“We’ll handle it. What about you?”
“At 2:30 in the morning I’ll enter Elevator-7 with my hoverboard as instructed, only instead of delivering the device to you at Level-23 I’ll go up to the Hive. After I deactivate the lab’s security system, I’ll swap Mull’s fake device for one of the real ones we removed from the satellites. If Mull is setting me up, the ZPE unit in attaché three will be real, eliminating any evidence against me — and you’ll have a real zero-point-energy generator.”
Jessica returned the two attaché cases to their proper stacks and exited Sarah’s office. The security scrambler was at 2:36, forcing her to wait another two minutes before she could power off the device. The moment the scrambler’s digital clock advanced to 2:38, she deactivated the unit, watching as the time jumped ahead seven minutes, resetting the Hive’s internal security to 2:45—
— as a heavy baritone rumbling suddenly rattled her eardrums.
Her heart raced—could her actions have triggered an alert? Was the Hive being sealed?
Then she realized the source of the disturbance — the subterranean complex’s roof was retracting!
Were they preparing to launch an Atlas rocket? If only there was only a way to sneak a quick peek without having to open a section of the Hive?
Then she remembered the leaking air conditioner duct.
Crossing the lab to the nearest satellite work station, she removed an anti-gravitics vest and helmet from the supply wall, contemplating her next move carefully.
I could say I was in the Hive catching up on some work when the ceiling started shaking and panels started falling. So I flew up to take a look, afraid the entire A/C duct might collapse on one of the satellites… Bring a roll of duct tape with you to secure the damaged panels.
She located a tool belt which held a roll of silver duct tape as the rumbling abruptly ceased. Slipping off her lab coat, she placed the tool belt around her waist and then slid her arms inside the anti-gravitics vest. Tightening the straps, she secured the helmet’s chin strap and powered up the antigravity unit — searching the ceiling for the gap.
There…
She had barely focused her eyes on the water-stained spot when she felt herself levitate off the concrete deck, the vest accelerating her toward her intended target.
She slowed to hover beneath the six-foot-in-diameter hole, catching her breath. The octagonal ceiling panels surrounding the gap were moist, giving her the confidence she needed to proceed. Prying loose the most damaged of the neighboring panels, she allowed them to fall to the ground in sections before levitating inside the twelve-foot-wide gap.
She found her way easily around the labyrinth of ducts and cables to a thin cobalt-colored tin foil sheathing she knew separated the Hive from the tunnel. Searching her tool belt, Jessica removed a large screwdriver and used it to slice open a three-foot slit in the foil ceiling, making a mental note to duct tape the hole closed when she was done.
Ignoring the sudden urge to pee, she pushed herself head-first through the opening.
From her vantage atop the Hive, she had a clear view of the massive launch tunnel. Ahead were the vertical gantries supporting the twenty Atlas-V rockets. At the far end of the site, it appeared as if a section of the subterranean roof had indeed retracted, the gap outlined by a rectangle of green lights and a sliver of starry night sky.
For several long minutes nothing happened. And then, just as she was about to abandon her perch and return to the Hive, the UFO appeared.
The ship was disc-shaped — about a hundred feet in diameter, with a coned top. Around the edge of the disc were dazzling multi-colored lights — red, blue, green, and yellow. While the disc was spinning counterclockwise, the lights were circling in both directions — fusing and blending into one another in seemingly random patterns, the intensity and quality not of this world.
And yet by its presence within the subterranean structure, Jessica knew the vessel had to be man-made… an Alien Reproduction Vehicle.
She watched, incredulous, as the ARV set down.
I’m too far away to see. I need to be—
Before she could curtail her internal thoughts Jessica shot out of the top of the Hive like a bullet, soaring past the first six gantries before her mind could shout the telepathic command to stop.
She hovered in the semi-darkness, thirty-three-feet above the nose of an Atlas-V rocket, the only sound coming from her heaving chest.
Despite her sprint, the ARV was still a good distance ahead.
If you’re going to do this, you’ll need an explanation as to why you’re buzzing around the Atlas launch site.
“I was working in the lab when the ceiling started to rumble and panels started falling from the ceiling… hell, I thought it was an earthquake. My Cosmic Clearance gives me access to everything, so I left the lab to check it out… is there a problem, marine?”
Satisfied with her story, she flew another quarter mile before spotting the outline of red warning lights which separated the Atlas rockets launch sites from the rest of the tunnel. Ian Concannon had warned her about the boundary being armed with an electromagnetic pulse that would disable her anti-gravitics and she had no interest in crashing twice in one evening.
Jessica landed feet-first in the shadows of the second-to-last gantry. Removing her tool belt and anti-gravity gear, she stowed everything behind a four-foot-thick concrete pillar before speed walking the rest of the way — keeping to the tunnel’s darker periphery.
Detecting movement, she hid behind a vertical steel buttress.
A hatch was opening beneath the saucer section of the ARV, summoning four men in black uniforms from an interior complex out of her line of sight. They were pushing what looked like an extremely large laundry cart. Positioning it as close as they could to the hatch, the men formed a receiving line.
Another man wearing headgear and a black jumpsuit leaned out of the craft — Jessica took him to be the pilot. He quickly became engaged in a heated argument with one of the four worker bees as the ARV’s co-pilot began tossing cinderblock-size parcels wrapped in dark plastic out of the craft to the first loader in line.
“We’re light twenty kilos, and before you start in on your shit, this is the third time in the last two months the fucking FAC had Kfir Fighter Jets waiting for us as we entered Colombian air space. Plus there were another dozen of whatever they call their UH-60 Blackhawks—”
“—Arpia,” said the co-pilot as he tossed another plastic-wrapped cinderblock out of the ARV.
“Right, Arpia. How do you expect us to set down in a fucking jungle patrolled by armed Arpia helicopters?”
“We went over this. You pull a bunch of Mach-30 zig-zags across their radar screens and they won’t know where you’ll set down.”
FAC… he’s talking about the Fuerza Aerea Colombiana… the Colombian Air Force. Jesus, they’re using goddam Alien Reproduction Vehicles to smuggle cocaine into the states!
“You! Hands where I can see them… nice and slow.”
She turned, confronted by a brilliant white light, its 500 Lumens occupying her entire field of vision.
“My name is Dr. Jessica Marulli…” she held up her I.D. “As you can see, I’m Cosmic Clearance. Now get that goddam light out of my eyes before I have you demoted to parking lot attendant.”