Alien War

By Cassandra Morphy

Ousted from her home and sentenced to death by both sides, Scar Bron is left with few people that she could truly trust. Helping her long lost brother, and the band of humans that he had fallen in with, might be her only way forward, as the battle for the future of Earth starts in earnest. Only, perhaps, there is more going on in the slave camps than meets the eye.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Cassandra Morphy
• Release date: Dec 1, 2020
• ISBN: 9781005504915

Cassandra Morphy

Cassandra Morphy is a Business Data Analyst, working with numbers by day, but words by night. She grew up escaping the world, into the other realities of books, TV shows, and movies, and now she writes about those same worlds. Her only hope in life is to reach one person with her work, the way so many others had reached her. As a TV addict and avid movie goer, her entire life is just one big research project, focused on generating innovative ideas for worlds that don’t exist anywhere other than in her sick, twisted mind.

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Prologue

How We Got Here

David

It all started soon after you left. Everything seemed to work exactly as planned. Well, yes, the deaths of the people of Sector Five could have been reduced some. I think we lost about thirty-six percent of the population. That was... unfortunate. But we needed the smokescreen to get the device inside. The aliens wouldn't believe that we just let you go, or that you just... escaped. That just wasn't going to work. No, the only way they were going to let you in with the device was if one of their own was injured during an actual fight.

And that worked.

Once the two of you were inside, we pulled back. We regrouped. We waited. We didn't have to wait long. I knew exactly what was happening when we saw the lights from the fortress. And then the screaming started. Or, at least, I think it was screaming. Do the aliens scream?

Anyway, we waited until the light show was over and all sounds from the fortress faded. From my own analysis, and from what you've told me of their defenses, I knew that was the only opportunity we were going to have to get inside their fortress. There was a ladder stashed away in the forest just for that use. We had just enough time to get in, check out the place, verify that everyone was sucked into the portal, including you and Harry, and get out before the turrets came back online.

There were also a few away teams at strategic locations around the country, checking out other fortresses and setting up more of those devices. From their reports, while there were no aliens at those locations, their gates went off as expected. The entire network would have been destroyed. Everything was... perfect.

Except it wasn't. We didn't realize that at first, though.

Once everything checked out at the fortress in Sector Five, we started setting up everything that we were talking about. The trains were all ready. The tracks repaired as best we could manage while the aliens were watching. Food distribution was right on schedule. We even allowed for people to move around a little, reunifying several families that had been torn apart previously. We generally tried to put right what they destroyed.

A week after we banished the aliens, our first South American scouts reported back. Apparently, the slave camps down there weren't as liberated as we had hoped. All twenty-six camps that we had found in North America were free, but all reports of the camps in South America said it was business as usual. So, we had to do something about that. The aliens weren't going to just let us be. Not after what we did to them.

At first, we started to search for Merric. We knew that you were banished with the rest of the aliens, as you weren't inside the fortress when we went looking. He wasn't among the reported killed, but no one had seen him since before the attack on the fortress. There were quite a few missing in action after that initial onslaught. And, without knowing where to look for him, we were a bit at a loss. At least, at first.

But then, we heard reports of an asteroid impact in Arizona. Such a simple, stupid thing. Not usually worth our time to check it out. But, well, when you're dealing with aliens, nothing is impossible. So, we sent a scout to check it out. And what do you know, he reported a completely new alien base, set up in the middle of the desert.

Simon's first thought on this was it was an outpost for the southern aliens. They had come north to check on their allies and report back. Except the base was well fortified, far more so than anything in the north or south before this. On top of that, they weren't actually checking anything out. They seemed to be digging in for the long haul, without the use of any slave labor. It just... It didn’t make sense for what we knew of the aliens. There had to be something else going on.

At this point, Simon, Gibson, and I were in California, establishing farmland. So, we were in the neighborhood, so to speak. We headed down to Arizona to check it out. Sure enough, there they were, creating farmland in the desert. They were doing a much better job of it than we were in California, and that area was designed for it. Their work put us to shame. They... Anyway, it looked like this was a new group of aliens, not affiliated with anyone we had seen before. Except, they looked like the same ones. Their tech looked the same. I think our first thought was that they were some kind of offshoot, a group that didn't think it was right to enslave us.

