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No…yes…I don’t know. Even a simple decision like whether to have coffee seemed beyond my capability at the moment. My brain had gone fuzzy. Hypothermia seemed a distinct possibility. I was chilled to the bone, wet, shivering.
Coffee is hot. Hot is good. “Thank you, black,” I finally answered and collapsed into a chair in front of her massive desk. Don’t fall apart now. Pull it together. I clutched Maxx’s handheld on my lap. My brain wasn’t so foggy that I didn’t recognize the incongruity of the president getting me coffee.
But that was Erika Stadler: down-to-earth, approachable, kind, unruffled. She’d had her vocal political detractors, but she’d won reelection by a landslide. And, since then, she’d won over her remaining critics, too. She never drew criticism anymore, which was unheard of for a politician. People recognized her authenticity, her genuine concern for their welfare.
“Here you go.” She set the coffee on the desk within my reach. I cupped the mug bearing the presidential seal in my freezing hands and took a grateful sip.
“You’re not having any?” I asked.
“I will. Tell me about the emergency first,” she said calmly and leaned against her desk. She wore her standard uniform: navy pantsuit, dark-blue flats, and the broach.
“I was abducted by an alien again, a member of the cartel I told you about. The crown princess of the kingdom of Copa on planet Nomoru is the leader of the cartel. A ship is on New Terra now. They are going to kidnap a huge number of humans today.” I sounded as crazy as I looked. The only item needed to complete the picture of a raving lunatic would have been a metal colander on my head.
“Do you have proof of this? I’m not saying I doubt your story, but any corroborating evidence you can provide will be very helpful.”
“I have this. Maxx’s communication device.” I proffered the handheld, but she didn’t take it. “Sorry, it fell in the mud.” I grimaced. I’d forgotten the president was a germaphobe. Of course she wouldn’t touch it. She’d throw out the chair I was sitting in and have her office fumigated after I left. I set it on the desk.
She gingerly picked it up. “This looks like the other one you had.”
“It will contain much more information—if someone can access it.”
“Who is this Maxx you mentioned?”
“The alien who kidnapped me. I don’t know if that’s his real name or not.”
“Just one alien kidnapped you?”
“Yes, but I was abducted by a couple of humans in the hovercraft garage and locked up in a cell. Then Maxx came and took me to a house, but I couldn’t get out until the doors unlocked when the power went out.” A couple of months ago, if anyone had told me this story, I would have had them locked up—in an insane asylum.
“It sounds preposterous—” I looked at her pleadingly. She was New Terra’s best hope right now. The LOP had been ineffective. Maxx was with the traffickers. If she didn’t believe me…
“No, no. I don’t doubt you,” she reassured. “I’m trying to get as much information as I can.”
Until this discussion, surprisingly, I’d forgotten about the two men, Asshole A and Asshole B, who’d drugged me. If Maxx worked for the Copan-Cerulean Cartel, who were they with? If they’d been with the cartel, he wouldn’t have broken in and taken me away. Did they belong to another cartel trying to horn in on the business? On top of everything else, would there be a trafficker turf war on New Terra? Or maybe Maxx was the interloper, a freelance scumbag?
“You said the trafficker’s ship had landed. Did your kidnapper give you an idea where it might be?”
“No.” I shook my head and drank some of my cooling coffee.
“Tell me more about this…Maxx.”
My heart panged, his betrayal still a fresh wound. “He’s Copan. He claimed to be half human.”
“An alien-human half-breed? Really?” An expression almost like distaste flashed across her face. It was the first time I’d ever seen Stadler less than gracious.
“He said his mother was abducted years ago and sold into slavery. His father bought her and freed her, but because of the LOP embargo, she couldn’t return home. He also said his maternal grandmother is here on New Terra. But, of course, I don’t know if any of this is true.”
The president had been leaning against the desk during the whole conversation. She straightened. “Did he give a name? Say where the grandmother lived?”
“No, but I’m sure his story could be a bunch of baloney to win my sympathy. Maybe he’s not half human at all.” At this point, I doubted everything he’d told me.
“But he also claimed to be with the LOP—that’s the League of Planets you mentioned the last time we spoke.”
“Yes. The league is trying—not very successfully—to stop trafficking. Maxx claimed to be undercover and—oh! How could I forget? Garrison is working with him!”
Her eyes widened. “My secretary of state?”
“Yes. I overheard their conversation. Garrison’s been helping him. I mean, it makes sense aliens would have someone inside the government covering for them, steering people away.”
