by Dean M. Cole
Visible along the left side of the view-wall, Earth's night-darkened curved horizon spanned from floor to ceiling. Much smaller, only occupying a small portion of the vertical field, the first quarter or half-moon hung near the right side of the panorama.
Without answering, Richard stepped next to Jake. He toggled a command into the panel's interface and a glowing three-dimensional model of their ship coalesced at eye level.
Sticking his thumb and forefinger into the holographic Turtle and spreading them apart, Richard magnified the display. Repeating the movement, spreading his fingers apart as you would on a smartphone, caused the rendered ship to grow in size and detail.
Vic looked duly impressed. "They didn't use it like that last time."
"I'm just demonstrating its capabilities," Richard said as the ship grew to fill the space available.
Not interested in the large virtual model of the Turtle, Jake walked to the view-wall. The illuminated right side of the Moon was blindingly bright. Without the dulling effect of the atmosphere, craters and mountains stood in stark relief.
Dragging his eyes from the incredible scene, Jake turned back to his wingmen. He looked through the translucent computer-rendered ship at Richard and Vic's hologram-illuminated green faces. "The Moon?"
Still ignoring him, Richard slid his open hand into the hologram. This time he pinched his fingers together. As it would on a smartphone, the gesture reversed the magnification process. The faster he made the movement, the farther the display zoomed out. A couple of gestures later, the Turtle shrank to a tiny point of light as Earth's curved surface slid into the bottom of the scene.
A particulate haze floated over the planet's arcing surface. Following curved paths, pixels of light seemed to drift in every direction. Jake pointed. "Satellites?"
Richard nodded.
"There's so many of them," Vic said. Bending over, he lowered his face into the display. Tiny green dots appeared to pass in and out of his head. With child-like wide-eyed amazement, Victor watched them zip about like a swarm of flies.
Impatient and apparently irritated, Richard elbowed the young Lieutenant out of the display. Grinning, he winked at Jake.
"The Moon?" Jake persisted.
Richard's grin morphed into a frown. Spreading his arms apart like he was trying to grab a large beach ball, he reached into the hologram. "Watch this." He brought his hands together. The image quickly zoomed out, Earth shrinking while the comparatively small Moon slid into view.
"And, now for my next trick…" Richard said. He walked to the miniature Moon. With his face mere inches from the glowing sphere, Richard raised his right hand. After a dramatic pause, he extended his index finger and poked the cratered surface.
Ripples and a loud pop emanated from the point of Richard's touch. Moving like pond water disturbed by a tossed pebble, the surface undulated as concentric rings radiated across the virtual Moon.
After toggling another command into the control panel, Richard leaned back. A chair rose from the floor, smoothly capturing his falling physique. Reclining, he laced fingers behind his head. "That's it."
"What's it?" Vic asked.
"We're on our way," Richard said, pulling a hand from behind his head and pointing through the view-wall.
Jake turned to see Earth's horizon sliding out of sight as the Moon moved to the center of the star-filled panorama.
The ship was starting the two hundred twenty-five thousand mile journey.
Shocked and trembling with adrenaline, Jake surrendered to the ship's gravity field and plopped down next to Richard. He mouthed a silent thank you when a chair rose to support him.
Speechless, Vic did the same.
"This is amazing," Jake whispered. He patted Richard on the shoulder. "Buddy, I have to admit, I didn't see this coming … ever." Leaning closer, he asked, "Are we going to land?"
"No, our flight plan doesn't allow for that. Speaking of." Richard leaned forward and toggled the comm panel. "Space Control, this is Turtle One, over."
"Turtle One, this is Space Control. Radar contact, report lunar orbital insertion."
"Roger, Control, talk to you in a few minutes."
"A few minutes?" Jake asked. "There's no way we—" His protest died mid-sentence as he looked outside.
The Moon now filled half the view-wall. In the few minutes they'd been underway, the Moon's apparent size had quadrupled.
Crisper and clearer than any picture, the vision of its cratered surface along with the stark contrast of the ancient lava seas lapping against their ringing mountain ranges left him breathless.
