Chapter Nine
We’re Not Alone
Deep in an underground bunker situated in the Nevada desert the activity reminded one of an ant hill, after a malicious kid had finished kicking at it. Into the scene of organized mayhem, with hastily thrown on clothes, not diminishing his sense of command, General Tommy Vern Sunderson surveyed the scene.
“Talk to me people, what do you have? It had better be good to pull me out of my bed at this hour of the morning!”
A semblance of order was attained at the presence of the General in the room. An aid stepped forward and gestured towards a large screen that began displaying space imagery.
“At 1:00 AM this morning our deep space probes picked up an anomaly on their scans. At first we thought it was a low orbiting asteroid, but it moved without any sign of orbital pull. By 2:00 AM what we thought at first was an asteroid was completely across the system and was starting to enter the atmosphere. We only picked it back up then because it had slowed down considerably and had the same signature as we had seen from earlier. It came down through our atmosphere on a straight down trajectory and landed approx. two hundred miles off the California coastline. One of our satellites got this footage.”
The General looked back up at the screen and swore starring in disbelief at what was on the screen. As far up as one could see in the real time footage was a column of what appeared to be pure energy. As he looked at the imagery almost before one could blink a dark object came hurtling down it and the energy beam disappeared as it passed by.
The General swore again, “Notify the navy! I want our people there an hour ago!”
“Already working on it Sir! We have subs in the area and we dispatched a salvage ship and three destroyers to the area. Sir it also appears that the Asian Alliance witnessed the incident and has upped their military threat level. One intercept of their communication lines suggests that they are redirecting their own subs to the area as well.”
‘Just great!’ the General thought to himself. The situation was unsteady enough with the newly formed Asian Alliance before this had happened.
“Notify the Committee of this. They will want to know.” ‘And get in the way of progress,’ thought the General to himself.
Within hours the entire coastline of the Western Confederation, formerly the west coast of the United States of America was on high alert.
The morning of the third day on the planet our scans picked up the outline of the coastline and we began looking for a place to make our way ashore. We could see where the populations of people were most concentrated from our thermal scans and we avoided those sections of the coast.
We found a secluded looking stretch of beach and that evening Torren raised the ship up to the surface. Larc and Talaric went up top to have a look.
Orhanin had figured out how to turn the lights off that ran along the vessels exterior so at least we weren’t announcing our presence overtly to anyone who may be ashore. Larc and Talaric came back down into the control room.
“It looks clear. Torren, you Corrigan and Sassten will stay aboard and man the vessel and take care of Ileyano. The rest of us are going ashore. Torren submerge the ship and go back out to deep water and keep a low profile. Come back here in four days to pick us up. If we aren’t here leave and come back in another four days and so on till we make it back. If we aren’t back in a month’s time head back to our world, if you can’t make it back destroy the ship. Understand?”
All three of them nodded solemnly in acceptance of their orders.
“The rest of us need to put on the clothes that Abby had made for us and get to shore and away from the beach, while we still have the cover of darkness on our side.” Larc continued.
We all moved to our assigned tasks then.
Later after we were in the strange air boats and headed for the shore I looked back at the shape of our ship that was already submerging and for a moment I wished to be back on it.
I brushed that thought away. Our people were counting on us to make this a successful mission; their fate could depend on it.
I’d see the vessel again, when I had a book of the words of the Creator in my hand and not before. As we reached the shallow surf of the beach we jumped out of the air boats and drug them up onto the shore and into the cover of some sand dunes.
We wasted no time in burying them under whatever debris and vegetation that we could find. Straightening up I looked around. We were past the beach and in the cover of some low vegetated sand mounds. Lights could be seen sporadically here and there in the dark.
Lights like the ones on the ship!
The people of Earth must still be advanced then. We would have to be extra careful then. I paused before following the rest of the men through the dunes.
We were the first men of our kindred to step onto the first world in over seven hundred years. It was a daunting thought to consider.
We traveled on through the night. Daylight found us on the edge of a small sprawled out town. We studied it carefully and its occupants. Everything was once again foreign to us, as it had been on the ship.
Larc whispered, “We’re going to have to cut our hair. I don’t see any of the men with long hair, only some of the women seem to have long hair.”
“Look!” Talaric exclaimed pointing at a tall man who had just left a building surrounded by black hard looking road.
The building had red and orange lights glowing in its windows. It was not a good look. Perhaps it was some kind of temple.
The man had long flowing hair and wore black leather clothing. He seemed to be imposing to the other people on the street, because they stepped out of his way, as he arrogantly swaggered his way through them. It wouldn’t take too much work to copy him down.
We should have kept our old clothes on in place of the ones that Abby had made for us. While nice they didn’t compare favorably with the mood of what we saw on the street. We would stand out in them.