But we were stuck with the same issues as before. We couldn't talk with them. Even when we tried, their response was just to shoot at us. We lost three more men there, but they didn’t chase after us. We took that as a good sign. Well, not a great sign. They were still shooting at us. But a good sign. It just meant that our original assessments of them were just, well, wrong. Most people think scientists don't like to be wrong, but we often learn just as much from being wrong as being right. Sometimes, we learn more.

And with knowing this group to be as hostile as the others, we kept a wide berth around the place while we continued to explore. We were able to determine that the asteroid fell to Earth right next to the new alien base, and that told us everything. Obviously, the base was occupied by the same aliens that we had only just banished from Earth. All our plans were for nothing. All the progress we had made would soon be just... erased. Suffice it to say that Simon was not happy about this whole development. It also meant that I was completely wrong on my assumptions of their limited travel capabilities. We will have to discuss that later, though I know you're tired.

Anyway, long story short--

Too late.

Yes, quite funny. Anyway, long story short, we spotted a few trails heading out of this new alien base. One heading north. One heading east. And one heading south. We sent a scouting group to the north, sent word back to our base in Sector Five about the one in the east, and headed south ourselves. Our hope was that you had somehow survived your time with the aliens and had returned to Earth with them. Hopefully in a more cooperative mood. Clearly that hope was for naught. But, well, to each their own.

But luck had it that you were in the group in the south. It was easy enough to get together a few dummy ships as a distraction, heading towards the new fortress from the south. Those new turrets of theirs are vicious, so we thought that we had to take a few of them out. That didn't go all that well either. Then they just started shooting the desert, which made no sense to us at all. That was not the response we were expecting them to have to our little ploy. But, eventually, one of them must have spotted the ships and headed off towards them. Their whole shoot at everything that doesn't move thing worked in our favor as the boats completely distracted them.

And, well, you know the rest. We came to rescue you, and came out with a few prisoners to boot.

Chapter One

Imprisoned

Scar

So, let me get this straight, I said. I held up my finger as David finished his little explanation of how they found us. You heard about the base in Arizona when you were in California. You went there. Then you simply tracked us south and found us here?

Yes, that more or less sums it up, David said. He nodded emphatically to my much simpler explanation.

As he nodded, his head brushed against the low ceiling above him. David was a few inches taller than me. However, since I grew up around the gigantic delnadians, I was used to being smaller. It seemed weird that I didn't have to look too far up to look into his eyes. Then again, I didn't often look up to humans.

How? I asked. How is it that you found us so quickly? We only just made it to the southern base yesterday. Wait, is it still today? I can't tell how late it is right now with no windows in here.

Well, it's always today, David said. He looked at me with a funny expression, as if wondering just how dumb I really was. I didn’t need the very human scientist to tell me that. But, yes, it's still the same day that we rescued you. They should be coming down with dinner soon.

I nodded at him as I sat back on the cot behind me. The cell I was in was only slightly larger than the one they had me in when they kidnapped me near Sector Five. This time, however, I was alone. I wasn't entirely sure I liked that idea. Sora and Harry were somewhere else on the base. David wasn't telling me where exactly. I had a feeling that was a bad thing.

The sounds of the place were off. They were just wrong. It wasn't the dull quiet of the underground base they had me in before. There were no hushed conversations just outside of view either. The sounds that came to me at random intervals were... Well, they were completely new to me. The loudest ones were almost like a groan, as if we were swallowed whole by some large monster that wasn't digesting us properly. On top of that, there was an almost constant thump, thump, thump, thump that repeated endlessly like a very fast heartbeat. More evidence that we were inside something very large and very alive.

But David didn't seem the least bit worried about our current situation as he explained the hows and whys of my rescue.

What I just don't understand... What I can't quite figure out is how you managed to get down here so fast. Like I said, we just got here yesterday. It wasn't like we were taking our time, either. Was it just that we were going in a caravan and it was just the six of you? Or did you have some fast rover... thing.

