Invasion

by L. E. Thomas

  "Resume standard engine operation," Towers said, stepping behind the helm. "Bring us about to the nearest planetary body."

  His voice sounded far away to Nat as he continued to stare out at the alien space. A moon drifted into view, followed by another, much larger, with golden rings. They'd made it, curving to another star system far from his home.

  He gasped. A dozen ships dropped into the orbit of a white world tinged in a bluish haze. Some vessels were angular and rigid, others smooth and organic. In the center floated a dominant knife-shaped ship. Two small craft about the same size as an Interceptor shot over the bow.

  "Those are Tridents," Nat breathed, lifted his hand weakly forward. He turned halfway toward Towers, unable to pull his gaze completely from the Legion vessels. "Aren't they?"

  Towers nodded, focusing on the helm's display. "They are. We're the last to arrive for the summit."

  Nat licked his lips, his mouth suddenly going dry. "The summit?" He shook his head. "Who are all these ships? Legion?"

  "Some of them." He stared at the collection of ships gathering in orbit and grinned. "Most are vessels from worlds like yours, planets with people unwilling to continue living under the rule of the Zahl. Citizens like your sister who reached out to us, sending a message into the cosmos in the hopes someone was listening. We were listening. We answered. The Legion will not allow these calls for help to go unanswered. We're here to help people like you form a solid resistance, a mighty force able to right the wrongs of the past. That's why we're here. This is where we begin to take the fight back to the Zahl." He placed his hand on Nat's shoulder. "These freedom fighters will need pilots like you."

  "I ... don't believe it." Ripping his thoughts away from the realization he might soon become a fighter pilot after all this time, Nat stepped back from the viewport. "Permission to leave the bridge?"

  His brow wrinkling, Towers looked at him. "Something wrong?"

  "I have to see my family."

  Towers nodded. "Granted."

  Spinning on his heel, Nat ran out of the bridge, his heart racing as he sprinted through the tight corridors. The panic from before had subsided, the realization from those on board that they had, for now, escaped the clutches of the Zahl.

  He rushed into the hangar bay, dodging the rows of cots and damaged equipment, searching for Kad and Tressa. The sounds of the wounded mixed with laughter and chatter laced with possibility. The dread pressing on his chest for the past year eased, and he realized his mistakes might be forgiven.

  There, in the midst of the thousands of refugees, he found Tressa propped up on the cot by her elbows as Kad sat over her. The gash on her forehead had been treated and bandaged. Both looked up at him as he approached. He paused over them and shifted his weight, suddenly glancing down at his Zahlian uniform, his stomach turning at the sight.

  Kad stood on wobbly legs, his eyes watering as he stepped toward Nat.

  Unable to speak, Nat embraced his father. Kad squeezed, holding him for a long moment in the Oshua's cargo bay. After all the time had passed, he was again with his father— genuinely embracing him as a son. Nat tried to speak but closed his eyes and rested his hand on Kad's shoulder.

  Clearing his throat, Kad grumbled and tensed, placing his hand on the back of Nat's neck and squeezing a little tighter.

  "Welcome home, son."

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  Bear stood alone in the main lobby with his back toward Austin, engrossed in the countless black and white photos adorning the walls. As Austin approached, Bear turned his broad shoulders halfway around and stared at him. The big guy smiled; his eyes were red and puffy.

  “Morning,” he said in a raspy voice.

  Austin nodded. “Hey.”

  “Sleep?”

  He shook his head. “Barely. You?”

  “Naw. I tried.”

  A door shut at the end of the hall, and Skylar strolled down with her hands thrust in a blue Tizona hooded sweatshirt. She yawned and managed a grin.

  “Morning, guys.” She glanced at her watch. “Are we it?”

  “Looks like it,” Bear said. “Does that make us smarter or dumber?”

  Austin snorted. “I’d rather not know.”

