At first, the box seemed just as featureless up close as it had from a distance. Up close, though, he saw an incredibly complex configuration of fine lines etched into the outside with geometric precision. It looked similar to the patterns one would see on a circuit board. With the others covering him, Bernhard touched the side of the box, first with the butt of his rifle then the tip, testing it for any kind of trap. The surface remained completely inactive for the moment. Bernhard motioned for them all to go around the side, checking to see that each wall of the box was equally uninteresting.
As it turned out, they were not.
On the side opposite of where they had initially approached, they found a door. Or at least, Bernhard assumed it was a door. The perfectly square depression in the wall looked exactly like a much smaller version of the hangar door. Initially, Bernhard was hesitant to approach it before he remembered the way the hangar door itself had acted. It had remained inert up until the moment the Ambassador was almost upon it. Testing a theory, he had Sorensen move slightly closer to the door. Sure enough, as soon as the soldier was within a few feet of it, the door slowly slid up into the side of the box, leaving them an opening. Bernhard silently gestured to signify the position he wanted them all to take inside, then led them all in.
Bernhard was pretty sure, even without the opinion of any of the scientists, that what he saw inside confirmed all of the worst fears of the people that had sent them up here.
As everyone else took up their positions in the event that something popped out at them, Bernhard took a few tentative steps toward the center of the box and the machine it housed.
“Is this what I think it is?” Stroebel asked from his position on the right side of the door.
“That depends,” Bernhard said. “Do you think this is some kind of alien fighter ship?”
“That would have been my first guess, Captain, yeah,” Stroebel said.
“Then I’d say you’re probably right.”
While there was no noticeable way for the ship to get out of the box it was stored in, there was no denying at least that they were staring at something that had been designed for fighting and war. The entire thing had a roughly triangular design, and on the underside of the ship there was some kind of bulbous cockpit, held up off the ground by three legs. The top of the ship bristled with various geometric antennas and protrusions, many of which seemed to be pointed in such a way to imply they were weapons. The entire top of the ship, with its strange array, looked like it had been designed by some child who’d thought the only way to make the thing more awesome was to stick more crap on it.
While it didn’t look at all like anything an adult human might design for the purpose of war, its intent was obvious to all.
The silent awe with which they all stared at it was interrupted by Sorensen, who jerked and aimed his weapon at Stroebel. “Holy shit, what was that?” Sorensen asked.
Everyone tensed. “What was what?” Bernhard asked.
“Stroebel, you heard that, right? That high-pitched sound right now?”
“Uh, no,” Stroebel said. “I didn’t.”
“I swear I heard it,” Sorensen said, although he didn’t sound too sure. “It was like a whine. It was right next to my head. Kind of like a mosquito buzzing my ear, but bigger.”
“You’ve got to be hearing things,” Stroebel said.
“Maybe it was something with your comm equipment,” Bernhard said. “Double check to make sure it’s not malfunctioning.”
Sorensen tried the radio attached to his uniform, only to find that it wasn’t working. Not that it was picking up interference, but that it had stopped working altogether. “Shit,” Sorensen said. “You’ve got to be kidding me. These things aren’t supposed to run out of batteries like that, are they?”
Bernhard checked his own, afraid of what he would find. “The same is happening with mine. And it looks like my body camera shut itself off, too.”
Every single other person in the room checked their own equipment and found the exact same thing. “It’s not a battery problem,” Bernhard said. “Everyone out of this room. Back to the others. We’ll see if the problem is only with the people that entered this box, or if it’s affecting everyone else as well.”
They filed out and made their way back to the others. Teng stood ready, his own radio already in his hand.
“Bernhard, there is something wrong,” Teng said.
“We noticed the same thing,” Bernhard said. “Everything was working fine before we entered the Visitor. There must be something in here that’s either draining the power to our electronic equipment, or else the ship is giving off some kind of jamming signal.”
“What about what was in the box?” Johnson asked. “Did you find anything?”
“I hate to break this to you, Dr. Johnson, but I do believe that whoever sent the Visitor to us isn’t entirely friendly,” Bernhard said. “The thing in that box was clearly some kind of personal fighter craft.”
“You can’t know that for sure,” Dufresne said.
“The huge number of weapons sticking out if say otherwise, Dufresne,” Bernhard said. “Why don’t you do us all a favor and stick to your plants?”
Johnson cleared her throat, clearly disapproving of the tone he took with one of her people, and Bernhard found that he was actually sorry for the outburst. Not because Dufresne didn’t deserve to hear it, as she definitely did. Instead, Bernhard didn’t like the idea that Johnson might think less of him. Ugh. These kind of feelings were definitely not the sort of thing he needed right now.
“Can we at least see it? This alien fighter craft?” Li asked. “We might be able to tell something about it that none of you could.”
“I wouldn’t be opposed to that,” Bernhard said, “but before that, I want to get a better idea of the layout around here. You know, make sure the owners of these fighters aren’t still around somewhere. And until we know that for certain, there will be no further splitting up. With the radios down, we have no way of reaching other groups in the event of an emergency.”
“Come on, can’t we at least look at it?” Houston asked.
