16

We reached the planet’s atmosphere forty minutes after leaving Station One, cruising fifty thousand feet above the Hawaiian Islands and heading eastward.

I tugged on the collar of my new shirt. I didn’t think it would be appropriate to wear my military uniform now that I’m literally a foreign entity who could command killer robots. Amelia, Alonso, Freddie, and I wore a blend of modacrylic, polyester, and spandex fiber that was supposed to be moisture-wicking and flame-resistant. I ordered Prime to make them before we departed: nine sets of tanned jackets, long-sleeved shirts, a pair of cargo pants, and a pair of boots. I gave the last set to everyone left behind in the station.

For the past three days, I had modified the original ship since I would use it frequently for the next two weeks while the bulk of my fleet was being constructed. I added three manned consoles into the flight deck for communications and navigation, filling the gap between the windows and the pilot’s dashboard. The third was behind my chair, a miniaturized replica of the holographic war table from the command center and a wall-sized weapons locker, packing up this cramped twenty-foot-wide space.

As for the ample space at the back, I separated them into four quarters. The first was where the other five airmen were last treated, adding a small nanite generator to replace those discarded during treatment, two dispensing stations, a quarantine room, and an emergency triage area. It became my designated medical bay, ensuring it was closer to the ramp (toward the lower deck) and the elevator. If we get into trouble on the surface—God forbid—I could patch my crew up.

The second was the engineering room and life support systems, a confined and narrow space occupied by four in-house drones. The third was a galley and a mess hall, and the last one made up the main habitation quarters with at least thirty bunk beds and a planned recreation room soon, but I didn’t have the decorations to spruce up the place yet. I intended the ships of this size to be manned between forty to fifty people as an “Exploratory Recon Vessel.”

A small pub might be possible, squeezing it in as the fifth quarter between the mess hall and the living spaces. After all, the crew needed their break time.

Below deck, I separated them into three sections: one large cargo bay with sliding bulkhead doors extending to a descending ramp. It left enough room for at least a few manned rovers, perhaps even a small shuttle. I placed an airlock chamber for spacewalks or extravehicular activities on the left side of the stairs leading up to the upper deck. On the other side, I hastily created escape pods, which could fit five people with booster engines capable of flying them into the atmosphere safely and with enough juice to fly for two million miles. Good enough for eight round trips around the moon. The very back of the ship housed the two emergency star-fighters. However, I hadn’t stocked the ship with food and water yet.

The doors opened, and Prime’s physical form entered. He had created another mechanoid to keep Jason and the others company back in the Hub, but he insisted on coming with me to the surface. Here, Prime One (to avoid confusion with the other) greeted me.

“The new, updated engines are stable, forerunner. Raw materials have been replenished. We are making our way in due course, arriving in fifteen minutes and thirty-five seconds.”

“Are you sure you want to come down with us?” I asked, gesturing at his mechanical form. “You are not exactly subtle.”

“The people of Earth have nothing to fear from me. Therefore, I fully serve the forerunner and the rest of humanity.”

I bit my tongue. I doubted they’d see it that way.

“Forerunner, Lt. Amendola requests to speak with you. He is in the medical bay.”

“Did he tell you why?”

“No.”

I placed the ship on auto-pilot. “Alright. Warn me when we’re five minutes away from Wilsonville.”

“As you command, forerunner.”

I got up from my seat and walked through the sliding doors into the hallway. It was weird to stroll around the ship via the corridors. Yesterday, everything here was just a vast empty space. I hadn’t run into Amelia since we boarded the vessel, and she must still be busy gawking at the engines and studying the drones up close now that she had no reason to fear them. I still didn’t trust them. Alonso and Freddie were busy exploring the rest of the ship. I let Prime remind them when we’re near our destination.

I made my way to the medical bay at the aft section. Ben stood over a console; brows furrowed as he studied the screen. At a glance, it was the medical reports of the four airmen. All vitals were normal, and they were recovering from the treatment wonderfully back on Station One. Ben heard me approach, and he turned around, swiping at the screen to close it. Nick Ochoa sat on one of the nanite tables busily tended by a drone.

“Thanks for letting us come with you,” Ben said.

