The Russian looked relieved. Next to him were two Slavic women. Both of them blond with hair braided atop their heads. One of them spoke.
“I am Nadya Putin, from Novosibirsk,” said the younger woman, her voice calm and confident. “I work there as an aerospace design engineer. Which makes my presence aboard this spacecraft an opportunity for wonder and joy!”
“Nadya, glad we could get you into space,” Bill said.
“I am not so famous as these others,” said the other blond-haired Slav woman. “I am known as Svetlana Anosova. My home is in Volgograd. I have three young children and a husband. They are surely missing me!” she said, her voice rising.
He gestured reassurance. “Svetlana, this meeting is being broadcast to our officials in America. I am sure they will advise the Russian, Japanese and Chinese ambassadors of the identity of you all. Your families will know you are safe before they greet you in person.”
Every captive showed relief at that news. The two Chinese men who had been silent now spoke quickly.
“I am Kuan Pei,” said a young man dressed in black trousers, black jacket and black shoes. “My home is in Lanzhou. Please return me there.”
The second young man gave Bill a quick nod. “American Commander, thank you for this rescue! I am Wu Tso, an artist who was painting in the woods outside my home in the city of Chengdu. Please return me to my home. Though I wish I had my pastels with me. This . . . floating image of Earth and space deserve memorializing!”
Bill smiled at the artist’s enthusiasm.
The Chinese doctor now stood up from where he had finished wrapping a new white gauze bandage over Bill’s left arm. “You need an antibiotic shot as a precaution, but your arm should heal nicely. The beam missed your bone and main artery. I sewed the damaged muscles and tendons together. The thread will degrade naturally. Time for me to help Mr. Bob, whose wound involves his shoulder.”
“Yes, doctor Li, please tend to my friend Bob,” Bill said, gesturing the man forward. “He took a laser in his shoulder, though being a Marine, you would never know how serious the injury was.”
Bob’s look of puzzlement as he examined the Navigation control pillar now changed to bemusement. The chief cynic among his saloon buddies enjoyed being the skeptic in their group. And pretending to be the toughest of them all. Now, the man had to suffer the ministrations of a well-meaning foreigner. “I feel fine. But the doc can look me over as he wishes.”
Li picked up Bill’s first aid kit and walked over to Bob’s work station, kneeling down so he could access Bob’s wound. As before, he began by cutting away the gauze bandage, now soaked with blood, thanks to his buddy’s work in fighting the ship crew.
Bill looked at the last man, a Japanese judging by his facial features. Wearing a black robe with a white inner shirt, the man looked to be in his sixties. His head was shaven and his black eyes twinkled with what looked like good humor.
“Sensei Bill MacCarthy, I am Atsushi Yamamoto, a Zen Buddhist monk from our temple at Higashi Hongan-ji, in Kyoto,” the man said softly. “I was meditating in the woods to the west of our temple when a white teardrop hovered before me, then touched me with a red ray of electricity. I lost awareness. I awoke in a cell that resembled my place of repose. Then a . . . floating robot escorted me here. I thank you for this remarkable experience.”
Bill had met a few Buddhists in his years at Denver. He liked their composure, their peacefulness and their focus on compassion. While non-violence was a tenet of their faith, every Buddhist he’d met had made him feel welcome even after learning of his combat history. Which was what this monk had done in calling him sensei, or teacher. “Sensei Yamamoto, you are most welcome here. I hope you will enjoy your journey home when my flying squirrel friend,” he gestured back at Builder, “pilots the transport that will return you all to your homes.”
The monk looked past Bill at Builder of Joy. “So nice to see the shape of intelligence and caring from another star home!”
Bill noticed that the Chinese doctor already had his needle and thread out and was busy stitching together the wound that had hit just below Bob’s left collar bone, and just inside from his shoulder joint. Which was a blessing, since his buddy always liked showing off his muscles as he lifted weights. The doctor pulled an air syringe from the kit and injected something into Bob’s shoulder. Whatever it was, Bob’s tight-faced look now relaxed. It would be just like his buddy to give Bill a painkiller shot and forego one for himself. He gave Bob a wink and looked back to the watching crowd of captives.
