by Nate Castle
The chopper landed at the White House’s helipad without a hiccup. They were all safe now, at least for the time being.
Mission Success.
16 NO ONE LIKES A QUITTER
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“FOLLOW ME,” SAID GENERAL KAPLAN, who had been waiting for them to land on the helipad. He escorted them into the Oval Office where the President was waiting for them.
“Great to finally meet you all. You have all shown extreme strength and courage during these dire times. Because of that you will all be active members of the Dream Team, which is sort of like our version of Congress. I’d like to get to know each of you better, but there’s no time for that right now, we have to jumpstart Operation Firestorm as soon as possible. Come this way,” President Taylor said, and led them into the Situation Room.
At the long rectangular table, the other members of the Dream Team were seated. Logan, Hank, Garrett, Shelby, and Noel found empty seats at the table. The President had already briefed the Dream Team on everything related to the alien encounters.
“Ok now that everyone is here let’s begin,” President Taylor said.
General Kaplan started the meeting. Referring to a pad of handwritten notes he said, “We first need to temporarily secure the area surrounding the White House. With this many people here, it will be a likely target for another attack. Shelby was able to acquire about 200 new cell phones. I suggest we place every cell phone outside the White House grounds, every couple hundred yards for a two mile radius.This should prevent the aliens from getting within 100 yards of the phones and therefore keep them a good distance from us. Now, I say ‘temporary’ solution, because the aliens will most likely figure out a way to disable these phones, but at least it’s a start. Lastly, each phone should be hidden; if on soft ground it should be buried. After this meeting I will grab twenty volunteers to place the phones. Does anyone oppose?”
Shelby’s hand shot up. “Do you think we should save some of the phones here, so that we have backups in case the ones we put out are destroyed quickly?”
“Good point. Those in favor of having a supply of reserve phones remain here?” General Kaplan said. All of the hands in the room minus one shot up, and that vote was decided.
“Next order of business, where are we at with determining what substance(s) cause harm to the aliens?” President Taylor said.
Christina, the nuclear engineer, and Sierra, the high school science teacher, were given the task of discovering the answer.
Sierra spoke up, “We have broken down the components of a cell phone chip and have begun testing these different elements and compounds with the sample test tube of the alien ‘blood’ that President Taylor found inside the armory. It will take a bit longer before we have results back. But the indicators we are measuring are whether one of the compounds or elements, when placed in the same environment as the alien blood, causes a significant change to it.”
“This will provide us with an educated guess as to what components of the chip are actually harmful to the aliens,” Christina added.
“Additionally we will need to cross reference using the chip that is in Logan’s knee. After this meeting we will need to take him in for some testing, basically a form of a CT scan, but a lot more sophisticated than the ones used in the medical field,” Sierra said.
“Solid work, that will remain your number one priority. How are we doing with the survivor rescue missions? I know our phone lines have been swamped with calls for people to be picked up,” President Taylor said.
Brett, the Wall Street broker, and JP, the NYPD detective were put in charge of overseeing this operation.
“Well sir, so far there have been twenty rescue missions and seventeen of those have been successful. The other three have unfortunately ended in tragedy. We can’t say with 100% certainty, but it’s likely that the choppers were destroyed by the aliens. Just prior to losing communication with the pilots, all three said that they had alien crafts in their sights,” JP said.
“We have been using the JX-71 prototype choppers. They are essentially self-flying units, so the volunteers we got to pilot them haven’t needed much knowledge to successfully fly them. We plan on continuing these rescue missions for the next five days,” Brett said.
“Ok there’s no way to avoid the casualties. It’s better that we try to get the survivors back to DC, rather than go with a safer method that will likely result in the survivors becoming stranded and and a greater loss of life,” President Taylor said.
“The last order of business is we need to lockdown the White House. No one leaves without General Kaplan’s or my approval. There are probably still some skeptics here that don’t believe there are aliens around, because they haven’t witnessed it yet. So for that reason, I need an armed guard at every entrance in case people put up a fight and try to escape. That’s all for today’s meeting. Logan go with Sierra and Christina. General Kaplan, take the cell phones and organize the team to strategically place them. Everyone else, head to the dining hall and grab something to eat, you’re gonna need it. Meeting adjourned,” President Taylor said.
They filed out of the Situation Room and made their way to the dining hall. Once inside it was shoulder to shoulder, the place was definitely above capacity with people. Garrett was able to squeeze by a handful of people to reach the long tables where buffet trays were set up.
“Hey buddy,” Garrett turned to see who had just patted him on the back.
‘Sumesh! My man, I’m glad to see you have made it here safe,” Garrett said.
“What about the others, are they with you?” Sumesh said.
“Well Sal didn’t make it. He committed a heroic act, allowing us to escape from the aliens. Who knows if we would have got him medical attention before his 72-hour clock ran out, but I’ll always wonder. Logan is here too, along with another guy we picked up on the way,” Garrett said.
He then told Sumesh about Logan’s medical chip. Sumesh seemed fascinated, and you could tell he was already formulating ideas in his head.
