âZak," exclaimed his companion in adventure cheerfully, when he saw him emerge from the H^COM booth. âWhat did the old man say?"
Azakis stretched then answered calmly, "He gave us his approval. If everything goes according to plan weâll have the toroid, or rather Newark, the day before the planetsâ orbits intersect."
âLetâs hope we manage it. Itâs not going to be easy to configure that thing in so little time."
âWhat are you worrying about my friend?" replied Azakis with a slight smile. "If the worst comes to the worst, weâll just open up a space-time distortion. Thatâll swallow up the Earth, Kodon, Nibiru and all the other satellites, all in one go."
The two terrestrials, who were standing a little way off but hadnât missed a single word of this conversation, were petrified.
âWhat are you saying?â Elisa managed to splutter, while looking at him appalled. âA space-time distortion? Swallow up? Are you telling me that if this plan doesnât work, we will be creating the destruction of our people and yours?"
"Well, there is a small risk," commented Azakis quietly.
âA âsmall riskâ? And you tell us just like that, with that calm, serene look on your face? You must be crazy! And us, more than you."
âCalm down darling," intervened Jack, grabbing her by the shoulders and looking her straight in eyes. âThey are much smarter and better prepared than us. If theyâve decided to go down this route, we cannot do anything other than support them and give them all the help we can."
The doctor let out a long sigh then said, "I need to sit down. Too many emotions today. If this goes on itâll kill me."
Jack took her by the arm and led her to the closest armchair. Elisa fell into it like a dead weight, with a low groan.
âPerhaps weâve reduced the percentage of oxygen in the air a little too much," Azakis whispered to his companion.
âI tried to make it as compatible as possible for us all and avoid having to use those awful respirators."
âI know my friend, but Iâm afraid theyâre being affected excessively by it."
âOkay, Iâll change the mixture. We can adapt much more easily."
The Colonel, however, didnât seem to be affected at all and was more high-spirited than ever. Action and risk were his bread and butter and he felt perfectly at ease in situations like this. âWell," he exclaimed, as he positioned himself just below the three-dimensional image of Newark, which still rose majestically in the middle of the room. âThis thing could save us all or lead us into absolute destruction."
âA succinct but effective analysis," commented Azakis.
âAt this point," said the Colonel in a serious tone and with a deep voice, "I believe the time has come to warn the rest of the planet of the impending catastrophe."
âAnd just how are you thinking of doing that?" asked Elisa from her chair. âAre we just going to pick up the phone, call the President of the United States and say: âHello Mr President. Do you know, we are in the company of two aliens who have told us that, in a few daysâ time, a planet will get here that is going to sweep us all away?â"
âAt the very least heâll have the call traced, get someone to come and fetch us and take us straight to the madhouse," answered Jack smiling.
âBut donât you have a global communication system like our GCS?â Petri asked the Colonel, intrigued.
âGCS? What do you mean?"
âItâs a general communication system, capable of memorising and disseminating Information on a planetary scale. We can all access it, at varying levels, by means of an N^COM, a neural system implanted directly into our brains, at birth."
âCool!" exclaimed Elisa, surprised. Then she continued, saying, "Actually, we do have a system of this sort. Itâs called the internet but we are nowhere near your level."
âAnd would it not be possible to use your âinternetâ to send a message to the entire planet?" asked Petri intrigued.
âWell, itâs not quite that simple," replied Elisa. âWe could enter information into the system, send messages to groups of people, perhaps even a short video and try to disseminate it as much as possible, but nobody would believe us and it certainly wouldnât reach everybody." She thought for a few seconds, then added, "I think the only way would be with good old television".
âTelevision?" questioned Azakis. Then, turning to Petri, he said, "That wouldnât by any chance be that system we used to receive images and films when we were on our way here?"
âYes, I think so, Zak," and so saying, he began to tinker with a series of commands on the centre console. After a few seconds, he brought up some of the sequences on the giant screen that they had recorded earlier. âIs this what youâre talking about?"
A multitude of films of all types began to appear in rapid succession: advertisements, news broadcasts, football matches and even an old black and white Humphrey Bogart film.