Um... The latter, David said. He gestured around us to the space he was standing in, just outside of my cell.

I looked around the room more, searching for the rover that would have gotten them down there that fast. The room was small, with space for my own cell and another across from me. The path between was barely large enough for David. I figured that the reason why they weren't holding Sora and Harry down there was because the two delnadians wouldn't fit in the small space. I hoped that they hadn't left them behind... or killed them when I wasn't looking. That was just the thing for these wild humans to do.

What was very noticeably lacking from the room, though, was any sign of a vehicle of any kind. The path between the cells ended at the door to the room in one direction, and a solid metal wall in the other. There was nothing else in there besides the cells. Whatever David was motioning towards, it was nowhere to be seen.

No, David said, drawing my attention back to him. I hoped he was going to actually explain something, like the rover was somehow invisible and could move through the solid metal walls without issue. We are in the... rover, as you call them. It's called a submarine. It's... Well, it's something of a boat. It's how Brian was able to get up from Florida so quickly after the failed attack there. It's how we've been able to move around the coast of the country within a few days. Granted, we actually took the train from California to Phoenix, and walked to the Arizona base from there. But the sub went around to pick us up along the coast afterwards. You do know that you guys set up against the ocean, right? A few well-placed ships are going to just decimate your fortress. I thought these aliens were supposed to be smarter than us.

They are smarter than us, I said, defensively.

Listening to the man talk for the past few minutes reminded me just how much I hated him and his ilk. How much I feared them. They represented everything that I was against. They were the dangerous ones. The monsters hellbent on death and destruction. They just couldn't see everything that the delnadians had brought to this world.

They're smarter than us in every way possible. Of course, they knew they were building against the sea. Of course, they knew that would leave themselves vulnerable to attack from the water. I'm sure that, had they known you had a sub... thingy, they would have built their base somewhere else.

A submarine, David supplied. He laughed openly at me. At how flustered I got defending my friends. My people. It wasn't funny. You seem to forget just whose side you were on.

I know exactly whose side I'm on. I'm on theirs. I'm on the side against you.

From what we had seen, that side had just sentenced you to death. Trust me, I know how that looks.

Yea, I said. I know you do. From when you guys did it to me.

I glared at him. At the reminder of when his people had tried me for treason. Treason against the humans. As if that were even possible. My allegiances were clear. They had been since the delnadians had come over twenty years earlier. They came from above and saved us from ourselves. Any betrayal of them, that would be the treason. That would be the injustice.

And yet, I did betray them.

That wasn't what I was being executed for, but I had betrayed the delnadians. These wild humans had forced me to. They had forced me to take their strange device into the complex in Sector Five. That device had almost caused the extinction of the entire delnadian race. There weren't many left of them. They were the endangered species. It was their safety that I was worried about. Not that of these wild humans. Not of myself.

Yea, well, I felt sorry for all of that, David said. His small apology did little to stymie my just rage. I also felt sorry for lying to you about keeping you and Harry here on Earth. I didn't know about that part of the plan, but that was just wrong. We wanted to save you from being punished for something we forced you to do. Well, some of us did. Not Simon. But, well, Simon's an ass.

The whole lot of you seem to be made up of asses, I said. While my hatred of him lingered, my bluster was slowly fading. I stepped away from the bars of the cell, sitting down heavily in the cot against the wall. It had been a long couple of days, and I hadn't had a decent night's sleep since leaving the Delnadian homeworld over a month earlier. I looked around for a clock, some indicator of the time. The metal walls of the room were all a sparse, flat, empty gray. They were the same color as the bars and the cots themselves. The only color in the entire room was from David and me. I didn't like that comparison. That similarity between us. It linked us far closer than anything else did.

Again, I'm sorry for that, David said. He was making it rather difficult to stay mad at him. Capitulating like that. I had to keep reminding myself that he was trying to kill all my friends. My family. My people.

In any case, the delnadians don't even know about my hand in our banishment to the homeworld. I would have been dead a long time ago, and they'd be looking for another translator.

