The Great Talisman (Intersect Book 2)
Page 5
Adam was close enough now to see the four small wings of the Warbird that appeared from the flank like a flattened X. In the centre was the exhaust port that gave Adam a point to focus on. At the far side near the dual pointed nose of the Warbird was the dual red coloured canopy that gave the vessel the appearance of an unearthly insect. Despite the brilliance of the sun, its surface appeared as dark and lifeless as ever. The Warbird was wider and longer than the smaller Warrian Warbird fighter that featured in the last attack on Earth. This Warbird was a fighter bomber and able to carry a greater payload, but was marginally less manoeuvrable.
Adam was no ordinary pilot and his supernatural skill matched every twist and turn the Warbird made. Eventually, the mysterious and possibly artificial pilot of the Warbird was forced to employ a defensive manoeuvre. It plummeted to the ocean surface with Adam hot on its vapour trail. They levelled off a few metres above the icy water. The two super advanced weapons, born of the thirty-first century technology rocketed over the choppy surface. They ripped open the chaotic entropy of the waves into an eighty meter high, one kilometre long rooster tail. Adam fought to get the Warbird in his sights but its flatter fuselage meant it could hug the ocean surface much closer than the bulkier fuselage of the Starfighter. At this position, the Warbird could continue through to its target without hindrance. The Warbird had won!
Betty's synthesised voice rang loud in his head. "Twentieth century sea vessel dead ahead. Collision immanent. Evasive action imperative!"
This was the last thing Adam wanted to hear right now. "Give me an I.D."
"Vessel is the United States Aircraft Carrier Enterprise, classification - nuclear."
“What else could go wrong today?!” Adam muttered. "Time to impact?"
"Fifty-five seconds." Betty replied.
"I can't believe I'm being out manoeuvred by a dam Warbird drone!" It was like he was dog fighting himself. No worse, it was like he was dog fighting his mentor!
**********
Aboard the Aircraft Carrier U.S.S. Enterprise, Air Traffic Controller Lieutenant Edward Dawson, stared intently at the radar screen before him. His concentration upon the four radar emissions on the top right hand corner of his scene labelled "AF4" was quickly diverted as an unlabelled emission appeared in the bottom left corner. The emission moved rapidly towards the centre of the screen where the emission marked "Enterprise", presided. His right hand pressed a button on the control panel that the screen was mounted upon, then with the mouse pen in his left he touched the emission. Two sets of data appeared displaying the emission’s height and speed. The top set of characters read 1053ft, the lower read Mach 9.23. In dismay, he repeated the query and this time the data read, Height - 1255ft, Speed - Mach 9.86. Lieutenant Dawson turned to face his Commanding Officer, Captain Peter Blake. "Sir, you better take a look at this!"
"If you haven't noticed Lieutenant, where in the middle of a battle simulation, this better be good?" He said angrily in his broad southern accent. “What is it?”
"I don't know Sir." Dawson replied.
Blake's expression turned to puzzlement as he moved from his chair to the Lieutenant’s side.
"It just came into range." Dawson stated as he re-dabbed the emission to generate an update of the data.
Blake's eyes widened as he saw the reading of Mach 10.2. "Oh my god!"
"Sir, what's even stranger is its formation and density."
"What are you getting at Lieutenant?"
"This kind of emission is common with some sort of ocean anomaly, like a waterspout."
"Dawson, waterspouts don't travel at Mach 10!" He snapped.
"I know Sir. That's why I think we're only picking up the rooster tail from its jet wash."
"What, we're not picking up the aircraft at all?!"
"No Sir."
"Could be flying beneath our radar?"
"It could be possible for a small object like a missile to hide under the A.W.A.C. tracking system, but the rooster tail is much too big for a missile. It must be some kind of new stealth fighter."
"God damn pentagon toys!"
"Also, its current heading is 228.3, that's straight for us."
"Sheeaat! How long before contact?!"
