Fear and Aggression (39 page)

“
It is possible; I accept
that possibility. But their world has a different perspective than
ours. They are not shocked, nor surprised by our existence. They
are merely surprised that we came to them. They don’t know why we
would come to their world, when we have everything that they have
on our own world. It is my opinion that they would behave
differently.”

“
That is possible, Captain
Jenners. However, we face additional problems, based upon the
reaction back home. If we return the captive, the people throughout
the world will have a conniption fit. They are afraid to give
anything away. They will be afraid that the aliens know that we are
here—that we exist. There are cries daily for us to go in and
annihilate them. Returning her could lead to revolt, revolution,
and excessive violence. Think about your brother, Mark; he and many
others would be at great risk. If our world is in that kind of
turmoil, we may not be able to protect him.”

“
I understand that the
same type of thing could happen if we return to earth with her.
What are we to do with her, then?”

“
We are still considering
our options. It has been hoped that time would bring a settling to
the world, but so far the fear, and the violence, and the unrest,
is growing. The President considers our first priority to return
the earth to stability.”

“
I see the risk, sir.
However, I still recommend the course that I have described. If,
within a few weeks, we have made contact, and peaceful relations
are set up with the leaders of her world, the people will begin to
see how irrational their fears have been.” Captain Jenners spoke
with clarity and confidence. He felt inside that, indeed, what he
was proposing was the right course of action.

“
Now that they know that
we are here, we will have to do something soon. I will consider
your recommendations and relay them to the President. In the
meantime, carry on with your orbit. We will bring you further
instructions when we have them. Good day, Captain.”

“
Yes, sir; good day,”
Captain Jenners broke off.

***

“
Well that settles that,”
Commander Wiston said aloud as he turned to his assistant.
“Jackson, get Carryman on with me, pronto.”

“
Yes, sir.”

“
Jenners is too close to
the alien. His mindset is all wrong. I wanted to give him the
chance, but it’s no use. I thought maybe the news about his brother
would get him back to earth, so to speak, but no…”

“
Yes, sir, I’ve got
Captain Carryman, sir.”

“
Put him on.”

“
Commander Wiston,
Carryman here, sir.”

“
Captain Carryman, I’m
splitting the mission into two, and you are leading the
attack.”

“
Yes, sir.”

“
What is the status with
the choreography?” asked Commander Wiston.

“
It’s done. It is very
impressive. I’ll get you the computer models ASAP. I’ll be honest;
I thought that the idea was crazy at first, but now that I see it,
it’s brilliant, sir.”

“
Good. Here is how it is
going to work: we are keeping Captain Jenners in the dark
throughout the attack. He’ll be informed immediately afterword and
given instructions on completing the mission. He’ll still be given
the credit for overall operations, but you will have the credit for
the attack itself. I believe that it is too risky to have the ship,
with the alien onboard, aware of the attack at all. Who knows what
could happen, with her on board while the crew is involved in the
attack? So, we are going to time it such that they are on the other
side of the planet during the attack. The mission must be completed
before Captain Jenners comes back around. Will that be a
problem?”

“
No, sir; that should be
very easy. The choreography, as you call it, calls for the attack
to begin near dusk. We want to have plenty of light, so that we can
video the destruction of several structures. It will be very
impressive. We just need to make sure that their orbit is far
enough away when it is dusk. We don’t want to spend any significant
time in 3D orbit. We’d rather arrive, get into position and begin.
They will have too much to worry about, once it begins, to count
our ships in orbit,” Captain Carryman said with obvious enthusiasm.
He was thrilled to be given the command of this
operation.

“
Tell me how it will come
off; what will be the view back home?” asked Commander Wiston. He,
too, was feeling an adrenaline rush. This would be the first combat
operation of the Space Force.

“
Two ships will come into
3D. They will be in position to each video the same scene, for
stereoscopic viewing back home. Once they have the shot that we are
looking for, the third ship comes into 3D from the other side and
releases the missile. We should have fantastic views of the
destruction at dusk for several of the identified structures. Then,
as it gets darker, we pan the video out, and show that the entire
electrical structure of the city is going out. We’ll show the city
lights go out section by section with a full screen view of the
entire city. We could take out the central power quickly, but that
would defeat the purpose of the attack. We want the tight shots to
be impressive. So, instead, we will take out the substations one by
one. I do think that it will be impressive to see the up-close
destruction first, and then the overall city going dark. I think
that we can meet all of our objectives in impressive style—without
actually causing too much harm to the alien race.”

“
How much collateral
damage will there be?” asked the commander in a serious tone. “Will
many of the aliens be killed or injured?”

“
The most deaths will come
at the administration center, and at the science center. It will be
at dusk, so they will not be completely full, according to
intelligence, but we need to hit them first. They will be the
largest structures that we take out, and it will need to be light
enough for the visual effect that we want. Other hits may kill
some, but not many. Still, we should be able to level their
technology and power grid, put on a great show for the viewing
public, and still not kill too many of them. They will be able to
continue on. They have not been living with electrical technology
for long, according to Captain Jenner’s reports, so I don’t think
it will disrupt their lives too much. If they are as intelligent as
we think they are, they are not likely to try and rebuild the
technology any time soon. I think that we can pacify the public’s
fears, while not causing too much harm to this world. After this
show, I think everyone back home will feel empowered, and not feel
so threatened anymore.” Captain Carryman was more calmed and
subdued now.

