The Long Way Home

by Phoenix Hays

  The mother stood there for a second. “Look, I’ll call your father and ask. Go on to your room for a moment.”

  Ayrin followed Joe to the bedroom and walked inside. Joe immediately turned around and stood at the edge of the door, just slightly peering around it.

  “What are you doing?” Ayrin asked.

  Joe didn’t answer. He was intent on the conversation going on in the other room.

  “I’m not going to put our lives in danger,” Mary said.

  Victor’s voice answered, but the words weren’t clear.

  “Are you sure, Victor?”

  Another unintelligible response came from the speaker.

  “I’m not kidding. Is it safe for us?”

  The response after the question was short.

  “OK. We’ll head that way after lunch,” the woman said.

  Mary turned around as the speaker clicked off. Joe ducked behind the door jam.

  “Come on out,” Mary said.

  Joe and Ayrin emerged from the room.

  “Clean up your room. After that, we’ll eat some lunch and then we’ll go outside,” she said with a smile.

  “Yay!” The two kids yelled. They ran back to the room in excitement.

  CHAPTER 49

  Patrick felt the smart-vator ascend and watched the floor levels click by on the screen in front of him.

  It is amazing we spend so much time underground. I’m surprised people don’t come to the surface more often.

  Piercing white light filled the smart-vator car as the door opened. Patrick blinked several times trying to get his eyes to adjust. A blur of green slowly sharpened into a cornfield separated from an orchard by a lush green field of shortly cut grass. He stepped out of the car and it lowered back into the ground.

  Turning to his right, he saw some people over in the soccer field and headed in their direction. A boy kicked a ball over to an adult. The woman jogged over to the ball and kicked it back. He called out to them as he neared the field.

  “Mary, is that you?”

  The woman stopped and turned to him.

  “Hello, Patrick!” Mary said.

  Joe and Ayrin ran over to him.

  “Hi, Patrick!” they yelled.

  Patrick patted Joe’s back. “Enjoying some soccer in the nice weather?”

  “Yes,” Mary said. “We had to get some fresh air.”

  “I understand,” Patrick said. “It’s easy to get a little stir crazy down below. Obviously you have found the sport fields, but have you seen the playground?”

  The puzzled faces he saw answered the question.

  “Come on,” Patrick said. “You are gonna love this.”

  The man turned and led the Bayhams away from the soccer field. They walked through aisles of massive grape vines. The plants extended 10 feet into the air until they reached the top of the fencing built for them; their branches hung down with the weight of the bunches of grapes. The group reached the end of the aisle and Patrick gestured to the left.

  “Check that out!” He said.

  “Awesome!” Joe yelled.

  The playground was actually a massive jungle gym. Green tubes, red boxes, blue staircases and yellow slides created a spider web of fun waiting to happen.

  Joe looked to Mary and she nodded to him. He tore off toward the jungle gym.

  Ayrin waited with the adults.

  “Victor tries to hide it, but it feels like the stress is building with the Oppenheimer String getting closer,” Mary said. “The situation seems bad.”

  “It isn’t good,” Patrick said. “Right now, the String is crossing into our asteroid belt just beyond Mars. Oppenheimer is knocking on the door.”

  Mary covered her mouth with a trembling hand. “No, it’s too soon.”

  “Unfortunately, it’s true,” Patrick said. He reached his arm around the woman.

  Double beeps sounded, interrupting the moment. Mary watched Patrick stare at the smart watch on his wrist.

  “I’m sorry, excuse me,” he said and turned away.

  “Patrick, here.”

  “Patrick,” Duke’s voice was strained. “It’s starting. We need you here, please.”

  “I’ll be right there,” Patrick said and then turned back to Mary. “I’m sorry, but I have to go.”

  “I understand, Patrick,” she said.

  With that, Patrick turned and hurried back in the direction of the smart-vator.

  Mary turned back toward the playground and her only son enjoying himself on it. Ayrin noticed Patrick taking one final glance back at the woman as he tilted his head and his face carried a sympathetic frown.

  CHAPTER 50

  Patrick opened the door to the M31 conference room.

  “Someday, I’m going to call a meeting so that I’m guaranteed to not be the last one there!”

  He looked around the room and solemn faces looked at him with no response.

  “O...K...”

  “Please, have a seat, Patrick,” Duke said. “Adam, patch in the feed.”

  “What’s going on?” Patrick asked as he sat down.

  Victor shrugged in response and turned to face the monitor on the wall.

  “The video will be live in a few seconds,” Adam said.

  The room was quiet, and the air was heavy with anticipation. As they waited, people shuffled papers and shifted nervously in their seats.

  A Space Vision logo appeared in the bottom left corner of the black screen, and for a moment, that was all.

  Sanjeed cleared his throat. “When we first found out about the Oppenheimer String, we launched a special satellite that was designed to specifically track the asteroids.”

  Gray dots showed up on the monitor.

  “This feed from that satellite shows that the String has crossed our asteroid belt,” Sanjeed said. “It appears that our concerns of disruptions of the belt have come true. There are now hundreds of objects in front of the Oppenheimer String heading toward the inner Solar System.”

