––––––––
"There goes the neighborhood."
As their airship came in closer to land, Olivia spied the red emblem on the small black flag fluttering in the dry breeze over what appeared to be the operation's headquarters. She sighed and shook her head, slumping lower into her seat. It had to be him. Who else could it be?
Hernando frowned. "The flag with the large letter G in the center... It's him, isn't it? It's our kidnapper's corporate logo."
"Yep, Roland Grundfest at your service—or should I say at his service. It's all about 'profits over people' with that man."
"I don't see how the Alphans fell for his lies." Hernando balled his fists on the armrest. "They're intelligent and cautious. It's unbelievable they'd actually trust Grundfest not to take advantage of the knowledge they've shared with him in order to sell their artworks on Earth. How could they have acted so stupidly?"
Olivia patted his arm. "People do stupid things sometimes when they're under stress, or even sometimes to get attention." She pointed to herself. "Case in point: yours truly."
Hernando relaxed his fists and raised an eyebrow. "I wasn't paying you enough attention, so you risked your safety to become a vampire bride to spy on Clan Alpha?"
"No, not quite, but I felt like my actions to help BloodDark weren't being taken seriously, so..." She shrugged. "I volunteered to do a stupid thing after I received some rather poor intel."
"Annara still has a lot to answer for," Hernando muttered. He took Olivia's hand in his and kissed it. "It's important to you to be taken seriously, though, isn't it? You're unhappy if you're not focusing your energy on important things. You can't sit back and let others do the work halfway when you know you can do things better."
"Guilty as charged." She smiled. "I guess it's why I can't see myself as a full-time college student right now. I need to be out there in the field, taking action and taking names."
He nodded. "I understand. Before I left Earth, I told your parents you could work for the embassy again, and they said they'd give their blessing only if you agreed to take college classes online while working an internship program at the embassy."
"Oh, so they made you promise me a job and college credit?" Olivia laughed at her parents' audacity. "Gotta hand it to them, they only want what's best for me."
"So do I." He leaned over and kissed her lips. "So do I."
"Attention passengers," a voice interrupted over the loudspeaker. "We are about to land. You might notice some vibration, but don't panic. It's normal when we turn on our landing motors, and it's happening just about... now."
The cabin shook and the entire structure itself hummed as the vibrations increased. The thrusters appeared to be downward-facing propellers, forcing the airship closer to the surface. Olivia glanced over at Hernando. His dark eyes grew wide, but he kept his grin in place to hide his nervousness.
She squeezed his hand. "It's okay. I'm not sure how this works, either. At least we're not very high up. I can see the top of what looks like a barracks."
"Barracks?" he shouted over the motors' noise. "It's a military operation?"
Olivia bit her lip. "Yeah, I think it is. Grundfest shared what he knew with the military in order to get concessions to manufacture the BloodDark tech he stole from the Alphans later on. Whether this is the American military alone or a joint venture with the U.N. or some other group, we'll see."
They were within a few yards of the surface now. Olivia observed crewmen tossing lines out of hatches and sliding down the ropes to the ground.
"Three, two, one, touchdown," the pilot announced over the speakers. "Give us a few minutes to ready the gangplank and then you can disembark. Thank you for flying the friendly skies of BloodDark Air Transport."
"It's almost like flying on Earth." Olivia shook her head and frowned. "How odd. These airship pilots appear to have copied Earth airlines' customs. Where did they learn the patter? It doesn't make sense if they've been living like hermits in the cliff caves for several centuries."
"No, it doesn't." Hernando frowned. "An outpost this large occupied by Earthmen doesn't make sense, either. Could they have smuggled in their workers through another Portal?"
Caveman stood in the aisle and raised his hand to speak. "Keep seated everyone, until I'm done. Not knowing who our hosts are, I think it wise that just a few of us disembark at this point."
"Councilor, shouldn't we go back?" a timid voice called out.
"No, we've come this far, and we need to know what's happening. We've been assured by our pilots that there's a return trip to Penumbra City within six hours, but if you want to leave at this time, it's understandable. We have enough airships. Some can stay the full visit and others can return right away. By a show of hands, how many are willing to stay the full six hours?"
Olivia raised her hand and turned about in her seat. About half had raised their hands while several others looked ambivalent. Only a small percentage appeared genuinely concerned.
"All right. More than I thought, but it's better only a few of us exit the airship first to see what we're up against before allowing the rest to follow." He looked about the cabin and nodded at his security personnel to stand. Olivia's heart plummeted. They were few in number.
"We can't allow Caveman and the ruling council to enter a potentially hostile situation with so few security guards," she whispered to Hernando.
"Agreed." They exchanged looks and stood. "We volunteer for security duty, Councilor."
Caveman nodded. "Thank you, Ambassador and Olivia."
Olivia tilted her head and winked at Hernando as they filed out behind Caveman's entourage. "You didn't ask me my opinion first, but thanks for speaking up."
Hernando winked. "You want to be in the thick of important things, don't you?"