  They sat in silence. The grandfather clock ticked. Skylar covered her mouth as she yawned again. Austin suppressed a yawn, keeping his teeth clamped shut.

  “Your yawns are contagious,” he said, pushing Skylar’s shoulder.

  “Sorry. It’s so early, and I thought finals were over.”

  “They are. This is supposed to be the fun part.”

  “Good morning, Recruits,” Nubern said, his voice echoing. “Glad to see some of you made it this morning.”

  Nubern marched down the steps with Sharkey close behind, a radio pressed to his ear. The two men did not smile. Instead, Nubern nodded at the students as he passed by without slowing.

  “Shall we change some lives?” Nubern said without turning as he pushed through the front doors.

  Skylar and Austin exchange glances as Bear followed without saying a word.

  They passed through the doors and into the cool night air. As Nubern slipped into the front of the van, Sharkey slid the large side door open. The students entered; Bear sat in the center seat while Austin and Skylar took the rear. Sharkey slapped the door shut and walked around to the driver side. The engine rumbled to life, and they moved away from Terminus. As they drove down the dirt path, Austin turned and watched Terminus disappear in the early morning fog. The headlights sent out beams of white. Nothing recognizable appeared on either side of the van other than random vegetation and moss hanging from trees.

  Sharkey drove away from Terminus toward the main gate for a few minutes before taking a sharp right and heading toward the swamp. Austin winced. Not the swamp again.

  As they bounced around in the back seat of the van, Skylar reached out and grabbed Austin’s hand.

  “Where are we going? We’re not heading toward to the main gate,” she whispered.

  “I’m not sure.”

  The van bounced down the path. After ten minutes, they slowed and then halted with a screech of the brakes.

  “We’re here,” Nubern said and exited.

  Austin peered through the thick fog. Two lights burned off to the left, but he couldn’t see anything through the condensation on the window. Bear turned around, his face wrinkled in confusion.

  “So, ah, we going to get out?” he said in a deep, quiet voice.

  Austin looked at Skylar. “I guess so.”

  “I thought we were going to an airport?” she asked.

  “I don’t know any more than you,” he said and reached forward to slide the door back. “Let’s go.”

  Without waiting for Bear, Austin jumped out and his shoes sank into the mushy ground. The damp, all too familiar smell of swamp rot filled his nose. The sounds of insects surrounded him as the other two students jumped down. He frowned and couldn’t believe he was back in this swamp.

  “How long did you make it in the Gauntlet?” Austin asked as Bear stepped next to him.

  Bear snorted. “They found me the second day. Wasn’t quiet enough.”

  “All right, let’s go,” Sharkey said from behind. “Your ride’s waiting.”

  Austin walked toward the two lights beaming in the fog.

  Nubern stood beneath one of the lights like a beacon in the darkness. He gestured to his right. “Watch your step.”

  Austin looked to his left and saw the faint outline of an airboat. A Tizona staff member stood at the wheel and nodded when their eyes met. He held back the urge to roll his eyes and complain.
The thought of getting back onto the airboat and back into this swamp made his stomach turn, but he bit his tongue. If this charity trip turned out to be a disguised sequel to the Gauntlet, and if he had given up his Christmas break for this, it would be tough to keep his mouth shut.

  As the students slid into the back of the airboat, Skylar reached for Austin’s hand again as she settled between the guys. She trembled.

  Bear leaned over. “I think the students back at the dorm are the smart ones.”

  Nubern boarded last, the boat rocking as he entered. He sat on a seat facing the students as Sharkey and the other Tizona staff member boarded. The engine roared to life like an explosion ripping the silence from the swamp. Birds fluttered through the treetops.

  The airboat wailed and moved away from the dock. The van’s outline disappeared in the darkness. Austin kept his head low as the frigid air cut into his face.

  “I hope we’re going somewhere warm,” Bear said.

  “Don’t get your hopes up for that,” Nubern said.

