Magestic 3

by Geoff Wolak

  At ten minutes to noon, Jimmy stepped out of the pilots’ briefing room and walked casually across to the marquee now housing the press. Inside, he found the floor to be grass, and the tent to be cramped, thirty cameras pointed towards a podium. The roar of numerous overlapping conversations died quickly as Jimmy attended the podium.

  ‘Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for attending here today,’ Jimmy began. He waited for people to settle. ‘Many years have passed on this world … since I was last here. You have changed governments many times, grown as a united planet, suffered the Hawaiian quake, the Middle East quake, and you remain united and strong, something that you can all be proud of.’

  Jimmy’s phone beeped, heard by everyone. He ignored it.

  ‘You have suffered alien attacks, and have repulsed them successfully, and you have bolstered your defences, increasing your technology with the help of the Seethans here. And I would like to pay particular tribute to those Seether who – despite suffering racism at the hands of some – are still dedicated to helping this world.’

  An alarm sounded, the journalists all peering around, or skyward, which was odd considering they could not see out through the tent.

  Jimmy raised his hands. ‘Please remain calm, but that warning siren signals the start of a large-scale alien attack at this particular location. I’m not running away, so neither should you be. Above us, our craft are engaging the aliens and – hopefully - they will prevail. If they don’t, then those assembled here will have nothing to worry about; it will be over quickly.’

  Four hundred yards away the soil erupted, dirt climbing a hundred feet before raining down, the tent buffeted as soil hit the white fabric. No explosion registered, but everyone could feel the dull rumble through their feet. Outside of the tent flaps, guards and soldiers ducked as soil rained down, some lumps quite large. It was a surreal backdrop to Jimmy stood at the podium.

  ‘Many of you will have been wondering why we’ve returned, and why we’ve brought an army with us. The answer is simple: we’re time travellers, and we could see what the future held for you. That future had suffered a paradox … and had been altered, and may be altered again – many times.’

  The ground shook again, the press now terrified. A few ran out, some ducking under flimsy folding tables.

  ‘…We could see that you would suffer further attacks, but also an increase in the ferocity of those attacks…’

  Sonic booms registered, followed by a high-pitched squeal a little like a jet fighter shooting past. A bright flash, and brilliant white sparks rained down, visible beyond Jimmy.

  ‘…So we’ve returned to lend a hand, since we could not know the future and allow our brethren to suffer. We could not just sit by and do nothing as you struggled to cope.’

  Sparks hit the tent, and burnt holes through in a dozen places, the tent fabric soon well alight. Sky became visible as burning holes rapidly increased in diameter. Fortunately, the burning fabric was twelve feet above the heads of the press, and that fabric was supported by aluminium structures.

  As the tent slowly disappeared, most faces now peering skywards - the cameras still focused on Jimmy, Jimmy continued, ‘We have brought soldiers, all volunteers, and we have brought advanced scanners and weapons. We have also brought our advanced orbital craft, and we shall stand shoulder to shoulder with you and fight. You … are our brothers and sisters, and in your hour of need we will not abandon you.’

  A blast wave wobbled Jimmy, a few of the press falling over, screams rising up. Lifting his head, towards what few smouldering strands of tent fabric remained on a bare frame, Jimmy could see a huge plume of sparks erupting some distance behind the tent, reaching skyward and arcing over, soon raining down like fireworks

  ‘Sorry about the noise, ladies and gentlemen, there appears to be something going on outside.’ Soldiers ran back and forth, smoke drifted past, and sparks continued to rain down, some landing right next to Jimmy. When one hit the podium, he casually brushed it off with a hand, most of the press now under the tables.

  ‘What our observations of your future revealed to us, was that you cooperated in world governance, and that you dealt with most of the big issues. You cooperated with a combined Earth defence policy, and you shared the advanced technology responsibly. But that cooperation will come too late for you, and to survive against greatly increased attacks from the aliens you will need to cooperate more, or you may all perish.

  ‘Peoples of Earth, you are not alone, and the problems you face will fall onto our shoulders as much as yours. All I ask of you … is that you don’t fight each other whilst we’re trying to fight the aliens. We can’t do both, and succeed.’

