Independence Day: Silent Zone Read Online Free PDF Page B

saucer.
The
ship looked to have a wingspan similar to a fighter jet's, but it was
disk-shaped and looked considerably more menacing than anything he'd
seen
before. The photograph itself, black-and-white, seemed to be several
years old.
    "I'm
kneeling in the front row," the old man pointed out, "third from the
left." Sure enough, it was the same face fifteen or twenty years
younger.
The corner of an airplane hangar showed on one side of the snapshot,
and a
couple of uniformed soldiers patrolled the background.
    The
second photo showed what looked like a cockpit. A pair of tall, arching
structures, chairs of some kind, were set before two windows, with an
instrument panel below them. The third picture was a close-up of one of
the
instruments lifted out of the console by a pair of men's hands. Instead
of
wires, it looked like veins connecting the instrument to the console.
    Dworkin
waited patiently as Okun went back over the pictures, comparing them,
looking,
almost desperately, for some evidence that this was indeed a prank.
Then, with
a stunned expression on his face, Okun looked up at the man, and asked,
"What is this? Where were these taken?"
    With
a gentle smile, Dworkin reached across and took the photos back. "I've
said too much already. Of course, if you accept, everything will be
explained."
    "OK,
I accept."
    The
old guy laughed. "Let's wait until you're in a more lucid frame of
mind.
Think it over. There are drawbacks. You'd have to leave your family and
your
friends, the hours are long, and you and your coworkers might not have
much in
common. Please remember the promise you made. Don't discuss these
pictures with
your friends, your professors, with your mother, with anybody."
    The
man got up, leaving a non-nodding Brackish in
a state of confusion. As he was about to exit, Okun called after him.
    "Hey,
wait up a sec. How am I going to find you again?"
    Dworkin
couldn't resist. "Don't call us, we'll call you.”
----
    Three weeks later,
Brackish was at home proudly examining his diploma alongside his
mother,
Saylene. His new employer had arranged for him to take his final exams
a month
before the semester ended, and Okun had done something he rarely did
under normal
circumstances: he studied for every class, not just the ones he was
interested
in. He'd done well on the tests, raising his grade-point average and
earning
himself a bachelor's degree. But there wouldn't be any time to sit
around
enjoying this accomplishment. His suitcases were packed and standing by
the
front door. A young government agent had arrived with an attache case
full of
papers, legal documents whereby Okun would sign away his personal
freedom in
exchange for coming aboard the project. The three of them—Brackish,
Saylene,
and the man in the expensive suit—sat down at the kitchen table and
began
wading through the paperwork. Technically, he was being hired by
several
different entities, each requiring a separate set of applications,
background
information forms, insurance waivers, tax schedules, retirement plan
agreements,
and loyalty oaths. At first, Brackish read through each document
carefully,
asking questions about each one. But as they continued to materialize
in thick
stacks from the man's briefcase, his caution wore down. Toward the end,
Brackish was John Hancocking everything the man laid in front of him
without a
single question.
    Saylene
didn't understand why everything had to be so hush-hush. All her son
could tell
her was that it was an engineering job with the government, and that
there was a good reason why it had to be kept secret.
But the one thing she understood all too clearly was that she wouldn't
get to
see her boy for five full years—the length of his contract. He would be
allowed
to phone home on the first Sunday of each month, and that was it. He
was the
only family she had left, and she would miss him. Her eyes were already
swollen
from crying, and she felt the tears rising again when the man announced
they
had arrived