by Jay Cannon
On Earth, Uan’s UCD beeped, indicating a new message had arrived from dimensional space. Uan read it intently.
“Calvin,” called Uan, walking out on the living room balcony.
“Yes, Uan.”
“Come out here. We need to go to Tajikistan.”
Calvin walked onto the balcony. “Tajikistan! Why do we need to go there? And how are we supposed to get there? I don’t know if you can even fly there from the States.”
“Hold on!”
“Arghh,” Calvin screamed. The scenery around him had suddenly changed. “Where are we? And who are those…those…those things?”
“You are aboard one of our battle cruisers. Those three are crewmembers on this vessel. They are Euclidians, the people that I work for.”
“They are huge and scary looking is what they are,” said Calvin, trying to hide behind Uan.
The Euclidians belched out hearty laughs and started to chat with Uan in Euclidian. The ship took off and Calvin fell to the floor and slid to the back of the ship. Calvin got on his hands and knees and crawled into a seat and strapped himself in.
“Doesn’t this ship have artificial gravity or something?” exclaimed Calvin.
“Artificial gravity merely keeps you from floating around,” replied Uan. “It doesn’t defy the laws of physics.”
Uan said something to the crewmembers and they all laughed.
“I guess you people have never seen Star Trek,” said Calvin under his breath. “So why are we going to Tajikistan?”
“We need to pick up some canisters. There should be four of them.”
“Why do you need me?”
“I need you to negotiate with the leader of some freedom fighters who wants to swap the canisters for weapons. You will meet with him and get him to agree to the swap. When he goes for the canisters we will follow him and take them from him.”
“How am I going to convince him that I have the weapons he needs?”
Uan turned and pointed toward the back of the ship. “We have all the weapons you need in the cargo bay.” He handed his UCD to Calvin. “Here is an image of the man you will meet tonight at a tea room. Tell him you have a M1114 Humvee loaded with ten AT-13 anti-tank weapons. You can give him some of the 9K115-2 ATGMs. That will get his attention. Ask him for five million dollars. He won’t have the money. Hopefully he will agree to trade the canisters for the weapons. I will take it from there.”
“You make it sound so simple.”
“If it was simple I would just do it myself.”
The ship slowed and one of the Euclidians gave Uan a nod. “We are there, Calvin. The man you are looking for should be at the Orom Teahouse in Qal'ai Khumb.”
“Do you have an address?”
“No. It is supposed to be on the west side of town. It is a small village and should not be hard to find.”
“Great!”
The two were transported down into the night in a jeep just outside the village. They drove into the village and parked. While Uan waited outside, Calvin walked into the first place of business he could find and asked a person who spoke English about the Orom Teahouse. He returned the jeep, nodded to Uan, and minutes later they walked into the teahouse. Calvin carried a large briefcase. They took a table in a corner and ordered a pot of tea with biscuits.
After taking a few sips of tea, Calvin discreetly asked if the waiter could mention to a man at another table if he was interested in some exotic tea. The man came to the table and introduced himself as Sameer. Calvin introduced himself and Uan.
“So, da waiter say you have tea for me, yes?”
“Yes,” replied Calvin. “Why don’t you take this case to the privy and have a look at the tea in private.”
Figure 13. Calvin and Uan are approached by Sameer
Sameer grabbed the briefcase and was surprised by its weight. He took it into the privy and soon returned with a look of wonder. “Do you have pot to hold these tea bags?” asked Sameer.
“Of course,” replied Calvin.
“Let us walk and discuss your merchandise in private.”
Calvin nodded and the three of them stepped into the night air. Sameer asked if he could see more and Calvin agreed. He covered Sameer’s head with a sack and walked him to the jeep. They drove down the road a couple of miles and then were transported in the cargo bay of the spaceship.
In the cargo bay, a tent had been erected that contained a large armored vehicle filled with ten anti-tank weapons and one hundred missiles. Calvin took the sack from Sameer’s head so he could see the vehicle and weapons. Sameer couldn’t believe his eyes.
“This is what I want,” Sameer said excitedly.
“For five million dollars it’s yours,” replied Calvin.
“That is far too much money.”
“No problem. I’ll take you back and find another buyer.”
“Two million dollars?”
“Five million is cheap for what you are getting. I’m not giving away these weapons for peanuts. You obviously don’t have the money, so let’s not waste time.”
“Wait! What about a canister of plutonium?”
Calvin twitched as he realized what was in the canisters. “Make it two canisters and we have a deal,” said Calvin, pretending he knew their value.
Sameer pulled on his beard, sizing up Calvin and contemplating his offer. “It’s deal,” he finally stated.
They agreed to meet at the teahouse the next day to close the deal. Calvin placed the sack back on Sameer’s head and put him in the jeep. The transporter conveyed them to a spot near the teahouse, where they dropped off Sameer then returned to the ship. A dimensional probe was used to track Sameer as he met with an associate to whom he passed a note about the deal. The probe followed the associate to a cave where the canisters were being held. Uan cloaked himself, transported down to the cave, and killed everyone there. He found a total of four canisters and transported them to the ship. The Euclidians gave Calvin a high five before transporting him and Uan back to their home in DC.
