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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 that 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.
“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.