Compact Cable Building, Midtown Manhattan
"Mr. Levinson?" asked the tall man in the brown suit.
"Yes?" asked David Levinson, wheeling his bike up to the elevator.
"James Shepard," said the man, a slight Scotch accent in his tone, but also a bit of middle American twang. He stuck out his hand, "It's an honor to meet you."
"An honor?" asked Levinson.
"I've heard about your work, at MIT, though I have to admit, I expected more than just working for a cable company," said Shepard.
"You and my wife both," said Levinson with a sigh.
"It's alright," said Shepard. "I'm not saying you're not doing anything special with your life, it's just, well, you've got the potential for so much more."
"Is this is job offer, Mr. Shepard?"
Shepard smiled, "That it is, David. May I call you David?"
"I'm happily employed," replied Levinson, walking past Shepard.
"And that doesn't have to change, I run a think tank out of Scotland, I call it Cerberus, we're always looking for good minds like yours," said Shepard. He flipped his fingers, and if by magic, a business card appeared in his hand, "This has my cell number. I'm going to be in town for the rest of the day, call me if you want to discus your options."
"And then what?"
"Well, if you accept, then we see what we can do about saving the world, if you don't, then I've got an appointment with President Whitmore tomorrow morning instead."
"President Whitmore?" asked Levinson.
"Don't hold it against me, I heard about the little tussle you two had on the campaign trail," said Shepard defensively.
"How did you hear about that?"
"I'm a rich and powerful man, Mr. Levinson, and you've led an interesting life. I try to know as much as I can about my prospective new hires, especially ones such as yourself," replied Shepard.
Levinson looked at the business card, with a hexagonal logo in the center, and back to Shepard, "I'll think about it."
"Get back to me, time's counting down," said Shepard.
David then turned from Shepard and continued to the elevator, looking back just in time to see Shepard walk out the lobby door. For a moment David was shocked, and despite the obviously expensive and well tailored suit, Shepard was wearing what appeared to be skateboarding shoes.
David was still thinking about the odd, or rather eccentric, Shepard as he rode his bike into the cable control room, the screens lining the wall flicking with interference.
"David, David," wheezed Marty Gilbert, David's boss. "What's the hell's the point of having a beeper if you're not going to turn in on?"
"It was turned on," said Levinson without concern, "I was ignoring you." He then swerved around a co-worker, still riding his bike, "Hello." Then then looked back to Marty, who was pacing him at a trot, "What's the big emergency?"
It was a few hours later, after David discovered the countdown in the satellite interference, after General Grey and David's ex-wife Constance Spano announced at a White House Press Briefing about the "disturbances" heading towards LA, New York, and DC and even after David had rushed to the roof to watch the large space ship's arrival as his co-workers rushed to the basement, that David, finally realized what the countdown was for, and what it was counting down to. He rushed back into the control room, hoping to find at least Marty, and warn him about the danger the alien ship posed.
As David rushed into the control room, instead of a report of the arrivals at capitals and major cities across the globe, he saw Mayor Giuliani, Governor Pataki, and surprisingly, James Shepard, giving an announcement via the Emergency Broadcast System.
"Citizens of New York," said Mayor Giuliani, "Today is a grave day in the history of our great city, and" he turned to the Governor, "Our great state." He turned back to the camera, "Today, just now, a massive space ship from beyond the Earth, a truly extraterrestrial event, has arrived over our fair city, settling as it would above a landmark of The Big Apple, and the Empire State, the Empire State Building itself. It is in the time of grave need, of grave danger, that I ask my fellow New Yorkers to be calm."
"While we do not know the true intents of our extraterrestrial visitors, we do know that they have positioned their ships above three dozen cities across the world, over landmarks of history and culture," spoke Giuliani. "And that tells me that they did not come here with the most peaceful of intentions."
"And so it is, with a grave heart, that I am ordering a voluntary evacuation of the Five Boroughs. With this able assistance of Governor Pataki, the New York Army National Guard and the New York Guard have been activated to assist in the orderly, but voluntary, evacuation of the Five Boroughs of New York, starting with New York County proper, and progressing to Bronx Country, Queens Country, Kings Country, and finally Richmond Country."
