Chapter 1
Santiago, Chile; South America.9:13 AM…
The entire swathing conurbation of Santiago, Chile’s seven million was dwarfed by Sierra de Ramon!Looking at the gigantic urban spread reminded Dr. Greene of an important point he had to tell the other scientists in the medium, government-issued plane that was about to land soon.
“Oh—and don’t forget, what we’ve learned about the bi-pollex:A, they love to hang around in bigger cities—at least, whatever the closest, largest city they happened to be nearest.And, B, they stay around large bodies of water.”Had the plane been a typical corporate jet, Dr. Greene, in his thirties and a hipster with thick glasses and beard, would have been beckoned to be seated by a flight attendant!
“That makes sense,” Dr. Glyn Wood, from Birmingham, England, input.“The few places we have them back in the UK, they’re all in major urban centers and use the Thames and other city waters to hide from humans…reminds me of modern, urban scavenger-species:they congregate where we, humans, settle!”
Benitez International was quickly coming into the passengers’ view, so the international team of scientists and clandestine security personnel were all gathering their equipment and supplies as American scientist, Doctor Greene, was helping head-scientist, Dr. Hernando Reyes of Chile, prep the crew.The government of Chile had requested help from other nations that had extensive experience with the bi-pollex visitors…Dr. Greene had the most experience out of the top, global scientific community that specialized in—well, Terrestrials of the cosmological sorts!Dr. Reyes, slim and forty-something, was the chosen local scientist, whom doubled as a national government agent.
“Where’s their ship located,” asked one of the security hired hands.He was resetting his smartphone back from airplane mode.
“We’re not exactly sure,” Dr. Greene admitted; jostling a bit from a little turbulence from the plane ride.“My government is still scanning all over the planet with classified tech…based on estimated populations of sightings reported, we’ve narrowed a large share of the search for the bi-pollex to the Americas.”
“Their ship is probably under the Atlantic or the Pacific,” Dr. Miyo Erika, in her thirties with bobbed and striped hair-color, from Japan, guessed out loud.
Others within the large group on the plane nodded at her idea.
“It could’ve been an armada for all we know,” one of the security officers threw out from the back of the plane.“What if there are several ships hidden?”
That caused many of those same team members to pause; some having stunned expressions on their faces as, apparently, they had not thought on such possibility!
“Well,” Dr. Greene was saying, coming back into the conversation, “so far the US government has not spotted any space craft in our global search that would be considered extraterrestrial in nature—whether on land or within large bodies of water.”
Lead-scientist and of the group, Dr. Hernando Reyes joined in as he finished packing his gear for the upcoming mission.“Remember, everyone, back in 2014 how that Malaysian airliner disappeared somewhere over the Indian Ocean?Years later the Malaysian and Chinese authorities still have not found the plane itself!Now, imagine an alien space craft…I don’t care how many there may be!”
There were voices of consent on Dr. Reyes’ point, including from Dr. Greene.
After the classified mission’s plane landed at a secluded section of Santiago’s international airport, the team of twenty exited the government-issued plane and gathered into a tight circle on the tarmac as Dr. Reyes and Dr. Greene held one more meeting with the crew.They were splitting into five teams—each scientist, five in total, with three security officers.Their respective vehicles were awaiting them; selected drivers at the ready.
“As Dr. Greene informed us,” Dr. Reyes addressed the team; raising his voice over the droning sounds of the plane, as it was already about to fly off for some other mission, “since the bi-pollex use large water sources as their hiding grounds, we’ll be concentrating our efforts at various spots on the Mapocho River…your team leaders will have all the coordinates, summaries, and all other details on them…Now, remember, you come across them, this is a no-kill mission…our political officials insist on this and that’s all they’ll tell me, entiendes?...”
Dr. Reyes looked upon the government conspirators to see if they had any questions.After seeing none, Reyes then turned to Dr. Greene.
“All officers, please ensure that your stunning weapons are up to standards and you have plenty of tranquilizers,” Greene said, also talking over the plane’s engine.“Doctors…you have your downloaded papers on the Terrestrials and on their morphology and all the other goodies…I guess all I really have to add, Dr. Reyes, is that the gato is out of the bag on the bi-pollex these days…too many social media postings for us to contend with.It’s not like the old days when all the government had to do was manipulate the mainstream media with disinfo…we’re going to have to, also, contend with average citizens everywhere in the world who’ve encountered the bi-pollex.And in this political atmosphere we’re in these days, I have to say my concern is more about them than it is our visitors!”
That last comment by Dr. Greene illicit uncomfortable looks by just about everyone in the circle on the tarmac.Greene expected it but did not care.He’d seen way too many citizens throughout the US get more upset with him as a government agent than they were of an alien species that, for whatever reason, had landed upon their home-planet and presented a likely-health risk to the populace and their ecosystem with the bi-pollices' inherent germs, given they were off-worlders!
“Ok,” Dr. Reyes finally said; also ignoring the teams’ confusing looks from Dr. Greene’s last statement, “everyone to your assigned vehicles!”
Hours Later…
As it turned out, there were secrets within secrets; even among government conspirators.Besides Dr. Greene’s team, there were four others:Dr. Glyn Wood, of the UK, and her team; Dr. Kristie Nelson, from Los Angeles, and her team; Dr. Miyo Erika, of Japan, and her team; and the lead-scientist, Dr. Hernando Reyes with his group of three security officers…They were all scattered throughout the grand city of Santiago, hugging the Mapocho River as they scouted the urban canyon for foreign Terrestrials with high-tech detectors and a bit of educated guess-work from the scientists leading each, respective, team.But while a couple of the teams were successful in trapping two of the bi-pollex, Dr. Greene’s team was secretly ordered by the US government to divert their search to Sierra de Ramon!
