Enemy (16 page)

     The shielded black demon nonchalantly turned back to the crowd, its somehow non-eyes sweeping across the human expanse.

     Gasps from the crowd. No time to run.

     Light danced.

    
Silvervioletthought
tore from the alien and smashed into and through the remaining conspirators. Many bystanders too close to the attempted coup were also torn apart in the rampage. The liquid metal again encompassed the victims of the alien warrior’s mind weapon.

     The crowd was silent. Shocked.

     Wails of agony from those on the ground.

     The aliens moved in once more, crushing the remains.

     Patra finally broke. She began to weep.

     The group began to move toward the monolith.

     Patra stumbled over a dead man’s hand and screamed.

     black

     darkness parts.

    
THE PURPOSE WILL BE COMPLETED.

     COMPLETION IS THE PURPOSE.

     unease.

    
ANOTHER DISTURBANCE((?))

     SEVERAL.

     suspicion.

     MANY. PERHAPS WE LACK THE POWER TO BREAK THEIR WILL.

    
BLASPHEMY((!)) YOU MOCK OUR STRENGTH.

     NO, I—

    
WE ((WERE ARE WILL BE)) GODS TO THEM.

     THEIR SOCIETIES BECOME INCREASINGLY INTRACTABLE.

    
WE WILL NOT FAIL. PROCEED WITH HARVEST OF NATIVE POPULACE REMNANTS. ANY FURTHER RESISTANCE SHOULD BE MET WITH FIERCE RETALIATION.

     WE WILL BE BRUTAL. REINFORCEMENTS HAVE BEEN DOWNLOADED AND SYNTHESIZED.

    
REMEMBER THAT THEY ARE NOTHING BUT CODE. TREAT THEM AS SUCH, AND WE WILL PREVAIL. THEY ARE NOTHING BUT THE LOST CODES OF OUR GOD OMEGA.

     THE WORD IS TRUE; THE SALVATION SHALL BE OURS.

    
GO THEN. PURPOSE BE.

     PURPOSE BE.

     the swirling of blackest fog, like a curtain closing.

     the black fades...                           

they walked into the vessel, and time stopped

     walk walk walk into the black

            walk

                        they walked

                                    eternal monotony

     she had been here

            forever walking

     something grasped her

                                    MIND

                        stifling waves of heat cold

            CLAUSTROPHOBIA

                        choking struggle walk

                                                into a haze

                                                            darkness encompassed them...

     memories…

     ...the day Daddy brought her a new teddy bear “Brand new, Patty! Better than your ratty old bear!” and Honeybear Brown, tattered, loved, cherished, was thrown into the waste unit. “NO, Daddy. NO! I LOVE Honeybear!”

     “You’ll love your NEW bear, too.” tears. the new bear sat for days on the chair by the closet until she

     KILLED KILLED KILLED HIM

     flung him out the window down down he fell thirty stories...

     ...years later. television. “Look, Patty, I’m on TV!! Daddy’s on TV!” TODAY, COLUMBIA STATE SENATOR DAVID JENNINGS, RENOWNED WAR HERO, ANNOUNCED HIS PRESIDENTIAL BID. THIS SPLITS THE POPULACE PARTY TICKET THREE WAYS. RUMORS OF UNREST AND DISSENT IN WASHINGTON HAVE SURFACED. INCREASED SECURITY HAS BEEN ORDERED FOR TOMORROW’S STATE OF THE FEDERATION ADDRESS. IN OTHER NEWS, TENSIONS IN QUEBEC—the television was snapped off. Mommy with a champagne bottle, hugging Daddy. “Now it’s time for bed, Patty. Big day tomorrow.” yes. big day…

     ...“Patra Jennings?” a matronly old woman asked as she stepped off the maglev. “Welcome to the Rodham Girl’s School. Let’s go to your dormitory, shall we?” the smell of old schools, darkened hallways, pre-Three tech. a small room, an uncomfortable bed, no weblink. “I’m sure you’ll be happy here. Many Congresspeople send their children here. You’ll meet others tomorrow at Plenary.”…

     ...UNDERDOG DAVID JENNINGS HAS WON THE PRESIDENTIAL RACE. WE GO LIVE TO THE CAPITOL…

     ...“Yes, Patty. I promise I’ll send for you soon, but things are kind of heating up around here, with the war in Quebec and all. You understand, don’t you, Sweetie? We’ll spend next Christmas together for sure.”…

