Chapter Ten: Pinpoint
July 17, 2016. BAINE Headquarters.
"Well…looks like we're back to square one."
Despite all the clues that they had now, Rhodes felt like they were no closer to stopping these aliens. The Xevellans, as Peridot had called them, would apparently continue plundering until the planet was destroyed, or they took all that there was to take. But despite what they were allegedly capable of, they were surprisingly slippery. Finding traces of them was no longer a problem, now that BAINE knew what they were after–but that wasn't enough anymore. If they wanted to stop them, they had to hit them at the source.
Peridot had assured them that the Xevellans had a mothership that was likely active within range of the planet. The problem was that 'in range' could mean anything. This ship could be hidden on any continent, under any ocean, even in orbit or on the moon. Not helping matters was that the size, shape, and capabilities of the ship was also unknown, meaning none of them had any idea of what to be searching for.
Rhodes continued staring at the computer screen, going over every atmospheric anomaly detected by every satellite network he could access. His search through numerous telescopes proves similarly fruitless, aside from the small red Gem ship that had arrived a month ago–though the Crystal Gems had taken care of that. Speaking of which, he was beginning to consider going to them to ask for help with this matter. It was the fate of the world, after all.
He sighed, looking over at the form of Big Red floating in the tube across from him. While part of him felt it was macabre to have a dead alien just sitting in the lab, his scientific mind reminded him that there were still experiments to be done, like the ones Gina was conducting right now. "Where are your friends hiding, huh?" he asked the deceased being. "Ah, it's not like you'd tell me even if you could. It's no use, the trail's gone cold."
Wait a moment…cold. Cold, that could be it. Rhodes rolled back over to his computer, pulling up the data points he and Gina had gone over when they were first tracking these things down. The sightings were consistent: the Xevellans traveled eastward around the world, gradually working their way down from the north pole to the south. This had to mean that their first arrival on Earth was close to the north pole. Which meant one of two things: their mothership was still up there, or it was traveling down along with them.
He couldn't help himself. He let out an excited laugh as he stood up and rushed over to the door. "Bridge? Where's Bridge?" he shouted, his focus shifting to anyone nearby, none of whom knew what was going on. Getting no results, he headed in the direction of Bridge's office. "Has anyone seen Bridge?" Eventually, some pointed in the direction he was already going. Forgetting to knock, he swung open the door, to the captain's surprise.
"Rhodes!" he shouted, placing down some paperwork. "What's gotten into you? Is something the matter?"
"Okay, I'm gonna need you to try and remember," he said. "Back at the steel mill, where you first saw the alien ship: when it flew off, what direction did it go?"
A long pause followed. "...What?" Bridge looked at Edmund, concerned. "Is this the start of some sort of math problem?"
"No, just…can you tell me which way it went? I think I might be onto something here. You were in the perfect spot to see which way it flew."
"It went…left," Daniel responded. He looked around as though trying to remember. "And the road was on the east side of the mill, if I recall, so I guess it went south? Like I said, I don't really–"
"Great! Thanks!" With that, Edmund headed for the door once again.
"Rhodes? Rhodes, where are you going now?" asked Daniel.
"To gather more evidence!" Rhodes called back, hurrying down to the hangar. There was still one more person he needed to speak to, at least for now. He raced down the halls, earning more than a few odd looks as he did so. "De Santis!" he yelled. "Has anyone seen de Santis around here?"
"Hmm? Yeah, he's right down that way," said Sara. "He's in the middle of something, though. I wouldn't bother him if I were–oh, and he's already gone."
The moment she had pointed him out, Rhodes had hurried over to Vortex, who was working on his plane alongside a mechanic. "Emett!" he called out, who turned away from his task.
"What is it?" said the pilot, irritated at having been interrupted, as Park had said. "I'm in the middle of something."
"So am I!" said Rhodes. Once he reached Emett, he stopped and panted for a moment, winded at having just run halfway through the entire base. "H-hold on, just let me…okay, I'm good. Now, do you remember back in May, when you had your encounter with the craft?"
"Like yesterday," Emett muttered. "Why?"
"This might sound a bit weird," Rhodes prefaced, "but I need you to remember what direction it flew. Aside from up, I mean. I know you weren't really focusing on anything other than the ship itself at the time, but–"
"South," Emett responded. "As it climbed, it went south."
"Huh," Rhodes said, evidently not expecting Vortex to have a memory like that. "Y-you're sure?"
He nodded. "In the air, you have to always know where you're facing. Instruments help, but at the end of the day, it's just you up there. It was heading south, maybe just a touch southeast. Can you tell me why you wanted to know?"
"I can. I think–and this is only a theory, mind you–but I think I know where their mothership is. All of the ships we've dealt with so far have headed south when they disengage. Peridot told us they'd be somewhere isolated, without a lot of humans or Gems. Think about it: where else on the planet would be more isolated than the South Pole?"
"Well, the North Pole, for one," Emett replied. "Maybe somewhere in the ocean. Or they could be on the moon, or in orbit somewhere, have you considered that?"
"...Alright, it's not a perfect theory, but it's all we have to go on right now!" said Edmund. "Besides, Peridot said that they would be on the planet somewhere, so it must make it easier to transport supplies or something! Anyways, that's all I needed, thank you." Nodding curtly, Edmund turned to leave.
"Hang on a moment!" Emett followed after him, with the mechanic giving an annoyed shrug as he left. "What exactly are you going to do now?"
"Like all good scientists, I'm going to get my work peer reviewed," Rhodes replied as they walked together. "It's like I said, this is only a lead. If it goes nowhere, we start over and look for another one, but if I'm right… Think about it, Emett. If we destroy their mothership, we could finish this all!"
