Encounters 1: The Spiral Slayers (5 page)

They could take whatever immediate action they deemed
necessary with a priority on making contact.

Within five hours of the alien landing, the President’s
special team, coming from different parts of the planet, arrived at the
Hillcrest Airport within a forty-five minute time frame.

They met briefly in the lounge, then boarded two military
helicopters which took them straight to Hillcrest General Hospital.

As for the seven-mile ship still in orbit, it had stayed out
of the way, and for now, it was decided no one would approach it.

---

Dr. J. A. Kallen tossed the clipboard on his desk, “Captain
Maximus has been unconscious since he was admitted. His wounds were horrific
and, to tell you the truth, I do not know how he is still alive. They,” Doctor
Kallen waved towards the window where the alien ship could be seen, "are
obviously more advanced in the medical field than we are.” The doctor sat down
behind his desk and looked at the five government men and one woman who had
squeezed into his office.

Dr. Kallen was a good looking man in his early thirties,
skinny as a rail with thinning blond hair, thick glasses and normally a ready
smile which was absent at that moment.

A tall man stepped forward and pulled a wallet from his back
pocket, “Doctor, I’m Commander Leewood.” He shook the doctor’s hand while
holding up his ID in the other and Kallen studied it.

The ID confirmed Leewood’s rank, said he was from the Special
Operations division but, most prominently as well as impressive, was the
President’s Seal with the words ”Presidential Authority."

Leewood continued, “With all due respect, I’m going to
explain the reality of the situation.”

He was the kind of person that stood out in a forceful
striking way. His military bearing was obvious; ramrod straight, chin tucked
in. His six-foot-four inch, 205-pound body was built like a tank – not the
muscles of a weight lifter but rather those that came from an active and hard
life. He wore his blond hair in a buzz cut and his face was all hard angles
which gave him a very aggressive look.

His light hazel eyes were calm and confident but, if you
looked carefully, they also subtlety darted around, aware of everything around
him. However, sometimes when he focused on you, they seemed to go flat and gave
him the look of a killer, a man you did not want to mess with.

There were other subtle and unusual contrasts to the man. Though
he projected a poised and relaxed demeanor, somehow he was also always in
motion. This added the impression of explosive, pent-up energy that was barely
contained.

Kallen took all of this in but thought,
it won’t change
the circumstances
.

“We’re here by order of the President.” Leewood waited for a reaction
but didn’t get one. Leewood then fired his slow, intense command voice at
Kallen, “We must speak with that man and we need do it right now.”

Doctor Kallen jumped slightly, then tried to cover it by
lifting both hands in surrender, “I’m not stopping you. Knock yourselves out. But
he won’t hear you and he darn sure won’t answer you.”

The female member of the team stepped forward, “Doctor
Kallen, I’m Doctor Lorraine Harrington.”

Commander Leewood moved over a fraction of an inch allowing
her the floor.

He actually knew everyone on the team but Harrington, but he
immediately realized that a woman’s touch might work better here – especially a
knockout like Harrington. Harrington was tall, thin and tanned, with full
breasts just the right size for her height and build. Her high cheek boned face
and full lips were stunning. She had green eyes and wore her long brown hair
pulled tightly back in a bun. Her legs went on forever – no, Leewood wasn’t
going to mind her assignment to the team at all.

However, when he had been told that she would serve as his
second in command, he had balked.

President Wicker had assured him that she was a fireball and
he’d be thanking him later. He was thanking him now. Wicker had also said
something about there being no one experienced in figuring out how the mind of an
alien might work, and that she was the next best thing. Leewood hadn’t known
what the President meant, but intended to find out as soon as he could.

Harrington gave the doctor a smile that said,
I appreciate
the position you’re in
. What she said was, “We need you to give him something
that will bring him around.” She held up a hand before the doctor could reply,
“As you can see,” she indicated the window and the ship beyond, “we have a hell
of a situation here and we – your hospital – the entire planet for that matter,
desperately need answers, and all the answers are in that room across the hall.
I hate to say it, but the needs of the planet might outweigh any harm that
might be done to the patient.”

