Into the Dark Pt. 2

Sarah drove her rusted tan truck in silence. Even the truck’s old radio was silent of its usual country tunes as she sped down the highway. Sarah couldn’t bear to listen to her music knowing what she was about to do. She had no choice, though. The Cometvores had Annabelle, and she had less than forty-eight hours to retrieve the stabilizer from the Phoenix Wolves’ shield generator and bring it to them before they made good on their ultimatum to hurt her daughter. She had argued with herself all night whether to tell Greyhound what had happened or not. She had ultimately decided against it. She didn’t want to risk her time running out before he and his companions found her daughter. The only way to ensure Anna’s safe return was to give the Cometvores what they wanted and trust that they would fulfill their half of the bargain. Still, if and when Greyhound found out about what she had done, he would never trust her again, even if she explained to him why she had done it.

All these and many more thoughts raced through her head as she neared the Phoenix Wolves’ compound. She hated how the weather was so pleasant and sunny when she felt like she was on her way to her own funeral. Occasionally, she glanced at the small leather backpack that she had brought with her to hide the stabilizer in that was lying on the passenger seat. Currently, it seemed more like murder weapon than a ratty old bag. Finding her exit, she got off the highway and began the treck into no-man’s-land. The compound wasn’t in the middle of a desert like Area 51, but it definitely wasn’t a place you’d stumble upon if you weren’t looking for it. After driving through a barely-inhabited little town, she turned off onto a dirt-and-gravel road marked “Private” that took her into thick woods. As she drove down the narrow path, there were forks in the road every couple hundred feet. Taking a wrong turn would send her back onto a main road, but Sarah knew the pattern and soon found herself stopped in front of a drop gate, similar to the ones that blocked off train tracks. Even her rusted-out clunker could have driven straight through the flimsy gate without much more than a scratch, but Sarah knew that the gate was merely a trigger. Ramming through it would activate a series of spike strips and invisible electric “fences” that would ensure no car made it more than twenty feet beyond the barrier.

Sarah waited nervously in her truck for the gait to go up. Greyhound was expecting her and would make sure she was allowed through by whoever was watching the gate back at the compound. But as the seconds ticked by, Sarah started to panic. Did they suspect something? It was very rare for her to visit the compound. Maybe they had her house bugged and had heard everything that had gone on the night before. Having a civilian like her as deep as she was in the Phoenix Wolves’ operations was a security risk. Even if Greyhound trusted her completely, she doubted that the others did. Maybe they’d had him set up devices in her house to keep an eye on her. Greyhound had certainly been to her house often enough to have set up who knows what kind of alien espionage contraptions all over.

After what seemed like an eternity, but was in reality less than thirty seconds, a thin blonde man stepped out from the thick brush and came to stand in the middle of the path on the other side of the barrier. He appeared to be in his mid-twenties, tall and wiry like a teenager, though, with shaggy hair that was so light, there was no way it was natural. The man’s gray eyes crinkled at the corners as he smiled at her. Despite herself, Sarah laughed out loud. Of the select few she had seen, this had to be one of Greyhound’s more fitting human guises. His smile widened at her amusement. He vaulted over the gate, sending blue sparks along it when his hand touched it. Obey his electrical command, the gate rose up as Greyhound’s feet hit the ground. He walked around the back of the old truck and hopped into its cargo area.

Sliding open the back window, he poked his head in. “So, milady, to what to I owe the divine pleasure of your company this fine day?”

The amusement left Sarah as she remembered why was there. She fumbled for an answer. She really didn’t want to lie to him, but what else could she do? “Um… y’know, just figured I haven’t seen you in a while, so I thought maybe I’d come see you here.” Wanting to change to the subject, she said, “How come you’re sitting back there? Shotgun’s probably a lot more comfortable.”

“Maybe for humans,” Greyhound snorted. “It might be a bit of a tight squeeze for me.”

“But you’re human now. You’re human form would fit,” Sarah reasoned.

“No, my human form <i>looks</i> like it would fit.” Sarah gave him a confused look. Greyhound rested his elbow on the window sill and continued. “Phantoms are only optical illusions. We can’t alter our mass or our actual forms, but we can bend the electromagnetic waves around us to make us appear to be something we’re not. Here, feel my arm.”

