The Deception

by Janet Shore

  Peto approached the live device, connecting the terminal clips to his hands, and felt the flow of energy,

  “Ah, yes. That will do nicely.”

  Content with recharging himself, Peto was not forthcoming with any part of his promised private discussion. Dr. Thomas tried to break the ice,

  “What is it that you wanted to discuss? You have come a long way.”

  After Peto was used to the energy flow, he began to discuss their interest in invasive data preservation. Dr. Thomas’ reaction was plain,

  “That is an international issue, why have you brought the matter to me? What is it that I can help you with? Besides, you have made that desire plain to Dr. Jenner. You said you needed to discuss something of a private nature.”

  Peto acknowledged,

  “Ah yes. That is another matter.”

  About a half hour passed, the two emerged from Dr. Thomas’ office. Dr. Thomas and Peto walked silently over to the VATT without a word to each other. Peto touched the door. The door made a strange sound. Brother James came to investigate. He opened the door.

  “Welcome. Welcome. I suppose it is our turn for a private conversation.”

  Peto replied, “Yes, it is.”

  Peto walked through the doorway into the entrance room to the VATT. Dr. Thomas turned and walked away without a word spoken. Brother James thought that strange, but closed the door without regarding it. He exclaimed,

  “Well, what can I do for you?”

  Peto hesitated,

  “Do you see anything unusual in your research?”

  Brother James laughed,

  “We observe new or more accurate astronomical phenomena all the time. Even the most mundane observations always seem to surprise us with a little bit of the unusual.”

  Peto asked,

  “Who is your leader?”

  Brother James answered,

  “The Pope”

  Chapter V

  General Arnold paced around the meeting room at the Pentagon listening to the aftermath of the meteor strikes on the news monitor. Huge ash cloud plumes were affecting the weather and air quality of nearby countries. Supplies of facemasks were running low. Forced evacuations and voluntary migrations strained refugee immigration to the breaking point. Climate change scientists speculated that the entire Earth would be affected in some way within a month. The news feed suddenly was suspended pending an incoming call.

  “Yes, this is General Arnold.”

  “General, Dr. Jenner here. We have received another message from the Jazene. They simply said that they are coming.”

  General Arnold looked up at Pedro and the Major, “They already have arrived at Mt. Graham. Do you mean they are sending more ships?”

  Dr. Jenner explained, “It appears as if they intend to aid the situation in Syria and Egypt. According to the Jazene, adequately responding to the devastation of the meteor strikes is beyond human capability. We have no choice in the matter. They are coming.”

  Within hours over the skies of Egypt and Syria hundreds of spacecraft could easily be seen. There was no secret about this event. Already panicked over the meteor strikes, the devastation, and the threat of serious additional damage from the aftermath, humanity collectively reached a new level of terror as they realized that an armada now hovered over Damascus and the Nile. Economic markets closed down completely freezing assets worldwide. The rush to cash due to the crisis was now impossible. The ships landed. Strange creatures emerged setting up impenetrable barriers around the affected areas. No one could go in or out. Those that were not killed by the strike itself or the flood that ensued but caught inside the barrier were transported out. Their live bodies injured or not, were put into a stasis. Levitating horizontally about ten feet off the ground, the parade of thousands of humans safely made their way along the odd highway in the air. Once outside the barrier, they gently landed on the ground where military and humanitarian forces had transportation ready to get them to refugee camps or hospitals. At the end of the day, there were no humans alive within the barriers. The rotting stench of man and beast within the barrier did not seem to bother the Jazene as they moved about. Every kind of scavenging creature began to feast on the scattered remains. The worst was in the areas around the great Nile. The sea monster was dead and covered with flies, snakes, and ravens.

