Chapter 16

The technician softly knocked on the open door. The older gentleman sitting at the desk looked up. "Yes, what is it?"

"General Roberts, I have an update on Captain Rogers and Ranger Three."

He waved him into the room. "Well don't just stand there, man. Give me your report. I'm a busy man."

"Yes, Sir." He scurried into the room and stood nervously near the desk. "Ranger Three has changed course again."

"Do you still have it on radar?"

"Yes, Sir. All systems appear to be operating as they should, but communications is still out. I don't believe the problem is at our end. I believe that Ranger Three is receiving our transmissions. But for some reason, Captain Rogers is either unwilling or unable to contact us."

"Unwilling?" the general questioned.

The technician stood his ground. "It's a possibility, Sir."
"Captain Rogers is one of the best damn people I know. There's not a traitorous bone in his body. You got that, Mister?"

"Yes, Sir. I meant no disrespect or collusion, Sir. I am a scientist trying to cover all the possibilities, Sir."

The general nodded. "Then find out what's wrong with Ranger Three. Is Ranger Four being prepped as I requested?"
"Yes, Sir. But it's going to take at least three weeks to prep and move Ranger Four to the pad."

"I am aware of the time frame. Captain Rogers has enough supplies onboard to last at least eight months if he rations it right. If there's any possibility of retrieving him, I want it done."

"Yes, Sir."

"Do have any idea where this new course change is taking him?"

The technician laid a map onto the desk and pointed to a point. "This is where Ranger Three is right now. Its new heading will take it on this trajectory here."

Roberts nodded in acknowledgement. "And what's on that trajectory?"

"Nothing, as far as we know."

Roberts sighed. "Very well. Keep me posted."

"Yes, Sir."

The technician saluted and then quickly exited the office.

Buck held up the food packs. "It's lunch time!"

Wilma shook her head. "Is it haddock?"

"Right! If you close your eyes and use your imagination, maybe."

"What world are you living in?"

He chuckled. "Here's his food pack."

"Why can't you call him by name? His name is-"

"I know what his name is. It's me, remember? I don't know, talking to yourself is one thing, but actually seeing yourself? That's a little… creepy."

"Then call him William or Anthony or something."

"About Bill."

"That works."

Buck nodded. "Okay. Here's Bill's food pack when you get done."

She grinned. "Why is it always my job to feed Bill?"

"Because if he wakes up, I'd rather he see you and not me!"

"How long can we keep him…"

"Unconscious? Oblivious? Unaware?"

Wilma nodded. "Yes."

Buck shrugged. "I don't know. We're almost out of anesthesia, so not much longer, I suppose. How long until we reach the stargate?"

"I updated the course this morning. We should be in transmission range soon."

"Good."

"What's wrong? Getting 'cabin fever', as you're so fond of saying?"

Buck smirked. "No, I just want to get this over with. I don't like being on the same ship as… Bill!"

When Buck was done with his lunch, he jumped into the pilot's seat. He pretended to be working on the computer as he watched Wilma feeding the nearly unconscious but heavily dazed version of his younger self. She glanced up and laughed at him. He quickly turned to the console.

When Wilma was done with her lunch and Bill's, she floated into the seat beside Buck. "I can't get used to this weightlessness," she mumbled.

"Sorry. We didn't have artificial gravity generators."

"I know." She turned to look at the navigational instruments. After a quick mental calculation, she pointed to a blank space in the sky. "The stargate should be right there."

Buck shook his head and shrugged. "I'm not picking anything up on scanners."

"Are you using the right frequency?"

"I'm using the same one that Doctor Huer used."

"Hmmm," Wilma mumbled. "Try going a little higher. Maybe the signal degraded a little. Five hundred years can make a difference on a subspace lock."

Several minutes later, Buck shook his head. "It's no good. I tried going up and down on the frequency. These controls just don't have tight enough calibration. They're too compressed."

"So now what?"

Buck shrugged. "We keep looking. We can't give up yet."

"I don't suppose you have any weapons onboard," Wilma asked.

"Nope." He suddenly snapped his fingers. "But there is something I can try! You're positive that it should be right there?" he pointed to the position she had indicated just a moment ago.

"Yes, it should be right there."

He nodded. He grasped the controls for the engines as Wilma looked on silently. He fired the stabilizing engines briefly just long enough to begin to rotate the shuttle. When they were a hundred fifty degrees from where they were, he fired the main engines. The shuttle continued to rotate. When the shuttle passed two hundred twenty degrees from its original course, Buck cut the main engines. Just before the shuttle made a complete three hundred sixty degree arc, Buck fired the reverse stabilizer engine to stop the shuttle from rotating. Wilma looked at Buck questioningly.

"What was that all about?"

"I'm hoping that the particles of our exhaust can help us to find the gate," he explained.

"I don't think that's going to be necessary," Wilma stated.

"Why? What do you mean?"

"Somebody's coming through the gate from the other side! Look! Right there!"

Sure enough right where Wilma had originally pointed, there appeared a sudden pinpoint of light. The pinpoint of light rapidly grew into the familiar formation of the stargate being activated.

"Something's coming through the stargate?" Buck breathed.

"And it's big," Wilma stated.

Within seconds a massive ship appeared from almost out of nowhere. Buck and Wilma exchanged shocked glances.

"What's going on here?" Buck asked. "There's no record of alien contact with Earth before the holocaust?"

"Buck! I recognize this ship, or at least the design of this ship!"

"Who is it?"

"It's a Gaussian war ship!"

"Gaussian? I thought they were our allies!"

"They are now, or at least in my time they are! What's a Gaussian war ship doing here on its way to Earth?"

Buck shrugged. "I don't know, but I think we're going to find out. They've just activated a tractor beam. We're being pulled in."

"What?"

He nodded his head once. "We're being pulled into that war ship. Into the belly of the whale."