18

“The quartz are coming,” I told Amelia and the others.

“What? But they’re in space!” Amelia exclaimed.

“No, the one coming out of China.”

“I thought the Chinese fucked them up.”

“Apparently not. They must be tracking my movement, waiting for me to come down the planet again, or maybe until they repaired their ship.”

“But why? They could have fought us at the station. They have the numbers.”

“Come to think of it; they’ve been actively avoiding the stations from the beginning. Only when I showed up that they started to flee the planet and hide across the solar system.”

“So, what made this one come out?” Freddie asked.

“I don’t know, but I am not waiting to find out.”

“Well, there’s one thing that I’m sure of. They’re afraid of you,” Amelia said.

I didn’t know whether that should make me feel better. If these aliens knew to fear me, they knew what a forerunner could do, which meant it had encountered Prime before (maybe the other forerunner races?). Perhaps they’ve met a primordial version of him, controlled by another forerunner. Prime insinuated I had many predecessors, but the exact number was classified. He didn’t want to give up any detailed information about their respective species, not even the Class 4 Guruta Hegemony and the two other forerunners in this sector.

I checked on Daniel and Isaac, who had just finished packing their clothes. My dad only had a small one while Meredith packed two luggage worth and anything she could find in the house: toiletries, pictures, pillows, beddings, towels, plates, cups, and more food. I told my dad that the cops and the aliens were coming, and he hurriedly went back to his office and got out all the documents he had stored up in the safe and some cash and jewelry.

“Make sure you’re out on the front porch in one minute. The sheriff is coming, and there might be trouble coming from our visitors.”

“Go on ahead. I’ll have to grab some things in here,” Dad said.

“And Freddie, watch over my family?” I asked.

“You can count on me, staff sergeant,” Freddie said.

I walked out of the office. There was no point in hiding it now. I ordered Prime to bring the ship by the driveway since it had plenty of space to land. Out front, I saw Amelia arguing with her dad and Tyler just as the first couple of police cars arrived down the driveway.

“This is gonna be interesting,” I muttered to myself. “Everyone ready?” I shouted across the house. Daniel and Isaac came running out front to join me on the porch while Meredith said she needed another minute. I wondered what was taking my dad longer in his office.

“Sheriff! Right here, sheriff!” Tyler ran down the driveway, hailing the first police car approaching my house.

“Tyler! Come back here!” Gaius shouted. It seemed he wasn’t too happy that Tyler called the cops. Even Amelia matched his expression.

Amelia turned toward me in a panic. “Sheriff Goodwin called in the FBI and Homeland Security. They’ve been here watching over our families since our abduct—sorry. Since we went up there.”

“In town?”

“Without our families knowing. Goodwin let it slip he was bringing the feds when Tyler called him.”

The police car—the sheriff’s—stopped merely fifty feet from my house, and Sheriff Goodwin jumped out of the driver’s seat, gun already in his hand, followed by Deputy Garrett from the other side.

“This better not be some sick joke, Hansen,” Sheriff Goodwin said, annoyed.

“It’s them! They’ve come back!” Tyler pointed at Amelia and me.

“I’m bringing the whole cavalry down here, so you better not waste their time.” Sheriff Goodwin stopped in his tracks and studied me. “That you, Segerstrom? You don’t look quite hurt for someone abducted by aliens—” Suddenly, his eyes widened as he looked up. Prime hovered above me now, trying to protect me.

Goodwin bent his knees and aimed his gun at Prime. “What the fuck is that, Segerstrom?”

“Calm down, sheriff! He’s friendly!” I shouted.

“Tony, get the hell away from that thing!” Deputy Garrett cried out and hid behind the open passenger door. He quickly turned on his radio and called for backup.

Behind them, six more vehicles arrived, but the latter two were black SUVs with heavily tinted windows, and the men that came out of them wore dark suits and body armor. One was a tall man in his mid-thirties with short blond hair, blue eyes, and a clean-shaven face, though he carried himself with a slight slouch as he approached the sheriff’s vehicle, his badge gleamed from his belt. The Asian woman about his age followed close, long black hair tied up in a ponytail and sunglasses covering her eyes. They both wore those dark blue jackets with FBI stamped on them.

“There’s trouble,” Amelia whispered to me.

“I’ll handle this. And Prime, back off.”

