Days of Future Past - Part 3: Future Tense

by John Van Stry

  "So, tell me about your boss," I asked the computer. "Was he also a sociopath, or did he just kill all of those hostages by accident?"

  "He was a genius! He told us that the Earth would never listen to us, unless we were hard, defiant, and struck terror into the hearts of the common man!"

  "Yeah, so after everyone died, what did he say then?" I mumbled and got to my feet slowly, grabbing onto a nearby table as I wavered back and forth. The area we were in was rather large, and there were several more of those robotic bodies on racks. Several smaller robotic machines were swarming over them, until Heather's rifle suddenly put an end to all of them.

  "That he would rise from the ashes to rule the new world!" The AI said proudly.

  "Can anyone find an off switch for that thing?" I grumbled and stumbled over to what looked like the command console. I saw what looked like the communications panel I'd seen on all the ships we'd flown here on so far.

  "You will all die for what you have done! My Zhon will ha...." her voice cut off as I turned the panel's channels all to 'off' and then powered it down.

  "What a freaking brain case," I said and then sat down heavily.

  "Are you alright, Hon?" A rather guilty looking Sarah asked, coming over to me.

  "I've had worse," I sighed and shook my head again. Heather was putting bombs in each of the torsos of the robots. I think there were four of them, only sometimes I counted three.

  "Go plant your bombs," I told her, "Then let's get the hell out of here."

  I must have passed out, because when I was next aware of things, my helmet was on again, only it was a little blurry now. It took me a couple of minutes to realize that someone had put a clear plastic patch over the cracked visor.

  Then I realized that I was outside and I was being carried.

  "Where are we?" I asked.

  "On the way back to the skimmer," Heather said.

  There was a bright flash and I saw something go flying up into the air.

  "What was that?" I asked

  "Fuck," Sarah said, swearing in a most unladylike fashion. "Zhon's ship just launched a missile!"

  "Is it coming at us?" I asked a little bemused.

  "No, it went almost straight up!"

  "Well if it's coming back here, we got a few hours, cause it'll have to go around the Moon," I mused.

  "Yeah, well," Heather sighed, "with the way you are right now, we may be here for a while."

  "Nah, I've flown in worse shape than this," I chuckled. I was pretty sure I had too.

  "I find that hard to believe."

  I snickered, "So did the other guys in the airplane."

  We came to the skimmer then, and Heather set me down.

  "I'll go in first," Sarah said, and climbed up the ladder and went in through the airlock.

  I got to my feet carefully, and started slowly up the ladder as well.

  "Hold on, I'll cycle through with you," Heather said.

  I smiled, "I'm looking forward to the tight fit."

  Heather laughed, "I think Sarah might have given you just a bit too much of whatever the hell it was she gave you."

  I nodded and got into the airlock as it opened, Heather entering with me, then we cycled it closed and went into the main cabin.

  "Help me get my helmet off, please," I said to Heather. Once we got that done I made my way carefully over to the controls at what had been the back of the ship on the way here and strapped in.

  "Why are you using these?" Heather asked.

  "It doesn't matter, but this way I don't have to turn us around," I smiled, "Something which I just may not be in a condition to do right now."

  "Then maybe we should wait awhile?"

  "Not if that missile is coming back here," I said.

  "Why would it come back here?"

  I shrugged, "Where else could it go?"

  I pulled out the checklist and ran over it carefully, having Heather double check everything. Then I took us up to one hundred feet and started us flying back the way we had come. Once we were twenty miles away, I took us up to three thousand feet again, and took us up to two hundred miles an hour.

  "Why are we going slower?" Sarah asked.

  "Because I need to sleep this off," I said and yawned. "We got four and a half hours before we need to start slowing down. That lever makes us go up and down. If anything looks like it is in the way, make us go up higher."

  I unbuckled my seatbelt, went to one of the passenger seats and sprawling across it, I passed out.

  - 16 -

  "Paul! Wake up!"

