Part of the Teelan series

Terror has a new name

(unedited)

Naa’dia stood in the shadows in a wooded area watching through binoculars. Three days driving and two stolen cars brought her to this location just outside of Williamsport, Pennsylvania. People filed out of the large factory that covered several acres. It was late afternoon and shift change. Her research showed the factory produced Glouton, a paste like substance. When a small amount of Glouton was combined with other foods it multiplied their nutritional value by a factor of a hundred. A single loaf of bread could feed two-hundred people. Glouton was shipped all over the world and fed millions of people.

Naa’dia recalled her investigation. A small portion of the product was unaccounted for. Naa’dia couldn’t follow the trail of that portion online but she suspected it went to the mysterious Teelan.

Naa’dia fixed her attention on an individual wearing a business suit that walked of the security gate and got into a red sport car. That is my immediate target. Glenn is the head of security and will doubtless be able to provide much information. She dashed to her own car and was waiting near the exit gate when he left the facility. She followed him at a discrete distance.

After an hours drive, Glenn pulled into the garage of a nice frame house located in a suburb. Naa’dia drove past the house, parked on the corner and waited for darkness to fall while watching to make certain Glenn didn’t leave. When she judged it was dark enough, Naa’dia moved further away. Before leaving the car she pulled down her pants and removed the small ray-pistol hidden beneath the skin of her right butt cheek. Naa’dia locked the car up and returned to the residence on foot. She scaled the wall of the backyard, avoiding the swimming pool and went to the sliding glass door.

Thumbing the pistol ray to low intensity she melted the door lock. Sliding it open she crept inside. The first room she entered was a kitchen. A woman, Naa’dia was certain she was Glenn’s wife stood by the stove cooking. The woman turned at the slight sound Naa’dia made on the tiled floor.

“Who–– She started.

Woman is a threat to mission success and not needed, Naa’dia’s thoughts told her. Thumbing the pistol up to the high setting and in a lightning fast motion she fired at near point blank range. The ray burned into the woman’s head between her question filled eyes. She tumbled to the floor without another peep.

Naa’dia ears perked when she heard from another room.

“Honey did you start to say something? And what was that noise?” The male voice was getting closer. Naa’dia raced across the room and pressed to the wall beside an arched entrance. Glenn walked through and his attention went to his wife crumpled on the floor. Naa’dia struck. A single blow to the head, which she held back on at the last second, rendered Glenn unconscious.

Naa’dia rushed through the house searching each room. Evidently their teenage daughter was not home. Rummaging through the kitchen drawers yielded a roll of duct tape. She tossed Glenn into one of the swivel dining table chairs, taped his hand behind him and then taped him to the chair. A glass of cold water poured over his head revived him.

“Who the hell are you? What the hell do you want?”

“Not important for you to know,” she answered.

She followed his gaze as he looked once again at his wife. “What did you––

“She’s dead. We don’t have much time.” Stepping forward, Naa’dia jammed a dishcloth in Glenn’s mouth.

Unzipping her pack she removed a band with wires attached. She stretched it in place around Glenn’s head. The mind probe the woman on her home planet had been subjected to was gentle in comparison to this one. Naa’dia put a similar one on her own head. Reaching into her pack she removed a control unit. She took a seat at one of the other chairs and adjusted the controls. Glenn shuddered and his eyes rolled to the top of his head as thoughts and memories were ripped from his mind. The smell of burned flesh drifted into the air and smoke curled from his head.  

Naa’dia.s eyes became unfocused. The information stored in Glenn’s mind began to flood into hers. Thirty minutes passed and then the process was complete. She removed her headband placing it and the controller back in her pack. Next she removed Glenn’s. There was an inch wide strip of burned flesh surrounding Glenn’s head where the band had been. His eyes started out vacantly. She knew the mind probe was aggressive. When finished the subject was left with barely enough mental capacity to move. He would never be able walk, speak or even feed himself again. In an act of mercy, something she had never felt before, Naa’dia shot him in the heart.

