Hot War

by Ralph Guidi Ferreira

An old friend of David Vincent informs him that alien activity was witnessed in a city of Germany. So Vincent goes to Passau, where he faces alien beings from another planet and spies from another country.

THE INVADERS

TONIGHT'S EPISODE: HOT WAR

"In a world divided BY political ideologies, still suffering with a cold war; one country in the middle of Europe is divided in two nations. In East Germany, near the border of West Germany, alien beings are performing their underground activities."

The night was clear and the full moon illuminated the fields below it. A van stopped in front of a gate of a small farm. Out of the darkness, a man who was walking around the property opened the entrance gate and let the van to get in, quickly closing the gate after the passage of the van, which disappeared in the darkness of the place.

The man stood near the gate, carrying a rifle. He looked at all directions, as if he was guarding the place. He then took out of his pocket an egg shaped device and positioned it near his mouth. The device had one flat face, which had five lights positioned in a pentagon. He pressed a button on the side part of it and started to speak. As he spoke, the five lights started to flash, synchronized to his voice. "All is clear here." The man said and continued walking around the farm's fence.

The van stopped near the farm's house. Two men jumped out of the cabin and walked towards the back of the van. When they opened it, there were two aliens inside the cargo compartment, which were seated there but in bad condition. The faces and hands of both aliens were blooming in red light, which oscillated in intensity, from dim to bright. The driver and his assistant helped the two blooming aliens to leave the van. The passengers were extremely weak and walked with evident difficult, being helped by the other two aliens, which were in perfect conditions. All of them were wearing regular clothes of that part of the country.

The four aliens entered a barn, near the farm and there they met two other aliens, which were dressed with the usual blue overalls, which the Invaders used on Earth.

That barn in fact was sheltering an alien regeneration center and the two aliens in blue overalls were the operators of those facilities. The regeneration stations are always well hidden in areas that the Invaders control, so the farm and its barn were just a cover for the station. The barn was an old wood building, but inside of it the aliens distributed two Regeneration Tubes and a control console. Naturally, as any alien installation on Earth, the facilities had a self destruction device, which could be enabled by pressing a large red switch, which was near the control console, mounted in a brushed metal box, which was fixed in the wood wall of the barn. The illumination in the place was minimal.

The Invaders in their natural form were very different from us. So, in order to live and walk around humans, without being noticed, they changed their form and took the Human form. Anyway, that process was not so easy for them, to maintain that form, the aliens had to periodically visit their Regeneration Centers in order to regenerate their Human form. Apart from the very distinct aspect of the Invaders in their natural form, they faced another serious problem; in their natural form the oxygen in the Earth's atmosphere was toxic.

When a regeneration cycle was about to expire, the aliens started to feel tired, weak and their appearance looked very bad. They started to cold sweat and in the extreme moments, their skin started to glow in red light. If an alien didn't visit soon a Regeneration Center, when a new Regeneration Cycle was required by their bodies, they consequently died. The Regeneration Centers were vital for their survival on Earth. The regeneration cycle was made through the use of the Regeneration Tubes and there was no data on how long the regeneration process took, it could be quick or take over five minutes, depending on the state of deterioration of the Invader.

The aliens in blue helped the incoming aliens to drive the two blooming and staggering aliens into the tubes.

The two Regeneration Tubes of that station had the typical configuration, a regeneration field assembly consisting of a vertical mounting stem fixed to the floor that had three curved arms on each side of the stem and a clam shell type of transparent tube.

One alien was placed inside each tube. As soon as the body of the sick alien was placed near the vertical mounting stem, two strange lights started to glow in very light blue, almost white, at the top of the stem and automatically the two halves of the tube closed, confining the alien inside it. Then the regeneration cycle began. The upper part of the tube irradiated a red light and then the whole bodies of the sick aliens started to glow, first in red, then in pink-red and their skeletons could be seen.

Outside in the farm, in the silent night, the alien guard continued his vigil, unaware that he was being watched. The alien didn't know, but he was in the sight of a sniper.

A well-aimed shot, whose noise was deadened by a damper, deadly wounded the alien guard, who fall lifeless near the fence and started to glow red, disappearing in a few seconds. Two other guards, which were keeping the perimeter of the farm were shot and killed at the same time, in a very well done operation. The Regeneration Station was defenseless.

Inside the barn, the four aliens were distracted, watching the regeneration process of the two ill aliens, which was about to finish. They were taken by surprise, when the door of the barn was broke and a group of armed soldiers assaulted the place and fired their rifles at the four aliens. The Invaders had no chance to counter-attack, they had even no time to activate the self destruction mechanism of the station. The four aliens fell lifeless glowing red on the floor and disappeared in seconds leaving just a fine vestige of ashes.

The soldiers took positions all around the place and watched the end of the regeneration process in silence. When the two halves of each tube opened, after the end of the regeneration cycle, the two aliens that arrived in critical conditions were then in perfect shape; brand new, if you prefer. The aliens opened their eyes, but for their surprise, instead of finding their fellow aliens over there, they found AK-47 rifles aimed at their faces. There was nothing to do, an unexpected and unique situation had just happened for the Invaders. A whole alien station had been captured and the alien prisoners had no idea on how to deal with that.

ACT I

The activity in the military base was above the normal, the security had been raised to maximum level.

In the main building of the base, a high officer arrived, followed by an officer in a lower rank.

General Sherkov was a tall and thin man, although he was in his 50's, his very light blond and thin hair didn't show too many silver. The man, who was following him was Colonel Petlyakov. Smaller in height and younger, he had some silver in the sides of his dark haired head.

The two men entered a room and were immediately saluted by a major, who was in charge of the operations in that sector.

"So, what we have now, Major Yenev? Asked the general with his bass voice.

"We were unable to disassemble the machines, which our men brought." Yenev started to explain. "There's no joints, no bolts, no rivets, nothing. We're trying to open it without destroying it. There was just a power cable that connected a big control panel to the electrical power. We connected it, but we don't know how to operate that machine."

"Any idea, what it is?" Evidently the general was getting upset with those news. "What are those glass tubes? What are they used for? A weapon? What?"

The general had small blue eyes, but they were very clear and he stared at people as if he had X-ray eyes. He was the kind of man who could intimidate someone just with a glance. It was difficult to keep on a conversation looking too much time direct into his eyes.

"Sorry general." Yenev was cold sweating. "We're still searching, analyzing. We…. We hope to have an answer soon."

"We hope!" The general sarcastically asked. "Hope is not enough, Major!" He continued. "If that's a western new weapon, 'hope' will not save us! I want you and your personnel working 24 hours on that! Understood!"

"We're already doing that, sir." Yenev politely answered.

"Then double your team. Triplicate if necessary! I want answers! Answers for yesterday, not for tomorrow! Is that clear to you?"

"Of course, sir."

"What about our prisoners? What we have from them?"

"We just know one thing about them." Yenev was more nervous at that moment.

"Then tell me!" Sherkov roughly spoke.

"They're not human, sir. I believe they're not from this world."

"What? Explain better!"

"They have no blood, the X-Rays show a bony structure totally alien and they have an incredible resistance to pain. The use of the truth serum on them is also useless." Yenev explained.

"And you and your team were unable to obtain any single information from them?" Sherkov at that moment was shooting the poor major with his stare. "Is that the best you can do?"

"Sir…. Ahh.. we…" Yenev was so nervous that he started stuttering. "I'm afraid we forced too much the prisoners."

"And?" Sherkov was impatient.

"One of them died." Yenev spoke. His eyes showed all his nervousness and the sweat was dropping form his forehead.

"Idiot!" Sherkov violently slapped Yenev's face. "What would be the use of them, dead?" He shouted. "What did the analysis of the autopsy revealed?"

"I'm sorry, sir." Yenev lowered his head. "There's no body, these beings simply vaporize in a bright red light when they die. Just a thin vestige of ash remains after the death. Analysis showed that the ashes are just cellulose fiber."

The general angrily closed his eyes and stayed in silence for a few seconds; respectfully observed by the other two officers. He was a short tempered man and he was trying to recompose his thoughts before going on with the briefing. Finally he opened his eyes and stared again at the distressed major.

"How's the condition of the other 'being'?" Sherkov asked.

"He's in good condition, sir." Finally Yenev eased a little after giving the first good news to his commander. "He's in a special cell, nobody contacts him."

"Get him prepared to talk." Sherkov was evidently planning something. He was a very intelligent and astute man. The two officers knew him very well and guessed that he had something in mind, that he wouldn't discuss with them at all; until of course, they were necessary for his plans and ideas. "I will personally talk with him. Alone!"

Then Sherkov finally turned to Petlyakov, who was until that moment in total silence. "Colonel Petlyakov, from now on this is a highly classified matter, only the three of us will have access to classified information and you two will report only to me about this. Is that clear?"

"Yes, sir. Both men answered at the same time.

"Petlyakov." Sherkov continued staring the colonel. "I want you to send individually all soldiers who participate in the assault to the installations of those 'beings' to different bases in other cities, other countries if necessary! And alert them not to talk to anyone about what they saw over there. Explain them that we're talking about national security, they will understand."

"Yes, sir." Petlyakov answerd.

"We'll do the same with the technical personnel, when they find out something about the 'alien' apparatus we took in the assault operation." Sherkov said to Yenev.

Two soldiers opened the cell were the alien was being kept and conducted him through a cold corridor. The alien was quiet and apparently tranquil, although his face showed some bloodless wounds, surely caused by punches.

The handcuffed alien entered an interrogation room and found the general already seated in the opposite side of an old table. The general looked at the alien and asked him to seat. Then he asked the soldiers to leave the room. He was taking a calculated risk. He asked the soldiers to leave, but the alien had handcuffs in his hand and a chain in his legs and apart from that, the general always carried his pistol, so any abrupt movement of the alien would end in his own death. But the old commander had other plans for that Invader.

"I've seen that my men didn't treat you very well." Sherkov smiled looking at the alien's injured face. "But you are a professional!" He cynically continued. "I'm sure you understand that." The he offered a cigarette to the alien. "I'm General Sherkov, commander of this base and the man who can decide your destiny and what to do with your equipment. You certainly know that all your devices are being analyzed in this base by very well trained experts. Soon we'll discover your secrets and your technology." Sherkov's men were far from discovering anything about the alien technology and the use of the Regeneration Tubes, but the alien didn't know that. He was a prisoner and he just knew, that he was in big disadvantage.

The Invader remained in silence. Although the general's attitude was extremely frightening, the alien didn't show any little sign of fear. He was there, expressionless and quiet, looking at the general.

"Very well." Sherkov smiled again put the cigarette's box back into his pocket. "I'll not interrogate you. My men did that already with little success. I'll directly speak!" Sherkov didn't like to waste time with word games, he was an objective man. "I'm sure that you and your technology are not western. I don't know what you are and where you're from. But I also know, that right now you are in a big trouble, you and your top secret equipment were captured. Maybe a deal could be done. A deal that could be useful for you and for 'us'."

At that moment the general finally captured the Invader's attention, who changed his expression and stared direct into the general's eyes. The Invaders knew very well the human beings, all the greed, egoism and arrogance of the Earth men. They used that many times for their purposes. When he heard the tone of Sherkov's voice and his attitude, he knew that there was a possibility to solve that problem that he and his species were facing at that moment.

"Okay, general." Finally the alien spoke the first words, since he was captured. "What do you want to do?"

