Red the First (10 page)

“
Oh, God,” Elizabeth said,
losing the link and all the spit in her mouth at the same time.
“Someone, get me more water.”

Jerome filled her glass and offered the
general a piece of pie, which he accepted.

“
General Moore is totally
sincere, Red,” Elizabeth whispered aside. “He’s telling us the
truth as far as he sees it.”

“
Are you sure?”

“
I’m sure he believes it,
but I’m not sure if it’s true.”

“
Huh?”

“
Crazy people don’t know
they’re crazy, but he’s totally sincere. Boy, do I hope he’s
totally insane.” She paused only a second. “But he’s not, Red. I’ve
never encountered a more rational mind.”

“
What brings you to Hewego,
General?” Father Bob inquired.

“
The destruction of
mankind.”

The pen she was holding snapped in
half. Ink splattered, but not very far. Elizabeth whimpered, and
went to get a tissue.

“
Indeed,” Father Bob said,
giving her a look of conern. “And by the grace of God those of us
that were spared are working to restore what was lost.”

“
I am not referring to the
carnage left by the plague,” the general said. “I mean the
destruction that’s yet to come.”

“
I don’t follow,” Father Bob
said. “Hewego is just beginning.”

“
You will not finish what
you have started. There isn’t much time, so this is what needs to
happen…”

Doc interjected, his skepticism
unhidden by his pronounced accent. “You claim to be a general from
a governmental branch we’ve never heard of—and you come without
proof of that status—why should we accept anything you say as
truth?”

All eyes focused on the general. His
lips had disappeared into a tight line. “I will explain myself
once, and only once, so kindly refrain from
interrupting.”

Doc folded his arms over his chest, but
said no more.

“
Folks, if you don’t already
know by now, we are not alone in the universe. And the government
hid that information from you until its own demise. The Department
of Extraterrestrial Affairs was so clandestine that for a very long
time only the United States Presidents, and those directly involved
in the agency’s operation, knew about it. The department didn’t
exist in computer files or on paper. Information concerning its
presence is…” The general swallowed hard and then cleared his
throat. “…was passed around one way, and one way only:
verbally—making it nearly impossible for unauthorized agents to
steal or download.”

Elizabeth sopped up the ink, trying to
avoid eye contact with anyone in the room. The council wasn’t
buying the general’s story. They thought the general was a loon.
The thing was the general
knew
they thought he was a loon,
but he was banking on one man’s acceptance. And that was
Red’s.

“
That’s the government for
ya.” Farmer Morningside grunted and scratched his stomach. How that
man worked so hard, breaking his back from sunup to sundown every
single day, yet maintained a massive beer belly, was a complete
mystery to Elizabeth.

The general glanced at Farmer
Morningside, studied him a moment, and then continued his
narration.

“
In 1939, a branch devoted
to furthering our awareness of extraplanetary races was formed. Its
funding has waxed and waned over the years, but it got a big boost
in 1969 when intelligence gathered by the friendlies indicated that
the Celerun threat was closer than previously thought.”

“
What the hell are
friendlies?” Farmer Morningside asked.

“
Friendlies are what our
agents out in the field call helpful alien life forms.”

“
If they’re so friendly, why
don’t they take care of the Celeruns for us?” Red asked.

“
Who says they haven’t
tried? The friendlies are aliens who fled their own worlds after
the Celeruns took over.”

“
If worlds more advanced
than ours can’t fight the Celeruns, what can we possibly do?” Red
wanted to know.

“
I’m glad you asked, but
first let me tell you something. It’s undeniably true that the
Celeruns have superior technology, but they are only slightly more
intelligent than us.

“
Never underestimate them
though. They’re an old race and have thousands of years of
experience to draw upon. But it’s not their technology or
intelligence that has conquered superior species, it’s something
much more basic.”

The cynical attitude of the council
hung in the air like an anvil ready to drop. Farmer Morningside,
Veronica, Dr. Patel, and Jerome all leaned back in their seats,
arms crossed in front of them. Only curiosity kept them in their
seats.

“
The Celeruns’ weapon is
reproduction,” General Moore said. “They are so prolific, and so
completely focused on spreading their DNA across the cosmos, that
their sheer numbers have overwhelmed species intellectually and
technologically superior to themselves.”

“
In other words, they breed
like cockroaches,” Red said.

“
Or weeds,” said Farmer
Morningside.

“
You’re both correct,” the
general said. “The Celeruns are a mixture of both plant and
animal.”

“
Bah!” Veronica let out a
disgruntled hiss. “I can’t believe any of you can take him
seriously. I have better things to do than waste my time talking
about little green men from outer space.”

Jerome held up his hands to Veronica,
indicating that he shared her sentiment, but that he was helpless
to end the meeting.

The general ignored the two of them.
When Elizabeth returned to her seat, he locked eyes with her, as if
she were the only one in the room.

“
You see, Mrs. Wakeland, the
plague wasn’t the work of any earthly nation, but of the Celeruns.
The government has been aware of the Celeruns for decades, but
believed them content to observe us from a distance. Then, back in
1969, the friendlies paid Earth a call, mainly just to warn us that
the Celeruns had their eyes on us. Some administrations took the
warning quite seriously, others brushed it off, so preparations for
an invasion have been haphazard. This last administration realized
the gravity of the threat, but Congress refused to fund the defense
project during the economic downturn. While politicians hemmed and
hawed, BAM,” he slapped the piece of pie, sending its contents
oozing over the table. “The Celeruns squashed the human
race.”

The general scanned the room as he
wiped his hand on a napkin, eyes traveling from face to face,
gauging their reactions.

Red shifted uncomfortably, wiping a
splatter of pie off his cheek with his finger. “Um, what do these
Celeruns look like?”

