Unidentified: A Science-Fiction Thriller by Douglas E. Richards

Author:Douglas E. Richards [Richards, Douglas E.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-11-09T16:00:00+00:00

29

The colonel looked hurt and angry—for good reason. I was still reeling from a brutal betrayal, and I hadn’t worked with Tessa nearly as long as Brad had worked with Nari.

On the other hand, I doubted he was as madly in love with Nari as I was with Tessa.

Still, the colonel could take some solace from the fact that Nari had added him to the guest list for our private meeting, which apparently was about to begin, against the recommendation of the Oracle-like AI.

Well, assuming the AI had really recommended against it. I could no longer assume that anything was true.

“I know I have a lot of work to do to regain your trust,” said Nari to the three human meeting participants, as if he had read my mind. “So I intend to be entirely honest with you in every way. I won’t spare you from any truths, no matter how unpleasant or problematic.”

Brad glared at the alien, still visibly upset, but didn’t respond, so I took the liberty of kicking things off. “So who is this Galactic Federation member calling herself Michelle?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” replied Nari. “All I can tell you is that the entire incident you just experienced is extremely troubling. I already told you that not all factions agree with our collective strategy, but I’m astonished that any would take steps such as these. I find it nearly impossible to believe.”

“And yet it happened,” said Tessa. “So you’d better start rethinking your assumptions.”

I frowned, now suspect of her every utterance. Was she really the love of my life rebuking a strange alien being? Or was she the partner of a strange alien being, and just pretending otherwise?

“And speaking of assumptions,” continued Tessa, “maybe it wasn’t such a great idea not to guard Jason, after all.”

“What happened is horrible,” said Nari. “And every instinct in my being wants to do everything possible to watch and protect both of you. But the AI says this is a mistake, that we need to provide the maximum degrees of freedom to let things play out.”

The alien sighed. “It’s possible this will turn out to be wise,” he continued. “Despite how maddeningly cryptic the AI can be. For example, what were the consequences of letting you go to Australia, unwatched, rather than quarantining you on a guarded island?”

He paused to give us time to think about it. “Well,” he continued, answering his own question, “we learned about a rogue faction within our ranks, one far bolder and more dangerous than we ever expected. And because of what happened, I’m disclosing things to Brad I wouldn’t have disclosed otherwise. It’s possible the AI envisioned some of these things, and this is partly why Jason is so critical in the first place.”

This was certainly something to ponder further, but not now. I had a lot more questions. The ones I was most eager to ask involved Tessa, but these would have to wait. For now, I decided to ask a question about something Michelle had mentioned that I had found particularly inexplicable, and intriguing.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.