"Thirty seconds, Sir."
Blake stood erect from the lieutenant as his mind rattled through some calculations. "What height is the rooster's tail at?"
"It keeps changing but generally about one thousand and sixty feet."
"Holy cow! Bring us about to heading 228.3 on the double, have all portals closed and clear what we can off the flight deck." He shouted to the bridge crew as he returned to his seat. Slowly, the great vessel changed course with her Captain's nerves dancing with electrochemical activity. "Lieutenant, I want to talk to the pilot of that aircraft pronto!"
"Yes Sir." Dawson replied as he busily worked the controls before him.
Captain Blake voiced his thoughts. "If he passes over us at Mach 10, that rooster's tail he's creating will hit us like a tsunami."
**********
"Incoming message on A.M. band from the vessel Enterprise, translating data." Betty announced.
The voice of Lieutenant Dawson rang loud in Adam's ears. "Enterprise to unidentified aircraft. Do you read us over? You are on a collision course with our carrier. Change course immediately. Enterprise to unidentified aircraft. Do you read us, over? You are on a....."
"Do you want an open channel to the Vessel Enterprise?" Betty asked.
"Negative Betty, by the time I explain the situation it will be too late!"
"Vessel Enterprise is changing course."
"Enter Enterprise into tactical." On the tactical display that was projected onto the inside surface of his visor appeared the highlighted outline of another target dead ahead. Simultaneously projected into his vision was the rapidly growing image of an aircraft carrier. Slowly, the bow of the aircraft carrier turned to face Adam and the Warbird. "Good thinking Captain. Will the Enterprise match our heading at the point of collision?"
"No, Enterprise will be off by two point three eight degrees."
Adams's mind ran through years of tactical training as he formulated a plan. "It might be just enough." The Warbird had to diverge from its path to avoid the Enterprise now that it had changed course too directly for them. The Captain had no choice as the best chance of surviving a three hundred metre surge was bow first. Adam could use this to his advantage. The question was, what trajectory was the Warbird going to take when it intersected the Enterprise? To port, to starboard, or straight over the deck? Utilising his many years of experience, Adam knew there was only one option.
Betty projected into his vision the time to impact and distance in kilometres from the Enterprise, while he readied himself to fire the laser cannons.
"004.00 secs/ 13.6 Kms... 003.00 secs/ 10.2 Kms... 002.00 secs/ 6.8 Kms... 001.00 secs/ 3.4 Kms...."
Adam released two rays of lethal destruction off the starboard bow of the vessel, then frantically pulled up on the nose of the Starfighter. The Enterprise passed like a giant bullet a few metres beneath him. In a millisecond, the full length of its 300 metre long deck had passed by as the view in the rear tracking monitor exploded into a white wash of water. His heart thumped like the hooves of a galloping race horse, as he gazed at the image for the emergence of the Warbird prodigy.
A few moments passed while the Enterprise remained as the sole entity in the tactical system. The silence ate at Adam like a cancer, did his plan work? The seconds seemed like hours. Betty finally broke the deadlock of his thoughts. "Target Warbird detonated by laser blast, kill confirmed."
**********
"Sir, there is no reply from the unidentified aircraft."
"How long to impact?" Questioned Blake through tight lips.
"Twenty seconds." Dawson replied.
"What is our heading?"
"Bearing 221.5 Sir." Announced the officer at the helm.
"This is going to be close. Sound the collision bells!" He grabb
ed the intercom mike, then pressed the button on its side and spoke into it. "This is the Captain speaking. We are on an intercept course with a low flying supersonic aircraft. A countdown will be announced over the PA. Then everyone hang onto something, we're all in for one hell of a ride." Captain Blake and his crew followed his instructions and waited for the impending upheaval.
The trumpeting of the collision bells almost drowned out Dawson's countdown. "Four...three...two...ONE!"
