Roswell Fanatics

“You know, Tess, it was so easy all along….once I understood the….technology.”

“What do you mean?”

“Oh, it’s simple, really. We just use a little technology….low tech technology at that. They do it all the time here on earth….at dairy farms.”

“Do what?”

“It’s a business, Tess. Nothing more than that. Dairy farms don’t care about….romance. They just need to get their heifers pregnant. If they don’t….they don’t get any milk. It isn’t about romance for the heifer….or for the bull. Same thing here. We have to get you pregnant….pregnant with the right calf, this time. We’ll do it the same way they do with bulls?”

“What do you mean? What do they do?”

He reached over the back seat and held up an instrument. “Want to guess what this is?”

“I have no idea.”

“It’s a bull semen extractor. You stick it up the bull and turn on the current. I wouldn’t imagine that would be terribly pleasant, would you? I’m really surprised the bull stands for it. They then take the semen and put it in the heifer…pretty much like what we did with you in the fifth grade,” he smirked. “you see Tess, that’s what you are…the heifer. This isn’t about you, it’s about producing a product for Kivar, and I am going to produce that product.

So first we are going out to the pod chamber and I’m going to recharge two of the pods a little. Then we get rid of your pregnancy. Then I’m going to have to capture Max. And you know what Tess? We don’t need him able to think, so I’m going to burn out his frontal lobes so we don’t have to worry about him going anywhere. His old pod will sustain him until we’ve gotten you ready, then we use the old extractor and get what we need.

And the other pod, Tess? That’s for you, if you give me any trouble at all. I don’t need the heifer, don’t even need the milk. I just need the calf.

Let me tell you why you aren’t going in to the pod as a lobotomized heifer right now tonight, Tess. It’s one thing, and one thing only. It would be a little more convenient if you were mobile, carrying the little beast inside you, when we return to Antar. But you came from Antar in that pod and we can take you back in the pod….as a brain dead husk, just incubating the important cargo. So understand this….you cross me…you cross me just a little bit….you even flinch when I go to kill that worm inside of you…..that’s how it’s going to be. You become a lobotomized husk…..a transportation incubator. You understand me?”

Tess slowly nodded her head. She would have died to protect the baby but she now knew…Nasedo would not even allow her that. Her mind was disposable to him. All he really needed was her ovaries and uterus, and he’d have them, no matter if she had a brain left or not.

In the end, not even Alex and Isabel could sustain that level of passion in a closed closet. They were both hot and sweaty when they emerged, and actually feeling pretty proud of themselves. But they thought it might be a good idea to cool off a little bit, at least let the flush fade from their skin a little, before rejoining the other four below.

They weren’t looking for orange and brown construction paper out on Liz’s deck….heck, they’d long forgotten they’d ever come upstairs looking for construction paper. But the cool morning air felt good as they held hands and sat on the ledge.

They saw the Mustang stop at the Texaco station. Both were a little surprised at the passion they saw as Kyle kissed Tess good-bye, but hey…it wasn’t like either of them could talk. It’s just…well it had happened so quickly with Tess and Kyle. They had only started dating…. And that…THAT…looked like it was already getting awfully serious.

They kind of kidded each other about how fast Tess and Kyle were moving, but it was all good-natured. In fact, as Tess went to walk by coming from the building, they were going to yell down to her…ask her to get Kyle and join them down in the Crashdown, maybe all have lunch together. But before that could happen, the car pulled out of the alley.

You could tell from Tess’s body language she was uncomfortable with the man…but she got in the car anyway. She seemed depressed…he seemed almost to be taunting her. As they watched, his hand moved toward her lower abdomen, and even from the deck above they could see the glow of the palm, and Tess’s instinctive move to shield her abdomen. Both gasped.

“That guy is the alien serial killer…” said Alex.

“Yeah and Tess,……Alex,….Omigawd,....Tess is …pregnant.”

Both had started to turn to run for the window to tell the others when they heard the Mustang peel out on the street below. They looked back to see an obviously upset and very determined Kyle Valenti heading after the car in a cloud of blue smoke.