  The Russians were the first to unilaterally respond to what they deemed an invasion. Major Igor Baranov had acquired some of their technology from the operation in Uzbekistan. Baranov’s scientists had recovered several devices from the crash site deep in the mountains. Quite by accident, they figured out how to trigger a particle beam of enormous power. Soon after testing that device, the power drained to nothing. It may not have originally been a weapon but in the hands of Baranov’s team it became one. To recharge the device, they needed a portable nuclear battery. Those devices had been available in Russia for a decade. Baranov had ordered one flown in from Moscow. The nice feature of a portable nuclear battery is that its half-life was about ten thousand years. Once the scientists had figured out how to connect the alien device to the nuclear battery, the device became fully weaponized. Within a week, Baranov led a small force through Turkey and into Syria. They approached the barrier around Damascus from the northern side. At a distance of about five miles, on direct orders from Moscow, they fired the weapon directly at the barrier. The barrier reverberated with a strange rubbery sound around the area of the impact. Even though the beam was ineffective, it caught their attention. An alien being near the point of impact took on a more human form and walked toward the barrier from the inside. Walking through the barrier as if it were not there, he was surrounded by a bubble of energy coming from the barrier. It was as if a piece of the barrier came off to protect him. The creature walked the five miles toward the large truck holding the weapon. As he approached, Baranov ordered that the weapon be fired again directly at the approaching alien. The creature was about one mile from them when he was struck full force by the particle beam. The force of impact knocked his protective bubble back a half of a mile eventually rolling to a stop. Undaunted the alien resumed his approach. Finally, Baranov relented and ordered a hasty retreat. The alien then picked up the pace until he overtook the fleeing truck, and jumped inside. Startled, Major Baranov fired a gun at the alien. The bullet ricocheted and struck one of his own soldiers in the arm wounding him.

  The alien spoke in Russian,

  “We do not want to be attacked.”

  News of the incident reached the Pentagon. General Arnold exclaimed,

  “What do the Russians think they are doing?”

  Major Sanders tapped his pen on the table,

  “More significant than their attack on the barrier is the weapon that they used. It threatens to upset the strategic balance between the superpowers. We have a particle beam weapon in our arsenal, as do they. But this version of it far exceeds our current capabilities by many orders of magnitude.”

  Pedro Sanchez insisted,

  “Gentlemen, we are not supposed to analyze the potential strategic imbalance of the Russians hijacking some Jazene technology. Other departments in our government can assess that. Our focus is on Mount Graham.”

  A conference call was initiated with Agent Granger. General Arnold asked,

  “Are there any problems at your end?”

  Agent Granger responded, “In light of all the confusion from the meteor impacts and the subsequent landings of the alien spaceships in the Middle East, we are remarkably quiet here. The spaceship here has been under surveillance with no noted activity since Peto left the ship. There are a couple of strange things though.”

  General Arnold shifted uncomfortably,

  “Go ahead.”

  “Well, Dr. Thomas isn’t speaking. He appears to be in a trance.”

  Pedro interjected,

  “Has he been seen by a doctor?”

  Agent Granger answered,

  “Yes. They cannot find anything wrong with him. The onset was
sudden, after he had his private meeting with Peto.”

  “What else is strange?”

  “Peto has been meeting with Brother James at the VATT for an extraordinarily long time.”

  General Arnold asked,

  “Can you connect me with Brother James?”

  “Hold on. I am connecting you now.”

  The phone rang and rang. At the VATT, Brother James excused himself,

  “Peto, I have to answer that.”

  He ran across the floor of the observatory only to pick up the phone a moment too late. Without being able to speak with Brother James, General Arnold dispatched Agent Granger to the VATT to see if Peto had claimed another victim to his hypnotic powers. The agent hopped into his jeep rushing along the access roads at a dangerous rate of speed. The jeep screeched to a halt, Granger jumped out gun drawn, ran to the door, and started pounding,

  “Open up, or we will force entry.”

  Startled, Brother James rushed to the door, and opened it,

  “Agent, what is the emergency?”

  With a sense of relief, Agent Granger holstered his weapon,

  “We thought that Peto had put you into a trance. General Arnold tried to phone you here but there was no answer.”

