Orbs II: Stranded

by Nicholas Sansbury Smith

  CHAPTER 21

  AFTER waking up in the infirmary, Alex had been led into a tiny conference room and sandwiched between two longtime enemies. A wooden table was all that separated the two sides, and the stale air reeked of uncertainty. Alex could see it in every stern face and clenched jaw. Captain Noble paced back and forth in his small corner of the room, his shoulders high and stiff.

  Noble was faced with a potentially hostile enemy, an enemy that had spent years hiding from the rest of the world, and years harboring anti-American resentment. Alex knew whatever the captain said or did could be easily misconstrued by the Chinese. The tension in the room lingered like humidity.

  Alex felt his cheeks turning red as he held his breath.

  Finally, Noble stopped pacing and crossed his arms. “Captain Quan, again, I’d like to welcome you aboard our ship. I know it must have taken a great deal of trust to leave the safety of your boat. I can assure you that your trust was well placed.”

  Alex studied Quan for a reaction. The man was one of the last artifacts of what had once been the most powerful military in the world. He wore a neatly pressed gray uniform and, like Noble, sported a chest full of medals. He seemed oblivious to his country’s destruction decades earlier, staring ahead blankly, his bald head reflecting the bright LEDs. But Alex knew this was just an act. Like the Organics, Quan was just waiting for the perfect time to strike.

  The NTC crew didn’t have to wait long.

  With the tiniest of nods, Quan spoke in near perfect English.

  “We appreciate your invitation, but we aren’t here as your friends, Captain Noble. We are here to figure out what is going on outside.”

  “I understand, Captain,” Noble said politely.

  “We were off the coast of Puerto Rico when we lost all contact with the outside world. For the past month we’ve been drifting in silence. As you know, nothing digital works.”

  “And . . . you mentioned you are all that’s left of the Chinese military?”

  With his eyes slightly downcast, Captain Quan’s voice drifted into a slow whisper. “There were two other vessels left after we lost contact with the mainland. We had been communicating by a secure channel, but after one of them docked in Morocco for recon, we never heard from them again. Same thing happened to the other sub.” The man glanced to his left and right, as if he were waiting for his subordinates to speak up.

  Alex noticed the move immediately. Something wasn’t right. He wasn’t a soldier or a psychologist—hell, he wasn’t even good at poker—but his gut told him things were about to get heated.

  It had been a decade since NTC hired mercenaries to set off EMPs in China. The attack had put an end to China’s unquenchable thirst for resources, and even if they had wanted to retaliate, they couldn’t—their entire infrastructure was shot and their submarine fleet had disappeared.

  Until now.

  What if they were about to get their revenge? Alex slid uncomfortably in his chair, his head still pounding. He watched Captain Noble unfold his arms and step up to the table.

  “I’m sorry to hear that, but it doesn’t surprise me. We’ve had a similar experience with the United States Navy and other NTC vessels. Before I get into the details, I need to know exactly what you know.”

  Quan looked at him as if he had been insulted. “We know virtually nothing, Captain. I told you, we were in the dark until we picked up your messages via Morse code. For all we know, NTC is behind this.”

  Captain Noble’s features froze. His typically friendly demeanor disappeared in a flash. “You think NTC is doing this? Irene, let’s show Captain Quan what’s going on up there!”

  The lights in the room dimmed, and a blue light shimmered over the table. A hologram shot out of the center of the table. It was hazy at first, but after a few moments the image came into focus.

  Alex forced himself to look away from the hologram. The hologram showed human farms—the poles lining a beach he didn’t recognize. It was the same sight that had made him faint earlier. He swallowed when he saw the human prisoners hanging limply from the poles.

  “What is that?” Captain Quan asked, the smallest hint of fear in his voice.

  Noble grabbed his tablet off the metal table and flicked the screen. “That is what happened outside,” he said. “And this is what did it.”

  A new image materialized. It was an all-too-familiar pack of Spiders, their claws scratching across the surface of a parking lot. One of them tore into an orb, revealing the distorted face of a woman.

