“Blow the doors!” Hugh shouted. Windling pressed a stud next to the passenger bulkhead and pulled a handle. The doors parted and blew away from each side of the cabin and from the cargo hold just as the left wingtip caught a wave. The jet spun counterclockwise into another wall of water, then skipped twice, losing speed each time. Then the nose caught a large wave straight on and with a wrench of metal that sounded like a speedboat running into a dock, the plane came to a halt. There was a muffled whump, followed by a splash. Donald Wu’s SkyDragon was in the water, floating on its supports.
Water was coursing in both sides of the plane while Springer, who had released his companions at the point of impact, was groping in total darkness for the overhead flotation “panic” handle. “Hugh!” he shouted, “I can’t find the frig-…” Springer’s fingers closed over the strap. “There!” he shouted and pulled with all his strength. The two resulting percussive sounds were barely audible over the rush and suck of the water as two buoyant bladders deployed themselves from beneath the doorframes. The plane was afloat.
“You people okay?” McCahan asked in the darkness.
“I’d be just fine if this big oaf would get off my leg,” Windling said, lighting a pocket lamp.
“Sorry,” Springer muttered.
“Let’s release this harness,” Hugh suggested.
“Done,” Springer replied as the safety ebbing that held the three together parted with a snap. He peered out the open door. “How about some help getting this boat package over the side? I can see the SkyDragon only a few meters away. ”
“Did I say this was a blessing in disguise?” McCahan groaned
“Shut up and start pulling,” Windling said.
Denver
Several thousand miles away, the Senior Advisor looked out at the two-legged creature it called the “Torque-human.” “They found your source, fool. They will soon attempt to rescue Gael’s friend. One of my trusted ones has betrayed me. And you…you are useless.”
“I am so very sorry,” Torque said. He was standing in the anteroom, looking through a heavily shielded window into the Senior Advisor’s private quarters. “But it was one of your own…”
“Quiet! I am leaving immediately to supervise the attack. Get your staff up here now. Ready my life-support module for the pick up. I am rejoining the command staff on Advisor Station.”
“Of course.”
“We will use the nuclear devices you have provided.”
“I agreed to no such thing.”
“Check with Mr. Keen. He arranged everything…”
“But we haven’t even given you the exact locations…”
“These are very large devices, fool. We would have been able to destroy their operations center in the Lake Disappointment area, in any event. That location was always clear enough. We also have an approximate New Zealand location for the compound where they are keeping the Little Enemies.”
“But to use the largest thermonuclear devices…”
“May I be plain? We do not have the luxury to be slow or gentle or virtuous. We don’t care about your politics or what you call collateral damage. With these weapons, approximate will do.”
“You would kill millions!”
“Of humans? Of course. As you say, whatever it takes…Now, get busy or I will call Mr. Keen…”
The Antigua villa
“PREPARE YOURSELF ROSENBAUM. KEEN ARRIVES TOMORROW.”
The note had been left under the door to her bedroom and somehow Ruth had missed it when she went to bed. The alien had disappeared after their conversation in the garden. Ruth’s heart was cold as she read the tiny printout that a gust of wind from the hallway had turned over next to her bedroom door. She was still dressed in a robe and slippers and the faint light of first dawn filtered in from outside.
“No!” she whispered to herself. “Not now…” Ruth closed the door. Quick. There were no shoes. Got to think. She dressed in the jump suit she had worn on the day of her capture, while her mind reconstructed an outline of the villa. The garden was surrounded on all sides by a building, access to which was limited to three doors: the one that led from the hallway adjacent to her quarters, and two others, both of which were securely locked.
Occasionally she had heard male voices in other parts of the building, guards she had presumed. The alien that she had named “Sandy” seemed to have an unkeyed access to the entire building. That implied an electronic locking system, using a pattern recognizer. It was very unlikely she could defeat such a locking system. But otherwise the building did not seem to have been designed as a prison.