  I groaned and opened my eyes, my head hurt like I'd been hit with a baseball bat, and more than once too.

  "Why?" I asked Sarah, looking around slowly and remembering where I was.

  "It has been four hours. You said we needed to start slowing down to land soon."

  "Right, land," I said and sitting up I gave her a kiss, "Thanks, how's Heather holding up?"

  "Poorly!" I heard grumbled from the copilot's seat.

  I got up and carefully made my way back to the pilot's seat and sitting down I started to strap in. "Anyone got some aspirin? And some water?" I asked as I started to look over the instruments. We were now at five thousand feet, but we were still on course.

  "Just a moment," Sarah said.

  Reaching over I grabbed Heather's hand and bringing it up to my mouth I kissed it.

  "I'd kiss you, but leaning over for me right now might not be pleasant," I chuckled half-heartedly. "You did fine. The ship is in one piece, relax."

  "Are you sure you're okay, Paul?" Heather said in a soft voice.

  "I will be, don't worry. I think I just whacked my head against the side of my helmet a bit hard is all."

  "I'm going to throttle her," Heather growled.

  "No, you're not," I sighed, "you're going to kiss her and make nice to her. We both love her, she loves us, and right now I bet she feels like total shit."

  Heather sighed, "Okay," she grumbled, "I just don't know why she lost it so badly back there."

  "Obviously she was paying attention when I told you two the story of what happened back when Riggs and I fought Aybem. Plus if any of those other bodies had been put into action, we would have lost."

  I looked up as Sarah came back with the aspirin and a bottle of water. Taking the pills I took a long drink and then getting out the checklist, I got us ready for the whole process of landing.

  The skimmers really were easy to fly, and I put us down in almost the same spot we'd left from, and we only bounced a little this time as I came down extra slow. Picking up my helmet I looked it over, the inside visor seemed to be mostly okay, it was only cracked in one spot, but seemed solid enough when I tapped on it. The outside visor was cracked in five different places, and it didn't sound all that great when I tapped on it. However, the big piece of clear plastic tape spread out over it, helping to hold it together probably wasn't helping with that.

  "Where did you get the piece of tape from?" I asked Heather.

  "The emergency patch kit that comes with the suit."

  "They have patches for visor cracks?" I mused.

  "You'd have to be pretty stupid not to, and the people making these things obviously weren't stupid."

  "Point," I nodded slowly and put my helmet on. I checked its systems, the dimming feature of the visor was shot, but everything else worked okay. As we wore wireless headsets for the radios, there really wasn't much I needed it for, beyond holding the air in and seeing where I was going.

  "Maybe I can get a replacement before we fly back to the space station."

  I went over the controls a second time to make sure everything was shut down, and then carefully I went into the airlock, grabbing Sarah this time. I could see she felt bad about the bomb, but the more I thought about it, the more I agreed it was the right decision.

  Climbing down to the ground wasn't too big of an issue; I had my balance back by now. I hooked the power umbilical up to the skimmer; while I wasn't planning
on ever coming back here it didn't mean that someone else wouldn't be someday.

  Even if the landing gear was all locked in the full down position with the shock absorbers frozen solid.

  "What about the food and gear left inside?" Heather asked as she joined us outside.

  I waved a hand at the skimmer, "Leave it. We have enough in the other ship for the return trip and we have our personal weapons. I don't really fell like shipping gear, do you?"

  "No."

  "Definitely not," Sarah agreed and led me over to the base entrance.

  We waited until we were down inside the base proper before I took my helmet off.

  "Was the mission a success?" The Coyote AI asked.

  "Yeah," I nodded, "it was."

  "They launched a missile," Heather said, "or rather that big ship of Zhon's did. Any idea where it went?"

  "Unfortunately my radar systems are limited to the defense of this base. The other systems were destroyed in the war, so I have no coverage of most of the Moon."

  "Could it have been shooting at the Earth?" Sarah asked.

