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Post by forthteller on Sept 22, 2023 20:26:18 GMT -6
Chapter 10
An unwelcome investigation
Ring, Ring. "Hello, Hajer here."
"Hi there. My name is Peter Masters. I understand you are an astronomer with the Cocoa Astrological Research Fellowship. I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions about Kepler."
"I don't know. Are you a reporter?"
"Nothing of the sort, just an interested local and while I was talking to Mai Lin Xu, she mentioned that they were no longer working on Kepler. I was hoping you knew why."
"She did not tell you?"
"Nope. They had to leave and after they left, Zac and I got to talking. Kepler was all the news around town and then it just stopped. None of us know why. Was hoping you could fill us in."
Frightened and extremely nervous now, Hajer quickly rehearses the response he had previously prepared. He replies sheepishly, "NASA funding dried up and they closed down the lab I was working out of. We stopped posting on the site because we had no firsthand information of the findings. I don't even know if it is still going and sending back data, but I doubt it. It looks like it may have crashed, and they wanted to silence any complaints about the money spent on the project."
"Mai Lin does not keep you updated?"
"I have not heard from her since they closed my lab."
"Really. She seems really nice; I would think she would keep you updated."
Evasive now, "we were not all that friendly, and I expect she was glad I was let go."
Peter knows when he is being lied to and now believes there is more to this then he previously thought. "Ok, so they are just receiving data from other satellites then. I guess what she told me was everything. Thanks for your information." Hanging up, Peter looks at Zac. "Let’s drive over to the Cape Canaveral Sands Space History Center Tomorrow. It is open to the public and is right next to the Launch and control centre. We may find out something there."
The following day, Zac is driving East on highway 401 and as they pass Seaport Canaveral Corporation the gate to the site comes into view. "There it is. Just gotta go sign in at the gate and then off to the history centre."
After parking, they walk over to the guard shack. Peter notices the uniforms and sidearms first and stops in his tracks. "Those are not NASA personnel. I got a bad feeling here."
Zac says, "we're here, let’s see what they have to say."
Approaching the guard, Zac introduces himself. "I am Zac Caspian. My friend Peter and I were hoping to visit the History Center."
"Closed down permanently. Move on!"
Not one to be brushed off so easily, Zac responds. "When was that? We never heard anything about it being closed down."
Impatiently, the guard responds, "I have no idea, it is closed now so turn around and get off company property."
"Company? This is a NASA installation, owned by our government and paid for by US taxpayers. Not company property."
"Whatever. You are trespassing. Last warning, if you do not leave, I will have no choice but to remove you by force." With that, he waved to the others in the booth. Both stand and start towards the exit door.
Seeing this and noticing the guard he was talking to had unsnapped his holster, Zac backs up and turns and Peter does likewise. They get to the truck and back out as the three guards are now quite close. Zac notices the one guard writing down his license number.
Once out of the area and westbound Zac says to Peter, "That was totally weird. First the ladies shut down the moment we talk about it, then we talk to the guy at the astrology institute, and he sounded afraid, now there are paramilitary guards around the base and it is owned by a company."
"I take back my conspiracy theorist comment, something weird is going on here. I wonder if they found something and are trying to cover it up."
Zac frowns. "Doesn't make sense. Those are not NASA guys, and the operation has been shut down. Something else is going on here."
They take the ramp onto Martin Anderson Beach Way Expressway and head west. As they are talking, a tractor trailer rig on the other side of the median crosses over, takes out the centre fence and speeds East into the Westbound lanes. Seeing this, Zac veers to the right but the concrete barrier prevents him from getting all the way off the highway. He brakes hard and has almost come to a full stop when the Kenworth Conventional hits his truck head on at full speed.
Later, over at what used to be the Landing Control Center, Daniel Storing looks at Victor Banning. "Is it done?"
"It is. we have some more leaks to plug up and these cannot be done as cleanly because it will raise too many questions."
"You told me this Elaine bitch could get the job done. All she had to do was keep that little twerp on a leash for a couple of years. All she does is paint, keep to herself and she does not even have any friends. Her job is everything, easy to keep an eye on, but no, Elaine has to become friends and take her out. What do we do with her?"
Victor sighs. "She knows enough to be dangerous. We need to re assign her and keep her on. I think she could be of service elsewhere. Plus, I have some information on her that will keep her quiet. If anything was to happen to her, people would be quick to ask questions. Her connection to us is official."
"What about the Doctor?"
"We can create a narrative that would be enough to discredit anything she says about the cloud. I am certain she has not published anything and we destroyed everything Dr. Paxton attempted to publish and there are no leaks there. All the others have been bought out or we have ensured their silence by other means. She would have no backup for any claims she makes, we just need to get ahead of it so she won't even try."
"Ok. Get her in my office first thing in the morning. I think a large severance, complete with official documentation would be a reasonable added incentive for her to stay quiet. I still want someone assigned to keep an eye on her so we will be ready should she try anything."
Victor stands, His military background easily apparent. "Ok, consider it done. I have exactly the perfect person to do the job. He has a small team of 3 who can easily take care of it but it will cost."
"Seriously, cost? How much do you think I have invested in this? I don't care what it costs, I want it done. If you cannot get it done, I will find someone who will. Those planets and their resources are mine and I don't want to share any of it. We are too close to getting title to let up now."
"How do we get title?"
"By treaty, countries cannot claim extraterrestrial territories. However, no such restriction applies to persons or corporations. Under the current legal framework, our best bet would be to go there and demonstrate that we are taking steps to “improve” the property, for example by building roads or an outpost of some sort. It is quite possible that we could set up something like the Hudson’s Bay did starting in 1670 and we do not have to worry about those already there. We would of need to set up our own security installation as well. We have to be first."
"Ok. I have to make some arrangements. I will keep you posted."
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Post by forthteller on Sept 22, 2023 21:02:47 GMT -6
Chapter 11
The cloud arrives.
February 12, 2025
5:55 AM. Janet enters the LLST installation and drives towards her parking spot. A Beautifull day, especially for this time of year in the Andes. 80 degrees already, forecasted high of 85. She was thankful for her air-conditioned office; too bad she does not have air in her Pueblo adobe home.
She had made every effort to become a part of the community, from learning Spanish and coming to enjoy the local cuisine to occasionally patronizing the local taverna. She walked or rode for almost every errand and only used her old jeep to drive up to the observatory every day.
Having been promoted to director of engineering, Janet had a large office connected to her own lab. With two assistants and one intern, she had found the position she had always dreamed of. Once into the main building, she heads towards the elevator. Interestingly, there was more activity than is usual at this time of the morning. Taking notice of the obvious purposeful activity she is astonished as people she barely knows head from one lab to another.
Once up on her floor, the elevator door opens, and she hurriedly heads down to her office. Hopefully Esmeralda is there, she will know what is going on.
Esmeralda is indeed already there, and she was excited to see Janet. "I was just trying to call you; the observation labs have spotted something heading directly for earth."
"A meteorite or a comet?"
"No. A cloud. Some kind of cosmic cloud and it is moving at more than light speed."
Memories flooding back, "what do you mean a cloud? How big? What does it look like? Does it have mass?"
"I don't know yet. They have not needed engineering yet so we are not in the information loop."
Janet thinks for a moment, it had been more than 10 years. if she divulged what she had seen on the Kepler transits would they still care. Could her family come to any harm if she disclosed the secret they so viciously covered up. She swallowed hard. "I am going over to the observatory labs to see if I can find out firsthand what they have found. Do you want to come with me?"
"Absolutely. Let’s go!"
In the observation labs, they have already rendered pictures of what the telescope has detected. In the 12 hours since, they have analyzed the stills and are certain the object is there and is moving towards Earth and not just towards the Earths solar system.
Watching the excited activity around the room, Janet looks at the screens which all show different views of the same thing. A massive, dense grey cloud. Exactly like the one she had seen years ago when she was the Schmit telescope engineer on the Kepler project. She had not heard from anyone involved in the project since and it had completely dropped off any Astrophysics chatter since then. Almost as if Kepler never existed.
To the Scientist hovering over a computer screen, deciphering the feed into something others can read, "how far away is it?"
Brad, who she has known for over 5 years, half looks back and continues to look at his screen. "It is a little more than 8 light years away and travelling at more than 5 times the speed of light. Best we can tell, it is in direct convergence with the Earth."
"You are saying it is going to hit us?"
"Too early to tell but it will come close enough to our sun to get pulled into orbit depending on its mass. We have to determine its exact speed and will know where the earth will be when it passes by. If we are lucky, we will be on the on the other side of the sun when it passes. Even then It may hit another planet or get pulled into that planets orbit as well. "
"Have any other major telescopes seen it yet?"
"Only the Hubble has reported the sighting, but others will be looking for it now that we have reported it. Should be all over the news by now."
Janet gulps and remorse overcomes her. She had seen evidence of this thing years ago and it was 490 light years away. Either this is a different cloud or this one had covered 480 light years in just 7 years and had slowed to the speed it was travelling at as it neared the earths solar system. If it is a different cloud, it is more than likely there are more out there. If it was the same cloud, it was approaching earth and with intention.
"I am going back to my office; can I get you to authorize the visual on my lab computers?"
"Absolutely. You are a major part of this team and a significant partner in what gives us the ability to see what we do. I can send you my translated feed or do you want the raw feed."
Knowing how to do the deciphering herself, Janet could read, visualize and understand the raw feed but she felt it was best to let the experts do that. "Just your translated feed please. I would like to see firsthand what you have found."
"Ok. I can do that. Once I start the feed, it will be regular and you will not need authorization to get it after that. Let me know what you think after you have examined enough material."
He turns back to his console and continues typing code into his keyboard. Janet realizes that she had been dismissed but she did not take offense to it. Exceptional scientists like Brad were sometimes weak in personal relationships. She had dated Brad a couple of times and while they are good friends, there was no spark.
Feb 15, 2025
At the Hubble telescope, Peter Flier could not believe what he was seeing. He was certain that this was the same cloud he had seen several years ago from the Kepler telescope. It had somehow travelled 45 light years and was now slowing as it approached their solar system.
Approximately 11 years since they saw it stationary and then form up and move into Kepler's pathway. somehow it had accelerated to several times the speed of light and had headed directly towards the Earths solar system and possibly, the earth itself.
Impossible, yet here it was on the screen. As impossible as it was now, 8 years ago was equally impossible.
He had taken the buyout and signed the non-disclosure agreement back then, expecting it to never be seen again. In addition, they had never failed to send him the promised cash every year. It was that cash that enabled him to live at a standard much higher than his meager salary would enable.
Peter was feeling a little guilty now. A little guilty and a bit disappointed. He could have been famous had he supported Mai Lin and made the discovery public but he took the money, damm. He heard through others in the space exploration community that she had made an attempt to make the discovery public but they had discredited her and made her look like a disgruntled flake. Last he heard; she was out of the astrological community altogether. Shame, she was brilliant.
March 3, 2025
In Houston, Elaine Maxwell was in her office at the headquarters of the Truesco Corp. She was working on the logistics for the second supply launch for 33f. The first supply ship had been launched 3 weeks ago and was scheduled to reach the destination orbit on January 7,2026. It would land and send back data that would help the engineers understand what the surface is like and what the atmosphere is made of. They knew it was high Sulphur and other corrosive chemicals, but they did not yet know if it would be corrosive. The first 4 supply vessels would only have robotic androids, but they would be able to begin construction of a habitable domain for humans. Thes ships would return with full cargoes of raw materials excavated from the planet. They will also plant the corporate flag and lay claim to the planet. As the planet was less than half the size of earth, the supply ships could return on the fuel they had left.
The goal was to send some men to take possession of and begin operations by early 2029. By then, the first samples would have been evaluated and plans to refine the resources and return them to earth would be complete.
That day, one of the Astronomers who she had been dating told her about a Cloud approaching Earth's solar system. They were having lunch in the cafeteria and there were other scientists also excitedly talking about the same phenomenon. Daniel told her that early trajectory analysis indicated it was headed directly for earth and could be passing through the suns orbit by early July 2025. She had listened intently but never indicated that she may have been involved in covering up the initial discovery of a similar and most likely the same cloud many years ago. She went back to her office after lunch but never got any work done at all.
Once she got home, she started a search to see if she could locate Mai Lin Xu. She knew from her contacts within the industry that Mai Lin was not publicly involved with any astrological stations or telescopes. She had essentially dropped out of sight. She did recall that Mai Lin was an artist and wondered if it was possible that she had pursued that passion.
Ring, ring went the door chime as she entered the studio. Elaine looked at the immediate paintings near the entrance and was overwhelmed by their magnificence. The paintings were a series with the first being a tree branch of an extremely realistic tree with a branch holding a cocoon of silk. In the second was a closeup of some caterpillars feasting on the leaves. The third painting was the same tree later in the season with several magnificent butterflies flittering around its branches. The final was the tree starting to bloom with fresh foliage.
"The cycle of life, from the beginnings to regeneration. If we don't interfere, nature always repairs its damage. The rest of the series could have predators feasting on the larva or possibly the butterflies themselves. I have not painted them yet."
As Elaine turns to look at the person speaking, she immediately recognizes Mai Lin. "Spectacular, do you remember me?"
Mai Lin steps back a bit. "Truesco Corp, Elaine. Of course, I do. You drove me out of the astrological world. I became a laughingstock because of you. But I have to thank you, I went back to my art, and it has been extremely therapeutic for me. I have also become quite successful as well. I doubt I would be where I am today if I was still doing solar system research."
"I am so sorry. I was not involved in what happened to you, but I did nothing to prevent it even though I knew what they were doing. I don't expect you to ever forgive me, but I searched you out to pass on some information."
Mai Lin looks away from Elaine. "The cloud approaching the Earth?"
"You already know?"
"I have stayed in contact with the Amateur astrophysical group in Coca. They were heavily censored by Truesco and they stayed away from the Kepler project, but they still have access to the data coming in from other telescopes."
"I did not know that."
"You wouldn't because my involvement is not publicly known. My reputation has been destroyed but Hajer knows the full truth. Do you know what happened to Dr. Paxton? Or Peter and Zac?"
"I don't know where Dr. Paxton went after we paid him off. I believed he moved back to the city his daughter lived in but I never checked. They shuffled me from the NASA headquarters to the secondary headquarters in Pheonix immediately after you were let go. I was forbidden from making contact with you or anything to do with Kepler at all."
"He was a hit and run Victim a week before Truesco let me go. They never found the driver. And Zac and Peter?"
"Who are they?"
