Rigel

“She just wanted to know how you…boiled water?” Rigel asked.

“Uhhh…yeah, I guess. Maybe she was looking for something else, but…” Keola trailed off, then snapped back to his train of thought, “She did it. Looked me in the eyes, picked up Gary’s pan and heated it until it glowed.”

Rigel had asked that they all meet after Keola’s run-in with Melia, and so the four were at an abandoned lot less than a kilometer from the Mexico border. Neither Gianna nor Kimia were saying anything, but Rigel knew them both well enough to know what those silences meant. Kimia, ever the strategist, was gathering intel. All thoughts would have been logical analysis.

Gianna, on the other hand, was summoning all her patience to keep from ripping into Keola for what she saw as carelessness. He knew the argument that was about to erupt: Gianna would warn of the danger of people knowing of their abilities, while Keola would point out that it was the plan to go public anyhow, to teach everyone on Earth to use alchemy. Both arguments had their merit. Keola’s position was more attractive, coming from a place of empathy and a desire to help. Still, though Gianna’s position was harsher, it was perhaps more essential: one cannot help others if they cannot help themselves.

“You shouldn’t have-” Gianna began.

“I know. I know,” Keola interrupted. He was dejected, and still shaken from the encounter.

“You want to help. I get it.”

“I know you do. I just…”

The argument had died faster than Rigel expected. It took a few minutes of silent contemplation for him to realize an important fact: he couldn’t process the larger thing that was squelching the usual discourse.

He didn't know Melia, had never met her on Rigel C. By Keola’s account, she was big and intimidating, but Keola wasn’t usually the type to hold onto a first impression. Melia’s size and demeanor wouldn’t have been enough to leave him speechless and terrified. Transfixed on this mystery as he was, Rigel didn’t notice that all eyes had turned to him for several minutes, until Gianna spoke up.

“Keola said she was in a group. Any chance you might know some of the people with her?” Gianna asked.

“Probably not. It’s unlikely that I met any of them, and even if I did, they probably look different from their Rigelian forms,” Rigel answered.

More silence followed. Kimia didn’t write in her notebooks, Keola took little glances at everyone, and Gianna had stopped pacing.

Rigel closed his eyes and “looked” for Melia and her band of travelers. It should have been relatively simple here; humans didn’t radiate knowledge wavelengths, so the space where those emanations would reach out to be sensed should have been quiet, but not silent, assuming other Rigelians were there to fill that exospectrum, as Kimia had once called it, before conversation about the topic became too esoteric. The space where Rigelian thoughts, voices, dreams, visions and knowledge should have been was as empty as ever.

He would never admit it, but part of him longed to hear a Rigelian in that way, even if that “voice” belonged to an enemy. This world was lonely and isolating, and he had never grown used to it, only learned to ignore it. Understanding this world and its science was distracting, but there were always the moments, right before he succumbed to exhaustion, when the “hunger” was present. The ache could not be stopped, only dismissed by the mercy of sleep, to return at the next moment of delirious fatigue.

“We have to find them,” Gianna said. Rigel knew he should respond, but couldn’t form the words.

“That is a terrible idea,” Keola said.

“I know you’re scared, but we don’t have a ch-”

“You didn’t see them, Gianna.”

This was the only time Rigel could recall Keola forcefully interrupting anyone. Like any human, Keola sometimes talked at the same time as the other party in the conversation, but he always insisted on letting the other person talk first when these occurred. Rigel felt a tension rising in his chest.

“She wasn’t just big, she was…fuzzy. Cloudy. Like her body was trying to turn to vapor and fly away, they were all like that,” Keola said. He moved to sit on a nearby pile of cinder blocks, dropping his chin into his hands as he hunched over and stared at the ground.

“That changes nothing about what we need to do,” Gianna said coldly.

“Yeah, well it changes how we do it. Which…I don’t know. What tactics do you use against a six-foot-six ghost woman?

