by Ricky Sides
“You mean I could eat the minnows and crawfish?” Evan asked.
“Yes, you could eat them. They’d taste bad, but they’d help keep you alive, and so would these plants,” Jim said, and he pointed to some watercress. He spent a few minutes teaching Evan how to identify the plant, as well as which portions of the plant were edible. He warned Evan that it was dangerous to eat plants when you couldn’t identify them as a known safe variety. “It’s better to eat things you know are safe, than to take a chance on something you aren’t sure about, Evan,” explained Jim.
Glancing at the sky, Jim noted that it was getting late. “Your mom will have supper ready soon so it’s time to go back to the cabin, Evan,” said Jim.
The trail they were following ended at the south end of the clearing that surrounded the cabin. Jim paused near the edge of the woods. His right hand reached out automatically and he placed his hand on Evan’s shoulder with a strong grip. Evan had been taught to stop, stand perfectly still, and remain quiet when Jim stopped him in that manner. Something had attracted Jim’s attention. He spent a full two minutes studying the countryside visible to him, but he saw nothing other than the furtive movement of the branch of a spruce tree across the clearing at the edge of the forest to the northwest of his position.
Jim relaxed his hand on Evan’s shoulder, and said, “It’s alright, Evan. I must be imagining things.” Smiling at the young man to put him at ease, Jim said, “Let’s get back to the cabin. All that talk about eating earlier has made me hungry.”
“Me too!” Evan exclaimed. But despite his enthusiasm, the young man waited for Jim to lead the way, and he stayed clear of Jim so that the man could respond, should there be a need to defend them. Jim noticed it and made a mental note to speak to Pete about how much he had learned. Pete was fond of Evan and the two of them got along really well. Pete had taken an interest in teaching the boy as much as he could about the art of survival and for Pete it was an art.
***
That night, the little family enjoyed the wonderful meal Lacey had cooked with the Coleman camp stove. The cabin didn’t have electricity or running water, so they had brought the camp stove and kerosene for the lanterns. They had also brought in a supply of drinking water, but before the strike team members had left, Jim had drawn buckets of water from the well beside the house for Lacey’s use in the kitchen.
While they were eating their dinner, they discussed the meals they had enjoyed, cooked in the past on the candle stove, which Jim had taught Lacey and Evan to use. Lacey laughed and remarked that the candle stove worked, but she was glad to have the Coleman stove, since it was much more efficient.
Lacey looked thoughtfully at Jim and Evan as they ate the apple turnovers she had made for desert. Finally, she said, “Guys, there’s something I want to tell you.”
“OK, mom,” Evan replied.
“Go ahead, honey,” Jim responded.
“We’re going to have a baby,” Lacey said, beaming.
Jim dropped his fork into his plate and surged to his feet. “We are?” he asked.
“Hey mom, that’s great!” Evan said excitedly.
“Are you sure? This isn’t a possible false alarm is it?” Jim asked carefully.
“No, it isn’t another false alarm, Maggie has already confirmed it,” Lacey explained. The couple had been trying to conceive for over a year and there had been two false alarms when Lacey had been late for her monthly cycles.
Jim walked around the table and took Lacey’s hands in his. He leaned his forehead against hers gently, as he sometimes did when he just wanted to be close to her. “Oh Lacey, I am so happy, thank you,” he said quietly, and with such a tone of gratitude in his voice that there could be no mistaking how he felt about the new baby.
“Dear, you’re welcome, of course, but remember I wanted this too. In fact, I am the one who brought the matter up in the first place,” she replied.
“True, but I’m glad you did. I wouldn’t have asked it of you. Not after… Not after what happened with Brandy,” Jim said sadly.
Then Lacey kissed Jim and when they broke their embrace, she said, “Maggie doesn’t think I’ll have a lot of trouble. I’m thirty-three, which is old enough to add some risks to having a baby, but I’m healthy and in good shape, so Maggie thinks everything should be fine.” Then frowning Lacey added, “She did say that with my history of difficult pregnancies, I’d have to go on restrictive duty after the second trimester.”