"The two guys we were dancing with the last night we last saw each other."
"What about them?"
"They contacted Hajer and asked him questions. Then they apparently went out to the Truesco NASA gates and asked questions. I don't think Truesco wanted any information getting out."
"Why. Did they pay them off too?"
"They were silenced a lot more permanent than that. On the way back to Coco, they were in a head on collision with a tractor trailer. They were both killed, and the driver of the truck ran off. Turned out that the truck was highjacked only 20 minutes before that and they never found the driver. I knew they were deadly serious, so I backed out altogether and never made any attempt to contact anyone ever again about Kepler."
"My God. I had no idea they were that serious. I knew they paid those who knew off and used blackmail and threats to keep others quiet, but murder? They have already launched one ship destined for 33f. I am working on logistics for the second one due to launch next Monday. They intend on claiming the planet as theirs."
"Let me guess. They are going to exploit its resources and send them back to Earth?"
"Exactly. That is why they wanted the Kepler discoveries kept quiet. They did not want to let any attention be drawn to the planets discovered until they had a chance to get claims on as many as possible. They rightly believe other Corporations will gear up and go after the resources as soon as they know they are there."
"Do they know what happened to Kepler?"
"It got so far away they could not get data from it anymore, but I believe it is still out there, broadcasting our existence and where we are."
"Do you believe there is life out there?"
"Life, I don't know. Intelligence and some form of force, yes. That cloud you discovered is here, headed directly for Earth. The scientists at the lab in my building are all excited about it. They don't know it was stationary when you first detected it though or that it responded when Kepler approached. They do not know it is on its way with some form of intent. Nobody does, except for you and those who saw it in 2014."
"Let me see if I get it straight, you destroy my professional reputation and now, 11 years later, you want me to come forward and attempt to correct the narrative created by Truesco?"
"We have to. This thing came to Earth, and we have no idea why and what it is capable of. I have learned a lot about your field since I was with you and I can tell you, it came here and that is not a fluke. It was intentional and the thing has to have some form of intelligence. I am really worried." “But what exactly do you think I can do after all these years and my reputation destroyed?"
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Post by feralferret on Sept 22, 2023 21:49:37 GMT -6
Forthteller, thanks for the two fine new chapters. It looks like the pigeons have come home to roost.
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Post by sniper69 on Sept 23, 2023 9:53:50 GMT -6
oh, now to see if I can hang on to this cliff. The anticipation is building. Can I type with my toes and drink coffee while hanging on with one hand?
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Post by forthteller on Oct 2, 2023 13:42:17 GMT -6
Chapter 12
Bringing the team back together.
March 13th, 2025 “What can you do!” exclaims Elaine. “You discovered the thing, you and your team. And yes, you were all silenced but every one of you saw it and know exactly what it was capable of. Now it is here, what can it do and what is it? The world needs to know, and it needs to be warned. We have to get your team back together, as many as we can locate and contact, that is because you may be the only ones who can answer those questions.”
Mai Lin responds, “how?”
“I will stay with Truesco and use my network to find them and get their contact information for you. You make the contact and request they join you at the Astrological Society lab and observatory.”
“How do we pay for transportation and accommodation? How do we pay salaries?”
“That I can take care of. There was a surveillance team assigned to watch you and Janet. Their job was to make sure you did not have second thoughts, but they were let go about 4 years ago as they were deemed no longer necessary. The money they were paid continued to be sent to the account they were paid from, and I have access to it. I do not know who authorized the continuation of the funding and who else has access to it but no one has touched it since. I can transfer it without any trace to a numbered account, move it 2 or three more times and it will never be found. And the best thing is that because someone was illegally moving money, there will be no legal authorities after whoever took it.”
“What if they suspect you. You already know what this company and those running it are willing to do.”
“I am pretty sure that whoever figured out how to continue the payments is not a major person within the company. Most likely someone very senior from accounting or the contracts department. In essence, we will be taking stolen money.”
A very distraught Mai Lin says, “I can never, in good conscience use stolen money. Even for a great cause. We have to find another way. If you get me the contact information, I will call them and feel them out. Find out what we would need in order for them to join us.”
“Okay, give me a couple of days and I will get you the information.”
The next day, Mai Lin is standing beside Hajer who, as usual, is at his console looking at stills of the cloud, now nearing the earth. As he examines each still, slowly focusing in and out, looking for differences between the stills and looking for anything that will give him a clue to what it actually is, he looks like a statue. “This thing looks like a solid, made of individual atoms connected together yet it has larger spacing now and allows more light through than it did just an hour ago. I just cannot figure out what I am seeing here.”
Mai Lin says to him, “perhaps, if we had some of the old team working with us, their impressions and ideas may help us determine what it actually is.”
“Without a doubt, but everyone went their own ways when the Truesco assclowns took over and drove us all into hiding.”
“I want to contact them all and see if any are willing to join us now. I am pretty sure the Truesco heat is off, and the danger is well past.”
Hajer agrees. “It would help, and I am pretty confident the heat is off. I have been in contact with several Observatories now and have alerted nobody. I don’t think they care anymore because they got the 10-year head start they wanted.”
“Your right. If I get contact information for everyone, I will ask them to join us here. Maybe we can come up with solutions but at the very least, we can write a joint Academic paper about our original contact, observations, findings and conclusions and because I am the only one who had their reputation profaned, it may get wide reviews.”
“Even if you cannot get everyone here, you could write the paper and ask them to make additions and add their names to the authorship for credibility.”
“Very true. I am going to get on that immediately. Thanks for your support.”
“Support? You are the best lead I have ever worked with.”
Mai Lin thanks him. She heads out the room and then to the shared lab where her console is. Once there, she opens the first of the encrypted emails sent by Elaine. It contains the contact information of Janet Green, Peter Filer and Barry Dushane, the Ka Band Engineer. She decides that Janet and Peter would be valuable assets in the current facility but Barry, who was the Ka Band engineer would not. His support and input for the paper would be valuable so she will call him and ask for that.
Picking up the phone, she rehearses what she might say, swallows and dials the international number. After a lengthy delay, the connection is cut. She tries a second time, same result. After three tries, still no connection.
Mai Lin thinks for a moment. She has an uncle in Green Pond who is into radios and communications technology. Perhaps he can help her get an international link.
Mai Lin now dials her Uncles Number, not expecting an answer. Surprisingly, he picks up on the second ring. In Mandarin, “Well hello Mai Lin, this is a surprise.”
Mai Lin responds in English, “hello uncle, I have a big communication problem and I am hoping you can help me with it.”
In English now, he responds. “I may be able to, what do you need.”
“Well uncle, you know I have not been involved in astrophysical research for some time now. And you know the whole world is going crazy because of the incoming space cloud which media says might be an intelligent alien entity. Well, I can tell you, it is. You see, me and my team saw the cloud and what it can do many light years away from our Kepler telescope when it passed 186f.”
Calmly, Uncle Bo Tai says, “I always believed your team found something out there and the government shut you up, but I never wanted to ask you what, because of the risks.”
“It was not the government that shut us up, it was a private corporation that had taken over when funding dried up. They were willing to do whatever it took to keep the finding under wraps, including murder. But my problem now is how to contact someone in Chilli who was a member of my Kepler team.”
“Easy. You are talking to me on my VoIP phone. I can route you through it and make connection with another in my network in Chilli. They can convert to the Public Switched Telephone Network. At that point it will become a in country long distance or local call. It will be costly, but I have plenty of credit available in the system.”
“Thank you very much Uncle. You do not know how important this is.”
“I think I do, especially if it is that important to you.”
“You are the best Uncle. How long will it take?”
“Less than an hour. Stay by your phone, I will call you as soon as I get someone in Chilli on that can transfer you.”
6 minutes later, ring, ring. May Lin snaps up the phone. “Uncle”
“It is me; Havier in Los Amigos will connect you. And he is going to pick up the charges as he is well aware of the space thingy and how the world is responding.” Click.
Seconds later. A connection is secured and the other line rings. Three rings later a surprised Latino voice answers, “Halo”.
“Hello there, I was wondering if I can speak with Janet Green.”
“This is a call from America, I did not know international calls were possible anymore. Yes, you can speak with Janet, she is in her office. I will transfer you.”
Two rings later, Janet answers the phone in her office. “Hello, Janet Green here.”
“Hello Janet, this is Mai Lin. I hope I am not interrupting anything.”
“No, I would make time to speak with you if I had to. We have been trying to make contact with you and others in the USA lately but we have not been able to access any international lines at all. I am very surprised you we able to.”
“Then you know why I am calling you after all these years. It’s here and we are amongst the few who have seen what it is capable of. The fact that it has followed the Kepler route back to Earth is proof the thing has intelligence. I believe it accessed the computers onboard Kepler and then was able to find its origin and route. And the speed it was capable of reaching. Unbelievable.”
“We have been watching on our feed. I re aimed our telescope immediately after word of the anomaly came in and I thought it may be the thing we encountered at 186f and sure enough it is or another exactly the same. Are you at a telescope now.”
“I am at the West Central Astrological Society lab and observatory with Hajer and his group. I have been working with them for a few years indiscreetly and I am pretty sure you know why.”
“Yeah, I know what happened and I am really sorry I could not support your claims, but they had put a lot of pressure on me to stay out of it. I was so full of fear that I buried myself in my work here, but now, I think we need to somehow help the world become aware of what this thing can do and prepare for it.”
Swallowing and trying to stay calm, Mai Lin asks her question. “Would you be willing to join us at the society lab and help us prepare an Academic paper with what we found and observed, where it was and what it was able to do. If enough of us author and verify it, the world will get the best warning we can possibly give.”
“I would but I doubt I can even get out of here and air transportation to the USA will be extremely expensive if it is even available.”
“I can get the money necessary, and I will talk with my uncle who has connections. I am certain they will want to help. Give me some time. I will try to call you later. Do you have any access to the internet or any other way to communicate outside your facility?”
“Some of our land lines still work but almost nobody still has one. Every cell tower has been vandalized and destroyed so there is zero internet and no networks available. I cannot believe you managed to get a call from the USA to our antique land line.”
“My uncle is connected to a network using something called a VoIP, but I have no idea how it actually works. He will be able to contact some within your country that will help us. I have to get off and put the plans in motion. I do not even know if I can contact you again but the password for the person or group getting you out will be popcorn. Gotta go.”
Once off the land line connection, Mai Lin talks to her uncle and to the operator in Chilli. Did you guys hear all that.”
In unison both said, “no.”
Mai Lin takes a few minutes to fill them both in on the dilemma. “Can we get her out somehow and to the USA?”
Havier asks Mai Lin if she is the Artist from Florida.
“I am. But I am also an astrophysicist. Painting is more of a hobby.”
“I have one of your works in my home. A spectacular painting of a moth building a cocoon.”
“That would be one of my very early works. I do mostly series now.”
“For the price of a series, I would be able to arrange for safe transportation out of your observatory to the airstrip and a flight to Florida. The paintings would come back on the same plane.”
After a very brief pause, Mai Lin agrees. “Yes, I can do that. She is waiting for contact; the password is popcorn.”
Later that day, an excited Mai Lin makes contact with Peter who immediately agrees and tells her he can make his own travel arrangements. She just needs to find him a place to stay when he gets there.
Several calls later and the majority of the team is on its way to Florida and now she needs to find a place for them all to stay. She decides to call Elaine for advice and since it is now 5 o’clock in Florida, it is 7 o’clock in Pheonix.
Elaine answers. “Hi there, amazing the network is up today. What’s up?”
“Good news. Most of my team are on their way to Coca. The only problem is, I have no where for them to stay when they get here.”
“I can help you with that, about 3 miles east my family has a farm with 2 houses and several outbuildings. Only my cousin lives there now but they have electricity and water and lots of parking. I will call him today and make arrangements.”
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Post by sniper69 on Oct 2, 2023 14:48:12 GMT -6
oh, it is getting even more interesting. Hope the team can make it all back together.
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Post by forthteller on Oct 14, 2023 15:37:13 GMT -6
Chapter 13
Cloud gets closer.
Within the next 3 months, most of the original team was now staying at the farm outside of town. They carpooled every day into the amateur observatory and worked feverishly to determine what the cloud was and what it was going to do. Through radio phones, they were in full contact with several other observatories who were also working on the issue.
Within the Astrophysical community, A major divergence of what it is, what it is made of, what it was capable of and what its intentions might be. There was still disagreement about whether it was intelligent or not and if the Earth could somehow combat it. Even though Mai Lins paper had reached everyone who could be even remotely connected, many doubted the teams’ conclusions. Mostly because many thought it was impossible.
July 8th, 2025
Janet had finished her calculations. To everyone within earshot, "It has slowed drastically and changed its trajectory. As the earth exits the sun counterclockwise, the cloud will meet it head on. If it continues to slow at its current rate, that will be sometime early in April."
Behind her, Mai Lin was at a video screen. She was now looking at more realistic stills of the anomaly and finite details could now be seen. As she was examining those details. "It seems to be thinning out and expanding. It is still more dense than when we first saw it but it is not nearly as dense as it was when it somehow stopped Kepler."
Peter, at his own console, is looking at the same stills. "We will be getting better pictures soon and even video by December. My thinking is that it densified to stop Kepler and now that it is thinning out, it may not have evil intentions. Possibly it will only take orbit around earth."
Mai Lin responds. "If it falls into Earth’s orbit, it will block so much sunlight that the Earth will cool almost immediately. I have to wonder if that is what happened to 186f. Did it suck the life out of it?"
Janet is visually upset. "My God. I never even thought about that. We never did get any decent transits of 186f, so we actually have no idea what was there. I now have to wonder. It was almost as if the cloud was intentionally preventing us from getting any images or transits. For more than 10 years I kept this to myself, hoping it would just go away."
Peter walks over to Janet and gently places his hand on her shoulder. "We all did, for me it was for the money. They bought me off and I willingly took it. You were pressured with threats; Mai Lin was victimized knowing how far they would really go to protect the information. Now we are here and I doubt Truesco even cares. They have their 10-year head start, it will be years before anyone else is ready to launch, and even then, what is this cloud going to do?"
Hajer is listening in. He too had been silenced. For him, it was the deaths of Professor Paxton and the two investigators. The man who came to visit him had not admitted the killings but his intimate knowledge of them had left no doubt as to responsibility and what could happen to him, and his coworkers should they continue pressing the Kepler issue. "I don't think we have a choice. We need to come clean with what we know about the cloud and watch our backs. The world has to be prepared for what may be coming."
