The Erotic Mind-Control Story Archive

Vivian cornered me as we headed for the corridor. “Why can’t we leave, Alex?”

“Where else can we go that’s as safe as here?”

“I get it,” she said. “We’re tied to our cage for now. But once we get the helmets made, I think we need to get out of the Bay Area. We have no idea what the aliens will do next, but they’ve got to know that there’s a group of us here.”

“Oh, I’m sure Albert knows we’re here, but we’ve been extremely careful with security. I don’t think he’s figured out exactly where we’re hiding. There’s probably eight million people still left around here, and I think concealing ourselves in the crowd is better than being isolated in some lonely mountain retreat.”

“Why is that?” she asked. “My family’s house stayed hidden from the aliens for a long time.”

“Yes, but other than staying hidden, what did you do there?” Her face fell, as I waved my hand around the open workspace on the second floor of Orange Building. Dozens of drone workers went about their daily assignments like cogs in my well-oiled war machine. “We can only fight back if we have the resources, and without the labs and the researchers, we wouldn’t make any progress against the aliens. We can’t fight them with regular weapons, and now that they’ve changed their behavior, we have to be even more agile in our thinking.”

I hugged her to me. “I know how you feel, beautiful. Really. Everything feels like it’s collapsing around us, but we’ve got to keep going. We’ve just got to be smarter and more determined than those outer space assholes, right?”

She looked up at me and smiled. “I really love you, young man,” she said.

I squeezed a handful of her generous breast as I leaned down to give her a kiss. “And I love you too, old lady.” I stepped back and looked her in the eye. “Are we good?”

She sighed. “You know, I never was much of a fighter—I left all of that to Chase. But being around you...” She stood up straight, and thrust out her oversized chest, in a sexy parody of a soldier at attention. “Yes, sir!” She laughed for just a second, before her posture went back to normal. “But, what are we doing now? There’s hardly anyone left to coordinate with after the last two pulses. It’s going to be just us if we don’t get some progress soon.”

She was right. The aliens had upped their game, and we weren’t going to get much further in our struggle if we didn’t get some breathing room. Twenty days ago, for the first time since they invaded, the aliens had varied the schedule of the planet-wide EM pulse. We’d huddled inside the Faraday cage for more than two days, while the metallic orbs hovered in the sky. I had deactivated the cage twice in that time, once to send instructions to the drones waiting outside, and the other to bring in crates of food and blankets, plus a camp toilet. Each shutoff had taken less than thirty seconds, but I had worn the Arbiter’s helmet both times, just in case.

Finally, fifty-two hours, thirty-eight minutes, and nine seconds after the expected pulse time, we had received the all-clear signal. When we emerged, it took a while to figure out what had happened. Vid footage showed the alien ships arriving on schedule, but then staying inactive until more than two days later. Immediately after they’d pulsed, they’d taken off to recharge like always. I’d tried to contact all of the other Unconverted, and found that almost a third of them were suddenly off the grid, including Lieutenant Cooper, Chief Callie, and the entire group at Cheyenne Mountain.

I had speculated on dozens of ways that the aliens could root out our underground network, but I hadn’t imagined them altering the clockwork timing of their eight-day pulse. I had to admire them for the ingenuity of it, at the same time I cursed them for outthinking me. I had expected more of a traditional conflict, where the insurgents try to stay hidden, striking from the shadows at strategic targets, while the occupiers search them out, one by one, and try to eliminate them. Instead, the aliens were using the tools they already had in place to reduce the number of available insurgents with a simple change in timing.

We’d all walked on eggshells after that first pulse. No one was allowed to be more than thirty seconds away from a cage, and I set up a new alarm system to signal the arrival of the orbs.

Exactly eight days after the last pulse, the metallic net of ships once again filled the sky. We’d scrambled into our shelter in record time and settled in for another tense waiting game. This time, the pulse occurred thirteen hours, two minutes, and forty-one seconds after it’s scheduled time.

All of my research efforts since that first incident had focused on finding a portable way of keeping the Unconverted safe, some analog to the Arbiter’s helmet that could be worn during the EM event. Before this, the thirty minute wait inside the cage every eight days had been a minor, but manageable, inconvenience. Now, if I didn’t find a way to counter this new alien tactic, the Human Revolution would become a war of attrition that humanity had no hope of winning.

Luckily for us, the EM energy that the ships produced had stayed on the same frequencies. If they had shifted outside of their normal range, even the cage might not be enough to save us. Passive Faraday technology should, in theory, protect us from everything, but we had relied on the electronic tuning of the cage to specific EM bands to make doubly sure. Research into the aliens indicated that they had an innate understanding of electromagnetism that we needed to counter with an overabundance of technology.