"Great!" Sherkov smiled again. "I'm sure we'll understand each other very well."

"SOMEWHERE IN THE WORLD, A SINISTER GROUP OF BEINGS FROM ANOTHER PLANET WERE GATHERED IN A ROOM TO DISCUSS A UNIQUE SITUATION. THAT WAS A DELICATE MOMENT FOR THE INVADERS, ONE OF THE WORST CRISIS THEY FACED, SINCE THEY ARRIVED ON EARTH."

Several alien leaders had been summoned to discuss that moment of crisis. They were all gathered in a large and dark room. A huge polished metal table was in the middle of the room, with comfortable armchairs disposed along its sides. In one of the ends of the table there was no armchair, because right in front of it, there was a screen, where any kind of useful information could be displayed. At the other end, there was a single armchair.

Steel faced men were seated all along the sides of the table. All of them impeccably well dressed with their dark suits and dark ties. All were middle aged men, all very well combed and with another thing in common, all in deep silence. No side talkings, no jokes, nothing, just a sepulchral silence.

At the end of the table, there was a man seated on his armchair, dressed with a black suit and tie. He looked like a man in his 50's, not tall, dark hair with some gray around his head, rounded face with small and dark eyes and extremely thin eyebrows, almost imperceptible. He was the supreme leader of the Invaders, Mister Nexus.

The chair beside Nexus's left side was still not occupied, as if the aliens were waiting for a last member to arrive. On his right side, a taller man, almost in his 60's, gray hair, long and thin face, small eyes with gray eyebrows, also dressed with a black suit and tie.

The disposition of the dimmed lights of the room, slightly illuminated the faces of the aliens, giving them a sinister look.

An automatic door opened and another alien arrived, the one who was going to occupy the last remaining seat. Dressed conservatively as the other aliens, the slim man sat on the left side of the Leader.

"Now that Mr. Heissmann arrived, we can begin." Said Magnus, the alien who was on the right side of the Leader. "One of our regeneration Stations was taken by the humans, in East Germany. "We don't know yet if they took prisoners or not. The problem now, gentlemen, is the fact that we will be uncovered and we'll be forced to change our strategy of invasion or maybe give up of conquering this planet."

Heissmann was settled to work in Europe, he was in charge of the operations in both, West and East Germany. He had the appearance of man around 35 years old. Big blue eyes and a longer forehead; although he was not bald, his wavy blond hair was concentrated in the sides of his head, with thin hair at the top. His triangular face was expressionless like the ones of his fellow aliens. Since he was based in Germany, he had a human German name and was trained about the costumes and traditions of the German people. The aliens had academies around the world, were they trained their own people, on the Human behavior. Although Heissmann spoke German in his daily work on Earth, in the alien meeting he was going to speak in English, but with absolutely no accent. The Invaders were able to speak any human language without accent. While on Earth and in the human form, they never used their own language, probably due to anatomy problems. In their natural form, they are very different from the humans and the format of their tongues was certainly too distinct, so it would be impossible for them to pronounce any human word with their natural tongues.

"Unfortunately we were taken by surprise." Heissmann started. "The humans were watching our activities for some time and we didn't realize that. A serious security fault from my group. Then unexpectedly a platoon of human soldiers assaulted the station and captured it. I assume total responsibility for this fail and I'm ready to accept any punishment, whatever you consider convenient for the situation." After his speech, Heissmann lowered his head, in an attitude which could look like human embarrassment, although in no moment he displayed any sign of nervousness or even fear. He knew that he made a big mistake and that could be punished with death. The final decision would be taken by the Leader himself.

"Well Heissmann, this is a period of turbulence for us!" Said Nexus, the supreme Leader of the Invaders. "And I don't want to lose any of my leaders in this moment. Yes, you failed to us! But now it's the time for you to find a way to solve the problem. It's a moment for all of us to think and to act together."

"All humans will soon know about us now." Magnus stated. "We're not ready for a direct confront right now. Even with our superior technology, we would be easily defeated at this moment."

"But this is a divided world." Another alien spoke. "The government which took our equipment is enemy of the government of this part of the planet. That could give us some time."

"But they can do a reverse engineering in our equipment." Said another alien. "And that could be another problem for us."

"Or they can unite against us." Magnus said with a cold voice. "We would be a common enemy to be destroyed. In moment of crisis, even enemy humans join forces to destroy a common enemy. It's their nature. That would be our end."

"We could use our mass destruction weapons on them." Another alien argued. "We could easily sweep the humans from the surface of the Earth."

"Yes, we could." Magnus nodded. "But after this victory, we would just have a radioactive rock orbiting the Sun. Totally useless for us. We would expend people, resources, equipment, for nothing. In my opinion, this is out of question."

Although the alien leaders had distinguished opinions, they never raised the tone of their voices. The aliens could perfectly control their emotions and so they were able to discuss that crisis with an impressive coldness.

Nexus was still in silence, just hearing the different ideas and suggestions of his leaders. He was going to give the final world, so he had to carefully pay attention to any simple idea.

"Maybe there's a different option." Heissmann finally spoke again. "There was a survivor and we know where our equipment is. At least part of it." Nexus and all other alien leaders stared in silence at Heissmann, who then opened a suitcase and put a binder over the table. "The humans released the only survivor of our station and asked him to give this binder to our Leader." He then placed the binder in front of Nexus and went on talking. "Our equipment is in a military base, but only a few humans know about it at this moment. I took the liberty of reading this document, in order to check if it was worth giving it to you, Leader."

"And?" Nexus serenely spoke.

"With all respect, Leader, I suggest you to read this document. The commander of that military installation personally wrote it and I think it could be a good solution for our problem."

"Very well." Nexus took the binder. "I'll read it." Then the Leader got up of his chair and walked towards the door, carrying the binder. "We'll meet again here in 3 hours." He then left the room and the remaining aliens did the same. All aliens got up and left the room, but differently from a human meeting, when during a break all people chat and interact among each other, all aliens left the room in deep silence. Their faces depicting no concern, no hurry, absolutely nothing.

David Vincent was working in his office in Santa Barbara, California; after all he was a very talented architect. When Vincent saw for the first time a saucer landing somewhere in California on a lost night, he decided to begin a private war, a lonely crusade to convince the world, that evil aliens wanted our planet for themselves. But the price for that 29 years old man was too high. The first loss in this war was his friend and associate Alan Landers, who was cowardly murdered by the Invaders. If Vincent hadn't decided to engage in that war against the aliens, sacrificing his own private life, maybe he would be a richer and more successful man. Although that was a hard conflict that demanded a lot from Vincent, he had to maintain his normal life and to perform his work to survive; after all he was no super hero, he had no super powers, he wasn't a millionaire, he was just a regular and simple man, like you and me, the difference was the fact that he was determined to face a dangerous and powerful enemy to defend his world and people that he didn't even know, people who sometimes ridiculed and chided him. Basically Vincent had nothing to gain with that, no profit, no money; he simply did that in an altruistic attitude. Would you do that for absolute strangers?

Vincent was deeply studying a project when the telephone rang. He answered to it and heard a known voice, which he hadn't heard for years.

"Jeff? Is that you?" Vincent asked with a smile and heard a yes from the other side of the line. "Wow, that's a long time since I last heard from you. What have you being doing?"

Jeff Butler was an old and good school mate of Vincent. They studied together at high school, and then they chose different ways. Vincent didn't hear from him for at least five years. Butler worked for the CIA and often changed his residence. That time he was in Santa Barbara and for a special reason, he wanted to see Vincent.

"Yes, sure we can have lunch together. I can meet you in one hour." Vincent spoke. He obviously was happy to hear from his old mate again. "Ok, I'll meet you at the Terry's, 12:00 o'clock."

Vincent parked his light blue convertible Ford Galaxie 500 at the parking lot of the Terry's restaurant. It was a sunny day, nice to ride with a convertible car. He entered the place and found his friend already seated over there. A tall dark haired man, brown eyes, dressed in a gray suit and tie. The old mates shook their hands and seat. Before ordering the meal, a good and cold beer to chat about school times, old girlfriends and other good things of life.

"So, where are you working now, Jeff?" Vincent enthusiastically spoke.

"In West Germany at the moment." Butler answered. "In a city called Passau."

"And what are you doing here now?" His friend smiled. "A new transfer? Vacations?"

"Let's eat first, then I tell you. Ok?" Butler smiled. "I'm here for business, but let's talk about good things first. Ok?"

They spent a good time talking about lots of things and had a great lunch. A moment of silence came in the conversation and then Butler changed the tone of his voice. "Well, David, it's known for many people that you hunt flying saucers and alien beings all around the country." He started. "Look, I do trust in you, as a personal friend, but I can not say that I believe in those conspiracy theories you utter."

"Well….." Vincent smiled. "I'm used to hear people saying that they don't believe in me. I learned to live with that. But you didn't come here just to say that, did you?" Vincent was a very intelligent and perspicacious man, he knew that his friend was about to say something much more serious. "Come on, stop the rodeo, Jeff." He joked. "What do you want to say?"

Butler in silence took a suitcase which was on the floor next to his feet, opened it and took a big yellow envelope, which he gave to Vincent. "Take a look at that!"

Vincent opened the envelope and took a black and white photography out of it. He wide opened his blue eyes and stared in silence at the photo. He was very surprised and his face showed that. The picture was dark, it had been taken at night and from a forest, at the top of some huge trees, a strange object could be seen, just a quarter of it, because the trees were hiding the rest of the object. Although the picture was not good in quality, a little out of focus, not centered and with trees covering the object, which was the target of that photo, Vincent was immediately able to identify the object, just looking at a small part of it. That was a flying saucer of the Invaders.

"That photo was taken two weeks ago, in the Bavarian Forest." Butler seriously spoke. "The source of it is very trustworthy."

"And?" Vincent curiously asked and gave the photo back to Butler. "Are you and the government finally accepting the things I'm telling for a long time? I can not prove it, but now you can!" Patience was not a quality of Vincent, who usually became anxious when the theme was the Invaders and he always expected urgent actions from people he was dealing with. It would not be different with his friend.

"Easy, David, easy." Butler asked his friend to calm down a little. "This picture doesn't prove anything yet. It will be analyzed by the guys from the Blue Project yet and that take time. You know the procedures, don't you?"

"Yes, I know." Vincent sighed. "But, why are you telling me this? You haven't come here just to show me an out of focus dark picture. You could have sent it already direct to the Blue Project.

"Yes, I'll do that." Butler answered and put the envelope with the picture back in his suitcase. ""As I told you, I don't believe 100% in this thing. But in my profession I have to investigate any possibilities."

"Ok." Vincent did still not understand the reason for that visit. "And what can I do? How can I help?"

"There's a strange situation right now in West Germany." Butler said with a somber voice. "An unusual movement of foreign agents there, including some high echelon officers."

"I don't know anything about external politics, spies and those things, Jeff. I don't know how I could help you." Vincent sincerely spoke.

"The thing is." Butler continued. "When our men were following foreign agents, they came across with that." He was concerned about the situation. "Why foreign agents would expose themselves so much, just to follow UFO's?"

"That's a good question." Vincent smiled to break the heaviness of the conversation.

"David, if, 'IF', there are alien beings, I know that you are a specialist about them. Would you like to help us with your knowledge?" Butler asked. "But please, remember, this is a National security matter, we'll deal with qualified information and maybe you'll be exposed to dangerous people. I have to be honest and alert you of all things, including the risks. I have no right to order you anything. I'm just asking your help."

