Apex 3: Shaylo Attacks by Adam Moon Page A

were still arguing about what had caused the Greys to leave so abruptly. Opinions and theories abounded but most of them were nonsensical.
    But one theory he heard seemed to hold water. An anchorwoman guessed that the Grey who had died on camera might have ordered the retreat. It coincided too neatly with reality.
    Jack switched stations. He wasn’t interested in theories. He wanted answers. He found a channel that was broadcasting two short clips back to back. One of them, in extremely poor taste, was the video of Shaylo killing Melanie. Jack had to turn away when it played. But the second video was of Shaylo, dying and speaking in his guttural tongue to the camera. That was the footage Jack was interested in.
    He waited for it to start over and then he held Shaylo’s faceplate towards the TV and held the translator button down. Shaylo began to speak in his alien language, and then after a short delay the faceplate translated.
    It said: “We cannot win. Our planet has been destroyed by the humans. Escape while you still can. This is your final order: if you can find a reason to live then save yourselves. Our species needs to live on.”
    Jack let go of the button and let the faceplate fall by his thigh. He switched the TV off and stared into space. He’d succeeded in vanquishing the Greys but at what cost? He had to live with the screams of billions of intelligent beings crying out within his head at all times. His heart was too small to contain all of their anguish.
    He was a monster, but he was the monster mankind needed. The realization that what he did was necessary didn’t help to heal his broken heart or mend his ruined psyche.
    He was the most wretched creature in the universe. He was certain of that because he’d seen them all. And worse, he had to live with himself until his dying day.
    He traipsed back to bed, hopeful that his dreams would afford him a momentary reprieve from his guilty conscience.

Decisions
     
    Admiral Liktar received word of the Grey planet’s fate and he felt instantly light headed. He’d created a monster when he’d enhanced those humans. The young male had powers that were beyond comprehension and apparently he had no compunction about unleashing them in horrifying ways.
    The parent star to the Grey plane t had increased in mass by half a percent as a great dark patch grew across its southern hemisphere, dimming its output of visible light. At first, no one knew what to make of the abnormality until they checked for the Grey planet and found it missing from its orbit.
    Then a scout reported that the invading Greys had abandoned Earth, retreating en masse. Apparently Shaylo was still on Earth, dead. He’d committed suicide the way the Greys could when they felt like there were no other options.
    None of it made much sense until Liktar considered that the young male had the ability to teleport objects. But did he have the power to teleport an entire planet into its own sun? The idea seemed ludicrous, but nothing else explained it. And he still had no idea why the Greys had abandoned their conquest. They didn’t need Shaylo to accomplish their mission. It was all too bizarre.
    Base Command hailed him, so he opened a channel.
    To his utter surprise, The President stared back at him from the holographic monitor. She said, “Greetings, Admiral. I see your plan has worked, in a fashion. That is fortunate. You’ve secured our future and we thank you.”
    Liktar was getting increasingly uncomfortable. “Hello, President Blimtot. How can I further serve you?”
    The President paused and then said, “We have a problem. Those advanced humans saved us but they also now pose a serious threat. They destroyed the Grey planet and the entire Grey civilization without warning and without remorse. Who’s to say they won’t do the same to us?”
    “But they have no reason to attack us.”
    “Reason doesn’t come into the equation. We can’t bet our future on whether we trust the humans to use