by Murison, J W
‘Yeah, what's going on?’
His question was ignored, ‘You got a man by the name of Steven Gordon working for you.’ It was more of a statement than a question.
Buzz felt a stroke of panic, ‘where is he?’
The Colonel turned away, ‘this way.’
‘Is he ok?’
‘Yeah he’s fine.’
He followed the Colonel down familiar corridors. As they entered the nerve centre of the institute, more uniforms became evident. They entered a large conference room to find high-ranking officers of every branch of the US Armed Forces, arguing with scientists and politicians about jurisdiction.
An Army General saw them first, ‘what the hell do you want Colonel Howe?’
‘This is Buzz Anderson sir. You wanted him taken straight up.’
The General seemed to relax a bit, ‘about time, now we might begin to make some progress.’
A small figure detached itself from the group and ran over. There was grey in her hair now but Buzz thought Mary Gordon was still one of the most beautiful women he had ever met.
‘Oh Buzz I’m so glad you here.’
‘What the hell’s going on Mary, what's Stevie got himself into now?’
A small smile played across her lips and elevated a lot of Buzz’s concern, ‘you are not going to believe this.’ She looked across the room to the senior Army General.
He nodded, ‘Yes show him, it’s probably better he knows all the facts before he goes in there.’
The other men around the table nodded their accent and Mary dragged him from the room by his hand.
She took him up to the roof and without saying a word led him over to the edge. His mouth dropped open at the sight.
‘My God, what are they?’
She shrugged, ‘space ships, alien visitors.’
‘Who are they, where are they from?’
‘We don’t know they haven’t tried to contact us yet. They’re just sitting there.’
He scratched his head in wonder, ‘and they came here, not the Whitehouse.’
Mary frowned, ‘yes, that’s something that’s been puzzling us to. This is the foremost centre for space research on the whole planet. It has to be why they chose this spot to land. So it’s obvious they have been watching us, but if they wished to make contact properly, why not the Whitehouse.’
‘Maybe they think all politicians are crooks and wanted to talk to honest people first.’
Mary laughed and a trooper who was hovering close by turned to hide a smile. It took her a moment to compose herself. ‘That’s a thought that had already crossed my mind, but I’ve never had the guts to say it out loud. However I don’t think it’s that.’
‘So what do you think it is?’
‘I’m not sure, but I think they may have a problem only scientists can help them with.’
‘But we won’t know until a little green man pops out and tells us so, right?’
She smiled at his understanding, ‘right.’
‘Now what’s it all got to do with Stevie and me?’
Mary’s eyes shone, ‘Stevie touched one of the ships.’
‘What!’ Buzz exploded.
Mary laughed at his expression, ‘he’s ok, it’s just that he refuses to talk to anyone without you there.’
‘Why not?’
Mary shrugged again, ‘who knows Buzz, you know him as well as I do. He can get some notion into his head and that’s it.’
‘Where is he?’
‘In one of the labs in an isolation chamber.’
‘I’ll bet that’s really what's pissed him off.’
‘No, it was necessary and I think he knows that. Those people you met down stairs want to know if you’ll help.’
Buzz nodded, ‘of course I will.’
She took him by the arm, ‘let’s go then.’
Things moved quickly after that. Buzz found himself standing inside one of those strictly no entry labs. At the other end was a glass room. Buzz could see Stevie sitting on a sterile cot with nothing on but a towel, the hundreds of scars he bore were now thin white lines that crossed his torso like a road map of the spaghetti junction. Stevie’s face broke into a wild grin and he waved. Buzz waved back.
A host of scientists and military men were laying out tables and recording devices. He was held back until they were finished.
Finally they sat him at one of the tables. A scientist depressed a button on a console and spoke into a mike. ‘Can you hear us Mr. Gordon?’
‘Aye, hey Buzz, how’s it going buddy. Did they let you see it?’
Buzz suddenly realised why Stevie had insisted he come, ‘yeah bud, it’s cool.’ He hadn’t wanted his friend to miss out on the biggest thing that would probably ever happen to them.
‘I think they look like teardrops.’
Buzz nodded, ‘yeah I think that’s a pretty good description. So what happened?’
Stevie laughed, ‘shit happened.’ Buzz found himself laughing too. ‘It was just great. I was out patrolling the car park. Stopped for a moment to look up at the stars, you know as I do.’
Buzz nodded, ‘yep.’
‘Well then they just appeared. Well not out of thin air like. I thought it was a shooting star at first, then a meteorite; all burning up as it came through the atmosphere, but then it turned towards me and split in two. Then they stopped burning and turned into a very bright light.
Then all of a sudden I realised they really were heading right for me, and I thought; I’d better get to hell out of here and started running. I never made it.
One came down to the right of me and landed, then just as I thought I was going to be squashed flat the one above me stopped.’
Steven stood up and demonstrated, ‘it was just this high above me, and I thought to myself, hey I could touch it and I tried but it jerked right up out of reach…’
A scientist interrupted him, ‘excuse me Mr. Gordon, but why did you want to touch it?’
