Overrun: Project Hideaway

  "Emergency mission instructions commence,” Parker commanded the console breaking the silence.

  "Commencing emergency instructions," the digital voice repeated.

  The console hovering between them emitted a soft hum and settled into an opening in the command board in front of them. A round piece of metal fell inward at its center revealing a small holovid screen. A red light at its base blinked twice, and then the screen became blue.

  "Barnes," Parker spoke softly while the holovid breathed to life. "This is not something I can do on my own. I need your help. What we’re doing out here is of great importance. Our success…or our failure will have far reaching effects. Our actions will extend well beyond the two of us."

  Barnes quit rubbing the back of his neck and rested his hands on his lap. Both were colorless and shook slightly.

  "Begin holovid message," Parker commanded.

  "Message begins," the machine answered him. The holovid screen became dark.

  When it lit again, there was a white middle-aged man sitting in front of what looked like a busy military operations center.

  "Gentlemen," the man in the message began grimly. "I am speaking to you from the command center of Science Dome 15. It is my unfortunate responsibility to inform you that upon viewing this message, you are ordered to consider the United States at war."

  "Oh my God," Barnes said quietly.

  "This message was prepared to brief you on such an eventuality," the holovid continued. "My name is Colonel Samuel Allinson of the newly created Vulture Squad."

  Parker looked away from the screen and scrutinized a spot that didn’t exist on the side of his leg.

  "Vulture Squad, Captain Parker, began with many of the same men in your first flight unit," Parker raised his eyebrows at the mention of his name. "Many of those that you surpassed to pilot the Hideaway were recruited soon after you left in 2258."

  Barnes looked over at Parker but didn’t make a sound.

  "At the time, this was considered the world’s ultimate mission. Safeguarding our lifesaving technology out in space. We needed high-caliber individuals to carry something like this out. You were of that caliber. As were they. However, you two were the most suited to pilot the Hideaway.

  “The rest of these men became the originators of the Vulture death squad. A unit secret from the rest of the world created to implement a new world order. One ruled by the United States. A safe world.

  “In 2260 the Vulture Squad became a hard-nosed reality. Upon its assembly, the ministry of war released the details of Plan Zero, a defense plan war officials have been working on since the technology to make the beam cannons was discovered in 2251.

  “As you are aware, the beam cannon technology offers an alternative to what we have now, giant domes that only protect an elite citizenship. This technology takes us past that. The ability to protect all of our citizens does exist. It works. And you are carrying it."

  Parker turned to look at Barnes. Barnes stared coolly back.

  "Since that first technological breakthrough in 2251...," Colonel Allinson continued. "…we have diligently worked in secret to create, build and do our best to perfect this technology, technology the J.G.U. has never seen.

  “We’ve been ready for some time, however, implementation has always been a problem…until now. The time has now come for us to forge ahead.

  “Technological implementation has always held us back, because it just cannot exist without more room. The beam cannons once in place will occupy lots and lots of land. Some will be the size of some of the smaller ancient land states. This land has to come from somewhere. Someone or something has to be displaced.”

  Parker rubbed his forehead. Barnes remained still in his seat.

  “We need back the land outside the domes. The land occupied by the diseased. The sick. The ones waiting in the sun-scorched rabble for some easy way to die.

  "Millions must be removed to begin construction. Some are calling this an ‘extermination’. Others a ‘genocide’. Regardless, I am here to tell you this is not for you to decide.

  “Great men of the United States scientific community have come up with this plan. Every scenario and contingency has been simulated and thought through. Nothing has been left undiscussed."

  Barnes shifted his weight around in his command chair. Sweat rolled slowly down his face and onto his flight suit.

  "The blood of these people will be on their heads. Not yours."

  Barnes turned away from Parker and blew a mouthful of nervous spit against the equipment on the wall near his side.

  “I bet he truly believes that,” Barnes said turning back.

  "I’m thinking of things that may be coming to your minds at this point,” Colonel Allinson continued to speak. “When I went into dome service, only a small portion of my family was given clearance to come live with me. I had to leave many on the outside. Many are still out there. Many also have died. And I still believe in what we are trying to achieve."

  Parker stole a quick look at Barnes whose mouth hung open and lips moved as if to speak.

  "I assure you all lives sacrificed have a purpose and serve a common good. For many sleepless years I pondered the reality of that statement. These sleepless nights are not yours to endure. We have undertaken this moral responsibility, not you. In return for this, however, you must understand your mission orders must be carried out unconditionally. Regardless of what you personally feel or what they might ultimately be."

  "We’re going to goddamn die, aren't we Jed?" Barnes asked hoarsely without taking his eyes off the screen.

  "Your mission to safeguard the crucial technological elements of the beam cannon technology was launched as a precautionary measure before Plan Zero had been completely drawn out. As of this recording, it has not been fully implemented.

  “We've been waiting for a situation to present itself. Since you have activated the emergency war procedures, you most likely have been released from hibernation and not able to establish planetary contact. That situation has probably finally arisen. Implementation in all likelihood has finally begun.

