A Dangerous Universe 4 Invasion
Saxon Andrew
Copyright © 2024 Saxon Andrew
All rights reserved.
This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locals, organisations, or persons living or dead is entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of the author.
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Contents
Introduction
Chapter One • Chapter Two • Chapter Three • Chapter Four •
Chapter Five • Chapter Six • Chapter Seven • Chapter Eight • Chapter Nine • Chapter Ten • Chapter Eleven • Chapter Twelve •
Chapter Thirteen • Chapter Fourteen • Chapter Fifteen
Epilogue
Books by Saxon Andrew About Saxon Andrew
“Hey Andre, how are you feeling?”
Introduction
“Come on, Daisy! You know I hate that name! Call me AC!”
“I think Andre is a beautiful name.”
Andre rolled his eyes, “My mother named me after a seal!”
Daisy laughed and said in a mischievous tone, “You do bark like a seal.” Andre’s expression turned angry and Daisy rubbed his hair, “Really, are you feeling better?”
“I’m not throwing up anymore and the diarrhea has stopped. I’m sorry you were made to stay home with me. I know you’d rather have gone to New York with Mom and Dad. Please don’t be mad at me!”
Daisy smiled, “I know it’s not your fault, AC. And I’m the one that gave you the bug; so it’s only fair I should have to stay and look after you. Besides, they took Rose with them and you really aren’t hard to manage. Come up out of the shelter and I’ll fix you some soup for supper on the lanai.”
Andre climbed up the ladder and closed the lid on the opening. He walked through the house to the screened in lanai and sat down at the table. Daisy brought some soup and crackers out and put them in front of AC as she took a bite of a sandwich she prepared for herself. She looked at her six-year-old brother and shook her head, “Why do you spend so much time in the shelter? It’s like a dungeon down there.”
Andre raised a shoulder, “The shelter is the coolest thing about this old house and it’s my lair when I pretend to be a supper hero.” Andre paused and asked, “Why did Dad insist on buying this old house instead of a new house in the city? He could afford it.”
Daisy laughed, “Don’t you mean superhero, not supper hero?”
Andre’s face turned red and Daisy smiled, “I really don’t know but he’s installed all the latest modern conveniences and the land is worth more than the house on it. You weren’t born when he bought it and I heard him tell mom the shelter is why he chose it. I can’t for the life of me understand why he wanted an old house with an
ancient fallout shelter under it. The world has been at peace for more than three hundred years.”
“When was this house built?” Andre asked.
Daisy waved a hand, “It’s over a hundred years old and the rich man who built it was considered somewhat looney at the time.”
Daisy paused and added, “I have to admit the shelter is a great storage place but it’s a pain to go down to the pantry to get food.”
Daisy took another bite of her sandwich and saw Andre was staring at something over her shoulder. His eyes were wide and she asked, “What’s wrong?”
Andre pointed and Daisy turned around and looked at the New York City skyline across the river. Her eyes flew wide open, there was a gigantic spaceship moving down over the city and it was firing a huge, brilliant, white beam at the city below it. Daisy saw the beam sweep through the aerial traffic flying above the city and cars fell out of the sky by the thousands. An airliner coming in for a landing at La Guardia suddenly fell out of the sky and crashed into the city when it flew through the beam.
Suddenly two more giant ships firing the white beams appeared as they moved down above the city. Once their beams overlapped the first ship’s beam, they spread out and moved quickly across the city as they moved out from each other. Daisy jumped to her feet and grabbed Andre’s hand. She pulled him into the house and paused long enough to pull the power handle down on the fuse box and grab a flashlight in it. “WHAT’S HAPPENING?!” Andre yelled.
Daisy was almost in a panic but she managed to remain calm for Andre’s sake. She rushed down the steps into the basement and lifted the lid on the fallout shelter, “GET IN NOW!” Andre rushed down the fifteen-foot-long ladder with Daisy right behind him. She paused and turned the wheel on the lid sealing it and she used the flashlight to find the power controls where she turned on the lights in the shelter. She grabbed Andre, took him to a sofa, and pulled him into her arms. Andre looked up at her and Daisy said softly, “Those giant spaceships aren’t built by humans, AC.” Andre stared at her and Daisy shook her head, “They are attacking New York and one of them turned and is headed this way.”
“MOM! DAD!” Andre said loudly.
Daisy blew out a breath and hugged Andre. She had tears in her eyes and knew there was no way for their parents to get out of New York; the attack was too sudden. She stood up and Andre refused to release her, “We have to find out what’s going on. Where is the antenna hookup?”
Andre released her and took her into the next room. He pointed to a metal box on the wall and Daisy opened it. She shook her head and Andre reached up and pushed two red buttons. They both turned green and Andre said, “The video cable and radio circuits are on.”
Daisy pulled Andre back into the first room and it was loud; every television and radio was blaring at high volume. “Turn off the radios!” Andre moved around the room turning off the FM, AM, and Citizen’s Band receivers leaving the two televisions blaring loudly. Daisy turned the volume down on one and heard the announcer on the other saying loudly, “EARTH IS UNDER ATTACK! Giant spaceships are moving in around the planet attacking the large cities. Get to cover and stay in it…….” Suddenly, the announcer screamed, convulsed, and fell.
Daisy changed the channel and found another station still operating but it went off the air thirty minutes later. She turned off the TVs, sat with Andre and hugged him as they listened to the FM radio. The radio would automatically switch to another station if one went off the air and in twelve hours, the last one stopped broadcasting. They switched to citizens band but nothing was being broadcast. Daisy was weeping softly and Andre was scared as Daisy said softly, “Zack is in Boston.” Andre looked up and Daisy said softly, “All the Boston stations are off the air.” Zack and Daisy were entering college in a month and Zack had asked Daisy to marry him. Andre closed his eyes and cried for his parents, baby sister, and Daisy.
