Consortium of Planets: Alien Test (4 page)

Beth watched him and after three breaths realized he wasn’t going to give her an answer. She knew there was no way of knowing what motivated the aliens – or the Colonel, for that matter. He finally shook his head and turned back to the monitor glowing with alien structures. She continued to watch him, her mind no longer on the alien base.

So much had happened during their first week as partners, and that week was about to end on the Moon! She thought about her old partners.
How many had there been? They were good, but they
all had their weaknesses
. The Colonel didn’t seem to have any weakness. In fact, it seemed like he was forged from a single piece of steel.
No.
He isn’t the problem
. The problem was that they were weak as a team and that could only be her fault.

A few days ago, she thought they were starting to bond as partners when they squared off in the gym. He stood almost two meters tall. He stared down at her with piercing blue eyes and black hair, cut marine-style. When he took off his shirt, what had appeared to be tattoos at first were really scars – some more colorful than others. The “tattoos” only added to his mystique. His muscular torso tapered to a very lean waist with a chiseled six-pack. His powerful body reflected how hard he trained in the gym. She struggled to maintain her composure and began throwing jabs and kicks so that no one would notice. He reacted like a machine with plenty of speed and agility to block her punches and keep her guessing.

As the fight progressed, there were a few times that he could have really hurt her, but he pulled back. He was always one or two steps ahead, which gave the fight a choreographed feel. Beth wasn’t interested in dancing. Her frustration finally gave way to fascination as she worked against the more skilled opponent. Mercifully, he could see that she was getting tired. He ended the match by stepping back with a respectful bow.

That had been the longest interaction they had shared. When she suggested that they discuss their first mission over a drink after work, he declined saying that he had other plans. When she suggested another time, he added that his plans extended over the entire week. Beth hoped that they could bond sooner than later to avoid jeopardizing the mission and causing someone to get hurt.

Chapter Two

New York City:

Bright sunlight poured through the large penthouse window. Earth Chancellor Jonathan Visen stood in contemplation and made a brooding silhouette. New York City lay far below. His lavish office filled the entire top floor of Manhattan’s tallest skyscraper. The whole effect of the office was intended to overwhelm visitors with sophistication: professionally decorated, the large suite’s centerpiece was an enormous hand-brushed mahogany desk. Oversized leather chairs strategically dotted the room while rows of bookshelves were filled with classic literature. 

Normally, his attention was drawn down to the city – he would watch as people and hovercraft moved along in various vertical and horizontal lines, going about their business hundreds of feet below. Like looking through a microscope, he imagined their significance as not much more than the insects they mimicked. Today, however, his attention was on an almost transparent sliver of Moon hanging in the hazy afternoon sky.

High above the old Empire State Building – now dwarfed by spires of new construction projects from the last twenty years – Jonathan wasn’t considering his next conquest, which was his normal practice. He was thinking about his newfound awesome power. The United States had led the way when President Westover signed congressional legislation giving Jonathan what had been the president’s Commander-in-Chief authority over and control of the Department of Homeland Security. This was done in a desperate response to counter major terrorist activity. No one knew that Jonathan had orchestrated much of the significant damage that the terrorists had been blamed for inflicting. Feeling the pressure, other countries soon followed.
They are all so weak.
In his mind, they were like sheep that he could fleece whenever he liked.

Things were going to plan. There had been no significant war for twenty years and the real terrorists were in hiding now. Also, while he had no specific interest in the economy, he was grateful that it was strong – people with jobs and spending money accept almost anything, including the chancellor’s control. Until recently, an assassination attempt was his only worry; now it seemed that rogue elements within the new Interpol and other quasi-military factions were organizing to counter his new found power with a possible coup. For descriptive purposes, this latest irritant had been dubbed “the Network” by General Martle, the chancellor’s top military commander.

To minimize these concerns, Jonathan worked hard playing the public relations game and was well liked by the average person. As a result, Martle was given carte blanche to handle the Network’s immediate threat. In case that didn’t work and someone wanted to attack him anyway, Jonathan augmented the Secret Service assigned to protect him with squads of Special Forces that rotated every four hours.

