Alastair (Ghosts of Ophidian Book 2)

by Scott McElhaney

  “What’s our status, boys,” he asked, realizing that he’d been too focused on his current battle to pay attention to his ticker.

  Each fighter in any squadron has a row of fifteen lights on their dash, commonly called the “ticker”, which displayed the active fighters in the group. His was the only light that was still lit. He drew back on his joystick and circled around to the freighter. That was the moment that he realized the third and final squadron had been released and was now fighting to defend the Truman. He bore down on the thrusters and headed back to the real battle.

  Mac had been focused on attacking the Pli outpost when his mission should have been to defend the ship. He was a squad commander and he lost his squad while he headed off on what he now knew to be the wrong mission. He brought up the forward overlay again as he caught sight of three enemy fighters. He squeezed his trigger, rolling his fighter as he continued firing at the afterburners of his enemy. Two exploded easily while the third circled around to come after him.

  “Squadron two leader to the bridge,” Mac shouted, “What’s our situation?”

  “We’re in bad shape, Mac,” the Lieutenant replied, “The dock is seriously damaged and we’ve lost nearly a quarter of the ship to hull breaches from the attack. Squadron one is gone, you’re all that’s left of two, and we’re seeing four left from three. The good news is, there doesn’t seem to be anymore fighters coming from the outpost.”

  Mac brought his Aft Insanity online again as he struggled to lose the fighter on his tail. Before he had a chance to shoot, a squadron three fighter took it out for him.

  “The last two enemy fighters are currently retreating,” the Admiral said, “Although the dock is pretty slammed and the doors will no longer close, you should still be able to return safely. A word of warning, though. We’ve got a crashed enemy fighter in the dock and the pilot is still alive.”

  “What’s the plan then?” Mac asked, “And even if we land, how do we get into the ship? I didn’t pack an EVA suit with me.”

  “We’ll come get you. We’re currently freeing the Pli slave from the enemy fighter as we speak,” the Admiral replied.

  “Then what’s the plan with the Pli station?” Mac asked.

  “We’ve sustained too much damage to go after it,” the Admiral replied, “We can’t even access certain engineering spaces anymore, so we need to cut and run. We have no other choice.”

  Mac looked down at his ticker as he headed back toward the forward portion of the ship. Two of the gaping wounds in the side of the freighter were still flickering from the sparks or flames beyond the shredded opening. The fighter in front of him circled around and managed to slip safely through the damaged doorway to the dock. Mac circled around and looked at the ticker again on his dash.

  As he fought against the gravity of the black hole behind him, his thoughts went to the men who died for absolutely nothing. His squadron was gone now and those deaths served no purpose as long as the Pli still had a reason to abduct more humans. As long as the outpost remained, the Pli would continue to need humans.

  “We can’t leave that outpost intact, sir,” Mac said, dropping back down below the freighter and igniting his thrusters, “They can enter our dock, well I can do the same to them.”

  Twenty-six

  Jill had her face tucked into Theo’s chest while he held her at the back wall of the bridge. The constant explosions and ongoing squeal of warning alarms had become deafening. Even Theo was beginning to wonder if they’d make it out of this one alive. Whatever form of photon weapon the enemy was using against them, it was significantly more powerful than any non-explosive weapon the Space Command had in its extensive arsenal.

  “Second squadron leader has just ignited his secondary thrusters and is heading rapidly toward the Pli outpost,” the Admiral said, “Please bring it up on the screen, Lieutenant.”

  “I hope he doesn’t think that ramming it in a suicide run would accomplish anything,” the man at the gunnery mike said, “It’s obviously built to withstand significant gravity for lengthy periods of time.”

  “He’s about to overcome the two retreating fighters,” the Lieutenant said, bringing it up on the main view panel.

  “No, he’s going through them,” Mutt stated.

  . . . .

