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Cut From Stone
-- EXCERPT: The screen was broken into multiple squares focused on Northern Africa. Instead of the differentiated plains of grass, earth, and water with settlements sprinkled throughout, there was a sprawling web of interconnected buildings, roads, and a brand-new infrastructure spanning the width of the continent and trailing off the screen to the south. They completely took over. They weren’t practice. They were their base, James thought in terror of the army that required an entire continent to operate. As the images filtered in, the web of settlements grew throughout the landmass. There were entire squares filled with what looked like long, lean barracks neighboring full towns of armories, each covering the same square mileage as a major city. Harbors along the coasts were filled with ships and docks, while airfields were strewn throughout the flatlands displaying gleaming rows of chrome weaponry perfectly arrayed, wing to wing. “How the hell did they pull this off?” asked Stacie. “It’s just… wham, an entire continent disappeared and in its place… this.” “We have no clue. We’re having trouble determining exactly when all of this happened, but it must have been months ago.” Months?! James’s mind was spinning, thinking of the physical demands and resources it would take to build infrastructure of this magnitude. They were looking at a decades long project at the least. If whoever ran the BlankZone accomplished all of this in a matter of months, what else were they capable of? He kept scanning the area when he noticed clouds were blocking some of the images. He moved closer and realized they were moving in an odd pattern, flowing over the land, and petering out along the southwest coast. He looked around trying to find where they started, but the originator was offscreen. Is that smoke? He wondered what source of fire could be so widespread it caused clouds on such a grand scale. His mind drifted to pictures of volcanos he studied in high school. “How did we get these?” James asked, trying to wrap his mind around the enormous scale of the base. “Same as before. A break in their satellite protection and constant attempts to hack through,” Croyton replied. “Different this time though.” “How so?” asked Stacie from the other end of the line. “They meant us to see these shots.” “A threat,” Croyton replied stonily. “They want us to know what they’re capable of, how easily they can assert control without blinking an eye. The ships were a warning. This…” He shook his head, unblinking. “This tells us how ready they are.” 
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