The Long Way Home

by Phoenix Hays

  “It’s been interesting,” Victor said.

  “How so?”

  “The defensive measures should be ready,” Richard said, standing up. “Adam, can you confirm?”

  “All defensive protocols are aligned and prepared, Chief Carter,” Adam said.

  Patrick looked from Richard to Victor and then back to Richard. Neither of them looked at each other, and an awkward silence hung in the room.

  “What a riveting conversation,” Adam remarked through the COM. “If you would like, you can go ahead and test out this new strategy.”

  “What do you mean?” Victor asked.

  Warning lights flashed and a muffled alarm chimed from the monitors in the front of the room.

  Richard smacked the table in front of him. “Adam, this is no time for jokes.”

  “Wait!” Patrick pointed at one of the monitors. “Look.”

  Everyone in the room leaned forward as the camera panned to center on the silhouette of a person. Tall grass partially obstructed the figure kneeling next to the fence. He was doing something with his hands near the ground.

  “He’s cutting the fence,” Adam said.

  The figure lowered himself to the ground, pushed the fence forward and crawled through the hole he had made. From his prone position, there appeared to be a rifle strapped on the man’s back.

  Victor headed for the door.

  “I’m coming with you,” Patrick said.

  “Adam,” Victor said, “based on the location of the intruder, what pill should we activate?”

  “Might I suggest bunker D-4?”

  “OK,” Victor said. “Richard, are you coming?”

  “No,” the security chief said sharply. “You’ll need someone to monitor the intruder from here.”

  “Fair enough,” Victor said and turned to Patrick. “Let’s go.”

  CHAPTER 65

  “We stocked all of the pills with retrofitted motorcycle helmets after the last intruder,” Victor said to Patrick. “They work great as combined eye and ear protection.”

  Patrick pulled the helmet down over his head, and the world became very quiet. He looked around at the walls of the bunker.

  “We can also communicate better this way,” Victor said. His voice came from inside the helmet. Patrick looked at him through his visor.

  Victor pointed to the side of his helmet.

  “The software recognizes that you are speaking and broadcasts it to any nearby friendlies,” he said.

  “Wow,” Patrick said. “You guys have been busy.”

  “Adam,” Victor said. “What’s the 20 on the intruder now?”

  “The intruder is almost due east of your position about 75 yards out,” Adam said through the helmet speakers.

  “OK,” Victor said and turned on the monitor on the wall. A layout of the property around them appeared with markings over the locations of various pill bunkers. “Please activate E-5.”

  “Activating E-5.”

  A red circle denoting the intruder moved further into Site B but away from the activated pill.

  “Look at that,” Patrick said.

  “Now activate C-3.”

  “Doing it now,” Adam said.

  The red circle adjusted again, now headed right toward Victor and Patrick.

  “Our intruder is inside the first line of pill bunkers,” Adam said. “Should I activate them now?”

  “Not yet,” Victor said. “Let’s see if we can pin this guy down and get a tighter ring around him.”

  Patrick held his breath as several tense, silent minutes passed and the intruder slowly made their way further away from the perimeter fence.

  “Now,” Victor said, hitting the button to raise the bunker and spring the trap.

  The two men felt the lurch as it started its ascent. The bunker reached its full height and thudded to a stop. He rotated the pill to the right and leaned forward trying to find the intruder.

  Patrick tried to look from the other side of the viewport.

  “I see him,” Victor said. He raised his rifle and fired a shot over the head of the crouching intruder. The sound of the gunshot was reduced to a muffled pop by their helmets.

  The man dropped to the ground in a prone position facing the bunker.

  “Get down!” Victor shouted.

  Before he could complete the command, distant pops of gunfire were followed by banging sounds against the outer walls of the bunker, and both men hit the ground below the viewport.

  “They’re shooting at us?” Patrick asked.

  Victor looked at Patrick through the clear visor with narrow, unblinking eyes – his brows furrowed. He stood back up, just to the side of the opening in the bunker. He held out his left hand in a ‘stay there’ signal toward Patrick, moved to the window and raised his rifle. He fired a few shots and rolled back away from the opening.

  A light on the control panel caught Patrick’s eye as it started flashing.

  “What’s that?”

  “Someone is activating another pill,” Victor said.

  “You’ve got another intruder trying to flank you,” a familiar voice said over the COM.

  “Richard!” Victor shouted. “What do you mean? Where?”

  Before the new bunker was even set, Victor and Patrick saw gunfire erupt from the pill and dirt started flashing up from the ground off to their right. Just beyond, they saw another person get up, turn and run away.

  Victor took up a firing position on the original intruder and saw the man fleeing, too.

  “Thank you, Richard,” Patrick said.

  “Don’t mention it,” Richard grumbled. “I’ll see you below.”

  His bunker was already retreating into the ground.

  After a few moments, Adam confirmed both intruders had left the property and Victor reached over to select the button to lower the bunker.

  CHAPTER 66

  Victor walked through the door to the Bayhams’ residence. Mary, Joe, and Ayrin looked up from the game of Zeroed they were playing. He took two steps forward, and the door slid shut behind him. His shoulders slumped as he wiped his forehead with his hand.

