Baris was interrupted here when an app activated on his computer, he had a message awaiting him from a secure device. Baris sighed, for he had wanted to finish the message to Furling and then rest for a moment, but instead he obeyed his master, his computer, and after inserting a password, his screen displayed the message.
‘You are about to be arrested for destroying three of our starships and severely damaging the Constellation.’ That was all the message had to say, no secret escape route, no farewell from a friend, just the bare facts. Baris immediately deleted the message and then sent one back to the sender.
‘There are a number of phials hidden in the number one hold; they are in a small box hidden in the dead letter tree. Three of them contain a sample of the virus that Phairlis is about to use against the earthlings, and the other phials contain the vaccine. You must ensure that all get into the hands of either Sally Jameson, or her uncle, Captain Will Rogers of the Texas Rangers, both are capable people who will ensure that the contents of the box get to the appropriate authorities. Goodbye and good luck.’
Baris had hidden the phials minutes before he returned to his cabin, now it would be up to someone else to get them to Earth, for as he had feared, he would not get the chance to, not from the sound of all the feet marching towards his cabin.
Security Officer Commander Petravein pulled out his electronic master key and attempted to open the cabin door, but for some reason his master key would not provide him with access, so he knocked at the door of Doctor Baris`s cabin.
“Doctor Baris, open the door to your cabin and allow me to come in.”
However, Baris did not answer or comply with his demand; instead, he smiled, rather sadly. ‘Well President Mortise, I have done my part, the rest is up to you.’ He hastily transmitted the incomplete message to Furling, and then he pulled out a phial of clear liquid and swallowed it, moments later he fell to floor, dead.
Outside the room, Petravein heard the noise of the body hitting the floor, he knew what it meant, and he took out his energy weapon and fired it at the locking mechanism of the door. The resulting blast swung the door open to reveal the dead body of Doctor Mikel Baris.
**********
Down on Earth the massive explosion directly behind the Moon followed later by two more explosions from behind the planet Uranus, baffled the leaders of Earth. NASA sent a message asking Moon base command to investigate the explosion; the aliens in the Moon command centre acknowledged the message and then pondered on a suitable answer that would also explain the blasts behind the planet Uranus.
**********
Petras Furling read the message on his small alien computer, it was from Doctor Baris, it told him of the destruction of the three clone starships, and the damage to the space cruiser, Furling noticed that the message was incomplete and the thought that Doctor Baris might now be dead immediately flashed into his mind. He has seen enough of Consul Phairlis to know that he would not take this setback without striking out at someone, probably the people of Earth, was this what Doctor Baris wanted to warn him about, another bloody strike against the humans?
Furling was quiet for a moment, he realised that the time had come to contact the authorities on Earth, to assist them in their fight for survival. He had heard of Sally Jameson of course, and how she had gone to Austin to enlist the help of the Texas Rangers, maybe he should take the two women and head for Austin, and so he broached the idea to Debra and Mary.
“Debra, Mary, as I see it you have three choices, you can return to the two men posing as your husbands and be brainwashed.” Furling began.
“I do not think so Furling, I like my brain just how it is.” Mary said a might angrily at his words.
“Yes Mary, I do agree with you, which is why I have two more choices to put to you both.” Furling replied.
“OK, Furling, tell us, just what other options do we have open to us?” Mary asked. Her anger wound down a mite as she acknowledged his words.
“OK then, your second choice is that you leave here and either return to your families, that or hide away using a new name. However, there is a big chance that the two of you will then be seen as a security problem by my people, they will assume that as you have both gone into hiding that you must know something, and that you must be dealt with.” Furling explained, continuing with his choices.
“Yes well we do know something now, thanks to you.” Debra said angrily, not daring to ask just how the aliens would deal with them in case it was even worse than she imagined. “So what is the last of your choices, because let me tell you my alien friend, the first two just suck.”
Furling looked at the two women and gave them a weak smile. “Well if I had not told you the future awaiting you, then you Debra would be enjoying what they had planned for you in my first choice; and you Mary would be doing just that same thing tomorrow. However, my third choice is for the three of us to drive over to Austin and contact a NASA scientist, a Sally Jameson, and her uncle Will Rogers, who is a captain in the Texas Rangers. Sally has been fighting my people for some time now, and with some success. Once there you will not be a security problem to them, because you will have told the Texas Rangers everything that you might know” Furling explained.
“Why do we have to travel to Austin, surely the local FBI office would suffice.” Debra asked.
“Because Sally Jameson and Captain Rogers believe that an extra-terrestrial invasion is actually happening, and the FBI do not, they would simply throw you out, seeing you as two weird women, and then my people would be on hand to take you prisoner. I also believe that some of the agents in the FBI have been brainwashed, and they would soon tell my people just where they can locate you.”
“OK, spaceman, give us a moment to think about it.” Mary said, and to this request, Furling nodded and went through to the kitchen to give the women a little privacy.
