by K. D. Mattis
A quick scream broke the radio silence. Gibbs looked over to see Stiles disappear into the floor. Without hesitation, the commander shouldered his rifle and ran forward.
“It’s fine, I’m all right,” Stiles said.
Slowing, Gibbs approached a wide hole in the floor. A pool of liquid continued to pour down.
“What happened?”
Two men removed a spool of rope from a tool bag and lowered an end down into the hole. They then worked together to pull up their fallen comrade.
Taking a moment to breathe, the man said, “I’m sorry, sir. I’m not sure exactly what happened. A pipe burst and let out a bunch of liquid. I was looking for the source when I slipped and fell down the hole.”
Leaning over, Gibbs shone his light down and looked as well as he could. “What’s down there?”
“It looks like a maintenance shaft. There are huge bundles of cables running toward the front of the ship. Maybe it’s part of the weapons system?”
“Maybe,” Gibbs said. “Did you see any activity down there?”
“None.”
“Good. Secure the hole, and let’s keep moving.”
After passing through several more doors, the groups entered a giant clearing. The void was several stories tall with walkways and ladders going every direction. Many led directly to one door. Eight giant cylinders, each the size of a bus, emitted a faint but steady light. Everyone looked up and around before looking at each other. Everyone had the same question.
“How do we secure the area?”
Gibbs made a point to focus his camera on the cylinders. “Those must be the primary weapons.” He then followed the large bundles of cables leading from the cylinders to the back of the ship with his camera.
“Sir?”
Breaking out of a sort of trance, Gibbs turned to the security team. “Secure the door we entered through. Everyone else, fan out, but maintain visual contact. We don’t have the resources to secure all of this, but we need to look around.”
As the men searched, they found several odd devices. They couldn’t determine what they were for, but they were small enough to transport, so they wrapped them in plastic and placed them in their packs. Every item they collected was covered with a thick layer of dust and required a quick shake to clean.
“Look there,” Gibbs said as he shone his light on a plaque on the wall.
Hernandez turned to look, but slipped on the fine dust covering the ground. He jumped back to his feet, inspected his rifle, and stood beside the commander. “What is it?”
Gibbs looked at the man, checking for any tears or breaks in their suits. Finding none, he looked, motioning to the plaque. “The writing. Does it look familiar to you?”
“Vaguely, but wouldn’t all forms of writing?”
Nodding, Gibbs replied, “Yeah, I suppose so. It just looks a little too familiar. I don’t know. I’m not quite sure how to describe it.”
For several hours, the security team made their way through hundreds of yards of corridors. All had the same tall ceiling. At every door, they left motion detectors with an explosive charge. Some of the men grew complacent after so many hours of searching and mapping without incident. The weight of the small devices they picked up along the way began to cause them fatigue. With only two motion detectors left, Gibbs was determined to check one last door before calling off the search for the day.
Entering through the final door, Gibbs let his jaw drop. The door opened into another cavernous room. In the center sat a massive rock with several holes the size of the corridors drilled throughout. The men cautiously stepped over fallen walkways and randomly strewn tools as they walked toward the rock.
Though fascinated by the rock, Gibbs couldn’t ignore the dust on the floor. He knelt down and removed a vial from a pocket on his bag and filled it with the fine dust. Looking around, he noticed that the dust seemed to have gathered in random piles throughout the room. He made a point to film a couple of piles and desperately hoped the recording device worked properly. When he finished, he called everyone over in preparation to leave.
“Something on your mind, sir?” Hernandez asked.
Gibbs nodded.
“Well? Anything we can sort out?”
“I just finished recording. I don’t know if it worked or not, we’ll see when we get back to base camp, but it got me thinking.”
“About?”
Motioning toward the room, Gibbs said, “Two things. First, where are our probes?”
Hernandez looked at the ground in thought. He didn’t have an answer.
“What concerns me most,” Gibbs said, “is that this ship crashed. With the speed of the crash, it’s unlikely there were many survivors. There should be some alien bodies lying around.”
Hernandez gripped his gun a little tighter. “I haven’t seen any.”
“Where are they?”
5
Asher woke to her phone ringing. Sitting up in her chair, she took a moment to collect her thoughts and remember where she was. When she saw Commander Cole sitting a few chairs away, also beginning to wake, everything came to her. Grabbing her phone, she tried to smooth her uniform with her hands while she talked.
“Admiral?” asked a voice from the other end of the line.
“Yes, I’m here.”
“It’s time. He’s awake.”
“Is he stable?”
“Stable? Yes. Calm? No. If we can’t get his blood pressure down and make him relax, we won’t be able to keep him awake for long. I would suggest that you head down immediately, if you’d like to see him.”
Asher ended the call without another word. As she hurried to the door, Cole rubbed his eyes and jumped up to join. Forcing a normal pace, it took everything Asher had to keep from running off toward the medical bay. Cole matched her pace step for step. When she looked over to him, he forced a smile and a quick nod before turning his gaze forward again.
