Magwave (The Rorschach Explorer Missions Book 2)

by K Patrick Donoghue

  “I feel something pushing against my chest,” Kiera said. “It feels good.”

  Morgan and Ajay indicated they felt it as well.

  And then Kiera gasped just as a new thought entered Carillo’s mind. “Friends. We are friends.”

  Carillo opened her eyes — and gasped herself. The glowing golden light now pulsing in front of her was much larger than the other UMOs they’d encountered — closer to softball-sized than golf-ball-sized — and had no UMO escort buzzing around her. This was not the alpha Carillo had communicated with earlier or the BLUMO queen she’d seen in a vision. It was the Callisto queen.

  Carillo formed a new thought. “We are scared. Free us.”

  The image of the black ship on Callisto flashed through her mind along with the queen’s reply. “They have come.”

  “Stop. Free us.” Carillo concentrated her mental energy on creating an image of Jupiter. “Too close. It will hurt us. We are scared. Let them come here.”

  The queen’s gold light began to flicker. “I will tell them.”

  “Tell them what?” Ajay asked. “I heard her side of the exchange, but I didn’t hear yours.”

  Carillo swiveled her chair to face him. “I told her if we get too close to Jupiter, it will hurt us. I asked her to stop pushing us.”

  “I’d like to pose a question to her,” Kiera said.

  “Go for it.”

  Kiera frowned as if forcing her mind to formulate a thought. The queen flickered, and her answer followed. “Help your kind.”

  “Whoa, that was bad-ass,” Kiera said. “I just talked with a frickin’ alien!”

  “What did you ask?” Ajay said.

  “I asked her why they had come.”

  “Ask her why they want to help us,” Ajay said.

  “Do it yourself,” Kiera said. “It’s easy. Just think of your question, but keep it short and sweet. And for heaven’s sake, don’t say ‘Roger dodger’ when she answers you.”

  That got a laugh from everyone.

  Ajay closed his eyes and asked his question. “Why help us?” he said.

  “Uh, Ajay?” said Kiera. “You think it, you don’t say it.”

  The answer from the queen pushed into their minds. “Not help you. Help each other.”

  “You were saying?” Ajay said to Kiera.

  She smiled. “I stand corrected.”

  Carillo couldn’t help but notice how relaxed everyone had become in the presence of the Callisto queen. Everyone, that is, but Morgan. He was intently working his keyboard while studying his monitors.

  “Paul,” she said, “are you going to join the conversation?”

  Morgan turned to her. “We’re slowing down, Julia. The UMOs aren’t behind us anymore, they’re underneath the ship. I don’t know how they’re doing it, but they’re pulling on us somehow.”

  “That’s weird. I don’t feel a thing.”

  “Me neither,” said Ajay.

  “Make it a threesome,” Kiera added. “Er…let me rephrase that.”

  More laughter ensued.

  “Oh, there’s no way you’re living that one down!” Ajay said.

  She grinned. “Hey, what happens in the asteroid belt stays in the asteroid belt. Capiche?”

  “Fat chance, sista. I’ve got it on video and audio.”

  “You what?”

  “I’m recording this to send back home.”

  The banter was interrupted by a thought from the Callisto queen. “They are coming. They are near.”

  CHAPTER 16: BUMPY RIDE

  Mission Control Room

  A3rospace Industries Command and Control Center

  Mayaguana Island, The Bahamas

  September 6, 2019

  “How the hell did WNN get a copy of the photo?” Dante fumed. “Who told them about Cetus Prime?”

  “Don’t look at me, Dr. Fulton, I’m just the messenger,” Mark Myers said.

  “Well it pisses me off!” Dante yelled. His voice carried through Mission Control, silencing conversations. “The leaks have to stop! Do you hear me? Whoever is doing this, you have to stop!”

  Some people nodded. Others glared. A few ignored the mission director and continued their work.

  But Norris Preston hopped out of his seat and shouted back, “It’s none of us, damn it! We’re busting our asses, Dante. Most of us haven’t showered or slept in three days! Quit pointing fingers!”

  “It’s NASA. It’s gotta be NASA,” another controller said.

