Adopted Son (32 page)

Tom listened as the arm-codes were given over the radio. In almost every case, the bombardier is not given the codes to arm the payload until after the plane has taken off and is proceeding towards its target. This was a safety check to stop anyone who somehow got their hands on a nuclear or biological weapon from being able to use it. But Z-A was a holdover from the Cold War, and their procedures had never been subjected to the kind of review that most battle plans were given. In this case, the codes to arm the weapons were provided just before lift-off. This would allow the planes to still deliver their payloads in the event that the command and control system was knocked out just after takeoff. Tom listened as the codes for his spray tanks were given. They were quickly followed by the codes for the nuclear bombs. No one expected that the bombs would be used for anything, they had long ago been taken out of the target deck, but the codes were given anyway. It was just procedure.

Tom watched as the first aircraft began to rev its engines in anticipation of flight. The blast doors that normally sealed the runway from the world opened, and a glint of sunlight began to shine in on the flat black surfaces of the planes. Tom looked at the rest of his crew. The two pilots were flipping switches. Major Boone had his hand on the throttle, ready to go as soon as the first two planes were out of the way. The co-pilot was chuckling in anticipation. Everyone here was a professional, everyone here knew what their mission was and they knew how to do it. Everyone here believed that they were only a weapon– that they had no control over who or why they killed. They had been conditioned to simply follow orders and not worry about consequences. Tom had been like that once. He had gone through the Personnel Reliability Program, he had gone through the psyche testing and the background checking that determined that he could be used as a unquestioning living weapon for his government. He was ready to do his job, that is until he first heard Leilana sing. He didn’t know who she was at first, just an angelic voice coming over the radio. He hadn’t known any aliens, at least not personally. He never did have anything against them, but he had never given a second thought to his mission until he heard his angel singing. He couldn’t allow this to happen. He didn’t care about humanity, he didn’t care about the three billion other aliens that would die, he didn’t care about his place in history or what people would think of what he did here today. He only knew one thing, and that was that he couldn’t let Leilana down. He had to save her.

Calmly and quietly he began entering the arm codes for the nuclear weapon into his console. He flipped up the covering that protected the red launch button. He watched as the first jet began its takeoff down the runway. A nuclear blast in this cavern would undoubtedly destroy all eight bombers and vaporize the entire store of backbreaker virus. He waited until the last possible second before he committed, in the vain hope this turned out to be a drill or that a rescind order would be given in time. Her song played in his head and he closed his eyes. In the end it wasn’t the thought of the world ending that forced his hand so much as the thought of the silencing of one person’s angelic voice.

Lancaster, PA. Thanksgiving Day, six years after the death of Neil Hayes
.

The smell of fireplace smoke was in the air. It was cold here in Pennsylvania already, and as the people walked outside on their errands, wispy, white clouds of breath were visible. It hadn’t snowed yet this season, although it looked like it might later in the afternoon. The doorbell rings on a non-descript, brick brownstone on Chestnut Street. It can only mean one thing. Rosemarie puts down her whisk and after checking to make certain nothing on the stove was about to boil over, heads to the door to meet her sister.

“Janice, I’m so happy to see you. Come on in.” She opens the door and a downtrodden but joyful woman enters.

“Rosie, thanks for inviting me. I’ve brought pie.” She holds up a disc-shaped package covered with tin foil. Rosemary takes it.

“You’ll have to excuse me Jannie, I’ve got to keep an eye on the cooking.” She turns and heads to the kitchen. Janice unwinds her red scarf and removes her coat, which both end up slumped in the corner of the couch. She then follows her host into the kitchen.

“Where’s Jerry?”

Rosemarie continued stirring as she talked. “Oh, I’ve sent him out on an errand. I needed more milk. Daddy should be arriving in an hour or so. They’re not going to want to miss the game, so I’ll expect them all here pretty soon.”

“Great. Great.” Janice filled the teapot with water and found the last available burner. She then sat at the table quietly staring at the brown and white checkerboard wallpaper.

“Jannie? How’ve you been doing? I mean really.”