“You are brilliant, Liz,” said Max. “We have finally caught up. Thanks to you and….Alex.”

“Well don’t look now, but here they come,” said Michael. “Get ready to cut out more paper turkeys…”

Diane Evans saw the two run in to the birthday room breathlessly.
She’d been a little worried about the length of time that her daughter had been missing. In all fairness, Alex was much nicer…and much more polite than all the ‘pretty people’ boys that Izzie would date once, and then dump. He wasn’t brash, showy, and conceited like they were. ‘Yeah, but still waters run deep,’ she thought.

Izzie had dated dozens of boys, dozens of young men…but this was the first one she would ever stare at in quite that way. And a week previously, she and Isabel had been at the mall shopping when they’d run in to Alex who was taking his three year old niece to a children’s matinee. Diane had watched Isabel stare at him for long minutes. She knew that stare, all women did. You didn’t stare like that when you were assessing someone to decide if you wanted to date them.

You looked at them like that when you started to wonder how good a father they’d make.

If they hadn’t come down from Liz’s room in the next 10 minutes…….well, she was planning on going up and knocking on the door. She was more than a little relieved that they were down. But they seemed upset, and whatever they were telling Max….well it looked like it was upsetting him, too.

“You saw WHAT?” said Michael.

“We saw Tess picked up by some guy who acted like he was threatening to use molecular manipulation on her….or at least…on her baby.”

“Her baby? When did that happen?”

“I don’t know, …it wasn’t there when I saw her two days ago..”

“She’s showing in two days…..?” asked Maria.

Isabel started to tell her about auras, but Max put his hand up. “Isabel, that’ll wait. What won’t wait is calling Sheriff Valenti.”

“Oh, and that’s another thing,” said Alex. “When that guy took her….well Kyle took off in hot pursuit….”

Kyle was doing 85mph in a 50mph zone, and he didn’t care. He’d lost the guy going north…heading away from the Harding residence. He had to be heading out of town, and there were only two possibilities. He’d either be going north on 285 toward Santa Fe or going northeast on 70 toward Clovis. It could be either way…no way of telling. He’d just have to guess. And then he realized…..either way, he’d pass within a block of his house. He braked heavily and spun the wheel to the right, the car lurching up on two wheels in the turn before landing heavily on it’s tires.

The Mustang was in a four-wheel slide coming in the driveway, the garage door opener only starting to lift the door. The car stopped just short of the not-yet open garage door, leaving skid marks back to the pavement. He ran inside the garage…through the utility room, and finally in to his father’s home office. He grabbed the key from the second drawer down on the right, and ran to the wall box in the closet. It opened easily and the 357 magnum Smith and Wesson revolver was suddenly in his hand. He made sure the revolver was fully loaded, and grabbed the two extra speed loaders. He ran back into the garage, hopped in his car, and was headed back northbound in a cloud of blue smoke. It was much like a pit stop at the Indianapolis 500. It had taken 14 seconds.

Kyle was doing 85 as he approached the intersection on North Main where the Clovis Highway split off from 285. ‘You’ve got to make a decision, Kyle…..’ and he knew that he did indeed have to make a decision.
If he guessed wrong, Tess and their baby would be gone forever. If he guessed right…., he remembered her words….. ‘Trust me, it won’t be enough….not nearly enough…,’ But it would have to be enough…because it was all he had. ‘And you don’t need to kill him, Kyle. If you can just slow him up…give her the opportunity to get away….Tess and the baby….’
Yeah, even if he didn’t make it himself it would be worth it all, if he could just save one of them.

Suddenly, the intersection loomed in front of him. He closed his eyes briefly…did he imagine he felt a sense of her…to the north? Maybe, but it no longer mattered. In that brief second the intersection had flashed by….and Kyle continued north on 285.

Nasedo drove at a leisurely pace. It wasn’t that he couldn’t handle policemen, he’d killed police easily enough…it was just that he now had a foolproof plan. All he really had to do was get to the podchamber and set it up, take care of the messy little business with the young queen……he laughed inwardly, picturing her drunk and being copulated by a football team…..now THAT was amusing.

