Ephemeral Species Book One - The Dawning

  Chapter 5

  They slept relatively soundly all night long and the voices were silent. Nisha got up early as usual. The sphere continued to orbit the moon. The US stock market opened Saturday trading down 1% as anxiety continued to grow around the world.

  Another beautiful sunny morning began as they all do in California during the dry summer half of the year. It was a Saturday and the kids were excited to be out of school. Priya had more energy than usual.

  "Let's go to the beach today," she said.

  "Great idea!" Quinn said. "Let's get out there early before the crowds come. We can leave right after breakfast."

  "I can't wait!" Nisha said.

  They ate breakfast. Quinn loaded up the car.

  "Okay, I think we have all the necessities. Beach towels, umbrellas, sunscreen, chairs, a full ice chest, drinks. We can put your surf board on top, Pree."

  "That sounds good Daddy!"

  Quinn continued his inventory.

  "Food, chips, Google Eyepiece? No way Neesh! You need to leave the tech stuff behind."

  "Sorry Quinn," Nisha said. "I need to keep up with what's happening. You never know what those wild and crazy aliens will do next!"

  She tried to make light of the situation for the sake of the kids. But the anxiety continued to build within her. She felt no resolution would be good for our species. They didn't seem to be passing through. Quinn smiled as he always does when Nisha appeared happy.

  "Okay okay? as usual, you win Neesh! Let's go."

  "I'll be right back," Nisha said. She ran into her computer room to do a quick tweet and check on things. She opened her news screen and a view of Times Square appeared. It felt odd and out of place. She turned up the sound volume out of curiosity.

  Reporter: "I've never seen anything like this. Thousands of people stopped walking all at once. They're standing in place. I thought this crowd freezing fad died out years ago. The participating crowd is huge. I wonder if this is some practical joke. I don't know."

  "Quinn!" Nisha shouted at the top of her lungs.

  A few seconds later he ran into the room.

  "What do you want Neesh? You look like you've seen a ghost."

  "I'm not sure, but there's something wrong in New York. The reporters think this is a prank, but I don't think so. I need to contact the DHS right away. I'm sorry Quinn."

  "It's okay Neesh, go ahead," Quinn said. "If you need to stay home we can go without you if that's fine with you."

  "No Quinn, stay here. Something is happening there and the same thing might happen here too. We need to stay together."

  As she watched the screen, the DHS logo appeared in a little window.

  "Dr. Chandra, I'm glad you're there," General Sherman said.

  "Are you watching what's happening in Times Square?"

  "Yes, I can't explain what's happening," the General said. "I remember the crowd freezing pranks of years ago and this is different. Usually, some people walk around amongst the frozen since not everyone is in on the prank. But here, they're all frozen. I believe the aliens ?"

  Silence.

  Nisha looked closely at her screen and zoomed in on a portion of it. She felt cold on a warm day.

  "Yes, the aliens are there," Nisha said. "A reflective sphere is sitting on the top of the building. Can you confirm that?"

  "Hold on. ? Yes," the General said.

  "Something is happening, let's listen," Nisha said.

  Reporter: "I've never experienced streets this quiet. Now, there's smoke emerging from the sphere. It's descending from the building and onto the people below."

  The reporter paused to confirm something being said in his ear.

  "The fog seems to be alive. The theory is that it's composed of little flying machines. They appear like the spider drones the aliens used on the astronauts, only these are smaller. We're zooming in with our camera. They're mosquito sized drones. They're landing on people's necks. Notice the needle-like appendages being inserted into their necks. This is strange. Once they remove the needle; they fly in front of the face of the victim, hover there for a moment and return to the sphere. They're looking at the person they took a sample from. Maybe they're taking a picture, I can't tell. Hold on, I'm receiving word that the US stock market has been halted in trading, down 10% on the day. The market has dropped 25% from a week ago, before the voices came. A 20% drop is considered a recession. We'll talk more about this later."

  "Nisha, what do you think?" the General said.

  Nisha wiped the perspiration off her forehead in a way where the General could not see her. She was sweating and cold at the same time.

