Invasive Species Read online

  “Bigfeet?” Tracey said, her eyes wide and staring.

  “You’ve been working with aliens to keep me looking normal?” Kyle felt like his mind was reaching maximum capacity for ‘weird’. He shoved the thought of alien Bigfeet aside, focusing on the alien on the couch—him.

  “I did what I had to do,” Carol said. “They never knew what I needed the materials for, and were compensated fairly.”

  “How do exchanges like that even work?” Tracey was muttering half under her breath again. She suddenly sat up straighter. “Did Alan leave anything behind? Like something to remember him by?”

  Kyle perked up at the thought. He’d love to have something tangible to connect him with is dad—aside from his alien DNA.

  “He did, actually.” Carol rose from her seat. “I’ll go get it. If you’ll excuse me.”

  After she’d left the room, Tracey said, “Wow, your mom is really polite. I don’t think she likes me very much though.”

  “It takes her a while to warm up to people.”

  “How long are we talking?”

  “I’m not sure. Now that I think about it, I’ve never actually seen her warm up to people.”

  “Great pep talk.” Tracey raised both hands in ‘thumbs up’ gestures. “Excellent work.”

  “It’s not like that. My whole life, she never dated or had people over. I thought she was married to her work—which I was part of. I had no idea what she’s been dealing with this whole time.”

  Tracey put her hand back on his thigh. “Well, now you do. It can help you become closer.”

  “I know this is affecting you more than you’re letting on.”

  “Pshaw.” She lifted her shoulders briefly and looked away, acting like it was no big deal.

  “Tracey…”

  “Okay, yeah. It’s a lot,” she said. “But for one thing, it isn’t happening to me—even though it’s happening to someone I like a lot.”

  “A lot?”

  “Let’s stay focused. And as you know I read a lot of books. It helps me kind of identify better with what you’re going through.”

  “So, you’re still sticking around for the Scifi plotline, huh?”

  “I’m sticking around because you’re the hottest, smartest, coolest guy I’ve ever dated. So you’re also a green alien. As far as I’m concerned, that’s a bonus.”

  “You need to add ‘luckiest’ to your list.”

  “Yeah, I am pretty great, too.” She nodded thoughtfully, then a huge grin spread over her face.

  He cupped her cheek, leaning down to kiss her. It was supposed to be a soft, gentle kiss. A reassurance and reminder of what they’d shared. Then again, what they’d shared had been anything but.

  As soon as their lips touched, his skin erupted in tingling sensations that soaked into his muscles, his bones. Every part of him cried out for more.

  He slid his tongue into her mouth, pushing her back onto the couch and covering her body with his. She was just starting to pull his shirt up when he heard someone clear their throat in the kitchen.

  Shit.

  Carol. Right.

  He broke off the kiss, but held Tracey’s gaze for a few moments. There was no levity, no jokes, just the same sense of awe that he felt reflected on his own features. That they had found each other, were facing this together. More than anything else, it made him believe in miracles.

  “I can leave this on the counter,” Carol said.

  Tracey muttered “busted” under her breath before casting a quick grin at him.

  “That’s okay, we just need a minute.” He leaned back, pulling her along to sit next to him.

  “Only a minute?” Tracey said. “Give yourself more credit than that.”

  He sighed and let his head drop forward, shaking his head. “Do you ever take anything seriously?”

  “All the time,” she said. “But I almost never act like it.”

  “Humor is an effective coping mechanism for stressful situations.” Carol headed toward them carrying a small box. She paused on the other side of the coffee table. “This is yours now.”

  Kyle took the box and opened it. Inside, there was a small silver triangle with a sphere at its center. He’d seen similar designs for the spaceships in old-school Scifi movies.

  “This is it?” Kyle asked.

  “It’s all he left with me.” She smiled, and added, “Besides you.”

  Tracey wrapped her arm around Kyle’s back. He took a moment to just feel her presence.

