Resolve (Lost Fagare Ship Book 1)

by Edward Antrobus

  “But, Jim-”

  “We’re not getting any more work done today, and once we call this in, the job will be shut down entirely. I’d like to have one positive memory to look back on for today.”

  “I’m telling you, it’s going to bring trouble.”

  “Bobby…”

  “Fine,” he grumbled. “But don’t say I didn’t warn you.” Bobby placed his hands on the levers in front of him and pulled up. The ship jerked and smashed into the rock wall. The bridge shuddered at the impact but their seats sheltered them from the worst of the collision.

  “Careful,” Melissa and Jim cried together. “You trying to get us all killed?” Chris complained.

  “If you have more experience flying an alien spaceship, be my guest to take over. Otherwise, shut up.” Bobby spoke through gritted teeth without taking his eyes off his display. He tried again.

  Jim didn’t feel any motion, but the viewscreen in front of them showed the rock face moving until they cleared the hole. The Rocky Mountains dominated their view before the ship’s nose started aiming upward. “Hold on,” Bobby said to nobody in particular and pushed the levers forward. They continued to gain altitude as he banked the craft towards the south. He pulled harder on the controls and they shot forward.

  Melissa zoomed in further on her display to show their progress. The visual representation of their position raced over the ground and rose higher above it. Jim figured they were well clear of the Colorado border now. He watched breathlessly as the sky deepened through a series of progressively darker blues until it finally gave way to black. One by one, then dozen by dozen, stars winked into existence, burning steady instead of twinkling through miles of atmosphere as he’d watched them his entire life. He let out a gasp, soon followed by others around the bridge, as the central band of the Milky Way came into view.

  “This is the moment I was born for,” he whispered, not even meaning to say it out loud. He glanced around, almost embarrassed by the admission, but the others were as enraptured by the view as he. Even Bobby had let slip the controls. Without the thrust, they slowed in the upper atmosphere and began to descend once again. The stars dipped out of their view, breaking the spell. Bobby pulled back on the levers and they shot back above the thin air. The buffeting that they’d barely noticed ceased.

  “We’re clear the atmosphere, Captain. Uh, I mean, dad,” Melissa said. She shook her head as if clearing cobwebs from around her. “Don’t know why I said that. Must be getting into the spirit of things.”

  “I want to try something.” Bobby released the throttle and they coasted through Low Earth Orbit. Jim expected them to float above their seats like pictures of astronauts, but his inner ear still pointed a strong sense of down.

  “If we spend any time on this ship, we need to figure out how to turn off this gravity. I’ve always wanted to experience freefall,” Bobby said.

  The others murmured their assent. The viewscreen seemed to have anticipated their desire to see their homeworld from above and had switched from a forward view to the rear. Without any conscious motion, they all rotated in their seats to watch. The Earth filled their view but seemed smaller than they’d ever imagined. Nobody talked for several minutes.

  Finally, Jim broke the spell. “Bobby, fire it up. Let’s get to the moon.”

  Bobby placed a hand on his console to spin himself back around. His palm grazed one of the many unidentified buttons. As he shifted his weight, the button depressed. His console let out a series of low beeps.

  The ship shuddered, a motion slighter than driving over a crack in the asphalt, but noticeable for the change from the absolutely smooth ride of their orbit. The ship’s speakers spoke some unintelligible word. The viewscreen shifted. A sphere maybe twice the size of a beach ball pulled away from the ship. They watched it speed away until it was just a point of light in the distance. It flashed once and then was gone. It hadn’t moved further away as far as Jim could tell. It just wasn’t there anymore.

  “Well, I hope that wasn’t important,” Chris chuckled.

  Bobby hit another button and then pulled back on his throttle. The push against the seats felt slight compared to how fast Jim knew they must be going. Soon the Moon filled the once again forward facing viewscreen. “I know the plan is to orbit, but how do you feel about landing?" A smile crept up his lips. Despite being the sole voice against this trip, now that they were in space, the pilot seemed to be as excited about exploring as the rest of them.

  Jim thought about it. “Better just do a flyby. If we land, I’m going to want to go outside and chances are, we don’t have spacesuits.”

