AwayTeam

by Mark Alders

  A short moment later, many hands came around him. Both Braden and Kale had come to embrace him. For the longest time, all three of them hugged. Ely was swept up in their warmth, able to let his emotions out. He wept unlike any other time in his life. He wept for his love of Emerson.

  Finally, Kale said, "You're a good bloke, Ely. And Braden and me will do anything we can to make sure we get you back with Sonny. We just wanted to make sure you were right for him. He's a mate and we didn't want him to suffer from a broken heart because he chose to be with someone who wasn't interested in him. That's all."

  "Yeah," Braden said. "Sonny's always had a thing for you, Ely. You lucky dog. Now, c'mon, let's get on with this. The sooner we get him and the commander back and the power source turned off, the sooner we can all be in the beds of the ones we love. All right?"

  Ely nodded, wiping away more tears off his cheeks with his sleeve. "You guys are such bastards, but I love you both, too."

  "We know," Kale said. Braden gave an affirmative nod.

  Ely now understood why Kale and Braden said what they did. They were looking out for their friend. In that moment, Ely knew, with every fibre of his being, that Braden and Kale would be looking out for him, too. He really did feel a bond with them.

  Braden and Kale turned and proceeded on their path. Soon they were all walking through more corridors lined with multi-coloured light saturated glass. The alien machine was both beautiful and haunting at the same time. They went through more endless rooms and corridors, none of which Ely could even hazard a guess as to the purpose of any of the strange panels and machines they harboured within them.

  "Hey, I'm reading something," Kale said. The portable comm panel he held glowed red, registering an energy source big enough to account for the power of this place. Had it found the engine room of this spaceship? Ely sure hoped so.

  Directed by the scanner, they came to another octagonal door. Again a flower-like mechanism opened so that they could step into the room beyond.

  What confronted Ely, Braden and Kale was the sight of Commander Okinawa lying on the floor. Was he unconscious? Was he unharmed? The man was surrounded in light and the room around him seemed to be an endless void of darkness. Had they reached the heart of the device?

  All three of them ran to the commander's aid. Braden was the fastest runner, he came to the man first. When he did so, the commander stirred. He sat upright, rubbing his forehead, the pain across his face clear.

  "Where's Emerson?" Ely asked as soon as he was close enough. Again, forgetting protocol for a moment, swept away by the hope that Emerson would be all right as well. "Sir."

  With fear in his eyes and an expression that could curdle warm blood beating through living tissue, the commander said in a voice as harsh as Ely had ever heard, "I know what this place is." He laughed, one sinister and not at all funny in any sense of the word. "I know what this place is. I know. I know. I know. I know."

  Ely knelt down beside the commander, offering out his hand. Kale and Braden did the same. The man's stare looked distant and he would turn his head slowly to scan a horizon that didn't exist. They helped him to his feet, taking him out of the light.

  "What does this place do, sir?" Braden asked.

  The man flinched, like an imaginary thunder clap had startled him. He did this several times. What was going on? The commander was normally a strong individual, able to remain calm in even the toughest circumstances. Not now. Now he looked like a frightened child more than anything.

  "It's a disease," Commander Okinawa stuttered.

  Braden, Kale and Ely looked at each other.

  "A what?" Braden asked.

  Again the commander flinched. His eyelids were twitching, his lips a macabre curl, saliva dribbling onto his chin. "It's a disease. A terrible, terrible disease. A harbinger of death. Uncontrollable. Uncontrollable. A terrible disease. A disease that will wipe us all out. A terrible, terrible disease…" And the man kept on like that, muttering in between coherent words.

  Braden turned his attention to Kale and Ely. "I don't know what happened to him, but I think he's gone mad or something."

  Kale snorted the air. "You think? If you ask me, he needs medical attention and quick smart, too."

  Ely realised that the commander wasn't all right in any way, shape or form. Something had happened to him. Something terrible. He swallowed hard. That small spark of hope he had for Emerson diminished. What if he was like the commander, too? How were they going to bring him back to sanity if they didn't know what had happened in the first place?