Vivian and I had just finished touring the lab where several electrical engineers were working on the sensor mechanisms that would cover the outside of the portable Faraday helmets. Other labs on other floors were working on various sub-assemblies, and Param, Anatoly, Jill, and Amber were on the fourth floor, putting all of the pieces together into a working prototype. So far, the end product was heavy, and unwieldy, and provided less than seventy percent protection.

“You know,” Vivian said, “it may just be because I lived with Chase for so long, but I really wish we could hit them back, rather than playing defense all the time.”

“I know how you feel,” I said. “But I’m not sure any of our attacks will involve guns and bombs, ever again. Not after Salt Lake City.”

“Still, I wish we could find a way to hurt them.”

I looked up as Scarlett opened my office door, ushering in Anatoly and Cassie.

“We’ve found a way to hurt them,” the Russian said, without preamble.

I looked at Cassandra, who nodded. “OK,” I said, “have a seat.” I pointed at the chairs in front of my desk. Param sat tapping on his pad in the back of the room, as we went over our end-of-day progress reports.

“Give me a short summary, Anatoly.”

“Cold,” the little man said. “Cold and electricity.”

That was a little shorter than I wanted. “Cassie? What about cold?”

“It has to do with their physiology, Alex. Their home planet has a high concentration of sulfur, probably in the soil and the atmosphere. There are traces of it in almost every sample we’ve tested, organic or inorganic. And I believe their mean temperatures are higher than ours by at least ten degrees.”

“OK,” I said, “and sulphur reacts to cold in a way that we can use?” I knew about cold’s effects on plenty of substances, but sulfur wasn’t commonly used in the technology I dealt with.

“Hydrogen sulfide,” she said, “lowered to minus seventy-seven degrees becomes a superconductor, one of the highest temperature superconducting compounds we know of.”

“And it’s present in the bodies of the aliens?” I asked.

Both of them nodded.

“But wouldn’t lowering the temperature around them to minus seventy-seven just kill them from exposure, exactly like it would do to a human? Pour liquid nitrogen on them, and they’re going to freeze to death long before the sulfur in their bodies transforms into a superconductor state.”

Cassie’s face fell, while Anatoly’s stayed unchanged. “I...I didn’t think of...bollocks, I’m sorry, Alex,” the young grad student said. “I got so excited at the discovery, and then...” Her head drooped, until her hair covered her face. “You’re not going to fire me, are you?” she asked.

The constant reinforcement of the other women had finally gotten through to Cassie that I wasn’t some tyrant who would banish her from the kingdom at the slightest mistake, but there was no getting past the fact that she was very young, and very unsure of herself in this fast-paced environment.

“No, Cassie,” I said. “Of course not. We know something today, that we didn’t know yesterday, and that’s because of you. Now we just have to find a way to use that knowledge. Make sure you copy Lani with your results so she can add it to her database, OK?”

She looked up, and nodded., wiping a tear away from the corner of her eye. I was pleased to notice that she had ditched the glasses.

“Alex?” she said.

“Yes, Cassie?”

“I think I’m ready to sleep with you now. If you want to that is...I mean I know you have other girls, but...” She lowered her head again, but I could see the skin of her neck turning pink with embarrassment.

Less than a year ago, I might have blushed too, but a lot of things had changed, including my attitude toward situations like this. “Cassie,” I said, “look at me.”

She raised her head a fraction, still hiding her eyes behind her hair. I motioned with my hand at her, until she was looking me in the eyes.

“Thank you,” I said, giving her what I hoped was a reassuring smile. “Why don’t we talk about it tonight in the apartment, OK?”

She nodded quickly, and almost leaped from her chair in her rush to get out of my office. Anatoly followed at a more sedate pace.

“Anything else, Param?” I asked my right hand.

“Low priority things, Alex. The language group has completed its mapping of the Arbiter and Sentinel signals, and there are shortages at more and more food wholesalers, causing our procurement group to need alternate sources. That requires them to return empty from their first destination, and wait until someone with command can give them new behavior for the alternates. That has been Erica’s duty for the last ten days, but she—”

“Hold on, Param,” I said. “Back up. What was that bit about the Sentinel signals?”

“The language group, including Dr. Walsh from Berkeley, has continued analyzing the command signals that we recorded in Salt Lake City. The personnel in the group were no use to the development of the EM helmet, so they continued their work without being reprioritized. I have a report from Dr. Walsh, that they have completed their catalog of the signals transmitted by the alien, during the assault at Camp Williams. A copy has been added to Lani’s files. I will disband the working group until we find them new jobs.”

