Then he could see the transporter, it was larger than the one in orbit around Earth. He was awed at the technological might of such a device that could fold the universe like a napkin. Then they were shrinking, the titanic forces of time, space, and matter all pushing him into a pinpoint, a microscopic blip, before the forces reversed and he experienced his own personal Big Bang back into existence. As soon as they were clear of the gate, Norixum spoke.
“We will begin our descent back to your world soon,” he said optimistically.
Daniel stood and moved quickly, his emotions warring inside of him. Fear, resolve, anger, guilt, pity, and determination all mingled to form a seething fury. Daniel snatched the little alien off his cushion and slammed him into the floor of the shuttle. Daniel’s mind seemed to rattle, but he was now an unstoppable force. He quickly wrapped Norixum’s trunk around his left hand, controlling it completely. It felt exactly like a large trout writhing in his hand in its struggle to return to the water. Daniel pressed his left knee over Norixum’s small legs and held him firmly in place. They had no tools or weapons, and so he used his bare hand, hoping that he would not damage the neuro amplifiers.
“I’m sorry,” Daniel said, then he tugged at the eye covering.
There was a ripping sound, part fabric, part flesh, and the translator unit emitted a horrific scream. The cabin door slid open and another alien rushed into the room. He held a weapon in his hand, ready to fire, but Jason was waiting. He kicked the alien so hard that the little being flew into the bulkhead and fell into a crumpled heap, not moving. Jason retrieved the weapon, it was a small, slender gun with an oddly shaped grip obviously designed to be held by a Tolligark’s trunk.
Norixum was writhing, his trunk was spitting the acid-like substance that he used to consume his food. A little had splashed onto Daniel’s sleeve, which was smoking.
“You better get that off,” Jason said. “It could burn right through you,”
Daniel ripped off the other eye covering and stared for a moment at the tiny eyes beneath. The skin was white and shriveled where the neuro amplifier had been. The eyes were large and milky, with only a hint of grayish color at their center. The buzzing in Daniel’s mind stopped instantly, and he was sure they were now in control of the shuttle. He stood and pulled the shirt off; it was a long sleeved, button down shirt, and he was wearing a plain white t-shirt underneath. The acid-like substance had not yet burned its way through the cotton, but the area on Daniel’s arm was red as if it had been sunburned.
“Your brain itching?” Daniel said. He was convinced now that Norixum could not hear or understand him at all. While the Tolligarks had developed an advanced use of telepathy, they had grown dependent on their neuro amplifiers.
“Nope, not at all.”
“Alright, get the eye coverings off that one, and let’s see if we can fly this ship.”
Daniel walked into the cockpit of the shuttle, which was simply a small room with a plain chair, Tolligarkian-sized, it looked like a stool to Daniel. There were no controls, only large, glass-like panels that allowed the pilot to see out. Daniel sat on the stool and raised the eye covering to his good eye. Suddenly, he felt his thoughts like they were tangible, solid objects. He pressed on his idea to control the ship, and a dazzling array of computer-like images flashed like a scrolling feed through the lower portion of his neuro amplifier. They were descending toward Earth entry. Daniel willed the shuttle to move toward the space station and immediately the craft changed course.
“Seems like you’re doing something right,” Jason said.
“You just think what you want it to do. Did you get all that about the data reader?”
“Yup, got it. How do these things work?” Jason said as he raised the eye coverings to his own eyes. “Whoa!” he said. “That’s amazing.”
“Yeah, sit down here while I get you the data chip.”
“Wait a second,” Jason said. “Why are you giving me the data chip? I know you’re not thinking about being a hero.”
“No, but someone’s got to send that station and transporter back to Tolligark.”
“Can’t we just turn it on, point it in the right direction, and then escape on the shuttle?”
“No, didn’t you hear Coolique say that there’s a manual override that has to be operated on the space station?”
“Alright, then I’ll do it. You’re too valuable—”
But Daniel cut him off. He had made up his mind and there was no changing it now.
“Listen, Jason,” Daniel said, looking him in the eye. “We both know that we’re expendable, I’m no more important than any other person down there. But this is my decision and my responsibility. You’ve got people down there, I don’t. I gave that up when I took on this role.”
“Don’t be crazy, Daniel,” Jason’s voice was high with stress. “You’ve led us through all this and kept us going. We won’t make it without you, man.”
“Yes you will,” Daniel said softly. “You’ve got the data, all you need to wake up the plague victims. You can have a life with Dakota.” At this Daniel saw his friend give in. He was willing to die, he had been trained to, but there was a spark in him now, a reason to live. “I’m doing this, so get in there and fly this ship. And don’t you dare crash and kill yourself. Earth’s got maybe 400 years to get ready if we pull this off. If not, we’re lost.”
He didn’t wait for an answer, but returned to the cabin and sat down. He pulled his eye plate off and removed the data chip. Norixum had pulled himself together now. He was bleeding around his milky eyes from where the coverings had pulled free, but it was only a minor injury. He was looking at Daniel, watching him.
Daniel raised his neuro amplifier and thought, “Can you hear me?”
Norixum nodded, but made no sound.
