“Those sons of bitches had force fields!” Ray said, breaking the tense silence. “No other explanation.”
“How arrogant we were to think we could do this to them,” Ann said. “We tried to kill who knows how many of them. They think we’re killers.”
“If they were here to be friendly, I bet we changed their minds.”
“We still don’t know anything. They might not even know what hit them yet,” Salena chimed in. “Maybe they think they ran into an asteroid or something.”
“That’s assuming they didn’t have anybody monitoring what was going on outside their ships. That’s a pretty big if, Salena,” Ray said.
A loud voice penetrated the room coming from the intercom speaker on the ceiling. The voice informed everyone to tune into channel zero-one on their wall-screens for updates on the alien attack. Salena was first to reach the remote off the table and entered the channel number which displayed a readout of the state of the ship including speed, trajectory, and any messages from the captain. A ticker at the bottom of the screen read:
Our nuclear attack has failed and it seems whatever is inside the alien ships has awoken. It has been decided through a vote among the five captains that The Hawking will stay behind while us and the other three ships increase our speed. The Hawking will attempt to defend an attack for as long as it takes for us to escape. Our thoughts and prayers reach out to the 25,000 people on board the ship.
The speed displayed began to increase.
“No! Liam!” Ann scrambled for her cell and called him. No answer. She texted:
You can’t be staying behind. I need you here, with me!
“It’s alright, Ann. I bet nothing will even happen,” Ray said. “They’re not going to come after five ships a few hundred thousand miles away. Why waste time on us when they got a whole planet in front of them? Liam will be fine. He survived a tour in Africa!”
She only stared down at her cell waiting for a text back. It was Salena who spoke up. “I don’t think that’s the same thing, Ray. This is much different.”
“I know,” he sighed. “But he’ll be okay. We’ll all be okay.”
Without saying a word, she shot up from the table and stormed out the door. Ray tried to rush after her, but Salena held him back telling him to let her leave.
She didn’t know where to go; she just knew she had to get out of that cramped room. She was suffocating in there with two other people. Fear tugged at her from all directions pulling her apart. She didn’t need their vague attempts at reinforcing hope. She knew that Liam’s ship wouldn’t stand a chance in a fight. There was hope before, but it vanished when the blinding light of the nuclear explosion dimmed to show three undying vessels, harboring God-knows-what inside them, floating in space like nothing happened. They were throwing nails against wood hoping one might stick without a hammer.
As she walked, she constantly checked her cell—still no message back from Liam. He was avoiding her. She knew this and resented him for it. If he was going to stay back and die the least he could do was say goodbye. When she looked up she realized she was in a part of the ship she had never been in. There was an exercise gym to her right and a swimming pool on the left. A retractable cover was still over the pool to keep the water contained when the gravity was turned off. She kept walking, passing another cafeteria and more private quarters, until suddenly she realized she was standing in a makeshift town square. There were clothing stores, salons, a doctor’s office, and several more shops. A few people wandered around, others sat on benches, reading tablets, and a couple were actually eating ice cream. Several more came out of the stores holding shopping bags—oblivious to the turn of events outside the ship.
The normalcy of what she was seeing drove her mad. How could these people be in such an environment without a care in the world? It wasn’t fair! Her world started spinning. Slowly at first, then faster, until she dropped down to her knees. She couldn’t take it anymore. Her hands gripped the turf beneath her in a vain attempt to steady herself against the dizzying sensation she was experiencing. Her eyes shut tight as she fought down the urge to vomit.
A man ran to her aid attempting to put an arm around her to calm her down. She began crying and rocking back and forth kneeling on the ground. When she realized the man was there she threw him off her and began screaming at the crowd that grew around her.
“Get away from me! How can you all be so calm? Don’t look at me like I’m crazy! Do you even know what is happening?!”
“Ma’am, please,” the same man began. “Let me help you sta—”
“No! Just stay away!”
Her eyes flooded with tears, she crawled a few feet away to a nearby fake tree and managed to pull herself up. She steadied herself on the trunk to catch her breath, her mind was swimming. The crowd failed to dissipate as she wished and still stared at her unsure of what to do or say. From the corner of her eye she noticed a middle-aged woman attempting to approach.
“Please. Just leave me alone.”
“My name is Julie. I only want to help you. What’s wrong, dear?” the woman asked.
“What’s wrong with me? What’s wrong with all of you?”
“Come. There’s a bench just there. Let’s sit.”
She flinched when the woman came near, her eyes aimed down taking in the unnatural green of the turf. The woman placed a hand on her shoulder. She shot a look at the stranger, causing the woman to back away a step or two. Noticing she just scared this poor woman who was only trying to help caused a new floodgate of tears to stream down. She reached out to the woman allowing her to assist her to the bench. The crowd kept to a safe distance in case she acted out again.
Julie helped her sit down and placed a hand on her back.
“Do you really not know what’s going on?” she asked the woman.
“No. I work in that clothing store over there. The intercom system in town square has been down for a few days. If there was an announcement none of us here would have heard it. I think the system is actually down in this entire sector of the ship.”
