Nexus of Time

by Mark Riverstone

  "Get back into the Barge until they stabilize altitude!" yells Smyte to the guard near the opening. They both scramble to the hole. Smyte leaps up and grabs the edge of the opening. The guard with her doesn't reach the edge before the increasing incline makes it too difficult, and grabs onto Smyte's ankle.

  "Soldier, climb up over me. Evascott, if you can help us in!"

  The soldier climbs up over Smyte's body to the edge where Evascott's team, harnessed to the barge, grab hold of the soldier and pull him into the docking bay. The engineers keep hold of the soldier while they gear him up with a harness. Smyte does a pull up and tries to crawl into the docking bay when Evascott grabs her shoulder's and helps her inside. The engineering team strap a harness onto her. Secured, Smyte extends her harness straps with slack to spare and moves back to the edge of the opening with weapon ready, standing at the hole's edge.

  "Captain, what the hell is going on?" demands Smyte.

  Captain Nemolopolus and the bridge crew sit strapped in, but they tilt forward, the weight of their bodies pulling on the belts that keep them secured in their bridge chairs.

  "The Grey ship lost propulsion and is falling. We are trying to keep it up with our engines, but the ship weighs more than we estimated. Pilot, boost engines to level out?"

  "Can't, Captain. We're giving everything we've got. It's pulling us down. I can hold this incline slope for a minute or so, but if we don't disconnect from the Grey ship soon, we're going down with it."

  Ying, inside the power center, holds onto a console with one hand while holding onto Sandy with the other as they try to stop from sliding along the floor deeper into the ship. The Captain's voice comes over their comms.

  "Assault team! Extract immediately! Abort any operations and get back to the Barge docking bay stat! You've got sixty seconds before we have to disconnect. I don't want to leave anyone behind, but we will crash if we don't. Move it, now!"

  Ying looks up at the steep slope, then back at Sandy.

  "I can't climb this, Ying, but you can. Leave me and get out of here!" pleads Sandy.

  "You didn't leave me to die on the Barge, I won't leave you here!"

  With his overwhelming strength, Ying pulls Sandy up and tosses her over his back.

  "Hold on and don't let go!" cries Ying.

  Sandy wraps her arms and legs around Ying's massive body. With his powerful legs and long strong arms, Ying swings and climbs his way up the incline, grabbing the edges of equipment and openings, ascending like a gorilla up a tree.

  Inside a small room at the end of a Barge corridor, Dr. Black and Walter lay against a wall, unable to get out of the room they rolled into.

  Evascott removes a remote from his gear and holds it tight in his hand.

  "Captain, I'm ready to detonate the charge to release the clamps, but we can't leave our men behind."

  "Mambai, what's going on with your team?" asks the captain.

  Outside the Grey craft command center, Mambai and his assault team crouch in the corner where the slanted floor and wall meet, having slid there from the tilting ship. They use a Grey console as cover, firing at Greys trapped in the room with them. Every time Mambai and his team try to move out from cover and climb the sloping floor, the Greys fire on them, causing the assault team to retreat.

  Mambai reports to the Captain, "Captain, we're pinned down. We've got cover, but every time we try to evacuate, they force us to cover."

  "Can't you run for it?"

  "Captain, we have to climb to the exit which makes us defenseless. They have the angle on us from their position, so even if we lay cover fire, they will pick us off before we can get out. We aren't going anywhere if you can't level this ship out."

  "Pilot can't we do anything?" asks the captain.

  "There isn't enough thrust to lift the extra weight, and if we reduce thrust, lowering the stern to even out, we will drop faster," explains the pilot.

  "Smyte, any way we can send in men to evac them?" asks the captain.

  Inside the docking bay, Evascott sees fissures beginning to form in the bow front wall of the ship, caused by the Fabricator ship's weight pulling down on the Barge's docking clamps. The clamps and wall creak from torque and stress.

  Evascott chimes in, "Captain, the torque is too much for the ship. The weight is cracking our hull. If we don't release the clamps now, it could tear off the bow of the Barge."

  "Smyte?" yells the captain.

