The Deception

by Janet Shore

  “HARP Notice #1: We are all humans resisting the persecution of the military government. When the Jazene first visited Earth, they promised to help and improve us, to preserve our knowledge. All they brought us was their war with the Danali. The governments of the Earth have united their military capabilities under Antonio Prenka. Do not trust him. Even though their stated mission is an alliance with the Jazene to help mankind recover, they kill anyone who does not wear the communication device. Those devices are harmful to your health. With one hand they provide you food and water and with the other hand they are your source of infection and disease. Are you better off now than you were before? You have suffered over thirteen months of devastation from their monster army. The Danali tried to destroy that army before the damage was done to you. They told you this when they interrupted Antonio’s broadcast. We believe that humans should ally themselves with the Danali against the Jazene. If you do not have the device, then run from those who would force it on you. We are here waiting for you to join our ranks. If you do have the device, then you have not lost your free will. Turn your dependence on the military into an advantage against them. You have more access to supplies that can help the resistance. We invite you to join our ranks as well. We could not allow you into our facility because you are tracked by the device you wear. However, our people are among you. We have spies that can work with you. Please help humanity. You may be thinking that you could be killed for associating or aiding us with smuggled supplies. We have your back. Nothing we are suggesting will put you in danger. It is your only way to fight back against being trapped in a system of absolute dependence that could end at any time. You may be depressed and feel that there is no hope. You have been misled, there is hope to take our world back. There is hope for a new and better world. Trust the Danali. The standoff between these two alien races that have destroyed our world will end. The Danali have told us that ‘Another’ is coming. There is hope, do not despair.”

  Pierre asked Hugo,

  “What do you think the Danali meant when they said ‘Another is coming’?”

  Hugo looked up from reading the leaflet,

  “I don’t know, but it is a message of hope. It is a promise that the Danali have a card that has not been played yet. Whatever it is, they hope to win the war with it, and save mankind in the process.”

  The printing press ran off thousands of copies of the leaflet. These copies were divided throughout all four parts of HARP. The entire underground organization undertook a tedious and dangerous field mission to put the leaflets everywhere they could. They nailed them into old telephone poles, glued them to walls in the city, stuffed them under the windshield wipers of abandoned vehicles on the highway, and handed them discreetly to anyone they ran into. The effort went viral. People outside of HARP were passing the leaflets around. Discussion turned into action, as some left their safe zone to seek out the underground. The military also read the leaflet which was passed from soldier up the ranks to the generals. Inevitably, the leaflet reached the desk of Antonio Prenka at the Vatican. When Antonio first read it, he angrily shouted,

  “How did this happen?”

  Pope Peter’s steely glare pierced through Antonio,

  “The leaflet indicates it is the first. There is an issue number one at the top of the page. That means that there will most assuredly be a number two leaflet distributed. It is quite probably in production now. We must stop it. We must find that printing press, destroy it, and eliminate the threat completely.”

  In the hallway, the two heard a commotion. Upon exiting the room, they saw Archbishop Carlucci escorting two fully armed military holding a handcuffed prisoner. The Swiss Guard followed behind them. The sounds of their approach echoed down the hall. The group walked to the Pope and Antonio and stopped. Archbishop Carlucci said,

  “This man was found handing out leaflets in France. The local police arrested him and handed him over to the local military. They transferred him to our custody here for your examination.”

  Pope Peter said,

  “Please sit him in that chair in the office.”

  The man was set in the office. Pope Peter said,

  “Please wait outside.”

  Antonio and Pope Peter shut the door and were alone with the prisoner. Archbishop Carlucci stood outside in the hallway. Through the door, the archbishop and the guards clearly heard the prisoner scream loudly with desperate cries. After a tortuous half hour, the screaming stopped and the door opened. The archbishop walked into the office and looked around. Pope Peter and Antonio were seated around the desk at the side of the office conferring with each other in a calm manner. Looking around the room, the archbishop was surprised that the prisoner was nowhere to be found. Pope Peter arose and walked over to the archbishop. Calmly taking him by the arm, he said,

  “That will be all. Everything is in hand. We have information about the location of the printing press. Antonio will be sending a broadcast now.”

  With that, the group retreated down the hallway without the prisoner that they had brought. Antonio and Pope Peter walked in the opposite direction toward the broadcast room. Not much later the world saw the image of Antonio Prenka projected from the device attached to their hands. Antonio spoke,

  “Friends, by now you probably have seen leaflets printed by a seditious group called HARP. Your suffering should not be and is not a war of words. It is starkly real every day that you hurt from your disease, or are hungry or thirsty. Your needy crying children tears at my heart every day. Rest assured that we are taking every step and sparing no resource to help you, to get you what you need when you need it. The task is large, there are still supply shortages. We are working as fast as we can. These are not just words. They are actions to help you.