I let the rest of his words roll through my brain as I decoded his first sentence. “Wait, we know how the aliens talk to their minions?” I said.

“Yes,” he replied, with all of the stoic honesty of the converted.

“Holy shit, Param, do you realize what this...?” Of course he didn’t. It was my job to make these intuitive leaps, and his job to follow up. I’d completely forgotten certain projects that had started in the wake of Salt Lake City, and in our panic at the aliens’ new pulse tactic, I’d put everything else on the back burner.

“Don’t disband the group, Param,” I said, already on my feet. “Gather them in the third floor conference room. Also get Lani, Amber, Jill, and Kara if she’s around.” My mind buzzed with possibilities as I headed for the door.

Kara’s small feet pounded down the corridor behind me. “Alex,” she said, pulling up to walk alongside, “you’re not really going to do this, are you?”

“We need to try, Kara. Mateo volunteered right away when I brought it up. He wants to help so badly, and I think this will be one of our biggest breakthroughs if it really works.”

“I know that. It’s just...well, try not to hurt him. Please.”

I stopped walking, and leaned down to kiss the top of her head. “I’ll try,” I said. “I like him, too.”

I held the door for her as we entered the same control room where I’d first seen the captured Sentinel. Through the reinforced glass, I saw Mateo’s head sticking out of the rebuilt containment box. Mike and Eddie let us pass through the door into the holding room. The shiny face of the Sentinel’s mask turned toward us as we entered.

“How are you, cariño?” Kara said.

“I’m good. Ready to go,” Mateo said.

“Scared?”

“Well...a little.”

“OK, Mateo,” I said, “we’re going to do this as a blind experiment, meaning that we’re not going to tell you what’s happening. We’re going to try using the decoded signals to send you messages through the alien link. I want you to tell us everything that you hear or feel, OK?”

“Yes, sir,” the young soldier replied.

“Good man,” I said.

He smiled, and Kara smiled back, running her fingers over the top of his smooth head. We’d discovered that the armor did have sensors built in, but they weren’t as sensitive as human skin, so he couldn’t tell the difference between a scratch or a caress. At least he could feel something.

“I’ll be fine,” he said to his former “angel.”

“You know, I can’t guarantee anything about this, Mateo,” I said. “We have no idea what will happen when those signals reach your helmet. You understand that, right?”

“Yes, sir. I do. And I’m ready for whatever happens, sir. Even if it kills me.” Kara stiffened at that. “I just need to do something to get back at those bastards, and if this is what I’m qualified for, I’m ready to do my duty, sir.”

I smiled down at him. How many times had I told him to stop calling me sir? And how many times had he reminded me that while a soldier followed orders, a soldier like him, who still had free will, wasn’t going to change his military behavior just because his commander got embarrassed.

“All right. We’ll be monitoring from the other room. You remember your safe word?”

“Yes, sir. It’s ‘Christmas,’“ he said.

“You say that, and we’ll stop everything, OK?”

“Yes, sir.”

I took Kara’s hand and headed for the door. We’d already talked about her staying in the room during the experiment, and I’d told her absolutely not. We couldn’t risk anything or anyone right now.

In the observation room, the entire crew watched me as I went to one of the central terminals. I put on a comm unit that would allow me to switch channels, rather than just shouting to the room. The earpiece rasped with the sound of Mateo’s breathing.

“OK, Mateo,” I said through the holding room’s speaker, “We’re going to start. Tell us what you feel.”

I nodded to Amber, who sat between Dr. Walsh, and Anatoly at the terminal that controlled the signals.

“Starting the transmitter,” she said.

In the next room, Mateo gritted his teeth. “Hurts,” he said.

“Is it OK, Mateo?” I asked. “Stronger or weaker than when you were under their control?”

“Weaker,” he said. “I can take it. Go ahead.”

I signaled to Amber again, and she started the first instruction.

“There’s...something there, but it seems...thick...slow.”

I switched to the ops channel on my comm. “Can you boost the frequency? Speed it up a bit.”

Through the window, the Sentinel’s head thrashed from side to side. “I need to get out, sir,” he said. “I need to get back to base.” The containment box shook, but without the ferocity of the last time he’d been inside.

I flipped back to the audio channel. “Where is your base, Mateo?” I asked.

“My room, down the hall. Please...”

