Daren woke up in a softly lit room, polished walls of golden wood reflecting back the warm light of the overhead chandelier. A large mirror reflected back the sight of him lying on an ornate bed covered in red velvet. His chest appeared to be covered in a liquid of similar hue. Daren stared at his reflection in the mirror, which reflected back his look of utter confusion.

  “…a misunderstanding.” He heard a familiar voice.

  “Is it?” A soft male voice answered. That voice could perhaps best be described as the male equivalent of Jane Thomson’s liquid, flowing tone. Deep and pleasantly musical, there was nevertheless a dangerous undercurrent to the words. Jonno Summers, was not happy. “Did your friend get lost, do you think?”

  “A misunderstanding about the role of the young lady, perhaps?” Will Atwater said politely. “If there is anything I can do to clear this up on his behalf, please do let me know.”

  “He’s in there.” Jonno said, his voice growing louder as the two men approached. “We’ve injected him with an upper to help him wake up but it doesn’t appear to be working. If you could escort your friend home as soon as he’s feeling better, I think that would be best.” Jonno continued. His words were polite, Daren’s position in the current presidential administration ensured that, but the undertone was dangerously cold.

  Daren sat up, still staring at the bright red stain on his chest.

  “Drugs are so unpredictable these days.” Will said with bemusement. He walked through the doorway and paused, staring.

  “Daren, you appear to be bleeding.” He noted, trying not to laugh.

  “Uh. I ah. Wha?” Daren blinked groggily, still staring with genuine horror down at his chest. “Uh. Why am I doing that?” He asked.

  “I believe it’s a natural physiological response to being shot.” Jonno observed mildly.

  Daren opened his mouth and then very carefully shut it, before anything unfortunate managed to escape. He touched his chest and noted that he felt no pain. Why was he covered in red blood?

  “Is Jane all right?” He asked, still staring down at the blood on his chest.

  “Jane is gone.” Jonno said, his famously beautiful, liquid brown eyes narrowed in annoyance.

  Coming more awake, Daren realized Jonno was observing him with unnerving intensity. “I’m sorry I…”

  “What did you say to her? If I may ask.” Jonno added, softening his tone slightly in honor of Daren’s high ranking government post.

  “Uh. I believe I said… ‘good afternoon’.” Daren said, his eyes meeting Will’s.

  “I’ll be happy to take him off your hands.” Will stepped forward, grabbing Daren’s arm and pulling him up, none too gently. “And again, we’re terribly sorry to have bothered you.”

  “Nice to meet you.” Jonno said, watching Will as he hauled Daren out the door. And good to see you again, Daren.”

  “No one told me why the hell I’m bleeding.” Daren said with some annoyance, as Will loaded him into the passenger seat of his own car and got behind the wheel. “And why am I bleeding red?”

  “No idea.” Will said with a shake of his head. “Jonno said you’d been stunned. And you seem fine.”

  “This shirt is ruined.” Daren said with annoyance. He liked that shirt. “I really did just say ‘good afternoon.’”

  “She clocked you.”

  “Well, when you put it that way.” Daren winced. “Yes, I suppose she did. Do you know, I rather think it’s paint. What a clever way to fake a death.”

  Will nodded.

  “Robert sent you?”

  Will nodded again.

  “Sooo, on a scale of 1-10? How pissed?”

  “Oh, I’d say it’s going to be a solid nine.”

  Daren nodded, leaning back in his seat. Stunner fire worked via an electrical pulse that temporarily shut down the central nervous system. In that regard, humans and Carda’ans functioned exactly alike. While Carda’ans recovered somewhat faster from stunner fire, the uppers used by humans had minimal impact on his biological processes. His head hurt and he felt like hell. And Robert, well, Robert was going to be damn pissed. “I was bleeding.” He said out loud.

  “Yes.”

  “I was bleeding red.”

  “Yes.”

  “It’s been an odd day, Will.”

