Manipulate (Alien Cadets) Read online

  When the girls were side by side he gestured toward the beach. “We’re going on a walk. You go first.”

  Nat stood still. “If we go with you, you’ll kill us. I’d rather you kill us here.”

  Jia bit back a whimper.

  “Seems appropriate,” Nat said, gesturing at the tower.

  Downy laughed. Nat was one of the best. “Did you guess I killed the sheep? Very good.”

  “The picture gave you away. It looked Spo to me,” Nat said. "So are you going to kill us or what?”

  I’m not going to kill you,” he said to Nat. That was true, he wasn’t going to kill Nat, only Jia. “I have a friend I want you to meet. She knows your sister.”

  Nat took a sudden step toward him, and Downy pressed the gun against her chest.

  “My sister?”

  “Oh, your little sis is quite the clever girl. Shara particularly likes her taste in florals or something like that. If you force me to kill you here, then the Rik will take Akemi.”

  Nat finally looked shaken, which Downy enjoyed. But not for long. It was five minutes until midnight. “Walk. NOW,” Downy said.

  Downy marched them down to the beach. They walked past the huge parking lot, the playground for kids, and the volleyball courts. The smog of Los Angeles had blown east in the afternoon and you could see the stars. The starlight reflected off the sand the same way it did in the deserts of Spo. The crash of black waves filled the silence.

  Until Nat spoke. She didn’t stop walking, or turn her head, she just spoke. “I don’t understand, Downy. Why do the Rik want us?”

  “You? They’re taking out the best cadet witnesses before the trial, obviously. Why humanity? Well, the Rik are pretty tired of their homeworld.”

  “I thought the Spo and the Rik were enemies.”

  “That’s putting it in human terms. We’re rivals. The Spo have a monopoly on the space drive and the Rik are close to breaking it. They nearly did, when they had unaltered Rik brains to work with. Now they’re hoping to start using human brains.”

  “But they can’t!” Jia protested. “The Galactic Counsel ruled that only non-sentient - oh.”

  “Yes,” Downy said. “If Jonathan, Nat, Sam, and all the other best candidates for the trial disappear... Humanity could lose the trial. You’re all declared non-sentient or malignant or whatever. Welcome the Rik.” He prodded Jia in the back to walk faster. “They get new bodies, if they want them, and all the brain matter they can use.”

  “Then why are you helping them?” Nat demanded. “You’re Spo.”

  They were close to the bathroom/shower building now; it cast a faint shadow from the moon. Shara stood in the shadows, a young, blond girl wearing knee high boots and a thick fur vest. Downy had met her a year before in her Rik form. He liked that one better.

  “Oh my god!” Shara said, “You’re almost too late. The capsule has to rendezvous with the ship in twenty minutes.”

  She led them around the corner and into the ladies’ room. All of the wooden stalls had been dismantled, and a small spacecraft filled the room. Downy recognized it as one of the Rik atmosphere capsules. It could hold one or two people and blast through the atmosphere of a planet. Once in space it only had enough air for a couple hours. Usually these capsules took diplomats directly to an orbiting spaceship.

  “Why’d you bring two girls?” Shara asked. “You were just supposed to bring Nat.”

  “I had to,” Downy started.

  “Wait a minute,” Nat said, looking at Shara. “You’re a human, not Rik. What’s going on?”

  Downy growled and backhanded Nat across the face. “Shut up. We’re busy."

  Nat kept her footing, but reflexively clutched her cheek, her eyes getting bright with pain.

  “Don’t worry about Jia,” Downy said to Shara. “Why not send an extra?”

  “Because there’s only one free seat,” Shara said, dilating the hatch door.

  Inside, Akemi slumped unconscious against the wall, handcuffed and seated in one of two deep chairs.

  “No!” Nat screamed. “What have you done?"

  She jumped at Shara, locking an arm around the blond girl’s throat and clenching her other arm to form a headlock. She twisted around to keep Shara in front of Downy’s gun.

  “You get Akemi out of there,” Nat said to Downy. “Do it now, or I’ll suffocate her.”

