but I need your full attention on discovering a way to contact DES.”
“Then how about a shift in the lab? In fact, I could do it alone because I can see the danger.”
“And what happens if a HoLF breaches the lab?” Morgan asks.
“I sound the alarm and get the hell out of there.”
“What if it surprises you? You won’t have backup.”
“It won’t.” I shudder, remembering the heavy pressure on my shoulders whenever they were around. Truthfully, I’d rather have a shift guarding detention. Looters, even rioting looters, are less scary than shadow-blobs. But my conscience refuses to allow me to be a chicken.
“You’re supposed to be dead. You can’t be seen.” Morgan points out.
“I can take one of the overnight shifts. You know no one dares enter the lab except for security.”
“I’ll think about it,” Radcliff says, ending the discussion.
A familiar response. At least he didn’t say no. When Morgan leaves, I glance at the time. Maybe Niall is still awake.
As if he can read my mind, Radcliff says, “Go to sleep, Ara. Take advantage of a full night’s rest while you can.”
Does that mean he’s decided? As usual, his expression gives nothing away. I wonder when Elese will teach me the how-to-look-intimidating-without-even-trying lesson or the how-to-suppress-your-emotions lesson. Too tired to argue, I get ready for bed.
“An alternative dimension is the stuff of science fiction, Ara,” Yenay says. “While there’s always speculation, there’s been no evidence that such a thing exists.”
At that moment, she reminds me of my mother. Although younger and with shorter hair, she has that you-are-wasting-my-time-with-this-nonsense demeanor.
“Plus the Q-net failed to produce a mathematical theorem that would prove its existence,” Bertie adds, in a gentler voice. “The fact that the aliens believed in demons is a very important discovery. It explains why all these Warriors are spread throughout the Galaxy. Your parents must be thrilled.”
They are. Lan’s translations of the alien symbols are the first big breakthrough since the discovery of the Warriors on other planets. Except their excitement is tempered by large doses of frustration because they can’t get into the Warrior pits. I hope this meeting will help get us closer to that goal.
We’re in Radcliff’s office. It’s oh-seven-hundred so I can still report to training on time. Lucky me. Lan’s messages to her mother are on the screen above his guest terminal. It’s been three days since Morgan and I opened the files. The astrophysicists delayed the meeting until they finished the laser weapons and the sensor that will record the full electromagnetic spectrum in the pits.
“So where did the HoLFs come from?” I ask.
“We have a few theories,” Bertie says.
“Like what?” I’m not letting her get away with a vague answer.
“They could be native to Yulin and were disturbed by the destruction of the Warriors.”
“And native to Planet Xinji as well? The HoLFs killed—”
“We can’t know that for sure,” Morgan says. “Jarren said the HoLFs appeared after they raided the Warrior pits, but we can’t trust him. And there wasn’t enough information in the files from Xinji aside from mention of the first deaths.”
Which included multiple lacerations, evisceration, and exsanguination, but I guess that could be attributed to your average murdering psychopath. Too bad those files were stolen. Even though they’re mere pieces of the vast amount of data that is sent to DES from a research base, we really need to recover them—that’s next on my worming To-Do list after we contact DES.
“Or the looters could have brought the HoLFs,” Yenay says.
“The looters didn’t bring them,” I say. “They arrived because the Warriors were removed and destroyed.” But I might as well have been talking to one of the Warriors.
“You were in Pit 4 during the attack,” Morgan says. “They could have released them in the other pits.”
Huh. Well that would certainly be…I can’t think of a horrible enough word to describe it. Did Jarren lie to me about what happened on Xinji? He seemed sincere at the time, but, then again, he planned to leave everyone on Yulin at the mercy of the shadow-blobs. So he’s more than capable of deliberately killing an entire base.
“The important thing is to learn more about the HoLFs,” Yenay says.
I agree, but I’m not buying their theories, no matter how logical. I’ll stick with my gut intuition thank you very much.
“Officer Radcliff is waiting for us in the conference room,” Morgan says.
Ah, part two. The four of us join him. He’s sitting at the head of the large rectangular table. Niall, Beau, Elese, and Rance