Learning To Fly

by DeMaris, Charles

  “Shouldn’t that be controlled from inside the ship?”

  “Probably a redundant system, in case of a malfunction. Wouldn’t want a guy stranded outside.”

  “Yeah, makes sense. You guys cover me. I’m going in there.”

  He closed in on the nearest transport, spotted the small airlock about halfway down the side of the ship, and brought his fighter in, landing on the hull of the freighter. Ten minutes later, he was suited up and exiting the airlock on his fighter.

  “Fine time to see if these magnetic boots work,” he said with a chuckle.

  “We’re right here in case they don’t,” Franklin said.

  “Well, here goes nothing.”

  He exited the fighter and walked across the hull of the freighter to the small airlock door. There was a small touchpad and also a panel that opened up to reveal a set of mechanical switches. There was writing in a language he didn’t recognize on the touch screen and on the switches.

  “I’m there, but I don’t have any idea how to open this thing.”

  “Hold on, I’m looking it up,” Kendra said in his ear.

  A minute later she came back on and told him which switches to manipulate. He flipped one, heard a series of clicks and thirty seconds later, the door opened. He entered the small chamber, and the door shut behind him. Thirty more seconds and there were clicks, and the door opened into the ship.

  “Okay guys, I’m in, but it might take a while to explore. This thing is huge. I’m going to move forward and see if I can find a bridge.”

  He moved forward through corridor after deserted corridor until he came to a door that lead downward into the cavernous hold.

  “I’m in a large storage area. There are thousands of pods, big enough to hold a person. I’m gonna check them out.”

  “That’s what we saw on the moon,” Franklin said, “They’re probably the soldiers they’ll use for the invasion.”

  Morrison walked over to one and noticed that it had a green light glowing on one end. He also noticed a small touch screen. He touched the screen, and it lit up, and when he touched it again, the pod opened.

  “Got one open,” he said.

  “Well, what’s in it?” Kendra asked.

  “Bugger all...”

  “Come on dude, don’t leave us hanging. What’s in the pod?”

  “Nothing. Darn thing’s empty. Let me open a couple more.”

  A few minutes later he had opened twenty of the pods, only to find them all completely empty.

  “Well, that doesn’t make any sense. Let me find the bridge. Moving out.”

  He continued down another corridor toward what he hoped was the front of the ship. He found a set of stairs and went up, eventually coming to a control room. He saw a bank of computer monitors on one side and a large window in the front with a view out the front of the ship. He appeared to be the only one there.

  “Guys, I think I’m on the bridge, but I’m the only one here. We’d better check the other transports, but this one appears to be a ghost ship.”

  30

  Walter woke up, got up from the couch, and took a chair next to Kendra.

  “What’s going on?” he asked.

  “Oh, you’re awake. How you feeling?”

  “Kind of in a fog, but okay. Last thing I remember I was surrounded by those drone fighters and now I’m here.”

  “One of them hit you and it knocked you out. Fiona scooped you up and brought you here. They’re taken out the fighters and disabled the transports, but the one transport they checked was empty.”

  “Empty?”

  “Yeah, he said it looked like a ghost ship. They’re going to check out the other ones, see if they’re empty as well.”

  “There’s only one reason those transports would be empty.”

  “A diversion?”

  “Yep. I’m going back up. I can probably inspect all of them faster than they can. How did they get in?”

  Kendra showed Walter the specs on the entry hatch and before she could wish him good luck, he was gone. Franklin was approaching another transport and preparing to suit up when he saw Walter fly past.

  “Are you sure you’re up to this?” Franklin asked.

  “Good as new, kid,” Walter said, “You guys just hang back and watch out for any more of those darn fighters.

  No more fighters appeared and Walter, moving at a speed that was hardly visible, checked each transport and reported back.

  “They’re all empty, and the pods in them are empty too.”

  “What have we been doing here?” Curtis asked, “If they’re all empty...”

  Before he could finish his sentence, it hit him.

  “A diversion,” he said.

  “A diversion?” Fiona asked.

  “Yeah,” Morrison said, “keep us busy here and the real attack comes from somewhere else.”

  There was a general hubbub as everyone commented at once until Kendra broke in.

  “Guys, it’s already starting. I got a lot of blips on scanners, a lot closer to Earth...wait...some of these were already here. I got transports appearing all of a sudden, like they came out of the ground. No...lakes. They’re coming out of large bodies of water...Lake Victoria, Lake Michigan...they’re scattering in different directions. This looks like the real thing.

  “We’re on the way,” Franklin said.

  “Hold on a sec, let’s see where they’re heading. You might have to split up and engage on several fronts. Remember what we said about the ground troops. Just disable them if you can. Whoah...”

  “Whoa?” Franklin asked, “What was that about?”

  “I guess the military was paying closer attention than we were. They’re scrambling fighters. This computer system is picking up orders going out from the Air Force, the Navy...one of the transports is close...fighters are deploying...Wright Patt...”

  “You’re cutting in and out,” Franklin said, “I’m not catching everything.”

