Writing Shift

The Magazine of Speculative Fiction

“I’m picking up her genetic signature again,” Leon said, while monitoring the new scanner in his hand. He was as jumpy as a live wire. He looked the part, too, from his electric blue eyes and spiked black hair to his tall, feed-me-quick body.

“That’s got to be a mistake, we shouldn’t be reading her at all,” Will said. “Wait. Let me verify.” He was the complete opposite of Leon with his boy-next-door looks, not that he minded having blond hair, hazel eyes and an athletic build. However, he suspected that his reputation as the confident, all around boy, was the reason that they’d given him Leon for a partner. Now he wished that he’d been a little less arrogant and a lot more humble.

Both boys wore the khaki-colored quasi-military uniforms of the nearby Planetary Preservation Academy. The bright red armbands attached were conspicuous by design; they revealed their novice rank.

“Would you mind picking up the pace a little? We need to find out what these creature-readings mean, or we could both die.”

“It’s definitely the same signature, but why can’t we lock on to her location?” Will asked, blatantly ignoring Leon’s warning. “It appears she’s both here and not here. It makes no sense.”

“Hey, Will, her signature is mutating, but that can’t be unless....”

“Hello boys,” said a woman dressed in a light blue shirt and navy pants. Draped over her left shoulder was a black leather satchel.

All three of them stood just inside the entrance of a large abandoned warehouse. The two boys had just walked in. How the woman had arrived was unclear.

“Whoa, where the heck did you come from?” Leon asked.

“Who are you?” Will asked. He was beginning to wonder if someone was trying to sabotage them on their first scheduled patrol.

“My name is Alexis,” she paused as both boys eyed her warily. “Don’t worry. I’m human.” She was quite an enigma; her genetic signature included ancient markers, and yet, the woman before them looked vibrantly alive and lovely with bright red hair, sparkling brown eyes, and a mischievous smile.

“Excuse me, Alexis, but according to this,” Will double-tapped the scanner with his index finger, “you should be dead.” In case this really was a test, Will wanted it to appear as if he had it all figured out.

Alexis laughed.

“Hey, do we have time for this? My scanner reads ‘Unspecified Danger’ and these readings are off the chart. I don’t know about you two, but I want to live.”

“Me too, Leon, me too,” Alexis said.

“How’d you know his name?” Ah ha, it must be a test, Will thought.

“I know your name, too, Will.”

“I’m sure there’s a fascinating explanation but it can wait. Right?” Leon asked.

“You’re right, it can wait,” Alexis said. “And you’re correct: we don’t have much time. If you want to help, follow me.”

The boys exchanged a nervous glance. Nevertheless, they followed her as she led them inside the entrance, toward the main storage area. They passed through the double doors and smelled an offensive odor. Leon gagged, and Will was slightly queasy. Alexis showed no visible reaction to the stench at all.

“Where’s the light coming from?” Will asked. He looked around at the boarded-up windows.

“The only source of light in this entire warehouse comes from the bioluminescence of these orbs,” Alexis said. She pointed to a row of containers with large glowing orbs perched on top. “It’s part of their defense mechanism. Any other source of light triggers their metamorphosis.” She led them to the end of the row and pointed to the back of the warehouse. There before them were row after row of glowing orbs.

The seemingly endless number of orbs shocked both boys.

“As you've probably already guessed, these orbs are the source of the ‘Unspecified Danger’ your scanners picked up. They’re actually soft-shelled eggs, and there are hundreds of them in here.”

Leon whistled through his teeth and Will silenced him with a glare.

“If this many eggs were allowed to hatch, the creatures inside them would decimate Earth's population. They would quickly destroy our ecosystem, eventually resulting in the extinction of all life on the planet.”

“All life?” Leon asked.

Alexis nodded, “The eggs are bright red when they’re almost ready to hatch. They glow bright orange to yellow, before these hatchlings from Hell are brought into this world.”

“I only see purple eggs,” Will said. “What does that mean?”

“It means they’re growing. They’ve been genetically engineered and grow at an astonishing rate.”

“What are they? I mean what do they look like once they hatch?” Leon asked.

“They look like baby fire-breathing dragons.”

“Awesome, I want one,” Leon said.

Will groaned when he saw that Leon’s eyes were glazed over; he appeared to be lost in the fantasy of having his own baby dragon.

“Oh, they’re definitely awesome.” Alexis shook her head, “The aliens who created these creatures intentionally designed them that way.”

“Then these creatures are the source of Earth’s ancient dragon legends?” Will asked.

“No, just the opposite. The aliens used our ancient legends as a matrix to create this designer species. It’s a tactic used to terrorize the population; to mimic our legends, and awaken our latent fear of being devoured by dragons.”

“I’d still like to see one for myself,” Leon said.

“It’d be the last thing you ever saw. These creatures are predators. They’re voraciously hungry when they hatch. They hunt down the nearest animal in the area, set it on fire, and eat it for breakfast. Trust me.” Alexis sighed. “Look, I’ve never seen such a large infestation. We must destroy them, before they destroy us all.”

“I’m here to help,” Will said. I sure hope I can help, he thought. I’ve got a bad feeling that this isn’t a test after all.

“Good, because I’m going to need both of you to help me destroy every egg.”

“I’m in. How do we destroy ’em?” Leon asked.

