“I can think of plenty of reasons not to blow it up, alright? I’ve got a whole list in my head. But I also have one very good reason to want to get rid of this ship, and the God’s honest truth is it has nothing to do with my orders.”
Johnson looked taken aback by this. “Really? What is it?”
Bernhard turned and started marching back down the hall in the direction of the others. “You know what? It’s none of your business. Now I suggest you follow me unless you want to end up as irradiated particles floating through space.”
Back in the hanger, everyone had gathered around the Ambassador. Teng had formed up most of his people to form a perimeter around the shuttle, while the America military had taken up positions at the exit ramps. The two other American scientists were already on board. The Chinese scientists, however, were nowhere that Bernhard could see.
“Teng, where are the rest of your people?” Bernhard asked.
Teng, for the first time in the mission, tried to pull rank. “They are following my orders.”
“And what were your orders?”
“They are need to know only, and you do not need to know.”
Bernhard stopped and stared at him. He wasn’t exactly surprised, yet he was still disappointed. “I’m the one who’s been given command of this mission, so I would say that, yeah, I do in fact need to know.”
He heard noises coming from behind him. He looked in the direction of the many boxes holding the alien fighter crafts to see one of Teng’s soldiers coming back around it with the Chinese scientists.
“They’re back, so it doesn’t matter,” Teng said.
Bernhard looked over at his rangers and Air Force spec ops people. All of them had their weapons in hand and ready, and there was a tension in them that showed they were prepared for a fight if it came to that. The question was, did Bernhard want to push this that far?
He cursed quietly to himself. It had been a mistake to let Teng out of his sight for any period of time. Of course, he would take advantage of the moment to get extra intel or material when Bernhard wasn’t looking. Bernhard couldn’t even blame him, because if the situation were reversed and Teng was the one in charge of the entire mission, Bernhard would have done the same. Anything to attempt to give his own country the advantage in whatever arms war the Visitor was going to start.
Bernhard reminded himself that, if the Ambassador did make it back to Earth in one piece, it would be landing at an American airbase. If Teng or any of his people had physically taken anything from the Visitor, it would get found and intercepted during their quarantine period after the mission. If all they had was knowledge, well, there was nothing Bernhard could do about that.
“Better get all your people on board and strapped in,” Bernhard said tensely. Teng nodded, then motioned for them to follow him. As they filed on, Bernhard approached Zersky, Hodges, and McNeil.
“You three, I want you to get on board after them. Keep an eye on them and make sure nothing fishy happens. And no matter what happens next, do not, under any circumstances, allow them back out of their seats.”
“Any circumstances at all, sir?” Hodges asked.
“That’s correct. I’m sure you all understand my meaning?”
“Yes, sir!” all three of them said. They went on board, leaving Bernhard outside the craft with Johnson and the three rangers.
“Johnson, you better get on board as well.”
“Aren’t you going to need help with the bomb?” Johnson asked.
Hatch looked at the other two in confusion. “Bomb? What bomb?”
Bernhard gave Johnson the stink-eye. “Move, Johnson. Now.”
Once she was back inside, Bernhard turned to the rangers again. “The bomb you three are going to help me unload. It’s hidden in the cargo section. We’re going to set a timer on it and leave. I trust that you will all remember your duty and follow my command, correct?”
The rangers all nodded their assent. This was more like it. Whether or not they approved, they didn’t let their feelings show. They were simply going to do their duty without question.
They followed him up into the Ambassador. Everyone else in the shuttle stared after him as he ignored them all and instead made a beeline to the cargo hold. Once inside, he walked right up to where he had left the thermonuclear device at the ready.
It wasn’t there.
Chapter Seven
He had the rangers guard the entrance to the hold while he did a thorough check of the entire area, just on the off chance that it had somehow simply shifted from its place while they’d been gone. But there weren’t exactly many places in a space shuttle where a nuclear bomb could have slipped where no one could see it. The only possibility at all was that someone had intentionally moved or taken it.
Bernhard directed the rangers to get out of his way, then ordered everyone who had already strapped in to orderly depart the Ambassador and line up just outside the shuttle. Although his tone was the textbook example of measured calm, he could tell from the look on everyone else’s face that they knew something was terribly, horribly wrong. Even Dufresne kept a tense silence as she went back down into the hangar and stood stiffly beside everyone else. Bernhard did his best during the whole thing to stay in a position where he could see every single other person, but considering how many there were, it was nearly impossible. Once they were all out and lined up, Bernhard stood in front of them and eyed them all.
“Bernhard, what’s wrong?” Johnson asked.
“Not a single one of you is to speak unless I speak to you first, you got that?” Bernhard commanded. Johnson closed her mouth, but her eyes remained wide and trembling.
