27 Secrecies

It was a lazy yet tense day for the entire Subangdaku. Different tragedies struck the district in the last two night. A meteor fell on Thursday night, causing a strong earthquake. Consequently, several old structures were damaged and a fire happened that consumed an entire hardware store. A state of calamity was declared so that the following day, classes and work were suspended in both public and private offices.

Subangdaku was still recovering when yet another mysterious happening occurred on Friday night. Scientists, protected by the military, put up a camp in the grasslands not far from the residential area and the river. It was a sealed camp and nobody in the district, even the local government unit, knew about it. It was kept a secret until a fire broke out in the camp. Thankfully, the fire was put out before reaching the grasses and burning the surrounding areas.

Estella delivered a blow-by-blow reporting on the incidents on that Saturday morning. The network postponed the regular show in the timeslot to give way to an explosive documentary about the events. The program contained exclusive and mouth-gaping coverages that could take anyone's breath away.

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Sonny and other guys in the network were able to record everything on camera - the landing of the meteor and the bright light, the earthquake, and the fire in the grassland. Last night's footages added more excitement to the program, although some of the videos were dark and grainy. Still, they solicited intriguing opinions, especially their discovery of the camp.

"They claim that the operation was kept secret in order not to cause panic to the public," Estella was saying on the live show. "Until now, there was still no clear explanation of why the camp existed."

What happened last night was very clear in Sonny's and Estella's mind. The arrival of the firetrucks was unfortunate because the military was able to evade most of their inquiries. They promised an official statement but their commanding officer was nowhere in sight. Estella presumed that he was with one of the three trucks who instantly left the camp after the fire. That really picked Estella's curiosity. Why should there be three trucks leaving? Why do the men left behind kept silent about it? Why should it be top-secret?

Estella could only assume that the camp was related to the meteor landing. While she was bombarding the attending officers with questions, Sonny was all ears with his surroundings. They were in that cat-and-mouse state when he heard the men in the other truck spoke to each other in loud voices.

"How are the scientists?"

"Dr. Alvarado said everyone were in the trucks that left. They need to be as far away as possible."

The next words were a blur as the sirens from the firetrucks got louder. Several media men also arrived and the camp became a cacophony of excited voices. After a while, Sonny tagged Estella and told her about what he heard. She jumped in excitement and insisted on following the trucks, but Sonny talked some sense into her and she waned. However, she contacted the management and pitched her exclusive scoops of the events. Overnight, they wrote their stories and mixed the recordings.

While Estella was still speaking on the camera, some guy from the news division entered the studio and told Sonny that they would be patching a live feed from the mayor's office. The head of the camp would be issuing a statement. Sonny signaled Estella and she immediately cut off her report.

"We will pause for a while to give way to an official statement from the mayor's office," Estella said and the program instantly shifted to the newscast.

Instead of the mayor, another individual was focused on the camera. He was in the center of a table, with the mayor on his left and other officials on both their sides. His nameplate read "Dr. Silverio Alvarado". He was in his early fifties and he had an air of authority, intelligence, and arrogance. After the mayor introduced him to the small crowd in the conference room and to the viewers of the newscast, the man took the microphone and began his statement.

"Good morning to the citizens of Subangdaku," Dr. Alvarado spoke. "The recent events in the district had been truly heart-breaking...."

His preliminary words were exasperating to the many viewers. Instead of directly addressing the issue, he just beat around the bush and offered unsolicited sympathies.

"As to last night's event," he continued, "our team was able to recover something truly interesting. We found a meteor debris lying in the grassland. Indeed, what hit Subangdaku was a meteor. The remnant of the meteor was two meters big and may contain minerals not suitable or toxic to human. That was why we quarantined the area for public safety. We already took the object and transported it somewhere safe. As to where, that is classified information. "

"Bull****," Sonny uttered under his breath. "You don't set up a camp just to recover a meteor."

"We already advised the mayor's office to conduct certain operations to ensure public safety," he continued. "Rest assured that everyone's welfare is our main concern..."

His words were lost in Sonny's and Estella's heads. They could not believe him. Their actions were quite illogical. After the speech and Estella's program, the duo gathered together to express their disbelief.

"They are covering up something, "Estella said.

" I believe so," Sonny agreed." They exerted too much effort to get a debris. Something is fishy here."

" We need to find this out. Their public welfare thing is a crap."

Sonny laughed, admiring the fire in Estella. He could not ask for a better partner. And despite realizing the possible dangerous consequences, he knew they needed to follow up on this matter. Their chase of the truth did not end there yet....

At home, the boys gasped at what they heard in the news. They knew what they saw and that was the truth. Everything the scientist said was a lie. Before they separated last night, they promised to get together the following day. Their discovery was not a children's game anymore....

In another house, a woman secretly laid a child to sleep. She was smiling as she brushed the child's hair. There was even a drop of tear in her eyes as she hummed a lullaby.

"You are safe here," she whispered....