We've Seen the Enemy

by Paul Dayton

  Bishop and Hollander felt the need to leave and prepare for the meeting they would soon have with Timothy, but Hoyt wanted to inspect the base and also stay the night.

  “Very well,” Diknor said. Perhaps I can take those leaving through our main hydroponics dome and our R&D lab? It is well worth the detour…”

  Before anyone could leave, Diknor motioned all to wait while he stood quietly listening. Finally he said, “I am to inform you that another group of guests has arrived. You may be interested in meeting them.”

  He waited for a minute until the door that Nan’mtek went through opened once again.

  A tall, man, with deep blue eyes and a ruggedly handsome appearance came in through the door, together with another two men and one woman. Hollander’s jaw dropped as he recognized the person, and Jack and Scratch were in shock. Nobody said a word as the four walked in, in full military uniforms. One single medal was proudly displayed on their chests.

  “So, I see you guys started the party without us,” Keenan said.

  They were all too stunned to say anything at all, but one by one they reacted, came towards the four and gave them the hero’s welcome they deserved.

  “Diknor Ulip!” Scratch said laughing. “I think I can safely say that this group will be getting nowhere tonight as we get happily drunk!”

  ***

  The next day saw each group get together to say their collective good-byes. Ruth made sure to hug each one in turn and both she and Timothy thanked them for their time. She looked at Jack closely and whispered in her ear, “Congratulations on your marriage! Timothy and I were also just recently married,” she said and smiled. Jack genuinely smiled in return as she gave Ruth a strong hug back and whispered, “Congratulations on your pregnancy!”

  Ruth, feeling embarrassed at the suggestion she was gaining weight, said in reply, “I’m not pregnant.”

  Jack replied, “Yes, you are, First Lady,” and gave her another hug.

  CHAPTER 25

  The beginning…

  Timothy sat there pensively as he watched the stars above. His mind wandered back to Darlee’s actions, and he kicked himself for trusting such a devious and wicked woman. She had almost succeeded in killing him, but fortunately no real harm was done and she was now imprisoned and awaiting trial. Earth Alliance had remained quiet ever since he had left, even though he had requested assistance and guidance from them. All his replies were left unanswered.

  He watched as a falling star raced its way across the sky just before it winked out in a burst of light, and then looked up at the moon and thought of the work Jack and Scratch had done there. It had been weeks since China Lunar had nominated their group to form the China Lunar Committee, and everyone had now gone through the instruction units. Preparations to bring the base up to spec had just been completed and Shinto was now operating at full capacity as the program took over most of the base’s operational affairs.

  Oddly, the four of them had become close friends. He smiled as he thought of this odd group. Two old fashioned humans and two fighter jocks. Somehow they worked exceptionally well together. Jack and Scratch loved spending time at the tribal village, and a sizable group of people participated on Poker Night. Sam was content in his new role as Vice President and many of the tribe had assumed important roles and were accomplishing their assignments well. Timothy was pleased and somewhat surprised at how much had been done and how smoothly it was going, but he realized that a common enemy did unite people.

  His thoughts turned back to Jack and Scratch. Although they were still officially on WF221’s flight roster, they were now stationed on Base USA where Timothy and Ruth were. He felt a little guilty at pulling those strings, but HAL had suggested that an in depth study of Jack and Scratch’s abilities would complement the ongoing study of the Klinger. Timothy felt that the Alliance had something to do with it, but they had remained out of communication.

  He was startled as Elkana came up to him. “Here you are,” he said. “Everyone’s looking for you…”

  “Are they now,” Timothy replied and smiled. They dropped into silence as Elkana sat by his side. He watched as Timothy turned to look back up at the stars and then he did the same. Timothy knew that HAL could have informed everyone on where Timothy was at any given time, but of late, the program had been giving Timothy his space and had refused to divulge his whereabouts except when absolutely necessary, or when Ruth asked.