The pilot’s room was a flurry of activity. Some of the staff was doing their best to record everything for later viewing, some tried to make Harris respond to basic questions, and others did their best to calm the man.
When Asher approached the window, she reluctantly looked in. Robert Harris was her old friend, and a loyal member of her crew. It was difficult to see him thrash around on the bed, shoving people away from him and throwing their instruments across the room. The display continued for several minutes.
Tears formed in the corner of the admiral’s eyes as she watched the state of her friend, but she fought the urge to let them fall. When Harris let out a bloodcurdling scream, she lost the fight. Placing a hand on the glass, Asher whispered her friend’s name.
“Robert.”
Harris dropped his body limply across the mattress. Everyone went silent as the heart rate monitor let out slower beeps until they relaxed into a proper rhythm.
“Asher.”
Despite the calm tone of the voice, several people in the room jumped. Orders flew around for everyone to step back. One doctor ensured the cameras were working.
She tried to talk, but her voice wouldn’t cooperate. Instead, Asher just let out nonsensical grunts.
Harris opened his eyes and slowly lifted his body. When he failed, he reached a hand toward one of the doctors. The doctor stared for a moment before jumping forward and pulling the man up into a sitting position.
The doctors began asking questions and poking at the man, trying to get his vitals. Harris ignored all of it and stared at the admiral. After several minutes with no results, one of the doctors stepped into the hall to bring Asher into the room. When a guard objected, Asher calmed him with a quick nod as she pushed past.
“Robert,” Asher asked with a slight quiver in her voice, “is that you?”
He tried to speak, but his voice wouldn’t cooperate. Harris motioned toward the sink, and someone ran over with a glass of water. After he gulped down the entire glass, he raised it to ask for more. With the second glass finished, he pulled the tape off
the back of his hand and removed the intravenous needle.
“Yes, Admiral. I’m here.”
Screaming once more, Robert slammed his body back down on the bed. His face contorted in a mixture of pain and fear, and he ignored offers from doctors to help him sit up. When he could fight the pain once more, he lifted himself back into a sitting position.
Asher’s tears stopped, but she could feel that they left streaks down her face. She ignored them as her left hand curled into a tight fist.
“What did they do to you?” Asher asked.
Harris shook his head as his eyes drooped and grew heavy. “I don’t know, Admiral. I can hear it. It wants to control me, but it can’t. I don’t know why.”
“I— What’s with the screaming?”
“It’s fighting me. It can’t control me, but it can cause me a lot of pain. It’s one being, but it talks to me with dozens of voices. It’s hard to hear over them. I…I just…”
“Robert?”
“It’s so loud.”
“Robert?” Asher asked again. “Are you still with us?”
“They don’t want to kill us.”
When Harris went silent, everyone stared, hoping for more.
“Then why attack us?” Asher asked
Harris shot his eyes open and focused on the admiral’s hands. “They don’t have a choice. If we don’t stay on Earth, they’ll make us.”
Asher furrowed her brow. “Robert, we’ve defeated them twice. If they’re going to make us, they aren’t doing a very good job of it. If we fight them, we can stop them.”
“No!” Harris shouted. His head rolled back and he let out a slow, deep, laugh. “We can’t. You don’t understand.”
“Then make me understand.”
“Others have tried. They were wiped out. If we try, we’ll be wiped out.”
“What are we supposed to do? They can expand past their world, but we can’t? Why do they get to make that decision?”
With another painful grimace, Harris said, “I wish you could see what they’re showing me. We can’t win this.” Harris shot his eyes wide open. “Unless—” Another scream cut his thought short.
Reaching out toward the admiral, Harris tried to speak, but waves of pain caused his body to tremble and shake. Every time he opened his mouth, he faced renewed opposition from an enemy in his head.
“Unless what?” Asher asked.
More screams.
Each twinge of pain hurt Asher, but she had to know. “Unless what?” she shouted.
Asher kept pushing for answers, but her pilot couldn’t oblige. The heart-rate monitor beeped faster until a doctor put his hands on Asher’s shoulders and shoved her toward the door. She wanted to resist. She needed all the information she could get, but she wouldn’t risk her friend’s life for it. Relaxing her fist, she let a doctor guide her out of the room.
As the door closed, Harris shouted out. “Push on, Admiral. Push on or lie down.”
With that, Harris fell unconscious.
Sitting at her desk, Asher picked up a model of the Explorer and turned it over in her hands.
Cole spun a globe sitting on her desk and asked, “So what does it mean?”
Asher shook her head and tossed the model in the trash.
“No idea?”
“No,” Asher whispered.
Standing, Cole stepped over to the trash can, pulled out the model, and plucked off pieces of debris. “I do.”
“Oh?”
“It’s simple.” Cole placed the model back on its stand. “We’ve come this far. We’re just now starting to see what we’re capable of. Not as a group or a nation, but as a species.”