  Other voices joined in.

  “Or someone at headquarters.”

  “Maybe WNN’s hacked our network.”

  “Or they’re intercepting our satellite traffic.”

  Amato looked over the frustrated, angry faces. Some were glaring at him instead of Dante. He stepped up beside his mission director and raised his hand to call for everyone’s attention.

  “Look, it’s a regrettable situation,” he said. “One that I’m responsible for creating. If I’d been more open with the press, they wouldn’t feel such a strong need to ferret out information.”

  “Then why won’t you talk with them?” Preston demanded. “They’re making us sound like buffoons. They’re making you sound like a madman.”

  “Watch it, Norris,” Dante said.

  “No, he makes valid points, Dante,” Amato said. “Everyone, gather round.”

  As the entire staff of the Mission Control came over to him, he opened his collar and loosened his tie halfway down his chest. Then he leaned on his cane and bowed his head. “I am truly sorry for putting you all in this situation. I confess I’ve been overwhelmed by the totality of what’s happened. Every time I’ve thought of speaking to the press, something else has gone wrong, and I’ve become so immersed in trying to understand what to make of it all, I’ve felt reluctant to say anything.”

  He lifted his head and looked into the eyes of his team members. “I will remedy that now. But I need you to do something for me…something more, I should say. You’ve already given so much of yourselves.

  “We can’t afford to allow outside pressures to distract us. We can’t fight with each other or point fingers. Our friends on Rorschach are counting on us. To get them home, we need to stay focused. Don’t worry about the leaks. Don’t worry what outsiders are saying or thinking. I will take care of that. You have my word.”

  Hangar-2

  A3rospace Industries Command and Control Center

  Mayaguana Island, The Bahamas

  September 7, 2019

  On the high-altitude balloon launch apron outside Hangar-2 stood two of Amato’s twelve-foot-tall, domed launch delivery vehicles. Inside them, the Shield CubeSats were ready to ascend into orbit as soon as their balloon platforms were attached. The multi-staged LDVs would be carried high into the atmosphere by the balloons and then released. From there, the staged engines would propel the LDVs into low Earth orbit, the shell casing around the CubeSats would fall away, and Kiera’s VLF engines would push the Shields through high Earth orbit and onto the Rorschach Explorer. If the mission team was lucky, a cluster of UMOs flitting around in Earth’s ionosphere would gather behind the engines to feed on their electromagnetic output and boost the spacecraft’s velocity.

  Milling around the vehicles were more than two hundred reporters, camera operators and sound specialists, all of them waiting for Amato’s press conference to begin. Among them were Jenna Toffy and Nigel Ewing — and neither was faring well in the blustery and humid conditions. The ocean winds flowing over the sand dunes surrounding the launch apron twisted their coifs into snarling morasses, and the blazing morning sun melted their makeup and coated their faces with sweat. Production assistants fanned the two anchors while others shielded them with umbrellas.

  They were in the midst of delivering live updates when the hangar doors began to slide open. Their camera operators panned to catch the first glimpses inside the bay. The mass of journalists and support personnel pushed forward.

  The walls of the bay were lin
ed with more LDVs, six on each side, and standing in two long rows in front of the vessels were dozens of Amato’s technicians, all dressed in the same black-and-gold flight suits worn by the Rorschach crew. The men and women responsible for assembling and preparing the LDVs for launch looked upon the press with expressions ranging from scorn to resolve.

  As the media walked into the bay, the only sounds were their footsteps, the snapping of camera shutters, the whoosh of overhead air conditioning vents and the echo of distant waves. The LDVs sparkled, their domes covered with magic-marker-inscribed well wishes to the Rorschach crew from the technicians and the Mission Control team.

  But the oohs and ahhs started as soon as the outer hangar doors closed behind the reporters and an inner hangar door began to open at the far end of the bay. For inside the inner hangar, positioned with its starboard side facing the oncoming crowd, towered the fully assembled RE2. The gleaming spacecraft filled three quarters of the football-field-sized bay.

  Amato stood at a podium set on the bay floor amidships of RE2. He was alone. A dozen off-duty personnel from Mission Control were spaced out along the catwalk above and, off to the side, near the elevators leading to the heart of the command center, another forty A3I staff had congregated.

