanted, which was to talk, versus fight, our way out of this. “Why?”

Sandy stared at me. “What do you mean?”

“I mean ‘why?’ As in, what makes your laws so wonderful that they apply to everything, everywhere? I ask because it seems to me that, sometimes, interfering is the right thing to do. You know, like Paul interfering and coming with me, Christopher interfering and pulling us out of you, and my interfering with Mahin and telling her to let you go.”

“They are . . . our laws.”

“Laws, yours, yes, got it. Only, here’s the thing. In our world, when we realize that we have a law that is no longer relevant—like not being able to give a moose an alcoholic beverage if you’re in Alaska—we either ignore it, change it, or repeal it.”

“What do moose have to do with this?” Sandy asked.

“I’d like to point out that even visiting superconsciousnesses don’t get the Kittyisms,” Christopher said. Clearly he was still smarting from my getting him back. Good.

“Everyone’s a critic and I take back that ‘military genius’ compliment I gave you only a few short minutes ago. Anyway, Sandy, what I’m trying to say is that laws are, many times, meant to be broken.”

“Usually by you,” Tim said.

“I heard that.”

“Why are you all so . . . calm?” Sandy asked. “This is a dangerous situation. You have challenged, we have accepted, the time of conflict is here. Yet you all . . . joke?”

We looked at each other, then back at Sandy. “We’re not calm,” I explained. “We’ve all just become really good at panicking with style. Oh, and stop with the ‘we’ bit, Sandy. Once you go ‘I’ you never go back.”

“It’s not allowed.”

“Really? Well you said ‘I’ earlier. More than once, so it wasn’t a slip of the supertongue. Does that mean you’ve broken the laws, too? And you like your name, to the point where you demanded I think of you as Sandy, not as anything else. To me, that says you have formed a more solidified persona, an individualized identity if you will.”

“You don’t have to leave Earth right away,” Chuckie said casually, as if it was just a thought, no big deal kind of thing. “Not if you don’t want to. We’ve already offered ACE safe haven. You could certainly have the same arrangement.”

“Why would you do that?” Sandy asked.

“Good for us, good for you,” Chuckie said.

“You wouldn’t have to stay here, either, you know, if you didn’t want to. ACE isn’t required to stay here by us. He stays because he wants to.”

“But too much dependence makes lesser creatures weak.”

Interesting. So they really thought they were doing the right thing. And Algar’s people thought they were doing the right thing, too. What this meant I wasn’t sure, but I suspected that the bottom line was that no one, not even the hugely powerful, really knew, and everyone was just doing the best they could.

“Yes,” Sandy said. “That is true.”

“What is?” Jeff asked. “We didn’t say anything.”

Sandy pointed to me. “She did. And . . . I understand what you mean, and what you are comparing.”

Managed not to tell the powerful superconsciousness we were carefully negotiating with to shut up, but it took effort.

I will not tell them
, Sandy said in my mind. Speaking to me in the same way ACE did. Or rather, the way ACE had, before he’d been funneled into Jamie.
I understand the need for
 . . .
discretion.

Good to know. So, this has been, at least up until now, a lot less horrible than it could have been. Why is that?

I am not here to punish anyone on Earth for anything, not even for giving ACE a name. Or
 . . .
giving me a name. You are the one who named
 . . .
Lilith, are you not?

Wow, that little battle made your radars?
Nice to be right. I hoped.

You would be surprised. Though, possibly not. But yes, we all know of the battle. You and ACE defeated Lilith and the woman she resided in, in part because you named
 . . .
her.

Look, I don’t really ‘get’ the naming thing, why it, to you guys at least, makes you weaker. But to us, it makes you more tangible, more real.

That is the danger. For us, it is
the
danger.

Oh. You know, I didn’t do it to hurt you. Or ACE. Though I did do it to beat Lilith.

I believe you have a saying, all is fair in love and war.

Yes, we do.

We understand that. I
 . . .
understand that.

So, what happens now?

Now
 . . .
does your friend, the brilliant one you are so proud of, does he speak for everyone?

