The Year is 3095. The earth is dead, and man has found out how to survive on mars. They're not alone; they have intruded on another race. This is the story of what happens when a race like ours collides with a race that has known nothing but war since the dawn of time.
Jack hurries through his lunch, because he does not want to miss his meeting with Mark. As he finishes his last bite, he calls to the nearest cyber cab. "Good afternoon Dr. Burns," the computer says as he climbs in the cab. "What is the destination?" Jack sets his brief case in the floor board. "The north mall please, just drop me off at the entrance." As the cab slows to a stop at the mall entrance Jack gets his billfold out of his brief case. "How much?" he asks as he digs through his wallet. "That will be twenty seven thirty eight, please." Jack inserts the money into the tray and the machine quickly counts it. "Thank you doctor, have a nice day."
As Mark waits in the antique shop they agreed on, he checks his watch. "God, where is he?" he says to himself. About to leave, he sees Jack coming up the escalators. "Where on earth have you been? You're nearly thirty minutes late!" Jack takes a seat across from Mark. "Sorry, I had to have something to eat. Besides, I didn't think it would take so long." As he opens his brief case, he looks up at Mark who is anxious to see why Jack has called him here. "Remember that reading I told you I got a couple of months ago?" Mark is now very interested. "Yes, what about it?" he asks. "Well, it wasn't from the moon like I thought." He pauses. "It was sent about ten miles west of the city, here on mars." Mark looks surprised. "But that's impossible! No one can survive outside the city limits!" Mark replies "You probably just got a transmission in the city that you weren't familiar with, that's all." Jack stares at him for a moment. "That's what I thought, until I saw this." He hands Mark a printed version of the readings he got. They look like some kind of radio communications between two military bases. "Oh my god!" Mark says after a brief study of the paper. "This is serious stuff Jack! You had better report it to the police, and I mean now!" Jack looks disturbed. "Oh yeah, right! We could make millions off this! Just think of how much the government would pay for this stuff, and here you're telling me we should just give it up." Mark glares at his friend. "This kind of information could get you killed if you misused it, Jack." Mark gets up to leave. "All I'm saying is be careful."
It is three in the morning, and Mark is sound asleep when the phone rings. Startled, he grabs the phone. "Hello?" He says in a sleepy voice, "Who is this?" A brief shuffling of papers, then "Mark? It's me, Jack. About those readings. I've been able to decipher them." He sounds as if the world is about to end. "It looks like whoever's out there is planning to attack the city." Mark is suddenly wide awake. "You've gotta be kidding!" Mark sits up and turns on his lamp. "Why would someone want to attack us? We haven't done anything!" Jack hesitates. "Believe it or not, we have done something." Another pause. "We've trespassed on their land without permission." Mark goes pale. "Are you saying that what we're dealing with might not be human, that they may be aliens?" Jack is uneasy. "It's possible" he replies. Mark is now close to having to change his pants. "Are you sure?" he asks. "Yes" says Jack. "I had it checked out by a friend of mine down at the station. He says they're definitely hostile readings."
The next morning Mark tries to call Jack but finds that he is not home. Now he is worried. Jack should be home now. Mark catches the nearest cab and heads toward the station. As he reaches the station, he pays the cab and walks into the three story building. He finds that Jack is not here, but his secretary is. Maybe she knows where Jack is, he thinks. "Excuse me," he says to the secretary "I'm looking for Jack Burns. Do you know where he is?" She stops what she's doing and turns to him. God she is gorgeous, he thinks. "No sir." Mark wonders where he could be. "Well, has he been in this morning at all?" She stops to think about it. "Not that I know of sir" she replies. As Mark hurries down the hallway, he wonders where is friend could possibly be. Then it hits him, Jack had wanted to try to bribe the government with what he had found, but he wouldn't do it in the open. He would try to hide. The only thing wrong, was that Mark did not know where he would hide and how long he would be hiding. Mark is not ten feet out the door when he is stoped by two men with guns. "Get in the car and don't say a word," they say as they grab him. "If you do you'll pay the consequences." The two men shove Mark into the car and blind fold him. When the blind fold is finally removed, he is in a small room with a single light hanging over him. The two men enter the room and glare at him. "We know for a fact that you were the last one to talk to Jack Burns." he is cautious but answers truthfully. "Yes, I was, but what does that have to do with kidnapping me?" "That's not your concern. When did you last talk to him, Mr. Jenkins?" "That's not your concern." The men remain calm but Mark has made them mad. "We didn't ask for comments, now answer the question sir." Mark is a long time answering. "Earlier this morning on the phone." " Did he mention where he was?" the first man asks. "No, but I know why he is missing, and it isn't because of me." The men look at each other and the second one nods. "We also know why he is missing." The first man says. "He called us at approximately four o'clock this morning. He said he had something that we wanted, and that the only way to get it was to pay three million in cash, by tomorrow, or he would destroy the information." They pause. "Do you know what it is that Mr. Burns has that we need?" The second man asks. Mark hesitates. "It all started about a month or two ago. Jack said he had been receiving some strange readings that at the time he thought were coming from the moon. Just yesterday he called me up and told me to meet him at the antique shop in the north mall. When we met he said that he found more readings, and that they were not coming from the moon, but from here on mars." "What kind of readings were these?" The first man asks. "Well, he called me at about three this morning and said that he been able to decipher the code. He said he had a friend that worked with at the station confirm them. They were hostile readings between two bases, about ten miles west of the city. That's all I know." The first man looks at him. "I know you feel like you've betrayed your friend. But what you've told us , may save us all."