“Well, you start by standing your ground.”

Keola didn’t rise to the accusation of cowardice. He lowered his head further into his hands, exhaling through them in frustration and guilt.

“Alright, that’s enough,” Kimia said, surprising everyone. As they turned to stare at her, she walked over to Keola, extending a hand to pull him up. His face was all regret and shame, but her friendly smile eventually broke through to him. He took the hand and got to his feet, nodding his thanks.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know what to do,” Keola said.

“None of us did,” Kimia said, “And none of us would have.”

Gianna opened her mouth to reply, but checked her words when Kimia made eye contact. Rigel offered no protest as he paced nearby.

“The way I see it, what we need right now is information. Who they are, what they can do, where they’re going…the more, the better,” Kimia continued.

“We need a way to fight back, if they get hostile,” Gianna said, relaxing her expression as she approached Keola, “I’m not mad at you, Keola. I just don’t want you to get torn apart.”

“We don’t know that they’re hostile,” Kimia said, her tone falling to match Gianna’s new calm.

“If they’re alchemists, we can’t take peaceful intentions for granted,” Gianna replied.

“Then let’s say we’re both right, OK? Still, we won’t do anything productive if we’re panicking.”

“You’re right,” Gianna blew out a long exhale, “You’re right. We need to…get right.”

None of them said aloud that there wasn’t a lot of time to parse what they were feeling. If Melia had found Keola once, she could do it again.

The three students looked again to Rigel, but he was lost in the turmoil of his thoughts. He knew what his people could do. He recalled flyers, their hands laced with blades of metal as thin as a dozen molecules, able to detonate the ground beneath a person’s feet, or cast a thin lance of air straight through a heart at hypersonic speeds. Only the imagination and the boundaries of one’s focus limited what an alchemist could do.

But they were his people. He couldn’t kill them. Rigelians weren’t naturally violent like humans; they wouldn’t harm the people here, would they?

“...that OK, Rigel?” Kimia had been talking to him, he realized. It was his turn to feel shame. His students were looking for leadership, and he knew they weren’t finding it in him.

“Sorry?” Rigel said. Kimia and Gianna looked at each other with concern, then Gianna shook her head. He got the impression they were more worried about his mental state than Keola’s now.

“Half Way House. Fewer people around if a fight breaks out, and we can hit the cabin in the mountains if they find us there,” Keola said.

Rigel nodded. He should have been the one to think of a place to retreat. It was humbling to watch his students taking charge while he faltered. He couldn’t recall ever having been this paralyzed.

“Wait, the academy…” Rigel said to Gianna. She tilted her head in a kind of morbid amusement, then shrugged.

“There’s always next year,” She said.

Without a word, they got into their vehicles and went home to grab go-bags. 

Melia watched them all drive away, then gestured to her people that the coast was clear, deeply satisfied with what she had just learned. They split up as agreed, easily remaining unseen in the dark as they flew.

Kimia

I would have never said it aloud, because Gianna has a bit of a temper, but her “mama bear” persona often crossed the line into paranoia. This time, though, she might have been right to be paranoid.

It seemed wrong to be disturbed by someone else practicing alchemy. This wasn’t just our power; it wasn’t some sacred secret we were supposed to safeguard. I agreed with Gianna that we shouldn’t go around advertising our powers; that seemed like a surefire way to get a visit from the shadiest agents of the CIA. That said, I couldn’t help but admire Keola’s willingness to accept the unknown.

Except, he didn’t do that this time.

Gianna had been out of line. Keola was clearly horrified and guilt-ridden, and she had responded with pressure. I knew from personal experience that pressure rarely brought about good things, where alchemy was involved.

Driving to an abandoned building we often used as another training site, I couldn’t help but think of two things. The first: I wished I had replaced the Corolla’s alternator belt. It squealed at every stop light, and the last thing any of us needed now was more attention.