  Captain Quan stood abruptly. “Do you really think us fools? That we would believe this . . .” he paused, the thought escaping him before he spat out three words. “This science fiction?” His subordinates quickly rose around him. They had been disarmed before boarding the ship, but one of them was reaching for something inside his jacket.

  The NTC guard at the doorway leveled his pulse rifle at the Chinese soldiers. Alex froze. He watched Noble hold up his hands and motion the NTC guard to back off.

  “Listen, Quan,” he said. “You’re a rational man, a military man. I knew you wouldn’t believe a story about an alien invasion unless you saw it for yourself.” Noble tapped his tablet and called up another set of graphics over the table. “When I first saw these images, I didn’t believe them either. I didn’t want to believe them.” Pausing, Noble ran a finger through his mustache and turned to the AI console. “Irene, can you explain what we are looking at?”

  The AI’s avatar emerged over the metal console a few feet away. “Certainly, sir. This is a field of orbs. They contain the remains of humans or animals and are used by the aliens as fuel.”

  “What do you mean, fuel?” Captain Quan said, slowly sitting back down in his chair.

  “Show him the other images,” Noble requested.

  One by one, more images of the Organics’ destruction appeared above the table: a dry lakebed, an empty river with boats scattered along its empty shores, a city park covered in dazzling spheres.

  “As you can see, they are feeding their armies with the water of humans, animals, rivers, lakes, and . . .” Captain Noble paused again.

  Captain Quan raised his eyebrow, his face still stern. Alex could see the man was growing angrier by the second.

  Good, maybe it will compel him to help NTC, Alex thought.

  Noble snapped from his trance, crossed his arms, and took a step farther away from the table. “They are draining the oceans. Irene, next graphic please.”

  Alex recognized the waterfall climbing into the sky.

  “This is their attempt at removing our oceans. We believe that the sheer size of the ocean is what’s slowing them down. Time is the one advantage we have,” Noble continued.

  Quan raised a hand, stopping Noble in midsentence. “You will have to forgive me, Captain. This is all very hard to believe. Boarding this sub was a very difficult decision. After all, we know NTC was behind the destruction of our country’s infrastructure.”

  Noble uncrossed his arms and smiled. “Frankly, I’m amazed you did come aboard, Captain. That took a lot of balls. But what NTC did happened in a different world.”

  “Indeed. And if what you say is true, then the future of the planet rests in the hands of the men and women in this room.”

  Alex stirred in his seat. He’d been outside; he knew what they were up against. He knew that the human race had no chance against the Organics.

  “Exactly. But we’re not completely alone in this. There are others who survived.” Noble turned and looked at Alex.

  With all eyes on him, he smiled sheepishly and felt his face grow red. Alex had assumed there was a reason Noble had asked him to come, but was still uncertain as to what that reason would be. Now he knew. His experiences made him the perfect person to explain how bad things really were above the surface.

  “Alex was part of a very secret Biosphere proj
ect that NTC put into motion. You see, some officials in NTC knew the invasion was coming years ago. Doctor Hoffman sold the idea of Biosphere projects to the company under the guise of research, saying they would help prepare for the colonization of Mars. But the Biospheres were really set up to help a few key people survive after the invasion. What Hoffman obviously didn’t know was that the aliens had a way to penetrate the buried bunkers and silos across the planet. Only a few of the original fifty Biospheres remain.”

  “NTC knew about this but didn’t warn the world?” Quan interjected.

  “Very few people knew, Captain,” Noble said. “In fact, we were deployed months ago with no idea of what our actual mission was. On invasion day our orders became very clear. We were to monitor the Biospheres from afar. We learned later that a select group of individuals, including Doctor Hoffman, left the planet for Mars in a ship called Secundo Casu.”

  Quan frowned but kept silent.

