There was a beat of silence, and then Betsy casually looked up from her phone, as if surprised the man was still in the room. “Mr. Pilsner, as my friend would say in her other job, you’re dismissed. I have requested,” she tilted her head in his direction, “a new point of contact from your boss. I made sure he understood that anyone assigned to this position has a basic working knowledge of respect. If I ever bring this person in front of the aliens and they act like you,” she barked out a laugh, then shook her head, “you wouldn’t survive the meeting.”
“What?” He blustered. “You can’t fire me. You don’t have that kind of authority.”
“Oh, but that’s what you don’t understand, Benedict. I do. I have the ultimate authority here. I am also older than anyone in this building. I outrank everyone here. You should’ve read the file.” With a snort, Betsy went back to her phone.
Benedict snapped his eyes to Viera. I wonder if his friends call him Benny. His name is so uptight. Then again, so is he. “Are you older than dirt as well, Ms. Kor?”
It took a lot of effort not to roll her eyes at him. “I understand basic respect and proper questions, Mr. Pilsner. I’m not sure how you were assigned this position; it is one of honor and prestige. The fact that you would squander it baffles me. I would say it was nice meeting you, but we both know that’s a lie. I do hope you mature and grow from this.”
As she finished her words, the door opened, and an even younger man walked in. If Benedict was in his thirties, the other man was at most thirty. He had dark auburn hair that matched the freckles that ran across his cheeks and nose. His sparkling blue eyes took in the room before he walked up to Betsy. “Ms. Doeth, my name is Juk Hopkins. You can call me Juk or Mr. Hopkins, whichever you prefer. I know you’ve called my last three predecessors, barring Benedict, by their first names, so I’d be happy if you called me Juk. I’ve read all your files and am thrilled to be called in to meet you.”
Betsy twined her fingers together in front of her face and gazed at the man. “Why did you read the files if I was working with this lout?”
“I was assigned as back-up for the times he wasn’t available. We were both given the files and told to learn what we could.” He stood so tense, Viera’s muscles ached in sympathy.
“Three predecessors?” Benedict bellowed. “For fuck’s sake, Juk, what are you talking about? These women are as young as us. Are you daft?”
Juk slowly turned to his colleague. “Right. You’re needed upstairs.”
“Are you going to answer my question?”
He shook his head. “As in, they requested your presence now. If you want to keep your job, you should run.”
The color drained from Benedict’s face as he quickly gathered his stuff and scurried from the room.
Betsy sipped the glass of water they’d each been offered when they’d arrived. “Okay, Juk, sit. And relax before you have an aneurysm, or some other medical mishap.”
Juk chuckled and sat, placing a file, a pad of paper, and a few pens and pencils on the table. “Okay, what were you discussing?”
Betsy sighed and looked at Viera.
Viera shrugged. “There is an alien species called the krottel. They’re a bug-like creature that wants Earth for themselves. Though the Elders, a group of aliens with clout, told them to back down, we found a krottel on an island off the Gulf Coast.”
Juk put down his pen and rubbed the back of his neck. “Okay, so you found a single bug. But did you find more? A hive?”
Betsy’s hands fisted but she spoke calmly. “No, but the bugs can speak telepathically. We’re sure that bug was a scout and the rest plan to invade.”
Juk went back to taking notes. “The rest? All of the krottel, or like, a single ship? What sort of scale are we talking about? And when?”
Betsy spoke slowly. “All of them. If not now, then soon. If you’ve read my recent reports, you know that they need a planet and think that Earth will be their salvation. They want to evacuate all of us and take over the planet. If we won’t leave, they’ll take more extreme measures. They aren’t above extermination. They’re ignoring the Elders and seeing this planet as their species’ one hope of survival. To the krottel, it’s them or us, life or death, and Earth is the prize.”
Juk froze for a moment, then bobbed his head. “Did the bug tell you this? Do you have a way to communicate with a single entity?”
Viera’s jaw tightened. Though Juk was more respectful, they weren’t going to get any further with him than Benedict. They were just going to fail more pleasantly.
“I’m using the facts from what happened to Ms. Kor on Torville Station Number Six and what I know of the krottel. We need to be prepared.”
He slowly put down the pen. “It’s not that I don’t believe you. I do, but for now, with just one bug found, and it now completely contained, I don’t know that we have the resources to do more than what we’ve been doing: monitor the skies for enemy ships. With the chanzii ship orbiting and aware of what’s going on as well, I feel we’re well protected.”
“More needs to happen,” Betsy insisted. “It’s going to be an invasion. More than that, the chanzii ship will be gone next week. The paperwork has already been submitted, so you should know what’s going on.”
“That’s right—taking the octopus girl and her parents to the space station.” Juk nodded. “Will the two of you be going, too?”
Viera smiled, excited for the upcoming trip. “I will. The last day of school is coming up, so I’ll be free to travel.” She shot her friend a quick look. “And traveling out of Wisconsin, my home state, is always exciting.”
Betsy smiled. Until spring break, Betsy had always teased that she never traveled more than a dozen miles from home. Now she was in Washington, D.C. for this meeting, and next week she was off for a trip in space.
Many things had changed in only a few months.
“Well, great. Thank you for being so diligent in your work, Ms. Doeth, but I really feel for now this threat … well, isn’t. It was only one bug. We will make sure to double our space monitoring protocols, but beyond that, I’ll be sleeping just fine tonight.”
Betsy gave him a tight, almost patronizing smile. “Well, Juk, that makes one of us.” She stood up, and Viera followed.
Today had been Viera’s first real insight into what a Pillar did on Earth. It was ‘Take Your Newbie Pillar to Work Day.’ She’d come to be introduced to some of the government officials and begin to learn her way around. Though she hadn’t said much, she’d learned a lot from what she’d seen and heard.
Juk stood and held out his hand. “It’s been a real pleasure. Ever since they gave me the files last month, the idea of meeting you has been a dream. This is just amazing.”
One of Betsy’s eyebrows slowly rose. “I wish I could say the same.”
Chapter 2 - School’s Out for …
Viera
“Ms. Kor, Ms. Kor, when will the bell ring? Ms. Kor!” Scout waved his hand in the air, dancing in his seat.
With a sigh, Viera rubbed her eyes. This day couldn’t end fast enough. She raised an eyebrow at the boy. Of all the students in the classroom, he should know better. Very pointedly she drew her gaze from him to the clock on the wall, a digital clock that didn’t take any work to read. The glowing red digits read two forty-three. Class would get out at a quarter past three.
“You tell me, excited boy: how long do we have?”