  “You know what?” Downy said. “I don’t care. I delivered you to Ms. Rik. If she has trouble with you, that’s her problem."

  Downy turned his gun toward Jia. “You, on the other hand, are my problem."

  He grabbed Jia’s arm and dragged her out of the restroom.

  Chapter 15

  Shara could barely breathe in Nat’s choke hold. She didn’t like Nat nearly as much as she liked Akemi. With Akemi, she’d felt a bond. Almost of sisterhood, though not quite. Akemi was stylish and creative. She was even kind, if Shara understood that word correctly. Akemi had kindly passed out when Shara handcuffed her in the spaceship. She certainly hadn’t locked her arm around Shara’s neck and tried to kill her. If that wasn’t rude, she didn’t know what was.

  Nat didn’t stand a chance, though. Shara was completely at home in her human body now. While Nat stayed still for a moment, perhaps contemplating her incredible rudeness, Shara took the opportunity to twist to the side and slam Nat against the side of the spaceship.

  Nat’s head thunked against the side of the ship, but her grip only tightened.

  That had to hurt. Didn’t human skulls break easily? Or was that only the old, brittle ones?

  Nat took advantage of the ship’s concave surface, leaning back and pulling harder on Shara's neck.

  Shara’s feet started to leave the ground, and her vision narrowed. She brought up her heel and kicked Nat in the crotch. Nat grunted, but didn’t fall to the ground writhing the way she should have.

  Oh I'm stupid, Shara thought, that was for men.

  Shara reached blindly for Nat’s face, scratching at her with her nails. She’d painted them baby blue only this morning. Ah, that had an affect. Nat twisted her head away from the nails, and loosened her hold on Shara.

  That was all it took. Shara slammed her foot in the girl’s instep, jerked her own head free, and in one violent turn, grabbed Nat’s hair and slammed her head into the ship. It made a really satisfying thunk this time, much better than the first one.

  Nat slumped to the ground, not unconscious, but seriously dazed. While Nat blinked uncertainly, Shara pushed her through the door of the capsule and into the seat. She handcuffed Nat to a ring on the wall and then turned on the controls. She’d already preprogrammed the capsule’s trajectory.

  When Shara got out of the capsule, the door closed automatically. She hurried out of the bathroom and jogged toward the parking lot. When she was about fifty yards away, the bathroom exploded.

  She turned to watch as the capsule shot towards the sky. It made about 2,000 yards before it inched to a stop. For a moment it hung in the dark sky, at the apex of its arc. Then the next level of propulsion kicked in and the capsule shot towards the edge of the atmosphere.

  Shara felt a little bad for Akemi. The Rik doctors could have Nat with Shara’s blessing, but Akemi… Oh well. Shara wiped a tear from her cheek and sucked it off her finger. The human endocrine system really packed a wallop when she got it going. Shara sighed, this was probably a good time to go to a bar and experiment with the affects of alcohol on her brain.

  Downy dragged Jia away from the bathroom on the beach. He was still laughing at the idea of Nat breaking the Rik girl’s neck. Of course, if Nat actually overcame Shara, that would be a problem for him. Nat knew about him. He couldn’t let her get back to the school. And also, if the Rik didn’t get their human targets, Downy wouldn’t get his own reward. That stupid girl could mess it all up for him.

  Downy sobered. He’d have to make sure Nat didn’t get away. In the meantime, Jia was a problem.

  He headed down the beach, further away
from the Pepperdine campus. Jia was silent, perhaps sensing that he was in a bad mood. Definitely he had to kill her. She couldn’t be allowed to get back to campus. Or to any of the Spo, now that she knew he’d betrayed them to the Rik.

  The question was, how best to use her murder? Downy’s tower art with the sheep had set the stage for a killing. He’d planned to put the next body by the tower, establishing the existence of an obsessed, Spo-hating killer. Nat had figured out that Downy did the hate message, but he was willing to bet she was the only one. Everybody else thought it was some crazed human who hated the Spo and the cadets.

  Downy had planned to use the same imaginary psycho for future murders, but he hadn’t been planning to use it for Jia. She was an adequate cadet, but no more. He would’ve let her live. He wanted to save the psycho killer for Armen or maybe Melanie. She was such a pet of theirs.