“I am surrounded by children,” Bernhard muttered. “No, okay? Either you do as I tell you, or you go back to the ship. Jesus, I can’t believe I just said that.”
Johnson said something quietly to Houston, but Bernhard was too busy working out a plan with the actual military people to care about what she said to soothe his bruised feelings. Once he felt confident that the various rangers and airmen would adequately be able to protect the civilians, he ordered them out, moving them along the outer walls, hoping they would soon find some door that led to better answers.
Chapter Six
The deeper interior of the Visitor mimicked the same geometric blockiness they saw in the hangar. Whoever had designed this thing, they were big on smooth lines, flat planes, and a complete lack of ornamentation. All the halls were well lit, and the only colors present anywhere were white and gray. The whole thing gave Bernhard the chills, not that he would admit it to anyone.
Johnson, however, wasn’t so quiet. “This whole place is pretty spooky. Everything feels dead.”
One of the Chinese scientists said something in Mandarin, which Teng translated for the others. “He says there is no dust. If the Visitor was abandoned, there would probably be dust of some kind coating everything.”
“Something keeps it clean,” Bernhard said. “Or someone.”
Dufresne and Houston, thankfully, were just as freaked out by the eerie quiet as everyone else, and therefore kept their mouths shut. One of the Chinese scientists insisted they stop for several minutes in what appeared to be a completely featureless hallway so he could run tests using some equipment Bernhard didn’t recognize. When he appeared to be done, Bernhard asked Teng, “Well?”
“He says there is nothing,” Teng said. “Still no background radiation. No electromagnetic signals implying power sources, not even near the lights. Obviously, they are be
ing powered by something, but the technology is completely beyond our power or knowledge to detect.”
Bernhard nodded. More technology for the people of the world to fight over. While he understood Johnson’s point of view about how important these technological leaps could be to humanity, he personally took a much more cynical view. Whichever person, nation, or corporation got their hands on anything they found in the Visitor, they weren’t just going to share it. They would use it to hold an advantage over others. Countries would find ways to weaponize it. Of course, his own country would likely be the first in line to do so, but that didn’t bother him so much. It was other countries, like if some third-world-dictator someone got control of this alien power technology and kept it for himself, using it to keep his people from rising up against him. Personally, he thought it might be better to destroy it all on general principle. If no one could use it, then no one could misuse it either.
For a second, he wondered what his daughter would think of her father having that sort of cynicism. Of course, at her age, she probably didn’t even know what that word meant yet. Hopefully, her mother would keep her innocent of such things for as long as possible.
“There’s a depression in the wall up ahead,” Li said. “Probably another door.”
“Everyone knows the drill by now, I take it?” Bernhard said. “Rangers in the lead. AF Spec Ops protecting the scientists at the rear. Teng, divide your people among the two groups as you see fit.”
Bernhard kept just behind the rangers as they approached the door. Like every other door they’d run into so far, it opened by itself once they were close. The rangers flanked the door, then went in with the assumption that something hostile could be waiting on the other side. When Bernhard followed them in with his own weapon at the ready, he found that was exactly the case, just not in any way he had expected.
“Hodges, McNeil, and Zersky, stay outside with the scientists for a minute,” Bernhard called out. “Teng, you should get in here with your people. We’ve got some military decisions to make.”
“What? What is it?” Dufresne called from outside. “We have a right to see, too!”
Bernhard ignored her, instead paying attention to Teng’s reaction as he entered the room and saw what was inside. Teng gave a low whistle. “This proves it to me,” he said. “The Visitor is here with hostile intent.”
Bernhard nodded. The room was nothing but a long, wide hallway that went down for maybe five or six hundred yards. On each side, in endless rows, were tubes of some transparent material full of some glowing, light-blue fluid. And suspended within the fluid of each tube was what appeared to be an alien soldier. He moved a little closer to the nearest tube to get a better look, although he was careful to not actually touch it. The creatures inside were bipeds, but had especially skinny arms and legs covered in some kind of armor. Bernhard couldn’t get a specific idea of what the aliens looked like, as they were all in helmets. Each one was taller than a human by about a foot on average, and there were objects floating next to them in the fluid that appeared to be weapons of some sort. For the most part, the weapons looked like spears, but there were things that were clearly triggers on the grips, implying that these could be used as more than just melee weapons.
This was clearly an army. And while Bernhard supposed there were reasons for an advanced alien civilization to send an army to Earth that didn’t include invasion or war, he hadn’t been sent up here with the directive of trying to figure out such possibilities.
He’d been sent here to see if the Visitor was dangerous. And now that he was certain it was, there was only one thing he was supposed to do.
“Okay, that’s it,” Bernhard said. “Mission’s over. Everyone back to the Ambassador, on the double.”
The military people, including Teng and his group, obeyed without question and left the room. Once they were back in the hallway, however, Bernhard found it wasn’t quite so easy to get the science team to obey even these simple orders.
“What? No way,” Dufresne when Bernhard repeated his command for the rest to hear. “Just like that, we’re leaving? Bullshit. Come on, let us in there so we can see what the big bad captain is so squeamish about.”