Naa’dia removed his wallet from his back pocket and searched through the contents until she found the item his thoughts told her was important. She slipped in into her fannypack, retraced her steps back to her car and drove to her motel room.

Chapter 4

Naa’dia glanced out the curtain of her seedy motel room for a moment then glanced at her wristwatch. Streetlights dimly lit the area and there was no one about. Crossing the room, she opened her bag removing a small cube shaped object that fit in the palm of her hand. The area inside the clear cube was filled with a powdery substance. One side of the cube had a empty hole in the center. Naa’dia removed two more pieces from her bag. The clear vial filled with liquid was just the right size to fit in the hollowed out part of the cube. The other piece was a combination electrical source and transmitter. She put the three items in her pocket careful to put the cube and vial in separate pockets.

 Naa’dia parked her car and stole through the trees. After a moment’s hesitation and looking in both directions to make certain no one was watching, she raced forward. Flexing her enhanced leg muscles an the last second she leapt into the air. Her bound easily carried her over the eight-foot chain-link fence that surrounded the facility.

Landing in a crouch, Naa’dia dashed to the side of the building and waited to see if her actions had tripped any alarms. After she remained motionless and silent for some time and allowed her breathing to calm, no activity occurred. She slipped along the wall until she came to a side door located where Glenn’s shared knowledge said it would be.

Unzipping her jumpsuit slightly, Naa’dia reached in and removed Glenn’s plastic key card from under her left bra cup. She slid the card through the reader slot beside the door. The door lock mechanism clicked. When she pulled on the handle the metal door swung open.

Beautiful. She grinned.

Naa’dia darted down the long hallway ducking into dark corners to avoid any occupants she saw. Since it was the night shift, her encounters were few. She entered a room near the center of the complex that housed huge power generators. She planted her bomb under one of them.

She sneaked out along the same route and jumped the fence again. Standing behind a tree she waited. Dawn brightened the horizon. She looked at the hands of her watch and waited longer. She watched the seven am shift change. By her count two-hundred people entered the guarded gate for the day shift. By seven-thirty the change was complete. At eight she removed the controller from her pocket.

Naa’dia took one final look at the complex nearly half a kilometer away and pressed a button on the controller. In her mind she saw the reaction. Her transmission triggered a small electrical charge. The material composing the vial evaporated exposing the liquid to the powder. She put the binoculars to her eyes and panned the building while she counted quietly and calmly. “One…two…three…four...five.” 

On the count of five she saw a flash of fire erupt from the center of the structure to reach high in the sky. Seconds later she heard a loud roar followed by a deep rumble. The entire structure covering almost four acres disappeared within a cloud of dirt and dust. Casually she stepped behind the large tree trunk next to her. The ground bucked and rippled under her feet almost making her fall. Rocks and bits of concrete pelted the other side of the tree

When the cloud settled the factory was gone. The only thing remaining was rubble and twisted steel in a deep crater. An eerie silence descended on the area. 

Well that should get their attention. Our research and development techs will be happy to hear their bombs are a great success. Her thought drifted briefly to the dozen more she had in her bag.  

Minutes later the distant wail of emergency vehicle sirens disturbed the quiet. A humorless smile split her lips. There may be survivors down there, but not many. Naa’dia got into her car and drove away, already planning on the annihilation of her next target.

First priority, get a new vehicle, then it is on to the factory near Austin, Texas.

She drove away, tuning in a radio station. She had learned to enjoy rock, especially what the humans called oldies. A smile stretched across her lips and she turned up the volume. The singer’s raspy words blared out of the speakers filling the cars interior. “But you tell me, over and over and over again my friend, ah you don’t believe we’re on the eve of destruction.”

The obliteration of the factory near Austin was just a through and even deadlier. It leveled many of the houses in a nearby development inflicting a greater number of causalities. 

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