CHAPTER FIVE: PREP WORK
The work in the Crosswire's basement was completed in three day's time, and soon the room was stockpiled with water, food, weapons, and other resources. Chip arrived the day before completion and made himself at home again, but their parents were anything but normal. Both of them were disturbed by the thought of invading aliens, and the summit meeting's purpose—to prepare us for an attack but little else—only made them worry more.
Because of this, Muffy still hadn't asked them if Bailey was going to be allowed in the bunker with them should things go south. After listening to conversations between her parents, and between her parents and Chip, she finally understood why he was so nervous in the first place. They spoke of four people in the bunker, supplies for four people, spots for four people, and Muffy's counting showed they needed room for at least five, not counting the private chef or the gardener.
She was starting to worry, but so was everyone else. The only detail from the summit meeting revealed by officials was its purpose. Yes, the mayor of Elwood City and his staff met with alien beings, but no descriptions were released, and no transcripts either. The people of the world were fed only the important information: The group that met with us wanted us to know what was coming, an enemy fleet that wanted to enslave the planet. Other than that, we had to fight ourselves. We knew what the enemy looked like, and essentially what car they'd be driving when they showed up, but the people of the world didn't have these items at their disposal, only the military.
It was frustrating for many people, but it seemed that Muffy's house was experiencing a fluke event. Few people felt this was the end of the world, and many thought the benevolent aliens were giving us everything we needed to defeat the enemy. With the world actually working together for once, they all felt they stood a chance against this menacing group, and Muffy believed them too. She thought her parents were overreacting, and keeping Bailey out was simply barbaric, the equivalent of allowing in your kids but not your grandmother or family pet.
As another day passed, Muffy knew she had to just jump in and ask them the hard question. Before her mother got up for coffee, Muffy made her way into the master bedroom, where she found her mother putting on earrings at her vanity.
"Hey, sweetie, could you zip me up?" she asked, standing up. Muffy helped her mother, who finished with her earrings and stood before the mirror, "Well, this is a nice outfit. I have a meeting at the country club for brunch to discuss this whole invasion mess. Did you need something?"
"Yes, I have a very important question for you," Muffy said quickly. Millicent looked down at her so Muffy threw it out to her, "Why isn't Bailey being allowed into the bunker with us?"
"A fifth person would mean a bigger space and more resources. We just didn't have the time to do something like that with the space we have. The basement is only so big," Millicent argued.
"But he's a part of this family!" Muffy cried. "If he's not allowed in the bunker then I refuse to go in as well!"
"You're a child, Muffy," Millicent scoffed. "For one, you do not understand the business of adults, and secondly, you have no power over the situation even if you did understand. You should focus on your studies and learn what you can in the time we have left. I doubt schools will still exist once these aliens take over."
"The entire world is raising an army to fight them!" Muffy exclaimed as her mother began to walk away.
"Yeah, well, the enemy has ships and already enslaved other races with ships. Something tells me we don't stand much of a chance. At least we're smart enough to know that, and you should be grateful to live with a family that understands how the world works," Millicent said, patting Muffy on the head as if she were a dog before prancing up the hallway.
Muffy was stunned. She did understand, and she knew her parents were being silly because of a stupid show about Preppers. Preppers didn't leave family behind, and she doubted it was really a space issue. Their basement was huge. She'd had twenty kids there before for a movie night party complete with a slushie machine and other messy treats that Daddy didn't want in the media room. It was enough for five people. She knew it.
But her mother was right about her just being a kid. She, just like the other kids of Elwood City, had to resign themselves to the fact that the world was either going to live or die without them doing anything, and likely without their parents doing anything either. At least Muffy's parents were trying, and she knew they were right about school. If the world ended after the invasion, education wouldn't exist, so she needed to learn what she could...or take whatever workbooks she could find.
Buster and his father watched action movies, ate junk food, and had an overall good time while Bitzi was away at the paper trying to cover every aspect of the story. She'd been home a few times to change clothes, get more supplies for work, and just to check in, but it was mostly Buster and his father avoiding the news.
This surprised him. Buster figured he'd watch every channel if aliens were ever discovered, but he could sense this was a different situation than the ones he'd dreamed of. Yes, the first aliens were friendly, but they were likely a broken group of various alien species that had suffered at the hands of a common enemy, one that was now headed for them. Buster knew this wasn't good, even if they did know what kind of ships the enemy would have and what they would look like. All of the world's greatest military powers were coming together, and countries without much of a military presence wanted to give whatever they had, usually man power. This was nice too, but Buster knew it likely wouldn't be enough. If aliens with advanced technology couldn't defeat them, how was Earth supposed to do anything? Some parts of the world didn't even have indoor plumbing, electricity, or sewage treatment. How were they supposed to fight off evil aliens?
Buster was happy his father was helping to keep him distracted. His excitement at first that something was out there was now fear, because there was something out there and it wasn't pretty.
A large summit between world leaders formed, with Elwood City's mayor sitting right beside the U.S. president. The schematics and anatomical diagrams were spread among the group, and leaders discussed sharing techniques with each other to make them all a solid force.
As many news outlets put it, everyone fought under one flag at one point, marching their own march and using their own proven techniques. Now they were fighting under a collective of flags from every country in the world. Even Russia had decided to play nice and join the coalition against the aliens, and North Korea was said to be lining up long-range missiles pointed upwards in new directions rather than towards Japan or the United States. Everyone was coming together, and this was their time to plan how this was all going to go.
With the knowledge spread, techniques were decided on. Despite old treaties, this was a dire situation, and missiles would be allowed to get rid of the ships. The hope was that they'd be able to discuss the contamination with the friendly aliens once they won the battle and arrange for a technology that could clean things up. Either way, most leaders felt their citizens didn't mind the risk of radiation poisoning if their children were able to live without repression.
Should the aliens make landfall on the planet, tactics were discussed on the best way to defeat the beasts. Based on their anatomy, low blows would be the most effective, as their respiration and cardiovascular systems originated in the lower part of the torso while digestion was towards the top. Their brains seemed to also be in the same area, each vital organ in the lower torso encased in a thick shell similar to the exoskeleton of a bug. As long as the shot was true enough—dead center—the alien would be defeated.
Resources were distributed and preparations were made. Military leaders would move around the world to various points, ensuring that communications could remain intact even if satellites were destroyed in battle. Reports were brought up detailing what was to happen during each scenario, a report database that was added to almost hourly. The world was figuring out its way out, its way to defeat the incoming fleet.
But space programs made the first move. NASA and other programs arranged to get visuals on the fleet, and as the aliens said, instead of one large ship there were dozens upon dozens of small ships, so small they likely only held one or two aliens. But there were so many that they knew there must be thousand among them. As probes from deep space were able to transmit data again, they were able to give an exact size to the fleet, valuable information for the world's powers to have.
Math was done and soon the numbers showed how close this was going to be. Missiles would help get rid of the first rounds of ships, but later rounds couldn't be defeated in the air, even by planes with attached missiles. The world didn't have enough resources, and there wasn't time to make anything else. The fleet would be there, by the calculations of many mathematicians, in twenty-four hours.