X-Com – The Unknown Menace
Chapter Twenty-Three – Hell's Keep
February 8th, 2001
Archuletta Plateau, New Mexico, US
Captain Markovitch was speeding her way across the base, looking into her GPS and noticing that Lieutenant Digriz's position marked him and the rest of her platoon on one of the alien base's corners. She pumped her legs into a jog until their locating; passing through a number of chambers until she finally reached them. He sounded relief upon seeing her moving into his side. "Glad to see you up, Cap. As soon as we finish here this whole area will be clear and we can join the Colonel. We waited for you as soon as I knew you were coming".
"How did things go at our end?" She still had no idea of what had happened while she had blackout. "Some trouble, but we've come off light. But…we've found some…prisoners".
"Are they alright?" The Lieutenant's voice seemed uneasy as he spoke. "Well Cap, they are safe for now, but it's better that you and the Colonel see them as quickly as possible and decide what to do with them after all of this is over". She was about to question him about what he meant but the sound of distant battle told her that it was not the time now.
She looked at the last bunker: her troops were already covering its inside, posted at all the windows. Taking a lot, she saw that there was some sort of alien equipment leaning against the walls, but otherwise the place was empty of any bugs. However the red square on the center on the floor and the violet glow indicated that there was still a room upstairs to check. "Let's get it done". He nodded and moved around the bunker with her on his tail, to where two troopers were waiting by the door that led into the enclosured area. Digriz waved them forward.
One of the soldiers activated the entry control inside the metal wall and the other one immediately jumped inside as soon as the door opened with his red laser rifle ready. Both soldiers moved swiftly through the entrance and, after taking a moment to look upwards to the hole on the ceiling. Markovitch followed Digriz as he went swiftly on their path. Suddenly a commotion made her look upwards. "Cease-fire! It's unarmed!"
Both of them got up and when she cleared the lift one of the soldier turned to them and said. "All clear! We found a civilian Lieutenant. He attacked me as soon as I came up and I had to threw him away from me". Looking over his shoulder she saw him: a figure crouched in one corner of the room, in no doubt scared to death. A bent plastic chair was on the floor, probably he had tried to use it with no success against the soldier clad in the power suit.
"He looks normal". The lieutenant commented. "Already checked. Neither one of the others or a hybrid. He's human alright". Markovitch wondered what that was about as she approached the figure. She could now see that it was a frail-looking old man who started to tremble as she came near. His hair was all white and his eyes were small and dark, concealed under thick eyebrows as dirty as his scruffy beard. Getting close she moved a hand to help him get up. "It's OK", she spoke to him but he recoiled backwards against the wall. She then remembered that they were using the armored suits and took off her helmet to show him that they were human. "Take your helmets off", she ordered the rest of the soldiers.
The man looked first in suspicion then in amazement as she uncovered her head, followed by the others. Gathering his strength, he finally spoke, in a groggy voice, before reaching for her hand "Who…who are you?"
She helped him get up. "You're safe now and that's all that matters. Lieutenant, send someone to relieve Camay from watching the aliens and get her here to assist him". She remembered the battle. "And sent Krenon with the rest of men to help the Colonel".
"Finally". He nearly dropped to the ground if Markovitch hadn't moved to grab him. With extreme caution she positioned him against one of the walls and brought up her own medi-kit. Applying it over his chest she saw that his life-signs seemed to be weak but stable but she left that decision to Camay when she arrived.
* * * * *
They had finally discovered what seemed to be the location of the alien base's command center and Johnson's face contorted inside the helmet of his power suit. He tried to forget the tiredness that he was already starting to feel as the result of the intense battle they had been fighting. The remaining aliens seemed to be in a corner of the base not yet taken by his forces and First Platoon had reported that they found a large chamber made of raw rock with a smaller armored subchamber inside. Its location put it west, next to the storage area that they had already secured.
He had ordered it to be completely surrounded but even that process had been done at a cost. In moving around the center, the soldiers had moved into the power plant that housed the Elerium engines that feed the base with energy. But as they were moving down to the lift that led into the engine room, a blaster bomb had come down the hole on the ceiling and hit the point soldier in the middle of the corridor where he was moving. He had simply disappeared under the immense energy liberated by the detonation of the explosive Elerium in such an enclosured space. There would nothing left to bring back to the base and bury than some melted scraps of the power suit that he was wearing. But the troopers behind him had quickly recovered and pressed forwards, killing all Sectoids above before they had time to fire their blaster launchers again.
Now the only place that remained to be swept was the command center itself. Johnson was standing in a room adjacent to it, standing close to one of the red cylinders that occupied every corner of the chamber, placed on top of blue supports. From his position he could see the armored room, where a window was placed on the center of the wall that allowed him to see a small corridor inside. His own motion scanner showed him that there were at least five aliens inside the complex, all spread around the place. Satisfied with his scan he went back into cover, while Crossett, who was standing in front of him, also moved backwards. "Five of them inside. Let's finish this".
The entrance to the command center was located on its west side, a large door that was of a darker gray tone that the walls around it. Two pairs of X-Com troopers were standing by it; each placed on one side of the door as the call came. At that moment Pershing and another trooper carrying the E letter on his right breastplate moved forward carrying their heavy plasmas. Placing themselves beside the door, they hold their weapons with both hands at their waist and waited. Jones was moving behind Pershing and as he reached the door he placed his hand over a metal panel attached to the wall.
