Apolonia

  "The specimen is dangerous, Dr. Zorba. It's the last piece of a long-dead planet, Chorion. The planet had suffered civil unrest for years before wars, planet-wide devastation, and finally, what we had always thought was a plague led to its demise. The planet had been quarantined for decades. All of Chorion's inhabitants are extinct.

  "The remnant, your specimen, is something I've been tracking for a very long time. It contains inactive parasites, and given the right environment, those parasites could spawn. Earth was the perfect place for the remnant of Chorion. Fortunately, the mixture of nitrogen and oxygen in Earth's atmosphere keep them inert, so there was no danger of the parasites reactivating. I tracked the specimen here with the intent to bring it back with me so that we could properly...dispose of it, just as we did the rest of the planet."

  I sighed. "We don't have time for this."

  "Hush, Rory!" Dr. Z said, frowning and waving me away. "So, you're saying you...you destroyed an entire planet?"

  "We had no choice. It was overrun."

  "I thought you said the inhabitants were extinct," I said. "How does a parasite exist without a host?"

  "By returning to an inactive state. An organic presence along with the right environment reanimates the parasite. Once this happens, planet-wide infestation can happen within seventy-two hours. My planet, Yun, is a little more than twice the size of Earth. Chorion was roughly the same size and population as ours. They were overrun in two and a half days."

  "Yoon?" I asked, trying to form my mouth around the word.

  "Yes, Yun. Its meaning is similar to sunshine."

  "Boring. Not even any Kryptonite in this story," I said, my chin resting on my palm.

  Cy began to pace. "The head of what you might consider the science department of our government picked up a signal from a neighboring world, Chorion. As I said, that planet had long been considered derelict. We were very excited to pick up on that signal. However, all scans revealed our previous belief was correct, and the planet was indeed barren. Curious about where the signal was coming from and how it was tapping into our frequencies, our Amun-Gereb, Hamech, sent out an exploratory vessel. It never came back. What Dr. Brahmberger picked up on his equipment was not the signal from Chorion, but the SOS beacon from that vessel."

  "What is a hammock?" I asked.

  "Hum-OCK," he pronounced precisely with a slight accent. "He is our Amun-Gereb. He is a...like your President, but he leads our entire planet. He is king."

  "Amun-Gereb," Dr. Z said. "As in the supreme Egyptian god."

  "That's where Egyptians first heard the word, yes, from our exploratory teams, as they did Osiris, my namesake."

  "Oh," I said, nodding.

  "The ancient astronauts were real. The paleocontact hypothesis is correct! Please, Cyrus, go on," Dr. Z said, engrossed.

  "Contained within the beacon's frequency was an image. Similar to what you call a video here. A crew member, but she was on a different vessel. She was very distraught and injured but was able to report that Chorion was not barren. There was life, but it was not indigenous to the planet or any planet that we had charted within our galaxy. She said the original signal we'd picked up was from an alien spacecraft, the one they had located and boarded. We'd homed in on its beacon. The craft had appeared to be overrun by something else. The crew member said that she'd been infected by the same hostile organism--a parasite--and then she began to convulse. The image stream ended before we could see her full transformation, but by her screams, I assumed it was extremely painful."

  Cy closed his eyes for a moment. I knew he could still hear her screaming. No matter how many years passed or how hard you tried, some things never faded away.

  "I've been studying humans since Heracleion was discovered."

  "The underwater city discovered in 2000 near the Nile Delta?" asked Dr. Z.

  "It was an area of interest for our people around Earth's three to four BC. Heracleion was a place our people visited often. There were many statues erected in my ancestors' honor and many scripts detailing our assistance to the Egyptian culture. Part of my function is to make sure our civilization is protected, and the discovery of Heracleion was alarming to our council. Your oceans are vast and largely unexplored, and so for centuries, we weren't concerned about the relics detailing our visits here, but once Heracleion was discovered, I decided to design a mission to extract any concrete evidence of our existence to prevent any unwanted contact."

  "Such a shame," Dr. Z said. "Contact and an alliance could lead to so many wonderful things!"

  "You have to admit, historically, humans don't make the best neighbors," Cy said. "It would become, What do you have? And then, What do you have that I can take? And then, the fighting starts."

