Chapter 15

As soon as Olga came off her call with Alice she felt Joshua’s lips caressing her bare stomach with feather light kisses. She loved running her fingers through Joshua’s hair but she knew she had to get up as soon as possible. She sighed with contentment and said with a stern but friendly tone, “Please stop Joshua.”

She could see the mischievous smile on his face as he looked up to say, “I thought you liked this. The last time I had to stop because you couldn’t have a decent conversation with Alice.”

She ruffled his hair as she replied, “I do like it silly, but we need to get ready to meet up with Alice and we can’t turn up in jeans and a sloppy T-shirt. I think I might have a shirt somewhere which you can wear.”

She squealed loudly as he pushed his face into her stomach and couldn’t stop laughing as he blew air out forcefully which sounded like an enormous fart. He climbed up to kiss her and she eagerly inhaled his scent as they hugged each other.

“All right,” said Joshua as he got up from the bed, “I’ll pop over to my place to have a quick shower and I’ll throw on something smart.”

She admired his naked body and was clearly disappointed as he quickly scooted into his trousers and T-shirt. She walked towards him and as she wrapped her arms around his torso she gave him a tender kiss.

“Stay here,” she pleaded, “We can have a shower together.”

He chuckled as he caressed her cheek.

She loved his smile.

“You know,” he whispered in her ear, “If I did that, we’d be late.”

Standing so close together made her yearn for more and it was clearly having the same effect on him. The night they had just spent together had been amazing, and they had slept only a few hours because the early morning light had lit up her bedroom through the chink of the curtains at the very moment that they had decided it was time to catch some sleep.

“All right,” Olga said soberly as she reluctantly let him go, “I guess you’re right.”

He kissed her and said, “I’ll wait for you in the lobby.”

“Okay.”

She watched him struggle into his shoes and before he closed the door she said with a raised voice, “Joshua!”

He turned with a slightly anxious expression on his face as he asked, “Yes, Olga?”

She didn’t really know how to put her feelings into words. Their eyes met and she felt the warm tingling sensation in her body. She chastised herself as she heard herself say, “Thanks for the amazing night.”

His smile, however, washed her doubts away and she melted on the spot as he said with his rich bronze voice, “It was worth it, every single second of it.”

She giggled as it dawned on her that she was standing completely naked in front of him.

“Stop ogling me and get out of here,” she ordered him with a husky voice.

To her glee, he blew her a kiss and closed the door. She sighed but she knew she had to focus and hurry up because getting ready in the limited time she had, was going to be a challenge.

As she stepped under the warm shower she felt her skin starting to tingle. It brought her back to the moment when Joshua had indulged every part of her body by showering it with soft and tantalising kisses.

Haruz was concerned by the fact that he’d had no choice but to insist that Arnost’s safe be forced open. However, he conceded that there was no other way of retrieving the access code for the satellites. In the past, he had warned Arnost numerous times that such important information shouldn’t be managed by one person alone. Now he was going to have to persuade one of his best friends to crack open the safe. He knew he wouldn’t do it just like that. He would have to include him into the secret group as well; something that he’d prefer not to do as he didn’t want the imminent threat posed by the aliens leaking into the public domain. He knew he had no other choice in this matter and his friend, who was a colleague as well, was the only one he could trust to open the safe. He knew that he would feel deceitful roaming through Arnost’s personal belongings looking for the folder with the satellite codes. He was startled when two small but strong hands started to massage his shoulders, disrupting his thoughts.

“You’re so tense,” he heard Andena speaking softly next to his ear, “Try to relax.”

He was grateful for her touch as this was proof that the disabling effects of his stay in the field were finally wearing off.

“I will relax as soon as we have defeated the aliens,” he muttered with a grim voice.

Her short laugh told him that she wasn’t impressed by his answer but he knew himself all too well. He was a little annoyed when she didn’t stop the massage, especially when she found a sore spot which she eagerly started to rub with the palm of her hand.

