Chapter 3: Have a Little Faith In Me
And when your back's against the wall
Just turn around and you will see
I will catch, I will catch your fall baby
Just have a little faith in me
Eliana stood at attention, silently noting all the places her uniform chafed now that she had spent a significant time in civilian clothes. Her eyes locked into the empty space in front of her, resisting the temptation to look down at the man sitting at his desk as he poured over information on a datapad.
Levi's only movements for the next few minutes were to swipe upward on the pad as he examined the plans for the expedition south. The nearest ancient city to the coordinates in the distress call was Roswell. The research that Elias had pulled from their library told him that the city had been, like Kirtland, home to a military base before the Devastation. But more interesting was the claim that Roswell had been the site of another crash of extraterrestrial origin. Despite the story being debunked, a conspiracy grew and persisted for decades that the United States military were using the Walker Air Force Base to store and hide evidence of extraterrestrial contact. Levi smirked and snorted quietly at the absurdity of his ancestors.
He set down the pad and folded his hands over it as he raised his gaze to the woman standing rigidly before him.
"At ease, soldier." As she shifted into a parade rest stance, he continued, "You've read the report on the message that we intercepted?"
"Yes, sir." Her response was clipped and professional.
"At the request of Virdon, we are mounting a rescue mission to retrieve possible survivors. I'm putting you in command of that mission."
Startled, she broke protocol and looked down at her commander. "But sir—,"
He cut her off, one brow rising toward his hairline, "No buts, soldier. You have field experience no one else has. You understand the dangers of investigating the outside world better than anyone. I hope I don't need to remind you again that you were exculpated by the Council in the Kirtland incident."
She had returned to her forward stare, and now her lips pulled into a tight line. "No, sir." Her tone belied her answer. She still very much felt responsible for the losses on her last mission. Even though a post-mortem had determined that Jedediah had not been taken out by friendly fire, she still had nightmares where it was her gun that had killed him. In some of them, she'd even pointed the gun at his head and pulled the trigger. And Pete, Zeke, and Alan had all suffered from injuries inflicted by the android residents of Kirtland. Burke had practically collapsed in her arms when he succumbed to the aftermath of his torture sessions at the hands of the soldiers. She'd almost lost him, too. She swallowed a lump that rose in her throat, trying to maintain her composure under Levi's scrutiny.
His eyes narrowed slightly, but if he noticed her discomfort, he let it pass. "Good." He pushed himself from his chair and turned the datapad around to hand to her. "Here's the outline of the mission plan."
Taking the pad, she glanced down at the screen; the first item was the list of personnel. Her brow furrowed, and her gaze returned to Levi's face in confusion. "You are coming, sir? But not in command?"
"Correct on both counts." He waved his hand to cut off further objections. "I'm going to be an observer only—a liaison, if you will—for the Council in our interactions with any survivors. I won't allow any of the Council members to risk themselves, but their interests need to be represented."
"Yes, sir, understood." She continued scanning the pad. The crew was at this point a usual cast of characters. Burke, Virdon, of course, and Josh to handle any issues with the shuttlecraft. Zeke. Two healers, since they had no idea if the astronauts would be injured. She raised a brow at the choices—Miriam and Razael—but they made sense. Miriam was now the chief healer and had the most experience dealing with the challenges of the outside world. She tried not to let her personal feelings about Razael cloud her judgement; yes, he was acerbic and abrasive, but he was also one of the few remaining natural healers, like Jed had been. And he had experience dealing with the bizarre circumstances they could encounter. The list was rounded off with a couple of other security personnel in case they ran into trouble. Which, with Burke on the mission, she mused affectionately, was almost a certainty. The man was a trouble magnet.
After scanning the list of supplies and the route they intended to take, she lowered the tablet. Levi took that as his cue. "We'll have a full briefing in two hours and leave immediately after." She nodded her understanding. "Dismissed."
By the time Virdon entered the conference room for the mission briefing, it was full of people. He glanced at his wrist; he was still several minutes early. His eyes were drawn immediately to the blonde hair of the woman sitting next to Josh. Miriam. He should have expected that she would be included, now that Jed was… now that she was the chief healer. She glanced his way, and he gave her a brief nod, but she turned away without a response. After stowing his go-bag against the wall among the others, he took a seat next to Pete as the last stragglers arrived.
"Hey, Al," Pete greeted him. He saw Levi lean over and whisper something to Eliana. She nodded and stood.
