Anita snapped, 'A balloon grows when you fill it with air. Is a balloon alive?'
Knox, his hands clasped on the table top, pushed to the point, 'And those are the things that are disappearing. I guess we’re just going to have to tough it out and see where this goes.'
'I like them disappearing, man,' Dante Jones explained with the edge in his voice he always used when addressing Gordon Knox. 'It’s them reappearing that bothers me.'
An awkward silence hung in the air for several seconds. Trevor kept his eyes on Anita Nehru who returned her attention to the coffee and the twizzle stick.
'Jon, let’s get through this other stuff,' Trevor desired to tackle the real focus of this meeting: California. He knew, however, that to get there they had to climb over other issues first.
Jon examined one of many papers piled on the table.
'Okay, yeah. Um…Hivvans. There are still Hivvan remnants operating in Cuba, Haiti, and a bunch of other islands down there, all the way to Trinidad.'
Knox chimed in, 'They have some fuel reserves in those areas, that’s why we’re seeing the occasional Screamer raid into Florida and along the Gulf coast.'
'I didn’t think their Screamers had that kind of range,' Dante said.
Brewer explained, 'They’ve developed a longer-range version. Looks to have external tanks and better fuel economy. We think they may be capable of hitting deep into our territory.'
That caught Trevor’s attention.
'Oh. So what are we doing about it?'
Brewer answered, 'Intelligence is gathering info. After we’re done with the big stuff,' everyone knew what Jon meant, 'I’m thinking about sending a couple of dreadnoughts down there to finish the job.'
Gordon broke in again as he often did when Jon spoke, 'But there’s more than the Hivvans to worry about. They might not even be priority number two.'
Jon huffed in a way that suggested I’m getting to that, hold on.
Before he could, Trevor asked, 'What else? What’s priority number two?'
Jon answered, 'Redcoats. Centurians. Whatever you want to call them, Intelligence indicates they’re active south of the Rio Grande.' Trevor had heard those reports but Jon presenting them in a formal council meeting suggested the threat grew. 'Break it down for me.' Gordon, not Brewer, did just that.
'We’ve been trying to map out this whole thing. It's becoming clear that the invasion was well planned. Interrogation of Hivvan prisoners suggest they were told to take most of what was the eastern United States. We haven’t got much more information than that on them.' Lori Brewer wondered, 'Why not?' Knox answered, 'SiSPA.' Lori cocked her head and asked, 'Huh? Chutzpah?'
Jon corrected, 'SiSPA. Sentient Species Protection Act. One of Evan Godfrey’s pet projects. After he toured Red Rock a few years ago he decided to push a law through the Senate keeping us from dissecting anything with any intelligence.'
Stanton felt it important to remind every one that, 'The whole thing wasn’t just the Senator’s idea. No, now wait, it would not have gone through if it didn’t have backing.' Eyes fell on Trevor who defended, 'I thought it was the right thing to do.' 'Sudden change in attitude, if I remember correctly,' Gordon Knox threw out his comment and studied Trevor's reaction. Trevor forced himself to keep a straight face but Lori Brewer, on the other hand, nodded in understanding.
Brewer moved the briefing forward. 'The Witiko, we think, started in California probably with the hope of expanding. The war they had with the Californians, then the closing of the gateways stopped that cold.'
Omar Nehru raised the question, 'I am wondering then about the Red Hands and what they were doing around here. I would think the same could be asked of the outposts of The Order that we were finding in the early years.'
Trevor presented his thoughts on those two: 'I think the Feranites-the Red Hands-are basically cannon fodder. As for Voggoth, I think he does whatever he wants.'
Brewer said, 'Well, the Redcoats-Centurians-came in to South America. I mean, primarily. Of course, we found a bunch of them up here back that first year.'
Remembering what he had learned on an alternate Earth, Trevor told them, 'Sometimes the gateways can misfire, sending groups of invaders off-target. The Redcoats we fought at Wilkes-Barre may have been a case of that. But wait a second, let’s boil this down. Whatever is left of the Hivvans is hanging out in the Caribbean. Can they hurt us?'
