Alien Overnight (24 page)

“It would have been irresponsible of us to arrive en masse on your planet, totally ignorant of your species, with our fingers crossed that your females would be suitable for our purposes. Any first contact with a civilization less technologically advanced than ours requires years of preliminary reconnaissance and research. We’ve been scouting new planets for nearly two centuries and established diplomatic relations and trade agreements with nearly all of them, but we hadn’t had enough time to properly evaluate Earth’s readiness for interplanetary relations when the virus struck, precipitating the need for medical experimentation.”

He drew back his robe and planted his fists on his hips in an aggressive stance.

“They will likely deny it out of self-interest now, but we have been in contact with your government and several others for almost eight years. The women who were taken to Garathan for experimentation were, in fact, provided by Earth’s governments—we had no way of selecting them without their help. This has been a cooperative effort with world leaders from the very beginning, reproductive assistance in exchange for technology that will render you a space-faring people.

129

Robin L. Rotham

“These allegations of a master plan,” he waved a hand in the air, “to annihilate your men, subjugate your women and occupy your world, have no basis in reality. If that had been our plan, we would scarcely have waited two years and gone through the painstaking process of selecting only the most outstanding of volunteers for reproductive service. Though we undoubtedly have the technology and resources to seize this planet, Garathan is our home, and unlike Earth, it is unpolluted and far from overpopulated. So far, not one Garathani has expressed a desire to remain on this planet beyond the duration of this mission.”

He finally paused and a woman jumped in. “So you’re not looking to dish out a little payback for a thousand years of female domination?”

Cecine sighed. “While it’s true that our society has, by necessity, reverted to male rule, the idea of females suffering in any way is abhorrent to us. Watching our wives, our mothers, our sisters, our daughters,” his swallow was audible, “die with their faces frozen in agony…”

Monica had to open her eyes wide against the prickling of tears as her father continued in a rougher voice, “Most of us would gladly submit to another thousand years of matriarchy to have our females returned to us. Two of my daughters and all four of my granddaughters perished in the attack, and until three days ago, I had not felt the softness of a feminine hand in mine, the sweetness of a kiss upon my cheek, in over ten solar years. I would never risk such priceless gifts by mistreating any female.”

Unable to help herself, Monica pounded across the stage and threw herself against him, letting the tears squeeze out as his arms closed tight around her. He buried his face in her hair, whispering, “Daughter.”

“What about the reports that you raped an Earth woman and she died giving birth to your child?”

Monica’s head jerked up and she glared in the direction of the voice. “My father did not rape my mother! They loved each other. She wasn’t torn to pieces, as the media reported—she had a massive stroke during the delivery because she hadn’t had any prenatal care. Although she was never able to speak afterward, my grandmother told me that when asked who my father was, my mother scrawled a heart with his name in it. When asked what she wanted to name me, she pointed at it.”

“This…” Her father turned her to face the crowd of expectant faces. “This is what your daughters might all be—strong, beautiful, intelligent women of whom you could be very proud. Even having recently suffered the trauma of delayed maturation, she is magnificent. Ladies, this is Dr. Monica Teague, my GaraTer daughter.”

For about three seconds, you could have heard a pin drop. Then excited feminine chatter erupted and a lone voice yelled, “No way!”

Monica stepped up to the microphone and nodded. “Way.” She held up both hands and amazingly, the chatter ceased. “I stood up here just a couple of weeks ago and fumbled my way through the orientation, remember? Everyone called me Dr. Gothchild because of the hair and makeup and piercings? Well, I looked that way because I hadn’t 130

Alien Overnight

been exposed to enough Garathani pheromones to complete my physical maturation. I felt kind of like a freak. I mean, I was kind of a freak, but I always figured I must have just been standing in the wrong line when they handed out all the fun girl parts. So I tried to cover my flaws with all the Goth stuff.”

