Alien Manifesto (10 page)

“
Perhaps he is hoping that
you have gone soft since your separation from the intelligence
service. He must have thought he might get lucky and eliminate you
without much effort,” I interjected.

“
Or it might be true
incompetence and you are over estimating his true abilities,” said
the stealth master. “Only a fool would depend on old intelligence,
especially where you are concerned, Snarth.”

Snarth paused to consider both of
these observations before continuing. “When I knew AArat, he was
ssself-assssured and overconfident of hisss abilitiesss. It nearly
got him killed more than once.”

“
Now that he has fallen in
with the cult he may be getting careless because he believes he is
on some sort of holy mission,” added the Irishman who had remained
silent through most of the briefing.

“
That may be,” said Snarth
thinking aloud, “however we will consssider him and hisss
organization azsss a dangerousss threat until we know their true
capabilitiesss.”

“
What is your plan Snarth?”
asked the canine master.

“
All I have are a few vague
factsss and that isss not nearly enough to form a plan of attack
from,” said Snarth “Azsss a resssult I have added a new team
member. His name is sSSlice and he isss the best electronic
intelligence tech that money can buy anywhere in the
galaxy.”

“
Now is not the time to
bring an unknown into the team,” hissed the stealth master, her
tail twitching furiously with her displeasure.

“
I can assssure you hisss
honor isss impeccable. I have known hisss family for
generationsss,” added Snarth. “He will be operating behind the
ssscenes not on the front linesss. I asssk you to accept him on my
word. Besssidesss he desssigned the intelligence ssservice’s
computer sssystems and wrote mossst of their data sssifting
programsss. I fear we may not prevail without him. We mussst not
fail, or all may be lossst. Chaosss would erupt throughout the
galaxy if the galactic government fallsss and the Cult of Eli
takesss over. I do not want to live in sssuch an uncivilized
sssociety.”

I was unprepared for the appearance of
SSlice. On Earth huge spiders are denizens of only the worst of
nightmares. Not wanting to be called a primitive again, I tried to
hide my revulsion as best I could. Instead, I concentrated on the
business of forming a workable plan of action and training hard for
it. Much to the amusement of my teammates my skin crawled when
SSlice got too close and they never let me forget it. Fortunately,
after a few days of close proximity, my revulsion passed and SSlice
became just another member of the team.

Finally, the day came when Snarth
called the team into the briefing room. “I have come up with a plan
to deal with AArat,” he hissed. “It’sss sssimple and
ssstraightforward. sSSlice hasss managed to uncover evidence of
AArat’sss complicity in a sssmuggling operation. We will expossse
AArat’sss activitiesss to the proper authoritiesss, onesss we can
trussst, along with the namesss of ssseveral sssenators who are
guilty of accepting bribesss,” he continued. “Onesss that I know
for sssure are in the conssspiracy of the Cult of Eli. It will be a
huge ssscandal,” Snarth hissed. “I hope it will bring to light the
Cult’s activitiesss. It will also reveal jussst how far the
conssspiracy hasss ssspread and who isss involved. Then after he
hasss been disssgraced we will kill AArat, before he isss
arresssted, widening the ensssuing invessstigation. Of courssse I
will lead the invessstigation along with sssome sssubtle cluesss
and more falssse information. Then we can get back to the
busssinessss of making a profit,” Snarth finished.

There was only one question on
everyone’s mind and I spoke, putting into words what everyone was
thinking. “How will we kill AArat?” I asked Snarth.

“
Funny you ssshould be the
one to asssk that my boy,” hissed Snarth with that tentacle waving
I had come to recognize as his sly smile. I had never been asked to
kill someone who was not trying to or plotting to kill me or my
fellow soldiers first. “Now I know what you are thinking, Tom,”
said Snarth, holding up his hands to silence my objections. “He
almossst killed you and killing him will not be easssy. He isss
very well trained in hand to hand combat azsss well azsss a sssmall
armsss expert.”