Again, he sat in shocked silence.
Their ship closed at such tremendous velocity that the Moon grew visibly while Jake studied the scene.
Unable to tear his eyes from the incredible sight, Jake tapped Richard's arm. "How fast is this thing? The Apollo missions took days. I figured the Turtle would be faster … but this…" he trailed off, shaking his head.
"We could explore the Solar System with this thing," Vic said in an awed tone.
Richard gave him a meaningful glance. "What makes you think we haven't?"
He turned to Jake. "Not so fast you could reasonably travel to the stars without the light-drive capability, but it has opened the Solar System to us."
Self-consciously closing his gaping mouth, Jake nodded.
Studying the Moon's nearing surface, he saw craters, within craters, within craters. "This is so cool."
When the Moon expanded to fill the entire view-wall, he saw their speed drop dramatically. Traversing its surface from west to east, the Turtle entered a counterclockwise orbit around the Moon.
Richard activated the comm panel. "Space Control, Turtle One entered orbit at zero-six-thirty hours Zulu."
Jake checked his watch. While it was 10:30 PM back home, in Greenwich, England, it was 6:30 AM or half-six as the Brits called it.
The thought triggered an idea. Shooting to his feet, he turned to Richard. "Hey, can you turn the ship toward Earth?"
"Yeah, but you won't be able to see it much longer. We'll be passing behind the Moon soon."
"Exactly! That's what I want to see."
Smiling, Richard nodded. He grabbed the control pad with one hand and actuated the comm panel with the other. "Control, we're about to pass out of radio range. We'll talk to you on the other side."
"Roger, Turtle One, catch you in forty-five."
Responding to Richard's inputs, the ship began to rotate about its vertical axis. It transitioned from facing east to north and then to the west. As they flew backward, toward the Moon's far side, the desolate surface slid away below them.
Moving closer to the view-wall, standing three-abreast, they watched Buzz Aldrin's splendid desolation spool out under their feet. Earth's vibrant globe loomed-large over the monochromatic cratered horizon. North America, barely discernible by its city lights, shone from the dark-side. Farther east, across the Atlantic, the sun-lit side formed a beautiful crescent, Europe and the islands of Great Britain visible as they greeted the morning sun.
Continuing their mute vigil, they watched as Earth touched the Moon's horizon. In an existential moment, Jake considered how fragile and insignificant their home looked. Raising his outstretched arm, he bracketed Earth with his thumb and forefinger. "All of mankind lives on that little rock," he said, breaking the silence. One eye closed, he watched the pinched world slowly slip behind the Moon.
Then, it was gone.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
From the bridge of the newly renamed flagship, Forebearer's Revenge, Commodore Salyth watched his fleet of dreadnoughts plow through the interstellar void. Looking ahead of the formation, he studied the relativistically compressed multicolored spherical star field.
The fleet's faster-than-light speed squeezed the incoming photons streaming from the stars abeam and forward of the fleet into a fish-eyed cluster of light. Within the glowing ball, concentric rings of color surrounded a blindingly brilliant point. From its u
ltra-violet center, the visible spectrum of light shifted through the full rainbow of colors, finally fading into a red-shifted outer ring. At the perimeter of the visible light lay a razor thin infrared ring. Salyth's heat sensitive reptilian eyes could just detect it against the absolute cold that was the universe outside that sphere. The rest was a virtual black hole, the light from stars behind them unable to catch up with the fleet's superluminal velocity.
Parallel-space outside the central ball of stars was so completely devoid of light that it wasn't difficult to imagine it the domain of innumerable and unimaginable evils. It was a place in which Salyth—and Zoxyth in general—felt at home.
He imagined the ancient Forebearers staring back at him from that dark Valhalla.
Salyth glowered into the abyss. Today, I bring your vengeance to the enemy.