  In front of Amato, rows of chairs had been set up for the press. Mark Myers marshaled the journalists into seats while another member of the Mayaguana team directed camera operators and sound crews to a spot to set up their gear. The LDV crews filed in and stood behind the chairs. The inner bay doors closed, and at nine a.m. EDT, Amato began the conference.

  “Good morning and welcome,” he said. “I will make a brief statement and then take your questions.”

  As Amato began his statement, radio waves carrying a message from the Rorschach Explorer were passed by A3I’s tracking and relay satellite to Mayaguana’s satellite dishes and then into Mission Control’s computer system.

  CDR-TRE to MAYA-FLIGHT: TRE all-stop. Communication with UMOs successful. Awaiting arrival of spacecraft photographed in the Nuada crater. Will have video and audio rolling to record the link-up. Wish us luck. CDR-TRE out.

  Crew galley — the Rorschach Explorer

  Drifting at all-stop in the asteroid belt

  September 7, 2019

  In follow-up exchanges with the Callisto queen, the crew had learned the alien spacecraft would not rendezvous with Rorschach for several hours, which gave the crew an opportunity to return to their cabins for a few hours of much-needed sleep. Morgan had first tended to Shilling in the med bay. The scientist was still unconscious, but his vital signs had improved, and following the instructions transmitted by the flight surgeon, Morgan had administered additional medication and refreshed Shilling’s IVs.

  Now, awakening to feel at least somewhat rested, Morgan returned to the med bay, this time to attend to Carillo. He helped with a modest-as-possible sponge bath, changed her burn dressings and gave her another dose of pain medication.

  Finally, he tended to himself. He showered, changed into a fresh flight suit, and went to the galley to get something to eat.

  Ajay, Kiera and Carillo were already there, and all of them had spiffed up their appearance for the historic meeting as well. Morgan was beyond relieved to discover that Kiera had recovered partial vision, and she was no longer wearing her blindfold. Everything was blurry, she said, but she could detect light, shapes and movement, and it had clearly improved her mood.

  Carillo sipped on a pouch of water. “Sure wish we had some more of your mai tais, Paul. I’m nervous as hell.”

  “It’s probably the morphine making you feel that way,” he said.

  “You’re not nervous?”

  “Who? Me?” Morgan smiled. “Nah.”

  “If Skywalker’s not nervous, then neither am I,” said Ajay.

  “Oh, really? Then why is your leg shaking?” Kiera asked.

  “My leg’s not shaking.”

  “I wasn’t talking to you. I was talking to Skywalker.” She turned and smiled at Morgan. “Still can’t see for shit, but I can feel vibrations just fine.”

  Morgan laughed. “Okay, I’m a wee bit nervous.”

  “A wee bit?”

  “All right. I’m petrified. Happy?” He rose from the table and turned to leave the galley.

  Carillo said, “Hey, come back here. She didn’t mean anything.”

  He turned around and winked. “I just have to go get something. Be right back.”

  When he returned, he carried a gallon-sized pouch filled with a goldish fluid.

  Carillo’s jaw dropped. “You stinker. You’ve been holding out on us!”

  Morgan patted the bottle. “Emergency reserve.”

  He tugged the pouch’s straw to break the seal, then handed it to Carillo. “Make me proud.”

  As Carillo drew in sips of the giant mai tai, Kiera said, “I can hear you, Major. Leave some for the rest of us!”

  Carillo laughed and guided the pouch into Kiera’s hands. “Can’t wait to tell this story to my children. Humans’ first contact with alien humanoids, and here I am making a cocktail out of morphine and mai tais.”

  After two generous tugs on the straw, Kiera said, “Seriously, we should switch out of the flight suits and meet them in our Hawaiian shirts.” As she held out the pouch for Ajay to take, she waggled her free hand, thumb and pinky extended. “Mahalo, Elroy.”

  “Mahalo,” Ajay said. He accepted the pouch and sipped. Pulling back from the straw, he turned to Morgan. “How are we going to communicate with them?”

