H.A.L.F.: The Makers (6 page)

“I’d like to reassure you, but I cannot. Further, I do not have the answers to all of your questions. Honestly, I’m not sure any one person does. Even Commander Sturgis was told only what she needed to know to do her job. She was to create hybrids. She was told it was for an upcoming war. That’s it. I suppose Croft is the only one that knows everything.”

“And he’s not likely to sit down to tea with me and have a chat, is he?”

Sewell shook his head. “I’ve arranged for you to stay in Tucson with Anna Sturgis.”

Jack’s breakfast nearly came back up. “Wait – what? A Sturgis?”

“She’s Commander Sturgis’ niece.”

“I don’t care if she’s the Pope’s niece. If her last name is Sturgis, I don’t want to be within a hundred yards of her.”

Sewell crossed his arms over his chest. “Do you plan to stay here, then? Croft will likely order a full sweep of the place in preparation to occupy it. And eventually you’ll run out of canned tuna.”

“Sewell – man, there’s got to be some other person – some other place.”

“It’s complicated, Mr. Wilson. And we must be on our way. I need Anna to help me, and Anna will need you.”

“And you cleared this with her? With Anna, I mean?”

Sewell nodded. “Come. It’s a long walk to the platform and we don’t want to miss the train.” Sewell exited Dr. Randall’s house of forced retirement and walked briskly down the sidewalk toward the center of Aphthartos.

Jack was winded after just a few minutes of trying to keep up with Sewell. They hurried through the darkened corridors of A.H.D.N.A., lit only by the pale, bluish-white LED lights along the edges of the hallways and the flashing red bulbs in the ceiling. Everyone had been evacuated – or killed – when the alien ship arrived, and A.H.D.N.A. still thought it was in lockdown. It made the corridors look like mini runways. Jack lost track of how many zigs and zags it took to reach their destination.

Sewell used his keycard and thumbprint to open a last set of doors that led to what looked like a narrow subway platform. He glanced at his watch (worn on his right wrist not his left) and wiped his face again with his hanky. “Just made it.” Sewell’s voice sounded winded. “Train’ll be here any minute.”

Jack leaned against a concrete column and tried to catch his breath. “What did you tell this Anna about me?”

“The truth.” Sewell glanced back at Jack. “Of sorts, anyway.”

Jack raised his left eyebrow. “Truth, huh? Up to now all I’ve seen of the world you live in is secrets and lies.”

“
A
truth. That her aunt is in trouble and needs her help.”

“And how did you fit me into all this? Did you tell her that her dear aunt Sturgis tried to have me killed?”

Sewell coughed nervously. “Well, I stretched the truth there. I told her you were the son of one of her aunt’s allies and that you needed a place to lie low for a while. Anna has a very high opinion of her aunt. I didn’t want to – sully that opinion.”

“And this Anna was like, ‘Okay, cool. I’ll let a dude I’ve never met live with me. Sure. Bring him on over’?”

“Something like that.” Sewell checked his watch again.

Sewell was good at being vague when he wanted to be. Jack wasn’t inclined to essentially run away from home, miss more school, let his mom live in misery thinking he was dead, and go stay with some chick he’d never met without more details.

“How much does Anna know about what her aunt does? And more important, how much can I say without men in black showing up and finishing the job Sturgis started?”

Before Sewell could answer, a cool breeze blew Jack’s wavy hair. His skin prickled.

A maglev came to a halt by the platform. It was a driverless, automated train like the ones used at airports. A woman’s voice announced, “The 2 train to Holloman AFB and Alamogordo Air Field, stopping at Davis-Monthan. Stand clear of the platform. All passengers must present credentials when exiting the train. Please have your credentials ready for inspection. Fasten your seat belts. Train A will depart in T minus thirty seconds.”

Jack followed Sewell into the train car. The car they entered was made of white molded plastic and brightly lit. It was immaculately clean inside and empty.

“What credentials?” Jack asked.

Sewell sat and fastened his lap belt. “I suggest you do as she said and buckle in. It lurches quite harshly before it gets up to speed.”

Jack buckled up. Within seconds, the train took off and Jack’s head was whipped back from the quick burst of movement. “Man, you weren’t kidding.”

Before long the train was like a cannonball launched into the stone tube. “How long does it take to get there in this thing?” In a car, it would generally take nearly three hours to drive from the Barry Goldwater Range to Davis-Monthan in Tucson.