Kallen nodded. She was perhaps right but… “I’m not sure
anything will wake him up. I have no idea what to try. What would you suggest?”

Harrington closed her eyes for a moment then looked back up,
“You’re his doctor, not me.”

“Well that’s just it. I’m his doctor now, however,” he waved
once more at the strange ship outside his window, “they ‘were’ his doctors and
we don’t know what, if anything, they gave him, nor what, if anything, will
wake him up or what might kill him. As you already know, the doctor who
stumbled onto Captain Maximus got very simple instructions from that ship.”

One of the agents flipped back through his notebook and read,
“He will live. Feed him when he wakes. When the bandages fall off, send him
back to us.”

The doctor nodded, “Word for word, and that’s what we are
going to do, that and nothing more.”

Leewood moved to Kallen’s desk and tapped a file folder with
Adamarus’ name on it. There wasn’t much in it as Adamarus’ records had not yet
been transferred to Hillcrest. “Then what’s in this file?”

Dr. Kallen massaged his temples; he was getting a headache. “We
are naturally conducting passive tests on him – in fact, every test we can
think of. But passive tests do not affect the subject in any way. We take
samples… stuff comes out but nothing goes in.”

“You mean stuff like blood tests and urine samples?” Leewood
asked.

Kallen nodded, “Exactly.” Leewood started to say something
else but the doctor cut him off. “That man had half of his head torn off. His
body was pretty much severed into three parts, and a piece of metal ripped
through his chest severing most of his internal organs. As I said, we do not
have the skill to repair that kind of damage. Anything we might do beyond what
whoever is out there told us to do would be a dangerous gamble. We could lose
him and, correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe he is your only source of
information…”

Kallen blinked realizing that was not correct, “…except for
whatever is in that ship. If I were going to take a risk, I’d go with what’s
out there for now. If Captain Maximus dies, out there is the only source you’ll
have left.”

There was nothing the special team could say to that. Leewood
looked out the window at the strange umbrella-shaped ship and nodded. He looked
back at Kallen and tapped on the file again, then took a breath. His expression
changed to sincere and earnest. He spoke in a low, friendly, we’re-all-in-this-together
voice, “You’ve kept the identity of the patient classified?”

“Yes.”

“How many people know?”

“Only the people in this room, as far as I know.”

“It needs to remain that way. Destroy this file jacket and
any other material with his name on it. Use “John Doe.” Also, all test results for
John Doe must be classified, okay? No one sees them except you and those
involved with conducting the tests unless it’s cleared through me.” His head
lowered for emphasis, “This includes the patient and family members. I’ll need
to be briefed on your findings later today.”

“Understood,” Dr. Kallen replied with a somewhat tentative
smile.

Leewood placed a card on top of the file, “And I want to be
notified the minute there are any changes in Adamarus’ condition, no matter
what time, day or night.”

Dr. Kallen picked up the card and nodded while looking at it.

The six of them filed out of Dr. Kallen’s office, and once in
the hallway, Leewood turned to the group, “Let’s approach the ship… see if
anything happens.”

---

The five men and one woman walked out of Hillcrest Hospital’s
emergency room and approached the alien ship. They walked in a rough V
formation, coming to a halt approximately twenty feet from the craft. They
stood there for several minutes wondering what to do next. They didn’t have to
wonder long.

The voice was mechanical and, at first, so soft they could
barely hear it. It repeated the same thing over and over, slowly increasing the
volume as if it were unsure of what volume to use. It did this until the
special team all held their ears and began dropping to their knees, at which
point, the voice immediately stopped.

The voice had said, “We will only speak to the one we brought.
We will prepare a place. Bring him when his bandages fall off.”