  “I see that.” Will said, turning on the shield wipers as the rain started up again.

  “Do you know how I avoided Jane on the stairwell?”

  “Badly?”

  “That too. Will, I jumped the railing, and I hung there. Like some sort of animal. I’m over five hundred years old. What was I thinking?”

  “I honestly have no idea.”

  “It’s all going to change now.” Daren said, staring out into the pouring rain. “The difficulty with humans…” He began, paused for a minute and stared down at his chest. “Am I bleeding red, Will?”

  “You’re having an idiosyncratic reaction to the uppers.”

  “That can’t be.”

  “I’m quite certain that it can.”

  “Ah. Well then. The difficulty with humans, Will, is that they are xenophobic, homicidal, and profoundly destructive. And their blood leaves terrible stains on your clothing.”

  “I think it’s paint.”

  “Yes well, you know, the color.”

  “You make an excellent point, Daren.”

  “And prolific.”

  “I’m sorry?”

  “The humans.” Daren elaborated. “They’re exceptionally prolific. Look around you.”

  Will looked out the rain soaked window, at the blurry lights of the city all around them.

  “You see?” Daren waived his hand in the general direction of the window. “They’re everywhere. It’s only been four hundred years.”

  “Yes Daren, I see.”

  “They’re what, five hundred years behind us? Technologically.”

  Will turned his head slightly in Daren’s direction, before returning his eyes to the road. “Perhaps.” He said.

  “And they are quite prolific. How long do you think it will take?”

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  “For what?” Will asked, eyes focused on the road.

  “For them to catch up? For them to overtake us. How long will it take before our prolific, xenophobic friends turn the tables on us?”

  The fingers of Will’s right hand tapped the steering wheel briefly, before he stilled them. “You could have children.” He noted. “We have the technology.”

  “And what shall we do with them? Pretend they’re little lizards native to the planet? You’ve managed to keep two on the ship and they’re bored out of their minds. I dread to think what they’ve gotten into up there. Just imagine if there were more of them. And it will take a century or more before they can effectively blend in with the humans. Who’s got that kind of time and energy?”

  “Yes.” Will said, staring out into the rain.

  “Have you noticed how clear our quantum comms have been lately?” Daren asked.

  Will raised an eyebrow at the abrupt change of subject. “They’ve been very clear.” He agreed, taking the exit heading out of the city and towards the mountains. The flooding on the roads was getting worse.

  “That’s Grant.”

  “I expect it is.”

  “He’s made another improvement. It’s his patents you know, back home. Our quantum comms used to be one letter at a time, each more precious than the last. Now we have audio.”

  “It’s a short distance, here. And yes, I know about the patents.”

  “I don’t see him sending any updates back home.” Daren said. “Whatever he’s done, it stays here. And that’s in his spare time. His main project – is planetary shields.”

  Will’s eyes narrowed slightly. “Grant is sending updates home on the planetary shield technology.” He said.

  “I’m sure he is. But you do see, don’t you? We’re not five hundred years ahead when it comes to planetary shields. We’re in the exact same place as our xenophobic, homicidal, what was the other one?”

  “Profoundly destructive.”

  “Yes, that.” Daren agreed. “Think about the Tirrik.

  “What about the Tirrik?” Will asked, shooting a glance in Daren’s direction.

  “We never touched them.”

  “Why would we?” Will shrugged, turning his eyes back to the road.

  “They’re defenseless.” Daren said, looking out at the rain. “A civilization stunning in its complexity. Have you heard their music? They turn dancing into high art, every gesture perfect and imbued with meaning.”

  “Three day long mating dances.” Will said, stifling a grin. “You have to admire the stamina.”

  “Imagine having to sit through that.”

  Will laughed.

  Daren blinked, nonplussed. “I may… I may be having an idiosyncratic response to the uppers.” He admitted.

  “Hmmm.”

