The Zeta Grey War: New Recruits

by D F Capps

  The Zeta Grey War:

  New Recruits

  by

  D F Capps

  Copyright 2017

  All rights reserved.

  Prologue

  A cold wind swept past Daniel Zadanski and his twin sister, Diane, as they climbed the half dozen steps to the wide porch on their family home at the end of the day. At seventeen, their life was still a mixture of chores and play. They turned to face the chilly air pushing in from the southwest. Lightning flashed, followed quickly by a loud clap of thunder.

  “Storm’s breaking,” Diane said.

  Then it dawned on him, “Oh, jeez, I left my varsity sweater out by the pond.” There was still enough light high up in the sky for him to see the ground. “I’ll be right back.”

  In two long strides he reached the ground and took off across the grassy field.

  “You better run fast, or you’re going to get soaked,” she yelled, chuckling at his absentmindedness.

  He ran into the numbing wind, watched the flashes of lightning, timed the crash of thunder, and tried to estimate how long it would be before the downpour started. Just before he reached the pond, a large, bright white, glowing, disk-shaped object swooped low over the trees and stopped directly in front of him. It was maybe fifty feet across and so bright that it bleached the color out of everything around him.

  His heart pounded in his ears, his breath was rapid and panicked as paralyzing fear flooded his body. He tried to turn around and run back to the house, but only his head would move. Diane was running to him. A tingling, electric energy surged through his body and a humming surrounded him. He felt helpless and unable to move as he floated up into the glowing disc.

  * * *

  “Danny!” Diane screamed as she raced to help him. “Danny!”

  She watched in horror as he was sucked up into the glowing object. She slowed to a stop as the bright white craft swept over her, totally silent, yet terrifying in its power and speed. She turned, unable to take her eyes off the glowing disk.

  “No, no, no, no!” she shrieked hysterically as it disappeared over the house and into the gathering clouds.

  * * *

  Daniel’s head throbbed as he opened his eyes. Two bright overhead lights obscured the surrounding room. He sensed movement around him and tried to look to the side. His mind cleared enough to realize he was lying naked on a cold metal table, unable to move. Panic gripped his mind, his breath rapid and shallow as his heart raced. His eyes darted from side to side.

  Something touched his right arm. He strained to see what it was. A large gray head with huge black eyes loomed over his right side. It had a tiny nose and a small, horizontal mouth above a scrawny neck. Its long fingers traced a line down his arm, over his elbow, and to the middle of his forearm where it stopped.

  No, no, no! Don’t touch me! Daniel’s mind screamed. Get away from me! He wanted to scream and yell, but he couldn’t make a sound.

  The thing pressed down on Daniel’s forearm with its finger. The creature looked at Daniel’s face as pain radiated the length of his arm. His reaction was to recoil away from the creature, but his body still wouldn’t move. It continued by touching Daniel’s chest and moving its rough fingers downward to his waist and beyond.

  No! Daniel’s mind cried out. Get away! Don’t touch me there!

  The creature hooked some kind of device to him down there.

  No! I don’t want this. Stop! his mind shrieked.

  Pain shot through him from the device as his sperm was quickly extracted from his body.

  Another creature appeared on his left side. It pulled his left leg to the side and stuck a large needle into the inside of his right leg.

  Daniel’s anxiety level spiked as he felt the needle penetrate his upper leg bone.

  Bone marrow! His mind shouted. They’re taking my bone marrow!

  More of the creatures were collecting around him, touching him, poking him, probing inside of him, and taking multiple samples from his body.

  Daniel felt totally out of control: completely helpless.

  One of the creatures leaned over his face, six inches away, and stared into his eyes. The effect was powerful and immediate: He couldn’t look away. He couldn’t resist. He was aware of the creature searching his memories, thoughts, and feelings; examining and cataloging everything in his seventeen years of life. Nothing was private. Everything was there to be seen by this thing.

  Thoughts came into his mind: Violent, dangerous thoughts. His heart felt as though it was thrashing around inside of him. Panic took control. His emotions flared as he saw images in his mind of his mother and his sister, Diane, being tortured and burned. They were screaming in pain and agony. Tears flowed from his eyes, but still he couldn’t move.

  The creature stepped away from him, but his emotions continued to rage out of control.

  This has to stop, he thought. It has to end. Focus. This is my mind. I control it. Not you.

  He thought about the hours and discipline it took to learn how to sink his free throw shots on the basketball court: the focus, the practice. In his mind he threw the ball in a perfect arc to the hoop. All net, never touching the rim. Over and over he made the perfect shot. His emotions calmed. His mind returned to his control. He blocked the pain in his body with the focus of his mind.

  Index finger, right hand, he thought. Move. He concentrated harder. Move!

  He felt his index finger slide against his middle finger. It’s working, he thought. I can do this. He concentrated even harder on his hand. It moved! Not a lot but he was gaining back control of his body, one small part at a time.

  The creatures didn’t seem to notice. They were too busy doing things to his body.

  That’s it, he realized. He had to dissociate what they were doing from what he was doing. Two bodies; two purposes. They could keep what they were doing to his other body. All he needed was control over his mind and his muscles. Nothing else mattered.

