We've Seen the Enemy

by Paul Dayton

  “How much longer?” Jack asked.

  Scratch looked at the subcutaneous watch and said, “Fourteen minutes.”

  ‘Damn’, Jack thought. Should have had more time. ‘This is going to be really close’. They were just about to exit the chamber when a drone followed them.

  “There’s a drone behind us, confused,” Scratch whispered.

  “If one of the humans or the ants controlled by them come across it, they’ll be after us. Run!”

  They ran as fast as they could, hoping to avoid any confrontation with any more aliens or humans before they got out. Jack was remembering the twists and turns in the tunnel and counting them down one by one. Soon a thought crept in her head, one of extreme urgency. Jack saw a threat in the form of a black shadow pursuing them, and then a fireball that consumed all. She ran harder, telling Scratch to do the same. She didn’t wait for an answer, but Scratch yelled out, “They’re behind us!” She stole a glance and saw humans and ants following just past the last bend.

  They came up to the area where Jack first met the crabs, and they stopped dead in their tracks. Instead of a large group of crabs covering the tunnel surfaces, there was a smaller group of them huddled together, and humans from the base standing on the other side blocking their escape. They were obviously trapped. Jack pulled out her now cooled laser and was about to start firing, but before she could act the humans suddenly seemed confused and unsure of what to do.

  “Scratch, I think we have our chance here somehow. I think the crabs have something to do with this, and if that’s the case, I don’t know how long they can keep this up, so we have to hurry!”

  She received another thought of extreme urgency, and as they ran past the confused humans and rounded the next corner, Scratch’s Klinger showed up in clear view. The whole surface of the ship was covered by more of those crabs, but as soon as Scratch and Jack came closer they scrambled off to reveal a craft that looked completely different from what Scratch had earlier.

  Human and alien technology had fused together, forming something that was more than the equal of the two. The aliens urged them to keep moving, and the hatch opened up by itself as they approached. The smooth surface of the ship somehow changed, and steps and handholds appeared as they approached. Jack climbed quickly and helped Scratch up, and they sat into what was no longer a regular seat, but a living organism that quickly enveloped them completely. They panicked and the seat immediately released them again, but the alien crabs emitted a sense of oneness that told them the ship was an extension of their consciousness and they urged them both to accept the seat.

  Jack and Scratch leaned back again and the seats once again enveloped them. Within seconds, Jack could feel every part of the ship as if it was a part of her own body.

  “Welcome back, Scratch, and it’s nice to meet you, Jack,” The thought broadcast itself into their minds.

  “Is this ship comp?” Jack asked.

  “Yes and no, Jack. We’re out of time and need to leave immediately. Just think what you want me to do, I’ll do the rest,” it replied.

  Flight parameters started scrolling up in her vision, as did information on the location and condition of the ship. Scratch got a three dimensional three hundred and sixty degree view of the area they were in and the aliens working their way up to them. Enemy targets lighted up in a bright red triangle and information showed the target’s degree of importance. He could feel something touching the stub where his arm was, and within moments the intense pain he was experiencing disappeared.

  Again the crabs urged them to hurry, and Scratch realized that their time was almost up. He looked down to see his watch, but the ship somehow displayed an image of the watch in his mind.

  “Jack, Two minutes! We have to go!”

  “Going now!” Jack replied, and Scratch could feel the thrusters starting up. The crabs in the tunnel were oblivious to their surroundings, and Jack squirmed as she saw ship thrusters blowing many of them away. But she was surprised to receive a mental thought from crabs inside the Klinger, and she got an intense feeling of hurry. The Klinger picked up her surprise and gave her statistics on the number and health of all life on board the ship. She realized that the ship was full of the crabs hitching a ride with them off the planet. They couldn’t take all of them because there were billions of them alive in subterranean chambers, but this group was going to survive the destruction of this planet.

  “Scratch, target your weapons on the tunnel roof!”

  Scratch thought it, and immediately the roof chamber dissolved in a cloud of dust. Jack carefully lifted the ship out of the opening and quickly accelerated to top atmospheric speed. Although they were completely enclosed by the Klinger’s modified seats, they ‘watched’ the planet quickly shrink away in the panoramic, three dimensional full vision. She gloried in the feel of flying an invisible ship, and she could tell that Scratch was enjoying the view too, but her feelings turned sour when she saw the burned out hulk of the rear half of WF221 smashed against the surface, not too distant from the base.

  Jack wondered if the Klinger’s original image recorder was still working.

  “Yes, Jack, it is. I’ve turned it on.”

  She knew the scientists back home would love the footage of what was about to happen if everything went well.

  ***

  Back in the underground hanger, a human went up to the cart holding the cooling equipment and antimatter. After communicating with other humans in the room, it carefully considered everyone’s mental version of events, their perspectives, and their images of what happened, and although most of what it saw was useless, there was one glimpse that showed the invader illuminated but the cart’s operational lights hovering around the ship for a minute, and then walking up to the cart and opening a lid. It decided to investigate the area where the human had first stood, and after a quick glance decided that no harm had been done. As it was about to turn to the cart, it glimpsed the thruster port and peered inside for a second. It was dark, but a faint glow from the countdown timer on the grenade was enough for it to recognize what had been left behind. It frantically tried to shove its too large hand into the port to retrieve the grenade.

