Название | Intersection With Nibiru |
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Автор произведения | Danilo Clementoni |
Жанр | Научная фантастика |
Серия | |
Издательство | Научная фантастика |
Год выпуска | 0 |
isbn | 9788873043348 |
âNow whoâs going to tell him that those two are having a ride around the Earth?" whispered the fat guy in the thin oneâs ear, an instant before letting out a low moan caused by the kick on his left shin that his accomplice had just landed on him.
âYou instead General, will come and fetch me at the airport."
âAre you coming here personally?" exclaimed the soldier amazed.
âI wouldnât miss this event for anything in the world. If thatâs their landing base, theyâll have to return there, but this time weâll have a nice welcome committee waiting for them. Iâll give you instructions when Iâm on my way. Good luck everyone," and he ended the conversation.
The Senator remained still a few more moments looking at the monitor in front of him which, after the end of the transmission, was now showing a series of spectacular pictures of the Arizona desert that ran slowly across it, one after the other. Then, as if something had suddenly awoken him, he jumped to his feet, pushed the button on the communicator on his desk and said curtly into the built-in microphone "Have them prepare my plane and call my driver. I want to be in the air within an hour at the most."
Theos spacecraft - The gift
âWe must go back down," said Colonel Hudson to the two aliens. âI need to make some phone calls and I really donât think itâs possible from here."
âI wouldnât be too sure of that," answered Azakis smiling. âYou know, if good old Petri seriously puts his mind to it, he can do things you canât even begin to imagine," and he gave his companion a pat on the back.
âCalm down, calm down," answered Petri waving his hands in the air. âFirst of all, define the concept of âphone callâ."
Jack, a little surprised at the apparently trivial question, turned towards Elisa who, first shrugged her shoulders then, indicating the Colonelâs pocket, said candidly, "Show them your phone, no?"
With a quick movement, Jack took out his smartphone. It was a rather dated touchscreen. He had never liked following the absurd tendency of always having the latest mobile phone. He preferred to have something to hand that he knew, without always having to waste a lot of time learning all the new features.
âIâm not an engineer," said Jack as he showed it to the alien, "but with this thing, we are able to talk to another person who has a similar one, simply by dialling their number on this keypad."
Petri took the phone and observed it carefully. âIt must be a one-to-one transmission system, similar to our hand-held communicators."
âWith the only difference," added Elisa, "that every time we use it, it sucks a whole lot of money off us."
Thinking that his limited knowledge of their language would not allow him to grasp all its concepts, Petri decided to ignore this last statement and continued to analyse the object he was holding in his hand. âI shall need a little time to understand how it works."
âSure, take your time," replied Elisa disconsolately. âAfter all, itâs not like thereâs a planet about to crash into us."
Petri looked at her perplexed then, seeing as he hadnât caught on to that quip either, decided to say no more. He simply shrugged his shoulders and slid into the nearest internal transfer module where he disappeared within a few seconds.
âWell, presuming it is possible to get your mobile to work from here, how were you thinking of proceeding?" asked Elisa, while desperately trying to recover from the weakness caused by the lack of oxygen and the thousand emotions she had been through over the last few hours.
âInitially Iâd thought of contacting Senator Preston, General Campbellâs direct superior. But as he has never been very convincing in my view, Iâve decided to go down a different route to get to the President."
âDo you think he might also be involved?"
âThose two devils have never been truthful with me. Rumours have been going around that Preston is even implicated with some decidedly disreputable arms manufacturers. I donât trust him at all."
âSo?"
âSo, I shall speak directly to Admiral Benjamin Wilson. He was the Presidentâs right-hand man for several years and he was also a very good friend of my fatherâs."
âWas?"
âUnfortunately, my father left us almost two years ago."
âIâm sorry..." whispered Elisa gently caressing his left arm.
âWilson held me on his knees when I was a child. Heâs one of the few people I trust blindly."
âI donât know what to say. No matter how well you get along with him, I think itâll be difficult to get him to swallow a story like this over the phone."
âI could always send him a few photos of the view of his city from up here."
"With our short-range sensors," remarked Azakis, who until then had remained on the sidelines, "we could even tell him the beats per minute of his heart, in real time."
âPlease donât joke about it," exclaimed Elisa, emphasising what she was saying with a gesture of her hand.
âDonât you believe me? Watch this then."
Through his O^COM, Azakis made the view from above of the doctorâs base camp appear on the giant screen. In a few seconds, he enlarged the image to bring her laboratory tent into full view.
âWhat you are seeing..."
âIs my tent," exclaimed Elisa before Azakis could end the sentence.
âExactly. Now watch this."
All of a sudden, it was as if the tentâs cover had disappeared and she could see all the objects inside it perfectly.
âMy desk, my books ... incredible!"
"If there were someone inside, I could show you the heat generated by their blood flow and therefore I could also calculate their heartbeat."
Decidedly satisfied with the demonstration he had given them, the alien began to wander proudly around the room.
The Colonel however, who still had not recovered from his astonishment, suddenly seemed to have been hit by a thunderbolt and exclaimed crossly, "What do you mean âif there were someoneâ? There must be someone. Where the devil are the two prisoners?"
Elisa moved closer to the screen to get a better look. âPerhaps theyâve moved them. Can we have a complete view of the rest of the site?"
âYes, no problem."
In a few seconds, Azakis started running an overview of the camp. The sensors scrutinised everywhere but there was no trace of the two prisoners.
âThey must have escaped," said the Colonel laconically. âThis means weâll be finding them under our feet again before long. Luckily the General was taken to a safe place by my men. Those three together are capable of doing more harm than the devil himself."
âIt doesnât matter," said Elisa. âWeâve got much bigger problems to worry about right now."
She had barely finished the sentence when the door of internal communication module number three opened. An attractive girl stepped out of it, with soft, sinuous steps. She was holding some sort of completely transparent tray in her hands, on which there were different coloured containers.
âLadies