“Agent Woods and Donemore, get to that downed ship and try and find out if you can, why this one was destructive, while the other down ship didn’t cause any damage.
“Jeff, tell your boss everything that has happened and set up a press conference from here with all the TV stations so I can put a brake on the panic that will surely be the case now. I’m afraid we’re going to have to admit to the downing of an alien spacecraft.
“Someone get Harry at OIA on the line for me, and immediately. God, please let me be wrong, but it seems we might have another alien craft shooting at us!”
Harry’s voice came over the control room’s speakerphone like a chill going up one’s back on a cold night. “General, we had all four aircraft on radar. Until I analyze the tapes completely, it looks like soon after the F-10s shot at the large alien spaceship, a small, incredibly fast moving smaller ship approached the jets. Then, in a blink of an eye, there was only the large spaceship going down. Nothing else showed up on radar. Sorry, sir, but I think all three are down!”
“I appreciate it, Harry, that’s what the base said, but I wanted to verify it with you. Keep me informed if anything shows up again and give me the last coordinates you have on our jets.”
The situation was now public and about to be the biggest breaking news story of all time on the major networks. General Stormer knew the world leaders had better be informed in case something similar happened somewhere else on the planet. He made a call to the Secretary of Defense and filled him in on the two downed spaceships, and it was the Secretary’s job to inform the president, who would quickly make calls to the key world leaders, and before any statement to the press people. One was fully disclosed to the public, the other was in an isolated and protected area of south central Florida. Stormer also told the Secretary that two of our aircraft were missing, presumably down by a much smaller alien craft. People dying, but The General was still not convinced we were under any intentional attack. He filled the Secretary in completely and told him what he planned to say at a press conference currently being setup. He requested that the Secretary talk everything over with the president and his advisors to make sure their stories were going to be the same, and before a statement was issued by the president to the world at the news conference via a linkup to the White House.
Jeff told his boss what the General had said and what was going on. The channel link in Orlando would be recognized as the command center and all press conferences would be coming exclusively from WFTV Channel 9, Orlando. Normally this would be a channel newscaster’s dream, but the seriousness of alien spaceships causing severe damage, injuries and death at one of the local visitor attractions, plus the downing and assumed missing pilots, was taking away from any celebration anyone was feeling.
Emotions ran high as General Stormer addressed all the reporters from the local stations present at the news conference. Word was already out of a major catastrophe at Splendid China, and clear across the Atlantic, and reporters wanted to know what was going on. Stormer composed himself and looked down at his notes. “We’ve had an encounter with an alien spacecraft just a few hours ago over the general area of the Splendid China theme park.
“The craft released something into the rain that caused severe damage and injuries, and there are reported deaths. We’re not sure if these aliens did this on purpose, but, nonetheless, Air Force jets were dispatched to the area to shoot down the spaceship before any further damage was done, either by the acid rain or other alien weapons.
“At approximately 19:00 hours, two USAF F-10s shot at and brought down an alien spaceship in an isolated area just north of Disney’s Epcot Center. Shortly thereafter, a smaller alien craft approached our jets at an incredible speed and no further radar contact was made with any of the three, the alien craft and our two jets. Federal and local agencies are at the site of the downed spaceship and the FBI is in charge of investigating the situation.
“Other federal and local emergency crews are at Splendid China and as soon as I receive any new information on the matter I will relay it on to you.
“Please tell your viewers not to panic. The spaceship is damaged and on the ground, so I don’t anticipate any further danger to the public, though of course we cannot be certain. Please do not attempt to have your news helicopters, reporters or any personal approach the site and caution your viewers to do the same. We’re not sure what we’re dealing with, so the area has been completely sealed off for the public’s protection. Violators will be stopped from approaching the area by whatever means necessary. Violators caught a second time will be jailed.
“Ask your viewers, if anyone has sighted the other three craft, our two jets and the other spacecraft, to please contact your local police or TV station. Your co-operation in this crisis is extremely important.”
Within minutes, the word was out all over the world and as always the reporters’ spin was not what General Stormer had hoped for, and television helicopters were almost colliding with each other to show their viewers the scene at Splendid China. All programs on TV were interrupted with special newscasts of aliens being sighted and killing humans with a special weapon that dissolved them and everything nearby. Even the General’s warning to not approach the downed spacecraft was being challenged by inquisitive and unrelenting television helicopters, but the Army’s Apache attack helicopters burdened down, intimidating with an array of weapons on each wing, encountering each TV chopper and using bullhorns to make the point—leave the area or be shot down. This action discouraged even the most ambitious of news reporters and, for the moment, the Army was able to enforce its will.
