My Friend Is An Alien

Chapter 42 Where's Rachel?

Chapter 42 Where's Rachel?

We headed into the upper school building and took a left, where along the corridor was a line of lockers. Heading to her locker, she pulled out the key and opened it sighed again and pulled out her bag and her phone. "Naw, a load of missed calls and messages. Oh, well. Anyway, I'd better get to my lesson. I'm still a little hazy about how I ended up falling asleep. Are you in tomorrow?"

"I'm not sure," I told her. "It depends on how Ryan feels."

"You can always come in with Rachel," she said with a small smile. "She likes you, by the way."

I nodded. "I am aware."

She frowned then, "Don't you like her?"

"It's a little complicated. My parents will be finding me someone to er marry when I go home. While I care for Rachel, I cannot upset my parents."

Shaking her head, she began to walk away, "Nothing wrong with a foreign fling," she said, then waving, headed down the corridor and, taking a right, was out of sight.

When I reached the Summer House, I expected Rachel to be there, but she wasn't, and neither was the deputy principal. "Aia, search for Rachel."

"Rachel is not in the vicinity," she confirmed. My heart skipped a beat.

"Where is she?" I started to move before I let Aia speak. My heart began to hammer in my chest as she confirmed that Rachel was not anywhere within a five-mile radius of me. "Get hold of Ryan, now!"

Using the connection on his laptop, Aia connected to Ryan's phone. "Whoa, this is Ryan," he answered.

"Is Rachel there?" I asked. My ears, eyes and nose were pushed to the maximum to pick up on Rachel. Anything from the sight of her hair to her heartbeat to her scent.

"Quinta? The number you are calling from has a bazillion numbers. No, she left with you. Have you lost her? You were too quick for her. Did Amy make it back okay?"

"Yes. If Rachel gets back, please let me know. I can't find her."

"I'll text her. Hang on."

Ploughing on through the forest where I last saw her, I stopped and let Aia scan the area. "I have found three sets of footprints twenty yards due east of your location." When I reached it, I bent down and saw what Aia had scanned. Rachel's and two others.

"I've just texted her, but she hasn't seen it. Maybe she's out of service. New Forest is crap for signal."

"I'm hanging up; I'll call back later." Ending the call, I calmed my racing heart and tried to think. "Fw'iun must know that I am in the vicinity. Aia, connect to the satellite and search for Rachel's bio imprint."

Aia did as I asked and replied, "Rachel is not within one hundred miles of the vicinity."

The time it took to get to the school and back to this point was too quick for Rachel to travel over one hundred miles in a human vehicle. There was only one theory. "She's gone off-world."

"Most likely," Aia confirmed.

"And due to Rachel's new scent, which isn't wholly human because of the amount of my blood in her, she was taken by them to flush me out?" I asked, but it seemed the most logical solution to Rachel's disappearance.

Aia replied, "The probability that the Fw'iun took Rachel is over seventy-four per cent. Given the fact that one of their own is dead some few hundred yards from here, it is more than likely a search party investigated, and because you are faster, they detected Rachel instead." Aia paused. "It is highly likely that there is a cloaked ship in earth's orbit. However, getting onboard without being detected is less than twelve per cent."

That frustrated me. "Why so low?"

"Given that Fw'iun has illegal technology and sensors to detect Rtheeth's unique genetic code, they would suspect you may come and rescue the girl. If you managed to get on board, your survival is less than three per cent."

"As humans say, I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place. The only thing I can think of to make them come down here with Rachel if that is the case where they have her is by coaxing them out with something they want."

"The Akers family," Aia replied.

"What is the probability that they would keep Rachel alive?"

"At least eighty-seven per cent," Aia told me. "Even if they know exactly where the Akers are, they do not know whether or not you have told them who you are. To that end, you have a trump card."

"It's a bit of a pathetic one," I scoffed. "The fact that Rachel smells like a Rtheeth is some proof for them that I've revealed who I am to them."

"That may be so, but if they probed Rachel's mind, they would see you have not told her family the truth. However, it would play more into their hands because you have chosen Rachel to tell her the truth and have saved her life. Rachel is more of a trump card for them."

I paced back and forth. What do I have that they would need? After a minute, the only thing I could think of would be the forcefield. They don't have anything like it. And if I tweaked it, they would never have anything like that again.

"Aia, the forcefield that will be within my possession, would that be enough to get Rachel back?"

"Unknown. The demands for Rachel have not been explained."

"Are you able to reach their ship if we went back to the bolt hole?"

"Unknown." She replied.

"Aia, keep sweeping for Rachel or any anomalies."

I headed back to Ryan's home and went straight upstairs. Ryan called me from the living room, but I ignored him. Finding my bag, I brought out two items to help with the plutonium of carrying it and not being exposed to it. Hurrying down the stairs, Ryan stopped me, putting his arm out. "Quinta, where is Rachel? What is going on?"

I took a deep breath. "It's a fair assumption to say that the Fw'iun has taken your sister off world. Aia is repeatedly scanning the area, but that is what we have surmised."

Ryan collapsed in shock. "She's gone?"

Kneeling beside him, I placed a hand on his shoulder. "I am not one to give up. I am going to offer a trade. Your sister for the forcefield."

"But, wouldn't we be vulnerable if we give them that?"

"They would believe that to be true, but don't forget, I am an eluthili, I am very smart, and I have a plan."

Heading into the garage, Ryan brought the microwave, and I set up the workbench, the small computer and the programmes. "Ryan, I need you to please leave the house."

"What? Why?"

Pulling out the invisible clothing, I put it on. "Because I'm going to retrieve the plutonium and finish the forcefield. I do not want you to be exposed to any of its radiation. Please step outside. Ryan begrudgingly left. After opening all the windows in the garage, I took the utensils needed to hold the radioactive agent and dug up the small box I had buried only a few days before.

Still intact, I brought the box into the garage. "Aia set perimeters for radiation," I asked, using one of Braxby's handy devices, which got me thinking, "And contact Braxby. His coordinates are on the scanner."

Aia did as I asked, "Radiation perimeters are set within this room. Contacting Braxby now."

"Quinta?" His voice came low. "Now isn't a good time for you to call me."

"Apologies, but I require your help."

There was a pause, and then, "What is it?"

"Fw'iun have taken one of the humans that are in my charge. I believe she has been taken off-world. I am not yet sure where their ship is, but believe it is cloaked and still in orbit."

There was another pause. "Well, what fortuitous timing this is. I'm currently staring at a human female with long brown hair who is approximately sixty-four miles above the earth."