Alchemist (29 page)

Connor backed off,
raising a hand. “She had to know. I’m sorry, it was the only
way!”

Lyle blinked,
incredulous. His vision darted between the Pyrovite and his wife.
“Why? Why did she have to know? You’ve put us all in danger!” His
gaze returned to Jo. “How much does she know?” he demanded,
pointing a metal finger.

“I’ve not told her
anything yet! She wouldn’t have believed me! She had to see for
herself!”

Lyle stared in
disbelief. “You haven’t told her what you are, yet you bring her
here to see me?”

“What does he
mean?” Jo asked, stepping away from her husband.

Connor could see
the fear on her face. He swallowed hard, his throat raw. “I’m not
human and neither is he.”

“What do you
mean?” she gasped, retreating even further from him.

“Jo please...” He
begged, reaching out to her.

“Stay away from
me...”

Tears stung his
eyes. “Jo...”

“Stay away!” she
screamed, backing into the corner.

“What the hell is
going on in here?” Terry asked as she walked through the door. She
turned instantly to Jo when she spied her in the corner of her eye.
The woman stared at her, terrified. Terry looked to the others for
an explanation.

“She knows about
us.” Lyle offered, his eyes flashing with anger.

Terry casually
turned to Jo.

“Keep away...” she
warned, bumping into the wall as she backed off.

“It’s alright.
She’s fine.” Terry insisted, looking at her uncle and Connor as she
approached Jo; only to be struck across the face with a poker.

Terry stumbled
back, holding a hand to her face. She hissed, flashing her fangs
and mandibles. A deep gash ran diagonally across her flesh,
revealing the black metallic skull beneath. Grimacing, she turned
back to Jo, who got to see the Alchemist’s skin knit back together.
Within a few moments it looked as if she had never been hit at all.
“Please don’t do that.” Terry warned. The poker clanged to the
floor as it slipped free from Jo’s grasp. She fainted.

She woke to find
Connor leaning over her, his expression grim.

She felt her heart
sink, remembering what had occurred before she blacked out. “It
wasn’t a dream was it?” she muttered.

Connor sat down on
the bed next to her. “No...I’m sorry.”

“I don’t
understand...”

Connor took her
hand into his. “I promise I’ll tell you everything you want to
know.”

She stared at him
through tired eyes, but said nothing.

******

Terry struggled to
concentrate with Lyle pacing. She had been in the workshop for over
an hour building something before he turned up. Instead of making
conversation or being there for any other purpose, he had just
started walking from end of the room to the other.

Driven to
distraction, Terry slammed the screwdriver down. “Is something
wrong?”

He turned to
her, not appreciating the tone. “
Yes
, there is.”

“You don’t need to
get snippy. I didn’t ask you ten minutes ago because the only
reason you came down here was to get attention.”

Lyle was taken
aback. “I came down here because I thought you were just as angry
as I was.”

She threw her arms
out. “Why must you always exaggerate? One person knows Lyle, who
cares?”

“I care! And so
should you!” he shouted, pointing a finger at her. “All it takes is
one. All she has to do is tell the wrong person and before you know
it we’ll be hunted like wild animals.”

Terry rolled her
eyes. “And who is she going to tell exactly? No-one would ever
believe her anyway.”

“I think you’re
missing the gravity of the situation here. Like I said, all it
takes is a few words to the wrong person, someone who has maybe
encountered our kind before.”

“Well it’s not
like it makes any difference anyway, we’re going home in a few
days.”

Lyle fell silent,
his expression turning grim. “Do you really want to go back?”

Terry sighed. “I
don’t know...” She admitted, at a loss. “What about you?”

Lyle shrugged,
lost for words. Walking to the opposite end of the work bench, he
drew up a stool and took a seat. “It doesn’t matter what I want, I
go where I’m told.” He shrugged again. “That is the way it always
has been.”

“Yeah, but I mean,
if you had the choice. If there were no orders or no-one else
telling you what to do.”