"Well." Vincent smiled and offered a cigarette to his friend, and then he lit one for himself. "I don't think your spies are more dangerous that the Invaders. I'm used to deal with danger."

"Could you travel to West Germany, for one or two weeks over there?" Butler was direct in his question now. "You will not spend any money, we'll pay everything."

"Oh…" Vincent was surprised. "Let me think." He gulped his cigarette in silence, thinking, planning. Then he looked at his friend's face and answered. "I'm finishing a project. We're on Tuesday now, I'll do some extra time at my office to finish it by Friday. So I think I can travel on Sunday night."

"Thank you David." Butler was happy to hear that. "I'll arrange everything and I'll meet you there. I'll fly back to Germany tomorrow night."

Once again Vincent was going to battle the unknown enemy, the aliens that want to make our world their world. He and his friend finished their cigarettes, paid the restaurant bill and went back to their lives. Vincent had a lot to do in his work before going in that trip.

ACT II

The Boeing 707 arrived early in the Monday morning at the Airport München-Riem in Munich. The flight didn't face any turbulence and Vincent was able to rest in the first class of the aircraft. He took his baggage, cleared with the customs and left for the passengers terminal, where he met Jeff Butler accompanied by other two men.

"Hi David." Butler greeted his friend. "Welcome to Germany." The two of them shook hands and then Butler introduced the other men.

The first was a tall man, dressed with a black suit and tie, black hair, very short indeed, small brown eyes on a slight rounded face. "This is Peter Halford, from the British Secret Service." The British agent politely greeted Vincent. Then Butler introduced the second man, also tall, but with blond hair, not so short, blue eyes and a long and slim face. "This is Udo Hoffmann, from the German Police." The German officer also saluted Vincent. Butler took Vincent's luggage and asked him to follow him, so the group went to the parking place of the airport, where they took a blue Mercedes-Benz 250 SE up. Butler put Vincent's luggage at the car's trunk and then the group entered the car. Butler and Vincent sat on the back seat, Hoffmann drove the car.

The car left the airport and the group took one of the German highways and headed to Passau.

After a three hours ride, the group left Vincent in a hotel in downtown Passau. He agreed to meet them again in that afternoon for the first conversation about the recent events. Although he had faced a long aircraft trip then a car ride, Vincent was not the kind of man who got tired so easily, especially when he was facing a possibility to meet the Invaders. A shower, a little rest and a good meal and he would be ready to start working.

Butler was punctual, so at 02:00 PM he parked his blue 250 SE in front of the hotel to pick Vincent up. Wearing casual clothes at that moment, Vincent looked more like a tourist, with a brown jacket and jeans in a contrast with the dark suit which Butler was wearing. After all, Vincent was not in any kind of official mission and it would be better and safer to him, to look more like a regular tourist.

Vincent was accommodated in a nice hotel in downtown, not so far from the beautiful Saint Paul Church. Butler took him for another car ride, a short one this time. The day was nice, it was spring time, so since that was his first time in that country, Vincent could use a few moments of peace to sightseeing, while his mate was driving. The view was nice, the historic city at its left, the Danube River, or Donau as the Germans said to his right. Even though, Vincent never wasted any minute and his mind was always working, always trying to think ahead of the aliens, always trying to collect as much information as possible.

"How long do you know those guys, Jeff?" Vincent asked.

"Who?" Butler answered while driving. Hoffmann and Halford?"

"Yes."

"Hmm, let me see. Halford I know for 8 months now. Hoffmann a little longer, almost two years, since I arrived here in Germany."

"Do you trust them? I mean, how much you know about their lifes?"

"I'm sure they're ok, David." Butler smiled. "I know Hoffmann's wife and kids, he's a personal friend. You'll like him, a great guy."

"What about Halford?" After all that time dealing with the aliens, Vincent got the habit of suspecting of people he didn't know."

"I don't know too much of his personal life." Butler continued. "I just saw his records and the guy has a notable file. Some citations for bravery. He's an excellent professional. I like to work with him."

"But have you ever talked to anyone who had worked with him previously?" Vincent was not so comfortable yet. He had seen in the past that the aliens could easily infiltrate their agents in any position or any job in Earth's society.

"Easy, David, easy." Butler smiled again. "In my profession I have to be sure about all those things. The guy is fine. Believe me."

"Ok, I'll trust in your judgment, Jeff." Vincent accepted his friend's statement, but he was not 100% sure yet.

15 minutes later, they arrived to an office, where Halford and Hoffmann were already waiting. They sat around a table, where some piles of paper were sharing space with paper binders with pictures and reports. Coffee was served to them; since they would spend some time talking and thinking. Hoffmann lit a cigarette and was followed by Vincent.

"It's a pity you haven't come her just for pleasure, Herr Vincent." Hoffmann nicely joked. "This is a nice country, I'm sure you would like it." The man continued with a heavy German accent.

"Well, maybe if we finish this soon, I'll have some free time before going back home." Vincent smiled and gulped his cigarette.

"Finish what, Mr. Vincent?" Asked Halford in a different tone, almost intimidating.

"To find out what the aliens intend to do over here. To expose them." Vincent naturally spoke.

"Who talked about aliens?" Halford's voice was bass and the British accent was quite evident.

"Look, Mr. Halford, I was brought here to talk about that. Did you know that?" Vincent was a short tempered man and since he didn't like Halford's tone, he roughly answered.

"Come on, gentlemen." Butler interceded. "You don't know each other yet and this distrust is natural, but let's go into our business and these differences will disappear." He had to control the situation because he realized that a kind of natural antipathy was taking form between those two men and that was the type of thing they didn't need at that moment.

"Ok." Vincent promptly answered. Then he turned to Hoffmann, who he noticed was a man who had a personality, which was easy to deal with. "Can you please let me check your pulse, Mr. Hoffmann?"

"What? My pulse?" Hoffmann looked with surprise at David. "Well, if you want." He extended his right arm and Vincent checked his pulse. A few seconds touching it and Vincent could notice the heart beating of the German police man.

"Thank you, Mr. Hoffmann." Vincent said then looked at Halford, who was his main target. "And you, Mr. Halford?"

"Is that a kind of joke?" Halford impolitely asked. "You came here to play silly things like this with us, Vincent?

"Any objection?" Vincent was them very distrustful. "Any thing to hide?"

"No, nothing!" Halford rudely said and extended his right arm. "I'm just sure about one thing. You are a retarded!"

"Halford, please!" Butler tried to control the British agent. Then with curiosity he questioned Vincent. "What's the meaning of that, David?"

"I had to check if they were really humans." Vincent answered with no hesitation. "The aliens have no heart beating and no blood. That's one of the ways you can identify them!"

"Any other differences, Herr Vincent?" Hoffmann curiously asked.

"No unfortunately not." Vincent lamented. "Except that some of them have a kind of deformity in their hands. In some of them, their little fingers are hardened." Vincent explained showing his own hand, hardening his little finger.

Hoffman thoughtfully observed. He had already seen something like that, but he couldn't remember where. Anyway he opted to remain in silence, since he didn't know where he had seen that.

"You seen to be a specialist on those space creatures, huh, Vincent?" Halford sarcastically asked.

"Yes I am." Vincent answered in challenging tone. "And you better be careful and listen to me. Your life could depend on that."

"Let's continue!" Butler interrupted once again and then put some photos of military officers in the table. "These men are important foreign officers, this one is General Sherkov and that one is Colonel Petlyakov." He showed the pictures of both men and continued. Recently they crossed the border and we were closely watching every step of them."

"This is the real world, Vincent!" Halford was sharp.

"I don't know anything about external politics!" Vincent complained.

"Let me go on!" Butler patiently asked again. "The man who was following them told in his last communication that he was about to discover something big. He said that he was near the Bavarian forest and gave us the coordinates of his location and asked us to stand-by until he got in communication again, he wanted to take them by surprise. For precaution, the road that leaded to that location had been blocked by the police and we waited for his next contact."

"And what did he find out?" Vincent was very curious almost anxious.

"Nothing!" Butler lowered his head, then continued. "We lost contact. We waited until the next day, and since there was no communication we decided to go to that location. We found his car and them not so far we unfortunately found his body. We were extremely unlucky, Matt died of natural causes!"

"Natural causes?" Vincent frowned.

"The autopsy revealed that he died of cerebral hemorrhage." Butler showed evident disappointment. "That was a disaster to us! Now we have no idea, where the foreign agents are!"

"That was not a natural cause!" Vincent said in somber tone. "He was murdered!"

"Murdered?" Hoffmann exclaimed. At that moment Halford also frowned and Vincent noticed that something strange was happening. "Look, Vincent." Hoffmann continued, I can't say I fully understand this situation, nor can say that I fully believe in you, but your statement is very serious! Could you explain, why you said that was a murder?"

"The Invaders have a kind of weapon." Vincent explained with high confidence and the group was little by little getting convinced that he really knew a lot about the supposed alien beings. "It's a kind of small metallic disc, it fits on the palm of the hand. When they place it on the neck of a person, the poor victim dies in seconds of cerebral hemorrhage. It's a silent and lethal weapon and for sure very efficient, because any autopsy will always reveal a natural death, so nobody would ever suspect of a murder. That's how they get rid of people who are annoying their plans."

"Things are getting darker, Mr. Vincent." The veteran German officer said with concern. "The two police men who were blocking the road, men that I knew for years, died in the same day." His voice was very emotional. "We found their car, lights on, radio on and both of them lying on the ground. And the intriguing thing, or just a tragic coincidence, both of them died of cerebral hemorrhage!"

"Getlemen…." Vincent said with authority. "There's no coincidence! They were all killed! That's the way the aliens act. Your agent probably discovered something and they had to terminate him. The poor police officers unfortunately were on their way as well." Then he frowned. "You said that your agent was a very well trained man. I'd say that there's something even worse in this story. The aliens were alerted. Someone from 'inside' warned that they were being watched."

"Impossible!" Halford protested. "The actions of our man were secret. Even the police, who was blocking the road was not fully informed of the reasons for that block. We took all precautions."

"Sure you did." Vincent calmly answered. "But the police was there, very close to them. They were alerted of that and they do not take any chances. Once alerted of police officers not too far they probably searched the surroundings and found your agent. The rest you already know."

"That's paranoia, Vincent!" Halford shouted.

"No. This is the real world!" Vincent answered in an almost provocative tone. "You have the evidences that the aliens are here! Now do your job and take the precautions to get them!" He gesticulated his hands while speaking loud.

"Hey mister!" Halford was a stubborn man. "We have three natural deaths and no proof of aliens!"

"And the picture that Jeff showed to me?" Vincent could not be beaten so easily in a discussion, he knew very well that subject and he was an objective man.

"The picture was taken by some kids which were camping not too far from the area where we found Matt." Hoffman stated. "I talked to them. They brought the picture here, one day after the event." He gulped again a cigarette. "They were scared to death and they told me that when they heard a strange sound they took their camera, but when they saw the object flying over the trees, they just took that picture and fled as fast as they could. I investigated them; they were clean, just good kids."

"What else do you need?" Now Vincent was a little aggressive with the whole group. Since he dedicated his life to combat the aliens, he expected quick actions from other people, when he noticed that he was about to prove everything he had been uttering in his war against the aliens.

"David." Butler calmly asked his friend. "It's getting late. You better go back to the hotel and take some rest. We'll contact you again. Ok?"

