“Something I don’t understand,” said Lieutenant Commander Meadows. “Why couldn’t we detect any of these messages on Earth? With so many? A few should have gotten through.”
“There has to be some type of interference,” suggested Professor Marcus. She looked around at the others in the Command Center. “There must be some interference field that’s preventing the messages from reaching Earth. That’s why we came out this far. Many of the scientists I’m associated with believe it’s some field generated by the sun.”
“What if it’s something artificial?” asked Lieutenant Mindy Suarez from her navigation console. “If it is, who put it in place?”
Captain Greer frowned and then she spoke. “We don’t know if it’s artificial, but I think it would be wise if we keep a careful watch on our sensors to see if we can pick up anything else. For all we know, this could be some field generated by our sun, like Professor Marcus has suggested. This field prevents the messages from reaching us, and by traveling out this far, we have passed through it.”
“I don’t think the sun is doing this,” commented Rachael. “If it was, we would have detected the field years ago. No, I believe it must be something artificial. Perhaps put here by an advanced race to keep our system isolated, until we are ready for contact with other advanced civilizations.”
“I don’t believe that,” said Professor Crayton. “I tend to believe it’s a field generated by our sun. That’s the most logical explanation.”
Captain Greer looked at Lieutenant Morrison. “Keep a close watch on those sensors. If you so much as see anything that might be out of the ordinary, I want to know immediately.”
Morrison nodded and returned his attention to his sensor console. “Everything’s quiet so far. All we have on sensors are some hunks of rock and ice, plus a few small comets.”
-
Kala looked at Andrew. She had noticed that he was not in the least bit surprised about the number of messages the ship had detected. It was as if he had suspected or already knew what the array would find. She wondered if she should say something. Watching Andrew, she saw him slowly shake his head.
This only confirmed to Kala that he did know something. She wondered now if he was one of these mysterious people her father believed were manipulating the Human race on Earth. Once she had an opportunity to get him alone, she was determined to find out the truth.
-
A few million kilometers away a small Druin observation station had recorded the approach of the Endeavor and transmitted the contact information to one of the eight larger stations in orbit around this star system. Once the message had been sent, the observation station continued to track the small spacecraft. The larger station would determine what response needed to be taken. This system was under quarantine, and no ship must leave it or enter it.
-
The AI on the larger station analyzed the message from the observation station and then searched its command imperatives to see how the situation should be handled. It found the necessary instructions and then set about complying with its orders. A large hatch on the station opened, and a small attack drone was launched. It would take the drone about six hours to reach its target and destroy it. Satisfied it had taken care of the potential problem, the AI went back to monitoring the rest of the observation stations in its section of space. The AI also decided that, for now, it was not necessary to send a hyperlight message to the Druins, informing them of the situation. The scans from the observation station indicated the spacecraft was quite primitive by galactic standards.
-
On board the Endeavor Andrew watched one of his screens, which was a highly developed Imperial sensor. It was currently set to long-range, searching for any signs of Druin activity. It only took a few moments after he activated the sensor before alarms went off.
“What’s that?” asked Captain Greer, seeing the flashing red light on the console and hearing the alarm that sounded.
“We’ve been detected by the beings who set up the interference field around the Solar System,” replied Andrew. No point keeping anything secret now. The Endeavor had no chance of surviving the encounter with the attack drone the Druin station had just launched. Andrew looked at Kala. “The beings are called Druins and are one of seven older races who control most of the galaxy. The Endeavor has been detected by their surveillance system, and an attack drone has been launched to deal with our ship. It will arrive in approximately six hours. We have no defense against it.”
Dead silence met Andrew’s words. Everyone except Kala looked at him like he had gone nuts.
“How do you know this?” demanded Captain Greer, her gaze focused sharply on Andrew.
“It’s complicated. My people have known about the Druins and the possible existence of this surveillance system for many years.”
“Are these the same aliens who marooned your people on Earth over a thousand years ago?” asked Kala.
Andrew hesitated and then nodded. “Yes, and they are quite ruthless. They will show no mercy and won’t hesitate to kill everyone on this ship.”
“I’m confused,” said Captain Greer. She looked at Kala. “Are you saying that what Mr. Wilcox just said is all true and that his family comes from another world?”
Kala nodded. “Yes, my father is excavating a site on Cyprus and what he has found confirms everything Andrew just said. It wasn’t just Andrew’s family who was marooned there but many more.”
Captain Greer looked at Andrew. “Why did you not speak up before? Now the ship is in danger if your statement from earlier is true.”
“Would you have believed me?”
Greer slowly shook her head. “I’m still not certain that I do. However, all those alien messages we’re picking up tells me to at least consider your story.”
“Captain, I’m detecting a small artificial structure just over two million kilometers from us,” reported Lieutenant Morrison. “It’s definitely not anything I’m familiar with.”
“Andrew is telling the truth,” said Kala, a pleading look in her eyes. “If we want to survive, we need to ask him what to do.”
