“It is,” said Julie. “But we are familiar with the Screen.”
“Screen?” asked Drix.
“It’s the name we gave them,” said John. “What do others call them?”
“They have no name,” said Drix. “They do not converse with other races. But if you had dealings with them…”
“You misunderstood Julie,” said John. “We’ve never spoken to them. PHOENIX is the first ship to leave our home system. The Screen has kept us trapped within our star system for decades. Any ship that has tried to leave has been destroyed.”
“That’s why we’re out here,” continued Julie. “Our primary mission is to find the Screen and learn what they have planned for our people, and stop them if necessary.”
“Anything you can tell us about them would be helpful,” said John.
“I would tell you all that I know, John Captain,” said Drix. “However, what I have told you is the extent of my knowledge about them. I do not know the location of their homeworld or why they attack other ships. I, like many others, have learned to run whenever they appear. No one knows what motivates them.”
John was disappointed. At least they knew Drix wasn’t in league with the Screen, but he was hoping to get some new information. But if Drix was right and no one had any knowledge about the Screen, their mission would be that much more difficult.
“I can tell you that you are the first ones who have fought these…Screen…and lived to tell about it,” said Drix. “That gives me hope that they are not as invincible as they seem. I wish you told me this sooner.”
“We weren’t sure if you were an ally of them,” said Julie.
“No one is aligned with the Screen,” said Drix. “That is their one constant. They seem to exist only for themselves.”
“Then it’s even more important that Virgo Squadron capture that fighter out there,” said John. “We need to interrogate the pilot and find out what they want with us.”
Out in the asteroid field, Martin was preparing to head back to PHOENIX when his Interceptor picked up a faint energy reading. He ran it through his fighter’s computer, which indicated the energy reading conformed to Screen particle signatures. He localized it to a large asteroid and steered his fighter towards it.
Within minutes he was in a high stationary orbit above the asteroid and saw something on it, but he was too far up to make out the objects. He activated his fighter’s camera and zoomed in on the area below. There he saw two Screen fighters sitting next to a greenish structure. Martin noted that one of the fighters was the one PHOENIX had pursued, as there was visible damage and scorch marks on its right wing.
Martin checked his communications system and found he couldn’t raise anyone in his squadron or the PHOENIX. He debated what to do. Should he disable the Screen fighters now or wait and observe if any other ship might show up?
Martin never had the chance to resolve the debate. Two figures emerged from the structure and walked towards the fighters. Martin zoomed in on them. They were wearing identical suits that covered them from head to toe. They were dark, black perhaps, and Martin could see various tubes and pipes snaking around the suits. They didn’t seem to be wearing a backpack to house oxygen or whatever the Screen breathed.
The figures entered their fighters from the bottom and soon both ships took off. Martin had his finger on the trigger of his fighter’s weapons in case the Screen headed towards him, but they flew in the opposite direction. Martin was compelled to pursue them, but the structure was too tempting a target to pass up. They didn’t have any data on Screen facilities, and this would be an opportunity to inspect one of them.
Martin waited a few minutes before descending down to the asteroid. He took his time and checked his sensors for signs of the Screen fighters returning, but they were nowhere to be seen.
The Interceptor landed gently on the asteroid surface. Martin took a few moments to gather the courage to venture out. He knew if the Screen returned they would obliterate him. But given this was their first Screen encounter since leaving the solar system, this was a rare opportunity to learn more about them that he couldn’t pass up.
After checking his pulse gun was fully charged, Martin opened the cockpit and climbed out. His helmet was recording his progress and scanning the environment. Although it said he was in the vacuum of space, there was gravity here as he dropped down to the ground. He was picking up a low level field emanating from the structure and concluded it must be generating some sort of gravity field.
Martin wasn’t detecting any sort of weapons system guarding the structure, but nevertheless he proceeded with caution. The building didn’t seem all that remarkable, but as he approached it, he noticed how polished the surface was, as if it was some sort of reflector.
Martin approached the door, which seemed similar in height for most humans to use. There was a control pad on the side which displayed some symbols. Martin assumed it was Screen language, but he couldn’t make it out. He was apprehensive about being injected with a micron and elected not to get one. Now he was paying the price for that choice.
The door didn’t appear to have a motion sensor as it didn’t open when Martin approached it. With no other alternative, he touched one of the buttons on the pad and held his breath to see what would happen. No weapons or other nasty devices emerged to obliterate him, the door merely opened. Martin tried to convince himself it was luck, but for all he knew it was a trap.
He looked inside but couldn’t see much. Except for some colored lights glowing in the distance, he couldn’t make out the interior. He adjusted his helmet viewer to increase the light ratio to improve his vision. Despite his fear, Martin vowed to venture inside.
“All but one ship from Virgo Squadron has emerged from the asteroid field,” reported Alex’sis from the operations table.
“Who’s missing?” asked Julie.
Alex’sis checked the transponder frequencies of the returning fighters. “Squad leader Martin Everold.”