  "They're taking biological samples of the general population. They chose a highly populated place for the sake of efficiency. Every task they do is efficiently performed. My other initial impression is the technology required to execute this plan is beyond our comprehension. However, our species has built technology which was incomprehensible only 50 years ago. That's why Arthur C. Clarke stated in his now famous Third Law that 'Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.' To us, they're performing magic. However, it's only technology, nothing magical."

  The General tried to keep up the appearance of strength and authority. But he understood the gravity of the situation.

  "I appreciate your sentiments. I understand you're no military expert. However, can you think of any way we can stop them?"

  "Not at the moment General," Nisha said. "We must keep a sharp eye out for weaknesses. We need to learn about them somehow. If they're organic, they must possess a civilized culture. They probably emerged from humble beginnings like us. We need to play defense in this game. I think going on the offensive might get us wiped clean off this planet. We might need to become the insurgents. At this point we know nothing, so we must wait."

  The General took a deep breath, imagining humans fighting in caves against a marauding alien force. He had to begin preparations.

  "Thank you Dr. Chandra, I need to go but let's keep in close contact. Let us know whenever you have new thoughts on the subject."

  "I will," Nisha said.

  Nisha terminated the communication app and continued to watch events unfolding in Times Square. The kids walked into the room. They realized they weren't going to the beach.

  "Mommy, why can't we go now? Nothing is fun anymore."

  "I'm sorry Pree," Nisha said. "I'm afraid we're not going to enjoy many fun times until they leave. The situation is unpredictable. Watch what's happening in New York and you'll understand what I mean. We need to stay together. I promise when this thing is over, we'll go to the beach."

  "Promise?"

  "Yes, I promise!"

  Nisha often tried to insulate her kids from harsh news stories, especially when they were younger. However transparency became the foundation of the new order. Everyone in the world needed to know everything to increase our chances of survival. And this meant Priya must understand everything that's happening.

  They watched the screen in silence.

  Reporter: "The mosquito drones are returning to the sphere. Some people are beginning to move and reawaken. Everyone is confused. Some people are trying to run but they fall down. The paralysis will wear off in a few minutes, if this procedure operates like the one with the astronauts."

  Priya and Sophie were transfixed by the screen as they both held on to each other.

  "Mommy, I think this is what happened to me," Priya said. "Before I got remote controlled I felt paralyzed. I couldn't move."

  "Me too," Sophie said. "I wanted to scream but I couldn't make a noise."

  "I can't be sure about this," Nisha said. "However I think they were practicing on us. Now they've mastered this technique."

  Reporter: "All of the mosquito drones are back in the sphere. It's lifting off and accelerating into the sky. Wow! That's the most intense sonic boom I've ever witnessed! The building I'm in is vibrating like a huge drum. Everyone on the ground looks dazed as they try to pick
themselves up."

  Priya's eyes were wide open. Sophie was silent.

  "Mommy, I'm getting sick to my stomach again. We can't do anything about this. They can do anything they want."

  "Yeah," Sophie said. "I understand aliens might do all sorts of weird things like inhabiting our bodies and turning us into zombies."

  Nisha shook her head.

  "Okay guys. Let's not get carried away. Zombies don't exist, despite the zombie craze years ago. Oh, except for the zombie ants!"

  Priya smiled.

  "I agree their technology is advanced. With your young flexible minds, you may be able to come up with good ideas to help us. If you think of anything I might pass on to the General or the President, let me know."

  "Okay Mommy!" Priya said as she managed another smile. She turned to Sophie. "Mom hangs with the President now!"

  Sophie said nothing as she played with her hair unconsciously.

  "Hold on," Nisha said. "I'm looking at Twitter. Something else is happening. Read these tweets."

  "I'm on the Stanford campus. People are #Frozen in place. Is this a joke?"

  "They are #Frozen like in NYC here on the grounds at Oxford."

  "I took this video just now at MIT. Check out the #Frozen people LOL!"

  "Everyone in Beckman is #Frozen. Best prank ever at Caltech!"

  "Caltech!" Nisha said. "I gotta go."

