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Shifting from hover to ground mode, my RTC set down outside the walled city of Città. Gates slid open, and the craft rolled inside, giving me my first glimpse of an urban settlement. Tall block-style buildings with little adornment or architectural interest appeared whitewashed from sandblasting. Enclosed sky bridges resembling hamster tubes connected the buildings so pedestrians could avoid venturing outside if they didn’t want to.
Apparently they didn’t want to. Not a single soul walked the streets. Città could have been mistaken for a ghost town, except for the sweeper bots scuttling around. At least an inch of white coated the streets despite the bots’ best efforts and the barricade afforded by the seven-story wall surrounding the city. Right away, I could see the annoyance.
Does the alien consider us a nuisance?
We’re more than an irritation. We’re a threat. Does the sand sense that?
A sweeper bot swerved around my RTC, scooping up the tiny aliens to be expelled into the dunes. What if aliens landed on Earth, drove machinery through our major cities, and scooped up the nuisance humans?
That’s not the same!
I couldn’t afford empathy for the alien. Nothing could be allowed to prevent MORE from building its resort. Not the alien, not Sew Solutions, not Geo-Tech. My life depended on the development.
My RTC made a couple of turns and then announced I’d arrived at my destination—Città City Park. Devoid of grass, trees, or any vegetation, the park resembled a giant sandbox, more apt to attract stray cats than humans. Only a few picnic tables under a pergola, a scattering of park benches, and a children’s jungle gym hinted it might be a public recreation area.
A single individual occupied a bench at the far end of the park.
The RTC set down in a hovercraft lot—or maybe a public walkway. With so much sand, it was hard to tell. Aboard the ship, protective gear had been distributed to passengers, and we’d been cautioned to wear it whenever we went outside. I donned my filter mask and goggles, slid out of the vehicle, and scooped up a handful of sand. At first touch, the individual grains seemed sharp and faceted, but I soon changed my mind. It wasn’t faceted at all—but more like talc, smooth and powdery.
Or was it both? Had it changed as I held it?
My contact waited, and she had limited time, so I dusted off my hands and entered the park, humming as I strolled along. Little puffs of sand stirred by a negligible breeze swirled alongside me.
When I reached the bench, the woman continued to stare straight ahead.
I took a seat at the opposite end. “Sajave is sandy this time of year.”
“Sajave is always sandy,” she replied and finally glanced at me.
We’d decided on a code to identify ourselves. Since I’d never met my contact face-to-face, I’d had no idea what she looked like. I still didn’t. A filter mask and goggles covered her entire face. A few strands of purple hair stuck out from under a tan cap.
“It’s nice to meet you,” I said. Thankfully I’d had the foresight to cultivate a few loyal straight shooters I could depend on for inside information. I had ready access to company CEOs, but corporate suits tended to be tight-lipped, and they weren’t the ones living and working on Sajave.
“Likewise.” A lilt in her voice suggested she might have smiled, but I couldn’t tell. “How was your flight?” she asked.
“Uneventful.” Except for Bane’s unexpected arrival, but I’d caught a lucky break when the captain had detained him before disembarkation.
“Good. That hasn’t been the case here. A lot has been happening. It turns out the sand”—she gestured at the white ground—“is an alien intelligence. Since the discovery, security has become crazy tight, and everyone on the project is closely watched. Messages are monitored.”
Sounded a lot like the White House. I really missed my private-sector job. My old safe life.
“I was trying to figure out how to get a message to you without it being flagged when you showed up. Very serendipitous!”
“A spur-of-the-moment decision,” I said.
She glanced left and right, as if checking to see that we were still alone. “This seemed like a safe place to meet because nobody ever comes to the park.”
I could see why. Sand covered everything. It boggled the mind, mine anyway, that all the granular white stuff was alien life. Intelligent life.
My contact leaned close and whispered, “Geo-Tech called in C-Force.”
“You’re kidding!”
She shook her head. “Those close to the project have cyborg bodyguards. Quint Stroud is on site, too.”
“Quint Stroud?” The name didn’t ring a bell.
“The C-Force commander. The head honcho himself.”
My dread increased. “Why? What is Geo-Tech afraid of?”
“Didn’t you give Geo-Tech one month to control the sand, or you’d hire another company?”
Yes, I’d issued the company an ultimatum. Shit rolled downhill. Anxious to break ground on the resort, MORE had pressured the president to find a solution to the inconvenience of encroachment. She had put the monkey on my back, and I’d handed it off to the president of Geo-Tech, who’d passed it to Breeze O’Day. “So, they’re afraid of losing the contract. That doesn’t explain why they’d bring in C-Force.”
“Breeze and Dr. Chambers aren’t afraid of losing the contract, they fear government retaliation. They’re worried when they go public about the alien’s sentience, the government will suppress the information, retaliate against them, and proceed with colonization.”
That was exactly what would happen.
