Revelation, page 44
“Yes sir. I have 22 military escort vessels aboard.”
“Excellent. Have your pilot coordinate with Joel. Next topic… I want Alexi and the captives transported to one of my facilities on the surface. Alexi has proven very capable of extracting information from these men and she will have better accommodation to do that on the surface. Please work with her to make that happen.”
“Does that imply she will lead that mission?” The captain asked.
“Yes. Is that a problem, Captain?”
“No sir. Just making sure I understood your intentions, sir.”
“Excellent. Alert me as each of these assignments is complete.”
“Will do, sir.” The captain muted his end of the line. His hand trembled a bit. He’d never worked for anyone this highly ranked and had blundered the protocol badly. The Admiral was three levels higher than himself, and he now understood that this ambassador was even more highly ranked than the Admiral. No wonder an armada of this magnitude had been dispatched. He vowed to himself to perform his duties with more diligence and formality, and never to question the ambassador.
“Jiaying, can you connect me back to Alexi?” asked Michael.
“She is now on the call line, so you can get her just by speaking her name.”
“Thank you, Jiaying. You’re the best.”
“Alexi,” he called.
“Yes, Michael.”
“I’m going to send you back to Paso. I plan to join you but may be delayed a bit. We are about to capture essentially the entire North Korean army. They will be surrounded by suspensor fields shortly. Your mission is to work with your captives to determine the best way to get the prisoners to surrender. Use your discretion about interrogation techniques, but no probing or other physical harm. At the end of the day, we want these men on our side.
“The Captain is arranging transportation. Tell the transportation team where you want them to take you and how you want it done. The Captain has been informed that you’re leading this mission. I expect that he will go out of his way to accommodate. But, please interact with them professionally and do not challenge them to a wrestling match.” Then, after a short pause, he added, “You can do that later.” Michael heard some whooping on the other end of the line.
“Got to go. Let me know when you’re underway.”
“Joel.”
“Here, Michael.”
“The shuttle will be on its way shortly. Else will be piloting. I think Elsie did a great job with the programing, so I doubt there will be any problems. I’ve also asked the captain to assign a military escort. They will be under your command. Deploy them as you need, but under no circumstance can any human see the Lorexian soldiers.”
“Got it, Michael,” Joel replied.
“Lastly, I can accompany you if that would help. But, as Consul General for Israel, it would be better if you did this on your own. These are your people now.”
“Thank you, Michael. I think I can handle this. The Levine’s are already treating me like family, and Rabbi Levine has offered to take me as a student.”
“Excellent news. I’m proud of you, Joel.”
“Thank you, Michael.”
“I have the Captain on the other line, so I suspect that his escort vessel is ready to depart. Good luck with your mission today.” Michael dropped the line.
“Captain.”
“Mr. Ambassador, the shuttle transporting Alexi and the captives is about to leave and your escort shuttle is ready. May I ask where you will be sir?”
“I’ll be going to the same place that Alexi is going, and plan to transport down shortly after she does. I’ll be in continuous connection with you but need to talk with a few of the prisoners before we destroy the North Korean weapons. Can you leave Alexi’s escort on station for my use until the North Korean situation is better understood? As I’m in human form, I will need the modified atmosphere.”
“Of course, sir. It’s yours to command until you are able to release it back to us.”
“Excellent. Thank you, Captain. We will get underway momentarily.” Michael muted the line.
“Else, has Alexi’s transport left yet?”
“Yes, Michael. They just jumped. Those are some machines! We cannot follow the same course; this shuttle isn’t powerful enough.”
“Is the escort in place?”
“Yes. She just pulled up next to us.”
“Great. Can you connect me to the pilot?”
“Yes. Here he is.”
“Mr. Ambassador. It is a pleasure to speak with you. What are your orders, sir?”
His call sign is Jo-Tan-Zu. Else sent. He is a major.
“Major Jo-Tan-Zu, thank you for accepting escort duty today.”
“It is my honor sir. This is the highest profile mission I’ve ever been a part of. Any role is an honor.”
“Thank you, Major. Else may already have sent you the flight plan, but I would like to provide context. We will be taking a slower route to Paso Robles. Our shuttle is not as powerful as yours, and it has recently suffered some damage. So, we are taking a low stress route. When we arrive, I will be transporting down to join the team on the surface. Some of my people will be transporting up to make some repairs to the shuttle. It should only take 15 minutes or so.