  Priya wrapped her arms around Nisha and held her tight.

  "No Mommy, don't go!"

  "Neesh," Quinn said. "You can't go. I don't want to lose you."

  "Sorry guys, I have no choice but to go. When they wake up, I want to understand what happened. Don't worry, I'll be careful. They're not killing anyone."

  By the time Nisha arrived at the Beckman Auditorium at Caltech, the sphere had left and the people were dazed. She interviewed them. She connected to DHS to give them an update.

  "Dr. Chandra, what happened?" the General said.

  "I'm at Caltech right now," Nisha said. "I'm talking with the paralysis victims. They all said the same thing. They became paralyzed and the mosquito drones came out of a four meter in diameter sphere hovering outside the auditorium. The doors to the auditorium were open and they flew in and took blood samples. They all felt a brief stinging sensation. The pain dissipated quickly as the samples were drawn from a sharp needle. They moved too quickly to swat, even if they weren't paralyzed. The drones returned to the sphere. A sonic boom happened afterwards."

  "What do you make of this?" the General said.

  Nisha paused.

  "I noticed from my Twitter stream that they're doing this at many of the most prestigious universities around the world. Approximately 20 schools in total were intentionally chosen by them. From a research perspective, they took a random sample of people from the streets of New York. Afterwards, they took a specific sample from those high achieving universities for comparison. They might want to understand our genetic variation. They must be monitoring us to be able to determine where to go to collect such precisely targeted samples."

  The General rubbed his forehead with his head down. It was difficult to maintain the appearance of being in control.

  "If this were a ball game, they're increasing their lead every chance they get. They continue to learn more about us and we still know nothing about them."

  "I disagree partially. When we study their actions and their tools, we learn a lot. They're highly advanced, they're scrutinizing us closely, and they're opaque. There's no evidence of microbial contamination, and they wish us no harm as of now. However I agree we don't know about them what they know about us. We don't know if the sphere in orbit is a robotic probe or a home to possibly millions of live beings."

  "Thanks for the information Dr. Chandra," the General said. "Continue monitoring the situation and keep us up to date.

  "You're welcome, I'll let you know," Nisha said.

  Nisha tweeted about the latest incidents.

  "They're probably sampling our DNA. Thus far they mean us no harm and that's a good thing! #astronomy #aliens."

  "So far, there's no evidence of alien contamination or microorganisms. #astronomy #aliens."

  Quinn walked into Nisha's computer room late in the afternoon.

  "Neesh?"

  "Yes."

  "It's time to eat dinner. I made a tasty pizza!"

  "It's dinner time already? We were just getting ready to go to the beach. I guess I got a little distracted."

  "Yes a wee bit distracted, like for the whole day," he said as he smiled. "This is a healthy pizza with veggies. I need to keep you well-nourished so you can save the world!"

  "Yum! I'll be there in a minute."

  They sat down to eat. Sophie felt like part of the family. Priya messaged Ami.

  "Hi Ami. What did you do today, miss genius?" Priya said.

  "We spent the day at the beach. We enjoyed a perfect day. And I worried about the aliens. What did you do? I thought I'd see you out there."

  "We were going to go, but Mommy got sucked into the alien thing again so we didn't go. Sorry."

  "Pree, we're eating now," Quinn said.

  "Sorry, gotta go Ami."

  They disconnected.

  "I wish we had gone to the beach," Sophie said. "We had such a bad week."

  "I know Sophie," Quinn said. "I think a long time will pass before things return to normal. We'll need to ? What's wrong Neesh?"

  Nisha stared at her big screen across the room where her Twitter stream scrolled down the page.

  "Oh, it's probably nothing. Many hoaxes are going around. How can you differentiate hoax from reality? How about this one? A guy claims they abducted him, and he is now pregnant with an alien baby! Check out his belly. He looks like he had a little too much to eat for dinner!"

  "Eeew, he looks like my male English teacher," Sophie said.

  Nisha continued browsing on the big screen.