  Bear pressed his hands to his lips and blew into them, trying to get some warmth. He rubbed his hands together and sighed. Skylar yanked the hood down over her head and covered everything but the center of her face.

  The boat slowed after several minutes, the air appearing considerably warmer. The engine shut off, and they coasted. A structure materialized out of the fog: a rundown, old, windowless wooden shack standing on stilts in the water. A lone yellow light burned at the front of the building. Moss hung down from the roof like drapes, some of it dipping into the still water. Stars twinkled along the water’s surface. The structure wasn’t much bigger than a shack where someone would keep their yard tools, but it stretched a dozen feet above the water.

  “We’re here.” Nubern stood and tossed a rope to Sharkey.

  The Chief jumped out onto a dock beneath the building and secured the boat. “Everybody out.”

  Austin stepped out and the boards creaked. He reached back and offered a hand to Skylar and Bear.

  “Where are we, sir?” Skylar said, her eyes fixed on the building.

  “Where we need to be,” he said. “Follow me.”

  Nubern walked up the wooden stairs slick with moss and mold.

  Was it another test? Or was it really part of a mission trip? Perhaps the needy family was in this shack, but who would live in the middle of a swamp? What kind of a life would they have out here?

  Nubern paused at the front of a cracked, broken door. “At this moment, I want you to wipe your minds clear of any preconceptions you may have. Keep your eyes open, and more importantly, keep an open mind. We have a long journey ahead, and once we go through this door, there’s no coming back. Got it?”

  Skylar stared at Austin. His heartbeat pounded in his ears.

  Nubern opened the door.

  Austin reached out and slid his fingertips along the smooth, cold steel wall. Their footfalls echoed on the metal flooring. With each step, his foot bounced back like he was treading across a rubberized running track. A green light glowed at the end of the hall, sending a cool emerald hue across the group. At the front of the line, Nubern stopped at a stairway leading down. He gestured forward, and Bear continued following as Skylar and Austin brought up the rear.

  “Take them to number three, Chief,” Nubern said.

  Austin stared at Nubern as he passed, wishing the man would give him some idea about the purpose of this place. From the outside, it looked like a beat-up old shack. But Nubern said nothing and Austin strolled past.

  The stairway stretched for one hundred yards and reminded Austin of the massive stairways he’d seen at stadiums. When they reached the bottom, Austin knew this portion of the structure had to be under water. As his eyes adjusted to the dim green light, he realized they were not alone.

  Three men dressed in dark blue uniforms, similar to Tizona but with different emblems of white wings crossed across their breast pockets, stood with their hands clasped behind their backs. The men did not acknowledge the newcomers and remained focused on the wall. Behind them, polished steel pipes with blinking lights lined the walls. Computer screens of various sizes displayed readouts Austin didn’t understand. Some screens were filled with numbers while others had shapes or graphs. In the center of the room, a large cylindrical silver pipe stretched along the floor like a torpedo tube with a silver hatch the size of a person in the middle. Alternating red and green lights blinked on the top of the hatch.

  “Carry on, men,” Sharkey said as he marched into the room.

  As if robotic, the three men came to life. They pored over the various computer screens, pushing buttons and pulling levers. The tallest of the three, a man with a chiseled jaw and jet black hair, slipped on a headset as he checked the displays. He murmured into the headset, but Austin couldn’t understand what was being said. Radio static crackled, and the room’s emerald glow dissolved to crimson.

  “Line up here,” Sharkey ordered, his finger pointed at the floor. With his other hand, he pointed at Bear. “You’ll be first.”

  Bear shifted. He glanced at Skylar and Austin.

  “What?” Sharkey asked. “You need a written invitation? Get up here, Recruit.”

  Bear stepped forward like a student getting called out for talking in class. His feet scuffed across the steel floor. Austin watched the other men working at their stations. They moved with purpose as if they had been in the strange facility for years. Why would the school have staff out here in the middle of the swamp? Or were these staff from a different school? Judging by the winged logo on their chest, they definitely weren’t like any Tizona staff he had seen.