  Chris looked like he was about to say something but held back. The ship descended into orbit around the Moon. Their speed soon took them to the far side. They’d nearly cleared it and returned to the Earth facing side when Bobby’s console starting chirping. Lights flashed on his screen as well as Melissa’s.

  The ship banked hard and dove towards the surface. “Bobby, stop fooling around. We aren’t landing,” Jim said.

  “Uh, it’s not me. I don’t have any control anymore,” he replied.

  “Well, take back control,” Chris barked. “I don’t want to die crashing into the moon. When I go, I want it to be in a shootout. Or maybe in bed with a good woman.” He winked at Melissa.

  She snorted. “Only way that will happen is if she kills you.” Bobby chuckled, and she added, “Hey, maybe you will get both wishes that way.”

  Melissa studied her controls. Nothing responded to her attempts to move away from the single blinking dot in the center of her display. “We’re locked in to some sort of homing signal. Whatever’s down there, it wants us and isn’t letting go.”

  Chris pulled free of his seat and watched it sink back into the floor. “Now that’s just freaky. I’m never gonna get used to that.”

  “Sit back down,” Jim said. “We need to stick together until we know what’s going on.”

  Chris hooked his thumb over his shoulder at Jim’s daughter. “You heard the pretty lady. Something’s after us. I intend to be prepared. There’s got to be a weapons cache somewhere in here.”

  “So you’re just going to assume they’re hostile?” Bobby shouted. He hadn’t given up yet on regaining control of the ship, but the virtual joystick remained stubbornly stuck.

  “Of course, they’re hostile. They just hijacked our ship. If we had friendly aliens down there, they’d just wave and say hi.”

  “Maybe that’s a good idea,” Jim said. “Mel, try to find some sort of comms. Chris, I’m coming with you.” He stood from his perch. His hands seemed unwilling to let go of the plush material, but he pulled free. “Everybody still have your walkie-talkies?”

  The other three checked their pockets and nodded. “Good. Keep us updated. Anything happens, no matter how small you think it is, let me know. Okay, Chris, let’s go.”

  The door wooshed closed behind them. Jim looked over his shoulder to make sure it was closed. “So what do you think is going on?"

  Chris tried each of the doors lining the one side of the hallway again. The first three were locked but the last opened as he approached. He stuck his head inside. “It’s a bedroom. Guess this one’s mine. Why do I get stuck near the cargo hold?" He shook his head. “Well, first one to evacuate in a problem, I guess. Anyway, I don’t think there’s anyone down there. I mean, what’s the chance there’re aliens on the moon that have been hanging out waiting for us to fly by so they could shoot us down?"

  “So what’s with the speech on the bridge?" Jim sank his hands in his pockets as he leaned against the wall. As he waited, Chris started pulling out drawers, searching for anything that could be of interest.

  Jim snorted. Knowing Chris as long as he had, the burly man would probably ignore all kinds of technological marvels if they didn’t make a loud noise.

  “It may just be some leftover tech from whoever’s ship this is. But assuming we don’t crash, we have to figure out how to turn off whatever trac
tor beam is pulling us in or destroy it. Besides, I want to see what I can get my hands on.”

  “Fair enough.” Jim tired of watching Chris and tried his luck on the other doors. If the consoles were meant for specific people, then the other areas of the ship could be as well. The others on the same side as Chris’s wouldn’t open for him either. He turned his attention to the lone door on the other side. Unlike the others, it didn’t have any obvious handle or means of opening it. He needn’t have worried, however. As he closed the distance to the door, it slid open soundlessly.

  Chris abandoned his search to see what Jim had discovered. This cabin featured an overstuffed chair that seemed to be made of the same material as the captain’s chair on the bridge. Another viewscreen dominated one wall. “Guess it pays to be in charge of this boat.” He stepped inside and the lights went up. A dot on the screen flashed. “Umm, map of the ship?” He looked to Chris and shrugged.

  The screen lit up, and a 3D schematic of the ship appeared.

  “Now we’re getting somewhere,” Jim said. They studied the schematic. “Looks like there’s supposed to be an elevator next to this room out in the hallway. It leads to another level with the mess and other areas of the ship.” He tapped the map, but his finger passed through the ethereal glow. “Sensitive storage. I bet that’s what we are looking for.”

