by T I WADE
“Commander Joot, Elder Roo, we need to ready ourselves to enter an orbit of Earth,” stated Ryan ten days later, and 100,000 miles from Earth.
“Why do we need to prepare ourselves to enter our old atmosphere? Nothing has changed on Earth for 10,000 years,” the unknowing Commander replied.
For the next several hours, the two Matts learned for the first time, how warlike people on Earth had stopped the world’s advancement of their planet, as well as outer space. Ryan wasn’t kind to his species, and both Jonesy and VIN noticed a change in their boss. He would certainly not take any of the bull crap this time.
The two Matts looked at Ryan as if he was telling them a fictional story. All this “war”, whatever that was, killing your own tribe, made absolutely no sense to them. Once Ryan had done his worst, Captain Pete continued, then Igor, and finally VIN and Suzi who spent hours trying to explain how the most intelligent species on Earth was the most destructive to the whole planet, and to each other.
Slowly, and over the last couple of days before reaching the 20,000 mile barrier, the Matts prepared themselves mentally for Armageddon, while the Tall People went over ideas and strategies to get what they wanted down on the pretty, innocent-looking mother Earth growing back to normal size below them.
“Tiny blips by the hundreds, incoming from every direction; closest blip is at 3,000 miles and closing,” stated Captain Pete twenty-four hours later. The ship had just passed through the 15,000 mile barrier and was about to go into a high orbit to give the arrogant Earthlings below a chance to see that “Big Brother” had arrived and was watching them.
The crew had all agreed that strong arm tactics would be necessary once they had cleared space of all these little cubes. Phase One was to survive the initial attacks, maybe several of them, without firing a shot. They didn’t have to wait long for the radar screens to fill with piranha-type drones wanting a bite out of them. Phase Two of the plan was to halt all daily launches by destroying their launch bases. Ryan was sure there were confident smiling faces down there, dozens of them, ready to eliminate the returning enemy. He explained to the Matts that Astermine Inc. and America One had “owned” the area of space above the planet before they left a decade ago, and he was sure he had metaphorically kicked many powerful men where they hurt. These men had a desperate need to even the score.
“Reminds me of the movie, ‘The Matrix’,” said VIN, unhappy that he wasn’t allowed to shoot back. He, Ryan, Jonesy, Allen and a few others were on the Bridge to see the action. The shield around America One was on full power. Ten percent of the nuclear reactor power was being fed into the one shield.
Each of the craft inside the shield, the three shuttles, the two mining craft, and the remaining personal craft of Commander Joot positioned with a newly attached docking port and connected to the mother ship on Asterspace Three’s port, also had their shields up to protect each ship in case something happened to another.
“Why the ‘Matrix’?” asked Ryan.
“You know, when all those steel attackers attacked the ships. They were controlled by a single source. These blips, you can see are not. They are taking out each other as the close in on us. They are feeding off each other, the stupid cubes. Watch them explode. Look there goes another, there,” he stated pointing at a minute explosion out in space and then one blip disappeared from the screens.
“ETA, two minutes,” stated Captain Pete. “Incoming at about 25,000 miles an hour.”
Staring out towards Earth, VIN could see that the ship was changing course and about to go into orbit. The planet was about to disappear underneath them, until Captain Pete began turning her very slowly to face the brightness of the planet. It didn’t matter which way they faced, the cubes were coming in from a hundred different directions, and were still beating each other up as they closed.
Suddenly, the first tiny explosion flashed against the shield. It was so small that it looked like a mosquito had exploded. Then there was another, and then the entire shield around them began to light up as thousands of tiny insects exploded against the impenetrable blue wall.
“They could all get through and terminate us if they went slow enough,” stated VIN watching the free fireworks display.
“Are they so stupid on Earth?” Young Mars Noble asked the group watching.
“Do you know how these shields work, Mars?” his father asked. Mars shook his head back and forth that he didn’t. “Well nor do they, and nor do we,” smiled his father not taking his eyes off the machine massacre.
For an hour the shield lit up like a fireworks display, then it slowly decreased in hits, until it finally stopped altogether.
“Head down to 10,000 miles altitude, Captain Pete,” Ryan ordered. “I think we left a complete ring of debris behind us.”
“Aye, aye, Skipper,” responded the captain and directed the ship, still travelling at 19,000 miles an hour, into a steeper dive to get to the lower altitude.
Twelve hours later a hundred or so more insects took the bait and a second layer of debris was scattered at the new level. The same happened at 5,000 miles, then 2,000 miles, and by the time they reached a low-altitude orbit four days later, there wasn’t one speck on the radar. They were totally alone in orbit around Earth, until the next day’s insects were to be unleashed.
The crew counted 35 hits the next day at 1,000 miles altitude, and the same amount the next day at 200 miles. The Bridge now had ten coordinates of the bases these daily gnats were launching from. Five were in China, two in the United States, one in North Korea and two in Iran.
On the seventh day and at 150 miles altitude, they were again hit by nearly 60 cubes, and most were from the same locations. It seemed to Ryan that four countries had increased launches of the cubes to try to destroy the incoming spaceship. He wondered if the people on the ground knew that every cube in orbit had been destroyed. He hoped they did.