He shoved his pale arm through the window for her to inspect. Reaching out to feel it, she was shocked to find that it felt extremely hairy though it appeared to be only minimally so. It also felt much thicker than it appeared. Placing a hand on the top and bottom of the forearm, she could see that her hands weren’t actually touching it at all, but rather the air around it. It was like a pair of magnets whose like poles refused to touch. Sarah couldn’t help but note that the comparison would soon likely become even more applicable. The thought further dejected her and Greyhound took notice.

“What’s wrong?” he inquired.

“Hmm?” His question broke through the trance she had been in. “Oh. Nothing. Just… thinking.”

Thinking she was disturbed by the unreality of his phantom, Greyhound quickly explained, “I know it’s kinda freaky, but we have to hide our true forms whenever we’re outside the compound. I can drop it as soon we’re inside, so…” He nodded towards the now-open gate.

“Oh, right, of course,” Sarah said, catching his meaning. She put the truck into drive and eased it forward. Even though she knew that a bumpy ride wouldn’t bother the nearly-indestructible alien in the least, she made a slow go of the rough road. She figured a jostle-free ride to the compound was one last kind gesture she could give him before she broke his trust.

“So…” she began. She knew he could tell something was up. Usually they’d be exchanging funny stories about their respective weeks at this point. He’d be griping about his aunt’s training schedule and how Tonia wouldn’t give him a break about “exchanging spit” with a human, even though the apprentice was half human herself. Sarah had always found the comment funny, especially since she and Greyhound had never actually kissed.

“What did you mean when you said that you have to hide your true forms when you’re outside? You’ve never worn a phantom when you come and visit me and Anna.”

“Well, your worth breaking a few rules for.” Greyhound’s phantom grinned at her in the rearview mirror.

Apparently the quick exchange combined with Sarah’s growing blush at his comment had sufficiently broken the ice for Greyhound, and he proceeded to carry the conversation for the rest of the ninety-second drive to the compound, telling her about how both Sabertooth, his combat trainer, and Steelfang, his master, refused to teach him what they deemed to be “parlor tricks” until he had mastered all the “important” skills. Sarah half-listened, inserting an appropriate response when necessary until they reached a single metal hangar that had the Phoenix Wolves’ orange logo dominating it’s huge doors. Greyhound hopped out of the back and came around to open her door before she had the chance to do it herself. Super alien or not, he was the dorkiest diehard gentleman she had ever met and she loved him for it. Grabbing her backpack, she stepped out onto the grass, as Greyhound gave her a very flourished bow.

“Milady,” he said. He shut her door and led the way to the towering doors. Sarah was surprised that he hadn’t completed the chivalrous performance by offering her his arm. He probably still thought that his phantom weirded her out and wanted to avoid making her touch him until she could see him as he was. With an electrified touch from his hand, the hangar doors slid open, revealing a concrete hallway that was half as long as the hangar itself. Two soldiers stood on either side of the hallway right inside the doors. They nodded to Greyhound, who returned the gesture, and ignored Sarah completely. This didn’t surprise her. She knew that many of the humans who worked with the aliens didn’t like having an outside civilian so deep within the country’s best-kept secret.

Greyhound shut the doors the same way he had opened them, and as soon as the last sliver of sunlight was sealed outside the doors, he dropped his phantom. Faster than she could blink, the blonde man was gone and a twelve-foot tall sandy-furred wolf with gray arms and feet stood before her. He peered down at her, his gray eyes getting lost in the matching patches of fur that surrounded them.

“Better?” he inquired.

“Perfect,” she smiled. Now he offered his arm to her as they approached the steel elevator that occupied the dead center of the hangar. Due to their differences in height, he had to keep his arm almost straight and she had to keep her hand at shoulder height in order to allow it to rest on his forearm. Greyhound treaded silently, but Sarah’s footsteps echoed eerily off the walls.

Though from the outside, the hangar looked like it could house a commercial airplane, inside, it was solid concrete, with the exception of the narrow hallway. The Phoenix Wolves’ base of operations was completely underground and this was the only way in, making it the most vulnerable front. The two guards at the door were merely a human effort at security. The hallway itself was laden with the real defenses, undetectable traps devised by Astro and Sabertooth. It was designed to keep people with intentions similar to her own out.

