Operation 16 (Chapter 7)

“Thank you Mrs Paulman,” replied the President. His voice emanated a calmness that I admired. Even in this situation he was keeping level-headed or was able to show himself off as such. Mrs Paulman smiled at me and then took her leave. I was alone with the President. I prepared myself to start the conversation but the President spoke before I did.

“I don’t know how updated you are on the situation but I feel it is my responsibility to bring you up to date. But first, tell me what you already know Mr Turner.” He demanded with a tone of politeness that seemed genuine. I starred at the floor for a moment and collected my thoughts.

“I am supposed to be part of an alien fleet that is trying to attack earth under some false pretence of an alliance, which the human race believed.” The President turned around and for the first time he seemed shocked. He seemed older than his years at that point. His face was lined with many wrinkles and his grey eyes appeared grave. He had a head full of white and greying hairs that were neatly combed to the side. He took a second to compose himself again. He sat down on his chair opposite me.

“I expect that is what you were told. The truth is slightly different. Fourteen years ago an alien fleet appeared and reached out to us. Your species known as the kodai (Code-eye) don’t speak but communicate telepathically. One member of your species attached themselves to a communications satellite and communicated to all the world leaders in one go.”

My eyes widened in shock. That was so, so………. cool. As if having read my thoughts the President smiled slightly.

“They can choose to communicate to anyone they want and ignore anyone they don’t want to talk to. So using the satellite they talked to all the world leaders simultaneously and as they talked their emotions flowed through their speech. Everyone listening understood their genuine want for peace. This lead to a meeting where we learned their purpose for visiting us.”

‘So far so good, my species don’t seem evil and there seems to be no conflict. So how did everything go wrong?’ I wondered. I was very curious to see where the terrorist’s account came into play.

“The Kodai don’t have a home planet any more. It was swallowed up by a star. They have fleets with unlimited and extremely advanced technology though. Our planet fascinated them in the fact that it had such a mix of climate that allowed life to easily exist on it. They offered to help us go into space and give us help with technological advancements in return for allowing them to enter and study our planet’s climatic and atmospheric composure.”

He looked at me and fixed those grey, grave eyes on me. His stare was piercing. It was as if, even at this point he wanted to see if there was truly no other motive in our kind’s arrival. There was still so much he didn’t know about us. He felt like he was in the dark. I understood that feeling. Only days earlier my world had been thrown into chaos and I had been at a complete loss. In that loss, I had done many foolish things which had lead to the death of my stepfather. Compared to me the President was holding up very well.

“What happened next, did you accept their, I mean our request?” I asked, breaking the silence.

“Well there were too many risks involved so we were reluctant. At that point the Kodai offered to send three ambassadors to earth. Two of them were your real parents and the third is you of course. They left you three in our care so that they could show they had no harmful intentions. That is where the complications occurred….” The president stood up again. He turned his back to me and stared out of the window. I waited for him to speak. I thought I knew what happened next. I was right.

“A terrorist group got wind of our plans. They disagreed with us forming an alliance with an alien species. They set about to sabotage our plans. They calculated that killing the three ambassadors would enrage the Kodai and destroy any chances of peaceful negotiations in the future. That is when one of the terrorist leaders attacked your home and killed your parents. From then on we had you on surveillance. We have been waiting for your kind to return to us so we could explain to them what happened. For that it was vital that at least you were safe. And then a few days ago the meteors landed. It was definitely your species but they teleported shortly before impact. They are now out there somewhere, searching for their three ambassadors.”

A long silence followed. I was deeply underwhelmed. That just wasn’t a good situation. I was hoping that things could be salvaged but all there seemed to be was many troubles and potential threats that hinged on too many risks.

I fiddled with a pen on the desk. At that point I stabbed the tip of the pen into my finger. I saw some blood pour out and I felt a sensation of pain. Before, on such occurrences I had felt it compelling to do something about such things. But now I could feel that it was not real. My human shell was triggering this fake pain to hide my identity. At that point I felt both proud and scared of the Kodai. They had such technology at their disposal, yet their efforts were being foiled by some terrorist faction. It seemed pathetic.

“What about the blue dust Mr President? What does that have to do with me?” I asked.

“Oh that. Your species use it a lot. We have no idea what it really is. To us it is just blue dust, but to the Kodai, it enhances their senses, gives them strength and allows them to shed shells and skins that they may be wearing. What kind of incidents have you had with it Mr Turner?”

Just as I was about to answer, Mrs Paulman burst through the door followed by alarms. The President and I stood up in unison.

“We are under attack, sir. It’s the terrorists. They have bought their entire faction here.” She explained, “I have bought two bodyguards to escort you and Mr Turner to the bunker.”

******

We arrived at the bunker but it appeared that we were too late. As we approached we saw someone standing in front. He pointed his gun at us. It was him. His face was hidden behind a red mask which had the face of screaming demon. I could see burn marks going down his neck. He had escaped the fire but not without pain. Mrs Paulman didn’t seem disturbed by his arrival. She merely took out her gun and pointed it at the terrorist and screamed for the bodyguards to follow suit.

It was at this point that I realised how dreadful the situation was. One of the body guards pointed his gun at the President whilst the other disarmed Mrs Paulman and had her at gunpoint. The terrorist approached closer and fixed his gun at me.

“Now where was I again? Of yes, I was about to annihilate your entire race, that’s where!”