Operation Earth

by Maria Hammarblad

  Operation Earth

  By

  Maria Hammarblad

  Other Books by Maria Hammarblad

  Arrival

  Brand New World

  High Gravity

  Adam and Eve

  Deadly Betrayal

  Interstellar Conflict

  Anguish and Hope

  Kidnapped

  Courage and Retribution

  Undercover

  Flashback

  Covert Identity

  Shadow of a Man

  The Sorcerer

  Conversion

  Touch of the Goddess

  Wrath of the Goddess

  Return of the Goddess

  Published by: Sadowski Media, 2018

  Previously Published in the United States of America by:

  Desert Breeze Publishing, Inc.

  Original Publish Date: August 2013

  Copyright © 2012 by Maria Hammarblad

  ISBN 10: 1-1722281871

  ISBN 13: 978-1722281878

  Cover Artist: Patty Jansen

  All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including photocopying, recording or by any information retrieval and storage system without permission of the publisher.

  Names, characters and incidents depicted in this book are products of the author’s imagination, or are used in a fictitious situation. Any resemblances to actual events, locations, organizations, incidents or persons – living or dead – are coincidental and beyond the intent of the author.

  Dedication

  Thank you to Kadir Bilgic and Rick Barry for helping with translations. This book would not be the same without your support with languages I can’t even begin to understand.

  I also want to extend a special Thank You to

  Carolyn Boyles. I am blessed to have someone so

  supportive, humorous, and diligent to help me

  reach for the stars.

  Chapter One

  June stood in the middle of Information Central with her arms crossed, drumming her fingers.

  Showing impatience might be unbecoming of a commanding officer, but this operation moved like a snail.

  How humiliating to be delayed before we even begin.

  Glancing around the oval hall soothed her. The walls were so red they appeared organic, and biopods lined the room. There were alcoves with chairs made from the same fleshy material as the walls, part of the living soul of the ship. Each alcove held a woman, connected to the whole through a tentacle slithering down from the ceiling, embracing their shaved heads.

  Many junior officers fled the first time they entered and saw nothing of the crew except parts of their faces.

  The first time June stepped in, she knew she was home. If she closed her eyes she could almost hear the ship’s heartbeat.

  One alcove opened up, and the woman inhabiting it struggled to her feet. At first, her eyes couldn’t focus, but then she fixed them on June.

  I wonder what it’s like to be connected, to be a part of the ship and really know the world.

  Only those with special talents could connect. June wanted nothing more as a child, but she wasn’t suitable for the hive mind. Her talents lay elsewhere.

  “Commander, I think we have what we need. These people have a useful source of information. It’s called Wikipedia.”

  “Common names? Languages?”

  “Yes, Ma’am. They have a number of languages and cultures. It’s all transferring to the brain-tips now.”

  “No sign of discovery?”

  “No, Ma’am.”

  The large ship lurked at the very edge of the solar system, outside the magnetic fields that presented a last layer between planets and interstellar space. Risks of discovery were infinitesimal, but they had to plan even for the impossible.

  “Good. Assemble the troops for upgrade, and ask the pilot to take us in. Prepare global EMP.”

  The woman nodded and sank back into her alcove. All mouths around the room spoke as one. “Entering solar system. All personnel prepare for memory upgrade.”

  *****

  Rachael lay on the floor with her back on a thick area rug and her legs up in a dark red sofa. She pressed an iPhone against her ear with one hand, and sought out a piece of chocolate with the other, cherishing the sweet flavor as she listened to the person on the other end.

  “No, Mom. I don’t think the world is about to end.”

  Her eyes sought out her cat perched on an armrest, and she patted the floor next to her, hoping the kitty would come down.

  “But he’s really persuasive,” Rachael heard her mother’s voice say.

  They usually are...

  “Well, yes, but there are always crazy people saying things like that.”

  The cat finally jumped down and she lifted it up on her belly. She listened for a few moments while scratching her behind the ears, and interrupted her mother with a little laugh.

  “Nooo, Mom. If you feel threatened by him, we’ll call the police. I mean, I don’t mind him standing there at the corner with his sign and bell and whatever, but he has no right to...”

  The telephone died, and she stared at it while shaking it, willing it to come back to life.

  Didn’t I just charge you? Can you change batteries in these things?

  The screen remained dark.

  “Damn. Sorry, Kitty, gotta put the charger in.”

  Getting to her feet held no appeal, but it would be easier to calm her mom on the phone than travelling to Boston, so she moseyed to the kitchen to use the landline.

  It, too, was dead.

  “What the...”

  Flipping the light switch gave no more result than the phones.

  Weird. Maybe the power has been out for a while, and I didn’t notice.

  It was still a funny coincidence how her iPhone ran out of battery just as everything else stopped working.

  An insistent meow broke the silence, and she went to the front door to let the cat out. If more people than her experienced power trouble, the neighbors might be outside.

