by Clyde Key
* * *
Marilee Sharp and Everett Lane stared at the line of alien globes following AABC floater escorts along Highway 40, but Ed Halloran stared glumly at the paper he held. “Litton was dead set against it! How could this happen?”
“Court order,” said Lane, tersely. “Judges in DC ordered the administration to start letting the aliens out into the country. They even gave us some numerical goals, but I don’t know how we’ll control it.”
Ed was also wondering how they would know when 5 million aliens were settled across the country, as he watched the line of globes filing by in a blur. Then he saw the line disappear as globes shot off into all directions. They weren’t following their escorts and what was anybody going to do about it? Shoot them? He knew the answer to that already.
Ed knew this was Arlene’s doing, although certainly indirectly. Since she reported to a cabinet member, she was a member of the administration so she had no basis to sue the administration. However, she was part of a well-established network of quasi-scientists who purported to be expert in alien matters. One or a group of them had sued, but Arlene had instigated it.
Then Ed realized Lane had been speaking to him while he was deep in thought. “I’m sorry! What? What did you say?”
“I said let’s take the veeto and see if we can track where the aliens are going.”
“Okay.” Ed turned to Marilee. “Get Searles on the comphone. Tell her we’ll meet her at the plane.”
“Yes sir.” Marilee was off quickly to get to a phone, but still managed to get to the veeto before Ed and Lane. It was only a couple of minutes before Searles arrived.
“Is it serviced and ready to go?” asked Lane.
“Yes sir,” said Searles. “Come aboard and tell me where you want to go.”
When they were all seated, the aircraft rose in a cloud of dust. After they were up, they could see the cloud drifting northeast across Kingman Base. Ed thought to himself that they would need to move the veeto’s landing pad over to the other side of the base so it wouldn’t blow so much sand into the base.
“Where to?” yelled pilot Searles.
Lane pushed his blue button and silenced the cabin. “Swing over to Highway 40 and pick up the alien globes. Then let’s try to see where they’re going.”
High in the air, they could see a trail of globes coming but it thinned before it got nearly to Kingman. Sparkles of sunlight gleaming from the shiny globes came from all directions. They were generally heading east, but fanned out from northeast to southeast.
“This is terrible,” said Marilee. “How are we supposed to control this?”
“We can’t,” said Lane. “I think that was the whole idea.”
“Well, I know what we’re going to do,” said Ed. “The army is going to go to work developing defensive strategies. I believe we’re going to have to fight to take back our country.”
“Our whole planet,” added Marilee.
“That’s very true,” said Lane. “All the other countries with landing sites are expected to follow suit. The Australians already have and Siberia will probably announce accommodation tomorrow morning, their time.”
They followed alien globes into New Mexico and Colorado. No community was without a contingent of aliens. Also, most large farming operations attracted alien presence. Dairy farms seemed to attract the largest number of aliens.
“Oh no!” said Lane. “I don’t like the looks of that! Does anybody know what aliens are supposed to eat?”
“No,” said Marilee. “The judges or AABC or anybody—nobody’s given any thought to it. I suppose they’ll take whatever they want!”
“Not if I can help it!” said Ed. “I’m going to get the troops armed and out into the countryside to protect the population!”