Independence Day: Crucible (The Official Prequel) (37 page)

“Yes, I am,” Patricia said. “To what do I owe the pleasure, Director?”

“Right,” he said. “Well, I’ve been trying to get in touch with President Whitmore—with your dad, and I’ve kind of been getting the runaround from his staff.”

Patricia’s expression changed a smidge, and only that. She suddenly seemed more guarded.

“Dad has been keeping to himself lately,” she said.

“Is he okay?”

“He’s fine,” she assured him. “Is this about something important?”

David thought about lying and telling her it was, but he didn’t quite feel up to it.

“Not really,” he said. “I just haven’t talked to him in a while. I thought I’d see how he was doing. Catch up.”

“I’ll tell him you called,” she said. She looked a little uncomfortable. “I wish I could chat more myself, but you know how things are around here.”

“Oh, yes,” David said. “Here too. Always busy. Just give him my best, will you?”

“I will do that,” she replied.

An instant later, he was looking at a blank screen.

He sighed and sat back in his chair. Through his window, he watched as a flight of H-7 trainers took to the sky.

He wondered how the world could be getting so much bigger and so much smaller at the same time. Every day, it seemed, they made some new leap forward in technology. There were now human beings on Mars and the moons of Saturn, and the world itself had come so far. Tomorrow the big cannon was going to be emplaced on the moon base and maybe—just maybe—humanity could begin to give a sigh of relief.

But Connie was gone. And Steve Hiller. And so many others who had died on the Fourth or since. Now Whitmore seemed to have withdrawn from the world.

David was the director of the greatest organization in the solar system, and yet he suddenly realized that he didn’t really have anyone with whom to have a conversation, unless it was about work.

Except his dad.

Had it come down to that? He loved his father, but if he called him, he would have to fend off yet another request to go on some talk show or press junket with him.

Tomorrow was going to be busy. Probably he should just go home and get some rest.

He got out of the chair and was reaching for his jacket when his secretary buzzed him.

“Yes?” he said. “What is it?”

“You have a call, sir,” he said. “From a Mr. Umbutu. He says it’s urgent. Shall I put him on hold?”

David blinked and stared at the screen for a moment.

“No,” he said. “Hell no. Put him on. I’ve waited a long time for this.”

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, he was airborne, trying desperately to keep the pasta he’d had for lunch where it belonged. This time it wasn’t airsickness. If what Umbutu had said was true, things might be about to become…

Interesting.

John Gregory Keyes was born in 1963 in Meridian, Mississippi, to Nancy Joyce Ridout and John Howard Keyes. His mother was an artist, and his father worked in college administration. When he was seven, his family spent a year living in Many Farms, Arizona, on the Navajo Reservation, where many of the ideas and interests which led Greg to become a writer and informed his work were formed.

Greg received a BA in anthropology from Mississippi State University, and worked briefly as a contract archaeologist. In 1987 he married Dorothy Lanelle Webb (Nell) and the two moved to Athens, Georgia, where Nell pursued a degree in art while Greg ironed newspapers for a living. During this time, Greg produced several unpublished manuscripts before writing
The Waterborn
, his first published novel, followed by a string of original and licensed books over the following two decades.

Greg earned a Masters in anthropology from the University of Georgia and completed his coursework and proposal for a PhD, which thus far remains ABD. He moved to Seattle, where Nell earned her BFA from the University of Washington, following which they moved to Savannah, Georgia. In 2005 the couple had a son, Archer, and in 2008 a daughter, Nellah. Greg continues to live with his family in Savannah, where he enjoys writing, cooking, fencing, and raising his children.

His original novels include the “Age of Unreason” historical fantasies and the “Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone” epic fantasies, while his licensed fiction includes
Star Wars, Babylon 5, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes: Firestorm
, and the official movie novel of
Interstellar
.

Thanks to Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich, foremost for providing me such a fun sandbox to play in, but also for their comments and advice on the manuscript as it developed. Thanks also to Mike Ireland, Marco Shepherd, Nicole Spiegel, and Ryan Jones. Very special thanks to my editor, Steve Saffel, and to Josh Izzo for making sure everything pulled together, and to the entire team at Titan Books and Titan Comics, including Nick Landau, Vivian Cheung, Laura Price, Natalie Laverick, Miranda Jewess, Beth Lewis, Chris Teather, and Tom Williams.

FIRST CONTACT (Roswell, NM, 7/47): An extraterrestrial craft crash lands near a ranch in Roswell, New Mexico. The US military launches an investigation.

