Secrets were even harder to keep quiet in a hidden government facility than among a high school full of gossiping teenagers. The Allianz Insurance building, located in the little town of Chiefton, just outside Atlantic Bay, was alive with anticipation. The basement of the insurance company was the last place anyone would expect to be full of FBI agents, top scientists, and alien experimentation. Which is why it was the perfect cover.

“The alien’s brainwaves have been off the charts for days now,” Dr. Conley, the chief scientist, said to his group of assistants. “And we still can’t figure out why. It’s fully cognitive, though we have it sedated. If I were a betting man, I’d say he’s communicating with someone or something.”

“That doesn’t spell sedation to me,” Special Agent Malcolm Jameson said from a corner of the room. Jameson was the lead FBI agent on the case, a man known for capturing otherworldly life forms dead or alive, mostly dead. He had a well-deserved reputation for ruthlessness, a reputation he was proud of.

“As I mentioned, it seems to be trying to communicate,” Dr. Conley said.

“Maybe it’s communicating with the boy we lost in the woods.”

“That’s a possibility. I’m sure we’ll have that answer long before you find the boy. How goes the search, by the way?”

“You focus on that alien and leave the boy to me,” Jameson said. “We’ll find him before he spreads any wild rumors.”

“Agent Jameson, I assure you—”

“I don’t want your assurances. You have five hours. After that, we’re bringing in our best psychics to probe the alien for intel.”

“We can handle this, we just need a little more time.”

“You have five hours. Then the psychics will take over. They’ve been successful with other alien freaks, and I trust they’ll succeed with this one.”

Five hours later the team of scientists was no closer to prying loose the information they sought from the mind of the being. By that afternoon, the alien was under deep subconscious examination by Jameson’s team of government psychics. The process lasted nearly three hours before the four men came from the operating room.

“What did you discover?” Jameson asked.

“The alien did speak to the boy from the woods,” one of them said. “But there’s much more to this than we originally knew. I think we’ve made a serious mistake capturing this alien. It wasn’t here on a reconnaissance mission. It came here to help us undo our mistakes and keep us from destroying the planet.”

“I want facts, not opinions. In my twenty-three years of tracking these freaks down, we’ve never captured one that was here to offer a helping hand. So don’t let that thing trick you into thinking otherwise. I want straight facts. Tell me what you know.”

“What we know is that your tests have weakened it. Its body seems to be reacting to the morphine. It’s weakening its organs, and our atmosphere makes it impossible for it to fully regenerate, which it seems to be able to do where it comes from.”

“What else?”

“We’ve made it angry.”

“So what?”

“Perhaps we shouldn’t be treating this one like a specimen.”

“It is a specimen,” Jameson said.

“It isn’t like the others. We might be able to connect with it, learn from it. But we’d have to act quickly. It’s planning an escape.”

“Not on my watch,” Jameson said. “What about the boy? Does it know where the boy is hiding?”

“We had to press deep to learn about the boy. But when we did, something happened. It discovered what we were doing. That’s when we ran into some sort of mental block.”

“Mental block?”

“Something that sounded like white noise filled our minds and began blocking its subconscious streams of communication. It’s hiding the boy, protecting him. But before we were shut out of its mind, we discovered that it passed some sort of organic chip made of its own DNA to the boy after meeting him in the woods. It happened right before you recaptured it.”

“DNA chip?”

“Yes. It’s inserted into the boy’s neck.”

“Any idea where this boy is from?”

“He feels close. Maybe Atlantic Bay.”

Jameson paced the floor before whispering to another agent. The man nodded and exited the room. “Do you think it’s some sort of virus?” he asked the lead psychic. “Maybe it intends to spread a disease through the boy.”

“I don’t believe it wants to do us harm. We could try to probe its mind again, but I don’t think we’ll break its barriers, now that it knows we can get inside its head.”

“No matter,” Jameson said. “We’ll look for the boy, starting with the high school in Atlantic Bay. I’ve already set the wheels in motion. We’ll leak a story to the press, spread a little fear over the town concerning our so-called convict.”

“It might be hard to make it stick,” the psychic replied.

“I don’t think so,” Jameson said. “We’re pulling in some military units from Fort Tucker. That should impress the local yokels.”

Atlantic Bay High School looked like a war zone. News had been reported about an escaped terrorist who had infected himself with a virus that sent victims into a hallucinogenic frenzy before it killed them. The FBI had been tipped off that the terrorist was last seen with a teenage boy. The government was afraid that the virus would spread and was searching for the teen.

David walked to the front of the school, watching a group of lab-coated men and women pour in and out of small white tents that had been set up on the front lawn. Armed men in camouflage uniforms, local police, and men dressed in black suits littered the parking lot. Students were standing in pairs in a long line and entering the tent two at a time to be examined. Armed soldiers walked back and forth on both sides of the line. Students leaving the tent after their examination didn’t look happy. Many whispered to friends still standing in line that it was more like an interrogation than an examination.