He shook his head.
“I still wouldn’t know. When we first came here I hated the place
but now...” he said, looking around.

Terry rested her
head on her arm. “I feel the same. I mean, I miss my dad and I miss
home but...I have a life here now. We have friends and a job...well
I did have, I’ve probably been sacked now that I’ve been off so
long.” She laughed.

Lyle laughed too,
but it was a fleeting relief in the face of heavy burden that they
both carried. “You know your father would never allow you to stay
here.”

“I know but he
might have too. I don’t want to go home and start a war. I could
never have that bearing down on my conscious.” She suddenly
remembered something. “Oh aye, I spoke to dad this morning.”

“Is he still
coming through in three days?”

“Yeah and we both
know what will happen if he does.”

Lyle nodded,
knowingly. “We better get on with it then.”

“I’m going to try
Rufus’s old address again. I doubt he’ll be there but it’s a good
place to start, right?”

“Yeah.”

Abandoning her
work, Terry said: “I’ll be back shortly.”

“Don’t be too
long. If you’re not back within two hours I’m going to come
looking.”

Terry smiled at
him as she stood in the door. “Now you’re sounding like my
father.”

He winked at her
and she departed.

******

Terry dropped over
the fence without making a sound. Crouching, she quickly took in
her surroundings. Seeing no signs of danger she relaxed, standing
and making her way across the garden. The grass drew her attention
– it had not been cut in weeks.

Reaching the back
door to his sprawling home, Terry took one last look around before
summoning a blade to pick the lock; the door opened with little
persuasion. She stepped inside, quietly shutting it behind her. The
kitchen counters were bare; another poor omen that no-one had lived
in the property for some time. Terry moved through the house,
making a quick sweep of every floor.

By the time she
reached Rufus’s study her suspicions had been fully realised and
she was concerned. It was not like him to be away for home so long.
She may not have spoken to him in years, but she had remembered him
well enough from when she was a teenager to know that this was out
of character. What was even more disturbing was how orderly she had
found his house in. Rufus was never tidy; someone else had been
there.

Sitting
behind his desk, she pulled opened a drawer. There was nothing in
it save a bundle of blank paper and pens and pencil. In another,
she discovered a cache of opened letters, but nothing of any
significance. Slamming the draw shut, Terry drummed her fingers
against the desk in though. Rufus also never kept a tidy
desk.
And where were his books with the
language of his people
? His desk used to be littered
with them when she was a teenager.

A thought struck
her. Something she had forgotten when she had first entered the
room. She stood up, staring at a depression in the ceiling as she
crossed to the centre of the room. The depression was circular,
lined with row after row of decorative features. Directly beneath
it, the carpet dipped ever so slightly, concealing another one.
This was not merely poor architecture, but rather, a hidden piece
of technology created by an alien race.

Waving her hand
between the two points in a particular fashion, the room suddenly
transformed. The decorations, the carpet and the magnolia wallpaper
seemed to melt away, revealing a black room. The depression in the
ceiling and the floor also took on a new form, that of two circular
blue discs. Another world of technology surrounded her. Only the
desk and large bookcase at the end of the room remained the same as
before the illusion ended.

Between the panels
on the ceiling and the ground a flickering field of static
appeared. “Hello?” Terry called, staring into it. There was no
reply. “Hello?” she said again. She heard a noise, but couldn’t
tell if it was a muffled response or just interference. There was a
buzz, and a hiss. Then silence.

“Hello?” replied a
voice, the image remaining grainy.

“Rufus? Is that
you?” she asked, stepping closer to the hologram.

The picture
suddenly cleared and Terry could see his startled face. “Terry!” he
exclaimed, pulling the microphone on the headset closer to his
mouth. He laughed and she could see the tears in his eyes. “You’re
a sight for sore eyes. I didn’t think I’d get to speak to anyone
ever again.”

“What’s going on?
Where are you?”

He shook his head,
relief etched across his unshaven face. “It’s a very long story.
But put it this way, it didn’t work out well and they’re not
letting me go.”

“Who isn’t?”