  The ground shook, a huge plume of dirt thrown into the air, the blast registering a second later, another huge rainbow of sparks rising and arcing over. Many of the press had now left, others were under tables, a few die-hards wanting to get the story at any cost. Some were now filming their colleagues, or the distant showers of sparks.

  Two huge clouds of bright sparks appeared high overhead, both appearing to be at altitude, dull blasts registering a few seconds later. Jimmy peered up, to see a dozen con trials where moisture had been inadvertently collected on the skin of orbital craft, and had been released as part of high speed manoeuvres.

  ‘Ladies and gentlemen, let’s take a break for lunch, it may be quieter afterwards. There’s no point me talking with background noise.’ Jimmy stepped away, soon flanked by Marines that had not reacted to the melee going on around them.

  In the bustling pilot’s briefing room, Jimmy found the senior officers of the Marines and the Rifles attending numerous data-pads. ‘Report,’ he ordered.

  ‘Six alien craft destroyed,’ came a voice.

  ‘And they all came for you, boss!’ came another voice. ‘Right down to low level. You may have heard them, sir.’

  ‘I didn’t,’ Jimmy joked. ‘I was giving an interview. So, how many are left out there?’

  ‘Three are in a high orbit trying to flee, Toby Holton and the squadron on their tails.’

  ‘Then I guess our alien friends are brave, but not suicidal in their zest to please their political paymasters. That works to our advantage.’ Jimmy faced the senior RAF officer. ‘Have all aircraft on this planet grounded.’

  ‘That signal would have gone out when the attack started, sir; standard procedure.’

  ‘Double check, because anything flying might be shot down, including your jet fighters. Ground them all.’

  ‘Are you sure, sir? Those jets can hit a Zim craft on a good day.’

  ‘I’m sure,’ Jimmy insisted. ‘Ground them all.’

  High above the Pacific, Toby bore down on a Zim craft. That craft was trying to climb out of the atmosphere, now approaching twelve thousand miles an hour and leaving a hell of a wake, the craft red hot. Toby was close, just thirty thousand feet higher, and so was optically visible as he picked up heat from the upper atmosphere. When he pointed his nose towards the Zim craft, the Zim banked wildly, its speed moving it away from Toby’s line of fire in an instant.

  Toby broke off his attack and climbed higher.

  ‘Toby, what are you doing?’ came a Russian voice.

  ‘Watch and see.’

  Toby climbed out of the atmosphere, the skin of his craft cooling rapidly, and entered a fast orbit, soon dodging commercial satellites whilst tracking the Zim craft in question.

  Toby could see Dark Star III rising, and chasing the Zim craft. ‘Dark Star III, this is Toby: chase the rabbit towards the dogs.’

  ‘I believe I understand the metaphor, sir. Standby.’

  Dark Star III lowered its angle of climb, but accelerated, soon under the Zim craft. That craft made a choice, and considered the cold vastness of space to be a better alternative to Earth’s atmosphere. It climbed steeply. Toby was now ahead of the craft, and spun around, flying backwards and reducing velocity. As the Zim craft started to lose its heat trace, Toby made ready.

  ‘Compute
r, select rail-gun, six bolts, spread pattern of twenty metres. Standby … standby … fire!’

  The bolts flew out, increasing Toby’s own speed as he flew backwards; Newton’s laws of physics were giving him an unwelcome boost.

  As the final bolt was fired, the ship’s computer came on with, ‘Debris detected, craft’s stealth mode lost, visual evidence of loss of air pressure.’

  Toby reduced his speed as much as he could, climbed higher, and was soon following a blip on the screen that was the damaged Zim craft. He kept out of range, knowing that the Zim’s particle weapon was only accurate and effective to twenty thousand metres – if they were true to form. He also made slight course changes, just in case company was around. His deceleration had put in into an arc, and reaching an orbit of two hundred miles Toby closed in on the Zim craft.

  ‘Toby, status of Zim craft?’ came a Russian voice.

  ‘It’s dead in the water. Don’t know if it’s worth trying to salvage it; it’s on a course for the Moon, more or less.’

