It was July 25th, 2022, at 11:10 AM when the meeting between Earth’s two representative countries and a high-ranking individual of an extraterrestrial species officially began at RAAF Base Fairbairn outside of Canberra. In contrast to our friends in the northern hemisphere, winter normally lasts from June to August in Australia. The normal temperature fluctuates around 10–12 degree Celsius. Despite the chilling temperature outside, the conference room was heated with discussion.
The large chair which Lord Ar’Taz was sitting on looked like it was made specifically for Him. The way He sat looked as if He was meditating or doing something similar. It was strange how such a large being could make so little noise in whatever He did. His crimson eyes were looking at the people in front of Him. From my perspective, it felt as if Lord Ar’Taz could see through their very soul or whatever secrets they were hiding. Again, I didn’t know how to describe it, but His gaze somehow made whoever met it had all their sins or darkest secrets laid bare. At that moment, His gaze reminded me of when I encountered Him for the first time.
I took my mind off that matter by thinking about the blood test they had done on me and the Colonel back at Johnson Air Base. Standard protocols dictated that any personnel who had made close contact with Lord Ar’Taz needed to conduct medical testing due to fear of potential infection caused by alien microbes. Because of all the commotion, they didn’t really have time to worry about such matters and had to focus on intercepting the two giant monsters. Though I couldn’t say for certain, I doubted that I would be infected with anything carried by Lord Ar’Taz, assuming that He even carried any microbes that is.
Back to reality, I glanced over and noticed that Oliver was all stiff and tensed up. Given the pressure inside the conference, his usually carefree demeanor had completely vanished. Occasionally, he rubbed his naturally blond hair, a common gesture he used to calm himself down whenever he experienced anxiety or stress. Thanks to my current job, I met many people of the upper class so I had somewhat gotten used to the atmosphere they exuded. Still, meeting so many government officials whose mere words could heavily influence your life was nothing short of strenuous.
As expected, the meeting went on just like any ordinary conferences between heads of states, with the exception that we were working with an alien. Apparently, our governments were working together with dozens of countries across the globe to notify them about an emergency session, regarding four significant matters:
1) The official introduction of the Intergalactic Government known as the Thal Vorlanz Ascendancy, and one of its highest official representatives – Lord Ar’Taz to our world.
2) Imminent attacks on the other countries and the necessary cooperation in intercepting and eliminating these inter-dimensional monsters.
3) Compensations for the damage and potentially rebuilding entire cities.
4) How the relationship between Earth and the Ascendancy would proceed in the future.
Regarding the first matter, they were going to introduce Lord Ar’Taz at the United Nations emergency session in Honolulu, Hawaii tomorrow. Initially, I thought if they were going to reveal His existence to the world, they would do it at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. Why they chose Hawaii at all was beyond me.
Furthermore, I may not be an expert on social and economic sectors, but I had a feeling that doing so would result in serious repercussions on the world at large, given its current state. Then again, we were talking about a potential world-wide infestation of inter-dimensional monsters, arguing over what should or shouldn’t be done was idiotic. The only problem, however, was how other countries would react these earth-shattering events.
In addition, a massive Ascendant Starfleet commanded by Lord Ar’Taz Himself was scheduled to arrive at Earth four days from now. If what He said earlier was true, it would be impossible to hide thousands of giant starships entering our atmosphere anyway.
When they asked for specifics regarding the last two matters, He simply stated that the Ascendant forces were going to provide governments of Earth with adequate resources to rebuild our entire planet within less than one Earth year. However, what kind of resources were not divulged in any way whatsoever.
The more important matter needed discussing was the joint military operations to intercept the remaining Degloka in five different countries.
Before we proceeded with the second issue, I and Oliver were asked to sign lengthy a NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement). The only reason I could write this journal, or should I say, this book at all, was because this agreement ended in [Redacted]. To sum it up, it was about the joint coalition between several governments called the G.R.I.D. Coalition (Global Research, Intervention and Defense Coalition). It was a secret organization tasked with the mission to detect, research, intercept, contain and eliminate hostile entities (if necessary) of paranormal and extraterrestrial origins across the globe. Apparently, our government was one of the pivotal members that founded the Coalition.
