Destiny Earth

by Tony Mazzarella

  “This time?” asked Jonas.

  Will grabbed Ileana firmly by the arms. “What do you mean this time?”

  All at once it occurred to him as he released her and once again turned toward the window, reading the nameplate.

  “Earth Conqueror Two! There was an Earth Conqueror One, wasn’t there?”

  Ileana looked up with tears welling up in her eyes. “Yes!”

  “Where is it? Ileana, where is that ship?”

  Will once again motioned for Jonas to capture this on his com.

  She fell to her knees, looking weary from the effects of the serum and the stress of holding in the secrets she was trying not to divulge.

  Will knelt down in front of her and once again grabbed her arms. “Ileana, you have to tell me. Where is it? Where is the other ship?”

  She stood up slowly and composed herself slightly. “We lost contact with EC1 shortly after landing almost three years ago.”

  “Three years ago! Boss, that means—”

  “That means that those people had no idea they’d find those creatures. We hadn’t found them yet, so up to that point Earth looked like a paradise. You greedy bastards! You had to have it for yourselves; you couldn’t wait until we finished our exploration. The people on that ship were sacrificed because of your greed.”

  “Not mine! I swear to you, I was interested in the science, not the ambitions of the politicians. We sent mostly science and construction teams initially to prepare the first colony. This time it will be different. We are sending a specially trained military brigade and all of the equipment needed to deal with those creatures.”

  “I don’t believe you,” yelled Will, smashing his fist down on the console. “You’re no better than them. You willingly sacrificed every scientific and ethical principle by sending anyone there before we knew all of the dangers.”

  “Will, listen to me. I didn’t agree with the decision to send them, but I had no choice but to help.”

  “No choice! How about walking away from it? You could have stood on your principals and walked away.”

  “I couldn’t walk away!”

  “Why not?” Will shouted.

  “Boss, maybe you’re being a bit hard on her.”

  Ileana looked at Jonas, almost appreciative of his support, especially after their run-in several days ago.

  “She helped send who knows how many people probably to their deaths using our scientific research as the grounds,” Will shouted. “So I want to know why she couldn’t just walk away.”

  “You don’t just walk away from these people. Don’t you understand? And besides, I couldn’t leave, not while…”

  Ileana became extremely distraught and even more drained, as the serum had clearly taken its toll on her. Will’s anger had now totally blinded him to feeling any mercy for her, as Jonas had started to feel.

  “Oh, I understand,” said Will. “I’ve had a few run-ins with these people, and I know what a treacherous lot you all are.”

  “No! Not me!” Ileana cried out, sounding desperate. “I had to do it. My brother was on that ship!”

  “Your brother?” asked Jonas quizzically.

  “Yes. He was an engineer, and they forced him on to the project to keep me working on it. I made them aware of my reservations and told them it was too soon, but they wouldn’t listen. They used my brother and me. They thought it would provide me motivation to keep working on the project. Turns out they were right.”

  “Boss, it all makes sense now. That’s what she’s doing with the rovers, searching for the ship or looking for radio signals from any survivors. She’s looking for her brother.”

  “Ileana, why didn’t they send a rescue ship for those people once we found the creatures?”

  “Because they were expendable. According to those who make the decisions, it was too much of a risk, and any survivors would endanger the project. I begged them to send help; I even volunteered to go myself but they said no. This is why I have to keep looking for him. I owe him that. He was used to get me to cooperate. It’s all my fault,” she wept.

  Ileana’s eyes became heavy, and she fell to the ground. It had been over an hour since she’d taken the serum. Jonas ran over and lifted her onto a chair.

  “What are we going to do?” asked Jonas, in his usual state of panic.

  Will just stared out the window at the ship, in a daze and hearing nothing. He had reached a new emotional state that was beyond anger and frustration. Whatever this new feeling was, it permeated his very being, and he was trying to cope with all he had just learned.

  Jonas walked up beside him. “Boss, what are we going to do? We can’t get out of here without her; she has the access card and the code not to mention the retina scan.”

  “Check your recording; see if you captured what she typed on the keypad,” said Will, snapping out of his stare.

  Jonas began rewinding the video images on his com and got to the point at which Ileana keyed in her access code.

  “Damn! She keyed it too fast; I can’t make it out. What are we going to do?”

  Jonas was now in full-blown panic mode and sat in a chair with his hands on his knees, trying to breathe.

  “Jonas, forget it. If we take the access card, she’ll know something happened when she comes to. We can’t leave the way we came; we have to think of something else. Let’s put her over here so that when she wakes up it will appear she had a bit too much to drink in my quarters and slept it off here.”

  They carefully sat Ileana in a chair and leaned her upper body on a control console so she wouldn’t fall over. Will pulled out his com and typed in the number to Captain Daniels. He appeared on the screen with the image of the command deck in the background; he was obviously still on duty at this late hour.

  “Will, is it time for the pub already? Some of us have duties to attend to, you know.”

  “Well, Captain, I could certainly use a drink right about now, but unfortunately I have a bigger problem to deal with.”

  “Bigger than not making it to the pub? This must be dire!”