Inside the strong alloy surface an alien device detected the disturbance on the small invisible gravity field it was projecting outside. It then automatically created and expanded a larger anti-gravity field that engulfed every inch of the heavy blast door and the gravity waves impelled it upwards.
Both soldiers immediately fired their weapons in the opposite direction of their position as soon as they heard the sloshing sound of the door being activated. The plasma bolts missed the quickly moving door by a fraction of an inch. Inside it a Cyberdisk was waiting some six feet way, its bulk nearly occupying all of the width of the corridor were it was standing. Jones only saw a glimpse of it before it suddenly exploded after taking one of the heavy plasma shots, taking a Sectoid that was standing directly in the front of the doors with him. The inhumane cry it made as it died from the explosion was joined by Pershing exclamation as the blast wave also caught him and threw him backwards. Jones gave a look at him, who was now trying go get back on his feet, before rushing inside and to the right. The other trooper from Epsilon had taken the left route, in a corridor that seemed to surround the inside of the command center.
Apparently there was an inner chamber and Jones was walking on a corridor made of metal walls and away from the entrance. Passing along a window; he saw an X-Com trooper standing outside and by the opening, covering his advance, who nodded at him. But at that moment he heard a loud blast coming from the other side of the chamber that made him stop.
Johnson had just spotted the trooper from Epsilon passing along the window on his side when the detonation shook him in surprise. Looking at the chamber his brain raced into confusion as he suddenly found himself facing the inside of the corridor as the metal walls disappeared into thin air. The only thing left to mark their existence was torn and sharpened fangs of metal coming out from the ground. "I'm down. Need assistance". The voice of Sergeant Grisham from Epsilon made him jump into action.
He had already realized what had happened: the aliens had tried to use one of the blaster launchers to hit the soldiers who were moving inside the corridor but had missed. Avoiding the remains of the walls, he got inside the corridor through the large hole that had just been opened, with Crossett right on his tail and complaining about his reckless attitude. He negotiated the tight confines of the corridor quickly, taking a number of zig and zag turns through the midst of thick smoke, until he reached his goal.
Standing on the corridor that had just straightened itself, he saw a blast door directly on the opposite side of the one his soldiers had just used. He also discerned among the mist that a Sectoid standing outside. Both him and Crossett immediately fired their plasma weapons, bringing down the small thin creature to its maker.
Some seconds afterwards another figure appeared in front of them, but this time they didn't shoot, recognizing the oval shape of a power suit. Jones looked at them before taking notice of the downed Sectoid in front of him. With one foot he kicked the heavy plasma the alien was carrying away from the body and then kicked the Sectoid to make sure it was dead.
Meanwhile Johnson was bringing his motion scanner from his belt and activating it, while Crossett kept an eye on the door. "Three still inside".
The bodyguard spoke to him without taking his attention to the door: "You should get back. No point in risking yourself assaulting this room".
"That isn't my intention. Someone inside is playing with a blaster launcher. Well, two can also play that game!" Johnson moved away from the door and was about to call Hopkins when another nearby explosion was heard, only this time it seemed to be coming from overhead their position. It was followed by a number of secondary blasts that seemed to make the inner chamber and the soldier tremble at each one.
"What was that?!" Jones grabbed his rifle tighter while Johnson looked upwards in puzzlement. "Guess someone inside had a very stupid idea again". The comment came from Crossett while Johnson again activated his motion scanner. This time the display unit didn't show any light dots that indicated the origin of the movement as also its direction from the scanner. The only thing that he could see was that his troopers were joining him. As soon as reinforcements got to the front of the room he ordered them inside. "There seems to be no one left but be careful", he told the assembled troopers.
He was right. Inside the chamber, the X-Com soldiers found its floor lightened by a gleaming yellow light, together with electronic displays built into the walls and a central large lift that pointed to the existence of another upper chamber. As they moved to the alien's final refuge they found that the command center had been gutted by the force of the explosives that the aliens had detonated. They saw the purple bases of alien monitoring stations still attached to the ground, together with the bodies of three Sectoids, one of them with a empty blaster launcher close to it.
When he and Crossett moved to join the soldiers above, Johnson was dismayed at the level of destruction he found. There was nothing left still standing in the room. On one of its sides, the metal had been ripped from the wall by the force of the blast, showing the natural rock underneath. Johnson realized that it probably had been the point where the bomb had detonated upon contact.
Activating the general radio circuit, he spoke the words that everyone was eagerly waiting to hear: "Attention all squads: the command center has been taken over".
* * * * *
Digriz had already sent for Camay and was gone himself to lend a hand to the other squads and Markovitch was looking around the large room. Its basic architecture made it alien in design but there were some things that lent it a little bit of humanity, besides the stench that she now started to notice. There was a small sleeping cot made of several pieces of clothing that seemed all sewn together. Next to it there was a jumpsuit as old and dirty as the one the man was wearing, hung upon a protrusion coming from a pole that was scotch taped to the metal wall. Moving closer she noticed in disgust of a plastic bucket half-full of human feces and urine in another corner.
