A Small Gray Dot

“Henderson is an arrogant fool. I thought so even before I learned what he is.” He eyed me. “Don’t worry so, Tennessee. If you have confidence in your people then so do I. Here, take this sandwich. You look hungry. Do you want a drink?”

After what we’d been through, I could’ve used one, but I needed to think and alcohol wouldn’t help. It also wouldn’t do much for the part of my mind that was thinking of the fight going on at Madison’s hotel.

I took the sandwich. “Thank you, but I don’t want anything alcoholic. Make it orange juice.”

“Dr. Bennett’s been telling us about what he’s found out about the aliens, Tenn,” said Duncan. He shook his head. “It’s a helluva thing. Those bastards…” he shivered.

“Yeah, the doc says they coulda helped us out,” said Lem. He looked sad. “All the people… my wife…” he did a hard swallow. “Nobody woulda died.”

I remembered that he and Percy, who sat quietly staring into his glass, didn’t live in Blue Heaven. Of course, even folk who lived here had lost someone. They just didn’t see them directly after it happened. Nobody much spoke about that day or the people they’d lost, but it was always there, underneath. I understood.

I had corralled my rage but it was still there, seething beneath my skin. We couldn’t let these sons of bitches continue to get away with what they were doing. There had to be something we could do.

Dr. Bennett said, “Duncan gave me the object he picked up at Semptor. I can’t tell much about it though it appears to be some type of energy weapon. It doesn’t seem to be operable and that could be because when they inhibited our technologies, they weren’t able to fine-tune it, so it would’ve inhibited a number of theirs also. Now, they told me about the weapon used to fire on you when you were making your get-away. It sounds as if it could be a type of laser though much more powerful than any we ever made. It probably works by a different method than this smaller weapon and so it is not affected.”

I remembered the device I’d taken from Bedlow’s house. Those Binqua had seemed anxious to get it. In fact, so anxious they’d died trying. Maybe it was a weapon. I’d taken my jacket off and left it in the lab.

“I’ll be right back, Doctor. I picked up something at Bedlow’s place. You might want to take a look.”

I was back in less than a minute. He studied it, turning it over and looking at the back. His forehead wrinkled.

“I saw something like this in one of the files. As soon as you’re finished eating, we can go to the lab and I’ll look it up.”

“Okay. Sir, what are we going to do about the Binqua? Shouldn’t we notify the federal government about this? Perhaps they can do something. Get some soldiers out here maybe.” I blew out a breath. “We can’t let them finish what they’re doing. They’re not going to get Effingham Shipping to transport their machines, but they are determined to have this world so they’ll find another way.”

The doctor looked thoughtful before saying, “Even though they have managed to maintain the military, there isn’t much of a government left, Tennessee, though you have to give them credit for trying. I do know some people in the Department of Homeland Security and I can contact them but there is one big problem: getting anyone to believe before seeing for themselves that we’re dealing with aliens. Then, if we can convince them to come, there is the added problem that only small firearms work. None of the big missiles are operative. And even if they were, Henderson has some type of force field, a shield he can deploy that will repel any attack on them.”

“He has a shield? How do you know? If he’s got something like that, why didn’t he use it to keep us from escaping?”

“He likely didn’t have time to activate it, Tennessee. I believe it is something he’s not accustomed to using since he arrived on this world. But I know about it because it’s in the files. I’ve seen the schematics for it. I think I could even build one if I had the materials.”

He looked at the strange device again. “The image for this thing was in the same file as the shield.” He looked around noticing we’d finished eating. He stood. “Come, I’m curious to see what this does.”

Duncan, Lem, and Percy had finished their drinks.

“Doc, if you don’t mind, I could use another one,” said Duncan lifting his glass. “Y’all can go look at that thing but my nerves need some more calming.” Lem and Percy obviously felt the same.

Dr. Bennett nodded. “Help yourselves. If you want anything else to eat, feel free to get it. You have been very helpful and I am grateful.”

In the lab, the doctor pulled up the files he’d hacked. He brought up a page and clicked on the translator.

“This is the information on the force field and the shield.” He pointed it out. “Now, here is the image of the device you found at Bedlow’s house.” He clicked and a picture sprang up on the screen.

That was it all right. Except for one thing. “It says here it has three switches, Doctor. I’ve only seen two. Where’s the third?”