  He concentrated with all of his might. He turned to his left. He reached out and grabbed the thin arm of the creature. The thing looked straight at his eyes, but it was too late. Daniel yanked the creature closer to him and punched it right between the eyes with his fist.

  The thing fell to the floor. Daniel struck the creature on his right and bolted upright on the table. The creatures around him stood still for a moment as he rolled off onto the floor; then they jumped forward and grabbed him. They were surprisingly strong for their size. More of them poured into the room and held him down on the floor. He struggled to get loose, but there were too many of them.

  A tall gray creature appeared close to his head and jammed a sharp device into his forehead. Every muscle in his body went into spasm and cramped. His brain felt the massive electrical jolt from the device and everything went black.

  * * *

  Rosaq, newly appointed commander of the Zeta Grey Earth Acquisition Force, examined the recent human abductee, now lying back on the table. The subject was male, mid to late teens, Caucasian, and healthy. The usual biological samples were obtained and analyzed. Nothing unusual there. The subject had moved, grabbed, and then struck two of the workers during table procedures when he should have been immobilized. That was a critical concern, Rosaq thought. Not because of any potential injury to a worker, but the break in neurological control was unexpected. Rosaq withdrew the paralyzer from the subject’s forehead.

  The subject’s eyes opened. Rosaq leaned over and stared into his eyes at close range, using neural engagement to follow the optical nerve to the deeper recesses of the subject’s brain. Rosaq examined the memories and emotional experiences of the subject. No history of major trauma or substance abuse was present. The primary
emotional structure was formed around the loss of the adult male in the family at an early age and reliance on the female adult in his place.

  Rosaq forced images of damage, disfigurement, and suffering of the female adult and female sibling into the subject’s mind. As fear and panic escalated in the subject, Rosaq increased the intensity of the traumatic images, and concentrated on the ones producing the greatest emotional response. The state of fear in the subject was extended and heightened until the traumatic psychic energy field surrounding the subject filled the room.

  Rosaq soaked in the raw emotional energy, relished every second of agony, terror, and anguish produced by the subject. This was the closest Rosaq would ever get to actually feeling an emotion, such things being beyond the capability of all Zeta Greys.

  Rosaq stepped back and observed the subject on the table. This was the six hundred and thirty-eighth subject to be evaluated in his initial assessment of humans on this planet. For the most part these humans were controllable, susceptible to neurological engagement, and memory suppression. More than enough could be recruited and trained to assist in the integration of hybrids and hubrids into the human society, leading to the eventual subjugation and direct control of the population. The hybrid program had been in place for sixty earth years and was now refined into hubrids; beings visually indistinguishable from humans, but part of the Zeta Grey community consciousness.

  This subject, however, seemed to be recovering from the emotional trauma too quickly, just as one other subject did several days ago. That was a troubling trend, Rosaq thought. Effective rebellion of humans against the Zeta Greys was uncommon. The last rebellion was on a planet in the Tau Ceti star system, where this same rate of resistance to mind control was observed. That rebellion resulted in the eventual loss of the planet and all of its resources by the Zeta Greys, and was quickly followed by the loss of all access to that entire star system.

  Rosaq’s advanced analytical abilities indicated the need for a new control strategy to ensure Earth’s planetary resources remained in control of the Zeta Greys, with resistance and eventual rebellion avoided altogether.

  The memory block technique wasn’t going to be effective on this subject. This human was too strong-willed to be trusted, and thus posed a security threat to the operation. Rosaq sent the image of this subject being harvested for organs and their nutritional liquid program to the workers in the room and then left. After being inside the saucer, this human was just too dangerous to be released. His knowledge could corrupt and stimulate intolerance in others.

  Overseeing the final conversion of the planet was a demanding job with not only serious responsibilities but potentially catastrophic consequences. As many risk factors as possible needed to be eliminated, Rosaq thought. And to insure the success of the operation, strong-willed humans must be at the top of the list.

  Chapter 1

  President Jason Andrews, and a man he knew only as Charlie, stood in a wide desert valley in the Kawich Range, one hundred miles northwest of Las Vegas, Nevada. Andrews shivered slightly in the still, cool, early June air and checked his watch: 2:01 a.m. The night sky was solid black with billions of stars thrown across the heavens. They looked up, searching for any sign of the craft as the background hum of thousands of insects continued unabated.

  “You sure they’re coming?”

  “I’m sure,” Charlie said. “They will check to see that you and I are the only two people within twenty miles and that there are no aircraft within fifty miles. Those were the conditions. As long as we’re alone, they’ll be here.”

  The sound of insects ceased.

  “They’re here,” Charlie said quietly.

  Andrews felt the stir of air moving past his face with the tingle of static electricity and the slight smell of ozone growing slowly stronger. The desert night was completely silent now. The small scrub and sagebrush began to quiver for a hundred yards in front of them and fifty yards to each side. Out of the darkness an eerie white glow gradually appeared and then the huge saucer became visible. The craft was at least three hundred feet in diameter and eighty feet in height. It hovered silently in the air, ten feet above the ground.