We would stand out dressed like the man we had observed too, but in an intimidating kind of way that perhaps no one would think twice about questioning.
Larc must have thought the same thing, “We’re going down there and getting some clothes like he had. The stuff we have on just won’t do.”
We made our way, as best as we could, to the building without looking overly suspicious. Larc opened the door of the building and we stepped in. We were the only people in the strange place, which must be some form of a store.
A little man I took to be the shop owner looked up at our entrance and did a double take. I wondered if we would need to kill him.
“Can I help you gentlemen?” He asked somewhat uncertainly.
Larc, ever the glib one, strolled over to the counter and smiled charmingly, “We’ve been traveling for quite a while and we find ourselves in this sunny country of yours completely out of attire for such a climate. Do you have any clothes that we might purchase?”
The man blinked a couple of times, “Where did you say you’re from?” He asked in an openly suspicious tone of voice.
Yeah we’d have to kill him.
Larc met his eyes and said pointedly, “I didn’t say!”
The shop owner swallowed fearfully, “Can you pay?”
Larc reached down to his belt and pulled out a small sack, which he dumped out in front of the shop owner on the counter. The beady eyes of the shop owner almost popped out of his head at the sight of the gold.
“Take anything you want!” He said in a daze.
He started to reach for a chunk of gold, but Larc caught his hand in a firm grasp, “We’ll do that, but in addition to that I want all the currency of this land that you possess.”
The little man nodded vigorously, “Sure! Sure! Here take it all!”
The man opened the box beside him and pulled out what looked like oblong pieces of greenish paper. The people of Earth used paper for currency?
What could be of worth about fancy looking paper?
Larc gathered the money up and smiled at the shop owner again, “I wouldn’t tell anybody about us if you know what I mean. I’d hate to have to come back here and make you eat this gold, before I cut it back out of you with this.” Larc said testing the edge of a long knife that had materialized out of nowhere in his hands.
The man was shaking like a bunny in fright at the prospect of being a wolf’s mid day snack.
“I won’t tell anyone! Take what you need!”
“Thank you for your generosity, but remember I don’t make idle threats.” Larc said, as he tapped the pile of gold with the tip of the knife.
Larc turned away from the man, but then swung back around abruptly and the man stepped back slightly in fright.
“Is that vessel outside yours?”
The shop owner looked out the window puzzled at where Larc pointed at a funny looking box that sat on four wheels.
The man hastily dug into his pocket and pulled out a little piece of shiny cut metal, “Here take it too! It’s got a full tank of gas!”
Larc took the little piece of metal from the man and lifted it up in a slight salute, “You know you’re making me glad that I didn’t just outright kill you.”
The man was literally quaking, as Lark turned away from him and came over to where we were changing into new wardrobes. The man stared at us as if we were nuts as we changed into the garb that the man, who had left the store earlier had been wearing.
It must not be a custom to change clothes in a store upon purchasing them. Wasn’t really a custom at home either, but these were special circumstances.
We were all ready to go when Larc went back over toward the shop owner, who seemed to shrink away from him, “One more thing I ask of you. Do you know where we might find the Holy Scriptures?”
“Holy Scriptures?” Squealed the little man on a panicked high note.
“Yes the words of the Creator written down on paper.” Larc restated patiently.
“Oh you must mean the Bible. I haven’t seen one of those in a long time, especially since the edict of San Diego. It’s frowned on heavily by the government to have one of those books, actually it’s illegal.”
Larc asked softly, “And why is that?”
“They say it’s full of hate speech and that it’s judgmental. I wouldn’t know I’ve never read it.”
Things were worse here than I had imagined they would be I thought to myself. The people had turned from the very words spoken by their Creator. It was an unthinkable action to do, but yet it had happened.
Would my world become like this?
The people not even wanting to read the words of the Creator and then darkly I had to admit to myself that many of the people of my world had already done just that.
The little man was speaking again, “You might find part of it intact not too far from here.”
“Part of it?” Larc asked skeptically.
“There’s a synagogue a couple towns over. I think they still follow some of the practices of that cult.”
Larc’s menacing look had the shop owner back pedaling, “I mean faith!”
“That wouldn’t help us any, we came for all of it!”
“You might try the city. There used to be a lot of churches there at one time. Maybe someone there still has one.”
“What city is that?”
“San Francisco. If you stay on the main road it’ll take you right to it. Just look for the signs.”
Larc nodded and we left the store and approached the strange vessel. Larc saw the wheel inside at the front of the vessel and grabbed my shoulder and moved me to the door next to it.
Opening the door he pushed me into the vessel forcefully handing me the small piece of cut metal in the process, “You have experience. Make it work.”
