Mattie synced up with the AI navigation controls.
“Takeoff window is too narrow,” the AI said calmly. “I recommend we wait until the area above us clears.”
“Not an option. We go now.”
The engines started, and the plane taxied out onto the runway. They turned and turned again. Stretching out before them was the giant alien ship, still coming down.
This is going to be close.
Mattie pressed the throttle forward and initiated takeoff. The plane hurtled down the runway. In seconds they were in the air, even as the first tendrils of the alien vessel reached out to kiss the ground.
They were right in the underbelly of the thing, the giant tendrils quivering like a jellyfish’s tentacles trying to catch an unwary fish. Mattie shifted the plane to the left, then right, trying to avoid the damned things. A small gap of light was all he could shoot for as the plane built up speed.
“I need more power!” he yelled to the AI.
“Engines at maximum.”
The gap slowly closed as more tendrils draped themselves around the plane.
They weren’t going to make it.
Chapter 35
7:30 p.m. Local Time, January 16, 2038
Chronos Two, Hillah, Iraq
“I have the data from Colonel Tedrow. He was able to successfully make contact with the recon unit.”
Paulson was standing in the command center reviewing the latest report on the alien invasion. He looked up as Claire stopped in front of him. Finally they had news.
“Let’s hear it,” said President Diaz, who was standing beside him, dark circles under his eyes from the stress of the last day and a half.
“Two thousand and sixty years ago our time, plus or minus ten years, at a probability of ninety-five percent. That was when the aliens, who are called Vorsh, first developed orbital space flight.”
Paulson heard Claire’s words without showing any emotion. His heart rate increased slightly, however, with a small measure of excitement. He met President Diaz’s gaze.
“That means we have a chance,” he said.
Diaz nodded.
Any farther back into the past and the operation would’ve been much more difficult. Ten thousand years would’ve put them in the Stone Age, and they would’ve had to teach the sparse populations of humans the very basics of civilization. Even though some societies were still primitive two thousand years ago, people weren’t living in caves and agriculture and writing systems were highly developed in many parts of the world.
“What can you tell us about these aliens?” Diaz asked.
“I have a vast amount of data on them,” Claire said casually. “What would you like to know?”
“I’d like to know why the hell they’re attacking us, for one,” Diaz said, throwing a coffee mug across the room.
“They plan to colonize Earth, terraform it so that it resembles their world. They’ve done this dozens of times on other planets as their population grows. Each time they’ve eradicated or enslaved the intelligent species living there.”
“But how did they know about our defenses? How were they able to defeat us so easily?” Paulson asked.
“Quite simply, the Vorsh are the ultimate adapters,” Claire said. “They try one tactic, like they did with the virus and nanoswarm, and if that doesn’t work, then they come in with the heavier artillery, like the bigger, stronger, reconstituted bots and the singularity generators.”
“But how did they know what type of virus to use?” Diaz asked.
“They sent a small intelligent probe here over eighty years ago that went undetected by Earth’s defenses. It remained invisible, collecting data, which it sent back to the main Vorsh flotilla. The probe then manufactured the virus and ejected it into space when the time was right.”
“So they’ve been planning this attack since the 1950s? We should’ve seen this coming,” Diaz said angrily.
Claire shook her head. “It would have been impossible.”
“We could use a biological weapon against them,” Diaz said. “Just like they tried to do to us.”
“Wouldn't work. Nothing you can do will make any difference,” Claire said. “The Vorsh are just too advanced. They have nano defenses boosting their immune system as well as biosuits to protect them from Earth pathogens. In other words, gentlemen, there won’t be a War of the Worlds scenario when the Vorsh land. They won’t get killed off by a human cold virus.”
Paulson nodded. But he was thinking, both looking back and planning for the future.
“We should’ve been better prepared,” he said. “At least had defenses set up for multiple attacks. All enemies adapt and we should’ve been ready—adapted with them.”
“If you somehow had been able to defeat the second stage, the probability of which I calculate at less than a half of one percent, then the Vorsh would’ve adapted again with even more powerful weapons. The data shows such weapons being used on other worlds, and the destruction is epic. The Vorsh have been successful conquerors and colonizers throughout the galaxy. No species has been able to stand up to them. No, our only solution is the long jump into the past.”
“Well, then, let’s get the team ready,” Paulson said to his assistant, Melinda Rider, who'd just stepped in the room. “We jump immediately.”
“Hold that order, Melinda,” Diaz said, turning to Paulson. “We’ll need to brief the Congressional Intelligence Committee on this.”
“Are you sure we want to do that, Martin? We’ll face resistance from some fool who doesn’t understand what’s happening.”
Paulson had learned to always get a buy-in before just rushing forward, but this situation was different. There was too much at stake to have a political debate.
“We’re talking about changing the time stream to a point where none of us may exist,” Diaz said. “We need to let them know.”
Diaz was right. There was a lot of theory being bantered around by the scientists, but all of them generally agreed that the type of radical changes they were proposing to the time stream would very likely result in everything they knew changing forever.
