“What did they do to us?” asked Fintan.
“I don’t know what they did or why they did it,” said Smith. “Though I have theories.”
“Wait a second,” said Nizhoni. “Trichallik is one of them, why is she in charge of the school if her people are doing that kind of thing.”
“Because I want her to think that we’re happy dumb slaves that are cooperating with them, swallowing their story of uplifting us, hook line and sinker. I don’t want her to suspect that we’re secretly building our forces against her. There’s an old proverb: ‘Keep your friends close, but keep your enemies closer’.”
Smith looked to Toshi. “Ayako has been working for me, since the beginning. I recruited her and persuaded her to be a part of this school so she can get to know all of you, and start working on building you into mankind’s future army. Because we will go to the stars. When that happens, you will be the humans that other civilizations will meet, and hopefully they will treat us with respect and dignity, based on their experience with you.”
He smiled. “Hopefully.”
Ayako was waking up now. “Don’t hold what just happened against her,” said Smith. “As I said earlier, that’s a block that we programmed into her. Some of the aliens are telepathic, and we didn’t want them to know what she knows.”
“So what happened to us?” said Ling. “Why did they…augment us?”
“We have a number of theories for that,” said Smith. “However, they are just theories.”
“They’re building us as an army to get revenge on whoever destroyed their world,” said Nizhoni.
“That’s one of the theories,” said Smith. “What’s important now is that we continue building our forces. That we continue gathering strength, so that when the time comes, we’ll cast off the aliens, and take our own place amongst the stars.”
He looked around the room. “Your job is to be good students in this school. Learn and grow. Yellow – you will become the key to our research. We’ve been stealing their technology for years, and we need your brains to figure out how it works. Ling, bury your gift. Don’t use it again, for we fear if the aliens see your ability, they’ll take you away from us for their own nefarious ends. They did it once before – six years ago to you, and they’ll do it again if given the chance.”
Ling nodded and looked to Toshi. He put his head down and said nothing.
“Red, you guys did well this time. Trichallik is sending you to Mars on your ‘field trip’. Be on your guard. We don’t know what she might be planning.”
“What about Green Squadron?” said Fintan. “Are they really going to war?”
“No,” said Smith. “But we realize that we need to accelerate their military training. We’ve spread them out all over the world, training them in Trichallik’s technology, so they’ll be ready as a fighting force when the time comes.”
Fintan looked to Ayako. “So the war was a fake? That night when you woke us to see what looked like an army?”
“Was a simple training exercise,” said Smith. “We figured you might over-read it, and we needed to nudge you in the right direction. It led you to form your little conspiracy. Nice job. But let’s get down to the real business of saving the world, okay?”
Chapter 32. Field Trip
The weeks that followed were a blur for Fintan. He did his duty and did his best to learn at school, but his mind was on what Smith had said.
It was clear that life wasn’t cut and dry, and life in times like this was always going to be confusing. He could not hope to understand it – he could only hope to survive it.
A burden was also being placed on him, despite what Smith had said. The air felt darker and thicker. It was harder to sleep, harder to eat, harder to think about anything other than the bigger world he was now beginning to see.
Aliens amongst us, not as friends, but as manipulators he thought. He remembered that day in the hospital when he looked in Trichallik’s eyes. His panic.
Zack was cheerful as always, but Fintan could see that he was being eaten up inside too. Everything that he had believed in and lived for was turned upside down. He couldn’t let go of his theory that his country – the country that he was so proud of was being played like a puppet by the Aliens. The United States was building a war machine, providing soldiers and who knows what else for the aliens to use for their purposes.
***
The day of the Field trip finally came. The atmosphere was like carnival-like, so it lightened their mood somewhat. The Starball flyers had the honor of flying escort to the transport ships that carried the rest of the squadron. At noon they launched, and they flew straight up, into orbit.
“There’s got to be some nutcases watching Area 51 tonight. They’ll get a show that they can tell each other for years to come!” said Simon as they shot upwards.
