“They swore to uphold the civilian government,” Toby pointed out. “Do you think they should turn their guns on Congress just because they find their orders unpalatable?”
The Colonel snorted, but said nothing else. “Besides,” Toby added, “there is a disquieting set of developments in military matters. A number of army officers attended a seminar on one of the alien bases. Apparently, it was to discuss the Galactic Federation’s military role…”
“And I thought they were pacifists,” the Colonel said. “Now they admit to having a military…”
“And they have since been confirmed as officers who will be retained by our much-reduced military,” Toby continued, ignoring his father’s interruption with the ease of long practice. “All of them have been willing to talk endlessly about how wonderful the Federation is and how we should be grateful for the chance to grow into a mature race — under the benevolent protection of the Snakes, of course.”
He waited to see if his father would draw the correct conclusion. “They’re being brainwashed,” the Colonel snarled. “God damn it — doesn’t anyone even realise that they’re being turned into alien serfs?”
Toby shook his head. “That’s not the only thing they have in common,” he added. “They’re almost all unmarried, which suggests that there won’t be anyone close enough to them to notice any alarming difference. In fact, most of them have few friends or allies…”
“But they can still give orders and be obeyed,” the Colonel said. “Unless they give an illegal order, who is going to question them?”
“The noose is tightening,” Toby agreed. “I’ve started something that might give the aliens a shock, but I think we need to work faster when it comes to collecting and storing war material. Now we can ensure that General Thomas isn’t being watched by the aliens, we can start using him to contact a number of officers. If we’re careful, we might be able to start stockpiling war material without the aliens catching on.”
The Colonel looked up at him. “And if one of those officers has been brainwashed?”
“We’re dead,” Toby said, simply. The whole issue was turning into a frightening nightmare, one without a parallel in human history. Anyone could be brainwashed into supporting the aliens, turning men and women with unimpeachable records into traitors who would betray their country — and escape suspicion until they carried out their work. The security vetting system had been badly broken in the past, but this was much worse. Who could they trust?
The aliens could watch anywhere, listen in to all communications… the slightest mistake might betray the resistance to their enemies. And then the cells would be wiped out, one by one. And then… perhaps the aliens would reveal their true nature? And perhaps then it would be too late.
“They’re not all-powerful,” Gillian said, sharply. “They can do things we can’t, sure. They have a more advanced technological base than ours. But we’re not as far behind them as we thought. Their bugs aren’t too different from those on the drawing board, their transmitters are not too far ahead of our own microburst transmitters… they’re not gods.”
“They don’t need to be gods,” Toby said, sourly. “They have seventeen starships hanging over our heads. Why are they fucking around with us when they could just bombard us into submission and take the surrender of whoever is left when the rubble stops falling?”
“Maybe they can’t,” the Colonel said. “Or maybe they’re so advanced that they regard us with almost-total contempt. They may not consider us capable of matching them, or of seeing through their deceptions. I’ve seen that sort of arrogance before; the people who have it think that no one is as smart as them, or that anything they do is automatically smarter than anything anyone else can do. I wonder if they expect us to be able to understand their toys, or if they’re giving us tech confident that we lack the knowledge to understand it, let alone improve on the design.”
“Maybe,” Toby said. He thought, briefly, of all the gifts the Galactic Federation had given humanity. A food producer was helping to feed the homeless in Manhattan. A water purifier was helping to produce water in Africa. And fusion power was starting to allow fission plants to be shut down, at least until they could decide what to do with them. And if the aliens had come in peace, how much could the human race have learned from them? “I hope you’re right.”
“So do I, boy,” the Colonel said. “So do I.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Washington DC
USA, Day 45
Jayne looked down at the notepad with an expression of irritation. She had never fully appreciated how the legendary reporters of yesteryear had coped without word processors, laptop computers and even palmtop personal assistants. They’d had to scribble out their stories in shorthand and score out any errors, rather than simply pressing the delete key and retyping the section. Her hand was aching after writing out four versions of her story, each one of which hadn’t been good enough for the internet. But at least no one could hack into a sheet of paper.
She looked down at the paper and scowled to herself. It wouldn’t be easy to read, but it should be difficult — in theory — for the aliens to even realise it was there, let alone read it unless someone pointed it out to them. The text would be scanned into a computer and then uploaded as a JPG image, stored on a hundred different file servers. It was a fairly simple trick often used to outsmart child protection software on the internet and, she hoped, it would serve her purposes as well. Scowling, she started one final read through of the paper. As long as it was legible, she’d accept the flames she was likely to get if anyone found out she’d written the article.
It has been a truly remarkable week. The human race has started its advance towards joining the Galactic Federation and reaching the stars. All over the world, small amounts of alien technology — with more promised soon — are already improving the lives of hundreds of thousands of humans. We have been promised far more benefits to come, from access to the boundless resources of space to a clean and safe environment for our children. And we have responded. In every city, the Witnesses flock to show our gratitude to the Galactics and the Welcome Foundation is opening buildings that will allow us to feast our eyes on the glory of alien technology. It is a bright new day.
The question we should ask ourselves is simple. Why are the Galactics really here?
Others online have questioned their reasons for visiting Earth. Many of those posters are now dead. It seems that our vaunted law enforcement departments have more important things to do than putting together what — I believe — is a murder case against the Galactics. Consider this; nineteen people who spoke out against the aliens are dead. There appears to be nothing linking the nineteen together — and certainly more than nineteen people have been murdered in the same time period — except one thing. They all spoke out against the aliens. And if we didn’t see this before the attack on General Thomas, who resigned his commission rather than accept the effective dismantling of much of our country’s military, we should certainly see it now. The attack on General Thomas was a blatant slap in the face for those of us who have eyes to see. Who benefits from the deaths? The Galactics.
Ah, you might say; it is nothing more than a coincidence. To which I would reply; pull the other one, it’s got bells on. If nineteen people are dead, all of whom had one trait in common, is it not logical to suggest that that single trait was why they were targeted? I believe that if ten young African-American girls were to be targeted, the police and FBI would deduce that the killer’s primary targets are young black women, instead of saying that the deaths had nothing in common. So why the fear to draw the line between the deaths? I ask you; who does it benefit?