Ruth decided her best chance of escape was in the garden itself. The surrounding walls were less than three meters high, and from her vantage point the roof did not appear to be severely pitched. With luck, and a surge of adrenaline, she hoped to be able to scale the palm tree, leap to the roof and get out that way.
Acting quickly, she fashioned a lump in her bed, turned out the bed lamp, and stole down the hallway, pausing at the garden entrance. The light was gray. Somewhere a single bird tentatively broke the silence. She stepped onto the path, the rocks damp and cold against her bare feet. She noted the position of the palm tree next to the east corner of the garden. It was within a half meter of the wall. If I can just scale the damn thing. As she approached, a metal object caught her eye. It glinted dully in the gray dawn, leaning against the fountain.
“Sandy?” she whispered. The alien’s life-support apparatus was tilted at an angle and was ominously silent. She padded over to the box. The hard bubble on top, under which Sandy had breathed its alien atmosphere, had fallen to the grass. A fine gray sand had spilled into the fountain from the interior of the life-support chamber. The alien was gone.
She reached out to touch the cool metal.
“Don’t you like the clothes we provided you, DOCTOR Rosenbaum?” Floodlights blazed behind her. She turned slowly, shielding her eyes.
Thorander Keen!
Ruth stood trembling in the garden, squinting in the glare of Keen’s floodlights.
“What happened to the alien?” She asked.
“That’s somebody else’s problem. You are mine,” Thorander Keen said, stepping into the light.
“What brings you here?” she asked.
“Just a few more questions, Doctor Rosenbaum…We need to know a little more about Mr. Falstaff. Then you can go.”
Sure, she thought. “Here in the garden, then.”
“No. Not here.” Keen was holding a modern lethal weapon. He gestured with it to the door nearest to her. “Cooperate and you get to leave.”
“May I go to my room for a minute?”
“No. If you are stalling, forget it. A plane carrying your rescuers crashed in the ocean two hours ago.”
Ruth’s heart sank. Her sensation of despair was replaced by rage. “Then shoot me now, you arrogant bastard. I’m going to my room for a minute.” Ruth turned away from Keen and began walking past the man in the direction of the other door.
“Don’t tempt me,” Keen snarled, grabbing her roughly by the arm. She pulled away and broke for the door to her hallway, noting a blind spot underneath the floodlights a couple of meters to the left.
At the doorway, she dropped and rolled hard into the bushes and kept rolling until she was in the dark area beneath the blinding floodlights. The air crackled with an electric discharge and she felt a wave of heat at her neck. Then she was on the ground near the wall, shaking badly, partly concealed by darkness and bushes. She hurt all over.
“Don’t think I won’t just kill you!” There was another discharge. She waited, taking a handful of dirt in each hand, then raised her head slightly. Through the leaves and branches she could see Keen standing about twelve feet away, squinting into the lights. His weapon was aimed directly at her. The moist air was tinged with smoke.
“Don’t shoot,” she shouted. “I’m coming out!” Keen smiled and seemed to relax his stance slightly. Her heart hammering, Ruth slowly b
rought herself to her feet. Keen kept the working end of his weapon trained at her midsection. Ruth walked slowly towards Keen.
“What have you got in those hands?”
“Two more steps…” Ruth answered by throwing dirt in Keen’s eyes. Bellowing, he squinted and discharged the weapon. The shot grazed her right shoulder, burning the fabric. The pain seared. She released the remaining dirt, reflexively gripping the wounded area, biting her lips. Damned if she would give Keen the satisfaction of crying out.
Suddenly, something like a huge ball of snakes blurred through the air from the tree behind Keen, who was still blinded. The next moment his entire head was engulfed in glistening coils as the alien bored into Keen’s eyes and three “breathing holes.” There was a hissing noise and sulfurous smoke emerged from the writhing tangle above Keen’s neck. The man’s knees buckled and he pitched forward into the path. He released the weapon as he tried to claw at the thing that covered his head. Ruth ran and picked up the pistol. She hesitated for a moment, holding the gun at his chest for a second; then she let it fall by her side. Keen’s twitching had stopped.
