Fel Intro Chapter from my book Dispersion Divide

I'm working hard on the Demo to get it out ASAP, in the meantime here is something to keep you busy!

-4- The Sekarri

“Thomas McCallum?” she asked in clear English, her head cocked to the side quizzically.

Her features were a blend of vulpine and feline attributes, but not like a cute house cat. Her face boasted a strong jawline and high cheekbones.  There were subtle freckles on her face that grew into larger spots as they tracked down the side of her neck resembling that of a leopard.

Whilst more human in looks, many features still felt reminiscent of a big cat. That might have been due to her long hair, which was like a cross between the untamed mane of a lion and some long but low-key interwoven dreadlocks kept in place by coloured beads.

Her physique was strikingly beautiful, but strong and imposing, she moved towards me with a predatory grace all so true to the form reported by the famous Major John Hayes in his first encounter back in Afghanistan.

“Yes, that’s me ma’am,” I replied, “Err.”

“Ma’am” is fine, she replied with an ever so subtle twitch of her mouth, was that a smirk?

“Come with me,” she said, turning her back and heading towards the door at the rear of the room.

She wore an advanced military uniform that not only accentuated her powerful build, but also seemed to adapt to her as she moved; it was fascinating to observe, the fabric didn’t just stretch and move, it shimmered and shifted with an otherworldly quality; I nearly froze mesmerized by both the technology and her fine posterior.

As if reading my mind she snapped her head round with tremendous speed, causing me to nearly shit my pants, “I need to log your biometrics, before passing you on to Maivren.”

 The idea that a small group of Sekarri, like this woman here, stopped an alien onslaught and saved Earth no longer seemed like an urban legend. She was every bit as magnificent as Hayes described. I doubt a fully kitted special forces squad could stop her.

I snapped out of my revery.

“Er, yes ma’am,” it was clear she could snap me in two like a twig, but despite her ferocious appearance there was an air of professionalism from her that suggested she was military, so I will stick with “Ma’am” for now.

We made it over to a kind of waiting area with things that looked like seats and spartan furniture. “Spit into this,” she handed over what looked like a black slate.

Feeling awkward, I took the slate from her. “The material will incorporate your saliva and create a digital footprint of you, for logging purposes only,” she said nonchalantly.

Spitting onto a slab as she towered over me certainly did my ego no favours, I felt like I was ten again and mummy was making me do a Covid test.

 I decided it was time to try and make conversation, “Do you mind if I ask your name?”

She pointed to the nametag, in English, on her combat fatigues, tapping it a few times.

“Uh, how do you pronounce that?” I asked, trying not to feel like a complete idiot.

“Felynna Quorialis,” she said slowly aloud, as if giving me the time to commit it to memory.

“Can I call you ‘Fel’?” I asked, nervously.

She nodded as she took the tablet from me and began tapping it in various positions.

“Do you talk to humans much?” I asked, trying to break the awkward silence with which she seemed so comfortable.

“Not really,” she attached the tablet to her thigh. Then it melted inwards merging into her clothing, “I’m a military officer and field tactician, they mostly keep me here or on the ground training our new arrivals.”

“So, do you get to go on ground much?” I asked.

She shook her head slightly in the negative.

Up to this point, Fel was mostly straight-faced, save for a few flickers of emotion, but the tensing of muscles around her neck and eyes told me she probably wasn't happy with her arrangement.

 I could just imagine what it was like being stuck in a tin can, with nothing to do and unable to socialise away from home. At least I got to make frequent return trips home, see friends, and go places; Fel was literally stranded on an alien planet.

Thinking for a moment, I decided to go for broke and try something spontaneous, “Here,” I said as I rummaged through my pockets and engineering pouches.

I pulled out some American chewing gum, a chocolate bar, some random coins, and a harmonica that I was learning to play. “Why don’t you hang on to these?” I suggested.

Fel stared at me, cocking her head to the one side, then to the other, I couldn’t tell if she was confused or maybe scanning them with her genetically modified vision.

She suddenly exposed her teeth, two large fangs protruding from under her top lip, she hissed gently. I was about to apologise before she cocked her head the other way, her expression normalising before transforming to something else.

