by Ira Tabankin
Everett stood on the top of the Devil’s Tower and counted down to the time when Kalteck’s ship was due. He felt before he saw the light from the ship slowly descending through the clouds. The ship was almost silent. It gave off a soft humming noise as it slowly descended towards the center of the Tower causing Everett to walk backward. He picked up his portable radio, “Major, no quick moves and no shooting unless I say so. Keep your weapons undercover. I need to see who comes out of the ship before we do anything. You may feel something like static electricity shoot through you and your men. This is normal, remind them not to overreact. I’ve seen what the weapons on that ship can do if it’s attacked. Whoever shoots at the ship won’t survive.” Everett wondered if all aliens had the auto self-protection system Kalteck had.
“Sir, what is a different alien comes out of the ship?”
“I really don’t know until I see what it says or does. If it comes out and raises anything, which could be a weapon, then shoot it. Try to wound it, try not to kill it, and don’t damage the ship.”
“Sir, how will we know if it has a weapon?”
“I’ll try to signal you.”
“Okay. General, you should know my orders from the President said I am to save you first, and the ship second. I am to do everything possible to save you. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
“Yes. I do. Try to have some patience and let me see who exits the ship. I’m praying it’s our friend.”
“Yes, sir. Me too. I’m not sure we could fight anyone who flies in such a craft.”
Major Johnstone passed the message, “Load, but keep your weapons on safety. Do NOT open fire unless I order you to. Sound off.”
“Each team member replied in the affirmative.”
“Here it comes. I feel the pressure change in the air. But it’s so silent I don’t know how it’s possible for a ship to fly without making any noise. I feel the hair on my head and arms standing up. My God, it’s much smaller than I thought it would be. Get ready.”
The LT yelled, “Sir, many of the men are complaining they have headaches and are getting dizzy. A few have fallen and are having problems standing.”
“Tell them to lay prone. It must have something to do with the ship’s engine. I don’t understand it and don’t know what to do, so tell them not to fight it. I hope the general will tell us what’s going on.”
Major Johnstone covered his eyes. Damn, even with sunglasses that thing is bright, and the outer ring is spinning so fast it’s a white blur while the ring behind it is rainbow colors spinning around in the opposite direction, how the hell does that thing fly?
The ship sat down on three unfolded legs. The ship took a minute to stabilize and the outer rings to stop spinning. The Major watched as part of the ship’s surface disappeared. A pale blue light flooded from the opening, then a tall, very thin figure stood in the doorway. He held something in his hand, which he slowly waved towards the hidden Rangers. Everett waved and yelled, “Kalteck, welcome…”
A shot rang out from one of the Rangers who thought the object in the alien’s hand was a weapon. Johnstone screamed, CEASE FIRE! CEASE FIRE, DO NOT SHOOT!”
Everett rushed towards the alien who pointed the object towards the hidden Ranger who’d opened fire. The Ranger was vaporized in a flash of brilliant yellow/white light. “Everett, who are these overly aggressive people who shoot before they know if I’m a friend or foe? Are these examples of your best? If so, you have no chance of defeating the enemy. You should surrender now. You have failed your people and your planet. I am very disappointed. I leave you alone for a while and this is what I return to? You led these people who welcome me by shooting at me?”
“Kalteck, I am very sorry. They are young and overly aggressive. I promise you; none will open fire on you again. Their commanding officer is here. May I introduce you to Major Johnstone…”
“Major, a commanding officer, is responsible for his people. Do you accept full responsibility for your men?”
The major snapped to attention, “Sir, yes, sir. I am sorry one of my men opened fire without permission. I’m sorry he attacked you. Was his death painless?”
“He felt nothing. One nanosecond he was there and the next he was gone, just atoms floating in your atmosphere.”
The major and Everett looked at where the corporal who’d opened fire had been. A Staff Sergeant yelled, “Sirs, the corporal is gone. There’s only a smoking hole in the ground that’s still warm.”
The major yelled back, “Sarge, define gone.”
“Sir, gone as in there’s a small pile of smoking burnt carbon, like BBQ charcoal. There’s nothing else left of him. What should I do?”
“Nothing right now. Keep the men away from that spot.”
Kalteck shook his head, “I am sorry, but he did open fire on me first. I didn’t do anything to encourage him to open fire. I came in peace; I did not carry my handheld weapons with me.”
Johnstone shook his head, “You did that to him without a weapon?”
“It was a defensive weapon. It automatically responds when I am attacked.”
Johnstone shook his head, “If that’s a defensive weapon, how deadly are your offensive weapons?”
Kalteck smiled, “If I had fired from my ship, your Devil’s Tower would have been reduced to a smoking crater a few hundred feet deep, and a maybe three miles across and that would have been on its low setting.”
