Beyond the Milky Way

1.3: The Team

Bradley did a brief study of each person who looked at him; they appeared confused like he was. They looked young and capable of hard labor, even the only woman in the group. He offered a friendly nod to the only person he was familiar with: Malik Jackson returned the action along with a smirk.

"This has officially gone beyond weird, now!" he remarked with a rich laugh. It prompted Bradley to shrug and nod in agreement. He didn't understand what the government would need with a former NFL wide receiver turned sports broadcaster and an IndyCar driver, let alone have them work with others who weren't celebrities.

"Tell me about it! It's bad enough to see you walk in but... Brad Smith?! Heh; guess getting drafted is out the question, now!" a rough-looking man laughed out. Bradley looked at the man and slightly laughed with him.

"You saying I ain't cut out for the military?" he smiled.

"Nah... David's just saying that cuz of who you are..." the woman spoke. Hearing her southern accent made Bradley's face warm. By default, he would talk more to Malik but he looked forward to speaking with a fellow southerner. When his piercing blue eyes met her chocolate ones, she looked away. The move made his smile widen; she really did know who he was.

"David Cox," David left his chair and shook Bradley's hand; the man's green eyes glinted at him. "Good to finally meet you."

"You're a fan."

"Honestly, no but I know about you! This is Steve, Tim, you should already know Malik, Yoji and the lovely Lindsay." he introduced the others. Bradley kept his laugh to himself; the little introduction made Lindsay embarrassed.

"Uh... it's... Lizzie, really..." she stumbled.

"Lizzie? How?" Bradley asked her. She smiled and shrugged.

"W-Well, that's what I'd rather be called. My brother: when he was little, he couldn't say 'Lindsay' all too well. It came out as 'Lizzie' and... just stuck." she explained. Bradley found it amusing that with her skin color, she still turned a slight shade of red. He nodded and smiled, shaking her hand.

"Lizzie it is, then! David, I take it that you're the leader of this group?"

"I wish! No, we've just been sitting here, trying to get to know each other. Seeing we all got the same letter."

"We were actually asking Lizzie if she had a clue why we're all here." the thick Hispanic tone of Tim's rang out. It was enough to make her skin back to her normal tone as she shrugged.

"Apparently cuz of the 'skills' we all have. I dunno. They could've picked our names out of a hat for all we know!"

"You say that like you don't have any skills." Malik pointed out. Lindsay glanced at him for a moment before turning away.

"N-Nothing like that. I got customer service skills but... I was also in the military so..."

"You were in the military? What branch?" Steve beamed. It made Lindsay smile at him.

"Marine Corps."

"Whaa... me, too!"

"Ooh rah!" they both sounded off and beamed at one another. "What was your MOS?"

"1341."

"An engineer mechanic. 0811." Lindsay remarked. Steve's dark brown eyes widened as the others listened to their conversation; they were clueless on the meaning of the numbers.

"Wait... you were a cannoneer? You were a fucking cannoneer?! Holy shit..." his outburst made her laugh.

"Should've been a grunt; I didn't see any action."

"It seems that at the very least, we have two people with military experience. I wish they were more clear on what type of training this is." Yoji added quietly and the group nodded in agreement. The door unlocking grabbed their attention. The Secret Service agents from earlier entered the room and made a path for President Abraham to enter. At once, Steve and Lindsay stood, going into the military stance of attention. The president smiled at the two.

"At ease. You two are the prior service members."

"Yes, sir!" the two former Marines said in unison. The others rose to their feet, letting the president shake their hands. He motioned for them to sit as he did so in the nearest empty chair.

"I understand that everyone has questions and concerns... and doubts about why you were selected for this top-secret training. I'm confident that what we talk about will not leave this room?" he asked with a firm tone. The group glanced at one another before nodding towards Abraham. "Excellent. How familiar are you with Roswell?" he continued. The question made the majority of them gawk as Lindsay gave him a stunned look.

"Is this about... Area 51, sir?" she asked and her heart raced when he nodded.

"Now, the story has twisted over the years. For the best, really. There are those who feel that not everyone is ready for the entire truth."

"So, it's true? We're not alone?" Yoji asked. The president smiled and shook his head.

"We are not. Area 51 was not created by this government... alone. It was created side-by-side with an alien race, one not from this galaxy. In fact, there are no alien races in this galaxy, anymore. That's not the point," he saw a couple of mouths open, about to speak. "This alien race chose Area 51 to study our human race. There was no crash landing."

"Wait. What about all of those UFO sightings and phenomena?" David couldn't help himself.

"Many were hoaxes. The rest were us testing out a lot of the technologies given to us in exchange for our cooperation."

"So... no Martians or anything like that but... something else?" Steve wanted to make sure. The president nodded at the man.

"Mr. President... would it be rude if I said that I didn't believe you?" Malik asked. Everyone looked at him in shock and waited for one of the agents to escort him away. Lindsay leaned in towards him, her eyes widened.

"Yes, it would be rude," she hissed through clenched teeth. "Why would he lie to us?"

"Oh, I don't know. The fact that this is top secret seems fishy to me..." he continued. None of the others in the room wanted to admit Malik had a point. What was said was not on a high level of believability but, none of them had the courage to challenge him like Malik did. What the president claimed was considered to be a serious conspiracy theory.

Relief washed through the others when Abraham smiled and shook his head.

"I understand you have doubts. And, it wouldn't be rude. But, if you want proof, you'll have to wait to get it. Everything you want to know is in New Mexico as far as solid evidence."

"We'll find out what's so top secret about all this there?" Tim asked.

"In compliance with Area 51, our government gave the agreement we would represent Earth in the Great Buno Races when the moment arrived."

"The... what?" Lindsay asked, just to make certain she heard right.

"A race? This is all about some race? Like... what he does, race?" Steve pointed towards Bradley. He had no time to show shock that even Steve knew about him.

"In a way, yes. The Great Buno Races are intergalactic races held on the planet of Buno."

"There has to be another catch. This seems too easy. What's the prize?" Bradley asked. He was skeptical of everything at first but his reluctance left as soon as the word "race" came into play. If he was good at anything, it was racing. It made sense to him why they chose him.

"There's no catch. The only prize is that when all this is over, we will no longer live in fear of the unknown. Well, then; welcome aboard! For those of you who still don't believe... the time will be soon for you to find out the truth."