by K. D. Mattis
“What about it, Sergeant?”
“Well, we only have four medics on board. That doesn’t allow us much manpower. If there are a lot of injuries, I don’t know if they’ll be able to keep up with it all.”
Asher began walking toward the main engineering room with the ensign just a step behind.
“Sergeant, what did you do before you joined my crew?”
“Sir, I worked on a nuclear sub for six years.”
“And did you ever take first aid and survival training?”
“Yes, sir. Of course, sir.”
“Then you, and everyone else on this ship are more than qualified to assist the medics if they should need it, aren’t you?”
The sergeant looked down to the ground, and then put a couple of notes on his electronic tablet. Despite the strong pull of his magnetic boots, he shuffled his feet and cast an uncomfortable glance at the admiral.
“Don’t worry about it,” Asher said. “Look, you’ve been working a lot over the last couple of days. I appreciate everything you’ve done. I asked you to handle preparations of the cargo bay because I knew you could handle it, and you have. Now, I’m going to suggest you grab something to eat and get some sleep before we arrive on the scene. Once we start bringing people on board, no one will be getting much rest.”
When the sergeant nodded in appreciation, the dark circles under his eyes showed his exhaustion. He gave a quick salute, and went on his way.
With no one around, Asher decided to relax a bit by shutting off the magnets in her boots, she began floating in the middle of the hallway. At first, she struggled to get her mind off of the Tianjin, but stress melted away while floating in the air.
She kicked off the wall, headed toward her quarters, hoping to get some sleep before things became too busy.
Her quarters were plain but suited to her tastes. Along one wall sat a workstation. Though a bit of a mess, she knew where everything belonged without thinking about it. Entrances to a small closet and the bathroom were along another wall.
But of the whole thing, the third wall was her favorite, and most precious. She’d filled the blank expanse of white and metal with pictures of close family and friends.
She gazed on a picture of her pet turtles and smiled. Though it hurt to say goodbye to friends and family, she could at least communicate with them while she was away. All she had of her beloved pets were photos to tide her over until she returned. She knew they were safe with her parents, but looking at pictures just didn’t feel the same as holding one of them in the palm of her hand. She missed watching them lift their heads up to see if she offered any worms as a treat.
She caught a flashing light out of the corner of her eye. She moved toward her computer terminal, waking it up and scrolling through the endless list of messages waiting for her after several days.
Most of the messages came from people she hardly knew. Ever since she refined the Ion Pulse Drive, she achieved a bit of fame. With such fame came people she had once known suddenly wanting to know her better. She didn’t mind so much, but the messages from those people took time away from the important messages.
Buried in the list of messages from people she didn’t know who wanted to use her fame were messages from her parents. As much as she wanted to call them, she knew that the message would take more than five minutes to reach her family.
She clicked on their message and smiled. Her father and mother appeared, squeezed in close together so they could both be in view.
Most of the message contained updates on sports, work, and weather, but the ending was the same as always.
“Kayla,” her father said, almost choking up, “we miss you so much, but I hope you know how proud of you we are.”
“Of course, I do,” Asher said. She laughed when she realized no one could hear her say it. But it made her feel better just the same.
Over and over, Asher replayed the message. She wanted to send one in reply, but couldn’t think of what to say. She found putting feelings into words felt much harder than it should be.
Asher moved from her desk and entered the bathroom and removed her uniform. To keep it from drifting off, she shoved it in a small bag attached to the wall.
Stepping into a circle on the floor in the bathroom, Asher reached down and pulled up on a hoop. She lifted it over her head and connected it to the ceiling. With a wand she pulled down from the ceiling, she sprayed herself down with water to wash up.
Drops of water filled the air, floating without direction. As they collided, they formed larger balls of water. When one of the large balls hit Asher or the wall of the tube, they shattered into thousands of smaller droplets. The cycle continued until Asher turned off the water and switched the hose to its vacuum mode. To dry herself and the air, she just let the vacuum suck in all the water.
When the water sucked out of the shower, it went to the recycling room. Machines in that room cleaned all the air and water for as much reuse as possible. The filters were so good that the ship wouldn’t need to replenish its water supply for almost a year.
She left the bathroom and moved toward her sleeping bag, hanging against the wall by the door. Asher unrolled it and slid in. Though soft and comforting, she found it difficult at first to sleep without the pull of gravity on her body. But the more time she spent sleeping in space, the more she found she enjoyed the feeling.
“Lights off,” Asher said.
The lights came back on much sooner than Asher planned.
“Admiral, this is Lieutenant Commander Holt on the bridge, please respond.”
“Go ahead.”
“Admiral, we need you on the bridge.”
Asher had her uniform on before Holt finished his sentence. If she hadn’t already been running down the hall with her magnetic boots clanging underneath her, she might have taken the time to respond.
“Holt, status report,” Asher said as soon as she entered the bridge.
“Yes, sir. We’ve just received word from Commander Gibbs. They’ve found the Tianjin. Things aren’t looking good. They need us there immediately.”
