by C. F. Harris
“So what was that? Are we going to get a visit from little green men or something?”
I laughed. It was ridiculous. For a minute I thought I was listening to Travis talking about this stuff again, but of course that was impossible. Travis was gone. I had to keep telling myself that because there were still times when I thought I might see him if I turned and looked out of the corner of my eye.
Of course he was never there. It was just wishful thinking and my mind playing tricks on me.
“I don’t know what that was,” I said. “But I can tell you what it wasn’t, and that’s space aliens coming down to earth. That’s not real, trust me.”
“You sound pretty sure about that,” she said.
I thought about Travis going on about this stuff all the time and I felt a mixture of annoyance and regret. It was crazy how I could actually miss something that had annoyed me so much back when he was still around.
“Trust me,” I said. “I’ve been over all these arguments before. There might be aliens out there, but if there are they aren’t visiting this planet.”
“If you say so. That sure looked like a UFO to me.”
“Didn’t Kayla say there was a base nearby? There’s probably some hot flyboy out there right now testing a new jet or something that we won’t hear about for decades. That’s what most of that UFO stuff is.”
“Whatever,” Rachel said. “Let’s get inside. I’m freezing my ass off!”
“Wouldn’t want to do that,” I said. “I know how much Brad wants to tap that on your wedding night!”
Rachel rolled her eyes. “That one was bad even by your standards. Now come on, let’s go get warm and get drunk!”
“Now that sounds like a plan!” I said.
Rachel moved up the steps towards the large carved double doors on the front of the cabin, her feet crunching in the fresh snow. I started to follow, but I couldn’t help but stare up at the sky one last time.
That had been weird. Really weird. Exactly like the stories Travis was always telling me about people who saw UFOs. I’d always told him he was acting crazy believing those stories and he was always going on about how he’d give anything to witness something like that.
Now that I’d seen it I couldn’t help but feel a little uneasy. Sure it was probably just some experimental plane flying out of that base Kayla mentioned, but what if it was something else?
I shivered then chuckled. Maybe I’d taken Travis’s ramblings a little more seriously than I thought. Maybe I was taking them more seriously now because it felt like a connection to him, however tenuous.
I was being silly though. There was no such thing as aliens. At least not the kind of little green men who visited earth to mutilate cows and probe drunken yokels in questionable parts of their anatomy.
I moved up the stairs towards the waiting warmth of the cabin. It was time to forget all about strange lights in the sky and little green men who didn’t exist.
2
Jiorj
I felt the excitement of moving in low over enemy territory, though it wasn’t as thrilling as it could be since the enemies on this world were far less advanced than my ship. They couldn’t even see me.
I sighed and Rtukh favored me with a wary glance. He knew exactly what tended to happen when I sighed like that, and I’m sure he wasn’t looking forward to that kind of fun right now.
“What’s wrong, highness?” he asked in a tone that bordered on mocking.
Rtukh was very good at walking that line. As well he should be considering he’d been practicing that act for quite some time now. A line he walked with more safety than others thanks to the royal blood that flowed in his veins even if he was much farther from the throne than I was.
I turned to him and smiled my best and most innocent smile. From the way he frowned it wasn’t working.
“What?” I asked.
“I know what you’re going to suggest and it’s not a good idea,” he said.
“You never think that anything fun is a good idea,” I replied.
I banked the craft over the sprawling complex below. It was impressive looking, if a bit primitive. There was the basic look of a base from our own world, though of course they were still using fixed wing aircraft rather than antigrav technology like we did so they had massive runways moving up and down the length of the base. As I watched I saw one of their craft accelerate and move off into the night at an impressive speed.
Nothing to match the sort of speeds I could get in my craft when we were out in space, but pretty good for the atmosphere.
“You saw that,” Rtukh said. “They might actually be able to catch us with one of those craft. You know this world is on the verge of contact.”
“And they’re still flying around in primitive devices that won’t have a chance of catching us, younger brother” I said. “Come on Rtukh. Every time we come to one of these worlds to have a little fun you act like my nanny trying to keep me from having a good time.”
“Probably because that’s precisely my job,” he muttered. “Honestly. You’re supposed to be the responsible one.”
“Come now Rtukh,” I said. “Look at the bright side! If something happens and I’m killed on this world then there’s a good chance you’ll be killed right along with me and won’t have to worry about father’s anger!”
“If that’s supposed to make me feel better then it’s not working,” Rtukh groused.
“Let’s put it up to a vote!”
“A vote?” Tkaal asked, leaning around from his monitoring station to slap me on the shoulder. “You’re talking like one of the ridiculous creatures on this planet now! Have you gone native?”
He let out a hearty laugh at that and all the others joined in. I concentrated on the view of the base down below as another of those odd craft came in for a landing. This one actually used spinning props to propel itself through the air.
Amazing. It was like watching something out of an ancient history museum come to life right in front of me. It also distracted me from my annoying crew who were entirely too comfortable making fun of their crown prince if truth be told. Their crown prince, older brother, and cousin, but still.