  HARP has lied to you about the Danali. The Jazene enemy is our enemy, yours and mine. They are lying when they tell you that we are killing those that disagree with us. They are lying when they tell you that we are causing your diseases, that we are poisoning your waters. They are lying when they promise you that another is coming. The food you eat and the water you drink have come from us in the spirit of worldwide cooperation and harmony. You are alive today because of the truth. The Danali have done nothing except wreck our world. We will double our efforts to end this sedition. If you have any information that will help us in this effort, please contact your local police. Thank you for your patience.”

  The next day Hugo and Pierre awoke to the sound of artillery fire not far from their location. They had been very careful to hide the exact location of the printing press even from those that distributed the leaflets in other regions. The prisoner that Antonio and the Pope interrogated revealed only the location where he received a handoff of a shipment of leaflets. The military were shelling that part of the city to rubble in case the printing press was located near the hand off point. Hugo thought that they would widen the destruction out from that point in a circular pattern eventually reaching the precious print shop. He estimated that they were starting about thirty miles away. Stealing a jeep and moving the shop would be more difficult now. Hugo and Pierre agreed that if the shelling got too close, they would abandon their print facility, and escape to the south on foot. Eventually they hoped to find another printing press with type, find paper, make ink, and set up a new print shop. Losing the print shop would be a setback. The first leaflet had made an impact beyond their expectations. They sat back and listened to the devastating explosions in the distance. Pierre doubted that they could repeat their success if the military tightened their hold.

  At Mount Graham, Brother James was using standard amateur telescope equipment that worked without electricity to monitor the skies. He carefully noted the glimpses of the war raging in the solar system between the Danali and the Jazene. His measurements of the distortion of the moon were meticulous. Alas, there was no way to communicate his findings to the world. He did not have the device on his hand or forehead. Except for Andy, a local from the town bringing him foo
d and water, Brother James had no contact with anyone. The observatory building had been remote enough that it escaped the attention of the monster army. Brother James saw the monsters devastate some of the surrounding population when he trained his modest telescope toward the villages that surrounded Mount Graham. He also spotted and documented their migration through the region over time. When they finally died out, the area was calmer. Then, the military trucks came to make sure that people had their devices. They also resupplied the stores with food, water, and medicines. Brother James had hid himself in an isolated room of the observatory when the military broke in and searched it. They left the facility deeming it an abandoned building. Brother James had escaped being forced to take the device.

  Brother James walked over to a drawer where he carefully picked out the right sun filter so that he could view the sun directly with his telescope. The day was bright without a cloud in the sky. He took a bite of his sandwich and a cool drink of lemonade as he fit the filter into place. He trained the scope directly on the sun intending to carefully document the current level of sun spot activity. Much to his surprise, he witnessed a coronal mass ejection. Hurriedly, he reached for his notebook, looked at his readings, and wrote down his measurements of the event. Over the course of an hour of observation, he had enough data for a rough calculation of its trajectory and speed. Without a calculator or a computer, he had to do all of the calculations longhand using several pages in his notebook. He put down his pen and raised the notebook into the air glaring at his result in shock. He rechecked every step and corrected several small mistakes. He repeated the measurements and recalculated again. None of his extra effort did anything except reinforce his original conclusion. The coronal mass ejection was greater than any previously known ejection and it was on a direct collision course with the Earth. Brother James calculated that the impact with Earth would occur in twenty five hours.

  The Jazene and the Danali had detected the massive solar event as well. They maneuvered certain spaceships regarded as vital assets to the war to avoid being severely affected. At the same time, they attempted to tactically trap their opponents by fighting directly in the danger zone. This strategy was to either escape at the last minute or sacrifice by leading more of your enemy into certain destruction in space. Pope Peter was informed of the solar threat, but he did not inform Antonio. The Danali started a warning through the hacked back channel on the devices worn by most of humanity,

  “This is the Danali. Seek shelter. The sky brings death.”

  That was all that got through before Antonio Prenka took back control of the communication,

  “Friends, do not be alarmed. The Danali are spreading more lies. There is no additional threat from the sky that we are aware of.”

  Pope Peter stood by silently and watched Antonio soothe the people into a false sense of safety. In France, Hugo and Pierre heard the shelling getting louder and closer. All through the night the attempt to destroy the printing press continued without pause. No one at the print shop got any sleep. Margo, one of the field distributors of the leaflets, came in with urgent news. She was out of breath having run a great distance.

  “Hugo, the Danali have sent a message through the devices. One of our people overheard it. It was very brief. It said something about danger from the sky. Then, Antonio Prenka came back on the channel to reassure everyone that nothing was wrong.”

  Hugo asked,

  “Didn’t they say what the danger was?”

  Margo replied,

  “They said ‘Seek Shelter. The sky brings death.’ They could not get their whole message through before they were shut down.”

  Pierre conjectured,

  “Maybe they were warning about a space battle getting too close to the Earth. Perhaps it was a warning about a new offensive they are executing against the Jazene.”

  Margo commented,

  “This war in the sky has been going on for quite some time. Why would they engage in any strategy that would bring danger to the Earth?”

  Hugo said,

  “They wouldn’t.”