"I'd like to see the place where all those things happened." Vincent answered. "Could you show me in a map? I can rent a car."

"I'll take you there tomorrow morning, Herr Vincent." Hoffman offered to help. He didn't fully believe in everything he had heard, but two of his friends mysteriously died and he knew that apart from that, there was the case of the foreign agents and spies, a case of National Security, something very delicate in that period of cold war.

A taxi took Vincent back to the hotel, while the other men remained in the office, talking about official matters. Naturally Vincent was the focus of their discussion, after all he pointed out odd theories, but they could be real, so they had to analyze every possibility.

In the next morning, Hoffmann arrived at 09:00 AM and pick Vincent up in the hotel. The policeman drove his black Audi Super 90 into the Bavarian Forest. The car entered the road where the policemen were found dead and went away for a few more miles, where it stopped. The two men got out of the car and walked for a few minutes until they reached a glade.

Once again it was a clear and sunny day, the blue sky made a nice contrast with the tops of the trees with white clouds nicely moving in the sky. Vincent looked around and finally said. "Yes. This is the ideal place for the landing of their saucers." Then looked once again around and concluded. "They were just transporting aliens, no equipment. See around." He pointed at the trees and walked in a circle. "There's no way for a truck or any kind of vehicle to arrive here. The ground transportation certainly parked where we left your car and they walked the same way we just did."

Hoffmann nodded in silence. He had to admit that Vincent was really good to suppose things and to check a place, he could have been be a good crime scene investigator.

"Can you show me where you found your agent and where the kids camped?" Vincent asked. He was trying to figure out what was happening, what the Invaders were planning, what they could be doing there, he knew any information would be useful and he felt he close to prove to the authorities about the alien presence on Earth.

They spent the whole morning looking for any clues in the area when finally they decided it was time to return.

"Do you know if there are any abandoned buildings in the surroundings?" Vincent asked. He knew that if the Invaders were operating there, they certainly had a base in the area or not so far from there.

"I have to check our data and our maps." Hoffmann said. "Let's go back to town and I'll do some research. You can stay at the hotel, Vincent, I'll let you know about any thing we find."

Hoffmann left Vincent back at the hotel and returned to his office. Anyway, Vincent was not the kind of man who would relax in a hotel, waiting for the information to come to him. So, he talked to the people at the hotel front desk about the side roads, far farms, glades in the forest and all of that, and then he got a map and rented a car.

It was almost 02:00 PM when Vincent took his rented Mercedes 250 SL and went driving around. He left the city limits and started driving around the side roads, slowly driving his white convertible, once again alone, as he used to do in his home country. He knew what to look for and if he found anything, he could them call the human allies, he just met there in that distant land. In his head, the thoughts were running fast. Was he finally going to end his nightmare?

Somewhere in the city limits, Sherkov, Petlyakov and two foreign agents were waiting for the alien contact. They had rented a big house, with a big garden in an area far from downtown, to avoid raising any suspicion. They didn't have too many neighbors and that was a perfect cover for them. They were in advantage over the Invaders and they could negotiate some terms with the aliens. One of the agents, who was in vigil in the garden, noticed a car approaching the house and warned his mates. He kept outside the house with a pistol hidden under his jacket, the other agent stayed inside the house, hidden behind the window with his gun, he was covering his mate.

The black BMW 2000CS stopped in front of the house and two men dressed in black suits left the car. They approached the entry gate and one of them coldly spoke to the foreign agent. "Your leader is waiting for us. Takes us to your general."

The agent looked around to see if there were any other people around, then took out a gun with a damper and pointed it to the two men. They looked at the gun and with coldness one of them spoke. "We are not armed. If we wanted, you would be all dead already! Now do not waste any more time and take us to your general!" The agent was surprised by the lack of fear of those men in front of a gun and he conducted them inside the house.

Once inside the nice house, they met Sherkov, who greeted them with incredible falseness, treating those men as if they were good old friends. With a smile on his face, he asked them to sit in the large living room and even offered them a drink. They looked at him with indifference, refused the drink and went direct to the point. "One of our commanders want to talk to you, General." One of the aliens spoke. "It's time to discuss your proposal. Our leader thought you were reasonable, but he also has some requests, that we want to discuss with you, before arranging a meeting with him. Are you willing to talk?"

"Of course I am!" Sherkov promptly answered. His blue eyes fixedly staring at the alien's face as if he wanted to look inside the alien's soul. But the aliens could not be intimidated with simple glances; they kept seated, expressionless as usual. "And how can I meet your commander?" The General questioned with authoritarianism.

"We have a car outside." The alien slowly answered. "You just follow us with your car."

"To follow you?" Sherkov asked with irony. "Which guarantees do I have? Why your commander doesn't come here, as you did, and talk to me? I don't like your games!"

"We do not play games, General." The alien's blue eyes also were fixed at the General's eyes, as if they were in duel. "We have our security procedures. You certainly understand that. After all, you told to one of ours in your base: But you are a professional! I'm sure you understand that. Remember?"

Sherkov cynically smiled. "Very well! Let's play your game. But my men will be armed, be aware of that."

"You will not need them." The alien coldly answered. "But if you wish, you can carry them. It's your option."

The whole group left the house and the two aliens entered their car and went away, being followed by the General's car. Sherkov and Petlyakov were in the back seat of their white Mercedes Benz 200D, the two agents were in the front seat.

Hoffmann had spent the rest of the day looking for data on abandoned buildings in the city and surrounding areas, a hard and boring work and he had already prepared a list. One of his work mates noticed that he was looking very tired and got closer for a chat. "You look tired, Udo."

"Yeah." Hoffmann scrubbed his eyes. "I spent all day looking at maps, making calls. That is tiresome."

"Something to do with the American guys?" Schneider asked.

"Yes." Hoffman then continued. "You know, such subjects are always complicated." He then smiled.

"I'm going to get a coffee for me. Do you want one for you too?" The tall police officer kindly offered and naturally his mate accepted that. A coffee after some hours doing the same activity would be very nice.

While Schneider went to get the coffee, the telephone rang, it was Butler. He and Hoffmann started talking about all things that they did during that morning and he said that he didn't find Vincent in that afternoon, presuming he was doing his own private investigation. Hoffmann spoke about the list he was preparing and Butler informed that he was going back to Vincent's hotel to talk to him again, he wanted to check the empty buildings in the next day and would like to know if Vincent had any other advice.

Meanwhile, Schneider was preparing the two cups of coffee and was paying close attention to the conversation; he deduced where the hotel, Vincent was accommodated, was located and he also heard about the list.

He then came to Hoffmann and gave him the cup of coffee. Hoffmann thanked, waiving his hand and continued talking on the telephone, but one thing made him to be relatively scared, when his mate brought him the coffee, he saw something that during the first meeting with Vincent, he was trying to remember, but wasn't able until that moment. The blond hair of his head ruffled for a while, but he controlled himself and didn't displayed any different attitude, he didn't want to demonstrate that he had noticed that. When Schneider gave him the cup of coffee, he noticed that the little finger of his mate's hand was hardened.

Hoffmann ended the telephone talking and remained working in his desk, but discreetly watching his work mate. He observed that both hands had the same deformity, but Schneider had no problem with that.

"Are you going to stay longer?" Schneider asked with a smile on his face. "I'm done for today, I'll go home."

"A little longer, Hans." Hoffmann answered. "See you tomorrow."

"Auf wiedersehen." Schneider answered and left the place.

Hans Schneider came from Hamburg, he was working in that district for almost one year. His file was impeccable and he had good recommendations. Hoffmann knew all of that, he had read the files of his mate. Apart from that, Schneider proved in his day life to be an excellent police officer and a good mate. Hoffmann and other work mates had even had some good beers with him in free moments. Schneider was a nice person and everybody liked him. But something was bothering Hoffmann at that moment. Those hardened little fingers raised some suspicion in his mind and he didn't feel comfortable with that. He lit a cigarette and after a while thinking, he decided to call Hamburg, to get more information about Schneider. He wanted to talk to the police officers from there, people who had worked with Schneider, to know more about his mate's past. That would take some time, but he wanted to check everything before going home in that day.

Butler was waiting for Vincent at the hotel. It was almost 07:00 PM and the front desk attendant told him that he had been all day out. Butler then decided to go outside to smoke while waiting his friend to arrive, however he didn't notice that a black sedan was parked in the street with two men in its interior, both in silence, just watching.

The American agent saw when Vincent parked his car in the hotel's parking lot and waved his hand. Vincent walked towards Butler and when the friends were about to shake their hands, Vincent noticed that the black sedan departed at full speed.

"Look out!" Vincent jumped to the ground and pulled his friend down, while the car passed running fast, one of the men inside it fired many times his pistol. The car then fled as fast as it could.

Vincent was unhurt, but he saw that his friend was lying unconscious in a puddle of blood. He checked his vital signs and saw that he was still alive. Some people started appearing, including the hotel workers. Desperate, Vincent asked for an ambulance in a hurry, there was no time to waste to save his friend's life.

ACT III

When Hoffmann arrived to the hospital, Vincent was already there, waiting with some other German police officers. Butler was still alive when he was admitted in the hospital, but in very bad condition, he had lost a lot of blood.

"Herr Vincent." Hoffmann shook hands with Vincent but with deep worry in his voice. "Do you know how Jeff is?"

"He was alive when we arrived; I came in the ambulance with him." Vincent answered. "But I have no idea, how's he now, he entered the emergency and I guess he's under surgery now. I don't speak German, so I don't know. I told that to your colleagues here and I was clear enough to inform them that I knew you. That's the reason they called you so fast."

"I'll tell them that I'll assume from here." Hoffmann continued. "Could you see who did that?"

"It was too fast." Vincent frowned. "But I'm sure they were waiting for us. There was a black car parked, which came in our direction firing as soon as I arrived. I think the idea was to kill both of us, a trap."

"Why do you think like that, Vincent?" The German policeman asked.

"Jeff was waiting for me and so did the men in the car. If they wanted just Jeff, they would not have waited for me." Vincent then looked direct into Hoffmann's blue eyes, interrogating the German detective just with a glance. "How they knew, I was in that hotel? How they knew, I was going to meet Jeff?"

Hoffmann sighed and lowered his head for a while, in meditative silence. In the meantime, Halford entered the hospital in a hurry.

"I was informed about the attempt against Butler's life! The Agency was also alerted, soon some agents will come." He arrived nervously speaking. "How's he now?"

"You came here to personally finish the job?" Vincent asked in challenging tone, facing the British agent.

"What?" Halford was also extremely nervous. "Are you crazy or what? I never understood why Jeff believed a lunatic like you!"

"Gentleman, wait!" Hoffmann finally broke his silence. "I knew who betrayed us!"

"What?" Both fighting men stopped quarreling and stared at Hoffmann.

"I was talking on the phone with Jeff." Hoffmann started. "While a colleague was still working on his desk. I knew him for one year, he was a good policeman."

"And?" Vincent was impatient, although he could guess what had happened.

"I spoke about names, places, times and so on." Hoffmann was really upset. "The man brought me a cup of coffee and at that moment I saw his hand." He then looked to Vincent showing his own hand as an example to better illustrate his explanation. "He had those hardened little fingers you talked about."

Vincent lowered his head in sadness. One more time, aliens disguised as good men had caused injury to decent people.