Then Ruth began shaking uncontrollably. The alien was slithering across the dead man’s back, making unsteady progress in the direction of its life-support apparatus. My God, that’s Sandy! She noticed for the first time that Sandy was carrying a small metal canister, strapped to its central lobe. Did she dare pick it up? She leaned over the creature, peering into the milky fluid.
“Sandy,” she said, “can I help?” There was a hissing noise and a staggering stench. She reeled back, coughing. As the alien crawled across the grass, faint smoke still trailed from its coils. The grass behind it was already dead. Ruth ran to the life-support unit, righted it, and pulled it across the path to the alien. She picked up the bubble and carried it to the unit where she knelt down.
Then the sound of splintering wood and glass intruded. Heavy footsteps followed, the sound of more wood breaking, and a large man burst into the garden. In silhouette, Ruth could see he was carrying an immense hand weapon. She froze.
“Hugh!” Springer shouted. “She’s in the garden!”
“Lew? Is that you?” she asked.
Springer grinned. “Yes, Ruth,” he said.
“Well, lend me a hand with this alien, please.”
Springer’s smile vanished.
Australia, two days later
Ruth was first flown to GFE’s Lake Disappointment facility. Finnegan Gael was standing on the tarmac when the door to the jet opened, dressed in blue coveralls. He seemed to have aged a decade; his eyes were bruised, his face unnaturally pale. But at the sight of Ruth, a burst of life returned. He grinned through his tears. When Ruth reached the bottom of the steps, she simply hugged him and wept. After a few minutes, they walked hand in hand towards the hangar.
“Jack and I have had a falling out,” Finnegan said, abruptly turning to Ruth. “He’s agreed to bring the Sparrow in for maintenance and retrofitting for some kind of mission.”
“When?”
“Tomorrow sometime. In the meantime, I think we need go home.”
“Oh Finnegan! Let’s just nest. Can we please?”
Falstaff and his special co-pilot arrived at dusk the following day. Gael refused to talk to him, so Ruth agreed to meet with Jack for a briefing.
When Jack Falstaff greeted her outside the shuttle landing facility, he gave her a hug, then he showed her to his offices. “I’m taking the Sparrow back up in a few hours, Ruth. This is a life and death emergency for all of us. We have powerful enemies. I am ashamed that I haven’t been candid enough with either of you and now that I must take care of business in such a rush. You will have many questions, but Donald Wu is up to speed.”
Just then Donald Wu arrived, striding in the door, grim as a banker refusing a loan. “Hello Ruth,” he said softly. “Thank God we got you out of there.”
“Oh Donald,” she said, hugging the shorter man. “What has happened to us?”
Seizing the opportunity, Jack moved to the doorway. “Wu can find me in a heartbeat. I’ll check in in a few minutes. Promise.”
Ruth talked to Donald for half an hour. “Did Finnegan know all this before today?”
“No Ruth, not all of it.”
“How much did you know, Donald?”
“When Jack first brought me onboard years ago, I actually saw one of the Others. He made me swear not to talk about it. I kept my word, even after GFE was formed. Until recently, I had no real grasp of the big picture. I’m so sorry, Ruth. I have been caught in the middle.”
“Finnegan and Jack aren’t talking. It’s up to me.”
Donald looked at his watch. “By now, Jack is back in his quarters. I think you should go seek him out there. I have a feeling he may tell you things he wouldn’t ever tell me.”
Half an hour later, Ruth was standing at a large wooden door. The door opened a crack.
“I’m sorry if I’m disturbing your rest, Jack,” she said, pushing the door further open. “But you owe me the time.”
“Come in,” he said, after a brief hesitation.
“Jack, what’s going on with you two?”
“It is complicated.”
Ruth scowled. “Sure it is. After all I’ve been through, I think you can tell me.”
Jack looked at her intently, but did not speak. He took a deep breath. “I really can’t trust anyone, Ruth.” Her face hardened as if she had been slapped. “There is a great deal I’ve kept from you and Finnegan…for your own safety.”
