Rise of Refuge

Chapter 4 - Dates

Annette nervously paced on the walkway outside of her apartment. Finally, she stopped in front of Teo’s family apartment. She knocked. The soundproofed apartment let out no sign but she imagined an argument about who would open the door. Eventually Teo’s younger brother Ollie opened the door. “Ooh, Annette is here to see Teo! Teo has a girlfriend!”

Annette smirked. She heard Teo running through the apartment to get to the door to shut Ollie up. “I swear, Olivan! Uh hi Annette.”

Annette wiped the cockeyed grin from her face and waved at him. “You busy?”

Teo shoved Ollie back down the hall, glaring at him until his brother retreated, “Not particularly, Why?”

“Are you hungry?” Annette kicked at their doormat.

Teo stared at her feet a moment, “Sure, just let me put on some shoes and tell my mom I’m going out.” He closed the door leaving Annette outside on the doormat alone.

The door slid open again, this time Teo’s little sister Monica was on the other side. She was a quiet one. Monica stared up at Annette with her big round brown eyes. They both stood there staring into each other’s eyes until Teo came running down the hall, slipping his feet into his shoes. “Mona, go see mamma!” He picked his sister up, rotated with her and put her down aimed to run down the hall. Her feet touched the carpet, and that was exactly what she did.

“There is a diner I would like to try over in tower three...” Annette said to his back.

Teo spun to face her, “Sounds good.” He pushed past her, heading out the door. “Lead the way, m’ lady.”

Annette held out her hand, “Do you mind if I teleport us there?”

He wrapped his warm masculine hands around hers and nodded the go ahead to her. Annette savored the sensation of touching him. She wasn’t quite able to focus, to teleport for a moment. Finally she collected herself and teleported them to a streamlined silver diner on the top level of tower three.

“We’re here,” Annette gestured. A big sign proclaimed it was Sal’s Diner.

Teo didn’t let go of her hand, and Annette couldn’t. She led him to the front door of the diner. Teo pulled the door open for them, and they entered together. Annette tugged Teo towards a corner booth. He followed more than willingly. They let go of each other’s hand to sit.

A server dressed like she was right out of 1950 America, came to their table and handed them real laminated paper menus. Most restaurants went in for flexible touchscreen menus or table top menus that were highly descriptive. Either way servers weren’t often responsible for taking orders.

“What can I get you two cute kids?” The server asked, pointing to the drinks on the menu.

“What is a milkshake?” Teo asked.

“It is ice cream, milk and flavor syrup blended together to make a thick drink,” The woman described it and sent mental images to him.

“I think I would like to try that. What flavors do you have?” Teo said.

“Banana, strawberry, peach, cherry, chocolate, caramel, butterscotch, avocado, and any combination of the above,” The server recited.

“What is an avocado?” Teo asked.

The server laughed, “There is nothing wrong with an avocado milkshake, but I think you should start with something more traditional. Might I suggest chocolate or vanilla.”

Teo nodded. “Would you drink my milkshake if I don’t like it? I hate to waste food...”

“You don’t have to worry about wasting food it gets recycled. But sure I can help you with it,” Annette smiled.

“I will try chocolate,” Teo stated.

“Make it large with two straws and two glasses of water,” Annette began looking through the menu. The server left them to peruse the menu. There weren’t many pictures to go along with the food, what there were had been line drawn. It seemed the restaurant was deep into the authentic fifties vibe.

“I don’t know what any of this is,” Teo whispered to her.

“You like spicy?” Annette asked. Teo nodded, “What about eggs?” He nodded again. “I am going to get huevos rancheros. It is a spicy breakfast dish with eggs, beans, potatoes, green chili, and tortillas. You might like it too.”

“Could we share?” Teo asked as he pushed a stray strand of Annette’s hair behind her ear. The sensation of his fingertips on her ear made her shiver.

“Sure. Then we will both have room for pie.”

Teo smiled, “I know pie.”

Annette smiled, “Everybody knows pie.”

