Invasion Earth

by Philip R Benge

  Will headed for his desk, for as usual there was still the normal case load demanding his attention, Sally decided to spend some time at the shopping mall, but Ranger Margery Phipps accompanied her, so as to ensure her safety.

  **********

  Twenty two Rangers were asked to take part in the raid, they assembled at the Ranger`s headquarters at six in the morning, they had been told that they were going to raid a drugs factory, for the present that is all that they needed to know. Major Hernandez felt that it was safer to conceal the real target, just in case the villains heard about it through careless talk. Will knew the real reason, a reason that not even Major Hernandez knew of, and he still felt a twinge of doubt, was Sally just a delusional science fiction fan or someone who had found herself caught up in a plot that was much stranger than fiction, as his sub conscious told him.

  Will entered the factory grounds from the rear, using the same route that Sally had used, Major Hernandez came in the front door following Clone 2, the supposed manager of the factory, who turned up moments after the Rangers. As soon as the door had been unlocked, ten Rangers leapt from a van parked in front of the door.

  “What the hell do you think you are doing officer?” Clone 2 protested as he was bundled inside, a search warrant pushed into his hands. They held him firmly against the inside of the front fence and searched him for weapons.

  “The keys to the building, hand them over.” Hernandez demanded, and moments later, he was opening the door to the building.

  Five of the Rangers entered the building after him, while the others, they waited for any other staff to arrive; and they so did in the person of Clone 1 who when arrested looked accusingly at Clone 2, as if to say I warned you.

  Inside the building Will and five of his team joined up with Major Hernandez and his Rangers, the others on Will`s team had been detailed to search the upper floor of the main building.

  “It appears to be all clear within this section of the building, Will, take the keys and have Sergeant Royston search the other buildings, and then bring Sally here.” Hernandez instructed.

  While Royston climbed the staircase on the other side of the yard, Will went to where Sally was waiting, she was in the Ranger`s van with two other Rangers to protect her, they would stay there to ensure that the team was not taken by surprise, should a sufficiently large enough force of the enemy arrive. Will escorted Sally into the yard, and as she entered, she glanced at the two men held by the Rangers.

  “Those are the two men who spoke to Carlisle; I firmly believe that they are aliens.” Sally said quietly to her uncle, just before they entered the building.

  When they met up with Hernandez he moved back to allow Sally some room. “Well this is your show Sally; show us how to operate the elevator.” Hernandez said to her, and indicated the janitor`s cupboard.

  Sally stepped into the cupboard and reaching out her hand, she moved the light switch to one side, revealing the call button. “You press this button Major Hernandez and it brings the elevator up to this floor.” Sally replied in a steady voice, however she did not press the button, she left that for Hernandez to do, when he was ready.

  Royston now arrived to give his report. “Major, the entire factory area is empty of any further suspects.” He said in a quiet voice.

  “OK, Sergeant Royston, secure the buildings and the yard; please ensure that we are not taken by surprise by anyone entering from the back, as Captain Rogers did. The upper level is already being searched by five Rangers belonging to Will`s team, use some of them and bring the rest back here for use as back up.” Hernandez ordered.

  Hernandez now moved Sally back into the corridor and then he pressed the call button; they all heard the whirring noise as the elevator began to move up from the basement. Ten pistols were aimed at the janitor’s cupboard as it moved slowly upwards; it was soon replaced by the closed elevator door, which slowly opened. The Rangers were ready for anything, and they all breathed out in relief when the elevator door opened to reveal an empty space. The Rangers and Sally all remembered to breath normally now as they prepared for the next stage of the raid.

