by Jason Kent
“Looking for something?” Rider asked.
Jennifer looked over at the stocky geologist. “Just trying to think of a name for this tub.”
Rider looked up at the ship and a thoughtful look crossed his face. “You know, it’s the color of coal and has an odd shape, how about we call her ‘Lumpy?’”
Jennifer bit her tongue for a moment before she could answer without laughing. “Dr Thuros Rider, PhD, do you really think Lumpy is a good name for a spaceship?”
“Why not,” Rider said, “it also describes this lump of land we’re on, the lump on my head from hitting a door frame last night, and the texture of the oatmeal I had this morning.”
Jennifer shrugged. She really had no good alternative. “Okay, the USS Lumpy.”
“Well, I’m glad that’s settled,” Rider said. He handed Jennifer some collection bags. “Now if you’re done with your intellectual exercise for the day, let’s do some real work.”
“Yes sir,” Jennifer said. “Maybe the Captain will give us some paint later and we’ll make it official.”
“Perhaps,” Rider said. “But you would really need a Champagne bottle for a proper christening.”
“Well, were not done unpacking. Who knows what’s in these other boxes.”
“Ah, ever the optimist,” Rider said. “Come on, the rocks wait for no man.”
“Or woman,” Jennifer added.
C-31R SOF Reconnaissance Spacecraft - “Reaper 16”
Far Space – Third Jump from Jupiter Space
LtCol Bridges had not moved while Ian told him the highlights of his connection with the alien spacecraft Six.
Ian had started with the destroyed elevator car, his egress jump, and the disappearance of the ship from Earth’s orbit. He then moved on to describe the Cheyenne mission, skimming over the combat with the aliens. Ian described the problems with pulling the alien navigation files and other data from Six’s equipment. Finally, he finished by describing the unusual classification and apparent disappearance of the data.
“So how did General Yates and you get hold of this information?” Bridges asked as he leaned back in his seat.
“Yates put a quantum transmitter in one of the team member’s data pads before the mission started,” Ian said. “With its quantum entanglement technology, he was then able to pull down everything she worked using the pad, which turned out to be a lot. Yates also somehow managed to get hold of translations Jennifer did not seem to have.”
“Is it still active?” Ghost asked, eyeing the pad. “If we can see what she is working on, they may be able to tap into your end.”
“No,” Ian said with a shake of his head, “the link went dead about a week ago.”
“Why?” Robin asked, joining into the conversation.
“I’m thinking Jennifer simply turned off the wireless function of her personal data pad,” Ian said. “The quantum comm device had to be wired into something for power. The transmitter would make the most sense as a power supply.”
“You know her, don’t you?” Robin said.
Ian paused a moment before answering, “Jennifer is my wife.”
Bridges interrupted the brief silence which had fallen over the bridge. “Okay, we have mysterious people racing to a mysterious planet on a mysterious mission.” He steepled his fingers in thought for a moment then asked, “What are they after?”
Ian took a deep breath. “The information Jennifer managed to decode and which Yates was able to download mostly involved finding the planet, located in a star system we know only as 4576B. There was more data about the system which Jennifer had apparently not decoded before Yates lost contact.”
“But the people who put this mission together had managed to do so,” Bridges guessed, “And they found something which, let’s just say, sparked their interest.”
“Exactly,” Ian said. “Or, as Yates put it, they found something so mysterious or too wonderful for the rest of humanity to deal with.”
“I think I can handle it,” Bridges said and spread his arms. “Spill it, Langdon.”
Ian looked from Bridges to Ghost to Robin. Each was eyeing him, waiting for the revelation. He took a deep breath and said, “There was a short file describing the religious or rather the non-religious beliefs of the aliens. They seem to have what we would call a humanistic approach to framing their environment. I guess you would call it a Soosuristic world view.”
“Soosuri,” Robin said, “Is that what they call themselves?”
“That’s what Yates says in his summary file,” Ian said.
“Why would anyone care?” Bridges asked bluntly.
“It was not the description of the prevailing belief system that seems to have caught someone’s eye,” Ian said. “It was a footnote concerning what the Soosuri view as a ‘cult’. This cult has certain beliefs which have been, for the most part, rejected the mainstream alien population. The believers cling to it with almost militaristic fervor.”
“Having deep beliefs does not make you a militant,” Robin said, sitting up straight in her chair. “It just means you have real faith.”
Ian held up a hand. “I’m just telling you what was in the files.”
“So what do these ‘militaristic’ rebels believe?” Ghost asked quietly. He had been staring at Ian the entire time, hanging on every word.
“The Soosuri Jennifer was sent to find believe…” Ian said, a sudden lump in his thought. He swallowed hard before continuing, “They believe in a single god who made a great sacrifice in order to save all of their souls.”
Robin opened her mouth than closed it.
“Is that it?” Bridges said.
“Isn’t that enough,” Ghost said.
“You could read anything into that,” Bridges said. “What else was there, Langdon?”
“One more thing of interest,” Ian said slowly. “The sacrifice of this Soosuri god involved his son. A son who rose from the dead to take on the sins of the Soosuri, all of the Soosuri.”
