Six murky _things_ moved from the open wall towards the cameras, which
fell back to the opposite side of the room. Each was large, many times
the size of a man, but somehow indistinct, for the cameras didn't convey
any sense of shape or form. For an instant, one of the screens flashed a
picture of a terrified human face, and arms raised protectively as the
shadowy things moved in upon the group.
A projection snapped out from one, grabbed two of the humans, and
hurled them into a corner. Then it motioned a dozen or so others over to
the same spot. With similar harsh, sweeping movements, the group of
humans was quickly broken up into three roughly equal segments. One of
the groups seemed to be protecting someone who appeared seriously hurt.
A black tentacle lashed out and one of the screens went blank. Then
another.
The third showed a small group pushed stumbling through a narrow door,
down a short passageway, and abruptly into blackness. Something that
looked like bars flashed across the screen, then a dark liquid trickled
across the camera lens, blotting out the view.
Eyes blazing, Rothwell whirled on Aku. "Throughout our history,
Commander, humans have had one thing in common, our blasted pride! We
will not turn over our young to slavery, and by hell if we die, we'll
die fighting!" He jerked up his coat sleeve, barked an order into a
small transmitter on his wrist, and, grabbing his daughter, threw
himself flat on the concrete.
Hesitating only an instant, Aku, his lieutenant, and the MPs hit the
ground as both spaceships vanished in a cataclysmic eruption of flame
and steel.
Raising his head, Rothwell grinned crazily into the exploding debris,
imagining nineteen other ships suddenly disintegrating under the rocket
guns of nineteen different nations. He saw Earth, like a giant
porcupine, flicking thousands of atom tipped missiles into space from
hundreds of submarines and secret bases--the war power of the great
nations, designed for the ruin of each other, united to destroy the
alien fleet.
He turned to Aku, "Midgets, volunteers with miniature TV cameras ..." he
stopped.
The commander and his lieutenant had flung their arms about each other
and were crying like babies. Tentatively, Aku reached towards him.
"Those things, the _Eleele_, from another galaxy." He struggled for
words. "They captured your scout crew and implanted memories of
thousands of ships to create fear and make it easier to take slaves
before blasting you." He glanced up at the flashes in the sky. "This was
their only fleet."
* * * * *