Discovering Alien Technology Part Two
Copyright© 2026 by GMet
Chapter 8
Sunday morning came too early as Base actually woke me up at five-fifteen so I could shower before dad and Riley. Dad was waiting when I came out of the washroom by five-thirty and Riley came down soon after to get a coffee and give me a hug.
“What time did you get home?” she asked.
“It was after three,” I answered. “You were all sleeping in the bed so I got two and a half hours on the couch. When did you fall asleep?”
“It was by midnight,” Riley replied. “I told them I had to get up early so keep it down to a dull roar and thankfully they did. I’m not too tired right now and I’ll be better with some coffee in me.”
“Good,” I responded. “All ready to go after your shower?”
“Yep, I’m packed and so are you,” she told me. “We’re not taking any good clothes, just a couple sets of jeans and tee shirts and then some shorts and another set of shorts and tee for sleeping. Add in some underwear and our toiletries and we’re all set. Just remember to grab which laptop you want to bring.”
“Will do,” I said as I got up. “I’ll go up and grab all my stuff. You have to go back up after your shower?”
“Yeah, but you can bring down my suitcase if you don’t mind,” was her reply.
“Sure,” I agreed before heading up.
I grabbed a pair of jeans, socks and a collared shirt out of my closet and drawers and got changed. After grabbing my wallet and both laptops, I manhandled the two suitcases down the stairs. Riley wasn’t anywhere to be found so I surmised she was now in the shower. Eventually, we were all dressed and dad drove us into town, stopping to get breakfast at a fast food joint. We quickly ate before we got to our plants and parked. Dad and I lugged the suitcases to the bus and slid them in the open storage area underneath the bus. All three of us went over to the flatbed and conversed with the robots who assured us that all the probes, launch equipment and spares were loaded and tied down securely. That included the probes with warheads, hence the presence of the guards from the military. There were three soldiers with automatic rifles staged around the flatbed along with an older man sitting in a Humvee. He had a pistol in a holster on his hip. He got up and walked over to us.
“Mr. Addler, I’m Sergeant Thomas, in charge of security for the warheads,” he said, shaking dad’s hand and then mine. “Colonel Metcalfe and Lieutenant Mathews will be along shortly.”
“Nice to meet you Sergeant Thomas, how was your night?” dad responded.
“Boring, which is exactly how we like it,” the large man responded with a grin. “We’ll be following the flatbed up to the mine and will provide security until all the probes have been launched, then we’ll protect the convoy on the way back, tomorrow evening.”
“Excellent, we’re happy to have you,” dad said. “I’m not sure if we took your numbers into account when we planned for food and water, but I’m sure we should have enough or can stop for more along the way.”
“No need to worry about us, Mr. Addler, we have our own bus and all the drink and food we’ll need for a week,” the sergeant informed us. “I’m not sure about the Colonel and the Lieutenant though. We have plenty of food, but our bus is an older model without air conditioning.”
“Understood, we’ll make the offer for them to travel, sleep and eat with us,” dad stated. “Riley, we’ll have enough bunks and food, correct?”
“Yes Chris, it won’t be a problem,” Riley answered. “I calculated the amounts based on the fact that everyone ate as much as Ben does and then added enough for another four people, after the driver and the CSA team. There are two extra bunks in the bus so we’ll all fit.”
“Good thinking,” he told her as he grinned at me.
“I do love to eat,” I admitted.
“Nothing wrong with that,” the Sergeant said. “Alright, I have mission start at 0700 so I’ll get my people ready to travel. I doubt anyone is going to attack us in the next twenty minutes.”
“The robots will stay on guard until just before we move out,” I assured him.
“Good, though I’m not sure how well they would do in an attack,” he responded.
“You’d be surprised,” I told him. “We’ll show you a bit when we’re at the mine.”
“Now you’ve got me intrigued,” he said before he moved away.
I climbed up onto the flatbed and checked everything over and didn’t find anything missing or out of place. The buildings were locked up after the truck was backed out so dad and I entered our bus.
