United: An Alienated Novel (26 page)

Chapter Seventeen

T
hrough the living room window, Aelyx watched the last point of sunlight wink above the horizon and descend into darkness. He closed his eyes and held on to the image for a while, replaying the spectacular blood-orange brushstrokes that had painted the sky moments earlier. Ordinarily, he didn’t notice the transition from day into night, but this sunset was special.

It might be his last.

The others felt it, too. He could tell from the holes in their conversations. No one had vocalized their fading hope, not once during the entire day, but it had shadowed each of their failed experiments and punctured theories. The truth was they’d run out of ideas. Aelyx would fight to the end—that hadn’t changed—but at this rate, his metaphor of flinging pebbles from the street was bound to turn prophetic.

Eileen called out from the kitchen and drew him from his thoughts. “Anyone who expects to eat this dinner had better come help put it on the table.”

The scent of braised meat and buttered potatoes lifted Aelyx’s spirit as he filed behind the group into the kitchen. She’d made his favorite—pot roast.
^k'12

Flanked by an assortment of covered dishes on the counter, Eileen pointed at Cara, Syrine, and Elle and delegated, “You girls fix a plate for the soldiers outside.” She handed Larish a pitcher of iced tea. “You can fill the glasses while Bill sets the table.” Wiping her hands on her apron, she peered around the kitchen until her gaze landed on a cutting board by the sink. “Aelyx, hon, why don’t you finish dicing the tomatoes for the salad?”

Everyone set to work, except for the clone, who sat on a chair she’d dragged to the corner of the kitchen, as far from human contact as possible. She hadn’t spoken a word since her liberation from the basement, but her body language said enough. She folded both arms in a shield across her chest while casting a mistrustful glare over the group.

Let her stay there. Aelyx didn’t want her help.

He moved to the cutting board, which was piled high with neatly-chopped tomatoes, and picked up the remaining fruit to dice it. He couldn’t find the paring knife Eileen had used, so he pulled a new one from the drawer and finished the task.

When the group gathered at the table, Eileen insisted they join hands and observe the human custom of blessing the meal. Aelyx waited patiently to hear
amen
, and then he speared a chunk of beef and eagerly lifted it to his mouth. An automatic smile formed as he chewed. The roast tasted like
l’ina,
a staple from home.

“What’d the Earth Council have to say?” Bill asked Cara while extending a plate toward the clone. Rune refused to budge, so he set the plate at her feet and returned his attention to his daughter.

Cara used her fork to push a potato across her plate, focusing on the Aribol gadgets Larish had brought to the table. “Not much. The government bigwigs are underground. I guess it’s every man for himself now.”

What she failed to mention was that every nation in possession of nuclear missiles had agreed to launch a simultaneous attack on the Destroyer, ensuring that any pockets of humanity fortunate enough to survive the shockwave pulses and the ground invasion would later die from radiation poisoning. The Council claimed it would be illogical not to use every available defense, but the decision reminded Aelyx of a child intentionally breaking his favorite toy so no one else could have it.

Cara lifted one of the Aribol cubes and tilted it to and fro. “If this is anything like the probes that landed on L’eihr, maybe it responds to language.” She brought it to her lips and spoke a series of commands. “Power. On. Go. Open. Obey.”

The cube remained quiet, but a husky giggle broke out from the corner. Rune balanced her plate on one hand, struggling not to laugh, while using the other to point at Cara. “You’re wasting your time. All of those are accessories to the Nova Staff. They’re useless without it.”

“Of course. God forbid we catch a break for once.” Cara tossed the cube onto the table, and Rune flinched so hard she spilled food on her lap. Cara noticed the clone’s reaction and pointed at the square. “This one’s a weapon, isn’t it? I scared you when I dropped it.”

Instead of replying, Rune shoved a carrot in her mouth.

Troy reached across Elle and picked up a sphere. “I wonder what this one—”

The lights abruptly died, enveloping the room in total blackness. Everyone held their breath. No one moved. In an instant, the air thickened with the most absolute silence Aelyx had ever heard. No motors droned, no watches ticked, no fans whirred, no vehicles hummed.

If death had a sound, this would be it.

There was a rustle of fabric nearby, followed by a scraping noise, and a flame appeared in Bill Sweeney’s hand. “Already planned for this.” With a smile that didn’t reach his eyes, he extended the lighter to a pair of candlesticks in the center of the table. “Now we can dine in style.”