  I rolled my eyes. It'd be fascinating maybe, if it weren't a huge steaming pile of bullshit.

  Cy continued, "Once I realized the beacon had been redirected to Earth, it was decided that I would leave immediately. We realized you were being baited, as we had been. You see, we managed to reverse the feed and bring in broken images from the exploration vessel, and we saw that the entire crew was moving in and out of the ship. It was the crew that had redirected the beacon. The parasites were aware that we had been warned and that we wouldn't be sending more ships to them. They had no way of bringing in more hosts."

  "So, the signal we localized," Dr. Z said quietly, "was sent to Earth by the crew."

  "Correct. It was our crew who sent the signal to Earth. But it wasn't really our crew. They were...altered."

  "Altered how?" I asked, realizing I was on the edge of my seat. His story might be bullshit, but it was entertaining.

  "They appeared...mutilated. Their faces were mutated, and their eyes..." Cy seemed to be lost in thought. His face screwed into disgust and horror. He shook it away. "We can't let Tennison keep the specimen, Dr. Zorba. If he manufactures a sustainable alien atmosphere, and the parasites are reanimated, none of us will last long."

  "Tell us what to do," Dr. Z said.

  "Hold on. I have questions."

  "Rory," Dr. Z warned, "this could lead me to Brahmberger. He is still alive, and they have him. They're going to use him to reanimate the parasites. He's the only one who could do this."

  "No, I let him tell his story. I let you listen. Now, I have questions."

  Cy frowned. "I know you don't believe any of it. I expected that. But we can't stay here. They'll be knocking on the front door any minute."

  "Then, we'll go out the back. Why didn't you take the rock the first night you were alone in the lab?"

  Cy lowered his chin. "I was going to, but then I worried about how much data Dr. Zorba had collected on his own. He was only giving it to us in pieces. A little bit of knowledge is dangerous. What if he eventually learned the origin of the parasites or even the specimen, and NASA sent an exploratory vessel there? What if the parasites, via their new human hosts, directed the vessel back and infected Earth's populace? And what about the next planet? And the next? When would it stop?"

  "We wouldn't send humans that far into space. We have robots for that," I deadpanned.

  "We do, too, but had conflicting information. Curiosity is a dangerous thing."

  "Why would the parasites redirect the beacon here?"

  "It's a flourishing host."

  "If the Earth isn't a suitable environment, how will the parasites live outside the environment Tennison creates?"

  "Once they are properly embedded in a host, they use that host's acclimation to survive. The parasites, once they control their hosts, will control Tennison's lab, and you can be sure that more labs with those same conditions will be recreated all over the world to make the transition more efficient."

  "Okay. Very compelling. I'll give you that. You get an A for creativity. Why do you keep looking at your broken watch?"

  Cy hesitated. "I am scheduled to leave. If I am not at the rally point at the predetermined time, I fear..." His eyes lost focus as he retreated into his mind.

&nbsp
; "You fear what?"

  Cy stepped out of the darkness into the only trace of streetlight coming into the room. "Apolonia."

  I wasn't sure if Apolonia was the parasite or something worse. Cyrus's stories were outlandish, but he hadn't cracked a smile. More disturbing, Dr. Z clearly believed every word.

  "What is Apolonia?" I asked.

  "Who," Cy said. "Apolonia is a who, and if I'm not at the abandoned gas station by the Old River Bridge, I'm afraid she'll...she's...emotional."

  "She?"

  "Yes. She'll assume the worst. She'll come looking for me, and that is never a good thing."

  "Why?"

  "If I don't reach the bridge, you'll see." Lights from a passing car lit up the living room, and Cy went to the window to carefully peek outside.

  Dr. Z stood up from the couch and brushed off his polyester pants. "Then, we'd better get you there."

  "What about the rock? I thought you were going to take it with you."

  "It's important that I make contact with my people. Apolonia and her crew can help me retrieve the specimen from Tennison. I don't want to risk involving you and Dr. Zorba any further."

  "You've already involved us. You really think if we sit this one out, they'll let us go?"

  Cy thought for a moment. "You're right. We should stay together."