  It realized that reaching the grenade would be impossible. Pulling out a utility knife, it methodically cut up the middle of its hand, progressing to the wrist and arm until it finally reached the elbow. Putting the bloody knife on the cart, it carefully separated bones and sinews until it was left with half an arm and two fingers. Although it was now in intense pain, it was satisfied to see that its arm now fit inside. After bumping against the bottom with its clumsy and barely functioning fingers, it finally was able to grab hold of the grenade and carefully lift it out of the nozzle port. Holding it in front of his eyes with satisfaction, it noticed the countdown timer reach zero and accepted the fact that its pain would end very soon.

  ***

  Before long, the atmosphere went from a dull red to black, and Jack received the mental impression from the interface that they were now past LPO. A ‘Brace for Explosion’ warning was given and Jack felt her chair tighten uncomfortably around her.

  An intense white light emanated from the planet, and they both looked down to see its source disappear and a black hole emerge in its place. The hole appeared to suck everything into it for a split second and then explode outward with a force so tremendous that they could see the atmosphere turn into super hot plasma from the shock of the blast. Jack looked down and saw the plume rising toward her at supersonic speeds, and the ship informed her that she had six seconds before it reached them.

  “Scratch, brace yourself!” The word had barely come out of Jack’s mouth when she realized how stupid it just sounded. He was fully encapsulated by the ship chair and had little alternative. She made sure throttle was on full, then shut down all power hoping to coax out more speed and protection in the precious few seconds left.

  ‘Wish this thing had shields,’ she said to herself.

  “I don’t h
ave shields,” the Klinger replied to her mental thought, but I have something else that will help. Don’t worry. I am fully capable of protecting myself and both of you.”

  She was surprised it could read her thoughts so clearly and was full of questions about it, but decided to wait and watch what happened to the planet below. She looked down once again to see the surface of the planet ripple, and when she wondered at their height the information instantly superimposed itself on her vision of events below, stating that they were at one-hundred and sixty kilometers in altitude.

  An intense shock wave hit the ship and threw it into a tumble. Jack felt the ship’s speed increase so fast she almost lost consciousness but she corrected the yaw and pitch, and waited for damage reports. After a few moments she queried again but all she got was that the ship had no damage.

  “What do you mean, no damage? We tumbled, and the forces needed to generate that must have damaged something!”

  “Yes, the explosive forces were great. It lasted for one decimal two nine seconds, at climaxed at 32 G’s.”

  “Thirty-two G’s? Can that be right?” Scratch asked.

  Jack mentally thought the question, and the same number came back.

  “That’s incredible! We should be flatter then pancakes…” Jack was impressed herself, and wondered how the crabs had fared. She mentally queried the question and reached out until she picked up healthy life signs, together with a firm reply of health from the ship computer.

  “The crabs are sad, Jack,” Scratch said. “I’m picking up intense sadness and… and… I would guess it to be their version of heartache.”

  A cloud of dense dust was encircling the planet, and infrared showed a bright glow at the epicenter where the hive used to be, slowly cooling to a dull red at the edges as a still growing circular ripple of intense shock travelled through the planet’s crust. She couldn’t see all of it but guessed that it covered at least half the planet. After a few minutes, Jack could see pockets of hot magma sprouting on the surface over the blast zone. Soon the cloud of dust got too dense and the distance too far for Jack to distinguish much, and she switched off infrared.

  “Looking at what’s happening below, I would be sad too. And relieved at the same time. How are you doing, by the way?”

  “Fine. I’m going to sleep. Do you think we can pee in this seat? Because I have to go bad.”

  Jack laughed but felt the urge herself, though she didn’t answer his question. “I’m sending out a few beacons - one to the Safe-Sat, and a few to the nearest repair bases closest to us,” she said as way of a reply. The Safe-Sats were permanent automated emergency communication space beacons with hyper-link abilities that followed their master ship’s route path one week behind them. This made them secure and safe while keeping them accessible, and their small size needed little in the way of power – a small, dirty but effective fusion reactor that needed to be fueled only every twenty years or so, just capable enough to power all systems and the shields but crude enough that no one or thing would steal them. They were programmed to detect friend from foe, and they lowered their shields randomly for a split second to scan the area, send packets of information, or receive pre-scheduled communications from their master ships.

  “Communication sent Scratch. Now all we have to do is wait.” Jack wished she could touch him somehow, worried about the severity of his injuries. She also knew that getting saved in time would be a long shot.

  “Sure,” Scratch replied. “Don’t forget your promise,” he said sleepily. Jack smiled and sent him a telepathic kiss as the ship administered another anesthetic.

  Just as Scratch lost consciousness, the Klinger alerted Jack that it had detected a large cap ship that had somehow lifted off the planet surface before the explosion.

