by Ira Tabankin
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Kalteck still took an interest in the abductions. While they’d slowed, they still existed. He was sitting with Rhett one evening when his AI alerted him to a small alien ship that was in the process of landing in Montana. “Rhett, can you leave right now?”
“I’m ready, just let me grab my sidearm.”
Kalteck laughed, “You won’t need that, I’ll loan you one of mine. It’s smaller and much deadlier as you may remember from when I landed and your soldiers opened fire on me.”
“Really? Can I keep it?”
“Be serious. I have a bad feeling about what we’re going to find. Either the maggots are back, or it’s the Neanderthals. I don’t worry about the maggots. They’re like your roaches, only these are easy to kill, but they keep returning because they’re curious about new races and they enjoy your people’s reaction to their experiments. The Neanderthals are different. They are clearly a warrior race. I still don’t know why they were here or what they want. I’m used to single ships performing intelligence gathering missions. I’ve not seen two huge carriers traveling through a system unless they had something evil in mind. I’ve sent all of the information I had on them home and haven’t received a response yet, which is normal. It takes time for our relay system to work.”
“If as you say they’re a warrior race, maybe they don’t go anywhere without taking what they consider an overwhelming force to make sure they could deal with anything they run into. Surely they know we wouldn’t be a threat to them. We’re not really a spacefaring race. From what you’ve shown me of their ships, they could have easily crushed us, and since we’re the only species in this system, why would they be here?”
“I won’t hide the fact that if we run into the Neanderthals, we may have a fight on our hands, one we may have to run from if we want to survive. I only defeated their previous ships because of a very lucky shot. I admit the Creator of All was with me when we fired the shot that destroyed half of their ship. I know my ship can’t stand up to one of them, let alone two on a straight-up battle.”
Rhett looked at the wall of pseudo-glass walls, and floor of Kalteck’s ship and thought over that he’d heard, “Do you think your AI could target the same location on the following ships if the ships we locate are Neanderthals? If it comes to a fight and we’re losing, can you outrun them? What about decoys? What about mining their routes?”
“There is so much about them I don’t know. I’ve no idea how their ships operate in a general battle or how quickly they can accelerate or make a jump. I still don’t know how they even exist. I don’t know how they generated that defensive blister around their ships or how one could jump with the damaged one under their wing. Our ships aren’t capable of that. I’m happy I don’t have to manually target the firing. I know I couldn’t be as precise as the AI. My friend, if we run into the Neanderthals, I won’t let them take us alive. If necessary, I will order the AI to self-destruct the ship before I allow them to capture us and my ship. Do you understand what I’m telling you?”
“I understand. With the death of Liane, I am ready to die if that’s what God wants from me. What do you think our odds are if we run into them again?”
“We are smaller, which makes us a harder target to hit and from what I’ve seen, my technology is better. My weapons and sensors have been upgraded again, so we have an excellent chance to escape them. I’m not sure I will have the same luck in defeating them in a straight-up fight.”
“What if they are the little gray people? What you call the maggots?”
“Ah, the little maggots. They are nasty, but they fear me, I don’t fear them at all. As long as you’re not abducted by them, you have nothing to worry about. The key is to not get caught in one of their beams. Their beams cause your body to be paralyzed. You won’t be able to move, yet you will feel everything they do to you. I understand it is very unpleasant. They carry out their experiments to learn about your species and sometimes just for their own enjoyment. Since they are asexual, having two sexes is something that amazes and amuses them. They are also very interested in your internal organs. Don’t think they’re picking on humans. They perform similar experiments on every species they capture. It’s their method of learning.”
Rhett shook his head, “Based on the reports I read, unpleasant is an understatement. Let’s go and see who we see is abducting my people. I miss being out there with you.”
The two were peacefully cruising past Saturn searching for the maggot’s ships when their ship’s AI announced, “Attention, attention, Neanderthal ships located entering the system. Two ships have just exited a wormhole 800,000 miles outside of the system’s ninth planet. These ships are the same design as the previous two we encountered. They are currently in a course that will take them to Earth. Waiting for your instructions.”
Rhett looked at Kalteck, “What are you planning?” He looked at the wall-sized monitor, which displayed the size and style of the Neanderthal ships. “Why do they have two saucer shapes top and bottom connected with this tube-like fixture in the middle? The two saucer sections appear to be slowly spinning in opposite directions.”
“I do not know. The previous ship carried small attack craft in the lower saucer, I am assuming their bridge and control functions are in the upper saucer, most likely with their living quarters. The lower saucer also contained their engineering and drive. The tube-like fixture is a connection between the two saucers. I don’t know what else it contains. The ships are very large and carry a lot of weapons. I wish I had one of our battlestars tucked away on the moon.”