  The artillery barrage inadvertently turned in their direction. A huge explosion hit the compound and blew away the side farthest from the print shop. Chaotic screams and shouting occurred. Margo, Hugo, and Pierre ran toward the destruction. First responders aided the wounded and dragged away the dead. Everyone pitched in to start clearing away the rubble as best they could to find survivors. The next artillery hit some miles away, but the damage was done. They still didn’t know where the printing press was, but within hours they would sweep the area more thoroughly and most certainly destroy the print shop.

  Hugo gave the order,

  “Abandon the facility. Head south. Seek any shelter that you can.”

  Like ants, the survivors of the compound scattered in all directions, abandoning their enclave of safety. The sun rose, the night disappeared. Hugo, Margo, and Pierre ran to escape the blast zone. After half the morning had passed they retired to a walking pace. Then, the coronal mass ejection entered the atmosphere. In the middle of one of Antonio Prenka’s speeches the devices on the hands of everyone stopped working. The searing heat from the solar substance caused severe burns on anyone out in the open. Hugo, Marie, and Pierre entered a stone structure that used to be a church. As they ran for the church door, they saw trees catch on fire from the solar bombardment. Inside the church was unbearably hot, but they were not burned too badly. All three sheltered underneath an ornate stone table at the front of the church. They could see small fires of paper and wood at the far end of the church.

  The oceans boiled. Whole rivers dried up. The water suddenly taken into the atmosphere caused unimaginably intense storms as one side of the planet was superheated while the other side was still cool. The river Euphrates dried up, lowering Lake Assad and exposing the ruins of the laboratories that hatched the monster army that had ravaged the Earth. Antonio Prenka turned to Pope Peter. Being alone, Pope Peter morphed into Peto,

  “This is a coronal mass ejection that will burn mankind, and dry up much of the seas and rivers.”

  Antonio asked, “Did you know this was coming?”

  Peto replied,

  “Yes, I did.”

  Chapter X

  A pre-recorded message from Antonio Prenka to the world was abruptly interrupted by a message from the Danali,

  “We, the Danali, are enemies of the Jazene. In matters of survival, you have made your choices. We advise you to shelter in place. Another is coming. We repeat. Another is coming. The force fields in Syria and Egypt cannot be destroyed from space. We must land establishing a ground force to take them out. That will be a first step in our effort to restore the Earth. The war that has put humanity at risk must end. We will land between the force fields at latitude 31.77 degrees…”

  Antonio’s broadcast resumed as his technicians managed to override the pirate signal. Antonio was furious,

  “We must prevent these intrusions! We cannot allow these lapses in our ability to communicate to the people!”

  Peto calmly stated,

  “Follow me.”

  Peto walked to the wall and lifted one side of a Renaissance tapestry that hung from the ceiling. Behind it was a door. Peto went through the hidden door to a secret passage that led to a staircase that spiraled downward hundreds of feet. Antonio picked up a briefcase from the desk in the office and followed Peto down the stairs. At the bottom, they entered a pitch black dusty room. Antonio groped along the wall just inside the doorway for a light switch. He flipped the switch several times with no effect. Peto reached out with his hand. Blue energy emitted from his fingers striking a glass paperweight sitting on an old desk about two yards from where they stood. The paperweight lit the entire room brightly bathing it with a blue glow. Along the walls were bookshelves full of volumes with old ribbed spines. There were stone tablets and ancient scrolls on the shelves as well. As they walked slowly through the room, the dust swirled in the blue light revealing where t
hey had just been. Peto sat down in an old wooden chair. He looked at Antonio,

  “The commander of the Jazene fleet will be here momentarily.”

  A red sphere began to form across the room pulsating large and small. The sphere took on a dragon-like shape similar to the reptile that terrorized Maria on the moon base. The materialization affected Antonio’s ability to retain human form. He morphed into the monster that had come out of the Bay of Naples. The three aliens stood silently in a circle. Suddenly, they all began retching puddles of green liquid on the floor in front of them. The puddles slowly began to boil. Frog-like shapes began to emerge from the puddles. The strange formations were only a few inches in height. The three aliens sat down and watched the creatures grow. Over the course of an hour, three rooted cocoons formed twisting back and forth violently. The cocoons split open. Three human beings walked out. Peto picked up Antonio’s briefcase. He flipped open the latches. Peto removed three sets of uniforms from the briefcase and handed each of the newly hatched humans their clothing. The new creatures held the clothes in their hands looking around the room with blank stares. The commander of the Jazene fleet spoke to the new humans,

  “You know what to do.”

  Each of the humans quickly clothed themselves with the new uniforms. The commander continued,

  “The Danali are planning to bring the war to the surface of the Earth. After our losses during the coronal mass ejection, our forces cannot fully engage the enemy both here and in space. We will need the help of the global military alliance that Antonio has forged. However, those alliance forces are now fully engaged in humanitarian efforts. Your mission is to alleviate the burden of their current engagement and assemble all of the forces just south of our Syrian force field at the Kishon River in the Jezreel Valley. Do you understand?”