Chapter 7 - Airport Security
Lind sat as Vahlen adjusted the seat. Still tied and gaged to prevent him from spitting poison. The Thin Man released from Ethereal control observed his surroundings. Once again finding blinking a strange experience. Before his alterations by the Ethereal Collective Lind remembered some of the process. They were figments, pictures of things he remembered but not really experienced.
Dr. Vahlen was told of this process, the horrid alterations done to the snake like alien into a psudo-human shape. The proces really was amazing. Adding entirely new bones to the body and shaping existing bone until something human enough to serve as an infiltration was made.
Lind remembered the pain the most. It was that pain that made the whole thing simper to remember than any other memory he had while under control.
Dr. Vahlen looked to the snake man who for once showed mannerisms she could say were human enough to understand. She could tell he was deep in thought.
"Are you alright Lind", asked Vahlen.
"I am remembering things I did when I was not in control of myself, and when my shape was changed"
Vahlen was about to comment, when musical chime came from her pocket. Reaching in she pulled out the device Shen hd given her, the one used to contact him without being traced. Pressing the button on the side she pt it to her ear.
"Dr. Vahlen speaking"
"Doc, It's Bradford, I got good news"
Vahlen raised a brow before speaking. Lind looked on with interest.
"I'm listening"
"One of your boys, the gene modded ones just came to my home, he knows where the EXALT base is", said Bradford.
Vahlen's eyes widened before she allowed that information to be processed.
"I see, and you plan on going there", asked Vahlen.
"Yes I do, but I need a team to help. I got one guy ready, but I will need more, I'm going to contact Dr. Shen after this, see if he got anyone or anything to help", said Bradford.
"Are you asking if I have anyone who can help you take it over", asked Vahlen.
"And for your help", said Bradford.
"Alright, I'm in", said Vahlen before turning to look at Lind.
"I think I have someone who is willing to help as well", said Vahlen with a small smirk.
"Ok, something about that tone has me worried", said Bradford.
"Don't worry, I think you will be pleasantly surprized", said Vahlen before cutting off the device.
She looked to Lind before smiling.
"Lind, what if I told you that you would not have to be restrained anymore"
Lind raised a brow. A very human like gesture for an alien.
"I am Listening"
Dr. Shen watched as Ares watched the news intently, analysing the aliens. It was an exercise Shen had come up with to allow the AI to adapt and make it's ow choices, luckily it seemed that Ares was not as the old science fiction stores of AI predicted. He had no desire to destroy humanity, or replace them, or turn them into batteries for an all powerful machine race. Just a curious robot with a very human like thinking process, though able to think much faster nd more efficient.
As Shen watched his communicator went off. Looking at it for only a moment before answering it.
"Shen"
"It's Bradford"
Shen smiled.
"Bradford, I see Dr. Vahlen got the communicator to you", said Shen.
"She broke in my house to give it to me, not important. Listen Doc, one of the gene modded soldiers came to my home, he has the location of EXALT's base of operations", said Bradford.
"Where is it", asked Shen completely serious.
"New York City, in a penthouse of all things", said Bradoford.
"Interesting location", said Shen.
"Look I need people to help get EXALT out of the picture, think you can help", asked Bradoford.
"I will do what I can, incidentally, I have recently built new SHIV prototype to help on your mission, and I know the location of a few of our old soldiers, I'll see what I can do for you", said Shen.
"Much appreciated", said Bradford.
The line ended. Shen looked to Ares. Sure the laws of robotics would prevent him from killing humans, but then again if what he saw on the news was true, EXALT could hardly be called human anymore.
"Looks like things are getting interesting commander", said Peter Van Dorn as he watched the base being outfitted with labs, and engineering departments. It was a bit different from the 'antfarm' design of XCOM, but it would do.
Truly Area 51 was miles ahead of everyone else. The commander was reminded of the old XCOM HQ while viewing it.
"I have to agree", said the Commander.
"As of right now, this base is yours, unofficially of course", said Peter.
"Mr. Van Dorn, I need to ask, the rumors of Area 51 holding an Alien space ship, is it true", asked the Commnder.
Peter smirked.
"Follow me"
They walked down the halls, passed various workers, scientists and engineers. Until they came to a large blast door. After a moment the door opened. The ship inside was reminiscent of the aliens, though much older in appearance.
"Roswell, New Mexico was where this beauty came down. The eggheads say it matches some of the aliens tech, however it is much older, and not as advanced. My guess is they sent ships they could afford to lose to study us", said Peter.
It was at this point one of the scientists working on the ship came forward.
"Commander, it is good to meet you. Welcome to Dreamland", said the scientist.
The commander nodded.
"And wo might you be", asked the Commander.
"I and Researcher Miller, I am in charge of studying this ship"
"When the aliens attacked why was this not told to XCOM", asked The Commander.