Chapter One
Tenyearsearlier:
The President of the World Government was sitting in a huge conference room with the top scientists and engineers from around the world presenting their new discoveries and developments. There were a thousand in attendance and the President was happy that his participation would end after the first three speakers made their announcements. It was a closed meeting and the press wouldn’t be allowed in until after all the discoveries were announced.
The first speaker stood up to begin her speech when the President heard, “Mr. President, I need to address the gathering.” Everyone in the room turned and looked at each other but no one was standing to be recognized.
The President asked, “Who said that?”
“I’m not currently present, Mr. President.”
“But I just heard you ask to address this gathering.”
“You didn’t hear me, Mr. President. You heard my thoughts; I’m telepathic and I’ve never revealed my talent until now.” The President was silent and everyone in the gathering stopped what they were doing and looked around. “It’s vital that you allow me to speak with you!”
“Why?”
“Because Earth is in danger and there’s not much time to save it.”
The President snorted, “We’ve got climate change under control; who are you really?”
“Mr. President, you were told about an anomaly that appeared above Earth a week ago, were you not?”
The President frowned and said, “Our scientists believe it was just the northern lights extending much further south than normal.”
The voice replied, “That’s because the scientists didn’t know what it was and that was the best explanation. They were wrong; that anomaly was an alien spaceship. I heard the alien’s thoughts on that ship and we don’t have much time left to prepare for what’s coming.”
“Can you prove what you’re suggesting?”
“Yes, I can.”
“Where are you?”
“I’m standing outside the conference room with the press.”
The President looked at one of the sentries standing at the doors to the conference room as he said, “How will we find you?”
“I’m wearing a bright yellow dress with a royal-blue scarf around my neck.” The President nodded to the sentry and he stepped out.”
The Senior Scientist turned to the President, “Make sure she’s searched!”
“Anyone who comes in here is thoroughly searched Doctor Stone!”
Ten minutes later, the Sentry stepped in with a young woman with pitch black hair and incredibly blue eyes. She walked forward and handed a storage disc to the woman operating the room’s electronic systems, “Insert that and play it on the monitor,” the woman said as she walked toward the front of the room.”
The President’s expression turned angry, “I’ll be the one to decide what’s shown here!”
The woman continued walking forward as she remarked, “God save us from politicians with giant egos!” The President was furious but he noticed the woman had not opened her mouth to speak. She arrived at the first speaker who was still standing in the center of the stage in front of the assembly. The woman turned to her and everyone heard, “I’ll take it from here.” The woman held the microphone out to her and she pursed her lips, “I don’t need it.” The speaker went to her chair and the delegates saw the woman turn to them and say without opening her mouth, “Everyone on this planet is going to die if you don’t immediately get your egos under control. We don’t have much time and please don’t waste any more of it!”
The young woman turned to the electronics operator and saw her looking at the President. The woman turned to the President and said, “You were elected because you’re supposed to have a brain; use it now!”
The President frowned and nodded to the operator. An image appeared on the large wall monitor at the front of the conference room and they saw two green creatures with red splotches sitting on
chairs with Earth clearly visible behind them in a viewport.” The woman thought, “Pause the image, please.” The image paused and the woman said, “What you’re currently seeing came from another alien’s eyes on that ship. The two aliens you’re looking at now are the two leaders on that ship.”
Every attendee stared at the two aliens and saw they were clearly nowhere close to being human. They were a blob of green and red protoplasm that had arms and eyes on their outer skin in random places. The President turned to the woman and she immediately said, “No! This is not some sort of special effects to deceive you! I’m going to start transmitting what they’re saying telepathically to all of you and I highly recommend you pay attention!” The woman nodded to the operator and turned to look at the monitor. • • •
One of the aliens turned to the other as it extended an arm out of its body and hit the hand the other alien offered to him, “This is incredible! How was this planet never found?!”
“It’s a large galaxy,” the other replied.
“But it’s located inside the Galactic Assembly’s borders; it should have been found.”
“We should be thankful it hasn’t been discovered; now we won’t have to share the profits and it’s perfect. It has high technology, hasn’t discovered star drive technology, and is entirely undefended. Another plus is the current intelligent species on the planet will be easily removed without damaging the planet. The price we’ll demand will support the entire government for several years.”
The larger alien immediately replied, “If the price is too high, no one will buy it.”
“You know how it goes. We’ll demand a high price and who knows, someone might take the bait and purchase it. If they don’t, we have ten years before it can be put on the schedule and at that point we will reduce the price, but not by much. This is the best habitable planet we’ve found in fifty years and we will not sell it cheap.”
The larger alien pressed a button on its console and an image appeared on the monitor behind them above the viewport. “Alright,
I’ve entered this planet’s location in the contract and I’ll fill in all the pertinent information about it on the way back. I’ll disperse the contract and send it out to all the civilizations in the Assembly within a couple of days. And you’re right, we might get a buyer sooner than we think.” • • •
The image disappeared from the monitor and was replaced by the last image on the alien’s monitor. The woman turned to the assembly and said, “What’s on the monitor now is an image of the contract that must be signed to buy our planet.” The woman nodded and then the next image appeared. “What you see now is the alien’s contract on the left and on the right is the translation of it in Chinese. Since everyone knows how to read Chinese, English, and Spanish, please take a moment, and read the translation.”