  He watched Elkana out of the corner of his eye and worried. Elkana was dead set on being a pilot, and Scratch was egging him on. They had done numerous flights into space and he was written up to start formal training in a month. Timothy felt it was way too early, but Scratch assured him that most children were flying by his age and that dog-fighting skills couldn’t be learned on an instruction unit. Ruth didn’t like the idea either, but everyone was being conscripted for the war. Reports had already come in from scouts that the ants were amassing a huge force, and rumors were circulating that they had a new, unknown weapon.

  Timothy’s forehead creased at the thought. Ruth was pregnant, as was Jack, and war was upon them. He looked back at Elkana and smiled, and Elkana said, “Don’t worry Dad, it will be okay. We’re not going to let them win this time.”

  “That’s my man!” Timothy said as he admired his courage, knowing that it was in the hands of people like him that their hope rested on.

  CHAPTER 26

  SS St. Helena

  John, Jane and Mike got suited up in their Maxon 3’s and prepared to jump. They hated leaving Ivanov behind and it was obvious Keenan would be furious, but there was no choice. The drop capable suit, an exoskeleton made of the older Crystanium fused metal augmented their moves, and had been a tremendous asset when introduced. With an inboard computer system that allowed remote operation, thrusters, an energy collection system, waste recycling and a host of other functions, the suit was the standard of choice for soldiers and fighter pilots alike.

  Abadon had moved slightly behind the freighter, out of view of the alien tug in front. Although cloaked, anyone leaving cloaked space surrounding the ship would immediately become visible, and no one wanted the attention this close to the alien home world. The three agreed to keep communication to three meters only, knowing that the actual radio signal would travel much further.

  Jane jumped through first, with John and Mike just behind her. They went straight to the freighter while Jane powered herself carefully to the alien tug, being careful not to get caught in the tractor beam. As she neared the tug, she felt the hair on her body spring up in reaction to the gravitic force being generated, and this brought back memories of when she had gotten caught in a beam while still a teenager. Although she wasn’t physically harmed, she ended up locked in place, unable to move as dozens of crew members passed by in their own ships and flight suits, commenting and laughing at her. She felt she could take a joke, but 14 hours of being stranded in space as her air thinned out resulted in two years of counseling, with the vow to never allow anyone to make fun of her again.

  She cleared her mind of the rising anger and concentrated on not making any noise as her magnetic boots landed on the outer shell of the simple tug. Walking over to the alien access hatch, she cycled the odd controls and stood out of the way, knowing that drone craft probably didn’t have an airlock. True to her guess, the hatch blew open from the escaping air.

  Once the air had escaped, Jane was about to make her way in when pincers from an ant grabbed onto her arm. “Unmanned my ass!” she said out loud as she struggled to break loose.

  Although the pincers couldn’t penetrate the crystanium skin of her suit, it could theoretically tear the suit arm off at the joint, and Jane could see the ant solidly anchored as it worked to get a better grip. She tried reaching for her sidearm, but it was hooked on the same side as her pinched arm and out of reach.

  ‘Shit’, she thought. Ants could live in space for a good ten minutes, and her arm would be torn off long before then. Its head was just out of
reach, locked inside the inner edge of the hatch as it adjusted itself for better leverage.

  “I can’t believe this!” she said out loud, her anger starting to rise again. She needed leverage, but her bulky suit and the small airlock didn’t leave much space.

  “YOU WANT A PIECE OF ME YOU BASTARD?! FINE!” and she lunged into the tug headfirst.

  ***

  John and Mike had their own troubles. The DB’s had been disabled but left attached in case any alien ship passed by, but the airlock electronic keypad was opened only under power, and the ship was still dead. John knew of the manual override, but it was inside as a protection from anyone or anything trying to get in without permission.

  “Now what?” John asked.

  “Damned if I know,” Mike replied.

  “I’d cut my way in, but then what do we do?” John said, more to himself than to Mike.

  “Yeah. No way to seal it up after. Whole section would lose atmosphere.”