On the other side of the room there was a workstation of some sort, made of a broken plastic board placed upon two metal containers. Pieces of disassembled machinery littered it, together with notebooks and some tools. Markovitch opened one of the notebooks: the paper inside was already starting to turn yellow and the edges were curving. It was filled with some sort of technical annotations that she couldn't make any sense. She put it down.
Digriz came close. "Captain, the Colonel is calling. They have taken over the command center and killed all the aliens inside. The base seems to be ours". She had completely forgotten of the fighting. "Tell him of what we found here and about the other prisoners. Get the injured ready to be evacuated and take care of things for a while Jim". He nodded and led the two troopers still in the room down. Camay got in the room right afterwards and she immediately went by the figure and checked the man.
"He's all right, I guess he just had too much for one day. He will be up in no time". Camay went to work on him and after some seconds, Markovitch saw him stirring and coughing. Regaining his consciousness he turned to them. "Thank you. I never thought I'd see a human face again. These alien bastards! I hope that Attila died slowly".
She turned away from the table. "Who?"
"The alien who was in charge of all research on humans. I used to called him Attila because although they can't express or feel emotions he seemed to take pleasure in what he did to me, specially when he mind controlled me for no apparent purpose". She recalled the sensation and nodded. "I know what you were saying. He tried to do the same to me but now he's unconscious and guarded".
The man nearly jumped to his feet, taking Camay by surprise. "Be very careful! He should never, but never be allowed to awake unless he's in total isolation! He only needs to feel a human presence to try to attack it!" She nearly recoiled. "What should we do?"
"For now have some one applying him heavy doses of sleeping drugs. They will work on their metabolism and should be enough for now. But afterwards place him on a facility completely isolated from the outside. He must never be aware of where he is or of any human, by sound or sight". He came to her and examined Markovitch. "You say he tried to control you?"
"Yeah, I guess. I felt his presence inside me but I managed to make it go away somehow". His eyes went open wide with joy. "Excellent! That means that I was right! Soldier, I'll need to make some tests on you to confirm it, but you must be the proof of what I've suspected for long!" He moved his hands in the direction of her head but she took a step backwards.
"Now wait a minute there! First it's Captain, Captain Markovitch mister! Second, no one is going to run tests on me!" He was puzzled for a second but quickly smiled, trying to reassure her. "Why Captain you don't need to be afraid. They will be quite harmless and simple, only to determine your level of psionics".
She surely wasn't convinced. "Psi what?"
"Psionic power Captain. The thing that Attila tried to use on you. What I've been researching here for more than twenty years even after the aliens took me prisoner to help in their other nasty work. You might be the next step on human evolution". Camay was standing on the room and at that last sentence she looked at Markovitch in puzzlement. "Tell me, can you feel It also?"
"It? What are you talking about now?"
"The alien collective mind. See, they are all connected to it you know. I can feel it sometimes because of all the time that I've been mind-controlled by them". He brought his hand to his chin. "Maybe you haven't just been close enough to them to start feeling it".
That sent a shiver down Markovitch's spine as she recalled some of her dreams in the past year. "Mister…". He interrupted her. "It's Doctor Finkel, Captain and very much pleasured to meet you". She felt as if he was looking at her like she was a lab rat. "Doctor, start over all of that from the beginning, will you please?"
* * * * *
It was already late evening and the fighting had ended for hours with the breaking of the aliens' will to fight after the destruction of the command center. The few remaining Sectoids had either panicked and ducked into hiding or were easy prey for the squads assigned to hunt them using motion scanners.
But to Johnson it seem that it was still a long way to go before they could pack things up and head for home. In fact, it would be the packing that would take a long time. The captured base was a treasure of supplies and information and most of his remaining men had been assigned to start collecting the material and take it up to the hangar level. The Skyrangers that had brought his team here had already left, carrying the wounded and the unconscious alien that was capable of mental powers, escorted by a fully armed squad. He had alerted the scientists back at the base about how to contain it, based on the information given to him by Markovitch. He would be kept back at Papoose, where there were fewer personnel and less chances for it to try to use its mental powers.
Jackson's force had also arrived and a few hours later White informed him that an Army major in charge of a battalion was trying to contact him from outside the base. He had ordered the other Colonel to turn back to Pollock base with most of his forces, since there were no aliens left to fight on the base. Jackson hadn't been too much pleased but with his men occupied here, there was the need to have the other team available in case the aliens made an attack on the US. In the case of the Army major he had to be more adamant: the officer insisted that he had orders from the Secretary of Defense to enter the back, despite Johnson telling him that his help was no longer necessary. By the end he was forced to pull rank over the major and order a squad to keep an eye on the small camp that housed the US troops and their vehicles close to the landing pad.
He was alone in the ruined command center, trying to understand what had happened here. It seemed that the alien carrying the blaster launcher had deliberately killed himself and taken all of the aliens and equipment inside the room as well. Their bodies were still lying around close to the walls to where they had been thrown by the shock wave of the explosion. Was it just an accident, a wrong coordinate set into the guidance mechanism in the rush of the attack or did he really do it to prevent his capture and of the information that this room was sure to held inside the ruined control tables?