She grimaced. “If I’d realized I was actually standing in the alien love child line, I probably would have done even more to hide the real me. No matter what the reason, it’s hard being so different from everyone else, especially when you’re young.”

Several voices called out questions, but the only one Monica heard clearly was,

“How could you have changed so much so fast?”

“That happened because I was exposed to a massive dose of male pheromones at a mating demonstration. It made me grow up practically overnight, though fortunately, I don’t remember most of that. I’m told it was pretty ugly. Commander Kellen…”

Monica’s voice broke.
Kellen
. How she missed him!

She took a steadying breath before continuing.

“Commander Kellen and a Garathani doctor named Ketrok saved my life. But your daughters won’t have to go through what I did,” she hurried to reassure them.

“Garathani males emit a constant residual stream of pheromones, and when exposed to them on a regular basis, females mature gradually, like human females.”

“So what about the rumor that you were forced to take the commander and another officer as mates?” called a cynical male voice from the back of the room. “Or are you just doing your part to perpetuate the species?”

Monica’s eyes narrowed against the glare of the stage lights. “I’m not mated to the commander or any other Garathani, Dr. McKay, not that it’s any of your business. But I fully expect to be some day.” She cocked her head to one side. “You know, it suddenly dawns on me that Mother Nature knew what she was doing by not letting me mature earlier. The thought of being bound for life to some puny, arrogant human male when I could have had a Garathani is enough to make me gag.”

Encouraged by the low hum of laughter, she picked up steam. “In fact, I’m feeling pretty damn good about this whole thing. I mean, look at me! I may not have the face of an angel, but I’ve got measurements that would make a supermodel green with envy.

Plus, I’ve got a whole planet full of impossibly hot men to pick from. What’s not to like about being Monica Teague? Hell, they ought to put
me
on the cover of
Cosmo
—I bet that would pull in more recruits than that old
Uncle Sam Wants You
poster ever did.

Women all over America would be signing on to produce the next generation of GaraTer children.”

The applause and raucous shouts and whistles filling the air made Monica laugh out loud. Then she saw a flash off to the left and turned just as Kellen strode onstage without looking at her. Frowning, her father grabbed her upper arm, looking around as if he expected trouble. She was still blinking and trying to catch her breath around the sick pounding of her heart when he shoved her against Kellen. “Go. Now.”

The auditorium disappeared instantly.

131

Robin L. Rotham

*

“What in the hell is going on?”

Kellen pushed her into an armchair. They’d appeared briefly in the transport bay and were redirected immediately to a room she’d never seen before. It looked like some kind of tactical room, and it was full of Garathani soldiers. Shauss was here, too, but he didn’t look at her.

Kellen moved to stand beside one of the five flare fields overlooking the planet, his expression grim. “Empran, display surveillance sequence Terra two-nine-zero-four, image speed one-tenth.”

The flare fields redistributed immediately into eight separate screens and showed what looked like satellite footage of cities. A few seconds later, a tiny dot of light appeared in the center of each image and spread outward until all the screens were blanked by an eerie yellow glow. Monica’s skin chilled instantly.

“Seven minutes ago, eight major military installations in the United States, China and Russia were vaporized with what appear to be abbarint devices, killing millions of Terrans, the vast majority of them males. The detonations were perfectly synchronized, with less than one microsecond between the first and last explosions.”

“Oh my God.” Monica blinked in horror as the images replayed. Her exclamation rang in the silence that followed, and then all the men spoke at once.

“Abbarint devices!”

“Commander, are you certain?”

“There must be some other—”

“Silence.” He slammed his hands on the table and all sound ceased. “Sensors indicate high levels of abbarane in the debris clouds, and although every element of that particular molecule occurs naturally on Earth, Terran scientists are centuries away from having the technology to synthesize it.”

Monica sat there blinking back tears, her brain struggling to process what she was hearing. “Are you saying—”

“Extraterrestrial weapons destroyed those cities.”

“Extraterrestrial…meaning Garathani?”