Yet what was the alternative, the extinction of the entire human race at the hands of a technologically superior alien race?
“Okay, let’s have a quick meeting of the committee and relevant advisors,” Paulson said. “But we should have the jump team and their equipment ready to go as soon as they’ve been briefed.”
Paulson blinked up his schedule from his optical implant and tapped away at the empty air in front of him, quickly calling an emergency meeting. Claire touched his shoulder after he was done.
"There's one other thing, Buddy."
"Yes, Claire."
"They lost Evangelista en route to Boston. He died saving the others from the swarm. He died a hero."
The loss hit Paulson like a sledgehammer. His old friend who'd been by his side for nearly fifty years was gone. He couldn't believe it. He thought the old soldier was invincible, especially after Paulson saved him when they were young men during Operation Desert Storm. His sadness slowly gave rise to anger, then rage. He would get those fucking aliens, one way or another. They'd killed so many, and they would pay. Even if it took him two thousand years, he would have revenge.
#
An hour later everyone was gathered in the situation room. President Diaz stood at the head of the table, Paulson to his right, Jeff Madison to his left. The remaining spots around the large table were the seven members of the United States House Intelligence Subcommittee on Technical and Tactical Intelligence, and the fourteen members of the United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. Jeff was the committee Chair. Making up the rest of the group were several generals, intelligence operatives, and advisors, including Claire, and scientific experts from the Chronos project. It was a big and unwieldy group. Paulson would’ve preferred a much smaller bunch, but Diaz wanted everybody there.
“Thank you all for coming so quickly,” Diaz began. “I
hope by now everyone has read the latest intelligence reports on the alien invasion, as well as the true purpose of this base."
Several people tried to speak, ask questions, but Diaz quickly held up his hand and cut them off, maintaining control in the room.
"I know you have questions, but hear me out first. From those reports you know that we’ve already been able to place multiple robotic recon units undercover as children’s toys to infiltrate the alien encampments. We have Claire to thank for that.”
He gestured toward her and smiled. She was in his good graces once again.
Paulson still wasn’t sure about her abilities, about his control over her abilities. She’d been right every time, yet she was the ultimate maverick, independent and free-thinking. Checks and balances were sometimes a necessity.
Maybe she was just too much like him, wanting to get the job done with as little outside fuss as possible.
“We’ve just received information from one of those units,” Diaz said. He then met the eye of everyone in the room.
“Ladies and gentlemen, what you’re about to see is horrific. This footage is from three months in the future. The recon unit was able to make it to the Harvard Chronos test facility and jump back in time, where it was retrieved by one of our military assets. Before I show this, I need to emphasize that none of this information leaves this room. We don’t want to incite panic among the survivors here and if there is someone working against us, we don’t want them having this information either.”
Diaz nodded to Claire, and a video immediately began playing from the holo in the middle of the table. Paulson looked away. He’d already seen the whole thing and felt no need to see a little girl’s head getting ripped off another time. He knew what the Vorsh thought of them, that they were nothing but pets, animals to be played with or hunted or forced to fight for sport.
The group’s reaction was as expected, with lots of gasps and wide-eyed expressions of shock. Diaz stopped the video after twenty minutes.
“We have a lot more footage, but you get the idea,” Diaz said. “These aliens see us as an inferior species. Over the next three months they’ll kill off the vast majority of the population and enslave and torture the rest, including our children. Unless we stop them now.”
Everyone was still too much in shock to say very much, but a few of the military brass grumbled words to the effect of “Hell, yeah.”
“The recon unit was able to access their version of the Stream as well,” Diaz continued. “We have the date we need.”
The room quieted down and all eyes fixed on the president.
“Two thousand and sixty years ago. That was when the aliens developed the ability to send rockets up to orbit their planet.”
Sounds of shock and surprise rose from the group.
“Over two thousand years ago?” Congressman Delany said. “We were still riding donkeys back then.”
“That level of advancement is incredible,” Senator Parsons said.
“How are we going to compete with that?” Senator Manchester asked.
“Folks, folks! Attention please!” Diaz said firmly. “We know that’s a long time ago. But be thankful it wasn’t fifty thousand years ago when we were still living in caves and fighting Neanderthals. At least two thousand years is within the scope of recorded human history. We can work with people from that time period.”
“So we’re really going through with this?” Senator Gordon asked.
“What choice do we have, Senator?” Diaz asked. “Let the human race go extinct?”
“We don’t know for sure that will happen,” Gordon retorted, waving one arm freely. “Sure, we have the video, but what about other human survivors? There could be a resistance forming to fight the aliens.”
Paulson knew it. The man refused to believe what his eyes had seen. He knew there’d be at least one to caution against the very actions essential to securing a future for them all.
“There was no evidence of organized resistance in the data we found,” Claire said.
Diaz nodded to Claire, who rose to address the group.
