Test of Magnitude (The Torian Reclamation) (18 page)

He slowly took the shuttle down underneath the space station, flew to the other side, then out and away from it, to make an arc in his final approach on the far end. That’s when he saw more fighters launching from the hangar. They used the right-hand side, like driving back home, so Brandon could safely enter on the right side of the hangar to land.

Brandon noticed a blinking purple light on another switch on the instrument panel. He didn’t know what it was for, but was pretty sure it wasn’t part of the flying controls. Blinking lights were annoying. He turned the switch fully to the on position. It began blinking slower and slower until it was solid purple. Brandon started hearing the sounds of bodies gently landing on the seats and floor of the cabin. That must have been the gravity field. Good.

Brandon then noticed explosions and lasers being fired off to his left around the three large orange lights. Holy smokes, a battle was taking place. Something small and red approached the space station near the hangar and exploded in bright white and yellow light. The opening of the hangar shook some. That must have been a missile of some sort. This landing might be more difficult than normal.

More fighters came out of the far side of the hangar opening as the shuttle neared. Brandon eased it down to a very slow landing speed and navigated his way inside.

The lighting inside the hangar was soft blue, and there were lanes marked. Everything was the same as the simulator. He gradually pulled the joystick all the way back and the hover engines came on. He pulled the trigger on the joystick to lock it in place and then grabbed the small half-steering wheel in front of him, which was now all lit up. He followed the lane to the back, turned right and found a marked spot to land on. Several Torian natives ran out in front of the shuttle and began to frantically wave. One of them was throwing his hands up in the air in a motion that seemed to indicate confusion. Brandon set the shuttle down and turned off all the engines.

The co-pilot, now awake and aware, looked over at Brandon and cocked his head.

“Who are you?”

Before Brandon could answer, the pilot returned to the cabin and said, “What happened?”

“Good,” Brandon said. “You guys are coming out of it. You were all knocked silly for a while there.”

Brandon got up to go back to his seat.

“What did he mean by silly?” the co-pilot asked the pilot.

“Why did you land us in the military hangar?” The pilot asked the co-pilot as Brandon left the cockpit.

Back in the cabin, the passengers were mostly seated again, some rubbing their heads and shoulders. Others were still picking themselves up off the floor. Mip7 was sitting and tapping on his lightpad. He didn’t even look up when Brandon slid past him to retake his seat.

“Nice landing,” Mip7 said.

“Thanks. Are you all right?”

“Yes. Sonic boom?”

Brandon thought for a moment. “Yes, I think. Everyone on board except me was incoherent, and we were all floating around.”

“The gravity turns off if the ship spins,” Mip7 said. “Torians are susceptible to sonic booms. They temporarily disrupt our inner ear channel and throw us into a state of confusion. Usually, there is no permanent damage caused.” He looked up now, and glanced back and forth through the windows of the shuttle. “Where are all the fighters?”

“There’s a space battle going on out there!” Brandon said. “With those big orange things. They’re firing missiles at the station! One of them must have exploded by the shuttle, causing the sonic boom.” Mip7 cocked his head at Brandon in response.

Then, another explosion was heard from outside the hangar, and the shuttle shook a little. Finally, the shuttle door opened and the passengers quickly got out. Two of them were carrying large black briefcases in each hand. They all followed the direction two Amulites inside the hangar were pointing towards, and entered a corridor.

As Brandon exited the hangar deck, he heard a loud voice echo from behind him.

“What is that extat shuttle doing in my hangar!”

* * *

The Redflower-20 in Mip7’s compartment was especially invigorating. Maybe it was due to Brandon’s nerves being rattled. He did, after all, just rescue the shuttle from crashing in the middle of a space battle. Mip7 seemed to appreciate his tube of it as well. They both lay back on the chairs in his compartment with their arms over their heads, staring at the soft white light in the ceiling for a few moments while enjoying the after-effects of their drink. Brandon had removed his Sheen cloak.

Mip7 then got back on his lightpad. Brandon used the opportunity to slip into the hygiene room, where he stepped into the shower stall to run the blue light all over his face, arms, and clothes. It took longer than normal, but he managed to eventually get the yellow glowing paint off his face and hands. Back to being Robin Hood. At least he could see clearly again.