“Well, Lacey, you’ve been Maggie’s assistant for years now, so you know how often crewmembers can get slammed into an unyielding object, when the ship has to make an unexpected maneuver,” Jim cautioned.
“Yes, I do know it is the wisest course of action, but I’m going to miss the ship and crew. Of course, I’ll also miss you while you are out saving the world,” Lacey explained.
“If you prefer, I could take a leave of absence while you’re pregnant,” Jim volunteered.
“No, Jim, I couldn’t ask you to do that. The last month of the pregnancy, I may feel differently, but what the ship and crew of the Peacekeeper do for the people is important. We’re making a difference. Our missions save lives and whether you admit it or not, you sitting in the captain’s chair is a good portion of the reason the ship and crew are so effective. You have the confidence of the crew. A couple of weeks away is one thing, but months? I don’t think that’s a good idea, Jim. Too many lives are at stake,” Lacey said with conviction.
“Alright, Lacey, we’ll see how everything goes and make the decision when the time comes,” Jim said. Smiling, he added, “And thanks for the compliment.”
“You’re welcome, dear,” Lacey responded.
***
That night, long after Evan fell asleep in his room, Jim and Lacey made love. He told her again, how happy he was about his child she was carrying, and promised to be the best father he was capable of being.
Lacey assured him that he was already an excellent father to Evan.
Jim fell asleep with Lacey’s head resting on his chest. Before he drifted off to sleep, his last thoughts were of the baby and the woman he loved more than life itself.
Chapter 3
The same day the Peacekeeper dropped Jim, Lacey, and Evan off at the cabin, Lina flew her fighter along her planned flight course, carefully observing the ground below. Lina was the pilot assigned to be the escort for the patrol ship Texas, and currently her mission was to investigate a report from a miner about a recent rockslide, which had revealed a massive opening to a cavern that appeared to be manmade. The area in question was located in the Guadalupe Mountains National Park in western Texas.
Lina had been told during her briefing that the man had assured the peacekeepers that the opening in the mountain would be impossible to miss, but his information regarding the precise location had been sketchy at best. He had just said to locate the power lines and follow them to the mountain. The miner had given the peacekeepers a photograph he had taken of the entrance. That photograph had indeed proven men had utilized the cavern in the recent past, because inside the cavern they saw the remains of three bodies.
The miner had not ventured into the cavern for fear that what had killed those people might also kill him. But the picture had revealed something else. The floor of the cavern appeared to be concrete and there were machines of some sort, discernable in the background.
Lina altered her vector slightly as she approached the mountains and decreased her flight speed. Activating her video feed, she radioed the patrol ship Texas that she was sending a feed. Lina then zoomed in on the electrical lines leading to the mountains.
A minute later Captain Trace Adkins said, “Good work, Lina. Follow the lines to the mountains. Maybe they’ll lead to the cavern as the miner said.”
“Roger that, Captain,” Lina replied. As she flew parallel to the power lines, the pilot took her fighter to four hundred feet and increased her flight speed to five hundred miles per hour. Eight minutes later, she backed off h
er airspeed as she approached the mountains.
Lina approached the mountains slowly, with the power lines she had been following situated a hundred yards to her right. As she flew her fighter toward the mountains, she examined the ground beneath her. There wasn’t much to see. The desert landscape below was covered only sparsely with vegetation, most of which appeared to be dead. There was no sign of a real road anywhere to be seen.
As her fighter approached the foot of the mountains, Lina decreased her airspeed even more. Soon she saw the cavern entrance that the miner had reported. Lina brought the fighter to a complete halt and hovered in front of the cavern entrance. She dropped her altitude and aimed her camera into the darkened interior. She could see the crumpled remains of the three people the miner had photographed. Behind the bodies, she saw what appeared to be machines, but it was too dark inside the cavern to discern much with certainty.
