Page 31 of The Space Traveller's Lover

THE DAY AFTER THE FIRST MEETING

These are untested times. These aliens might be our

friends, or they might be our terminators.

Professor Khan is pacing in front of the stack of monitors covering the side walls of the ARA’s central operations room. North Region General Ed Stewart and South Region General Xiao Ming are standing in front of him, listening attentively to his latest report.

“This is what we know so far.” Khan pauses, looking sternly at the ARA generals while trying to control his profound concern.

He points at one of the screens behind him, showing the glossy pyramid standing at the back of the planning room, its softly glowing emissions still pulsating at a steady rate.

“Any attempt to reach this object has failed. We cannot get closer than one metre from it. We don’t even know what type of energy is powering it.

But we strongly suspect it is of electromagnetic origin. ”

“In other words, we are none the wiser while these robots are invading our cities!” General Stewart’s impatient voice crackles as his face contorts in boiling anger and sheer dissatisfaction.

“Sir, you have to understand, these aliens have technology far superior to ours, beyond what we can understand. You read Sam Sheppard’s debriefing report …

and heard what Erin Lobart said yesterday.

” Khan’s assuaging tone does nothing to appease the generals as they all helplessly watch the images coming into the monitors .

As far as their cameras can reach, they show the swarms of unstoppable robots roaming around every deserted street and desolated park.

The paralysed cities seem to have been abandoned in a flash; there is no sign of life anywhere.

Cars are left stranded with doors wide open in the middle of the roads, mugs are tilted on café tables, all kinds of mangled rubble are scattered everywhere.

Myriads of deserted objects roll aimlessly, pushed by the reeling wind.

“Any attempt to stop or at least divert these robots has failed,” General Ming adds glumly in a defeatist tone. “As you all know by now, we cannot even reach them.”

General Stewart’s cheeks swell and blush as he holds his breath to contain his rattled nerves. He presses his thin lips as he puffs out air noisily through his nose. The sturdy general, dressed in his usual military fatigues, looks impatiently at Professor Khan with a scolding gaze.

“How have they passed through our NEO” (Near Earth Objects) “satellite network undetected? How can they raid our cities in a matter of minutes? How can they—”

“Undetected is their modus operandi. As for the raids, you can see the unrelenting robots are their chosen strategy … so far,” Professor Khan interrupts impassively.

“We must be able to disrupt their shields. We have to try,” a furious General Stewart yells, his deep-set, fiery eyes following the unsettling fast-changing scenes on the wall-mounted displays.

He looks around the room, full of desks and wide monitors, where the ARA team leaders are busy tracking every new event along the coast.

“Generals, we have something here!” The excited voice of John Sanders makes everyone stop what they’re doing and gather around his desk.

They all watch in amazement as the computer screens fill with the lines of robots, appearing from a long winding trench that seemed to have cracked open at the bottom of the ocean, forty-five kilometres west of Long Beach.

“Wait a minute. So that’s where they all come from,” General Stewart seethes, rubbing his chin and narrowing his eyes before shouting in a vengeful tone. “We’ve got them! We’ve got them!”

General Stewart feels triumphant. Discovering the robots’ exit point has given him renewed confidence that they may be vulnerable after all.

He brashly continues. “So, hiding in the deep, eh? So much for their invisible shields. We are promptly sending our most powerful war submarines to this place. There is no time to waste!”

General Ming is nodding firmly, joining in Stewart’s resolve and growing confidence.

But Khan is shaking his head; his hesitant reaction frustrates the generals. A raging gaze from General Stewart prompts him to explain his thoughts.

“These are untested times,” Khan cautions. “These aliens might be our friends, or they might be our terminators. We must tread carefully. We must keep our dialogue with their leader—”

“I believe that talking to them will be of no help whatsoever. We must act while we have time,” General Stewart interrupts sharply, looking dismissively at Khan as the ARA teams erupt in his support.

Everyone in the ARA commanding room stands up and cheers, mobilised by the general’s resolute stance.

“Yeah! Let’s destroy them,” they shout out in explosive fervour. “Let’s destroy them!”

Professor Khan frowns his thick eyebrows, his forehead wrinkling in disapproval, but he realises there is no point in contradicting the general any further.

General Stewart stares in annoyance at the door as he hears a loud knock. “Come in!” he shouts.

A grim-looking dishevelled Captain Walker appears at the room entrance, accompanied by a startled tired-looking Sam. They hesitantly stop, observing the commotion in the room.

“Silence, silence. Let’s hear it from Captain Walker,” General Stewart orders, reckoning that the captain has come with grave news.

“On my way here, I heard about what’s happening on our d-dear island,” Walker stammers. Then his face muscles contract in a grimace. “It’s being destroyed. The robots have completely torn down the tuna farm … there is nothing left there.”

