Prey

"It's true. Most people believe that it was the end of the second world war that piqued their curiosity with the advent of nuclear weapons. That somehow we'd proven ourselves smarter and that would have been the catalyst for the sudden surge of sightings." He frowned. "Nothing could be further from the truth. They've been here far longer than we ever knew about. Watching, charting, studying, and yes — experimenting."

"How long have they been here for?"

"You saw Nung's operation?"

"Part of it."

"And you saw the other party involved in that procedure? The velociraptor?"

"I saw it."

"Sixty-five million years, Julia. Since the time when the dinosaurs ruled this planet. They've been here that long."

"They must be incredibly bored."

Kendall shrugged. "The way I understand it, time means very little to them. Years pass in the blink of an eye. If anything, they might feel like they've been here for about a hundred years. Not a bad ratio when you think about it."

"Fascinating." Julia felt the cold of the slab seeping into her body. It played havoc with her bladder control.

"The visitors have been cataloging all the species on this planet as part of an experiment with galactic genesis."

"What the hell is that?"

"The creation of whole galaxies."

"They're playing God?"

Kendall laughed. "You still cling to the belief that there's truly some sort of divine creature who made all of this? You really ought to not be so juvenile in your beliefs. I would have expected more from a supposedly learned scientist as yourself."

"I'm not stupid enough to think that man could be the most powerful creature in the universe."

Kendall nodded. "That's good. Because he's not. Not by any stretch of the imagination."

"And your friends are?"

Kendall shrugged. "Nothing is omnipotent, no. But they come very close. You see, it's no longer about brute force as the means to conquering. Why should it be? Physicality is a self-limiting enterprise. The mind, however, that is where there are no frontiers. It's as limitless and infinite in growth and potential as the universe itself."

"I noticed they didn't talk."

"Their mouths are an unfortunate leftover from an earlier time in their own evolutionary path. They've been speechless for millions of years."

"What about food?"

"They don't require much. I've seen what they drink. It's some type of artificial concoction that keep their very basest corporeal attributes functioning normally. In fact, they've almost perfected it as a type of immortality serum. They live for so very long."

"What about those other things?"

"What other things?"

"The dino…the creatures with tails."

Kendall nodded. "Yes, those are dino-alien hybrids. Amazing aren't they? They crossbred several species of dinosaurs and then created a mix in a test tube millennia ago. The result was something of an oddity, but a necessary one. For while the mind is the ultimate weapon, the visitors also appreciated the fact that it was sometimes necessary to employ brute force, if only as a means of maintaining their own agenda and secrecy."

"So those things are their security force?"

"I guess you could call them that."

"Can they communicate telepathically?"

"Receive only. They aren't bred to transmit. The visitors can understand their rudimentary screeches and chirps as language."

"I don't suppose they eat through straws as well?"

Kendall smiled. "Tragically no. The hybrids require an enormous amount of food. A somewhat bothersome carryover from their reptilian ancestors."

"Antarctica never struck me as having much in the way of food supplies."

"No. It doesn't. That's why their food supply gets imported from other places."

"Other places?"

"Not all abductees return home with missing time. Some find their time gone on a more permanent basis."

"They're used as food?"

Kendall nodded. "Like I said, a necessary cost to maintain the security force."

Julia tried to bite back the rise of bile in her throat. It wasn't easy to do so. "Vikorsky?"

Kendall nodded. "I think he was yesterday's breakfast."

"Havel?"

"Served earlier today."

"Darren?"

Kendall looked at his watch. "I think they're just digging into him right now."

Julia retched and a dribble of vomit spilled out of her mouth. Kendall shook his head. "Get a grip on yourself. It's part of the price of conducting the exhaustive research going on here. You've really got to see the big picture and appreciate what they've worked so hard to create."

"What about Nung?"

Kendall shook his head. "I told you, Nung was recovering from his operation."

"What did they do to him?"

Kendall smiled. "Seems as though they've been getting a little impatient with the current generation of dino hybrids. Something about them being a bit bothersome to work with. Small brains and all."

"So Nung…?"

"A newer generation of hybrid. But this time, it's a tri-species version: visitor, dinosaur, human. They think it will make a marked improvement over the past generations."

Julia felt like crying but she wouldn't give Kendall the satisfaction. "And what about me?" she asked finally.