Megalodon City, Tundra, Standard year 404

  “What is this place?” Robert asked, walking in just as Samantha was straightening herself out. The location Jim provided was a tiny booth nestled in the back of a random garage in a part of town he visited rarely. Why the president of the planet was sitting in a dilapidated chair in the back of a tiny guard booth with barely enough room to move was a mystery, even to Robert.

  “Robert.” Samantha turned around, startled. “I didn’t realize you were here.”

  “I’m here.” Robert said noncommittally. And then he yawned.

  Sam frowned as she studied Robert. She had never seen Robert yawn. She didn’t even know the head of the Tundran Secret Service did that. But then, it had been that kind of a week.

  “A drink?” Jim offered, putting a restraining hand on Sam’s wrist as a silent reminder for her to be patient, before he reached down lazily towards the bottles he knew would be behind the chair, in the very back corner of the shelves.

  “What is this?” Robert asked, looking puzzled as he picked up an unlabeled bottle that looked like it may have been recycled from a small jar of pickles.

  “I’m guessing it’s whatever someone brewed up in their bathtub.” Jim said helpfully. “And that is a highly educated guess.”

  “I see.” Robert said slowly.

  Picking up on her husband’s desire to take this more slowly, Samantha reigned in her impatience and sat back down on Jim’s lap, leaving the heater as the only place left for Robert to sit in the tiny little room.

  After a brief hesitation, Robert sat down.

  Jim reached into a seemingly random section of the overcrowded shelves, and pulled out a bottle opener. “Here you go.” He said, undoing the lid before handing it back.

  “I… see.” Robert repeated.

  “You next, my dear.” He handed Samantha another newly opened bottle.

  Sam took a sip, shaking her head in something between horror and enjoyment as the burn hit her throat.

  “And uh, why are we drinking this?” Robert asked.

  “It’s what you do.” Jim said simply.

  “Ah. That.” Robert nodded. He took a drink. “This is terrible.” He pointed out.

  “Yes. It’s part of the bonding ritual.” Jim said with great seriousness.

  “What is this place?” Robert repeated. “I don’t know it. I have never been here.”

  “That’s the idea.” Jim said with a smile, holding up his own bottle of homemade moonshine. The recent breach of their allegedly secure communications was top of mind for Jim. And he was taking precautions. The security outpost of an orphanage he hadn’t visited in about forty years struck him as a safe option. “A toast, to the safe homecoming of our loved ones.” He said.

  But it will have no bearing on the outcome of the mission, Robert thought. But he raised his glass. And then he drank. Humans performed better if they believed luck was on their side. That was science. “A place we never go.” Robert mused. “And yet you knew the location of the liquor. And the bottle opener. Is this… the orphanage?”

  “Home sweet home.” Samantha murmured. “I thought it was romantic.”

  “I try.” Jim said with a slight smile. “But I asked you here for a number of reasons, Robert. First, I wanted to talk about James. And your missing man, Variel.” Jim added, carefully using the true name in spite of the alien pronunciation. It must have meant something to Robert, for him to have mentioned it in the first place. And the missing deserved to be known by their real names.

  “James is also a priority for me. What do you need to know?” Robert responded immediately.

  “You understand that we will treat this on a truly need to know basis. For now, nothing imminent is coming up that you or your people need to know about. But when it does, I would like to understand the resources available to us. I need to know who you have on Saraya. Tell me about this incompetent civilian. How is he incompetent?”

  Robert sighed, and took a deeper drink of the moonshine. “Stupidity appears to be a universal constant.” He said mildly.

  Samantha snorted.

  “I don’t suppose you know the story of the string.”

  “Nothing comes to mind.” Jim replied.

  “There was string. On Mars.”

  “On what?” Samantha asked, puzzled.

  “On Mars. It’s the fourth planet from the sun in the old earth solar system. If we call old earth Saraya, Mars is where Tundra would be located.”

  “And there was string on it.” Jim said, nonplussed. “How is this important?”

  “You must consider the historical context. The year was 2022. The Mars Rover was one of the first human made objects to ever reach the surface of another planet. Many humans believed, quite inexplicably, that they were alone in the universe. So the Mars Rover is, well it’s roving, along the surface of their second closest planet, and it finds string.”

  Stolen novel; please report.

  Samantha, who had known Robert was an alien for decades and had plenty of time to come to terms with the idea, snickered quietly under her breath.

  “They weren’t supposed to know you were there.” Jim said quietly.

  “Of course not. They had already found a few suspicious items and managed to explain things away. Humans are quite resistant to acknowledging change. But then they found string. There’s just no way to delude oneself into thinking that it was a naturally occurring phenomenon. It was string. It was woven. They came up with some preposterous story about the string being brought on by the Mars Rover to begin with, and the public may have believed it. But anyone seriously familiar with the Mars Rover project knew it was utter nonsense. There was string, on Mars. And the humans didn’t put it there. And so at that point, at least some humans knew with absolute certainty that we were there. Because of the string.”

  “They left trash.” Samantha said, bemusement clear in her voice.

  “Yes Sam, some idiot left trash.”

  “But… was it your operative on Saraya who personally left trash that confirmed your presence in old earth’s solar system?” Jim asked.

  “Of course not. My only point is that we are all capable of truly monumental stupidity.”

  “The universal constant.” Sam murmured.

  “Yes.”

  “And your operative on Saraya.” Jim said, keeping his voice carefully relaxed. “What did he do that was so stupid?” He had known Robert a long time, and he was starting to get a sneaking suspicion about the situation. The entirely irrelevant story about string was not a good sign.

  Robert shrugged.

  “What was his big mistake?” Samantha asked, her hand squeezing Jim’s silently in recognition of his point. Jim and Sam were both beginning to suspect the same thing.

