Nathan Hystad - The Survivors - Books 1-3

I expected to be blinded by sunlight as we left, but it was night; the area’s lights were shut down. Closed for business. We left, ready for anything as we did so, passing two columns at the front of the pyramid. At the same moment, we all craned our necks to the sky, looking for signs of battle or destruction.

Nothing. Just the light of a half moon, and stars shining at us from light years away.

Magnus looked at me and shrugged.

“How do we reach Dinkle?” I asked, though we’d been over it a few times.

Magnus pulled out a tablet. “We left the cell technology on our tablets for just such an emergency. As long as Jeff is still kicking, we should be able to reach him. Patty asked him to stay behind so that someone she trusted was here.”

“Did he want to leave?” Mary asked.

“He was the world’s most alien-obsessed man, with a talk show about it. Of course he wanted to get to a colony planet. But at the end of the day, he listened to her because she heard him out at the start and brought him onto the team. He was there when we tested our cloaking technology and dismantled the Kraski ships. It was the equivalent of you seeing the inside of the Yankees’ locker room.” Magnus walked some way out, and even in the dimly-lit night sky, I could make out the smaller pyramids nearby, the grounds a barren rocky plateau.

That brought me back to the day two years ago, when I’d gone to Yankee Stadium with my new little friend, Carey. Running the bases with him chasing after me had been a bright spot in an otherwise overwhelming time.

Magnus opened the facemask on his helmet, and we removed ours, stashing them in a sack from my pack, and placed them under a grouping of broken rocks where they would be almost impossible to find. We also slipped off our uniforms and did the same thing with them. We were going to be conspicuous enough walking around with rifles in our bags. Blending in was going to be key.

Magnus was fiddling with his tablet, and after he tapped the screen one last time, he crossed his other fingers and looked to the sky. “Jeff?” he asked, speaking into the earpiece mic. “Oh, thank God. It’s Magnus. We need your help.”

They talked for a few minutes. Magnus nodded while Jeff spoke, and I wanted to hear the other end of the conversation. “We’re at the Pyramid of Giza. Yeah, that one. One hour? We can wait it out. See you then.”

“Well? What the hell’s going on here?” Leslie asked impatiently.

“They’re here, but so far no fireworks have gone off. Naidoo has just made a statement for everyone to stay calm, but that’s not going so well. As far as Jeff knows, the Bhlat have hung in space, and the connections to the station up there have been severed. He’s bringing a transporter over here. I guess he was in London, or what’s left of it.” Magnus’ mouth was set in a grim line.

“What now?” Mary asked.

“We wait for Jeff,” Magnus said, sitting down on a half-sized pyramid stone jutting out of the ground.

Leslie and Terrance set their packs down and ventured off together, whispering quietly.

“I still don’t trust them,” Magnus said about the hybrid pair.

“What choice do we have? We can’t get to the Bhlat world without them. We’re committed,” I said.

“All that data from the Bhlat base you downloaded and all the details on locations were encrypted, hey?” I wasn’t sure if he was making a comment or asking a question.

“They aren’t stupid, that’s for sure. They made sure their location was hidden from anyone finding an outpost,” I said.

“We trust them now, but promise me this. We have each other’s backs no matter what happens. You, Mary, and me. If shit goes south up there, we leave them and force the information from Kareem if we have to.” Magnus’ voice was a low growl, and a vein on his forehead was starting to throb.

“Deal,” Mary said first.

“Deal.” I knew I owed the hybrids something after they’d turned around and worked with us to get our people home, but it only went so far. My friends came first. My people too.

The hour went by slowly, and I marked the passage of the moon by its position over the Great Pyramid. I almost went back in, wanting to see the other chambers, but the risk of bumping around inside in the near dark wasn’t worth it.

Being in Egypt after traveling through a portal felt like being on an abandoned alien world. No one was in sight, ancient structures pushed into the sky. It was surreal.

After some time, a light shone in the sky, moving quickly toward our location. Leslie and Terrance meandered over to us, both holding their rifles at ready. I didn’t like the look in Terrance’s eyes as he stared toward the incoming ship.

“This better be Dinkle,” Magnus said, holding his own gun at ready.

The small transport landed, similar to the ones they had on New Spero, but it looked simpler and more worn than theirs. Probably an early model. The door opened, and a familiar face hopped out.

“I’ll be damned. The rumors are true,” Jeff said, a smile covering half his face. He laughed and walked over to us, arms stretched out.

He set them on Mary’s shoulders and kissed each of her cheeks before coming over to me and giving me a firm hug, complete with a back slap to end the embrace. He did the same to Magnus and gave a curt nod in the hybrids’ direction before speaking again. “The Heroes of Earth, back again. We thought you were dead.” He said this so matter-of-factly, like it didn’t bother him either way. “I’m glad you’re not.”

“So are we,” Mary chimed in.

“Why are you so chipper? Aren’t the Bhlat hovering somewhere overhead?” I asked, his demeanor bugging me.

The smile fell from his face. “I’m sorry. When I heard from you, I got so excited. If anyone was going to get us out of this mess, it’s you three. I see Mae’s no longer with you?” He looked at me intensely, like he was trying to say something with his eyes, maybe pass a secret message to me.

“She’s dead,” I said quietly.

“I see. So you got my text, then?” he asked.

Text? I hadn’t had a text since… Don’t trust her. “What the hell are you asking me? It was you?” I crossed over to him, grabbing him by the shirt collar. A uniformed man from the transporter got out, holding a gun in the air, and asked me calmly to let him go.

Magnus and Mary quickly had their weapons in the air, pointing at Jeff and his escort.

“No need to get out of hand. I was trying to help you.” His voice was ragged as I clutched him firmly.

“Why did you send that text?” I was suddenly furious. Rage filled my veins as I recalled getting the message on my cell phone outside the gas station near Nashville. Mae had been with us, chasing down the two hybrids now beside us. Only now, she was gone.

“She was dangerous. I didn’t have enough proof, just the word of one of them.” He nodded in Terrance’s direction.

I let him go. The anger was still there, but he was right. She did screw us over, even if she thought it was for the best. “What signs?” I asked, nodding to my counterparts, who let their weapons down. The air thinned as the tension lifted.

“Before we get into this, do you think we could have this discussion in the air?” Magnus asked. “We have an objective, and fighting each other isn’t going to get us there.”

One by one, we loaded onto the transport ship, which had barely enough room for us to sit side by side. Jeff sat in the back with us, and Magnus took a seat up front by the pilot. I was hip to hip between Mary and Leslie. Our bags and rifles leaned behind the back seats, in the small storage area just out of sight.

“Explain,” I said once we were in the air, leaving the pyramids behind.