Alien Offensive Book 2: The Terraforming of Earth

Preface

A short synopsis of Book 1

Humankind's first contact with an intelligent extraterrestrial species was not friendly.

Because their star, a dying red dwarf, would soon fail to provide life-supporting warmth, a distant alien species recognized Earth, a planet similar to their world, perfect for their needs.

In preparation for the move to Earth, the highly intelligent entities implemented a cleverly devised nanobot attack in an attempt to eradicate all life on Earth. They planned to follow the attack by sending a detachment to terraform the planet and assure all life on Earth was eliminated by the time they arrived. At least that was their plan. Fortunately, they didn't recognize the resolve of the human species to survive.

While enlisting the extraordinary talents of a gifted physicist, the first attack was thwarted, but the aliens were not deterred. They had no choice. It was move or perish.

With the immediate threat eliminated, Earth's scientist searched for the origin of the sinister nanobots and learned they came from a planet called Gliese 581-d that was more than twenty light-years away. They began to study the giant, water-covered planet and its weak, red dwarf star.

A ten year study via the Hubble Space Telescope showed little change, and then one day scientist were shocked to see a mammoth flotilla of alien spaceships assemble near the distant planet and set out on a course that would bring them to Earth. But, because Gliese 581-d was so far away, the scientist weren't too concerned. Even if the alien ships could travel at light-speed, it was decided it would be over two decades before they arrived. Because Einstein predicted nothing other than a photon can travel at light-speed, a theory later proven with the discovery of the Higgs Field, the flotilla wasn't expected to arrive in this century unless they could construct a stable wormhole, something no one believed they could. However, as a precaution, the world leaders decided to keep a close eye on the mammoth flotilla, code named Target One, and begin working on countermeasures should Target One arrive. They assumed they will have developed more advanced technology, and would be able to repel any future attacks.

Should Target One show up in Earth's space earlier than expected, it would be a battle between the might of the greater numbered humans and their determination, against the superior technology of the lesser numbered aliens, and the outcome could not be determined. That was ten years ago, and the surveillance continues . . .

Chapter 1

TEN YEARS AFTER FIRST CONTACT

BALTIMORE, MD.

David rolled over to answer the cell phone on the nightstand. The bedside alarm clock showed three in the morning. Something was wrong. Hello? he answered and sat up on the side of the bed and glanced over his shoulder, hoping the phone hadn't disturbed, Kathy, his wife.

Hello, Doctor Parker?

Yes. David almost recognized the caller's voice.

Sorry to disturb you at this uncivilized hour. I'm Stanley Vassar, the Professor of astronomy at the Keck Observatory in Hawaii.

Of course, I remember you, Professor. We met the one time I visited the observatory.

Well, I wouldn't be calling if we didn't have an emergency, and —

What kind of emergency? David interrupted.

Stanley paused before answering . . . I don't know how to tell you this, but we've lost visual of Target One.

David, the lead mission systems engineer for the Hubble Space Telescope Science Institute, in a more urgent voice, asked, I don't understand. We've been tracking the Gliese 581-d flotilla for over ten years. How could we lose visual?

It's hard to say because we never changed our focus. One moment the flotilla was there, the next it was gone. We here in Hawaii were wondering if you could check with your Hubble team and see if they still have eyes.

Of course, professor. David fished for a slipper with one foot. I'll go to the control center rather than call. It'll take me about an hour to get there. As soon as I have anything, I'll get back with you. Can I reach you at this number?

Yes you can. I'll stand by and wait for your call. Thanks for your assistance, and I'm sorry about the early call.

No, problem. I'm glad you informed me. David slipped into his house coat and then sat back on the bed. Have you contacted the Large Binocular Telescope, in Arizona?

Not yet. I thought I should call you first. If any eyes were on Target One, the Hubble would be the one. I will also check with the Gran Telescopio in the Canary Islands. I'll let you know if I discover anything.

Thanks, I'll talk to you later. David hung up. He looked at the phone for a moment, wondering if the aliens had done the impossible. He couldn't believe Keck, one of the largest telescopes on Earth had lost visual of the alien flotilla.

He hoped the Hubble hadn't lost tracking. It being in space and free of atmospheric distortions, had the highest resolution. If Target One was out there the Hubble would be able to see it unless the alien ships made a maneuver the telescope couldn't follow.