  "Captain, I don't see anyone coming. We need to act, or we lose both ships," inputs MSgt. Smyte.

  "Dammit! Do it. Release the clamps!" yells Captain Nemolopolus.

  Inside the Grey ship hull breach, Ying appears climbing up a corridor holding Sandy, but not before Evascott detonates the charges. The blast causes most of the bolts on the sleeves holding the clamp in place to break off, and welding to crack, but it doesn't break the clamps completely free. However, they break partly off, causing the clamps to angle, allowing the Barge to decrease its incline, but causing the Grey ship to tilt farther. The bolts that still hold are cracking.

  "Captain. I see Ying and Sandy," informs Evascott.

  "Can you get them?"

  "They are too far away, and the clamps are about to break off."

  Ying climbs up toward the opening. Almost there, the docking clamps snap free of the Barge, releasing the Grey ship. As the Fabricator ship begins free fall, Ying grabs Sandy off his back and throws her up through the opening with all his strength. Ying and the Fabricator ship fall away toward the earth.

  Smyte sees Sandy flailing upward out the hole in the Fabricator ship, losing momentum in open air, knowing Sandy won't make it into the Barge. Running at full speed and diving out the docking bay doors, Smyte leaps into the sky, lunging at Sandy. With both arms, Smyte wraps hold of Sandy as she apexes and drops. Sandy's weight violently yanks down on Smyte and her harness, causing both to fall in the sky. Smyte squeezes with all her strength to hold on to Sandy as the harness straps connecting Smyte to the Barge snap tight, stopping them. The jerking motion shakes Smyte's helmet off, dropping it to the ground far below.

  Swinging and spinning, held by the straps, Sandy and Smyte dangle in the open air outside the Barge docking bay. Sandy stares at Smyte with terror in her eyes, knowing she is dangling hundreds of feet above her death. Smyte stares downward over Sandy's shoulder, watching falling Fabricator ship crash on top the partially built Deconstructor. The Fabricator ship topples and flips on impact, rolling sideways, smashing buildings as it tumbles to a stop upside down, stirring up dust and rubble that veils the ship in a powdery cloud.

  As the Barge levels out, Smyte and Sandy thrash around as they dangle helplessly outside the docking bay. Inside the bay, the engineering team jostles around, grabbing the rails and each other to stabilize themselves. MSgt. Smyte tries to coax Sandy into not panicking, who weeps and makes fearful noises.

  "Don't look down! Look at me, Sandy. Keep looking and hold on tight. I won't let you go. Just look at me. Nothing else," coaches Smyte.

  Once the ship settles, Evascott and his team rush to the open docking bay doors and reel in Smyte by her straps, getting Smyte and Sandy into the docking bay.

  "Captain, we got Sandy out of the ship. No one else," reports Evascott.

  Captain Nemolopolus is silent, his face stricken with the loss of his crew.

  "Understood. Close the docking bay doors so we can get out of here," orders the captain.

  Evascott activates a control panel. The docking bay door groans but doesn't close. They stick in the slide rail's kinks and bends from the docking clamps being torn off.

  "Captain, the docking door are jammed. They won't close."

  "Can you do it manually?"

  "Negative. The slide rail and walls are bent. They won't be moving until we repair the damaged section of the ship."

  Outside of the docking bay doors a hundred meters away from the Barge, Evascott sees a Grey terrestrial escort craft uncloak. The Barge is squarely in its sights.

&
nbsp; On the bridge, tactical personnel call out.

  "Captain, a Grey craft has appeared. It is in attack position to our bow."

  "Son of a bitch!" yells the captain. "Evasive maneuvers!"

  As the Barge turns and moves, trying to accelerate from its dead stop, the weapon slots on the Grey craft glow with energy. However, before the escort craft fires, an unfamiliar photon projectile emits from an invisible location, hitting the Grey craft, causing its stern to explode, dropping the Grey craft out of the sky.

  "Captain, the Grey craft is down," informs tactical.

  "What? What happened? Did we fire on it?" asks the captain.

  "No. Weapons fire came from zero point two kilometers northeast of the Grey craft, two o'clock from us. However, our instruments don't detect a vessel there."

