Nathan Hystad: The Survivors: Books 1-3

“I think they’re moving,” I said, thinking they were getting closer to us faster than our packs were taking us.

“You’re right. Stay the course.”

“What happens if they’re going too fast when we cross paths?”

Magnus laughed uneasily, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear his answer to that. “I have a plan for that.”

I really didn’t like the sound of that.

We moved this way for almost an hour, the ships getting closer each minute. In the distance, there was nothing but the expanse of space, and my mind drifted to the countless worlds out there we could now access with the portals. What was out there for us to discover? I put the thoughts on the backburner as the half dozen warships grew, until we couldn’t ignore them coming toward us any longer.

“There’s not going to be anywhere to grab a foothold on them. We have to beam into them.” Magnus said this like it was no big deal. Go for a beer, walk your dog… beam into a warship while traveling in the opposite direction in an EVA suit, with a jetpack thrusting you toward it.

“Is there no other option?” I asked, hoping for a miracle.

“Come in, NS-1007. This is your general. Stop where you are. The war is over. I repeat, slow your thrusters and cease your pursuit.” He waited and said it again, but still received no reply.

The lead ship was beautiful. The sleek exterior was rounded, giving way from the boxy design of the Bhlat ships or the cube vessels of the Kraski. Our people had found a way to incorporate the size of the vessels but mix them with the slim and smooth smaller ships. They were a testament to how far our race had come in a short period of time. And if we weren’t careful, we were about to be smashed like bugs on the warship’s windshield.

The ship grew as we slowed our thrusters.

“Crap. They’re powering up the cannons.” Magnus pointed toward the bottom edges of the ship, where a red light started to glow. “They’re going to fire at the retreating Bhlat.”

“You sure this is going to work? We won’t end up in a wall or out the other end?” I’d used the beam pins on our suit enough times, but not on a target moving so fast.

“The ship’s big. We’ll be fine.” He said it with confidence, but as we got closer to each other, I could see the dread in his eyes.

We were close enough to the lead vessel to see the rough edges that made up the exterior. From a distance, they looked smooth, but up close, they were anything but.

My heart raced as we floated there, waiting for the ship to come close enough to beam into it.

“You’re a good friend. Let’s get this over with and have a Scotch on your deck,” I said, hoping they weren’t my last words.

“Deal. Dean, those years we thought you were dead… were the hardest of my life.” He looked over at me, and I smiled at his unusual emotional talk. “Enough about that. See you in a minute.”

I watched him press the small pin on his EVA collar, and he was covered in green light, the ship now only yards away from us. We couldn’t see inside the ship, but I imagined the looks on a helmsman’s face when they saw two floating Earth Defense suits outside their cameras.

I pressed my pin, feeling the familiar thrum of the beam’s energy. With a deep breath, I blinked as I entered the warship. This time, I opened them sooner and spotted Magnus coming out of the beam, turning solid and rolling to the floor. I joined him, my momentum keeping me moving. I hit the hard floor and flopped forward, hitting the wall with a thud.

“You okay?” he asked, holding his left elbow.

My back was tender and my right knee howled at me, but as I rolled over and tried to stand, I found I wasn’t too bad off.

“I think so.” I took my helmet off and tossed it to the ground. Magnus did the same. “Where are we?”

“Damn it. In a storage room. They’re locked from the outside.”

“We don’t have a lot of time.” I found my pulse rifle on the ground and picked it up, motioning Magnus back. The red beams smashed the door, sending shards outward, opening a hole large enough for us to crawl through.

“Subtle,” Magnus said as we emerged in the hall.

“Stop! Drop the weapon!” a female voice boomed from behind us.

“Gladly.” I dropped the gun, glad to be away from the enemy and on our own people’s ship.

“Turn slowly,” the woman said.

When she saw Magnus’ face, she did a double take and saluted him. “I’m sorry, sir.”

“Just call the bridge. Tell them to turn the cannons off. Our mission has changed.”

“Y ou did what?” Naidoo stalked angrily around the room, and I didn’t blame her. I’d essentially given our world away. It was far better than the alternative.

“I know you don’t like me, but what choice did we have?” I was getting irritated with her but didn’t want my heart to talk over my head. I lowered my voice and calmed the erratic timbre. “You tried to make a deal with them, right?”

She stopped in her tracks, turning slowly to look at me. The room in Cape Town was full of dignitaries from around the world, as well as our group. When we’d arrived, the nations were in widespread panic. An alert had gone out over all remaining media that an announcement was coming, and for everyone to gather their belongings and loved ones.

That set off more fear, but after all these people had been through, they were getting used to it. We heard stories trickling in about groups working together, and leaders of communities taking charge, directing people to gather in town halls or city parks.

The air was thin; conditions were far from ideal. Oxygen tanks and respiratory centers were being erected around the world for anyone with pulmonary issues. I was proud of the people of Earth.

“They were coming anyway,” was her defense.

“Then you did what you thought best, and they decided to steal our water with us still on the planet.”

“How are we going to get everyone off Earth? And where are we going to put them all?” a mature red-haired woman asked. She looked at Mary and me with thoughtful eyes, concern etched on her face.

Magnus took this one. “Our warships have space to transport a large group of people. We’ll have to bring more supplies to feed them on the two-month journey, but it can be done.”

“And the rest of us?” she asked.

Magnus’ eyes roamed toward me, and the whole room set their gaze in my direction.

I looked around the room: tall ceilings. Mahogany wood beams ran across them. Large windows allowed the midday light to cascade down on us at the central table, where we sat at the south end. It would have been intimidating sitting there with all of these people looking to me for answers in my previous life. Now, I was ready for it.

“We walk to New Spero,” I said, waiting for a response.

I was about to continue when almost everyone in the room began speaking at the same time.

“Trust me. We have a way to transport ourselves from Egypt to New Spero. We’ll send a team there first, tell them what’s transpired, and they’ll begin to accommodate for the new influx of people.” I expected more questions, but that seemed to quiet them.

“How?”

“I’ll show you.”

“Y ou need to sleep,” Mary said as we sat down outside the Giza pyramid.

“I’ll sleep when we’re home.”

We ate sandwiches while watching the procession of people heading into the pyramid, down toward the portal. Clare and Nick were running the trips now, and we’d let the powers that be organize the logistics of getting people from Earth to the warships in orbit, and the rest to Egypt.