Chapter 8

I reported our fight with the green aliens to Double Os headquarters, and they, of course, immediately wanted more information. Meanwhile, they went into full-war mode.

We continued traveling more or less in an easterly direction. We were looking for more of the aliens to try to establish where their base of operations might be, but we were not having much luck. We began to think that we had simply run into a scouting party or something similar. If so, we could be wandering around for weeks without finding what we were looking for. What we really needed was some sort of aerial surveillance.

Since it was my idea, I was the one who approached the replicator with the request. “Replicator, we need to look at a large area of ground in a short time, and it seems to me that it would be convenient to do that from the air. What can you offer us to make that possible?”

“My answer depends on whether or not you want to see with your own eyes. If you do, I can provide you with a flying platform that you can ride in. On the other hand, if you will accept pictures of the ground, I can disperse drones to cover the same area and return a picture map of the ground. The drones would provide a quicker and safer coverage, and that is what I would recommend.”

“Okay, that sounds good to me. Let’s try for coverage of an area 10 miles square between where we are as the western edge and eastward toward the ocean.”

“When should I start?”

“Begin immediately after we come to a stop. Our main interest is the headquarters or a subsidiary base of the green aliens we encountered this morning.

“Juan, stop at the first defensible location you come to.”

We traveled for about another mile and came to a large wetlands area with no trees of any importance. The road was laid on an artificial ridge across the swamp, and Juan stopped very near the middle of this path through the swamp. This gave us at least a half-mile view in all directions, so we figured that we could easily spot anything trying to sneak up on us. “Go ahead, Replicator, start sending out the drones.”

“They are on their way. I will report when they have finished the survey or when they spot something interesting. I estimate that the 10-mile-square area will be covered in about 90 minutes.”

“Okay, while we are waiting, please make up the flying platform you mentioned as a substitute for the drones. Please make it large enough to hold all four of us and arm it with four of the heavy-duty weapons like those in our dorsal turrets. Be sure to include a power supply and a replicator.”

“Very well. I will make it collapsible so that it can be carried by a vehicle.”

“That is an excellent idea. Thank you.”

Besides the automatic guard system, one of us went up into a dorsal turret to keep a lookout. The rest of us idled away the time with video games and such.

It was about an hour later that Replicator announced, “The flying platform is ready for a test run. It is on the ground on the western side of the vehicle.”

We grabbed up our personal weapons and our helmets and rushed to see the flying machine. It looked like an old-time watering trough for farm animals. It was about 15 feet long and four feet wide with rounded ends. Two of the requested guns were mounted at either end of the trough. The walls of the trough were made of 4-inch-thick polycarbonate sheet that was easy to see through, and these walls were roughly 54 inches high so that we could stand behind them and still shoot.

This vehicle had a definite front and rear. The front held a driver’s position and the rear had a small jet engine to provide forward propulsion. There was a comfortable chair at each of the fixed gun positions so that the gunner could sit while using the gun and find considerable protection by the wall and a bullet shield on the gun.

The driving controls were identical to those of the ground vehicles, but with the addition of an elevation control calibrated in feet. That elevation was relative to the local ground. That might have to be modified after we used the flier and got some experience with it. By the way, the speedometer was calibrated in MPH and not in Knots.

We did a rock-paper-scissors game to set the piloting order. Lucia won. Replicator assured us that we had a reliable Identifier—Friend or Foe (IFF) unit on board keyed into the vehicles guard system so that we would not be shot at by mistake. Juan keyed the guard system and the lockdown of the vehicle before we took off for the first flight.

As expected, each one of us was a little shaky with our first piloting job, but we came around quickly. Our main problem was a tendency to over-control, just as if we had been aboard a boat, but Replicator had anticipated that and had included small thrusters to correct any of that we ran into. The thrusters would also help in controlling any wandering caused by stray wind currents.

I had been the one to lose the piloting contest, so I was the pilot when Replicator called us back to the vehicle to examine the result of the drone flights. The map was a disappointment in most respects because it did not show any place where the aliens might have set up a base. Nevertheless, we saved the printout to use as a map if we needed to cross this section of ground.

Replicator did point out an anomaly, though. A photograph had been taken just as a drone was banking for a sharp turn. This caused the camera to be pointed horizontally instead of vertically. The photo showed a flash of gleaming metal in something of a domed shape—nothing like humans would normally construct.

This structure appeared to be about 15 miles from out current location, and there was plenty of time left in the day, so we decided to investigate. The top speed of the flier was a nominal 50 MPH, so it would not take us long to fly to the strange structure. Lucia was chosen as the pilot, and Juan manned the gun to her left. Sue and I took the rear guns, and we left immediately.

The flier was equipped with an autopilot, and that let Lucia become another gunner if necessary. The autopilot was hooked into Replicator’s computer, so that it could become the pilot if necessary.

As soon as we took off, I called Double Os to report what we were doing and said that a picture of what was going on around us was being transmitted on a continuous basis via Replicator’s computer which they could tap into. That caused a lot of scurrying around back home, and it was only a couple of minutes later that they reported receiving the picture. Ah, now everybody was hooked in on the fun.

Capt. Jones, the military commander, recommended that we fly as high as we could on this preliminary trip so that we would be less likely to be spotted. It was so unlikely that there would be anything but birds in the air that none of the aliens would be looking up when we flew over. That sounded like an excellent idea to us, so Lucia took us to about 8,000 feet. There was so much wind that she did drop us to 6,500 feet so that she could control the flier more easily.

We were still several miles away when we caught sight of the metal dome. Oh, my God, that thing was big! It was at least five miles in diameter and about 3,000 feet high at its peak. The sun was glinting so brightly off the surface that the people back at base asked Replicator if it could use filters so that they could get a better idea of the details of the roof. Replicator tried, but only with moderate success.

It turned out to make little difference because the roof looked smooth from what they could see, so the matter was dropped. As we got closer, we could see a network of roads leading from one section of the giant structure. The roads were paved with something that didn’t look like blacktop or concrete, but must have been rigid. This implication was gathered from the fact that the edge of the road did overhang sections where the underlying dirt had been washed away. The aliens may have known how to make a hard road surface, but they obviously did not know much about how a road on Earth had to be built.