Aliens Abroad

“Steal from the best, that’s our motto.”

“True enough. Love your new ride, too. And, from what we can see, the sheep and possum aren’t lying to you—you’re heading for something that sort of looks important, at least compared to what you’ve been traveling through. Now, here’s Jeff.”

“Baby, I hear you’ve been using your own special form of diplomacy.”

“Could have let a giant bull clobber me. Chose to clobber him.”

“That’s my girl.”

“Always, Jeff. What’s up? I’m in the middle of, hopefully, getting to see the top man around here. One of these days, at any rate.”

Because this thing could float and Roanach was one with the idea of the straightest line possible, we were heading over what appeared to be a dig site. This was the first evidence of activity besides farming we’d seen.

“We can’t find anyone on the surface, and we’ve searched the entire world by now.”

“I’d ask how but I assume that the ‘we’ means Christopher.”

“Yes. He and Butler used the shuttle to search the rest of the landmasses while we dug around here. I feel people, so we assume they’re underground, probably because of the bombings. There’s a lot of destruction.”

“Did they have cities? Does it look highly civilized?” We were over the giant hole now. And large rabbits were working on it, doing the digging. They looked about the same size as the sheep, had orangey fur, and the few that looked up at us had the same crazy eyes as the rest of this world’s residents. They had the adapted front paws, though their rear paws were still pretty rabbitlike. Their claws were long and sharp, sharper even than the possums’, and while they didn’t have tusks, their teeth were impressively large and looked sharp, too. No one would want to cuddle one of these, other than another one of these.

“Yeah, it does. Very civilized. I think this was another utopian planet—I don’t see any means to fight back, we haven’t found weapons or anything we think could be weapons.”

“So, not like where we are. The weapons we’ve seen so far are edged, clubs, and some kinds of things that look like guns made for hoof-hands. Haven’t seen so much as a crossbow, let alone any other kinds of projectile weapons, and no one’s fired those guns, thankfully, so they may not work like we think they do.”

“So a lot more than we’re seeing here.”

“Noted.” None of the rabbits waved to us and Roanach and Clorence didn’t wave, either. The guards around this dig were all rabbits, too and, for the first time, something other than a bull looked threatening in a real way. “Anything else going on?”

“Not really. If I didn’t feel others besides those in our away team, I’d honestly say this world was deserted.”

“Are you going to search for the people? Lilith said she thought they might be shielded in some way.” Couldn’t make out what the rabbits were digging for. However, the dirt they were digging up was being formed into a hill by other rabbits. Wondered if the other hills we’d passed had been formed like this, too. But there had been no evidence of digs, and for this hole they were too far into the earth to make the idea that this was going to be another area where crops were grown make sense.

I believe they are all underground, Lilith said in my head. At least half of this population is underground and harder for me to spot. I assume it’s the same on the other planet. I was able to sense them here when we went over this hole.

“Yes, but first we’re investigating without interference.”

“Wise. I’m assuming a human suggested that.”

“Actually, I did.” Jeff’s sarcasm knob was only at about a five. “If you can believe it.”

“I’m so proud! Search underground, Lilith thinks that’s where we’re going to find the majority of the populations. And all this is great, but I have to ask—why are you calling? Not that it’s not great to hear the melodious sounds of your voice, but this feels very non-urgent.”

“I’m calling because of what we just found and triggered.”

“Okay, I’ll bite—is it a doomsday device and we only have a few minutes to defuse it? If so, never cut the red wire.”

“No. It’s nothing like that. We found what looks like a giant meteorite.”

“Is that what the red planet is using to bomb the blue one?”

“No. We saw evidence of their bombs. Nasty, but not this. But based on what Wheatles and Grentix think, this is likely the same kind of thing that sent the Mykali to Earth.”

It was there, right there. Focused on the playlist again. Had “Sowing the Seeds of Love” by Tears for Fears playing now. “Seeds . . .”

“What do you mean?”

“Not sure yet. You said you triggered it. Does that mean it’s going to explode or open?”

“Open.”

“Careful, that’s one way you can become Hawkman and then you’ll be mated forever with whatever girl’s standing there.”

“Huh?”

“Ask James. Just be careful.”

“We are. Hang on.” Heard talking in the background. “Okay, it’s fully opened now and the Ignotforstans are examining what’s inside.”

“I’m so glad the Real Naked Apes wanted to come along.”

“Don’t call them that, but yeah, me too.”

“I think they’ll like it. Grentix has a great sense of humor, and Wheatles is pretty cool.”

“Thanks for the assessment of our newest allies. Hang on.” Heard more voices in the background. They sounded excited. “Huh. Wheatles and Grentix aren’t sure, but they think that what’s inside is some kind of recording device. We’re going to try to figure out how to make it work.”

“Good luck with that. You’re sure it’s not a bomb?”

“Pretty sure. And we have hyperspeed and are prepared to run if we need to. And—and this may shock you—I’ve been doing work like this far longer than I’ve known you.”

“Blah, blah, blah. Okay, great, then call me back when you have more.” My music changed to “Red Door Blues” by Indigo Swing. “I need to concentrate.”

“You don’t want to listen in?” Jeff sounded shocked.

“Oh, I do. Only, we’re finally coming to what I think is the capital and I’m going to have to be fully focused.”

“Okay. Love you, baby.”

“Love you, too. Be careful.”

“You, too.”

“Always.”

“Never,” Jeff said dryly, “that I’ve ever seen.”

“Everyone’s a critic.” Tapped my communicator and the call went dead. Just in time. No need for Jeff to hear what was about to go on.

We’d been told to make a sharp right around another hill and found the capital. And there was a whole line of bulls with swords and pikes waiting to greet us.





CHAPTER 101


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