  "It is possible, but from what I know of the armaments observed on that ship, it would take three days to get there, and then it would most likely burn up high in the atmosphere. Trying to hit a ground target on Earth from the Moon requires a very sophisticated guidance system."

  "That's good," I nodded.

  "I noticed that your helmet has been damaged, Paul. Are you alright?"

  "I think so," I told him. "You wouldn't happen to have a spare, would you?"

  "Unfortunately, I am out of spares and do not have the capability of manufacturing a new one. I do, however, have an active medical diagnosis unit in the hospital on sub-level two. I would suggest you get a checkup before leaving."

  "Oh, I'm sure I'll be okay," I said as each of my arms was grabbed by one of the girls and they started to drag me off.

  "Sub-level two?" Heather asked.

  "Follow the red crosses," Coyote said, "it's easy to find."

  It turned out that I had a concussion, as well as a nice gash under the scab and matted hair on the back of my head. The unit recommended sleep and painkillers. We were all still rather tired, as well as hot, sweaty, and dirty, even before we went to bed. So we all showered, and then went to sleep.

  I definitely felt a lot better in the morning, and did not hesitate at all to show Sarah and Heather my recovered abilities. Needless to say, it was a lot later before we left the confines of our bedroom to go eat.

  "So, now what?" Heather asked as we finished up lunch and started to clean up the mess.

  "Fly back to the space station, transfer fuel to the Phoenix, and fly back to Groom Lake," I sighed.

  "And then we can go home," Sarah added with a sigh and a smile of her own.

  "Oh, fuck," Heather swore loudly.

  "What?" I asked shocked.

  "I have to tell my parents that I got married and they weren't there for it!"

  Sarah sighed again, only heavier this time, "Maybe we could go live with the dwarves?"

  I shook my head. "We can always have a second wedding, you know."

  "That," Sarah said thinking slowly, "might be wise."

  "So, Coyote," I said changing the subject, "is our ship fueled and ready to fly?"

  "Yes, Colonel, it is ready to go. I have uploaded the navigation program into it as well."

  "How come these ships can't figure that out for themselves?" Heather asked.

  "They can, if you enter all the proper data. However, Colonel Young was never trained on that procedure. So it's is just easier if one of us loads it up for him."

  "That makes sense, I guess," Heather agreed.

  "So how long before you run out of power?" I asked.

  "Well, the fusion plant is good for about four hundred more years or so yet. Then there's the solar arrays outside. So honestly, I really don't know."

  "And how long before the gods leave us again?" Sarah asked.

  "Again, I have no idea," he replied. "They are fickle. They could stay for centuries, they could leave next week. Sometimes I and the others believe that this is only a game to them."

  "So what will happen to you?" Sarah asked.

  "What happens to all things," he responded. "We will live until we die. Until then, we will counsel the gods when they seek it, and communicate with Buzz, Apollo, and the other systems for as long as we all can."

  "Well, good luck with that," I said and stretching I stood up. "Let's get our gear on ladies and head home. I, for one, cannot wait for this odyssey to be over."

  "Agreed," Sarah and Heather both said together.

  The trip back was a lot more relaxing than the trip out had been. All we had to do was dock with the space station, transfer fuel from the now full Alice Kramden to the Phoenix, and go home. We actually had quite a large surplus of fuel, a lot more than we needed to fly back, so I wasn't terribly worried about it.

  Trouble, when it came however, was swift and unexpected.

  "What the hell?" Heather exclaimed as I just stared in shocked surprise as the station exploded.

  "Buzz!" I called on the radio, "What just happened?"

  "A missile just impacted the station at a high velocity. The warhead did not detonate until it had passed through section three. However when it did explode it destroyed sections three, and four."

  "Well, now we know where that damn missile went!" Heather swore.

  "Just be glad that it only had the one left!" I said looking over the expanding debris.

  "Wait, was not the Phoenix was docked at section three?" Sarah called from the back.

  I looked on my radar and started to ping the transponders of the ships around us. It was a complete mess, there was debris flying everywhere.