“
Information is
limited.”

“
Do they have green skin,
kind of hard and ribbed like celery?”

The general nodded.

“
Are their eyes pink like
roses suspended in glass paperweights?”

“
Apt, Red, but their eye
color can change from white to deepest red, depending on the
season.”

“
Green skin.” Veronica
winked at Red, as she flicked a pie crumb off of her blouse. “Of
course. Do they have antennas too?”

Water shot out of Professor
Linkletter’s nose. “I
am
sorry, everyone,” she apologized,
still giggling. “I just can’t help it.”

Elizabeth didn’t need special mind
reading powers to sense her husband’s unease. His jaw was clenched
and frustration took the form of sweat beads on his upper lip. She
found his hand underneath the table, giving it a squeeze. That’s
when she realized her own hand was shaking.

“
These Celeruns are
responsible for the plague that killed my first husband and our two
little boys?” She tried very hard not to lose emotional control in
front of the council, but her voice broke in half at the
end.

“
Yes.”

The information was difficult to wrap
her mind around. Aliens had killed everyone she loved with no more
emotion than a human might feel when spreading herbicide over
crabgrass. Now they wanted to kill her second family as well. If
there were any other mind readers in the room, they’d see a woman
teetering between a mountain of anger and a valley of
tears.

She closed her eyes and lowered her
head.

“
And they will destroy the
rest of you if you refuse to listen.” The general didn’t let up.
This was a bombing mission: fly in and drop the news, then continue
on his way. She saw his mind drawing maps as he spoke. He was
already planning the next leg of his trip.

“
You see, ladies and
gentlemen, H. G. Wells wasn’t just an author, he was a prophet. It
is only the sheer numbers of bacteria and virii extant on Earth
that is keeping extraterrestrials off-planet, studying us from
afar. Not even the most advanced races can find a way to immunize
themselves against all of Earth’s infectious agents.

“
Celeruns are an exception;
cosmic travelers by nature, they’ve been exposed to every mutant
bacterium and virus you can possibly imagine. They’re one of the
few species to have a hardier immune system than
humans.”

“
In
War of the
Worlds
, the common cold stopped the aliens,” Professor
Linkletter said. “Why don’t we just sneeze on the Celeruns and end
the invasion right here and now?”

General Moore glared at her. “I don’t
appreciate your condescension.” Professor Linkletter’s jaw dropped
and she gasped in indignation. “If you had listened instead of
giggling like a tween girl, you would realize the abysmal depths of
stupidity that would give birth to that question. When the Celeruns
engineered the plague, they underestimated what it would take to
kill every single one of us.”

“
Hurrah for us,” Dr. Patel
said with an eyeroll.

“
After the plague ran its
course, the Celerun prep teams were unpleasantly surprised to find
remnants of humanity still hanging on. Now they’ve changed
tactics.”

“
Their tactics entail what?”
Red asked.

“
Sweep us out with ground
troops.”

“
Using soldiers with guns?”
Elizabeth gasped.

“
Possibly guns, but any
weapon will do as long as the end result is death.”

“
The plague happened a few
years ago.” Red inquired. “Why did they wait so long to finish us
off?”

“
The distance between solar
systems with planets upon which the Celerun could live, combined
with the vastness of their empire mean that simple communications
take time, combined with the time needed to transit between solar
systems. True, they’ve been aware of us for nearly one hundred
years, but the Celeruns are very cautious about how they do this.
First, they sent probes. Once they received data that the Earth
could support their life, they sent vessels filled with Celerun
observation teams and scientists. Finally, the made contact with
Earth’s governments. That did not go so well. That’s when they
decided to send us the plague.”

The council grew quiet. Professor
Linkletter thought she was too old to entertain the idea of aliens.
She’d quit listening a few minutes ago. Right now she was thinking
about how to find copies of
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
for
the eighth graders. Farmer Morningside dismissed the general’s
claims outright and was mad at him for wasting a perfectly good
piece of pie. Veronica and Dr. Patel didn’t buy the alien story for
a minute. Jerome still considered it a possibility, but didn’t want
to look like a jackass in front of Veronica. Elizabeth knew that
Jerome secretly lusted after Veronica. The feeling wasn’t
mutual.

“
Next,” General Moore said,
“When they thought we were nice and dead, they sent prep teams to
ready the Earth for Celerun settlement. But that didn’t go so well
either, so they sent cleansing teams, which brings us to where we
are now.” He paused to take a long swig of water. Wiping his mouth
with a fastidiously starched and folded handkerchief, he
continued.

“
As I speak, the cleansing
teams are concentrated in Asia, but they won’t stop there. Soon, an
entire fleet will arrive in North America. Their job is to ensure
everything is secured before the main attraction sets down—the
mother ship.

“
It’s a massive vessel,
holding ten million or more Celerun settlers, and it’s not the only
Celerun mother ship in the universe. The friendlies say the
Celeruns have a hundred mother ships, constantly searching for new
worlds to settle.”

“
That’s a scary thought,”
Red said.

“
Isn’t it, though?” The
general agreed. “Celeruns are a patient and careful
species.”

“
If they wanted us gone,”
Farmer Morningside asked, “why didn’t they blow us up in one
shebang?”

“
Weapons of that magnitude
would kill everything, including essential microorganisms in the
soil and air. They despise humans, but they love the Earth and want
to make it their own. When civilization failed, our manufacturing,
chemical, and nuclear power plants failed.” The general held his
thumb and index finger an inch apart. “Our own technology brought
us this close to Armageddon, but the Celeruns rushed in to cap the
spills, dismantle the plants, and clean up the environment. The
Earth hasn’t been this clean since the days of Eden.”