The General responded, “Reports started coming into the station that the Mother Ship had changed colors again and fired two bolts similar to last night’s. Then the station manager came in and said that ORMC was hit by a light bolt, and no longer there. Then he told me the second bolt hit and vaporized the White House.
“The President of the United States and his family are dead!
“I can’t understand how an advanced civilization such as these aliens could possibly be so cruel and barbaric. Why would E-1 destroy a hospital and then the leader of our country just because we didn’t tell him we had one of his pilots?
“Besides, that thing lied about all the goddamned Collectors he said he didn’t have in the area. So what’s he trying to hide?”
14
THE ROOM WAS SILENT.
Woods and Donemore just stood there, in a state of shock over what they just heard. Finally, Woods said, “You’re right, General. That black-eyed, neon light bulb, E-1, must be paranoid about something. He doesn’t want us to have any evidence of any kind and I’m beginning to think it has nothing to do with our evolution. He’s covering up something and my gut says it’s detrimental to his welfare.”
Just as Woods finished talking, the speakerphone rang and the General walked over and pounded the speaker button with his fist, “What?” he said, annoyed at the invasion of privacy.
“General, this is E-1. Your leader seemed to have great confidence in you at our last meeting, so I decided to contact you and see if you still have my pilot— Or was he destroyed?”
The General’s face turned red with rage as he responded. “You spineless, alien barbaric bastard! Why did you level the White House and kill our leader?”
“He lied to me, and I will not tolerate your pathetic civilization lying to me about my species. We are a far superior race than you primitives and could have saved the pilot if your leader told us the truth in the first place. Let that be a warning to you when you responded to my question, ‘Is the pilot still alive?’ ”
The General was furious. “I don’t take warnings from anyone and if I did, I’m sure you would not be on my list! Yes, we have your pilot and you know what? You’re never going to see him again. With all your superior technology you will never know where he is or what we’re going to do to him, but I guarantee it’ll be worse than what you did to our President.
“Furthermore, you underestimate our ‘pathetic civilization,’ because I’m going to shoot down a few of your precious Collectors just to piss you off!”
Woods hit the OFF button on the speakerphone. “General, I understand your feelings and agree a hundred percent, but if I know E-1 his ship is turning colors right now and we have to get out of here.”
Totally ignoring Woods, the General touched a button on the speakerphone and said, “Bad Rain One to Air Blue Base, come in—”
“Blue Base here, sir. What can we do for you?”
The General responded, “Send up your F-10s in teams to search for any alien Collector ships. Use the infrared and the first two Collectors you encounter, shoot them down—now.”
“Air Blue Base to Bad Rain One. It would be our extreme pleasure and honor, sir. We heard about our Commander in Chief. Blue Base out.”
Woods commented, “You got balls General, I just hope you didn’t start Earth War I. Let’s get the hell out of here so we can hopefully live to see what happens.”
Donemore hadn’t waited for the General to finish talking to E-1. She was out of the room when he said, “I don’t take warnings from anyone!” She went from room to room yelling for everyone to evacuate the building. After what had transpired the past few days, no one needed any explanation as to why to evacuate. They just did it and quickly.
Once outside the station, the watch began. Everyone was looking up at the alien moon as it began to turn colors. The General looked around at all the station employees and yelled, “Get into your cars and get away from this place.” Then he turned to Jeff and asked, “Is there another place in the area to set up a command post?”
Jeff thought for a second and replied, “The Naval Training Base is just down the road, across from The Executive Airport. I believe they could meet our needs.”
“Great,” the General replied. “Woods, Donemore, Jeff and Janet, get to your cars and let’s follow Jeff to the Naval Base. Jeff I’m going with you.”
Away from the station, Donemore asked, “I knew he wasn’t going to take a warning from anyone, let alone an alien that just eliminated his Commander-In-Chief and long time friend. What did he say to E-1?”