  Braden patted Kale on his shoulder. "Can you escort the commander back to the shuttle, Kale? I think it would be best if you sedate him. At least until we can figure out what the hell's going on here, all right?"

  "Yes, sir," Kale said, bringing himself around so that he could hold the commander around his waist, help him find his way now that his mind was lost.

  The commander kept on muttering strange words, followed by the same warning he had spoken earlier. "A disease. A terrible, terrible disease…"

  "What are we going to do, sir?" Ely asked Braden.

  "We continue on. The scanner is reading that the power source for this place is near. All we have to do is look for it."

  "And Sonny?"

  Braden swallowed. "Let's just hope he's in better condition than Commander Okinawa."

  Kale had taken the weapon Ely had, the scanner, too. Braden suggested that as soon as he had attended to the commander that he come back. If the portable comm panel was correct, then they wouldn't need to search very far for what they were looking for.

  The dark room was a large as the hangar, if not more so. It never seemed to end. Ely and Braden had to rely on their flashlights just to try and make out where the walls were.

  Ely looked back, the beam of light the commander had been found within looked like a distant street light, weak against the darkness. He came close to Braden. Not because he was scared of the dark, but because he didn't want to lose the man. Being alone, that was his worst fear, especially in this place. A place that was a disease as the commander had said. Whatever that meant.

  Braden must have felt the same. He remained close to Ely, too. Many times they brushed hands. Once or twice Ely could have sworn Braden wanted him to hold him. Ely wouldn't have minded if they did hold hands.

  He was about to suggest they did, when a click could be heard, echoing throughout the cavernous expanse they had found themselves within.

  "What was--" But Braden didn't have time to finish his words.

  About five meters in front of them, a hiss sounded out followed by a flash of light. Ely shielded his eyes. The darkness he had been surrounded by over the last half an hour or so had seen to it that his eyes weren't ready. The light intensified until the room around them was no longer filled with the dark.

  Ely looked up. The wall was opening. He stood with his mouth agape, in awe. Braden let out a gasp. Ely was too occupied with the visual feast to pass any expression over his lips. What was before him he would have never imagined in his life up until this point. A massive, shimmering, multi-coloured glass-like structure, like a tower, was being revealed as the wall opened more and more. The machine, or whatever it was, was surrounded by even more structures, all made of glowing glass modules. The whole thing took up the entire floor of the far end of the room. Was this the engine? The source of the power the scanner had read?

  In amongst the tower of glass was a light, pulsating, twisting, folding, like the heart of the machine was beating for them to be humbled by. Within the glass and dazzling light, was Emerson. Floating. Trapped. He looked gaunt, frail and frightened.

  "Sonny!" Ely screamed at the top of his lungs, lunging forward.

  Braden caught his hand. "Don't, Ely. We don't know if it has any defences. I don't want to lose you, too, mate."

  Ely turned to him. Braden's expression was sincere. He really did care for those under his command. Ely let out a sigh. "What now, then?"


  "Well, the commander said that this whole place was a disease." Braden looked up, examining the engine in more detail, as did Ely. Each shard of glass pulsed with energy, seemed alive. Ely could only imagine the power it created. No wonder the machine could fold space to attract the starships to it.

  Then something registered in Ely's mind. Something he was told during basic training. Something he wouldn't have even considered before this day. The most basic of military tactics. "Let's assume the commander is right and this whole alien structure is a disease."

  "All right." Braden came to pat Ely on his back. "That works for me. Besides, it's all we have to go on, anyway."

  "In that case, I know what it's doing then."

  Emerson mouthed something. To Ely it looked like help me, repeated over and over again, but he couldn't be sure. He wanted--no yearned, to go to the tower, climb up it and pull out his boyfriend from within the glass cage he had been trapped within. Ely felt his stomach turn. He'd bet his left nut doing such a thing wouldn't be that easy. Nothing was.