Dr. Greene had gotten the encrypted message from his boss during the flight into Santiago.His team did not find out about the detour until their driver, whom was in on the change, had taken the SUV the opposite direction of the city!The three security officers had protested, at first, until Dr. Greene reminded them that such unplanned tasks were all part of their mission…and had they forfeited such duties, they would have the weight of the US federal government to deal with in addition to their own, respective home-government!
That put an end to the protestation from the security detail.
Later, when the SUV came to a stop at a fairly high level on the mountain, there were looks from the three security agents!
“Sorry, gentlemen,” the driver, Abby Snider—in her forties and her hair tied up into a bun—said, “this is as far as the vehicle can take us.”
Connor Dawson, one of the officers; American and in his twenties, shot looks at his fellow security agents.“Are you kidding me?Now we have to play mountain climbers!”
The two other officers, Peter Orlov of Russia, and Felix Guarez, the local guy from Chile, both looked upon Dr. Greene with surprised faces!
But he referred to his government-issued smartphone that had info on it that was not privy to the others.“It’s ok, fellas…according to my contact, we don’t have that far to go up.”
Greene, then, looked upon the young men, giving them a reassuring grin.That seemed to placate the officers—for the time being!
Dr. Greene’s team was not going to trek to the top of Sierra de Ramon, but the elevation the crew found themselves on was still high enough for them to don thick coats that were stashed at the back of the SUV.Officer Orlov sardonically pointed out that it was an interesting coincidence that there just happened to be five winter coats stashed away in the SUV—just enough for the American scientist, three security detail, and the driver!Dr. Greene had no response to his comment.Truthfully, he was rather puzzled by it himself, but he could not let his team know this about their leader.
It took another hour before Dr. Greene’s info on his phone-device signaled that the team had reached their location…to whatever it was they were being led to!All five glanced at each other with apprehension when they saw that Dr. Greene’s phone was indicating the destination was in a darkened crevasse a few yards up the mountain!
“Doctor,” Officer Dawson questioned; a bit accusatory in tone, “may I ask, Sir, why are we chasing the bi-pollex up in the mountains when the empirical data shows they’re urban scavengers?”
The two other officers looked upon Dr. Greene while driver Snider kept her eyes on the crevasse as she finally spoke.“It’s because that’s where a ship is…”
All four men whipped around to look at the driver—including Dr. Greene!He, then, had a thought and began to walk toward the middle-aged woman.
“You’re Agent Dark Horse, aren’t you,” he pressed her as the security officers looked on; trading surprising glances at each other.
She finally looked away from the crevasse and looked upon Dr. Greene.“I am…”She indicated all of them at this point.“We’ve gotten a serious update to our research of the bi-pollex…truth is, we’ve all been bamboozled by our visitors!”
There were confused looks by Officers Orlov and Guarez; not versed in some English-slang, apparently.
“Tricked,” Dr. Greene offered while the two young men nodded their heads for understanding.He returned his attention to the secret agent.“What was it they tricked us on?”
Agent Snider’s face, already stoic to begin with, had turned even more serious as she looked upon the team in the cold heights of Sierra de Ramon.“Those bastards have been poisoning us—as in, humans!”
Cries of, ’What!?’ were heard.She continued.
“All that stuff about the bi-pollex hiding in bodies of water from humans…?Well, some of it may be true.But what they’ve been doing was systematically injecting some kind of poison into those bodies of water!Various scientists throughout the world have finally verified this.In case you were wondering if it seemed that some of our, respective, governments were dragging their feet on the Terrestrial-issue, this was why!They had to recover some of the contaminated bodies of water where the presence of the bi-pollex was confirmed, and not just good ol’ fashioned pollution from us, humans…”
Agent Dark Horse’s eyes returned to that crevasse.“The scientists that studied the toxic chemicals from the bi-pollex could not even identify what elements they were!Whatever the hell the bi-pollex put into our waters throughout the Earth, it’s…changing some of us!”
“Christ…” Officer Dawson said; hopelessness covering his face.
Officer Guarez did a prayer in Spanish as he crossed himself in a quick gesture.
Officer Orlov, the sub-culture of Russian stoicism deep in him, merely looked down at the grounds of Sierra de Ramon.
Dr. Greene looked at all those around him.He then looked upon the agent with a frightening realization.“Well…what about us and the rest of the team of this mission in Santiago?We’re all experienced Terrestrial hunters…that means—”
“It means that we all will have to be tested for any changes in our bodies at some point, Dr. Greene,” Agent Dark Horse said.Her face softened slightly.“That includes me, Doctor…”
Dr. Greene nodded at her point and his eyes looked away at some unknown area of the expansive mountain ranges around the nestled grand city of Santiago…All the bravado that Dr. Greene’s team had was long gone by this time.
“They were keeping low all these few years we’ve known about them,” Agent Snider said softly; keen as to how terrible of a revelation she had just engulfed the younger people around her.“They seemed deceptively simple—in fact, almost human in appearance; if it weren’t for them being almost three times as tall as the average humans and having those basic clothes.I’m guessing they fashioned them from our cloth that they’ve scavenged from factories…”
It was silent on that Ramon incline for a long time.The persistent breeze said enough for the crew.
“So, what are we doing once we find this ship,” Officer Guarez inquired; his eyes wet, but his brows furrowed with determination!
Dark Horse responded merely with her steely eyes.
Dr. Greene’s own eyes shifted from the crevasse and Agent Dark Horse.“We’re not here to search for the bi-pollex, are we, Agent?”
Her eyes were, now, set on Dr. Greene.“Doctor, war has been declared against the bi-pollex.That is why our government diverted your mission to this mountain, Dr. Greene…we are to destroy whatever ships we may find here!”
fin
