Chapter 8
CHAPTER EIGHT
“So, what do you want from me?”
It wasn’t like I had any power in making decisions like this.
I was a damn maintainer, not a government official.
I didn’t even decide when I got to go home at the end of the day.
If I actually had any choices, I would’ve told Colt to shove his escape plan up his ass.
I wouldn’t be out here about to be interrogated by aliens if it wasn’t for his stupid ass.
“How many people can do what you did?” Trevuk demanded.
I tipped my head with a frown. “What? You mean the door thing?”
They both nodded, and I shrugged. “No idea. Anyone trained in electronics, I guess.”
“How did you do it? You had no weapons,” Trevuk pointed out.
Pulling the multi-tool out of my pocket, I placed it on the table. “I was working when you guys nabbed me. I had this with me. It’s not a weapon. It’s a tool.”
I figured now was a good time to be honest. They weren’t asking me where the president was, or any information about my squadron.
During deployments, you were required to take classes on interrogation methods.
The most common suggestion was to answer what you could to keep the interrogators happy without giving up too much.
I wanted to appear valuable, but not so important that they’d hurt me to get information.
Trevuk snatched the multi-tool off the table, pulling out the different pieces and studying it.
It was a clever little tool, and it was nice not to have to go up and down the ladder when I needed to do things.
I got it issued to me during one of my deployments, and I almost always had it on me if I could help it.
“How many have these?”
I shrugged. “No clue. I got mine on a deployment.”
Twisting in his seat, Trevuk barked at a few soldiers standing near the doors. They hurried over to him and listened as he growled at them. Without so much as a nod to acknowledge him, they spun on their heels and marched out.
“What was that?” I demanded. I didn't want anyone else getting into trouble because I snuck a tool onto the ship. Even though I didn’t actually sneak it. No one searched me when I got here.
“They will search the others. It is dangerous to handle the wirings. For us and for your people. We want no one else to cause trouble.”
Since the alien doctor said there was something in the walls that was poisonous to humans, I didn’t doubt him.
That being said, a few might take exception to being searched.
I knew I wasn’t going to be able to talk them out of it, though.
If it were me, I’d search them, too. One example of causing that kind of trouble would be enough.
Aster scowled, crossing his arms over his chest. “Why cause trouble? We not injury anyone. We thought they can be happy.”
I put my hand up in a stop gesture, shooting him an incredulous look. “Wait. Hold up. You thought who would be happy?”
He waved a hand at me, which confirmed he was talking about the military personnel on the ship. I couldn’t help it. I barked out a laugh. “Wait. You thought because you didn’t hurt them, they’d be happy to be here? You still abducted them.”
“It was for our safety and yours,” Trevuk argued.
“It was for you. Not us,” I snapped back. “You basically went full worst nightmare on the entire planet. You seriously think anyone is going to want to listen to you after you abducted people like that? Are you delusional?”
Trevuk made a snarling sound that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
Sitting around a table chatting meant I didn’t have a direct line of sight to their non-human halves, and I forgot for a minute that I wasn’t dealing with normal people right now.
These guys were obviously dangerous, and I was pushing buttons.
Aster rested his hand on my arm again, and when I turned to look at him, he looked… sad. “We not trying to scare. We want to help. But humans not ready for contact. It was only way for safely.”
His translator needed some fine-tuning, but I got what he meant. I shook my head anyway. “Why couldn’t you just send a message? Let the human race warm up to the idea. Scientists say we have time to fix things. It’s not a rush, right?”
“Ten earth cycles around your star,” Aster replied. I didn’t know what he meant by that, so I shot a questioning look at Trevuk, who still looked pissed. He crossed his arms over his chest, glaring at me as he expanded on Aster’s comment.
“Ten years until planet meltdown. Humans will not change enough to fix the problem in that time. You are fickle beings, more focused on money than on your planet. We are here to help the planet. Not you.”
Aster tsked, shooting Trevuk a scowl. He said something in their language, but Trevuk wasn’t having it. He pushed out of his seat, storming away to watch the monitors over someone’s shoulder. When I looked back at Aster, he sighed. “He is…” He paused, searching for the right word. “Defendant.”
“Defensive?”
He nodded sharply. “Defensive. Yes. We want to help, but we have no time to ease. Fixing takes time. We need starting now.”
Drawing in a breath, I let it out slowly. “Okay. I get that. I didn’t know it was such a short amount of time. They’re always spouting numbers on how long we have, and it changes a lot.”
Aster listened intently, his eyes locked on me. It was a little unnerving, but he obviously cared about this. And Trevuk said they were only stepping in because it was necessary.