Janet and the local FEMA people were out at Splendid China, along with every available emergency vehicle in the area. The first thing Janet noticed was the familiar pattern of destruction. The football-wide path came in from the west, through the park and headed out eastward. Inside the three hundred-foot area was destruction and death, but just outside the boundary everything appeared normal. Where the rain touched, things—all things—were dissolved. Janet could see everything in the open areas leading up to the buildings were completely gone. The naked virgin had returned. When the rain hit the bigger structures such as buildings and trees, it dissolved everything loose immediately, and as long as it continued raining the deeper the hard structures were affected. Oak and Palm trees, for example, lost their palms, leaves and branches immediately, the remaining trunk that stuck out of the ground was stripped of bark and leaving only naked wood standing, thinly tapered like a tooth pick. The first thing that disintegrated on the buildings was signs, canopies, shingles and rooftops. On brick and stone structures, just the walls were standing, completely stripped of paint and wood. Wood structures were almost completely dissolved except for the heavy structural beams. Anyone that had been caught out in the open and didn’t immediately make it out of the affected area died, agonizingly slow. Others that ran for cover and lucky enough to clear the dead zone were suffering with severe skin burns as if someone had thrown acid on them. Agent Donemore had forewarned Janet to make sure that all survivors were to be completely dried off and not to clean the wounds with water, as the Earth’s most abundant resource would reactivate the acid and cause more damage, ultimately killing off the person.
Woods and Donemore arrived on-site where the second alien spaceship came down, in an open field, just off Route 10, north of Disney, standing upright and looking enormous. Again, the spacecraft seemed to have glided to a soft landing. Onlookers were already stopping alongside the road and gazing in awe at the size of the weird looking craft. Agent Woods had a second team of specialists sealing off the area so no one could get within seventy meters of the downed spaceship.
As Woods approached for a closer look, particular attention was given to any tear in the hull for a possible entrance point. Unlike the earlier ship that was ripped open by missiles, this one showed no signs of damage. The F-10s in all likelihood did terminal damage to the bottom side of the craft, hidden from view. Agent W
oods instructed his team to try everything to find or cut a way in. Meanwhile, he called the team leader at the first site and requested someone give them a description of the outside of the downed ship where the missiles had done the damage. He figured if the two ship were the same, maybe they could use explosives to open the same kind of openings. They inspected the options for thirty minutes, looking for an entrance door and using cutting torches to try and cut through the ship’s outer walls. All efforts yielded nothing.
Finally, Woods received a call from the team leader at the first site who gave an exact description of the outer wall, some unusual markings and dimensions from the markings to the rip in the metal caused by missile impact.
Woods relayed this information to the rest of his team and the search began. Within minutes, someone reported the location of the markings. Woods then requested that the explosive guys get whatever they needed to blast open the same area. Meanwhile, Donemore requested that the air testing team be prepared to enter and run tests just as soon as an entrance was made available.
Ten minutes later, Woods, Donemore, the explosive and air-analyzing experts were counting down the final ten seconds of the planned blast. “Here we go— Woods said, ducking down, his head between his legs. A loud blast produced flying debris and dust, and they could see a hole of sufficient size had been blasted into the ship’s side. The air analysts rushed in to get readings before Orlando’s air mixed with the air inside the craft. Everyone else followed them in.
It immediately became apparent that the spaceships were identical. The same huge tubes six feet in diameter, the same pattern of four tubes in a row running up a hundred feet to the domed top. Woods said to Donemore, “I’ll check the engine room. You see if the control room is the same on this one. Stay alert— I hope this thing has some form of alien life aboard so I can have bragging rights for awhile.”
Woods hoped the spaceship was empty of life, just like the other one, fewer problems that way. The ugly, porcupine-shaped stadiums were probably just robot ships, being controlled to do whatever for carbon-based life bigger or smaller than Earthlings, certainly intelligent beyond our current capabilities, he told himself. Maybe the fast moving object that went after the F-10s was the controller ship, he mused. This thought was immediately disconcerting.
8
EGOS OF UPPER ECHELON GOVERNMENT PERSONNEL make for difficult inter-department cohesion under the best of circumstances, most department heads feeling their positions and authority to be most essential to the overall function and security of the United States of America, and at the expense of everyone else. So it was not unusual for The Director of the CIA to mumble under his breath when told by the Secretary of Defense to re-position the top-secret satellite (S1-M2) over the general Orlando area to look for UFOs. He felt the tests being done over Iraq were going well and the information was extremely important to our government and to his department. Looking for UFOs was not his idea of top priority. However, his attitude was quite different when the repositioning was accomplished and the first tests conducted and analyzed. He reviewed the results personally and immediately called General Stormer to inform him of the findings.
“We’ve had a hell of a day here, Director,” Stormer said. “Shot down two, maybe three alien spaceships and presumably lost two of our own boys. All hell is breaking loose down here, but I don’t think we’re being invaded, not yet anyway.”
“I’m not surprised to hear that, General, and I’m sure it’s in good hands.
“We repositioned the satellite as requested and I’m sending the results from the first tests over to you. As soon as you can, review them and give me a call to let me know what you want us to do next in terms of any further reconn,” the Director said, a note of anxiety in his voice.
The General had told Jeff that the Director of the CIA was sending data received from a special satellite over central Florida and asked if he could set up so they could analyze right away.