“A few minutes shy of thirty.”

Jack whistled. “So this thing is going –”

“Very fast.” Sewell reached into the inside breast pocket of his jacket and pulled out a card that looked like a small piece of clear plastic. He shoved it at Jack. “Your credentials.”

Jack took the card. ‘Steve Harper’, the ID said. It had a picture that if the light was dim and the person looking at it was half blind, might look a little bit like Jack. This Steve Harper on the ID was male and Caucasian. That was where the similarity between them ended.

“Really? You guys have the technology to create an alien-human hybrid and keep a multibillion dollar project secret, but you can’t get me a fake ID that doesn’t look like something a kid at my school whipped up?”

“It’s an authentic ID.”

“Okay, then all your IDs look cheesy.” Jack shook his head. “I don’t look anything like this Steve guy. Won’t that be a problem?”

“I’m cut off from my connections on this. I can’t exactly use assets of the Makers.”

“You keep mentioning these ‘Makers’. Who are they exactly?”

Sewell dodged the question. “They’ll be on me like a fly on – well, you get the picture. Besides, it’s the fingerprint that’s important.”

“Houston, we’ve got a problem. Last time I checked, I was fresh out of Steve Harper fingerprints.”

“I’m not.” Sewell held up a small clear case. “Give me your right thumb. Please.”

Jack did as Sewell asked.

“Here. Hold this with your other hand.” Sewell handed Jack the small case and reached into his pocket again. He retrieved a small vial of amber-colored liquid. “Turn your thumb up toward me so I can see the print. Yes, that’s it.” Sewell put a single drop of the acrid-smelling liquid on Jack’s thumb. He put the cap back on and quickly put the bottle back in his pocket, where he retrieved a small plastic bag with what looked like a miniature pancake spatula. Sewell used the mini spatula to smear the liquid around Jack’s thumb. He opened the case, removed the small, thin piece of silicone and carefully placed it on Jack’s thumb.

“I don’t even want to know where you got that print, do I?”

Sewell shook his head. He used the tiny spatula to flatten the print onto Jack’s thumb and force any air bubbles out.

“Feels weird.” The amber liquid had made Jack’s thumb cool, but the silicone must have created a chemical reaction because it made his thumb heat up. It felt like his thumb had been dipped in hot wax.

Sewell held Jack’s thumb up, rubbed his finger over it and smiled. “That’ll do. We’ll be arriving in a few minutes. Follow my lead. Try not to say anything if you can help it. And try to act as if you belong there.”

Jack Wilson. Poet. Songwriter. Musician. Card-carrying government skeptic.
How am I supposed to act like I belong to Sturgis’ goon squad?
“I’ll do my best.”

“I hope you succeed. Your life likely depends on it.”

No pressure. “And what, exactly, am I to help this Anna Sturgis do?”

Sewell shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “You’re not going to like my answer.”

“Well, I’m on the train now. You’ve gotta tell me sooner or later.”

Sewell cleared his throat. “You will help Anna break Commander Sturgis out of prison.”

Jack nearly swallowed his own teeth. He laughed nervously. “You’re kidding, right? Good one, Mr. Sewell.”

Sewell wasn’t smiling.

“Wait. You’re not kidding?”

“I’m entirely serious.”

“What the – ? Why, Sewell? Commander Sturgis ordered me killed. As far as I can see, she’s exactly where she should be. I hope she rots there.”

Sewell took a deep breath and straightened himself up. “Perhaps you’re right. I can’t say that her attempt to have you terminated was the right call. But for the horror that’s about to be unleashed on this planet, we need her. All of us need her. And I need you to help me. That is the quid pro quo of which we spoke the other day. I got you out of A.H.D.N.A. You help me liberate Commander Sturgis.”

Jack was pretty sure he’d gotten the short end of the stick. His fate was once again, in a roundabout way, still tied to Commander Sturgis.
Maybe it’s better to tell him to shove it.
But if Sewell was right and not yanking his chain, then breaking Sturgis out of prison might be the only way he could protect his mom from whatever the greys planned to spring on them.
And maybe Sewell has a way I can communicate with Erika.