A slightly rotund and cheerful man was sitting in the driver’s seat.
“Good morning, I gather you are the Addler men from what the beautiful young lady said would be joining us next,” he greeted us. “I’m Harold Wilkinson, your driver for the weekend.”
“Harold, I’m Chris and this is my son Ben and yes, we’re the Addler men,” dad responded as he and then I shook his hand. “We’re just waiting for the CSA team and two members of the military team and we can head out if you’re ready to go.”
“All gassed up, have the route mapped out and discussed with the sergeant and the flatbed driver so we can leave as soon as the rest get here,” Harold confirmed.
“Excellent, we’ll get set up and buckled in then,” dad stated and moved down the aisle.
The bus was modern with single seats on either side of the wide aisle. Monitors hung down from the ceiling if needed and bunks could be pulled down from the walls with the seats moving on tracks to go between the bunks on the wall. There were twelve seats and bunks along with a washroom at the front and another one at the back. In the back was a kitchenette with a fridge, sink and a microwave. The washroom in the back also had a small shower to rinse off in. About three quarters the way back, there was a divider with a door that could segregate groups if needed.
Riley was in the back portion, already claiming a seat near the kitchen and bathroom. A couple robots, one a service and the other a security robot, were working in the kitchen, brewing coffee and putting food away into cupboards and the fridge.
“Alright, Ben, You’re across from me and Chris, you take the one closer to the door if that’s okay?” she asked.
“Fine with me, though do you want to want to have the other woman back here with you instead of us?” dad asked.
“Hmmm, boyfriend or strange woman?” she mused with a hand on her chin. “Tough decision. I’ll think on it.”
“Smart ass,” I said as I tickled her.
“Just don’t think you two will be keeping my up all night fooling around back here,” Chris warned as he picked a seat and hooked up his laptop to the monitor, copying what I was doing.
“Just half the night,” I said with a grin.
“In the immortal words of Al from Home Improvement, ‘I don’t think so’,” He replied.
I laughed and got busy loading up the software onto my spare laptop so it could run the AMDS and AMIS software while I kept my main laptop for me to monitor everything, including any incursions on our perimeter. The robots had put cameras in the containers on the flatbed and slipped a couple on the truck itself. I pulled up the feeds and split them up on one of the monitors in our back section. I had put another container of slightly smaller AMDS probes on the flatbed and would launch them first to provide a better detection system for the entire country and our launches. One of the monitors got a map of North America on half and a globe on the other half so we could track all air and surface traffic for potential intrusions.
“Alright, I’m up and ready with the systems and as soon as we launch the smaller probes for the detection system, we’ll have eyes on most of North America and the space above us,” I told them. “I should have launched them already so we had cover for our trip but maybe I’ll put up a couple of drones for air cover. I’ll be back in a few.”
“Do we really need air cover?” dad asked.
“Better safe than sorry,” I replied. “It won’t cost us anything and any warning is better than none. I can get a probe up to defend us in five minutes if we had to. The Americans, Russians and the Chinese would love to get their hands on these or stop their deployment. Who knows what desperate people will do?”
“Alright, get some drones up and you can put them on one of the monitors so we can all see their video,” dad agreed.
I gave Riley a kiss and then hurried off the bus. I was sub-vocalizing with Base to get the robots ready to launch a few drones in all directions and at various altitudes. One of the robots had the door open for me while others gathered at a garage door on the other side of the building away from the vehicles. They had several drones already out of their boxes and were filling them up with fuel or adding Addlerium to them, depending on who made them.
Once they were ready, I had Base turn on all the lights in the parking lot where the vehicles were to temporarily blind everyone and had them all launch quickly. Once they were all out of sight, I had them prepare a few AMIS probes to launch on my or Base’s command to protect the convoy if needed.
I went back to the vehicles to find the CSA team boarding the bus and the Colonel and the lieutenant Mathews, who turned out to be a beautiful raven haired woman, had arrived in a new Humvee. I could see dad was with the CSA team so I stopped where the Colonel was getting out of the passenger side of the Humvee.
