Once back in the room, Cain stared at Pyotr's still-dozing expression. The man’s head dropped and hit the table. He let out an audible groan but remained otherwise motionless. Behind him stood Reginald, now possessed by the alien mind of Savin.

“It’s true then. You really don’t need eyes to see.”

“Why isn’t Pyotr waking up?”

Reginald grabbed the man by both shoulders and pulled him back up. “Perhaps I was too much for him.”

Cain stood up and dragged a hand down his face. “We’ll have to transfer him to medical. He’s not dead at least.”

He approached the comms unit on the wall and raised the request. A few minutes later, a team arrived to take Pyotr off their hands. When asked about the cause, Cain explained what happened as best he could.

“You’re telling me there’s an alien in there?”

“I can prove it if you want me to show you,” said Savin.

The Doctor shook his head. “I’ll take the Chief’s word for it. What will you do now?”

“I’m taking him to the Private Sector. He’s requested an audience.”

The Doctor huffed at the idea. “Good luck getting the Overseer to believe you.”

Savin grinned. “I can be very convincing, isn’t that right, Chief?”

Cain grumbled at the way Savin acted. I practically handed him an upgrade on a silver platter and he has the nerve to act all smug. The bastard. “Yes, he’s got quite the way with words.”

“Well, good luck, either way,” said the Doctor once Pyotr had been loaded onto a stretcher.

He was soon on his way to medical, leaving Cain and Savin to head to the Private Sector.

Savin appeared to drink in the more beautiful and pristine-looking Private Sector. “Well, I can’t say your people are entirely without taste.”

“You know I’m starting to understand why that dynasty of yours fell if you keep talking to others like this. No wonder they had enough.”

Savin leaned in close to Cain as they walked to where the Overseer’s office was located. “Is that a threat, Chief?”

“Ha, if you think that’s a threat, you haven’t seen anything yet.”

The waiting room was full as always, a lot of people had minor complaints and others were simply homesick. Cain could hardly blame them. Being here for so long eventually grew into a miserable experience. Once the queue was dealt with, it was their turn to speak to the Overseer’s Executive Assistant. She pushed her glasses up and looked surprised to see the Chief of Security.

“Chief Cain, not like you to show up unannounced. What’s the problem?”

“Cassandra, it’s not going to be easy to explain, but it concerns my new friend here. He’s got a proposition for the Overseer.’

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

She leaned back in the chair. “You may run the security side of this operation, but even you need to book an appointment. I can’t just let you in there.”

Cain could feel the tension rise in the room. Before Savin did anything irrational, he leaned on the desk. “Cassie, this is serious, believe me. I wish I could follow protocol right now.”

She looked from his iron stare to the stiff posture of Savin, who looked down upon her like she was lesser. He really cannot help himself, can he? “Fine, I’ll call ahead, tell him the Chief of Security has requested an urgent meeting.”

“Thank you, Cassie.”

“No problem, Chief.”

Cain led the way while Savin kept staring at her before snapping out of it and joining him after a ‘ahem’ got his attention.

“Lesson one of being human, Savin. It’s rude to stare.”

“Sorry, she’s pretty. What can I say? I wish we had staked our future on your people. You’re much more pleasant than those grey bastards we called Ascenders.”

“You flatter us,” said Cain as he opened the door into the Overseer’s office.

The dark-haired man stood up from his desk and walked around it. “Chief Cain, Cassandra sounded fairly distressed. I hope this isn’t related to that Mortan incident that Comms Officer Ross reported.”

“The situation has changed, Raine. We found something beneath the surface, not just an alien facility.”

“That is to be expected, the other sites weren’t exactly empty either,” said Raine with a shrug. “What’s so different here?” he asked, leaning on the back of a chair.

Cain folded his arms and scowled, looking at the possessed Reginald. “It’s my friend here. He was with the away team, he found something new. Something not yet seen before in any previous alien site.”

“Oh - enlighten me then.”

At that moment, Savin straightened and strode forward with a confidence that looked distinctly alien. He’s bold… too bold.

“Overseer Raine. I am Savin, and I’m here because you breached my facility and I’ve concluded that it is in your best interests to hand control of this operation to me before any more of your people get hurt.”

----------------------------------------

Francis sat on the end of the medical bed and wondered if they would be much longer, and worse still, Pyotr hadn’t returned to them. He couldn’t shake the feeling that something had gone terribly wrong. He looked at Charles and Melina and gestured them over.

“Pyotr is still with Cain. I don’t like this.”

“Not much we can do, boss. He’s the Chief of Security.”

“I know. I know.”

A few minutes later a stretcher rolled in, surrounded by nurses as it went past them. Francis caught a glimpse of Pyotr, his eyes glazed over and he couldn’t stop himself from following.

“What happened to him?” he demanded of one of the nurses.

“We’re not certain. After the interrogation, he was rendered unconscious. We need to keep him in for treatment.”

Francis stopped and watched them get set up. Soon enough, the ones of the Black Knight that were with him joined him. All except for Eva, and even she was acting weird. So much for a simple operation where we would bide our time. Too much is up in the air. I hate this.

“He’s not dead, is he?” Melina asked.

“No, it’s likely he’s in a coma.”

Charles growled, and half turned away from them. “Savin, that alien bastard probably rearranged his mind. Should never have let Pyotr out of our sight, Frank.”

Francis clenched his fist and eyed Melina. She held up her hands in protest. “No, Frank.”

‘You know that’s a bad idea.’

‘If you’re careful, they’ll not suspect you. You’ll be just another psion to them.’

The others all stared at her, and she shrunk back a little. “I mean, you’re right. Can you do that?” she asked, more so to the other voice inside her head. Her passenger. Most are fairly talkative, but hers is definitely more hands-off. For better or worse? I’m still not sure.

“Alright, Frank. I’ll see if I can bring Pyotr back from wherever Savin left him. If I saved us from the Obelisks, this should be a piece of cake, right?”

Francis could only hope as she walked to the nurses and tapped one on the shoulder. They almost shooed her away until she explained herself. Although reluctant, they let her work. Melina approached the head of the bed, and with both hands placed on either cheek, the veins on her skin lit up, and her trace began.

“You sure she can do this?” asked Echo.

“She has to. We can’t let this Savin run circles around us. Lord only knows what he’s coerced Cain into,” said Francis. “Nothing has changed for us. If anything, a little bit of chaos might speed things up.”