“Are we going to attack them?”
“I’d really like to know why they’re on a course to your home planet, why they’re here, and where they came from. Of all of the ships that have passed through your system since I’ve arrived, they worry me the most.”
“Their ships look huge. Are they or is it only the zoom feature on your sensors?”
“They are huge. Over fifty of my ships could be held inside their lower saucer.”
“Oh shit! Are you sure this is a good idea going after them?”
“A good idea? No, do we have a choice? No. We have to figure out why they’re here with such massive ships. Since their sensors didn’t see my ship the first time I met them, I’m hoping they can’t see us as we approach them.”
Kalteck studied the images and their course, he instructed the ship’s AI, “Plot us a course which brings us under them. Make sure we’re in stealth mode, and all emissions are capped and don’t leave any sort of trail they can track.”
“Kalteck, without knowing the sensitivity of their sensors, that last is an impossible order.”
“Just do it. You always tell me how much smarter you so prove it.”
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The closer Kalteck and Rhett came to the two massive ships, the more Rhett worried. Damn those ships are huge. They’re larger than eight of our Nimitz class carriers combined with a couple Iowa class battleships thrown in for good measure. They’re right out of a nightmare. I understand why Kalteck is concerned about why these ships are here. If I ever thought about what an alien warship would look like, these are them.
“Rhett, you know your new name does kind of match your new face. I plan to open fire when we’re right under their lower saucer. The second ship won’t be able to open fire on us without hitting their own ship.”
“Is the ship's stealth good enough to stay hidden from them? Won’t they be able to see us?”
“One of the upgrades to the ship was a new covering which enabled the ship to change the shades to blend into the background, and it has a new system, or new for me, that takes the image from the behind us and projects it to the front. Hence, we should be invisible to any optical sensors or even their own eyes. I hope. I’ve never had to test it in a real battle. Our stealth mode should block their active and passive sensors. The problem is, I really don’t know how good their sensors are.”
Kalteck slowly closed the distance
to the first Neanderthal ship. “I want to be so close they may be confused about what happened when we hit them with everything we have. We’re going to open fire in a couple of hours when we’re almost sitting directly under them. I don’t know how thick their armor is, so I want to be close enough to spit on them. I’m counting on our shields to protect us from any debris which is blown off their ship.”
Two hours later, the ship’s AI announced, “We are at the requested position; there is no indication the enemy has discovered we’re here. I have plotted a course that after firing, we will swing around to strike the second ship. Then I plotted us a course to jump two million miles away, wait one hour and then return.”
“Execute.”
A moment later, Kalteck’s ship turned, so the weapons on both the upper and lower sections could be brought to bear on the Neanderthal’s ship. Multiple bright blue beams shot out from Kalteck’s ship. They merged into a single thick, glowing beam that struck the bottle of the massive ship.
The beams cut through the Neanderthal’s armor, the beams cut through decks and bulkheads, they cut through computers and sensors. When they reached the drive’s magnetic bottle, they breached the antimatter containment. The massive ship exploded in a brilliant flash when the antimatter containment broke, allowing to antimatter to explode. The massive explosion overwhelmed Kalteck’s sensors. The ship’s sensors were blinded, her weapons and targeting systems were knocked offline.
The shock wave and tons of debris from the exploding ship rocked Kalteck and Rhett. Warnings screamed, alerting Kalteck to multiple holes in his ship and shut down the visual masking system. “Alert, alert, we’ve lost our masking system and 42% of our stealth coverings; the other ship can see us.”
“How long until you’re able to fire our main weapon?”
“Kalteck, they are locking on us!”
“Get us out of here, NOW.”
A Neanderthal beam passed through the spot in space where they’d been a fraction of a second before. The Neanderthal ship began firing in a large circle around itself, hoping to catch the ship that had just destroyed one of their ships. A fraction of the beam caught and burned a small hole through Kalteck’s ship. The ship shook, the wall monitor turned red as multiple warning symbols lit up.
The AI said, “We’ve been hit and in a very bad location. We’re dropping out of the wormhole; we were thrown off course. Their beam struck just as we were entering the wormhole, the increased energy of their weapon striking us, and our drive overload threw us out of the wormhole to an unknown location. I need time to repair the ship and determine where we are and how to return.”
Rhett asked, “AI, we’re tilting, can you at least stabilize the ship?”
“Not yet. I am working on restoring our systems.”
“What did you mean we’re lost? How can we be lost?”
“I wouldn’t use that exact term, I’d say, we’re misplaced. It will take me a little time to calculate where we are and how to get back.”
Rhett looked at Kalteck, “I guess we’re lost in space.”
