by Chris Hechtl
Which they would. He was sure of it now. People like him, like Shane. They were the ones who got things done; they would lead them out of this darkness. Find a way to get... hell. Jen was the real one to find a way to kill the damn aliens. He felt helpless. He knew he was, knew what he was feeling and he was pretty sure he knew just how bad the boss was feeling right now. Damn. It truly sucked.
...*...*...*...*...
Shane nodded to Walt. “Everything okay Walt?” he asked. Walt shrugged and tucked his hands in his pockets.
“Just thinking deep thoughts,” Walt muttered.
“Okay, don't trip over them,” Shane said with a shrug and kept going.
It had taken him a while to figure out why Jen had wanted him to take so much time off. It wasn't just to get some time off. It wasn't that she wanted him around; he knew her policy on hovering. He knew that much now. Jen never did things for just one purpose when others would do as well. No, she'd had him taking time off, or more importantly time here to be seen more, and to fill in since she was sick.
He thought it was to be there if she got worse. And she was getting worse. Every day she was slipping away. One breath at a time. But no, it wasn't that. It was to be there with her and the kids yes, and the people around them, but also to learn and take over some of Jen's duties.
He had realized last night that she was slowly teaching him what he needed to know about her job and letting go at the same time. He felt his eyes burn at the thought and angrily wiped at the tears pricking them. Damn it. She had become resigned to her fate, something he resented. He wanted to fight. Wished he could. Wished he could do something, anything. She knew it and loved him anyway for his stupidity.
He sighed. He had to go check on the restaurants and then check in with stores. Then he had a meeting with Jayne. He smiled a little. The only good thing about having him running around filling in for Jen was that she was freed up to work more on her new passion, the desperate attempt to understand the aliens.
Maybe losing a day or two a week in the field wasn't so bad if it helped them in the long term.
...*...*...*...*...
“We're a colony,” Doctor Phillips mused. He looked up. “Someone reference Final Fantasy and that Evolution movie.”
They blinked at him in amusement. It wasn't often that doctor Phillips of all people made references like that. “Look, it’s like this,” he said taking a deep breath. How to explain....” he shook his head then shrugged. “When you're going to an unknown system you take as much of your own ecosystem as possible. That way you have what you need to survive on the other side if you're not compatible with the food chain there. Their evolution though, it doesn't fit what we have here. I think they evolved somewhere that was incredibly bright by day; and extremely dark at night. That may also explain the instances of bioluminescence we've recorded.”
“Following so far,” Shane said.
“Then again they are aliens boss,” Nate said. He turned to Doctor Phillips. “There is no telling how they evolved. We can only draw inferences from what we've observed and what we can collect from samples. We don't know their home planet for sure,” he said.
“Quibble acknowledged. Now let the man speak.”
Doctor Phillips didn't seem to mind the interruption. He nodded. “True. But I'd bet real money or at least an MRE, I'm right. Wish we could get more data on them. I tried to do it at UCR but we couldn't get a machine powered up long enough.”
“I'd like to get more X-rays, but doctor Niederman isn't happy about our using his equipment.”
“Not during the day doc. We can try to see about using some of it at night. I'll put in a request with the council.” They had veterinarian equipment but none of it had the resolutions of the medical equipment.
“Please do.”
“Basically, we're the established ecosystem, but their metabolism and armor makes it hard to kill them off. At least the first gen. The new babies seem easier.”
“True. I wonder why,” Shane mused. “Find out,” he said.
...*...*...*...*...
Jen grimaced. So far attempts to use the aliens as a food source had failed. The meat broke down quickly. Enzymes and bacteria broke down flesh in seconds, making it unpalatable to most people. If it was chilled quickly some of it was just about edible. However it tasted incredibly nasty, like sloth. The juvenile Sailbacks were the only barely edible animals but they didn't keep well. If you didn't bleed the carcass within seconds of killing it then it was useless for food.
