by Richard Leru
“You have five hours, after that, we will come pick you up and head back to the Erebus. Pilot, tell the other shuttle the plan and have them rendezvous in six hours back on the Erebus.”
“Thank you.”
It was decided, the landing teams split to explore five major civilizations to test their theories. Team Alpha would explore Asia and the Middle East, while Team Bravo split off through Central and South America, jump over to Scotland, then return to pick up Alex.
MEANWHILE, 240,000 miles away, aboard the Erebus, emotions had boiled over. An attempted coup was in progress. The announcement that the Erebus had arrived at Earth, brought with it the promise of returning home. After the two shuttles departed and no orders or protocols for disembarkment or landing came through, a fire was lit on the ticking time bomb. The previous uprising had been persuaded to go back to work by the reasoning of continuing the mission. They were home now. The mission was over. Now they were prisoners. The leader of the group, had sown a seed of mutiny by convincing many that the commander would never let them leave the ship. The shuttles were going down to get new instructions then once they returned, the Erebus would be heading out again. If they didn’t rise up, they would die here. With this new radical belief, the crew turned violent. This time, the dissenters had not come up to the security level in peace. Twenty men wielded wrenches, hammers, and plasma cutters. They had formed a line, just feet outside the elevator, and jammed the doors open. The security officers were trapped and outnumbered four to one. Most of the security forces were on the planet with the two landing teams, the remaining men were supposed to be on rest time. Now it was a standoff between a mob of angry men who wanted to go home and a few scared and sleep deprived soldiers. The mob needed the security override to move the elevator up to the command center. The release was in the back of the security office, and these men were in the way. Eventually, something would happen.
“We just want to go home! Let us go! Get out of our way! Why are you keeping us here? We are not your prisoners!”
“Get back to your posts! Don’t make us shoot! Drop your weapons!”
One of the more impassioned members of the mob threw his wrench at the closest soldier from the back of the group. Before the wrench even made contact, the military man reacted. His finger squeezed his trigger, sending out a three round burst. The bullets flew across the short distance before the gun even recoiled. All three met the face of a young man in the front line, tearing through flesh and bone. The others men soldiers reacted to the sound of the gun firing and peppered the crowd with gun fire. Overwhelmed, all the mob could do was fall to the ground and hope the rounds sailing overhead didn’t ricochet toward them. After a few seconds, the rebellion was over. Three crewmembers lay dead and five more were wounded. Among the dead was the leader of the dissenting few. Each of the surviving mutineers were taken to their quarters and locked in.
Commander Birch came down to assess the aftermath on the security deck. Three bodies were laid out covered by tarps. The blood had been mopped up but you could still see a red stain on the floor and on the inside of the elevator. This was his fault. He should have cut the head off the snake by locking up the man who led the last attempted uprising. Now that same person had led a revolt that ended in the deaths of three men, including himself. “Who fired the first shot?”
“I, I did sir.” The answer came from a short private whose eyes were bloodshot and could barely stand. He was being torn up inside over what had happened. He should be. Commander Birch wanted to reprimand this soldier, but he couldn’t. It had been his orders that sent the two officers to the planet at the same time. This young man was completely unprepared and untrained to handle a riot. This was his oversight, his fault. Commander Birch walked out of the security level and ascended the elevator back to the control room. The Erebus had been on condition red and shut down all communications during the fight. He was anxious to hear back from his landing crews.
“Arenta, have we made contact with landing teams Alpha and Bravo yet?”
“Yes, sir, they are currently surveying the planet.”
“Surveying the planet? Why?”
“They say that the planet is indeed Earth but they believe we, somehow,” Arenta paused, working up the nerve to say the words.
“We somehow what?”
“We somehow time travelled, sir.”
“Time travelled?”
“Yes, sir.”
Commander Birch sat down hard in his chair. He had thought this chaotic day was over. Now the Erebus could have time travelled somehow? If this was true, they were in real trouble. If they had time travelled, how did they do it? More importantly, how could they do it again and get home?
EACH OF THE SHUTTLES were hopping from civilization to civilization, interacting with the people they encountered. Every stop, they would write on the ground that they were from the stars, and they’re here to help. Before he left, Alex had given them the translations to the ancient languages he knew, which turned out to be a considerable amount. Never had he expected that the years of travelling with his parents would be of practical use. At each location, they would add one line, the symbols from the satellite that matched the language they were using.
Each landing team reported the same thing back to the Erebus. They would write the message, then instantly the population would bow then read the last line intently. In South America, the people began digging irrigation trenches whereas in Europe and Egypt, stone carving became a new skill learned from the star people. Then, before leaving, the landing teams were given a gift of some kind, mostly trinkets but in one unfortunate case, a sacrifice of human life.
