“Yes, captain.”
“Good, you’re still on-line,” he muttered to himself. “The IPV was boarded. I need to know how and when.”
“There are no records of the IPV being boarded.”
Jack half expected that answer. But he thought that there must be some evidence of what they had done.
“Computer, compile a list of all internal sensor readings during the time that we were unconscious.”
“I have no record of your being unconscious.”
“What do you mean? We just came to.”
“My records do not corroborate this.”
Jack grew more frustrated and shouted, “Can you at least tell me the current ship date and time?”
“1530 hours, July 27, 2124.”
Jack thought back for a moment and said, “That’s about the time that we were pulled into this ... this ship.” He knew something wasn’t right. “Devon,” he said calmly.
“Yes sir?”
“What does your navigational console read. It should have its own independent chronometer, right?”
“Yes, it does. It says 1530, July ... I’m sorry sir, it agrees with the computer.”
“Damn it!” Jack shouted as he slammed his fist into his armrest. His wrist stung for a moment. Looking for the source of the pain, he saw the glint of a metal wristband – it was his grandfather’s watch. The antique wasn’t linked into the ship’s systems or even electrical. He quickly turned his arm and read, ‘7:45.’ The date indicator showed a ‘28.’
Devon must have seen the look on his face since he asked, “What is it, sir?”
“We were out for at least sixteen hours and possibly as much as twenty-eight. My watch reads seven-forty-five, AM or PM I don’t know. The date, though, reads the twenty-eighth. Reset the ship’s...”
He was cut off by Don’s panicky voice over the intercom.
“Jack, Janet’s missing!”
“What’re you talking about? Helena’s has had her in hibernation ever since her fall,” Jack replied.
“Don’t you think I know that? I’m in sick bay and her body’s missing. They took her. Goddammit, they took her!”
“Shit! I’m coming down now.” He looked at Devon and said, “Call me immediately if anything happens – anything at all.”
By the time he reached sick bay, he had to push past half a dozen people just to get in. Before he could get a word out, Don looked him straight in the eye and asked, “Why the hell would they do this? Abduct her like this?”
“Calm down, Don,” he said, forcing a steady tone to his voice.
“What’re you talking about, calm down?” Don shot back. “They’ve captured us, implanted devices in our heads, knocked us out, and now they’ve abducted Janet. We’ve got to do something!”
Jack turned away so he could concentrate. But with six sets of eyes watching, he couldn’t focus.
“We need to get our ship’s weapons on-line and defend ourselves,” Palmer said from the hallway.
A flash of anger overwhelmed him and he turned and shouted, “Don’t you get it. Our weapons aren’t any use against them!”
“How the hell do you know?” Don said. “You haven’t even tried anything.”
“Don! All we did was use our targeting computer before and they knocked us right out. Hell, they knocked you out again just for being a jerk! They took our weapons and other systems off-line without us being able to do a damned thing about it. We’ve got nothing to fight with!”
“So we should just sit here until they grab each one of us or kill us?” Don said, waving his hands wildly.
Palmer spoke up from the back of the crowd, “This doesn’t make any sense.”
He was grateful for Palmer’s interruption; it gave him a second to breath. “I know that,” he answered.
“No, I mean I’ve still got my sidearm.” Jack watched as Palmer checked it over. “It’s still loaded.”
Jack just shook his head. “Even with those, we’re not any sort of threat.” The room was quiet again. Jack buried his anger at their helplessness and said, “Computer.”
“Yes, captain.”
“Do you have any readings of Janet on the ship?”
“Lieutenant Janet Kinkade is not onboard the IPV.”
“See? They took her!” Don shouted.
Jack ignored him and turned to Palmer, “They wiped its memory. Even of the time we were all unconscious. The best I can tell; we were out for either sixteen or twenty-eight hours. The computer has no records of any events during that time.” Before Don could speak, Jack continued, “Is everyone else accounted for?”
“Yes,” Palmer replied.
