Chapter 4
The only light in the tunnel came from holes on the left and right sides. The holes of light shot past as Hawk tore forward, flying by faster and faster as the Firebird roared forward. Those lights were the only true indication of his actual speed, and judging by their frequency he must have been approaching three hundred miles an hour. The Firebird screamed in the dark.
He saw a light at the end of the tunnel. It began as a speck in the center of the darkness. But as he sped forward the light expanded like an umbrella opening.
A moment later he burst into the sunlight. The Firebird lurched as he hit the incline, but the suspension kept the front bumper from scratching the pavement. The car began climbing, the incline steepened.
Then he launched. At over three hundred miles-per-hour he hit the ramp and shot into the sky. He soared into the sky, forty feet, eighty feet, two hundred feet. But just shy of three hundred feet the car began dipping, its acceleration slowed.
Then he began falling.
"Shit. Shit!"
Hawk couldn't remember how to make the car fly. But then, instinctively as if he'd done it before, he pulled back on the wheel, and the impulse thrusters engaged. The back wheels rotated to face backwards, and the front wheels rotated inward to face the ground, and with a burst of energy he continued into the sky at incredible speed.
Seven hundred, eight hundred, one thousand miles an hour. He climbed faster and faster, gaining speed. Then he heard a pop, and realized that he'd broken the sound barrier. The sky, once blue, grew darker and darker. He could see the line of the atmosphere, and drew closer as if swimming upward to the surface of a pool.
He pulled back harder on the wheel, and escaped the atmosphere of Earth. The box of gadgets in the back of the car floated into the air, and the gadgets leaked out, bouncing around the interior cabin. The hammer flew into Hawk's head and ricocheted off. He pushed the wheel into the console a little and the car slowed down, but remained hovering in mid air and moving forward.
"Houston, we have successful liftoff," Hawk said to himself.
"Well done Hawk," a voice replied from his radio.
"Boris?"
"At your service."
"I didn't realize there was a radio in the car."
"All cars have radios."
Hawk shook his head. "You know what I mean."
"Yeah I do. You're connected to a lot of ears, so watch what you say. You've got a lot of eyes on you."
"The President on?"
"I suspect he is."
"Frank?"
"Go ahead Hawk," Frank replied.
"Go fuck yourself."
"Will do."
"So where do I go now?"
There was silence for a moment.
"You should see three big floating things," Boris said. "The first one is the moon. The second one is the International Space Station. Both of these you should recognize for what they are."
Hawk grimaced.
"The third one, that looks like a giant neon green water tower? That's the alien ship."
"How do I get on it?"
"I'll take this one," Raven said. "Hawk..."
"Yes."
"Are you a master infiltrator or not?"
"I'm risking my ass up here for you dicks."
"Are we hurting your feelings?"
"That would be a first."
Hawk looked at the alien mother ship. It looked exactly like a giant floating water tower, or like a large jellyfish with completely straight legs. In the center of the legs was a thicker leg, and all the smaller legs had connectors that attached to the large center tube.
"Alright guys, I'm closing in. Over and out."
Hawk turned the steering wheel and hit the gas. The Firebird shot forward toward the bottom of the legs.
The speed of the Firebird was incredible, and in seconds Hawk had approached close enough to observe more detail on the ship. Lining the outside of the legs were hundreds small circles, about four feet in diameter. If every leg had a circle, there might have been three thousand circles total. The center tube seemed to be one hundred and fifty feet in diameter. The head of the ship was huge, incomprehensibly so.
As Hawk drew closer, he saw that there seemed to be a landing dock at the end of each leg. He flew closer and confirmed what he saw. Some sort of landing dock tube that looked as if it connected to smaller vehicles. Some of the other legs had vehicles attached but the leg closest to Hawk did not. He piloted the Firebird forward.
"I found a point of entry," he said. "I'm going in."
He piloted the Firebird to the entrance and docked alongside it with the driver's-side door of the Firebird against it. He shifted the steering wheel to the left and lightly tapped the gas, and the Firebird slowly made its way closer and closer to the leg.
He bumped against the docking bay. He'd assumed that he would lower the window, engage his helmet, and float through, but that wasn't the case.
As soon as he made contact, the tube shot out and suctioned itself against the car, creating an airtight seal. Air then rushed into the chamber, lights turned on, and the machine stopped.
There was a round door at the end of the tube. Around the tube, above the round door, was a bright neon sign that, when the lights turned on, showed some strange green symbols.
Then the green symbols disappeared, and replacing those symbols appeared the words, "Welcome, Humanity!"
Hawk blinked a few times.
As quickly as it had come, it disappeared and the original symbols took its place.
Hawk kept staring. A few seconds later, the symbols disappeared and "Welcome, Humanity!" returned.
This kept alternating, and didn't appear to have any intention of stopping.
Hawk shook his head. Something didn't feel right. He had no idea what to expect, but this was far off from even his wildest expectations.
He returned to the gadget box and looked at the gear. He found a utility belt that looked like it had a different holster for several different gadgets. Taking his time inspecting everything, he hooked each gadget to the holster. Some of the gadgets felt faintly familiar, but most were completely foreign. There were ten in total. Six strapped to the belt, one gadget for each leg, one strapped around his bicep, and another around his left wrist.
His jacket concealed the gadgets decently enough around his waist. Once Hawk wore anything or equipped anything, it became tactical. A utility belt was now a tactical utility belt. A pen became a tactical pen. A tactical knife became a tactically tactical knife, having even more uses than it was designed to have once in his hands.
"Alright, I'm going in," Hawk said.
"Your watch is a communicator," Boris replied. "Keep us updated. Good luck. We're all counting on you."
"Right," Hawk said.
He twisted the key out of the ignition, then pressed a button on his helmet. The force-field raised. Opening the door to the car, he took a deep breath and then launched himself out.
As soon as he crossed the threshold from the Firebird to the tunnel, gravity kicked in and Hawk crashed hard onto the ground.
He allowed himself to lie on the ground for a moment. "Off to a great start," he said.
"Hawk?" his watch buzzed. "This is Jordan. Your medical readout says you just sustained a significant blunt force trauma. Are you alright?"
He pulled his watch to his mouth. "Yes I'm fine. I just tripped."
"Okay that's a relief."
"Hey Hawk!"
This time it was Casey's voice.
"Your environmental analysis on your watch reads that you are in an Earth-like environment. You don't need your mask, you should be able to breathe the air just fine."
Hawk pushed himself to his feet and pressed the same button on the mask. The force-field receded, and he took a breath.
"Yep, tastes like air," he said into his watch. "Over and out."
The hallway was white. It appeared to be lit with a sort of dancing orange light that darted around inside
a clear tube. At the end of the hallway was a round door, and at the center of the door was a large wheel.
Hawk walked forward and grabbed the wheel with both hands, and with a giant heave turned it.
It gave relatively easily, and with a final shove the door opened. The room outside the door was considerably darker than the hallway, and it took Hawk's eyes a moment to adjust. He stepped through the threshold and shut the door behind him.
"Finally, you're back. You've been gone for ages," a voice behind him said.