  I sat up a bit taller, satisfied that Cy had agreed with me for once. Dr. Z seemed to be pleased with that decision, too.

  "What do you mean, her crew? When you say crew, I envision pirates."

  Dr. Z sighed. "We must go now, Rory. You can be a smart-aleck at Cyrus's destination."

  "Before I go running around in the dark in winter, I want more answers."

  Cy shifted, clearly impatient. "We can't stay any longer, Rory."

  "Just answer this, and then I just have one more question, and then we can go."

  Cy nodded, impatient. "Crew might not be the right word. They're more like a retrieval team. Apolonia is the daughter of Hamech. She's a highly decorated soldier and leads the Jhagat, Yun's army. She is the captain of her father's best warship, the Nayara."

  I swallowed. "And she'll be emotional if you don't show up because...Apolonia is your betrothed, isn't she?"

  Cy's eyes turned soft. He looked apologetic, but I wasn't sure why.

  "Yes."

  Fuck. He really was going to leave. If even half of what Cy said about this woman was true, how could Earth compete with a Xena the Warrior Princess?

  "I'm sorry," Cy said.

  "Why?" Dr. Z said, taking a step toward Cy. "Why is Cyrus sorry, Rory?" His eyes shifted from Cy to me and back again. His cheeks flushed with anger, and his lips formed a hard line. "Was he dishonest about being involved? You haven't...uh..."

  "What? No!" Cy said, clearly shocked at the accusation.

  "No," I said, closing my eyes. Dr. Z was the closest thing I had to a father. His even having to ask was embarrassing enough.

  "Good," Dr. Z said, taking another step toward Cy. "Or else you would have to worry about more than just Tennison. Let's get you home."

  WE FLED OUT THE BACK DOOR, conscious of four vehicles coming down Dr. Z's street and following each other closely. The Old River Bridge was on the outskirts of town and at least a half hour drive. Traveling on foot and hiding in the shadows meant it would take us half the night.

  I looked at my watch. "What time are you supposed to meet her?"

  "By sunrise," Cy said. "Without my sola, I can't be sure."

  "Do you have a car?" Dr. Z asked.

  Cy shook his head. "I only went to your class and the lab. It wasn't practical."

  "Uh...Dr. Z? I forgot to tell you. It's about Silver."

  Dr. Z's expression compressed. "What about Silver?"

  "Can we discuss this later?" Cy asked, clearly irritated.

  Dr. Z frowned at me. "We'll talk about it later."

  He walked off from me, and Cy raised an eyebrow.

  We continued to the Old River Bridge, sticking to the shadows and avoiding the streetlights and any open shops. A helicopter could still be heard in the distance, and I wondered if any of the local news channels had noticed and reported on it yet.

  Headlights hovered over the asphalt a mile away, and I dived behind some bushes. Cy gently pushed down Dr. Z's head and helped him to kneel beside me. My socks were marinating in cold rainwater, and my skin felt soggy and raw. Only the knees of my jeans were wet, but the puddle of rainwater was traveling up the backs of the denim, and soon, my pant legs would be completely saturated. Aliens, Xena, fringe departments of the CIA I could handle, but nothing was worse than wet clothes.

  "Oh, shit," I said, stopping in my tracks.

  Cy walked back to me. "What is it?"

  "Benji wanted me to meet him outside at seven. What if they took him? What if he's at the warehouse?"

  Cy sighed and kept walking. "They didn't take him."

  "But what if they did?" I said, chasing after him. "What if they have him, and they're hurting him?"

  Cy turned. "How can you be so naive, Rory? He's with them. You heard Ellie."

  "She was lying. She does that."

  "Why won't you see him for what he is?"

  "How did he make Majestic, Cy? Did they recruit him in middle school?"

  Cy shook his head. "I'll let him tell you."

  "He's not Majestic. I know Benji. He wouldn't hurt me. He wouldn't hurt anybody."

  Cy didn't answer, and I began to wonder if I was trying to convince him or myself.

  Mud, cold temperature, and brush began to wear on all of us. We'd only been walking for twenty minutes when the professor began to slow his pace. Cy and I tried encouraging him, but the longer we walked, the more he struggled.