A rustling movement from Stefano above him reminded him the time for chit-chatting with captives was limited. “People, please follow Builder of Joy out from this room and along the hallway to his transport ship Tall Trees. You will find your personal belongings inside that ship, thanks to the hover bots who guided you here.” Bill looked over at Bob’s station and saw the doctor now had out a roll of white gauze. “Doctor Li will follow you shortly. Now, I and my teams on the other Collector ships must focus on releasing other captives, returning them home, and then consulting with our leaders over the future of humanity in space. We now have the means to travel to other stars.”
Each of the eight smiled or a gave friendly nod as they stood up. They looked briefly startled as a silvery hover bot dropped down from the ceiling. The Russian fighter pilot paused and looked at him. “Commander MacCarthy, will America share these captured Alien spaceships with other nations of the world?”
Bill wished the doc would hurry up with the bandaging. Still, it made for good politics for it to be seen that an American Marine would accept help from a Chinese doc. No doubt this scene of the captives being greeted and released would soon make it onto YouTube and plenty of Facebook pages. He sighed and took care of business.
“Captain Alexandrovitch, what happens with the six starships captured by me, my wife and our special forces teams is up to our president,” he said. The Chinese doc finished his work, stood up, came over, put down the aid kit by Bill’s seat and headed to the back of the room where everyone else was gathered. “However, my wife Jane Yamaguchi, who is captain of the captured starship Blue Sky, earlier transmitted the specifications for the Alcubierre space-time modulus stardrive to the world wide web. So, every nation now has the secret to interstellar travel. Hopefully, nations and peoples will cooperate in making future interstellar trips.”
The Russian pilot gave Bill a polite nod, turned and walked back to where the former captives had gathered before the now open door that gave access to the hallway outside. Some gave him a smile or a quick wave as they followed the brown-furred shape of Builder out and into the hallway. The door closed swiftly as the last captive stepped over its rim.
“That Chinese doc did good work on my shoulder,” Bob said gruffly.
“Good to hear that, Mr. Marine.” Bill looked up at Stefano, who had been his usual calm and patient self as the captives were welcomed, their home towns learned, and reactions shared with him and his crew. He had wanted his three person team to see the people their combat efforts had freed. While Stefano had earlier spoken of using the ‘nuclear option’ to destroy or disable the ship if they were about to be overwhelmed, he knew the man was not a fatalist. In fact, he was one of the happiest optimists Bill had ever met. Stefano just liked being the man in the background, on the watch and alert for any threat anywhere. Now, he sat in the ship captain’s seat and had responsibility for the ship he had named Seafloat. “Hey guy, you enjoying that high seat there?”
His fellow SEAL showed a quick smile, then gestured at the large holo of Earth and space that Soft Glow had created for their guests. “I like that view better.” He looked away from Bill and forward, to where his two teammates were looking intently at the control pillars for their work stations. Cassandra at Weapons and Bob at Navigation looked quite busy as they tapped their pillar top, saw a holo result, then continued the self-teaching. “Do you think we will need more than these two crew folks to operate the Seafloat? The
re are six crew on Blue Sky, counting you.”
“Probably,” Bill said. “I suspect General Poindexter and the folks at MacDill will be happy to—”
“Weapons Chief MacCarthy,” called Star Traveler over the helmet comlink. “The boarding tube now links the Blue Sky with Seafloat. Do you wish to return home?”
“Sure. Uh, where’s the boarding tube access? At the pods chamber or transport chamber?”
“Neither,” Soft Glow hummed briefly. “If you step out into the hallway, I will cause the ceiling above you to open. Similar openings will occur in the deck above you, allowing you to reach my hull. Which will open and grant you access to the boarding tube provided by my fellow ship mind.”
Bill looked down at his left arm. The stitching had looked good when he’d glanced at it and now the white gauze covering it was fresh and showed not a spot of blood. That was when he noticed how the clear skin of his vacsuit was absent from the wound area. While the semi-living vacsuit skin hugged tight his arm above and below the wound, as it did the area beyond Bob’s shoulder wound, still, he doubted the vacsuit would handle airless space.