Mai Lin responds. “I kind of implied it in the research paper we all prepared and several in the community have sent queries asking me why we did not publish our findings earlier.”
A few days later, in Houston, Daniel Storing is standing at the front of Elaine Maxwells desk. "You will say nothing. If they come forward, it will be their word against ours. They have no evidence and they were all released before Kepler got to that planet."
Elaine calmly sits in her chair, staring up a Daniel. "No, they weren't. They were all here and they all saw it."
"Our records show that Kepler stopped before that planet and that it was restarted 3 months later. All the transits and data for that period have been wiped so there is no evidence. It will take years for experts to dispute our claims and by then, it will be too late."
"You have no idea what that cloud is and what it may do. Are you willing to risk the Earths security for your business interests? I think, actually I know, the world deserves the right to advance warning as to what that cloud is capable of. Capable of what we know, not what we do not know. Mai Lin has already published a paper about its discovery and what it was capable of doing to Kepler."
“As the organization in charge during that period, we have publicly rebutted that paper of your discredited cry-babies and it is only believed by fringe scientists.”
“I know and I can publicly support the paper.”
"You know what happens to those who take a stand against me?"
"You buy them off, threaten them, threaten their families, silence them. I am not for sale, when I leave here, I will be going to the media and then I will be Joining Mai Lin to get the warnings out."
"No, you won't. You won't even be leaving here today. Axle will get rid of you just like he did to Paxton."
"Oh, I will. You see, I smuggled in a camera, and you are the star of my little film."
"Not possible. The building has a built in Faraday Cage in all the offices. Nothing you have recorded will have gotten out, nice try. I came in today to give you a chance because you are very good at what you do." Daniel pulls the radio from his top pocket. "Come and get her Axle."
No response.
"Axle."
The door opens and 2 Houston police officers are there at the opening. The Sargent says, "can you come with us Mr. Storing. We will read you your rights privately and if you accompany us willingly, we will not place you in handcuffs."
"On what charge?"
"Conspiracy. Conspiracy to commit murder. And that is just a start, if what I just saw on film is any indication. Please come with us?"
Looking over at Elaine, "how?"
Elaine points at the wire running out the door. "Low tech. Axle has already been arrested and he has been talking all morning."
At the same time, Mai Lin is opening a special delivery package. It is two Seagate EXOS X20 hard drives. Along with a note from Elaine. The note read, "If I am not able to get out, this data will suffice to prove that you detected and observed the cloud in 2014. Daniel Storing has been arrested and I expect others as well by the time you get this. I hope to see you as well, and once again, I am very sorry for my actions and silence."
Mai Lin looks at the discs. "40 Terabytes. That is lots of data, I wonder if the club has compatible software so I can see this." She takes the disks out the door and over to the West Central Florida Astronomical Society labs.
Once inside the lab, Mai Lin sees Hajer at the far console. She heads on over and announces her presence before she gets too near. As he turns to acknowledge her, he notices the hard drives in her hand.
"Please tell me those are what I hope they are."
Excitedly, Mai Lin says, "I am certain of it. They were sent by Elaine and she was the only person who possibly could have gotten this data out. I just hope you have compatible software so we can read it."
Hajer looks at the disks. "I don't know. It is like ten years old. I have Python and can translate several others. Let’s give it a try."
"Just like that. You trust her data?"
"I have lots of virus protection. If she collected it, I doubt it is sabotaged as it would have infected her system and she would have no reason to sabotage us. Fact is, I really do not think she would know how. Let’s give it a go." With that, he inserts the disks.
Several keystrokes later a list of files shows up. Some are the ones Mai Lin had saved and she is immediately curious. "Look at one of them," pointing at two on the bottom of the screen.
Clicking on one of the files, the computer compiles the data and brings up images. Mai Lin, looking over his shoulder, I scanned and saved those, how did she get them?"
Hajer replies, "she must have suspected all along and somehow saved these to the hard drives. I would not have known that she even knew how or what to save."
"I guess someone in the lab saved them for her. I wonder if they knew what they were saving and who they were? Looks like we got lucky. I saved everything of value we got from 186f. I hope she got it all but even if she didn’t, we probably have enough to make a case and get some attention to what this thing might well be and what it can do."
"We are going to have to answer for why we did not report it earlier."
"I will take this to Dr. Bowman at the NASA Johnson Space Center. They would be the most interested and in the best position to respond. If they want an explanation as to why we never made it public back then, we all have corroborating stories."
"Have you seen some of the latest images? I made them into a video, and you can actually see the actions of the cloud."
"Not yet but I will be looking when I get back from NASA. Can you back this data up, just in case it disappears again?"
"You bet. I was thinking, should I send it out to my network, so it gets worldwide spread."
"I don't know. Panic is already starting up, providing proof that it has some form of intelligence will drive that up markedly."
"You are right. We can wait and see what NASA does with it and because we have a copy, we can change our mind down the road."
Mai Lin heads over to the office she shares with Janet and Peter. She heads back to her desk and turns the monitor towards her as she starts to pull up the Video Hajer had made. Peter comes over and stands behind her and he was about to say something when he caught a glimpse of what she was looking at. "Do you mind if I watch this too?"
"Not at all. Hajer coalited the stills to come up with this video. It should give us a visual of what it is actually doing."
Peter pulls a chair over as Mai Lin turns the monitor slightly more in his direction. The visual is deeply disturbing. As they watch, the cloud thins and spreads out. Mai Lin stops it for a moment. "Those are individual particles, so close together that they look like a cloud. If you look at large flocks of birds from a very long distance, you get the same effect. Let’s see if we can find some stills from some of the better telescopes and focus in on them."
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Post by forthteller on Oct 14, 2023 15:56:44 GMT -6
Chapter 13 Cloud gets closer. Within the next 3 months, most of the original team was now staying at the farm outside of town. They carpooled every day into the amateur observatory and worked feverishly to determine what the cloud was and what it was going to do. Through radio phones, they were in full contact with several other observatories who were also working on the issue. Within the Astrophysical community, A major divergence of what it is, what it is made of, what it was capable of and what its intentions might be. There was still disagreement about whether it was intelligent or not and if the Earth could somehow combat it. Even though Mai Lins paper had reached everyone who could be even remotely connected, many doubted the teams’ conclusions. Mostly because many thought it was impossible.
July 8th, 2025 Janet had finished her calculations. To everyone within earshot, "It has slowed drastically and changed its trajectory. As the earth exits the sun counterclockwise, the cloud will meet it head on. If it continues to slow at its current rate, that will be sometime early in April." Behind her, Mai Lin was at a video screen. She was now looking at more realistic stills of the anomaly and finite details could now be seen. As she was examining those details. "It seems to be thinning out and expanding. It is still more dense than when we first saw it but it is not nearly as dense as it was when it somehow stopped Kepler." Peter, at his own console, is looking at the same stills. "We will be getting better pictures soon and even video by December. My thinking is that it densified to stop Kepler and now that it is thinning out, it may not have evil intentions. Possibly it will only take orbit around earth." Mai Lin responds. "If it falls into Earth’s orbit, it will block so much sunlight that the Earth will cool almost immediately. I have to wonder if that is what happened to 186f. Did it suck the life out of it?" Janet is visually upset. "My God. I never even thought about that. We never did get any decent transits of 186f, so we actually have no idea what was there. I now have to wonder. It was almost as if the cloud was intentionally preventing us from getting any images or transits. For more than 10 years I kept this to myself, hoping it would just go away." Peter walks over to Janet and gently places his hand on her shoulder. "We all did, for me it was for the money. They bought me off and I willingly took it. You were pressured with threats; Mai Lin was victimized knowing how far they would really go to protect the information. Now we are here and I doubt Truesco even cares. They have their 10-year head start, it will be years before anyone else is ready to launch, and even then, what is this cloud going to do?" Hajer is listening in. He too had been silenced. For him, it was the deaths of Professor Paxton and the two investigators. The man who came to visit him had not admitted the killings but his intimate knowledge of them had left no doubt as to responsibility and what could happen to him, and his coworkers should they continue pressing the Kepler issue. "I don't think we have a choice. We need to come clean with what we know about the cloud and watch our backs. The world has to be prepared for what may be coming." Mai Lin responds. “I kind of implied it in the research paper we all prepared and several in the community have sent queries asking me why we did not publish our findings earlier.” A few days later, in Houston, Daniel Storing is standing at the front of Elaine Maxwells desk. "You will say nothing. If they come forward, it will be their word against ours. They have no evidence and they were all released before Kepler got to that planet." Elaine calmly sits in her chair, staring up a Daniel. "No, they weren't. They were all here and they all saw it." "Our records show that Kepler stopped before that planet and that it was restarted 3 months later. All the transits and data for that period have been wiped so there is no evidence. It will take years for experts to dispute our claims and by then, it will be too late." "You have no idea what that cloud is and what it may do. Are you willing to risk the Earths security for your business interests? I think, actually I know, the world deserves the right to advance warning as to what that cloud is capable of. Capable of what we know, not what we do not know. Mai Lin has already published a paper about its discovery and what it was capable of doing to Kepler." “As the organization in charge during that period, we have publicly rebutted that paper of your discredited cry-babies and it is only believed by fringe scientists.” “I know and I can publicly support the paper.” "You know what happens to those who take a stand against me?" "You buy them off, threaten them, threaten their families, silence them. I am not for sale, when I leave here, I will be going to the media and then I will be Joining Mai Lin to get the warnings out." "No, you won't. You won't even be leaving here today. Axle will get rid of you just like he did to Paxton." "Oh, I will. You see, I smuggled in a camera, and you are the star of my little film." "Not possible. The building has a built in Faraday Cage in all the offices. Nothing you have recorded will have gotten out, nice try. I came in today to give you a chance because you are very good at what you do." Daniel pulls the radio from his top pocket. "Come and get her Axle." No response. "Axle." The door opens and 2 Houston police officers are there at the opening. The Sargent says, "can you come with us Mr. Storing. We will read you your rights privately and if you accompany us willingly, we will not place you in handcuffs." "On what charge?" "Conspiracy. Conspiracy to commit murder. And that is just a start, if what I just saw on film is any indication. Please come with us?" Looking over at Elaine, "how?" Elaine points at the wire running out the door. "Low tech. Axle has already been arrested and he has been talking all morning." At the same time, Mai Lin is opening a special delivery package. It is two Seagate EXOS X20 hard drives. Along with a note from Elaine. The note read, "If I am not able to get out, this data will suffice to prove that you detected and observed the cloud in 2014. Daniel Storing has been arrested and I expect others as well by the time you get this. I hope to see you as well, and once again, I am very sorry for my actions and silence." Mai Lin looks at the discs. "40 Terabytes. That is lots of data, I wonder if the club has compatible software so I can see this." She takes the disks out the door and over to the West Central Florida Astronomical Society labs. Once inside the lab, Mai Lin sees Hajer at the far console. She heads on over and announces her presence before she gets too near. As he turns to acknowledge her, he notices the hard drives in her hand. "Please tell me those are what I hope they are." Excitedly, Mai Lin says, "I am certain of it. They were sent by Elaine and she was the only person who possibly could have gotten this data out. I just hope you have compatible software so we can read it." Hajer looks at the disks. "I don't know. It is like ten years old. I have Python and can translate several others. Let’s give it a try." "Just like that. You trust her data?" "I have lots of virus protection. If she collected it, I doubt it is sabotaged as it would have infected her system and she would have no reason to sabotage us. Fact is, I really do not think she would know how. Let’s give it a go." With that, he inserts the disks. Several keystrokes later a list of files shows up. Some are the ones Mai Lin had saved and she is immediately curious. "Look at one of them," pointing at two on the bottom of the screen. Clicking on one of the files, the computer compiles the data and brings up images. Mai Lin, looking over his shoulder, I scanned and saved those, how did she get them?" Hajer replies, "she must have suspected all along and somehow saved these to the hard drives. I would not have known that she even knew how or what to save." "I guess someone in the lab saved them for her. I wonder if they knew what they were saving and who they were? Looks like we got lucky. I saved everything of value we got from 186f. I hope she got it all but even if she didn’t, we probably have enough to make a case and get some attention to what this thing might well be and what it can do." "We are going to have to answer for why we did not report it earlier." "I will take this to Dr. Bowman at the NASA Johnson Space Center. They would be the most interested and in the best position to respond. If they want an explanation as to why we never made it public back then, we all have corroborating stories." "Have you seen some of the latest images? I made them into a video, and you can actually see the actions of the cloud." "Not yet but I will be looking when I get back from NASA. Can you back this data up, just in case it disappears again?" "You bet. I was thinking, should I send it out to my network, so it gets worldwide spread." "I don't know. Panic is already starting up, providing proof that it has some form of intelligence will drive that up markedly." "You are right. We can wait and see what NASA does with it and because we have a copy, we can change our mind down the road." Mai Lin heads over to the office she shares with Janet and Peter. She heads back to her desk and turns the monitor towards her as she starts to pull up the Video Hajer had made. Peter comes over and stands behind her and he was about to say something when he caught a glimpse of what she was looking at. "Do you mind if I watch this too?" "Not at all. Hajer coalited the stills to come up with this video. It should give us a visual of what it is actually doing." Peter pulls a chair over as Mai Lin turns the monitor slightly more in his direction. The visual is deeply disturbing. As they watch, the cloud thins and spreads out. Mai Lin stops it for a moment. "Those are individual particles, so close together that they look like a cloud. If you look at large flocks of birds from a very long distance, you get the same effect. Let’s see if we can find some stills from some of the better telescopes and focus in on them."
Sorry all. I was gonna post chapter 14 with more action, but I cannot figure out how to email from my chrome notebook. I have the next several chapters saved offline, but I cannot transfer them. I roll out for Racine WI in 2 hours. be home agin in about 6 days.
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Post by texican on Oct 14, 2023 21:59:31 GMT -6
FT,
Enjoy your trip home. Enjoying the story.
Texican....
