Amygdala Hijack - A Genetic Engineering Sci-Fi Story of Impending Dystopia

EP. 5 - MOUNTIE SANDWICH

THE NEXT MORNING WHEN he arose, Peter grabbed his phone to check the news then darted into the studio to view the various feeds. He texted.

Peter: "Molli, Ears. CNN on?"

Ears: "One of many."

Molli: "Not now. At work."

Peter: "Holy crap. Almost afraid to go out on streets, but I have lunch today with pod friends. Either of you been out on Square?"

Ears: "Not me. Don't want or need. My network's going nuts."

Molli: "Must get back to work. Sorry. Can't. Will catch up after I'm off. Bye."

Peter: "Seeing what I'm seeing?"

Ears: "Yes. Stop texting for a minute, must watch."

The Canadian Prime Minister looked nervous. Surrounding her was a bevy of Canadian military brass.

"Looks like a Mountie sandwich," Peter chuckled.

He turned up the volume, and the Prime Minister began speaking, her voice quivering.

"I am speaking today as the political leader of Canada but also as a citizen of the world. As many of you are aware, two days ago we encountered a meteorite streaking across the sky in the province of Saskatchewan, 112 kilometers, or 70 miles, east of Saskatoon, between the towns of Lanigan, Burr, and Leroy. We received multiple reports of shattered windows and other effects to property and livestock. The projectile entered the atmosphere at supersonic speeds, causing sonic blasts across a wide portion of the area. No human casualties have been reported."

Peter: "What about cows? Aliens? Notice the word projectile? Wow!"

Ears did not reply.

The Prime Minister visibly trembled.

"We considered," she confided, "keeping this news under wraps until we had time to further assess what happened. However, as many of you know, we were late in doing that given widespread photographic evidence on the Internet. That was no criminal act, by the way. Anybody might do the same when discovering such a momentous thing."

She looked around as if to gain confidence from the others to continue.

"As Canada's representatives, we will provide you with all the information available at this time. To start, I must point out that the extensive array of global telescopes and satellites scanning the stars have found multiple instances of what we might consider as sentient life elsewhere, such as suspected Dyson spheres and fast radio bursts, albeit we have no conclusive evidence of intelligent life like our own. It should come as no shock of the possibility, however great or small, of intelligent species existing throughout the universe, especially since we know many planets have been discovered that exhibit all the characteristics of living ecosystems."

She paused, taking a measured breath. "Based on our initial analyses, we surmise the projectile and supporting structures that impacted our province are from a non-earthly, intelligent source. I am no scientist, but I have now seen firsthand what is known commonly as the obelisk, and I take this to be true. To brief you on details, I am joined by Hally Gerard, Canada's Chief Science Advisor."

"Geez," Peter mumbled, "sounds pretty freaking real."

A petite, well-dressed elderly woman strode to the podium and searched around for a step. In the haste of setting up the press conference, nobody considered that she might not be able to see above the podium. Frustrated, the woman grabbed the microphone from its stand and stood upright before the crowd of reporters, without the podium's protection. She spoke in a deep, hoarse voice.