The Unknown

TWENTY | sunrise.

The sun was peeking over the horizon now, which Tess knew meant they would soon move to another safe house.

"Good morning," The man spoke into her ear in tired drone. "I can see from your vitals that you're awake."

They were constantly monitoring her vitals? Tess shuddered and whispered, "Have you tapped into my nervous system?"

He didn't respond.

Soon, Shaun came to collect Tess for her new assignment. He seemed awkward about taking on a leadership role, not wanting to boss her around.

"So we can leave now," he said. "Or whenever you're ready, but I guess it should be now."

She didn't have anything to bring with her, so she nodded for Shaun to lead the way. Jade no longer trusted Tess with a communicator, and she had no idea where they were going.

Shaun escorted Tess to a car parked along the street outside. "The citizens are disobeying the citywide lockdown, so there's no need for us to hide anymore," he explained as he ducked into the driver's side.

For the first time in a long while, she rode through the city in a car, able to stare out the window without fear, like when she was a child.

Closer to downtown, there were crowds in the streets. Tess squinted, unsure of what she was seeing.

Windows of dozens of stores had been shattered. People were rushing inside and grabbing whatever they wanted. Down one street, she saw black smoke rising from a huge bonfire.

People were protesting, holding up signs. Tess could make out one in thick black letters: "THE CITY LIED TO US!"

There was a haggard man on a street corner yelling up at the sky with his arms outstretched. "Take me!" he pled. "I want to ascend! The day of the LORD is near, the day when the Almighty brings destruction!" His shouts trailed off as Shaun stepped on the gas, the chaos outside becoming a blur of motion.

Citizens had seen the ship in the sky and the city's attacks on it. Maybe they'd noticed their family or friends not acting quite like themselves. Some of them had probably deduced what was happening—an alien invasion, something out of a sci-fi movie. To others, it looked like Armageddon.

What have we done? Tess thought, planting a hand on the cold glass window as she watched her city burn.

Shaun's voice broke through her rumination. "We need to up our pace and convert everyone before this gets out of control. That's why we're heading to the heart of the city with our new recruits."

Tess glanced in the side mirror and noticed a few vans trailing behind them. Those were the new recruits he spoke of.

They all pulled into an alleyway and piled out of the vehicles. Tess recognized a few that she'd freed from the government's underground dungeon-like cells. They now looked healthy, with eyes eager and bright.

"Okay, newbies!" Shaun said, trying to sound friendly and upbeat. "Secure an area and send the exact coordinates to the Species using your communicators. If you have any trouble, just find me or Tess, here—"

"I heard Jade say she's not allowed to use communicators. She's a traitor." A teenage girl with big chocolate brown eyes was glaring at Tess.

"Err, well..." Shaun glanced nervously at Tess from the corner of his eye. "Just find me, then. But Tess isn't a traitor...she just made a mistake."

The man spoke in her ear. "Say something. Sell your loyalty."

Tess stepped forward. "That's right. I made a mistake, and...." She let her voice choke up. "I lost a friend because of it. We can't stop until the city is all ours because the government wants to destroy us, to tear us all apart. So learn from me. Capture as many people as you can today, and convert them to our side."

The recruits began to shout with excitement as they dispersed into the streets. Tess was left there with Shaun.

She didn't know what to say to this person who wasn't quite the Shaun she used to know. "So...what now?"

"Why don't you keep an eye on them from afar. Just sweep through the streets and make sure nothing goes wrong."

She nodded and began to walk away.

"And Tess?"

She looked back.

"Stay safe out there." He said, locking eyes with her.

"Okay," she said uncertainly, then disappeared around a corner.

For a moment, it felt good to be alone and unwatched.

Then the voice implanted in her head spoke up.

"I don't think they fully trust you. You'll have to do more to get information for us."

"It takes time to regain trust," she spoke softly so no one would hear. "It takes investment. Don't hurt Kyle because they haven't immediately handed me the blueprints for their ship." That last part was half a joke, half an earnest beg, since she was at his mercy.

Painfully loud, dry laughter hit her eardrums. She couldn't cover her ears to block it out—it was inside her head. "I'm not trying to break you. He's safe unless you explicitly ignore an order. So don't."

"Fine." She kept walking for a while, but she could never feel alone knowing he was always listening. "Since we're going to be working so closely, what's your name, anyway?" Tess figured she'd better settle in and get used to the situation rather than constantly resenting it. Then she could focus on planning, drawing out information, and trying to leverage an advantage.

"David."

"Dave, then?" she asked in a friendly, relaxed tone, as if they were meeting under normal circumstances.

"Sure, whatever you like."

She chuckled. "If you really mean that, I can think of some things I'd really like to call you—"

"No, Dave's fine, then."

She thought she could hear a smile in his voice. If she could stay on his good side, she knew he might be more lenient or give her more information than he should, like Van did.

"Do you know anything that might help me?"

"Like what?"

"Like...why is Jade automatically the leader? Why not anyone else?"

He paused. "You know how beehives have a queen? We've gathered that the species might be like that—a hive full of drones and one queen. It has nothing to do with the human Jade, only the alien that's using her as a host."

"So what if you eliminate the queen?"

There was a long pause. "We don't know." He sounded intrigued. "Do you have...loyalties to these people, the hybrids?"

She swallowed. "Yes. I'd prefer to stop them humanely. Without hurting any human beings. None of us asked for this, you know." She let those words settle for a bit. "But if stopping Jade means stopping the whole thing, I'm in."

_________

Q: What's the first science fiction media (book, movie, show, etc.) you remember enjoying?

In grade school, I liked the Maximum Ride series and also read The Missing series. Then young adult sci-fi got really huge with The Hunger Games. I read that, Divergent, Matched, and Uglies. Later, I got into more adult stuff like Jeff VanderMeer, Phillip K. Dick, H.P. Lovecraft, and others.

I'm also a movie fanatic, so here are my favorite sci-fi movies: Mad Max: Fury Road, Interstellar, Snowpiercer, Children of Men, Dune, A Scanner Darkly, Ex Machina...and more I'm forgetting. Have you seen these/what are your favorites?