Another translator? David asked. This seemed to surprise him more than anything I had ever said to him. So, they are going to try to re-enslave us? Damn it. Simon was right. I guess I owe him that twenty dollars. Not that money means anything right now. But, in a few years... Well, not if the aliens have their way.

They're not going to re-enslave you, I said. I shook my head, annoyed that that was his first assumption. But that was his way of thinking of them. He had never actually interacted with a delnadian, other than sticking a gun in their face. We were going to try to communicate with you, once both sides had a chance to calm down. I mean, seriously, do you have any idea how many delnadians you've killed?

That we've killed? David asked. Suddenly, he had lost his eternal calm. He became the wild and dangerous creature that all wild humans were. Do you have any idea how many humans they've killed? They kill for no reason. They have no morals. They enslaved an entire race of people. They're dangerous monsters.

The same can be said about you, I said. As the discussion turned heated again, I sprang back to my feet. I wanted to reach through those bars, to strangle the man with my bare hands. I just wished I had the strength of a delnadian. Even a scientist delnadian like Harry could rip this infuriating human apart. If only I had been born a delnadian instead of a human, everything would be perfect in my life.

I wouldn't be stuck in that cell, staring at the most annoying man on the planet. I wouldn't have been arrested and condemned for loving the wrong man. For loving Harry. I wouldn't have been seen as a traitor to other humans. I'd be strong, fast, smart, powerful. And, more than that, I'd be a normal member of the Delnadian Empire, not just a third-class citizen. An interloper. A pet.

We kill in defense of our planet. We kill to free our people. We kill to survive. What's their excuse? Huh? Why is us killing them so much more of a crime than them killing us?

Of course, it was more of a crime. There were only a handful of delnadians left in the universe. Barely a few hundred. Less than three hundred at last count. And only ten of them were females. The delnadians were an endangered species, one that needed to be protected from the likes of the humans. They had destroyed their own world often enough. They destroyed the delnadians' world as well, without even knowing it. Even if a human had been as strong and smart and long lived as a delnadian, killing one delnadian was worse than killing a thousand humans.

It was sheer percentages, something I learned before leaving human school when I was eight.

But I couldn't tell him that. I couldn't throw that fact in his face. That was classified information. Something that outsiders, like these wild humans so obviously were, shouldn't know. They'd only use it against us. If they knew how few of us were left, they'd eradicate the lot of us. They'd kill us all and sleep well that night.

There was one thing I could say in our defense, though. The delnadians only kill for defense as well. You attacked us, not the other way around.

Really? David asked. Really? Your... The delnadians enslaved humanity.

They saved us, I said. We were destroyed after the flash of light in the sky. They helped us get back on our feet. They gave us order, stability. Something we didn't have once our society fell apart like that.

We were getting there on our own without them, David said. So what if it took longer than two years? So what if we needed some time to get things back in order? Simon and his group were stuck under New York for most of that first year. They were bringing things back when those aliens showed up. Besides, what about those deaths that weren't in defense? Huh? What about... That foreman in Sector Five? Him and his lover lying naked on the floor? Were they a danger to the aliens?

Yes, I said. I knew that was a lie. A stretch at least. The delnadians had a reason for killing the two men. I doubted that David would consider it a valid reason. I barely did.

Well? David asked. I'm listening.

He smiled over at me, in full gloat mode. It looked like he thought that he had caught me. That he had found some chink in my armor, in my defense of the delnadians. It had been the proverbial straw for the camp humans, the miners and their families that lived and worked in Sector Five. The humans that were expected to be in the area, not these wild humans. These interlopers. These dangerous criminals. These... insurgents.

Well... Delnadians consider... same sex partnerships a perversion. One that needs to be eradicated from the gene pool before it spreads. It's a relatively new concept to them, something that hadn't happened in their people until recently.

Like a hundred years ago, recently. Only since the event. The strange event that had destroyed their homeworld. The strange event that had somehow started on Earth, by the humans. Of course, they would spread their own perversion between the species. But then, I didn't really see anything wrong with that perversion. Not necessarily something that needed to be eradicated. Not like the delnadians did.