Captain Greer looked from Kala and then back to Andrew. “I have no idea what’s going on. What I am concerned about is the safety of this ship.” Greer spent several long moments thinking about her options. “Mr. Wilcox, do you have any suggestions?”
Andrew took a deep breath. The Endeavor couldn’t evade a Druin attack drone. The best they could hope to do was put some distance between it and the Endeavor to delay the inevitable for as long as possible. “Run,” replied Andrew. “Turn the ship around and accelerate as hard as possible. We can’t outrun the drone, but there is a very small possibility I can call for help.”
“Call who?” asked Lieutenant Commander Meadows. “None of our ships are anywhere close to us. We’re out farther than anyone else has been before.”
Andrew looked at Meadows. “The people I’ll try to call are not from Earth.”
Andrew turned back to his console and set it to broadcast a hyperlight message. He used the array to broadcast the message toward a major portion of the asteroid field on this side of the sun. If Sanctuary was hidden inside one of those asteroids, just maybe they would receive his message. If not, then they were all doomed. He also made sure the signal wasn’t too strong to avoid any Druin stations possibly detecting it. The signal would fade out after it passed through the asteroid zone.
-
The Endeavor turned and accelerated back into the Solar System. The ship quickly reached its top acceleration of four Gs and fled from the Kuiper Belt. Behind it, the Druin attack drone took note of the changing position of its target. It would do no good. The drone increased its own speed, accelerating to ten Gs. It wouldn’t take long to run down its quarry and then a fusion energy beam would make short work of it.
-
On board the Endeavor, the crew waited tensely as the ship fled through space. Lieutenant Morrison had finally detected the Druin attack
drone on his sensors.
“The damn thing is coming fast. We can’t escape it.”
“Well, that confirms Andrew is telling the truth,” said Kala. “What do we do now?”
“What weapons will this drone have?” asked Captain Greer. She was still having a hard time accepting what was happening.
“The drone will be equipped with a fusion energy beam which will tear right through the hull of this ship. It may also be equipped with antimatter missiles. If one of those explodes anywhere near the ship, it will vaporize the entire vessel.”
“Andrew, is there anything we can do?” asked Rachael.
Andrew knew the odds of any of them surviving was growing smaller with every passing moment. “The only thing I can recommend is to evacuate the ship. Use the escape pods and leave the vessel before the drone reaches us. Once the pods are clear of the ship, they should cut power and wait. After a few hours it should be safe to restore power.”
“We can’t survive in the pods for long,” pointed out Lieutenant Williams. “They’re designed for short-term survival. At the most we can expect to survive for seventy-two hours before the power runs out.”
“If we stay on board the ship, we’ll all be dead long before that,” replied Andrew.
Captain Greer drew in a deep breath. “Mr. Wilcox, these people you attempted to contact. Has there been any response?”
Andrew shook his head. “No, I wouldn’t expect there to be any. They don’t want the Druins to learn of their presence.”
“So we have a choice,” said Lieutenant Commander Meadows, looking at the sensor screen, showing the rapidly approaching Druin attack drone. “We evacuate the ship, giving us a very remote chance of rescue, or we stay on the ship and die. I say we evacuate and take our chances on being rescued by Mr. Wilcox’s friends.”
“They may not exist,” warned Andrew. “It’s just a slim possibility someone may still be out here.”
“A slight chance is better than none,” replied Meadows, looking at the captain.
“This is sheer madness,” said Professor Tower who had returned to the Command Center. “I say we stay on the ship. Surely the vessel approaching us can be reasoned with.”
Andrew shook his head. “The Druins cannot be reasoned with. Besides, no biological entities are on the attack drone. It is controlled by computers and will not deviate from its orders.”
The captain knew Meadows was right in suggesting they evacuate. “I’ll stay on the ship, and anyone who wants to use the escape pods can do so. If I can talk this drone out of attacking, I’ll come back and pick up all of you. If I don’t return then you will know the Endeavor has been destroyed. If anyone wants to stay on the ship, I’ll leave that decision up to you.”
“I’ll stay,” said Lieutenant Suarez. “You’ll need someone to fly the ship.”
A few others volunteered to stay on board as well. Overall sixteen members of the ship’s complement decided to take their chances in the escape pods. Some of the crew, including a few of the scientists, decided to stay on board. Professor Tower was one of the scientists who was staying on the Endeavor.
“You’re fools for leaving the ship. I’m sure we can negotiate with this drone if it is even real.”
“It’s real,” said Lieutenant Morrison. “I’m tracking it on the ship’s sensors.”
Professor Tower shook his head. “I’ll believe it when I see it on the ship’s viewscreens. For all we know, this is some fancy trick Mr. Wilcox has dreamed up.”
“I assure you it is not,” replied Andrew. This entire encounter was rapidly spinning out of control.
“Stand by to evacuate the ship,” ordered Captain Greer. “Considering how quickly the attack drone is closing on the Endeavor, we need to launch the escape pods within the next hour. During that time I want to load the pods with extra batteries, food, air, and water. If we do that, we can double the amount of time the pods will remain functional. It will also give me more time to recover them if we find the evacuation was unnecessary.”