Reaching the elevator, they stepped inside and Greyhound hit the button. No doors closed behind them as they descended and Sarah watched the gray cement crawl from the floor in front of her and ascend out of view beyond the ceiling of the elevator. The elevator stopped behind two black doors that looked to be made of shiny black metal. Sarah knew from a previous visit that these were actually made from the black rock that Greyhound’s home planet was composed of. The Phoenix Wolves had had it imported from Obsidia in order to build an indestructible barrier between the outside world and their base. With a zap from Greyhound’s fingers, the doors melted to either side, allowing them to step through, and resealed themselves after they had passed.

The inside of the underground compound still amazed Sarah. They were currently standing in what amounted to the lobby. The cement dome ceiling rose far above her head and had a spider web of black crisscrossing it; more imports from Obsidia. Blue waves flashed through the web, carrying electric messages to people in other parts of base and taking in conditions outside the concrete, making sure all was safe. Various rooms and corridors branched off from the lobby, leading to various laboratories, armories, quarters and an underground hangar that housed the Phoenix Wolves’ ship. One of them also led to the control room which housed the shield generator. It was that room which she was after. Though she had never seen the shield itself, as it was invisible to the naked human eye, she knew it covered the entire forest, alerting the compound’s residents whenever something unusual passed through it. It was a very clever device, placing a tracer of electricity on all whom it deemed potentially dangerous. The tracer acted as a hook. If those inside the compound chose to do so, they could tell the shield to reel the intruder back outside the shield, kind of like a fish on a hook. It wasn’t hard to imagine why the Cometvores would want the shield’s stabilizer in their possession.

Greyhound caught her staring up at the ceiling as they walked across the huge room. “My dad’s been going psycho on this place lately. Shockbrood and his lackeys have been causing a lot of trouble the past few weeks, so he went through and ripped out the old tech and put in new webs, networks, and who knows what else. It’s made everything run a lot smoother around here, but Astro just about bites off the head of anyone who comes too close.” Greyhound chuckled. “A couple days ago he lashed out at a techie girl for bringing him the wrong type of conductors or something. Sent her running out the room in tears. My mom and Frostbite chewed him out pretty good for that. Since then he’s limited himself to muttering under his breath. It’s great for everyone else’s sanity, but I’m not so sure about his.”

Sarah smiled at the thought. Astro was brusque on a good day. She couldn’t imagine what he was like under stress. Exiting the main lobby through one of the many doorways lining its walls, they entered the compound’s lounge. This room was about three quarters the size of the lobby and currently contained an assortment of twenty to thirty humans along with several of the Phoenix Wolves. Most of the humans, especially the men, were jostling for spots on the overstuffed couches and chairs in front of the huge flat screen TV, which was currently showing a football game. The remaining few were relaxing in chairs and on the floor, either talking to each other or to their alien companions.

Sarah could name all of the Phoenix Wolves present, and for that, she was proud of herself. Steelfang and Frostbite sat in a far corner and seemed to be in the middle of a rather serious conversation. Both took notice of her and Greyhound’s presence. Steelfang raised a hand in greeting and smiled while Frostbite simply nodded her head. Most of the aliens either liked Sarah or ignored her, but she could never get a read on Frostbite. They’d never spoken, but she always felt like the Phoenix Wolves’ leader was watching her, evaluating her.

Nearby sat Astro and Albatross, Greyhound’s parents. Albatross was having a lively conversation with a couple female soldiers. Seeing Sarah and Greyhound, she motioned them to come over and join the conversation. Sarah looked up at Greyhound to see what he would do. He peered back down at her and shrugged his shoulders. So, obligingly, they went over to where the others were sitting. Albatross was giving Astro a shoulder rub, appearing to be massaging and restraining him in the same action. Obviously, her lifemate did not like being forced to relax when there was work to be done. He sat sullenly with an annoyed look on his face, refusing to do anything besides glare at the floor.

Albatross patted the ground next to where she sat, indicating where she wanted Sarah and Greyhound to sit. While Sarah appreciated Albatross’s effort to include her in their little community, time was of the essence. The longer she was forced to put off her purpose, the longer Anna was with the Cometvores. As she sat, not really listening to what was going on around her, she tried to think of a way to excuse herself. A bathroom ruse wouldn’t work because she didn’t know where the facilities were and Greyhound knew that. He’d probably insist on walking her there and back to make sure she didn’t get lost. Another problem with the plan as a whole was that she also had no idea where the control room was. The compound was huge. She’d run into military personnel long before she found what she was looking for. And she couldn’t exactly ask one of them where the shield generator was without raising suspicion.

