by Amber Stuart
The entire process takes two minutes local time. It may not be very long in the grand scheme of things but when you’re experiencing it that two minutes feels like centuries. I orient myself then look at the ship’s monitors on the station panel where the alarm continues to sound. The screen flashes red demanding my attention. I glance around as I walk and see that the rest of the crew is being awakened as well. I touch the screen and reports scroll by.
“What is it Captain?” Benji, my Chief Mate, asks, walking unsteadily to my side.
She hates cryosleep too. It affects her more roughly than me and she has a particularly hard time when she’s woken. She reads the screen over my shoulder.
“That can’t be…” she trails off.
I continue reading and my stomach sinks through the floor.
“Get them up. Fast. I’ll go report. I need more information. How many? How long? More important, how in the hell did we miss this?” I bark the orders over my shoulder as I race out of the animation chamber.
“Yes sir,” she replies already in motion.
The metal halls are silent as I head for the bridge. The entire crew was in cryo and the ship on auto-pilot. We are only woken every fifty to one hundred years local calendar time unless something is wrong. Something like this. We’re the sole battleship assigned to Sector 23, Galaxy 19. The ass-end of space where nothing ever happens. Well hasn’t happened for almost ten millennium. This assignment was routine, a guard post and a courtesy to the local inhabitants who don’t even remember we exist. That is about to change.
I drop into my chair on the bridge and my fingers fly over the control panel before my weight even settles. Activating the voice transmitter I record my report to home world.
“Invader activity detected. World ship incoming. Suspicion, infiltration has occurred undetected. Reports to follow once details established.”
I send the report then pull up a view of the only inhabited planet in this sector. The blue and green ball spins slowly on-screen with its pretty white clouds forming intricate patterns. I walk over to the projecting screen and touch it.
Every time I see it my heart skips a beat as I remember her, but she’s gone.
They have no idea what’s coming. They’re not ready for this nor are we. The screen flashes letting me know my report has been received and I’ve gotten a reply in record time. One motion and the screen changes to video transmission.
The Ambassador himself appears on-screen and I stand at attention. The Ambassador is a huge man and even bigger than the last time I saw him several hundred years ago. When he speaks, his four chins waggle in different directions.
“Confirm report,” he says, his voice squeaky and his breath wheezing. “This isn’t possible. Infiltration detectors have not given alert. Re-scan incoming for world ship and confirm origin.” Without further comment he signs off.
The door to the bridge whooshes open admitting Benji and Chief Technical Officer Janster. Janster moves quickly towards his station while Benji walks up to stand beside my chair.
“How bad is it?” she asks.
I point at the readouts and she lets out a low whistle.
“Uh-huh,” I agree.
“How’d they get that close without tripping our sensors?” she asks and we both look over at Janster whose fingers are flying across his control panel.
“Sensors at Pluto are out, defensive platforms and sensors on Jupiter’s moons are out as well,” he answers.
“How’s that possible?” I ask. “Their controls are buried planet side.”
He doesn’t answer at first. He continues working the panel in front of him scanning data then pulling in new reports.
“It’s not,” he says turning around “but two out of the four are non-functioning. They had to have been uncovered and tampered with.”
“That can’t be,” Benji says.
“No, it can’t,” he replies his voice flat.
“But you just said it was,” Benji says.
“I did. And it is.”
“Hades’ burning core Janster which is it? Have they been tampered with or not?” Benji asks, frustration raising her voice.
Janster gives her his trademark slow blink. I don’t know if it’s just his nature or something he practices but he can keep an absolute calm in any situation. He never gets rattled, never displays any undue emotion. Everything is calculated with him, measured, considered, and weighed.
“It is impossible,” he says. “Yet it has happened. Therefore the impossible has been done.”
Benji’s mouth moves but no words come out. Her hands ball into fists and I know I have to defuse the situation before she begins to physically beat Janster.
“So they had help,” I interject.
“That is the logical assumption,” Janster says.
“The report shows suspicion of infiltration,” I add.
“That would make sense. If the Invaders have infiltrated, it would be a primary goal for them to disable our early warning detectors.”
I close my eyes leaning back in my chair. “This is bad.”
“How many incoming?” Benji asks.
“A world ship and full armada. Designation, Fourth Invader Force,” I say.
“Hades,” Benji swears. “We’re a single battleship…”
I feel her fear and dismay. A single battleship against an Invader Force? Impossible odds.
“The Ambassador is calling again,” Janster informs me.
“On screen,” I order.
The Ambassador fills the screen with his massive girth. I find his decadence unbelievable but the man is good at his job which is the only reason he’s been able to keep it. I stand to attention, as do Benji and Janster.
“At ease,” the Ambassador orders, his jowls moving with every word. “Report.”
“Our outer detectors have been disabled,” I say. “We have no idea how.”
“Any chance the natives have developed enough on their own to accomplish this?” he asks.
“No sir,” Janster answers.
“Have you re-scanned and verified the incoming force?”
