United: An Alienated Novel (20 page)

“Nothing’s going on,” Jake said. “That’s the problem. We finished the project, and now it’s business as usual. Sometimes I catch her looking at me in the cafeteria, but she only talks to me if I ask her a direct question. I can’t get a read on her signals.”

“Ah, signals.” Cara understood all too well what he meant. “Here’s the thing. Humans and L’eihrs have different social cues. Our signals don’t match. She probably has no idea you like her.” That’d been the case with Elle and Troy. “Your best bet is to be direct.”

Jake cringed. “To come right out and say
Hey, I like you
?”

“Maybe not in those exact words. You could tell her how much you enjoyed her company when you two were working together, and then invite her to a game of dice in the common room so you can get to know each other better. Make it clear you want to find out if the two of you are compatible. That’s what most clones care about.”

The suggestion seemed to scare him more than his impending invasion of Planet Aribol.

“Look at it this way,” Cara said. “Both our species might be dead in a week. What have you got to lose?”

He tipped his head. “You know, that’s not a bad pickup line.”

“On that uplifting note, I should go. I need to schedule an appointment to deprogram the president.”

Jake cracked a grin. “As one does.”

“I know, right? Just another day in the life of Cara Sweeney.”

“Hey, by the way,” Jake said right before they disconnected, “thanks.”

“Anytime, Jake. Good luck to you.” She shut down the call and whispered, “Good luck to us both.”

The worst side effect of supersonic globetrotting was losing track of the days, closely followed by a level of exhaustion Cara liked to call “stupid tired,” in which she caught herself spreading cream cheese on her napkin instead of the bagel Larish had bought for her from the corner deli.

They were back in Manhattan, safely cloaked inside Aisly’s shuttle, while Syrine and Colonel Rutter met with the president and the Earth Council inside the United Nations building. The pair had only been gone for an hour, and though Syrine had successfully removed Aisly’s influence from three Council members, she had a long way to go before it was safe for Cara to go inside and meet with them.

So now there was nothing to do but wait.

“Ugh.” She found a smudge of cream cheese on her wrist and licked it off before remembering she hadn’t had a shower in two days. Or was it three? God, it hadn’t been four, had it? “I can’t eat this,” she said, holding up her naked bagel. “I’m too tired to chew.” She turned around and handed it to her brother in the backseat. “Want the rest?”

Troy had already eaten, but he never refused good food. He tore the bagel in half and offered part of it to Elle, who sat beside him rifling through a duffel bag she’d found in the rear hatch. Though Troy was only being polite, Elle gaped at him as if he’d dropped to one knee and thrust a diamond ring in her face.

“What?” he asked. “I didn’t lick it or anything.”

Elle scooted an inch toward the window. “I’m not hungry.”

Troy made a
suit-yourself
gesture and tore off a bite. He chewed contentedly for a few moments until he noticed Elle staring at him, and then he glanced at her, lowering one black brow.

“What?” he asked a second time.

“Nothing.”

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

She dropped her gaze to the duffel. “I’m not looking at you.”

He shook his head, muttering to himself about women.

Cara tried not to laugh. Ever since Elle had learned about Troy’s crush, she’d been studying him like he was a statue on display at the Louvre. Cara didn’t know if that was a good sign, but she figured it was her sisterly duty to give her brother a hand.

She winked at Aelyx and then said to Larish in the back, “Hey, do you mind switching seats with me? I need a nap, and there’s more room back there.”

“Certainly.”

They took turns climbing in between the front seats. Cara sat on the opposite end from Elle, putting Troy in the middle. She kicked off her flats and curled up on the seat, then pointed at her brother’s lap. “Can I use you as a pillow?” When the corners of his mouth pulled down, she added, “You
did
try to choke me today. Or yesterday. I can’t remember.”

He pushed her head down.

“And scoot over,” she said.

He moved an inch toward Elle.

“More.”

Another inch.

“A little more.”

“Keep it up, Pepper,” he grumbled, “and I’ll finish what I started.”

Since she’d already accomplished her goal, Cara didn’t press her luck. She rested her cheek on Troy’s lap and snuggled down a little farther into the seat cushion. Almost as soon as she closed her eyes, she felt herself drifting toward sleep, and then she was out.

