Darkness on a Pale Blue Stone (12 page)

Alice looked over at Gresson. He was now paying full attention to the man. It seemed as if Gresson thought the man was telling the truth and that scared her. Gresson noticed Alice looking at him and said, "Alright, let's go." He grabbed Michael's shoulder and pulled him through the crowd, followed by the others.

"Is he... is anything he is saying the truth?" Sean asked.

Gresson did not answer. A few minutes later, they had put some distance between themselves and the larger crowd. While still not alone on the highway, they could now walk their own pace. Before they got much farther, however, Michael raised his hands and said, "Enough! Gresson, it's time we got some answers."

Gresson sighed and said, "There are no aliens killing people. We need to..."

"I don't think I believe you," Michael said, angrily.

"It does not matter what..." Gresson started to say, but running up to the group were several soldiers, all armed. Before they had a chance to move, they were surrounded.

One of the soldiers, an officer, walked up to Gresson and said, "Who the hell are you?"

Gresson, with simulated fear, said, "No, no, I... I just look like..."

"Bullshit," the officer said.

Gresson recognized the officer. He was a high-ranking general, though his current uniform did not display it. Gresson had seen him before in meetings with military higher-ups at the White House.

"General Sanders," Gresson said, returning to his normal, confident voice.

Sanders' attitude remained tense. "It seems you're not dead, Mr. President." He said the words slowly, struggling to come to terms with what he was seeing. "I saw you a bit up the road..."

"So you brought backup?" Gresson asked.

"I don't go anywhere alone these days. And it seems, neither do you."

"I'm just passing through."

Sanders shook his head. "With all due respect, we're all too much in the dark to let you go without getting some answers."

"I'm sorry, but..." Gresson started.

Sanders raised his rifle. Though he didn't aim it at Gresson, it was clear that he meant to get his way. "I'm sorry too. But you're going to have to come with me."

After a moment of looking over the surrounding soldiers, Gresson relented. Even if he and his group could take them out, killing soldiers next to the military hive that D.C. had become would not result in anything good. "Alright, general. We'll go with you."

"Good. Now if you all could hand over your weapons..." Sanders said. Lash and Gresson made it clear they had no intention of doing so.

"I thought this was going to be a friendly visit," Gresson said.

"You can never be too cautious," Sanders replied, his open palm waiting for Gresson's gun.

"No, you can't," Gresson said, aiming his pistol at Sanders. Lash followed suit with one of the soldiers near her. Using two hands, Jake raised his own as well, though he was far less confident than his companions.

The impasse lasted for a few moments. Others on the highway kept their distance, though most waited to watch what would unfold. "Very well," Sanders said begrudgingly. He lowered his gun and ordered the other soldiers to do the same.

Sanders and his soldiers led the group to downtown Washington D.C. It was in the process of becoming a fortress. Soldiers watched the perimeter of a barricaded hub, centered around the National Mall. The barricades blocked off most of the roads south of Massachusetts Avenue and west of 2nd Street. Sanders led the group through one of the few entrances. Once inside, the group could see that the south side of the Mall was still being barricaded. Soldiers were pushing cars and debris to block any roads. Outside one of the buildings, Sanders stopped.

"Your friends will need to stay here," he said.

"That is not going to happen," Gresson said.

"Look around you," Sanders replied. It was clear he was referring to the hundreds of soldiers in every direction. "And I'm not trusting the information we need to discuss with civilians."

Gresson replied, "If one of them gets hurt, all of you die."

Sanders appeared almost entertained by the threat.
Who exactly are you, Mr. Gresson?
he wondered.

Gresson looked at Lash. She nodded, silently taking the order to keep the others safe.

"Where to?" Gresson asked.

"Follow me," Sanders replied.

The others were led inside by a few of Sanders' accompanying soldiers. They reached a white room with a table, chairs, and a small window in it. The soldiers left, bolting the door behind them.

"Great," Jake moaned.

"They realize we still have guns, right?" Lash wondered aloud.