“That’s impossible!” Ghost and Robin said at the same time. They looked at each other.
“If it’s true, that would be remarkable,” Bridges said, a far-away look in his eyes.
Robin looked from Bridges to Ghost to Ian before saying, “Looks like Yates picked you the right crew for this mission.”
“Are you a believer, Ian?” Bridges asked.
Star System 4576B
Far Space
Jennifer gently pried the rock she was chipping at until the top layer fell away. She was rewarded by a perfect fossil of a hard-shelled, well, a hard-shelled something staring back at her. She took a moment trying to place the creature before she realized it was as alien to her as any deep sea creature she would find back on Earth. Holding the fossil, she looked around for Rider, eager to share her find.
The little geologist was nowhere to be seen.
“Now where did you go this time?” Jennifer sighed. Unperturbed, she tucked the fossil into her sample bag and strode off down the side canyon they had been searching. This was the third time Rider had wandered off, leaving her alone. “So much for the buddy system,” she muttered.
Turning a bend in the dry creek bed, Jennifer found Rider on his stomach, brushing away loose debris from a lower level of sediment deposit. He was completely oblivious to the sweeping scene below.
Jennifer gazed over the ocean spread out below. She and Rider had climbed up into the rocky hills surrounding their landing sight. Now, they found themselves looking down on the shelf where Lumpy sat and the vast expanse of an alien sea stretching to the horizon.
Rider looked up guiltily as he sensed Jennifer standing nearby. “I did it again, didn’t I?”
“You’re not much of a chaperone,” Jennifer said.
“Well, I was usually the ones the chaperones were worried about,” Rider said.
Jennifer laughed. She shook her head and laughed again when she realized it was the first time since the trip had begun.
“It looks li
ke they are going to try their wet gear,” Rider said, pointing at the landing site.
Jennifer followed the geologist’s gesture and saw there were several figures moving about outside of the ship. They had their environmental suits on but sported packs containing rebreathers. Jennifer had similar gear. She had checked her wetsuit and air recycler yesterday when she had helped unpack the crates from the spaceships hold.
“Let’s get back before they decide to meet the aliens without us,” Rider said.
Jennifer nodded. With her uncertainty about Mason’s intentions, she had conflicting feelings about actually meeting the Soosuri. Whatever they were looking for, they did not need her navigation skills anymore. She looked out over the wave-swept waters and wondered if this would be where she met her maker.
“Coming?” Rider called. He had already started back down the rocky gulch.
“Yeah,” Jennifer said, trying to shake off her feeling of dread.
The ground suddenly rocked and the sound of an explosion ripped through the sky.
Jennifer looked up from where she had been knocked to her knees. There was a pillar of dust settling around their ship and a dusty wave front expanding outward from the blast epicenter on the beach. The packing crates she and the others had carefully stacked had been torn apart; their contents strewn about. As she watched, yet another explosion erupted within ten meters of their ship. The ground rocked and the deafening blast tore up the rocky fold she was in.
Rider staggered to Jennifer’s side. He wrapped a beefy hand around her slender upper arm and pulled her sideways. Jennifer stumbled and fell behind a pile of boulders at the side of the canyon. Rider forced Jennifer down and used his body as a shield between her and the rest of the world.
There was general confusion over the net in Jennifer’s ear as those outside the ship screamed and scattered. Meanwhile the crew inside the ship had their hands full trying to figure out who was attacking them.
“Get us off the ground!” Captain Merck shouted over the net.
“What about the people out…” an anonymous crewman began to protest.
“Just get me off the ground!” Merck ordered.
Jennifer had to see what was going on. Rolling onto her side, she shoved Rider off of her and shouted, “Sorry Thuros!” Jennifer crawled across the shaking ground until she could see around the rocks they were hiding behind.
Her ship, the recently christened USS Lumpy was firing her thrusters. The sound of lift-off was as deafening as the explosions which continued to tear apart the beach. Lumpy miraculously evaded all the incoming fire and clawed its way into the air.
A quick scan of the sky revealed the attacking ship. Jennifer was shocked to find the vessel could have been a clone of Six.
“The Soosuri are attacking,” Jennifer breathed as she watched the alien spacecraft swoop out of the sun directly toward the human ship.
Jennifer looked back to Lumpy.
“Evasive action!” Merck was shouting over the net. “Bring the weapons up, you idiot!”
Merck’s ship rocked as it was peppered with laser fire.
“…FIRE!” Merck ordered, his tone decidedly panicked. “FIRE EVERYTHING!”
Jennifer blinked in surprise as six missiles were ejected from Lumpy’s internal weapons bay. Their engines ignited as one and they streaked toward the attacker leaving twisting trails of smoke in their wake.
Praying the missiles would find their mark, Jennifer watched as two were intercepted by the Soosuri’s point defenses.
The remaining four missiles reached their target and exploded simultaneously.
As secondary explosions ripped through the alien ship’s hull, it banked suddenly to starboard. The Soosuri’s flight path was heading directly for the human ship.
Jennifer’s mouth hung open as she watched the inevitable collision. She stood up, muttering, “Move Merck, move…”
Lumpy started to veer aside. But, the last second maneuver was not enough.