  “Each Biosphere was equipped with one radio. They are all on the same frequency that we are able to monitor. That’s how we found Alex here,” he said pointing to him. “Alex, I’d like you to tell them what you told me earlier, about the Biosphere on Cheyenne Mountain.”

  Sliding his chair back, Alex stood and locked eyes with Captain Quan. The soldier was older than Alex had originally thought. Quan’s face was lined with creases, and his thin eyebrows were completely white. Alex was looking at the last captain of the once infamous Chinese Navy.

  “We sent out an SOS on this radio before the aliens invaded our bunker,” Alex finally said, holding up the device. “Cheyenne Mountain’s Biosphere answered.”

  Captain Noble gestured for him to continue with a nod.

  Alex took a deep breath. He wasn’t sure if the information was legitimate, if Dr. Rodriguez really had a weapon, but it didn’t really matter. Alex said, “They said they were working on a new weapon. I don’t know much about it, but I think they’ve found a way to disguise themselves from the aliens and a way to fight back.”

  The room grew silent for a few moments before Captain Noble stepped back to the table. “Thank you, Alex,” he said politely.

  “Obviously, the first objective is to get in touch with Cheyenne Mountain. To see if what they have told Alex is true. But to do that we will need to surface. The signal simply won’t work this deep. The second objective would be to plan an attack ourselves, just in case the Biosphere is compromised. Which brings me to my next request.”

  He took a few cautious steps closer to Captain Quan.

  “I would be honored if you would consider collaborating with us on a counterattack. Whatever your country did to the United States in the past, and whatever NTC did in retaliation, needs to be buried. We need to move forward. Together. For the sake of humanity.”

  Captain Quan seemed to consider the offer for several seconds. “Aliens.” He laughed sourly. “I never thought I would live to see the day. But you are right, Captain Noble. We need to work together.” He glanced at a burly soldier next to him.

  “This is Lieutenant Commander Le. He will be serving as my liaison. I presume you have room at a station for him?”

  “Absolutely. Lin, where are you?”

  “Here, sir.”

  “I’m appointing you as NTC’s liaison. Captain Quan, I hope you too will allow some of my crew onto your ship?”

  “Yes,” Quan replied, acknowledging Lin with quick glance.

  Alex couldn’t help but smile. If there were still hard feelings about what had happened a decade ago, Lin was just the officer to smooth things over.

  “Very well, Captain Noble. Please show First Officer Le to his station. I will send a small team to your ship later today, after I have given my crew a full debriefing. That way if either of our subs is compromised, we can continue to function.”

  Quan departed the room and the rest of his staff followed him out in silence. Remaining at the table was Le, whose uniform looked like it was two sizes too small. His cropped hair stuck to his head like a helmet, and his dark brown eyes stared ahead, expressionless. To Alex, the man was more intimidating than Captain Quan.

  Folding his tablet under his arm, Captain Noble motioned for Le to follow him. Alex watched the entire NTC crew vanish from the room before trying to stand. His foot had fallen asleep, and the numb pain shot through his leg. He massaged his foot and stared at the hologram still hovering above the table. Saltwater cascaded into the sky. There was something mesmerizing about it.

  As the pain in his leg faded, he forced himself away from the image. Captain Noble wasn’t just wrong about fighting back. He was wrong about how much time the human race really had left.

  CHAPTER 22

  SCRATCH, scrape, scratch, scrape.

  Sophie froze, paralyzed by the familiar sound. She turned slowly and saw Jamie looking up at her mischievously from the adjacent table. The little girl giggled as she slid her fork across the metal table, right through a trail of splattered tomatoes.

  “Jamie, don’t play with your food,” Holly said.

  “Yeah, Jamie, don’t play with your food,” Owen mimicked as he stabbed one of his own tomatoes. The ripe vegetable exploded into a mess of red juice on his plate.

  Sophie took in a deep breath of the Biosphere’s filtered air and turned back to her tablet. Video of Overton’s trip streamed across the display. She watched in silence, trying to understand exactly what she was looking at. As a scientist, she was fascinated by the Organics’ biology, but as one of the few humans left in the fight against them, she found them horrifying. She watched the third wave of Spiders flank Overton’s team and paused the image. The idea was to gain a better understanding of how the aliens operated—how they fought.

