The ship vibrated so violently that Bill expected it to fall apart. The floor beneath them felt like a foot massager on high. Bill would’ve been scared to death if it weren’t for the waves of intense nausea hitting him. The three of them were on their hands and knees, barely alive. They had to be awake in case something happened during re-entry. It felt like the entire ship was beginning to spin as Bill fought for consciousness.
He woke up with his tongue on the floor. He slowly looked to his side seeing Joe and Katan sprawled out in a similar way. As they climbed to their feet the entire control panel lit up like a Christmas tree with loud beeping and alarms. This can’t be good, Bill thought to himself.
“They found us. It looks like they’re going after one of the decoy ships.” Joe cried out as he grasped his stomach.
“Decoy ships?” Bill clung to one of the benches.
“Yea, we entered with several decoy ships to buy us some time in case they found us,” yelled Joe as he worked furiously at the control panel.
“Should we contact the Outpost?”
“NO, we can’t give away their position!”
“GET TO THE ESCAPE POD!” Joe screamed as he pointed to the back of the ship.
The floor was bouncing around so badly they could hardly stay on their feet. Clinging to the walls as they made their way to the back of the ship, Bill and Katan lost sight of Joe. A huge impact on the ship sent them tumbling to the ground. Crawling on their hands and knees Bill followed Katan through a hatch in the wall. Katan slammed the door shut and the pod roared away from the ship.
The pods were automatically programmed to head for the planet Krell. This system had three planets in it and all were inhabited by humans. The humans that were in this system were not freeformed. Krell was in the pre-industrial stage and the other two planets were still in the hunter-gatherer stage. Each pod had period clothing, money and other supplies. Joe had planned for the worst.
The pods were fast and had specially designed gravity wells to cover their tracks. This would make it hard for someone to track them, but not impossible. Bill found the pod to be like an amusement park ride. At least that’s what it felt like until it started spinning around upside down and then he thought something had gone wrong. The ship seemed to straighten itself but then Bill could see fire out the port holes.
“Are we hit?” Bill yelled.
“No, we’re entering the planet’s atmosphere.” Katan calmly replied. “Don’t worry, the automatic pilot will take control and should land us safely.”
“Should?” Bill looked at Katan who just smiled. The fire stopped and then it felt like they were floating down a river. The ship came calmly to a stop.
“Hurry, we must grab what we can and get as far away from the pod as possible.” Katan gathered some things. Bill grabbed what he could and followed Katan outside. “I’ve never been here but I know all about this planet and its society. We need to figure out where we are and find our way to a major city. The homeworlds have establishments set up all over the place that can help us.” Katan looked around trying to get his bearings as to where they had landed.
“Are there any weapons we can use?” Bill asked.
“Weapons? Of course not. Why, what do you want to do? Go hunting?” Katan snapped obviously annoyed.
“No, I’m a trained soldier. On Earth I’ve been in similar situations.” Bill glared back at Katan.
“Let’s continue this conversation in a safer place. Come on, let’s go.” Katan started walking briskly away. “Oh yeah, I almost forgot. We need to hide the pod.” Katan turned back toward the pod.
Bill quickly began looking for vegetation to cover the pod. They had landed in the middle of what looked like planted crops, about knee high. “I’ll go over to that tree line and see what I can gather.” Bill took off running.
“Wait!” yelled Katan. “Are you crazy? I mean I’ll set up a small gravity well to cloak the pod.”
Bill turned around feeling kind of stupid. “Man this place reminds me of Texas in the summer.” Bill wiped the sweat that was already dripping down his face. “What happened to Joe? Do you think he made it out?”
“I’m sure he did, he knows what he’s doing.” Katan worked on a side panel of the pod.
“Should we try to contact him?” Bill looked in the bag he had grabbed for some water.
“No, too dangerous. The logical thing to do is get to a major city. Joe would do the same.” Katan fiddled around the panel. He kept scratching his head, looking confused.
“Everything okay?” Bill was worried Katan didn’t know what to do. “We are obviously in someone’s crop field.” He looked over his shoulder.
