Para: “Take it to them guys!”
*EDIC: “Blockade ships on tactical evasive maneuvers. Very high acceleration. They are running deep. Timestamp has been started. 30 seconds, mark: still running, evasive. 60 seconds, mark: approaching two-million kilometers. We’ve got serious time lag. 2 minutes, mark: 5 million kilometers. 2 minutes 20 seconds, mark. Courses have stabilized. Plotting. Analysis complete. Coordinates received by Shockwave port team. 3 minutes, mark. Alert. Detonation ship two; detonation ship eight. Time lag due to distance. Detonation ship one; detonation ship nine. Confirmation will take a minute. Yes! We have confirmed kills, ships two, eight, one, and nine.”
Mr. T: “The bugs felt safe so far out and stopped their evasive maneuvers. But they were scattered and could no longer communicate efficiently. The light speed trap caught them. Rock and Roll were able to destroy those last four ships before the bugs knew what happened. But where is number six?”
*EDIC: “We have a possible location, blockade ship six. Processing telemetry Skywatch INT-4. Confirmation. Ship six is deep, approximately 15-million kilometers. Extreme evasive maneuvers. We are at range limit for transponder. Signal is intermittent.”
*EDF-Line: “General Whitehall, we are patching through a call from the Whitehouse.”
*EDIC: “Blockade ship six is holding distance, approximately 15-million km, still evasive.”
*EDIC: “Attention. We have received a message, at this Earth Defense Forces location. The message was sent to many other locations. It is from ship six. The broadcast utilized a complex carrier wave. The message weave includes numerous languages. Hold. Our techs are still parsing content. Playing message in English. Running script ... now.”
*BLOCKADE SHIP SIX MESSAGE. RUNNING: ‘This is xxxxx <unknown> of xxxxx <unknown> High Queen of the xxxxx <unknown>. You will cease all hostilities immediately. If you destroy any more of my ships, I will destroy your United States. I will destroy your entire world! I will kill you all! I will activate xxxxx <unknown> located on the Eastern and Western seaboards of the United States. I will destroy all of you. I will feast on your carcasses.’
*EDIC: “That was the full message. Analysis of telemetry data does confirm the message was sent from blockade ship six. Adjusting for distance, the message was sent starting at timestamp 2 minutes, 35 seconds. Due to the distance, we did not receive the message until timestamp 3 minutes, 25 seconds. All other ships were destroyed by timestamp 3 minutes. We did not receive the message until after the ships were destroyed.”
General Whitehall: “EDIC, Jerry, set up a dedicated line to the DoD. Here, let me send you the access codes. The White House has declared a national emergency. First responders are out looking for whatever surprise this High Queen has in store.”
The general is looking at us now. “The president has initiated a security protocol that will push any updates here, directly from the DoD. They’ll send a full data package. If anyone reports anything unusual, we will be notified immediately via the DoD, through EDIC.”
Mr. T.: “Unfortunately for us, this High Queen of the Invasion is barely in control of herself on a good day. She has nothing to lose. This isn’t good. It’s not good at all.”
*EDIC: “General, there are multiple reports coming in of a tower rising from the ground at the Capital Mall, D.C. We are trying to pin the exact location.”
Roll: “It will be where that bug ship landed at the Capital Mall, the Ellipse.”
Yikes. Rock and Roll are in the back of the room. Didn’t even notice them. They are still in their spacesuits.
*EDIC: “There is a broadcast coming from the tower. Loud. Systematic. Perhaps a countdown.”
*COMMUNAL: It’s me Viz. Put the phone on speaker.
The main gallery room phone is humming, General Whitehall in motion to answer.
Viz: “General, sir, the call is from Communal. He’s asked that you put them on speaker.”
*COMMUNAL: “This is Communal. The tower structure houses an explosive device. It is not nuclear. We surmise, with 98% certainty, the device contains antimatter. The transmission from the tower is a five-minute countdown. It is at 3 minutes, 22 seconds and counting. You are in the blast zone. We suggest you port to somewhere in the southern hemisphere. You might stop by and pick us up if you get a chance. At least our core unit. Though we suppose that would be difficult. It’s been good to know you all.”
Roll: “I’m on it.”
Roll has ported away. Evidently to the Capital Mall.
*EDIC: “Using Communal’s data, we are at one minute and counting. Attention. Another report has come in from the west coast. Only the one report. There is another tower structure. The description is similar. Verbal description only, no image. The location of the structure is on a nature trail in Tacoma, WA. Snake Lake Loop. No other information at this time.”
Roll is back. The way those two pop in and out. My nerves are totally frayed.
Roll: “I was able to port the tower into space. Not sure exactly where. But I went deep. I know the Snake Lake Trail well. But it’s a couple of miles long. How much time do we have?”
*COMMUNAL: “Assuming the devices were activated at the same time, the count would be 30 seconds.”
Rock: “I’m with you brother. Let’s try for the middle of the trail and we can move out in obverse ports from there.”
Roll: “That contraption Dan talked about by the Nature Center! By the Narrows Bridge. We never took the time to check it out.”
Para: “You can’t go. You won’t make it. The whole west coast is in the blast zone.”
Our family! Almost everyone we know. I can’t take any more of this. And Roll is gone. Rock is gone. Now they’re both ... gone.
*COMMUNAL: “Timer count 3, 2, 1... Accessing