Moving towards the large central lift, he realized that it didn't matter at the end. The base had been taken over with acceptable casualties. He still felt troubled by that word, 'acceptable', from the moment he had used it to make his first report to Major Prescott and Mother One.
Six men had died and an equal number had been injured out of the plus fifty he had brought here. A full platoon had been taken out of commission in a fight that didn't last for more than an hour. It would take a while to replace them but the worse was for the ones who had been left behind. For some they had been fighting a major war for more than two years, with few chances of getting back home to see their loved ones or even take a leave. In some cases they had managed to bring their spouses and children closer to the base, taking jobs in Vegas or other city nearby, but he had heard that some simply had received letters from attorneys informing them of divorce suits being filled or simple phone calls.
That left most of the people at the base left only with their comrades, the ones with whom they fought, trained and lived under the same roof. When they got back at Area 51 the mood would be somber and dark for some time, as their deaths would be hard to come over.
Reaching the level below, he was startled to see the large doors in front of him opening but tried to relax as a figure in power armor came through and saluted him.
He replied almost casually and Lt. Digriz started to speak. "Sir, the major told me that I'd find you here".
"What's the problem, lieutenant?" He had given Patterson orders not to be disturbed for some time and he didn't felt particularly happy of having to get back to deal with the whole base.
The young officer simply paced uneasily on his feet. "I'm sorry sir. You should just came with me and see for yourself. It's…."
Johnson felt complied to work him to simply speak it out, but noticed how distressed he was. Too much stress was going over everyone, not just him. "Lead the way then".
They left the command complex and headed out without saying a word for the direction of the lab area, with Crossett following them. They finally reached a chamber that had a small lift located in a small space surrounded by metal walls on three sides. Digriz looked upwards before getting into the red and violet light, clearly fearing something and Johnson wondered what it might be. On his back Crossett gripped his heavy plasma tighter.
Waving their arms upward inside the lift, it propelled them to another alien room. Its general disposition was the same of most of the ones found in the base but this time the walls had long rows of glass containers rimmed with a metal supporting structure.
Johnson nearly recoiled and he felt his stomach tightening as he noticed what was inside, while Crossett uttered a small curse. The containers were caves and most of them seemed occupied. Living things, moving and wailing and occasionally hitting the glass, and most of them seemed….human.
There was a man that had six arms, the two extra pairs coming out from underneath his armpits, together with another extra set of legs. He was using them to bang on the glass in a mad rage and screaming. Another was a woman with her body and skull full of scales and a tail coming out of the end of her back, making her look as if she was a walking lizard. She was looking at them with attention but occasionally would hiss and open her mouth to show long canines. In a cage next to hers, a moving mass of flesh colored tentacles could be seen, some of which seemed to be grossly deformed legs and arms. On its top a human head stood out, staring at them.
The room was filled with the deafening noise from the alien's generic experiments: some were making guttural, animal sounds, while others were sobbing and crying while hidden in one dark corner of the cages were they were standing. It stuck Johnson that they probably were still perfectly conscious of what the aliens had done to them. But the majority would be plainly aggressive at the X-Com soldiers.
"Oh my God…" It was too much for him to hold and he headed back down, with the two other men following him. When they reaching the lower level he took a deep breath and tried to calm himself. Digriz waited for some seconds before asking: "What are we going to do with them sir?"
Johnson found himself too shocked to clearly think, after seeing the horrors above. "I….I don't know". He listened to his voice and it surprised him how weak he had sounded.
"Sir, we gotta help these people". Crossett simply shook his head. "Lt., they are way beyond our help".
Johnson saw Digriz look back at the soldier with surprise and anger. "We have to take them back! We just can't leave them here!"
"Yeah? To where? I've seen them once and they will plague my nightmares now for the rest of my life. They have just made me decide that I'd prefer to kill myself than to be captured and turned into one of those poor bastards above".
That last remark made Johnson realized what was to be done. "You're right Crossett. The aliens have taken these people away from us for good. They have either lost their humanity or their will to live and will never be accepted back into society. They are already dead".
"Sir! We have labs back at the base. There must be something they can do to help them, to reverse what the aliens have done to them".
The Colonel shook his head. "I understand your feelings Digriz, but I seriously doubt it's possible with our present technology. And even if we could, would you want to go through the same thing again that the aliens did it to you, without knowing if it would work?"
Digriz thought about it for a second, then suddenly hit the metal wall with his hand. "Shit!" He started banging on the surface with both his arms, using all his force. "Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit!" It lasted for two seconds before Johnson and Crossett grabbed his power suit and pulled him back from the wall. He simply stood there, closing his eyes to clear the tears while the other two men had to hold him to prevent Digriz from falling into the ground since his legs seemed to have gone limp.
"What are we going to do sir?" He spoke in a meekly voice as both of them pulled him up. Seeing that he had gained his strength, Johnson let go of him and dropped his hand to the holster on his belt, taking out his plasma pistol from it. "The only humane thing left". Digriz looked in shock as he realized what the Colonel meant.
"I'm not going to order you to help me. I leave it to your conscience to decide. Either way I'll take full responsibility afterwards when I report this to Commander Illyuschenko". Both Crossett and Digriz looked at each other before answering. And God have mercy on my soul, he spoke to himself.