Jonathan was a believer in keeping friends close, enemies closer, and personal threats the closest. In Jonathan’s mind, there were only two players still standing now that the world was consolidated under his authority: him and Dean Forge. Forge was the only man on Earth that could get past his heavy security in a showdown, so he placed his most serious threat on special assignment, working directly for him. That’s why Forge now found himself on the Moon with only an unproven female rookie. She was supposed to be the colonel’s backup, to face what scientists claimed were advanced aliens. The scientists were always looking for aliens, and if they were wrong again, Jonathan would find some other way to get rid of Forge.

“Oh, my God!” his secretary screamed through the intercom on his desk.

The sudden sound jerked him away from his plotting and made him aware that Forge’s intelligence from the Moon must finally be coming in.

“I’m sorry, sir. I didn’t mean to scream. I meant to inform you that Forge’s team was starting to send back some amazing pictures.”

Apparently, Forge has found something
. “I’m on my way down.”

The chancellor had never been in combat and envied what he considered to be Forge’s best quality. He wondered what it would be like to kill face-to-face and watch the light flicker out of his opponent’s eyes. A master politician and the architect behind the United Defense Corps’ creation, he dismissed the thought knowing, that he would always leave the dirty work to others – no reason to change the formula for success at this stage of the game. After thirty-seven years as a diplomat, almost everyone owed him a favor, and those who didn’t were afraid to say no. It had taken years of maneuvering and some luck to do what no one else in history had done: every government on Earth had finally relinquished its security assets and responsibilities to the United Defense Corps – which he controlled.

For years, he had used Colonel Forge as the lynchpin on his most important and dangerous missions. Because of Forge’s success, the fledgling Corps gained a reputation for getting the job done. When a government needed help with terrorists, Jonathan Visen was there to make a deal, power would be transferred to the Corps, and the problem went away. Many of Forge’s missions had been responsible for destabilizing some of the more stubborn governments by creating their need for help in the first place. In the chancellor's mind, the ends certainly justified the means. Forge could never be allowed to know that he was used so immorally by Visen. The heroic colonel was described by the press as having the squeaky-clean personality of Superman, and his exploits continued to fuel that reputation.

The chancellor rode the elevator one floor down to his luxurious waiting room and stepped up to look at his secretary’s monitor. “I don’t see anything but rocks,” he said skeptically.

Ellen sat rigid, spellbound by the screen. She was breathing heavily and could only whisper, “Keep watching.”

And then it appeared: a massive jumble of dark tubes, various shiny silver panels, and a massive square-shaped metallic basin. The center of the massive bowl was pointed right at them. They sat in wonder for about fifteen minutes as the camera continued to pan across fantastic images.

Jonathan was visibly shaken. “It looks like a staging facility for an invasion!”

Ellen whispered again, “Did you see that big square bowl?”

Jonathan nodded. “Yes, it was in the middle with everything connected to it.”

Ellen had been his secretary for twelve years and at times was much more. Occasionally, Jonathan used her on difficult assignments that called specifically for a woman. Earlier in their association, they had been intimate, but Jonathan soon decided that she was more valuable to him as a part-time agent. She never completely recovered from the sudden change in their relationship. Her flowing auburn hair was still beautiful, but the dazzling sparkle in her emerald green eyes was lost forever.

“Get Forge on the horn!” Visen barked at her.

****

Lunar surface:

As the Sun climbed higher above the Moon’s horizon, Dean and Beth watched with concern. In the center of the alien camp, the huge metal basin was beginning to give off a golden glow. Heavy camouflaged webbing dropped away from the structure while steel columns rose from each corner. The tips of the columns began to arch slowly toward each other, finally connecting about a hundred meters above the bowl’s center. The basin had become a massive antenna array. Dean guessed it might be drawing power from the Sun.

“Beth, use your visor. I don’t like how bright it’s getting.” After a short pause he said, “I’m going down for a closer look. I think I see something moving.”

Without thinking about Dean’s rank, Beth’s training took over and she snapped. “Are you nuts? We’ve got no backup and no idea what’s going on!” Realizing her breach of protocol, she stopped herself and took a deep breath. “Sir, we only have about an hour of air. I recommend we check in and see what Command wants us to do.”

