Eclipse (Bright Horizons Book 2)

by Wilson Harp

  “Yes, but has there been any word of Ramirez?” asked Williams.

  Kitch steeled herself and looked directly at Williams.

  “No. And with the news from Kiskaliski and the opportunity we have to grab Warlord Jii, the rescue of Gunnery Sergeant Ramirez is no longer a priority mission.”

  Kyle looked down and realized that he had devoured the two doughnuts in front of him during the short meeting.

  “Screw this stress, I’m taking a box of those doughnuts with me,” he said.

  Chapter 16

  Alex and Hopkins ran toward the barracks. They both slid to a stop in front of the door leading to the hangar. Hopkins pushed the button to open, but there was no response.

  “What is wrong,” Alex asked.

  “Not sure, Gunny. I pressed the button,” Hopkins answered.

  Alex pushed Hopkins back and pressed the button. Nothing happened.

  “I’m going to try the override code,” Alex said as he punched in the sequence.

  The door slid open and Alex was pulled off his feet and into the doorway. He was barely able to grab the edge of the doorway before he was pulled into the hangar. Hopkins had wedged himself against the wall near the door and extended an arm toward Alex.

  “Take my hand, Gunny,” Hopkins yelled over the wind rushing by them.

  Alex grabbed Hopkins hand and they both worked to pull him back into the barracks room.

  Alex reached over and hit the close button on the panel next to the door. The door slid shut and both men collapsed to the ground.

  “The explosion must have destroyed the hangar doors,” Hopkins said.

  “Let’s not try that again,” Alex said.

  Hopkins looked at the door. “They’re dead,” he said. “I just… I can’t believe it. If I had gone with them…”

  “Hey, we are alive. And we now have no one out there to carry a message for us. So we have to figure this out on our own,” Alex said. He stood and extended a hand to Hopkins.

  “You really are amazing,” Hopkins said. “You are what my dad would have called ‘a man of action.’”

  Alex laughed as Hopkins took his hand. “And what does that mean?” he asked as he pulled his fellow survivor to his feet.

  “It means you assess the situation, modify your thinking, and decide on a plan before the rest of us have comprehended what just went on,” Hopkins said. “That is something special.”

  “I’ll let you in on a little secret, Hopkins,” Alex said. They started walking back to the med lab.

  “I was just like everyone else until I had to pick out a pet at the pet store. I spent over an hour trying to decide between a hamster or a turtle,” Alex said. “My father was many things, but being patient in a pet store at the mall was not one of them.”

  “What happened?” Hopkins asked.

  “I got the turtle and we left the store. On the way home, my father told me that he was going to give me a book to read and I was to give him a book report on it in a week.”

  “How old were you?”

  “I was six.”

  “What book was it?”

  “It was a book on military strategy that detailed a theory by a man named John Boyd. His theory is called the OODA loop. Have you heard of it?”

  Hopkins shook his head. “Can’t say that I have.”

  “It stands for observe, orient, decide, and act. My father gave me the book to show me that the inability to decide would be something that holds me back in life,” Alex said.

  Hopkins stopped and dropped his head. “What if you make a bad decision?”

  “That’s part of it,” Alex said. He walked back to where Hopkins stood. “It’s okay to make a bad decision. A bad decision is often better than not making any decision. Thomas Edison took hundreds of attempts to make the light bulb according to a biography of his. But he accepted those failures. He referred to them as successful discoveries on how to not make a light bulb. Bad decisions are the same way. They can teach us what not to do.”

  “So that’s why you can react so quickly?”

  Alex shrugged. “Now you know my secret. I hear all the time that I am not thinking things through, but the fact is that I gather as many facts as I can about a situation. I select those facts that allow me to see the situation clearly. I make my decision based upon the way I can see the situation. And then I act upon that decision.”

  “No second guessing?” Hopkins asked.

  “Sure, but you have to learn to trust yourself.”

  Hopkins shook his head. “You’ve been practicing this for decades. That’s amazing.”

