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  James brought up images of the UFO on the large TV screen hanging on the wall on one side of the Deputy Secretary’s office. The images were clear. There was no mistaking what they were all looking at on the screen. Doug was shocked at the size of the spaceship.

  “Damn, it’s huge!” Doug exclaimed, taking a closer look. “Do we know how big the thing really is?”

  “We think it’s at least a mile in diameter, Doug. It’s larger than Haffen City,” James answered simply.

  “What does it want? Do we know?”

  “There’s been no contact from the UFO. Doctor Colbert is preparing some questions now that we can start transmitting to the spaceship. In the meantime, I sent a message to the United Nations and NASA on Earth. I’m sure they’re seeing the same thing we are now,” replied Haruto looking a bit nervous.

  “I’ve also notified the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on Earth,” Marine Colonel Hayward Jackson said with a deep voice. He was a tall black man, forty-five years old, with round face, deep set brown eyes, large jaw and nose and shaven bald head. Colonel Jackson along with most of the military stationed in Haffen was assigned to the United Nations peace keeping force, but reported to the United States Military under authority of the President of the U.S. “We don’t know what this UFO is doing here. We need to be prepared,” he said tersely.

  The fifth person in the room was Marine Captain Shirley Tills. She reported to Colonel Jackson. She was thirty-four years old, five feet ten inches tall with light colored skin, blue eyes and brown hair cut short. She looked tough as nails and Doug would not want to be the person who crossed her. She looked at the colonel and said, “We put the base on alert. There’s not much we can do if the thing is hostile, but we can notify everyone here to stay in their homes or places of business until we figure things out.”

  Deputy Secretary Nakamura nodded his head in agreement. “That’s a good idea, Captain Tills. Please do this immediately.”

  “There’s one thing odd about the UFO, Deputy Secretary,” Doctor Colbert said after studying the images in more detail.

  “What is it, James?” Doug prodded.

  “There seems to be something wrong with the spaceship. See here,” he pointed at a dark spot near the dome on top of the circular disk. “There seems to be a big hole in the spaceship. I think it’s been damaged somehow.”

  Everyone took a closer look as Dr. Colbert zoomed in on the image. The hole was clearly visible. It looked like something had exploded outwards.

  “The spaceship could be in trouble then,” Haruto said. “We should send a shuttle up to take a closer look. Maybe it will contact us when we get closer.”

  Marine Colonel Hayward Jackson said, “I agree, Mister Deputy Secretary. But I need to wait for orders from my superiors first before we attempt to send anyone up there.”

  “Very well, Colonel. I will wait to hear back from the UN Secretary-General before we send anyone up there to check this spaceship out. But we shouldn’t wait too long. We need to know its intentions or if it needs our help; sooner than later.”

  Doug agreed with the Colonel, but he also was curious what was on board that spaceship. He knew that whatever happened in the next few hours, the world was never going to be the same again.

  Chapter 3

  The White House

  President Mary Woodley Anderson was working at her desk in the Oval Office of the White House when her close friend and advisor, Chief of Staff Allison Conley, knocked on the door and entered unannounced.

  “Madam President, we have a situation on Mars! The United Nations Secretary-General is calling a Security Council Member emergency meeting.

  President Anderson looked up and removed her reading glasses laying them next to the President’s Daily Briefing (PDB) report she was reading. The President was in her early fifties with reddish hair, a result of her North Carolina heritage, and blue eyes that she refused to have corrected surgery on. “What is it, Allison?” Mary expected the usual multinational squabbling over territorial borders.

  “A UFO has appeared and gone into orbit around Mars. It’s very large, Madam President.” Allison looked unsettled, which rarely ever happened as long as President Anderson had known her. Standing at five feet ten inches, Allison was taller than many women and used that to full advantage. She was younger than the President at forty-five and was attractive in her dark blue two-piece pant suit, but that look of control she usually possessed seemed to be missing at the moment.