“There are hostiles in the area. ETA of the quartz ship is in four minutes,” Prime said.

“Yeah, yeah. Land the ship in the backyard. It’d be a tight squeeze, but it can fit. Amelia, Freddie, get my family out of here, okay?”

“Alright. Be careful.” She grabbed Daniel and Isaac back into the house while Meredith and Gaius followed. However, Prime wouldn’t leave my side.

“Do you have a death wish?” I asked.

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“My main databank is not on this unit, forerunner. This physical form is expandable. I can always make a new one.”

“Yeah, well, have you ever thought that maybe I don’t want to leave a piece of you behind?”

“I doubt they’ll be able to replicate my core mainframe from strings of wires and bundles of metal, forerunner.”

Although that’s nice to hear, it still made me uncomfortable.

The two FBI agents approached us, flanked by Sheriff Goodwin and a few more agents. They stopped thirty feet away from me and looked up, their hands instinctively grabbing hold of their gun. I didn’t bother to turn around to see my ship coming out of the forest and landing behind the house. I just needed time for my family and the others to get on board.

“Good morning, officers and agents,” I said warmly, raising my hands to be as non-threatening as possible. Prime’s presence was not helping. Don’t do anything stupid, Prime.

I do not understand the statement, he said.

I heaved a shaky sigh, dreading that I might die because of him. If you shift a single inch, they’ll shoot you.

They will not shoot, he reassured me.

Tyler took cover behind Gaius’s truck. “He’s one of ’em! Get him!” He shouted.

A hint of recognition crossed the tall blond man’s face. He pulled out his badge. “Staff Sergeant Anton Segerstrom, am I right? My name is Special Agent Andrew Finley. This is Special Agent Trina Phan. You need to come with us.”

“What for?” Keep stalling.

A chuckle. “Well, for one, you are quite famous being abducted by aliens. Don’t you remember? You are all over the news. You and your squad. Quite a story.”

“I remember just fine, Agent Finley, and my men are safe. You can tell their families that.”

“That’s good to hear.” He cautiously stepped forward.

“A lot of people have been praying and wishing for your safe return. We have a few questions and maybe about that friend of yours,” Agent Phan said. “We got a professional medical team ready to evaluate everyone’s health after the incident, especially after your encounter with the lights.”

“No, thanks, Agent Phan. I actually feel great.”

“What do you have there?” Finley nodded over to Prime.

“Oh, this? I picked him up along the way.”

Another step. “How so?”

“The antique store.”

I did not come from an antique store, forerunner, Prime said. Is there a problem with your memory?

Agent Finley and Agent Phan gave each other a worried look. “Okay, well, why don’t you send the address so I can visit this store sometime,” Phan chuckled.

“Must be some store to find an ugly fucker like that,” Finley said.

“Well, agents, you’d be surprised what else you can find that are thousands of years old, ugly or not. I’m still getting used to it myself.”

“You said he’s a he? Your robot friend chose those pronouns?”

“He chose a male voice to communicate with me, so I gave him those pronouns.”

“Are you saying that thing’s alive?”

“You’re looking at it, aren’t you? You tell me.”

Another step. The other agents formed a perimeter around me, though they hadn’t come closer to the house. They had to go through me first.

“So, you chance upon an alien that happens to be on the side of humanity?” Finley was stalling, too. I could sense it. “That’s awfully convenient, don’t you think, staff sergeant?”

I shrugged. “Life’s a ball of coincidences, Agent Finley. I don’t think the universe is exempt from it.”

Another step. “Quit stalling, kid. Where’d your family go to?” He cocked his head toward the parked ship behind the house.

“None of your business. This is our property, after all.”

Finley raised his eyebrow. “The ship, too?”

I tried to relax. Be as cool as I can be. “Yes. Even that thing is my property. I’d ask you to leave now, agents. You’re trespassing.”

“Not if we have a warrant.”

“That fast? I doubt it.”

“We’re feds, staff sergeant. We can do anything.”

All personnel accounted for, forerunner, Prime said in my head. Male hostile is fifteen away. Shall I perform a non-lethal strike?

No, Prime. Stand down. “I wouldn’t get too close, officer.” I lowered my voice.

All personnel accounted for, forerunner, Prime said in my head. Male hostile is fifteen away. Shall I perform a non-lethal strike?

“I wouldn’t get too close, officer.”

