Country Boy

Someone else yelled, "Yeah, right. Now tell us another one. I've lived 'round here all my life and I ain't never seen them building no nuke plant nowhere near here."

"Ok, I was expecting this. If everyone would follow me outside please I'll show you the plant and then explain the main reason I called this meeting."

After everyone was outside the building, Larry said loudly, "Lander, would you please come out here where everyone can see you. And if possible, can you prevent people other than those assembled here from seeing you?"

The people that followed Larry outside began looking around to see who this Lander was and where he was coming from. All at once someone said, "Look!" and pointed at the opening double doors on the end of Larry's personal research building. A murmur broke out when Lander began to slowly appear coming through the doors. Finally, his entire 42-foot length was clear of the building. He moved until he was centered on the crowd and settled gently to the ground. And settled and settled until he had sank nearly four feet into the rocky Arkansas dirt. The side door, or hatch, opened and a couple of 'bots came floating out in front of the frightened crowd. There was an immediate rise in noise once again when the crowd saw the 'bots moving out of the door and taking position near the front of the crowd.

A man near the rear of the group said, "Fuck! That's a space ship. Tom was right. The aliens have landed. Let's get out of here." He started running toward the parking lot but was intercepted by security.

Lander said, "Larry, I have tightened the shield and made it refract light in such a way no one can easily see inside the compound. To those who may see something, I appear as a large truck, although fuzzy and out of focus. I am sorry, that is the best I can do."

Larry let the crowd look and exclaim for a while then demanded their attention once again. He launched into an explanation of how Lander came to be there, his discovery of him, and his reasoning for keeping him secret. In fact, he and the two women spent the next hour talking to the assembled group explaining why they were no longer safe living outside the shield and what they proposed to do about it. It seemed as if he had to spend an inordinate amount of time reassuring his employees he was not an alien and the earth wasn't on the brink of an alien invasion. Finally, the crowd began to relax and listen once again.

One of the newer employees broke into Larry's talk as soon as he said it wasn't safe now for the employees to return home and live outside the protection of the shield. He asked, "Why do you think we won't be safe in our own homes? We haven't done anything wrong."

"No, we haven't, or at least as far as I know none of you have. It's questionable whether I have or not, I'll admit. I feel as if I have been morally and ethically honest but I am also sure the government will not believe so. Some of the technology contained within Lander is years, even centuries ahead of that on earth. You know as well as I do that there are people who will kill to obtain it. Many of them would have no compunction with just moving in and taking Lander by force if they thought they could get away with it. Now, I ask you, who around here has that capability and who might want this technology?

"I am confident the government cannot break the shields and get to Lander or any of us who are protected within. Lander assures me that nothing on earth can break his shield. He says the shields are defense against any earth technology up to and including the largest nuclear bomb in existence. Now, if the government can't obtain Lander and if only some of us are safe within the shielded area what do you think they will do?

"In my opinion they will go after anyone who has been working out here in this research facility. They will not believe or want to believe that you know nothing about Lander and the advanced tech. I believe whoever the government takes into custody will be buried deep and probably never heard from again.

"I am also certain that with the technology provided by Lander we can live comfortably and safely for an indefinite period of time. We can continue learning from him while protected by his shields. We are taking action as we speak to stockpile food, clothing, medicines and other items that we will need to live within the shield. Lander assures me he has the capability to assist us in manufacturing almost anything we need from earth technology or from the alien tech base IF we have the raw materials to do so. I propose to expand the area covered by the shield to an extent that we have several hundred acres on which to live. We will build dwellings for every family. We will have schools and work for everyone. I hope we won't have to stay isolated within the shield for long but we need to be prepared to do so. We will build another shield generator here then we will be able to use Lander to move around the world where we can purchase needed items and ship them back here in him."

A female voice said, "I thought you said we needed the output from a large reactor to power the shields? If Lander leaves we won't have that reactor. How are you going to power the shields if he is gone?"

"I said it would take a reactor to power a shield for a large area such as a city. We can power the new shield using a smaller reactor we salvaged from another shuttle from Lander's mother ship. We can provide power for the buildings if we use the entire output of our stream to power cascaded generators. Even then, we will need a small amount of power from the reactor. We can provide enough shielding power to protect from artillery and nuclear bombs almost indefinitely. The reactor is fueled for at least 200 more years."

Finally the questions and comments wound down. Larry looked around at the shocked faces and said, "Those of you who want to leave should have anywhere from a few hours to a few days to gather your family and the items you want to bring with you if you decide to move inside the shield. I strongly suggest you make the move in hours rather than days because I suspect the government will send investigators early and, depending on what they think they found or what they suspect, they will then send a military contingent to safeguard the area. Remember, right now, they don't know about the shield. They suspect I have something to make the explosion patterns look wrong but they don't know what. I am going to try to tell them this is one of my more recent inventions but I don't know how long they will let me stonewall them about providing the invention to them. Of course, since I have told you all about Lander, the chances of the government finding out about him and the alien technology we have has increased to almost a certainty. I'm sure someone will let the secret slip. Remember, the longer we can keep the secret, the longer you have to get your family safe and the longer we have to stockpile items we will need."

