Washington DC 2006
President George W. Bush met with his cabinet shortly after all information from Royce could be extracted. The Secretary of State, National Security Adviser, Defense Secretary, Chief of Staff, and CIA director were present.
"Back in 2004, we received intelligence of possible alien life in Colorado. It was in fact an infestation that could have overwhelmed the United States and the rest of the world. We destroyed that infestation but the collateral damage was in the hundreds. We covered it up saying it was the result of a nuclear meltdown at the nearby nuclear power plant. So far, we have been able to keep the press from getting too curious about what happened," the CIA director said.
"Yeah, I remember that. Terrible thing," Bush shook his head.
"We also discovered unusual heat signatures on an Antarctica island during the same time period. We think they were related. We hacked into Weyland Industries files and found that they had sent in an ice expedition crew but that all had perished including company founder Charles Bishop Weyland. The company had made a press release that Weyland had died of cancer at his home," the CIA director continued.
"So, what about this Royce figure?" Bush asked curiously.
"He's former Army Sergeant, then joined Blackwater. He's been in dozens of countries. The file on him is thick," the CIA director said. "He says he was abducted by aliens and placed on another planet. He says he was hunted for sport by these aliens but managed to escape. He says an Israeli sniper was left behind on the alien's home planet. We checked with our Israeli friends and they will neither confirm nor deny they have lost one of their snipers," the CIA director said.
"Tell our Israeli friends I want to know," Bush said forcefully.
"Will do Mr. President," the CIA director nodded.
"So, what's the bottom line? Are we at war…with aliens?" Bush asked.
"No, Mr. President, it appears they are hunters. They only come to our planet a few times each century," the Defense Secretary said showing a map of the world. "We know they were in Nicaragua in 1987 and Los Angeles in 1997. We suspect their involvement in a mafia shootout in Manhattan in 1947, an incident in Hollywood in 1959, and in the execution of North Vietnamese soldiers in 1968, which our soldiers were framed for. We also think they were in Antarctica in 1904. So far, our satellites haven't been able to detect any of their ships. We think they may be cloaked," Defense Secretary Rumsfeld said.
"Now, I can understand a ship being cloaked, like Star Trek or something, but you can't cloak an entire planet am I right?" Bush asked.
"Indeed Mr. President, we are working with NASA on a new project called the Keplar spacecraft. It will be a telescope specifically designed to seek out planets with life. Within a few years hopefully, we will be able to find planets with life. Then we can locate the planet from where these aliens come from," Rumsfeld said.
"Make it happen," Bush said resolved.
"We are also working on the missile defense initiative. In the beginning, the idea was to neutralize Russia but now we need to consider missiles coming from space," Rumsfeld continued.
"Exactly right," Bush agreed.
"If word gets out that aliens exists or that we covered up what happened in Colorado it could be really bad for us in the 2006 midterms. We've already been hit with the Iraq War and Katrina," Chief of Staff Rove said.
"I am not too concerned about the midterm elections but I see your point Karl," Bush agreed. "We need to get the war in Afghanistan and Iraq done, because fighting on another front with an unknown alien race doesn't sit well with me."
"We're promoting the idea of a "Surge" in Iraq to Congress," Rumsfeld said.
"Who else knows about these aliens?" Bush asked.
"I can begin talks with the secretary of states of our allies. I doubt they will tell us anything," Rice said.
"We think Weyland Industries knows as well as the Yutani Corporation. We found alien weaponry in Colorado and we have a contract with Yutani through the army to do tests on it. But that weaponry was lost several months ago," Rumsfeld said.
"Tell me, why is a Japanese, it is Japanese right?"
"Yes Sir."
"Why is a Japanese corporation involved in classified testing of alien technology?" Bush asked.
"They're the best at what they do. We also had to cut costs with the Iraq War budget taking up a large section of the Pentagon's budget."
"And is Weyland an American corporation?" Bush asked.
"No, it is English," Rumsfeld replied.
"Who is their CEO?" Bush asked.
"With Charles Weyland dead, the Weyland Board is acting regent of the company until his grandson Peter Weyland becomes CEO," Rove said.
"When will that happen?" Bush asked.
"He's 16, so maybe in 10 years," Rove guessed.