Stevie shrugged, ‘it was there.’
Buzz burst out laughing and the scientist took a deep breath, ‘I mean did you feel a great compulsion, to touch it. A strange compulsion, an unearthly compulsion.’
Steven frowned for a second, ‘no it was like when you go to look at a new car and you see one you like. You just want to touch it sort of thing.’
‘A normal compulsion then Mr. Gordon?’
Steven shrugged, ‘yeah, I suppose.’
The silence drew out as Steven waited for another question. It never came. Suddenly the scientist realised what he was waiting for and shifted uncomfortably, ‘please go on Mr. Gordon.’
However Steven had completely lost track of what was going on, ‘what?’
Buzz realised what was happening and intervened, ‘wait a second Stevie.’ He turned to the scientist, ‘don’t interrupt him again. Wait until he’s finished his story and then ask him questions. You’re just going to get him confused, ok?’
The scientist flushed a little, ‘sorry.’
He turned back to Stevie, ‘go on with your story Stevie, it jerked up out of the way when you tried to touch it.’
The light rekindled in Stevens eyes, ‘aye that’s right, it shoot up a couple of feet, just out of reach. I thought like, oops, I had offended it. So I said I was sorry and it did the damndest thing. It came right back down to me. I think I only startled it.’
Buzz saw a dozen heads come up bursting with questions, but a cutting look stifled them.
Steve went on not noticing the byplay, ‘so I tried again and this time it let me touch it. It was amazing Buzz, I think it understood me. It felt a bit like glass, but warm, and I got this really strange feeling …’
Stevie faltered and Buzz realised he was struggling to find the right words and decided to prompt him. ‘What kind of feeling Stevie?’
Steven’s legs swung idly and his brow knotted with concentration as he tried to bring up a comparison, ‘remember when you told me about the time you met Jenny?’
<
br /> ‘Yeah I remember.’
‘You told me that the first time you touched her it felt so right.’
Buzz flushed a little, ‘yeah that’s right, like it was always meant to be.’
Steven smiled strangely, ‘That’s how it felt man, real special. Like it was right, you know?’
Buzz nodded his understanding, ‘Yeah Stevie I know. Then what happened?’
‘Not too much, I walked out from underneath it and it landed proper. Then the shit really hit the fan. That new guy appeared, Sandiman. He pulled his pistol at me and was screaming for me to back off from it. Then Greg and Rex arrived on the scene and started screaming to.
Greg sent Rex after me to try and drag me away but Rex took out Sandiman instead. Sandiman was then going to shoot Rex and Greg was going to shoot Sandiman if he tried it, I decided I had better try and stop it all before it got out of hand.
So I went over and punched out Sandiman. He fell over in front of Rex who decided he still didn’t like him much and took a chunk out of his ass. Then everyone seemed to arrive at once. I was dragged off and by some of the scientists who had shoved those contamination suits on and slung me in here, and that’s about it.’
Buzz sat stunned but was able to take a mental note to fire Sandiman if he ever tried to come back. He looked to the scientist opposite for inspiration.
‘I think that’s all we’ll need you for at the moment Mr. Anderson, thank you.’
Stevie shot up off the cot, ‘you're not going are you Buzz?’
‘I thought I might just go and get a coffee buddy, try and get my head round all of this.’
There was real fear in his eyes, ‘you won’t let them drag me away somewhere else will you?’
Buzz placed a hand against the glass, ‘they try and take you anywhere; they’ll have to go through me first. I promise.’
Stevens face relaxed, ‘thanks, and don’t let them damage those ships either Buzz, they’re friendly.’
Buzz frowned, ‘you sure about that Amigo?’
‘That ship could have squashed me like a bug, it didn’t. I know it’s friendly.’
Buzz nodded, ‘that’s good enough for me, but that’s well out of my hands. I’ll try and do what I can though.’
The simple look of trust in Stevie’s eyes almost broke his heart.
Chapter 7
General Archibald sighed wearily at the communications link to the President. ‘It’s like the third world war down here sir. We’re fighting with the scientists and the politicians, they in turn are fighting with each other and us. Not to mention we’re also fighting with every other branch of the service for jurisdiction over these things.’
‘I thought I told you I wanted them moved.’
The General shook his head sadly, ‘we’ve been trying for day’s sir. Even the biggest cranes we’ve brought in have been unable to lift them so much as an inch. Then this afternoon one of them took off, lifting the inflatable hanger we had erected.
Shot it twenty thousand feet into the air then let it float away before taking a slow tour round the city. We had to get one of our aircraft to shoot up the hanger and bring it down in a controlled manner. It hit the ground a mile from the city. No one was hurt in the incident.’
‘And in the meantime General, every foreign satellite flying around the globe has been taking pictures of them; pictures which have been leaked to every news station in the world.
Every line into the Whitehouse is red hot, with everyone from religious nuts to heads of states screaming down the line at me demanding an explanation. What the hell am I supposed to do now General? You were supposed to keep them under wraps.’
The general cringed inside, ‘I’m sorry sir, but I can’t be held accountable for the actions of the aliens.’
