Chapter Two

Young Matt Mason opened his eyes and in one smooth motion sat up. His face still contained that fine sheen of dirt it had before but that was about it. There was no emotion written on his young features at all. His pupils were pinpoints and his eyes themselves were not fixed on anything in the small room he was in.

The harness that was attached to his back glowed like fire and Matt could almost feel a sort of heat coming from it. Inside his head he heard many voices; many thousands of voices all talking at once, in complete harmony. In all of that chaos he heard one voice louder than the rest calling his name. It wasn't a voice he recognized but it was a voice that he instantly felt he could trust. He couldn't explain why but the voice reminded him of his father in that it was commanding yet warm and it was going to keep him safe.

Wordlessly, Matt jumped up from the floor and started to walk. The metal door he approached instantly opened, allowing him to leave the room.

The ship he was on was dimly lit and the hallways were long, twisting and many looked the same but it didn't matter. Matt didn't really use his eyes to navigate the hallways he had never walked before, he used his hearing. He focused on the voice in his head, using that as a beacon to guide him. The harness on his back didn't wipe clean his other memories; memories of the 2nd Mass and his family. It didn't take any of that away from him. He could still remember clearly everything his brothers and his father had said about the Skitters but now with the harness it was like he was finally getting the other side of the conversation and he came to realize that everything he had been brought up to believe about the Skitters or as he now longed to call them the 'Guardians' was wrong. They and the Overlords were Earth's saving grace. They were trying to make the Earth in their own image and more importantly they weren't trying to kill. It was the humans; the Resistance that was forcing them to kill to protect their own.

It had to stop; all of the needless deaths. The humans needed to understand that there was no possible way to win this war. They were vastly outnumbered and all they were doing was delaying the inevitable.

Making a right down a corridor Matt arrived at a large door. The door was almost metallic but it looked greenish as well, like the Guardian's skin. On it's surface was what looked like a hand print indentation only the hand print wasn't human. The fingers were longer and thinner and the structure itself was vastly misshapen.

Still, as Matt stepped up to the door the hand print turned counter clock wise and parted straight down the middle revealing that the large door was in fact two doors which lifted up from the ground allowing Matt entrance in to the room.

Stepping in to the room Matt saw that it was huge, at least the size of an auditorium. There was a strange looking chair in the middle of the room with three steps leading up to it. Behind the chair was a wall and on the wall were different images. It reminded him of of many television screens without the actual boxes that supported the screen. He saw many streets, some with empty abandoned cars, he saw buildings, some with power which were obviously in use by the Espheni. Wordlessly Matt walked across the room, up the three steps and past the chair in which a single Overlord sat, watching him with it's dark eyes.

"You recognize it, don't you?" the voice in his head asked. Matt gave no indication that he heard the question. He didn't need to. Unlike humans who had to speak with their mouths in order to communicate, the Guardians and their flock had no need to use such primitive communication skills. Their thoughts were shared with everyone at any given time. Ben had told him that it was like they knew and understood your needs before you even knew it yourself. Matt felt that same way but there was more to it than that. It was like they were with you inside and they only wanted what was best for you.

Matt stared at a particular screen which after a few seconds grew bigger, blotting out the smaller screens. It showed a far off glimpse of the 2nd Mass through a group of trees. The screen tightened to show Tom Mason entering the Command Tent and Ben Mason heading out on patrol.

"You aren't moving against them, Master." Matt noted. If the Espheni knew where the 2nd Mass was then they should strike; break the Resistance up before more lives could be lost on both sides!

"Now is not the time to strike them down, my son," the Overlord replied, "We must be patient. Soon everything will be in place."

The young boy turned away from the screen and approached the Overlord. It had called him 'son.' If it had called them that a day earlier he would have rejected it outright. He was no one's son but Tom Mason's. Now however Matt didn't feel close to that simple minded human at all. Tom Mason may have been his father once but now? Tom Mason meant nothing to him. The Overlord was his Master, his Guardian, his friend and more than that Matt felt as if it was his father.

Gently the giant Overlord lifted a hand and ran a single finger down the boy's left cheek. He could feel and hear the boy's thoughts and emotions. He could feel the boy's love and devotion for him, his kind and the war. Was it genuine? That was a question for the ages. The harness on the boy's back had a lot of sway in the way the boy was feeling. It was manipulating the boy, not just keeping his body in a drug induced haze but also rewriting and twisting his thoughts and feelings; transforming him in a way in to one of them.

The Overlord looked Matt over trying to decide what to do. He had the boy, he had leverage over the Mason clan and the 2nd Mass as it was. Even so, it was just so easy to lose that leverage. All the Mason's and the 2nd Mass had to do was find out where the boy was, mount a rescue attempt, take him and remove the harness and just like that his leverage would be gone. Matt could just be a casualty. Why not just take what he wanted now and be done with it?

That was how he was treating Karen. He took her information on the 2nd Mass as it had been when she had been a part of it and now he basically uses her as a mouthpiece towards the humans and especially Tom and Hal Mason.

He had her devotion, her love. He could feel her growing hatred towards the humans. She wanted them brought down just as much as he did.

Matt though was different. It wasn't just because he was nine years old and it wasn't just because he was one of Tom Mason's boys. The more he looked at him the more the Overlord realized that this situation had to be treated delicately. He wanted Matt. Not just in the way a Master wanted a slave or a soldier but also in the way a parent wanted a child. He couldn't explain it, he had never felt such a bond before with any other living creature but with Matt the Overlord felt something deep inside. No matter what he couldn't allow Tom Mason and the 2nd Mass to take Matt back. Matt was no longer one of them he was an Espheni, all the Overlord needed was to make Matt really believe that without the harness' true influence. If he could do that; make Matt turn against his own kind then he believed that the Espheni could turn the tide of the war once more. Because if he could do it once with one child he could do it again with other children.

Deciding to try an experiment the Overlord, with just the briefest thought manipulated the harness on the boy's back. He didn't remove it, didn't disable it, instead he merely allowed Matt to have some of his free will back. Free will was an important aspect to every race the Espheni had come in to contact with and it was that free will that was going to help him take full control over the young human boy.

The Espheni watched Matt slowly blink, a single tear streaking down his face. He could feel the boy's growing fear but instead of doing anything to further scare the boy, the Espheni Overlord simply stroked Matt's head and said through their telepathic link, "There is no need to be frightened my son. You are home now. You are home..."

With a wave of his other hand the view screen behind his chair changed to a vast forest scape that the ship was slowly flying over.

Having choice being restored to him, Matt felt his fear returning but to hear the Espheni call him son in a loving mental voice and touching him in that loving manner, Matt felt confused. He still felt that warmth flooding over him, telling him that things were going to be okay, that he was going to be okay. He still felt that he was a part of something grand and yet he still felt afraid. He missed Tom Mason and his brothers, he wished they were there with him. Maybe with them there, what was going on could be more manageable.

"You will see them again young one. I promise you, you will all be a family again if you wish it..." That voice, so calm and enchanting, Matt couldn't help but believe it. He looked up at the Overlord and a small smile crossed his face before he nodded his head.

Seeing the look on the boy's face, the Overlord stood up and gracefully headed towards the door. Even though there were no physical words spoken Matt heard the Overlord's voice in his head, inviting him to follow.

Sensing the trust in the Overlord's voice, Matt turned on his heel and followed the Espheni out of the room.