Then, a hatch opened in the object's side. A thick blue beam shot down. It hit the female's head first and then covered her entire body down to her boots. She didn't exactly explode; it was more like she melted. Then the beam ceased and the port hatch closed. The female--what remained of her--was a smoking pile on the ground, about the size of a stack of dinner plates.

  'Why isn't someone doing anything?' called someone to my right. 'Why isn't anyone doing anything? They're going to attack us.'

  'Shut up!' yelled someone else. 'You're othering the visitors. It's offensive. Think of our values. Think of the Accord.'

  'I just feel someone should do something. Isn't anyone doing anything? Where are the officers in charge? Who is the responsible?'

  Nothing happened. No Navy jets came rocketing across the sky, firing missiles. No guns blazed from around the base. No armed personnel came running around the corner. Nothing. It seemed the Accord Of Nations Ship Harmony, the largest base on the west coast of AONT USA, had given itself up without a fight.

  'Everyone, stay where you are!' yelled a commander who had walked up the corridor from the TV room. 'You've got your orders. Stay inside and wait. The Accord's got this.'

  'What's she talking about?' some yelled.

  'She?' the voice said. 'It's zee.'

  'Commander, are we going to mount a response to this attack?' I said.

  Zee looked at me with pure hostility. 'What's your name?' zee said, even though my name patch was right there.

  'Lieutenant Burns.'

  'Well, Lieutenant, didn't you hear? We're not under attack, so there's no need to defend the base.'

  Zee walked away.

  My handheld was busy again. This time, it wasn't pinging. It was ringing. I looked at it. No caller ID, which meant it was probably someone calling from inside the base.

  I pressed the green answer button.

  'Lieutenant Burns speaking,' I said.

  'Burns, why haven't you been reading your messages?' It was Commal. He sounded angry, his masculine voice was even deeper than before.

  'There's been a lot going on,' I said.

  'Captain Paine is going nuts. Zee's been trying to reach you for the last half hour.'

  'My apologies to the Captain,' I said. 'I was following the orders to stay inside.'

  'Well, now you've got new orders. You're to report to the Captain's office right now.'

  'Right now? Haven't you just seen what happened?'

  'Yes, Burns. We've all seen what happened, including what happened to the cadet who ran onto the parade ground.'

  I looked back outside at the blue pile beneath the dark object.

  'What does the Captain want?'

  'I don't know. You'll find out when you get here.'

  I looked back at the parade ground. There was no exit from the barracks except ones that lead directly onto it. If I was ordered to Captain Paine's office, I would have to pass the object, drawing its gaze. Is that what they were expecting me to do?

  'Did you hear me, Burns?' said Commal.

  'Yeah, I heard.'

  'Are you moving yet, because I don't hear any footsteps.'

  'I'm coming, Commal. Calm down.'

  'If it's the object you're worried about, just stay away from it.'

  Easier said than done.

  I hung up. I could have argued with Commal. No, I should have argued with Commal. What Captain Paine had ordered was potentially suicidal.

  But strangely and for reasons, I didn't comprehend, I wanted to go. I wanted to pass the object and to run the gauntlet of its lasers.

  'Lieutenant Burns.' It was the commander, back again. 'Go to the TV room and order everyone to their seats. There's going to be a special broadcast about tolerance from HQ.'

  'Sorry, Prasana,' I said, reading the name patch. 'Orders from Captain Paine.'

  'What orders?'

  'To report to the Captain's office immediately.'

  'In Leadership?'

  'Does she have any other office?' I said, then corrected myself. 'Yes, the office in Leadership.'

  Prasana looked outside at the object, hovering over the steaming blue pile that was once a cadet.

  'You're not going out there, are you?'

  I shrugged. 'Well, I can't tunnel my way there.'

  I stepped towards the door. Frank tugged at my sleeve. 'It's crazy. You saw what happened.'

  I said nothing and then I pushed open the heavy glass door, and stepped outside.