He hoped it was true, but conceded it was probably that Sheriff’s son. Well, that’d be the last she’d see of him. Or at least, if she ever tried to see him again, that would really be the last anyone would see of Kyle Valenti alive.

He set the cruise control for 58mph, a mere three mph over the speed limit, fast enough not to impede traffic too much, slow enough to attract no police officers. Automatically he checked his internal status monitor and saw:
Sensors: standby
Threats: no current threats
Threat status: not applicable
Power reserve 100%

He smiled with satisfaction. It was a beautiful day, he had a plan that was virtually guaranteed to give him what he wanted in the next five or six weeks, and he could see that the young ‘queen’ was so terrified, she would give him no trouble.

Within 10 weeks he should have what he’d wanted since 1943….a trip home. For now though, he just drove leisurely north, on 285.

You could hear the terror in the Sheriff’s voice even over the telephone, “Kyle went after him?”

“Yes, Sheriff,” said Max. “We last saw him headed toward the north end of town, then he disappeared from sight.”

“But he was in the Mustang, right?”

Max consulted with Isabel and Alex and said, “Yeah, Sheriff. He’s in the Mustang alright.”

“I told him if he was going to get a red Mustang….this close to the chop-shops and carjacking gangs across the border, he had to get a Lojack installed. I can call through the state office…if he’s not too far away…we can track him.”

“Call us back with the information when you get it, Sheriff. We’ll be on our way.”

“Not your fight, Max.”

“Sheriff….of course it’s our fight. He’s one of…us. We have a responsibility to stop him.”

“I get paid for doing this, Max. You kids don’t. Stay there where you’ll be safe. I’ll handle it.”

“Sheriff….don’t take this wrong, but ……my sister Isabel could take you. You won’t stand a chance….Kyle won’t stand a chance. Let us help you. If not for you….it’s the only chance that Kyle and Tess have.”

You could hear the agony in Jim Valenti’s voice. He didn’t want them involved…but what Max said was probably true. “OK. When I get the coordinates I’ll give you a call. But the deal is this…I go in first, you just back me up. Agreed?”

Max looked at Michael. He held up his right hand, crossed the index and long finger, and said into the phone. “Sure thing, Sheriff. You have my promise.”


The traffic was thin north of Roswell, and the Mustang was doing ninety. Even so he had not caught the car, but he could see it, perhaps five miles ahead. It turned off to the east, onto a dirt road leading up past some small hills. He lost sight of it in the dust it generated, but it was plain he’d have no trouble tracking it…and that he’d not be seen in the cloud of dust coming out behind it. He wasn’t altogether sure where it was going, but he was closing on it fast…..

Max’s cell phone rang, and he answered it immediately. The Sheriff’s voice came over the speakerphone, “Kyle is 8.3 miles north of the Clovis highway intersection on 285. He’s just turned off the highway heading east….it isn’t a paved road….barely shows on the map. I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”

“OK, Sheriff. We are moving out right now.”

“Max?”

“Yes Izzie?”

“That’s almost where Mom and Dad found us…”

“Well, that’s where we are going. Isabel, Michael…..get in the Jeep.”

As they started toward the door, Liz grabbed her jacket and turned to go with them.

”Whoa there, Liz. Where do you think you are going?”

“I’m coming too, Max.”

“No Liz. This guys a serial killer….he’s been doing this a long time. I’m not going to risk losing you.”

“But it’s alright for me to risk losing you?”

“Liz, there’s three of us to one of him. We’ll be OK.”

“Well then if three to one will be OK, four to one will be even better.”

He turned and looked at her. “Liz. I don’t want you coming along.”

She looked back up at his brown eyes, “OK Max.” He smiled and kissed her quickly, before going out the back door to the jeep with Michael and Isabel.

As the three watched the jeep move away down the alley Liz tapped Maria on the shoulder. As Maria turned to look at her Liz held out her hand.

”What?”

“Jetta keys…”

“You told Max you wouldn’t…”

“No. I told Max it was OK with me if he didn’t WANT me to come along. I didn’t say I wouldn’t go.”

