by Richard Leru
JONES WENT TO Alex’s room and opened the door.
Alarm lights flashed throughout the ship. They had discovered him missing. Alex was in engineering working hard, typing into the mainframe. Behind him, the engineering crew were unconscious and hogtied in the corner. Alex had surprised the three men and quickly tranquilized them all with a dart gun taken from the science lab. Time was running out now, Franks and the rest of the engineering crew had already been trying to get through the door to the engineering room. Alex had electromagnetically locked it and then disabled the keypads. It would buy him time, but now, with the alarms flashing throughout the ship, Franks would take more aggressive measures to get inside.
Jones had joined Engineer Franks and the rest of the engineering crew. Franks had just ordered his men to grab torches to cut into the room. The slow cutting motion was not fast enough for Jones. He clenched his fists hard with every breath. This was the last time Alex Runner would make a fool of him.
Alex could hear the torch cutting through the door. There wasn’t much time left. Every keystroke, every second that passed meant they were getting closer. Sparks and flame flew into the room, drawing a semi-circle around the lock, only seconds remained.
The door burst open and in rushed Jones and Franks. Alex was standing in the middle of the room, hands in his pockets. He had completed his sabotage and was accepting his fate. He stood smiling, as if he was a little boy caught with his hand in the cookie jar, unafraid of the upcoming trip to time-out chair. Jones wiped that look off his face with a well-placed right hook. Alex dropped, unconscious.
Franks ran to the computer, trying desperately to figure out what damage had been done. “The engine is working fine.” The words came out of Franks’ mouth with more than a hint of surprise and suspicion.
“What do you mean? What did he do? He didn’t lock us out for no reason.”
“Hold on, I’m running a diagnostic. There! He added a subroutine to the programming. It looks like he added the same line of code all over the calibration systems.”
“What does that mean, Franks?” Jones was losing his patience.
Franks stood his ground, unleashing just as much fight in his words back at Jones. “He recalibrated some of the pylons, more specifically, half of them. They are out of sync, perfectly out of sync. Somehow, he found a way to use the engine’s same vibration to power a reverse course in half the pylons. That would mean that no matter how much power or what coordinates we plugged in, the Erebus wouldn’t move.”
“Can you fix it?” Jones looked at him, standing over the limp form of Alex Runner.
“Yes, but it may take some time. Alex plugged this line of code in so many places, I don’t even know where to search. I’ll need to reboot the entire system. It would be nice if we could have just asked him.” Franks shot an accusatory look at Jones.
Jones shot Franks back a look of raw power and intimidation. Franks could see the crazy in his eyes; fear was in control now. Jones would ensure this mission succeeded, no matter the human cost. “Get it done, or I’ll find someone who can.” Jones threw Alex’s limp body over his shoulder and left.
“Sir, Jones reporting. Runner has sabotaged the main engine. Engineer Franks is rebooting the system and will have us up and running in time for the return trip home. Because the door to his room is obviously not sufficient, I’m locking Runner up in one of the storage areas.”
“Make sure Franks fixes it.”
“Yes, sir.”
Alex woke up face first with blood dripping out of his mouth. He began to laugh incessantly. He was tired and sore and bleeding, but this was a moment of joy.
Upstairs sat Jo Taylor, quietly pondering what she had helped Alex do. If Alex succeeded, they could change the pattern, but at what cost? Would they ever be able to go home? In the dream she had had, Alex had told her that it would all work out. She trusted Alex and her gut, so she took a leap of faith on him. What ever happened next, she knew she had acted on her love for her friends.
Franks was doing everything he could think of to fix the engine. Jones was standing behind him with his weapon drawn as added incentive. There was no hope; they would not be able to fix what Alex had done. The engines restarted following the reboot and the ship shuddered for a second then sat idly.
“What is taking so long, Franks?”
“The code he programmed in, it’s self-replicating, I can’t delete it without some key code. On reboot, the system asked for a key code, after five seconds it disappeared, and the new code repopulated throughout programming.”
“You said that rebooting the system would fix it.”
“I was wrong, okay? Alex is the computer expert, not me. I need that key code!”
“Keep trying!”
“Where are you going?”
“To get the code.” Jones left and Franks felt sorry for Alex and what was about to happen to him.
* * * * *
Alex snapped out of his flashback on the events that had led him here. He was back in the makeshift cell in storage with Jones’ hands wrapped tight around his neck.
Life slipping slowly away, Alex began to lose the ability to think clearly. All he could see was an image of Angela standing on the top of that New Mexico Mountain, not as a teenager but as he had last seen her. She looked so beautiful standing there, orange light from the fading sun casting a luminous glow on her face, the slight breeze playing with her hair. In her eyes, he could see peace. Amazing that he had gone thousands of light years into space trying to follow his passion, when, the whole time, it was the love of a girl he met years ago.