Fintan figured that they would make quite a sight. Their convoy numbered six large transport ships, affectionately known as school buses, and nearly two dozen flying saucers in formation, heading straight towards the Moon.
Once in Orbit, Zack squealed in delight. “Check this out,” he said, beaming coordinates to the rest of the squadron.
Fintan checked it out on his display. “It’s the Space Station!” he said.
Indeed, in the distance was a tiny white dot, which under magnification resolved into the cross-like shape of the International Space Station.
“Seems like a toy now, doesn’t it?” said Red Two. The others nodded.
“Do you think they can see us?” said Zack.
“No,” said Red Two. “It would be like looking for a piece of hay in a big stack of needles.”
“Okay, Okay, cut the chatter,” said Simon. “We have to change course. Plot a course following mine, let’s stay tight.”
Having broken orbit, the principles of flying changed a lot. They didn’t think about gravity or air drag any more, it was all about momentum and acceleration. Simon took them in a looping orbit towards the far side of the moon.
“The far side of the moon,” said Fintan. “The far side of the moon. This is so cool.”
“It took the Apollo mission days to get to the moon,” said Zack. “We’ll be there in just a couple of hours.”
“The star base is on the far side of the moon,” said Simon, “to keep it from prying eyes on Earth. As you may know, the same side of the moon always faces the Earth, so we can build stuff on the far side and nobody can see. It’s a lot easier than burying it under Nevada.”
As they flew, there was a gradual change from flying towards the moon to flying over the moon. Simon’s orbit was so smooth and so precise that Fintan was only a few thousand feet above the surface before he noticed any difference.
“It helps that there’s no atmosphere on the moon,” said Simon, answering Fintan’s unspoken thought.
The landscape beneath was sparse, but beautiful. Fintan could make out mountains; valleys, dust rivers and everywhere were craters, both large and small. Some craters were so large that they had shock lines reaching out from them like rays from the sun.
Despite the lack of color, it was beautiful.
“Like someone took a picture in black and white,” said Zack. There were murmurs of approval. They were losing altitude now, moving towards a blip on their radar.
“The moon base,” said Simon “is inside a crater between two of the largest seas or mare on this side of the moon. It’s called Taruntius and it’s an ideal location because it is close to the lunar equator as well as surrounded by mare. We found permafrost, thus water, in these mare, so we could build the base there.”
Their altitude had dropped to only a few hundred feet as they approached the crater. They climbed to move over the crater wall, and Fintan gasped as he saw inside. The crater had smooth, curved walls that they followed downwards. The impact that had created this crater left a small, circular ridge within the crater, and on this ridge Fintan could see a cluster of domes.
To one side of th
e cluster stood a tall, cigar-shaped silver craft. Nearby they saw a set of scaffolding with something being constructed underneath. The convoy moved towards the silver ship. Simon held the saucers back as the school buses docked with the ship. They connected near the bottom of the ship, evenly spaced around its circumference.
Simon pointed out small dimples near the nose of the craft, and showed how a saucer could dock with it. The skin of the ship grew around his saucer in an almost liquid way. It was a surprise to Fintan who expected it to be made of hard, cold metal.
Red Two followed, along with the rest of Red Squadron, in order. When it was Fintan’s turn, he landed his ship, smoother than he expected to, and there was a strange noise and feeling as the ship enveloped him. Shrugging it off, he left the ship to find a ready room, with the rest of the pilots within.
“Come on,” said Simon. “There’s an observation lounge aft of here. We don’t want to miss the launch!”
***
Nizhoni was waiting for Fintan in the observation lounge. It was at the ‘bottom’ of the ship, but instead of looking downwards at the moon, they were looking outwards at the moon.
“Some form of artificial gravity?” said Fintan.
“Yep,” said Nizhoni. “It’s earth-normal gravity. I fancied being one-sixth my normal weight on the moon, but I’m just my usual fat self.”