  “Why did he leave?” Kyle said. “If he felt the same way about you that you obviously still feel about him… I don’t get it.”

  Carol sat down across from them again. “He was trying to keep me safe. Earthlings aren’t supposed to know that aliens are real. And the Tau Ceti aren’t supposed to be here at all. If we’d been discovered, I would have had my memory purged with a mind-wipe, and he’d have been imprisoned—and that’s if the Coalition found us.”

  “What if it had been the Tau Ceti?” he asked.

  She shook her head. “I don’t know. I can’t imagine they would look kindly on deserters, though. And they are a more…violent species, from what Alan told me.”

  “Great.” Kyle gripped the box tighter.

  “There are exceptions to every group,” Carol said. “Alan was one of them. From what I’ve seen, you are, too. Have you noticed any changes in your thoughts or emotions?”

  Thoughts? Not so much. Emotions… That was another story, especially with Tracey sitting so close, offering support. But that didn’t have anything to do with his transformation.

  He hoped so, anyway.

  He didn’t give voice to his concerns. Instead, he shook his head.

  Carol smiled. “I didn’t know what to expect when your alien DNA asserted itself. The chemical in the tranquilizer wouldn’t have harmed you.”

  “Thanks for that, I guess.” He was glad Carol was protecting herself.

  He stared at his reflection in the triangle within the box, stretched and warped on the sphere’s surface. And very, very green.

  “Here.” He shoved the box toward Tracey.

  “What do you want me to do with it?” she said.

  “I don’t care. I just…can’t.”

  Tracey looked down at the box. Her lips softened and she shook her head. Then she lifted the triangle from the box.

  “Kyle, it’s going to be okay,” she said.

  “Right. I can become the new spokesman for green energy, or landscaping. And hey, when it comes to hide-and-seek in the summertime, no one will ever find me.”

  “This is who you are,” Tracey said. “And you can’t hide from that.”

  She handed him the triangle. It was cool at first, but warmed quickly in his palm.

  Then started to glow.

  “Does it always do that?” Tracey asked.

  “It’s never done that before.” Carol stood quickly, leaning over to get a better look.

  The glow turned into a pulsing light that was accompanied by a strange trilling sound.

  “What about that?” Kyle said.

  Carol shook her head.

  Tracey let out a short laugh, but the acrid note to her scent had risen again. “At least it’s not getting faster and louder, like it’s going to detonate or something.”

  The pulsing grew faster and the sound increased.

  “I had to say something,” Tracey said.

  “Stay here.” Kyle stood and leapt across the room to the door that led to the back yard. He overshot his mark and stumbled into the glass, but recovered quickly. He threw the door open and ran outside, heading for the trees.

  The trilling sound had become a single sustained note. Drawing back his arm, he threw the triangle as far as he could. He turned back to the house and saw Carol and Tracey standing just outside the door.

  “I said to stay inside,” he yelled.

  “You’re not the boss of me,” Tracey shouted back. “Now get your green ass back inside.”
r />   He leapt across the yard, landing right in front of them, then herded them into the living room.

  “We should get to the lab,” Carol said.

  “No time.” He pushed them to the floor, hugging them together with his back toward the wall that separated them from the blast. He clenched his eyes shut and waited.

  And waited.

  After a few moments, he dared to open his eyes and look over his shoulder. Tracey had her arms over the back of her head. She lowered them, looking first at Carol and then Kyle.

  “Well, that was anticlimactic,” Tracey said.

  Kyle felt the pressure wave punch through his gut right before the ground beneath them rocked as a deafening sound hit the house.

  Chapter Ten

  Glass shattered everywhere. The sliding door to the back yard, the entire front wall of windows, even the coffee table broke into clear pebbles that rained over the tile floors.

  “I’m not allowed to speak ever again.” Tracey’s ears were ringing from the explosion. She couldn’t believe the walls had held. She glanced at the floor, expecting to see hazardous shards everywhere, but everything had broken into smooth pebbles. “You built your house out of safety glass?”