Teo leaned closer to her. His hand found the back of her head, and he ran his fingers through her hair. Then he pulled her closer and kissed her on the lips. He pulled back slowly and Annette leaned closer to keep their lips in contact. Finally, he pulled completely away. It felt like he was dragging away her ability to breathe. After a moment, she caught her breath and realized the server had returned with their milkshake.

“Here ya go kids. Have you decided?” The server pointed at the closed menus in front of them.

Annette blinked she had forgotten how to speak for a moment. “Uh yeah,” She wiped her mouth, “We’ll take huevos rancheros and two forks.”

“Awe how cute, I will have it right up,” She smiled and left them.

“I’m sorry. I just had to...” Teo apologized.

“No, I was very into the experience,” Annette blinked, “Actually I was kind of hoping you felt that way.”

“Me too. I mean that you...” Teo fumbled.

“Maybe we could make this date thing a regular thing...” Annette suggested.

“Okay but I get to plan our next one,” Teo stated.

“Agreed,” Annette reached for his hands and finding them searching hers out.

The waitress arrived and held out their plate. Annette and Teo pulled back their hands and let her place the plate between them. She handed them each a set of silverware. “Enjoy kids.”

Until now, Teo and Annette had been the only two people in the restaurant. A large group of young adults arrived and streamed in the door. Most of them ignored Annette’s end of the diner and headed to the opposite end where there was a large bankette. One young women glanced Annette’s way. In less than a second, she froze and began tapping at the arm of the nearest young man.

“Dude. What?” He growled turning to face her. He glanced beyond the young woman and spotted Annette, “Whoa! The chief is having lunch over there.”

Annette rolled her eyes. She suddenly realized the group all wore purple. They were most likely second year factors in training. Annette sighed and felt her lighthearted playfulness melting under their sudden attention.

“Just ignore them,” Teo smiled and tried to draw her attention back to their meal.

“It won’t help. They won’t ignore me. Unfortunately, I am the most widely known person within Refuge,” Annette ate a bite of her food halfheartedly.

“Then why don’t we go back to my place. My family likes you, but they won’t stare dumbly with their mouths open,” Teo stated. He leaned towards her. His breath tickled the fine hair on her neck.

Spontaneously Annette agreed, “Sure, you can provide the transportation home.”

Teo scooted out of the booth and helped Annette to her feet. “What about the bill? Should we take the leftovers?”

“It's taken care of,” Annette flashed her remote pin at him, “and I already told you we recycle the food.”

“How?”

Annette grimaced, “I will explain it some time, but not right after we’ve eaten. Can we go?” Teo smiled; intertwined his hands with hers and teleported them both to his room.
- - - - - - - - - - - -

Kadin ran around in circles in his own mind. The plant was heavy in his consciousness. It wanted to spread itself everywhere. It wasn’t exactly self aware though. It pressed at him, but it didn’t overwhelm his thoughts. That was odd because the other people it had infected were basically mindless zombies. That was something he knew, because part of him was aware within every one of them. One of the major influences of the plant was the sudden tendency to use the plural regarding himself.

The power which flowed through the collective consciousness was incredibly intoxicating. It flowed through Kadin. He felt every drone like a cell of his own body. With a flex of his mind, he sent drones out to search out new worlds to take. Several drones gathered on an earth colony in desperate straights. The world already had a different type of invading parasites.

The parasites were semi independently sentient. Together they formed a hive mind. They responded to the commands of a queen. They had fruitlessly attempted to gain control of some of Kadin’s drones. The attempts gave Kadin knowledge of the workings of the parasites. Their actual form was a surprise. They were seven inch long vertebrates somewhere between pseudo-reptiles and pseudo-mammals. They could live for at least a short time outside of their hosts.

With gnawing mouth parts, they seemed to prefer transferring into new hosts from behind. They entered the neck at the base of the skull and wrapped themselves around the spine, sending nerves into their host for control. It impressed Kadin. He decided to confront the queen of the hive mind.

Kadin drew dozens of his drones to him and teleported to the center of the hive mind. Kadin and his men arrived amid the rows of seating of a large theater. The queen sat up on a prop throne at the center of a large stage. There were other chairs closer down in the orchestra pit that seemed more likely some kind of torture devices. Kadin quickly surmised their purpose, which was to hold prospective hosts still during the transference process.

