H2O (20 page)

Our caravan of three cars entered
Santa Barbara, a dead town, then headed west, toward the university campus. The
new Line was located in Harold Frank Hall, a building that once housed the
University’s Computer Engineering Department.

Ten minutes
later, after driving through empty streets, we entered the University campus.
Gunfire erupted from every direction. We’d driven right into an ambush.

As shots rained down on us,
Miloff sped up, roared off the campus road, and onto a dirt lawn. Bullets
pummeled the car and the windshield exploded, spraying us with glass. We
ducked, but it was too late. Blood seeped from tiny cuts on our arms and faces.

Miloff drove
the car across walkways and more dirt lawns. He knew the campus layout as well
as he knew the Territory and he ended up under a covered walkway that ran
between buildings. Bullets thudded off the walkway’s roof.

“Grab the guns
and follow me,” he yelled.

Uli collected
the guns and we all scrambled out and raced with Miloff toward one of the
buildings. I heard a massive explosion and seconds later flaming debris
cascaded down around us – metal and plastic – and I realized one of the cars
had been obliterated. I hoped it wasn’t Lily’s.

We reached the
end of the covered walkway, raced into the building, and down a decrepit
hallway. Miloff led us down a staircase, but Uli yelled, “We’ll be trapped down
here!”

“There’s a
tunnel system connecting the buildings.” Again, Miloff knew where he was going.

In the
basement, we ran down a cinderblock hallway and into the building’s mechanical
room. We moved past a heat pump, toward the back wall and an iron door. Miloff
lifted the wooden beam that served as a latch, opened the door, and we all
followed him into the tunnel.

Inside, the
dark wasn’t like the dark of night. It felt oppressive. Miloff led, feeling his
way forward using the pipes overhead.

A few minutes
later, we exited the tunnel into the basement of another building. Then we made
our way to the top floor. The building was ten stories high and we hoped to get
a view of the campus and of the Fib positions. If we were lucky, we might also
be able to see Frank Hall.

I didn’t like the view from the
roof. Two of our cars had been blown to pieces and thick black smoke billowed
from their burning shells. Dead bodies lay nearby. I couldn’t tell who’d been
killed and didn’t want to study the bodies to find out.

Miloff counted
them. Three marauders were unaccounted for. But that didn’t mean they’d
survived the ambush. I held out hope for Lily.

Frank Hall was
visible and we saw Fibs stationed out front. “The Fibs aren’t going to destroy
the new Line,” I said to Miloff. “They want it up and running, like nothing
happened in Palo Alto.”

Benny added,
“And you can bet they brought their Line guys and they’re in there trying to
fire it up right now.”

Miloff asked
us if we wanted to retreat, regroup, and let the Fibs have the Line. Maybe Crow
would see right away that without alien control, everything on the Line had
changed. Or we could storm in there right now, get it up and running ourselves,
and tell the truth for as long as possible. We were outnumbered by the Fibs so
we knew we’d only be able to control the Line for just a few minutes, if we
were lucky.

But there was
no debate. We all wanted to complete our mission. Go for the Line and get the
truth out to the Territory. By now, every town knew that the Line was down and
their Town Councilmen were panicking, wondering if the Passim Virus had swept
through the Territory with a renewed vengeance.

We headed back to the basement.
The underground tunnels would deliver us right into Frank Hall, bypassing the
Fibs out front. We’d end up about a hundred feet from the Line.

We snaked
through the tunnel and emerged in Frank Hall’s mechanical room. Miloff told us
that if we had to fire shots to take over the Line, we had to make sure we
didn’t damage the hardware. Then he went to the door and listened, to find out
if Fibs were in the hallway. He didn’t hear any movement or voices and after a
couple of minutes of silence, he cracked the door and peered out.

No Fibs. At
least, none between us and the door to the Line, about seventy-five feet down
the hallway. Miloff couldn’t see in the other direction, but we’d have to live
with that blind spot.

The plan was
for Miloff and Uli to head to the Line with Benny and me in tow. They’d check
inside the room for Fibs and, if clear, we’d all barricade ourselves in. But if
Fibs were there, Miloff and Uli would storm the room and try to capture them
without damaging the equipment. Then Benny would prep the Line for
transmission. This wasn’t the greatest plan, but it did have one good element.
Surprise. The Fibs thought we were wounded, scared, and on the run, literally
headed for the hills.

Miloff stepped
out into the hallway, checked the blind spot and nodded to Uli. Clear. He
started down the hallway and the rest of us followed. At the doorway to the
Line, Miloff stopped and signaled to Uli – He made a fist and opened it,
meaning the door was open. Then Miloff listened and it took no more than a
second for him to point to his mouth. He’d heard voices and that meant Fibs
were inside the room.

Miloff and Uli
lifted their weapons, ready to storm the room. Miloff could’ve first peered in
to see the Fibs’ position, but if a Fib spotted him, the plan’s only good
element, surprise, would be lost.

They rushed
the room and I expected to hear gunfire. Instead I heard Miloff shouting out
orders to the Fibs, then he shouted for Benny and me to get in there.

We ran into
the room. Miloff and Uli had their guns jammed into the heads of two Fibs who
were flat on the floor, face down. Surprise had worked.

Benny
immediately sat down in front of a bank of monitors and started tapping away on
one of the keyboards. I slammed the door shut, but there was no way to lock it.

We all stared
at Benny, waiting for him to give us a status report. I could see the Line was
powered up. The Fibs had made it that far. The question was whether they’d sent
out any transmissions.

“Nothing’s
gone out,” Benny said.