ALEX LOOKED AT the sandstone walls of the cave passage he was standing in. The smell of dust filled his nostrils as a cool breeze pushed through the tunnel. He reached out and felt the rough sandpapery texture of the wall in front of him. At this moment, Alex began to cry. Alex was looking at a manhole-sized hole in the cave wall. The last time he had seen this passage, he had shared a kiss and promise with Angela. This is where their love had first taken root. Alex lowered his head, looking at the two-foot tall, two-foot wide, four-foot long case at his feet. It had been a chore lugging it through the cave but he had to.
Through tear filled eyes, Alex spoke. He was talking to Angela’s ghost. “I don’t know what happened. I don’t know why you decided you couldn’t come and why you couldn’t tell me to my face but I still love you.” He reached down, picked up the case, and stepped through the manhole opening. Once inside the room on the other side, he opened the case. Inside was the coating sample he had taken from the satellite they found in solar system 313. It had never been taken off the shuttle from their last mission. It had a unique ability to absorb light. He looked around the room, at the red sandstone walls. The last time he had seen these walls, they had been so black that even light could not illuminate them. Now it was time to make them that way again.
Alex plunged his hands into the soft sandy black powder in the case. He began smearing the walls and floors with the dark substance. The room began becoming dark, eating the light from his lantern. Alex smiled and laughed, remembering, in flashbacks, the touch of Angela’s hand. How her heart had beat so fast as she nervously followed him into the cave.
Once finished, Alex drew the image of a man to the best of his recollection. Standing admiring his work, Alex let out a relaxed sigh and sent a message though across the cosmos to Angela. I kept my promise, making sure no one would see this cave but us.
Alex headed out the cave and made his way to the pick-up point. When he stepped back on the ship, everyone was full of smiles. Jo and Dr. Titus quickly started telling Alex stories of their visits to the Mayans and the Nazca lines, among others. Alex listened happily, feeling strangely more connected to Angela than he had for some time.
DR. YUEN AND Landing Team Alpha were over India, on their way back to the Erebus, when the sensors sounded. They didn’t have time to react. A sudden flash of light cut acro
ss the sky and ripped through the shuttle, tearing a hole in its body, then another, and another. Some kind of energy weapon was hitting them with a fierce intensity. The pilot took off south over the Indian Ocean, cutting large semi-circles across the sky in an attempt to escape. It didn’t work.
The faster, heavily armed war ship came up quickly behind them and sent a burst into the engine. The shuttle began to fall, the ocean rising quickly to meet them, the entire time being bombarded with hit after hit of the energy weapon. Then a second later, it was gone. Landing team Alpha was dead, swallowed in a fiery crash.
A spacecraft of some kind had come out of the blackness on the other side of Earth from the Erebus. This ship instantly went on an attack run directly at Landing Team Alpha’s shuttlecraft. Shuttle Bravo was nearly back on the Erebus when the invading craft changed course and came straight for it.
Arenta pushed the shuttle to its limits, racing back to the Erebus. Birch had the entire crew ready. Barely slowing down, the shuttle slammed and skidded across the landing platform. The crew quickly secured the hangar deck and the escape was on. Pilot Arenta ran to the remote piloting station that had been set up in the hangar. She used the last navigational profile and jumped into slipstream, heading back for Solar System 313. The ship had barely been in slip for a second when suddenly, it dropped out, violently slamming to a stop just off Neptune.
“Arenta, what was that?” Commander Birch barked.
“I don’t know, sir.”
Commander Birch quickly turned to his com. “Engineering, report!”
“Engineer Franks, sir, No injuries.”
“Franks, why aren’t we moving?”
“Don’t know, sir, the engine is running fine. We should be.”
“Franks, Engineer Franks, come in.” The commander’s screen had gone blank. He looked around the room, every screen was nothing but black. Then a typed message came on the screen, “Commander Birch, we have disabled your ship. Resistance is not advised.” The message stayed on the screen for a few seconds then went blank again.
“Commander Birch, Dr. Titus, Captain Jones, Dr. Taylor, and Pilot Arenta. You will take your remaining shuttle craft and come aboard our ship.” The screen allowed the message to sink in then reset again.
“You have 1 hour to comply.” This time the screen went blank, never to turn on again.
Arenta called up to Commander Birch, “Sir? Orders?”
