by Charles Lamb
She sat in her living room, legs curled up under her as she sat on the couch, eating and listening to music. One of her secret delights was that she knew more about music than Jake did. Since there had been over 70 years between the time he went into stasis and the NeHaw attack, he had missed decades of songs and artists.
While there were volumes of songs she had no interest in, there was plenty that did. She really enjoyed introducing Jake to new music, stuff she knew about and he didn’t. She knew it was a bit petty, but it was fun knowing things Jake did not.
----*----
HeBak had slipped his ship in amongst the inbound vessels, as they appeared at the edge of the solar system. With the cloaking system engaged, his biggest concern was a drastic maneuver by one of the nearby ships would cause a collision. Once he was securely positioned near one of the larger vessels, he set his navigation control to mimic its every move until they reached the third planet from the star.
He again reviewed all the possible landing sites, evaluating the risk of detection against the value of the metals there. He had narrowed the earlier possibilities to three potential locations, each providing a remote location, far from the areas occupied by the troublesome residents.
Satisfied he had considered all his options, he deferred the final decision to once they arrived. The location selected for orbit would be the deciding factor.
----*----
It had been far too long since Jake had experienced an old fashion barbeque. Chris had gone all out to provide for his honored guests. Jake was surprised to learn that the compound had been provided with a small stasis locker, about the size of a walk-in freezer. Chris went on about what a great addition it had been.
As Jake watched, they fired up several wood-fired barbecues in the courtyard, and pulled large slabs of meat from the stasis locker. In watching all the activity, Jake realized he was incredibly spoiled, living with ALICE. Observing everyone involved with feeding a compound full of people, he realized the effort it took. Should they have had to provide the same manual labor, likely a quarter to a third of his staff would have to be dedicated to the care and feeding of the others.
Having his multiple offers to assist refused, Jake found himself on the roof of the main building. He could see the smoke rising from the courtyard below, while those with him readied everything else. Here, they had several long tables with bench seating, all lined up for the festivities.
Trying to stay out of everyone’s way, Jake found himself at the edge of the rooftop, looking southwest and watching the sun as it was setting. While he was too far inland to the see the ocean, he knew it was not far off. The air had that sea smell to it that the Nevada desert air lacked. Even with all the activity around him, Jake had a sense of loneliness.
In a moment of reflection, he wondered what he was doing, trying to lead these people. He watched as everyone went about their duties, laughing and joking with one another. He marveled at their carefree attitudes, seemingly oblivious to the threats from outside the walls and above them in space.
While he fretted even now about the NeHaw’s next step and what the new transmissions in London might mean, they apparently relied on his ability to protect them all from it. Jake’s mind raced as he let it wander through all the things he needed to do and all the challenges yet to be solved. Suddenly his head started to swim as he jumped from subject to subject, analyzing each.
The last thing he remembered before he blacked out was the shouting around him as he hit the floor.
Chapter 4
Brian was in his quarters, reviewing the checklist provided by ALICE-3. The list contained all that they still needed to accomplish in the coming days. As the senior ship’s captain, a status he held both before and after the losses at the Battle of Klinan, he had been assigned the responsibility of getting the space worthy ships into readiness.
Without any indications of the NeHaw’s next move, they had to be ready for anything from an invasion of earth, to another attempt on a treaty partner. As such, he needed to assess their viable forces and create recommendations for their deployment.
It was a commonly held opinion that the delay in leaving the solar system, due to the gravitational limitations on faster than light drives, generated a need for a forward operating base. The base would allow ships to resupply and stage for immediate deployment outside the solar system, should the need arise.
He was aware that Jake was looking into options around that concept, so he put little effort into it. His main concerns were the number of vessels they currently had in their inventory and the people required to operate them. Based on the experience of Klinan, he had a good idea of what should be ordered from the Wawobash, but the manpower was an entirely different issue.
As captain of Revenge, he had been in the middle of the Battle of Klinan, and witnessed firsthand the awesome capabilities of the battleship he now captained. ALICE-3 had the ability to remotely operate a multitude of fighting craft as well as her own firepower. As such, she had been named their number one capital ship.
Against his wishes, he had been transferred from Revenge and placed in command of the unnamed ship. He acknowledged the reality of his station as more co-captain, for ALICE-3 was the ship. As it was with the facility commanders on earth, she let him lead, but her only true authority was Jake.
So far, that didn’t prove an issue, but Brian knew at some point, an extended separation could challenge the arrangement. They were heading into uncharted territory here and there was no predicting the outcome.
Pushing the thought to one side, he went back to the checklist, prioritizing the next items to address.
----*----
Linda was in the command center, working with several of her analysts. The focus of their attention was the new developments in London. Once they had detected the transmissions, attempting to contact the aging satellites, it had been fairly simple to locate the source dishes.
