Ally or Alien: A Sci-Fi Novel (30 page)

He shielded his eyes and walked toward the lawn area that tried to compete with a football field in terms of size. A stoney path slid right through and connected with a colonial-style mansion. Two lawn mower bots cut the grass on each side. The second Bellrock entered the path, the door on the front porch opened and a big man with a Beethoven pullover stomped out. He grinned and exposed his massive teeth, stretched his buffed-up arms and shouted across the distance of the front yard.

"Hallelujah, he hath arrived."

Bellrock couldn't suppress his smile—it broke out of his face. 

It was good seeing the old bastard again...

74

Taurus McCloud.

AKA, the American Commonwealth's Secretary of Space Defense.

The two war veterans hugged each other like stone crushers. 

"I see the docs patched you up pretty good."

"Wasn't much to patch up. I arrived in one piece."

Taurus exposed his giant teeth again, probably big enough to munch a sabertooth tiger's skull. Next to him, even muscle-mountain Bellrock looked like a gamma male, but he didn't mind. It was good seeing an old face again. A fellow man that walked the bloody talk, instead of pretending, like most of the politicians of NASA's 'welcome' event. 

Taurus stepped back and inspected Bellrock from boot to head. 

"Let's check out my backyard. I got a couple of chill beers waiting for us."

"Sounds good."

Really did. 

After all these mainstream events, it was refreshing to keep a low profile and hang with likeminded ones. He rounded the corner and followed his mentor to the private side.

"Something wrong?"

"Always," Taurus said with a sharp smile. 

They entered the holy sanctum. An emerald-green field full of apple trees, laser-cut grass, and two dark wooden recliners geared toward the sunny side.

A little garden wonderland. 

Taurus pointed to one recliner in the earthly-colors.

"Sit down, son."

They both hunkered down next to each other and enjoyed the fresh air. Taurus ordered a drone to get them two Coers Light from the nearby mobile freezer. Thirty seconds later, two frosty bottles landed in their hands. Pearling cool drops on Bellrock's right hand.

It's the little things that mattered in his life.

"Cheers," Taurus said and clank his Coers to Bellrock's.

He knew the game—everything jumpstarted with the chitchat before the real talk began.

"So how was the reentry into Earth's atmosphere?"

"Forgettable. I tuned out everything till the second I touched Texan ground."

Taurus simply nodded.

"Amen."

They both took a sip.

Bellrock said,

"Why didn't you come to the media event when I arrived?”

"I should say I was too busy, but the truth is—I hate those public spectacles. Full of pretentious little maggots pretending to care about our Commonwealth. None of them, including the politicians, have ever been in space. I'm too old for that kind of hypocrisy."

"Well, you didn't miss anything. Except for Vixxen's three breasts."

"Vixxen?"

"Ah, some kind of porn model. Forget it. The only good thing from the event was the movie deal I snatched up. Looks like I can finally repay you for my medical debt.”

"That's good, Belly. I'm happy for you."

Taurus said it, but his mind seemed absent. Glued to some invisible spot on the hedges. He took another sip from his bottle and moved closer to Bellrock which meant the real talk was starting.

Taurus' eyes glowed with intensity, his gravitas seemed to double. 

"Now give it to me straight, Belly. All those media snippets where you play Rambo are propaganda material from the Newtards, aren't they?"

Of course Taurus knew about that. 

A man of his caliber was too experienced to fall for the censored footage.

"Well, I really did shoot the biomorph when it invaded the Newtype's facility, but I had no idea the action was being recorded and sent it all the way to Earth. It wasn't part of our deal."

"That's because they're always scheming something. Always did, always will be."

Taurus' attention rose to 100%. His eyes pierced Bellrock, making him feel like being part of an investigation.

"Now tell me, since you've seen their ringstation and surface structures—how  do you rank their level of armament?"

That was the single question burning on his tongue. 

Newtype danger—ally or alien?

"They have some sorts of armament," Bellrock said and regretted his flabby word choice.

A smile edged into Taurus' face.

"Be more specific."

"Well, down on the Martian surface, they had old armories, apparently remnants from the Separatist War. Beam weapons, smart grenades and guns, personal shields and stuff like that. They said they had never used them since the early days, but the weapons were in mint-condition. I used them to fight off the incoming droids in the corridors."

"I knew it."

Bellrock felt the urge to mitigate his mentor's excitement.

"Maybe they did use them for personal protection. Throughout the conflict, the Newtype were pretty hesitant about using military force. They seemed more willing to sacrifice their facilities and than to use weapons."

Taurus grunted.

"Smoke and mirrors, nothing else. They wanted to keep up their narrative in front of you. According to the treaty, they should have eliminated their armories. All of them."

Taurus moved even closer.

"How did they fight the biomorph, apart from letting you use their smart assault rifles?"

That was the moment.

Probably the sole reason why Taurus had invited him here. 

Bellrock chose his next words with care.

