“Thank you, Supreme Commander. Our people will be deeply appreciative.”
Ryan signaled to Jill to cut the transmission.
“Well then,” he said. He glanced over at Nicole. “Let’s go home.”
“You bet your ass, sir,” she said.
As soon as she made the announcement that they were commencing Earth trajectory, echoes of cheering could be heard throughout the ship as they left orbit.
He noticed Amanda and Tanner staring at him.
“What?” he said.
Amanda looked concerned, but then he noticed a slight smirk on her face. “You know, Ryan,” she said, “I find it really disconcerting that you can make up such a complete fabrication on the spot. How am I ever going to be able to trust you?”
Tanner, on the other hand, was now kneeling on the floor. “Ry,” he said, “I humbly bow down to the undisputed, revered, superlative, and lest I forget, glorious champion of everlasting bullshit. How in the hell did you pull that off?”
“Knock it off,” said Ryan laughing. “The both of you.”
“Look,” said Nicole, pointing to the external monitors.
Ryan watched as the Earth Defense Fleet ships arrived. Majestically, they joined the cadet fleet as they moved into formation. Together, they proceeded slowly and steadily toward the Altarran ship. Within minutes they had engulfed the gargantuan vessel like a swarm of slow motion bees surrounding a honeycomb.
Ryan shook his head thinking about all the strings his father had had to pull to make this happen. He had probably called in just about every favor owed to him. It wasn’t every commander who could secure that kind of loyalty, and it was no wonder so many people idolized him. Ryan was beginning to understand that the Fleet Admiral had a ton of responsibility, and when the chips were down, victory or success depended upon his decisions. Maybe even more so, upon his relationships. And the chips were most certainly down.
Fortunately, the rest of the flight went off without a hitch. The entire journey took less than thirty minutes. Before Ryan knew it, they were approaching Earth’s atmosphere. It had been far too long since he’d seen the blue planet. He’d almost forgotten how beautiful it looked.
He watched the radar screen as Nicole brought up the coordinates of Fleet Headquarters. The ship rocked as they penetrated the thick air, but it was a welcome feeling if there ever was one. As they descended into the evening skies, right on cue, Ryan could see the lights from the supersonic fighters arriving to escort them the rest of the way. After a few more minutes, the hangar could be seen from the front window.
The touchdown was tricky, as the battleships beneath and in front had to scatter, but it went off as well as could be expected. Once they’d landed and the remaining ships were inside the hangar, most of the crews left for debriefing.
Ryan decided to wait with Amanda outside Granthaxe’s monstrous ship. As he stood there watching people scatter to their destinations, he felt a hand on his shoulder. It was his dad.
“Good work, Ryan,” said the admiral.
As soon as the door to the Altarran ship opened, the imposing supreme commander stepped down to greet them.
“Quite a big guy, huh, Dad?”
“You’re damn right. I want him on my basketball team. He must be about thirteen feet tall.”
“Just about.”
Granthaxe stopped in front of Ryan. “Is this your father, Ryan Thompson?”
“Yes, Supreme Commander. I’d like to introduce you to Fleet Admiral Ben Thompson.”
The hulking figure gazed down at Ryan’s father. “So, I greet the man who destroyed a third of my fleet.”
Ryan felt his pulse quicken, wondering how his father would react.
“We’ve all suffered losses, Supreme Commander,” said the admiral. “Let us both look to better times.”
“Better times indeed,” said Granthaxe. “You and your son make formidable enemies. Perhaps one day you will make formidable allies.”
“I hope you’re right, Supreme Commander. Let’s get going to the computer stations I’ve set up. If you’d follow me.”
Ryan exhaled. He noticed the guards in the hangar. They were wearing lab coats so they’d appear to be members of the ground crew, but he knew who they were really were. Still, they stared at Granthaxe as if he were a polka-dotted unicorn. Luckily, Granthaxe didn’t seem to notice. That was all Ryan needed, Granthaxe asking them to bow in respect.
When they got to the computer station, Ryan noticed an attractive female officer in her late thirties.
“Hello,” she said. “I’m Commodore Laurent, the head of Research and Development.”
“Pleased to meet you,” said Ryan.
Granthaxe stood silent, but nodded.
“Professor Laurent?” said Amanda. “Is that you?”
The commodore smiled at Amanda. “Amanda! We’ve got lots to talk about.”
Ryan watched as the two women hugged each other. “You know each other?” he said.
“This is the professor I did the report on solar flares for,” said Amanda.
“Ah,” said Ryan, “the one who said it couldn’t work without blowing up our engines? Well, Commodore, I’m glad for all of our sakes you weren’t right.” He smiled to let her know he was half kidding.
“You are most certainly your father’s son,” said Laurent. She looked up at the admiral and grinned.
“Okay, now about this microchip,” said Ryan. “We don’t exactly have a lot of time.”
“And he has your patience,” she said to Thompson. She held out her hand for the microchip, which Ryan handed her.
“This is the piece we’re talking about,” said Ryan. “Can you read it?”
Laurent took the chip and looked at it. “This is definitely a microchip. Late twentieth century. We have a device here that can upload the data to our computer.”
