by Clyde Key
* * *
When they were outside, Marilee stifled a cry of surprise. Washington in the alien age was nothing like she had last seen the grand city. The whole atmosphere reeked of alien body waste and all the parks had been turned into the round alien pits. Now the gleaming white sidewalks had become grungy green from aliens shuffling about on them. But what surprised her was that most of the people were gone. To be sure, there were a few floaters zipping over the streets, but the pedestrians that had crowded the walks were mostly gone.
“This is bad,” said Marilee. “I wouldn’t have recognized it.”
“Maybe it’s just this neighborhood,” said Herman. “It’s probably cleaner close to the White House.”
“No. It’s like this all over,” said Taylor. “I was here a few days ago. There are twice as many aliens as humans in Washington now.”
They walked a few blocks in the general direction of the White House, passing a few aliens along the way, but no humans. The aliens may have been ignoring them, but it was impossible to tell with aliens. Marilee reached into the bag she carried strapped over her shoulder and patted the laser pistol. Touching the weapon was somehow reassuring.
Then a lime green floater stopped near them and its driver beckoned. The color identified the floater as a taxi. Richie stepped near the floater and its door popped slightly ajar. “You folks tourists or something? No human with any sense walks out here!” called the driver.
“We’re not tourists,” said Richie. “Not exactly. We’re kind of here on business.”
“Well, get in,” said the driver. “If you can’t afford a ride, I’ll drop you some place better than this. Like Richmond.”
Then Herman spoke. “The fare isn’t a problem. We’re here to gather information for a project. I’ll pay you to drive us around the city for a look.”
“Okay,” said the driver. The gullwing door that was ajar popped fully open. “Hurry up!”
When they were in the taxi and racing along, the driver said, “Any sign of trouble and we’re getting out of here.”
“Quite all right,” said Herman. “Put this ride on my Magport Authority card.”
“They got cards too?”
“They don’t need cards,” said Herman. “They’re with me so I’m taking care of the fare.”
The driver muttered something about hoping it worked, then he started the tour. Up one street and down another, they gradually drew closer to the White House, and Marilee saw the city didn’t improve at all, even right around the White House. Then she cried out with surprise when she saw the White House. Alien pits of varying diameters had replaced the White House lawn. The pits looked as if they had been calculated to use up the greatest possible area of lawn.
“You folks going to the speech tonight?” asked the driver.
“Whose speech?” asked Marilee.
“President Macklin’s. And Colonel Eldredge is going to be there, too. It’s something about big changes in the army—deserters and all that. I think there’s going to be some word about a plan to crush the resistance groups too.”
“You don’t say!” said Richie. “Maybe we ought to go. Where’s it going to be? And when?”
“Helen Norden Park, in an hour. Norden Park is the last open land around Washington that hasn’t been turned into slime holes.”
“Say, how long are you on duty?” asked Herman.
I just started,” said the driver. “I’ve got seven more hours. Why?”
“We need to pick up a few things from a warehouse over by the magport station, and then we want to go over to Norden Park for the speech. I’ll be glad for you to keep the meter running until it’s over.”
The driver studied their faces for a moment in the mirror screen for a moment. “You’re resistance, aren’t you?”
“Don’t say anything else,” said Richie. “Stop the floater and get out.”
The driver’s face turned pale, and he complied with Richie’s order. The driver and his three passengers stepped out onto the sidewalk. “What’s the matter? What’re you going to do?”
“If you don’t want to help us, that’s okay. But we still need to get back to the magport warehouse,” said Richie. “But if you are going to help us, we have to take some precautions.”
“Like what? I want to join the resistance, but I have to know what you’re talking about!”
“Like this.” Richie opened the taxi’s gullwing on the driver’s side. Then he took his laser pistol from the holster in his jacket and demolished the comphone. Next, he burned the sensor for the mirror screen. “You learn a lot of things in my business, like that taxis and police transports are always wired. Somebody could be monitoring everything you say. They could even be getting our pictures on a comscreen.”
“Well, I guess I’m definitely in it now. It’s okay because I wanted to be. It has always seemed there wasn’t any way to find a resistance group around here, but now you’ve found me!”
Richie introduced himself, Marilee, and Herman to the taxi driver. The driver introduced himself as Mose Clark.
“It’ll be getting late. We’d better go get the gear right now,” said Marilee. So they all piled back into the taxi and sped back to the warehouse. They loaded the floater taxi with as much gear as its cargo compartment would hold.