“Thank you, Soft Glow. But my vacsuit integrity was damaged by the laser beam. Will there—”
“Be air in the boarding tube?” the AI interrupted. “Of course there will be normal air pressure in the tube. Both I and Star Traveler are monitoring the tube’s integrity. You will be safe while transiting from Seafloat to Blue Sky.”
“Good to know.” Bill looked up Stefano, whose face now showed a few fatigue lines. But the man’s brown eyes were bright and attentive. “Buddy, you’re now the captain of a starship. It’s your reward for risking your life.” He looked to Mohawk-girl Cassandra and heavily muscled Bob. “You two did great in this infiltration. Not your fault that some damn politico type in the White House blabbed about the three ships we controlled. If it were up to me, that person would be in jail. After being forced to visit the families of the people who died in Kiev, thanks to his big mouth.”
“Bill,” called Jane over his helmet comlink, her tone brisk. “Time to get over here. The general wants to see you in person. I promised her you would be here ASAP.”
“I’ll be there!” He reached up and shook hands with Stefano. “Hope you like coming out of retirement.”
“I do. Did,” his buddy said, giving a squeeze, then letting go. A sober expression filled his brown face. “Now me, Bob and Cassandra have to figure out how to operate and fly a ship with just the three of us!”
“You’re a SEAL,” Bill said, walking toward Cassandra. “You’ll manage. As will this Air Force gal. Hey babe. Looking forward to playing with this ship’s lasers?”
His saloon friend’s blue eyes fixed on him as she turned in her seat and shook hands. “I am. But I wonder how we will get the right side nose laser and the topside plasma battery repaired. You took them out, I believe, before you joined us.”
“I did,” he said, stepping back from the stocky woman who had spent a dozen years in the Special Tactics branch of Air Force Special Operations. “Soft Glow, can you repair the laser, plasma battery and the antimatter particle accelerator above us?”
“Yes, yes and no,” the soft-spoken AI said as it chose succinct speech over windy disposition. “The laser tube and the mobile mount for the plasma battery can be built within this ship’s Factory Chamber. But the microelectronics and quantum fabrication involved in the accelerator cannot be done by me.”
“Weapons Chief,” called Star Traveler. “My memory of the time we spent obtaining ship repairs at the Megun star system tells me those people could rebuild the particle accelerator of the Seafloat.”
“Good to know,” he said as he walked over to where Bob sat, looking bemused by Bill’s meandering departure style. “Hey guy, semper fidelis, right?”
“Yes! Semper fidelis to the universe!” his buddy replied. The man’s bulldog face broke into a smile. “Damn but you sure gave us one hell of an adventure!”
Bill shook the man’s hand, then stepped back. “SEALs always deliver. And thanks for tending my wound when yours had to be hurting like hell. Uh, maybe you can make a visit to a clamshell healer in this ship’s Med Hall sometime over the next few hours?”
“Maybe,” Bob said, turning to face his Navigation control pillar and the four holos that now hung before it. One of the holos was a true space holo that showed black space, the Earth below, and the shapes of six Collector ships orbiting nearby.
The holo reminded him the seven Collector ships they now controlled were orbiting at the lower end of middle Earth orbit. Time to return to LEO above Peterson and see what the Air Force chief and other members of the JCS had to say. To him, to Jane and to the 18 men and women who now controlled seven starships. The ships were surely American war prizes. What else they might be had yet to be determined.
“See you all later, once we get back home above Colorado,” Bill said as he walked past Stefano and out the entry door into the hallway. Behind him the door hissed shut. He looked up. A three foot wide hole showed in the silver metal of the hallway ceiling. A similar hole showed in the ceiling of the deck above. Beyond that hole lay the ship’s outer hull and the boarding tube. “Soft Glow, cut gravity in this part of the hallway and in the spaces above me.”
“Gravity ended,” the AI said. “Good voyaging.”
“Thanks.” Slinging his backpack over his right shoulder, he kicked at the floor below. “Jane, I’m coming home.”
♦ ♦ ♦
Bill gave Jane a kiss. She’d lowered her command pedestal seat as he came through the Command Bridge’s entry door, and the expression on her oval face showed concern, caring and love. Captain she might be. His wife she was first and foremost. It was clear she’d been worried about him surviving his foray to help out his fellow SEAL. She’d looked over his left arm, then fixed dark brown eyes on him, her expression one of relief. That was when he’d walked up to the pedestal, dropped his backpack and wrapped both arms around her. Then he’d kissed her.
