The Orbs Omnibus

by Nicholas Sansbury Smith

  “Wake up. You have to tell us what you saw!” she repeated.

  Behind the pain, she could hear a voice in her head. Dr. Hoffman had continued to haunt her. He was millions of miles away, headed toward Mars, and he was still finding his way into her thoughts.

  His voice boomed. It doesn’t matter what this woman saw, Doctor Winston. She can’t help you. The Organics can’t be defeated.

  Sophie would have believed the doctor months ago. Now she knew the truth. He had lied to her, about everything—and now his lies made her want to know the truth even more than before.

  “Wake up!” she screamed, trying to pull free from Emanuel’s grip.

  Smith’s eyes suddenly snapped open and focused on Sophie. The marine lifted her head off the pillow.

  “I saw them all,” she said, blinking.

  Sophie squeezed the woman’s wrist and said, “Saw who? Who did you see, Lieutenant?”

  She blinked again. Then sat up until she was just inches from Sophie’s face, studying her.

  “You,” she finally said. Her voice was rough and weak. “You were there.”

  “Where?” Sophie asked.

  Smith coughed, the skin on her neck tightening with each exhale. “Inside the ark. With the orbs. With the shape-shifting aliens.”

  Sophie felt as though a heavy burden had been lifted off her shoulders, but before she could reply her skull exploded with pain. The agony was debilitating. She immediately dropped Smith’s wrist.

  “Sophie,” a voice said. She felt a pair of hands wrap around her as she collapsed on the ground. Struggling to look up, she saw blurred faces surrounding her. The entire team was there.

  CHAPTER 10

  THE T19 made it to Offutt just as night swallowed the bleak landscape. Kirt did a quick flyover of the base to ensure there weren’t any contacts before turning to Captain Noble. “Looks clear, sir.”

  “Put her down.” Noble paused and scanned the dual monitors. “Over there,” he said, pointing toward the twisted frames of two fighter jets turned on their sides.

  Kirt acknowledged the order with a nod and tucked the machine between the two dust-covered planes. “That should protect her from some of the wind,” he said.

  “Prepare to deploy the secondary bot,” Irene interjected. Her face solidified over the console next to their station.

  “Activating,” Kirt replied.

  The sound of clicking hydraulics filled the com as the belly of the NTC drone opened and a ramp lowered to the ground. A remote-controlled robot shot onto the concrete, the hum of its small engine drowning out the hissing wind in the background.

  Kirt rubbed his eyes. “Looks like my gig’s up,” he said with a yawn. “Wake me if you need me,” he said.

  Noble wanted to shake the pilot’s hand. If it weren’t for his flying back in Los Angeles, the mission would have ended before it had even begun.

  “Rest up; you deserve it,” the captain said. “Irene, you’re up at bat. Time to find some survivors.”

  “Working, sir,” she said. “Transferring camera feed—” her voice jumped to the com and after a slight pause she said, “now.”

  The dual monitors flickered and the feed transitioned to the miniature bot’s cameras. The machine kicked up a trail of dust as it raced down the tarmac toward a cluster of hangars.

  “Irene, see if you can narrow in on the source of that distress signal.”

  “I’m picking up a lot of interference, sir, but it’s still transmitting. We’re coming up on the coordinates.”

  Noble smiled. They had gotten lucky—almost too lucky. Behind them, he heard Athena shout, “Sir, the currents are getting stronger. We’re getting close to the vortex.”

  “Roger,” he replied. “Put two miles between us and the vortex, but do it slowly. We still don’t understand how their detectors work.”

  “Aye aye, sir.”

  Through the lenses of the robot’s night vision, the tarmac looked like a junkyard. Wings from X-90 fighter jets littered the concrete.

  A crosswind spun the drone 180 degrees. The rubber tires screeched as Irene applied the brakes, but another gust of wind crashed against the lightweight bot before she could regain control. Tipping on its side, the machine started skidding across the pavement. Noble watched in horror as green sparks filled the display. The mission had suddenly derailed. They had made it so far, only to be punished by strong winds.