"Definitely. One thing, though, neither of us has a weapon other than our wits."
"Perhaps it's the only kind we'll need."
Caveman cut down the number of the first group to ruling council members, their closest aides, and scientist advisors. The Clan Alpha leadership insisted they accompany the group as well. Caveman stroked his chin as he considered their request.
"If these people work for you, you might be useful, but if they don't..." Caveman shrugged. "You could become a target for ransom. Is it worth the risk?"
Moreau, as spokesperson for his kinsmen, nodded. "Yes, it's worth it. We are responsible for the safety of the entire planet. If we've been used by the Earthlings we trusted, then we demand the right to confront them."
"All right. Only verbal confrontations, however. We're not prepared to fight a war."
Before exiting the airship, Caveman confirmed departure details with their pilot and radioed the other ships to tell them to keep their passengers aboard until he gave the all clear signal. A security officer issued a baton to Olivia and one to Hernando. They hadn't been given permission to carry other kinds of weapons onboard the aircraft.
"Not a very hospitable bunch—no one has come to meet us yet," Hernando said, following Caveman and the others down the gangway. Once on the ground, they scanned the horizon, trying to decide the best direction to take to enter the base.
"No signs telling where to find their front office, either. It's like a ghost town, but that doesn't explain the vehicles we saw from above." Olivia frowned. "Something about this place isn't quite right."
"It's quiet—too quiet." Hernando turned about as they strolled toward what looked like a possible headquarters building. "We didn't imagine the movement we viewed from the air. Why isn't there any on the ground now we've landed?"
They walked on another few yards then Olivia froze in place. Hernando halted beside her. "What is it?" he asked.
"I don't know what it is, but I sense something." She lowered her voice to a whisper. "We're walking into a trap."
The others stopped as well. "The dark mass ahead... What is it?" Caveman asked his science advisor, an Overseer of advanced years named Krax who had managed farms for her Pure Blood masters for many decades.
"It looks like a large swarm of insects, sir. The kind one sees on Earth." She pulled out a text from her satchel and thumbed through the pages. "Here it is. In my study of Earth agricultural parasites, I believe they're called locusts."
Olivia gulped. "Locusts? We need to get out of here."
"Don't be so quick to go," came a deep male voice broadcasting from a hidden speaker. "We've been expecting you. Welcome to the first of many bases we hope to build on BloodDark."
"Who are you?" Caveman demanded. "What gives you the right to build any bases on our world?"
"I'm Colonel Alfred North, representing Earth's United Nations Space Agency. We have every right to protect our own world from the invaders you've lured into our part of the galaxy."
"Invaders?" Olivia blinked. The dark mass ahead grew closer. "You've got it backward, Colonel. The Pure Bloods have been trying to discourage the Kloog from coming to this area of the Milky Way. It's in their best interest not to be discovered."
"The Kloog? Interesting name. Our intelligence operatives didn't give the invaders' name, but they did inform us of how vast their fleet of spacecraft could be and how aggressive they were."
"It is true, they possess vast fleets, but our pact with Earthlings is a private one," Moreau interjected. "In exchange for technology and expertise, we of Clan Alpha promised to repel any and all aggressions by the... ancient enemy... toward Earth as well as BloodDark."
"Yes, it was a kind offer," North replied, "but human beings prefer to do things their way. Your people's track record of taking from Earth for centuries without asking permission first doesn't lend itself to trust, I'm afraid."
The details of the mass became more distinct as it came closer. Olivia gasped. She knew what they were now. They weren't actual insects, or Krax had termed locusts, but biomechanical ones.
"Are these your nanobots?" she asked Moreau.
He nodded. "Yes. They should obey our commands."
Moreau turned to his father, and they discussed the situation before his father pulled a palm-sized device from his travel bag and pointed it toward the swarm. Nothing happened. He stretched out his arm and tried again, shaking his head in disbelief. The swarm continued its march. The small mechanical creatures surrounded what appeared to be a driverless vehicle the size of small school bus featuring a large glass-domed top.
"It appears Colonel North wants us to take a ride in his shiny new transport." Hernando pointed at the oncoming vehicle with his baton. "Do we take him up on his kind offer?"
Olivia gripped the baton in her hand and gave it a nervous twist. "We're at his mercy. I've read my share of science fiction. He's probably got those metal locusts set to strip the skin off our bones."
"Please enter the vehicle when it comes to a complete stop," Colonel North's disembodied voice instructed. "It will take you to my location. Don't worry. It's safe."
The clear bubble top rolled back for them to enter the self-driving vehicle. No one moved.
"It's not the mode of transportation which worries us, but the owner," Caveman shouted over the growing din of the approaching nanobots. "How do we know we'll be safe when we reach wherever it is you are?"
"I give you my word you'll be quite safe once you're in the vehicle and once you're at my location. What I cannot guarantee is you'll be safe if you remain standing where you are."
The meaning in North's words became all too clear. Olivia screamed as a nanobot ran across her feet and then another and another...