  “And reinforced beams,” Carol said. “The lab has explosive chemicals in it, so I planned accordingly when I had the place built.”

  “I had no idea geneticists needed explosive chemicals,” Tracey said.

  “I’m also storing some things for Barbara.”

  “Is everyone okay?” Kyle stood, one arm gripping Tracey and the other Carol as he helped them up.

  Tracey shook some safety glass out of her hair. “I’m fine.”

  Carol nodded.

  The smell of smoke wafted in from the empty door frame. They walked closer, clustered in their little group.

  The grass was blackened. Most of the trees at the edge of the property were lying flat on the ground. For as far as she could see, there was only desolation.

  “What the fuck was that?” Tracey asked.

  “I had no idea that would happen.” Carol’s voice was raw. “I’ve held it before—when I was thinking of Alan and missing him, and that never happened. Why… Why would he leave that with me?” She covered her mouth with her hand and clenched her eyes shut, tears rolling down her cheeks.

  Tracey put her arm around Carol’s waist and pulled her closer. She didn’t care that they’d just met. Pain of that magnitude called for extreme measures.

  “Maybe he didn’t think it would ever be set off,” Tracey said.

  “I asked Craig to look at it to see if he could get a message to Alan.” Carol looked at Kyle through tear-filled eyes. “I wanted him to know about you. They couldn’t figure out what it was or how it worked.”

  “So Lyrians and humans can touch it,” Tracey said. “But not…”

  “Not someone with Tau Ceti DNA,” Kyle said. “He was trying to protect you from beings like me.”

  “Not like you,” Carol said.

  At the same time, Tracey said, “Get over it already.”

  He glared at her, but she didn’t back down. Instead, she stepped closer to his hulking frame, till their chests almost touched.

  “You’re an alien,” she said. “You’re green. That’s weird and scary. I get it. But I don’t think that’s what’s freaking you out.”

  “You know me so well after less than a day, please, tell me all about myself.” Kyle spoke through gritted teeth.

  Our first fight. Great.

  Tracey let her momentum carry her along, speaking from her gut—a gut that was trained by growing up with a huge family and having probably hundreds of soul-searching talks with them all.

  “From the moment I met you, you’ve been apologizing for how you look—even before you turned green—and trying to paint a picture of who you want me to think you are. ‘I really love books! I haven’t always been this beefy.’ Trying to make me see you the way you want me to—as if I can’t make up my mind for myself.”

  She planted her hands on her hips. It was that or jab a finger into his chest to emphasize her point.

  “I get it now,” she said. “You’re scared I’m going to leave because you didn’t know before why your dad left. And since your mom is Mrs. Protect-o when it comes to you and never talked about it, you’ve probably always been pretty sure it’s your fault. Well, surprise! He didn’t leave because he thought you’d turn green or muscly, or be too human or too froggy. He didn’t even know about you. So stop trying to think he’s right about things he never even thought about.”

  “What does that even mean?” Kyle said.

  “You’re not a monster and you’re not going to become one just because you’re half-alien,” she said. “He didn’t leave the bomb to protect Carol from you.”

  Tracey was dimly aware of Carol turning in her periphery and taking a step toward the back door. Kyle’s eyes widened as he looked at something over Tracey’s shoulder.

  “No, he didn’t.” Kyle swallowed hard, the muscles in his neck standing out briefly. “I think he left it to protect her from them.”

  Tracey turned to see a ship hovering over the yard. It was only about as big as the house and had a triangular shape that was too reminiscent of the device that had blown up the forest to be a coincidence. Hatches opened in its underside and landing gear popped out as it descended.

  “Oh shit,” Tracey said. “Who let me talk again?”

  “The lab.” Carol’s gaze was fixed on the ship, but her arms flailed behind her, shoving them deeper into the house. “Get to the lab.”