  “Stand by,” Irene said. Her voice sounded distant.

  “Do something,” he said. “We’re going to lose everything!”

  “Activating . . .”

  A grappling hook shot out of the front of the drone, making a whooshing noise as it sailed through the air. The drone screeched to a halt. The robot slowly tipped back onto all four wheels and fought the raging wind head on. The thin rope extended into the distance, where the hook had latched onto one of the wings of a fighter jet.

  The bot cleared the runway just as the wind picked up into a full-fledged dust storm.

  “Why do we have to cut everything so close?” Noble asked.

  “I’m sorry, sir,” Irene began to say. “But it’s—”

  “I was kidding, Irene. Nice work.”

  “Thank you, Captain.”

  He took a deep breath and then pulled his sleeve across his damp forehead. He’d been so focused on the mission he hadn’t even realized he was sweating.

  “Irene, let me know when you find the source of the signal,” he said. “I’m heading over to Navigation.”

  Athena greeted the captain with a nod.

  “How are we holding up?” Noble asked.

  “The currents are unpredictable, but I think we’ll be okay.”

  “I trust you,” Noble said. He pivoted to the AI console. “How we doing, Irene?”

  “Coming up on coordinates now. Take a look,” she replied. Athena’s monitors flickered and an image of a hangar came on the display.

  “If there are survivors, they’re inside there,” he said, squinting.

  “You really think some others made it?” Athena asked without taking her eyes off her monitors.

  “I really, really hope so,” he replied.

  “How are we going to communicate with them if they did?”

  “If there are survivors, I’m going to fly the Sea Serpent there myself, pick them up, and fly them back first class.”

  A nervous chuckle escaped Athena’s lips.

  Noble’s expression quickly hardened. “Find a way inside, Irene.”

  “Done,” she replied. “Looks like someone left the back door open.”

  “What? Where?” He shifted away from the nav station and stepped onto the ramp that led to the lower levels of the CIC. The main screen revealed the double doors to the hangar were cracked open.

  “Shit . . .” Noble muttered. “Could be a trap.”

  “Orders, sir,” Irene said.

  He paused to think. Either way, he had to know. They hadn’t come this far to give up now. He wasn’t risking flesh and blood; he was risking a machine. A very important machine . . .

  “Proceed with caution,” he finally replied.

  The robot zipped through the gap and entered the dark hangar. He imagined a crew of battle-hardened marines waiting, their muzzles pointing down at the bot as they prepared to blast it into pieces. Even that would have been cause for hope. But the green shapes from the night vision feed revealed no signs of life.

  “Sir, we’re right on top of the UTM coordinates,” Irene said.

  “So where’s the distress signal coming from?” Noble replied.

  The bot’s cameras tilted to a forty-five-degree angle.

  “There,” Athena blurted from her station.

  “My God,” the captain replied. “Is that what I think it is, Irene? Zoom in on that image.”
<
br />   He watched the green outlines blur and then solidify to form the most beautiful thing he’d seen in a long time.

  “That’s the NTC Sunspot. One of only three prototypes capable of interstellar space travel,” Irene replied.

  The find was extraordinary, but at the same time Noble was disappointed. He knew what it meant. There were no survivors. No humans, at least. The ship’s AI had likely activated the beacon after the crew had been killed.

  “Damn,” he muttered. He hadn’t wanted to admit it before, but he’d allowed himself to hope.

  “Sir,” Athena said with urgency.

  “What?” he snapped.

  Another voice rang out behind him. “Captain! We have a problem.”

  Noble spun. Richards was standing at his station, his eyes wild with fear.

  “The collection ships, sir. They’ve changed course,” he said, glancing down at his monitor as if to double-check his observation. His eyes shot up and locked with Noble’s.

  “Sir,” Richards said in a low, shaky voice, “the Organics are headed right for us.”