  "Okay what about this one? This woman says they abducted her and took her to their home world through a worm hole. She describes the home world as being desert like. The aliens are twenty feet tall because they originally evolved to eat the leaves off the branches of ever taller trees."

  "That's ridiculous," Sanjay said. "Alien giraffes? Who would believe that?"

  "I don't know," Nisha said. "Oh, here's a good one. This guy in India near Mumbai claims children are walking into a sphere. I wonder why anyone would write such nonsense."

  Priya laughed

  "I think they want attention. Everyone wants to be famous and nobody wants to do the work to become famous."

  "Wow Pree, you're starting to sound like your dad!" Nisha said.

  Priya wrinkled her nose.

  "Eeew! Sorry, I recant my last statement."

  Nisha chuckled and continued reading.

  "Here is another one from Mumbai talking about children walking into a sphere."

  "It's from the same guy right?" Quinn said, looking at his piece of pizza as he ate.

  Nisha watched the screen more closely.

  "Hmm, no this one is from a different person or at least a different Twitter account. That's strange."

  "Maybe we're having mass hysteria!" Priya said.

  "That's possible since everyone knows about the aliens now," Nisha said. "Oh, here's another one from a different user talking about the same thing. This is odd. This person talks about a large sphere about 50 meters tall landing in a school yard near Mumbai. The children are willingly walking into the sphere at this moment."

  "That's funny," Sanjay chucked as he smiled.

  Priya laughed.

  "Yeah that's mass hysteria! This is good entertainment. What else do they say?"

  Nisha said nothing for a few seconds as she read the tweets. She felt another chill.

  "They're saying a lot Pree. Here's one from a parent also near Mumbai saying their child walked out of the house and into a sphere and he could do nothing to fight back. This one might be real. I've got to go check on this. I'll be ba
ck."

  "There she goes again," Sanjay said.

  "This is the price we pay for having Nisha in our lives," Quinn said. "She's worth the trouble!"

  Priya made kissing noises.

  "Yeah Daddy, your biased because you're in love!"

  "Guilty as charged, Preeana!" Quinn said.

  Nisha quickly walked into her computer room and contacted General Sherman at the DHS.

  "Sorry to wake you General but I've been monitoring a strange development. I can't confirm this amongst all of the hoaxes, but I think children are being abducted in Mumbai. If this is true, we need to protect our children!"

  "I agree, Dr. Chandra. We'll get our people on this right away."

  "Thank you General. I'm seeing more tweets right now coming from Mumbai. I no longer think this is a hoax. Wait a minute. Someone tweeted some video. I'm watching the video now."

  Silence.

  "Hmm. The children walked into the sphere and the sphere appeared to melt around them as they walked in. Some adults stood near the sphere, but they weren't doing anything. They seemed to be paralyzed. Once all the children were inside, the sphere accelerated into the sky making a huge sonic boom. Afterwards, the parents started running around."

  "Thanks Dr. Chandra," the General said. "We both should do whatever we can to protect the children."

  "Be careful taking any aggressive action. I don't think we can do anything to stop them. Aggression might put us on the endangered species list."

  "Acknowledged, keep us posted. Thank you and good night."

  Nisha signed off and became aware that Quinn and the kids were watching everything from the doorway.

  "I guess you know everything," she said.

  "We do now," Quinn said. "What should we do? Are they going to abduct us?"

  "I don't know, but we should stay inside at night. It's early morning and still dark in Mumbai. Perhaps they like the cover of darkness."

  Quinn watched the kids, who were becoming fidgety.

  "Congratulations, you guys get to sleep in our room for the foreseeable future!"

  "Yay," Priya said.

  "I want you guys to know we won't let them abduct you," Quinn said.

  "Yes, we won't," Nisha said.

  The kids ran out of the room and into Priya's room. Nisha looked down and cried.

  "This is getting worse and worse Quinn," she said.

  "I agree. What can we do?"

  "I'm not sure we can do anything."

  "Why do you say that?"

  "They're highly advanced. There might be no way to stop them."

  "Read this," she said. "Now, someone is tweeting in Cairo. A huge round silver ball landed and children are walking inside. Here we go again. There's another tweet from Shanghai, and another from Sao Paulo.

