progress ain't all bad, I guess.'
'Gus, will you make the introductions?'
Gus took a deep breath and removed the bedsheet from his friend. Lisa and Sarah both stared wide-eyed at the small being that stood on the table, its large eyes blinking in the bright light. Matchstick looked around nervously until it saw the friendly faces of Gus, Jack, and the colonel.
'Ladies, this is Matchstick. He's what you might call one of them little green men.'
Lisa allowed her mouth to do what it wanted. It fell open. Sarah actually laughed and clapped her hands just once. Her smile was from ear to ear as she stepped up to the small alien. She looked at Jack, who in turn mouthed the words
'Well, don't leave the lady hangin', son, shake her hand,' Gus said.
Mahjtic looked from Gus to the woman in front of him. Then it slowly brought its small hand up. The long fingers gently touched and slowly wrapped around her smaller ones.
Sarah turned to Lisa and took her hand. 'Kind of justifies what we do here, doesn't it?'
Lisa just kept her eyes on Matchstick as she slowly closed her mouth and smiled.
Jack pulled Sarah away from the small group and walked her outside.
'Listen, I have been thinking of something. Do you have your virtual map of the geologic formations of the mountains surrounding us?'
'Yeah, I have it right here,' she said.
'Can I see it? I have an idea.'
Julie, Billy, and Tony were now being led into the very hole Julie had stared into when she'd entered the kitchen. She had pleaded with the blond-haired Frenchman to let her son and Tony stay behind. But he'd insisted, although politely, too politely Julie thought, and they went along.
Three members of the Frenchman's commando team were the first to rappel into the hole. It wasn't but thirteen feet deep below the surface of the kitchen when it trailed sharply off to the south and down. The tunnel was about six and half feet in diameter and smooth around the circumference. The smell was that of a slaughterhouse, with that coppery odor. Julie noticed as she inched her way down the rope that blood was smeared and splattered on the tunnel's smooth and shiny surface. She silently prayed it wasn't Hal's.
She waited for Farbeaux to land on the tunnel floor, then she approached him, shrugging off the hands of one of his men.
'What is it you expect us to do?' she asked.
'Do? Why, nothing. You may buy my men and me some valuable time, if and when we run into our guests down here.' Farbeaux smiled and not too gently moved past her and deeper into the black void beyond. He knew a small sample of this animal's DNA would be highly valuable on the open market, and he might need the lives of the three Americans to deal his way out of town.
Niles was on the video link with Virginia Pollock discussing the autopsies of the animals they had recovered. Alice listened in.
'Basically, we're in deep if that third generation is born. There'll be just too many of them to contain. And you saw the confrontation with those air force fighters. They had adapted well to the lightness of this atmosphere, although we are not sure the parent doesn't have that same ability because we haven't seen her yet. In any case, they were trying to seek the limits of the valley and were possibly sending scouts out before heading for greener pastures when they were attacked by the air force.'
Niles rubbed his weary eyes and looked at Alice, then back to the camera.
'What makes you think they haven't already escaped? They could be well on their way to Phoenix, or Albuquerque.'
'The autopsy of the mangled animal we pulled from one of the holes that were bombed indicated they were void of digested food. That's why they broke from the main pack, to scout the surrounding area because they're hungry. We've removed their food source by evacuating the civilians, so we believe the rest will seek nourishment anywhere they can before setting out,' Virginia answered.
Niles gave her a worried look. 'The only food in the area is the teams on the ground.'
'Yes, that's the obvious conclusion.'
Suddenly Jack appeared on the screen with Sarah by his side.
'Niles, I've come up with something here. It might be the backup plan we need.' Jack nodded toward Sarah, who removed her helmet.
'Mr. Compton, do you have virtual reality map 00787 there with you?' she asked.
Niles reacted quickly and punched in the command on his desk keyboard. As they watched, a tight, multicolored view of the valley popped up on the screen. Niles quickly looked it over and made sure the map numbers matched.
'Got it,' he said as Alice joined him in front of the large screen.
'Do you see the eastern end of the valley?' Sarah asked.
'Yes,' Niles said.
'Now, the major caught this little item and I missed it. See the rock stratum goes down into the ground at some points more than two thousand feet, but at the eastern end it tapers out to almost nothing, and there is an actual gap in the ring of mountains at the easternmost end. The rock stratum is virtually nonexistent.'
'I don't get it, what are you saying?' Niles said.
'Niles, the animals will try to exit the valley through the point of least resistance. They may just choose the eastern range, because of the shallowness of the mountain stratum in that area. It's a funnel, Niles, a funnel!' Collins said.
Compton finally got it. 'A trap of some kind?'
'Right, we need an engineer company at the point where the mountains dip down to nothing, where there is no rock deep enough. We need them there with one of the packages from MacDill, placed about a thousand feet down ought to do,' Collins said.
'I get you, Jack, but what in the hell is going to keep them from heading to the shallow point before we're ready?' Niles asked.
Alice understood and grabbed his arm. 'The tunnel teams have to keep them busy for a while, Niles, that's all.'
The director stood and looked at Jack and Sarah. 'The only way you can do that is to make yourself targets, Jack. You're there to try and flush them out, and that's their goddamn territory down there!'
'Niles, can you get the engineers there ASAP?' Jack asked.
'They'll be there, Major,' said a voice from the doorway that caught them off guard.
Both Alice and Niles turned to see Senator Lee standing in the doorway leaning on his cane. He was wearing a red robe and slippers and was staring at both of them. Alice and Niles both stood in shock at seeing him there.
'Thought you could get rid of me that easy?' he said as he glared at Alice. 'You have to do more than hide my pants, woman, you... you usurper.'
Alice finally gained back some of her senses and threw her pad on the desk. Niles didn't know what to do, so he did what came naturally lately, he plopped back down into his chair, shaking his head.
'You need to be back at the clinic!' Alice said, going to Lee's side and helping him to the couch.
'Now, can someone fill me in on how this war is going? Or do I have to wait for the damn movie?'
Niles explained Jack's plan to the senator, who sat and listened with his eye closed.
'Jack, I know exactly what you need, and maybe I can get you some bait out there to ensure the animals' participation in their destruction. You two go on with your mission and we'll take care of everything from here.'
'Yes, sir, nice to see you decided to go to work today,' Jack said, and smiled into the camera, placing his hand on Sarah's shoulder and walking away from the camera.
'Okay, smart guy, what do we do to take advantage of knowing where they will run if they get by the tunnel teams?'
