The Unwritten Sin

Part 34

Wilder rushed to James' body, and cradled his head in his lap. "What did you do?" he demanded. Lo tilted it's head. "He will live. This is how we must communicate."

Wilder held James' head in his lap, feeling a cold sweat run down his back. James' breath was unsteady. His eyelids fluttered for a moment. Wilder stroked his forehead, trying to still his hammering heart. James suddenly gasped and sat up quickly. A tear slipped from his eye.

"Wilder," he said, grasping the boy by the shoulders. "You have no idea." He turned to Lo, eyes wide. "This....how will I tell them?"

Lo shrugged. "I do not know." It said. "But must fast."

James jumped to his feet. "May we see our friends now?" he asked. The alien nodded. 

"Yes. Must stay on ship to make speech to the planet earth. Ship project speech big. Follow me."

Lo led the two away from the study room, back to the room where the others were being kept.

As soon as the door slid open, Adonis leapt to his feet. "When will we be able to leave?" he asked of Lo, his voice hoarse.

Lo shook it's head. "This is not my....place." It turned around, and said, "someone else will come."

The door slid shut behind him.

"Well, looks like we're all a happy family again," October said dryly.

"Oh, I see nothing has changed," Wilder said. "What's been going on?"

"They fed us, at least," Neptune said. "Hey Wilder."

"Hi, Neptune. Everyone, this is James. He works at the Ministry."

"Oh great," Opal said. "A fucking zealot."

"Your friends are...very pleasant," James said, forcing a painful smile so the edges of his eyes crinkled. Wilder shook his head, half disgusted.

Adonis embraced James. "I am...glad to see you," he said after a long moment. "We didn't even know what had happened." He didn't meet Wilder's eyes as he said, "Did you hear. Wilder...told you?"

"What happened after the breach?" Adonis asked. Wilder shrugged. 

"I don't know. I remember dying. Lying in James' arms. Bleeding out. That's all I've got."

"It's unusual to forget so much between lives," Adonis said thoughtfully. "We are usually able to remember enough to even go to the locker and grab some things. He gestured to October. "Or, you know, you're in there so often you basically live there."

James looked at October for a long moment, curled up in a ball against Opal. Wilder knew that James was probably extremely disappointed with them for playing the machine like that, but he didn't say anything. As they stood together in the room, the door slid open again. This time, it was not the robed creatures that entered. Three aliens in the same dark blue military capes with golden lapels entered, and forced everyone to their feet.

"Hey what the hell!" Neptune clung to Wilder's arm. "Let go!"

The group was marched roughly down the hall, and into what appeared like the central command room of the ship itself. Through the giant viewscreen ahead of them, Wilder could see the earth, from the outer atmosphere. The captains clicked and cursed at one another in their language, and pointed down at earth. Lo entered the room, hands folded in front of it. 

"We go now to make the speech," Lo announced. Very quickly, earth began to appear closer and closer as the ship sped towards the ground. They were headed back to Phase City. 

The bridge was quite well lit, with comm panels on all walls, with long low stations at sitting height with a variety of spinning stools. There was a single captains chair in the center, surrounded with two large spheres on either side. James touched Wilder's arm, and jutted his head to his left. "A word?"