  Morgan shrugged. “Beats me. Maybe the queen will show up again and act as a translator.”

  “That makes sense,” Kiera said. “And Ajay, just do me a favor. For the love of Pete, don’t say live long and prosper.”

  Ajay was the first one to laugh, but Morgan laughed the hardest.

  The pouch made another round trip before it landed back in Ajay’s hands. He took a sip and posed another question. “What do you think the queen meant? When I asked her why the Callistons want to help us, she said they want us to help each other.”

  “I took that to mean they want to help all humans,” Carillo said.

  “Really?” said Kiera. “I thought she was saying the aliens want to help us, and they want us to help them.”

  Morgan snagged the pouch from Ajay. “Who says the aliens are Callistons?”

  “Excuse me?” Kiera asked.

  “We all received the same mental images. And the queen never showed us an image of the aliens.”

  “True, but, come on, who else could it be?” Kiera said.

  “Maybe it’s the mai tais talking,” Morgan said, holding the pouch aloft before passing it to Carillo, “but Mayaguana said the aliens destroyed Cetus Prime — and I’m having a hard time understanding why the Callistons would do that. It’s been gathering ice on Callisto for twenty-four years. Why is it all of a sudden a problem?”

  “Maybe they didn’t know about it until they came back,” Ajay said.

  Carillo took a sip and handed the pouch to Kiera. “I think Ajay’s right. They come back, find one of their ships missing. They see Cetus Prime in the same crater and put two and two together. They get pissed and wreck it.”

  “But if that’s what happened, why did the queen say they want to help us?” Kiera asked.

  No one had an answer. When Kiera passed the pouch to Ajay, he placed it on the table and looked around at his crewmates. “I felt the queen was sincere. I believe she’s telling us the truth.”

  Morgan smoothed his Fu Manchu with one hand and patted Ajay’s shoulder with the other. “I felt ohana, too. Let’s hope she wasn’t bullshitting us.” He scooped up the pouch. There was about a third of a gallon left. He walked to the refrigerator, stored it, then turned back to the others. “Okay. Everybody up.”

  He led them to the med bay, positioned them in a circle around Shilling and ordered them to hold hands. Morgan held one of Shilling’s hands and Kiera held the other, including Shilling in the
circle.

  Morgan then bowed his head. “I don’t know who or what you worship and I don’t care, but join me in a prayer.

  “Of our own free will we chose to embark on this journey. Let us be strong and show whomever we meet the very best of who we can be. Don’t let fear take hold of us. Help us to be good to one another and to them. Amen.”

  With heads bowed, the crew squeezed each other’s hands and echoed Morgan’s closing.

  When they opened their eyes, the Callisto queen was among them. “They are here.”

  Flight deck — the Rorschach Explorer

  Drifting at all-stop in the asteroid belt

  At a distance, the black ship looked like a smooth rock, the kind you might pick up and skip across the still surface of a lake.

  “Get the cameras on it, Julia. Activate all our instruments except spectrometers,” Morgan said.

  “Roger that.”

  “Ajay, start recording audio on all channels,” Morgan said.

  “We’re moving again. Magnetometer is off the scale,” Carillo said.

  There were several uncomfortable jerks on Rorschach.

  “Feels like wind turbulence,” Morgan said.

  Kiera leaned her face close to her monitors and squinted with one eye. “How cool is that!”

  “What?” Morgan asked.

  “They’re using magnetism to pull us closer to them. It’s like they’ve created an envelope around us. It honest to God looks like a cupped hand pulling on us.”

  Morgan pulled up the magnetometer’s display at his station. Kiera’s description was apt. Tentacles of magnetic flow arced around an open gap at the center.

  Carillo looked up at the flickering UMO queen hovering above her station. “Ajay, you picking up anything on comms?”

  “Definitely on VLF. Just static on UHF and X-band. Retuning HF…uh…yep, looks like we’re picking up chirps, too.”

  “Pipe in the VLF,” Morgan said.

  “Roger dodger.”

  The cabin intercom clicked on to reveal a lively conversation ongoing between the queen and ship. Long, lazy wails intermingled with short bursts of clicks.