One of the people watching was a doctor and he had gotten as close to the spinning square as possible.
Something bumped into him. With his eyes glued to the screen he held up a hand, waving off the intrusion and hollered above the noise, “Wait! This is showing an injured person.” Something bumped him again, harder this time and he turned angrily… but then froze.
No one had noticed the second smaller black rectangle float down the ramp. Now it floated beside the doctor, bumping him to get his attention. On the floating black rectangle lay a body bandaged almost from head to foot. At that moment a booming voice came from the ship. “He will live. Feed him when he wakes. When the bandages fall off, send him back to us.” It was so loud that everyone fell to their knees.
After Adamarus was transferred to a gurney and rolled into the emergency room, the ship went quiet. Both the black platform and the black square returned to the ship and the ramp closed. The ship then sat there quietly doing nothing.
---
The city of Hillcrest had been a small town with a population of about 1,200 before the Hospital had been built forty-two years ago. Hillcrest was in the middle of nowhere which was the reason it had been chosen for the site of the new hospital.
Eight years before its construction, the victorious soldiers had returned from the twenty-year interplanetary war, bringing with them a virus picked up from the prisoners of war. The virus swept across the planet killing hundreds. The new center of medicine was located in an isolated area to keep it safe and functional should such a thing ever happened again.
The nearest small town was Big Rock forty-two miles away. Its large hydroelectric plant was another reason Hillcrest had been chosen for the hospital. Best of all, other than Big Rock, for almost a hundred miles in any direction, Hillcrest was surrounded by forests and mountains, all of it government owned land.
Being the planet’s central hub for medical training and research, the larger news networks had reporters permanently stationed in Hillcrest, so the news of the alien ship landing hit the wires within five minutes.
Within twenty minutes, all of the other news networks had reporters headed towards Hillcrest.
Within half an hour, news of the two ships had spread around the planet.
---
The government had a contingency plan for everything. However, some of these plans were somewhat old. In this particular case, eighty years old.
As it turned out, the twelve-man team of experts to be notified, and who would take the appropriate action in the case of alien contact, had all passed away years ago. Of course replacements had been appointed and re-appointed over the years. However, none of the current appointees had ever given any thought to alien encounters and, in fact, most didn’t even remember being appointed to what had become something of an honorary position, or worse, a complete joke.
And of course the ”procedures” that had been painstakingly worked out and documented eighty years ago were as lost as the clueless appointees. Fortunately, things went well despite all this.
Within an hour of the landing, the Hillcrest police cleared a five-block area around the ship and, except for hospital staff and patients, the public was kept away. The police passed the news up to the local government, who passed the news right up to the top, the President of Amular and its solar system colonies.
President James Olson Wicker, a cool-headed person with a ration of common sense, knew instinctively that a contingency plan and a team assembled eighty years ago would be useless now. He immediately had the most capable person he knew of tracked down, a fairly young commander named Patrick T. Leewood.
Then, knowing communication would be a large factor, he remembered an article he’d recently read on communicating with advanced computer AI systems – the article had likened it to communicating with an alien intelligence. The author was one of the top experts in the field of AI communications, Dr. Lorraine Harrington. He had her tracked down.
Finally he added the top four members of Amular’s Security Agency.
As each person was located, they were rushed to the nearest airport and air lifted, many via supersonic fighter jet, to Hillcrest.
Once everyone was airborne, a secure teleconference was set up with each of them and the President, and he personally briefed them. He put Leewood in charge, named Harrington as second in command, and told them to get on site, assess the situation and report back.
They could take whatever immediate action they deemed necessary with a priority on making contact.
Within five hours of the alien landing, the President’s special team, coming from different parts of the planet, arrived at the Hillcrest Airport within a forty-five minute time frame.
They met briefly in the lounge, then boarded two military helicopters which took them straight to Hillcrest General Hospital.
As for the seven-mile ship still in orbit, it had stayed out of the way, and for now, it was decided no one would approach it.
---
Dr. J. A. Kallen tossed the clipboard on his desk, “Captain Maximus has been unconscious since he was admitted. His wounds were horrific and, to tell you the truth, I do not know how he is still alive. They,” Doctor Kallen waved towards the window where the alien ship could be seen, "are obviously more advanced in the medical field than we are.” The doctor sat down behind his desk and looked at the five government men and one woman who had squeezed into his office.
Dr. Kallen was a good looking man in his early thirties, skinny as a rail with thinning blond hair, thick glasses and normally a ready smile which was absent at that moment.
A tall man stepped forward and pulled a wallet from his back pocket, “Doctor, I’m Commander Leewood.” He shook the doctor’s hand while holding up his ID in the other and Kallen studied it.
The ID confirmed Leewood’s rank, said he was from the Special Operations division but, most prominently as well as impressive, was the President’s Seal with the words ”Presidential Authority."
Leewood continued, “With all due respect, I’m going to explain the reality of the situation.”
