Open Writing

Rigel IX
1000 kilometer orbit

All of the travelers crowded around the two viewing ports as ’tau and Cal brought the great ship into orbit around the reddish ball that was Rigel IX. Those who had been there before felt trepidation, knowing what creatures lurked in its underground caverns. Then the ship was locked in and stable, and Cal called them all to the center of the bridge.

“Okay, folks, here we are. For those of you who haven’t been here before, there’s a ship exactly like this one in orbit on the other side of the planet, which we left here when we were forced to leave in a hurry. We left through a portal in one of the subterranean caves down there, and somehow we’ve got to close it.

“The portal is guarded by…things that I can only describe as your worst nightmare.” He went on to say that the creations of the rogue alien, Garn, could be destroyed by gunshots to the head, but not to the body, and described the best way to do it, recounting the travelers’ earlier visit to the planet below.

“As you heard, Dennis has volunteered to go down and destroy the portal. Trouble is, if there are any of those creatures there, then that could be a one-way trip, and I don’t think any of us is comfortable with that.” He looked at the English soldier. “So, I’m telling you now, old buddy, you’re not going alone.”

Karen looked at Cal in alarm, but before she could object, Steve said, “That’s right, Dennis. Because I’ll be coming with you.”

Joe McCulloch stepped forward. “And me.”

Arnold and Julia also took a step forward, and Dennis held his hands up in protest. “Come on, now. There’s no sense everyone else risking their lives. I can handle this well enough by myself.”

Arnold nodded. “Perhaps you could, Dennis. But there’s no way we’re going to let you.”

Dennis began to argue, and Arnold cut him off. “No, Dennis. No suicide missions. We’ve decided that, if we all go down, we can do this without any of us having to sacrifice ourselves. This way, we all get to go home.”

“What about those monsters?” Dennis asked. “We’d have to get through them. Some of us could still get killed doing it. I think one person alone has a better chance of…”

Julia interrupted Dennis, “If you think we’re going to allow you to go down there by yourself and sacrifice your life so that we can get away, guess again. We haven’t come all this way, taken all those risks, just to give you up now.” She looked at the faces of the others, who all were nodding their agreement, so she continued more softly. “We care too much for you to allow you to do that, Dennis. We’ll all go.”

No one spoke for a moment, then Steve Chappel, normally so quiet he went unnoticed for long periods, stirred and looked across the bridge at Jonathan. “What will happen when the device is blown, Jonathan? Will it just…you know, blow up? Or will something more happen?”

Jonathan looked at Steve, but spoke to all, “An astute question, Steve. Because nothing like this has ever been done before, I don’t know. However, I suspect that the explosion will be considerably larger than we anticipate.”

“Why?” Cal asked.

“Well, the forces involved are enormous. Far greater than anything the physical world has seen. Don’t forget, the device is essentially a black hole, a singularity. Its sudden dissolution may unleash violent, unknown forces we can’t control.”

Karen looked alarmed. “But we’ll be gone, right? I mean, we’ll be light-years away when it happens, won’t we?”

Jonathan nodded. “Except for ’tau and his crew on board the ship, we’ll all be back on Earth.” He turned to ‘tau. “Therefore, I advise you to move the ship out of orbit as soon as we leave.”

‘tau nodded. [It will be done, Jonathan. But I must advise you, I will accompany you to the surface. The honor of my clan demands it.]

There was nothing to say to that, and there was silence for a moment.

“But those monsters… I mean, there must be hundreds of them. How will we get through them?” Dennis asked.

“As you know, I have never advocated violence,” Jonathan said. “I have always believed that there are other ways to settle conflict; that there must be alternatives. But I’m afraid I see none here. And Dennis, you haven’t seen Cal and Joe in action. They, with you, I think will present a formidable force.”

There were a few tentative smiles, and Trotter said. “Hey, don’t forget about Aussie’s finest. I’m not too foul at the old argey-bargey either.” He danced on the balls of his feet like a boxer, and everyone laughed.