“You’re not fat,” said Fintan.
She smiled.
“A little chubby maybe, but not fat,” he smiled. He dodged as she swung a punch his way.
“I see Standing Bear’s lessons are working,” she said.
“Wanted to try them out,” said Fintan. “You’re not chubby. You’re perfect,” he said, feeling his face flush.
“Better,” she said. “Watch what you say in future!”
Zack was nowhere to be seen.
“I think he went to the docking area to look for Ayako,” she said.
“Makes sense,” said Fintan. “You’d want to share this view with someone you love.”
It was a strange view. They were at the bottom of the ship, and thanks to the artificial gravity on the ship, the ‘ground’ wasn’t beneath them, but directly out the window. It gave the eerie feeling of being in a cave, looking at a colossal grey wall.
“Yeah,” said Nizhoni, straining to see something other than grey dust. “So romantic.”
There was a rocking and a groaning sound, and then the wall began to recede. The ship was taking off.
“I was expecting a big rocket or something,” said Fintan.
“Water,” said a voice beside him. “To launch from the surface of the moon, you only need water. Steam blows from the bottom of the rocket, and it’s enough to get us into space.”
Fintan looked to see the source of the voice. It was Trichallik, and another alien was standing with her.
“Meet Tricnollak,” she said. “My life mate.”
The other alien bowed. It was a little taller than Trichallik, and its skin was a little darker. Its eyes were also slightly narrower and something about it made Fintan think it was a more hostile that it’s mate.
“This,” said Trichallik, “is a pair of our finest new students. Fintan Reilly of the Irish and Nizhoni Benally of the Navajo Americans.”
Tricnollak gazed at Fintan, meeting his eyes. His expression was unreadable. He then turned to Nizhoni, and looked deeply at her in the same way. Fintan felt Nizhoni’s hand slip into his and grip him. He gripped her back.
Tricnollak didn’t say a word, and returned his gaze to the windows.
The moon was receding away now as they lifted off slowly. The mountains, craters, dust seas and plains were showing in stark contrast.
“We can see them better, now that we’re not flying ourselves,” whispered Nizhoni.
Fintan nodded.
The dusty grey color of the moon provided great contrast in the sunlight. The shadows were a deep black and the mountains, while grey, went through thousands of shades of grey.
“It’s breathtaking!” said Fintan.
Then everyone gasped. As the ship moved further away from the moon, they could see the horizon. A blue crescent showed above it. The crescent resolved further into the edge of the Earth.
“Earthrise,” said Nizhoni. “Like sunrise except – it’s home!”
Her voice broke, and a tear crawled down her cheek. She released her hand from Fintan’s to wipe it away. The Earth was rising over the horizon. Fintan could make out North America, partially hiding under a swirl of clouds.
“From here you don’t see any borders,” he said. “Lines on a map. Amazing that we pay them so much attention.”
She nodded, wiping a tear away again.
“It is beautiful,” said Fintan. “It’s worth fighting for.”
The ship rose up above the curve of the moon and started moving towards the Earth, picking up speed to pass the planet.
“Get ready to see the jump,” said Trichallik. “It’s quite spectacular and never the same twice.”
“The jump?” asked Fintan. He noticed that Nizhoni hadn’t returned her hand to his. He wondered if he should try to hold hers instead.
“At this speed, it would take months to reach Mars,” said Trichallik. “Our jump technology opens a wormhole between here and there, and we pass through in just a few moments. On the other side we’ll be maybe twenty minutes flight from Mars.”
“Why not jump straight to the surface? Why do we need a space ship at all?” asked Fintan.
Trichallik nodded. “Good question. It’s simple really; a wormhole has to be calculated for the precise mass of our ship. In a gravity-well like a moon or a planet, debris may get dragged into the hole, and the consequences would be unfortunate.”
“How?” said Fintan.
