Chapter Seven

Time passed and though the battles of the Africa Campaign were the some of the fiercest of the Monster Wars, they were hardly the last. The nations of Earth, along with the Watchika civilization and Mu, were determined to do all they could for the cause. Mu especially did what it could, however limited that might be. As Mu had lost all need to defend itself as a result of thousands of years of isolation it thus only had a token navy for defense against sea monsters. (The military build up during the 1963 campaign against the surface world had been one big exception they said.)

Because of this, when Mu issued a joint declaration of war with the UN—with whom it held observer status—against King Ghidorah, Mu had had to fulfill its pledge by non-combat means. This included military advisors, supplying food and some weapons, and—this was regarded as a Godsend by many—doctors. It was worth saying that Muvian medicine was far in advance in that of all surface world nations, not to mention how Muvians often had strange powers that could be applied to healing. So despite all the lives that King Ghidorah took, many more would have been lost if not for the Muvians coming like angels of mercy and no where was this more appreciated in the Basilica of Guadalupe, in Mexico City.

Santos, along with Director Goodhue, walked in silence and gravely assessed the devastation. Mexico City had been left in ruins by King Ghidorah's attack and the only building left was the Basilica. The people, desperate for some faith, some hope, to cling to, chose to believe that it was by God's grace that this holy shrine was spared. Perhaps it was so; Secretary General Miguel Santos of the United Nations certainly believed it. The only roof left, the Basilica had been made a make shift hospital by desperate Muvian medical workers where the wounded were nurtured or, as was more common, helped to die painlessly.

Even so, Santos saw that it still was not enough. But he did remember that during Godzilla's attack on Tokyo more than half a year ago, Miki Seguesa had seen a similar sight. It wasn't a quarter of what Santos was seeing here. Santos saw a man covered in bandages like Lazarus, though in his case it was in the opposite direction he was going. The doctor knew there was nothing she could to save him so she'd left him drunk. At least he'd feel no pain. He kept walking and saw to his left an old man wrapped in rags watching a television. The TV was turned away from Santos and so he couldn't see what was on. Nothing was on; with television stations destroyed, there was nothing for the old man to watch except a small fire burning past a broken screen. Santos turned to his right and heard a girl cheerfully telling her father that she'd found food. She was holding a rat that she had found from outside and handed it to her mother who reluctantly began skinning it for lunch.

Everywhere Miguel Santos turned, he saw more death, more pain, more suffering. For reasons science could not explain, however, King Ghidorah's Taint left the people in no greater suffering that if it hadn't been the Price of Skyllans that had wrought the carnage, thus leading some to believe that there really was some holy aura of protection around the sanctuary. Even so, screams and moans pierced the air and everywhere was seen why. It was a "helpless mass of human wreckage" if there ever had been one. He saw men without arms, men without legs, men blind and needing to be guided by their hands as if they were children. The survivors of ruined Mexico City were strewn about on the floor; cots had long since run out. Though he had given his mind to the world in serving the UN, Santos' heart belonged to Mexico. It belonged here and it broke on sight of the sufferings of his people.

That was when heard a dirty ragged girl on the stone floor. She was crying and said, "Mommy, tengo frio." Mommy I'm cold.

Santos shook his head on seeing the girl; ever since King Ghidorah had wrought nuclear disaster in Egypt, the fall out had made world temperatures drop drastically and caused chaotic weather patterns. Skies were left darkened as far as Tajikstan and ashes rained 'round the globe. (That was in addition to the global lack of sunlight causing a drop in food production and leaving all the Middle East and north Africa disaster areas.)

Sad for the girl, he walked towards her and took off his coat. He gave it to her, smiling, and gently said, "No te preoccupies chica. Tome me abrigo. Te calientara." Don't worry, little girl. Take my coat. It will warm you.

She got up on her feet and wrapped herself up in it. She hugged him in gratitude and said, "Gracias."

Now coatless, Santos walked for a bit more past the dead and dying before leaning on a stone pillar where he began shaking. He looked up to the image of Mary, Our Lady of Guadalupe. The bishop had asked that it remain in the Basilica to give badly needed hope to those survivors still there. That was certainly the case for Santos as he crossed himself.

Director Goodhue walked up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Are you alright, sir?"

