HIGHLANDER: The Highlander’s Surrender Bride (Scottish Alpha Male Pregnancy Romance) (53 page)

Chapter 7

They left his private dining area and she walked closely beside him almost trotting to keep up as they went, listening to everything that he had to say.

“Tell me, Lanie, honestly… do you believe that we are alone in the galaxy?” he asked.

She licked her lips, feeling that there was both a right and a very wrong answer to give here.  There was no middle ground and she needed to be careful with how she spun her words.  “I’ve never really wondered, to be honest.  Sometimes I think if there is any intelligent life out there, they’re pretty smart to ignore us.”

He chuckled.  “You don’t believe in the power of otherworldly beings?  Like those that you see in the movies?  That they might swoop in upon us without warning and with advanced technology?  And that they might harvest our bodies for the water in our blood or some other such nonsense?”

She chuckled a little.  “Well… the movies are pretty entertaining.  I have to give them that.  But last time I heard we don’t have any kind of global defense system or an army that can withstand an alien invasion.   But I’ve always thought that if there are aliens out there and they’re superior in intelligence and technology, then why haven’t they done it yet?  I can only imagine that they have a good reason.  There are nine billion people on the planet now.  That’s a lot of water that’s pretty defenseless.  Anyone that really wanted to could just come in and take it.”

He laughed at her explanation.  “Indeed.  There are some people on the outskirts of the scientific community who believe that the pyramids… the Nazca lines… and every other semi-unexplained wonder of our world were left here intentionally by a superior intelligence.”

“As proof that we had been visited by aliens?” she guessed.

“That’s one explanation.  But no, not in this case, it’s more like… they were left as warning signs to
other
aliens.”

“Warning signs?” she asked, curiously.  Of all of the strange explanations for all of the man-made wonders of the world, she had never thought to give such a thing any consideration at all. 

“Yes… the equivalent of “No Trespassing” signs if you’d like to call it that.  Or perhaps it’s more akin to one country planting their flag on some unknown shore, warning others to stay away… or to show others what’s been claimed that they have no right to take.”

There was something ominous in that statement that she could feel building a question in her mind.  She had no gift for military strategy, but her basic understanding of politics and the development of any nation state was able to fill in the blanks for her.  “In order to show others what they can’t take, there would have to be a system of protection in place.  There would have to be an army… an armada… a fort… something like that.”

“Highest marks,” he said with an approving nod.  “And it would have to be a formidable one, whatever its shape and purpose.  But like the old nuclear weapons of a century or so ago, such things should only be available to a select few… or
one
.”

She followed him, trying to keep pace and trying to dissect his words for their hidden meaning.  The answer struck her midstride and she almost fell over but managed to keep her feet.

“Wait a minute… you mean, you’ve found something?”

There was a winning look upon his face.

“Some kind of alien tech?” she asked imperiously, a thousand other questions bursting into her mind and each warring within her thoughts to be spoken aloud first.  None of them managed to do so by the time they reached the end of their short journey.

He brought her to his sanctuary doors and though he didn’t say anything the answer couldn’t have been plainer as to why he’d brought her here.  There could only have been one reason why those doors were closed to everyone but him and why only he was allowed inside.  Part of her began to suspect that that was also a reason why only she and few others were allowed here on these top floors.

“Lanie… I want to show you what’s inside these doors,” Ian said plainly and so calmly that she felt a second shiver down her back.  But again the air around him seemed to radiate with a heat that she could not localize and his voice remained as hypnotic as ever… she could
feel
his words and not just hear them. 

“But if I do that,” Ian continued, “there’s no forgetting about it.  This isn’t one of those films where there’s a blinding flash of light and I eradicate your memories so that you can live peacefully… nor will I have you murdered… or sent to some remote part of the world where you can have no contact with anyone… no, that is not the way I choose to do things.  That is why I waited this long to share this secret with you.

“Based on how you’ve carried on this last two weeks, how you throw yourself into my service – and therefore the service of everyone that my company works for, that is to say
the world
– then I believe that I can trust you.”  He paused and put his hands together at his waist.
 
“I have more to share with you than the secrets that I’m keeping behind this door.  But I won’t force them on you.  If you’d like to go back to your room and pretend that everything we’ve discussed tonight was just a dream… or perhaps maybe a drunken conversation that we’ve had – say the wine went to my head – for instance, I’ll accept that and we can go on as we have these last two weeks.”

There was something pleading in his voice.  It was as if he was somehow asking her to trust him though he was not voicing his question aloud.  Like so many other times before now, he was leaving it up to her to make her own decisions… he valued her intellect and her ability to resolve the difficult issues her for herself.

This was a tremendous thing… to think that there could be alien equipment behind that door?  Part of her was easy to dismiss such a thing as nonsensical ravings.  But the voice in the back of her head countered that. 
He’s a genius in command of his own company that pretty much owns the world.  Some lunatic.

That was a valid point.  But another part of her mind could not deny that she was more than a little curious about a number of things.  How could Ian have gotten something like that inside this building without anyone noticing?  Not unless he lied as to its true nature so no one would be suspicious… or paid well to have the whole thing covered up… or even discovered and assembled such a thing himself?  Maybe whatever this technology was it was small enough to fit inside his pocket and he had brought it into the building without anyone even knowing?

All of these questions added weight to her curiosity.  And it was a curiosity that was quickly weighing her down with a need for answers. 