An hour after the larger cube attack on the seventh day, he began to get angry, it was time to hit back. This time, and after a briefing with the astronauts, the three shuttles gently moved out of the main shield, and decreased the size of their shields so that each of their front-facing lasers stuck out of the shield by inches. Three quarters of each shuttle was still protected by the shield and they fanned out.
Ryan and Captain Pete had recorded the launches from the countries dispatching daily cubes. It took about 12 hours for the cubes, using all of their fuel he assumed, to attack them. So far Russia, the whole of Europe and Australia had not launched one cube, and he was sure every important person around the planet knew they had returned. So far nobody had tried to communicate with them, and he had not tried to communicate with Earth. This was totally silent warfare.
Jonesy had VIN as gunner and VIN was itching to get started. “Three hundred miles off your starboard bow, Boss, and decreasing altitude through 140 miles. I expect to be at 120 miles within three hours. Allen is in line 100 miles behind me and Michael likewise,” Jonesy reported to Ryan. They were not worried about using radio. There was nothing left to attack them, yet!
All four craft were directly over North Korea when that country released the first cube a couple of hours later and all three craft spent the ten long minutes before they headed over the horizon blasting the launch site and the ten-mile square military base. VIN could not see much except massive fireballs and explosions as the lasers went in and destroyed everything bigger than a small rock on the base. At 120 miles above the country it was easy pickings, and through the powerful cameras, he and the other gunners, Boris in SB-II and Igor in SB-I, could see much of the damage they were inflicting on the base.
Since the shuttles had 12 hours before the cubes became dangerous, they could relax and fire at will.
Twenty minutes later the first cube lifted off from Allen’s old base in Las Vegas and surprisingly a second cube from Ryan’s home base.
“One incoming from our old airfield,” VIN reported to Ryan.
“Can you see where the laun
ch pad is?” Ryan asked VIN. Jonesy had decreased the shield so that the cameras were also out in the blackness of space, which helped tremendously.
“Yep! About 800 yards south of the runway. Nothing much has changed down there. I wouldn’t have seen the launch pad if the rocket hadn’t fired. I saw its heat impact on takeoff. Actually there are three launch pads in a line about half a mile south of the runway, Boss.”
“VIN, take out all three. Boris, Igor, you clear the launch site around Nellis Air Force Base. Anybody down there on my old base, or Nellis Air Force Base, better get away from those launch pads. Gentlemen, commence firing,” Ryan ordered, and the sites exploded into twisted metal in minutes.
“Launch from Andrews on the East Coast,” Captain Pete reported.
“Got it!” stated all three gunners and as they passed over Kansas a large open area of Andrews Air Force Base became history. Still, apart from Ryan warning the people below with his radio communiques, no one had spoken a word over any radio frequency, and the ships were monitoring hundreds of frequencies.
Three launch pads were destroyed in Iran fifteen minutes after leaving the U.S. East Coast; the heavy work of the orbit was in China, where several pads were terminated. North Korea tried for a second time from two new sites as they flew over, and these were terminated. The U.S. seemed angry now and a dozen sites across the U.S., all Air Force bases, had a hundred square feet of structure bent and twisted with dozens of explosions on the second round. Iran tried with two more and then China wanted to show its mighty power. The gunners worked up a sweat firing their guns at over 20 launch sites, flattening the direct areas around them.
On the third pass, five hours into the mission, they worked hard as Earth and its people seemed to throw everything they had at the visitors from outer space. VIN had never had so much fun in his lifetime. Even Russia ignited with 12 sites on this pass, and Boris and Igor laughed because they knew from where each cube was launched.
On the fifth pass they flew completely around the planet without seeing one launch. The leaders of the countries on Earth wanted to witness the destruction of the alien enemy, however, they were going to be disappointed.
When they had incoming, the three shuttles increased the size and power of their shields to full, and the attacking cubes beat themselves to death against their shields.
Twenty-four hours later, when the last of the cubes had attacked, Ryan issued a broadcast over as many frequencies as the mother ship could relay through the shuttle radio systems. The shuttles, several thousand miles apart, were in a line around the planet.
“America One to planet Earth. We here in space have seen how you welcomed our return to Earth. In forty hours my crew have destroyed 12,114 of your little attackers, whatever they were. Please believe me, except for any new launches in the last hour, America One is the only piece of metal up here. Earth does not have one satellite or cube, or whatever you guys launch into space in orbit. I now control all of space above the Karman line, and my ship will rain down destruction if you cannot figure that out. There is one great service you have done though, and I thank you for that. The space junk in lower space orbit is virtually non-existent since we left a decade ago. Thank you for cleaning up my territory.” Ryan paused to allow anybody to respond, nobody did.
“As you may have figured out, we have been busy since we have been away. We were not on vacation, and new technology defends us from your attacks. We will continue to level your launch pads until……”
Suddenly several much larger missiles were launched out of silos around the world. “Gunners take out those bases, every damn inch of structure is to be destroyed, now!” ordered Ryan angrily. America One was over the United States, and three of the missiles came up from bases across the country. VIN was closest to America One, 3,000 miles behind, and Vandenberg Air Force base in California was the first to feel the blast of his laser. Then he hit a base in Kansas, and finally a base in Maryland before heading over the horizon ten minutes later. The smoke rising from the U.S. bases could be seen from space with the naked eye.
