LITMIR.BIZ

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into his brown armchair and, in a very small voice, just managed to whisper, “Well I’ll be damned.”

      "Actually, our friends here, would be happy to make a system available to us that would be capable of containing most of the disastrous effects, but it’s a very dangerous procedure, that has never been completely tested before. Moreover, even if everything were to go in the best possible way, we won't be able to get through the event unharmed. A part of the planetary influence, although small, unfortunately cannot be contained. Therefore, we should be preparing ourselves to reduce the damage and losses to a minimum."

      "My dear boy" replied the Admiral feebly. "I really think the President should know everything you’ve just told me immediately. I just hope, for both of us, that this isn’t some kind of joke, because neither of us would get away with it although, in my heart, I’m really hoping it is. Perhaps I’ve simply fallen asleep in my chair and I’ll wake up soon realising that this is nothing more than a bad nightmare."

      "I wish that too, Admiral. But unfortunately, this is not a bad dream but the stark reality. I’m trusting in you to get this news to the President."

      "Okay. Just give me a bit of time to find the right way to get to him. How can I get in touch with you?”

      "I think you can simply call me back on this number," said Jack looking at Petri who, with a rather hesitant expression, shrugged his shoulders. "It should work" continued Jack. "However, if I don't hear back from you within the hour, I’ll call you again, okay?"

      â€œAgreed. Until later then.”

      "Thank you very much," said the Colonel and closed the conversation. He remained perfectly still for a few seconds, staring into space then, turning to the three who were literally hanging on his every word, very quietly said "He’ll help us."

      "Let's hope so," said Elisa a little hesitantly. "I don’t think it’s going to be easy to convince the President this isn’t a hoax."

      "Only he can do something like this. Let’s just give him a bit of time." Then, turning towards Petri, he said, " try and put on a good show with your ‘sensors’ or whatever other wizardry you want to use. We must surprise them with something really exceptional, that will leave them all open mouthed."

      "Leave it to me," said Petri with a sardonic little smile. "We’ve got plenty of special effects."

      "If you want, I can show you the exact location of the White House, the official residence of the President of the United States of America and of the Pentagon, which of course is the general headquarters of the Department of Defence."

      "Well," said Elisa approaching Azakis, “while you two are having fun scaring those poor souls on Earth, I'd now like you to explain to me what this strange thing is that you gave me earlier on."

      "Like I said, I think it may be the solution to all your waste problems.”

      "You’re not going to tell me that I can just turn it on to make all the plastic that’s laying around disappear, are you?"

      "Unfortunately we haven't invented something like that yet but this might help you replace it.”

      "I'm all ears," and she handed it to him.

      "This little object is nothing more than a mini forcefield generator. Thanks to some very simple programming it can take any shape you want.”

      "What do you mean?"

      â€œI'll show you now. Open your hand." Azakis gently clasped the small dark rectangle between his thumb and forefinger and placed it on her open palm. Not even a second went by and, as if by magic, a beautiful vase in a thousand variegated colours materialised in her hand.

      â€œWhat the heck...” Frightened, Elisa instinctively drew back her hand and let go of the vase which fell on the floor bouncing untidily here and there, but without breaking and, above all, without making any noise.

      "Sorry," was all Elisa managed to whisper regretfully. "I really didn’t expect that," and she bent to pick it up again.

      She held it, lifted it above her head and began to observe it from all sides. Despite the completely smooth surface, the light did not seem to be reflected on it in any way. To the touch the object was a little colder than she expected and it did not seem to be made of any material known to her.

      "This thing is absolutely amazing. How did you do it?”

      "It’s all thanks to that," replied Azakis, indicating the small black object that seemed to be set into the bottom of the vase. "That’s what’s generating a forcefield in the shape you can see."

      "And could you also do this in the shape of a bottle?"

      "Certainly,” said Azakis with a smile. "Look." So saying, he rested the fingertip of his index finger on the small rectangle and the vase disappeared. He gripped it again resting his thumb on it and an elegant cobalt blue bottle, with a long, thin neck, appeared out of nowhere.

      Elisa was left open-mouthed and it took her a while to recover. Then, without taking her eyes away from the newly created object, she said, in a voice broken with emotion, “Jack come here, you’ve simply got to see this.”

      The Colonel, who by now had given Petri all the indications to find the two targets, turned towards her and, with leisurely pace, approached her. He looked absent-mindedly at the object that Azakis was holding in his hand and, in a bored voice, said “a bottle? And what's so interesting to see?"

      "Yes, a bottle," answered Elisa crossly. “Only, until a few seconds ago it was a beautiful coloured vase."

      "Yeah, come on, stop kidding me!"

      â€œZak, show him.”

      The alien performed the same simple operation as before and this time a huge sphere, black as pitch, appeared in his hands.

      "Yikes," exclaimed the Colonel jumping backwards.

      "You should recognise this, shouldn’t you?" said Azakis, hugging the ball which was almost a metre in diameter.

      "Yes, yes," exclaimed the doctor all excited. "It’s identical to the one we found buried at the camp, inside the mysterious stone container.

      "And there were three more," added the Colonel, "which then acted as a base for the shuttle’s landing."

      "Precisely,” confirmed Azakis. "We left them behind last time and we used them as a reference for the recovery of the cargo with the plastic."

      "Wow," exclaimed Elisa. "Now everything is slowly becoming clearer.”

      â€œForgive me if this is a silly question,” said Jack turning to the alien. "But if we wanted to use these things as containers, say for water for example, we’d also have to invent a practical system of opening and closing them. How could we do that?"

      â€œEasy. Simply use another and shape it like a stopper.”

      "What a fool I am. I hadn't thought of that,” said Jack giving himself a little slap on his forehead.

      "What do you call these cute little things?" asked Elisa intrigued.

      "On our planet they’re called Shans," Azakis answered while he again made the ball disappear and gave her back the little dark rectangle.

      "So this is a little Shan," said Elisa smiling, holding it between her fingers, as she looked at it very closely. "Can I try to build something?"

      â€œWell, it's not quite so simple. I can do it because I use my N^COM implant for its real-time programming. So, either I implant one in you too or you can use ...” He broke off and began rummaging in a small drawer on the side of the console. After a few seconds he took out a sort of helmet, very similar to the one they had previously used for breathing and, handing it to her, ended the sentence saying "this".

      "Do I have

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