“My would-be
investors, we struck up a partnership and I was meant to be working
with them on a project.” He shook his head. “But they twisted my
research and when I complained, they locked me in here.”

“How come I can
talk to you?”

He smirked,
gesturing the headphone. “When they came to my house I still had
this in my pocket. It was still connected to the server. They never
checked me.”

“How long have you
been there?”

“Five weeks.”

“Jesus, where are
you?” she asked, scared.

“I’m not exactly
sure.” He said looking about but Terry could not see anything
beyond his own face. “Do you still know how to use the interface on
the computer?”

Terry pressed a
combination of buttons on the floating holographic screen that had
appeared beside her when she had turned on the blue discs. The
screen spun several times before turning into a map. A white dot
started flashing at its centre, trailed by co-ordinates.

“I have you.
According to this you’re in south Wales.” She pressed a button and
the image zoomed in. “It looks like you’re in an old mine or
something.”

“Shit.”

“What?” she asked,
looking back.

He shook his head.
“I should have realised they would have bought me here.” He peered
back at her. “We’re mining for a rare metal here.” He hesitated.
“One I was using in my research.”

“The research
they’ve stolen?”

“Yeah...”

“Hold on, we’re
coming to get you.”

“Who’s we?”

She shrugged. “All
of us hopefully. Connor, Faye and my uncle are all back at the
mansion in Edinburgh. Something has happened back home and we need
your help.”

He nodded. “If you
get me out of this I’ll do anything you want.”

“I can’t have you
and Lyle fighting though, I don’t have time for it.” She warned,
pointing a finger at him.

“After the last
few weeks Terry I think I’ve learned what the important things in
life are.” He said, fighting back tears. “Besides...after what I’ve
done I will have no right to ever take dispute with your uncle
again.”

“Hold on, I’m
coming to get you.” She said, making to leave.

“Terry, before you
go, there’s something you should know.”

“What?”

He shook his head,
unable to look her in the eye. “I’ve done something terrible. The
metal we’re mining...it’s the same one you’re made of.”

Terry’s eyes
widened. “That’s impossible...it doesn’t exist on Earth.”

“It does Terry,
but it’s extremely rare.” He said, swallowing hard. Tears streamed
down his face. “And it can do the same things that the metal in
your blood does. It can take on different shapes. I was trying to
make it into a type of armour for the military. Then the wrong
people came along...” he shook his head.

“What have they
done?” she asked, dreading the answer.

“Terry...” he
cried, shaking his head. “They’ve created monsters.”

******

Lyle slammed his
fists into the workshop table. “He will die with those bastards!”
He spat, his face contorting with rage.

Terry flinched
back from his sudden outburst. “No! You’re not going to do anything
to him.”

His eyes narrowed,
but Terry stood her ground. “Don’t make me have to order you
again.” She threatened.

Lyle drew a deep
breath, keeping him temper in check. In brittle tones he said,
“Princess, he has helped create abominations!”

“He’s been locked
in a small room for several weeks. He wanted to make new armour for
the army; he didn’t help them do this. It isn’t what he
wanted.”

Lyle’s gaze
grew even darker. “That
isn’t
the point. He still started experimenting with our metal!”
his fist came down again. “He knows full well what it is capable of
and took the risk anyway!”

Terry raised her
hands to him. “He made a mistake!”

“Another big one
it seems! It doesn’t tally well against my existing feelings for
the man, does it?” He pointed an accusing finger at her. “If you’re
father was here, he would have hunted him down and killed him!”

“Well my father
isn’t here, so I’m the highest authority there is. And I’m not
going to kill him and neither are you!” She sighed, feeling her
colour rising. “That really is your and his answer to everything
isn’t it? You can’t just go around killing everyone!”

“
Stop
talking like you are one of them!” he spat, sweeping his arm
around. “You are not a human!”

Terry felt
the ancient monster within her stir, her raw rage battering against
the mental chains she had built to hold it.
Let go
. “Don’t talk to me like a child
general
.”
Let
go
.