  Back in the hallway, the blank section of wall stayed stubbornly devoid of any door. Chris marched past where it should be. When nothing happened, he waved his arms at the wall, examining the area for any kind of sensor.

  “Here, let me try,” Jim said. He squared off against his best guess at the location. “As Captain of this ship, I command this door to open.”

  He glanced at Chris, who returned the unspoken question with a shrug. “Open. Reveal the door. Open, sesame.”

  “Okay, Aladdin.” Chris waved him away. “My turn.” He slid in front of Jim and pressed his fingertips against the wall. A diamond pattern covered the surfaces, repeating every three feet. “There’s no seam. Wall’s completely smooth. Stuff looks like wallpaper, but even if it were paint or even etched in, I’d feel some sort of bump. But I got nothing.”

  He pressed his shoulder into the wall and pushed. He backed up to Jim’s door and pressed again, walking into the wall as he spanned the length to the end of the hallway.

  “What are you doing?” Jim shook his head.

  “This is how Bobby used to search for hidden doors in the first person shooters we played as a kid. If he didn’t know where it was, he’d just press against the wall and keep walking until he found it.” Chris grinned at the memory. He turned around and tried again.

  “I didn’t realize you two knew each other that long,” Jim said.

  “We grew up together. Our parents were just about family to each other.” The smile faded to his more usual scowl.

  “What happened?”

  Chris didn’t speak. He just stared at the wall for a long moment before kicking it. Another pause preceded another kick.

  “Fine, just bottle it up. Always the healthy way to deal with emotion.”

  Chris dropped down to his knees and went back to his first plan of searching for a seam, still not acknowledging him. Jim placed a hand on the bigger man’s shoulder. “If you ever want to talk, I know a thing or two about hurt. But, look.” He slumped his shoulders and sighed. “Let’s just give up on this for now. It looks like the ship doesn’t want us accessing these parts yet. Maybe we’ll get answers on the surface.”

  Chris opened his mouth, but the ship shook, bringing both of them to their knees. Jim’s radio squawked and Bobby’s voice came through. “Umm, looks like we’ve landed.”

  He unclipped the device. “We struck out on weapons. Get down to the cargo bay. We will see if we can find out what’s going on from there.”

  The four of them assembled where they had first boarded the ship. “Now what?” Melissa asked.

  “We-” The bay door opening cut Jim off. He grabbed at a railing on the shuttle, waiting for them to be sucked out into the vacuum of space. Instead, his ears popped as the pressure equalized between the hold and some sort of indoor landing pad. The space was large enough for the ship but only just. From the edge of the ship, the walls quickly narrowed into a hallway as it descended lower into the moon’s interior. A row of lights seemingly built right into smooth lunar rock illuminated the space.

  The walls consisted of polished rock, smoother than Jim ever imagined possible. He ran his hand over the surface. He pulled it away quickly and rubbed his palms together. “Cold as ice. But this wall’s a solid slab. Carved right out of the interior of the moon.” Puffs of steam followed his words.

  Next to him, Melissa shivered and hugged herself. “We’d clean up if we had the rock cutter that did this. But right now, I’d ignore all the technology in the universe for some heat. I’m dressed for August, not January.”

  “I’ll warm you up,” Chris said with a smirk. He took a step towards her.

  Jim blocked him with his arm. “What did I tell you? Stop hitting on my daughter. She’s told you no. Leave it be. Or you’ll be giving off plenty of heat when you’re fired.”

  A smile flashed across Bobby’s face at the pun, but he suppressed it before the big man saw it. “Maybe we should go down the tunnel. I feel a breeze. Should be warmer down there.”

  They followed the path illuminated by lights a hundred or so feet at a time. As they neared the end of the illuminated area, more lights flickered on in front of them as the section behind shut down. Whatever was controlling this moon base wanted them to continue and not go back to the ship.

  “We’re on the moon.” Bobby broke the silence as they marched towards their yet unknown destination.

  “No, shit, Sherlock,” Chris said.