“How far away are we?”
“Just a few hours. There are survivors, but there aren’t any functioning airlocks, so we have to find another way to get them out.”
“Admiral, you’ll be glad to know that we’re completely prepared to take on any survivors we find,” Reynolds replied.
“And how are we going to get them on board?”
“Sir, it’s not without risk, but if they don’t have a working airlock—”
Asher shook her head.
Reynolds nodded in return. “Not to worry; we prepared for that. As I said, it’s not without risk, but we can create a temporary airlock. We’ll have to cut into their hull and use extending docking clamps, but we can get their people out.”
“And you’re ready to do this?” Asher asked.
“Yes, sir.”
6
“Admiral?”
“Go ahead, Harris.”
“We’re approaching the Tianjin now.”
Asher looked over at her diagnostics team. Before she asked, they displayed an image of the damaged Chinese craft on the port-side screen.
“We have Commander Gibbs on a line. He’s requesting to speak with you, Admiral,” Card said.
Asher nodded, and the voice of the commander filled the bridge.
“Explorer, this is Commander Gibbs of the Protector.”
“We read you, Commander,” Asher replied.
“Admiral, we’ve managed to clear most of the debris, but there’s still more than enough to cause problems for the Explorer. Normally I’d suggest that you keep the ship back until we can clear everything out of the way, but the crew of the Tianjin doesn’t have much air left. I’m afraid we don’t have time to be as careful as I’d like.”
“It looks like the remaining crew managed to lock themselves in a small section of the ship. We’re detecting heat signatures with thermal imaging through some viewports. I don’t know
how we’re going to get them out of there without a working airlock, but they’re straight ahead of you.”
“Admiral,” Harris said, “if tactical can manage to keep as much of the debris off my back as possible, I’m sure we can squeeze in there without too much of a problem.”
Surveying the scene, Asher saw very little of the Martian lander to save. Except for one large chunk, only small pieces remained and floated in space.
“Commander, do we have any idea what’s happened?”
“That’s a negative, sir. We can’t contact them. Even if we could, we don’t have a translator aboard the Protector. But whatever it was, it was bad.”
“Obviously. Tactical, any ideas how we can clear the way?”
Ensign Tran ran through a bunch of text on one of his monitors.
“Admiral, if we call the Protector back to a safe point, we can use directional charges to clear most of the smaller debris.”
Asher thought about the proposal for a few moments.
“Explain.”
“Well, sir, the directional charges are just small explosives. We have them in the Explorer, but Guardian and Protector don’t. If we set them up to blow directly forward, the force of the blast should push all the debris safely out of the way.”
“I like it, but there’s one problem,” Asher said.
“Sir?”
“The force of the blast could also push what’s left of the lander away. We can’t have that.”
Lieutenant Commander Holt pushed some buttons on his console.
“Admiral, it means we’re just going to have to take it slow. We can push most of the more threatening stuff out of the way using low-yield missiles. Other than that, it’s all on the shoulders of Harris.”
She nodded, and he set to work.
Slowly, the Explorer pressed forward toward the largest remaining segment of the Tianjin. The smaller pieces of debris they couldn’t avoid thumped on the hull like rain on a tin roof. Occasionally, a whooshing sound would pass through the ship as Holt or Tran fired off low-yield missiles to push back the larger shrapnel.
Reynolds folded his hands together and shook his head. “Just think, that could have been us.”
Card turned to him. “You can’t think like that. You’ll drive yourself crazy.”
As the Explorer moved forward, Admiral Asher ordered Gibbs to connect tow cables to the surviving segment of the Martian lander. Though difficult, attaching the cables allowed them to control the movement of the segment.
“Reynolds, are we close enough to bring our friends aboard?” Asher asked.
“Almost. There’s an airlock on the port side of the Explorer. I need it to be no further than twenty meters from the flattest surface the lander has to offer.”
“Card, have Gibbs bring the segment as close as he can without risking damage to us.”
The Protector slowly moved toward the port side of the Explorer. The longer it took to get the Tianjin in place, the less likely the crew would succeed in rescuing the survivors. All their effort would be for nothing if they damaged the Explorer.
Crackling back to life, the radio broadcast the voice of Commander Gibbs.
“Admiral, we’re as close as we can get. I hope that cuts it.”
Asher watched as Reynolds spoke to some engineers from his team over a private channel on their radios. His orders caused several men, dressed in full space suits, to exit the airlock. With them, they moved a long, thick tube until it made contact with the hull of the Martian lander.
Card leaned in close to Reynolds. “What are they doing?”
Reynolds spoke quietly as if he thought speaking too loud could cause his men to lose focus.
“First, they’ve got to connect that tube to the Tianjin. To make sure no air gets through, they’re going to weld it directly to their hull.”
Four men floated outside the tube. As the men moved, they moved their harnesses to keep from floating into space.
