It's Better This Way

by Travis Hill

  “We’ve traveled to talk to you about a lot of things. For twenty three years, these aliens, these ‘bulls’ as we’ve come to call them, have been grinding up our major cities and digging massive holes in our earth. They’ve set up thousands of the giant towers and hundreds of massive factory complexes. They’ve used technology far beyond human understanding to wipe out our societies in one fell swoop, along with our ability to fight back. Before you hear why I’ve called for all of you to hear my words, I would first like to show you something.”

  He gestured to Hackett, who in turn gestured to me and a couple of other councilors to rig up the screen. The projector screen was something almost out of science fiction. It was a paper-thin sheet of transparent material that felt like cloth, sounded like sandpaper when you unfolded it, and stretched to over a hundred times its initial size. Sergeant Waters and Corporal Hackett had helped us set two twenty foot poles in the ground near the platform. The poles stood twenty feet apart, and we stretched the projector screen across the entire expanse, locking it in place around the poles with what looked like bungee cords.

  Once Hackett saw that we’d made sure the screen was ready to go, he took the projector out of the case and walked into the crowd about fifteen deep. The people parted for him like he was Moses. He set up the projector on a tripod and pointed it between the two poles. The whole thing looked to be about as big as the old digital cameras from before the invasion. Not much more than an old pack of smokes. That made me think about the last Camel I’d smoked. Twelve years ago maybe. My pulse still quickened at the thought of puffing on a fresh cigarette.

  The crowd’s murmuring turned into a loud buzzing as Hackett set everything up. The instant he flipped the switch to the projector, there were a few seconds of oohs and aahs before everyone fell silent as Colonel Hardaway began to talk again.

  “Twenty three years ago, the aliens destroyed all of our infrastructure, then all of our military assets,” he said as a shaky video of an object large enough to blot out the moon slid into view on a black sky.

  The view was from a satellite that was either orbiting the moon or thousands of miles above the planet. The object, what had to be the alien ship, covered almost a quarter of the Earth behind it. The scale made it hard to estimate just how large it was, but I decided it was entirely too damn big. The clip went black and immediately a new one played, the alien ship blotting out a quarter of the planet while white fireballs poured out from below it and plunged into the atmosphere. Within seconds there were bright flashes on the surface. I watched as North America swung into view and then was inundated with a swarm of plasma bolts. Idaho was hidden from view by the ship, but I knew exactly where two of those bombs hit.

  “Within two days, the aliens began using dropships to bring down their tower components,” the Colonel went on.

  We watched enormous thrusters bring down objects that looked like metal fence posts, land them gently on the ground, and return to the ship. The satellite had a hard time zooming all the way down to a landing site, the alien ship blocking the view most of the time, and the haze of looking almost horizontally through the atmosphere to the ground below it made the video foggy. The clip went black and a new one started. Gasps from the crowd came when we watched a tower come together, three gargantuan posts that raised themselves onto their ends, the other ends touching the sky.

  The clip switched to another tower, this one built near a city. The city could have been any Midwestern capital like Omaha or Minneapolis. It had been too long for most of us to remember what particular cities looked like unless we were looking at geography textbooks. The city in the video had high-rise buildings. I estimated them to be in the forty story range, though I was just guessing. When the alien tower assembled, it was at least five times taller than the largest skyscraper in the city, and at least three times as wide at the base.

  “Two days after that, the aliens began using dropships to assemble massive complexes,” Hardaway said as the video showed another wave of ships departing the alien mothership.

  The video once again changed to a hazy ground view, and we watched four huge bricks come together then begin unfolding outward. There was no way to judge the size of the completely unfolded building until the video cycled to one that was near a tower. It was unthinkable that a building could be that large. It was a titanic complex that reached about one sixth of the way up the tower in height, and was at least ten times more massive around the base than a tower.

  “As you might have guessed, you older types anyway, this footage is from SEES-31, a Navy spy satellite that sits almost fourteen thousand kilometers above the earth. SEES-31 and a few other sats survived the EMP attacks, but we had no way of contacting them, even knowing they were still up there, still functioning, until about eight years ago. The SEES spy sats were automated, and the minute the alien ship entered our orbit, we tasked them to track anything and everything, from orbit all the way down to the surface.

  “First, I want to tell you about the towers,” Hardaway continued as the video switched to a high-resolution shot of a tower, its top far above a jungle canopy. The alien ship must have moved out from below the satellite, or this was video from a different sat. “We weren’t able to get close to them because the bulls keep a wide perimeter around them guarded by automated weapon systems. Ten miles is as close as you can get to them before an energy beam reaches out and kills you. Thanks to the satellite data though, we understand a lot more about them that we ever have.

  “After tasking the two remaining research satellites still active in orbit, we’ve been able to determine that the towers are four kilometers in height, and four kilometers in circumference at their base. We also believe that the towers have two important properties. One is as a wireless power source for bull technology. Certain energy waves emanate from the towers,” he said as the video changed to a thermal or some other filtered view, and waves of energy radiated outward from the tower’s top. “The other task, and the most important one, is that the towers are removing methane from our atmosphere.”

