We kept Beatrice in the dark about our progress in organizing the global resistance. The biggest hurdle had always been convincing people that such a reptilian race even existed. Now the world finally knew we were at war with an unseen, but very real adversary. Once the international activist organizations mirroring us were supported by their respective governments, our message was accepted by an expanding number of citizens worldwide. At that point, the word was out and there was no suppressing it. We had performed our sworn duty. Phase one was nearing completion.
It didn’t matter about maintaining our secrecy as much anymore but we still feared their vengeful wrath and retaliation. The Lemurian’s were lashing out wildly. They weren’t even trying to hide their violent actions anymore. Raids on major ISPs were their last-ditch efforts to stop the message from gaining even more momentum. The US military began protecting high profile targets and managed to foil several planned attacks. It was a very encouraging sign of things to come.
I prodded our verified inner-circle members on how such a radically different looking enemy species could get around, so stealthily. All the while, they kept completely hidden from sight when they didn’t want to be found. There was no way bipedal reptiles like them could blend-in to ordinary crowds of human beings. Either they were being assisted by a network of human supporters, or they had secret places to hide, all over the earth. We had to consider both possibilities.
None of the enemy interrogations yielded a satisfactory answer to that pertinent question. Possibly because the embedded spies didn’t actually know where the Lemurians dwelled. If true, it was withheld from them for security reasons. They had to assume that one day the network of spies would be compromised. The easiest way to avoid detection was to prevent any humans; no matter how sympathetic to their secret, from knowing.
One of the many invaluable assets of being believed by a large cross-section of the global population, was that we had access to a stellar group of scientists! (Many of which had probably thought we were mad, only a month before). I asked this amazing team of learned people to concentrate on the possible logistics of how the Lemurians could move about so easily among us. Always without detection. In very short order, a scientist from the University of Milan offered an astute theory.
“Nearly all temperate parts of the Earth have large systems of caves. These subterranean passages could easily offer shelter, security, and an endless labyrinth of places to avoid detection by mankind. It might help to explain how such an alien race of creatures could show up and retreat with such ease.”
I was dumbfounded. Dr. Ferrera’s comment was absolutely brilliant. A noted geologist on our team created a topographical overlay of known attack sites and existing caves. It was nearly an identical match! Why hadn’t we thought of that possibility before? It made perfect sense. As soon as an assault was carried out, the Lemurian army could simply retreat to a nearby cave. I shared our theory and the corresponding data with the other vetted countries in the network. It wasn’t conclusive proof by any means, but it was certainly worth investigating.
A hand-picked team of biologists examined the mouth of the nearest cave system to WRZB studios for evidence of a reptilian residency. Data was collected which strongly corroborated the working theory. We didn’t dare enter the cave to confirm our suspicions; for fear of tipping them off. Instead we set up infrared surveillance cameras to monitor the area from our remote location. The first couple nights were a bust but on the third night, they made an appearance outside the entrance. It was exactly the evidence we needed to formulate a massive extermination plan.
Coordinating such an effort was going to be the greatest logistical challenge. If we were to dynamite that particular cave, news would travel to the other cells and we would lose the invaluable element of surprise. It had to be a global effort and perfectly timed. It was probably wishful thinking on naive to believe that we could get all of them in one coordinated offense but it was our first chance to turn the tables. We had to capitalize on their intrinsic weaknesses and vulnerability. Even if some escaped and regrouped, it was all about the battle of attrition and the numbers. We would be ruthless in hunting down any that escaped ‘Operation Collapse’.
Convincing the authorities of over 80 countries to dynamite their caves shut was quite a tall order. After all, we only had proof of a single cave in the US inhabited by them. The rest was hunch and conjecture. It was a lot to ask purely on faith but it was too risky to obtain verification. Our organization had a lot of credibility in the international stage after uncovering the Lemurian scourge but we didn’t exactly command NATO. We still had to convince leaders of those sovereign nations to join ‘Operation Collapse’.
Our undeniable evidence of the Lemurian conspiracy to create havoc and chaos delivered a huge blow to them. Almost overnight, peace treaties were struck by once bitter enemies. Once the Lemurian spies were uncovered and arrested worldwide, it became obvious who the real enemies of peace were. That made it easier to coordinate our plans because there weren’t agents actively working against us anymore.
Our incredibly ambitious plan was to orchestrate a simultaneous cave collapse initiative across the world. Through controlled demolitions from our partner nations where spies had been uncovered, we hoped to entomb as many of them as possible inside the interior chambers of their corresponding local caves. Once buried under thousands of tons of rocks, the Lemurian race would hopefully be crushed or suffocate. In honor of the brave individual who made the whole startling discovery possible, we agreed upon Darcy’s September fifth birthday as the date of the operation. The ironic time would be 10:31 PM, Eastern Standard Time. It was a fitting symbol of her sacrifice.
While heavily involved in planning last minute details of the operation, I tried to make as much time for my daughter, as possible. She sent word through our babysitter that she needed to tell me something important. I sought to keep our living quarters and the official headquarters separate so she’d have some semblance of normalcy. She was already freaked out about numerous strangers being in our home. On the rare occasions she felt the courage to leave the security of her room, I went out of my way to give her the attention she needed. Regardless of my intentions and diligence, I wasn’t at all prepared for what came next. Her chilling words shook me to the core.
“Mama, they want to discuss peace terms.”
mymindfudge 