Santos turned to him. "What? Oh, yes, I suppose I am. It's hard enough to have the entire world on your shoulders as Secretary General. Harder when your country's capital has been reduced to this. I don't know how much help, if any, I'll be able to get for these people when everything we have is being sent against King Ghidorah."

"Don't blame yourself, sir," Goodhue said reassuringly. There's only so much you can do."

Santos turned away. "But I could still do more if Mexico's president hadn't made me promise not to play favorites."

"Is that in writing, sir?"

Santos allowed himself a slight smile. "No, just a handshake on the street." The smile quickly faded. "Strange how things can happen. Goodhue, you see we're in this Basilica to the Virgin, whose name is synonymous with love and mercy, yes?" He saw Goodhue nod. "Some historians say that her name 'Guadalupe' comes from the Aztec word 'quatlasupe.' In Aztec it means 'she who crushes the serpent' and in Christianity, the serpent is synonymous with evil. If you look closely at Virgin Mary statues in old Catholic churches, you'll see her crushing a snake underfoot."

Startled at the coincidence, Goodhue looked at the various Muvian doctors tending the wounded, right and left. He thought how the snake was a symbol of healing in many cultures and even American doctors had the caduceus symbol of the serpent. Goodhue smirked. "If them snake worshippers only knew…"

Santos looked at them as they saved lives with every movement with their millennia old medicine and strange powers. "They would understand. Even if they didn't, they'd forgive for how you and Aso got medics to Quetzalcoatl as fast as you did. The two of you saved the life of Manda's son and the people of Mu are grateful for it."

Goodhue nodded but then his brow knitted. "Wait… isn't Quetzal-whatever Aztec or Mexican too?"

Santos smiled. "Yes, Quetzalcoatl, the son of Manda, was worshipped by the Aztec ancestors of the Mexican people in the days before the Spanish conquest. Funny how these things happen." Then his face turned grim. "But by the will of God the only serpent that'll be crushed is the true serpent, a beast of ultimate evil that was cast out from the heavens and damned, the demon that wears the crowns of a king on each of his heads. Por los clavos de Cristo vamos a destruir ese demonio… Ghidorah will be crushed Goodhue. He has to be."

Though a church going man, Goodhue couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. "Sir you're not saying that…"

"…That King Ghidorah really is the devil? Maybe, maybe not but Salno said that his name means 'Satan's Hammer,' didn't she? Ask anyone here and they'll tell you that King Ghidorah is the devil incarnate come to usher in the end of the world."

Speaking of the devil, both Goodhue and Santos heard a sudden outcry that arose at something despised the world over, something or someone. The people were shouting and cursing at someone coming through one of the seven gates. The infirm turned in their cots and those on crutches waved their fists in anger at the one they saw. Santos and Goodhue saw who it was. It was the most despised, most hated, most distrusted man in the world, the man who had freed King Ghidorah: President Devlin Emmerich.

Santos angrily strode towards him and his vice president amidst Spanish cries of "monster," "you loosed the demon on us," and "may you burn in hell" but when the two came together all went silent. Or it would have been silent except for the loud and bitter words exchanged between them.

"What are you doing here? It better be good or I'm throwing you out!"

"Spare me the histrionics," said the President. Having heard that an earthquake destroyed his old company's headquarters, he was in no mood to be patient. "I've been looking for you and told you were here. I was hoping to be able to help. After all, Mexico is America's neighbor."

Scowling at what he took as a personal remark, Santos said, "You've already helped enough. If you want to talk take it outside of here. This is holy ground and I won't have your filth desecrate it."

The president's eyes narrowed. "We're going to talk now."

"About what?"

"Look at all this. The people injured and dying, all of it caused by King Ghidorah."

Santos crossed his arms. "I know all that. What's your point?"

"My point is that we have to fight with every last weapon we have and vaporize that monster. That's what you don't know because if you did then you wouldn't have banned using the Black Hole Gun. It might be our only chance of killing that thing."

Santos shook his head. "Clavos de Cristo… You really are stupid! Do you have any idea what you're talking about! A Black Hole is the most destructive force in Creation and I have no idea where those science geeks got the idea of trying to control it. It's more dangerous the global stockpile of nuclear weapons put together and if we use it might even wind up destroying the world."

"Yes that might happen or we might be able to kill that thing in one shot. You're already thinking about aren't you? If you weren't then you wouldn't have authorized its construction. Once its complete and on the Gryphon, we'll have the arsenal and the technology to do the job. All it needs is your word. Will you give it?"