The second thing was Keola’s description of the other alchemists. I was pretty certain the word he had been looking for when he was describing them was “dissolving,” but at the time, it seemed like any interruptions would have derailed his fragile train of thought. 

To be fair, the thought of people walking around as their bodies diffused like clouds was disturbing to me too…

As I put on the brakes for another stoplight, something in the rear view mirror caught my eye. Two dim, red spots seemed to be floating in mid-air; I looked again, and saw what looked like the soles of combat boots, reflecting the red light from my tail lamps as they rose out of sight. 

I hadn't noticed the car in front of me that had stopped for the red light. Slamming on the brakes, my car screeched to a halt barely an inch behind the bumper of the other car. The squealing of my alternator belt was comforting this time; I hadn't pancaked my engine, or the belt would have been permanently silent. The driver of the car in front of me was kind enough to limit his look of disapproval to a stern shake of the head in his rear view mirror. I waved my apology sheepishly.

When I turned around, the floating boots weren't there.

"Not a ghost. No such thing as ghosts," I told myself. It wasn't as comforting as I had hoped, because I had a good sense of when I was being followed.

And I was being followed.

******

Half Way House was a bar in west Baja, just by the shoreline. We never actually went there; it was just the nearest landmark to the trail that went up the mountain. I parked the car about a kilometer away from the base of the trail, waiting for Gianna and Rigel to arrive in her Subaru, and for Keola in his Jeep, which would be our ride up the mountain.

The moon had gone down early; by midnight, everything around me was black as ink, except the dim light of the town of Rosarito to the northwest. I tried not to look up at the distractingly beautiful stars, knowing I needed to keep my attention nearer to the ground.

The act of looking for my pursuer naturally led to wondering who it was. Who, not what. I didn’t believe that a pair of floating combat boots was following me, that would have been idiotic. Whoever it was had been in the air though, and since there was no such thing as a completely silent aircraft, the boot-wearer could not have been hanging out at the end of a helicopter cable, or anything like that. It had to have been an alchemist.

I knew better than to yield to the siren call of the question of “why.” There was never a good answer to “why,” when it came to people who burst out from the shadows.

My musing was cut short by the deep buzz of Gianna’s WRX, followed by the sound of tires sliding across dirt and gravel. Keola wasn’t far behind her.

Even through the seriousness of the situation, Gianna had enough humor to insist that she and Rigel take the back seat of the Jeep, presumably so Keola could try to flirt with me some more when I sat in the passenger seat. Even good friends could be bad friends when they were stressed.

“You seem spooked,” Keola said. Most of his attention was on the poorly-lit trail ahead and the position of the stick shift.

“Yeah. Just…you know. Other alchemists,” I said, waving my hand around as if to say that they were everywhere. He nodded, or at least it looked like a nod. It could have been the bouncing of the Jeep across the ruts in the trailway.

“Me too,” Keola replied.

He was always trying to relate to me, usually trying too much. He wasn’t a sleaze; he was just insistent about creating an attraction that wasn’t there. This route of conversation, however, wasn’t flirting. This was a lingering dread from his encounter with Melia, and a plea for someone to reassure him that things would be OK. But for all his faults, he had a keen awareness when someone was lying to him to make him feel better.

“It just…shook me. Finding out there were others…like us, you know? I didn’t expect it to scare me. Always thought it’d be cool to find other alchemists, or teach them, maybe. But when they came up to me, and just did the thing I was doing, just straight up copied me…I don’t know. Makes the whole world seem too small, or something,” Keola said.

“And you want to believe they’re not a threat to us. That they…that these new alchemists will get along, won’t fight us,” I replied, more a statement than a question.

No one said the rest of it. No one wanted to point out that we were running from aliens we knew nothing about, who we could not prove were even chasing us…especially not in front of the alien in the backseat.

“It’s OK. You didn’t know. Strangers,” I said. It didn’t sound as comforting as I was hoping for.