Pupils enlarged and jaw hanging slightly, she seemed to be thinking intensely. A moment later she pulled a clip of some kind of metal button from her shoulder, then took out a necklace she had which appeared from nowhere, maybe it was camouflaged under her stealth shirt.

 Finally, she tore off some of her hair, specifically a dreadlock that hung from her mane on the back of her neck. She didn’t even wince, the hair had some colourful beads binding it together.

 We exchanged our personal things and stood in silence before walking again. I remembered about that soldiers from different nationalities would often exchange personal effects when they met on neutral ground, something to tell the grandkids I suppose. Is that what prompted my gesture?

 I didn’t want to do my usual jibber jabber small talk, it was clear Fel was a woman of few words, and I didn’t want to ruin the moment. Though, I could swear there was a tiny hint of a smile somewhere.

Fel directed me into a small office, almost identical to Major Davis’s. That’s when I was confronted with the second Sekarri of the day.

Head of Operational Discourse Maivren Vexari stood up from his desk as I entered. The contrast with Fel was immense, Maivren wasn’t as tall as Fel, and wasn’t as toned or muscular, in fact he was a wiry slender frame of a man.

"Nice to finally meet you, Thomas." He extended his thin and frail hand. His hand quivered ever so slightly as he held it out, giving the impression of early onset Parkinson's—if these aliens even had such a thing.

I grabbed his hand gently, “Thank you for inviting me, sir.”

He swiftly pulled me inwards and down towards the seat in front of his desk, I balked at the thought he was clearly still more powerful and fit than myself.

Maivren's grin widened as he caught my widened eyes and raised eyebrows. “Post birth mods and genetic augmentations,” he said nonchalantly, walking around gracefully to his chair, “I’d be in the ground without it.”

Wow! After five years of hearsay and speculation, Maivren confirmed it all without even batting an eyelid.

"Five years have gone by so fast, don't you think?" Maivren asked, pulling a drawer back from his desk and removing a small, flat, pen-like device that he began to twirl back and forth through his fingers.

“I … we,” he corrected himself, “Had been meaning to reach out to you earlier. Do you know why you are here?” he asked, as if he deliberately chose for me to pick an interpretation.

I chose to go with the easier one, “You mean on the station? I wanted to do my part in helping the Sekarri clear out the enemy.”

“Indeed,” he pursed his lips then steepled his hands together, his crooked, aged claws bent out at all angles. Some were beginning to curl back on themselves.

“What do you know about our enemy? And what do you know about us. I’m curious to know how your colleagues and media portray us,” he leaned back, waiting for my response.

What a weird question, if he wanted to know he could just grab a tac phone, I decided to humour him anyway.

“Um, you mean Kryllix right? They are mechanical lifeforms that feed on resources, such as metals and radioactives to replicate which is why they came to earth.”

Maivren's eyes flickered with disappointment before he let out a resigned sigh, “No, not even close.”

He extended his paw, hand or whatever in a ‘look here’ kind of gesture, “We’ve tried to discourage human media outlets from simplistic narratives but there is a limit even to our abilities.”

His fox-like ears twitched in a left-right-left gesture before holographic image projections appeared in the space between us.

He nudged a specific video clip forward, and it expanded into focus. “The Kryllix are more like a decentralised network of hive ships. The various …” he paused to find the right word, “Creatures we have encountered are chess pieces to perform a certain function. Resource consumption and replication is only one of them.”

I nodded my head, making ‘hmmm’ like noises as if it all made sense. I didn’t really see the distinction myself—they go places, eat stuff, replicate, and move on. It was basic stuff.

As if sensing my thoughts, Maivren clarified some more, “They can choose not to replicate you know?”

Reading the change in my expression he grinned, “In fact, as far as we can tell, replication is low on their priority list.”

Uh oh, I didn’t like the sound of that.

“Can I ask …”

“Racial purity,” pre-empting my question he cut me off halfway.

Shocked, my eyes expanded almost as large as his, this got a full-on belly laugh from him, the sounds of kackles and hisses was unnerving to say the least.

