Chapter 3
Jason awoke early the next morning. He’d started sleeping in his childhood bedroom again and wondered why he had been so reluctant to do so. While it was still dark out, he stumbled his way to the hall bathroom and got the shower going. The old water heater had seen its best days, taking longer and longer each morning to come back alive. It would be easier to just stay on board The Lilly, but he wanted to provide Mollie with some semblance of a normal home life when she stayed with him. Both Mollie and his ex-wife Nan were returning from a prolonged trip to Washington later tonight. Part summer vacation for Mollie, part work for Nan. Reluctantly, she had agreed to become the legal envoy between the Earth Outpost for the United Planetary Alliance and various allied governments around the world, but mostly from Washington’s directive.
As Jason stood beneath the now steady stream of hot water, he noticed several inches of water accumulating at his feet. Terrific, roots! They’d begun to invade the old pipes under the house years ago, but lately the problem had worsened. Just one more thing needing fixing around here. Maybe he should rebuild the house. He’d think about it when things got back to normal. If things got back to normal.
To Jason’s surprise, his father, dressed in his admiral spacer’s jumpsuit, was sitting at the kitchen table.
“Here, I made you a cup of coffee,” his father said, sliding the still steaming cup across the table.
“Thanks.” Jason, standing, took a long sip. Eyeing his father’s uniform, he asked, “So, had enough of the old ‘49?”
“For now. It’ll still be here after we crush the Craing.”
“Yes, it will … Hell, I may even help you with it.”
* * *
All eyes were on them as Jason and the admiral entered the bridge together.
A bosun’s whistle blew and The Lilly AI announced, “Captain on deck.”
Jason took the command chair while Admiral Reynolds sat to his right and slightly behind him. Ensign McBride, XO Lieutenant Commander Perkins, and Ricket were seated at their stations and awaiting instructions. With the exception of engineering—Chief Horris and a skeleton crew scattered around the ship these past few weeks—everyone else had been deployed to the Alliance outpost to provide training and support for the newly acquired Craing ships. Jason, like his father, kept within close proximity to The Lilly. With their latest exploits in space and victories against the Craing fleet, word had gotten out.
Governments and militaries from virtually every nation, as well as the world’s largest science and technology companies, were all applying what political juice they had to pressure Washington and the Alliance for more access to the newly acquired Craing fleet, but more so to The Lilly. That may well happen with the Craing fleet. But not The Lilly. It was obvious to Jason that no one nation could control this technology, especially the phase-shift capabilities, without causing a total imbalance. Even the Alliance outpost, which was a self-contained entity separate from any of the U.S. military branches, had become more and more politically inclined, and having several hundred Craing warships in its arsenal, it had quickly become the most powerful military force on the planet. Jason had insisted that Admiral Cramer break all ties to her Navy commission before being placed in charge of the outpost. But Jason knew she still had a lifetime of prior loyalties—loyalties that would be hard to ignore. For the most part he trusted her, but he wasn’t stupid. Jason and his father agreed: The Lilly needed to be kept under wraps—hidden underground here in the aquifer or at other secret locations around the country.
“Status, XO?” Jason asked, pulling up his virtual tablet and reviewing the ship’s daily systems report and crew roster.
“All systems are operational. Last of the hull repairs were completed yesterday. As requested, Ricket and I found another potential subterranean drop location.”
“Dry? Big enough for The Lilly’s wide keel?”
“All the above, sir.”
“Distance from the outpost?” Jason asked.
“Just under three miles. Actually, closer to two,” Perkins replied.
“That should work.” Jason closed down his tablet and looked up towards the large wraparound display.
“One other thing, Captain. It may be a systems glitch, and Ricket is checking on that, but we’ve been out of NanoCom contact with any of The Lilly’s crew since last night.”
“I’ve been using my NanoCom all morning,” Jason said, shrugging.
“The problem seems to be with those at the outpost or still in orbit. Their vitals are normal, we just can’t communicate with them.”
“Keep me appraised—I don’t like being out of touch with our people.”
“Aye, sir. There’s something else.”
“What is it?”
“The military, all branches, are on high alert. Something’s up with the outpost.”
“Let’s find out. Secure the gangway and disconnect umbilicals. Helm, once you’ve determined that things are clear above—go ahead and phase-shift.”
Within several moments, The Lilly was less than a hundred feet above the scrapyard. “Take us into the stratosphere, Ensign.”
The scrapyard disappeared in a blur and The Lilly reached for the sky. Jason felt the internal dampeners engage as G-forces increased. He noticed the admiral had gotten to his feet, turned, and was watching as their home disappeared behind them. Bright blue skies transitioned to grey and then to the blackness of space. The ship leveled off for several moments and began its descent back towards Earth.
The familiar landscape of the Chihuahuan desert came into view. Jason had ordered McBride to approach the outpost from the east. At fifty miles out, they were skimming thirty feet above the desert floor. Jason wanted to keep their visit unannounced. Fortunately, unless you were looking right at her, The Lilly was virtually impossible to detect with any technology currently available on Earth, or anywhere else for that matter. The ship slowed and then came to a complete mid-air stop. Hovering two miles from the outpost, Perkins said, “We’re right above the subterranean cavern, sir.”
