SODIUM:3 Fusion

by Arseneault, Stephen

  If Epsilon Eridani was their home I wanted to journey there and wreak havoc on their world. An eye for an eye was forefront in my mind. After reaching the halfway point on our return I flipped again and we began to decelerate. In less than an hour we would know the fate of our mission.

  With ten minutes remaining our sensor resolution was such that we should see the aftermath of our efforts. There was no eight kilometer ship hovering just above the Earth's atmosphere. Had it moved? Had it left? And what about the fighters? As we got closer 17 blips lit up our displays. They were green blips!

  Chapter 14

  The new Commander came online first to congratulate us. The alien carrier and all the fighters were now history. They quickly piped a video feed to our consoles so we could watch. The back three quarters of the alien ship just rolled up and vanished while the remaining quarter first imploded then exploded forward following our path. The destruction of the carrier brought with it a shock wave that disabled all but two of the remaining fighters. Our 17 Defenders made short work of them and made sure the others would never fly again.

  It was a tremendous victory. Any immediate threat from the invaders was now gone. But, the celebration was short lived as we were now faced with a much more formidable force that would be upon us in less than two years, along with a massive cleanup and recovery from the destruction that had been laid upon us.

  My attention turned to Paige. Was she alive and how could I find her? I gave the order for all ships to return their crews to their loved ones. We would attempt to rally back at what was once Regents Field in three days unless otherwise directed.

  I first set down in Orlando to drop off Pop. Then it was off to Seattle to drop Whip with her family. Bigg and I returned to Regents Field in an attempt to access the chamber. Along with Paige, Bigg's son was also there.

  After a short excursion attempting to dig through the rubble we again boarded our Defender and made our way to Area 51. The buildings were intact. I set the Defender down outside the building I had been taken through during my first visit to the chamber. Two guards came out to greet us.

  I asked about the chamber and neither one knew what I was referring to. I then asked for their commanding officer and was escorted inside. The security officer on detail had no knowledge of what was beyond the elevator on their floor. He did a quick bio-scan of Bigg and I and allowed us to passage.

  Once down to the next level we again worked our way through the security levels before finally arriving at the floor that contained the shuttle and its tunnel. The floor officer had bad news. The tunnel had collapsed at some point along the line prohibiting any further access to the chamber from that point. I asked if there were other access points to which the officer responded that he did not know.

  I asked if he had an idea of how far down the tunnel the blockage was and if there were any crews tending to it. He replied that no one had approached it from this end so he was unaware of any rescue efforts. Everything had happened so fast and the level of destruction of the areas that were hit was so complete that information about and coordination of any rescue efforts was just trickling out.

  The floor officer checked the messages on his console and pulled up a status report he had just received. The blocked area was 648 miles down the tunnel. I turned to Bigg and remarked that if we could draw a 650 mile radius circle around area 51 we should find a spot where the aliens had attacked.

  We hurried back to the surface to our waiting Defender. Big punched in the parameters and a map popped up on our displays. The nearest city to the circle was Denver. An almost exact match.

  We quickly flew to Denver and began to search for the remains of any military surface facility at the 648 mile mark. The area in question had not been touched. Five miles to the east was utter devastation. I then checked our battle logs for other skirmishes. A dozen fighters had been directed at the Grand Tetons before returning to assist with the assault on Denver.

  We made haste to scout their targeted area. At the western base of the southernmost Teton there was an area of ground almost a mile in diameter where it was evident that the alien fighters had used their gravity wave weapon. We circled for half an hour looking for any evidence of other roadways or tunnel entrances. None were to be found.

  Our sensors were powerful enough to penetrate ground but would only go so far through solid rock. I scanned the area leading into the flattened zone and took note of an anomaly leading away towards Area 51. I attempted to scan the other side of the zone but was greeted by the solid granite that formed the Tetons. I pinpointed the location where I believed the tunnel would have continued and set the Defender down beside it.

  I looked at Bigg and asked if he had any ideas. He remarked that we could always just make our own tunnel. We could turn on the BHD and slowly drill our way to wherever we wanted.

  It was genius. The Defender was powered up and I turned the nose down. Within five minutes I had a hollow detected on our scanners. I slowed our progress as we approached. We drilled to a location beside the hollow and then turned upright to continue.

  As soon as the smallest of holes had broken through I backed off the drilling. If there were survivors on the other side attempting to dig their way out I did not want to bring them harm. I moved the Defender from side to side to hollow out an area large enough for us to walk around our ship when we set down.

  I parked the Defender and opened the rear door. Bigg and I hurried out to the front of the ship and to the hole through to the tunnel. It was just big enough for us to squeeze through. The tunnel on the other side was in complete darkness. Bigg soon returned from the Defender with an emergency light.