  Brother James explained,

  “I tried to get the phone but we were at the other side of the observatory. I couldn’t reach it in time. I’m terribly sorry for any trouble caused.”

  “Not a problem. What has been going on here?”

  Brother James wanted to brief Agent Granger on Peto’s visit to the observatory. Ever alert to the possibility of security threats, Granger prepared himself to quietly listen to what promised to be a very strange tale. Suddenly, Peto walked toward the two men. He directed his gaze at Agent Granger,

  “This is a private meeting, Agent. Please leave.”

  Brother James appealed,

  “Peto, the agent was only concerned with our safety. I’m sure you understand that.”

  The alien continued,

  “Agent, return to your vehicle. Wait in your vehicle. I will need your transportation back to the ship when I finish here.”

  Agent Granger did not say a word. He turned back toward the door, exited the building, and waited in the jeep, as he was instructed.

  Brother James pleaded,

  “Please don’t hurt him.”

  Peto assured Brother James that no harm would come to anyone at Mount Graham as long as they cooperated fully. His morphed form was losing energy,

  “Do you have a plug? Dr. Thomas gave me this device that I could interface with to recharge.”

  Peto connected the inverter to the wall and the terminal clips to his hands. For a moment, Brother James saw Peto’s head morph away from its almost human appearance. It looked as if it was on fire, with at least two protrusions moving slowly around its head. Its hair appeared like wool. Then, as the power filled his body, the wool and the protrusions disappeared into a smooth bald appearance.

  “Brother James, what does your Pope Peter II think of your work here at the VATT?”

  Brother James crossed his waist with each hand grasping the opposite arm tightly,

  “I don’t really know. Brother Leo is in charge of the VORG. He publishes reports for the general public, and also provides confidential reports within the Vatican.”

  Peto finished his charge by unplugging the terminal clips,

  “I’d like to meet this Brother Leo.”

  Then, he unplugged the inverter,

  “I’d like to meet Pope Peter as well.”

  Brother James spoke in an unsteady voice,

  “For that, you would have to go to the Vatican.”

  Peto said,

  “That, I will do. Can we speak with Brother Leo?”

  Brother James quickly got Brother Leo on a conference call. Brother Leo gave a diplomatic greeting,

  “Peto, on behalf of Earth, we welcome you. If there is anything you need, let us know. As you know, we are still reeling from the disaster in the Middle East.”

  Peto did not mince words,

  “Brother Leo, I am coming to the Vatican. Please arrange to meet me at your heliport.”

  There was an unusually long silence. Brother Leo said,

  “We will be ready.”

  Peto continued,

  “I want to meet you, then Pope Peter.”

  “We will do what we can. Audiences with the Pope are fairly difficult to arrange on short notice.”

  Peto declared,

  “Regardless, I will meet with Pope Peter immediately following our meeting.”

  Brother Leo backtracked,

  “Accept our apologies, sir.”

  After the phone call, Peto said his polite farewell to Brother James. Then, he walked out the door to the waiting jeep. Without a word, Agent Granger drove Peto back to his spaceship. The alien entered the ship through the same transport mechanism that he used when he arrived. The ship itself began to make louder sounds. The soldiers surrounding the ship moved back as far as they could. The shape of the ship began to oscillate. With a deafening hum, the ship lifted off slowly at first and then rapidly in a vertical direction. Within minutes, the spaceship was sighted over the Vatican. It slowly cruised through the skies. The crowds at St. Peter’s square looked up pointing their cameras. Those without cameras just pointed. Some thought they were witnessing a holy vision. Some knelt and started praying. The ship slowed as it approached the heliport. There was a helicopter sitting on the heliport making it impossible to land. The ship hovered as arrangements were made to move the copter. Once the landing pad was cleared, the spaceship made a gentle approach, landed, and then became silent.