The next day Mark sits in AREA51 headquarters going over the reading print out that Jack had given him. Jack had been right. They were attack plans. "Well, what are we going to do captain?" Says Mark as he sips on his coffee. "I mean, if they're planning to attack, we have to figure out how to stop them, and defend ourselves, right?" The captain looks up "Wrong," he says. "Now that we know what there code is, we may be able to talk peace with them," he says. "The only thing is, Jack just may be smart enough to figure out what we're doing and try to talk to the aliens first. It seems that Jack will do anything for money. Even risk getting us killed." Mark thinks to himself for a moment. "What we have to do is find Jack. It doesn't matter if he destroys the plans, because we already have a copy, right." The captain looks up. "Yes, but how are we going to find Jack? He could be anywhere right now." Mark thinks for a moment. "I've got it, you know that old Chinese restaurant over at the south end of the city? Well, there is an old apartment in the basement. The people at the restaurant might be getting paid to keep him there. Now, I know you're wondering how this idea came to me. Well, that old Chinese restaurant is Jack's favorite." The captain looks at Mark and then at the General. "Are you sure?" He asks, turning back toward Mark. "Positive." Mark says flatly.
Jack sits in an old abandoned apartment going over his readings. They only have two more hours, he thinks to himself. As Jack gets up to go to the bathroom, he hears a noise at the west end of the apartment. "Is somebody there?" He calls, as he moves toward the door. As he turns to leave, the front door is kicked in and two men in combat gear grab him, and take him outside. As they bring him to the General he yells out at them. "If you came here to get the plans, then your just out of luck, because they're not here, and if you think I'm going to...." "Shut up!" The General interrupts. "We don't need your plans. We already have a copy." The General stares at him for a long time. "Take this piece of trash away." He finally says. "Now that we have our man, lets work on trying to communicate with those aliens." Later that night as Mark and the general work on contacting the aliens, a huge shock wave hits the base. "Sir," says one of the soldiers as he rushes in. "We're being attacked." The General stops to think for a moment. "We're going to have to try to talk to them face to face. Lets go," he says as he walks out of the room.
As a group of soldiers gather beside the General at the edges of the dome, another wave hits. The general looks around for the attackers and finally spots them. They're huge black figures that are wearing some kind of metal body armor. "Wait!" he yells. "We wish to talk peace with you!" He pauses. "We do not wish you any harm." One of the larger beings step forward. He is probably their leader, Mark thinks to himself. "If you're so peaceful, then why did you invade our land?" The General does not hesitate. "We did not know you were here." He pauses. "We thought we were the only ones on this planet." "Wait, I will talk with the others." He turns and begins to speak in another language. "We have decided that we will hold off our attacks if the one who spied on our plans is brought forth. You have my word." The General looks confused. "How did you know that someone was spying on you?" "We know many things, General Parkins." The General turns and looks at Mark. "He was your friend, so it's your call," he pauses. "Just choose wisely." He says. "All right, bring him here." Mark says after a short while. "He deserves whatever he gets."
As Jack is brought before the aliens, the leader stands, and aims a small black box at him. He presses the red button. There is a flash of light, and Jack is gone. "Now the creature that has tampered with us is dead. We will bother you no more. If you are willing to live together, we are willing to share our technology with you." The General speaks next. "So, there will be no more attacks?" he asks. "I can assure you, there will be no more hostile readings," the leader says.