6

The ship shuddered as I gradually pulled up the controls and lifted off from the ground. The engines roared to life like hundreds of drowning plane engines, and then the sound faltered until we could no longer hear them but a distant hum.

The startled cops fired; their bullets ricocheted against the glass and the hull, but they exploded several inches from the surface. The ship’s force field kept their shots at bay.

“I can divert more resources to create two short-burst cannons against hostile forces, forerunner.”

“No! Don’t!” I screamed. “Er, they’re not hostiles. They’re people. My people.”

“They are attacking the ship.”

“They’re not a threat. That’s an order!” I said, annoyed. I steered the ship away from the cops.

There was a long pause, the longest it felt like. I feared the robot would disregard it, but he came online again and said, “As you command.”

“Jeez, Tony. You got a killer robot,” Tom said.

“And what about my truck?” Rachel asked. “Our guns are at the back.”

I nodded. “Um, robot, can you collect that blue Ford truck in front of the rec center?”

The ship flew toward the rec building. People below scattered and ran away in a panic as we hovered mere forty feet above the street. Suddenly, long mechanical tendrils shot out from the bottom and grabbed Rachel’s vehicle.

“Careful!” Rachel shouted. “I just bought that like two months ago.”

“Sorry!” I said. “I’m not exactly in control of this thing.”

A few seconds later, the robot came back again. “Your vehicle, Ms. Everett, is in the cargo hold. Safe and secure.”

But Rachel looked like she didn’t believe him. “It better be,” she muttered.

“Okay, robot. Um, take us out of here?” I asked.

“Certainly.”

We hovered six hundred feet above the ground, and I steered the ship east—toward New York. There was a three-foot gap between the cockpit and the windows, and the others closed that gap to stand next to the latter, gazing below. Only Freddie and Tom stayed close to the cockpit, standing behind my chair and looking over the dashboard.

“Wow. It’s all real.” Jason pressed his palm against the glass pane. He looked like a kid in a candy store. “We’re fucking flying, Tony. On a motherfucking spaceship.”

The nanites around us began to move again, and they quickly constructed eight more chairs made out of the same one I was sitting on.

“I guess he wants you all to sit down,” I said.

“How on Earth did they do that?” Ryan gasped, hesitating to sit on the still-moving nanite swarm on the chair’s surface. “It’s not gonna bite my butt, are they?”

“You may safely sit on the chair,” the robot said.

Amelia gave me a concerned look. She sat beside her boyfriend when she saw Jason and Ryan sit down. The others warily sat on each vacant seat, equipped with a seatbelt. They all put them on, buckled around their waist and in front of their chest.

I looked out of the window. We were flying over Southern California now, heading for Death Valley, the reach of Greater Los Angeles far behind our tail. And farther away from home, I thought.

“You are full of surprises,” I said to the robot.

“Further changes can be made later once you begin the production of combat-ready vessels and attack fighters.”

“Hold on…you want me to make more ships?”

“I don’t want anything. I will follow your command if the Forerunner abstains from future spacecraft production. However, protecting this planet and this solar system will be difficult without warships and other combat-effective measures.”

Jason called out to me with alarm. “We’re probably doing something very stupid, aren’t we, Tony?”

I couldn’t help but chuckle. “Yep. Probably.”

Amelia let out a nervous laugh. “And we’re probably going to die.”

“Most likely.”

“Better to die in space, right? At least no one has done it before,” Jason said.

“You are not going to die, Jason Navarro,” the robot said. “And there had been three reported deaths in outer space since 1971.”

“Add nine more to that, then,” Jason said, then his face paled. “Shit! How did it know my name?”

“I think he said he scanned all of us?” I looked up at the ceiling. I wasn’t sure what to look at since I did not find any speakers. “Hey! Maybe I should give you a name. You said something about Prime Dirt, right?”

“Yes. My name is The Prime Dirt that Grows in the Mountains Mist—”

I waved him off. “Yeah, yeah. I know. If we’re gonna spend a lot of time with each other, I don’t want to keep calling you that.” And it’ll get tiring. “How about…Prime? How’s that sound? It’s simple.”

