Proxima

by Chase Hildenbrand

  “You need me. I need you. Percy is below deck in his quarters somewhere. I still haven’t quite forgiven him.”

  “You need to. He is your friend, Liam. He told you the truth...eventually. He helped you end the WWLO.”

  “He also helped kill so many people.”

  “He thought he was in a war. You know what that’s like.”

  Liam sighed. He did know. It didn’t make forgiving his friend any easier.

  Ann continued, “We’ll see each other soon, you know. Once we’re in the clear they’ll allow ship-to-ship transports. In just a few nights, we’ll be with each other. And I’ll be able to stay in your suite and out of my ridiculously small room I’m in now.”

  “I can’t wait. Listen, I have to go. Be safe. I love you.”

  “I love you, too,” she said, hanging up and hoping she was right. She needed to be right.

  Two minutes later she said goodbye to Ray and Salena and left the observation deck to walk the empty halls. The muffled sounds of people mourning for a lost planet was too much to bear. As she walked she checked her cell to see how much time had passed. Five minutes—ten—twenty. So much was on her mind that she passed the entrance to the observation deck on her right having gone in a circle without realizing.

  “Ann was right,” Ray said a few minutes after Ann had left. “This is sad. Should we stay?”

  “Yes, I think I’d like to. A last look at Earth,” Salena said.

  They tiptoed through the crowd, many held pictures of loved ones left behind wet with tears. People slid out of their way, but no one looked up.

  They found some seats in the back and, like everyone else in the room, fell into silence. Nobody in the room spoke for several minutes. Salena cried and held Ray’s hand. He smiled at her briefly before turning his head back to the blue and green ball in the sky.

  “My God. Do you see those three lights? Way over there?” he asked. He pointed to something very far away on the other side of the planet.

  “Those stars?”

  “Those aren’t stars. I think that’s the alien fleet. They’re reflecting so much light. I wonder what they’re made of.”

  “I wonder how they’re powered. There’s so much we don’t know about them and we’re about to blow them out of the sky. Why? It all seems so pointless.”

  “Because it’s better to go out swinging. If they’re here to enslave us, don’t you think it’s better this way?”

  “If I had my finger on the button, I would wait. We know nothing for sure. We’re just scared.”

  Salena removed her hand from his to wipe away tears. He hoped she’d bring it back, but watched helplessly as she clasped her hands together on her lap.

  He knew not to press the issue. One way or the other the question about the aliens’ intentions would be answered soon. Also, it was time to begin letting go of Earth. It was no longer their home. Nobody in space would ever set foot on the planet again. While Earth would be visible from the deck for another couple of days before it faded away into the infinite nothingness, he vowed to never come in here again—time to look forward, not back.

  Liam struggled to recall the last time he felt this apprehensive. He stood alone at a window on the bridge—the nuclear launch countdown crossing the ten minute threshold. Vibration in his pocket shook him from his thoughts. He pulled out his cell and, surprised, saw Foster’s name on the display.

  “Hello, Mr. President.”

  “I think you can stop calling me that now, Liam”

  “Yes, sir, Mr. President.”

  “I just wanted to say goodbye personally. We wish you all the best of luck up there. We are on the line with the Russian president. We’re both ready to do this.”

  “Sir, isn’t there still a few minutes left?”

  “Yes, and we’ll wait. I just wanted to let you know. Godspeed up there, Donovan.”

  “Thank you, sir. Best of luck down there, too.”

  The call ended before he said goodbye.

  He resumed looking out the window when he heard footsteps approach him. It was Percy coming to join him and he looked confident in a new dark green uniform.

  “How did you get up here?”

  “Promotion. You’re looking at the new security chief.”

  He blinked past his disbelief. "Who authorized that?"

  "Secretary Blake. The old security chief got busted trying to smuggle some vodka on board at The Hub. Blake said I regained their trust."

  "Did he? You've got some more work to do to regain mine."

  "Fair enough."

  The two men stood in silence for a moment taking in the three lights still several hundred thousand miles away. Below them, Earth spun oblivious to the impending threat. They were above the horizon line watching the ground below transition from day to night.

  “Do you think that maybe Ann is looking at the same Earth right now, too?” Percy asked. He hoped to add some levity to the tension between them.

  “Shut up, Alvarez. I’ll send your ass back down to Earth.”

  “You wish. Who were you talking to before I came over?”

  “President Foster. Called to say goodbye.”

  “I still can’t believe he didn’t weasel his way aboard. I heard a rumor the English Prime Minister snuck on.”

  “What? Bullshit. She knows the treaty. No government leaders.”

  “I’m just saying what I heard. Don’t worry, if she’s here we’ll hunt her down and—do nothing—no jail to put her in.”

  “Air lock?” Liam asked with a raised eyebrow.

  “Ha! Don’t be cruel. She just wants to be our fearless leader on Proxima. I bet she’ll even plant a British flag!”

  “If she’s here at all. I’ll—”

  “Liam! Is that what I think it is?!” Percy took a tentative step closer to the window.

  He tried to find what Percy was looking at. He scanned through space and down at the Earth. Finally, he saw it. Streaks of light escaping the atmosphere heading toward the three bright lights.