“Yes sir, full Invasion force sir, it is a world ship,” I answer.
The Ambassador doesn’t answer. He leans back in his chair revealing food stains on the front of his shirt. He reaches off screen then a massive, hand rolled cigar appears and the view is quickly fogged over with smoke. I hope, for one moment, that he’ll order our retreat. Leave the locals to their fate.
As soon as I think it I remember my promise to her. The one I’ve been unable to forget for all these years. No amount of stasis sleep, no amount of time, nothing I’ve tried has assuaged the hole in my heart left by her. These are her people. I can’t leave them to this fate. I promised her.
“We cannot give them this planet,” he says at last. “I’ll order reinforcements but you’ll be on your own until they arrive. You’re our front line of defense. The only hope these people have.”
“Sir, it’s a primitive planet barely able to keep from blowing themselves to destruction. I’ve reviewed their progress, they’re millenia away from rebuilding to a civilization that could be welcome in the Alliance. As it is we’ve been slowing their research into space travel to keep them planet bound. The consequences of them discovering they’re not alone are grave. Are you sure this is the best decision?” Janster asks.
I glare at him for speaking out of turn. The Ambassador listens quietly, his breath wheezing heavily as his lungs struggle to function under the intense pressure of his weight.
“Technical Officer Janster, right?” the Ambassador asks.
One of the Ambassador’s great abilities is to know people and remember their names.
Janster stands straighter. “Yes sir,” he says.
“Son, those primitives as you call them,” he pauses to puff on his cigar and wheeze “are the only hope we have. D you know why we haven’t seen an Invader Force in all these
years? Because of the sacrifice they made. Would you doom them all? Would you leave any sentient being to such a fate?”
Janster pales as the Ambassador speaks then slowly shakes his head before hanging it down. “No sir, sorry sir.”
“Don’t be sorry son,” the Ambassador replies. “I understand your doubts. We all have them but we have to remember we are better than our enemy. We must do the right thing if for no other reason than there’s no one else to do it.”
“Sir, yes sir!” the three of us answer and the Ambassador signs off.
I look at the other two. Benji bites her lip staring at the blank screen. Janster stands stiff then nods sharply and walks back to his station monitors.
“Benji?” I ask.
“This is real,” she says.
“Yes,” I answer.
“It’s just us. Against a world ship. A full Invader Force.”
“Yes.”
She closes her eyes then sighs. “Well. We’d better prepare them a warm welcome. Wouldn’t want them to think fourth times the charm.”
I smile at her pragmatism.
“Captain?” Janster asks.
“Yes?”
“I think we might be able to reactivate the defensive platforms at Jupiter. If we can, our odds of survival increase considerably.”
“How much of an increase?” I ask.
“At least thirty percent.”
“Up from?”
“Less then two.”
“I see. What will it take?”
“Someone will have to manually activate them on Earth. They’ve been taken offline but if we can get to them directly they could be activated.”
The image of Earth rotates on the screen before me. Manually activated. We’ll have to set foot on the ground. We haven’t done that in ten thousand years, not since the Third Invasion Force. They’re not ready.
I walk over to the view screen and touch the spinning globe. These people are in for a very rude awakening if we don’t succeed.
I will try. I promised her.
CHAPTER ONE
I stare up at the stars. It’s so peaceful and beautiful. I wonder, not for the first time, what it would be like to travel in all that blackness? The stars twinkle brightly and it makes me feel small. Like my problems aren’t so big. I wipe tears from my eyes then look at the stick in my hand with its accusing, single pink line.
Negative, I’d really hoped this time would be it.
I sniffle, wipe some more tears, then walk over to the dumpster and throw it in. It’s just as well. Greg isn’t interested in kids. I sigh and straighten my shirt then pat my face to try and hide that I’ve been crying. A bright flash in the sky catches my attention and I look up just in time to see a falling star. It streaks across the sky looking like it’s coming right for me.
Please, let this void in me be filled soon, I wish as it flashes out of sight.
Memories of all the hundreds of nights of my childhood I spent star gazing come back to me and at least for the time being I feel better. One last glance at the night sky and then I open the rear door heading back to work.
“Look you little brat! I ordered this without onions and extra sauce. Does this look like extra sauce to you? And this? What the hell is this if not an onion!”
Great, just what I don’t need to deal with right now, an irate customer. I rush through the stockroom towards the dining area.
“I’m so sorry,” Tessa says, her voice tight. “I’ll get you another one made right away sir.”
“Sure, great. So do I let my family eat without me or do I let their food go cold while I wait on you to fix your stupid mistake?”
“Sir I’m sure my manager-”
“I don’t want to wait on your damn manager,” the man yells just as I come around the corner.
Tessa is only sixteen and looking side to side for help. The rest of the employees are working with their heads down doing their best to not get involved. The moment I come in to sight I see relief on Tessa’s face. She’s doing her best not to cry but the belligerent asshole on the other side of the counter isn’t letting up.