Interesting. The command had been translated as RTB—return to base—but it seemed that “base” in this command had some leeway based on context. I motioned for Amber to start the next command.

“That’s...amazing, sir,” I heard through my earpiece. “I’m seeing infrared, just like through my old combat goggles. I didn’t remember that I could do that.”

Dr. Walsh took notes as Mateo described what was happening. He’d translated that sequence as “heat difference,” but he was revising the lexicon as each phrase was tested.

Kara had her face plastered to the observation window, watching her friend, but she pulled back sharply as the next command kicked in.

“Arrrgh!” Mateo screamed. “Kill you! Kill you! Shoot you!” His face looked exactly like it had before he broke his back—neck muscles corded, teeth gnashing together, nostrils flaring. The containment box shook with his movement. Several alarms rang on the terminals monitoring the test.

I made a chopping motion with my hand, and Amber cut the signal. The young man’s face relaxed. Kara whimpered and turned to look at me.

“Mateo?” I said through the speaker. “Are you all right? Do you want to stop.”

‘No, sir. I’m OK.” His voice was hoarse, but he sounded lucid. “I had a picture in my head of a man, but he didn’t have a face. I needed to kill him, immediately, by any means possible. It was...overwhelming, sir, the need that I had.”

“But you couldn’t see who it was you were supposed to kill?”

“No, sir.”

“And how do you feel now, Mateo?”

“I...I guess there’s still a little piece there, like a echo of it, but I’m sure I could resist it now if I had to.”

“That’s great, soldier. You’re doing great.” I said. “We’re moving on to the next one...”

“I can’t believe you’re thinking of trying it again, Alex.”

“What are we supposed to do, Vivian? We can’t just sit and wait for everything to fall apart. Have you noticed that there’s less and less food on the shelves? Fewer cars on the streets? We don’t have a lot of time left before the planet can’t sustain itself on just normal behavior. Then everyone will die anyway.”

“I know, but still, are we going to repeat Salt Lake City?”

“Maybe. And I know how much that horrifies you. I swear it does the same for me. But the only way we can know if something will work is if we try it.”

Lani had been silent the whole time, lying next to me on the large bed. She was naked, but only because she liked being naked. We were trying to get some rest between planning sessions. I had on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt, and Vivian was in a robe with, I assumed, nothing underneath.

The apartment that we’d first used in Orange Building had been revived after the aliens had changed their schedule of EM pulses. I missed the comforts of our offsite house, but being close to the Faraday cage was critical to our survival.

“Are we bringing anyone else, or is it just us this time?” Lani asked.

“Just us,” I said. “There’s practically no one left out there. Well, at least no one useful. Did I tell you that Catherine Calvin was on the vid yesterday?”

“No!” Vivian said, sitting up straight. “The actress? Really? She wasn’t converted?”

“Apparently not. She has a panic room at her mansion in Westchester that must be protected. But anyway, she got on the vid, and demanded that I drop everything to go get her and bring her back here, since I was the only one ‘remotely competent’ that she had talked to lately. I guess her assistant got caught in the last pulse and was converted, so now she’s on her own.”

“Oh my god!” Vivian squealed. “Katy Calvin! I love her. So what did you say?”

“I asked her what kind of work she could do when she got here, and she almost tore my head off. So I dropped the connection.”

Vivian slapped my shoulder. “You little shit! We could have had Katy Calvin here with us. Maybe even here in this bed. What kind of heterosexual man are you if you haven’t dreamed of fucking Katy Calvin?”

I chuckled. “Why would I need her, when you horny girls are all I can hope to handle.” Lani smiled at me, and curled up against my side.

“Still,” Vivian said. “Katy Fucking Calvin. I would have loved to see her naked.”

The door opened, and Kara stuck her head in. “Alex,” she said. “You busy?”

I looked at my two bedmates and shrugged. “Not right now. What’s up?”

“Well, I have someone here who wants to see you.”

“Oh?” I couldn’t figure out who would actually ask to see me. We all respected each other’s boundaries, but we were long past the stage of asking permission for much of anything. Unless it was...

“One minute, Kara,” I said. I think Vivian had it figured out, but Lani was looking at me curiously. “Cassie,” I said.

“Oh?” Lani said, her face lighting up. “Really? It’s about time.” She gave me a deep kiss and then bounced off the bed. She shook her tight, brown ass at me as she reached for a robe. “Come on Viv, let’s go have our own fun. Ice cream or cheesecake, which do you think?”

Vivian laughed and reached over to squeeze my cock through my shorts. “Have fun,” she said, as she followed Lani out the door.