The laughter helped to lift the mood from gloom to hope. Watching, Cal was grateful that Jonathan had said what he did, but he still knew they had a hard time ahead of them; they would need a lot of luck to defeat the creatures and get through the stone rooms to the portal. Still, a little bit of optimism didn’t hurt. Turning back to the ship’s controls, he and ’tau began to seek out the best landing sites.

* * * *

The hydraulics hissed as the shuttle’s door lifted, and Cal and ’tau looked out on the ruined world. Heavy gray clouds hung over the blasted landscape, and there was no sign of life. Cal knew, however, that beneath the scorched plain dwelt creatures fit to freeze the blood. He had tried to communicate this to those who had not seen them; how successful he had been, he was not sure. This worried him for a variety of reasons, not least the possibility that his warnings would not be taken seriously.
Cal was afraid for his friends. He’d never been psychic, but he had a strong feeling that not all of them would survive this confrontation; someone would not return to Earth. He was especially afraid for Karen. What he would do should anything happen to her, he didn’t know, nor did he want to contemplate it. Life without her was unthinkable. He had decided long ago that, should it come to it, he would die to protect her.

He felt a movement behind him, and turned to see Karen looking over his shoulder. He smiled at her, “Ready, babe?”

Karen nodded. “Ready. I guess we go, hmm?”

“Guess so.” He turned to the others, who had gathered behind him at the door. “Okay, folks. Follow us, and don’t get lost.”

Cal walked out the door with the others following, down the ramp, across the open ground to the stone staircase, into the depths of the planet, ushering the others through before entering behind them.

Lights on, they went down the stone steps until they came to the room that held the device. It was as they had left it, and Jonathan and ‘tau busied themselves at its controls, while Cal, Joe, and Dennis kept watch. Steve and Trotter also stood guard with weapons Dennis gave them. Their brief was to protect those who could not defend themselves, and they watched the stairway for any sign of movement that would signal an approach from the creatures.

After about 30 nerve-wracking minutes, during which no aliens were seen, Jonathan moved away from the device. “All right, Cal. I think we’re ready to start moving people through. We’ve computed the co-ordinates for Earth, and we can a least get some of us started on the way home.”
Cal looked at the shimmering portal. “Where will they come out? On Earth, I mean?”

Jonathan looked at Professor Seartell. “We’ve tuned this portal to the device in Berlin. With no one there to, intercept us, it should be quite safe. However, I will go first, and…”

“No, you won’t,” said Joe, stepping forward. “Not this time, Jonathan.”
“He’s right, Jonathan. Let Joe go first and make sure it’s safe.” Cal nodded.

Karen touched Cal on his arm. “If it’s not?”

“Then it soon will be,” Joe grinned. “Right, Cal?”

“Copy that.”

Joe stepped up to the portal and checked his gun, then looked at Jonathan. “Okay, Professor? I just step through?”

“That’s all,” Jonathan nodded.

Joe, big .44 in hand, squared his shoulders, and stepped into the blackness of the device, and he was gone.

A moment later, he stepped back through the portal, grinning. Cal stepped forward, “How is it? All clear?”

Joe nodded. “Looks that way. If we hurry, we can set the charges and be gone before they even realize we’ve…”

Suddenly, there was a shout from the doorway, and then the roar of a gun. Then Steve and Dennis ran into the room.

“Aliens, Cal!” shouted Dennis, his sawed-off smoking. “Got one of the buggers, but there’s plenty more coming.”

“Everyone without a weapon, get behind us!” Cal yelled as three of the creatures burst into the room. Cal tucked the stock of his shotgun into the crook of his arm and fired at one of them from a distance of only 10 feet. The creature’s head was blown off, and it staggered a few steps before pitching on the stone floor before them. Then Joe, Trotter, and Steve opened fire as more of the monsters entered the room, and the room erupted in gunfire and smoke, and the reek of cordite filled the air.

Those with guns tried to keep the creatures away from those without, but sheer weight of numbers meant they were fighting a losing battle. Karen and Julia huddled at the rear with Seartell and Arnold, who did their best to shield them with their bodies, but it was clear to Cal that it was only a matter of time before they were overrun.