Katan ignored him. If he did this right light would refract around the pod making it difficult to detect. “OK, I think that should do it.” Katan backed up watching the pod. A few moments passed and nothing happened. Then the pod began to pulsate in a watery ripple effect as the gravity well took shape. Slowly it took on the color of the surrounding area and began to fade until it became barely visible to the naked eye.
“Let’s go. We need to change our clothes.” Katan headed for what looked like a small farm. The place looked abandoned and they could see no one walking around so they headed into what looked like a barn. They were in there for no longer than a few minutes when they heard someone.
“Who the hell are you, what are you doing here?” boomed a voice.
“Sorry. We’re lost and just looking for our friend.” Katan replied with a big smile as he finished putting on his clothes.
“English? They speak English here?” Bill replied out loud, confused.
Katan waved his hands toward Bill to shut up. “Sir, we’re part of the Handout organization and we need to find our friend.” Katan surmised that he must be the farms owner. “Did you see any lights or hear anything near here?”
The farmer peered through the barn door, looking at them for a moment without saying anything. He had what looked like a pitch fork in his hands. “You’re from Handout?”
“Yes, Handout.” Katan nodding his head. He looked over at Bill who just smiled and nodded as well.
Handout was a front organizations set up on many planets for monitoring by the homeworlds. On Earth they called it the Red Cross. These organizations were ideal for monitoring and gathering information.
“Well then, welcome. I really like you people. You helped my family out during the last drought. Please come inside my home. The names Silken, Pill Silken.” He reached out and shook both their hands as Bill and Katan introduced themselves. The farmer motioned to them to follow him to his house. As they walked Katan explained to Bill how they implanted English into all human colonies to make communication easier. It wasn’t perfect because the language would vary, but you could make yourself understood. The farmer yelled to his wife to get them some water.
“You boys hiding from the Moard?” Pill asked as he headed to a small house behind the barn that Bill and Katan didn’t notice.
“Moard? What’s the Moard?” Bill replied.
Pill gave them a long stare as he rubbed his chin. “You boys must’ve been lost a long time,” laughed Pill. “The Moard are those damn creatures that have taken over almost every town around. I even heard they took the capital.”
In the door to a small house a woman stood holding a tray with glasses of water, she smiled as she held out the tray for everyone.
“This is my wife Rall, best damn woman this side of the black mountains,” Pill proudly proclaimed. Katan bowed like a Japanese greeting, Bill noticed and did the same.
Katan grabbed a glass, “Please tell us all you know, and yes, we’ve been lost for a while.” He took a drink of water.
The group went into the house and sat around a table.
“I can’t believe you boys haven’t heard of the Moard.” Pill leaned forward on the table. “They got here around a month ago. I saw them with my own eyes, pale skin sickly looking. Don’t be fooled they’re tough as nails even though
they look like 90 year old men. I heard they don’t like the sun, they stay indoors most the time and when they go out they’re completely covered.” Pill’s wife Rall didn’t say a word, she just nodded in agreement to everything Pill said.
“What is their agenda?” Katan asked as he took another sip of water.
“Agenda? What the hell does that mean? Where you boys from? You sure talk funny?” Pill leaned back in his chair looking at them suspiciously.
“We’re from the Southern Plane of Steek. Usually we work there but lately we’ve been traveling and of course we’ve been out of contact for a while. We did hear these rumors but we thought they were just a joke. What I meant to say is, do you know what the Moard want?” Katan shuffled nervously in his chair hoping they would buy his story.
“Steek, never been there, hear they have good farm land though. Yea, I thought it was a joke but believe me it’s no joke. Damned if I know what they want. You can ask them yourselves, some of them are in town.” Pill scratched his head. “What I hear is they’re just interested in us, not causing much trouble. Things were crazy when they first came here but it’s settled down. Life’s pretty much back to normal.”
“Can you tell us where the local Handout office is? We would like to get in contact with some of our people.”
“Sure, just go to town and get a transport to Isly. Handout has a big outfit there.” Pill pointed behind him in the general direction of Isly.