Pivoting with a grace belying his massive bulk, he turned and stomped back to his cathedra. The enormous stone throne was the same size as the one that dominated the bridge of Lord Thrakst's command ship, Tidor Drof. Because of his superior genetics, Salyth was the largest Zoxyth specimen in his fleet. However, as the spacious accommodations of this seat of power demonstrated all too well, he still hadn't attained the domineering mass of Lord Thrakst.
Glancing self-consciously at the large gaps between his leg scales and the cathedra's sides, Salyth stood. After a quick scan of the bridge personnel revealed no appraising stares, Salyth marched to the communications console. Knocking aside the officer standing over it, the commodore activated a fleet-wide call. "All ships, drop out of parallel-space at the designated space-time coordinates and proceed to your pre-assigned attack positions."
Moments after receiving Salyth's order, the fleet dropped back into real-space.
The commodore stomped to the forward view port. Ahead, half a universe worth of stars exploded from the fish-eye. As the light streaming from the stars astern joined the photons from ahead, the star field fully encircled the formation of ships.
Glaring through the port, Salyth studied the water-rich world that had blossomed ahead of his fleet. The celestial body hovered where the ball of stars had been a moment earlier. The planet filled the Forebearer's Retribution's viewport. Salyth scanned the visible continents. Greeting its final sunrise, their ship's initial target lay clearly visible along the day-night terminator. The light loving mammals were in for a rude awakening.
Radars of varying bandwidths painted all sixteen of his ships within moments of their arrival. Some originated from the multitude of orbiting machines surrounding the blue planet. Salyth drew his sharp scaly lips back in a fearsome snarl. Look at us all you want. It will make no difference. Soon, Lord Thrakst will know he chose wisely.
Turning, he faced the assembled officers. Silhouetted against the blue, brown, and green sphere, he lifted two clenched fists. "Now, the Argonians will truly know the pain and fury of the Forebearers."
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Jake's position, inches from the view-wall, afforded a beautiful panorama. Richard had rotated the Turtle back to the east. Facing forward, the ship glided ten miles above the Moon's barren surface in graceful silence. More cratered than the familiar near side, this half didn't have the gravitational umbrella of Earth hovering permanently overhead. Looking down, he watched as pockmarked proof passed intransigently under the Turtle.
Lieutenant Croft turned toward Jake with an excited expression. "We might be able to see a lunar lander from this altitude, definitely if we're a little lower." He turned to Richard. "Can we visit one of the Apollo landing sites?"
Richard considered it for a moment, then nodded. "There's one not too far from where we'll emerge from the far-side. I think we have time for a flyby. We'll have to change our flight-plan when we contact Control…" He paused to check his watch. "In thirty-five minutes."
Jake and Victor exchanged glances.
"Too bad we don't have time for a landing," Jake said with a meaningful look.
"Good try, buddy. It wouldn't matter how much time we had. We can never land there. They're designated as historical sites, and we have strict orders not to go there."
After a moment, Jake and Victor nodded.
"Guess they don't want us trudging through Neil Armstrong's historic footprints," Jake said.
"Cheer up, boys. Like I said, we'll still do a low pass. In the meantime, are you ready to see the rest of the ship?"
"Upstairs?" Jake asked.
"Yep."
Scanning the interior, Jake didn't see an obvious way to the upper floor. The room had no stairs or openings. Although, considering how they had passed through walls to enter the ship, he knew the latter wasn't a problem.
Apparently reading the confusion on his face, Richard held up a finger. "Guess it would be easier to show you than to explain." He turned and walked toward the center column of the ship. A green meter-wide glowing ring appeared on the floor. Reaching the circle, Richard stepped into it. After two seconds, his feet left the floor as an invisible force lifted him toward the ceiling.
An instant before Richard smacked headlong into the solid ceiling, a familiar crackling static sound echoed through the ship. An opening with the same diameter as the lower ring appeared in its smooth surface, and Richard disappeared through it.
"Come on up."
Jake and Victor looked through the view-wall at the scrolling terrain. Reluctantly, they pried themselves away from the incredible scene.
