Infinity's Gateway, page 12
Colton asked, “What does that mean?”
“Argos maintains a dynamic world simulation. In other words, Argos stays up-to-date with the world on a ten-minute basis. It monitors radio, TV, the World Wide Web, and various other indices of the world. Just as you are aware of nearly a trillion signals a minute in your body, Argos is aware of a sextillion signals a minute from all over the world.”
Colton shook his head no; he wasn’t following.
Sahir sighed and tried another tack. “Let’s say you wake up. It’s two hours after you were supposed to be at work. You have a massive headache. A memory of hanging out at a cheap airport bar, and beside you is another human being covered in a sheet. You’re not sure if it’s a known lover, a one-night stand, etc. You have a theory, based on your past, whether it’s male or female. You are fairly sure the mystery guest is alive. So, you lie very still and try to figure out what’s going on. You are in Orientation Mode.”
Colton grinned. Some folks laughed out loud. It was the first tension-breaking moment in several hours.
Colton asked, “So how long does Orientation Mode last?”
Sahir’s voice was a little high when he answered. “About ten seconds. We tried simulating a fake news scenario. We fed Argos the 1938 broadcast of War of the Worlds. Argos went into Orientation Mode for fourteen seconds and then told us we were running a test based on a historical hoax, possible from the period preceding World War II.”
“Well, good,” said Father Ryan. “The machine isn’t going to let us put one over on it. What’s your next step?”
“Judging from the depth of Argos’ abilities,” answered Sahir, “it would be more interesting to determine who Mr. Colton picked up in that airport bar.”
This prompted sincere laughter. Except from Colton.
“Mr. Sahir, please tell us what you’ve found,” directed Colton. His voice was low, almost neutral in tone, and yet there was a faint, unmistakable edge to it. The tension continued to eat away at everyone.
“Oh, yes sir, be happy to. We’re having trouble understanding all the data, but we’ve made progress on some of the information that we were able to get from Argos, information that it gathered just before it shut down. As described by Captain MacKay, we were engulfed by some kind of energy wave.”
“My guess would be that we experienced some level of nuclear event,” said Garrett. Colton noticed the bruising along the side of her face, just below her eye, spreading out along her jaw. Even with the injury Colton had trouble viewing her as a rough, tough marine captain. It wasn’t that he doubted her capabilities. She was just too attractive. It was distracting. “That could potentially explain the issues we’ve been having with our electronic systems.”
“That was our first thought as well,” said Sahir. “But when you look at how high the energy levels were, it’s clear that we were wrong. We can’t even begin to guess at what generated that energy wave, but the levels it reached were several multiples higher than any nuclear weapon the United States has in its arsenal.”
“I don’t understand how that can even be possible,” said MacKay. “If something that strong hit us, how is it that we’re still here talking about it?”
Before Sahir could respond to Captain MacKay, Colton said, “Lieutenant, is that everything you have? You said you were having trouble understanding all the data. It’s important, no matter how odd it may be, that you do not leave anything out. Please tell us everything you’ve found, then we’ll discuss your findings.”
“Hopefully my team and I will know more later today, but we’re scrambling for answers. We are only just now beginning to develop a working hypothesis as to what might have caused Argos to shut down,” said Sahir. Like the rest of them, the whole event had him just as rattled. He didn’t have the answers and it was clear that what he did have scared him to death. “Frankly, none of us have ever seen anything like this before.”
“Lieutenant, we’re not attacking you,” said Father Ryan soothingly, trying to take some of the pressure off Sahir. The tension in the room had become palpable. “Like you, we’re trying to come to grips with all this and at the present, you are our best source of information.”
Sahir looked at the priest, nodded, and continued. “What we are calling an energy wave is at best a misnomer. It was far more than the burst of energy you would expect from the detonation of a bomb. This thing was extremely powerful and yet seems to have been controlled. It was able to maintain extremely high levels of energy at a constant rate, and at the same time hammered everything and everyone on this ship with data probes at speeds that we can’t even measure. That thing was scanning us, probing us from stem to stern repeatedly at impossible speeds. That is why Argos turned itself off. Simply put, it was too much for it to handle. And folks, Argos is the best our world has to offer. At least we thought it was.”