  9

  I STEPPED FURTHER into the open. Navy Way and Captain Paine's office lay on the far side of the parade ground. The object hovered in between, motionless and indifferent to the black smoke and twisted wreckage behind it. It stayed that way while I edged along the parade ground's perimeter.

  Ten yards out, I looked back to the barracks entrance and saw the faces of the Frank, the Commander, and the rest. Frank was waving for me to come back. I turned away and kept on going.

  Twenty yards along the wall with eighty or so to go and I was feeling more confident. The black object hadn't moved. It hovered there, dignified and serene, the way some insects appear when their prey is in front of them--waiting for the moment to strike. I kept my eyes on it and walked steadily on.

  Forty yards to go. Should I run? I could have made it to the buildings on the ground's eastern edge in seconds if I did. Forty sprinted steps and I could be there out of sight, out of danger.

  Twenty yards now. Almost there. No need to run. Just keep things steady. The black object hovered in the sun, strangely outlined against the blue sky, like the objects in the combat simulator's world, hyper real, ten percent different to reality, reflecting no light.

  Tens yards to go and all was well. The object wasn't interested in me. It would stay where it was while I got to Navy Way and to Captain Paine.

  And then, without knowing why, I took a step away from the perimeter and onto the parade ground's open space. I just turned right and walked out there. I took five steps. Nothing. Ten steps. Still nothing. So I kept on walking until I was thirty steps away from the perimeter, exposed and in full view of the object.

  This isn't like me, I thought. I'm not this reckless, not this foolish. And yet, there I was out in the open, challenging the object's dominance of the territory. Risking the same fate as the female cadet.

  Then, my handheld sounded.

  I froze. It had only been one ping, and yet the effect was as if a large bell had tolled and was now echoing around the parade ground.

  I looked at the black object, prepared to run if it moved. But it stayed motionless in the air. Then again, maybe it had moved after all. Its shadow had been over the pile of blue sludge. Now the shadow was in front of it.

  The object had moved closer to me.

  I reached down to my pocket, cursing myself for not switching off the handheld before I left the barracks. On the screen was a message from my mother, asking me to call her. I switched the handheld to silent and slid it back into my side pocket.

  Then, I looked across at Navy Way, and then behind me at the barracks.

  Is it better to go on, I wondered, or to go back?

  But the object was already moving.

  The shadow was now at least twenty yards from the pile of blue sludge. Without me realizing, the object had drifted away, like a boat on the tide.

  But each time, I looked at it, the object appeared to be at a standstill.

  Seconds passed as I debated what to do. Walk or run? Forward to Captain Paine's building or back to the perimeter and the barracks?

  I chose to walk the shortest route, directly across to Captain Paine's building. I took the first few steps, moving confidently, as if nothing was wrong. I'm just another Earth creature keeping out of the way, like the others back there in the barracks.

  Then, I heard the blast.

  I ducked instinctively, hands over my head, chin into my chest. I stayed that way for twenty-seconds. Then I looked up. The object was still there, black and malevolent, but the barracks were destroyed. They'd been turned into rubble and dust, bricks and roofing falling around it onto the parade ground.

  I could hardly believe it. There had been hundreds of personnel in there, including Frank and the other commander.

  I looked back at the object, expecting it to be rubbing its wings in satisfaction, but it was as impassive as ever, as if it the blast had been fired from somewhere else.

  Time for me to get out of there.

  This time, I didn't run or creep. I strode back towards the barracks. There might still be people alive in the rubble.

  I hadn't moved more than ten paces when I felt the shadow pass over me and grow larger.

  The object was not only moving, it was descending, and it was going to block my way. Silently, it lowered itself in front of me, dropping down until it was six feet above the ground and we were virtually nose to nose, like a scuba diver meeting a killer whale. I stopped and stared straight into the black hull.

  Fear told me to bolt, to turn and run for my life. Maybe, I'd escape before it fired its beams. Maybe, I could zig zag and escape the first blast. But I didn't move. I stood my ground. If this was the end, I was not going to die running away with a shot in the back.