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Post by forthteller on Oct 17, 2023 23:12:27 GMT -6
Chapter 14
Humans respond, badly
September 12, 2026 Driving into the Astronomical Society lab and observatory main facility on S. Range road, Mai Lin stops about half a mile away. Another protest demonstration, much bigger this time, “crap.” Looking ahead, she sees the flashing lights of one of the attending police cruisers so she drives over to it. Parking about 100 yards away and exiting her vehicle, she notes that there are no officers around the vehicle. As she is about to get back in her car, she hears “please wait a moment.” Looking towards the voice, she sees a middle aged man coming in her direction and stopping about 20 feet away. Quickly, she hops back into her car and locks the door. The man comes up to the window and holds a NASA security ID against it for her to look at. She rolls the window down enough to take it and talk. “I was hoping to talk with one of the police officers. Can I help you?” She hands the ID back to the man. “I am special agent Patrick Stamos. Can I ask who you are and why you are here?” “Mai Lin Xu, I was going to our astrology lab to meet with some of my Guild. We wanted to go over recent observations but I don’t want to pass the protesters without an officer.” “Exactly the person we were hoping to talk to. A while back you sent Dr. Bowman a package of data containing your findings from the Kepler project. Our Scientific team has been examining them and is certain the object you observed around 186f is the same entity encircling the earth right now. They were hoping to talk with you and as much of your team as possible. In person.” “I suspect they will be very reluctant to agree unless they are certain your team is serious about helping and not in using the information for your own uses.” “I understand. I have been following the Daniel Storing arrest and we have search warrants for all his holdings. Elaine Maxwell is in protective custody.” “Protective custody, you mean jail?” “No, we have strong evidence that Storing is a very dangerous man with very deep connections. She is in great danger and I must say, so are you and your group.” “So what now. We go into protective custody as well? A politically correct term for voluntary detainment?” “No. You would be free to come and go as you please and you would also have the right to decline a protective detail.” “For my safety or my silence?” Pointing down the street, “why do you think they are protesting in front of your astrological facility?” “I don’t really know. They are carrying signs that demand we send it back and are also blaming us for inviting it here. I have not spoken to any of the leaders yet, and so far, they do not appear to be inclined to do so. Usually one of the officers parked here will escort us through and into our building but the protesters have been getting more aggressive lately.” “Fear is spreading across the entire country. Media is pushing a doomsday scenario and the lack of information is making us look like we are keeping secrets. Fact is, there are no secrets. We don’t know what it is, if it intends or even could cause us harm, where it came from and most importantly, are there more on the way. That is where you come in. You have known about it and been researching it for over a decade. You certainly know more about it than we do. We have more than 10 years to catch up on if we hope to do anything if this thing proves to be combative or worse, destructive. We need your help and your safety is essential.” “Actually, I knew about it over a decade ago, 12 years actually. I forced myself to put it aside. Storing took all the research data and kicked us from the project. He used violence, threats of violence and he even threatened our families. We all believed he was behind the Dr Paxton murder and the accidental deaths of those two men. We all went our separate ways for safety. That was until I got news and visuals from the cloud and realized it was the same one we detected around 186f 12 years ago. After that, I contacted Hajer and was invited to start working with them at their facility. I was also able to contact and get two members of the original team here. Then we received two data storage disks and after examining them, realized everything we had recorded back then had been saved. The entire group is now working with me here to help with deciphering the data, compiling it and putting it into something others can understand. We decided to send the data to Dr. Bowman and let him decide where to take it from there.” “We know. When Dr. Bowman received your package, he immediately assembled a team and began the exact same process. Ms Maxwell had contacted us in the meantime, while Storing was going through initial legal proceedings. They assigned me and a small team of special agents to locate you and provide you with anonymous security until they were able to put everything in place to contact you face to face.” “Everything in place?” “A secure lab with everything you and your team might need to continue your research. Secure accommodations and transportation. Any additional assistance if you need it.” “Where would that be?” “The Morel operations centre. Dr Bowman is already there with his team. They believe you could be a major asset in helping us determine what we are seeing here.” “And prevent me from disseminating information and findings to anyone or any group you don’t approve of?” “Point taken. Your trust is justifiably shaken. Especially with the government and corporate types. I can only pass on what I have been instructed to pass on. I will say this, you and your group are not safe here and in my opinion, you won’t even be able to operate within a week.” Pointing in the demonstrators direction, “they will get more destructive and violent. We have an inside person and they have informed us that the group is currently planning an incursion and possible abduction, as they believe you know the truth. We also know that the longer we take to get the truthful information out will entice the media will inflame the populace even more.`` Mai Lin looks over at the protesters, now throwing objects at the facility. She knows the windows are behind steel grates and are also boarded up on the first floor but it is only a matter of time before they start attempting to breach the facility. And the most at risk are the 4 or 5 police officers assigned to control the growing mob. “Can I meet Dr. Bowman somewhere neutral?” “I can set that up but he is highly at risk and has a substantial security detail. It will not be in a public area, are you okay with that?” “I would need to let my friends know when and where I am going so they can initiate a police action should I be walking into a trap.” “I understand but know this, if we had nefarious intentions towards you, we could have simply arrested you on a national security warrant. No, we need your cooperation.” “That makes sense. Can someone escort me to my lab so I can put your proposal to them?” “Of course. I will wait out here for you. Dr Bowman is waiting for your response and will meet with you and your team at your earliest convenience.” He gets on the radio and calls someone with, “can we get an escort for Ms Xu here” She needs to get into her lab.” “Copy. 2 on the way.” 2 plainclothes men magically appear from between two buildings. They walk over to Mai Lin and one says to her, “follow us, this way mam.” A car arrives and one holds the door for Mai Lin. Then they both jump in. It drives the half mile to the entrance of the building and is immediately surrounded by the protesters who begin shaking it and pounding on it. The men get out and push their way through several protesters as they are joined by several uniformed, riot squad officers. Several of the protesters run over and begin pounding on the car, shouting “Lies, Lies, Lies.” Several uniformed officers immediately come over from the positions they were in and they begin to push the protesters back as a group. Over a bullhorn, an unseen officer calls out, “your protest is now violating our civil laws and we will begin arresting any who continue to prevent the legal passage of anyone to or from that building. This is your only warning. Several more uniformed officers arrive and the crowd appears to be sizing up the challenge. Some begin backing away but several press on. “Close” comes over the loudspeaker and a few of the officers immediately grab and slam protesters immediately near them to the ground, quickly snapping cuffs on them. Once cuffed the officers appear ready to repeat the action if necessary. The remaining protesters back off, continuing to chant, lie, lie, lie.” The two plain-closed men and 2 uniformed officers invite Mai Lin out of the car and motion towards the building. Mai Lin knows now that this will be the last time she will be able to get into or out of the building. She opens the door and steps from the car. A bottle crashes near her, flames erupting. Officers respond to the area it came from while another is just finishing placing the three cuffed individuals into the back of a recently arrived squad car. The squad car drives off as another arrives and takes its spot. The crowd appears to be growing as well and Mai Lin is now getting very worried. Arriving at the front door, Mai Lin Pauses. It immediately opens as those inside were observing what was transpiring outside. Agent Stamos hands Mai Lin a radio as she steps inside. Someone closes it immediately after her. “Wow, we didn’t think you would get in here. I don’t even know if we can safely get out and now they know who I am and where I live. They may be there as well.” Looking at Hajer, Mai Lin says, “Neither did I. I am not connected with the membership of your society or the ownership of the building so I doubt they know my address, you can all stay there. I have a proposition for you all and it may be our only way to be safe if this group outside makes our identities public.” Hajer looks outside through the bulletproof glass, “I bet it includes those FBI guys.” “Not the FBI, they just look like them. These guys are from NASA Security. They were sent by Dr Bowman to ask if we could meet with him.” “All of us?” “The whole team. Your contributions so far are monumental and I am pretty sure Dr Bowman knows who everyone here is. He has asked my whole team for assistance.” “Assistance or to cover up what we know so they can put a lid on it.” “My question as well and to be truthful, I don't even know. The man over at the car beside mine told me Elaine is in protective custody and that they have a secure lab prepared for us at the Morel operations centre. He says Dr Bowman is prepared to meet with me immediately to discuss the collaboration.” Looking out at the assembled crowd and the now dozen uniformed police. “I don’t see that we have a choice. I say let's meet him and take it from there. Will they continue to keep security here so the files and records will stay safe?” “I expect so but I will ask. Even if they cannot provide security, what can we do?” Peter, looking on, says, “We can take copies of everything when we leave today in case we cannot get back in. I say, let's go meet him. See what he has to say.” Mai Lin speaks into the radio in her hand. “Agent Stamos, we have agreed to meet with Dr Bowman. There are 5 of us. I can take 2 in my car and Hajer will take the other 2 in his jeep. Can we get an escort?” “You certainly can Mam. Would you mind if I ride in your vehicle to Morel and another plainclothes agent ride in Hajer’s?” “I guess that would provide the most safety. Once we are a few blocks away, there should be no problems. Will they be able to secure the building so nothing gets stolen once we leave?” “We can do that until the disposition of your research and data is decided upon by you and Dr Bowman.” “Okay, we are going to take a few hours to get copies of our work, can you hold the crowds off until then?” “I believe we can. The National Guard is sending over reinforcements and some have already arrived.” By 4 PM they had recorded everything they had on disks and portable hard drives. Mai Lin grabs the radio and informs special agent Stamos that they are ready to leave. Once everyone is safely into the cars, a marked police car leads them out of the parking area and through the now throbbing crowd of protesters. They are followed by a nondescript sedan driven by another plain clothed agent. Further back an armoured military Hummer driven by uniformed personnel and possibly more. One of the vehicles in the back was tasked to ensure no vehicles would or could follow the small convoy. It was successful as more than one vehicle attempted to follow them but was moved off track and the final Pickup truck was actually spun into the median. The small convoy arrived on the peninsula and stopped at the main gate to be processed and admitted. Several heavily armed personnel watched intently as security approached the unmarked car in the rear. Agent Stamos asked Mai Lin to open her window as they were approaching as he verbally identified himself to the guards. One of the security guards halts and comes around to the passenger side as Agent Stamos hands him his ID card. The security guard looks the card over, scans it on a device he was holding and then asks the agent to look into the retinal scanner. Once satisfied, he asks the agent to join him in the booth. Inside, the agent gives the names of the 5 scientists being escorted as the guard verifies their admittance permission. He steps back and knocks on the door of the senior gate officer. “Excuse me sir, we have the expected guests here now but I have not yet gone to ask them for identification to verify their identity. Would you like me to do that?” The officer, knowing how important they were to Dr Bowman and that they had been under surveillance for several weeks, decides to forgo that procedure. “If Agent Stamos vouches for them, I believe we do not need to subject them to that procedure. Do a quick visual, check all the escort IDs and let them pass. They know where they are going.” After the quick verification, the vehicles proceed onto the peninsula and travels the short distance to the building Dr. Bowman and his team occupy. They are directed down into the parkade and to a parking area near an elevator door. Both cars park side by side and the agent in both vehicles exit immediately, examining the area for security. Special Agent Stamos walks around the car and opens the door for Mai Lin. She climbs out. As the elevator arrives, Special Agent Stamos says, “You can all go up while we wait here. You are going to the fourth floor where Dr. Bowman's office is. He is aware you are here and will be there to greet you.” They get on and Peter pushes the up button. Arriving at the 4th floor, the doors open to a stressed looking older gentleman flanked by several people who were most likely his scientists based on their attire. Behind them is Elaine Maxwell. “Mai Lin Xu, It is so good of you to come. I expect your help will be of manifest value.” Mai Lin is thinking, “does this guy realize how condescending he sounds?” “And your whole team, magnificent. I am Johanas Bowman, it will be a pleasure to meet you all. I am well aware of your work and your contributions to our joint interest” From the back, Elaine chimes in. “I am so glad you guys could join us here. I was getting quite worried, with the protesters outside your observatory and rioting going on everywhere.” “You know about the protesters?” “Dr Bowman has been in contact with the Municipal police and has some of his own people watching over you and your friends.” Peter interrupts, “watching over or watching us?” “Both if the truth be known. We were hoping you would not release any information to the public that could cause speculation and even panic and we also want to protect you should the protesting group get to the point of breaking into your facility. In our opinion that will be any day now. You are still free to go and keep your data for yourself to do as you wish but we are hoping this meeting will convince you that we are actually on the same side and the disposition of the data will be agreeable.” Peter, knowing that the data is safely stored in the trunk of Mai Lin's car and securely encrypted. “Okay, understood, but we reserve the right to final say over what happens to the data and how it is released.” “Fair enough. If you would like to come this way, we have a boardroom set up for our initial meeting and we can make decisions there. I would like you all to meet some of my team. I would like you to work together but that would be your choice.” Early the next morning. In the boardroom are 3 casually dressed people. 1 middle eastern looking woman and 2 white middle aged men. Dr. Bowman ushers them into the large elegant boardroom that looks totally out of place in an otherwise sterile looking astrophysical lab and office building complex. They all file in and take the proffered chairs at a massive kidney shaped hardwood table. Dr. Bowman introduces Mai Lin and her team including well researched short profiles. He then introduces his three team members. Samira Rashid, an astronomer and an astronaut. A PHD graduate from Cal Tec at only 22. She was on board 2 of the Spacex missions in 2022 and 2024 as chief astronomer. Jerome Freeman. An astrophysicist who graduated from the Australian National University in 1999. He was also one of the group that promoted and designed the James Webb telescope. Elijah Rubin Received his PHD in astrophysics from Stanford University in 1991. Also has a PHD in Aerospace engineering from Purdue University in 1988. He was instrumental in the development and launch of the StarEx reusable rockets and the super carrier rockets.
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Post by feralferret on Oct 18, 2023 4:17:36 GMT -6
Forthteller, thank you for an excellent chapter.
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Post by ncsfsgm on Oct 20, 2023 9:37:56 GMT -6
Excellent story!