“Tessa please go take your break,” I say. “Hello sir, my name is Abby, I understand we’ve made a mistake tonight?”
“You’re damn straight you have. I don’t know where you find these kids to work in here. They can’t get a damn thing right. Don’t have the good sense God gave them.”
“And I’m sure that being treated like dirt is helpful to them, sir,” I say smiling. “You say you have your family with you sir? Perhaps you have a daughter also and you can look forward to when somebody treats her the way you treated Tessa.”
The man on the other side of the counter looks flustered. He sputters and starts to say something then stops. Customers in line behind him nod their agreement with me. While I don’t approve of the way he treated Tessa, everybody’s allowed to have a bad day so I decide to let him off the hook. I pull his order up on the computer then look at him and smile.
“I’m going to have our kitchen fix your entire order fresh for you sir. That way you and your family can have a hot meal together.”
“Oh, uhm, thanks…” he trails off looking anywhere but me.
“No problem sir. I do appreciate your business and everybody has a bad day.”
“Yeah, uhm, yeah, well tell her… I’m sorry.”
“I will sir. If you will wait over there they’ll prepare your order and it will be ready for you in a few moments.”
I turn my attention to the next customer in line and then the next. It takes my mind off the pregnancy test. Focusing on work puts all my attention into the here and now. That’s the way to get by no matter how much it aches inside. As the rush subsides Tessa comes back from her break.
“I’m sorry,” she says her eyes still puffy with tears.
“Don’t worry about it. Everyone has a bad day,” I say patting her shoulder.
She nods and I give her a reassuring smile then go to the small office to finish my paperwork. The chair creaks loudly and I brace myself before settling my full weight onto it. I really need to buy a new chair.
“You should buy a new chair,” Kelley says from behind me.
“Funny, I was just thinking that very thing,” I say.
“Well great minds and all that,” she says coming over to lean against the desk next to me.
I smile at her. Kelley has her hair pulled back into a loose ponytail with bangs hanging along her forehead. She just cut them in a straight line because she discovered Bettie Page. Now everything is Bettie with her including the color of her normally auburn hair that she’s died black. She’s decided to embrace her inner big girl and who better than the original pin-up? Not that I had any idea who Bettie Page was until Kelley forced me to come to her house and look at dozens of books, photos, drawings, and one very poorly made movie.
“Yeah,” I sigh.
“Hey, what’s up? Why so down buttercup? Is it Greg? I keep telling you to dump that guy. What a doorknob, total tool. He’s not right for you. Did he even agree to move in together yet?”
“No,” I answer her feeling defensive.
Every time Greg comes up she goes full bitch mode. Kelley sighs shaking her head.
“Well, big surprise. So, what’s got you down?”
I shift the schedule I was working on side to side in front of me. Kelley waits patiently and I know that I won’t be able to avoid her question.
“It’s negative,” I answer at last.
“Good!” she says and I look at her horrified. “You know I’m right.”
She looks smug as she crosses her arms across her chest leaning back even further. Her glare bores into me until I look away.
“I really want a baby,” my throat closes and chokes off any more words.
“You’re nuts you know that? You’re young! Why would you want to have a baby right now? Besides the world’s a mess, you really want to bri
ng a kid into it right now? Especially with Mr. Wrong? You think that jerk won’t bail the moment that test comes back positive?”
“No-”
“Oh bull!” she cuts me off. “Girl, I love you. You know I do but that man is not Mr. Right. You have no business having a baby with him.”
I can’t hold back fresh tears as I shake my head. I’m not stupid and I know she’s right. Greg is not Mr. Right. He puts me down constantly, undercuts me, refuses to move our relationship forward and has no desire to have kids. I don’t think he even thinks of me as his girlfriend.
Kelley takes me in her arms patting my back and making shushing sounds. “There, there,” she says. “I’m sorry I have to be so harsh but you have to see the truth girl.”
I lean back and for the second time tonight I’m drying my tears.
There’s a soft knock on the office door.
“Abby?” Tessa calls in a tentative voice.
“Come on in,” I answer.
The door opens and Tessa is there with her cash drawer. She smiles and looks nervously between Kelley and I. Lord knows what she thinks she just interrupted but it’s probably much more exciting than the reality.
“Hey Tess,” Kelley says letting me go and returning to lean on my desk.
“Hey Kell,” Tessa replies. “I’ve shut down the front Abby. John is finishing up mopping the kitchen then we’re ready to leave.”
“Great, thank you Tessa. You did good today.”
“Thanks, uhm, Kell? My mom said she talked with you about giving me a ride home tonight?” Tessa asks.
“Oh, crud, I almost forgot. Yeah, sure, no problem. You going to be okay here Abbs?”
“Sure. I just have to finish up the deposits and then I’m heading home too.”
Kelley eyes me carefully and I see the doubt and concern in her eyes. I appreciate it but at times it’s a bit too much. I smile and she nods at last.
