Humanity's Hope: Project XCOM

Chapter 4: XCOM in Action

"From what I could find in the fragments, the aliens use a material capable of generating a lot of energy. My team have called it Elerium. It is also capable of discharging energy as used in the self-destruction sequence in every alien weapon. The aliens have a unique form of circuitry. We have limited examples but the alien circuitry is composed of organic compounds. We believe that this grants it a form of intelligence. The circuits can analyse the power demand and can control the channelling of power. Perhaps this system is connected to the alien's conscious which allows them to activate their weapons. Keep in mind that all of this is unconfirmed so we will need more samples."

Vahlen let out a loud yawn.

"Vahlen. I think you should get some sleep," Henry said with a serious tone.

"Damn. I think I missed some details that could be important. The Sectoid's skin is also used to absorb oxygen like our lungs; cutaneous respiration. The Sectoids have less tissue than humans so this form of respiration may be enough to supply oxygen to their entire body. We can probably develop weapons that can exploit the Sectoid's skin to respond to stimuli or absorb the surrounding air."

"I see. We could perhaps administer airborne chemicals or create devices that can create an auditory overload," Henry realised.

He soon frowned at the prospect.

"However, it is against the Geneva Convention, but I guess it's acceptable. . . to a certain degree, Henry protested against his own idea. "Dr Vahlen, I think you can go to sleep now. I'm giving you the day off. Take it as a . . . medical leave."

Vahlen concluded her meeting, packed her things and went to her quarters. Henry stood at her workplace, baffled at Vahlen's commitment. In a way Henry admired Vahlen. His dreams of becoming a scientist were stopped by his career in the army. Perhaps he would have become like her. Although, he valued his sleep. He looked at Vahlen's notes on the desk a meter away from him. 

Something did not sit right with him. Telepathy; it was fake. Then again, it was only a week that Henry truly started believing in an alien menace. Plasma weapons were only science fiction; now they were real. Telepathy was on a completely different level. It was pseudoscience, parapsychology. What was even stranger was the fact that Specialist Arthur Stone managed to sense its usage. So could Henry. Naturally, he wanted to know why. Was it some sort of sensitivity? Could the aliens use it against them?

Henry snapped out of thought after he realised that he had forgotten to ask about the alien material recovered during the mission in Vancouver. He walked towards the laboratory's storage room. Vahlen kept all her artefacts locked up.

Henry hailed a scientist who gave him a brief explanation. Nobody had taken on the task of analysing it. Henry walked into the storage room accompanied by the scientist and found a chunk of glowing orange crystal stored in the compartment containing potentially dangerous artefacts. It had not occurred to him that it could have been radioactive or dangerous in any other way. It was prudent thinking on Vahlen's part. The scientist ordered his colleagues to prepare a PPE for the Commander, but Henry declined; he only wanted to observe from afar.

The neighbouring compartment also caught his eye. It contained the pods dropped in Germany and Russia, along with refrigerated corpses wrapped in a web-like green material. The sight only fed Henry with dread. Those objects were made to drop into cities and consume whoever was so unfortunate to stand next to it. Was it painful? Could you even escape when you were caught? What would remain of your body when you were? The only thing that would remain was your mummified corpse wrapped in the green thing.

It was truly a horrible way to die. Henry did not wish to end in such a manner. His thoughts only encouraged him to keep fighting to protect the lives of his brothers and sisters in humanity. He did not wish to see a child stare as his parents as they were devoured by that monstrosity. It was as equally painful if it was the parents who had to witness such trauma.