Just as they left, Kara came in, followed by a nervous Cassandra. Kara was in a short, flower print dress. Cassie had her ever-present purple sweatshirt and white shorts. Her legs were so pale that they were almost translucent, with thin blue veins visible through the skin. They made an odd pair standing at the foot of the bed. They were about the same height, with the same color hair, but one was tan and rail thin, while the other was white and round and soft.

“Hi, Cassie,” I said. She didn’t say anything, just ducked her head so her hair covered her face. I fished around on the nightstand and then rolled off the bed. Cassie shrank back as I approached, but I reached out slowly to hold her by the shoulders.

I moved my hands up her neck, and gathered her hair away from her face. As I tugged it behind her, it forced her to look up at me. When I had all of her hair in one place, I wrapped it with the tie from the nightstand.

“There,” I said, stepping back to admire my handiwork. I turned to see Kara’s look of approval. Cassie took a deep breath and stood up straight, now that she couldn’t hide any more. I smiled down at her, and leaned forward to gently kiss the top of her head, feeling her body shudder as my lips touched her.

“So, what brings you two here?” I asked casually, as I sat on the edge of the bed.

“Don’t be a smartass, Alex,” Kara said. “You know what.”

“Maybe I do, maybe I don’t,” I said. “Why don’t you tell me, Cassie.”

The British grad student looked at me. She had big, hazel eyes, and a turned up nose between her round cheeks. She was a cute girl when she didn’t look either panicked or psychotic.

“I...” she stammered. “I...want to have sex with you, Alex. If you’ll have me.”

“Sit here with me, Cassie,” I said, patting the edge of the bed.

She sat next to me, and Kara sat on her other side. I draped an arm over her shoulders, and Kara put a hand on her knee. She stiffened at the contact, but then relaxed. She leaned into me a bit, pressing her thigh against mine.

“We’ve talked about this before, remember? Several times. And I’ve told you that while it would be very exciting for me to sleep with you, I need to know why you want to. You’ve been through a lot, and I know you still feel the effects of everything that happened in Chicago.” Kara squeezed the girl’s leg as she trembled between us. “And I know that sex isn’t something that you take lightly, so why do you think you need to do it with me?”

“Because...I want to be happy. After Chicago, I thought that the invasion had turned all men into bastards like Dr. Adkins—that the first chance they got, they became animals. But now I’ve been here with you, and with all of these fabulous women. They’re all so happy, the girls here, even with all of this going on. And the only reason seems to be you, Alex.”

“You know that most of them are attached to me because of the way their brains are wired, right? Only Vivian and Kara are really free to choose if they want to be with me.”

She nodded. “I know. I’ve talked to all of them. They’re really wonderful, and every one of them says that you are too. I know that I can stay here with you as long as I want, and that you won’t abandon me, or punish me, or any of that stuff I thought before, but I want more than that. I want to be close to people again. Like I was in London. I’ve been lonely ever since I got to the States. It was bearable while I had my studies, but then everything went to hell, and...and now I’ll never get back home.” Tears spilled down her cheeks as she talked, and Kara sobbed in empathy.

“Hey,” I said, wiping at her cheek with my thumb, “we’re here with you. The girls all love having you here. You can be with us as long as you want, and I promise that I’ll try to get you home as soon as this is over. But you still haven’t answered me. Can’t we be close without having sex? I’d be happy to just lay here with you.”

To show her, I scooted onto the bed and laid back on the pillow. On the other side, Kara did the same. Cassie looked at me for a moment before she joined us in the middle. I cradled her head on my shoulder, and laid my other arm across her soft belly. Kara’s arm covered mine, and Cassie’s hand topped them both.

“Do you think I’m pretty, Alex?” she asked.

“Of course I do,” I said.

“But you don’t mind that I’m smart, too, right?”

Kara and I both laughed at that. “Ah, no, Cassie. We don’t mind at all.”

Cassie gave us a sheepish grin. “Yeah, I guess that’s true. Like I said, I’ve talked with all of your girls.” She reached across her body, shifting her large breasts under her sweatshirt, and put her hand on my chest.

“I had a guy, back in London,”she said, “and he was perfect. His name was Thomas. He was in medical school, and we shared some biology classes. We moved in together after just a month, and we were just so happy together. And we...well to say it bluntly we fucked like bunnies. We had sex all the time. I was desperately in love, but then I got the chance to go to Northwestern, to work with Dr. Adkins, and get my PhD. Thomas didn’t want me to go, but he wouldn’t come with me, either, and in the end we split.