Huh, David said. He seemed surprised by my explanation. As he thought it over, though, his look of surprise gradually turned to one of humor. Ha, he laughed. Ha, ha, ha. Oh, that's rich. I'll bet that's it. Isn't it? That's why they were executing you. They found out about you and Harry.

The thing that I hated the most about David was how clever he was. How quick he was to pick up on things. He had to be, considering it was him that had figured out the gates. He had been the one to figure out that slapping two of the remotes together and sticking them on one of the Delnadian gates would cause it to overload. That it would cause all of them to overload and pull everyone close enough to the gates through them. Of course, that included almost all of the delnadians. All but Paul, Merric's boyfriend, and maybe one or two others that were still out there somewhere.

And yet, you still defend them. You still love these people that sentenced you to death for loving the wrong person. What happened to you? Why are you like this? Don't you have any amount of self-respect? Self-worth? You're better than this. You're better than them. You deserve better. You deserve...

I deserve what? I asked. I deserve to be one of you? To go around killing people because they're different? Because you don't agree with them? No thanks.

Well, you'll get there eventually, David said.

As he said that, the door to the room let out a low squeak. The wheel in the center started to spin of its own accord. It whined as it did so, sounding like metal bashing against metal, both sides fighting for dominance where there was none to be had. When it stopped, the door swung inward, slamming against the bars to my cell. To my cage.

I hope I'm not interrupting anything, came a familiar voice through the now open door. Gibson, my brother, stepped through the doorway into my prison. He was holding a metal tray, balanced carefully on his left hand. His right was still on the door, holding his balance. It was like he was expecting the ground to suddenly shift beneath his feet. I wasn't quite sure where that came from. The place seemed sturdy enough to me.

Perfect timing as always, David said. I was just leaving. I have tons of things to tell Simon. It's been... interesting as always.

He grinned over at me maliciously. I could practically see him salivating at all the tidbits I told him over the past few minutes. Never mind that I hadn't told him anything. Never mind that he had given me far more information about the wild humans' network than I even knew about the delnadian one.

Of course, I had to consider the source. I already knew that these wild humans lie. They had lied before, when I first encountered them. They lied about wanting me dead. About Harry and me not being sucked into the portal like the rest of them. Even the information I got from them last time turned out to be false. Like how there were supposedly hundreds of delnadian sectors, when I knew there were only twenty-six. Back when there were any at all.

Lies within lies.

I watched as David and Gibson tried to maneuver around in the small quarters. Gibson ended up sticking the metal tray through the slot into my cell, before pressing himself against the bars. Even then, it was a tight squeeze as David made his way to the door. Once they had managed to swap places, I wondered why Gibson hadn't just gone back outside to let David get out first.

David closed the door behind him as he left. The door clanged loudly as it slammed back into place. I stood there, quietly, watching as the wheel in the middle turned back. I wasn't sure just what the wheel did, or why it was there, but I hoped our discussion wouldn't be heard outside once it was closed.

Don't mind him, Gibson said, once we were alone. David has always been a bit single-minded. Focused behind question. Or, at least, for as long as I've known him.

He held the tray in place, waiting for me to take it. I stood there, staring down at the food, wondering if anything there was even remotely edible. I remembered what they had served me last time, something between oatmeal and cement. This time, though, they seemed to have actual food. Carrots, potatoes, a slab of meat that look remarkably like pork. It was better food than the delnadians had had over the past couple of months.

Thanks, I said, as I took the tray from him. There were no utensils on the tray, but that didn't stop me. I was too hungry for that to stop me.

I hadn't eaten since the evening before. The breakfast that the delnadians had brought me that morning hadn't drawn my attention away from my looming trial. Our execution was set for noon, too early for lunch. And the humans hadn't stopped to eat after grabbing us. I tried to make the food last, to let it sit and fill me up properly. And yet, the tray was empty before I could blink.

Do those aliens not feed you? Gibson asked. Well, you don't have to worry about them anymore. You're with us now.