A pause. “Prime it is. Virtual Intelligence designation marked.”

Ryan leaned over to Freddie. “Dude just named a fucking robot,” he said excitedly, and Freddie merely grinned back.

During the flight to New York, I told them everything. I shouldn’t keep this from them. Like Tom said, I am their squad leader, leading them to a dangerous situation where most of us might not come alive. They needed to know what they had signed up for without the bullshit.

By the end, my mouth was dry, and my head spun. It’s too bad there weren’t any snacks inside the ship. When Amelia heard my stomach grumble, she unzipped her gym bag and threw me an unopened granola bar. I devoured it in four bites. Whatever Prime had done to me, it made me hungry and thirsty. I was surprised that the others didn’t say anything. They listened throughout my whole spiel as if this was a regular briefing. They didn’t ask questions nor make any snide remarks.

Only Tom cut off the silence. “Alright. We know what we have to do. Everyone got that?” He met everyone’s eye. The others nodded. “Good. No problem here, staff sergeant.”

I gave him a small smile. Tom had always been a man I could count on the field, most of the time acting as my right hand. “Thank you.”

I wondered if this was what space travel would be like. I’m riding a burning tin can, scared to death that it would blow up immediately. Prime reassured me that it was safe, but I still didn’t trust him after he had murdered many people around the world. He reassured me again that he wouldn’t do it until I said so. Listen to that. It scared me to imagine that my word alone could end millions of lives. I couldn’t help but shiver and shut my mouth forever, fearing that whatever I said might be construed as approval for more massacre. Even though he claimed to be my ally, he was a weapon and the most dangerous one on Earth. More dangerous than the nukes.

In nineteen minutes, we were approaching the outskirts of Pennsylvania.

“So, Tony, what’s your plan?” Amelia asked.

I gave her a slight shrug. “The plan is not to die. Other than that, we’d have to take out that ship destroying half of Manhattan.”

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

“Prime mentioned those cannons,” Jason noted. “Among other things.”

“Yeah. We can use those. How many cannons does this ship have, Prime?”

“Four,” he answered.

Not great, not bad either. “I think that’s enough.”

“They can fire more than that, Tony,” Amelia said. “And our ship is a lot smaller than theirs.”

“And we’re also outnumbered,” Alonso added.

“Thank you for your faith in me, guys. I really appreciate it,” I said sarcastically. “The way I see it, I’m the only one who can fly this ship, so it’s up to me to keep you all alive.”

“Any chance we’d get boarded?” Freddie asked. “We don’t have weapons except the ones carried by your friend.”

“I’ve got some rifles, shotguns, and a few pistols,” Rachel said. “And my name’s Rachel, by the way. Do you want me to grab them in here?”

“Prime, how long until we engage the ship?”

“Ten minutes.”

I swiveled the chair around to face the others. “Alright. Let’s bring those babies up then.”

The truck was secured on the lower level of the ship. I didn’t realize this vessel was more extensive on the inside. Prime had mentioned that when I got the time, I could customize the vessel’s layout, adding more rooms and bulkhead doors to protect anyone inside from depressurization. For now, it was a giant empty space with Rachel’s truck just sitting in the middle. A narrow ramp reached the upper level where the flight deck was. At least Rachel was relieved that her baby was intact.

We brought three duffel bags and two cases up to the flight deck. Inside were two AR-15s, a Winchester 70, a couple of Mod.2, a SIG Sauer P365, and a Remington 870.

“We got two automatic rifles, a hunting rifle, three pistols, and a shotgun,” Rachel stated. “When I woke up today, I thought I was just going to shoot a target on four-dollar paper. I didn’t imagine it’s gonna be aliens.”

“Well, I’m glad we have them, Rach,” Alonso said.

“But I doubt we’d have much use for them while we’re in the air,” I said.

“And if we managed to shoot them down and they crashed into the city?” Tom raised his eyebrows.

“Well, the aliens are firing at the city, so our goal is to lessen that damage. The Atlantic Ocean is just nearby. We’ll shoot them down there. For now, pass these weapons around, keep them by your side, and if the plan goes sideways, we’d have something to protect ourselves with.” If we survive the crash. I grabbed the P365, placed it under my belt, and returned to my seat behind the cockpit.

