Dulce Truths

Heather gives him a skeptical look. “Sounds like you need to work on your math. Anyways,” she says, turning back to Charlie, who’s now looking a bit more flustered than Bobbie suddenly does, “if you’re Charlie — and I imagine you must be, as no one else is gonna look like the butcher in Marty — then you’re probably the only person on this whole base that I can trust right now.”

“Whoa, wait a minute there, miss… what the hell’s goin’ on here, and don’t mind Bobbie here — might look dumb, but he’s quite harmless despite that, let me assure you.”

Heather glances Bobbie’s way, raises her brows for a moment in a way that makes the super soldier feel both hopeful and worthless at the same time, and then looks back to Charlie.

“Alright,” she says, brushing some of that blond hair out of her eyes, “I guess it’s gonna take more than just me and you anyways, so we might as well figure out who we can trust, because after what I’ve seen today, I’m not sure the people I’ve known for years are even on my side anymore.”

“Heather, what’s going on?” Bobbie asks, putting his hands on his hips and taking on his best ‘serious’ expression.

“Yeah,” Charlie echoes, “we’d love to help ya — especially if it’s got something to do with the Dutchman or his son — but we gotta know what’s going on first.”

Heather looks from Charlie to Bobbie and back again, then to the floor before letting out a big sigh. Here it goes, she thinks.

“General Anderholt is working with the Reptilians and even ordering about some Grays,” she blurts out. He’s the one that killed Jake, though it was Carl that killed Ellis and framed Mark.”

“What?” both men blurt out at the same time, though Bobbie adds a, “How do you know all this?”

“Long story,” Heather says — something Bobbie thinks is probably the most believable thing she’s said yet, while Charlie says, “Well, you better get ready to tell it.”

“I will,” Heather replies, glancing about, “but not here.”

“I know somewhere safe,” Charlie says, then with a shrug of his brows, “or at least, I thought I did until running into you just now.” He quickly adds, “And that’s not to say I believe all o’ what I’m hearing here, either.”

“Just give me a chance to tell it,” Heather replies.

Charlie nods and glances at Bobbie. “Go find Donlon and meet me in the east hangar in five minutes.”

“Yes, sir,” Bobbie says, and races off down the hallway.

25 — Their Master Plan

The Gates of the Mountains north of Helena, Montana

Friday, May 25, 1979

3:32 PM

The men file into the old Montana base, tiredness sapping their movements. It’d been a long day and night for all of them, and rest was sought after the most. Information was a close second.

“Before we go too much farther,” Turn says, plopping down in one of the chairs in a large meeting room off the hangar, “will someone please tell me what the hell’s goin’ on here… and I don’t just mean a brief synopsis, either. I want to know it all!”

Bennewitz looks to Mark and then the others before settling back on Mark. “He’s come this far… he deserves to know.”

Mark glances down at his watch. “All, you say? Not sure if we have time for all that, but we just might be able to get most of it.”

Walter chuckles. “Good luck with that. Or were you not going to go all the way back to the dinosaurs?”

“Dinosaurs?” Turn says, his face screwing up, although he thinks, maybe it’s not too far-fetched… if that’s what they’re getting at. I mean, dinosaurs are lizards, and Reptilians are lizards, and…

Turn lets those thoughts trail-off, feeling even more confused than ever. Mark seems to read that expression.

“Oh, boy… where to begin?” he says.

“How ‘bout from the top?” Bennewitz says with a laugh.

“Alright,” Marks says, cocking his head, “here goes.” He starts pacing across the room, then a few moments later launches into it. “It all started with the Reptilian invasion of Lyra millennia ago. Initially there were negotiations, but in the end the Lyran system was devastated, with three planets destroyed. This started the human diaspora throughout the galaxy. Eventually we humans settled in 110 different star systems, including the Pleiades and Alpha Centauri.” He shrugs. “Today most of those 110 human races are part of the Star Federation, or what we usually just call the Collective.”

“You see, Turn,” Bennewitz says, “Humans didn’t start here on Earth, but at Lyra… the harp-shaped constellation that’s 25 light years from us.”