  On the other hand, the stage was set and he did need to get rid of Jia.

  So, should he kill her here or there? Downy was still thinking when Jia broke away from him and sprinted down the beach. He must have loosened his grip while pondering his options. She veered right toward the wet sand. It was more compact and she could run faster there. Not that that would help her.

  The Spo skeletal structure was more akin to that of a star fish than any other earth creature, but when they needed to move: they moved. Downy squatted low and jumped. A real jump, despite the soft sand. His body flew through the air. One more jump and he landed on Jia. Her body collapsed into the sand under his weight; he thought he heard a bone snap. Her breath was knocked out, and she gasped, silent.

  “You won’t even melt,” Downy said.

  He used the long claw on his fourth finger to slice the jugular vein in her neck from her chin to her collar bone. A few moments and it was over. Downy was annoyed he didn’t have anything to capture her blood in. That might have been useful for his next project.

  Instead, he hoisted her body up and tossed it over his shoulder. He'd made up his mind, it would be better for her to disappear. If both she and Nat were gone – Oh, Nat.

  Downy turned around just in time to see and hear the bathroom explode as the Rik capsule sailed into the sky. He thought he spotted a dark figure moving away from the burning building, toward the parking lot. So the Rik did her job.

  The bathroom burned fluorescent in the dark night, the orange and green flames lighting up the beach. That gave Downy an idea.

  He carried Jia’s body back to the bathroom. Shara was long gone. A quick toss put Jia’s body on the hottest part of the fire. She’d be burned up there, beyond easy recognition.

  After a quick dip in the ocean to wash the blood off, Downy put his clothes back on and returned to school. Not even one a.m. yet, he could watch a movie before going to bed. Now that they'd taken Sam away, he didn't have a roommate to bother about.

  ***

  Sam was driven to LAX, and escorted to the Spo administrative shuttle. Greg stayed with him, but two other Spo were in charge of detaining him. General Gustav joined them just before they took off. He and Greg were in close conversation as the shuttle broke atmosphere. In half an hour, they docked with the main Spo spacestation orbiting Earth.

  Sam was taken to the communications room, where Greg told him his trial would be held immediately. The walls were pale yellow, a color the Spo found soothing. Sam was mostly beyond soothing. His hands were cuffed behind his back. He didn’t regret his decision yet, but he was surprised at the direction this was going. Sam had assumed the repercussions of his little talk would be immediate and personal. Instead, he was getting something a lot bigger and more formal.

  A huge screen covered one wall. Gustav and Greg stood on either side of Sam, facing the screen, and four guards stood unobtrusively in the corners. The screen flared up. It was divided into two sections, both images were high resolution, but stretched. The Spo eyestalks gave them a different perspective than inset orbs - human eyes. Spo visual technology filmed things on a spherical plane, and then flattened the image onto a screen, much like the Mercator projection of Earth that hung in most elementary schools.

  One of the screens showed three Spo royals, standing around a glass table. The table was one of the melted animal puddles Sam had just talked about on television. It was a particularly large one, nearly eight feet across and spectacularly valuable. If a table was made from a single emerald it would be comparable to that one. As far as Sam knew, the only person who owned a table like that was the Spo emperor.

  The other image took longer to materialize. Finally it came through. It showed a room full of other aliens. Sam recognized several Merith, looking like Cyclopes, each with their one big eye. There were a few Crosspoint, little slug-like aliens who were allies of the Spo, and a couple Tergre and Vel.

  Sam was fairly certain he was looking at a subcommittee of the Galactic Council. Wow. He knew they were planning Earth’s upcoming sentiency trial, but he hadn’t had the impression that it was a big deal for them. He sure hadn’t thought his little rebellion would get this kind of attention.

  Sam knew his image was being projected for all the aliens to see, so he studied them surreptitiously. After two minutes of silence, Greg stepped forward.

  “Emperor,” he said first, crouching in respect toward the left image showing the Spo emperor.

  “Councilors,” he said, nodding toward the second set of people. He spoke in Spo.