  She watched the image with dread. They were obviously no match. “We need to get out of here!”

  “Don’t worry,” came the reply.

  “What do you mean, Don’t worry?”

  “Jack, can you name me?”

  “Name you! There’s an alien Cap ship and they must have seen us by now, and you’re worried about a name? Can we get out of here?” she said, starting to panic.

  “There is no need, and you are not in danger. The shields you asked for aren’t really shields at all but a portal, so to speak.”

  Jack was curious, so the ship computer continued: “If you’ll remember, Jonathan Diaz handed the World President a formula that mathematically proved the existence of zero state energy. His later inventions allowed humans to harvest and use this energy to power drives, shields and so on. Our universe, as you know, is composed of two parts, the visible matter universe and its antimatter counterpart, still un-named by the way.”

  “Oppiverse!” yelled Scratch from the back.

  “I thought you were asleep,” Jack said.

  “You guys won’t shut up.”

  Jack laughed at the name, knowing the kids would love it and the scientists would hate it.

  “Zero state energy,” continued the ship comp, “is simply energy released from the quantum interaction of matter and antimatter, material that somehow leaks across the natural barrier separating the two halves of this universe. This ‘noise’ or energy is then collected. My portal simply sends any object touching it into this opposite universe where it usually gets obliterated. The weapons available could never penetrate the portal.”

  Jack was only half listening as she saw the ship increase in speed towards the alien Capital ship.

  “What do you mean, ‘Usually’?” Scratch asked.

  “Any ship with your shields can easily pass through to the other universe as long as it went through the portal intact and operational. Of course, the shields could in no way be lowered, and the quantum energy fluctuations could not be collected on the other side. There is also the issue of coming back, but travel is definitely possible.”

  Jack watched the capital ship that was now almost completely covering her view.

  “Have you thought of a name?”

  She rolled her eyes at the persistence of this ship comp, but was immediately corrected. “Jack, I am an entity. I am aware. There are many Klingers but none like myself. I would appreciate it if you gave me a name.”

  She had trouble believing that this ship was somehow alive. However, she searched her mind and eventually said, “I had a friend who was young, spirited and courageous, and his name was Mike. Would you accept that name?”

  “Yes. Thank you.”

  After a few seconds, the alien ship raised shields and started firing salvos, but they had no effect on the Klinger. Jack watched mesmerized as the alien craft grew ever larger, and reflexively closed her eyes as she approached its shields, but nothing happened. Within seconds, the Klinger was through and quickly approaching the alien hull. A few moments later, there was no noise as Jack watched mystified. The hull melted away and the Klinger sailed on through without any resistance. All around her explosions rocked the alien ship, cabins lost pressure and ants were sucked out into space, but it had no effect on the Klinger. Eventually it passed through to the other side, with clear space in full view. She mentally requested rear view, and she could see the alien craft now lying useless, slowly being dragged back into the planet’s gravity well.

  “Wow. That was impressive. Can anything penetrate the barrier?” Jack asked.

  “The barrier can be tuned, allowing in desired elements.”

  “But why did we feel the tremor when the planet was destroyed?”

  “The destruction of the planet caused a space-time ripple. Because we exist in this universe, we were affected.”

  Jack thought for a moment. A barrier like this portal would help them all win this war.

  CHAPTER 16

  Canada Base

  Timothy and Ruth made final preparations for their trip to Canada Base, over two-thousand five hundred kilometers away. It would take them less than an hour by Gravplane, but HAL insisted that they get long range transponders, wea
pons, weapons training, defensive training, food and water rations and that they also have a few others from the tribe go along. Before that happened these others would also have to go through an abbreviated course with the instruction units.

  HAL briefed them on what he knew of the base, which was scant. Any drones sent came back with nothing to report and no significant activity detected, and the images seemed to show an almost completely overgrown and deserted base that had been badly damaged at some point in the past. Some drones picked up a few individual heat signatures that HAL recognized as human, but they were scattered and seemingly inconsequential. Other than that, all HAL knew was that the main computer system had shut itself down, which it would only do if it failed its self tests or was close to running out of power. Luckily, it hadn’t initiated any self-destruct codes, but it also didn’t update its shutdown information with any of the other operational bases, including Base Freedom USA, HAL’s base.

  Elkana hadn’t left their side the whole time, which was a little irritating to Timothy. Since they had joined in marriage, they had had only one night together alone. It had now been four days since that first night with no sex and little in the way of privacy. Ruth found it amusing that Elkana enjoyed Timothy’s company, and she watched Timothy get increasingly exasperated as Elkana plied him with question after question. She knew that Timothy was a quiet thinker and that this was a difficult thing for him, but she secretly enjoyed watching him as he dealt with Elkana’s incessant questions. Even HAL stayed unusually quiet. The only rest Timothy received was during his training sessions, and Elkana patiently waited by his side until he was released by the training machine. But in this last training session Timothy continued feigning the training until Elkana left to go to the restroom. Taking advantage, he jumped up, ran over to Ruth and grabbed her hand as he led her to their quarters.