     ...WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN WE’RE—OH, UM… NETNEWS SPECIAL REPORT, LIVE FROM LOS ANGELES. LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, WE MUST WARN YOU OF THE GRAPHIC NATURE OF THIS SPECIAL BULLETIN. CONTACT WITH OUR WASHINGTON BUREAU HAS BEEN SEVERED, SO OUR CHIEF SOURCE OF INFORMATION HAS BEEN EYEWITNESS ACCOUNTS. THE IMAGES YOU SEE BEFORE YOU ARE AMATEUR VIDEO AND PHOTOGRAPHS OF WHAT WAS WASHINGTON, D.C. AT THIS POINT, ALL WE KNOW IS A SMALL-SCALE THERMONUCLEAR WEAPON HAS DESTROYED MUCH OF THE NATION’S CAPITOL. THE PRESIDENT IS RETURNING FROM THE G-15 SUMMIT MEETING IN MEXICO CITY AS WE SPEAK. HE IS EXPECTED TO—THIS JUST IN. SOURCES IN NEW ENGLAND SAY FRENCH INSURGENCE FORCES HAVE STORMED THE QUEBEC/U.S. BORDER. MILITARY UNITS HAVE BEEN MOBILIZED...

     ...her mother had been in Washington. she wept...

     ...AND A FUNCTIONAL GOVERNMENT HAS BEEN ESTABLISHED IN A COMPLEX IN THE ROCKIES. TODAY, AMERICAN FORCES LIBERATED NEW YORK CITY FROM THE QUEBECOIS...

     ...her mother’s funeral. ashes to ashes, dust to dust...

     …SOURCES ON THE FRONT LINE TELL US THAT THE SEVENTH ASSAULT GROUP PUNCHED THROUGH THE FRENCH DEFENSES AFTER A THREE-WEEK STANDOFF AT THE CITY WALLS. THE EIGHTH ASSAULT GROUP HAS BEEN SENT IN TO TAKE THE CITY. WE HAVE WORD THAT THE SEVENTH SUFFERED NINETY-EIGHT PERCENT LOSSES. THEIR EFFORTS WILL NOT BE FORGOTTEN…

     ...“Patra, your father simply cannot speak to you at the moment. After we take Canada, I’m sure he’ll call you. You have to realize that it is your duty as an American to believe in your government, your father, and not question his actions.”...

     alone. utterly alone.

     hatred flourished.

     ...SPECIAL REPORT. VICTORY IN CANADA! THE PROVISIONAL FRENCH GOVERNMENT STEPPED DOWN, SURRENDERING FROM THEIR MONTREAL BUNKER. AMERICAN FORCES HAVE TAKEN THE CITY AND FREED THE BESIEGED NEW ENGLAND AREA. NOW, THE LONG PROCESS OF REBUILDING WASHINGTON AND OUR WOUNDED COUNTRY MUST BEGIN...

     …“Daddy? Please, can I come home?”....

     …“Let Washington remain a monument for future generations. Let it be a testament to the courage and the perseverance of the American people. Let this empty plain be the quiet reminder of our painful past, and let us build again. Let us build again for the countless dead. The Wind River region of Wyoming will be officially designated as the new District of Columbia. The capitol will be relocated to Wind River, a much more secure area. The Federal Government will never be destroyed again. The sixty-four Allied States of America will live forever.”…

     …an image burned into the minds of the nation, the weeping president laying flowers at the grave of his wife, Abrah Kennedy Jennings. He fell forward, embraced the stone monument, shook with the force of his sobbing. The nation mourned…

     ...deep depression. her mother dead, her father consumed in the process of rebuilding the fractured nation. so distant. she escaped the Rodham School by simply climbing out her window and walking out the main gate. the security guard within the gatehouse slept. she walked into the cool, moonlit night with tears on her cheeks and blackness in her soul....

     ...SEARCHERS SCOURED THE SURROUNDING AREA MANY MONTHS, FINDING ONLY BLOOD-SOAKED CLOTHING WHICH HAS BEEN POSITIVELY SEQUENCED AS THE BLOOD OF PATRA JENNINGS. THE SEARCH GOES ON FOR THE ABDUCTORS, BUT NO ONE HAS CLAIMED RESPONSIBILITY. FEDNET HAS SEVERAL SUSPECTS IN CUSTODY, AND IS INVESTIGATING SEVERAL LEADS. A MEMORIAL SERVICE WAS HELD TODAY IN COLUMBIA PARK. THE PRESIDENT WILL REMAIN IN WIND RIVER IN PREPARATION FOR THE PEACE ACCORDS...