David felt his heart drop. With dozens of eyes scoping out every kid in school, there was no way to escape. Reluctantly, he got in line. He thought about making a mad dash for the school and hiding out in the boiler room, but when he saw the armed military men surrounding the perimeter he thought better of it. If anyone had been inside the building, the soldiers would have flushed them out by now. David stared at the ground and listened to the gossip. So far, no one knew anything. At least not anything close to the truth. He wondered how long it would be before he was found out.

“Hey, lab partner, guess who?” Tara said, wrapping her hands around David’s face from behind.

He turned around and smiled at her.

“Looks like we’ll be tent buddies,” she said as she drew next to him.

“Looks that way,” he replied.

“It’s good to see you smile, David. You haven’t smiled like that for me since middle school.”

David made a helpless shrug.

“It’s all right,” Tara said. “You’ve always been my best friend, even if we haven’t spoken in, what, four years?”

“Do you think what they’re saying is true?” David asked, wanting to change the subject.

“What, that some high-profile terrorist has hooked up with some local teen and is trying to spread some disease that drives you insane before it kills you?”

“Yeah, that.”

“Ordinarily, I’d say it was a crock,” Tara said. “But considering that there are marines, cops, FBI agents, and mad scientists running around the school, something weird is going on. I guess we’ll find out soon enough.”

David focused on Tara’s face as they talked. Once again, he was surprised—in fact, stunned—at how pretty she was. There was no doubt about it, she was drop-dead gorgeous. Had he known the former tomboy would turn out like this he would have treated her more like a girl. David marveled anew at his inability to notice it before. Perhaps she had recently grown into her beauty. Or perhaps he’d been an unobservant and unperceptive nitwit.

The line moved quickly, drawing them closer to the tent until their numbers came up. A soldier armed with a rifle tapped David on the shoulder. “Your turn,” he said.

David entered the tent and was hooked up to what looked like a lie detector, while Tara stood nervously ten feet behind him.

“What is your name?” a man in a white lab coat abruptly asked, as he studied the readout. Two identically dressed men stood beside him writing notes on tablets.

“David Noble.”

The scientist studied the lines scrolling across the machine. So did David.

“How old are you?”

“Seventeen,” he lied to test his theory. The lines went wild. “I mean eighteen.” The lines calmed. “Don’t know what I was thinking,” David said with a smile. Now he knew how to beat the machine.

“Where were you on August 18th?”

“Why does that matter?” David asked.

The perturbed look on the scientist’s face said he was in no mood for wisecracks. “Listen kid, we’re just trying to track down anyone who may have come in contact with the terrorist. The biological threat his body is carrying is lethal. If anyone has come in contact with him, they could be dead in as little as two weeks. That is, if the hallucinations don’t drive them to suicide first.”

David’s heart began to race as he thought about the prick on the back of his neck. He wondered if the alien had tricked him. Maybe he was hallucinating in his dreams, as well as in school. Just as soon as the doubt entered his mind, it left. He knew Calculus class wasn’t a hallucination, nor was the starfire cube. Right now, it was easier to trust an extraterrestrial alien than his own government.

“I went to the boardwalk with my stepbrother. We got in a fight, so I left and walked home. I sneaked in through my basement window so I wouldn’t get into trouble.” David focused on the machine, directing its movements with his mind. The lines remained calm, following his every thought.

“Well, young man, looks like you’re telling the truth. We just need a blood sample to make sure you’re not carrying the virus.”

David started to sweat, but knowledge began to come back to him slowly, just as the being from across the universe had said it would. Leaning forward to make eye contact with all three scientists, he said, “You’ve already taken my blood sample. You found nothing unusual.”

“Oh, my apologies, son, looks like I’ve already taken your blood sample. There was nothing unusual.” The scientist smiled. “It’s your turn young lady,” he called to Tara.

Tara stared at David suspiciously as he made for the exit. He knew he’d have to explain his actions to her.

Racing through the sea of students, David sought out the Fannins. He didn’t have to look far. They were sitting against an old oak tree near the parking lot in front of their truck.

“They check you guys yet?” David asked.

“Yeah, all three of us,” Mikey said. “Is it really a virus?”

“No. They’re looking for me. We need to get out of here. I’ve got to get back to the mill to see if I can finish charging the portal before they find it—or find me.”

“Might be tough to make a break for it until they’re finished with all the students. Don’t think we can outrun cops, the FBI, and a bunch of marines with guns.”

“We’ll just have to wait. Besides, there’s one more person coming with us.”

“You sure about this?” Mikey asked David. “You sure you can trust her?” The Fannins stood around their truck, waiting for David’s answer.

“Yes,” he said. “I’m sure.”

