Mark, a concerned look in his eye, reassured Sam, even as he watched her supreme beauty diminish. Was it true? Would he begin to fade as she was? Was Jenny now in league with Xinth? If she was, what should he do about it? What could he do about it?
Mark motioned to Sam to leave the tent, and they rejoined Xinth and Jenny. Before Mark could ask the many questions on his mind, Xinth spoke.
"I know what you're thinking... what do I need to do for more orbs?" Xinth smiled, a predatory gleam in his eye.
"I have just the thing. I want you to tell the world what you know. Tell them about the orbs. I want your people to find them, and I will pay handsomely for you to publicize them on your world. Three orbs of the color of your choice if you do this for me..."
Jenny, standing next to Xinth, smiled in an expression much like his. Her face, her feelings seemed, now, to be an echo of his. Mark's eyebrows furrowed in thought as his eyes shifted from Jenny to Xinth.
Sam, however, desperate to save her fading beauty, agreed instantly. "Done! Can I have my orbs now?"
"Only once you have done this for me, my sweet," said Xinth, his smile broadening, knowing that Sam would do as he wished.
Sam turned to Mark, taking his hand in hers, and pulled him back toward the trail.
"Shouldn't we pack up the tent?" Mark asked as they walked by.
"Screw the tent," said Sam. "We have more important things to do right now..." Like get more green orbs, she thought.
Jenny followed them as they walked back to the trailhead.
***
The three friends walked up to the podium at the National Park Service press room. Sam cleared her throat, but it was Jenny who spoke first.
"People of the earth. We have made first contact. An alien species has finally come to our planet, led by one called Xinth. They have given us orbs of power. Orbs that can allow us to do... this!"
With that, Jenny reached to each side of her, lifting Sam and Mark from behind, one hand on the collar of each of their tops, in a demonstration of strength. She then moved over to the security guard, lifted him, spun him in the air one-handed to let his pistol drop from his holster to her other, outstretched hand. Turning the gun toward herself, she pulled the trigger.
As the assembled press in the audience gasped in shock, Jenny turned toward them and smiled. She brushed the flattened slug from her svelte abs, showing off the hole in her blouse where the bullet had clearly struck.
"Everyone, search out these orbs, and you can have powers like these for yourself!" Jenny's eyes sparkled as she saw the lust for power enter the eyes of each assembled journalist. She knew she had achieved Xinth's goal.
The worldwide orb-rush was on, a contest that would both unite and divide the world...
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