  “A UFO; like alien UFO?” Mary repeated in a somewhat disbelieving tone.

  “That’s what the UN is telling us. I just received a call from Ambassador Rodriguez. He says Secretary-General Gomulka received a call from Deputy General Haruto Nakamura on Mars twenty minutes ago. Nakamura is requesting permission to fly a shuttlecraft with UN Police Keeper forces to the UFO to try to make contact. Apparently, the UFO is not responding to any attempts at communication with Mars. The UFO looks to have some damage on the outside, Madam President.”

  “All right, Allison. Tell the Ambassador to keep us informed what happens at the Security Council Member meeting. If it’s Marines they’re sending, then we need Secretary of Defense Russo to get involved. Call a Cabinet Meeting in one hour. That should give us enough time to see what is going on over at the UN. I’ll call Secretary-General Gomulka right now. Oh—Allison, better ask NASA Administrator Ito to attend the meeting as well. We may need his advice.”

  Allison left the room to set up the Cabinet Meeting within the hour. President Anderson punched the intercom button on her desk phone for her Executive Secretary, Joann Miles. When Joann answered, the President said, “Joann, I need you to get UN Secretary-General Aleksy Gomulka on the line for me right away.”

  “Yes, Madam President.”

  A few minutes later, the desk phone rang and Joann said UN Secretary-General Aleksy Gomulka was on the line. President Anderson hit the speakerphone button and looked at the LCD display. The Secretary-General was from Poland and had the typical Eastern European facial features, especially the dark hair, small eyes and round face. “Good morning, Mister Secretary-General Gomulka. I hear we have a UFO orbiting Mars. Has this been confirmed?”

  “Good morning, Madam President.” Aleksy said with a strong Slavic accent. “Yes, we confirmed the sighting. We have real time video and images from our observatory on Mars. I am sending you some images now.”

  President Anderson pulled up the images on her tablet computer screen. She was shocked at the size of the UFO. “How large is this thing?” she asked looking closely at the images.

  “It’s immense, Madam President. I have been told it measures one point six kilometers in diameter and ninety meters tall at its center. It appears to have some damage visible on the outside. There’s been no communication with the starship since it arrived one hour ago, Madam President.”

  “This is hard to believe, Secretary-General. The world will be shocked at this discovery once it becomes public. What are your plans?”

  “I am heading to a Security Council Member meeting now, Madam President. The UN Deputy General of Mars, Haruto Nakamura, requested permission to send a team of people from Mars on a shuttle to investigate and see if they can communicate with the starship. I must discuss this with the Security Council Members and see what they suggest. I will keep you informed, Madam President.”

  “Thank you, Mister Secretary. I will be meeting with my Cabinet Members as well. If the UFO, or starship if you prefer, is really damaged; then it may be in need of our help. Either way, I feel we must establish communications with the starship as soon as possible. If nothing else, to make sure it’s not hostile.”

  “I agree with you, Madam President. I will be in touch as soon as I can. Good day to you.”

  President Anderson watched the display screen go black, but she kept staring at the images of the large object on her tablet. Whatever it was, the news of this discovery was going to be the biggest event in recent history. There was no way anyo
ne could keep a secret like this from becoming public due to the Internet. She just hoped it would not cause unwarranted panic among the populations of the world.

  *****

  One hour flew by. President Anderson looked at her wristcom and knew it was time to head to the Cabinet Room where she held regular meetings with her Cabinet Secretaries and other Administration officials called in as needed. The Cabinet Room was located in the West Wing, which is connected to the Oval Office and looks out over the White House Rose Garden. Today was a particularly sunny and warm day in May and the colorful flowers were in full bloom.

  There are fifteen executive department Cabinet Members serving the President today, most with a title beginning with Secretary. Ten departments were in attendance along with Vice President Allen Denton, National Security Advisor Rodney Williams, NASA Administrator Shoji Ito, Chief of Staff Allison Conley and various other staff members sitting along the sidewalls behind the main conference room table.