London
Peter Weyland walked assertively through the halls of Weyland Corporation's office building in London, England. The sixteen year old was already beginning his junior year at the University of Oxford. Two years ago, he had invented a new way to use synthetic stem cells for a synthetic trachea. The research was patented and used for cancer patients world-wide. Weyland was born October 1st, 1990 in Mubai, India. As a British citizen born outside the United Kingdom, Peter had a chip on his shoulder from his peers. His mother was a professor at Oxford in comparative mythology and his father was an engineer. His grandfather was the previous CEO of the company: Charles Bishop Weyland.
The sudden death of Charles Weyland knock down the stock price of the company by 10% in 2004. The company also faced secret lawsuits from the families of those who had died on the Antarctic island. The death of Weyland and the pay outs nearly destroyed the company.
Peter Weyland entered the board room to discuss the annual direction of the company. At this time, Peter had no real power on the board but he commanded a degree of respect since he would be named CEO as soon as he finished school. No board member wanted to make enemies with Weyland once that happened.
Peter listened quietly as the Board discussed the various projects Weyland was going to introduce to the market. Finally, Peter decided to speak. "I believe the future of technology is energy. The demand for energy in developing countries will continue to send more pollutants into the atmosphere. Temperatures will rise this century, weather systems will become unpredictable, and sea levels will rise. The solution is unlimited energy from the sun. If we can harness the solar radiation of the sun, we can solve the world's energy crisis. My proposal is to create a solar sail that will always remain facing the sun. The solar sail will then beam the energy back to Earth," Peter said.
"Mr. Weyland…," a board member said respectfully. "The technology involved does not exist yet. The investment required to launch these satellites is impossible."
"I will acquire the investments gentlemen. I have detailed engineering schematics on the project," Peter said showing a screen of how the solar sail would work.
"Impressive, but it would require the budget of NASA or the European Space administration to launch these satellites," another board member said.
"Gentlemen, I do not expect this to be done overnight. I am putting a time table of ten years. By then I hope I will have your vote to be acting CEO of this company. In ten years, I want us public. That is all. Thank you for your time," Peter said and then walked out of the meeting.
After the meeting, a board member came up to Peter. "That is a brilliant design. You are a genius," he gushed.
"Thank you. I wish I could take all the credit," Peter said cryptically.
Peter went back home to a mansion outside London. He took the stairs to the basement where his computers were located. Turning them on, he examined the engineering schematics he had received. The data came in small pieces and had to be put together to make any sense. It also required software to translate it. Peter waited as the combination of bars formed Romanized letters he could understand.
Tokyo
Miss Yutani, the CEO of Yutani Corporation, presented herself to the Board of Directors. "The alien artifact discovered in Colorado, United States gave us a way to redesign weapon systems. Even though the artifact was stolen from a US base several months ago, we were still able to reverse engineer many of its components. Within a few years, we will be able to provide the United States and Japan navies a new laser system," Yutani said.
The board immediately clapped with approval. "We are also working on creating new super computers that will eventually develop artificial intelligence. Japan will be the first country to create a fully sentient artificial intelligence," Yutani vowed.
After the meeting, Yutani went to her personal laptop computer and reviewed her files. She looked over several encrypted files that required translator software so she could read it in Japanese. The red bars turned into Japanese symbols giving Yutani more technological information than anything she had received from the plasma cannon.
Baghdad
A black helicopter arrived at a private air base just outside Baghdad. Once the helicopter descended several men in combat gear and rifles exited. They made their way inside a trailer. As soon as they were inside, Royce tore off his helmet and removed his sunglasses.
"God, I hate this place," he said.
"Don't we all," the Blackwater commander smirked.
"What's the mission?" Royce asked.
"Our official mission is to provide security for Iraqi civilians but our real mission is to hunt down and kill insurgents. We're not US military personal. We're under the radar so to speak. We can do things that the US military can't for bullshit political reasons," the commander said.
"Got it," Royce said.
"I brought you here to be a training adviser. They told me you lost your leg but didn't say how. Was it an IED?" the commander asked.
"Something like that," Royce replied.
"You got some fancy state of the art hardware on your leg now. So, let me ask you something. Can you still fight?" the commander asked.
"Better than ever Sir. I may not have my leg, but I have the attitude. I am a survivor," Royce said.
"We'll see. Your first missions outside the wire will be in one week. In the meantime you will reading manuals and filling out forms," the commander smiled.