The Interstellar

by David Lund

  Michael’s eyes took a few minutes to adjust to the darkness, then he managed to make out his crew, sitting down and taking in the warmth. The two Henfor were huddled together, and they stood out most clearly, their faces as white as their hair. They looked ghostly.

  “Are you okay?” Michael asked them. Gareen and Videem looked towards him, but he suspected they could not see him. After all, their eyes were adapted to brightness, and the dark was a lot less frequent on their planet. They didn’t reply. Thinking they were frozen, he tried again. “Gareen, can you hear me?” Gareen looked round again, and mumbled something. And Michael remembered that their translators had probably been taken away. He sighed.

  “The translators were left on the ship when they took us,” Lindsey said unnecessarily.

  “What happened?” he asked her.

  “They boarded the ship and we didn’t have time to raise our guns, they took us easily. They must have known we were there.”

  “Yes, well, we had some trouble, they must have figured it out.” He turned to Marshall. “Are you guys okay? What happened to you?”

  Marshall explained how they had been escorted onto the escape pods during the explosion on the Friiist ship. It seemed like an eternity ago to Michael, and yet it had only been a few days. How long had they been on Friiist? It seemed like a long time but was probably only a few hours. At least they were all together now. After that, Marshall and Adrian were taken to the underwater station and the Friiist had asked them questions about their plans. They believed humans were preparing an invasion, but the two men were otherwise uninjured.

  Michael was thankful for this, he couldn’t stand losing anyone else, not after Caitlin. Not that their present situation was great. They had to work out a way of getting out of here. Lindsey stirred him from his thoughts and asked the question he was dreading.

  “Where’s Commander Joyce, Captain?”

  He swallowed heavily and felt the back of his eyes burn. He remembered when Caitlin had come to see him, back on the Interstellar, scared of what was happening to them, she had seemed so fragile, so human. He started to form the words, but to fling them out there, to say them out loud, it made it seem to real. He couldn’t do it. It was Jal who answered.

  “She was shot. She’s dead.”

  The calm voice she had used felt like a weight pressing against his chest. He felt the tears falling down his face and was thankful for the darkness, at least no one could see him cry. Lindsey had no such reservations and howled at Jal’s words, and broke out in sobs. Michael couldn’t see them very clearly, but the others all seemed to be holding their heads in their hands.

  “I cannot believe it,” Jean said softly.

  “Are you sure she was -?” Adrian started.

  “There was nothing we could do,” Michael said firmly, making everyone jump. Lindsey suddenly stopped crying. “We’ll have time to morn later, we need to find a way to get out of this situation.”

  “Maybe we can deactivate the energy barrier, some’ow,” Jean suggested.

  “How?” Jal said. “We don’t have any weapons, and after what happened last time I touched one of those things… I’m not going near one again.” Jean was nodding in agreement, and Michael understood their reactions, as both of them had been blasted by these force fields.

  They debated for another hour or so, but came no closer to a solution. Michael regretted not having the Henfor take part in the discussion, but they were hardly even talking to each other.

  Michael feared the cold they had felt earlier had injured them more than they knew. Especially Videem, who was lying on the floor at an angle, as if he could not hold himself upright. Adrian had been looking over them every few minutes, but without understanding Henforan anatomy, he had little way of knowing what shape they were in.

  A short while later, the vibration of the ship changed. Up until now, they had heard whirring engines, pushing them through the ocean, but now, their ears popped and they heard a loud splash of water. They were emerging and now seemed to be flying through the air.

  “Do you think we are heading into space?” Frank asked.

  “You are not.” The door opened and a sliver of light entered the room. Kaywal stood in the doorway. They all shielded their eyes to look at him. The light felt harsh after the total darkness.

  “We are approaching the vast region of Frunaan, where you will be set free, to live out the rest of your very short lives.”

  Michael glanced over at Gareen, his eyes had widened at the name of the place, this obviously meant something to him. Michael thought he knew too. They were going to be cast away on the planet’s surface, where the air was absolutely freezing and radioactive, and where they would have very little chance of surviving.

  There was a dull thud as the ship landed, and the guards pointed their guns on the humans and the two Henfor. They got up and the force field was removed. They were led back through the ship to the hatch, which opened first on to an airlock. They were ushered inside the it, and the door closed behind them. When the outer hatch opened, they all yelled out in pain. Videem actually fell forwards into the deep snow in front of them. The cold was atrocious. Michael’s skin felt like it was burning, every pore in his body was screaming in protest. He could barely see, the wind was howling around him, snow fell fast from the dark sky above them. Out of the corner his eye, he saw Gareen fall too, and he jumped out after them. The rest of the crew followed.

  As soon as Frank, the last person in the ship, had jumped clear, the Friiist took off, and soon they were nothing but a small dot in the sky. Michael looked around, trying not to think of how cold he was. They were surrounded by a white desert of snow. It was hard to focus on anything, but he

  thought he spotted a rock formation in the distance. He pointed to it and yelled through the wind.

  “We need to take cover!” his teeth were chattering violently.

  Adrian was kneeling over Videem, looking seriously concerned.

