“No, I guess not. Somehow this time seems different.”
“And how so?”
“I can’t put my finger on it. This man, Oria, is revealing incredible technology, and has only asserted himself to protect either himself or others. What this Retilia says just doesn’t add up.”
“Bill, you have a point. I don’t know much about Commander Retilia either. He sure has Helen sold on him.”
Bill glared at Peter. “Is that your head talking or your hormones?”
Ratherson guffawed. “Touché, you’ve got me. However, Helen is really sold on this alien.”
“Peter, how much do you know about Helen? Have you read her file?”
“Most of it, I know she has some embarrassing things in our file.”
“Yes, the file that just got hacked! Does Helen know what you know about her past and more importantly, what does the press already know?”
“Good point, Helen may be under some sort of coercion.”
“Exactly, Peter there may be hope for you yet.”
“Even if this Oria is not a bad person, it looks like Retilia has given us some useful cures.”
“Maybe, we need to check them out.”
“Of course Bill! I still need the press conference. Let’s just say that we are real close to a cure. Retilia is definitely not human and definitely, an intelligent alien life form. If this Oria is for real and Retilia has given us bad stuff, Oria may still be able to make it right.”
“Yes, but what if he doesn’t”
“Then we will hold another conference and say that we were mistaken.”
5 PM: SECDEF Briefing
Helen arrived back at her office and prepared to initiate several tasks resulting from her meeting with the President. She needed to set up a team to work with Retilia’s representatives. Her emotions were oscillating between extreme excitement and fear that the release of personal information would ruin her life. In the back of her mind the thought that we’re not alone, the world will forever change, and I already am a major player in bringing it about, be
gan to win out over her fears.
One of the first tasks Helen performed was to text the SECDEF and the Secretary of State. While she waited for them to return her text messages, she started to write up a general outline of how she planned to bring the two worlds together.
The SECDEF was the first to respond to her text. She answered the secure phone “Hello”
“Hello, is this Helen”?
“Yes, hi John”
“You caught me getting ready to take my family out to dinner. What’s up?”
“I just left the President and we have a new situation. An alien government just contacted us and wants to establish relations between our worlds.”
“What? Did I hear you correctly? We made contact with aliens?”
“That’s right. We need to assemble a team to meet them and map out a plan to coordinate our two worlds coming together without creating a massive panic.”
“Whoa, hold up Helen. Who else knows about this?”
“The President, Steiner, and whoever else the President has told. Look, I want to set up a meeting tomorrow morning to map out staffing and put a team together that can work directly with the aliens.”
“Where do you want to meet?”
“Let’s meet in my Crystal City office. Oh one other thing, John, I’ve been hearing some news accounts about one of your teams investigating a stranger called Oria.”
“Yes.”
“Oria is a known criminal to our new allies. He was originally from Earth and is extremely dangerous. It would be convenient if he disappeared.”
“Wait a minute Helen. How do you know that you can trust these new aliens?”
“John, you may not have a choice. President Ratherson has declared Oria an enemy of the state.” Helen knew that she just stretched Ratherson’s words. She could deal with getting Ratherson to back her later. After all, she was his mistress.
“Fine; I’ll require confirmation from the President.”
“So be it”
7 AM: Pentagon - Operation Laser Watch Briefing
Bob and Karen entered General Bronson’s conference room and took seats near the head of the table. Lt. Johanson, Colonel Johnson, and Captain Martello were already there. Colonel Henley was visible on Bronson’s video conferencing screen.
Henley saw Bob and Karen enter on his monitor. “Hello Major Brown and Captain Jackson. I see you made it back from Ocean City in one piece.”
Karen looked tired and worn out. She looked at the video camera sitting next to their monitor and replied, “Yes Colonel. It seems our trip back to Washington was the most uneventful part of our vacation.”
Henley responded, “Yes. I was sorry to hear about Jack’s death. His family has set the funeral for Friday.”
“Yes Colonel, I just hope we can safely attend it.”
General Bronson entered the room and glared around the table. He looked angry. “Listen team. I am not happy about this weekend! You succeeded in losing a good man, attracting most every intelligence agency in the world to our mission, and creating a slew of legal and political problems starting with Major Brown’s wild trip across the Eastern Shore and ending with multiple acts of violence in Ocean City. Major Brown, do you have anything to say about this?”
“No sir.”
“Does anyone in this room even know where our target is?”
The room was deathly silent. Bronson glared at each person and focused on Captain Martello. “Captain Martello, wasn’t it your job to keep track of Oria?”
“Yes sir. We did not see him leave the safe house. He should not have been able to disappear without us knowing about it, at least with technology known to us.”
“Then Captain, he must have used technology unknown to us. Is that your best answer?”
“Sir, I don’t have a good answer.”
