Four Tomorrows: A Space Opera Box Set

by James Palmer

  Ariel sighed and nodded affirmatively. “Okay, I agree to your terms,” she answered, exasperated.

  “Good, now Doctor Troiano, there’s a matter of DNA tests for myself, the General and President Scaleia. We have a broadcast to make to the world.

  Chapter 22

  Video equipment was quickly set up in the medical bay as the ships engineers, under Dan Sledge’s attention, fed the video feed into the ships powerful communications array.

  “We’re all set, Mark,” Dan called, as he plugged the final connection into the hovering camera, which floated about in front of the three men, while being controlled by Dan.

  “All right Dan, thanks. Gentlemen, it’s show time,” he announced grimly.

  “Lighting it all up in 3, 2, 1- You’re live.” Dan pointed towards them.

  “People of the United States of America, as well as all of the Earth. My name is Mark Johnson. I’m sure in the past several weeks you have heard certain…disparaging rumors about me, and my friends and co-workers here at Johnson aerospace. I am here with President Scaleia as well as General Abruzzi, two of the most powerful men in the nation, and on the planet to dispel those rumors.”

  Sledge watched his control panel as the drone camera floated about the three men, concentrating its focus right now on Mark.

  Its signal was being streamed off a Johnson Aero satellite and from there, sent all over the world hitting communications satellite after satellite. Even if their enemies shut some of the feeds down they would not be able to sever them all. Someone, somewhere of importance would see this message. At least that’s what was hoped.

  “We are here to prove to the American people as well as the world that we three are the real, true people we appear to be. You see, these two men beside me, President Scaleia and General Abruzzi, have both been captured by forces beyond our world and replaced with clones. We are going to do a live DNA test right now on the three of us to prove we are who we claim to be. Mr. President, you will be first.”

  The President nodded stoically and held his arm out as Dr. Troiano quickly took blood and then a culture from the inside of his mouth. She ran a scanner over them and the results were instantaneous. This was the real President according to information that was on file in the ships database.

  “Next, General Abruzzi,” Mark continued, “and after him I will be tested as well.”

  Troiano continued her testing on both remaining subjects with the same result each time.

  Then it was the Presidents turn to speak, “My fellow Americans, the man sitting in the White House is not the man you elected. He is a clone of myself, a replacement programmed to destroy our great nation and even further, our great world. There has been a clandestine scheme enacted by an alien race to subjugate mankind. This is not some wild lame-brained tale by some discredited tab-feed. This is reality. Secret Service, I implore you to take the man in the White House into custody. I am calling on my three most trusted personal guards, Jenkins, Shlesinger, and Moroni. That man may wear my skin, but he does not wear my soul. His intentions are dire. Arrest him now, and do not hesitate to do so. I’m ordering the men who are with the imposter claiming to be General Abruzzi to do the same. Arrest him, do not let him escape custody. The fate of the world literally relies on you doing so.”

  Suddenly, Red’s voice interrupted over the ships comm system, “They found us Mark, we have incoming, missiles headed our way, as well as two rapier class war ships.”

  “Destroy the missiles, full spread with the solar cannons, do not, I repeat do not fire on the war ships,” Mark commanded.

  The President continued, “This is not a lie, this is not desperate men trying to confuse or befuddle you. Even now the enemies of mankind fire upon us. I am the President of the United States of America, and I implore you to heed my words. The fate of the world’s future is in your hands, and only you can assure that future. I can only guarantee that our world is lost if you do not heed my words at this very moment. Everything relies on what the people of Earth do within the next few scant minutes. This is our turning point as a planet, this is the moment we either climb to greatness, or are forced back into the mud by the boot heel of an enigmatic oppressor who fears us. Seize the future, seize it now, or there will not be a future, for any of us.”

  As he was speaking electronic data from the entire mission was being sent on every conceivable frequency across the world.

  The ship rocked violently as the missiles shot at it were destroyed, but still they exploded powerfully and closely.

  “We still have those rapier class ships incoming, Boss.” Red barked over the comm.

  “Are they arming weapons?”

  “They have been armed, Mark.”

  “Continue broadcasting all vital information about this mission, loop it and send the damned information package to every receiver on the planet, I don’t have to tell you to make sure it’s all over the ultranet as well, I’m sure.”

  “Already done, boss,” Dan replied.

  “More missiles incoming!” Red snapped, the tension in his voice apparent. “Mark, there’s waves of them heading toward us!”

  “Fire at will, destroy them,” Mark ordered as tension filled the ship, and was readily apparent over the video feed.

  “Both those ships are moving on us now. They’re trying to cut us off,” Red shouted.

  “Evasive maneuvers,” Mark replied.

  “Boss, should I keep transmitting?” Sledge asked.

  “Yes, keep it going, I want the world to be watching this right up until our very last minutes if need be. The planet has to learn we are who we say we are and the extent of the trouble that’s coming to us.”

  “Those ships are flanking us now and are powering up their weapons.”

  “Shields to full!” Mark shouted.

  “They’re firing!” Red yelled over the comm.