  ‘Let Dark Star III play chaperone. Return to the upper atmosphere.’

  ‘Roger that.’

  ‘This is Dark Star III, altering course and climbing towards damaged Zim craft. Should I find the craft floating in water, or a young lady in need of an escort, I shall report the unusual findings.’

  Smiling, Toby altered course, a slow arc taken at a g-force of five to allow for his human condition. Reaching the azimuth of the arc, a bleep brought a screen to life, an optical reading of six distant craft, part of the Sun’s visible spectrum reflecting off the ships. Since he knew where all of our craft were, they had to be Zim; a second wave.

  ‘All craft and all stations, second wave of six Zim craft bearing down on us.’

  A Russian voice ordered, ‘All craft not engaged - rise to orbit, close in on Toby. Earth Defence Force, join us, top priority.’

  The six ships that Sandra had built - operated by a consortium, had been hiding on the far side of the Moon, but had set a course for Earth as the Zim entered the Earth’s orbit. They now vectored onto Toby as my son pointed his nose towards the distant Zim formation.

  A minute later, Jimmy came on. ‘This is Jimmy Silo. Dark Star I, II and III: if you don’t get to those ships before Toby, I will personally pull out your wires, one by one.’

  ‘Dark Star I responding. Since the situation dictates, and I like my wires where they are, I am now engaging my ion drive within the Earth’s upper atmosphere. This may lead to interference with satellites, whose owners may send the bill for damage to Mister Silo.’

  ‘Dark Star II responding. I am presently right below Dark Star I.’

  ‘Dark Star III responding. Altering course and accelerating to operational limits of one hundred and ten percent.’

  ‘This is Silo: Earth Defence Force, try and flank the bad guys, and flash your lights when you get close. Distract them. Major Alexi, report.’

  ‘Sir, we have three manned craft in orbit closing in on Toby, three in low atmosphere still chasing down Zim craft, the Dark Star trio, and the Earth Defence Force. No radar or EM lock on the second wave yet.’

  ‘This is Toby. My computer estimates second wave to be eighty thousand miles out. At best speed that brings them into the fight in eighteen minutes or more.’

  ‘Silo for Moon Base: bring on the dancing girls - and the music.’

  Ten minutes later, the Zim having already picked up human-craft EM signals since the first wave of their colleagues had attacked, they could detect powerful signals coming from the Moon, and from three points between the Earth and the Moon, the final point close enough to be a worry. What they could not have known was that probes fired from Moon were doing a good job of making themselves look like a dozen craft in formation, coded EM signals now being sent back and forth between the fictitious craft. Over great distances, there was no way of disproving the ruse.

  ‘This is Dark Star I, closing in on Zim second wave at great speed. Craft are changing course as a group.’

  A minute later, Jimmy came on. ‘Dark Star I, how’s your aim?’

  ‘I believe, sir, that we shall find out shortly, since I will reach optimum range in less than one minute. It will be a tricky shot, since they are altering course, speed, and the variable gravity will have an effect.’

  ‘A good sniper does not make excuses,’ Jimmy replied, his response delayed a few seconds.

  Dark Star I, considering what it may be like to have its wires pulled out one at a time, checked and re-checked its calculations. Since the Zim’s rate of change of speed was not constant, their speed and position would have to be estimated. Even his own ion engine was a factor, since his engine’s own fissile material reduced in mass every second, altering the craft’s own weight, so its own course altered slightly. Thousands of computations were tackled in a few seconds, Dark Star I reaching a conclusion. It held off firing.

  Closing in on the second Zim wave, as that wave changed course at high speed, Dark Star was aware of his sister ships closing the gap behind, Toby having been overtaken. Toby could only accelerate within human tolerances, Dark Star and its sister ships not being burdened with that biological limitation. Behind Toby came Major Alexi and one other, the Earth Defence Force craft now off on a flank and unlikely to see any action today.

  For Dark Star, the seconds and micro-seconds counted down, calculations made and re-made as factors altered. It made a choice, selected a wide angle, and discharged its particle weapon, issuing seventy-five percent of his energy reserves. That resulting pulse of particles, it computed, would do two things. One, it would interfere – at least in part – with the Zim sensors, and two, some of the particles would bounce off the Zim ships for several seconds after contact. Dark Star was about to fire a flare up over the enemy positions.