“Colonel, good morning, we’re just about ready to head out now that the CSA team is here,” I informed him.
“Good morning Ben,” he replied, shaking my hand. “Meet Lieutenant Mathews, she’s my assistant on this project. Lieutenant, this is Ben Addler, the inventor of the probes, space craft, robots and many other impressive devices, that will make our lives so much interesting for the next few years.”
“Lieutenant Mathews, welcome to the chaos,” I said with a grin.
“Mr. Addler, it’s nice to meet you and I’m looking forward to seeing your inventions and what you can do with them,” she said in a no nonsense tone.
“I’m sure you’ll see what the probes can do and we’ll show you around the shops when we get back,” I told her. “We have room for both of you in the bus if you’d like to travel with us and you can monitor the probes on the way back and our detection screen I put up to monitor the convoy along the way.”
They looked at one another and then at the bus.
“It has air conditioning, two washrooms, a kitchenette, bunks that fold down from the side walls and monitors that drop down from the ceiling,” I said, giving them the high points of the bus. “Why drive when you can actually do something along the way while being chauffeured in style?”
“Thanks Ben, I think we’ll take you up on the offer,” the Colonel responded as he opened up the back door and pulled out a suitcase and a heavy duty briefcase.
The lieutenant, dressed in snug dress pants and a uniform jacket, went around and did the same. I took her luggage and pointed to a parking spot for her to get the Humvee out of the way. I led the way to the bus and put her suitcase in the luggage compartment as did the Colonel. The Lieutenant came up and I handed her back her briefcase before leading the way up the stairs of the bus.
“Harold Wilkinson, this is Colonel Metcalfe and Lieutenant Mathews, our final two passengers,” I made the introductions.
“Welcome aboard, we’ll be ready to go in five minutes, right on time,” Harold said, giving them a nod.
“Good to hear it,” the Colonel said before we moved on.
The CSA team was putting their carryon bags away and getting settled into their seats before powering up their laptops.
“Hello everyone, glad to see everyone made it,” I said. “Colonel Metcalfe and Lieutenant Mathews are going to join us for the trip. Introductions can wait until after we get moving. We leave in five minutes so let’s get everyone situated.”
Riley came from the back and, after introducing her to the Lieutenant, got them in the two seats just before the dividing door. Only the extra seat in our section was empty and the bunk would have to be used as the driver would have to use one of the bunks up at the front. Everyone was buckled in when we heard the Colonel radio to the sergeant to head out as he nodded to Harold. The extra Humvee went first, followed by the flatbed, us and the military bus took up the rear of the convoy. In just a few minutes, we were out of town and heading north and east. I had the new drones quickly integrated into the AMDS system for now until we got the smaller probes up later this afternoon.
“How do you have access to that surveillance?” Lieutenant Mathews asked as she looked up at the monitors.
“I was concerned about security and potential mischief from other countries so I launched some drones this morning,” I told her. “They’ll do until I can get some probes up later today for semi-permanent coverage of the country. They’ll be much better than what we have now, especially if the Americans don’t want us to see what they see.”
She looked over at the Colonel who just said, “The AMDS and the AMIS aren’t the only thing we’re working with Addler Enterprises on. Wait until you see the new fighter craft that they just built. With these systems and a squadron of the fighters and his AMIS probes, we’re protected from anyone trying to invade, encroach or intimidate us. We start trials on the fighter craft in a couple weeks.”
She looked back at me but just stared.
“Yes, he’s only fifteen, but he’s not as mature as he thinks he is,” Riley commented from her seat.
I just shook my head and finished mapping the coverage into the system and then onto the monitor.
“Alright, the system will tell us if anyone comes close or changes their altitude or course to intercept us,” I announced. “If something happens, we can pull over and launch a couple AMIS probes to intercept the attack if that’s what develops.”
“Better safe than sorry,” the Colonel said with an approving nod.
Diane came back to go over the computer system for the new detection system and how I was able to adapt our AMDS system to work with the drones. The rest gathered around and we talked about aspects of the launch, the travel to the asteroid belt and which asteroid they thought we should target.