  “Jamming...messing with our comms...”

  The line went dead.

  “Okay guys,” Franklin said, “You still reading me?”

  The other pilots all answered in the affirmative.

  “Well, it looks like they’ve picked up on our communication and jammed everything between here and Earth. We don’t know where all they’re attacking, but she said one was close, and I thought I heard her mention Wright Patt. That means the Air Force is deploying jets to try to take out the threat. I think we need to go down and take a look. Let’s split up in smaller wings and see if we can find out where the other attacks are taking place as well.”

  “Roger that,” Morrison said.

  “I’m heading for Ohio. Keep an eye on Europe, Africa, the Middle East...let’s try to find out where they all are and how we can attack them.”

  Franklin and his wing came out of the clouds in time to see one transport slow down and open a set of large doors in its belly as a squadron of fighter jets approached. The transport launched fighters which engaged the jets and the fight was over in seconds, every one of the fighter jets losing all control and dropping like a rock.

  “They didn’t even eject,” Franklin said, “What gives?”

  “Probably fried everything. Canopy didn’t blow and the ejection seat didn’t go either. What the hell can do that?” Curtis said.

  Another three fighters approached and wasted no time in engaging the fighters from the transport. They managed to take two of them down before they suffered the same fate.

  “I think that would be our cue,” Franklin said, “Those jets don’t have shields like we do, so they’re sitting ducks. Let’s go.”

  They flew into the fray and found out that these fighters weren’t the mindless drones they had faced in space. Franklin took one hit and noticed that his shields dropped by more than half.

  “One more hit like that and I’m a goner,” he said.

  “You got another one on your tail. You need to evade,” Curtis said.

  �
�I got him,” Fiona said, just as Franklin saw the fireball erupt behind him.

  “Thanks, I owe you one.”

  “How about now? I got two on my butt.”

  Franklin took one out and Curtis got the other.

  “Thanks guys, guess we’re even now.”

  “No time to pat ourselves on the back. They got more of them coming. I don’t know how long we can hold out against these guys,” Curtis said.

  “If we can keep them busy, we can give those guys a fighting chance,” Franklin said as three more F-22 jets came roaring in, launching missiles. The missiles were useless, bouncing off the shields of their targets. The pilots came around and this time fired their 20mm cannons, having more of an effect. Two took extreme shield damage and two more were taken out, exploding in spectacular fireballs. One of the F-22s flew close to Franklin, saw that he was firing at the same targets, and gave him a thumbs up gesture. Franklin, Curtis, and Fiona stayed in close formation and targeted any fighters that seemed ready to go after the jets, and before long they had destroyed over fifty. The F-22 pilots abandoned the missiles for the 20mm cannons and were having success by coming in at high speed passes and zooming away before they could be taken down by the weapon that had destroyed the others.

  Eventually they exhausted their ammo and left the area, reporting what was going on and that there were some other craft helping them with the hostiles. The transport seemed to have an inexhaustible supply of fighters and two more arriving fighter jets were downed before they could take out the next wave.

  “Guys, I can’t shake this one...he just took out my shields,” Franklin said, “One more hit and I’m a goner...yep, losing power...engines gone. I’m outta here.”

  Before he could even look for the eject button, the ship’s computer said, “Prepare for evacuation,” and the next thing he knew he was in a pod that had formed inside the cockpit and the pod was gliding toward the ground. He looked out a small window and saw the ship explode seconds later, before he came to a gentle rest on the ground. With a small hiss, the door of the pod opened, and he climbed out.

  “You guys need some help?” Walter’s voice came over their comms.

  “Yeah,” Fiona said, “What took you so long?”

  “Helping your friends. It’s the same in each location. These transports are launching more fighters than they can deal with.”

  “You need to be careful. You know what happened the last time.”

  “Yeah, I’m staying away from the front end of them. I can dodge their fire well enough if I pay attention and don’t let them surround me. It should be different with our new friends here.”

  Walter flew by the cockpit of one of the F-22s and waved at the pilot, then shot ahead toward the enemy fighters. He destroyed two of them and another came after him. The fighter was so focused on going after Walter that he never saw the F-22 come up on his tail and take him out. They repeated this maneuver with much success and eventually there were no fighters left to destroy.

  “Good work,” Curtis said, “but take a look at the transport.”

  “Is it deploying more fighters?” Fiona asked.

  “Doesn’t look like it.”

  As they watched, the transport slowed down, and the belly opened like a bomber, disgorging thousands of pods looking like so many footballs. The pods went into a free fall toward the ground, slowed down abruptly right before hitting the ground, and touched down gently. Within seconds, each pod split open and transformed into a mechanized armored suit about eight feet tall. The suits organized into large formations several ranks deep and hundreds across, and began marching in the same direction.

  “Where are they headed?” Curtis asked.

  “We’re only a few miles from the city,” Fiona said, “They’re probably headed that way.”

  “They are headed that way. That was their plan,” Franklin said over comms.

  “I thought you were shot down,” Curtis said.

  “Yeah, the ship ejected me in an escape pod. The pod still has comms.”