• •
An hour passed and one of the scientists said, “You could have translated it into Spanish or English and it wouldn’t be as hard to follow.”
“I used Chinese because you need to focus on it and not miss anything. This isn’t something for you to gloss over.”
Another hour passed and the woman said, “I see most of you have completed examining the document. I’ll now turn the meeting back over to the President.”
The President stared at the woman, blew out a breath, and said, “This crap is real, isn’t it?” The woman nodded. “What is your name?”
“Call me Telly Prime Pathic.”
“That’s cute.”
“It’s a name no one will forget. My other name is unimportant now.”
“Well Telly, I’m stunned by this and you’ve had time to think about it; what do you think we should do?”
“First of all, you cannot release this information to the public.”
“Why not?”
“What would it accomplish other than everyone on the planet living only for the moment and forgetting about everyone else. Panic
would ensue and it would make it easier for the aliens to eradicate us. Civilization would break down if everyone knew what was coming?”
“Can we stop them from attacking us?” a scientist asked.
“No, there’s no way to prevent their attack.”
“Why not?”
“Because they’re so far ahead of us technologically, we aren’t even in the game. We have no way to attack the ships coming to destroy us and those ships have stardrives. They can sit in orbit and move out of the way of anything we launch at them; if they don’t just destroy our missiles before they reach orbit. The odds are that everyone on Earth’s surface is going to die if they attack.” The woman looked at the President and asked, “Do you see it differently?”
The President shook his head, “No, I don’t. However, you said everyone on the surface will die, what about those that live underground?”
“That will depend on how deep underground they are, Mr. President. If they’re deep enough, the aliens will have a difficult time getting to them.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Because as you saw in the contract, they are not allowed to harm the planet in their taking of it. That includes all plants and fauna and if any are harmed, they will be forced to pay a huge fine to their government; that takes nukes off the table. That means they will have to dig us out and we’ll make them pay for every inch they try to take.”
“And how will we do that?” An engineer asked.
The woman turned to a man sitting at a back table, “Doctor Connor, it’s time for you to open up about your discovery.”
The President turned to the scientist and he said, “I’ve developed a way for us to dig and excavate efficiently underground to build structures for people to live.”
“Before we go any further,” The President interjected. “I cannot tell the representatives in my government about this; it would get out and a panic would ensue. We’re going to need every person on
the planet working together to construct these new communities and those in this room are going to have to lead the planet in making it happen. The finding of this conference will be that with the overpopulation of Earth’s surface, the government will begin building underground cities for people to live in and we’re going to start building underground facilities immediately. Everyone in this room is ordered to be silent about what we just discovered and all of you will be leading the construction of those facilities from now on. We’ll spend whatever we need because I believe ten years from now, money and currency will be worthless.” The President turned to the woman and asked, “Is there anyone present that will not keep this a secret?”
The woman looked around the room and said, “Doctors Aguire, Ping, and Albritton are going to tell the press the first moment they get the opportunity Mr. President.”
Dr. Ping jumped to his feet and shouted, “THIS IS NOT A DICTATORSHIP; IT’S A DEMOCRACY AND I’M FREE TO SPEAK MY MIND!”
The three attendees stood up and headed toward the door. Suddenly, Dr. Connor stood and pointed a small device at them and pressed a button on it. All three of the attendees shimmered and disappeared. Dr. Connor turned to the room and said, “The survival of our species is at stake here and those three are only concerned about the possible fame they’ll receive from letting this become known.”
“How do you know that?!” An engineer demanded.
Dr. Connor pointed to the woman, “She allowed me to hear their thoughts. The device I used to kill them is what will allow us to dig through the planet’s surface to build what we need. I hated to do it but I will not allow those three self-serving traitors to put my family and the rest of the planet in danger. Dr. Connor turned to the woman, “Is there anyone else?”
The woman replied, “No, the others understand what would happen if this gets out.”
The President shook his head slightly and said, “They won’t be the last to die.” He looked up at the woman and asked, “Is there
something else we should know?”
The woman nodded, “I’m going to need ten daughters.”
“How many do you currently have?”
The woman shrugged, “None.”
“How are you going to make that happen?”
“I’ll donate ten of my ova for you to clone. I’ll need nine other women to carry them to full term and it needs to be done now.”
“Why do you need that?” the President asked.
“Because my clones will all be telepathic and they will manage our communications. If we use standard electromagnetic waves to communicate, the aliens will detect them and follow them to the source; telepathy cannot be traced. They will be critical to any of us surviving along with keeping what’s happening secret from the general population.”
A woman stood up and said, “I’ll carry one or two of them.” In an instant, fifteen other women stood up and volunteered to carry one of the clones.”
The President nodded and said, “Thank you for your sacrifice.” He looked around the conference room and said, “And so it begins.”
• • •
The President announced to the press that there were so many advances that it was going to take a month to go over all of them. He was leaving the conference and he announced Doctor Philip Connor would be leading the conference in his absence. The thousand scientists and engineers spent the next four weeks hammering out a plan on how to confront the coming attack. The ten clones were produced and implanted into the women who volunteered to carry them; they were born nine months later.
Chapter Two
CurrentTime:
The large Crawen Fleet Commander looked at the Paquin Manager on his monitor and he was clearly imposing; he was quite large and heavily muscled. Like humans, he had two arms but only had three fingers with a bigger thumb on each hand. It was lightgold in color and its eyes were little more than slits with a green iris in a yellow eyeball. It’s nose was almost identical to a human’s nose but the mouth under the nose was much wider than a human’s mouth. Its teeth were black in color that matched the long, black, curly hair that hung down to its wide shoulders. It stared at the Paquin and said, “We’ve completed our initial attack and I require you to deliver the observation stations to this planet now.”