In an instant, that mountain and Angela’s face rushed away from him. Jones had released him. Alex fell like a dummy, crumpling to the floor, coughing for air past blood and saliva.
Jones looked down at the listless figure bleeding on his boots. “You coward. You don’t deserve a warrior’s death. I hope that when this all comes to an end, you get to hear the screams of billions of people, and know that it was all you. You are the biggest murderer in the history of time.” With that, Jones left, slamming shut the door behind him.
Alex reached out his arm with the little strength he had left and picked up the picture of Angela. There was a little blood on it and a boot print from the events of the last few minutes, but she was untouched. He rolled over to his back and lay staring up at the ceiling. Time was almost up.
Watching the seconds roll past on the face of his watch, Alex waited. He could indeed hear screams and commotion outside. Chaos had taken over the Erebus. Every man and woman was working on getting the ship moving again. There had never been a jolt in the engine systems. Fear was grasping hard on everyone, trying to maintain its stranglehold on life.
Alex was calm and at peace. Angela and their child would be safe. She was his strength, she was his “why”. Even if this all worked, they may not be able to go home. By going home, they could easily still create the disastrous future Alex was trying so hard to avoid. He may be sacrificing himself and all those on the Erebus, but she was worth it. If it didn’t work, then existence would end. Either way, this all stopped here. He was taking a leap of faith on himself, on the reality of a transferred consciousness across time and space, and it seemed right. Alex had taken back control of life.
Alex looked at his watch. He had set up a countdown to the time when the Erebus was supposed to land on Earth by. Everything had to be exactly the same, so when the ship did not return on time, that should change it all. The timer was running down to the seconds now.
They ticked by slowly; ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one.
Alex smiled, he was the happiest he’d been in some time.
Zero.
15.After Zero
Angela watched as a seagull circled in the burnt orange sky. The last hour of light was setting its final rays across the entire landscape. Only half of the fiery sun remained above the waves as it slowly bid farewell for the day. From the rooftop patio of her beachside
townhome, Angela could see miles of California’s beautiful beaches. They were mostly empty this time of day, except for the occasional couple sharing a romantic walk or picnic dinner. The palm trees swayed lightly as the salty ocean breeze brought with it the cool promise of a fall night fast approaching. Restaurants further down the boulevard were lighting candles and setting tables, preparing to serve the night’s guests. A hint of a guitar strum was carried by the wind to Angela’s ears from a street musician down the block. The entire scene was breathtakingly beautiful; Angela felt a shiver of pleasure roll through her whole body. She had lived in this townhouse for over ten years and had never witnessed the view in front of her this night. It was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. Angela was not looking at the sun. Nor was she gazing along the boulevard, its rows of palm trees, or the couples who were in her sight. She was focused on something that shined brighter than any other light. Angela could not break her stare from the smiles the two people playing on the patio were wearing. It was a simple game of cards before dinner. Nothing special, but it was a scene Angela had dreamed of her entire life. There sitting on the patio cross-legged were a little girl and her father. Angela’s family was whole at last. Alex had come home.
Alex looked up from the game of go fish he was playing with Molly, his daughter, and found Angela staring, still as a statue, completely washed over with the glow of a truly content woman. The setting sun cast an orange filter over everything, yet, somehow Angela still shone brightly, casting herself apart from the world around her. Alex was caught in her spell. Angela’s eyes were welling with happy tears and Alex soon began to feel his emotions take him over as a tear threatened to break free and roll down his cheek. In this trance state, Alex lost track of reality. Let time freeze in this moment forever, he would be happy.
“Daddy, it’s your turn.”
The squeaky voice broke Alex from his stare. Molly was set on winning tonight and wanted to finish the game. After, they were celebrating and there was cake. Molly loved cake.
Alex put down his cards. “Come on, let’s go have some cake. It’s time to celebrate. We can finish the game later.”
Alex held Angela’s hand and felt the warmth of her love fill his body as they watched Molly blow out the candles that adorned the cake on the kitchen table. Life was as it should be.
It had been exactly one year since the Erebus had returned to Earth. The planet that the crew of the Erebus had come home to was much different that they had remembered and expected. Upon their arrival, they were not quarantined or debriefed as mission parameters dictated. Something had happened that needed explanation; even Captain Jones had no qualms about breaking guidelines. Alex had been right about being able to change things, what he could not have anticipated, however, was the side effects.
Immediately after Alex’s watch hit zero, and the Erebus had missed their strict deadline for return, the Universe started to go black. With the chain broken, the past had no future creating it. The laws of established physics broke. Stars and solar systems simply ceased to be. All the light they had sent out that would normally take thousands and millions of years to reach the Earth vanished as well. Their existence was being erased. There was no grand explosions or cataclysmic events, simply disappearances.