"He had come from Hamburg, with a remarkable file." Hoffmann continued. "I called Hamburg to get some extra information on him and they confirmed that Hans Schneider was a brilliant police officer, but for my surprise, he died one year ago. Guess what. Cerebral hemorrhage!"

For the first time, Halford looked at Vincent without angry in his brown eyes. "Sorry, David. Something I really don't understand is happening." Then he turned to Hoffmann. "Do you know how to get him? We could interrogate him."

"I have a better idea." Vincent spoke. "That alien doesn't know that we know about him. Let him work normally tomorrow, but keep an eye on him all the time. Then in the end of the day we could follow him, to see if he takes us to his commanders."

"That sounds smart." Halford agreed. "I can follow him and I have some special equipment that can track my position. Let's go to my office, Hoffmann, I'll show it to you and how to operate it."

"Wait, Halford." Vincent didn't want to be away from the operation, even though if it would be very dangerous. That was his nature; he was obsessed in his crusade against the aliens, so he had no fear of death. "I know these beings much better than you, I face them for years. I'll go with you."

"Look David." The British agent was polite then. "This is going to be dangerous. I admit something wrong is happening, but we're dealing with foreign agents and with professional killers."

"And with aliens." Vincent interrupted.

"As you wish." Halford said but was unable to go on speaking, because Vincent cut his speech again.

"They tried to kill me many times already, but they never succeeded." Vincent spoke gesticulating his hands. "They killed friends and other innocent people. I know how to defend myself from them and I do want to stop them now. Please, let me go with you!"

"Alright!" Halford finally agreed. Let's wait a little here to see how Jeff condition is then we go to my office."

Sherkov and his men followed the aliens' car until a big and empty building, not too far from downtown. The place was a warehouse which had been recently rented, but was not operating any kind of business until that moment. Well, at least, no 'regular' business. They noticed that a medium truck was parked in front of the warehouse's main gate. Some electrical cables were connected to the cargo compartment of the truck, but the doors were closed.

Both groups left the cars and entered the warehouse, and walked to a room office, where Heissmann was already seated in a comfortable chair, behind an old and long wood table, just waiting for the humans to arrive.

"Welcome, General!" Heissmann politely greeted Sherkov. "Please, take a seat, we have a lot to discuss. My name is Heissmann and I'm speaking in the name of our Leader tonight."

Sherkov asked his two agents to wait outside the room and sat in the opposite end of the table, just in front of Heissmann, Petlyakov sat beside him. He was surprised that man could speak his language without any accent. Even the soldiers and agents of the East Germany weren't able o speak so well.

"Well, Heissmann." Sherkov sat and put his large hands over the table, crossing his fingers. "I don't understand why you preferred to do this meeting here in this country, instead of visiting one of our bases. We have much better facilities and we could offer you all of the best."

"Equality of conditions, my dear General, just that. A logical decision." Heissmann answered with something that could look like a cynical smile. "In this country, both of us are performing underground actions. Both of us, are 'the enemy', if you prefer. So, nobody will have a privileged condition over the other. Don't you agree, General?"

Sherkov angrily frowned. He hated when other men spoke in a provocative or challenging tone with him, but he had to be political at that moment and deep inside, he knew that the alien was right.

"So?" Sherkov decided to go direct to the point. "Have your leader accepted my proposal. Does he want to talk with me? If we join forces, the results will be beneficial to all of us!"

"But you are not the leader of your people yet, General." Heissmann coldly spoke.

"Not yet." Sherkov was pride and self confident. "With your help and my contacts, that can be reached soon."

Petlyakov looked with astonishment to his senior officer. He didn't know the details of the document that the General sent to the aliens, but he never imagined that Sherkov was planning something so big. He and the other two agents had been summoned to that special mission in a foreign and not aligned country, as a top secret mission.

"Our Leader agrees to meet you and discuss the terms to split the Earth." Heissmann revealed part of the contents of the document. Petlyakov started to cold sweating, he hid his hands under the table, because they were nervously trembling. "With our help, you can defeat your enemies. It doesn't matter to us, if the lands of the defeated are devastated, we will rebuild everything in our standards anyway."

"When can we discuss that?" there was excitement in Sherkov's voice.

"Tomorrow." Heissmann answered with an incredible tranquility. All in all, it was a bizarre scene. In one side, a calm man seated in one end of the table, with two men standing beside him, one at each side, both dressed with dark suits and ties, both with crossed arms, both expressionless. In the other side, a man with the soul on fire, his attitudes displaying a thirst for power and beside him, a pallid man, who was so nervous that it seemed that he was on the edge of a collapse. "But there are some conditions, General. Our Leader requests an act of good will from your side."

"What does he want?" Sherkov frowned.

"Your soldiers robbed some equipment from us." Heissmann peacefully continued. "That took the lives of some of ours. Before any meeting, as an act of good will, our Leader wants you to give our equipment back."

"Do you take me for a fool?" The General got up from his chair and pointed his big finger in the direction of the aliens, which remained quiet and not intimidated. "I'll leave now, there's nothing else to talk and be warned that now that we know about you, you'll be hunted like rats."

"We expected this reaction from you, General." Heissmann was still very serene and didn't even change the volume of his voice. "But before you take your final decision, could you please accompany me to the truck, which is parked outside. I guarantee; you will change your mind."

Although the veteran officer was very upset, he decided to follow the aliens and to see what they had to show. One of Heissmann's escorting aliens opened the metal door of the cargo compartment of the truck and revealed what was inside it. In the limited space, there was a control panel and beside it a clam shell type of transparent tube. An alien dressed in the typical uniform of the Invaders on Earth, their blue overalls, was there monitoring the equipment.

"Please get inside the truck General, you too, Colonel." Heissmann politely asked. "I'm sure you want to know, what is the equipment you took by force from us, don't you?"

The two human officers enterered in the cargo compartment, followed by Heissmann and another alien. The two guards of the general stayed outside with one alien.

"My colleague here, will volunteer for a special demonstration for you, General." Heissmann pointed to one alien who took off his suit, tie and shirt and stood just with a t-shirt. Heissmann then took a sharped knife, showed it to the humans, then looked at his fellow alien, who rose his right arm. Mercilessly, Heissmann cut the tendon of the alien's arm. The incision was horrible, but for the big surprise of the two humans, the alien didn't express any sign of pain and there was no blood. "You two, please take a very good look at this wound." Heissmann spoke with cold professionalism. The two human officers stared at the alien's arm with astonishment. "Here on Earth, with your primitive medicine, a wound like this would require a lot of complicated, painful and time-consuming surgeries and the results would not be totally satisfactory, natural sequels would remain in the arm for the rest of the life of the injured. Right?" He explained then asked with a little disdain in his voice. "Now watch this."

The injured alien walked towards the Regeneration Tube, leaned his back on a vertical mounting stem fixed to the floor, then the two halves of the tube closed. The alien in blue touched his control console and then the body of the alien inside the tube started to glow red, then something between red and pink. After a few minutes the alien stopped glowing red, the halves opened and the Invader stepped forward and showed his arm to the humans. The two men were simply openmouthed, perplexed. The wound had completely disappeared, no scar, not even a scratch. The alien moved his arm in all directions, to prove that he had full movement capability in the arm that was previously so severely wounded.

"See gentlemen." Heissmann continued with his discourse. "That equipment you stole, is not a weapon, it's something used to preserve our life." The alien cynically tried to put his species in the condition of benevolent creatures. "And it can preserve your life too." He then stared at the humans with inquiring eyes. "Does any of you have any kind of chronic disease?"

The two men looked at each other, still too surprised to talk, until finally Sherkov broke the silence. "Don't you suffer of an ulcer, Petlyakov?"

"Oh, General….I .. well… hmmm" Petlyakov had no words. He had an ulcer but he also didn't trust those alien beings, it was evident by his attitude, that he didn't feel comfortable dealing with the Invaders.

"Comrade Colonel." Heissmann friendly placed his right hand on Petlyakov's shoulder, as a good friend who wanted to give an advice. "Soon we'll be brothers in arms. Trust me, you will not regret. Enter the tube."

Reluctantly, the human officer walked towards the tube, when Heissmann and the alien in blue politely took his arms and turned him in a position to make his back to lean in the vertical mounting stem. Before starting the tube, Heissmann asked if Petlyakov had all his teeth.

Deeply scared, Petlyakov answered to the question. "I've lost the last right upper tooth some years ago. That's all." His forehead was wet and his eyes moved around all sides in an almost frantic movement. The man was terrified, but he was a trained soldier and knew he had to face and win his fears.

"Very well." Heissmann said and then just looked at the alien in blue, who knew what had to be done without any spoken word.

The two halves closed and a weak and pale red light was emitted. The man remained motionless, arms lowered and just waiting for that process to end.

The light ceased and the two halves finally opened. Just a few minutes, but for Petlyakov it looked like years.

"How's your stomach?" The blond alien asked.

"Well….." Petlyakov touched his stomach. "It's strange. I feel strangely well."

"Visit your doctor, when you're back home, Colonel." Heissmann smiled in a false attitude, just to look friendly to those men. "You'll have a nice surprise. Now, please touch the place where your tooth was missing."

Petlyakov so did and then cried out. "It's impossible! My tooth is here. It's reborn! How? How could you do that?

"That's our medical technology." Heissmann smiled again. "But please do not think you would be able to do that with the equipment you have. If you wrongly set the controls, you kill a human in seconds. Your engineers would take years to understand the working sequence of the process and if you try to disassemble the control console or the stem, you'll destroy them. There're no tools here on Earth able to disassemble our equipment. Your screwdrivers are useless!" He looked down on the humans.

Heissmann, as any experienced Invader, knew the human weakness. He was all the time observing the General, he had read his proposal to their Leader, he knew that Sherkov was an arrogant man, moved by greed and with an uncontrollable prepotency. He knew perfectly how to use that.

"Think about, my dear General. Think carefully about." The cynical alien continued. "Is it worth to give up of this encounter, just to keep an equipment that you can't use?" He stared then direct into the General's eyes. "You saw part of our technology today. We are hundreds of years ahead of yours. Our weapons are also much more advanced. You could not defeat us, the invasion is a matter of time. Now think better. Why to hunt us like rats? Why not to be our ally? Think General, in this new divided world, half ours, have yours. You, the absolute leader of your people; not a general, an emperor!" The alien was then acting like an enthusiastic orator in a Romam Forum, pointing with both hands to the Regeneration Tube. "With our help, our wisdom, our technology, we could make you live for hundreds of years. One thousand years would be enough, General? You would write the history! More than a general, more than an emperor. An immortal leader!"

Sherkov was out of his mind, he was driven mad with the vision of power. "I agree." He said, while Petlyakov frightened looked at him. "But there's one condition. I'll not give your whole equipment, I'll give you just your tubes, the control console will stay with us, just for precaution. I'm sure, you understand that."

"That's reasonable." Heissmann said. "We expected that from you.

"How do I met with your leader? And when?"

"Tomorrow at 08:00 PM, one of ours will go to your base to pick our equipment up. Put everything in a truck and then follow our man. No escort, no platoon, just the truck driver and an officer. Our people will unload the truck. You will follow our man until a specific location, then we'll change the means of transportation at 10:00 PM. Everything will be very quick. Then at 11:00 PM, our Leader will be here to start the arrangements of our alliance with you." He then extended his arm, like a human would do to greet the officer and shook his hand. "Congratulations, General! You are a wise man! Your people will be proud of you!"