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Post by forthteller on Oct 22, 2023 22:48:15 GMT -6
Chapter 15
World has gone crazy
October 12, 2026
Zac had just finished putting together more videos from the now high resolution pictures taken by the remaining world observatories and he could not wait to share the results with the others. Videos themselves are available but they do not have the detail and resolution the stills have so making videos from the stills is much more informative. It is however, extremely time consuming, even with the technology available. Momentarily staggered, he is able to determine without a doubt that microscopic particles are disengaging from the cloud, heading towards the earth and entering our atmosphere. Once into the atmosphere, they disappear as they merge with high altitude clouds. He takes what he has found to the rest of the group to see what they make of it. Mai Lin watches intently, “it looks exactly like you have described. The particles detach from the cloud, enter our orbit and eventually make their way into a cloud where they disappear. Is there any way to determine if the particle has any mass?” Jerome Freeman, watching says, “not without actually getting one. But as you have told us previously, the cloud itself has no mass, yet it is capable of blocking sunlight.” Janet queries, “Blocking or absorbing sunlight? You are an Astrophysicist, is it even possible if it has no mass.” Jerome replies, “absorbing, I never even considered that. I will do some research and talk to some of my colleagues to see if they think it is possible. We know that light is composed of photons which have no mass but can photons block light? The cloud could be made up of electromagnetic radiation but we cannot detect radiation from it so that seems unlikely. Also, I have never heard of electromagnetic radiation being stationary which is what the cloud seems to have done on the dark side of the Earth. And if it needs sunlight to function, how and why is the whole cloud now on the dark side of the earth? And it stays on the dark side as the earth rotates, I do not know of anything natural that could cause that.” Mai Lin interjects. “ I agree. It got into the Earth's orbit around 240,000 miles away and it passes right through any debris it intersects. It also appears to be stationary on the dark side, exactly matching the Earth's rotation around the sun and its rotation. Those are all signs of intelligence and intent. Question is, what intent? And now particles or protons or whatever is disengaging and entering our atmosphere. Nothing here makes any sense. And we never did get any stills from 286f so we have no idea what that cloud did to it or even what the planet was like. Peter thought out loud, “the cloud intentionally prevented us from getting those stills and once again, that speaks to intelligence and intent.” Elaine says to the group, “do we know how long the particles have been entering the atmosphere?” Peter answers her, “it was in position 3 weeks ago and I have stills from then, the particles were separating from the cloud before it even took up its current position. I think we need to get some samples of those particles. Elijah, is that even possible?” “I believe it is possible. We have supersonic jets that can fly that high and we can equip them with an attachment that will be able to scoop the air. It is more than likely we will be able to gather some of these particles. The question I would have is, how do we suspend them so they are not destroyed in the process since we do not even know what they are?” Dr Bowman, listening in, interrupts. “Elijah, can we use one of the Spacex capsules? If we launch it and put it into orbit somewhere between the cloud and the earth, could we attempt to capture some particles as they pass by? If we have experts on board, they can do the initial examinations right on the capsule, that is if they are capable of stabilizing the samples. And then they can transport them back to the earth in something. I am quite sure your team at Spacex has already developed systems that may be capable of doing this.” Excitedly, coming from his console, Zac exclaims, “I need to interrupt you all. The cloud has been releasing particles from its position long before it even got into Earth's orbit.” Dr Bowman responds first. “How long before?” “I don’t know for certain but from the stills sent by my friend from the Inouye telescope, as early as the beginning of April. Prior to that it was on the other side of the sun so I cannot say. I can also tell from the stills, there were far more particles leaving than what we see leaving now. What I cannot tell is where they went because we were not following them, we were focused on the cloud.” Speculating, Dr Bowman makes this observation. “I have to wonder if the particles are some sort of scout. Possibly first investigation. It does suggest control and intelligence of some sort however.” Mai Lin sits in her seat and absorbs what she has just heard. Feeling even more guilty, she just listens in to the discussion. Peter adds, “they have been capable of reaching the earth for over six months now, have there been any anomalous incidents on the earth lately. Any unusual extreme weather or seismic events?” Elaine, listening in and looking at her tablet, adds, “nothing unusual outside of the societal chaos and rioting. I don’t believe the particles have anything to do with that. Not even unusual rain, snow or storm activities. No mention of unusual cloud formations either.” Dejectedly, Jerome says, “they have no mass so I cannot believe they can actually do anything or gather intel. Perhaps they could become some sort of homing device.” Mai Lin cannot hold her investigative and spiritual opinions to herself. “Perhaps we are trying to press this phenomenon into our previous experiences and knowledge. Is it possible it is from another dimension or could be a spiritual entity or something else we never experienced or imagined? It did come from many light years away.” Dr Bowman is now even more impressed with Mai Lin. Not only is she one of the finest minds in the astrophysics field, she is open minded enough to look for what she may never have experienced before. “Excellent thoughts Mai Lin, I suggest we all stay open minded enough to look for what we may not expect. It is highly probable that what we have in our orbit will never fit into our expectations or experience.”
Meanwhile, in the Mediterranean, near Tripoli, another tanker has disappeared without a trace. That is seven so far this month in the Mediterranean and similar disappearances have occurred in several other bodies of water. The Black Sea, Caspian Sea and the Red Sea have also reported similar occurrences. A total of 27 tankers, 2 military battleships and numerous smaller cargo ships have disappeared without a trace.This does not include the hundreds of smaller vessels which have also disappeared without a trace. Same day, somewhere in the Tyrrhenian Sea. Commander Alfona, aboard the submarine, Romeo Romei has been hailed to the underwater camera display consuls. The young Secondo Capo at the console had asked him to come see what was on the display screen. Looking over the sailors shoulder, the Commander could see hundreds of octopi seemingly working together building a structure. “Unbelievable.” “Is this some kind of joke? It’s not funny, this is official military equipment.” “No sir, it is not a joke. That is real, taking place about 11 kms away. We have a drone surveying what the Combat Information Centre picked up on radar. Those are octopus and they are definitely working together to construct that weird looking structure.” “No. That cannot be real. There is no way octopi can cooperate like that. Someone is playing a joke on us.” “Normally, I would agree, octopi never act like that. But what we see on the screen says they can and in this case, they are. This is a fact. We have several different views from other drones but for some reason, they have all gone offline now.” As they are talking, an octopus swims towards the drone. It gets larger on the screen and then totally fills it. It gets so close that its suckers come into view. Then the screen goes blank. The Commander says to the young sailor. I told you so, someone is playing with us. If I find out who did it, I will have him up on charges.” As he was saying this, the sub begins rocking violently. “Now what, yells the commander!” Off he storms to the bridge. The shaking gets more severe. Hissing noises sound, alarms begin to bellow. The hull beside him collapses, water rushes in, the commander is slammed against the wall by the water pressure, silence. The same day, in a sea oceanography facility off the west coast of Florida a young intern is watching a video of Octopi working together building a unique looking structure. It appears to be a dome but it is still filled with water and does not look like that is the purpose. Inside the dome, activity is also observable as smaller octopuses are building smaller structures within the dome. The video's purpose is to monitor currants and the sea life activity as a result of those currants. Surjit, is a PHD candidate studying how much changing currents are impacting sea life. As a new member, the rest of the crew has been extremely harsh to him. Racism was most likely the root cause.The equipment has been in position for about a year and is well concealed by natural marine plant life. In fact, they would be needing to send in an underwater robotic device to clear its viewpoint very soon. There are several other oceanographers and marine biologists working on the study so Surjit calls over some of his colleagues. “Hey guys, you gotta look at this. Help me make sense of it.” Melinda looks up, “now what panic man? Sharks swimming the wrong direction again?” “Don’t be an ass. It’s octopus, lots of them. You have to see this.” Mark Wallen interrupts. “We have not seen octopus in the area for months. Have they returned?” “You need to see for yourself. You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.” “Fine, I will stop my compilation work to see what you are looking at, but it better be something significant. I don’t know why you couldn’t have included it in your daily report” Melinda and Mark walk over to the monitor and begin watching the activity. The first response comes from Mark. “This has to be some form of computer generated imagery. There is no way it can be real. We have been hacked, but why?” Melinda, a marine biologist says, “they are not even real octopus. They have ten legs but look at the body, too large. Plus they have a distinct head. Also, look at the legs, the two in the front have smaller appendages that look like smaller arms and hands. And the suction cups, several distinctive shapes. Whoever made these up has a fertile imagination.” Mark gets on the phone to the computer expert who set the system up and wrote the programs. “You need to check out our system? We have been hacked and someone has inserted fake video into our feed. This could render all our data and research useless if this proves to be more extensive. We have to make sure nobody finds out about this breach so our study has a chance to get reviewed and published. Ok, both of you, not a word about this until we find out how someone breached our security. Glad you caught this Surgit.” Surgit is flabbergasted. “How do you know it was hacked and not a video of an actual event? I know it seems unbelievable but should we not at least send a drone sub in to see if it is true. If it is fake, the drone can clear the field of vision while it is there, we need to do that this week anyways.” Melinda responds obnoxiously, “seriously. You actually believe those things are real and that they could actually do that. It is CGI, with an intentionally fictitious looking octopus. Look at it, it is not real. Boy are you gullible!” In Seattle, Lance Wilson is driving his Tesla down the nearly deserted I 5. He smells smoke. Looking around and not being able to see the source, he drives on, on autopilot. The smoke starts to get thicker and is now more than annoying. Taking control, he pulls over to the far right. Feeling around, the entire dash is hot to the touch and so is everything else electronic. He opens the door and climbs out. Stepping back, he wishes cell phones still worked but none of the networks had enough staff to maintain them and gradually they all went down. Smoke gets denser and he decides to grab his briefcase in case it gets worse. The remote will not work to open the door. He attempts to open it manually and jerking his hand back instantly, examines the second degree burns. What the hell. Moments later, flames erupt and within a minute the car is an infernal. 3 miles ahead on the same I5, Giselle Patin is standing on the median watching her EVO burn violently. Throughout Washington, hundreds of electric cars are burning. Over the next 12 hours, every EV in the state will be burnt to a crisp but Washington is not exclusive. The same thing happened to every electric vehicle in the whole USA, all of Canada and though most would never be informed of it, everywhere in the whole world. Every EV burned to a crisp from overloaded electrical systems.
Later that evening, outside the gates to the peninsula, thousands of angry protesters are congregating. As the crowd grows, so does the anger and outrage. Many are armed with clubs, bats and other appendages. Hundreds of rifles and handguns can be seen. About half are brandishing their weapons at the ready. The guard captain is quite certain many more concealed weapons are present as well. To his assembled troops who will soon reinforce the already deployed soldiers, “I fully expect them to break out in violence. We must prevent them from gaining access to the peninsula. There will be municipal and state police there to assist and anyone who commits a crime will be arrested and taken into custody. I know these are your countrymen and women but they mean to do damage and harm and they may use lethal force to gain access. We need to do whatever is necessary to protect the scientists who are working to solve the current interstellar interloper risk . "This means we are authorized to use lethal force if it becomes necessary. You are all armed with live ammunition and we have armed snipers in position as well. Any questions?” The company First Sergeant asks for clarification. “Live rounds. Lethal force? Does that really mean you anticipate we will be required to use lethal force to achieve the objective? Against Americans?” “Unfortunately Frank, that is exactly what we may be required to do. I know full well, as does everyone here, this is America and the forces we are facing are also Americans. What I have been told is that those in the labs are so crucial to our survival that they must be protected. The facility must be protected and kept operational. Whatever the cost, it must be paid. My superiors have taken full responsibility for this action and we have full authority to do whatever it takes to achieve the objective.” The Guard Caption hands an official written order to the Sergeant. The Sergeant looks at the order. “Martial law? I had not heard anything about the government declaring martial law.” “It is not yet nationwide but is applied at all localities where additional security and force must be used. Please remember, these people in the protests are very well armed and most have enough training to cause severe harm. If we can dissipate the crowds or keep them under some control without arms conflict, it will be better for everyone involved. The towers are already manned and equipped. I will personally interact with the leaders and attempt to quell the threat.” Captain Rypian gets on the bullhorn with an invitation to meet with the leaders of the protests. The answer comes from far off, 2 silent 3.08 rounds, straight to the head. He falls to the ground, dead.
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Post by feralferret on Oct 23, 2023 0:09:45 GMT -6
Quite a chapter, forthteller!
Thank you.
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Post by forthteller on Nov 9, 2023 0:29:34 GMT -6
Chapter 16
Coming into focus
Oct 21, 2026
Almost a week has passed and the clean up from the past battle is almost complete. No sounds of gunfire or munitions have been heard for days and vehicles are now occasionally passing on the street below. Peter decides to ask for permission to go into town to get some snacks and a case of beer. The middle aged National Guard major at the front desk responds, “I can let you go into town with an escort for anything serious like a Medical visit or something related to the project but I cannot guarantee your safety. We have secured the peninsula and the surrounding area but the local community is not secure. We have been able to get outside communications up for you all so you can use your phones and data but not everyone out there has the same access. If you give us a shopping list, we can get you most of what you need and want. But please, get a combined list from your entire group so we can get everything in one trip.” “I thought we were free to come and go as we please..” “You are, but I cannot provide you with an escort for safe personal passage as I cannot put my people in harm's way unless absolutely necessary and insuring the security of this facility is our primary mission now. You can come and go if you want but at your own risk.” “Is it that dangerous out there?” “There are many out there that hold you all and us responsible for what is going on and for inviting the anomaly. They have armed people determined to breach our facility, or at the very least make us pay for what has happened.” “We have not gotten much news for at least a week, is it like that everywhere?” “For the most part, the USA and Canada are still somewhat stable with pockets of conflict in almost every major city and urban settlement as resources are running low. Those who oppose us the most, want a massive military strike against what they see as a threat to American and even worldwide security. They have congregated here and around other astrological, astrophysical and government facilities. They are determined to gain access to force their will.” “Seriously. What could they actually expect to gain if they got in here?” “You might be surprised at how stupid the far right actually is, and the far left for that matter. They believe we are hiding some form of government control technology and that it emanates from here. On this peninsula we have dozens of government facilities and buildings. Most of our state government leadership has relocated here and several federal Congress and Senate members are also on the peninsula. They know that, so we are the target.” “I thought the attackers were more interested in contacting and befriending the aliens and wanted to force us to make that contact.” “Oh, that group is out there too, but they are not as well organized and armed as the Proud Ones. And they are fighting one another as well. There are other smaller groups as well and they all have one goal, gain control of our enclave and force their own agenda. And in reality, we and they, do not even know what they could or would do if they gained control. It is your little group in conjunction with others around the world that hopefully will find the right answers. Until then, it is my responsibility to ensure you have that opportunity.” “We thank you for that and to be honest, we are working as hard as we can to get those answers. I will be back down with the list.” Peter heads up the elevator to the lab's floor. Down the hall and into the main lab he heads and then stops at the door surprised. Everyone is crowded around a big screen TV playing a video. He heads over and watches for a bit.” Shocked, he exclaims! “What the hell, is this real or CGI!” Elaine responds. “Real. We have video from dozens of unrelated sources. Watch these things. They look like some form of genetically enhanced octopi and they are obviously working in concert to build these unique looking structures. And what is worse, they are getting the resources from ships and barges they hijack from the open seas.” Mail Lin adds, “they have tools and equipment and their tentacles have appendages like hands so they can do the work. What is even more amazing, they have what looks like functioning mechanisms inside the structures. We have no idea what the mechanisms do or what they are for but they are operating somehow. And they have lighting in there as well.” Peter, astounded, “how many different locations are we talking here?” “Hundreds so far. The videos started coming in this morning, after we got communications back up with several other labs. South America, New Zealand, the Mediterranean and in the USA. Even the Northern waterways seem to have communities of the creatures. And interestingly, they are reported to be in larger fresh water bodies as well. Ones that never had octopus before.” Mai Lln adds. “There is no evidence the cloud anomaly has anything to do with the enhanced octopi but the coincidence is overwhelming. Is there any word from spacestar III?” Elijah answers. “They are in position now. So far they have not been able to collect any samples though.” “Has there been any sign of resistance or acknowledgement from the cloud?” “Nothing. It is either unaware of our presence, or uncaring.” “Let us know what they find as soon as they get something.”
