“We’ve added tracking into each new ship, and” – the screen shot switched to a man putting on a suit, much like the ones I’d worn into space, only it appeared these fit humans — “the suits have been perfected. They have built-in communicators, and with the data from the ships’ computers we found, built-in translators too. We’ve tested them with the Kraski records, and the Deltra we had, and they work like a charm.” Clare smiled widely, proud of everything they’d accomplished.
“That’s pretty cool,” I said quietly. I, along with a couple others at that table, had experience with those Kraski suits, and imagined they would be much better-fitted to our bodies. I still didn’t want to be one of the people testing an air-tight suit in space for the first time. It was scary enough using one of them when I’d had no choice at all.
“To what end?” Mary asked. “Why are we doing all of this?”
The president turned to her. “They’ll be coming for us. We know that. We have to be ready for it. We’ll need ships, suits, communication…” She paused. “We’ll need weapons.”
My skin crawled and, for a moment, I thought I could feel the hybrid blood pulse through my veins, the transfusion they gave me to save my life still reminding me it happened. My back tensed then too; I tried to calm down and loosen my tight spine. Ever since that day, getting shot up by a hybrid that looked just like Mary’s dead husband, I got daily reminders of that moment. I always seemed to notice my back was just a little off when I thought about the Event; otherwise, I usually felt normal. Unfortunately for me, I thought about it a lot.
The video switched scenes, and it cut to large metallic gun-shaped devices in the field near the base. Large targets were on display in the distance. Had to be a few hundred feet away. The sound was silent; then we could hear a light whine. Before we knew it, the noise was constant and a red light widened like a sphere around the weapon shaft. One instant, it was there humming; the next, the shaft was gray again and a target far in the distance exploded.
“So, we have some badass guns. Good.” This from Magnus, my large red-haired friend. A smile crossed his face, and I couldn’t help but smile back at him being excited by this. The ex-mercenary was always hoping to blow stuff up.
“We have other things in the works too. Things the Bhlat can’t know about. My apologies about not showing them to you now.” She looked around the room, catching everyone in the eyes. “We have to be one hundred percent sure word won’t reach them. Sure, we’re in a safe room, but we can’t show all our cards quite yet.”
Mae’s upper lip twitched a tiny bit, probably indiscernible to anyone else. I knew she wouldn’t hold it against the president, but she was still probably assuming the mole threat was her, since she was the only off-Earther there.
“Mae,” the president said, turning her attention to her, “we need you out in Long Island. We think there are some bad apples out there, and we can’t have that. The Bhlat name has been uttered on our surveillance a few times, and we need to know who’s saying that name, and who they’re saying it to. We also detected a couple odd transmissions leave the area, and we have no idea where they came from or what kind of message was sent. I know most of them trust you. It might be tough to track down, but can you do this as your first task as a member of the Earth Defense?” She said it in an odd mixture of authority and hopefulness. I knew what Mae would say.
“Of course,” she said.
“We can go with you, Mae,” Mary said, reaching over and squeezing my hand.
THREE
The bar was my favorite kind. Lots of wood everywhere, and cold micro-brewed beer on tap. Carey joined us and the bartender almost told us “no pets,” until he recognized who we were. He didn’t say anything about it, just brought over a bowl with fresh water in it, and a piece of sausage. He quickly became Carey’s best friend. I looked around and thought about how much Ray would have probably loved it here too. My heart twinged at the memory of him.
“Earth Defense Unit. Who comes up with these names?” Magnus took a pull from his beer, spilling a little bit as he set the pint glass down with a fling of his arm. “It just sounds so ridiculous.”
Mary nodded but didn’t say anything, and I could tell she was deep in thought about the whole thing. She was probably leaning toward telling them no to the position, and I was leaning so far over, I almost tipped on my face.
“I don’t know, I think it’s fitting.” This from Mae.
“That’s because you aren’t from around these parts, m’lady. On Earth, it sounds like something out of a bad video game,” Magnus quipped.
“It doesn’t really matter what they call it. It’s probably necessary to have. But if they really want to honor us for saving the world, they might want to do it another way than shoving ships and guns in our hands,” I said, hoping I was on the same page as the rest of them.
Everyone was quiet for a moment, until Magnus barked out a laugh. “Dean, you’re something else. I’m with you one hundred percent. But what if? ‘What if’ has been playing an earworm in my head for weeks now. What if they’re right? What if these alien bastards are making their way here? The Kraski did it. Hell, the Deltra led them here in a centuries-long game. That means for hundreds of years, they’ve known about our world. That doesn’t bode well for us, my compadre.”
“So what would you have us do, Mag?” Mary asked, speaking for the first time since we’d left the Capitol building.
“I say we suit up, join this EDU, stop Earth from being invaded, and then kick back and retire on a beach with a stockpile of cigars and Canadian whisky.” He smiled widely, and I couldn’t help but get swept up in his enthusiasm.
“I’m in.” This from Natalia. Her eyes shone bright and she smiled at Magnus.
“I have nowhere else to go. We have a job to do,” Mae said. I knew she was probably hesitant to become a spy on her own for the humans, but she did seem to want to be helpful, and not only that, we all liked her a lot.
That was three in. I looked to Mary, who grabbed her beer, held it high and said, “Why the hell not? I’m in if you are, Dean.”
How could I say no, then? It was determined for me right at that moment. I was going to stay in the fight, be a part of the Earth Defense.
“I’m a little young for retirement. I’m in.” We all clinked glasses and drank deeply.
We had more than a few beers, followed by some food and a few more, knowing that the next day reality would sink in once again. We let loose, hit a dingy karaoke bar, and sang bad songs until way too early in the morning.
My head swam from the alcohol as we lay on the hotel bed, the three of us exhausted from a long day and an even longer night. I couldn’t help but feel like we were making the wrong choice.
“Dean, we’d better get up. We have to catch the train to New York in a few hours.” I heard Mary talking, but my head pounded and I couldn’t see her, considering my eyes were closed and I had half the bed’s blankets over my face. I pulled them down, squinting against the sunlight creeping through the blinds. The clock at the nightstand read nine AM.