by Nick Braker
“Magnus here.”
“Dude, got a jeep in the parking lot,” Brock told him. “Brand new, custom edition. This will do the job. I’m going to hotwire it but we’ll need to go, so get your butts here.”
“Time to leave,” he told them.
Magnus threw some cash on the table and they ran out. He spotted Brock at the other end of the parking lot. The jeep’s lights were already on and he was heading their way. They raced across the lot, meeting the jeep. The group jumped in with Magnus and Alara taking the back seats.
“Mag, I’ll take the highway to the facility but about ten miles out, there is a dirt road that runs along the south part. We don’t have a chance of getting close, though. Does Mira have it covered?”
“I’m about to find out,” he said, tapping his EP. “Mira, what do you have for me?”
“Exterior guards and alarms are down, no deaths,” she said. “You can get in safely but, once inside, things will get very dangerous. Looks like we are on the lamb with you now. Meet you at station C5.”
Magnus motioned Brock all clear. Brock drove the jeep through dry gullies, across rocky terrain and down the slope of a large hill. The perimeter fence was his last obstacle. He didn’t hesitate. Brock punched it, spinning up sand and rock behind him. It lurched forward, pushing them back in their seats. He covered the distance way too quickly.
“Heads down,” Brock yelled.
The jeep plowed through the metallic links, splitting it from top to bottom. The jeep’s windshield fractured into thousands of cracks, making it completely opaque. Warren kicked it twice, dislodging it from the jeep but the opening created another problem. The wind whipped into the vehicle bringing with it the sting of sand and dirt. They shielded their eyes while Brock screamed highway to hell. Alara was huddled in the back keeping her face down.
“You sure he’s not like you?” she yelled.
“Yeah,” Magnus yelled. “He has his moments but then he goes back to normal.”
“Let’s hope he doesn’t go back to normal right now.”
He couldn’t see her but he was sure she was smiling.
It was less than a minute later and Brock cut left, swerving to a stop in front of the building’s entrance. Two guards were laying off to the side, unconscious. The door to the facility opened and Zara poked her head out.
“Get inside and hurry,” she said. “Seph has deactivated the interior cameras but that is not going to help much.”
They jumped out and rushed into the hallway. The interior was familiar to him though he’d never been to this side of the base before.
“We do not have much time,” Zara said. “They cannot communicate with the exterior guards and--”
The base’s warning alarms went off.
“Okay, this is bad,” Zara said.
Magnus motioned them down the corridor. The icy interior felt good, reminding him of his time here. In hindsight, this place wasn’t so bad but now it was a death trap for all of them. They had to reach that ship. According to Grep, the test would begin soon in France. It was scheduled for Friday morning at 9am Paris time, at least that was the schedule. Would that mean an alien would wait, trying to be punctual? He only hoped the alien didn’t have a choice. Right now, he had to get a ship fast enough to reach Paris.
“We don’t want to kill anyone but remember it’s billions of people or these soldiers. I know some of them are friends. Do what you can but this has to succeed,” Magnus told them. “Our leaders aren’t going stop this test in Paris and since the President believes we can’t be trusted, they will shoot to kill.”
They all nodded.
“Seph and Warren, guard the door we came through and then bar it after Zara and Brock get back. We don’t need them flanking us. Brock, Zara, we need a diversion, something that will pull troops to the far left or right while we come up the middle. If I remember that hangar correctly, there are three entrances excluding the automated ceiling for the ship.”
He paused looking through the bulkhead door window. On the other side of this door was a fifty foot hallway that led to the hangar. The ship would be there as the only humans who could fly it were with him. The other two large hallway entrances were used to ferry cargo in and out for the ship. The WSO troops wouldn’t know which way they were attacking but, if Magnus’ team hurried, they had a better chance of succeeding than if they waited while WSO reinforced their positions.
“Give us two minutes,” Brock said.
The two of them took the right corridor that moved around the hangar and led to the right side cargo entrance.
“Okay, let’s do this,” Magnus said.
He opened the door and ran as fast as he could, staying low. This corridor wasn’t as wide as the other two but it allowed four people to walk side by side. There were several large metal crates pushed up against the walls. He knelt behind one.
Cover.
He motioned Jules and Mira to join him. Warren and Seph stayed guarding the doorway. He was only ten feet from the hangar entrance. It was a double swinging door, spring loaded to return the doors to a closed position.
“Magnus,” a voice said through the comm-system. “Come on out. You can’t win this. The ship is secured as is the hangar. You know we don’t want to hurt anyone but we have our orders. I spoke with the President myself. Order your people to stand down, Magnus.”
A comm-system panel was just above his head on the wall. Magnus’ shoulders dropped and he hung his head down. These were his friends, people he knew. Someone could get killed.
Hell, all of them could get killed. Why me?
“Magnus,” Zara said through his EP. “Explosion in twenty five seconds. We are on our way back to you.”
Twenty five seconds that will start a chain reaction of death.
“Get your head on straight,” Jules yelled at him from behind. “It is too late to think about what you want. We are here and you are the only one that can get us out now.”