  Instead, I looked closer at the object's hull. It was looming and silent, and strangely cold. I could feel a chill radiating from it.

  A disturbing thought insinuated itself in my mind. If I reached out, I could touch this bizarre object. It was just three feet away and I could touch it.

  I raised my right arm and held up my hand and reached forward across the gap. The hull glistened as my hand moved closer. Now it was darkly translucent. I could almost see shapes behind it, rounded shapes, mechanical shapes, moving shapes, like organs squirming beneath skin.

  Then, I saw something loom up into the translucence.

  It can't be possible, I thought. It can't be.

  No sooner had I thought this when the object was gone, rising silently upward at an impossible velocity, up into the flawless blue sky until it became a dot and then nothing.

  10

  WITHIN SECONDS OF the object's disappearance I heard the fire and rescue units screaming towards the barracks and the docks. In my pocket, my handheld vibrated over and over. I took it out. No caller ID.

  'I'm almost there, Commal,' I said.

  'You better be. Captain Paine's been on the intercom every two minutes.'

  'You heard the blast, right?'

  'We're monitoring everything, Burns. The rescue units should be there already.'

  'They are, but they're going to need help. Tell Captain Paine to wait. I'll get back when things calm down.'

  'Negative, Burns. Your priority is Captain Paine. There are plenty of personnel on the way already. Your only orders are to get here right now.'

  'What's the urgency, Commal? Thirty minutes ago, Captain Paine didn't want anything to do with me. Now she can't do without me. Surely she can wait. There are people inside the barracks.'

  'Just get here, Burns.' And he hung up.

  I left the parade ground and hurried along Navy Way to the Leadership building. The guards at the building entrance were gone, the crest of the rainbow and the dove was askew. Inside, the lobby was empty. The reception desk was un-personed. The elevators didn't respond when I pressed the buttons.

  So I took the stairs instead.

  As I climbed, I couldn't help but wonder what Captain Paine wanted. I guessed it was something to do with the arrival of the object, though I couldn't say what exactly. Otherwise, it might have been a harassment claim lodged by the female cadet outside Navy Spirit.

  But there was one other possibility, a very small one. Maybe Captain Paine had changed her mind and was ordering me on a mission.

  When I got to the Commal's desk, he was sitting there wearing a helmet.

  'T.E.D., Commal,' I said.

  'Finally!' he replied, his voice still deep.

  'It wasn't easy to get here,' I said. 'I had a close encounter with the object back there.'

  But Commal wasn't listening. 'Straighten your uniform, Burns,' Commal said. 'Some very senior people are here. And straighten your hair. You know how yellow hair makes Captain Odilli angry.'

  'Are you listening?' I said I was out there when the object attacked, just after the blast at the barracks. I saw something inside it.'

  'It wasn't an attack, Burns,' Commal snapped. 'You're othering the visitors, and that's totally against Accord values. We don't know the visitors' culture, so we're not in a position to judge them. As a transgender woman who is transitioning back to being a man, I know all about being other-ed, and it sucks.'

  'Is Captain Paine ordering some kind of response?'

  'Save your war plans for the combat simulator, Burns. The Captain is waiting. No, not in there. She's waiting in the Affinity Room.'

  'The what room?'

  Commal came out from behind his desk and began walking down the corridor. 'This way,' he said.

  'What's the Affinity Room?' I said following behind.

  'It's a conference room used for special situations.'

  'Special situations like an attack on the base by aliens?'

  'You're othering them again, Burns. Luckily for you, we're old friends, or I'd report you.'

  'Well, how do you describe what just happened out there? Three ships sunk, a barracks destroyed, who knows how many personnel killed, maybe more attacks in other parts of the Accord. That doesn't sound like a friendly visit.'

  'Keep your voice down,' said Commal, pushing the elevator buttons.

  'The elevators are out,' I said.

  'Not this one,' said Commal. 'Separate power supply.'

