Fear and Aggression (40 page)

“
I will begin at once to
inform everyone. Prianna will be thrilled that you are back, and
she will want you to come for dinner tonight.”

“
You are too kind, my
friend. I need to go home and rest some, and then I will come by. I
am sorry that I cannot go with you now, but I really must rest.” He
truly did regret not being able to go with Seryen, in large part
because of the concern he had in Seryen telling the story. It was a
fantastic story, but it could be told in such a way to lessen,
rather than incite fear. Seryen had a way of making things out to
be worse than they really were. But, he was tired, and Seryen had
assumed most of his Mayoral duties for the past several weeks; he
would trust in him.

As they arrived home, Caryell’s youthful
vigor, which far surpassed Roloff’s, did not require him to rest.
“Father, I would like to take a walk to the rocky clearing. I want
to look—to see if anything has happened; I don’t think that it has,
but I want to look.” Roloff was mildly concerned, but saw the
earnestness in Caryell’s eyes. He saw a young man who had grown and
matured over the past few weeks, in particular the past several
days, and he simply let him go.

Caryell did not want to just walk to the
clearing; he wanted to re-live the night of his mother’s
disappearance. He wanted to see if anything new had happened. He
would see everything with new eyes, and he didn’t want to wait any
longer. He began in the woods. No footprints remained, but he saw
where he knew that the deer lay, and where he had been told that
his mother had fallen. He followed the path where the footsteps had
been. He reached the clearing, and walked to where some tracks had
been. Nothing looked different, it was rather disappointing. He
somehow expected to see something new, something different—a clue,
or a sign. He wanted to come upon the clearing and see his mother
walking towards him, just recently brought back. He no longer knew
what was possible, or what was real.

After kicking some stones
around for a while, and wandering around, he decided to head back.
Something inside of him began to urge him to stop. He had now
stepped inside of the woods, and turned and looked back. There was
nothing, not a sound or a thing in sight. He began to press forward
again, and he felt the urge to stop. He stopped and looked around,
then listened. Nothing was out of the ordinary. Everything was
calm, quiet, and peaceful. He felt peaceful. The urge inside of
him, that had caused him to stop, felt different now. He began to
feel the urge to pray. He had said his prayers that morning before
setting off, and he always said his prayers before going to bed. He
had prayed at other times, when the need arose, but why did he feel
the need to pray
right
now
?

He took a few more steps forward, and then
stopped and dropped to his knees. He began to say a prayer in
silence, and then felt inside that it should be aloud. He had never
prayed aloud, when he was by himself. It felt strange, but he began
to pray out loud just the same. First he felt an overwhelming
comfort and peace. He did not know what to pray about, but then the
words seemed to come into his mind, and he spoke them as he felt
them. He prayed over everything that had been on his mind, and
especially his mother. With time, the words to the prayer slowed,
and then stopped. But the prayer was not over. Instead, he could
feel words coming to him; not words that he should say, but instead
words that he should hear, or feel.

Caryell believed in God, and he had never
felt any doubts. Now, however, he knew that God lived. He felt His
presence, and felt His spirit communicating to his own. He was told
that all would be well; that all things were in His hands, and that
he had no reason to fear. He was told that his mother was being
looked after, and that whatever happened, he was to trust in Him.
He was told that he was loved—truly loved—that he was loved such
that he could not comprehend it. He was told that his Savior was
real. He was told to not worry about what would happen from here,
nor to worry that his mother’s disappearance was his fault.
Instead, he was to live his life, and to do good. Caryell listened
for a while longer, and then realized that the communication was
over. He felt peace, comfort, and security. He knew that God lived,
that He loved him and his mother. All would be well; he was at
peace, and he was filled with joy.

Three more reports lay on the desk. He
rubbed his eyes—they burned and were out of focus. “I think I’ll
call it a night,” he said to himself. Mayor Tinron got up from his
desk and fiddled with his glasses. He pushed his chair back all of
the way to the window so that he could maneuver easily around his
desk. The sun was just setting; what a magnificent view he had from
his office window. He looked out over the street, and watched the
people scurrying around. His job wasn’t easy—long hours, tons of
paper work, and a never-ending supply of headaches, but he loved
it. He loved the citizens, and he especially loved seeing them
happy, safe, and secure. Long nights like this were worth it, when
he could look out and see the fruits of his labor.

He packed up his bag, and made his way to
his coatrack. He carefully put on his large overcoat and flipped on
a scarf. He looked around the office, and then turned out the
lights as he walked out the door. He shut the door, and then
fumbled around in his pocket for his keys. For some reason this
task seemed briefly insurmountable. Finally, he had them in his
hand, and began to lock the door from the outside.

***

“
Mack, is the feed
on?”

“
Yeah, this thing’s ready
to go—let’s rock ‘n’ roll. First scene is the administrative
building. I want it to go down hard, with lots of flames. I want
aliens on the street; I want some close-ups—aliens running and
screaming after the hit. Go to the building, then to the ZX-120
that is striking it. Let’s see the missiles fired, then the
building hit, crumbling, and on fire. Then let’s get the aliens,
scared on the street again—real close up, I want to see the fear on
their faces. The key is to get the cameras from both ships focusing
on the exact same thing at the same time. The distance between the
ships will provide the stereopsis—the 3D effect for TV. It will be
so impressive.”

“
Did everyone hear that?
As soon as I say go, were following Mack’s direction. He’s making
sure that the feed, back to earth, gives the people what they are
looking for. Follow the plan—precision is the key. They have no
defenses, and they have no way to attack us back. Make your mama’s
proud back home, and don’t mess up the shots.”

“
Captain Carryman, it
looks like everything is a go, we are just waiting for your
signal.”

“
Alright Mack; Lights!
Camera! Action! Let the show begin!”

