The Off-Worlders

by George Willson

  “Look for a road along here,” Blake said. Turner found a gap in a fence with what looked like a disused trail. He pulled the car through it and drove carefully over the ground. As they drove, the ground beyond a point appeared to disappear. Turner finally stopped the car and turned the lights off to allow their eyes to adjust to the dark.

  “I don’t much like driving where I can’t see the path ahead,” Turner said.

  “I agree,” Blake said. “Let’s go.”

  All four of them got out of the car and walked over the rise of the field. Had Turner kept driving, he would have had solid ground to drive on, but the field was bare except for a few trees here and there. There was nothing out there. Blake looked at his scanner.

  “According to this, it should be about a hundred yards directly in front of us,” Blake said.

  “There is nothing there,” Michelle said.

  “Nothing we can see,” Perry noted.

  “You can’t turn a ship invisible,” Turner said. “You can hide it from a scanner, but if you look at it with your naked eyes, it’s there clear as day.”

  “Well, I’ve got a ship on my scanner, and it certainly isn’t visible,” Blake said. “I’d also like to remind you that time travel isn’t possible either. There are many things in this universe, and just because we haven’t heard of them, that doesn’t mean they aren’t there. Even in this time period, humans have pulled off some level of rudimentary technological invisibility. I would find it plausible that some other more advanced culture in this time would be further along.”

  “So what do we do?” Michelle asked.

  “We find a way in,” Blake said. Using his scanner, he approached the place where the ship should be and as he got closer, he held out his hand to make sure he did not run into it. The others followed suit holding both hands out as they drew closer. Suddenly, Perry yelped and jerked back.

  “I found it,” he called out. “And it hurt.”

  “Hm, shields aren’t usually painful to touch,” Blake said. “Maybe I can open a hole in it.”

  They all watched Blake as he held his scanner up to the side of where the ship should be. They could not see it at all, which means that whatever technology the ship was using to hide itself from Turner’s scanning technology, it was also able to make itself invisible, which was why nobody had seen it this entire time. Blake tapped a few settings on the screen of his scanner in order to work on the shield. Eventually, a sort of light came out of the front of the scanner and shined against the shielded area. A circular opening appeared in the shield and behind it, they could see a bit of the ship.

  “Go ahead and try to touch the ship now Perry,” Blake said

  “Oh sure,” Perry said, “ask me to do it because I already got shocked once.”

  “I can ask someone else,” Blake said.

  “No, I got it,” Perry said.

  Perry reached his hand into the hole that Blake had opened and touched the side of the ship. What they could see of it was gray metal, and the hole he had opened was only a wall with no sign of door or opening.

  “I'm going to try to extend the field,” Blake said. “Give me just a moment.”

  Blake tapped a few more buttons on his scanner which opened the field size to view more off the ship. He eventually got it to about the height of a person so that when they found a door, there would be room for the door to cut through the shield. He walked along the side of the ship with everyone close behind as he held the scanner out examining the side of the ship.

  “If we're lucky,” Blake said, “we can find a door and just walk in.”

  “You really think it'll be that easy?” Perry asked.

  “Well, it's hard to say,” Blake said. “When a ship elects to land, it has to have a way to lock, but we should be able to work around that.”

  They walked down the side of the ship for several yards until they finally found what looked like a door in the side of the ship. Blake handed the scanner to Perry and looked at the side of the door. There was a panel with a switch to open it. He pressed what appeared to be the button to open it, but it denied them entry. It was locked, so he pulled his lockpick out.

  “Well, you seem prepared for just about everything,” Turner said.

  “It's just that I don't like to be trapped outside of locked doors,” Blake said. “Especially if we need to get past them for some reason.”

  “I don't suppose I can get some of that tech for myself,” Turner said.

  “That's not really for me to say,” Blake said. “It all depends on what's available to you. I know that whatever technology I bring with me from the future, I have to take it back with me.”

  Blake pressed the side of the electronic lockpick up against the door. They heard a click on the inside. Blake pressed the open button again, and the door popped open. He took the scanner back from Perry and turned off the scanner field, and while the field shrunk around the door, it remained visible as it broke the field. The shield appeared to form around the door allowing entry.

  “It is probable that Pingrit has some kind of device that opens the door for him so that he can enter his ship easily while it is hidden,” Blake said.

  “I suppose it would be useful to find that frequency wouldn't?” Perry said.

  “Yes, it would come in handy,” Blake said agreed. “But for the moment, I’d say there isn’t time.”

  The four of them entered the front of the ship’s cargo bay. At the back of the expansive area which was completely empty, there was a large door that took up the entire wall and opened downward to form a ramp. While the bay was large, it did not appear big enough to accommodate the ship that belonged to the hunter that Talkisan killed. Opposite the bay door was a short hall that attached to a couple of rooms. One appeared to be a medical bay with white, clean walls, a metal bed, and an array of cabinetry. The other was a locker room where field items were likely stored. They opened a couple of the lockers, but they were empty. An empty rack possibly used for weapon rested against one of the walls.