The sinister group of aliens and humans stayed there for some time, just to discuss the final details of that insane pact.

At Halford's office, Vincent and Halford were paying attention to the explanations of the British agent, who was showing them a kind of suitcase, which in fact was a kind of tracking device. Once opened, the lower part had some switches and some gain dials and indicator lights. The upper part had a small screen. He then took one of his black shoes off and showed them to his colleagues.

"Here's the transmitter." Halford opened the hollow heel of the shoe and pressed a small switch. He showed it to them, then closed the heel's cover and put the shoe back in his foot. "It's on now. Look at this screen." He pointed the suitcase. "You can track the position I'm in, with this." Then he pointed a red light that was off. "See this light, if it's on, that means that I'm in danger. When it's on, send all your artillery to the position you're tracking." He smiled.

"And how's it activated?" Vincent was also curious.

Halford then took his jacket and showed a minuscule switch in a button located in the sleeve of the jacket. "If I turn this on, the alert light will shine. Our Majesty Technology." He seriously spoke with his strong British accent then smiled.

"Tomorrow Schneider will leave at 06:00 PM." Hoffmann informed and placed a picture of the alien impostor on the table. "He's got a red Audi Super 90."

"Well, it's getting late now." Halford said. "We're all set. We better go now and take some rest. We'll have a long day tomorrow."

The three men left for a well deserved rest. They had planned all actions for the next day and with some luck, they would go to the leaders of that operation. Their minds were overloaded, too many things happening, too many hypothesis and one additional concern, their friend Jeff Butler was still in bad condition in the hospital, between life and death.

In the next day, Hans Schneider normally worked all day long, not realizing that he was being watched all day long by his mate Udo Hoffmann.

End of the work shift, he said good-bye to the ones who were still working and left the building. Hoffmann decided to stay longer, in case of any emergency, he wanted to command any assault operation, so he was in stand-by for any call of his mates, he knew that Vincent and Halford could need urgent help any time. He warned his wife, that maybe he would spent the whole night working.

Schneider entered in his car and drove away. Halford, who was driving a green BMW 2000CS, got in his pursuit, following him among the streets of the city. Schneider's car stopped near an old apartment and he got out of his car and entered the building. Vincent checked a report that Hoffmann gave to them and confirmed that was Schneider's home address.

"Well, David." Halford said. "Our man is at home now. Maybe he'll go to our target, maybe we'll see the sun rise from here." He joked.

"Maybe not today." Vincent answered. "Maybe not tomorrow. But one night he'll take us to our destination." Vincent knew that sooner or later the alien would need a regeneration cycle, the only problem was that he had no idea when that would happen. "We better get used to sleep during the day." Vincent joked too.

A light blue Trabant 601 parked at the main entrance gate of the military base commanded by General Sherkov, two men were inside the car.

A guard came to the driver to asked for documents and checked what they wanted in that security area.

"Major Yenev is waiting for us." The man seated in the passenger seat spoke. That was the alien that had been captured and then released to send the General's message to the Invaders. Since he knew already the base, he was assigned to that operation.

The guard confirmed the information and let the car to pass through the gate, giving the two men, the required information to reach the building, where Major Yenev was waiting.

The Trabant 601 parked near the maximum security building. A military truck was already parked there with two armed soldiers guarding it. Major Yenev saw the car arriving and came to meet the sinister men.

"Nice to meet you again, Major!" The dark haired alien sarcastically spoke.

Yenev recognized the man and didn't answer; but he was curious that after the way he treated that man, there was no scar in his face. "I'll show you, where your equipment is. Follow me."

Yenev and the dark haired Invader entered the building, the other alien stayed outside, near the truck. They walked though some corridors until they finally reached a room, that was guarded by two soldiers at the entrance door. The soldiers saluted the Major, who entered it with the alien following him.

"There it is." Yenev pointed to two open wood boxes, which contained two complete tubes and stems. He was evidently overturned; the idea to give that equipment back to the aliens was against his principles. The fact to receive at that moment in the condition of a friend, the man, which he and his team once interrogated, as a spy, was also disturbing, but he had to obey the orders of the General. "Here's your complete tube. I'll call my men to pack it and then load it in the truck."

"Very good, Major." The alien coldly answered.

Yenev was about to leave the room, when the alien called him. "Hey, Major." When Yenev turned his head to see what the alien wanted, he saw that the Invader was holding a small crystal device on his hand. That was the Hypnotic Prism, a device that the Invaders use to hypnotize their victims. All an alien needed to do to use it, was to gently hold it with just two fingers and then to activate it by pressing its ends. The thing was rotating around its own longitudinal axis, emitting a kind of hypnotic light; when Yenev saw that light, he immediately stopped and wasn't able to divert his eyes from it. He just stood there, arms down and frozen eyes, mouth slightly open.

"Major Yenev." The alien slowly and friendly spoke. "You will ask your soldiers to pack also our control console."

"Yes, I will." Yenev answered in trance.

"Good." The Invader continued. "You also have documents, reports and pictures about our equipment, don't you?"

"Yes, we have."

"And also medical files, reports and X-rays on me and my mate, you killed, right?"

"Yes, we have."

"Well, Major, you will collect ALL material you have about us, files, reports, X-rays, everything and then you will give everything to me. Then you can go back to me for further instructions. Understood?"

"Yes." Yenev nodded like a robot and then went out to carry on with the alien's orders.

The soldiers packed everything, tubes, stem, control panels, all. Then they loaded the truck with all those wooden boxes and waited beside it. Yenev slowly collected all material related to the aliens and gave it to the alien, who carefully checked everything and then put all those documents in a huge cardboard box and carried it to his own car, which was parked near the truck.

The Major was following the alien all the time, just waiting for the next command. After putting the cardboard box in the car's trunk, they went to the building and returned to the area where the original boxes were in. The alien took his prism out of his pocket again and activated it, emitting the same hypnotic light.

"Your task is completed, Major!" The alien was ending the hypnotic trance. "You carried additional orders, a good work! You don't need to remember them, from now on. Understood? Now, I'll release you and you can finish the original orders of General Sherkov."

The two aliens got inside their car and went away, followed by the truck, which was being driven by a soldier, accompanied by Major Yenev. No escort, no guards, as requested by the aliens.

The two vehicles left the base and headed to a highway which leaded to a rural area. Only the aliens knew where the final destination was.

ACT IV

It was almost 09:00 PM when Vincent noticed that Schneider was leaving his apartment and got in his car.

"There he is!" Vincent pointed at the alien, who was departing with his car. "Now we can get him, let's go."

Halford started his car and they were after the alien. He was a trained agent, so he knew how to drive without becoming suspicious.

The Trabant 601 stopped in an isolated area, followed by the military truck, far from any city and far from the military base, it went away from the main road and rode for a few miles on a dirt road, stopping in a place literally in the middle of nowhere. No houses, no farms, nothing in the surroundings. The only light was the moonlight which was illuminating the fields and the vehicles.

Yenev and the private which was with him got out of the truck and walked towards the aliens, who were already outside their car, just standing and watching to the sky.

"What are we waiting for?" Yenev asked. "Where are your means of transportation?" He looked around and saw that there was no truck arriving. He noticed that the two strange men were watching to the sky, but he had noticed that there was no place for an aircraft to land. To carry all that cargo, they maybe would use an helicopter, but it should be a big one. He was really intrigued.

The aliens didn't answer and they didn't even looked at Yenev's face; they simply ignored him and the private. Suddenly a treble sound, which was increasing in intensity, cut the night air. A silver saucer shaped craft was vertically coming down from the sky. The bottom part of it had a big circle, which emitted a red light and it was surrounded by five semi-hemispheres, placed in equidistant positions, as if they formed a pentagon around the red circle and they emitted a light blue light. The sound became bass when the saucer got near the ground and the ship stayed for a few seconds floating some feet above the ground, before it started to lower down its landing gear, which was composed of five equal parts, which were also disposed around the red circle. The base of each of the five parts of the landing gear system was close to the red circle and the other end lowered down in order to touch the soil. When the landing gear was fully down, finally the ship went down and touched the ground. The sound of the saucer was then low and bass, varying in intensity. A hatchway opened in the bottom part of the saucer and through a ladder, which was part of one of the landing gear parts, some aliens started to disembark. Two aliens, dressed with the traditional blue overalls walked towards the aliens which were waiting next to the car. They all looked at each other, no word was spoken and the odd group walked in silence towards the military truck. They opened the cargo compartment and two of them jumped inside to unload the cargo.

"They…..they….. look like men! Like… like us!" The terrified private told to his officer. "Who are they? What are they?"

"I have no idea!" Answered the upset Yenev. "I just know, that they are not of this world!" he was totally against to give that equipment back to the Invaders, but he was following orders from his superior officer, so the only thing he could do, was to accept that fact.

Quickly the Invaders carried the wooden boxes from the truck into the cargo compartment of their ship. A special cargo door, also in the bottom part of the ship allowed them to easily place the boxes inside the ship. The alien that visited the base, took the cardboard paper box with the documents from the trunk of his car and gave it to one of the aliens in blue, who took it also to the saucer. All evidence and all equipment were then safe onboard the flying saucer. The three aliens then entered the ship, just the one who once was a prisoner stayed on ground.

"Our task here is finished." The alien calmly spoke. "You may go home now." Then he turned his back to the human soldiers and walked in silence towards his ship. He went up the ladder and closed the hatchway. Just after the last alien entered the saucer, the craft started emitting a more treble sound and its lower lights became stronger, illuminating the place with an oscillating red light. The ship floated again above the soil and its landing gear went up. The sound of the saucer engine became very treble and the ship ascended to the skies, vertically climbing at incredible speed, disappearing from sight in a few seconds, leaving the two soldiers openmouthed watching the night sky.

In the agreement that General Sherkov did with the Invaders, he intended to keep part of the alien equipment as a self guarantee that the aliens would keep their word and honor the meeting he wanted to perform; but the aliens had their own rules and they never wanted to be in disadvantage with a human being. They accepted the meeting, but the total guarantee should be theirs. If anything went wrong, they would simply abandon the General, with no evidence against them. The basic premise was, if they had success with their meeting with the General, that would be beneficial for both parts, especially for them; if for any reason the meeting failed, they would have won in the final. Their best ally in that successful action was the usual human conduct.

Somewhere in the Bavarian Forest, a black Mercedes Benz 600 was parked in a glade. Two men dressed with black suit and ties were standing beside the car. In the dirt road that leaded to that glade, another car was parked, in its interior; two men remained seated in silence. One thing in common in all those men, all where very well dressed and all were watching the sky.

Another ship came down from the sky and landed in the middle of the glade. When the hatchway opened a man dressed in a blue overalls disembarked, followed by a man dressed with a dark suit. That elder man walked to the parked car, then one of the aliens opened the door for him and after he sat on the back seat of the Mercedes Benz 600, the same man closed the door. The Alien Leader, Nexus, finally arrived in West Germany.

Hans Schneider parked his car near the warehouse. The truck was also parked there, but the cars of the other visitors, were parked in the street which was located behind the building. For precautions, they decided to leave their cars near the secondary entrance of the place, an address which was not officially listed and which would be useful in the case of an emergency escape.