  Mac shot at the fighters as he closed in on them. The one in the rear exploded while the forward fighter evaded him with a quick spin to the left. He didn’t give chase, but instead slowed his engines and ducked beneath the Pli structure. He avoided the metal latticework that surrounded it and instantly located the bay door above him that was now in the process of closing.

  He switched the weapon from the forward guns to the nuclear warheads. He quickly bypassed both of the weapon’s security confirmations, then pulled the joystick back and aimed for the opening above.

  The doors were almost closed just as he held the stick steady and jetted through the small gap, instantly shearing off the upright stabilizer fin of his fighter. He barely had a half-second before he would hit the ceiling of the docking bay, but it was enough time to launch the weapon inside.

  . . . .

  They watched the one fighter explode while the other spun to the left and circled around. Mac didn’t seem to care if the other fighter came after him. He continued beneath the structure and then was gone from the view of those on the freighter’s bridge.

  “There’s not much a fighter will be able to do to penetrate the hull of that,” the Lieutenant.

  “Well, he’s the last-”

  The outpost shuddered noticeably, then the left thrusters that kept the outpost away from the larger black hole went instantly offline.

  “What just happened?” Jill asked, watching the outpost suddenly steer to the left.

  The thrusters on the other side of the outpost went offline as well now, followed by a miniature explosion in one of the thrusters. The entire outpost began to tumble, as it was no longer able to fight off the intense gravitational pull of both black holes. Smoke was now trailing in both directions while the tug-of-war between the black holes continued. It was the larger one on the left that won the battle and drew the tumbling structure in that direction.

  “We’ll never know what they were trying to accomplish out there,” Theo muttered.

  Twenty-seven

  The enemy fighter pilot that crashed into the dock turned out to be a modified human being. He had the typical plug in the back of his head, but instead of concealing a small white and silver computer inside the plug, it connected to a cable that extended out to a fully robotic right arm. The pilot was also missing his right eye, which was replaced with something that could only be assumed to be superior in quality.

  The pilot refused to speak to anyone at first, insisting that he was a freedom fighter for the Gods of Pli. The Ophidians had been brainwashed similarly into thinking that the Pli were Gods and that the Ophidians owed their very lives to them. The Ophidians were lucky enough to have someone who helped them escape those “gods” and start new lives on another planet.

  Several attempts were made to draw any information from the pilot about the black hole operation and the abductions of many humans. It wasn’t until Theo was finally permitted to sit in on one of the interrogations that any headway would finally be made. It took a lot of pleading on his part to get that chance, but his request was little more personal than seeking out information about the Pli. He wanted to find out if the pilot knew his brother or what may have happened to him.

  It was the military psychologist Anne Simmons who would be doing the questioning that day. He followed her into the prisoner’s holding cell. The man was huddled on his bed with his wool blanket wrapped around him. The door was closed behind them, sealing the three together in the cell.

  “The black hole outpost is gone now,” she said, unfolding one of the two chairs they brought with them.

  Theo followed her lead and sat down in the chair beside her.

  “Whatever the Pli had you do
ing out there, it was dangerous work and they didn’t want to risk doing it themselves. Can you even feel the cable in the back of your head?” she asked, leaning forward with her hands folded in her lap, “They convinced you to believe in some false memories which make us out to be the bad guys. They did the same thing to the Ophidians. Do you remember the Ophidians?”

  His only reply came as a clearing of his throat. They both waited, but nothing more would come.

  “I brought someone with me today. He was one of the ice miners at the Oort Station who helped provide water to all the fleet,” she said, “His brother disappeared several years ago, chasing after some theories he had regarding the drug we believe was coming from this region. It wasn’t hard to trace the wormhole and by doing so, to trace the drug.”

  The man didn’t so much as move. He kept his head tucked beneath the arms he rested on his raised knees. Theo could see the asymmetrical shadows that defined the various cables and wires inside his curious right arm.