âBut thatâs Casablanca," exclaimed Elisa in amazement. âWhere did you get all this stuff?"
âYour broadcasts also radiate into space," answered Petri calmly. âWe had to work on our receiving system a little, but we were able to receive them in the end."
âItâs thanks to them," Azakis added, "that we managed to learn your language."
âAnd some other much more complicated ones," commented Petri sadly. âI almost went crazy with all those little drawings."
âHowever," intervened the Colonel abruptly, "this is exactly what we were talking about, but I donât think even this is the best solution."
âForgive me Jack," intervened Elisa. âDonât you think it might be best, first of all, to warn your superiors at ELSAD? After all, unless I misunderstood you, none other than the president of the United States himself is at the top of that organisation, or am I mistaken?"
âAnd how come you know all these things?" objected the Colonel, astonished.
âWell, even I have my sources" said Elisa, mischievously pushing aside a lock of hair that had fallen onto her right cheek.
âDo your women act like this too?" asked Jack, addressing the two aliens who were observing the scene with an amazed air.
âMy dear chap, women are the same throughout the universe," replied Azakis smiling.
âHowever," continued the Colonel after the rather risky joke, "I think youâre absolutely right. We need a trustworthy and credible institution to broadcast such serious and distressing news. Iâm just a little worried about these external infiltrations which involved General Campbell and the two guys who attacked us. The General was actually my direct superior, but apparently, it would seem heâs corrupt and a traitor."
âSo, in the end we really will have to make that phone call we joked about before?" replied Doctor Elisa.
âAlthough it seems absurd, perhaps that is the only solution."
New York - Manhattan Island
In Manhattan, New York, in a luxurious office on the 39th floor of the imposing skyscraper located between 5th Avenue and 59th Street, a rather short man, with a stylish and well-groomed appearance, stood in front of one of the five large windows separating him from the outside environment. He was wearing a dark grey suit, undoubtedly Italian, a flashy red tie and had smooth, sleeked back, greying hair. His deep, dark eyes looked beyond the glass of the window, in the direction of Central Park, scrutinising the magnificent park which, from virtually right under his feet, stretched four kilometres in length and eight hundred metres in width, representing an invaluable green space, a source of oxygen and recreation, for the almost two million inhabitants of the island.
âMr Senator, may I?" said a small bald man, with an expressionless face, knocking timidly at the elegant entrance door in dark lacquered wood. To the side, a small gilded nameplate in black italics announced, "Senator Jonathan Preston".
âWhat is it?" answered the man without even turning around.
âThereâs an encrypted video communication on hold for you."
âOkay, Iâll take it from here. Close the door when you leave."
The man walked slowly towards the elegant dark desk and sat down on the soft black leather desk chair. With an automatic gesture, he touched the knot of his tie, placed the earpiece in his right ear and pushed a small grey button located underneath the top of the desk. A large semi-transparent monitor, began to descend from the ceiling with a slight hissing sound, until it gently came to rest on the top of the desk. The man touched the screen and General Campbellâs large face appeared before him.
âGeneral, I note with pleasure that you are no longer a guest of the nation's prison service."
âSenator, how are you? I wanted to thank you, first of all, for the rapid and efficient recovery operation.â
âI think the credit all goes to the two individuals I can see behind you."
The General instinctively turned around and saw the fat guy and his accomplice, who were trying to get themselves into the webcam's range, just as the public usually does when everyone crowds behind a journalist doing a live television broadcast. He shrugged his shoulders slightly and went on saying, "Theyâre not exactly the brightest sparks but theyâre very efficient for certain types of work."
âSo! Now tell me everything. Your report should have been on my desk more than twelve hours ago."
âShall we say Iâve been rather âbusyâ latelyâ, answered the General ironically. âAnyway, I can confirm that your intuition on Doctor Hunterâs work was spot on and, thanks to your discovery, I was able to personally be present at an event that was nothing short of amazing."
The General paused a moment, hoping to increase the otherâs curiosity even more, then added, "Senator, Iâm not sure how, but our doctorâs discovery of the infamous âvase with the precious contentsâ, must have somehow activated a system that attracted none other to our planet than..." He stopped, aware that the phrase he was about to say would be a little difficult to actually take in, then took a deep breath and, without further hesitation, solemnly announced, "An alien spacecraft."