"Thanks for coming on short notice," she began. "Let's get right to it." She tapped a button on her pad, and a hologram of a topographical map appeared on the table. "As you all know by now, we received a distress call from a ship calling itself Astraeus. Colonel Virdon," she nodded in his direction, "has identified Astraeus as—possibly—being a mission planned to launch five years after theirs.
"The ship's position according to the distress call is over two-hundred miles southeast. We will be taking Josh's hovercraft. There are reported to be three persons aboard. We don't know their condition after the craft went down. Alan, what are the protocols for something like this, assuming it is a past-Earth mission?"
"The distress call for a ship going down gives the coordinates that the computer predicts will be the landing site, based on their current trajectory. That will be the best place to start looking. If the astronauts are able, they will stay with the ship and continue broadcasting if it is safe to do so and wait for rescue."
"What do you mean 'if it's safe to do so'?" she asked.
"If they have come down behind enemy lines, or in any other way feel that the wrong people would respond to their distress call, they will stay quiet. But as far as these guys know, they landed somewhere in the New Mexico desert. I don't know if they are aware of the time shift."
"If they are," Pete interrupted, "they might decide on radio silence until they can assess the situation. Assuming they're in any shape to do so." He shrugged. "Time travel isn't exactly a scenario we trained for."
"How likely are they to be seriously injured?" She already knew the answer, having heard the story of the fate of Hyperion's third astronaut, but she still had to ask.
Burke and Virdon both shook their heads. "No idea," Alan replied.
Eliana nodded. "Okay, then we'll have to prepare for possible catastrophic injuries. Miriam?"
The healer raised her eyes and locked on Eliana, not looking around the table at all. "We'll load three stasis pods aboard, but that will take up a lot of space."
"Harriet," Josh said, using the nickname that Burke has given the hovercraft, "can accommodate them. We've got a supply of food and water packed aboard, so we can conserve power for the servitors for emergency use."
Another nod. "Weapons?"
"Just the usual complement of side-arms. Do you think we'll need more firepower?" Josh tilted his head to the side.
Eliana glanced at Levi, who gave an almost imperceptible shake of his head. "No, that should be fine," she said, turning her attention back to Josh. "All right, people, let's get going. Ten minutes to finish stowing gear, and then we are wheels up."
As everyone began to file out, Virdon caught Miriam just outside the door. He put a hand on her arm and tugged her to the side. She shook off his grasp. "What do you want, Alan?" Her voice was still clipped.
"Miriam, I—," he paused, rethinking his words, "I just want to say thank you for coming." He swallowed the rest, there would be time for pleading and appeals later. He would show her that he could be there, that he could be present for her. For them.
"Well, it's my job, now." She shouldered her bag and walked away, calling for the medical center to send the stasis pods to where the hovercraft waited.
Burke stowed his bag in a compartment near the front of the hovercraft and settled into the pilot seat. He spun briefly to see Zeke take a chair right behind his, Eliana next to him. Alan and Levi sat across a small aisle. Miriam and the security personnel settled in behind them. The healers Razael and Leah finished securing the stasis pods, strapping them to anchor points on the wall and floor. Razael grumbled the entire time about having to do grunt work that could be done by security.
Before everyone had taken their seats, Galen climbed the stairs into the hovercraft.
"Galen, what are you doing here?" Virdon asked.
"I'm coming with you," he answered like it was obvious, knuckling Virdon on the chest.
"Galen," Levi intercepted him, "we didn't plan for you to come along. There isn't any reason for you to be here."
Galen was taken aback and chuffed at Levi. "Where they go, I go." As if that settled the matter, he began to push past the older man.
Levi caught the chimp's arm. "Not so fast. This could be dangerous."
"If my friends, who are mere humans, can face the danger then who am I, as an ape, to turn away?" He winked, then continued his way down the aisle to take a seat, leaving Levi to chuckle and shake his head.
Pulling the hatch closed behind him, Josh was the final passenger aboard. He slid into the seat next to Burke, his fingers playing over the instruments in a pre-flight check.
"How's the truce holding back there?" he asked with a nod over his shoulder.
Burke turned as if taking a final look to make sure all the passengers were strapped in. "Eh. She's still glaring at him, and he's trying desperately to pretend she isn't here." He raised a brow. "So, it's going great."
"I've programmed the course into the computer," Josh said. With a push of a button, a heads-up display illuminated the viewscreen, with a crosshair indicating their heading. The route had been outlined during the briefing—due south, skirting to the west of Albuquerque, then crossing the Rio Grande near what had been San Antonio, where the river was little more than a trickle. A pass in the mountains led due east to Roswell. The target coordinates were in the desert just to the south of the old city. "If we can keep a steady pace of about forty miles an hour, we can be there well before sunset."
