BAD RAIN: A SCI-FICTION THRILLER

by Michael Mazzarelli

  “We were thinking he had contacted E-1 and the death ray was going to be on its way. But that’s not what he meant. He could feel the energy in the air and knew E-1 was on the verge of creating a new world for his kind—at our expense. He also knew we would all die when the atmosphere is ionized and we can’t breath anymore.”

  General Stormer responded, “So that’s what E-1 has been doing! Acting like the good alien from deep space was only a military tactical maneuver to hide his true intentions of taking over Earth. Well, even though he has superior technology, we aren’t going to roll over so easy.

  “First, I want everyone to start working together and put down on paper a master list of everything we know about this new moon since we thought it was our friendly little planet Pluto. Maybe by reviewing everything over and over we’ll find a clue to help stop or slow E-1 down.”

  Captain Stewart said, “You can use one of the computers over here to type in all the information. This way, I can get it displayed on one of the big screens so we can all see and review it at the same time.”

  “Great idea,” the General said, “while you guys get started on that, I’ll call Michael to get him back here and fill him in. I hope he’ll be able to give us something new on the pattern of those Collectors.

  “Captain Stewart, I want you to make copies of everything that Jeff just showed us and send them by courier to every leader of the superpowers of the world. We will find a way to stop this threat and when we have the answer we’ll need the rest of the world to be prepared to help us.

  “What surprises me is that this is all happening so fast. I wonder if the downing of the last two Collectors tipped off E-1 that we could see them and somehow he has accelerated the process of supercharging our atmosphere.”

  17

  THE CIA DIRECTOR WAS NOT A JOHNNY-COME-LATELY, and was one of the brightest of the bright, a man who had risen to the top of his field by sheer force of will and brains. “I think I might be able to answer part of that question, General,” Michael said as he entered the room.”

  General Stormer looked surprised and said, “Michael, I was just going to call you. I hope you have some new information we might use on—”

  “Yes, I have news and some on the way.

  “I took Jeff’s advice and did two things. First, we slowed down the speed of the film to see if we could get a still picture of that blur we kept seeing. Second, we repositioned our satellite to take pictures at different angles to the Earth’s horizon. I asked my people to direct feed the results to your computers here.

  “Captain Stewart, I’m sure your personnel can display the results on the screens for all to see.”

  Captain Stewart asked his video experts to bring up the data.

  The screen blinked for a few seconds, then a video of the night sky with thousands of bright stars appeared.

  Michael said, “Pick out an area in the sky that you’re familiar with, for instance the Big Dipper or Seven Sisters. Keep watching that spot very carefully and you’ll notice the picture blur just for a microsecond at constant intervals.

  “Now, keep watching that same spot as we slow down the film and watch what happens.”

  Jeff had picked out the Big Dipper as his spot to watch and was fully aware of the blur going by on the big display screen. As the film started slowing down, the Big Dipper remained the same, but the blur moved slower across the screen. The film was then slowed down as much as possible, enough for him to notice a faint but familiar image coming across the screen. Jeff’s stomach tightened.

  “This is the best we could do with the film originally taken.

  “The next video is from our new SDVR satellite. I haven’t seen this yet, I wanted to get down here and show you the immediate first results. On my way here, my people said this second video was ready and it was important to view it right away. That’s why I told them to send it directly here.”

  As soon as the video started, it was overwhelming how crystal clear the picture was from this new satellite. The screen displayed a picture of the Earth from outer space that was so awesome you felt you were seeing what only an astronaut had the pleasure of seeing. At first everyone saw Mother Earth, with her deep blue seas and pure white clouds. Then the new camera started zooming in directly down toward the Earth’s surface. As in zoomed in closer, it immediately adjusted the focus so smoothly that you thought you were descending with the camera. The closer it zoomed you could easily tell from the familiar landmarks that it was focused in on the Orlando area. Soon the familiar huge globe at Walt Disney’s Epcot Center was crystal clear. Jeff said to himself, My God! I bet if I went outside and waved, this thing would notice me. It would analyze, digitize and within seconds spit out everything about me down to my social security number and whom I’m dating. Big Brother is truly watching now, and whenever he wants. Incredible what they must be capable of doing with this thing. As he studied the picture more closely, he noticed the blur again. His focus went to the Epcot Center landmark and verified the microsecond blur at a constant interval.

  Slowly the angle of the camera moved up and sideways, displaying a picture of Earth’s surface at the horizon and the black edge of space. The beauty of the colors of our home planet against the total black background of deep space was breath taking.

  Then the camera stopped and locked in at the horizon. Slowly it began to focus on the blur that again could be seen only as a flash. As the camera focused more and more on the mysterious image, it became apparent the blur would come up from behind the horizon and across the screen at incredible speeds. After a short pause, probably for its computer to make the proper calculations, the camera started doing its magic, first picking up the fast moving object just as it came around from the backside of the Earth and staying with it all the way until it went underneath the satellite. It happened so fast that you couldn’t isolate the object. The camera seemed to be only working at picking up and tracking the object. It did this a few times until it had the tracking locked. Then, it started working on the focus. Each time the mysterious image appeared from behind the Earth’s horizon, it would pick the object up and take a still shot, then again at different intervals until it disappeared beneath the camera.