“Damn.”
“I am sorry about the loss of your man, but the responsibility for his loss is on your shoulder’s Major, not mine. My defensive weapons were merely functioning as designed to protect me. I’m sure your defensive weapons do the same.”
“I understand the issue. He broke my orders and received what he brought upon himself. We don’t have any defensive weapons like that, but I’d sure like them.”
“Everett, I have returned because I was informed the Soviets have launched a missile to the edge of space and there was an incident in your Northwest. I am pleased about one and concerned about the other.”
“I think we should discuss this at Camp David with the President. We have a new…”
“Yes, your new President. He was your overall commander in your war against the nation called Germany in your previous war. I am looking forward to meeting him.”
Everett looked at the glowing ship, “Why did you pick here to land and not at my new base where we moved to make sure you could come and go without being seen? I’m sure you know we moved to Nevada.”
“I learned of it when I started my descent. I was surprised, but the new location makes perfect sense. Ohio was getting too crowded for us to continue operating. To answer your question about why meeting here, this is a special place. There is an old base inside this mountain. By old, I mean over three thousand years old. There is something inside of it I need and I thought it would be a good idea to show you the inside of our base.”
Johnstone looked down at his feet, “There’s an alien base inside this rock?”
“Yes, why do you find that strange. Didn’t Everett tell you we were on your planet thousands of your years ago? We helped guide your ancestors. We helped them learn how to farm and how to survive to become what you are now.”
Johnstone stood silent in surprise. “How do we gain access to your base?”
“You don’t, I will. Everett will join me. I do not yet trust you or your men to see the inside of our base. Your men might touch something which could have devastating consequences. I expect you to guard my ship. Please do not attempt to gain access, you would not like the results.”
“Yes, sir.” Replied the major.
“Everett, please take twenty-five steps to your right and then don’t move.”
A part of the top of the Tower shook then slid open to reveal what looked like an elevator shaft. “We will walk down fifteen stairs, then the door will open, which will take us to the base which is buried under the rock. Major, we will be gone for one hour, will that be a problem for you?”
“No, sir.”
“Come, Everett. I have much I want to show you. We also have to discuss this very serious situation of a craft taking two of your people. I have some ideas. Did you bring the images and their reports?”
“Of course, I did. Frankly, after speaking with both of them, I believe them, and their stories scared the crap out of me.”
“We will discuss it after we arrive at our destination.”
The elevator car silently fell hundreds of feet, yet Everett didn’t feel a thing. When the doors opened, Kalteck put his arm up to block Everett. “I must go first.” A moment later, he said, “It is safe now.”
Everett entered a huge white room that looked like a hospital operating room. “Do I want to know what this place is?”
“It is where we helped place your ancestors on your current path. It is where we helped you begin to learn about how to act civilized.”
“What about our people being taken by aliens and being experimented on?”
“Not all are stories, most were taken here, not to ships. I assume some were taken by other races. You humans have become a little famous through the galaxy. This new taking is something different. I’m very concerned whoever took them may have taken an egg from the woman and sperm from the male, then they may have altered the baby’s DNA. I want all of the medical reports on the couple.”
“I have them.”
“Good, I’ll study them a little later. Don’t lose them and don’t leave them behind.”
Kalteck moved around the lab, “Ah, here is what I was looking for.” He looked at Everett, who was slowly walking around the lab, “are there other labs in this base?”
“Yes, would you like to see them? I should warn you; you must have an open mind and a strong stomach. What took place here happened thousands of your years ago.”
A brilliant white door slid open, allowing them to enter a huge room that was very cold, Everett thought there would have been frost on the windows if there had been any windows. What he saw in front of him stopped him mid-step. Arranged in long neat rows were 8-foot-high frost-covered glass tubes. The tubes went on for as far as Everett could see into the large room. Everett walked closer to look in one; he whipped the frost off of the first tube he came to. He saw what looked like a preserved ancient male. In the one next to it was a female, the third contained what looked like a Neanderthal male and the next held a Neanderthal female.
What most surprised Everett was a row of what appeared to be an unknown third humanoid race, one he’d never seen before. Kalteck came up next to him, “An early attempt to merge the best aspects of humans and Neanderthals. The initial experiments didn’t quite turn out as well as we’d had hoped they would. It took a while to isolate the correct DNA sequence. Oh, I forgot you have not discovered DNA yet. Once your people do, it will be easier to explain what we did here.”
“May I take pictures of…”
“No. It is not permitted.”
“I understand. Are there other rooms like this one? Did you also experiment on animals?”
“The next one is filled with ancient plants and preserved animals. Yes, we did manipulate the DNA of some of your early animals.”
