by R. D. Brady
“I’ll keep an eye on him,” Chris said.
Norah looked doubtfully down at Iggy, but he happily hopped across the table and leaped into Chris’s arms. Chris stumbled back with a laugh. “Well, I guess that settles that.”
Maeve looked over at Alvie. Do you want to go or stay here?
She could tell he was torn. He didn’t like being away from the triplets, but he also knew that the conversation would be important.
I will tell you everything that she tells me.
Alvie nodded and climbed down from his seat, going over to the triplets. Maeve got up and went to the stack of clothes that had been delivered shortly after they had started to eat. She sorted through sizes and then wrapped the triplets up in fleece-lined sweatpants and fleece jackets. Everything was green so that they would also blend into the surroundings. Despite the singular coloring, she had to admit they looked adorable. Like a group of little elves. She kissed each one on the cheek. “Listen to Chris and Adam, okay?”
The triplets each nodded back at her before sprinting for the door. Maeve tossed a fleece at Chris. “You stay warm too.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He smiled at her before holding the door open for the triplets, Alvie, and Iggy to zip outside. Adam followed as well, giving Tilda a glance before disappearing through the doorway.
Once again, Maeve wondered about their relationship. Tilda said that Adam was her grandson, but they seemed awfully close. And even though he was her grandson, how had he ended up getting mixed up in all of this? But that was a small mystery for another day. Today the bigger mystery was what exactly was going on and how her family had ended up in the middle of it.
Tilda had brought over a pot of coffee and a bunch of mugs to the table while Maeve was getting everyone suited up for the outside. Maeve took a seat, thanking Greg as he handed her a mug. Norah sat across from the two of them and met their gaze before the three of them turned and looked at Tilda, who sat at the head of the table. Pearl took a seat next to Norah.
Norah leaned forward. “I believe you said it was time for answers.”
Tilda rested her hands on the tabletop in front of her, her fingers intertwined. “Yes, I believe those are long overdue.”
Chapter Sixteen
The door slid closed behind Chris and the others. Maeve kept her gaze on them through the glass until they disappeared from view. A chill crawled over her. She hated them being split up. Too much had gone wrong when they had been split up for her to feel anything but discomfort at the idea.
They are only a short distance away. And Chris won’t let any harm come to them. She repeated the phrases in her mind over and over again, trying to convince herself that it was true. She wanted to run after them and demand that they all stay together. But to stay together, they needed answers. And that started with finding out where they were and what this secret program was all about.
She turned her attention back to Tilda, who sat quietly waiting for her to finish her inner discussion. When she met the older woman’s gaze, she gave her a nod.
Tilda placed her mug back on the table. “You are the first civilians to ever step foot on the R.I.S.E. base. Everyone else who has been brought here has been slowly exposed to R.I.S.E.’s goals over the course of their career. You, I’m afraid, will be given a crash course in the role the United States government has played in the development of this program … and its role in communicating with intelligent life from other planets.”
“I don’t think that’s an entirely accurate statement,” Maeve said. “Each one of us has been exposed to intelligent life from other planets a great deal more than the average citizen.”
Tilda inclined her head in acknowledgment. “That is true. Your work with Alvie and the triplets is tremendous.” She turned to Norah. “And no one can deny the bond that you have established with the young Maldek.”
Greg cleared his throat. “And I worked with … well, Hank.”
Norah frowned. “Hank?”
“A Kecksburg-AG2.You know those incredibly terrifying alligatorlike aliens that nearly killed all of us in New Mexico?”
“Yes?” Norah drew out the word.
“Well, I kind of sort of helped create him, or at least the first of him, and then I observed and cataloged his behaviors and traits.”
Norah gave him a look of disgust.
Greg cleared his throat again. “Well, let’s just move on to what you were talking about there, Tilda. You were explaining about R.I.S.E.?”