  We stepped inside. Commal scanned a card over a sensor. The door closed and the elevator descended.

  'Why does Captain Paine want to see me?' I said. 'There are more important things to do.'

  'Such as?'

  'Such as everything I've said so far. Then there's liaising with the Army, and the Air Force...'

  'Calm down, Burns. You'll have to wait and see what the Captain wants.'

  'Don't you know?'

  'I only know that I've got about two hundred AWOLs to track down and that Captain Paine and Navy Spirit won't let me be who I really am. That's as much as I can deal with at the moment. You'll soon find out what zee and per want any minute now Burns.'

  We reached ground level but the elevator kept on descending.

  'But why me? Why now?'

  'Who knows?' Commal said. 'Maybe they're going to give you a mission after all. Someone has to get what they want.'

  Commal's change of tone from hostile to complaining was interesting. The crisis had brought out a different side to him.

  The elevator halted far below ground level. The doors opened. Cool, stale air rushed in. A dark corridor painted Navy blue stretched away from us and ended at a large set of double doors. Two MAs stood before them, wearing sidearms.

  One of the MAs took out a scanner and ran it over both Commal and me.

  'What's going on?' I asked.

  'No questions, Lieutenant.'

  Then, the MA stood back and opened the door.

  I took a step inside, but then turned back to Commal.

  'What about you?'

  'Not me,' said Commal. 'You're on your own.'

  11

  INSIDE, WAS A conference room. There was a large horseshoe shaped table with a bank of TV screens at one end. No windows. The walls were bare and concrete, except for a large painting of the Accord Commissioners wearing unisex smocks, and on the opposite wall, a plaque displaying the list of Accord values.

  The TV screens showed footage of AON military bases. All of them seemed to have been attacked. There were burning buildings, aircraft hangers in ruins, and ships sunk at their moorings. And not just in AONT USA either. There were bases on fire from AONT Delhi to AONT Moscow. The attack had been global.

  Three people were at the table. On one side was Captain Paine. Zer face was strained, her lips looked thinner than usual. On the other was Captain Odilli, per arms crossed, a frown on per large face. The third person had their back to me, but I knew who it was from the short dark hair and the thick Admiral's epaulettes resting on thin shoulders. Without doubt, it was Admiral Zhou.

  This, I thought, is an actual war room, or crisis room, despite being called the Affinity Room. This was a room where decisions were made about the deployment of defenses, of ships, aircraft, sailors, soldiers. It was the kind of room I'd only heard about as being used in the very first days of the Accord when real wars had been fought against the pre-Accord powers.

  And now I had been ordered down here to help. Probably they needed my opinion of the aliens. I had just seen one after all. Or maybe, they had me in mind for some special task. I tried to keep my enthusiasm hidden, but I couldn't help but think all my extra courses, all my waiting might now pay off.

  'Tolerance, equality, diversity,' I said, saluting.

  'At ease, Burns,' said Captain Paine.

  I put my feet apart and my hands behind my back, and stood at the end of the table.

  Captain Paine said, 'This is Lieutenant Burns, Admiral.'

  The thin shoulders turned. The Admiral rotated on the seat until she faced me. Her hostile, dark eyes looked me up and down, from my face, to my belt, to my boots, then back to my hair, frowning all the way, as if she'd never seen a male before. Maybe, like everyone else, she saw my likeness to the movie actor who played the pre-Accord bad guys. It was not a good first impression.

  'Not diverse enough,' said the Admiral. 'Not diverse enough. What can they be thinking?'

  'They were very specific,' said Captain Paine. 'They named Lieutenant Alexander Burns.'

  'Then, they have lost their minds,' said the Admiral. 'We have policies to prevent this sort of thing from happening.'

  Here, Captain Odilli spoke. 'Exactly, Admiral. And just look at his appearance. What's the matter with you Burns? Is that any way to appear before senior officers?'

  'Per?'

  'Your uniform and hair--they're a disgrace.'

 

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