"I repeat, this is a voluntary evacuation of New York City, starting with the Island of Manhattan, then progressing through the Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn, and then Staten Island. New York and Bronx Country residents will be conveyed into Westchester County and further north, with Queens and Kings Country residents will be conveyed out onto Long Island. Richmond Country residents will be conveyed into New Jersey with the permission of Governor Whitman."
"What is Shepard doing there?" asked David to himself, reaching into the pocket of his khakis and extracting the still crisp business card, the metallic copper and silver of the logo catching the light from the wall of screens behind him.
"I know ma, just try to stay calm" asked the gravely voice of Marty, breaking David from his concentration.
David turned and saw that his friend was tucked under a decidedly nonstructural desk.
"Tell her to pack up and leave town," commanded David, his words backed up by the instructions being relayed by the government officials on the screen before him.
"Why?" asked Marty, obviously not having listened to the Emergency Broadcast despite it being on every screen.
"Just do it!" shouted David. He then stormed past Marty, heading for his office, knowing that he needed to get as much information as he could to the President. Knowing Whitmore as he did, or at least thought he did, he'd wait too long before ordering the evacuations of Washington and Los Angeles.
"Ma, ma, listen," said Marty into the phone, as he crawled out from under the desk, "Get yourself together and, ah, head for Aunt Ester's." He stood, listening to his mother's response, then shouted into the phone, "Don't argue with me, just go!"
"David," whined Marty, after hanging up and phone and following after his friend. "Why did I just send my mother to Atlanta?" He caught up to David as he was rushing out of his office, laptop case in hand, "David, talk to me."
"Didn't you here me tell you? There's a signal hidden in the satellite feed, it's slowly re-cycling down to extinction?" asked David, walking over to his bike.
"Not really," admitted Marty.
"It's a countdown," stated David dramatically.
"A countdown?" asked Marty softly. "Wait, a countdown to what, David?"
"It's like in chess," explained David, stretching a metaphor. "First you strategically position your pieces, in this case over major cities and capitals. Then, when the timing's right, you…" David took a breath that was either from stress or drama, "Strike."
David pointed to the screen, which showed a new report following the Emergency Press Conference, showing the three dozen cities across the world that either were known, as as with LA, New York, and Moscow, or suspected, as as with Beijing, Delhi, Singapore, and Lagos. All told there were thirty-six of the massive alien space ships hovering over large cities across the world.
"They are positioning themselves all over the world, and using this one signal to synchronize their efforts. In," and he turns his wrist to look at his watch, "approximately six hours, the signal will disappear, and the countdown will be over."
"Then what?" asked Marty.
"Checkmate."
Marty paused, the enormity of the situation finally getting to him. "I've gotta call my brother. I gotta call my housekeeper. I gotta call my lawyer …" He then smirked, "Ah, forget my lawyer."
As Marty ranted, the wall of video monitors slowly switched over to a single feed, and then, combined into a single image, the seal of the White House over a blue velvet background, another press briefing.
As Marty began to call his brother, the President walked into frame and started his speech. Contrary to the Mayor and Governor earlier, President Whitmore was calling for calm and reserved judgement, touting the historic nature of the recent events. Man no longer wondered if they are alone in the universe (though a select few already knew that humans weren't the only intelligent race, nor, to some estimates, the most intelligent, on Earth). David attempted to call his ex-wife, to get her to convince the President to follow the Mayor and Governor's leads and order evacuations of LA and DC.
After being hung up on, David convinced Marty to leave town. David made his own decision as he hears the President announce that he and his staff, including David's ex-wife Constance, the President's Communication's Director, will remain in the White House, attempting to communicate with the aliens.
As David walked his bike to the elevator, the President delivered an ominous demand, "If you feel compelled to leave these cities, please do so in a safe and orderly fashion."
As David got to the lobby, he could already see the pandemonium that Manhattan's streets had become. He also noticed someone he hadn't expected, James Shepard.
"What are you doing here? For that matter, how are you here? Your little press conference with Giuliani and Pataki was just minutes ago." asked David as he wheeled his bicycle towards the doors.
"Like I told you David, time's counting down," said Shepard.
"How, how did you know?" asked David.
"You may be one of the smartest people in Manhattan, or even New York, David, but I make it my business to employ the smartest people in the world," emphasized Shepard.
