SECTOR 64: Ambush (8 page)

Walking to the head of the long table, General Tannehill motioned for them to take a seat. He grinned at Jake. "You don't know the half of it, son."

The three men sat down. Jake leaned back in his chair. "Well, sir, I haven't felt this naive since Betty Sue Alford kissed me during third-grade recess."

The general smiled. "I'm not sure I can be as enlightening as Betty Sue, but I'll try to clear up a few things for you." Sliding out the end chair, the general sat. Leaning forward and resting his elbows on the table, General Tannehill pointed at Jake. "Let me start off by saying I'm very impressed by how you've handled yourself. All the way through the incredible events of the last two days, you've acquitted yourself nicely." Tannehill gave him a knowing look and winked. "Even considering last night's taxi flight to freedom."

Jake's face flushed. Richard and Victor both laughed.

The senior officer leaned into his chair and held his hands up in a penitent gesture. "I hope you'll accept my apology for all the subterfuge."

A million questions ran through Jake's mind. "Sir—"

General Tannehill extended an index finger. "Before you ask, allow me to give you a brief history lesson. Hopefully, that'll clear up most of your questions."

Surrendering, Jake leaned back in his chair. "Sir, you have my complete and undivided attention."

"Well, as you may have guessed, we're not alone. It turns out the Milky Way Galaxy is teeming with life." He pointed through the ceiling. "There are thousands of sentient species out there." General Tannehill paused, allowing Jake a few seconds to absorb the news.

Jake's mind reeled with the new revelation. He looked around the room, expecting to see one of its occupants grinning. They weren't. The general's assumption that Jake had guessed they weren't alone was wrong. He'd been prepared to accept that the Air Force or some other governmental agency had acquired radical new technology. The presence of humans aboard the strange ship only reinforced the notion.

Jake turned incredulously to the general. "Thousands, sir? No disrespect, but you're pulling my leg, right?" He pointed at Victor. "Lieutenant Croft said the ship's occupants were human."

With an understanding smile, General Tannehill held up a hand. "Bear with me, Captain."

"But, sir, if there are thousands …" he paused, searching for words. "They'd be hard to miss. Surely we would've seen them long before this."

The general's smile expanded. "We did. May I continue?"

Shocked, hands raised in surrender, Jake sat back. "Sorry, sir, please do."

Tannehill smiled sympathetically. "It's okay, Captain. I've been in that seat myself." Leaning forward, he activated a computer embedded in the table.

The room darkened and a storm of lights swirled overhead. Looking up, Jake froze in open-mouthed amazement. After a few seconds, the pinpoints of light coalesced into a vibrant hologram that filled the space between the long table and the ceiling. "It's beautiful," he whispered.

Nearly filling the room, a stunning twenty-foot-wide three-dimensional rendering of the spiral-armed Milky Way galaxy rotated majestically over their heads.

General Tannehill continued as if a hovering hologram were an everyday occurrence. "The predominant species is an ancient race called the Argonians. Steeped in tradition and spread throughout hundreds of star systems, they founded a transgalactic government thousands of years ago."

"While it was started by the Argonians, it is an inclusive, representative government, providing peace and stability equally to all, regardless of species or stature."

He toggled the computer's touchscreen. A truly alien bust filled the display. Chirping melodiously, a feathery, bird-like creature's obvious sentient eyes peered through a colorful plume.

"Argonian?"

Tannehill shook his head.

Fading, the avian was replaced by a furry squeaking mouse-like being. Beaming with intelligence, its eyes twitched nervously back and forth under a gold flight helmet. Then an alien with a grouper's fish face spoke in a deep tone, the meaning of its gurgling words a mystery. An accelerating myriad of visages paraded through the hologram, morphing through various species: reptilian, amphibian, and several more avian and mammalian analogues. Jake was unable to class some—including one that looked like a talking rock with a matching gravelly voice.

The last one faded, and the hologram vaporized.

Jake's gaze dropped to the general. "Their eyes." He paused, searching for the right words. "Regardless of color or shape, they all burned with … intelligence."

