“Citizens of the world,” the figure announced. I cringed at the sound of the person’s voice. It was distorted, high pitched, and electronic. It sounded like a wildly distorted child’s voice. “We are here to inform you of the truth. We are here to tell you that you have been lied to. You are not safe. Your very way of life is threatened.”
Jackson and I turned to look at each other. The figure kept speaking.
“Many of you have been led to believe that the supernova that hit our planet last year has only been responsible for the failure of our electronics. This is not the truth.” The figure paused as clips of starvation, poisoned water, and dying animals flickered across the screen.
“The planet is dying. In approximately six months, our water will be poisoned. Our crops will die and our animals will starve. Our atmosphere will be chemically altered from a breathable gas into a cloud of poison. Our oxygen will disappear. Humanity will die laughing.”
Ka’thak stood behind us to watch. The figure continued.
“The American government has tried to pull the wool over your eyes. President Lee and her cabinet have betrayed you. They have betrayed our species. While you have been waiting for government aid and living under martial law, bigger tasks have been set upon.”
“Gods.” Ka’thak breathed.
“The alien empire that has invaded this planet is working to build another ship. This time, they are collaborating directly with the American government to build an ark for the elite. The government is enlisting the help of these foul demons to save a select few. Women and children need not apply.”
More clips. Screaming, starving babies. Mothers with gaunt faces staring into the camera as they pled for aid. Fathers being ‘forced’ to break into shops, just so they could feed their families. All images designed to evoke universal empathy from the viewer. Simple, timeless tactics that appealed to everyone.
“We bring you this knowledge for one reason—that you should not die helpless. You should know that your leaders are condemning you to a slow and painful death. The world is not yet doomed. Rise up, my brothers and sisters. Rise up, and drag those who would have you die in agony into the street. For too long we have been at the mercy of our governments, kept in the dark. The time has come for us to take our fate into our own hands. We are worldwide. We are with you. Now is the time to fight.”
The video ended just as the shuttle touched down in front of the alien ship. My mind raced. A video like this would throw society into chaos. There was no telling what kind of danger this would put our soldiers and our leaders in, never mind the innocents who would undoubtedly suffer and die when full-scale riots broke out. I packed the tablet back in my bag just as a small group of soldiers ran up to us, their tails bobbing in step.
“Sir.” One of the soldiers dipped his head in a salute. “The council requests your presence.”
Ka’thak turned to us. “You can find your way from here?”
Jackson nodded and Ka’thak ran off. I stepped off the shuttle and took in my surroundings. The camp had been completely evacuated. Tools, possessions, and food lay on the ground as their users had dropped them and run. A few fires still smoldered where tents had caught fire. I shivered. The place looked like something out of a post-apocalyptic movie. There wasn’t a single alien to be seen. I could sense Jackson’s demeanor shift from tense to outright alarmed. His people had been attacked and he wasn’t there to defend them. He shifted his rifle into his hands and kept it at his side, ready to fire. I kept my ears perked for any sound or sight of movement but the silence was absolute. When we arrived at the ship we opened the doors to chaos.
Soldiers ran up and down halls, barking orders at each other and civilians alike. Emergency lights swirled, blue and blinding. The flashing left spots in my eyes. When we caught up with Ka’thak and the council we saw that a full-on war gathering had assembled. Ka’thak ran up to me.
“Come with me,” he urged.
We followed him to the bridge of the ship where a small gathering of scientists were waiting for us. Ka’thak turned over the gear they pulled off the dead men to one of them. She murmured that she would look over it and give him the results as soon as they came in. Ka’thak pulled a tablet off the wall and opened it to several video feeds. What we saw wasn’t good.
“Damn it,” I whispered. The feeds showed a world in turmoil. Streets and buildings on fire. World leaders at podiums threatening war. Everything from invasions to nukes. Looting was common in every major city. Major avenues for transportation were shut down either from damage or by the masses protesting, screaming for answers.
“Mm,” Ka’thak murmured. “Are your people always like this?”
Jackson and I looked at each other and cocked our heads. “Unfortunately, yeah,” Jackson replied.
“The gods know why or how you’ve managed to not obliterate yourselves and everything around you. Your people are filled with hatred and vitriol that I could never have imagined. When our race was faced with imminent destruction we were able to work together to ensure the survival of the species. It wasn’t pretty, nor was it bloodless but it would seem that we’re more focused on continuing our linage than you are of yours.”
I shook my head. “I don’t think it’s sunk in yet. Our people have been so inundated with information over the last three-quarters of a century that they are used to proclamations like this being exaggerated, or outright false. We used to believe that human ignorance was the result of a lack of access to knowledge. Now we know that it’s hard-wired into our genetics. We still kill each other over skin color, religion, language, and every other thing you could dream up. Thanks to the misinformation that surrounds the construction of the human ship, they’re just getting the real scoop. I would be angry too.”
