The Watcher [Alien Nation #1]

Chapter 16

The sea was calm on this side of the island, but the thin strands of hair that had escaped from Jules' bun were still stiff with salt as they drifted in the breeze. She let her eyes drift closed, listening to the gentle, rhythmic swish of the waves on the shoreline. This was definitely better than any simulation.

She just wished Cass could be with her. For the moment she was monitoring the invaders' movements, and Jules didn't want to disturb that. She just missed her, especially as Erri had cloaked the Phoenix as a precaution. It was like she wasn't even there.

She watched as Josh stood up—for about the third time in two minutes—and started poking about in the pebbles littered around the foot of the cliff. "Looking for something?" she said, as a feeble attempt at making conversation.

"Yeah," he muttered. "Got one." He held up a small stone as if he were an archaeologist who'd just found a rare fossil.

"A rock."

"A flat rock, with a bit of a triangle shape." He turned it on its side so she could see, then abruptly squatted down and flung the rock into the sea. His shoulders slumped when it sank with a plop. "They're meant to bounce."

Jules sighed and rose. There was one thing she'd been wanting to do since she first saw Josh's broadcast.

It was much cooler inside the cave, and she took a moment to gather herself, freeing her hair and letting it swing down her back, before tying it back up again. She felt like she should at least be presentable for this.

The two skeletons were leaning against opposite walls, and Jules wondered how badly they'd been injured after the systems failure. They'd obviously survived the landing, miraculously. Had they been trying to signal to some passing fisherman for help? Or had they simply wanted to die with real air on their faces?

She let the torchlight fall over the ghraal skeleton, the closest to the exit. She couldn't tell if it was male or female, but they had died facing the cave mouth. Looking into the light.

She stooped down and delicately moved some of the half-rotted fabric on the skeleton's wrist to the side. Just as she'd hoped, a tarnished silver ID band hung limply around the wrist bones. She unclasped it and held it up to the light. The bracelet was as wide as her finger, and the deceased's name was engraved into the metal in the main language of each Commonwealth species. She brushed away some dirt to reveal the inscription: AGENT UTI SUU KANTAAL.

She sighed, slipping the bracelet into her breast pocket, then did the same for the human's tag: PILOT OFFICER HELENE ERIKSEN. She'd hand these in as soon as they made it back. At least then two families would finally have peace.

She glanced at the wreck of the ship behind her. There were no noises coming from within, but the emergency lights created a dim pool on the rocky cave ceiling. She hoped that AI wouldn't slow Avery down too much.

Her datapad vibrated, and she unclipped it from her belt eagerly. Instead of a status report from Erri, though, Cass's icon, the one they used only for their secret channel, flashed in the corner of the screen.

"Cass?" she said, opening the channel. "Everything all right?"

"Jules, they're moving!" Cass said, her voice high with panic, and Jules felt like she'd been punched in the gut. "There's a ship heading towards us!"

"The big one?"

"No, it's..." there was a pause, she assumed while Cass adjusted her sensors. "I think it's bigger than the Phoenix, but not by much."

"ETA?"

"Under two minutes. I can't keep track of it!"

"All right, Cass, sit tight and stay cloaked. We're coming."

She put the datapad back in its spot on her belt. When she looked up, Josh was standing in the mouth of the cave, gaping at her, his face shiny and pale.

"What's going on?" he demanded.

"The aliens are moving. Erri!" she yelled over her shoulder. When he didn't reply, she marched up to the open door. "Erri! We have to move!"

In seconds, Erri's head appeared in the doorway. "I know, Cass told me. Avery can't disconnect yet."

"Fuck's sake," Jules hissed.

"She's not responding to me, and I can't just force her to break the connection, that could hurt her."

"Erri. There is an alien ship coming right at us."

"You two go hide in the Phoenix. I'll stay with her."

"Erri—"

"Go!" He disappeared before she had another chance to retort.

"Come on, Josh," she ordered, grabbing his elbow and pulling him out of the cave and along the beach behind her. "Let's..." her words broke off when the clouds above them parted when they were halfway between the Phoenix and the cave.

A craft circled the island like a buzzard, looping closer to the ground every time. Jules cursed under her breath. Could they make it to the Phoenix?

No, she realised with a sinking feeling as the craft fired its thrusters to land, right next to their own ship. They couldn't.

"This way," she hissed, pointing at the reed-covered dunes that separated the beach from the rest of the island. They dove into the feeble cover just as the craft's landing thrusters became deafening. If they kept their heads down they could stay hidden, but it would take some luck.

The air was eerily still after the engines on the alien craft powered down, but she could hear barked commands in a tongue foreign even to her Lexicon implant.

Her datapad vibrated, and she checked the screen without making any sudden movements. A message from Cass read:

Scans show they are carbon-based, low body temp., cybernetic enhancements inc. some kind of metallic fibre woven into skin. Would be hard to kill but Erri's Zenith could do some damage.

Stay down, she mouthed at Josh, before crawling on her belly to the edge of the dune and parting the reeds so she could see.

The invaders were milling about on the sand, some of them poking it with their toes as if they had never seen a beach before. Maybe they hadn't—Jules had never seen one that wasn't a clever illusion, until today.

The invaders weren't quite what she expected. In her mind she had formed an image of a monster that would tower over humanity, snarling and slavering. These invaders reminded her a little of a rhinoceros beetle. They stood on two legs, with bulky silver carapaces that gleamed with dull iridescence in the sunlight—either they were wearing some kind of armour, or they were naked, Jules wasn't sure which. They were barrel-chested and stubby-limbed, with snouts that turned up at the end like a horn. All of them brandished what she was fairly sure was a weapon of some kind, with some kind of blade at their hip. One of them, whom she assumed to be the leader, appeared to be scanning the area with a device the size of their palm as another tried to drink the seawater, and promptly spat it back out with disgust that crossed both species and language barriers.

And then the big one lifted its head as if it had caught the scent of its prey. It made some kind of noise that made the others all leap to attention and follow the leader into the cave, with one hanging back just inside the entrance.

Heart in her mouth, she scooted backwards so she was hidden again, tapping out a message to Erri as she did: They're coming HIDE

"How many?" Josh whispered.

"Five," she mouthed back. "All armed."

"What do we do?" Josh groaned, and Jules felt an instant wave of guilt. She'd only needed him to show her where the damn data core was. This was more than they'd both bargained for.

She bit her lip, listening carefully to the crunch of the aliens' footsteps in the sand as they explored. "I don't know."