And then we slam into the earth with all the force of a truck hitting a rock wall.
WE ALL SIT PERFECTLY STILL FOR A LONG MOMENT, SHOCKED BY THEforce of the impact. I can still feel it reverberating up and down my spine, the pain running through my jaw where my teeth clashed together.
All is quiet, except for a soft pinging noise, as the shuttle cools around us.
Atlanta’s the first one to speak. “Let’s shift. Quick-like, we need to compren where we are and shift to Prime-One.”
And then it’s a flurry of movement. I fumble for my straps, hauling them off over my shoulders, and beside me Mia’s moving with the same urgency. She squeezes between our two seats, yanking the release on the hatch behind us. As soon as there’s room, I rise from my seat too, trying to block Dex and Atlanta’s view of her slender, too-small frame.
But Dexknows. I saw the moment he knew. And so did Mia. Why he hasn’t said anything I don’t know, but there’s no way hissilence can last. In a moment we’ll all be outside the shuttle—in a valley, as best I could tell through the window.
The greens look European to me, remind me of home—we may be off course, but I think we’re still on the continent they intended to land on. And as soon as we’re all standing on that green grass, Dex and Atlanta are going to get a clear look at Mia, and there’ll be no hiding what she is. There’ll be no hiding what I am either, as soon as they try for an extended conversation.
Mia’s out the hatch, and I clamber through after her. We both turn, making our way around the curve of the small shuttle, putting a little distance between us and the others as they climb out, keeping her behind me.
Dex is through next, and he glances in our direction, then back at Atlanta, who’s following him.
She, however, doesn’t spare us a glance. She reaches up to flick the releases on her helmet, yanking it off and tossing it casually back through the hatch. It clatters against the inside of the shuttle as she takes two steps, and folds to her knees, ripping off her gloves so she can press her bare hands to the ground.
“Grass!” Her voice sounds like a prayer.
Dex sounds wry, taking his helmet off more slowly, taking out his hairpins so that his braid can fall back down his neck again. “You seen a plant before, Peaches.”
“Yeh, in alab, or on a grow-ship,” she retorts, reaching up to undo her hair as well now the helmets are unnecessary. “Not the same.”
I glance over my shoulder at Mia, saying a little prayer of my own that when we make eye contact, she’s going to look like a girl with an idea.
Do we try to get away from Dex and Atlanta? Do we try to bring them with us? Given that we just crash-landed in an alien spaceship, it won’t be hard to convince the local police to call in the International Alliance, and then this whole invasion will be their problem. But if wedidhave Atlanta and Dex with us, they’dyield up physical evidence even a small-time country doctor could unravel pretty damn quickly. They might look like us, but the resemblance is only skin-deep. Mehercule, they bleedblue.
Atlanta’s on her feet again, peeling out of her suit to reveal simple clothes beneath, different from the jumpsuits we’ve seen the Undying wear up on the ship. This is a pair of navy blue pants, sturdy brown boots, a lighter blue T-shirt, and a brown jacket. They’re not particularly fashionable, but they could pass for regular clothes most places on the planet. They did mention watching our TV, studying our internet—these outfits must be the fruits of their labors.
“The grav’s what we expected,” she says, giving her arms an experimental swing, as if testing out her ease of movement. “Trained just right.” I can hear her grin in her voice. “It’s gonna give the olders ten kinds of hassle, when it’s time for them to shift here.”
“Tragedy,” Dex says, dry. He’s peeling out of his suit as well, revealing different shades of brown and blue, a shirt buttoned over an undershirt. He turns to shove both suits in through the hatch.
When I meet her eyes, Mia lifts her hand, jerking her thumb over her shoulder, suggesting we put some distance between us and the two aliens. And I know she’s right. We can prove what we need to without Dex and Atlanta, as soon as we get to the authorities. The two of them are bigger than us and stronger than us, and if it comes down to it, I don’t doubt they could outmatch us. If we stick with them, more likely than not we won’t make it to the authorities at all.
“Suits,” Atlanta says, glancing our way.
This is about to go badly wrong. They’re going to get a look at our faces, at our clothes, but if we refuse … and for all we know, they’ll have a way to track us if we keep the suits on. Not to mention there’sdefinitelyno way we could outrun them if we were encumbered by spacesuits.
Slowly, I reach up and release the catches on either side of myhelmet. I lift it off my head, the warmth of the sun kissing my skin. There’s a hint of a breeze, something I haven’t felt in what seems like a lifetime, and just for an instant it’s bliss.
Then I begin to peel out of my suit, and behind me, Mia’s doing the same. She passes hers forward, keeping me between herself and the others, taking another step back around the curve of the little spaceship. Dex takes our gear, turning to lean in through the hatch and settle them on the floor inside the shuttle.
My heart’s thumping madly. It’s time to make our move—to run, to hope they’re not armed. But before I have time to even turn away, Atlanta’s speaking.
“What’s that?” Her voice is sharp.
As one, we all turn in the direction she points. A dirt road curves around the edge of the valley, some distance away, and along it a convoy of all-terrain vehicles is raising a cloud of dust.
“Land-based transports,” Dex says. “Incredibly inefficient.”
It’s not their efficiency that’s worrying Atlanta. “Are they coming thisways?”
A flash of hope leaps inside me, and I lean to one side to see around the Undying better. Could we possibly be that lucky?
But Dex is shaking his head. “It’s only a road. They’re not coming thisways. Nobody saw us. We’re just one more piece of lixo falling from the sky.”