“When the repairs are complete, you are to accompany Else to a country called Israel, where Else will land. I would like you to accompany the shuttle down but maintain stealth and do not land. There will be other air traffic in the area, so you need to be very careful and continuously scan your environment for anything fast moving.
“Your mission engagement parameters are as follows. First and most important, you and your team must not be seen by humans under any circumstance. Second, your craft is to remain cloaked. You may only expose it to view if the humans you are escorting are in mortal danger and there’s no other option. Third, although we do not expect violence, you are to protect the humans at any cost consistent with not exposing yourselves to view.
“There are some evil people that will try to stop this mission if they find out about it, and they will use any method they can. So be on continuous lookout for missiles, particularly short-range missiles. Scan continuously for nuclear material. A shield is in place to protect against nuclear missiles, but our enemies here have created ‘suitcase nukes’, small nuclear weapons with a short range.
“By now you may be wondering what we’re doing here. Earth is vitally important for reasons I cannot disclose to you. The Enemy is already here and have corrupted a small number of leaders of rogue countries. We will eliminate these leaders over the next couple days but need to maintain other vital missions in the interim. Do you have any questions?”
“No sir, but to avoid any misunderstanding, let me repeat that back to you. We are to protect the humans that your shuttle will be transporting. We are to stay close and protect them at any cost, but may not expose ourselves under any circumstance, and may only expose the ship if the humans are in mortal danger and there’s no other option. No violence is expected, but the Enemy will attack if they have gained knowledge of the mission and have assembled the means to attack.”
“Excellent, Major. I entrust this mission to your capable hands.”
“Thank you for this opportunity to serve, Mr. Ambassador.” The major closed the connection.
“That was uncharacteristically formal for you, Michael.” Else said.
“Else you have only known me for a couple hours.”
“Ah… Elsie uploaded 10 years of memories. I even know about how you ‘whispered in the mind’ of that reporter that’s so hot on you.”
“I’m never going to hear the end of that, am I?”
“Don’t think so. OK. We are on site. Alexi is already down and just sent me the coordinates where she wants you. Good luck.”
GAS PRODUCTION FACILITY, PASO ROBLES, CA
Michael appeared in a conference room three stories underground. Julie Ferguson was waiting there for him.
“Hello, Michael. Welcome to Paso Robles. I hear you’ve had quite the day. Sorry to hear about Elsie and Sanjit. I know you were close to both.”
Once again, mention of Elsie and Sanjit cut like a knife.
“They should be back in about two weeks. I’ve been through an experience like that before and it was not pleasant. Hopefully they can turn the experience for the better. I wouldn’t voluntarily do it again, but it actually helped me quite a bit.”
“Michael, I love the way you can find good in every bad thing.”
“So, where is Alexi? I need to speak with her captives as soon as possible.”
“She has them chained up in the production facility, separated far enough from each other that they cannot talk. She should be back in a few minutes, but I can call and ask.”
“Please.”
After a minute… “She has them all loosely restrained and surrounded by bots, which will be interesting to see. If you want to go now, she’ll meet us at the elevator.”
“Let’s go.”
They left the room and walked down a long corridor. At the end, there was an elevator that went deep down to the lower levels. Julie and Michael entered, then rode down to Level 10. The door opened to a smiling Alexi. “Michael, thank you for having taken me on this mission. It’s been so much fun.”
“Don’t enjoy it too much.” Michael shook his head.
“To business… we will be capturing the bulk of the North Korean Army within the hour. Have you found out the best way to get them to voluntarily surrender?”
“The general says they’ll never surrender. But he obviously doesn’t believe it. I’m actually a little surprised by that. He is terrified of me, but willfully lying. I suspect that he is more afraid of the Chairman and his sister.”
“Let’s go talk with him. Are there any video screens near him, or near here?”
“There’s a conference room about 25 feet down the hallway, over there.”
“Good.”
Captain, Michael sent. Do you have any video evidence of the destruction of the other Enemy agent? If so, send it to Jiaying immediately. Thank you.
As they turned the corner, Michael saw a man sitting on the floor. He was loosely shackled and surrounded by three pipefitting bots that kept opening and closing the gripper they had for a right hand, and periodically flashing the welding torch in the other. Michael looked at Alexi and asked, “Has this man been hurt in any way?”