  Nisha alerted the DHS about the second incident.

  "Quinn, the voices are back," Nisha whispered.

  "Who?"

  "Them. The aliens. Something is different now. I can't explain but ?"

  "But what?" Quinn said.

  "For a fraction of a second I imagined those children."

  "What were they doing?"

  "They were walking," Nisha said.

  "Where?"

  "They're in a dark room."

  "What feels different about the voices?" Quinn said.

  "It's like they turned on a switch. The voices are constant now."

  "Right now as we speak?"

  "Yes, the sound is like the noise of a crowd, but not as loud as before. It's like listening to a stadium full of people from outside the stadium"

  Priya and Sophie ran into the room at full speed.

  "Mommy, the voices are here now. They aren't going away!"

  "Yes Pree. They aren't loud. They're barely discernible."

  "Yeah that's right," Sophie said. "And there's less static."

  "Yes they're clearer. I still don't understand them," Priya said.

  Nisha tweeted, "Anyone else connecting to the #WeirdVoices now? Are they different? #astronomy #aliens."

  "I'm reading a tweet from Tokyo saying the voices are back," Nisha said. "Here's one from Barcelona, and from Sydney. And here are more from Helsinki, and Rio, and Atlanta. I notice some tweets from here in Pasadena too. This is different than before. Not only do the voices seem different, but they aren't being broadcast from a single location off of the Earth. The Moon hasn't risen here yet, but the voices are still here."

  They watched the tweets in silence for several minutes.

  "Read this," Nisha said as they hovered over her screen in silence. "See these tweets talking about children walking into spheres in Rio? And this one from Helsinki and another from Barcelona? These are the same cities where people originally heard the voices."

  Nisha's DHS Eyepiece app alerted her to an incoming communication connection. She accepted the communication on her computer.

  "Dr. Chandra, this is General Sherman. I'm in a bunker beneath the Oval Office at the White House. We're with the President and we wish to discuss the most recent developments. Can you speak with us right now?"

  "Of course General," Nisha said, waving everyone out of the room. "Hello Madam President!"

  "Hello Dr. Chandra, the recent developments are most troubling. We're hoping you can shed some light on the subject. First, can you tell us your thoughts on the recent abductions and voices?"

  "Yes," Nisha said. "The aliens appear to be entering into a new phase in their investigation of our planet and of humans in particular. First, the voices are constant. Next, they aren't originating from one place in space away from the Earth. Third, the voices appear in places were abductions are being conducted. However, a few places exist where the voices were detected, but abductions haven't happened."

  "Yet," the President said.

  "Yes, we don't know the future," Nisha said. "There might be a correlation. I think we might know the answer in the next few hours. I'm watching my Twitter stream right now. More abduction spheres are landing every minute in an ever increasing number of cities around the world."

  "Why do they only want adolescent children?" the President said.

  "I don't know," Nisha said. "The aliens appear to be advanced scientists. My guess is they're studying us. Older children might be easier for them to manage and old enough to do whatever it is they want. Eventually, they might also abduct adults. I'm not sure of their intent or their goals. We know they're taking children ranging from 14 to 18 years of age."

  The President breathed heavily and didn't say anything for several long seconds. She felt a sense of hopelessness but she had to show that she was still capable of taking action or people would lose confidence.

  "We're placing defensive missiles around major cities in an attempt to stop these abductions. I don't want them to continue. What's your opinion about this plan?"

  Nisha paused.

  "I think in this situation, violent acts of any type including in self-defense are a big mistake. My guess is anything we do will be ineffective. Think about trying to shoot down our F56 jet fighters with bows and arrows. It's futile. I'm not opposed to defending ourselves, but I'm opposed to taking futile actions which might lead to global destruction."

  The President said nothing for several long seconds.

  "I understand your point. However, if I'm flying in my F56 fighter jet and someone shot arrows at me, I wouldn't destroy their entire village in retaliation."

