Intruder Alert: Part 13

“Total annihilation?!” Nellie echoed almost hysterically.
“Now, now, calm down. I’m sure it won’t be that bad. After all, we have the resources to mitigate the adverse effects of any kind of invasion,” Alice replied, attempting to put her at ease.
“Invasion!” Nellie squawked, not at all put at ease. “ What can we do against an invasion?”
“You’d be surprised. Your people have talents, skills, and powers that they aren’t aware of,” Alice said in a consoling tone.
“Well, I hope so,” Nellie replied, a little calmer, mirroring Alice’s unruffled confidence. “This is more than I bargained for.”
“It’s probably just what you need. A little other worldly excitement gives one the perfect circumstances to build character,” Alice informed her off handedly.
They were standing outside Blake’s office. Alice had second thoughts about continuing the conversation.
“Someone’s coming,” Alice said.
Nellie looked around, and then said “I don’t see anyone.”
“His name is ….Red, Ched, or Ed,” Alice replied.
“Oh you must mean Fred. He’s due in this morning,” Nellie said, and then as she looked at her watch, “My goodness, he’s an hour late.”
“He had trouble with his conveyance,” Alice replied.
“How do you know that? Sixth sense?” Nellie asked.
“We must keep him from disturbing Blake,” Alice said in an urgent tone, “Blake’s solitude is a matter of cosmic importance.”
Nellie replied, “I’ll see what I can do,” and she walked away from Alice and met Fred as he came around a corner.
“Oh, good morning Fred, before you go into the office, I wanted you to see the hardware robot. It’s back,” said Nellie.
“I know it’s back,” Fred replied in a flustered tone.
“You don’t have to bite my head off, Fred. We just wanted your opinion. I realize now that you should have known. You and Blake keep in touch.” Nellie countered.
“I apologize. My car broke down on the way here. I had to have it towed, and rent a car. What a nightmare. I hate cars. If it isn’t one thing, it’s another. I’ll be happy when the AI driven vehicles on demand program is firmly in place, then it won’t be a big deal if a car breaks down, they’ll send out another one, and I’ll be on my merry way,” Fred lamented.
“Well, nothing is perfect or ever will be, no matter what it is,” Nellie replied.
“That’s kind of cynical, isn’t it?” said Fred.
“That’s one way to look at it, anyway, I’m glad you got here in one piece,” Nellie replied.
“Yeah. I’d better check in with Blake. He’s probably wondering what happened to me,” Fred said, while trying to walk around Nellie. But she expected that, and stepped in front of him with her hands up, palms facing him.
“He’s on an important phone call and he asked me to keep everyone at bay until it’s over,” Nellie quickly stretched the truth.
“Really, and I wasn’t included. That’s strange. Is it a store related call,” responded Fred.
“Yes, it is totally weird. Corporate has its head in another world. That’s what they wanted, senior top manager only conference call,” Nellie said, continuing to extemporize, while trying to determine how this fabricated story was going to play out. “They could be saving so much time, just by including you and the other AMs in the call. Now he’ll just have to fill us in later. Maybe they’re brainstorming. You know what they say, too many cooks spoil the broth, or something like that.” Alice could feel beads of sweat forming on her forehead. She didn’t make a habit of warping reality, or bending the truth. Blake was in communion with his superiors, an invisible higher power or authority to be sure, and he will tell us later what he realized, therefore she really wasn’t stretching the truth too much, she rationalized.
Fred noticed her perspiring. “You look hot. Are you feeling faint.. light headed. Are you okay?” he asked as he lightly touched her arm. “Do you want to go to the break room for some water?”
“I guess I do feel a little dizzy,” she said, as she reached out and grabbed his arm, pretending to steady herself. She realized how stressful it was to lie, the pressure of the possibility of being found out later, was she realized, going to compromise her honest reputation.
“Yeah, yeah, water. Water would be good. Sounds like a great idea. I guess this robot situation and…. life in general has left me a little overwhelmed,” Alice said.

…to be continued.

Fred responded. “Okay, let’s go. I’ll walk with you. We don’t want you to faint,” Fred said, sounding concerned.
As they walked off toward the break room, Alice, who was standing about 15 feet away, had been observing the conversation between Fred and Nellie. She was thinking how nice of Fred to be willing to escort Nellie to the break room.
She heard the office door slide open behind her, and turned to see Blake beckoning her inside.
“Thanks for encouraging Nellie to divert Fred. Although I can’t manage the store without him, he would have drained my energy and I wasn’t ready to break the strategizing trance.” Blake said and then asked: “Where did they go… by the way?”
“The break room…..Hmm that’s strange,” Alice said thoughtfully.
“What’s so strange about them going to the break room,” asked Blake.
“It’s not that,” she replied, “I just realized that he didn’t seem to notice me watching them. I wasn’t that far away and he was facing my direction.”
Blake turned to walk back to his desk, and then stopped mid step, “Uh oh, I hope it’s not what I think it is,” Blake said.
“What’s that,” asked Alice.
“There’s only one race that can’t see you,” replied Blake.
“Oh no, not the Critens. What would they be doing here?” Alice asked.
“Only one reason: to infiltrate this world. Fred may have been sent as a scout to determine the vulnerabilities and strengths of its inhabitants. The evil entities may have been the second step in their plan,” replied Blake. “Let’s find them quick. Nellie might be in danger” Blake said as he headed towards the exit door.