The commander had his hands folded together in front of his face. He was doing the math, making calculations of every possible outcome from this situation. Clearly, they were outgunned and out maneuvered by an enemy who could be any level of intelligence above their own. He stood abruptly from his chair, staring at the alien ship floating out front of the observation window. “Meet me on the shuttle deck.”
Alex watched with the rest of the crew as Birch, Arenta, Jones, and his friends, Dr. Titus and Jo, flew into space, possibly to their deaths at the hands of an alien enemy. After just seeing ancient cultures sacrificing people in the names of their honored guests, he couldn’t help but feel they were doing the same thing, some of their best now being offered as penance to a more advanced being.
When the shuttle doors opened inside the hull of the enemy ship, they had all been expecting to see little green men. Instead, they were met by something much more shocking.
12.Erebus II
The cell door swung open on its metal hinges, sending a loud creak echoing down the row of storage areas. Alex attempted to stand but Jones was too fast. He threw Alex face first into the sidewall.
Blood spattered out of Alex’s mouth as his teeth dug in his upper lip. Shooting pain sent stars dancing into Alex’s eyes. The next thing he knew, he was airborne, flying across the room headfirst into the opposite wall. Jones was quite a strong man and was unleashing it all on the smaller Alex Runner. In a daze, Alex tried to get to his feet. Jones helped him, using both his hands around Alex’s neck.
Badum...
Badum...
Badum...
As Jones tightened his grip, Alex could feel his heart rate pulsing through his head. Fingernails scratching at muscular arms, head racing with thoughts of his life, that orange light becoming a ghost of itself, slowly being taken over by darkness, this is it.
Shame, Alex thought. I would have liked to see what happens.
* * * * *
The shuttle doors opened. In front of them stood a very diminutive man dressed all in white from his boots to his baseball cap. The man stood only about four feet in height. His upper body was slim and wiry while his lower body bulged of muscle. It was a strange combination that made him look almost like he was two halves of different men stuck together. He was definitely human though. These aliens were no little green beings or monstrous creatures, simply men.
“Welcome, I am the greeter. Please follow me and all will be explained.” The group all looked toward Commander Birch for orders. “Come, follow me.” The greeter insisted, gesturing with a hand, slightly bowing.
The man turned and led the group through a dimly lit hallway, leading past a variety of rooms. Every so often, a door was open. Inside stood other men looking just like the greeter.
“Where are you taking us?” Arenta piped up from the middle of the group.
The greeter answered, without turning or slowing his pace, “To Captain Hill, he will tell you all you need to know. No more questions.”
In silence, they continued down the narrow passageway until they reached a large, open room. It was black as night except a glowing line on the floor leading toward its center. There rose a cylinder about twenty feet high and equally large across. The greeter opened a door on the cylinder and motioned them all inside. Once the last of them entered, the door slammed shut. For a second, all of their hearts raced and minds panicked. They had walked into a trap.
Then without warning, white. The room lit up like a flash from a camera. The group all grabbed their eyes, shooting pain rushing into their skulls. Space and that dark hallway had made their eyes grow accustomed to the absence of light. In here, it was more than abundant. It seemed to emanate from every corner of the room. The walls, the floor, the ceiling, everywhere, light.
With vision returning, the group surveyed the room. In front of them was one large semicircular couch facing the opposite wall. Just in front of that wall was a similarly shaped semicircular desk; two crescent moons with their open sides facing each other. In its open arc was a man who looked exactly like the greeter, only with a few extra wrinkles.
“Please take a seat, I’m sure you have many questions.” He motioned with one hand to the couch in front of them, and waited for them all to take their place before continuing. “I am Captain Hill, and I am here explicitly to answer any and all of your questions.”
Silent stares were exchanged, examining each other, sizing up the strangers across the room.
Commander Birch broke the silence. “Captain Hi...”
“Oh, please, there is no need for rank here. Call me Hill.”
Commander Birch continued, slightly annoyed at the interruption and lack of decorum. “Hill, who are you and why have you attacked us?”
“I am Captain Hill and this is the Erebus II. We came here to help you. We rendered your ship immobile so that we could have this conversation.”
“You destroyed our shuttlecraft?!”
“Yes.” Captain Hill showed no emotion.
“If you only wanted this conversation then why did you kill them?”
“Because it was necessary, Commander Birch.”
“Necessary?” Commander Birch stood, clearly upset at losing more members of his crew. They were his responsibility and he had already lost the settlers, the death toll was climbing. “Why was it necessary?”
“To protect humanity.” Captain Hill stood a little straighter and allowed a proud grin to spread across his face.
“Protect humanity how?” Birch was taken aback by Hill’s demeanor. “
“By pres
erving the pattern. We are the caretakers of mankind.”