Hundreds of aircraft and helicopters were raised to the air by the alarm.
Huge predatory terrifying nuclear submarines Ohio and Virginia surfaced with horrible black deck cabins, like a three-storey house, ready to deliver the first salvo of two hundred nuclear warheads to destroy not only the enemy, but also to burn down the whole planet atmosphere.
Restrained dryish Secretary of the US Navy Ray Mabus briefly said, "the Navy is ready!". His predecessor, the physicist Donald Winter, was very talkative. He gave such gems as shocked the mankind "Maintain of our submarine fleet capacity bombers, land-based ICBMs, and the submarine- launched ICBMs support, and protect our Nation's sea-based strategic deterrent, the Trident II D5 fighter capability 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year and is aimed at ensuring peace and freedom in the world.” Or: "Since the beginning of the nuclear age, the world has witnessed a vast reduction of deaths of its inhabitants, which happen during the war."
The staff chief of the US Air Force, Lieutenant-General Marc Anthony Welsh third, announced about the readiness of the US missile interceptor, laser guns on the aircraft and "Hellads" with low orbits of satellites from the Reagan’s stellar horror films, which he was extremely proud of.
Finally the last, the staff chief of the United States Army, a powerful charismatic military man, "Ray - a sharp beam" went up on the stage with a bear walk. He pressed his hands to his chest, hesitated at the tribune. Something was wrong. After all, he had just said. But instead of the warm bear charming voice he was silent.
The Pentagon’s chief Chuck Hagel quickly took the microphone and hushed up the situation, which, to put it mildly, getting out of control. He, by himself, thought the name of his employees "disease", namely "... mmm ... the chickenpox of the composer Maher," and sometimes he laughed at it. But then he was not joking.
He said in a loud and clear voice:
- The US Department of Defense is ready!
There was an ominous silence in the auditorium. Thousand people, who were the US elite, hidden under a layer of mountains, solved the eternal Hamlet's question "to be or not to be." Someone was thinking over a five thousand years naive child history of the mankind, someone in tears was thinking about relatives in cities or on the field, many of them strongly hurried the President to press the button, and others prayed.
- Three minutes left to Florida, - said Hagel.
Everyone looked at the President. He said slowly and quietly:
- Ladies and gentlemen! I do not want to undress before I have to go to bed!
*
First, someone smiled, someone called the name of Michel de Montaigne and the audience began to laugh in a chain. When the Pentagon chief Chuck Hagel contagiously cheered up the whole audience burst out laughing.
At the same moment, everybody heard from the speakers the voice of the director of the Secret Service Joseph Clancy said:
- Ladies and gentlemen! The objects address to us!
The President readjusted his microphone. Clancy said that the connection was enabled.
- The President of the United States addresses to you.
- Do not try to blow up our facilities. That makes no sense.
- Who are you?
- You know who we are. And we are your allies.
- Why are you doing this? - said the President.
- You still can not understand it.
- What guarantee do we have?
- Sometimes it happens.
Communication was disconnected and incomprehensible objects scattered around the United States.
- Oh, my God, - said the President.
On the huge screen appeared terrible pictures. One could see fierce battles in hundreds of the US cities and in most countries. Suddenly, close-up was showed to everybody a group of American officers headed by a famous general, who had been recently in the bunker Zone-51. The worst thing that the group swaying went straight to the center of the area, and behind it there was an endless grey crowd of "mahers".
- Sir, explain please !? – Questioning exclaimed the President.
- Ladies and gentlemen! The enemy has built a strategy based on the practice of "revolutions". The enemy succeeded in speed and fanaticism of the "newly converted" fighters. According to our data, anyone turns into Maher’s soldier from one to twenty four hours.
- But how? - questioned in the auditorium.
- By personality destruction of dosed death and then zombies.
- But how?
- The enemy has around the world compact devices that can be installed anywhere: in a car, a plane, a boat and so on, even in a bag. The main thing is to bring it into the human body.
- Is it ampoule?
- It’s a tablet, a syringe, a bullet, an injection, any injury ... Now about tactics. They manage to capture any city in a couple of days. This is Genghis Khan’s tactic. Ahead there is a growing crowd of the "newly converted" that sweeps away all living things, like an avalanche. And they are followed, so to speak, the guardsmen.
Hagel kept silent, and then clearly said:
- But, it isn’t in some way people in the ordinary sense.
- It's a nightmare, - said the Vice President.
- That's why they are really scary for us.
The audience roared and, probably, got its peak.
- It’s time to use the neutron bomb!
- It is madness.
- Let destroy the devices.
- How are they called?
Someone suggested the word "immortelle". Everyone laughed. Okay, Immortelle.
- But we also have vacuum bombs. In this sense, they are good.
- Ha, we have already tried. All living was killed except Maher’s people. They really ... perfect Immortelles.
- Did someone contact with objects? - Asked the President.
- Yes, here he is.
*
Two guards pushed Thomas out from the darkness. The bright light blinded him several times. Thomas turned black seeing what has happened: from military actions, endless tiring interrogations, sophisticated tortures without sleep and from repeating stupid questions in various viewpoints. In that overgrown thin sufferer, you didn’t probably identify a sleek fresh-faced good-natured, who had been recently at the conference "Eternal Health".
The President smiled Thomas, and he felt a real warmth and arrangement. Finally, here was an ordinary person in front of him, and everybody looked at him like at the enemy, and made a interrogation under torture.
- A young man! You should perfectly understand that we are in a warlike situation, and you are on the territory of the protected US military facilities. I hope you did not suffer very much?
Thomas shook his head and made an uncertain lowing sound.
- Sir! We have a few minutes which can change a lot in the US history.
- I understand! - Thomas said quietly, flashing with his glasses.
- Well, - said the President.
- Those you understand are others. And these ones...
- Do you mean Maher’s guards?
- Yes. They have another warehouse.
- But who manages them? - asked the President.
- You hit the nail on the head.
Thomas thought over a wonderful night conversation with Gustav Rosenberg. Probably, people will never be able to agree with each other. There is not anybody to tell about once wonderful moments, filled with passion, fight and love. And if you know well the price of the twilight fatigue, take this fallen world of strong, weak, cruel, arrogant, miserable, stupid, and sick people and if you can love the world and give it the most precious thing in yourself, you could enter an irrational world, which is not available to most ordinary earthlings. Then you can take not only earthly enemies. You will be able to complete the logical unity which was built by the gods.
- And those ones? ... Are they aliens?