Bronson roared back “I know you don’t Captain! None of us do! I am hearing rumors that the White House has an interest in Oria. In a conversation with the SECDEF late last night, he suggested that President Ratherson might have declared Oria an enemy of the state. We may receive orders to terminate him. If that position is confirmed, can I count on each of you?” Bronson glared directly at Karen with his last remark. He knew that she would be the weakest link.
Bob shaking his head replied “General Bronson, that doesn’t make any sense. If anything is true, it looks like Oria is trying to help us.”
“Captain, this is one of those times where we may have to just follow orders. No one has given us any orders to terminate Oria, at least not yet. I’ll know more after my 11AM White House meeting with the SECDEF. Until then, we will continue to look for Oria. Major Brown, if Oria contacts you; you must immediately notify the command center.”
11:00 AM: White House, SECDEF Meeting
General Bronson arrived at the White House and entered a large conference room with the Sectaries of Defense, State, and about half of the Joint Chiefs of Staff already seated around the table.
John Wilson, the Secretary of Defense, began the meeting. “Let’s get started and go over some details before the President joins us. A lot is happening and it is happening very fast. As all of you know, last week a man called Oria shook the scientific community by revealing new concepts of physics and the possibility of weapons technology and space travel far beyond any of our current capabilities. This weekend, after the White House murders and hacking of their computer network, Helen Marshal met and subsequently introduced the President to a visitor from another planet.”
The room fell stone silent. This was the first time that most of the senior officers on the Joint Chiefs had heard anything about contact with an alien life form.
Wilson continued his briefing. “This visitor introduced himself as Commander Retilia and presented the President with several so-called gifts. These gifts include the cure for AIDS, several cancers, and a series of anti-viral drugs. If you have been paying any attention to the news, you would know this. The only thing not presented was the contact with Commander Retilia. Commander Retilia also requested that we work towards establishing relations with their world and that we help them capture, detain, or terminate Oria.”
Wilson’s last comment sent the conference room buzzing. It wasn’t until the President entered with Helen Marshal that the room settled down. Ratherson looked at each person with his trademark smile and took his seat at the head of the table. “I just want to thank everyone for making this meeting on such short notice. John, are you done with your initial briefing?”
“Yes Mr. President.”
“Very good; I’ll be short with my points and then open the floor for discussion. First, we are not releasing any of the medical technology provided to us at this time. We sent the package given us by Commander Retilia to NIH for testing. Second, I haven’t decided how to best respond to Commander Retilia’s request on capturing Oria. General Bronson, I do want your team to continue your current mission. Let’s find out who Oria truly is before we make any decisions. Finally, let’s go ahead and put the teams into place to explore opening formal relations with Commander Retilia and the United Creyte Republic. Are there any questions?”
Helen looked stunned. She was sure that Ratherson had agreed to take a more active role in bringing Oria in. She was terrified that Retilia would be upset and release-incriminating evidence on her ruining her life. “Mr. President, are you sure we shouldn’t at least detain Oria. We wouldn’t want to upset an alien power when we’re just starting to talk. Besides, if we hold him captive, we can still get to the bottom of who he is.”
“Yes I’m sure Ms. Marshal. I know your thoughts on this matter. Oria has not yet threatened us and giving the General’s plan more time should not put us in grave peril. We are a country of laws and any entity that wants to work with us must understand that. Maybe in a week we can revisit this position. In addition, how do we know that we should align ourselves with the Creytes and not with the world that sent us Oria? For now my decision stands -- anyone else?”
The room again fell silent as everyone considered the latest sequence of events. Earth was no longer alone and its future was forever changed. The only mystery remaining was how Earth would change and what would the impact be on each person’s life.
President Ratherson waited a full minute for a response to his last question. The silence was deafening. Ratherson finally interrupted the silence. “Good. General Bronson, I believe your team is continuing the investigation of Oria. I want all of the Pentagon’s efforts coordinated through your team. Ms. Marshal, I want you to continue spearheading the group investigating a formal relationship with the Creytes. I don’t want the United States falling into the middle of an intergalactic war. All communications between the two teams should be coordinated through my office. If there are no other questions, everyone is free to go and carry out their missions.”
2 PM: Pentagon - Kick off of Operation Alien Reception
Helen Marshal wasted no time in getting together a team to set up relations with the Creytes. She was terrified that Commander Retilia would destroy her and her relationship with the President. She believed that quick action might upset the efforts of Bronson’s team at getting to the truth behind Oria and help keep Retilia from attacking her.
Helen watched as several representatives from the State Department entered the small conference room set up at the Pentagon for her kickoff meeting. She only invited token representation from Bronson’s team. She requested that Lieutenant Johanson, one of Bronson’s junior intelligence officers, represent Bronson on her team. She told Bronson that most of her efforts were going to be on the diplomatic front and that, if there was a need for higher level input from DOD, that she would pass the request along.