February 9th, 2001
Far Side of the Moon
The Large Scout was travelling high above the surface, moving through a number of stationary alien ships of all sorts and sizes keeping a loose formation while on the Moon's orbit. The inside of the craft was crowded with two Sectoids manning the piloting stations, while the Commander and two other high-ranking officers stayed on the background, watching the space.
Although their gaze was lost upon the view ports full of bright stars, their minds were in a hurried frenzy, an indefinable state unattainable for any human, which mixed logic with primeval instincts, together with a number of telepathic links between them and the rest of their crew. But the most disturbing one was a new presence that started to be felt as the smaller craft had approached a UFO that seemed to dwarf them. As they moved closer and closer the Sectoids inside got more restless, although their expressionless faces were the same and the black eyes were as lifeless as before.
The craft finally docked and the trio moved to the airlock on the back of the UFO, which had been connected by the lower castes into a similar opening on the larger craft. The workers had already left the area in a hurry. The three Sectoids moved through the sealed connection and, inside the other craft, moved through a series of corridors and elevators. On their way they passed through a number of aliens of all sorts of races, who didn't even seemed to notice them.
Inside each one of them, the tension was rising as they approached their destination. When they finally arrived at the doors leading into the bridge of the UFO, one of the Sectoid officers panicked, letting go of a small shriek and starting to retrace his steps. The other two hesitated as they saw him moving away from him but stood motionless, simply giving him a placid look before turning to face the door.
The Sectoid had already covered some distance and started to turn backwards, when the bridge doors suddenly opened themselves with a whooshing sound. The two other Sectoids immediately took a step to the side as a loud roar was heard coming from inside the room, followed by the sound of a plasma pistol being fired. The green discharge hit the fleeing Sectoid on its back, and threw him to the floor, were it stood tainting the metal floor with greenish blood. However, the alien still kept moving and tried to get himself back up again.
He didn't go too far. A Muton dressed in a scarlet suit came out of the door, still holding a smoking plasma pistol on his massive hand and looked at the body. Its shoulder and neck muscles were completely tensed, looking more like steel cables that stood clearly against the tight fabric of his uniform. He saw as the injured Sectoid finally got up and, still trembling, tried to run away.
Using his powerful legs and hips the Muton got close to the running alien with three steps. One of his large hands grabbed the Sectoid's head as if it was a basketball and pulled it close to him, stopping the other alien's motion. The other hand slowly placed the pistol back to the holster on the Muton's suit. Then he placed it on the Sectoid's neck and, with a sharp push followed by a cracking sound, the Muton separated the other alien's head from its body. Looking at the disentangled pieces of the Sectoid for a second, he dropped them afterwards to the ground.
The Sectoid Commander and the other officer didn't saw any of this happen. Instead, their attention was fixed on the newcomer who had just appeared on the doors to watch the demise of the smaller alien. If there had been humans present, they would never forget the sight of the other creature. The alien towered over the Sectoids and wearing an orange cape that hid his body. His head was partially covered by the vests the alien was wearing, which had an upraised tall collar on the sides and back. But the front of the collar narrowly opened itself to reveal a bald and ghostly face. The extraterrestrial looked at the now dead Sectoid and opened his mouth, revealing sharp fangs inside. Releasing a small hissing sound, he then turned to the two Sectoids but didn't make a sound as he faced them, with their minds connecting instead. Meanwhile, the gray flesh around the Sectoids black gloss eyes slightly contracted a movement so subtle that only they took notice of it. It meant that they were afraid, very afraid.
Some time later one of the ships of the alien flotilla detached itself from the position it was occupying and started to move over the Moon. When it cleared the natural satellite it accelerate into a high-speed dash into Earth's atmosphere.
Archuletta Plateau, New Mexico, Earth
The process of clearing the alien's base from useful components or equipment was going into full scale now after it had been cleared of the remaining aliens. Johnson had ordered a full company of Theta security personnel to help in the process and also to maintain a safety perimeter.
The regular Army troops were still in the area, keeping an eye on their activities. The officer in charge of them had tried to call Johnson on the radio a number of times, but he had managed to keep them outside, claiming that the base wasn't fully secured and that the major should contact his X-Com's superiors.
They had found a way to open the facility's massive hangar doors and now forklifts where being used to transport heavily laden crates to the Skyrangers who where parked outside and waiting to bring the cargo back to Area 51. It would take a couple more days before the whole process was complete but things were going smoothly.
Johnson and Patterson were supervising the whole process from outside, close to the hangar, still clad on their power suits. A trooper that was holding a pair of electro-flares on his hands and waving them up about to lift up from the ground guided a Skyranger that was about to take-off. Below the cockpit, someone had painted a brunette pin-up, wearing too few clothes for her body's voluptuous curves. She had been drawn laying her back over a representation of Earth, her spine fully curved around the sphere, while underneath it was written on white letters: "The X-Lady". Some of the squads were over there, trying to rest before the call would came for them to leave back to the base, their job already finished. They both felt terribly dirty inside but there were some things more important to before heading back to base.