“Basically, he told the alien light bulb that we had his cherished pilot but he was going to take great pleasure in hurting him and for kickers, E-1 could kiss off a few of his Collectors. I would have done the same.
“Boy, would I have loved to be a weightless fly on that alien ship, just to watch E-1’s reaction to what the General said,” Woods responded. “Bet that neon bastard flashed off and on like a red Budweiser sign in a bar. But we’re not talking about a Russian General here. God only knows what the alien shit can do with his death ray if he short-circuits.”
Donemore was listening but also watching the alien Mother Ship. She knew from first glance when leaving the TV station that it was changing colors. She had seen it twice before and knew what it meant. As they drove along on the flat Florida terrain, she knew that Woods did not fully grasp what was going on. “Look, Woods!” The alien ship was at full power, orange as the early morning sun and two lightning rays were emitted and heading toward Earth.
“You can bet one of those is for the TV station. The second one is the big question. What would E-1 eliminate this time? At least wherever the second bolt hits will be fast and painless,” Woods said.
As Jeff drove toward the Navel Base, Janet started questioning the General. “Sir, what happened and why is E-1 so mad? I thought we all agreed he was friendly and we didn’t have to fear an alien presence?
The General responded, “To give you the short answer, Jeff’s theory was correct. Donemore and Woods used electricity to revive the alien pilot, who in turn contacted E-1. The head prick then decided to fire up his ship’s lightning ray, firing two at us. One destroyed the hospital and the second vaporized the White House—all because we lied about his pilot. A lot of people died, including the President and his family. After the moron destroyed everything, he still wasn’t sure if his pilot was still alive, so he contacted me at the station. I told him we still had his beloved brother, but I had every intention of treating him worse then he treated our President. That’s why you see two more death rays going across the sky. I’m sure one is for the station and the other is some form of punishment—”
“So my theory was correct,” Jeff said, “and they do feed off electrical current? Did the alien talk to them or do anything besides contact his boss?”
The General said, “The pilot talked through the transmitter in his helmet. He said E-1 was going to hurt us. Then he shot a bolt of electricity out at one of our agents, killing him instantly.”
“Wow, I can’t believe he rejuvenated that quickly! How did Woods stop it from killing more agents?” Jeff said.
“He said he dove for the plug that was feeding it and pulled it out from the socket. As soon as he did that, the alien collapsed again,” the General said.
Before Jeff could get another question in, the General’s phone rang. It was the Director of the CIA. “Sir, this is Michael, and I’m in-flight to Orlando. Will arrive at Executive Airport within the hour. Can you pick me up there?”
Stormer said, “Certainly, Michael. This is a surprise. Have you any new news on E-1?”
“Sir, I don’t want to talk over the phone. I’m afraid if ‘he’s’ listening, we could both be in danger.”
“I understand. As soon as you arrive go outside immediately and get into a cab. Tell the driver to take you to Channel 2’s TV station. I’ll pick you up there,” the General said.
As soon as hanging up, S
tormer told Jeff, “Pull over to the first public phone you can find. We have a guest coming in from Washington and I don’t need E-1 eliminating him before I can get to him. Is there more then one exit from the airport? I want to stop all cabs coming out starting in fifteen minutes.”
Jeff could tell from the sound of the order that he wasn’t going to ask questions. As he pulled into the next 7/11 convenience store, he said, “General, there is only one exit that comes out to Route 50. You could set up a road block there.”
“Thanks, Jeff. I’ll only be a minute.”
While the General ran to the public telephone booth, Woods and Donemore pulled up to Jeff’s car and asked what was going on. After Jeff explained, he asked Woods if the alien pilot shed any new light on what was going on. Before Woods could answer, the General was back at the car. “They’ll set up a road block in ten minutes. That should be plenty of time to intercept the Director as he leaves the airport. I also told them to call Channel 2 and evacuate everyone from the station for at least another two hours. That way, if E-1 was listening and decided to take out the station, no one would be hurt. Let’s get to the Base and get a new control room setup.”