  “That’s good. So you’re okay?”

  “Good as can be, under the circumstances. If those things are headed for the city, that can’t be good. We need to stop them.”

  Soon reports came in from the other pilots that the same thing was happening at several sites around the world and that a larger form of fighter was deploying from the transports and hovering over the mechanized units to act as close air support. Nobody had managed to do any damage to these fighters.

  “Yeah, we’re seeing the same thing here,” Fiona said, “These aren’t like the smaller fighters, more like some sort of gunship.

  “Let me see what I can do,” Walter said.

  He flew to one and tried to hit it, but only bounced off the shields, before one opened fire with an energy weapon that knocked him back half a mile.

  “You okay, dude?” Curtis said.

  “Yeah, but I can’t touch those things, and whatever it hit me with had some punch. You sure there isn’t something bigger in that hangar?”

  “I hear you,” Kendra said, “but the only other ships in there are smaller transports. You guys have all the fighters.”

  “Except we’re down one,” Franklin said.

  “There’s still the ship we brought back from the moon,” Kendra said, “I think I could probably fly it. I was paying attention.

  “I’m not sure you’d be much help out there. That thing doesn’t have the shields and weapons these have,” Franklin said.

  “Maybe not, but it can hold a few people. I have to go.”

  “Go where?”

  “Home. My parents live near town. If we can’t stop those things, I need to bring them here. It might be the only safe place.”

  “Moses, honey, you think you can give me a hand and bring the laundry from the dryer? I think I heard it go off,” Shawna Williams said.

  “It’s about a minute until halftime,” Moses said, “I’ll get it then.”

  “You and those games. You know how long that minute can take.”

  “The score’s tied and they have the ball.”

  “Okay, but not a minute later. You know we have that event tonight and my outfit’s in there.”

  “Gotcha, only forty seconds now. Come on guys, just thirty more yards and...what the...Shawna honey, look at this.”

  “You know I don’t give a darn about the game.”

  “It’s not the game. They just cut away.”

  “We got this footage from our helicopter before we lost it,” a reporter was saying from the television. The footage showed the mechanized soldiers marching in formation with the occasional fighter jet getting too close and getting shot down. The reporter continued to speculate about what was on the footage, but was unable to say what everyone was thinking.

  “What the hell?” Shawna said.

  “That’s what I’m thinking. No army on earth has stuff like that. Where are those things headed?”

  “That’s the local channel, right? They have to be close.”

  Just then the news anchor showed footage that was coming in from around the world, showing the same thing, massive formations of mechanized soldiers and alien gunships marching toward cities, unable to be stopped.

  “Honey, you thinking what I’m thinking?” Shawna asked.

  “If you’re thinking what I’m thinking you’re thinking.”

  “Aliens?”

  “You got any other ideas?”

  “Not right now...hey...what’s that sound outside?”

  Moses looked outside and had no reply. A flying craft unlike anything he had ever seen was descending toward the back yard. Landing gear came out of the belly of the craft and it settled onto the yard.

  “Well, if it isn’t aliens, I don’t know what else would be landing something like that in our back yard,” Moses said, “You figure we ought to hit the basement?”

  “You think aliens would look like our daughter?” Shawna asked.

  “Come again?”<
br />
  “Take a look.”

  He looked out the window to see the ramp lowered from the craft and Kendra walking down it.

  “Mom, Dad...come on. We don’t have much time.”

  Shawna started toward the back door and her husband grabbed her arm.

  “How can you be sure it’s not some sort of trick?”

  “It’s not a trick,” Kendra said, “You’ll just have to trust me. You’re not safe here. You need to come with me now.”

  “We’re out safe here? What do you know about what’s going on?” Moses asked.

  “Not much, but more than you do. I have to get you out of here right now while there’s still time. Just come to the ship and we can get going.”

  “Where did you get that thing?”

  “We can talk later. Just get on board. They’re headed right for you. They’ll be here any minute.”

  Moses and Shawna went out the back door and met Kendra at the ramp.

  “Okay, girl, you’d better have one good explanation,” Moses said as he started up the ramp.

  “Take a seat and strap in,” Kendra said when they were on board and the ramp was raised, “We might have to dodge them on the way. I was almost spotted on the way here.”

  When they were strapped in, she lifted off, retracted the landing gear, and climbed upward at a stomach churning rate.

  “Good Lord, when did you learn how to fly this thing?” Moses asked.

  “Never mind that, just hold on. We have to climb above them and hope they don’t notice us.”

  Kendra climbed, looking out for the formations of troops and supporting gunships, and flew over them before setting a course for the house. She turned on the comms and listened in on what was going on, then keyed up her mic and said, “Franklin, you still need a ride to the house?”

  “Sure,” his voice came back, “If you don’t have anything better to do. You got my position?”

  “Yeah, but it looks like you’re not far away from their formations. How does it look?”

  “They’re about a mile to the west of me. So far they haven’t taken any notice.”

  “Okay, I’m going to come in from the east, We’ll have to move fast.”