Chapter 37
Desperate Alliance
Captain Winslow stood gazing at the Nanomite cathedral that now rose nearly thirty feet high. Most of the pilgrims and the media had left after Reverend Little had been arrested, but there was still one media truck and a few dozen pilgrims who stubbornly clung to the hope that the cathedral was real and that God was behind this desert miracle. Two headlights in the distance got the captain’s attention. When it rolled up, General Thornton and Senator Rawlings got out along with a civilian. They all shook hands.
“This is Mo from the CIA,” General Thornton said. “He’ll be replacing Jimmy.”
“Nice to meet you. We can talk in the headquarters conference room,” he said pointing to a large tent in the middle of the camp.
A few moments later they all took seats around a large conference table. An enlisted man came by and asked if he could get any of them coffee or a soft drink. There were several requests that the soldier noted and then he left.
“Gentlemen,” General Thornton said. “I’ve called this meeting as the situation is getting out of hand on almost every front. First, our efforts to contain the Nanomites at the Bat Mountain location has been a total failure. Secondly, contrary to their claim to be a peace-loving life-form they have demonstrated an actual belligerent nature and capacity to destroy anything in their path. Thirdly, we have apparently lost custody of an alien who was loaned to us to aide us in understanding and communicating with them. Finally, we have to assume our treaty with Tarizon has been discovered by several civilians and possibly an agent of the FBI. Needless to say the situation is dire and we must get control of it immediately.”
“Who is the FBI agent?” Mo asked.
“Agent Marcia Sanders was seen in Lone Pine with George Palmer and his girlfriend, Cindy Lee. We know they are working closely with Jack Carpenter and his assistant, Dolly Watson. Jack Carpenter was seen with the alien named Linkh Leode, a Seafolken, after the disaster at Death Valley Junction earlier this week.”
Mo shook his head. “This is really bad. There’s no telling how many people know about the aliens now.”
“That’s right,” General Thornton agreed. “We’ve got to eliminate this threat immediately. They could go to the press at any time. ”
“Don’t you think Marcia Sanders would have already reported the situation to her superiors?” Mo asked.
“Possibly. But I’m not so worried about the FBI. I assume the President can control them. It’s the other four that can’t be controlled. And, of course, we need to return the alien to his ship.”
“Do we know where they are?” Malone asked.
“No. They were last seen in Lone Pine. We think they’ve been hiding out at Deep Springs College where Palmer and his assistant work. Jack, Dolly and the alien haven’t been seen there for several days and George and Cindy left there today in the company of Agent Sanders.”
“Where is Jack’s office?” Rawlings asked.
“I don’t know that he has one. He generally works out of his pickup or the construction trailer at his various job sites.”
“That’s a good place to start looking. Find out where all his job sites are located.”
“That could take days,” General Thornton said. “We’ve got to find them today.”
“Well,” Malone said. “We could send a chopper to take a look at each site. If they are there it should be fairly obvious—people walking around or cars parked near the construction trailer. If we can find the location of each of the sites they can be checked out today.”
“I think I heard he does a lot of public jobs for the city, county and various school districts,” Rawlings interjected. “Get someone to call over to the county building inspection department and they can probably give you a list of any projects Jack has in process.”
Malone nodded. “I’ll get someone to do that. In the meantime, what are you going to do to stop the Nanomites at Death Valley Junction?”
General Thornton looked at Mo. “Do you know much about the Nanomites?”
“According to our files they can be killed with either chemicals or explosives. The difficulty is killing all of them. They can move quickly and burrow deep underground, so it will be difficult to get them all. And if you miss any, those left can reproduce quickly if they have the right nutrients in the soil.”
“Do they have the right nutrients at Death Valley Junction?” General Thornton asked.
“Yes, that’s why they picked Death Valley to build their home. It has an abundance of the chemicals they need to sustain their life-form.”
“Wonderful,” Senator Rawlings spat.
“Well, we can’t bomb Death Valley Junction obviously, so that leaves a chemical attack, “General Thornton reasoned. “I’ll get some people to start working on that. We’ll have to evacuate the city, so innocent citizens don’t get hurt.”
“I’ll contact the FBI and find out why agent Sanders is still working the case after the President pulled the FBI off it,” Senator Rawlings advised.
“Yes, and Mo, you need get a new team to hunt down Jack Carpenter and the others. We need to get the alien back in custody and the rest of them eliminated from the equation.”
“Yes, sir.” Mo replied.
“We’ll meet back here at 10:00 a.m. to make final preparations for an attack on Death Valley Junction and to see where we are at handling Jack Carpenter and his bunch.