the alien in front of them.
“Okay, thank you for giving us your trust.” says Father Peter. “Everybody, this is Mliroth. He landed his spacecraft in the garden behind the church a little over two years ago.”
“An alien lands in your backyard and you don’t tell anybody?” asks Sally.
“A Martian to be more specific.” says Mliroth, speaking perfect English and startling everyone in the room other than Father Peter, who says;
“Miss, you forget that a church is a place of asylum. What would you have had me do? Alert the government? Can you imagine what they would have done to him? They wouldn’t have heard him out; they would have just dissected him like some kind of animal. Mliroth, this is your story, maybe you should explain just what is going on.”
Mliroth clears his throat and then begins speaking.
“Ah, yes, well, I believe it all started what would roughly be ten Earth years ago. If I’m correct it was near the end of your second world war. As Peter informed me, one of main combatants of this war was Nazi Germany. What he, you, and most of the world did not know is that the Nazis had access to vehicles capable of space travel. When the Nazis saw defeat was near they gathered one hundred of their top officials and soldiers and headed for the stars. I don’t believe that they knew where they were headed, but luck was on their side when they found my civilization on Mars. They landed and begged for our help. They claimed that they had been chased off of their planet and were persecuted for their beliefs.”
“And you just believed them?” asks Kent.
“What would lead us not to?” responds Mliroth. “We were not aware of what was happening on Earth. In fact, I am the only member of my people to know the truth. They still believe the lie the Nazis weaved. The Nazis have my people believing that they are the victims of World War Two and the events leading up to it. They asked for solace on our planet and then they asked for our help in waging war. My people were all too eager to help their new friends. They gave the Nazi’s access to our weapons and then they promised to follow them into battle. I was the only person to question the motives of the Nazis. Their stories just did not add up. How could a group who gleefully talked about mass murder on an unimaginable scale be on the side of good?
“When they started talking about the attacks they would make on this planet, I knew they were evil. It was then that I decided to make my escape from my own planet to warn yours. I had heard them talk about a place called New York often. It was mostly spoken as the place they would first attack in their war against the world. I gathered as many of my planet’s weapons as I could, packed them into my spacecraft, and set the course for New York City. I misjudged how the gravity of Earth would affect my craft and I crash landed in the backyard of this church. The crash left me badly injured. Father Peter saved my life and nursed me back to health.”
Sally interrupts; “That’s a great story, but how does that help us?”
“Yes, sorry. I can be a bit long winded at times.” says Mliroth. “I really should have started things off by saying that I know their plan of attack and I know how to stop them.”
The hysterical girl from the alley pushes her way past Sally and Kent and starts yelling at Father Peter and Mliroth.
“So you knew all this time? You knew this entire time that all of this was going to happen!”
Father Peter tries his best to answer her question. “Yes we did, but-”
“And you told nobody! Do you know how many lives you could have saved? None of this would have happened if you have said something! How can we possibly trust you?”
“I understand that you’re upset, but what exactly could I have said? Who would have believed me that a Martian crash landed in the garden of my church and that Nazis from space would be attacking the planet at some point in the near future? I could have done things differently and maybe this wouldn’t have happened. There’s a slim chances that I could have changed things for the better. Here and now, Mliroth and I have a plan and we have a way to stop the Nazis for good. Every second that we waste here, another person dies. Now, the sooner we discuss our plan, the sooner it can be put into action, the sooner lives can be saved.”
The girl nods her head and steps to the back of the group.
“Alright, now here’s everything about the plan that I know.” says Mliroth. “The plan centers on the Empire State Building. They want to use the building as a giant transmitter to send a signal across America that will allow them to control the minds of everybody in its range. Needless to say, that’s bad.”
“Thanks for pointing that out. I would’ve never figured that out on my own.” says Sally with a touch of venom in her voice.