Don’t think… just react
, the little voice in her head said.

“I… I want to know,” she said.  But as the words left her mouth her mind became divided into two camps, one believing that her employer was a few circuits short of a full computer and the other was filled with childlike wonder.

Ian smiled softly at her.  The expression was warm and inviting.  To the invisible voice that ran the building Ian said, “Mercy, please upgrade Ms. Church’s security level to Gold One.”

The computer responded instantly.  “Status upgraded, Mr. Madison.”

Ian held out his hand, offering to hold hers.

Just react
… the voice echoed. 

Lanie reached out and took his hand, feeling warmth inside of his gentle grip that seemed to match how he usually affected the very space in which he stood.  Without bothering to open the door he stepped forward and Lanie almost yanked him back to keep from colliding with the hardened wood…

They passed through the door as if it wasn’t even there and emerged on the other side in near total darkness.  The darkness was so deep it was as if she had been cast into oblivion itself.  She could not see the floor… or any walls… the ceiling… or even Ian.

“Wha…?” she began, suddenly realizing that Ian was no longer holding her hand.  She seemed alone inside this strange new place.  Her voice echoed as if she were speaking inside some kind of an acoustic bubble.  The sound seemed to echo without end.  “Ian?” she asked.

“I’m here,” he said, his voice sounding even more hypnotic here.  “Don’t be afraid.”

She spun around, the leather of her shoes clicking against something solid beneath her feet.  At least she knew that there
was
a floor.  But everywhere she looked there was no sign of her employer.  And by the sound of it, she knew that this room was certainly something unusual.  She knew the dimensions of Madison Tower, right down to the living space that Ian reserved for himself, and it was
impossible
for something so large to exist here.

“What… what is this place?” she asked softly.

“I’ll show you.”

Light sprung to life in the darkened room and she flinched as it did so, it appeared so suddenly… but soundlessly.  She had expected to hear the clanking of switches or the thrumming of power.  But no such thing had occurred.  The lights came on so silently that a falling feather would have made more noise.

What she saw was an image of the Earth, a beautiful image full of the usual blue of the oceans, the white of the clouds, and the brown and green masses of plant-rich continents.  It hung in the air like a holographic projection… but better than anything that she had ever seen.  Even the technology developed by Madison Tech didn’t come this close.  She stepped forward, inching closer and inspecting the image. 

“Ian… I’ve never seen a projection like this,” she said, her voice echoing.

“Aside from myself, no one has.”

“Did you design this?”

“No… I didn’t,” he said with a small chuckle from unseen quarters, though his voice seemed to be circling her.  “Actually, my great-to-the-something power grandfather designed it.”

She froze, felt her brow furrow, but couldn’t look away from the image of the floating planet.  “Excuse me?”

“Just what I said… one of my great ancestors designed and built this.  It’s been in the family for a long time.”

She began to feel the nagging sense of speaking to a madman again.  “Uh… Ian… that’s not possible.  That would mean that your ancestor had a working knowledge of computer engineering… three-dimensional mathematics… holographic projections… and even—”

A shimmering light appeared behind her, one that seemed so dazzling that it drew her attention away from the projection of Earth.  When she turned she saw something that was definitively otherworldly.  And it stole her breath away.

Some kind of specter stood before her.  It was shaped just as a man was, but made of a brilliant white light, and it was without a face.  It reminded her of images of figures described in holy texts.  But this was different.  The figure that stood before her shimmered over its entire surface and that familiar sense of the air turning warm, almost to a boil, washed over her. 

“Electricity?” the figure finished… with Ian’s voice.

Lanie felt her eyes widen, her shock was so profound that she couldn’t even bring herself to take cautious steps back.  She was rooted to the spot, unable to look away and unable to speak.

The figure… Ian… waved its –
his
– hand and the image of the Earth, the entire room for that matter, changed behind her.  She wasn’t sure what she was looking at, but around the entire room elements that reminded her of tactical displays began to float across the air. 

More images formed around her.  New orbs began to float in the air… she recognized the planets of the solar system.  Characters that she couldn’t read and something that looked like tactical arches began to circle them all as they moved and the images would have put any planetarium to shame. 

Ian in his new form – she still couldn’t believe what she was looking at – stood beside her.  He held his hands up like a conductor about to bring an orchestra to life and with a sweeping gesture the image expanded.  The floating orbs of the solar system were reduced in size to a quarter of what they had been and more images, akin to miniature models of
other
solar systems, came into being.  The same arches and characters that she had seen around her home system covered these facsimiles as well.

She was without words.

“What you’re looking at,” Ian said, stepping forward and circling each miniature system as if he were looking at displays in a museum, “is the most advanced weapons system in the world… in
any
world.”  She noted – for the first time – that this white and dazzling light did not seem to have eyes… that he was made of nothing but… electricity?  Plasma?  Neon?  Whatever the case, he seemed to be able to see without the organs necessary to do so.  “And it’s what keeps those nasty aliens like those you see in the films from attacking.”

She forgot all about the display – weapon – whatever it was, and focused more on her host.  More questions came to her mind.  “Ian… this is what you do when you come in here?  You protect the planet?”

“Yes.  My people are called the Paladin,” he said, his voice just as mesmerizing as his body.  “Or at least, that’s how our name would translate in any language on Earth.”

“Guardian,” she supplied, knowing the word.

He gave a nod.  “We’ve guarded Earth and thousands of other worlds like it for millennia.”