Tilda shook her head slightly at him before composing her expression. “R.I.S.E. stands for Research in Intelligent Space Exploration. The program was established in 1956.”
Maeve frowned. “But NASA wasn’t established until 1960.”
“Yes. We predate NASA.”
“1956,” Greg murmured. “An interesting year. It happens to be the year after President Eisenhower allegedly met with the UFO at Camp Holloman.”
Tilda nodded. “R.I.S.E. was created in response to that meeting. Eisenhower was a military man. He had been a five-star general in the United States Army and had also served as Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Forces in Europe. So when he learned that there was life outside of this planet, he automatically started thinking of it in terms of self-defense. But he also knew a great deal could be achieved through alliances.”
“We have an alliance with Agaren’s race,” Maeve said.
“In a way. But when R.I.S.E. first began, the intent truly was exploration. And with Dr. von Braun as the head, the agenda for that exploration was most challenging.”
Greg sat up. “Wait von Braun? As in Wernher von Braun?”
A small smile slipped across Tilda’s face. “He was a brilliant man.”
Maeve had no doubt about that observation. Allegedly von Braun had shown an affinity for math and science as a child. Growing up in Austria, his parents had been at a bit of a loss as to what to do with their brilliant son. He was passionate about rockets from a young age, even getting arrested at the age of twelve for setting off fireworks attached to a cart. His lifelong focus on rocketry attracted the interest of the Third Reich. And as the Third Reich began its rise to power, von Braun’s work was taken over, and he was subsumed under the Nazi banner.
Von Braun was credited with leading the team that developed the Nazis’ devastating V-2 rockets. As the war drew to a close, von Braun was captured. He arranged for himself and 500 other Nazi scientists to immigrate to the United States through Operation Paperclip. They were taken to the White Sands Proving Ground in New Mexico, and they began working on the U.S. rocket efforts.
When John F. Kennedy announced that the U.S. would be on the Moon by the end of the decade, he was relying on von Braun to get them there. When the first Apollo rocket reached the Moon, von Braun was given a parade in Huntsville, Alabama, his home at the time.
“Von Braun had been interested in space exploration from an early age,” Tilda said. “He even wrote a science fiction novel back in 1952 called Project Mars, about a human expedition to the red planet. Some of his calculations, of course, were off, but many of them were right on point.”
Maeve didn’t know anything about his fiction writing, but she had seen one of his three movies made in coordination with Disney about space exploration. Man in Space had been released in 1955 and had Wernher von Braun explaining the potential for humans’ exploration in the stars.
“Did von Braun know about Eisenhower’s meeting at Holloman?” Norah asked.
Tilda nodded. “In 1956, when Eisenhower met with him to discuss the creation of R.I.S.E., von Braun was informed about the events.”
Maeve shook her head. It was truly amazing when you thought about it. Just over a decade earlier, von Braun had been making rockets for Nazis. And then fifteen years later, he was trusted with one of the greatest secrets of the U.S. government.
“Von Braun became the first head of NASA when it was created in 1960. Who took over as the head of R.I.S.E.?” Greg asked.
“Von Braun was the head of R.I.S.E. until his death in 1977. R.I.S.E., since its inception, has had two primary goals: to maintain an alliance with friendly alien species and to act as a defensive barrier for aggressive species. NASA was essentially R.I.S.E.’s public relations arm. No one in NASA besides von Braun knew that R.I.S.E. even existed. They thought they were on the cutting edge of space travel. But R.I.S.E. was years ahead of them in technology.”
“Why bother with the subterfuge?” Norah asked. “If what you are saying is true, the space race with Russia could’ve been entirely avoided.”
Tilda nodded. “It could have. But it served its purpose. It allowed the world to think that we were no more advanced than they were when it came to space travel. It helped keep R.I.S.E. a secret.”
Maeve shook her head. “That’s the part I don’t understand. Why keep it a secret? I mean, I know all about the belief that humanity would lose its mind if they learned that aliens existed. But humanity wouldn’t be alarmed that we were more technologically developed. So why all the secrecy?”
