Invaded (Alienated, #2)(52)

Syrine knelt at the foot of Aelyx’s bed and squinted at the object. “What is that?”

Aelyx caught her eye and used Silent Speech to explain. Cara said they’ve been falling from the sky—three that she’s seen so far. It’s sending her messages in a variety of unknown languages, over and over like it’s feeding from a central—

“Uh, hello,” Cara interrupted. “Out loud, please.”

Syrine ignored her, holding Aelyx’s gaze as her jaw dropped. Does The Way know?

Aelyx nodded. “But they’ve been hiding the orbs from the population, claiming they’re meteorites.”

“Then it’s probably not one of ours,” Syrine said aloud. “If it were, the Voyagers would claim it.”

Cara growled in frustration and caught the orb inside her blanket, where it wrestled for freedom. “Okay, what is this thing? It’s starting to piss me off.”

“It’s a probe.” Aelyx pulled in a deep breath and let it out in a whoosh. “I’m almost certain of it. And like Syrine said, I don’t think it’s one of ours.”

“A probe?” Cara asked. “As in I’ma disrobe you, then I’ma probe you?”

Aelyx didn’t understand the reference, but he imagined she was thinking of a medical tool. “No. A device used to gather data. Our Voyagers have used them in the past to explore unsafe environments, but those were elemental collection devices. Nothing as elaborate as this.” Nothing that spoke. He’d give anything to understand what it was trying to say.

“So who sent it?” Cara asked.

That was the million-credit question.

“Are you sure there’s no way it’s yours?” Cara grew flushed with anger. She finally gave up fighting the blanketed orb and simply sat on it. “Maybe the Voyagers sent them out, and now they’re coming home. That would explain why they’re falling all over the place.”

Aelyx shared a knowing look with Syrine. “Maybe,” he said, though he had little doubt the object was foreign.

Cara must have heard a noise from outside the Aegis, because she slid off the orb and darted to her window. “The guard’s here,” she said. “That didn’t take long.”

Blinded by its blanket, the sphere knocked against the top bunk a few times before drifting about the room like a clumsy ghost.

Cara chased it down and tucked it football-style beneath one arm. “They can have it.” Narrowing her eyes, she spoke to the orb. “You’re a pain in my ass.”

Syrine suggested, “Take it outside to the guard without letting the clones see it.”

“I agree,” Aelyx said. “If the clones catch you with something like this in your room, it’ll fuel more rumors.”

“That’s the last thing I need.” Cara secured the blanket tightly around her bundle and said good-bye, then disconnected, leaving Aelyx and Syrine staring at each other in concern.

What worried him most was that The Way had hidden the probes’ existence. That implied a threat, or at least the fear of one. Aelyx had studied the Voyager logs to learn of other beings, but he’d never heard of a society advanced enough to create an interactive probe. Clearly these aliens existed—the glittering orb was proof.

So were the senders friends or foes?


Cara made sure no part of the probe was visible when she stepped into the hall, but even though the passing clones couldn’t see the object, its bleeping and blabbering drew a few curious gazes. To muffle the noise, she loudly hummed the first tune that popped into her head—“Jingle Bells,” which drew twice the curious gazes and a few open sneers from Dahla and her friends.

After jingling all the way through the lobby, Cara rushed outside and scanned the capital guards, hoping to spot the one in charge. She didn’t identify him, but she did find Satan locking eyes with the headmaster.

Satan was a nice guy, in his own sadistic way. If she had to confess to smuggling an alien-made spyball into the Aegis, he was the person to talk to.

“Psst,” she called from the front stoop. When he glanced in her direction, she skipped down the steps and waved him over to the only private spot available, the corner formed between the steps and the side of the building.

While Satan strode to meet her, Cara summoned her best innocent face: wide eyes, head tipped downward, pouty lower lip. She’d have to deliver an Oscar-worthy “stupid human” performance in order to pull this off. Fortunately for her, most L’eihrs already thought she was dumber than a bag of hammers.

“I’m glad you’re here,” she whispered to him. “I need your help.”

“What is matter, Sweeeeeney?”

“I was walking in the woods a little while ago, and I heard a crash. When I went to check it out, I found this.” She pulled back enough blanket to reveal a flash of brass and twinkling lights. At once, Satan’s chrome eyes widened. “I thought it was pretty,” she continued, “so I brought it back to my room, but now it’s flying around and crashing into walls. I’m afraid it’s going to break something.” She made an extra-pitiful face. “Can you take it for me?”

“Others in Aegis, they see this?” He licked his lips nervously and tucked the blanket back in place.

“No. I’m the only one.”