  “Captain!” he shouted, although Michael could barely hear him. “I don’t think he’s going to make it!” Michael knelt down and picked Videem up onto his shoulders, he saw Marshall do the same with Gareen. He wasn’t losing any more friends today. They set off towards the rocks.

  36

  James watched as John began barking orders all over the place. They were going to dock with the alien ship and bring his father on board. The emotion on John’s face was shocking, he nearly fell to pieces when he saw his father. James supposed maybe John hadn’t really expected to find his dad.

  James certainly hadn’t. And indeed, the fact that they found him so soon after entering the system was absolutely incredible.

  James sat and watched the flurry of activity around him. People were smiling, and he was disgusted. Only a short while ago, they had been morning the loss of their fellow crewmen, and now they were pleased to find one more human. Not that he wasn’t glad they had found him, but if he was honest, he was more worried about the crew of the Interstellar.

  Soon they had docked with the alien ship and James decided to accompany John down to the hatch. He discreetly took a gun from the weapons locker and followed him out. He was afraid John would react impulsively and do something stupid, and he wanted something to stop him with, just in case. As they walked, John couldn’t stop grinning. He looked to James like a five year old boy who had just learned Christmas had come early. James had trouble being happy for him, and he couldn’t understand why. He had the horrible feeling everything was going to go wrong.

  They reached the hatch and watched it open. A very old man, with long white hair and beard stood before them. Next to them was a similar alien to the one they had seen in the RAPAET lab, back on Earth, except this was quite clearly a female. James could not take his eyes off her long blue hair and red eyes. John however had eyes only for his father. Both men stared at each other for a few seconds, then walked forwards and hugged. Tears were running down their faces. The old man ruffled John’s hair, as if h
e were a young boy being picked up from school by his dad. The alien was watching this show of emotion with something like a smile on her face. She hadn’t yet walked through the hatch, as if waiting for the invitation.

  The two men broke apart and walked inside the ship. The alien glanced at James and he beckoned for her to follow them. After only two steps though, two men popped out of nowhere, and put one hand over the alien’s mouth and pulled her to the floor, tying her up. Simon saw none of this, he was talking with John in front, but when James cried “Stop!” loudly. They both turned.

  Simon ran back towards the alien.

  “Free her immediately,” he snarled at the guards. They looked at John, who bowed his head.

  “I’m sorry, dad. I can’t do that.”

  Simon narrowed his eyes at his son.

  “What do you mean?”

  “We need to keep it, to study it.” James walked forwards.

  “What are you talking about?” he said.

  John looked at both men before him.

  “You don’t understand, we are at war, we cannot let this creature leave here. It has seen the ship.”

  “What’s this ‘it’?” Simon cried angrily, glaring at his son. “Janewall is my friend. Let her go, now.”

  One of the guards was lifting her to her feet and taking her away. She squirmed and looked back at Simon, fear in her eyes. The old man went to follow but John rested an arm on his father’s shoulder.

  “Dad,” he said quietly. “She won’t be hurt, please.”

  “What are you going to do with her?”

  Again John bowed his head.

  “Ask it some questions.” He turned to the two remaining guards. “Search the ship.” They took off through the hatch without a word. Simon was staring at his son, as though he had no idea who he was.

  “Come with me.” He walked forwards, steering his father by the arm, and James followed a short distance behind them. This was exactly the kind of thing he was worried about. John talked as they walked “Dad, these aliens are not your friends, they abducted you and tortured you. Don’t you remember?” He said all this very slowly, maybe thinking his father had lost his mind.

  “I know exactly what happened to me,” he replied sharply. “You, however, do not. I want you to release Janewall at once, she has done nothing to you.”

  “She captured you, dad. She enslaved you, she must be punished. They must all be punished.”

  “She saved me!”

  “They must all be punished,” John repeated in a quiet voice.

  James understood what John was saying. He believed all aliens guilty for him growing up without a father. Simon stopped.

  “What happened to you, John?”

  “We are at war.”

  “No,” James said. “We’re not. You just want us to be. The aliens have done nothing to us. You’re just mad at them for taking away your father.”

  “You don’t understand, both of you, you don’t know what’s going on.” John started to run and they followed, quickly finding themselves on the bridge. John’s eyes found Isobel, who turned as they entered.

  “Create the wormhole, now.”

  “What are you doing?” James asked.

  “Getting us out of here before we are attacked.”

  “What about the Interstellar?”

  “It’s too late for them. We need to go back, before they come after us. We have dad, and one of their

  ships, that’s all that matters.”

  Simon was looking at John, trying to work out what was going on. James was furious.

  “So you’re going to abandon twenty people? When we can save them?” he said angrily.

  “You heard the aliens, it’s too late for them, they’re dead. There is nothing we can do. But we can save ourselves.”

  “You are a coward.” James turned to Isobel. “You understand we need to save them, don’t you?”

  She looked hesitant, but did not meet his eyes.

  “I’m following orders.”

  “That’s what the Nazis’ said,” he mumbled. “John, you sent them out here, you said you would save them.”

  John was bubbling with rage and fear, he looked positively deranged.