Orders to burn any and all carcasses to prevent predatory and scavenging aliens from feeding on them filtered through channels. Even humans were now cremated instead of being buried. The crematorium on Sunnymead has been re-opened.
Torres had had an encounter with a herd of Hell deer the day before. According to her report the herd had ignored them. Torres hadn't been happy, but she'd passed out strict orders to check fire, to conserve their ammo for the predators. She'd been stuck in her truck, fuming for a good hour. Apparently she'd run out of citrus squirts. Either because they had used them all with the aliens or because some twits had had a water fight. From the sound of her snit it was the water fight that had sucked them dry.
She snorted as she thought of reactions. Hell. Back when they had had their first real cold snap back in December people had panicked about dead net flies in the water. Some of the hysterics got to a few people, either pushing them over the edge or pissing them off. But others put it down, rightfully pointing out that the insects were net flies. Yan had been called out and he had taken the time to run checks, and had confirmed that yes they were Terran net flies. A pool guy in charge of some of the water filtration systems had explained to the crowd that they die in droves when the temperature drops, usually on water.
It just went to show that people were animals, no matter how much they tried to elevate themselves above their lower kin. They reacted to stress by reducing their own intelligence and stampeding without thought for the consequences. She grimaced and tried to fight a growing headache.
...*...*...*...*...
“What's going on?” Nate asked.
“Hush,” someone in the front said.
“What's going on?” Shane said coming over. He got “shushed” for his trouble. He shook his head and went over to see.
The group was watching a news broadcast on the big screen. An F-18 was stalking some sort of flying manta ray. From the look of the thing it was enormous, easily as big as a 747.
“FOX one!” the pilot said, thumbing a switch and pulling the trigger. “FOX two! Two away!”
Two missiles streaked out and slammed into the animal as it was diving on a cloud of hopper fliers. It arched its back, then as flames licked all over it; it rolled, losing air and then falling to the sea in a horrendous crash.
The plane banked, coming around to circle the spot. Alien creatures were already swarming to the area.
“As you can see the military is doing its job to take on the alien threat. It’s a hard fight and they need everyone's cooperation. Back to you in the studio Fred,” the reporter said.
“What a waste,” Nate said, shaking his head and turning away.
“What?” someone asked. “Seriously man? You are taking their side?”
“No! Never. No in this instance... did you see what that alien was doing? Any of you?”
“Yeah it’s trespassing on our planet,” a guy said in disgust.
“Not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about... here rewind that,” Nate pointed to the video. The girl looked at him and at Shane, he nodded. She turned and rewound it. “Here... no wait... ah there, stop,” Nate said. Freeze it there.”
“So?” the girl asked looking at him.
“What are we looking at Nate?” Shane asked.
Jen came up beside him and looked. She got closer and pursed her lips. “It’s feeding,” she murmured.
“It’s what?” Shane asked.
“It’s feeding. That's what you sa
w right Nate?” Jen asked turning to the vet. Her hat slipped and she recovered it.
Nate cleared his throat and nodded, momentarily distracted by the sight of her. “Um, yeah, it’s the... the animal appears to be preying on the Hoppers. The dragon flies. Skyray. I think the early reports on them are right on the money.”
“So?” Someone asked. Eddy Newman frowned at the guy next to him and then back to Shane, the big boss. So did his daughter, but for different reasons.
“So, he's saying we shouldn't have targeted it. It was doing our job for us,” Jen said patiently. “The Hoppers and dragon flies are too small a target to hit with missiles, and bullets won’t hit such a small target easily. This thing was eating them. Right Nate?”
“Yeah,” Nate said with a nod, clinical detachment returning. “It’s... they are part of an ecosystem. These things prey on the others. Probably on all the fliers. I'm betting they avoid the sea because of the predators.”
“What I'm wondering about is how something that big can fly?” Shane mused.
“Ever seen Gabriel move when the chow bell rings?” Tony asked. Gabriel sitting nearby flicked the kid the finger. Everyone snorted.