"That's a pretty big 'if,' though," he replied. "And what exactly would we be finishing? Didn't Peridot also say they'd destroy the planet? I haven't exactly seen any signs that they'd want to do that."
"Well, regardless, they're putting people in danger every time they raid near populated areas," said Rhodes. "Not to mention, they'd probably drain the whole place dry if nothing stopped 'em."
Emett said nothing more, but he contemplated what little they knew about these beings. They were certainly hostile, but from what Peridot had said, they were little more than interstellar scavengers rather than a central government, making this more akin to pirate raids than an outright invasion. Nevertheless, Edmund was right in that people were being put in danger. Soon enough, the two of them reached the lab where Dr. Packard was working on her latest project.
"Gina!" Rhodes called out. "I've got something I need to–"
"Hold that thought!" Gina held up a finger, her eyes focusing on the tiny device on the workbench in front of her. Neither recognized it, but it was a small disc-like object that had been taken from Big Red's person. "I'm getting ready to test this thing!"
"Well, don't let us stop you," said Emett.
"I-I mean, you can stop for a little bit," Rhodes said. "This is kinda importa–"
"It's ready!" Gina held up the little trinket proudly. "Do either of you have something I could borrow? Some sort of small object, something that you wouldn't mind if it got a bit scorched, or moleculary destabilized?"
"Uh…"
"Nevermind, I'll just use this." Gina produced an apple from a nearby lunchbox, placing it down on the workbench. She then affixed the disc to the fruit, which stuck to it like it was magnetized. "Would one of you like to do the honors?" Rhodes and Emett looked at one another, both unsure of exactly what 'the honors' were. "Okay, well, in that case, just sit back and be amazed!"
Gina turned the outer ring of the device, which began to glow slightly; she stepped away from the table, with the other two following suit. Suddenly, the device, and the apple along with it, had vanished in a flash of light. Gina was giddy, Rhodes was amazed, and Emett was mainly just confused.
"And, ah, where exactly did it go?" Emett asked.
"Right over here!" Gina said, turning the duo's attention towards another table, this one bordered by an array of sensors hanging from the ceiling that formed a metal cage around it. Sure enough, the apple had reappeared right in the center, no worse for wear. "Huh?! Incredible, isn't it? Instantaneous subspace matter transportation!"
Gingerly, Rhodes picked up the apple to examine it. "Incredible is right. And this is based on Xevellan tech, right?"
"Indeed it is!" said Gina. "My guess is that these discs are how they extracted the cargo they procured at the sight of each raid. It'd explain how they keep making off with so much stuff despite it not fitting in their ships. Either that or subdimensional spacial expansion tech, but I haven't found any evidence of that."
Rhodes turned his attention to the cage that surrounded the table. "I imagine it needs a set point of arrival in order to work?"
"Yup: hence the electron focal cage," Gina explained. "Unfortunately, we didn't have any way of determining what the preset destination was without losing the device. Shame, too, as it was probably the mothership. But on the plus side, now we have access to teleportation technology! …Well, sorta, I'd have to do a bit more research to make these things feasible. And hey, it's better than trying to figure out how those warp pads work for the hundredth time, right?"
"But, if you can only teleport to one spot," Emett asked, "what exactly would you use it for?"
"I dunno, but I'm thinking extraction and retrieval," Gina continued. "Anything where you'd need to get back to base in a hurry. Oh!" She pointed at him suddenly. "Weren't you talking earlier about how the Lightrays have no ejector seats? Well, this could be the next best thing!"
"Hey, yes, this is all very exciting and all, but I've got some exciting news of my own I'd like to share," said Rhodes, setting the apple down.
"Oh, right, your big breakthrough," Gina said. "Sorry about that, I got a bit carried away. What was it you found out?"
"I think I know where the mothership is." The room went quiet. "Or, I think I know how to find it, at least. It's not much of a lead, but it's better than–"
"That's what you wanted to say?!" Gina shouted. "Why didn't you interrupt me, that's way better than this thing!" She threw the door open, waiting for Rhodes to follow. "Come on, we gotta do more testing to narrow it down!"
"You're right!" said Rhodes, hurrying after her. "We don't have any time to waste!"
"You're tellin' me!" said Gina. "Don't touch any of this stuff while I'm gone!" she said to Emett, as she and Rhodes raced back to the latter's lab.
Emett looked around after being left alone. "...Um…alright then." He headed back to the hangar, still unsure of exactly what had transpired.
As it turned out, Rhodes' hypothesis held weight. After looking over footage, reports, and witness testimonies, it seemed that most of the Xevellan ships headed southward after completing their raids. There were a few outliers, ships that went either east or west, but those were few and far between, and those that went north even more so.
"Well…it sure looks like it," Gina said. "Unless there's some sort of weird cultural thing I'm unaware of, or some kind of anomaly with the Earth's magnetic field, their mothership is definitely down south."
"Yeah, not many people down in Antarctica, and even fewer Gems," Rhodes said. "Now all we need to do is narrow down where in Antarctica they are. It ain't exactly a small country."
"Continent, but true," Gina added. "And that shouldn't be too hard, all we'd need to do is extend their projected travel paths down to their potential destination, look at the point where a majority of them intersect, and…voila!" Having done just that, Gina pointed to a circle of land on the map that the computer had highlighted. "The mothership should be somewhere right here!"
"That narrows it down a bit, but that's still a pretty large area," Rhodes said. "It's at least seventy square miles–it could be anywhere in there. Where would we even start?"
Dr. Packard stood up. "Well, I think we should start by getting this information to Mills. After that, I think it might be time for that counterattack we've all been looking forward to!"
AN: Almost a year, but here we go again!