A sudden vibration from my pocket made all three of us jump. I pulled out my tablet to a call from the President.
17
Jackson
It had taken long enough, but the President had finally been briefed on both attacks.
“Congratulations, my dear friends,” she nodded to myself, Alexandra, and Ka’thak in turn. “You have shown true valiance this day.”
Alexandra opened her mouth and shut it. I didn’t need to ask what she was going to say. She didn’t feel that the deaths of dozens of men and women were anything to be congratulated for. I nodded respectfully and waited for the President to continue. I was no longer her soldier, but I knew enough to respect the chain of command.
“We’ve found the information that Mr. Proctor was telling you about. It would seem that the portfolio never made it to my desk. We are launching an investigation to find out how it was concealed for so long. Right now it looks like Homeland Security was trying to keep it under the radar to keep it off of my plate,” she looked away, a flash of anger crossing her face. “They finally spoke up when the details about the attacks came in.”
I was surprised by how frazzled the young President looked. It was clear that the activity of the past months had been taking their toll. This week must have been especially harsh for her. Part of me wanted to empathize with her, but it was the job. The President was the commander-in-chief for a reason, and though she would never see action, she worked just as hard as any other soldier. Now was the time for her to embrace that soldier mentality. If there were people close to her who were stepping out of line it was her duty to make sure they found their way out the door. Quickly.
“What details can you personally provide me on these attackers?”
My gaze flickered to Alexandra and she shook her head almost imperceptibly. We didn’t yet know the exact nature of the ties between Proctor and the government. Obviously, if he was allowing the military to operate within his facility there was some kind of partnership there. The fact that the President had been kept out of the loop regarding the data leaks reinforced the idea. To boot, if we started crowing conspiracy theories about a CEO sabotaging the only chance at surviving the apocalypse…well, I’d start doubting my
sanity if I hadn’t seen it for myself. Better to keep that particular idea under wraps. For now.
Alexandra spoke first. “Ma’am, I’m not exactly sure how to say this. I’ve studied cult members pretty extensively over the years and these men scare me with the intensity of their devotion to their cause. They run headlong into certain death without hesitation. Even when given the chance to surrender they prefer to be slaughtered. They were surrounded on all sides by the end of this last battle and fought until the last man. That speaks to a level of fanaticism that is almost unheard of. Even Hitler’s men defected or committed suicide under extreme duress.”
I nodded my agreement. Fighting the aliens had been less jolting than fighting these people.
“The men we were able to identify appear to be mostly former United States soldiers,” I said. “There isn’t much of a pattern as to how they were discharged. No common records, no obvious connections, Absolutely zero dishonorable discharges. It looks like they’re just people who left when their tour was up and went on to do something else in civilian life.”
“They all have families,” Alexandra said. “Each and every one of them. We haven’t been able to correctly identify all the bodies yet so we haven’t even attempted to inform next of kin. Between how their family members died and the unrest—well, I don’t think it’s the best idea. Better to let them think that their mothers and fathers died some other way.”
The President looked thoughtful for a moment and then shook her head. “You’re right. It won’t bring any peace to their families to know that their loved ones died traitors to their country. In any case, it’ll only add fuel to the fire. Out these people for who they really are—or were—and it’ll just give whoever is running the operation all the more reason to cover their tracks.”
Alexandra spoke up. “Mhmm.” It was clear that she wasn’t happy with that answer, even though she had put forth the idea. I believe that we both suffered from the same dilemma—how to temper protocol and politeness with bending the situation to our advantage.
“Please forward all the information you’ve collected to me personally. I’m organizing every intelligence asset at my disposal to hunt these monsters down. We have to stop them. Without that ship, humanity is doomed.”
No shit.
18
Proctor
The door slammed open with a bang, a small crack appearing in the thick glass near the hinge. Proctor’s mouth twitched at the damage to his office.
“I TOLD you!” Cady roared. “I bloody well TOLD you this was going to happen!” He stood halfway between the doorway and Proctor’s desk, breath coming in puffs, seemingly unsure what to do with himself.
“Calm down.” Proctor waved his hand at his head of security, purposefully fixing his eyes on a screen in front of him instead of the enraged man.
“Calm down?!” Cady’s face went red, his eyes flashing. Proctor idly wondered whether or not the man was going to have a coronary. He wasn’t in the best shape, after all. The anger might really be the end of him. It would be helpful if he didn’t drop dead in the office. The body would no doubt stain the carpet in some way. “We’re fucked! We’re absolutely fucked.”
“Close the door and lock it.” Proctor’s eyes flickered up from the screen to watch Cady at last.
Cady did so and stayed facing the door, breathing hard, clenching his hands into fists at his sides. After a couple of minutes, he turned, his face a mask of calm. The only giveaway that his temper was still running wild was his eyes. He really should learn to lie better, Proctor mused. Cady stepped forward dropped a folder on Proctor’s desk with a slap. Proctor stared at the folder as if it was an insect that might crawl towards him. After a moment he picked it up and flipped through the contents. Documents and photographs littered the inside. Many of them were of his dead mercenaries, their bodies ripped open by gunfire and grenades. The gore didn’t seem to phase him but he sniffed distastefully.