Miloff looked
pleased.

“But it’s not
ready to transmit,” he said. “I gotta figure that out.”

Benny typed furiously
on the keyboard, and just as I was thinking we might have a little time before
other Fibs checked in, I heard sounds from upstairs.

Benny looked
up, nervous.

“Don’t worry
about them,” Miloff said. “Just get the Line ready.” Then he motioned over to
me. “Take my position.”

I stepped over
to the Fib on the floor and trained my gun on him. Miloff looked at me and
said, “When the Line’s ready, tell the Territory what’s going on. Straight up.
It might be the only time they get to hear the truth.”

He headed out,
shutting the door behind him, hoping to battle the Fibs as far away from the
Line as possible, to give us as much time as possible.

Benny typed
into the keyboard. The sound of each tap was magnified by its significance.
Then gunfire suddenly erupted from somewhere in the building and I heard
crashing and heavy thuds.

“How much
longer, Benny?” Uli said.

“Almost got
it,” Benny said.

Uli looked at
me. “We can’t let the Fibs get in here. We’ve got to go out there and keep them
away, like Miloff did.”

He was right.
As soon as the Fibs stormed this room, it’d all be over. I motioned to the two
Fibs on the floor. “What about them?” I said. We couldn’t leave them in the
room with Benny, and there wasn’t enough time to tie them up.

Uli was
silent. He didn’t want to say it, but I knew what he expected. We’d have to
execute them.

“We’re ready!”
Benny said, and pointed to a mic next to one of the keyboards. “Right here.”

I stepped
forward.

The door burst
open.

Fibs poured
in.

Uli shot at
them and went down in a hail of gunfire. But the Fibs didn’t shoot at Benny or
me. We were lucky. We were in front of the precious hardware and they knew they
couldn’t damage it. They rushed us, pushed us to the ground, then jammed their
guns into the backs of our heads.

Crow marched
in behind them and stepped up to the monitors. He looked the monitors over,
then glanced at us and said, “You made some progress. Thanks for your help.”

The Fibs who
were originally at the monitors sat back in their seats.

“Can you run
it or do you need some pointers from our prisoners?” Crow asked them.

“Give me a
minute,” one of them said, and started typing into the keyboard.

Crow moved
over to us. “Pray that they need some pointers, so you get to live a little
longer.”

But I wasn’t
praying that they needed pointers. I was looking for a way to escape. Benny had
the Line ready to go and, at any second, the Fibs would realize that, and Crow
would bark out orders to kill us. From my prone position, I scanned the room
but my vision was blocked by Crow standing over me. I looked up at him and saw
that he was focused on the Line. Then I noticed his belt buckle once again and,
right then, everything I’d seen over the last few days suddenly made sense. I
saw how all the pieces of the puzzle fit together. I saw how the aliens could
run their mining operation so smoothly in full view of the Territory. I saw how
Crow had been able to access the heart of the Line in Palo Alto so swiftly.

“I’m ready to
transmit, sir,” one of the Fibs said.

“Kill them,”
Crow said.

I launched
myself at Crow’s legs, sending him crashing down to the floor, then grabbed his
side weapon, swung myself over him, and put the gun to his head.

“I know,” I
said, but I needed proof. I needed proof for the Fibs to stand down. Their
weapons were all trained on me.

“You shoot me
and you die, too,” Crow said.

I wasn’t going
to shoot him. If I did, nothing would change. I’d be killed and so would Benny
and then any marauders who’d survived the ambush. Then someone would take
Crow’s place, and everything would go on just the way it had since the Virus.
And the years I’d spend without my father would’ve meant nothing. And the last
two days I’d spend
with
him would’ve meant nothing.

“I know why
you go along with it,” I said to Crow, and I ripped the silver belt buckle off.
It popped off with a sickening snap, like a human artery rupturing. Except that
it wasn’t an artery that had ruptured. It was a silver tube that ran from the
back of the buckle into Crow’s abdomen. A tube that transferred whatever was
stored in the buckle into Crow’s alien body so he could survive on Earth. The
buckle was a machine as sleek and elegant as the alien storage facility, but
unlike the facility, it was hiding in plain view.

Crow’s body
fell still and his eyes dulled. The skin on his face stiffened and started to
pale, changing from a tannish pink, a human hue, to gray.

The Fibs
lowered their weapons, stunned at what they were witnessing.

Crow spoke
slowly, “I didn’t want this job,” he said. “Who wants to be light years away
from home and alone? But I couldn’t complain too much. I got a mining colony
that was easy to manipulate. None of you wants to know anything. You like being
stupid.” His gray skin was turning white. “We’ll set it up again.”

“But this time
we’ll know,” I said. “It won’t be so easy.”

“It’ll always
be easy,” he said, “You can’t change what you are.” His mouth stopped moving
and his face was now a lifeless mask, the color of white plaster. Whatever was
inside his human shell, died.

An hour later, Benny sat at the
controls for the Line, his leg jittering, and I sat next to him. Lily was
standing behind me. We were the only marauders who’d survived the Palo Alto
assault.

Half a dozen
Fibs were with us and one of them, who’d seen Crow’s transformation, had taken
charge. He’d told the others to stand down and I was grateful for that. The
Fibs weren’t going to make a move until a move needed to be made. Right now we
were all on the same page. Get the Line up and running, get the truth out
there, and prepare for the aliens’ next move.

“Okay, go
ahead,” Benny said.

I leaned into
the mic and I told everyone the secret that my dad had wanted to tell me long
ago. The secret about the water.

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