  "Plan Zero and the Vulture squads are a means of clearing the countryside for the beam cannons and destroying as much of the J.G.U. armed forces in the process. In the event of an armed J.G.U. invasion."

  "One it sounds they’ve been hoping for," Parker commented slowly.

  "The commencement of Plan Zero will be immediate. Vulture soldiers will set high powered explosives throughout the cities of the outside to eliminate the J.G.U. ground forces and prime vast areas to construct the beam cannons."

  "Holy mother of God," Barnes said. "Those people…Jesus, Parker."

  Parker again swallowed hard and fought back a twitch in his left eye.

  "Gentlemen, one of the reasons you were chosen for this mission was because of our confidence in your psychological soundness. Your perceived ability to operate in the most dire of circumstances. And your rationale regardless of the events that may surround you. Please keep this all in mind as I continue."

  Parker let out a loud breath and sat back. His hands rested stiffly on the sides of his command seat.

  "We discontinued your twice-monthly awakenings back in 2264. The risk was becoming just too great. It wasn’t so much there was yet a threat to you being discovered. It was more that any risk, any chance of your being discovered at all, was just too much. A dark ship with its pilots in hibernation is obviously much less susceptible to inadvertent detection.”

  “It has been no secret that within Japan's Great Union the technology and the minds to create it are dwindling. People are starting to die. Important people. Skilled people. Those that furthered their scientific communities and knowledge. There aren't new minds to replace them. Their country is finally beginning to perish from the Earth.

  “We saw this happening in 2264. And we still see it happening now in 2280. They are on the verge of cultural extinction."

  "2280?" Barnes asked incredulously. "What ye
ar is it Jed? Jesus Christ."

  "There is panic in the J.G.U. Uncontrollable panic. And it is spreading. That is where we were when we created this message for you. In preparation for war. Upon viewing this message, consider the situation arisen. They have attacked.”

  The Vulture colonel paused and looked down. After a brief second, he looked back into the holovid. "We are forging ahead to save the human race."

  "They’ve manufactured a global war,” Parker said slowly. "They’re running a scenario to reinvent the globe. It’s already over and done in their minds. They’re just maneuvering around to set it in motion.”

  “Jesus Christ,” Barnes said again.

  "In 2290 your life support looked good. Hibernation indicators showed you were still in perfect health. The situation we were looking for began taking longer than we thought to present itself. It was decided to maintain your hibernation and preserve your youth. Keep you at your biological best until the time came for you and the ship to be needed. Gentlemen, that time has finally come.”

  "2290?" Barnes voice cracked. "Son of a bitch. We’re now up to 2290? I can't believe this. Son of a fucking bitch."

  "Your families have been told you are dead," Colonel Allinson said evenly, immediately putting a stop to Barnes’ tirade.

  "Oh, no," Barnes choked softly. “Oh my God, no.”

  Parker closed his eyes.

  Barnes leaned his head back. His eyes were blank. The material of his seat crunched quietly beneath his weight.

  "You two pilots were picked for this mission based on many things. One of them being your ability to handle this kind of psychological stress and fight through the feelings you are experiencing now."

  "Can anyone begin to think what we are experiencing now?" Barnes ran both his hands through his hair.

  "You’ve both been selected due to the strength of your unique traits. Strength, leadership, technological expertise. Regardless of which of these you possess, you’ve both been deemed competent to be able to understand what is now required to be done and what failure to comply and act accordingly could bring about…for all of us."

  Barnes shifted uncomfortably again in his seat.

  "Captain Jediah Parker. Major Jeffrey Barnes. A job has been entrusted to you. Refusal or incompetence will not be accepted. The blood of many covers our hands. And more must be spilt to preserve the birth of a new world."

  Parker remained completely motionless. His hands were still folded across his lap.

  "Any deviation from the emergency mission plan will be considered an act of mutiny on your part. You will be considered a traitor. And you will be punished. Horribly."

  Parker turned his head slightly to look at Barnes. Barnes leaned back, closed his eyes and swallowed hard.

  The holovid picture of Colonel Allinson faded to black, and then a white square room appeared on the screen.

  Two men in same-colored flight suits sat at a single table in the otherwise barren chamber. An ancient clock, with hands to mark the time rather than a digital readout, hung in the background. The circular clock was half the size of the men in the room. Its black hour and minute hands stretched motionlessly across its face. A red second hand paced ominously around its center.

  The holovid picture zoomed in to reveal a Science Dome 15 Penitentiary insignia stenciled across the backs of both men.

  The men appeared healthy and physically strong. Neither showed signs of radiation sickness or scarring common of those living on the outside.

  “Dome military prisoners,” Parker said quietly with a slight chill in his tone.

  One of them paced about the room while the other sat motionless at the table with his hands folded. Every few seconds the man at the table glanced nervously at the clock. His hands shook despite the obvious effort he took to keep them still.

  There was no sound other than the narrating voice of Colonel Allinson.

  "These two men have been convicted of treason,” Allinson continued. “Of selling dome locations and technological information to the J.G.U. They have been injected with RCC’s, radiation controlled caplets. The same ones that you have just been injected with."