***

“
Can ya help me with Mark
‘ere?”

“
I’m alright Gramps, I can
walk.” Sometimes Mark liked to milk the attention that he was
getting from his injuries—especially when he got attention from
Tess. But at other times, like now, he just wanted to feel normal.
His ribs still hurt, but he was healing up pretty well.”

“
Well, th’n hurry up,
‘cause it’s about to start.”

“
Yeah, they say it’s about
to begin,” shouted Johnny from the room with the large 3D projector
TV. The Gilmores had invited Mark and Mr. Rickson for the televised
attack on the alien world. The Gilmores had been looking closely
after Mark ever since he had taken the beating. National Guards had
been dispatched to keep an eye on him, too; but they kept a
distance, and Mark was not even aware that they were hovering
around.

Mark had just finished his
book, and was now slowly getting up to walk toward the TV
room.
Weird; who would have guessed that
their weakness was that they couldn’t handle our germs?—saved by
our bacteria or viruses. In reality, we are going to be saved from
the real aliens by our guns and technology. I guess it wasn’t a bad
book, considering how long ago it was written
, he thought as he slowly walked into the room.

***

“
Alieff, you get back here
this instant. Oh that boy, he’s going to get himself killed. Get
over here now!” He had been climbing the fence to the substation,
and was looking like he might just get over the top. Bellerie was
nearly out of breath as she walked up the slight incline towards
the substation. As she got near the top, he agilely climbed down
and took off running in the direction that the other boys were
headed. She wanted to scold him, but was feeling too tired and out
of breath at that instant. Instead, now that he was out of harm’s
way, she just rested her back against the fence. She watched all of
her boys running like crazy, and a smile crept over her face. Those
boys drove her mad, but they were everything to her.

***

As Mayor Tinron was walking away from his
office, a thought struck him. He stopped short, and just stood
there momentarily. He shook his head, and then slowly turned
around. After fumbling with his keys again, he opened up his office
and stepped inside. He made his way back over to his desk and began
to pull the chair back from the window to the desk. Something
caught his eye. He walked over to the window for a better look. Two
black objects were flying in the sky towards the building. “That’s
them!” he said aloud. He stood there, gazing at the starships,
dumbfounded and perplexed. He looked around to see if there were
any other ships in view—and there was. Another black ship, heading
from the other direction, was now in view. The next thing he knew,
a flash of light came from that ship, and something was speeding
from it, and heading his way.

***

“
Starlean, why don’t you
want to come?”

“
I just don’t want to. I’m
fine, I want to enjoy some time alone tonight.”

“
You’re so weird; it’s
going to be fun.”

“
You’ll have more fun just
being with your friends. I always feel like I’m in the
way.”

“
Are you
upset?”

“
No, I’m great. I really
am. I just don’t want to hang out with your friends tonight. I want
to finish my book. I’m going to hang out here and read outside,
while it’s still light. I’ll be fine. Go have fun.”

“
Alright, but don’t tell
Mom that I won’t let you come with me.”

“
I won’t; I’m good,
really. Goodnight.”

“
Goodnight.”

Starlean was dressed to go out for the
evening, and she had thought about it. But last time she had gone
out with her sister, and her friends, she felt completely ignored.
It would feel less lonely to be all by herself, than to be with a
group and feeling alone and left out. Besides, she really was
enjoying her book, and she loved to have an evening to herself,
from time to time.

She walked outside with her book and
blanket. After arranging the blanket, and trying several positions
to get comfortable, she finally just sat on the ground, crossing
her legs, and opened up the book. There was a soft cool breeze that
blew her long blond hair. She tilted her head, so that the hair
wouldn’t keep getting into her eyes. She, like always, looked
lovely. She had on a royal blue skirt, and a white blouse. A smile
crept over her face as she read—very similar to the smile that had
so smitten Caryell the last time that she had gone out with her
sister.

This was the exact scene that was captured
by the ZX-120’s now instantly in view, but hidden momentarily from
her by the book that she was reading.

***

“
Wow, did you see that.
Check out that building burn. One shot, and it is gone. The caption
says that that building was like their capital.”

Mr. Gilmore was enthused, but not as
enthused as Johnny, who was jumping up and down and shouting, “Take
that aliens, ha, ha, ha, ha. Take that!”

Mark started to get excited, but the pain in
his side kept him from getting too stirred. After watching the
building burn for a few minutes, they cut to a new scene. In the
background was some sort of old fashioned electrical equipment; but
this time there was a person—an alien on the scene. The camera’s
zoomed in for a close up. It was a girl, a young girl. And boy was
she pretty! Mark sat up and looked forward despite the pain. She
was sitting on a blanket on her lawn, and reading a book. They
panned up close. She was smiling, and clearly had no idea what was
coming. Mark’s heart began to pound. She was a vision! He had never
seen such beauty as was currently before his eyes! A shiver ran
down his spine. He wanted to shout, “RUN!”

It wouldn’t matter, she couldn’t have heard
him, and what they were watching took place already an hour ago,
anyway. “It’s a girl, were not going to kill her are we?” shrieked
Tess.

“
Yeah, were going to take
out the hot alien chick, “yelled Johnny.

“
Oh, this is horrible.
Honey, maybe the children shouldn’t be watching this,” said Mrs.
Gilmore turning to her husband, to which he neither responded, nor
looked in her direction; he just kept focused on the
scene.

The girl had now just caught a glance of the
ships filming her, and her countenance changed instantly. If it was
possible that her face could turn whiter than her natural light
complexion, it certainly did then. Horror spread across her face.
She was nothing short of an angelic vision, moments before. She was
still a vision of beauty, but a tragic figure now. Mark’s rapidly
beating heart sunk. He felt a sickness that he had never felt
before.