“Don’t. I don’t want to have to do this the hard way. Please just listen a second. I’m Raymond Eller. I have been held by General Devin. He has become psychotic and is going to do something crazy unless we stop him. I need your help,” Eller said.
They looked at each other for a second and then the first one started toward the security phone.
Eller opened the lab door and said, “Okay, do it your way.”
Number One’s gun barked a single bullet that smashed into the phone. The two scientists drew back, huddling against the rear wall.
“Sorry. These men came to rescue me from Devin. I didn’t want to have to do it this way but we have no choice. I need your badges,” Eller said, holding out his hand.
The two men quickly handed them over. Plastic wrist straps were placed on the two men and Number Four injected them with the same serum they had used on the guards at the Beacon site.
“What the hell is this place? What are those things?” Number One asked, pointing to the dead aliens in refrigerated glass containers.
“I told you that you would have to see for yourself. I don’t have time to explain but they are just what you think they are,” Raymond told him.
The two team members looked at him, then each other and back to the aliens. They were speechless.
“We need to go,” Number One uttered, leading them out of the lab.
“We can use these to go back to Level-1. As soon as we step out of the elevator you will only have a few seconds before they realize something is wrong,” Eller told them.
He grabbed a piece of paper and drew a rough layout of what they could expect when the elevator doors opened. He drew X’s where the guards were usually found and where the bulletproof booth was located.
“You,” he said, pointing to Number One, “Will have to make the shot that takes them both out before they can hit the alarm button. If that happens, the place locks down and the main base is alerted. We will have a serious problem.”
“What’s the distance from the elevator to the booth?” he asked.
“I would guess ten yards or so.”
“When we get there, everyone stays put in the elevator. I’ll take the shot from inside the elevator. If I get them both, the rest of you start taking out the guards. He assigned the X’s on the paper to each member.
“Everyone know what we need to do?” Number One asked.
They all nodded in agreement.
“One more thing. When it comes time to clear the bays you are all going to see things that will astound you. Take out the guards first and then gawk at what you are seeing,” Raymond warned.
“What are we going to see?” one of them asked.
“Listen to me carefully. I know what I’m about to say may sound crazy but you are going to see aircraft like nothing you have ever seen before. I can’t describe how it is going to affect you except to say you will be shocked by the sight. They are not of this world. They are from another solar system,” he told them, letting it sink in.
They were all looking at him intently.
“I know you have a thousand questions, just like I did when I saw them for the first time. Listen to me. You must stay focused on the task at hand of bringing down the guards. If you don’t, you could get us all killed. They have seen what’s in those rooms hundreds of times so they won’t be distracted. We can talk about what you saw afterward. Got it?” Raymond said.
They all looked at each other and they nodded that they understood but Raymond knew they weren’t really prepared for what they were about to discover.
“Let’s do it then. We don’t have much longer before the sun starts to come up,” Number One said.
The team arranged themselves in the back corner of the elevator, except for the shooter. As soon as the door opened he would zero in on the two men in the booth and take them out. It was the most critical element of this stage. Eller swiped the confiscated card and the elevator headed for Level-1
The general was sitting in a desk chair watching the monitors. Doctor Gimbel was hovering over a control panel, monitoring various gauges and dials.
“We have achieved deployment orbit.”
“Outstanding,” the general said.
He could see the two astronauts going through various procedures and checking different instruments.
“We will open the cargo doors as soon as the airlock is pressurized and we are in our suits. We will initiate EVA on the forth orbit.”
“Good. Make sure you triple check everything. This is the first extra vehicular activity using the Su-12. I don’t want anything to happen to you while you are making this spacewalk,” the general said.
“You can count on it,” the pilot said.
The general could see him taking off his harness so he could float to the back of the shuttle and start putting on the suit.
“Remind them how important the solar panels are,” Gimbel said.
“Don’t worry doctor. When they get suited up and have the MMUs, I’ll remind them,” He said.
“Yes, well this is the first time the manned maneuverable units have had the Rovkis III robotic arm attached.”