Patterson spoke with a voice tired. "Hopkins has finished setting up the explosives on the lab you have ordered demolished. I told him not to discuss the matter with anyone afterwards. Both of us didn't understand the reason why you asked us that but after seeing what I saw there…"
Johnson put a hand on his shoulders. "I know. Thanks". The Major looked down. "You've done a terrific job Mike. You should get some sleep and food on the small camp they have made. Seems that things are running smoothly now". Johnson also wanted to lie down as well.
"I might. However there's something else for you to deal with: the rescued scientist. He's still down there and is refusing to leave the labs until all the necessary information has been retrieved from them. He claims that it's more important that all of the Elerium or the weapons we are salvaging".
Johnson winced. "Markovitch is still with him? Tell her to get the guy moving".
"I did but it she told me that you should get down there and see it for yourself". He shrugged his shoulders.
Johnson picked up his plasma rifle. "Very well. And get some sleep Mike". He dismissed the Major and headed back to the lift that would take him to the seventh level.
After getting down to the lowest level he moved across the base's chambers in his way to the lab where the scientist had been kept captive by the aliens for years. The whole place still gave him the creeps, especially when he came up upon the bodies, either Sectoid or human covered in tarps. A column of about a dozen captured Sectoids passed by him, heavily guarded by two squads in power suits. He moved to the side and watched the restrained aliens, who had their arms tied on the back. The entire column seemed to ignore him but the Lieutenant in charge saluted him as both men passed by one another.
He sped up to his destination and came upon one of the enclosured rooms that were the entry to the labs. Opening the door he came inside and used the alien lift to get to the upper level.
Markovitch was there, together with a couple of other troopers who had put down their weapons and were occupied following the scientist's orders. "Be careful with that you idiot!" The man shouted as one of the troopers nearly dropped a strange looking device from his hands. He then noticed Johnson and spoke: "Get those crates upwards. And where's the damn commander?"
Johnson crossed his arms in front of him and stood there. "Sir, I am the damn commander". He then looked back at Markovitch who simply made an expression of hopelessness.
The scientist didn't waiver. "Very well. You should get this out of here as soon as possible. This took years to research and the lives of countless research subjects". Judging the man impossible to deal with both their present moods, he ignored him and turned to Markovitch. "What's going on here Captain?"
"Well the doctor here claims that he has been working in understanding the alien's mental powers while he was imprisoned here. He says that it's possible for humans to use them using his research".
"It is you fool! Haven't you learned anything from what I told you?" He took from the soldier's hands the object that he had nearly dropped. "See this? This is the prototype of a device that allows psi conscious humans to replicate the alien's control powers". Johnson looked at the thing. It was a large tube about the size of a forearm that had a violet globe in one end and spikes at the other.
He wasn't impressed. "So why haven't you used it to get out of here?"
"We had to work in secret to avoid that the aliens discovered that we were working on this. But by the time we completed it there wasn't anyone of us captives left that had enough psi capabilities to use it. The aliens had for long used them on their experiments".
Johnson was shocked at the impersonal tone that he used in speaking of the people that the aliens had used for genetic experiments. The same captives that they had just killed for mercy, placing plasma shots into their heads. "Doctor, first, how did you get here? I'm trying to understand how an alien base this large has sprouted here out of nothing, specially when there's a war going on between us and them for two years now".
"I was recruited for this project in 1973 and brought to this base. The government told us that they had known about the alien's existence for a while and that the base had been built as a place for both races to interact and learn from one another".
Johnson and Markovitch looked at one another. "The government? Now who in the government did that?"
The scientist looked puzzled. "Our superiors, I don't know if they are still the same now. Why haven't you came before to rescue us when the aliens took over the human part of the base and killed most of the people there, taking the rest of us as captives? Why did you had to wait for the hostilities to start?" Seeing Johnson's face he continued. "You don't know what I'm talking about? Who are you? For whom do you work?" He started to bring the device closer to him.
Markovitch replied. "We belong to X-Com doctor. That's a force that is dedicated into investigating and fighting the aliens. And until now we never thought that the aliens had ever established a base on Earth or that anyone here had been working with them". The man looked back at them in suspicion but kept his mouth shut.
Johnson came closer to her and whispered. "Don't say anything more. Something is very wrong here. We need to get him back to Area 51 so that Robinson can conduct a full interrogation and find out what was really going on here". She nodded and he turned back to him. "Doctor, there seems to be some misunderstanding here. I would like you to get back to our base as soon as possible so that you can clear this out with my superiors".
His voice had turned hostile. "I'm not leaving until I know what's going on and not without my data!" He took a step backwards.
"Very well doctor. I'm sorry it will have to be this way. Captain, restrain him and get him onboard a flight to Area 51 as soon as possible with an escort". She nodded and the two troopers dropped what they were doing and grabbed the man who was about to make a run for the lift on the middle of the room.
Ignoring his protests and threats, Markovitch ordered the men to bring him up. "And Sheila, I'll send some of our scientific personnel available over here. Try to salvage as much as possible because we'll need it if we want to understand what was going on".
Area 51, Nevada, United States
The air defense klaxon suddenly brought Major Prescott out of his small nap that he was taking in the middle of the control room. "What's happening?" He demanded, before looking at the war board and seeing a red dot that indicated a threat approaching the continental US.