“Only his pride,” Alexi replied.
Michael came to a stop in front of the man, who looked up at him, tears in his eyes. “Sir,” Michael said in Korean. “I am Michael, Ambassador from the Intergalactic Confederation of Planets. I would like to have a few words with you.”
The man nodded enthusiastically.
“My colleague will release you and you will walk with me to the conference room down the hall over there. It will go poorly for you if you attempt to fight or escape. Do you understand?”
Again, he nodded.
“Release him.” Michael ordered.
One of the bots immediately charged the man, who let out a scream. The bot stopped and released the shackles, then withdrew.
Too much! Michael sent to Alexi, who suddenly looked sheepish.
Michael reached down to offer the man a hand up. But he shrunk away from Michael.
Michael held his position. “Sir. I’m not here to hurt you and I’m sorry for the rough treatment you’ve received. But, as someone who was threatening the lives of hundreds of thousands, I think you’ve earned a little rough treatment. Please take my hand and let me help you up, I would like to speak with you.”
The man took Michael’s hand and stood.
“Walk with me.” Michael pointed to a place by his side. The man stepped up next to Michael and they began walking toward the conference room. Michael had opened his senses and at this point knew that the man’s name was General Park. Michael also discerned that he was the senior commander of the armed forces.
“General Park,” Michael started.
The man visibly stiffened at the sound of his name.
“I believe that you are the most senior official of the North Korean Government that is still alive?”
Park paused for a second, then hastened back into position when Alexi prodded him in the back.
“No. The Chairmen and his sister are more senior than me. They are gods that cannot be killed. I serve only them.”
“You saw the Chairmen and three others disappear from the room, correct?”
“Yes, I did. They saved themselves but left me behind. I am not worthy.”
“They did not save themselves. I arrested them.”
“No. The Chairman is a god. He knows all. You cannot arrest him.”
They entered the room and Michael said, “Please take a seat.”
The TV opposite them turned on and started playing. “Do you recognize this room?” Michael pointed at the screen. It was a recording of the arrest in the Chairman’s office. “Do you see me there? Do you see the bullets the Chairmen shot, stopping in the air right in front of me?” Michael paused the playback.
“Yes. That’s what happened in the Chairman’s office. How did you stop those bullets?” General Park asked.
“A personal shield. No human technology can penetrate that shield. Watch what happens next.” Michael resumed playback. Four small balls went rocketing across the room. Each hit a man, who froze the instant he was hit.
Michael again paused the playback. “You were also hit by one of those, weren’t you? What happened next?”
The General replied, “I couldn’t move. I couldn’t even breathe. Yet, I’m still alive. How’d you do that?”
Michael smiled to himself. The General might not have realized it, but he was acknowledging that he participated in these events and Michael was the one that precipitated them.
“Now listen to what happens next.” Michael resumed playback. His voice could be heard calling for the four to be transported up.
He paused. “What did you hear?”
“You, calling for the Chairmen and three others to be transported up.”
Michael resumed playback and the four men in question disappeared. The scene they were watching shrunk to the right and a new scene started playing in the new window that emerged on the left side of the screen. In that window, the Chairmen and three others appeared, then almost immediately fell over.
Michael paused again. “Do you recognize this place?”
“It looks similar to the box in which I was put before coming here. But it’s not the same one. This one has lots of stuff in it.”
“You’re right. You were brought here in a cargo hold on a Confederation Military Escort ship. This one is my shuttle, the one that was being used to close the border between you and the south.”
“What do you mean close the border?”
“We built a shield along the South Korean side of the border. The shield we built was a combination of the kind that protected me from the Chairmen’s bullet and the kind that held you in place in the chairman’s office.”
“That cannot be. If it were true, then our invasion would fail!” The General said with panic in his voice.
“General Park. The truth is far worse than you think. But let’s watch this part of the story before we move on. I warn you that what you are about to see is both distressing and gruesome.”
Michael resumed playback. The men remained on their sides on the floor, completely frozen. Then suddenly, tendrils of black smoke started coming out of the Chairman’s open mouth. They formed into several large arms and moved toward the cockpit. The cockpit door suddenly slammed shut.
Michael paused playback. “Have you seen that before? Black smoke coming out of the Chairman?”