Xenos stepped slowly toward Erika. The diminutive creature was now only a few feet away. It was at least five inches shorter than Erika but a bit taller than the greys that had brought Dr. Randall. Its bulbous head wasn’t entirely bald like the greys but covered in long, stringy strands of thin hair that grew in patches. Xenos had more of a nose and a larger mouth than the greys and had tiny bumps of flesh on its chest.
Looks female.
It blinked its huge, dark eyes at Erika.

“What are you?” Erika asked.

“I am Infractus.”

“And the others? The ones that brought us here?”

“Conexus.”

So that’s what the greys call themselves.
“Why are you – different from the Conexus?”

The Infractus looked furtively over its shoulder and wrung its hands. It spoke in a soft whisper. “I am like you.”

Not exactly.
The being looked like a mix between Alecto and Tex. “You’re part grey – I mean Conexus – and part human?”

The Infractus nodded.

Ian and Dr. Randall got to their feet and stood on either side of Erika. “Dr. Randall, if they’ve already made a hybrid, then what do they need you for?” Erika asked.

“A good question.” Dr. Randall moved toward Xenos to get a closer look, and as he did, she shrank back from them. “We won’t hurt you.”

“Speak for yourself. I’m so hungry, I’d consider eating its bony ass,” Ian said.

The Infractus’ eyes grew wide and it backed up further.

“Ian, stop. He’s just kidding. You know. A joke?” Erika said.

Xenos shook her head.

“It was supposed to be funny.” Erika laughed a loud but fake laugh.

The Infractus’ eyes grew even wider and it looked toward the door.

“We’re not going to eat you. I’m Erika. This is Ian and Dr. Randall.”

“Maybe we’re not going to eat her, but we need to eat something. I’m so hungry my stomach is doubling back on itself. Any chance you have a restaurant nearby or a kitchen we could raid?” asked Ian.

Xenos stared at them with her huge black eyes.

“We need food. You know, something to eat.” Erika mimed a bowl in one hand and an eating utensil in the other and pretended to scoop food into her mouth. “You do eat, don’t you?”

Xenos tilted her head. “You request nourishment.”

“Yes, lots and lots of nourishment,” Ian said. He patted his stomach. “Anything resembling a cheeseburger will do.”

Erika hadn’t eaten meat since she was in middle school, but she’d be willing to make an exception to her self-imposed restriction against eating animal flesh if it meant food in her aching stomach.

“I will acquire nourishment for you so that you do not expire. Xenos will be severely punished if you expire.” She moved toward the door and waved her hands above her head and in front of her. The door slid open.

“Wait. Why would you be punished if something happened to us?”

“I have been assigned to care for you during your time here.” She moved quickly into the dark hall.

The door slid closed before Ian could get to it. He waved his hands in front of the door as they’d seen Xenos do, but the door remained closed.

“Maybe it reads fingerprints or something.”

“I guess,” Ian said. “Why do I feel like Hansel and Gretel being fattened by the witch?”

Erika had a similar feeling, though she didn’t want to speak it out loud. She didn’t think the Conexus were going to eat them, but she didn’t think they would take her home again, either. “I know one thing.”

“What’s that?” Ian asked.

“We need to get out of this room and find a way home. And that Infractus creature may be our ticket out of here.”

“She’s small. Probably easily overpowered. Unless she’s like Tex. Do you think she is?” Ian asked.

“Only one way to find out.”

Lillian Sturgis paced her jail cell like a neurotic panther in a zoo.
Apparently due process doesn’t apply to the former commander of A.H.D.N.A.
William Croft’s men had unceremoniously thrown her into the back of a white, windowless van and drove her away from everything that had given her life any meaning. She knew he wasn’t going to have her terminated. Croft was too pragmatic to kill someone who might be of use to him someday, no matter how much the person pissed him off. But being spared death was no consolation. Without her work to fill her days and occupy her mind, she’d go mad. And she’d rather be dead than have her father’s name sullied with the brand ‘traitor’.

As if to illustrate to Sturgis the breadth of his power, Croft had Sturgis sent to a military prison without so much as a hearing or video appearance before a judge. She didn’t get a phone call. There was no right to an attorney.

Sturgis hadn’t put up a fight. She’d lived a black-ops life. It was a world with its own peculiar rules but beholden to the law. Croft’s punishment was just the sort of thing she would have done. She knew the way out of her predicament was through outsmarting him at his own game, not by causing a scene.