Tilda paused, and Maeve had the sense that she was searching for her words. “When we talk about finding alien life, we speak about it as if it is something we will do out there.” She pointed to the ceiling. “As if we will come across evidence of alien life through our space travels. The truth is, aliens have been living on planet Earth for centuries. And R.I.S.E. was created to make sure that they are never able to endanger humanity, beyond, of course, what they did to help create us.”
Chapter Seventeen
Greg’s eyes were wide. “Beyond what they did to create us? You mean it’s true? We’re an alien ant colony?”
“Well, I wouldn’t put it that way. But humanity’s development has been encouraged by outside forces.”
“Agaren said that our aggressive nature concerns the Council.”
Tilda nodded. “The Council is a group of intelligent beings that oversee life and our part of the galaxy. They have watched humanity’s growth through millions of years of development. Homo sapiens were, in part, created with their intervention.”
“But Mommy and Daddy aren’t very happy now?”
“They are concerned. Humanity has a capacity for doing good. But they have an almost equal capacity for evil. Destruction.”
“How does R.I.S.E. fit into this?”
“We make sure that the world stays on an even keel, to the best of our abilities. The meeting at Holloman Air Force Base with President Eisenhower was a warning. The Council had seen the wars we had engaged in. They had seen the damage that had been done. They warned that the world could not go to war like that again. Since that time, we have aided in making sure there was never another world war.”
“How?” Norah asked.
“We have operatives across the globe, from all different nations. R.I.S.E. is a U.S. agency, but we have pulled in talent from wherever we have needed it. There have been atrocities, but they have not spiraled out of control to the point that the Council felt the need to intervene. And we intend to keep it that way.”
“But you said that R.I.S.E. is a secondary space agency,” Greg said. “Have you ever been to space?”
Tilda smiled. “I’m afraid that’s need-to-know, and currently you do not need to know. What you do need to know is that our job and primary purpose is to keep all of you safe.”
“Especially Alvie and the triplets,” Maeve said.
Tilda nodded. “Yes. They are an important aspect of the Council’s plan for the planet.”
Greg glanced around the room. “No offense, but if this is the secondary space agency, you’re not very impressive.”
“Oh, we hold our own. It is safer right now for you to stay here at our staging base. The hybrids are not known to the rest of R.I.S.E. I know the secrecy seems extreme, but it has kept us protected all these years.”
“So what is the plan for all of us?”
Tilda took a deep breath. “For the time being, you will remain here at the staging base until we have assessed and neutralized any threats to the hybrids.”
Norah studied Tilda. She spoke quietly. “You don’t trust your own people.”
“I trust most of my people. Until I can say that 100%, you will have to stay here where you will be hidden from the majority of the base.”
“How long will that take?” Maeve asked.
Tilda stood up, and Pearl did the same. “Hopefully not too long. But if it does continue beyond a reasonable timeframe, we will create different housing structures to allow you a more normal daily routine. Now, I need to head back to the base. Pearl will remain here in my stead, and again, if you have any problems, bring them to her.”
Without another word, Tilda and Pearl strode toward the exit. Neither Greg nor Maeve nor Norah spoke until the two of them had stepped out of the building.
“You realize what that means, right?” Norah asked.
“Yeah, we’re here for a little while, and then we’ll move over to the super high-tech base,” Greg said.
Maeve shook her head, feeling as if a cell door had slammed shut in front of her. “No. We are going to be living here for a very long time.”
Chapter Eighteen
Twenty-four hours after their “welcome to R.I.S.E.” conversation, Norah’s head was spinning from everything they’d learned, and she desperately needed something to distract her from what she now felt was a life sentence that had just been handed down by Tilda the Secretive.
She caught up with Adam outside the cafeteria. “Adam?”