“Wow, that was pretty exciting,” blurted Calvin. “I sort of feel like James Bond.”
“You performed well, Calvin. You should get some rest while I send my report to headquarters.”
Uan informed Captain Shisal that the canisters had been obtained and were safe aboard the ship.
“Great job, Uan. Now find that alien for me.” Shisal signed off and opened a new channel. “Security!”
“Security here.”
“Make sure the Earth spy gets his half-million Shekels.”
“Aye aye, captain.”
Back in Tajikistan, a duffle bag full of money appeared on the bed of a very happy man. He began singing, “If I were a rich man…”
CHAPTER 43
SATURN GOES MISSING
“Roger, it’s been confirmed,” said Paul in a worried tone. “Saturn is missing. No space debris has been found. No other anomalies have been detected that might explain what happened. Venus, Mars, Neptune and Pluto are all accounted for. The others are still out of our view. It appears that every planet that was out of our view has been destroyed or somehow vanished. Amateur astronomers are starting to blog and tweet about Saturn. We need to make a formal announcement.”
“So what do we announce?” said Roger. “We can’t just say Saturn’s gone and we don’t know why. Even if that’s the case, it would be irresponsible. We could explain away Mercury because of its size and proximity to the sun. Saturn is a different matter altogether. How could it vanish without a trace?”
Mark said, “We have to say something. Based on what we know, we can honestly say there is nothing to fear so far.”
“Then that’s what we’ll do. I’ll call the White House Chief of Staff and let him know.”
Later that night the president appeared on a television broadcast to announce the catastrophic discovery. He did all he could to allay fears about the catastrophe, but with so much unknown it was hard to stop rumors and panic. Stores were quick
ly mobbed and depleted of emergency supplies. There was wild speculation about what was happening, including the possibility that Saturn had fallen into the sun, taking Mercury with it.
Most scientists dismissed that theory on the grounds that it would have caused a noticeable change to the sun’s appearance. Little did they know that Saturn had been only a fraction of its original size when it entered the sun.
CHAPTER 44
MORGAN AND PICO DECIDE TO FIGHT BACK
At Morgan’s house the entire family watched the report. Like everyone else, they were afraid of what the news meant. Morgan’s foster mother went to the store to purchase whatever she could from what was left on the shelves. Not knowing what to expect, she bought everything she thought the family might need: water, food, warm clothing, batteries, flashlights, camping equipment, weapons, and ammunition. Most people were calling in sick or taking unplanned vacations from work.
Some people thought that the planets were disappearing one by one and eventually it would be Earth’s turn. Some speculated that it was the end of times and Armageddon was happening before their eyes. Churches were full of people praying, confessing, and getting baptized.
Other people were getting drunk or stoned, many for the first time. Others called family members they hadn’t spoken with forever. People were texting, emailing, IMing, Tweeting, Skyping and spending inordinate amounts of time on Facebook. Couples who had put off getting married were flying to Vegas to perform their nuptials.
Morgan and Pico didn’t have to speculate. They knew what was happening. The Euclidians were on their way. After the president’s announcement, they went downstairs to discuss their options.
“Pico, did those space marauders you told me about cause the disappearance of those planets?”
“That is almost certain. They probably mined Saturn out of existence, that is to say, mined to the point where it lacked the mass to maintain its orbit. On its way into the sun it more than likely collided with Mercury.”
“Their ship is large enough to swallow a whole planet?”
“Their ship is enormous.”
“What can we do to stop them?”
“I’m not sure there is much we can do. Your planet doesn’t have space weapons or military space vehicles. Your missiles can be easily destroyed before they reach their ship even if they make it that far into space. If you used nuclear weapons on the mining vehicles it might stop the mining, but it would also destroy life on Earth.”
“What about sneaking onto their ship and sabotaging it?”
“I can’t think of a way to get onto their ship. I got on by sneaking into one of their mining vessels before it was transported back to the mother ship. But they found me right away and threw me into a cell.”
“But you escaped and got around their ship to make it here.”
“Yes, but the ship has advanced security measures to keep anyone from becoming a threat to the ship itself. Even crewmembers would have a difficult time launching a successful attack. Remember, all I did was sneak off the ship, and I was lucky to do so. If I had tried to attack the ship I would have been killed right away. I’m certain I wouldn’t even be able to repeat what I did before. From the little time I spent being handled by their security team I gleaned that they are good at learning from their mistakes and resolving flaws in their systems.”
“We can’t just sit here and do nothing.”
“What if we told your government?”
“I’m afraid that if we convinced the government that an attack was coming, they would put all the supposed important people in a bunker then destroy the planet with nukes to keep the aliens from mining it.”
“If we stand by and let the aliens mine Earth,” said Pico through the bond, “we will probably be taken as slaves or put on display on some distant planet, but at least we will be alive. I don’t think Earth will be safe for anyone who is left after the mining operation. Even if it doesn’t fall from orbit there won’t be enough resources left to sustain life. They will probably take most of the water.”