  Then the ship shook slightly as if it was riding a wave, a particularly nasty one, but a wave nonetheless. But nothing beyond that occurred.

  “What was that? What just happened?” Mark asked cautiously.

  An instant later Red replied, “Those two rapier class ships, they shot the missiles out of space and blocked us with their own hulls, I have Captain Tadeo of the ‘Samson’ on the comm requesting to speak to you now, sir.”

  “I’m on my way to the command deck, Red.” A relieved Mark turned towards Abruzzi and the President, “Gentlemen, if you’ll follow me?”

  Minutes later Mark, Dan, the President and General Abruzzi all entered the command deck from the maglovator. On the view screen was the image of Captain Tadeo, a man of indiscriminate Asian ancestry. The Captain immediately stood and saluted when he saw the President and General follow Mark onto the command deck.

  “Mr. President, General Abruzzi, sirs. So good to see you both.”

  “At ease, Captain,” the President spoke, “This crew and this man, Captain Mark Johnson, saved both our lives on a mission I sent him on several weeks ago. I was taken out of the White house in the dead of night by aliens who had built a secret base in the midst of the Blue Ridge mountain range.”

  “I have already forwarded those coordinates with the information package,” Mark interjected.

  “And we have them, thank you Mr. Johnson.” Tadeo replied. “Right now the imposter President has been taken into custody and is undergoing DNA Scans as we speak, to verify your claims sir. I’m positive they will prove you to be the real President of the United States. The General’s imposter has not been found as of yet, he slipped away when your transmission began, but there are men searching for him right now.”

  “Do not let that man get away, he has vital information we will need.” The president ordered.

  “What about that damned base in the midst of our nation and so close to our capitol?” Abruzzi asked.

  “According to the people on the ground, it looked like it took a pounding recently I assume that was your people?” Tadeo asked.

  “Yes,” Mark
affirmed, “we broke out of there earlier after being held captive ourselves. Any enemies found within its walls?”

  “Not as of yet, it looks to be abandoned according to the information I am reading.” Tadeo replied.

  “They cut and ran, but to where I wonder?” Mark rubbed his chin in thought.

  “It could be anywhere, chances are they left the planet already,” the General offered.

  “True, General. I’ll be taking the Cagliostro down into Washington, I want to drop the President and you off as close to the White house as possible.”

  “I will gladly send two fighters down with you to escort you in.” Then the Captain added, “That is one tough ship you have Mr. Johnson.”

  “Thank you Captain Tadeo,” Mark replied, saluting. Tadeo returned the salute solemnly then did likewise to the General and the President before saying good-bye and cutting off his communication.

  Johnson turned towards the President, “I have to ask sir, why did you tell Tadeo I was the Captain of this ship? I have no official designation. I own her and built her but in that regard only am I her Captain.”

  “That’s not true any longer, Mr. Johnson. As of now you have a special dispensation from the highest office in the land. Mine. As of this minute, officially you are Captain of this ship in name, and rank as well as every other way shape and form you have already demonstrated. When this is over you will receive an official commendation noting it as well, providing we survive all of this.”

  Mark smiled as a look of surprise covered his face, but he worked well at hiding it after only a second or two.

  “Thank you, Mr. President,” Mark solemnly replied.

  “No, Mr. Johnson, Thank you. Without your foresight and thought I would still be trapped in the secret facility that was built on American soil by an alien race.” He thought for a second more then added, “What I want to know is how they managed to build an entire base right under our noses without any of us being the wiser?”

  “I have more than a few ideas on that, Mr. President.”

  “There’s time for that later. Can you return me directly to the White House?”

  “Post-haste Mr. President, Post-haste.”

  Five minutes later, still smoldering from re-entry, the Cagliostro set down gently upon the south lawn of the White House. The Star fighters that escorted the Cag flew overhead in a patriotic ‘fly by’.

  President Scaleia exited the Cagliostro a moment after its foot ramp touched down, with Mark at his side.

  “Mr. Johnson, it has been a pleasure, you are a patriot as well as a brilliant engineer, and I thank you for rescuing myself and General Abruzzi from these alien terrorists.”

  “I did exactly what anyone else in my position would have been willing to do, Mr. President.” The two men shook hands, “I’ll drop off General Abruzzi in Arizona, where he can see to his command,” Mark commented.

  “Very good, Mr. Johnson. Fly safely.” The President turned to walk into the White House as the guards and secret service agents filling the White House lawn looked on impassively, then he stopped and turned back towards Mark, “I have to amend that, not Mr. Johnson, but Captain Johnson.”

  Johnson stoically saluted as the President returned the salute, spun on his heel and walked up the front steps of the White House his guards following him in.

  Mark relaxed for a moment as he walked up the ramp of the Cag and pensively looked down its gleaming thousand-foot length. Then he continued inside.

  A moment later the ship was airborne and streaking towards Arizona.

  “What’s our ETA at current speed?”

  “One hour, Captain.” Red smirked, “though I could speed it up and have us there in a few seconds at most while in the atmosphere.”

