Independence Day: Silent Zone Read Free Page B

plan?" The oft-proposed and always rejected
course of action recommended by Wells called for nothing less than a
full-scale
preparation for war, a series of projects so large that the presence of
the aliens
would soon become public knowledge. The plan was always rejected by an
overwhelming margin. Secrecy was priority number one, and there were
two
reasons for this. In the wake of every group sighting of a UFO,
civilians
became hysterical. There was no telling what kind of mass chaos the
country
would face if the government were forced to confirm the presence of
these
visitors. The second, related reason, was that no one wanted to take
responsibility for having kept the information hidden for over
twenty-five
years. Secrecy begat secrecy, one denial led to another, until the
participating agencies found themselves, a quarter of a century after
the crash
at Roswell, sitting on a full-blown conspiracy to keep the American
public—and
the world—in the dark. There was not a chance in hell that anyone in
that room
was going to commit himself to an effort like the one Wells had
envisioned,
especially given the present unstable political climate. No one wanted
to be
caught holding the bag if Congress started one of its investigations
into the
nation's spy agencies.
    Then
Nimziki unleashed his bombshell. "I've decided to support Colonel
Spelman.
After reading through some past reports and looking at the tape we've
just
seen, I think the time has come to start taking this threat seriously."
    Since
Nimziki had joined Smudge, he had been the most ardent critic of the
Wells
plan, arguing that it was a gigantic waste of time and money, that the
aliens
posed no significant threat. In fact, he had taken a personal dislike
to Wells
and had not been content with kicking him out of Smudge, but had
stripped him
of any security clearance and had him run out of the government
altogether.
    Jenkins
grinned across the table. He knew Nimziki well enough to realize there
must be
some I ulterior motive at work. "What exactly does the deputy director
have in mind?"
    "The
plan I'm proposing takes certain elements from the one dear old Dr.
Wells drew
up. But, as you might expect, it's significantly more low-key. It calls
for the
formation of a rapid deployment alien-vehicle intercept force, a
Special
Weapons And Tactics squad capable of getting to one of these aircraft
before it
gets away. At the same time, I want to revamp and redouble our efforts
at Area
51, to see if we can't get some results from the craft we already have.
I have
some long-term plans to get things moving out there."
    "This
SWAT team. What would it do?"
    "The
purpose of this force would be to gather better visual information on
these
craft, attempt to establish radio communication, and, if possible, to
bring one
of them down for further study and reverse-engineering purposes."
    "You
mean you want to shoot them down?" asked one of the Navy guys, visibly
agitated by the idea.
    "Is
that wise?" Dr. Insolo asked. "Let's not forget, these airships are
armed. They have laser cannons which, except in the Wisconsin case,
they
haven't used. We don't want to start a fight we're not sure we can win."
    Jenkins
nodded. "He's right. Besides, what good will it do to capture one of
these
rascals? We've already got the one that went down at Roswell, and that
hasn't
done us a lick of good."
    One
by one, the members of the committee took turns raising objections and
pointing
out shortcomings of the plan. Then Jim Ostrom, aka the Bishop, asked
the question
that was on everyone's mind.
    "This
is an about-face for you, Albert. I remember when Dr. Wells used to
make rather
similar proposals, and you'd sit there and shoot him down. What's
changed? Is
it this film we just watched?"
    "No,
it's a story I heard from your colleague at the NSA, Dr. Podsedecki."
Podsedecki, a former Wells-supporter and leader of the Walker Greens, a
secret
society within the already hypersecret National Security Agency, was a
sort