The officer tried to keep his eyes fixed straight ahead on the monitor searching for signs of amazement on the Senatorâs face. But he didnât even blink. He simply rested his elbow on the dark wood of the desk and, holding his chin between his thumb and forefinger, began gently stroking it. He continued doing this for a few seconds then very simply stated, "So, theyâre back."
The General couldnât help but open his eyes wide in surprise.
So Preston already knew everything about the aliens... How could that be possible?
The Senator rose slowly from his comfortable chair and, clasping his hands behind his back, began to pace around the desk in circles. The General and his two assistants standing behind him didnât dare add even a word. They confined themselves to exchanging doubtful glances and waiting patiently.
Suddenly, Preston went back to his desk, leant both hands on it and, looking the General straight in the eyes, said, "You had a drone with you. Please tell me that you managed to film this spacecraft."
The General turned, desperately searching for a positive response from the pair behind him. The thin guy smiled smugly and puffing out his chest with pride, announced with a satisfied air, "Certainly Senator, more than one. Iâll send them to you immediately."
He unceremoniously moved the General aside and, after tinkering a little on the keyboard in front of him, made the shots taken in Doctor Hunterâs site appear in a window on the Senatorâs screen.
Preston placed both his elbows on the desk, leant his chin on the closed fists of his hands and moved as close as possible to the monitor so as not to miss a single frame running across the screen in front of him. First the night images of the stone container discovered buried in the ground, then those of the mysterious black ball inside it and it being transported into the laboratory tent. Then the scene changed. To one of broad daylight. A circular silvery structure, apparently resting on four beams of reddish light coming from the corners of an imaginary square drawn on the ground, was in full view. The whole appeared to be a kind of truncated pyramid which bore a staggering resemblance to the Ziggurat of Ur, which could be seen rising majestically in the background.
The Senator was unable to tear his eyes away from the screen. When he saw the two figures, human in appearance but decidedly taller and bulkier than average, appear in the opening of the silver coloured structure and position themselves, legs wide apart, on what had to be a descending platform, he couldnât help but jump as he felt his heart beating wildly in his chest.
The dream he had been pursuing all his life had finally come true! All his studies, his research, above all, the substantial capital he had invested in this project were finally giving the hoped-for results. Those figures he was watching on the screen really were two aliens who, on board their highly-advanced spacecraft, had crossed interplanetary space to return to Earth again. Now he would be able to show all those people who had always criticised him that his calculations were absolutely accurate. The mysterious twelfth planet of the solar system really did exist! After 3,600 years, its orbit was about to cross the earthâs again and there before him were two of its inhabitants who, taking advantage of the ârideâ provided by the planet, had returned to visit and once again influence our culture and our lives. It had already happened who knows how many other times over the millenniums and now history was repeating itself yet again. This time however, he too was there and he certainly wasnât going to let this once-in-a-lifetime chance escape him.
âGood workâ said the Senator simply, addressing the three faces looking apprehensively at him from the screen. Then, after spinning his chair around full circle, he added "The fact General, that you allowed yourself to be discovered will complicate things a little. We shall no longer have the possibility of having an authoritative âearâ within ELSAD but, at this point, we are no longer interested."
"What do you mean, Senator?"
"Our goal now is no longer to discover if Doctor Hunter's assumptions were correct, nor to come into possession of the precious âcontentsâ."
"Yes, because they were anything but precious anyway," whispered the fat guy.
âWe can go directly to phase two" continued the Senator, pretending not to have heard. "We are faced with an incredibly advanced technology and they are handing it to us on a silver platter. All we have to do is simply take it before someone else gets in before us."
âAllow me, Senator,â ventured the General timidly. âMy two helpers have discovered at their own expense that our two lovable aliens do not seem to be all that willing to cooperate."
âLetâs just say they beat us up," added the big guy, rubbing his knee.
âI can imagine the kind of approach you used," retorted the Senator, with just the hint of a smile. âHave you ever wondered how come they entertained such friendly relations with the doctor and Colonel Hudson?"