Jeff got right to it and within minutes data was being received and instantly displayed on the control room display screens. Jeff and the General watched as one by one the pictures came up. When the last picture came through, Jeff said, “God help us!”
Stormer interrupted, “Jeff, help me out here. I’m a little confused. What are we seeing?”
Jeff replayed the displays and explained what he was seeing on each picture. “I’ve never seen this type of storm radar before, but the first picture shows the actual thunderstorms and all the cloud patterns associated with each.
“The next picture somehow has filtered out all the clouds and shows what’s going on underneath each storm. I can see everything from buildings, streets, cars and lights, right down to individual people. It’s as if I’m in a helicopter looking down on a crystal clear night. All the displays are in infrared format. These big dark objects are something I’ll never forget. They’re the tops of the football-size stadiums that Al and I took pictures of when we were storm chasing!”
A chill went up the General’s back when Jeff made that statement, “You mean to tell me that each of the dark, round objects in these pictures that block out the streets lights and people is one of our UFOs, hidden in the clouds?” the General remarked.
Jeff looked at him and nodded his head.
“Holy shit, Jeff! I distinctly see two alien ships in the first picture alone! How big an area does this picture cover?”
“The first display is over Kissimmee, St. Cloud area in Osceola County, the next in the surrounding areas of Orlando, in Orange County. In that picture, there are another two objects. The next picture is west of Orlando, near Disney, and there is one there. The whole series of pictures are over a ten minute time frame and shows half a dozen floating stadiums.”
The General looked at Jeff in disbelief and mumbled, “How could so many go undetected for so long, before you and Al stumbled onto them?”
Jeff replied, “You have to remember, sir, that these objects are only being seen via infrared. This is the tourist capitol of the world. People don’t wear infrared goggles or even look to the sky unless there’s a shuttle launch. Only someone like me, with a crazy hobby like lightning chasing would even dream of looking to the sky with special infrared.”
“You’re right, Jeff, but I can’t imagine why so many of these things are here, on Earth, I mean. Why?” How long have they been here” Is central Florida the only place on Earth?
“I want Woods, Donemore and Janet to see this, so save everything until we get them back here,” the General said.
The phone rang. It was Woods. “General Stormer, this is Agent Woods. Agent Donemore and I have not found any alien life forms on this spaceship either. They seem to be identical, and we’re letting the scientists do their work. Have you heard anything more on the missing pilots?”
“No, but I want you and Agent Donemore to get your butts to central control, right now!” the General stated.
Agent Woods had worked long enough with General Stormer to know when the General’s concern about something was real, so he knew from his voice that something was up and not good for earth-people. He told Agent Donemore they were wanted back at the control room and informed the investigating scientists that they were heading out, that if anything unusual happened they were to be called at central control.
Janet was totally exhausted, physically and mentally dealing with the disaster at Splendid China. Just as she decided to take a break, Jeff called to tell her she was wanted back at central control as soon as possible. She wanted to know what was going on and Jeff filled her in on the results of the satellite tests and how there were at least another half dozen of these potentially lethal spaceships floating over the area, so identified on the CRT images.
“My god, Jeff! We have at least thirty people dead and hundreds either dying or going to be suffering a painful recovery from just one of these things! What does the General have planned to stop this?” Janet said.
“I don’t know, but he wants Woods, Done
more and you to get back here as soon as possible. I think in light of these new pictures, he wants to talk this out with everyone that has been close to the project before he makes the next move.
“How long before you can make it back here?” Jeff asked.
“I can leave the locals in charge and have someone drive me there now, maybe twenty minutes. Really looking forward to seeing you, Jeff. This is developing into a horrible nightmare. I’ll be happy to be near someone I care about,” she responded.
Stormer greeted each person on arrival.
Eventually, everyone was seated in the control room, and the General could tell they were all exhausted, a long day for everyone. “Okay, people, I know this is not the best time to brainstorm because we’re all physically and emotionally tired, but I have an update and we need to talk this out. We received the first tests results from a top-secret satellite a short time ago.
“Jeff, would you coordinate the display screens for everyone. What you’re going to see is before and after pictures. The first picture is an area with thunderstorms with all the cloud cover. The second picture is displayed using the satellites unique ability to eliminate the clouds completely and shows what you would see on a clear night, both on the ground and in the air.”
One by one the pictures came up and the General pointed out the obvious. The General continued, “We have not found our F-10s or the other presumably downed alien spacecraft, the small version. Both the F-10’s home base and Harry at OIA confirmed the aircraft showed up on radar, then nothing. I have F-16s in the area with orders to shoot if the small craft shows. Search and rescue helicopters are all over the area of the last position, looking for them. We now know there are a lot more of these big alien spaceships in the central Florida area. The question is, do we shoot more down, if so will the smaller craft shoot our boys down or do we leave them alone? I’m open for any suggestions.”
BAD RAIN: A SCI-FICTION THRILLER Page 9