“I’ll teach you.” Alexis activated a metal device that lengthened four feet and glowed with a shimmering opalescence. “The first thing we need to do is map the ley lines in this warehouse.”

“What are ley lines?” Leon asked.

“Ley lines define places of high energy and they’ve been in use since time immemorial.”

“How do we find these ley lines?”

“Originally, people used a forked branch, or in my day, they used wire hangers. Some humans are born with the natural ability to sense the shifting vibrations of these fields. For the rest of us, we use divining rods.” Alexis held up her shimmering device. “This is mine.”

“How will mapping the ley lines help us?” Will asked. He bent down to examine her divining rod.

“Certain patterns in ley lines indicate...portals.”

“Portals? To where?” Leon asked.

“You arrived here through a time portal?” Will asked in amazement.

Alexis grinned. “You’re quick. Yes, there are portals through time and space. That’s how we got this infestation here. Somebody left an intergalactic door open.”

“That’s why your mitochondrial DNA reads you should be dead. You’re from the past.” Will said triumphantly.

“Originally, yes.”

“Great, one mystery solved. Now, can you explain why we should bother with these ley lines, before we destroy the eggs?” Leon asked.

“Because it’s imperative that we find, and seal, the portals. The aliens who brought them here to Earth knew exactly what they were doing. This was a clear act of aggression.”

“She’s right, Leon,” Will said. “We’ve got to seal the portals first. Otherwise, the aliens could come back through and catch us while we’re busy destroying their eggs.”

“Precisely.”

“But what about an escape route?” Leon asked. “Just in case.”

“Excellent idea, that’ll be our first priority. Here, I’ll show you.” Alexis demonstrated how to work the divining rod. Together, they quickly mapped the entire warehouse; they secured their escape route and they located, and sealed, two intergalactic portals.

“Let’s scramble some eggs.” Leon said.

“Wait. What about the light in here?” Will asked, while looking around the warehouse. “Won’t it get dimmer with each egg we destroy?”

“You don’t miss a thing, do you?” Alexis reached into her satchel and removed a pair of goggles for each of them. “Fortunately, we’ve got that covered. These goggles were designed to absorb light, including bioluminescent light. With these goggles, we won’t experience any change in the light, even when it’s pitch black in here.”

“What other fun toys do you have?”

Will shook his head and rolled his eyes at Leon.

Alexis laughed and reached into her satchel again. This time she removed three sets of protective gloves. Once they’d all put them on she handed each boy a small tray of vials. “These vials contain boric acid. The same stuff can be used to kill cockroaches, ants, and other pests. It’s a seemingly innocuous substance, which is why it works so well. These creatures have no programmed defense against this stuff. Watch closely.” Alexis sprinkled acid on top of an egg and the color immediately changed from purple to black. Within seconds, the egg was only a lifeless blob. “Voila.”

“Yeah, let me at ’em,” Leon said.

“I suggest we each take a row and work our way back. Remember, if you see a red-colored egg, shout for me to come and destroy it. Understand?”

Both boys nodded and began destroying the hundreds of eggs. Alexis had completed her rows and was inspecting everyone’s work. She met up with Will who had just completed his last row. They heard Leon shout and they ran to help.

They found Leon frozen in place, staring in fascination at the final three eggs, directly in front of him. Within seconds, all three eggs went from red to orange.

Alexis grabbed a small laser weapon from her satchel, “Stay back, Leon.” She fired at the eggs, vaporizing them instantly.

Leon stood with his mouth open.

“Wow, that was fast,” Will said. “Why didn’t we get lasers? We could’ve destroyed all these eggs in no time.”

“Because these creatures were engineered to detect a laser signature. Once they do, they immediately transform into the lethal weapons they were designed to be.”

Leon shuddered, “Thanks for saving my life.”

“You’re welcome. Now, let’s all stay close together while I complete the inspection of the warehouse.” The trio made sure that every egg had been destroyed.

Alexis was exultant. “Great job, guys. I really appreciate your help; now, let’s get out of here.” Together, they returned to the warehouse entrance. “Thanks to you guys, my work here is done.”

“Will you be traveling into the past or are you going back to the future?” Will asked.

“How’d you know I came here from the future?”

“Because you already knew both of our names when you got here. I’d be willing to bet that there was some kind of incident, which you could only fix by traveling back in time.”

“Yes, there was an incident,” Alexis said quietly.

“Then you saved both our lives, and, quite possibly every other living thing on the planet, too,” Will said.

“Yeah, thanks for making sure our first patrol wasn’t our last,” Leon said.

Alexis gave them a shy smile, “I’m just doing my job.”

“It’s your job to save the planet?” Leon asked.

Alexis chuckled as she pointed to her name, which was printed on her shirt. “No, I’m much more blue-collar than that.”

“Blue-collar? Is that what they call a time-traveling dragon slayer?” Will asked.

Alexis laughed as she opened her exit portal. “No. They call me a terminator.” She disappeared through the portal, but both boys heard her voice echoing back.

“I’ll be seeing you.”

Sandi Reed-Chan is a native Californian, and she has been happily married to her husband Bill for eight years. She has been writing fiction since she was a child, always with a speculative slant. In an effort to polish her writing skills, she has continued her education by taking new writing courses and workshops. “The Ley of the Land” is her first published work.