“Maybe they can somehow produce more of these chips? Then they can insert them into every person? I might be able to assist with the medical aspects of this,” Sumesh said.
“Let me see what I can do, I’ll make a case to the President for putting you on the Dream Team, you’d be an invaluable asset,” Garrett said, “Hang tight I’ll come find you after I talk to him.”
~~~
President Taylor followed Sierra, Christina and Logan to a garden shed located near the perimeter of the White House grounds. What they were entering was actually a lab, but it was disguised as a garden shed. It had the same design as the secret room in the Presidential library, with the fake door, leading to an underground hallway that connected to the laboratory door. This lab was reserved for highly classified testing and experiments of all shape and sizes. The kind of testing that only a few high ranking individuals knew about, and was kept secret from the rest of the American people. Using his fingerprints and retina scan, President Taylor unlocked the doors and they followed him inside.
“Christina, you get going on the CT scans with Logan, I’m going with Sierra into the other room to check on the progress of those test tubes,” President Taylor said.
Now the President and Sierra were alone in another room, which is what he had hoped for.
“Sir the test tubes are this way,” Sierra said, but before she could show him, he began kissing her neck while massaging her shoulders.
Sierra reciprocated and after a few minutes of the heated exchange, Sierra was lying on her back on a lab table, the President’s pants down to his waist. He had been longing for this moment since the first time they had hooked up, and was happy to be able divert his attention from all of the chaos, even if only for a few minutes. They finished up, Sierra gathered her clothes and put them back on.
“Wow,” Sierra said, and smiled at the President.
“Now I guess you should show me those test tubes,” Presiden
t Taylor said.
They walked over to what looked like a refrigerator door, opened it and walked inside. There were six test tubes in a plastic bin, and all of them appeared to be the same color, except for one which had turned jet black in color.
“Ok, it looks like one of them reacted to the compounds. I will come back here later and record the results,”Sierra said.
~~~
Logan had made it through the CT scan machine and Christina was standing next to a computer, watching the screen change, as data appeared to be flowing in.
“They’ve been checking on the test tubes for a long time don’t you think?” Logan said to Christina.
“Yeah, it should only should have taken a minute to do so, do you want to go check on them?” Christina said.
As Logan got up and started heading towards the other room, Sierra and the President opened the door and were back before he reached the door. Sierra’s hair looked like she had just woken up, and the President’s tie was wrinkled. No way, Logan thought, but didn’t feel the need to make his observation heard.
~~~
General Kaplan had managed to quiet down the crowd in the dining and was now standing on top of a table, so he could be seen by all.
“I need twenty volunteers. It’s a simple task, there is some potential for danger, but we won’t be going far and the whole thing should take less than an hour,” General Kaplan said.
Shelby, Noel, Hank and Garrett all raised their hands high, and forty others from the crowd followed suit. Kaplan only needed twenty so he had to handpick from the forty-five who had their hands up. Shelby, Noel, Hank and Garrett were all included in the group and they followed General Kaplan out of the room to the front lawn.
“I’m going to give each of you ten to fifteen phones and a shovel. When you get to each spot, insert a battery and chip into the phone, dig a small hole, bury the phone and then backfill the hole. We need to create a rectangular 360 degree grid with the phones. When you’re done report back to me,” General Kaplan said.
General Kaplan watched as group dispersed, each heading in a slightly different direction. He then went to a balcony outside one of the White House rooms to supervise the situation with a pair of binoculars. It was unlikely but he wanted to make sure that no one would attempt to destroy phone chips like Dino had done.
~~~
“On this screen you will see the elements or compounds that are used in the cell phone chips, and on the other screen are the elements or compounds found in Logan’s chip,” Christina said. “ You can see these similarities.”
She used a fancy stylus pen to circle the words ‘silicon’ and ‘boron’ on both screens.
“Bingo, well done Christina,” President Taylor said.
“This might be a dumb question, but you’re saying that silicon and boron together can hurt the aliens?” Logan said.
“Well I can’t be 100% sure, but that’s what the facts are pointing to,” Christina said.
17 WHAT’S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT?
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“SIR YOU’RE GONNA WANNA SEE this,” General Kaplan didn’t bother knocking on the bedroom door.
President Taylor was lying in bed, Sierra lying next to him. It was still dark outside. President Taylor quickly put on the first pair of pants he could find and a Virginia Tech red hoodie, representing his alma mater. General Kaplan had a concerned look on his face.
“This thing with Sierra and I, let that be our little secret,” President Taylor said.
“Sure thing,” General Kaplan said with a tone that showed he could care less, there were bigger things on his mind.
General Kaplan held a door open for the President, that led them outside. President Taylor saw what had concerned the General. Twelve alien space crafts had landed side by side a few hundred yards back from where he imagined the ‘cell phone barrier’ was located. The crafts lit up the night sky with their pulsating green and purple lights. There were no sign of the aliens, they were likely still inside the crafts.
