by D F Capps
“What are you talking about?” Pasternov asked.
“The galactic rule is that we may not officially contact a civilization until sixty percent of the inhabitants are consciously aware that extraterrestrials are real. Based on our monitoring of social media all over the world, more than sixty percent of Earth’s population now accepts that the Zeta Greys are real.”
“But that doesn’t have anything to do with the people from Tau Ceti,” Andrews said.
Doran shook his head. “The threshold applies to extraterrestrials in general, not just a single race. We are now free to introduce ourselves to your world.”
“But the hubrids are still in charge,” Andrews said. “There will be a military response.”
Doran nodded. “That is why you have to remove the hubrids from positions of power first. We can help by using our delta wave technology to put the local population of humans to sleep in your capital cities. The only ones in positions of power that will remain awake will be the hubrids. Your space command army units can move in and capture the hubrids while everyone else is asleep.”
“It’ll put all normal humans to sleep?” Andrews asked.
“Without exception,” Doran replied.
“So if someone is driving a car, or flying an airplane . . .”
“This is not risk free,” Doran said. “We have to take all three cities at the same time to limit the Zeta Grey response. Some people will die in this process. Where we can run this operation late at night, casualties will be significantly less. However, the way Washington, Moscow, and Beijing are placed around the world, only one city is going to be relatively safe. One city will be at partial risk, and the other will be at greatest risk. This operation will have to take place during the day in one of your three cities. You need to decide whose city will take the greatest losses.”
Andrews looked at Pasternov, then at Hua. Both looked deeply concerned.
“When will your ships land?” Andrews asked.
“Any time after the hubrids are captured,” Doran said.
Andrews sighed and looked up at the ceiling. He took one last look at Pasternov and Hua. They were still thinking it over.
“We will take Washington during the day,” Andrews said. “We have the smallest footprint for traffic, so we would have the least fatalities. I’m thinking around three or three-thirty in the afternoon would be best.”
Pasternov and Hua seemed relieved.
Chapter 63
Andrews stood next to Ambassador Doran near the control center of the Tau Cetian ship.
“The ship is masked, so no one will see us yet. We have to do this carefully to limit casualties and hopefully avoid any unnecessary deaths.”
Andrews gritted his teeth and nodded in acknowledgement. The problem with being president was it seemed like every hour he had to make a decision that may cost the lives of any number of people. He just prayed that the number would be low this afternoon. They had settled on three-thirty in the afternoon for Washington, D.C., which placed them just before the evening rush hour would begin. Traffic would be minimal.
“Start the delta wave generator on low intensity,” Doran ordered.
The invisible Tau Cetian saucer moved slowly over Washington, D.C. The main display screen was focused on the traffic that milled around the capitol complex. The traffic under the saucer slowed and became erratic. Some cars drifted off the road, while others slowed and collided with parked cars on the side of the roads. Andrews cringed as he witnessed two cars hit head on after one of them crossed the centerline.
“I’m sorry,” Doran said. “There’s no other way of doing this.”
Andrews closed his eyes. “I understand.”
“People are getting drowsy and losing control of their vehicles. Most are slowing down as they realize they are gradually falling asleep. It’s better than having them fall deeply asleep without warning.”
Andrews nodded.
“We have signaled your army transports. As long as they are wearing their telepathic blocking helmets, they will also be protected from the delta waves.”
Doran turned to his crew. “Gradually increase the delta waves to maximum over the next ten seconds.”
“By the time your troops arrive, everyone except the hubrids will be sound asleep.”
* * *
Diane and Buddha arrived in Washington, D.C. air space with forty-six other fighters from Peregrine Base.
“Circle the city,” she said. “We are the wall. Do not allow a single Zeta Grey saucer to get through.”
As if on cue, four Zeta Grey scout saucers rose out of the Potomac River.
“Initiate jinking and engage,” Diane ordered.
Two of the saucers were quickly hit and fell to the water. One saucer took several shots at OB1 and dived back into the murky water.
“That’s new,” Diane said.
The remaining saucer fired half a dozen times and dived under the water.
“I’ve got multiple bogies coming up out of the Chesapeake Bay, both north and south. Current count is forty-seven scout saucers,” Ryan said.
Diane grinned. “We caught them by surprise. They have limited assets in the area.”
“Even odds,” Ryan said. “Bad choice for the Zetas.”
A scout saucer popped out of the Potomac and began firing. Hellcat swooped in and engaged the saucer.
“He’s mine,” she said.
The saucer dived back into the water and disappeared into the murky waves. Hellcat flew over the spot where the saucer disappeared, only to have it resurface right behind her.
“Hellcat, six!” Diane shouted.
Hellcat banked hard left and up as OB1 swept past her and shot the saucer twice.
“Incoming!” Diane said as the rest of the scout saucers arrived.
Some of the saucers went high, trying to come in over the top of their defensive wall.
“Go to the dome defense,” Diane ordered.