  The image cut away to that of the same two men strapped to separate large chairs similar to the command chairs onboard the Hideaway. The chairs rotated around until their sides faced the holovid transmitter.

  When the chairs had stopped moving, two familiar looking black cylinders appeared from the command console behind them. Both of the prisoners grimaced. One of the men started to scream.

  At the end of long silver tentacle-like arms, the two cylinders stretched towards them. When they were about twelve inches away, one after the other the cylinders shot through the air and bit at the back of their necks. Each left a bloody welt the size of a dime across their naked skin. Both men winced from the sudden sting of pain.

  "Oh, Jesus H. Christ!" Barnes thrashed violently around in his chair. Using the dull reflections offered by the cockpit window and the equipment consoles, he tried to get a look at the back of his neck.

  “Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God!” Barnes’s voice was nearly a shriek.

  Parker didn’t move. He kept his eyes riveted on the holovid screen. He tried to ignore the panic threatening to overtake his body and fought the urge to scratch at the object under the surface of his skin.

  Sweat from his forehead slid into his eyes making it difficult to see. A sickening feeling washed across his stomach. He could feel the recently injected object pulsate like a faint heartbeat in the back of his neck.

  "You probably recognize the procedure," the Vulture colonel’s voice continued.

  "Son of a bitch!" Barnes’ voice cracked. Terror raged from his body like liquid fire into the small space of the cockpit.

  Parker fought hard to resist it.

  "As you will see with these prisoners, the caplets once armed will release enormous doses of radiation directly into the bloodstream. A dose large enough that death is imminent and certain, but not so lethal the subject will die right away. The experience is prolonged and quite horrible."

  The picture across the holovid reverted back to the prisoners in the barren white room.

  "To further administer their punishment, the radiation caplets are not armed together. One will watch helplessly as the other dies. The first will beg for assistance and mercy from someone not equipped to offer any. The second will watch helplessly as life slowly and painfully leaves his body. He will witness firsthand his soon and imminent fate.

  “Further punishment to both for the heinous crime they have both committed."

  The clock hands rotated around its face until they both almost pointed directly up. The large red second hand was one rotation away from making the three-way alignment complete.

  "Death takes a long time."

  The prisoner pacing the room looked nervously at the clock. The second hand was only a quarter turn from reaching the twelve o’clock hour. The second prisoner lowered his head away from the giant timepiece and rested his forehead across the table.

  With a loud crash, the man standing leapt up and rammed his fist against the protective glass across the clock’s face. The blow left a large crack across its surface. The sound of snapping bone was heard easily through the quiet room.

  Holding his broken hand limply at his side, the prisoner stared up at the red second hand and watched it make its final turn.

  When all three hands pointed straight up, a small green light just below the clock turned on casting an eerie glow through the prisoner chamber.

  The prisoner with the broken hand stopped moving and stood directly beneath the green light. His body frozen straight upright, he grabbed frantically at the skin behind his neck.

  With his back towards the holovid transmitter and the other prisoner, he shook once and staggered back. His body slammed violently into the table almost knocking the second prisoner from his seat.

  The second prisoner braced himself with his legs to keep from tumbling over onto
the floor.

  Barnes watched the holovid in fascinated horror and sat motionless in his seat.

  Parker set his jaw and clutched the arm of his command chair tightly. He found himself morbidly captivated by what was happening in front of him. He couldn’t look away from the prisoner who had now started thrashing frenziedly about.

  White foam spewed from his throat and lips. His eyes rolled to the back of his head and then clutched completely shut. He dropped down heavily to his knees and reached out in anguished desperation towards the man seated at the table.

  The holovid image zoomed closer in. The prisoner’s face was a sickening white. His skin sunk inside his cheek bones. Drops of blood and patches of hair dropped from his body across the white table and floor.

  His body jerked one last time causing his head to fly back and then drop in front of his chest. His mouth dropped open briefly in a silent scream. The inside of his stomach then broke loose and forcefully began to expel everything that remained inside.

  Green blood and vomit splashed across the table and the arms of the seated prisoner. The second prisoner didn't look up. He wrapped his hands and arms tightly around his head and pressed his face down into the table’s surface.

  The dying man lunged out towards the prisoner at the table and grabbed him hard by the wrists. Jumping forcefully to his feet, the second prisoner quickly broke his grip and hurled his spasming body against the wall.

  The dying man’s legs buckled out from beneath him, and he fell down hard to the ground. Blood trickled from his eyes and mouth, and his entire body convulsed violently.

  The second prisoner turned his back on his dying counterpart and reached towards his overturned chair. Bringing it back against the table, he sat back down. With sweat noticeably dripping from his brow, he leaned forward and rested his elbows across the tabletop which was now stained a grotesque yellowish red.

  He sat there for a moment and didn’t move. He then stood and let out a long bellowing frantic scream. He grabbed the table and heaved it across the room.

  He sat back down in his chair and stared at the broken trembling figure on the floor near the wall. The spasms twisting his body had lessened. Death was nearly upon him.