  President Mary Anderson and Allison walked into the room, which was already filled. Mary took her seat at the middle of the conference table in a chair with the name President firmly attached on the back of the seat. “Thank all of you for coming on such short notice. I know Allison mentioned we have a major situation developing that you need to be made aware of. I’ll just say what it is and then we will deal with it. A large UFO has been sighted orbiting Mars and this sighting has been confirmed.” Murmurs of disbelief made its way around the room.

  Mary continued. “I know this sounds implausible, but the UFO is an alien starship as far as anyone can determine. We did not build it and know nothing about it yet. It has not made any attempt at communications with anyone on Mars.”

  “How big is this thing, Madam President?” Vice President Allen Denton wanted to know. Allen was a senior politician from Michigan at sixty years old and one of the most respected politicians in the government. Everyone liked and admired him for his many years of positive public service.

  “I have been told by the UN Secretary-General, the starship is approximately one mile in diameter and almost three hundred feet tall at its center point. The starship is shaped like a large disk with some sort of dome on top. We have images taken from the observatory on Mars and we well show them to you in a few minutes. First, I just want you all to know what has been discovered and what the UN is planning to do soon.”

  “When was this starship discovered, Madam President?” Secretary William Straiter of the Department of Homeland Security wanted to know.

  “It arrived just over two hours ago, Bill. I was advised by Secretary-General Aleksy Gomulka an hour ago. He called a UN Security Council Member meeting and we will be advised of their recommendations as to what they are planning to do as soon as their meeting ends.”

  “What should we do, Madam President?” Vice President Denton asked.

  “I advised the Secretary-General that we need to find a way to communicate with the starship as soon as possible in order to determine its intentions. The starship may be damaged and needs our help. I believe the UN is going to recommend sending a shuttle up to the starship to try and communicate with it soon.”

  “When will this news be made public, Madam President?” Secretary Susan Liang Department of State asked with obvious concerns.

  “I’m sure the public is learning about this as we speak considering how many people on Mars can see this starship orbiting above their heads. The Press Secretary is preparing a news release now. I’m just waiting for an update from the UN.”

  “We should move to DEFCON 4 status, Madam President?” Secretary of Defense, Carlo Russo suggested.

  “No, Carlo, not yet. I don’t want to scare people more than they will be when they learn of this discovery. We need to remain calm and remind our people to do the same.

  “If there are no more questions about the news, then I invited NASA Administrator, Shoji Ito to this meeting to show you the latest images we have of the starship.” Mary turned to Shoji who nodded his head and turned to the others.

  Shoji Ito was forty-four years old, of average height and the first person of Japanese descent to head NASA for the government. To say he was intelligent would do an injustice to his mental abilities, not only in scientific achievements but also in his administrative capabilities. He spoke perfect English. He stood up and turned on the large TV screen on the back wall. “Thank you, Madam President. I have several images sent over from Secretary-General Gomulka he received from Mars. As you can see, the starship is very large. One thing of note is this dark spot near the dome top. It appears to be caused from some sort of internal explosion or perhaps from a weapon. The hole it made is big enough to fly one of our shuttlecrafts inside of it. The explosion would have caused considerable damage inside the spacecraft; most probably killing the occupants. The design is shaped like a round disk with a large dome on top. It is as tall as a thirty story building. My estimation from the size of this starship is it would be capable of long distant space travel and be self-sufficient. I can only guess how technically advanced this spacecraft is to us, but it would be in the hundreds of years.” Ito sat down, but left the last image of the large starship on the screen for everyone to stare at.

  “Thank you, Shoji. Are there anymore questions before we adjourn?”

  Before anyone could say anything, Allison interrupted. “Sorry, Madam President, but I just received a text message on my comphone. It appears the news of the UFO—starship, just broke around the world. It’s on all the media channels.”

  Mary just shook her head. She adjourned the meeting to go back to her office. It was going to be a very stressful day.