  “No, I mean, we’re on the moon. We should be bouncing around in the lower gravity like the Apollo astronauts. But we’re walking normally, like we would on Earth.”

  Melissa took a tentative leap, holding her hands up in case she bumped the low ceiling. Her fingers just grazed rock above them. It wasn’t as smooth as the walls, but it made Earth’s best attempts at cutting stone seem crude. “Must be some sort of artificial gravity. There was no zero-g while we were in space either.”

  “Ship makes sense. They obviously designed it to be flying for long trips. Need something then. But the moon has gravity already,” Jim said.

  “Maybe they’re from a heavier planet, and our wimpy moon gravity was too small to be comfortable to them.” The others stopped and stared at Chris. “What, I watch Discovery Channel, too. Love it when they blow stuff up.”

  Melissa stifled a chuckle as Bobby shook his head. The hallway sensed their halt and the lights flickered in a runway pattern. “Best not keep our hosts waiting.” Jim waved his hand forward.

  They rounded the next turn and the hallway abruptly ended. Unlike the tunnel and the cavern behind them, the wall in front of them was made of a dull grey metal. “Now what?”

  “Maybe another hidden door?” Chris guessed. He stepped forward to examine the wall. A buzzer sounded and the lights flashed off and on. He backed up. “Guess it doesn’t like me.”

  “Smart wall,” Bobby muttered.

  Chris tensed, but Jim stepped in between them. “Let me try. The ship seemed to consider me its captain. Maybe this place will recognize that.”

  “Goddamn ship didn’t recognize your authority trying to get into the lower level.”

  “It also didn’t do that when you tried.” Jim waved his finger in a circle as he pointed at the lights. “Look, this place sent us down here. It can’t just be a dead end.” He took the spot where Chris had stood. This time, a chime replaced the buzzer.

  At first Jim thought that the grey wall had changed color to white. But it hadn’t changed at all. It simply wasn’t there any longer and a blindingly white room behind it came into view.

  Chris whistled. “Wonder if it can do that to a lady’s clothes.”

 
“Shut it.” Jim shook his head. He stepped through the opening. “It appears to be some sort of lab. Come on. Maybe we can find some answers in here.”

  They followed him. The room felt stark and just a little too white. It reminded him a little of how people described alien abductions. He shivered at the thought.

  They spread out and examined the equipment. The room wasn’t much larger than the bridge of the ship and smaller than his RV, so Jim felt safe in allowing it. Aside from the hospital-like beds, Jim didn’t recognize anything in the room that could give away its purpose or why they were there.

  Melissa shrieked. Jim turned to see a metallic claw lower from the ceiling. Three articulating fingers wrapped around her waist and lifted her off the floor. Chris lunged and grabbed her legs. The added weight strained the apparatus and her rise slowed. She looked down at him. “If you look up my shirt, I’ll kill you.”

  He said nothing and grunted as his own toes struggled to grip the ground. Jim added his weight to Chris’s. The three of them exceeded the motor’s capacity, and they halted.

  He pulled at Melissa but the claw held tight around her waist. “Bobby, try to find something to disable that thing.”

  Bobby still stood in the exact position he’d been when Melissa had cried out but now sprang into action. Unlike the bridge, this room only contained a single console, and he raced to it. No chair rose from the floor so he had to stoop down. “I don’t understand anything on this. It’s even stranger than the controls on the ship.” He pressed blindly at the buttons, the caution he’d urged Chris just hours earlier completely forgotten.

  Another arm came down near the first and pulled Jim free of his stepdaughter. He struggled against it, but he might as well be trying to dig a trench with his fingernails. The claw clenched around his waist, applying just the amount of pressure to immobilize him without actually causing any injury.

  With Jim extracted from them, Chris and Melissa rose once more. Now Chris’s feet dangled uselessly above the surface.

  Jim’s smaller weight rose faster than the other two’s combined mass. He fought against the contraption but the intelligence behind it paid the effort no heed. It brought him over one of the beds and placed him in it. Once his back met the cold metal surface, the claw retracted from him. He started to sit up, but straps sped out from hidden holes and wrapped themselves around him. He squirmed against it, but they cinched tight.