The Expanding Universe 4: Space Adventure, Alien Contact, & Military Science Fiction (Science Fiction Anthology) Read online

  “Who has the facts?” Kenny blurted.

  “What are you talking about?” The man looked skeptical. “They do.” He pointed at the floor below. “And it’s our job to wheedle it out of them.”

  “How can you tell fact from propaganda?”

  “Good reporters can tell, sonny. How did you get a seat in here?”

  “The president quoted my piece from the Times. I’m Kenny Freeman.”

  “Lucky shot. You’ll be nobody in a week, same as you were last week,” the man sneered with a dismissive wave.

  “I have no doubt about that,” Kenny agreed so the man would leave him alone. He turned his attention back to the speech.

  “...one hundred billion dollars. I know it’s a lot of money, but if we can stop this war before it starts, then the savings isn’t in dollars, but in the salvation of the human race. There is no price I’m not willing to pay for that. Peace, fellow humans.”

  “I thought the war had already started,” Kenny mumbled. “And you won’t be paying, Jack. It’ll be us.”

  ***

  Money for the war approved in late night emergency session! Thank you to the Assembly. You are heroes for all humanity, the scrip rolled across the video screen.

  “Well done, Mister President. You didn’t even have to talk about Mars,” Press Secretary Boyd stated.

  “I didn’t want to shoot all my silver bullets at once,” he replied.

  “It’s only a hundred billion...” Defense Secretary Stonebeck started, rubbing his hands together at the thought of growing the military, ensuring his future in both legend and fact. He made to continue, but the president stopped him.

  “It’s all you’re getting, at least for now. Go build us some more spaceships and mega space weapons. I want big ones that can blow those aliens out of our space!”

  “Yes, sir, Mister President. We’ve got plenty of things in the works, but money always helps the contractors pick up the pace.” In his mind, Admiral Stonebeck saw himself sitting on the boards of directors of the big three contractors, drawing millions in stock options while he fished and played golf.

  He knew the human race would survive because the threat wasn’t everything that it had been made out to be.

  ***

  None of the Space Force ships were armed for space battle. They were troop carriers with a single railgun that fired at a slow rate and a small bank of defensive missiles. They had been designed without knowing what the threat would be. Aliens had been contemplated and dismissed. The railgun was to break up asteroids heading toward Earth. There were nukes, too, but those were for the same purpose and the delivery systems were primitive, even by Earth standards.

  Captain Woods stood with his hands behind his back, watching through a series of small squares of high-impact polymer that made up the front window of the small bridge. There was room for three to sit or two to sit and one to stand. There was no room to pace, and the captain wanted nothing more than to walk back and forth as he contemplated his tactical situation.

  “Send the enemy packing,” he muttered.

  “We can hit them with everything we’ve got, but I don’t think it’ll do anything,” Commander Hoss Travis suggested.

  “That’s what I was thinking. How do we carry out our orders and survive without pissing off our new friends?”

  “You have a way with words, Woody, but as Hoss suggested, if we hit them with everything we have, then we’ll be dead in the water. If we don’t kill them, then we’re sitting ducks. I don’t want that. I don’t want to be the first spaceship lost in an interstellar war, although history would know our names. Remember the Alamo!”

  “You have things mixed up, Reefer. I have no intention of dying, maybe in prison for refusing to follow stupid orders, but not out here on the wrong end of a death ray.”

  Reef R. Weed was an unfortunate name for the brilliant engineer, but he wore it proudly. He was also right. The power systems on the ship couldn’t handle a surge like Hoss had suggested.

  “What are you thinking, Reefer?”

  “You know we can’t win a real fight. If they could fly here across interstellar space, then they are way ahead of us on the technological scale. We should be bowing and scraping to them, begging them to tell us how to reach the stars.”

  “Hoss?”

  “I second the vote for begging. Too bad this isn’t a democracy.”

