Free Alien Invasion 04 Annihilation by Sean Platt & Johnny B. Truant Page A

either,” he finally said.  
    “How many of these money pit things are there around the world, do you think?”  
    “There’s no way to be sure. We know of eleven. This one, the one under Dempsey’s old place in Vail, pits at the other eight capitals, and the original on Oak Island. When the Internet was up, some of the people Benjamin talked to claimed they had satellite feeds capable of seeing blooms like that one there.” He nodded toward the ship. “But we’ve only ever seen them suckling power from this one.”  
    “We saw the same,” Nathan said. “I had this theory for a while that the motherships would all visit something like that to charge up, like rubbing your feet across a rug to make static electricity. There’s not a lot to do out there, and our access, thanks to our partnership, was mostly unrestricted. So I believe what I saw. And it never happened. The motherships don’t seem to draw power from the pits below them. They’re just docked. Oak Island hasn’t, as far as I’ve seen, even been visited. It’s just this one. This one ranch, where all sorts of weird shit has happened over the years, mecca to paranormal investigators.”  
    “What’s your point?”  
    “Why is this ship here now? Why is it charging up?” He nodded toward the ship’s silver belly. “This is exactly what we were watching for.”  
    “It’s one ship.”  
    “Why now?”  
    “I don’t know.”  
    Andreus moved around Charlie then met his eye.  
    “You’re sure watching it a lot for someone who doesn’t think it’s any big deal.”  
    Charlie turned, meeting Nathan’s eye.  
    “Do you know SETI?”  
    “The people who used to spend every day listening to space for alien radio.”  
    “Correct,” said Charlie. “After Black Monday, the air went out of a lot of the world’s governments. I’d guess they’re still out there, hiding, planning ways to rattle their sabers. But programs like NASA and SETI fell apart too. Except that they didn’t. Not really. Benjamin used to talk to a group who was working rogue on some of the SETI equipment — remotely, I’m sure.”  
    “And?”  
    “Before the Astrals censored the net, near the beginning, those people told us they were finding new signals. From the moon.”  
    “So now there really are little green men on the moon?”  
    “These people weren’t official SETI. They didn’t understand the data at first. Turns out, they were hearing an echo. Something not from the moon, but bouncing off the moon.”
    “From where?” Nathan asked.  
    “Earth.”  
    Nathan’s tongue found the corner of his cheek. He’d come out here to tell Charlie about an unpleasant itch that he knew Cameron and Piper wouldn’t be able to hear, as keyed up and jumping at literal shadows as they were. Now there was this plan to head into the throat of Heaven’s Veil, which Nathan was okay with … though for very different reasons. He respected Cameron, but since the beginning they’d never truly seen eye to eye. Now his father’s loss had damaged the kid. Made his decisions stupid and in need of a guiding hand — with rational assistance like Charlie’s, if he could get it.  
    Nathan thought he’d come out here with a warning worth heeding: After two years of dormancy, their little Cottonwood stunt seemed to have prompted the Astrals into action. But as it turned out, Charlie held the trump card.  
    “The message obviously wasn’t something we could interpret, but it seemed too unchanging to act as more than a beacon,” Charlie continued. “That bugged me. Because if the Astral fleet was already here, what was the purpose of sending a signal?”  
    “You think they were calling home.”  
    Charlie shrugged. “The archaeological records say they’ve come, taught us, then destroyed humanity. Over and over. But what’s the point? My theory at the time — and the beacon fit right into this — stated it was research of some sort. And that they