  “Your state of mind is important,” Charlie said. “Are you intent on entering the craft?”

  Andrews glanced at Charlie. “Yes.” His stomach was already tied in a knot, which now grew tighter.

  “Remember what I told you. They are telepathic.”

  Andrews took a deep breath and nodded.

  Charlie led Andrews under the saucer. At about a third of the way, they found themselves inside the saucer, standing near the center before a raised platform. Andrews took another long, deep breath, trying to force himself to relax. Despite his effort to calm down, Andrews’s left hand trembled. He glanced at Charlie, again.

  “It’s okay,” Charlie whispered. “He expects you to be nervous.”

  A subdued white light filled the interior of the saucer. Charlie stood with his arms extended to the side so his hands were about a foot from his hips, palms facing forward and fingers apart. Andrews followed Charlie’s lead. The universal sign of non-aggression, Andrews reminded himself.

  Etnar stepped before them, eight and a half feet tall, large head, huge light blue-gray eyes, a boney face, and small, low ears. He had a thin abdomen with long delicate arms and legs. His skin was a very pale gray, almost white, with a hint of blue. He was dressed in a shimmering white garment that left only his head, hands, and feet exposed. Several other beings, very similar to him, moved within the saucer. The inner surfaces of the saucer were a sleek light metallic material without any visible seams, joints, or connections.

  Etnar motioned them to come closer.

  “I am communicating with him telepathically and will speak for him,” Charlie said.

  Etnar glanced at both of them. “You understand the true nature of the beings and the treaty your government has entered into?”

  “Yes, I do,” Andrews said, trying to at least sound calmer than he actually was.

  Etnar stared at Andrews. “What is your decision?”

  Andrews breathed out, looked Etnar in the eyes, and said, “I must do everything within my power to break the existing treaty and to rid this planet of them and their influence, forever.”

  Etnar moved his head in what appeared to be a slight nod. “What about the other leaders of your world?”

  Andrews’s left hand shook more. He looked down at his hand, trying to will it to stay still. Then he looked back at Etnar. “I will convince them to join with me against this common enemy.”

  Etnar tipped his head slightly to the right. “You are aware of the technology and power that opposes you?”

  “I am,” Andrews said, closing his eyes momentarily as he tried to calm his racing mind. “I am also painfully aware of our future should I fail.”

  Another slight nod from Etnar. “Are you fully committed to the task before you?”

  Andrews nodded, breathed in and out, and said, “With every fiber of my being. I will succeed or I, and all those who follow me, will die trying.”

  Etnar studied Andrews for a minute and then handed him a small device.

  “This is the extent of the assistance you will receive. We cannot appear to be involved in your struggle. You must guard all knowledge and evidence of our existence and presence on your planet and in your star system.”

  Andrews breathed a sigh of relief. He managed to get through this experience in one piece. “Thank you,” he said. “I am grateful for your help.”

  Etnar turned and walked away. Andrews and Charlie found themselves standing on the ground, out from under the saucer. The dull white glow brightened and the saucer disappeared. A strong movement of air came from behind them as sage leaves and small twigs rushed up from the ground into a twisted conical shape in the center of where the saucer had been. The debris sucked up into the air gently drifted back down to the ground.

  “You did fine,” Charlie said. “Remember, the mi
litary industrial complex is heavily invested in the existing treaty. Some of them may join you, but many will not. What you are doing is very dangerous.”

  Andrews closed his eyes briefly, breathed out slowly, and turned to face Charlie.

  “I have no choice. To do nothing will be the end of us all.”

  Chapter 2

  “How’s the pain today?” Diane asked.

  Navy Lieutenant Diane Zadanski sat quietly next to her mother’s hospital bed in the Minneapolis Hospice Center. The stage-four ovarian cancer had spread too quickly for any therapy to be effective, so her mother had gone straight into hospice rather than remaining in the hospital. At forty-six, her mother was way too young to be dying.

  “Much better,” her mother replied. “Ever since the diagnosis, I’ve been feeling panicked—that life wasn’t fair, that I should have had more time, you know?”

  She should have had more time, Diane thought. This wasn’t fair. It wasn’t right.

  “And now?” Diane asked.

  “Now it makes so much more sense. I saw your father last night, did I tell you that?”

  It must be the drugs, Diane thought. Her father died in a car wreck twenty-four years ago. It was just the two of them since her twin brother disappeared nine years ago. Diane never knew her grandparents. They all died early in their lives, just as her mother was doing now.

  “Don’t worry,” her mother said. “It’s all going to be fine.”

  Diane shook her head. “Mom, I just . . .”

  Her mother reached out and took her hand.

  “I’m at peace, Di, and I want you to be at peace, too.”

  Diane had never seen her mother this calm, and so serious at the same time. Diane looked down at the floor and thought, How can I be at peace when my last family member is dying?

  “I know you must be worried,” her mother said. “But don’t be. Your father said you have important work to do in this world. He said you have to fight for all of us. There is an evil in the world that you have to confront, battle, and overcome.”