Photo by Robert L McCullough Noël Baba’s Fotos, Weatherford, TX
Captain Adkins’ voice came over the radio saying, “Congratulations, Lina. You found the cavern. We are just a few minutes out from your position. Please execute a quick search of the area to see if you can spot anyone on the ground. We’ll be there soon and the strike team will investigate the cavern.”
“Roger, Captain. Executing search,” Lina responded. She slowly flew her fighter northeast along the base of the mountain, looking for any sign of people. When she had flown three miles, she turned her fighter on its axis and flew back toward the cavern. She reported seeing nothing to the north and informed the ship that she was now flying southwest to scout that area. When she had flown three miles in that direction, the Texas had arrived at the cavern. She received a message that the ship was on station and would await her arrival to fly cover as the strike team deployed.
Knowing the men would be chafing at the delay, Lina opened up the fighter in a g-force acceleration, resisting the urge to shout for joy at the feeling such acceleration always generated in her. At times like this, she almost forgot the tragic loss of her husband Robert. For a moment, she was once again the carefree woman that Jim Wilison first met. But only for a moment. The loss of Robert had indelibly scarred Lina. Lisa and Namid had helped her recover the will to live in the wake of her captivity, but Lina would never again be the same carefree woman Jim Wilison first met.
Within moments, Lina arrived at the site. “Texas, I am onsite and standing by,” Lina reported.
“Thank you, Lina. The Captain said to inform you that he is sending in a drone for a recon before he sends in the strike team. He wants you to observe the drone entering, but you are not to enter the cavern.”
“Understood,” responded Lina. A moment later, she saw a drone detach itself from the hull of the Texas. The drone flew to the entrance, and Lina edged her fighter into position behind the drone at the cavern entrance. She carefully observed as the drone entered the cavern, but there was nothing much to see.
The drone had been equipped with a powerful spotlight that was often used in searches of the countryside at night. That spotlight soon revealed that the cavern was large, but that it was also shallow. A large set of doors in the back wall blocked further egress into the cavern. As the spotlight played over the left door, it briefly flashed across an image and Lina saw something that made her catch her breath. She immediately radioed the Texas to have the drone operator illuminate the image. She directed the spotlight on the image with a set of terse instructions.
There on the door was the image of a phoenix. “Lina, the Captain says to vacate the cavern entrance. We’re pulling out the drone and sending in the strike force. The Captain says good job on seeing the insignia, and recognizing its significance.”
“Roger that, Texas,” Lina responded. All of the peacekeeper pilots had been thoroughly briefed on the significance of the phoenix in regards to the Phoenix Rising defense program that had developed the fighters. During their flights, they had standing orders to be on the lookout for anything that could be related to that program because the base had never been found.
Photo by Robert L McCullough Noël Baba’s Fotos, Weatherford, TX
Minutes later, the strike force team moved into the facility and carefully documented everything they found.
***
The Peacekeeper arrived at the Guadalupe site an hour after sundown. “Wow, the Texans have been busy!” Tim said, as he spotted the brightly illuminated area near the base of the mountain. “Jim will be sorry he missed this.”
“Yes, they have been busy, and you’re right about Jim.” Pete responded. “Set us down to the right of the Texas,” he ordered. Turning to Lieutenant Wilcox, he said, “Lieutenant, get the relief crew for control room duty. You’ll be going with us into the cavern, but we’ll let Captain Adkins’ strike force take point on this one.”
“Yes, sir,” the lieutenant responded.
“Do you think we’ll find much of use in the facility?” asked Pol.
“There’s no way to know at this point,” Pete responded. “So far, all of the efforts to gain entry into the facility have failed.”
He was referring to the bay door with the phoenix seal. An electronic lock secured that door. So far, the lock had resisted all of the peacekeepers efforts to open it.
“Don’t worry, my friend. Patricia’s program will work out the code,” said Pol with confidence.
Pete nodded and said, “I learned long ago never to doubt Patricia’s abilities when it comes to electronics, and especially when it comes to computer programming.”