  "I understand that too," Nisha said. "I think if they regard us as dangerous, they might exterminate us, even if we're no existential threat to them. Please be careful. Any act you take might bring responses ranging from nothing at all to complete annihilation. Even a mild slap on the wrist from their point of view might destroy our civilization. Have you ever felt a bug on your neck and instinctively swatted? Later, did you find out you had accidentally squashed a cute little lady bug? Well Madam President, I don't want humanity to be the lady bug!"

  "Okay, thank you for your input Dr. Chandra," the
President said. "I'll be careful. I think we should defend ourselves but only as a last resort."

  "Good luck Madam President!" Nisha said as she signed out.

  Quinn, Priya and Sophie were hiding behind the door, listening to the conversation as usual. They looked inside and walked into the room.

  "Wow Mommy! You stood up to her."

  "That's my Neesh!" Quinn said, walking in right behind Priya and Sophie. "You're no pushover!"

  He gave Nisha a big hug.

  "I don't know if I did any good," Nisha said in a subdued voice. "I think they'll still shoot at the spheres and stir up trouble. Oh, read this tweet. They've already installed missiles in New Jersey on the other side of the Hudson River from Manhattan. The President had this planned ahead of time. I doubt she listened to a word I said."

  "Well," Quinn said. "I think she did. Let's hope the missiles are never used."

  Nisha shook her head as she read her twitter stream.

  "I'm reading these tweets. Abductions are happening all over the world. Stock markets are dropping. The spheres are 50 meters in diameter. Nobody has found a way to stop them. The paralysis stops nearby people in their tracks."

  Priya watched videos of the children as they walked into the spheres. Her heart raced.

  "Mommy, those children are being remote controlled, like me."

  "I think you're right Pree," Nisha said. "They don't seem to be in control of themselves. Here is a tweet saying there's an abduction sphere hovering over Manhattan. That's right near the missile installation. This can't be happening."

  Nisha turned on a live video stream from the Manhattan shoreline. A reporter covering the story arrived on the scene.

  Reporter: "The hovering sphere is landing along the shore of the Hudson. Several car accidents are blocking traffic. The sphere appears similar to other abduction spheres people are seeing in cities around the world."

  President Martinez watched the event closely, ready to give the launch order.

  "Maria, I'm not sure about this," General Sherman said. "What if Dr. Chandra is right and we get squashed like a bug? We face an unknown enemy who seems to know everything about us. They might be translating and monitoring our communications. All of my years of training tell me to be wary of engaging an unknown enemy with unknown capabilities. In this case, the most important capability that's unknown about this enemy is how many orders of magnitude they are above us."

  "Lucas," Maria said. "I've known you for many years. I respect your opinion and I respect Dr. Chandra's too. However, I'm sitting here watching the sphere slowly descend. I know our children will be abducted. What if one of those children was yours? She's the same age as those being taken around the world. If you witnessed your daughter about to board one of those things, wouldn't you do something?"

  "Well yes I ?"

  "Okay, there's your answer. I must defend those children!"

  The President gave the OK. A single missile screamed out of a launch tube and across the Hudson. The reporter spotted it out of the corner of his eye.

  Reporter: "There's a ? Oh my God," he said. "I believe a surface to air missile from the other side of the river hit the sphere with a thud. The missile bounced off and skipped across the Hudson like a smooth skimming stone. I detected no explosion. The missile seemed to lose power right before the sphere was struck. What's left of the missile is still skipping! Now it has stopped halfway across the river and has sunk into the water. The sphere is unchanged, as though nothing happened."

  The silence lasted a long minute.

  "The sphere is landing and children are walking slowly out from the neighborhood."

  The general shook his head.

  "Maria, did you see ? Maria?"

  General Sherman turned to the President, slumped in her chair.

  "Get the medics in here now!"

  He took the President's pulse. He bowed his head in sorrow.

  Nisha watched the missile impact on YouTube live.

  "Quinn, did you see that?" she said.

  "Yeah, I ?"

  He didn't know what to say. Nisha couldn't take her eyes from the screen.

