X war infestation, p.3
X WAR: Infestation, page 3
"Ah, who knows? Let's just get the documents signed and hash out the details so we could bring in our advanced crew over here."
Resting his elbows on the tabletop, Perry couldn't help but brood. There were no attacks against China that we know of. How come the aliens are hitting us and the Europeans hard, but they're ignoring the second most powerful country in the world?
Both men immediately stood up as the door at the opposite side of the room opened, and a single Chinese man wearing glasses entered the room. Perry smiled, even though he didn't recognize who it was. Where's their president?
The Chinese man merely stood in front of the table and started speaking in slow but passable English. "My name is... Gang Xie, and I am... a senior assistant to... Vice-Premier Chao Tian."
Fulton leaned over the table and held his hand out. "Nice to meet you, Mr. Xie. I'm Reese Fulton, the American president's—"
Xie cut the other man off by stiffly holding up his right palm. "On behalf... of the Chinese government, we regretfully... must... decline your offer... of a military alliance."
Perry kept silent. The man's English seems okay, but he's talking like a robot. His eyes have that faraway glassy look to them, like what happens to Abby when her medications take effect.
Fulton was speechless for a few seconds, before his face became a mask of outrage. "What? But your own people have told us to come here because your president would sign the treaty."
"President... Qiao... has changed... his mind," Xie said. "We will... not be requiring... an alliance. Our beloved country... has adequate defenses. Thank you."
"This is outrageous!" Fulton protested. "You invited us all the way over here just to tell us this?"
"Please have... a wonderful day," Xie said before he suddenly turned around and began to walk stiffly back towards the still open doorway.
Perry and Fulton stood by in shocked silence as the junior Chinese minister left the room, and the door slowly closed behind him.
5 Utah
THE NEWLY BUILT AUDITORIUM inside Granite Peak Base was moderately packed with soldiers, engineers, and scientific personnel, along with a smattering of high ranking officers from the US Military who happened to be visiting.
Despite the bags of fatigue around her eyes, Ingrid Huber gave a faint smile as she walked up to the podium and faced the audience. She had once again dyed her hair blue and cut it short as a testament to her individuality amongst so many uniformed personnel. The special forces operators had nicknamed her the lady in blue.
Max Niemi stood beside her. The base's chief engineer had laid out a number of strange looking rifles on a folding table, and he was making sure the overhead cameras were able to get a close up view of these weapons.
After getting a positive nod from Niemi, Ingrid tapped the microphone on the podium, delivering an echoing feedback to get everyone's attention before she started speaking. "Good afternoon, everyone. This will be just a very short briefing about a number of new breakthroughs we have achieved."
Using a remote control, she switched the output of the overhead video projectors to show pictures of the now destroyed alien base in Sudan. "Thanks to our brave soldiers who managed to neutralize the extraterrestrial outpost in Africa, we have been able to get a veritable treasure trove of artifacts from that site.
"After many months of research, we now believe that the alien enemy possesses a nearly unlimited supply of energy to power their high technology devices. This includes a very effective ECM defense screen that can deliver an electromagnetic pulse powerful enough to knock out military grade electronics, including drones, guided missiles, and jet fighters."
Ingrid paused for a second before resuming her lecture. "Because of these capabilities, our own military units have been unable to overcome the enemy every time there is an incursion on the ground. We have somewhat mitigated the effects of these on an individual level when the science teams devised the defender belts, but when it comes to large scale operations involving air units, we are still woefully inadequate."
The overhead monitors now switched over to a picture of glowing crystals. "We have been studying both the characteristics and effects of these alien materials, and we have drawn some conclusions. The first is that these alien crystals act as a channel into some sort of other dimension, one in which exists completely outside of our universe."
She had expected to see incredulous faces from the audience and was somewhat surprised to see that everyone was paying attention to her intently. "Now we don't know what exists in this other dimension, but our lead researchers believe that is where these extraterrestrial beings come from.”
"It's clear that the aliens have some sort of way to travel across these dimensions, and they are able to open up tears in our space-time continuum, and this allows them to pop in and out of thin air," Ingrid continued. "Whatever breach or portals are created due to this technology also transfers power to these crystals, which in turn power the bases or vessels that have been encountered by us."
Taking the microphone from the podium stand, Ingrid shuffled sideways until she stood beside Niemi, who in turn held up one of the weapons displayed on the table in front of the cameras. The image on the main view screen now switched over to what the chief engineer was holding.
Ingrid pointed to the futuristic looking rifle. "After examining the various alien devices that were recovered in Africa, we have come to several conclusions. The first is that the enemy weapons are apparently powered by the same energy conduit provided by these so-called glow crystals. Once the alien power source was knocked out, these weapons ceased to function, which then enabled our assault teams to overcome the remaining resistance inside the base."
Using the remote control once more, Ingrid switched the overhead screen to show a graphical representation of a beam of bluish light. "What I am about to discuss now is strictly hypothetical since none of this has been tested yet. The science team believes that these aliens use some sort of particle beam weapon, or what is popularly known as a blue lightning gun."