He was the kind of person that stood out in a forceful striking way. His military bearing was obvious; ramrod straight, chin tucked in. His six-foot-four inch, 205-pound body was built like a tank – not the muscles of a weight lifter but rather those that came from an active and hard life. He wore his blond hair in a buzz cut and his face was all hard angles which gave him a very aggressive look.
His light hazel eyes were calm and confident but, if you looked carefully, they also subtlety darted around, aware of everything around him. However, sometimes when he focused on you, they seemed to go flat and gave him the look of a killer, a man you did not want to mess with.
There were other subtle and unusual contrasts to the man. Though he projected a poised and relaxed demeanor, somehow he was also always in motion. This added the impression of explosive, pent-up energy that was barely contained.
Kallen took all of this in but thought, it won’t change the circumstances.
“We’re here by order of the President.” Leewood waited for a reaction but didn’t get one. Leewood then fired his slow, intense command voice at Kallen, “We must speak with that man and we need do it right now.”
Doctor Kallen jumped slightly, then tried to cover it by lifting both hands in surrender, “I’m not stopping you. Knock yourselves out. But he won’t hear you and he darn sure won’t answer you.”
The female member of the team stepped forward, “Doctor Kallen, I’m Doctor Lorraine Harrington.”
Commander Leewood moved over a fraction of an inch allowing her the floor.
He actually knew everyone on the team but Harrington, but he immediately realized that a woman’s touch might work better here – especially a knockout like Harrington. Harrington was tall, thin and tanned, with full breasts just the right size for her height and build. Her high cheek boned face and full lips were stunning. She had green eyes and wore her long brown hair pulled t
ightly back in a bun. Her legs went on forever – no, Leewood wasn’t going to mind her assignment to the team at all.
However, when he had been told that she would serve as his second in command, he had balked.
President Wicker had assured him that she was a fireball and he’d be thanking him later. He was thanking him now. Wicker had also said something about there being no one experienced in figuring out how the mind of an alien might work, and that she was the next best thing. Leewood hadn’t known what the President meant, but intended to find out as soon as he could.
Harrington gave the doctor a smile that said, I appreciate the position you’re in. What she said was, “We need you to give him something that will bring him around.” She held up a hand before the doctor could reply, “As you can see,” she indicated the window and the ship beyond, “we have a hell of a situation here and we – your hospital – the entire planet for that matter, desperately need answers, and all the answers are in that room across the hall. I hate to say it, but the needs of the planet might outweigh any harm that might be done to the patient.”
Kallen nodded. She was perhaps right but… “I’m not sure anything will wake him up. I have no idea what to try. What would you suggest?”
Harrington closed her eyes for a moment then looked back up, “You’re his doctor, not me.”
“Well that’s just it. I’m his doctor now, however,” he waved once more at the strange ship outside his window, “they ‘were’ his doctors and we don’t know what, if anything, they gave him, nor what, if anything, will wake him up or what might kill him. As you already know, the doctor who stumbled onto Captain Maximus got very simple instructions from that ship.”
One of the agents flipped back through his notebook and read, “He will live. Feed him when he wakes. When the bandages fall off, send him back to us.”
The doctor nodded, “Word for word, and that’s what we are going to do, that and nothing more.”
Leewood moved to Kallen’s desk and tapped a file folder with Adamarus’ name on it. There wasn’t much in it as Adamarus’ records had not yet been transferred to Hillcrest. “Then what’s in this file?”
Dr. Kallen massaged his temples; he was getting a headache. “We are naturally conducting passive tests on him – in fact, every test we can think of. But passive tests do not affect the subject in any way. We take samples… stuff comes out but nothing goes in.”
“You mean stuff like blood tests and urine samples?” Leewood asked.
Kallen nodded, “Exactly.” Leewood started to say something else but the doctor cut him off. “That man had half of his head torn off. His body was pretty much severed into three parts, and a piece of metal ripped through his chest severing most of his internal organs. As I said, we do not have the skill to repair that kind of damage. Anything we might do beyond what whoever is out there told us to do would be a dangerous gamble. We could lose him and, correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe he is your only source of information…”
Kallen blinked realizing that was not correct, “…except for whatever is in that ship. If I were going to take a risk, I’d go with what’s out there for now. If Captain Maximus dies, out there is the only source you’ll have left.”
There was nothing the special team could say to that. Leewood looked out the window at the strange umbrella-shaped ship and nodded. He looked back at Kallen and tapped on the file again, then took a breath. His expression changed to sincere and earnest. He spoke in a low, friendly, we’re-all-in-this-together voice, “You’ve kept the identity of the patient classified?”
“Yes.”
“How many people know?”
“Only the people in this room, as far as I know.”
“It needs to remain that way. Destroy this file jacket and any other material with his name on it. Use “John Doe.” Also, all test results for John Doe must be classified, okay? No one sees them except you and those involved with conducting the tests unless it’s cleared through me.” His head lowered for emphasis, “This includes the patient and family members. I’ll need to be briefed on your findings later today.”
“Understood,” Dr. Kallen replied with a somewhat tentative smile.