  “There’s nothing down here,” Perry said.

  “Where do we need to go?” Michelle asked.

  “The beacon needs to be plugged into the ship’s communication system on the bridge,” Turner said. “I know that seems inconvenient in this case, but it’s primarily made for abandoned vessels or those where the criminal has been captured to impound it. It isn’t often we get onto one where the perp could actually still be on board.”

  “Comforting,” Perry said.

  “Blake, can you tell us if he’s on board?” Turner asked.

  “He isn’t right now,” Blake said, looking at his scanner. “That shield is wreaking havoc on my little scanner so I have no idea what’s going on outside, but at the moment, I don’t believe he is here.”

  “Can you tell us the moment he arrives?” Turner asked.

  “I can’t stare at my scanner the entire time,” Blake said. “That’s not exactly something it was made for. It has no alerts or proximity alarms. It is primarily a device for scientific analysis. It just has a lot of other functions that are useful like scanning for lifeforms and alien tech.”

  He put the scanner back in his pocket. “I’ll look at it every once in awhile,” he said, “but whatever this invisibility and anti-scan tech he’s using is, the little thing doesn’t like being inside of it.”

  “Well, let’s get to the bridge so we can get the beacon in place before he comes back.” Turner said. “Worst case scenario would be that he comes back, and we hide until the ship gets picked up with us in it. Then we have to hope that the life support still works and that it is still sealed.”

  They walked up a stairway to the upper level. Past the cargo bay was a common room with an exit forward and one on each side of the room. Taking the forward exit, they walked along a short hall until they came to a short stairway up with a ladder going down right next to it. Turner said the down ladder went to the engine room which linked up to engines mounted on each s
ide of the ship. They walked up the short run of six steps and entered the bridge.

  The bridge looked out a set of windows across the field outside. Right behind these windows was a semi-circular control panel with two chairs. Behind this, on each side of the room, were two more stations with their own control panels that formed semi-circular walls around two more chairs for a total of four in the room. Beyond the what was built-in, the bridge had a variety of different items all over the room using the panels as tables and possibly the room as storage accepting the idea that the ship would not fly again. Turner talked them through the configuration.

  “In the front of the bridge, here, you have a position for the pilot and navigator,” Turner explained. “The pilot is usually on the right, and based on the controls, that looks like the way this one is laid out. On the right at the back is where the captain usually sits which is why these controls are primarily diagnostic in nature. It gives the captain a bird’s eye view of the systems of the entire ship in one glance. Not a lot of detail, but the captain doesn’t need that. If he has a fully staffed ship, an expert can get that for him.

  “On the other side, here, is what we came for. This is the communication station. While there are some rudimentary controls for communicating with other ships at the other stations, just in case the communications person isn’t here, the complex stuff is all here. All ships are manufactured with a standard plug for our little beacon, so unless there has been some modification, it should be down here somewhere.”

  Turner crawled underneath the communication panel on the back left of the bridge. He opened a panel that was attached via a hinge. Then he opened another one. He looked over the side of the legs by the floor and then across the top of the controls.

  “It isn’t here,” Turned said. “I can see the place where it is supposed to be, but it was removed.”

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Turner looked over the communication station again to see if he had missed the connection port for the beacon that sent a message to his people to remove the damaged ship from Earth, but it was gone. They had to do something else.

  “So now what?” Blake asked.

  “Well, the bridge is the easiest to find location,” Turner said. “Communications have two more major points on the ship. There’s the engine room that powers everything, and the actual communication system, which could be anywhere.”

  The sound of the exterior door rang out from the cargo hold. They all looked at each other.

  “He’s back!” Michelle said.

  “Engine room!” Turner said.

  They all ran off the bridge to the ladder leading downward. One by one, they all quickly descended into the belly of the ship hoping that the last of them could get down before Pingrit got far enough into the ship to catch them. Blake was the last down.

  “I didn’t see him,” Blake said.

  Turner gestured for them to follow him further into the quiet engine room. There were some lights on the floor, but for the most part, the room was dark. Based on the layer of dust on everything, Pingrit never came down here. Unfortunately, there was also no way out, so they could not stay here. There were control panels on both sides of the room next to hallways with doors that sealed them off. Windows in those doors show they led to additional areas attached to the actual engines on each side of the ship. There were also buttons and diagnostics on a large wall-sized panel at the back of the room against what would be the cargo hold section. That area was completely dark except for a few lights here and there.

  Because there was no hatch blocking the engine room from the rest of the ship, they all knew they had to be as quiet as possible or else their voices and movements would alert Pingrit that he has visitors trapped below.

  “Well, we’re in the engine room,” Blake whispered. “Any chance of finding that connection in here?”

  “I never learned where it would be in an engine room,” Turner said. “I have no idea. Can you scan for it?”

  “The scanner doesn’t work that way,” Blake said. “I have to know what I’m scanning for, or at least, what I’m not scanning for?”

