High School Terrans

Kyle awoke late at night hearing the knocking of the door downstairs wondering who would be coming here this late. He jumped downstairs hurrying out of bed so as not to wake up his parents or his younger brother. He opened the door seeing Dan standing drenched in the pouring rain looking solemn but serious.

“Dan, why are you here this late?”

“I’m sorry but it couldn’t wait,” he said, walking in. “I owe you a big apology.”

“What for?”

“It’s about the other guys on the team. They never cared about creating a protective alliance between Terrans and humans. All they were looking for was a way to dominate and take over. All it looked like was to go inside and find a list of anti-Terran supporters. That was it. But a man came in and held a gun to us but then I literally watch Morgan instead shoot him but then I heard some kind of beeping. It was a bomb.”

“What?” Kyle said, gasping. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah, managed to get out of there before the whole building imploded and got the bullet out of the man he shot and took him to the hospital but didn’t stick around.”

Dan could see the shock and quietness on Kyle’s face letting him talk.

“All this time I was so blinded and bought into their ideology.” He just saw Kyle continuing to stare and listen. “It never should have gone as far as it did on the beach. I should have listened to you.”

“It’s alright,” Kyle replied. “You were doing what you felt was right at the time.”

“You have been staying awfully quiet the whole time. You know something about this, don’t you?”

“I suspected but wasn’t until my father clued me in.”

“Your father?” Dan asked curiously. “What does he have to do with this?”

“Years back on Terra there was a similar group. Started out the same way about Terran’s using their powers to rule over others until it resulted in an attempted coup to overthrow the Terran council. But he said that all of the leaders were arrested and sent to Peragus.”

“So what you are saying is they are trying to do the same thing here on Earth?”

“It’s starting to make a lot of sense now,” he answered. “That’s why they came after you to recruit you because of the level you are at.”

“I bet that was them on the beach messing with Patrick’s board. They were looking to test my strength.”

“I really don’t believe they have been on their own this whole time without some assistance. I mean we would have been all too young to remember what happened back on Terra. They would have needed somebody to help influence them. Plus somebody had to have planted that bomb.”

“Mr. Wright?”

“He’d be the logical choice. They would have needed some adult help. Comes in and creates a Terran history class and offers to act as a faculty adviser so he can work closely with everyone on the team. But aside from that I had something else happen to me at the pier that has raised some questions.”

“What went on?”

“Me, Sarah and Alan went together to Santa Monica where we ran into Christian and Anna playing some games. Me and Sarah wanted to ride the Ferris wheel and got on but from out of nowhere it started to spin faster and faster.”

“Holy crap, is Sarah okay?”

“Yeah, she’s fine but was a bit shaken up.”

“So how did the Ferris wheel go so out of control?”

“Alan happen to be standing in eye shot of Christian seeing him looking at the wheel with his fist balled up. He thinks he was the one who made it go.”

“But only one of us could have pulled something like that off if we were strong enough.”

“Exactly, Christian could be a Terran just like us.”

“No way, I’ve seen him. I mean don’t we all have a sixth sense about who’s who.”

“That is the part that bothers me the most.”

“So what do we do right now?”

“Nothing at the moment. My parents are still asleep upstairs. I’ll have to wait until morning.”

“Guess I will just go home and dry off,” Dan said, walking back to the front door. “I’ll have to figure out a reason for my parents for being out so late.”

“Probably wouldn’t hurt to call Grace while you are at it,” Kyle said smiling.

“Yeah, haha,” Dan replied. “I’m afraid they could be planning something but I don’t know what it is yet. If this was as serious as what your father said happened. We are going to need to watch our backs now.”

Kyle and Dan leaned into each other and hugged giving each other a pat on the back.

“We will figure this out together.”

Once Dan left and Kyle made it back up to his room he pondered, instead of waking his father up he quietly stepped into his private office sitting down at his computer. He punched at the keys wanting to get into the database his father brought up but was an encrypted file only accessible by a password. Michael woke up having heard the beeping sound of all the attempts to gain access. He opened his office door looking bleary eyed seeing Kyle at his desk.

“Kyle, what are you doing in here?” he said. “It’s late.”

“I’m sorry Dad but it couldn’t wait. Dan just came here and you were right. The other students from the sky surfing team are part of the group you were talking about.”

“How do you know all of this?”

“They were all inside a place that housed an anti-Terran support group to find a list of names but one of them shot a man. Dan stayed behind to try and help him however he rushed himself and the man out of there just as a bomb went off.”

“Where is the man now who got shot now?”

“Dan managed to get him to the hospital.”

Michael just stood looking deep in thought that made Kyle fear what he would say.

“Did he do the right thing?”

“I’m sorry, of course he did,” he said. “It’s good that Dan was able to figure out what their agenda really was before it became too late.”

“However, that’s only half of it.”

Michael sat down in a chair across from his desk sitting in front of Kyle. “What else you need to tell me?”

“Tonight when I and Sarah went to the Santa Monica Pier we were riding the Ferris wheel when it started spinning out of control all of a sudden.”

“Ferris wheels don’t just do that on their own.”

“I know but at the same time Alan was on the ground and he saw Christian with his fist balled up looking at the wheel.”

“For something that big you would need a direct line of sight and complete concentration.”

“His girlfriend, Anna, broke off his staring at the wheel.”

“So that means he could easily be a Terran?”

“Yes,” Kyle replied. “And me and Dan don’t believe the other students concocted the break in and explosion on their own.”

“Well you two are definitely right in that assumption. Do you have someone in mind?”

“Peter Wright.”

“Peter Wright? Your Terran history teacher?”

“Yes.”

“Well let me take a look and see what I can find,” Michael said, sitting down in place of Kyle.

“Peter Wright,” he said, pulling up a data screen of his information. “That’s interesting. It says before he delved into becoming a Terran studier he served in the justice department.”

“So you mean he was like the equivalent of a police officer?”

“That’s pretty accurate,” he replied. “Amongst his abilities are....” Kyle watched as his father kept reading until his eyes froze on one line. “Of course, why didn’t I see it this before?”

“What’s wrong?”

“His other ability is camouflage. It allows you to hide yourself from the sight of others. I know there are only a few who could do that.”

“So he could have stolen the obelisk from the museum?”

“Quite possibly. I am going to go back into the records.”

Michael reopened the Terran group database searching through anything that could possibly connect Peter to their group.

“Dad, stop,” Kyle said, holding up his hand. “Go back to the previous photo.”

Kyle stared at a still photo that was from one of the group’s rallies scanning it until he pointed his finger. “Right there. He was part of the crowd that day.”

“I’m having someone sent to the hospital to protect the man,” Michael said. “We have some liaisons with the local police department.”

“But wouldn’t they question him? They’d go after whoever was responsible.”

“Yes, but they aren’t equipped to deal with our kind,” he replied. “We haven’t given them a reason to. This is a highly precarious and volatile situation Kyle. There is someone who is pulling the strings behind the scenes. I can feel it but none of us have a finger on it. If your suspicions are correct about your friend Christian and he is a Terran it can turn into something very dangerous. I am looking out for our families safety.”

“I feel I can look out for myself.”

“I know, I raised you to be independent and resilient but don’t try to test him or anything. You get that willingness to push from your Mother’s side.”

Kyle knew it would be a losing battle with his father once he put his foot down so he resigned and went back to his room crawling into bed.