  Chapter 4

  Mars

  Doug Martin was waiting in his office on the second floor of the Deputy Secretary’s office building trying to decide what he should do. There was a knock on his door. “Come in.” He knew who it was.

  Doug’s wife, Doctor Janice Martin, walked in and closed the door. She was five feet, six inches tall, wearing a white lab coat over a simple white blouse and dark blue skirt. Her neatly trimmed hair combed back behind her ears, perfectly shaped face and clear blue intelligent eyes caused Doug to hold his breath for a second while she walked toward his desk. He still thought his wife was the most beautiful woman he knew.

  Doug stood up smiling and greeted his wife with a soft kiss near the side of his small desk. He pointed to a seat in front of the desk and they both sat down. “Thanks for coming, Jan. You probably know what is going on by now.”

  “Of course I do. Everyone knows. It’s quite thrilling don’t you think?” Janice said smiling broadly.

  “I hope so, but we’ve heard nothing from the UFO, or starship everyone is calling it, yet. It’s starting to worry me.”

  “It’s your job to be worried, I know, Doug. But I am hoping these aliens, or whatever they are, are not here to hurt us. You called me. Is there something I can do?”

  Doug paused for a second before responding. He was concerned. “Yes, Haruto wants you to be one of the people on the shuttle we are sending up to investigate the starship. He thinks your expertise in microbiology might be needed.”

  Janice looked genuinely surprised, but did not hesitate in answering, “I would be delighted, Doug. It would be the chance of a lifetime, don’t you agree?”

  Doug shook his head. “I don’t know Jan. Something about this doesn’t feel right. You don’t know the whole story yet. Let me show you something.”

  Doug handed his tablet over to Janice. On it were close-up images of the starship with pictures of the damage on one side of the dome. The only reason they could be seen was because the images were shot from satellites positioned near the two moons of Mars.

  Janice’s face frowned when she saw the pictures. “It looks like the starship is damaged.”

  “Yes, it does. We don’t know how or from what. That is one of the reasons we must go up to investigate. The other is there’s been no contact with the starship after repeated attempts. Th
ere could be trouble when we get there.”

  Janice looked into Doug’s eyes. “You’re worried about me aren’t you?” She noticed his slight hesitation before answering.

  “I have a right to be, Jan. I don’t want to put you or the baby at risk.”

  Janice was pregnant. It had been only a month now, but it was something they both had planned on from the start. “I will be careful, Doug. You know that. This opportunity may never come again. In my line of work, this is unprecedented. I need to go.”

  Doug smiled. “I know, Jan. I tried to talk Haruto out of it, but he insisted. I told him okay, but only if I go too.”

  UN Deputy Secretary Haruto Nakamura was sitting in his office on the fifth floor waiting for a response from the UN Secretary-General as to whether or not he had permission to send a team on a shuttle to investigate the UFO. It has been over two hours. So far, no contact has been made in spite of constant attempts at communication from Doctor James Colbert and others in the communications center downstairs. Above Mars, the giant alien starship continued to orbit the planet every hour at a height of one thousand kilometers.

  Finally the message from Secretary-General Gomulka came through on his computer screen. It read; UN Deputy Secretary Haruto Nakamura: You have permission to investigate the Starship. Keep me informed of your situation. UN Secretary-General, Aleksy Gomulka.

  Haruto jumped up from his desk excited. He called Doug Martin, Doctor James Colbert, Doctor Janice Martin and Marine Colonel Hayward Jackson from his desk phone and paced around the room while he waited for them to arrive.

  Everyone arrived within ten minutes. Doug and Janice followed Colonel Jackson through the door and Doug closed it behind them. Haruto was talking to Doctor Colbert when he saw them enter. “Good news, people. Secretary-General Gomulka has given me permission to send a team to investigate the UFO. You all know how important this is. We must make contact with this starship as soon as possible; or at least find out why it is not communicating with us.