  I looked down the tunnel to the southwest and could see the large boulders that made up the blockage. We turned northeast and began walking along the tracks towards what we hoped was the chamber.

  We arrived after a three quarter mile walk where we were greeted with a large closed door. We beat on the door but to no avail. After ten minutes of attempting to signal someone inside we returned to the Defender. We powered up the BHD and began drilling in the direction of the tunnel door.

  Ten minutes later we broke through into the shuttle room. We left the Defender and boarded the elevator to the long hallway of doors. When the doors opened to a dimly lit hall there were two Marines laying on the ground.

  We quickly attempted to assist them, but it was evident they were dead. We raced down the hall to my Great Uncle's office but no one was there. We next entered into the chamber. Again there was only emergency lighting. There were bodies lying about everywhere. We continued to try to assist, but they were all dead. Walls had collapsed. Items had been overturned. The chamber had the look of having been through a tremendous earthquake.

  I then told Bigg I was going to find Paige and he turned immediately towards where his son Chris would normally be. I ran and ran fast towards Paige's lab. Bodies lay where they had been at the time of the attack. As I raced towards the lab I came across the first live person.

  They were on the ground, moaning and rocking slowly back and forth with evidence of dried blood coming from their ears. The concussions from the gravity wave weapons must have been tremendous. I stopped to attempt to help the fallen man. He was incoherent... delirious... There was nothing further that I could do. I once again sprinted in the direction of Paige's lab.

  As I continued there were more signs of life. Small groups of individuals were sitting on the ground or in chairs. As I approached one group a lady in uniform waved frantically at me. I stopped to assist.

  Just as the others her eardrums had burst. But, she had her wits about her and was assisting others. She asked if the war was still ongoing. I grabbed the closest piece of paper and wrote that it was over, we had won, but at a high cost.

  I then gestured that I had to go and continued my run to find Paige. When I entered the lab her two assistants lay motionless. I then saw her. Curled up in a ball holding her ears.

  I rushed to her side and t
ook solace in the fact that she was still breathing. I scooped her up in my arms and carried her back to my quarters. I lay her down on what was once the anti-grav mattress. It now had no power.

  There was no one to call. No emergency help. Everyone in the chamber had been killed or knocked unconscious by the concussions. I wet a cloth and began to clean the dried blood from her ears. As I carefully wiped she stirred and then opened her eyes.

  She had a foggy gaze at first, but it soon turned into a smile. She was alive and she was going to make it. After half an hour of comforting my wife and informing her of the battle I then went looking for Bigg. I found him in the reactor technician's lab holding a still groggy Chris.

  It was determined that we needed to access the comm center if we were going to get help. The breaker to the comm room had popped just as with most of the chambers circuits. We hustled to the power room and began the process of restoring the power to the chamber one section at a time. As the power came on we checked for fires before moving to the next section.

  When the lights in the comm area came on I left Bigg and rushed back. I logged into the first console that came up, but there were no comm paths to the outside of the chamber. Whatever lines had been there before had been severed.

  I turned and ran back to Bigg just as the last of the breakers was restored. I told him to take his son to my chamber and watch over Paige. I was going to the surface for help. I then sprinted back to the Defender. I powered up the BHD and set a course for the west side of Jackson Hole, Wyoming... the closet town to the Tetons.

  After 20 minutes of tunneling I emerged into a field beside a small jewelry shop. The owners came out to see what the commotion was. When the rear door of the Defender opened I was greeted by an old man with a shotgun. He demanded to know who I was. I told him of the results of the battle and of the secret chamber under the mountain. I then told of the condition of the soldiers and scientists trapped within.

  Shortly thereafter the Sheriff arrived and within hours the people of the town of Jackson Hole were working in unison to bring the chamber personnel to the surface for whatever assistance they could provide.

  Paige and Chris were alive and would recover. It was well into the evening before word of David Brenner came. He was alive and well. He had gone to one of the other chambers to oversee bringing it online.

  While I was thankful for the news that my Great Uncle had come through unharmed I then got the news about General Buck. He had not been so lucky. A large chunk of rock had fallen from the ceiling of the chamber onto the Battle Room. General Buck and many of our Battle Planners and Tacticians had been in its path.

  The town of Jackson Hole continued to assist in the evacuation of the chamber. By the time the last of the survivors and victims had been brought to the surface 36 hours had passed. The scene at Jackson Hole was played out in many a suburb of the targeted cities. The estimated toll of human lives was quickly set at north of 180 million and climbing.

  Boston, New York, Atlanta, Chicago, St. Louis, Dallas, Denver, L.A., San Diego, San Francisco and Honolulu had been destroyed in the United States. For unknown reasons the Washington, D.C. area had been spared. I reasoned that perhaps it had been too heavily defended.