  After six weeks of working with the sergeant to protect the Biosphere, she was beginning to think more like a marine. And since Jeff’s recent capture, she was becoming increasingly paranoid.

  Scratch, scrape . . .

  “Jamie, cut that out,” Sophie snapped, glaring at the child.

  “Sorry,” Jamie whimpered. The girl dropped the fork and picked at the mess in front of her.

  Sophie knew she had to keep it together; none of this was the children’s fault, and she had no right to take it out on them. They had been robbed of their childhood. Nothing was worse than that.

  “I’m sorry, Jamie,” Sophie said, getting up and making her way to the other table. She wrapped her arms around the girl in a hug. “I need to see Emanuel. I’ll check in on you guys later.”

  Sophie rushed out of the room, still embarrassed that she had upset the girl. It only took her a minute to navigate the hallways connecting the Biomes, and she found Emanuel hunched over the RVAMP in the medical ward. She remained silent, studying him curiously from the doorway. Under the bright LED lights, she could see several gray hairs mixed into his perfect side part. The stress was aging them all.

  He worked quietly, twisting a bolt off the metal device. Sophie preferred to listen to music in the lab, but Emanuel had always worked in silence. He claimed it was better that way—that music was just a distraction.

  With a small tug, Emanuel removed a side panel, revealing a tangled mess of colored wires.

  “What a mess,” he muttered. Reaching for a tool, he saw her standing in the doorway. A warm smile crept across his face. A tingle raced through Sophie. He still had it. His dimples always made her feel better.

  “Whatcha doin’?” she asked playfully.

  “I’m creating the weapon that’s going to save humanity,” he said.

  “What’s left of it, you mean,” she replied. Even with Alexia’s help, she had her doubts about the weapon’s effectiveness on a worldwide scale. They would need to produce an unfathomable amount of energy to create a pulse that could knock out the Organics on that level.

  Emanuel peered into the heart of the box. He yanked out a red wire, disconnect
ing it with a pop. The device let out a small whine, and the power meter on the side faded and died.

  “Are you going to actually let me help this time?” Sophie asked.

  “Yeah, sure. Take a seat.” He patted the stool next to him and plugged the red wire into a tiny slot in the mainframe.

  “Alexia, can you download the information on the magnetic disruption outside?”

  “Certainly, Doctor Rodriguez.”

  “I have a theory,” Emanuel said, scooting his chair closer to Sophie’s. “I think that the magnetic wavelength they used to disable our communications is much more sophisticated than a constant EMP-like pulse. I think . . .” he paused and pushed his glasses higher onto his nose. “I know that the wavelength powers their shields.”

  Sophie felt her stomach drop at the revelation. Not because she was concerned about what he’d found, but because she hadn’t helped. This was her team, and she’d been spending all her time in dreams or fighting with Overton. She felt useless.

  Emanuel’s face beamed with excitement, and Sophie’s resentment slipped away. At times like this, when he was fired up by a new discovery, Sophie thought Emanuel was the sexiest man she’d ever seen. He leaned forward to jiggle the wire, bringing his face closer to hers, and Sophie surprised them both by kissing him softly on the lips. A thrill moved through her like a jolt of electricity as he put his hand behind her head and pulled her closer, deepening their kiss.

  “Doctor Rodriguez, do you require any other data, or is this satisfactory?”

  Emanuel waved his hand at the camera as if to shoo Alexia away.

  Sophie couldn’t get enough of him. It had been too long since she’d felt his body next to hers. She pulled away for the briefest second to pull off her shirt, turning to make sure the door was closed.

  Then she let her ponytail down. A wave of blond hair tumbled over her naked shoulders and across her breasts. Emanuel stared at her, captivated. His eyes traveled down the length of her body. She craved the attention.