"Forty? C'mon, Harriet can do at least fifty-five. It's the national speed limit, after all."
"Forty," Josh repeated firmly. "We are going to be travelling over rough ground with unknown hazards. Let's not get ahead of ourselves, Pete."
Burke rolled his eyes. "Fine, I'll try to keep it under forty, mother. You can be a real downer sometimes, Josh, you know that?"
"Just drive the ship, flyboy," Eliana interjected from behind them, cutting off their banter. "Whenever you are ready to roll, gentlemen."
Josh touched another button on the controls, and the large bay doors slowly retracted into the walls. The mid-morning sun cast a small puddle of light at the base of the opening. Burke nudged the controls forward, and the shuttlecraft began to glide forward.
The crashed spaceship was not difficult to find. In fact, a large crater rose exactly at the coordinates broadcast in the distress call. Burke slowed the hovercraft as the rim filled their viewscreen. The computer read the far edge ten meters away, with an uneven rim that at its highest point was three meters above the desert surface. He turned and ran parallel to the edge toward the lowest point of the rim, with Alan leaning over his shoulder. Their ride grew bumpy when the hovercraft encountered ejecta of rock and fused glass, unable to completely compensate for the uneven terrain. They couldn't get a reading yet on the crater's depth. But silence reigned in the cabin, as they crept along until they could get a clear view of the bottom.
"Were they able to brake at all?" Virdon murmured. "It looks like they came in pretty hot."
"Yeah," Burke agreed, his voice hushed as well. As the hovercraft passed the last of the rubble on the surface, they got their first view at the floor and the ship that rested there.
The two astronauts recognized the silhouette of the craft, what was left of it. The pointed nose section was gone, either crushed or buried in the sand. The main body of the ship, one of its wide wings completely sheared away, tilted at a crazy angle, the remaining wing sticking up in the air, the back end cracked away from the cockpit almost ninety degrees. The skin of the ship bore evidence of fire, dark scorch marks covering the cockpit and wing, while the engine compartment was a skeleton of twisted and melted metal struts. Drifted sand covered the bottom third of the carcass. Despite the back of the ship being mostly visible, they could not see any markings indicating its name or origin.
"Something's not right," Virdon leaned forward to get a better look.
Burke was securing the brakes on the hovercraft. "We need to get out there."
"Whoa there, cowboy," Eliana stepped in front of him as he popped out of his seat. "Get your sidearm and wait for the rest of us. Josh, what do the sensors say about life signs? Also check for radiation and any toxic gases. We have no idea what might have been released when that ship crashed." She turned to the others who were gearing up. "Take along a breather mask, everyone. I don't want any surprises."
"No radiation, no toxic substances detected." Josh turned, his eyes showing concern. "And no detectable life signs."
Virdon and Burke both paused in their preparations and exchanged anxious glances.
"Look, I know you are all very eager to get out there," Eliana cautioned, "but I want to do this by the book. Cover each other's backs, make sure every area is secure before you enter. Miriam, you and your people wait at the edge until we are sure it's safe. Galen and Josh, you stay in the hovercraft." She glanced at Levi, who gave her a quick nod of approval, then checked to make sure everyone else was ready. "Ok, everyone follow me."
She opened the door, her gun swinging side to side to ensure no immediate threat was apparent. Descending the stairs, she waved the rest to follow, lowering her gun to point at the ground, but still at the ready. "Spread out, see if we can find a safe way down there."
Burke strode up to the edge and scanned the crater. The rim in the immediate area was a low pile of rubble, easily traversed, but the walls fell away at a steep angle. The scree covering it was loose and topped with a layer of sand that made it even more hazardous. But the rainwater had worn a gully into the slope, wearing away the rocks and sand to leave firmer ground. "Over here," he yelled to Eliana and without waiting, hopped over the edge.
The footing was still slick, but he covered the distance in long, loping strides, making it to the floor of the crater in under a minute. Virdon followed, despite Eliana calling to him to wait.
Now that he had backup, Burke headed toward the downed ship, hearing the grunting and shuffle of footsteps as the others joined them. Eliana jogged to catch up and grabbed his arm. "I said, wait!" Anger narrowed her eyes and tightened her voice. "Damn it, Burke, would it kill you to follow a goddamn order?"
Burke shook off her hand and continued, laser focused on the cockpit, Virdon ahead of him. Growling to herself, Eliana stalked after them.
"Something is very, very off here, Pete," Alan said as he paused to kneel by the berm of sand that had blown up against the ship. He grabbed a handful and let it slide through his fingers. "This crash isn't recent."