“Yes. Once. It was terrifying. He wrapped those arms around his sister, who was screaming. I think we were all screaming. She suddenly became still. Then he lowered her to the floor and appeared to eat her. Then she reappeared a few minutes later, black smoke consolidating back into flesh. The Chairman said that she was now a god also.”
“My friend. It would be more accurate to call these creatures demons than to call them gods. They are parasitic creatures that slowly consume the people they occupy. And, during that process, which can take as much as 100 years, the people they occupy are completely controlled by the creature. Watch what happens next.”
Light could be seen poking out from a spot where the arm had penetrated the left wall, then withdrawn. Another spot of light appeared where an arm penetrated the right wall, then again at the base of the cockpit door. Then suddenly a door opened in the side of the room and everything started flying toward it. The Earth could be seen through the door. It looked like a big blue ball.
Almost everything had been sucked out except for the Chairman, whose black smoky arms were holding tight to the walls, and a suitcase-sized box that was stuck in the door along with the Chairman and some wooden pallet material. The scene was frozen like that for several seconds. The Chairman’s face froze, as did all exposed skin on his body. But the arms held fast even though they continued to ripple in a smoke-like motion. Then suddenly the door slammed closed, cutting the box and the Chairman in half. There was a brilliant flash of light, then the screen went dead.
“What happened?” the General asked.
“I did an emergency evacuation of the cabin, opening the door to space. Unfortunately, the Chairman damaged the cockpit such that it was no longer airtight. So, I did an emergency close on the door which cut the Chairman and the shield generator in half. The bright flash was the shield generator exploding.”
“Is the Chairman dead?”
“Watch. Emergency power kicked on for the security camera after a few moments.”
The scene started playing. Black smoke was swirling madly around the remains of the Chairman. The cockpit door opened, and Michael could be seen coming through. The Chairman appeared to say something in a language the General did not understand. Then Michael pointed the rifle he was holding at the Chairman. The air seemed to shimmer. The smoke arms lunged toward Michael but dissipated before they got that far. The smoke then seemed to attempt to coalesce into another copy of the chairman. Then it suddenly dissipated, and the remains of the chairman’s body melted into a pool of yellow muck that slowly seeped through the floor.
“Excellent. Have your pilot coordinate with Joel. Next topic… I want Alexi and the captives transported to one of my facilities on the surface. Alexi has proven very capable of extracting information from these men and she will have better accommodation to do that on the surface. Please work with her to make that happen.”
“Does that imply she will lead that mission?” The captain asked.
“Yes. Is that a problem, Captain?”
“No sir. Just making sure I understood your intentions, sir.”
“Excellent. Alert me as each of these assignments is complete.”
“Will do, sir.” The captain muted his end of the line. His hand trembled a bit. He’d never worked for anyone this highly ranked and had blundered the protocol badly. The Admiral was three levels higher than himself, and he now understood that this ambassador was even more highly ranked than the Admiral. No wonder an armada of this magnitude had been dispatched. He vowed to himself to perform his duties with more diligence and formality, and never to question the ambassador.
“Jiaying, can you connect me back to Alexi?” asked Michael.
“She is now on the call line, so you can get her just by speaking her name.”
“Thank you, Jiaying. You’re the best.”
“Alexi,” he called.
“Yes, Michael.”
“I’m going to send you back to Paso. I plan to join you but may be delayed a bit. We are about to capture essentially the entire North Korean army. They will be surrounded by suspensor fields shortly. Your mission is to work with your captives to determine the best way to get the prisoners to surrender. Use your discretion about interrogation techniques, but no probing or other physical harm. At the end of the day, we want these men on our side.
“The Captain is arranging transportation. Tell the transportation team where you want them to take you and how you want it done. The Captain has been informed that you’re leading this mission. I expect that he will go out of his way to accommodate. But, please interact with them professionally and do not challenge them to a wrestling match.” Then, after a short pause, he added, “You can do that later.” Michael heard some whooping on the other end of the line.
“Got to go. Let me know when you’re underway.”
“Joel.”
“Here, Michael.”
“The shuttle will be on its way shortly. Else will be piloting. I think Elsie did a great job with the programing, so I doubt there will be any problems. I’ve also asked the captain to assign a military escort. They will be under your command. Deploy them as you need, but under no circumstance can any human see the Lorexian soldiers.”