The sand glistened in the sun like freshly fallen snow. I leaned over and gently scooped up another handful.
“The two of them have become very protective of the alien,” my Geo-Tech contact said.
No wonder the company hadn’t devised a solution—the people tasked with solving the problem didn’t want to. I let the powder-soft grains trickle through my fingers.
“That’s why the solution so obvious to me has not crossed their minds,” she said.
“And what’s the solution?” I listened, all ears.
“Kill it.”
I flinched.
“People enjoy the beauty of the dunes, but they hate the dust storms and dislike the nuisance. I mean—take this park. Nobody comes here because to go outside, you have to wear all this stuff.” She flicked a hand at her protective gear. “Over time, particulates in the air will damage lungs, and, if a dust devil kicks up, you could be blinded. So, everyone remains inside. If the alien was killed, the sand would still be here, but it would be more like dirt. And, when it was bulldozed out of the way, it would stay put. You could clear it. Move it. Do whatever you wanted.”
The matter-of-fact suggestion to simply annihilate a life-form shocked me. If the planet had been covered in lichen or overrun with rodents, I’d still oppose the wholesale destruction of an entire species. And if the sand was intelligent? I swallowed the bitter taste in my mouth. “If Ms. O’Day and Dr. Chambers are correct, what you’re talking about amounts to...genocide,” I whispered.
She laughed. “The alien can’t hear you—well, maybe it can, but it can’t understand what we’re saying.”
But what if it understood tone?
“Look at it. Alive or dead, it’s sand.”
Was it hypocritical to condemn her when that had been my first reaction, too? It’s just sand. Yet, I recoiled at her cold, matter-of-fact suggestion.
But I filed away the info that not everyone at Geo-Tech had joined the Save the Sand campaign. Perhaps others were working in opposition. I had one more question, but I was almost afraid to ask. “How do you think the sand could be...eradicated?”
She shrugged. “There’s so much of it. I only recently learned it’s alive, so I haven’t given it a lot of thought. I’ve heard the toxic waste isn’t doing it much good. But I don’t recommend covering Sajave in hazardous metals and chemicals.”
“Tell me more about that.” The toxic waste was my most urgent problem. “Where is the dump located?”
She flicked a wrist. “Somewhere out in the dunes. My understanding is Dr. Chambers was conducting experiments in the dunes when she stumbled on the site. She and Breeze claim the toxic waste is poisoning the alien.”
I took a breath. “How many people are aware of the dump?”
“So far? Just a select few at Geo-Tech—and SEW Solutions, of course. But they’re not talking. Nobody at Geo-Tech is talking about it, either. Toxic waste is not cantina conversation.”
So maybe I could squelch the news. Negotiate with Ms. O’Day to keep quiet in exchange for a quick cleanup. I could light a fire under SEW Solutions by threatening them with exposure.
But if MORE or environmental do-gooders heard about the dump...
I pulled off my goggles and massaged my tired eyes. I hadn’t slept well last night. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d had a worry-free night’s sleep. “Is there anything else I should know?”
“I think I’ve covered all the latest.”
I commended myself for speaking with her before meeting with Ms. O’Day and Dr. Chambers. Forewarned is forearmed. “If you hear anything else about the sand, no matter how insignificant it seems, please let me know.”
“I’ll do my best, but it’s not easy getting messages out.”
“I’m here, so we can meet in person. I imagine our paths will cross at Geo-Tech.”
“As long as we’re not seen together.”
“That goes without saying.” I hadn’t cultivated her as a secret contact to blow it now. When we encountered each other, we would not acknowledge we’d ever met.
“How long do you intend to stay?” she asked.
As long as it took to clean up the mess. “I’m not sure. For a while anyway.” I looked at her. “I appreciate you coming out to meet with me.” You would really kill an alien life-form? I was still reeling. On the other hand, since she had no sentimental or moral qualms about the sand, I could count on her for the unvarnished truth.
I checked the time on my handheld. I had a few minutes to spare. “Do you want to leave first so we aren’t seen arriving at Geo-Tech together?” I asked, recalling she was on her lunch break.
“Good idea, but you go first. I brought a sandwich for lunch.”
“Okay. Thank you again!” I’d eaten a lot of meals at my desk and on the run. Had skipped a lot of meals. But I appreciated her meeting with me on such short notice.
The sand obscured my earlier footprints, and I’d almost swear the low dunes had shifted into new patterns. Goggles still off, I raised my face to the sky. Not even a hint of a breeze. Did that mean the alien moved under its own efforts?
Of course it does. Locomotion created the problem. Moving sand invaded the cities and crept into areas where it wasn’t wanted.
Upon reaching my hovercraft, I glanced at the bench. My contact had vanished. I realized I hadn’t seen another RTC. Had she walked from the office? How had she disappeared so fast?
I got into my vehicle and set coordinates for Geo-Tech.