“Is there any obvious damage to the ship?”
“No, but I did a quick computerized status check and found signs of the repairs the alien mentioned.”
“What do you mean?”
“All hull breaches have been sealed. Preliminary readings even show that secondary engineering has been re-pressurized. It’s still sealed, but Nadya wants to go in.”
“Not yet,” Jack said softly as he thought of Kurt. He looked around and asked Palmer, “Where is she?”
“In engineering still reviewing the ship’s systems.”
Jack gently pushed his way out of sick bay and walked quickly down the corridor. He heard Palmer following him, but didn’t say anything or look back. By the time they reached the engineering section, Jack found what he had expected: the hatch to secondary engineering was open. Nadya was standing in the center of the room. She turned to him, her face flush with desperation. As he walked to her, she said “They took them Jack. They took his body!”
She collapsed in his arms, and for the first time sobbed uncontrollably. Jack held her until she calmed down and said, “I am going to get them back.”
She looked at him and just nodded.
As she wiped her face, he asked, “Are you OK?”
“As much as I can be.”
“I know it’s too much to ask, but I need you to focus. I need you to work with Palmer and finish inspecting our systems. I don’t trust them, and want to be ready for whatever comes next. Can you do that?”
“Yes,” she answered in a mostly level voice.
Jack turned to Palmer who was waiting politely at the hatch. “Work with Nadya. Do whatever it takes to get engines and some sort of defenses online.”
“Do you think they’ll even let us get the engines back up?”
“No, but I want what little we’ve got available.”
“Understood.”
Chapter 28 – July 28, 2124
Kurt opened his eyes and screamed. He stopped though as the first sounds exited his mouth. His heart was racing and he could feel the adrenaline coursing through his veins; but everything around him was wrong. He was lying on a hard table in a featureless, bright white room. A second earlier he could swear that he’d been staring directly into the cold vacuum of space. He clearly remembered the blinding pain cutting through his head and lungs as the air ripped past him into the void. Reflex had taken over and he remembered curling into a ball. But now all that was gone.
He jumped to his feet and looked around. It was a completely empty, white room, save for the table on which he’d been lying. Light seemed to emanate from all surfaces, and he could barely discern where the walls met the floor. As he took a step, he realized that there was gravity and wondered if he was on a planet or some accelerating ship.
“Hello?” he finally said sheepishly.
There was no response; only a completely smothering silence. Kurt walked cautiously over to a wall and ran his finger along it. It was perfectly flat. There was no reflection or texture of any sort. He pushed gently against it, and was surprised that it gave slightly, like a very tight rubber sheet. Without warning, a door opened to his left. It didn’t slide aside or open on a hinge, but simply appeared. He took a half step back more out of caution than fear. Finally, after staring at it for a moment, he walked to its threshold and looked down
a plain, white corridor that led from his room.
“Do you want me to follow this?” he called out.
Again, there was no answer. He waited a few seconds before tentatively starting down the hall. An intersection with another corridor lay about ten meters ahead. A familiar voice suddenly broke the silence as it called out, “Hello?”
It was Claire. “Claire, it’s me Kurt. I’m over here,” he answered as he ran the last few meters to the intersection. Peering down the hallway, he saw Claire cautiously approaching him from the right.
She was nearly out of breath when she reached him. “What’s happened. Where are we?” she asked.
“I’ve got no idea at all. The last thing I remember was knowing that we weren’t going to make it. I remember the pain, and then I was here.”
“I thought it was a nightmare,” she said. “But this doesn’t feel real either.”
“But, where’s here?”
They stared in silence at the corridors in front of them. The one leading from Kurt’s room continued past the intersection for several meters before disappearing from view around a bend. The other continued straight before reaching a dead end.
“What now?” Claire asked.
Without warning, a door appeared at the dead end, and a moment later Janet Kinkade carefully walked through it. She looked at them and then back at the door before asking, “Kurt? Claire? What ... where are we?”