“I’m sorry we had to hurt you, Norixum, but we could not let you take control of Earth. You’ll not be hurt anymore if you cooperate, do you understand?”
Norixum nodded.
“Then see to your pilot, and then I suggest you strap in. I doubt Jason’s landing will be very smooth.”
There was a slight jolt as the shuttle docked with the station. Daniel didn’t hesitate as the door to the airlock slid open. The cockpit door was open as well. He grabbed the data reader and pulled out the data chip with the translated Tolligarkian history on it and tossed it aside. A pained look crossed Norixum’s face, which surprised Daniel. He wasn’t used to being able read the alien’s nonverbal communication. He inserted the data chip that Coolique had given him and saw the contents flash up. The lines were gibberish, and he was struck with fear that the data was damaged or unreadable. Then he lifted the neuro amplifier and looked again at the data reader; the screen was still unreadable, but as he looked at the data, it came into his mind, clear and orderly. It was as if the knowledge and understanding contained on the disk was a liquid which was being poured into his mind. There was a deep satisfaction as he drank it all in, and finally, he had to pull himself away from the alien wonders.
“You’ll need to use the eye coverings to read this,” Daniel said. He handed the data reader to Jason, along with Norixum’s second neuro amplifier. “I only need one,” he said smiling.
“Take care of yourself,” Jason said. “I’ve served with generals and heroes, but I’ve never known anyone more courageous. It’s been an honor, Mr. President.”
“The honor is mine,” Daniel said. “Tell Scott I’m sorry I had to go, but I know things are in good hands with him in charge. And I wish him all the happiness in the world.”
“I will. Anything else?”
“If you ever see Lana again,” Daniel’s voice cracked. He almost couldn’t make himself say the words. “Tell her I love her and I’ll always love her. Tell her if she hadn’t left, I wouldn’t have been able to do what I had to do. She was the best part of my life.”
Daniel’s eye was full of tears, his ruined eye socket ran freely, too.
“I will, my friend. I’ll
tell her. I’ll never forget.”
“Thanks,” Daniel said, then he turned and walked into the station.
Chapter 42
When the doors closed behind him and Daniel stepped into the long hallway of the docking arms, he was struck with panic. He didn’t know where to go or what to do. Were there aliens waiting to attack him? He didn’t know, but his chest felt as if it was being squeezed by a giant vice, the pain was intense, he couldn’t breathe. He fell to his knees and lowered his head between his knees. The panic attack passed, but it left Daniel stunned. He wasn’t sure if he could go through with this all alone. Some small part of his brain was signaling him, like a warning light flashing on a computer console, it repeated the same message over and over. Get up, keep moving, finish the job.
He staggered to his knees, then his feet. He leaned against the wall and took several deep breaths. He had a job to do, so he focused on the task. He made a mental to-do list: find the command deck, secure the command deck, move the station toward the transporter, disable the gravitational shields, trigger the transporter and hope for the best.
He lifted the neuro amplifier to his eye and thought of the command deck. Without a sound or word, Daniel suddenly knew where he needed to go. He went down the long tube toward the station proper. The command deck was in the center of the station, and it took several minutes at a jog to circumvent the large, empty hangar. Once he made his way to the service lift, he used the eye covering to operate the lift. There was a short hallway, with the lift at one end, the command deck on the other. There were large windows looking down into the hangars on either side of the hallway. To Daniel’s right was the empty hangar, to the left was the working station for what appeared to be a company of fighting ships. Some were long, with large weapons that Daniel presumed to be planetary bombers, and others were smaller, sleeker, bristling with laser cannons. There was movement all around the ships, like ants when their dirt home was kicked by a curious young boy. Daniel looked through the neruo amplifier and was convinced that the ships were scrambling to intercept Jason’s shuttle.
Daniel sprinted ahead to the command deck and placed his hand on the closed doorway. It opened and he found himself face to face with two security guards. Both raised small weapons in their trunk-like hands. There were three other officers at what looked like work stations in the command deck.
Suddenly, Daniel realized his plan had a fatal flaw. He had no weapon, no way to defend himself. He had foolishly thought he could run into the command center unabated. Now he faced the truth, and wasn’t sure what to do.
The neuro amplifier was receiving the thoughts of the guards, which came across as feelings and images more than words. They were unsure what to do, and shocked at the sight of this tall alien. Daniel was glad they weren’t on the weaponized platforms the supreme commander’s guard had been on. These guards were standing on their short, stubby legs. Their weapons were small, but seemed dangerous. Daniel knelt down and thought the word friend over and over.
One guard lowered his weapon, and a feeling of relief washed over Daniel. The other guard looked unsure, but Daniel acted without hesitation. He dropped the eye covering and punched both aliens at once. He nearly missed the guard on his left, he had never been that coordinated. But the grazing blow knocked the guard off his feet. The other guard had gone sprawling, his face taking the full brunt of Daniel’s punch. The other guard was scrambling to his feet as Daniel leapt up and moved toward him. The guard raised his weapon as Daniel kicked out toward him. The weapon discharged a tiny beam of focused light that pierced Daniel’s calf muscle as he kicked. The pain was intense but did not slow the kick. The second guard went sprawling even further than the first and Daniel dropped to one knee. His leg was in agony, but his adrenaline was driving him forward. He picked up the gun and pointed it at the other three officers on the command deck.