Cal saw Joe drop his empty shotgun and draw his .44. Firing with calm precision, the big Navajo put one bullet into one of each creature’s eyes. At such point-blank range, he could hardly miss, and the bullets’ large caliber did the rest; bodies soon littered the floor around him, and Cal began to work his way to his friend’s side. They each ran out of ammunition at about the same time, and they dropped their weapons and assumed a martial arts attack stance.

Cal looked at Joe. “Remember the Broken Arrow.”

Joe nodded. “Geronimo.”

The creatures were at a distinct disadvantage with their lumbering walk, and the two fighters waded into them with hands and feet, kicking, crushing, breaking bones and heads. To Cal, it was easier than he expected; then he saw ’tau standing at the rear, his face a mask of concentration, and Cal knew what the alien was doing. ‘tau was using his formidable mental powers to confuse the creatures, making them several seconds too slow to counter the attacks.

Dennis, too, had run out of cartridges for his shotgun, and was also engaging the aliens in unarmed combat. Cal only had a second or two to see the English soldier’s technique, but what he saw made Cal glad that the British SAS were not his enemy. Dennis Crafter, armed with a British Army–issue bayonet, waded through the aliens like a scythe through a wheat field, and his skills added to the piles Cal and Joe were creating.
The tide of aliens began to thin; for a moment, Cal thought they had gained the upper hand. Then he saw more of the creatures approaching the doorway in a seemingly endless stream, and he knew it was only a matter of time.

Then Seartell’s voice rang out above the clamor, and Cal turned to see the portly professor standing by the device. “Cal!” he called. “Everyone, get back here!”

Cal and Joe fought their way back to where Seartell was standing, and he said, “We can’t go back to the ship now; some of those creatures might get through, and we can’t have that. I’ve re-set the device to the other one on ’tau’s Hermes,” he said. “Quick! Everyone get through!”

Cal immediately grabbed Karen and propelled her towards the portal, but Karen stepped aside from it. “No way, Mister!” she said. “We go together, or not at all!”

There was no time to argue; the creatures were gearing up for another charge, and Cal began hurling people into the portal’s blackness; Trotter and Karen, despite her protests, followed. A blast from one of the alien’s weapons blew a chunk of the wall away beside Joe’s head, and Cal said, “Time to go, buddy.”

Joe nodded, and backed towards the device. Cal steered Joe and ’tau towards it. ’tau looked as if he was going to stay, but Cal said, “No, you get back to the ship, ’tau! Look after the others!” He waited until the alien disappeared into the device, then grabbed Joe by the arm, whirled him around and let him go, sending him stumbling into the portal where he disappeared. Cal reached for the pack of explosives he had placed by the device.

As he turned away from the portal, a tide of creatures swarmed through the doorway and headed for him. He lifted the pack and gripped the detonator ripcord, then collapsed as a heavy blow struck him from behind, and everything in his world went black.

* * * *

Dennis saw there was no way for him to get back to where the others were. He was isolated by the main door, and he shrank back against the wall as more of the creatures swarmed through. He felt someone beside him, and looked to see Jonathan, Arnold and Julia standing there, watching the battle fearfully.

“All right, Dennis,” said Arnold, “what’s the plan?”

“Only one that I can see, Arnold. We can’t get back there,” he nodded in the direction of the device, “so we’d best get to the shuttle.”

Drawing his Glock and passing it to Arnold, he began to reload his shotgun, retrieved from the stone floor. When it was full, he said, “Right, then. Follow me, and stay close. The bastards seem to have overlooked us for the moment, but we’d best move fast. Who knows how long that’ll last.”

Quickly, he showed Arnold how to fire the pistol, “Just hold it firmly in two hands and squeeze gently,” then they moved away from the chaos. Dennis would have preferred to return and help the others, but he knew his job was the safety of his three charges. Weapon held before him, he led them out of the stone room to the stairs leading to the surface.

After a few minutes, during which they encountered only two of the creatures, dispatched by a blast from Dennis’s shotgun and a steady four rounds from the Glock by Arnold, the four reached the surface and ran to the shuttle. They boarded and Dennis sat immediately in the pilot’s chair, flicking switches and pressing buttons.

