Dark Moon Rising

by Michael E. Gonzales

  Bob did manage one last attempt to kill Hugh. As he sailed out of the ship, he fired his last four rounds wildly. Only one struck the Zellat 43. The little green orb struck the exterior airlock hatch, rendering it inoperable. The Nine quickly told Hugh that they could not close the hatch and that he had to remove himself and Mary from the area, as the ship was depleting its entire supply of air.

  Hugh grabbed Mary. Then, one foot at a time, Hugh was able to walk to the portal that once contained the transparent metal door. First, one foot would be released from the floor then he would bring it forward with another step. Once beyond the portal, The Nine morphed the floor up into a wall that sealed off the open aperture. Hugh collapsed with Mary in his arms. As he fell, he turned his body to absorb her impact.

  ****

  This is where Balaji found them. Larry was just regaining consciousness when he arrived. His right arm from just below the elbow was gray and lifeless. He could not move his hand; but thankfully, he was in no pain.

  The Nine generated two platforms in the floor under Hugh and Mary. These platforms moved them across the hall into a room with walls lined with tall, thin cylinders. The platforms rose from the floor to elevate them both a meter and a half, and place them side by side.

  Larry and Balaji examined both quickly. Mary's left arm was out of socket. Balaji popped it back in while she was yet unconscious. The color was returning to her lips, hands, and face. Her breathing was normal.

  Then, the two examined Hugh. Larry was shocked beyond his ability to speak. A great deal of damage had been done to the left rear of Hugh's skull. There was no blood, as Balaji had known there wouldn't be. Instead, a small amount of black, watery liquid leaked from the injury. They removed the shirt Hugh had used to bind his bullet wound. Initially, all looked normal; as normal as any human abdomen with a bullet hole in it. But very quickly they discovered they were not looking at a human abdomen.

  Hugh had made incisions on either side of the bullet hole so as to make repairs to himself. Again, there was no blood. When they lifted the flaps of skin, a metal skeleton was revealed, within which was an array of computerized systems neither could begin to comprehend. There were micro pumps and tubes, wires, solenoids and actuators—and between it all, that milky, ground coffee substance.

  Larry looked up at Balaji. "Hugh is a machine?"

  Balaji turned to him and said calmly, "We have to take Mary away from here before she wakes."

  Pixie had been with them through all this. She was overhead now, watching. The Nine had deduced their desire and the table upon which Mary lay moved out of the room and down the hall, looking like a cat crawling under a carpet. Balaji sent Larry with her, telling him to keep her still and lying down, should she awaken.

  Neither man had any idea what to do for Hugh. Balaji felt gently behind Hugh's neck, checking to see if it were broken. Not being human, Balaji didn’t figure he could harm him further. With no other options, Balaji simply looked down into his face and said, "Hugh." With no response, he tried again. "Sergeant Hugh Pacherd." Hugh's eyes popped opened. His pupils dilated.

  "Bal-ah-gee?"

  "Yes, Hugh. How do you feel?"

  "Mary?"

  "She is unconscious, but will be okay. No, that is not true Hugh. She will be devastated when she learns the truth about you."

  A profound sadness washed over Hugh's face.

  "Hugh, you should have told her!"

  "Did I save her?"

  "Yes, Hugh, you saved her. But I can't begin to guess how she will react to this. Love or no, you should have told her."

  "Throw me out of the ship, Doc."

  "What?"

  "Throw me out and tell her I didn't make it. She never has to know."

  "I'm sorry Hugh. I will not aid you in suicide."

  "I'm sorry, Bal-ah-gee. I'm so very sorry."

  A moment passed, and then Balaji asked, "Hugh, what can we do to help you?"

  "I'm done, Bal-ah-gee. There is damage to my cerebral cortex and to several subcortical structures. Something is wrong with my direct neural interface as well. I'm experiencing problems—"

  "How much time do you have?"

  "My graphene-based ultra capacitor is losing power very quickly; I do not know why. My vision is starting to waver. Bal-ah-gee, just let The Nine take me to the airlock, you don't have to help, and Mary never need know, please."

