The Hidden Ship

by Mark Wayne McGinnis

  “Copy . . . see you topside,” Donny said.

  I heard the channel close and wondered if that would be the last time I’d ever hear my friend’s voice. I then heard a familiar ping in my ear. I saw it was Overlord Skith. I ignored his hail. By the time I was climbing down onto the flight deck, I saw that both Jhally and Karen were already moving toward the XL5’s open ramp. Jhally was hopping on one leg while holding onto Karen’s shoulder for support. Heading after them, I grimaced in pain. My own leg was giving me trouble. Looking up, one of the bots was in the process of wiggling through one of the openings made by Jhally. I heard gunfire suddenly erupted up there—bright flashes of plasma fire strobing down through the opening. Two more robots were climbing the side bulkheads leaving just one remaining by the XL5.

  I saw Matt was standing on the roof signaling me, “Hurry up . . . that fight’s not going to wait for us, man!”

  Minutes later we were standing within the robot’s dark and claustrophobic hold compartment. Somewhere along the line, the plan had deviated some—pretty typical for such a loosely made plan. All of the robots had taken between twenty and twenty-five passengers on up to the next level. Karen was standing right next to me and I could feel her nervous energy. One of her feet was tapping nonstop. She, like the rest of us, was ready to jump into the fight. We all had our HUDs activated and we were watching through multiple video feeds as the events transpired on level one above. I took in the jittery feeds provided by each of the robot’s forward cameras. Jhally would make his way to the XL5’s command center. Mike and his team were doing an admirable job remotely controlling the big machines. Once in a while someone would propel a robot into a bulkhead or one would stumble, but that was to be expected. One thing that was immediately apparent was that the robots were a bit too tall for the confined space—each was required to hunch over a tad, to avoid hitting the bulkhead’s ceilings. But all in all, these mechanical beasts were tearing through the habitat’s first level like raging bulls running rampant through a china shop. The areas that I could see were beautiful spaces made of natural elements—wood and glass and even stone textured walls. Now all were being turned to rubble.

  The security forces were relentlessly firing upon the bots nonstop. But mistmakers and plasma rifles showed to be ineffective against the hulk-like brutes.

  Our own robot abruptly began to jerk and sway. Although I couldn’t see much inside our jammed tight compartment, I could tell a good many of us had toppled over—some cursing obscenities in the process.

  “I think we’re climbing up through the breech hole,” Matt said.

  I took in my HUD’s numerous activated video feeds. Enemy fire had not only subsided but seemed to have ceased completely. The level was in a total shambles.

  “Polybius, you copy?” Donny said over comms.

  “Loud and clear . . . status?” I asked.

  “Robots have destroyed about one tenth of Level One. This place is huge. My team, as well as the three others, are all feet on the deck now. Bots are off on their own. We’re holding up for your bot to arrive. Okay, there you are . . . see you coming now.”

  I heard a pinging in my ear. The overlord’s near constant hails still coming in. But I wasn’t ready to talk to him just yet.

  The compartment jostled around some more and the next thing I knew, the bot’s back panel was open and light was streaming in. The fresh air filling the space around us was also a welcome change. Mike had lowered the robot in such a way that it we only needed to jump down four or five feet onto the deck.

  The video feeds hadn’t done justice to just how much damage had occurred here.

  “I almost feel guilty,” Karen said, looking around.

  Matt handed her a rifle and then one to me. “Any word on locating this level’s bio-vault?” he asked, knowing I was getting comm feeds from all the teams.

  We had to literally step over innumerable Gap dead bodies from the security forces. Bodies that had been crushed and flattened into dented deck plates. A gaping, split-open helmet revealed half of a Gap’s face. I looked into the poor bastard’s lifeless eye. “Not the best way to go,” I murmured.

  By the time we joined up with Donny’s team, we’d progressed through the remnants of the soldier barracks, a canteen or mess hall where not a chair or table was left standing, and one bank of elevator lifts—which was pretty much destroyed.