  “Go!” Kyle grabbed Carol’s arm and pushed her forward.

  Tracey didn’t wait for more urging. She ran as fast as she could after Carol while also checking to make sure Kyle was following.

  Carol paused at a door with a digital keypad next to it. Her hands were shaking as she pressed the buttons. The door opened, revealing a stairwell. She ran down the steps, skipping some by using the railing to support her rapid descent.

  At the bottom, there was another digital lock, along with a handprint scanner and what Tracey thought was a retinal scanner. She turned back to the stairs to see Kyle at the door above them.

  “Don’t you dare think about going out there yourself.” Tracey started back up the stairs, but Kyle quickly slammed the door and headed down toward her.

  “I was thinking about grabbing the tranq gun from the living room floor, but there was no way I could get to it in time,” he said.

  “Fine.” She grabbed his hand as soon as he was within reach. “Now let’s move.”

  Carol opened the door, and said, “Come on.”

  They all stumbled through, then Carol turned and shut the door, keying in something, then backing away from it.

  “Weapons,” Tracey said. “Do you have any more tranq guns down here?”

  Carol shook her head. “No. That was my only one. It also had my only dose of the chemical that incapacitates the Tau Ceti in it.”

  “Great.” Tracey’s mind was racing. She looked around the lab, at the beakers and tables and back-lit cabinets full of who knew what. “Wow, this place is really cool.”

  “Maybe they won’t find us down here,” Carol said.

  The floor shook, a huge boom sounding from the stairwell.

  “No such luck.” Tracey kept scanning the room, trying to think of anything that might help, remembering stories she’d read, movies she’d seen.

  “We don’t have much time,” Kyle said. “What about those explosive chemicals? Can we use those?”

  “Not without blowing ourselves up as well,” Carol said.

  “That might be our only option.” Tracey paused as the others looked at her. “Come on, Kyle. Think it through. That bomb was activated by Tau Ceti DNA. Carol, you said the Tau Ceti are violent. Your dad might have been trying to protect her from them if she was ever found. A quick exit.”

  “They can’t be that bad,” Kyle said. “I thought you said I’m not a mon
ster.”

  “You’re not.” She gestured toward the door to the stairwell. “I don’t know about them. I just know we need to be ready. Carol, can you rig it so we can hit a button or something if it looks like that’s our only out?”

  Carol nodded. “I think so.”

  “No,” Kyle said. “No way.”

  “It’s only a last resort,” Tracey said.

  “I am the last resort. And I’m not letting anything happen to either of you.”

  Chapter Eleven

  The door started to glow before anyone could argue further. Kyle stared at the ceiling above it.

  I really hope this works.

  He leapt, visualizing his hands and feet sticking to the smooth surface above them. As soon as his skin made contact, he felt it connecting somehow.

  Carol is going to want to run more tests after this.

  He managed to crawl across the room to the door, positioning himself so that he could drop down on whoever—or whatever—came through. He held his breath, willing his plan to succeed.

  With nowhere to hide, Tracey and Carol were standing at the opposite end of the room. The stern expressions on their faces sent a chill down his spine. They looked ready to take on anything.

  A high pitched whine picked up behind the door. The glow was so bright, Kyle had to shut his eyes. He saw a flash even through his eyelids, then the sound and light was gone. When he looked again, the door had vanished.

  Three men ran in. They were wearing jeans and T-shirts with jackets over them and looked absolutely human. More human than Kyle.

  The ray guns they were carrying caught his attention even more. The weapons were brass colored, with rings around the pointed barrels that made them look like something straight out of a 50’s Scifi movie.

  The one in front raised his gun. His jacket had a name badge sewn onto it that said, “John”.

  “Who set off that ancient beacon?” John said.

  Tracey stepped forward way too aggressively. “It’s not that old.”

  “Thank you.” Carol kept her gaze fixed on the men.