“How long will it take to get -” before Katan could finish his sentence, the entire house started to rattle. Bill and Katan though it might be an earthquake but they could see the shadow of a large ship as it hovered over the house. Bill jumped up as if getting ready to run but Katan knew it would not matter, they were caught. As the noise died down Katan whispered to Bill to keep up the Handout story. Pill and his wife Rall looked terrified saying they’d never seen anything like this before as they stared out the window. Hopefully they could convince them the Moard were simple workers who were just lost.
The four of them stood in shock, bunched up at the door looking out as a large pyramid shaped craft hovered over the house. Bill and Katan were both thinking about their escape pod; hopefully it wouldn’t be detected. As the ship hovered, everything vibrated but no dirt or anything was being kicked up. It landed on the ground and the side opened as several figures came out. There were five creatures, thin bodied and hunched over. Completely covered from head to toe with what looked like wetsuits a scuba diver would wear. They had on large round goggles and it made them look like giant skinny bugs.
Bill looked confused. They appeared to be fragile waifs. As if you could hit them and they would fall apart. Katan knew better. Looks were deceiving and sometimes the most dangerous creature were the ones you were initially not afraid of.
Katan told to Bill to let him do the talking as they walked outside.
Pill and his wife stood behind the front door, peering out. The Moard did not speak, they just pointed toward their ship. Katan tried to engage them in conversation to no avail. Not wanting to arouse suspicion he and Bill entered the Moard ship.
They were taken to a small city that reminded Bill of an old wild western town in the old cowboy days of the U.S. Katan went on and on about them being lost and a part of the Handout organization.
“This isn’t working, they don’t believe us.” Bill whispered to Katan as they sat inside an old building being used by the Moard. He kept eyeing a window.
“Be quiet and stop looking at that window.” Katan was getting really annoyed with Bill. “They don’t seem too concerned with us, were not even locked up.”
The Moard could speak broken English but they had thick accents and were hard to understand. Katan noticed that they were easily angered and yelled a lot. Several Moard walked in not saying a word and a chill went down Katan’s spine. Now jumping out that window suddenly seemed like a good idea.
The awkward silence broke when someone new walked in the room. All the Moard bowed their heads and said something in their own language, all in unison. The figure looked different. He took off his glasses, shocking Katan and Bill. He was a human.
“Good morning gentlemen. My name is Caad, I’m what you would call an interpreter and adviser for the Moard. In case you were wondering there are many humans working with them. We’re actually the descendants of the last time the Moard and humans had contact.” Caad had the demeanor of a bank manager and seemed genuine and sincere.
Katan and Bill looked at each other with complete surprise. They had no idea any Earth humans survived or were involved with the Moard.
“Hi, I’m Bill. We had no idea that -” Bill began to say something but Katan interrupted him.
“We had no idea you could speak such good Krellish, my name is Katan.” He leaned over the table, extending his hand. “Where are you from?”
“We reside in a system we call ‘The Launt.’ Most of us live on a series of moons, but you wouldn’t know anything about that would you?” Caad sat down in one of the chairs lining the walls of the room and crossed his legs.
“The Launt? Moons? Are they islands? What ocean are they in?” Katan tried to act naive.
“Ha, never mind. Let’s get right to business. Mr. Silken said you were with Handout?” Caad looked down and shuffled some papers.
“Yes, yes we’re with Handout but we got lost traveling to Isly.” Katan nervously wiped his hand on his thighs.
“Well I sure hope you’re OK. Are you hurt in any way? Is there anything we can do to help?” Caad didn’t look up. He kept looking at the papers.
“Yea, you could help us get to Isly,” Bill interjected.
Katan looked at him with a wide-eyed stare but Bill just shrugged his shoulders.
“I will see what I can do. There is another thing I would like to discuss. Did you see anything fall out of the sky?” Now Caad looked up at them.
“What do you mean? Like a bird of some kind?” Bill looked over at Katan with a slight smirk on his face, playing up the stupid factor pretty good.
Katan looked away, he just wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible.