“What are our options here General?” Nothing seemed to scare the President, he had a remarkable ability to remain calm and think clearly in high stress situations.
“We have to hope that they can’t disable our cell phone barrier within the next few hours. In the meantime, I think we have to try to reproduce enough chips in order to launch a counterattack,” General Kaplan said.
“Ok go back inside and wake everyone up. The Dream Team needs to be in the Situation Room by 0500 hours,”President Taylor said.
It was now 4:45am, he had 15 minutes to think things through. He ran back to his bedroom and woke up Sierra.
“Gametime. We have to be in the Situation Room in ten. Shit is about to hit the fan,” he said to her and gave her a quick kiss on the forehead.
~~~
Down in the Situation Room, President Taylor did a quick roll call. There was one person missing.
“Where’s Logan?” the President said.
“He was right behind me going down the stairs a minute ago,” Shelby said.
“General Kaplan, go find him quick,” President Taylor said.
The President explained to the group the situation that had developed outside the White House and what he and the General thought the best course of action would be.
~~~
General Kaplan, moving swiftly through the main hallway noticed a door ajar; the same door that he and the President had gone through to check on the alien crafts. He was meticulous about paying attention to detail and knew he himself would have never left a door open. He decided to investigate. Now outside, he could see the alien ships, and noticed someone sprinting towards them on the grass. Logan.
“God damnit,” Kaplan muttered under his breath. He began chasing after him, but Logan had about a thirty yard head start.
“Logan, come back, have you lost your mind!” he yelled.
Logan must have heard the General, but didn’t bother to stop, he kept running towards the crafts. Soon, he would be past the cell phone barrier, and who knows what would happen next. Logan and Kaplan both halted in unison, as they heard a loud rumbling sound. It was similar to the sound of popcorn popping, but on a much larger scale. Logan looked back at Kaplan and yelled “EARTHQUAKE!”
The Earth just behind the line of alien crafts was cracking at a rapid pace. Logan was now back to where Kaplan had stopped running and they scrambled back to the building. The cracking did not seem to reach any of the land inside the cell phone barrier which was fortunate for them.
“What the hell were you doing back there?” General Kaplan said to Logan when they were back inside.
“I was seeing if the alien crafts would have to move when I got within 100 yards of them. The aliens cannot be within 100 yards of me, I tested that theory out already, but what I’m wondering is if the crafts act as a shield or not,” Logan said.
“Good, you don’t seem like the suicidal type, but you had me convinced there for a second,” General Kaplan said.
“This isn’t the first time I’ve seen this happen,” Logan said.
“Seen what?” General Kaplan said.
“The aliens cause an earthquake that creates a sinkhole. It happened at the racetrack, but it was a much smaller hole. In fact we were able to jump over it. This time, it looks like they might have us trapped though,” Logan said.
It was hard to tell what the damage was like around the rest of the perimeter because there weren’t alien craft lights helping to illuminate the ground.
“C’mon, we have to check if there is an escape route or not,” General Kaplan said.
They exited another door and were now on the White House lawn. They had to run almost up to the cell phone barrier before they could see the hole. Not stopping for more than a second, they made a sharp right turn and ran another 300 yards, hoping to find where the sinkhole ended, but it didn’t. One more right turn later and they were headed back towards the White House.
“Shit, the sinkh
ole goes all the way around the perimeter. The aliens have basically created an island and we are stranded on it. What in God’s name do we do now?” General Kaplan said.
“You’re the army General, you’re supposed to take the lead,” Logan said. “My best guess is we have to find a way to fight the aliens from right where we are.”
The President must have been wondering where Logan and the General were by now.
“We have to get down to the Situation Room, everyone is waiting for us,” General Kaplan said.
“Let’s hope this isn’t the last time we ever get to walk outside,” Logan said and followed General Kaplan.
~~~
“Ahh you found him finally. What were you doing Logan?” President Taylor said as they entered the Situation Room.
“Sir, we’ve got major problems. Whatever y’all were just planning, those plans are about to change,” General Kaplan said.
All eyes were on him at this point and he proceeded to describe the sinkhole that the aliens had created.
“We need to get as many vehicles, small planes, choppers, you name it, from the motor pool and park them outside,” President Taylor said.
“You don’t understand sir. Access to the motor pool across the street is cut off. The sinkhole is too wide to jump over, and that’s just from what we could see. Who knows, it could extend for miles past the White House grounds,” General Kaplan said.
“So you’re telling me we are trapped here?” President Taylor said.
“That’s exactly what I’m telling you. We are trapped and we also have no way to rescue any additional survivors that aren’t in DC yet,” General Kaplan said.
“Somebody, shut off that god damn beeping sound! What is that anyways?” President Taylor said.
JP, the NYPD detective had become fascinated by all of the technology in the Situation Room and had been learning how things worked over the past few days. He got up from his chair and looked at a computer monitor. The room was silent; the others were still digesting General Kaplan’s news about them being trapped. JP typed a few commands into the keyboard before he spoke. “What does JXUL-OS28 mean?” he asked.