The top layer of fighter craft moved up and in to keep Washington safe from the Zeta Grey saucers. The new scout saucers began the same maneuver of diving into the water and resurfacing in another place. She watched as a pattern evolved. The saucers wouldn’t go far under the water. Apparently they couldn’t navigate well in the almost opaque environment of the Potomac River. She couldn’t stop and wait for the Zetas to resurface without being hit by another saucer’s weapons. She saw another saucer resurface and take to the air. She flipped around and aimed at the saucer.
* * *
Buddha targeted a saucer that emerged from the water and opened fire. Direct hit. He smiled just in time to see Jink going after another saucer that, instead of firing, simply dipped back into the water. His eyes opened wide as Jink dived into the water right behind the scout saucer.
“What in the . . . ?”
* * *
“Full power!” Diane yelled to Ryan.
The saucers that dipped below the surface of the water had re-emerged a few seconds later, sometimes to the left, sometimes to the right, but mostly straight ahead. Her positional display showed random pieces of letters and images on the screen. Her targeting radar screen turned white and her thrust dropped to a crawl. She swung her fighter craft to the left, fired three times, and swung slowly to the right, firing as she went. She heard two metallic snapping sounds as her particle beam cannon shots connected with the scout saucer. She pulled back on the control stick as the shadowy image of the scout saucer passed just below her. A second later her fighter craft leaped into the air.
“Still dry back there?” she asked.
Ryan didn’t answer at first, apparently still in shock from going under the water. Water wasn’t his favorite experience, she remembered.
“Uhhh . . .”
She grinned. “I’ll take that as a yes.”
* * *
Buddha swung lower to see what happened with Jink. In his peripheral vision he caught a glimpse of a scout saucer streaking down to where she would probably surface. H
e banked hard right and flew directly in front of the scout saucer. The automated jinking movement was the only thing that saved him from a mid-air collision. The scout saucer peeled away just as Jink’s fighter craft popped out of the water.
“You can’t see a thing down there,” Jink said. “I don’t recommend it.”
Buddha was still trying to catch his breath from the near collision. “What happened to the saucer?” he asked.
“It sprang a leak,” Jink replied. “Okay, two leaks.”
“I didn’t know the cannons would work under water,” he said.
“They do,” she replied, “but effective range is only twenty to thirty feet.”
Buddha’s eyes widened again. “You were that close?”
“As I said. I don’t recommend it.”
* * *
“Set all weapons to stun,” Colonel Novak said. “Hubrids are resistant to the stun function, but if you shoot them four or five times they should be disoriented enough to take them into custody.”
The new fully armed troop transport touched down in back of the capitol building letting fourteen men out. The ship rose and moved quickly over to the front of the White House, lowering the ramp and releasing the other seventeen men.
Novak and his men ran past the capitol police and the secret service agents, all sound asleep where they had collapsed to the ground. The marine guards and several hundred visitors lay sleeping soundly on the floor.
* * *
Eight scout saucers were left when they all bolted out to the Chesapeake Bay.
“Do not give chase,” Diane ordered. “Let them go. Maintain defensive positions.”
Several moments later she noticed waves from something moving rapidly under the water. She nodded to herself. If they had pursued the saucers that ran, those saucers would have come up and gotten into the city. As the new scout saucers emerged from the water she and Buddha began shooting them down.
* * *
Sergeant Henderson caught a glimpse of movement to his right. He instinctively fired several times in that direction. A figure staggered behind the corner. Henderson rushed to the corner of the hall and took a quick peek. A person stood, half leaning against the wall, holding a Zeta Grey flash gun in his hand. Henderson pulled back as a bright flash spread from the hall into a section of the main room. He glanced to see if anyone had been hit. A small table and two paintings on the wall had been vaporized.
This was always the problem with trying to take prisoners, he thought. He was facing lethal fire and could use only non-lethal weapons in response. He jabbed the point of his weapon out into the hall and jerked it back. He noted the fraction of a second delay before the vaporize beam flashed again. He stepped into the hall, fired his weapon five times in rapid succession, and stepped back behind the corner. He waited for a beat then stepped back into the hall, firing three more times.
The man staggered into the center of the hall, barely hanging on to the flash gun in his right hand. Henderson shot him three more times, rushed forward, and knocked him to the floor. He secured the man’s hands and feet with plastic cuffs, rolled him over, and checked the man’s ID. He smiled as he read the badge: Senator Stevens.
Henderson stood as his fellow team members rushed past him down the hall. He shot Senator Stevens twice more with the stun beam and ran to catch up with his team. An air force officer with a fat briefcase handcuffed to his wrist lay on the floor. The football, Henderson thought. He’s the one with the nuclear arming codes for the president.
As his team got close, the man moved quickly and fired a Zeta Grey flash gun in vaporize mode. Three members of Henderson’s six-man squad fell before he could react. He and the three remaining soldiers fired at the officer in rapid succession. The man dropped the flash gun and tried to get up, but Henderson’s squad was on him and had him cuffed with hands and feet secured behind his back in a matter of seconds.