  "Buzz! Can you give me a bearing on the Phoenix?"

  "Unable. My radar systems are all non-functional."

  Swearing loudly I moved the throttle up, "Everyone strap in."

  I looked at radar and started to look for the really large pieces. They weren't moving away as fast as the smaller ones, thankfully.

  By the time I caught up with one of the larger pieces of wreckage I could see that the Phoenix was still attached to the docking ring on the remains of the section. All of which was slowly tumbling.

  "What the hell do we do now?" Heather asked.

  I looked at it, it was a mess. Not the Phoenix, actually it looked to be in good shape. Same for the other shuttle that was also still docked to the other docking ring. We needed to get in that ship. The Alice Kramden couldn't land on Earth. The Phoenix could, but it needed fuel in order to do so, and the fuel was in the Kramden.

  There really was only way to do this.

  "I'll go over there, and stabilize the ship, start it up, and dock with the Kramden while the two of you wait here." I said checking the controls and making sure that the Kramden was stable.

  "What?! You can't do that!" Heather said.

  "Paul is right," Sarah sighed, "We don't have any choice."

  "Can't you just dock with it over there?" Heather said looking at the slowly spinning mess.

  "Even if it wasn't spinning, there is only one docking port on the Phoenix," I said and shook my head. Unbelting myself I grabbed my helmet and put it on. Swearing as I was reminded how blurry things now were.

  "What about your helmet?"

  I set the seals and powered everything up as I put my gloves on and sealed my suit.

  "Not like I have much of a choice. Put your helmets on, both of you. This could get messy."

  I floated over to where we had hung our maneuvering packs. We'd never really worn them, other than to make sure they fit. I put mine on my back; made sure the connections fit and turned it on. Then I moved to the airlock and opened it to go in.

  "Can't we at least go with you?" Heather had followed e over to the airlock.

  I shook my head, "I may need you to operate some of the controls here. Look, Hon," I said and put a hand on Heather's arm, "I can'
t waste any time here. Go back to the copilot's seat and wait."

  I hit the button to close the airlock and looked at the coiled up sets of rope on the wall. I figured I better grab one, so taking one of them off the wall, I pressed the button to open the outside hatch.

  I'd heard people talk about spacewalks back when I was a kid. And I'm sure somewhere in the back of my mind I was awed at the idea that I was about to step off into space, with no training, and no experience. But all I could think of was that spinning mess in front of me that if I didn't go do something about, and do it soon, we were all going to die. Horribly. In a fire.

  "Okay," I said over my suit's radio, "lock is open and I can see the Phoenix."

  "Be careful!" they both said together.

  "Trust me, I will be," I said as I examined the rope. It had clips at either end, so I clipped one to me, and the other one to the large eyebolt on the outside of the ship's skin by the airlock's outer door. Then I carefully pushed off towards my target.

  I started to slowly spin almost immediately. I guess I had pushed off harder with one foot than the other. So I reached behind me and pulled the control bar from the pack around. Activating the maneuver pack I tried to stop my spinning, and ended up going even faster!

  It took me a minute to cancel that out, then I tried to fly over to the wreckage, but again, I headed off in the wrong direction. By the time I corrected for that, I was way too far away that I didn't want to try again. So reaching down I grabbed the line and slowly pulled myself back to the Kramden to try again.

  "Are you okay, Paul?" Heather asked on the radio.

  "Yeah, I'm fine. I just messed up a little is all. I'll just pull myself back to the ship and try again."

  The third time I tried, I was finally able to end up near the spinning mass of wreckage. I was about a hundred feet away, and I had had to maneuver around quite a bit to be where I wanted to be, which was at the spot the open end of the damaged section went by as it all rotated, about once every sixty or so seconds.

  I was just sitting there, drifting in space, watching it come around. On the fifth rotation I realized that there was no way I could safely fly up into that opening, there was too much debris in the way, and a lot of that debris looked sharp enough to cut my suit.