Time went by quickly and I was surprised when Riley came over with a tray holding a plate of hot spaghetti and meat sauce along with a bottle of pop. I pulled the fold up table on the seat up and let her put her tray down on top of it and thanked her. She smiled, gave me a kiss and then went back to help the service robot hand out a few more meals as the robots churned them out.
I wanted to wait for her but she told me to eat up and she would eat when everyone else was served. It didn’t take long to polish off the food and I carried the empty tray back to the robots who took it from me and started washing the plate and tray. Riley was eating so I just rubbed her back for a second before sitting back down in my seat.
The system monitoring the drones flashed a warning a half an hour later.
“What is it?” Lieutenant Mathews asked.
“Looks like we have a couple of large drones heading this way up from Minnesota,” I told her as I pulled up the specific feeds.
The map showed two lines angling towards us from Minnesota but probably originating from Colorado where the US had several bases. I had a couple high altitude drones that had video of them and some of the lower altitude drones would soon have them in sight as well.
The video came up showing two large drones nearing the border close to International Falls. One looked like a smaller version of a stealth jet while the other looked like a normal military drone with a couple missiles attached.
“Jesus, those are attack drones, not surveillance drones,” Lieutenant Mathews exclaimed, looking at the Colonel.
He quickly got on his phone while looking at dad and I, giving us a nod.
“I’m going to launch some AMIS probes from our headquarters,” I shouted before looking at dad. “Get the convoy stopped and the robots clearing the launch equipment so we can launch from the flatbed.”
I pulled up the AMIS software while sub-vocalizing with Base to get the probes at headquarters out to the parking lot with a spare launcher and get them in the air. Luckily, the parking lot was empty so hopefully only the pavement would be damaged. Since we were already prepared to launch, it only took them a minute to drag it out to the middle and get the first AMIS probe launched. Four more were launched in the next two minutes as robots carried each to the launcher.
“Interception in twenty seconds,” I shouted. “I have two with lasers and two with rail guns ready to shoot.”
Sergeant Thomas’s voice came over the radio, “The robots have two probes ready to launch. Do we launch?”
“Yes, clear the area and we’ll launch from here when you give the word you’re clear,” the Colonel replied, looking at me.
I nodded and took over that launch with my laptop as we looked at the camera video on the monitors. I had my finger on the enter button but waited as the robots, the driver and the military personnel ran back to us as we had the buses back up.
“Clear!” the Sergeant shouted.
“Launching!” I shouted back as the Colonel nodded. “Do I fire on the drones? First ones are in range. Their drones are across the border now.”
He was talking on his phone and held his finger up to wait.
“Warn them off with a near pass,” he told me.
Base and I took control of one of the rail probes as it would have a smaller chance to hit the target if activated and buzzed both of the drones close enough to affect their flight. I turned the drone and flew between them, rocking them again before speeding out of sight in front of them. I turned around and headed right for the one with missiles.
“I have a lock on the one with missiles and am going to take it out this time,” I shouted, loud enough for the person or persons on the other side of the Colonel’s phone call.
The drone tried to evade but my software compensated as I hit the fire button and a two pound projectile raced towards it. It contacted the probe and it exploded in a fiery ball, rocking the second stealth drone. It still kept coming so I had a laser equipped AMIS target it.
“Laser locked on stealth drone, firing in five seconds,” I shouted.
The drone went into a climb to evade but was so much slower than the probe as it followed it into the stratosphere. I hit the fire button and the drone was quickly cut in half and the pieces broke up as the fell to earth.
“Jesus, that was tense,” dad said.
“Tell me about it,” I agreed. “Let’s launch the AMDS meant for a screen and then we’ll continue on to the launch site and get everything else launched as soon as possible.”
The Colonel was still talking on the phone but we had the robots move the container of smaller AMDS probes to the launchers and quickly had them in the air.
“Alright, full detection screen of AMDS probes is launched, I’m moving them into position for full coverage of all borders,” I announced. “AMIS probes are circling the convey as well as the base in Dryden. Let’s pack up and get moving towards the mine so we can launch everything as soon as possible.”