At thirty-five years young, David was once an astrometer, but now an administrator. Tracking the flotilla had become his life's mission every since he began working for NASA about ten years ago. His team losing sight of Target One might be forgiven, but he doubted it. This could be the end of his career with NASA if he couldn't relocate the armada. He was the team leader and the buck always stopped at the leader.

He got up and peeped through the window blinds at his quiet, middle classed, Greenbelt, Maryland, neighborhood. He looked out over his neighbor's back yard and saw the normally barking Russell's Terrier that always woke him at about this time in the morning, missing. Huh, it's even too early for the damn dog, he thought. As he turned to leave the bedroom, he saw Kathy up on one elbow watching him.

What's the emergency? she asked.

Oh, baby. I was hoping we didn't wake you.

I'm up now. What kind of emergency? She sensed something in his voice. She brushed back a few strands of long brown hair from her eyes as she glanced at the bedside clock.

David returned to sit on the side the bed. Well, do you remember what I told you about my job way back when we were dating?

Yeah, you said something about keeping Earth safe by studying something in space. You never did go into too much detail, so I assumed you were watching near-Earth asteroids or something. What has that got to do with this emergency you were talking about? She sat up and turned on her bedside lamp, filling the modest-sized bedroom with a golden glow revealing a room full of slightly aging, but sturdy oak furniture.

Well, that something in space is a flotilla of alien spaceships that's been heading towards Earth for over ten years. Besides it being top secret, I didn't want to scare you by going into too much detail back then, but my colleagues and I believe the flotilla is heading here to try and conquer our world. He immediately regretted using the word, conquer.

What!? she asked, now becoming excited as David knew she would. You mean to tell me you've known about this threat and didn't tell me about it after all this time?

Ah . . . Well . . . Yes. David didn't want to get into the conversation. Baby, you have to understand — it's a top secret mission and I only wanted us to have a normal marriage. I didn't see any point in telling you something that might cause you to be worried every day we were together, and I sure didn't want to get thrown into jail for telling you something declared top secret by our government. You know how those bone-heads love to protect their secrets and wouldn't hesitate to prosecute me if for no other reason than to make an example of me. Besides, we're not absolutely sure the flotilla is coming here to occupy our planet, so why get you excited about something that might not happen. Understand?

No, David, I don't understand. If you're not sure why the aliens are coming here, what makes it so important you and your colleagues have spent the last ten years watching them? Something must have happened to put you on alert, right? I mean, isn't the time on the Hubble very valuable, as you're always telling me? Why would y'all decide to focus it on the spaceships if you didn't think it was important? Not only that — don't you think the whole world should know about this possible threat, not just me? You're becoming just like the damn bone-heads in the government you're working for. They always have some kind of secret stuff going on.

You're right, dear, but it's the way the government works. I don't have anything to say about what they keep secret. If I'm going to work for them, I've got to follow their rules and don't remind me about how valuable the time is on the telescope. I'm constantly cooking up excuses why other science teams haven't been able to get on it the last ten years and I'm running out of excuses. Listen, I don't have a lot of time, but I'll try to explain what's going on. I imagine the night-shift has everything under control. They haven't called me. I guess I can take a few minutes to explain things to you. I should have told you this many years ago. I was scared it might get out, and if I tell you now, you have to promise you'll never mention anything about it to anybody else — not one word. I could get into a lot of trouble. Okay?

Yeah, whatever, David. Besides, you should have known I'd do nothing that would get you thrown into jail. I thought you trusted me more than that?

I do, baby, but you don't understand. When I began working for NASA, I had to sign a document which required me to swear to keep what I learned while working for them to myself — a sort of nondisclosure affidavit. They even made me take an oath, and they weren't playing. If anything leaks out, and it can be traced back to me, I could be facing twenty-years in a federal pen. But, because you're my wife, and I really do trust you, and even though I'm putting my freedom on the line by telling you this, I'll let you in on the top secret mission. Let's see, where should I begin — at the beginning, I guess? I know you couldn't have been more than a teenager back then, but do you remember back when all the animals on Earth and the fish in the seas were attacking everybody?

Yeah, that was a scary time. Kathy got up and put on her house-robe over the short white T-shirt she slept in that did little to cover her nude lower body. She started for the kitchen to make herself and David a cup of coffee and maybe a quick breakfast for him, as he followed. Do you want something to eat before you leave? she asked, and continued without waiting for an answer. Our family was lucky my dad was one of those survivalist types and had stored away enough food and water to last a year, but I do remember a lot of people died back then. Those animal and bird attacks were relentless and would have killed millions if something hadn't happened to stop them. We thought the animal attacks were the result of some kind of plague or something. At least that's was what the government said. They were so vicious my dad's still socking away food and water at his old age and after all those years, but what's that got to do with the spaceships?