"Yeah," Burke answered.
Bringing his gun back up to a ready position, he stepped through the hole in the side of the craft left from where the wing had sheared off. The floor inside was tilted up. Burke grabbed one of the multitude of handholds scattered around the interior, a necessity when in zero-g, and pulled himself toward the door that separated the cockpit from the storage bay. He glanced over his shoulder to check that Virdon was following.
He squeezed through the door partially blocked by more metal struts. The layout of the cockpit was similar to the Hyperion—three seats in front of a control panel, on a track that let them slide from position to position. To his surprise, all three seats were occupied by white emergency suits, with helmets covering the faces of the astronauts. He stretched to grip another handhold and pulled himself up to the pilot's seat. Virdon approached the center chair. Eliana reached the door and waited there. Burke examined the scene more closely. None of the suits bore a mission patch on the shoulder, nor any indication of any agency or country that had sent them. Damn peculiar. And none of them had a name stenciled on the front of the slick fabric.
He and Virdon exchanged an uneasy look, a mix of confusion and growing dread.
After holstering his weapon and bracing a foot around the base of the chair, Burke released the latches on the helmet. He wouldn't be able to check for a pulse without removing it. He rotated and lifted it from the fitting. As soon as it was clear of the astronaut's face, Burke let out a shriek and jumped back, sliding on the tilted floor so that he sprawled on his hands and knees. He righted himself and scrabbled backward to the side wall of the cockpit.
"What the hell, Alan!"
Virdon took a step back but had the presence of mind to grasp a handhold.
A skeleton stared eyelessly from inside the suit.
The two astronauts stared at the remains of the pilot of the doomed ship, trying to reconcile the recent distress call with the evidence before their eyes. Shaking his head, Alan reached toward the center seat again, popping the latches on the occupant's helmet. Careful removal revealed another skeleton, as did the suit in the third chair.
"I don't know, Pete." He continued shaking his head, as if denying the undeniable. "Obviously, these guys didn't send that distress call. So who did?"
"Whoever it was, they left a message." Eliana pointed the flashlight attached to her tactical vest at the main viewscreen. Pieces of reflective tape were pieced together to form numbers: 331843 -1043205.
"Coordinates," Burke and Virdon said at the same time. Burke pushed himself up from the floor and began making his way toward the viewscreen. Leaning against a console, he reached out to touch the numbers, smoothing down one place where the tape had begun to curl away from the glass. He grabbed the radio clipped to his belt. "Josh, come in."
"Yeah, Pete, I'm here," a tinny voice answered.
"Feed these coordinates into Harriet's computer. Thirty-three degrees, eighteen minutes, forty-three seconds north by one-oh-four degrees thirty-two minutes, five seconds west. Where is that?"
"About two point one kilometers northwest of here. According to the briefing information, that's in the old Air Force base. We passed by it on the way here," Josh added.
The two astronauts exchanged a look, then both turned to Eliana questioningly. "We have to find out who left this message and what's at that location," Alan demanded.
Eliana considered for a moment. "Okay. But that means this is no longer a rescue mission. Someone drew us out here and is stringing us along. I don't like it. We'll go, but I want to make a plan and wait until morning. We are not," she looked pointedly at Burke, "rushing into this."
He had watched the hovercraft go by at a distance, a telltale trail of dust showing him where to point his binoculars. Leaning against the north side of the building, he was covered by the meager shadows it cast from the sun just past its zenith to the southwest. He reached back into his unreliable memory; they would stay the night at the crash site and arrive at the hangar shortly after noon.
First they had to find the message he had left for them in the destroyed ship. His hope was that seeing that ship—another failed Earth mission from another time—would make them understand that no one was coming to rescue them. Even he had no idea where or when the ship had come from or how long ago it had crashed. It wasn't from NASA, but the advanced decay of the bodies hadn't provided any clues about the astronauts who had piloted it.
He let the binoculars fall to his chest by their strap and pulled a makeshift crutch under his right arm. The dust swirled around his feet as he limped and hobbled his way toward the door in the side of hangar, much like the thoughts swirled in his troubled mind. The hinges squealed as he pulled it open, ancient metal on metal. He stepped inside and pulled it shut behind him, letting the relative cool wash over him as he closed his eyes. The whirlwind of thoughts calmed somewhat, and he took a couple more deep breaths to try to clear the residual fog. He needed to be able to think clearly, to strategize. If he failed at what came next… no, he wouldn't, couldn't fail. No matter what.
He had less than twenty-four hours to formulate a plan to convince Pete Burke to go with Virdon in the ship waiting behind the hidden roller door.