"Radar has detected an incoming bogey entering the upper atmosphere, right over Greenland…speed over Mach Ten!" The operator's voice became troubled. "How is this possible?" Prescott moved over to his side to check for himself. "Check the radar signature against known UFO profiles".
After a while a surprised response came. "Sir! It's one of their very large craft!" Prescott started to worry, remembering the scarce information they had about those UFOs. "Can the Firestorm at Pollock intercept it?". The technician started to punch up commands and trying to come up with a viable intercept vector. "At its present speed, negative. The bogey is just going too fast!"
There goes the change to get it airborne before it lands and makes damage, Prescott concluded. They would have to fight it on the ground and it was better if Jackson's team left as soon as possible. He looked at the board again, trying to see where it was heading and something made him concerned. "What's its target area?"
"Makes no sense: it's not heading for any military base, either ours or regular military or to any large urban settlements". He looked back at the non-commissioned officer. "Show me a projection of its flight path!" A thin line started to come from the red dot until it had crossed over the whole US. Prescott's jaw dropped as he saw that it intercepted an area where a large number of X-Com flights were either destined or leaving the location. "Jesus! Get me the Colonel this minute!"
Archuletta Mesa, New Mexico, US
Johnson was seated down on the floor resting, still inside his power suit and using a rolled-up blanket from one of the Skyrangers as a pillow for his head who was leaning against a crate. He suddenly heard armored steps going in a hurry until they came closer to him making him open his eyes. Corporal White was standing over him, speaking with a dazzled voice. Sensing incoming trouble, Crossett had gotten up from his position where he was guarding Johnson.
"Colonel, Area 51 just informed us that an alien Battleship is heading towards our position!" Johnson jumped to his feet. Already, he thought, wondering if they had hit the aliens hard enough that they would retaliate that soon. "What's the status of base clean-up?"
"There's still a lot of things that we will have to leave behind, sir if we departure now. In any case, right now we don't have any transports available. The last one just departed a few minutes ago". White anxiously waited for orders.
"Tell it to clear this location as soon as possible. All non-combat personnel is to take cover in the lower base levels. And tell all available squads to get ready for action. And get Major Patterson to warn the Army commander outside: the aliens seemed to want this place back and it's better if his men get clear of this area". He got up and started locking the helmet of his power suit into position.
Close to the New Mexico – Arizona border, US
Skyranger Four was on its way back to Area 51 after having loaded a full complement of alien equipment retrieved from the alien base. It also was carrying the rescued doctor, who was standing with his hands handcuffed on his front in the cargo section, together with two guards from Theta security company. The man and woman had been ordered to deliver him to the intelligence bureau as soon as they hit the runway at the base.
The scientist looked sullen during the take-off and the initial part of their flight but the guards could also see that he was fully aware of them, making them redouble their attention. After a while he changed his mood and started to look at the plane and his surroundings with some interest.
"I thought we had become more advanced in all of this time. Tell me, to where am I being taken prisoner?" The Theta soldier looked at him for a second before answering. "Area 51 in Nevada".
Dr. Finkel raised his white thick eyebrows for a second, before casually asking. "Area 51 it is hum? Now please tell me, is General Smith still in charge?" Both guards look at each other in puzzlement but decided to keep their mouths shut at the mention of the base's former commander.
"I think it still have some recollections of the place. I remember the Soviet MiGs that they had secretly recovered and stashed a hangar. By the way, what's the Soviet Union up to nowadays?" That made the guards even more surprised. The woman replied: "Don't you know? The Soviet Union is dead for years now after Reagan defeated them".
Finkel's eyes looked at her in discredit, but his curiosity begun to arouse. "Reagan? Who is he? The current President?" The woman looked at him in disbelief. "You don't know how Reagan was? He and Bush made us him the Cold War and the Soviet Union disintegrated afterwards. It's in every history book".
Believing more of the story now, he pressed on. "So we won the Cold War after all? How many millions died in the nuclear exchanges?" The woman looked back at the man who shook his head. Let the intelligence spooks in Iota deal with him and don't talk anymore.
Seeing their faces, the scientist realized that they had decided to keep him in the dark and not tell them anything else. Too many changes seemed to have happened. Who is that arrogant Colonel? How can someone like him be placed into charge of such an important operation? Someone back at the place were we are heading will understand the news I'm bringing. But not that Johnson, he's merely a soldier, being told to fight the aliens even if he can't fully understand them.
The Skyranger slightly shook and he looked through the window. They were crossing the cloud level, the pilot moving them upward to avoid the winds of the storm underneath it. This X-Com, they are merely toys to be played with and discarded, like I once was. The real danger is not here, now I know that, I've learned it after all the time with the aliens. His mind became filled of memories, of a dark a sinister chamber were he had gone too many times, of a specter that now seemed to be all around him again. It never ceased to amaze him how mankind could be so blind.
Archuletta Plateau, New Mexico, US
Patterson moved closer to Johnson who was now watching the huge hangar doors of the alien base close themselves again. "Area 51 just informed us that both Firestorms are on their way here Colonel. But they will arrive too late: in four minutes the alien Battleship will overfly us. All positions are manned and ready. We have sealed the entrances on the first level and there are squads in position to deal with any intrusions from that end. The non-combatants are all on the seventh level".