He speaks for those of us who matter.
I sincerely hoped.

Hope. That is a very human thing.

Right, ACE could read my deeper thoughts. Of course Sandy could, too.
Is that bad?

No. It is
 . . .
endearing.

Ah. Do you feel the passage of time as we do?

No. For us time moves more slowly and more quickly at the same time. I cannot explain it to you, your minds cannot grasp the concept, and that is not an insult. This was purposefully left out of your creation and kept out of your evolution. It is a
 . . .
dangerous concept for younger races.

Do you see everyone, like ACE does?

Yes. It was why I entered all of you when I first arrived. I have observed you all in the time I have been here. For you, it only seems as though it has been hours. For me? It has been millions of your lifetimes, while still happening in those same hours you comprehend.

The form influenced the thing and observation created affinity. Sandy had been here, observing like ACE had. But for a much shorter time. However, I’d given it a name, a name it didn’t like, but a name, nonetheless. And it had taken a form, a humanoid form. And then it had spent time, more time than I could comprehend, observing things with names and similar forms. And then I’d given it another name, a name it liked. A name it wanted to hold onto.

Why did you have a change of heart so much faster than ACE?

ACE was created. I was
 . . .
formed.

Born? Or created out of the cosmos?

We are all made of stars. But as you would understand it, yes, I was born. ACE was, therefore, more controlled. ACE had to fight against programming. I am reacting to indoctrination, to training. But I was born with free will.

Ah, the old free will thing. It’s a biggie out there in the superpowered cosmos, isn’t it?

It is a, as you say, biggie right here, too.

You see ACE as a lesser being to you, don’t you?

Before, yes. Now? No. Now I understand the dilemma ACE has faced all this time.

What dilemma is that?

The dilemma of loving those you want to protect. It makes the desire to interfere infinitely stronger.

Parents go through that. I want to protect Jamie from everything, and so does Jeff. But we can’t.

Even ACE cannot. But I now understand why the deal was struck for ACE to return to your daughter instead of
 . . .
Paul.

Paul is used to sharing headspace, you know.
Wondered if Gower had also gone into Sandy in order to show the superconsciousness that his head was a safe haven. Probably.

Ah. And now you make the offer you know I will find hardest to resist. I understand why ACE calls you his leader.

You can’t take on a real human form, can you? That’s why you’re utilizing the elements around you wherever you’re ‘landing.’

Correct. None of us can attain solid forms such as yours. Unless we co-join. Some have done that in the past. They corrupted and were hailed as gods. Some were good. Some were not. All interfered.

ACE was careful about the interference. And neither ACE nor Paul has declared themselves a god. Jamie won’t either.

You cannot say that for Jamie. Not yet. However, if ACE will do with her as he did with Paul, then you should not need to fear. And, I agree about Paul. I have looked into his heart and mind and he is a good person.

Yes, he is. And ACE will protect Jamie, and himself. So, some of that ‘become a god’ thing will be dependent upon what you and your people do, you know.

I know. And I
 . . .
will consider your offer made on Paul’s behalf.

He’ll make it himself if you need or want him to.

No. Not just now.
He sounded slightly evasive.

Ah, you and Paul were talking about this while we were inside you, weren’t you?

We may have been, yes. However, I must take the time to think about the ramifications, because once that decision is made, it cannot be rescinded.

So, speaking of which, what happens now?

Now, I will allow you, and ACE, to continue on without my interference.

Wow. Thank you.

You say that as if it were not a foregone conclusion.

Sandy, dude, I take nothing for granted.

Yes. It is one of your greatest strengths. That, your almost suicidal bravery, and your ability to trust those that the evidence says you should not.

Is that a clue of some kind? Or just a backhanded compliment?

I suppose you will find out. I will
 . . .
see you later, Kitty.

Later as in soonish in our terms, or later as in a long time from now?

Both.

Why are you leaving?

Because I have much to consider. And you have much to deal with. Soon. In your terms. Very soon, and very much.

Oh good. Or, as we call it, routine.