“You’re getting the hang of that now,” I pointed at the screen. “And I let you come with us because I didn’t want to hear more of Nick’s complaining.” I made sure that Nick did not hear that. “You’re not my prisoners. If you guys want to go down to Earth, I won’t stop you.”

“So…if we touch down…you’ll let us leave?”

I leaned forward. “I don’t want to get in the habit of kidnapping American citizens, lieutenant. If you want to leave, you’re free to do so.”

“Okay, so you’ll let me leave with what I know about this place?”

“It wouldn’t matter in two days. I’m gonna tell the rest of the world what you already know.”

Ben looked a little relieved. “Most people will just shoot you in the back.”

“Well, I’m not most people.”

“Clearly.”

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

I leaned back against the operating table. “So, how are you liking the ship?”

“This is all advanced tech.” Ben gestured around. “You don’t see things like this every day. Do you know I can pinch on the screen, and a tablet hologram will appear on my hand, and I can walk around the room with it?”

I smiled. “I do know.”

“Oh. Right. You made it. How’d that work anyway?”

I shrugged. “There are countless particles all around us. It’s all about how much light is reflected against them. The ship is built with a powerful spatial light modulator and a 3-D electro-holography display, beaming highly-concentrated light patterns, interpreting every one-billionth of a second based on your interaction. It wouldn’t work outside the space it’s built, though, not unless you have these.” I raised the datapad from my pocket.

“Neat trick.”

“Not all of it was my idea. A few of them are tweaks suggested by Prime that I implemented. Quality of life stuff.”

“Still impressive. Everyone on Earth will freak out when they see all this tech. Goodbye, iPhones. Can you cure cancer now?”

“I’m sure we’ll find a way. I haven’t considered the practical applications beyond the nanites healing wounded soldiers. Maybe they could travel through the human body and kill a cancer cell. Too early to tell, but we can already treat cosmic radiation and vacuum exposure, and now, making you a new bone or skin.”

I pointed to the corner, where the drones were busy replacing a 3D-printed cask for Ochoa’s arm and leg, who looked annoyed being tended to by the robots. I walked over to him.

“How are you feeling?”

“Like shit,” Ochoa said. “My arm and leg are feeling much better than yesterday, but the creepy floating ball guy said I should have stayed at your freaky station to recover for another day. This is probably the fastest PT I’ve ever had. I walked to the other side of the room, and for a second, I did not believe I had broken my leg.”

“Well, that’s good to hear.”

“So, are these aliens friendly?”

“More than the other one.”

“Well, as long as they don’t shoot us out of the sky again…Thank you. I know I can be a little annoying—”

“A little?”

“Yeah, yeah. You saved our asses. I shouldn’t have let my mouth run when I knew you did the right thing.”

“Nick, may I call you Nick?” He nodded. “Look, man. I won’t leave you in that storm and let you drown when I have a ship.”

Nick gave Ben a curious look. “So, these aliens gave these to you?” Nick asked, gesturing around the room. I merely nodded. “Well…shit. I thought Ben here was bullshitting, and I just dreamt it. Didn’t you say you were some leader?”

“Sovereign was the specific word he used,” Ben added.

“In a sense, yes. According to his words, the aliens chose me to be Earth’s representative in front of the galactic community. It’s certainly a mouthful. Not quite the job I’d imagined myself to be in the next five years, but I have a feeling this is going to be permanent.”

“And we just pledged ourselves to you,” Nick muttered.

“To get the necessary treatment. Look, I’m not forcing you to follow me. After everything is done, you can leave and return to the United States to your families. We’re going down there right now.”

“What about the rest of my men?” Nick asked.

“They will remain in Station One until their treatment is done.”

“We get to keep—” Nick touched his healed leg where the scar should have been. “Everything done to us?”

I gave him a warm smile. “I made sure of it.”

Ben leaned closer to my ear. “Can I talk to you in private?”

I nodded, and we walked out of the medical bay.

“Prime mentioned that you want to speak to me about something.”

“Uh, yeah. I want to join you. Whatever you’re building, I want in.”

This took me by surprise. I blinked, not sure if he had any ulterior motives.

Ben leaned closer. “Look, Tony. I’ve given it a lot of thought for the past three days. I saw what you’ve been building in those factories, especially what you told us about these aliens and that you are fighting them—”

“You should give this more time. It’s a big decision.”