“Well Debra, as I see it we actually have only two options open to us, we either believe our alien spaceman or we do not, either he has told us the whole truth, so help his little alien god, or he is a mad Texan.” Mary said in a low voice so that only her friend would hear them.
“To put it another way Mary, are our two husbands just human jerks or are they murdering alien clones?” Debra replied softly. “His story is so out of this world that I am tempted to believe him, because Johnny has certainly not been chasing after another woman, of that I am certain, he just seems to be spaced out, pun intended.” Debra said, offering her friend a weak smile.
“If we disregard his advice then it could be really dangerous to our health, if we go along with it and find out he is a nutter, then I will show him this.” Mary said, and she pulled out a small automatic pistol from her handbag that brought a gasp from her friend.
With no clear idea as to how to proceed, Debra and Mary decided to take the lesser of the two evils and put their lives into the hands of the tall handsome man who was, according to him, an alien clone.
“Ok, Spaceman, we will go with you to Austin to meet the Ranger and the scientist from NASA. Tell me, can I take my car, we collected it from the diner while you were away at work?” Mary asked lightly.
“You went to collect it from the diner, did you not realise that that was both dangerous and foolhardy; no I guess not, what I have told you is rather out of this world.” Furling began. “However, in answer to your question Mary, no you may not take your car, they will easily be able to trace it, you must both come in my car, they will not be looking for it for some time, and luckily I am off work until Monday.” Furling said firmly.
“What does it matter if they do trace us, you said that we should be safe as soon as we reach the Texas Rangers in Austin.” Mary said angrily, her limited belief in this stranger disappearing quickly.
“Yes, Mary, but we do need to get there first, if we take your vehicle then they will get onto us before we reach the highway, and we will all be dead well before we reach Austin. They will track us using the CCTV cameras and call their operatives in A
ustin to stop us.” Furling explained before asking. “Is that how you got the red mark on your face Debra?” Furling asked. “On your trip away from my apartment.”
Debra smiled a little sadly and then told Furling everything that had happened since the last time that they had seen him. Then the two women looked at each other and silently agreed. “OK then Spaceman, we will need to transfer our bags into your car, you can do it, seeing as how you can bend steel rods, and no doubt leap tall buildings.” Mary quipped and threw him her car keys “It is the Honda parked right outside the door to your apartment block.
Furling turned quite pale as he took in this information. “We need to leave here now, before they trace your car to me. You can drive my car Mary while I move yours somewhere else that will not lead them directly to me, we can stay overnight near Austin, in a motel.” He said anxiously.
Mary and Debra looked at each other and a look of understanding flashed between them, they shot up from the settee and fled the apartment, Furling followed, after picking up an overnight bag that he had kept packed ready for emergencies. He shut the door behind him and then double locked it, anything to delay any investigation that their actions may have already set in motion.
Furling drove along the streets that he knew did not have CCTV cameras, and he parked Mary`s vehicle in a small underground car park whose cameras had not worked for at least ten years. He then moved Mary out of the driving seat of his vehicle and took over, and then he drove off towards Austin.
After a couple of hours, for Furling took the route devoid of CCTV cameras whenever possible, they found a cheap motel just off the highway and took a couple of rooms for the night. The next morning they finished their journey, finally arriving just after nine that morning, Furling decided to park in the street behind the Rangers` headquarters. Furling turned off the engine and then pulled out his small alien computer; he used it to call the Texas Rangers, asking for Captain Will Rogers.
“Will picked up his phone as soon as it rang, for he had been expecting a call from Special Agent Fellows, he had left a message asking for an update into his investigation of the two bomb blasts in Houston, instead he heard an unfamiliar voice.
Captain Rogers, my name is Petras Furling, I am an alien clone and I am here in Austin with the wives of the two astronauts of the Mars Colony One spacecraft, they seek protection from their two husbands, who as you may know are also alien clones. In exchange for protecting the two women I will offer you some very valuable information that will assist you in defeating the planned invasion of your planet.” Furling said.
Will, thrown for a moment, wondered if this was one of his fellow agents, or even one from the FBI, playing a joke on him. However, he decided to treat the caller as a real life alien. “OK, Mr Furling, then we should meet, where are you at this exact moment?” Will asked.
“We are parked behind your headquarters, come to the rear door and you will not only be able to see us but you will be able to verify that we are who we say we are, say in ten minutes, that should allow you time to use your computer to track down photographs of the three of us.” With that, Furling rang off.
Will soon had the names of the two women and minutes later their photographs, for their husbands had both reported them missing the night before, it was only because of whom the two men were that the police took them seriously. Pearson had told the police of the attack upon him when he had entered his home, and that his wife had seemed scared of something or someone moments before the attack. Will now put in the supposed alien`s name and found a driving licence with a photograph belonging to a man with that name, and who lived in Houston, Texas.
Major Hernandez had reacted to the wave that Will had given him, and he had come across to look at the three photographs that Will had printed out. “Who are these three people, Will?” Hernandez queried, and Will then told him of his phone call.