The queen’s response to the sudden invasion of territory was swift. A phalanx of her lesser drones surrounded her while dozens of her more muscular drones rushed into the room and gathered around Kadin’s people.

Kadin stepped forward, deftly levitating over rows of seats. “We volunteer to join with you. We hope that our goals are quite similar.” Kadin felt secure in his power to dominate these parasites as easily as he had the plant collective. Kadin strode up to one chair in the pit and situated himself.

The queen seemed flabbergasted. She threw off telepathic waves of disbelief. That didn’t stop her from leaving her throne and jumping down into the pit. Kadin bared the back of his neck as he saw her throat bulging and contorting. He leaned his chin forward and waited.

“Oh no, you have volunteered. You may look upon the face of your queen as you join.” She pulled him up from the chair and pressed her open mouth over his. The thin grub-like parasite entered his mouth and began burrowing beneath his tongue. It released a numbing agent as it burrowed, and he could track its movement by the spreading numbness. After a few moments, Kadin felt hands lowering him to the floor.




He remained almost fully conscious of the process. Just as the parasite was connecting with his brain stem, Kadin sent tendrils of the vine into it. Before it could take him, he took control of it. According to his plan, each of his drones had also submitted themselves to the joining. They sent tendrils into each of the hive members that had infected them. Like stars twinkling alight at dusk, Kadin felt each of the hive members as they joined his collective.

Soon only the queen stood unattached to Kadin.

He rose to his feet and looked into the defiant expression the queen had placed on her host’s face. “I will not bow to the likes of you! I am the queen of this hive!”

Kadin approached her. He could feel his new symbiont trying to assert itself and protect its queen. Kadin brushed the will of the symbiont away and raised a fingertip from which sprouted a very thin tendril of the vine. He grabbed the queen by the chin and jabbed the tendril in the exact spot the parasite had entered the back of its host’s neck. “We are going to be grand friends.”
- - - - - - - - - - - -

Max paced in the elevator. He was on the elevator down to the medical isolation wards. They were on the lower levels of Grand Central, beneath the massive factor administration complex. He had heard about the recent first contact. Jayson Dayton had found and rescued a Kaviri woman. Kaviri, as in descended from Kavir. Kavir was the man-creature that had taken Yllera prisoner and bred with her. From that involuntary mating, seven hybrid children had been born and one Agurian female. The Agurian female Kavir abandoned. He took off with the seven Kaviri children. Yllera had almost died from complications of delivering so many children.

That last fact was why Max hated him. Most of the factors hated him because he had taken over their minds with his bodily excretions. Annette had proved the path to freeing the dominated factors. Ultimately, her part in that incident was part of how she had become chief. Worked up into a righteous anger, Max tapped the button for the isolation level. The elevator jerked into motion, lowering him. He made a note to report the jarring motion. It probably had to do with the fact that they rarely used these elevators. Most people teleported themselves or used the transport booths. Max was using the additional time to get himself even more worked up.

Max counted the helpful bings that amounted to every floor he passed. On reaching the isolation floor, Max strode out like someone who knew where he was going. He didn’t know where he was going, but his personal data organization program did. He wore glasses which gave him a heads up display with a banner showing directions. The banner even directed him around medical personnel. Max was pretty sure he wasn’t on the visitor’s list for this patient. He didn’t have any legitimate reason to be down there.

Banner’s arrows directed him to a door labeled unit 17, “Here she is, man. Are you sure you should confront her? We don’t know what her species is capable of,” Max’s program asked so only Max could hear, via the small microphone unit in Max’s ear.

Max shrugged and slapped the door panel next to the door with no effect. Yep, he was definitely not on the visitors' list. “Spanner, do your magic.” Moments later, the door hissed open. Max marched in. The girl sat cross-legged on the bed, with her attention on the media screen. She was in tears. On looks alone Max sympathized with her. The look of despair on her face had the settled look that came with a common gesture.

She had average brown hair just below ear length except for one thin and elaborately embellished braid hanging from her right temple. She took notice and her look went from sorrow past surprise to fear. “Are you here to hurt me?”