Everything. David followed his wife to the kitchen while watching her firm backside under the house-coat and feeling a surge of blood to a specific organ. The government lied. It was something much worse than a plague. The reason the animals were attacking us is because they were being controlled by small machines. I mean really tiny machines. The scientist called them, nanobots. Those small machines were no larger than a molecule and were breathed in and absorbed into our animal's brains. They then changed the behavior of the animals while making them violent —

You mean that was an alien attack back then? Kathy turned to ask, closing the refrigerator.

Yeah, well, yeah, that's what the scientist seemed to think. Anyway, they discovered where the nanobots came from, and began watching the planet. They found a flotilla of spaceships being formed and begin heading our way. But, because that planet we call Gliese 581-d, is so far away, it would take the flotilla over twenty years to get here. Our scientist figured they'd be ready when the aliens got here, and we are — at least I hope so.

You say this planet is far away, how far away? She placed several strips of bacon in the hot frying pan, the aroma making David realize he was hungry and glad she was cooking.

Really far away. David sat at the kitchen table and watched her poke at the frying bacon with a fork. Do you remember what a light-year is?

Jesus, David. It's been a while since I was in school, but I think it's the distance light travels in a year, right?

You got it, baby. Light travels at the speed of one hundred eighty six thousand miles a second. So a light-year is almost six trillion miles. Now this planet, Gliese 581-d is over twenty light-years away. That means if they could travel at light-speed, it would take them between twenty and thirty years to get here. But no one believes they can travel that fast. Well, at least Einstein said so, but his general theory of relativity did say it's possible to construct a wormhole. If they can find a way to travel through space by folding it, or constructing a wormhole, they could get here a lot sooner. Now, we don't know if they have that technology. That's why we've been watching them so closely. As long as we can see them through our telescopes we know they haven't folded space or constructed a wormhole.

A, what? Kathy set a plate of eggs and bacon in front of David. A wormhole? What in God's name is a wormhole? It doesn't have anything to do with worms does it?

Oh, sweety, it doesn't have anything to do with worms. It's . . . It's . . . I don't know why they call it a wormhole, and I don't have time to explain the physics of one. David took a bite of his toast and then remembered to put a dab of grape jelly on it. Let's say it's a way of folding space so a spaceship could travel from one point to another, instantly, while not having to go the whole distance.

Come on, David, that doesn't make sense no matter what you call it. How can you travel without going the whole distance? It sounds kind of stupid if you ask me. Kathy leaning against the sink facing him, her housecoat, unconsciously, hanging open.

Her open housecoat tempted David, with his early morning hormones surging, to procrastinate his departure for a few minutes, as he continued. Now you get interested in science after all these years and when I don't have time to explain it to you. When did you become so interested in space travel?

"Every since you told me aliens are coming here to kill us, like in that movie, War of the Worlds, or something like that. You know how that ended, and I was wondering if the same thing could happen for real."

No honey, it's not that serious, well, at least most scientist don't think so, and this is exactly what I was talking about — why I didn't want to tell you about something practically improbable, but now the cat's out of the bag, I'll try to explain what a wormhole is, but this will be quick. I really do have to go. Look at it this way — let's say you take a sheet of paper and draw a dot at the top of the paper . . . he paused to sip his coffee, and continue to eat as he spoke. Now, draw another dot at the bottom of that paper. Okay, now draw a line from the top dot to the bottom dot. Try to imagine the two dots are destinations, point A and point B, and the sheet of paper is outer space between those two destinations, like the distance from the Earth to the Moon. If we were in a spaceship traveling from point A, the Earth, at the top of the paper, and traveled along a straight line to the bottom dot, point B, the Moon, it would take a certain amount of time. That would be the way we normally travel through space — from one point to another. Does that make sense to you? He paused again to finish his coffee and wipe his mouth.

Yeah, that makes sense.

Now, imagine you had a way of folding space. In other words take the sheet of paper and fold it in half so the dots come together, one on top of the other. Now take your pencil, representing your spaceship, and poke it through both dots at the same time. That is roughly how a wormhole works. It folds space and time, and provides a way of traveling from one point to another, instantly. Do you understand? He got up from the table and kissed Kathy on the forehead, one hand cupping a perky breast.