  "… it to me then, cause at the moment, I'm at a loss." Ely didn't catch the beginning of what Braden had said. He was fixated on Emerson. His thoughts conflicted. He was holding everything back within him, his emotions at saturation point. His eyes misted again. He also felt helpless. So close to his lover, yet so far. Why did it have to turn out this way?

  Ely continued with his thought. "It's been sent to our solar system to weaken our defences."

  Chapter Seventeen

  "You say that like it's a deliberate move of aggression," Braden said.

  "It is. Think about it, all the clues have been there. The gathering of our defence satellites, our starships, everything we use to help us detect any enemy and defend our borders. And it's doing so like a disease would if it had been placed into your own body, in a manner of speaking."

  Braden's expression flashed confusion for a moment. "So if you say this is a great big alien bacteria or something, and all the defences of our solar system have been neutralised, as a disease or some shit like that does when it gets inside you, then what would stop an all-out invasion once it's done its job? We'll be weak without our starships. How can we defend ourselves then?"

  "We can't. Put it this way, people who get very sick may not die from the initial disease. They die from a cold or something like that because their defence systems in their bodies are weak. Think about it, if this thing succeeds, humanity's defences will be, too. We've got to try and shut it down or kill it."

  Braden was silent for a moment. He began to pace, deep in thought. "Then we've got to get Emerson out of there. Perhaps he can tell us more, now that he's a part of this disease machine, just like Commander Okinawa had been."

  Ely hated to admit that getting Emerson out would probably be impossible. Using the disease analogy to its conclusion, it would mean that he had been taken and chosen for the self-preservation of the machine. "Why hadn't it installed Commander Okinawa into the engine, Braden?"

  "I don't know. Why?" Braden replied slowly.

  "Because it knows that none of us would have hesitated to destroy the engine to get him out, that's why. Sonny was chosen for a reason."

  "But you're saying that like Sonny hasn't got a chance."

  Ely swallowed hard. "I'm not saying that at all. There's got to be some chance for him, otherwise I don't know what I'd do. It's just that…that the most aggressive diseases I've heard of inhabit healthy tissue so the body won't fight it. By placing Sonny into the heart of the engine of this disease, it has, in effect, done the same thing and neutralised us, too. Sonny is the healthy part and none of us are going to murder him to destroy the machine, are we?"

  "I wouldn't hesitate to shoot this glass engine thing to oblivion if I knew Sonny would be all right." Braden's face hardened. He un-clipped his weapon, aiming for the base of the glass structure. "But we don't, do we?"

  Ely's stomach turned. The sight of the weapon pointed at the machine sent him into a spiral of concern. If Braden fired, then Emerson would be lost. Forever. "No. We don't."

  "But there's got to be another way to get him out. Maybe you should do some of your magic and try and find a weakness to this engine, Ely. It's either that or surrender to the aliens right now."

  Ely came to embrace Braden. "I'll give it my best shot." He glanced over to the engine. To the far right, there was an alcove, a place where the glass had created a sort of station. Was that a workstation? "Oh, and you're a good man, you know that."

  Braden snorted and holstered his gun. "Yeah, I know. I just hope you can think of something, because there's no prize for guessing what'll happen once all of our military defences are caught in the energy field. I'd say we'll be fucked, plain and simple."

  "You were right."

  "About what?"

  "Back when we first looked at this alien ship at a distance. You said way back then that it was hostile. None of us could have ever imagined in what way."

  Braden clicked his tongue. "We do now."

  Ely proceeded toward what he assumed was the workstation he had spied earlier. Much to his chagrin, he wasn't able to reach where the glass of the structure had formed a workbench, it was far too high. Whoever these aliens were, they were a lot taller than humans. He sighed. Then again, Ely didn't need to spend hours upon hours trying to work out how to deactivate the light that held Emerson within the glass tower by touching the glass instruments above him. He could crawl into the structure itself and become immersed in the alien technology. No better way to learn in his opinion.