Okay, he had to stop and think here. He had somehow managed to misplace a nuclear weapon, but there weren’t many possibilities. The way he saw it, all possible answers fell into one of two categories. The first was that someone among his group had done something with it. The second was that something else had come along while they were searching the Visitor and taken it. Under these circumstances on Earth, he would have first gone to look at any surveillance footage, but thanks to the peculiar properties of the Visitor, that simply wasn’t going to happen here. He checked the time on his watch to find that less than an hour had passed between them first getting off the Ambassador and then getting back on again. For roughly twenty minutes of that, they had still been in the hangar within view of the shuttle, so nothing could have come during that time. It did leave plenty of time for something to show up, enter the shuttle, take the bomb, and then leave, but it wasn’t like a nuclear weapon was light. It would probably take more than one person, or at least more than one human, to carry it. If multiple aliens had been in the hangar, there must be some way to tell, but they had yet to see any sign of anything alive on the ship that wasn’t in stasis.
So that left the humans. Had there been enough time where anyone was out of his sight where they could have taken or at least moved the bomb somewhere he couldn’t find it?
Teng cleared his throat. “Bernhard, tell me what is happening.”
Despite his best efforts at keeping a straight face, Bernhard sneered. “Sure, I’ll go right ahead and do that once you tell me what your people were doing over by those box things.”
“I already said, that is not something you need to know.”
“Oh trust me, it is.” Bernhard raised his rifle and pointed it in his direction. Instantly, every single person with a gun had it up and pointed at somebody, with the Chinese aiming at the Americans and vice versa.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Johnson said. She ran right between Teng and Bernhard, putting herself directly in both of their lines of fire.
“Johnson, what the hell are you doing?” Bernhard asked.
“I was going to ask you the same question. Has everyone here suddenly gone insane?”
“It’s gone, Johnson,” Bernhard said. “Someone took it.”
“What? How could that be possible?” she asked.
“What’s gone?
” Houston asked. Even though none of the weapons were aimed directly at him, he still had his hands up like he thought he was under arrest. “Could someone please explain to me why we’re suddenly all lined up out here with freaking guns pointed at each other?”
Bernhard took a deep breath. This wasn’t productive. “Teng, I’m going to lower my weapon and have every one of my people lower theirs. After your people do the same, I’ll tell you what I can, but only if you do the same afterwards. I’m putting some faith in you here. Can I do that?”
After a moment’s hesitation, Teng nodded.
“Alright. Lower your weapons.”
On command, all of the Americans did as he said. A split second later, Teng and the Chinese followed suit.
“I was tasked with control over a nuclear device,” Bernhard said after some hesitation. Honestly, at this point, there was zero reason to keep being secretive about it, and it was only paranoia that had driven him to suddenly raise his weapon. For all his thoughts earlier about needing the Americans and the Chinese on this mission to work together better, he had fallen into the same us-versus-them mentality.
Teng nodded. “I know.”
Bernhard almost asked how, but again, if the situation were reversed, he was sure that he would have already poked around and found out as well. “I was instructed to use it to destroy the Visitor if we found anything at all that implied that it was a threat.”
“Wait, you were just going to kill us all?” Dufresne asked.
“Not that I’m talking to you right now, Dufresne, but it’s not like that was plan A. However, if had come down to our lives versus the lives of everyone down on Earth, the decision would have been easy.”
“But now you’re saying it’s gone?” Li asked. “Have the Americans developed a nuclear weapon so small that someone can just walk off with it?”
“No, it’s not small, but yes, it’s gone,” Bernhard said. “Either something on the Visitor came and took it, or else someone here with the group managed to make it disappear in the brief time where I wasn’t watching them. So Teng, mind finally telling me what your people were doing over by those fighter crafts?”
Teng took a long moment to consider this, then nodded to his people. “Simple intelligence gathering. We were leaving, so I wanted our scientists to see the alien craft first. Even if they only saw it for a minute or two, that would give our government a potential advantage in the arms race that is to follow all this.”
Johnson scoffed. “You make it sound like an arms race is inevitable, like every country in the world has already decided to use this as an opportunity to get ahead of the others rather than work together.”
“Hate to break it to you, Johnson, but that’s exactly what’s already happened,” Bernhard said.
Xiang, who had been listening to one of the other scientists translate all this for him, spoke up. Li interpreted for all the others. “He says it doesn’t have to be like that, at least not between our countries. We are both here, so we should be able to share what we find.”
Sorensen snorted.
“Do you have something to say, Sorensen?” Bernhard asked.
“Sorry, sir. I just think it’s a pretty ironic thing for one of them to say, considering they weren’t planning to share this information until they had guns against their heads.”
“Stop with all this ‘they’ stuff,” Johnson said. “We’re all here together, so we’re all the same side. There’s no geopolitical boundaries up here.”
Bernhard sighed. “She is right. Paranoia right now is only going to hurt us. We need to make a vow, right now, that we’re going to share information, Teng. Because until that bomb is found, we most certainly aren’t leaving.”
“Do you honestly think someone here could have taken it?” Teng asked.
“While it’s highly unlikely, it’s not something we can rule out.”
