"Invaders From Mars II…"

Summary: David's dream was a premotion but the actual story went a bit differently…

Part III…

The door of the compartment closed, the sachel carefully placed on the compartment's dressing table…Dr. Blake turned to David.

"You behaved yourself well so far, thank you, David." She smiled at him. "Now, have you any questions for me?" she patted the lower of the compartment's bunk-style bed, taking seat there. "Come and sit by me. It's all right."

"Are you ok?" David eyed her, gingerly taking seat by her on bed.

"That's very kind, yes. I am fine. In fact, something about the way I'm controlled makes me feel exceptionally well. Probably stimulation of pleasure centers or release of hormones, I'm not quite…Ah, it's primarily a low-level stimulation of my brain's pleasure centers, to make cooperation and integration more palatable. And my adrenaline levels are slightly elevated, to provide me more short-term energy."

She eyed his expression… "Sorry if that was too detailed an explanation. It just means the device is making me feel good and affecting my body chemistry to make me more energetic and stronger."

"It's made you lie, too." He noted.

"All living things want to survive, David. And sometimes a…White?...Yes, white lie is better than violence, don't you think?"

"I guess. Maybe. Are you gonna let us go? Dr. Blake and me, when you get wherever?"

She regarded him carefully. "David, I could lie and say yes, absolutely. But I've told you your abilities are of interest to us, and you'd need Dr. Blake to look after you and make you feel safer even if she wasn't of use to us with her intellect and knowledge of Earth science and medicine."

"So, you won't let us go." He eyed her.

"After we've studied both of you and if our people deem it feasible, yes, we will. But that may be a while."

"'Studied'? Studied how? Are you gonna…?" he gulped. "Cut us up?"

"Certainly not." She smiled. "That would be a terrible waste. No, we're quite able to learn all we wish without harming you. So, you see if you cooperate, it won't be so bad. And you'll get to see a whole new world and civilization, David. Would you like to hear more about us, the people who evolved on the world your kind calls Mars? We actually call it Chronos, or Time in the concept of our thoughts."

"I guess so. So, are you all…Like that?" he eyed the sachel.

"We are. The qualities and problems of our world and evolution which we ended up directing, caused us to focus on our mental development. We did once have bodies much like yours, though lighter framed due to the difference in gravity. But life on our world was forced to evolve more quickly, till we ourselves took control of our development, what Dr. Blake calls evolution."

"But those others…" he eyed her.

"The humanoids?" she nodded. "Well, in fact, they're a biological version of what you'd call robots. Far easier to produce than mechanical devices like your science and science-fiction deal with. We designed and control their minds which are a mix of biological and an advanced form of electronics. They do the work we no longer can and can be easily produced in large numbers."

"But you live on Mars? Are there cities and all that, underground maybe?"

"No, David. Long ago there were and for a time we retreated underground to avoid the catastrophe facing our world, but we had to abandon it largely, to live in space. That caused us to complete the evolutionary process that resulted in how you see us today."

"Dr. Kelston was right then you live on spaceships."

"Brilliant man and Dr. Blake is quite fond of him." Smile. "But in fact, we live on the two moons, which you call Phobos and Deimos. They're asteroids we captured long ago and have worked on for centuries, developing into colony worlds. In fact, we've basically turned them into star vessels."

"Star vessels?"

"Yes, capable of long-distance interstellar travel over many years. We plan to tour the Galaxy, David. It's a long-term project that's taken eons to perfect. And we hope to find a world we can convert to our use without damaging life there."

"You're leaving Mars…Leaving the solar system?" he stared.

"We already have. Four similar vessels are already out, probing the stars. But yes, within the next thousand years we'll be ready and Phobos and Deimos will carry the last of us out into the cosmos. So, can you see, David? We mean no harm to Earth, but we can't have our plans ruined now." anxious look.

"You mean if we come to Mars? In the atomic rockets they're working on?"

"Yes, those rockets would make travel to Mars quite feasible, and your people would soon discover us and our works."

"Well, gee…" he sighed. "We wouldn't stop you from going. But you killed people."

"You wouldn't, I'm sure." Warm smile. "But there are many on this world who would, and your past history is well known to us. David, I know it seems like we're terrible monsters to do as we've done but we know your governments would do all they can to stop us and to take our technology. David, as I've said we didn't kill most of those people. They either resisted and died as a result or your own people killed them to stop them. And David, you know we could have come to Earth long ago and taken it for ourselves. But we had no wish to destroy the life here or to disturb your people's development. It's your own actions that are forcing us to take steps to defend ourselves."

