Alastair (Ghosts of Ophidian Book 2)

by Scott McElhaney

  “Yeah?” she replied, “He said that all the previous ships have been taking a wormhole to get there but our captain thinks that has been compromised by the Pli and they are waiting right on the other side. We’re taking the back door that Mutt spoke of.”

  “27,000…” Theo’s shoulders sagged as he tried to catch his breath.

  “What’s wrong?” Jill said, staring at him before rising from her seat and rushing over to him.

  “Basic physics, Jill,” he said, feeling like he was about to hyperventilate, “No matter how much time we experience inside this ship, it’s our time that is stretching or compressing according to Einstein’s special relativity. Our time, Jill – the time dilation only occurs to the person in motion.”

  “What are you saying? Calm down,” she said, rubbing his back as she wondered how to console him, “Listen, you were in school longer than I was. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “If I travel to Proxima Centauri from the Oort Station at those extreme speeds, it might take me a few days. But since Proxima is about four light years away, it will most certainly take about four years for me to go there and four years for me to get back. When I return home, my mother will think I’d been gone for eight years, but I would argue that it’s only been a couple weeks,” he said, turning to her, “We’re taking the long way across 27,000 light years instead of choosing the much quicker wormhole. Would you like to guess how long it will take us to get there?”

  “No,” she replied, “Why would we do something that would take us to the Pli 27,000 years after they started abducting our race? That would be stupid and pointless.”

  “I didn’t even consider that. I was thinking about us breaking the promises to our families. They will never hear from us again because they’ll have been dead for millennia,” he said.

  “Suddenly, I don’t feel much like playing this game,” she said.

  “It doesn’t make any sense,” he said, “Maybe the cook was wrong. Ships are returning after just a year or two.”

  “They’re returning through a wormhole no more than a light year beyond our system. You told me yourself that scientists have long thought there to be a brown dwarf just beyond Pluto in order to explain the odd orbital paths of Neptune and Pluto,” she said, “I might not be as well versed as you in the sciences, but I’d say a wormhole could be causing the unusual ripples in space we attribute to a hidden brown dwarf.”

  “We’re wasting our time, Jill,” he said.

  “Who the heck are you?” a bear growled from behind them.

  Something lifted Theo from the gaming seat and then dropped him immediately to the floor beneath a thousand-pound beast. He couldn’t breathe, let alone fight off the creature that was digging its claws through his hair. He heard the sound of some repeated slaps followed by the shouts from a furious Jill.

  The bear was removed from his back, giving Theo enough time to crawl forward and get to his feet. There behind him, he saw Jill repeatedly punching a behemoth of a man in his bulging gut. He looked more annoyed by her attack than injured. He took a hold of both her hands in his giant paw and used his other hand make a halting gesture toward her.

  “My mistake, kid,” he growled, “You sounded like rivet-heads to me and I’d never seen you around before. My sincerest apologies.”

  “You’re apologies?” Theo spat, “You threw me to the ground and could have killed me.”

  “And you haven’t seen us before because we were just picked up at the Oort Station to wash your crummy dishes,” Jill added, trying to tug her hands out of the man’s grasp.

  “Truly, I do apologize. I’ve been tricked twice by rivet-heads and one was even my own brother. You two sounded just like him – trying to figure out the plans of the humans. Let me make amends somehow,” he said.

  Theo wanted to laugh at that last statement. To see a three hundred pound pile of muscle surrounded by a noticeable layer of fat requesting forgiveness from two scrawny teenagers was almost hilarious.

  “For starters, you can let go of me,” Jill said, “And then, I would definitely find myself in a forgiving mood if I had a tall soda and perhaps a nice snack of some kind. I’m a little exhausted already from beating you up.”

  The monster peered at her, then his face was overcome with a grin. That grin turned into a laugh as he released her from his grip and turned to Theo.

  “Really? She’s something else!” he laughed, “Come here you two.”