"Originally our plan was to tell you, however by the time we could have gotten you the information, your team had already downed several much more advanced alien crafts, making it redundant to inform you. After that it was decided that keeping a few secrets would be beneficial in the event XCOM failed, it appears our caution paid off", said Dr. Miller.
The Commander nodded before looking back to the ship.
"What can you tell me about this ship", asked the Commander.
"Unlike the ships used by the aliens, this one is less advanced, more advanced than anything we had at the time it crashed however. This ship has no FTL capabilities, and unlike the scouts used by the aliens it does not use force fields instead it is completely sealed using the alien alloy. We suspected at the time that it was deployed from a larger ship"
"Anything else I should know", asked the commander.
"The crew was four creatures, you call Sectoids all were dead by the time we arrived. We have had much time to study the technology, more than XCOM, in fact we have a few things you do not"
"Show me"
Dr. Miller smiled before escorting the commander away to the R&D department. The walk was long, involving a very slow elevator ride down into the earth.
"One of the things found in the ship was the cybernetic armor of the creature known as a Mechtoid, though without an operator. After extensive research we have developed a much more advanced version of XCOM MEC Trooper Armor, we called it Titan Armor, though considering you seem to have taken that name for your own powered Armor we have renamed it Atlas Armor", said Dr. Miller.
"Any differences between them", asked the Commander.
"More than a few", said Miller.
EXALT's base was an unusual thing. The building was a thirty story skyscraper. The lower levels were offices, use by EXALT for various economic business, basically their funding through several dummy corporations an people with false names. After the tenth floor you could find the labs, and there were a lot of them. All dedicated to various projects wether it be gene mos or weapon development. Finally on top was what appeared to be an EXALT version of Mission control.
Bradford looked at the display that showed the building in it's entirety. Jake sat back and simply watched. Looking at it, Bradford could say that EXALT put great focus on Gene Mods, in fact only five floors were dedicated to weapon development, everything else was Gene mod this and Gene mod that.
"Well, can't say I'm too surprized by this. EXALT was never a traditional military. I'm sure most their guys barely had any real training", said Bradford.
"I guess, so think we can take them out", asked Jake.
"Maybe, but without a Sky Ranger we will have to start below and work our way up. There is no telling what EXALT has in there. I don't like fighting blind. Then again we were XCOM, we always seemed to be fighting blind anyway", said Bradford.
"Look where that got us, XCOM shut down in a single day", sad Jake.
"The aliens had a hand in that, now there is no one we answer to"
Jake shrugged as Bradford continue to study the design of the building. After a while Bradford rubbed his eyes an took a seat.
"You fought EXALT recently, anything you want to share", asked Bradford.
"Well, one guy id blow up like a Thin Man when he died. Even had that purple cloud thing coming out of the body", said Jake.
"Does not surprize me, after what they pulled at the Psi-center I wouldn't be surprized by anything they do. Some of them can even fly", said Bradford.
"You have to admit, despite the freakiness of that, it was pretty cool", said Jake.
"I'll pretend you didn't say that"
Jake shrugged.
"So how long until we hit them", asked Jake.
"Depends on how long it takes the others to get here", said Bradford.
"This seems unwise", said Lind.
"Look it will work, trust me I know what I am doing", said Vahlen.
Lind said nothing as he put the wig back on. A long haired black wig with matching fake black beard that even he found ridiculous, and a pir of large sunglasses while he wore a Hawaiian shirt and blue jeans. His normal outfit in his suitcase provide by Vahlen.
"Why do your people still use the airways during an invasion", asked Lind.
"Well we can't really stop, people still have business abroad, and others need to get home. I assume it is just to keep various economies afloat", said Vahlen.
"Yours is a strange people Dr. Vahlen", said Lind.
Vahlen shrugged as she removed two passports from her coat.
"Ok, this was a friends passport and Id, it should get you on the plane at least, now what is your name", asked Vahlen.
Lind grabbed the passport before looking at it strangely.
"August Kekule. Dr. Vahlen are you sure this will work, I look nothing like this man", said Lind.
"That is what the beard is for, If they ask just sy you grew it out", said Dr. Vahlen.
Lind looked to the Passport and id.
"How did you acquire these items anyway, I am sure they are personal", said Lind.
"I borrowed them, now let's go, we have a long flight to catch", said Vahlen.
Lind was sure that by borrow she ment stole, it was something in the tone of her voice that made him pick that up, though he didn't know what it was exactly, humans were so strange to him.
Lind however said nothing as he got out of the car. They moved past the relatively small crowd towards the gate. Dr. Vahlen took out her passport before handing it to he woman behind the desk. The woman eyed them for a moment, looking quite annoyed they had interupted her magazine reading.
"Yes can I help you", asked the woman with a voice that sounded dead.
"Two one way tickets to Nebraska Kansas", said Vahlen sounding quite cheerful with herself.