“No, seriously, it’s got a lot of surface area, but how can something that big stay in the air?”
“Gabe or the Skyray?”
“Cute.”
“Bladders,” Jen mused. He glanced at her. “Bladders. It’s got bladders it can fill with something. Hot air, or helium or something I bet. We'd have to do a necropsy on one to find out,” she said.
“Not on that one. It got tore apart by those nasty sea creatures.”
“I heard one of them ate a sub,” Tony said. “That true man?” he turned to Shane. Shane turned to Nate and doc Phillips. “Gentlemen?” he asked.
“Yeah, one or more of the sea creatures are attacking shipping. They've attacked subs, whales, dolphins, sharks, even a liner and a destroyer. Its... the seas aren't safe.”
“The land ain't that much better bub,” a girl muttered.
“Tell me about it,” someone else muttered.
...*...*...*...*...
Shane smiled as he pulled off his hat. Jen stared at him. He pointed to his bald head. “You like?”
“Hon, you usually have a military crew cut but isn't this taking it to extremes?” she asked dryly.
He looked up and finally realized that Jayne had set up Jen with a wig. She had a bunch of them in her hands. “Hey! That's cheating!” he exclaimed. The girls giggled.
Jen came over and stroked his newly shaven head. He was as bald as a newborn's rear end. “You're adorable you know that? Like Pitbull that singer.”
“Funny,” he said, amused by her amusement. Whatever made her happy. Just seeing her smile was worth it he felt.
“I think we can set you up,” Jen said. She reached over to the pile of wigs and plopped a long blond one on his head. “There, better?”
He tried to blow the hair out of his face and then pulled it apart. The girls were snorting and giggling. Nick came in and looked around. “What's going on? What's so funny?” he asked. He took one look at his dad, made an 'oh' face and turned about fast. “Okay, never mind,” he drawled and walked out, fast.
The girls burst into further titters. He took the wig off and put his ball cap back on. “Funny. Real funny,” he said, smiling despite himself. He was glad he had made his lady laugh, so in the end it was worth it. Even if he was going to get ribbed. A lot. “I've got to get going. You have fun ladies.”
“Bye,” Jen said, giving him a peck and then a quick grab ass. “Stay safe,” she said.
“Do my best,” he answered with a smirk.
...*...*...*...*...
Jen smiled, putting her best face on the situation. After the Skyray incident and the general outcry from the surviving Xeno-biologists they had organized into a symposium. A virtual symposium which she was currently attending since Doctor Phillips was unavailable. Again.
“I still don't understand the importance of this,” an army Colonel Nash said shaking his head. The president had assigned a science major from the White House to chair the symposium and the military had sent its own representative to observe and participate. Currently the General was busy so his aide, a Colonel Robert Nash was sitting in. Nash was an MD in his own right; he'd been tapped to substitute since his MASH unit was near the general.
“What don't you understand Colonel?” a scientist asked looking at him. “You of all people should realize we need to learn about the enemy. Intelligence gathering is a fundamental principle of battlefield strategy.”
The Colonel's jaw set at that back handed slap. He opened his mouth but the chairwoman rapped the gavel gently. “Let's not devolve into an ego match gentlemen. We are here to compare notes about the aliens and recommend courses of action.”
“The obvious being to leave the aliens that are beneficial to us alone and focus on the ones that are a threat,” Jen said nodding.
The chairwoman glanced at Jen's video feed and then nodded.
“Why is she here?” a doctor asked through an interpreter. The Chinese doctor was scowling as he held up a paper. “Her credentials do not even include a doctorate!” he said.
“Jennifer O'Neill has multiple degrees in a variety of sciences,” the chairwoman said as she cocked her head. “I am interested as to the whereabouts of Doctor Phillips however.”
“He's in a necropsy session right now,” Jen said smiling politely. “One of our field teams managed to bag a near intact specimen of an adult Strider and a Screecher. Since we all know the alien carcasses break down rather quickly time is of the essence.”
