“What did you feel?” Lisa asked urgently.
“It’s hard to explain… A bit like I was falling in a dream…”
“Your brain waves went completely crazy; I’ve never seen anything like it. Did you see, hear, or feel anything?”
Drew shook his head sadly. “No. There was nothing my rational, conscious mind could latch onto. As a scientist, I’m trying to find explanation for it, but, so far there isn’t any.”
“No change in any readout from our instruments,” Carl said.
Lisa nodded. “Okay, Drew, you can back away from it again. This seems like a mystery wrapped in an enigma.”
Drew smiled at the pun as he made his way back from the fragment. Then he turned to Lisa. “There is something else we can do here, because there is one other person who was exposed to the Enigma: my brother Storm.”
Lisa’s face lit up. “That’s a damn good idea. We need to get him here, now.”
****
“Hello Hollywood,” Drew teased, as his call connected him to Storm.
“So, there’s really a piece of the Enigma, or a craft like it, on Earth, huh?” Storm said. “That’s pretty amazing!”
Drew smiled. “Yes there is. It’s currently at Marshall, having every test under the sun performed on it. And you know how we found it?”
“Enlighten me.”
“I happened to walk over where it was buried, and I got that weird feeling that we had inside the Enigma.”
The channel went silent for a few seconds. “Seriously?”
“Yes.”
“So that small of a piece of it can still mess with our minds?”
“It appears so, except that it only affects people have been exposed to it before, and there are only two that I know of: you and I.”
Storm paused for a moment. “How many other people have you tested it on?”
“Hundreds, of various ethnicities, intelligence levels, and psychic abilities. They were blind tests: they had to walk past five boxes, only one of which contained the fragment, and say if they felt anything odd. A few of them did. We changed the order of the boxes, and nobody was able to consistently pick it out again except me. I did the same test, and I got it right every time. By any measure, that’s a solid proof. So, we need you to come and take part in the research, since you’re the only other person who’s been exposed to it before.”
“I’d love to, brother, but I’m extremely busy on set. You just happened to catch me during a short break in filming. I can’t take any time out right now.”
“But Storm, this is vitally important to all of humanity! We have to figure out who these aliens are and what they’ve been up to before the mother ship arrives. You’re going to have to put that on hold.”
“I can’t. I signed a contract, and they’d sue the pants off me if I broke it. They’re aiming to get this thing done as fast as humanly possible to take advantage of the situation in the time we have left before it gets here. Not to mention, one of their incentives is a private shuttle ride for Anna and me off the planet. That way, I can at least get her off Earth before whatever happens … happens.”
“What?” Drew roared. “You’re seriously putting making a film ahead of helping the world to defend itself against this alien race?”
“You’d have done the same…”
“Like hell I would! I’d put the rest of the world first, beyond selfish goals and vain ambition.”
“So, you didn’t hear what I said about Anna? There’s no shuttle flights off earth available; literally every one is booked solid for years. Even that hardly matters anymore, since the government is using them to evacuate senior officials from Washington. So, I’m doing what I have to for her.”
“And what are you going to do if her mother won’t let her go?”
There was a resigned silence. “I haven’t quite figured that out yet, but I’ll do it one way or another.”
“Do you think you’d actually kidnap her?”
“I wouldn’t rule it out, if that’s what it took to keep her safe. Though, I’m hoping I can get custody of her before then, but Bonita would still have visitation rights… Hopefully, it won’t get here for the better part of a year. Bonita might change her mind by then.”
“As for getting off Earth, couldn’t your guys from SSI come and pick you up in the Eris?”
“She isn’t built for atmospheric travel, at least not Earth’s atmosphere. It’s too dense. She can only do Mars.”
“Could she be modified?”
“It would be a heckuva job. Heat shielding, flight dynamics… No, it wouldn’t work. Plus, she doesn’t have powerful enough engines to land vertically under one gravity. It would be easier just to get a new ship.”
“Fine. I understand all that. But, humanity needs answers now as to who these aliens are, what they’re capable of, and why they’re here. We have to figure out the properties of their materials, and we need you. You have to come and help us, and that’s all there is to it. Think about the needs of the other fifteen billion people on this planet, not just your daughter’s.”
“You always were a bossy mofo.”
“I just thought you’d have learned from messing with the Enigma the first time that it’s not always about you.”
“Fine, I’ll think about it.”
“Storm, let me explain this in the simplest possible terms: there isn’t time to think about it. You have to come to Huntsville right now. We’ll send a plane to pick you up.”
****
Storm sighed and stared at his communicator for a little while before putting it back in his pocket. Then he pulled it back out again. “Michael McClintock please,” he said, voice dialing the movie’s director.
“What’s up?”
“Mike, NASA needs me to continue the research on the chunk of the alien ship they found in England. The can’t use anybody else since I’m the only other one who had an encounter with the Enigma. Do you mind if I take some time out from filming?”
“You’re kidding me, right? There’s no room in the schedule for you to just disappear. We have to get this thing shot and put together post in four months. So no, you can’t just jet.”
