Chapter 56

Break Down

Everything was up to Secretary Kelly now. God-forbid should the line of succession be activated.

“General Miller, how much longer until we reach peak resonance?”

“Ten minutes,” the General replied.

There were no longer any more orders to give. Only to wait. Either contact with the President is resumed, or the wormholes finished whatever foreboding timer they appeared to be under. A display showed a live visual of the situation above the nation’s capital on the front screen. At first, the several wormholes had looked like splotches of depthless black holes. Now? They've begun to take on color. The borders of which giving away to a dark purple. It was unlike any wormhole the nation's foremost experts had even conceived of. It was almost… magical.

On various other screens circumventing the room were the aforementioned “experts” who only appeared to be engrossed in a fervent and heated debate. Speculation. There were no facts to be shared. For all the accumulated knowledge modern society had garnered over the centuries since the renaissance, it was still insufficient to explain the unexplainable.

Now, reports had begun to stream in from other nations around the globe. This event wasn’t isolated to just America. Across South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, the wormholes mockingly gazed down upon humanity… This couldn’t be something terrestrial in nature. It was enigmatic.

Suddenly, a ping. And the screen at the forefront of the room switched from a live visual of the wormhole to that of the President’s scrunched face. The previous screen having shifted to another adjacent to it. Above the President’s image was a display showing the current location of Airforce One—rising above the skies of Washington D.C.

“Mr. President!” Secretary Kelly shouted in relief, just as President Henry Adams demanded an immediate debrief on the situation.

It only took a moment for the President’s eyes to take stock of the situation within the PEOC from aboard Airforce One. The President immediately caught on to the atmosphere of the room as he noted the Vice-President’s incapacitated state. His eyes made contact with Secretary Kelly, who was currently surrounded by various aides rushing around the room, “Marsha, what the hell is going on!?” the President shouted.

Secretary Kelly stood firm and gave a brief relapse of the actions that had been taken since the President had been en route to the National Airborne Operations Center aboard Airforce One. In the back of her mind, Kelly couldn’t help but be somewhat concerned over how the President would react to her unauthorized use of executive authority.

It was unwarranted. As clear relief encompassed the President’s face. “Hell, I thought I’d be walking into something unsalvageable. You have my respect, Marsha,” the President voiced while glaring towards the Vice-President—who remained aloof. Secretary Kelly couldn’t help but feel pleased with being validated in her opinion of the Vice-President. Clearly, the President shared in Kelly’s opinion about the ineptitude of his subordinate.

“With all due respect, and pardon my language Mr. President, but this may still be unsalvageable.”

President Adams nodded with sympathy, “Marsha, take—”

Black, and then static. The visual had shut down.

“What just happened!?” Secretary Kelly barked.

After a brief cacophony of shouting, Miller yelled, “contact with Airforce One has been lost! Peak resonance has been reached! An EMP of unprecedented intensity is expanding from the epicenter of the wormholes! We’re attempting to reestablish contact with the President!”

All hell broke loose around the PEOC as aides ran to and from multiple terminals. Every screen was flickering indicating the extent of the disturbance. “Aren’t we supposed to be protected from EMP’s General!?” Secretary Kelly yelled to no one in particular.

“This isn’t like any EMP we’ve ever seen before!” someone yelled out.

“Get communications back up and running!” George Wright, the Secretary of Defense suddenly yelled.

Finally, somebody else trying to get a handle on the situation, Secretary Kelly thought with relief.

After a momentary pause: “We’ve reestablished contact with the Pentagon and the military forces in the immediate area! All other feeds are experiencing some level of interference,” someone responded.

“Then what the hell just happened!?” Secretary Kelly yelled.

General Miller stepped forward, front and center in the room. “The wormholes have opened. The D.C. Metropolitan Area is experiencing heavy fighting within the immediate vicinity of the wormholes. Reports indicate aerial drops of hostiles into the streets below.”

As if on cue, the visual that had been focused on the portal reconnected, and the entire room got its first look at the horrific event descending upon the nation’s capital—and likely every city around the world.

The visual feed that returned showed a drastically different scene than prior to the peak resonance. Instead of a massive dark wormhole over a calm city, it looked as though a colossal portal to another world had opened in the very skies above Washington.

Greeting their eyes was a red hellscape vista, decorated in massive, jagged obsidian rocks. Throughout the red expanse, innumerable numbers of beings both large and small could be seen. Their silhouettes appearing ominously as they marched forward and jumped over the portals lip, falling to the city below.

“Get a visual on what’s streaming from the portal!” Secretary Kelly shouted.

Suddenly, the view expanded, and a detailed zoom initiated. A testament to humanity's technological prowess.