Everett stood with his hand on the tube with the new race inside of it, “Our scientists would go crazy seeing this place. I’m sure the President will ask you to allow certain of our most trusted scientists to visit here.”
“I will turn his request down. Further, I do not think it is wise to discuss this lab with the President. You are not ready to fully understand or accept what was done thousands of years ago. If the word of these rooms became public, your religious leaders would not understand how this played into their dogma. I must decline your request and request you not speak of this with anyone.”
“I understand. Are there other exhibits?”
“There are, however, even you aren’t ready to see them. There is a room of other aliens.”
Everett’s eyes lit up, “Please?”
“Stop begging, generals don’t beg. One day I will show you everything in the base which has fifteen levels, this is only one of them. My people used this base for many years. This was one of five bases on your planet.”
“Where are the other’s located?”
“One is gone.” Kalteck looked at the glowing ceiling, “It was located on the island you now call Atlantis. It was what you’d call our embassy on your planet. It was destroyed in our war with our enemy from the south, those who followed the Emperor. Those who will return to enslave you.”
“The stories of Atlantis are real?”
“I do not know your stories. If there is time, I would like to hear them so I can see if they speak of our people. One day I will show you the images of our golden city. Come, we must leave. Whenever one of our bases are entered, they send a code so the caretakers know someone has entered. Our security, and the military, are both notified so they can make sure one of you or other aliens haven’t discovered it and entered the base. If so, a ship would be dispatched to deal with the trespassers. If a ship couldn’t reach the base before any damage could be done, the base would be destroyed. If this base was destroyed, it would vaporize Devil’s Tower and the land for hundreds of miles around it.”
“I understand. If you have what you came for, then I guess we should go so the major upstairs won’t get nervous. Then I would like to show you our new home base and the special hanger I’ve had prepared for your ship and pod.”
“Would you like to ride back with me? I have plenty of room and would enjoy your company. I will take us into space, I’ll give you the orbit you’ve always wanted, and then tomorrow night we can enter the hanger under cover of night. While we’re in orbit, I want you to tell me every detail about the taking of the two of your citizens.”
“Thank you, I would very much like that.”
“Can the major upstairs be trusted, or should I deal with him and his men?”
“No, no. He can be trusted. He is the commander of a very special team that is tasked with dealing with very special top security missions.”
Chapter 17
Once Kalteck and Everett were in space, Everett asked, “Did you locate any additional enemy bases in our solar system? Are we in danger earlier than you expected? Is that why you were away for years?”
“I did locate an enemy base and one of their fueling stations, I destroyed both using a combination of one of your weapon designs, a mine combined with one of our antimatter pumped X-ray bomb. I also spent time in our shrine on our home planet. I became immersed in our history. I returned when the AI in the shrine informed me of the Soviet rocket launch. It appears you are close to launching your first artificial moon, which will transmit the coded message. I wanted to be here to ensure everything goes according to plan.”
“Are the Soviets really that much closer than us?”
“That all depends on whose rocket technology functions better. If I had to guess which one of you will accomplish the goal first, I would give a few additional percentage points to the Soviets. They have focused their development on one simple design while you have split your focus and have tried to design new rockets. Yes, if I were a betting Martian, I would bet on the Soviets.”
Everett was hurt, “Why the Soviets? Haven’t you kept track of our progress?”
“My AI has, and it has not been impressed. Your designs may bear sweeter fruit in the future, but what we needed was pure brute force and that’s what the Soviets have developed. They have already reached the edge of space while you are still in the development stage. I believe they will succeed. My hope is the signal accomplishes what I want it to do. With my ship in your hangar, how are we getting to Camp David?”
“We will fly in a blacked-out plane to Andrews then we will take a special helicopter piloted by two of the Rangers who are here this evening. They will take us to meet the President.”
The President reassured Kalteck everything that was possible was being done to launch an artificial moo
n into orbit as fast as humanly possible. Kalteck surprised the President by responding, “Mr. President, humanly is the word you’ve used, which concerns me. I’m not sure your race can maintain the singular focus required to save yourselves. You are so easily distracted. The Soviets seem to enjoy taunting you and you seem to fall for their games every time.”
“Kalteck, I assure you we are capable, and we will get the device into orbit in time to stop the enemy’s allies from attacking us.”
“If you don’t succeed within ten of your months, you will be destroyed. I can’t launch it for you. It has to come from human technology. The enemy will inspect the technology used to launch the device. If they figure out you used any of our technology, they will know in an instant it’s, as you say, it’s a scam. In that case, they will strike. Every item used in the rocket and orbiting device must be purely of your own design and manufacture.”
