Earth (Vetrix)

by Bill Bush

  General Jaxxen spoke with authority, not allowing his respect for their actions to dissuade his mission. “I can fill this room in an instant with dozens of my men if I need to.”

  The parents looked at each other, fear and anger covering their faces. They knew they were defeated, but seemed unwilling to accept it.

  Finally Dennis addressed General Jaxxen. “I’ll let Flipper go but I have three conditions. I can't speak for the other parents but I think they'll also agree to my terms.”

  “Honey!” Dee shouted as she stood and grabbed her husband’s arm.

  Dennis looked at her. “It’s okay. I think I can make both sides happy.”

  “I’m listening,” General Jaxxen said.

  “First, I accompany Flipper, and Josh and Allison, and we stay together the whole time.” Dennis paused, waiting for acceptance from the General before continuing.

  General Jaxxen wasn’t ready to concede anything until he heard the other two conditions. “Continue.”

  “Second—once you get access to the tunnel for Fox and Nicole we leave and come home.”

  General Jaxxen considered Dennis’ proposal. “I will need Josh and Allison to draw a map of the facilities, and explain in detail to Fox and Nicole what they saw.”

  Dennis looked at the other two dads who nodded their head in agreement. “No problem,” he agreed.

  “And the third condition?”

  “Your son and his two friends come with us.”

  General Jaxxen had no choice to give in to this demand or it would appear he wanted to protect his kids while putting theirs in danger.

  Josh and Allison's parents all agreed to Dennis' conditions.

  General Jaxxen looked at Fox, who nodded his head. “You have a deal,” General Jaxxen said. “Let’s get the children in here and start preparing.”

  Chapter 9

  ”Vice President Charles?”

  The Vice President spoke on her cell phone with Finn, her handler who assured scandals were never attached to her name. They had grown up in the same underground community. Although Finn was a few years her junior, their families were close and she thought of him as a younger brother. His focus and persistence would have served her well in a cabinet position. But unlike Vice President Charles, his skin had too much of the Snader red for him to blend into the general population.

  She reluctantly accepted his formalities. Even when they were alone he insisted on referring to her as Vice President Charles. She missed the days he simply called her Sandy. They were still close, even though they rarely met in person. That was about to change.

  Finn's voice was calm and calculated. “As you know, now is the time you — we — have been preparing for. The leaders of the world are about to be eliminated. You will soon become President of the United States, and the world will look to you for leadership. They are about to face an enemy they don't understand and will need someone with ready answers. Their fear and confusion will give us the opportunity we need to take over and control this world.”

  “I'm prepared,” Vice President Charles said. “No one doubts my loyalty to this country. Manipulating and leading these weak-minded people is what I have been trained for my whole life.”

  “You will receive some resistance from Congress, but we have enough of our own in place to sway support in your favor.” Finn chuckled. “Soon our armies will be in place. Then the real fun begins.”

  ”Where are you now?” the Vice President asked.

  “I'm in Roswell, New Mexico,” Finn answered. “There is a matter that needs my immediate attention. I trust you have everything you need for the next few hours?”

  “Yes, of course,” Vice President Charles said. “What on earth has your attention in Roswell?”

  “Plausible deniability,” Finn said. “If it turns out to be anything I will let you know.”

  “Very well,” Vice President Charles said. “There is something about that place that has always made me feel uncomfortable. I’m glad you're there and not me.”

  Chapter 10

  Two secret service men escorted President Miller to his home. It was still early evening but the President had been up since four and would be hosting the Prime Minster of the United Kingdom tomorrow.

  One of the men shut the door as the President entered the White House to begin his nightly ritual of preparing for bed. The two men in dark suits stood outside the President’s chambers, one on each side of the locked double doors. Suddenly they heard gun shots coming from inside. They pulled their pistols from their holsters and burst through the doors. Lying on the floor in a pool of blood was President Miller.

  Two men stood beside the President’s dead body. One wore a black suit and held a gun pointing down at the President’s dead body. The other was handcuffed, blindfolded, and had duct tape over his mouth. The two secret service men pointed their guns and opened fire—on the man in handcuffs.