Honestly, when I first learnt of its name, the SCP Foundation*, G.O.C. (Global Occult Coalition)*, and many popular fictional organizations immediately came to mind. I had a feeling that they were all created to distract the public from the actual organization. By now, I could already hear my dad and many like-minded people screaming ‘I told you so’ to everyone they came across, about their crazy conspiracy theories regarding many unexplainable events in recent decades.
Needless to say, the consequences of breaking the NDA with this caliber wouldn’t be pretty. Oliver was mumbling something to himself after signing it. Perhaps it was something like ‘I wonder what happens if we leak such classified information’ or ‘maybe they would throw us in a Black Site* or worse’.
After we discussed thoroughly about the first matter, Mr. Prime Minister and Mr. President had to leave the conference due to their obviously busy schedules.
“See you tomorrow, Lord Ar’Taz!” Mr. President said as He gestured for a handshake. His expression looked like a shrewd businessman who just successfully secured a large deal of investment. As for our Prime Minister, he looked more like a friendly uncle who you would see in any family. Particularly, an uncle who was more than meets the eyes.
“Likewise, Mr. President, Mr. Prime Minister!” Lord Ar’Taz said and gently shook their hands in response. Frankly, seeing a giant humanoid entity shaking the hands of two averagely built gentlemen was really incredible, albeit a little bit funny (Please keep it to yourself, okay?). However, it was truly a historical moment for our species – a friendly relationship between humanity and a powerful extraterrestrial species was established that day.
After the two left, Minister Marcus Whitmore and the Secretary of Defense – Mr. Willis Ferdinand stayed behind to discuss the second matter. Thankfully, this meeting was to discuss the joint operations between Lord Ar’Taz and forces of the G.R.I.D. Coalition, we could move around more freely to escape our cramped legs.
“That was one heck of meeting, huh?” Oliver said with a cup of latte in hand. We had a short break inside the base’s cafeteria. Aside from us, there was only a handful of personnel so we could chat comfortably. Meanwhile, Lord Ar’Taz simply stood outside the tent, observing the activities inside the base. I wonder what He was thinking watching us humans like that.
Tell me about it!” I said while also drinking my coffee. “I would rather patrol in a Hawkei all day than sit there for another minute.”
Oliver gulped nearly half of his cup in one go before asking: “Did you get the mail from the Medical Department?”
“My phone has been dead since last night. What is it about?”
“It’s about the test for possible contamination from alien microbes. Since they have to test a shit-ton of personnel, the process can take quite a long time. I got mine this morning.”
“Well, how was it?” I asked despite already knowing the result.
“It is all clear,” He said. “Mark, Albert and most of the guys we know as well.”
“Yeah, I mean, why wouldn’t it? Look at me, I have been with Him since the beginning. Nothing wrong with me, as far as I know.”
“Well, you can’t be too careful with this kind of stuff, right?”
“I guess you are right!” I automatically said.
After joking around a bit more, he said in a lower voice: “Jack, is she cute?”
“Who?” I frowned at his weird question.
“That young lady from the Krieger,” He reiterated, “Felicia, if I remember her name correctly? I mean, you have been working as her bodyguard for nearly two years, right? What do you think about her?”
Felicia Krieger, the name of my currently biggest client. She is the second daughter of Conrad Krieger – the CEO of Magellan Enterprises. After my discharge, not many employer would be so willing to hire a disabled veteran like me so I ended up jobless for some time. Fortunately, Albert helped me out and landed me a job in the private security sector. Particularly, I was working as a bodyguard for rich people. As of late, Ms. Krieger was probably the most pleasant client I had the honor of working with.
Though Oliver wasn’t exactly a womanizer, he sure as hell enjoyed flaunting his good looks and flirting skills to piss off bachelors like me. How the hell did he know that I was protecting Ms. Krieger in the first place? Then, I remembered that my boss was Albert’s close friend and it clicked. Damn you, Albert! He probably wanted to spite me just for shits and giggles.
“Now listen here, you idiot!” I began my explanation, “First and foremost, I am only one of the bodyguards who are currently protecting the lady. Secondly, I can’t just openly chat about sensitive information regarding my clients.”
