February 28, 2363 AIA

Ionu

“Good morning,” Fenn said as he came into the room.

His deputy followed him in and shut the door. Creed stayed back by the wall, but Fenn crossed over to the small desk in the front corner of the room and grabbed the chair.

Vas said from inside the cell, “Am I going to get kicked again if I say good morning back?”

The sheriff shrugged as he pulled the chair into the center of the room. “Creed did warn you. But you’ve been searched and secured, and we’ve gathered your retinal and DNA, so you can plot all you want at this point. Though—” he motioned behind himself, to the corners where the ceiling met the walls— “I should warn you, it will be recorded.”

“Could we get some of our Tranomine, Sheriff?”

“Is one of you hurting?”

Reyer raised her arm high. She was still lying on her cot. Fenn’s eyes went to her, then dropped to the can of coffee he was holding.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “Until those pills have been analyzed—”

The sheriff stopped when Creed stepped forward and bent down to whisper in his ear.

He went on, “My deputy informs me that we have our own supply of Tranomine. Will that do?”

“That’ll be fine,” Reyer said. “Thank you.”

Jun noted how strained her voice was and how her face was drawn and pale. He looked up at his deputy and jerked his head in a single nod. Creed left.

“Hey,” Ciro called, “why won’t you give us the pills we bring? It’d save you guys some money.”

Fenn didn’t have to answer. Tennama did.

“It’s too easy to disguise one drug as another. They won’t pass on anything that could be deadly, illegal, or addictive.”

“No addictive substances.” Ciro raised his voice. “Does that mean getting one of those coffees from you wouldn’t be possible, Sheriff?”

“Not at this time, but I appreciate knowing I have some kind of leverage that might work on you during our investigation. Are there any other coffee addicts that want to volunteer their weakness?”

Fenn looked over when he heard a soft whistle. Jane was standing at the front of her cell. Her arms were crossed, but she raised one of her hands enough to ensure she’d be counted.

Jun took in the gesture, then his eyes wandered back to her face. The inspection went on for so long, Jane felt her cheeks grow hot. A whorl of anger began unfurling in her chest.

But someone else had also noticed his attention.

“Hey!” Ciro snapped. “Is there a reason you’re staring at her?”

Fenn’s eyes shifted between them. “You’re never her boyfriend.”

It was Ciro’s turn to blush.

Jane slammed her hand on the bar in front of her. “As a matter of fact, he is! He’s a damn good lover and easily the smartest man in this room!”

Vas glanced over at Ciro. His cheeks were a whole different shade of red now. It must have cost his brother a lot to merely stand there—as opposed to jumping up and down in triumph—but Ciro was smart enough to know the moment demanded dignity, so he did his best to fake it.

The sheriff raised a hand in a placating gesture. “I apologize. That’ll teach me to make assumptions.”

He glanced over his shoulder when Creed reentered the room. The deputy stopped by the desk, put down the water and two pills he’d brought with him, and began removing his weapons. When he was unarmed, he picked up the water and medicine and walked over to the women’s cell.

Jane put her hands through the bars, but Creed stayed out of reach.

“Those are for her, right?” Jane said.

“Her. Not you.”

“Are you stu—” Jane bit off her anger and tried again. “It’ll be hard for her to get up right now.”

Tyler glanced back at Fenn. When he saw the sheriff nod, he handed Jane the pills and water, then went to retrieve his weapons.

Jane knelt beside Reyer and helped her lean up enough to swallow.

The doctor was putting the glass down on the floor when Fenn said, “So tell me, Dr. Bonumomnes, why are you alive when you’re supposed to be dead—”

Jane froze. All the air seemed to disappear from her lungs.

“—and what are you doing on my planet?”

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Tennama sat up on his cot while Vas walked to the front of their cell to stand next to Ciro.

Reyer took one of Jane’s hands. They were so numb, the doctor barely felt it.

“It’s okay,” Reyer whispered.

“What do I do?” Jane mouthed to her.

“Like we’d know.” Alix’s laugh was cut short by the pain. Once her wince cleared, she whispered, “It’s okay. We’re here for you.”

“Dr. Bonumomnes?” Fenn said.

Jane stood up and walked to the bars. “How do you know who I am?”

“So you are Dr. Jane Bonumomnes, the biologist?”

“You didn’t get that from any records you pulled.”

“How do you know?”

“Those records were altered by me at the time I faked her death,” Vas said. “If you ran her retinal you would’ve found Jane Talpa. If you ran her DNA, you would have found nothing.”

“So you’re admitting that you hacked your way into a Supremacy database and altered secure information?”

“Yes,” Vas said. “You can officially add that to the list of charges they’ll recite before they kill me.”

“A few more can’t hurt,” Alix said.

“On the contrary!” Vas cried. “If I get it long enough, maybe the war will end before they finish reading them all.”

Fenn said, “Does that mean you are Captain Adan Vas, a member of the Uprising?”

Vas turned to the deputy. “Does he ever smile?”

“Captain?” Fenn prompted him.

“I’m a former member. But a proud affiliate.” Adan grabbed one of the bars. “How do you know Dr. Bonumomnes?”

Fenn drank some of his coffee and turned back to Jane. “Dr. Bonumomnes, why did you fake your death?”

“How do you know who I am?”

“Did you defect to the Rising?”

Slowly, annunciating each word in turn, she said, “How do you know me?”

Reyer let out a loud sigh. “Well, this is a waste of time! One of you will have to start answering questions if we want to get anywhere.”

“I think they’re too stubborn to do that, Miss Reyer,” Tennama said.

Alix used the bars beside her to help peel herself out of the cot. “I don’t think they’re being stubborn.”