Several of the operatives sitting in the audience leaned forward. They had fought in several battles against such weapons, and they were eager to know its capabilities.
"These weapons fire a stream of as of yet unidentified charged particles to whatever target lies in front of them," Ingrid said. "We do not know the exact characteristics of the kind of beam weapon it is, but it appears to be highly destructive, able to obliterate large amounts of matter at the subatomic level with unstoppable kinetic energy, practically disintegrating their targets and whatever cover they hide behind."
A few gasps and muted exclamations could be heard from the audience.
"Based on our preliminary analysis, it seems this particle beam exists in several different dimensions simultaneously. Combined with the immense amounts of energy that power it, this ray, for all intents and purposes, is the most advanced direct fire weapon known."
One of the generals sitting in the audience raised his hand. "Were these same particle beams also used in the attack on Antwerp?"
Ingrid nodded. "Based on what the forensics teams over there have forwarded to us and from the live footage of that tragedy, I would say yes. The vessel that was seen in the sky used a larger version of what these abductors used to defend the attack on their base in the Sudanese desert."
Taking the rifle from Niemi, Ingrid held it for a minute before handing it back to the chief engineer and picking up the microphone once more. "Since these particle beams can apparently extend their destructive power into the fourth—or I would say even the fifth—dimension, one of our junior researchers gave it an apt name: a phasor."
The soldiers in the audience began looking at each other. Several smiled and a few others whispered and joked about the new name for the enemy weapon.
Now it was Niemi's turn to take center stage as he held the rifle with one hand while taking the microphone from Ingrid. "My team of brilliant techies from all over the world have been able to somewhat reverse-engineer those phasor weapons the aliens were using and we came up with this—I call it the phasor rifle."
The murmuring of the soldiers in the audience grew louder. These operatives knew they would be the first to test these new weapons in battlefield conditions.
"Okay, now before y'all get one of these beauties, there are some major, major drawbacks that we need to tell you boys about," Niemi said. "The first, like I said before, is that these things are untested, so I would suggest you carry along a secondary weapon just in case the beams fizzle out. You wouldn't want to be carrying these things all by their lonesome."
"Those aliens we took down in the Sudan were probably thinking the same thing," Bodini said, eliciting a few laughs from his German and Swiss colleagues.
Ingrid smiled while she scanned the audience. When she had first met these soldiers, the men were all still socializing based on their respective parent units. As the months had gone by, their nationalistic attitudes had been worn down, replaced with brotherly loyalty to their individual squads. Teams comprised of American SEALs and Delta Force now fraternized freely with Russian Alpha Group members, along with British SAS, German GSG 9, Israeli Sayeret Matkal and French GIGN commandos thrown in for good measure. The operatives had now truly melded together into one unit.
"The drawback is a big one," Niemi said. "These weapons will only become active while the alien base you're attacking is also powered up. So this means that if you knock out the dimensional power supply of your target building, then there's a damn good chance that these things will not work either."
Master Chief Petty Officer Trent Gossard raised his hand. "So you're telling us there's no way we can even practice with those things here at the base?"
Niemi winked. "Not unless the aliens attack."
6 Oregon
THE BROWN FAMILY COMPOUND consisted of two nondescript wooden cabins tucked at the base of a small hill. While casual observers might think that it wasn't much for a survivalist enclave, the ridge itself housed an even larger underground bunker, stocked with supplies to last for years. The only entrance into the dugout could be easily defended by a small armed group, and Levi Brown had trained his family to function like a military unit if a worldwide cataclysmic event were to happen.
Dinner was held in the cozy dining room just past the bunker's main entrance. Seven people—four adults and three children—were eating mostly from canned and dehydrated rations supplemented by fresh vegetables from the outside garden.
Elsner Bravy sat with his wife and son on one side of the table, while the Browns were at the opposite end. He had interviewed Levi for an article on the survivalist movement a few years before, and they’d kept in touch. When they had to leave the Denglers after what had happened in Wyoming, Levi didn't turn them away.
Austin picked at his plate, eating only a few bites of reconstituted chicken while trying to figure out a way to sneak the food out of the room. He had a plastic pouch in his pocket, but if he tried scooping the grub in front of everyone, they would surely ask why.
Levi helped himself to some more of the greens from the casserole dish on the table. "I sure can't wait till them potatoes start growing, then we'll have some real starch to go with our diet."
Faith, the Browns' eight-year-old daughter, shot a sneering look towards Austin. "We could have had some real potatoes by now if lazy Austin did his share of the work."
Austin frowned while looking up at her. "I did too."
The little girl stuck her tongue out at him. "No you didn't. A whole side of the field wasn't planted. You just took off after fifteen minutes and went to climb up them hills again. You didn't even come back until just twenty minutes ago."
Hazel, the girl's soft-spoken mother, shook her head while glancing at her daughter. "Shush now. Dinner is to be enjoyed, and not fussed over."
Sally gave her son a disapproving look. "Is it true, Austin?"
The boy wanted to make an excuse, but there were witnesses. "I did plant one part of the field. I thought I was done for the day, so I left."