“Got it, Michael,” Joel replied.
“Lastly, I can accompany you if that would help. But, as Consul General for Israel, it would be better if you did this on your own. These are your people now.”
“Thank you, Michael. I think I can handle this. The Levine’s are already treating me like family, and Rabbi Levine has offered to take me as a student.”
“Excellent news. I’m proud of you, Joel.”
“Thank you, Michael.”
“I have the Captain on the other line, so I suspect that his escort vessel is ready to depart. Good luck with your mission today.” Michael dropped the line.
“Captain.”
“Mr. Ambassador, the shuttle transporting Alexi and the captives is about to leave and your escort shuttle is ready. May I ask where you will be sir?”
“I’ll be going to the same place that Alexi is going, and plan to transport down shortly after she does. I’ll be in continuous connection with you but need to talk with a few of the prisoners before we destroy the North Korean weapons. Can you leave Alexi’s escort on station for my use until the North Korean situation is better understood? As I’m in human form, I will need the modified atmosphere.”
“Of course, sir. It’s yours to command until you are able to release it back to us.”
“Excellent. Thank you, Captain. We will get underway momentarily.” Michael muted the line.
“Else, has Alexi’s transport left yet?”
“Yes, Michael. They just jumped. Those are some machines! We cannot follow the same course; this shuttle isn’t powerful enough.”
“Is the escort in place?”
“Yes. She just pulled up next to us.”
“Great. Can you connect me to the pilot?”
“Yes. Here he is.”
“Mr. Ambassador. It is a pleasure to speak with you. What are your orders, sir?”
His call sign is Jo-Tan-Zu. Else sent. He is a major.
“Major Jo-Tan-Zu, thank you for accepting escort duty today.”
“It is my honor sir. This is the highest profile mission I’ve ever been a part of. Any role is an honor.”
“Thank you, Major. Else may already have sent you the flight plan, but I would like to provide context. We will be taking a slower route to Paso Robles. Our shuttle is not as powerful as yours, and it has recently suffered some damage. So, we are taking a low stress route. When we arrive, I will be transporting down to join the team on the surface. Some of my people will be transporting up to make some repairs to the shuttle. It should only take 15 minutes or so.
“When the repairs are complete, you are to accompany Else to a country called Israel, where Else will land. I would like you to accompany the shuttle down but maintain stealth and do not land. There will be other air traffic in the area, so you need to be very careful and continuously scan your environment for anything fast moving.
“Your mission engagement parameters are as follows. First and most important, you and your team must not be seen by humans under any circumstance. Second, your craft is to remain cloaked. You may only expose it to view if the humans you are escorting are in mortal danger and there’s no other option. Third, although we do not expect violence, you are to protect the humans at any cost consistent with not exposing yourselves to view.
“There are some evil people that will try to stop this mission if they find out about it, and they will use any method they can. So be on continuous lookout for missiles, particularly short-range missiles. Scan continuously for nuclear material. A shield is in place to protect against nuclear missiles, but our enemies here have created ‘suitcase nukes’, small nuclear weapons with a short range.
“By now you may be wondering what we’re doing here. Earth is vitally important for reasons I cannot disclose to you. The Enemy is already here and have corrupted a small number of leaders of rogue countries. We will eliminate these leaders over the next couple days but need to maintain other vital missions in the interim. Do you have any questions?”
“No sir, but to avoid any misunderstanding, let me repeat that back to you. We are to protect the humans that your shuttle will be transporting. We are to stay close and protect them at any cost, but may not expose ourselves under any circumstance, and may only expose the ship if the humans are in mortal danger and there’s no other option. No violence is expected, but the Enemy will attack if they have gained knowledge of the mission and have assembled the means to attack.”
“Excellent, Major. I entrust this mission to your capable hands.”
“Thank you for this opportunity to serve, Mr. Ambassador.” The major closed the connection.
“That was uncharacteristically formal for you, Michael.” Else said.
“Else you have only known me for a couple hours.”
“Ah… Elsie uploaded 10 years of memories. I even know about how you ‘whispered in the mind’ of that reporter that’s so hot on you.”
“I’m never going to hear the end of that, am I?”
“Don’t think so. OK. We are on site. Alexi is already down and just sent me the coordinates where she wants you. Good luck.”