“Oh, come on,” Oliver exclaimed. “I am not asking anything like that. I just want to know if she is cute or not. After all, every news coverage of her is heavily censored so no one really knows what she looks like. It is always her sister who gets the spotlight.”
“That means we are doing a pretty good job.” I remarked. “Her father pays us a lot to hide her face from the media after all. If we let that information gets leaked, it will jeopardize our credibility. Shit, getting fired might even be the easy way if that ever happens.”
“That is why, I am asking you, one of her trusted bodyguard,” He patted me in the back. “So, what does she look like? It can’t hurt to say at least your opinion on her, right?”
“Well, she…” I thought about it for a second. “She has… quite beautiful eyes, to be honest. If I had to describe her, I would say she is quite the ‘cool beauty’ type.”
“Fascinating! Now I am dying to know what she looks like. Of course, I am not asking to meet her or anything. Just curiosity. By the way, I heard from the fan clubs that her real name isn’t Felicia. Is that true?”
“No, it’s… wait, back up. Did you just say fan clubs?”
“You don’t know? The young lady is quite popular on Facebook and Twitter even though none of her fans actually knows what her face looks like. As far as I know, most of them are high school and college students.”
“Do kids these day have nothing better to do?” I remarked with a sigh. “Admiring someone whose face you don’t even know.”
“Stop being so serious, mate!” He chuckled. “You’ve gotta let them kids enjoy their youth.”
Unlike most privileged and rich high school or college kids, she wasn’t interested in social media or being famous. Although I didn’t know whether she had a social media account or not, she never bothered herself with one, not to my knowledge anyway. Compared to her peers, she was academically excelled but she rarely talked to many people and always wore a special mask due to her physical condition. If I had to guess, the reason behind her popularity was that everyone saw her as an attractive lady with a mysterious aura. Well, she did have a secret that very few people outside of her family knew about after all.
“By the way, how did you manage to take some days off and rejoin the ADF like this?” Oliver asked. “I thought bodyguards are supposed to be with their clients nearly 24/7.”
“Not necessarily!” I answered, “Normally, our clients are accompanied by at least two bodyguards and we have shifts. My next shift is next week and I doubt they want to keep us veterans around for too long anyway. Besides, Albert said that veterans who rejoined will receive great benefits. At least, that was what I thought before being stuck in all this gods and monsters business.”
“Well, it’s not like you can’t back out when things get too dangerous, you know? Anyway, aren’t you going to get in trouble if you can’t make it back in time? Isn’t this job important to you?”
No, Albert already talked to my boss who is also a veteran. They are close friends so he understands my situation and will assign another guard to take my place, for the time being of course. Besides, it’s not like I am going…” I was cut short when someone called us from behind. “Excuse me, Sergeant Major Hartmann, First Lieutenant Geralt!”
We turned around and there was a woman in black suit standing a few meters behind us. She was the American assistant who handed us the NDA. She looked to be in her twenties, tall, slender and wore glasses with purple rim. Her auburn hair was tied neatly and glistered under the bright artificial light. Combined with her captivating blue eyes, she was admittedly one of the most beautiful women I had the pleasure of laying my eyes upon so far.
However, she had the same vibe as the young lady when I first saw her. A beautiful but serious woman who was driven by work and commitment, instead of ordinary pleasures and desires.
“The meeting is about to begin,” She said. “Please proceed to the conference room.”
“Oh, I see,” Oliver said. “Thank you for informing us, Miss… Uh…”
“Bernstein,” She stated, still expressionless. “I am Agent Gertrude Bernstein. You can call me Agent Bernstein.”
“Okay, sorry for the trouble, Agent Bernstein. Let’s go, mate!” He said to me.
When we were following her back to the conference room, another feature about her that caught my attention – the logo on her right breast pocket. It looked somewhat similar to the one on the container transporting Lord Ar’Taz yesterday. The difference was, instead of a shield, this winged knight was holding a sword with both hands.
Oliver nudged me as we were approaching the tent area. He gave me a wink, grinned and gestured at the agent. It was kind of annoying that I understood his implications.