I massaged my temples. In some parallel universe, maybe I wasn’t meant to survive. Maybe my spot here belonged to someone more capable than a broke college student, barely hanging in my school and personal life. Perhaps the president would be a viable forerunner? He’s the leader of the free world! Or take any leaders around the globe. A senator. A prime minister. The King! Anyone worth a damn! Given the opportunity, they’d probably accept this job in a heartbeat.

Another thought crossed my mind: What if the wrong person was chosen? Wrong in the sense that they wouldn’t think twice about murdering seven million more if it meant it would benefit them. What if they abused this power? History was rife with dictators and tyrants. Imagine that but at a global scale. With the technology Prime gave me, what would stop them from conquering the world? What if a crazy person got it instead before me?

As if sensing my mood, Prime quickly said, “The majority of the world leaders have been fully scanned. They have an inferior forerunner gene, ineligible for further assessment. To ease your worries, they have not been harmed.” Like half of the students on the field, I thought.

“What’s he talking about?” Amelia asked.

“Oh, I thought there was a better candidate than me.” I made a note to keep my thoughts private when talking to Prime with other people present.

“He can read your thoughts?” Ryan asked.

“He’s sort of inside me. Nanites.”

Amelia winced. “Yikes. That’s creepy.”

“Yeah, tell me about it.”

“Don’t tell me that’s gonna be permanent?” Tom asked.

“You know, I’ve never really asked.”

“It’s permanent,” Prime replied quickly.

Amelia heaved a sigh. “Well, I didn’t jot you down as a bionic man in the future.”

“Neither did I. And FYI, I’m not made of metal.”

“With that thing in your head, do you still trust it?” Rachel asked.

She made a good point. “I don’t know yet. Time will tell.”

“Guys!” Seth shouted suddenly. “Look! I can see the ship!”

Over the horizon, towering black smoke billowed out from Lower Manhattan. Three skyscrapers leaned against each other, barely hanging on before another barrage could send it crashing onto the busy avenue below. A raging fire decimated at least fifteen blocks of the city; twice as many blocks were littered with debris. Multiple warships from the harbor fired at the crystalline ship, chased by two dozen F-15s. It avoided most of the missile barrage, clipping a few jets here and there with its beams. Two pilots managed to eject before they fell near the waters of Liberty Island.

I put on my seatbelt. “Um, you guys might want to strap in. This will get a little bumpy.”

“Tony! On our left!” Amelia shouted.

Two F-15s flew too close toward us, but they dove down several feet below. “Holy shit! That almost got us!” I pulled the ship a little higher and away from the chaos. “Prime, give me some numbers. How many of our guys are still out there?”

“Unknown parameters. Please specify allies.”

“Anyone that’s firing on the fucking crystalline ship. How many?”

“I detected eleven aircraft are currently engaging the enemy.”

“Does this ship have any audio or video control?”

“Specify.”

“I need to see what’s going on around us. And, uh, siphon satellite feeds from either commercial or government sources from orbit. And produce a real-time video on all my blind sides. Put the feed in front of me on this console. I need to have eyes around me at all times. Did you get that?”

In a few seconds, nanites crawled from the walls and piled all over my dashboard, their surfaces blinking to produce a holographic feed. On my left side, I was bombarded by the news feeds and watched in shock at the carnage happening downtown: the explosions, the civilians’ fleeing desperately, and several massive traffic jams as millions tried to escape a burning city. The National Guard pulled survivors out of the rubble while maintaining order. A real-time visual of my port, starboard, and stern sides was on the right side—four F-15s passed by several thousand feet behind me. Over the horizon, dark rain clouds rolled over the harbor. It was going to rain for a few minutes. That was a mercy.

“Okay, we need to get that ship away from the city. Target the enemy ship, Prime, but do not engage until I say so,” I said.

“Cannons fully operational. Ammunitions are at one hundred capacity. Shield integrity at eighty-three percent.”

“Do you think it’s too late to back out now?” Jason asked.