“I was miserable in Chicago, but I concentrated on my studies. And then the aliens came. I just felt so sad, and dirty, being fucked by those three animals. And even now, being safe, and working on things I love, and being around all of you, I still wasn’t feeling that same thing that I had with Thomas. I know I’ll probably never see him again, but I’d like to feel like I did back then. Does that make sense?”

I leaned over and kissed Cassie’s cheek. She put her hand behind my neck and twisted around until our lips met. Her mouth was almost desperate on mine, her tongue wriggling like a wild creature. She moaned, and rolled over so we were face to face.

I finally pulled back from her. “I have one more question,” I said.

“What’s that?”

“Do you want to take your clothes off, or should I do it?”

She laughed, and her hand snaked down to rub my hardening dick through my shorts. “I’ll let you,” she said.

We felt the bed move, and Cassie turned her head. “Wait.”

Kara stood at the foot of the bed. “I thought I’d leave you two alone,” she said.

Cassie sat up and held out her hands to the smaller girl. “Ever since our first talk, I’ve thought about what you said, and what I imagined after you said ‘we’ll see,’ and if it would be nice to...and now I’m just...bah, I’m babbling. What I mean is, would you like to stay?” She turned to me. “If that’s all right of course?”

Kara didn’t need my permission. She had her dress over her head in a flash, and she crawled back onto the bed while I reached for the hem of Cassie’s sweatshirt.

I’d never really cared for Fresno. Nothing against the town itself, or the people. I just figured that if you lived in California, you were there for the ocean or the mountains. Why live in the flat, dusty Central Valley when there was so much else around? Of course, I’d never been involved in farming or ranching, which are the main reasons that a city of almost a million would sprout in the middle of nowhere.

The air-conditioned comfort of our hotel kept the early-May heat and dust from getting to us as we watched the vid displays. The long-range cameras had a tendency to jiggle the image during any stiff breeze, but we had to keep them far enough away to escape the sensors of the local Arbiter. The main police station was an imposing granite structure, with iron-barred windows and a giant carved relief of the city seal to the right of the main door.

“There they go,” Jill said.

A police SUV pulled out of the basement garage. The cameras caught a flash of red in the driver’s seat, and a blue globe on the passenger side.

“OK,” I said. “Perimeter watch for when they return. Anatoly, launch your drone.”

The Russian watched his display as he manipulated the controls. The forward camera showed the roof of the police station, and as we watched, it zoomed directly to the sheet metal funnels that served the building’s air conditioning.

“Payload away,” Anatoly said.

The fine dust that spewed from the bottom of the drone barely registered on the camera.

“That was the last batch,” I said to the room. “When can we expect saturation, Anatoly?”

“Seven hours, Alex,” he said. “The nanites will spread through the building’s ventilation system, bonding to sulfur compounds wherever they find them. When we send the activation signal, then will begin their endothermic reactions, lowering the temperature around them to one-hundred ninety degrees Kelvin. If enough of them are concentrated on the alien equipment, it should disrupt any electronic or electromagnetic activity.”

“That’s still a big ‘if,’“ Amber said.

“If there are not enough nanites to cause a significant reaction, we may not get the result we desire,” Anatoly continued. “However, we did not have time to produce more nanites, and putting too many of them into the atmosphere of the police station may trigger a reaction of some kind.”

“Fine,” I said. “It’s too late to change the plan now. Everyone back to your rooms and get some sleep. Be back here in five hours.” All of the converted workers got up and left. Each one took their custom-designed canvas bag containing an EM-canceling helmet.

That left me with six beautiful women in the Governor’s Suite of the best hotel in the city.

“We really should get some rest,” I said, even as Lani stripped off her top.

“Hmmm. Do you think so?” Scarlett’s voice came from behind me as her arms circled my waist, and her breasts pressed into my back.

“I’m not tired at all,” Amber said, as she pulled her panties down from under her skirt.

Even with the improved cameras and breathing system, the Arbiter’s helmet wasn’t nearly as user-friendly as our new Faraday helmets. Still, I had more faith in the blue globe’s ability to protect my free will than I did in our new inventions.

“The Arbiter and Sentinel just left, Alex.”

“Thanks, Jill,” I said into my comm. I switched channels. “Let’s go.”

I opened the door and ran out of the barber shop, across the street, and up the wide stairs at the front of the police station. Behind me, the external mics picked up the footsteps of Mike, Eddie, Stephan, and Anatoly. I turned when I reached the doors, to cover the other four. Mike ran up and slapped a charge on the locked doors.