  “Hey, it got me in a lot of trouble when I was younger, trust me,” Alex laughed. He motioned Hopkins along. “Come on, we need to see how we can get a message out. While we are alive, we can survive. If we can survive, we can get rescued.”

  When they arrived back at the med bay, Manny looked over at them.

  “I’m sorry Alex and Sergeant Hopkins. I can’t believe that happened.”

  “Nothing anyone could have predicted, Manny. We just have to focus on getting a message out,” Alex said.

  “Of course. I am starting to figure out the camera controls. If I can see enough of the stars, I should be able to give you a general region that we are located in.”

  “Keep working on that, Manny,” Alex responded as he went over to Levin.

  “Hey, how are you feeling?” Alex asked.

  “I’m… better. The breathers seem to be working.”

  “Breathers?” asked Hopkins and he squatted beside the Pelod. “What are they?”

  “They provide a rich oxygen and nitrogen mix while providing nano scrubbers that gather and filter away larger particulates,” Levin said.

  “That would be very helpful technology to have,” Alex said. “I assume Pelod technology?”

  “Yes, and top of the line. Whatever nutrients they are pumping through the air system that is keeping us from starving and dehydrating is slowly suffocating me and Davison.”

  “Why aren’t we having the same thing happen to us?” Hopkins asked.

  Levin took another few breaths from the breather before answering.

  “I have had plenty of time to think about this. I would guess that the structure of your lungs allow the nutrients to be absorbed much faster than a Pelod’s lungs would. The same for the Otina and the Iltia’cor.”

  “Faster? You mean that you are still able to absorb the nutrients?” Alex asked.

  “Yes,” Levin said. “We have still maintained reasonable strength and body weight, we just kept losing the ability to breathe easily.”

  “That would suggest that the Otina weren’t expecting to keep Pelod prisoners,” Alex said.

  “Or they wanted to kill them slowly,” Hopkins suggested.

  “Not helpful, Hopkins,” Alex said. “What we need to figure out is why they captured the Pelod if they weren’t prepared to keep them as prisoners.”

  “Yes, but I don’t think we can find that out without asking them,” said Levin.

  “Maybe,” Alex said. “Tell me, where were you captured?”

  “We were on a survey ship looking at some asteroids in the Kuiper belt. The Otina ship followed us into the asteroid belt and attacked. We never suspected they would attack once we sent them our identity signal.”

  “Why not?” Hopkins asked. “Since you had signed a treaty with us and had agreed not to sell them anymore weapons or technology, why would they hold back from attacking you?”

  Levin smiled. “Because political situations are fluid. Both we and the Otina know that business could start up a year, ten years, a hundred years from now. They wouldn’t want to antagonize the people who could sell them the best technology.”

  “That’s what you assumed, anyway,” Alex said.

  “Yes. That is what we assumed.”

  “How many were on the survey ship?” Alex asked.

  “Nine of us.”

  “And what were your jobs?”

 
; “There was a crew of three that ran the ship. The other six were geologists, chemists, and engineers.”

  “What are you and Davison”

  “I am a geologist and Davison is a chemist.” Levin said

  “How long did your team work together?” Hopkins asked.

  “I had only met the others a few days earlier. Me and Davison had been on Earth before we were assigned the mission.”

  “Wait,” Alex said. “You and Davison were on Earth? For how long?”

  “About ten months. We were part of the team that was sent to the Pelod steel manufacturing facility in Brazil.”

  “Had any of the others on the ship spent any time on Earth?”

  Levin shook his head. “No. In fact they were asking us about what it was like to live there. It is a prestigious thing to be selected.”

  Alex looked over at Manny. “I think I may know why you are here.”

  Alex walked over to Manny and looked at the monitor.

  “Can you see enough of the stars to get an idea of where we are?”

  Manny shook his head. “No, not enough yet, but I am able to get the camera to move quite a bit. See?”

  He pointed to the monitor and Alex watched at the camera moved in a small sweep across the field of stars.