  He motioned for them to follow him toward the back of the arcade. The man who had been flying the Orbital Bomber was staring at them with his game paused. Theo figured that it was probably paused the moment the bear yelled at Theo and threw him to the floor like a sack of potatoes. The two girls who had been playing at a game table were now rushing out of the arcade, whispering to each other the whole time.

  “Do you think he’s going to kill us?” Jill asked.

  The man was several yards ahead of them now and gesturing for them to hurry up. Theo shrugged, then took Jill’s hand into his own. They followed the man and once they circled past a row of old-fashion digital bowling alleys, they discovered a surprisingly large juice bar where several young people were seated. The bar had been hidden in the corner where it provided a bit of privacy from the gamers.

  The giant man walked around the bar, then held his hand out toward two bar stools. They cautiously took the seats that had been offered. Theo looked down the length of the bar and realized to his relief that no one seemed to notice them or question why the enormous man was behind the bar.

  “Come on, kids… did you really think that arcade owners offered the gaming machines for free? There’s always an overpriced snack bar or a juice bar nearby in order to pay the owner’s bills,” he said, leaning on the counter in front of them, “The name is Tiny and I think I owe the two of you a drink and a snack.”

  Theo finally allowed a smile to appear. He reached out a hand, which Tiny shook. It took Jill a moment longer, but she finally shook his hand.

  “I’m Jill and this is Theo. We’re the new dishwashers,” she said.

  “And the reason we’re so interested in everything is because we’re chasing down my brother,” Theo said, “He left in search of answers six years ago and never returned. Just wanted you to know that we’re not spies.”

  “Good enough for me,” he replied, “Now that I know you don’t have plugs in your heads, of course. What’s your poison?”

  “Ginger ale for me and something painfully sweet for the lady,” Theo said, “Back home, she goes for strawberry smoothies.”

  “Don’t have any of those, but I have a cherry soda that will make your face pucker,” he said, “And for a snack, I highly recommend a basket of my extra salty fries, guaranteed to never be offered in the mess decks for fear of killing off the crew.”

  “That sounds perfect,” Jill smiled.

  Tiny went to work getting their drinks and dropping a basket of fries into the boiling grease. Jill turned to Theo, leaning on the counter as she lowered her voice.

  “Do you think we’re really looking at being gone 27,000 years?” she whispered, looking past him at the other patrons.

  “I think we’re going to be gone at least 54,000 years if this is a round trip journey,” he replied, just as their drinks were placed in front of them.

  “We won’t be gone anywhere near what you’re talking, kid,” Tiny inserted, dropping a straw into each of their drinks.

  “We’re taking a wormhole then?” he asked.

  “What’s wrong with those people over there?” Jill asked, tilting her head toward the other patrons.

  Tiny followed her eyes, then gave her a smile of embarrassment.

  “Sorry, I keep those on when business is low,” he chuckled, reaching for something beneath the bar, “Makes people think there’s something exciting going on over here.”

  Suddenly, four of the patrons disappeared, leaving only one real girl at the far end of the bar eating from a bas
ket of unknown fried foods. The girl looked over and offered a two-finger wave.

  “Well, at least you have one customer,” Jill said, “Were the other ones just holograms?”

  “Don’t even have one. That’s my daughter Lilliah,” he replied, “And yes, those were holograms, and no, we’re not going through any wormholes.”

  Theo turned to Lilliah and smiled, “I’m Theo and this is my girlfriend, Jill. It’s nice to meet you, Lilliah.”

  “Girlfriend? I thought we were getting siblings from the Oort Station,” Tiny said.

  “Please don’t say anything,” Jill pleaded, “I don’t want to be thrown into a berthing full of strangers.”

  “Hey, it’s none of my business,” he said, “If you ask me, you shouldn’t stick with the sibling charade anyway.”

  Tiny returned to the fryer to check on their fries.

  “How does this work then if we aren’t taking a wormhole and it won’t take as long to get there?” Theo asked.

  “Same way everything else is done anymore – with sheol weed,” Tiny said.

  “Sheol weed? What’s that got to do with space travel?” Theo asked.

