***
Dawn nervously strummed her fingers on her thighs as Langan leafed through her report. Lying about the death of Jensu in the cave was deeply distressing and necessarily vague. She hoped that focusing on Tommy’s condition in hospital, and the need to keep Zolti in F.B.I. custody would deflect questions away from why she was even in the cavern. Having Langan fight with the defense department for custody of Zolti and control of the investigation would keep him too occupied to grill her too deeply.
Her conclusions would tell Langan little that he did not already know, but the in-depth list of questions and possible scenarios should pique his attention and help her to steer him in the direction she wanted.
Langan looked up from the file and studied Dawn for a moment. “You’ve stated that Zolti said the spaceship we found last night doesn’t have any weapons.”
“That is right,” she confirmed. “They are a totally wasteful weight for a reconnaissance craft.”
“And you believe him?”
“Yes,” she said. “A light agile craft will out fly any interceptors.”
“Most of the time,” Langan smiled.
Dawn nodded sheepishly.
“Do you know what our official policy is in the event of an alien invasion?” Langan asked.
“The military will obviously yell, nuke them,” Dawn commented.
“Surrender,” Langan said.
“What?” Dawn asked, startled.
“Any invasion fleet would have vastly superior weaponry to ours. It would be our only hope for keeping the planet intact and the population alive.”
“Not to mention politicians saving their own skins,” Dawn said snidely.
“Be that as it may,” Langan said. He folded his hands together and looked thoughtfully. “We have a chance to duplicate that technology. Even if it’s just to give us the chance to match their speed.”
Dawn stared back at him, shaken.
“What’s wrong?” Langan asked. “You look like that’s a bad thing!”
“Well, maybe it is,”
“Don’t you see what an opportunity has fallen into our hands? The massive technological leap we’ll make.”
Dawn stared reproachfully. “You mean a leap above the Russians and Chinese?”
“What would be wrong with that?” Langan asked.
“Surely the government should be advising them of proof of alien life. Working out a joint strategy for a peaceful first contact”
“My job, our job,” Langan pointed at Dawn, “is to investigate reported contacts and to assess the possible threat level.”
“And you have decided that threat level is?” Dawn asked.
“It’s moved up now that the military has gotten involved. They’ll want fancy new toys, ray guns, spaceships―”
“Then we need to prove these visitors are peaceful,” Dawn pointed out logically.
“Then you need to get Zolti to tell us exactly what they’re doing here,” Langan emphasized.
“Or the military will make him?”
“The vice-president agrees with my views,” Langan defended. “He’ll keep the defense department off our backs.”
“So Zolti is out of bounds to Sheridan then, is he?” Dawn asked.
“Absolutely,” Langan promised. “Don’t worry about him.”
“Well that is one piece of good news,” Dawn heaved a sigh of relief.
“Yes and here’s an excellent piece of news. Tommy has woken up and the doctors say that he’s going to be just fine and none the worse for his ordeal.”
“That is great,” Dawn beamed, “and the doctors are sure that everything is normal with him, are they?”
“Well,” Langan said carefully. “There’s one thing they did notice about his brain.”
“His brain?”
“Yes,” Langan said. “It seems that his higher level functions are incredibly well developed. Looks like the Spencer’s have a prodigy on their hands, probably the next Einstein or Mozart. So the doctors are going to keep him in for more tests.”
Dawn gulped, “More tests?”
“Yes and maybe this gives us a clue as to what the aliens want with the abductees.” He tapped the message from the hospital. “Maybe they can detect highly developed youngsters. Maybe that’s the common factor in everyone they snatch. Experiment on or test the human potential. I think that’s an area we should examine, are they identifying and targeting the brightest amongst us for some purpose? Maybe to harvest our best minds. We’ll have to discuss organizing a study of all the abductees to find out.”
“What could such an obviously superior species possibly hope to obtain from Earthlings?” Dawn asked.
“Maybe they’ll groom them to work on their science projects, or incorporate their technology into ours after a takeover to ensure a swift and smooth transition.”
“I appreciate you have to prepare for an invasion scenario amongst others. But, do you not think that it is possible they have simply stopped here to replenish their supplies and fuel before continuing their journey?” Dawn asked.
“If that’s the case, why haven’t they simply requested our help?” asked Langan.
“Well there is the problem of paranoia sweeping this war ravaged planet!” Dawn exclaimed.
“You seem to think of all your fellow humanity as savages,” Langan exclaimed.
Dawn pursed her lips.
“Go home, get some sleep,” Langan suggested.
Chapter Eight
Destiny