“Is that a threat?”

“No. This is for your safety. For everyone’s safety.”

“I can handle myself.”

I thinned my lips. “Against him? I highly doubt that, agent.”

“Are you saying it’s a threat?”

“Not to me. To you and the others…sure, if you all go any further.”

His eyes narrowed. “I’ve seen weirder shit, kid. That thing doesn’t phase me.”

“I guarantee it. He bites if you take one more step.”

“Now, I consider that as a threat, Mr. Segerstrom.”

The quartz ship is approaching in twenty seconds.

“Here’s what’s gonna happen, agent. An enemy ship is coming from the west and will be on top of us if you don’t let me go and get back to my ship. If you let me go, I save everyone. If you don’t, you’ll watch your men die.”

“Did you say your ship?”

“I don’t have the time for twenty questions, agent. Let me go, and your men will live.”

They are here.

I pointed to the western horizon. “Don’t focus your eyes on me, sir. Focus on the real threat.”

The quartz ship quietly broke through the clouds, decelerating until it drifted just two hundred feet from the property. I could feel the thrum of my ship’s cannons aiming at them, the nanites inside my body loudly whispering of the impending threat, combing with adrenaline as they readied for combat.

The federal agents and the cops aimed their guns at the slowly approaching vessel. With its missing quartz-like skyscrapers from the back, I recognized that this was the same vessel that attacked Beijing. I’m impressed at their insistence to engage me, but now they caught me in an awkward position. If I ran, they’d fire six beams at my location in three seconds. I wasn’t planning on becoming minced meat today.

Suddenly, Prime chimed in. The quartz ship is hailing you, forerunner.

I turned to Prime, confused. “What?”

They want a parlay.

Did I hear Prime right? I stood frozen on the spot, studying the hovering vessel ahead. They did not aim their weapons at us, but it could be a trick to lure me in. The cops were distracted by the new arrival, and even Agent Phan and Finley had their guns drawn at it.

Prime, lift the ship thirty feet above my house, and keep the cargo doors open. On my signal, carry me to the ship, I thought.

Affirmative.

The ship rose from the backyard and drifted to where I instructed it to go. Though the ship was a lot quieter than an airplane’s engines, it still left quite a hiss as a strong gust blew through the driveway. Agent Finley pointed the gun at it, then at me. He wasn’t so sure what to do next.

“Staff Sergeant Segerstrom! What the hell is this?” Panic rose in Finley’s throat.

“I’m not the enemy, agent,” I said.

“You need to come with us now.”

“No, you all need to get out of here!”

Forerunner, you must activate your nanites, Prime said in my head. The police officers are about to fire on you.

“H-how do I—”

You’ve been attuned to the nanites in your body for three days. You can control them.

But I didn’t know how. Prime went quiet for a moment until holographic words appeared on my periphery. Looking at Agent Phan and Agent Finley, they didn’t seem to notice it.

I have projected an interface within your occipital lobe and manipulated your optic nerve, forerunner, Prime said.

Hovering just to the right of my vision was an option to trigger a [Cloud Barrier]. I had no idea what it would do, but Prime insisted I use it. Whatever it was, I needed to get back on the ship pronto.

“This is your last warning, staff sergeant. Get away from that thing now,” Agent Phan shouted. Her radio crackled to life with a couple more voices, realizing that there were probably agents hiding by the treelined, waiting for a signal.

I was running out of time.

Prime, now!

Prime wrapped his mechanical arm around my torso and yanked me upward. Agent Finley lunged forward, but Prime was too fast. Finley fell face-first on the gravel with a loud yelp. Deputy Garrett and Sheriff Goodwin started shooting, and bullets ricocheted off Prime’s force shield. It wouldn’t protect me for long.

I triggered [Cloud Barrier].

Suddenly, a burst of black dust exploded out of my body. I didn’t even feel the nanites slip out of my flesh as they encapsulated me like a swarm of buzzing bees protecting their queen.

“What the fuck!” I screamed, not expecting it.

Hundreds of nanites took the bullets, and they dropped like flies. Finally, Prime dropped me on the edge of the ramp, and the nanites seeped back into my skin like a knife through butter until they were inside me. My heart hammered against my ribcage. They continued to fire at my ship, but the shields held them at bay without dropping their integrity.

The ramp slid close.