  "That went horribly wrong, but everybody survived," Nisha said. "I hope the aliens don't retaliate in some way. I'm sure we'll know soon. They don't play around. The children are walking straight into the sphere."

  "Weird," Priya said. "They're sleepwalking."

  "Pree is right," Nisha said to Quinn. "They're being remote controlled. Now some adults are coming out, but they're stopping for some reason. I wish I knew what ?"

  Nisha and Quinn watched in silence for few minutes. Nisha turned around.

  "What's wrong Neesh?" Quinn said.

  "Where are the girls?"

  "They're right behind us. Oh ? Pree?"

  They ran to the master bedroom. They weren't there. They ran to Priya's bedroom and searched the rest of the house. They were gone.

  "The front door is open!" Nisha shouted.

  They rushed outside. The sky was dark since moonrise wasn't for several hours. Many people walked by themselves and with their kids in the warm evening air. They spotted Priya and Sophie talking to one of their friends at the end of the street where the school playground began.

  "Pree, you almost gave me a heart attack!" Quinn shouted angrily.

  "Daddy, what's wrong?"

  "I thought you had been abducted!"

  "We both thought you had been abducted!" Nisha said.

  "Sorry Mommy. We felt like coming out here, but I can't explain why. I felt remote controlled. I'm okay now. I'm talking with my friend Julia. That's all. The voices come to her too. I didn't know until now because she never mentioned anything to me. She says she felt too embarrassed to tell anyone."

  "Hi Julia," Nisha said. "I'm working on trying to understand what's happening with the voices. I think everyone should go inside. I'm worried ?"

  Quinn put his hand on Nisha's shoulder.

  "Neesh," he whispered.

  Nisha turned to Quinn, but he peered into the darkness of the unlit school playground.

  "Quinn why are you whisper-"

  "Shhhh," Quinn whispered again and put his hand over her mouth. "Neesh, look up."

  Silence.

  "I didn't expect it to be so big," Nisha whispered.

  He took his hand away from her mouth.

  "The reflections of the entire city curve around it. If the reflections weren't there, the sphere would be invisible. Notice how-"

  "Neesh," Quinn said.

  "What?"

  "Can you move?"

  "Do you want a better view?"

  "No, I mean can you move your legs or arms?"

  She tried to lift her legs.

  "Um, no," Nisha said.

  "Nobody around us can move at all. We're partially paralyzed."

  Nisha tried to call for the kids, but she could barely whisper. She helplessly watched them. Dozens of them walked towards the sphere.

  "I can't call Priya, can you Quinn?"

  "No I can't, I can only whisper too."

  Nisha cried and perspired profusely. She didn't shake due to the paralysis.

  "They can't do this. They can't take her. She's too young. Her life is only beginning. No!"

  She crumpled to the ground.

  "We can't let them go Quinn."

  She tried to scream, but only a whisper came out.

  "I don't think we get a choice in the matter Neesh."

  Nisha struggled to view the abduction in progress.

  "They're going in, one by one," Nisha said. "The sphere is eating them. No! ? Pree! Sophie! I hate them! If I get close to one I'll kill it!"

  Quinn held her in silence for a while.

  "Why aren't you being abducted?" he said. "You're affected by the voices."

  "I guess they don't want adults. Only the kids affected by the voices are going in. They're all approximately Pree's age. I'm going to get her back. I don't care what it takes. Where is Sanjay?"

  "I'm n
ot sure. I've seen all the kids go in and none of them were Sanjay. He's probably at the house. He didn't hear the voices, so I doubt he's in danger."

  "Sanjay," Nisha tried to scream, but she could only muster a whisper.

  "The sphere is leaving," Quinn said.

  The spacecraft accelerated into the sky. The reflection of the city on the curved surface grew smaller. The vibrations of a powerful sonic boom echoed through the canyons.

  "We can move," Quinn said. "It's like when we shoot tranquilizer darts at animals. They recover and run away."

  Nisha began to get up, but she fell back down.

  "Be careful, let me help you up," Quinn said.

  "My baby is gone! She's gone forever! Where are they taking her? What are they going to do with her? She isn't sixteen yet."