  Balaji stood looking at him a moment. "Hugh, you've been very brave throughout this entire ordeal. You must now have the courage to face Mary."

  Chapter 37

  Balaji left the room and went to find Larry. He met him in front of the doorway where Mary lay. "Balaji, Mary's awake. She's asking for Hugh."

  "Go to Hugh and cover his wound with his shirt. I'll bring Mary up to his left side and perhaps she won't see his head."

  "You're going to take her to him?"

  "What else is there to do?"

  When Balaji entered the room, Mary was sitting up, rubbing her sore shoulder. "Balaji, take me to Hugh."

  He sat next to her. "I will, but we must talk first."

  Her face went instantly white. "What's wrong?"

  "Mary, he is badly injured."

  "How bad?"

  "Very bad."

  "Where is he?" she demanded, jumping up.

  Balaji slowly got to his feet. "Come, I'll show you."

  He held Mary by the hand as they walked down the corridor. She was trembling and moving slowly as if her feet were cast in cement. They reached the door where Mary paused, then entered.

  Hugh's bed had lowered closer to the floor and a seat had risen next to it. Hugh lay on his back, his shirt draped over his torso and his hands folded over the top of it. Mary left Balaji and walked slowly toward Hugh, taking his hand. Hugh's eyes made contact with Balaji's who held his hands up palms out and shook his head 'no'. Hugh understood.

  "Oh, darling, are you in pain?" Mary asked.

  "No, hon-nee, nothing hurts except my heart."

  "Your heart?" Mary asked, wiping the tears from her eyes.

  "First," Hugh said, "I want you to know that I love you. I've loved you from first sight. I love you now and will continue to love you regardless of any decision you make."

  "What are you talking about?"

  "I know you've noticed some odd behavior in me. No one has ever seen me eat, drink, or sleep. You remember I told you there would be complications, you said they should never be so big as to come between us, and you told me to keep my secrets, so I kept them. I was wrong to do that. I was particularly wrong not to tell you."

  "I'm not sure I want to hear this. Hugh, don't tell me something that—"

  She fought to maintain her composure.

  "Balaji says...you're...dying." She struggled to catch her breath. "If you do, I want us to be in love when it happens."

  "And we will be, dar-ling. But not hearing it won't make the truth go away. I think you should hear it from me, and not from anyone else."

  "Wait, wait—" She fought to control herself.

  Finally, she took his hand firmly in hers and nodded.

  “Mary, my Mary…It was over twenty years ago, I was a young private still green. I was in Vanuatu on the Oceania front. I was on Ambrym Island part of the force protecting the evacuation of the civilian population at Port-Vato when the enemy struck with a coordinated air and mass suicide bomber attack. This mad man jumped into a boat we’d just loaded with old people, women, and children. I saw he was wearing a backpack and knew what he was. I ran at him, slammed into him and together we fell into the water. That’s all I remember.

  “When I woke up, a year and a half later…I was a Cyberneticly Enhanced and Uploaded Human Being…”

  Hugh tried as best he could to explain the procedure to her so she would understand completely just what he had become.

  As he spoke her pressure on his hand slowly began to ease. When he had finished, she rose and walked slowly about the room. Her hands up to her lips, her eyes closed.


  "Mary, please," Hugh pleaded softly, "speak to me."

  She opened her eyes and looked at him.

  "Mary," his voice cracked, "I am not a machine."

  She walk to his side and looked down on him with her red swollen eyes. She grasped his hand firmly. "A machine? Why Hugh, you are more human than most people I've ever known. I feel you, I know you, and I love you." She leaned over and kissed him.

  ****

  Inside Zellat 43, the four survivors were powerless, nothing more than passengers. Since Hugh was experiencing problems with his direct neural interface, he was not in communications with The Nine. Additionally, the air had become quite thin inside the ship.

  They were all sitting with Hugh, Mary holding his hand. From his bed, Hugh was looking into her eyes when she closed them tightly and gently shook her head.

  "Mary, are you all right?" Hugh asked his voice just above a whisper.

  Mary looked at Hugh and squeezed his hand. "It's nothing darling. I've a headache, and I'm just so very tired."