“The attack you launched against the ship? It failed. Just like I said it would. Turns out that the American soldiers you so graciously let onto our grounds with those disgusting monsters were why. They came to the rescue just as we were about to wipe those filthy abominations from existence. Your people were overrun before they got within a hundred meters of the ship. Now security is even worse, the President has ordered in two Army brigade task forces to patrol the site. There isn’t a single person who can get within miles of the place without them knowing about it. We’re done.”
Proctor made a noise in his throat. “I’m aware,” he muttered, not looking up from the papers in the folder. He had to hand it to the aliens: when they killed someone, they did it well.
“You know?” Cady exclaimed. “You know? If you know, why aren’t you more concerned about this!? We’ll never be able to follow through on the plan now.”
“That would be true,” Proctor said softly, “if our real aim was to blast a hole in the ship. The real goal of that exercise was to get another test of the aliens’ defenses. Both times my men have failed. Both times it’s been only because the aliens were there to save the day.”
“No shit. Those things are fucking huge.” Cady lifted an arm high above his head to exaggerate the size of the alien soldiers.
“We’ve created a suitable boogeyman that the government has now made the poster child for their efforts. When no further attacks happen, the President will assume that the Army presence is enough. It’ll fall to our men on the inside then. We’ve certainly got more than enough, thanks to the fact that I’ve secured the entire supply chain.”
Cady’s jaw clenched so hard he heard his teeth click. Proctor noted the expression of frustration but didn’t comment. This was one of the side effects of working with so-called ‘normal’ people. He had to learn to tolerate their eccentricities. He would tolerate his head of security’s outburst—this time. The next time he lost his temper it had better damned well be for a good reason. He was not one to suffer fools and that was not about to change.
“You are dismissed,” Proctor said, raising his eyes to Cady’s. “Oh, and Mr. Cady? The next time you barge into my office, it had better be for something more important than assuming I do not have control over a situation.”
Cady stood rooted to the spot, looking everything like a deer in the headlights. It took him a few minutes but he eventually tore his gaze away from Proctor and left.
19
Alexandra
I looked down at the blocked caller ID on my phone and wondered how easy it would be to disable the calling feature. The thing seemed to ring nonstop these days. I could have just chucked it against the wall as hard as I could but thought better of it. I held up a finger to Jackson and Ka’thak.
“Hello?” It was Raymond, one of the interns I had assigned to assist the ambassador team in their hunt for clues in the evidence we had brought back from the battle.
“H-hey Doc,” he stammered. “Everything good?”
“Sure Ray,” I said. “What’s up?”
“You remember how you told us to get in touch with you if we found anything, even if we didn’t think it was important?”
“Yeah, sure do. What did you find?”
“I rounded up every shred of data I could find on the people involved in this and fed it through my database to see if I could get anything to light up.”
“What’s that mean?”
“Sorry, old habit of making up my own figures of speech. I fed it through the database to see if I could connect any of these people. Relatives, hometowns, professions, hell, I even ran their social media information to see if they interacted online.”
“Wow.” The kid was smart. A little scary, but smart.
“So anyway, when I ran out of things to put through my personal search programs I plugged the information into some of the national databases, I found something weird. Something really weird, like Scooby Doo level weird.”
“Jinkies,” I said. “Ray, get to the point please, I’m a little bit
busy here and I would hate to keep Jackson and Ka’thak waiting any longer.” When I mentioned the alien captain I heard the young intern coughed.
“You’re with the aliens right now?”
“Mhm.”
“Uh, should I call back…?”
I rolled my eyes. “Raymond, you were about to tell me…?” I put a little edge in my voice. The boy could get over his fear of the big scary aliens later. Right now I needed information from him and this was taking too long.
“Well, we know that most of the unknown soldiers were ex-military. So I thought that I should take a look at their service histories. More than a few of them are redacted but they’ve all served with a Captain Kyle Vincent. The ones who didn’t serve alongside him directly were stationed with someone who had. Whoever he is, he seems to be the single point of commonality between all these people.”
“Captain Kyle Vincent?” I cocked my head at Jackson who was staring intently at me, motioning for me to hand the phone over to him. I shook my head and he stepped towards me. I held out a hand and pushed him away.
“Yes ma’am. You know him?”
“I might. Thanks, Ray. You give me a shout when you find anything else, okay?”
“You got it Doc. I’m on it.”
I signed off and turned to the two soldiers. “Where’s Vincent now?”
“What did the kid tell you?” Jackson asked.
“Our mystery men? We were right that they’re in no way connected to each other, except for the asshole in the room. They all served either with or close to Kyle Vincent at various points in their military careers.”
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