Mip7 called to him from the front room.

“I have to go meet the governor down on deck 24, in the high security wing.”

“Oh. Okay. Should I just stay here and take a nap or something?”

Mip7 hesitated while rereading something on his screen.

“No, you better come with me. I think he wants to see you, too.” He looked up curiously when Brandon came out of the hygiene room. “Especially now that you are all groomed up.”

An occasional explosion could be heard off in the distance as they took a lift down to deck 24. A security team stopped them at the entrance to the military wing there.

“You are clear, Mip7,” one of the guards said, “but the governor is expecting a Sheen to be with you, not an alien visitor. He’ll have to wait out here.”

“This alien is the one he wants to see,” Mip7 replied. “He was disguised as a Sheen earlier.”

The guard then held a small black tube up to one of Brandon’s ears and watched his lightpad flash in response.

 “I guess you’re right. His data identifies him as a Sheen, anyway.” The guard tapped on his lightpad and held the device next to Brandon’s ear again, only this time some faint beeping noises came from it.

“Go on through,” he said. “The governor is in the R-3 bunker with Commander Olut6. You are both clear now.”

Mip7 talked as he led Brandon back. “This is the highest security area on the entire station,” he said. “I have never been in the bunker. We may have a chance to see that mounted weapon you were asking about.”

The door at the end of the corridor slid open as they approached. They entered a large, dimly-lit room. It was a busy place. Torian natives were walking back and forth quickly, and many were sitting at stations in front of computer screens. This certainly looked like a military central command post to Brandon. A huge video screen on the far wall showed the space battle taking place outside. The three large orange objects were still together, but many fighters had now intercepted them. Most were holding a position between them and the station, but a few darted over and under them, occasionally drawing laser fire, and even less occasionally returning it. Things seemed to have settled to a standstill.

“Mip7!” a voice yelled from the side of the room.

Brandon and Mip7 looked over and up to the top of a platform where two Amulites were standing. Both wore dark-red colored shoulder pads. One was waving at them.

“Come along,” Mip7 said. Brandon followed him up the seven or eight steps to the top of the platform. That area was even darker and had many small video screens on the wall of a circular enclosure. Another half-dozen work stations were occupied under those screens.

“Mip7, this is Commander Olut6,” One of the shoulder-padded Amulites said.

Mip7 bowed and said, “Tulros. This is Brandon Foss, an Earthling, one of the subjects from my current project. Brandon, this is Governor Stugin2 of Cardinal-4, and the military commander here.”

Brandon bowed to each of them and then said, “Tulros.”

“Dispense with the formalities,” Olut6 said. “Where’s the Sheen who parked that shuttle in my hangar?”

Mip7 shook his head. “No sir, it wasn’t a Sheen—it was Brandon here, wearing a crude disguise.”

Everyone looked at Brandon, who stood still and remained silent.

Olut6 raised his hands in the air. “A visiting alien was flying the public shuttle? That’s even crazier than a Sheen flying the shuttle. What in Erob is going on here?”

“Commander,” the governor said, “I saw what happened. The shuttle was knocked into a spin by a nearby explosion. The Sheen—that is, this alien I guess—grabbed the controls and saved the shuttle from a collision on the station.”

“It was a sonic boom,” Mip7 said. “The rest of us were knocked delusional.”

Olut6 looked Brandon up and down. “How does he happen to know how to fly—and land—a Torian spacecraft? Is he a pilot on his home world?”

“He is not a visitor,” Mip7 said. “He is a science research subject, rescued from the C2 Science Complex, and has been imprisoned in a cryonic preservation tank for more than two decades. We managed to resuscitate him and one other subject almost two weeks ago, before our project was politically sabotaged. He has never flown before, but is very good on the simulators.”

“Extat!” Olut6 said. “Just what I need.”

He then looked closer at Brandon and said, “Earthling, do you think you can take that shuttle to the upper spaceport, where it belongs?”

Brandon raised his eyebrows and looked at Mip7.

“Where are the pilots?” Mip7 asked. “They should be fine now.”