Translation: Oi, she is quite a beauty, isn’t she? Why don’t you try going out with her? You have been single for so long after all. You deserve some love too, you know. I will be right here wherever you need some love advice, brother.
Understandably, everyone was worried about me not being single at my age. Worse yet, even my acquaintances jokingly said that I was gay once. Needless to say, I often tried to avoid family gatherings as much as possible because of that. Although I had crushes, I simply couldn’t bring myself to drag another person into what I was going through at the moment. My dad always taught me that, before settling with someone for life, we must resolve our own troubles first, that the worst thing we can do is dragging our loved ones into such troubles and letting them suffer the consequences.
Inside the tent, the tables and chairs had been rearranged in a position like that of a college auditorium with a projector in the middle of the aisle. There were far fewer people than this morning. Less than a dozen only. They were dressed in various attires and some of them had the same type of suit as Agent Bernstein. A group of five people gathered in front of Lord Ar’Taz whereas Minister Marcus and Secretary Ferdinand were nowhere to be found. It seemed that they were trying to converse with Him and Lord Ar’Taz, as always, spoke in very limited words.
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“Director Grayson,” Agent Bernstein called out to one of them. “Lieutenant Geralt and Sergeant Hartmann are here.”
The man who looked to be well into his fifties turned around and looked at us. He was a tall Caucasian man, around the Colonel’s height. He had short brown hair and was wearing a black trench coat which extended to around his thighs. The group that was conversing with Lord Ar’Taz consisted of one Asian man, one Caucasian woman and two familiar faces – Doctor Floyd Pearlman and one of his colleagues from Victoria Base.
“Good Afternoon, gentlemen!” He said while approaching us, “I am Jonah Grayson, Director of the G.R.I.D. Coalition.” He then reached out his hand for a handshake.
“Good afternoon, Sir!” I took his hand and said, “I am First Lieutenant Jack Geralt!”
“I am Sergeant Major Oliver Hartmann!” Oliver said. “I guess we will be working for you in a few days, right?”
When he was shaking Oliver’s hand, I noticed he carried a sidearm underneath his trench coat. If I wasn’t mistaken, it looked to be the SW1911 E-Series Tactical Accessory Pistol with an extended magazine. How strange for a high-ranking official to be carrying weapons like that! The fact that they allowed it inside the meeting at all was even more bizarre.
He turned around and started introducing each member of his group, “These two are Senior Doctor Kenichi Serizawa and Senior Doctor Yelena Barsukova. As for these two, I believe you have met at your base two days ago. Doctor Floyd Pearlman and his colleague – Doctor Andre Harrington.”
As expected of professional researchers, they all looked to be over either forty or fifty years old. When he introduced them, they were still engrossed in talking to Lord Ar’Taz. The Asian man in particular, who was introduced to be Doctor Serizawa was infatuated with His exoskeleton tail. As for the others, they were talking about something related to His method of traversing across dimensions. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that they looked like children who were so enamored with the teacher’s stories that they couldn’t pay attention to anything else.
“Lieutenant Geralt,” Director Grayson said. “Can I ask you a question if you don’t mind?”
“No, what is it Sir?” I replied.
“Why did you join the armed forces after your discharge?”
“Why would you like to know that?”
“I read your profile, Lieutenant.” He began. “First Lieutenant Jack Lennox Geralt, served in the Royal Australian Regiment during the Saudi War*, mortally wounded in a brutal last stand during the last days of the war and lost an arm, received a prosthetics of high quality from Walter Industries thanks to veteran benefits and excellent services, currently working as a bodyguard for the upper classes. Three days ago, you suddenly rejoined the Australian Defense Force in response to the arrival of our Alien VIP here, Lord Ar’Taz Drekgard, as well as other uninvited guests. And now, you are here, working as His representative. Quite a fascinating profile for a veteran, don’t you think?”
“Are we supposed to be impressed?” Oliver said with a clear wary in his tone. “With all due respect, Sir, but that is a clear invasion of privacy. What exactly are you implying?”
