Invasion
Chapter 5

Back attheir base, the soldiers are preparing for something: something massive.General Edward Leichthammer addresses his soldiers with calm determination.“Gentleman, gentleman, and ladies, the time has come as the object near itsapproach. We must be ready for its arrival. After we harness this power, wewill stabilize this world.” The soldiers cheer at his words, raising their armsand guns into the air, ready to follow him to the end. Dr. Edwards approaches him.“It’s almost time, sir.” “Very good.” He goes outside to the balcony andreminisces about the day they discovered it.

Theywere still in Arlington, Virginia that day. Edward remembers the moment Dr. Edwardshad approached him at the Pentagon as he was walking down the hallway; JulianEdwards is a brilliant and noted astrophysicist and one of the best in hisfield. He respects Edward, both as a scientist and as a soldier, and is loyalto him—though he suffers from a bit of anxiety problems, especially when itcomes to killing innocent people. He told Edward that he just made an amazingdiscovery; he hadn’t told anyone else, of course. He rerouted the data to hisprivate server and deleted the files. “What is it Dr. Edwards?! This better beimportant.” “It is, sir. Follow me.” They both went to his private quarterswhere he showed Edward his replaceings. “I detected it last night, sir. A massiveobject seems to be heading towards us moving at speeds up to 3 times 10 to thethird km per second and is around 4 km in size. Initially, I thought that itwould pass miles outside of Earth’s orbit. But then I discovered that thisobject is not following a free-fall trajectory, sir. And so, I began someanalysis on the object. Initial readings indicate that this object containshigh concentrations of energy: energy that we can harvest and use, sir,” thedoctor explained it to him enthusiastically. “Interesting… Very good, doctor. Iam impressed.” “Thank you, sir.” “Do you know where this object will land?”“Yes, sir. I’ve calculated a path based on its speed, trajectory, and theEarth’s current position and speed as it revolves around the Sun. It will landsomewhere in Moscow in 6-7 days, sir.” “Very well. Pack up your things, doctor.We are going on a vacation,” he said as he walked away, “rally the troops!” “Yes,sir,” he turns around. “And bring the fragment!” he orders him as he opens thedoor, “and the machine.” “Sir? How would we be able to do that?” he asked. Heturned back around, “Put them in cargo, doctor. Only bring the necessary parts.We can build a makeshift one in Moscow.“

“But—“

“Is itpossible, doctor?!”

“Well,technically, yes. But it wouldn’t be perfect—“

“It doesn’thave to be beautiful, doctor, as long as it works. Make it so.” He left and closedthe door. “He turns back around to look at his screen, “Yes, sir.”

The nextmorning, the preparations were complete. Edward and Julian were walking towardstheir helicopter as the wings repelled and accelerated the air around it.Dozens of helicopters lift off and they headed for Moscow, carrying soldiers,vehicles and, tanks. “Uh, sir? What exactly is the plan?” Julian asked,nervously, “I mean, Moscow is the capital of the country. There are millions ofpeople, including the president.” He chuckled, “You’re anxiety is amusing,doctor. The answer is simple: Occupation.” “Sir??” he asked, worried. “Well,that would work, but it would be harder and much more complicated than it hasto be. We want to be quiet, so instead, we will use these,” he explained,pointing to the stash of nerve gas they brought. “We’re going to killeveryone??!” “No, doctor. The other gas.” “Ohhh,” he laughed nervously, “sleepinggas. Right.” He stopped laughing, “What are the nerve gases for then?”

“For emergencies,doctor. Now will you kindly relax, please?”

“Uh--uhh...ye--yes,sir. Ummm, you do know, sir, that the sleeping gas will only last for a shortwhile.”

“Plentyof time for us to assimilate. Do not worry, doctor. Have you compared thefragment we have to the object? Do they correspond?”

“Uh, no,sir. I’ve triple checked.” “Hmm, very well.” As they approached Moscow, thesoldiers prepared to release the gas. “Gas masks on!” Edward ordered everyone. Thepeople of Moscow were just going about their daily lives when they heard thesound of helicopters getting closer. It swooshed above them, releasing cloudsof gas. As the people screamed and panicked, the gas began to affect them, andthey all slowly fell to the ground. They released the gas to multiple parts ofthe city as the rest dispersed to everywhere else. Soon, the entire city hadfallen asleep and they could safely land. They used the massive, abandoned centralmall as their base, which also contains various, deep underground passages; theyunloaded all their equipment and started setting up. He ordered most of thehelicopters around the city to set up a perimeter and the vehicles to be putinside. “Ummm, sir? You do realize that at the speed that this object is going,when it impacts, it’s going to sterilize Moscow.” “Of course, doctor.” “Thenagain, it could explode in mid-air before impact, in which it will only destroya lot of buildings and structure…and only MOST of the people. A spare few mightsurvive.” “Yes, yes. But, let’s not alert the men. I do not need ‘talking’among them right now. Understand, doctor?” “Yes, sir. I understand. But, what Imeant was,” he spoke nervously, nervous chuckle, “if we stay here, we’re goingto die too.” “No, we will not,” Edward told him, relaxed. “These undergroundpassages are deep enough to protect us.” “But, the soldiers outside wi--“ “AREexpendable, doctor. Understand? “But--but--“ “No more questions about this. Ihave already planned for everything. So, please, again, relax.” “Yeah, yeah. Okay,”he took a deep breath.