  This caused a bit of a stir with the older ones in the crowd who could remember back when global warming had been a hot-button issue, and methane gas from all the cows and power plants as well as the natural decay of organic material (mostly cow shit) had raised the methane levels in the atmosphere to alarming levels.

  “We believe,” Hardaway said, “that methane is a super-toxic poison to the bulls. Notice if you will the activity around the towers and complexes. Most of the bulls don’t have their head armor activated.” Slow-moving bulls with their faces uncovered moved in varying patterns in the clips that played. The majority of residents had never seen an armored bull, let alone one with its alien face completely uncovered. “We believe this based on two pieces of evidence. The first is the atmospheric concentration of methane near these towers is non-existent to about a ten klick radius from each tower. The second is because of this.”

  The video changed to a daylight scene cut with sharp, dark shadows. The video was shaky for half a minute before it smoothed out. Two soldiers were in front and off to the right of the camera’s view. It looked like it had been filmed in a large city, Los Angeles or San Diego if I had to guess. Two bulls patrolled the trash-filled streets six blocks behind one of their massive crushing machines that ate up human cities and spit out dusty chunks from the rear. One of the two soldiers pulled two items out of a backpack, handing one to his partner.

  I watched, holding my breath, as the two soldiers walked up behind the two bulls. I knew from experience that the bulls would do nothing to them since neither soldier had a weapon visible, but I also knew something amazing or frightening was about to happen. The soldiers split, one walking to the left of a bull, the other to the right of the other bull. The one on the left had just turned its head slightly as if to acknowledge a human next to it when both of the soldiers stabbed at the bull next to them with what looked like a metal syringe.

  Gasps and shouts from the
crowd rang out as the syringes found their way through the alien armor. Before the bull guns could even swing around, both of them turned rigid, their armor turning off within a second, their skin no longer a steel gray but an inky black. More cries of surprise came from the citizens gathered on the south lawn.

  “Those two bulls were injected with concentrated methane. The effect, as you have just seen, is instantaneous. The bulls don’t even have time to react. The very second the methane enters their blood, an escalating system shutdown from toxicity is achieved.”

  His words were punctuated by the puffs of dust and debris as each of the aliens in the clip froze up and fell over.

  “Thanks to scenes like this that have played out all over the major metro areas of California, we have perfected both the methane compound as well as the delivery system. The bulls know what human weapons of war look like, and as you know, they’ll vaporize you on site if they see you with one.

  “However, they have no idea what this weapon is. Since it isn’t feasible to attack each bull individually and on foot, we’ve also created a hydraulic-magnetic launcher, better known to some of you older folks who like science fiction as a railgun, as well as a kind of shrapnel bomb that explodes with methane-filled and methane-coated projectiles. All it takes is a single microgram and you have a dead bull.”

  Colonel Hardaway gave the crowd a couple of minutes to discuss this revelation amongst themselves before going on.

  “The complexes, as far as we’ve been able to determine, are some kind of molecular forge. The crushers from the cities unload whatever they’ve collected that they didn’t spit out the rear end onto dropships, and the dropships unload the substance at the forges. Once per month an orbital freighter picks up the refined substance from all of the forges in the area and takes it back upstairs to the main alien vessel.

  “Same goes for the giant mining vehicles and the massive pit mines. We believe their crushers eat up our cities to extract raw materials that get separated in the crushers and then further refined at the forges. We still don’t know how accurate this theory is, but over the last seven years we’ve been watching closely, and we believe that we’ve got the right idea.”

  “What I’ve called you all together for is to tell you that the United States Army is recruiting able-bodied men and women to train at our Crater Lake complex and begin taking the fight to the bulls. They nearly wiped us off the planet twenty three years ago, and we’ve been unable to do a single thing about it until now. We have, as you can see, gained a sliver of their technology during our incursions to their areas to test our weapon delivery systems.

  “We don’t understand most of it, but we understand enough of it to build power packs like the one powering this projector. We also have full amenities at the Crater Lake facility. That means clean, hot, running water, electricity, hydroponic gardens, weapons manufacturing, climate controlled underground housing, computer and media systems including advanced instruction modules for learning both your Army job as well as a civilian skill, and a real network that doesn’t rely on word of mouth, horses and bicycles.

  “I know that you people have done the impossible with your setup here in the central wastes. I saw a lot of farmland on our way up here. I saw a lot of good sentry and scouting activity. You people have done everything right to survive in a world gone mad, and have done it without a baron or a lunatic leading you at the point of a rifle.

  “I know you have strong trade ties with the Reds and the Kaisers. I’m here to let you know that it wasn’t all for nothing. You’ve survived, had babies, kept the peace, and have done it by keeping your baser, more animal pleasures at bay. Instead of a region full of murderers, thieves, and rapists, you’ve transformed the wastes and surrounding areas into a safe haven for other civilized humans to migrate to.