  More small gray dots appeared. Behind them, larger, fainter gray blobs came into view.

  “Is that the Oppenheimer String?” Patrick asked.

  “Yes,” Sanjeed said.

  “The smaller objects,” Victor said leaning forward. “Are they headed toward us?”

  “Not all of them,” Sanjeed said. “What we are seeing is much like bird shot fired from a shotgun. Many will never interact with any of the inner planets but we are already taking measurements to project which ones may threaten us.”

  “I can provide an early estimate of their paths,” Adam said.

  “By all means,” Duke said. “Please do.”

  An overhead view of the solar system was shown on the monitor.

  “It appears that this event is going to make it interesting for us,” Adam said. “Right now, Earth is here.”

  A blue circle appeared around the third planet.

  “This is where Mars is now.”

  A red circle appeared around the fourth planet.

  “The following is a projection of the path of the objects headed inward.”

  Several light gray curved cones expanded as they arced toward the Sun. A couple of the paths ended up overlapping with the trailing edge of the combined cone passing well to the right of the blue circle.

  Patrick gave a sigh of relief. “Good. Looks like a clean miss.”

  The room was quiet for a moment.

  Duke stood up and walked slowly to the screen.

  “Adam,” he said. “Where will Earth be when the objects cross our orbit?”

  Slowly, the blue circle moved toward the cone. It crossed the outer edge and stopped about a quarter of the way into it.

  “How much time does that give us?” Duke asked.

  “A little over a month,” Adam said.

  Duke turned to address the room. “Ladies and gentlemen, the Ascent to Sanctuary must be completed. We have a lot of work to get done before these objects get here.” He nodded, signaling the end of the meetin
g.

  Miyako and Clarence jumped up and headed for the door, both keying their COMs and giving instructions to people on the line. Sanjeed walked to the far end of the conference room and began pulling up various reports on the small work station there. Victor stood and followed Richard into the hallway and they disappeared around the corner.

  Patrick looked over at Duke.

  “Well, old friend,” Duke said. “Here we go.”

  CHAPTER 51

  Ayrin looked around at the gymnasium. “Where is everybody?”

  “Mom, why is the gym so empty?” Joe asked.

  “Your dad said that the meeting from yesterday caused a lot more meetings today. It looks like just about everyone is working right now. Come on, let’s play some basketball.”

  Mary picked up the nearest ball and tossed it up at the hoop. Joe ran up to it as it bounced on the gym floor. He threw the ball up to the hoop, it rolled around the rim and then fell in.

  “That was luck,” Ayrin said with a smirk.

  A warning alarm sounded off, startling the three of them. The lights dimmed slightly and emergency lighting flashed. Adam appeared from a port in the wall closest to them.

  “The complex is being put on lockdown,” he said. “Please follow me.”

  Adam led them out of the gym and into the underground hallway. They had to avoid the teams of Space Vision staff as they scurried in various directions to or away from meeting rooms and huddle areas. Through the crowd, another one of Adam’s auxiliary rigs lumbered toward them. A large silver box with angled sides and dark grills made up the torso and the legs were connected to it by rounded ball joints. Solid black rods extended down and ended in a squared knee. A pair of small pistons on either side of the knee connected to another rod that began the lower leg. This disappeared into large boxes that made up its shins and feet. The boxes had venting grills on their inside panels and corrugated plates on the front and outer sides. One end of a large piston attached to the back of its leg above the knee while the other end was mounted to the back of the lower leg.

  Adam flew forward, turned in the air and seamlessly attached himself to the top of the boxy body. Joe craned his neck upward, looking at Adam’s new perch.

  “What’s going on?” Mary asked.

  “We are performing a test of our defensive procedures. This way, please.” Adam pivoted with surprising quickness and headed down the hall.

  Mary, Joe, and Ayrin hurried their pace to stay close to him.

  “Now I see where everybody was,” Ayrin said.

  They followed Adam down the middle of the aisle and scanned the rooms and work stations as they passed them. There was a person in almost every chair. Every computer was occupied. Although the emergency lighting flashed above the hallway, staff continued on working.

  Adam raised an arm to his left gesturing toward the only empty conference room and led the Bayhams over to its door.

  “As part of the lockdown process, we must ensure everyone is accounted for and the large open rooms are cleared for emergency personnel and their equipment.”

  “That’s why we had to leave the gym?” Joe asked.

  “Exactly.”

  Adam’s head leaned at an angle and the robot paused as if listening to something.

  “Yes, sir.”

  The flashing emergency lights stopped and the warning alarm fell quiet. Adam turned to where Mary, Joe, and Ayrin stood.

  “The test has been completed,” he said and leaned his head to the side again.

  “It appears that they are going to do a walkthrough of the defenses on the surface. Mr. Bayham has offered to have you join him. Please follow me.”

  The group left the conference room and headed toward the metal hallway with the elevator.

  CHAPTER 52

  Adam, Mary, Joe, and Ayrin stepped out of the elevator into the shack located at the front of Site B. They walked through the small office and headed out the front door.

  “It’s nice to breathe some fresh air,” Adam said.

  Blinking in the bright sunlight, Mary tilted her head and smirked.

