Alien Me by Emma Accola Read Free Book Online Page B

ones who run the technical part of Geminay. And I have yet to meet a Mechanic. They don’t mix much with the other Original People. And Whitlock said not to worry about it. He pointed out that we humans create lives for our purposes, you know, like raising chickens and hogs, and this wasn’t any different. And he said that we’re hybrids and should be grateful for our enhanced lives. That’s what Whitlock said we are, you know, enhanced.”
    “If these aliens want energy, why don’t they come up here and get it themselves?”
    “They keep their world hidden from humans because they don’t want us to have their technology. They say such knowledge is a privilege that we haven’t earned yet. On top of all that, they think we’re fools to allow computers to run our lives the way they do. According to them, by letting computers take over, we have summoned a demon into our lives.”
    Sean pulled out the wallets he had taken from our attackers and tossed them into my lap. At first I recoiled because of who they belonged to, but I picked them up with hands still red with Sean’s blood.
    “Open them and touch the badges. Tell me what you feel. I know you can tell the fake from the authentic, so don’t try to tell me you can’t.”
    Reluctantly I did as he asked. I wanted to pursue the question about souls, but right now I was more worried about saving my flesh. “They’re solid gold.” I’d always been able to tell the real from the authentic in gems and metals, something that amazed my mother and impressed my father. “How did you know those men were imposters?”
    Sean put the car in gear and started down the street. “I got suspicious when the vice principal didn’t recognize the security guard. And I could feel something from the guard. I could feel something and not with my senses. I don’t know how to explain it. But I did.”
    I had felt something from one of them too, the nervous beating of his heart.
    “Those badges were only props.” Sean slowed as he drove into a residential neighborhood. “We may have fought these guys off, but more will come. And I’m one hundred percent sure we’re being tracked right this minute by our cell phones.”
    “They hacked our phones?” I asked as I pulled mine out of my pocket.
    “I’ll bet the microphones on our cell phones are transmitting every word we say. The Original People might scoff at our use of computers, but that doesn’t stop them from tapping in.” Sean tossed his phone into my lap. “Take the batteries out of your phone and mine. We can’t use them now.”
    I fumbled with the phones, prying open the little doors and popping out the batteries. “Our parents are going to freak out. And I’ve watched a lot of murder movies, and the police are going to ask why our blood is all over the floor and our clothes but neither of us has any wounds.”
    “My dad’s a lawyer. We’ll let him figure that out. Come on. There’s a spring in that drainage ditch over there. We have to hurry.” Sean put the fake police officers’ wallets and badges in his backpack. “I’d be willing to bet that some of these houses have security cameras. Our parents will at least know that we left this park alive. Leave the phones.”
    “Why are we going to a drainage ditch?”
    “Because there’s a spring in it. You’ll see when we get there. Come on.”
    I fell in next to him and almost had to trot to keep up. He was tall and his long stride ate up the distance. “Why do we need a spring?”
    “We need a spring so that we can fall through into Geminay. You won’t know what I’m talking about until you see it with your own eyes. You’ll have to trust me on this.”
    “Were those men Sworn Assets?” I asked, my stomach turning over. It troubled me to think of myself as someone capable of murder even if it was in self-defense. I’d always been a good girl, cooperative, easygoing, not one to make waves. And yet I had completely incapacitated those men with my