  “It isn’t, but I have to throw my vote in with yours. We’ll approach at an offset angle, spiral toward them so we’re never pointing our weapons their way. We’ll keep the weapons systems powered down.”

  “Is there that small a chance they’d be effective?” Reef wondered.

  “Risk and reward, my friend. Blowing up aliens is too high risk for my blood. If we prove they are hostile, then maybe we’ll survive the learning experience so we can give them a big hairy what-for, while also bringing a dozen of our closest friends.”

  “You know what they say, Captain. Here goes nothing.” Hoss made the adjustments to their flight profile and started nosing away from a direct confrontation with the alien vessel. “It’ll be about five seconds before NASA is all over our change in course.”

  The captain flipped a switch, darkening a third of the lights on one panel. “That’ll learn ’em,” Captain Woods said with as much bravado as he could muster, before staring out the window at the pinpoint of light that was the alien ship.

  ***

  “What the hell are they doing up there?” Stonebeck howled. “I want answers!”

  A mob of people had gathered in the situation room to watch the proceedings. The external sensors of the warship fed the active tactical screen, but they were missing a big part of the engagement. The commentary.

  “It seems that they’ve shut off their radio.”

  “They wouldn’t!” the Defense Secretary continued to bluster.

  The Press Secretary leaned close. “It’s alien interference,” he whispered.

  “Those damn bugs are blocking their signal. That’s a declaration of war!”

  The former football player leaned back with his hands behind his head, relaxed as he always appeared to be. It was part of his persona. He was a big man and his pose blocked the view of the screen for most of the people behind him. A number shifted their chairs to see what was going on.

  “The Lunar Star continues on a corkscrew course toward the alien vessel. Their weapons are not powered,” the briefing officer said softly. The Defense Secretary snarled at the man and waved him away from the lectern, leaving the podium empty.

  “Everyone out!” the Press Secretary suddenly demanded, standing and pointing toward the door. The group moved slowly toward it. “GET OUT!”

  The headlong rush cleared the room in mere seconds. The last person out closed the door behind them. The Defense Secretary and the Press Secretary were left alone with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, the CJCS as they called him.

  “What is going on up there?” Admiral Stonebeck asked, different from the firebrand persona he’d shown the others.

  “I don’t know, Mister Secretary. If I had to guess and you’re nodding that I’m supposed to say something, then it would be that they’re trying to make nice with the aliens. They don’t want to appear threatening.”

  “What were their orders, Bob?” Stonebeck wondered if General Bob Decker knew.

  “Blow the aliens to kingdom come.”

  “It doesn’t appear to me that they’re doing that.”

  “From the beginning of time, ship captains have had a great deal of latitude in executing orders. This is for the security of all mankind, probably the highest stakes engagement in human history. I expect that Captain Woods has his reasons.”

  “Maybe we’ll find out what those are if he survives long enough to get court-martialed.”

  “I don’t think it’ll come to that,” the CJCS said. The Secretary of Defense raised one eyebrow. The Press Secretary stood and approached the screen.

  “How man
y people are watching this feed?” he asked.

  “Maybe thousands,” General Decker replied.

  “That won’t do at all. We need to cut the feed, everywhere but here. We need to take control of the message. If they are successful, we take credit. If they aren’t, as in, they are destroyed, then we rally the forces for a counterattack. Is the rest of the fleet on the move?”

  “Yes.” The CJCS was not amused at taking orders from the Press Secretary. Admiral Stonebeck rested a friendly hand on his shoulder.

  “Take it easy, Bob. There’s nothing we can do from down here except play the long game. We put in our order for more ships and better weaponry. We sole-sourced the contract to the big three and threw wads of money at them. I’m told we’ll see a great deal of forward momentum in as little as one month’s time. But that’s a month. What we’re seeing has already happened, minutes ago.” The Secretary of Defense pointed at the screen. “There’s little chance that a race advanced enough to travel between the stars isn’t going to conduct a wholesale slaughter, but that doesn’t mean we want to give them a neighborly welcome.”

