A deep voice came through on the radio as the broadcast switched to another anecdotal testimony from what was intended to be the average man.
“For the past decade, I’ve been flying from Miami to Dallas on business at least once a month, but I ain’t never seen anything like this, even during the hurricane season. Yesterday, there were three of us. Three people on a plane designed for three hundred. Hell, there were more stewards than there were passengers. We joked around that we should serve them the drinks. It’s crazy, man. Ever since this thing turned up, the whole country’s been spooked.”
“We can’t get our grain to market,” another voice said, a woman talking over the sound of heavy machinery whirring in the background. “We’ve had a few trucks through, but those drivers are pulling eighteen-hour shifts, working through all the farms in this region. The rest of the drivers haven’t been seen for dust. I called the distributor, but the phone just rings out. I’ve been talking to the factory, and they say they’ve got surplus for a week or so in the silos, so they ain’t too worried, but they can’t get enough hands on the factory floor. They’re getting stuff out the door, but even just a small drop in supply causes demand to skyrocket. It’s all out of balance.”
The reporter spoke in somber tones.
“US officials are understandably cagey when discussing possible military tactics in the wake of alien contact, and the presence of US fighters conducting daily flights over major US cities is intended more for human attention than as a show of force for the extraterrestrials. NASA officials have confirmed what is described as a ‘close working relationship’ and ‘cooperation’ with the Army, Air Force, Marines and the Navy, but what that means in practice is yet to be seen. Speculation is rife.”
“There is the nuclear option,” a stern voice opted, and Bower got the impression that whoever was talking was ex-military. “While that thing was out by the Moon it was untouchable, but if we can see her in orbit we can reach her. All we need to do is weaponize our existing rocket fleet, just like the President suggested. He’s our Commander-in-Chief, we voted him in, we need to follow him. I believe in President Addison. He’s a good man. The Supreme Court has no right to suspend democracy because a bunch of left-wing liberals don’t have the balls to make the hard decisions. We will rue the day we let Congress impeach the man for defending our liberty. Nukes are all we’ve got against these alien critters. If we don’t shoot first, we won’t be able to shoot at all.”
“Others, though, disagree,” the reporter said. “They point out that the use of nuclear weapons in space is likely to be counterproductive.”
“Nuclear weapons,” said another male voice in sober, measured tones, “liberate massive amounts of energy. They’re spectacular on Earth. A flash of blinding light, a hail of radioactive particles, and the blast wave; a wall of superheated wind and debris, but space is full of radiation and energy already. It’s a hostile environment. In space, thermonuclear detonations are nothing more than a mini-star shining but for a second. They’re largely ineffective because there’s nothing to compress. If we were to detonate a nuke on the alien craft the electromagnetic pulse would take out any nearby satellites, say within a thousand kilometer radius, and we could end up losing valuable communication satellites or GPS capabilities for our military here on Earth. Whether we would cause any damage to the alien craft is debatable. From what NASA has observed, the alien shielding is capable of dissipating nuclear fusion, so it’s unlikely anything we could throw at them is going to even scratch the surface, let alone cause a mortal wound. Nukes just aren’t the silver bullet everyone thinks they are.”
Another voice cut in, a woman’s voice.
“This isn’t the movie Independence Day, there’s no hero to save us by shooting coke cans off the side of a UFO. If it comes to a fight, it’s probably going to be over very quickly and the outcome will be one sided. The aliens have adopted a polar orbit instead of circling above the equator. By doing this, they’re able to view every square inch of Earth in roughly a day and a half. If we turn this into a nuclear exchange there’s not a place on Earth they couldn’t bomb from orbit. They could obliterate human life over the weekend, so lets keep our pride and ego in check for a bit. There’s no war, let’s not start one. Now is the time for prudence and cool heads.”
The reporter cut in, giving another perspective.
“And US concerns aren’t confined to a potential space war. In the deep south of the country, the proliferation of small arms such as handguns and shotguns has stressed local police and state troopers, with reports coming through of murders to settle long-standing scores as well as petty crime escalating into murder. In one case, as yet unconfirmed, a neighbor was shot and killed in a dispute over water from a bore, while reports have come through of people being murdered over the possession of basic ingredients such as flour, sugar and powdered milk.
“There’s no doubt the emergency laws passed by the government have stemmed the initial lawlessness and panic that gripped the US, but rebuilding the trust of a nation in shock will take some time. And, as yet, there has been no direct contact with the alien craft.”
The speaker changed to a woman with an indistinct accent that could have been from anywhere within the mid-west.
“Don’t tell me there’s been no contact. You don’t have someone turn up on your doorstep from the other side of the country without hearing from them first. And yet you want me to think these aliens could come from a million miles away without someone knowing? Without someone inviting them? I don’t know what happened at Roswell, but it wasn’t no military weather balloon.
“The military’s been lying to us for decades. They’ve been lying to the American people, lying to the government, lying to everyone. They’re the only ones who could have kept this secret. The government could never do it, they could never keep their mouths shut, but the military thrives on secrecy. I’m telling you, this is what Eisenhower warned us about, the military-industrial complex. All this, it’s been on the plans since then, since the late 50s. Look at the Federal budget. Look at what we spend on the military. Forget about the Democrats and Republicans, it’s the military that runs this country. Always have, always will.”
“And,” the reporter said, cutting in over the top of the woman, “such sentiments are not isolated.”
A Texan accent came across the airwaves.
“It’s been easy to laugh at abductees. It’s been easy to laugh at those that saw a UFO and say they were drunk or delusional, but who’s laughing now? Now the grays are here in force, does anyone take NASA seriously anymore? And yet NASA still maintains the party line, saying, ‘there’s been no contact.’ Who are they kidding? We heard them bugs speak on the radio. I’m telling you, NASA has sold us out. They’ve been planning our enslavement for decades.
“The government’s been trying to disarm the populace for the past fifty years, trying to take away our rights, to get to our guns, and now we know why, so Earth would capitulate without a fight. Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m fighting. Ain’t no alien gonna take my guns. Washington might surrender, but any goddamn alien sets foot in Texas he’s gonna be eating lead.”