Joe had gotten out in plenty of time. The Moard didn’t detect the escape pods, the gravity well bursts masked their launch. As Joe’s pod re-entered the planet’s atmosphere he looked out the port hole and froze. The pod was headed right towards a giant lake. The controls were malfunctioning and he couldn’t steer it away from the water. He began to panic as his decent speed increased. He felt the splash and could see the water hitting the portholes before he blacked out. He awoke with water spraying on his face as the pod began sinking. The pods were never designed to land in water. He had no choice, he had to open the hatch and swim out. He braced himself as best he could then pressed the button and a flood of ice cold water rushed in. He could feel the pressure increase as the air compressed in the pod as he struggled to clear his ears. He took a deep breath hoping it would not be his last as he struggled to get out of the pod.
He broke the surface and breathed in the fresh cool air. The water actually tasted good. Thankfully he had landed close to land and he easily swam to shore finding a large flat rock to rest on. All the equipment and supplies were lost with the pod. He stood up and ringed out his wet clothes then climbed up a small hill for a better view. He could see a large city in the distance. Hopefully they would have a Handout office there.
By nightfall he had entered the outskirts of the city. He saw no signs of the humanoid creatures only the indigenous population who kept eyeing him suspiciously in his strange clothes. He knew they would speak a form of English here and he hoped he could understand their accents. After several attempts to talk to the locals he finally made it to the Handout office. Careful not to blow his cover he sent a coded message to the main office in one of the capital cities. Communication was a form of Morris code, if one of the undercovers read it they would know exactly what it meant and send someone right away.
The next day a gentleman arr
ived. He introduced himself as Tharo and they both went into the back office where they could talk in private.
“I must first say it’s an honor to meet you sir,” Tharo motioned for Joe to sit down.
“An honor? I am surprised you know who I am.”
“I heard you speak on the council floor once, many years ago. I understand the precarious situation humanity is in. Unless we drastically change our culture, we will die.” Tharo opened a drawer in the desk and brought out a bottle filled with an amber liquid and two glasses.
“Well I wish we had more time to discuss this but right now but the present situation is foremost on my mind.” Joe shifted in his chair trying to get comfortable.
“Ah yes, the Moard.” Tharo filled up the glasses.
“The Moard?” Joe leaned forward onto the desk.
“The Moard. That’s what they call themselves. I don’t have much history on them, only a few details here and there.” Tharo pushed a glass over to Joe.
“Please tell me everything.”
“Well, they showed up here about 3 weeks ago. The Outpost had enough time to send us one message and that’s it.” Tharo took a drink and leaned back in his chair.
“You mean you haven’t had contact with the Outpost since they got here?”
“We’ve heard nothing sir and I mean nothing. I don’t think the Moard knows where the Outpost is since we haven’t seen any of their ships near there. We are very careful not to use any communication devices since we don’t know if they can detect them. In fact, everyone from the homeworlds is not using anything, we’re blind.” Tharo shrugged his shoulders taking another drink.
Joe wondered if the Outpost had been discovered. If they got to the Outpost then they could get to the homeworlds. The last transmission the homeworlds received from this system indicated that the Outpost had locked down, undetected. Of course that was two and a half weeks ago.
“Tell me what happened here.” Joe grabbed the glass and took a drink.
“Well, they just flew around for a few days scaring the hell out of everyone. These people have never seen technology that could fly before. When the Moard finally landed they acted like a bunch of tourists. They just looked around and even wanted to help us, if you can believe that.” Tharo poured himself another drink. “We were almost ready to reveal ourselves when we got word that they were asking about people from another planet. Of course no one knew what they were talking about and we kept our mouths shut.” He paused for a moment, swirling his drink around. “If you ask me they’re looking for someone, most likely us.”
“The last time they attacked us it was a bloodbath.” Joe stared at his drink.
“Do you think they’re the same creatures?” Tharo asked almost in a whisper, afraid to hear the answer.
“Yep, and they’re trying to get to the Outpost, which is where I have to go. Can you get me there?” Joe asked as he stood up plopping the drink down on the desk spilling some.