“I know what you are thinking.” Director Grayson raised his hands defensively, “Indeed, it is quite rude to go through someone’s private information like that, but you need to understand. It’s our job to know things after all. More importantly, I just want to know why your friend decided to rejoin after that war and why it is such a coincidence that the Alien chose him.”
Strangely enough, I felt neither upset nor offended that a complete stranger was so well informed about my life to such an extent. If I were in a different situation, I might have. But not today, not in these circumstances. He was right to ask such questions after all.
I thought about the answer for a second, then gave my answer. “I have my reason for rejoining, Sir. It is more of a private business for me. As for the other question, I guess it is completely outside my control, so you would have to ask Him for that.”
The Director seemed to contemplate my reply for a few seconds. “I understand. Well, not that it matters since He refused to reveal anything relevant. Besides, I just wanted to know what kind of man you are, that’s all. Anyway, I apologize for prying too much, Lieutenant.”
“I understand, Sir.” I said, a bit nervously. At first, I thought he was simply just another bureaucratic official who wouldn’t hesitate to abuse his power to achieve his goals. However, all signs indicated that he could be similar to Colonel Hannibal who weren’t afraid to get his hands dirty when the situation called for it. I better not let my guard down around this man.
“Can I ask you something?” Oliver said, his expression relaxed. “I may be wrong but it seems to me that the Coalition already knew about Lord Ar’Taz and the subsequent attacks on the first day. If so, why didn’t you intervene and cover up everything? Why did you guys agree to reveal His existence to the world, just like that?”
He remained quiet for a few seconds and started scratching the beard under his chin. Perhaps, his brain was concocting some false stories to distract us from the actual truth.
“It wouldn’t hurt to tell you, I suppose.” The Director finally said. “We’ve been dealing with some nasty groups who brazenly attacked our facilities in Eastern Europe and North Africa for the past few months. They are trying to capture some of the SEAOs under our custody. It is one heck of a mess, let me tell you.”
“Excuse me, Sir! What is a ‘CEO’?” Oliver interrupted out of confusion.
“Sorry, force of habit.” Director Grayson blurted. “It is spelled as S.E.A.O, meaning Strange Entities of Abnormal Origins. It is the term we use to designate abnormal entities and occasionally unexplainable phenomenon across the world. You know, cryptid and stuff like that?”
“That is enough, Director Grayson.” Someone cleared their voice behind us. We turned around and sure enough, it was Minister Marcus and Secretary Ferdinand. They were also holding their own cups of coffee or whatever drink they might have in hands.
“They are already in this with us, Mr. Secretary.” Director Grayson said. “Besides, it’s not like I am revealing everything, you know?”
“Save it, Director!” The American Secretary said with a stern voice. “We are dealing with an unprecedented situation here. We wasted enough time already. Start the meeting!”
“Always so serious, man!” The Director whispered. He then turned to the other researchers and loudly stated: “Alright, everyone! Break time is over. Let’s start the meeting so we can grab dinner early.”
After everyone was situated in their seats, the Director who sat two tables away from me stood up and said: “Alright, since everyone has a tight schedule, we will try to make this meeting brief. Lord Ar’Taz is scheduled to show up at the UN emergency session tomorrow in Hawaii, so we will discuss the plans to intercept those giant SEAOs. First, we need to talk about what we are dealing with here. Particularly, the giant monsters and their ‘minions’. Doctor Serizawa, please proceed!”
The way he said the word ‘minions’ almost cracked me up. He sounded as if the big ones were giving orders to the little ones, like an evil villain to his ‘subordinates. Though, to be fair, that wasn’t too far from the truth.
The Doctor stood up with a document holder in his hand and said: “Good afternoon, everyone! I am Senior Doctor Kenichi Serizawa from the G.R.I.D. Coalition. I have worked with the Medical Department of the Australian Defense Force in studying the monsters’ corpses in Port Jackson, Sydney. Here is what we have found.”
The Doctor gave his assistant a nod and she started typing on her laptop. The screen was lit up by the projector and showed up multiple images of the drones that we killed, as well as the big one that Lord Ar’Taz had effortlessly and single-handedly destroyed. There were some specs and information next to the images. However, they were too small and scattered for me to make details out of.