There was a huge ProtectoGlas dome over the podium at Helen Norden Park. It was almost invisible but it did have a certain barely perceptible gleam. Immediately in front of the podium were several rows of benches and behind those were hundreds of chairs arranged in huge semicircles with several wide aisles leading back to Macklin Boulevard. There was also a wide-open space behind the last row of chairs. Clark parked the floater on the side of the street so they had a good view of the podium down one of the aisles.
“That’s a problem I hadn’t counted on,” said Richie. “The dome will make it impossible to do anything with Macklin or Eldredge.”
“Maybe not,” said Herman. “Let’s just see what we can do.” Herman opened the cargo cover of the floater and began to rummage through the boxes. He came up with two of the little floater cameras and two small thin black cases.
“What are those?” asked Marilee.
“Two cameras complete with ion lasers and two control panels. I’ll just get these set up so they’re ready.” Herman opened one of the small cases, revealing a screen and a hand pad. “Watch this.” A picture appeared on the screen. It was Norden Park as viewed by one of the floater cams. Herman put his hand on the hand pad and caused the camera to rise, then move rapidly across the park. It was so small it was hardly noticeable going through the air, but it gave them a clear view of everything in its path. There were fine lines etched into the control panel screen, one vertical and one horizontal intersecting in the screen. “That’s the gun sight,” said the engineer. He guided the camera into a bush over near the dome and turned it so they had a clear view of that side of the dome. “That’s probably where they’ll go in. They’ll have to open it up to get Macklin and Eldredge inside. I’ll try to get the camera in with them.” Then Herman opened the other control panel and moved the other camera-weapon up front and turned it so they could see people in the audience.
“Can you control both of those?” asked Richie.
“Not very well. I’m counting on you to drive one of them. Which do you want?”
“I want the one that’ll get Eldredge and Macklin. But I need to learn how to use it first.”
Herman handed him one of the cases. “Do anything you want with it, except don’t touch the red dot because that fires the laser. Other than that, just practice. You can’t hurt it.”
Richie took the control panel and began to experiment with the directions the hand pad made it move. Pretty soon he was quite adept at steering the little weapon. After he felt comfortable with the control, he parked it back in the same bush where Herman had left it.
“What am I supposed to do? Sit here while you guys shoot up the enemy?” asked Marilee.
“You’d be surprised,” said Richie. “Marilee was the top laser marksman on Kingman Base.”
“Oh. Then you take over this camera and I’m going to unpack some more surprises.”
Marilee took the other control and after a few minutes practice, she could guide the little floating weapon with great precision. She guided it back to its hiding place and turned it again so it could see the audience.
Richie looked at his watch. “It’s getting time for the speech. I wonder where everybody is?”
“They’ll be here,” said Clark. “Nobody with any sense will be out too early because of the danger.”
They all helped Herman with unpacking the other devices, but left them inside the floater’s cargo bay out of sight. Then Herman made sure that each of them, including Mose Clark, had one of the little hand-held sonar confusors, just in case they had some unexpected contention with aliens.
Then the people started coming in to the park. The seating area started filling up quickly, starting with the benches at front and then spilling over into the hundreds of chairs. Before long, almost all the seats were taken.
“Why do you suppose people come out here to hear the speech?” asked Marilee. “It seems like it would be easier and safer to watch it at home on the screen.”
“It would make more sense,” said Clark, “but all these people came here to see or be seen. Most of them are bureaucrats and they’re here either to make points or to grade loyalty. I should know about these people. I’ve been driving them around ever since the aliens took over.”
Then the aliens started coming. Files of alien rocket globes appeared coming up Macklin Boulevard, all from the east, and the globes stopped in rows in the open area behind the chairs and the aliens started gushing out with their usual dismounting procedure. Then they sloshed and shuffled down the wide aisles toward the front, until they filled the aisles. Until the aliens came, this part of Washington smelled musky and dank, but then this large gathering of aliens caused the park to positively reek.
Richie Taylor frowned. “Now I can’t see a thing from here. Up until those stinkers came, I had a clear view of the podium.”
“Don’t worry about it,” said Marilee. “I can see better on the control screen anyway.” And it was true. Both control screens showed the podium clearly. “Hey, Herman! Will these things work inside the floater? We could sit inside.”
“Yes. They’ll work just as well. You all sit inside and do what you have to with the cam-guns. I’m going to wait back here by the cargo bay.”