“The president sends her deepest apologies for attacking you,” Colonel Rutter said later that afternoon when he escorted Cara inside the United Nations building and to the Earth Council headquarters on the thirtieth floor. “And for issuing the order to shoot you on sight.”

Cara scoffed. She’d expected an invitation to the White House for a weekend of groveling, but whatever.

“And,” the colonel continued, “she would appreciate it if you kept the details of the incident to yourself.” He whispered behind his hand, “She’s up for reelection.”

“My lips are sealed,” Cara promised. “As long as she calls a press conference to tell everyone I’m not a threat to national security.”

“It’s already in the works. We’re blaming the mistake on bad intel.”

Of course they were.
Politicians
. “Oh, and I want my blog fully restored—every single post, follower, and comment.”

“I’ll see to it personally.”

Rutter held the door open for her, and she preceded him into the Earth Council lobby. From what he’d said, a conference was already in session between Alona and the Council. Now that the world’s leaders had their marbles restored, there was a lot of catching up to do.

When Cara opened the conference room door, she found Alona’s hologram at the head of the table, but not in miniature form. Somehow she’d magnified her image to life-size, so she blended seamlessly with the dozens of other leaders seated around the long table. It was a wise strategy that demonstrated her understanding of human culture. Despite what people claimed, size mattered.

Alona noticed Cara, though her face remained impassive. “Welcome, Miss Sweeney. I’ve finished recounting the most recent events for the Council. They’re now aware that the last transport has arrived, and the L’eihr ambassador has been returned home. If Syrine, Aelyx, Larish, and Elyx’a remain hidden on Earth, the Aribol will have no reason to doubt we’ve complied with their demands.”

Unless Jaxen tells on us
, Cara thought. She doubted he would, because it wasn’t in his best interests. If the Aribol destroyed mankind, he’d have no one to rule. But despite that, she couldn’t deny his behavior had grown harder to predict. She never would’ve expected him to abandon Aisly.

The representative for the European Union raised his hand. “They’ll know when your Voyager ship arrives at their planet.”

“Irrelevant,” Alona dismissed. “As long as the Voyagers arrive before the deadline, we’re in no violation of the terms. The Aribol demanded the surrender of all intergalactic travel technology by a specific date. They didn’t expressly forbid exploration in the meantime. The official Voyager directive is to engage in peaceful negotiation with Aribol leaders. If the commander is unsuccessful, his orders are to surrender the ship.”

“But what about the crew?” Cara asked, thinking of Jake and the other human colonists she’d encouraged to volunteer for the mission. She’d had no idea about this. “They’ll be trapped there.”

“Assuming they’re not executed,” added the representative from China.

“Perhaps,” Alona droned. “They may die, they may be returned home, or the Aribol may use them to seed a new race. Regardless, I consider it a worthy risk.”

Cara was still trying to process the news when Alona added, “Now that you understand what has occurred during your … mental absence … I invite you to join me in conferring with the Aribol representative, Zane. The transmission will begin momentarily.”

Alona was full of surprises today.

“I ask you to remain silent while I lead the discussion. The less information we reveal, the better.” After scanning all the faces in the room as if to ensure their cooperation, Alona tapped a set of controls out of view, and Zane appeared, his head and shoulders floating above the middle of the table.

His image looked the same as Cara remembered, a masklike porcelain façade that loosely resembled a human face. She wished her Noven brain was capable of seeing his true form, because the curiosity was killing her.

Once again, his mouth remained sealed when he spoke. “Greetings, children.”

Cara fought back a shiver. His computerized voice was eerie.

“And to you,” Alona replied. She swept a hand toward the opposite end of the table, where Cara stood, not having found a vacant chair. “As you can see, my Chief Human Consultant has returned to her home planet. The colony is vacant, and the last intergalactic transport has returned to L’eihr. Once it is destroyed, your demands will have been met.”

“Not quite,” Zane told her. “We’ve discovered an error in our original calculations. When we destroyed your Voyager fleet, there was one ship unaccounted for. Where is it?”