The woman looked at Vahlen before turning a confused eye to Lind behind her. She looked at him for a long while, sizing him up. Lind felt this plan was poorly thought out, but he smiled at her, testing the muscles out, and finding the action pointless. And apparently the wrong thing to do as the action of smiling seemed to make the woman all the more suspicious of them. Lind could practically see this plan falling apart before it even started.
"Passport sir"
Lind calmly handed the passport to the woman, who looked t the picture, before looking to Lind. She did this for a while, over and over again, before she sighed. She seemed to be getting more and more bored as time went on, which made Lind wonder why she continue to do this task of hers, surely if it was so tiring the woman coud find a better career, maybe one that did nt leve her looking like she did not want to be there.
"ID sir", said the woman.
Once again Lind calmly handed the Id over to the woman. Who looked at the picture before turning to Lind. Her eyes fell a bit as she adjusted her glasses, Lind did not even see the glasses until she brought attention to them, this only made his hope for this plan working fall further.
"Sir, this says you are five' nine", said the woman.
"I grew", said Lind calmly that smile that was starting to become painful had yet to leve his face.
"Uhh huh. And how tall are you now", asked the woman.
"Two meters", said Lind, fairly certain he was beginning to agitate the woman before him. Idly he wondered why he felt fear in the face of a woman who looked dead on the inside.
The woman sighed before she rubbed her head. She looked at the picture again before she spoke. It was as if she did not want to have to do this, Lind wondered why she then continued doing it anyway.
"What is your date of birth", asked the woman.
Vahlen gulped, though luckily Lind, who still was smiling nodded before answering her question.
"September 7, 1969", said Lind.
"Ok, and what business do you two have in Kansas", asked the woman.
Lind couldn't think of anything, it was lucky then that Dr. Vahlen spoke.
"We are going visit some family", said Vahlen.
The woman looked to Vaheln before turning back to Lind, who was nodding in agreement. The woman began stamping both passports, she eyes Lind especially during this, eyeing him as a snake would eye a mouse. It made Lind uncomfortable to say the least.
"Please move down the line to the gate, have a pleasant flight", said the woman, and though that ws what she said, to Lind it sounded like 'get out of here and don't bother me'. Once again he did not voice it as he allowed the smile to fall from his face.
They grabbed their passports and two tickets before moving on. Dr. Vahlen smiled as they walked. Until they came to the checkpoint. A man stood looking bored before he yawned. Lind was beginning to wonder if anyone here enjoyed their job, so far it appeared not to be the case.
"Please remove any metal you have on your person and place it in the tray, put your baggage on the track and step through", said the man.
Lind was beginning to feel as if his time was deliberately being wasted, but said nothing as he did as instructed. Luckly the only thing he had on him was the wallet he was sure Dr. Vahlen stole from someone.
He stepped through calmly before he was pulled to the side by a rather large man holding a wand. He found his fear of this plan not working was slowly turning into anger.
"Please step aside sir so we can check you", said the man.
"Did the device go off", asked Lind.
"It's just a random check sir", said the man.
Lind said nothing as he moved to the side with his arms out. The large man began waving the wand around Lind, who found the small hum of it both annoying and infuriating. He was beginning to see why these humans seemed to despise what they did, if he had to hear that sound every day he was sure he would be the same. After FIVE MINUTES of nothing but an anoying hum that never went off, the man nodded.
"Sir take off your sunglasses", said the man.
Well...Shit.
Lind nodded as he slowly lifted his hand towards his head. Lind slowly took off the glasses and looked at the man, who strangely enough was not reacting at all to his yellow eyes. Though he did make a face of disgust, one Lind found personally insulting. The man turned to another man next to him, this one kept his hand on a nightstick on his belt, Lind was beginning to see why this species had yet to develop true space flight, their air transportation was bad enough simply to ride, he dared no imagine how much useless actions went into building them. The man nodded before looking to Lind.
"Umm, sir there is something wrong with your eyes", said the man.
Lind turned to Vahlen who was looking a bit nervous. Lind was silent for a moment, clearing his throat to buy for time before he finally spoke.
"Yes, I get that a lot. I have...Jaundice. I am recovering from liver cancer, to my good fortune it is in remission, though I still show the signs", said Lind as he put the stiff smile back on his face.
The guard looked at the smile Lind made, taking a step back before he turned to the man with the wand next to him who nodded. He then turned back to Lind with a face of fake sincerity.
"Well, I am sorry to draw attention to it sir, I am glad it is in remission, you may go. Have a pleasant flight", said the guard.
Lind gave a stiff nod before putting the glasses back on. He met with Dr. Vahlen who was smiling a bit to wide. It made Lind drop his smile s he rubbed his jaw.
"Told you", said Vahlen.
"Let us just go, my mouth is beginning to hurt from all this smiling business"
They grabbed their bags before moving to the gate. They were stopped again, Lind felt his anger leave him, to be replaced with irritation that made him want to scream.
"Ticket please", said the woman, however unlike the others this one spoke a a bit enthusiastically.
Lind found that his right eye was developing a twitch.