Chapter 3: Extraction
The General was woken from his rest by an emergency call from the Sciences section. He took his communicator off the nightstand, saw the time on the clock, sat up and answered,
"You better have a damn good reason for waking me up at two in the morning."
The one who answered on the other line was his chief scientist, Dr. Gene.
"Terribly sorry to rouse you, General, but there has been activity in the atmosphere!"
"Well then, get on with it."
"Another meteorite has touched down."
By this news, the General sat straighter, his focus now enhanced.
"Have you been able to locate the landing site?"
"Affirmative. As a matter of fact, it was only few miles away from the previous one. This one landed by a lake in the Cascade Mountains in Oregon."
"Wonderful! Those mountains are deserted at this time at night. With any luck, we'll be able to collect pure Radiex. Have your survey team go to the site and begin collecting. Send in the tactical unit, just in case of witnesses."
"Hunting accident, or drunk brawling for the cover story?"
"I'll trust the team leader's judgement on that. Send them, then meet me in the Control Room. I wish to see this myself."
"Done, and done, General. Out."
With this well needed good news, the General found a new spring in his old step and rose to dress into his uniform. While he wasn't an elderly man, only in his early 50's, the stress of combat and his high position took a toll on him. His dark hair began graying, and his white skin looked a bit weathered and dull. Still he took pride in his near peak physical condition, with only his belly smoothing out due to a lack of efficient gym time. He put on his Army uniform, proud of the three stars shining on it.
He exited his quarters, and the armed guards posted outside his door escorted him to the Control Room. When he arrived, scientists and analysts were studying screens around the top interior of the room, showing thermal and satellite imaging, as well as cam feed from the two dispatched units. Waiting for him at the Command table was Dr. Gene Benson, his top scientist and the only Radiex expert on the planet. He was a tall, wiry Caucasian man, with his short blond hair smoothed back, and an eager grin on his face.
"Here's hoping, General we get a pure form of the substance to work with!"
"Do not get your hopes up yet, Doctor. First, we'll wait for the teams to assess the situation."
"Of course, General."
The General called to the radio operator sitting down in front of him.
"Open a channel to Tactical."
"Yes, sir." The operator flipped a switch and pressed a couple of buttons. "Channel open, sir."
"Tac-Leader, this is General. Relay ETA to touchdown site."
"Tac-Leader to General, choppers on-route to site. ETA, three minutes."
"Excellent. Make sure all suit cameras stay on, and have weapons ready. Over and out."
The General turned to his chief scientist. "Doctor, call to make sure your laboratories are ready to begin analysis. I expect results within forty-eight hours."
"Yes, General." He went to the intercom on the table and began to relay his instruction to his science teams.
Three minutes came and went, with the radio squawking, then a voice came on.
"Tac-Leader to General, approaching touchdown site. We have eyes on the crater, but there's no sight of the Radiex."
The General turned to Dr. Gene for an explanation. The doctor replied,
"We don't know if the Radiex has a pigment. It could be a colorless gas, like oxygen. The previous subjects were unconscious at the time, they couldn't tell us."
The General addressed his tactical unit.
"Tac-Leader, begin descent, and have the survey team begin analysis, then wait for further orders."
After confirmation was voiced, the General addressed his Surveillance Leader.
"Have the large monitor show me Tac-Leader's camera feed as primary, with the rest of both units surrounding."
Obeying, Surveillance had the monitor operators display on the main viewscreen the unit leader's camera enlarged in the middle, with the cameras of the other units' members covering the blank spaces. The main screen showed the units exiting the helicopters, forming a defensive perimeter, and beginning to scan the area. The smaller screens showed individual shots of each task. The main camera fell upon an unwelcome sight.
"Tac-Leader to base, we have several civilians that are unconscious around the crater. Five young adults, and one canine. Campers, by the looks of them."
"Any sign of the Radiex?"
A new voice answered. "Base, this is survey team, Survey One speaking. We have found no trace of the Radiex left in the meteorite, crater or surrounding area. One moment."
Half a minute went by before, "Survey One to base, it is confirmed. All of the Radiex previously housed in the meteorite has been absorbed into the campers' and dog's bodies."
The General pounded the table with his fist and said, "Damn it!"
They don't have the means to get the Radiex out of living bodies. They'll need to be examined. He looked at the feed of the campers faces. All young adults, most likely high school graduates camping for the summer. They should've gotten summer jobs, the General thought. He saw their faces, and saw not all were white. Perfect. First children, now immigrants. He spoke again,
"Tac-Leader, do they have any form of identification?"
"Not on their persons, checking their tents and vehicle."
Watching the Tac unit do just that, he saw them retrieve several backpacks from the truck. A Chevy. Excellent model. Shame it will be destroyed. As he saw the unit leader pull wallets out from the bags, the bad news only worsened.
"Base, we've confirmed ID. They appear to be graduates from the U.N. Academy."
"Oh, for the love of God."
"Sorry, sir. There's one local American, and four foreigners. The dog belongs to the local, sir."
The General always thought that that school was the worst idea. He felt that countries should deal with their own internal problems first before assigning aid to others. He voted against the school, but with his country being a democracy, the majority vote in favor won. Now, more foreigners were coming to America. Well, that won't last for long.
"This could cause an international incident. Tac-Leader, are there any other civilians in the area?"
"Negative, General."
"Alright then. Cleanse the site. Destroy the tents and vehicle, and dump it in the lake. But bring their bags. Make it look ambiguous. Also, prepare the new subjects for extraction. We're taking them back to base."
"Affirmative."
"Survey team, retrieve the rock. Maybe there's still something we can get out of it. But erase the crater. Leave no evidence." The campsite was mostly dirt now, so hopefully, no one will ask questions about a big dirt patch.
"Yes, sir, General."
The General, now massaging his brow in exhaustion, his eagerness quickly fading, turned to his doctor once again.
"Refit your labs for human examination, have them brought to you, and prepare cells for our new 'guests.' Alert me when they wake up."
"You got it, General. Just perfect, eh? More mouths to feed." Dr. Gene then left to see to his new orders.
The units had just radioed in that their tasks were being completed, and were beginning to return to base. The crater was being filled in. The truck was just incinerated, then rolled into the lake. They just had one question.
"Base, this is Tac-Leader. What do we do with the dog?"
"Bring him, too. Never leave man's best friend behind." Bomb sniffing dogs had saved his life in Vietnam, and always found them to be the perfect animal: loyal, obedient and they didn't talk back. He had two German Shepherds and a Doberman back home.
"Yes, sir."
With that now out of the way, the General turned and was escorted back to his room to rest until the good doctor called him. Hopefully, he thought, these ones will be convinced better than the brats. And if they did not, the General had other ways of getting obedience.