by Nate Castle
“We’re really gonna do this huh?” Garrett whispered as he began massaging her shoulder area.
“Yup,” Noel said in a giggly tone.
A few minutes of foreplay led to the feature presentation. Garrett had her bent over against a railing, doing her from behind.
“Ride me cowboy,” Noel said. She let out some love-making noises that the others in the craft could definitely hear even though they probably couldn’t see her and Garrett.
When the deed was done, Noel locked Garrett into a hugging position and said, “I’m willing to bet that we’re the first humans to ever do it on an alien craft. That’s pretty special.”
Garrett smiled, but didn’t say anything and made his way to the elevator platform. He was still in shock as to how the events from the past 15 minutes had unfolded.
“I feel like you’re wasting bullets,” Shelby said to Hank.
“I don’t look at it that way. I look at it as an investment that might pay off later,” Hank said.
Shelby along with three others had joined Hank and they were standing outside of the building that the lone alien had entered.The five of them did not know that this was the building that lodged the alien craft on its roof; the craft that the aliens had been trying to disable. Hank was shooting bullets at the plate glass windows at random location on the building.
“The bullets will release enough gas into the area to trap the alien, it won’t be able to come down,” Hank said.
“If you say so,” Shelby said.
“I’m going up, who’s with me?” Hank said.
“Not yet, we should wait a few more minutes, you know, for the gas to kick in,” Shelby said.
“Fine, but if that alien escapes because we didn’t act fast enough, then it’s on you,” Hank said.
A big cracking sound erupted from above, but they couldn’t see what it was.
“Scratch that, I’m going up there now,” Hank said and made his way toward the door. The others including Shelby followed behind, not saying a word about his decision. Hank was carrying a large backpack, one that could be taken on a long-term backpacking trip. He had the modified alien gun out and was ready to fight. He led the team to the stairwell door and began to climb. They reached the 10th floor before Shelby needed a rest. They exited onto the 10th floor and walked to the bank of the windows in one of the corner offices. From here they could see most of what was going on the ground below. Two aliens were moving towards their craft which was parked in the middle of the street. The rest of the human team was stalking them, not too far behind. Suddenly, the two aliens turned around to face the humans; one of the humans must have fired a shot. Now about 50 yards apart, three of the humans charged the aliens, running at Olympic speeds.
“What are these jack wagons doing!” Hank said, apparently unhappy with their wartime tactics.
Hank and the four others watched in disbelief as the three men, rushed the aliens while shooting at them simultaneously. The problem was, they missed every shot because they couldn’t aim well while in an all-out sprint. As the men got closer, one of the aliens ‘telescoped’ its arm and grabbed ahold of two of the men at the same time, dragging them in closer from about 5 yards away. The other alien followed suit. Holding the humans by their necks, the aliens lifted them up overhead, placed their free hand on the neck and within seconds, the humans began to melt like candlewax, until their remains were just a puddle on the ground.
“Gol-ly, I could have predicted that outcome,” Shelby said.
The rest of the team on the ground backed up a good forty paces after witnessing what just happened to their friends. They began launching grenades at the two aliens, but it wasn’t long before a noise coming from behind grabbed their attention. The UDO bots were making a B-line for them. The team quickly switched to assault rifles. Even though there was bulletproof plating on the UDO bots, getting struck by a heavy bullet still would cause the bot to slow down, buying the humans a few more seconds to think.
“I can’t watch this anymore, we have to get down there and help,” Logan said.
“I’m with you on that brother,” Thomas said, “The only problem is, I just realized we left our backpack with all the guns and explosives on the other roof.”
“We’ll figure something out,” Logan said.
He led Thomas inside, but not to an exit door like Thomas expected. Instead, they walked into a janitorial closet. By the looks of the door, it appeared like it would be a small storage closet, but once inside, it was much bigger, with likely all of the supplies for the whole building. Something caught Logan’s eye, it was a rope bundled up next to a bunch of industry sized squeegees.
“What is it?” Thomas said.
“You know how they wash the windows of skyscrapers?” Logan said.
‘Yeah they get hooked up to a harness and stand on a movable platform,” Thomas said.
“Well here is that rope and harness deal. No platform though,” Logan said.
“Let me guess, you want to use the rope and harness to repel down the building and attack the aliens without ever touching the ground?” Thomas said.
“You guessed it. I mean you saw how creative those guys on the ground that simply ran right into the aliens’ lap were. And now, rest their souls, they are literally puddles on the ground. We have to think big to do big things. Not to mention how fun will it be and we’ll get to do stunts like Carver McAndrews,” Logan said.
“Who the hell is that?” Thomas said.
“You don’t know Carver? He’s basically the new and improved James Bond. There’s a whole series of movies,” Logan said.
15
White Picket Fence
“Y’all stay here, I’m going to verify the alien on the rooftop is dead,” Hank said.
