"Carter!" A familiar voice drifted into his ears as he basked in an early morning warm bed hug. It wasn't that he didn't want to get up, but that the bed was hugging him too tightly. Carter had no plans to disappoint his bed's enthusiasm until he heard that voice, that dreadful voice that broke the barriers of his eardrums, a powerful barrier even his full-volume alarm was unable to shake.
Without needing any more prompting or waiting for a repeat call like he would if his mother called, he made to bounce up from the bed. . . But it was too late, he felt a jolt up his spine and his body trembled intensely as muscles contracted and expanded in a spasm. Fortunately, it didn't last long, he was soon relieved of the dreadful feeling of being tased.
"The *uck was that?!" Carter jumped up from the bed the moment he was able, his eyes spewing fire in an intense glare at the little 12-year-old girl before him, his cute, beautiful little sister.
Sienna smiled brilliantly with her hands raised in playful surrender, on her left hand was a taser.
"Carter, come down here, your dad is on the phone" a voice called washing away all of Carter's anger. He hurriedly jumped off the bed, pushing Sienna out of his room in gentle shoves.
Rushing down the stairs, he hurried to the kitchen table where the phone was and accepted the receiver from his mother, Callie.
Callie was a simple woman in her early thirties but with a lithe figure like a teenager, if she wasn't always dressing in plus-sized gowns, she would look like Sienna's older sister. Only a few strands of grey hair on her temples expressed her age and stress.
"Dad?" Carter spoke to the phone with a tinge of concern in his voice. His father was a soldier for the first ten years of his life, it was a difficult time for the family then. Callie was displeased at him for never being home, and his unavailability when he was home, caused them to have frequent arguments and they even almost got divorced. Then Sienna was conceived perhaps by some makeup or angry. . . (Cough) concessions and Ron decided to stay home this time.
However, things never go according to plan. Carter's father Ron opened a small store in a good part of Culling City, although business wasn't booming, it was more than enough to sustain them since the military was still paying him and Callie held a job as an HR Supervisor in Dream Tech Industries a multi-billion dollar company. But just a few days ago, the military suddenly called Carter back with a strict order that allowed no refusal or he would be charged with treason. Callie only wanted her husband present, she didn't want to punish him, so she agreed, even almost forced him to go when Ron didn't want to. Better in the army than in Prison, Callie said.
Since Callie had a job and didn't want to leave it, while Sienna was too young, it was now up to Carter to manage the store. Ron wanted to sell but Carter who was about to graduate from University urged him not to. And this was what Ron was calling about.
"Hey son, I have to be fast, phones are not allowed here, I managed to get five minutes and your Mom already took. . . Is she there?" Ron asked tentatively. He and Carter sometimes seemed more like older and younger brothers instead of father and son.
Carter looked up at his mother who was staring at him with a smile. Despite her smiling face, he could feel a chill in his spine. Sienna had to have gotten her mischievousness from somewhere right?
"Ah, um, no?" Carter replied stealing a glance at his mother, he dared not speak the truth.
"Oh, okay I understand. So. . . The legal issues have been finalized, the store is now under your name and everything belongs to you. Remember to take care of your Mom and Sienna, you are the man of the house now, that's responsibility, not power, you understand?"
Hearing his father's strict tone, Carter nodded quickly with a solemn expression then realizing that his father could not see him, he hurriedly replied.
"Yes Dad"
"Sergeant, get on the ship now, launch procedures have begun" a voice drifted into his ears from the phone.
"I have to go, say hi to Sienna for me," Ron said hurriedly before ending the call.
Carter looked up at his Mom with a confused expression to see that she was also staring at him, equally at a loss. Didn't they say it was only for routine training to keep the soldiers sharp? Why did that voice sound like he was going to be deployed? And what was an Infantry doing on a ship? And why was a ship launching?
The sound of the TV drifted into their ears causing both mother and son to turn to the Television showing the news in the living room.
"Once again, netizens are obsessed with the increasing number of UFOs in Earth's atmosphere, the government have been eerily silent about this, even deliberately avoiding the question when asked"
The scene on the TV changed to a podium on which stood the Press Secretary.
"Sir, do you deny the appearance of UFOs reported by so many people"
"No, Sir we do not, however, I can confidently tell you that the government is not now, nor will it ever infringe on the privacy rights of our citizens. Simply put Sir, the government is not spying on you"
"Are they aliens?" A reporter asked as soon as he finished speaking.
"Next question" the Press Secretary ignored her like he hadn't heard anything.
The scene returned to the news reporter. ". . . In recent years, the government has been putting more and more money into the advancement of spaceships and space weapons which has sparked displeasure among experts and citizens alike. However, a poll conducted at Gavy University says that 94% of students believe that we are being invaded by aliens. What do you think?"
**
The mother and son turned again to each other and in an instant Callie broke down.
"Oh my God " she exclaimed and soon started to cry.
Carter knew why she was crying, others might not, but Callie was well aware that the Military entered into a contract with Dream Tech to produce spaceships for transport and spatial warfare. In order words, it was quite possible or even certain that Earth was at war, an invasion or attack meant the same thing to the Shaw household; Ron was going to war!