Growls of outrage rolled around her, but Kellen raised a hand. “That is what someone would like Terrans to believe, and at this point, it’s what they’re
likely
to believe.”

“But—” Monica shut her mouth. Who else could it be? “Are there any other ETs in this neck of the woods?”

“None that we’re aware of, but we must assume—” His head jerked to one side as he paused. “Empran, display major network satellite feeds.”

The flare fields scrambled to display the networks, which all appeared to be airing breaking news. At Kellen’s command, the squares scrambled again, forming a single 132

Alien Overnight

large field that focused on a hard-looking woman in a black overcoat and furry cap. She was standing in front of the White House.

“The video footage we’re about to show you was released to several major networks by an anonymous source just moments ago,” she reported, obviously excited but trying to look grave. “The footage was accompanied by detailed schematics of the weapons used in the attacks and a comprehensive chemical analysis of abbarint, the highly unstable molecule used to fuel the deadly explosions. Our experts agree that the footage of the Garathani official planting several of the devices appears to be authentic.”

The view changed to a crystal-clear full-color image of a man’s back. He was dressed in what looked like a Garathani uniform and standing in a large office area.

Setting an oblong box about the size of a small suitcase on one of the desks, he upended a round wastebasket and stepped onto it. After looking from side to side, he reached for the box, then pushed up one of the panels in the drop ceiling and shoved the box inside.

Once the panel was back in place, he righted the wastebasket and turned from the desk before flaring out.

The room was deathly silent and Monica thought she was going to puke.

“There is no word from the White House regarding—”

Kellen’s voice drowned out the reporter’s. “Empran, flare Ambassador Pret to tactical two at once.”

Pret looked startled to appear before them and then gave a smug smile as a new flare field formed around him.

“Empran!” Kellen shouted. “Deaden all—”

The field wavered, then began to arc. Monica had just an instant to realize that all the soldiers were hitting the deck and then Shauss and Kellen were barreling into her, knocking the wind out of her as they propelled her off the seat and under the table and covered her with their bodies. Pret’s scream of terror was cut short by an eerie silence.

*

Squinting against the blindingly intense light, Kellen turned his head cautiously, keeping his chest and arms curved over Monica’s face. His eyes widened slightly at the massive fireball hovering in the corner of the room and then he looked away quickly.

There was no heat, just roiling, billowing light. He sat up slowly, pleased to find himself whole. This was the first true test of the ship’s new flare-technology containment systems, and he’d half expected to be cooked alive by the blast—right before he was sucked into oblivion by the hull breach.

“Everyone into tactical three,” he barked. Shauss rolled to his feet and together they pulled Monica, gasping and coughing, into the next chamber.

“Are you all right, sweet one?” Shauss asked Monica as they guided her to a chair.

When she nodded, Kellen looked him in the eye for a long moment, and Shauss finally 133

Robin L. Rotham

lowered his chin in assent. Kellen nearly sagged in relief. No matter what the minister had decreed, Monica was still theirs and Shauss would kill to protect her.

When all the men had gathered around the table and the door had closed on the harsh glow, he finally spoke. “Empran, ship’s status.”

“Condition Baya. Blast containment systems activated, currently drawing thirty-four percent of crunite power generation. All nonessential systems deactivated.”

“What the fuck happened?” Shauss demanded.

“Empran, flare event analysis. Did the ambassador’s field malfunction?”

“Negative, Commander. Scans indicate a convergence reaction resulting from polarity reversal of Ambassador Pret’s activator.”

A harsh laugh erupted from Shauss. “Someone blew his ass up.”

Commander Kellen
,
explain the evacuation delay
, Cecine demanded.

Minister
,
we have a situation on board
.
Evacuation will recommence momentarily
. He hoped.

Empran
, the minister ordered,
activate anti
-
aircraft field over the compound
.

*Unable to comply
.
Insufficient power
.
*

What is your situation
,
Minister
? Kellen asked.