CONQUERED
Chapter 3
Kate was still sitting there sobbing, and while Lanie didn't understand what she was talking about, she did have a theory. Right now, she was rummaging through the kitchen for something harder than wine and had just found it when suddenly, someone was standing in the middle of the room.
It looked human-like. Whatever it was, it was clearly dressed in a uniform of some type. It was tall enough, perhaps six feet in height. It was completely bald and didn't even have eyebrows. Its skin was beige for the most part, though there were bits of brown lines here and there. What it did have were ears that looked a lot like Spock's, if not a little larger.
"I am Var-Mell. This planet is now the possession of the Kree Empire. We do not allow any form of hostility on the planets that are in our possession. For the next 30 of your days, we will transmit our laws to all of your people.
"Violation of any of these laws only has one result. DEATH. Your life will be terminated immediately. As I understand it, some of your nations believe in appeals. The Kree Empire has no appeals; your death is immediate and permanent.
"Once all hostility is eliminated, we will land and take over. At present, your world population is estimated to be 7.3 billion people. That will change over time. All those resisting will be eliminated.
"To show what will happen to all people that are hostile, we will now eliminate everyone in all of your prisons worldwide." He stood there and did and said nothing for a time.
What no one saw was the ship in orbit that had arrived unseen, release a small device. It had a green base with a web of silver all around it; it fell from space into the upper atmosphere. Once it got a little lower, it exploded, sending out a wave that swept across the planet.
Only a chosen few actually saw a pale green wave flash past them, and when it was gone, all anyone found was what the people had been wearing. The bodies themselves were gone. In truth, just a very select few saw it happen.
"It is done. For the next 30 days, we will broadcast our laws. At the end of those 30 days, we will begin to enforce those laws. We will terminate anyone hostile. Read, listen to the laws, and you will live. Fail to do this, and you will die.
"Broadcast terminated." And just like that, he was gone. However, Kate didn't have the TV or even the radio on, so she and Lanie didn't hear any of these laws. YET!
"Did you see that?" Lanie gaped at Kate, who was still sitting there crying but no longer sobbing. She was wiping madly at her tears and trying to understand what had just happened.
O~O~O
A while later, Kate was sipping the drink Lanie had given her, and both were sitting there, mostly quiet. "I should call the precinct." She wasn't sure she had seen and heard what she had. Someone at the precinct might understand what was going on.
But when she tried to make a call, all she got was a voice repeating the list of laws. No matter what she did or tried, she couldn't make a call. All she heard was these laws. Kate watched as Lanie did the same thing, with the same result.
The two friends sat there in shock. That was not how a cell phone worked. It just didn't.
While Lanie got the remote and turned on the TV, Kate waited to see what would happen. There was nothing but static, but they both heard the laws being broadcast. Lanie clicked the remote and changed channels. It was the same thing. Over and over again. She looked at Kate in disbelief. "It's on all the channels." Things like that just didn't happen.
O~O~O
Kate was at the precinct; it was an utter madhouse. Lanie had gone to her office in the Morgue since neither knew what to do.
Kate eventually learned that everyone's cell phone was doing the same thing hers was doing. The TV in the breakroom looked and acted just like the one at home. Even worse, the radio that the dispatcher used to get their police cruisers to locations would only broadcast the same message.
However, there was one small difference that eventually became huge. While Kate, Lanie, and others heard English when they listened, not everyone did. Others heard it in their native language. And if English was their second language, then this message was in their native language.
Kate also learned that the landlines were doing the same thing. No one could contact anyone, no matter what they tried. Gates would pick up her phone to try and get answers, yet every time she did, all she got was that same message, a list of the laws they were expected to follow…or die.
Finally, Gates had to get information. She left Kate in charge of the homicide floor and three other people on their respective floors. Then she left and drove to 1PP. All the way there, her radio broadcast the very same message. She even listened to the list to see if she could understand it. To see if there was a hidden meaning to it.
Kate was trying to get information from everyone, yet all anyone could find was the same message that repeated over and over again.
"Beckett?" Ryan and Espo were at her desk since she was doing what they had already tried. Their computers were showing the same message, only in written form. No matter what site they tried to reach, all they got was this message.
"I got nothing. Phones, computers, TVs. Even Andy's little battery radio at his desk is doing the same thing. How can anyone do this?" Kate didn't see how this was possible. Worse, what she had seen certainly looked like an alien. But aliens didn't exist.
"What we need is a computer tech. Follow me." Kate got up and went downstairs with Kevin and Javi right behind her.
O~O~O
Thirty minutes later, they were all back on the fourth floor and learned that the computer gurus in this precinct had the same problem. What was happening should be impossible. They had tried to explain how this was impossible, but it was too technical for the three of them.