“Boom,” said Tricnollak. His voice still made Fintan squirm inside. He was glad the alien didn’t speak much. “Really big boom,” he repeated, meeting Fintan’s eye, almost smiling.
They watched in awe as they approached and then passed the Earth. Fintan reached out to take Nizhoni’s hand and this time, she held him back. It felt good.
The Earth passed beneath them and to their right. For a few minutes they watched the stars.
“They don’t twinkle,” said Nizhoni. “No atmosphere to diffract their light.”
Fintan nodded and squeezed her hand a little. She squeezed back.
“It’s starting,” said Trichallik.
At first Fintan didn’t notice, but then could hear a low hum emanating from behind him. Its intensity was building.
Directly ahead of them a point of light appeared out of nowhere. It was brilliantly intense and soon expanded into a ring with what looked like multicolored lighting reaching from its center to its rim. The lighting flickered and sparked like an angry animal before winking out suddenly.
The ship moved towards the ring, picking up speed.
“We’re opening a hole in the sky,” said Tricnollak “and travelling to another world.”
Nizhoni’s grip tightened further on Fintan’s. She gasped, and turned to Tricnollak looking shocked. The little alien gave her a strange smile and walked off.
Then a feeling like having his guts wrenched through his ears hit Fintan. He wanted to scream, but nothing came out. He tried to breathe, but nothing would come in.
As suddenly as it had started, it was gone. He breathed in and staggered a little. Nizhoni did too, staggering against him, grabbing his arm. He held her back, and looked in her eyes.
“Are you okay?” he said.
“Jump disorientation,” said Trichallik from behind him. “You’ll get used to it.”
Without another word, she walked off.
“Are you okay?” Fintan repeated.
Nizhoni nodded and said nothing.
“What happened, back there, before the-”
“Nothing,” she snapped. She then sighed. “Sorry. Not now. Later, okay?”
Fintan nodded, concerned and curious at th
e same time.
She leaned against him and he wrapped his arms around her. He must have grown a little because she was short enough to bend forward slightly and rest her head on his shoulder.
Something large and red appeared in the window on their right. As the ship turned, the planet Mars came into view. It was breathtakingly beautiful. Nizhoni turned, but stayed in his arms to see it. She gasped.
“Beautiful,” she said. “So…”
There was no word for it. Fintan agreed. She turned to look back at him.
His chest was pounding; it felt like something was lifting him up when she looked at him like that. It made him feel ten feet tall and powerful enough to lift the planet in his arms.
She looked at his lips. He looked at hers.
Should I? He thought. We’re too young for this!
But they were too young to be astronauts flying to Mars, and that didn’t seem to stop it from happening. She lifted her chin upwards slightly, eyes searching his. He bent forward slightly, lips ready to meet hers.
“Oh there you are!” said Zack. “Have you seen Mars? Doesn’t it look cool?”
They broke their embrace quickly. Nizhoni looked away, embarrassed.
“What?” said Zack, and then “Ouch,” as Ayako kicked him on the shin.
Chapter 33. Mars
Soon the surface of Mars dominated the viewport. It was a million shades of red, dotted with mountains, canyons and seas of deep rust colors. In the distance two white points of light were her satellites, Phobos and Deimos.
Ayako pointed as a huge dimple appeared on the horizon, and as it rotated towards them they could see a snow tipped mountain that was enormous.
“Olympus Mons, or Mount Olympus,” said Ayako. “It’s the largest mountain in the solar system, over three times the height of Mount Everest and nearly ninety-thousand feet above the rest of the planet.”
“Wow,” said Zack. “I’d heard of it, of course, but to see it in person!”
The planet continued to rotate below them, and Mount Olympus dominated both the view and the conversation. “It’s also a volcano – you can see the caldera in the center,” said Ayako. “That baby is nearly 40 miles wide and twice as deep as the Grand Canyon.”
They watched in awe as they orbited over the volcanic crater. There was simply nothing they could say; they were so dumbstruck by its beauty.