  “Why not?” the CJCS asked.

  The Press Secretary sputtered and threw his hands up in disbelief.

  “Don’t ask too many good questions, Bob. Sometimes the right answer is that we’re not ready for aliens, not yet. We have to chase them off. We may not kill them, but if we’re hostile enough, maybe they’ll leave on their own and consider us too much trouble.”

  “They haven’t attacked us,” General Decker said matter-of-factly. “I personally checked every unit. We are one hundred percent. There have been no engagements and definitely no casualties.”

  “Shh.” The Press Secretary pressed his finger to his lips as he gave the chairman a knowing look.

  ***

  Reefer swallowed hard. “We’re getting bombarded by waves of radiation.”

  “Naturally occurring?” Woody asked.

  “No way.”

  “Maybe that’s how their scanning systems work. I hope they see that we’re not powered up, but they have to know that we’re armed. They’ll also have to know that we’re armed with nukes.”

  “Probably not the best way to say hi,” Hoss suggested.

  “It’s a little late to jettison them and pick them up later. I wish I would have thought of that before now.” The captain blew out a breath. Every muscle in his body was tight from the tension. He tried to relax, but was having no luck.

  “Maybe the aliens are smarter than us and will be able to figure it out,” Hoss offered.

  “Let’s give them time to reach the right conclusion. Slow forward momentum to one-third.”

  Reefer activated the forward thrusters. The three men strained against their harnesses as the ship braked. Two minutes later, the thrusters stopped firing.

  “Have we come to a complete stop?” the captain asked.

  “We shouldn’t have.” Reefer looked concerned as he checked the instruments. “We’re maintaining a steady ten meters per second.”

  “Which means it’ll take roughly a year to close with the alien.”

  “I remember what my old man used to tell me,” Hoss interjected in his best southern accent. “Don’t be in a hurry to your own death.”

  “That makes sense, but we’ll also die of thirst well before we reach them. I thought I asked for one-third speed.”

  “You did, and I executed the commands properly, but there’s something holding us up,” Reefer explained. He pointed at the spot where the alien ship remained motionless.

  “That little ship can stop our forward momentum at this range?” The captain sounded skeptical. He shook his head. “Is that even possible?”

  “If we see it with our own eyes, then clearly it’s possible, even if we don’t understand the science behind it. Damn! What I wouldn’t give to get a peek behind that curtain.”

  “Do you think they understand Morse code?” Hoss asked.

  “You have to be kidding me.” The captain released his harness. He needed to pace, but would have to settle for standing and staring out the window.

  “We flash our lights at them in a regular pattern until they flash back. Simple as that. We can use Morse code because that’s what we know. They’ll use what they know and maybe the smart people back on Earth can figure it out.”

  With a single curt nod, the crew went about making it happen. Reefer quickly programmed the computer to use the forward asteroid radar to flash the message. He set it on auto-repeat and punched the button. “Welcome to our solar system. We wish to determine your intentions here. We hope we can peacefully meet.”

  “Or feel the wrath of my multitude of weapons with your bug faces drawn on their warheads!” Hoss quipped.

  “Do we know that they are a bug species?” The captain wasn’t sure.

  “That’s what they’re saying on Earth,” Reefer replied.

  “How would they know?” Captain Woods asked.

  Hoss shrugged and shook his head. Reefer rolled his eyes.

  “They don’t,” Reefer finally admitted. “Did you hear the reports about the sneak attack?”

  “Garbage,” the captain replied.

  “Why does anyone listen to that stuff?”

  “I wish I could answer that question, Reefer, because that would give me insight into creatures more mysterious than the aliens, and that’s human beings. No one knows why they do what they do.”

  “We’re getting flashed,” Reefer said quickly as he fingertips jabbed at his keyboard. He looked up with a smile splitting his face. “We’ve made contact.”