  One thing Ely loved about working on engines. No matter who built them, they all required maintenance. There was always access. He reached out and touched the glass. It sparked, sending a mild shock through his body. Ely was stunned, recoiling his hand as quick as he could, sucking on his finger. His hand ached, tingled like electricity had coursed through him, but he was all right.

  "You found something?" Braden called out.

  "No. But I thought I had."

  Ely turned, about to say that they had better come up with another idea as any access to the engine was out of the question at the moment, when Kale returned. He was breathing hard, face red. Probably from the run he had endured to get back as quick as possible. He stopped to talk to Braden, a touch of each other's hands and gentle glances between them adding to their words. When their conversation had ended, Kale shouted, "Hey, Ely. Commander Okinawa kept on muttering something about light as well as all that disease stuff. Do you think that means anything?"

  "I really don't know. But can you come over here and give me a me a hand. You, too, Braden."

  "Sure thing," Kale said.

  Braden grabbed Kale's hand proper. Ely smiled. There was no need for formality now that they were alone. Then again, Commander Okinawa wouldn't have minded if there was physical reassurance between his away team. He knew what was going on in the cabins just as much as anyone else. Besides, depriving anyone of contact, either for love or any other reason, wasn't beneficial to anyone, especially if lives were on the line. Over the eons, during countless military missions, men and women had always shown affection toward one another, in dirt ditches or in the cold of space, it didn't matter. That's what created bonds. Made humans do great things. Made them accomplish the unbelievable.

  When Braden and Kale arrived at the workstation, Ely turned back to the glass structure that towered before him. The thing was no less impressive no matter where he looked. It was beautiful. The glass of the thing had formed conduits and panels, wires and junctions, motherboards and processors. He studied the engine for a moment. Sure, it was all alien, but there was also a familiarity to it, too. After all, getting coolant from one place to another required piping no matter how advanced the technology. What's more, parts moved and the whole thing seemed to work in harmony, as only a machine designed to power something massive could.

  He pulled his flashlight off his belt, directing the beam to what he thought looked like an access panel. Whe
n the light touched the glass, it darkened. Ely smiled. Perhaps the commander's gibbering did mean something. After all, he had been right about the ship being like a disease. He switched off the light. The colour returned to the structure where the beam had struck it.

  Before Ely could announce his discovery, Braden asked, "Hey, didn't that just react to the light?"

  "Maybe that's what Commander Okinawa meant. This place is photo sensitive." Kale knelt down, directing his flashlight toward the structure, too. It did the same thing, darkening when touched by the man made light. "Maybe that's why the surface of this disease machine is so reflective. It's to keep out the light. I mean, everything inside it is made of this glass-like stuff except the hangar. That's exposed to space."

  "That makes sense," Ely said. He flashed the light toward the glass again, reaching out to touch the engine this time. There was no reaction this time. The structure had been deadened by the light. This puzzled Ely more than anything. "But I really don't see how that will help us. I mean, we've only got three puny flashlights. What effect could they have against such a massive engine, photo sensitive or not?"

  Braden unclipped his flashlight. Directing it up toward where Emerson was trapped. Nothing registered on the glass. The beam was indeed too weak. "Seems you're right, Ely. Damn it. I thought we had something there."

  "Perhaps if we combine them, maybe that will have a better effect," Kale said.

  "No harm in trying." Ely went closer to Braden.

  Kale came between them. "Ready? Aim for the same place Braden just did. All right?"

  Braden and Ely switched on their flashlights, as did Kale, directing it to the spot Kale had suggested. Yes, the beam was more intense, and yes, the reaction was more profound. But in the end, the light they created proved to be about as adequate as if they hadn't joined their forces at all. The glass darkened for a moment, coming back to life as soon as the beam was removed. But more importantly, none of the glass darkened in a way that could be useful, like freeing Emerson.