  “They bore us.” Daren said with a sigh. “They even bore me.”

  “Not homicidal enough for our tastes.” Will said, suddenly laughing harder.

  “No, not nearly homicidal enough.” Daren agreed, joining in the laughter. “The humans will try to kill us all.” He said, sobering up suddenly. “It’s what they do. I think…” He stared out into the rain as it came down harder, hypnotized by the sound of windshield wipers hitting the glass. “I think they may be our extinction event. We just haven’t realized it yet.”

  Will shrugged, turning down the long, winding driveway that led to Daren’s mountain home. “They’re not a threat today.” He said, hands relaxed on the wheel.

  “And when they become a threat?”

  “That will be unfortunate.”

  “For us?”

  “Maybe for us, maybe for them.” Will said, with a slight smile. “After all, we have been known to overreact.”

  Daren stared out the window, at the blurred image of his home, out there beyond the pouring rain. “That was different.” He said quietly, before reaching for the door handle to get out of the car. Somewhat stiffly, Daren climbed out of the car and slammed the door behind him. Hand still on the door handle, he paused, turning back towards the car. He knocked his fist against the glass window.

  With a sigh, Will rolled down the glass, watching the rain pour in as Daren leaned into the car.

  “That was different.” Daren repeated. “And it wasn’t an overreaction.”

  ---

  “She clocked him.” Will said, sitting in front of his quantum communicator back home.

  The soft hiss of Robert’s frustration came through with perfect clarity. He was sitting with the quantum communicator, looking into the clear blue seawater of the stream that ran through his garden.

  “And then she shot him.” Will said, his voice surprisingly cheerful.

  “She shot him?” Robert repeated, sounding genuinely aghast.

  “Yes.” Will took a bite of the sandwich he put together before the call. “Funny thing, she used a stunner combined with paint pellets. Makes it look like you’re bleeding, but really it’s just stunner fire.”

  “Fascinating. It could be an effective way to fake a death.”

  “Yes. Daren was quite put off by the experience.”

  Robert paused briefly. “He woke up bleeding red?”

  “Oh yes. He talked about it. At length.”

  “And in a whorehouse. That would be a hell of an experience.”

  “Memorable.” Will agreed.

  “And the rest of it?”

  “No DNA, not even any fingerprints, not that it’s likely to matter for us. The place was wiped clean, and Jane is gone.” Will said flatly.

  There was another pause. “Will, are you eating right now?” Robert asked.

  “Yes. I’ve been out all day. Why?”

  “I’ve never heard anyone eating over quantum comms before.”

  “I’m hungry.”

  “It feels oddly… disrespectful.”

  “Who am I disrespecting?” Will asked, taking another bite of his sandwich.

  “The universe, perhaps? Humans believe our words are breaking the laws of physics.”

  “Robert, the humans believe the nature of quantum entanglement changes based on whether it’s been observed by man. Forgive me if I don’t place much stock in their views. Hell, if they manage to exterminate us, we probably deserve it.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “Oh, just something Daren said.”

  “About the humans exterminating us?”

  “Jonno gave him some uppers after he was stunned. I think Daren had a bad reaction to it. Made him verbose.”

  “That’s just Daren.”

  “He was unusually verbose, even by Daren standards.”

  “Terrifying. And he talked about the humans exterminating us?”

  “Yes, as I recall he said they were xenophobic, homicidal and profoundly destructive.” Will quoted.

  “Well, they are.”

  “Yes.” Will agreed. The humans were who they were. Everyone had their faults.

  “And if we don’t get this mess fixed, while the Carda’an empire will go on just as before, the lives of those of us who are residing within this solar system, are going to get exponentially more complicated.”

  “The way to fix this mess, is to drop it.” Will said emphatically. “And never think or speak of it again. Leave her alone, leave this alone, and pretend it never happened.”

  “You may be right.” Robert admitted. “If only Daren had taken your excellent advice.”