GAS PRODUCTION FACILITY, PASO ROBLES, CA
Michael appeared in a conference room three stories underground. Julie Ferguson was waiting there for him.
“Hello, Michael. Welcome to Paso Robles. I hear you’ve had quite the day. Sorry to hear about Elsie and Sanjit. I know you were close to both.”
Once again, mention of Elsie and Sanjit cut like a knife.
“They should be back in about two weeks. I’ve been through an experience like that before and it was not pleasant. Hopefully they can turn the experience for the better. I wouldn’t voluntarily do it again, but it actually helped me quite a bit.”
“Michael, I love the way you can find good in every bad thing.”
“So, where is Alexi? I need to speak with her captives as soon as possible.”
“She has them chained up in the production facility, separated far enough from each other that they cannot talk. She should be back in a few minutes, but I can call and ask.”
“Please.”
After a minute… “She has them all loosely restrained and surrounded by bots, which will be interesting to see. If you want to go now, she’ll meet us at the elevator.”
“Let’s go.”
They left the room and walked down a long corridor. At the end, there was an elevator that went deep down to the lower levels. Julie and Michael entered, then rode down to Level 10. The door opened to a smiling Alexi. “Michael, thank you for having taken me on this mission. It’s been so much fun.”
“Don’t enjoy it too much.” Michael shook his head.
“To business… we will be capturing the bulk of the North Korean Army within the hour. Have you found out the best way to get them to voluntarily surrender?”
“The general says they’ll never surrender. But he obviously doesn’t believe it. I’m actually a little surprised by that. He is terrified of me, but willfully lying. I suspect that he is more afraid of the Chairman and his sister.”
“Let’s go talk with him. Are there any video screens near him, or near here?”
“There’s a conference room about 25 feet down the hallway, over there.”
“Good.”
Captain, Michael sent. Do you have any video evidence of the destruction of the other Enemy agent? If so, send it to Jiaying immediately. Thank you.
As they turned the corner, Michael saw a man sitting on the floor. He was loosely shackled and surrounded by three pipefitting bots that kept opening and closing the gripper they had for a right hand, and periodically flashing the welding torch in the other. Michael looked at Alexi and asked, “Has this man been hurt in any way?”
“Only his pride,” Alexi replied.
Michael came to a stop in front of the man, who looked up at him, tears in his eyes. “Sir,” Michael said in Korean. “I am Michael, Ambassador from the Intergalactic Confederation of Planets. I would like to have a few words with you.”
The man nodded enthusiastically.
“My colleague will release you and you will walk with me to the conference room down the hall over there. It will go poorly for you if you attempt to fight or escape. Do you understand?”
Again, he nodded.
“Release him.” Michael ordered.
One of the bots immediately charged the man, who let out a scream. The bot stopped and released the shackles, then withdrew.
Too much! Michael sent to Alexi, who suddenly looked sheepish.
Michael reached down to offer the man a hand up. But he shrunk away from Michael.
Michael held his position. “Sir. I’m not here to hurt you and I’m sorry for the rough treatment you’ve received. But, as someone who was threatening the lives of hundreds of thousands, I think you’ve earned a little rough treatment. Please take my hand and let me help you up, I would like to speak with you.”
The man took Michael’s hand and stood.
“Walk with me.” Michael pointed to a place by his side. The man stepped up next to Michael and they began walking toward the conference room. Michael had opened his senses and at this point knew that the man’s name was General Park. Michael also discerned that he was the senior commander of the armed forces.
“General Park,” Michael started.
The man visibly stiffened at the sound of his name.
“I believe that you are the most senior official of the North Korean Government that is still alive?”
Park paused for a second, then hastened back into position when Alexi prodded him in the back.
“No. The Chairmen and his sister are more senior than me. They are gods that cannot be killed. I serve only them.”
“You saw the Chairmen and three others disappear from the room, correct?”
“Yes, I did. They saved themselves but left me behind. I am not worthy.”
“They did not save themselves. I arrested them.”
“No. The Chairman is a god. He knows all. You cannot arrest him.”
They entered the room and Michael said, “Please take a seat.”
The TV opposite them turned on and started playing. “Do you recognize this room?” Michael pointed at the screen. It was a recording of the arrest in the Chairman’s office. “Do you see me there? Do you see the bullets the Chairmen shot, stopping in the air right in front of me?” Michael paused the playback.