“That is not going to happen!” the Paquin replied.
“What do you mean it’s not going to happen! This contract dictates you will put the stations in place thirty days after our attack commences.”
A mouth appeared on the Paquin’ body and it was smiling, “That is not how the contract reads.”
“I’m reading it right here!” the Crawen replied.
“You’re looking at paragraph eighteen, correct?”
The Crawen looked at the contract and said, “Yes, I am.”
“Then you need to look at paragraph six dictating the terms of sale.” The Fleet Commander scrolled back to paragraph six and started reading. After a few minutes, he looked up and the Paquin said, “The conditions of sale stipulate that your attack on the cities must be completed within thirty galactic days from the signing of the contract. What date did your representative sign the contract?”
“But we never expected to win the bid and it takes time to get a fleet ready to attack,” the Crawen replied. “It’s only thirty-three days since it was signed.”
“And those observation stations were still available three days ago. At that point, you did not order them delivered and the next civilization in line took them.”
“But your contract says they will be available!”
“And they were three days ago. You know by law we’re only allowed to have enough stations to watch forty planets and there are more than sixty civilizations calling for them. You missed the deadline and they were sent to the next one in line.”
“And when will the next stations be available?”
“Ten or eleven years from now.”
“THAT’S OBSURD!”
“Hey, you’re the one who didn’t meet the deadline!” the Paquin remarked.
“And just what am I going to do before they arrive?”
“Actually, you can still attack the cities on the planet but you may not attack any other area on the planet before the stations are in place.”
“But the local population survivors have scattered into the forests. We need to bring in our troops and remove them now.”
“If you attempt to do that, you will forfeit ownership of the planet and face a huge fine. You may not attack anything outside of the cities without the observation stations in place. Don’t even think about it; you should just forfeit the contract now before you make that mistake.”
“We also have another issue,” the Crawen stated.
“What is that?”
“One of our ships made a radical turn and it broke apart in the atmosphere and crashed into a swampy area outside one of the large cities. We need to destroy it now.”
“You say it crashed into a swampy area and not a city.”
“That’s correct.”
“That ship will remain as is until the stations are in place,” the Paquin said in a serious tone. “The paragraphs dealing with harming a habitable planet are iron clad and inviolable. If you’ve done the damage you say that ship shouldn’t be an issue. Have you removed the bulk of the population on the planet?”
The Fleet Commander thought about it and replied, “Yes. We’ve removed between eighty-five and ninety percent of the intelligent species inhabiting the planet.”
“Then there’s no chance the survivors could do anything with the wreckage.”
The Crawen was furious, “I’m going to have my leaders sue you for not having the stations available for us.”
The Paquin smiled, “Suing the government is fraught with failure. You didn’t meet the deadline and I can tell you there is no chance you’d prevail in the court. Just hang around and keep your ships there.”
“Are you crazy?! The expense of keeping all our ships here for ten years is more expensive than the contract we took on the planet.”
“Then go home and come back in ten years or so to complete the job. But don’t go hunting for those aliens outside the city; trust me, that will break you financially.” The Crawen stared at the Paquin and the Paquin said, “I know what you’re thinking.”
“What is that?”
“How would we know if you did it, right?”
“How would you know?”
“Because that’s what we do best. Fire a blaster at that planet or a neutron bomb outside the cities and we’ll know it within two minutes of the stations coming online. Don’t do something stupid. If you don’t believe me, contact the Nilget and ask them about making that mistake.”
The monitor went dark and the Fleet Commander sent a copy of the recording to his Commanding Leader. Letthemfigureitout. Two weeks later, the huge fleet disappeared from orbit above Earth.
Andre looked at the cereal in his bowl and said, “I never thought I’d ever say this but I’m over cereal with water.”
“I’m with you Bro, but the milk ran out in the first week,” Daisy replied. “You should be thankful for the large water tank in here.”
“I don’t find anything to be thankful for anymore, Sissy.”
Daisy shook her head and took Andre’s hand in hers, “I know.”
Andre looked at his sister, “How much longer are we going to stay in here?”
“Until the food runs out.” Andre stared at her and Daisy shrugged, “We aren’t hearing anything on the electronics so I have to believe
those aliens are still out there.”
“If they are…..”
“What?” Daisy asked.
“I don’t know if I want to go on,” Andre said in a whisper. Daisy began crying softly and Andre squeezed her hand tightly, “I’m so sorry!”
“Don’t be, I feel the same way. We’ve been here four weeks. If we don’t hear anything on your birthday in two weeks, we’ll call it off and go up.” Andre nodded and took a bite of cereal.
Daisy turned to Andre, “Is the flashlight charged?”
“Yes, I charged it this morning.”
Daisy shook her head and looked at the cover just above her, “I wish I was certain about the time.”
Andre held up his wrist, “The watch Dad gave me is still operating normally and it’s five after one in the morning.”
Daisy nodded and turned the wheel on the cover. She led the way up the ladder and they opened the second cover and Daisy whispered, “Wait!” Andre stayed on the ladder and after what seemed like forever, he started to go out when Daisy appeared and said, “Come on.”
She pulled Andre out of the hatch and left it open. He followed her through the house to the lanai and looked out of the sliding glass door and saw there was a full moon rising over New York. A giant alien spaceship was still hovering over the city and Andre said softly, “Most of the lights in the city are still on.” Daisy nodded. “How is that possible?”