“We have several ships that can get you there, but you will be detected as soon as you lift off.” Tharo explained with nervous laughter knowing the Moard would capture Joe if he tried to get to the Outpost.
Joe walked over and leaned on the desk with a big grin, “Not if I install a gravity well, they’ll have a hell of a time tracking me then.”
Tharo leaned back in his chair confused, “That sounds great but where in the hell will you get one that small?” A strange noise could be heard above the building. Tharo looked straight up at the ceiling. “I think that’s a Moard ship.”
The building vibrated and Tharo jumped to his feet. Tharo told Joe to stay put and he would handle them. Tharo went outside and Joe sneaked to the front for a better look. The ship landed and all the noise stopped. He could hear people speaking but he couldn’t make out what they were saying. He then heard the distinctive voice of Katan.
“Katan my old friend, where’ve you been?” Joe walked outside trying to pretend everything was normal.
“Joe, we got lost on our way over here, but we had help from our new friends.” Katan pointed to the Moard who stood by, motionless.
Joe froze the second he noticed them, they seemed to stare back at him. Katan tried to thank them for their help hoping they would leave quickly. Joe looked away and tried to act as normal as possible. So many years he had wondered who these creatures were and what they looked like. He had the urge to fight them and at the same time run away as fast as possible. Time slowed to a crawl as he glared fixated at their faces. The world zoned out and he heard no sounds.
Katan grabbed Joe and acted like they hadn’t seen each other for a long time. Katan turned and again thanked the Moard for bringing them to the Handout office. Bill went up to Tharo and greeted him like an old friend. Tharo understood and played the part. Joe was still in a daze so they led him inside. In unison the Moard looked at each other and nodded, then turned and walked back into their ship.
As the convoy headed to Washington, the President had decided he would do whatever was necessary to get things back to normal, as fast as possible. He wanted to make a nationwide speech asking for calm. His advisers first wanted to find out who in the military was on their side, as they felt they needed to advert a possible civil war. The President rubbed his forehead. He couldn’t believe the US Airforce destroyed the Presidents escort jets. Could General Strock be involved? He needed to get back to the White House, convene congress and go to the UN. He sat back and closed his eyes knowing this would probably be the only sleep he would get for the next few days.
The convoy came to a stop just outside of Washington jarring the President awake. He could see the military had road blocks set up all over the place. Two cars went ahead and scouted out the area with the chief of staff. The secret service wanted to make sure there would be no surprises. The rest of the convoy waited with anticipation for some kind of signal. Finally the radio crackled and the chief of staff said they were being escorted through to talk to the commander of the forces guarding the capital. Once the path was secure they would return and get the President.
After about 30 minutes and hearing nothing the secret service agents guarding the President thought it was taking too long. They were preparing to whisk him away. Then the all clear was given over the radio and the agents visibly breathed a sigh of relief. The President hurried forward to talk to the commander in person.
“General Pike, I don’t have much time so I’ll get right to the point. What do you know about the fighter jets trying to force down Air Force One?” The President looked directly into the generals eyes.
“Mr. President. This is the first I’ve heard anything about this and I’m shocked.” The General looked around in disbelief as his face went pale. He then gathered himself and looked straight at the President.
“Sir, I’m behind you 100%. I answer to you and only to you, you can count on me!” The General held out his hand. They shook hands and the President told him to follow him to the White House. He wanted the General to personally begin restoring order in the military.
As they made it to the inner city of Washington things still looked pretty normal. Street lights were working and people were actually out and about. They even saw a woman out for a morning jog. They made it to the White House without incident and the President immediately called for a meeting with the heads of the Senate and Congress. Within a few hours all the heavy hitters in Washington were in the situation room. Stan, Steve, Sam and Alizia were watching the whole thing unfold. The President directed General Pike and his Chief of Staff to begin getting in touch with all the Generals at the Pentagon to see where they stood. The President then went to work on addressing the UN and talking to other World leaders. A separate team started to handle the banking situation to get money flowing and the ATM’s working again.