Marilee, Richie, and Clark had hardly settled back into the floater when Richie suddenly said, “They’re here! They’re coming in on your side!”
Macklin and Eldredge arrived in a government floater that stopped right beside the ProtectoGlas dome. When a section of dome folded up, three aliens sloshed inside first, then Macklin and Eldredge exited quickly and went into the dome. Marilee guided her floater cam-gun around behind the floater and just barely got it inside the dome before it closed. She moved the little cam-gun up beside four other cameras that she was sure belonged to the news networks. It looked as if it belonged.
There were two chairs on the podium, spaced apart. An alien separated the two human leaders and another alien stood at each end. Macklin was a small nervous man with a mousy look to his face. He waved and smiled for the crowd, then made V-for-Victory signs with his fingers like an old time politician. The humans in the crowd rose, bursting into a standing ovation.
Eldredge was a much larger man with a pale face and thick dark moustache. He stood, almost larger than life in his dark blue uniform and beret. The silver insignias on his uniform sparkled in the strong lights. At first the colonel stood impassively, but then he turned to the floating cameras and smiled. But Marilee thought the evil in his eyes belied the smile on his face.
Eldredge stood and faced the crowd and began to speak. “May I have your attention please?” It was phrased as a question but was undoubtedly an order for the crowd to quiet.
“Thank you, citizens, for your attendance tonight. I know it would undoubtedly be more comfortable for each of you to listen and watch from your homes, but I thank you for coming out tonight to show solidarity with Veezee, who are soon to become citizens of our great country. Thank you also for showing leadership for the rest of the planet, because the other nations will certainly follow our example in granting citizenship for Veezee, with all the privileges and responsibilities that brings.
“But I did not come to tell you all of this myself. I present to you President Macklin who will describe the exciting course we’re about to take.” Eldredge turned slightly. “Mr. President.”
Eldredge stepped back but did not sit when the president rose to speak. “My fellow Americans—including our new Americans, the Veezee—there are a number of exciting opportunities for our nation. We also face many challenges. We are beset by enemies who would destroy the wonderfully beneficial relationships that have already flourished between humans and Veezee.
“First, as we have already mentioned, our Visitors have become visitors no more. This nation—this planet—is now their home as it is ours. Our constitution has already been amended to grant full citizenship to Veezee in return for the tremendous technological and sociological benefits they bring. The Eldest Veezee and our congress and cabinet have agreed on the wording. We expect that all of earth’s governments will follow shortly. In fact, all of the other governments have already agreed in principle and the necessary details will be completed shortly. Of course, there are a few remaining trivial issues, but I won’t expound on those now. However, full details will be available soon as a printed statement through the media.”
At this point, all the humans in the park stood and applauded. The aliens made shrill howling sounds that Marilee had never heard before, but she took it to be a form of applause. She listened to the president’s words and stared at his image on the screen of the cam-gun control panel. “I can’t believe it! How can they be doing this?”
“He sold out,” said Richie. “All these people sold out. The people who didn’t are all home watching on the screen, and they’re afraid. From what they can see, all hope is lost.”
Then Herman, who was still standing outside the floater tapped on the gull?wing door. Clark raised the door slightly. “I’m going to cause some excitement out here. Keep the floater on, in case we have to escape.”
“Sure thing.” Clark pushed a couple of switches and set the floater on hover at just a couple of centimeters off the ground, which was not enough to be noticeable to anybody else.
“What’s he going to do?” said Richie, turning and craning to see what Herman was up to. “He’s going to give us away!”
“Quiet! I’m trying to hear what Macklin is saying!” said Marilee.
But if Herman’s actions were premature, it was already too late to stop him. Herman had turned loose two fake dogs and a box of plastic mice and the artificial animals were bouncing around through the crowd of aliens.
Marilee found an amplitude control on the side of the little control panel and turned up the sound so she could hear.
“...no longer need an army,” Macklin was saying. “Kingman Army Base will become a prison camp for terrorists. Colonel Eldredge will head the new national police force, drawn from the former military establishment. The new unit will operate the former army base as Kingman Political Rehabilitation Center. Dysfunctional citizens will be treated there until they can be returned to society as useful citizens. But we recognize there are some incorrigibles, and we will hold them as prisoners for life. After all, the good of our nation must come ahead of individuals as is spelled out in the constitution.”
“Does the constitution say that?” asked Clark.