Vincent and Halford left their car and followed the alien in silence. The alien opened a door in the warehouse and went in. The two men arrived to the same door and Halford used some tricks he knew to open the door and they got access to the building. They entered a dark corridor and started walking slowly in its interior. Schneider disappeared in the darkness of the place and the two men had to walk in silence, but not so slowly, to locate him. The warehouse had high walls, with windows at the superior part of them, which faintly illuminated the place, just the necessary to walk and look for any door or corridor. They walked a few yards and noticed that after a corner, there was a kind of light coming from the end of it. Carefully they walked and saw that there was a stairway at the end of the corridor, which leaded to a second floor, the light came from there, but they could not visualize where the room was yet. There were doors all alongside the corridors, in the walls of both sides, it was a huge and new building with rooms for offices, general services and bathrooms.

Suddenly they were surprised. "Stay where you are!" Said a voice and the light in the corridor was turned on. They looked behind to see who was there and a man just went out of one of the closed doors, it was Schneider, who was pointing a gun at them. "Put carefully your gun on the floor and raise your hands." He calmly spoke in perfect English. "I guess, I know who you are; I realized that maybe you were following me, since I left my apartment, but I only was sure, when I saw you entering this building. Any abrupt movement and you two die here! You wanted to go upstairs, right? So, please be my guests. Go ahead!"

Vincent had no gun, after all he was in a foreign country; Halford slowly bent down and put his gun on the floor, but when he raised, in a rapid movement he kicked Schneider's arm and then started a fight with the alien. He was trained in Martial Arts, so he easily subdued his opponent. After a punch in the face and a kick on the middle of the chest, Schneider lost his balance and collapsed against the wall, hitting his head and then falling on the floor unconscious. Vincent took the gun from the floor, while Halford verified the alien's vital signs.

"Ok, let's go, he's dead." The British agent said.

"No." Vincent immediately disagreed. "We have to immobilize him, before he wakes up."

"See, David, this guy is dead. I personally checked him." Halford pointed to the alien, while facing Vincent.

"Look out!" Vincent shouted and pushed Halford aside to get his sight clear to aim the alien who had waken up and was trying to reach his own pistol, which was on the floor a few inches from his hand. Schneider was able to get his gun, but before he could aim, Vincent shot him. The damper of the pistol silenced the noise of the shot, which deadly hit the alien. Schneider drop his pistol and fell lifeless on the floor and his body immediately started to glow red, vanishing a few seconds later, leaving just some vestiges of ashes.

Halford stood openmouthed. Vincent rapidly took the alien's gun from the floor and returned Halford's pistol to his owner. "I better keep this one for myself." With two guns we could defend themselves better.

"What was that?" Halford finally broke the silence.

"It was an alien." Vincent promptly answered. "When they die here on Earth, their bodies vaporize like that. Remember when I checked your pulse? Now you saw! They have no heart beating."

"Sorry, David, if I ever thought you were crazy."

Before the two men could go ahead they faced two aliens in blue overalls at the end of the stairway pointing guns at them. A third one came from the back part of the corridor and surrounded the two humans. No word was spoken, but they understood the body language message, the alien weapons silently could express all. Vincent and Halford put their guns on the floor and raised their arms. Once again, without speaking, the aliens at the second floor gesticulated with their weapons, showing the way the two men should walk to; the third alien pointed his threatening pistol.

"What kind of weapons are they carrying?" Halford asked while walking.

"Do not try anything, Peter!" Vincent alerted. "Those are disintegrators! They can vaporize your body in a few seconds. You'd disintegrate like the alien you just saw dying."

The prisoners walked to the assigned direction, but discreetly Halford placed his raised arms together and pressed the emergency sign switch in the button on the sleeve of his jacket.

The group finally arrived to a room in the second floor, where a sinister group of three men was seated around a round table. Heissmann immediately woke up and walked to them. Sherkov and Petlyakov remained seated, just watching, although the General started showing some visible signs of nervous in his pale face.

"Well, well, what we have here." Heissmann spoke in perfect English. "I saw a report on you, gentlemen." He continued. "You're from the British Secret Service. And you…." He stared direct into Vincent's eyes. "You're an old acquaintance from us, a trouble maker in America. Right, Mr. Vincent?" He cynically smiled. "You're far from home this time, huh? Vacations in Europe?"

Vincent remained in silence. He knew that was a false attitude of a dangerous alien. The Invaders had no sense of humor, although some times they depicted something like that, just to play psychological games with humans. So, the silence was at that moment, the best answer Vincent could give to the alien.

Heissmann then asked the aliens in blue to remove the truck from there and to check if there were more humans around. The aliens dressed in black suits remained in the room, just standing in one of the walls. Then he went back to the prisoners. "What are you doing here? Looking for us? Looking for your friends from Eastern Europe?" He pointed to the two officers with a sardonic smile on his face and fired an ironical question. "Who's your enemy here in this room?" No answer was given and Heissmann decided to go on with his speech. "You humans are a curious species. You kill each other for cheap reasons. Color of skin, color of eyes, different languages, different habits, opposite political points of view. An incredible species! You're motivated by hate and greed."

Sherkov got nearer and asked in tone of authority. "Who are these men? Do you know them? How do they come here?" He was very upset. "I suppose that the man you have in the police should warn us of any threat, right?" The older man spoke with his strong eastern Europe accent but in tone of an officer talking to his subordinate.

Heissmann paid no attention to the General and addressed to the prisoners again. "I fear that Mr. Schneider is dead. Correct, gentlemen?"

"So, that's why you crossed the border, right, Sherkov?" Halford turned to the general and roughly spoke. "Aren't you doing well with your army? Have you decided to join the alien forces?"

"What we will do here, my little agent." Sherkov answered with a disgusting irony in his voice. "Will culminate in a new world, where you and your decadent society will be wiped out!"

"What are you talking about." Vincent exploded in his traditional short tempered attitude. Even with guns pointed at his head, Vincent never felt himself intimidated. He had faced death so many times, that he was not afraid of it anymore. "You're dealing with these alien beings? You can not deal with them, you can not trust them! That's madness! They will kill you at the end."

"Silence!" Sherkov slapped Vincent's face. The violence of the slap made his white cheek to instantly become red. "Nobody talks like that to me! Learn that, you American idiot!" The general was full of hate. "I don't put a bullet in your head right now, just because I don't want to dirty this room. The future of the world will be decided here tonight!"

"What are you talking about, Sherkov?" Halford asked in a more political way, not challenging the general. "I know you're going to kill us anyway, so can't we know, why are we going to die?"

Heissmann observed in silence the quarrel among the humans.

"Soon, I'll be the leader of my nation." Sherkov started, speaking with fire in his eyes. "Then, we'll commence a war against your decadent nation. Finally we'll destroy you and your allies. With the help of them and their technology, we'll neutralize all your forces, we'll annihilate you all!"

"Why do you believe they will help you? Vincent furiously asked.

"After the end of the war." Sherkov looked down at Vincent and Halford. "They will take care of the devastated lands, that means, your lands." He sadistically smiled. "I have no idea what they will do with the defeated survivors and honestly, I don't care. That's not my problem. A new world will be born, half controlled by us, with me at the top, half controlled by them! Two civilizations living in peace in a world, free of you and your decadence!

"You intend to destroy your own species just because of power! You want to join forces with the aliens! You're a crazy traitor of your own planet!" Vincent angrily exploded.

Sherkov slapped again Vincent's face and then took a pistol out of his pocket. "That's enough! You'll die now!"

Before the general did anything, one of the aliens in blue entered the room in a hurry in an attitude that almost demonstrated despair. "We located a kind of signal coming from here!" The Invader alerted. "It's a tracking signal! This place was detected, we have to run away immediately!"

"Remove the truck and alert the leader." Heissmann's face showed some signs of concern, something that was completely unusual for an alien, but that was a natural consequence, because he had already committed a serious fault, when the station was captured in East Germany, then if in that moment their supreme Leader faced any kind of danger because of him, then certainly that would be his last mission. The Invader in blue ran away, as fast as he could and then Heissmann turned to the General. "We have to cancel this meeting! The Leader could not be in danger. We'll contact you for a new meeting."

"Wait!" Sherkov furiously shouted and forgot Vincent, putting his gun back in his pocket. "I came here to deal with your Leader! I gave you part of your equipment back! You can not simply say 'we'll contact you', I demand a more effective action, I'll go with you and we'll meet your Leader in other place. Tonight!"

"There's nothing I can do, General." Heissmann coldly answered. "Our Leader can not take any chances. We thank your good will in returning our equipment, but once again I tell you, unfortunately you will have to wait until we contact you." Then in an almost ironical tone he concluded, you can keep the prisoners if you want, in return for your good will and prove of friendship."

The General was almost out of control, he hated to be contested and he didn't believe that the aliens would contact him again. After all, he risked himself a lot to come to a foreign country in the condition of a spy and in a mission that even his own government was aware of, because he was thinking in his personal success first, then in his nation. It would be difficult for him to stay more weeks in West Germany, so he urgently had to finish that mission. "Petlyakov!" He screamed. "Get rid of this garbage!" He pointed to Vincent and Halford.

Petlyakov took out a pistol from his pocket and pointed it to the two prisoners and showed the door to them. One of the foreign agents was going to follow the Colonel, but he ordered him to stay there with the General, because he was going to take care of the prisoners. So the two men went out with raised arms and a gun pointed at their backs, both cold sweating and desperately hoping that the help could arrive soon. Vincent was particularly disappointed, all those years fighting against the aliens and then he was going to be murdered by a human who was dealing with the Invaders. What a tragic and ironical end, he thought. Was it worth to fight to save the human race? He sadly thought.

"No! I do not accept that!" Sherkov exploded. "You will take me to him tonight! Or…."

"Or, what, General?" Heissmann asked. His expressionless face depicted no sign of fear.

The General then in an insane attitude took a gun out of his pocket and pointed it at the face of Heissmann. "Nobody ever disobeyed me, son!"

Heissmann didn't care about the gun and the two aliens which stood in the wall remained in silence, even when they saw the gun. "Your attitude is not helping, General!" The alien calmly spoke. "Now the best thing to do is to escape, before the police arrives. I told you, we'll contact you. Just wait." He then got out of the aim of the General's pistols and made a sign with his hand, calling the aliens to follow him and then the two of them walked into the exit door, following his commander.

Heissmann stopped just before the door, when he heard the sound of a gun shot. He turned his head back and saw one of his aliens glowing red in the floor and smoke coming out of the General's gun.

"Come back here!" Sherkov aggressively ordered. "Nobody turn the back on me and leave me talking to myself! We haven't finished yet."

"Yes, we have." Heissmann answered with a coldness that impressed even the General and his men. "You can not take us as prisoners. Kill us right now, if you wish."

Petlyakov opened a door in the lower level of the building, turned a light and asked the prisoners to come in. Vincent and Halford were thinking on a last and desperate act. They knew that man was going to kill both of them, so they had to try to attack him, before he carried on with his orders. With some lucky, maybe one of them could survive. Once inside the room, Petlyakov surprised the condemned.

"I don't want to kill you. I want to talk to you." He spoke with a better English than his commander.

"You what?" Vincent exclaimed. He had already lost his patience and he didn't want to play with the enemy. "You and your friend are selling the world to the Invaders and you say you want to talk? Is that the voice of your conscience?"

"General Sherkov is a traitor of our people." Petlyakov spoke and lowered his gun in a sign of peace. "He doesn't speak for our people. He's doing that thinking only in his personal success. He's blinded by the power. He must be stopped."