It was not, however, a simple task to locate the people controlling them. There were a sizeable number of dishes on the roof of the old British MI6 building, with several smaller remotely operated units spread out on nearby rooftops.
Whomever it was that was controlling things, they had revitalized the old antenna array on the building’s rooftop, utilizing wireless networking to control everything. Using the newer satellites recently placed in orbit, she could make out the equipment in detail.
The remote systems had been set up with solar panels, providing each with power for movement and transmission. Tapping into the same feeds, Linda and her people could access the same content as those in London. As they watched, the images and information being accessed was initially targeting the greater London area. At the speed they scanned the area, Linda assumed it was being controlled by a human, as an ALICE scan went at breakneck speeds.
As Linda and the team watched, they constantly commented on the various images, speculating on the motivations of the person or persons operating the cameras. Since it was well past sunset in London, the cameras had been set for infrared and image enhancement in the low light.
The consensus was that the operator was attempting to locate and track nocturnal activity amongst the abandoned buildings. They watched as the image bounced from one group to another, some people simply huddled by a fire while others were moving between the buildings, as if in search of something or someone.
Once the London activity was better understood and under control, Linda had requested her lead analysts do a workup on the area. Not nearly as bad as Los Angeles had been, she was told the gang activity there had been fairly minimal after the fall. As with all the major population centers, they had been hit hard by the NeHaw bombing.
However, while London proper had been hit, apparently the surrounding countryside had been spared the same treatment. As things had settled down, it appeared that the outlying locals had resettled in the city in small numbers. Though she couldn’t say it was violence free, they didn’t see anything like the gang proble
ms they had in LA.
Privately, Linda wondered if that was because the gangs had been mostly in the city of London when decimated by the NeHaw attack. Regardless of the reason, it did present a more civil environment than the LA operation had. When they decided to head there, and she was sure Jake would go, they were less likely to receive the hostile reception LA had provided.
It was while this was going on that all hell broke loose in Nevada.
“Linda, Jake is down! I am sending in the transport to retrieve him,” ALICE-1 announced over the communications system.
----*----
Jake opened his eyes to the sight of the strangely familiar ceiling in the facility's infirmary. Standing over him on one side was Kathy, apparently checking his vitals, while Becky was on his other side adjusting an IV. Both women were intently focused on their duties and hadn’t noticed he had opened his eyes.
“How did I get here?” Jake asked in a scratchy voice he barely recognized as his own.
From behind Becky, Sara appeared, looking not well rested.
“Alice placed a ship on standby over Pasadena when you decided to stay. They swooped in and brought you here,” Sara replied as she fed Jake a straw so he could drink.
“I came as soon as I heard,” Becky offered as she watched Jake drink the water Sara provided.
“What the hell happened?” Jake asked in a better voice after a few sips.
“We were hoping you might tell us?” Becky replied in a voice filled with her own concerns.
“You’ve been out for three days,” Kathy added.
“Three days?” Jake repeated.
“Yes, we actually have you on video. Alice was watching the area, keeping you under observation. You were standing to one side on the rooftop, apparently deep in thought, and the next moment you are face down,” Sara said as she slid up next to her sister.
“Yeah,” Jake responded, thoughtfully, “I was watching all the dinner preparations, thinking how lucky we are to have Alice tending to us. From there, my mind started to wander through all our challenges and unresolved issues. Suddenly it was like I was thinking about all of them at once.”
With the explanation, it seemed as if Becky and Kathy acted in unison as they both started flipping through the display screens on the monitor over Jake’s bed. After a few moments, they settled on one display, where they stood watching the various outputs and graphs. Finally, Becky turned to Kathy with a questioning look on her face, while Kathy turned to Jake.
“It’s time you tell them,” Kathy said to Jake with a somber tone.
“Tell us what?” Sara asked, suspicious of the implication.
As Jake was about to speak, ALICE jumped into the conversation.
“While Jake survived the NeHaw attack in stasis, the exposure had a lasting effect on him. So far, his symptoms include increased strength and speed, as well as escalated healing. To date, there have been no negative side effects, however, it is always possible there are some. I am not sure what happened, and believe continued observation and more tests are required.”
Looking both concerned and angry, Sara confronted Kathy, “And you have known about this without telling me?”
Recognizing the implications of Sara’s outburst, Kathy replied in a calm voice, “I only found out recently myself, when Jake was injured in the hangar shootout. Afterward, I was sworn to secrecy.”
Now both Sara and Becky were glaring at Kathy, the sisters clearly not amused at being left out. Before anyone could add to the tension, Jake spoke up.
“Kathy was only following my instructions. As Alice will tell you, we have no real understanding of what is happening to me. In almost two years, this is the first negative symptom we have seen. I know you two, if you knew, you would fret constantly!”