“Liz, Max may be right,” said Alex. "This may not be a good idea…”

“Maybe not, but if something happened to any of them and I wasn’t there to try to help….I’m not sure I could live with myself.”

Suddenly both Maria and Alex got a far-off sort of look as they visualized one of their loved ones…..dying.

“I’ll drive...,” said Maria.

“Shotgun…” called Alex.

The Mustang pulled up alongside the parked car. Kyle could see no one. He looked in all directions, the fear in him starting to grow. Where had they gone? He closed his eyes and let his mind reach out, as he had before….was something pulling him toward the cliffs to the north? Or was that just his imagination? He looked at the ground in that direction…was that an old trail? Or was that just his imagination? ‘The clock’s ticking, Valenti. Make a choice.’ He checked the cylinder of the revolver one last time, and started to jog toward the cliff a half mile in the distance.

The Yukon turned onto the dirt road and headed east. Jim Valenti couldn’t see any vehicles on the road, but there seemed to be some settling dust off in the distance. ‘Or maybe that’s just wishful thinking,’ he told himself.

He considered calling for back-up but..realistically, this was going to be over before anyone else was going to get here, even Max and Michael. He couldn’t play a waiting game….the alien serial-killer had never taken hostages…never tried to negotiate. He’d always killed and moved on. If he was going to save Kyle…save that young Tess girl….he’d need to act immediately.

He looked over at the riot gun secured in its scabbard. Not much range, but a whole lot of firepower. The first round was double ought buckshot. The second….intended to stop a car by cracking its engine block…was a 12 gauge slug. Then five more double-ought buck…… Would that be enough? Ever since he’d found out the secret he’d considered Max, Michael, and Isabel….well, friends. But Max was right. They all had lethal force….even Isabel. He had always been used to having a firepower advantage over the quarry….but not this time. This time he was……well, if not outgunned, exactly, at least outmatched in weaponry.But he couldn’t be too cautious either though, because Kyle’s life depended on him…..Kyle’s life and the life of that young girl.

He gazed forward, struggling to see some evidence of his son…… but no luck. The Tahoe was already doing fifty mph on the old dirt road….he pushed the pedal farther down and it crept up toward 60……


Tess was terrified as they approached the base of the cliff, where she knew the opening to the pod chamber was located. She looked at the aura gently glowing in her abdomen…….the irony ate at her soul. Not three days ago she’d been lamenting that this primitive planet didn’t have artificial wombs….that she’d have to carry a baby until she could get to Antar to get rid of it. She’d give her life now if she could carry it to term. But she knew she had no chance. She could fight maybe….delay the inevitable…but only for seconds. He’d immobilize her….just like he’d done in fifth grade….and just like then…he’d do what he wanted. But as he opened the door and turned to her, Tess instinctively pulled back.

“Get in here on the table, or I’ll do it out there on the ground,” Nasedo growled.

Kyle was out of breath as he approached the base of the cliff. He was in good shape, had lettered in two sports and been the starting halfback on the state championship football team, but he had taken one wrong turn….up a small canyon. By the time he’d come to the dead end, backtracked, and taken the other branch of the trail, he’d gone an extra quarter mile or more. But as he turned the corner of the trail he saw them, finally.

He saw the man put his hand on the side of the cliff, and an opening appeared suddenly in the rock. He saw Tess draw back and the man start after her. Closing the distance as quickly as possible, Kyle aimed the pistol.

He was junior NRA rifle champion for the state. Handguns weren’t really his thing, but he knew how to use it. You just had to get close enough to not miss.

As Tess pulled back from the man, Nasedo followed her, his back toward Kyle.
‘That’s OK with me,’ thought Kyle Valenti, ‘I’m not trying to make an arrest…not trying to be sporting…..just save Tess and the baby.’

He brought the sights up to the shapeshifter’s center of mass and from 12 feet behind him he shot Nasedo in the back....