With that, both cars headed back out onto Route 50 and the Naval Training Base. It only took a few minutes from the 7/11 to reach the base, and the General jumped out of the car and approached the Gate Guard who immediately snapped to attention with a sturdy salute.
“Son, get your Commander on the line for me.”
The young sergeant replied in typical military bravado, “Sir, yes, sir.” The sergeant went into the small gatehouse and placed the call.
Within a few minutes, the Base Commander was talking to Stormer and said to the General, “I have the perfect command room for you, sir. I’ll call and make arrangements and send a car to the front gate for an escort.”
The General said, “Thank you, Captain. I also called your motor pool earlier and requested a roadblock be set up coming out of the Executive Airport. I need a certain individual to be intercepted and brought here.
“Sorry I went over your head, but it was an emergency and didn’t have time to go through proper channels. As soon as that individual is found, I want him brought directly to the control room. I’d also like you to meet us there.”
The different branches of The United States military have always had a certain sort of resentment toward each other. Call it competition or jealousy, but screaming matches usually erupt when Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine personnel get together. Call it a military thing. But when a crisis was at hand, they were the first to unite, defend and depend on each other. Normally the commander of a Navy base didn’t like taking orders from an Air Force General. But everyone knew that the President of The United States—the Supreme Commander and Chief of all branches of the military—had just been killed and now was the time to work together to find a common solution to the threat at hand.
Within minutes a car showed up and a young officer asked them to follow. The General and his people were escorted to a special building and chaperoned inside. It was obvious they needed an escort, what with three security check points before arriving at a large room deep inside the bowels of the building.
“Welcome, General Stormer,” a tall man in Navy whites said. “I’m base commandant, Captain Stewart.”
The General responded by returning the salute Captain Stewart was giving him and said, “Thank you.”
Nothing else was said right away because General Stormer and his group were in awe over what they saw. The room was ten times larger than what they were used to at Channel 9. The walls were covered with display screens showing weather conditions, locations of ships and aircraft around the world—within three yards of actual location. Navy officers were sitting behind large computer screens strategically placed so that each officer could watch the monitors on the wall and bring up whatever they needed on the computer in front of them.
An alarm sounded and a voice came over the intercom system in the room. “Air Blue Six to Air Blue Base Command, come in.”
One of the Navy Officers responded, “Blue Base here.”
“I have visual on enemy, permission for Air Blue Five and Six to attack at will.”
The officer quickly pushed a few buttons on his computer and instantly one of the large screens showed the location of the two fighters. There were only two vectors being shown, and the alien aircraft did not show. The screen also indicated they were in an area south of Kissimmee and quite isolated. “Captain Stewart, we have target in sight over an unpopulated area. Waiting your approval, sir.”
Stewart turned and looked at a shocked General Stormer and said, “Sir, your orders were to take down these big ones. If you want that changed, now is the time. Otherwise I’m giving the approval to fire.”
The General responded immediately, “The order still stands!”
Stewart announced to the control officer, “Take it down—”
“Air Blue Base to Air Blue Five and Six, you have permission to fire. Repeat—you have permission to take it out,” said the officer at the control panel.
“Air Blue Six to Air Blue Five, I’ll lead, you stay on my tail. Arming Mavericks, as soon as I fire, I’ll break right and you fire yours. Let’s hope we get it on the first try. Good luck.”
“Roger that, Air Blue Six.”
In the control room, everyone watched as the big display screen showed the small green vectors heading toward an unseen target. Within a few seconds they heard the first pilot say, “This is for what you did to our Commander in Chief asshole— Burn in hell!” Both Mavericks were fired and he broke right. “Roger that!” the second pilot said, firing his two Mavericks.
Both jets turned quickly to make a second run but it was obvious it wasn’t necessary as the four Mavericks hit their mark and the big floating stadium started heading down. “Air Blue Six to Blue Base, we have one less alien ship in our air space, sir!”