“We’ll be fine. The nanites are working on the ship. The AI is taking star shots and determining where we are and plotting a course back. We destroyed one of their ships. I think the second left. We didn’t intercept the maggot ship that’s taking your people, and we’re no closer to learning why the Neanderthals are here. I’d rate this mission as a failure.”
“Any idea how long we’ll be here?”
“No, not until our friendly AI tells us what he’s discovered and until then all we can do is wait. You didn’t have anything back home that you’d be sorry missing, did you?”
“Not a thing. I lost everything I cared about back home when Liane passed. Every time I look at myself in a mirror, I wonder who I’m looking at. It seems like I’m wearing a mask. I’m not complaining, I appreciate your gift of the nanites. It’s just a strange feeling wondering if I’ll ever see Earth again.”
“I promise you I’ll get you home. You know I don’t break my word. Remember, I have a mission to complete.”
They were interrupted by the ship’s AI, “I have discovered where we are, and it’s not good. We had just opened the wormhole when their beam struck us. The increased energy dumped into the wormhole shifted it and increased the length of the wormhole. We were dumped out of the wormhole a little over fifty-nine million light-years from Earth’s system.”
Rhett shook his head, “Fifty-nine million light-years? How long will it take us to return?”
The AI responded, “Unless I can repair the ship, we won’t return. The damage caused by their beam was more serious than I at first thought. It burned through part of my memory storage and one of the major replicators. I need time to recover and to repair the ship. I estimate it will take me at least two months to complete the repairs with the limited number of nanites available to me and without the replicator. I suggest both of you enter suspension sleep.”
Kalteck nodded, “You’ve never been in suspension. It’s just like going to sleep, but you’ll go to sleep in a special capsule where your body functions will be slowed down so you’ll barely age while you’re sleeping.”
“Will I dream?”
“I really don’t know. Without the main replicator, we can’t produce enough food and nanites, so if we want the ship repaired in a decent amount of time, we’re going to sleep.”
“Have you done it before? I’m scared I won’t wake up. Has a human ever done this before?”
“You should be very proud. Again, you will be the first human to experience suspended animation just as you were the first to have the full set of nanites installed within you. Others had a limited set which was programmed to either keep them quiet about my existence or to perform a specific task.”
“Such as what happened to President Kennedy and Stalin?”
“You know it had to be done. Kennedy could have destroyed everything we’ve worked for. Remember, if we fail, your entire species fails. Are you ready? I promise you, it’s just like going to sleep, only for a little longer, and you will barely age, not that you age now.”
Rhett shrugged his shoulders, “I’ve trusted you for all of these years, what I got to lose now? I’m ready.”
End of book 2, book 3 is coming soon.
Additional books by the author available on Amazon:
The Alien Whisperer, Book 1, 1947-1958
The Alien Whisperer, Book 2, 1958-1999
The Alien Whisperer, Book 3, 2000-2050, coming soon.
The Second Holocaust
The Wrath of God, Book 1
The Wrath of God, Book 2
The Wrath of God Book 3, coming soon.
Red Sunset
Earthquake
Pestilence
Pax Romana
It’s Good to be the King. Book 1
The Changelings Book 1
Justin’s Journal
Project Xiangqi
Korean Crises
CALEXIT, Book 1, Secession
CALEXIT, Book 2, Politics as Normal.
CALEXIT, Book 3, If at First, You Don’t Secede
America on Fire
37 Miles (Revised Edition)
37 Miles, Book 2, Patty’s Journey
My Story
A History Lesson (Short story)
2015 Second American Civil War, Book 1
2015 Second American Civil War, Book 2
2015 Second American Civil War, Book 3
2015 Second American Civil War, Book 4
2015 Second American Civil War, Book 5
By the Light of the Moon, Book 1
By the Light of the Moon, Book 2
By the Light of the Moon, Book 3
By the Light of the Moon, Book 4
Christmas Eve
The Shelter, Book 1, The Beginning
The Shelter, Book 2, A Long Day’s Night
The Shelter, Book 3, The Aftermath
The Shelter, Book 4, The New World.
The Shelte
r, Book 5, War
The Shelter, Book 6, Revenge
The Shelter, Book 7, Genesis
The Shelter, Chapter 2, a new beginning.
In the Year 2050, America’s Religious Civil War
In the Year 2050, Book 2
The Impeachment of President Obama
Silent Death
The Third World War
We Knew They Were Coming
We Knew They Were Coming, Book 2
We Knew They Were Coming, Book 3
We Knew They Were Coming, Book 4
We Knew They Were Coming, Book 5
We Knew They Were Coming, Book 6
We Knew They Were Coming, Book 7
We Knew They Were Coming, Book 8
We Knew They Were Coming, Book 9
We Knew They Were Coming, Book 10
Feel free to contact me at [email protected] with any questions or comments.