“Fire in the hole!”

I killed the microphones briefly, as the charge went off. When I turned them back on, the sound of boots on broken glass was loud in my ears. There was nothing approaching from our rear, so I turned and followed the others inside. Vivian had overwatch from a building across the street, and she would tell us if anyone came in behind us.

My heavy pack kept banging against my spine as I trotted through the front lobby. I reached the stairwell just behind the others, and just like Salt Lake City, we headed for the basement.The lights were on this time, but we hadn’t been able to recon the actual room we needed. Hopefully it wouldn’t matter.

The four of us with packs shucked them off, and gathered their contents on the linoleum floor. Stephan and Anatoly attacked the pile of electronics, while Mike, Eddie, and I watched the corridors.

“They’re back, Alex,” Jill’s voice said over the comm. “Coming in fast.”

“Thanks,” I said.

“Be careful, baby.” Lani’s worried voice came into my helmet.

“I will, baby. Now clear the comms,” I said.

Anatoly was still attaching cables between devices when we heard a crash from the floor above us. The four of us with guns hugged the walls and aimed for the stairwell door, as the sound of heavy footsteps approached.

“Done,” Anatoly said, just as the door burst open.

“Now, Lani!” I shouted into the mic as I opened fire at the door. Around me, the other three did the same. The boxes on the floor hummed to life just as the bulk of the Sentinel came into view.

A high-pitched mechanical whine came from a room behind us, followed by a muffled explosion.

“Alien signal has stopped. Starting commands,” Amber’s voice said.

The Sentinel’s rifle came up, even as his armor was gouged by our fire. A three round burst from his large-bore rifle caught Eddie in the chest, and hurled him down the corridor. I saw the barrel of the rifle swing toward me, just as another of our devices hummed to life. I dropped to the ground, banging the blue Arbiter’s helmet on the floor and nearly snapping my neck. My cameras weren’t facing the Sentinel any more, but when I didn’t feel bullets ripping into my body, I rolled to look. The towering red being stood perfectly still, gun at his side, while bullets peppered his armor.

“Cease fire!” I shouted. Mike had been reloading, but Stephan raised his rifle away from his target.

“Freeze the Arbiter, Jill. Amber, send the kill command.” I got to one knee, pointing my rifle at the Sentinel’s helmet for all the good it would do. This entire operation was built on the assumption that all of our tricks would work, but this particular one was the most dangerous. The same command that had sent Mateo into such a fury was now sent through our transmitter on the hallway floor to the helmet of the Sentinel. If we programmed it correctly, the command was accompanied by the image of a squat, blue alien.

The hulking armored man raised his rifle, and I tensed. I tracked the barrel as it pointed past my ear, toward a doorway at the end of the hall.

“Stay in place,” I said to the other men, as the Sentinel stomped past us, down the corridor. I spared a brief glance at Eddie’s body, and felt a wave of sadness pass through me as I remembered everything we’d been through as both allies and enemies.

The Sentinel stood in front of the door, firing his rifle into the lock. What would have shattered a normal door barely scratched this reinforced one. It must have been enough, though, because the Sentinel slung his rifle on his back, and pounded his fist into the lock. I stood watching, dumbfounded at the strength of this creature that had once been a human. Lucky for me, others weren’t as awed by the sight.

“Baby,” Lani’s voice came to me, “we have no idea what kind of atmosphere’s in that room. I know you have a breathing mask, but none of the others do, and the stuff might be, like acidic or something.”

She was right. “Mike and Stephan, grab Eddie,” I said. “Everyone up the stairs.”

The pounding continued. I stuck a remote cam on the wall pointing toward the Sentinel, then headed up the stairs. On the top landing, the emaciated Arbiter stood perfectly still, her body locked by the commands from our transmitter. We went around her and into the upper lobby.

I blinked up the camera feed, just in time to see the door smash in, and a cloud of thin yellow gas stream out of the room. It didn’t seem to phase the Sentinel, who unslung his rifle and opened fire into the room. Shell casings clattered on the floor as the shots rang out. The firing pin clicked on an empty chamber, and the red armored warrior stopped dead.

“Amber, send RTB,” I said.

The Sentinel spun out of the smashed doorway, and moved toward the stairs. I got everyone back, as the heavy footsteps ascended. When he emerged from the stairs, he turned toward the back of the police station, and went into what looked like a break room, with a table and chairs, and an ancient refrigerator. He stopped in front of a ragged mattress on the floor and stayed perfectly still. I stuck another camera on the door frame, so Scarlett could keep an eye on him, and went back to the lobby.