“They’re in the extat medical center,” Olut6 said, “and they
are
fine, but they refuse to fly that extat shuttle until the situation out there is resolved! And I can’t spare any pilots. I want that thing out of my hangar!”

Brandon spoke. “One of them is moving closer.” He pointed to the main screen.

The other three spun around. A high-pitched alarm then sounded for a few seconds in the bunker. An Amulite on the floor ran over to the base of the platform and yelled up at Olut6.

“Sir, one is advancing!”

“Get the fighters out of its path!” Olut6 shouted back. “Let them come! Tell them to clear out!”

“You can’t mean that, Commander,” the governor said.

“You’re extat right I mean it! Stick to governing. I’ll handle military matters.”

Olut6 ran down the stairs and came up behind one of the computer stations, leaving Brandon, Mip7, and the governor up on the platform. Brandon watched the screen as the fighters cleared out of the way. As the advancing object drew closer, it became clearer. It was a gigantic spaceship, generally similar in appearance to the transport ships Brandon saw orbiting Amulen earlier, only at least ten times larger, and proportionally much longer.

“There is something familiar about that ship,” Mip7 said.

A dozen red lights materialized underneath the advancing enemy ship and started moving rapidly towards the screen, spreading apart from each other as they approached.

“Incoming missile barrage,” a voice said on the overhead speaker system. “A large one.”

“Let them come,” Olut6 shouted from the floor. “They’re in a spread pattern. We have the maximum dispersing range calculated. We’ll hit them at five thousand lengths.”

“Five thousand lengths, is he insane?” the governor said.

“Watch,” Mip7 said to Brandon, “and you’ll witness the defense system. Hopefully.”

The missiles spread out and streaked towards the station, becoming a bit larger on the screen as they approached, although they still appeared as only short sections of red light to Brandon. Then, the screen seemed to go out of focus. Everything became wavy for a few seconds, and then all the missiles exploded in space. The entire screen was covered in bright yellow and white light for a lingering moment.

“That’s too close, Commander!” the governor yelled.

“Incoming missile barrage,” the speaker system said again. When the screen cleared, the orange ship was closer and twice as many red missiles were now on the screen underneath it, spreading out and headed for the station. The screen went wavy for a few seconds, and again all the missiles exploded in space, this time a little farther out.

“A little better,” the governor muttered.

The orange ship drew closer.

“Sir, that’s an Azaarian ship,” Mip7 said to the governor. “I recognize the shape of the dag. Theirs are unique.”

The governor looked at Mip7 and frowned. “No, I’m sure you’re wrong.”

“Advancing invader is now in range,” the overhead voice said.

“Now!” Olut6’s voice from the floor shouted.

The screen went wavy again, even wavier then the last two times, becoming almost completely out of focus. Then there was a huge orange explosion where the attacking ship was. When it cleared, the enemy ship could be seen spinning helplessly before it separated into many small orange parts. Then, all the orange lights went out. The bunker erupted with cheers.

Olut6 ran back up the stairs to the platform.

“You were saying, Governor?”

The governor smiled. “I was saying governors should govern and military commanders should handle the station defenses.”

“Sir, they are separating,” a voice from the floor said. Everyone looked back at the screen. One of the invading ships was headed towards the planets. The other began approaching the station, but slowly. It didn’t fire any missiles, and it stopped in the area where the first attacking ship had fired its first volley.

“Get the boys back in there harassing it,” Olut6 said. “And where in Erob is the main fleet!”

“Yes sir,” the voice from the floor said. Within seconds, fighters moved back in on the remaining orange ship and began playing cat and mouse with laser fire from it. The invading ship stayed in place.

Olut6 turned to the governor. “Look—I don’t care if this alien is a recently-thawed fish from the metal ages. If he can fly the shuttle, and he is willing, I want him to take that thing out of my hangar and up to the spaceport!”

They all looked at Brandon again.

“Yes Commander,” Brandon said, “I think I can do that for you, and I am willing. Just one thing, though. We find ourselves in need of political favors, as Mip7 has already mentioned. I would hope that perhaps my helping you now may be remembered, if either of you are in a position to aid Mip7 in his project.”