“What does he hope to achieve with the necropsy?” the Chinese delegation asked.
Jen looked at the tablet in her lap. “According to the e-mail he sent me he wants to familiarize himself with the biology of each animal, as well as work out the mechanisms of the Screecher's voice box and attempt to find an antivenin for the Strider's spines.”
“Ambitious,” the chairwoman said.
“He's also been muttering about a noted change in the epidermis of the last four specimens he has examined. I think he wanted to see if something was related to that or not,” Jen said shrugging.
“So why are you here?” the Chinese delegate asked.
“The doctor pulled most of the staff in for the Necropsy. Since I am also on the mall council and I am able to handle a conference right now, I volunteered,” she said with iron control in her voice.
“Mrs. O'Neill discovered that the aliens can see in the infrared,” a scientist from Canada said.
“Actually to be more accurate it was Doctor Phillips who made the connection. I was the one who pointed out that they could see military uniforms and markings,” she said nodding politely to the Colonel. At the time the Colonel was looking at something off camera.
He grunted as his eyes widened and turned his full attention to her. He stared at her intently. “Say that again?”
“She was the one who pointed out that the alien's ability to see in the infrared spectrum allows them to see the markings on your soldiers' BDUs Colonel,” the Canadian scientist interjected helpfully. He smiled an encouraging smile to Jen who nodded.
“When was this?” the Colonel asked suddenly intent. “No one told me.”
“Several months ago. Mid-September. I published the paper with doctor Phillips and also passed it on to the local military commanders in the area, as well as to two generals who said they would take it 'under advisement',” she said wrinkling her nose. She glanced at the chairwoman who was looking a little embarrassed. “Were you kept out of the loop Colonel?” she asked politely.
Nash's jaw worked again. “Apparently so. You're telling me that the aliens can see us? The modern American BDUs dampen our heat signature!”
“But they are marked with IFF tags my husband and a friend pointed out. It’s supposed to be only visible under certain spectra but since the aliens can see most of the infrared spectr
um, it stands out. I remembered it and posted it,” Jen said.
“So...”
“So the BDUs allow the aliens to see your soldiers when they move. They can track the IFF patches. They are like holding up a 'here I am' sign. I believe this is also on some of your vehicles as well.”
“Shit,” the Colonel growled, sitting back suddenly. “And apparently no one took this report seriously enough to investigate it or to make it more widely known.”
“Our people did,” Jen said shrugging. “They still wear BDUs but only here in the mall and preferably only during the day. Outside they wear civilian hunting gear at night.”
“Oh wonderful...” the Colonel said shaking his head.
“I believe you've just been shown an example of why this symposium is important Colonel,” the chairwoman said nodding to Jen. “I believe we all have,” she said.
“I want a copy of that paper. And any notes you have,” the Colonel said, suddenly intent. His eyes flashed. “We need to get this in the hands of our people now,” he said.
“A very good idea,” the chairwoman said nodding. She looked at Jen.
Jen smiled and tapped out an e-mail on her tablet to the people attending and attached her report and notes. “Done,” she said after a moment, looking up.
“Thank you,” the Colonel said with a nod, tapping at his laptop to pull the document up.
“I think that also proved the worth of Mrs. O'Neill and her attendance in this symposium,” the Canadian said, twisting the Colonel's tail a bit.
The Colonel looked up briefly, gave a grudging nod and then went back to scanning the document, eyes moving back and forth rapidly.
“I like how you write,” he said after a moment. “Clear and to the point. You lay it out simply and you use graphic examples.”
“It’s meant to be distributed as widely as possible,” Jen said. “I had thought it had already had,” she said feeling dismay and discomfort.
“It will be now, I assure you,” he said with a growl. He tapped hard. “There, I just sent this to the joint chiefs and General Abroth, as well as General Donahue. We'll see if that lights some fires,” he said.