CHAPTER 4
How does she know what I am?
Aquarius gaped at the woman, name of Ishtar, who, for all extents and purposes, did not actually exist. After discovering the messages between her and Lance concerning the nanobot, he’d done a search to get a better grip on who he’d be dealing with.
She didn’t appear in any database. At all.
Which in this connected world raised so many flags.
Yet, this woman who appeared to have earned no degree, never held a job, or paid taxes had fixed the alien nanobot and didn’t want credit for it.
He’d had to dig deep into Lance’s computer to find her.
Apparently, Lance had initially turned down Aries’ request to fix the nanobot.
Only after the boss insisted and added a few zeros to sweeten the deal did Lance agree, but only after messaging Ishtar.
Apparently, she was the one with the truly rare expertise.
Where was Ishtar, though? As it turned out, not somewhere simple to reach.
He’d had to smash through some firewalls and encrypted information to discover where the mysterious nanobot engineer lived.
In the middle of Antarctica, the most inhospitable place on Earth.
How did she survive? Feed herself? Get equipment? Companionship?
He’d half expected to find nothing when he’d beamed here, the coordinates complicated but successful.
The moment he’d landed, he’d been ready to beam right back home.
Lance must have outsmarted Aquarius and masked her true location.
No way did this Ishtar live here, only… The hairs on his napes lifted, and his instinct insisted someone watched.
A smart—and not wanting to die—warrior never ignored his gut.
And so he called out, cajoled, and then dropped the nerdiest line in history.
What do you know; it worked. A door, seamlessly camouflaged as part of the mountain, opened, revealing a woman as tall as him, willowy in build, her hair dark as night, skin white as snow, eyes a brilliant green, her red-lipped scowl very authentic.
Her voice, low, husky, and distracting meant it took Aquarius a moment to filter what she’d said.
“You know what I am?”
Her lip curled. “As if anyone but a Zodiac warrior could have found me here.”
“How…” He couldn’t even finish asking because his astonishment stole his ability to speak.
“The heat is escaping.” She stepped aside and, with a heavy sigh, grumbled, “Against my better judgement, would you like to come inside?”
Her reluctance indicated he wouldn’t get a second invitation. Lest she change her mind, he quickly stepped over the threshold, noting the sturdy track that the stone facade door slid on.
“Nice,” he commented as she slapped a button and closed the portal, the machinery noise minimal—and impressive. “Build this yourself?”
“Yes, but I’m fairly sure you didn’t come here to compliment my setup,” her grouchy reply as she stalked across the smooth concrete floor of a garage-type area.
He noted a snowmobile, something that once might have been on the market but had since been upgraded beyond recognition, the mounted gun on its hood a nice touch.
There was a plane, but of a style he’d never seen—probably because it hadn’t been invented.
A sleek round vessel with a narrow cockpit window and short wings parked on fat wheels.
While he would have loved to gawk and examine the toys, Ishtar had already crossed the room and opened another door.
He hurried to catch up. Passing through that entrance brought them into a small chamber with a bench and hooks for hanging gear.
He noted a pair of boots and a parka, identical to the ones she wore. Spares or did someone else live here?
She didn’t bother stripping her outer gear but rather stood in front of the next door. No button to trigger, and yet it slid open. What lay beyond had Aquarius both jealous and aroused. Don’t laugh. He thought his office had a pretty cool setup. That was before he saw Ishtar’s.
Monitors, more than a dozen by his count.
All of them currently blank but for the one showing the valley he’d just crossed—which explained how she’d noticed him.
Several large steel tables, some with hoists above them, holding metal parts for who knew what the fuck.
A rack of tools—drills, torches, screwdrivers, wrenches, saws, and so much more—on wheels for easy maneuverability.
A tri-dimensional printer but of a size he could only dream of.
The geek cave of all caves. Was this what heaven would look like?
She flopped into a chair. The only chair he noticed a clue she lived alone then, most likely by choice, which explained her irritability. With that kind of pricky personality, he’d likely be a hermit too.
“Spill. Why are you here?” she snapped. “And don’t tell me this is just about the nanobot.”