All of them sat at their desks. What they didn't know, because they couldn't contact anyone, was that it was far more than just them that was going mad. The White House, Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard… Hell, all of America was in the same boat.
What none of them could confirm was that every country on the planet was dealing with the same thing. No radio worked. Not any of them. Not even encrypted high bands, and not any of the landlines that they had. They had even tried ham radios and got the same thing with every attempt.
"Sir?" Gates walked off the elevator and ignored Kate. She went into her office, picked up her phone, and got the same result. While Gates hated to do it, she had little choice. She was out of total control, and that was hitting her hard.
Gates exited her office and got everyone's attention. "We have no communication with anyone within the city or outside of it. Nothing works, not even landlines. That, I'm told, is impossible.
"Espo, you were with the 54th at one time. I want you to go there and find out what you can and come back. Have they been able to contact anyone? If yes, then who? And even more important, how? Take someone with you and go armed and ready. What I saw on the way back suggests that this city is already degenerating into chaos.
"I don't know what is going on, but we're going to find out. Detective Beckett, I need you to generate a list of all communication types that are affected. Radio, TV, even tin cans with a string between them. Everything and get back to me.
"It looks like this city might be spiraling into chaos, so everyone else is ordered out into the streets to try and maintain order. This is still our city, so we are going to maintain it. Get moving, people!" Gates retreated to her desk to try and figure out what else she could do. With no communication of any kind, her options were looking limited.
O~O~O
Kate had made it home because she had driven there. Gates didn't trust letting anyone go home using mass transportation. The city was already going to hell.
Gates and everyone else had worked out that everyone everywhere had gotten the same message and in the same way. They saw him, they all heard him, and now they were hearing this.
What none of them saw were the survivalists being proven right. Most of them had thought that they could drive to their safe place. Too many hadn't taken into account just what the roads would look like. Though for a lot of them, since they were outside of any major city, it was easier to leave home and go to their chosen location to meet up.
Others drove or tried to drive to the airport to try and take off and head for their chosen bunker. However, all of the airwaves were blocked and filled with this message. That, in turn, caused a lot of problems for aircraft already in the air. Without communication with control towers, how and where could they land?
By the time Kate had made it home, she didn't yet know that several planes had taken it upon themselves to land where they thought they could. Just about all of them made it since most of today's planes had systems that could warn them when another plane was close. But far too many did not.
Between mid-air collisions and collisions on the ground, a lot of lives were lost that day. Hundreds were added to the thousands that had died in prison.
Kate wasn't even thinking of Rick at this point, but that would change eventually.
O~O~O
"DAD!" Alexis was out of her bedroom and saw him and Martha downstairs. They were just as shocked she was. Alexis flew down the stairs. "Was that real?"
Much like Kate, Lanie, and everyone at the precinct was learning, it was indeed real. They would turn on the TV and get nothing but that message. Try and use the landline in the loft and get nothing but the message. Use their cell phones and get nothing but the message.
Alexis wasn't afraid to admit it. "I'm scared, Dad." Something was happening, and it wasn't good. Being held by her dad helped a little, but it didn't solve the problem.
"What do we do?" She couldn't contact anyone, and neither could her dad.
"We pack. If we can, we escape to my place near Victoria. So pack two bags and take only what you need. Once we accomplish that, we work out how to get through to the pilot and his wife. We may have to drive to pick up Michael, assuming you want him to come."
Alexis was stunned. "Run all the way to Victoria?"
"Well, I've sold the house in the Hamptons, and I'm betting if this truly is an alien and they plan to do what he said, this city is going to go nuts. So, we need to get out of here as soon as possible." What Rick didn't know was just how he was going to accomplish that.
Since it looked like he couldn't call anyone, he had no choice but to do everything in person. And that meant going out into the city.
"Aliens." Alright, Alexis believed in aliens. After all, the universe was too damn immense to think the human race was all that was out there was sheer stupidity in the extreme. But did they have to do this?
"Dad, what did he mean by hostile? Something about killing everyone that was hostile. Maybe we should examine these rules of theirs. Maybe there's something we can use."
"Good thinking, Pumpkin. Go pack, Mother, we need to get out of here."
"Richard?" Martha was a bit confused. Nothing was making a whole lot of sense.
"Just pack, Mother. Alexis and I will work out something. It might not be today. The alien said we had 30 days before they started enforcing their laws, so no need to panic just yet." Rick sent her upstairs to get started.
"Go get your laptop while I get mine. Let's watch TV and see what we can make out of this." Rick watched Alexis run upstairs to her room and was already sitting in front of the TV listening to the laws when she came back down.