Jim Valenti heard the shots up toward the cliff face…three of them. He started to run….run as fast as he’d ever run in his entire life. Instinctively he knew he wasn’t nearly close enough……


Sensors: standby
Threats: Designate threat alpha earthling – armament projectile weapon azimuth 190 degrees
Threat status: immediate-close proximity
Threat function: estimated 92 % due to fatigue – recovering
Damage to self – 7.3 gm projectile in upper back –repairs being made
Power reserve 99%
Engage autofire? Yes/No Default No
Engage sensors for projectile weapons? Yes/No Default No

Nasedo was shocked….disappointed really, that he’d allowed himself to be taken by surprise. ‘I must be losing my touch……life’s been too easy,’ he thought.

Sensors: standby
Threats: Threat alpha– armament projectile weapon – azimuth 185 degrees
Threat status: immediate-close proximity
Threat function: estimated 93 % due to fatigue – recovering
Damage to self – SECOND 7.3 gm projectile in upper back –repairs being made
Power reserve 97%
Engage autofire? Yes/No Default No
Engage sensors for projectile weapons? Yes/No Default No


Enraged that he’d let the boy get off a SECOND shot, Nasedo activated autofire and sensors for projectile weapons.

When he’d seen the body rock from the second hit, Kyle had actually started to hope. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Tess, didn’t think that she’d told him the truth, it was just that…well, as they say, hope springs eternal from the human breast.

But as the third round left the chamber Nasedo’s sensors picked it up and counterfired a powerblast immediately. The round was destroyed in flight, without ever getting to Nasedo. And the residual energy blasted in to Kyle Valenti, shattering bones and flinging him back onto the rocks behind him, more dead than alive.

Sensors: projectile weapons
Threats: alpha threat – azimuth 185 degrees
Threat status: neutralized
Threat function: estimated 12 % due to multiple long bone fractures, multiple internal injuries, concussion, overall threat function-failing project alpha threat death in 60 minutes.
Damage to self – no damage this projectile –repairs completed previous two projectiles
Power reserve 96% - recovering slowly due to energy usage for sensors.
Autofire engaged for projectile weapons
Sensors engaged for projectile weapons

Nasedo realized that Kyle was slowly dying, but he didn’t care. The effrontery of a mere human daring to attack him was simply too much.
Autofire never killed…just rendered the victim incapable of further action. Sometimes you needed to interrogate your attacker and, if not, it was more energy efficient just to lay your hand over their heart and cook them with molecular manipulation. In this case, it was obvious Kyle was dying. It was actually a waste of energy even to finish him off.

Nasedo wasn’t really worried about his energy state, not at 96% function. But he wanted to touch him….cook him…..feel him die beneath his hand, for having the gall to attack a superior being. He reached out his hand toward Kyle’s shattered body, the palm already starting to glow.

Jim Valenti was 200 meters away when he saw them. The Sheriff was nearly exhausted, but he still put on a burst of speed. The shotgun had no choke and wasn’t much more accurate than the pistol. At 200 meters its pattern would be as likely to get Kyle as the man going towards him.

But as he saw the palm start to glow, he knew he’d run out of time. He might kill Kyle if he fired,….but the man would certainly kill him if he didn’t. He lowered himself into a prone position, bringing his sights not on the center of the target, but on the side away from Kyle. There were nine double ought pellets in a 12 gauge shell, he knew.

At this range most would hit the alien, but one or two would almost certainly hit Kyle. But the Sheriff simply had no other choice.......

She watched his bones break from the force of the powerblast, even before his body went flying into the rocks. Suddenly a great calm came over Tess Harding. ‘Kyle was right,’ she thought. ‘I am an eleven-year old, ….just a child who has dreamed all her life of being a princess when she grew up…living in a faraway kingdom.’

She looked at him…crushed and bleeding on the rocks. As she felt the tears come down, Tess Harding realized what she wanted to be when she grew up. She wanted to be an Earth woman. And whatever the case was on Antar, on Earth a woman fought for her mate and child……and Tess had just grown up.

She felt an unnatural calm as she slowly walked closer to Nasedo, whose back was toward her as he moved toward Kyle. She knew, of course, that she’d not survive this….that he’d win…burn out her mind and use her body however he wanted.

