The Rain: The End by Marietta Standlee (good summer reads TXT) 📕

leads into a hallway. Quietly we make our way there. I peek over Colin's shoulder and see that he has a floorplan open on his tablet, showing us exactly where we need to go.

I point towards another door, which will lead into the hangars. He shakes his head and points up. I scrutinize the tablet, according to the plan showing on it, we'll find another door at the end of the hall, leading up a short flight of stairs into a kind of observation deck.

Large windows open directly into the cavernous space below us, the hangars. Spaceships are parked in neat rows, waiting for the captains to return in the morning for their routine flights or training. But that's not what we're interested in right now.

Most hangar doors are closed, except one six fighters down. Parked by it is not one of the spaceships, but what I recognize as a huge transporter. The platform leading in and out of the ship is extended, bustling with life as Gorongiath are unloading large boxes. They're several hundred feet away, but when I squint my eyes, I realize the boxes are not boxes at all. They are cages. And inside each one, is a snarling maniac.

With a soft hiss, I grab Colin's arm.

"I see it," he says between clenched teeth.

He aims the tablet towards it, recording everything. I snap my finger, "Remember when we were in Germany, and they told us they saw the Gorongiath round-up maniacs?"

He nods, "I remember."

"This has got to be related, don't you think?" I still don't know what this means, why the Gorongiaths collect the maniacs and bring them here, but knowing what I do about them, it can't be good.

In silence, we watch as they unload about two-hundred cages, which they then line up against the wall leading out of the hangar. When the last one is stacked, I realize they separated the maniacs into two groups, men and women.

The ramp retracts back into the transporter, and the giant ship slowly leaves the hangar before lifting up and off. For a long time, nothing happens other than the hangar door closing. Ten Gorongiaths are left to guard the cages. Our eyes follow them as they walk around, and one of them occasionally bangs against a cage to agitate the occupant inside.

Out of nowhere, a wave of tiredness comes over me, and I yawn. Even my outrage over the treatment of the maniacs nor my curiosity, can fight my eyelids burning to close. I blame it on the slowly healing infection and the fact that this is my first day without a fever.

"Wake me if something interesting happens," I ask Colin, who gives me a worried glance.

He puts the back of his hand against my forehead to feel for warmness but must be reassured by the result because he just nods and smiles at me. He pulls me closer to him, and I try to get comfortable leaning my head against his chest.

His arm around me, is reassuring. Just as the steady thumb of his heart and his soft inhales and exhales, playing with my hair. Despite the tiredness, I'm unable to fall asleep, but just resting my burning eyes feels good.

"Viv!" Colin hisses after about an hour.

I perk back up and peek over the low wall out the window. A side door has opened, and several more Gorongiaths have arrived. Also, the hangar doors are opening, and several smaller spaceships enter.

Some newcomers hold long, wand-like things in their hands. They step towards the women's cages, and I recognize the wands as the same Ka yielded so dramatically during my tribunal.

"They are curing women!" I cry out.

Colin records all of this. I avert my eyes and watch the arriving spaceships. The last thing I want to watch is the women's awakening, falling into heaps, crying and wailing.

Luckily, we can't hear any sound up here. We probably could, I'm willing to bet there is some kind of intercom system here where we could listen to anything happening in the hangars, but neither Colin nor I want to turn it on. Watching it is hard enough. Watching and not being able to do a thing about it.

Sure, we could run down there and free the maniacs, kill the aliens, but then what? Find our pilots and leave?

Again, then what? This is not the first human cargo that was brought up here, and I'm willing to bet it's also not going to be the last, no matter if we free these poor souls or not.

The only thing we'd accomplish would be to blow our cover. It goes against all my instincts to sit back and observe and not do anything, and I know Colin feels the same way. But there is a reason Claire wanted us to be here, to record and witness this. I know Clair's allies will add this to their pile of evidence against the alien President and Ka and whoever else is involved in all of this. We must lean back and bide our time. Acceptable losses? I close my eyes at that thought and take a deep breath as I know the answer to this question is, unfortunately: Yes.

Part 10

Deceptions

Chapter 1

Nothingfeels better than being back on Earth. No, correct that, nothing feels better than being on Earth and having an assignment. No more of this clandestine shit, no more politics, no more lies and deceptions, and spying. A clear-cut assignment, a mission.

Just a few days after our little spying event, we were called back to Earth. I guess the Gorongiaths had had it with us and probably wouldn't trust us with another team building operation. I don't know if they were on to us, or if they were embarrassed by us witnessing their assumed failure on Oaron. Whatever their reasoning, they sent us back. A little goodbye party was held for us,