SILENT ZONE (Nevada Desert, 1970s): Dr. Brackish Okun arrives at Area 51 to work with the NSA and CIA on the study of the New Mexico ship.
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ARRIVAL AND ATTACK (Middle of Atlantic, 7/2/96): A massive alien mother ship enters Earth’s orbit, deploying 36 city destroyers to annihilate the world’s largest cities. Within 48 hours, 108 cities are reduced to ashes.
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EARTH STRIKES BACK (Nevada Desert, 7/4/96): Earth’s nations launch a globally coordinated counterattack, destroying the alien mother ship and eliminating the extraterrestrial threat.

WAR IN THE DESERT (Saudi Arabia, 7/4/96): Military pilots in the Saudi Arabian desert witness the destruction of Jerusalem and engage in a hand-to-hand assault with extraterrestrial crash survivors.
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TERROR FROM THE DEEP (Atlantic Ocean, 7/5/96): A functioning extraterrestrial craft is discovered beneath the Atlantic Ocean. An investigation—headed by Captain Joshua Adams—is implemented by the U.S. military.
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THE WORLD REBUILDS (11/30/96): Aside from a small pocket of resistance in an isolated area of the African Congo, the alien threat has been neutralized—and the world begins to rise from the ashes. Reconstruction starts as the great cities, monuments, and landmarks of the world are slowly restored to their former glory.

LEADERS UNITE (Royal Palace of Naples, Piazza del Plebiscito, Naples, Italy, 3/17/98): Centuries-old conflicts and political distrust are dissolved to create an unprecedented unity among the nations of the world.

EARTH SPACE DEFENSE FORMED (Geneva, Switzerland, 5/25/98): Following the newly established global peace alliance, the United Nations creates the Earth Space Defense program (ESD) to serve as an early warning system and united global defense unit. In conjunction with this announcement, the ESD launches a worldwide publicity and recruitment campaign.

F-22 ADDS ALIEN TECH (Elmendorf Air Force Base, Anchorage, Alaska 1/8/99): ESD applies recovered alien shield technology to an F-22 Raptor to understand how they can better integrate other alien technology into future full Hybrid Fighters. This light experiment will serve as the foundation for the dramatic innovations that the ESD delivers nearly a decade later.

PRESIDENT WHITMORE’S FAREWELL (Washington, DC, 01/15/01): After two terms in office, President Thomas Whitmore makes his final address to the nation, clearing the way for the newly elected President William Grey.

CONGO GROUND WAR CONTINUES (Democratic Republic of the Congo, Africa, 8/10/01): A faction of aliens continues to hold out in a remote part of the African Congo—the survivors of a stranded city destroyer. The ESD repeatedly offers their support and assistance to the local government, but is met by aggressive refusal.
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U.S. ARMY ADOPTS ALIEN WEAPONRY (El Paso, TX, 10/23/03): Applying new data from recovered alien weaponry, U.S. Army scientists make dramatic advances in applying their findings to military applications.

ALIEN PRISON RUMORS (Area 51, NV, 2/7/05): Rumors of a top-secret alien prison below Area 51 start to gain traction with the general public. ESD officials offer no comment regarding the legitimacy of these reports.

WORLD MOURNS COL. STEVEN HILLER (Area 51, NV, 4/27/07): While he is test-piloting the ESD’s first alien-human hybrid fighter, an unknown malfunction causes the untimely death of Col. Hiller. He is survived by his wife, Jasmine, and son, Dylan.
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ESD MOON BASE OPERATIONAL (2/21/09): Monitored from its command center in Beijing, China, the Earth Space Defense Moon Base opens. Designed with both offensive and defensive weapons capabilities, the moon base is the first of several planetary bases designed to monitor our solar system for potential alien threats.

PRESIDENT LANFORD ELECTED (Washington, DC, 1/20/13): Elizabeth Lanford, the forward-thinking former vice president under President Lucas Jacobs, is sworn in as the 45th president of the United States, becoming the first woman in history to hold the office.

NEXT GEN HYBRID FIGHTER UNVEILED (Tokyo, Japan, 8/19/14): The next generation of hybrid alien–human vehicles and weapons systems are introduced, after years of research and development from ESD scientists around the world. One of the standouts is the H-8 Global Defender hybrid fighter.

HONORING 20 YEARS OF GLOBAL UNITY (Washington, DC, 7/4/16): “As we remember the last 20 years, we must also look to the future. The world has rebuilt stronger than we ever imagined and we must promise ourselves, as well as future generations, that we’re never caught off-guard again. We must continue to work together to secure the future of the human race—for as long as we stay united, we will survive.”