by James Wilson
CHAPTER 57
BREAKING NEWS, ALIENS ATTACK
Amie, the oldest of Greg’s three daughters, became interested in photography and journalism at a very young age. By the time she was seven, she had begun documenting her entire life and had at least one camera with her at all times. Before she graduated high school, she had already written and published several short stories. Generally, she kept a button cam on her shirt running all day. She was extremely interested when the aliens came right to where she lived, so she made a point to get as many pictures and as much video as she possibly could.
When she lost her father, her uncle, and her favorite little cousin Matt in the battle with the aliens, she was devastated. It was a long time before she wanted to be social again. About a year after the battle, she was feeling a little better and began to think about telling her story. Up to this point, the only people on Earth that even knew that aliens had been here was her family and the IPDC.
Unbeknownst to anyone else, she had put a button cam on her father and Uncle Doug before the battle with the aliens. Both cameras survived the battle, and she was able to recover them, giving her close-up footage of many parts of the battle. It was hard for her to even look at the footage shot with those two cameras, and she wouldn’t be selling any of those recordings. On the other hand, the shots she took herself after the battle were very good, and she knew everyone would want to see what the aliens looked like. She realized she would be able to go a long way with what she had.
Amie knew how to sell a story, and this one was not just an exclusive, but the first and only look at the aliens. After some negotiating, she made a deal with The Global News Net. She sold them four photos of the aliens for a substantial amount of money. She was also offered a full-time position as a photojournalist for The Global News Net. She would start by telling her own story. Then, she would continue covering the alien story and IPDC. She wanted to see if she could find out how the aliens were doing, now that more than a year had passed.
The public was eager to hear the story about the aliens and The Global News played up the hype for all it was worth. The unveiling of her photos was the biggest story in over a thousand years. When it aired, almost every human on the planet tuned in. Amie went from a quiet little girl from Texas to an internationally-known star overnight and The Global News Net became the top-rated news channel on the planet. There was also a planet-wide renewal of fear about the aliens. Some, however, took comfort in the fact that an alien could be killed with a simple gunshot to the head, as was evident in the picture of Tevek’s dead body.
CHAPTER 58
ALIEN ABDUCTION
In 4857, five years after Amie’s story broke, three small Eark ships passed into Earth’s upper orbit without detection, just like the one before it in 4851. There was only minimal effort to be stealthy put into the design of their ship; it was just that the thin foil of high-density material used to coat their ship reflected and emitted almost no radiation of any wavelength. A common practice for vehicles that were going to new worlds was to give them an outer coating of a cloaking material, rendering the ships nearly completely invisible in almost any situation.
As the ten Eark were recovering from their nineteen months in stasis, Joe and Tina were enjoying a long weekend at the lake. The two had become especially close after the first battle with the Eark that ended the lives of Tina’s father and Joe’s brother. Tina liked taking a boat out to the far side of the lake and sleeping under the stars in the fall, and Joe liked doing whatever it took to make her happy.
Monday, she had to get back early to catch a train to Washington to visit her sister at the News Bureau. After spending Sunday on the lake, they would return to the hangar for dinner and their last night of the weekend. They planned to leave at first light in the morning. Despite the fact that it was illegal to travel on the surface, they always brought the hover bike on their camping trips. They both loved the feeling of freedom and the wind in their hair, and there was no one around to enforce those laws anyway.
When they were about two miles west of the orchard, Joe saw several figures walking toward the orchard. Fear reverberated throughout his entire body. He immediately turned the bike to the north, hoping to prevent being spotted. It was too late.
Chevekov commanded, “Selta, you’re with me!” and took to the air in pursuit of the humans. Selta followed right behind the leader.
“Tina, quick! Call Michael! Tell him aliens are approaching the orchard!” Joe shouted.
He went as fast as the bike could go, heading for a patch of trees about a mile away, but the Eark were faster, and he couldn’t get away. Seeing that the two aliens were closing in on them, he shouted to Tina, “Take the wheel!” as he pulled out his pistol. His first shot was a miss, but the second shot rang true and sent Selta to the ground with a fatal wound to the head. Before he could fire again. Chevekov already had his weapon drawn and set. He fired and hit the two humans and everything within ten feet of them.
With the weapon set to the millimeter wavelength range and the power set more than halfway up, Joe and Tina were both instantly incapacitated and in excruciating pain.
Gliding slowly down to the ground, Chevekov called out on his radio, “I think we lost Selta. One of the animals pointed something at him, and he fell to the ground. I fired my weapon at them and put both of them down. I hope they’re not dead.
“Citar, bring your ship to my current position. Let’s secure these two animals so we can take them home. We must try hard not to kill them so we can learn as much as possible about these creatures. As soon as they’re secure, put them into stasis; I don’t want them to escape. I will tend to Selta.”
As Citar arrived with the ship, Chevekov found Selta’s body. He carried the remains of his friend to the ship and helped Citar get Selta and the two humans secured. Before rejoining the group, which was now only about a mile from the orchard, he said to Citar, “Good job. Now take your ship back to the landing zone.”