  “Dragon City.” Robert said. And then he took another seep drink of the liquor that should probably have been used to strip paint. “I know you’re using this to get me to talk.” He added with a nod towards Jim. “At the moment I just don’t particularly care.”

  “What did he do?” Samantha asked, no longer amused. All three of them, had lost everything in the destruction of Dragon City. Jim and Sam had found new lives, ones that started in the orphanage they had all returned to that day. Robert… as far as Sam could tell, Robert never truly found a new life. He just kept going. There was something he lost that he could not replace.

  “He failed to prevent it.” Robert said with frustration. “We all did.” He added.

  “But what did he actually do?” Sam asked, more insistently.

  “He… he did not specify the location of the targets.”

  “As you did.” Jim said sharply. “You sent your people the location of our targets.”

  “Of course.”

  “But Robert.” Samantha said somewhat uncertainly. “Was it possible for him to specify the location? It was an attack. They bombed everything they could and we blocked everything we could. How could anyone predict the result of that?”

  Robert’s lips tightened noticeably. “Now you’re beginning to sound like him.”

  “Your operative?”

  “Yes.”

  “He’s right.” Jim said.

  There was a drawn out silence.

  “Robert.” Jim said carefully. “You are resource constrained. You must use what you have effectively.” He left it at that, not adding the obvious. Robert was letting his personal feelings on the destruction of Dragon City, color his views of his operative. An operative they all now needed.

  “I hear you Jim.” Robert said finally. And then he leaned his head back against the wall of the tiny cell and closed his eyes.

  “Robert.” Samantha with great reluctance. “Perhaps you should go home and get some rest.”

  “There was something else?” Robert asked, his voice sounding as calm and patient as ever. “Jim said the rescue was the first thing he wanted to talk about. That implies there was something else.”

  “You know that Alanna Summers is pregnant?” Samantha asked.

  “She may be pregnant.” Robert corrected.

  Samantha opened her mouth to clarify before turning to Jim, suddenly realizing that it might be difficult to explain why Alanna made the seemingly irresponsible decision of removing the embryo and transferring it to an artificial womb so early on in the gestation, without disclsoing that she was currently on her way to Saraya to rescue James.

  “She’s gone to Saraya.” Robert said patiently, his eyes still closed as he continued to lean his head against the icy wall of the tiny guard booth. “I am aware.”

  “She has chosen for the child to remain here.” Samantha said quietly. “Will you help? I do not know the status but if there is still a chance…”

  “Any decisions about the child must be made by the parents.”

  “I don’t recall being asked whether I agreed to your interference, Robert.” Samantha said, her tone sharpening.

  “I did ask you. I asked Jim, as well.”

  “You asked whether we wanted the child! Not whether… whether. I am still not thrilled about whatever it was you did. You did something. But this isn’t the time. Can you help or not?”

  “Any decision about the child” Robert began.

  “You know they want the child, Robert!” Samantha snapped.

  “I will send a text.” Jim offered. “Alanna Summers is still in Tundran space. She will respond. If she consents to us making decisions about the health of the child, will that suffice?

  “Yes.” Robert acknowledged.

  They waited, drinking quietly.

  “I’ll have one of my people drive you home after this.” Jim offered.

  “I…” Robert began.

  “Accept help for once in your life, Robert. There is nothing wrong with it. It comes with no strings. Just let someone drive you home.” Jim said with some annoyance.

  “And if you are attacked?”

  “Sam and I have our own security detail. Both are here at the moment and we will go home together. We are already overstaffed.”

  Robert took another sip of the disgusting liquor, opening his eyes and staring down into the recycled pickle jar quizzically. “It’s empty.” He said, automatically accepting another one when Jim handed it to him. “Perhaps… someone else, drive?”

  “Yes.” Jim agreed.

  “We are chameleons.” Robert said. “We can blend in with our surroundings. Nearly perfectly.”

  The guard booth was filled with silence as Samantha and Jim looked at each other, eyes wide.

  “I tell you this because it is vital information for you to have. You understand?”

  “Yes.” Jim acknowledged.

  “It’s your mission, Jim.” Robert said, his head still leaning against the wall. “You have the contact for my resource on Saraya. I will tell him to follow your lead. Leave me out of it. For many reasons.”

  “I… if you are certain.” Jim said carefully.

  “I am. But you should know, he won’t take orders.”

  “But…” Jim began “what?” He finished in some confusion.

  “He won’t. None of us do. At best you can make a suggestion and hope they listen. Welcome to my world.”

  “You can’t run a military that way.” Jim said immediately, instinctively. It had been a long week for him, as well.

  Robert opened his eyes, raising his second, half full glass of moonshine up until the liquid glinted softly in the dim light of the tiny room. “Good luck.” He said.

  Jim rubbed the back of his neck uncertainly. And then he drank.

  “We were attacked.” Robert said, resting his head back against the wall.”

  “Yes.”

  “By the Sarayans?” Robert asked, staring into the newly refilled jar.

  “Eh.” Jim said dubiously.

  “But there is no one else.”

  “Stupid humans.” Jim murmured. “Believing they’re alone in the universe. Who would be so foolish?”

  “Who indeed.” Samantha agreed.

  “Very subtle, Jim.” Robert replied. And then he stifled another yawn. “But we’ve made no enemies. To attack the empire without provocation… that is madness.”

  “Hey Sam.” Jim said, turning to his beautiful and beloved wife, who was still sitting in his lap. “Do you know what I learned today?”

  “What’s that darling?”

  “I learned” Jim paused, turning towards Robert “that aliens have been known to overreact.”

  “I learned that stupidity is a universal constant.” Sam replied.