  "I just...can we rest? Just for a moment," the professor said.

  "Just for a moment," Cy said.

  Dr. Z leaned against a tree and then slid down to the ground. His breathing was labored.

  "Are you all right?" I asked, touching his shoulder.

  He chortled. "Not as young as I thought I was." He looked up at Cy. "How old are you?"

  Cy smiled. "We have a longer life span. In your years, it would be equivalent to my early twenties."

  "What is it in your years?" I asked.

  "Our cycle is different. But if I calculated my age in twelve-month cycles, I will turn seventy-five this year."

  Dr. Z and I both looked at each other, and Dr. Z smiled. "Well then, I'm not the oldest here."

  I made a face. "It's not funny anymore, Cy. What's really going on?"

  Cy didn't flinch. "I can understand the skepticism, but you know me. It's all true."

  I frowned. "Break's over. Let's go."

  We continued through a slice of wooded area next to the highway, hiding when cars passed. It was more grueling than walking along the asphalt, but it was better than getting caught.

  "What will happen when we reach the bridge? If she's there?" I asked. My voice sounded small.

  Cy didn't answer right away. He cleared his throat. "I'll go with her."

  "Will you even say good-bye?"

  We walked in silence for a few minutes. It occurred to me to prod him for an answer, but I just couldn't. It seemed trivial with everything else going on. But when Cy stopped, turned, and pulled me into his arms, I was glad I had given him the time he needed. I was melting in his arms while he held me exactly the way he had at the bottom of the steps the day I didn't know I needed him--the first day he walked me to class. Back then, that embrace was letting me know that he was there. Now, it was an apology that he couldn't always be.

  "Good-bye," he said quietly. His voice was quiet and sad.

  "Even though your story is the craziest load of crap I've ever heard, I'm out here, walking around in the dark, through the mud, with you. I came for you, Cy. We're all probably going to prison. You're just going to get in that ship...and what? Wave and say, 'Thanks for risking your lives for me.'"

  "You don't even believe in that ship."
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  "I believe in you."

  "This is not easy for me, if that's what you think."

  "Then...let's make it easy." I shrugged, forcing a hopeful smile. "I just don't want to miss anyone else. I know what it's like. It's too hard."

  Cy stared into my eyes, every regret and sorrow scrolling across his face. "I will miss you, Rory. I will miss you most of all."

  I nodded and then let my arms fall to my thighs. "Okay then."

  "If you want to turn around and go home, I would understand," Cy said.

  "I don't need you to love me to love you," I said, remembering Benji's words and, for the first time, understanding what they meant. There were so many different kinds of love. I didn't have to love him romantically. I could love him enough to see him home, wherever that was. "You're still my friend. I care about what happens to you, and I'm still going to see this through to the very end."

  Before Cy could respond, a familiar engine growled, and I spotted headlights down the road.

  A broad smile spanned across my face. "It's Benji!" I said, running toward the road. Relief rushed over me. They hadn't taken him. He was okay.

  In the next second, Cy wrapped his arms around mine and lifted me off my feet.

  "What are you doing?" I asked, struggling.

  "You might trust him, Rory, but I don't."

  "But--"

  "Shh!" Dr. Z said, ducking behind a bush as Cy pulled me down and covered my mouth.

  The Mustang passed slowly. Cy and the professor ducked when they realized Benji had a flashlight and was shining it into the woods.

  "Rory!" Benji called in a loud whisper from his orange Mustang.

  "He has a car," I said through Cy's hands. "At this rate, we won't make it by Christmas, much less the morning."

  Cy shook his head.

  I begged Cy with my eyes. "He's worried about me. Please let me let him know I'm okay."

  "Rory!" Benji called again. The Mustang passed us, continuing down the road.

  Cy let me go, and I sat on the ground, devastated and angry. I wanted to run after Benji, to ask for his help. My gut said that he could be trusted and that he would do anything he could to help.

  A tear fell down my cheek, and I wiped it away.

  "You should forget him," Cy said. "He'll only hurt you."

  "Why are you so threatened by him?" I asked, shaking. "You don't know everything, Cy. You said it yourself. No one knows everything. And I'm telling you, whatever you think you know, you're wrong about him."