But there were some fights you had to fight, even if you knew you were destined to lose. She pulled all the power she could together for the first powerblast. She doubted she’d get a second.

Sensors: powerblast
Threats: designate beta threat Antar-Human hybrid – azimuth 190 degrees
Threat status: immediate-extreme close proximity
Threat function100 %
Damage to self – Moderate damage to energy storing tissue
Power reserve 91% - recovering slowly due to energy usage for sensors.
Autofire engaged for projectile weapons
Sensors engaged for projectile weapons

Nasedo was absolutely stunned when the powerblast came from Tess. No, he wasn’t badly hurt, the shock was more psychological than physical. His mind just hung up briefly, due to his disbelief. For eleven years he’d had her intimidated, her one act of defiance…..back in the fifth grade, and he’d taught her a lesson that he had never thought would have to be repeated.

And it was his disbelief, really, his disbelief that this stupid husk of a pampered princess would do something like that that froze him momentarily….slowed him from immediate counterfire….that enabled her to land the second powerblast.

Sensors: powerblast
Threats: beta threat - azimuth 190 degrees
Threat status: immediate-extreme close proximity
Threat function96 %
Damage to self – Additional moderate damage to energy storing tissue
Power reserve 87% - recovering slowly due to energy usage for sensors.
Autofire engaged for projectile weapons
Sensors engaged for projectile weapons

The second powerblast enraged Nasedo and he turned quickly to face her. And that was probably a mistake, because it took time and because…..he saw her face. Somehow all the fear was gone from her…..somehow the frightened little girl had become …a warrior. The two powerblasts were launched simultaneously, his stronger than hers…….

Sensors: powerblast
Threats: beta threat - azimuth 10 degrees
Threat status: immediate-extreme close proximity
Threat function 34 % due to long bone fractures, both upper extremities, right lower extremity, moderate concussion.
Damage to self – Additional none
Power reserve 84% - recovering slowly due to energy usage for sensors.
Autofire engaged for projectile weapons
Sensors engaged for projectile weapons

He looked at her on the ground before him, both arms obviously broken and the tibia of her right lower leg both fractured and protruding through the skin. He almost powerblasted her again in his anger…….barely stopping himself. He needed her…at least, needed parts of her. But he obviously couldn’t trust her. He reset autofire and sensors so she could not surprise him again.

“I may need your uterus and ovaries, bitch, but I damn sure don’t need your brain.”

His hand reached out toward her forehead.

The nine buckshot pellets traveled at the same speed as a bullet fired from the 357 magnum and had about the same mass. That made the energy nine times that of the 357 as the Sheriff squeezed the trigger.

He had been amazed when the girl….when his son’s girlfriend Tess, had powerblasted the man. She’d just walked toward him, powerblasted him, powerblasted him again, and attempted a third time.

OK, he decided, so your sons dating an alien…..there’s no doubt she’s on his side. You can worry about having green grandkids later.

He wasn’t sure if Kyle could even survive, but the girl had bought Jim Valenti time to close the range…close it to where the riot gun would work without threat to either Kyle or the girl. Even so he was looking out of the corner of his eye at the battered body of Kyle as he fired, so only eight of the pellets hit Nasedo.

Sensors: multiple small projectiles
Threats: designate gamma threat - azimuth 20 degrees
Threat status: immediate moderate close proximity
Threat function 100%.
Damage to self – Eight pellet wound channels in anterior body, repair started.
Power reserve76% - recovering slowly due to energy usage for sensors.
Autofire engaged for powerblast
Sensors engaged for powerblast

Nasedo was livid with rage. But even before he raised his eyes from the battered body of Tess, the 12 gauge slug …..32 grams of copper wrapped in a plastic sabot….was propelled out the barrel of the shotgun at 1500 feet per second from a distance of less than 20 feet. It struck him in the chest less than two hundredths of a second later.