“
That assassin mech was
meant for you,” I shot back.

“
Yesss but it almossst
killed you inssstead, you have the right of vengeance, not I.
Thisss isss not Earth, Human Tom. The right of vengeance isss
upheld on every other civilized planet in the galaxy. It isss
probably the only conssstant law in the galaxy. Humansss are the
only onesss who fancy themssselvesss above vengeance,” said Snarth
trying to soothe my anger at being chosen as the instrument of
AArat’s demise. “Now if I sssent one of the othersss that would be
murder, in the eyesss of the law,” soothed Snarth.

I clamped my mouth shut to keep my
objections to myself. The entire team was watching, wondering how I
would respond. Snarth was right; AArat had almost killed me. Any
further objections would only make me sound like a primitive making
excuses for being afraid.

I had killed many men when
I was with the S.E.A.L.s, some from long distance. So why was this
so different? “When and where?” I answered Snarth. I had just taken
the step from soldier for hire to assassin, and it weighed heavy on
my mind.
Damn you Snarth for placing me in
this position, I know so little about my new
surroundings
.
Is
he telling me the truth about the law? I will just have to trust
him.
With that realization, I was no
longer just an Earthman but rather a budding citizen of the galaxy.
There would be no going back; I was long past the point of no
return.

“
Now that we have that
sssettled,” said Snarth, glossing over the incident, “I have
decided that the ssstealth massster will accompany Human Tom and
keep him out of any sssocial trouble and act azsss backup if
needed. In the meantime sSSlice will ssspin hisss web of deceit and
ssspring hisss trap azsss it were,” Snarth hissed.

“
It will be several days
before we get any results. No more than a week if all goes as
planned,” interrupted SSlice with that musical whisper like voice
of his. “It will take the Galactic security mechs that long to
verify the information I have provided them. I have placed alarm
programs that will be activated once arrest warrants have been
issued. They may try to handle this in house at first but I have
also alerted several reporters in various news organizations. It
won’t stay a secret for long.”

“
How will we know where
AArat is after the story breaks?” asked the Irishman. “The galaxy
is a big place and it’s easy for someone with his resources and
connections to disappear.”

“
I have anticipated that,”
said SSlice “AArat is a rodent and they never go anywhere without
their females.”

“
Won’t he be expecting
whoever is looking for him to be watching his nest?” asked
Rowl.

“
Yes, yes he will. However,
I happen to know that he has two nests. One is for public
activities and the second is a secret. This nest is the nest he
will take with him wherever he runs to hide. And run he will for
that is the nature of rodents,” replied SSlice
confidently.

“
ssSome of my
assssociatesss have placed a tracker in both of AArat’s nessstsss
ssso he won’t be able to hide. Once he callsss for hisss nessst
that isss where Tom and the ssstealth massster will go,” hissed
Snarth, finishing the explanation. “Now you two have a lot of
training to do in the next week ssso I ssssuggessst you get
ssstarted,” he hissed as he gestured towards me and the stealth
master. “sSSlice, ssspin your web. Azsss for the ressst of you,
training ssstartsss at 0400: get sssome sssleep.”

Once again I found myself
lying on the bed in my new chambers staring up at the ceiling, my
mind racing.
What have I gotten myself
into?
I
wondered,
unable to sleep. I was conflicted about my role in the new
mission
. Will I be able to pull the
trigger on AArat? Snarth says he is a worthy opponent, well trained
and ruthless, a killer. But am I? All those other kills were just
the mission, easily justified as just following orders. Is that
what I am doing here, just following orders? Whose orders really,
and why?

“
You will do what you
must,” said a disembodied voice close to me, breaking my train of
thought.

Without pause I answered, “I was
wondering when you would speak.” It was the feline master and she
was curled up at the end of the bed and had been for several
minutes.

She decloaked. “How long have you
known I was here?” she purred as she cleaned her furry face with
her paw.