“If he found the Screen ship it will attack him,” said Drix. John didn’t like the idea of losing anyone, especially Lieutenant Everold. Martin was the only person on PHOENIX who didn’t choose to join the crew. It was John’s decision to rescue him back near Mars and not return him to TERRA. If something happened to him, John wouldn’t be able to forgive himself.
“Let’s give him some more time,” said John. “How are we on the sensors getting through the asteroid field?”
“Still having trouble trying to penetrate it,” said Kevin. “Engineering is working to improve sensor capabilities.”
“Keep working on it,” said John. He walked over to Bret, who was busy trying to clear up some interference on the comm channels. John could see the perplexed look on his face.
“What’s wrong?” asked John as Drix joined them.
“Not sure,” said Bret. “All of the sudden I’m getting this weird distortion. It almost sounds separate from the static I’m picking up from the asteroid field.”
“May I have a look?” asked Drix. “My species is known for our highly sensitive ears.”
John nodded and Bret played the sounds through the speakers at his station. Drix only needed a few seconds to determine the cause.
“Someone on PHOENIX is attempting to send a message out. I find it strange that they are not utilizing your communications antenna.”
John’s eyes grew big. “What!? Where!?”
“I cannot localize its precise location, but the initiation point seems to be somewhere on deck eighteen,” said Drix.
“Command deck to security. Seal off deck eighteen,” said John. He immediately suspected that it was the work of the spy Bret had alerted him and Julie about prior to their departure from the solar system.
“Is there something wrong, John Captain?” asked Drix.
“I’ll explain later,” said John. “Can you block the transmission?”
“Yes.” Drix entered some algorithms into the computer. “It is done.”
“If that is your wish,” said Drix.
“Do it,” said John. Drix entered a few more equations into the computer.
“It is done,” said Drix.
On the asteroid, Martin finally entered the Screen facility. The exterior betrayed what little room there was on the inside. The hallway was wide enough to accommodate only one person. The walls were bare, only a thin strip of lighting running along where the walls and ceiling met. A low hum of power could be heard running through the walls.
Martin reached the end of the hallway and emerged in a room that housed several computer stations. All were covered in weird symbols, Screen written language that Martin couldn’t interpret. He slowly panned around the room, trying to get as much recorded on video. His helmet sensor reported he was the only life form in the structure.
He looked at some of the displays and the information they were showing. As he leaned over, he put his hand on the console for support. All of the sudden some sort of alarm sounded off. Computer displays shut down all around him, but the alarm continued to blare. Martin’s instincts said to run.
He ran from the building and back to his fighter. He wasted no time blasting off from the asteroid and, just as he was a few kilometers away, the building exploded. The shockwave rocked his fighter, but the shields held and his Interceptor suffered no damage.
On the PHOENIX, John was debating whether to send fighters back into the asteroid field. Forty minutes had passed and, as each minute went by, he became more anxious with the thought that Martin may have encountered the Screen.
“Captain,” said Alex’sis. “I’m picking up an energy signature from the asteroid field.” John and Julie collectively held their breaths as Alex’sis checked her readings. “It’s an Interceptor. It’s Lieutenant Everold.”
John breathed a sigh of relief and smiled at Julie. “Open a channel to the lieutenant.”
Bret opened the comm line and Martin’s voice came over the command deck’s speakers. “This is Lieutenant Everold requesting permission to dock.”
“Permission granted. Welcome back.” John looked over at Alex’sis. “Have Virgo Squadron come back in and order Aries Squadron to establish a perimeter position between PHOENIX and the asteroid field.”
“Yes, captain,” replied Alex’sis.
A few hours later the senior staff was gathered in the board room, joined by Drix and Martin. Martin spent a couple of hours going through decontamination procedures in the medical bay as PHOENIX continued to hold position near the asteroid field. To make good use of the time, John permitted the mining team to extract ore from some of the asteroids under military escort from Aries Squadron.
The senior staff went over the video footage from Martin’s helmet. John, Julie, and Drix were the only ones who could read the various symbols on the Screen terminals. Unfortunately, the video yielded nothing substantial. The symbols were generalized names for sensors or communications. There was no specific data stream running on any of the terminals that might explain Screen activity in the region.
After identifying all the symbols and discussing them, John turned off the video. He was frustrated that they learned nothing new about the Screen, but he kept the frustration to himself.
“I want data from our sensors and the video analysis compiled in a report and ready by morning,” said John. Both Julie and Alex’sis nodded.
“I’m sorry for tripping the self-destruct mechanism,” said Martin. “If I had the micron, I could have read the Screen language and avoided setting it off.”
John shook his head. “You don’t know that it would have made a difference. Pressing any of the buttons could have set off the self-destruct.”
“Nevertheless,” said Martin as he looked over to Doctor Myers. “I’d like to set a time to have the micron injected. I don’t want to be caught off-guard like that again.”
“We can do it after we’re done here,” said Myers.
“Has there been any detection of Screen fighters?” asked Sandoval.
“No,” replied Kevin. “We still can’t penetrate the asteroid field. Even with Drix’s assistance tweaking our sensors, we can’t punch through.”
