Transmission

The message stopped, then repeated, as if it were being sent on some kind of loop.

“Someone wanted to make sure that we heard it,” Luna said.

Kevin nodded, trying to make sense of it. He looked over to the adults.

“Where is the rock?” Brewster asked.

“Downstairs—Lab 3b.”

“Get them on the phone!” Ted yelled. “NOW!”

CHAPTER TWENTY THREE

Kevin ran, trying to keep up with Dr. Levin, Luna, and Ted as they hurried through the NASA institute, trying to get to the space where the rock was being kept. He could see the shocked looks on the faces of the scientists they raced past, some of them obviously recognizing him, others probably just surprised that anyone would run that fast through a serious scientific facility.

Dr. Levin held out a set of keys to Kevin.

“If this goes wrong,” she said as she ran, “if there’s something you can’t contain, there’s a secure space below the facility, on the sub-basement level. One of these keys provides access to the bunker network, if it isn’t locked down. Use this, and the elevator should take you straight there.”

“Where is the rock from the expedition being held?” Ted called out to a group of scientists as they passed.

“Research Lab 3b,” one of them said. “Why? Is there something—”

They were already sprinting past, trying to make it there in time. They paused at security doors, but those only slowed them down a little, opening for Ted’s security card with green lights and reassuring whooshes of air.

Kevin could hear Professor Brewster yelling behind them, but he didn’t slow.

They went deep into the bowels of the building, past laboratories that Kevin had seen while Phil had been showing him around. He passed the lasers and the growing labs, the things that promised to give humanity a chance to survive and thrive if they ever got to another world, and the things that carried the promise of making this one a better place. Right then, the only thing that mattered was the threat of what might happen if they didn’t make sure that the rock was contained.

They paused at a set of signs, then ran on again, down a set of stairs and into a part of the building where the only light was artificial. It felt sterile to Kevin, unwelcoming compared to the rest of the place. The scientists they passed were mostly in clean suits or lab coats, obviously trying to keep from contaminating experiments.

When they came to the lab, Kevin had to admit that it looked like a secure space. It had toughened glass walls on three sides, while the fourth backed onto the outer wall of the building. The rock sat in the middle of it, displayed on a table like an Easter egg that had been cracked in half. Three scientists stood around it in white plastic clean suits. Two were wearing masks, while one didn’t seem to have bothered, since he was away from the rock, working with a microscope.

The glass was thick, but Kevin could still hear what they were saying while Ted worked at the lock, trying to get in.

“These samples are still interesting,” the scientist said. “Even if it’s not anything that we were promised.”

“Don’t let Brewster hear you saying that,” another replied. “As far as he’s concerned, the sooner we can declare that rock worthless and get rid of it, the better.”

“Well, he might have to wait, this is…”

“What?” the third scientist asked. “And will you put a mask on? It’s protocol.”

Kevin saw the moment when vapor started to rise from the surface of the rock. It was almost clear, and he could have mistaken it for steam rising due to some temperature change in the rock, but somehow, he knew it wasn’t.

“That keeps happening,” one of the scientists said.

Kevin banged his hand against the glass, while Ted kept working on the lock.

“It’s a code as well as a card,” he said. “I guess it’s because it’s a sealed room.”

“You need to get out of there,” Kevin called. “You’re all in danger.”

They turned toward him as he continued to bang his hand on the glass, obviously not sure why he was there, or what they should do. The two with the facemasks looked puzzled. The one without…

The eyes of the one who wasn’t wearing a mask suddenly changed, the pupils turning from black to white, seeming almost to shine. He stared at Kevin, and there was a kind of recognition there that hadn’t been present before. There was a kind of hostility to that look that filled Kevin with fear.

It was intelligent, and dangerous.

And anything but human.

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

“Get back from him!” Kevin yelled. “There’s something wrong with him.”

The scientist spun to the other two and made a grab for them, pulling their masks away before they realized what was happening. Kevin wanted to call out a warning, but it looked as though it was already too late. He saw the scientists’ eyes shift, their pupils turning as white as the others’.

Kevin backed away from the glass, looking across to Luna. She looked just as frightened as he felt right then, which probably wasn’t a good sign. Luna didn’t get scared.