Though school had been cancelled for the day, the students were being held until the last one cleared the tents. Students were spread across the parking lot, happy to be out of school but feeling like trapped rats. The testing was finally winding down, and worried parents were showing up at the school. They weren’t happy, and they didn’t care how many cops or marines were standing by, they were going to vent their anger. With a bunch of infuriated parents weighing in, David knew they’d soon be on their way.

“Are you sure you’re sure you can trust her?” Jeremy asked.

“She knows something is going on with me. She saw me fool the scientist. Something tells me I can trust her. I mean, it’s Tara for crying out loud. She’s not one to let things go. There she is. Just give me five.”

Jeremy, Chris, and Mikey watched as David walked across the asphalt parking lot to catch Tara’s attention. They studied him as he placed a hand on her elbow. They waited to see a startled reaction, but after nearly five minutes of deep conversation, Tara smiled. She nodded her head, and David turned to give the Fannins the thumbs up.

David and Tara rejoined the Fannins, and David told her the full story. He held nothing back. He even flicked a bit of electricity across his fingertips to prove it was true. She smiled. Then she kissed him.

“Who’d ’a’ thunk being half alien would turn a girl on?” Jeremy whispered.

“Who you kidding?” Mikey whispered back. “David has always been Tara’s boyfriend in her mind.”

Finally, the students were released, and parents began driving off with their children. School buses were loaded, and the tents began to be dismantled. It was time to get back to work.

Agent Jameson’s temple pulsed like a subwoofer pounding out a bass line. He held in his anger as he stared out at the sea of students. “This kid is good,” he whispered to Dr. Conley. “He must’ve known we were coming.”

“My theory is that the alien is mentally linked to this boy and it warned him before we arrived.”

“No matter,” Jameson said. “We’ll find him, one way or another.”

As the mob of angry parents dealt with the local police and military, armed guards began pulling traffic duty, clearing students out of the parking lot. The band of five friends hopped into the Fannins’ truck and headed to the south end of town. Mikey weaved across the back country, choosing obscure two-lane roads to throw any snooping eyes off their trail. But Brice Cooper knew the back roads as well as Mikey, and he wasn’t far behind.

“Wow, I can’t believe it,” Tara said as she stared at the starfire cube. David was feeding the geometrical shape with streams of electricity that lit up the basement of the old mill like a Fourth of July extravaganza. The lines of electricity flowing through the air were beautifully intertwined streams of gold and silver light unlike any light they’d ever seen. The starfire cube hummed and vibrated as the etchings soaked up energy. As the four friends stared in awe at David, so did Brice, who was filming it all on his cell phone.

“That’s all I can handle,” David whispered, and he dropped to his knees.

Tara put a hand on his shoulder. “Are you going to be all right?” she asked.

David liked the feel of Tara’s hand. “I’ll be fine,” he said. “It’s just very exhausting.”

“You done?” Chris asked. “Is it fully charged?”

“Not quite. I need to come back in a few hours to finish up. I just need to get something to eat to regain my strength.”

“Pizza,” Chris said. “Nature’s perfect food. That’ll recharge your batteries. Mine, too.”

“Sounds like a plan,” David responded with a half smile as Jeremy and Mikey helped him to his feet. “We can talk about how to get the alien out of the basement of the Allianz building while we eat.”

“Allianz Insurance? In Chiefton?” Tara asked. “How do you know that?”

“Forget how,” Mikey said. “Why in the world would an alien be taking out insurance?”

“Very funny,” David said. “It’s the perfect cover for an alien autopsy facility, if you ask me.”

As they began walking toward the basement stairs, Brice quickly and quietly backed up the metal stairs from the basement of the mill with one thought on his mind—making his way to the local sheriff to report David to the government.

An hour after gorging themselves on pizza, the five friends were back at the mill. It didn’t take long for David to finish energizing the starfire cube. When he was done, he was surprised that he wasn’t drained. In fact, he felt more energized than he had ever felt in his life. It seemed as if the starfire cube was a living ball of energy, and David was part of it.

“Let’s go,” David said. “Like I said at dinner, I’ll need to sleep on a plan tonight to figure out how to spring the alien. It’s going to be dangerous. None of you have to do this.”

“We started this together, we’re finishing it together,” Jeremy said.

“Guess we’re the fantastic five then,” David said. “I’ll have the solution in the morning. Answers seem to come to me in my dreams. Tomorrow, we’ll—”

Harsh spotlights and the sounds of helicopters suddenly poured down into the basement of the mill. “Go, go, go!” unfamiliar voices shouted. Soldiers burst into the basement and threw David, Jeremy, Chris, Mikey, and Tara to the ground and held machine guns to their heads.

A tall, dark man stepped forward. It was one of the FBI agents from school that morning. “I want a team down here right now,” he said over a walkie-talkie. “We’ll need to secure the object and take it to the base.”

“What about the children?” another agent asked the man in charge.

“Take them to the base. We’ve found our boy. I want them all interrogated. Break them if you have to.”