| |
HANGAR 5:
Christa feels useless as she watches two scientists performing experiments in the control room of the spaceship. The man, who was introduced to her as Doctor Polanski, has red hair and a matching beard. The woman, Doctor Fielder, has gray hair and sad looking eyes. The two scientists are kneeling in front of an open section of the wall, studying a maze of fiber optic cables glowing with pale blue light, while Henry is entering information into his laptop computer.
With nothing to do but watch, she sits in one of the four chairs in the center of the room. On the small control console in front of her, fifteen touchpads radiate soft colored lights. She tries to decipher the tiny characters on the buttons, but they look like some type of hieroglyphics. Henry explained that none of his people knows enough about what the symbols represent to take the chance of pushing them. He warned since the ship crashed, the result could be devastating.
Christa shifts her thoughts to Alex. She still finds it difficult to be near him without feeling a strong desire to hold his hand or wishing he would take her in his arms and kiss her passionately.
She’s startled when he is suddenly standing in front of her. She leaps out of the chair, accidentally brushing her arm across the control panel. The floor shakes and she stumbles, instinctively grabbing him for support. They both tumble to the floor, with Christa lying across his chest.
Alex watches the roof of the hangar rushing toward him. “Oh, crap!”
Brilliant sparks cascade across the transparent ceiling as the overhead light fixtures are crushed, then the hangar roof parts with the sound of screeching metal as the shredded pieces slide down the sides of the craft. The horrible squeal abruptly stops, and above them is a black velvet panorama filled with sparkling dots.
Bull and Sterns are standing outside the hangar when the quiet of the night is shattered by the sound of screeching metal. They stare up in numbed fascination as the alien craft rises out of the hangar. They exchange worried looks, then run into the structure.
Three men and two women are standing near the door, staring up at the hole in the ceiling, and Bull stops in front of a woman. “What the hell happened?”
“We have no idea. It just suddenly started moving.”
A thought suddenly rushes through his mind and Bull looks around the interior of the hangar. “Where are Alex Cave and Christa Avery?”
She points up at the hole in the roof. “In the ship.”
A sickening sense of dread sweeps through him, and Bull dashes outside, desperately searching the sky, but the spaceship is nowhere in sight.
***
Christa rolls off Alex and stands up, then looks around the control room. Someone grabs her arm and spins her around, and she stares into the savage eyes of Polanski.
“You did this!” he wails like a frightened child. “I saw you! I saw you push the buttons!”
Alex leaps to his feet, ready to shove Polanski away, then sees the tears running down his cheeks. He gently grabs Polanski’s arm and tugs him away from Christa. “It was an accident, and I need your help if we’re going to get back down.”
Doctor Fielder doesn’t notice the confrontation as she studies the readings on her monitoring equipment. “I’m detecting a massive power spike in the engine compartment.”
Henry walks up to Christa, looking more excited than angry. “Look!”
Christa stares at the forty-inch holographic screen above the touch pads. Similar symbols to those on the control console are scrolling across a white background.
Henry sits in the chair in front of the console. “Tell me what happened.”
Christa moves to his side. “I’m sorry. I guess I accidentally bumped this console, and then all of a sudden we were moving.”
“Do you know which buttons you pushed?”
Christa looks down at the touch pads and tries to visualize what happened. “I think it was these first two buttons on the bottom row.”
“We have spent years trying to decipher these symbols. From what we have learned, that makes sense. We think these two indicate propulsion and direction.”
Christa studies the holograph. “Well, Henry, I think it’s time to push a few more buttons. It appears we are still ascending.”
Henry studies a series of alien numbers expanding across the screen. “Yes. I think these indicate our elevation.” He holds his finger poised above the console for a moment. “This one, I believe.” He touches one of the buttons and the numbers at the top of the screen stop expanding. He smiles in satisfaction as he feels the pressure in his seat slacken for a second, like being in an elevator and coming to a stop. “If everyone will take a seat or hang on to something, I will try to bring us down.”
Alex points over Henry’s shoulder at the moon’s reflection off the second ship, hovering over the base. “There may not be time to go back. We have company.”
***
Lewis stares at the sister ship rising out of the hangar. “They have learned more than we assumed.”
Menno stares at the copy of his ship. “Perhaps, but I doubt they know the full potential of these ships. They’re no match for us.” He lightly taps the buttons on his console and feels the speed and direction of his ship change as he steers it towards the other spacecraft. “Let’s be rid of them. Target the ship.”
***
Christa spins around to see what Alex is staring at and sees the other ship. “They’re coming this way, Henry. I suggest you start pressing some buttons.”
“Everyone sit down and hang on!” Henry orders. “I have no idea how this ship will react.”
Polanski leaps into one of the seats, as Alex shoves Christa into another. Fielder locks stares with him for the fourth chair, and he indicates for her to take it. There is enough room to stand between each seat, and he moves into the area between Christa and Henry, grabbing the backs of their chairs. He looks down and sees there are no seat belts. “We’d better get moving!”