“All the power stations weren’t damaged by the attack,” Daisy answered. She turned to Andre and said, “Dad told me about how in our distant past some nations developed what’s called a neutron bomb. It didn’t harm buildings or physical things in cities but it killed all life by bombarding it with neutrons. I think that’s what that white beam was all about.” Andre looked into Daisy’s eyes and she shook her head, “If Mom or Dad survived, they would have come back here with Rose. They’re gone, Andre and we’re all we have left.” Andre stared at the ship and Daisy asked, “What are you thinking?”
Andre turned to her, “What is a neutron?”
Daisy sighed and hugged him, “It’s a part of most atoms that keep them in balance.” Andre’s eyes narrowed and Daisy shook her head, “Just look at it as being hit by millions of small bullets that are smaller than you can see.” Daisy opened the glass door and they stepped out on the lanai. They immediately saw the unfinished bowl of soup and half-eaten sandwich. Daisy’s eyes teared up as Andre said, “There’s no bugs.”
“What?”
“Shouldn’t the soup and sandwich have bugs in them?”
Daisy looked at the table and then looked to the north along the shore. She turned to the south and said, “The only living trees are on our property; all the others in sight are dead.” Andre stared at her and Daisy frowned, “It appears our house was not hit by those ships?”
“Why?”
Daisy sighed, “I have no idea.”
Daisy was silent and Andre said, “I don’t hear any seagulls.”
Daisy listened and said, “Come with me.” She walked out of the lanai and started walking toward the northern edge of their property. She arrived at the first house a mile away and said softly, “Be quiet.” They walked out and saw a dog’s decaying body laying on the ground outside the house. They looked into the lanai on the back of the house and saw three bodies lying on the floor. Andre whispered, “Even the parrot is dead.” Daisy nodded and looked at the ground. The grass was also brown and brittle. She walked back to the edge of their property and saw the wild grass was still growing. She walked along the edge of the grass toward the shoreline and stopped at the dune. “Why did you come here?”
Daisy turned to Andre, “That ship came in over the water and turned here to avoid our house.”
“Why would it do that?”
Daisy shook her head, “The only thing I can come up with is that our house is located in New Jersey’s bird sanctuary; our house is the only one inside it.” Daisy shook her head and pulled Andre back toward the neighbor’s house. She told him to wait and outside and
she went into the lanai and then into the house. Andre stared at the alien spaceship hanging over New York and he felt a deep anger welling up inside him. He began to worry about Daisy but she appeared with a large garbage bag in each hand. She handed one to him and said, “Let’s head back now!”
They arrived at the house after resting three times for Andre to catch his breath; the garbage bag was heavy. They went inside and Daisy led them back inside the shelter and closed the hatch. She put her bag on the floor and took out a gallon of milk, “It’s still good.” Andre nodded and felt his tears start. Daisy pulled him into her arms and wept with him. One of the bodies on the neighbor’s porch was a little girl that was in Andre’s first grade class. She was so beautiful but now she was a desiccated corpse. Andre knew his baby sister Rose looked the same now.
Each night, they would come up and eat their evening meal in the dark and stare at the city in silence. On the fourth night, Andre frowned and said, “That spaceship looks like it’s moving.” Daisy stared at the ship and saw it move over the city and suddenly it fired that terrible white beam at the surface. Daisy jerked her head to the north and saw another spaceship moving down the shore towards their house. She snatched Andre out of his chair and ran to the shelter. She dropped him on the ladder and scrambled in after him as the house started vibrating. They huddled in the shelter and held on to each other until the vibration passed.
Daisy would not go out after that. They had gathered enough food from the neighbor’s refrigerator and pantry and she insisted the aliens had a way of detecting them. Three days later, they heard a noise above them; something was attempting to open the hatch. Daisy took an ax out of the corner and stood at the foot of the ladder. Suddenly, they heard, “Daisy Connor, please open the hatch.” Daisy’s eyes narrowed and she gripped the ax tighter. “Your father made me promise to come look for you if the opportunity arose.”
“Who are you?” Daisy asked.
“Is Andre there with you?”
“I won’t answer until you tell me who you are.”
“My name is Telly Ann and I’m communicating with you telepathically. I’m one of the survivors of the alien attack and I have a team there to take you to safety. Please open the hatch.”
Daisy’s eyes narrowed, “How old are you?”
“I’m nine-years-old. Your father contacted me before he died and gave me this address and made me promise to find out if you were still alive. I promised Dr. Connor I would do as he asked and now that the aliens have left, it’s safe to go out and look for survivors.”
Daisy looked at Andre and he shrugged. Daisy hesitated and then asked, “Who was with my father.”
“His wife Connie and your sister Rose.”
Daisy climbed the ladder and turned the wheel. The hatch opened and Daisy saw a young woman wearing some kind of suit. “Thank God you’re still alive! Is your brother with you?” Daisy nodded. “Is your father’s computer in the shelter?”
“Yes.”
“Have your brother bring it up with him!”
Daisy turned and shouted, “Bring Dad’s computer with you in your backpack.”
Andre grabbed the computer, put it in his backpack, and climbed the ladder. Daisy gave him a hand and lifted him out of the shelter. The woman picked Andre up and ordered, “Get moving.” The woman ran out of the back of the house carrying Andre and entered some kind of……something sticking up out of the ground; Daisy jumped in right behind them. Once they were inside, the object disappeared into the ground and the soil closed in behind it.