Ruth stood, suddenly angry. “Don’t patronize me, Jack! I’ve been through too damn much!”
When Ruth started to tear up, Jack stood slowly, his expression unreadable. He held out his hands in a placating gesture. “Ruth…. I’ve had a…side business…something that was in play before I even met you and Finnegan.” Then he gently took her hands and looked directly into her eyes, his expression soft. “I have dabbled in things that could get me and all my friends killed. Look what happened to Toad Hall. If you insist that I tell you more, you must pledge, absolutely pledge, to keep kept the secret.”
“You want me to tell no one?”
“You won’t be able to tell anyone, not Finnegan, no one,” he said, “until I am aboard the Sparrow. Do you really want to know?”
“You know I do.”
Jack nodded and released her hands. “Are you really certain you want to hear this?”
“I just need to be able to trust you, Jack. Tell me now.”
Jack shrugged, a decision made. “There is something very dangerous on the table over there.” Ruth glanced at the table and saw a simple locked metal case.
“What? A suitcase nuke?”
“Nothing that harmless. Please, sit here.” Jack guided her to the seat he had just vacated. “May I get you a drink?” Ruth shook her head. Jack smiled. “So now you’ve seen the source of all my grief. The case holds an artifact that had been entrusted to the ‘First Ones’.”
“Artifact? Where did you get that…thing? Why is it so important? How long have you had it?” Ruth asked.
“It is of life and death importance to our visitors and to everyone else who lives here, Ruth. I bought the artifact from a greedy and corrupt alien before you and I ever met. Actually, I’ve got myself in a very bad position.”
“But what is it?”
“This artifact is one of a very few interstellar location finder devices in the known universe. After I obtained it, I was stuck with…an obligation.”
“Just you? What did you just call it?”
“Think of it as a universal compass, a location key. This artifact carries duty and responsibility like a rat carries the plague.”
“You? Duty? Responsibility?”
“I know, I know. You wouldn’t believe the budgetary implications.” Jack grinned wryly. “I really can’t tell you everything right now.”
“The hell you can’t. I’ll have my drink now, Jack.”
After she took her first
sip, Jack resumed talking.
“Of the two alien species on earth, only the Others are truly a threat to humans. The Others’ physiology and biochemistry are so different that, to live here, they would have to alter this planet’s entire ecosystem in order to survive. But that would eventually kill everyone.”
“The alien who helped me escape told me that.”
“If they could, they would do it right now. That group is absolutely ruthless. And they are desperate to boot.”
“Why haven’t they taken over, then?”
“There are too few of them. I believe they have only one ship. They are stranded here along with the Little Ones.”
“Could they come here in large numbers?”
“Yes…but not without the artifact in my possession.”
“But why do these aliens need such a thing? After all, they did find us…”
“It turns out that faster-than-light interstellar travel is possible. But there is a tradeoff: everyone gets lost. I’ll skip the technical details. As one of their physicists put it, ‘the faster you go, the loster you get.’” Jack smiled. “You can’t find your way back. Quantum uncertainty effects introduce a huge random factor in their interstellar travel arrangements.”
“But, Jack, they found Earth.”
“I think it may have been a lucky hit. But there is a wrinkle. It turns out there are navigation beacons of a sort scattered around the universe. In fact, there is one near this solar system. These are very, very old objects and the artifact on my desk is linked to all of them. It is ‘entangled’ with the beacons wherever and whenever they exist.”
“This technology was not made by the Others?”
“No, no. And there is not anything like this anywhere within reach of them. No responsible authority would ever trust the Others with such power.”
“Why of all places would one of those beacons be near us?”
“There is no good theory as to how this incredibly ancient technology does what it does, let alone why this beacon was nearby. We and the Others are like the savages who stumble on a working radio.”
“And these aliens just stumbled into us?” Ruth asked. “How?”
The Stranded Ones Page 24