Was he serious?
I didn’t know how to operate this vessel!
Larc got into the seat across from me, while the others piled into the seats behind me.
This was so unfair!
Frustrated I turned to the wheel in front of me.
Where did the metal piece go?
It seemed somehow important to the process. I found a slot behind the wheel on the side and the metal piece slid into it easily. I wiggled it a little and the vessel made a noise. I turned it harder and the vessel came alive with a shudder. I closed my door as did the others.
Now what?
There were knobs, buttons, and indicators of something everywhere one looked within the cramped space. Horses were so much simpler than this!
Oh how I missed Relentless!
“What about this thing? It looks like the gear Torren has to engage to move our water vessel.” Larc said.
I looked to where he was pointing at a knob sticking up beside me. Okay it was worth a try.
I grabbed it but it wouldn’t move. I tried harder and braced my foot on the floor. My foot hit something and the knob in my hand moved on its track several clicks. I glanced under the steering wheel to see two pedals that were somewhat similar to the ones that Torren had to work with.
One would make us go faster and the other slower, if this vessel worked on the same principle. I was pretty sure that I had hit the left one and the vessel hadn’t moved. I’ll try the right one.
I pushed hard on it and the entire vessel jumped backward and I hit the wheel hard, even as I took my foot off that pedal to stomp on the other pedal.
The vessel jerked again and I watched as Larc’s head smacked off the window beside him. Served him right for doing this to me.
He turned to scowl at me. I shrugged and pointed at the wheel meaningfully. He looked away. Yeah that’s what I thought!
I took my foot off the pedal and the vessel drifted backward. I stepped on the left pedal again to stop. I needed to go forward now. I was pretty sure that was how the vessel was meant to move, forward. I glanced down at the knob beside me again and reached down to move it forward a bit. Letting off on the left pedal the vessel drifted forward.
The men behind me gave a shout of success and Orhanin and Thanic, who were closest behind me along with Larc began to pound on my back and shoulders, until I thought I was seeing double.
After they quit hitting me I pulled the strange vessel out into the middle of the big black road and pushed down more on the right pedal and was rewarded with more speed. I stayed in the middle of the road. I was less likely to hit something that way I thought.
The shop owner stood beside his counter watching the jerky motions of his van going on outside. He watched as the van traveled out of his lot with eight of the strangest men he had ever met. When the van was out of sight he reached for the phone on the counter. He was about to punch in the number he needed, when his eyes caught sight of the fortune in gold that lay on his countertop.
The money they used anymore was all but worthless in value. They only used it because they were forced to by the government that said it had value regardless of what the economy said it was worth. But this gold, now it had value!
Why, with that much gold, he could charter his way to South America, where things were better than they were here. He looked back at the phone.
If he called the police they would confiscate the gold, of that he could be sure and then there had been the threat given by the big blond haired man with the probing blue eyes.
He didn’t ever want to look into those intense eyes ever again. He paused for a moment longer and then he put the phone back on its holder on the counter and gathered up the gold before someone could see it.
He was leaving tomorrow.
He had enough real money in his hands to start all over again and get away from this sad place. He ran to the door and flipped the closed sign over before then running to his small living quarters at the rear of the store.
The General fumed in his office, as he paced back and forth in front of the windows that overlooked the bay. He couldn’t say he was all that surprised by the turn of events, but it didn’t make it any easier for him to swallow how he had been relegated to a minor part in the operation, as if he was a nobody!
Sure enough as soon as the Committee had been informed of the incident they had sent their ‘black hands’ as they were termed, to take over the investigation. All he was yet tasked with was the finding of the alien vessel that had landed offshore.
His forces were not to participate at all in the search for the occupants of the two boats a search patrol had found concealed in the dunes to the north, which in his opinion was sheer lunacy.
The more available resources brought to bear in the capture of these aliens the better, in his opinion. It was an uneasy time for his fledgling country and its new leadership. A leadership he did not approve of.
The military could do a far better job of running the nation than the sadistic freaks on display over at government house were doing. It was hard to keep his thoughts of the new government to himself, but he tried.
People that talked to loudly in opposition to the Committee had a way of showing up dead or missing soon after. It was how they stayed in power.
Their rule was based out of fear by those they were supposedly tasked with serving.
A knock sounded at the door, “Yes?”
An aid came in, “Sir, the Eastern Colonies have noticed our heightened state of alertness and are demanding to know why!”
“We no longer run joint operations with them, but go ahead and forward their request to the Committee. Let them deal with it.”
The door closed and the General stared sourly out the window at the bay and reflected on the sad state of affairs of their once proud nation. Weakened by social issues and economic downturns the nation had been unable to cope with the magnitude of the natural disaster that had struck the middle of the country ten years earlier, let alone recover from it.