  Mary stood up, walked over and took him up in a hug.

  Slowly, his arms wrapped around her. He patted her on the back twice and then straightened up, taking her by the shoulders.

  “Guess what’s happening tonight?” Victor said over Mary’s shoulder.

  “What, Dad?” Joe asked.

  “There are going to be three launches tonight. Do you want to watch them?”

  “Yes!” The three kids yelled together.

  Mary looked up to him with a concerned expression, still worried about his melancholy entrance.

  He nodded to his wife and smiled.

  “Go get ready,” Victor said in the direction of the kids.

  Ayrin waited while Joe ran into the bedroom to get his shoes on.

  CHAPTER 67

  Patrick watched the security chief inside of the monitoring room. Richard stared at the screens in front of him. He didn’t move. He didn’t say a word.

  I’ve been here for five minutes and he hasn’t even flinched. How long is he going to push himself? Patrick wondered.

  Feeds from 10 different locations around Site B played across the monitors at the front of the room. Most of them involved Space Vision personnel making final preparations for the upcoming launches.

  Patrick finally decided to walk into the room.

  “Everything going according to plan?”

  “Of course,” Richard said. “Why wouldn’t they be?”

  “Well, I heard they had to move the launch up. How come?”

  The security chief sighed. “It looks like our former distant neighbors are going to make their presence known tonight. We have to get these rockets up and out of the atmosphere in time to miss the fireworks.”

  “Fireworks?” Patrick said. “Is everyone here going to be safe?”

  “Sure,” Richard looked at the other man with a sneering smile
. “As long as nobody is top side when it starts.”

  Patrick-recoiled-from the comment – something about.

  Richard’s tone sent a chill down his spine.

  CHAPTER 68

  Inside a greenhouse on the surface, the smart-vator door slid open, and the Bayhams stepped into the large room. The air was thick from the amount of moisture in the room. In front of them were evergreen bushes and shrubs growing in dark green plastic containers. Red, yellow, and blue flowers and ferns of various heights were growing in more containers on the right side of the room. They covered most of the floor, allowing just a few paths to walk among them. To the left was a wall that was covered in climbing vines behind three large plastic containers – the center tub had a label that read “seaweed” on it. Next to the smart-vator dock was a storage cabinet with a few shovels, rakes, and hoes leaning against the side. On the far side of the cabinet was a table with tall walls that held a greenish liquid. A divider in the center of the table supported a four-bladed paddle that churned the liquid around the table. A scent that reminded Joe of mold hung in the air.

  “This is like a jungle,” Joe said

  “This is a greenhouse that Space Vision uses to start new plants,” Victor said. “Check this out.”

  He walked over to a panel on the wall, touched a button on it, and the walls became transparent. The purplish light of dusk covered the rows of apple, peach and pear trees in the orchard in front of them. In the west, the last bit of glowing sky shrank as the sun sank below the horizon. A slight breeze rustled tree leaves.

  Victor touched the panel again and Sanjeed Burman’s voice echoed in the room.

  “—tonight’s coordinated launch of three Odyssey rockets. Please note that the launch has been moved up 30 minutes. We are—”

  Victor cut the sound.

  “Interesting that they moved up the launch,” he said, lifting a chair and turning it to face the others. “But we still have a little time to wait, so I’m going to take a quick nap.” He slumped to the chair and rested his head on his shoulder. A soft snoring sound came from his mouth.

  Joe saw his mother shoot a smirking look at her husband. He peeked out of one eye and grinned back at her.

  “I can’t wait to hear the roar when they take off,” Joe said, looking out at the tree in the orchard.

  “Yeah. It’s cool to see something headed into space,” Ayrin said, nodding.

  Mary smiled in the kids’ direction but didn’t say anything.

  A few minutes of expectant quiet passed and then a low murmur began.

  “Can you feel that?” Joe asked. “They’re starting!”

  “Joe, I don’t—” Mary said and then stopped. “Wait, I think I do feel something.”

  She looked at the ground, sensing the movement below her feet. Sound and vibration grew together slowly but noticeably. A pair of empty containers rattled on the shelves behind them.

  “OK,” Victor said, standing up. “I believe the three rockets are going to be launching from there,” he pointed to the right and then moved his hand. “There.” He moved his finger again. “And there. They should be launching soon.”

  The rumble had now transformed into a roar as the engines of the three ships powered up. The ground shook and the handles of the tools leaning against the cabinet rattled. One slid across the side and fell to the ground.

  “I love this,” Ayrin said, smiling.

  “Look!” Joe shouted.

  Just over the tree line where Victor first pointed, the nose of a rocket appeared. More of the rocket became visible as it climbed into the sky.

  “There’s the second one!” Victor yelled over the noise.

  Another nose cone appeared, and then the third one rose to the left of it. A flash of light from the exhaust of the first rocket bathed them in yellows and reds. For a second it was hard to see but the family shielded their eyes as a second and third flash happened.

  Joe gasped. He mouthed the word “wow,” but even if he had said anything, nobody could have heard it anyway.