General Stormer looked at Captain Stewart and said, “I had no idea Blue Base was located here. For some reason I thought you would be in Pensacola with all the other Naval paraphernalia.”
“That’s the whole idea, keep the command center in a secret location. As long as we stay hidden, we can control our ships and aircraft anywhere in the world—and right from here. Hopefully, E-1 won’t figure that out,” Stewart said.
The alarm sounded again, “Air Blue One to Blue Base, Air Blue Two and I have second enemy in sight, request permission to fire.”
The officer at the control screen gave a quick glance at Captain Stewart who in turn nodded his head. “Blue Base to Air Blue One And Two, you have permission to fire.”
Within a few minutes, conformation came that the Navy aircraft had accomplished what the General had requested. Two of E-1’s precious Collector ships were no longer in service. A loud cheer went up and clapping came from all personnel in the room. Captain Stewart turned to General Stormer and said, “Mission accomplished, sir.”
“Thank you, Captain. I just hope my order to bring down those two ships doesn’t prove fatal to our civilization. This Alien says he’s friendly but his actions certainly indicate he’s hiding something.”
“Well, if it’s any consolation to you, sir, I would have done the same.”
“Thanks again, Captain, and thank your personnel for a job well done. I wish I knew where that second lightning bolt hit from the alien moon. Could you put your people on it, to find an answer?” the General asked.
“I’ll get right on that. In the meantime, if any of your people need anything, just ask. I think we have everything here to meet their needs.”
General Stormer walked over to his group and said, “The Captain has taken down two of E-1’s Collectors, and now he’s trying to find out where the second bolt hit. He said his facility is at our disposal, so if anyone has any ideas and needs something now is the time to ask.”
Jeff spoke up, “General, Janet and I were doing some research on the earth’s atmosphere. I’d l
ike to continue that as soon as possible.”
“Certainly, just ask Captain Stewart what you need and he’ll supply it if possible,” replied the General.
After Jeff and Janet left, Stormer turned to the two FBI agents and asked, “The three of us have worked on some weird cases with the Blue Book Files before. In some of those cases we used our gut feelings, which turned out to be right and helped solve them. What’s your gut feeling on this one?”
Woods responded first, “My gut has been saying, ‘Give me some Rolaids, something is not settling properly here—’ and ever since I first heard that E-1 flasher talk to the President. Bottom line, I don’t think they’re here to recharge their batteries!”
Donemore said straightway, “I sense something’s wrong, but this is the first time we actually dealt with real aliens. Maybe we just don’t understand them and how they react to certain situations. Look at how they responded to us when we kept one of their pilots prisoner. How would you respond, General, if E-1 had one of your men and didn’t tell you? Look at how you reacted to him killing our President. I just don’t know if it’s their way of doing things or if they’re really trying to hide something.”
15
NAVAL AND MARINE PERSONNEL STOPPED EVERY CAR coming out of the Executive Airport in search of the CIA Director. Once found, the roadblocks came down and he was escorted to the Naval Base. The Director thought it unusual that roadblocks were set up searching for him, but these were unusual times and he wasn’t going to second guess the General that had ordered them. Sometime you have to put your trust and fate in another person’s hands and the information he was carrying in his briefcase indicated now was the time. The information had to get to the General and he was a nervous wreck ever since leaving Washington that he would die in a sorrowful attempt. But all was put to rest upon arrival at the Navy base.
“Hello, Michael,” General Stormer said, as the Director walked in. Before Michael could answer, Stormer introduced him to Captain Stewart. “Sorry I had to intercept you at the airport, but I couldn’t take the chance of telling you over the phone what I was going to do. After what happened to the President, I don’t know what this alien is going to do next. So what brings you down here? I hope you have something that can help us figure out this mess.”
BAD RAIN: A SCI-FICTION THRILLER Page 16