  Donny raised his chin, “Hey.” His team of twenty or so merged with Matt’s team of twenty-five.

  “Hey,” I said back. I held up a hand, “Hold on a sec, Mike is hailing me.”

  Mike sounded exasperated, “Holy shit . . . looks like combined forces from, um, Levels Two, Three, and Four are storming in from above. They’re using one of the few still operational lifts. Spartacus’ Team 2 has already engaged the enemy.”

  “Where are all the other robots?” I asked.

  “They’re already a half-mile away. I’m going to take yours . . . your team will need to hoof it. No time to wait to load you all inside again.”

  I heard the assembly bot come alive behind us. Heavy footfalls shook the deck as it ran past—now seeing the hunched robot plowing through the debris, I was glad these things were on our side.

  “We need to hurry,” I said, and sprinted off after the robot doing my best to ignore the pain in my calf.

  chapter 50

  By the time we reached the battle, our side had taken serious casualties. Our robot was lying in a heap across the deck. Its metal hulk was already being used for cover. Ducking low, I marveled at the sheer breath of the opposing plasma fire. Blast strikes were erupting everywhere. It would be impossible to get shot off the way things were. I saw Spartacus off to my left, hunkered down with several other Takebacks. His left cheek was scorched into a blackened crust. Keeping low, I made my way over to him.

  “Shawn! What happened to the robot?”

  “They brought along some kind of electromagnetic pulse weapon . . . it toppled the son of a bitch in one second flat!”

  That wasn’t good. Without our bots, we were toast.

  We ducked as the man standing directly to Shawn’s left crumpled to the deck. A shot to his forehead had killed him instantly.

  “We’re going to be picked off one by one . . . we need a Plan B, Polybius.”

  I hailed Mike, “Tell me our other robots are still en route.”

  “I could lie to you and say they were. Enemies got some kind of—”

  “I know, I know, an EMP weapon.”

  “One seems to be partially responding to our commands. It can crawl, a little. No sense of balance. The gyros no longer—”

  “Ask Jhally if he’s found any of the vaults yet.”

  “The bio-vaults?”

  “Yes, ask him . . . to hurry.”

  Another body slumped to the deck and then another. A woman screamed.

  Jhally came on the line. “I think I found it. It makes sense, really, where it is situated—”

  “Jhally!”

  “It’s actually very close to your current coordinates, Brian. The whole inner section, a massive allotment of floor space within the habitat IS the vault.”

  I took in my surroundings, then scrutinized the nearby bulkhead. It was slightly curved and went on and on into the distance. It did indeed seem to a part of the habitat’s supporting superstructure.

  “Any idea where the door is?”

  Mike was back in my ear. “Jhally’s trying a few things with the robot. Here’s the thing . . . there is no door. I guess it’s part of how the Gap females are kept safe. Safe from enemies and their own kind as well. So the vault only opens when the time is right . . . when they’re released on Earth.”

  A plasma bolt came so close to my head, that I could smell my own burnt hair. I ventured a quick peek at the enemy line. They were approximately one-hundred-fifty feet away. They, too
, had taken cover behind a barricade—but one that looked to be designed for just that purpose—not a dead robot. From what I’d seen, very few of the enemy was down, while we were being taken out far too quickly. I leaned back and saw Karen and Matt were lying prone on their bellies. Both were firing their rifles through open gaps below the bot’s legs.

  “Do you see it yet?” Mike asked.

  See it? No, but I certainly heard something. Looking behind me I saw it. The lone remaining robot. And it was running full out. Hunched and menacing-looking—a bull making its final charge.

  I yelled into the open channel, “Fire! Fire! Fire! Give them everything you’ve got . . . distract the Gaps!” Don’t let them even think about using that damn EMS!