  Will entered the elevator with his team of five Rangers, and when ready, weapons pointing at where the door would re-open, Will pressed the down button and then the elevator slowly descended to the basement and the concealed laboratory. The door opened to an empty corridor, Will moved out with his team and took up defensive positions, all except the last Ranger to leave the elevator; he pushed the button to send the elevator back up to the ground floor and Major Hernandez. Now it was the turn of Major Hernandez and three of his team to enter the elevator and descend to the basement, and if necessary to back up Will and his men. Two Rangers were left behind to stand guard by the entrance of the lift, they were also ordered to protect Sally, should anything unforeseen occur. They would escort her down to the lower level when ordered to; for Sally was their scientific expert.

  The first thing Hernandez heard when the elevator door opened was the sound of an explosion, Will and his team had been just about to move out when they surprised another of the alien clones, this one was armed. He snatched his weapon out of its holster and fired at Will, thankfully the clone had not had time to aim, an energy bolt whistled by Will`s arm and exploded in the wall behind him making him flinch and duck down. Will immediately returned fire with his .45 Colt automatic pistol, however, the clone had quickly moved back into the room that he had just vacated, Will rushed forward to the now closed door of the room and prepared to enter, just then Major Hernandez arrived.

  “Major, there is at least one man in this room and he is armed with some sort of fancy energy weapon, it is highly effective in close quarters and very powerful.”

  Hernandez had seen the damaged wall and nodded in agreement, wondering just what sort of weapon had done so much damage to the concrete wall.

  “Ok, Will, but let`s blow the door off of its hinges, it should lessen the risk of one of us being killed, then we will lob in a couple of tear gas grenades, see if we cannot finish this one off without anyone being killed.”

  Hernandez beckoned to one of his team, Nancy McIntyre, a young woman with a liking for explosives. “McIntyre, lose the door for us.” Hernandez ordered.

  Will then spoke to one of the men belonging to his team. “Wallis, get ready to lob a couple of tear gas grenades into the room, after McIntyre does her stuff.

  Nancy McIntyre now moved forward and pressed a small amount of explosive around the two hinges of the door, and then she did the same to the lock. Finally, she inserted the detonators into the soft explosive and the Rangers moved well back and covered their ears.

  “Here goes Major.” Nancy called across to Hernandez and then she flicked a trigger switch and the door was flung into the room accompanied by a soft explosion, the new explosive was more human friendly, if any explosive could be ever said to be so.

  An energy bolt whistled through the now empty doorway to explode against the wall, proving to them just how dangerous it would be to storm the room. Will beckoned to Joe Wallis, who moved forward towards the open doorway and fired his grenade launcher, twice, in two different trajectories; he had sent two tear gas grenades into the room that held the man who had fired upon them. The Rangers hurriedly donned their gas masks, and then, from within the room, they heard two people coughing and stumbling around the room. Will rushed forward with his team and moments later came back into the corridor dragging two very sorry looking alien clones. Will handcuffed the clones and charged them with attempting to murder a Texas Ranger.

  “The raid is going well, let`s hope it continues in that direction.” Will remarked to Hernandez.

  The raid certainly proved that the people here had something very valuable to protect, or hide, and that they possessed weapons as yet unknown on Earth. However, the weapons` fire had alerted the other alien clones in the basement; they quickly went for their own weapons and then they rushed out to see just what was happening. The lead clone stopped as
soon as he saw the Rangers, he then opened fire, sending an energy bolt whistling along the room to strike Ranger Rodriguez in the chest, where it exploded killing him instantly, his body thrown against the wall slid slowly to the floor. The other alien clones immediately opened fire upon the Rangers, three powerful energy bolts whistled towards the Rangers, one of them burning the arm of Will as it whistled by him, before exploding against the wall. Ranger Miles was not so lucky, he took an energy bolt to his head and he could not even scream out in pain, he simply fell to the floor, dead. The last bolt of energy exploded against the light switch, short-circuiting the electrical supply and throwing the corridor into darkness.