Faith held up a little space between her index finger and thumb. "This is how much work you did for today, just like yesterday."
"Shut up."
Sally took in a sharp breath. "Austin, that's enough. You will make up for your chores starting tomorrow."
"Aw, Mom, but I'm doing something."
"No buts! You will do your chores, or else."
Austin looked down, trying his best to keep his anger under control.
"The boy hasn't spent much time out in these here woods yet," Levi said. "Everything must be a new experience for him. I remember my first time out here when my own daddy took me to see the family property. It's what led me to our present circumstances."
"We'll do our share, Levi," Elsner said, glancing at his son. "I'll make sure Oz does right."
Seth looked at his father. "If he doesn't want to do farm chores he can go hunting with me."
"Elsner and his boy don't have hunting licenses yet," Levi said. "We'll see if we can remedy that the next time we get to town for a supply run."
Austin looked away. His father hadn't told Levi he was a fugitive yet.
Elsner just smiled. "I'm not too interested in hunting. I was never good at it. My son might be though."
Austin just nodded. He really didn't want to kill any animals, but if hunting could serve as an excuse to go into the wooded hills to help out the Sasquatch he’d found, then it was okay with him.
Seth put down his fork. "I dunno why we even bother with the hunting licenses and all, Pa. The world is coming to an end, just like you said it would."
"It ain't there yet," Levi corrected him. "We've still got cops and the military, so we obey the laws for the meantime. If and when society truly does break down, then that's the time we follow our own laws."
Sally remained doubtful. "Do you really think the world is ending? I mean, we all heard the president on the radio. He still seems to be pretty confident with this new international unit he keeps talking about."
"Seems to me he just doesn't want the public to panic," Levi said. "But if these aliens, if they can travel through space and all, then you can bet they've got some real powerful weapons. I thought we'd have a chance too awhile back, but after hearing about what happened in Europe, I'm pretty sure we could really lose this war."
Austin looked towards his father, hoping for a reaction, but all Elsner did was nod silently while he ate. It seemed what his daddy had experienced in Wyoming had finally caught up with him, and Elsner had retreated into himself, becoming more taciturn and morose lately. Austin had hoped to spend more time with him, but his father seemed more like a robot these days.
Levi glanced towards the boy, apparently noticing his discontent. "I'll tell you what, Austin. Since you like to be out in the woods a lot, why don't you do some fishing for us? You're going to turn eleven soon, and you don't need a license for it as long as it isn't salmon. The planting can wait a few weeks."
Austin's demeanor instantly changed. Now he was smiling. "I... I'd really like that."
Sally had a concerned look on her face. "But the creek is sort of at the base of the hills, right? If anything happens it might be too far for us to come to his rescue if he ends up needing help."
"I think he can take care of himself," Levi said. "He's learned a lot these past few months, isn't that right, Austin?"
The boy nodded eagerly. "Yes, sir."
Faith continued to sneer. "He still doesn't know how to plant though."
"Shush now," Hazel said to her daughter. "If you ain't got nothing good to say, then don't say anything."
"I don't know about this," Sally said, looking towards Elsner for support. "Wasn't there a UFO sighting in these parts awhile back?"
"That was last month," Seth said. "And I saw the lights over twenty miles away, over at Ochoco."
Elsner decided to speak since his wife was evidently waiting for him to do so. "Those aliens are seen at night. As long as Oz comes back before dark, he ought to be fine."
"But what about Antwerp? That UFO appeared in broad daylight before it started bombing the entire city," Sally said.
"That was a city—a big target. We're by ourselves out here. I don't think the aliens will spend so much of their resources just to hit a bunch of trees and rocks," Levi said.
Elsner eyed his son. "You can go fishing, but if you see anything that's out of the ordinary, you come right back here, okay?"
Austin could hardly contain his excitement. "Okay."
7 London
SITUATED ALONG AVENUE Road, Sir Colin Tillinghast's private estate bordered Primrose Hill to the east. With its red brick facade and Georgian architecture, the ten-bedroom mansion had a family history that dated back almost two hundred years. When he had been accepted into MI6 after graduating from Oxford, Colin himself wondered how he would be able to pay for his ancestral house's upkeep, but the opportunities that came with being a member of the Cabal ultimately laid his fears to rest.
Late evening, and Colin wearily leaned over the side of the bed to put on his soft leather loafers. His wife had already gone to sleep beside him and the TV inside the master bedroom continued to hum nosily while showing a commercial.
After getting to his feet, he padded over to an armoire by the door and put on a silken bathrobe. He had hoped to get an update from the office, but no one had called him yet and the anxiety was keeping him awake.
Perhaps I ought to make myself some tea, he thought as he gently opened the door and walked out of the bedroom before making his way down the main staircase. His two children were all grown up now, and they rarely bothered to stay in touch anymore and this irritated him.
I'm sure George and Mary will call once ascension happens, and then we'll all be together again, he thought. Colin wondered if he was going to continue living in this same mansion that he had inherited from his father before him, or if it would be destroyed in the upcoming deluge of chaos that he predicted would happen during humanity's final capitulation.