The impact of what Sahir said hit hard. The information he shared was frightening, and like so many other things, created even more questions. He couldn’t have presented more unsettling news if he’d tried.
“I’m not following you,” said MacKay. “For that matter, I didn’t understand half of what you just said. But I do understand that whatever it was is bigger than anything we’ve got, it hit us, and yet we’re still here. Again, how can that be? Or perhaps now would be a good time for Father Ryan to give us as much detail as he can about purgatory.”
“Excuse me for interrupting again, but I’m not sure it was a weapon,” mused Colton. MacKay looked at him, waiting for him to explain.
“Not a weapon?” said Tanner, almost shouting. “Our communications are shot. We have no idea where we are. We’re told that whatever hit us was too overwhelming, too intense for the most sophisticated computer on the planet. And to wrap it all up, for all intents and purposes, we’ve been effectively taken out of action. If that’s not a weapon, then what the hell was it?” said Tanner.
“Everyone in this room is military. So, every one of us knows that the weapons we’ve been trained on are designed to do one of two things, kill people or break things. Yet neither of those things happened. Yes, we’ve sustained casualties, but unless I’m mistaken, those were due to our falling as we blacked out. The casualties were accidental. While our systems went off-line, as best we can tell, they’ve not been damaged and are fully functional. As weapons go, it would be the gentlest weapon I’ve ever heard of.”
“And our communications gear, our navigation systems? Did they black out too?” pressed Tanner.
“In their own way, yes,” answered Colton. “Practically everything we have on this ship, radar, navigation, everything went nuts when that wave hit us. But the systems weren’t destroyed. The Eclipse is still in one piece. I’ll agree that it was very disruptive. It’s left us in one terrible spot, but I’ve never heard of any weapon designed to do that. And it’s especially hard to imagine anyone using such a weapon as its choice for a first strike against an enemy as powerful as the United States. When you add in the sustained energy levels that Sahir shared with us, you can make a pretty compelling argument that this wasn’t meant to hurt us.”
“Then what was it supposed to do?” asked Tanner. “What was that thing?” Most of the wind had been taken out of his sails, but like the rest of them, he didn’t want to stop pushing. He wanted answers.
“Let me share with you an embarrassing event from my past,” said Colton. “I was married once. Briefly. Our first night was spent in a hotel in Trenton, New Jersey. While my wife and I were getting acquainted, six of my friends, with some ‘borrowed’ heavy equipment, picked up my Volkswagen, moved it six miles to a baseball diamond, and built a snowman family around it. When my wife and I started looking for our car after breakfast, the first thousand thoughts we had didn’t involve snowmen, public parks, or that my best man’s uncle leased heavy equipment. Our thoughts centered around malicious car theft.”
“Are you saying we’re being pranked?” asked Father Ryan.
“No, Padre. I’m saying we haven’t figured out our blind spots. That means there’s a good chance that it’s not a weapon, but something that we haven’t even considered.”
“Mr. Mercer,” called Petty Officer Briggs, “the port watch has spotted something.”
Mercer moved over to the communications station that Briggs was monitoring. Briggs had been constantly scanning the airwaves to see if he could lock on to broadcasts from anywhere. Low levels of static and silence were all that he could find. “Have you been able to pick anything up yet?”
“No sir, it’s nuts. I’m hardly even getting any static. This is really weird. The airwaves are completely silent. There’s nothing out there,” answered Briggs. “I’ll keep trying.”
Mercer took the receiver from him. “This is Mercer. What have you got?”
“Sir, you need to step outside the bridge and listen to this. The fog over there is still so thick that I can’t see anything, but it sounds like there’s one heck of a fight going on.”