Helen’s team met with about a dozen representatives from State, several from HUD, and a couple from NIH. Since the Creytes provided medical technology as a gift in anticipation of friendship, she wanted to get the blessing of the medical community as well. The meeting lasted for several hours with a final decision made to set up a meeting with the Creytes in their West Virginia facility.
4 PM: Somewhere in New York
Oria and a strategic operations unit off the Hercules, beamed into the outside lobby of a large office suite in one of New York’s high-rise office buildings. The team wore assault gear, body armor, and carried high-energy laser weapons. They stood in front of a pair of heavy oak double doors. Oria led the small band in an assault-style storm through the doors. An older looking man sat behind a desk with several large bodyguards nearby. Oria’s men quickly subdued the guards as Oria stood in front of the desk glaring down at the man behind the desk.
“Mr. Antonio Pirelli, you and I have some business to discuss.”
Pirelli glared back and in an angry voice fired back, “You have a lot of nerve breaking into my office and just who in the world are you? If you have any desire to continue living, you best have a good explanation.”
“Mr. Pirelli, I will cut to the chase. I have no desire to be here and had no reason to be here until someone in your organization attacked Karen Brown.”
“Are you calling me a murderer? I don’t know any Karen Brown and I’m offended at your suggestion that I had anything to do with attacking this woman. Now if you don’t mind, remove yourself and your goons from my office.”
Oria laid a small device down onto Pirelli’s desk. He pushed a play button and Mr. Pirelli’s voice sounded loud and clear negotiating a contract to assassinate Karen. Pirelli’s jaw dropped as he heard his voice with the hit man.
“Where did you get that?” Pirelli was shocked that the stranger before him could obtain such a recording. As was his custom, Pirelli carried out all of his questionable business dealings in a soundproof room and all phone conversations were encrypted using 256-bit keys -- all very illegal and almost impossible to break.
Oria glared back at Pirelli. “Mr. Pirelli, you obviously don’t know who YOU’RE dealing with and I don’t plan on playing games with you! We can easily clear this matter up and go on our separate paths, or I can have my goons, as you say, permanently neutralize you; your choice!”
Pirelli stared back at Oria and it slowly dawned on him that the man before him was the man written about across the front page of every newspaper in the country.
“You must be Oria. The newspapers quote many people who claim you’re some sort of Indian Spirit. I don’t know who you are, but I certainly don’t buy the theory that you’re a God!”
“At last there is something that we can agree on. I’m neither an Indian Spirit nor a God! However, I do represent the most powerful force within 50 light years of Earth. You DON’T want to cross swords with me!”
“Maybe not, but I don’t want to cross swords with the Creytes either!” Pirelli was already aware of the Creyte activity in West Virginia and their installation of arcade games in Ocean City. He had been quite upset when he discovered that Tom Whitman and John Cummings had accepted a freelance job from the Creytes in West Virginia. His anger turned to worry when his men following Whitman and Cummings had the opportunity to observe some Creytes feasting on local campers.
Oria observed fear in Pirelli’s eyes when their discussion switched to the Creytes. “Mr. Pirelli, you don’t have a choice. The Creytes want to take Earth and farm its inhabitants for food. I plan on stopping them.”
Pirelli took a deep breath and locked eyes with Oria. “I don’t know you! So why should I trust you?”
“That’s true. You don’t know me and I haven’t given you any reason to trust me. First, I’m human, the same as you. Second, I’m from Earth the same as you. Finally, these men here, although they’re not from Earth, they are human as well. The Creytes want to farm their planets too!”
“You make a compelling argument Oria. How do I know that you’re not here just to trade Earth away?”
“You don’t know that. Use your instincts. Do you think you’re better off trusting those you know eat humans, or those who look human just like yourself?”
“I see where you’re going with this. Look, it would be bad for business if Earth turns into an alien farm planet. What do you want from me?”
“For starters, leave Major Brown alone. If you hurt her or her brother, I will consider that an attack on me.”
“Your Major’s father had a certain business arrangement with me. His son should honor it. Everyone knows there is a cost to cutting ties with us.”
“Antonio Pirelli, that’s history! It would be in your best interest to make new arrangements. In the long run, you may find it more profitable to find a more legal line of business.”
“I’ll decide what history is! Her brother can buy his way out.”
Oria stood before Pirelli clenching and unclenching his hands. He was trying extremely hard not to lose his patience and become violent. “Mr. Pirelli, or should I say Antonio, I don’t think you understand. You have an extensive operation that could be hurt by the wrong kind of exposure. I don’t have anything personal against you, at least not yet. Don’t make it so.”