Beyond the Veil

Another Day at the Office

As he opened the car door, there was a loud blast nearby. Agent Lee ducked and crouched on reflex as screams rose up in the general vicinity of what he supposed was an explosion.

He stood back up and craned his neck to see what'd happened. A plume of dust and smoke coiled from the side of a high-rise in downtown.

"It looks like the Techmedia building," said Agent DuBois.

Lee looked across the car's roof to where his partner stood at the driver's side door. Her lips were pursed as she strained to make out details from a couple of blocks away. "You think it was our guys?" he asked.

"We did trace them to this general area," she said. DuBois' brow furrowed. "But it doesn't fit their M.O."

"They could have decided to up the ante, or things went sideways."

"Point," DuBois agreed.

She shut her door, and she locked the vehicle once Lee did the same. The two took off at a run toward the explosion. Lee called it in and sent a request for backup as they ran.

The first rush of evacuees cleared the building as the agents arrived on the scene. Lee and DuBois flashed their badges as they ran by staff security. Pushing past the flow of terrified workers still making their way out slowed them down once they entered the stairwell.

DuBois and Lee were panting and sweating by the time they reached the twenty-seventh floor. Dust and who knew what else lingered in the air, making them cough as they reached the landing.

"What was that?" said a feminine voice from the other side of the door.

"Someone coughed," came the irritated response. "We've all been hacking since the kid goofed. You ought to be used to it now."

"It sounded human," the first protested.

"So what if it is?"

Lee nudged DuBois' shoulder. "Did she just say human like she isn't one?" he whispered.

DuBois nodded, looking shaken but determined as she shrugged. "Delusional or not, they're still thieves and terrorists now, I suppose," she whispered back.

She nodded toward the door separating them from the group of technology thieves they'd been tracking for weeks and pulled her sidearm. Lee signaled his understanding and did the same before they slammed the door.

"Federal agents," DuBois announced as the door swung open, and she trained her gun on the first suspect.

Lee almost lost his grip on his in shock as they found the entire group of ten instead of the two lookouts they'd expected. Yet their numbers weren't what stunned him the most. That honor went to the fact at least a couple of them indeed weren't human. The creatures working on some piece of tech he couldn't identify looked more like some kind of squid.
​
One of the cephalopod creatures' form rippled and morphed into the appearance of a man with his arms raised. "Please," it said. "We mean you no harm. We just want to go home."

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Author's Note: I have yet to decide if this is another one-off flash fiction or the connection point of a spin-off novel focused on Agents Lee and DuBois and the negotiation of a treaty between Earth and their visitors. If you'd like to see such a spin-off, please vote or comment to let me know.