  Six seconds later, and six enemy craft were lit up like a Christmas tree. Dark Star fired six bolts, one at each ship. A quick re-computation factored in his approach speed, and Dark Star would literally collide with thee Zim squadron in ten seconds. Having fired the rail-gun, its own forwards momentum had been stunted, its course altered slightly. It re-calculated, and fired and additional five bolts - all that it had left.

  Two Zim craft disintegrated - strong EM pulses issued, two issued vapour, and one started to slowly spin along its lateral axis.

  Too late to do anything about it, such as change course, Dark Star registered eight of our bolts pass by at speed – but only after they had moved beyond it. The two Zim craft issuing vapour blew apart, whilst the remaining undamaged ship lost surface layers, starting to spin on its vertical axis.

  Just nine seconds after the start of the attack, Dark Star closed at a fantastic speed. It chose a course that was offset by just five hundred metres laterally, and as it entered range it selected its onboard laser, what power it had left cranked up, a single shot at the least-damaged craft as that craft tumbled. It was soon all over for Dark Star, since the gap between it and the enemy ships was widening at a thousand miles a second. Out of the fight, it chose a slow elliptical path back towards Earth.

  Behind it, Dark Star III had fired a total of twenty-two bolts, all but two of its remaining arsenal, and scored three hits, but against ships that had already split apart. It joined Dark Star II and Dark Star I in elliptical orbits, each path slightly tighter than the ship in front.

  A full six minutes later, Toby fired on the least damaged ships, those ships now conveniently radar visible, and even Alexi fired off at the debris, just to be sure. The probes from the Moon, the fake armada, flew around in a huge orbit, destined to land back on the Moon in a few days and be recovered. Toby and Alexi still had the benefit of the Earth’s gravity, and selected elliptical paths, adopting a close formation.

  Dark Star II had picked up a coded burst message as the Zim craft had been engaged, and now Jimmy was made aware of that message. The transmission was not a surprise, Jimmy had hoped for it.

  In the RAF pilots’ briefing room, he faced the Marines
and Rifles officers. ‘Standby for Operation Starburst.’

  A Marines officer said, ‘Sir, there’re still some jet fighters up there.’

  Jimmy took a moment, and faced the senior RAF officers. ‘Send the signal: any jet fighter may be shot down. You may only have a few minutes.’

  Two officers rushed out, others lifting satellite phones.

  ‘Sir,’ a Kenyan officer called. ‘I can send a signal that will reach the computers of most jet aircraft.’

  ‘Do so,’ Jimmy urged.

  The signal was sent, and jets in far off places were soon landing at civilian airports, or even on stretches of road.

  ‘UK airspace is clear,’ came a voice.

  ‘European airspace clear,’ someone shouted.

  Jimmy nodded. ‘Execute plan Trigger Happy.’

  ‘Trigger Happy engaged,’ an officer confirmed. The room fell quiet, all eyes on the data-pads.

  ‘Right,’ Jimmy said. ‘All we need now … is a pack of cards.’ He faced a young lady RAF officer. ‘Any chance of a few cups of tea for the lads?’ As she trotted off he eased down onto a sofa, the RAF staff observing with expectant looks.

  Thirty minutes later, reports came in of the positions of the orbital craft, and the time it would take for various craft to reach Earth’s orbit, or to enter the atmosphere. All craft were ordered to maintain a high altitude – and to wait.

  Jimmy turned to a Rifles officer, a major. ‘Given that our enemy has a temporal ability, you’d think they’d be on time.’

  ‘You’d think they’d be ahead of time, sir.’

  ‘You would, but … all is not as it seems.’

  ‘What are you now, sir; the spider, the fox, or the hawk?’

  ‘I guess … we’re playing the fox, since they were the ones waiting for us. Their ships flew six years to get here.’

  ‘I hope they come with an air freshener, sir.’

  Jimmy smiled, then all hell broke lose.

  ‘Contact!’

  ‘Contact!’

  ‘Contact!’

  ‘Missiles gone!’