  Jeff watched the process and although the images were being shown far too fast to get a clear picture, the knot in his stomach tightened more and more. He was sure he recognized the blur.

  He stared at the display screen for some kind of verification. The camera was taking still pictures and displaying them faster and faster, until all of a sudden it seemed like the camera broke and the display went black for what seemed like an eternity. Then, as though the camera was the Director and Producer of a motion picture film, it compiled all the images and produced a perfectly focused video of the blur.

  Everyone watched the display screen in awe. The feature started with an image of our beautiful planet against the blackness of space. Then from around the backside of Earth came a line that seemed unbroken, extending from the North Pole all the way across to the South Pole. Whatever it was, it was not traveling at the breakneck speed of real-time. The camera and its amazing computer were slowing this thing down to a speed that could clearly work with the naked eye. The line began to approach the CIA’s satellite and the camera adjusted the focus as it did so. The closer it came, the closer it looked like it was on a collision course with the picture taking satellite. At first the line looked like a rope being swung around the Earth. The poles seem to be the jumper’s hands and the rope extended out above the Earth’s surface from there. As the line came closer and closer, the details started showing what this mysterious blur in previous pictures were all about. It was not a solid line, but a perfect coordination of individual flying objects. The big horny flying stadiums, E-1’s Collectors! They were flying in perfect formation, side by side from one end of the Earth to the other. As they approached the satellite and flew underneath, it was incredible to watch this line of alien spacecraft flying only inches apart, yet in a
line so perfectly straight.

  No one said a word as they watched the “Blue Angels” of the alien world do their thing, again and again around the Earth. The longer they watched the more they realized that this unbelievable line of space ships was not just flying a perfect formation around our Earth’s surface, each of the Collectors was firing bolts of lightning at different intervals down toward the Earth’s surface.

  Jeff was the first to break the silence, “General, I think you mentioned that E-1 was somehow accelerating the process of supercharging our atmosphere. I would say from the looks of this video, he has done just that. I’ll call my friend, Allen, at NASA, and see if the atmosphere is still collapsing at the same rate.”

  The General said, “See if he can give us another read on how long before the earth’s atmosphere is going to be deadly for humans and some insight on what will happen as the atmosphere starts to change.”

  Jeff grabbed his cell phone and placed a call to NASA. Allen was not in, but NASA assured Jeff they would find him and have him call back immediately. Jeff relayed the message to everyone.

  Then the General addressed everyone in the room. “If anyone had any doubts before, I think this video eliminates any question of E-1’s intentions. Our top priority now is to figure out how we can destroy him.”

  Captain Stewart asked, “Don’t we have capabilities of firing a coordinated missile launch with some of the other superpowers of the world? Maybe by sending up a large number of missiles, E-1 won’t be able to destroy them all or at least they’ll distract him long enough to give us more time to think of something else.”

  “The missile launch might be a long shot Captain,” the General said, “but you bring up an interesting idea. If we can do something to slow down what E-1 is doing or even distract him, it might give us an edge. I know we have a few new toys in orbit, including five LASER satellites and two new Ion-warhead missile platforms.

  “Michael, if I can get approval from the Vice President, I mean, President, can your spy satellite coordinate the firing of our LASER satellites? If this can be done, every pass that the aliens make, we can fire our LASERS and hopefully shoot down a few. Then when E-1 realizes we are destroying his precious Collectors, he might be distracted enough for us to fire the Ion missiles at the Mother lode.”

  Michael answered, “I think that can be arranged, sir. Let me check with my people and confirm it.”

  Woods spoke up, “General, I know we’re pressed for time and you have the knowledge of secret weapons, but I like your original idea of brainstorming. If we spend the time putting everything we know up on the display screen, everyone can help formulate an overall plan of attack. I just hate to fire missiles hastily, only to find out later we needed them for another plan that was better.”

  “Spoken like a true General, Woods! You’re right, it would seem,” the General said. “Let’s not be too hasty and plan for the unexpected. I will contact the President and fill him in.

  “Michael, verify if the satellites can be coordinated and I want the rest of you to start working on operation Bad Rain. As soon as Michael and I are done with our calls, we’ll sit here with you guys and lay out a full step-by-step battle plan.”

  Woods, Donemore, Jeff and Janet started working on an outline of everything they knew had happened in dealing with E-1 from the very beginning. The devastation on the ground, seeing flying horny stadiums then shooting them down, Pluto moving, communications interrupted, the “friendly” side of E-1, and so on.

  Suddenly, Woods blurted out, “My God! I totally forgot about the two Collectors the General just ordered to be shot down! With everything happening so quickly, I forgot to send our teams out to investigate the downed craft. Maybe we’ll learn something new. You guys keep working, I’ll make some calls and get some people out there.”