  "Evascott, what did you see outside the docking bay?" asks the captain.

  "What I saw I can't believe. Photon fire like I've never seen came from nowhere and knocked that Grey right out of the sky."

  A tactical officer asks Nemo, "Could it be a Grey?"

  Another tactical officer jumps in, "Why would a Grey shoot down another Grey?"

  The first tactical officer responds, "Because they didn't want that ship to destroy us. Maybe they stopped them so they could follow us."

  Captain Nemolopolus takes control of the conversation, "The answer is 'no' to both of you. A Grey doesn't shoot down another Grey, nor do they have to. If they Greys didn't want us dead, the first ship would have never uncloaked. Also, Greys uncloak to fire. Whatever took out that Grey craft wasn't Grey."

  "Could it be military? NASA? Something human?" asks tactical.

  Captain Nemolopolus shakes his head, "No. If humans had that kind of weapon tech or cloak, we would know about it. We don't know the intent of this other invisible craft," adds the Captain. "It may help us or harm us, or be enemies of the Greys and not have anything to do with us. We better get out of here. If another Grey craft shows up, we might be on our own. Evascott, empty the docking bay and seal it so we can hit maximum velocity."

  Everyone on the docking bay has unstrapped from the walls and is exiting the docking bay.

  "Ahead of you, Captain. Personnel is evacuating the docking bay, and the door is being sealed...right...now," announces Evascott.

  Evascott safety latches the interior docking bay door.

  On the bridge, Captain Nemolopolus turns to the pilot, "Get us out of here, fast as you can."

  "Where to?" asks the navigator.

  "The Committee Mountain Facility in the Rockies. It's the only place we can land and repair safely and out of sight. Estimated ETA?" asks the Captain.

  "Four minutes," responds the navigator.

  "Start pinging the facility an SOS using Morse Code. Don't open lines of verbal communication with them until we are right on their doorstep."

  "Understood, Captain," confirms the communications officer.

  "Any sign of other craft?"

  "No, Captain," responds the tactical officer.

  "Stay alert."

  The Barge propulsion kicks in. With port blast holes, scorch marks on the top and bottom where railgun turrets were destroyed, a cracked bow hull, and jammed docking bay doors on the front, the ship doesn't look like it should be able to move as fast as it is. In seconds, the ship is out of sight.

  Black Out

  Chapter 52

  Outside Colorado Mountain Facility Runway, Rocky Mountains, Colorado.

  Impatient, Captain Nemolopolus paces on the Barge bridge, while the rest of the command crew sits still and quiet. Breaking the silence, communications comes over the Barge comm system.

  "This is Colorado Facility 7. We received your SOS; what is your emergency?"

  Rushing to the communications officer, Captain Nemolopolus stands over him as the officer responds, "CF7, this is the Barge, we have sustained major structural damage and require emergency landing permission."

  "Barge, I will need to obtain authorization. Please maintain distance until authorization is granted."

  Captain Nemolopolus jumps on to the comm system, "This is Captain Nemolopolus of the Barge. That is a negative. We are coming in, and if you don't open those landing strip entrance doors, I'll park this ship right outside those doors until you do. So, unless Burt wants a tailgate party on his hidden runway entrance, he'll open that door!"

  Captain Nemolopolus turns to his pilot, "Pilot, take her in."

  Skimming along the mountain range treetops, the Barge approaches an opening in the foliage where a road climbing the mountain stops at a huge flat paved plateau and what appears a massive cave entrance blocked by stone.

  "Permission granted, Barge. You are cleared for landing."

  The massive megaton resistant gate camouflaged by a rock-coated cover slides open. The Barge slows and approaches the gate. Once the gate is open enough that the Barge can clear the gap, the Barge flies into the tunnel.

  Inside, the Barge follows ground-embedded landing lights striping the dark tunnel.

  "CF7, this is the Barge. Our stern has cleared the gate," informs the communications officer.

  "Affirmative, we are closing the entrance...Barge, how many ships are escorting you?"

  "None. We are alone," responds the communications officer.

  "That is a negative. Our air displacement sensors are detecting a second ship. You and a smaller one behind you."