“Okay, strap yourselves in and hang on! This is going to be a bumpy ride!” He fed power the shuttle’s engines and the craft surged forward and lifted above the surface, and Dennis put it into a power climb, opening the throttles wide and streaking away from the surface of the planet. After a moment, he turned and spoke over his shoulder, “Looks like we’ve made it, hang on now…”

With a flash that would have blinded them if they’d been looking at it, the shuttle was thrown up and out into space. The ship wasn’t damaged, but the concussion knocked the three unconscious. Unnoticed by anyone on the Hermes II, the shuttle tumbled out of control into the void of space.

* * * *

Back in the stone room, Steve Chappel stooped and lifted Cal, struggling with his weight. As the aliens surged towards him, with all his strength he literally threw Cal through the portal, then grabbed the explosive pack and stood against the edge of the device, with its power unit beside him. As the aliens rushed at him, Steve closed his eyes, took a last breath, and pulled the cord.

* * * *

As Cal tumbled through the portal, Karen rushed to gathered him in her arms, and Joe hurried to examine his friend.

After only a few seconds, Joe looked at Karen, and smiled. “It’s all right, Karen, he’s only been knocked out. He’ll be all right in a few minutes.”
Trotter looked at Cal and Karen, then at Joe. “But…but, if he’s here, then who…?”

They all rushed to the viewport, and a moment later the planet below them erupted in a massive fireball. Telepathically, ’tau ‘shouted’ a word in his language, and crewmen leapt to the controls to obey. He touched another control, and the viewport darkened against the searing brilliance of the explosion occurring 1000 kilometers away. His action saved the sight of the watchers, just as the shields he had ordered raised saved the ship and blocked the radiation from the planet.

Slowly, the fiery brilliance subsided, and ’tau returned the viewport to normal. Karen, standing by the port with Cal, turned to her husband.
“Who…?”

Cal bowed his head, then raised it again. He looked at Karen, then at the others, and said, “Jonathan.”

Gasps came from some of those on the bridge, and Cal bowed his head again. Then he raised it and looked at the others, who were looking back at him. ’tau examined the ship’s portal for any sign that someone might be coming through, then looked at them and shook his head. Karen raised his hand and touched the surface of the viewport, tears streaming down her face.

“Jonathan. No, please, no.”

All those assembled bowed their heads and paid homage to their fallen comrade, who had died to save them. He would not be forgotten.

They were silently remembering their friend, when Karen said, “Cal! Where’s Dennis? And Arnold and Julia? And Steve? Where are they?”

Cal looked around the bridge. “I don’t know.” He looked back at her. “We must have got separated in the caverns. Maybe they got out.”

“How? The planet has been…scoured. Nothing could have survived. Oh God!”

Cal moved to Karen and put his arm around her shoulders. “Easy, honey. We don’t know…”

[Our sensors detected a vessel lifting off from the surface just prior to the explosion, Cal Ferguson. I believe it was the Hermes’ shuttle.] ’tau sent.

Cal hugged Karen and smiled. “There we go. They must have got off in the shuttle. Jonathan would find a way, you know him.”

He looked at ’tau. “Any radio contact, ’tau?”

The alien shook his head. [None. The ether is silent.]

Seartell spoke up. “That doesn’t necessarily mean anything, Cal. A detonation of that magnitude would likely cause an electromagnetic pulse that would temporarily blank out all radio functions. They could still be alive, and quite safe.”

[We will search the area around the planet, but I fear we may find nothing.] ’tau sent. [However, as friend Julius says, that will not be in any way indicative of the destruction of the shuttle.]

Cal nodded. “I guess that’s the best we can do for now. If we can’t find any sign of them, I think we should make for earth and alert the Federation. Then they can mount a search.” He hugged Karen again. “Don’t worry, they’ll turn up; you know Jonathan, and don’t forget Dennis is too stubborn to…well, you know. They’ll be okay.”

’tau and his crew began preparing the ship for departure, and the rest of them dispersed to their cabins. Cal knew there was no point in dwelling on the fate of their friends. Whatever had become of them, they were on their own.