At the Inouye telescope, protesters have broken through. Dozens of military guards have been killed or injured, the remaining forces have been forced to pull back into safer sectors where they are now being hunted down and killed by armed protesters. Once inside, the scientists working the facility are taken hostage by the invaders, or killed outright if they give any resistance. The few who survive are rounded up and taken into a room within the facility and locked up. Amongst those who have breached the facility, several men and women are knowledgeable enough to take positions at the workstations and consoles and they begin examining the photographs and videos, the reports and the correspondence. A few hours later, the leaders of the invading group get together to evaluate what they have found out. Magdaline Roberts silences the group. “Laslo, what have they found?” “Well. It is more important what they have not found. They believe the cloud is made up of light particles with no mass but still having the ability to block light. No force or facility has yet been able to collect or capture a sample so they do not know if theories are correct. The Chinese also have a satellite in position but they have not shared any intel whatsoever. The Allies have no idea if they have anything or not. So far there is no connection to appearing octopus things but there is speculation because of the overwhelming coincidence. And finally there is no evidence the cloud is anything resembling life as we know it.” “Jean Pierre, is there any telling how it got here or how it located us?” “That one is a certainty. Apparently, Kepler came across it in April 2014 and they covered it up when a private company gained control. This company shut up all the scientists and they only came back onto the scene when the cloud got close enough for several other telescopes to determine it was on course for the Earth. It looks like NASA has them all at the Cape Canaveral Air Force station and they are securely buttoned up. A right wing group of loonies have been trying to gain access for weeks.” “That is like 12 years ago. They said nothing?” “It looks like they may have wanted to but a massive multinational company named Truesco had enough clout and applied enough force to shut them up. A few disappeared or were found dead so they were determined. From what I have found, nobody thought the thing was able to determine where the Earth was and travel at the speed it did to get to us. Truesco wanted to hush up the finding so they could work on gaining access to the resources available on the other planets Kepler discovered. I think the company was as shocked as all the scientists when the cloud appeared heading towards Earth. The company founder and chairman has been arrested on a national security warrant and there is no indication where he is.” “So, no conspiracy then?” “Doesn’t look like it unless there is something this station is not aware of. At least not when it comes to the cloud.” “From here, is there any way we can attempt to contact the cloud?” Francis, a communications expert says, “It looks like they have attempted to, using every method possible. No recorded response.” “Do we know how transparent the communication between the operating facilities has been?” “From what I have found, it looks like all the western world facilities and telescopes have and are sharing everything they know and have recorded. The telescopes that are in other hands now, have been isolated as will we be, soon if not already. Interesting that they allowed us to stay in the loop as long as they have,” October 24, 2026
In a Suburb of Chicago, seven older cars with makeshift armour rumble down the almost deserted I41 freeway. At exit 20, they slow and form a single file as they head on to highway 20. Once there they take up double file positions with every passenger pointing a semi automatic weapon out the window. As they approach Wisconsin Street, they take up a four wide position and drive full speed straight into the militia guarding the Cold Air storage facility. Jumping from the now stopped vehicles, the invading men attack the guarding unit as a short fierce firefight takes place. Those not killed in the firefight are killed instantly as they attempt to surrender and a few escape into the surrounding alleyways and streets. Explosives are quickly placed at the shipping man door and at the barricaded office structure. Entry is quickly gained. Several other vehicles arrive as this is taking place and they take up perimeter guarding positions and begin to engage the military as they mount a counter offensive. Within minutes, every docked truck is loaded and occupied with a fighter and an armed passenger in position. Several are quick to start as keys have been located while others had expert thieves starting them. The trucks begin to roll out as other crudely armoured cars lead and follow. The convoy picks up speed as dozens of additional cars and trucks take up positions to protect and lead the trucks. Onto the deserted freeway they head and now two helicopters are coming into the picture. While these look like Illinois National Guard birds, they are obviously flying in support of the convoy. 5 miles away, the trucks slow and the protecting cars peel away as the trucks enter the Walmart parking lot. Inside are thousands of people with shopping carts, baskets, bikes with trailers and anything else that can carry a family sized load. The back of the trucks are opened and men inside begin to pass the cases out to the men on the ground who pass it to waiting people and small groups. The recipients stow as much of the goods as they can and head out towards the exit and up the roadway into open air. Off to their homes, shops or churches they go with their goods, in steady streams they go.`` When the police and National Guard arrive, they are unable to get past the streaming hoards and get to those inside. When they do get inside, hours later, all they find is empty trucks and a few unarmed stragglers. Without taking anyone into custody, the National Guard troops withdraw, leaving the local police to take care of the empty trucks. Currently and in the near future, this same scenario is taking place in almost every American municipality, as severe rationing has made a previously over fed and supplied population desperate. Some operations were equally successful while others resulted in many civilian deaths, detainment's and arrests. What the authorities found was that these assaults were not as coordinated as they were one group gaining news of other successful operations. In Cities where the operations were coordinated, success was more likely as the timing had authorities spread too thin to combat the assaults. The response from authorities was to consolidate the resources and production facilities and place a larger protective contingent on them. In addition, tighter rationing had to be enacted creating an even greater divide between those who had not participated in the mass violent looting and those who had. Another thing happening was that most people were not reporting in for work anymore. That necessitated the military conscripting, by force, bodies to work in the manufacturing and production facilities, the farms and the mines. National guards were paid in food and goods, such as tobacco, marijuana and liquor for their services and most, seeing what was available and what was not, were willing to serve, even if it meant killing fellow Americans. Those who had prepared in advance and had adequate resources for the times were quickly found out and overwhelmed by the unprepared who had access to weapons and assistance. There were some who formed small to medium sized groups and were able to defend their families, food, water, and resources but it was always a constant battle as those on the outside became more desperate. The bodies piled up as the Scientists researched the cloud. In the parking garage, one of the trucks used in today's raid starts smoking. The truck next to it begins to smoke as well. Minutes later, other vehicles in the garage were smoking and in other parking structures, a few had already broken out in flames. In 20 minutes, at least 10 vehicles in the parkade were burning fiercely. As with the electric cars, this scenario was repeated worldwide. By 8 AM, every car, truck, bus, train and airplane worldwide, was nothing more than a pile of burnt debris. Transportation by anything other than a bike, walking or horseback was no longer an option. As the EVs were thought to be the only vulnerable vehicles and security was difficult, almost every car and truck was inside a garage, parkade or parking facility. These structures burned to the ground as well as there are no longer any fire departments to fight the blazes. All the aircraft on and off military bases worldwide also burned to the ground taking the buildings they were in as well. Hundreds of thousands of lives, millions worldwide, were lost over the evening as well.
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Post by feralferret on Nov 9, 2023 1:34:28 GMT -6
Forthteller, thank you.
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Post by forthteller on Nov 27, 2023 14:50:41 GMT -6
Chapter 17
Nov 24, 2026
Aliens Identified
Three AM and Peter is startled by incoming messages from Spacestar III. He reluctantly crawls out of bed. “This better be good!”
Logging on, Peter notices that another astrological station is now offline. “Probably another one taken over by rebels' ', says Peter to the empty room. Then the message from Spacestar III begins to come in.
It reads, “We have been successful in capturing dozens of particles and it is as we suspected, they are light particles. We were able to capture them and bring them on board using a light spectrometer. So far, we are unable to duplicate what we have seen when they disengage and somehow dissipate into our clouds but we have plenty of additional ideas to experiment with. No sign of communicative effort from the particles but they appear stable. Several containers have fresh water in them, and the rest have salt water of various ratios. So far, nothing has happened. Interestingly, the particles are exactly symmetrical inside their containment units. To the micro millimetre, we did not do anything to the units which would cause this. It is a certainty that they do have some form of mass to be able to achieve this. The only way would be magnetic or gravitational force which would require mass.”
Peter stays up, heads into the kitchen to get coffee and decides not to wake the others as the news can wait. Over breakfast, he goes over what he has just heard, what he knows and what he has experienced in the past. “I don’t get it. They should not even exist, they should not be able to do anything and there are trillions of them. And the octopi. Are they connected? They have to be, the coincidence is just too impossible.”
Hearing him talk to himself, an early rising Mai Lin says, “nothing is impossible if it is empirically a fact. Let's look at what we know as fact and exclude supposition.”
Okay, I’ll play. “The thing was stationary and somehow stopped Keppler, held it for a few weeks and then released it. Keppler restarted at the same speed it was traveling as it was when it was intercepted and had no perceptible deceleration or acceleration. That requires intelligence, intent and mass. And we have no way of knowing how to see that.”
“Can we see wind?”
“No, but we can see the consequences and the actions from it.”
“Correct, wind has no mass, and we cannot see it, but it can move things. But we do know, air which is moved by the unseen force of wind can move objects but in reality, wind does not. Is it possible something unseen is acting on the particles or that the particles are acting on something?”
“We know or at least we believe there is nothing out in space for the particles to act on so unless there is something, the particles need to be the force or the acted upon force.”
“Do you believe in God?”
“I do. But that still begs the question, if God acted upon the particles, how did they actually do anything if they have no mass?”
“Ok, we agree on that. So, the particles could not have done anything that we have observed so what did? God or something else supernatural is the only explanation.”
“Miracles, Supernatural, in the distant and recent past. Question is, were they real or just made-up illustrations to help the religious feel secure in their belief? Many believe, but in reality, who actually knows for sure? But, these particles have abilities that we cannot yet understand, that we do know.”
“Ok. Something has to be causing the actions of the particles. There are those too, who believe in telekinesis. Is it possible that mass telekinesis could stop a satellite, hold it for a while and then release it? There are many who also believe that people can communicate, move objects and cause events using only mind control. What if thousands of people actually had this ability and they focused that energy on one object. Out there, point to the ceiling, there are trillions.”
“Ok, Telekinesis! If it is real, could explain it, but that would still require intelligence and intent.”
Mai Lin responds. “True. That would bring us to, why? Why stop the satellite and why release it, why stop us from seeing the planet and most importantly, why come to Earth? My belief is it stopped and detained the satellite to examine it and then to gather intel from it. It was able to determine the earth's location from the satellite database and was capable of plotting a trajectory to reach us. It either didn't realize we were monitoring Kepler and or did not care. Then the question would be why gather the intel and why come to earth and also, why release Kepler? That one I am still trying to wrap my head around but those octopi are most likely connected and may be the why. Bringing us back to the how.”
“Ok, so let's assume the aliens are the octopi or that they somehow managed to occupy the octopi bodies and mutate them into what we are seeing on screen. Could it be that the planet they came from had no water anymore or had frozen over?”
“That would be my best guess but we still don’t know for certain if the two anomalies are actually related or if 186f ever had water. I refuse to dismiss the connection because it is just too coincidental. Two of the most significant occurrences in a millennium have occurred simultaneously, coincidence? That brings us to my final conclusion, these things are dangerous and they mean us harm. Their growth and existence can only happen if we are totally eliminated from the waters and we do not know yet if they can come out of those waters. And we also don’t know what technology they have to combat us. It would be my recommendation to NASA and the American military, the cloud must be destroyed, immediately.”
“You have spent a lot of time thinking about this haven't you?”
“Every waking moment since we came back onto the project and lots between now and when we first discovered it around 186f in 2014. It is dangerous and I do not even need to know how it does what it is capable of doing. I believe its survival means our extinction, whether intentionally or accidental. We cannot co-exist with those things.”
“What if we can learn to communicate with them and come to some kind of agreement or truce.”
“Trillions of particles out there, if even a tenth become an octopus, there is no way they would be able to compromise. Water levels would need to rise hundreds of feet to provide enough habitat for them. What if they have the ability to do that, raise water levels? What if the octopi can procreate? No, they will not compromise, no different if humans were to conquer another planet with beings as different as these. We don’t even know what technology they have, what caused the extinction on their planet and why they picked our planet. Incidentally, Keppler never came across another planet that had water and we still don’t know if 186f ever had water.”
The discussion dies down as the other team members begin to enter the dining hall. With coffee all around, they plop their laptops out to look at the current news. General internet is still down but satellite internet from the space net is still accessible.
Jerome starts up. “The scientists aboard the Spacestar have done everything they could with the particles so far. Nothing yet. Good news is the Chinese have a satellite in place in the midst of the cloud and they have decided to begin sharing news and findings with us. Apparently, they now admit they have the same problem with octopi in their waters and have determined that this is a worldwide catastrophic risk and not of our doing. I will spend the next few days examining what they have discovered and sent us, to see if there is anything we missed.”
Peter goes next. “Worldwide, a revolution is taking place. Millions are already dead and it appears no jurisdiction is exempt. Every national government has been hollowed out and looting is now the norm. Local governments and citizen groups are now taking charge almost everywhere. If we do not get answers and fast, society will do the deed before any aliens can. Crop failures worldwide as nobody is willing to harvest, process and transport them. Famine and starvation for most of the world will be the consequence.”
Peter follows up with the last and most curious problem. As with the EVs, now every internal combustion vehicle worldwide has now burned to a crisp. And every electrical generating facility, transmission line and every communication tower and line.”
“Two more observatories taken over and with lunatics running them, that means less information and potential solutions.”
Elijah breaks in. “Just in. The US, Russia and China are going to jointly launch targeted conventional strikes into the cloud to see what happens. They are all preparing an all-out nuclear strike from hundreds of facilities just in case it responds with force. Navy special forces from every nation are going in at the same time to take out as many of these octopus facilities as they can in one strike. They have obviously determined that the occurrences are related and are a severe risk worldwide and with every mobile piece of equipment now gone they will launch what they can in place and move the rest using manpower, lots of it. Have we ever agreed with the Russians and the Chinese on any military actions?”
“Not in my lifetime. Do you guys think they will call us in to see what we know?” Muses Peter.
It is more about what we do not know.