Two of the incoming missiles were Chinese, from the same base, and Igor began leveling that site. One missile was from the government headquarters in Pyongyang, and Boris happily began destroyed the large stone government buildings, floor by floor. The Iron Dome systems had no response to the lasers.
They had several minutes before nuclear missiles, or whatever the much larger titan-size rockets carried, gained enough altitude to be fired upon.
Igor took out the Californian missile first as it reached a 100-mile altitude as he passed over the Chinese east coast.
It was harder to blast at rising missiles below them, but once they reached a decent altitude, they had their lock-and-shoot aimers catch the target, and they disintegrated within a minute or two. Many of the missiles’ nuclear warheads weren’t armed yet, except the North Korean missile which exploded on impact, lighting up space for a hundred miles around as VIN took it out 300 miles ahead of him.
Two hours after the launches, space was once again quiet, until Ryan’s voice calmly went over the airwaves.
“Again thank you for your welcome. Now I am going to destroy the thousands of ‘Iron Dome’ protection sites each of your countries have. I know many are mobile, but believe me, once you have witnessed the destruction of your launch sites, you might be a little friendlier towards our return. China, the United States of America, how about if I destroy your protection first and let the rest of the world attack you like a bunch of hyenas. Mr. President, I hear that Israel might be the first to want a piece of you; I understand you owe them some money. China, I’m sure South Korea and Japan would love to retaliate for the way you bullied them over trade policies for the last few decades. I suggest you reply by radio, and not by launching missiles, within 24 hours, or I am going to get really angry. How would you feel about such a welcoming party? And, you may not believe it, but I was returning in peace,” Ryan added sarcastically. “That policy has now been suspended because of the stupidity of launching your useless and obsolete weapons. I haven’t even started to unleash my new firepower yet; you won’t believe what is physically possible.” Ryan smiled and winked at Captain Pete who was smiling back. There was nothing better than a good bluff at the poker table when necessary.
It took an hour before the radios aboard America One squawked. One by one the countries asked him what he wanted. The United States was first. It seemed that they had more to lose than the rest, and offered Ryan whatever he wanted. His reply was that he wanted the U.S. off his property, his airfield security back in place, several truckloads of liquid hydrogen, the free use of the Dead Chicken, if it was still in one piece, and something the U.S. government didn’t expect; a mile long new tarmac runway slap bang in the middle of the Sahara Desert, right in the middle of absolutely nowhere.
When they asked why, he promptly replied that he was moving out of the U.S. and setting up a new base of operations in a place it would take incoming rockets from the more powerful countries several minutes to get to.
That seemed to appease them, especially when Ryan told them that he was expecting to pay them for their services with Rare Earth metals, the resources they desperately needed to build more modern electronics for their weapons. Ryan knew the reason China was more powerful than the U.S. was because they held most of the world supplies of the rarest metals used for advanced weapons. All modern weapons needed the Rare Earth metals and Ryan was prepared to barter them for freedom to travel on Earth.
Once the American government knew that they were going to be the major recipient of the valuable resources it took them only hours to deploy military engineers and the equipment needed to make runways aboard heavy military aircraft ready to leave for Libya. The valuable metals would enable them to continue making arms and weapons, and they would not be attacked anymore by other countries on the old air routes,
The Dead Chicken landed at Ryan’s airfield 73 minutes after he ended his transmission wit
h the American government, and after asking them for a radio frequency to connect with the Libyan government. If the madman wanted to be in the middle of a desert, so be it, they mused to themselves.
North Korea was second on the line and Ryan simply told them to stand down, stop firing any missiles, or else. He said the same to Iran, telling each country that if they tried a surprise attack on any of his ships inside Earth’s atmosphere, or fired on any land or sea target, heavy retributions would blast down at them from the heavens. America One and dozens of her ships would be orbiting ready to repel any attacks.
It took the Chinese another two hours to call. They must have been sizing up the contestant to their throne as the world’s new powerhouse. Besides that, their country was in disarray, more so than the other world powers. Ryan realized that after pondering the information his friend in Montreal had given him. The entire growth of China before he left was due to exports and trade with the rest of the world. It was quite simple; losing all that trade must have been disastrous for the Chinese government and its economy; much of the country would have had to return to subsistence production and farming to survive.
The call didn’t take long. They were not polite, bluntly asking him what he wanted. He told them that he wanted to be left alone, and that they would suffer even more if any attacks were made against him. That was the last he heard from them.
Now that Ryan had assumed world control, several other countries flooded him with warm welcomes, thanking him for making the major powers back down, and offering help in any way they could.
Ryan’s last call was to a new government he hadn’t heard of in Tripoli, Libya. His simple request was to build an airfield, allow U.S. military trucks to enter their country to build a dirt road, and lease part of a desert for a year, a part they considered to be of no use whatsoever, for a large diamond worth a billion dollars. They rubbed their hands together and happily agreed.