  “Hi,” Theo said, wondering how he should start a conversation with a potential enemy, “My name is Theophilus and my brother’s name was Alastair. He was an ice miner, same as me. I was hoping you might know him or know what might have happened to him.”

  The man slowly raised his head from his blanket-wrapped knees and looked in his direction. Theo could now see the coppery device mounted over the man’s right eye. A light glimmered inside the circular black part, changing now from dull white to a bright blue.

  “Theo?” he asked, “You’re supposed to be dead. Am I still in that alternate universe?”

  “Alastair?” Theo asked, “Is that you?”

  The hair was the right color and his voice sounded much the same, but his face had changed a lot in the years from nineteen to twenty-five.

  “Your people destroyed the whole Oort Station to prevent us from being able to make it this far,” he replied, “This is a stupid trick you’re playing. Theo and my mother were killed.”

  “The trick is what the Pli did to your brain – the same thing they did to all those Ophidians way back! Please tell me you remember the story of the Ophidians? It was the same thing you’re telling me now, Alastair. I’m alive and Mom is alive,” Theo said, “We’re heading back to the Oort Station right now and I can assure you it’s still there.”

  He quickly threw the blanket to the wall and got up from the bed. The man stood a full head taller than Theo remembered. The brushed-bronze tone of the man’s robotic arm lacked the aesthetics necessary to make it look anything besides threatening. Theo’s eyes were on that frightening arm as the man who was once his brother stepped forward. Theo rose from the chair and faced him, hoping that somehow the anomaly would remember him.

  “I’m real, Alastair. I’m not a hologram and I’m not wearing some crazy mask. You can ask me anything that only I would know,” Theo said.

  Alastair squeezed his eye closed as he clenched his teeth in anger. A slight squeal escaped his lips only a moment before he opened his eye again. The other eye, a black circle of shiny glass imbedded in a rectangular copper frame, came alive with a variety of scrolling lights. It almost appeared as if the black circle were a computer screen facing an internal eye.

  “How did Dad die?” he choked out, stopping in front of him.

  Theo stared curiously at his brother, unable to read the man.

  “He rammed his 2MG into an asteroid, saving the Oort Station from destruction,” he replied, “Please tell me they didn’t steal your memories.”

  He looked down at Theo, then suddenly a tear formed in his left eye.

  “It hurts to retrieve the memories. It’s like a hot needle inserting into my brain anytime I think back on my life. What if you’re r-real and the Oort Station is s-still there?” he asked, rubbing the top of his head, “My head is hurting from the memories. C-can I have something for it?”

  The psychologist lifted a small communicator from her belt and whispered a request for medication. Her words were so fast; it was almost as though she made these same requests a hundred times a day.

  “What if the… the Pli really have inserted lies into my brain?” he asked, massaging the side of his head.

  “You’re in for a nice surprise then, Alastair. You’ll be coming home after six years of slavery,” the psychologist said.

  There was a knock on the cell door, followed by the metallic slink of the small delivery window sliding open. Anne rose from her chair and retrieved the cup of water and the two white pills. She brought them to Alastair. Theo watched with a perverse curiosity as Alastair’s robotic arm moved silently and elegantly to retrieve the cup from her hand. He took the two pills from her hand and tossed them quickly into his mouth. He then brought the cup to his mouth and drank the water down.

  Theo was fascinated by the smooth, purposeful movements of his brother’s arm. Nothing in their current robotic enhancement technology even compared to what he was seeing. It might as well have been his regular arm, though he imagined it was probably much stronger.

  Alastair handed Anne the empty cup, then turned around and walked back to his bed. He sat down, then released a long breath as he closed his eye.

  “Thank you. It’s like I’m not supposed to remember the past. My head hurts when I even think about my mmm…” he groaned again, then screamed “About my mom!”

  “I’m sorry, Alastair,” Theo said, “When we get back to the station, maybe we can see if they’re able to undo whatever the Pli plugged into your head.”