  We all did just that. This was no longer the time to be careful. To hide. I was the first to stand and hold the trigger tight. The stock of my rifle jerked back over and over into my shoulder as I unleashed a hailstorm of plasma fire into the enemy line. The others around me soon were right there with me—all standing. Donny was the first to start yelling. Not in pain nor in fear. It was a fucking war-cry. And then he was standing atop the robot and shooting down into the line. One by one we all joined him—not a one of us released our triggers. Not a one of us wasn’t yelling at the top of our lungs. While some of us fell in those few seconds, the rest of us did not falter—we killed a lot of Gaps.

  And then the charging robot was upon us and quickly moving past us. From what Mike told me later, it hit the bio-vault’s wall at close to eighty miles an hour. A two-hundred pound freight train of kinetic energy colliding with a bulkhead made of some kind of hardened dura-steel three feet thick—but it was no match for the robot’s impact.

  It was akin to an earthquake—a ten on the Richter Scale. Not a soul was left standing. A seismic wave coursed through the Solaris Habitat causing it to strain and grown as if experiencing physical pain. Dust and debris filled the air. I laid there on my back looking up—wondering if at any moment the very bones of this vessel were about to collapse into itself. I rolled onto my side and then managed to slowly get onto my knees. Off in the distance, I saw Karen getting to her feet. I breathed a sigh of relief.

  But I hadn’t expected what happened next.

  At first there were just a few of them. They were smaller than I expected, no larger than your average house cat. Then they were everywhere. Hundreds, no, thousands upon thousands of them. Running here and there. Like hairless white bunnies, they were skittering and hopping around all over the place. Clearly they were ecstatic at being freed. I smiled—a chorus of funny squeals filled the air.

  I heard Jhally speaking in my ear. “Captain Polk?”

  “I’m here, Jhally,” I said, laughing as one of the little creatures has somehow leapt onto my shoulder.

  “Apparently, we have located the females.”

  “Really? These are the females? They’re tiny . . . they don’t look anything like that Maiden Sow thing.”

  “It’s because they are still quite young, they are called norps.”

  I tossed the little norps onto the deck and got to my feet. I peered over the robot to see what was left of our enemy. I shook my head. Apparently, our charging robot had been directed to trample them on its trajectory toward the bio-vault. All were dead. The wall behind them was gone. I did see the bottoms of the robot’s feet still visible though. That and countless more juvenile norps hopping here and there.

  An all too familiar pinging sound was accosting my ear. Overlord Skith most definitely wanted to talk. This time I answered his hail. “Overlord Skith . . .”

  “Captain Polk . . . I beg you, please. Do not injure any of them. They are literally the future of our species. Oh . . . I think I can hear them. Oh, what a beautiful sight that must be . . .” His voice trailed off. “Anything. I . . . We . . . will do anything. You have won. You have beaten us. Just please, do not harm them . . .”

  “We’ll talk, Overlord. I promise. But right now, I have some other business to take care of.” I broke our connection.

  As I limped toward her, I saw that she was already sprinting toward me. Hair flying wild behind her, this amazing woman was a true warrior. She leapt high into the air and right into my open arms. I spun her around and around, and she laughed out loud. I pulled her in close and breathed her in. I could feel her wet tears against my cheek—or perhaps they were my own. Now, with her lips close to my ear, she said, “You know I love you, Brian. But I have to be honest with you . . . I never thought this would work. Any of it! I’d simply chosen to spend whatever little time I had left doing something. And I did it for Gwen . . . I wanted her to know her mother was one of the ones who had fought back.” Her voice cracked and laughter had turned to sobs. I held her tight as she wept—as we both wept.

  epilogue

  Seventeen months have passed since those fateful few days spent on board the Solaris Habitat—just a stone’s throw from Earth’s ever-watchful moon.