"Yes," said Santos. "I did authorize building that damn thing but if I do use it, its going to a weapon of last resort and nothing else. We have no way of knowing if this mad scheme would work and even if it does, we might well do King Ghidorah's work for him. Earth might be in danger, but I'm in no mood to see my planet commit suicide yet."

The President stared at him for a minute before breaking the silence. "Alright Santos. Alright, if that's how you're going to play it, fine. If you won't use your ultimate weapon, then I'll use mine. Remember, the 1987 resolution may have outlawed the usage of nuclear weapons without Security Council authorization but the UN resolution allows China, Russia, Great Britain, France, AND the United States to use nuclear weapons if they suffer direct territorial invasion. That three headed monster hasn't made landfall in America yet, but if it does, you better believe that I'll kill him dead!"

"Santos was wrong. You're more than stupid, you're insane." Both the US President and Secretary General Santos turned to Kyle Martin who said that. Up till now, he had silently been helping to tend the wounded alongside Miki. Kyle had always been the voice to be heard in all things concerning monsters. But since the Monster Wars began, he, like his grandfather, had hurled every drop of venom he could muster at President Emmerich so that all the world could hear. He had heard the dialogue between the two men but had stayed quiet until the last remark at which he could stay silent no longer.

"Its no wonder that an assassin tried to kill you for freeing King Ghidorah. Do you have any idea what you're saying you maniac? We've all kept from using nuclear weapons by a hairsbreadth. If you fire nuclear missiles then so will everyone and that would mean the end of life as we know it."

All this time, the President had been listening been standing in shock but when he found his voice he said, "How dare you? As a citizen of the United States do you have any idea what I could do to you for saying that?"

Detached, Kyle Martin just folded his arms. "Remarks like yours remind me of what my grandfather says; that kaiju aren't the monsters. It's blind and shortsighted men like you that are the monsters."

"You shut up!"

"Really?" Kyle Martin merely raised an eyebrow. "I'm not the one that freed King Ghidorah so he could go and kill the world. You knew he was there. We told you from the start. The protesters reasoned with you; you ignored them. Both the Elias and Princess Salno went to warn you; you wouldn't listen. Mothra tried to stop it; you almost destroyed her.

"You personally gave the order to open the sphere even after everything that you'd been told, after everything that happened. You freed that monster and only God Himself knows if we're going to be able to lock him back up. Sure, me and the rest of G-Force are planning Steel Reign II but who's to say that it will be any more effective than what has gone before? Look around you! Look at all these poor people. It's happening over the entire world and because you in your idiocy, refused to listen, their blood be on your head."

Formerly in the background for the duration of this, Vice President Franklin Smith moved in to defend his boss. "Mr. Martin, please be reasonable. These are dark times and we are all stressed by what's been happening. But such bickering will get us nowhere; if anything it will help King Ghidorah destroy us. Even I have to admit that my boss should have paid more attention but the odds of him having had irrefutable proof against opening the sphere are the odds of there being an alien infested Area 51."

Smith began walking with Martin, and talking with him. As they did, the President heard Martin reluctantly agree that grudges would be settled after the Monster Wars. However, the leader of the United States was growing increasingly nervous, he had been on edge ever since Elias said "King Ghidorah" when they went to talk to him about the meteor. He'd told himself that it had to be a coincidence and when he saw the monster for himself, he could only say that the knowledge he had could really do no good. But ever since the dawn of the Monster Wars, he had kept asking himself if he should speak up. Now he decided that he should.

"Wait." Kyle, Santos, Goodhue, and Smith all turned towards him. "My Vice President said that there is no 'alien infested Area 51.' That's… not entirely accurate."

"What?" asked Goodhue. "You don't mean to say that the stories about alien bodies are true?"

"Stories?" Santos' brows knitted together. "How much of its true?"

Apparently all of it. Soon enough, Santos, Goodhue, Martin, Seguesa, and the President were on their way to the place in question. After having flown over gravel strewn washes, creosote bushes, sand, yucca, and Joshua trees for what seemed like ages, they arrived by plane easily enough at Groom Lake. After all, the infamous Dreamland base doubled as an airplane testing facility. Secretary General Santos was the first off the plane and was soon followed by his cohorts. He turned to the President and yelled over the roar of the plane engines. "This is the place?"

