V - The Original Miniseries (29 page)

Robin and Polly leaned heavily against their dad on either side. The family stood among the other solemn freedom fighters who had gathered to pay final tribute to Kathleen and their other fallen comrades. The cemetery was nestled in the foothills of the San Bernardino Mountains near the small, quiet town of Monrovia, east of Los Angeles. Katie heard people saying that the burial was taking place at night to avoid notice by the Visitors. Katie heard Robin choke back a sob and saw that tears were streaming down her oldest sister's anguished face.

Katie saw that twelve-year-old Polly was more stoic and resolute, as was ever her nature. Polly's jaw was set and her young body was stiff with anger as she stared at the coffin sinking down out of view into the dark ground. Katie had heard Polly say she would avenge their mother's death. That determination burned in Polly's fierce eyes and she angrily wiped away the single tear that had escaped.

Katie saw that her father also had tears tracing down his cheek. When a soft rain began to fall, Katie gazed up into it as she pressed her cheek against Robert's, saying, "Look, Daddy, even the sky is crying."

THE ABANDONED WASTEWATER RECYCLING PLANT HAD ITSELF BEEN recycled into a new headquarters by Juliet and her resistance compatriots. And in the last week the old facility had become decidedly more crowded. Many new people had joined the primary resistance group and gone underground. Living in the neglected plant they were quite literally underground. The concrete facility had been constructed for utilitarian purposes and had all the charm of a boiler room. Part of it, in fact, was precisely that.

Many family groups had created some small amount of privacy for themselves by hanging an old blanket or sheet on a stretched rope or wire to form a semblance of walls. Whatever meager belongings they had managed to bring with them gave each space a slightly personalized feeling, a touch of memory of their former homes and lives.

Because the Maxwells had been among the earliest arrivals they had settled into a small cubicle with three real walls. The best feature of their location, however, was the tiny halfbathroom which was right beside it. The gray paint was peeling badly off the door. Katie picked at it with a fingernail as she and Polly stood waiting impatiently outside of it. "I really have to pee, Robin," Katie insisted loudly toward the closed door.

She and Polly heard the sound of a toilet flushing within, then the door opened slowly and Robin appeared. She was wiping the corner of her mouth. She smelled faintly of bile and Polly saw that she looked pale.

"Sorry about that." Robin forced a wan smile, "Go on, Katie. And then brush your teeth." The towhead looked up at her big sister. "You sound like Momma." Robin tousled Katie's ringlets. "Guess I'll have to, huh?"

The three girls felt a wave of sadness roll over them. That was how it often came. They'd occasionally have more cheerful moments, even a laugh or two, then the loss of their mother would return like the tide carrying that bone-deep ache back into their chests.

They shared a sad look, then Katie went inside. Robin leaned against the concrete wall, feeling its coolness. Polly studied her sister, whom she could see was clearly unwell. Being a very astute twelveyear-old, Polly's suspicions had been growing. "Barfing again, huh?"

"I'm fine." Robin sniffed, forcing her eyes to open wider as she tried to put on a look ofadult nonchalance.

But Polly wasn't buying her act. "Yeah, right." Robin heard the sarcastic edge in Polly's voice. Polly realized it, too, and softened her approach slightly, saying, "Look, I just think you ought to have Julie take a look at you."
"I'm okay," Robin said, hoping that she sounded more convincing than she felt. "It's nothing. Really."

"Come on, Robin. You've been sick all week." Then Polly hesitated, weighing whether or not to let the other shoe drop. She finally decided to. She watched carefully for Robin's reaction as she said, "Particularly in the morning, huh?" She let the innuendo hang, but Robin didn't address it, so Polly pressed further, but confidentially, sister-to-sister. "And I see you hiding it from Dad."

Robin still shrugged it off, gesturing toward the huddled masses spread across the expansive, musty area. "It's all these new people crowding in, you know? I've just got a bug."

 

"Ora guy, huh?" Robin's eyes glanced up reflexively before she could stop herself. She quickly looked away from Polly and forced a small chuckle. "Oh yeah, I wish."

 

Polly watched her a moment with genuine concern. Her voice grew softer still as she said, "Robin, listen, you can talk to me, okay? Did Daniel get you alone and like force you or...?"