  As a good faith gesture, we released ten percent of the norps back to the Earupitans—in conjunction with the last of their Situational Command Ships leaving Earth’s high orbit in search of their future home world. Communications between our species would remain open. Over time, additional norps would be released back to them. Earth would use that time to build adequate defenses based on the mostly Mannarian technology left behind, along with the help of as many Mannarians as chose to stay. The plight of the OEC Marshals is ongoing. Even in light of a number of them being instrumental in the eventual ousting of our interstellar invaders, Humans have found it hard to forgive and forget. Hell, who hadn’t lost a loved one at the hands of one local OEC station or another? Any remaining Earupitans have all been imprisoned, including Dalm Mor Stroph and Chancellor Vogthner. Their past crimes were just too egregious. All now were relegated to, perhaps not surprisingly, the only place on Earth nobody put up much of a stink about them inhabiting—Chernobyl, Ukraine. Apparently, any residual radiation stemming from the 1986 nuclear power plant disaster has had little effect on Gap physiology. Time will tell.

  But Earupitans and Mannarians are not equal—at least in the eyes of humanity. And while I had never found their appearance all that different from one another, that didn’t seem to hold true for most Humans. While almost all Earupitans still inhabiting Earth are now living in Chernobyl, not so with the Mannarians. And I think I had something to do with that. As it turns out, my Takebacks have taken on nothing less than hero status. The story of one Human and one Mannarian, once enemies and later friends, who repaired first one, and then four other Shredder craft—it was the start of a rebellion that would change the course of history. A history where humanity would no longer be the lowly subjects of a cruel Earupitan Empire.

  In seventeen months much has reverted back to the way things were prior to the invasion. Cell phones are back, as well as the internet and cable TV. Countries have reestablished borders and boundaries. The United States of America is back in full form. Somewhere along the line, we even picked up another five states. And, of course, politics has reared its ugly head.

  At present, I’m spending a good amount of my time bringing Polk Ranch back to its full glory. At most recent count, we have eight hundred head of fine Aberdeen Angus cattle roaming those fertile plains off beyond the big barn. The we I’m referring to, of course, refers to me and my wife, Karen, and of course, our daughter, Gwen. Jhally is here, too; he pretty much runs the place since I’m often pulled out of town for one thing or another. Seems there’s a grassroots effort growing to have me elected as the next U.S. President. Go figure.

  The End

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  Acknowledgments

  First and foremost, I am grateful to the fans of my writing and the ongoing support for all my books. I’d like to thank my wife, Kim, she’s my rock and is a crucial, loving component of my publishing business. I’d like to thank my mother, Lura Genz, for her tireless work as my first-phase creative editor and a staunch cheerleader of my writing. I’d also like to thank Kimberly Peticolas for her amazing, detailed editing work. Others who provided fantastic support include Lura and James Fischer, Stuart Church, and Eric Sundius.

  Check out the other available titles by Mark Wayne McGinnis on the following page.

  Other Books by MWM

  Scrapyard Ship Series

  Scrapyard Ship (Book 1)

  HAB 12 (Book 2)

  Space Vengeance (Book 3)

  Realms of Time (Book 4)

  Craing Dominion (Book 5

  The Great Space (Book 6)

  Call To Battle (Book 7)

  Tapped In Series

  Mad Powers (Book 1)

  Deadly Powers (Book 2)

  Lone Star Renegades Series

  Lone Star Renegades (also called ‘Jacked’) (Book 1)

  Star Watch Series

  Star Watch (Book 1)

  Ricket (Book 2)

  Boomer (Book 3)

  Glory for Space Sea and Space (Book 4)

  Space Chase (Book 5)

  Scrapyard LEGACY (Book 6)

  The Simpleton Series

  The Simpleton (Book 1)

  The Simpleton Quest (Book 2)

  Galaxy Man Series

  Galaxy Man (Book 1)

  Ship Wrecked Series

  Ship Wrecked (Book 1)

  Ship Wrecked 2 (Book 2)

  Cloudwalkers Series

  Cloudwalkers (Book 1)

  The Hidden Ship

  The Hidden Ship