“I don’t understand how you can sleep with so many knots in your muscles.”

He gave her a gentle pat on her hand as he said warmly, “You get used to it. I think it’s time that I introduced you to one of my best colleagues.”

“I can’t massage you and push the wheelchair at the same time.”

“I know,” Haruz said in amusement, “but I’ve promised Lunn that he will have the satellite codes by tomorrow which means I have to get that sorted as soon as possible.”

He heard a little sigh before she said with a bored voice, “All right Mr. Stubborn, tell me where we have to go.”

Haruz was grateful for the comfortable silence that descended as it gave him the opportunity to think about what he was going to say to convince his colleague to break open Arnold’s safe. One of the chair’s wheels squeaked a little which made a weird echoing sound in the corridors. It was Andena who broke the eerie silence as she asked, “Who is this Baxter person?”

“Ah, Baxter!” said Haruz a bit too enthusiastically in an attempt to hide his startled state, “Well, he is one of our most talented technicians. Even as a kid, he was already way ahead in everything technical.”

“Sounds like he is a real geek.”

Haruz thought that he detected a tone of dislike in her voice and retorted, “You might think he is a nerd but all the people he’s working with, like him very much. I’m pretty sure you’re going to like him too.”

He had hoped she would give him one of her cute snorts but she sighed instead and said, “How would you possibly know that? Maybe I will hate the guy.”

Haruz wanted to respond with an astute remark but they had arrived at his friend’s office. He was relieved to see that the man was in his office staring at his screen completely focused on his work.

Haruz had to clear his throat to get his attention and he knew that the surprised look on his face was not only because he was sitting in a wheelchair.

“Haruz,” the man bellowed with a broad smile on his face, “man, you haven’t changed a bit!”

He walked towards him and as he shook Haruz’s hand enthusiastically he continued, “Oh my, what happened to you? I do hope that this lovely girl isn’t the reason why you’re in this state.”

Although he realised that the man’s guess had a ring of truth in it, he replied, “No Kawan, Andena is so sweet to help me out and luckily it’s only for another day or two.”

“Well,” he said with a smirk as he shook Andena’s hand firmly, “please to meet you Andena. I warn you: keep an eye on this man because as soon as he is out of that chair he might become a totally different person.”

He heard Andena laugh nervously and to his surprise, he felt jealous. He was always slightly intimidated by Kawan’s muscular body but he knew he could be blunt with him and retorted, “Shut up, I’m not here to hear your funny stories about me.”

Kawan chuckled as he playfully raised his eyebrows and said, “Wow, I’m close. You see what I mean Andena?”

Andena snorted and replied softly, “Yeah, right.”

Again Haruz had trouble accepting that the man was flirting with her but he knew that it was meant as a little tease. The only thing he could do was stare at Kawan with a placid expression hoping that it would have the desired effect. It was a few moments before the man said as he raised his arms in defeat, “All right, All right. What can I do for you?”

Haruz looked straight at him and said without blinking an eye, “I want you to break open Arnost’s safe.”

Kawan whistled shortly and growled, “Man, you always cut the crap if you want something big to be done.”

Haruz nodded his head slowly and replied, “I guess so. Oh, and I want it to be done by tomorrow morning.”

Kawan clicked his tongue and he retorted as he narrowed his eyes, “This is serious shit Haruz. Let me guess: Mr. Arnost doesn’t know.”

“You’re right, he doesn’t,” Haruz replied placidly.

Kawan leaned against his desk and as he folded his arms he said, “You will have to come up with a bloody good reason if you want me to break open that safe. You do realise that we’re talking about at least ten hours work and I can’t pull this off on my own.”

“I know,” Haruz said with a calm voice, “Andena, would you be so kind to close and lock the door?”

Kawan’s eyes grew bigger as he said, “Oh shit. Why do I have the feeling that I’m not going to like what you’re going to tell me?”