"Nothing much, to be honest. They had a couple of hovercycles and gliders to escape from the creature and then put a quarantine on their stations to keep the biomorph trapped inside."

Taurus licked his lips. 

"That's it? They didn't use any other kind of weapon? No droids or long-range stationaries like in the Separatist War?" 

Bellrock shrugged.

"Not that I know of, apart from their recon units. They also own a pretty useful shield technology, which eventually kept the biomorph at bay."

Taurus nodded but his face oozed with worry.

"Why didn't you write that in the report you sent us?"

"But I did, I..."

Bellrock paused himself when he realized what had happened. He wrote the report with the utmost accuracy, using the data from Rao's finding. Everything he had listed was the truth. Except his version of the report never reached the AC.

"There was no mentioning of it, whatsoever?"

"None."

Damn. 

Did the Newtype change his report to lie about the incident before he agreed on buying into their version? But that would mean they deceived him and Rao right from the get-go. They certainly had the tech to crack his data encryption, but why would they do that? 

After all their attempts to help him. 

After all their sacrifices to make sure he came out alive.

Too much to ponder now.

Bellrock finished his beer. It hurt lying to his mentor, leaving out all the high-level weapons he had seen. But with the arrival of the alien, the peace with the Newtype was more fragile than ever. Besides, they genuinely helped him investigate the biomorph and saved his and Rao's life, many times over. Everyone, including that eVax, seemed to want peace with the humans, and Bellrock didn't want to endanger it. The Newtype showed no sign of using their weapons against Earth, so why mention it? 

eVax was right about one thing—gray lies could keep millions of folks alive, or couldn't they?

The citizens of the Commonwealth had seen enough deaths in the last decades and dealt with economic uncertainties now. No need to burden them with another interplanetary conflict. Besides, the AC military probably had tons of WMDs stashed as well, hidden from the public eye.

So hypocrisy reigned on both sides.

At least that was the justification that cooled Bellrock's nerve strings.

He looked up his mentor and said,

"So, what are you going to do now?"

"Don't know. I think I'm going to watch the footage again, talk to some folks at NASA and learn more about the biomorph encounter. You know, to prepare for the future, in case another alien knocks on our galaxy with the intention to wipe us out."

"Sounds good."

Pause. 

"And you?" Taurus said with a flat tone. 

The energy left the conversation. What started as a bro-versation morphed into a melancholic shrug fest. Was Taurus seeing through his shtick?

Bellrock focused on the sky and watched a group of birds trailing through the clouds.

"I think I'm gonna head home. I've rented a nearby apartment for the night."

"Do that. And give me a call if you stay longer—we can meet up for lunch. There are some amazing new restaurants in the area."

"Sounds good."

Bellrock saluted his old friend goodbye and headed back to the front yard.

"Talk to you soon."

"Likewise."

Before Bellrock rounded the corner, he noticed Taurus looking back at him. Sending him an ambiguous glance, or maybe it was just his imagination. Taurus stood up and asked one last question across the distance.

"Do you really think the Newtype killed the biomorph?"

Bellrock halted.

"I'm positive."

And with that, he left Taurus' estate with mixed feelings. He had lied to the person he trusted the most, maybe even lied to millions of people who still believed Bellrock had single-handedly killed the biomorph.

But he was burned out. 

Needed to recharge.

Get a fresh take on things. 

Unfortunately, he didn't feel better back ‘home’… 

75

Half-asleep, Bellrock flattened on his couch in his temporary Falls Church apartment. 

He stared at the empty wall and sighed.

Another chill beer cooled in his fingers, this time a Budweiser 'Patriot'.

Bellrock took a few sips and tried to relax the tornado storm of thoughts in his head, but it was hard, damn hard. 

Fact was, he should have been happy. 

He had, at least partially, helped secure the world's peace, was celebrated like a hero and snatched major book and movie deals that blessed him with financial stability.

In short, his bank account smiled back at him with a healthy seven figure sum.

But despite the heroics and the financial success, there was a void inside of Bellrock that couldn't be filled with material gain or beer. 

Something was missing. 

Something that made him whole again.

Instead, a new void kept on eating inside, like a super-massive black hole. Back on Mars, he had felt a rare emotion that he thought he'd never experience in his entire life. 

That mysterious essence that captured humanity since dawn.

Bellrock thought he was immune from it, being the tough veteran soldier and all, but no, it affected him like billions of other humans before his time.

Soldiers and civilians alike.

Oh, Bellrock.

He sank into his couch and put down the bottle on the nighttime stand. Closed his eyes and watched the blackness of his lids as his mind drifted away. Before the beer’s buzz sent him into slumber for good, a last thought lingered on his mind. Glowing like a distance star, shining through the darkness. In his mind, he walked closer to the flickering source and saw how the shine devoured his vision. No, it was more than rays of light. 

It was pure eLoomination.

The Ally or Alien story may continue…

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