DRONES (SPECTRAL FUTURES) Read Online Free PDF

front door of the house behind her, leans up against it, and takes a few short breaths while staring down the hallway towards the far end of the house. She holds her breath and listens intently for any sound at all. Hearing nothing except the fridge humming in the distance, she turns to the control panel by the door, taps on the robot app, and stares at the deactivation button. She finally presses it and begins to walk down the hallway. She stops midway and gently places her hand on the knob of Emma’s bedroom door. She waits a moment before opening it just enough for her to peer through the slight gap at Emma and Donna sitting still on the edge of the bed staring into oblivion. Kacey looks down at the floor and shuts the door softly.
     
    Late the previous night, Eastern Standard Time, deep in the Gobi desert, a steady stream of long-distance, fixed-wing UAVs emerged from the entrance to an expansive underground facility; out from the cave-like entrance streamed two UAVs abreast every two seconds until all seven thousand in the fleet were deployed and en route to their range of target destinations around the world.
    As each of the UAVs dispersed, a hacked surveillance cloak of satellite and international, lower-orbit-based and land-based radar coverage prevented them from being spotted by foreign interests; this was assisted by background-projection camouflage screens that protected them from being spotted from a distance by the foreign-controlled, long-distance UAVs trolling around outside the PRC’s airspace.
    Of the two hundred and fifty thousand-plus long-distance UAVs already airborne internationally prior to the commencement of the operation, only one-third belonged to the PRC. Nevertheless, assisted by its surveillance cloak, the PRC’s UAV flight control centers proceeded to direct their entire fleet to target the foreign UAVs; they made it a priority to destroy those closest to the seven thousand UAVs launched from the Gobi desert base in an attempt to ensure that most safely reached their ground and sea targets.
    Being immediately aware of the loss of surveillance data, the US-allied international community had the situation made abundantly clear to them when their own UAVs started to be aggressively engaged and destroyed with line-of-sight capabilities from onboard cameras being their only assistance in evading and counterstriking.
    The battle continued throughout the day with a blanket silence enforced upon the mainstream media in the US and Europe and with only scattered footage of UAV explosions and crashes being displayed and discussed on the Internet. As uploads to the most active sites began to increase in frequency, and before they gained considerable traffic, Denial of Service Attacks were carried out, preventing the mainstream audience from being reached. This continued throughout the day with more than three thousand sites falling victim, preventing the situation from going viral on mainstream platforms and the big picture from being pieced together.
     
    At high altitudes, three PRC UAVs approach the eastern seaboard of the US in the late afternoon, homing in on Atlantic City. As they fly overhead, they release payloads of three missiles and seven quadrocopters each. The weapons descend rapidly upon the unsuspecting city below.
     
    The captain glances at his watch, then looks back up at the glow from the sunset for a moment longer before turning and heading towards the door of his office for what he believes will likely be the last time. He makes his way to the helipad.
    Aboard the last helicopter, the captain looks back at the building as they take off and quickly gain altitude. He barely flinches when he just notices the incoming missile moments before it slams into the building and explodes, causing the building to gracefully collapse upon itself in full view of the passengers, the last to evacuate. Rather than feeling a sense of publicly displayed relief, they all stay silent throughout, knowing