     ....she had taken a shirt from her pack and used it to bind the gash on her palm she had suffered while sliding down a gravel embankment. she discarded the shirt on the roadside several miles from the school after the blood had stopped flowing. she walked on. three weeks later, sitting in a greasy spoon in rural Virginia, her hair cut short, dyed, dressed in jeans and T-shirt, she was shocked to learn from the weblink news that she had apparently been brutally kidnapped and murdered. the nation mourned for the tragic Jennings family drama. Patra smiled and ordered some cheesecake to celebrate her new life…

     ....MASSIVE CITIZEN RIOTS IN CHICAGO TODAY AFTER THE NATION OF ISLAM COMMUNITY CENTER WAS BOMBED ON THE SOUTH SIDE, KILLING THREE HUNDRED, WITH MORE DEATHS EXPECTED. THE NEW WHITE PARTY ACKNOWLEDGES ITS INVOLVEMENT IN THE DESTRUCTION OF THE PREDOMINANTLY-AFRICAN-AMERICAN CHURCH. THIS IS THE SEVENTH SUCH ATTACK THIS YEAR. FORTY THOUSAND LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS ARE CURRENTLY TRYING TO PUT DOWN THE RIOTS...

     ...she tried to create a sense of normalcy in her life. with the last of the money she had taken with her from the Rodham School, she bribed a hacker to establish a fake IDCOM number and file for her. with the IDCOM file, she was able to get a job in Roanoke. she was now a waitress. she knew someday she’d get a better job, but this was good enough. she rented an apartment, made friends, earned money and respect. the pain of the past faded gradually. by the time-

     -DAVID JENNINGS REELECTED-

     -she was eighteen.

     the affairs of her father did not interest her. the nation looked upon the man with respect for his actions in the Quebec War and his New America program, but also with pity. he was the first American president with no family at all. some said his pained smile won him the election. she let her hair grow and let it go back to its original brunette color. it was a gamble, but in the end, no one made the connection between the president’s dead daughter and the new girl in town....

     ....THE WHITE HOUSE DENIES REPORTS THAT A COVERT MILITARY TEAM IS TO BLAME FOR THE AS-YET-UNEXPLAINED CHICAGO MASSACRE. PRESIDENT JENNINGS HIMSELF VEHEMENTLY DENIES THAT HIS GOVERNMENT HAS DEVELOPED A FORCE OF GENETICALLY-ALTERED “SUPERSOLDIERS” USING THE NOW-BANNED SCHRADER-KANE TECHNOLOGY THAT THE PACT USED IN WAR THREE...

     ...she was happy. she had a home, a small business on the side (she was a sculptor), a dog named Gromit, a boyfriend named Mark...

     ...NETNEWS EXCLUSIVE. A WHITE HOUSE SOURCE, SPEAKING ON STRICT CONDITIONS OF ANONYMITY, REVEALED TO NETNEWS REPORTERS THAT THE JENNINGS GOVERMENT DID IN FACT DEVELOP A COVERT OPERATIONS TEAM THAT ALMOST SINGLE-HANDEDLY TOOK MONTREAL DURING THE QUEBEC WAR. COULD THIS BE THE INFAMOUS EIGHTH ASSAULT GROUP, SO REKNOWNED FOR QUICKLY FINISHING OFF THE FRENCH FORCES AFTER THE SEVENTH WAS MASSACRED? OUR SOURCE ALSO REVEALED THAT THE TEAM WAS SENT TO CHICAGO DURING THE RIOTS, BUT WAS PULLED OUT AFTER SEVERAL RENEGADE MEMBERS BEGAN FIRING ON CIVILIANS. THE GROUP WAS APPARENTLY DISBANDED AFTER THE MASSACRE AND EXILED TO THE PACIFIC ATOLL OF SANTA FOSCA. FROM THE WIND RIVER COMPLEX, WHITE HOUSE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE ANTONIA CERVERA DISMISSED THE CHARGES AS “COMPLETELY FABRICATED COVERUP-HUNGRY MEDIA LIES.” THAT MAY BE SO, SECRETARY CERVERA, BUT WHERE ARE THE SEVENTY-FIVE MEMBERS OF THE EIGHTH ASSAULT GROUP TODAY? NETNEWS COULD NOT FIND MILITARY OR CIVILIAN RECORDS FOR ANY OF THE MEN AND WOMEN ENLISTED UNDER ASSAULT EIGHT IN ANY OF THE SIXTY-SEVEN ALLIED STATES. WE HERE AT NETNEWS CHALLENGE THE JENNINGS GOVERNMENT TO ANSWER TO THESE CHARGES. WAS THE GOVERNMENT TO BLAME FOR THE MASSACRE OF THOUSANDS OF CIVILIANS?...