“I’m not…” Keola said defensively, checking his words. A glimpse in the rear view told me that his unusual lack of words had everyone’s attention. Even Gianna, normally stern and only given to matronly smiles, looked on with a kind of muted curiosity.

“Strangers don’t scare me. You know the kind of people I hang out with,” Keola said. After that, everyone was quiet.

We should have been planning, exchanging information. We needed to figure out what we could about these new alchemists, develop new techniques to use for discovery and defense, or make arrangements to meet them. Instead, we spent an hour and a half in silence, unable to conceal our fear and fatigue. I couldn’t speak for anyone else, but now that the adrenaline was wearing off, it was starting to feel like we were doing the wrong thing.

Five minutes out from our stop, Rigel said, “When we get to the cabin, I’m going to teach you a barrier technique. It’ll keep the other Rigelians from ripping you apart.”

Gianna

We had all been on the verge of passing out before he dropped that particular anxiety bomb on us. After all of the effort it had taken to suppress my frustration earlier, I didn’t have the energy to hold it back this time.

“What do you mean, ‘rip us apart?’ Is that something we should worry about?” I growled.

“I…don’t know,” Rigel replied. I was sure he was about to either cry or break into uncontrollable shuddering, but he stayed at that point of near-breakdown, which was almost worse.

Kimia glared at me, eyes pleading for me not to escalate. The memory of her interruption of my berating of Keola stopped me from saying the next thing on my mind; she had been right then, and she was probably right now. She always had a better grasp of mental health than I did, so I trusted her when she implied that someone couldn’t be pushed any further.

But that didn’t mean that I was ready to let it go.

We pulled up to the cabin with the headlights off. I went ahead alone, pistol drawn, to see if anyone had beaten us here. The other three had nervously told me to be careful, and I told them I’d be safe, but really, I needed a moment to decompress and strategize. It was a common thing for a black woman to prepare herself for the words others might say, so that she wouldn’t be labeled as “hysterical” or “hot-headed” when she dared to respond. I’d had a lot of practice at this.

I needed to know what a hostile alchemist could do. Rigel had told us about the great wonders of his world, how the citizens of his society lived with every need and desire fulfilled. He had never gotten around to the subject of what happened when paradise broke down, and I had asked. I was sure there was another side to the coin, when it came to a planet full of people with godlike powers over reality.

That was the real rub here. Rigel hadn’t just been trying to teach us how to use alchemy. It was his vision that we become powerful enough to teach it to others, so that Earth could become that kind of utopia, too. He hadn’t meant for us to fight, even after I insisted that humans wouldn’t completely swear off violence. But as it turned out, there were violent people on Rigel C as well, and by trying to conceal that part of his culture, he had allowed it to sneak up on us with no preparation at all.

Vaguely, I realized that I had scanned the whole area, and I was halfway through a second pass, having not found anything out of the ordinary. I sighed frustratedly, knowing I was no closer to knowing exactly what I wanted to say. I knew what I had to say, though. It was the one thing that mattered now.

******

“No. We need to learn, now,” I said. The other three looked at me with weary disgust. I understood, and even had some sympathy; it was nearly 3 in the morning.

“Gia-” Keola began.

“No, Keola,” I interrupted, glaring at him, “This isn’t the time to try to play peacemaker.”

“That’s not-” Keola began again.

I needed to course correct. This would quickly turn into an argument if I wasn’t careful, and I was sure we didn’t have time for that.

“Rigel, teach us your barrier technique, then how to fight back,” I said, trying my best authoritative posture. I knew what was coming next.

“That’s not…I’m-” Rigel stammered.

“We need to learn both of those things. I’m not questioning that we need to learn defense first, and we need to learn it fast, but if all we’re doing is staying alive, that’s a fight we’ll never win,” I said.

“I don’t want these powers used for violence,” Rigel replied. Getting him to downgrade “I won’t teach it” to “I don’t want to teach it” was a small victory.