  As Woods manned the phone, Janet said, “ I see now why he suggested brainstorming. I totally forgot about two huge Collectors sitting out who knows where and no one even analyzing them for clues.”

  The group continued putting down the progression. The alien pilot, the new moon changing colors, the light ray, total vaporization of all alien presence, the hospital, White House and Pentagon. The list grew longer as Michael, the General and Woods finished their calls and joined in. Finally they had finished, and the group stared silently at the big display screen, each person analyzing in his own way the headings, looking for some sort of sign that could direct a weakness in E-1’s plan to colonize planet Earth to his liking.

  Woods made the first comment. “From the beginning, E-1 has done everything he could to protect his huge Collectors. The second we shot down the first two, he made his presence known. Before we could analyze and investigate the downed ships, he uses his light ray to vaporize them. When asked about more Collectors flying around, he denied as much and lied about the number. I realize that these so called Collector ships are important to his mission of changing our atmosphere, but they also could be key to helping us stop E-1 dead in the water.”

  The General said, “I agree he has protected the Collectors, but he also equally protected the pilot. He wiped out our President because we lied about capturing his pilot.”

  Donemore jumped in the conversation, “Yes, but E-1 made no attempt to stop us from interrogating his pilot at the state prison and didn’t even retaliate after he died. But look how he responded when you just suggested you were going to destroy two of his precious Collectors. He fired on the TV station and killed thousands at the Pentagon just to try and prevent that. I think Woods is right, the Collectors are his strength and therefore his weakness.”

  The Director added, “If you look at the outline of the chain of events, when you guys first asked me to do some picture taking, I made no mention of the blur. That means that E-1 has only recently put Collectors in orbit around The Earth, otherwise the blur would have shown up on the original pictures. I think he knows we are aware of what he’s doing and has taken steps to accelerate the process before we figure out a way to stop him.”

  General Stormer asked, “Let’s drop the issue of the Collectors for a minute, does anyone pick up anything else?”

  The room went silent again as everyone checked the screen for clues. No one responded to the General’s question.

  “Okay, let’s concentrate on the Collectors. Agent Woods, you said they could be the key to stopping E-1. Did you have an idea?”

  “My first thought was to collect as much information on them as possible,” Woods said. “Such as, is there a pattern of them docking with ‘Mother’ and then flying to Earth? The original satellite showed them in areas common with thunderstorms this time of year. Are they still out there or have they all joined together to form the circle around the Earth? Can we predict how many of them are out there at any one time and if we use our satellite LASERS, how many can we destroy before E-1 stops us?

  “Can we launch a coordinated effort with our allies to fly search and find missions to see if we can determine how many we see in a given time period?

  “After finding all this out, we might be able to coordinate a strike, both with the LASERS circling Earth and the ground aircraft from around the world. Combined, it might be enough to stop E-1’s plan.”

  The General looked around the table and said, “Does anyone have any other thoughts?”

  The room went silent.

  “Okay, Michael most of what Woods just mentioned is your area of expertise. Can you get on it right away!

  “Captain Stewart, while the CIA is doing its thing with their satellites, would you send up a group of your aircraft to see if any Collectors can be located. This way we can confirm each other’s findings.

  “Jeff, would you call NASA again and see if your friend Allen can give us how many days we have left.

  “Woods and Donemore, I want you guys out at the downed Collectors. Maybe you and your people can find some new information on these huge ships.

  “Janet, I want you to analyze what action we shoul
d do if we start shooting down Collectors around the country. Should we alert the public and create a panic or just start firing and create a panic. Sounds like a lose-lose situation. I’ll call the President and get approval to use the new LASER and Ion satellites. Let’s meet back here in two hours, hopefully with enough information to form a strategic battle plan.”

  As Woods and Donemore were flown by helicopter to the downed Collectors, they talked about all types of game plans. It was finally decided that nothing short of a miracle would save mankind. As they talked, a voice came over the pre-selected channel. “Agent Woods, this is Ground Team Leader One. Please make sure you tell your pilot to come in from the south, very low and land at least one thousand feet from the first Collector he sees.”

  Woods replied, “I think he just heard your request, but I’ll make sure he does. What’s going on?”

  “You’ll see when you get here.”

  By the time they landed, Woods, Donemore and the pilot were dying with curiosity. Woods had wanted the pilot to fly up high to see what was going on, but cooler heads said follow the instructions they were given. They were met by the team leader and escorted toward the first Collector. As they moved away from the noise of the helicopter, Woods asked, “What’s happening”?

  The leader was obviously extremely excited about what they had found and said, “You’re not going to believe this.”

  At the first Collector, Woods and Donemore both stopped and stared. They were looking at a scene common to central Florida’s competitive restaurant market. But instead of seeing a tourist attraction like a building upside down or one with an airplane stuck in its side or, ironically, a building looking like planet Earth, they saw a huge alien Collector ship, upside down with two automobiles hanging from its sides.