  Oh God, he thought. He closed his eyes briefly before turning to face the captain.

  “Jameson!”

  “I see it. They told me we would be notified,” the captain said at a slow jog to join them.

  “I spoke with Foster. He said they’d wait out the remaining time. He lied.”

  Together they watched ten lights blaze their way up from North America. It was beautiful, yet horrifying. Another ten missiles were scorching across space from around the globe coming from Russia.

  “Roberts, how long until they make contact?” Jameson asked one of his officers.

  The panicked officer quickly regained his composure and got to work on a calculation.

  “Two hours and twenty-six minutes, sir.”

  Jameson nodded to his officer and pulled Alvarez over to talk in private—Liam stayed at the window, too awestruck to move. The missiles were not really missiles in the common sense. The nukes were reinforced on a new rocket design that launched them faster than any missile that came before it. The only way they could stop was to smash into something. They were tested several years ago by colliding with a passing asteroid. The speed of them alone punched a hole right through the middle of it two thousand feet deep.

  With no desire to stand by the window for over two hours, he turned around and left the bridge telling Percy and Jameson that he’d be back when it was time. The stroll through the halls was uneventful. A few people passed him without the slightest acknowledgement—too busy with their own work.

  At last he arrived in his room. He sat at a chair where next to him on the table rested a picture of himself and Ann. They were posing in front of the Statue of Liberty. She had dreamed of seeing the monument since she was a little girl. Unfortunately, due to the melting ice caps only the top half of the statue was visible. There were tour groups that took people on boat rides through submerged Manhattan. The greatest buildings mankind ever created falling into ruin under dozens of feet of water at
their base was a sight to behold. Every so often riding through the city on the boats you could see small fires inside the buildings—homeless people keeping warm or cooking whatever meal they could scavenge. He never saw any of them, but Ann claimed to have witnessed a small group fishing outside a third story window.

  He held the picture in his hands. A few more days. He gently placed it back on his shelf and lay down on his bed. Somehow, he managed to fall asleep.

  Ann followed the nukes’ path on the monitor in her room. She sat cross-legged on her bed nervously playing with her hair. A countdown was superimposed on the screen: 1:57:13—1:57:12—1:57:11. She watched the screen absentmindedly—her thoughts elsewhere. Are they about to murder thousands or maybe millions of sentient creatures? What does that make them? Is this act of mass murder truly justified? She didn’t want to be a murderer and she knew that her presence really had no part to play in it. The nukes would have launched with or without her on board, but that didn’t help rid her of the guilt she was feeling. Though if they were here to destroy humanity, who was she to stand in the way?

  Coffee. She needed coffee. The drink on the ship was still artificial, but she’d take what she could get. As the faux-coffee filled up in the pot in the small area of her room that somehow was called a kitchen, a knock came on her door. Through the wall-screen she saw it was Ray and Salena, back again.

  “I told them I wanted to be alone.” She sighed to herself.

  “I know you wanted to be alone,” Ray said upon entering her quarters as she opened the door for them. “But we couldn’t bear to be in that room anymore. You were right—depressing.”

  “Come in. Hey, Salena.” She stepped aside to let them pass.

  "Hey, Ann. Sorry to impose, but Ray insisted on us three being together to watch the attack.”

  “Well, I won't be popping any popcorn, but I did make some faux-coffee."

  Salena and Ray sat at her small table while she went to the coffee pot which was beeping at her signifying that it was done.

  “Would you two like some?”

  “Sure, thanks,” Ray answered.

  She poured three cups, emptying the pot. Cream and sugar was a luxury that she was not privy to in her station on the ship. She considered herself lucky to even have a coffee maker. She handed them each their steaming mugs. Looking at Ray and Salena’s demeanor, she wondered if anything was happening between them and thought that him taking her to another girl’s room probably wasn’t the best move, but she kept quiet.

  The three of them discussed a variety of topics, mostly on-ship gossip. They shared some of their favorite memories from Earth and what they would miss the most. After two more cups of faux-coffee, Ann glanced back up at the monitor. 00:05:43—00:05:42—00:05:41...

  Chapter 12

  ALL CREW MEMBERS on the bridge turned their heads away in unison, shielding their eyes from the blinding explosions as all twenty nuclear weapons found their target. Within a couple of seconds the fiery light faded allowing the blackness of space to return.

  “Someone put the satellite feed on the monitor! Are targets destroyed?” Captain Jameson demanded. Silence engulfed the room awaiting the images of the alien fleet to show on the giant monitor toward the front of the bridge near the window bay. The seconds stretched on and on until at last the view from the satellite orbiting Earth was displayed for all personnel to see.

  “Oh, God.” someone said in the back of the room.

  All three ships were still intact. There seemed to be no damage to the exteriors.

  “How?” Percy asked no one in particular.

  “Could they have shields?” Officer Roberts asked.

  Questions erupted around the bridge—no one had answers. How could a ship remain untouched after twenty nuclear weapons detonated on its surface? It seemed impossible.

  “Listen everybody!” Years of instinct took over and Liam took charge quieting everyone down. “We know two things. We gave them all we had. They’re still standing. How is not what’s important. The question we should be asking is: did we just piss them off? If that answer is yes, then we need to be ready.”