Raising his hand, I could swear I nearly saw tears in his eyes.

“Sorry, sorry” he said, “That was rude of me, but it is the essential fundamental truth of things.”

“Because we aren’t metal, we aren’t worthy?” I asked, still disturbed.

“No,” his demeanour flipped into a frown, “Nothing in life is that simplistic, they are far more nuanced than that. The Kryllix actually refers to a union of species, some electro-mechanical, others biological some are even energy based.”

“That doesn’t sound too bad,” I considered.

“But it’s the ideology,” he waggled his paw at me, “That contains the lethality. They are all striving to merge into something, to form a singular kind of consciousness.”

New images came into view. They depicted swaths of neutral green and allied blue planets slowly turning red. One by one they were absorbed into the Kryllix dominion which expanded in all directions.

I squinted, looking closer at the hologram.

“You see it,” he smiled, “Not all are absorbed into their dominion. They can make treaties, land lease agreements even alliances.”

He gestured openly to the space around us, “Of course, some of us have resisted. They aren’t a plague as much as they are an ideological infestation, like the Nazis.”

I didn’t know whether to be impressed or scared that he knew so much about Earth history to use the term so nonchalantly.

He paused, as if to soak up my reactions before continuing, “If you aren’t worthy of joining and they can’t destroy you. Then they will make non-aggression pacts with neighbours and build up new fronts on your flank; what follows isn’t pretty.”

My jaw sagged at his explanation; this was so much more detail than anything on the safe net.

“They are smart, social and political, very political,” he pointed an extended claw towards me then himself, “But we are small fish, not worth the airtime.

That explains why the first objects to visit Earth didn’t even bother to respond.

Maivren held both his hands together in kind of gesture I didn’t understand, “We need to stick together; not just because we have a common enemy, but I believe we might even be kin; though distant at that.”

Ignoring my look of bewilderment, Maivren shuffled his chair in closer to his desk, “So ... what do you and your friends think of us? I won’t be offended whatever you say ... or don’t say.”

This was a test, it had to be, I looked around the cramped simplistic office, as if looking for a clue on how to respond.

Maivren just sat there, staring at me, the slits of his pupils expanding ever so slightly, his ferret-like smile said it all.

Fine, I will go with the harsh truth, “Well, we wouldn’t be here without you ...”

“I wouldn’t go that far,” he interrupted, I couldn’t tell if all Sekarri were obnoxious, or if butting in was a pastime like pouncing on a mouse for them. He continued, “You might have cleared their beachhead with some nuclear fallout.”

I shrugged my shoulders, “A big price, and it wouldn’t stop them from building up on Mars.”

He nodded his head, ferrety smile still planted on his lips.

I took that as a sign to continue, “When you came through those tunnels on Earth.”

“The dispersion mounds,” he corrected me.

“Err, yes, the dispersion nodes. I think we were surprised by your appearance on Earth. It was a first contact moment for us. We were very grateful at you fighting off the Kryllix.”

Maivren smile morphed into a toothy grin, “But,” he said.

“But” I replied, this time taking the bait, “But many are put off by some of the Sekarri demands, they think you have your own motives.”

Maivren remained patient, head bobbing back and forth, waiting for me to continue.

 “The fact you have so much technology, but are only sharing drips and drabs with us, also have people suspicious,” I said.

Sighing, I decided to be frank, “And I think the fact you look so much like us, makes many of us uncomfortable.”

As quick as a cat, Maivren snapped his fingers in front of my face, “That’s it!” he exalted, causing me to recoil.

“We are often most suspicious of those closest to us,” Maivren said as if quoting some kind of scripture, “Did you know that paranoia and distrust were partly responsible for homo-sapiens driving out the Neanderthals?”

Taking a page from his playbook, “I don’t think it was that simplistic,” I retorted.

Maivren looked pleased, “Indeed, ok. Let’s move on to the reason YOU are here in a second, but first, tell your friends everything we talked about, ok? The first step to allowing the coexistence between homo-sapiens and,” Maivren paused to think up a word, “Homo-vulpians. Is building trust.”