  “You have been apprised of the situation. A large majority of humans now know the situation of the sentiency trial, the Rik threat, and our sponsorship. I recognize that this violates the standards of the planetary evaluation.”

  One of the Merith slowly rose. They did everything pompously. “The sentiency trial has two components. The planetary evaluation and the species test. The planetary evaluation has been compromised. This renders the sentiency test void. The Earth loses the trial, by default. They may be declared non-sentient, or given a further period of sponsorship."

  Sam felt sick. He’d known the Spo didn’t want to explain the situation to Earth, but he hadn’t realized his telling would be considered cheating. No wonder Downy warned him not to tell anybody. Of course, if Downy had been a little more specific, Sam might have listened.

  Greg spoke up. “I believe humanity is entitled to an exemption from this clause. Their sponsorship has already been three times longer than usual, due to the unfortunate explosion that brought them to our notice. The full scenario was likely to be exposed, simply from the amount of time that has passed. I believe that the planetary evaluation would be just as viable now as it would have been a year ago, or a year from now.”

  “Your bias is well known,” the Rik representative said. “They broke the rules. The timing doesn’t matter.”

  “But – if I’d known,” Sam started, but Greg gestured him to silence.

  “You do not have sentient status,” Greg told him. “You are not allowed to speak in Council or trial. Only your sponsor may speak for you.”

  Sam looked mutely at Greg. Only his sponsor could speak for him. The sponsor he’d just betrayed. This sucked.

  “I would like to know how the human came to know all this,” said a Spo voice from the screen. It was the emperor.

  “Emperor,” Greg said, “I’m afraid some of the information came from Gerereol. Known on Earth as Downy.”

  The emperor turned purple-grey with emotion. “I am shocked and shamed that my son was responsible for this lapse. He will be suitably punished according to our own customs.”

  “No!” Sam said. He couldn’t bear to crush Downy with his mistake. “I know I’m not supposed to speak! But I made Downy tell me. He warned me and warned me and I had to drag it out of him. It’s not his fault.”

  “You. Will. Be. Silent.” Both the Merith spoke in unison. “This information will be considered.”

  “It hardly matters,” the Rik representative said. “A human broke the law by revealing the situation to all the other humans. The Spo known as Downy is not c
ulpable.”

  Greg spoke again. “The humans deserve a true trial. I ask again that you exempt them from this law.”

  One of the other aliens that Sam didn’t recognize finally chimed in, “The Spo are the sponsors. They cannot decide. The Rik are… the Rik,” the disgust in his voice was evident, which was pretty incredible considering Sam couldn’t tell where his voice was coming from.

  “They are both biased,” the alien continued. “Those of Merith, Crosspoint, Tergre, and Vel will vote. Here is the paint.”

  Each of the representatives (the non-Spo, non-Rik ones) stepped to the table. First the Merith. They both stuck a thick finger in a bowl of green paint and dabbed a spot above their one eye. The next alien, a Vel, dabbed red paint on his face. The one who’d set out the paint also dabbed red paint on himself. Only he put it where Sam thought his waist was, which made Sam rethink his perception of that alien.

  That left only the two Crosspoint. Sam knew a little about the Crosspointers from his training, but he had absolutely no idea whether they would favor humanity. They could do cool telekinetic tricks, but that didn’t help him guess their allegiances. Maybe they would vote for him, since the Spo were their allies, but he wasn’t sure. The only other thing he knew about them was that they, like humans, had a subconscious. He wondered if the Crosspointers knew that about Sam. Maybe they would feel more favorably if they did.

  The slugs scooted closer to the table. The first one was barely taller than it. A large glob of green paint rose out of the bowl, on its own, and slapped itself on the end of the slug.

  “I just met one of these humans on Selta,” the next Crosspoint said. “So very conflicted. So very interesting. Another blob of green paint drifted out of the bowl and landed on his back.

  Sam looked at Greg wildly. He didn’t know what green and red meant. Maybe they were galactic standards for yes and no, but he didn’t know which was which.

  Greg was turning deep pink with satisfaction and Sam exhaled in a rush, relieved.