  “Very good, Mr. Robinski, but I think an hour sounds better. We’ve been running around the universe for weeks. Let’s take our time on the last leg of the trip, now that we’ve got some semblance of control back in our lives, at least for the moment. I’ll be in my quarters.” He turned toward his communication officer and spoke, “Ariel, you need to rest. C’mon, time to stand down,” he beckoned to her to join him. Ariel stood and walked to his side leaning on him for support, as she was still shaky from her ordeal hours earlier.

  Once on the living quarter’s deck, the couple exited the maglovator and entered Mark’s quarters, as the door hissed shut behind them.

  Moments later they were both lying back on his bed, Mark holding her comfortingly.

  “Are you sure you’re okay?” he asked her quietly.

  “I’m hurting, Mark. Let’s not ever do that again, okay?” He touched the black and blue on her jaw and she winced slightly at his touch.

  “Sorry,” he consoled.

  “I know. It’s part of the game, I get that. I just don’t know if I’m built for this game. I-I’ve never been hit like that before, in my life I mean.”

  Mark sighed sadly, “I know you are hurt, I really want you to take time off from all of this when we get home. Relax for a week or two. Then we can decide on a new position for you”

  “Mark, none of this is over, you know that. Not yet. You need me right now. After this is over I’ll gladly take a vacation. We’re going to war; you know I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know.”

  “Ari, you have to understand, I just saw the results of you being beaten badly. It’s not anything I ever want to see again.”

  She pushed herself up on an elbow and looked at him, “Mark, I know you’re worried about me, but right now you have to be more concerned with what we—the entire planet is facing. I’ll be all right. But everyone else needs you more than I do right now. This doesn’t mean when all this is over that I won’t want to take a nice desk job at headquarters, but I have to say, beyond the getting socked in the jaw part, I think I’d end up missing all of this.” She waved her hand up in the air, indicating space.

  Mark shook his head, looked away and exhaled before turning back to her and answering, “You are one confusing and infuriating woman.”

  “Aren’t we all?” she smiled demurely, and shrugged her shoulders with a smile.

  Chapter 23

  The Cagliostro hovered in place then slowly began to enter the cavernous hanger before it. The ship settled in and quietly powered down. Across a loud speaker in the bustling hanger, a woman’s voice spoke, “Maintenance crew to hanger thirteen, repeat, maintenance crew to hanger thirteen, full diagnostics and repair crews required as well.

  The boarding ramp touched down and people began streaming out of the ship instantly, Mark at the forefront. “I want full diagnostics on shield data downloaded to me personally. I want weapons diagnostics as well. Weapons power and efficiency must be increased by at least one hundred percent.”

  Red grasped Mark by the arm.

  “Hold on Mark, one hundred percent? You want to double weapons power? How are you going to do that? We could be attacked at any minute for all we know.”

  “We won’t be. They may be out there, Red, but they have a healthy respect of us now. Maybe even a fear, if we’re lucky. That’s something we can play on.”

  “Okay, fine, but is the ship going to have the structural integrity to withstand you doubling weapons output?”

  “Red, c’mon, it’s me. I have so much redundancy built into the Cagliostro that it could withstand five times the stress I’m going to subject it to.”

  “I hope you’re right, boss, no matter what we’ve just been through the past few weeks, this is still an experimental ship. Meaning anything could blow up in our faces at any time.”

  “No Red, not true. This ship is rock solid. Besides, I was having new weaponry developed while we were gone. Advancements were being made based on our data that we were broadcasting back to headquarters the entire time we were out there. New and vastly improved solar cannons are going to be fitted before the day is over. Shield generator capacities are being doubled so their energy siphoning device won’t work on us any longer.”
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  “Wait a sec; I thought we had already beaten that trick of theirs?”

  Mark smirked, “Not at all Red. In order to defeat those siphoning beams of theirs I had Abruzzi powering up every shuttle ship in the landing bay and adding its energies to the Cag’s.”

  “Ha!” Red guffawed, “I meant to ask you about that. I figured you just had some brainstorm idea pop outta your head and you beat that trick of theirs that way.”

  “What? You don’t think my idea of adding energy from the shuttles to the Cag’s was a brilliant idea? I thought it was myself, actually.”

  “I’m sure it was, boss. You know engineering ain’t exactly my thing.”

  Mark waved Red off, “It’s okay Red, don’t sweat it I’m just playing with you a little. Now we have to get some rest, all of us.”

  “Are you going home?” Red asked.

  “No, I figure I’ll sleep aboard ship. I don’t want to leave her unguarded.”

  “Hey if you’re going to stay, so am I. I’ll leave a security detail aboard with us just in case. If they see anything …questionable they’ll contact us immediately.”

  Mark shook his head, “No Red, if they see anything tell them to shoot first and ask questions later. Right now, until those engines are manufactured and ready to be mounted on our fleet within the solar system, we are standing in front of the fastest ship on the planet. That’s a tactical advantage we cannot lose.”

  “Did you look into how close those other engines are to being completed?”

  “Yes, as we were on approach I put a call in. We’re still at least two days away for the first set. The second set is at least a week away.”