  “I also think we are rotating,” Manny said. “The stars on the left keep slipping out of view and new stars keep appearing on the right.”

  Alex nodded. “Yeah, that’s good. You should be able to get a wide enough section of the star field to figure out where we are.”

  “I hope so. I think I can, but if we are in an obscure region, it might take me a while.”

  “Don’t worry about that, Manny. I know you will figure it out. I have a question, though. You were sent to Earth around eight months ago, right?”

  “Yes, Alex. I reported to you as your guest when I arrived.”

  “I just wanted to make sure. Were there any other Iltia’cor that have spent as much time on Earth?”

  “No, Alex. Plostr’car was sent at the same time as me, but he requested to return to Iltia after a month.”

  “Why?”

  “He said the air smelled funny and your star was too bright. Gave him bad headaches.”

  There was a reason that the Otina had taken the Pelod. And Alex was sure that Manny had told him the reason that the Otina attacked the transport heading back to Iltia. It just didn’t make any sense to him. Why would the Otina want aliens who had lived on Earth.

  “Hey, Gunny,” Hopkins said.

  “I’m going to go set up the barracks as a sleeping quarter for us. I think we should set up a barrier in front of the door in case the Otina decide to pay us a visit.”

  “That’s a good idea, Hopkins. And see if you can shut off the alarm lights. They are driving me crazy.”

  “Will do.”

  “Alex, I don’t know if it is all the excitement or what, but I am feeling a little tired and unstable,” Manny said as Hopkins left the med bay.

  “Now that you mention it, I am too,” Alex said. He had assumed that the adrenaline was just wearing off after the last hour of excitement and fear. But he was feeling drowsy.

  “Hey Hopkins,” Alex yelled. Hopkins had left the med bay and was headed toward the barracks.

  Alex followed and found him trying to push a cabinet in front of the door. Hopkins’ breath was ragged and he moved with jerks and starts.

  “Are you okay?” Alex asked.

  “Yeah, I’m fine Gunny. Just seem to be tired.”

  Alex shook his head. He couldn’t think straight.

  “Let’s get back to the med bay. Something’s wrong.”

  Hopkins nodded and followed Alex back to the med bay. Each step Alex took felt odd. He felt as if his feet were fuzzy and the floor always seemed either too high or too low every time he took a step.

  Alex stepped into the control room when he heard a gasp. He turned and saw Hopkins on his knees. His face was pale and his eyes were glassy.

  “Come on,” Alex said as he pulled him up. Hopkins just collapsed on the ground.

  Alex wanted to yell for help, but he couldn’t seem to. He grabbed Hopkins’ arm and started dragging him. Alex couldn’t remember why he needed to get to the door, he just knew he needed to.

  A tall man appeared in the door and helped Alex into a room with a table. Someone was lying on the table. He heard a noise and spun around.

  Alex felt his legs give out from under him as he saw the tall man dragging another man through the door.

  The tall man did something and the door slid shut. There was a hissing sound and everything went black.

  Alex lifted his eyes and tried to sit up. Something on his chest prevented him from doing so.

  “Relax, Sergeant Ramirez,” a voice said.

  Alex turned his head to see Levin. The Pelod was holding a mask to his face and had a hand on Alex’s chest.

  “Breath deep,” Levin said. “You passed out from the lack of oxygen.”

  “Passed out? What happened?” Alex asked. His words came out muffled, but apparently clear enough for the Pelod to understand them.

  “The blast from the supply ship must have damaged more than the hangar doors. The automatic vents that seal the air in the compound were damaged or maybe there is a physical breach. Most of the air in the facility is being sucked into space about as fast as the life support system can generate it.”

  Alex nodded. He remembered Hopkins being dragged into the room and the hiss of the door as Levin shut it.

  “Is this room sealed?” Alex asked.

  “It is for now. We will need to refresh it from the life support system every so often. But we will be fine for a few weeks.”

  “Good. We need to get a message out to the Earth forces as soon as possible. It may take them weeks to get here.”

  “I don’t think it will take that long, Alex,” Manny said.