Handing the receiver back to Briggs, Mercer quickly stepped outside. The railing was wet from the mist and the high humidity, but he used it for support. Leaning against it, he tried focusing in on the distant shore through his binoculars. There the mist was even heavier, creating a thick, wet blanket hugging the ground. As the sun continued to rise, he began to be able to pick out a few trees here and there.
It wasn’t long before he too could hear what the port watch had reported. Even though they were parked about a quarter mile offshore, he could hear screams emanating over and over again. It sounded like more than one creature screaming, but he had no way of being sure. One thing he did know was that it didn’t sound human. Some of the screams were so intense that he was confident that something was being killed.
“That’s been going on for about five minutes,” said Petty Officer Klimek. Mercer had not heard the young seaman approach and it startled him. Klimek, in his midtwenties, was tall and lanky, with tattoos running up his right arm.
“It doesn’t sound human,” said Mercer, “but then I’m not sure I’ve ever heard an animal make a sound like that.” He continued to stare at the shore, trying to catch a glimpse of what was going on.
“Whatever’s happening over there, I think it’s starting to settle down. About ten minutes ago it was even louder, and there were at least two or three different creatures crying out,” said Klimek. “I didn’t have any way of recording it, so I called to alert you. The screams are so strange, so loud, it would be pretty hard to describe.”
“Well, wherever we are, we now know that there are critters ashore. And from the sound of it, I’d say rather large critters. Get back to your post, Klimek,” directed Mercer. “You spot anything at all, let me know immediately.
“Aye, aye, sir,” said Klimek.
Briggs looked intently at Mercer as he rejoined them on the bridge. The look on Mercer’s face was a mixture of concern and confusion. “Shall I call the captain?”
Mercer gave it a moment’s thought, then slowly shook his head. “No, I can’t do that to him. Why add one more thing to the list of stuff we can’t explain?”
“Until we know otherwise, we will be operating at general quarters as if we are at war,” said MacKay. “Captain Garrett, as OIC I’ll ask you to coordinate with Mr. Mercer. I want the crew fully armed and I want two-man patrols to get started immediately. Sahir, as soon as you can, launch some drones and send them ashore. I want to know where we are.”
“I’ll join Sahir and give him a hand,” said Colton. “Between Argos and the drones, we should be able to start piecing this thing together rather quickly.”
“Does anyone have anything else to report before we get back to work?” asked MacKay.
“I do,” said Colton. “Father Ryan, I’d like to ask you to visit with as many of the crew as you can, along with the civilians on board.”
Father Ryan knew that this was a direct order and not a request, but he appreciated the way Colton approached it. He too was concerned about the crew and how all of this would affect them. “Commander, I was already planning to do that very thing.”
“Good. I want us to stay as close as possible to the mood of the crew. No matter how well people are trained, everyone reacts differently under stress. The goal is to be able to address any issues that may come up as quickly as we can,” said Colton.
“Commander, generally speaking, I’m not a pessimistic man, but I need for every one of you officers to stay sharp and watch your people closely as possible,” said Father Ryan. “The military training that our people have been given will help them a great deal, but at the end of the day, they’re still people. Depression will become as big of a problem as any enemy we may face. If it does turn out that we’re as isolated as it seems, then the separation from their loved ones, the not knowing, the worry that they’ll never get back, I’m afraid that depression will become a big problem for us, probably sooner than you’d expect. It has been my experience that we humans tend to shut down in the face of the unknown.”
“Thank you, Father, we’ll all keep a close watch,” said MacKay. “Alright, let’s get to it.”
CHAPTER 9
A crew operating at general quarters is a crew with a lot to do. With the threat of war hanging over their heads, things that would normally have been routine now became infused with an unspoken level of anxiety. That morning everyone on the Eclipse was at their station, making sure everything on board was in tip-top shape in anticipation of being pulled into a fight. They all knew that this constant state of preparation could mean the difference between life and death.