Jules knew him well enough to see the weight this put on him. She must have sensed the reason behind his lack of action. Zara and Brock returned and took positions behind another crate on the wall several feet behind Magnus. Warren and Brock were at a decided disadvantage compared to the rest of them. He worried about them the most.
“Damn it. Jules, watch them,” he said.
She would know what he meant. He stood and hit the comm-system button.
“Magnus here. We’re giving up. We’re in the right side cargo entrance.”
He counted mentally down to one. The explosion blew the swinging double doors wide open. One of the doors ahead of him broke a hinge, staying open.
“With me,” he yelled.
Magnus rushed through the open door. The right side cargo entrance was in shambles. Several WSO personnel were down but he was thankful that they were at least still moving. Several guards near the left side cargo doors were already running toward the right side, taking cover. Some of them were surprised to see his team coming out the center entrance. The rest didn’t even notice. He fired first. Less than a second later, there was a room full of flying lead. Two guards fired at him directly. They both missed but Magnus’ shots did not. He took the first guard out with two shots to both legs. The guard dropped his weapon and crawled behind a forklift for cover. The other guard fired again. Magnus dove behind several pallets of boxes stacked on each other, sliding to a stop on the other side of them. It gave him another shot at the exposed guard. His shots hit again and the man dropped clutching his legs. He checked his six and found his team had spread out, taking cover. Seph was still with Warren. She had dropped one guard that he could see. Jules was with Brock. She pushed him down behind cover as the crate they were behind shredded under the fire of several WSO guards. He twisted around, firing at one of them. Another guard dropped, his shot grazing the man’s head. He ejected his clip and reloaded watching the other two take cover. The right set of guards were still down, obviously still affected by the blast. He counted on
ly two active guards on the right side. The left was a death trap if they went that way.
He double tapped his EP device. Warren and Brock were the only ones who could hear him but they would pass the message.
“Swing around to the right. Once there, use the ship as cover. Get inside ASAP.”
“Okay,” Warren responded.
He lunged toward the next set of pallets to the right side. Several of the guards were caught unaware and, by the time they pulled their triggers, he was safe. They opened up on him nonetheless. The bullets ripped through the boxes covering him. Two of their shots narrowly missed Magnus’ head and arm.
This is not cover.
He had to move but there was no way with these two on him. He couldn’t stay and he certainly couldn’t move out into the open. Seph and Brock fired at the guards. The suppressing fire did the trick and he moved further, getting behind another crate. From this point he had the two remaining guards in a pinching move. He took aim. Again, the guards dropped their weapons, clutching their wounds.
“Move,” he yelled.
The rest of them ran behind him as he rushed the alien ship. The guards on the left were playing catch up trying to get into position. The huge metallic ship was a barrier they couldn’t get a shot through. Jules started entering the codes to open the ramp from outside. The panel she worked on was just as alien as the others inside the ship. None of it made sense to him but the ramp slowly started to open anyway.
“Jump up on the ramp when you can. Get inside. Suppression fire now,” he ordered.
The group opened up, firing to each side of the ship. No guards could be seen but he hoped the gunfire would make them hesitate. He estimated they had about five more seconds before a guard would be in position to fire. They were in the open.
“Now!” he ordered, yelling for them to move as he motioned with his hands.
Brock threw Jules up. She grabbed the ramp, pulling herself up and squeezing in. Zara was next, followed by Seph, Alara and Mira. Warren jumped and got a hold of the ramp. He climbed in followed by Brock. The ramp was now low enough for Magnus to climb in but he was so busy helping the rest of them he didn’t see one of the guards had moved in behind him.
“Hold it right there, Magnus.”
“Carl?” Magnus responded.
“Magnus, I got orders. Stand down,” Carl told him.
The ramp stopped, fully open. Magnus turned, looking down the barrel of Carl’s gun. Carl played it smart though and had kept his distance. Magnus didn’t have a chance to grab it.
“Listen Carl. The aliens have taken over a top secret project in France--”
“Stand down!” Carl ordered.
“The world will be destroyed if we don’t stop them,” Magnus told him.
“Magnus, please. Stand down. I don’t want to do this.”
Three more guards joined Carl. They took positions to both cover Carl and to take Magnus down. Carl put up a hand, motioning them to hold.
“End this, Magnus. I believe you man but orders are orders. You know that,” Carl told him.
“Yeah, I admire that about you but I’m still getting inside that ship. All I ask is that you look the other way.”
“Can’t do that. Last chance,” Carl said.
Magnus took a step back toward the ramp.
“Magnus...” Carl warned.
“The world is at stake, Carl.”
He took another step.
“Take him down,” Carl ordered.
Magnus dove for the ramp. Light and sound exploded around him, blinding and deafening him. He hit the ramp hard. It knocked the wind from him and he laid there, unable to move. Hands from the ship pulled him in, dragging him along its length. Magnus couldn’t even get his legs under him to help. His body was numb and limp.
What happened? Why am I not dead?
The ramp moved now. Closing.
What just happened?
“I got you, brother Magnus,” Brock told him. “You’re safe.”