“We can all think about that while we’re learning how to use the alchemy barrier. Maybe you’ll change your mind, maybe you won’t. Either way, we need to start as soon as possible,” I said.

Kimia lowered her head into one hand, and Keola exhaled slowly, perhaps trying to wake himself up. They made no argument with my demand. I knew I would have to make it up to them later, but we needed to make sure there would be a later.

Without warning, Rigel doubled over, as if he had been hit in the gut. His gasp for air lasted only a moment before something else hit him in the face, sending him flying off the path and a meter into the forest.

Our attentions diverged. Kimia rushed to Rigel’s side, and Keola froze, shuddering once.

“Gia,” Keola said. I didn’t immediately answer. Whatever had hit Rigel had caught us by surprise. My ambush training was kicking in; we needed to get to cover, but to know where cover was, we had to know where the attack was coming from.

“Gia, that was alchemy,” Keola said.

“I know it was alchemy,” I replied.

“No, Gia, that was a lot of alchemy; those…everything was moving, being pushed,” Keola stammered.

My brain struggled to process what was happening. A lot of alchemy, he had said. A lot of…

No. That couldn’t be right, I thought. Alchemy was a single-point, subtle process; it had taken every ounce of focus I had to catch a “mental glimpse” of something so small. Was he saying someone was influencing more than just one atom?

How could he know that? I needed to understand, but I was so tired…

“We do things differently,” A deep female voice said. It had come from a towering, fit figure in the shadows, illuminated only by one dimly-glowing hand that was the color of dusk.

“Melia?” I asked. I wasn’t doing a very good job of keeping the anxiety out of my voice. It probably didn’t matter; the others were probably as scared as I was.

The giant woman nodded her buzzed head, and I could just make out a pleasant smile on her face. Though there was no threat in the look, it was still unnerving. Still, something told me that her face was capable of far more cruel expression.

I heard Rigel groan in pain, and saw Melia and three others behind her - there may have been more, but it was too dark to make them out - turn their attention to the trees.

“Step away from him,” Melia said to Kimia. Her voice had amplified, demanding obedience. I recognized the sound of words formed deep in the diaphragm, calm and level, but too loud to be ignored. The best police instructors regularly used this tool.

Kimia did not flinch. “What will you do to him?” She asked.

“He has some questions to answer,” Melia began stalking towards the two, “We’ve learned some new techniques, as you can see.”

Melia curled a glowing hand. Something heavy and invisible impacted Kimia, brushing her aside. Kimia got to her hands and knees when she stopped rolling, then stood up and stepped back, dropping into a defensive posture.

“The schoolmaster here will…help us understand them. He knows a lot about them,” Melia said, pulling Rigel up by his shirt until he was standing limply, “Don’t you?”

“Don’t hurt him. He did nothing,” Keola said, approaching slowly with one hand raised in placation.

“That is exactly the point.”

On her final word, Melia swung her arm in my direction. The feeling of thousands of icy needles jabbed across the left half of my entire body. I cried out in pain as I instinctively jumped away from the direction of the attack, then took a blow to the temple that turned everything I could see and hear into slush.

******

I lost a few seconds. My ears rang, and the ringing seemed to ripple my vision like a stone hitting a lake. Eventually, I realized that the pain and disorientation meant I was still alive. Training took over; I was alive, and I needed to keep it that way.

I needed to protect…

Kimia was nearby me. I could see her tiny sneakers from my spot on the dirt and gravel. She was saying something to me.

And something was glowing in front of her.

Keola was there too, but something was wrong with him. He was big, and it seemed like he had expanded in all directions…and…

I could see through him. That couldn’t be right, either, but…no, the loose cloud that was Keola, was letting a glowing light through.

“Cover her!” Kimia’s voice sounded like it had come from the end of a long tunnel.

“I can’t shield like-” Keola couldn’t finish the sentence.

They slammed to the ground, Keola a split second before Kimia. I felt their impacts through the dirt.

One more blow to the other side of my head turned out the lights.