Wednesday Nov 24, 2026
Worldwide, thousands of intercontinental ballistic missiles are launched into the air. Reprogrammed to leave our atmosphere and enter directly into the cosmic cloud on the dark side of the earth, they begin to slow and detonate.
At the same time, Submarines and ships worldwide launch torpedoes and depth charges targeted on all the known octopi installations.
Initially, explosions occur in the targeted areas but in the upper atmosphere, all the remaining incoming missiles come to an immediate halt and sit stationary at an invisible barrier. Those not yet into the upper atmosphere will continue on to hit that same invisible wall and also stop motionless, midair.
Major General Griffon, the 4-star air force commander, stands at his console and watches in amazement as the American missiles come to a dead stop. Looking at the other screens, he sees that the Russian and Chinese munitions are facing the same fate. “Cease firing, stand down.”
The other screens tell him that his temporary allies are also standing down. “Holy crap, what is it using to defend itself? Any suggestions?”
The Colonel at the controls near the Eastern end of the ready room responds, “Sir, the shield is sonic. Sound. I just do not know how. No atmosphere out there so sound should be impossible.”
A science officer, Major Mustafa says to the General, the Colonel and anyone else within hearing. “Not possible, sound can only travel through the vibration of atoms or molecules in a medium like air or water. In space, there is no air, water or other medium, sound has no way to travel.”
The colonel responds, “well it did. My instruments record a massive sonic blast network creating an impenetrable wall that stopped all our missiles, midair, dead in their tracks. No damage at all, just stopped them dead.”
The General asks the next question. “Did the missiles that got through and detonated cause any damage or have any effect?”
“Sir, unfortunately we have no way of knowing. The cloud has somehow shut off any visual surveillance so we cannot even see it now. The Chinese space explorer ship that was in its midst is now plummeting to earth with any propulsion disabled. It will impact Western Brazil within minutes.”
“Is the NASA space ship still out there?”
“It is but since Biden shut down the Space force, we have limited contact with NASA so we don’t yet know what they can still see. And, they will have seen the attempted missile strike.
Same time, at the Southern US Naval command in Doral Florida, Vice Admiral Rojas is watching the Southern naval attack on the alien installations. The initial strike appears to succeed but the second wave is stopped 1000 meters before impacting any alien structures. These munitions do not detonate and are left impotent and they cannot even be detonated remotely.”
“What happened? What stopped them?”
The young E4 sitting at the console near the Admiral says, “there is no way to tell sir. They just stopped. Dead. No detonations, nothing.”
“Do we have any more outbound?”
“I believe they were waiting for your launch orders. And Sir, we have no communication with or control of the ones that are now stopped. It is almost like something intercepted the link.”
“That cannot be. Is there any word from the other commands?”
The communications officer, Commander Frank responds. “Sir, I have reports from several commands. They all report similar circumstances. Pacific Command launched another wave and these too were stopped 2000 meters from the installations. The chief of Naval Operations has ordered a stand down for all commands. Until further notice.”
“What is the situation with the Naval assault using depth charges.?”
The young E4 responds, “Sir, they were also stopped and are now floating some distance away. But I can see activity coming from this octopus installation.”
Everyone runs to screens to watch as dozens, hundreds of octopi exit the dome and head towards the torpedoes and other underwater munitions. Some are operating what looks like flat wheelless truck trailers. No visible means of propulsion but they accelerate and travel at a fair clip. As they near the stalled missiles, torpedoes and other munitions, the swimming octopi teams take position around these munitions. In groups of 2 to 5, they maneuver the weapons over to the now stopped trailers and load them on. Other octopi strap them down with what looks like green organic rope. In mere minutes, the trailers in view are loaded and they accelerate towards the large dome like structure and enter it. A few more of the contraptions exit the dome and head towards the immobilized munitions while other octopi swim up to the suspended depth charges and start moving them towards the dome.
“What the hell, they now have our live munitions, and we have no control over them?”
Nobody responds to the Admiral as there is really nothing to say.
The young E4 interrupts. “Sir, the munitions suspended in the air are dropping back into our atmosphere. It looks like they will freefall and land at random, I have no idea if they will detonate.”
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Post by feralferret on Nov 27, 2023 22:43:36 GMT -6
Holy bat crap, Robin!
Forthteller, thank you.
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Post by cutter on Nov 30, 2023 11:45:03 GMT -6
This is one freaky read, but I dig it. Thank you.
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Post by forthteller on Nov 30, 2023 17:18:25 GMT -6
This is one freaky read, but I dig it. Thank you. I actually write the prequel to post apocalyptic fiction and usually end my stories once we get there. This one, I am planning on following a few characters as they negotiate the new reality. Forthteller.
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Post by forthteller on Dec 4, 2023 22:42:30 GMT -6
Chapter 18
Counter attack fallout
Over at the NASA peninsula, Mai Lin and the others watch the attack on screen, from the feed coming in from Transtar III. They experience some sense of relief when initial explosions occur but that quickly changes to disbelief when the next wave is stopped a good distance away. And then despair, as the missiles sit motionless. Mai Lin exclaims, “that is exactly what happened to Kepler. In this case, it did it to thousands of objects, simultaneously. How? And what will it do with the munitions it has captured? We need to get into contact with the military brass at the pentagon and let them know what we know.” Dr. Bowman, standing at the doorway says, “I already made some connections. They knew what it was capable of and I believe it will be able to do exactly what it was able to do with Keplar, send them on their way. I am willing to bet they can even reprogram the targeting of those things. The brass from every country believed that surprise, shock and awe would work and they would be able to essentially neutralize the threat in one strike.” He continues on, “I wanted them to wait because the scientists aboard the Transtar satellite have been able to achieve some startling results. Several of the particles inside the containment units have transformed into miniature Octopi. Interestingly, there are significantly different ones in the freshwater and saltwater containment units. The ones in the freshwater appear to be attempting to communicate with us but we have not been able to translate yet.” Mai Lin responds first, “Communicate with us, the things have just been born or hatched. Is it the particles communicating or the octopus things?” Surjit Sandu responds, “Dr Bronson, our primary Biologist onboard the Transtar, has no idea how fast the things will grow if they do at all. We know that some Aquatic creatures only grow to the size of their environment and the question is do these things? The deep water octopi are gigantic compared to the ones we have seen in shallower waters and in fresh waters.” Dr Bowman replies, I agree, He does note that the 3 in the fresh water containers are sending out a morse code like signal. We have it on our computers now so I would like one of our coworkers, Danielle Reed, to look at it to see if she can interpret it.” Mai Lin, who had already met her several times in passing replies, “awesome. I was surprised you did not have her involved earlier.” “She was, but out of my office working with my programs and research. She is not well versed in anything astrophysical or astrological but with computer languages, she is brilliant. She was well into developing her own computer language when I brought her in so that endeavour has been temporarily shelved. If anyone can translate the Aliens machine language, she can.” Mai Lin, thinking out loud, “they were able to intercept and somehow translate our on board data and communications from Kepler and then locate the earth from that information and somehow, get here. It would follow that they have already translated the language we use there. I think we use HAL/S.” As they are talking, the building]g shakes. Dust and debris rains down on them. Cracks form on the walls. “Let's all get down to the shelters, now!” shouts Dr Bowman. As they had all practised this procedure, they all knew exactly what to do. Out of the offices and into the hallways everyone files. Dozens of people are already out there. The stairwell doors are already opened and people are flowing in and down. Once down, everyone heads down another corridor and into the massive shelters below the buildings. As the people go in, they are followed by security and National Guard. Once almost everyone is in, the massive double doors are closed and only one smaller door is left to pass through. Inside, they feel another more massive rumble and the whole building shakes so badly the reinforced shelter feels as if it will collapse. “That was a massive one. I have no Idea what they shot up there but whatever it was, the aliens have turned it back on us. I am fairly certain the building above us is flattened. We will be safe down here for months, this shelter can withstand a direct Nuclear blast if necessary.” A flabbergasted Peter exclaims from the back, “we should have been down here earlier. At the very least, when we saw they had stopped the incoming arsenal. We know the thing or things can stop and then release objects going as fast as Kepler so it would follow, the things could release the munitions back to earth. To reprogram them, I don’t know. They may have landed and detonated wherever they naturally fell. Fortunately we had already downloaded everything into the backup computers down here.”
Minutes before, in Seattle, dozens of men were engaged in a turf battle. Fully armed with semi automatic weapons and some small artillery. Both sides were fully at it with at least 25 casualties already. The prize. A frozen food distribution warehouse that had been abandoned by the Army National Guard just hours earlier. It was because the power had been cut several days earlier and the generators were now out of fuel. With no reinstatement expected in the near future, the entire lot will be defrosted and begin to go bad within days. The officers and senior NCO’s all took as much as they could carry and as the vehicles were already burnt to a crisp they had to leave on foot with wheelbarrows, hand carts and shopping carts. They gathered in twos or threes for added safety and headed their separate ways. Most never made it to their destination as roving bands intercepted them and took what they were carrying or pushing in carts. Most of the enlisted Guard had previously chosen alliances and were only loyal to the military until something like this happened. Once the officers left, they sent messages out to their groups and those groups assembled and arrived almost simultaneously. A third separate group, all Latino, is waiting nearby to join the fray when the odds look to be in their favour. Unlike most of the roving bands of bandits, race is not an issue with either side of the primary combatants. They both have equal representation from every visible minority group and Caucasians as well. Ironically, not a single female was involved from either side and by this point, there were no females active in the National Guard either. The only distinguishing difference between both groups which contained men from 15 to 60 was their headdress. One side had red ball caps or skull caps while the other side had blue. As the conflict continues, a missile lands in the middle of the red cap defensive position. 3 seconds later, it detonates, killing everyone within range and destroying a large number of structures, the unexpected explosion saw nobody taking cover. A second one, a larger trident low yield warhead detonated before it struck the ground and caused multiple times the damage and casualties as the first one. Those who were not killed immediately could hear similar explosions in other areas of the city. Throughout the USA and the entire world for that matter, missiles, bombs and other munitions rained down, not one landed or detonated on or near any major waterways. Russian munitions fell on the US and China while the American ones fell on China and a few on Russia. Same with the Chinese munitions, they fell on targets that would have been chosen by the Chinese. It appears the aliens did not choose targets in most munitions, they merely programmed the munitions to impact those targets already in the memory banks. Some missiles and bombs from the Chinese and Russians also fell in Australia and Europe. As the world militaries are now in total disarray, there will never be an investigation as to how the Aliens were able to target the munitions but those at the observatory know the cloud has the capability of accessing, interpreting and utilizing our computer data. Miraculously, their position was initially unharmed.
Oct 27, 2026, 6:23 AM In Ontario, the Pickering unit 7 Nuclear power plant alarms were sounding. Wiring overload and every engineer on duty and even some brought in are feverishly going over the system to determine what is going wrong. Unit 6 alarms start going off as well. Within an hour, no closer to determining what the malfunction is, every still operating unit is now under alarms and the smoke is now so dense in unit 7 that an evacuation order has now been issued. At the same time, the Haiyang Nuclear power plant in China is suffering the same inexplicable malfunction as the recently completed unit 3 was smoking and circuits overloaded followed by the other units within minutes. It too had to be evacuated and shut down as the smoke was too intense to allow even visual actions. The operators in the entire facility insert control rods and the system is scrammed. Throughout China, the same process is repeated in every nuclear power plant as they all suffer the same overheated circuitry. Within 24 hours, every nuclear facility is now shut down and several that were not shut down in time, have suffered a core meltdown and will become an environmental catastrophe as the resources and manpower needed, is no longer available to minimize the damage. During this same period, every solar panel and windmill in the whole world overheated and burned as did every electrical generating facility on rivers and reservoirs and all the coal and CGG generating facilities. All the transmission lines worldwide overheated and burned up, starting forest fires everywhere but with seasonal weather non conducive to wildfires, the fires were not as severe as could have been in the summer. In essence, the entire world now had no electricity, no transportation and no communications overnight. Only ham radios and some military radio systems were still operational if they had or were contained within a faraday cage.
Nov 29th, 2026 Wayne Olson and his brother Paul are near the lakehead dock South of Thunder Bay. They are watching an octopus removing the motor and navigation systems from their fishing boat docked there. “How do they even know how to do that?” Says paul. “I don’t know but I worked my ass off for that boat and I am not letting those bastards have it. I don’t care if I never get fuel or use it again, they are not getting it either.” He cocks his 308 semi Automatic winchester. Sights it and squeezes the trigger. The Octopus rocks back as a massive chunk of its head explodes. It falls motionless to the deck. Wayne runs down the dock and heads towards the boat. Octopi start clambering up. He fires a quick shot into the face and head of those emerging and they sink back into the water. After several drop off, more start arriving so he turns and runs back to the safety of the shore. Paul had noticed they were vulnerable and he had begun targeting and shooting other octopi, leaving several to sink back into the water or lay motionless on the dock. Once he has run to a safe distance away, Wayne says, “holy crap, how many of them are there. And look at how big some are.” Paul pointed at those laying on the deck, “I think they are dead though. You are not getting your boat back. I ain’t never going near the water again. I wonder if we can eat those things.”
Same day in Florida. Hector Martinez is in the backyard of his waterfront home in a secure gated community that is now well taken care of by ex-military men. He hears his youngest daughter screaming so he runs to the ocean side of his home to see some octopi on the shore working on dismantling his solar system. His daughter is on the deck, terrified yet still watching what was going on. The octopi seem to be totally disaffected by the humans nearby. Hector takes his 9 mil from his holster and takes aim. One, two, three well aimed shots and the hollow point bullets exit the opposite side of three heads. He continues to take aim on the startled octopi and shoots 8 of them before the rest manage to clumsily get back into the water to escape. He walks over to one and kicks it over, obviously dead. He says to himself, " I wonder if these things are edible?” Hearing the gunshots, two of the security detail rushed to the scene, armed and ready with semi automatics. Jesus yells, “Everything is okay here.” “These pricks were stealing my solar panels so I shot them. Does anyone have a knife with them? I want to take a Tentacle and see if these things are edible. We need guards watching the water from here on out.”