“
So you will keep the
producer on board with you, Captain?”

“
Yes, we will stay in high
3D orbit. We will run the attack, and produce the show all from the
deck. He is very impressive, for a civilian. I never expected to
command an attack alongside a Hollywood producer, but I think that
the video will present just what we are looking for. He is helping
us to produce the effect, while keeping the damage to a minimum.
Sir, I think that you will be very pleased with the results.” Once
again Captain Carryman was feeling proud and excited.

“
It will be on a one hour
delay, for earth viewing. Do you think that we should go a little
longer on delay, to account for any problems?”

“
Sir, I don’t. I don’t
think that we want to give anyone the idea that we are feeding the
public doctored images. Let’s send it live. I think that the
pre-production will be enough; post-production or editing will only
cause suspicion.”

“
Good,” said Commander
Wiston. “I quite agree. How soon can we have everyone in
position?”

“
I’ll look at Captain
Jenners orbit, and let you know. It is a matter of days,
sir.”

“
Good. Let’s get this PR
nightmare past us and start looking for other worlds—ones that
might actually pose a threat.”

“
Yes, sir. Thank you,
sir.”

“
Jackson,” snapped
Commander Wiston as the connection ended.

“
Yes, sir.”

“
I hope the President
knows what he is doing. We may be taking a world—a race that we
could get along with—and turn them into our enemies, just to
appease the fearful masses.”

***

“
Steve, are you
okay?”

“
I haven’t been okay in
quite some time.”

“
I know…I mean since
yesterday,” asked Tammy cautiously.

“
It is going to take some
time. I’m no pacifist, but I don’t like senseless killing, of any
sort. I would never take the life of one of my own.”

“
It wasn’t
alive
; not yet anyway.
It wasn’t a child, it was a potential child. It was hard for me to
destroy the potential too, but I didn’t kill it…I stopped it—the
potential I stopped.”

“
I’m not sure that I will
ever see it that way,” said Steve in a serious tone.

“
Is it over with us?” she
asked, truly wondering.

“
No. I don’t know. I need
some space…some time to think. I love you, but I don’t know how I
can live with this; and right now you remind me of what could have
been, and what is gone now. Listen, I am speaking too harshly. It’s
not just you, and this. Something is going on that Central Command
is not telling me. They’ve got something cooking that they don’t
want to let me in on.”

“
What is it?”

“
I don’t know. I didn’t
get much sleep. I need some rest. Just give me some time; let me
sort this out.” He walked up to her and gave her a cool embrace and
a short kiss.

“
Father, what will happen
now?”

“
We will see. It is too
much to expect that we will have answers this quickly.” The
Paladors were nearly back home, after a long walk. Caryell did not
feel like he was the same person that had left, just a few days
before. He had experienced things, and he now saw the world through
different eyes. The town seemed so sparse, so open and so
without—without people, entertainment, and excitement. He had
always loved the outdoors, and the friendships that he enjoyed
here. But he now saw a world that had previously been hidden from
his sight, and he wanted more of it. He had also had his eyes
opened to the fact that even his world, even the city, was not the
pinnacle of what existed out there. There were other worlds, and
they could do even more than what could be done in the city. This
idea wasn’t brand new, but it had been spiritual and abstract, and
now it was concrete and right before his eyes. He did not believe
that any of the young ladies that he had seen so much of in Arkasia
could compare to the angel that he had seen in the city.

Still he was holding out some hope that his
mother would be returned soon, and he imagined that this would
happen at the rocky clearing. For this he was excited to get back
home, and see if there had been any news. Reveling in his own
thoughts, he did not see the figure ahead of them, nor did he
notice that the figure was waving excitedly. That is, until his
father spoke, and brought him back to his current reality.

“
Seryen, it is so good to
see you.”

Within moments, Seryen had approached them
and looked very relieved. He did not know where the Paladors had
gone, and he was concerned. He was also concerned about the
direction of the local politics. He spoke to Roloff about his
concerns, about losing the election, and some of the stories going
around town, that were not true. “Bastian is not being entirely
truthful with the town, about you and I. I think that he will say
anything to get the people against me—even untruths about you,
Roloff.”

This may have been of more of a concern to
Roloff some weeks ago, but now it all seemed so superfluous and
irrelevant to him; still, he listened politely. “We will address
all of this in time, Seryen. I have a great deal of information
that I’m afraid will put these concerns to the side, for now.” He
went on to explain everything to Seryen. Seryen’s face went white,
and he looked like he might need help in closing his jaw, as his
mouth sat opened for nearly the entire telling of it. Occasionally,
Seryen looked towards Caryell, as if to say, “are you sure that you
want to tell me all of this in front of your son?” But Caryell was
not surprised by anything being told; it was not new to him. His
calm demeanor helped to keep Seryen from becoming unnerved.

“
Since last night, you
have not seen or heard anything, I take it?” asked Roloff, after
relating the events involving the orbiting craft.

“
No, I had no idea, but I
certainly have not seen, nor heard anything. Shall we keep this
quiet?”

“
Certainly not,” Roloff
said resolutely. “The whole city now knows, and they have witnessed
the craft themselves— last night. We don’t know what further
intentions these visitors may have, so we need to inform everyone.
I hope—now that they know that we are aware of them—that they will
return Aspiria. I simply pray that she is well, and that she will
be with us soon. I am hopeful, but I don’t know what will happen
from here.” He spoke with a calm assurance, yet still with some
doubt in his eyes.