Page 3 of Alien's Eternal Mate
“What you call illogic I call the pure light of reason, General. If you want me to thrive, put me with human scientists.”
“So you can poison their mind against the Alliance, and aliens in general? Not a chance.”
“Then why am I here? Are you going to keep me on your station forever, as some sort of pet?”
Dowron picked up a pad and scanned his gaze over it, then set it back down. He faced me and folded his hands together.
“Doctor Reed, I have been advised by people who know a lot more about this sort of thing than I do that you are irredeemable. You are an anti-alien zealot, and there is little chance of you changing that mindset.”
“But you think I can be rehabilitated.”
It wasn’t a question, though I was incredulous.
“In a word, yes. I believe that you can still make valuable contributions to galactic society. I’ve got an assignment for you.”
“Assignment? Am I being paid?”
Dowron chuckled.
“Yes. You’ll be paid weekly…very weakly. Less than a lab assistant, in fact, but the Alliance laws don’t permit me to force someone to labor without compensation.”
“So, I can expect to be paid when you ship me off to some godforsaken edge of Frontier space, am I right?”
Gowron shook his ridged head.
“No. You’re going back to Earth…well, Luna to be precise.”
“The moon?”
Now it was my turn to chuckle.
“What could there possibly be on the moon? Ninety nine percent of it has been explored already.”
“Well, IHC scientists found something in the one percent that hadn’t been explored. Something that defies explanation.”
In spite of myself, my curiosity piqued. Dowron used a touchscreen on his desk to activate a holo generator unit. A green sphere appeared above the desk, about the size of my head.
As the program loaded, the sphere resolved itself into a photo-realistic image of Luna, Earth’s moon. The gray-silver rock shared space with the glittering lights of human cities, protected by vast domes.
Dowron adjusted the display, and the image zoomed in on the dark side of the moon. The holo image kept growing larger, until we were plunged beneath its surface. We took a virtual plunge inside of the moon, following a wide mining shaft until we were more than ten miles beneath the surface.
The shaft opened up into a series of honeycombed chambers. I leaned over Dowron’s desk, my jaw agape.
“This cannot be real. There have been so many scans of the dark side, and outright exploration. Someone should have discovered this by now.”
“My science boys tell me that there’s a layer of exotic minerals that appear to completely foul our sensor readings. The previous scans only detected solid rock, but I assure you that this compound is quite real.”
I moved my hand through the holographic image, bubbling and distorting it.
Who knows what lies beneath? There could be untold technologies, knowledge enough to slake even my thirst. Moreover, there might be some way to defend humanity from the hordes of aliens in the Galaxy.
“I can see that you’re intrigued, Doctor.”
“Mildly.”
I stared intently as the image zoomed in ever further. Ducts running in vertical patterns could have been for water, air, or neither one. The secrets contained by the hidden facility beat at my brain like the wings of a great bird. Buffeted by desire, I actually licked my lips.
“I think you’re more than mildly intrigued.”