Escape was almost theirs. Agent Lang followed the other CSIS agent through the wooded edges of the estate where she’d been held. As they reached a back country road the other agent held up a hand to bring them to a halt.

“Before we go any further, I need your passphrase,” the man said.

Lang blinked, staring at him. “Passphrase?”

“To prove you’re the real you.”

That… what did he… It didn’t make any sense. That wasn’t how it worked. Which left her wondering…

“How do I know you’re who you say you are?” she asked.

“What do you mean? O-of course I—“

“Show me your badge. Show me your badge right now!”

He seemed reluctant but then nodded and pulled it out. As he opened and she scanned what was written in it she realized… she couldn’t read it. It simply wasn’t actually writing. It was gibberish. If she tried to focus it became even less clear, somehow. Which could only mean…

Her eyes opened, and she instinctively tried to sit up. Only to find she was restrained, unable to move. She was on a medical table of some sort. Looking around she was surrounded by aliens. Mostly grays, but there are others. Some she could identify the species of, but several she couldn’t.

They were talking rapidly in a language she couldn’t understand. She could tell they were frustrated though.

She also slowly became aware of something attached to her head. A sort of helmet with various wires coming out of it. It had to have been behind the dream. Some sort of virtual reality or… something like that. Something to affect her thoughts.

It wasn’t hard to figure out what they were after: information about how her android duplicate had been found out. Which was, of course, information she didn’t have. Though she had a suspicion. Agent Lee had always been a bit paranoid after all. The slightest little thing off and he might’ve I just jumped to the right conclusion by chance. He had requested a medical examination of himself to ensure he wasn’t secretly an alien sleeper agent. Catching someone else out as an alien android copy took rather less paranoia than wanting to check if one was themself an unknowing alien spy.

Unfortunately, she wasn’t sure if she would survive if her captors found out that truth. So she’d have to keep the lie up. Make them think she had some secret that they could crack what just hadn’t yet.

---

The undergrads were watching, some of them seeming ready to giggle, as the Entity clung to Tessa’s side. It was her first time teaching a class again (or really a study group more than a class) and the Entity was remaining hugging her as if having been told she was planning to leave it for all eternity. 

She had tried to get it to stay in the study space for the mycology students, but it just hadn’t listened… having insisted on following her.

“I—please… Gracelle, give me a little space so that I can teach,” she asked.

“I need to let them know you are taken, chérie,” the Entity whispered into her ear.

“They’ve probably gotten the idea at this point,” Tessa muttered. “You can go back to the biology department.”

The Entity shook its head. “I will not be so far from you, mon amour.”

Tessa let out a small sigh. “Well, can you at least sit at the desk over there?”

The Entity took a moment to think about it, before turning to the small group of undergrads and giving them an ‘I’m watching you’ gesture. Then it let go and walked over to sit at the desk.

Tessa thanked it, before trying to start the study group discussion about the fall of Babylonian society to the Hittites… only to find rather few eyes were on her or the whiteboard.

“This is going to be on your midterm,” she said, trying to get the students’ attention back to the discussion on the goals of Mursili I.

However, it was clearly not working.

“My girlfriend, on the other hand, is not relevant to your course,” she muttered, finally acknowledging what was distracting them.

“But she’s an alien,” someone said.

“Yeah. That’s—I mean, a real live alien right here in the room,” another added.

“Legally I am a human,” the Entity muttered.

Tessa nodded, trying to put forward the official government story. “They’re pretty sure that the… thing she has is ultimately terrestrial anyhow. Just an organism that was launched into space millions of years ago.”

That statement caused protests to erupt from the undergrads. They were poking holes in the claim by discussing the various known facts from news reports. 

“Is there any reason a truly alien organism would be more capable of ‘shooting laser beams’ or ‘freezing time’ than a terrestrial one? The same laws of biology and physics apply,” she countered, even if she knew it was a blatant lie.

She just didn’t want to tick off the government any more than necessary. Or spread panic… even if she felt at least a little panic was warranted. She loved the Entity, increasingly not just for the parts of it that was Garcelle, but she still knew it was emotionally immature and exceptionally powerful. It was best handled with caution.

Thankfully the students didn’t have the first hand experience she did, and so admitted they couldn’t figure out why a fully alien fungus would have abilities a semi-terrestrial one couldn’t. But most of them insisted an organism that had spent millions of years off the Earth should probably count as ‘alien’.

Tessa was just glad when the lesson ended, and she didn’t have to deal with their questions anymore.

---

Annoyed at how things had turned out, Dr. Montgomery took a deep drag of her cigarette as she stood outside the Benefactor’s estate. She wanted to steal her nerves before she had to deal with him again.

The employee waiting to guide her in, an alien of some sort wearing a holographic human disguise, seemed rather unimpressed by her habit. But said nothing. When she’d finished he led her inside.

They took a different route than usual, heading down into a basement. Dr. Montgomery soon found herself in a work out room. The Benefactor was running through what were effectively bicep curls, though his muscular structure was rather different from a humans.