Henry presses a button, and the stars move in a circle around them, gradually gaining speed as the ship spins like a top. Henry feels a moment of panic, then concentrates on the other symbols, desperately trying to determine their meanings.
***
Elizabeth stares across the void at the other spaceship. Her hands tighten on the armrests of her chair as she looks over at Menno. “What are they doing?”
Menno’s brows bunch together in bewilderment. “I’m not sure.”
Lewis looks over at his brother. “For some reason I cannot get a lock. I will fire a random pattern. Perhaps we will get lucky.”
Menno whips his head around in surprise. “Did you just say lucky?”
“I think that is our best option.” He taps a series of buttons on his console.
***
Alex turns in a circle to watch the other craft. A narrow streak of brilliant blue light shoots out from the other spaceship and everyone is driven sideways from the impact.
Polanski tries to brace himself, but the blast drives him out of his chair. His hand slides across his own console, and spears of blue light shoot out from their ship.
***
Menno shakes his head as he watches the short streaks of blue light shooting from the spinning ship, like a Pulsar sending bursts of colored light out across the universe, but none of them are coming anywhere near his ship. “They’re out of control. They don’t know what they’re doing.”
***
“I’m getting dizzy!” Christa moans.
“Don’t look up,” Alex tells her. “Stare at your console. Concentrate on it, not what’s going on around us.”
Henry is torn with indecision. “I just don’t know which one to push!”
Alex doesn’t know which button does what, but knows they have to do something. In desperation, he reaches across Henry and presses two buttons, and although the stars are still spinning, they shoot past the other craft.
***
“Look!” Elizabeth screams, her heart beating hard in her chest as she watches the spinning ship rush toward her.
Menno watches in stunned surprise as the other ship approaches with incredible speed, the flashes of blue light still shooting out in a circular pattern like a beacon. Before he can react, he sees Elizabeth suddenly tumble forward out of her chair, clutching at her chest. He leaps up and kneels beside her, her expression reflecting her agony. “Mother!”
“My heart!” she gasps.
In helpless frustration, Menno watches her body go limp and her head tilt to one side. “Mother!” he moans and shakes her body, though he knows it’s useless.
Lewis kneels beside Elizabeth and places his hand on her neck, searching for a pulse. He looks into Menno’s pleading eyes and shakes his head no. “I’m sorry,” he says softly. As he watches, he sees the look in Menno’s eyes transform from hopeful fear to savage rage.
Menno stands and stares out into space, catching a fleeting glimpse of the other spaceship as it races away. “After them!” he growls at Lewis through clenched teeth, his hands opening and closing into fists at his sides.
Lewis stands and looks at the other craft, its streaks of blue light fading as it rushes away across the desert. “They are using a great amount of energy by firing so often. They will deplete the crystals in a short time. I think we should destroy the military base first.” Lewis ceases to argue when Menno spins around to face him, clutching the gold cross hanging from his neck. He quickly sits down in Menno’s chair, presses three buttons on the console, and the desert races past beneath his ship.
Menno stands staring forward as they slowly gain on the other craft, still spinning and sending out flashes of blue light. “Begin firing!”
Lewis knows he will need a lucky shot, but does as instructed. He sends bursts of blue light out at thirty-second intervals to conserve the energy in the crystals.
Menno watches as the streaks of light bounce off the mirrored surface of the other ship, still moving away. “Move closer!”
Lewis increases their speed, and they quickly gain on the other craft. He sees the streaks of light from the other ship are not traveling as far into space and knows the ship is losing energy. It’s only a matter of minutes before their crystals will be depleted.
***
Alex clings desperately to the backs of the two chairs to keep his balance as the blows from the blue light increase in magnitude, causing their ship to lurch with increasing severity. Every time he tries to look for the other craft, the spinning stars cause him to become nauseous.
***
The shots coming from his ship suddenly cease, and Menno spins to face his brother, seething with rage and still clutching his gold cross. “Continue to fire!” he screams.
“Can you not see that the spinning is slowing down and their speed is falling off?” Lewis replies testily, as they rapidly close the distance between the ships, now only two-hundred-yards away.
“I said fire!” Menno screams.
Lewis presses a button and sends out a single pulse of blue light.
***
The next blow is overwhelming, and Alex is thrown from between the chairs. He accidentally pushes his hand down on the console before crashing into one of the cabinets, sending an eruption of blue sparks cascading into the control room.
***
Menno’s jaw drops in stunned shock as the ships suddenly accelerate toward each other at an unfathomable rate. The effect of the collision is like two silver hockey pucks slamming together with such severity, Menno flies through the air and smashes into the wall, and Lewis is hurled shoulder first into the cabinet in front of him. Alex’s ship tears into Menno’s, ripping a massive gash through the side and locking them together. The two spinning ships plummet toward the ground, then the impact drives Alex to the floor and bounces Christa and Henry out of their seats. Polanski and Fielder are hurled viciously from their chairs and slam into the wall as the ship comes to an abrupt stop.