“I don’t think so, but it doesn’t matter to them anyway,” said Richie. “It looks like the constitution has just been discarded anyw
ay.”
Then aliens discovered the fake animals. A muffled boom came from far down the center aisle and aliens began to mill excitedly. After two more booms, the humans nearest the aisles left their chairs and trampled others while trying to get away from the surging mass of aliens.
“What’s going on out there?” screamed Macklin when he saw the disturbance.
An alien next to Macklin said, “Evil humans have killed three noble Veezee with tricks. Many more Veezee have been injured woefully.”
“What! They can’t get in here, can they? Eldredge, do something!”
“I’ll handle it. Agents are already on the way.”
Then two of the aliens moved to Macklin’s side and grabbed his arms with their skinny fingers. Macklin writhed in pain and moaned, then slumped unconscious. The aliens held him up, and one of them spoke. Marilee couldn’t see which it was. “Humans, this violence against Veezee is intolerable. We have already promised that two humans will die when Veezee is killed. Now it will be three humans for each Veezee. Important humans will die first so that our point will be remembered. Your President of the United States Macklin is an important human, so he will die immediately.”
Marilee’s eyes flashed. “Why, that slime!” Then she remembered the weapon was in her control. She centered the cross-hair on one alien and pressed the red button. That alien melted into a quivering, smoking mass and the other alien struggled to hold onto Macklin. Marilee aimed at that alien and pressed the red button again, reducing the second alien to muck. Macklin fell unconscious into the streams of scorched alien substance. Then Marilee turned the camera quickly around searching for the last alien. She only got a glimpse of Eldredge aiming a laser pistol at the cam-gun, and then the picture went blank.
“Oh, crud! He got the camera!” said Marilee. “We’ve got to get out of here!”
Clark raised the taxi door completely and yelled at Herman. “They’re onto us! We’ve got to go!”
“Just a minute!” called Herman. “Just two more tricks!” Herman set a box on the ground and pulled up a telescoping antenna. Then he taped down the buttons on a couple of the sonar confusors and tossed them into the crowd of humans, who treated them like live grenades. Then Herman lunged into the taxi just as Clark started to accelerate. The engineer sprawled across the seat and gasped. “Did we make it?”
Richie looked out the back at rapidly approaching lights, a mixture of floater headlamps and alien rocket-globe exhausts. “I think we’re caught. We don’t have a snowball’s chance.”
45
May 16, 2113
It was early when someone rang the doorbell at Ed’s quarters. In fact, it was much too early for the guard who came by each morning to check on prisoners, so Ed figured it was only the blue alien coming to bother him with inane directives from the oldest Veezee. He took his time answering the door. Then the bell began to ring incessantly. “Keep your shirt on,” yelled Ed. “I’m coming, but I’m old and slow.”
Just before Ed got to the door, it flew open. Colonel Eldredge’s new aide, Lt. Breen, had kicked it open. He stood with arms folded in front of the door. “Orders, old guy. The colonel has ordered this place razed so grab your things and have them outside by ten o’clock. We’ll get somebody to move your stuff to your new room.”
“Torn down! But that’s absurd! Why?”
“They’re finally on to the shielding. Somebody told Eldredge why that funny looking alien spills his guts to you all the time.”
“Ten o’clock, you say? That’s not much time,” said Ed. “I don’t know if I can get it all moved.”
“That’s not my problem,” said Breen. “Ten o’clock.”
Breen turned abruptly and left, and Ed stood for a moment watching the lieutenant walk away. Then Ed looked around his place. There wasn’t actually much there that he was physically able to move. There was a box of memory crystals that represented his entire library and his clothes were in the closet. Ed put the clothes in a bag and lugged them out into the yard, then went back for the crystals. He put the box of crystals inside the bag of clothes, and then went back in for another look.
When Ed started packing the utensils from the kitchen, he remembered the weapons hidden there. He took out the old revolver and the laser pistol and stuck them behind his belt and pulled his shirt over them. Some of the bullets went into his pocket and some were hidden with the kitchen items. Then he finished packing the utensils and took them out to the yard. When he went back inside again, he figured there was nothing else he could move by himself, so he sat and waited and wondered if somebody would help him get the rest of his belongings before the house was torn down.
The next visitor at Ed’s quarters came a few minutes before ten o’clock. Colonel Eldredge banged on the door instead of ringing the bell. Ed didn’t even bother to stand. “The door’s not locked. Come on in,” yelled Ed.