"Astute observation, Captain," General Tannehill said with an appreciative nod.

"So, which one was Argonian?" Jake asked.

"None." Apparently disinclined to expound, the general continued his presentation. His fingers danced over the embedded keyboard, and a new hologram coalesced overhead. He pointed at the rotating icon. "The Seal of the United Galactic Federation, the Argonian founded institution that has successfully governed the galaxy for thousands of years."

Several unidentifiable symbols adorned its surface. However, Jake was surprised to see familiar images of interlinked rings, birds, and green leaves prominently displayed on the revolving hallmark.

The hologram changed back to the rotating galactic plane and the general continued. "It's a
big
galaxy—unimaginably big. Even with all of their assets and technology, the Argonians still haven't charted every sector. So, a couple of thousand years ago, they deployed a self-propagating network of sensors."

Jake watched a grid of luminous green points spread across the twenty-foot-wide galaxy. Numbering in the tens of thousands, the rendered devices gave the entire galaxy a green hue.

"They're designed to look for a myriad of signals associated with burgeoning technological societies."

Jake nodded, enthralled.

"In nineteen forty-five, we got their attention," the general said, with a meaningful look.

After a moment, Jake put it together. "We detonated our first nuclear weapon."

"Yep," Richard chimed in. "Apparently, unnatural fission reactions rate pretty high on their list."

The general nodded. "When the Argonians detected the electro-magnetic pulse, they deployed two scout ships to our sector of the galaxy. Upon arrival, they identified Earth, a previously unknown and uncharted planet, as the source. When they began observations, they made a stunning discovery, one requiring an immediate report to the Galactic Federation," the general paused, a grin spreading across his face.

Jake was on the edge of his seat. "What was it?"

The rotating Milky Way morphed into a human head and shoulders. A man in his mid-twenties stared at Jake. Aside from the odd cut of his uniform, he looked like a normal person.

Jake looked from the holographic man to General Tannehill. "I'm confused, sir."

The general pointed. "There's your Argonian."

Jake leaned back. "What?"

"To the surprise of the scouts and the Argonian leadership, Earth had been populated by Argonians—or as we refer to ourselves, humans."

"Holy shit…" Jake whispered. Embarrassed, he looked at the general. "Sorry, sir."

The general chuckled. "I think I said the same thing."

With dawning realization, Jake turned to Vic. "That's what he meant by
brother
."

In reply, Vic said something, but Jake didn't understand him.

"What?" Jake asked.

Victor said a few more words, and Jake realized it wasn't English. Actually, it was a language he'd never heard.

Jake turned to General Tannehill as the man finished entering a command into the computer. A two-foot-wide holographic brain popped into existence over that end of the conference table. To its right a vertical queue of four-inch-wide cubes matching Victor's description streamed past. As each box in the descending column reached the tabletop, it vaporized. At the same time, a new cube coalesced at the top of the line. Every box was a different color, and each had a unique symbol.

The general studied the boxes. When a translucent purple one came into view, he reached in and grabbed the four-inch cube between thumb and forefinger. As if it were solid, the box left the streaming line of icons. Again, just as Victor had described, a new box appeared in the emptied space.

Holding the cube at eye-level, Tannehill studied its symbol.

To Jake, the figure looked like a curved-leg numeral seven with a horizontal equal sign bisecting its center.

Looking at Jake through the translucent icon, the general grinned deviously.

"Wait—" Jake started. Before he could finish the protest, the general tossed the icon into the disembodied mind.

An audible metallic pop rang from the point of impact. Concentric rings radiated across the holographic brain's surface.

A sudden wave of nausea struck Jake as dizzying vertigo made him feel like the room was spinning. Jake grabbed the table with both hands. A strange tingling sensation flooded his head. As it passed, he blinked several times. "That felt weird." Jake froze in shocked amazement. He'd spoken in the same strange tongue as Vic.

"Can you understand me now?" Vic asked in the same language.

"Oh my god, that's amazing," he said through an unnerved laugh. Jake switched back to English. "I can completely differentiate the two languages," he grinned widely, "as if I've spoken them for my entire life."

