Ultimatum: The Visitors

Chapter 1 - Undisclosed town on the coast of Washington State - March It was another chilly morning like it had been all week. There was the usual mist lingering in the air, making every breath feel cool and moist. The morning marine layer would likely turn into an afternoon of clouds and light rain. Lana strolled down the nearly deserted main street of this small Pacific Northwest town. Lana was in her early twenties, and had always been on the shorter side, she was just glad she hit the five-foot mark. She never bothered with an umbrella as the rain didn’t bother her. She wore her favorite Jack Skellington hoodie and her Space Mountain Loungefly mini backpack that she had switched into last weekend. She paid little attention to the mostly empty store fronts that had been abandoned months ago. By this time, most had been occupied by various teams working on their own classified assignments most likely. The stores that were still in operation would not open until later this morning. The only shop she was interested in was the small Starbucks, which would be the only thing open this early in the morning. She stopped at the light and waited for the crosswalk light to turn from the red hand to the white walking man. There were no vehicles on the road this early, but that would change in about an hour when the trucks started hauling crates from the runways to the docks. She knew she did not have to wait to cross, no one would give her a second thought for jay walking. Deep down inside she just chose to wait because that was who she was and what she did. Besides, she was in no rush to get to her lab this morning. She continued down Main Street toward the small town’s airport, thinking about the conversation she had had the night before with her parents. She knew today would be stressful and needed her support team to give her a pep talk. They lived in the small house right next to hers, they were assigned that way so they could be close. She exited downtown and was on the empty stretch of road between it and the airport. On the right side were the pine covered slopes running up the mountainside, though the low cloud cover masked the upper half this morning. Through the clearing of the trees on left she could make out the ocean. The usual cluster of ships anchored out off the coast could be seen. This morning there were five gigantic cruise ships, a few long flat cargo ships, several large luxury yachts, and well over a dozen Navy ships of all sizes. None were as large as the pair of aircraft carriers that were just visible at the docks where the town met the waterfront. She knew there were even more ships up and down the coast that she could not see. It seemed as if every week there were a couple more than the week before. As Lana approached the checkpoint to the airport runway access gate, she pulled her badge out from her hoodie and had it scanned by the Marine working the gate. No words were spoken, he just reached inside the shack and hit a button to unlock the gate and motioned for her to enter. There was already activity on the other side of the runways, railroad cars being unloaded of various crates and containers. Scattered around the runways and hangers were all the various military planes that had brought the supplies to set up this base over the past year or so. They had all been grounded for many months, some had even started to grow moss and had ivy vines crawling up the landing gear. She walked towards her lab, which was essentially a large aircraft hangar that butted up to the forest. This hanger would have held a couple of smaller Cessnas or a single mid-sized private jet. It had been cleared out and the Army had set up two portable buildings inside. They reminded her of the ones she had classes in where the school needed to expand but did not want to build a more costly building. They were relatively cheap and quick alternatives. There was still plenty of open space in the front of the hanger, someone had installed a basketball hoop and painted lines for a half court layout. No one ever played, at least not since she had been working here. She paused at the door on the side of the hanger. She needed to get her mind right before she entered. Her mind replayed the evening spent with her parents. Her parents had made dinner together as they often did. They ate dinner in the dimly lit dining room, usually they would have something on the TV just to give some background noise, but not for that meal. Her parents were the only ones besides her staff that she was allowed to discuss her work with. She was able to tell them things that she dared not tell anyone else. She thought about what her parents had said at the end of the night. They had encouraged her to keep her head up, stay strong, and just focus on her work. Her father gave her a hug and said, “My little scientist will do incredible things”. Her mother, always the optimist, had told her something that had brought her to tears. It was her mom’s statement that rang through her head all morning. As she stood with her hand on the door handle, she could almost hear the words of her mother, “Try to focus on all of lives you will save and don’t think about the millions of lives you will have to end”.