“Then I am telling you right now that none of my people had anything to do with this,” Teng said. “My superiors already knew in advance that this was likely your plan, and I was instructed to help you carry it out, should it come to that.”
“Just as long as you got as much extra intel as possible first, right?” Bernhard asked.
Teng shrugged. “That is not incorrect.”
While Bernhard still wasn’t sure how much he could trust Teng, or even if Teng could trust that no one among his own group had their own hidden agenda, the plain fact here was that it should have been practically impossible for Teng’s people, even if they were all working together, to grab the nuclear weapon and hide it somewhere else without any on the American side being aware. While there still might not have been reason for the two groups to completely trust each other, logic made it likely that none of the humans were the culprit here.
Which only left the possibility that they weren’t as alone in being awake on this ship as they thought.
“Whoever or whatever took the bomb, we have to find it,” Bernhard said. “I’m sure a nuclear device is more like a kid’s toy to aliens that can use all this other tech, but we still can’t have it in enemy hands. That’s our priority now.”
“Are you still going to try to use it to blow up the Visitor?” Johnson asked.
“I can’t give you a straight answer to that,” Bernhard said.
“Can’t, or won’t?” Dufresne asked.
“Can’t. The situation is rapidly evolving. If something else is alive and awake on this ship, then the danger to both us and Earth is worth than we were already thinking. All of you scientists were complaining about not being in on any of the thoughts and planning? Well, congratulations. You’ve got your wish. We need to find that bomb, and we’re probably going to need to go deeper into the Visitor and learn its inner workings to do that.”
It was notable, Bernhard thought, that none of the scientists seemed quite so enthusiastic about this as they had been before. Finally, he realized, he’d found the perfect way to shut them up: give them exactly what they wanted and then let them realize all of this was more complicated than they expected it to be.
Bernhard motioned for them all to move out. They were going to start by thoroughly checking the hangar for the bomb and then, if they didn’t find it, it was time to go deeper.
Chapter Eight
“I have to pee. Really,” Dufresne said. Bernhard tried not to lose his cool. It was the sixth time she’d said that in the last ten minutes. So much for her being quiet.
“I wonder how aliens go to the bathroom?” Houston wondered out loud.
“Out of all the scientific problems you people could be working on in this place, that’s the one you’re fixating on?” Bernhard asked.
“Maybe it’s just Dufresne’s constant talking about it, but I feel like I need to as well,” Johnson said.
Bernhard looked over at his and Teng’s people to a number of them nodding in agreement. There was nothing he could do about biological needs, he supposed. He could probably do with such a break himself.
The problem was, it wasn’t like there were any bathrooms around here. They had been wandering, making a map of the ship and its layout, all the time keeping an eye out for any sign of the bomb or whatever had taken it. So far, all they had managed to find was a number of long rooms just like the first one they’d discovered containing the alien troops in stasis. Each new room found, and the uncountable number of aliens trapped inside, cemented the idea in Bernhard that destroying all of this was the only way. The only difference between the rooms seemed to be the kind of soldiers they contained. Although he knew he couldn’t make assumptions about alien military tactics, there seemed to be infantry, shock troops, pilots, and maybe even the alien equivalent of special forces. And still, through all of it, they still hadn’t been able to find any explanation on what, exactly, the aliens wanted to do by coming to Earth.
“As weird as it’s going to be,” Bernhard said, “I guess we don’t have any choice but to designate some random section of hallway as the place where we’
re going to relieve ourselves.”
Li spoke up. “Are we going to be allowed to have privacy for this, or are you going to be watching all of us like you don’t even trust us then?”
Dufresne held up her hands. “Bernhard, I don’t care what you say, but I not going to let you watch as I –”
“Nobody’s going to watch anything, okay? Jesus.” Bernhard found a short side hall that didn’t seem to go anywhere but directly into a wall for no apparent reason. As messy as it would end up being, that was the best they could do for privacy on such notice. “Okay, so this is the designated restroom. One person at a time, and everyone else is going to take a few minutes to rest out here while we wait. Dufresne, you go first.”
“Actually being nice to me for once, Bernhard?” Dufresne asked.
“No, I just want you to shut the hell up about your bladder.”
While the all lined up in the main hall for their turn, Bernhard took his place at the back of the line and sat on the floor with his back against the wall. He kept his rifle ready just in case anything changed, but otherwise, he let himself rest. He hadn’t realized until now just how tired he was, but there wouldn’t be any opportunity for true rest anytime soon. As long as there was any possibility that they weren’t alone on the ship, he had to remain vigilant.
“Bernhard?” Johnson asked. He jumped at her voice. He didn’t even realize until he opened his eyes that he’d passed out for just a moment, and in the meantime, Johnson had found a seat next to him. So much for remaining vigilant.
“Johnson, is there something I can help you with?”
“I was just coming to see how you were doing. You look like your nerves are frayed.”
“They’re not frayed. I’ve had more stressful missions than this.”
“I also wanted to ask you about something you said earlier.”
Alpha Contact Page 5