A series of earthquakes of unpreviously seen severity had completely destroyed much of the heartland of America. Whole areas had been wiped out beyond recognition and millions had died.
The effects were felt for thousands of miles away. As bad as the initial event had been, even more had died in the aftermath of the quakes, when rescue didn’t come or from the harshness of the environmental factors.
Everyone had been affected by the quakes and communication was so disrupted that no comprehensive relief effort was ever able to be mounted on behalf of those affected by the quakes the most, as everyone had needed relief of some kind.
The bad news had only continued for the fractured country. Not even a year after the disaster had occurred the final death knell of the once great nation was sounded.
Religious fanatics or at least so it was claimed, had planted dirty bombs in all the remaining major east and west coast cities. The bomb plots had been caught in time along the west coast, but the east hadn’t been so fortunate. Most of the bombs had gone off and millions more had died or suffered terribly from the aftereffects of the bombs.
The cities full of residual radiation were abandoned and for a while all communication had been lost with the east.
The people in the western half of the country had been thrown into a panic at the lack of order and resources to be had. Virtual chaos had ensued. That was when a group, self termed the Committee, had stepped in to restore order to the panicked masses.
By using whatever means they had to, they put a stop to the endless riots and brought about an unsteady peace. They instituted themselves as the governing body of the west coast, in place of the former control of the nation by the elected heads in Washington DC, which was now nothing but a ghost city.
Their rule of iron had controlled the Western Confederation for the last eight years unchallenged, but as of late cracks had been showing, as a result of their heavy handed tactics and many corruption scandals.
It was a tumultuous time to be living in. World wide it wasn’t much better. Europe had collapsed financially under the weight of its long term cradle to grave socialism schemes.
The populations of entitled youth within their borders had revolted and countries had burned in anarchy, as governments had toppled. It was everyone for themselves as lawlessness rose unchecked, along with the sins against humanity that it racked up with the passing of every new day.
Russia instead of capitalizing on America’s downfall had fallen into its own combination of chaos of social issues and homegrown terrorists.
The Middle East and Africa sank back into the bitter inner struggles of the dark ages, without outside intervention keeping them from each other’s throats. Only South America and Asia weathered the global collapse.
China’s strong arm government had fallen, after being weakened by the global economic downturn and its long time oppressed people had risen up clamoring for freedom.
They had ushered in a new era of freedom and had succeeded in the stabilization of their country in the hard times the world at large faced. They had with the other large players in the area, including Australia put together a coalition that became the strongest militarily and economically in the world.
They termed themselves simply as the Asian Alliance. The Committee was at odds with them and there was all but open conflict between the two factions, when there should have been peace.
The conflict between China and America had never gone away, even after the two nations had switched ideologies of rule, China embracing the will of the people, while the Western Coalition favored iron handed control in place of freedom.
The only other bright spot in the world was South America, where nations were flourishing in the face of stability brought on by there being no more market for the drug trafficking that had torn their communities apart for years on end. For them at least the fall of America was a good thing.
The General couldn’t help but feel depressed over the fall of his country into the parted out state of ruin that it now was. America once the center stage of the world scene and the bearer of supreme power was no more. Unless…..
This incident could be the very thing needed to turn everything around. The advanced technology laying out there in the ocean could be the ticket that his beleaguered remnant of a once proud nation needed to reclaim its place in the sun.
It was a chance where he had expected there to be none. He was not about to let the selfish and self centered ambitions of the Committee undermine this opportunity for salvation out of the pit that the nation had been thrust into!
The Committee’s agents were good at what they did though. He would let them ferret out the strangers among them first before he would make his play, which meant that he had to continue swallowing his objections toward them for yet a little while longer.
Driving in the middle of the road on this planet had been a mistake and I now clung to the right side of the road. People on this world had an odd way of expressing extreme anger with just one finger.
After a harrowing journey of surviving the open road we entered what must be the city, the shop owner had spoken of, in the late afternoon. Five minutes later, after the lives of everyone in the vessel had been jeopardized several times over, I swung the vessel over to the side of the street and turned the key off and with a relieful shudder the machine was blessedly silent.
I had a splitting headache caused in large part from driving this confounded contraption of a device that would have been better off not having been created. The other reason for the headache could find its blame in the form of the incessant ringing noise coming from somewhere inside the vessel.
Why would the people of this world put such an annoying alarm in their vessels?
The vessel drove well and there were no flashing indicator lights, but yet the alarm had gone on and on!
It would blessedly stop briefly only to start back up again in annoying frequency a few moments later. It was enough to drive one nuts after a while.
I lo