  Moments passed as they considered possibilities. “Think the crew can help us?” John finally said.

  “Can’t see how. They would go central, barricade themselves and keep life support operating in one room. We have no way of reaching them.”

  “We can knock.”

  “True, but they’ll think it’s the ants coming in.”

  “Huh. Quite right.” They lay there next to each other as they looked at the stars.

  “I’m hungry.”

  “Uh-huh. And I gotta crap but that’s not going to help them right now. Concentrate!” John said as he knocked on his helmet.

  After a few minutes, Mike asked, “John, what’s the top song out right now? You know, something popular, cheesy, annoying and really catchy, something anyone could recognize?”

  “Of all things Mike! Didn’t I just say…” he started to say but realized where Mike was going with this. He thought for a moment and replied, “How about that teenage hit ‘Can you be my Safe-Sat?’”

  “God, I hate that thing. Perfect!” Mike started tapping the rhythm to the song on the ship surface next to the airlock as John whistled the horrid tune.

  ***

  Ivanov mustered all his strength to get the unconscious Keenan into the Drop suit. The others had helped bring him here to the drop hole, and had already gone down to get things rolling, leaving Ivanov to finish off. They left without goodbyes, the standard custom for all space-bound humans.

  Keenan was a big man, and there were days where Ivanov didn’t want to get out of bed from the pain alone, but he never showed it. The spores from Ganon-3 really did a number on him as he sat there wheezing from the exertion, but he eventually got Keenan in. He afforded himself the luxury of getting up slowly, something he would never have done in front of the captain or the others. Grabbing a hold of the carriage, he picked up the Maxon 3 with the captain in it and rolled it down the delivery rack, through the airlock doors and over the Drop Hole.

  “Suit comp, activate!”

  “Working…all systems functioning.”

  “You have an unconscious Captain Keenan as operator. He has been tranquilized but should regain consciousness in two hours or so. Mike, Jane and John dropped to the freighter hull and are trying to disarm DB’s. Get Visual and Tactical from ship comp and join them as soon as the airlock cycles.”

  “Understood, Lt. Ivanov. And good luck.”

  ‘Good Luck?’ Ivanov was surprised at the comment, but had no time to think about it as he left the room. He quickly went back to the bridge.

  ***

  Jane had tumbled down into the hatch and fallen on the ant, who had obviously not expected this move. She could feel it trying to get its grip once again, and she barely avoided having its mandibles grab her as she kept her limbs away. She was worried that the lack of air would cause the tug equipment to overheat, but the ant was putting up a serious struggle as she finally got the upper hand. Reaching down, she quickly snapped off one limb at a time until the ant could no longer fight back. It was no match for the suit, and she knew it. Not bothering to kill it, she tossed it out of the airlock and looked around. The unfamiliar juggled her memory and she looked for the interface jack that should be central to all the controls laid out on the bottom surface. Once she spotted it, she opened her Maxon accessories compartment, pulled out a PDA and connected it to the interface.

  Although most alien ships were technologically highly advanced, tugs were general workhorses with limited capabilities and few if any weapons. Ants didn’t use unnecessary resources, and drone tugs were simple, expendable and easily modified. This one was no different as Jane quickly patched in. The relatively advanced PDA broke the simple encryption and her suit comp reprogrammed the same flight path minus the tow load.

  Had Jane been able to smell it, she would have noticed a synthetic molecule released mimicking the smell of burnt insulation. Scents were the human equivalent of lights on a display, and would have warned an ant that equipment was indeed overheating, but with the lack of atmosphere, it took a few seconds for the suit to pick up the microscopic particles floating in the vacuum.

  “Jane, the ship controls are overheating.”

  “I guessed as much. Are we done?”

  “Yes. I’ve just finished downloading the updated…” Jane didn’t wait for her suit to finish, but instead unplugged the interface and quickly exited the ship, closing the hatch behind her. She instantly felt the ship drop the tractor beam, and unencumbered from the mass of the freighter, it quickly sped up as it followed its programmed path to the alien homeworld.