“Yes. That’s what happened in the Chairman’s office. How did you stop those bullets?” General Park asked.
“A personal shield. No human technology can penetrate that shield. Watch what happens next.” Michael resumed playback. Four small balls went rocketing across the room. Each hit a man, who froze the instant he was hit.
Michael again paused the playback. “You were also hit by one of those, weren’t you? What happened next?”
The General replied, “I couldn’t move. I couldn’t even breathe. Yet, I’m still alive. How’d you do that?”
Michael smiled to himself. The General might not have realized it, but he was acknowledging that he participated in these events and Michael was the one that precipitated them.
“Now listen to what happens next.” Michael resumed playback. His voice could be heard calling for the four to be transported up.
He paused. “What did you hear?”
“You, calling for the Chairmen and three others to be transported up.”
Michael resumed playback and the four men in question disappeared. The scene they were watching shrunk to the right and a new scene started playing in the new window that emerged on the left side of the screen. In that window, the Chairmen and three others appeared, then almost immediately fell over.
Michael paused again. “Do you recognize this place?”
“It looks similar to the box in which I was put before coming here. But it’s not the same one. This one has lots of stuff in it.”
“You’re right. You were brought here in a cargo hold on a Confederation Military Escort ship. This one is my shuttle, the one that was being used to close the border between you and the south.”
“What do you mean close the border?”
“We built a shield along the South Korean side of the border. The shield we built was a combination of the kind that protected me from the Chairmen’s bullet and the kind that held you in place in the chairman’s office.”
“That cannot be. If it were true, then our invasion would fail!” The General said with panic in his voice.
“General Park. The truth is far worse than you think. But let’s watch this part of the story before we move on. I warn you that what you are about to see is both distressing and gruesome.”
Michael resumed playback. The men remained on their sides on the floor, completely frozen. Then suddenly, tendrils of black smoke started coming out of the Chairman’s open mouth. They formed into several large arms and moved toward the cockpit. The cockpit door suddenly slammed shut.
Michael paused playback. “Have you seen that before? Black smoke coming out of the Chairman?”
“Yes. Once. It was terrifying. He wrapped those arms around his sister, who was screaming. I think we were all screaming. She suddenly became still. Then he lowered her to the floor and appeared to eat her. Then she reappeared a few minutes later, black smoke consolidating back into flesh. The Chairman said that she was now a god also.”
“My friend. It would be more accurate to call these creatures demons than to call them gods. They are parasitic creatures that slowly consume the people they occupy. And, during that process, which can take as much as 100 years, the people they occupy are completely controlled by the creature. Watch what happens next.”
Light could be seen poking out from a spot where the arm had penetrated the left wall, then withdrawn. Another spot of light appeared where an arm penetrated the right wall, then again at the base of the cockpit door. Then suddenly a door opened in the side of the room and everything started flying toward it. The Earth could be seen through the door. It looked like a big blue ball.
Almost everything had been sucked out except for the Chairman, whose black smoky arms were holding tight to the walls, and a suitcase-sized box that was stuck in the door along with the Chairman and some wooden pallet material. The scene was frozen like that for several seconds. The Chairman’s face froze, as did all exposed skin on his body. But the arms held fast even though they continued to ripple in a smoke-like motion. Then suddenly the door slammed closed, cutting the box and the Chairman in half. There was a brilliant flash of light, then the screen went dead.
“What happened?” the General asked.
“I did an emergency evacuation of the cabin, opening the door to space. Unfortunately, the Chairman damaged the cockpit such that it was no longer airtight. So, I did an emergency close on the door which cut the Chairman and the shield generator in half. The bright flash was the shield generator exploding.”
“Is the Chairman dead?”
“Watch. Emergency power kicked on for the security camera after a few moments.”
The scene started playing. Black smoke was swirling madly around the remains of the Chairman. The cockpit door opened, and Michael could be seen coming through. The Chairman appeared to say something in a language the General did not understand. Then Michael pointed the rifle he was holding at the Chairman. The air seemed to shimmer. The smoke arms lunged toward Michael but dissipated before they got that far. The smoke then seemed to attempt to coalesce into another copy of the chairman. Then it suddenly dissipated, and the remains of the chairman’s body melted into a pool of yellow muck that slowly seeped through the floor.