Ricket scurried over to another station, entered something on a keypad, and the wrap-around display changed to a virtual below the ground landscape.
“Captain, what you’re looking at is a best-guess representation of what lies approximately one mile below us,” Ricket explained. “The cavern walls are solid granite. The floor of the cavern isn’t quite level, but we believe this area here to be no more than a three or four percent grade.” Ricket pointed to an area of the cavern highlighted by a red circle.
“A mile down, solid granite.” Jason stared at the display for several more moments. “How do we know this doesn’t push the limits of The Lilly’s phase-shift capabilities? Hell, we could get marooned down there.”
Ricket removed his LA Dodgers baseball cap and placed it onto the console. “If our calculations are correct, we have adequate leeway for three to four times that distance—even into solid rock.”
Jason shook his head. “I don’t like it. I’m not willing to risk ship and crew on a good guess. Don’t forget how old Gus initially found The Lilly, partially buried underground fifteen years ago. Can you imagine? This would be a hell of a place to get stuck.”
Admiral Reynolds shrugged. “Why don’t you phase-shift one of the fighters down there first—check it out and shift back.”
“I like it. Who do we have …”
“Sorry, Captain, all of our fighter pilots are currently in orbit—training the new pilots,” Perkins replied.
Jason looked concerned, but no one was buying his act. Jason’s newly acquired love of flying the Pacesetter was no secret. “Well, I guess I’ll just have to go myself.”
* * *
Entering the flight deck, Jason was accosted by the stillness and utter silence. With the exception of several small maintenance drones, he was all alone. Two large shuttles sat idle at one end of the deck, while six sleek red fighters were secured and kept under wraps along the back bulkhead. Even before he’d settled into the cockpit of the Pacesetter fighter, Jason felt his heart rate start to increase. Like a kid with a new toy, Jason had a hard time keeping a silly grin off his face. He brought the fighter to life and maneuvered it onto the middle of the flight deck. Jason double-checked the phase-shift coordinates and ran through his standard pilot’s checklist. He was ready. He hailed the bridge.
“Go for XO,” Perkins replied.
“If I’m not back in fifteen minutes, or if you haven’t heard from me—you can pretty much assume I’m stuck down there. It will be up to you to figure out how the hell to get me out.”
“Aye, Captain. Rest assured, we’ll be tracking your every move,” Perkins replied.
With that, Jason phase-shifted the Pacesetter to the underground coordinates. He was surrounded by total and absolute blackness. It was only the soft amber glow of his HUD readout and dash backlighting that provided any semblance of connection to the living. Where are the lights on this thing? After several long moments of fumbling around in the dark, he had it. With the flick of one switch, the Pacesetter’s running lights somewhat illuminated the darkness. Better, but not great. He found the other switch for the big forward spotlight. The cavern came alive. Reflected light bounced off pristine white granite walls. Minute flecks of mica and other reflective compounds twinkled like a million tiny stars. Spellbound by an ethereal world no man had ever witnessed, Jason sat quietly for a long time. Slowly, Jason brought the Pacesetter several meters off the ground and cruised the inner perimeter of the cavern. From what he could see, just as Ricket had indicated, the center of the cavern was the flattest and best location for The Lilly. He hailed Lieutenant Commander Perkins.
“Go for XO—I can hear you loud and clear, Cap,” Perkins said.
“Good to know. I’ll be ready to phase-shift back in a few moments—just checking in.”
His HUD indicated breathable air here, although the temperature was a chilly 38 degrees. Coming to a narrower end of the underground space, there appeared to be an adjacent cavern, almost as large as this one—but someone would need to be on foot to access it. As far as he could ascertain, this cavern would work just fine. He set the return coordinates and entered the command to phase-shift.
Nothing. He rechecked his coordinates—double-checked them. He could feel beads of sweat forming on his brow. He tried it again … Still nothing. Jason looked around at the pristine landscape. This wouldn’t be the worst place to end up. He hailed Ricket.
“Go for Ricket.”
“Ricket, I can’t seem to phase-shift out of here. Am I doing something wrong?” Jason asked, hearing his own nervousness.
“You won’t be able to phase-shift—”
Jason could not believe what he was hearing. “What do you mean I won’t be able to phase-shift?”
“As I was saying, Captain, you won’t be able to phase-shift for several more minutes. As you’ll recall, the fighters with their limited power supplies need more time to recharge. You’re coming up on the twelve-minute mark soon; try again then.”
He watched the small digital mission-elapse timer on his HUD. He still had several more minutes. Looking at the surrounding terrain, something caught Jason’s eye. Actually, two things caught his attention. First, even the small amount of light from the fighter’s spotlight, which cast some illumination into the area ahead, showed the adjacent cavern looked nothing like the one he was in. The rock walls were not the same sparkling white granite. There seemed to be splashes of color on the walls. And second, Jason could swear there was something carved into the far elevation of the second space. Perfectly straight lines and ninety-degree angles do not typically form in nature. What he was peering at, he thought, were stairs hewn into the rock face. Intrigued as he was, the cavern’s exploration would have to wait.
Once the full twelve minutes had elapsed, he tried again. It worked. He was back aboard The Lilly. Taking a deep breath, Jason guided the Pacesetter back to its mooring position next to the other fighters. Within a few moments, Jason headed off the flight deck.