“Firstly, we are going to talk about the smaller ones.” The Doctor began his explanation. “According to the Intel provided by Lord Ar’Taz, these creatures are officially known as the Trejmorphs. Currently, there are two types of Trejmorphs, the bird type and the bear type. Though they vary biologically, they all possess certain appendages specifically designed to inject highly venomous substance into their victims. During the battle of Sydney, there was only one ADF soldier who had reportedly survived after being injected with this virus. After being stung with this venom, the victim became disoriented, experienced intense pain all over his body and his body temperature also rose significantly. Our agents within the ADF had managed to recover this footage using the Coalition’s drones. Before that, I need to warn you, the footage is very, very disturbing. If you cannot handle extreme violence, I suggest you look away immediately.”
The screen showed a video feed of the instance when Daniel was screaming in pain to the horror and shock of everyone around him, including myself and Colonel Hannibal. It looked like the video was taken using a drone faraway. When they zoomed in, everything in that moment came rushing back to my brain. The sheer horror and dread of what had transpired. It showed that a half-naked Daniel who had his torso almost completely covered in bloodied bandages kept screaming and yelling at his fellow soldiers.
Oliver was, of course, greatly disturbed and I could tell that he wasn’t the only one in the room. They fast forward, then paused right when Daniel jumped at Clarence. I realized that when Lord Ar’Taz grabbed him and jumped to the park, Daniel’s feet already left the ground and was seconds away from biting Corporal Clarence. In other words, we were watching a horror scene from the normal zombie movies, literally.
After Lord Ar’Taz disappeared along with Daniel, the camera moved around looking for Him. When it finally stopped, it showed Him holding Daniel in the air. When Daniel’s head was atomized between Lord Ar’Taz’s fingers, some people within the room visibly felt nauseous, including Oliver.
“As you can see,” Doctor Serizawa resumed speaking. “When the soldier was injected with this venom, he became extremely agitated and aggressive towards everyone around him. Medical reports indicated that this venom serves as a carrier for some alien micro-organisms. These organisms function similarly to Earth’s parasites, meaning they cannot survive without a host. From our observations, we deduced that these organisms forcefully and violently mutate the host’s biological structure while simultaneously aiming for their brain, effectively causing brain aneurysm and killing the host. After the host’s death, they completely take over the host’s brain function and spinal cord. In laymen’s terms, this parasite turns the host into a zombie, if you will. So far, this was the only case of zombification. Therefore, it is impossible to safely determine how much this mutation can progress or how long it will take for different people.”
After the Doctor finished his explanation, the room was eerily silent. I even saw of the faces turning pale from this revelation. Obviously, all of this was too much for them to take in, especially people who had never been exposed to the violence of this magnitude. Director Grayson and Agent Bernstein, however, looked unperturbed and were discussing about something in whispers. Perhaps the Coalition had dealt with cases like this before.
“Lord Ar’Taz,” Minister Marcus spoke after a brief silence. “The Intel you gave us stated that this mutation applies to all animals, is that true?”
“Correct, Minister!” Lord Ar’Taz answered. “Although the parasite actively sought out any animal that it could use to proliferate, it primarily chose intelligent specimens.”
“What about plants then?” He asked. “Is it possible that this parasite infect plants and mutate them to emit spores and make this infection airborne?”
“No, the Rajmez parasite only infects and mutates organism which possess sentient intelligence and bodies capable of mobility. Plants are simply used as biomass and absorbed later into the final stage of its life cycle. Small creatures such as insects and crustacean are often ignored and mostly used as part of that biomass.”
“Are you sure it is okay to trust Him, Marcus?” Secretary Ferdinand spoke. “For all we know, these things could be parts of a plan to catch us off-guard and invade us.”
Oh no, not this again! Another high-ranking government man in suit who remained skeptical towards Lord Ar’Taz, especially after what He had done for us so far. I dreaded the idea of going through that all over again.
