Nathan Hystad - The Event

Carey was on the floor beside me on his side, snoring away lightly. Mary’s eyes were closed, but I didn’t think she was out yet. “Do you think they knew about the Kraskis’ plan to kill everyone?” she asked, eyes still closed.

“Janine and Bob were born out of test tubes and brainwashed by the Kraski to do their bidding. I think all they knew was there was a device on Earth that would stop their parents, or whatever they thought of them as, from coming and finding a safe home to live. Even if they knew that humans were going to be destroyed, could you really blame them anyway?”

She opened her eyes and looked across the small room at me. “I don’t think so, but it’s just hard to think of Bob without being angry, and a little sad for him at the same time.”

“I know what you mean. Janine had evidently changed sides and worked with the Deltra. I like to think she had a soft spot and that they swayed her with stories of Kraski killing whole species and invading other worlds. It also makes me wonder what would have happened if she hadn’t turned, if she hadn’t met me, if she’d gone on that first date all those years ago in the Boathouse with that Army guy. Would the Kraski be on Earth right now? Would the Deltra? It almost gives me hope that we’ve twisted destiny and that everything will somehow all work out because of it.”

“It’s impossible to know. For all we know, her choosing you has set us on a path to the destruction of the human race. Maybe the other man would have foiled the whole plan and stopped them from coming in the first place.” She said this with a straight face, and for a moment, I didn’t know if she was playing or being serious, until she gave me an ear-to-ear grin. “You know there’s no way some guy could have stopped them from beaming everyone up, right?”

“Yes, I know. I just think I’m glad that I’m out here and not in a massive storage container heading to the sun. Then again, we have no idea if we’ll get there in time, or how to stop them from burning up if we do.” Carey was snoring heavily now, and his breaths were lulling my eyes closed. I don’t know if Mary was falling asleep, because in moments, I had drifted off.

I woke some time later with Carey up on the bed beside me, snuggled up close to my chest. Feeling much more rested, I swung my legs off the bed and noticed Magnus had replaced Mary on the other bunk. I quietly walked out and left Carey snoozing away with the big Swede. The door hissed lightly as it slid back closed. The hall lights flicked on when they sensed movement, and soon I was at the bridge.

“Mary, I hope you got enough sleep. How are we doing?” I asked her as she looked intently at the monitors.

“It’s been about six hours. I woke after four and tagged Magnus out. I’m glad you got to sleep for a while. It was needed and well deserved, Dean,” she said.

“How do you feel?”

“Not great, but alert enough. We’ve only had a couple times we needed to stop. I can’t believe this technology exists. This can change everything. We could get across the solar system in days. I mean, humans could travel to other systems! And we know that we aren’t alone out there now.”

“For a CPA from upstate New York, I can’t imagine being out here in the great expanse. That said, I always believed we weren’t alone. All the movies were right, though; the aliens wanted to destroy us. Is Natalia still live with us?” I could see her smaller ship as a green blip behind us.

“ Da , hello, Dean,” Natalia said through the speaker.

“I’m sorry you’re all alone over there. You must be exhausted,” I said, knowing she was tough, but we all had our limits.

“I’m running on low, but I’ll be okay. I actually prefer to be alone most of the time.” Her voice was more than tired-sounding.

The sun was growing in size in the viewscreen, and I could tell the heat was drastically increasing, but the ships seemed to have automatic temperature control. Cool air emanated from multiple sources on the ship.

Stars streamed quickly by on the screen, but the massive glowing orange ball of gases stayed steady, slowly getting larger as we moved toward it. I assumed that at any point we would come across our people. With any luck, they were still here, and still alive.

“From what I understand, there’s an awful lot of radiation as we near the sun. Does this thing have any gauges on the danger?” I asked, worried we would get close and die of poisoning.

Mary touched her head where the implant had been. “Yes, according to the information we were fed on the ships, all of the ships are built to withstand almost any amount of radiation. The suits in the cargo bay as well. Seems they had some serious problems in other systems and found ways of protecting themselves.”

“Thank God. One less thing to worry about… as if we don’t have enough,” I replied, actually happy to hear I wasn’t going to die a horrible death by an invisible ray.

The ship’s sensors beeped, and Mary hopped out of hyperdrive instantly. Natalia appeared behind us on the screen. Something red came into view on the screen and we stayed back, trying to figure out what it was.

“Go get Magnus, Dean,” Mary said. I quickly ran back and woke the large, slumbering man.

“Everything okay?” he asked.

“Not sure. Something’s registering on the sensors. We’re only about ten million miles from the sun now. It could be them,” I said as we rushed back to the cockpit.

“What are we looking at, Mary?” Magnus asked, rubbing his eyes.

“Take a look for yourself,” Mary said quietly. I looked up and squinted at it. The view screen had an auto-tint to protect us from the sun’s burning glow. Sitting in the middle of our view was a large rectangular box, like the ones that had lowered into Earth’s atmosphere. It looked much like the Kraskis’ mother ship, but less square and much smaller, though still quite large if my depth perception was making any sense out here.

“Is there just one? The image the Deltra showed us had at least a hundred of them out there.” My voice came out gravelly, and I took a mostly dry swallow.

“That’s all the sensors show. Nat, what do you think? Any chance this is a trap?” Magnus asked.

“I don’t think so. Want me to go in for a closer look?” she replied, full of confidence.

“I’m not sure that’s a good idea, but what choice do we have?” Mary said. “Let’s move in. I wish we knew if there was a way to scan for life signs, but there’s no instruction manual. And let’s face it, if there was, we wouldn’t be able to read it.”

My heart raced as I thought of the people that might be in that container. Would they have oxygen? Could we save them somehow and still make it to the others and stop them too? People could survive up to a week without water, Mary had told me. We were there now. Most would perish well before that.

“How the hell are we even going to find out if they’re in there?” Magnus asked.

“I have an idea. We’re going to have to get close. Really close.” I had no clue if my idea would work, but I didn’t really see any other options. I ran to the locker room and picked the smallest suit. I truly hoped the air levels would be suitable for humans, or else this would be a short trip. I started to pull it on, and Magnus walked in.

“Not the worst idea I’ve ever heard… and I once walked through a minefield wearing nothing but my boots,” he said with a smile.

“I’m going to coax that story out of you over a beer, but for now, suit up.”

“This thing is loose even on me. And you look like a little kid putting on daddy’s pants. Imagine the looks we’ll get if this plan works. We look ridiculous. Come to think of it, I’d better use the bathroom, or whatever that strange room is over there.”