He turned slowly. “Yes?” He didn’t smile at Norah but immediately smiled at Iggy, who Greg was carrying to the obstacle course. It was an attribute she had noticed. He rarely smiled at adults, but he always had a smile for Iggy, the triplets, Alvie, and Penny.
She wondered what went on behind those glasses of his. He was the most controlled and reserved individual she had ever met. Emotions seemed to be an almost a foreign concept to him. He was incredibly loyal to his grandmother. He was a very strange man, and yet she felt a kinship with him. Maybe it was because they were both soldiers, but there was a straightforwardness to him that she liked.
“I, um, was hoping I could ask a favor.”
He waited, not responding. His facial expression didn’t change.
Well, that’s not encouraging. She barreled ahead anyway. “I’m going a little stir crazy, and I was hoping maybe I could just surf the net a little, maybe check my email—”
He was shaking his head before she’d even finished. “Security protocol requires that you stay away from all electronic traces. Someone would know you’d checked your email.”
“Look, my mom sends me email when she can’t reach me by phone. I know I can’t call her or write back, but I’d really like to read her emails. Isn’t there any way?”
Adam didn’t move, just continued staring at her, or at least she thought that’s what he was doing. His dark glasses added an extra layer of inscrutability to the already undecipherable man. Norah was beginning to think that maybe she’d broken him with her request. He hadn’t moved in what felt like a long time. “Um, well, never—”
“Follow me.” Adam turned on his heel and headed toward the barracks. Norah hustled to keep up with him. Was he agreeing to help? Or was he about to turn her in? She simply couldn’t read the man. Ahead, the main offices stood. Norah’s concerns increased as the main administrative office came into view. That bastard. He was turning her in. If he thought for one minute she was going to stand around and be chastised like some errant schoolgirl, then he had another think …
Adam turned away from the admin building and headed up the hill toward a small building, only slightly larger than a shed.
Norah had never been inside. She’d assumed it was a shed. But Adam slid open the door and stepped inside. Norah followed him. The room was completely packed with computer equipment. Tall servers lined the walls, behind panes of glass. Norah touched one as she stepped past. The glass was cold to the t
ouch. Monitors, consoles, and equipment she had never seen before ringed three and a half sides of the room. It was a hacker’s dream setup.
And sitting in the middle of it was Penny.
Norah hadn’t seen Penny since before the infiltration of the base at Dulce. By the time she’d met back up with the group, Penny and her mother had been whisked away by Tilda’s people. Now, as Norah saw Penny surrounded by towers of electronics, she wondered if that had been at Penny’s request or Tilda’s.
Penny glanced up when they’d stepped in but immediately returned her attention to the monitors in front of her.
Adam stopped at the edge of the ring of equipment. “Wait here.” He walked toward Penny, crouching down so he was eye level with her.
Adam’s voice was too low, so she couldn’t make out what he was saying. Norah stepped closer to the towers of servers. Cold air blew in from a vent along the top of the towers. The shed was much larger than she’d first thought. Penny was crammed up front. Tower upon tower was arrayed behind her. It must have stretched back another fifty feet. She recognized the name on it: Summit.
Her mouth dropped open. Oh my God. This was a supercomputer. She didn’t know much about them except that they were lightning fast. Normal computers worked on millions of instructions per second. Supercomputers instead performed a hundred quadrillion floating point operations per second, or FLOPS. The system had to have cost millions, no, hundreds of millions of dollars.
And they gave Penny access to it? Norah stared at the young girl incredulously. It wasn’t that Penny didn’t know how to use it. Norah was absolutely certain she knew what she was doing. It was just what she would do with such power that was the question. Penny was beyond intelligent, but her moral judgment was questionable at best. And as a result, Norah questioned Tilda’s moral decision-making ability in allowing Penny to access such a machine.
Adam stood and walked over to one of the monitors. He hit a few buttons on the keyboard in front of it before rolling a chair from the back of the room and positioning it in front of the monitor. He looked up and waved Norah over.