Asher leaned back in her chair. “Well, it seems like we’re pretty good at getting in the way of progress.”
“You don’t believe that,” Cole said. “I know it seems that way at times, but if you believed that, you wouldn’t have pushed as hard as you have. You’re pushing for something.”
Rubbing her eyes, Asher folded her arms.
“As I see it, we have two choices. We can either let some bully tell us how to live our lives—”
“And how our children will live their lives,” Asher added.
“Right. Or we can push on. We can expand our reach into the stars.”
Asher laughed. “The stars, huh? Right now, I’d be happy with keeping our own solar system.”
6
Her dress uniform wasn’t comfortable, but Asher wore it with pride as she walked down the aisle of the large auditorium. Many higher-ranking members of the Space Corps joined her as she found her seat in the front row.
The crowd ran wild with rumors and speculation about the meaning of the gathering, but few knew the details. Several reporters approached Asher hoping for a statement, but she politely refused every request. She wouldn’t spoil the fun.
As the President of the United States took to the stage, he was greeted by polite applause. With a few waves of his hand, the crowd quieted to a whisper.
“My fellow Americans, I stand before you today as a believer in freedom. I believe in the idea that humanity is free, and must always remain free, to determine its fate and its path in the universe.
“As all of you are aware, we recently launched a manned mission to Mars. Though we ultimately failed in that mission, we uncovered something that altered human history forever. We are not alone in the universe. More concerning is that it appears others in the universe would dictate to us how we are to continue as a species and would limit our growth potential even within our own solar system—our home.”
The president cleared his throat and took a sip of water as a group of men walked onto the stage and placed nine flags around the podium. When they finished their job, the men filed off the stage.
Smiling broadly, the president continued. “We do not know the extent of the alien threat. We know it has presented itself twice, and it will likely present itself again. When that happens, it is not enough, nor is it fair, to expect one or two nations to bear the burden of protecting our planet against more advanced aggressors. As a world filled with nations, each nations must defend the world when the time comes. Through unity, we can achieve greatness.
“It is in this spirit that I announce the creation of the Earth Defense Initiative. A group of the world’s most powerful nations have come together to form and lead this initiative to protect the world from extraterrestrial aggressors.”
As he finished his speech, the stadium filled with cheers and applause. Hundreds of reporters raised their hands, hoping to ask a question. The president pointed to one of the few women in the audience.
“Mr. President, which nations are involved in the initiative, and what is the extent of their involvement?”
Turning, the president motioned to the flags behind him. “While we hope other nations will join us in the near future, the charter members are the United States, China, Russia, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Brazil, Japan, and India. Each has committed to the development of a minimum number of vessels and manpower. Any contributions above the threshold for entry are up to the individual nation. However, all current members have pledged their full commitment.”
Another reporter asked, “And what about the conflict with the space treaty that limits the proliferation of weapons in space?”
“I think it goes without saying,” the president looked directly at Asher, “that antiquated treaties should not prevent us from protecting ourselves. The treaty has been terminated after much deliberation with all signing parties.”
“Something wrong, dear?” the first lady asked.
Asher looked around. “No, ma’am. It’s just a bit odd.”
“You’ve been on an airplane before, right?”
Smiling, Asher ran her hand across the arm of her chair. “Of course. A regular airplane feels odd to me now. Air Force One just feels that much odder.”
“How so?”
“It just feels so extravagant. There’s so much room. The Explore
r is a very large ship, but the interior is very tight. We can’t afford to waste space. Seats with thick padding seem a bit excessive after going without it for so long.”
The president returned to his seat with three glasses, each filled with ice and an amber colored liquid.
“Well, Admiral, I suppose congratulations are in order.”
“I suppose so.” Asher took a glass, raised it in the air, and then took a sip. “How did you pull it off?”
Gulping down his drink, the president said, “I told you we had to handle things properly. We did. Now we have fewer obstacles and more allies. You can’t ask for better than that.”
Asher looked out the window.
“You really can’t ask for better,” the president said. “I know you’ve paid the price for all of this, but I promise it will be worth it in the end.”
“I know,” Asher replied, forcing a smile. “We all have a part to play, right?”
“Absolutely.”
Once the plane landed, men in expensive suits led Asher and the president to different limousines. Asher was a little confused at first, but she knew the destination was the same.
A convoy of limos, escorted by heavily armed military vehicles, drove far out into the desert. The men and women riding with Asher kept stealing glances at her, but it looked like they couldn’t gather the courage to speak. She didn’t recognize any of them, so she focused her attention on the landscape outside of her window. For as far as she could see, there was nothing but empty land.
It took nearly an hour for the convoy to slow to a stop. More men in expensive suits led everyone to a line of chairs facing the emptiness of the desert. With the sun low in the sky, Asher found the heat tolerable, but she shifted uncomfortably as a bead of sweat ran down her nose. The group drank and socialized until the sun faded beyond the horizon.
Several floodlights kicked on and drew everyone’s attention to a small podium.