Twenty-five miles north of the house, two Commandos landed softly on the top of the crashed Crawen ship and ran toward the center of the ship’s hull. A young man pulled a long rod off his armor and turned on his suit’s scanner, He walked along the hull and suddenly stopped. He said over his shoulder, “Chandra, I’m over the self-destruct package. You need to get out of here.” The young woman turned off her scanner and lifted off the ship with her jump boots. The young man took the rod and put it directly above the
giant block located inside the ship’s hull and pressed a button on the handle. The tip of the rod began twinkling and he pushed it into the ship’s hull and extended it slowly. He still had his scanner on and he watched the tip of the rod disappear into the block and he continued to have it extend. It arrived at the center of the block and he said, “Chandra, are you clear?”
“Yes, Lee.”
“Alright, here goes nothing.” Lee released the rod and depressed a button on the rod’s handle and slid it backwards. It locked into place and he announced, “Pressing the actuator in three, two, one, now!” Lee pressed the button and closed his eyes. After a moment, he opened them and looked at the hull under the rod with his armor’s scanner. “The block is gone! I repeat, the block is gone. Get everyone moving into the ship from underneath it now!” Lee carefully removed the rod and jumped away from the ship’s hull.
More than three hundred scientists and engineers came up under the ship and used their disruptor units to cut holes into the ship’s hull. They rushed in and began a through examination of the ship’s interior.
Chandra and Lee stood on the ground next to the ship and Chandra said, “Doctor Stone really guessed right when he predicted this ship would turn over this wet area to make another run at the city.”
Lee nodded, “It flew directly over the disruptor cannon and it cut the ship down the middle causing it to break up. Since it happened under the ship, it went unnoticed by the ship’s crew and the other ships. Let’s hope we find something we can use.”
Chandra nodded and spread out around the ship with the rest of her platoon of Special Forces. Lee disappeared into the soil and headed back to the community. Neither of them mentioned the six soldiers that died firing the disruptor cannon at the alien ship as it passed overhead. Their names were on the wall of honor in every community.
Dr. Stone sat in his office when Lt. Tinky Bartolotti walked in and put a laptop on his desk, “This is Dr. Connor’s computer, Sir.”
“Thank you Tinky.”
• • •
Suddenly, he heard, “Dr. Stone.”
“Yes, Telly Ann.”
“Before Dr. Connor died, he told me how to get into the files he was bringing to you.”
“Hold on just a moment.” Alex powered the computer and said, “It’s up and running.”
“Dr, Connor told me that on the background image on his computer is an image of his family.”
“I see that.”
“He told me that to open the disruptor files, you need to move the cursor over his oldest daughter’s left eye and right-click it three times.”
Alex moved the cursor and said, “Some files just opened. But it’s blocked by a password.”
“It’s not a password. Go back to the background image and leftclick on the baby’s pacifier followed by two right-clicks.” Alex nodded and after a moment, the file reappeared on the screen and it was open for viewing.”
“Thank you, Telly Ann.” Alex began going over the files and after an hour he blew out a breath, put his face in his hands, and said, “God bless you Phil!” Phil had gone to New York to deliver these files to one of his contacts but the meeting was prevented by the appearance of the alien warship. Phil had managed to get a message to Telly Ann before he died and Alex wept that he had caused Phil’s death. He should have sent a soldier to his house but was to occupied to think of it. Now after the fact……..it was too late.
• • •
Andre and Daisy were given quarters inside an underground community and were told to stay there until the staff could determine what to do with them. Daisy asked to speak to one of the military officers and her request to join the military was accepted. Daisy went to Andre and told him they were going to be separated; she had to report to basic training. She promised to stay in touch and Andre was crying and refusing to let her go. “You have to be
strong, Andre. All of us now have to work together to try and save humanity. I’ll contact you when I can but I need you to work with your teachers and do the best you can. Even though we won’t be together, I’ll love you with all my heart wherever I am.” Andre continued to cling to her and he finally released her legs. He stepped back and Daisy kissed him on top of his head and hugged him tightly, “We owe it to those we’ve lost to make our lives count for something. Make them proud, Andre!” Andre nodded with his head lowered and Daisy walked out of the conference room.
A teacher entered the conference room and said, “Andre, come with me.” Andre followed her out of the conference room and into a new and lonely world. He was given a bed in a large dormitory and the next morning he was taken to a classroom where he sat down in front of a computer screen and a helmet was put over his head. He tried not to cry but couldn’t stop. After a few minutes, his eyes closed and the teacher looked at the computer screen. Her brow furrowed and her assistant asked, “What’s wrong?”
“This kid’s IQ is the highest I’ve ever seen for one as young as he is.”
“Will he be in science or military?”
The teacher continued to stare at the computer screen and commented, “Can’t tell at this point. His progress will make that determination in a year or so.”
“He’s only six years old and his vocabulary is close to a college student,” the Aide commented.
“Most students have large vocabularies. Language is one of the first things imprinted in their minds before they’re three years old.” The Aide nodded and the teacher said, “But no student is this advanced in both language and math skills. I wonder why that is.
The Aide lifted a folder, opened it, and commented, “His father was Phillip Connor.”
“That explains it,” the teacher remarked. “Dr. Connor was one of Earth’s best scientists and I’m certain he pushed his son in his education. I suspect he will be very much like his father.”
Andre had his eyes closed but heard what the teacher said, he knew that was not going to happen; he was going to be a soldier
like his sister.
Four weeks later, during lunch break, a large boy walked up to a smaller boy standing in the cafeteria line, grabbed him by the collar, and threw him to the floor, “This is my place in line!”
The pretty young girl standing in front of him scowled as the teacher seemed to appear out of nowhere, grab the boy by the back of his neck and throw him against the steel counter. The boy collapsed to the floor crying and the teacher snarled, “YOUR KIND ARE NOT ALLOWED HERE! ALL WE HAVE IS EACH OTHER AND YOU DON’T APPRECIATE THE GIFT OF SURVIVAL YOU’VE BEEN GIVEN!”