Max shook himself, realizing the threatening scowl that had set itself on his face on the ride down. The look melted. This girl wasn’t Kavir. She had nothing to do with what happened to Yllera. “I… I am sorry. I was operating out of a bad mind space. I had layered blame for what Kavir did to my pairmate on your lap. You aren’t the guilty party. I will just go now.”

“Please don’t. I have barely seen anyone in days. I am not used to being alone. I have a twin, and I’m not used to being alone, until recently,” the young woman begged, “I go by Hillary, what’s your name? And your pairmate? What did Kavir do to her?”

“I am not sure you want to hear about it. He probably spread an entirely different story...” Max backed towards the door.

“The main stories he told about the factors are remembered with you as the heroes. He was very open and insistent that we remember his dishonorable deeds, all to encourage each of us to behave with great respect for our honor and that of our families. Who is your mate? Was she controlled by Kavir?”

“Yllera, I guess she is the mother of your people...”

“She is alive? Please express my honest apology to her for my ancestor using her badly. He very much regretted not wining her heart properly before engaging in mating with her,” Hillary stated, “He knew at some point one of his children would come upon her, but I never thought I would be the one.”

Max took another step backwards. He hadn’t expected that sentiment. Unfortunately, the incident was still strong in Yllera’s memory, it hadn’t been long since she came home. “I don’t think she is ready to hear that apology. When she is ready, I will find you and you can deliver it directly.” Max backed up again. His back found the door. He tapped at the door panel. It wouldn’t open. “Spanner?”

“Of course sir...” The door slid open. Max began his retreat, “Sir, would you like a direct route to the elevator? Or will you be teleporting?”

Max leaned against the wall next to the door, allowing it to close. It had gone totally differently than he had expected. He considered his options. “Lets take the long route home. I need time to process.”
- - - - - - - - - - - -

Illora had only been home a few days. She was on her best behavior. Her parents were fairly unhappy with her. Illora didn’t want to get up. She was on supermax grounding, aside from school she was to remain in the presence of one or both of her parents at all times unless she was asleep. They were treating her like she was five. Except that they hadn’t treated her like she was five when she was five.

“Illora Peterson! I know you are awake! Get dressed and come down here!” Illora’s mother seemed especially upset today.

Illora threw back her blankets and fell out of the bed into a standing position. She shuffled across her room to her desk, where she had clothes laid out for today. They were her get messy clothes. Her mother had warned her they that cleaning the house and working on the garden made up today’s agenda. Illora dressed slowly, reluctantly.

“Illora!” Illora’s mother was not showing any signs of patience. The Joint Terran-Galactic Defense Unit had involuntarily drafted her parents. They were each expected to provide forty hours of service every six months. Illora’s father was on a task-force mission in South America.

“I am on my way,” Illora finished buttoning her shirt and opened her bedroom door. She took the stairs two at a time.

Her mother met her at the bottom step with a gardening hat. “I finished cleaning up in here while you slept.”

Illora sighed, humiliated by the hat. She knew there was no arguing that. She would feel lucky if her mother didn’t call any of her friends over to watch. Her mother pulled on her own gardening hat and the gloves she used on the rosebushes. Then her mother headed outside. Slave for the day, Illora followed close behind. Her mother set her to picking slugs out of the garden bare handed and putting them in a critter keeper to move somewhere else. Her parents both had a great deal of respect for life.

About half an hour into picking up the garden pests, Illora noticed more than the hand she was using to pick up the slugs was getting slimy. She wiped her forehead with the back of her slug free arm and felt a smear of slime come off on her forehead. That stopped her in her tracks. She was also feeling a burning sensation on her slug palm. Overall, she felt dizzy.

“Mom, there is something wrong with me...”

“Stop malingering, get to picking up those slugs.” Her mother growled over the rosebushes.

“Mom, there are factors you aren’t considering,” Illora used the phrase that was family code for something not earth-normal happening. This was the first time she had actually gotten to use it.

Her mother dropped the pruning shears and rose from her knees in a fluid motion, “House, now!”