  “It’s got everything to do with everything,” Tiny said, “How does it work? Don’t know. Does it work? Yes. That’s my answer.”

  Fifteen

  Tiny ultimately did have nothing more to offer on his mysterious statement that an exotic plant could somehow shrink down the distance traveled or affect the passage of time. They kept the man company for another half-hour before thanking him and retiring to their “quarters”.

  They took turns taking showers in the bathroom while the other waited in the hall and listened for any screaming. Neither felt very comfortable just yet with the concept of co-ed bathrooms and until they verified that it truly was safe, they would look out for each other.

  Theo was the last to finish his shower and discovered that Jill had already retreated to their storage room and was in the process of making both their beds. His bed was already made and now she was busy working on her own.

  “These beds are quite comfortable,” she said when he finally made an appearance, “And it won’t feel all that cramped between the shelves.”

  “Weren’t you supposed to stand guard while I took a shower?” he asked, picking up his empty duffel bag, “And where did you put my stuff?”

  “Did you really think some woman was going to come in and attack you while you took a shower?” she asked.

  He noticed now that she had stacked her clothing in neatly folded piles on the other side of her mattress. There appeared to be about two feet of shelf space between the bed and the wall, leaving a nice pocket to store their personal belongings.

  “I only took your clothes out and folded it before putting it on your bed-shelf. I left your personal items and books in the other duffel,” she said.

  He climbed up the shelving and shuffled into his bed, taking extra care not to hit his head on the shelf above his bed. He tested the firmness of the bed, then rested his head on his pillow.

  “Nice,” he said, “I’m so tired, I could crash right now.”

  “Why don’t you?” she asked, unfolding her blanket.

  . . . .

  Theo took his tray, loaded to its maximum potential with a fluffy ham & cheese omelet, four strips of bacon, two biscuits, three sausage links, and two glasses of orange juice to the table where Jill sat with two men. The black man, currently peeling an orange, was seated to Jill’s left and he wore the white hat of a cook. The other man, Caucasian like himself, was seated to Jill’s right and seemed a lot more interested in Jill than in the peppered scrambled eggs on the tray in front of him.

  “So anyway, when they finally get this computer thing out of his head and get him to talk, his speech becomes too slurred for anyone to understand him. It’s probably a failsafe of some sort,” the man said, leaning a little too close to Jill as he spoke, “But what they did get out of him was enough to know that this thing is going get ugly. The Pli are way more advanced than us and they’re messing with something out there that’s far beyond our comprehension.”

  “What are you talking about?” Theo asked, taking the seat across from Jill.

  “Hyperspace, subspace, and negative mass,” the man replied, turning to Theo.

  The black man reached across the table toward Theo. Theo shook his hand.

  “Hermes, bakery and desserts,” he said by way of introduction, “And this fellow over here is Mac. While he passes himself off as a lowly frontline cook, he used to be Space Special Forces only to later discover that he wanted to be a Heavy-Artillery Fighter Pilot.”

  Mac stood and reached across to shake Theo’s hand.

  “Nice to meet you both. I’m Theo, and beyond washing pots and pans, I was an Ice Monkey on the Oort Station. I guess you’d call it something of a co-pilot, except I couldn’t actually fly the Gatherer,” Theo said, “So, which is it, Mac? Are you a cook, SSF, or a HArt Pilot?”

  “I’m honestly a HArt Pilot, but until we get to where we’re going, I’m just a lowly frontline cook,” he replied, “I was just telling Jill here how the SSF and the Space Defense Command had been secretly investigating the curiosities we now know of as the Pli. This false freighter is our first attempt at gathering information and coming back without plugs in our skulls.”

  “Have we ever had anyone return without plugs even on the ships that were permitted to return?” Theo asked.

  “Never, at least not as far as we can tell. An official investigation never began until about two years ago,” he replied, “And as you know from your brother’s situation, this has been going on for many years while we blindly watched.”