The Teacher turned to her aide and said, “Take this scum to the Chief Agriculture Leader and have him put to work in the fields.” She looked at the boy and said harshly, “GET OUT OF MY SIGHT!!”
The Aide walked the crying boy out of the cafeteria and the Teacher looked around the room. “Everyone here has lost someone they love and we’re all we have left. You will learn to respect, care for, and hopefully learn to love each other. If you can’t do that, then get out of here now!!” No one moved and the Teacher stormed out of the cafeteria.
Andre watched the encounter and shook his head. He thought that the boy’s aggressive behavior would be viewed as positive. They needed aggressive soldiers to stand up to the aliens when they returned. After lunch just before instruction began, Andre held up his hand and the teacher said, “What do you want Connor?!”
“I don’t want to make you angry, but I thought you would want soldiers who are aggressive.”
“You’re referring to the bum I just kicked out of class?” Andre nodded. “Aggression will get you killed faster than anything else.”
Andre shook his head, “I don’t understand?”
“There are two lessons here. The first lesson is that all we have now is each other to depend on and that requires us to respect each other and value all humans. Some are just not capable to thinking of anything but themselves and there’s no place for them in our mist. The second lesson is that charging into the aliens’ advanced weapon technology will probably get all of your fellow soldiers killed. The military needs soldiers who are disciplined and patient. They will
attack the enemy inflicting as much death and damage as possible before running away to fight another day.” The teacher paused and then said, “That doesn’t mean to say that there may be an occasion where a soldier will sacrifice themself to save their fellow fighters. All of you need to get in your heads that we are in a fight for survival and if we lose, then humanity will be little more than a footnote in some alien’s history book. Save your aggression for moments like that. Put on your headsets and start today’s lesson!”
Andre began absorbing information on some wars that happened five hundred years earlier where a small country defeated the most powerful nation in the world by using what was called gorilla tactics. Ummmmm…..where was this place called Vietnam and Afghanistan? His mind absorbed data at a tremendous speed and before the end of class he determined that if one were not worried about dying, they could defeat huge numbers of the enemy. He finally took off the headset and remembered that he was unwilling to just go on living in the shelter and wanted to go to the surface, even if it cost him his life. Is that what the teachers were trying to get him to believe? He stood up and went to his dorm and thought about what had happened in the lunchroom.
Four months passed and no one noticed Andre’s birthday. That night, he suddenly heard, “Happy birthday, Bro.”
“DAISY!!”
“I’m sorry I haven’t been in touch with you, AC. I’ve been accepted into the military and the training is overwhelming. Plus, we’re not allowed to contact our families, if we have one, while we’re in training. Itwilldeflectyourattention! Or so I’m told.”
“I’ve missed you so much, Daisy! I want to go back to the shelter and stay there with you.”
Daisy sighed, “You don’t know how tempting that sounds but we would just be escaping until the aliens kill us and they eventually would. If I’m going to die, I’m taking some of them with me.”
“I dream about being home with my family at night. Mom would never have to tell me to clean my room and the shelter again if……”
“That was then, this is now,” Daisy said softly.
“I know. Tell me about being in the military.”
“I barely qualified and that was only because I was a runner on the school track team. However, I was weak; I never lifted anything more than twenty pounds or so. I’m working out every day ten hours a day increasing my strength and stamina. I’m finally able to hold my own but I nearly washed out several times.” Daisy paused and said, “My body has changed a lot. I’m no longer the pretty girl I used to be.”
“You’ll always be beautiful to me, Daisy.”
“Andre, you are so….sweet. I haven’t ever told you but you are the coolest little brother a girl could ever have.”
“And you were the sweetest sister, Daisy. I remember all the boys used to wish you would notice them; you were a beautiful queen at homecoming. Mom told Dad that everyone you came into contact with adored you.” Daisy was silent and Andre said, “Are you still there?”
“I’m here but I’m not still here either.”
“Why do you say that, Daisy?”
“I hate them, Andre. I hate those aliens with a rage that threatens to consume me. I want to hurt them as much as they’ve hurt me. They murdered my parents, my baby sister, and they killed the man I was going to marry in a matter of a few hours. They ripped out my heart only leaving a rage that builds every day.” Daisy paused and said, “Do you know what I hate the most about them.”
“What is that?”
“That they have made me become just like them; I’m a monster wanting to murder and kill them and I’ll do it with passion and glee to watch them die. And what makes me hate them the most is that I know the coolest , loving younger brother anyone could have is going to become just like me, a monster.” Daisy paused and said softly, “And I know I’m losing my soul because I can’t bring myself to say I regret that happening.”
“I’m so sorry Daisy.”
“Never tell me that again, Andre! Being sorry only makes you feel bad. Being sorry changes nothing! Do something instead. Promise me you’ll be strong!”
“I promise, Daisy.”
“Happy birthday, Andre. I love you with all my heart and soul.”
“And I love you too, my beautiful sister.” The connection ended and Andre fell back on his bed and fought his tears with a passion. Tears wouldn’t change anything either and it was a lesson he was not going to forget. He looked at the transfer helmet on the small table in his room and he stood up and turned them on, “Computer, what are the physical requirements to enter the military?”