“Now that they’ve welded the tube to the Martian lander, two men in the tube are going to cut through their hull. As they’re cutting through the hull, the tube will be pressurized so that the lander crew will be able to breathe.”
Once the tube filled with breathable air, the men inside began their work of cutting into the lander. The men would not fail in their goal no matter how difficult the work. They received orders, and they wouldn’t defy them unless given no other choice.
“Is medical on standby?” Asher asked.
“Yes, sir. They’re just inside our airlock,” Reynolds replied.
At last, the engineering team managed to cut through the hull. It took all the effort two men could put into it, but they pushed the heavy piece of metal through.
Several security officers made their way through the hole first with their weapons drawn. They had no reason to think the crew of the lander would pose a threat to them, but they couldn’t take the chance.
“Admiral, please come in.”
“Go ahead.”
“Admiral, we’ve made our way into the vessel. There are a lot of people lying around in here, but no one’s moving.”
One of the soldiers dropped to his knees while he checked the vitals of one of the crew. Even in an unconscious state, the man breathed and showed a strong heartbeat.
Reynolds stood. “It’s the air. Get those men out of there and into cargo bay two as fast as possible. We’ll have the medics look at them immediately.
Admiral Asher and a translator in a crisp Space Corps uniform stood over the first corpsman of the Tianjin when he regained consciousness.
The man struggled to speak.
“He wants to know what happened,” the translator said.
Asher couldn’t help but smile. “So do we.”
One of the medics shouted out for the admiral’s attention. The man she worked with looked bright and alert.
“Hello, my name is Admiral Asher of the US Space Corps.”
After the translator did his job, the man smiled and extended his hand.
“I am Commander Liang Hong,” he said in Chinese. He took a quick look around the cargo bay. “It appears I am the commanding officer now. What happened to my men?”
Asher looked toward the medic for an answer.
“Your crew suffered from hypercapnia. When the air filters stopped working, your crew breathed in what they were breathing out. They should all be well again soon.”
Dismissing the doctor, Asher expressed her thanks. “Now that you know what happened to your men, we need to know what happened to your ship.”
Hong’s eyes went wide. “Admiral, I don’t know if you would believe me if I told you. None of us did. That’s why we weren’t able to respond in time.”
“In time for what?”
“That’s what you won’t believe. I assume your crew scanned for any asteroids?”
Asher nodded.
“If they scanned for them, I'd bet they didn’t find any, nor did they find the remains of one, did they?”
Asher shook her head.
“They didn’t find any asteroids because there weren’t any to be found. Our ship was not struck. Our ship was attacked.”
For a moment, Asher believed the translator misunderstood Commander Hong’s words. However, the look in Hong’s eyes told her all she needed to know.
“I’m sorry,” Asher said, “but are you certain you meant to say your ship was attacked?”
Hong nodded.
Asher shook her head. “I don’t understand. How could you have been attacked? Who could have done it?”
“How indeed, but I think you may be better off asking what could have done it.” Hong gave Asher a moment to digest what he had said. “We thought we were alone in the universe. We were wrong.”
7
“Are you saying some kind of alien attacked you?”
“Yes, Admiral.”
“Are you certain?”
Hong sighed. “I am more certain of it than anything. If you had been there
when it happened, you would understand.”
“Did they try to contact you in any way before they attacked? Did they give any reason for what they did?”
Hong shook his head again.
“They had to have done something!” Asher shouted.
Asher felt her face flush, but she couldn’t do anything to hide it. She had a hard enough time accepting that there could be aliens so close to Earth. It was even harder to accept that they would attack without so much as a warning or explanation.
“Admiral,” Hong said, “the Chinese are proud. We don’t share our problems with the rest of the world. We would rather fix them ourselves, but there’s something else you should know.”
Asher looked her guest square in the eyes.
“Our moon colony, it’s had a lot of problems. We’ve experienced sabotage many times. We never knew who was behind it. Honestly, we thought it might have been the Americans. Now, I’m not so certain. Every time our colony was sabotaged, we picked up certain energy signatures we had never seen before. We saw them again when the Tianjin came under attack.”
Grabbing her radio, Asher called out to the bridge as she rushed out of the cargo bay. “We need to get Commander Gibbs and the Protector back on board as soon as possible. Get us away from the debris field. I need all senior staff to meet me in the conference room. Get additional staff down to cargo bay two so we can get the crew of the Martian lander debriefed.”
Commander Gibbs caught up with Asher as she made her way to the conference room.
“Admiral, what information do you want from the Chinese?”
“Everything, Commander. I want absolutely everything. If they know it, I want to know it. We need to know exactly what it is we’re dealing with.”
Asher took her seat at the head of the table in the crowded conference room. From a pocket on her hip, she removed an electronic tablet and began to enter a bunch of information. She didn’t stop until security entered, escorting Commander Hong.
Asher wasted no time. “All of you are here because we’re facing a threat. We don’t know much about that threat, but we’re going to deal with it.”