-
Everyone rushed to load the necessary supplies in the escape pods. At least one ship’s officer was assigned to each one.
Andrew found himself assigned to pod number three along with Kala, Rachael, and Professor Adrian Marcus.
“We have twenty minutes until we’re ejected from the Endeavor,” said Rachael, as she stowed the last of the supplies. “We’ll be in tight quarters, but it can’t be helped. These pods were designed in case something drastic happened to the Endeavor. They have a small ion drive and a few thrusters but little else.”
-
Time passed as they finished stowing everything securely in the pod, and then the comm system activated.
“Attention all escape pods,” announced Captain Greer. “The attack drone is still on an intercept course. We will make contact as soon as the pods are ejected. I would recommend that all pods move away from the Endeavor’s current course for ten minutes and then shut down. Everyone will wear spacesuits. Those suits are good to keep you alive for nearly twelve hours. Allow at least six hours to pass and then reactivate the pod’s power systems. Hopefully by then I’ll either be coming back to pick you up or the attack drone will be out of range. Good luck and I hope to see all of you soon.”
-
Rachael shut the hatch, sealing them all in. Four acceleration couches were in each pod, with just enough room to move around to operate the pod’s controls. Most of their time in the pod would be spent in the acceleration couches.
“Stand by for ejection!” said Captain Greer over the comm. “Ten seconds.”
“Hold tight,” ordered Rachael, as she checked her safety harness.
The lights in the small cabin suddenly flashed red and a loud popping noise came. All four of the people in the pod felt a sudden burst of acceleration, which pushed them back into the acceleration couches. After a few moments the acceleration came to an end.
“Stand by for ion drive activation,” said Rachael, as she pressed several icons on her computer screen. “We will do a ten-minute burn and then shut down all our systems.”
-
Andrew felt the ion drive kick in. The acceleration was slight, as it pushed them away from the Endeavor at one quarter of normal Earth gravity in acceleration. For ten minutes the drive moved them away from the ship, and then it shut down.
“What now?” asked Kala, concern in her voice. “This isn’t exactly how I planned on spending today.”
“We wait,” said Andrew. “The attack drone has been programmed to attack and to destroy the Endeavor. There’s a good chance it will ignore all of the pods.”
Professor Marcus looked at Andrew. “What are the chances of your friends rescuing us?”
Andrew had been thinking about the same thing. If Sanctuary was on this side of the sun, there was a reasonable chance they had received his message. If they were on the far side of the sun then Andrew and the rest in the pods were on their own. “About one in ten. All we can do is wait.”
Professor Marcus nodded. “We all knew this could be a dangerous mission. We just didn’t expect to encounter aliens.”
“I hate spacesuits,” muttered Kala. She looked through her helmet at the others. “Did anyone bring a deck of cards?”
Andrew grinned. At least Kala still had her sense of humor. Now their survival depended on Sanctuary existing and if they were willing to risk sending a rescue ship.
Chapter Eight
Captain Greer sat in her command chair, staring at the sensor screen now showing a red icon rapidly approaching the Endeavor. It moved far faster than the Endeavor could at its top speed.
“Seven minutes until contact,” reported Lieutenant Morrison uneasily.
“Sending first contact message,” added Lieutenant Commander Meadows, who had taken over the communications console. The first contact message had been designed just in case the Endeavor found aliens on their mission, though that possibility had been deemed extremely low to nonexis
tent.
“Putting the alien vessel on the viewscreen,” said Lieutenant Williams from his engineering console. “This is at our highest magnification.”
On the ship’s main viewscreen, a bulbous vessel appeared, with several weapon turrets and numerous small hatches.
“The alien drone is twenty meters in length and is not slowing down,” said Lieutenant Morrison.
Captain Greer looked at Lieutenant Commander Meadows. “Any response to the first contact message?”
Meadows shook his head.
“Five minutes to contact,” reported Lieutenant Morrison. “Several hatches have opened on the drone.”
An hour earlier Captain Greer had sent a brief report back to the space station on their discoveries and the possible attack on the Endeavor by an alien drone. Due to the time lag, the drone would reach them before any reply was possible.
-
Inside the Druin drone, the ship’s main computer analyzed the incoming message and chose to ignore it. Its mission was very simple. Destroy the intruding vessel. It had opened two hatches containing antimatter missiles. The drone was also powering up one of its fusion projectors. From the current range to the intruding vessel, it was evident the vessel was not protected by any energy shield. The drone’s sensors also could not detect any weapons on the vessel. This would be an easy kill and then the drone would return to its base and report a successful mission.
The drone had detected several smaller vessels exiting the ship earlier. Analysis had indicated these were most likely escape pods of some type. Sensor scans had shown they did not have sufficient power or life support to save the few crewmembers they contained, so the computer had decided annihilating the small escape pods didn’t warrant the energy expenditure to destroy them. In a few days any surviving crewmembers inside the escape crafts would be dead.
The Forgotten Empire: Banishment: Book One Page 10