  “Donovan is right. We can talk about how later. I want everybody in position to defend against a counter-attack,” Jameson ordered. “Now!”

  The crew lifted their heads high and got to work readying the weapons system—what good could they do against those ships, though? All eyes were stealing glances at the monitor to see what may happen next. The alien crafts remained still and lifeless. No lights came from the windows, no signals radiated from the ships. While Jameson walked around the bridge inspecting individual stations making sure everyone was prepared, Liam remained still by the window—he recognized that being in the room could potentially be a distraction. Everyone in there had a job to do, perhaps it was time to go. He arrived at that decision and began walking out of the bridge when someone behind him shouted “Look!” He turned around. What he saw left a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.

  Lights turned on inside the three ships. So much for them being ghost ships. Hundreds of windows were being illuminated one by one. Whatever was inside had finally woken up. Gasps of terror escaped the mouths of several crew members, many of whom were ex-military in some aspect. To put fear in them was an accomplishment not many could say they achieved. Seeing alien ships come to life after surviving a nuclear attack without a scratch turned out to be quite a fear producer. He noticed two officers huddled together in prayer and three more were staring at nothing with their mouths agape. Most still had their heads in the game and were at least trying to look busy.

  “Liam, Percy, come join me,” Jameson said, signaling himself and the new security chief to stand next to him. “I’m about to video conference with the other captains.”

  He nodded his head, not sure what position he should take. They were too used to him being in charge.

  On a monitor in front of them four cameras came online. They were now joined by the four captains of the other STS ships.

  “Captains, as I know you are aware, our attack failed and the aliens on board seem to be coming out of their holes,” Jameson said.

  “Indeed. Mr. Donovan, should you be here?” Captain Hopson of The Newton asked.

  He began to speak, but Jameson beat him to it, “He is here on my request acting as a strategic advisor.” He nodded and kept quiet. Percy backed out of frame.

  “Very well,” Hopson said.

  “I assume we’re sticking to the plan? Heading toward Venus?” Captain Walsh of The Linwood asked.

  “Yes, that is still the idea. However, as the rear ship, I request the four of you to increase power to your engines and get out of here quickly. If they come, we will hold them off,” Jameson said, earning a concerned look from Percy who had no choice but to reenter the frame and lean in to whisper in his ear.

  Jameson looked thoughtful for a second. “Mr. Alvarez here believes we’d stand a better chance fighting alongside each other. I disagree. We saw what those ships are capable of withstanding. The mission here is to save humanity. There are one hundred thousand of you on those four ships. If we have to sacrifice ourselves in order for you to escape, so be it. I am willing to do that.”

  “No. We will fight with you. Nobody should have that burden,” Captain Morris of The Christensen said.

  The only thought in his head was to keep Ann safe. The Christensen was her home and he would not let the fight come to her.

  “I’m sorry, Captain Morris. I must agree with Captain Jameson,” he said. “There is no point putting more lives at risk than we need to. Whatever defense we can mount won’t be enough. We’ll be lucky to dent them. For precautions we’ve been accelerating at a slow pace since leaving The Hub. Currently our engines are at thirty percent capability. If you increase your speed—precautions be damned— to one hundred you may get far enough ahead. There is only a minimal safety risk in increasing your speed so quickly. It’d be much safer than sticking around here. We’re lucky tha
t if we stay on course we’ll still intersect with Venus’ orbit. Once you reach the planet perhaps you can hide behind it and remain undetected.”

  “While we all respect what you accomplished on Earth, you are not in command here Mr. Donovan. Let the captains vote,” Captain Morris said.

  The other captains murmured their agreement at the suggestion.

  “Who is in favor of falling back and assisting The Hawking?” Captain Reed of The Einstein asked.

  Only Morris and Reed raised their hands.

  “Very well then. Good luck, Jameson. If you change your mind do not hesitate to signal for help. We will be there,” Captain Reed said.

  “When you get to Venus, if the coast is clear, resume course to Proxima. No need to wait on us. We may be out of communication range by that time anyway. Enter the Big Sleep and be on your way. We will see you at Proxima,” Jameson said.

  The other four captains wished them good luck and ended their video call. Liam, Percy, and Jameson collectively nodded in silent agreement.

  Jameson announced to the room, “I want our speed reduced to twenty percent capability. Let’s put some space between us and the rest of our fleet.”

  “Aye, sir,” a young female officer said from the rear of the bridge.

  “Liam,” Jameson said, “I’d like you to stay, please. Your voice is important. I need you here.”

  “I was about to head back to my room. You’re in command here, sir.”

  “I know. I’m asking you to remain. I’m not so stubborn I won’t listen to outside views if the situation calls for it.”

  “Thank you, sir. I’ll stay here.”

  Ann, Ray, and Salena were left speechless after watching the failed nuclear attack on the wall-screen in Ann’s room. When the lights began turning on through the windows, Ann turned to look at Ray and Salena and noticed them holding hands—both looked frightened, Salena visibly trembling. Seeing them together like that made her wish Liam was with her now more than ever.