"Daniel?" Robin said with a smirk of dismissive incredulity. "Get real." Robin walked past Polly into the small cubicle where they had fashioned a makeshift bunk bed to take maximum advantage of the limited space. Polly watched her closely, catching Robin's reflection in the fragment of mirror they had hung on one wall.

Robin remained silent. But as the twelve-year-old deciphered the mixed emotions crossing her sister's face, Polly knew that her suspicions were on the right track. "Okay, not Daniel, then. But . . ." Polly suddenly felt a chill stiffen the hairs on the back of her neck as it dawned on her whom Robin might be involved with. "Holy shit, Robin-tell me it wasn't Brian!"

Robin remained calm as she turned down the frayed sheet on the bottom bunk and adjusted the stuffed rabbit that Katie always slept with. "No, Polly, it wasn't Brian. It wasn't anybody."

Polly was barely breathing, she stared at her sister's back. "It was him, wasn't it?" Robin's silence continued. Polly took a hesitant step closer, her voice very tense and fearful. "Jesus, Robin! Haven't you seen the sketches of what they look like underneath?"

"I don't believe that crap," Robin said, her face assuming a sour, patronizing expression to imply that only an idiot could believe the rumors of the Visitors being reptilian. She continued fussing with the threadbare bedclothes, looking natural and calm.

Polly's mouth had gone dry. She stared at Robin's back as she whispered, "I heard Donovan has a tape."

"But have you seen it?-No." "Not yet, but-"

"Listen, Polly." Robin finally turned toward her younger sister, explaining patiently, "People believe all kinds of ridiculous stuff."

"But if it's true, you can't just-" Robin's eyes riveted onto Polly's. "It wasn't him, okay? It wasn't anybody."

The tomboy stared back. She wanted to believe her sister, but her sharp instincts still waved red flags. She decided on a gentler tack. "Okay. Good. I'm glad to hear it. Then there's no reason why you shouldn't talk to Julie or-"

Robin's ire flared. She drew a breath to shout at Polly, but held it, quelled it, determined to defuse the issue. She said, in a softer, more congenial voice, "Yeah, you're probably right. I will." Then she touched Polly's arm, adding, "Thanks."

Robin smiled and walked off through the shadows of the dilapidated facility, leaving the younger girl confounded and concerned. But what most troubled Polly was that Robin had touched her arm. Polly couldn't even remember the last time that had happened.

Large dusty pipes ran parallel to the concrete floor and low ceiling in one of the many service tunnels of the treatment plant. Robin moved through the narrow, darkened tunnel, squeezing past a new family clutching their belongings and headed in the opposite direction. She was desperate for a breath of fresh air. She climbed a set of rusting metal stairs to the next level, where there was a small window she often visited.

The industrial metal frame creaked as she pushed it open slightly and gratefully drank in the evening air. Looking out and upward she could see the curve of the gigantic Mother Ship glowing in the moonlight against the night sky. She gazed at it for a long moment, recalling her experiences aboard it. Then she realized something. She looked down and saw that her hand had instinctively come to rest atop her abdomen.

A private expression of wonder formed on Robin's young face. Then she sensed that the area around her was growing darker. She looked back out the window and saw that a cloud was gliding over the moon and obscuring it. The subtle change in light was also affecting the Mother Ship, lending it a darker aspect that Robin found somehow discomforting.

ONE NIGHT SIX MONTHS LATER ELIAS WAS LOOKING OUT OF A DIFferent window. He was standing inside an extremely clean and well-maintained electronics laboratory, peering out across the Plains of San Agustin, which spread to the horizon about fifty miles west of Socorro, New Mexico. The nearly full moon cast a wash of soft light over the two dozen massive radio antenna dishes forming a symmetrical Y, which stood like giant sentinels aimed upward at the starry night sky.

Elias was in the control room of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, but he was having a little trouble with its informal name. "'The Very Large Array?"'

 

"That's right." Juliet smiled up from where she was working at one of the consoles under the subdued control-room light. Some delicate woodwind music by Mozart was playing quietly.

 

"Shoot," Elias puffed, "they couldn't have picked a cooler name? Like Dish City? Or Big-Ass Antennas?"

 

A seven-year-old girl appeared from the small kitchen area carrying a paper plate with cookies and said, "I call it SpaceCom Central."

 

"Yeah!" Elias grinned broadly at her. "Now that's what I'm talkin' about. Why don't they listen to you, Margarita?"