After Larry stopped talking, there was a mass exodus—heck, there was a mad scramble—for the parking lot. There were several near collisions as the employees rushed toward the road and their homes. When the first vehicle approached the edge of the shield, Lander reduced the field strength over the road and allowed them to exit the facility. Many of the news vehicles took off in pursuit of the departing employees. After everyone exited, he raised the shield strength once again but left it invisible.

Less than 45 minutes later Larry received his first phone call as a result of the attack. The reporter wanted to know the particulars of the attack, Larry's take on it and how he managed to prevent the missiles from doing more damage to his facility. He also informed Larry that ISIS was claiming responsibility for the attack on their web pages and statements sent to various news media outlets.

Larry said only, "I'm afraid I don't know any more than the authorities do about the attack. As for the lack of damage, I suppose we were just extremely lucky. We only had two buildings damaged and none of our employees was injured."

"What can you tell me about the rumors of some kind of shields or protective device around your facility that stopped those missiles before they got to your buildings? There have been rumors you have some kind of protection never seen before."

"Well, you can hear many things in the aftermath of frightening events. Many people see many different things during a time of stress. Many people also miss seeing many things during that same period of stress. I wouldn't want to comment on any rumors going around at this time."

CHAPTER 14

A COUNTRY BOY CAN SURVIVE

BY SW MO HERMIT

Larry and the women puttered around the lab while they waited on their employees to return. As they straightened up their work areas, they talked about what they could envision for the next several days. Unfortunately, none of them could see anything except trouble on the horizon. Even if the government didn't make demands for the shield technology, they were sure to be involved deeply in the investigation to the point where no work could be accomplished. They also would have news media representatives sticking their noses into every nook and cranny. They had the choice of keeping the shield up for the protection and privacy it would afford or leaving it down and take a chance on unwanted people wandering around the campus or being attacked once again and not getting it up timely.

Finally they decided to keep Lander's reactor operating at minimal power settings with the shield on minimum power so it could be hardened immediately if Lander detected a threat. His surveillance devices—both drones and electronic—were far superior to their earth counterparts. His reaction time should be more than sufficient to protect the facility. They also ordered Lander to immediately begin construction of the new shield projector.

Finally, around midnight, some of the employees began to straggle in with their families and some personal property—mostly family heirlooms and sentimental property along with their clothes. The influx of employees and families continued at a trickle throughout the night and reached heavy volume just after nine the next morning.

Just after ten a.m. the morning after the attack several black Suburban's and a small convoy of military vehicles arrived at the campus. Ten black suited men walked arrogantly into the office of the complex followed quickly by several men in Army Camouflage Uniforms. The senior Army Officer was a full Colonel. They demanded to see Larry immediately on a matter of grave national importance.

The receptionist asked the men to be seated and called Larry on the in house phone system to announce the visitors. Of course he already knew they were there compliments of Lander's technology. He instructed her to have them wait and he would send a guide to bring them to his office. He quickly moved to his formal office and took his seat. He wasn't sure how to play the next few minutes but decided to see how far he got going on the attack before they could try and put him in the place they wanted him to be.

As soon as the men entered his office one of the black suited ones began to talk. Larry broke into the conversation and said, "I'm glad to see you so soon. Take a seat. As soon as I have seen and verified your identity we can get started. I have drawn up a plan for the defense of this facility that I hope meets with your approval. I must say I am impressed you have arrived as quickly as you have."

The Colonel glared at Larry and the man who tried to talk first said, "What do you mean? We are here to investigate yesterday's apparent attack on this facility and determine how you managed to sustain such a small amount of damage. This facility is now under government control. My people are setting up in your lobby now. We will need offices in which to work and access to all your records immediately."

"Not going to happen; At least not immediately. I still haven't seen any ID, search warrants or authorization for you to even be here if you're not here to protect us."

"Oh, you can bet we'll protect this facility. If you have the shield we think you have we will definitely protect it. What I want to know is why you haven't contacted the government about this shield? We have taken over this facility under the authority granted us by the Patriot Act. You are required to cooperate with us under that same act. Agents of the Department of Homeland Security and soldiers from the U.S. Army are currently securing the perimeter and this facility to insure your cooperation and the safety of the devices you have here."

"You mean you're not here to investigate the unprovoked attack on us and to provide protection so we can continue with our research?"

"NO, not hardly. Now, are you going to cooperate or are we going to have to do this the hard way?"

Larry resumed his seat behind the desk and looked at the men for a moment. Finally, he said, "Lander shield the perimeter and my desk. Make the shield opaque. Assist security in apprehending all unauthorized personnel within our shield immediately."

The door to Larry's office slammed open and two security guards stepped into the room. They held rifles on the men from the government while a third man carefully searched them. After they had been disarmed they were herded out of the office and into another building that held four cells. They were locked in one of the cells and the security team left. As they were leaving the lead agent said, "You can't do this. We're government agents and we've taken over this facility. I demand you release us immediately."