  The man who shot the President wiped his fingerprints off of the gun and placed it in the other dead man’s purple hand. He removed the duct tape, handcuffs, and blindfold and put them in his pocket.

  The assassin checked the man and the President to confirm they were dead. He stood and nodded to the other two, who had been watching the door.

  Then the three secret service men called in the assassination.

  Chapter 11

  Finn met with one of his spies in a two story house they used as a safe house and a lab just outside of Roswell. Damien was average in height and weight, with light brown hair and dark skin. He was still young but his skin was changing. It would probably be only a few years before the Snader-red spots began showing, just as Finns had done at an early age. He wasn’t the brightest of the spies Finn had in place, but he was great at his job. Plus, his loyalty could not be matched. Finn would trust Damien with his life, even though Damien couldn’t get out of his own way sometimes.

  “Tell me what you know about the Gudes’ presence.”

  Damien was excited and loud. “Well, the meter went off a few hours ago. I checked it out and sure enough some Gudes have arrived right here in Roswell!”

  “What did they look like?”

  “Two adults and three kids. One was military, no doubt about it,” Damien said.

  “What are they doing here?” Finn asked.

  “I tracked them down, just like you told me to do. And I was very careful. They didn’t see me, I know they didn’t.”

  “Very good Damien’” Finn assured him. “What did they do?”

  The military guy, he was the same one who kidnapped that kid—Blake Brick—the one they are calling Flipper on Rex,” Damien explained.

  “Yes, yes I know.” Finn's anger rose when Damien mentioned Flipper. Not only had Flipper helped defeat the Snaders on the planet Vetrix, which was a setback in the Snader’s plans to take over Earth, but Finn had lost three nephews during the battle.

  Damien continued. “The two adults left for a while then returned with another Gude. He seemed important. He made them agree to let the kids show them an underground tunnel.”

  “Which tunnel would that be?” Finn wondered out loud.

  “Oh, yeah, yeah,” Damien said getting excited again. “They said something about the UFO Museum.”

  “We don’t have an underground tunnel at the UFO Museum,” Finn said.

  “That’s what they said, though, I’m sure of it,”

  “We need to find out what they are doing here,” Finn said. “The next few days are too important to have any glitches.”

  Chapter 12

  Dennis drove Nicole, Allison, Flipper, and Alya to the UFO Museum in Dee's minivan. Josh's dad transported Fox, Chezlor, Josh, and Jake in his car, and agreed to watch the vehicles while Dennis and the kids showed the Gudes the tunnel's entrance. The ride in both vehicles to the museum was tense and quiet.

  Before they had left, Josh borrowed two bow ties from his dad so he and Chezlor could dress up as the eleventh doctor on Doctor Who. Chezlor had no idea w
ho Doctor Who was but seemed to enjoy the costume just the same.

  “Is this the place?” Jake asked as they exited the vehicles.

  “That’s it! The International UFO Museum and Research Center,” Allison announced.

  “Wow! You guys have a UFO museum?” Chezlor asked. “I thought no one knew about us?”

  “Well, a few people believe in aliens,” Josh said. “But most don’t seem to. I didn’t until a few days ago. I thought the Roswell Incident was a weather balloon crash. And that was after I did research and a presentation at school.”

  “We have tried hard to keep our existence a secret while protecting your planet,” Nicole said.

  “This way,” Allison led the group around to the back. It was after midnight and the streets were deserted.

  As they walked Allison whispered to Flipper, “Did your dad tell you what happened in the house?”

  Flipper shook his head. “No. He just told me we were going to help them find the tunnel that led to the Snaders and then we were leaving. I tried to talk him into letting us go further, but he wouldn’t listen.”

  Flipper turned to Jake. “Did your dad say anything about what happened?”

  “No,” Jake said. “My dad can be intense, and I would say by the fact that your dad won’t even look at any of us Gudes that my dad was aggressive. I’m glad I wasn’t in there.”

  Flipper and Allison nodded in exaggerated agreement.

  They found the door leading down to the spaceship and this time Josh and Allison tried to open it before breaking in. It was locked.