Vincent and Halford changed glances. Then before he could ask something to the foreign agent, they heard the sound of sirens coming fast. The reinforcement was coming, Hoffmann received the rescue signal and was in the way to save his friends and maybe capture the unknown enemy.

"Your people is coming, right? Petlyakov asked.

"Sure." Halford answered.

"You help me to safely get out of here and reach the border, then free conditions to pass to my side." Petlyakov spoke with no circumlocution.

"You're kidding." Halford frowned.

"I don't like you and your government. But you are humans, just like me and my people. This world belong to us." Petlyakov continued. "But I don't trust those creatures. I don't want to see them in the command. If one day your government or ours, is going to absolutely rule the world; that's a matter that we 'humans' have to decide or to fight for!"

"But how can you stop him?" Vincent was motivated with that change in the direction of things.

"Everything that the General is doing is illegal." The Colonel explained. "He even returned captured material to the aliens, without the consent of our government. I'll denounce him and there's a Major in our base that can witness in this case. The General will be judged for high treason!"

"You certainly can do that, Peter!" Vincent spoke. "He's right, we should not think in political differences now. We have to unite to defeat the Invaders. Come on, think! This guy can become an ally in the war against the aliens!" Vincent was a man who thought ahead of his time. He knew that political or racial fights were good allies of the Invaders; in his mind he wanted to see people putting their stupid differences apart and uniting on a higher cause, the defense of our home planet, which was being coveted by the Invaders. That officer could speak to his government about the aliens, and so could Halford and Butler.

Halford remained quiet and thoughtful for a few seconds. "Ok." He sighed. "I'll help you. At this moment, in this situation, we're on the same side."

"Maybe in the future, we will permanently be on the same side." Vincent was still dreaming about a better human society. Maybe in the future, that foreign Colonel could also be an ally in the war against the Invaders. Maybe in the future, Western and Eastern World could co-exist in peace, with no cold war.

Sherkov was pointing his pistol at Heissmann, when he heard the sound of the sirens. "What's that?" He deviated his attention for a while with that sound, looking to the side walls with some despair. His plans were ruining and he was on the verge of a nervous collapse, his blue eyes moved from one side to the other like the eyes of a crazy man.

That moment of distraction was enough for Heissmann to run through the door, followed by the other alien. Sherkov recovered from his short black-out and fired against the aliens, but he missed the target. He ran to the door and saw the aliens crossing the corner that leaded to the staircase. He fired at them and missed again. One of the foreign agents finally called him, they knew that it would be more important at that time, to escape than to hunt aliens.

"General, General." One of the agents called the senior officer. "We have to run away, we can not stay any second longer."

"You're right!" He came back to the reality. He knew that if he was caught there, he would be treated like a spy and there was an added difficulty, his government didn't know that he was performing that action. He would be a captured spy in one side of the border and a renegade and deserter soldier in the other border. The man who wanted to be an immortal emperor could end his life behind bars. There was no time to wait and the escape should be imperative.

"What about Colonel Petlyakov?" Asked the other agent.

"He should have already returned." Sherkov answered walking fast to the exit door. "We can not afford to wait him. I can not be captured. He's a trained soldier and he's ready to die for his county if necessary. He'll find a way to escape or he will die trying." Sherkov was simply thinking only in himself, he was terrified with the possibility of being captured, so he decided to abandon his mate. In his mind, the poor Petlyakov was expendable, but he was not. "If he gets captured, I'll do my best to recover him. If he dies in duty, he'll have all honors of a fallen hero. Now let's go!"

The three men ran very fast and exited the building through the back door of it. They entered their white Mercedes Benz 200D and departed at full speed, tires screaming loud. The group was so hurried, that they didn't note a black sedan parked some yards form them, with two men in its interior. The saloon car started his engines and went after the General's car.

The car rode some feet, and then crossed into a long and narrow old street. One thing surprised them. A VW Bus/Van was crossed in the middle of the street fully obstructing the passage. It was empty and its doors were opened.

The driver of the General's car tried to go backwards, but the black sedan was behind them, at the beginning of the street, parked in a way that also obstructed the passage.

The two agents took their guns out of their pockets and carefully left the car, Sherkov remained inside. They were experienced agents and they were able to face stress situations like that. They were an easy target, but they had to try something. They looked around and saw nobody, so slowly they walked towards the empty VW Bus/Van. Suddenly two treble and short noises cut the dead of the night. Two blue bolts crossed the air and hit the agents. The first agent started glowing red when the bolt hit his body and few lifeless on the ground; the second one didn't have tie to even understand what was happening and was shot the same way, collapsing in red light on the street. Both disappeared in a few seconds leaving just some vestiges of ash on the ground. Sherkov looked with horror to that scene. He took his gun and threw it out of his car and then he got out of it with his hands in the air. "Please. Do not shoot. I surrender. I surrender."

Two new shots and the blue bolts hit the General's car, which quickly started to glow red and started to disappear, part by part, first the body, then the engine, finally the chassis and wheels. Just smoking ashes remained from the vehicle.

Sherkov remained in the middle of the street, hands up and sweating a lot. One of the aliens that was in the meeting room got out of the darnkness with a disintegrator in his hand. From the other side of the street, an alien in blue overalls appeared with a disintegrator as well. Both pointed their pistols at the scared general. From behind the VW Bus/Van, came Heissmann, who slowly walked towards the general and stood in front of him, at a close distance, with both hands in his pockets, in an almost casual attitude.

"Look, Mr. Heissmann, I…. I sorry for my behavior." Sherkov hopelessly tried to excuse for his conduct. The powerful man, who didn't accept a 'no' as an answer was then fragile and defenseless, afraid to death, but even so with his usual arrogance in the face. "I sorry for your man! I was…. I was too nervous, but you understand, right? You're a commander as well. Right? But, you know, I'm sorry, but.. but you also killed two of my men. No resentments. Correct?" Sherkov was good with words, he controlled his own fear, because he knew that would be the only way to solve that situation. He knew how to manipulate men with words, he knew how to be nice when necessary, to achieve his objectives. If he was succesfull at that moment, he would end up talking with the alien Leader. He imagined that the Invaders would even take him back home and then his plan would finally begin to happen. The despair started beginning hope. Sherkov didn't know only one simple thing: the Invaders were not humans, so all his cunning was useless with them. "I'm your prisoner now. Remember, I treated well your man when he was my prisoner. Now it's your time." He was feeling that he was in conditions to deal with the alien, almost ordering him. "You can take me to your Leader now. You will see, your Leader will approve that. We'll talk about the future of our worlds! We'll write the history of our civilizations."

Heissmann remained in silence; the expression on his face was impassive. He just fixedly stared at the General's face and attentively heard to all his speech. Finally Heissmann drew a reaction; he took a disintegrator out of his pocket and mercilessly fired on the general. The bolt hit the general's chest, who didn't even fell, he stood there glowing red and vaporized in a few seconds, leaving just some ashes on the place where his feet were in. The sad end of a possible megalomaniac tyrant.

"Humans!" Heissmann said with scorn, then he walked to the VW Bus/Van and sat on its back seat. The other two aliens sat on the front seat and then the van went away, followed by the black sedan.

Udo Hoffmann had arrived with five police cars and positioned his men in the front part of the warehouse. Since that was a new building, they didn't know yet, that there was an exit in the back street.

Vincent, Halford and Petlyakov left though the main gate and signed to the police that everything was fine.

"I'm glad to see that you are well!" Hoffmann smiled in relief. "I saw the emergency signal on your equipment; it worked well, so we came as soon as we could."

"Yes we are." Halford answered. "But unfortunately all of them ran away. There's an exit on the other side of the street."

"I'll send some units to check the whole block and surroundings." Hoffmann continued.

"I don't think you'll be able to find anyone." Vincent lamented. "But, at least we still have a hope to stop at least part of their plan." He looked at Petlyakov, in the hope that once back in his country, he would put the general under a martial court. The foreign officer in civilian clothes just nodded in silence.

Hoffmann looked at the strange that was with them. "Who is this man?"

"A friend of us." Halford prompltly answered. "Udo, please take care of Vincent. I guess he's very tired and should take some deserved rest. He did an excellent job tonight and now there's nothing more he can do. I still have some business to do with my friend here." He placed a hand on Petlyakov's shoulder.

One of the police cars took Vincent back to his hotel, while lots of policemen were searching the whole building. Vincent was quiet, just watching the scene. He knew that nobody would find any clue on the presence of the aliens in that building. Once again, nothing could be proved. He closed his eyes and made himself comfortable at the police car's seat, while it transported him.

EPILOG

David Vincent was walking alone at the river conjunction point, a place in the Old Town area of Passau, which gave to the city the title of 'City of Three Rivers'. The scenery was simply spectacular; at that place there was the confluence of three rivers, the blue Danube River was joined by the green Inn River from the south and the black Ilz River from the north.

The beauty of the nature and the sound of the rivers gave to Vincent a moment of peace and reflexion in his lonely war against the Invaders. He was there already for a few hours, in silence. Maybe meditating, maybe just contemplating the majesty of the nature or maybe praying to God, asking forces to go on with his fight against the aliens. Deep inside, he was tired of that war, that private crusade, but he knew that if he crossed his arms and left the war, who could convince people that the aliens were around? Yes, he could not stop, he had to find the strength to continue.

"Beautiful, huh?" Vincent's attention was called by a familiar voice. Hoffmann had just arrived and joined him. "I like to come here sometimes just to see and think. To have some peace. Just as you're doing now." The German policeman smiled. "Cigarette?" He offered to Vincent who accepted it.

"I just came from the hospital." Hoffmann stated. "I'm glad to hear that Jeff is out of danger."

"I visited him in this morning." Vincent said and gulped his cigarette. His blue eyes still looking at the confluence of the rivers. "Have you found anything or anyone yesterday, after I departed?"

"No, nothing." Hoffmann frowned.

"Yes. I imagined that." Vincent concluded. "You won't hear from them anymore. At least for some time." The blond man then looked at Hoffmann with a somber face. "Unless they win this war and make this world, their world."

"Our duty will be to stop them." The German officer smiled to make the mood of both of them better.

"Well. That's for sure!" Vincent smiled too. "What about Peter Halford? Where's he now?"

"He told me that he was in a special mission." Hoffmann continued. "He should be back in one or two days."

Vincent knew what that special mission was and felt a relief. That foreign officer would stop the plans of the crazy general, so anything the Invaders were planning on that night had just failed. His travel to West Germany had been worth. He felt a good sensation of satisfaction for an accomplished mission.

"Will you stay longer here in Germany, David?"

"I'll stay until next weekend. I'll fly back home on Monday."

"That's good." Hoffmann smiled. "Bayern, or Bavaria as you say, is a very nice region. I'm sure you'll enjoy your stay. I'll tell you some good places you can visit. Since you have a car, it will not be difficult."

"Thanks. Or in better words, Dank!" Vincent smiled too; after all, a small vacation would be nice before he returned to his usual obligations back in Santa Barbara or when he had to fight the Invaders again.

"FOR A BRIEF MOMENT, MEN FROM DIFFERENT NATIONS, DIFFERENT POLITICAL BELIEFS, JOINED EFFORTS TO DEFEAT THE ALIEN THREAT. FOR DAVID VINCENT, THE REASSURANCE THAT THE HUMAN RACE COULD BE CONVINCED TO UNITE AND TO EXPEL THE INVADERS FROM THIS WORLD."