  After what seemed like an eternity, Bear stepped in front of Sharkey, towering over the security chief.

  “When you first lie down in the tube, I want you to exhale deeply,” Sharkey said. “Try to relax. Close your eyes and hum if you have to. That sometimes helps.”

  “Helps with what?” Bear whispered.

  “Don’t worry. Everything’s going to be fine.” Sharkey gripped the hatch and yanked it open. With a hiss of released gas, the hatch opened. White plumes of vapor seeped onto the floor like a thick fog. “Get in.”

  Bear shot a glance toward Austin.

  “Come on, Recruit! Move it!”

  A pulsating hum filled the room and increased in intensity. Bear slipped into the tube and stretched out on his back.

  Sharkey leaned over him. “Cross your arms over your chest and remember what I said about relaxing. You’ll be there in a moment.”

  Without another word, Sharkey slammed the hatch shut and turned a valve on the pipe. He keyed a few buttons and turned to the staff in the corner, nodded and stepped away from the pipe. The hum in the room increased and popped. The lights in the room flickered. When Sharkey opened the hatch, Bear was gone.

  “You’re next,” Sharkey said as he motioned to Skylar.

  She turned around and looked at Austin.

  “It’ll be okay,” he whispered and touched her shoulder. “It’ll be fine.”

  Skylar closed her eyes. She nodded several times as if trying to convince herself everything would be alright.

  She slipped into the pipe, and Sharkey repeated his instructions. Without asking if she understood everything, he slammed the hatch down. Once again, the hum in the room intensified and culminated in a loud popping sound.

  “All right, Stone, you’re last.”

  Austin’s heart pounded into his throat. He thrust his hands in his back pockets as he stepped forward. “Where is Nubern?”

  “He’ll meet you there. Come on! We’re on a schedule.”

  Austin stepped to the pipe and craned his neck for a better view. He couldn’t see anything inside. No dials or gadgets. No wires hanging down or gasses escaping.

  Sharkey nudged him forward. “Get in.”

  Austin stretched out inside, felt the cold of the steel through his uniform. The hairs on the back of his neck tingled with static electricity.

  �
��All right, cross your arms over your chest and close your eyes if you want.”

  Austin nodded, and Sharkey shut the hatch.

  Complete darkness surrounded him. His ears popped, and a green translucent wave shimmered around him as if he floated in a pool. He gasped as his stomach twisted and dropped like a roller coaster. The humming sound turned into a roar for two seconds, and he felt the sensation of dropping in a free fall.

  The hum ceased, and the shimmering jade ripple disappeared. The hatch moved back with a hissing sound and Austin figured something had gone wrong. A bright piercing light exploded into the pipe, forcing him to squint. The red glows no longer filled the room, replaced by a fluorescent yellow. As his eyes adjusted, someone stood outside the pipe looking down at him.

  “What happened?” Austin asked as he wiped at his eyes.

  “Get out, son,” a familiar voice said. “Welcome to California.”

  “California?” Austin asked. “What? Where’s Chief Sharkey?”

  Nubern clasped Austin’s hand. “Get up, Recruit.”

  A few feet away, Bear and Skylar stood looking like they were in the middle of an elaborate joke. Skylar leaned with her hand on the wall for balance. She opened her mouth and blinked, rubbing at her eyes with her index fingers. As Austin stood, the ground wobbled, and he struggled to find his balance.

  “It’ll wear off. This always happens your first trip.” Nubern slapped him on the back. “Come on. We have a schedule to keep.”

  Austin rubbed his forehead, trying to break the haze over his mind.

  What just happened? What was this place? More pipes like the one he’d just crawled out of stretched on either side of him for fifty yards. People entered and exited the pipes at regular intervals. One man carrying a briefcase hopped out like he was getting off a train. He nodded at Austin and walked past him.

  “Yeah, but how?”