Illora put the lid on the slugs and turned to head into the house. Her limbs were slow to follow her commands. She felt like she could smell everything in the garden at once. The world began spinning about the time she made it through the sliding door. Her thirst was suddenly unbearable. She headed to the sink and she completely lost muscle control, only barely missing hitting her head on the granite countertop, Illora found slime covering her eyes as well.

“Dear god! I… Illora, can you hear me?” Her mother said. Her voice dripped with liquid panic.

Illora opened her mouth to answer, but it was full of slime, and it was hardening. Illora went to blink, but her eyes didn’t choose to reopen. Her mind swirled in the red haze behind her closed eyelids. She tasted the floor beneath her and heard the pounding of her heart. It slowed, so did her thoughts, until she could no longer claim consciousness.




Sometime later, Illora felt herself winding back up to consciousness. Her heart beat a regular rhythm. She could almost open her eyes, there was a flexible casing around her body. Illora kicked outwards frantically with both feet. The casing split from her feet almost to her chest, splitting the clothes she had been wearing. Someone outside ripped the cocoon open the rest of the way. Illora sat up completely nude. The cocoon had the clothes wore embedded in it, including the soles of her flip-flops. She had the piece that went between her toes and over her foot, still in place.

Illora looked around the room, her mother was the one who set her free. Her father sat at the kitchen table with one of the male medics from The Joint Terran-Galactic Defense Unit.

“See Mrs. Peterson. It was a plague crisis. Your daughter survived and will in all possibility become a shapeshifter,” The medic stated. He closed his medical case and teleported away.

“Oh, my baby,” Illora’s mother hugged her to her chest, ignoring the fact that a strange man had just seen her naked.

“Mom, do you think I could have a blanket or something?” Her mother ran and grabbed a throw off of the couch. She flung it to cover Illora’s nakedness. “Mom, how long was I out?”

“Eleven days!”

“Do I still get to go to prom? It is tonight, isn’t it?” Illora asked.

Her mother nodded frantically. Her father snorted, “Honey, as scared as she was, I think she would let you get away with going to the moon if you wanted...”

Illora smiled and pulled herself the rest of the way out of her cocoon. She ran up the stairs, energized somehow by her eleven day rest. Illora checked the clock, she had three hours to get ready. First she brushed as much of the dried mucous and loose hair from her pod. Then she hopped into the shower and bathed vigorously. Then she dressed and began doing her hair. It was a rush job, but by the time she finished with that, she was glad she didn’t really need makeup. She barely had time to get to the ballroom at the hotel that was holding the prom.

Her feet pounded the stairs on the way down, despite her high heels. Her parents stood arm crossed, blocking the front door. “Honey, we need to talk,” Her father stated.

The buzz Illora had been riding deflated instantly, “Oh, come on!”

“Your father isn’t sure it is the best idea for you to go out right after your body restructured itself. I have to admit, he has a point...” Her mother said with a frown.

“I will be careful. Any sign things are going wrong, and I will press the panic button for The Joint Terran-Galactic Defense Unit to come to pick me up. It will be a total scene, but, hey, you only have one senior prom.”

Her father’s shoulder slumped, “Fine.” He pulled the keys to his sedan from his pocket, along with two one-hundred-dollar bills, and handed them to Illora. “Home by eleven! Or I will press the panic button!”

Illora nodded as her parents made way. She darted out the door before either of them could change their mind. She tucked the money in her clutch purse and drove to the hotel. The prom was anticlimactic without a boyfriend. She had male friends, and they each danced with her, but it was nothing like having had someone ask her. She ordered the prime rib and devoured it. Long before the prom was over, Illora left, to pursue a sudden craving for protein. She ordered ten junkburgers and ate them as she headed home via the scenic route. She parked near one of her favorite playgrounds and had a nighttime picnic. Satiated, she lay back on the picnic table to stare at the stars.

Suddenly four men materialized out of wisps of smoke. They grabbed Illora’s arms and legs. Then a woman appeared. She wore all black with a red diamond tattoo on her forehead and a silver crown. The crown nestled in her hair so it sat just perfectly to make the tattoo the jewel in the crown. The woman smiled at her and jabbed her in the thigh with a needle. It wasn’t long before Illora’s awareness faded to black.

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