Com base no que vemos no script , podemos supor que eles simplesmente retornaram à base:
On the monitors as well, we can see the target remain. The air is let
out of the room, everyone deflated.
PRESIDENT : Call them back.
NIMZIKI : The other bombers might have more luck. We shouldn't just give up...
PRESIDENT : I said call them back.
As the technicians call the bombers away, the President sinks into a
depression. His last hope of survival gone.
Na novela oficial , o tom é um pouco mais sombrio. O Presidente Whitmore está claramente contemplando o uso das armas nucleares remanescentes para tornar o mundo inabitável para os alienígenas, mesmo ao custo de tornar o mundo inabitável para a população humana restante:
“Call the other planes back,” Whitmore said softly.
Nimziki couldn’t believe it. “The other bombers might have better
luck,” he argued. “One of their destroyers is enroute to Chicago. We
still have time to intercept it and deliver multiple warheads. We can’t
just give up!”
“I said call them back.”
The president sank into a chair and stared up at the ceiling.
The failure to inflict any damage on the aliens’ ship convinced him
there was no way to prevent them from landing. Suddenly, he felt like
there was plenty of time. Somehow, he knew from his mind-meld
experience with the captured alien, it would take them a couple of
years to move the entire population down to Earth from the mother
ship.
In light of what happened in Houston, it seemed to be time now to
rethink the strategy of fighting the aliens and time to begin
organizing ways to resist them once they began their invasion. The
only logical course of action Whitmore could see was to wait for them
to establish their cities, then blow the world to smithereens. Mankind
was going to be exterminated, he knew, without mercy. If we’re lucky,
he told himself, we might be able to take them down with us.