  Anne reached over and patted Theo’s thigh. He turned to see her shaking her head ever so slightly. He looked at Alastair and saw that his eye was still closed. He wondered for a moment why he’d just been silenced.

  “I have to wonder why we were going to the chasm,” Alastair muttered.

  “What chasm?” Theo asked.

  “That’s why we were out there these last few years. We were taking advantage of the severe space-time distortion at the convergence of the two black holes,” he replied.

  “This is where we are hazy, Alastair,” the psychologist said, “As I’ve stated before, we really don’t know what the Pli had you doing out there.”

  He massaged the side of his head, then leaned back against the wall by his bed.

  “We were able to slide across a bridge into an alternate universe where time simply doesn’t exist anymore – a universe of immortality. It makes sense that such places would be possible, after all. We’ve always enjoyed the concept of other universes of higher dimensions, but we pretty much always avoided the concept of ones with fewer. Take away our dimension of time, and you end up at the chasm,” he said, looking over at Anne, “The only problem was that the other universe wasn’t appealing in any way. This other universe was dark. We found ourselves at a place that resembled the Grand Canyon back on Earth, only it was always night time and it always gave off a cool and eerie presence.”

  “How did you know that time didn’t exist there?” Anne asked.

  “It truly didn’t. You could search your side of the giant chasm for hours or days even. But when you returned to the main platform, they would tell you that you were only gone for a few minutes,” he replied, “We would even stay there for weeks and try to mine any mineral samples to bring back with us, but when we returned, we discovered that we had nothing. And all the while, we had to ignore those on the other side of chasm. We couldn’t get to them no matter how far we went, so their cries were useless.”

  “You were able to see the ones who lived in this alternate universe?” she asked.

  “Yes, and believe me, once we realized we could bring back living things, we wanted to find a way to help those people. The sheol weed was the first physical evidence that the place we were going to was real,” he said, “The plant only grew on our side of the chasm. From where we stood, we could see no foliage on the other side where the pitiful people were.”

  “Did the Pli know you wanted to help the others?” Theo asked.

  “They pract
ically insisted upon it. The people in the alternate universe valued water as highly as we do, if not more. Each time we showed up, that was the one thing they pleaded for, but we soon discovered that it was one thing we couldn’t bring with us,” he replied, “And even if we could, how would we get it to them? I’m sure the Pli believed we could make millions if only we found a way to bring water to those people.”

  “With what we know of the Pli, money has never been a motivational factor. If they wanted to reach the people on the other side, they had other plans for certain,” Anne said, “And it wouldn’t have been good.”

  “Why did they keep having you bring back more of the sheol weed?” Theo asked, “You and I both knew it was destroying our people.”

  He groaned again as his face clenched up in pain. Theo knew he was probably recalling the past again.

  “We never really knew the reasoning behind that,” he replied, “But we did figure out that the Pli were gaining some form of control in that spooky timeless world we would see when under the influence. What that would ultimately look like in a few years though? I don’t know. We’re talking about some gods that you’re telling me can change my memories. I’d hate to think what they can do in a timeless universe.”

  “What’s going to happen?” Theo asked, more to himself than to Alastair.

  Alastair drew the blanket around him again and closed his eye.

  “Humanity freed the Ophidians from the Gods of Pli, Theo. Now they just destroyed an irreplaceable bridge to an alternate universe located in a very unique portion of our own universe. There’s not enough time to rebuild before the larger black hole has swallowed up the smaller one,” Alastair said, “If you ask me, I think it’s time to run and never look back. You want to know what’s going to happen? I think we both know where the Gods of Pli are headed next.”

  Epilogue

  Much to Alastair’s surprise, the Oort Station was indeed still in one piece. His mother appeared to have shrunk several inches and took on a few more gray hairs, but otherwise, she was just as he’d remembered. He was welcomed back by many in the Oort Station in spite of his frightening cyborg appearance and the circumstances of his return.