  “Can we try looking around for it?” Michelle asked. “What does it look like?”

  “Kind of like a USB port,” Turner said. Perry and Michelle just stared at him. Blake appeared to be thinking about this one. “You have got to be kidding me.”

  “You’re going to have to be more specific,” Blake said. “I know about about a hundred variations of plugs referred to as ‘USB Ports.’”

  “I’ve never heard of one,” Perry said.

  “Me either,” Michelle added.

  “Ok, now I believe you’re time travelers,” Turner said. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the little beacon device. It was a small square that fit comfortably into the palm of his hand with a short, rectangular plug on one side. “This is what we’re looking for,” Turner said, pointing to the plug end. “In this room, I’m not sure if it is part of a control panel like it is on the bridge, or if it more like where it is as part of the master communication array where it is little more than a hole in a panel in the wall. If it is down here, we may end up tearing the place apart to find it.”

  “Then we’ll have to be quiet about it,” Blake whispered as they heard footsteps pass overhead, walking to the bridge. “Mr. Turner, you did close those plates you opened on that communication panel up there, right?”

  “What the…” they heard echo down from above. A look at Turner’s face showed that he did not, and the voice exclamation indicated that it was already discovered.

  “Quickly,” Blake whispered. “This room is exposed. Everyone very quietly get into one the of engine shafts.”

  They split into pairs and found that the doors to the engines were simple, regular doors that opened quietly. They each closed them softly behind them. Michelle ended up hiding with Perry, and they crouched directly behind the door under the window hoping that Pingrit would only give the room a quick glance through the hole in the floor before assuming whoever was here had moved on, allowing him to do the same.

  Of course, the prime questions revolved around why he came back, and why he went to the bridge. The assumption as to his current activity was that he was working on the hunter’s ship, and Blake had expressed concern that his sabotage was so simple that Pingrit would quickly correct it. He was still here, so perhaps that meant he had not done so yet. As for why he went to the bridge, Michelle did not know what everything was that he had stashed in there, but she supposed he needed something from there.

  “How long do you think we should wait in here?” Michelle asked.

  “I’m not sure,” Perry said. “It would make sense for him to check the entire ship. My hope is that Blake can follow his movements and let us know when he is gone.”

  Michelle nodded. After a few minutes of torturous waiting, they heard a soft tap on the window of their door. They stood up, and Blake was on the other side. He put his finger over his mouth, and they nodded. He opened the door.

  “He is in the common room up there,” Blake whispered. “Let’s do our check in here for that port so we can be ready to move when he does. I’m really hoping he finds a room and passes out.”

  They fanned out to each check one of the control panels in the room as well as any wall panels that might be removable since Turner was not sure where in the engine room the socket would be. They crept around the room as softly as possible checking everywhere they could see. Blake used his light to check in any shadowed areas, but in the end, there was a lot of shaking heads.

  “So this third spot is our last hope,” Blake whispered. “Where do we need to go?”

  “On this ship, I have no idea,” Turner said. “The communications on a ship channel through a single final system before broadcasting the signal. It always has its own area on board, and once we find it, I’ll know it, but because no one ever accesses it, designers always place it in random locations convenient to ship layout. At the same time, we
are very likely to be able to use it.”

  “If he had a working communication system,” Perry said, “Wouldn’t he have used it to contact his friends out there?”

  “Depends on the reason his ship crashed,” Turner said. “Sometimes, guys like this don’t have friends. They’re on their own, and as a result, when they get stranded like this, they’re out of luck. The thing is that whether the system is operational or not, the beacon will still function. It’s kind of weird how it works, but that’s how it was designed.”

  “And if there is no slot up there?” Michelle asked.

  “Then we’ll have to disable the shield he has around his ship,” Turner said. “This beacon is our preferred method because it can not only see through any kind of scanner cloaking, it can also read the ship systems which enables us to send the appropriate tow ship to drag it off-world. The other version, which sucks, forces me to estimate all kinds of stuff to guess what kind of tow ship to send, and as I said, the shield would need to be disabled so it can be located. I don’t like using that one, but there is one in the car just in case.”

  “Point taken,” Blake said.

  Footfalls sounded from overhead. Blake pointed back to the engine passages. As Michelle and Perry hid back in the one they had stayed in before, they heard Pingrit come into the engine room. They remained pinned against the opposite side of the door, just inches from him. None of them figured he would have a reason to come into these short access areas. Unlike the bridge, there was nothing stored in these places.

  After what felt like an eternity, he left again. They heard him climb the ladder and out of the engine room. Not that this helped too much, of course. As long as he remained on the ship, their safety was in jeopardy. They noticed the engine near them, which had been humming softly anyway, started humming a bit louder.

  “What’s going on with that?” Michelle asked reflexively. She looked at Perry who appeared equally confused.

  A tap sounded at the door, and Michelle saw Blake gesturing to them. They exited the tube and stood together once more in the engine room. However, unlike before, Blake went to the main engine panel at the front of the chamber. The panel on the wall was lit up far more than it had been.