“With all due respect, Sir!” Secretary Ferdinand glared at Lord Ar’Taz. “I don’t believe that you are genuinely here to help us. In fact, all of this is just…” He was interrupted when Minister Marcus put his hand onto Ferdinand’s shoulder with a force strong enough to startle him. The American Secretary was so shocked that the WTF expression was all over his face. Mr. Whitmore was clearly not happy with Mr. Ferdinand’s words but he forced a smile on his face anyway.
“Willis, please don’t do that!” He used a more serious tone than normal. “We talked about this, didn’t we?”
The shocked American regained his composure quickly and voiced his opinion: “Damn it, Marcus! Don’t you think this situation is way too good to be true? Do you seriously believe that He is really doing all of this out of genuine kindness? You saw what He did to that man, right?”
Minister Marcus didn’t respond right away. The atmosphere within the conference room was so intense, we almost held our breath to see how Mr. Whitmore would react to his words.
“Please, don’t make the situation any worse, Willis!” He spoke after a short but intense silence. “You have… no idea!” His voice faded, as if he was about to reveal something unspeakably horrible.
Perhaps, it was then that Mr. Ferdinand finally listened to his gut instinct, that this was not an argument he could win. “We apologize for the commotion. Please continue, Doctor Serizawa!” Mr. Whitmore said.
Although the Doctor seemed astonished by the Minister’s action, he simply nodded and resumed his explanation. As he did, the Secretary was glaring at us, then at Lord Ar’Taz again. The distrust he had in his eyes wasn’t something that could be dissipated with a few words of explanation. No, there was something else. From his expression, anyone would automatically assume that the American Secretary had a grudge against either Lord Ar’Taz in particular or simply aliens in general.
His glare was cut short when Mr. Whitmore stuck a piece of paper into his hand. After reading it, his confident and arrogant look from earlier had gone almost completely, replaced by something akin to absolute terror. His expression reminded me of when Lord Ar’Taz did… uh, whatever it was, to General Theodore and his company at Johnson Air Base.
Seeing his expression, Director Grayson grinned a little bit. It seemed as if he was secretly enjoying the situation or something. After the biology lesson was over, Secretary Ferdinand spoke again. This time, he lowered his voice. “Can we just blow it up?”
“What do you mean, Mr. Secretary?” Doctor Serizawa asked.
“I mean, can we simply blow these portals up? They are just sitting ducks there, asking to be blown up.”
“About that, Sir! I would like to let Doctor Floyd Pearlman to explain further.” He then looked over to his fellow researchers and said: “Doctor Pearlman, your turn please!”
Doctor Pearlman shifted his thick glasses and stood up from his seat. He then began speaking: “Good afternoon, gentlemen! I am Doctor Floyd Pearlman, a nuclear physicist currently collaborating with the G.R.I.D. Coalition. Mr. Secretary, I am sorry to inform you that we cannot and must absolutely not attack the portal.”
“Why is that, Doctor?” Mr. Ferdinand asked.
“These portals are created using unknown technology from an advanced extraterrestrial civilization,” Doctor Pearlman explained. “This technology mainly utilizes sub-atomic energy to connect different dimensions. It tears open a hole into reality itself and create portals in-between these dimensions. Earlier, I and Doctor Harrington inquired Lord Ar’Taz for more details about this alien technology. According to His sources, the portal absorbs both immaterial energy and physical objects to maintain and stabilize themselves. Because of how dangerous and volatile this travel is, the Klovaz – the advanced humanoid species from that dimension used an energy shield to protect themselves while traveling through a portal. At the moment, the portals are sucking air molecules, radio waves and dark matter to power themselves. If a physical object with a certain mass, say a missile for example, enters from this end, that missile will be broken down to its atomic level and fed into the portal. Thus, it will accelerate the process and bring the object from that side over faster. Not only that, it can cause a catastrophic explosion due to the sudden input of foreign material as well as the portal’s collapsing. As you already know, whenever something comes out of it, an explosion occurred. Therefore, it is very likely that introducing foreign material into the portal will only make the situation much, much worse. Though we cannot accurately predict how powerful this explosion will be, we estimate that it can release the energy equivalent to a nuclear detonation. Potentially over twenty kilotons.”
After a ‘let that sink in’ moment, the Secretary spoke: “So, you are telling me that if we blow the portal up with missiles, we will effectively create a Nagasaki bombing ourselves. Do I understand that correctly, Doctor?”