“Maybe it’s a normal outage. A downed power line.” Cara dug her cell phone from her pocket and swiped the screen. It failed to wake. “Could be the battery. Try yours,” she told her brother.

Troy and Bill each pressed the buttons on their phones while Eileen stood quietly from the table and checked the landline for a connection. All three of them shook their heads to communicate what nobody wanted to say. This wasn’t a normal power outage.

Fear quickened Aelyx’s heart. He shared a sideways glance with Cara.

It will start with a global blackout
, Jaxen had told her.
Anything powered by generators or batteries will cease to operate. Humans will be trapped in their communities with nothing to do but wait for the fleet to arrive
.

Cara swallowed audibly. She had to be thinking about it, too. Aelyx shifted his gaze to the kitchen window. Part of him wanted to check for a massive ship blocking the moon, but his legs seemed glued to his seat.

“So what now?” Troy asked.

They all knew the answer. Now they waited.

Eileen raised her glass to propose a toast, but her hand shook, and she set down the tea. “Now we finish eating. I worked too hard on this meal to let it go to waste. Bill, pass the butter, please.”

Aelyx couldn’t eat. His stomach had turned to ice, and he wasn’t the only one. Knives and forks scraped against porcelain, but nobody raised a bite of food to their lips. At least nobody at the table. From the corner, Rune nibbled on a dinner roll while watching the rest of them with the rapt attention of a moviegoer. When her gaze settled on him, he shot her a burning look, which she reciprocated before glancing away to study another waxen face.

They should’ve left her in the basement.

Each minute that passed felt like an hour. Eileen tried to enliven the table with news of a recent sporting event—a team called the Yankees had lost a game, which typically brought Bill and Troy great joy—but their answering smiles were wooden, and the conversation died as soon as it began. It went on like this, awkward silence punctuated by clinking ice cubes and occasional coughs, until Cara jumped in her seat as if stung by a wasp.

Nine sets of gazes jerked in her direction. The whites of her eyes grew, and she frantically patted down her pockets. “My com-sphere works. Someone’s calling me.”

A thread of hope lifted Aelyx’s heart. If the blackout hadn’t affected their com-spheres, maybe the rest of their L’eihr technology was operational, too. Maybe even the shuttles.

“The outage targeted electricity, batteries, and generators.” Larish’s face brightened. “But L’eihr technology is powered by—”

“XE-2,” Aelyx finished with a grin. The element was so powerful a single grain of it energized a com-sphere for years. “The same element that fuels our transports.”

Elle gripped Troy’s forearm, leaning forward. “What about the shuttle engines? Are there battery components inside?”

“I’m not sure.” Larish stood up so quickly he knocked back his chair. “I’ll reinstall the cables and find out.”

He bolted from the room at the same time Jake Winters appeared on the table in miniature holograph form, standing between the salt and pepper shakers. “We made it,” he told Cara. “We’re on the Aribols’ home world.”

While Cara blinked in shock, Aelyx searched the hologram background for a glimpse of enemy territory. There wasn’t much to see. The ground beneath Jake’s boots and all around him seemed scorched.

“I thought you were going back to the planet of humanoids,” Cara said.

“We almost did. I told the commander we had permission to do whatever we wanted, so he called a ship-wide meeting and presented our options. He said he would listen to our concerns and weigh them before making his decision.” A distant voice called to Jake, and he waved the person over. “Most of the crew wanted to turn back, but I argued for finishing the mission. I said if there was the smallest hope of saving our people, we owed it to them to try.” A young L’eihr female moved into the image and clasped Jake’s hand, causing his cheeks to redden. “Ayah agreed with me, and then others followed. I can be persuasive sometimes.”

“So I’ve heard,” Cara said with a grin. “What’ve you learned?”

“The oxygen saturation here is comparable to Earth’s, but it’s crazy humid. It’s like breathing soup. And it’s hot here, ninety-six degrees where I’m standing. The planet’s sandwiched between two suns.”

“What are the Aribol like?”

“That’s the thing.” Jake mopped his forehead with one sleeve. “We can’t find any. The whole place is deserted.”

Ayah spoke to Cara in L’eihr. “There was a society here, but most of it has been destroyed. I can’t tell if it was caused by weaponry or a natural disaster, but it must’ve happened a long time ago, because there are no bodies. We can’t find a single trace of bones or other organic remains.”