Ignoring her lapse, the colonel reminded the lieutenant, “Our assignment is to find out what’s going on up here, and right now we don’t have squat. We’ve recorded all we can from this location. I need to get closer.”

Even through the heavily tinted faceplate, he could sense the worry on her face and so changed his approach. In a softer tone, he continued. “Look how long it took Visen to mount this mission. By the time those politicians make a decision, the aliens could destroy our world – a world finally at peace. I’m not going to let that happen. I want you to stay here and brief Visen on what we have so far. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

Beth was shocked. She knew the colonel was wrong and tried one more time to change his mind. “Sir, with all due respect, if they take you out, I’ll have to go in anyway and finish our mission. Together, our chances are much better than going in one at a time.”

She didn’t want to be protected. She was anxious for the hunt and ready to test herself against the unknown. If necessary, she would make the aliens sorry they ever messed with Earth.

Dean realized that he was trying to shield her from danger. She was right: if he couldn’t deliver, she would have to go in by herself and the risk to her would be even greater. He cleared his throat and stammered, “I just…well, my partners don’t seem to stick around very long these days and you…”

She caught on to the fact that he was worried about her and gently interrupted. “Sir, at the Academy we studied your missions so many times I felt like I couldn’t squeeze out another fact or lesson. The Corps has given you incredibly difficult missions. It’s amazing to anyone with half a brain that there weren’t more deaths and collateral damage.” Getting more animated by the second, Beth was beginning to sound like an excited cheerleader. “You always found a way to minimize the destruction. You pulled off those missions with such cunning and style that you have become a hero, a living legend, an inspiration. You’re the biggest reason that the Corps even exists! If I die up here, I’ll go down in history just because I was your partner!”

Without realizing it, Beth had hit on Dean’s greatest fear: that she would in fact die and he wouldn’t be able to save her. He had to stop her.

“L.T., take a breath! You’re starting to sound like my press clips and it’s pretty damn embarrassing.”

Beth couldn’t see his face but heard the smile in his voice.

They both paused and then Dean acquiesced. “All right, we’ll go in together. First, we’ll head back to base, get the equipment we need, and wait for dark. We may have a little better cover that way.”

Keeping low, they began moving away from the crater and in the direction of their craft. Ellen’s voice startled them as they worked their way through the Moon’s dust and across its rocky landscape. It reminded them just how many people were watching their mission.

“Colonel Forge, the chancellor wants to talk to you.” A vague apology in her voice echoed in Dean and Beth’s ears.

Beth kept quiet and listened intently on the open channel as Dean briefed the situation. He expressed their concerns and what they planned to do next. As she listened, something didn’t feel right. It sounded like the chancellor was trying to goad the colonel into saying something incriminating. She waited helplessly until the conversation ended, and when she could speak to the colonel privately.

At last, she broke her silence. She let out a long sigh with the huge breath she was holding.

“I think he was baiting you to say something that could make you look bad!”

Over the last five years, Dean found that his love/hate relationship with Visen had turned to mostly hate. Neither man had acknowledged the change, but Dean definitely felt the shift. The missions had gotten more dangerous and he was given less equipment and fewer people each time to accomplish them. That trend had finally culminated with the current mission to thwart a possible alien invasion with only one green Academy grad for backup.

Wanting to minimize the lieutenant’s concern so that she could focus on the mission, Dean decided to play down the exchange with Visen. He turned toward her with a shrug and shook his head. “Oh, he and I play this game where we test each others mental acuity with verbal sparring. It doesn’t mean a thing.”

He hated lying to her. Knowledge and trust in one’s partner is what keeps both of them alive, but with only a week on the job, she didn’t need to know about his problems with the boss. Her silence made Dean feel small and he wondered if his acting job had fooled her. Was he worried about her feelings or how they might affect the mission?

Before he could finish those thoughts, the ground began to rumble. Just as he started to turn back toward the alien base, a violent shock wave threw something heavy against his back. The force knocked him forward into the lunar dust. Feeling no decompression from a tear in his suit, he realized Beth had been thrown into him from behind. She was now lying across his back. He was glad that he was able to help absorb some of her fall, but she felt limp.