“You were the one who fixed it.” Stated rather than asked.
“Yeah.”
“How?”
“What do you mean how? It needed repairs. I did them. End of story.”
His lips pursed. “I think we both know it wasn’t that simple.
” He’d examined it after they used it to stop the alien asteroid from crashing into Earth.
The tiny machine had been fried again, making it safe for him to play with.
The tech inside was like nothing on Earth, and yet, this woman figured it out.
Instead of pussyfooting, he blurted out, “How did you figure out how to repair alien tech?”
Her brow arched. “Machines are machines.”
She didn’t react to his use of the word alien. “If it were that simple, any nanobot engineer would have been able to render it usable, but my boss ran it by a few people before stumbling across Lance, who subcontracted the job to you.”
“What can I say? I’m smarter than them.” She smirked and crossed her arms. It didn’t detract from her beauty one bit.
“Beyond smart, I’d say.” He swept a hand. “This entire workshop is beyond advanced. I’m fairly certain some of these machines don’t exist anywhere in the developed world.”
“Like I said, I’m smart, and I like to tinker with things. If I need something, I build it.”
“Smart people don’t hide in Antarctica.”
“This one does. Not everyone wants to sell their talent.”
He changed tactics. “What are you building?” He pointed to a strange contraption on a table, a metal cylinder about three feet high, a panel in its side open to reveal wiring and computer boards.
“None of your business. Now, did you just come here to confirm I fixed the nanobot, or was there something else?”
“You called me a Zodiac Warrior. What made you say that?”
“Doubt there’s anyone else who could get here as fast.”
“If you know what I am, then you’re aware of my purpose.”
“So much for getting to the point.” She rolled her eyes. “You are protectors of Earth imbued with special abilities by the Astraeus linked to your constellations.”
He almost gaped again. “Who told you about us?”
“No one. Like I said before, I’m smart and know things. Now, are you going to keep yammering or get to the point?”
“Recently the Earth was hit by pieces of an asteroid. An asteroid we only managed to destroy because you repaired the nanobot.”
“The nanobot only made it so the asteroid could be detected,” she murmured. “And it wouldn’t have worked without the astrolábos.”
“Hold on, you know about the astrolábos too?” He frowned. “And by its original name. I thought the knowledge of its origin was lost.”
“Not lost so much as placed somewhere for safekeeping.”
“By who?”
“People trying to prevent Earth’s annihilation.”
“By aliens,” he stated as if to confirm.
“Yes, aliens. Aliens that would have never landed if you’d not delayed using the nanobot and astrolábos,” she chided.
“Because we couldn’t figure out how to make them work together. We lacked the last page holding the final instructions, and Asterion could not recall what it said.”
“Guess late is better than not at all,” she drawled, not swayed by his excuse.
“Yeah, well, excuse us. We did our best.”
“Your best resulted in less-than-perfect destruction, according to the news.”
He grimaced. “We had no idea the chunks that hit Earth would have viable aliens. Soon as we found out, we took care of them.”
“Wiping them out was the first right thing you did. Who knew Earth had a natural remedy for those pests?”
No point in asking how Ishtar knew about the toxic water they’d flooded the sewers with. She obviously had ways of finding out things. “Well, those four-armed freaks might be gone, but turns out they were only the beginning of our problem. Seems they had a master.”
She straightened in her chair. “You’re sure?”
Ooh. That got her attention. No longer did she appear mocking or irritated. Okay, maybe less irritated.
“My boss, Aries, met the guy, or at least the male body it was wearing a few nights ago. This thing claims it’s going to contact its friends, meaning more asteroids winging our way, and that their plan is to enslave or eat humans and conquer the world.”
“Because that’s what they do,” she muttered. She leaned her head back and closed her eyes. “It’s unfortunate it survived.”
“What do you know about them?”
“That Earth is, for lack of a polite term, fucked.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means that everyone should live their best life now before the world ends.”
“Seems kind of pessimistic. We haven’t even started to fight back.”
“Fight back?” She snorted suddenly, leaning forward in her chair. “There is no fighting something that can’t die. Kill one body, and it will just assume another.”