***
Bull watches the collision, and stares helplessly as the ships drop below the horizon and the reflection disappears. He spins around to stare at Sterns. “Where’d they go?”
“I don’t know, but it doesn’t matter now. I’m sure everyone’s dead.”
Bull grabs the front of Sterns’ shirt, an angry scowl on his face. “The hell, you say! I won’t write them off until I see the bodies.” He glances at his watch, turns, and stomps purposely across the tarmac.
“Where are you going?” Sterns hollers after him.
Bull stops and turns to face Sterns, his eyes blazing with determination. “To get the helicopter pilot. I’m going out there to find out for sure. Are you coming or not?”
Sterns thinks it’s hopeless and a waste of fuel, but jogs to catch up with him. “They could be anywhere!”
Bull doesn’t reply as he continues across the tarmac, Sterns nearly jogging to keep up with him.
***
What’s left of the ceiling is solid again, and the glow from the lights dim as the power in the crystals is depleted. Alex sits up and stares at the motionless bodies on the floor. He crawls over to Christa and rolls her onto her back. She opens her eyes and tries to sit up, but he gently holds her down. He watches a drop of blood splatter against her blouse and feels the thick red liquid running down from his forehead into his eye. He wipes it away and stares at her. “How bad are you hurt?”
Christa looks at him, shakes her head no, then slowly sits up. “I’m all right. Just a few sore spots.”
Henry sits up and looks around the interior of their ship, amazed it’s still intact. He does a quick assessment of his own body. Other than a slightly sprained wrist, he seems to be in one piece and not in any pain.
Alex sees Henry’s surprised expression. “How you doing, Doc?” He waits for a reply, but Henry points to something behind him, so Alex turns to see what it is. He sees the interior of Menno’s ship through the shredded holes that once locked them together, and the low mound of dirt between the two spacecraft.
Henry pushes himself up onto his hands and knees, then slowly stands and glances around the interior of both ships. “To be honest, I am surprised any of us are still alive.”
Alex gets up and helps Christa onto her feet, then makes his way across the debris and kneels next to the bodies of Polanski and Fielder to feel for a pulse. He turns to look at Henry and Christa and slowly shakes his head no.
They turn to look when they hear a soft moan coming from the interior of the other spaceship, and the three of them make their way through the debris into the other craft. The light is brighter than in their ship, making it easier to see.
Henry is the first one to see the bodies of a woman and a blond man on the floor. He sees the man try to roll over and quickly kneels beside him to help.
Menno feels two hands grab his shoulder to help him roll over. He looks up at the stranger, and can see the concern in his eyes. Everything happened so fast he cannot remember why he’s on the floor. “What are you doing on my ship?”
Henry ignores the question. “How badly are you injured? Can you sit up?”
Menno allows the man to pull him up into a sitting position, but grimaces at the pain in the right side of his abdomen. He looks around the interior and realizes what happened. He looks down, recognizes Elizabeth, and remembers she was already dead. His head snaps around frantically as he searches for his brother. When he sees Lewis’s body, he tries to get up, but a wave of dizziness and pain force him to stay seated. He looks up and gives the stranger an imploring stare as he points to the body of his brother. “See if he’s still alive!”
Henry gets up and makes his way to the stranger on the floor, then kneels and touches the side of the neck to check for a pulse. Henry flinches when the man suddenly bolts upright, panic in his eyes. “Just take it easy for a minute. How bad are your injuries?”
Lewis does a quick assessment of his body before he looks up at the stranger. “My contusions appear to be superficial, but my left wrist is sprained, rendering the arm useless. Please help me stand up so I may assess our situation.”
Henry finds it difficult to understand how this man can maintain such a cool composure after everything that happened. “Of course,” he says as he grabs Lewis’s right arm and helps him to his feet.
Lewis quickly makes his way through the debris and kneels beside his brother. “To what degree are your injuries?”
Menno looks at his brother and lightly shakes his head, a smirk forming on his lips. “I think my right leg is broken. At least, that’s where I feel the most pain.” He looks up at the dark-haired man and a short woman. “Were you the one flying my other ship?” The man and woman shake their heads no, and he looks at Henry.
Henry shrugs. “I have no idea what I was doing. It was an accident.”
Alex looks down at Menno. “So you’re the one who started all this. I’m Alex Cave, and this is Christa Avery. Why are you tearing apart our infrastructure?”
Menno stares at them for a moment. “I wanted to make a point. Your crude, fossil fuel burning machines will destroy this world. My kind tried to save this planet once before, and I was trying to save it once again.”
“I don’t understand what you mean by your kind.”
Menno looks over at his brother, then up at Alex. “This was one of our planets millions of years ago, but we were forced to leave by a cataclysmic event. An accident, if you will. That’s all I have to say.”
***
Bull is furious when Sterns refuses to authorize the use of the helicopter, justifying his argument with the lack of fuel. “Can you at least send an airplane out to look for them?”
“Yes, but not while it’s still dark.” He looks at his watch. “The sun will be up in twenty minutes, so try to be patient.”