The reporter laughed as if she’d said the funniest thing he’d ever heard. “I don’t think there are clowns,” he said. “But I hear the show is chock-full of surprises. And it’s starting in just a little while, so you’d better get inside.”
The sisters walked off, and the reporter turned to the at-home audience. “We can’t take you inside tonight’s premiere,” he said, frowning sadly. “No cameras allowed. The only way you’re going to see what takes place inside the Saturn Hotel arena is if you’ve got one of these.” He held up a metallic silver ticket and waved it around. “Which I do! So I’m going to head inside and I’ll report back later tonight. This is Trek Masters for KVAS, and I’ll talk at you later.”
“He’s wrong about one thing,” Eleni said. “You don’t need a ticket to see the show. At least not if you’re in one of the VIP suites.” She changed the channel, and the picture on the TV switched to a scene of an arena, presumably the one attached to the Saturn Hotel. A stage was set up in the center, with seats all around it. A dark blue curtain patterned with stars and planets surrounded the stage, hiding it from view.
“Is everything in place?” Eleni asked Magdalena.
Magdalena took out her phone and tapped on it. “Everything’s ready,” she confirmed. “The trucks are in position.”
“And the cargo?”
Magdalena grinned. “Hungry,” she said.
“I’m going down there now,” Eleni said. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a silver foil ticket like the one the reporter had shown. “I want to be there in person when those stupid women see what’s coming for them.”
She exited the room, leaving the television on. Magdalena sat down on the bed and continued to text on her phone as Sam watched the feed from inside the hotel’s arena. Questions swirled around in his head, and when he couldn’t stand hearing them buzzing in his brain any longer he said, “What is it you’re doing?”
“Finally,” Magdalena said, putting her phone down. “I can’t believe you waited so long to ask.”
She walked over to the desk and picked something up. Coming back over to Sam, she held a brochure out so that he could see it. “‘Cirque des Étoiles presents the Battle for Earth,’” he read. “‘A celebration of human triumph.’ That’s the show they’re doing. I get it. But what does that have to do with you?”
“Everything,” Magdalena said. “How do you think it feels seeing the worst moment in your people’s history turned into a spectacle to entertain audiences? Especially so soon after it occurred.”
Sam looked at the arena filled with people. “It’s no different than having a parade,” he said. “Like the Fourth of July.”
“It’s very different,” Magdalena said. “But since you’re on the so-called winning side, I don’t imagine you can really understand.”
“So much for wanting to be friends,” Sam said.
“I didn’t say I blame you,” Magdalena told him. “I understand it was a war. And in every war there’s a winner and loser. I also know what part you and your friends played in that fight. Everybody does, of course.” She paused and looked at the TV. “But maybe the war isn’t quite over yet.”
“What do you mean?” Sam asked. “What’s this about?”
“Haven’t you wondered why you’re here?” Magdalena said, indicating the hotel room. “And not somewhere more, you know, not here?”
Sam of course had been wondering that very thing, so didn’t bother answering.
“This is what it’s all been leading up to,” Magdalena said.
This Sam didn’t understand. “All what?”
“Everything,” said Magdalena. “The drugs. The experiments. The camps for the runaway kids. All of it.” She waited for a reaction, then said, “You still don’t get it, do you?”
“Maybe your parasite ate the part of my brain that figures out riddles,” Sam said.
Magdalena rolled her eyes like a bored teenager. “It’s all part of ‘the plan,’” she said, making air quotes around the final two words. “First, we got humans hooked on that drug that makes them think they have Legacies. Honestly, that was mostly just for fun, but it had the added bonus of making people suspicious of Legacies themselves, and particularly of the people who have them. You know, because people started hurting themselves trying to be like you. That’s bad PR. Then we figured out how to make a serum to actually give us Legacies. I think it’s obvious why we would do that. And tonight, well, tonight we’re going to remind humans why it is they should fear us.”
“How?” said Sam.
In the arena, the lights went dark. The crowd murmured excitedly.
“Shh,” Magdalena said. “It’s beginning.”
All Sam could do was watch and listen. After a moment, the curtain surrounding the arena stage fell. The audience gasped as a giant spaceship was revealed, suspended in the air and all lit up with blue and purple lights. Fog swirled around it, and projections of comets flew by, making it look as if the ship was flying through space.
“They came from the darkest reaches of the universe,” a woman’s voice intoned. “Looking for revenge.”
Ominous music filled the air, throbbing with bass that sounded like engines pulsing. The spaceship moved, turning from side to side on hidden hydraulics.
“Our planet had no warning of what was about to befall us,” the voice continued. “They arrived in darkness.”
Magdalena sighed. “That’s a little dramatic,” she said. “Space is dark, after all.”
The spaceship descended to the stage. Then it split open, the two halves pulling apart. A dozen costumed characters emerged, their faces painted in reds and yellows, their bodies covered in what looked like iridescent scales.
“Well, that’s just insulting,” Magdalena said. “They made us look like devils.”
Sam watched as the performers moved through a complicated choreography that involved tumbling and leaping. The movements were jerky, violent, primitive. They were accompanied by flashes of red and yellow lights and the sound of beating drums.
“They did not come alone,” the narrator’s voice said.
“Okay,” Magdalena said. “Pay attention. This is the good part.”
“They brought with them monsters,” said the voice. “Creatures made to hunt and kill.”
The spaceship transformed again, this time breaking into pieces as something else rose from beneath the stage. It was an egg, massive and pulsing with greenish-yellow light. The performers representing the Mogs swirled around it, almost as if they were worshipping it. They held out their hands to it. Then cracks appeared in the surface and the light inside shot out in thin beams.
Sam looked over at Magdalena. Her face was bathed in the glow from the television. Her eyes were wide, and a smile played at the corners of her mouth. She held her hands clasped in front of her as she stared at the screen. For some reason, Sam found himself frightened.
The egg broke open, revealing a huge creature inside of it. Easily twenty feet tall, it resembled a prehistoric lizard, with a spiked tail and armored hide. Its eyes glowed with yellow light. When it opened its mouth, it revealed wickedly pointed teeth.