Yeah, that makes sense, but how is space folded? She pushed his probing hand away, and picked up his empty plate and cup.

That, my lovely and beautiful wife, nobody knows. It's only theory and hasn't been proven or done by humans so far, but we believe any alien intelligence smart enough to design the nanobots, and send them all the way to Earth, might know how to construct wormholes. That's why we've been watching them all this time. Now, I've really got to get going. The call I just received was from the director of the Keck telescope in Hawaii and he said they lost track of the alien flotilla. He wants me to see if the Hubble is still tracking the ships. I'll probably be late getting home so don't wait up for me. I might be at Mission Control all night trying to find our friends in space. I'll call you later and let you know what's happening. See you later, he said to her back as she washed dishes.

Yeah, you do that. I'm used to spending nights alone. She turned and with a not so happy expression on her face, pulled her housecoat tight around her body and tied the sash with a flourish.

David pretended he didn't see her look of discontent as he turned to go to the bathroom while wondering if her pulling her housecoat closed was a hint of what wasn't going to happen when he got home.

Now in the bathroom, his mind was preoccupied. Lord, I hope our antagonistic neighbors haven't found a way to fold space, he thought, as he turned on the shower. I know we're supposed to be ready for them if they get here, but I'm not so sure we can overcome their technology. He tested the temperature of the falling water with an open hand. I think we were lucky the first time we tangled with their technology, but won't be so lucky a second time around.

As he showered, his thoughts returned to Kathy' remark about War of the Worlds and like her, however improbable, the thought worried him.

As he washed, his thoughts, also, returned to Kathy' open housecoat. I might be able to soften her up a little if I should happen to get home at a reasonable hour. Yeah, I'll bring home a nice bottle of wine — that should do it.

Chapter 2

DAY 1

ONBOARD A FLIGHT IN ROUTE TO AREA 51

I know, Phil. I was just like you when we were offered the positions at Area-51. I was excited and we both were young and didn't think about the reality of being tied to the damn place for eternity, Dorothy Keets said to her husband and fellow scientist as she absentmindedly twist her wedding band with her thumb as she often did when not occupied with something serious to contemplate.

Yeah, I agree, Dot. Philip looked down on the passing desert from his window seat on the 737 jumbo jet on the way to Edwards Air Force Base not far from the Area-51 complex. When Dr. Balicoft — God rest his soul — offered us a chance to be on the Area-51 science team and we actually contributed to saving the world by finding a way to neutralize the nanobots and we received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers as well as the Congressional Medals of Honor, our heads were so large we thought we owned the world.

We sure did, didn't we? Dorothy chuckled, remembering their Area-51 appointments. Do you remember how they paraded us in front of all those people in the White House, and how they offered us life long jobs with the government, and built our nice home in Las Vegas? We thought we had it made, didn't we? But I never stopped to think about having to fly to work every day on this damn plane. And I don't like flying. Not only that — look down there. I hate the desert. It's mostly brown and I like green. I miss Massachusetts. I miss having lots of green trees around. I sure didn't anticipating spending the next twenty years in this infernal heat and studying those horrible alien nanobots.

Yeah, me neither. Phil looked over his shoulder to find a flight attendant. But you do have to admit, we've got it made. Hey, they're paying us pretty well and we're able to send Cathy to MIT, and you know we wouldn't have been able to pay for her three hundred thousand dollar education without the nice wages we make.

No, don't get me wrong, Dot said, as she followed Phil's stare and looked around for an attendant. I'm happy we were able to give our daughter the chance to get her Doctorates in molecular physics and follow in our footsteps. I appreciate everything we've received, but I'm tired. I'm fed up with watching those nanobots and waiting for something to happen. If they haven't self-destructed and killed us and all the wildlife by now, I don't think they ever will. And even if they did, there is little we could do about it. Back then, we were lucky to find a way of neutralizing their effect on the animals' brains. I'm tired of living in Vegas and getting on this plane. I wish there was some other way to get to the complex without having to rush to catch this flight everyday. I'm tired, Phil and absolutely bored to death with my job. I'm sure they could find something else for us to do, besides, I don't think there's anything else we can learn about the bots. Their technology is so more advanced than ours we'll never understand them — so what's the point? You know what I want — I want to go back to Massachusetts and teach. I know the university would be more than overjoyed to have us return. And think about it — we could be near our daughter again. One thing's for sure — when Cathy gets her Doctorates, I'm going to make sure she doesn't go anywhere near Area-51.