  "Yeah, me too," Larry said, "and I'm becoming nauseous."

  Balaji knew what the problem was, he had even anticipated it. "I'm afraid you are suffering the effects of hypobaropathy, more commonly referred to as altitude sickness."

  "You seem to be okay," Larry said

  "As a youth I would go to Jammu and Kashmir and live with my uncle in the summer," Balaji said. "His home is at a considerable altitude in the foothills of the Himalayas. I still go there when I am home in the summer, so I am more accustomed to a thinner atmosphere than are you."

  ****

  They had been aloft in Zellat 43 for some time now, more than enough to land in proximity to JILL. Balaji and Larry were walking down the hallway when the obvious dawned on Larry, "They can't set us down at JILL. We don't have our Ess-CEPS suits, no way to exit the ship and enter JILL."

  "So, just where is The Nine taking us?" Balaji asked, as the two entered the theater. The question was answered the instant they entered the room. On the monitor, they saw Earth looming ahead of them, larger every second.

  Balaji noticed Larry cradling his damaged arm. "Is it bothering you?"

  "I'm starting to feel it just below my elbow."

  "Please, sit here. If you figure out where on the planet they plan to deposit us let me know. I'll go check on Mary and Hugh."

  "Balaji."

  "Yes, Larry?"

  "Hugh told me—and it doesn't make any difference to me."

  Balaji nodded and left.

  As Balaji entered the room, Mary was sitting quietly talking to Hugh and holding his hand. "How are you two doing?" he asked.

  "We're just fine, Balaji," Mary said, though she sported red eyes and tear-stained cheeks.

  "I am pleased, Mary, that the truth of Hugh's—"

  "This is a prosthetic," Mary said, standing and indicating his body. "That's all it is, like a bionic hand or leg or eye. You tell me Balaji, where in our bodies are we—our personas? In our minds, housed in our brains, that's where. Just like Hugh."

  "Do not misunderstand me, Mary, I do not disagree with you. Hugh, is there anything I can do?"

  "No, Doc. Thanks. And, I want to thank you for your friendship all these months."

  "Oh, Hugh I've—"

  Just then, Larry called for Balaji from the theater.

  Balaji smiled at Hugh, and went to Larry.

  "Take a look," he said as Balaji ran in. Obviously, they had entered Earth's atmosphere over the East Coast of the United States, and were headed west at a low angle. In the upper left corner of the long arched monitor a sort of equation appeared. It read:

  √ ᵖ ∟ = ᵅ ᵢ 73 658

  Neither man could understand the equation. Then Balaji looked at the monitor again and muttered, "We are approaching the west coast of California!"

  “So?” Larry asked.

  “Don’t look at the mathematical symbols, look instead at their shapes. It’s a plain text message!” Balaji shouted and ran to Hugh and Mary.

  "Hugh, what does the Jet Propulsion Laboratory mean to you?"

  "All that I am was designed and built there. I was uploaded there." His voice sounded weak and distant.

  "The Nine are taking us there. Is this a place where you can be helped?"

  "If anyplace can."

  "Balaji," Larry called again. Back he ran to the theater. Larry pointed. On the far right of the monitor, there was that schematic of the spacecraft and Balaji's thumbnail was now in the geode room flashing. Balaji ran down the corridor to the connecting passage and around and down to the geode room. The door was open, and an odd array of iridescent light emitted from within. He hesitantly entered the room, where the light had now returned to normal. Inside, Balaji discovered the floor had risen up to form a sort of pedestal, and atop it sat a black rock a little smaller than a golf ball. He approached it, and it hissed, then divided in half horizontally and opened. It was hollow inside.

  From seemingly out of nowhere, Pixie arrived in the room. She shot around Balaji several times then stopped and hovered just centimeters from his eyes. Slowly, she lowered toward the open rock and settled inside. Her light diminished as the rock closed over her. Balaji stood looking from the rock to the cylinder with its glowing windows. Then the pedestal moved toward him and rose up presenting the rock to him. "Is this for me?" he asked aloud. The room flashed a green light. Balaji picked up the rock and started to leave. He stopped in the door and said, "Thank you."