I was their crown prince, damn it.
“You know I could have all of you executed for this treasonous line of thinking,” I said.
“And we could have you taken out of line for the throne for some of the things we’ve seen you do in our time together,” Dvok said with a laugh of his own. “I’m sure Rtukh wouldn’t mind moving ahead!”
“No thank you,” Rtukh said. “The last thing I need is to find myself in Sahaa’s crosshairs. Then the Ganzan will be chasing me instead of you Jiorj.”
“I suppose you have me there,” I said. “How about we all agree not to say anything and save our necks? And don’t mention that damn Ganzan. We gave him the slip on that last world. I know it.”
“Deal,” the others said.
“Now how about that vote? Who wants to turn the cloak off and have some real fun with the locals down there?”
“You only live once!” Tkaal said.
“Then you hop in the regeneration chamber if they scrape off enough of your cells and do it all over again!” Dvok replied.
“Could we maybe drop some explosives? Really give them something to think about?” Tkaal asked.
Everyone turned to stare at him. He grinned and shrugged.
“What? I’m saying we drop them away from any life signs. We just get their attention.”
“No,” I said.
“You’re no fun,” Tkaal muttered.
I grinned as I angled the ship for another pass over the military base. A readout on my screen showed that they were painting the ship over and over with their primitive detection devices, but they went right through the cloaking technology.
It looked like purely passive scans. Passive scans that were about to become a hell of a lot more active when I deactivated the cloaking device and caused some primitive radar techs to crap their pants.<
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Not that I discounted the locals too much. Their technology was quite impressive compared to most of the primitive worlds in the kingdom. That was why they were being seeded by our agents to prepare them culturally for the idea of making contact with the wider galaxy and discovering they weren’t as independent as they thought they were.
Though the reports showing their tendency to make entertainment about defeating other species who tried to take over their planet was mildly worrying.
None of that was my problem in the moment though. No, my only concern was what would happen when I flipped that cloaking device off and the electronic signature went from a tiny insect to roughly the size of one of the large mammals that still swam in the waters on this world.
“Everyone ready?” I asked.
It was a formality. This was a good crew. Some of my best friends in all the worlds that made up the kingdom. They also happened to be close relatives, because no one else but another royal, even distantly related, would be trusted beside the crown prince.
They would be ready if I told them to be ready. That was why they were still here with me rather than cooling their heels back at the palace enjoying the boring finery of the court.
“Ready,” Tkaal said. “Let’s blow some stuff up.”
Everyone turned to look at him again and he looked down.
“Figuratively. Let’s figuratively blow some stuff up.”
“Surprised you know a word that big, and ready here too,” Dvok echoed.
A pause. I turned to Rtukh. His arms were crossed and he had a sour expression on his face as he looked out through the forward viewing panel at the military base below. As though to punctuate just how hopelessly we outmatched the locals another one of those silly old prop driven museum pieces lumbered into the air moving at a fraction of the speed they were capable of even on this world.
“Rtukh?” I prodded.
“Ready,” he growled.
He still didn’t look happy about it. I grinned and he finally favored me with a smile as he reached out and tapped the console to disable the cloaking device before I could reach it.
Alarms went off all around us as the locals were finally able to hit us with everything their primitive detectors had. It was glorious. I bathed in the cacophony of noise and the red and orange lights flashing all around me.
“Silence alarms,” I said.
And just like that some of the noise was gone, but it was quickly replaced by a different sort of noise.
“Unidentified aircraft. You are in U.S. airspace. Identify yourself immediately.”
Rtukh’s hand went to the control console to open communication lines but I held a hand up and stopped him. I leaned around my chair and grinned at Tkaal and Dvok. We’d all enjoyed some of the local entertainments our agents had sent back while on the trip out to this lonely yellow sun, and I was going to have a little fun with them. The boys in the cockpit were obviously trying to hold in their laughter. They had an inkling of what was coming.
I opened a line of communication. It took a moment to figure out the right button. They were using radio down here instead tunneling through hyperspace using microscopic wormholes to send their communications.
Radio. Very impractical over long distances because of the speed of light but I suppose it would work well enough for local communications.
Still, as always it felt odd to be using a museum piece that was only included in our ships as an emergency fall back.
“Attention people of earth,” I intoned into the microphone in my best deep and serious voice.
It was a little hard to keep up that serious voice with the guys behind me laughing it up. I was sure that was getting translated down to the people on the ground.
Oh well. Let them try to puzzle that out.
“Unknown craft, repeat,” the voice on the ground said. “Identify yourself immediately or we will take action.”
Yeah, I bet they were going to take action. As though they had any chance against us with the toys they were flying around in down there.
“People of earth,” I said again in that deep voice. “Klaatu barada nikto!”
