CHAPTER TWO: THE PRESS CONFERENCE
Buster woke up to the noise again. As soon as he shot up out of bed, he heard the noise dying out over the city, so he took to his window again. Nothing was in the sky, which was just beginning to show signs of the coming morning. He tried his telescope and looked over the skyline.
He saw a flash in his lens and grew excited, stepping back to catch his breath. When he did, he saw the car pulling through the lot with its bright headlights shining into the night.
"Dang it," Buster sighed, looking up again. There was no sign of anything, but he knew he'd heard something.
The night before, instead of using the computer for his Industrial Revolution project, he went on a search for the forums Brain told them about over lunch. He found several discussing phenomenon, not just in Elwood City but elsewhere, both other cities and other places in the solar system. Apparently NASA had lost contact with different space probes, but instead of mechanical malfunctions, they felt as if something was large blocking the way. That caught Buster's attention, but the sounds, which had been mapped out to various parts of the northern hemisphere, gave him more hope: Something was out there, up there, and it was huge.
Downstairs Buster heard a bump and realized Bitzi was likely coming upstairs. Instead of running back to bed and pretending to be asleep, he stood at his telescope waiting. A moment later, the door opened gently and Bitzi stepped inside his room.
"Buster, are you playing some kind of video game? I just heard the most awful noise-"
"I think it was what I've been hearing. It woke me up too but I can't see anything," Buster said with almost a joyful tone. His mother had finally heard the sound too...but his smile quickly faded.
"Ugh, Janice from the other building said one of the boys there got a new car. I bet he was just playing his music too loud or something," Bitzi groaned.
"Mom, it's five in the morning. Where would he be going?" Buster asked, trying to prove his point and give it more evidence.
Bitzi wasn't buying it, "There might be an emergency, or maybe he's doing something for school. I don't know, Buster, but I won't let your vivid imagination get to me. I'm going back to bed, and you should too. We have another hour we can rest," she yawned, backing out of the door and closing it gently behind her.
Buster sighed. He was so close to convincing his mom, but she did have a good point. There were more teenagers in the complex lately that were getting cars, so maybe they were sneaking out early to do teenager things. She had a point, but Buster had his too. He needed to get her to hear the sound during the day, and the same went for his friends.
When Buster got to school, his friends swarmed his desk. A lot of them heard the noise that morning, or someone in their house did, giving some validity to his story. When Brain stepped in, he also joined the group, confirming that something loud happened over the city around five-fifteen, but even local officials had no idea what it was.
Brain put a printout on the table, "The city had the mayor send out a press release. He told people to be calm, that the military would probably release a statement later this morning. I even saw a caravan of vehicles with U.S. Government tags heading towards downtown when I walked to school."
"But what if they're telling us they don't know what the noises are either?" Muffy asked. "What are we supposed to do then?"
"Yeah, Brain," Francine nodded, "If the government doesn't know what this is, we could all be in a lot of trouble."
Mr. Ratburn entered the room and tapped his ruler on the metal tray under the board, "Quiet down, class, and take your seats. We have a lot to get through this morning before the assembly."
"Assembly? What assembly?" Binky asked, eying the schedule Mr. Ratburn had written on the far-left side of the board, "There isn't one listed."
"We're gathering in the gym at ten-fifteen to hear a special message. That is all I was told, so let's get started. We'll begin with science. Please pass your science homework to the front of the room while I take attendance," Mr. Ratburn said, taking a seat at his desk as papers rustled throughout the room. While Buster accepted many pages, his homework wasn't among them, and many others hadn't done the assignment either, something Ratburn immediately noticed.
Ratburn sighed as he placed the papers in a special bin labeled SCIENCE ASSIGNMENTS at the front of the room. He walked to the overhead projector and pulled out some slides, continuing his previous day's lecture on the parts of plants. The homework assignment the students blew off was to continue labeling the parts based on a diagram in the book, and Mr. Ratburn was disappointed that so few students completed the work.
But at the same time, he understood. He'd been hearing the noises for days, and he'd been reading about them online. On top of that, other teachers were beginning to notice as well, so the teacher's lounge was full of discussion on the subject. Everyone was talking about what it could be, but with officials not releasing information, no one really knew.
He knew they would soon. He quickly finished going over the plants before passing back the homework. He'd excuse them by having them finish (or begin) the assignment before moving on to the day's math lesson. He was nervous about the assembly because of how Principal Haney looked when he came around that morning to tell everyone about it. He was genuinely nervous, a feeling Ratburn only saw once before, when a leading state official toured the school to see about their federal funding. They were fine now for several years, so this was about the assembly, the news conference the mayor was calling. He was instructed to gather the students, and Nigel knew exactly what that meant.
Around ten o'clock, the announcement came for grades to begin releasing their students to the gym. The kindergarteners entered first, then the first and second graders. The third graders went next, then the fourth, fifth, and special needs classes. The last set of students entered at ten-fourteen. At ten-fifteen, Principal Haney moved to a cord on stage and lowered the projector screen. At the back of the room, Secretary Tingley pressed a button on a television, which was hooked to a projector and the room's speaker system.
After an introduction by a staff member, the mayor of Elwood City took to his podium. As he stood there, swallowing nervously, many couldn't help but notice the strong military presence around him.
"Good morning citizens of Elwood City, including the students of the Elwood City Public School System. I have asked for everyone to tune in to this important message for a reason. As many of you may have heard, there are strange noises over the city, and I've been instructed by the United States Government to inform you all of their origin.
"Before I do so, I want you all to know that you are in no clear and apparent danger, and that the Armed Forces of this great country are taking care of any and all known threats. But as some have speculated, yes, there is a large alien ship hovering in Earth's upper atmosphere-"
"I knew it!" Buster exclaimed.
A chorus of "SHHH!" filled the room as Buster composed himself. He wasn't embarrassed by his outburst and neither was anyone around him—anyone that knew Buster knew this was his shining moment, the day when all of his dreams would come true.
"-The ship has been cloaked using some form of alien technology, making it impossible to see without special instruments. The U.S. Government has released this infrared image of the ship, which allows us to see the temperature change in the space occupied by the ship," the mayor said, and the pictured changed to reveal a large ship with three much smaller ships orbiting it. The mayor continued while the image was still on screen, "Scientists have confirmed there are three smaller ships orbiting the larger one, and the noises heard across the northern hemisphere of the Earth are indeed from alien weapon blasts.
"The aliens are not firing at Earth but a large ship beyond our sight at the moment. As soon as NASA is able, they will release an image of the other ship. They only know of its presence due to calculations of the blasts' directions as observed by the International Space Station, as well as several malfunctions with probes and other items in our outer solar system that are currently unreachable because the ship is in the way.
"The reason I, a mere mayor of this great city, am giving this message to you directly instead of the president of the United States it that...the aliens found this city and have contacted me as their local leader. I will be included in talks with them, according to a transmission sent to us in broken English-"
Buster moaned from excitement before another chorus of "SSHHH!" filled the air.
"-and these talks will begin in a week's time. I will keep you all informed as I see fit, but know that any secrets kept are to ease the turmoil that is sure to ensure. I want to encourage everyone to keep to your normal lives as much as possible during these trying times, and please, trust in our country's Armed Forces to protect and serve. Thank you."
The press conference ended and Miss Tingley turned off the television. After several moments, students were released in reverse order, and soon everyone was back in their classrooms. Instead of continuing the lessons, teachers let the students talk about the situation. Many gathered in small groups in the hallway themselves, all of them trying to make sense of this historic time.