“I say we fight!” said Morgan defiantly. “I say we sneak onto the ship and do what we can do disrupt their operations. We can bring some special forces with us. Maybe that assassin has weapons we could use to help us on the ship.”
“I hid in an access panel, a small area that you couldn’t fit into, let alone an attack force. And again, even if we found a way in, we would be helpless against their forces and technology. But I don’t know what weapons the assassin has or if we could use them. I’ll see what I can find out if we run across him again.”
“We have to try something. Maybe you could get on the ship with a small bomb to disrupt their sensors, and then more could follow in another mining vehicle. Maybe you could kill the captain and his bridge officers. Maybe you could destroy their engines. I don’t know what would work, but we have to try something. Before we go any further, I want you to adjust my brain so I can focus and stay awake and communicate more easily with you. Then we’ll go over ideas together until we come up with something we can do. We should consider informing the government tomorrow about the upcoming attack, in a way that doesn’t expose you to capture.”
“Okay, but I should probably wait to adjust your brain until after we come up with an idea. The transformation improves focus, but stifles creativity.”
“Got it. So let’s start brainstorming in earnest. Maybe we can include Denise. I’ll contact her tomorrow morning.”
CHAPTER 45
THE INVASION BEGINS
Uan recovered from his hangover and decided that he should hang out at the hospital in case Morgan was dumb enough to show up again. With his monitoring device he saw that Morgan’s mother had been moved from the room. He needed to find her and move the device to wherever she was.
Calvin drove Uan to the hospital and parked along the street. Uan cloaked and walked into the hospital to retrieve his surveillance device and see what he could find out from there. When he arrived there were two men fixing the window. He carefully removed his device while no one was watching. Another maintenance person walked in and expressed surprise at the mess.
“What happened here?” he asked.
“Some guy jumped out the window yesterday,” answered one of the window workers. “Supposedly he was trying to attack Dr. Turner or one of her patients. I guess he panicked and jumped to get away from security. I don’t know how anyone could have survived a jump from this far up.”
“That’s what happened,” said the second worker. “I was outside working on the electrical panel for the garage lighting when I heard the commotion. Something or someone landed on one of the cars by the curb and totally destroyed it. I heard it was a brand new Lexus. The owner was completely in tears. Anyway, the funny thing is that they never found the body or whatever hit the car. So what happened to the patients who were in here?”
“They’re around the corner, under guard. The lady by the window got some broken glass on her, but no cuts or anything.”
“Okay, guys, I got a thermostat to fix before our planet disappears. As if…” He laughed and walked away.
“See you, Mac.”
Uan was surprised that the stories about yesterday’s event had gotten so twisted. No one mentioned a funny looking little alien using extrasensory powers to throw an invisible creature through the window. Uan, having heard what he needed to hear, walked around the floor and found a room being guarded by a policeman. The door was closed. It would be too risky to attempt to sneak in by opening it or trying to follow behind someone else. Looking through the window in the door he could see that the room’s exterior window shades were closed. He couldn’t just stand in the hall waiting because his ability to cloak would eventually wear off. He placed the monitoring device under a chair in the hallway, its lens facing the guarded door. There would be a lot more alerts from the device due to people walking by, but he didn’t see a better alternative.
Uan tested the device and headed back to the SUV wher
e Calvin was listening to the radio as he waited.
“The woman was moved to another room with a guard. The boy and the doctor are not there. I do not expect them to show up today, but I want to keep watch just in case.”
“While you were inside,” Calvin responded, “I called the nurse’s station and asked when Dr. Turner would be back. The nurse said seven o’clock tomorrow morning.”
“I moved my surveillance device to a spot in the hallway where I can monitor the patient’s door. We can return at six-thirty tomorrow morning. In the meantime let’s just drive around and see what we can find. Can you search a database for him? I heard the alien call the boy Morgan when I entered the room yesterday.”
“His mother’s last name is Stewart. I’ll use Bing and see what I can find out.”
***
Later that night, at the Kitt Peak National Observatory southwest of Tucson, Arizona, where Roger and Paul had been analyzing reports for more than 24 hours, a new discovery was made.
“It’s confirmed,” said Paul, extremely disheartened. “Jupiter is missing as well! There are reports of moons from Jupiter or Saturn moving across the solar system, but they’re unsubstantiated. At this point we have to assume that something is destroying the planets and is headed this way. It could be something that is consuming them or maybe they are being displaced or broken up.”
“Pluto and Neptune are still there,” said Roger. “So whatever caused the disappearances entered the solar system farther in than those two planets. Later tonight we should be able to see if Uranus is still there. It’s more in line with the other planets so I expect it to be gone as well. If these disappearances are a natural phenomenon then there is nothing we can do except await our fate. Whatever it is may even destroy the sun before it reaches us. Alternatively, it could be an attack by an alien race, in which case we should consider trying to defend ourselves. But if an alien race can destroy or displace planets as large as Jupiter, I’m not sure what hope we have of defending ourselves.”