“Mike, they need me. They got to find out what the aliens are up to before they get here. Can’t you just work with me remotely for a few days?”
“No, because as you already know, we’re going at lightning speed with the filming, and need your input immediately, on the spot. This is a multi billion-dollar picture, Storm. If you walk off set, your contract’s gonna get canceled. You’ll be out all the money, the legal help, and that access to space you needed. Sorry to play hardball, but that’s just the way it’s gonna go.”
“Fine.” Storm ended the call. He sat on a wooden crate in the props area, shaded from the baking California sun by the shadow of a tall building, and buried his forehead in his palm. What the hell do I do now? How can I possibly get Anna back?
****
“Santa Monica Pier,” Storm said. The silver car dutifully set off. The palm trees and the Hollywood sign held no appeal at that moment. He sighed and closed his eyes, glad of the air conditioning.
Storm knew he had an hour at most until he had to be back on set. But he almost didn’t care. He felt as though a giant millstone were tied around his neck, dragging him under, to a place where he couldn’t breathe. He ran his fingers through his hair. He had to open his eyes and look outside before the motion sickness that had plagued him since childhood made itself known. There were people walking dogs, tourists, and everyday folks going about their business. None of them had a care in the world—besides the impending arrival of the aliens. But they weren’t on the hook for having to help do something about it. The vast majority of them would never even make it off Earth; they’d be trapped on the planet if the worst happened.
The car picked up speed as it got on the freeway. Who did Storm think he was, anyway? A space scrap dealer cum movie star? The movie wasn’t the only game in town for making
money. There were lectures, TV appearances, and book deals to be had. He could survive, and prosper, without having to participate in an action flick. But what about Anna?
“Car, take me home,” Storm said. It took the next exit and pulled up at a grimy intersection where the air crackled with the tension of criminal activity as gangs stared each other down across the road, driven out of their nighttime hideouts and activities like rats as the mighty wave of fear crashed over America. Storm eyed both groups nervously, and breathed a sigh of relief as the vehicle turned left to take the road back toward Hollywood.
Storm pulled out his communicator. “Drew.”
A few seconds later, he answered. “What’s up?”
“Tell me where and when to meet that plane. I’m coming to Huntsville.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
Drew hugged his brother under a large umbrella in the pouring rain, at the foot of the steps from the small jet. “I knew you’d come,” he said.
Storm frowned. “How did you know?”
“Because you always do the right thing in the end, even if it takes a little while to get you there.”
Storm punched his arm playfully.
“There isn’t a minute to waste,” Lisa said once the pair had climbed into the back of the van. “Once we’ve verified that you’ve been affected in the same way as your brother, Storm, we need to run a huge battery of tests on you to try and get to the bottom of how you two have been altered by encountering the living material.”
“Living material?”
“It’s a name that we’ve come up with to describe the stuff that the Enigma was made of and that fell to Earth after the rapture,” Drew said.
“But why living?”
“Because it’s my belief that it was the structure itself that was speaking to us, not the aliens. In other words, they weren’t using it like some kind of communications medium. The material itself is possessed of some kind of properties that we have yet to figure out. So, while it’s not living in the sense of being organic, it’s not inert, either.”
“I’ll…” Storm’s brow furrowed, and he stared out through the windshield while trying to digest the information. “I suppose that makes sense if a chunk of it, totally detached from the rest of it spaceship, can still affect our minds. Does it… you know, say anything?”
Drew shook his head. “No language or information, but rather just an awareness that it’s there, a feeling of oneness. That’s about the best explanation I can give, since there’s no other experience to compare it to.”
“It definitely has the ability to say things, though, because it very clearly asked if I was going to possess it when I was inside the Enigma,” Storm said.
“Right, so it has the potential to communicate on that level. Maybe there does have to be an alien on the other end of the line to make it do that. Or maybe not.”
“The weather here sucks compared to California,” Storm said as a whoosh of spray from the road covered the entire right side of the van.
“I bet it does. I’m sorry you couldn’t stay there and finish your movie.”
Storm shrugged. “To tell you the truth, the director was driving me crazy. No scene was good enough without at least sixty takes,” he chuckled. “And I had to be there for every one of them.”
Drew smiled. “Well, this ought to be a snap in comparison.”
Storm looked out the right side of the van and saw the replicas of spacecraft through the ages: Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, the space shuttle, the colonial transporter, and the first ZPR ships up to the mark seven, which had taken mankind to the outer reaches of the Solar System, and then the Hercules class warp ships, which had taken the first humans to the nearest star systems. The rest faded into gray, obscured by the sheets of water falling from the sky.
Storm turned to his left toward the sound of Drew’s communicator chiming. Drew pulled the device from his pocket and Manfred’s face, bearing a grave expression, appeared in midair.
“Want to say hi to Storm?” Drew asked, already knowing the call wasn’t about pleasantries.
“Drew, things just became even more critical than they already were.”
“Why, what’s happened now?”