“I know the others have already joined you.”

“Your men joined out of desperation. To save their lives.”

Ben placed his hands on his hips. “But you need soldiers, right? Well, I’m volunteering. You need pilots, and I flew that star-fighter like a goddamn fiddle. I didn’t get to this rank just for my good looks.”

“Lieutenant—”

“You want my credentials? All you have to do is ask Prime.”

“It’s not that. I’ve looked at it, and they’re great.”

“So? What’s the problem?”

“Do you know what happens if you desert your post? You’d be court-martialed and dishonorably discharged by the United States Government. Joining a foreign entity like mine will be treason. You might never come back home. I’ve already told the others about the gravity of their decisions. Join me, and you will get branded as traitors.”

I needed him to be sure about his decision. For everyone, too. Serving the US military was one of the most incredible honors an American could do, and they sometimes pride themselves on that service. Maybe I should blame our training and how a forced camaraderie had built a cult-like structure. It would take time to detach yourself from that culture. We have worn the uniform for several years, and even I struggled to contend with my decision to leave my country for a new one I’m making.

Treason, treason, treason.

The words swam in my head.

Ben did not falter. He was dead-set on his decision. “The same thing will happen to you, but you are doing it anyway,” he argued. “Heck, the others still joined you! Forty-five good men died in the air fighting only one alien ship, and our weapons were ineffective against them—men I had known since training, some even as far back as middle school. I watched as your machines fixed my men; they would have been dead if it wasn’t for your tech. Have you seen the death toll from the attacks?”

I closed my eyes. How could I not? It was plastered on all the screens back in the command center. Estimates ranged from a low ten million to as high as twenty-five million dead, with Prime’s massacre adding to those numbers. The displaced civilians were three times as many. Thanks to my intervention, New York City had the lowest death toll at one hundred thousand.

Still, that was a lot of people.

Ben added, “There are four ships left. One is still hiding somewhere on Earth, and I want to hunt them down and kill these fuckers myself. The whole world was just under attack. This is bigger than the United States, China, Russia, or the EU. Millions are dead. This concerns all of us, sir.”

“Sir?”

“You will be my commanding officer, are you not?”

Technically. “What about your men?”

“I’ll talk to them about my decision.”

“Ah. You haven’t told them.”

“Not yet. Nick might join, too. He can sometimes be a total asshole, but we go way back. He’s a good guy. Francis, well, we’re college roommates, and he’s my wizzo.”

“A what?”

“Weapons Systems Officer. He sits at the back of the jet.”

I heaved a sigh. “You know, fighting in space is different from fighting planet-side. You saw to it.”

“I can train, and I learn fast.”

“And we don’t know when they’ll be back or their next attack.”

“I’m good at following orders, sir.”

I paused, studying him. “I’m not asking for your loyalty nor whatever you believe I wanted. I have no choice but to fight them. It’s not about revenge, glory, or power. We’re fighting a highly advanced force and an alien civilization that could potentially span the entire galaxy. That’s who we’re fighting against. Do you understand?”

“Win or lose; I’m prepared for that. If I join you, at least I’m fighting. When I get back to US soil, they’ll bench me, and I’ll spend a lot of time waiting for bickering politicians to decide how to get their hands on your tech. Is that what you are afraid of?”

“It did cross my mind.”

“Then, you have nothing to worry about.”

“Fine, but I’m still giving you another day to think about this just in case you change your mind. We’ll discuss you addressing me as sir later.”

“Since this is a military operation, you need rank and a chain of command. You’re already doing that with Prime by calling Jason, Tom, and Amelia as ministers. How else am I going to address you?”

“Okay…I guess sir is fine. For now.” Inside my head, Prime hailed me to the cockpit. “Well, I’ll leave you to it then. I think we’re approaching Wilsonville.”

Ben raised an eyebrow. “Your hometown?”

“I’m getting my family out of here before I make my announcement.”

“And out of the crossfire.”

“Exactly. What about your family?”

“I know they’ll be safe in Harlem. If they decide to come with me, I’ll pick them up once I learn how to fly those things you’ve built.”

“I can’t change your mind, can I?”

“I’ve made up my mind,” he said. “Sir.”