  Fox pulled something out of his pocket that looked like a pen. He scanned it over the lock and the lock snapped. Fox pulled the door open.

  “That is so cool! Is that a sonic screwdriver?” Josh pulled his “sonic screwdriver” out to compare.

  “It’s a simple laser pen,” Fox said. “Most of your metals here on earth are easily broken with it.”

  “I have got to get me one of those!” Josh said.

  Fox chuckled as Josh started down the stairs. They all followed Allison who took them straight to the spaceship.

  Allison went on board and showed Nicole the control board in the front cockpit area she had used to open the tunnel that led her and Josh underground a few days before. She messed around with the controls for a few minutes then yelled, “Did the secret door open?”

  Josh yelled back, “Yes it did!”

  Nicole was interested in what Allison had been doing. “Do you mind if I look around on this for a minute?”

  Allison stood so Nicole could sit. “Sure, go ahead.”

  Nicole went to work on the control panel. Allison looked back and forth between Nicole and the screen. “What are you looking for?”

  “Nothing specific,” Nicole said. “This is an old Snader spaceship, so I thought I would see if there was anything interesting on here. But I don't see anything that I … wait … a … minute.”

  Allison looked back at the screen as Nicole scrolled through several more pieces of information.

  “Are any of those places near here?” Nicole asked Allison.

  She pointed to a local map. “Carlsbad Caverns is only about a hundred miles away.”

  Nicole and Allison walked out of the spaceship and joined Flipper, Alya, Jake, and Fox by the door leading to the tunnel.

  “Fox, I found some information on the spaceship. It appears there are a couple of other underground facilities the Snaders have been maintaining for a long time,” Nicole said.

  “For what purpose?” Fox asked.

  “It didn’t say,” Nicole said. “But one of them isn’t far from here.”

  Fox turned to Allison. “Did you find any mention of these other facilities when you were among the Snaders?”

  “No, none,” Allison said.

  The open door to the tunnel loudly slammed shut. They all turned to look at it.

  “Oh, yeah!” Allison giggled. “I forgot that the door doesn’t stay open very long. That’s how we got trapped in the tunnel last time.”

  “Uh, guys!” They turned toward Chezlor and Josh, who were frozen halfway down the ramp of the spaceship while two men waving guns blocked their exit.

  Allison stared at their skin, which was too red to be human. At least on the one with the gun. He dressed nice and had a fancy flat cap that matched his outfit. He had some white skin, but there were lots of red blotches, like eighty percent of his body was severely sunburned.

  The other guy’s skin was dark, so the red didn’t stand out like his partner's. But Allison decided his dark skin definitely had a red tint to it.

  Josh reached into his pocket, pulled out his psychic paper and showed it to the men. “International Organization of Secret UFOs. We are checking all the alien spacecraft to make sure they are safe and secure from the public. This one clearly is not. We found the door unlocked. Anyone could have walked in here and entered this spaceship. We can’t risk that. I will have to report this to my superiors, and they will be taking immediate action. I need your names for my report.”

  “He’s Finn. My name is Damien. That’s D-A-M…”

  Finn slapped Damien’s arm. “Shut up you fool! They aren’t from any secret organization. They’re just a bunch of dumb kids.”

  Finn motioned for Josh and Chezlor to join the others. He glared at them then waved his gun between Flipper and Josh. “Which one of you is Flipper?”

  Flipper and Josh looked at each other but didn’t say anything.

  ”I can kill you all easy enough if you don’t want to talk.”

  Flipper stepped forward, “I’m Flipper.”

  Finn grabbed Flipper and wrapped his arm around him, with the barrel of the gun snug against his head. “I heard all about what you did on Vetrix. I lost family because of you. Now before you get any funny ideas, this is a gun made right here in the good ole’ USA. I don’t think being part Snader will make you immune to its bullets.”

  Flipper stiffened. Allison saw his eyes lock on her with a desperate plea for help. She wanted to fight, to do something, but there were no good options with a gun touching Flipper’s head.

  Finn nodded his head toward the wall. “The rest of you, over against that wall.”