  “I wouldn’t go on clinging to much hope for your brother, Theo,” Jill said, sadly.

  “Well, I didn’t think there was much hope he’d still be alive 27,000 years in the future,” Theo said.

  Mac looked over at Jill with a confused expression, then turned his attention to Theo.

  “Uh, we’re dealing with exotic matter on this trip, Theo. When it comes to that kind of stuff, your Special Relativity numbers are all but useless and even Quantum Theory is going to suffer a bit of rejection,” Mac said, “We are probably going to arrive in the neighborhood of the Pli about one week after we left the Oort Station.”

  “I don’t get it,” Theo said, “Exotic matter?”

  Mac looked over at Hermes.

  “Don’t look at me,” Hermes said, raising his hands in surrender, “I’m just here for the ride and a paycheck.”

  “Exotic Matter is that theoretical stuff of science that we believed could exist, but they had properties that would appear to violate the laws of physics. For example, objects of negative mass, imaginary mass, tachyons, or quark-gluon plasma,” he said, “And up until recently, the only thing in the field of ‘exotic matter’ that we ever made use of was when tachyons were discovered. We quickly exploited the use of tachyon texting within two years of that amazing discovery. For years, we thought of exotic matter as something we would discover in the subatomic field.”

  “Please tell me that this isn’t about the sheol weed,” Theo said, “I already know about its backward wrapped DNA and the weird hallucinogenic properties.”

  “Common sense says that a plant cannot be the ‘exotic matter’ we had long searched for,” Mac smiled, “Even though everything about it violates all the physics we know. The backwards DNA, the effects on other living things, and its completely impossible negative mass.”

  “But it’s a plant,” Theo said.

  “I don’t think you’re going to get the answers you’re apparently searching for from anyone on this ship,” he said, “Why is it a plant? Why is it being imported on a regular basis? Where does it come from? That’s what this mission is all about.”

  Theo nodded, then forked one of the sausage links. Mac took a bite of his eggs, then looked up at Theo as though he’d forgotten to say something.

  “You’re not sister and b
rother, are you?” he asked.

  “No,” Jill answered for Theo, “How did you know?”

  “No one looks at his sister the way he looks at you. Don’t take such a thing for granted – either of you. I had once adored a woman like that,” he replied, staring down at his eggs, “She was one of the best in the Space Special Forces, but even the best is no match for a faulty aortic valve. She was killed by a deformity inside the very heart I adored.”

  Jill looked at Theo. He sighed, then took a bite from his sausage link.

  “I’m sorry, Mac,” she said.

  “S’okay,” he replied, “It’s truly okay.”

  Sixteen

  “Heavy-Artillery Fighter” sounded like something of an understatement for the dangerous looking craft before him. It was 9:10 by the time Jill and Theo were done cleaning up after the breakfast rush. They wouldn’t need to report back to the kitchen until 11:00, so they had almost two hours to kill. Mac offered to show them his Fighter Craft if they had nothing else to do. They both accepted immediately.

  “Is it true that you can make the whole surface of the Fighter reflective?” Jill asked.

  “Like an all-facing mirror,” he proudly replied, still standing on the ladder next to the open cockpit, “Watch this.”

  Theo and Jill were standing at the bottom of the short ladder watching as he messed with the controls inside the craft. A moment later, the ship was nothing but a domed mirror. Theo was suddenly facing a warped funhouse version of himself standing next to a funny-shaped Jill. The ladder and legs of Mac were also reflected in the image, not to mention the whole background of the cargo bay.

  “While it doesn’t seem like anything much in here, imagine this mirrored camouflage in the uniformity of space, reflecting back only stars and blackness,” he said, “It would be virtually invisible to the human eye – and hopefully to the eyes of the Pli.”

  “Indeed,” Theo said, just as the Fighter returned to its normal appearance.

  “So, if someone is on your tail, you’ve got the Aft Insanity which is a rapid-fire flak gun. You said this would tear apart any known craft if its hull is less than three inches of steel,” Jill asked, “What if it’s thicker?”