“Do you think this is funny asshole?” the voice said, some anger finally breaking through the calm. Meanwhile I was sitting at the controls trying my best not to devolve into a fit of giggles which wouldn’t do at all when dealing with some self-important controller working for the local military.
“We come in peace earthling,” I intoned in that deep voice. “We have been, and always shall be, your friends.”
“Okay buddy,” the guy said. “You want to quote Star Trek at us that’s fine. You need to land immediately or we’re going to turn you into a grease stain on the side of the mountain.”
I was proud of the earthling down below. He caught the reference. Good. That Star Trek show he referred to had been one of my favorites in an unintentionally hilarious sort of way. It was also promising to see that there were some humans on this world who looked forward to a day when they might live in peace with the galaxy.
I could also more than identify with that Kirk gentleman and his way with the ladies even if they were poorly painted replicas of some of the true wonders the female form could offer in the galaxy.
“They’re pointing everything they can at us,” Rtukh said.
“Sensors indicate one of their craft is coming up on us quickly,” Tkaal said.
“We’re taking too much risk at this point Jiorj,” Rtukh said, his voice tense.
“You always make these situations sound far more dangerous than they actually are Rtukh,” I said. “We’re not in any danger from the locals and you know it.”
Rtukh continued glaring at me from the copilot’s seat. I groaned and reached out to flip the cloaking device back on. The warning lights indicating we were being detected by the local technology disappeared immediately as a protective cocoon that bent every part of the electromagnetic spectrum around our ship winked into place.
“Happy?” I groused.
“Happier,” he said. “I’d feel better if we were somewhere safer than this though.”
“You’re worse than our old nanny,” I said. “We’re safer here on this world going against the combined might of the human militaries than we are back home going up against our sister at court.”
“You would do well to pay more attention to Sahaa,” Rtukh said. “That one is dangerous and ambitious. That could be a deadly combination for the one standing in front of her in line to the throne. The Ganzan that’s been following us across the galaxy is proof of that.”
I waved the concern away. “You really are too worried about things that shouldn’t concern you.”
Rtukh opened his mouth to respond, no doubt to tell me how dangerous my sister could actually be and that it did concern him since he was in line for the throne, but before he could say anything the entire craft shuddered and I had to wrench the thing back under control as one of those sleek antique fast moving jet craft moved past us at close range.
“Report,” I said, still not quite believing we were actually in any danger.
We’d done this countless times before. Sure this world was closer to contact than any other we’d buzzed, but it was still a primitive world. They couldn’t touch me. I was the crown prince of the kingdom and the best pilot in my class.
“Looks like they managed to get a visual sighting of us Jiorj,” Tkaal said, a hint of worry in his voice. I shook my head. There was no reason for him to be worried. “Want me to arm weapons? Something good and impressive?”
I ignored the offer to blow stuff up. Tkaal was never satisfied if we weren’t getting a chance to try and blow stuff up. Now wasn’t the time though.
“That’s impossible,” I said. “We’re cloaked. They can’t see us, remember?”
“Listen to this,” Dvok said.
The cockpit filled with chatter from the humans. Chatter that chilled my blood and filled me with a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomachs.
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“…disappeared from radar but there is a sort of shimmering effect on the craft. Repeat, shimmering effect on the craft.”
The voice from below that I’d spoken so flippantly to earlier chimed in. “A shimmering around the craft? What the hell are you talking about?”
“Exactly that,” the fighter pilot said, his voice surprisingly calm. “It’s like something out of a sci-fi movie or something. Like a cloaking device.”
Like a cloaking device. They knew what cloaking devices were and they knew how to find them. That should’ve been impossible.
The pilot must’ve been busy while he was talking. Tkaal shouted out, but it was too late by the time the warning came.
“They’re moving in fast and right for us!”
3
Jiorj
It was impossible. There was no way they should be able to track us, visually or otherwise. At least there was no way that a primitive on this world should have been able to figure out how to track the visual distortion that came from the cloaking device that quickly.
The guy mentioned something out of sci-fi. Damn it. That same shimmer showed up as a special effect in their movies. When we got out of this I was going to track down whatever agent was responsible for teaching the humans how to identify that and have them strung up.
First I needed to make sure we actually got out of this.
Something slammed into the ship. It felt different from being hit with a charged energy weapon. The human craft screamed past us again and there were twin trails of fire shooting out of the front.
“We were just hit by projectile weapons. At least I think we were. I’m a doctor, not a technician,” Dvok said. “Attempting a damage assessment.”
“I trust you to operate on this ship as much as I trust you to operate on me Dvok,” I said through gritted teeth.
We were so busy that he ignored the good natured insult. If things kept going as well as they had been then he might be operating on all of us very soon.
The ship suddenly went sluggish. It felt as though several of the antigrav generators had been affected, but not all of them. More worrying, though, was the bright red light that popped up telling me the cloaking system was losing power rapidly. It flickered once, twice, the familiar shimmer of the cloak appearing and disappearing a couple of times in front of us through the screen, and then it was gone.