She staggered as she stood up. Ciro reached through the bars to steady her. When she felt secure, she traded her grip to one of the front bars and stepped closer.

“I think they’re being careful,” she said. “It’s not always easy to tell what kind of an enemy or friend you’re dealing with, and maybe there’s a reason the sheriff doesn’t want to say how he knows her.”

“Do you think it’d make it easier if I told him those cameras weren’t recording?” Ciro asked.

Fenn stared at him.

Ciro leaned on the front bars of the cell and flicked a hand to motion to one of the cameras. “The D787s have two small lights mounted on the front. It’s a design flaw, but the Supremacy likes them because they’re cheap. Since you’ve neglected to cover the lights with electrician’s tape, I can tell neither of them are on.”

Reyer leaned toward Ciro. “He didn’t look back.”

“Do you think he knew?”

Vas said, “I think he did.”

The deputy’s voice slipped into the long silence: “Boss?”

Alix put a hand on her cellmate’s arm. “It’s okay, Jane. You can answer his questions.”

Jane glared at the sheriff. “I didn’t want to defect. I’m not a rebel, and I’m not a traitor. I’m a scientist. But I needed to hide, and the Rising were the only people that would help me.”

“Who were you hiding from?” Fenn asked.

“The xenos.”

Anticipation crawled up Jane’s spine, one vertebra at a time, as she waited for the sheriff’s reaction.

The man’s face never changed. “What are you doing on my planet?”

“We think they’re here, and we need to destroy them.”

“How many?”

“We don’t know.”

“How many?”

“At least one!” Tennama said, his voice raised. “One very dangerous human-xeno, who’s capable of making more.”

The sheriff’s gaze flew back to the biologist. “You never found out how they reproduced.”

Jane smiled.

She wasn’t the only one: Ciro had grinned, Vas’s half smile made an appearance, and Reyer laughed quietly.

“And how would you know that, Sheriff—Fenn, was it?” Vas asked.

“Ten coin says it’s because he used to read my website,” Jane said.

Ciro shook his head. “No one’ll take that bet. It’s a foregone conclusion.”

“Hey,” Jane called, “can I ask you something? How was my writing?” The doctor jerked her head to indicate Reyer. “She keeps saying it needs work.”

The sheriff stood up from his chair. “You could’ve used a good editor, but it was clear enough.” He walked toward them. “At least you didn’t waste your time with any formal academic nonsense.”

“You mean saying ‘this author’ instead of ‘I?’ I only stoop that low when I’m looking for grant money.”

Fenn stood in front of the bars. “Dr. Bonumomnes, do you have any proof the xenos are here?”

“Circumstantial. But it’s based on the testimony of a reliable witness.”

“Who?”

“Me,” Tennama said.

Fenn heard his deputy swear. The sheriff turned his head far enough to glimpse the bone-white claws hanging outside the bars of the other cell, then Creed yanked him away. Creed’s e-pistol was out. The slim glowing line along the side of the weapon pointed into the men’s cell, but Vas was standing in front of it. Ciro was there too; he must have grabbed the xeno and pulled him away from the bars.

The captain slowly raised a hand to Creed. The other was held back, stalling the two men behind him.

“He’s with us,” Vas said.

Fenn blinked, trying to clear the chaos of the past two seconds. When he realized how shallowed his breathing was, he forced himself to slow down.

Creed lowered his weapon, but kept it out.

The sheriff put a hand on his deputy’s shoulder. “Put it away, Creed.”

Tyler obeyed, but his halting movements made his reluctance obvious.

Fenn tried to approach the cell. There were two men trapped in there with that thing. They knew what he was. They were standing there to protect him. Presumably, they weren’t afraid. But none of those facts were compelling enough to give the sheriff enough courage to move more than two steps closer.

“Show me,” he said.

Vas and Ciro stepped aside.

Fenn’s face revealed nothing, but Creed was close enough to see the hairs on the sheriff’s arms stand on end. Seeing the long straight claws was bad. Watching them retract was worse. Your brain ran out of explanations, so all that was left was your survival instinct screaming that it was real.

“Who are you?” Jun said.

“I prefer to go by Anthony Tennama. He’s the core of who I am. I’m currently using the body of a pilot who was named Ryan Barnes. I was created by Project 32 as a weapon to be used against the Rising, but now—” His voice faltered. His chest jerked once with a quick breath, then he forced himself to continue. “I asked for their help.”

“Why?”

“That I won’t tell you.”

“Why not?”

Tennama grabbed one of the bars. “I understand that you probably don’t know what’s been done to people like me, but suffice it to say, I’m not inclined to tell humans everything when I first meet them.”

“Then why tell me anything? Why show me…” Fenn struggled to find a word, but had to make do with, “…this?”

“I wouldn’t have bothered, but she seems to trust you.”

“Dr. Bonumomnes?”

There was a slight hesitation before the xeno answered: “No. Miss Reyer.” His hand dropped from the bar as he turned away.

Fenn looked over to the other cell. Reyer waved.

“That’s me. Alix Reyer.”

“Is that your real name?”

“Yes, but you won’t find it in any database, so you’ll have to take my word for it.”

“Why do you trust me?”

“Oh. That. It’s because he trusts you.”

The sheriff turned so he could look at the person she had nodded to.

She continued, “It’s always ‘sir’ or ‘ma’am’ until he likes you. Then you get a nickname that’ll stay with you until you die.”

Jun Fenn watched as Tyler Creed’s stoic expression morphed into an exasperated smirk. The deputy shook his head.

“Dammit, Sarge. Deep cover. I fucking told you, deep cover.”