“Coming in on Faya-Largeau, Chad.” The pilot announced.
Arx moved through the group of his ATLAS best and looked out the window at the small settlement in the middle of Chad. Renn spheres hovered over the grasslands, though much sparser than in other parts of the world. “The landing zone is outside the city.”
A gray-haired man in the copilot’s seat looked at the monitor. “We have a signal. They are ready for our arrival.”
“Good.” Arx turned around and spoke to his people, who were the leaders among the ATLAS teams. “The mission is to use this place as a distribution center for relief supplies. Each team will assess the supplies and parcel them out to the movers, who will get them to the other cities. Team Gamma, your specific target will be hospitals and medical clinics. Your people will receive all medical supplies, and everyone else will move the remaining supplies as they see fit.”
The shuttle landed, and the door opened. They exited quickly, all experienced in how this worked.
Arx was the last to step out of the shuttle. He watched his people with a sense of pride in them as they worked efficiently. Stacks of boxes were neatly set on dozens of pallets.
“Where are these coming from?” Disco Tim, a hero with a brightly glowing Afro hairdo and ATLAS uniform, asked.
Arx looked at the boxes, all perfectly balanced with food and essentials. “I think Nova has someone making them for us. I haven’t got word were they are coming in from, but I’m glad we have them.”
Disco Tim strutted away to help his team.
Arx’s eyes lingered on the boxes for a moment before he looked up at the nearest sphere. A deep feeling sank in his chest. One of these spheres contains the woman he fell in love with. It was impossible to know which now, but he ached knowing that one held her captive. What was it doing to her? Was she still alive? The feeling of her holding him when they courted on the station remained a precious memory. She suffered so much pain with her brother’s death, and then Drocha took her. She deserved so much better.
“Hey, Arx!” EB zipped up in front of him.
Justin walked over to him as well. “I told you, no running around like that. I can hardly keep up.”
“I wasn’t running. If I were really running, you’d never keep up. Hey, looky, Arx and his people are here.”
Justin caught his breath as he said, “I know.”
Arx frowned. “What are you doing here? Did Nova send you to check up on our progress?”
EB said, “Nope. We are on a... oh, right...” He leaned in and held a paw up to his face to deflect anyone seeing him whisper, “It’s a secret.”
“Not helping.” Justin muttered and then said, “Let’s just say we have our own orders. We are following some traces that led us here. I thought maybe your ATLAS systems on these shuttles picked up something.”
Arx leaned back in the shuttle and asked the pilot, “Are sensors picking up anything unusual?”
The man checked over his readings and then said, “Nothing out of the ordinary. Do I need to scan for something?”
Arx looked back at Justin. “What are you looking for?”
“Don’t worry. We know there is a signal, just hoped you might have a more exact location. I can’t actually tell you what it is, and I have to leave it at that.”
Arx asked, “Tell me you know something more about these spheres? Has BADGE made any progress in saving the people inside?”
Justin seemed to catch the desperation in Arx’s voice as he gained a more sympathetic tone. “Sorry. No. They haven’t given up looking, but as far as I know, we haven’t found that answer.”
Arx gulped back the heart in his throat as he put on a professional face. “I hope they find something.”
EB looked around and saw the sphere. “Oh... right, that girl. Uh... I mean... you know... HEY, you guys look half dead. Here,” He zipped around and everyone got a large chocolate egg. “Eat them up, morphon infused with magic. Will give you a real pep. And they’re the most awesome chocolate you’ll have ever tried. Trust me.” He then looked at one of the boxes. “Wow, these are from Santa’s workshop. I knew he was having these made. They are the best. You've got a lot.”
“EB... EB!” Justin got the attention of his companion. “We have to be going. We have work to do.”
“Right, right. Hey, Arx, chin up. BADGE is smart and can figure things out. Trust me. They have the smartest people. You’ll get.... uh....”
“Come on.” Justin took a bite of the chocolate egg he had already been eating on.
EB zipped away and Justin sped away as well, moving at speeds he naturally couldn’t move. Doubtless, there was a benefit from the magic egg he had eaten.
Arx watched them leave and then looked at the sphere again. “What are they looking for?” He climbed back into the shuttle and excused the man at the copilot’s station so he could sit there.
“Sir, can I help?” The pilot asked.
“Just prepare to take off and deliver supplies when Team Alpha finishes sorting them.” Arx accessed the sensor system and targeted the spheres.
“Sir, you know our sensors can’t...”
Arx angrily stated, “I know. But there might be something. We can help... I have to help... I have to hope she can be saved.” A tear was rolling down his cheek; the pain in his heart was overpowering him. He almost didn’t come on this mission just because of facing the reality of what happened to Adrianne.
***
Drocha smiled at the screen on a smaller monitor near him. He watched Arx from inside the shuttle, a perfect view through a hijacked camera near the pilot. He paused the screen with a casual flick of his finger and zoomed in on the tear creeping down Arx’s face.
“How sweet, he still loves her though she is utterly gone.”
Reversing the feed for a moment, he listened to Arx pour out his heart in a single, languishing moment. The words, “I hope she can be saved,” repeated a few times.
“Romance, one of the greatest weaknesses of the human condition. For all their powers and victories, such pointless weaknesses still hold them back. How shall I use this to my advantage?”
He pondered this for a moment and then said, “I will choose the right moment, my dear friend, to use this against you. For now, I’m curious about what these two are up to.” He changed to another camera within the shuttle that looked out the door.
EB and Justin were speaking with Arx near the supplies. They were far enough away that the mic of the camera couldn’t pick up what they were saying. Drocha lost his smug sneer as he glared at EB, watching the bunny’s mouth moving.
“Damnit, I can read Agent Justin’s lips like a book. But, that thing talks too fast, and its mouth is so odd. What is he saying?” He paused the video and reversed it, replaying the encounter a few times. When Arx leaned into the shuttle to ask about the sensors, he could hear that part of the conversation.
“So, they are following a signal... which is utterly impossible. Perhaps they are simply following false leads.” He sat back and poured thoughts into this, his eyes glued on the screen. “What are they seeing? What could they possibly think they’ve found?”
He checked his own sensors for a moment. “My network is secure; they can’t hope to see it. However...” he cocked his head as he watched the monitor. “Perhaps it is time to unleash a little of my power, give them something to distract them until it is too late. This should flush out Nova as well, get his attention and draw him into the open.”
Working the controls, he focused on a sphere far distant from Arx’s location. Putting in a command, the sphere on the monitor began to blink and show a short countdown. “This will be most entertaining.”
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