"Considering the weapons
they
have, I don't think they really care," Adam said.

Outside the building, Sanders led Gresson to the Capitol building. They took stairs to one of the basement levels. Special Forces soldiers paced in the hallway and guarded the entrance to one room in particular. Sanders led Gresson inside.

There was a large mahogany table surrounded by a few senators, representatives, and leaders of the military, most of whom Gresson recognized. They were in a heated discussion when Sanders interrupted.

"Everyone, it appears that someone has come back from the dead." He did not need to say who. Everyone at the table recognized Gresson and, in shock, stood up.

"Mr. President?" one of them asked.

Gresson nodded and took a seat at the table.  It took a minute for everyone to settle down, but once they had, Sanders turned to him and asked, "So, what do you know?"

Chapter 16

International Space Station - August 10, 2072

The scientists aboard the ISS had eventually found the problem that had caused everything to go dark and restored its systems. In the chaos following the events on Earth, Andre had forgotten his repairs. The unconnected wiring had led to a power surge which triggered a station-wide failsafe, something that wouldn't have happened if not for Andre being distracted, at least that was what the scientists assumed. The shutdown of their systems left them with limited data. The critical systems were back in a few hours, but it wasn't until a week later that all secondary systems were working again. The work was tedious, but the scientists almost welcomed the distraction.

With everything back on, they anxiously returned to their attempts to discover what was happening at home, though they now kept a watchful eye on the system's maintenance issues. The station was very old and it was only a matter of time before new problems arose.

Vadim discovered the first novel information about what was occurring on Earth. With haste, he pulled himself to the "Clarity" bay to deliver the news.

"I found something," he said. The others looked at him curiously, as his face was pale.

"What?" several of the scientists asked in unison.

"The anomaly scanner had picked up something just before the blackout happened." Vadim brought up the relative information on a display on the wall. The screen showed a digital overlay of Earth, the ISS, and the surrounding space.

Vadim took a deep breath. "This was just before." He pressed a button and the scientists gasped.

On the screen, the overlay was now playing at ten times the speed of realtime. According to the overlay, around 8:00 PM EST on August 4th, objects suddenly appeared just outside the Earth's atmosphere and immediately descended. There were hundreds of them and, according to the display, they were miles wide.

Vadim pressed one of the anomalies and the overlay gave an estimate on the object's shape. It was, undeniably, not an asteroid. The object had distant ridges and symmetry.

"My god," Jackie said. "That's a ship."

There was silence in the room as the scientists all stared at the monitor. There was no question. The objects were vessels of some kind and they had been on a path toward Earth just before all contact was lost.

Vadim nervously cleared his throat, then said, "I checked the trajectories. About a third of the objects headed directly toward the areas which are now the red fireballs on the surface." A few gasps followed.

One of the scientists, hoping to share some optimism, said, "Perhaps they crashed." After a pause, he added, "Not that that makes me feel much better."

"Even if they did, what about the other ships?" another said. Many of them shook their heads in despair.

"Do we know if this is accurate? I mean, maybe the failsafe corrupted the data," Jackie suggested.

Vadim shook his head. "I checked over this at least ten times to be sure."

"What do we do now?" a scientist asked. No one could muster an answer.

Andre moved over to the window. He could only imagine what was happening on the surface. Earth was burning, in nearly every sense of the word. Here he was, among the brightest human minds and on a state-of-the-art space station, and all he could do was watch.

Chapter 17

Washington D.C., August 10, 2012

It was hours before any of the soldiers returned to the white room where the group was being held. When they finally did, they brought food, water, and cots for sleeping.

"Wait, we're staying here until tomorrow?" Jake asked them, but got no reply. "Well, I didn't feel like walking anymore today anyways," he mumbled.

Lash listened at the door until she heard the soldiers leave the building. "Alright. It's time we figured out what's going on. There's gotta be some way out of here." She began to look around the room.