Ryan watched as the commodore put the chip into a strange triangular reading device from the military archives. Within seconds, data started appearing on the screen. All he could see were a series of zeroes and ones, a whole page of them. He looked at his father. “Binary?”
“That’s how we used to store encrypted codes,” said the admiral. “We’d mix up the binary representation. That’s even before my time, but I spent years in special ops and we had to know the old codes. If I’m correct, we need to reverse the two rightmost and two leftmost positions and read every other line. Then it’s just a matter of translating it.”
“That sounds easier said than done,” said Ryan.
“Watch,” said Laurent. In seconds, she was able to switch the columns and remove the extra lines. “Now I’m going to run it through our decryption program and convert it.”
When she was done, the screen read:
00000000
00000000
00000011
00000011
01001110
00001001
00000010
00000001
00000100
01100101
“I still don’t get it,” said Ryan. “There’s ten lines of numbers.”
“Ryan,” said Amanda. “That’s interesting in itself.”
“How so?”
“Didn’t you say one of the hints said ‘only the worthy who see the ten’?”
“I’ll be damned,” said Ryan. “You could be right.”
“And you were right as well, Ryan Thompson,” said Granthaxe, with his booming voice. “Females do indeed have great imagination.”
“Guys,” said Laurent, ignoring Granthaxe. “I didn’t convert it yet.” She pressed another series of keys. Now the screen read:
1133N9214E
“Is that another code of some sort?” said Ryan.
“No,” said the admiral. “See the ‘N’ and the ‘E’? I’ll bet you anything those are coordinates. Commodore, bring up the navigation system. Look for 11 degrees, 33 minutes north, 92 degrees, 14 minutes east. Let’s see what it shows us.”
Ryan watched as
Laurent’s nimble fingers flew across the keyboard. He couldn’t help noticing his father’s hand resting softly on her shoulder as he peered over her head at the screen. Good for him, he thought. In an instant, a map appeared on the computer display. Amanda let out a gasp.
Then Ryan spotted what she was looking at. On the screen was a smattering of tiny islands just below Burma and east of India. The following words sat just below one of them, in small type:
North Sentinel Island
“Look to the sentinels,” said the admiral. “I’ll be damned. Williamson was a damn genius.”
“My envoys,” said Granthaxe. “We must go there at once!”
“Not so fast, Commander,” said the admiral. “I happen to know of this particular island. It’s not the kind of place you just go at once.”
“Do not delay me, Admiral. It would be unwise.”
“Can we just cool it for a second?” said Ryan. “What is this island, anyway? Why can’t we go there yet?”
Ryan’s father shook his head. “It’s in the Bengal Bay. Part of the Andaman Islands. And it just so happens to be home to the most isolated and dangerous tribe on the entire planet. A people we call the Sentinelese. The island’s been under constant surveillance for centuries. In fact, not a single soul has ever visited there without immediately fleeing or being slaughtered upon arrival.”
“But we have modern weapons and shields,” said Ryan. The most they could have are bows and arrows, right? How many of them could there be?”
“And I have my Altarran warriors,” said Granthaxe.
“It’s not that easy,” said the admiral. “There could be anywhere from five hundred to a few thousand of them, but we don’t really know because all we have are heat signatures. Mostly, they’re under cover of trees or caves. But that’s not the point. First of all, the Indian government has made it illegal even to visit. We’re talking about a civilization that’s the same now as it was tens of thousands of years ago, probably even predating known human history. If Williamson took any Altarrans there, he would have been the first to make it out of there alive, unless of course he never landed.”
“Yeah, maybe the Altarran envoys went there alone,” said Ryan.
“Doubtful,” said the admiral. “They would have hardly been accepted there. Besides, like I said, the island was under constant surveillance and the last known visitors arrived in 2006, a couple of lost fishermen. Nobody could make it in or out.”
“My people could,” said Granthaxe.
“How?”
“We have the power of camouflage. We’ve survived on your planet for millennia unseen. And yet there is another—”
“Wait a minute,” said Thompson. “Did you say millennia?”
“Sorry, Dad,” said Ryan. I kind of forgot to tell you that little detail. The Altarrans lived here long before we did.”
“Little detail? When the hell were you going to—”
“Admiral Ben Thompson,” said Granthaxe, “I was about to say that there is another way our people would have been accepted by this tribe you speak of.”
“Another way? How?”
“As a child, my mother would tell me stories of ancient times on Earth. Legends passed down by our people. There were small island creatures that worshipped our kind as gods. They would call us ‘tree shadows’ because of our ability to hide among the trees. They would bring us fruit and pigs as offerings, and they would always paint their faces and bodies red when doing so. Red was the color of fire and lifeblood, while green was reserved only for nature or the gods. Perhaps these are the people of which you speak. Perhaps my mother sought out the ancient ones through a spirit journey and alerted your ancestor.”
“Spirit journey,” said Ryan. “Couldn’t you do the same thing then to find her?”
“How I wish that were so, Ryan Thompson. Only the seekers are versed in the old ways. And one of our envoys that accompanied my mother was our seeker. As I stand here, I tell you that they are with these island people.”
