“What is it?”
“I ran into a man working for the US government in Ecuador just a few days ago. They’ve got this specialist, Francois Durand. He’s been running all over grabbing alien-related shit. He’s probably the guy who got them their stone. He was in Ecuador to grab something that might have been alien-related.”
Correk arched a brow. “Really?”
“Yeah. I was recovering an artifact down there for a client. It was a little golden airplane-looking thing, but it was six hundred years old. Ancient airplanes, allegedly, or models of them, anyway.”
He nodded. “I’m familiar with them.”
“I took a bunch of pictures in different spectral ranges, but I couldn’t find anything unusual about it. No symbols, nothing. If it’s related to the aliens, it might be indirect. Or maybe it’s what people think it is: just something the Incas made after seeing alien aircraft.”
“Where is it now?”
“With the client.”
Correk frowned. “I see.”
“Hey, the guy paid a million dollars for it, and it wasn’t covered with alien glyphs or anything.”
“I have ways of recovering information that go beyond simple reading and translation. In the future, it could be helpful to our investigation if I could gain access to an artifact like that, if only for a short while.”
“Understood.” Shay stared at the Light Elf, wondering how much information she should offer.
Have to give a little to get a little. I’m not gonna get better help than the Fixer.
Shay sighed. “This Durand asshole beat me to an artifact in Russia. An aluminum tooth-wheel that may be three hundred million years old, so it’s got to be alien.”
“I see.” Correk picked up his wine and downed the rest of it. “I presume this item is now under the control of the American government?”
Shay shrugged. “As far as I know. This Durand guy might not be a Fixer, but he’s damned good for a human with no special magic. He’s gonna be a problem, but I’ll deal with him when he pops up.”
Correk set his glass down and folded his hands in front of him. “I thank you for being so honest about the information you’ve uncovered, Miz Carson. Since you’ve been so forthright, I will be as well.”
“Oh, you didn’t call me here to hit on me?”
Correk gave a soft snort. “Don’t think so highly of yourself.”
She rolled her eyes. “You’re no fun.”
“No, I’m not—not when it comes to my duties.” Correk made a few precise movements with his hand while he sang, or at least that was the closest word that Shay could use to describe it. What emerged from his mouth wasn’t a simple voice, but a complex, layered sound that should have required instruments.
A full-color three-dimensional image of a pitted and cracked rock winked into existence above the table. It rotated slowly.
“Do you know what this is?” Correk inquired.
“Looks like a rock to me.”
“Close enough. It’s a meteorite.”
“You mean, it’s a space rock.”
Correk chuckled. “Yes.”
Shay nodded. “Something special about meteorites? Sky iron or something like that for powerful magical metal-working?”
“More to the point, there’s something special about this particular meteorite. A magical gentleman I helped out of a difficult situation gave it to me recently. He’d had it in his family for thousands of years, along with a family legend about it being a blessing stone from an ancient god.”
“Huh. Any way to verify that?”
“Partially. Being the Fixer does have its advantages. I’ve examined this meteorite using various powerful spells, and I’ve determined several important things. It is indeed a meteorite, and it has magical biological residue on it.”
He moved his hand, and glowing green lines appeared on the meteorite image.
Shay tilted her head as she examined the lines. “Was this some sort of attack, or a colonize-the-Earth-with-alien-spores thing?”
“I can’t be sure, but I don’t believe so.” Correk shook his head. “There are limits to even my magic, but I was able to determine this was part of a burial of some sort. A funeral offering. I was also able to verify that this meteorite doesn’t originate on Earth or Oriceran, but it was discovered on Earth.”
“Okay, so our boys had an interstellar Viking funeral. That’s not a super-concern, not that I don’t want to dig deeper.”
The elf waved his hand, and the image rotated to reveal several symbols. Shay’s heart rate kicked up. She didn’t recognize most of them, but one had already been seared into her brain as she spent hours looking at it on a picture of James’ amulet.
So, he is linked to all this shit. Damn. That means that Durand asshole might start snooping around him eventually.
No, wait. It’s fine. He doesn’t wear it where people can see it. There’s no way the government will ever know to go after him as long as I keep him far away from all this shit.
Shay forced a smile. Exchanging information with Correk didn’t mean he needed to know everything. For all she knew, the Fixer might decide that James was a threat who needed to be eliminated. The less he knew about James Brownstone, the better.
Correk gestured toward the image. “When we talked before, you mentioned translating the phrase ‘Already here.’”
“Yeah, that’s all my people have been able to ascertain, but you said we didn’t know what that means. That it could mean all sorts of things.”
“True, but you’ve mentioned six-hundred-year-old artifacts and three-hundred-million-year-old artifacts. The stone you collected for the Professor wasn’t that ancient, but it was still very, very old.”
“Yeah? I sense a ‘but’ coming.”
Correk pointed at the spinning meteorite. “This meteorite is mere decades old, not thousands or millions.”
“Shit.”
“Indeed. I’m glad you appreciate the implications.” The elf flicked his wrist, and the image vanished. “So, they, whoever they are, are already here. They came here some time ago, and I believe they’re still here.”
Shay exhaled slowly. “But who are ‘they,’ exactly?”
Is there some other person like James out there? Even if there is, everyone would just assume they are magical. Or maybe