A single shiny object, the size of a jet fighter rocketed by the command tower. It was so quick that Captain Blake could barely discern it's sleek, shiny shape. A moment later the windows of the bridge imploded as the sonic boom ruptured the air and the bullet proof glass, showering the bridge crew. There was no time to shake off the shards as they clung for dear life to the nearest fixture. A massive wall of water erupted over the carrier's bow. The tectonic upheaval thrust the bow of the three hundred thousand tonne vessel fifty five metres into the air, then gravity regained its grasp and dragged the bow back into the ocean.
While the Enterprise regained its stability on its bed of water, the crew returned to their feet nursing their cuts, bruises and broken limbs.
Captain Blake rose holding a cruelly twisted right wrist. "Damage report!" He shouted to the crew as he winced from the pain in his arm. "Dawson. Get me General Collins at the Pentagon on blower. Whoever that guy was, I want him court marshalled!"
"Yes Captain." Dawson replied as he returned to his station.
**********
Adam's pulse gradually slowed as the toll of combat faded. It had been six years since his last encounter with a real enemy and although flight simulators and drills can provide a realistic imitation, nothing can produce the true stress levels of a real battle.
"Betty, give me a general damage report on the carrier?" He asked the flight computer.
"According to the relayed information to the bridge, a number of serious injuries have been reported but no casualties. Minor structural damage to the hull and command tower, two helicopters and one tanker were washed overboard. Crew abandoned the aircrafts prior to impact."
"Thank God for that." Adam said with relief.
Ryan's face replaced the view on the tracking monitor. "Well done Adam. Get your ass back to the Endeavour and we'll debrief you. Use access trajectory two."
"Roger that, Adam over and out."
Adam increased the thrust to the force needed to hurl the Starfighter out of Earth’s gravitational hold. The blue sky was quickly faded to pitch black followed by the emerging stars with stark brilliance. The mental command of ‘Endeavour rendezvous, trajectory 2’ was all that Betty needed from Adam, then she would do the rest. In a few milliseconds, a safe path to the Endeavour was navigated and instigated. The phenomenal power from the Starfighter’s engines was pushed to maximum, and the view about him changed to a blur. It took only a few minutes for the X3000 to hurtle him beyond the orbit of Jupiter.
The Starfighter slowed as it reached Saturn, and the great planet dominated the scene from the cockpit. Adam took a moment to absorb the spectacular view before him. The planets rings extended to as far out as his trajectory, and even from this close range it resembled an alien rainbow. One of the moons darted passed as he neared his destination on the far side of the planet. A small bright speck in the distance became the focal point of his course. The spec grew and grew until it equalled Saturn’s majestic presence. Before him was the Battleship Endeavour. At one hundred and fifty kilometres long and a crew of tens of thousands, she was a spectacular sight in her own right. The arrow like bow pointed out to space as if to alert him to something from the darkness beyond. The two wings that protruded from the sides of the superstructure appeared to him like arms trying to reach out and touch the empty space beyond. The stern was made up of four great trapezium exhaust ports poised to unleash forces that challenged the limits of his comprehension.
Betty directed the Starfighter to the port wing that housed the many smaller vessels that accompanied the Endeavour. When the Endeavour spanned the full range of vision, a dark slit near the elbow of the port wing became visible. The Starfighter slowed to what seemed a crawl as the dark slit grew to countless entry bays of the port side fighter hanger. The door to the entry bay that Adam was heading for opened. With smooth precision, Betty guided the Starfighter into the entry bay and it disappeared into the port wing of the Endeavour. Lights within the narrow entry bay provided barely enough light to see the bay’s features. Betty had no need for the lights, the Starfighter’s sensors where more than enough for her to guide the X3000 to the docking platform. When the fighter reached the end of the entry bay, Betty pulled the ship to a complete stop, and gently lowered it onto the docking platform. The landing gear emerged from the ships belly just in time to stop it from running aground. A loud clunk announced the holding brackets had latched onto the landing gear, signalling Betty to shut down the main engines.