“I don’t know Rosie, I’m doing ok I guess. Normally I’m fine. It’s been six years and all. But around the holidays it gets a little lonely you know. I’m just glad that I’ve got you guys to be with.”

“I keep telling you Jannie, you should move back here to Lancaster. It’d be so great to have my big sis back in town again.”

Janice poured the steaming water into a plain, yellow mug and sat back down. “I don’t know Rosie, I’ve got a house and all, and a job now. Maybe in the spring.”

“We’re all worried about you all alone down there.”

“I’m fine really,” she sat up straight in her chair and smiled, “...really. Nothing to worry about.” She tried to change the subject. “So what’s new with you and Jerry?”

Rosemarie squinched herself up as if she was about to burst. “Oh Jannie, I’ve been dying to tell you. I can’t hold it in any longer.” She rushed to the table and sat next to her sister. She leaned way over and took both of Janice’s hand into her own. “I’m pregnant!” She sat hesitantly trying to gauge her sister’s reaction. Under most conditions she would have been sure that Janice would be ecstatic, but with all the ugliness and all, she thought that her sister might be a little sad to hear that someone else’s family was growing.

Janice sat puzzled for several seconds, trying to process the information. “That’s fantastic!” she shouted. “I’m going to be an aunt. Have you told Mom and Dad?”

“No, I haven’t told anybody. We were waiting for Thanksgiving to break the news. I wanted everyone to be here together. But I couldn’t help myself, I’m so excited.”

“That’s great news Rosie, I’m so happy for you. Is it natural, or did you go embryo?”

“Natural. We thought about getting an embryo pretty seriously for a while. But I guess that in the end we decided that we wanted our child to fit in. The Lancaster school district is now over 80% alien, and it’ll probably be more in five years. We decided not to give our kid a disadvantage.”

“Well, he’s already got to grow up with Jerry as a Dad, so he’s going to be disadvantaged enough,” she said with a smile.

“Jannie stop.”

“You know, I’ve got boxes and boxes of old baby clothes in my basement if you want them.”

“I’d appreciate that Jannie.”

A tear formed in Janice’s eye, but not even she was certain if it was because of happiness for her sister or because the news brought her loss into contrast. She took another sip of tea and tried to smile.

Text of a handwritten letter addressed to Mrs. Maggie Watson of Reginald, AL. Delivered four years, eight months after the nuclear explosion in Nevada

Dear Mom,

I know I haven’t written in a while like you told me I should. Its been pretty messed up here on the front. But we’ve quieted down some and the Sergeant sent me back to base camp for some rest. Of course the first thing I’m gonna do is write to you and tell you that I’m ok. I know that you may have heard a lot of stuff about what’s going on out here, but I want to tell you that mostly there’s no truth to it. It’s scary some of the time, especially at night, but we’re doing good out here Mom, we’re making a difference, and all the guys in my unit are great. There’s this one Indian dude who can twist himself all up in a knot for fun. You should see it! He ain’t no Indian like the one’s we got in America, he’s actually from India and all. They all talk funny too. I’ve been learning a few words of Indian for when I get back, but I can’t hardly pronounce anything. They’re all good about it though. We got guys from all over Europe too. I woulda thought that they’d all be speaking different languages, but most of ‘em speak pretty good English. It’s a NATO thing I guess. Or maybe it’s from watching tv.

I’m in Lagos right now. That’s in Nigeria. I don’t know if the censors will let that through, but I hope they do because I wanted you to know were I was. You can look it up on a map. Didn’t you say that our family is from round here? It’s funny Mom, you always taught me that I was black, but here, everybody’s the same, you can’t tell black guys from white guys on account of us all being aliens. Even that Indian guy too. It’s funny ya know. All that stuff about civil rights and all that you went through, and here we are, nobody can tell who’s black or white or nothin.

Mama, you should see them new tanks we got out here. The ones made from that alien ship. They actually float in the air Mama! I’m hoping that by the time I get home they’ll have cars floating around. I wanted to drive one of them floating tanks, but they told me I was just infantry. I can still watch em go though. Man thay’s cool.