CHAPTER 59
ORCHARD REUNION
About a year after the first battle at the orchard, Michael made some changes to the landscape in case more aliens ever came back looking for their friends. He built some simple earthen fortifications around the perimeter, brought in some large boulders, and planted some bushes. All the men in Michael’s group were also given several weapons. They all had two pistols, a rifle, two Tasers, and a net gun. They did target practice exercises a couple times a year.
After Michael received the warning call from Tina alerting him to the slowly approaching aliens, he called his brothers Roger and George and his boys Lenny and Drew. “They’re back. Grab your guns, guys. Leave the Tasers and nets behind. We’re not taking any prisoners today. Let’s all meet at the bunker as soon as possible.”
Michael was unable to reach Joe or Tina for any updates. He only knew that the aliens were about two miles north of the orchard when Tina called and that there were about five or six of them.
After meeting at the bunker, the group hurriedly made their plans and headed out to the northwest corner of the orchard. Drew was accompanied by his wife Connie this time. After the last battle, she had started shooting and had become quite skilled with her rifle. The husband and wife team positioned themselves in the tree stand. Michael and Lenny would approach from the west and Doug and Greg from the north.
The Eark were also expecting some sort of action, and with one of their own already dead, they were all a bit on edge. They broke into two teams of three. Kulkul would lead one group with Crafa and Pampai at his side. Chevekov would lead his spouse Voska and their shipmate Shuzo about fifty yards south of Kulkul’s group.
Michael’s family reached the perimeter of the orchard before the aliens. Lenny just happened to be dressed for the occasion that day with his camo shirt and green hat. He crawled into a bush that grew around a large rock and disappeared from sight. Roger and George were not as prepared with their wardrobe: one had a white tee-shirt and the other a yel
low sports jacket. Their gray hair did not help matters, but they were mentally and physically prepared, and both felt confident with their weapons.
Lying on the rock, Lenny spotted the group of three aliens led by Kulkul. He watched as they slowly crossed into firing range. He waited for them to advance at least another thirty yards before firing. That way if they retreated after the first shot, he would still be able to get off another shot before they got back out of range. The alien in the lead was in his crosshairs; as soon as they were close enough, he fired and saw that he had made a direct hit to the head.
Blood and tissue from Kulkul’s head splattered onto Crafas’s arm and chest; he had never seen anything like that before. He wanted vengeance for his friend but had no idea where the shot came from. He looked ahead, and just as George stood to move closer, Crafa saw his yellow shirt moving directly ahead. As he aimed his weapon at George, Lenny fired again, killing Pampai. The sound of the rifle scared Crafa; he jerked and pulled the trigger, not even knowing how his weapon was set at the time.
A wide beam of x-rays wiped out everything in its path, including the upper half of George’s body and the top half of Roger’s head. Surprised at the amount of devastation he had just released, he turned his thoughts to his friends. He knew it was over for Kulkul but didn’t know the status of Pampai. As he ducked down to check on his friend, Lenny’s third bullet just missed him. Pampai was alive, but in bad shape; the wound to the throat was bleeding badly.
Chevekov saw what Crafa had done and what had happened to his two fallen friends. With Voska and Shuzo still at his side, he wanted to end this battle now. He set his weapon for a wide-angle, non-lethal wavelength with a lot of power. As he was making the final adjustments to his weapon, Connie was telling Drew, “George and Roger have been disintegrated along with half the orchard! I can see George’s legs still standing there with no upper body.” Drew had been watching Chevekov’s group approach and had locked his rifle on Shuzo. When he heard that both his uncles were dead, he pulled the trigger, killing Shuzo. Chevekov fired before Drew could find the next target. Everyone in the path of his weapon was stunned and rendered unconscious.
Connie fell to the floor of the tree stand, and her arm dropped out of the entrance and into Chevekov’s view. Michel and Lenny were knocked out in their respective hiding spots, where they remained for some time. Chevekov called out to the group, “Gebek, Shni, bring your ships to my current location. Citar, take your ship into orbit and start preparing to head home. Crafa, I want you to pick up anything salvageable from our dead comrades. Make sure you get the weapons off of Kulkul and Pampai. I don’t want any of them left behind. All weapons must be accounted for. Voska, grab Shuzo’s weapon and then you’re with me; I want to get that body ready to load into the ship when it gets here.”
They went to the tree stand where Connie’s arm was hanging. As they were removing her limp body from the tree, they discovered Drew’s unconscious body also lying there. By the time they got the two humans out of the tree, the ships had arrived. “Gebek, move your ship in closer to me, and Voska, these bodies are heavy.” Chevekov commanded. They loaded up the two ships and headed to P3’s outer orbit to meet up with Citar, who was preparing for the journey home.
CHAPTER 60
HOMECOMING
After Tina called Michael with the warning about the approaching aliens, he called all the guys to mount their defense. Drew and Connie were in the process of slowly getting out of bed when the call came in. Immediately, they got ready and loaded their train car with weapons and ammo. On the way to the orchard, Connie called Jessica and left her a message. “Darlin’, I’m going to have to postpone our trip to the market today. Michael just called. Apparently there are more aliens heading to the orchard. I’ll call you back when I have more information.”