  Will`s burnt arm was hurting him, however, he did not let it stop him from doing his job, he joined in as the Rangers returned fire against the four alien clones, shooting blindly down the corridor, two of the clones were hit and fell unconscious to the floor. The two remaining alien clones fired their powerful weapons once again, aiming from the flashes of gunfire. Thankfully, the Rangers had fallen back into cover immediately after firing their weapons, for a number of energy bolts whistled by their positions to explode against the far wall.

  They however had a perfect target to aim at, the origin of the terrifying beams of energy whistling towards them, whistling as it destroyed the air that it passed through. The Rangers all opened fire again, and they smiled grimly when they heard the groans of pain coming from the other end of the corridor.

  When no returning fire was forthcoming, Will pulled out his powerful flashlight and turned it on, taking care to conceal as much of himself behind a handy doorframe, what the bright beam of light showed him was the bodies of four men laying crumpled upon the floor, the firefight was over.

  “Wallis, follow me along the corridor to collect their weapons, the rest of you remain under cover until we are certain that there are not any more of them about to continue the fight.” Will ordered.

  The two Rangers moved forward, the way being lit by the beam of light coming from the flashlight in Will`s hand. They quickly picked up the four energy weapons and then handcuffed the four aliens, not bothering to check as to whether they were alive or not.

  “Ranger Davis.” Hernandez called out in the dark. “Take the elevator up and contact headquarters, tell them we need three ambulances and a couple of doctors to see to the dead and the wounded.” Hernandez ordered grimly. “When you have done that, tell them to arrange for an electrician to come here, we need him fast, and have them send some portable lighting until the electrician sees to the lights. Oh and tell Royston to send down four of his Rangers.”

  “Right away Sir.” Davis replied. He had pulled out a flashlight, and using it headed back to the elevator, leaving his colleagues to finish checking out the rest of the basement.

  Major Hernandez looked at the energy weapon used by their antagonists; he could hardly believe that such a weapon even existed, never mind that it was in the hands of a group of crackpot militants.

  The remaining Rangers first checked on their two downed comrades, but they were both dead, as they already knew. They allowed themselves a short moment to grieve for their dead, men who they had known and liked, then using their flashlights they continued their search of the basement. It revealed no other alien clones but it did reveal eight human test subjects, five men and three women; kidnapped and then experimented on, to test an improved version of Trichlorian Plus. However, when they were questioned they could tell the Rangers little, for they had all been unconscious when they had been brought into the laboratory, and the aliens never spoke in English when in earshot of one of the humans.

  Sally was still waiting by the elevator when the ambulance people brought up the bodies of the two dead Rangers, she could not check the tears as she saw them, for they had died because of her, because of her belief that alien invaders were amongst them. Sally went down into the basement only when Major Hernandez knew that it was safe, and when the ambulances had taken all of the dead and wounded away. The basement area had lighting now, portable lighting units had been brought over from the Ranger`s headquarters, showing all the scorch marks made by the energy weapons, and the bullet holes made by the weapons of the Rangers.

  She rushed to the side of her uncle when she saw a doctor attending to his wound, but Will assured her that it was just a burn, and not a bad one at that. Sally felt partly responsible once again as she watched as her uncle`s arm was creamed, and then wrapped in special burn bandages to stop any infection from taking hold. All these injuries and deaths, she felt each and every one, she hoped that there would not be any more, for her conscience was already having a hard time coping with the deaths and injuries that had happened so far.

  Now that she was finally down in the basement, Sally found the she was unable to help Major Hernandez that much, not immediately. For it would take quite some time to go through all the chemicals that they found, and then test them to see what the aliens were using them for, but she offered her services, if they thought that she could be of help, they did, and she was asked to package samples of everything that she regarded important. The Ranger`s forensic department came by half an hour later to help their new colleague package up the many chemicals found in the laboratories that led off the dimly lit corridors. Finally the electrician arrived and she sorted out the shorted out electrics, and the lighting was soon restored to make their work all the easier.