 

The little girl smiled assuredly. "They will someday."

Elias was impressed by the kid's spunky confidence. "I think you got that right, girl." He tousled her rich auburn hair, which was pulled back in a tight, utilitarian ponytail. A few ringlet wisps had escaped to soften the edges around her bright face. Her eyebrows were the same rusty hue as her hair, and a sprinkling of freckles saddled her nose. Elias got a kick out of her tomboyish quality, but her features also suggested there might have been some exquisite royalty in her ScottishCanadian heritage.

She held out the plate to him. "Want some chocolate chippers? Made 'em myself." "You bet." Elias snagged a couple. Juliet also reached out, saying, "I never met a cookie I didn't like. Thanks, Margarita." Then she took a bite and her expression showed she was very impressed. "Mmmm. Deadly!"

Margarita's hazel eyes sparkled with pleasure at the good review. She set the plate near to where her father, Kenneth Perry, was working beside Juliet. Doctor Perry was an astrophysicist who looked to be in his late thirties. His hair was thinning, but the ruddy color of it and of his full, closely trimmed beard securely identified him as Margarita's father.

During their drive out to the remote facility, Juliet had told Elias how Margarita had been fascinated by her father's job as an astronomer since early childhood. Margarita loved climbing around the frameworks that surrounded each of the massive antennae. She thought it was the world's biggest jungle gym. And she greatly enjoyed coming into the control lab with her dad.

Elias gestured past the high-tech equipment toward the antennae outside as he asked the girl, "So are those big dishes outside there as good as your cookies?"

"Oooh, yeah," Margarita said with an emphatic nod as she took a cookie for herself. She sat on a lab stool, which she rotated back and forth as she delivered her litany, "The VLA is one of the world's premier astronomical radio observatories."

"'Premier'? Yow." Elias raised his eyebrows at her use of the word. Kenneth chuckled as he adjusted some control. "She. knows the stats better than I do." "That for real?" Elias looked to the girl, encouraging her.

Margarita picked up her cue and drew a big breath. "The VLA has twenty-seven radio antennas in a Y-shaped configuration. Each antenna is twenty-five meters-that's eighty-two feet-in diameter." "Eighty-two feet," Elias faked, "yeah, that's about what I figured." "The data from the antennas is combined electronically," Margarita continued, "to give the resolution of an antenna thirty-six kilometers-that's twenty-two miles-across."

 

"Whoa," Elias blinked, "twenty-two miles? Get outta here!" He wasn't sure which impressed him more, the description of the facility or the girl herself. "Are you serious?"

"Yep," Margarita chirped, happy that he was so interested. "So does that make these like the most powerful antennas in the world?"

"Yep," Margarita said offhandedly as she twirled herself in a complete circle on the stool while munching her cookie.

 

Juliet smiled at her, then at Elias. "So if we're going to get a signal out, this is our best hope." Doctor Perry moved behind a console to repatch a connec tion. "Robert told me he was using sideband frequencies like I am to skirt the Visitors' surveillance monitoring."

 

"Yeah." Elias nodded and licked some chocolate off his finger. "He finally made some contact with other resistance groups."

,,But just sporadically so far, Kenny." Juliet sighed. "Still," Perry said as he plugged in another cable, "that's good news."

"Got that right," Elias agreed. "Just knowing there's some other fighters out there helps pump up our troops."

The astronomer moved back around to the front of the console. "Well, maybe there're even more fighters way out there." He sat down at the controls and typed in some adjustments, then said, "Okay, Julie. Whenever you're ready."

They looked at each other. All of them knew that this was a weighty moment in their lives and perhaps critical to the future of planet Earth. Juliet drew a breath. "Let's start sending."

Perry nodded. "Who wants to do the honors?" "Can I do it, Daddy?"

Kenneth Perry looked at his bright-eyed daughter, then glanced at Juliet, who smiled ironically, saying, "Absolutely, Margarita. It's really your future we're dealing with here."

The girl jumped off her stool and came to stand between her father and Juliet. The child's hazel eyes scanned the complicated information on the console's main flat screen. Elias noted that Margarita actually seemed to comprehend a good deal of it. But she double-checked with her dad. "Looks like I just hit the `enter' key, huh?"

"That's right, kiddo." Her father put his arm around her shoulders. "O-kaaay."