“Dufresne, don’t,” Johnson said, although she also looked distinctly unhappy at this turn of events. “Bernhard’s in charge, so we do what he says.”
“Even when he’s acting like a brainless dumbass?” Dufresne asked.
“Seriously, just tell us what’s in there,” Houston said.
“Alright, that’s it,” Bernhard said. “Sorensen, Stroebel, Hodges. Place the three American scientists under military arrest for interfering with an official government operation.”
The three soldiers moved to do exactly as they were told without any further question. Houston put up his hands like he thought they might actually shoot him, while Dufresne just stood there with a shocked expression. Johnson was the only one who apparently still had her voice.
“Wait, what?” Johnson asked. “Bernhard, you can’t be serious. I didn’t even do anything!”
Truthfully, it was all a bit of bluff on Bernhard’s part, anyway. He certainly had the power and authority in this situation to detain anyone not following orders, but he would never in a million years intentionally put any of the people in his command, civilians included, in spot where recklessness could harm them. The three scientists were no real threat, and he trusted his men enough to know they wouldn’t take things too far. Really, Bernhard was just sick and tired of listening to them. They weren’t contributing anything to this trip, and since this mission was more or less over now anyway, he had no qualms with sidelining them.
“Johnson, just do what I say, alright?” Bernhard turned to Teng. “I’m hoping that your side of the science team is going to be more cooperative?” The question came out a little more threatening than he had intended, and Teng gave him a long look before answering.
“All of my people will obey the orders I give them.”
“Then order them to fall back to the Ambassador. There’s a contingency plan that needs to be enacted.”
Johnson shot him an angry, knowing glare. Bernhard did the best he could to not acknowledge it. Not yet at least. Everyone would know about the nuclear device once it blew up, but at least for the time being, it didn’t appear that they would have to stay on the Visitor as it went off. Whatever the capabilities were of this alien army, they didn’t appear to be awake yet. As long as they all hurried, Bernhard believed he could keep it that way.
Although there didn’t seem to be any immediate reason to run, Bernhard still made them all move quickly back down the halls to the hangar. As they moved, Johnson, who had Hodges holding her tight by the arm with one hand while he kept his sidearm in the other to keep her in line, turned to Bernhard.
“Look, I understand that there’s nothing we can do to stop this, but can’t you at least tell us what you saw in there?”
“Gonna try to find one last detail that might change my mind, Doctor?” Bernhard asked.
“No, but I’m still the lead scientist here. At the very least, my position should give me the right to know what exactly it is that’s going to make us give up all chance of studying this.
“It’s an army, Johnson. Thousands of creatures that appear to be alien soldiers, and all of them in stasis.”
“Well, if they’re in stasis, what’s the big deal?” Dufresne asked.
“The big deal, Dufresne, is that some advanced civilization sent a huge force of armed and armored troops all the way from some distant part of the galaxy to our planet. The fact that they’re all asleep doesn’t matter. Things that are asleep are meant to wake up eventually. If the Visitor contains more than just that one hall of soldiers, and I see no reason why there wouldn’t be more, then them waking up and making their way planet-side could mean big trouble for humanity.”
“Well, okay then,” Johnson said.
Bernhard stopped. Everyone else stopped along with him. “
That’s it, Johnson?” he asked. “You’re not going to try talking me out of it?”
“Talking him out of what, exactly?” Houston asked.
It took every ounce of Bernhard’s control to keep a straight face and not curse. Given that he was going to set the nuclear device off one way or the other now, he supposed there was no reason to keep it a secret anymore. Still, he had just let it slip that there was a backup plan of some kind. Normally, he was better than such mistakes. Johnson, apparently, could bring them out in him.
“Teng, lead everyone back to the Ambassador,” Bernhard said. “I need a moment to speak to Dr. Johnson alone.”
Teng did as he was told, leaving Johnson and Bernhard alone in the hallway together. From the knowing and almost amused look on her face, Johnson knew exactly what he was thinking. “You can’t blame me for that one. You let that little detail spill without my help.”
“For the last time, Johnson, there’s no detail to spill.”
“Really? You’re still sticking to the story?”
Bernhard sighed and put a hand to his face. “You are a pain in the ass, Johnson. You know that, right? So fine. There’s a nuclear bomb on the Ambassador. You know it and I know it, and after I set it up on the Visitor, everyone else on the mission is going to know it, too. What bothers me is that you don’t seem to be trying to stop me.”
“Do you want me to stop you? News flash, but I’m not the one carrying the big honking rifle.”
“You tried to talk me out of it before, and I fully expected you to try talking me out of it again.”
“I already said my peace, Bernhard. Obviously, I’m not going to convince. I think you’re making a serious mistake, but there’s nothing I can do about it.”
“You honestly still think blowing the Visitor up is a mistake knowing what it’s here for?”
“Well, we don’t know exactly what it’s here for. We know it’s carrying alien troops and yeah, that seems pretty bad. But you’re the military mind here. Do you honestly mean to tell me that you can’t think of a dozen reasons why blowing the Visitor up right now could cause problems?”
Alpha Contact Page 4