Shielding himself from the burning Nevada sun, the man nodded. They turned and saw a jeep coming to welcome them. A distinguished looking, white haired military officer got off to greet them. By then, the jet engines had died down enough for them to speak normally. "Good day Mr. President, Mr. Secretary, Director Goodhue, Mr. Martin and Miss Seguesa. I am General Spielburg and I'm responsible for this base."

The man then looked to Secretary General Santos and saluted. "Sir, I would like to welcome you personally to Area 51 and say that… that it is truly an honor to meet you."

Santos smiled and shook the General's hand. "Thank you."

On regaining his composure, the old soldier cleared his throat and said, "Well sir, I've also been told why you're here and I've decided to personally give you and your friends the grand tour. Please follow me and if you have any questions, please feel free to ask."

They all began following General Spielburg towards a jeep and Goodhue said, "I have a question. Darn it, how you been all these years Jim!"

"Jim" threw his head back and laughed. "I've been working here ever since I dropped out of sight. As you can imagine… they don't let us out much!"

Goodhue grinned. "I can guess."

Miki was puzzled on seeing this and on seeing the Director of UNGCC on such chummy terms she could only ask, "You two know each other?"

Goodhue nodded. "Yes, we do Miki. Jim and myself knew each other back in World War II. We tried to take Lagos with Kong's help but it didn't pan out."

"The two of you were at Lagos?" she asked.

The General in charge of Area 51 nodded. "Yes, we were both part of the American landing forces and we were determined to take the island." Then he grinned. "But with Godzillasaurus there, it didn't quite go exactly as planned! Why do you ask Miss, Segeusa is it? I've heard of you and I don't think that the one of the UNGCC's most important operatives could not know that her project director was the man who commanded that battle."

She smiled. "I just wanted to be sure, sir. Y'see, my grandfather, Private Akira Segeusa was one of the Japanese soldiers stationed there." She reached into her wallet and pulled out the yellowed original photo that Major Shindo took of Godzillasaurus all those decades ago. Goodhue and General Spielburg looked at the picture and whistled. Miki smiled. "My grandfather was from Odo Island and fought in the Lagos Garrison under Major Shindo; it was my grandfather that named Godzillasaurus Gojira after the legend. I was a little girl when he told me the story of Lagos Island and gave me this picture. I've kept it ever since."

"Well I guess it's a small world after all." With that, the General stopped. "Your grandfather isn't still sore about it, is he? I mean we…"

"Tried to kill him?" Miki shook her head. "No, sir. He long ago forgave you your trespasses against him as he hopes you forgave his trespasses against you. He told me that before he died."

The General looked remorsefully at Miki. "Sorry miss."

Miki smiled. "Its OK, sir."

The General nodded, then went back towards his seat in the jeep and said "C'mon everyone."

They all got into the jeep and drove along the airstrip to a large hanger. After passing out much welcomed bottles of water, the General turned to Santos and began talking. "Well sir, I'm assuming you know the basics. Area 51 as you can see is very real and so are the stories about it. For years supposedly 'intelligent' people dismissed its existence entirely; when irrefutable proof that it did exist surfaced it was said to be just a testing area for top-secret planes such as the U-2 and the SR71 thus explaining the strange sightings and secrecy.

"That is what we wanted everyone to believe."

The jeep stopped and they all got off inside a large hanger where newly designed conventional aircraft were stored. As they all began walking through the hanger, the General gestured to the planes. "As you can see, the tale of testing planes isn't a complete lie; it's really a cover story. In fact; many of the people who work topside here are told and believe that it really is just an air craft testing facility while they simultaneously disregard the story of Roswell as pure nonsense. The truth is right beneath their feet, its thrust into their faces and they don't even know it! That's why psychics like Miss Seguesa here never suspected more than what was let on. A psychic probe wouldn't learn the truth; rather what the misled here thought was true.

"This was mostly Harry Truman's idea; the Roswell incident happened during his presidency. His idea came from his experience with the Manhattan Project. He'd known about it even before Roosevelt had died but had thought that it was just some made up stuff. With the Cold War looming, Truman decided that Roswell would have to be kept secret regardless of how he knew that it couldn't be kept secret forever. He knew leaks were bound to develop so he came up with the idea of intentionally releasing misinformation through credible sources and correct information through crackpots. It doesn't matter if you can't keep a secret, reasoned Truman, if nobody believes the truth.