As hereminisces, Dr. Edwards approaches him and tells him that it’s time. They bothgo inside and head down to their underground bunker. The big monitor at thecenter shows the countdown before the object arrives. “Alright, men. This isit. This is the moment we’ve been waiting for,” the general tells his men. Theyall prepare for the impact and one of the operators begin the countdown. “10...9... 8... 7.... 6... 5... 4...” he closes his eyes, “3... 2... 1!” Silencefills the air… Nothing happened. No boom from the surface above, no cracks, andno shaking around the room; everything is still. They get confused andarguments ensue. Some let out a sigh of relief, some argue that it happened,but they just couldn’t hear it, and some say that the timer was wrong, etc.Screaming filled the room. Julian skims through his notes, looking confused,searching for any signs of mistakes he might have made. Edward could only lieagainst the railing with his two hands and his head down, looking irritated anddisappointed. He then yells out, “Siiiiillleeeeeennncccee!!!” The whole roombecame quiet. He turns to Julian, “Ok, doctor. What just happened? Where is theobject??!!” “Uh--uh, we--well, I don’t know, sir,” he replies nervously. “Well,then, check the readings!!! Check the monitor!!! Check everything!!!!” “Wait,sir,” speaks one of the operators, “I just got a reading from one of oursatellites. It confirms that the object is still in its approach.” “Well, thenwhere is it??!!” he asks in frustration. “Ummm, it appears to be slowing down,sir.” “What? It’s slowing down??” asks Julian, confused. “The object has now reachedfull stop, sir,” explains the operator, “it appears to have attached itself toa geo-synchronous orbit. Energy readings are off the charts.” “What the hell isthis thing?” asks one of the soldiers. “I don’t know, son,’ Julian says, feelinguneasy, “but, whatever it is. It’s not a meteor nor asteroid.” An uneasyfeeling also filled the soldiers; something doesn’t feel right; something’swrong. The room went silent again as everyone contemplates what is happening. Buzz!!!A static buzzing sound emanates from their radio; a voice can be heard. “Hello?Hello? General Leichthammer? Sir, are you there? This is Whiskey 2-6.” Edwardsnaps out of his rumination and walks towards the radio. “Uh, yes, Whiskey 2-6.We hear you loud and clear. What is the problem?” “Umm, sir. You might want tocome outside. There’s uhhh...there’s something you really need to see.” Static!He immediately cuts off. Confused, he orders everyone to go outside to check.

Whenthey all reached outside, they start to slow down as they look up to the sky tosee hundreds of glowing bluish orbs slowly falling from the sky…everywhere.Beautiful to behold, a sense of calm fills the soldiers. Takashi and Olivia, stillat the Red Square sharing a kiss, also notice the light; they stop and look upto all the light. “What is that?” Olivia asks. “I don’t know,” Takashi replies.One of the orbs falls in the middle of the square and they slowly approach it;another one falls near the soldiers and they too walk closer to it. They stopbefore they reach it, afraid of what it is. Though one of the soldiers braveshimself and slowly approaches to touch it. The orb starts to glow brighter andbegins to take shape. Confused, the soldier continues to stare at it. Suddenly,without warning, it turns into a huge, scaly creature—roaring—with fourtentacles sprouting from its back; one of its tentacles quickly grabs thesoldier’s foot and he disintegrates right before their eyes. The creature then letsout another loud roar and everyone panics and runs away.

All theorbs begin turning into creatures and chase after them. One-by-one the soldiersget disintegrated and the remaining ones, in a panic, start shootingeverywhere. But they prove to be resilient and tough as only a few of theirbullets managed to breach their armored skin. Takashi and Olivia hear theensuing chaos and wonders what the hell’s going on. Their orb begins to glowbrighter as well and eventually transforms into a creature. It charges at them,but Olivia quickly, using her reflex, repels the beast using her power and theyboth hastily fly to safety. Panic and chaos continues while Edward and Julianadmire the creatures. “Incredible, aren’t they, doctor?” “Yes. Amazing. Indeedour first ever, definite proof that we are not alone. And they walk uprighttoo.” As they continue admiring them, unaware of the chaos around them, CaptainMatthews manages to reach them and snaps them out of it. “Sir!! Sir!!!! Snapout of it!!” he screams to them. “Huh, huh? Uh, yes, captain.” “GeneralLeichthammer, Dr. Edwards, we have to get out of here, now!” “Agreed. Let’sgo.” “Follow me, sir. You men form a perimeter! Protect the general and the doctor!!Sir, we have to get to the chopper!” “You mean that helicopter, captain?” Julian asks as he points to the crashinghelicopter being attacked by the creatures. He exclaims, “Fuck!” and suggeststhat they head back to the bunker. As they run, Julian sees a creature shiftingfrom solid form to energy form and realizes that they are energy-based lifeforms that feed off electrical energy; they also begin feeding off the sleepingpeople. One of the soldiers grabs a M32 40mm Grenade Launcher and fires oneround at a creature; an explosive payload is released from the barrel andswooshes through the air with a trail of smoke behind. It hits and explodeswith glorious fireworks. The force of the explosion was actually enough todamage it as it begins to bleed—its blood, yellowish in color with luminescence,flows out of its chest. The soldier fires another one and hits it yet again,knocking the creature back this time. As the creature, injured, struggles toget up, the other soldiers continue firing with their M27 and SCAR-L assaultrifles and Remington 870 MCS shotguns. They are currently using 5.56x45mm NATOanti-personnel rounds, which are not very good against armor, but are enough,thanks to the wounds the creature already sustained; they succeed in killing it.