“A hoax?” Hernandez wondered.
“If it is then it will cost them, and whoever is behind it, a great deal.” Will responded.
“OK, let`s go ask them in, but have them checked over for any hidden explosive device before they get anywhere near the building.
A dozen Rangers left the headquarters building and took up positions that would allow them to target the three suspects at all times, if they did indeed show themselves, and should one of them appear to have an explosive device, then they could take whatever appropriate action seemed necessary.
Will and Major Hernandez went to the rear door of their headquarters building, and on opening it, they saw a car parked some sixty feet away from them. As soon as Will stepped out of the building, the people in the vehicle opened the doors and stepped out too.
“Put your hands on your heads and walk towards me, all of you.” Will ordered the three people standing by the car. He could see that the people were who they represented themselves to be, unless of course they were all clones?
Furling and the two women were a little taken back by their reception, but they then caught sight of all of the weapons trained on them and obeyed the command without questioning it. They had just reached the centre of the car park when Will called out again.
“Lay face down upon the ground with your hands stretched out before you.”
Mary and Debra looked at each other anxiously but Furling reassured them, for he finally realized that the three bomb explosions must have spooked the Rangers. So, moments later, lying flat out upon the hot tarmac, they were searched for weapons, explosives and remote control devices, when none were found, apart from their smart phones, which were taken off them, they were allowed to enter the Rangers` headquarters building. They were then escorted to one of the interview rooms.
“What the hell was that all about?” Mary demanded to know.
“I am sorry to have put you through that, but after the three bomb attacks on us, we had to be sure that you were not carrying a fourth explosive device, either willingly or otherwise. Mr Furling did say that he was an alien clone, and we now believe that it was alien clones who were behind the attacks.” Major Hernandez explained by way of an apology.
They had now been joined by Chief Randall, who had come down on being informed by Hernandez of their three guests.
“Chief Randall, Major Hernandez, Captain Rogers, you now know who we are, now let me tell you why we are here. As I told you on the phone, I am an alien clone, one similar to the ones that you recently autopsied. I have brought Ms Pearson and Ms Willey here for your protection,” Furling said, and he then explained why he had brought the two women with him.
“I have not come here empty handed, for I have on me three lists, and some very important information. The first list has the names of all the humans who have been brainwashed within the United States, the second is a list of my people, the clones that is, the third list has the addresses of all our command centres in North America on it. Now of course we can do nothing for the humans who have been cloned, for the human versions are more than likely dead by now, however, the people who have been brainwashed, well that is another matter entirely.”
Furling then told the two Rangers all about the brainwashing of important, and in some cases unimportant individuals, and how to wipe it from the person`s mind.
“As well as the two lists of those affected and who live in the North American continent, there is also the list of the many bases being used by my people, you will notice the one in Austin that up until now you did not know about.” Furling said to two now very interested Rangers as they noted the name and address of the clinic.
“However, my team are working in nine other countries around the world, and they have compiled their own lists, these can be sent to us, you only have to ask, otherwise they can be handed over to the intelligence agencies of the countries affected, after you have notified the agencies and brought them up to speed.”
Will and Major Hernandez quickly scanned the list Sally that made, and then the new list that Furling had handed to them, they immediately saw that man
y names were on both of the lists.
“You should first attend to the humans who have been brainwashed, for if you arrest the clones first then the humans will be killed, as my people attempt to wipe away all trace of their presence here on Earth. Their deaths will come about in the same way that you must now be familiar with gentlemen?” Furling explained.
“By making their implants self-destruct, yes we are familiar with that Mr Furling, your people are very cold blooded.” Major Hernandez said accusingly.
“Yes, Major, some of them are, as too are some of your people here on Earth.” Furling retorted.
Hernandez smiled thinly as he accepted the retort. “Yes Mr Furling, as you say, so are some of our people, but your civilisation is supposed to be more advanced than ours.” Major Hernandez said; his voice still filled with latent hostility.
“Maybe we can proceed, Mr Furling.” Will said, growing impatient with the other two men. “Tell us, just how do we treat the humans who have been brainwashed?
Furling turned to Will with an apologetic smile. “Of course Captain Rogers, first the victims must be sedated, for if their heartbeats rise appreciably their implant will send this information to my people, and when they realise their location then they will cause the implant to self-destruct, and then your people will die.” Furling explained. “While sedated the implant can be removed, and the treatment of the patient can only then commence. This is done by sending a low voltage electric shock into the affected person`s brain which will begin to rid them of the brainwashing. However, in most cases the patient will still need some psychiatric help to finally rid them of the brainwashing, and that might take some time.” Furling explained.
Major Hernandez`s head was spinning after listening to Furling, even though Sally had told him earlier that she thought that many of her colleagues may have been brainwashed, or even cloned.
“Mr Furling, is this the important information that you mentioned earlier?” Will asked.