“How?” Magnus managed.
Why were they speaking so quietly?
His voice was hoarse and hurt with the effort to speak.
“Zara blasted them with a low power laser burst. Looks like you got hit too. They’ll live,” Brock said. “Get on your feet, dude.”
Magnus rolled himself over with Brock’s help, trying to move his legs.
“I think I’ll stay here a bit longer,” Magnus told him. “Legs are not cooperating. Am I hurt?”
He still couldn’t see except for spots of light from the ship’s interior. Brock was just a blur in the near blackness around him. His hearing worked but Brock sounded like he was whispering at the end of a long tunnel.
“No, nothing visible anyway. Hey, man, we’re already moving. Looks like we’re going to have to blow through the ceiling. I hope the debris doesn’t hit anyone down there.”
“Hell. That laser blast hurt,” he said.
His throat felt worse the more he talked. Brock laughed at him.
“We made it, Magnus. Nice plan. I think,” he said, laughing some more.
“Tell Jules to get us to France,” he ordered, coughing.
The spasm lasted several seconds before he got it under control.
“Here you go, sweetie,” a female voice said.
Someone handed him a cup. He drank from it, not even questioning it.
“Mira?” Magnus asked.
“Yes, it is not Brock, I assure you. I guess you still cannot see well,” she said.
“Hey, Mira. You okay, girl?” Brock asked her.
“Yeah, all of us are. Looks like Magnus was the only one hit and it was Zara that blasted him,” she said.
“I owe her one,” Magnus said, trying to put a grin on his face.
He could hear the smile on Mira’s face. She cared for him more than she let on. Jules wasn’t here though and that bothered him.
“Magnus, we are not heading to France, yet. We are stopping by WSO first,” Mira told him.
“Why?” he asked.
They had a good reason or they would not be stopping.
“Grep needs a lift,” she said. “Now let me give you a hand. Brock is just standing there ready to burst out laughing at you.”
He smirked at her.
“I know where my friends are,” Magnus told her.
“Dude, if you needed some assistance like mouth to mouth resuscitation, you were a dead man,” Brock laughed.
“Strangely, I’m okay with that,” he said.
He could mentally see Mira rolling her eyes. She helped him to the bridge. His legs moved slowly, feeling like they were asleep from lack of circulation, only a hundred times worse. His vision was returning slowly. Shadows moved around him along with the ship’s lights, piercing the gray fog over his eyes.
The alien ship landed at WSO’s top secret facility outside of D.C. The facility was built specifically for this. Its singular purpose was to land the ship as quickly as possible, minimizing visibility from locals. Built at ground level was a single building with an aperture for a roof twice the size of the ship. The aperture opened when needed giving the ship access to land inside. The building was on governmentally restricted land surrounded by large trees, all designed to reduce the chance of prying eyes. It worked best at night, as daytime landing attempts would be far more difficult to conceal.
“So how does this work?” Warren asked her.
“We hover overhead and turn off all systems that generate light. That means the ship’s engines, too,” Seph told him.
Warren had a sweet, gentle soul and was comely but Seph really wished he were more astute. He seemed inquisitive enough but surely he would be better off with an accelerated version of himself.
“Seph and I designed it and WSO built it so we could get in and out when needed. It is not intended to be used often, eventually someone will see it,” Jules said.
“We drop at a high rate of speed in blackout mode and then accelerate in the opposite direction af
ter entering the facility,” Seph explained.
Jules brought the ship into a high altitude approach, hovering over the building. It was just a speck on the screen from this distance. She cut all exterior lighting and turned off the engines. The ship dropped like a rock.
“I have some measure of maneuvering ability using the gravity well generator. It can adjust pitch and yaw enough to let me drop inside safely. After that, we have twenty stories to land safely,” she said.
“Dear god. Sounds dangerous,” Warren said.
“It’s just the same as landing with the engines actively providing lift.”
“We’re falling right now?” Brock asked.
“No, we’ve landed.” Jules told him.
“What? I didn’t feel anything.” Brock exclaimed.
“You will not. I have the gravity well, engines and computer system synced to control all inertial forces we would normally experience. Since I know the path I am taking ahead of time, the ship can anticipate and adjust so we feel nothing,” Jules said.
Jules smiled, patting herself on the back. Seph laughed inwardly, heading for the ramp. She looked forward to seeing Grep again. In fact, she could categorize it as excitement, a feeling she found refreshing and very new. No other person made her feel this way. She loved her mother and father very much but even her mother’s story telling time and father’s tractor rides could not compare.
The ramp opened and began to lower. She stood there at the top of it, waiting for it to stop. Grep stepped up. Her heart raced seeing him. He smiled back at her. She knew he wanted to say so much but now was not the time. He took a step toward her. She took one toward him. He grinned at her and she returned the grin. They both took another step and another, finally both of them burst out laughing and ran into each other’s arms.
“I missed you,” they said together.
“Ready?” they said in unison again.
“Your approach vectors were slightly--” Grep said.
“--skewed. Yes, Jules’ aerodynamic equations--” Seph said.