“I need a medic in hall number one, three men down. Repeat, three men down. Be aware of opossum attacks.”
“Acknowledged,” Novak replied. “Medic on the way.”
Henderson clenched his teeth. Two of his men had substantial parts of their bodies missing from the flash gun, but one of the three might have a chance to survive.
“Gutierrez and Squad Two are coming up to help you take the Oval Office,” Novak said.
“Copy that,” Henderson replied.
They reached the door to the Oval Office as Squad Two joined them. One hard kick and the door frame shattered. As Henderson rushed into the room, two people lay on the floor, a man and a woman. Henderson shot both of them with the stun beam. The woman didn’t move, but the man sure did. He shot the man three more times.
What little hair Henderson had was standing on end. He selected vaporize mode on his weapon and scanned the room. He reacted to motion from behind the president’s desk. A hand appeared holding a Zeta Grey flash gun. He fired instinctively.
The flash gun exploded in a brilliant white light, knocking him and his men to the floor. The heavy bulletproof glass window behind the president’s desk cracked and bulged out, but didn’t fall apart. Henderson climbed to his feet and staggered to the side of the massive desk. Leland Abbott squirmed on the floor, his right forearm missing, and burned flesh extending from his right side up onto his face. The hair on the right side of Abbott’s head smoldered, but he was still alive.
“Target One is alive and in custody,” Henderson reported. “He needs a medic.”
“Copy,” Novak replied. “On the way.”
* * *
“So how did they get alien flash guns into the White House?” Novak asked.
Henderson opened the door to the president’s private office. “Lower drawer on the right.”
Novak pulled the drawer open and counted eight more Zeta Grey flash guns. He sighed.
“When you’re the president . . .” Henderson said.
Novak nodded and switched channels on his comm set. “Peters? Status.”
* * *
Master Sergeant Jimmy Peters was rushing with his men through the Capitol building. So far everyone was sound asleep on the floor.
“Copy, Colonel. No one still standing so far. Almost done with the senate side.”
“Check for opossums. If you have any doubts, hit them with the stun. We found Zeta Grey flash guns in the White House. Double check everything.”
“Copy, Colonel,” Peters replied. “You heard him,” Peters said to his men. “If you hit a real person with the stun and they’re asleep, it’s not going to hurt them. If a hubrid is pretending to be asleep, they’re going to move. That’s what we’re looking for.”
His men started shooting people at random with the stun beam who were lying on the floor in the senate chamber. One man near the center slowly sat up, hands raised in the air.
Peters smiled. “Found one.”
“Found another one,” one of his men said from the main hallway.
* * *
Master Sergeant Jimmy Peters walked onto the television stage of TV4, the national broadcasting affiliate in Washington, D.C. A woman was hiding behind the desk on the stage.
“I thought I might find you here,” Peters said.
Jan Abernathy peeked over the glass top, looking frightened. “Are you going to kill me?”
“Only if you make it necessary,” Peters replied.
“Then what . . . ?”
She stared at the flash gun in the rifle frame.
Peters stepped forward. “You know what this is, don’t you?”
Abernathy glanced from one side to the other. “Don’t be ridiculous,” she said.
Peters nodded to Corporal Carlos, who approached her.
“This will just take a moment,” he said.
He grabbed her right arm, wiped the side of her finger with an alcohol swab, and used the lancet. She jerked backward.
“Relax,” he said, holding her arm securely. “The hard part is over.” He squeezed her finger to produce a small
drop of blood and touched the test strip to the red drop. He waited for the instrument display to count from five down to zero. The letters ZG appeared on the display. Carlos turned to Peters and said, “She’s a hubrid.”
Peters nodded as Carlos placed her in handcuffs.
“What are you going to do to me?” she asked.
“That depends entirely on what you are willing to do for us,” Peters replied.
* * *
This is not going to be received well by the Insectoid I report to, Rosaq thought.
The hubrids he had so carefully raised and trained to be world leaders were falling to the human forces with the assistance of the people from Tau Ceti. He contacted the Insectoid telepathically and reviewed the situation. Because the planetary shield was still functioning there was little else they could do. Rosaq shut down USAP317 and the other computer networks he had created to communicate with the humans that worked for him.
This is not a failure, he reminded himself. It’s just a setback.
He connected telepathically with the other tall Greys and ordered them to gather their resources and workers. His ultimate victory over the people of Earth would have to await another day.
Chapter 64
“Okay,” Doran said. “Turn the delta wave generator off, unmask the ship, and start circling the city.”
Andrews looked over at him. Doran checked his communications display.
“The Russian hubrid, Kuznetsov, is still putting up a fight. It’s almost midnight there, so many of them were still awake as the operation commenced. The Chinese hubrid, Li, has been captured without incident.”
Andrews took a deep breath and nodded.
“As agreed, Washington, D.C. will be the first landing location. As soon as enough people wake up.”