Sensors: single large projectile
Threats: gamma threat - azimuth 15 degrees
Threat status: immediate moderate close proximity
Threat function 100%.
Damage to self – Large fracture of tissue to left anterior chest, repair started.
Power reserve 70% - recovering slowly due to energy usage for sensors.
Autofire engaged for powerblast
Sensors engaged for powerblast


In total disgust, Nasedo engaged sensors and autofire for projectile weapons. As the Sheriff fired a third time, the double ought buckshot was totally vaporized by the powerblast, the residual energy passing on to strike Sheriff Valenti.

Sensors: multiple small projectiles
Threats: gamma threat - azimuth 20 degrees
Threat status: immediate moderate close proximity
Threat function 22% due to rib and upper extremity fractures, concussion.
Damage to self –no additional damage, repair started.
Power reserve 67% - recovering slowly due to energy usage for sensors.
Autofire engaged for projectile weapons
Sensors engaged for projectile weapons

Nasedo looked out at the three bodies before him with disgust. This should have been so easy. It was obvious what had happened. Tess had become emotionally attached to the Sheriff’s son. They had conceived a child. When he’d picked her up at the service station the boy had followed them, probably contacting his father for assistance by cell phone.

The question was, had this just been a Valenti family attack…to save the fetus? Or had the Sheriff called in backup from a SWAT team or something similar?

Nasedo’s sensor field could trigger a powerblast that would defeat almost anything, but it was very power intensive at any distance. And the farther away he had to project it, the more power intensive it was. In theory, it followed an inverse square law. That is, if the sensor field were kept in a sphere, tripling the detection range would require nine times the energy, quadrupling it sixteen times they energy, and so forth. It was actually optimized for short range projectile weapons and powerblasts.

What he really feared was something like a sniper rifle, that could engage him beyond powerblast range. To push out the sensor field beyond a quarter mile….well the energy costs became astronomical. Sure, he could cheat a little bit, in fact that was built in to his design. His usual sensor field was somewhat saucer shaped, since attacks very rarely came from under the ground or directly overhead, and even that could be distorted in the direction from which he believed the threat would most likely originate. He could also save significant energy by scanning only for a particular threat. Like projectile weapons. And while that had just cost him considerable energy….he still found it hard to believe that heifer had actually powerblasted him, in general by limiting his scanning to a particular threat type it was much more economical, power-wise. And power was what won battles.

So in theory, he could radiate a global sensor field that would completely protect him from all things in all directions. In practice, however, that would quickly drain his power…drain it to the 15% level, at which time he could no longer self-charge causing his body to shutdown, pending an external recharge. He couldn’t really be killed, which gave him a considerable advantage, but if his power was drained to 15%, he would go dormant.

And while his current power level…now climbing back to 68%, wasn’t all that low, it was only prudent to consider the nature of the threat out there, and adjust his tactics accordingly. What was the likelihood that Sheriff Valenti had called for backup? Pretty good, actually. That’s what the police were taught in their training. So who would he have called? Sheriff deputies? The SWAT team? Very likely. What was the likelihood he would meet anything other than projectile weapon fire? Hardly worth mentioning, actually. He had a deal with Kivar….and the Skins had indicated they would honor it. The only other beings that could powerblast were the three others from the pods.

But if the Sheriff had even known those three existed, he would have certainly captured them. Aliens and the police were natural adversaries, so clearly they wouldn’t assist the Sheriff.

The logic was flawless. He switched his sensory field to projectile weapons only, and pushed it out to long range…equal to that of a sniper rifle. It would use a lot of energy…more than he could create, draining him still further, but it would allow him to be safe while he modified and charged the two pods, and put Tess into one. After that, he could close the door and rest….recharge to 100%, and only then go hunting for Max Evans.

So two of the bodies….well, let them die in their current misery, it would only take a few hours. Tess….well he could burn out her frontal lobes as soon as he had charged a pod for her, might as well wait to burn out the fetus then as well….less chance she’d move that way and perhaps cause a problem he’d then have to use additional energy to heal. He’d eventually have to heal her leg too, Nasedo decided, or risk infection. The arms??? Well, they might hurt her, but after the lobotomy there would really be nobody home to feel it. Why bother?