Dr. Meinhard, although first loudly objecting to having his team being ordered around, reluctantly pitched in and helped the crew with several of the electronic systems that had been acting up ever since the wave had hit them. Personally, he felt that this kind of labor was beneath him. However, his low opinion of the military quickly brought him to the conclusion that things wouldn’t get back on track without him.
Colton, who had a fair amount of experience tinkering with drones, worked closely with Sahir’s team to get the drones prepped and in the air. Dr. Brennan, a member of Meinhard’s team, worked to further fine-tune the cameras attached to the drones. As this was one of his areas of expertise, the fine-tuning that he applied helped to greatly enhance the pictures they’d be sending back.
The patrols ordered by Captain MacKay were in full swing. Despite the advanced scanning systems housed on the Eclipse, both MacKay and Colton agreed that human intelligence was just as important. Looking down from the bridge, Mercer spotted the two men walking patrol on the starboard side of the ship. As sailors go, they were practically polar opposites and their differences made them comical to look at. Mercer smiled and turned away.
Hans Magnor, a thirty-eight-year navy veteran, stood barely over five feet tall. Over the years he’d gradually put on more weight than a man of his stature should carry, but he could still keep pace with most of the young sailors he served with. The navy had taken Magnor all over the world and he was quite willing to share his stories about the things he’d experienced with anyone who would listen. Unfortunately, for those sailors serving with Magnor, he tended to share the same stories over and over again.
He was more than opinionated, very old school, and played host to a naturally grumpy demeanor. Despite all this, he was a crew favorite and surprisingly got along with almost everyone. Affectionately he was known as “Skipper.”
His patrol partner towered over him, standing at just under six foot five. Barrel chested and well-muscled, Blaine Dempsey was in his late twenties and looked more like a lineman for the NFL. Naturally quiet, he was the perfect audience for Magnor. Dempsey had served in the navy for a little more than two years. During that time, he’d proven himself to be one of the best, hence his deployment on the Eclipse. As they walked along, the subject at hand was their current predicament and whether they were actually lost.
“I’m telling you, this is nothing,” growled Skipper. “A ship like the Eclipse can do a lot of things but getting lost isn’t one of them. We’re also not at war The whole thing is ridiculous.”
“I don’t know, Skipper. Not so sure you’re right about this,” said Dempsey. “An hour ago, I ran into Hightower. She told me about the briefing she and her team got from Sahir and it sounded like they’re pretty sure we just survived the first strike in a major war.”
“If this is a war, then it’s the most peaceful war I’ve ever been in. I swear you plebes are starting to jump at your own shadows.”
“Well that wave that hit us sure as hell wasn’t a shadow,” said Dempsey.
“Look, the ocean is a vast and mysterious place. There’s a lot out there we don’t understand. Ever since man first put to sea there have been all kinds of unexplainable things happen,” said Skipper. Glancing at the young sailor, Skipper studied his victim and tried to keep his face as stern as possible. If you can’t pick on the young ones, who can you pick on? “On the other hand, and I hadn’t thought much about this, we are officially in the Bermuda Triangle. Maybe we should be on the lookout for the kraken?”
“Knock it off, Skipper. We both know that’s one of the biggest myths there ever was. All I’m saying is that I’ve been watching and listening to the officers and they’re worried. More worried than usual.”
“Officers worry all the time,” sneered Skipper. “Sometimes I think they’re paid to worry. If it weren’t for men like us, this whole place would go to rot. The truly sad part, if you want my opinion, is that all they’re really worried about is making admiral, confused as to which hind end to kiss next.”
“So why do they have us on full alert?” pressed Dempsey. “They didn’t do that for nothing.”
“Will you stop whining like some little girl? You’ve got nothing to worry about, believe me. This isn’t bad. But do you want to know what is bad? Did I ever tell you about that time in the Indian Ocean when the sun didn’t come up? Now that was bad.” Dempsey just shook his head and smiled to himself. He let his hand skip atop the railing as they walked along, bracing himself for another unbelievable Skipper tale.