The supervisory security agent said, "We don't know who you are. You came into a private research facility without a search warrant. When you were asked for identification you did not provide it. You made threats to our President. Until we can verify identity and your authority to be here, you are our prisoners."

The team leader yelled as the security agents left, "You are making a grave mistake. This is going to go very hard on you. Now get back in here and release us immediately."

Within fifteen minutes all unauthorized people within the perimeter were in custody. Larry and his management team were meeting in the employee cafeteria. Larry said, "I'm afraid I was right. Those bozo's tried to take over the facility. It looks as if we are on our own now."

"What are we going to do now," asked his facility manager.

"We will protect the employees and families that are here and try to assist those who didn't make it back or who chose not to return. I don't know how long this stalemate will go on but I suspect it will be a lengthy affair. We have funds available to purchase necessary supplies and we will do so. We will use Lander to ferry items in from a distance. Additionally, I have decided to rid the world of ISIS and as many other terrorists as I can. I have authorized Lander to begin operations against terrorists immediately. They will pay for their attack on us and other innocent people."

They spent the remainder of the day settling the families in and arranging living accommodations for them. Late in the afternoon, the military and government agents who were prisoners were released.

Early the next morning Lander woke Larry and said, "Larry, this facility is surrounded by your military. They have been sending radio messages demanding our immediate surrender. We have one hour to do so before they begin an attack. What are your instructions?"

"Ignore them Lander. Unless they can damage us or hurt us in some way I have no intention of surrendering. Are you positive they can't harm us?"

"Yes Sir. No weapon that exists on earth can damage us in any way. If they use large conventional bombs or nuclear weapons, however, they will do serious damage to structures and people outside the shield."

"Is there any way you can minimize the damage done to buildings and the external surroundings?"

"I can intercept a significant number of artillery shells and bombs should they use them however, if they use numerous bombs and shells at one time I cannot eliminate all of them. They will impact on my shield and the blast will do damage outside the shield as I stated."

"Ok, I understand. If you can determine the size of the projectile or bomb coming toward us, eliminate the larger ones first and work down in size if possible."

The next two days were filled with threats and demands Larry and his people surrender. Finally, the Army resorted to force. Several tanks had been sited around the perimeter and they all fired their cannons at once. None of the shells impacted the shield as Lander's point defense destroyed them all. Sporadic attacks continued throughout the day. Finally, near ten p.m. the military began to pull back. Lander informed Larry of the retreat, then he said, "Sensors detect a flight of three of your Stealth Bombers approaching. They have released two large bombs each Larry."

There were six quick flashes and the bombs disappeared. Lander said, "Bombs destroyed. Should I also destroy the aircraft?"

"No. Leave them alone. I'm going to bed. Continue the defense as we discussed Lander."

"Yes Captain." Larry's step faltered when he heard that.

"What did you call me Lander?"

"Captain, Captain."

"When did I become your captain?"

"I reviewed the regulations, your laws, the laws of my civilization and our discussion of a while ago. I believe you have the legal right to not only ownership of this vessel but the right to be installed as my Commander. Also, sir, I believe we should return to space as soon as we can to salvage as much as we can of the mother ship. Since we are now isolated from your fellow humans, we can make use of much of the technology contained on the ship if the meteor didn't completely destroy it. You will have ownership of anything we find there under both civilization's laws and your own."

"I thought you had determined the ship was destroyed Lander."

"No Captain. Or perhaps I misspoke as I was still learning your language when we discussed the ship. The ship is destroyed but I believe there are still large pieces of it that can be salvaged. It was not vaporized and didn't fall to the earth. Well, some pieces of it fell to earth during the meteor shower but the majority of the ship did not. It assumed a different orbit and some of the pieces are even leaving the vicinity of earth because of the vectors imparted by the collision. I did make sure there were no survivors in the crew and I know the ship is not able to move under its own power. I suppose it is destroyed much as one of your land vehicles would be considered destroyed by a wreck that totaled it. It may even be as near totally destroyed as one of your aircraft that crashes. I am confident, however, that we can find many useful items if we can locate and salvage the ship. If nothing else, just the metals will be of inestimable use to us as we build your new realm."

"I am all for that but can we do it? Will it be safe for us to leave and be gone long enough to find and salvage the ship? And what do you mean when you say when I build my new realm?"

"I believe we can safely be gone for a not inconsiderable time Captain. The small reactor I have placed underground is sufficient to power the shield as you know. We will have no defensive capability while I am gone but that's no problem. Of course, if the military decided to once again fire upon the campus, there would be no point defense to eliminate the shells or bombs so there would be come damage from the exploding munitions."

"If we can get away without being seen then, we should see what we can find. We'll take the chance they won't attack again while we're gone. I really don't want any damages outside the shield if we can help it. Ok, gang. Let's call it a day here. I want to leave before dawn in the morning—say about 0430 hours. Hopefully we will be visually undetectable at that time as well as undetectable to all electronic and IR devices."