She nodded to show she understood. These poor people didn’t even know that at this very second there could be warships with their sights aimed on them ready to extinguish their very existence.
“The nukes—they failed,” she said. People in the crowd put their hands over their mouths with a gasp, others shook their heads, some whispered to themselves in disbelief. Julie held strong looking at her and urged her to continue.
“The ships became active right after we hit them. Lights started turning on. We made them mad. The Hawking is staying behind to give us a fighting chance. Twenty-five thousand people on board might be dying for us to live. My boyfr—” she stopped, unable to continue.
Julie pulled her into a hug and the two embraced. She rocked and Julie began crying. Some of the crowd immediately ran off, others checked their cells for missed calls or texts. The botanist and the shopkeeper, two complete strangers on a monstrous life raft, comforted each other in the midst of yet another human crisis threatening to unfold.
“They’re picking up speed, Captain,” officer Roberts said on the bridge. “With our deceleration the gap between us and the rest of the fleet has increased another five thousand miles.”
There had been no developments with the alien fleet since the lights turned on twenty minutes ago. With each passing minute cautious optimism blossomed steadily in the hearts and minds of those working the bridge. Liam was even starting to think they might get out of this without firing a shot.
He made himself useful by checking the data from automated systems throughout the ship. He was able to access this data from a single computer that displayed every possible readout from every possible system wired into the network. So far all seemed to be running as designed.
Minutes rushed by on the clock. Soon it was thirty minutes after the lights came on, then an hour. People began to smile for the first time since the trails of fire were spotted shooting up from the Earth’s surface over
three hours ago on their ill-fated collision path. At the two hour mark their fates changed forever.
A woman named Stacy Rednour was assigned to watch the satellite monitor displaying the three ships. Jameson had only minutes ago retired to the captain’s quarters to review possible next steps. Stacy grew tired watching the monitors. There were still no signals coming from the ships. Her eyelids began to droop closed. It had been twenty hours since she last slept and the adrenalin from the nuke attack left her exasperated. She let her eyelids fall. Seconds later one of the three ships began breaking rank and turning itself toward The Hawking.
It was at this time that officer Brian Carlson walked by Stacy’s station. If he had glanced at the monitors first he would have noticed the turning ship, but he didn’t. Instead he looked down disapprovingly at Stacy and tapped her on the shoulder startling her awake. She apologized repeatedly. Carlson assured it was okay and continued on his way. By the time her eyes fell on the monitor the rogue ship had entirely disappeared from the frame.
She checked the monitor and it took her three crucial seconds to notice what was wrong. Panic went through her like fire. She looked around for Jameson, but he still hadn’t returned.
“Mr. Donovan!” she shouted, after seeing him sitting alone reading diagnostic reports.
Liam looked around to find the one who called for him. He spotted her and immediately recognized the panic stricken look etched on her face. This put him in a hurry and he ran over to her, zig-zagging through other crew members.
“Officer—” he began.
“Rednour, sir.”
“What’s the problem, Officer Rednour?”
“One of the ships, sir. It’s missing. I only see two on the monitor.”
He looked for himself. Sure enough.
“What happened?”
“I—I don’t know...”
He turned his attention to the room.
“Everyone!” he spoke loudly so they could all hear him. “I was just informed one of the ships has gone missing. Find it. Now!”
Every mode of detection was being checked from radar to infrared. He left the bridge leaving a hive of confusion behind him as he ran to find the captain.
Jameson’s quarters was the only other room at the top of the spire. All other crew members lived down in the main part of the ship—a twenty story elevator ride away. Liam ran the fifty feet between the bridge and the captain’s door. He knocked hard. On the fourth knock the door swooshed open horizontally. He charged inside taking in the environment. Both the captain’s desk and his chairs were vacant. Instead, Jameson stood at the far wall entering variables into a computer to find the best route to Venus. Percy noticed the commotion and followed him into the room.
“A ship is missing,” he blurted out.
“Ours? Which one?” Percy asked.
Jameson calmly walked toward them as they remained standing in his entrance.
“No,” Jameson said. “I can see it in your eyes. One of theirs has vanished.”
“Yes. The crew is searching on radar and infrar—”
The entire ship shook as if in an earthquake that only lasted a second or two. Percy fell forward landing hard on the steel floor—He and Jameson held the nearest wall for balance. Nobody said a word while they turned and bolted to the bridge.
In his time of being alive he thought he’d seen it all. Rushing to that bridge and witnessing a ship so enormous it blocked out the entire rear side windows caused his heart to skip a beat. The missing ship covered the distance between them of over two hundred thousand miles in seconds.
Chapter 13
“WERE WE HIT?” Jameson asked the room.
“No, sir. I—I’m not sure what happened,” Roberts answered.
“To get here that fast they must have travelled at a more rapid speed than we’d been observing them,” Liam said.
“Our weapons are hot!” officer Jim Crouch announced.