“Still… I don’t think people will listen to you after you abducted their family members.
I get that you were trying to protect yourselves, but you put the entire human race on the defensive.
We are prone to catastrophizing. I guarantee a good number of the people on this ship are just waiting for you to show up and kill them.
Or put them into slavery. The rest of the planet is probably thinking the same thing.
You can’t just leave everyone in the dark. ”
His brows furrowed, like he didn't understand everything that I’d just said, but he seemed to understand parts of it.
“We are telling to the government. Main ship speaking now with them.”
“That’s not as helpful as you think,” I countered. “The government doesn’t always share information with us. Even if we had a way to contact them, which we don’t. None of our phones work.”
“Phones…” he trailed off with a frown. I pulled out mine, showing it to him.
“It’s a device to communicate with people. Our families, bosses, that kind of thing.”
“Ah!” He nodded suddenly, like he understood. “Communication shut off because humans are use for technology to causing trouble.”
I tried not to make a face at how weird that sentence was.
What he said was true, though. I could almost guarantee that if they were given the chance, people like Colt would start communicating with others to form a rebellion.
I considered the problem with a frown. There were thousands of people here and on the ground who were worried for their families.
If they knew we were safe, it’d do a lot to take the edge off.
And if the people here knew the purpose of the invasion, they might not be so quick to cause trouble. Maybe. Humans are notoriously stupid.
“I’m no expert here, but I think if you want fewer incidents like today, you need to explain the situation to the people you took. We make movies about alien invasions. None of them are good.”
He tipped his head, studying me. “Movies?”
I sighed. This was going to take longer than I thought. I switched tactics for now. “Is there any way for people to call home? Let our families know we’re safe?”
He pursed his lips and turned to talk in his language over his shoulder.
An alien behind one of the monitors glanced at him and nodded, pushing out of their seat to fetch whatever it was he asked for.
Maybe I should ask for a translator thing.
The serum worked great, and all my pain from years of injuries was gone the minute I woke up.
Then I thought about the needle the doctor chick used and shuddered.
Nope. I’m good. I’ll just wait for him to explain.
When the guy came back, he carried what looked like a portable monitor. Aster offered it to me, somehow sliding closer to me so we could look at it together. The guy was practically plastered against my side, but I was too curious about what he brought to point it out.
“What is this?”
“For communicating,” he said, poking at the screen. “Call home.”
Well, shit. It felt a little wrong to be getting special treatment while everyone else was left in the dark, but I couldn’t deny how badly I wanted to call home.
My mom was probably losing her mind at this point.
It took some figuring out, but the tablet thing connected to the cell towers, so once I plugged in my mom’s cell number, it rang directly to her.
Her face popped up on the screen a minute later, and she shrieked so loud, half the room turned to look at us. “Lorenzo! Thank god! Where are you? Are you safe? Did you escape or–”
“Ma. Take a breath. I’m okay.”
She didn’t listen, and I could see the background motion as she ran to the next room. “Everyone! Lorenzo is calling! He’s alive!”
Suddenly, she was surrounded by my family. My siblings crowded around her, and I could see Pops hovering in the background. They looked relieved and worried and so damn terrified.
“Where are you?” my older brother demanded.
“I’m on one of the alien ships. Listen, I don’t know how long I’ve got for this call, but I need to explain something to you. They aren’t here to hurt us. They’re here because the planet is dying. They’re basically Greenpeace with a lot fancier technology.”
My sister looked skeptical, eyeing me suspiciously. “How do we know that’s even you? You could’ve been body snatched, and they’re making you say stuff like this.”
Giving her a flat look, I said, “You used to tell me your period was a consequence of having the ability to melt people’s minds.”
Her mouth fell open, and she looked like she was fighting back a laugh when our mom whipped her head around to chastise her.
“Arabella!”
Shaking my head, I called out to get their attention before they got into an argument. Getting Italians to focus was harder than herding cats sometimes.
“Guys. Listen. I know you’ve got a lot of questions, and it’s hard to believe me.
Hell, it’s hard for me, too. I’m still reeling.
But I promise, they haven’t hurt me or anyone else I was with.
They even got Knightley medical treatment when he got hurt trying to get away.
We’re okay for now. And as soon as I can, I’ll call back with more information, alright? ”
My mom looked heartbroken that I was ending the call already, but I could feel Aster’s stare, and I knew I couldn’t stay on as long as she wanted anyway.
If she had her way, I’d never hang up. But if I could get Aster to listen to me, maybe I could make things easier for my brothers and sisters in arms. There were a lot of scared people trapped in shoebox rooms, and I had an in with someone in charge. I needed to use that to my advantage.