Commander Birch and the rest of the command crew thought they had failed and that life was coming to an end. In warrior form, Commander Birch fell on his sword. In this particular instance, that meant placing his firearm in his mouth and pulling the trigger.
As the stars disappeared one by one at a faster and faster pace, other members of the crew began to contemplate following in Birch’s footsteps and ending the wait. Arenta took charge of the Erebus and quickly reestablished order.
After a matter of days, there were only a few stars visible in the sky. Alex had been brought up to the command center so that he could witness the results of his work. Jones had thought this would be a worse punishment than death. Alex would have to watch as life ended because of his idiocy.
The Erebus and its crew floated off the surface of Saturn. In contrast to the gas giant and its beautiful rings of ice and rock, they were a frozen black ball, a pockmark. The ship was filled with fear and confusion. This vanguard ship was meant to be the next step for mankind, but instead, bore with it the burden of being its end.
Only the sun remained, but nothing happened. There was no change in their solar system. All the rest were gone, except for home.
“Just wait, Mr. Runner, soon, your mistake will be the end of us all.” Captain Jones wore a snicker of hate that seemed to be now permanently strewn across his face.
Wait, they did. For days, they waited, knowing, expecting that at any moment their very existence could snap and end. Still, they waited. After some time, Dr. Titus joined Alex in the command center. Dr. Titus had been afraid to be around Alex. Much to Dr. Titus’ pleasant surprise, Alex had welcomed him with a smile that said, “Thank you. I know why you did what you did.” Dr. Titus believed Alex’s smile. The whole command crew who were remaining had been summoned. The topic of debate was what the next step was. Arenta had become a powerful leader, silent and contemplative. Jo looked like she hadn’t been eating. Her mind had been racing with doubts about what she had helped Alex do. She was also afraid Alex would never allow them to go home. Franks was ragged, both in appearance and spirit, having spent all of his time trying to break the malware code Alex had programmed into the engine. Jones was having doubts of his own. He began to think Alex might have been right in his actions.
The entire room sat silent. Arenta sensed Alex wanted to speak. “Alex, I may not like it but you have control over us all. So what happens now?”
Alex announced, “Now we go home. Our mission is over.”
Alex looked to Franks. “The code is 422010. Take us home.”
Franks typed the code into his tablet and got up from the table. He walked to the elevator on a mission to get his engine up and running.
“What does the code mean, Alex?” Arenta was curious.
“Nothing.” Alex lied. It was the day he met Angela, on the New Mexican Mountain.
Immediately on arrival home, a joint security force from a dozen countries hauled the crewmembers into armored vehicles and remanded them into international custody. They were all grilled again and again about the details of their mission. After a long vetting process, everyone was released except for Alex and Jo. Alex, up to this point, had refused to cooperate until the entire crew was free. Only after that point would he tell everything. The deposition took nearly a week, after which Alex was allowed one closing statement.
Alex stood wearing his mission clothes and waited for the speaker of the mass assembly to give him the floor. There was a dignitary from nearly every nation in the world, and spiritual leader from almost every religion gathered to hear Alex’s retelling of the Erebus’ mission. They had all remained to listen to his final statement. The story had taken them all on a journey through the stars and into a world of chaos and confrontation. They had walked on foreign planets and visited their own ancestors. Dinosaurs had walked with them and their designed future had come to attack their very lives. Each man and woman now needed to know how the story ended. They perked up as Alex said his final words to those listeners.
Alex stood in front of a wooden podium, looking out onto a multitude of faces, so many, he could not focus on one individual. He shifted his weight slightly and placed his hands on the sloped top of the podium. He could feel the grains of wood as his fingers pressed into the surface. It was not nerves that rushed through his body but a sense of finality. Alex knew that this would be the last time he spoke to any of this mass gathering. This would be the end of his journey. This was his final goodbye. Taking a deep breath, he began.
“Thank you. Thank you all for the time you have spent with me, listening to my story. I know many of you have had trouble believing or accepting parts of what I have told you, but you stayed anyway and I thank you for that. Now
the story of Erebus and its crew comes to an end. When I left off, I told you all about the dream I experienced while in my serum induced sleep. After waking, I took the actions that led to the disabling of the ship and eventually, the resulting galactic collapse. You know what I did and what happened from there on. What you don’t know is why. First, allow me to explain why I knew I could change our destinies. As you all know, I was contacted by another version of myself through a mental bridge. Some of you may think I was merely having a psychotic episode because of deep space. I would agree with you, if there weren’t more evidence.