"Why not just say so to the President or the UN, and tell them to just let you leave? Negotiate." He frowned. "I don't know if I believe everything you say. You hurt people."

"Our entire civilization hangs by slender threads, until we complete our preparations, David. While we could destroy your cities and your civilization and kill millions, we don't wish to do that and frankly, we'd suffer too. You can do us harm and we are in fact, quite vulnerable. We have to protect ourselves. But, I…And I mean the Prime Intellect…Have learned a good deal from you, David. And we will try to avoid any further harm if your people will just leave us in peace to complete our project. Our whole purpose in coming here was to make that sure…" she noted.

"By stopping the atomic rocket project…" he replied, eyeing her.

"Yes. That was the greatest danger to us."

"If you really mean all this, let us go." Earnest tone. "I'll speak to people, tell them you were just afraid of us, Dr. Blake will too. We can negotiate. The President will know what to do."

"I wish it were that simple, David." She sighed. "But even Dr. Blake, kind as she is and eager to show you in your people's best light, knows it probably would not be so simple. The world isn't as good or innocent as you are, my sweet friend. Many will want what we have, others will act out of fear. We can't take that risk. We've fought for millions of years to survive, we can't risk all that being for nothing, not when we stand at the brink of our greatest achievement, an interstellar civilization, that will survive even the death of our home sun." she regarded his stricken face. "But I promise you, we will not harm you or Dr. Blake and we will try to return you to your parents as soon as we find it possible."

A knock at the door startled both of them.

"Porter…" a call. "Here to turn down the beds."

"Oh. Just a moment!" Dr. Blake called, cheerily.

…

"Not a trace, Colonel." Lieutenant Masters reported to Colonel Fielding just outside the cavern entrance. "Not even a hull fragment."

"Completely destroyed?" Fielding eyed the lieutenant. "But it can't have been simply our artillery?"

"They destroyed themselves." Kelston shook head. "To leave us no trace of them or their technology. We probably damaged the ship with the artillery but they destroyed it."

"I'd agree with that, sir." Masters nodded. "We have some spectrographic and electromagnetic data but nothing physical except the control devices we've managed to extract."

"I see." Fielding nodded. "Well, compile a report and have our chief brains review it before me, I want as full information as possible for the Pentagon brass." Masters saluted and hurried off.

"Well, Kelston…" Fielding sighed to the scientist. "I am sorry. We had no other choice. They refused to surrender, and we couldn't let them take off."

"I know, Colonel. I just…" Kelston shook head. "What do I tell his parents? Hers?"

"I'll speak to them all, with you, if you like, or on my own." Fielding noted.

"Yes. I'll want to go as well." Kelston pondered, trying to clear his mind. "Colonel? You ought to check for radiation in the area, I mean specific to the blast site."

"Nothing elevated as yet, doctor." A sergeant monitoring the bank of Geiger counters noted.

"That's a bit odd." Kelston noted, struggling a bit to focus on the details. "A ship like that, clearly atomic-powered. If it was destroyed, however completely, there should have been radioactive residue of some sort."

"Sounds right." Fielding agreed. "Are you suggesting the ship wasn't destroyed? They might have masked their take-off?"

"Perhaps. I don't know. I do think you should survey the area carefully. And check for any observational phenomena in the area, anything spotted or any radar contacts."

"We'll get right on that." Fielding nodded, turning to the Sergeant. "Sergeant, coordinate with Lieutenant Masters. I want to know if anyone saw anything in the skies here…Any radar contact…Anything unusual. Or usual but the least bit odd. Kelston, why don't I take you home while the men secure the site here. If we come across anything, we'll let you know."

"All right, Colonel. But I want to contact some other astronomers, see if there are any reports of similar landings. That could be an all-out invasion."

"Well, lets be clear that this affair must remain classified. Can you contact these colleagues and keep them from talking? This is a national security matter."

"They won't talk if I ask them not to. Better I talk to them before they talk to the press."

"All right." Nod. "Let me know what you hear. Come along, my car's coming up." Fielding nodding to a soldier reporting his car's arrival.

"Not quite sure if I'm ready to go home." Kelston noted as they entered the waiting car.

"Good…" Fielding smiled. "'Cause I know I need a good stiff drink. Bailey?" he called to the driver holding the rear door open for both men. "Take us to Frieda's."