Richard's voice drifted through the overhead opening. "Don't worry, you're not gonna miss anything. We'll be on the far side for a few more minutes. Besides, this side is pretty boring anyway."
"Boring?" Jake said. "That's the last thing I'd call it. Jaded much?"
Ahead of him, Victor hesitated at the ring's perimeter.
"Any time now, ladies."
Tentatively, Victor extended a probing boot into the circle. Impatient, Jake gave him a shove. "Let's go, Lieutenant." Stumbling into the halo, Victor looked at him with an apparent protest forming on his lips. Before he could speak, Vic's eyes widened, and he looked down. Then he lifted from the floor.
Jake stepped into the glowing ring. At first nothing happened. Then he felt an invisible force encase his lower legs, and he rose from the floor.
"It grabs your legs to keep you lined up with the opening," Richard said.
Overhead, Vic reached the top and slid sideways. Jake saw Richard perched on the edge of the opening. The lift gently deposited Victor on the floor next to him.
As Jake passed through the gap, the propelling force shifted him sideward and set him next to Richard opposite Victor.
Faint static noise came from the hole as the floor solidified. Another glowing green ring marked its prior location.
Slightly smaller in diameter than the lower room, the width of the upper compartment correlated to the narrower upper section of the exterior.
The ship's central column terminated about four feet above the deck. As Richard walked toward it, Jake noticed some familiar controls in the upper surface of the pedestal. While not as complete as the set on the bridge, they apparently facilitated flying the ship from this level.
"Why did they put a set of controls up here?" Jake asked. "You can't see out."
With a practiced dramatic flourish, Richard lifted both arms. Raising his voice, he spoke with the exaggerated inflections of a magician introducing his next illusion. "This room serves many purposes." With an arcing sweep of his right arm, Richard reached down and activated a control.
Jake's heart leapt as the top half of the ship vanished. Involuntarily, he stopped breathing. Appearing to expose the floor, pedestal, and three officers to open space, the entire circumference of the wall and ceiling disappeared.
Once he realized they hadn't plunged into vacuum and weren't dead, he turned and glared at a laughing Richard.
"That never gets old. You can breathe now."
Jake slugged his shoulder. "A little warning, next time."
Turning, Jake inspected the fu
ll three hundred sixty degrees. The Moon's horizon was equally visible in every direction. It looked like they were standing on a round platform suspended over an ancient alien desert. Ahead, in the direction of flight, lay the day-night terminator. The line where lengthening shadows gave way to a fourteen-day-long lunar night drew closer every second.
"Let me try something," Victor said as he stepped up to the center column.
Richard nodded.
Placing his hand into the controller, Victor pitched the ship forward, turning the floor perpendicular to the moonscape. Then he stepped around the column and walked to the edge closest to the Moon's cascading surface.
Richard cast a questioning look at Jake.
Jake gave him an Area Fifty-One salute.
With his back turned toward them, Victor raised both arms overhead, fingers extended like a plunging diver. Looking up, he stared in the direction of flight.
Finally realizing what he was doing, the other two moved to stand on either side, and did the same. With the Turtle's bulk blocking them from the setting sun, only the faltering light reflecting off the Moon's undulating surface illuminated their laughing faces.
Side-by-side, with arms extended and heads tilted back, they flew across the Moon's cratered surface like three superheroes flying in formation. As the ship slid into shadow, the moment passed. They lowered their arms and wiped away tears of laughter.
"If we're still laughing like that when Space Control calls, they'll figure we've gone off the deep end," Richard said. He actuated the controls and the walls shifted back to opaque. "Want to see the EVA suits?"
"EVA suits?" Vic said. His face brightened with nervous excitement. "Spacesuits?"
Jake looked around. "Where are they? No, wait, let me guess. In the floor?"
Richard held up a finger. "Watch and learn." With his other hand, he actuated another portion of the control panel. Midway between the central pedestal and the rear wall, a semi-circle of cabinets grew from the floor.
"How in the hell does that work?" Jake asked.
"It's all about nanotechnology."