The data started and Andre saw videos of soldiers training. He shook his head and knew his sister was hurting during that training because she never prepared for it before the aliens. Andre took off the helmet, went to the floor, and started doing pushups. At five pushups, his arms gave out. He went to his feet and quickly went to his closet, pushed his clothes out of the way, and grabbed the iron bar as he tried to do a pullup and failed miserably. He fell in bed and decided to develop a plan to prepare him physically; he was determined to join Daisy in the military. The next day after class, he started running in the corridor outside the dormitory. At first he’d only go a hundred yards or so before he gave out and felt like he was going to throw up. After ten days, he was sprinting at full speed two hundred yards up the corridor and then he would walk back to do it again.
He discovered his muscles were sore and his joints were painful when he went to bed and when he woke in the morning. He quizzed the computer and was told he wasn’t stretching properly before exercising. The computer also mentioned that yoga was also a good exercise to improve his flexibility. He downloaded a yoga program for beginners and began doing it every night after his pullups and pushups.
Chapter Three
The fifth week of his training routine he sprinted to the quarter mile-mile mark in the corridor and slowed to a walk a hundred yards past it. He walked back to the quarter-mile mark and sprinted back to the start mark to find a group of eight of his classmates sitting down watching him. George Adams, the most popular student in his class said, “What are you doing? Don’t you get enough pain in class?”
Andre was bent over catching his breath as he managed to say, “My older sister is going through military training and the pain she endures everyday is more than you can ever imagine. I’m going to be ready when I’m old enough to join her in the military.”
George smiled, “Oh, I get it. You want to make sure if you’re chasing the aliens, you’ll catch them, right?” Andre smiled slightly and George added, “And if they’re chasing you…..”
“I want them to suffer like I am now,” Andre remarked. George laughed aloud and stood up, “Do you mind if I join you?”
“I want you to look at military training in your helmet tonight and if you still want to join me, meet me here each day after class.”
“Shouldn’t you wait until after supper to do this,” Jenny asked. Andre shook his head, “No. I’d throw everything up if I did.”
Andre went to the ground, did thirty pushups, jumped to his feet, and sprinted down the hall.
The next day George, Jenny, a student one-year older named Jack, and four other classmates were at the starting line. Andre looked at them and shook his head. George said, “What?”
“Where did you get those tie-dye pants?”
“Made them myself. Aren’t they great?”
Andre smiled, “If you say so.” He turned to the group and said, “I’ve learned that the only way you can get stronger is to push yourself and I have to tell you that it hurts. Are all of you really committed to doing this? Because if you’re not, you’re going to fail, and you shouldn’t waste your time.”
Kenny looked at Andre and said, “You appear to be doing it.”
“That’s because I’m driven like my sister to make those aliens pay for what they did to my family.”
Everyone stared at Andre and George asked, “Are you an outsider?”
Andre’s brow furrowed, “What is an outsider?”
“They’re the ones that were on the surface when the aliens attacked.”
Andre’s eyes narrowed, “I thought all of us were on the surface when the aliens attacked.”
The others looked at each other as George said, “All of us were already living underground when the aliens attacked.”
“How can that be?” Andre asked.
“Our leaders knew the aliens were coming and they started building underground communities ten years ago; most of our parents participated in building them.”
“I never heard anything about aliens.”
“The leaders had to keep it a secret,” Jenny remarked.
“Why?!” Andre asked.
“Because if everyone knew they were coming and there was no way to stop them, what do you think would have happened?”
“I think everyone would have come together to build the underground cities.”
George shook his head, “You’re wrong, Andre. There would have been worldwide panic and civilized rule would have disappeared as everyone tried to take care of only themselves.”
Andre lowered his head and Jack asked, “Did you actually see the aliens?”
Andre looked up at Jack with an expression that told everyone he did. “I really hate asking you what you saw, and you don’t have to tell us if you don’t want to, but can you tell us what happened?” Jenny asked.
Andre looked up at them and lowered his eyes. Everyone was silent and after a long minute, Andre said, “I never knew why my father bought an old house with a fallout shelter under it; it really didn’t make sense. Now after the fact, I realize he knew the Aliens were coming.” Andre paused and then continued, “But I loved
playing in it…..” Andre spoke slowly and softly and everyone moved closer to hear him. After an hour, Andre said, “After they found us, we were brought here.”
Andre looked at his classmates and said, “The aliens didn’t ask for us to give up or surrender. They flew those horrible ships over us killing everything with that white beam coming out of the ship’s bottom. I watched them kill New York where my parents and baby sister were that night and I knew they were gone before we fled into the shelter.” Andre was silent for a moment and then he looked up at them, “And that is what they’re going to try to do to us who survived when they return. This training I’m doing is to prepare me to be at my strongest when they come back. My sister is training now to meet them and I hope to join her before that happens.”
Jack and George stood up as Jack remarked, “Well then, let’s get started.”
Andre would one day look back on this time and remember it as the best time of his life after the aliens came. The children would laugh at each other as they ran races UP THE long hallway and the winner would always be applauded by the others. When George beat him in a hundred-yard dash and pulled out a tie-dyed pair of pants for him to wear he fell to the ground laughing. He deliberately let George beat him and he knew he would have to wear those outrageous pants; he figured it served him right for not doing his best. But he took his medicine and though all the other children laughed, Georg thought he looked MAU-VE-LOUS.
Two days later, the school supervisor stepped out into the corridor and demanded to know what was going on. Andre told him that they were working to get into good physical condition during their free time. The supervisor reported it to the Military Liaison a week later and Captain Winters showed up one after noon with a Special Forces Sargent. Sargent Troastle told the children that he would like to assist them in training if they were ok with it. Andre immediately accepted his invitation and the children learned quickly that they weren’t conditioning themselves properly; training became a lot more difficult in that moment but all of the young students decided