  “I’m here to let you know that the time has come to take the next step and join us to get these alien bastards off our planet and back to wherever they came from, preferably hell so they can’t go home and tell the hive or their government or whoever they answer to that humans kicked their asses!”

  If he expected a massive cheer to drown out his last words, his shout of triumph, he was disappointed. A hundred or so cheers went up, those doing the cheering obviously being part of the Colonel’s target audience. The rest of us who were gathered on the south lawn began talking all at once to those nearby. The whole time, Hardaway stood on the platform at parade rest with his hands locked behind his back. Hackett packed up the projector and carried it back to the case. The swell of voices in the crowd rose until it sounded like one long continuous shouting match.

  Jerry, then Dana, then most of the council got up on the platform and held their hands out asking the crowd to calm down, to be quiet so we could do what we did best at these gatherings, which was ask questions and make decisions. Their efforts were futile. The soldiers, the thought of a base with all the creature comforts that anyone that had been alive twenty three years ago had all but forgotten about, and the rallying cry that backed the video clips we’d all watched were too much distraction for the masses. I was just about to get on the platform to plead for calm and orderly discussion when Mom climbed up and walked out to stand next to Colonel Hardaway.

  The crowd became silent within seconds. Everyone knew about Mom, and everyone had spoken to her at some point in their lives on The Farm, but she never took to the platform during the votes. She never made herself a voice of The Farm in public. That she was standing on the platform meant something very important was happening.

  CHAPTER 10 - Unlikely Debate

  “Thank you, Colonel Hardaway for showing us that,” Mom said. “As a community, we have a certain protocol that we’ve developed. We will open this discussion to a debate in a moment.”

  “A debate?” Hardaway asked. His face looked confused, mistrusting. “What is there to debate? You people have a duty to your country. You can’t tell any of these people here that they can’t leave and do their duty.”

  “Oh no, Colonel,” she said, “We aren’t going to debate whether or not anyone can go with you. Everyone here is free to leave if they please. They know it, even if you don’t. What we are going to debate is whether or not we agree with what you’ve just said. As a community.”

  “I don’t understand,” the Colonel said, looking more confused than ever. It looked like he thought there was some trick he hadn’t factored into his plan. He’d thought he would come to The Farm and give his speech and we’d all pack up and run for their base. He hadn’t factored in the part about how it had been twenty three years since there had been any real law and order, state or country boundaries, or any harassment from the bulls beyond dumb humans trying to attack them.

  “Listen, people!” Mom shouted, and the crowd quieted back down again. “Who has a question for the Colonel about what he’s said tonight?”

  Hundreds shouted and waved their hands to be the first one to ask a question. Hardaway looked upset, Waters actually seemed nervous for once, Hackett didn’t look at anything except the gear he’d been stowing away in the black suitcase, and David was downright scared. Surely he informed the good Colonel how The Farm goes about business? I thought.

  After Mom pointed to him, the crowd around a man twenty feet from the platform moved back, letting him ask the first question. I didn’t know his name, but I’d seen him around for a couple of years.

  “Colonel, thank you for the video. I thought I would die before ever seeing something like that again. But my question is how do you know that killing a few, or even a lot of the bulls won’t suddenly bring down retribution on you? On us? On all humans?” The crowd closed in around him again.

  “They haven’t exacted revenge for any of the ones we’ve killed so far,” the Colonel answered matter-of-factly, like it answered everything.

  “And how many have you killed, Colonel?” Mom asked, taking over the question from the man in the crowd.

  I’d learned in my years that this is why Mom
never lost control of The Farm. She was too smart, too wise, too able to see things objectively no matter how much emotion was involved.

  “Uh… at last count I’d say somewhere around eight thousand of them.” He began to look nervous as well, and the commotion that ran through the crowd at such a number made him rock on his heels a little.

  “And has that body count resulted in any perceptible good on the humans in the areas where you’ve killed these bulls?” she asked.

  “Well, there are no more bulls in some of the areas now, and the numbers in the major cities keep falling and keep being replaced after a couple of days of not showing back up to their base or wherever they go.”

  “Right,” Mom countered, “but the bulls don’t actually harm humans in the first place, correct?”

  “Sure they do, lady,” the Colonel said, realizing in an instant that he’d been the one to get emotional, the one to let his professionalism slip, and he quickly locked his hard-ass Colonel facade back into place. But the slip let Mom and the rest of us who are good at reading people know that he hadn’t been prepared for such a question. He’d fooled himself into thinking he could wave the patriot’s flag as he walked through The Farm and everyone would follow him as if he were the Pied Piper.

  “They only attack humans with weapons, humans that show threatening tendencies to them, or for some reason humans that are stealing whatever it is they are after in the cities. And now we also know that they attack humans who get too close to their forges and their towers.” She said it in a conversational tone, no sneering, no sarcasm, just a statement.

  “Look, I understand that it has been over twenty years and people have learned how to live differently, but that doesn’t excuse the fact that these are the beings responsible for the collapse of humanity,” Colonel Hardaway said, matching Mom’s emotionless tone.