With a bump, the circular docking bay lowered into a tube that connected the entry bay with the fighter hanger. As the docking platform lowered into the fighter hanger, Adam could now hear the clamour that was continuously generated from the hanger crew. The fighter hanger extended either direction as far as the eye could see. It was some sixty metres high and eighty metres deep, and tens of kilometres long.
The docking bay came to rest on the floor of the hanger as the canopy raised to allow Adam free. The A.A.E.E.V suit enabled him to disembark with an impressive leap and spin that finished with his feet set firmly on the hanger floor.
One of the hanger crew approached Adam. “If I find so much as a scratch on her, I’ll have you hanging from the nearest sensor probe!”
Adam deactivated the A.A.E.E.V suit to reveal the thirty three year old face behind the mask. His short light brown hair was beginning to thin as a sign of the stress that he has had to endure over the years. His strong and athletic physic was accentuated by his body hugging silver uniform that was standard issue for a commanding officer. His hand reached out and slapped the nose of the Starfighter. “Frank, I would never scratch Betty. She is the closest thing I have to a girlfriend.”
Frank was in his forties with a receding hairline and a smaller, more portly frame than that of Adam’s. “Yeah well, she is the closest thing I have to a daughter, and don’t smudge her nose.” He retorted while polishing off Adam’s hand print.
Adam went to the nearest matter transporter bay and stepped onto it. “Bridge.” He announced to the air about him and an unseen pair of ears listened and transported Adam to the bridge.
DISCOVERY
A moment later he was one hundred kilometres away and walking towards the bridge entrance. As the door slide quietly aside, his path was blocked by a tall man with shoulder length greying hair. Behind him stood two other familiar faces. One, an old heavily set man with a grey moustache and the other, a women of great natural beauty who’s flowing blond hair caressed her soft shoulders.
Ryan just said two words, “This way.”
Adam had seen Ryan like this before. Ryan was backed into a corner with no easy way out, and it showed. Adam said nothing and followed the three down the corridor.
Ryan led them to his private quarters. The room was no bigger than a one bedroom apartment and the door to the single bedroom was closed. The room they entered was the lounge room and the focal point was undoubtedly the spectacular view of Saturn from the large window on the far wall. The room contained some twentieth century style furniture such as lounge chairs and pictures, only the pictures were of the alien landscape of Ryan’s home planet. When the door closed behind them he turned to face his closest companions. “I didn’t foresee this, it puts our plans in jeopardy. If the Warrians get even one Warbird through, they may seriously affect the future, possibly tear open the space time continuum. If that happens you can kiss everything goodbye. Any Ideas?”
Charlie Clark’s old age and heavily set physic contradicted the activity of his mind. He was the first person Ryan
met when he arrived in the twentieth century, and was more of a father to Ryan than a fellow Intersect college. “I’ve been studying up on the subject of time and the effects of changing it. Obviously if you change time you effect the future, but what if you being here is a part of history. Then whatever happens is history and not a danger to the future.”
They were all silent for a while until Ryan broke it. “That is a good point, but we have found no evidence of our presence in the archives, which tells me that I’m not supposed to be here.”
“What about Katie?” Charlie said. Ryan and Katie’s eyes met as they read the thoughts behind them. After six years it was still a sore subject for them both. Ryan could never forgive himself for destroying Katie’s future by becoming in contact with her, and Katie for him doing so. “You have already changed the past.”
“But the event may not be significant to the future.” Adam said in Ryan’s defence. He then noticed Katie’s tense stare.” Sorry, you know what I mean.”
“What if we found something in the archives about us being here, that would change everything!” Ryan announced.
Adam thought. “Doesn’t the archives talk about some terrible catastrophe happening on earth around about now? There may be something there?”
Ryan turned Katie. “Have look through the archives to see what you can find.” Katie nodded in reply. “I’ll figure out some way to reduce the impact of another attack.”