“Wait a minute.” Cara lifted a hand. “Jaxen told me the Aribol use nanites to dispose of their dead. He said he’d seen them in use on their home world. Whatever this big disaster was, it could’ve been recent.”

Aelyx followed her logic trail. “Recent enough to coincide with alliance negotiations between Earth and L’eihr?”

“I’ll bet that’s it,” Cara said. “That’s why they insisted on separating us. Their numbers are low, and they’re afraid the combined power of two Noven races might threaten their hold on the universe. If we team up against them, they won’t be able to play god anymore.”

Just then Aelyx remembered something Alona had said weeks ago; that the Voyagers had already discovered the Aribols’ home galaxy but hadn’t begun exploring it yet. “Our Voyagers came too close for comfort…”

“So the Aribol decided to clip our wings,” Cara finished. “That’s why they wanted the surrender of our interstellar travel technology.”

“He should be careful.” Troy pointed his faux-wood knife handle at Jake. “No matter how many crew members the Aribol need to fly a Destroyer—”

“Two Destroyers,” Cara interjected. “There’s one headed to L’eihr, too.”

“—they wouldn’t leave their home base undefended.”

“Something else to consider,” Syrine said. “The Aribol have powerful minds. Some say they can project what they want you to see. There’s a chance none of what you’re experiencing is real.”

Aelyx hadn’t considered that. He hoped she was wrong.

“We have mechanical probes scouring the planet,” Jake told them. “If anything’s alive out there, we’ll find it.”

“Keep me posted,” Cara said. “And see if you can find a link to phosphorus. Jaxen’s been destroying fertilizer plants, but he wouldn’t say why. There has to be a reason.”

“I’m on it.”

The transmission ended, and Larish ran in through the back door, waving the cables in his hand. “They work! Both shuttles work!” He held the cords forward. “I removed these for now. We don’t want anyone stealing the last two operational vehicles on the planet.”

Fresh resolve burned behind Aelyx’s ribs. “According to Jaxen, no weapon on Earth can penetrate the hull of an Aribol Destroyer.” He lifted one of the Nova Staff accessories to the flickering candlelight. “No weapon on
Earth
.”

Troy smacked a palm on the table. “We need Jaxen’s staff.”

“Before the Aribol retrieve him,” Cara muttered. She spun in her seat toward Rune, who’d been watching the exchange with the corners of her mouth sinking into her jowls. “I know you love Jaxen, and I won’t ask you to betray him. All we want is his staff. If I promise we won’t kill him—” Aelyx and Troy objected, and Cara shushed them with a backward wave. “If I give you my word that we’ll let him live, will you tell us where he is?”

Rune bit into a potato and chewed thoughtfully for a long minute, her jaw working while her gaze simmered with calculation. Aelyx could practically see a plan forming in her mind. Whatever location she might give them, he knew better than to trust it.

Finally she swallowed and made a counteroffer. “I’ll tell you exactly where to find him.” She lifted a bony finger. “If you’ll take me with you.”

“
This
is his retrieval point?” Cara asked when the shuttle arrived at the coordinates Rune had provided from the rear seat. “The top of the Empire State Building? I didn’t realize Jaxen had such a flare for the dramatic.”

“Really?” Aelyx thumbed at the clone. “It’s always been clear to me.”

“Point taken.”

He maneuvered the craft south of the building’s high-rise observation deck in hopes that the blustery wind from the north would drown out the sound of the engine. For a city so teeming with life, the blackout had rendered Manhattan eerily quiet and dark. There was just enough moonlight for him to make out Jaxen’s silhouette on the walkway below, and more important, the staff glowing in his hand. But there seemed to be no good place to land the shuttle. The observation deck formed a square path around an interior room, and surrounding that path were waist-high concrete walls topped with crisscrossing metal bars. The design was perfect for protecting viewers from falling, but it presented a challenge to anyone wishing to access the walkway from above. He would have to dock the shuttle in midair and jump down.

Syrine spoke from where she sat in between Rune and the door, in case the clone tried to make a premature exit. “It makes sense. This is an easy landmark for an Aribol pilot to identify, and without power, human authorities would have to scale more than a hundred flights of stairs to reach Jaxen. He chose a strategic spot.”