“I’ve been through all the data, and it shows there are at most several thousand humans still alive three months from now and they are kept as pets or slaves. The Vorsh have a history of expanding outward from their home world and completely eradicating the intelligent species on the planets they colonize. I can assure you that with our present level of technology, we have a point zero one percent chance of fighting the Vorsh and causing any type of damage and a point zero two percent chance of negotiating with them.”
“Perhaps they would let us live on our own part of the planet?” Congressman Winchell suggested.
“Like on a reservation?” Manchester said. “Like we did with the Native Americans? Yeah, that worked out so well for them.”
“Our best option is going into the past, three hundred years before the target date of thirty BC,” Claire said. “By my calculations, that will be the amount of time needed to build the infrastructure and bring the local population up to a technological level advanced enough to develop space flight. From there, human society should advance along a track parallel to that of the Vorsh. When we meet in the year 2038, we will be on equal footing or possibly even more advanced than the aliens.”
“Yeah, and then we’ll have one hell of a war on our hands,” General Bisson grumbled.
"So time travel really is possible? I still can't believe it," Winchell said.
"I know it's a lot to take in," Diaz said. "But time travel is a reality, and right now it's the only hope we've got."
“But we’re talking about changing the entire course of human history,” Gordon said, holding both hands out to press his point. “We’ll be going back in time to before the birth of Christ. As a result of our actions, meddling with the timeline, he may never be born.”
Paulson knew the senator was a staunch Christian fundamentalist. He would often quote Bible scripture in his speeches on the Senate floor. Gordon also had a strong following in the Senate.
“Why do you insist on bringing up these fairy tales, Senator?” Congressman Lambert asked, pounding the table. “We’re not going to jeopardize the survival of the entire human race just so your so-called savior can be born.”
Gordon jumped up, red-faced and furious. “You’ll rot in hell with those comments!”
“Blasphemer!” one of Gordon’s supporters yelled.
Paulson closed his eyes and rubbed at them. He’d known this issue—at least some version of it—would rise to the fore.
“We’re all going to rot in hell,” Lambert said. “The aliens will see to that.”
“Gentlemen, let’s remain calm and think about this,” Paulson said in a deliberately relaxed voice. After sitting quietly and listening, it was time he got involved.
“Let’s not turn this into a religious discussion. We all have our beliefs, differing beliefs, or we hold to no creed. We have no idea what will happen to Jesus or Muhammad or any other figures from our history. But keep this in mind: if there is a God, he will find a way to get his message to us. If that means having the birth of his son or a prophet come in year zero in Bethlehem or in the year 777 in Vinland, then he will do it.”
A few people nodded their agreement, but Gordon wasn’t buying it.
“This whole time machine you’ve built here goes against nature. It’s like spitting in the face of God. Man is not meant to have this type of power.”
“Well, we do have it, Senator,” Diaz said, his anger clear in his clenched jaw. “And right now I'm prepared to use it to save us all. I respect everyone’s beliefs; I myself was raised Catholic by very religious parents. But I have to agree with the vice president. God is all powerful and will get his message to us. But he would want us to act now for the survival of the human race.”
Diaz leaned over and pressed his hands to the table.
“Now, I would like your support on this—”
“So you’ve already made yo
ur decision, right, Martin?” Gordon said. “There’s no budget appropriation to vote on here. You just want our blessing.”
Diaz stood tall and stared down at Gordon. “Samuel, we’re about to change the fate of human history. I wanted your input on that.”
“Well, my input is we don’t do it. Or”—Gordon held up his finger for emphasis—“or we jump to a time period after the birth of Jesus. After the birth of Muhammad as well.”
Gordon gestured to Senator Abdallah, the only Muslim in the room.
“Perhaps toward the end of the Roman Empire. Then we just work harder to advance society forward. That should give us what? Fifteen hundred years or so to prepare for these aliens?”
“Given my calculations, it’s not enough time,” Claire said. “The Vorsh would still overwhelm us.”
Gordon glared at Claire. “Perhaps your data is incomplete for an accurate calculation,” he said coldly.
“Data is sufficient to within eighty-five point six percent accuracy,” Claire replied.
“Humph. That leaves fourteen point four percent to chance. Are you willing to bet everything on that, Mr. President?”
“If we fail and we lose this future war in this other timeline,” Congressman Lambert said. “we can always go back and do it again. We have a time machine, right?”
Jeff Madison, looking exhausted and every bit as frustrated as Paulson felt, held up his hand.
“Wait, wait, wait! It’s time to reveal something about myself, something only the president and vice president and a handful of others know. It’s a secret I’ve been carrying for four decades. But now is the time for the truth to come out.”
Paulson leaned back, crossed his arms, and nodded ever so slightly when Jeff met his gaze.
Jeff stared at everyone in the room, one person at a time, making sure he had their full attention.
“I am a time traveler.”
Stunned gasps echoed across the room.
“What the hell is this nonsense?” Gordon asked. “Martin, is this true?”
Diaz drew in a long whistle and then nodded.
NanoSwarm: Extermination Day Book Two Page 30
