Infiltrator
Page 44
In the year since the aliens ship had left, they had found no other pockets of aliens, nor anything to suggest that an operation like that uncovered in D.C. existed elsewhere. Mark was certain there hadn't been, and that they wouldn't encounter any other aliens. Despite his attempts, he'd been unable to convince anyone else of this.
Mark's evaluation of the events in Washington, D.C. had led him to a different conclusion than everyone else. He was convinced there had been just a single alien, all the time. No single thing led to this conclusion, but over time a number of elements had come together in his mind to support the conclusion.
One of the first clues was the way the reactor had been sabotaged. The intent had clearly been to render the area uninhabitable so that the chamber wouldn't be found. Given the power and abilities of the aliens, why hadn't they simply vaporized it, or blown it up in a more conventional manner? In Mark's mind the attempt to induce a major reactor meltdown and containment breach had been a decision based on necessity. He believed the lone alien had been backed into a corner, had lost most of his energy producing orbs, and lacked the means and time to do it the way he would have liked. That also explained the quick withdrawal on the ship. The alien had been stronger and his technology clearly superior. But he'd been too greatly outnumbered and it showed in his gradual, but continuous losses of his hardware. Without the resources, and being the only alien, he'd have wanted to get away and carry home what he knew and not risk being killed.
Then there was the fact nothing existed outside of D.C. In Mark's mind, had there been a team of aliens, they would have tried to sample more of the world, since that seemed to be the intent of their operation. But there had been nothing. Again, a sign of limited manpower, which was also exhibited in the extensive use of clones. Yes, the clones could go and do what the alien couldn't, but he even relied on them to do much of his fighting.
The way the alien fought was another clue. Mark had been in combat, and after the encounter at Calvert Cliffs, he sensed that the orbs were focused on a single objective at a time until it was rendered inoperative before switching to the next. It was as if one mind controlled them, not a group fighting in a coordinated manner. Also, during the fighting, he saw or sensed something slipping out of the power generator and through the floor as it moved to the backup system. Just one. He hadn't been able to identify the thing, but it was nebulous, with streaks of energy flowing inside the pale membrane that seemed to define it. Yet, somehow he had known that the membrane wasn't physical, as it moved without resistance through equipment and walls until it was gone. But again, he only saw the one. Had there been more, wouldn't they have been fighting together?
Finally he had sensed that the effort put forth by the alien had spanned a considerable period. While he couldn't trust a memory altered by the alien, he had a sense he'd been going to the meetings for four or five years. The checking he'd done after Johnson's being shot supported that belief. It was a considerable period, pointing to a single alien working to gather information.
He wasn't certain why it mattered, but was of the belief that a lone alien watcher suggested something different than a team sent to scout their planet. For some reason he felt the single alien was more ominous somehow. He couldn't pin down what the difference might be, and continued to stress over it. Somehow, he felt the ultimate goal of the alien might be different, and what the planet might have in its future also different, perhaps significantly so from what everyone was thinking.
He wished some of the others had survived so that he could discuss the matter with them, especially Jessie. But he was the last of the original eight. Glen and Steph had moved in together and stayed on with Colonel Jones' teams investigating the alien technology, although the last time Mark had spoken with Steph it seemed they had made no more progress breaking the technological secrets than he had in finding more signs of aliens. A wedding for the pair had been planned, but now would never happen. Sadly, about a month ago, they had both suddenly died. They had gone up in flame the same way Johnson had that night in the snowstorm. They weren't alone. Over three-dozen cases of similar deaths were reported that week. There had clearly been other clones lingering and waiting to be used, but their searches hadn't found them.
They had discussed the possibility more than once, but there had been nothing they could do about the possibility. After learning they were clones that might have been replaced every six months when they went to those meetings, Jessie had raised the possibility with him once again that there might be a fail-safe destruct mechanism lying dormant inside their nodes. She'd been certain it was the case. It appeared she'd been right again.
Mark was spared the same fate because he'd taken Dr. Thompson up on an offer to have the node removed. He only did it because Jessie would have done so in a heartbeat, and he saw the action as a memorial to her. He didn't think it necessary, but also it bothered him having it in there, making him something other than human. So, he'd had the operation. Glen and Steph were leery of the risks, which the doctor admitted were greater than most such operations. In the end, their decision had killed them.
He'd tried his ideas out on Tom Burrows and Janet, but neither seemed particularly interested. So, given everything, it might be time for a change. He had been having thoughts of late of revisiting the family that he barely knew. Maybe there was a chance to start over there. He needed something to set him on some kind of path again. Fred, a bit of a celebrity, had pushed him to come back to work, but he didn't want that any more. The President's revealing that aliens had been discovered, eventually resulted in an aggressive reporter discovering that Fred had been the one to write software that revealed their presence. As a result, he got credit for discovering aliens among those groups he'd belonged to for years who had always 'known' the aliens were here. He made speeches, and had his picture on the cover of many club magazines. But, like most fame, it was starting to fade.
Mark hesitated before pushing the doorbell. Maybe this wasn't a good idea. He almost turned around and walked away, but then told himself he had to make the move. Nervously, he reached out and rang the bell.
For almost a minute there was nothing. He sighed in relief. No one home. He could leave and no one would be the wiser. Then the door opened.
"Mark?" asked a familiar voice after a moment. "What are you doing here? It's been a long time."
She looked the same. Just as beautiful, and surprisingly not angry as he expected.
"Hi, Tammy. I once told you I might be able to explain what was happening back then. I thought maybe now might be the time?"
She hesitated long enough Mark expected her to simply close the door on him. Then she pushed it open, and stood back so he could enter.
"Maybe it is," she agreed smiling.
Books by the Author:
Timelines
The Second Compound
Reversal
Split Creek
EndRun
Dirty Money
Crossover
Battle for Earth
The Mind Writers
Deadly Wilderness
The Sixth Extinction
Out of the Bottle
Crossed Trails
Infiltrator
Jake Waters Series
Corrector
Back-Tracker
Double-Back
Wizard's Blood Series
Wizard's Blood [Part One]
Wizard's Blood [Part Two]
Ancient Magic Saga
Ancient Magic
Into The Ruins
The Baldari
KalaBhoot [Limited Release]
The Protector Saga
The Barbarian/The Protector
The Sor'ee
Dedication
This is for my wife Evelina and my daughter Nicole.
Acknowledgements
As always, I owe a significant debt of gratitude to those who have aided in the creation of this book. The help they offered includes background information, story suggestio
ns, plot review, checking for correctness and inconsistencies, as well as the tiresome effort of chasing down grammar and typographical errors. Those who performed these tasks include Doug Burr, Monika Gutridge, Dianna Hunter, Bill Maggiora, Jim Spiva and John Taylor. A special thanks to H.R. McLaughlin for researching information on some legal matters that come up in the story.
Author Comment
Many places discussed in the story are real, but in most cases I have never visited them, so the internal descriptions of the facilities are figments of my imagination. This is especially true of the power facilities mentioned. My personal experience with nuclear power plants is more than four decades old, so the design of such places has most likely evolved considerably, although the basics, driven by the physics of the nuclear reactions involved, has to remain basically unchanged. I made no effort to learn the specifics of the layout of the places mentioned, believing even if available, that such information given the nature of the facility and the world we live in is best left undocumented. For the purposes of the story, my fictional layout is adequate to the task at hand.
This book is a work of fiction. All names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locals, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright 2018 by Robert Blink
All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the author.
Proof Release:May 2018
First ReleaseJune 2018