  Jane had already jumped and thrusted her way over to where John and Mike were sitting. As she dropped down she curiously watched Mike tapping on the surface of the freighter. As she got closer, static broke into her suit speakers, slowly clearing to the point where a very annoying whistling sound reverberated inside her suit.

  “What the hell is that noise!” Jane asked, “And what are you doing tapping on the hull?”

  “Can’t get in,” Mike said as he continued to tap and John continued to whistle.

  “So John’s whistling?”

  “Gotta keep the rhythm.”

  Jane laughed, but Mike interrupted. “Seriously. We’re trying to get the rhythm through in the hopes someone will hear and come open the door.”

  “Oh.” She thought about cutting but quickly reached the same conclusion they had, that the leaks would be impossible to plug afterward.

  Looking up, they watched as Keenan’s suit powered down to them. That meant that Abadon had left to follow the tug.

  “How long have you been knocking?” she asked as Keenan’s magnetic boots locked onto the hull near them.

  “Since we got here. Twenty minutes. Driving me nuts so it must be driving them insane,” Mike replied as John didn’t skip a beat.

  ***

  Ivanov was sitting at his station, refusing to chair the Captain’s seat. Giving the captain a sedative was evil, necessary or not. As far as he was concerned he deserved a court martial, and his proud family legacy refused to allow extenuating circumstances or a hero’s motive to absolve his guilty conscience. He sat there drinking his chocolate milk and watching the fluctuating readings of the cloaking generator as the ship comp took care of following the alien tug to its homeworld.

  ‘Damn American crap’, he said to himself. Everything on this ship was falling apart. He missed good old WF132, the Russian ship he had been stationed on before signing up for this mission. That was a real piece of work he thought – dependable, efficient, and everything was easy to fix and stayed fixed. Here, if it wasn’t for the magnetic plasma bottles losing coherence, then it was the shield generator and if it wasn’t the generator, it was targeting, if it wasn’t targeting, then the toilets got plugged up. ‘Here, I have to fix hyper drives and unplug toilets,’ he muttered, shaking his head. “Plumber Ivanov, to the rescue!” he said out loud to no one in particular and laughed at his own joke.

  He very well knew that plumbing was one of the more cr
itical systems on the ship. Had the scrubbers ever stopped working, sewage would eventually contaminate the air, and the water recycling systems would have no water to recycle.

  “50,000 kilometers to LPO,” the ship computer stated. He had asked it to remind him every 10,000 kilometers as to the distance remaining to low planet orbit.

  The fluctuations on the cloaking generator were getting worse, but Ivanov it was too risky to leave the bridge now. Not this close. Either the unit was going to work, or it wasn’t.

  He thought back to when he met Keenan. The Captain was married back then, on leave for some R&R with his wife on Niger-1. Ivanov was taking advantage of the amazing views he got hiking in the high altitude valleys along a northern mountain ridge. The stable double sun system left an unforgettable memory, and when the suns went down Niger’s 17 moons looked like jewels strung across the sky.

  He bumped into Keenan quite by chance one night as he went to the local bar in the one ghost town. After having far too many beers to drink and going to the washroom to relieve himself, he came back and found a pretty woman standing at the near empty bar alone, so he went up to her and told her that out of the sea of beautiful women there, she was by far the prettiest.

  She smiled, looked around and said, “First off, I’m the only woman here tonight, and second, I’m not interested.”

  Ivanov started to protest, and felt a pair of hands grab him from behind. He flipped around, got close and stood up as hard and as fast as he could. The person behind him was expecting it, but Ivanov still managed to give the person’s jaw a solid whack before the man picked him up, brought him to his height and head butted him hard. That’s when Ivanov fainted.

  After that, he woke up with his smiling antagonist looking down at him, chastising him for hitting on his wife. An embarrassed Ivanov apologized, the man bought him a drink, and they became fast friends.