Bea Cannon - A Small Gray Dot

“Any liquor in that thing?” asked Slim spotting it and licking his lips.

“Yes, there is,” said the doctor. “You’re welcome to it.”

Generous man. I would’ve removed all the liquor and left them dry. But, he wasn’t me.

They were at the bar pouring themselves drinks as we went back upstairs. I figured that would keep them happy for a while. Until the cops showed up.

Back upstairs, Lem and Percy settled at the counter. The doctor studied them for a moment, then said, “I imagine you boys would like a drink.” At their nod, he pulled out the bottle of scotch.

As I headed to the lab to call Madison, he was also pulling out sandwich materials. On the way, the doorbell rang and I let Duncan in.

“Left the car down on Spruce Street. That’s far enough away so it won’t be connected with this house.” He grinned. “Besides, that’s where Ken Talbert lives. Let them figure that one out.”

I chuckled and pointed him toward the kitchen and continued to the lab. I picked up the phone and dialed.

“Madison,” I said when she answered, “She’s safe but she was given some type of drug and the doctor gave her something to counteract it, so she’s asleep.”

She expelled a loud breath. “Oh! Thank God! Somebody who said he was Julius Henderson called and said he had her but he wouldn’t let me talk to her. Henderson is the CEO of the company! Unless this guy was lying about being him, then that means the head of the company is committing a serious crime. Can you believe the CEO of a big company like that would do something like this? He said if I wanted her back I had to come there. I held him on the phone as long as I could, then I promised him I’d come. He said he’d call back to tell me where to meet him but he hasn’t called.” She hesitated. “Should I come there now? I mean, to where you are. I’m worried about Morgan.”

I glanced at my watch. Four a.m. “Stay where you are. As soon as she’s awake, I’ll bring her to you.”

“Well, okay—” there was a noise in the background, and she said in a rush, “Hey, something’s going on outside! I think Henderson’s sent somebody here after all! Call you back!” She hung up.

Damn. Didn’t that asshole ever give up? My rage tried to emerge but I held it in check. I knew my guys could handle it but I wished I were there. I shook my head. Even if I had a car no way would I get there in time to be of any use.

All I could do was wait to hear from her again.

IWENT BACK OUT TO THE KITCHEN.

“Henderson’s sent someone to attack Madison,” I told the doctor as I sat down at the counter. “My guys are still there.” I blew out a breath. “I know they can handle it but it’s tough not being there with them. She’s going to call back as soon as she can.”

Duncan looked up from his sandwich, his eyebrows raised. “You mean that bozo actually sent somebody to attack the head of a company? He must be outta his mind! What does he think’s gonna happen?”

I shrugged. “He knows how fractured our society is. He likely thinks he can get control of her company and ship his machines to wherever he wants them and no one will be available to stop him.” Moreover, he was right; law enforcement simply didn’t have enough manpower.

I didn’t believe his thugs would beat my guys but I was tense and the doctor saw it.

He shook his head as he busily prepared sandwiches.

“Henderson is an arrogant fool. I thought so even before I learned what he is.” He eyed me. “Don’t worry so, Tennessee. If you have confidence in your people then so do I. Here, take this sandwich. You look hungry. Do you want a drink?”

After what we’d been through, I could’ve used one, but I needed to think and alcohol wouldn’t help. It also wouldn’t do much for the part of my mind that was thinking of the fight going on at Madison’s hotel.

I took the sandwich. “Thank you, but I don’t want anything alcoholic. Make it orange juice.”

“Dr. Bennett’s been telling us about what he’s found out about the aliens, Tenn,” said Duncan. He shook his head. “It’s a helluva thing. Those bastards …” he shivered.

“Yeah, the doc says they coulda helped us out,” said Lem. He looked sad. “All the people… my wife…” he did a hard swallow. “Nobody woulda died.”

I remembered that he and Percy, who sat quietly staring into his glass, didn’t live in Blue Heaven. Of course, even folk who lived here had lost someone. They just didn’t see them directly after it happened. Nobody much spoke about that day or the people they’d lost, but it was always there, underneath. I understood.

I had corralled my rage but it was still there, seething beneath my skin. We couldn’t let these sons of bitches continue to get away with what they were doing. There had to be something we could do.

Dr. Bennett said, “Duncan gave me the object he picked up at Semptor. I can’t tell much about it though it appears to be some type of energy weapon. It doesn’t seem to be operable and that could be because when they inhibited our technologies, they weren’t able to fine-tune it, so it would’ve inhibited a number of theirs also. Now, they told me about the weapon used to fire on you when you were making your get-away. It sounds as if it could be a type of laser though much more powerful than any we ever made. It probably works by a different method than this smaller weapon and so it is not affected.”

I remembered the device I’d taken from Bedlow’s house. Those Binqua had seemed anxious to get it. In fact, so anxious they’d died trying. Maybe it was a weapon. I’d taken my jacket off and left it in the lab.

“I’ll be right back, Doctor. I picked up something at Bedlow’s place. You might want to take a look.”

I was back in less than a minute. He studied it, turning it over and looking at the back. His forehead wrinkled.

“I saw something like this in one of the files. As soon as you’re finished eating, we can go to the lab and I’ll look it up.”

“Okay. Sir, what are we going to do about the Binqua? Shouldn’t we notify the federal government about this? Perhaps they can do something. Get some soldiers out here maybe.” I blew out a breath. “We can’t let them finish what they’re doing. They’re not going to get Effingham Shipping to transport their machines, but they are determined to have this world so they’ll find another way.”

The doctor looked thoughtful before saying, “Even though they have managed to maintain the military, there isn’t much of a government left, Tennessee, though you have to give them credit for trying. I do know some people in the Department of Homeland Security and I can contact them but there is one big problem: getting anyone to believe before seeing for themselves that we’re dealing with aliens. Then, if we can convince them to come, there is the added problem that only small firearms work. None of the big missiles are operative. And even if they were, Henderson has some type of force field, a shield he can deploy that will repel any attack on them.”

“He has a shield? How do you know? If he’s got something like that, why didn’t he use it to keep us from escaping?”

“He likely didn’t have time to activate it, Tennessee. I believe it is something he’s not accustomed to using since he arrived on this world. But I know about it because it’s in the files. I’ve seen the schematics for it. I think I could even build one if I had the materials.”

He looked at the strange device again. “The image for this thing was in the same file as the shield.” He looked around noticing we’d finished eating. He stood. “Come, I’m curious to see what this does.”