'Air raids,' Brewer answered. 'A few here and there. I think they’re holding on by a thread. With the gateways closed, they’re in no position to cause us serious trouble.'
'Gordon,' Trevor ordered, 'I want you to get people on those islands. Complete information. Jon, have your staff put together plans to hit whatever is left of the Hivvans as soon as we get the time. I also want better intel on Mexico. It sounds to me like you’ve got some guesses and hunches but that’s not good enough.' Brewer defended, 'Most of our resources have been pointed west.' 'The dreadnoughts were supposed to give us flexibility. I want to flex.' Gordon nodded, 'We’ll get it done.' 'Um, one other thing,' Jon, given Trevor’s blooming bad mood, hesitated to speak but could not avoid it. 'What?' 'Red Hands again. You know, Feranites; whatever.' Trevor pinched the bridge of his nose. 'Go ahead, give it to me.' 'A bunch of settlers got taken out in Boulder by Red Hands last Saturday. Must’ve been a mess of them.' Dante Jones spat, 'Why am I just hearing about this now?' Jon told him, 'Because Dustin McBride’s cavalry found them.' Trevor remembered, 'Didn’t we have problems with Red Hands last fall in Colorado?'
Gordon Knox glanced at a paper and read, 'Supply train hit by Red Hands last August outside of Cheyenne Wells. Ten I.S. agents killed and the train crew. Double that number in Red Hand bodies recovered. In November the garrison at Pueblo took a beating during a night raid by Red Hands. Another dozen people killed and ten more missing, probably taken by the Feranites.'
Omar exhaled a ball of smoke and said, 'I thought these aliens were of a kind to stay in one place.'
Trevor said, 'You’re right, Omar.'
Omar stuck a finger in his ear, wiggled it, and begged, 'Would you mind repeating that, my ears may have not heard what it is you said.'
Trevor ignored the quip. 'The Hivvans are adding long-range tanks to their Screamers, the Red Hands have changed from stationary tribes to nomads. And here we are, building giant air ships. Guess it’s true, life adapts.'
'Got to be a lot them,' Dante suggested. 'Probably headed into the mountains last winter and are on the move again. I don’t have the manpower to-'
Trevor cut off Dante as he turned to Jon Brewer and ordered, 'Handle this. A regular military unit. Can’t have that many of those bastards running around on our territory.'
'First Cavalry is on it. Dustin will track them down. It might take a while, but he’ll do it.'
'Hey, isn’t this my area?' Dante’s reaction sounded both hurt and angry.
Trevor answered, 'That many Red Hands is a job for the military, not Internal Security. You’ve got enough to worry about, like the Tambourine line. What’s the status?'
Dante shifted uneasily.
Gordon Knox offered the answers Dante lacked: 'Intelligence’s part of the deal is about done. We’ve finished the last stretch of sonar buoys along the Carolina coast. The stuff south and north of that, you know, has been on line for months. Now the computers are fully integrated, my people made sure of that. The last piece of the puzzle is the final batch of staffing in the control centers and the ground-based radar systems.'
Trevor’s eyes went to Dante who explained, 'Man, it’s been tough finding the right people for this; tech people. Hell, I don’t even know how half this shit works.'
Omar-perhaps emboldened by Trevor having told him he had been right about something-joined the conversation, 'Mr. Jones, it is not for your people to be worrying about the bolts and the nuts of this thing. If they have eyes they can see the radar sweeps and listen to the lovely little pings of the sonar.'
Brewer said, 'The Tambourine line is a big part of our defense program. If that isn’t going to be on line then I don’t feel good sending the Philippan to California.'
Dante countered, 'What difference does that make? The Tambourine line is an early warning system, it’s not armed.'
Gordon pointed out, 'Right now the Philippan is part of a surveillance network guarding the east coast until