  “Really?” she asked.

  “What?” Adam held his arms out to his sides.

  Joe laughed at the robot and turned toward the sound of an approaching vehicle.

  Victor pulled up next to the group in an oversized ATV.

  “Hey, guys,” he said smiling.

  Joe and Ayrin ran up to the vehicle.

  “Hop on,” Victor said.

  The kids grabbed onto the roll cage and climbed into the second row of seats. They turned around at the sound of another ATV and waved at Patrick and Duke. Mary climbed into the seat next to Victor.

  “Where’s Adam going to sit?” Joe asked.

  “Sit? I have my own means of transport.”

  Adam’s legs started changing. Outer panels shifted and revealed a tank like tread that expanded to create a wider base on the ground. He zipped around the lead ATV and did a quick 360.

  “Cool!” The kids said.

  “Alright, Adam,” Duke said. “Enough showing off. Let’s get going.”

  The ATVs headed out with Adam rolling alongside. They traveled toward the entrance at the main road. About halfway there, they turned off the paved drive into the grassy field and stopped about a hundred feet away from the drive.

  “What is there to even check out here?” Mary asked.

  “Adam, please activate the sentries,” Victor said.

  A series of thuds came from several different areas of the field. Square sections of grass lifted up and stopped at a 45-degree angle. Large gun turrets rose up out of the ground. They rotated slowly on their tripods. Ammo belts hung from the guns and disappeared into the ground below.

  “My diagnostics are complete. The sentries are fully operational and functioning normally,” Adam said.

  “Alright, let’s check on one of the pills,” Victor said.

  The group started moving further away from the main road. They passed between two sentry guns that were sinking back into the ground. Their covers lowered into place and once again the area looked like a normal field.

  Up ahead, a much larger section of field raised up like a ramp in front of them. The panel stopped and a camouflaged cylinder raised up behind it. The cylinder stopped just as a horizontal opening came into view above the top of the ramp.

  “Pillbox 5-D is now set in its active position,” Adam said.

  “What is that?” Ayrin asked.

  “These pillboxes are for our security teams,” Victor said. “They enter from below, and then the box raises up to fend off any potential attacks.”

  “How many of these are there?” Joe asked.

  “There are several hundred placed strategically throughout the property,” Adam said. “Shall I raise them all?”

  Victor looked over to Duke.

  “That won’t be necessary, Adam,” Duke said. “Are they all responding appropriately to system checks?”

  “Affirmative,” Adam said.

  “That’s good enough for now, then.”

  “Alright, let’s go check on Bertha,” Victor said.

  “Who?” Mary asked.

  Victor smiled. “You’ll see.”

  The ATVs raced off in the direction of the crop fields beyond the shack. Adam weaved back and forth between the vehicles. The group turned down a path between two sections of corn crops. Clearing the corn, Joe could see the playground to his right. They turned to the left and headed along a path through a grove of fruit trees. A section of pear trees lined the edge of the orchard and after clearing them, Bertha came into view.

  Ayrin frowned, unsure of what she was seeing.

  Half of a sphere colored the same as the surrounding grass sat in the clearing. The top of its curvature reached 20 feet above the ground. Warning lights started flashing around the base of the object.

  “Activating Bertha now,” Adam informed the group.

  A line appeared in the center of the sphere and ran
up and over it. The seam grew in size as the two sides began to separate. As they did, a massive barrel emerged from the gap. It had a series of ridges running around it and four antenna-like attachments were equally spaced around its muzzle. Bertha rotated left and right while the barrel raised and lowered.

  The sphere began rising out of the ground. As it did, concentric circles followed it and then stopped at different heights, creating a stair step base around the massive gun. Shortly after reaching its final height, doors opened on the steps and smaller cannons emerged.

  “Whoa,” Joe gasped as he stared at Bertha with wide eyes.

  “This is unbelievable,” Mary said, raising her hand to her cheek. “What could you possibly use something like that for?”

  “Bertha is an extra line of defense just in case the Oppenheimer String or the Fatalists try to cause us some trouble,” Victor said.

  Adam glided over to the ATV holding Duke and Patrick.

  “All systems are green. She’s ready for you if you need her.”

  “Good,” Duke said. “Put her back to bed, and let’s head inside.”

  Bertha reversed the process by retracting the smaller guns, lowering back into the ground, and closing the sphere.

  “This marvel of technology was just recently completed,” Duke said. “I hope you all feel a little safer knowing what we’ve put in place to protect Site B.”

  Victor turned his ATV around to face Duke.

  “Patrick said that a sensor on the fence was giving some weird readings. If it’s OK, I’ll check on it after taking my family back to the entrance and then meet up with you afterward?”

  Duke nodded. “Of course.”

  Victor stepped on the accelerator, and the vehicle sped off.

  CHAPTER 53

  “Oh come on,” Mary said. “You like these morning cartoons.”

  Joe sat back in his chair and crossed his arms. “We’ve watched them a thousand times now. They’re boring.”

  “Fine,” Mary turned the TV off and threw the remote into the couch. “Then go play in your room.”

  Ayrin crinkled her eyebrows and looked over at Joe. “I wish we could watch cartoons every day.”