  “We can’t, you don’t understand. We need to go back, now! Isobel, how long until the wormhole can take us back?”

  “Two hours, sir.” John sighed. “Fine, come with me, both of you,” he pointed at Simon and James.

  “And I will explain everything.”

  *

  They were sitting back in the meeting room, around which they were sobbing earlier, after the death of their crew mates. James was glaring at John, hoping he had a good explanation for all this, or he thought he might throttle him. Simon looked dejected, obviously his delight at finding his son again was tarnished by John’s apparent madness. James thought the old man looked tired. He was incredibly thin, yet surprisingly alert for someone who had been locked up for fifty years. In fact, he seemed saner than John.

  The latter was looking from one man to the other, apparently trying to think of how to start his explanation.

  “I need you both to listen to me carefully. You are probably going to get angry at some point, but I need you to let me finish. It’s difficult enough as it is.” Neither men spoke, but stared at John, waiting for him to continue. “Dad, the signal you picked up back on Earth, all those years ago, came from me.”

  “What?” Simon asked, aghast. John swallowed and continued.

  “I loved science, you know that. I loved your work. You remember you used to take me to work with you and I used to ask the technicians loads of questions?”

  “Yes, you were a bright boy,” Simon said sadly.

  “Well, they let me go everywhere, even into Doctor Lucas’ lab.” “But, he was working on

  something top secret,” Simon gasped after a few seconds, remembering. “None of us were allowed in.”

  “Except me. He was working on spacial distortion. He explained very carefully to me, and I understood much more than he thought I did. In fact, it was I who managed to finish the formula and create the very first wormhole.

  “It was minuscule, you wouldn’t have been able to fit your finger through, never mind a ship. But something did come through: a signal. The signal you picked up, dad. I was amazed, I had managed to transport a signal through space. I didn’t tell Lucas what I had done, I didn’t tell anyone. I had projected the wormhole out near Jupiter, as I was worried about it being picked up on our sensors, but I didn’t need to worry, nobody saw a thing.

  “But you saw the signal, dad, and realized it was from an alien world, but you couldn’t decipherer it, and with good reason. You didn’t know it came from a wormhole, which creates an energy signature that got mixed up with the signal. It didn’t matter anyway, the message wasn’t important. What was important was the fact that aliens existed. And you suspected dad. But I knew!

  I also knew that I had just created the means to travel beyond our solar system. To travel to the stars. I was so happy, but I couldn’t tell you, I couldn’t tell anyone.

  “I decided to experiment further. You see, the one problem I had, was that I had set up the other end of the wormhole randomly. How thrilled was I to discover it led into another solar system? But apart from that one message, I had no idea what else lay beyond there. I could only work in Lucas’

  lab, and only when he wasn’t there. I swiped his key and made a copy. I stopped going to school and spent my days in the lab there instead. You didn’t know dad, you were always at work.

  “My next experiment was to open a larger wormhole. For this I needed tremendous power, and I actually shorted out the whole building at one point, but I finally managed it, and created a huge hole in space, in the outer reaches of our solar system. It led to the same place. Again, no one noticed it. Except the aliens.

  “It must have created a hell of disturbance on their end and they sent a ship to investigate, and it was pulled through my wormhol
e. As I was monitoring the area, I knew the ship was there. I had fine tuned my scanners by this time, and I realized their ship was badly damaged. I guessed it was because of the wormhole. I managed to create a program to enter their data banks – I used your computer – but they realized what I was doing and blocked me out, but not before I found out where they were from. They must have thought it was you who accessed their computer, and that’s why they took you. I’m sorry, dad, it’s my fault.”

  Simon had gone darker and darker with rage at every word is son had spoken.

  “It’s because of you! BECAUSE OF YOU I HAVE LIVED A LIFE OF MISERY!” he bellowed so loudly, his voice reverberated around the walls, and James and John both jumped. Before anybody

  could do anything, Simon had slapped John so hard, that he fell backwards off his chair.

  “Simon!” James yelled. Standing up and putting an arm on the old man’s shoulder. “Wait, he’s not finished.” James suspected the worse was yet to come. John got to his feet. Tears were running down his cheeks again. He gulped and sighed heavily.

  “James is right,” he said heavily. “I have more to tell you.” Simon sat down again, a dark look on his face. John sank back into his chair and continued. “I hadn’t figured out how to stop the wormholes yet, and they went back through it before I’d even noticed you’d gone. It collapsed not long after that though. Even now, They aren’t stable enough to last for very long.

  “When I realized you had disappeared, I quickly worked out what had happened, and where you had gone. I was angry, and sad, but I didn’t know how to save you, I didn’t know what I could do. I thought they had probably killed you. Mum thought you had left, you know, that you had abandoned us. I didn’t tell her the truth, I didn’t tell anyone. I couldn’t. I learned to live with what I had done, with what they had done, but I still wanted revenge.

  “A few years later, the whole world announced the launch of this fantastic probe that was going to seek out new life. It’s the only thing all the programs talked about for weeks. I listened very carefully about how it was powered by nuclear power. That’s when the great idea came to me: I would used the probe as a bomb, and destroy the aliens who had abducted my father.”