"My friend here, Director Goodhue, for example, knew for years that I had been in charge of Area 51. But he only knew the 'official truth' and merely thought that I was overseeing experimental planes. And I do that on the side when my more important responsibilities aren't pending. Goodhue, here, was always pulling jokes on me that I was in charge of flying saucers never thinking that I really AM in charge of flying saucers."

The General looked to his old friend. "Sorry I never told you Goodhue."

He waved such worries aside. "S'All right Jim."

The band passed through a series of hidden doors and passageways by means of various retinal and palm scans—and no end of armed guards and signs saying restricted area—, courtesy of the General. It was then that they approached a large elevator capable of holding all the men quite comfortably with room to spare and entered it. Secretary General Santos, Director Goodhue, General Spielburg, the President, the Vice-President, Kyle and Miki all went in elevator and took seats provided inside. The General said, "As for the seats, take them; it's going to be a long way down. I might as well take the chance to tell you the whole story."

Santos crossed his arms and gave a dirty look at the President from where he sat. "Fire away General. We've nothing better to do."

As the elevator began taking them some fifteen stories beneath the surface, the General took off his hat and slouched in his seat. "It all began decades ago in World War II when me and Goodhue were in the Marine Corps, he was my CO, the Major. I had been in there and had been dying for the chance to take it to Hitler and his damn Nazis. That wasn't to be. We did pull a little time in Europe, however, where we heard all sorts of stories about Frankenstein's monsters, like Ginko and the heart, being used by the goose steppers. That and how the Nazis were searching for the Ark of the Covenant and the Grail and other things. Thank God Dr. Jones was on our side."

That was when the President drew his finger across his throat and whispered to be quiet. Already suspicious of the man's every word and deed, the Secretary General looked at the President with a raised eyebrow. "Something to add to this conversation, Mr. President?"

A look of impotent desperation crossed the man's face until he looked to the General and said, "Oh fine. Tell'em."

Sighing in resignation, the General said, "I'm guessing you already know this with all the psis that you have working for you at Interpol…" Santos nodded. "…But for the sake of conversation, let's just say that the urban legend of the Ark being in a warehouse somewhere isn't a legend."

Santos closed his eyes and smirked. It may not have been a legend but it sure was a lie. They should check the warehouse; Interpol and the Brotherhood of the Cruciform Sword had 'liberated' it years ago.

"Anyways, Goodhue and myself had hoped to stay in Europe but we were sent to the Pacific to fight the Japanese. The two of us had dreams of being able to fight Jinguchi in his I-403 submarine but even that didn't happen. Goodhue and I wound up having the more mundane missions of island hopping across the Marshalls. The last one was Lagos, we went there thinking that it would be routine operation but it didn't happen exactly as we thought. You remembered what happened there, don't you Goodhue?"

Goodhue nodded and smiled. "Sure do remember. We were on the deck of our ship and it was the night before our assault on Lagos. We were talking about how the war might finally be coming to an end when we saw something streak through the sky. This lunkhead here-"

"Lunkhead? What the heck are you talking about Goodhue? Take it back!"

"Really? Should I know? Whether you like it or not, I, as Director of the United Nations Godzilla Countermeasures Center, still outrank you so that means that if you don't like it, tough!"

Spielburg frowned and grumbled, "Fine, sir. Will I have to start peeling potatoes? Do so many pushups?"

Goodhue grinned. "Well I wouldn't go that far." Both he and the General laughed as they saw Miki's weary smile. Goodhue continued. "Anyway, Jim here asked 'An enemy plane sir?' I told him that no plane could move that fast. We both knew that it had to be a Foo Fighter, but when he asked if we should report it, I told him report what, that we were being invaded by little green men? Then I told him he might tell his son about it when he was born."

General Spielburg sighed. "You'd think that hearing stories like that, my son would grow up to become a movie maker or something. He became a librarian instead."

"Enough about Steven," said Goodhue. "We were hoping not to tell anybody but we wound up telling the men at Project Primate, they're the US Agency that revived Kong after he fell from the Empire State Building." Goodhue saw the Miki and Kyle nod. Though hidden from the public, the true battle on Lagos was common to people of their position. "They brought in Kong to fight Godzillasaurus and that was the last I ever thought about the Foo Fighter I saw in the night. But since the story about aliens is true I've got a feeling that it didn't end there."