“You’re going to have to learn some respect,” said the sullen-faced Eldredge. “You will learn some respect if you aim to live much longer.” Eldredge stomped inside and stood over Ed.
“I’ve lived a long time already,” said Ed. “I’ve already learned as much as I want to know.”
“We’ll see about that.” Eldredge made his right hand into a fist, and stood there rubbing it with his left while he stared at his prisoner.
“So are you going to beat me up yourself or send your flunkey?” Ed could see that Eldredge was not carrying a weapon, and he wondered if he could possibly get the laser pistol out of his belt in time if Eldredge attacked him. While he was still considering that, Eldredge noticed the supervisory ankle bracelet lying on the table.
“Hey, isn’t that...?” Eldredge picked up the bracelet and looked it over.
“Yeah. It is,” said Ed. “I guess it must be defective. It falls off all the time.”
“That’s not possible! These things never fail!” Eldredge bent over and snapped the bracelet around his own ankle. Then he unsnapped it and snapped it closed again. “I’ll have somebody’s head for this!”
“I guess that means you’re going to get me another one, huh? Even though I’m a model prisoner and I’m still here.”
“Not just one. I’ve got a transport load of them coming—for you and all your friends. This isn’t an army base any more. Now it’s going to be a prison for traitors.”
“Yeah, I know,” said Ed. “I saw it on the screen last night, including all the excitement. What I don’t know is what happened to Macklin. Did he survive?”
Eldredge smiled. “Nah. We don’t need Macklin any more anyway.”
“Oh? Then who’s going to be president now? Borden or Peterson?”
“Me. I have declared a national emergency and temporarily suspended the constitution for right now.”
“I thought the constitution was already gone, when Macklin killed Litton.”
Eldredge grinned. “Not all of it. We keep as much as we need.”
Then the noise started. Some machines in the yard were stirring up quite a din, banging against the side of the house. “You better get out now,” said Eldredge. “That crew won’t take more than ten minutes to bring it down.”
“But my furniture! Breen said somebody was coming to move my stuff!”
“Forget it, Halloran. This stuff is junk. I’ll have somebody bring out an army cot for you. We’ve got a lot of surplus now, anyway.”
Eldredge started out ahead of Ed who trailed along slowly. On an impulse, Ed pushed a switch as he passed, sending the little bars across the doorways. Eldredge tripped and fell headlong out onto the walk. Ed quickly de-activated the rods, then went to the door and looked out at Eldredge who lay half stunned on the walk. “A little clumsy today, aren’t we,” said Ed.
Angry and sputtering, Eldredge got up and brushed dirt from his blue uniform. He looked as if he was about to say something when half of Ed’s house came crashing down. The sudden collapse scared both of them and they scrambled out of the way. “Stay put,” said Eldredge. “I’m goi
ng to send the guards after you.” Eldredge stomped out to his floater, got in, and sped away. The floater was bouncing off the roadside repellers when it left Ed’s sight.
After that, there was nothing else for Ed to do except sit down on one of the repeller rails and watch the machine tear down his house, crush the debris and stuff it into a huge bin on the back of the machine. Nothing but litter remained where Ed’s house had stood.
Ed waited about an hour before he decided nobody was coming back for him. Ed figured he had a choice then. He wasn’t wearing the supervisor bracelet, so he could just wander off the base and probably make it safely to his floater that was parked just off base. Or he could take the weapons he had stuffed under his shirt, walk over to headquarters and start shooting. That way he’d go out in a blaze of glory and get it all over with at once. Ed hadn’t really decided what to do for certain, but he leaned toward the idea of punishing as many aliens and collaborators as he could in one final battle. He started walking over to the headquarters building while he thought about it.
There was a commotion in front of headquarters. A troop transport had brought in several prisoners. Both humans and aliens formed the squad that guarded this latest group. Ed decided to go close enough to see if he knew any of the prisoners.
There were some prisoners whom Ed did not know, but he was surprised to see the group included Marilee Sharp, Richie Taylor, and Victor Herman. He was shocked to see that Arlene Sisk was in the group. “Arlene! What in the devil are you doing here?” he yelled.
“It’s kind of a long story,” said Arlene, “but it looks like I’ll have time to tell you about it.”
“I’ll tell you the best part,” said Marilee. “I just found out Ms. Sisk has been the inside contact for the ELA for almost as long as it has existed!”