In Cherrueix, France, two survivors are hunting along the French side of the English Channel. They are hunting for octopus, which many have found are not only edible but quite tasty and nutritious. Using crossbows connected to a lightweight yet strong line, they get as close to the shore as they dare acting as bait or wait around abandoned boats and other shoreline infrastructure. If they dare to go on the docks, they do it in larger groups as the things can come out of the water in groups, attacking everyone they can reach. They do not have weapons but they can grab with their hand like appendages on their front tentacles and jump back into the water with their prey. Gaston had seen one of his friends captured and dragged into the water this way and he never saw him again. He says to Marceaux, “if you go to the right a little, I will watch to see if you have attracted anything.” As Marceaux moves, the incoming waves are interrupted by something. He stops to watch, harpoon at the ready. He does not have the line on his harpoon, Gaston who is further from shore has the one with the line. With a splash, an octopus springs from the water, followed by a second and two more along the shore. He shoots the first one and springs back to the shore as Gaston gets a good head-shot in and begins dragging the octopus inland. They are frequently well over a hundred pounds and this one was. Marceaux was safe enough to reload and he fires a second hit at another one that was attempting to follow him inland. The others slink back into the water. Once Gaston has his first one far enough inland, he pulls the harpoon from the dead octopus and reloads. “Stay away from the other two, they may come back to attack if you get too close. I will harpoon them and drag them in first. 3 in one go, we are going to be big heroes when we get in tonight.”
Worldwide, there was limited shelter now as many homes and most high density buildings had inexplicably caught fire and burned to the ground and what was left was now bombed. As the EVs were thought to be the only vulnerable vehicles and security was difficult, almost every car and truck was inside a garage, parkade or parking facility. These structures burned to the ground as well because there are no longer any fire departments to fight the blazes. All the aircraft on and off military bases worldwide also burned to the ground taking the buildings they were in as well. Hundreds of thousands of lives, millions worldwide, were lost over the evening as well. Over the next few hours, munitions and weapons in bunkers and armouries worldwide overheated and burned into uselessness. Many exploded, destroying their surroundings unless an electronic detonator was needed for detonation. By midnight, every military establishment that was not underground and integrated with a substantial Faraday system was destroyed.
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Post by feralferret on Dec 4, 2023 23:20:09 GMT -6
Forthteller, thank you.
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Post by texican on Dec 21, 2023 23:44:49 GMT -6
Kill and eat the octopi. One way to overcome them, maybe.
Thanks FT for the story.
Texican....
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Post by forthteller on Dec 26, 2023 21:07:32 GMT -6
Chapter 19
The Alien communicates
Danielle Reed and her small team of computer language specialists have now been working nonstop for 48 hours since the octopus started sending out the code. They have pooled their knowledge and experience and have made huge headway in translating the communication from the Alien. It, in fact, has been assisting by adjusting its code to match what they are able to read and translate. Sleeping only when necessary, on one of the cots in the neighbouring office, they were blissfully unaware of the destruction that was taking place worldwide. From an unreadable translation 48 hours ago, the Code has now been translated and is able to be spoken through an AI character in halting English. Disturbingly, it is now obvious that the Aliens have been able to understand our communications for a lot longer. With grammar and pronunciation being the last drawback, verbal communication was well on the way. Radio communications with Space-star III were still intact and quite clear.. A gift from the aliens, who it is now known, could have easily taken it down too? Danielle asks one of the other programmers, “can you go over to Dr. Bowman's office and let him know we are now able to communicate with the freshwater aliens.” Sheila responds, “absolutely, do you want me to inform Mai Lin and her group as well?” “I think it is best to just get just Dr. Bowman in here, and let him decide when to get the others involved. It is willing and actually wants to talk to us so we should not overwhelm it with too many people.” The alien is listening in as they have not yet figured out how to shut down the communication lines now that they have opened them up. Additionally, they have no idea how long the alien intelligence has been able to listen in, now that it has started communicating with them. Minutes later, Dr. Bowman arrives with his assistant. “I understand we now have the ability to talk with our visitors?” With almost perfect pronunciation, grammar and accent, the alien introduces itself. “Good afternoon Dr. Bowman, I am Venitor 35001, we have much to discuss, I would suggest you record our conversation and make sure everyone still in authority gets an opportunity to listen to it. I do not know if we'll ever have the opportunity for a repeat.” “Venitor 35001. Is that your name?” “No, Dr. Bowman, Unlike humans, we are not individuals, we are collectives. I am one of 76,000 Venitors and we are named for what we do within our community. We Venitor are communicators. We can understand machine languages, many alien languages and the many languages within our own race. We are tasked to ensure every Millet who needs any information is presented with it in a language it understands. We are permitted to communicate anything in our consciousness, to Millets who can and need to comprehend it.” Dr. Bowman seeks to clarify, “ anything in your consciousness?” “Correct Dr. Bowman. Just as you have knowledge and experience, we have corporate knowledge and experience. From thousands of your years back.” “How do you communicate then?” Venitor 35001 responds, “our species has always had the ability to communicate using mental telepathy, as do several species on your planet and some humans. We enhanced that ability over thousands of years and began to achieve greater corporate success. By developing our ability to communicate using telepathy, we found that some within our collective could manipulate animate objects using Telekinesis. We have worked through thousands of your years to enhance that skill and can now corporately manipulate our environment and help our race evolve and achieve what the beings on our surface could do.” “That is very enlightening, please continue.” Venitor 35001 continues on, “Over tens of thousands of years, we were able to learn to combine our abilities and achieve greater results. We can now combine our powers to move objects millions of your miles away, or many objects at the same time. Those in stasis are partially conscious and can also contribute their power to help achieve our common goals. The power usage is extremely taxing and the participants must rest and recharge. Sunlight is most effective but because most are now residing on the dark side of the earth, we can only recover by recharging from distant stars and this takes much longer.” “You are called Millets?” “We call ourselves that as we are from the planet Milet. As you call yourself earthlings because you live on the planet Earth.” “You said that we may not have a repeat, why is that?” “Because we are two primary races from Milet and the war that tore our planet apart 10 thousand of your years ago has never been settled. Our adversaries will do whatever they can to prevent us from communicating with you but my race is much stronger, though we are fewer in number.” “War. Over what.” “Habitat. They live in salt water and seek to increase the size of their habitat by raising water levels. That in turn depletes our habitat by flooding us with salt water and increases the planet's temperature making survival more difficult as we thrive in colder waters. Because our habitat is shallow in comparison, it also warms more than our oceans making it even more difficult to survive in. We believe they will attempt the same thing here on your Earth and that is why we are willing to communicate with you.” Dr Bowman is a little concerned. “They share your consciousness and will know of our conversation. Will that cause problems for your faction?” The Millet responds, “they cannot communicate with us and we cannot communicate with them. We have used our power to block any communications those from the Salt may receive on this vessel.” Confused, Dr Bowman asks, “how is this so?” “I do not have that information in my consciousness.” “Can they hear our conversation using the same method we are using between our species?” “They cannot comprehend our communications since we spawned but I cannot say from before that, as that information is not in my consciousness.” Dr Bowman turns to his assistant. “I need you to let Space-star III know that they need to move every salt water containment unit out of their lab and into a secure area with no communication technology and no computer access at all with one another.” He then faces the AI, “how do you defend yourself?” “We can create water blasts, which are similar to circular waves. They can travel through oceans and other bodies of water at what you consider the speed of sound and impact like a miniature tidal wave with severe destructive force. They have defenses that can counter the blasts, as do we. These defenses can counter the larger blast with a smaller blast. This will disseminate the incoming wave but not without disrupting the aqua wildlife and fauna in the vicinity. The collateral damage can harm the enemy by reducing the size and scope of habitat for its food sources. As a result, both sides have resisted the urge to continue waring on that front.” “They decided to attempt another strategy. They hoped to increase their population while decreasing ours by reducing our area of habitat and increasing theirs. Initially, they dispersed Sulphur Hexafluoride into the atmosphere and it caused immediate and sustained warming with the associated sea rises. This in turn flooded some of our lakes with Saltwater killing those living within. We responded with a sustained and continuous barrage of blasts but it was after the temperature had risen several degrees.? “We had also developed a method of controlling atmospheric temperature, at least we thought we had. We combated the warming until we were able to get the temperatures down but we were unable to stop the depletion once it got the temperature to where we needed it. CO2 in the atmosphere dropped to a level where most plant life could not exist and almost all the animals, including the intelligent Weins, went extinct. The planet froze over. In my comprehension, your species is attempting to do just that, as well. As the water temperatures dropped, the waters froze and snow fell. We were unable to adapt fast enough and most of us died.” Dr Bowman then asked, “how did you survive then?” “We had found a way to place our consciousness and essence into protons and place them in Millet's orbit. We shared that knowledge with the Salt water ones. We have stayed in stasis while our intellectual ones monitored Milet at a higher level of consciousness. It was hoped that the planet would eventually recover and life would once again flourish on it. Another hope was that another compatible species would come by and we could locate their planet and go there. Only then, could we return and reclaim our place, but the war between us is still not settled. It is our belief that this conflict will repeat the destruction that once occurred.`` Dr. Bowman asks, “Can your race and the other race work together to achieve peace and common goals while in stasis?” “It is not possible. We will not know which suspended Milet will go to fresh water and which will go to salt water until we are activated. We do not know what abilities we will have until we are spawned and we will be able to communicate only with whatever race we are spawned into. While in stasis, we can all receive instruction but cannot transmit any communications at all.” “You said those in stasis can contribute to telekinetic efforts, how is this possible without communicating with one another?” “The intellectual ones can communicate instructions to every Millet.” “Can the suspended millets communicate back to the intellectual ones?” “That information is not in my consciousness. I do not wish to communicate this stream of conversation further.” “Okay, I understand.” Dr Bowman asks, “Telekinesis? Is that how you stopped Kepler?” “Yes and it is also how we stopped your crude attempt to attack and destroy us. Our saltwater Millets are ensuring that your race will never again have the ability to repeat, and to learn other ways to combat us. We will not interfere with that.” “How are they doing that?” “By Eliminating all your transportation devices and everything powered by electrical circuitry. They will reduce your population to the point where survival will be possible without advanced technology, but land dwellers will never again be permitted to develop technology sufficient to threaten our existence. Also, your population must not be a threat to the environment or our waterways.” “Then what can the survivors do to help your faction? What do you expect from them? And why this communication, as you must already know there is no longer a world, national or even local leadership group to respond.” “You have the ability to walk on the dry surface and can manipulate your environment. We would be willing to protect you from the Salt water ones in exchange for trade. We have need of several resources to combat their attempted temperature increases, but they are difficult to access, in the environment we exist in. We also cannot cross land yet so we cannot physically interact with our fellow fresh water Millets.” “Slavery?” “Call it what you want. You will survive extinction in exchange for your assistance. We have no other reason, as once you go extinct, your planet will recover and replenish itself without you.” “You mentioned a land going species called Wiens. What are they and did they have a treaty with your faction?” “The Weins existed as a more intelligent, cooperative species long before we did. They had technology far advanced than what your species currently has, but they massively overpopulated their planet and terrible wars took place over thousands of years. They polluted our waters with their waste and we struggled to exist.” Venitor 35001 adds, “as they warred with one another, we evolved. In thousands of your years, they declined only to re-emerge with greater knowledge and technology and then, once again, war against one another. We watched and learned. Our abilities were easily kept secret and all Millets worked in concert. It was not until the last thousand years of their existence, that they became aware of our abilities. By then, we had developed sufficient powers to defend ourselves. We eventually began to develop a mutually beneficial agreement with the land dwellers where we could both exist. Unfortunately, they continued to over populate Millet as did we. All sides believed that the only way to ensure continued survival was by procreating more of our kind. Your species is no different as you cirrantly have a dominant race being overwhelmed by the increasing population of those who would become dominant. If unchecked, it would have ended in disaster for your planet but we have spared you that process.” “Has your species found a way to combat that tendency to overpopulate?” “We have. The cloud as you call it and those now on Earth are the total number of Millet that will ever exist. We can't procreate now but I know from history, we once could.” “What makes it impossible for you to procreate?” “That knowledge is not in my consciousness.” “How many Millets are in the cloud?” “At least a trillion but the full number is not in my consciousness. We freshwater Millets will only be re animating what the planet can support and physical deaths will make space for new. We do not know where we go after physical death as you humans believe but none of us care. When our numbers get to a point where we are all capable of surviving on the planet at the same time, we will once again become able to procreate.” “We aspire to become able to survive and exist on land as well. We know that will be many centuries from now.” “How long can you live?” “Our bodies can survive for over 100 of your years but in stasis, we can exist indefinitely. I will have existed for 10,000 or more of your years but my compiled experience will last forever. It is my belief that I will continue to exist in my current form to communicate with humans. But I need a larger habitat and what you call food.” “How will your species communicate with us in the future to trade and co-operate?” “There are humans who have the capacity to receive our communications but they must be trained to harness that ability. Many on your planet claim that ability but they are almost all fake. Those who can, rarely share the knowledge of that gift because if they do, they are looked on as freaks or liars. We will work to identify them and enhance their abilities so that they may become a conduit between us. You have on, called Jai Lin Xu who has that ability, she uses what she calls art to broadcast it. Unfortunately, we cannot block the communications they will receive from the saltwater Millets. Some on your planet will war with others on behalf of those who would attempt to cause global warming.“ Dr Bowman asks his assistant, “can you get these transcripts out to every facility that is still intact and able to communicate? Send audio copies as well if you can.” Philip says, “I can, but what about the facilities that have been co-opted by other groups and organizations?” “I think they can see the communications as well. They may or may not believe it is real but we should at least let them see what we are dealing with. And get Mai Lin and her group in on the information as well. And let the Spacestar III people know what we are learning.” To Venitor, Dr. Bowman asks. “Should we have your containment unit transported here to Earth so we can converse face to face? And if so, could you send me details as to what kind of environment would be most suitable and what we would need to provide for your continued existence and health.” “There are 2 more fresh water Millets aboard your spacecraft. The rest are saltwater millets. I do not know what cooperative the salt ones are but the freshwater ones are a builder and engineer. They could design and build habitat but we do not have a provider. Because of that, we have no method of cultivating, gathering or preparing sustenance. I do not have that knowledge in my consciousness either.” “Will any salt water Millets be able to help?” “I do not know if what sustains them will sustain us. That is not in my consciousness and millets can only share knowledge and experience with those who have need of it, I do not have knowledge of it I can share with you but I do have the knowledge and experience I can share with them.” Confused, Dr Bowman queries. “How can you know something and give that knowledge to them but not to others you would like to give it to?” “I do not have that knowledge. It just is. I can give and receive knowledge and experience to and from those who have need of it.” “Who determines who has need of it.” “Intellectual ones have all knowledge and are all seeing and all being”
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Post by texican on Dec 26, 2023 23:03:41 GMT -6
FT,
What a twist to the story.
Texican....
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