  With all of the evidence that he now possessed, Major Hernandez was able to put out a call for the arrest of Doctor Carlisle. However, unknown to them Carlisle had seen the Ranger presence at the factory; he waited at the far end of the street to watch the operation so that he could give a full report to his superiors. One of his colleagues, Lana Mullins, was also lucky, for she walked around the corner just seconds later and bumped into him. Together they witnessed the arrival of the ambulances, saw the dead taken away, and also saw the wounded taken away with a Ranger escort, four of the clones were still alive, the two dead ones would go to the city morgue and undergo an autopsy.

  “Come, Lana, we should get to the clinic as soon as possible, otherwise we may be seen and arrested, and neither of us can afford for that to happen, can we?” Carlisle said grimly.

  Lana smiled at the scientist, no she thought, that would certainly put a crimp on her plans.

  Chapter Five

  ET is really here

  Aboard the space cruiser Constellation, Consul Phairlis stood in his cabin reading the message from the clinic in Austin. Captain Lorinson stood anxiously by the door, anxious, as he knew what was in the message.

  “How in hell`s name could the Rangers have found out about the chemical factory, the only one to have the latest batch of the formula, tell me that Captain, how?” Phairlis demanded to know of the captain of the space cruiser. Phairlis`s face had taken on a shade of light pink as anger took over his normal calm exterior.

  “Carlisle has told us further on in his report Sir.” Lorinson replied

  When Phairlis found out that Sally was to blame for the calamity he almost exploded. “Her name goes to the very top of our kill list; send a message to our agents on the planet instructing them to arrange for her death, immediately.” Phairlis screamed.

  “Of course Sir, I will have your order sent to our team in Texas immediately.” Lorinson then turned to the internal intercom system, a device fitted in various parts of the ship including the state room currently occupied by Phairlis, he called his communication`s officer and gave him the new orders regarding Sally.

  “It is lucky that the latest batch of the chemical was brought aboard the ship last night. Have its chemical formula sent to Magenta and ask them to take over the production of the Trichlorian, just in case any other problems arise. To have it shipped out from Magenta will delay us, but only by a year at most.” Phairlis ordered, his anger abating somewhat and allowing him to think more clearly.

  “Now, Captain, what about Carlisle, the American authorities may also have learned about him, he mus
t be moved immediately to one of the other factories to carry on his work, have the attack craft Magenta pick him up as soon as possible.” Phairlis said, he was then silent for a moment, he was mulling over a suitable response for this setback, finally he decided, they would make a suitable retaliatory act, and one that would make the earthlings pay for their attack on his people.

  “Captain, I have decided that we need to rid ourselves of some of the pests that are troubling our agents on the planet, I am about to call a meeting of the council, meet me there in an hour`s time, and bring Commander Greer along as well, we will need his expertise over the next few days.”

  Within one hour, the full council of the Chosen Ones had assembled, and with them were Captain Lorinson and Commander Greer, a member of the Special Assignments Squadron who operated from the attack craft Magenta.

  “I have called you all here so that I can inform you of how I propose to proceed following the attack on the chemical laboratory. Once again, that female scientist Sally Jameson has been the cause; therefore, I have put her to the top of the list for those we need exterminated, urgently. Captain Lorinson has already told our operatives on the sixth planet to make it a top priority.” Phairlis said to mutters of approval from around the table. “I am sorry for not listening to you before regarding that troublesome woman, but I will not make that mistake again.” Phairlis vowed, many of his council smiled at his words and some even had derisory thoughts about their leader’s earlier decision regarding Sally Jameson.

  “In addition to this action I am implementing a new phase of attack against the humans, this will be phase five. This will be against the senior officers of the Texas Rangers who work in Houston and Austin, especially Austin, as they are spearheading the attack on us. There is even a chance that the senior members of this organisation may believe Sally Jameson as regards our presence on their planet, especially after the raid on the commercial buildings and its secret laboratory in Austin, one that we thought was so well hidden.” Phairlis declared angrily.