“That… is correct, Sir!” Doctor Pearlman answered. His voice indicated that even he was shocked by what he had found out. “However, that is not all, Sir.”
“More bad news?” The Secretary frowned.
“According to the Intel provided by Lord Ar’Taz’s forces, the parasitic entity known as the Rajmez which created these giant monsters can absorb radiation and become even more aggressive, making its mutation even more unpredictable. Apparently, the reason it could mutate and create such monsters was because the Klovaz had bombed it numerous times with nuclear weapons. Consequently, the Klovaz who has built a spacefaring civilization from that dimension was almost driven to extinction by this thing.”
Now, the room was shrouded in another eerie silence. It was similar to when the Doctor first revealed to us about the signal sent by Lord Ar’Taz through the portal two days ago. However, this one was completely different. It gave us an existential dread that we had never experienced before. If these monsters could bring an entire spacefaring species to its knees, what chances would we, a species who haven’t even left its home solar system, have against them?
All of this only served to further prove how powerful Lord Ar’Taz was to effortless destroy two of them, as well as how significant His role was in saving us from the same fate.
“For that matter, Mr. Secretary!” I was lost in my own thought when Doctor Harrington supported his colleague’s words. “I believe that we need to focus engaging the monsters after they exit the portals.”
The following discussion was pretty much standard protocol regarding military operations. Intelligence about the enemies, then strategies, or in this case, how to kill these monsters. After Doctor Pearlman’s detailed explanation about the portals, Doctor Yelena Barsukova discussed different types of weaponry that could be effectively used against the Trejmorphs. To minimize casualties on our side, we agreed to leave the big ones to Lord Ar’Taz, while our forces led by a Coalition task force would engage the small ones. However, we needed to rendezvous with each task force in different countries first.
After the meeting ended, everyone mostly went back to their original work, whereas Director Grayson, Agent Bernstein and three other Coalition’s agents remained. Lord Ar’Taz would show up at Honolulu, Hawaii at midday tomorrow. Supposedly, they were working overtime to prepare for His arrival there. Interestingly, we would disguise as agents of the Coalition accompanying Him.
“Wow, can’t believe it is already this late,” Director Grayson yawned and checked his watch. Sure enough, it was already nearing 18:00. “Alright! Let’s grab dinner, guys! Lieutenant, Sergeant, want to go eat with us? Don’t worry, we already reserved the base’s cafeteria.”
Lord Ar’Taz declined to his invitation for dinner and went back to His ship. During dinner, we learnt that both the Director and Agent Bernstein would accompany us onboard Lord Ar’Taz’s ship, as our supervisors of course. Despite the other agents’ protest, the Director shrugged them off and stated that he was eager to learn more about our mysterious guest, saying that He piqued his interest more than all of the strange entities that He had encountered so far.
After dinner, I and Oliver were guided to our room inside the base before the Coalition’s people went off to theirs. Oliver finally relaxed and slumped on the bed, refusing to take off his dirty uniform. Well, it was a long day for us and it was guaranteed to be longer days ahead.
During the shower, the scars around the connected area of my arm ached. No matter how much time had passed, some scars never truly healed I guess.
As I was checking my phone, I realized I had more missed calls than I had expected. Most of them were from either Davis or dad. There was also the email from the Medical Department, stating the obvious.
When I finally lied down on the bed, Oliver was already snoring like a rumbling car engine. His snores made me yawn out of sheer tiredness as well. I browsed the internet and immediately found what I was looking for.
Emergency United Nations Session in Honolulu, Hawaii on July 26th, 2022, Big News from President Eisenhower & Prime Minister Turnbull at Tomorrow’s Session, Terrorist Attack in Melbourne or Something Else?, Chemical Contamination in Port Jackson and David Town, Largest Mobilization of the ADF since Saudi Arabia War, and many more.
These headlines flooded the internet. Oh boy, they had no idea! Tomorrow, this world was in for a big surprise.
I turned my back and closed my eyes, expecting a good sleep due to how exhausted I was. However, I was wrong.