Everyone in the room went collectively still, Alona included. The head Elder didn’t respond. She had to know that if she told Zane the truth, he would order the Voyagers to return home at once.

Cara thought fast for a way to dodge the question. On a whim, she employed a tactic she’d used countless times on her parents—deflection.

“The fleet
you
destroyed?” she asked Zane. “Don’t you mean Aisly? Because I know your secret. She was the one who blew up the spaceport. Oh, she’s dead, by the way. Whatever technology you gave her, it didn’t save her from the laws of physics. She fell into the phosphorus mine she was trying to destroy—on your orders, I assume. But you’ll be glad to know Jaxen’s still alive, wreaking havoc with the clone you made for him.” She narrowed her gaze. “A clone of
me
, which, for your information, I don’t appreciate very much.”

“None of this is relevant, young human.”

“It’s relevant to me,” Cara argued. “Me and everyone else on Earth. You call us your children, but look how you behave. You tear us away from our loved ones on L’eihr, and deny us the wonder of exploring new worlds. You send hybrids to our planet with the unchecked power to kill and destroy, the same hybrids who wanted to enslave mankind and use our people as an infantry against
you
in a preemptive attack. Are those the actions of a benevolent parent?”

Zane stared at her with shadowy eyes. “It is our wish to preserve the worlds we’ve seeded, but do not mistake our investment for paternal kindness. Not all gods are benevolent.”

Gods?

Cara drew back, struck by the weight of that word. Maybe she couldn’t remember the last time she’d confessed her sins or attended mass, but that didn’t make her beliefs any less sacred. Her faith had never wavered, not even when she’d learned of mankind’s Noven origins. She believed in a Creator for all living things, including the Aribol. She pointed at Zane and told him, “You are not my God.”

“As you wish. We do not require worship, only obedience.” His veneer swiveled to face Alona. “The next time we speak, you will account for the missing craft.”

Then he vanished.

The setting sun painted the sky in a kaleidoscope of pastels, but Aelyx didn’t stop to admire the view. He towed Cara by the hand up the front steps of the safe house porch, eager to claim one of the two existing showers before Elle, Syrine, and Larish beat him to it. He was so filthy he could scratch his name into the grit on his forearm.

The colonel had returned them to the woods in the interest of hiding the L’eihrs from view, and to ensure that news of their presence on Earth didn’t leak to the media, he’d reduced the security detail to a handful of guards with top-level government clearance. Bill and Eileen Sweeney were also on their way to join them, and if Aelyx hurried, he might be able to share a shower with Cara before her parents arrived … the kind that involved more than bathing.

But the instant he and Cara crossed the threshold, two pairs of arms pulled them into a hug and the questions began flying.
Are you okay? Where have you been? Why haven’t you called? We’ve been worried sick!
Then Eileen pulled back to inspect her daughter’s face and gasped in alarm. “Oh, Pepper. What happened to your face?”

This was why Aelyx had wanted to use the healing accelerant on Cara’s bruises. Her fight with the clone had blackened one eye, and her brother’s recent attack had left a purple, hand-shaped ring around her throat. The damage was only cosmetic, but it wouldn’t appear that way in the eyes of a parent.

“I’m fine,” Cara insisted. “Believe me, it could’ve been worse. In the last two days, I’ve been attacked by the president, punched by my clone, and strangled by my own br”—she cut off before saying
brother
and finished smoothly—“bracelet.” She held up her bare wrist. “It fell off in the desert and the clone tried to choke me with it.”

“That settles it, young lady,” Bill declared, folding his thick arms over his chest. “You’re not leaving this house again.”

Cara didn’t argue, likely because they’d achieved their goal of finding Jaxen’s ship, and now there was nothing to do until they heard from the Voyagers.

Troy and the others came bounding through the door. Larish made a beeline for the computer, Eileen snagged Troy in an embrace, and Elle and Syrine darted up the stairs to the bathrooms. Aelyx groaned. The girls would use all the hot water.

Bill clapped Troy on the shoulder. “I’m glad you looked out for your sister, son.”

Cara slid a look at her brother while coyly fingering her bruised neck, and Troy admitted, “We looked out for each other, really.”