“Don’t know,” Kurt answered. “Are you OK?”
“I think so. I’m just confused. I ... I was on the ladder at the back of the IPV when the Magellan started accelerating. I tried to hold on, but ... I don’t know. I remember falling. And then I was on the table in there. But this isn’t sick bay.”
“I know,” Kurt said. “We’re not sure what’s going on.”
Claire walked over, hugged her and said, “It’s good to see you’re OK.”
“But where are...” Janet’s voice trailed off as the corridors behind each of them disappeared. “What the hell?” was all that she could manage as they jumped back from the newly formed walls.
Kurt didn’t say anything; he just reached behind and touched the new surface. It had the same texture as the wall in his room. Looking past Janet and Claire, down the remaining corridor, he said, “I guess we’re supposed to go this way.” He led the way at a slow pace; the floor gave a little with each step, like walking on rubber. As with his room, light emanated from all around – floor, ceiling and walls – making it tough to gauge distances.
They rounded a bend and the hallway ended about thirty meters ahead at a vaguely familiar black and grey wall. Realizing it was the outer airlock door of the IPV, Kurt ran the last few meters before stopping and calling out “Hello! Can anyone hear me?” There was no answer. He peered through the door’s small, round window, but saw nothing. “I guess we should just go in.” Neither Janet nor Claire answered. He flipped open a clear protective cover on the airlock control panel, and pressed the bright green “Open” button. The outer door obediently slid aside and the three of them squeezed into the chamber. Without looking back, Kurt pressed the “Cycle-In” button on the wall. The door slid shut, but there was no hiss of air coming into the chamber: they were already at atmospheric pressure. The excitement quickly built inside him as he pressed the “Open” button on the inner hatch. The door, however, stayed shut.
“What the hell?” he said as he hit the button again. The door remained sealed.
“Kurt? What’s going on?” Claire asked.
“I don’t know. None of this makes any sense,” he said under his breath. “I just want to...” The heavy door slid aside, revealing a dark corridor and two men pointing assault rifles at them. Kurt and his companions pressed themselves against the back of the airlock as he shouted, “Hold on! It’s us.”
“Stand down!” a familiar voice called out.
The guns in front of him were hesitantly lowered. The man spoke again, “Stay where you are for now.” It was Jack. There was a brief pause before the corridor lights came on and the two in front took a step back; it was Palmer and Devon. Kurt could only make out Jack and Don behind them in the cramped hallway, and called out, “Jack, what the hell’s going on here?”
“This isn’t possible!” Don protested from behind.
“Kurt? Claire? Janet?” Jack said.
Kurt briefly looked at Claire and Janet behind him before answering, “You can see it’s us. What’s with the guns? And telling us to stay where we are?”
Before anyone could answer, Nadya forced her way past Palmer and Devon. Kurt felt a wave of relief and wanted to take her into his arms, but she stopped about a meter away. She took a hesitating step backward before asking, “Kurt? Is it really you?”
“Of course,” was his exasperated answer. “Please tell me what’s going on?”
Jack answered him, “Kurt, do you know where you are and how you got here?”
“On the IPV!” he said without trying to hide the frustration in his voice. “But I have no idea about getting here,” he said waving toward the airlock. “Or, anything else going on.”
“You don’t remember how you got there? Or what happened?”
“No!” he shouted.
Palmer whispered something too low to hear into Jack’s ear before he asked, “Was there any sign of Alex on their ship?”
“No…what the hell are you talking about?” Kurt protested.
“I don’t know how to say this,” Jack said with forced calmness, “but you and Claire were killed two days ago. We don’t know how, but the aliens were able...”
“Jack, you’re not making any sense. We’re alive.”
Nadya moved closer and took his hands in hers. She lightly caressed them but still held back. Kurt looked at the disbelief and suspicion in her eyes and practically shouted, “Can’t you see it’s me?”