  ***

  Space Force is fighting for you! the scrip read. It included a grainy picture of the alien ship. It could have been an asteroid for as much detail showed. New and better weapons coming soon. Thank your legislators for protecting you!

  Kenny Freeman looked at his screen in disbelief. He pulled out his notebook, checking over his shoulders before scribbling a few more notes. The standoff between the Space Force warship Lunar Star and the alien vessel was being live-streamed on all channels. It didn’t need commentary, but with any sport, commentators were there nonetheless.

  The narrative? Give it to ’em good! No aliens in our solar system. Humanity must determine humanity’s destiny.

  Kenny watched the live feed for five seconds to assure himself that nothing was happening. They don’t look like they’re threatening us, he thought. He switched stations to listen to the competitors’ takes. It was more of the same.

  He caught the same phrase parroted across all the channels. “Humanity’s destiny.” What does that mean? he wondered.

  ***

  “Send in the reinforcements! Max speed. They’ve got our ship.” Defense Secretary Stonebeck pounded the table. The tactical display showed the two ships static in space, the distance between them constant.

  “Maybe we should let this play out?” Boyd wondered.

  “Doesn’t that go against everything you’ve been preaching? Human dominance is assured when we blast these creatures out of our space?”

  The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs sat back and watched. He hated being in the middle of politics.

  “There are two elements at play here. Us and them.”

  “You are such a dick,” Stonebeck blurted. The Press Secretary maintained his composure, raising one eyebrow, amused by the outburst.

  “I’ll explain for those in the military who don’t understand politics.” The CJCS clenched his jaw and stared daggers at the football hero. The admiral, wearing a suit in his role as Defense Secretary, swelled with anger so much that his buttons threatened to pop. The Press Secretary reveled in the rise he’d gotten from the older men. “Us means the president and his supporters. They will be well compensated in their lives for this time of change. Them is everyone else. The common citizen.”

  “What do you mean “common,” you prick? My military come from those ranks. This isn’t a monarchy,” Stonebeck spat.

  “The c
ommon citizen is just that. Your average soldier doesn’t need to know any of these things. They only know what we tell them, which includes why it’s important. Out there?” The Press Secretary flipped his hand toward the live image of two ships doing nothing. “That doesn’t matter for anyone down here except their perception of humanity’s place in the universe. Otherwise, nothing has changed. Isn’t it better if we tell them what their perception should be rather than let them fuel it with rampant speculation?”

  The Defense Secretary put his elbows on the table and buried his face in his hands. “Information warfare, and we’re conducting it against our own people.”

  “Not at all. Of course, being military, you equate everything to war. It is simply politics. More of this and we stay in power. Less of this and the other guy gets in and we’re put out to pasture, which means, corporate boards and speaking tours. No matter what, we’re all rich, and that means you, too, you prick,” Press Secretary Boyd growled before straightening his suit coat, reaffirming his winning smile, and leaving the situation room.

  “Send an update to orders, Bob. Cancel the previous order and issue new instructions supporting the actions of the Lunar Star. Order the others to maintain their positions. Captain Woods is in command, and they’ll respond to his directions. When he turns his radio back on, he’ll find that we’re behind him one hundred percent. Someone has to lead this planet to a better place, and Captain Woods has shown us the way. If we’re fired on, and I don’t see that happening, then fire back. Otherwise, weapons hold. If you’ll excuse me, I have a few calls to make.”

  “I couldn’t agree more, Mister Secretary. I don’t want war here on Earth, and I sure as hell don’t want one out there. We need to be ready, but it chaps my ass that we’re trying to start a fight.”

  The Defense Secretary gave the CJCS a friendly push. “I’m back in charge, Bob. We are not going to start a war with aliens.”

  ***

  By the fourth day of the standoff, nerves were fraying. Not for Captain Woods and his crew, but on Earth.

  “Maybe they’ve stopped time?” a reporter posited. Kenny fought with himself to keep from rolling his eyes. He lost the fight. “What, Freeman? You got a better idea what’s going on up there?”