  Alex rolled onto his side and looked toward the Iltia’cor.

  Alex pushed away Levin’s hand as he pushed himself to his feet.

  “Did you find something Manny?”

  “Yes, Alex. I believe we are within a few light-years of Earth,” the Iltia’cor said.

  Alex stumbled over to where Manny was seated and looked at the monitor.

  “Are we continuing to rotate?” Alex asked.

  “Yes,” Manny said. “It’s not very fast, but every few minutes when I swing the camera to the right, I see a few new stars. There is another asteroid or something that came into view just before you woke up.”

  Alex looked back at Levin. He was checking on Hopkins. The other human was still unconscious, but Alex could see his chest rise and fall in a steady rhythm.

  “How long was I out?” Alex asked.

  “A while. Levin was positive you would be okay. He was less sure about Sergeant Hopkins.”

  “Levin, is Hopkins going to make it?” Alex asked the Pelod.

  “Yes, he just has something wrong with his lungs. I have looked for something to help him in the cabinets, but I didn’t find much.”

  “His lungs,” Alex said. “He went through the mosar field. If they were feeding us nutrients through the atmosphere, then some of the nutrients may have been embedded in his lungs.”

  Levin nodded. “That makes sense. The burning away of those nutrients may have irritated the delicate lung tissue.”

  “What about Jeffries shoulder?” Alex asked. “Why would his shoulder have popped when he went through the mosar field?”

  Levin shrugged. “I don’t know, that makes no sense at all.”

  “Alex,” Manny said. “You need to see this. We have a planet starting to come into view.”

  Alex whipped around to look at the monitor. He was not fully recovered from his issues with oxygen, and he needed to lean on Manny as he looked over the large alien at the monitor.

  “Keep the camera there,” Alex said.

  “That does look like a planet,” Levin whispered.

 
Alex saw that the Pelod had come over to look at the monitor as well.

  “If you said the stars put us within a few light-years of Earth, then how can that be a planet?” Alex asked.

  “The only way is if we are still in the Earth system,” Manny said.

  Alex blinked a few times as he saw the edge of a planet start to come into view along the right edge of the screen.

  “Can you pan the camera down, Manny?” Alex asked.

  “Yes, but there isn’t much to see.”

  Manny swiveled the camera down and Alex’s breath caught.

  “Those are rings. I know those rings,” he said as he pointed to the broad dust rings that slipped into view.

  “We are in the Earth system. We are on a moon or asteroid orbiting Saturn.”

  “Are you sure?” Manny asked.

  “Positive. Now we know where we are, we just have to figure out what message to send.”

  Levin raised his eyebrows. “You have figured out the Otina written language?”

  “No, but I was thinking about this. Even if we knew their language, we wouldn’t want to send a message that they could read. They would realize that someone had access to one of their facilities and it wouldn’t take them long to figure out who. By the time Earth Forces decoded it, the Otina would probably already have a gunship here.”

  “That’s true,” Levin said.

  “So what kind of message can we send?” Manny asked.

  “A coded one,” said Alex. “We have never been able to trace an intercepted Otina message back to the source.”

  “That’s because they use a multi-phasic—“

  “Yeah, yeah, technical mumbo-jumbo,” Alex said. “The important thing is to send a code that Earth Forces can decipher before the Otina can track back.”

  “But how will you send a message without knowing what you are saying?” asked Manny.

  “I just need two of their letters,” Alex said. “Manny, can you pull up the transmission screen? I’d like to make a collect call.”

  “What?”

  “Just pull up the transmission screen and I’ll tell you what to send,” Alex said.

  Chapter 17

  K-man shifted his shoulders as he slid his uniform shirt on over his t-shirt. It felt odd wearing something so close to his back. Not painful, just odd. His fingers quickly worked the buttons and he looked in the mirror. The uniform looked a little tighter across the stomach and a little looser in the shoulders than it had before he had been injured. His belt had betrayed him as well. The clip on the buckle fell a good quarter inch further along the webbing than it normally did.