Hank left the group and took the stairwell from the 10th floor to the 45th floor, eventually reaching the roof access. He opened the door and checked his surroundings. The alien craft that the humans had control of was on this rooftop, still untouched. There was only one logical explanation for why the alien that had come up here was not visible; it must be inside the craft. Hank went inside the craft cautiously, ready to fire his weapon if necessary. After scanning the interior of the craft for a minute, he came out, wondering where he would find the alien, that was probably wounded from all the shots Hank fired at it earlier. Hank’s original hunch was correct, although he didn’t know it.
The alien was in fact in the craft, it had transformed into slug size, so Hank did not spot it. Nor did Hank realize when the alien crawled into his ear until after the fact. No longer able to control his own mind though, there was nothing he could do to stop this alien takeover. The alien slug inside his brain was able to regain its strength; the boron and silicon gas from the bullets wouldn’t have a damaging effect on it, if it was hosted in a human body. The alien led Hank back to his team on the 10th floor and carried on like it was business as usual.
“It’s done. Have you guys thought of any ideas about how to help the team on the ground?” Hank said.
Up to this point, the Zyrgians hadn’t made a lot of headway. This could be categorized as the Zyrgians’ biggest achievement to date. Having control of an insider human was a huge advantage and would make their missions a whole lot easier. They just had to be careful that the alien controlling Hank chose its words wisely to avoiding setting off an alarm with the humans that something was out of place.
“We can probably land the craft now back at the machine shop right?” Noel said.
“Yes, but we’re going to provide some relief efforts to the team in New York City first. I haven’t been able to get them on the radio. So we’re going to fly there and tell them in person about the glass box discovery. Maybe they can use that to subdue the aliens and bots in their area,” Christina said.
“Kap, do you copy?” Christina said into her handheld radio.
“Yes I’m here. Where are you going to land?” President Kaplan said.
“I’m not. We’r
e going to the city to help the other team. Are you coming with or staying here?”
“I want to, but I better stay here. I can’t leave the thousands of people on the property here with no information about what’s going on. Also, this might be a good time to get the construction crew back to work on the White House rebuild,” President Kaplan said.
“Really? Rebuilding the White House is at the top of your priorities list right now?” Christina said.
“Yes and I believe it’s a valid reason. Before he left, Hank told me some things about how he designed the rebuild. He added a lot of extra details to the design to make it what he liked to call ‘Slime Resistant’. If implemented properly he was fairly confident that the building would be a fortress that the aliens wouldn’t be able to touch. So, as you can see, I think it’s a high priority to get this fortress built as soon as possible,” President Kaplan said.
“Fair enough. I’ll check in periodically over radio. Stay safe,” Christina said.
“Forget the repelling idea, we need to get to that crane!” Thomas said.
“You think we can operate that thing without flipping it?” Logan said, “I always use to hear stories from my buddies back home of how they were working construction jobs and it turns out that one of the most dangerous jobs was operating the crane, because if you made one wrong move, the crane would tip over. “
“3 to 5 odds says we have a better chance of executing a crane mission than we do repelling down to the aliens and trying to kill them without the proper weapons,” Thomas said.
“You’re probably right, but we’re not going to make it to the crane at all if we have to get there from the ground level. You’re not going to like it, but we’re gonna have to do more acrobatics to get from building to building until we reach the crane,” Logan said.
“Let’s see what else is in that closet,” Thomas said.
Logan followed him back inside to the supply closet and they perused the shelves, looking for something to supplement the rope and harnesses they had.
“What about these? “Logan said, “It looks like they will act as suction cups.”
He held two round plates in his hands that each had a handle. They looked like a piece of fitness equipment, one of those TV ‘perfect pushup’ gimmicks.
“I’m listening,” Thomas said.
“If this works, only one of us will have to do death-defying jumps, while the other one waits here to be picked up by the crane,” Logan said.
“Let’s cut to the chase Logan, obviously you’re going to have to be the daredevil who makes the jumps. What do you want me to do?” Thomas said.
“I need you to release the rope from this building after I successfully make it to that one.”
“Alright the less I know the better, you scare me with your insane plans, but they often work,” Thomas said.
“C’mon we have to hurry before something else gets in our way and the plan has to be altered.”
Once back on the rooftop, Logan attached one end of the rope to a metal bracket that protruded up from the top of a metal structural support beam. He put on the harness, attached the rope to the harness and was ready to make the jump. The building he was jumping to was higher than the one he was standing on, which is why a traditional jump wouldn’t work. With the suction cups in hand, he walked back ten paces.
“See you in a few, hang tight brother,” Logan said to Thomas.
He ran to edge of the roof and jumped. The rope acted as a swing and in the split second when he was close enough to the other building, he pressed the plates to the glass, the suction cups holding firm. It had worked as planned thus far. Thomas figured this would be the appropriate time to release the rope on his end. Until Logan could secure the rope to the new building, his life would be in the hands of the suction cup plates; if they failed he would fall to his death.