"No internet, Dad. All I get is their message."
"Cell phones, landlines, TVs, and I'm betting it's on radios and the Internet. These guys are advanced." Rick was betting even the CIA couldn't do this.
"So what's the goal, Dad? Hostile doesn't make much sense. Is it their way of declaring war on the entire planet, if it is the entire planet?" So far, neither of them knew how many people had seen this message.
"Just read and type what's written. Then we examine each and every law. Maybe there's a message there somewhere." Together they watched, typed, and talked to each other about every law.
O~O~O
"I see a theme in this, Dad." Alexis had all the laws down and was pretty sure she saw something. "We can't steal anything. The list of what not to steal is lengthy, and it just about includes everything from food to almost anything. If I'm right, even squatting in an empty house is considered stealing."
"The part about not killing anyone save for wildlife, and even then they have a list of what you can and can't kill, is obvious," Rick pointed out.
"So, how do they know who has violated any of these laws?" Alexis asked.
"How did they kill everyone in prisons worldwide, if they even did?" Rick questioned her. "That might be a clue."
Alexis frowned. "Well, since we're unable to contact anyone from here, we're never going to learn the answer to that."
"Nothing hostile," Rick recalled a part of the Bible. "The meek shall inherit the Earth."
"More like aliens will inherit the Earth, Dad. Not the meek."
"Go check on your grandmother and start packing while I figure out how we're going to contact anyone and get out of here." He noticed that she didn't move.
"We'll be fine, Pumpkin. We just have to figure out how to do this. We still have about 30 days to accomplish it." Rick kissed her head and was finally able to watch her go up the stairs.
"Now, how do we accomplish this?" Rick wasn't sure how to do that short of going there and doing it in person.
O~O~O
Kate was back in the precinct the next day. She was thinking she would be out in the field fighting against looters and riots soon. Just sitting at her desk and willing for something to work wasn't working.
"Anything?" Kate called out to Kevin and Javi since both of them were in the precinct as well.
"Nothing! Nothing works. All I get is the list of things we can't do," Javi fumed.
"Jenny's scared," Kevin told them. "It took a lot to get her to stay at home instead of joining me here."
"Maybe you should bring her here, Bro. She's safer here."
"Go home and get her, Kev. The precinct is as good a place as any. My authority," Kate said. "Go with him, Javi. It might be dangerous out there." She watched both of them leave.
"We'll get her, Bro, and we don't stop for anything."
O~O~O
Alexis had gotten very little sleep. Coming out of her bedroom, she noticed that her grandmother and Dad were already up and in the kitchen. It was looking like they hadn't gotten much sleep, either.
"Breakfast?" Rick queried as Alexis joined them and accepted a hug from Martha, and hugged her back.
Tired, Alexis ran a hand over her face. "Is there a plan, Dad?"
"Well, the power's still on, and the water's still running. We have food, so you two get to stay here. I'm taking the car to see if I can make contact with Dean and his wife, Laura. The new plan is to try and get them to come with us. Laura has an incredible green thumb for all the greenhouses. Dean's a good mechanic and a pilot. He owns a jet, so he can get us there. I had wanted them there to start with, I just hadn't talked to them yet. Hopefully I can talk them into it now." Rick had developed his plan last night since he couldn't sleep.
"It's probably dangerous out there, Dad. The alien invasion is going to cause a panic. Lots of looting. Even if they do believe the laws, so many will steal while they still can before the aliens kill them."
"I promise you that I'll be careful."
"And take a weapon with you," Alexis began to insist. "We both know you know how to shoot."
"It's all hard to believe, Richard. I know you, so just stay safe and do what Alexis tells you." Martha meant he should take a weapon with him.
That had Rick looking between them and wondering if they were right. He pointed at them both. "Fine, but I'm not killing anyone."
"This has to be one of your good ideas, Dad; I need you to come back."
"If I can talk them into it, both of them will be back with me while we all figure out how to fly out of here. So think good thoughts. The aliens haven't landed yet, but I really do want to talk to one of them." Rick so wanted to talk to a real alien. He was a little upset that he wasn't gray with big black eyes.
"DAD!" Her dad had lost his mind yet again. "Just go before I yell at you some more." Alexis was going to worry the entire time, but she couldn't stop him.
"DAD! WEAPON!" He didn't have it with him. So now, both of them watched him go into his study, take it out of the safe, and then show it to them before putting it in his pants.
"Just come back, Dad," Alexis whispered, teary-eyed, as she turned and hugged her grandmother. Martha embraced her and did her best to assure her granddaughter it would be all right.