Arlene Herrera had heard him gasp before. When he was hurt, when he was surprised, when he came. But she had never heard him make that noise. It was like someone stepping on a wet paper bag.

Markus approached Arlene. Despite himself, he smelled baby powder. The attraction made him want to vomit. Some inhabitants on this planet even thought the Earth was flat …

Arlene slapped him.

Markus slammed her back, hard, against a car. He looked at the human, and his face twisted as if smelling filth.

Dirty, primitive … hateful …

Animals.

He raised his blaster.

There was a flash and a crackle. It hurt so much. Arlene cried. There was burning. It hurt. It hurt …

Arlene Herrera’s world faded to white.

“MARKUS!”

Lan materialized to see her son standing over the remains of two youngsters.

“Markus, get away from them! This is an order!”

“Do you know what they say about you?”

He pointed his weapon at the rest of Thinh’s friends.

“Fuck this planet! We need to go home!”

The air filled with energy. But rather than a blaster, it sounded more like a gentle whoosh.

Aunty Floresta put her stabilizer down. Where Markus had stood was a grapefruit-sized sphere. Aunty Floresta picked it up and carefully placed it in a container. Then she retrieved Markus’s weapon.

“I am so sorry,” Aunty Floresta said to the dead. She adjusted the weapon settings and fired twice. All organic material, including everything these two people were, was completely and irrevocably vaporized.

Their families and friends would never find them.

Meanwhile, Lan assessed the survivors. They were still in shock from what they had seen. Lan quickly performed a complete mind wipe.

“Floresta, please erase all remaining traces of our presence,” Lan said flatly.

The area briefly filled with a soft green glow.

“Complete, Captain.”

The local police might be called. Since there were two missing persons, they would likely conduct an investigation. But with no physical evidence, and with no witnesses, there would be no way to trace what had happened back to Lan and her crew.

The two of them got into the family Corolla, activated their cloak, and disappeared into the night.

Once back at the shop, Lan asked to see Windee. Edwin held his twin sister’s hand as she faced the captain.

“What did you do?”

Windee began to shake.

“Mom, he said he missed our father. So I found him.”

“You found him? How? That’s not possible without the space-time values.”

“It wasn’t that hard,” Windee said, with a trace of defiance.

“Show me.”

Nervously, Windee Tran showed her the same calculations that she had shown Markus. Lan looked at them and frowned. Windee was a genius. But she was also young.

“Mother, she made an error,” Shirley said.

“She made several. Windee, your method doesn’t account for an entire class of unknowns. Let me show you.”