I Am Number Four - Pittacus Lore Page 0,5

myself. When I was kicked out of the mountain base, Krah was one of the officers responsible for choosing where I would be relocated.

“Dr. Zakos informed me of the situation you found yourself in.” He narrows his one good eye at me, studying my face. The other is a milky white, rendered useless by some injury long ago.

“I acted as I thought Beloved Leader would want,” I say. “But I regretfully let the Loric scum escape. Our Skimmers lost their ship somewhere over Texas.” My eyes fall to the floor. “I understand this failure is unforgivable. If it warrants an end to my life, I will offer my neck to your blade willingly.”

Krah grunts.

“You’ve always been a good soldier, Dun-Ra. Even when you fail, your loyalty never wavers. You were right to bring Beloved Leader here, long may he reign. If you die because of your actions, it will be by his hands, not by mine.”

I nod, a small wave of relief rushing over me.

“Sir.” One of the officers-in-training stands, removing his headphones. “Several of our warships are still asking about the Loric ship the Anubis was chasing. I believe many of the captains would like to engage it if possible.”

“Of course they would,” Krah says. He glances at me. “I know you were hoping to head the bastards off, but you’ve made our entire North American fleet restless.”

“How should we respond?” the young trueborn asks.

“That they’re to remain put,” Krah says. “That Beloved Leader will tell them when they have new orders.” He raises his chin a little. “And that our invasion of Earth is going just as he designed.”

CHAPTER FOUR

KRAH FILLS ME IN ON THE STATE OF OUR CAMPAIGN. For now we’re in a holding pattern. The Anubis’s unexpected flight to the Sanctuary changed our timeline. Once Beloved Leader awakens, his plans will resume, but for now the warships wait in silence. The only anomaly has been the humans who’ve suddenly begun to display Garde-like powers. But according to Krah, they’re more of a curiosity than a threat at the moment. The affected humans appear to all be little more than children, untrained and incapable of using their newfound abilities in any way that might harm our cause. In fact, it’s believed they may prove to be useful in other ways.

I get more of a sense of this when I visit Zakos in the afternoon.

There are five metal slabs that serve as beds lining the walls of his laboratory. Three are empty. One is covered in blood and what looks like chunks of human flesh. One has an unconscious human girl with short, red hair strapped down to it. Zakos is bent over her, prodding her with some sort of baton wired to an electronic tablet in his hands.

“Doctor,” I say.

“Ah, Phiri.” He drops the tablet on the girl’s stomach. She doesn’t react. “I was just about to send for you.”

“Who is this child?” I ask. “I thought we’d learned everything to know about human anatomy.”

His eyes light up a bit at this. “So had I. And yet this girl has exhibited signs of Loric power. Telekinesis, to be specific. We have reports that other Legacies have been displayed by these newly powered humans as well.”

“Which is why you have her drugged, I’m guessing.”

“That’s right,” he says.

“And that one?” I point to the slab where blood is congealing.

“An unfortunate blunder on my part. It won’t happen again. I tried to use the same techniques as my predecessor, Dr. Anu, to isolate Legacies. Unfortunately, his methods apparently only worked on Loric physiology. I’ve made some adjustments to his methods. As you can see, this specimen is still alive. And if she does die, well, several of our warships have teams devoted to collecting new samples for me. I don’t think I’ll have any problem finding more subjects.”

I step closer to the sleeping girl and take a better look at her. Slender metal probes stick out of her chest and arms. Her eyes move back and forth beneath thin lids.

“How did they get these powers?” I ask.

Zakos dismisses the question with a wave of his hand as he moves to a computer terminal.

“I’m not concerned about the how so much as what we can do with them. The how we’ll figure out later. The how I might be able to reverse engineer. Or, more likely, Beloved Leader will be able to explain.”

“How is he?” I ask.

“See for yourself.”

I follow him through a door in the back of his lab and