Lieutenant Wilcox ushered in the replacement crewmember just as Tim announced that they had landed.
Outside the ship, Captain Trace Adkins and two of his security men met the crew of the Peacekeeper. “Pete, you made good time,” Captain Adkins said. Then he added, “Tim must have taken some of those shortcuts he taught my pilot to take.”
“Yes he did,” Pete replied as he shook the captain’s hand in greeting. “It’s good to see you, Trace. It has been months since we last met.”
“It is good to see you too, Pete. I just hope I haven’t called you out here on a wild goose chase. We haven’t gotten past the bay door yet, so there’s no way to know what lies beyond it.”
“May I ask who you have working the problem, Captain?” Patricia asked.
“Lieutenant Sheila Thompson, our communications officer, has tried to rig a console to work out the code, but it keeps malfunctioning. She thinks she has some of the numbers for the code, but every few minutes the system reboots. Our engineer thinks the power supply has a short in it, and is running a new power supply line to the computer console in the chamber,” the captain explained.
“Let’s head on inside,” Pete said. “I am curious to see what the place looks like. I’ve often speculated on how the base would look. Now, I will finally have the chance to see for myself.”
“Unfortunately, there isn’t much to see in the chamber. The machines turned out to be associated with the door. They are motors that open the bay doors,” responded Captain Adkins as he led the way toward the entrance at the base of the mountain. “The power is working here, so that’s a plus.”
The peacekeepers walked the two hundred yards to the foot of the mountain. As they walked, the captain explained that his men had moved a considerable amount of loose rocks away from the entrance, but there were still several that had been too heavy for them to move.
Inside the chamber, they saw the control console the communications officer of the Texas had set up. The engineer was just finishing the wiring of the new power supply.
“Patricia!” shouted the blond haired woman who was standing near the console when she spotted the approaching peacekeepers.
“Sheila! It’s good to see you again. I see you’ve taken your training to the next level. Good for you girl!” Patricia responded, not the least bit upset that she wouldn’t get to try her program. She was genuinely happy for her protégé whom she had trained.
“Well, I might succeed i
f I can keep the computer running long enough,” she said with a frown.
As if on cue, the engineer said, “That’s it, Sheila, you’re good to go.”
“Thanks, Barney. Let’s cross our fingers and hope for the best,” Sheila responded. She activated the system. Soon the computer program began its work. But when the computer had the first four digits of the required code, it shut down once more. “Damn!” Sheila exclaimed. “Every time it comes up with the fourth digit, it does that.”
“It’s not the power supply,” Barney stated, shaking his head in exasperation.
“Let’s boot it back up, but do not initiate the program. I want to check something,” Patricia said.
“Be my guest,” Sheila replied gratefully.
Within minutes, Patricia had isolated the problem. The lock was protected by a sophisticated electronics software package that was sending a shutdown order to the computer when the fourth digit was being decoded. She taught Sheila how to identify such problems, and then she taught her the solution. Working quickly, Patricia created a code in the program that would tell the security system that it had just revealed the second number when the program decoded the third digit and all of the rest. Then the two communications specialists initiated the program once more.
While the communications techs were working to break the code with which they could gain entry to the complex, Pete spoke to Captain Adkins regarding the bodies that had been found at the site. He learned that, as best they could tell, the men had been guards who’d died of unknown causes. They had been dead for years. Due to the advanced state of decomposition, it was impossible to know what had killed the men. The ship’s doctor speculated that they had suffocated, but had been quick to point out that it was impossible for him to prove. There had been no signs of trauma on any of the three bodies.
Pete examined the crest on the left door, which had the two words Phoenix Rising scrolled above and below the graphic respectively, and then he examined the doors. That set of doors was massive. They were easily large enough for one of the patrol class ships to fit through. Pete shook his head in confusion. There was no reason for the doors to be so large. The fighters that were supposed to be housed in the base would have required a much smaller set of doors.