With one hand holding a strong grip on a plate, he let go with his left hand so that he could pull up the rope that Thomas had released. If Logan had to guess he would say the rope was 40 feet long. When he had pulled rope all the way up, he took the end and tied it to one plate using a captain’s knot that Garrett had once shown him. With one end of the rope attached to a plate and the other attached to his harness, he felt a little bit safer. With both hands back on the plates, he did a ‘muscle up’ maneuver, eventually ending up in a standing position on top of the plates. The ledge of the building was more than a foot above him, but he would have to jump to reach it. He went for it without hesitation. His hand slipped off the ledge, sending him spiraling down towards the ground. When the rope had used up its slack, it caught Logan and he dangled their for a minute. Thanks God for the suction cups plates, he thought.
Now 40 ft below the plates, he had to climb up the rope, like they used to make him do in high school gym class. When he made it back to the height of the plates, he pulled a lever on one plate to release it from the glass. He did a single armed pull up and with his free hand, and stuck the unsecured plate as high up on the glass as he could. Looking at it from the distance, Thomas could see what Logan was trying to do. Instead of having the two plates side by side, he changed it so that one was higher than the other. It created two steps instead of one and he was able to make it on to building’s roof with no issues this time.
Logan gave Thomas a thumbs up. There was one more jump before Logan could celebrate his accomplishment. From the roof to crane was manageable without a rope, but he figured why not use the rope since he had it? Making a lasso, like a calf roper would do, he threw the rope at a spot on the crane. The rope connected and tightened around the crane when Logan pulled the slack. He jumped from the roof and swung towards the crane, grabbing a hold of the ladder the crane operator would use. When he got to the operator’s bucket, he found that the keys were in the ignition and the crane started right up. Logan had never operated a crane before, but was confident that he could get the job done. After determining which levers controlled which components, he rotated the main arm of the crane to the right until it was positioned over the building Thomas was standing on. There was a wrecking ball hanging from the arm, which Thomas bear hugged. Logan pulled up on a joystick which pulled up on the cable attached to the wrecking ball. It took about two minutes before the wrecking ball, with Thomas clinging onto it, was in its full upright and locked position. From there, Thomas grabbed the arm of the crane and climbed down to safety. They were now both inside the operators bucket of the crane.
“You sure do put on one hell of a show Logan. It’s very exhilarating to watch,” Thomas said.
On the ground below, a new craft landed, four Zyrgians exited. They quickly found their two remaining comrades and assisted them back to the craft. Something was a little odd about this situation, Logan thought. Were the two injured from bullets, is that why they were struggling to walk? The fifteen minute timer was up, the two Zyrgians were losing their strength because of their exposure to the underground power grid.
“I’m gonna go for it and see what happens,” Logan said.
“Try to kill as many birds with one stone as possible,” Thomas said.
Logan positioned the arm of the crane over where the alien activity was occurring and began swinging it back and forth. The wrecking ball was in motion now and it took everything in its path. This included three aliens and two UDO bots. It was real life evidence as to why they call it a wrecking ball. The aliens and bots went flying through the air, landing 20 ft away from where they initially stood. They lay motionless on the ground, but Logan knew it would probably take more than that to kill them.
The crane had a magnet feature on the hook underneath the wrecking ball. Logan swung the arm towards one of the two Zyrgian crafts and engaged the magnetic feature. The hook was attracted to the metal of the craft and now Logan had control. He swung the arm side to side again to test if he could tow the craft. This was almost too easy he thought.
“Where is the other half of Hank’s team?” Logan said.
“L
ast I saw, they were shooting at the bots and then ran inside a building to take cover,” Thomas said.
“Ok good, I don’t want to have to worry about injuring them on the ground,” Logan said.
He swung the arm of the crane back at the spot where the three aliens and two bots were still laying and rammed the craft into them. With the craft still attached, he swung the arm 180 degrees and pointed it towards the fallen building, the one that the bots had cut the foundation to, causing it to topple over. The crane arm couldn’t extend that far, so Logan began toggling the controls and the craft began swinging back and forth like a pendulum. When it was at its peak he quickly pressed a button that released the magnetism and the craft was sent flying into the rubble of the fallen building. A fire was burning from the accident.
“ Pah-pow! Nailed it!” Logan said. He was starting to have fun with this crane.
Another 180 degree turn of the arm and the magnetic hook was positioned over craft #2.
“Engage!” Logan said, as if he were playing a video game. He pressed the magnetism button and picked up the second craft. As he brought it towards the drop spot, the motor made a loud whining sound, like it was struggling to pull the load. Alien craft #2 had started its engine and was resisting being towed.
“The crane is tipping, abort, abort!!!” Thomas said.
The alien craft was trying to pull away from the magnetic hook and as a result, was going to take the crane down with it.
Logan released the magnetic field, and straightened the crane back out.
“That was a close one, I saw my life flash before me eyes,” Thomas said.
They watched as craft #2 lifted off the ground and high into the sky until it disappeared.
16
Comatose