Shadow Of The Past Trilogy ∞ THE DISPLACED

44 ∞ the new player

Day Eleven ∞ Monday

ONE AFTER ONE, the voices on the main operations floor went silent as heads turned toward the landing where a man had just entered. He stood impassively scanning the floor from behind black-rimmed glasses, impeccably dressed in a gray suit with black shirt and tie, a thick flat case in hand. The ripple of unease was almost palpable as no one knew who he was, but everyone knew what he was, and they turned away, silently returning to their respective tasks.

"Come with me, sir."

The invitation was quiet and respectful. The man turned and followed the Airman downstairs, passing a couple more standing on guard in the echoing corridor. He waited as the Airman knocked once on a door marked Observation Control Room and opened it, then stepped inside.

Major Sterling turned to see who was entering the room.

"Sir," the Airman said, addressing Sterling, and quickly exited the room.

"Everyone's dismissed," said the man flatly, placing his case on a bench. He threw a quick eye at the remaining two lower-ranking officers, one of whom was sitting at the console.

"Yessir," they said in unison and left the room.

Sterling was not pleased, though he'd expected it. This man was known only as Apoc, or Apocalypse—the name his agency was known by. A highly classified covert operative whose expertise was intelligence extraction. He was in charge now and he knew it. 

"Good day, sir. I've been expecting you," Sterling said.

Apocalypse nodded curtly, stepped in front of the console and looked through the glass. "Is that the asset?"

Sterling watched Selina; he almost felt sorry for her. She was not going to like what was in store for her. She was calmly having her after-dinner coffee. The next moment she put down her cup and rested her hands on either side of it, looking straight at Apoc. 

"Yes, sir."

Apoc threw a glance at Sterling before returning to the glass and stared right back at her as if he knew she could see him. "What's the sit-rep?" he said after a while, without taking his eyes off her.

Sterling put the two report folders next to the console and started outlining what had been done and learned so far.

"Just tell me what I need to know, Major."

Sterling swallowed his annoyance at the interruption and finished his report in under a minute, ending with the planned transfer to the air force base. Then he stood silent as the man turned to the folder containing Selina's physical evaluation, taking special care to study each sheet.

"She's not human," Apoc said eventually.

"Never said she was," Sterling responded, watching him turn back to the first page.

"Her vitals are impossibly low—she would be comatose... if she were human. They'll be difficult to measure but not impossible." He looked up to stare at Selina as if waiting for a reaction. She didn't move. "So you took over this operation Saturday morning, and she only started speaking to you yesterday? What took you so long?" He didn't wait for an answer. "And you don't know where the other EBE is hiding yet."

"No, sir. And I am having... an item built to specified dimensions to assist in its next appearance," Sterling said, knowing the meaning would be clear enough without alerting the aliens. "I will check on its status personally as soon as we're through."