  The three rockets streaked upward as they picked up speed. Slowly, the sound and rumbling of the ground dissipated. They watched them turn into little balls of light against the dark sky. Finally, one by one, the lights became too small to be seen anymore.

  “That was so cool,” Joe said.

  CHAPTER 69

  “Alright, everyone,” Richard said, looking around the monitoring room. “Now that those three are away, I want to secure the facility before the main event tonight. Let’s start preparing for contingencies. Adam, are you there?”

  “Always,” Adam said over the COM.

  “I need you to head up worst case scenarios. Designate triage station placements and search and recovery teams based on current active staff. Compile a list of emergency teams based on the staff currently not on duty.”

  “Processing now,” Adam said in an overly robotic voice.

  “Now’s not the time for jokes,” Richard barked.

  “My apologies, Chief Carter,” Adam said. “But I have a rare bone deficiency that makes me say processing now a certain way.”

  Patrick chuckled in spite of the tension in the room. Richard snapped his head around, his lips pursed like he had bitten something sour and his narrow eyes shot daggers. Clearing his throat, Patrick managed to stifle his smile.

  “Just do it,” Richard said through gritted teeth. “This light show is going to start any time now.”

  CHAPTER 70

  The rising moon bathed the orchard in soft light.

  “It really is beautiful here at night,” Mary said.

  Victor reached his arm around his wife and held her close.

  “Hey, look at that,” Ayrin said, pointing at the sky.

  A streak of light drew a thin line from east to west in the darkness above the moon. It faded from view just as quickly as it appeared.

  “A shooting star!” Joe said, pointing at another streak. This one flashed bright and then disappeared.

  Another appeared at a different angle but still headed in the same general direction. Then another. And another.

  Soon, the sky was filled with a mesmerizing field of shooting stars. One appeared to be lower than the others and bigger in size.

  “Uhm, this shouldn’t be happening,” Victor said with a frown.

  The whole family was watching the larger object now. It grew so bright that it made the others harder to see. It left a smoky trail as it passed overhead. The object hurtled toward its target somewhere off to the west. A sonic boom rattled the greenhouse.

  “Victor,” Mary said, grabbing her husband’s arm. Her eyes were wide

  They couldn’t see the impact, but a sound like distant thunder reached them just before they felt the ground tremble.

  “Victor,” she said again, tugging him away from the front of the greenhouse..

  “Get back to the smart-vator,” Victor said.

  Before they could take a step, an eruption of light and noise accompanied by a shockwave of pressure and glass pieces knocked them to the floor.

  “Go! Go! Go!” Victor yelled as he helped Mary up.

  Nobody could hear him over the ringing in their ears but they understood what they had to do, scrambled to their feet, and ran for the smart-vator.

  Somewhere far behind them, another impact created a muffled thud.

  Just before the smart-vator door closed, Joe heard a sound like a cannon going off in the distance. The door slid shut and the smart-vator began its descent. Another impact shook the family in the small room, the lights flickered and then blinked off. Joe breathed a sigh of relief as the smart-vator continued downward.

  ***

  Keyboards, cups, and unoccupied chairs in the monitoring room shook from the twin impacts on the surface. Pens and pencils on the tables bounced, and several fell to the floor.

  “Where did those things hit?!” Richard yelled.

  “It appears that they both landed in the agricultural center,” Adam
said. “There was a smart-vator at the surface that started descending just before the second meteorite hit.”

  “Someone was out there?” Patrick asked. “Who was it?”

  “The lighting is out in that smart-vator car, so you’ll have to take my word that it is the Bayhams,” Adam said.

  “That fool,” Richard muttered under his breath.

  “I’m going to them,” Patrick said. “Adam, where is that car headed?”

  “It looks like they hit the panic button,” the robot said. “The smart-vator will take them to the gymnasium by default.”

  Patrick turned and ran out of the door on his way to the gym.

  ***

  In the darkness, Joe could still feel the downward motion of the car.

  “Is everyone OK?” Victor asked.

  “Yes,” Joe said weakly, raising his hand to his head.

  “I’m OK,” Mary said.

  Ayrin nodded.

  Deceleration of the smart-vator created a heaviness in their legs.

  A bright white seam appeared to the left and then quickly grew to a wall of blinding light as the door opened.

  “Someone needs to check on them,” a woman’s voice called out.

  As their eyes adjusted to the light in the gym, the Bayhams staggered out of the smart-vator toward a group of cots where several people were dressed in dark blue scrubs. The man and woman closest to them ran over to assist them to a cot.

  “Where were you all?” The woman asked, walking up to Joe. She took a cloth and dabbed at his forehead.

  “Ow,” Joe whined. “That stings!”

  “You’ve got a few cuts and scrapes,” the woman said. “Nothing major though. Here,” she motioned to the closest cot, “sit down.”

  “Are you all OK?” Patrick asked as he jogged up to the group.

  “I-I think so,” Mary stammered.

  “What happened up there?” Patrick asked.

  “We were watching the triple launch,” Victor said with a scowl. “And then were surprised by objects falling from the sky.”