Jessica saw the message when she got out of the shower. The first thing she did was call her big sister. “Amie, I just heard that there are more aliens here and they are heading for the orchard right now.”
“Oh, my God!” said Amie. “How many are there? What are they doing?”
“I don’t know anything more than what I just told you,” replied Jessica.
“Okay. Well, take the cameras that I gave you and film anything you can. I’m on my way and will be there as soon as possible. Let me know as soon as you find out more, and Jessica, please don’t get killed!”
When Amie finally arrived back home, the action was long over, and her family was devastated. With two more dead and four missing, her family alone was bearing the cost of the war with the aliens. She intended to tell the world what they were suffering through.
Five years ago, after she had somewhat recovered from the loss of her father, she began planning for this day. Like Michael, she believed it was likely the aliens would return. She supplied each member of her family a personal button camera and also mounted a camera on the weapons that were issued for the defense of their territory. The weapon cams had tiny onboard accelerometers that would detect any time they moved. When they sensed that they had moved, the cameras were programmed to start recording audio and video. Once on, they would not turn off until there was silence and lack of movement for at least four hours. The cameras also had onboard hard drives with enough capacity to store everything recorded for over 100 years.
Joe’s hover bike was recovered, along with one of his pistols, but that gun was not the one that had her camera attached. So they didn’t know anything more about what had happened than what they had learned from Tina’s call to Michael. George’s legs were recovered, but his weapons and button cam were all gone, along with the rest of his body. She did recover weapon and button cameras from Roger’s remains. She also recovered weapon cams from Michael and Lenny; apparently neither of them remembered to put on their button cams. There were no signs of Drew and Connie’s whereabouts but their weapons, along with the weapon cams, were recovered. Remains of three aliens were also recovered, but none of them had any weapons on them.
With the six recovered cameras, she had a front row seat to the entire battle. Through Lenny’s weapon camera, the world would see an alien firing its weapon. Through Roger’s cameras, the world would see up-close the incredible power released from that weapon. The pictures of the enormous area that was destroyed from that one shot would simply astound everyone in the world, and they would see it all soon.
CHAPTER 61
SOLARIS, A SON AT THE SUN
Just over a year and a half after the second battle on Earth, as the three alien ships approached the Sun, the seven stasis chambers carrying the aliens were programmed to wake the aliens up a few days before arriving. The four humans were kept in stasis and would remain that way until they were secured in their chambers on the station. While the group was traveling, the Eark back at the Sun had prepared a place for their new guests.
When Vensecosk left for P3, Second Lieutenant Savva was promoted to First Lieutenant and selected to take Vensecosk’s place as head of the life science department. She was also put in charge of the captives from P3. It was now her task to learn as much as possible about their new guests. Savva was given all the necessary resources, including a full staff with engineers, programmers, linguists, security agents, and custodians.
She would first isolate them in their own separate chambers before bringing them out of stasis. Each human was assigned to one Eark language specialist, and each specialist was issued one universal translation machine. The Eark’s translation machine was far more sophisticated than anything the humans had. Throughout their long history, the Eark had encountered a few species from different sectors of the galaxy, each with their own unique languages; after every experience, their translation techniques improved. Like on Earth when the humans worked with the Eark captives, the Eark working with humans also began with nouns and adjectives. Unlike on Earth, though, the Eark were able to quickly progress into phrases, prepositions, and sentences.
One evening after the humans had lived on the
station for a few months, Sergeant Koyov was working in the control room, monitoring the humans as they slept. Koyov noticed what appeared to be two heartbeats on the sound monitor in Tina’s room and right away suspected that Tina was pregnant. Koyov knew Lieutenant Savva was most likely just finishing up her dinner for the evening and would probably want to know this exciting bit of news. Koyov confirmed that the signal looked much like a second heartbeat and called Lieutenant Savva.
Each week, Savva’s team would meet to discuss progress and make plans for the next week. For some time, the team had been discussing the right time to put two of the captives together. With the discovery of Tina’s pregnancy, they decided the time was now. They would put a door between Joe’s and Tina’s chambers. While they had no idea whether Joe was the father, they did know that Joe and Tina were captured together. They were capable of determining if Joe was the father by collecting DNA samples, but they didn’t think that would be necessary at this point. “Let’s just put them together and see what happens,” Savva told the group.
After seeing how happy Joe and Tina were to be reunited, they decided to do the same thing with Drew and Connie. Putting the humans together and combining the databases of the two translation machines seemed to help in the process of learning the humans’ language. It wasn’t long before they allowed all four of the captives to reunite.
It was almost impossible to tell exactly how far along Tina was with her pregnancy. There were so many unknowns. They didn’t know how much time had passed since they got to the station. They really had no way of knowing even how long an Eark day was; they only knew it was more than 24 hours. They didn’t know how long they were in stasis traveling to the Sun or how much the baby developed, if any, while in transit. Before long, though, it was apparent from her increased size that the time was drawing near for her to give birth.