“Missed you, babe!” he murmured over the kiss.
She hugged him back, blinked several times, then pulled away from his embrace, her expression going from relieved wife to command formal. While his Alien crewmates and Richardson were surely watching, the pull-back told him other folks were also watching. Likely the Peterson crowd.
“XO, glad to have you back in one piece!”
He let go of her and stepped back. Bending down he grabbed his backpack, then gave her a fast salute. “Reporting back for duty, captain. All objectives of your Stage Two plan have been achieved.” Bill walked over to his Weapons station seat, waving at Lofty Flyer, Wind Swift, Long Walker, Time Marker and Bright Sparkle, whose supermodel face was smiling at his and Jane’s love hug. The woman whose color-banded body could have made millions on the pages of any fashion mag, online or in print, was herself as much a romantic as he was. She and her Megun people were believers in open affection and friendly jumps into sensual relationships. Bright Sparkle looked past him and gave a wink at Learned Escape, her fellow Megun, whose color bands always got lively anytime he was in the same room as Sparkle.
Bill sat at his seat and looked left to where the Chief of Naval Operations had been watching his arrival on the bridge of the Blue Sky. Stocky, with perfectly trimmed brown hair and gray eyes that missed nothing, the man seemed pleased by his return. “Hey vice admiral, how are your two subs doing out at L4? Everything fixed?”
The man’s casual look changed to a more formal one. Another sign of watchers. “They are both properly sealed against vacuum. However, the Louisiana lost two crew when its auxiliary machinery room two was breached. You recall that the laser strike went deep. Shrapnel killed the two men there. Their bodies are in cold storage.” The CNO paused, his expression now pained. “Three men were lost on the Minnesota when its topside maneuvering room was breached. Their bodies were lost. Captains Baraka and Leonard have made up memorial plaques which they hope to place in the CIC of each sub.
With my approval. Which I’ve already given,” the man said, his tone emphatic.
Did Richardson worry that someone in DOD, the Department of the Navy or at Peterson would chastise him? Bill sympathized. Losing people hurt. He knew that. The teams he had served with had lost folks over the years. “Vice admiral, I am very glad those captains have created memorial plaques. And both subs were vital in our battle out beyond the Moon. They helped this ship and the two transports get close enough to make some laser strikes hit home!”
Richardson’s gray eyes widened as he heard Bill’s words. Still, he was the CNO. This was war time. And he understood his duty. The man looked past Bill and back to Jane. “Captain Yamaguchi, both subs are willing to join our captured ships in LEO, when you give the word.”
The comlink holo on Bill’s right showed Jane, dressed in her Navy ABU camos, lean forward and tap one of her control pillars. “Vice Admiral Chester J. Richardson, I too support your approval of the memorial plaques. We will do the same here on Blue Sky and put up similar plaques in our Food Hall. So that all who serve on this ship will understand the sacrifices given by the crews of the Louisiana and the Minnesota.” She paused and sat back. “Order both subs to join us at LEO above Peterson. Which is where our seven ships are now heading, thanks to the quick work of the boarding teams on the six captured ships.”
Bill heard the admiral grunt his understanding, then heard him speak into his own vacsuit comlink to the captains of the two subs. As his ally did that, he checked the system graphic holo on his left to confirm that their seven moving neutrino sources were the only such sources in Sol system. No new Collector ship had arrived during their covert boardings. His Weapons holo at the upper left showed all weapons and power levels at Green Operational. The true space holo at his upper right now showed the image of Earth growing larger and the transport Tall Trees moving away from the Seafloat with the nine freed captives. Similar transports were also leaving from the five other Collector ships as they sent home the captives aboard them. One team member acted as pilot with the help of that ship’s AI. Those transports would rejoin the Blue Sky and her six sister ships after they arrived above Peterson. Which took him to the comlink holo on his right. It showed Jane. Who looked directly at him as she spoke.
Escape 2: Fight the Aliens Page 17