Looking at General Tannehill, Jake pointed to the holographic brain and the scrolling icons. "Is that just for learning languages? Can it teach other subjects?"

The general smiled. "There's way more than that. Want to learn Kung Fu or at least the Argonian equivalent?"

Richard leaned over the table, pointing at the hologram. "It's like
The Matrix
without a big hole in the back of your head."

Head spinning from all the revelations, Jake felt both mentally exhausted and simultaneously exhilarated. The significance of what this meant for himself, his family, and his friends—hell, the entire world—was incredible.

His grin never faltering, General Tannehill seemed to enjoy the flood of emotions and questions streaming across Jake's face. He imagined the general probably had the same reaction upon receiving his first briefing.

Giddy with the possibilities, Jake nodded. "Please continue, sir. How are we and the Argonians the same race?"

"We don't know for sure. They've told us that some of their early colony ships disappeared, never to be heard from again. As I said earlier, it's a damn big galaxy. They theorize one may have been stranded here tens of thousands of years ago. Although, we have no idea what became of their technology or scientific knowledge. Apparently, they were close enough genetically to the Neanderthals to coexist."

"According to recent genetic discoveries, they did more than
coexist
," Richard added.

"Amazing," Jake whispered.

"Anyway, returning to the nineteen forties," the general said. "After reporting their discovery, the scouts were ordered to proceed. Unfortunately, before they could make contact, there was a mishap. One of the scout ships encountered a severe thunderstorm over New Mexico and crashed." The general smiled and raised his eyebrows. "An incident most refer to as Roswell."

Jake sat bolt upright. "Roswell was real?"

"Yes," the general said. "It was a freak accident. Guess it just goes to show, even though they've advanced significantly, they're still fallible humans."

"But why would they be in Roswell?"

"That was before the Air Force split from the Army. Roswell Army Airfield was home to the Five-Oh-Ninth Bomber Group. It was an elite air wing and at the time the only nuclear-armed military unit in the world."

"Also, it was only a hundred and ten miles from Trinity, the test-site where we detonated our first nukes," Richard said.

"Go figure," Jake said. "No wonder that was their first stop."

Tannehill continued. "The story has been altered and bastardized. However, many of the fundamental parts are true. The ship and its impact debris were collected. After several moves and several years, it ended up in an Area Fifty-One hangar."

"Is it still there?"

"No, it was eventually returned to the Argonians."

"But, wait, Roswell happened in nineteen forty-seven," Jake said. "I thought you said we got their attention in forty-five."

"You're right, Captain. The Argonian's drive technology allows them to travel significantly faster than light, and their zero-width wormholes allow instant galactic-wide communications. However, the signals their passive sensors listen for are limited to the speed of light."

A storm of dissociated points of light swirled overhead. After a moment, they coalesced into the Milky Way Galaxy. Bent over the keyboard, the general tapped out another command. Standing, he pointed into the twenty-foot-wide hologram as the tide of green dots spread through the image again. "Even with more than a million equally spaced sensors, they are still a thousand light-years apart."

"A thousand light-years?" Jake said in a dubious tone. Standing to his full six feet, his head was immersed in the hologram. As the slowly rotating galactic plane slid past, he eyed the spacing of the sensor grid with open skepticism. "I'm sorry, sir, but that doesn't look like it could be anywhere close to a thousand light-years."

Walking toward the far side of the room, General Tannehill smiled and pulled a laser pointer from a shirt pocket. Activating it, he placed a red dot on the wall behind Jake. "Move to the outer edge, Captain."

With a final skeptical look at the grid floating through his vision, Jake ducked out of the hologram. He stepped to its far side and stood opposite the general. Through the translucent brilliance of the rendering, he could just make out the man's face.

Without turning it on, Tannehill lifted the laser to eye-level and aimed it at Jake's face. "Okay, Captain, I just fired my laser light at you."

There still wasn't any light coming from the device. Jake saw the general's point immediately. "You're saying that it would take a long time for the light to travel across the galaxy."