Jennifer shrugged off Rider’s continued attempts to pull her down behind the rocks.
She watched in disbelief and horror as the spacecraft which had carried her across deep space crumbled against the out-of-control alien ship.
Fused into a single burning pyre, both human and Soosuri ships fell out of the sky. A massive geyser and solid boom accompanied their impact with the rolling ocean waves.
“No,” Jennifer gasped. She tried to take a step, but only managed to stagger and fall to her knees.
“My God,” Rider said from behind Jennifer.
“This can’t be happening,” Jennifer said, still shocked by the spectacle she had just witnessed. She looked over at Rider. “How can this be happening.”
Rider looked down at her and laid a hand on Jennifer’s shoulder. He opened his mouth then clamped it shut to grind his jaw when no words would come.
As Jennifer watched, the smoke trail left over from the desperate last seconds of the battle drifted away on the stiff breeze. The traces of the two ships last moments disappeared altogether a minute later.
C-31R SOF Reconnaissance Spacecraft - “Reaper 16”
Far Space – Third Jump from Jupiter Space
A soft beeping broke the moment on the bridge of the Reaper before Ian could answer the commander’s question.
Robin and Ghost turned to their controls.
“We’re at our fourth wormhole,” Robin reported.
“Take us in,” Bridges said.
Ian settled back into his cramped seat and pulled his straps tight. While the Reaper crew made their jump preparations, Ian considered the question the commander had posed. He thought back to his fervent faith before he left home to attend the Space Corps Academy. He had gradually fallen away from the church since leaving home; living the typical life of a bachelor throughout flight school, even up until the point he had met Jennifer. It was Jennifer’s faith and her passion for God which had convinced Ian to rededicate his life. Yes, he had almost slipped back on Europa, but he was dedicated to getting back on the right path. Ian and Jennifer had talked to Yates during their premarital counseling sessions. Now that he considered everything through the lens of faith, Ian was sure his deepening belief was one of the reasons Yates had trusted him with this mission.
Looking around the room, Ian guessed the personal beliefs of everyone on Reaper-16 had played a part in Yates assignment of this particular team to this mission.
Ian grabbed his arm rests as the Reaper shuddered with pent up energies.
“Threshold in three, two, one,” Robin said.
Knowing what was going to happen did not make the jump any easier to stomach. Ian clenched his eyes shut and counted slowly to ten. When the wormhole did not end, he began counting again. Ian got to seven before he was thrown against his harness as the Reaper left the wormhole.
Ian opened his eyes and took a deep breath.
An alarm sounded from each of the crew member’s console.
“Contact,” Ghost said.
“Are we quiet?” Bridges said.
Robin took a moment to check her screens. “Yeah, but they’re close enough to spit on! No way they missed our exit!”
Ian checked his console and pulled up one of the external camera feeds. After a moment, he breathed, “Crud.” The alien ship was obviously Soosuri design however it was much bigger than those which had attacked in Earth Space.
“Ghost, get us in line for the rails,” Bridges said. “Robin, fire up the wormhole drive and prep to retrace our steps.”
“Firing!” Ghost called out.
Ian stared out the forward window as a dozen hyper-velocity slugs from the Reaper slammed into the alien ship.
“Don’t stop shooting until one of us is dead!” Bridges ordered.
“I didn’t intend to,” Ghost responded as he released another volley then jerked the ship onto a new vector.
Ian was flung hard against his seat by the maneuver. “Don’t you have OCS?” The Century-class spacecraft used to
patrol Near Space had a computerized Offensive Combat System designed to keep a ship alive during a fight. The Shriever’s OCS had been the key to ensuring the ship had lasted long enough for the crew to fire the critical shots which had disabled Six. It also managed to shrug off enough damage allowing at least the crew to survive.
“That’s for the big boys. We have Ghost,” Bridges grunted. “How we looking Robin?”
“Accelerator is on-line, we need thirty seconds and a clean run at the threshold!”
The Reaper rocked as it was hit by fire from the alien vessel.
“May not have that long,” Ghost said through gritted teeth. He managed to deliver a string of slugs into the heart of the ship. The alien ship cracked and blossomed into a ball of flaming debris.
At the same instant the other ship exploded, more rounds, released just before ghost connected with his target, tore into the Reaper’s hull.
A booming crash ripped through the bridge.
Ian felt as if his insides were going to explode as a powerful pressure wave swept through the tiny space. He realized he was screaming a few moments later when his hearing started to return.
“Breach!” Robin screamed above the howling wind and screeching alarms. She hit the panel next to her console, initiating the emergency seal protocols.
Ian looked up and saw a small oblong hole in the ceiling not more than a few centimeters long. Something amorphous slid over the opening, closing off the roar of escaping air. “What the…”
“The camo skin is self-sealing,” Robin said into the sudden silence. “Looks like whatever they hit us with was small.”
“How do you know?” Ian asked.
“We’d be dead if it was anything else,” Ghost said. “Just like them.” He set the ship on a trajectory away from the expanding wreckage field and slouched back in his chair.
Ian began tapping on his control board. “Are there any others out there? I kind of assumed they always traveled in groups.”