All the men in the elevator looked at the General. "No, it surely does not end there. After the war was over we all got transferred back to the states where the two of us got to be part of Roswell Army Air Force Base. I was having drinks telling stories when General Ramey sent me to check out something that crashed in Lincoln County. It was… you know the story."

Suddenly Miki pitched forwards and clutched her head. Frightened, Kyle grasped her shoulder as she gasped for breath. He asked, "Miki, are you OK?"

She regained composure and nodded. "I'm alright everyone. Just a psychic sized headache."

"Are you sure Miss Segeusa?" asked the General. "If you'd like, we could take you to the infirmary."

"I'm fine sir, though I do appreciate your concern." That was all she could actually say aloud. Kyle had suggested bringing her along so that if the President tried to lie to them, she could detect it; psychics were quickly becoming indispensable in espionage. She sensed Kyle's concern and gave both him and the Secretary General a telepathic message that, despite the psychic surge, neither General Spielburg nor President Emmerich had tried to pull a fast one on them—yet.

Soon after convincing the General that there was nothing to worry about, the elevator stopped and the door opened. They then quickly got off and followed the General through a dimly lit hallway into the brightly-lit main research facility. There everything was completely white and the men and women were performing their experiments with beyond state of the art devices. The scientists gave the group looks as they walked past them; it was supposed to be a static free clean room and now they'd go to decontamination.

Although they'd all been walking at a good pace through the room, the group froze when Santos stopped dead in his tracks. He had been furtively glancing about and taking everything in but now he had to let it all out. "I don't believe it! Dang it, where do you get the funding for all this!"

" 'You don't actually expect that the US government spends $20,000 on a hammer, $30,000 on a toilet seat do you?' " Santos looked to who said that and saw the skinny young Hispanic woman who said that. She was dressed in a technician's white lab coat that covered a T-shirt with skulls and dinosaurs and had stylized silver armature glasses on her boyish face that hid her large eyes. She ran her hand through her wild short red hair but wilder still was the small creature on her shoulder. "C'mon, even President blockhead here isn't that dumb."

The General saw his guests' astonished expressions. "Friends, this is Professor Rosalinda, though you can call her Rosy. She's been in charge of the project for the past fifteen years and knows more about it than anyone alive."

"Yeah, but what the heck is that thing on your shoulder lady?" asked Kyle Martin.

"I know what it is," said Miki. "It's called a dorat. It's what I sensed earlier because it was born from King Ghidorah's blood. Wasn't it?"

Rosalinda smiled and looked at the smiling miniature one headed ghidra. Covered in golden scales, it was bipedal, no larger than a cat, and had one large head on a short neck and one tiny tail. The head was almost human in its ability for expression and in its full head of hair—albeit green. It waddled about on its stumpy legs on its mistress' shoulders and nuzzled Rosalinda as well. "Very perceptive Miss Segeusa. I assume that you were brought along to make sure that nobody would pull a fast one on your friends, is that right? In any case, come with me. I'm sure you want to see the big tamale."

She led them to the end of the main research facility to a large set of doors at whose sides were two armed guards. On seeing her clearance and one final palm scan they nodded. A blast of steam hissed out and the door opened ever so slowly at which they stepped inside into a huge hanger.

The General saw the amazement on his guests' faces and smiled. It was a vast cavernous room, two levels high with rows of computers and technicians scrambling every which way. All the attention in the room was focused on the reconstructed alien spacecraft. It was seemingly egg shaped without obvious corners and was jet black. "As you can see, despite the extensive damage it suffered in the initial crash, we have managed to repair it significantly. It can't fly of course, but we have been able to learn a great deal of their technology."

"Yes that's fine," muttered Santos. "But this isn't that… that alien invasion movie"

"Independence Day, by Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich" interjected Professor Rosalinda. She looked at the raised eyebrows and shrugged. "So I'm sci-fi fan."

Santos rolled his eyes. He had enough "Devlin" and "Emmerich" to worry about in the President of the US. "Yes but unless the aliens that crashed here had anything to do with King Ghidorah, we're just wasting our time. Do you have anything useful to say about the monster? If that dorat is related to the demon I assume you have something to say Professor Rosalinda."

"That I do. Come with me please."

They continued walking until the came to a quiet, empty, darkened room. They passed steel doors and the General swiped his card at a terminal. With that, a large section of wall moved slowly upwards and the room wasn't as empty as it was before. It revealed three large cylinders filled with bubbling liquid, floating inside the liquid were the bodies of enormous man-sized cockroach like insects. In over fifty years since they had died, their bodies were slightly decayed despite the preservative fluid. Even so, the insects could still be seen clearly and whole.