“You want a potty break?”

“Maybe?”

I chuckled. “Alright, let’s get down nice and easy, and then we will—”

A missile hit us on the broadside, almost knocking me off the chair. I knew the seatbelt was gonna leave a bruise on my chest. Fortunately, the shields held the oncoming fire. A clang of alarms sounded, and Prime quickly and calmly notified me of another missile. I veered the ship to the right, narrowly avoiding the hit. I followed its contrails to the passing F-15 behind us.

“I’m on your fucking side, asshole!” I screamed.

“Cannons re-targeting second enemy ship.”

“Wait! They’re friendlies! They’re friendlies!”

“They have fired on our vessel. They are a threat.”

“No, they’re our allies. We just need to let them know we’re friendlies!”

“Would you like me to connect a channel to the second enemy aircraft, forerunner?”

“Wait, you can do that?”

“Most certainly. Any forerunner aircraft is equipped with a standard communications relay.”

“Er, yeah! Do it.”

“Patching transmission…”

“Tony! It’s coming back!” Alonso pointed to my right, where the missile had just made a U-turn around a skyscraper.

“Everybody, hold on!” I pushed the ship downward. Lights and warning klaxons rang across the dashboard, and I could feel the vessel almost hugging me as if bracing for impact. Prime warned me the missile was only a hundred feet behind us.

“River! River!” Amelia and Ryan shouted, the ship’s nose almost vertically pointed toward the waters.

“I see it! Prime, put the ship at maximum thrust on my signal.” Amelia’s duffel bag hit the back of my chair, falling toward the window. I expected a loud crack and that it would break, but the nanites did an excellent job of making them sturdy. Could we survive going into the water? A few swarms shot out from the floor and secured loose objects on the deck, including the guns.

“Now!”

Forty feet above the water, I pulled up.

The ship shuddered and groaned, the back half touching and skidding along the water’s surface. My heart leaped up my chest, feeling like my spine would snap in half as the ship’s propulsions went into overdrive, blowing a strong gust of wind at the nearby boats fleeing the city via the river. One sailing yacht almost toppled to its port side, dumping its passengers into the cold water.

I veered to the right, catching a glance as the missile hit a cargo ferry just underneath the Brooklyn Bridge. Screams of terror from the top of the bridge, people pouring out of their cars and scrambling away from the billowing smoke smothering the road. I hoped no one was hurt.

“Transmission linked,” Prime said.

“For Christ’s sake, stop shooting!” I shouted. “We’re not a threat! We’re humans!”

A long pause as they trailed behind us. I waited for their response, flying above Central Park, where a large crowd had gathered on the open fields. I steered toward the crystalline ship engaged with the Navy fleet in the harbor.

“Who—who’s speaking?” A man’s voice demanded, unsure. “How’d you get this channel?”

“We’re the, um,” I looked over to Amelia and Jason, but they both gave me a shrug. “We’re the guys behind the flying ship you just fired on. I repeat we are not a threat!”

Another long pause. “Whoever you are, you are not authorized to use this channel.”

“Authorize my ass. I’m trying to help you! This is Staff Sergeant—”

“You better get the hell off the comms, kid, and stop fucking around.”

“But I’m—!”

“Over and out.”

Fucking airmen!

“Tony,” Jason called out, “I think they’re coming back for more!”

“Seriously?” I gripped tightly on the wheel and focused on the crystalline ship a thousand feet away. “Fine! Prime, focus all the cannons on the first enemy ship.”

“The enemy shields are active.”

“I know, Prime. I saw it on TV. I just want to say hello to our new friend.”

“They are not friendly. They are a threat to your planet.”

“Not the time!” I groaned. I didn’t have the time to argue with a robot right now. “Fire!”

The ship jolted back. Four streaks of yellow light shot out toward the enemy, slamming against their starboard side. The first two didn’t pass their shields, but the last two did. I didn’t expect the enormous explosion that followed, taking out another large chunk of the protruding crystal-like structures, which toppled into the harbor. It almost swamped a frigate floating nearby from its wake.

The enemy ship still hovered above the city and slowly turned to face me.