The President wiped his brow with a hankie, ‘no I don’t suppose you can. Has there still been no attempt at communication from those inside?’
‘No sir. Although some of the scientists believe their actions today were some form of communication.’
The President threw his arms into the air, ‘what form of communication was that?’
The General took a deep breath, ‘they believe that the aliens are not willing to be kept a secret and that maybe the aliens think that knowledge is their protection.’
‘Protection from what, General?’
‘From us sir.’
‘Think they’ve been watching too many movies General?’
The General ignored the sarcastic twist in the Presidents voice. ‘It’s always a possibility sir. There is also a school of thought here that may be linked to that sir if I may.’
‘I’m sure it couldn’t do any harm General; what is this school of thought?’
‘Some of the scientists think that the aliens may be monitoring our communication systems waiting for us to announce their arrival to the World before initialising contact and if we don’t they may go elsewhere.’
The president sat forward sharply, ‘Where’s elsewhere?’
‘I don’t know sir. It is believed they may have been watching us for a while that’s why they came to the institute. It is the number one facility in the world for space research, but not the only one. The English, French and Japanese, also have first class facilities.’
The President seemed startled, ‘do you think they could be right General?’
‘To be perfectly honest with you sir, the people here are a hundred times smarter than I am.’
‘They’re afraid we might drop the ball?’
‘Yes sir.’
‘I will take it under advisement General and give you a decision soon. Now what about that other matter?’
‘I’ve run into a brick wall there too sir. It turns out that the security guard is the son of the Doctors Gordon who run this institute. To cap it all I have been informed by the security people here, that if we try to move him, they will fire on my troops to prevent it and I believe them sir.’
The President shook his head, ‘have you no control down there General?’
‘Very little sir, and I won’t either unless you’re willing to have a blood bath on your hands. Tensions here are very high. You have military people here who don’t even register on any military payroll. I suggest you make one department responsible for security here and make them liaise with the scientists. Then shift everyone else out.’
‘There is sense to that argument General. Would you like to lead the military part of the mission?’
‘May I be candid sir?’
‘Yes do.’
‘Haven’t you got a nice little war for me somewhere? I would much rather be there than here.’
The President smiled for the first time, ‘I’ll bear that in mind General.’
The comms link went dead and the General sat back with a sigh of relief.
Chapter 8
The scientist’s theories were proven correct. The military presence was scaled down to two units. One from the regular Army to provide all round protection for the institute with a Special Operations team as back up and to provide a quick reaction force.
The second was made up from the Air Force and consisted mainly of specialists. Both came under the command of General Archibald, much to his distain. He worked closely with Doctor Gordon while his wife Mary took over the field research.
Once they had sorted themselves out the President announced the arrival of the ships to the world media. For two days anarchy seemed to reign, then as the media were allowed to film the ships, things began to calm down.
The crowds that had gathered to view the ships began to disperse when they realised they could see more sat in front of their own TV sets.
The ships themselves had been watching the broadcasts closely and when they had decided all that could be done to protect them was done, they took the next step forward.
Mary was arguing with General Archibald for the release of her son. Considering he had shown no signs of any infection and every test had came back negative;
however the General was adamant he was going to stay in isolation for at least six weeks. The argument was raging back and forth when a wild eyed operator burst in.
‘Sir something’s happened.’
‘What?’
‘One of the ships has let down some sort of ramp and a door has opened in the side of the ship.’
They were on their feet and almost ran to the room that had been set up as an observation post. Armed men had surrounded the ship in seconds. The General called them back.
He turned to Mary, ‘the last thing I want is some nervous PFC firing a few rounds into our visitors. What do you think our response should be now Doctor. Gordon?’
‘All we can do is have our diplomatic team ready to receive them and wait.’
The General gave the orders and the diplomatic team made their way on to the car park where they began a long vigil. By the middle of the afternoon one of them had fainted, so seats and drinks were rushed out to the waiting men.
As the sun began to go down the ramp was retracted and the door disappeared. Confusion reigned. There was a great fear that the ships were going to leave but they never moved.
Emergency discussions were held most of the night, but eventually the General called them to a halt. The continual arguing and speculation were getting them nowhere. The General decided that the only thing they could really do was wait and see what they did next.
The following morning at sunrise the ship opened up again. There followed another long day of waiting to see if anyone emerged, but at sunrise the same thing happened and it was back to the conference room.
Archibald was exhausted but he knew they couldn’t leave without coming up with a new plan. He listened to the argument rage back and forth for an hour before stamping down on them.
He slammed the table with the palm of his hand, ‘enough. Ladies and Gentlemen we have been around this a hundred times and it’s getting us nowhere. We need to move forward. Now I like the proposal put forward by the Doctors Gordon. It definitely seems to be some form of invitation.
The question is why won’t they come out? Do they perceive some form of threat that we haven’t noticed? I don’t believe Doctor. Gilmores theory. A society that advanced must have environmental suits, suitable for our atmosphere. Is it a cultural thing? They have made the invitation we must accept. I don’t know.