As the six watched, a roar issued from the craft. They could
not hear it through their assaulted ears, but they could feel the vibrations in
the ground. It rose in intensity, and a strong wind suddenly began to whip
their jackets and ties. The six backed up a few steps. Some of them had
trickles of blood coming from their ears. Then the ship slowly came off the
ground.

Seven hours after the ship’s sensational landing, it floated
up into the air and traveled east.

The President’s team could not hear the screeches from the
news vans as they tore after the ship, but Commander Leewood noticed that
something was missing. It only took a minute to figure it out.

He signaled to the team and ran back to the hospital and the helicopters
which had landed on the roof.

---

The ship traveled twelve miles east, setting down in a large
vacant field next to an exclusive area where most of the Hospital’s Board of
Directors and high paid doctors lived in walled and gated mansions.

The news vans had a significant lead and had followed the
ship in a hair-raising race across the city, running red lights, stop signs and
causing several fender benders. When the ship set down in the vacant lot, they
screeched to a stop and literally tumbled out of their cars clutching cameras
and microphones. As they fearlessly approached it on the run, something strange
happened.

Approximately 500 feet from the ship, it suddenly became hard
to move forward. It was as if they had run into a wall of plastic wrap. After
pushing and pressing forward another five feet or so, they were stopped
completely. It was also kind of hard to breathe at that point, so they backed
out and went around the parameter, testing different approaches.

As the sound of the choppers reached them, one of the
reporters noted that birds were not affected by the strange thing that had
stopped them, even at ground level. Luckily the two choppers landed before they
encountered the barrier.

Leewood had the four security men deal with pushing the
reporters back as he and Harrington ran into the force field first hand.

Their hearing had come back a little, but they still had to
holler to be heard, which Leewood did, “When in doubt…” he looked at Harrington
expectantly and got one of her soon to be famous facial shrugs “…hit it, kick
it…throw something at it,” he deadpanned. She laughed and he went to work.

Rocks tossed at the field went right through. Leewood wanted
to find out how high the field went, but flying the chopper into it could be
dangerous. Finally they decided to send one chopper up to an altitude of 1,000
feet and see if it could fly over. After they explained their plan to the
pilots, the pilots looked at them like they were crazy, then walked into the
force field themselves to see what it was like.

They walked back to the group and one started talking.

Leewood interrupted, “You’ll have to speak very loudly” and
pointed at his ears.

 “Well,” one of them said, “if we hit it slowly and it
affects the rotors, we could probably feel it before any damage was done.” The
other one nodded… but just barely. The first one continued, “And if it does not
affect the rotors but it does affect the body, we could certainly tell that
before any damage was done.”

The other pilot who had kept quiet, just nodding the whole
time, then shook his head, “I’m sure as hell not doing it.”

The first pilot said, “I’ll do it.”

At 1,000 feet, the chopper flew above the alien ship without
problem, so he retried it, dropping down in fifty-foot increments. At 500 feet,
it looked like he was going to clear it, but as he neared the center, the skids
began to drag, tilting the chopper forward. At once the pilot pulled the
chopper up.

Harrington spoke, almost yelling. “Yeah, that makes perfect
sense.”

Leewood turned to her, “How’s that?”

“Well, the diameter of the shield on the ground seems to be 1,000
feet or 500 feet away from the ship in every direction. If we’re looking at a
hemisphere, a dome, it would be rounded and the chopper would encounter the top
of the dome right where he did – near the center at 500 feet.”

Leewood nodded.

The alien ship had put up a sophisticated and selective force
field which was a hemisphere 1000 in diameter. It let small things through but
not man-size things.

Leewood said “Great” and motioned to the rest of the team to
follow him.

The police had arrived and simply stared wide-eyed at the
ship.

Leewood found the senior officer, a sergeant, held up his
credentials and spoke to him. “I want a five-block parameter in every
direction.” He was told that this had already been done. He looked around,
upper class residential. Great. “Good work. For now, only people who live here
can enter the area.”