<<Hide yourselves away, eventually your defences will be useless, and your species will become extinct.>>
Michelle relaxed, and waited for the response.
It was a long time coming.
Phollz was grateful that the human was able to communicate directly, keeping the rest of the colony in ignorance of the discussion. Her words made logical and rational sense, but the people were just not yet at a stage to step into the open. Fear worked both ways.
<<It certainly does,>> Michelle observed.
Phollz was now very worried, for the human had just penetrated the strongest mind shield in the colony.
<<As I said to the Captain, you need not fear me. I have as much to lose as you.>>
<<How do we progress this?>>
You must come to an agreement amongst all your earth colonies, and let me know when it is reached. I will arrange a meeting with the representatives of the global community, and then we hope and pray.>>
<<What is this - pray?>>
<<Some of us believe in a divine omnipotent being who created the universe, life and everything, and that being has a vested interest in seeing us behave ourselves, and it has sufficient regard of us to look after us. The means of communicating to this being is called praying.>>
Michelle felt faintly silly trying to explain basic theology to an alien, but she was surprised at the reply.
<<We also believe in a creator. It is generally believed that when we die, our spirits join together to form a cosmic being existing solely to worship the creator. For those who fall short of his requirement, their lonely spirits range the universe, destined never to find rest.>>
<<Well, there’s a thing,>> Michelle said, quite astounded.
<<May I meet you?>>
<<Of course,>> Michelle answered, surprised.
<<I confess to feeling curiosity. To be at a possible turning point in our existence, this is an historic occasion, so I want to meet the catalyst.>>
Michelle smiled.
<<I have been called many things, but that is a first.>>
The communication ceased, and she sensed great movement.
“Okay, Red. They’re coming up. Just keep that gun strapped down tight. Understand, Marine?”
Red grinned.
“Aye aye, Ma’am,” he said.
They sat and waited, as the sun started to dip towards the western horizon.
Red looked at Michelle and raised an eyebrow.
“They’ve a long way to come, and they aren’t exactly overwhelmed with the possibility of a whole change to their way of life. Besides, they don’t trust us,” she paused, looking round.
“If it comes to that, I don’t trust us either.”
<<Stop. Come no further. I sense a problem,>> she broadcast to the colony.
“Red, take the binoculars to that ridge and tell me what you see.”
Red jogged up to the ridge.
“Dust, looks like vehicles.”
“Bastards. How many?”
“Difficult to tell. Ten, maybe more.”
“They’re tracking us. Come back, quick.”
Red jogged back down, so they checked through their entire kit. Nothing.
“The cell phones,” she said. Hers was fine, but his had a small homing device inside the casing. She remembered the pilot handing it to him, with the words, “Just don’t lose this Sergeant, it could mean your life.”
She extracted the small electronic device and turned it over.
“Which animal is the fastest in this desert?”
“Long or short distance?”
“Long.”
“Either the coyote or fox. The fox is more clever and will keep going over a wider area.”
“Okay, shut up for a minute,” she said, and went and sat on a rock, closing her eyes.
Red sat and watched her, and then he shook his head, as this girl had just turned everything upside down for him.
He heard a fain noise to the left. He looked up and saw a fox trotting down the steep escarpment.
He looked at Michelle, as her face was showing signs of concentration and strain.
The fox continued, saw him and stopped. He daren’t even breathe.
The fox sniffed the air, but gradually and cautiously approached, and then to his utter amazement sat at her feet like a dog.
She opened her eyes and held the device out. The fox took it in its mouth, very carefully, and trotted off again.
Red was about to speak, but she put up her hand and stopped him.
Then she relaxed.
“Okay, what?” she said.
He shook his head.
“Nothing. I thought I was the Indian here?”
She smiled.
“The good little fox is going to run until it reaches the railroad fifteen miles east of here. Then it will follow the tracks until it finds a train at a stop and put the device in the train. That should give our friends something to play with.”
Red took out the map. He reasoned that if they were plotted, they made good time to this point, had a short thirty-minute rest, and then followed the contours to the railway line, and then continued east. It was logical.
“Now what?”
“We see if they take the bait.”
The sounds of an approaching rotor blade changed their minds, but before they could move, Michelle simply entered the minds of the crew, and turned them east to follow the fox. She disabled the cameras just before they came into sight, and both men in the helicopter would swear they saw two people running east along the escarpment.
“Why the double cross?”
“Belt and braces. Use me to locate the quarry, and then seize the evidence. The Military want our alien friends and their technology all for themselves.”
Red felt the tug. He was a Marine, but he could see the potential for disaster, and he looked into those blue eyes. No mental coercion was required, so Michelle realised that she had an ally.
The convoy turned east, and Michelle contacted the aliens again.
<<Danger passed. I stress the importance of contact to be made to global community as opposed to national interests,>> she said.
Minutes passed, and Michelle sensed Red stiffen. She glanced towards the cliff, where, from a shadow, three figures appeared.
They looked very familiar, yet she was aware that they were not the ones she knew.
“Holy shit!”
“Shh.”
Michelle stood and approached the small group.
She went onto her knees, holding both palms up in a gesture of friendship and greeting.
The aliens were impressed. The tall female was so much bigger than they, but by reducing her height and using a recognised greeting, they immediately felt better.
They mirrored her movements, and soon Red thought he was watching a silent movie with no subtitles.
The sun dipped further and the shadows grew longer and longer. The sky turned red and the light failed, but still the four figures were there, in eerie silence.
Finally, they repeated the hand gestures again, and one reached out and shook Michelle’s hand. It also gave her something. The three figures then melted into the wall of the cliff.
“Okay, home James.”
“We’re done?”
“Yup. How far civilisation?”
“You mean a base, or any civilisation?”
“Base means military. Military means trouble. Civilisation means freedom, so freedom means we can move and do what I’ve been sent to do.”
“Are you asking me to desert?”
She looked at him.
“Wait,” she said, and shut her eyes in concentration. She found who she was after.
<<Colonel, what the fuck are you doing?>>
<<Where are you?>>
<<Being double-crossed. You’ve just spooked them, they won’t come out now.>>
<<I’m sorry, it’s too late, as it’s out of my hands now. Come in, we’re no longer handling this. The NSA has taken over.”>>
<<Too late? I will take what they gave me to someone who will appreciate it. Tell the NSA that the balance of power has just shifted.>>