  Noble cursed under his breath and rushed to his captain’s chair, spinning it around and jumping into it. “Evasive maneuvers, now!” he yelled.

  A deep jolt shook the GOA, sending several crew members crashing to the floor.

  “All hands to battle stations,” Irene said. “This is not a drill.”

  An emergency alarm shrieked through the cabin. The glow of the red lights pulsated through the command center.

  The main display flared to life and Noble saw the swirling current in front of them. The vessel’s blue beams tore through the churning salt water.

  He closed his eyes and cursed. Maybe they’d used up all their luck after all.

  * * *

  Emanuel cupped his head in his hands, pressing hard on his temples. How had he allowed Sophie to slide so far into darkness? He should have seen the warning signs: the exhaustion, the stress, and the depression. Sophie had faded right in front of him.

  Now he was wondering exactly how unhinged she really was. Smith had confirmed that she saw Sophie in the ship, and that the ship was full of orbs. She’d even mentioned the shape-shifting aliens. There were only two explanations. One, Smith had overhead them talking about Sophie’s experience in the medical ward, or two . . .

  Emanuel still couldn’t bring himself to believe that Sophie had really been inside that ship. He wanted to believe her, but there was no hard evidence, no test they could perform to see if it was all in her mind. The marines had seen her passed out on the ground during their last battle, not abducted. It was physically impossible.

  Minutes ticked by as he waited for Holly in the CIC. He sat in silence, second-guessing everything that had happened and beating himself up for not trying harder to be there for Sophie. He only hoped now that their intervention wouldn’t come too late; that maybe, just maybe, they could pull her from the grasp of whatever demons possessed her.

  She’d been through so much. The injury she’d sustained during the mission to White Sands, her experience on the black ship. And through it all, she had remained the fearless leader, putting everyone else first.

  As much as it pained him to think it, he wasn’t sure if saving her was even possible.

  He pushed the thought aside and looked at the clock. Holly was already fifteen minutes late.

  “Alexia, can you track Holly down for me, please?”

  “Yes, Doctor Rodriguez. Doctor Brown is currently in your quarters with Corporal Bouma and Doctor Winston.”

  “Is Sophie sleeping?”

  “Yes. She has been for several minutes.”

  Good, Emanuel thought, Holly should be there shortly. In the meantime, he’d get back to work. It was the only way to settle his worried mind.

  He spun his chair to face the row of monitors, typing in several commands. The wall came to life, the screens emitting a warm glow in the otherwise dimly lit room.

  “What do you have for me today, Lolo?” he muttered to himself.

  He glanced at the screen on the right, scooting his chair closer for a better look. Emanuel was working on focusing the grainy image when footsteps in the hallway distracted him.

  “Sophie’s out like a light,” Holly said with a long sigh. “Chad’s watching her now. The kids are with Kiel. So we have a few minutes to talk about her treatment.”

  Emanuel winced at the sound of the word. It made her seem like a mental patient, although he knew that wasn’t far from the truth.

  He gestured to the chair across from him and crossed a leg. “Clearly she’s suffering from post-traumatic stress. On top of that, I think the NTC chip in her neck is causing more problems. I wish there was a way to remove it.” In the back of his mind he found himself wondering if there was something else wrong.

  “Alexia said we can’t do that. At this point, the chip has been connected to her brain for so long we don’t know what will happen. What Sophie needs is a daily dose of therapy. Perhaps even multiple doses.”

  “She’s beyond that, Holly. Don’t you see what’s happening to her?”

  Holly looked unconvinced. “I don’t think she’s beyond therapy. And I really don’t think removing the implant is going to do much besides risk her health even more.”

  Emanuel chewed the inside of his lip. He already knew he wasn’t going to get anywhere with Holly.

  “Doctors, may I make a suggestion?” Alexia asked.

  They both looked over at her console simultaneously. The AI’s face fizzled several times before coagulating into a complete hologram.