A gentle nudge from Greyhound snapped her out of her thoughts. “Hey, you OK?” he asked with a concerned look on his face.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” she replied.

“Well, Albatross was introducing you to Sergeant Emily Jwa,” he pointed toward an Asian woman, “and Petty Officer Debby Young,” he said, indicating her blonde companion.

“Hi,” Emily said, extending a hand, which Sarah shook. Debby simply gave Sarah a curt nod. It seemed that she was among the majority of the soldiers who chose to treat her like an untouchable.

“Don’t mind her,” Emily explained. “She’s like that to everybody.” Sarah seriously doubted that.

Astro let out a melodramatic sigh. “May I leave now?”

Albatross stopped massaging his shoulders and smacked him across the back of the head. Sarah was sure a similar blow would have easily broken a human’s neck. “Would you just drop it? You’ve already gutted the place and put it back together several times over. Holing yourself up like this isn’t good for you. You need to be with people, not hunched over some circuit board mumbling to yourself. Honestly, this place isn’t going to cave in just because you took a break.”

“Perhaps not,” Astro responded, “but I would hardly call this forced socializing ‘therapeutic.’”

“Fine,” she huffed. “If being around friends and family is such a strain on you, go back to your gadgets. Just don’t come crying to me when one of your eyes starts twitching and you start talking to the voices in your head.”

Satisfied with the dismissal, Astro got up to leave. This gave Sarah an idea.

“Hey Astro, if you want some company while you work, maybe I could tag along? You could, um…teach me how some of the tech and stuff works.”

She looked to Greyhound for signs of encouragement. She found only a look of bewilderment. She really shouldn’t have been surprised by his reaction. He himself avoided spending “quality time” with his father as much as possible. Albatross, however, seemed to love the suggestion.

“That’s a great idea!” She glanced at Astro. “You can get some work done and in the process get to know Sarah a bit better and she can learn more about what we do here.”

Astro looked like he was about to protest but a glare from his lifemate quickly shut him up. Instead he glared at Sarah for making the suggestion in the first place. He obviously wasn’t thrilled about having to make conversation while he worked.

“Just don’t get in the way,” he muttered as he began to walk away.

Adjusting the backpack’s strap on her shoulder, Sarah started to follow. “Have fun,” Greyhound called skeptically after her. Sarah knew he suspected something unusual was up, but she didn’t have time to worry about that now. She broke into a trot to catch up with Astro’s long strides and the two of them quickly disappeared around a corner. Astro remained sullenly quiet as he walked and Sarah jogged beside him. Sarah didn’t mind the silence, though. It was awkward but it was still better than trying to actually initiate a conversation with the brooding alien scientist. Going at their current pace they quickly maneuvered through the labyrinth of hallways and rooms that composed the underground compound and in no time at all Sarah found herself right where she needed to be.

Screens only slightly smaller than those at the average movie theater lined three of four walls of the huge room they had just entered. Data written in Obsidian flashed across the screens so fast that Sarah could scarcely recognize the distinct alphabet of the alien tongue. Various control panels were lit up beneath the screens and in the center of the room stood what looked like an obese missile-shaped tower of silver metal. It was just slightly wider in diameter than it was tall and its silver shell seemed to be free of any necessary flaws like a control panel or a door.
While Sarah paused in the doorway to take in the futuristic technology, Astro continued into the control room, cursing under his breath as he approached the silver tower. Sarah quickly got over her awe and trotted after him. Astro began to circle the tower, looking over every inch of it, swearing in the both English and Obsidian the entire time. Sarah was no expert, but would have been willing to bet based on Astro’s colorful language that something was wrong with missile-thing. However, as far as she could tell, there didn’t seem to be anything amiss with it. Eventually Astro stopped circling and cursing and opted to simply glare at the thing.

Nervously, Sarah dared to break the sudden silence. “So…is something wrong with the…that?” She pointed at the silver tower.

Not even bothering to look at her, Astro replied, “The stupid piece of crap is malfunctioning still. It has been ever since I upgraded the system.”