Ryan studied his father’s face but couldn’t make out was he was thinking. Finally, the admiral sighed.
“Supreme Commander,” he said, at this point, almost anything wouldn’t surprise me. But that still doesn’t make our situation any easier.”
“Speaking of easier,” said Amanda, “what happened to those fishermen you were talking about?”
“Killed, of course,” said the admiral. “A helicopter was sent in to get them, but even that was driven away by arrows. After that, there’s been no further contact. None. If the Altarrans are there, then they’re damn good at hiding, and our chances of finding them are even less than I thought.”
“But it’s all we have,” said Ryan. “All the clues point there.”
“Ryan, we don’t know that island. We can’t even observe the terrain. It’s all trees and brush. The only thing we have to go on is heat signatures. And even there, we can’t get true readings because according to the patterns, they have volcanic caves on the island. From the heat scans, we believe they live within those caves. I’m telling you, these people are one with the terrain. They’re like damn ghosts. They’ll be under your feet and you won’t even know it until that poison dart hits your neck. Besides, if the Altarrans are actually there, and if they’re worshipped as gods like the supreme commander says, the Sentinelese will perceive us as a threat and will try to protect them.”
“That proves it, then,” said Amanda.
“Proves what?” said the admiral.
“That they’re there. The queen is with her loyal subjects! Everything points there.”
“Amanda Williamson is correct,” said Granthaxe. “We must go there. If my mother is on that island, then I will lead the way. It is the only way.”
“I think he’s right, Dad,” said Ryan. He couldn’t believe he was siding with an alien commander over his father.
The admiral paused for a moment and glanced at Laurent, then addressed the group. “To see what is in front of one’s nose,” he said, “needs a constant struggle.”
“Huh?” said Ryan.
“It’s something George Orwell once said. A great twentieth century writer. In any case, I suppose you’re right,” he said. “I’ll get a team together. We’ll go tomorrow night. If we have any chance at this, it’ll have to be by nightfall.” He looked at Granthaxe. “We’re banking on your popularity there, Supreme Commander.”
“I am popular everywhere I go,” said Granthaxe. “And where I am not, a thousand deaths surely follow.”
“Good way to win friends, “said Ryan. Turning to his dad, he said, “By the way, what about the Indian government?”
“Leave that to me,” said the admiral.
Ryan laughed. “I knew you’d say that.”
“Okay everyone,” said Thompson. “I suggest we all get a good night’s rest. We have a very long day ahead of us.”
“And an even longer night,” added Ryan. Before he left, he turned to Commodore Laurent. “Night, ma’am. It was a pleasure meeting you. I get the feeling I’ll be seeing a lot more of you.” He looked at his dad and smiled.
After everyone said their goodbyes, Ryan headed with Amanda back to the ship, which was still in the hangar. In a way, he was excited at the prospect of finally reuniting Granthaxe with his mother and ending the planetary conflict. But at what cost? Once again, he was left wondering what the future would bring. In some ways, they were heading into an even greater unknown than their first meeting with the Altarrans. And wouldn’t you know it, it was right here on Earth all the time. After all this, it would be a cruel injustice to die on Earth at the hands of a so-called primitive culture. Still, he had to wonder. Was the sun rising on this mission? Or was it setting?
Chapter 48
An Island Lost In Time
Ryan must have been exhausted because he didn’t even hear his alarm beep. As he looked at the clock, he was already a few minutes late for the big briefing with his father and a team of special ops officers. He sc
rambled to get dressed as quickly as he could and then ran out the door toward the briefing room. As he approached the room, he paused to catch his breath. Then he entered as inconspicuously as he could. As soon as he walked in the room, he noticed Granthaxe and another Altarran at the far end. They were hard to miss.
He was surprised to see Amanda near them. Could his father have really authorized her for the mission? Then again, maybe he hadn’t and she was just here seeing them off. He prayed that was the case, because there was no way he wanted to risk losing her on this island. She didn’t need to go. It was bad enough he had to go, but he’d established the relationship with Granthaxe so he managed to convince his father it was safest he join them to keep the peace.
Nonchalantly, he made his way up to her.
“Nice of you to join us,” she said.
“Join you?” he said. “So you’re going?”
“Oh, you’re not going to start—”
“Amanda,” he said, “there’s no need for both of us to risk our lives.”
“I’m afraid that’s not an option,” she said. “I’m going. Besides, don’t worry about me. I’m as trained as you are.”
“That’s not the point. It’s not what I meant. It’s just that—”
“It’s a moot point, anyway. Just ask the supreme commander.”
Before Ryan could get the words out, Granthaxe approached. “Amanda Williamson speaks the truth,” he said. “She wears the amulet of the gods. Only one who is bound to the amulet may approach the queen.”
“Can’t Amanda give it to her when we return?”
“Negative, Ryan Thompson. It would offend the gods themselves. The queen must never be seen without her amulet by her people.”
“Not even her son?”
“Especially not her son.”
“What about the other Altarrans then? Your missing envoys. I’m sure they’d have to look at her.”
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