  There is a moment of silence as the Barge floats along the landing strips. Captain Nemolopolus rubs his chin, concern coating his face.

  "Barge you are to stop and land immediately on the runway. You are not to exit your ship until our teams secure the landing strip. Not landing immediately will be met with lethal force. Exiting your ship before we secure the area will be met with lethal force. Do you understand?"

  The communications officer looks to the captain who gives him a nod back, "Affirmative CF7. Landing now."

  Captain Nemolopolus shouts, "That damn invisible ship must have followed us here. Pilot, land this thing now, right now!"

  The captain then speaks into the comm system, "All personnel, we are landing the craft. No personnel are to exit the Barge for any reason until so ordered by me. Any attempt to do so will be fatal. Security is instructed to stop anyone trying to leave the ship before ordered by any means necessary. That is all."

  A tactical officer addresses the captain, "Captain, do you think it's a Grey craft?"

  Captain dismisses the question, "Irrelevant. Whoever it is, they weren't invited. Have Master Sergeant Smyte and an assault team suited up and be ready to support Committee forces securing the second vessel in case they need our assistance."

  "Right away, Captain," affirms the tactical officer.

  The Barge lands deep inside the tunnel, but well before the landing runway ends. Racing from deeper down the runway tunnel toward the Barge is a fleet of vehicles with headlight blazing and orange lights flashing. Two medium cargo trucks pass the Barge and move beyond it a hundred meters toward the tunnel exterior entrance, parking one truck on each side of the tunnel against the wall. 'Danger: Explosives' signs hang on the truck's cargo trailer sides and back. The drivers turn the truck engines off and rush out, sprinting back toward the Barge. The truck's roof mounted orange lights keep flashing.

  Two tanker style trucks pass the Barge and park at its rear. Firemen in fire gear jump out of the tanker trucks. They hurry to the back of the tanker trucks and dismount hoses connected to the sides. In front and alongside the Barge are a half-dozen black armored security trucks skidding to a stop. Red lights flash on the security trucks while a flood of soldiers rushes out the backs and to the sides, whipping open side-mounted ammo lockers containing an arsenal of weapons and explosives. Once armed, the soldier rush to stand by the tanker trucks behind the firemen manning the hoses.

  While the soldiers raise weapons and circle the space behind the Barge, the firemen turn on the hoses, spraying foam into the air over the empty space. As the foams falls, it coa
ts and drips off an invisible ship that has landed. The foam outlines its wingless elongated triangular pyramidal shape.

  Major Reese of the Committee calls out over a bullhorn, "Any hostile action men, fire at will. If that ship moves an inch, blow the explosive box trucks and collapse the tunnel entrance. Frequency and communication jammers should be at full intensity."

  As a large door opens in the rear of the Barge, several soldiers rush to the opening with weapons ready. Inside stands a heavily armed assault team with MSgt. Smyte and Captain Nemolopolus in the front. Walter, Dr. Black, and Sandy stand in the back behind the assault team trying to see what is going on. The side of Sandy's face is bandaged and blood stained.

  Captain Nemolopolus calls out to Major Reese, "Commander, I am Captain Nemolopolus of the Barge, and I request permission for my men to join you in this operation.

  Out of the crowd of soldiers comes Burt, in full protective gear. "Permission Granted, Captain, but Major Reese is in change. Your team will follow his orders."

  "Understood," responds the captain. Turning to his assault team and Smyte, "You heard him. Get in there to help.

  MSgt. Smyte and the assault team charge out the door and take up positions with the other soldiers surrounding the foam-covered ship parked behind the Barge. Captain Nemolopolus walks over to Burt and shakes his hand.

  "Thanks for the help, Burt."

  "What the hell did you bring in with you Nemo?" asks Burt.

  "I don't know."

  "You don't seem worried."

  "I'm not sure if we should be. Its shape isn't Grey. The invisible ship we encountered earlier saved our asses, shooting down a Grey craft ready to blow us out of the sky."

  Walter, Sandy, and Dr. Black exit the Barge and move over to Burt.

  "Burt!"

  "Walter! I should have known you'd bring trouble with you."