“I remember you now,” she said, stepping forward to study the holographic image. She had seen a blueprint of a similar design and recalled the device was, surprisingly, no larger than a car tire. The amount of energy it emitted, however, required that it be sealed inside a heavily fortified shell lined with lead. It was similar to some of the giant magnets she’d worked with in the past, but a fraction of their size.

“I presume you didn’t just ‘stumble’ across my bunker, now did you, Dr. Winston?” Luke said coyly. He turned his attention back to the computer screen. Then he reached for his glasses and balanced them on his nose before proceeding to swipe the screen again. The image over the console faded and vanished. Seconds later a new image flickered to life. It was the outline of his house. And around it appeared to be some sort of oval-shaped screen.

“What you are looking at is an invisible shield surrounding the property. I’ve used electromagnetic energy to effectively sustain a wave of energy that camouflages anything within a square mile of here.” Luke scanned the faces of Bouma and Overton, who stared back at him blankly.

“I know it’s hard to understand, but in essence—”

“You’re using their technology against them,” Sophie said, interrupting Luke midsentence.

“Precisely, Dr. Winston. In 2056 I was contracted by NTC to study the electromagnetic disturbance that fed the solar storms. It was when we discovered them that we also discovered this technology.”

Bouma’s face turned bright red. “You fucking knew about the Organics this entire time?”

Luke looked at him for a split second before scowling. “Of course NTC has known all this time. There are thousands of people that knew this was coming.”

Overton shook his head at the corporal, effectively ordering him to back off without uttering a word.

“As I was saying, NTC contracted me to work on building this technology long after I had sold them the rights to my company. But then, two years ago, Dr. Hoffman decided it was no longer a valuable investment for them,” he said with another scowl.

Sophie froze in place. Everything was beginning to make sense now. The Biosphere mission. The invasion. NTC’s plans had been in motion for years. How had she been so naive? And why had she been left in the dark for so long?

Frustrated, she shook the questions from her mind and stepped closer to the monitors. “Tell me everything you know about the Organics,” she said, her business voice kicking in.

Luke folded his hands behind his head and leaned back. “You better take a seat, Dr. Winston. We may be here for a while.”

Chapter 19

CHAPTER 19

I WANT my blanket,” the boy screamed.

“We have to get him to calm down!” Timothy shouted.