Ed stared incredulously. “Is that right, Arlene?”
“Yes,” she said, her voice cracking. “That was me. When I learned what Macklin did to President Litton, I figured out what the aliens planned so I started looking for a way. It wasn’t too hard to find somebody who could talk to the resistance.”
Ed threw both arms around Arlene, hugged her tightly, and kissed her. As he did, he thought that the last time he remembered kissing her was nearly fifty years earlier, but she was angry with him then and pushed him away. This time she didn’t seem to mind it.
Then one of the human guards called out to another, “Hey, Brady! What are we waiting out here for?”
The other guard said, “Colonel Eldredge told us to wait. He said he wants to talk to the prisoners before they’re processed.”
“Okay.” The first guard muttered something else under his breath, but guards and prisoners alike waited in the Arizona sun for Eldredge to appear. It was not long before Eldredge stepped out of the headquarters building and stood before the group. The blue alien sloshed out and stood beside Eldredge.
“Congratulations,” said Eldredge. “You people are the first of many traitors who will be incarcerated at Prison Camp Kingman. I’m afraid I won’t be here to entertain you personally, but I’m promoting Lt. Breen to captain and giving him charge of the prison. As for me, I’m going to Washington where I’ll be the human head of state, in cooperation with our friend the slightly blue alien, who will be the Veezee head of state.”
“Eldredge!” Ed called out. “How is it, the blue alien is going to be chief since he’s common Veezee?”
Eldredge laughed. “As it turns out, Blue isn’t common any more. You probably know all this, but the nobles had the oldest common captured so they could blackmail all the commons. Now it seems, the oldest common died so they can’t hold that card any more, and now the commons have captured the oldest noble so everybody’s switched! The ones that were common are noble now, and vice versa!”
“How are you getting to Washington since you’re a prisoner here?” asked Ed.
“You’re crazy! I’m not a prisoner! You are!” said Eldredge.
“You’ve got the bracelet, not me,” said Ed.
“Yeah but that thing doesn’t work. And we’re going to get you a new one, right along with the new prisoners.” Eldredge had forgotten about snapping the bracelet on in Ed’s former quarters, but now he leaned over and started to unsnap it. It discharged a tremendous jolt of electricity into his ankle and hands. Eldredge fell over and writhed in pain on the ground. The two human guards who had been holding weapons on the prisoners rushed to assist their commander.
“Here,” whispered Ed to Marilee. He slid the laser pistol out of his shirt and handed it to her. “You know how to handle this!” Ed took out the old revolver and started putting bullets in the cylinder.
Marilee pointed her weapon in the general direction of the guards and Eldredge. “Attention! You’re under arrest!” she yelled. “Drop your weapons and kick them away!”
The two guards stared quizzically at Marilee, wondering where she got the laser pistol. One of them looked for a short moment as if he considered going for his weapon, but he wisely thought better of it. When both the guards’ weapons had been kicked away, Richie Taylor picked them up and gave one to Mose Clark.
Eldredge was still on the ground, but beginning to recover. “You’ll never get away with this, Halloran! Veezee are everywhere so you have no place to go!”
“I don’t have to go anywhere,” said Ed. “Blue’s troops have got the other oldest Veezee caught and I’ve got a gun on old Blue, so now all the Veezees have to obey me. I rule the Veezees!”
Epilogue:
Without explanation for a wondering world, Veezee slew Veezee until there were only a few left. Then all the remaining aliens went back to their rocket fleets and boarded a few of the ships. After a few days, the ships launched into space and the aliens were gone. That is, all the aliens were gone except the blue eldest Veezee and six of his (its?) attendants who had been held hostage by Ed Halloran and the Earth Liberation Army. Then those last few aliens were blasted into space, presumably in a trajectory that would allow them to catch up with their population.
Prison Camp Kingman remained a prison, though it could only hold the worst of the collaborators. Eldredge stayed there about three years until he died while trying to remove the bracelet.
Fuel was drained from the remaining alien rockets but the rockets themselves were left standing in the desert as a memorial to those who had died and as a tribute to those who had endured. Then the population of planet Earth set about to repair the damage inflicted by the alien invasion, and that was accomplished to a large extent over the next few years. But the scar would remain on the human psyche for as long as civilizations endured.
One other note:
Ed Halloran and Arlene Sisk were married soon after the aliens left, but they still didn’t get along well with each other. They yelled and argued for the next twelve years but loved every minute of it