“How so? I mean, like…what does it do?” Sarah ventured.

At this, Astro finally granted her to courtesy of a glance. “This is our shield generator. It’s supposed to be throwing out of grid of electric pulses, but ever since the upgrade, it’s been providing spotty coverage. Today it appears that it’s decided that it only wants to work at half power.”

“How can you tell?”

Astro rolled his eyes at her ignorance. “I would have assumed that you were aware by now that our eyesight far exceeds that of your kind. I can see the grid being produced the generator and today I’m only seeing half of what should be there.”

“Oh” was all that Sarah could think to say. Of course she knew that Obsidians had keener eyesight than humans. She just hadn’t known how far across the electromagnetic field their range of vision extended.

Satisfied that he had sufficiently both educated and slighted his ignorant companion, Astro placed his large hand on the generator. A spider web of electric pulses visible to even Sarah’s weak eyes traced out a door in the wall of the machine. The silver metal melted back until the tracing became an opening revealing the inside of the generator. Astro ducked through the door and Sarah quickly followed. The inside walls were completely black, yet they seemed to give off illumination. There also seemed to be small parts of the walls that gave off no light at all. Looking closely, Sarah could just barely make out that the dark pieces of the walls were where Obsidian writing had been scribbled across the surface. Though she was illiterate as far as the alien language went, Sarah was intrigued by the dark writing and followed it across the wall. As she followed the writing, not sure if she was even reading it in the correct direction, she came across a perfectly square area of darkness. Tracing her finger across it, she found that it jutted out of the wall by about three inches. Could this be the stabilizer? It was plugged into the shield generator, like the Cometvore said it would be, and it matched the description he had given her.

Suddenly, there was a loud crash behind her, making her nearly jump out of her skin. Spinning around, Sarah saw that Astro had opened a panel in the wall and several pieces of equipment had tumbled out, throwing off bright sparks as they came unattached from their docking stations. Astro cursed loudly as one of the gadgets slammed down on his foot and sent an electric shock up his leg. Sarah didn’t know whether to ask if he was alright or to just stay out of his way. Still cursing, Astro immediately began scooping up the fallen objects and roughly reconnecting them to the circuits within the wall. Sarah saw her chance.

While Astro was distracted and making more than enough noise to cover any that she might make, Sarah dropped her bag on the floor and tore it open. Carefully as she could, she pulled the stabilizer from the wall. It had no fingerholds, but it slid out easily enough and she set it down inside the bag. Sarah glanced back at Astro to make sure that he was still preoccupied before zipping the bag shut and gently tossing it back onto her shoulder. Thankfully, her removal of the device had not triggered any alarms, though Astro’s control panel seemed to be sparking even more now.

Wanting to make a quick escape without being to conspicuous, Sarah called to Astro over his loud curses and the clanking hardware. “Astro, I need to go,” she yelled. In an effort to be convincing, she glanced down at the watch that was not on her wrist.

“Take a right, and it’s the third door on the left,” Astro replied without looking away from the sparking panel.

“What?” Sarah asked, utterly confused.

“The female lavatory,” Astro said. “It’s the third door on the left.”

If the situation had been different, Sarah would have laughed at Astro’s obliviousness. “No, I mean I need to leave. My parents are expecting me to pick up Anna in half an hour.” Sarah could hear the lie in her own voice, but Astro didn’t seem to notice.

“Oh,” Astro said, finally turning around. Sarah tried to shove the backpack farther behind her back with her elbow. “Take a left and just follow the main hallway. It’ll take you back to the room we were in before.

“Now, can you follow those directions, or shall I draw you a map?” he added, crossing his arms.

Sarah was too nervous to be insulted by his rudeness and simply replied, “No, I can find my way back. Thanks.”

She quickly exited the generator and began speed walking back to the lounge. Guilt churned in her stomach and made her feel sick, but she walked on. When she reached the lounge’s entrance, she paused just outside the doorway. Inside the room, she could hear the football game that was still on the TV and she could also hear Greyhound and his mother having a somewhat loud but friendly conversation about how best to draw Astro away from his machines. Convincing herself that she had to do this for Anna, Sarah willed her hands to stop shaking. She plastered a smile to her face and tried to walk with confidence as she rounded the corner…and ran straight into Frostbite.