  Quinn held her tightly for a long time, rocking her back and forth as she sobbed. Tears ran down his face, but he tried to hide them. He wanted to be strong for Nisha, but that never mattered to her.

  "Sanjay," Nisha shouted out. "We need to find Sanjay."

  They ran home. He was working on a mathematics problem on his Pad device.

  "Sanjay, I'm glad you're here," Nisha said. "I love you so much!"

  "What's wrong Mom?" he said. Where's Pree? I need to ask her something."

  "Sanjay, the aliens abducted Priya," she said.

  "Good one Mom, whatever!"

  "I'm serious Sanjay. She's gone. Check on Twitter."

  Sanjay pointed his eye into his Eyepiece and navigated to Twitter. He read the tweets about the abductions nearby.

  "Pree!" he said as he ran outside and down the street.

  "Sanjay," Nisha said.

  "I'll get him," Quinn said. "You go tell the world what's happening.

  Nisha wiped away the tears.

  "Okay."

  Her DHS Eyepiece app blinked. She walked to her computer and began her update.

  "General Sherman, I've got some news-"

  "You don't know Dr. Chandra?" General Sherman said.

  "Know what?"

  "The President is dead."

  "What?"

  "She died when the missile struck the-"

  "She fired a missile? I told her not to do that!"

  "I know," the General said. "When that abduction sphere landed in Manhattan, she ordered a defensive surface to air missile to be fired. Seconds after the missile hit the target, I looked over at her and she was dead. Vice President Wilson is now the President. She's in the room right now and wishes to speak with you."

  "Dr. Chandra?" the President said cordially.

  "Yes Madam President," Nisha said.

  "Call me Emma."

  "Okay Emma, I'm pleased to meet you," Nisha said. "I followed your work on the Middle East crisis. You solved part of the impossible conundrum."

  "I solved a portion. But some are still fighting. I felt lucky to be in the right place at the right time. Now that I understand what we're facing with the aliens, I long for those simpler days of Middle East peace negotiations. I mean, how do you negotiate with an unknown and all powerful entity?"

  Nisha paused for a second.

  "That's a good question. They don't seem to care about negotiating. They're proceeding with their plans, whatever they might be. We seem to be only a minor inconvenience to them. What's disturbing is how they somehow knew who ordered the firing of the missile. Also, I'm upset about how they're abducting children. They abducted my child an hour ago. They took her away in one of those?"

  Nisha broke down in tears.

  "Nisha," Emma said. "I'm sorry. Why didn't you mention this earlier? We should let you go now. Contact us when you're able."

  Nisha tried to wipe away the tears as she blew her nose.

  "I didn't say anything because the good of the country outweighs the good of the one. Being of service right now increases the chances of getting my baby back and helping everyone. And I want to get back her best friend and all the other children too."

  "That's noble of you but," Emma said.

  "I'm fine," Nisha said. "She's gone now. The best way to get her back is to get to work understanding them. My specialty is learning about life here on Earth and applying that knowledge to the cosmos. Right now, let's focus on what we can do from here forward."

  "Okay Nisha," Emma said. "First we need to discuss what we know and what we can do."

  "Well," Nisha said. "First we need to realize they're learning more about us every second. They identified who ordered the missile strike. They're technologically savvy and socially savvy. I strongly urge you to not order strikes against them!"

  "Yes, I think I'll only order a strike as a last resort if the entire planet is threatened."

  "I'm glad you agree," Nisha said. "The one positive thing to come from all of this is they don't want to kill all of us. They culled the person responsible."

  "Yes, that's a good development," Emma said. "They also killed the missile operators and left others alone. Okay Nisha, I'm going to get some sleep. I'm moving away from the White House temporarily. I'll be contacting you from other locations. I'll return from time to time. You get some sleep too."

  "I'll try Emma. Good night," Nisha said.

  Quinn walked into the room.

  "Neesh, how are you? I found Sanjay. He'll sleep in our room from now on."

  She sobbed, and couldn't say a word.

  They went to bed but couldn't sleep all night.