Leewood placed a card on top of the file, “And I want to be notified the minute there are any changes in Adamarus’ condition, no matter what time, day or night.”
Dr. Kallen picked up the card and nodded while looking at it.
The six of them filed out of Dr. Kallen’s office, and once in the hallway, Leewood turned to the group, “Let’s approach the ship… see if anything happens.”
---
The five men and one woman walked out of Hillcrest Hospital’s emergency room and approached the alien ship. They walked in a rough V formation, coming to a halt approximately twenty feet from the craft. They stood there for several minutes wondering what to do next. They didn’t have to wonder long.
The voice was mechanical and, at first, so soft they could barely hear it. It repeated the same thing over and over, slowly increasing the volume as if it were unsure of what volume to use. It did this until the special team all held their ears and began dropping to their knees, at which point, the voice immediately stopped.
The voice had said, “We will only speak to the one we brought. We will prepare a place. Bring him when his bandages fall off.”
As the six watched, a roar issued from the craft. They could not hear it through their assaulted ears, but they could feel the vibrations in the ground. It rose in intensity, and a strong wind suddenly began to whip their jackets and ties. The six backed up a few steps. Some of them had trickles of blood coming from their ears. Then the ship slowly came off the ground.
Seven hours after the ship’s sensational landing, it floated up into the air and traveled east.
The President’s team could not hear the screeches from the news vans as they tore after the ship, but Commander Leewood noticed that something was missing. It only took a minute to figure it out.
He signaled to the team and ran back to the hospital and the helicopters which had landed on the roof.
---
The ship traveled twelve miles east, setting down in a large vacant field next to an exclusive area where most of the Hospital’s Board of Directors and high paid doctors lived in walled and gated mansions.
The news vans had a significant lead and had followed the ship in a hair-raising race across the city, running red lights, stop signs and causing several fender benders. When the ship set down in the vacant lot, they screeched to a stop and literally tumbled out of their cars clutching cameras and microphones. As they fearlessly approached it on the run, something strange happened.
Approximately 500 feet from the ship, it suddenly became hard to move forward. It was as if they had run into a wall of plastic wrap. After pushing and pressing forward another five feet or so, they were stopped completely. It was also kind of hard to breathe at that point, so they backed out and went around the parameter, testing different approaches.
As the sound of the choppers reached them, one of the reporters noted that birds were not affected by the strange thing that had stopped them, even at ground level. Luckily the two choppers landed before they encountered the barrier.
Leewood had the four security men deal with pushing the reporters back as he and Harrington ran into the force field first hand.
Their hearing had come back a little, but they still had to holler to be heard, which Leewood did, “When in doubt…” he looked at Harrington expectantly and got one of her soon to be famous facial shrugs “…hit it, kick it…throw something at it,” he deadpanned. She laughed and he went to work.
Rocks tossed at the field went right through. Leewood wanted to find out how high the field went, but flying the chopper into it could be dangerous. Finally they decided to send one chopper up to an altitude of 1,000 feet and see if it could fly over. After they explained their plan to the pilots, the pilots looked at them like they were crazy, then walked into the
force field themselves to see what it was like.
They walked back to the group and one started talking.
Leewood interrupted, “You’ll have to speak very loudly” and pointed at his ears.
“Well,” one of them said, “if we hit it slowly and it affects the rotors, we could probably feel it before any damage was done.” The other one nodded… but just barely. The first one continued, “And if it does not affect the rotors but it does affect the body, we could certainly tell that before any damage was done.”
The other pilot who had kept quiet, just nodding the whole time, then shook his head, “I’m sure as hell not doing it.”
The first pilot said, “I’ll do it.”
At 1,000 feet, the chopper flew above the alien ship without problem, so he retried it, dropping down in fifty-foot increments. At 500 feet, it looked like he was going to clear it, but as he neared the center, the skids began to drag, tilting the chopper forward. At once the pilot pulled the chopper up.
Harrington spoke, almost yelling. “Yeah, that makes perfect sense.”
Leewood turned to her, “How’s that?”
“Well, the diameter of the shield on the ground seems to be 1,000 feet or 500 feet away from the ship in every direction. If we’re looking at a hemisphere, a dome, it would be rounded and the chopper would encounter the top of the dome right where he did – near the center at 500 feet.”
Leewood nodded.
The alien ship had put up a sophisticated and selective force field which was a hemisphere 1000 in diameter. It let small things through but not man-size things.
Leewood said “Great” and motioned to the rest of the team to follow him.
The police had arrived and simply stared wide-eyed at the ship.
Leewood found the senior officer, a sergeant, held up his credentials and spoke to him. “I want a five-block parameter in every direction.” He was told that this had already been done. He looked around, upper class residential. Great. “Good work. For now, only people who live here can enter the area.”
He turned to his team and spoke loud enough for them and the sergeant to hear. “We need to get our ears checked, so first we go back to the hospital.” He turned to the sergeant, “We’ll be back in one hour.” He handed him a card. “Call if anything happens.” He turned and walked back to the choppers.
Encounters 1: The Spiral Slayers Page 4