Jameson walked coolly to the rear window leaving Liam and Percy behind at the doorway. From his vantage point the entire rear half of the ship was visible extending two hundred feet below him from the bottom of the spire. He estimated the enemy ship kept pace a thousand feet behind The Hawking.
Noise shrilled through the overhead speakers. It sounded like static, but a kind none of them had heard before. With hands on their ears they looked around for answers checking every instrument and were unable to isolate the problem. Finally, Liam was able to access the intercom system and shut it down. Before they had a chance to voice their confusion another wave of distraction hit them from all sides. Each and every one of the viewing monitors on the bridge cut to a black screen. Seconds later digital static flashed sporadically on all the screens.
“What the hell is going on?” Percy asked, joining Liam in front of the largest screen in the room.
“Beats the shit out of me,” was all Liam could think to say. He hustled around the room checking every monitor.
The digital noise continued for another minute until an image briefly froze on the screen. Underneath the static was a face. Its features were barely discernible. The face was only on screen for a mere two seconds—too fast to note everything. They saw two eyes and skin that featured a light gray tone. No hair on the head. It resembled a human face, but the proportions were slightly askew and narrower than a person’s. The face disappeared and the digital noise ceased a moment later.
“Everybody just saw that, right?” officer Crouch asked from his station.
“We saw it. That was one of them,” Jameson said.
“I think they were trying to hail us,” Liam said, putting his sci-fi film knowledge to use. “They were trying to access our audio and then our video. Whatever they tried wasn’t working with our technology.”
“Captain, what do you want to—” Percy began, but he was interrupted by an officer from across the room.
“Sirs—my computer—I think they’re in my computer!”
“Mine too!” another officer shouted. Three others echoed their computers were being affected as well.
“They’re hacking us,” Jameson said.
“If they hack us they’ll know where we’re going,” Liam said. “They’ll know about Proxima!”
Jameson realized this was it. He could not allow them access to their database. With a deep breath and closed eyes he ordered: “Stand-by to fire round one of missiles. Let’s see what damage we can do. On my command. One...two...three...fire!”
Ten projectiles shot out of the weapon holds that were hastily assembled over the past few months on each side of the hull. The missiles rocketed toward their target at hundreds of miles per hour. Before they could blink the alien ship was littered with explosions. When it all cleared they could see that just as before with the nukes, there was no damage.
No shields, Liam thought. What the hell are these things made of?
“Again!” Jameson screamed, red in the face with a mix of fury and embarrassment.
The second round of missiles resulted in the same fate. Huge explosions. No damage. The aliens seemed to have gotten the message, though, and ceased their attempts at hacking the computer systems. Every eye in the room stared out the rear window bay to await what may happen next. Liam had to remind himself to breathe.
Suddenly, from underneath the alien ship, a light streaked through the blackness of space. Before they could make out what it was, The Hawking swayed violently, dropping everyone who was standing to the floor. Liam’s head slammed into the corner of a desk. Blood gushed from his open wound above his right eye.
“Shit!” he yelled. Once he was able, he pulled himself back up by the same corner that came within an inch of blinding him. He glared at Jameson—blood dripped from his forehead down to his cheek. Jameson detected a look that was clearly questioning his ability to lead their crew.
Jameson shook it off. “Damage?” he asked.
Officer Roberts answered. “None—no damage, sir. At least not to the exterior.”
“What?” Percy asked. How could there be no damage?
“Sir, it appears the—whatever it was—discharged an energy burst that exploded at a far away enough distance to rattle us, but not damage us,” officer Rednour said.
“There are a few systems offline. I’m working on rebooting,” an officer said hidden behind a row of computers.
The standoff between the two ships continued with nobody firing a shot. Jameson instructed the crew to accelerate their speed. The alien ship matched them. They slowed down, again the other ship matched.
Ten minutes after the last shot was fired, a small vessel appeared from the side of the alien ship. The crew followed the tiny craft as it swung around and headed to The Hawking’s rear starboard docking bay. It hovered at the entrance as if waiting to be let in.
Without a word, Liam turned and walked to the elevators. As he waited for one of the doors to open, Percy joined him.
“You can’t be considering letting it board.”
“Yes. But don't tell Jameson. He wouldn't go for this and I expect he'll try to stop me once he figures it out. I have a plan, Percy. Do you trust me?”
“You know I do. But if I'm going to lie to a superior officer I better have a damn good reason. What do you have in mind?”
He laid out the plan that he just formulated in his mind. He had the feeling that he'd be improvising most of it.
“You’re crazy,” Percy told him.
“Yeah, maybe. Just keep Jameson distracted.”
“I think our new friends are doing that for me. Good luck, Liam.”
The elevator door opened. The duo exchanged a brief nod and handshake as the door closed between them. The plan was insane, he had to admit. It came to him in a flash as soon as he saw the alien craft head toward their docking bay. He knew it wouldn’t leave until it was let in. Everything depended on that craft coming inside.
Back on The Christensen, Julie helped Ann up from the bench they’d been sharing for the past hour. Ann had opened up to this woman, a complete stranger, about her fears and the person she held the most concern for.
Proxima Page 12