Honestly, that’s a totally fair statement, I couldn’t’ fault him there so I nodded my head in agreement and promised to do so.

“Do you remember when the Kryllix attacked? You were in a stadium at the time, right?” Maivren asked with a poker face.

That sent a shot of regret into me, my jaw quivered as I replied from the heart “Yes, I sent a signal that caused the death of thousands and the Kryllix to attack.”

My head sunk, in a mixture of despair and regret, five years down the line and state funded counselling wasn’t enough to stop the fits and bouts of self-loathing.

Maivren stretched over, grabbing the bottom of my chin, forcing me to look him in the eye, “Yes you did,” he said.

I deserved this, my people let me off, after hours of interrogation, but sooner or later I had to pay the piper, and maybe now karma had finally come knocking.

“Your network packet loss program made them think we were already here,” Maivren kept a firm grip of me, I didn’t struggle, I wanted to hear the truth. “When advanced races spy on industrialised races like your own, they pluck electrons and photons from communications lines. This causes packet loss.”

 I scrunched up my face up and winced my eyes closed in deep regret, Maivren was confirming what I had feared.

“The reason they attacked was because they thought we were already here, aiding you and goading them.”

Maivren’s ferret smile was back, “They panicked and overreacted, they landed their reconnaissance platform in the attempt to clear us out before we could build up defences.”

Maivren finally let go of my chin, he slowly reclined back into his seat, looking satisfied, “But Thomas,” he said softly, “If you hadn’t have done that, they would surely have wiped all of us out; because indeed we hadn’t had a foothold, barely 100 people had made it through the first dispersion tunnel.”

I narrowed my eyes in disbelief; this was all new to me.

“Thomas, you saved Earth, and long term, quite possibly the Sekarri,” his grin widened as he noted my reaction.

“They normally sit back and attack races like yours from orbit,” he extended his claw in my direction, “But you made them panic, land, and unpack. That gave us the opening we needed.”

“So, Thomas, you see that’s why you aren’t still in a cell being interrogated. WE asked for you to be released,” his claw gestured to himself, “I asked for you to be here on this station and we asked for you to be recognised.”

He huffed a bit like a dog that had swallowed something foul, “But homo-sapiens being homo-sapiens didn’t want to reveal all the truth, so we settled at getting you a job here.”

Shocked, I didn’t know what to say, I needed time to process this, actually I wanted to call my councillor to tell her all about it; wait, “so the reason you brought me here is to tell me the truth?” I asked suspiciously.

“Kind of, we are breaking trust with humans in this one rare instance to tell you the truth because we feel there is work to be done to build trust,” he replied, passing me the flat pen device, he had been playing with all this time.

“As you know, the big day is tomorrow, we are going to launch our counterattack. Before that is a big speech of unity.”

Maivren gestured to a holographic battle map showing departure trajectories.

“You are on log monitoring duties tomorrow,” Maivren pointed to the pen. “That will get you access to the control centre’s quantum mainframe. I’d like you to keep an eye on the data flows and program behaviours, and let me know if anything looks to have been modified in transit.”

Maivren nodded his head, “And yes, there will be plenty of gossip from the human attendees, VIPs and the like reacting to our ambassador’s speech. How much you want to tell me is up to you.”

I mimicked his head nodding gesture, “So… you want me to rat out the doomers and monitor logs, which I’m sure your futuristic software could do in a heartbeat.”

Maivren continued the nod in unison with me, oblivious to sarcasm. “Exactly. How much you do or choose not to do is up to you. Trust is a two-way street you know.”

Maivren’s left ear twitched, causing the door behind me to open. I took the hint and stood to leave.

“Oh, Thomas,” Maivren’s blue eyes smirked at me. “We know you are spoofing power outages in your spare time. If you want a deeper look at our technology, just ask. Your talents are hugely underutilised.”

He swiped his hand in the air, causing my tac to beep and glow. New contact added, Maivren Vexari, HOD displayed on the screen.

I left the meeting head spinning, much of what he told me made sense, but I couldn’t help thinking there was a rosy spin to things. You don’t gain spies without dangling carrots, and carrots always came with strings attached.


FIN:

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