  Balaji joined Larry in the theater. They had entered the atmosphere and were hurtling toward Pasadena, California.

  "Balaji," Larry shouted as he entered the room, "we're over the U.S., low in the atmosphere now. We just passed over the Mississippi River!"

  "Larry, are those not Air Force interceptors over there?"

  They had picked up a set of fighter escorts from the U.S. Air Force.

  "Yeah, but we're moving way too fast for them or their missiles. I'll bet there's a bunch of generals looking for old copies of Project Blue Book right about now."

  The fighters made no aggressive moves and just seemed to be trying to keep up. They encountered them in waves. Just as they outran one set, another set would join them on the horizon.

  The ship arrived over the JPL in Pasadena, California. All the buildings must have been empty, because as they descended, the thousands of people in those buildings where all outside looking up. No doubt the ship's trajectory had been deduced. "Would you look at that?" Larry said in hushed tones.

  "Exactly what those people are saying," Balaji responded.

  Fire trucks, police cars, and ambulances, all with their lights flashing, were everywhere and more were arriving.

  The National Guard had also been alerted and were arriving in armored Hummers. They had cordoned off the immediate area. The media had already arrived in force, and the police were keeping them at bay. Military and news helicopters filled the sky.

  "You don't think they'll shoot, do ya?" Larry asked, as he watched the helicopters armed with missiles, and Hummers armed with .50 caliber machine guns.

  "I do not think so. Nor do I believe their bullets would damage this craft in the slightest."

  As the ship got closer, they saw several JPL medical personnel standing nearby.

  Zellat 43 set down in a parking area that had been cleared of cars. The outer door opened and the ramp extended. Balaji immediately ran to the ramp, "Medical! I need medical assistance in here!"

  Four stunned men with a gurney started toward the ramp, but hesitated as they came near. "I have injured in here!" Balaji shouted. The four men pushed forward, only to be stopped as the surface of the ramp grabbed their feet. The gurney, however, kept moving.

  In short order, the gurney was next to Hugh. Balaji and Mary watched as the bed Hugh was on gently slid him over onto the gurney, and then the wheels of Hugh's new bed, assisted by the ship's floor, found their way back to and down the ramp. The four trapped medical men were released. They took the gurney an
d moved Hugh quickly away.

  Larry called Balaji and Mary to the theater as Hugh was being carried from the ship. Here, they found Larry mesmerized, watching a display on the monitor in the theater. Balaji and Mary, too, became instantly fixated on the screen.

  Images flashed by at the speed of light.

  "What in the heck is that?" Larry murmured.

  "The Nine saying goodbye, maybe?" Mary ventured.

  Balaji was quite sure it was far more than that.

  When the light show on the monitor stopped the lights in the theatre lowered, and as the three companions walked slowly out of Zellat 43 the interior lights went off altogether.

  At the base of the ramp they were greeted by medical personnel who, upon seeing Larry's arm, quickly rushed him off to JPL's hospital.

  Mary and Balaji were set upon by several colleagues they recognized. Military and JPL officials also descended upon them.

  The general in charge of military operations, General Franklin, and the IIEAs JPL Director Mr. Hogue, approached, bursting with questions, but Mary started asking for Hugh and ran to find him.

  General Franklin and Director Hogue then turned to Balaji. "Dr. Sharma?" the director said.

  "Yes, it is I," Balaji answered, still looking up at the spacecraft.

  "Doctor, you have been listed as dead," the general said.

  Balaji did not take his eyes off the ship. "Have I?"

  "Doctor, did you fly this thing here?"

  "No. They did."

  "You mean the aliens on board?" the general demanded.

  "No, General, there are no little green men for you to shoot."

  "Dr. Sharma." The director was balancing on the edge of sanity, it seemed, when he demanded, "Where have you been? Who are 'they'? How did you get this ... get here — the Moon is a shambles ... I demand to know what the hell is going on here!"

  "Calm yourself, sir," Balaji said evenly, still gazing at the ship. "Here is Earth's first encounter with an intelligence from another world and you are acting foolish. Shame on you."