Yea, right, I said. I tapped on the bars to my cell, drawing attention to the fact that I was in there.

That's just temporary. Once we know you're not going to try to run away from us, we'll let you walk around a little.

Us, I said. We. I still can't believe you got mixed up with these... people.

You're one to talk, Gibson said. He smiled down at me, eternally my big brother. What happened to my little Scar-scar? My cute, little sister with pigtails?

I haven't had pigtails since the light in the sky. Not since those weird hairpins stopped working. I laughed at the reminder of simpler times, of a world filled with magic and wonder. When the light in the sky happened, when Apophis was destroyed, all the magic faded from the world.

And now, you hang around with monsters.

Uh, I think you got it backwards, I said.

Agree to disagree, he said, smiling. Anyway, now that you've finished... inhaling dinner, I've been granted permission to take you around this place a little. Stretch your legs a bit and all that. Not that we can go far. We're still submerged right now. But, still, walking around the boat is better than being stuck in this cell, right?

Wait... Submerged? Into what?

Chapter Two

Submarine

I hadn't seen much of the place as I was brought through to my cell. Soon after they rescued me from my execution, the wild humans had placed blindfolds on the three of us. I still wasn't sure what exactly a submarine was. That wasn't something I was about to find out anytime soon.

Instead of the place opening up once I got out of the jail, the place seemed to get even more claustrophobic. Barely a few feet away from the door was this large, cylindrical wall. I had no idea what the thing was. What its use was. My best guess was that it had something to do with holding the roof up or something along those lines. I felt like a proper wall would have done a better job of it. There were several of these things all up and down the space that I was in. They were painted a strange reddish brown color, as opposed to the grey of all the other walls around me.

Gibson seemed to keep a wide berth away from the strange walls as he led the way towards our left. The room opened up past the second cylinder that way, but not by much. The far wall came up in front of us before we could get much further than that. There was another door on our left, between the last cylinder and the wall. But Gibson kept heading further into the place. He turned, following the far wall, and led the way through yet another door.

Where are we going? I asked, as I followed him through the place. He was oddly quiet the entire time. I didn't remember him being that quiet, ever. Then again, it wasn't like I had spent much time with him since finding him again. The wild humans could have done all manner of things to him to get him to comply to their rule. Maybe that was why he was with them, instead of finding me with the delnadians.

It's not far, Gibson said. Well, it's not like there's much to the place. He paused next to a pair of doors, on either side of the hallway that we were standing in. Actually, I was wondering something. Have you ever actually seen one of the alien ships? I mean, did they bring you up to one of them at some point?

I paused for a moment, trying to think of how to best answer that question. While I had learned a lot about the Delnadian Empire, about what had happened to the delnadian people in recent years, most of it would be closely held secrets when it came to discussing things with the wild humans. A lot had been considered classified when I was growing up, things that they just wouldn't discuss when I was around them. Even though Gibson was my brother, I knew that anything I told him would be reported to the wild humans that had pulled him to their cause.

Well, yes, and no, I said, thinking it safe enough to answer some of his question. One of their ships was... decommissioned at one point. They took it apart and built the complex in Sector Five with it. I think the main building was basically several floors of a section of their ship.

Oh, cool, Gibson said. He smiled broadly, his eyes lighting up as if the whole thing were the most amazing thing he had ever heard of. So, is it like this place then? They keep telling me that the sub would be like a spaceship, with needing to be as small as possible and everything.

No, I said. Not really. This place is far smaller than the main building back home. For one thing, you can barely get past one another when walking in opposite directions in here.

Yea, it's a bit snug, Gibson nodded. He looked back and forth down the small hallway. I wasn't sure what he was looking for, or if he was just checking out the place.

Plus, delnadians are much bigger than humans. Their ships would be sized for them, not us.

I'll say. It was almost impossible to get those two aliens onboard.

Wait, you didn't leave them behind, did you? I asked. I looked back the way we came, almost expecting to see Harry right behind me. All I knew was that he wasn't being held in the same place as I had been.