My legs shook, as the adrenaline ebbed away. Had we really done it? Killed our second alien? It had gone so quickly, I wasn’t sure it was real. I hadn’t seen the alien’s body yet, so it might not be real, but everything seemed to indicate that we’d done it.

There was no cheering over the comm. Not yet. There was still a lot to do, and we didn’t know how much time there was left to do it. Last time it had been over twenty hours before the explosion had destroyed the base in Salt Lake City. We still had no idea what had triggered it, whether it was local or remote, automated or directed by an alien mind, so every second that we lingered in the blast radius we were in danger.

There was a lot to do, but the first thing was to test the air so we could get down there and see what was left of Arthur the Alien.

I stumbled over Eddie’s body where it lay in the hallway, and another wave of sadness washed over me. I had never said more than a dozen words at a time to the retired policeman, but I still remembered his earnest face, and the way he called me “sir,” just like Mateo did. I wasn’t much for funerals, and I had no idea whether he had preferred burial or cremation, but I promised myself that we’d do something to honor the man who had died saving the planet, even though he had no control over his own actions, or any idea of his heroism.

“Anatoly,” I said into the comm, “find a way to test the air quality. Amber and Scarlett, keep watch on our two new recruits. Jill, take over watching our perimeter on the cameras. Kara and Vivian, come inside the station. Kara, bring the minion team with the storage containers.” I continued issuing orders as I stood guard over Eddie’s cooling body.

I rode in the back of the semi that carried the sedated Sentinel, along with crates full of alien technology. The battery powered light on the ceiling wasn’t bright, but it let me keep an eye on the steady breathing of our prisoner. The Arbiter was in the bus that, along with another truck, made up our little convoy. I sat on a blanket, with my back to the container’s corrugated metal wall.

Lani sat between my legs, resting against my chest. I’d tried to tell her that it was too dangerous for her to be here with the comatose alien killer, but she had insisted, and had organized the other women to gang up on me. Honestly, I was happy for her company on the three hour trip back to Rollins-Chiu.

“What are we going to do with him?” she asked me, as she absently stroked my leg.

“We’ll try to snap him out of his control,” I said. “Like we did with Mateo. Hopefully this time he won’t hurt himself. But for now, we just have to keep him sedated.”

“Do you think they’ll blow up Fresno? The aliens?”

“I hope not, but we did everything we could. The area around the station is evacuated for the next forty-eight hours. If they don’t blow it up, then everyone can go back home after that. If they do bomb it, well...I’ll have to come back and see what I can do for the people. Try to resettle them or something. Honestly, I don’t know.” I rubbed my tired eyes.

“It’s going to be hard doing this over and over, city by city. I don’t think the aliens are going to stand for too many raids on their bases.”

“I don’t think so either,” I said. “But this isn’t our only tactic. This was just a test, really. We’re making progress on so many fronts, but each new advance needs to be tested, so that we can integrate it into the bigger plan. This time, we tested our control transmitter, and we tested Anatoly’s endothermic nanites. Both of them worked well, but we need to take what we learned and see how we can use it on a larger scale.”

“I hope by ‘larger scale’ you don’t mean any more of those torsos in the boxes. Those things creep me out.”

I laughed. “Me, too,” I said. “We’ll have to see what they use the human brains for, and maybe we can get around having to make our own torsos.” Lani twisted her head to look at me, her mouth open in shock. I laughed again. “I’m kidding. Don’t worry, we’re not going to mutilate people for the cause.”

“Hmmph.” She slapped my thigh and turned back around.

I chuckled as I hugged her from behind. My satphone rang, and I put it on speaker, so Lani could hear as well.

“Hello?”

“Alex, it’s Erica.” The young redhead sounded upset. “Where are you guys?”

“We’re on our way back now. What’s wrong, Erica?”

“The Arbiter and Sentinel just showed up! They’re walking into White Building now!”

“Oh, my god,” Lani said.

“Erica, are you safe? What about Cassie?”

“We’re OK. I called Cassie at her lab. She’s heading to the offsite house right now.”

“Good,” I said. “You go too, and stay there until we come get you.”

“Don’t you want me to stay here and monitor them? What do you think they’re going to do, Alex?”

“I have no idea. But you just get away from there, as fast as you can. Cover your face with something before you go outside, in case they have cameras.” I wanted to give her more advice, but the best thing was for her to simply get out of range. “We’re about an hour away, I’ll see you then.”

Lani was already calling the girls on the bus, while I tried to get my security chief in Orange Building to pick up the phone.