The General gestured towards them. "You all know the story. They crashed in Roswell, New Mexico, and the US government took them from there to Hanger 18 and from there to here. I was there at the actual crash site when they were found; my men and I were sworn to secrecy." The General looked at Goodhue. "We never told anybody, but they came to warn us."

Santos turned from the giant insects to the General. "And they came to warn us about…"

"King Ghidorah, yes. However something went wrong and their ship crashed. Kubota was the only one to survive. I found him and brought him to the base. He told me, by means of his translation device, that he was from Nebula Space Hunter M and that for as far back as could be remembered that his race and others across the cosmos had fought against King Ghidorah and other skyllans. From what Kubota said, the damn things are the devil on earth and have been the biggest threat to life in the galaxy for sixty-five million years. Course, King Ghidorah is the worst of the lot.

"However, it was noted that some 12,000 years ago that King Ghidorah disappeared. Kubota told us what you said: The Ancients trapped him. The Neo-Space Hunters, the insects there, learned that when they came to earth during WWII. At first they thought only to study us during the 'battle between good and evil.' They were the pilots of the Foo Fighter we saw, including the one I saw at Lagos.

"The Neo-Space Hunters and their allies try not to meddle with developing civilizations like ours but they reasoned that culture shock was better than extinction. They figured they owed us because the Ancients of our world trapped King Ghidorah. They told us about King Ghidorah and how they wanted to help us. They even said that they went looking to recruit their old friends, the Seatopians. Y'see the Space Hunters and Seatopians had millennia of friendship before and after the Cataclysm. However, the Seatopians had faded out of sight about a hundred fifty years ago Kubota said. Neither they nor we ever found them though. Shame, wherever the Seatopians are right now we sure could use their monster to fight King Ghidorah. Megalon, isn't it?

The General then looked to the insectoid Space Hunters preserved in glass jars and remembered one who was not there as he wiped away a tear. "Good old Kubota, he was in that ship I saw at Lagos. Soon after I found him, the two of us became good friends and I was even there when he died. I buried him according to his planet's customs. I learned so much from him over all those years, more than I ever thought I could. Kubota came when he did because he knew that the Mysterians would begin their assault in the 50s. He intercepted a Mysterian message of having found King Ghidorah's sphere and Kubota and his friends told their superiors of it as they came to warn us. The Mysterians had every intention of taking over our world but they had the idea of freeing their old enemy, King Ghidorah, to have their revenge through him if they failed.

"To Kubota's relief, however, we beat the Mysterians before they had the chance of freeing King Ghidorah, not that Kubota knew where King Ghidorah's prison asteroid was. The Neo-Space Hunter fleet mopped up what we left and chased the remains of the Mysterian fleet out of the solar system. From what Kubota said, his people must have been dealing with the rest of the Garoaga during the Garoaga War, though they did send us Zone Fighter.

"However, don't think of trying to call the Space Hunters or Zone Fighter for help. The Garoagans took advantage of Atlantean satellites still in orbit after these thousands of years to keep that from happening. They programmed Old Atlantis' Slave Star Lucifer satellite to prevent any stargates, miniature wormholes used by space travelers to go from one star to another, from opening in our solar system. By the way, the Garoagans programmed Lucifer to unleash nuclear Armageddon and destroy civilization if it's tampered with. Makes the Ruskie satellite from '85 look like a squirt gun. So even if friendly aliens wanting to help us were to pick up a distress call from our world, it could take them centuries to get to Earth without stargates. The Garoagans' thought was that we would free King Ghidorah sooner or later and he would kill us for them because we'd be on our own."

Secretary General Santos put his hand to his forehead and said, "Clavos de Cristo. We have the how. I'm assuming that Kubota left behind information to deal with the demon if he ever escaped. Yes?"

Professor Rosalinda nodded. "That he did." She began to stroke her pet dorat. "It was from that information that I made my little friend. Come with me and I'll show you just we've been able to do."

They began walking towards the next room but as they did so, the dorat on Rosalinda's shoulder began shaking and buried its head on her neck. She gently stroked him in reassurance and opened the door. The Secretary General and others looked at the monsters caged in the room. Behind glass enclosures were gigantic dorats. Some where up to ten feet tall and in various states of development. Some had just one head while others had several deformed heads growing out of their shoulders or legs or stomachs. The growths were hideous but more so were the evil and cruel expressions on their faces.