“The Empire State Building is also very important for one other reason.” Mliroth continues. “As I said earlier, I crash landed on this planet because my ship wasn’t prepared for Earth’s gravity. The technology being used by the Nazis and my people will have the same problem. If their plan is the same as it was when I was last on Mars, they are using the building as a signal amplifier for the gravity disruptor. The gravity disruptor is a device that, once established, will allow any device with a matching receiver to enter Earth’s atmosphere with no problems. Their ships would crash and their technology would malfunction without it. The plan was to have a Nazi agent living in New York build and implement the disruptor prior to the invasion.”
“So, to stop the attack, we need to turn off the disruptor.” Kent says.
“Exactly. The plan is not very pretty, but what we need to do is launch an attack on the Empire State Building and destroy the gravity disruptor at all costs.”
The almost too skeptical Sally speaks up, “And how do you suggest we go about doing that.”
“We use this arsenal and blow them all to hell.” says Father Peter as he flips on another light. The formerly dark corner holds all kinds of alien weaponry. From small handguns to large blasters, there seems to be a bit of everything. Mliroth walks over to the corner and picks up what looks like a metal backpack.
“This is a, what would you call it, a jetpack. We only have four of these and I will be using one of them.”
“And I think the other three should go to the three of you that were fighting out in the street.” says Father Peter. He walks over to Mliroth and picks up a jetpack and the large gun that looks like miniature cannon. He gives the pack and the gun to Daniel. “Son, what we’re going to need you to do is fly around up there and shoot down any ships that try to bring reinforcements to the building. We’ll also need you to punch a hole into the side of it, so Mliroth and your two friends will have an entrance. Can you do that?”
“Yes, yes I would be happy to.” says Daniel who takes the pack and weapons out of the priest’s hands.
Father Peter smiles. “Good, that’s what I was hoping to hear.” He turns to speak to Kent and Sally. “Kent, you and your girlfriend will join Mliroth and head into the building to destroy the disruptor. Can you do that?”
Kent opens his mouth to speak, but Sally cuts him off. “How did you know we were together?”
“Dear, I’m a priest. I marry people on a regular basis; I can see a couple from a mile away. Now, will you two be able to help us?”
Kent attempts to answer, but Sally cuts him off again. “Absolutely.”
“You’ve got a real firecracker there.” Father Peter says as he pats Kent on the shoulder. “For the rest of you, if you’re willing, you will join me in an assault on the bottom floor of the building to create a diversion for our friends at the top. Who will join me?”
The remaining six people of the group stand in silence until the teenage girl raises her hand.
“I’ll fight with you!” she loudly says. After her the other five people in the room, one by one, agree to join the fight. With the plan finalized, the small fighting force arms itself from the stockpile of alien weapons. Kent and Sally each wear a jetpack on their backs and hold a blaster somewhere in between the size the Nazi’s used and the size of
the blaster in the hands of Father Peter. Kent also picks up some sort of sword, attaching it to his hip “just in case.”
When every member of the team is armed they move out of the church and start heading down the street, toward the Empire State Building. They reach a corner a block away from the building and Father Peter stops the group.
“I think this is where we’ll split up and say our goodbyes. You four will wait here while my team attacks the building from the bottom up. When we leave, wait three minutes. Then fly up there and end this.”
“Sounds like a plan, sir.” says Kent.
“Before we go, I’d like to say a quick prayer. Lord… please help us with what we are about to do. I know that taking lives is something you disapprove of, but under these circumstances I can see no other way to solve this problem. Please grant us safety and above all else let us succeed in defeating the evil of the Nazis. Amen.”
The others echo the “Amen.” Father Peter turns to his six soldiers and says;
“Okay, we should get going.”
They start to walk away. As they walk Father Peter tilts his head back.
“No matter how this all ends, I’ll see the four of you on the other side.”
“Good luck!” says Sally.
As Father Peter leads his unlikely army into battle, an uneasy silence comes over the four Nazi fighters left behind. Daniel bows his head