As soon as the visual appeared close enough to catch the finer details, an audible gasp emanated from around the Presidential Emergency Operations Center.

Alien was one word to describe the diverse array of beings. This fact alone all but confirmed the theory of the wormhole’s extraterrestrial origins. However, it was completely different than anything Marsha had ever imagined. In her mind, an extraterrestrial invasion would have come from outer space, with massive alien ships looming in Earth's sky, starfighters attempting to obliterate Earth’s military and any attempts at resistance. Magnificent aerial battles that would prove to the would-be invaders that Earth was not someplace that ought to be trifled with.

This though? This was completely different and wholly unexpected. Wormholes above every major American population center, appearing right in the very heart of the nation. Complete and overwhelming force emerging while we still scrambled to react. How the hell could a defense be coordinated like this—as clearly a counterattack would be necessary. It was like ants swarming from their nest, as the streets below began to turn red. Secretary Kelly would have liked to believe that it was all because of the red tone of many of the invader’s skin, but reality may beg to differ.

The beings varied as much in size as they did in defining features. Some were small, with grayish skin, pointy ears, and menacing fangs. Others towered above their counterparts, with scarlet red skin and billowing wings. Marsha’s eyes quickly wandered taking in the sight. Chill-inducing, giant, crimson-colored arachnids, three-headed dogs reminiscent of Cerberus—the guardian of the gates of hell. Even more disturbing were the countless rows of beings clad in what appeared to be full suits of armor made of a black metal. In front of them all, a being that looked as though it had been taken directly out of a fantasy movie. Clad in obsidian-colored steel, its menacing gaze felt as though it penetrated through the very screen, they were all watching.

It was surreal, and the room had ceased its noise for a split moment. Then, a squeal—reminiscent of a panicked pig—broke the silence. As Secretary Kelly turned, she caught the blur of the Vice-President running from the room.

“Miller! Fire on the portal! Take them out now!” Secretary Kelly ordered. With the Vice-President’s sudden absence, she had just been given de facto authority over the situation.

The visual panned out, but her attention was now riveted towards an aerial representation of the city. She grimaced. The situation was spiraling out of control. Somehow, the EMP had rendered the nation's leadership isolated to just the D.C. metropolitan area.

Though, communications were slowly being restored across the nation. Somehow, when the portals opened, interference had been transmitted across all known frequencies and networks. Attempts to communicate with other military positions were slowly returning, but progress was protracted.

On the aerial screen, triangles, signifying fighter jets, dropped away from their circular position above the city and began a heading straight towards the new portals.

The missiles were fired and soon afterward the visual suddenly flashed white. The screen auto-adjusted its lighting in order to prevent blinding the occupants of the room. However, that was the least of everyone’s worries. The triangular indicators displaying the trajectory of the jet had suddenly flickered from existence. It was only moments later—when the screen readjusted—that the effects were known. A brilliant beam of light had shot from the obsidian steel-clad entity that stood at the lip of the portal, impacting the jet fighters.

“What the hell just happened!?” Secretary Kelly exclaimed, “why did four of our planes just go down!”

Then she made eye contact with General Miller. She calmed her mind, and they both exchanged the same thoughts. The portals were above Washington D.C., and clearly pushing back the aliens was not going to be an easy task for the foreseeable future. If things continued, and contact with the armed forces remained stalled, it was inevitable. At this rate, the Capitol will fall before it can be retaken; and the seats of American power will likely burn.

For the cabinet members currently under the White House in the PEOC, this was a nightmare scenario.

With the top congressional leadership being evacuated to Mount Weather, and communication with the President lost, an even more nightmarish scenario began to play out in Secretary Kelly’s head. If the President’s plane had been hit by a similar beam, then he was dead. That meant that the continuity of government plan was in full effect. The PEOC was no longer safe, and relocation was now in order.

“General Miller, begin evacuations.”

The man saluted, and the room descended into a frenzy. The present members of the Cabinet were whisked away by their secret service details. There were three options available for the evacuation, underground, by land, or by air.

Air transportation was the least amicable solution. After seeing fighter jets be taken out so quickly, no one was willing to risk the heads of America’s government on an incredibly risky aerial evacuation. Ground evacuation was a possibility, but considering the chaos on the surface, it was a dangerous gambit.

Underground transportation was a likely alternative, however, those comprehensive tunnels had yet to be completed, the best they could do would be to transport government officials to specific areas around D.C. to then be picked up and evacuated. Vans were already outside in preparation for a ground evacuation. She hoped it wasn’t a decision she would regret. Time was of the essence if they wished to escape the surging alien forces. As she was guided by her DS agents, Secretary Kelly's thoughts drifted to her own estranged family. Despite its dysfunctionality, she only prayed that her two children were alright.