“I have passed through this area several times,” said Drix. “Even the sensor array on my vessel is unable to scan within the asteroid field.”
“Making it a perfect hiding spot for the Screen,” said Alex’sis. “For all we know an entire armada is in there.”
“Screen ships haven’t demonstrated themselves to be any more maneuverable than our ships,” said Julie. “Even if they had a fleet in there it would be limited to small fighters. I don’t even think the two larger ships we fought back at Pluto could maneuver in there.”
“Drix,” said John. “Do you think it’s likely the Screen might come out while we’re still here?”
“It is unlikely,” said the alien. “They do not wait to initiate action. If they wanted to fight you they would have already emerged to do so. They are not known for their patience.”
“We could send in more of our fighters to scout the asteroid field,” said Julie.
“No,” said John. “I don’t want to endanger our forces needlessly and it sounds like this asteroid field is nothing more than a hiding spot. We’ll move on once the mining crew has finished their excavation.” John looked at his staff. “Is there anything else?” No one said a word. “Then we’ll reconvene tomorrow morning. Julie, Alex’sis, Bret, Drix, please remain. The rest of you are dismissed.”
With the others gone, John spoke up. “I want to discuss the unauthorized communication that was attempted during the mission.”
Chief Sandoval and his security team went over deck eighteen with their scanners, but were unable to locate any residual trace of the transmission someone tried to initiate from that deck. With no hard evidence, John had no choice but to release the deck from lockdown. John spoke to Julie and they agreed to let Alex’sis in on what they knew.
“Lieutenant Brandus,” said John. “Before we jumped from the solar system, Bret told Julie and me about the rumor of a spy in the EXODUS Project.”
“Why?” said Alex’sis. “It was just a rumor going around for a couple of weeks. Admiral Johnson was never worried about it.”
“He was concerned and had me do a covert investigation,” said Bret.
“Without my knowledge?” said Alex’sis. “I find that hard to believe.”
“I don’t know why he didn’t inform you,” said Bret. “But he did have me investigate it.”
“Bret found that someone had sent an unauthorized transmission to TERRA during our fight with the Screen,” said Julie. “Coupled with what he told us about this rumor, we think someone on board may be trying to keep TERRA in the loop about our activities.”
“Why wasn’t I told about this earlier?” asked Alex’sis.
“If there is a spy we had to keep this to a few individuals,” said John. “I made the decision to keep this between Julie, Bret, and myself.”
“I don’t like the insinuation that I was a suspect,” said Alex’sis, clearly upset. “I also don’t appreciate being told at the same time as him,” pointing to Drix. “Who we’ve only known for a couple of weeks.”
“You have to understand my position,” said John, maintaining a calm tone. “I only knew you a couple of days before we even left Earth. I couldn’t risk letting you in on this.”
“I’ve devoted my life to the EXODUS Project,” said Alex’sis. “Admiral Johnson tasked me with overseeing all activities and making sure we met all project goals. I wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize this mission. You’re more likely to sabotage this mission than me.”
“Lieutenant,” said Julie with a stern voice. “You’re out of line.”
“So what’s changed?” asked Alex’sis. “Why tell me now?”
“Because you and Drix
were both on the command deck when the unauthorized transmission occurred,” said John. “Otherwise, we wouldn’t be having this conversation and, yes, you’d still be a suspect.”
Alex’sis didn’t like the captain’s words, but she had to agree with his thinking. If the roles were reversed she would have kept quiet as well. She was actually more upset learning that Admiral Johnson never confided in her about this rumor or included her in Bret’s investigation. She always assumed the admiral told her everything.
Drix was fascinated with how they were interacting. He had never seen these humans become so animated.
“I’m sorry if your feelings are hurt,” said John. “But we need to work together if we’re going to uncover the person who is trying to contact TERRA.”
“Captain,” said Bret. “Now that Drix has reprogrammed the computer to prevent anyone from pulling the same stunt, don’t you think we have nothing to worry about? So far they’ve only tried to contact TERRA.”
“I hope whoever it is will accept the situation and do nothing more,” said John. “But we’ve taken away the one tool they’ve been using. They may decide to change their tactics.”
“I know you weren’t in the project as long as most people on board,” said Julie to Alex’sis. “But is there anyone you remember who may have caused a disruption in the project?”
“Not off-hand,” said Alex’sis. “I can check my logs to see if anything jogs my memory.”
John nodded. “Good, I would also like you and Bret to go through the biographies of everyone on board. See if anyone pops out as a good suspect.”
“There are 4,847 people on board,” said Alex’sis. “You know how long that will take?”
“I know, but for now it’s all we can do,” said John.
Alex’sis shrugged her shoulders. “Fine.”
“And again, we keep this between us,” said John. He looked at Drix. “Even you, Drix. No one must know of this.”
“I understand the situation, John Captain,” said Drix. While Martin was going through decontamination, Julie apprised Drix on PHOENIX’s short history and the fact they were out here against the orders of their military and government.
Phoenix Among The Stars (Exodus) Page 9