“We’ve picked up the alien ship again. It’s a very bright object, at least to our hypersensitive telescopes, which tells us it’s using its engines to brake. They’ve been accelerating continuously since the Enigma shed its skin, which means they’ve got some kind of reaction drive with an unimaginable specific impulse. They’ve already crossed a good part of the gulf between their last known location and our little old planet, and they’re slowing down to intercept Earth.”
“Jesus. How long ‘till they arrive?”
“A month.”
****
“Bonita?”
“What do you want, Storm?”
“I want to get Anna somewhere off Earth. I’m not trying to get around the custody order; I just want to get her somewhere safe. I’m sure you’ll agree…”
Bonita cut him off. “Are you being serious right now? You want to take Anna to space?”
“Yes. I can get her a ride on one of NASA’s shuttles. She could stay at one of their orbital stations, just ’till we find out what’s going to happen with the aliens…”
“A twelve-year-old girl living at a NASA facility? Would you even be there with her?”
“Well…”
“You won’t, will you?”
“I have to continue the research we’re doing.”
“Did you really think I would go for this?”
“Look, it’s not about what you or I want, it’s about her survival if this goes bad. You want to know what the worst case scenario is? They conquer us or just wipe us out. Maybe neither you or I survive what’s coming. If we leave it any longer, I won’t even be able to get her that ride with NASA, and then there’s no way out for her, either.”
“We’re packing up to leave. Terry says he knows a good place in the mountains. Sacramento’s already turning into a war zone, looting and rioting everywhere.”
“All the more reason to get her out of there. I can get a private plane. Hell, we can get you and your boyfriend away from there to any part of the country you choose, if you’ll let me get her off Earth temporarily. This isn’t about the custody fight; it’s about keeping our daughter safe. Chances are she’d be able to come back again soon after.”
The line went silent for a long moment. “I’m afraid the answer is no, Storm.” She hung up.
“Jesus effing Christ!” Storm yelled at his communicator, only just managing to resist hurling at across the room. He got up, burning with rage, left the large research building, and stormed off along the road, through the massive complex that was the Marshall Space Flight Center.
“Where did you go, buddy?” Drew asked urgently, five minutes, having placed a call to Storm.
“I went for a walk, that’s all,” Storm replied sullenly.
“You talked to Bonita, then?”
“Yeah,” Storm snapped.
“Didn’t go well?”
“No, it did not. She says that man of hers is going to take them to some mountain hideout. I don’t know what the hell he’s got planned or what this place is.” Storm went quiet for a while. “I’m afraid I might never see her again.” His voice cracked.
Drew sighed. “I wish I knew what to say, or that I could make it better somehow. I couldn’t imagine never seeing my kids again.”
“It’s different for you, though. Your family lives right here, and you don’t have a bitch and an idiot in charge. You can be with them when the whatever-the-hell-they-are finally reach Earth.”
The line went silent for a while. Storm didn’t even notice the rain that slicked his hair to his head, and ran down his face.
“You’re going to have to come back, Storm,” Drew said gently. “We don’t have a minute to lose in figuring out what they’re up to. And the best way you can help Anna right now is to help us be as prepared
as possible before the extraterrestrials get here. Maybe we discover something that neutralizes whatever power they’ve got and she never even has to leave Earth.”
****
“Now for the moment of truth,” Drew said, as he looked out of the one-way glass to the laboratory floor.
Lisa keyed and intercom panel. “How’s the headset feel?”
“Fine,” Storm replied from beyond the glass.
“Okay. Let me check the readouts one more time.” Lisa scanned the brain wave patterns showing on the display in front of her. “All normal. Proceeding with test one on subject Storm Kovacs, living material test 1A. You ready, Storm?”
“I’m good to go.”
“Okay. Whenever you’re ready, walk past all five white boxes, and tell us what you feel at each one.”
“Okay, I’ll start now.”
Those gathered in the control center watched, riveted, as Storm walked slowly away from them towards the row of five identical white boxes, each about the size of a car standing on its end.
“Nothing,” Storm said, as he passed the first box.
“Very good, keep going.”
“Nothing in box two either.” Lisa looked up the display, and then back at Storm.
“Whoa! It’s like… déjà vu—except I’m not seeing the past!” Storm exclaimed, as he passed box number three.
“Can I?” Drew asked Lisa, pointing to the microphone.
“Sure.”
“Is it saying anything to you, Storm?” Drew asked.
“Um… No. I’m not getting any words, just a feeling of connection.”
“Okay, Storm. Continue to the end of the row, then turn around and come back again.”
“Okay.” Storm began to walk slowly. “Okay, the feeling’s diminishing… now totally gone.”
Drew grinned widely, and gave Lisa a double thumbs up. She returned his smile. Storm reached the end of the row, and proceeded back to the start.
“Okay, I’m getting the exact same sensation again at box three.”
“So there we have it,” Drew said. “He’s sensitive to living material.”
“Yep,” Lisa replied. She turned to her right. “Tom, did you detect any change in the LM?”
Destination: Earth: The Enigma Series, Part Three Page 6