  She squinted at the sun and glanced over at the closest house. The couple next door stood in their yard, but what were their names again?

  “Hey Melissa, Ryan, are you having problems with the power?”

  They both turned toward her.

  Melissa looks relieved. Maybe she too wonders if she remembered to pay the bills.

  Ryan took a couple of steps closer.

  “Yeah, no power, no phone.”

  “More than that, no laptop, no Kindle,” his wife filled in.

  “No iPad.”

  How long have you two been married, being able to complete each other’s sentences this seamlessly?

  Rachael glanced over at the road. A few houses down, three cars had bumped into each other, and people stood in the street, looking dazed. One man ran a hand over a fender, and she heard a woman say, “I don’t know what happened. It just stalled.”

  The man stopped caressing his car.

  “You hit me, that’s what happened. I bet you gave me whiplash, and you ruined my Mercedes. I’m calling my lawyer.”

  He ripped a phone out of a pocket and shook it. Rachael couldn’t see the screen, but there was no mistaking the man tossing it on the ground.

  “Worthless piece of shit!”

  “What’s that?” Melissa’s words pulled Rachael back to her own problems.

  Nothing’s working. Even the cars stalled. What does it mean? C’mon, I’m smart, I can figure this out.

  “What’s what, Babe?” Ryan’s voice seemed to come from a great distance.

  I saw something like this on Discovery channel...

  “EMP. I’ve
seen it on TV.”

  Just as she said it, her mind couldn’t shut the approaching noise out anymore. Something was falling through the air, something heavy, coming fast. The sound caught the attention of the people by their cars as well. She saw someone raise a hand to point, and she followed the man’s gaze to the sky.

  “What’s an EMP?” Melissa asked, and Rachael barely heard her own voice answer, “Electromagnetic Pulse. It destroys anything electronic. A really old car might work, like 1970s vintage and before, but nothing modern.”

  Anything electronic, such as an airplane, such as the one falling from the sky over our heads.

  The woman over by the cars screamed, and the man who had yelled and thrown his phone put his hands on her shoulders in a gesture of comfort.

  Strange how people come together in a time of crisis.

  “Why doesn’t he try to glide?”

  Ryan’s question made sense, but if her theory was right, the poor pilots had no rudder control whatsoever. The plane fell like a stone and hit the ground a few blocks away with an impact that made windows rattle.

  “Should we... go over? See if we can help?” Melissa’s voice sounded mousy and Ryan shook his head.

  “There’s no helping them. We should be happy if it doesn’t explode and burn the city to the ground.”

  Melissa tucked her hand into her husband’s.

  At a time like this, it would be nice to be two. I guess Mom was right. It is the end of the world. Oh boy, she’s probably terrified, I hope she’s okay.

  There was no time to mentally digest the plane crash and its implications. A new sound made itself heard: a deep, low humming.

  “What’s that?” Melissa’s voice was barely a whimper.

  Where’s my cat? Focus on the big picture. Bonbon can take care of herself, probably better than you. Whoever did this isn’t through yet.

  Ryan’s voice pulled her back to the present.

  “It’s the whole friggin’ house!”

  She turned around to see him hold a palm against a wall. Down the street the little group of people backed away from their cars. Rachael swallowed.

  “Maybe... Maybe you shouldn’t touch it.”

  Before she could even finish the sentence, a female voice emanated from the structures around them, from the very ground under their feet. It echoed crystal clear, and in a moment of near hysteria, Rachael wondered if the same thing happened all over the world.

  “Rejoice, people of Theta Y. My name is June, and I’m happy to declare the time has come to reunite.”

  *****

  Far above the Earth, a nearly endless line of men dressed in identical black uniforms moved through a long corridor towards a number of reprogramming chambers. They all stared forward, keeping their eyes on the neck of the person ahead.

  No one spoke.

  Not a sound could be heard except for the sound of the men’s boots on the floor.

  A thick, waist-high tentacle stretched up from the metal under their feet. One of the men held his wrist above it, just like the person before him had done, and the person behind him would do. The voice of the ship echoed in his mind.

  Peter. Adın Peter olacak.

  His name would be Peter. Such an unfamiliar word, and difficult to say. No matter. If the ship chose it, this was who he would be.

  Bu, Amerika diye bilinen ülkede en yaygın olarak kullanılan 23. isimdir.

  Interesting. Peter was the twenty-third most common male name in a country known as America. That word was also hard to say, but as soon as the new brain-tip was installed, it would be second nature.

  Not a thing to look forward to, but a necessary step.

  He had carried so many names during the years, known and forgotten so many languages he could barely remember his own. Sometimes he tried to think about it, but fighting the information in the brain-tips made his head hurt.

  Felsefe yapmanın sırası değil.