  Brother Leo walked out onto the heliport to greet the alien visitor. An hour passed with no activity. Brother Johann came out to tell Brother Leo that he had to come in to take an important call. General Arnold from the Pentagon wanted to speak with him. Once inside, Brother Leo answered the call,

  “Yes, General, the Jazene ship has landed at our heliport. We have seen no further activity.”

  General Arnold chose his words carefully,

  “The United States stands ready to assist the Vatican in any defense against the ship should it turn hostile.”

  “Thank you, General, but I hope that will not be necessary.”

  “Brother Leo, you are aware that they have completely sealed the Syria and Egypt disaster zones?”

  “Yes, sir, but was that action hostile or beneficial? After all, the aftermath of the meteor strike is beyond the capacity of the world.”

  General Arnold paused for a moment,

  “With all due respect, you don’t realize the true capacity of the world.”

  Brother Leo looked up. Archbishop Carlucci, Prefect of the Papal Household, walked toward him. The halls echoed loudly with his footsteps. Brother Leo ended the call,

  “General Arnold, Archbishop Carlucci is here. I have to go now.”

  With that, he hung up the call, properly greeting the archbishop,

  “Your Excellency, Peto has not emerged from the ship. I have talked with General Arnold of the United States. They are ready to help if needed. We cannot really keep either Peto or His Holiness waiting on call for a meeting. I suspect that the alien will not have any need for official protocols like being announced, or speaking to His Holiness in a certain way.”

  “Do not concern yourself, Brother Leo. At the proper time, I will lead Peto to His Holiness who has already decided to dispense with his schedule and with all protocols in this matter. After all, Peto is not of this world.”

  Archbishop Carlucci walked out to the heliport platform with two Swiss Guards. Brother Leo tagged along behind. Suddenly, a transport beam delivered Peto about five feet in front of them.

  The archbishop greeted the visitor. Peto seemed not interested in formalities, walked past the guards, and said,

  “I will be meeting with Brother Leo, then the Pope. Archbishop Carlucci, you and your guards may escor
t me to the Pope. Please wait inside.”

  The group split up. The archbishop and the guards stepped inside to wait. Peto took Brother Leo aside privately,

  “Brother Leo, you were right about the target of the meteors. No one else correctly predicted the target.”

  Suddenly, the ground shook with a mild earthquake. Brother Leo exclaimed,

  “What was that?”

  Peto seemed to be remotely accessing equipment and personnel onboard his spacecraft,

  “I am informed that on the chain connected to the undersea volcano, Mount Marsili, an eruption has occurred in the part of the Mediterranean called the Tyrrhenian Sea. A tsunami will cause damage on the western coastline of Italy. There will be considerable flooding, even in Rome. It appears as if our spaceship undermined the stability of the undersea ridge through the tidal forces of our approach to Rome. I believe a significant amount of magma is spilling beneath the sea.”

  To the south, Derek Taylor looked out on the Bay of Naples near Mt. Vesuvius. Something unusual was happening in the bay. He had felt the earthquake. Soon after a tsunami warning for the coast where he was standing was issued. Hundreds of people ran inland from the coast. Caught up in the crowd, Derek pushed and shoved his way toward a clearing. Getting a taxi amidst the chaos was impossible. Derek started to hike the nine kilometers inland toward the foothills of Mount Vesuvius which promised the high ground for the incoming tsunami. He had only traveled a half of a mile when he heard an unearthly sound. He ducked into the nearest building and climbed five flights of stairs. Derek zipped open his backpack, rummaged around until he found his military grade long range binoculars. He hung over the railing in the open air peering carefully at the bay to see what was causing the awful sound. A monster had emerged from the Bay of Naples. Derek put down the binoculars rubbing his eyes. The enormous size could be seen with the naked eye. A man rushed passed Derek coming from a higher floor. In Italian Derek called out,

  “Come back here and look at this.”

  The man came back a half flight, stood next to Derek, and stared at the bay,

  “Where should I look?”

  Derek pointed,

  “Right there, you can’t miss it!”