“Jake is correct,” ALICE offered, “As of today, we have had no indications that the exposure in stasis threatened Jake. Actually, this latest development has very positive implications. We need further testing to determine the extent of the evolution, but it appears Jake may have new analytical capabilities.”
“Testing will need to wait,” Jake replied as he started to get out of bed.
“Oh no you don’t,” both Kathy and Becky said at the same time, while moving to stop him.
“I am sorry Jake,” ALICE declared, “Until we understand this latest development, you are at risk for future blackouts.”
“Until Alice clears you, this is your new home,” Sara announced, ending the discussion.
----*----
Linda was reviewing the latest reports from her team. Normally these all went to Jake, but with him laid out for the last three days, Sara and the other facility commanders had stepped in to fill the gap. Everyone was amazed at the sheer volume of data that Jake had been absorbing on a daily basis.
Her current focus was split between two issues. They had continued to gather Intel on the inbound alien ships, nearly in orbit at this point. Her analysts continued to detect an unexplained anomaly, something like a reflection of an unaccounted for drive. The latest theory was that it might be a harmonic created by this combination of ships. She wasn’t really concerned, as visual confirmation showed only the accounted for vessels, she just hated unexplained activities.
The second and more concerning issue was the London activity. They had continued to see satellite traffic, providing data on the Greater London area. The recipients, whoever they might be, were working their way out from the old MI6 building, giving the analysts the impression they were in residence there. While they couldn’t be positive, they didn’t believe they had actually located any occupants.
On the plus side, between the mystery Londoners and the ALICE systems, they had a very detailed review of the British Isles and European coastline. With the expectation that they would be headed there in the near future, she had engaged Patti to start the planning phase.
An alert from the far side of the room broke her concentration and drew her attention.
“We have ships entering orbit,” one of the newer members of the command center announced.
“Ok, please let Sandy and Lieutenant Colonel Sullivan know,” Linda requested, using Sara’s title.
----*----
HeBak knew this was going to be the trickiest part. While cloaked, he was invisible to the naked eye and his drive emissions were masked to appear as if they were from the nearest vessel. With everyone in orbit, the adjacent ships had their drives shut down, while he still needed his to maneuver to the planet’s surface.
Placed in a polar orbit, HeBak reviewed his options for the optimal landing locations. It appeared that his best choice was located just offshore near some abandoned settlements in the northern hemisphere. As is was seasonally warm in this hemisphere at the moment, he need not worry about a telltale break in the ice to give him away. He did need to coordinate his decent with some local traffic to mask the drive emissions.
Sitting in the pilot’s chair, he continued to track and follow all the native traffic. HeBak was looking for just the right vessel to guide him close enough to his destination.
----*----
Patti was in the planning room they had established for the Klinan operation, organizing her team. As head of Jake’s combat planning and operations team, she was responsible for creating the mission plan taking them into London. With Jake currently unavailable, that could prove problematic, and as Jake’s couple of great’s granddaughter, his health was of greater concern to her.
While not currently considered a combat mission, she still needed to plan for every possibility. Even though no ALICE facility had been constructed outside of the territorial United States, the English had always been very tight with the US. Patti had requested the ALICE’s check their archives and try to determine if any of the NeHaw technology had been shared before the fall.
This was of particular interest because it could prove an ally existed there, or a threat. With even a portion of what the ALICE facilities contained, they could be a real
problem to deal with if hostile.
Separately, Patti had broken out a small group to review unrelated data showing military like activity in what was once China. Several of the ALICE’s had picked up small amounts of radio traffic as well as images of motorized vehicles moving in a southern region there.
The implications were that someone had managed to resurrect a stash of military equipment and was beginning to assert themselves again in the region. She wanted to get ahead of this before it became an issue, so she split her valuable resources to gather what information they could.
----*----
Jessie was in her room attending to her son’s needs, when one of her support staff called from the command center. As facility commander for the Alaska ALICE, also known as Seven, she was responsible for the location that built the space fighters and trained the pilots. She was also picking up the slack for Jake in her region while he was down.
As he was the father of Ryan, their child, and her one of the women in his inner circle, she held no ill will on the circumstances. While he hadn’t been up to visit in several weeks, she was quite content to run things on her own. Truth be told, she was satisfied with the current arrangement anyway. Unlike the other women involved with Jake, she was not in love.
That’s not to say she wasn’t extremely fond of him, she just wasn’t in love. When ALICE had approached her with the suggestion of becoming a part of the family, so to speak, she had jumped at the chance. She recognized the opportunity for what it was, a chance to be on top.
She and Jake seemed to have an unspoken understanding. She was doing her part while making no demands on him, and he supported her position in the social and command structure. Moreover, she wasn’t stupid, she had known all along that the ALICE’s were playing her to get their own agenda pushed along. In her view, as long as she got what she wanted, it didn’t matter about the motivations of others.