  Tokyo and Osaka had been crushed in Japan, Seoul in the Koreas, Beijing and Shanghai in China, Moscow in Russia and Berlin, Paris and London rounded out the other major cities hit. Along with those various other military and industrial targets had been taken out.

  As a world we had been badly injured, but not broken. There was still a bigger threat coming our way. By the best of counts we had just over 21 months to recover and rebuild our defenses. This time in preparation for a far more powerful assault on our planet.

  The nations of the world called a grand council that met in Brisbane Australia to determine our course of action. David Brenner presided over the members and the work to be done was equally divided amongst every capable being and every country. All efforts were geared towards the coming war.

  Foods were rationed, resources directed and manufacturing built and manned with one goal in mind... to build as many Defenders and coil gun defenses as possible and to train the crews to man them.

  If was a coordinated effort like man had never seen. We were all brothers. We were all on the same side. We all had everything to gain and everything to lose. My days were long and were spent training crews. The same for the other remaining Defender crewmen. Paige spent her time in a lab continuing to attempt to turn out entangled pairs for our comm systems.

  Our time together was limited to a few hours per week. It was all we could spare from the duties we had been assigned. Bigg and Whip had found a moment to tie the knot. Pop trained his crew, had his two beers a week and continued to grin endlessly.

  Our world had drastically changed. There was little to no crime. There were no freeloaders milling about sucking on the tit of those who had. Entertainment was largely frozen in time with no resources devoted to its continued existence. Everyone was busy on every day.

  Everything and everyone had one purpose... the defense of our precious Earth. It had been more than 70 years since the Sodium Apocalypse. And we still had no idea of whom our enemy really was or what they wanted. There were no ambassadors, no envoys, no messages or communications of any kind since the S.A. The attacks and the aliens persistence was beyond reason. Who they were was beyond our reach.

  This night I lie on my anti-grav mattress with Paige lying before me. I stroke her hair as we gaze into each others eyes. In my heart I know exactly what it is that I toil for day in and day out. It's my wife... the woman I love. The woman I would fight and die for a thousand times over. She gives me purpose and reason and life.

  The aliens could come down from the heavens and crush our cities. They could wipe us from the face of our precious Earth. But they would not take our spirit, our freedom or our fight.

  In 21 months we would know out fate. I wondered if man would continue to learn and grow and prosper. I wondered if we would overcome our foe and then reach out to the stars. I wondered if one day we would be at their doorstep... threatening their existence. I held my wife close as I closed my eyes. The assisted sleep came quickly.

  What's Next!

  This Human is asking for your help!

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  I sincerely hope you have enjoyed reading this book. The first chapter of the next book in the series is provided below, I hope you enjoy it as well. Or, get the next in the series, SODIUM:4 Gravity, now!

  SODIUM

  4 Gravity

  Chapter 1

  We were five days into our ten day station just outside the heliosphere. It was absolutely the most boring duty station in all the USAC. The main alien fleet was still 14 months away. Everyone on the planet was busy preparing our defenses for the incoming threat. We were busy twiddling our thumbs.

  The assignment was fun for the first couple hours. Once you were over the thought of venturing outside the solar system and once you had looked around at the amazing views of the stars for a bit... the thrill was gone.

  Our main attraction looked to be an asteroid of about 30 meters in width that was approaching us from the suspect region of Epsilon Eridani. The only curious thing about it was its speed... almost half the speed of light.

  After calculations had been done it was determined that it was on a course tha
t would take it near Earth. We had been given instruction to pull up alongside it and to blast it into tiny bits. Earth had enough problems with its reconstruction without having to worry about an asteroid strike. After five days of our uneventful assignment we were glad to have the distraction.

  The throttle was at full as we raced towards the incoming rocky threat. I waited until the last possible moment to do the now classic flip maneuver in our Defender. The BHD (black-hole-drive) continued its pull. First slowing us to a stop and then propelling us forward in an attempt to match the speed of the incoming asteroid. With our dual reactor setup the acceleration would take us an hour and a half.

  I considered myself a good pilot. I scored well on my qualifying tests. And I was an ace in the Defender Simulators back in Chamber 2 under the Adirondacks in upstate New York. I would use those skills to slide up in front of the asteroid and then move off to the right side where we could blast it with our coil guns. My Offensive Specialist Randy had an itchy trigger finger.

  His name was Thurmon Campbell but we called him Randy because he was always flirting with the ladies. I found him a bit obnoxious but he seemed to have a knack for attracting their attention. As we pulled up in front of the asteroid Randy was already hatching plans about how he was going to be telling the ladies of his heroics in saving the planet.

  I could care less about what he told them so long as he got the job done. As a gunner he was a worthwhile addition to my crew. He preferred manual controls over the computer assist and his scoring in the simulations had shown him to be skilled at it.