Johnson nodded. "Let's all of us get to the back of this place. I the aliens might try to blow these doors with the weapons on that ship to get inside. At least the rest of this place was built as if to hold a tactical nuke". Both men started heading backwards calling all the personnel who was still around to get some cover.
Area 51, Nevada, US
Prescott could only look in horror and helplessness at the board that displayed what was about to unfold. The alien Battleship had finally reached the position of the base and whispered a prayer for everyone who was still inside. The atmosphere inside the control center was more akin to a funeral: no one spoke and if one dropped a pin on the floor it would most likely be heard.
Then, to the puzzlement of everyone in the room it didn't stop as it reached the position of the base, instead it kept moving into a westward course. All of the men and women stared at the lit board in a mixture of relief for the ones who where back at New Mexico and wonder. But a dreadful feeling come over Prescott and he tapped the non-com's soldier next to his side.
"Sergeant, is that my impression or the UFO is heading towards us?!" The red dot had passed the area of New Mexico and now the projections for its course put its flight path directly over Area 51's location. The man nearly jumped on his chair as he realized what the Major was saying.
"Sound the general alarm! All combat personnel report to their battle positions!" Prescott knew that there was hardly any troops left at base besides a few squads worth of rookies and the wounded who had been flown back from New Mexico. The aliens had caught them completely undefended and unprepared. He doubted that the base defenses would be able to stop the attack of the battlewagon that was heading towards them. Or that the Firestorm airborne would be able to intercept the UFO before it hit the base.
There was no time to launch any other interception craft. However, looking at the dot again he saw that there was another blue dot besides the one that designated the Firestorm, indicating that there was another X-Com craft in the area. "Who's over there?"
"Skyranger Four. They are on their way from New Mexico to here". The answer came back to Prescott. "Tell them to back away to a secure location. This area his going to get hot!"
Over Arizona, US
The pilot's voice was suddenly heard on the cargo bay of Skyranger Four by the intercom. "Everyone hold yourselves back there! There's a UFO heading for Area 51 and we are right on its path! We are proceeding to a secondary runway"
Both security guards immediately moved to get safety restrains on the scientist but he kept himself quiet, in cold realization of what was about to happen. "There's no need to that. It's pointless". He simply spoke as they finished putting a safety belt on him as the plane jerked to a left turn. The movement threw them to the other side making them hit the stored crates, where they stood cursing and trying to hold themselves.
He look upwards and started speaking in a mumbled voice, not caring if the guards or anyone else understood. "It always knew about me, there was never any way to hide myself. And now It just can't let me go because of what I know". The plane suddenly jinxed into another side and everyone in the cargo bay suddenly felt as if it was dropping on the air as their stomachs pressed upwards. The pilot's voice came again but this time almost in panic: "Shit! Control just told us that the UFO is chasing us! I'm trying to get the plane down to the ground!"
The scientist smiled, knowing that at least it would all be over quick. A few seconds afterwards a fireball hit the Skyranger on the top of its fuselage, penetrating it as if it was wet tissue and burning the plane into a airborne pyre of millions of fragments and finally releasing him of his mental thralldom.
Archuletta Plateau, New Mexico, US
The hangar doors were now opened again, since Prescott had told them that the UFO's destination was not their location. Johnson and some of the officers stood outside, trying to understand what was going on and waiting for news from Area 51 about the attack. The minutes passed slowly as everyone looked at one another in anxiety, trying to understand what was going on.
A crack on his radio made Johnson listen for a couple of seconds and all officers gathered around him, waiting for news. After he finished receiving the transmission, he acknowledged it and turned to the waiting men and women around him. "White has gotten a communication from Area 51. The UFO wasn't also heading for them. It attacked and destroyed one of our Skyrangers before heading back into outer space. They had no time to bail one. There are no survivors". He closed his eyes. It could be worse but it still hurt to see the aliens kill his people, more so if they were flying an unarmed craft. Markovitch came closer and asked. "Johnson, what Skyranger was it?"
"Number Four. Five casualties confirmed". She opened her mouth in horror and motioned him to get to a place away from the rest of the soldiers. They stopped in the middle of the landing field. "The scientist was on that flight!"
"What?!?! And his research?" She pointed her armored hand at the base. "Still inside. We didn't had time to board it in the same flight and you wanted him to be flown back as soon as possible".
"Not everything is lost then. But we needed to fully interrogate him to understand what they were doing here and who was behind it. Something stinks here and someone will have to be held responsible for the horrors we have seen inside this place".
She nodded. "You're right, but there's something even more important. The destruction of that Skyranger was intentional. The aliens knew who was inside and how important he was". His voice turned more grave. "How do you know?"
"He told me things before you arrived. I didn't believe them at first but now I'm not so sure. About a great alien consciousness that knows everything. And seeing what has just happened I'm getting shit scared, Erwin". He looked at her and saw it also. He wanted to embrace her but he couldn't in the front of all the troops. Instead he placed his hand on her armored shoulder and looked in her eyes to reassure her. "Don't worry Sheila. When we get back we'll get to the bottom of this. Now let's finish our job here and head home".
André Galvão 2002