EDGE and Tesseract are imprints of Hades Publications, Inc.

Chapter One

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Alien Revelation A Novel by
Tony Ruggiero

Chapter 1

“Life is a series of events, or in some cases obstacles, that besiege us in our path. The key is to face them head on and in many cases, the problem diffuses itself…or it explodes in your face. Either way, it’s over.”Greg Carlson

Leumas stared at Copolla’s emotionless eyes as his enemy continued repeating the words “to become.” He thought about the things Copolla had stated in their conversation and how it opened a whole realm of potential dangers. He wondered how much more detail he could get out of Copolla and if he would have the opportunity to use it. Dead men don’t talk.

Leumas refused to lose hope about a possibility arising for escape, although the odds of that were virtually nonexistent at this point. He was overdue in reporting back to the council, which probably meant another mission would be launched to find him. But if he had succumbed so easily, what chance did the others have? Worse yet, if Greg came after him he would—Leumas suddenly realized that was exactly what Copolla probably wanted. Damn it, I’ve got to do something!

“Copolla,” he said, hoping to arouse him from his stupor. “I know Greg’s father turned against you when he decided to stay on Earth. I won’t believe he was still…”

“Before there was one,” Copolla slurred the words as if he were drunk.

This reinforced Leumas’s growing belief that the procedure Copolla had undergone to develop his influencing ability had caused both mental and physical damage.

“Then there were four,” he said with more clarity, as he seemed to slowly rise from the depths he inhabited. “Are you good at riddles, Leumas? I like riddles. You haven’t figured this one out yet, have you?”

“No, Copolla. I don’t have the knack for figuring riddles, I guess.” Leumas realized Copolla was referring to the notes again. He wanted to stay on the previous subject about Greg’s “becoming,” but Copolla’s mind was so erratic, his behavior so unpredictable, that Leumas had no choice but to let him ramble.

“Let me help you then. ‘The one’ refers to me. ‘The four’ are my two agents and their earth females. Can you figure it out now?” he asked, with a childish innocence that made Leumas’ flesh crawl.

“Why don’t you just tell me about what I was asking earlier?” Leumas pressed. “About your agent and—”

“Shut up, you fool!” Copolla screamed at him. “I am trying to answer your question.”

Leumas, taken aback by the abrupt change of mood, fell silent.

“Where was I? Yes, the four. The next part is ‘now there are three.’ Do you know who the three are?”

“No,” Leumas answered neutrally, fearing to set off another outburst from this wild creature.

“That’s myself, Greg and Sarah—the three,” Copolla said proudly. “ ‘If the reunion is a warm one, then all will be right, but if not, all will end and the one shall be as it was.’"

Leumas still could not comprehend what the madman was talking about.

“I see you still don’t grasp it,” Copolla sneered. “Still beyond your comprehension, I suppose. Well, let me explain it to you. If Greg and his woman refuse to join me in my little conquest, I shall kill them both and destroy that scum planet he is currently on. I really don’t care about the woman. She is insignificant to the whole plan, and I will probably just kill her anyway after a while.” The matter-of-fact tone he used sent chills over Leumas’ body.

“Greg would never agree to join you in any such insane—”

“Insane? No, not really. I just look at things from a different perspective than everyone else does. I think he might follow me quite willingly.”

“I don’t think so,” Leumas insisted.

“Perhaps if you knew the whole story, you might possess a different opinion,” Copolla suggested. “Would you like to hear more, my friend? Hmmm?”

Leumas needed to know more, but he hated having to play this madman’s game of “Guess what?” to get it. Copolla obviously had another bombshell to drop on him and wanted Leumas’ full attention when he did it.

“Just say please and I will continue. I have time and so do you,” Copolla said in a sickening-sweet voice. Leumas tasted the sour stomach acids that had lurched into his throat. He fought to maintain control. “Well, Leumas? Do you have anything you want to say?” Copolla taunted.

“Please finish the story,” Leumas said between teeth clenched to keep him from saying anything else.

“Very well then.” Copolla smiled, obviously satisfied he had gotten this pitiful response from Leumas at a very high cost to his pride..

“Earlier I alluded to the fact Greg’s father was still under my control when he supposedly accepted the assignment to Earth with the intention of escaping me. Everyone assumed it was to have him spy on Earth, to see where past plans to undermine the society had gone so wrong and so on and so on. Well, that was only part of it.”

He poured himself a glass of whiskey and stared at the bottle for several seconds. He returned his gaze to Leumas as he drank deeply, gulping the entire glass at once, then placed it on the table, wiped his mouth with his fingers and then carefully licked them clean, his eyes never leaving Leumas.

“Would you like something to drink?”

“No, thank you,” Leumas said.

“All right, where was I? Oh, yes, the plan. My scientists had been tasked with conducting a very close examination of the Earth subjects after the last fiasco with that Adolf Hitler. They made some interesting findings that garnered my interest. Almost by accident we learned Terran DNA has a very interesting inactive strand in it.

“Further study showed it could possibly be combined with Zirean DNA to produce a hybrid. We felt very certain the result would probably possess certain characteristics extremely beneficial if harnessed and used by the right group…or individual. There is a subconscious trigger required to activate it. I believe the term they used to describe it was ‘time-phased’ or something like that. Very subtle and hard to detect, but there.”“What kind of characteristics?” Leumas asked cautiously. “You’re talking more than just being able to influence, aren’t you?”

“Influencing is only the beginning,” Copolla crowed. “There is so much more to it: more power and the ability to expand control throughout the galaxy with merely a thought. I wanted that hybrid. I would have it before anyone else realized what was going on. Greg’s father carried a little special package inside him compliments of my scientists and, of course, unknown to him.”

He bent closer to Leumas as if he were going to let him in on a secret. Leumas instinctively leaned back as far as he could without falling off the bed.

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