One ofthe soldiers approaches the creature with a shotgun and unloads a buck to itsface, ensuring its death. Takashi and Olivia witness all the chaos below themas they fly above through the air. One of the creatures jumps to Takashi andthey both go down. “Arrghh!” he exclaims, falling to the roof of a building; theyhit it and roll across. The creature gets back up and lets out a roar beforecharging towards him. Olivia quickly flies down and slams into the creature,knocking it down and dragging it across the roof, nearly falling to the edge.She punches the creature, but then screams out in pain, as its skin is armorhard. The creature swings one of its tentacles in front of her and knocks herback with great force to the wall. It gets back up and starts charging atOlivia. Takashi tries to pick himself up, but another creature appears fromabove and is about to punch him; he quickly repels himself away to avoid it asit strikes the ground, but it suddenly grabs his leg using one of its tentacles,swings him to other side, and smashes him to the floor. It gives another try atlanding a punch, but Takashi quickly stops it using his telekinesis. Oliviaregains herself, shaking her head in slight dizziness, and notices the creaturecharging at her and speedily flies off, avoiding it just in time. It smashesthrough the wall and falls to the apartment below. Takashi repels its hands andshockwaves the creature off the roof. He takes a moment to catch his breath,but suddenly four tentacles emerge from below—smashing through the roof floor—andwrap his body, pulling him through the roof; the creature pulls him down andsuspends him in mid-air. It then sends an electrical current through itstentacles to electrocute him. “Aaaaarrrggghhhh!!!” he screams in pain. Thealien stops its attack, as he appears to have passed out. As it prepares to absorbhis energy, he suddenly wakes up and telekinetically repulses the creature withgreat force, all the force he has, sending it through the wall, ripping all ofits tentacles in the process as well as destroying most of the apartment: thewindows and TV shatter, the floor bends and cracks, and furniture is repelled. Hefalls down and hits the floor and tries to regain his energy, tries to wake up.Olivia floats back down and looks through the hole. “Hey, are you ok??” sheasks him. Gasping, “I’m fine,” he replies.

Backon the ground, Edward, Julian and Samuel have reached the bunker and arepreparing to close and lock the main door. The soldiers cheer at their victory,but it is short-lived, as more creatures seem to emerge. Things look bad, but twoassault helicopters miraculously appear and unloads their minigun and missilesat the creatures; a bright stream of bullets is released from the minigun’s barrel,hitting the creatures with sheer force. Sounds of missiles whooshing throughthe air can be heard—leaving behind trails of smoke everywhere—hitting the creatures,and the ground, and some cars, igniting a huge explosion. The soldiers arethrown back from the force, but they’re able to successfully kill two of the creaturesand wound one as the rest shifts back to energy form and retreats; they appearto be invulnerable at this state, but are also unable to attack—it’s a good defensemechanism. The wounded creature gets up and almost attacks them, but is suddenlykilled by Edward with a shotgun. The soldiers rejoice at their success. One ofthem quickly informs the others of what they know: to use explosives first andthen finish them off with bullets. The other soldiers throughout the cityreceive this information and start grabbing their grenade launchers and RPGsand eventually, successfully, repel the horde of creatures. Julian and Samuelwalk back outside to join them, congratulating the men. Edward contacts theothers for a report on the situation: they report that the creatures are indeedretreating…for now, at least. “Hmph. They’ll be back,” he deduces. But, fornow, they can breath a sigh of relief. The city becomes quiet again with onlythe sound of the helicopters hovering in the air heard; they have lost a lot ofgood men and take off their hats or helmets in respect. “Alright, men. I wanteveryone to form a perimeter! And I expect hourly reports of everything thathappens! I don’t care if what you saw was a rat passing by a cheese!Understood?!” “Sir, yes, sir,” the soldiers answer in unison. “Very good! Carryon. Doctor, let us return inside. I would like to have a word.” “Yes, sir.”