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Groom Lake, Nevada
Office of the Commanding General
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“I found enough,” Shannon said. “A couple of those dudes should be locked up. That asshole Billings is a real first class prick. Foster is retarded. Ormsby is by the book, I don’t know about the other three. Carlisle is the only one that seems human.”
“Human isn’t a requirement to work here. They do their job. That’s all I care about.”
“And if somebody decides not to do their job?”
“Look, Flynn, we’ve been over this already. You came here with nothing, you have nothing now, and you’ll leave here with nothing. What’s the point? I have work to do. You and Brooks are going to be leaving at noon tomorrow.”
“Why did you stay here all these years, General? You went to the academy, you could have any job you want. You could have been on the Joint Chiefs. Why Dreamland?”
“I like it here,” Cagney said. “It’s something the average human being would never be able to see in his life. I am one of a virtual three dozen human beings in this country that knows the real truth about the universe and what threats it poses to humanity. It is my job to prevent those threats from materializing. To do so, I utilize the technology our enemies use. And make no mistake about it, they are our enemies. You want to tango with that thing in room 7 and tell me otherwise? I have one of the greatest responsibilities on this planet. I am fully qualified and more than willing to accept that responsibility. It isn’t that complicated. It’s what I am. It’s what I do.”
“Show me Nancy. Then I’ll leave.”
“You think you’re funny, don’t you. You come in here and try to take advantage of the fact that I like your books, and you flash that security card somebody gave you. Okay, you can open doors. You can look at the shit we locked up in glass tanks, you can piss in your pants, you can play tough guy. But you’ve never seen what I’ve seen. To you, this is a joke, a science fiction movie come to life. I guess that thing you saw in room 7 wasn’t convincing enough, huh? You want more?”
“Yes. I want to see something more human. Lizards from outer space are dangerous, I’ll give you that. But this is about something else. It’s about creation, it’s about creatures like us that have abilities beyond our own but don’t use those abilities in the same deranged way we use them. It’s about somebody we don’t understand, and who doesn’t understand us. We are their version of Disneyland. They come here, they have an accident, or get zapped by a beam from a laboratory on Long Island, and they get to spend an eternity in one of your glass cylinders, or in a morgue. It isn’t right.”
“Right? How do you know what these things want when they come here?”
“And how the hell would you know? How would you like to come here from another planet, General? The welcoming committee is a wing of F16s that try to shoot you down. You can’t tell me that every visitor is evil.”
“Not my job,” Cagney said. “My job is to make sure that all possible threats are neutralized. I’ve seen some really nasty shit perpetrated by these so-called innocent visitors. They roasted twenty Air Force guys with an electronic beam in 1987. They have been responsible for the death of over 300 military personnel by various means, including radiation poisoning and bacterium no doctor could hope to explain. I have never had one of these things stroll out of a ship like Michael Rennie and proclaim that he was here to save us from ourselves.”
“And Nancy? What was her sin?”
Cagney looked away. “I wasn’t in a position of authority when that happened. How do you know about that, anyway?”
“I don’t reveal my sources,” Shannon said. “But believe me, I know the story. This was a very innocent visit. The ship landed, and the occupants stood outside. There was no sign of aggression. I hear they had all kinds of scientific information on board, that gave us breakthroughs in medicine and computer technology. It advanced us a thousand years in a week. Our response was to machinegun them. The ship disappeared, of course, and so did the bodies. I assume the ship is in the garage. Nancy was the leader. I want to see her.”
“Bitch,” Cagney grumbled. “You make me do this, and you’ll never come back here.”
“I’ll come back any time I want,” Shannon said. “Let’s go