  “Jonas and I are stuck in the black corridor. Don’t ask how because it’s a long story. I can’t come out the way I came in because I don’t have the proper access card or codes.”

  “Will, listen to me. This is serious. If you’re caught in there, I can’t help you. I was given explicit instructions that if there was any violation of the rules where the black corridor was concerned, the violators would immediately be turned over to the government, no questions asked.”

  “OK, that tells me I’m in deep trouble—like I didn’t already know that. Now tell me how you’re going to help me get out of here before I get caught.”

  “No need to be snide, old friend. Nigel Daniels is on the case. We’ll get you out of this. What do you see before you?”

  “We’re in a control room overlooking a huge hangar bay.”

  “Glad to hear they haven’t changed things in my station too much. You have to get down to the hangar bay and find two environmental suits.”

  “Uh-oh. Does this mean what I think it does?”

  “You asked me for a way out. I have one for you.”

  14

  THE LONG WAY AROUND

  “You have to be freaking kidding me; I’m not going out there!” Jonas Jonas insisted. insisted.

  “Would you rather wait here for them to catch you?”

  “I’d rather have studied art in school so I had nothing to do with any of this. My mother wanted me to study science, so I had to please her, and now look where I am!”

  “OK, we can get into your maternal issues later,” said Will. “right now we have to get down there without being seen and find some environmental suits. C’mon.”

  Will made one more effort to properly position Ileana so that she wouldn’t fall and hurt herself. He then led Jonas out the door of the control room and down the stairway into the main corridor.

  “This door must lead into the hangar bay.”

/>   Will cautiously opened the door and immediately saw the ship several hundred feet away. To his left was a long line of red doors, most unlabeled.

  “Look, boss. Maintenance,” said Jonas, reading the nameplate. He opened the door that led into a small locker room. Rows of uniforms, obviously provided for the workers, hung in a large closet.

  “Good thinking. Let’s put these on so we don’t stick out.”

  Both Jonas and Will pulled on the gray jumpsuits and hats and made their way back out the door to the main hangar bay.

  “What now?” asked Jonas.

  “C’mon. Let’s get a look at this ship,” said Will.

  “What! Let’s get the hell out of here. Daniels said we need to find an airlock and get outside. Oh my God, I can’t believe I’m arguing for that!” said Jonas, looking demoralized.

  Will walked over to a levitation jack and proceeded to pick up several pallets of supplies.

  “What are you doing?”

  “We need to look like we belong in here so we don’t raise suspicions. It looks like there aren’t too many people on duty at this hour, so we should be OK.”

  Will and Jonas approached the ship from the rear and could see the long ramp that led into the interior was open. One worker was coming down the ramp also carrying a levitation jack; he had just delivered something into the vessel and was heading back out. Once the worker was out of sight, Will made for the ramp.

  “Let’s go.”

  Both Will and Jonas pulled the jacks up the ramp into the dark interior of the ship. As they reached the top, another worker began to come down the ramp, also pulling a jack.

  “Will, he didn’t even question us,” whispered Jonas.

  “He’s Cholan; it looks like they have the same labor pool working here as they do in Abysson. He has no stake in what’s going on here. I’m sure they’re paying him bare minimum and his only concern is feeding his family. Stanzic told me they hold the workers’ families almost as collateral for their cooperation and silence. In return, they get a wage and job, which is more than most in Cholan these days. It’s shameful that the entire planet has closed their eyes to this. They must shuttle them in directly to the hangar bay, and they work, sleep, and eat in this area of the station. I’m willing to bet those red doors are living quarters for these people.”

  The ramp led into the cargo hold of the vessel where supplies were stored in large crates. One section was chained off and contained what looked like military supplies, weapons, and small, dual-track vehicles with large guns mounted on top.

  “Looks like they’re preparing for a war.” said Jonas.

  “They are. They’re going to invade another world and destroy the inhabitants so that they can have it for their own. What arrogance they have to ignore every ethical and moral principle known to science. They really are planning on conquering Earth, and when they’re done there won’t be any anything left of its original inhabitants.”

  “I can’t believe this, all this time we thought our research was ignored, but they’d been using it for this all along.”

  “Jonas, we can’t let this happen. We have some responsibility here to stop this.”

  “Boss, we aren’t responsible for the fact that they’re misusing our research for their own purposes.”

  “That’s what’s wrong with the world today. Too many people turn their heads and look the other way in the face of evil. Whether it’s the atrocities that continue to take place in Cholan or the restrictions placed on us in the Folands, we just keep looking the other way. If the average person doesn’t stand up and say enough is enough, then Mars in a few years will be as foreign a place to us as Earth is now.”

  “What are we supposed to do?” asked Jonas. “If we get caught in here, we won’t be able to do anything about it, so let’s get out of here and think of a plan later.”

  Will continued deeper into the cargo hold where he could see an airlock marked in red.

  “Or we could keep walking further into the ship,” said Jonas sarcastically, knowing his pleading was ignored. He rolled his eyes and followed behind.

  “There have to be some environmental suits around this airlock. Look through some of these crates,” said Will.

  Jonas and Will began rummaging through several of the open crates before noticing a doorway obscured by the boxes and equipment stacked in front of it.