"Well, I've got no time to deal with you, I have to get across town to my father's."
"Why would you go there?" asked Shepard.
"I need to get to the White House, and he's got a car," explained David.
"Well, there's two things wrong with that idea. First, your father's not at home."
"Where is he?" asked David.
"Second, my helicopter's just two blocks away, at the edge of Central Park. That's where your father is, and with it, we should be able to get to DC with time to spare," said Shepard, gesturing for David to follow him.
As they walked north, David noticed that, what had seemed to be pandemonium, what at least slightly controlled by armed men in uniform, directing people north, upstate, and away from the further epicenter of the attack.
"How did the Guard get here so fast?" asked David.
"Oh, they work for me," said Shepard. "Governor Pataki allowed me to assign them to the New York Guard, since they were already in the city. Hopefully we'll be able to get everyone who wants to get out of the danger zone to safety."
"But, that must be a massive undertaking, hundreds and thousands of men," said David.
"I'm a rich and powerful man, David. What use is it if I can't use it to help others?" asked Shepard.
As they passed one of Shepard's men, David noticed that his entire body was covered, despite the heat of early July in the city. In addition to the blue flag with the seal of the state of New York on the shoulders of the soldier's uniform, the copper and silver logo, on a black field, served at the unit patch of the soldier, linking him inexorably to Cerberus.
Before David could question anything else, they walked across Central Park South and he could hear the whine of the helicopter. Instead of the small, Huey-size helicopter he had expected, David instead saw a large, military-style copter, again black with the copper and silver Cerberus logo. Two soldiers with submachine guns stood under the blades, seeming to keep any panicked New Yorkers away. David thought it odd that just two soldiers, no matter how intimidating, could keep panicked New Yorkers from a helicopter in the middle of an alien invasion, and noticed that, despite it being parked in the center of Center Drive, the cars seemed to drive around the helicopter, as if they didn't even notice it was there.
"David!" came a familiar shout, and Julius Levinson stuck his head out of the open side of the helicopter.
"Dad?" asked David.
"Come on," insisted Shepard, leaning down, and rushing towards the open door.
David mimicked Shepard, having left his bike in the lobby of his workplace, and ran toward the helicopter.
"Dad, what are you doing here?" asked David, as the door to the helicopter shut, leaving the two soldiers outside, and leaving the inside surprisingly quiet.
"Mr. Shepard here picked me up half an hour ago, said that you needed to get to the White House, and that we needed to get out of the city. Then the ship showed up, and here we are."
"Wait, he picked you up before the ship showed arrived?" asked David.
"Before it came to a stop over New York," corrected Shepard. "As soon as it came over the ocean, I knew it was coming here, and even before, nearly an hour ago, I suspected it was coming, what with New York being one of the largest cities in the world. That's why I started working with Giuliani and Pataki towards getting the evacuation started."
"But how did you do that so quickly?" asked David.
"I donated a significant amount to their re-election campaign, and I own a large interest in most of the local, and national media. Newspapers, radio, TV, I've got a hand in it all, even Compact Cable. I've even got a bit in the internet too, though that's just getting started," said Shepard with a smile.
"Multiple heads, multiple ways to bite, like your company's namesake," observed David, as the helicopter rose and began it's journey to the south-east, flying between the ship above and the city below.
"I'll admit, it's an applicable comparison, though not the original meaning," countered Shepard.
"And what is?" asked Julius.
"A good friend of mine, in Scotland, he's an animal lover, called a cerberus friendly, even had one as a pet," said Shepard.
"Your friend had a mythical creature as a pet?" asked David, suddenly fearing for the sanity of eccentric man seated across from him.
"Named if Fluffy, if you can believe it," said Shepard with as straight face.
"Are you honestly expecting us to believe that your friend has a cerberus, a mythical three-headed dog, guardian of the underworld, as a pet?" asked Julius.
"Honestly, no, I don't, but we've recently discovered that there are aliens, hostile aliens, intent on wiping out humanity," observed Shepard. "What's mythical creatures in comparison?"
"I know the aliens exist," said David.
"And twenty-four hours ago, you didn't," said Shepard. "Think of all that you'll know in another twenty-four hours."