I wasn't sure how I felt about the idea of Harry and Sora not being on the ship. On the one hand, if they weren't being held by the wild humans anymore, then they would be safe. They'd be free. They could return to the southern base and live their lives like normal. Like if Harry had never fallen for me in the first place. Maybe the delnadian leaders, Forester, Stond, Son, and Cara, would forgive his little dalliances with me. If he was able to convince them that it wasn't real. That he was just playing with me. To them, I was his pet, after all.

On the other hand, I wanted to see Harry. I wanted to be with him. I loved him, and he loved me. If he wasn't on the ship, if he was left behind, the delnadians might just follow through with the execution. Worse, maybe the wild humans had just killed the both of them, rather than bothering to bring them along or set them free. Even if it hadn't been Simon, David, and Brian that had killed him, we knew there was another base of these wild humans in the area. That was why they built the walls around the southern base, trying to stave off the humans just around the corner from us. Of course, we should have built along the water as well.

No, no, no, Gibson said. He waved off my concern like it was nothing. Like I was the weird one for caring about them. They're onboard, in the aft section. They wouldn't fit in the normal hatches, though. The hatch back there is bigger. Don't worry. They're not going to leave your boyfriend behind.

Thanks, I said, honestly relieved by that.

They knew that without him, they'd have nothing to hold over you.

And, with that happy thought, Gibson led the way further down the hallway.

The hall split off to the left again, just past the first set of doors. Gibson just continued onward though, past a stairwell and into the cafeteria. There were several people sitting at the tables there, most of whom I had never seen before. The new people all wore matching uniforms, an odd jumble of greys and blues. They clustered around the first two tables, having animated discussions as they ate dinner. As soon as I came in, though, they went silent. All eyes turned to me as I suddenly became the center of attention.

That is, everyone except one. Brian was sitting at the far table by himself. His head was bowed over the tray in front of him. Like David and Gibson, Brian wasn't wearing the uniform. He was in normal street clothes, worn and ragged with age. As Gibson moved to join him, I stayed behind, keeping to the edge of the room. I felt it safer to join the strangers than the man that had kidnapped me the first time.

What? Gibson asked, when he noticed that I wasn't following him.

Brian? Really? I asked, gesturing towards the man. Can't we go somewhere else? Can we go see Harry and Sora? I want to make sure they're alright. I want to check that your people aren't abusing mine.

They're fine, Gibson said. I checked on them myself before coming to visit you. Harry said for you not to worry about them. I still can't believe that that one can speak English. He shook his head in wonder at that simple thought.

Well, why wouldn't they? I asked. They are far smarter than we are. It's not like English is that hard to learn. Delnadian isn't that hard, either. Maybe I can teach you.

Maybe, he said, smiling. Not tonight, though. It's been a long day, what with saving you from those far smarter people. Come on.

I'm not sitting with Brian, I said, pointing at the man.

Why not? He's my friend.

He's my enemy. How can you not see that?

Because I wasn't brainwashed by aliens.

Forget it, I said, with a huff. I'll go looking for Harry and Sora. You don't need to babysit me.

Actually, I do, Gibson said. He reached out, grabbing me by my arm before I could get even a step away from him. You're my responsibility. I can't have you go wandering around on your own.

Then put me back in my cell, if you're so worried about me wandering around the place. If you're so worried about me breaking your sub thingy. I don't even know what this thing is, or how it's a rover or craft or ship or whatever it is.

It's a boat, said one of the uniformed men sitting near us. Ships are big enough to carry other crafts. This sub might not be big, but she's gotten men like us through a lot of hard years. A lot more than you've seen in your short life.

I looked over at the man, wondering just what he would be talking about. He had a tone to his voice that suggested he was far older than he looked. Judging by his greying beard and thinning hair, I would have placed him closer to fifty, maybe as old as sixty. He would have been our parents' age, had they survived the destruction of Apophis. And yet, he was easily the oldest one there. The rest of the crew seemed closer to my age. Twenties and thirties all. Clearly, they were recruited from the wild humans. None of them could have been on that ship, that boat, since Apophis was destroyed. Never