The Lieutenant gave the orders to get everything packed up to the soldiers as did I to the robots and it took all the robots and the lift truck to get the launchers back on to the flatbed. Everything was tied down and we were quickly back on our way, our speed increased significantly. Back at the base, they launched four more AMIS probes before dousing the launcher and the parking lot with water. Eventually, the launcher was brought back inside and just a hole in the melted pavement filled with water was left in the middle of the parking lot. A police car pulled up a couple minutes later but no one was available to answer their questions.
“Lieutenant, we might need help with local authorities for launching from within town borders, letting them know it was due to national security issues,” I told her. “Not high on our priorities right now but put it on the list please.”
“Noted,” she replied and typed something on her laptop.
I was busy getting the AMDS into position along the southern border first and then the rest had longer to go to get to the Atlantic, Pacific and the Artic Ocean borders. All the while, Base and I were sub-vocalizing about the US drones.
‘They launched from a covert base in one of the mountains in the Colorado Rockies,’ Based informed me. ‘I’m monitoring communications and obviously for any additional launches. The AMDS southern border probes will pick a launch up from anywhere in the US within a second as well. The Colonel is not getting any answers from his counterparts in the US military so the political people are getting involved.’
‘Let’s get a solution plotted should they launch any more drones or jets at us please,’ I responded.
‘I’m already preparing countermeasures with our AMIS in the air,’ Base assured me. ‘You might want to suggest to the Colonel to allow the new fighter to get launched as soon as possible.’
‘I’ll suggest that as soon as he’s off the phone,’ I agreed. ‘Is it fully operational?’
‘Yes, including AMIS probes, additional rail guns and lasers installed and fully fueled with Addlerium,’ he told me.
‘I should get the ladies prepping a flatbed delivery to the airport as soon as possible, though the wings would have to come off to get it out the doors and onto the flatbed,’ I mused. ‘Might have to fix the hole in the parking lot as well.’
‘I already have a load of stone coming in today and contacted a paving company to come in to cover it up Monday morning,’ Base informed me. ‘Let Riley know what I’ve done in your name and what is needed to get the fighter to the airport.’
‘Will do,’ I agreed. ‘Check on AddlerOne and AddlerTwo in Winnipeg, this might be a distraction to get into the hangers.’
He was silent for a few seconds before responding, ‘P1 through P4 state no issues and all is secure. They are now on heightened alert, along with the other robots building AddlerEight.’
‘Good, thanks Base,’ I replied. ‘I’ll get with the Colonel and voice my displeasure and that I won’t be so restrained if another attack comes. We will destroy the attacking aircraft and the facility that launched them.’
‘Understood, we’ll need to focus a few AMIS on the base to achieve that result, but it can be done,’ he told me. ‘The bases are in and under a mountain so we will have to get creative.’
‘I’m sure we could mess up their computer systems soon enough, after you’ve retrieved all their information,’ I commented.
‘Of course, I’m inside and monitoring while copying their files as we speak,’ he admitted.
‘Good, let me get on a few things,’ I responded.
I caught the Colonel’s attention and had him come to the back along with the Lieutenant, dad and Riley.
“They were launched from a base in the Colorado Rockies,” I informed everyone. “I’m monitoring the entire US with the AMDS screen at the southern border of Canada so we’ll know within a second should another attack be launched.’
“Okay, that’s good,” the Colonel responded.
“We launched enough AMIS here and at our headquarters to defend ourselves against most attacks,” I continued. “Next, I have the robots fixing the parking lot with a load of gravel when it arrives and a paving company will be there first thing in the morning to pave it over. I’m doing that because I want the fighter, AddlerEight, moved to the Dryden airport as soon as possible to be on standby. The wings are being taken off so we can fit it on a flatbed and then put it back together back out at the airport right away. Riley, please have Reece set up a flatbed and a place to work out there to get the wings back on.”
“On it,” Riley agreed and moved to her seat and pulled out her laptop and phone.