“Close the bay doors,” he screamed, but they could not understand him. He limped over to the neuro amplifier and thought the command again. At first the officers did not move, he felt their fear and hesitation. “Kill you all,” he thought with as much malice as he could muster. It wasn’t that hard with his leg throbbing with pain.
The officers began at once, moving quickly to adjust the controls at their stations. Daniel could hear the immense door to the hangar bay closing. The fact that it seemed open to space made it obvious that some sort of electronic field was used to seal off the vacuum. Daniel could feel the thoughts of the soldiers and workers in the hangar as they wondered what in the world the officers on the command deck were doing. Why had the officers ordered them to scramble the fighters, but were now closing the bay doors?
Daniel limped to the first officer he came to and looked at him, one hand holding the neuro amplifier to his eye, the other leveling the strange weapon at the officer.
“Move those guards out of here,” he thought.
The officer scrambled to obey.
“No one else needs to get hurt,” Daniel thought as loudly as he could. He was pushing the words out and toward the consciousness of the officers, which glowed brightly. “I’m moving this station into the flux field and sending you all back to Tolligark.”
Daniel’s mental proclamation was met with puzzlement. The officers clearly didn’t know what Daniel was referring to. But he was undaunted. He watched carefully as the guards were dragged from the room. Then he ordered the officer to lock the doors. They closed, and as Daniel looked at the doors, words flashed in red across them. Daniel couldn’t read the words but their meaning poured into this mind, The bridge is secure.
“Now move the station toward the transporter,” Daniel thought.
The command deck was lined with view screens on every wall in the room. Some of them showing the space beyond the station, others looking into various areas inside the station. Daniel watched the bay doors close, the soldiers and workers looked confused. There seemed to be no idea what was going on. The aliens in the hangar weren’t sure if they were running a drill or an actual exercise. Daniel figured that the pilot of the shuttle, perhaps even Norixum himself, had sent some sort of distress signal or message, but because Daniel’s attack had happened so fast and was so unexpected, the aliens inside the space station had no clue what was really going on.
Daniel waved the laser weapon at the three officers and herded them into a corner. He had no idea if he needed them to control the station or not. He walked up to the first console and saw scrolling words and controls through the eye covering. It was merely an internal or environmental station. Daniel turned to another station and found that it controlled the orbital controls. He would need to work from here to move the station into the flux field. The third station controlled the transporter. He returned to the orbital controls and sat on the small stool-like chair. He ordered the officers to move against the wall in front of him so that he could keep an eye on them. He had seen no weapons and felt nothing but fear and meek obedience from the three.
He set the weapon on the console in front of him and looked at every instrument on the panel. It was clear that most of the controls were meant to stabilize the station, which meant that Daniel could ignore them. He thought of moving the station and placed his hand on the knobby extrusion that he took to be some type of thruster control. Daniel felt no movement, but from the images on the view screen, it was obvious that the station was moving. It was slow, but the transporter was moving nearer.
Daniel was about to turn to the transporter controls when he felt questions from below. Dozens of minds were sending inquiries about what the officers were doing. So far the officers were remaining silent, but he couldn’t keep them from sending information if they wanted to, not without killing them or knocking them unconscious. He didn’t want to do that. He studied the screens around the room and, to his surprise, saw that the pilots and officers from the hangar were opening weapons cabinets and arming themselves. Daniel turned back to the screen showing the transporter. He had no idea how close he needed to b
e, but it was obvious he would need to stop those soldiers before they made it to the command deck.
He had only one weapon, not enough to fight the aliens. He had no idea if the doors to the command deck could be unlocked or opened from the outside. He needed a plan. His mind seemed strong and powerful with the neuro amplifier, but also completely empty at the moment.
The soldiers were armed now and moving toward the lift that would bring them up to the command deck. Daniel thought of ordering the officers in the room with him to tell the soldiers that everything was alright and to return to the hangar. But he wasn’t sure if that would work or if he could even communicate that the way he needed to. He needed some way to stop the soldiers—and then it hit him. Gravity. The little aliens weren’t physically strong. He had seen that. If he could increase the gravity on the station, they might not be able to pursue him.
He quickly turned back to the environmental controls. Gravity was pulsing through his mind as he touched one of the many instruments. Immediately, he felt as if a hand were pushing him down. He turned, it took effort, the way it did after he worked out with heavy weights. The three officers had slumped to the floor. They seemed to be distressed but not hurting. Daniel raised the gravity a bit more. He was now uncomfortable, his joints aching with the strain, and felt as if he weighed 400 pounds, his wounded leg throbbed horribly.
He turned back to the transporter controls and saw a flashing red light. The knowledge pouring into his mind said they were nearing the flux field. He turned back to the screen that showed the soldiers; they were all lying prone on the deck, each struggling just to breathe, all thoughts of stopping Daniel completely gone from their minds. It occurred to Daniel that with the gravity increased, the pressure from the transporter might kill them. It was a chance he would have to take.
The New World Page 37
