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“No!” The word came out more forcefully than I intended, and I cleared my throat before continuing. “Please, sir, we have to hurry. If we don’t get the AARO to let Q’on and the others go, they’ll kill them. Agent Wilson wants to know how the Xalanites work, and he’ll rip them apart to get the answers.” I shook from head to toe as the sobs finally burst forth, and the waterworks picked up.
I twitched when the general patted my shoulder, afraid he was going to hurt me.
“It’s okay, miss. We’re already working on it.”
“W-what?”
He chuckled, and I wanted to deck him for it. “The AARO operates under the Department of Defense. I’ve already got word on the way to the Director of Defense, and she’s been listening in to our conversation this whole time.” He tapped the phone in his hand. “Your friends will be okay. If they’re not, this Agent Wilson will have to answer for it.”
“How do you know they won’t just let him experiment on the Xalanites?”
“Because,” he looked from me to Hunir while pointing at the news cameras around us, “she’s been watching, too, and if she’s seeing what I’m seeing, she’s seen how this one defers to you. He clearly hasn’t hurt you, and he listens to what you say. So far, we’ve not seen or heard anything to indicate that the Xalanites are going to harm you, or anyone else for that matter.”
“S-so Q’on’s gonna be okay?” I couldn’t stop the trembling, and the lingering sniffles from crying kept me from putting on the brave front I so desperately wanted to. All I could think about was Q’on’s safety. If this Director of Defense didn’t act fast …
The general checked his phone’s screen. “She’s coming out of the White House any second. There’s a plane ready to take her to the compound you mentioned, but—” he looked up at the Xalanite ship “—I reckon that could get her there faster?”
I liked the idea of getting to Q’on and the others faster, but one thing gave me pause. “Um, sir, there are weapons onboard. They’re locked up, but this isn’t a diplomatic vessel. It’s for rescue.”
There. Truth told. They couldn’t say I didn’t alert them to the presence of the weaponry on the ship.
He typed on his phone and waited for a response. “The Director thanks you for your honesty about the weapons onboard. She wants to know if there’s anything else she should be aware of before she boards.”
Okay, so this is a thing now. “Um … I don’t think so. Everything else is pretty standard. Med bay, control room, personal quarters. That kind of thing.”
“Good.” More typing, then after a brief pause, he pocketed the phone. “She’s on the way now.”
Sure enough, a tall woman in military dress uniform strode across the lawn, surrounded by armed soldiers. She carried herself with an authoritative air, and I wagered she had earned it. Any woman who could make it that far in our society’s military must’ve worked hard to get there. I wondered if the AARO assignment was a punitive thing or whether she’d requested it. After all, UFO study had, until Q’on arrived, been considered a load of crap by most of the civilian populace—myself included.
I stayed put when she walked up to us, as no one had given Hunir and me permission to stand. She eyed us with a steely grey glare, but after a brief nod from her, the general told us we could be “at ease.”
Shaking my arms to work some of the feeling back into them, I stood on equally shaky legs. I tried to keep myself in shape, but I was not built for kneeling this long.
Hunir stood in one fluid motion, and I felt a pang of jealousy.
“Miss … I’m sorry, but the general neglected to get your name.” The Director’s voice was smooth and clear, perhaps projected a little too loudly, but that could have been a result of having to shout orders over the years. She looked a bit older than me, with the beginnings of wrinkles at the corners of her eyes and between her brows and whisps of grey threaded through her light brown hair. Somehow, it made me feel guilty for dyeing my own hair, and I vowed to let the grey come in naturally once I got to Xalan.
“Amber, sir. Ma’am.” I left off my last name. I hated being reminded of my marriage to Ryan, and who had the time these days to bother with the legal hassle of changing their name?
“Miss Amber, then. Tell me, is the general’s assumption correct? Can this vessel get us to the compound faster than one of our own jets?”
I glanced at Hunir, who nodded affirmation. “Yes, ma’am.”
“Good. Then I must ask if your friend here would allow me onboard.” She turned to Hunir. “I apologize, good sir, but the general also neglected to get your name.”
He grinned, baring his fangs, and I cringed a little. “I am called Hunir, ma’am.” He followed my lead with the “ma’am” bit, I guess, because I certainly didn’t teach him that earlier. How was I to know the person in charge would be a woman? I guess I was just as chauvinistic as the rest of our crummy society.
“Welcome to Earth, Hunir. I regret that your first visit has been so … chaotic.”
That sugar-coated it a bit too much in my opinion, but I kept my mouth shut about it. Better not to piss off the tall, scary lady who held my boyfriend’s fate in the palm of her hand.
The Director took a few steps towards the ramp, then turned back to Hunir and me. “Well? Shall we?”
Chapter 25
Q’on
Darkness never bothered me. We Xalanites could see in near-black with no problem. It was almost amusing that the humans assumed they could frighten us by turning out the lights.