“Colonel, what do the politicians and military say?” I asked.
“The US are denying any attack was launched,” he replied. “I have our military racing to the downed stealth drone parts to gather the evidence. Can you get me your video and tracking data so I can pass it along to my superiors and the Prime Minister’s office please?”
“Sure thing,” I said, working my fingers on my laptop and sending him all I had. “Okay, you got it.”
“Thanks, give me a minute to pass this along,” the Colonel replied.
It took him a couple minutes plus a couple phone calls to get it to the right people.
“Alright, they’ll take it from here,” he said.
“Well, you might want to tell them that I’m monitoring all traffic from all of their covert and known bases and should anything launch in our direction again, I’ll not only destroy the drones or planes, but I’ll also be destroying the base they launched from,” I told him.
“You looking to start a war?” he asked.
“No, but I’ll finish it,” I told him. “My probes and fighter jet aren’t the only things I’ll use if they keep it up. Somebody better warn them that I’m perfectly capable of putting them back into the stone age and won’t hesitate if they even look up here again. I take the safety of my family, my company and the country very, very seriously.”
He stared at me for a few seconds and then nodded before picking up his phone.
“Lieutenant, try to keep Ben calm while I warn the powers to be of the consequences of continuing this attack,” he instructed as he moved to the far back to make his calls.
“Yes Sir,” she replied and moved closer to me. “Ben, try not to start WW3 please. I’d hate to have to go against that robot who seems to be very interested in me all of a sudden.”
“You definitely wouldn’t want to make him angry,” I told her as I put up maps showing all air traffic in the States and in Canada. “Don’t worry; anything I do will be justified. For example, I’m ready to make that secret base go dark with just a touch of a button. I can now take over their spy satellites or turn them off. I also know where each and every nuclear missile is, whether on land, deep in a mountain, on a ship or in a submarine.”
“Jesus Ben, just try to let the politicians and the military get this dialed down first,” she said. “There’s a certain way to get this done.”
“Yes, and the US usually bullies everyone and never admits to anything,” I responded. “They need to know that they bit off more than they can chew.”
She looked at dad who shrugged his shoulders and responded, “He’s right, they were coming to do something nasty to everyone here and maybe more. I’m perfectly fine with him protecting our family and company. I trust him to limit the loss of life and just take out their structures and equipment, which I’m sure those drones would not have.”
She did exactly what I wanted her to do; go to the Colonel and have a whispered conversation with him, which motivated the Colonel to up his efforts to convince both the political people and the military ones to get something done quicker. I winked at dad who nodded but didn’t smile.
It was tense over the next couple hours until we arrived at the mine. I let Diane, Riley and the Lieutenant monitor the AMDS system for any launches while the guards set up a perimeter as the robots unloaded the launch frames and then the probes. We didn’t mess around as we got the larger AMDS probes ready to launch as soon as possible, with the AMIS probes sitting nearby to launch right after rather than tomorrow as planned. No way we were going to wait around with the threat of further attacks hanging over us. I went back inside and took over the launch. We went in five minute intervals and got the thirty AMDS probes launched in two and a half hours. The thirty AMIS probes went in about the same time and it was a sight to see them race off into the night sky. We packed everything up and were on our way after eating a quick meal of hamburgers and hotdogs done up nice on the barbeque we brought with us.
I let the CSA team monitor the probes using the software as they raced to the asteroid belt located between Mars and Jupiter. The Lieutenant and the Colonel traded off during the night monitoring the separate program controlling the AMDS probes guarding our borders. We turned the lights down in the bus as Harold drove us home. Riley convinced me to lie down with her on the far bunk and just cuddled up close and told me to rest for a while. I drifted off to sleep, knowing Base would wake me before the others monitoring the systems would even detect an issue. Dad took another bunk and did the same.
Base woke me as we were about to enter the town limits. It was still dark but it looked like sunrise was close at hand. I let Riley sleep and moved to where the Colonel was sitting with a cup of coffee while watching the screens for both the AMDS border screen and the progress out to the asteroid belt.
“Morning,” I said.