“
Only since you came in the
door a few minutes ago,” I answered without enthusiasm; I was not
in the mood for cat games.

Before she could answer, the door
chime sounded. It was Rowl. “You looked kind of upset earlier. I
just wanted to talk to you about it,” Rowl said as he strode into
the bedchamber, stopping mid stride upon seeing the stealth master
curled up in the bed. “Sorry, I didn’t know you had company,” he
stammered. My face reddened at the implication, the stealth master
purring loudly at my obvious discomfort. How could Rowl think such
a thing? After all, she is feline and I am human.

“
We were just discussing
training for tomorrow,” I blurted out.

“
Yeah, okay, whatever you
say,” woofed Rowl with a sly grin, making my discomfort even more
pronounced, and eliciting a giggle from the stealth master. She
then bounded off the bed and grabbing Rowl’s massive arm said,
“We’re leaving, Human Tom. Get some sleep, you will need it.” As
they left, I could not help but think: Canine and Felines? I have
much to learn about a great many things.

The next morning Snarth took me aside
before the team’s exercise period. “Human Tom, I have been meaning
to talk to you about sssomething. I have made sssome arrangementsss
for you but I want you to agree with them before I go any
further.”

“
Ok Snarth, what’s on your
mind?” I asked.

“
Nothing bad I assssure
you, Human Tom, it isss jussst persssonal. I have found a doctor
who can upgrade your sssensesss and mussscle massss at the sssame
time azsss your body refresssh. Now let me finisssh before you
object. Thisss doctor isss the bessst of the bessst and it will be
my gift to you for taking care of AArat.”

“
What do you mean upgrade
my senses?” I answered, shocked that such a thing was possible, not
yet thinking about what that might entail.

“
Well your visssion
firssst, they would replace your organic eyesss with cybernetic
implantsss.”

“
Wait ...what ... you want
me to replace my eyes?” I stammered as the gravity of the request
hit me.

“
Oh come now Human Tom, do
not be sssuch a primitive. The ressst of the team hasss already
done it. And you can keep your originalsss in cassse you don’t like
the enhanced visssion,” hissed Snarth, baiting me.

“
How much enhanced?” I
asked, swallowing the bait completely.

“
Only ten timesss
magnification azsss well azsss enhanced night visssion, unlessss
you want more. But that may require facial modification,” Snarth
hissed.

“
Ten times better and night
vision too!” I shouted. “Damn’ straight, sign me up.”

“
I knew I could count on
you my boy,” said Snarth as he clapped me on the shoulder. “The
doctor will arrive tonight. It won’t hurt a bit, trussst me,”
Snarth said, with his best shit eating, tentacle wiggling
grin.

All I remember about the whole
procedure was the butterflies in my stomach when the doctor
arrived. I lay down on the mobile medical unit’s table and the
medical mech gave me an injection. I woke up the next morning with
a bad headache, hurting like hell all over. The doctor was gone
when I came around. Snarth said it would take a couple of weeks to
get used to my new senses, as my brain will have to adjust to the
new implants’ signals. My muscles would develop over the next
couple of weeks. I just had to remember to eat a lot.

I was excused from team training until
I adjusted to my new eyes. It was amazing how sharp my eyesight was
already. I could read a computer pad from across the main
courtyard. They said that the night vision would take some getting
used to. They cautioned me again not to rush things.

Over the next ten days, I gained
twenty pounds of muscle. I ate almost constantly. I was always
ravenously hungry. However, the most surprising thing was that I
had grown four inches taller! I was finally the 6’4” I always
wanted to be. By the end of the second week, I could curl five
hundred pounds, as much as Rowl, and I could now jump ten feet
straight up into the air, nearly equaling the stealth master.
Snarth promised there was more to come.

There was no word yet about AArat. Nor
was there any news about the investigation into the senators who
belonged to or supported the Cult of Eli’s impending coup. I could
tell that this weighed heavily on Snarth’s mind.