  This wasn’t a time to get philosophical. It was a time to comply. The queue moved forward. Ten steps, thirty, a hundred. It would be his turn to enter the chamber soon. The memories of the last world visited, Ka’thwuk, would be gone and his mind would be filled with awareness of Earth.

  He stepped into the reprogramming chamber, obediently following the line.

  Evde kalıp hayatı paylaşacak bir eş bulabilir miydim?

  Could he have stayed home? Found a chosen to share his life? No way to know and a futile line of thought.

  A tentacle brushed over his hair, and he shuddered. At least he didn’t have to connect with the ship. Being a man had many disadvantages, but this was a definite upside.

  The tentacle uncovered his old implant and ripped it out, sending blazing pain through his being. Excessive training kept him on his feet, even as his legs threatened to buckle. The ship thrust the new brain-tip in, and his stomach flipped over as new and unwanted knowledge forced its way into his mind.

  The sensation passed quickly, and he followed the line of men forward once more, towards the other side of the chamber. He was Peter now, fluent in every language spoken on the world below.

  I’m going to America on the planet Earth.

  *****

  “Reunite? What is she talking about? Who is that?” Melissa’s voice ran shrill, on the verge of panic, and penetrated the haze in Rachael’s mind.

  Ryan’s answer still seemed to come from a distance.

  “She did this to us. I bet it’s the bloody Communists. They’ve been sneaking up on us for years, but we won’t give up without a fight.”

  He shook a fist towards the sky in a melodramatic gesture, and Rachael rolled her eyes.

  The supernatural voice spoke again.

  “Prepare to welcome our peacekeepers. We bring medicine and technology.”

  The rest of the message was drowned out by a series of deafening booms. Rachael hadn’t noticed the family on the other side of the road running out of their house, but now they drew everyone’s eyes. The man held a large pistol, firing at the walls. His mouth moved, but she couldn’t make out his words.

  Then, everything fell silent and his voice drifted over the road.

  “Shut up, shut up, shut up!”

  “What did she say?”

  Ryan was too close.

  Go away, don’t stand so near me. I want to go indoors so that nutcase doesn’t shoot me. If today is the last day of my life, I’d like to have a glass of wine and a vat of ice cream. No harm in dying content, and everything in the freezer will melt anyway. You guys are not coming.

  “I don’t know, but it was probably important. Mr. Genius over there kinda blew it for us.”

  On the other side of the road, a crying woman pleaded with the man to drop the gun.

  Strange, I’ve lived here for so long and never talked to them. I don’t even know their names.

  For a moment, she thought he would shoot his wife and finish himself off too, but he let himself be pacified and followed the woman back into the building.

  How many people had already killed themselves?

  Would the city be filled with corpses that stunk and be run over by plague?

  Melissa wiped at her eyes, but her supply of tears seemed endless.

  “What’s a peacekeeper?”

  “I think we’ll know soon enough, and we probably won’t like it.”

  *****

  Up on the ship, Peter followed yet another line of men.

  He did his best not to think as he stepped into the mission room along with all the other ground commanders. They had a job to do, and it wasn’t his place to question the fleet’s methods.

  The man next to him murmured, “Same drill as last time.”

  “Same drill as every time.”

  June stood in the center of the room and lifted her arms to bid for silence.

  “Global EMP has been deployed. Nuclear power plants are enclosed, and the risk for radiation flooding the surface is deemed minimal. We have some unrest, but nothing unusual.”
<
br />   Peter tuned out. The planet’s ground forces would try to strike back, they usually did. His brain-tip informed him people here were feisty and prone to war. Great. Skirmishes would only delay the inevitable.

  The first days on a new planet were always intense, but gave some spice to the job.

  The man next to him nudged him.

  “Is it true that you and the Commander... well...”

  “It was a long time ago.”

  “What happened? Did she ditch you?”

  Strange how even the most informal words in the new language sounded natural.

  “She wanted to go through the ceremony. I would not put my fate in her hands.”

  The man chuckled.

  “I bet she was good in bed though.”

  Peter shrugged.

  If you want to know, find out for yourself.

  June talked about ID cards, building health centers, sorting out the nutrition and infrastructure, but he couldn’t pay attention.

  It’s all the same, over and over again.

  A man whispered, “Maybe they won’t struggle.”

  There were worlds where re-assimilation went easy, where they were welcomed, but this would not be one of them.

  “Are you kidding? Did you see the amount of junk they had floating in orbit?”

  June’s voice rang loud and clear.

  “We’re behind schedule, and everyone knows what to do. Gather your troops and move out.”

  Chapter Two

  Rachael walked through the supermarket, keeping her eyes fixed on the floor.

  Turmoil. How could the world change so much so quickly? Nothing was like it used to be, not even the grocery stores where most of the food had already been taken by looters. Damaged cardboard boxes with their contents spilling out lay all over the floor, as if they had been killed trying to fight the changes that were coming.

  The invaders seemed to be neat-freaks. They would have it all cleaned up in no time.