Haruz smiled as he took a deep breath to mentally prepare himself for what he was about to reveal.

“What do you know about those large boxed fields outside the city?” he asked.

The large man was silent for a while before he huffed as his eyes seemed to pierce through Haruz’s facade. He rumbled with a low voice, “The usual ridiculous rumours: aliens, abductions and a load of other vague shit.”

Joshua looked apprehensively at Olga who was walking like a zombie next to him. They just had left The Coffee Café where they had met Harrold and Alice. He already had a suspicion that something serious was the matter the moment that they were led into a secluded room at the back of the café. The food was amazing but halfway through the revealing story of the coming disaster he had lost his appetite. As had Olga. It was the unfathomable numbers of aliens, who were traveling to Earth at this moment that had crushed his faith that they would ever survive such an attack.

He was surprised that Alice wanted them to finish the androids before the aliens swamped the Earth. He had difficulty believing that there was even the slimmest chance of countering the alien attack successfully.

“Joshua,” said Olga as she squeezed his hand softly, “What are we going to do?”

He hadn’t made his mind up as to whether they should comply with Alice’s wish and replied glumly, “I don’t know.”

They walked silently towards the laboratory mulling over the disturbing facts they have had heard.

Suddenly Olga stopped walking and gasped in awe, “Oh my!”

“What is it?” he asked.

He thought it was strange seeing Olga’s expression change from apprehension into a smile and then finally wonder. The sun reflected the little sparkles of her eye makeup as she looked up at him with a radiant smile.

He loved the way she looked but it didn’t stop him from getting impatient as he asked for the second time, “What is it, Olga?”

Her face instantly changed into a blank expression and said softly, “Not here. Let’s hurry on, we have a lot to do.”

He immediately understood that they were close to one of the curfew cameras and he remembered Alice stressing the need to be as inconspicuous as possible. He decided to make their sudden stop look like a spontaneous act of love and he kissed her passionately on her lips. He felt her body stiffen at first but after a second she relaxed into the kiss as she wrapped her arms around him.

“Oh wow, Joshua,” she said huskily after they had stopped, “you can do that to me at any time.”

He chuckled as he slid his arm around her waist. He knew he had to be patient and started to walk at a brisk pace towards the laboratory at the end of the dead end road.

As soon as they were safely inside Olga asked him with a sultry voice, “Do you realise that we have experienced the power of that ‘ring’ Alice was talking about?”

He thought about her question; what had they witnessed together that was so powerful? It suddenly crashed into his mind and he shivered when he relived the moment that he had been confronted with the scene of the collapsed androids and Mr. Yousima’s bloated corpse.

“You mean the EMP attack at the plateau?”

“Yes, and I understand that Alice was deliberately being cryptic because of us being in this public place but if that ring is capable of what she has told us, we do have a fair chance of surviving.”

“Okay,” he said slowly, “so the androids are our fall back team as soon as one of those ships manages to escape our attack and land on Earth.”

“Yes, and since those fields are made by one of their kind they will try to land their ship close to their vicinity.”

Joshua sighed and said, “I don’t like it at all, especially that those bloody aliens can manipulate our thoughts.”

He loved how Olga hugged him from the back and he caressed the top of her hand as he listened to her voice.

“That’s why we need to have the androids ready to go. They can help us deal with them at a safe distance.”

“Hmm it will be a challenge, though,” he murmured, “Nine androids within seven days.”

Olga sighed and said with a low voice, “We need to find a strategy to get more than one android fixed at the same time.”

He thought about what she had just said and he realised that they needed more people to get it all done. He needed people with specific skills but also knew that it would be almost impossible to get that organised on such short notice.

“We need more skilled people,” he sighed knowing it was a useless remark.

Olga huffed and retorted, “It will take more than a week to train somebody.”

Joshua was a little dazed when he heard android Zero-one say, “Maybe I can help.”