  “Please, be my guest,” Emanuel said.

  “We have yet to utilize NTC’s MindTec. Perhaps it could give us a better look into Sophie’s subconscious. If we know what she’s dealing with, then we could potentially find a way to help her.”

  “What’s MindTec?” Emanuel replied. He looked over at Holly, who was already nodding in agreement.

  “That’s a fantastic idea,” she said. “If we had one.”

  “Um, what’s MindTec?” Emanuel entreated.

  Holly waved her hands in an arch. “The device is essentially a miniature MRI that’s capable of looking into someone’s thoughts. Depending on how far back you are trying to look, the machine can achieve up to a ninety-five percent accurate reading. They are also used for therapy, but I’ve primarily read about them being used by the military. I wish we actually had one.”

  “We do, Doctor,” Alexia replied.

  An incredulous look broke across Holly’s face. “That’s news to me. What, do we have one lying around in storage?”

  “Not inside the Biosphere,” Alexia answered. “But NTC does have one of the machines boxed up in the offices outside it. Remember the briefing room? There’s another room where NTC guards took their psych evals when they were building this place. NTC screened everyone working in this facility for the utmost discretion. They wanted to keep the Biosphere a secret.”

  “What are we waiting for?” Holly asked.

  “Hold on, let me think,” Emanuel said. “Now, if MindTec can really get us a snapshot into Sophie’s subconscious, that would be great. However, what if the problem isn’t with her brain?” He flinched at his own idea.

  “There’s only one way to find out,” Holly said.

  “Fine. Let’s go get Sophie some food, maybe some coffee, and explain Alexia’s idea.”

  Holly shook her head once, her ponytail flapping from side to side. “She’ll never go for it.”

  “She will if we make her think it’s her idea,” Emanuel said.

  “And how do you expect to do that?”

  “Easy,” Emanuel replied. “She’s been trying to convince us she was inside that ship, right?”

  Holly nodded.

  “Okay, so I’ll subtly find a way to mention the MindTec. Th
en you suggest using it on Smith to see if we can’t tap into her memories. We could discuss how important they are in learning more about the Organics, and surely Sophie will propose having the same thing done to her.”

  “Or she’ll see right through you. She’ll think it’s a violation of her privacy.”

  Before Emanuel could reply, Alexia cut in. “Doctors, may I make another suggestion?”

  They both turned to look at the AI console, but Alexia had already transferred to the speakers.

  “Why not sedate Doctor Winston? She’s already asleep. You could move her to the medical ward and hook her up to the MindTec without her even knowing.”

  “No,” Holly quickly replied.

  Emanuel agreed. “That would go beyond violating her privacy. I’m not doing it.”

  “I should remind you that time is of the essence here,” Alexia replied. “Not just for Doctor Winston, but also for Lieutenant Smith.”

  The wheels on Emanuel’s chair screeched as he dragged it across the room. He hadn’t forgotten about the marine, but his focus had shifted to Sophie now.

  “Let’s stick to my original plan. I’ve known Sophie for a long time. I think this will work. She’ll go for it.” He spun to face Holly. “In the meantime, prepare the RVAMP. I want it amped and ready to go. I’ll perform the tests Sophie and I had discussed in regards to Smith shortly.”

  Holly’s lips started moving, but her response ended up coming out as a sigh.

  Emanuel looked at the monitors, scanning the wall of images that flickered by. “Alexia, please let me know when Sophie’s awake. I’m going to stop in the kitchen and then head to the medical ward in a few minutes.”

  “Very well, Doctor Rodriguez,” she replied.

  Holly didn’t immediately get up. She sat staring at her mud-caked boots. In a low voice she said, “What do you think we are going to see on the MindTec scan?”

  Emanuel rubbed the back of his shoulder and shrugged. He’d used up all his brainpower for the day; his mind refused to cooperate until he put some warm food in his belly. “Let’s grab a bite to eat. We can talk more about it in the mess hall.”