“The tuna farm?” John Sanders jolts in disbelief.

“Yes, unfortunately, yes.” Walker bows his head, raising his arms in a helpless gesture .

“How’s everyone?” Sanders asks in utter shock. He fumbles with his phone while trying to contact Tinian’s port authorities. But he gets no response.

“The robots are pushing our people to move underground. Many families in Tinian have made it into our cave systems. We need to make sure they get the help they need.”

Sam nods nervously. “Yes, my family has gone into Diablo’s cave … let’s hope everybody has made it okay.”

“Let’s not get too emotional or defeatist,” General Stewart interrupts, pacing up and down the room. “Now, we have to keep our focus and our resolve, for our ultimate goal is to succeed!”

The Generals grab their fists and hold their arms up into the air as they shout their slogans.

“We will prevail. We will succeed.”

“How are we going to stop the robots, General Stewart?” A doubtful Walker dares to interrupt the impromptu victory clamour.

A sudden, expectant silence sets in as everyone in the room waits for the General’s response.

“We can surround them in their boltholes—stop the robots before more of them can get out and deploy their shields, then we sweep them back into their trenches … or wherever they come from.”

“With respect, General Stewart,” Khan intercedes, “we don’t know how their shields work, but we do know that nothing, not even any of our laser-guided weapons, can get close to any of the robots.”

“Well, what else do we know about them? There must be something we can do before they finish with the entire planet as they’ve done with Tinian,” Stewart blurts out.

No one dares to speak a word. In their troubled, confused minds, the sheer recognition of an unfathomable menace beyond anything they have ever encountered finally begins to sink in.

“We should observe them for a while longer—without provoking them. We should be able to find their weak point.” General Ming tentatively proposes.

“Yeah,” General Stewart hesitantly replies, pressing his lips and closing his eyes as in deep thought. “We can certainly do that. ”

“Our main tasks now should be to get food and supplies for all our people in their shelters.” General Ming continues talking in a more confident tone, encouraged by General Stewart’s somewhat reluctant support.

“We should keep the lockdown in place in all the areas. Allow the rescue teams to walk through the cities to reach those in need. We have to keep the global help services going. We must keep open the main supplies of electricity, water, gas—”

“Agreed!” General Stewart states, this time sounding more convinced. “General Ming, we will need you to direct the central surveillance network. Professor Khan and his team will keep a close eye on those robots. We must be able to figure out how to disable their shields.”

“Agreed!” General Ming affirms. At least we have a plan we can execute , he thinks.

General Stewart walks towards Sanders’ desk and checks on the recent images from the ARA’s suboceanic cameras. The long fractured trench looks eerily quiet, its dark crevices showing no sign of the robots.

“I’ll instruct our fleet of submarines to set off towards our target at maximum speed,” Stewart boasts. “Once we take up the robots’ exit point, we’ll hit them with everything we have—all at once. We won’t let them come out of their holes. Shock and destroy!”

“May I remind you, General, they have ‘all-seeing, all-hearing’ powers. Right now, they may be laughing at us while we plan our helpless attack.” Professor Khan tries one more time to discourage him. But his comments have the opposite effect, making the general even more reckless.

“Do you think I’m going to believe every word the aliens say?” Stewart snaps.

The exasperated general promptly orders all the ARA’s submarines to assemble in full attacking mode at the newly discovered target.

All the while, it is impossible for him or anyone in the room to detect the sensory-sphere hovering under the ceiling, cloaked in its invisible shield, and transmitting everything to the Rom-Ghenshars’ central processor.

“The sooner we stop these robots, the sooner we can free our cities before the whole planet gets destroyed. I’ll be the first to order the attack,” Stewart staunchly declares, moving towards the command panels and reviewing all the instruments’ readings.

He places his hand on a bulky red button and stops short of pushing it, sliding his fingers over it instead.

Then, looking directly at John Sanders, he orders him, “Air Marshal Sanders, you need to go back to Tinian with Captain Walker, check on your people, then join the ARA Navy for the follow-up attack once we’ve destroyed their exit point.

General Ming and I will closely supervise the operations from here. ”

“What about me?” The hesitant voice of Sam annoys General Stewart. He is not used to being reminded that he has forgotten about something.

“Oh yes,” General Stewart says, looking at Sam dismissively. “We shouldn’t forget we have someone here that may help us—”

“I’m sure I can help! Erin was one of us once; she can still be one of us!” Sam firmly replies, ignoring the general’s scorn.

“Very well. You can stay. We need to keep all our options open, just in case,” General Stewart concludes, walking away without acknowledging Sam’s enthusiasm.

The generals gather around the tracking screens as they check every submarine leaving their bases.

Unchallenged, the submarines’ long metallic bodies pierce through the dense, deep waters, assembling into an ever-growing formation while approaching their target from all directions on their inexorable advance.