Their eyes shone red with hate and their tails twitched in impotent fury. Some were golden and some were silver. Some were covered in smooth scales some were covered in rough plates of armor. They had horns or antlers or golden manes. Each one was different, no two were similar but in row after row of glass enclosures the giant dorats all looked at the humans with expressions of rage and loathing.

Sighing, Professor Rosalinda gestured to the monsters and looked to the floor. "Kubota left us a wealth of information concerning King Ghidorah. He also left ghidra DNA for us to study and it was from that DNA that we created the dorats. They were already created when I first came to the project to better understand what Earth might have to go up against one day. It proved to be very useful. From the dorats, we know a great deal of information on King Ghidorah's anatomy. However, not wanting to have a band of skyllans, we tried to make them smaller, more docile creatures and, with Kubota's help, we succeeded."

Rosalinda smiled a sad smile and wiped out away a tear. "I started out taking care of the dorats when they were just tiny little darlings. They were a monotonous bunch of clones, but that soon changed when I came. I played with their DNA to make the little guys every color of the rainbow. I said that it would give us a better idea of various types of ghidra but I just wanted to be the artist! A dorat for every occasion I said. I cared so much for the things that they nicknamed me Queen Ghidorah and I called my part of the project my 'Dorat Adoption Center.' Even after I became project director, I had a soft spot for these guys.

"All that changed when King Ghidorah came. We were already worried when we heard Salno over the news talking about the 'monster in question' and it turned out that we had good reason to be worried. We went to ask el presidente if we could contact you but he told us to zip it. After Ghidorah escaped, the dorats all began changing and not for the better. From the info Kubota left us, their bodies have been corrupted by his Taint and their minds ruined by his Fear. At first, they were just snappy and cranky but soon our worst nightmares became true.

"They've been getting meaner and uglier every day and some of us are afraid that they might turn into ghidras. I had hoped that I'd be able to save them and believe me, I've tried to reverse what happened to them but it hasn't worked. I've had to lock up my 'old friends' and keep them under lock and key… I've… I've even had to destroy some of them."

After wiping away a tear Rosalinda struggled to regain her voice. She then petted her companion as he looked on in fear at what his brothers had become. She allowed herself a slight smile and said, "Unlike his sibs, little buddy here is the only one that hasn't given in to King Ghidorah. I think it's because he likes me… but I don't know how much longer that will last."

She grew pensive before responding to her guests once again. "C'mon, there's more we have to show you."

The tour continued for several more hours as the General and Professor Rosalinda showed their guests around; as much of the base was shown as could be shown in one day. By the time it was done, everyone was exhausted and they stopped to rest, yet Goodhue was still ready for one last thing. The President had stopped and hidden himself in the dimly lit room where the dorats were locked away. As they sneered at him through the glass and the darkness, the man could only think of how the humans were only slightly less savage in their feelings towards him. Case in point in what happened next.

"You."

The President looked towards the man who had said that and saw it to be Director Goodhue. "Yes, me. What I can I do for you?"

The old soldier angrily strode across the room and quickly closed the gap between them. "How could you? Just when were you planning on telling us about all this?"

President Devlin Emmerich looked away from him and at a red skinned two-headed dorat. He could only weakly and numbly say, "That information had been deemed classified."

"Classified? Kubota came here to tell us about King Ghidorah, to tell the whole world! He told us that the most dangerous monster that ever lived was somewhere in our very asteroid belt and it never once occurred to you to tell anyone else. Do you realize just how many lives could have been saved if you had spoken up when this first began! You should have told us about this place when King Ghidorah first arrived. Hell, to fight Ghidorah was why Kubota came in the first place!

"Earlier administrations at least had the excuse that even they were never told that Area 51 wasn't anything more than an airplane testing facility. But as former head of the CIA you would have known the truth about this place. Why didn't you tell me about this when King Ghidorah first escaped! Why did you even open the asteroid if you knew that King Ghidorah was real from the start?"

All the sullen faced politician could say was, "I have my reasons."

"Your reasons," grumbled Goodhue. "You're the president of the United States and as a former general in the US army all I can say is that if you represent America, then I am ashamed I used to fight for it."