"Hey, I think we should just sit tight," Michael said. "There are a hundred soldiers just outside, probably on edge from everything going on. Besides, we have no idea where Gresson is now."

"They walked toward the Capitol when they left..." Adam said.

"Then that's gotta be where they are," Lash said.

"And how are you going to get over there?" Alice asked.

"Pretty soon, it'll be pitch black outside. I'm sure there will be fires set up, but not enough to cover the whole area," Lash said, now checking the walls for vents as the sun set outside the window. "Let's find a way out of this room, though, first." She only found vent, and it was too small for her to even fit her foot inside.

"I got an idea," Sean said. He walked over to one of the walls that had a large display panel hanging on it, something where holographic images could be displayed during meetings. It was shattered, probably fried during the blackout. Carefully, Sean pried it off the wall and carefully laid it on the floor.

"Pretty sure that thing doesn't work anymore, so I don't think it matters if you break it," Jake said.

"I want to make sure everything looks the same when we put it back," Sean said. He motioned to Lash and pointed at the wall. "You mind?"

She grinned, now understanding his plan. "Of course," she replied. She walked over and, with the butt of her shotgun, smashed a hole in the drywall between two wooden studs. She thrusted her gun again into the exposed insulation, making a hole all the way to the adjacent room. She broke away more drywall and insulation, making sure none of it fell into their room. Once the hole was big enough, she said, "Perfect."

The next room was dark, so Lash could not see what was in it, but she hoped its door was unlocked. "Ok, I'll be back."

"Hold up. You might need some help. Let me come too," Sean said.

"Fine by me. Just don't do anything stupid. All we're trying to do is figure out where Gresson is and what they're doing with him," Lash said. "Jake?"

"Eh, I'm alright. Gotta heal up and everything."

"I'll go," Adam said.

"No Adam. It's too dangerous," Michael said.

"I'll be fine, Dad," Michael's son bitterly replied.

"Adam, they can do this themselves," Alice said, reaching for her son's arm.

Adam sighed, held her hand, and said, "I'll be fine. The more of us there are, the more territory we can search."

"Adam..." Marie said desperately.

"You certainly can't go out there alone," Michael demanded.

"I can and I am," Adam said, gritting his teeth. He turned and climbed through the hole in the wall. "Let's go," he called back. Sean followed him.

Before Lash went through, Lucas grabbed her arm. "Here," he said, handing her a lighter. "For lighting your way. Not setting anything on fire."

Lash took the lighter with a chuckle. "Thanks." Turning to Michael, Alice, and Marie she said, "I'll keep him safe, don't worry." Then, she joined Adam and Sean in the next room.

"The door's over here," Adam said in the darkness.

Lash flipped on the lighter and joined him at the door. Lash gave the lighter to Sean and pulled out her gun. She quietly opened the unlocked door.

The hallway was empty and light streamed in from a window in the door at the front of the building. The three of them slowly walked down the hallway, passing the door to their original room. The bolt-lock appeared to have been added recently, apparently making it a provisional holding cell.

Lash crept over to the door to the outside. Looking through the window, she saw one soldier standing guard outside, along with countless others roaming the area. She quietly stepped backwards and regrouped with Sean and Adam.

"We need to find another door," she whispered. They made their way down the dark hallway, using the lighter to see.

"There," Adam whispered. He pointed to an 'Exit' sign hanging over a door. They went through and found a small stairwell. There was another door next to them with a window, similar to the door on the opposite side of the building. Lash peered through.

"Okay. Let's wait until it gets a bit darker," she said. They all sat on the stairs and waited for the sun to set completely.

"So, Adam. Why are you so desperate to put yourself in danger?" Lash asked.

"My family needs someone we can trust to protect us. Ironically, I trust Gresson more than the army at the moment. And just because I'm younger than most of you doesn't mean I can't help. I'm more than capable of defending myself." Adam pulled out a pistol he had tucked in his pants. It was Damien's. Adam had taken it after the shoot-out near Baltimore.