  Allison, Josh, Chezlor, Nicole, Fox, Jake, and Alya obeyed and lined up along the back wall.

  “Very good,” Finn said. “No one try anything funny. We have this room secured, so if any of you get the urge to teleport, say goodbye to the others now. You’ll be floating off in space by yourself.

  Finn paused for dramatic affect before continuing. “I understand there is a tunnel leading out of this room. Where does it go?”

  “There is an underground colony of Snaders,” Josh said.

  “Don’t lie to me!” Finn was quickly losing his patience.

  “It’s true,” Allison said.

  Finn shook his head. “We have carefully developed several colonies of underground Snaders. There is not one located in Roswell.”

  “These Snaders went into hiding after the crash in 1947. They haven’t had contact with the outside world since then,” Allison explained.

  Finn looked at her as if he was trying to decide whether to believe her or not. Finally, he said, “Go on — open up the tunnel.”

  “I’ll do it,” Nicole said as she stepped forward. Finn stared at her but didn’t say anything. “Look, she’s a kid, and she’s scared.”

  “Okay, but don’t try anything if you like these kids,” Finn said.

  Nicole entered the spaceship. She was only gone a couple of minutes, but it seemed like a lot more. No one said a word as they waited. The door opened a few feet from the group, with Chezlor closest to the door.

  Nicole walked down the ramp. She stared at Fox as she passed within a few feet of Finn and Flipper. Suddenly a loud horn sounded and the spaceship roared to life.

  With Finn distracted Nicole lunged toward him and knocked him, Flipper, and herself to the ground. The gun slid several feet away. Finn punched
Nicole and beat her to his feet. He pulled Flipper to his feet and started dragging him up the ramp of the spaceship.

  Fox had attacked Damien when the horn sounded and knocked him out. He was running toward Nicole.

  Nicole shouted as she rose to her feet. “Get the kids into the tunnel. It’s going to shut in a few seconds.”

  Finn and Flipper were almost in the spaceship when Dennis ran down the ramp and tackled Finn. They went sprawling down the ramp until they reached the ground. Dennis had Finn in a bear hug, pinning his arms against his body. Nicole helped Flipper to his feet and to the tunnel.

  The door started shutting as they got inside. Flipper turned and yelled, “Dad! Hurry!”

  Dennis got to his feet and sprinted toward the door. He was going to make it!

  Before he reached the door Damien dove and tackled him. The companions watched helplessly as the door shut, leaving Dennis on the other side of the wall with Damien and Finn.

  Flipper banged his fists against the door, screaming, “DAD! NO!!! Open the door so we can help my Dad!”

  Allison’s mouth was open in disbelief.

  Nicole put her hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry, Flipper, but we can’t. The door is sealed.”

  Chapter 13

  Almost immediately after the assassination of President Miller, Vice President Charles was sworn in as President of the United States. Within minutes reports spread of other countries that also had their leaders assassinated. Soon news reporters all over the world were going crazy trying to keep up. Within the hour President Charles was on every television station in the country, and many stations around the world.

  “First, I would like to express my deepest sympathy to the family of President Miller. I can’t image the pain you are experiencing, and the prayers of this nation are with you. This is a dark time for you and a dark time for our country. There are many rumors surrounding the assassination of President Miller. I can’t comment on all aspects of the murder because the investigation remains ongoing. However, there is one specific rumor I believe needs addressed immediately. I speak of the rumor that the assassin was from another planet. I can confirm that the assassin had violet skin, webbed feet, and was not part of the human race. Any further conclusions would be speculative at best right now. Incredibly, many countries lost their leaders to a horrific evil today. Many of the other assassinations around the world have reported similar physical descriptions of their assassins. I have learned that the United States government and military have kept secrets from the American people for a long time regarding their knowledge of extraterrestrial beings. The same can be said of other governments and militaries around the world. How and why they have kept these secrets are not questions we have the luxury of investigating at this time. We must move forward quickly. I pledge that I and the United States government will be transparent and honest as we determine the motivation and future intention of the recent assassins and their accomplices. The nations of this world are bonding together like never before to get some answers. Thank you.”