  “If only.” Will agreed. “And speaking of Daren, Robert I’d like to have a conversation about managing expectations.”

  “Your performance review is on its way.” Robert said with some annoyance. But that was Will for you. It was how his mother raised him – a little too human.

  “You’re skipping Daren in the line of succession.”

  “I’m skipping Grant, as well.”

  “Grant is Grant. You’re skipping Daren and he’s done nothing wrong.” Will paused, noting the long silence on the other end. “All right, until today he’s done nothing wrong.”

  “I never implied he did. Until today.”

  “That was downright human level disingenuousness, Robert. You’ve done nothing but imply it for the last fifty years. The only way to know more than what Daren knows, is to do what you do. There are no observers when it comes to top secret military operations. Either you have a reason to be there, or you do not.”

  There was a pause on the other end, the sound of Robert’s breathing coming through with crystal clarity. Without a shadow of doubt, the quality of quantum comms had significantly improved. “I won’t tell you how to do your job, Will.”

  “I’m in ship manufacturing. If you want me in charge on Saraya, I need to do something else. So, what would you recommend, Robert? Because I’m not going to observe any better than Daren. He’s damn good at it.”

  “It’s more important to know.” Robert said, his voice utterly flat and devoid of emotion.

  “You said it, not me.” Will said, a note of warning in his voice.

  “I do nothing outside of my capacity as a human advisor.”

  “We can accomplish a hell of a lot, in our capacity as human advisors. Wouldn’t you say?”

  “Will, I am truly sorry that your factory is on the target list.”

  “I’m warning my people and ordering an evacuation. If you plan to give orders to the contrary, don’t bother.” Will said flatly, a note of iron in his usually easy going voice.

  “I will not interfere.”

  “Good.” Will paused. “It’s not even going scratchy the way it does when we start running short on entangled particles, is it?”

  “Clear as crystal.” Robert said, stifling another sigh. The trouble with Grant, one of many if it came to that, was that in a world of genetically engineered geniuses - he was a genius. “Did you notice what she said?” He asked suddenly, changing the subject.

  “You mean the ‘he’, rather than ‘they’?”

  “Ah, so you did notice.”

  “We’re an observant bunch.” Will said with a shrug.

  “Daren never mentioned it.”

  “Daren doesn’t want you and Grant to rumble and leave him in charge. He noticed.”

  “Rumble?” Robert asked, his voice not quite bemused.

  “You know what I mean. Not that you’d win, if it came to that.”

  “And why would that observation lead Grant and I to ah, rumble?”

  “Oh, you want to play this game? And while we’re at it, shall we pretend to treat everyone equally and look for evidence?”

  “Everyone assumes Grant did it?”

  “Unless someone has a good reason to know otherwise.”

  “Yes.” Robert agreed thoughtfully. “Unless someone has a good reason.”

  ---

  “You’re going to get caught. I’m walking, talking DNA that can be used as evidence against you. As long as I’m alive, you’re in danger.”

  “Jane, I’m telling you not to worry. Everyone in this solar system wants to forget it ever happened. All you have to do, is go along with it. All you have to do, is nothing.”

  “Do you really believe they’ll stop looking?”

  “Yes. There is nothing here anyone wants to find.”

  The woman put her head in her hands, trying to control her panic. “I still don’t understand. How do you risk what you risk to save a life?”

  “Life is always worth saving.”

  “If you get caught, they’ll torture you instead of kill you. Is that really so much better?”

  “Jane, nobody is getting caught, nobody is getting tortured. Take a breath, calm down, and find a way to disappear.”

  “It’s not the kind of sin they overlook. If they find out what we did, they will stop at nothing to find you.”

  “They won’t find out. It’s fine. I can transfer credits to your account…”

  “No.” The woman interrupted, taking a breath. “I’ll take care of it. Thank you for your help.”

  “Jane…”

  On the other end, there was only dead air.