Well Ma, that’s about all the time I’ve got right now. We’re pulling out of town pretty soon. I don’t like fightin out here. Every day we go on patrol, but you never know whos happy your here and whos gonna shoot at ya. I don’t know where they’ll be sending me next. I hope that I can see more of Africa while I’m here, it being like my homeland and all that. I want to take some pictures for you ma, so’s you can see how beautiful it is (at least some parts), but the corps won’t let me have no camera. So I’ll have to just tell you all about it when I get home. It shouldn’t be long now ma, I’ll be home soon. Say hello to Uncle Curtis and the twins for me. gotta go! Semper Fi!

Your son,

Lance Corporal Andre Watson

Six weeks after Lt. Tom Jacobs saved the world. The White House, Washington, DC

“Welcome to the 6 o’clock news, I’m Toby Phillips. In headlines today, President Talbot posthumously presented the Congressional Medal of Honor to the mother of Lt. Thomas Jacobs today.”

Switch from video of the anchorwoman to footage from the Rose Garden. President Talbot is presenting an older woman with a small black box. She is overcome with emotion.

Voiceover: President Talbot proclaimed Lt. Jacobs a ‘national hero’ for destroying himself along with the top secret Zephyr Alpha base in Nevada, mere minutes before base personnel were set to release a virus capable of killing all alien life on the planet.

Switch to footage of the press conference immediately following the award presentation.

Pres. Talbot: There is only one time when doing the right thing matters, and that’s at the end. Lt. Jacobs may have been tainted by his association with Zephyr Alpha in the first place, but in the final moments, in the time it really counted, he became a hero.

Switch to close-up of singer Leilana Banks.

Voiceover: Also on hand was pop singer Leilana Banks, who praised Lt. Jacobs, saying quote, “I wish I could have met him.”

Switch back to anchor desk.

Phillips: Also on hand was Secretary of Alien Affairs James Miller.

A small, static picture of Secretary Miller appears over the anchor’s left shoulder.

Phillips: Secretary Miller used this occasion to announce his new ‘United Earth Campaign.’

Switch to footage of Secretary Miller.

Miller: Let this be a lesson to all those out there, human and alien, that life, in whatever form, is sacred, and that we must all work together. Let us stop using divisive terms such as ‘human’ or ‘alien.’ We need to get past our backgrounds, past our origins, to understand that we’re all ‘earthlings.’ If Lt. Jacobs’ sacrifice teaches us anything, it should be that love of life, love of our planet, supercedes all divisions between human and alien populations. Lt. Jacobs died for all of us, let’s use this opportunity he gave us to make a better world for all earthlings.

Switch to anchor desk.

Phillips: In other news, NATO bombers kept up a relentless assault on the Pliedian stronghold of Lagos, Nigeria today. Casualties were reported on both sides. A NATO spokesman said that battle lines have stabilized and that the first priority will be to take back the massive oil fields under Saudi Arabia.

Switch to footage of a new conference. A general stands in front of a large world map. Most of Africa, the Middle East, South East Asia, and China are colored red.

Gen. Abrams: NATO and Indian ground troops are being deployed to the Central Asian Republics to reinforce control of the oil resources located there. The Pliedians are using guerrilla hit and run tactics that are proving to be quite effective against our tank columns in rough terrain. But headway is being made in large, open areas such as the Arabian Peninsula. We expect to launch a full-scale assault against several key cities within a few weeks. However, it’s going to be difficult to retake some of the larger population centers without civilian casualties, which obviously we’re working hard to avoid.

Reporter: What is the refugee situation General?

Gen. Abrams: I can’t comment on that other to say that refugees are complicating the situation, but they are being handled in a manner consistent with international laws.

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Reporter: General, is there any truth to the reports that NATO plans to use only alien troops in their front lines, so as to psychologically weaken the separatists’ claim that this is a war between aliens and human?

Gen. Abrams: I can’t comment on that at this time.

Switch to anchor desk.

Phillips: The General went on to say that barring further problems, he hoped that the Pliedian Separatists would be eliminated by Spring. As a note to our viewers, we remind you to watch the encore of Channel 7’s special report on the background, motivations, and goals of the separatist leader, Franklin Trinity, tonight at nine pm. Now let’s take a look at our weather, Ken...