It was eight minutes later that Nasedo emerged from the podchamber, his power level now down to 64%, but a charged pod was now waiting for Tess.

He reached out with his sensors, attempting to detect any projectile weapons within a 3 kilometer radius….nothing.

Convinced he had nothing to fear he took two steps toward Tess, before being hit by the first powerblast.

The Jeep had almost missed the small dirt road 8.3 miles north of the I-70 exit. But that was the last problem finding the way. All three in the Jeep seemed to know almost instinctively the way up the road. It was becoming quite a crowded parking lot as the Jeep now joined the three vehicles already parked there. The trail itself seemed familiar and they moved quickly…until they came to the three badly injured bodies.

Max started to go to the nearest of the injured. Isabel and Michael instinctively moved to either side to provide him cover. It was only after they saw the movement at the chamber opening that they saw where Nasedo had gone, but their deployment by chance had been a most fortunate one. It was similar to the ‘crossing the T’ taught in naval bombardments. The three were far enough apart that they could not be hit by the same powerblast, while all three could hit him simultaneously without hitting each other.

Isabel and Michael saw Nasedo emerge almost simultaneously, Max, distracted by looking at Kyle, was a fraction late seeing him. Michael had never seen Nasedo before but when he saw Isabel hit him with the first powerblast, he joined in immediately. Max joined in only a fractional second later, giving up any hope of healing anyone while still under fire.

Sensors: multiple source powerblasts
Threats: designate threats (3) Antar-human hybrids.
Delta – azimuth 40 degrees
Epsilon – azimuth 10 degrees
Zeta – azimuth 345 degrees
Threat status: immediate moderate close proximity
Threat function Delta – 100%
Epsilon -100%
Zeta – 100%
Damage to self – Powerblast tissue disruption anterior body
Power reserve 56%.
Autofire engaged for projectile weapons
Sensors engaged for projectile weapons

Nasedo absorbed the first three powerblasts before he really knew what hit him. He took three more before he started to return any fire. In retrospect, he wondered why he hadn’t just hauled Tess in to the pod chamber and closed the door before charging the pod…it sure would have been a lot easier. By sheer bad luck, he’d had to expend substantially more energy than he would have predicted…because of the favorable formation the three had happened to be in, and by the fact that their rate of fire, in the aggregate, exceeded his. In addition to the six powerblasts he sustained before returning fire, he sustained two as he delivered his first and one as he delivered his second. But each powerblast itself cost him energy. And it might have been different if, like Tess, they’d practiced their powers, but they’d spent a lifetime hiding them, and their lack of proficiency ultimately was their downfall. The battle dragged on for a surprising length of time, but the issue was really never in doubt.

In the end his battle management system gave evidence of his victory:

Sensors: powerblast/projectile weapons
Threats:
Delta – azimuth 30 degrees
Epsilon – azimuth 15 degrees
Zeta – azimuth 355 degrees
Threat status: immediate moderate close proximity - neutralized
Threat function Delta – 18% Multiple long bone fractures, cardiac contusion, liver fracture, shock. Project Delta threat death 45 minutes.
Epsilon -20% Multiple long bone fractures, crushed chest, concussion. Project Epsilon threat death 75 minutes.
Zeta – 16% Multiple long bone fractures, fractured pelvis, linear skull fracture. Project Zeta threat death 40 minutes.
Damage to self – Powerblast tissue disruption anterior body, slowly being repaired due to depleted reserves, high sensor alert state.
Power reserve 31%.
Autofire engaged for projectile weapons and powerblast
Sensors engaged for projectile weapons and powerblast

Nasedo knew that he was being sort of extravagant with his use of his sensors, but he now had two problems. Both Tess and Max needed to be put in pods now, and he now realized as soon as he had them inside and the door closed he would have won. Protected by two feet of solid rock, he’d get them stable on the life support system of the pods, then he’d rest.

Far before either of them could recover, he’d be near full strength…burn out their prefrontal lobes, clean out her uterus…wait until she ripened…..then it was simple animal husbandry.

‘Game, set, and match to me,’ he thought to himself happily.