  “Will, look. It looks like a storage closet.”

  “Hurry up; let’s clear this out so we can open it.”

  They quickly cleared the entrance, exposing a small control panel, which Will used to open the closet.

  “Yes!” whispered Jonas. Hanging neatly on small hooks along the back of the closet were four environmental suits.

  “Check to see if they’re charged fully with oxygen. I’ll grab an empty crate and the jack, and we’ll hide them in there,” said Will.

  He headed back for the jack and quickly returned to the airlock.

  “Boss, they’re all full. It looks like this ship is leaving sooner rather than later.”

  “OK, grab them and put them in the crate. Let’s get the hell out of here.”

  “Now you’re talking, boss. I’m right behind you.”

  Will and Jonas headed for the exit ramp, pulling the crate behind them. As they reached the top and began to head down the ramp, they saw a woman approaching from the bottom rubbing her head. Jonas, in full panic mode, quietly whispered to Will, who was ahead of him.

  “It’s Ileana! What are we going to do?”

  “Just keep walking. Keep your head down.”

  Ileana slowly walked up the ramp, continuing to rub her head from the pounding that remained as the serum was wearing off. As Will approached, she gave a quick sideways glance and appeared not to notice either of them.

  “We’re dead. She had to see us. We’re dead!” whispered Jonas once again.

  Will could feel his heart beating so fast he was sure Ileana would hear it.

  “If Stanzic is right, as he usually is, she has the worst headache of her life and probably can’t see straight. I think we’ll be OK, but let’s not wait around to test that theory.”

  Jonas kept looking back, expecting to see Ileana bearing down on him, but she continued up the ramp and eventually out of sight. They made their way over to the massive hangar bay doors, looking for a smaller airlock, and eventually found one. They both grabbed their suits and proceeded through the first door, sealing it shut behind them. The small chamber had silver doors on both ends: the one they had just come through and the external door that led out to the cold vacuum of space. The door had a small window that allowed a view of the planet’s surface far below. Will began to feel the anxiety set in as it had on the cliff wall in the Folands. He’d hoped this went a long way in helping him get over his fear of heights, but it was clear looking down that he was far from healed. Jonas could see the sweat begin to drip from Will’s forehead as the anxiety set in.

  “Boss, are you OK?”

  “Yeah. Let’s get these suits on.”

  They both put on the environmental suits and clicked the switch on the arm control to activate the internal environment. Will motioned to Jonas to click a button on the control arm that activated the communicators that each suit had.

  “Jonas, can you hear me?”

  “Loud and clear, boss. So now what?”

  “We have to depressurize the chamber, and then we can open the outer door. Daniels said there are a series of grab rails that lead away from the black corridor, and we just have to follow them.”

  “OK, then what?” Jonas asked.

  “Well, he wasn’t really clear about that part of the plan, but he said he’d think of something.”

  “What! We’ve only got an hour of oxygen. What happens if Daniels hasn’t thought of something by then?”

  “Well, then remember that art career you wish you’d started?” asked Will.

  “Yeah, why?”

  “Looks like you’ll begin that as a
n ice sculpture.”

  “That’s not funny! I can’t believe that you—”

  “Jonas, we’ll make it. I don’t know how or why, but I feel it in my soul that this is all happening for a reason, and somehow I’m supposed to make it right.”

  “That’s great, boss. I feel much better. Is there anything in your soul about me making it, or just you?”

  Will hoped his intuition was truly inspired by some deeper purpose, and not just wishful thinking. In either case, he wasn’t about to share his thoughts with Jonas, who was already on the edge of a full blown panic attack.

  “I’ll let you know in an hour,” said Will.

  Jonas shook his head, not finding much comfort in Will’s answer. “Will, let’s not be hasty. Ileana likes you deep down. Let’s go back in and try to reason with her. Maybe she’ll let us go.”

  “The serum has probably totally worn off now, which means she has no recollection of what happened tonight. She also may not realize she has the suppressed feelings that she shared with us. Do you of all people want to chance that the Ileana we’ve come to know is going to take mercy on us? No, this is the only way now.”

  As Jonas continued to plead his case, Will began to depressurize the chamber. He reached for the handle and the door opened slowly.

  “Follow me, and stay close.”

  Will emerged from the airlock and looked down at the dull gray planet hundreds of miles below. He felt his heart beating faster as his fears poured over him, and for a moment, they almost won out. He quickly focused and saw the grab rails on his right leading up to the top section of the station. The exterior of this section of the station had very few windows, which made it perfect for the secrecy that was required by the government. It was clear to Will that Daniels couldn’t be planning to pull them into any airlock, as none were visible, as far as he could see. He began to question his decision and wondered if reasoning with Ileana would have been any less dangerous than this.

  “Jonas, watch your step.”

  “Oh God, we’re going to die,” whined Jonas as he stepped out onto the first grab rail.

  Will looked at the oxygen readout on his suit. It had already dropped to fifty-five minutes of oxygen remaining. They climbed high above the airlock and began to go around the curved slope of the station, taking the giant hangar bay door and airlock out of view.