Jack spoke again, “Kurt, what’s the last thing that you remember?”
“What do you mean?”
“Onboard the IPV. What’s the last thing that you remember?”
He stared back at them and felt his stomach drop. The memories became very real again. “We ... we were in secondary engineering checking on the power feed when the ship shook violently. I remember being thrown across the room. Then there was a leak. The air tore by me as a hole opened in front of us. I could see the stars. Everything hurt; it felt like a nightmare...”
“It wasn’t a nightmare,” Nadya said. “Your compartment depressurized.” Kurt watched as she looked at Jack instead of him.
“The ship was in bad shape,” Jack continued. “We weren’t able to repair the damage and recover your bodies. You and Claire were exposed to open space for days.”
“But,” Kurt said touching his chest, “how do you explain this?”
“I can’t,” Jack said. “All I can say is that the aliens must have revived you.”
“What aliens?” Kurt shouted in exasperation.
“The ones holding us and our ship.”
Kurt looked at Nadya as he practically screamed, “What the hell is he talking about?”
“They captured us Kurt. They implanted devices into our heads. They knocked us out when we argued with them. I don’t know what’s real and what’s not. I mean you were dead.” Tears were running down the side of her face; her voice cracked as she continued, “They took your bodies and didn’t even tell us what they did with them.”
“Didn’t you see the aliens?” Palmer asked.
“We didn’t see anyone,” Janet answered in a level tone. “We just woke up a few minutes ago and followed a hallway that lead us here.”
“They didn’t talk to you?” Jack asked.
“No one said anything,” Kurt answered. He felt numb; everything was wrong. His mind dwelled again on the pain and the crack in the hull. The obvious thoughts dominated his mind: Could they have died? How could they be here now?
Palmer took a step back from them and said, “I don’t trust this whole thing.”
&
nbsp; Don, who had finally pushed his way to the front of the group added, “I agree with him. How do we know this isn’t some sort of trick or set-up?”
Nadya spun around to face him and shouted, “What the hell are you talking about?”
“Nadya, like you just said, he was dead,” Don answered calmly. “How do you know that’s really him. I know that’s in the back of your mind. I see it in your eyes.”
Kurt couldn’t take it anymore. He wanted to throttle Don, but just pushed toward the man and shouted, “Damn it Don! I’m right here in front of you. I don’t know what sort of paranoid shit you’ve got in your head but this has all got to stop now.”
“Captain,” Palmer said calmly, “I think at very least we should give each of them a thorough medical examination.”
Kurt looked to Jack, who was mulling over the whole situation. Don started to say something, but Jack finally shouted, “Enough!”
The hallway quieted to a hushed murmur as Jack continued, “I’m putting an end to all of this right now. “Kurt, Claire, Janet; Thank God you’re back. I don’t know how, but I’m not going to question it. I think, however, it would be prudent to have Helena examine each of you thoroughly before anything else. You’ve been through ... well I don’t know what. Let’s just make sure you’re OK.”
Kurt nodded and gave a barely audible, “OK.”
“Good,” Jack said. “I want everyone else back to your stations. I’ll update you all as soon as I can.”
Kurt felt like the world was spinning around him. He just wanted all of this insanity to end. Jack calmed him, though, as he gave him a pat on the back and said, “I’m glad you’re back.”
Kurt looked blankly at him and said, “I really don’t know what to say.”
“Don’t worry. Right now, get to sick bay and get checked out.”
Nadya said in a low voice, “Jack, the engines are in good enough...”
“I know what you want to ask, and it’s OK,” Jack said with a smile. “Go with him to sick bay. I’ll cover engineering myself for a little while.
“Thanks,” she replied softly.
Kurt looked to Nadya who took him by the hand and led him down the hall, behind Janet and Claire. When they neared sick bay, Nadya stopped him and waited until the others went in. The silence was like a weight on his chest. Barely a second past before he had to speak. “Nadya, I don’t...”
Prelude to Extinction Page 31