Getting closer, she also realised the weights were neutronium. Which, with the size of them… she couldn’t begin to guess what they weighed. Well, beyond being heavier than she felt even a being as large and muscular as the Benefactor could lift. Perhaps they were hollow, and the size was about ergonomics?

Or intimidation.

“Now, what’s brought you back this time?” he asked, setting the weights down.

“The Asset. The M’tethon… it’s much more dangerous than you led us to believe, isn’t it?” she replied.

He made an expression not far from a pout, seeming to think his options over. 

She decided to continue. “I contacted other sources. It’s not a super soldier. It’s a planet killer.”

“Maybe,” he replied, starting to do some cool down stretches.

“It’s also a well known thing. So you aren’t trying to test it. You know what it’s capable of… you want it on the Earth specifically for some reason. Why?”

He paused his stretching to offer her a sharp toothed smile. “I want something destroyed. Something that crashed on this world a few centuries ago.”

“Something that it will take the M’tethon to destroy?” Dr. Montgomery asked.

“Oh. No. No. But I have something I’d like to test against the M’tethon, and it seemed as good an excuse as any to wake it up.”

“The thing you wanted to test… it’s a weapon, I’ll guess?”

He nodded. “Well, more than a weapon. Perhaps a weapon’s platform would be more accurate. Designed specifically to fight the M’tethon.”

“And you’re not using it yet, because… the M’tethon hasn’t destroyed what you were after, correct?” she asked, waiting for another nod. “If we were to destroy whatever it was for you, would you then deal with the M’tethon?”

“… I would,” he replied.

“What is it you want destroyed, then?”

He held up his hand, a ring on it lighting up to create a holographic projection above his palm. The image was a bit like a mini-disc, the sort she hadn’t seen in years. But thicker. Perhaps ten or twelve times thicker than a disc. 

“It belonged to the usurpers. Destroying it will ensure no members of their house might be found again, and clear my own path towards that which is rightfully mine,” he explained. 

While the object she saw didn’t fill her with much awe, the weight he put into his words left an impression on her. “What is it that is rightfully yours?”

“The galaxy,” he replied.

She glanced back at the object, not sure how it could matter so much. Nor how something so important seemed to have been lost on the Earth.

But none of that really mattered. What was important was finding out where it was and destroying it. She knew enough of the state of the galaxy to know it would take more than a claim to conquer it, so the fate of the Earth was more pressing to her right now.

“I will offer you the energy signature. Track it down and either destroy it or bring it to me. If you succeed I will deal with the M’tethon,” he replied.

---

“I have marking to do,” Tessa grumbled as the Entity tried to talk her into going out to the waterfront again.

“It is unhealthy to stay cooped up so much,” it said.

“It’s also unhealthy to lose my position as a TA and not be able to afford groceries anymore,” she countered, shooing it off to try to focus.

It floated out of sight for a moment. Then must have swooped around to pull her into a hug from behind. 

“You’ve been ignoring me too much lately, chérie,” it said.

She decided to lean back into the hug. “I’m sorry. It’s just… there’s a lot to catch up on. For both of us.”

“Je sais… I am trying to be patient. To remember this is what we wanted. But it is hard,” the Entity said, leaning its cheek against hers. “I have so much energy. And such instincts to fight. It leads to much restlessness.”

Tessa nodded, as her eyes drifted over to the bedroom. But… no. She wasn’t going to try that until they had a chance to rent out a cabin at least a hundred kilometres from anyone else. Just in case.

“You can stay hugging me like this, if you want,” she said. “I can still work while also having you here.”

“That sounds good,” the Entity replied.

---

Repairs were nearly finished on the office, but Agent Lee was still no closer to working out who had replaced Agent Lang. Nor where the real Lang might be, assuming she was even still alive.

He didn’t like having an agent missing. It felt irresponsible. It was also surely bad for morale. Which decreased efficiency and focus. Risking further mistakes.

“Should we warn the Americans?” one of the new reinforcements asked.

He was francophone, like the others. Which made sense, Quebec was close by, and they’d already stretched the Maritime resources thin with observing the Entity. 

“We can not risk it just yet. For all we know they are responsible. There is foul business afoot here,” he replied with a nod. “There are secondary channels that may yet be explored, however.”

The other agent nodded, before asking if they’d learned anything from the android’s remains to prevent further incursion. Lee had to, reluctantly, admit they didn’t have anything quite yet. They would keep looking into it, however. 

---

The room was spinning slightly as Agent Lang realised she was in her cell again. Well, probably in her cell. She got up and stumbled over to the toilet, slumping down beside it. There was a manufacturer’s stamp on the underside of the metallic structure. 

Writing. ‘Manufactured in Pittsburgh’. 

She could read something, at long last. After what felt like weeks of being trapped in artificial dream worlds. Though, with the way time worked in dreams it may have only been a single afternoon in the real world.

She really hoped someone would find her soon. Even if she could keep up the lie, and keep her captors trying to hunt through her mind for answers that didn’t exist… she didn’t know how much longer she would last going through this day in and day out.