Nano 2009 - Chaptor 2 - Day 2

“We can fly the shuttle. We aregoing to make it home. Trust me,” Michael said. He is anidiot, John thought.

John began to think what questionswould be most useful. His thoughts were interrupted by the sound ofthe door opening behind him. He turned around just in time to see awomen being escorted through the door by a guard. As soon as shewas in the guard closed the door.

“Mom?…Mom!” Myra shouted behind from behind John. Myra shot passed him and headedtowards the woman. When she arrived Myra hugged the new woman. Michael followed Myra, but at a slower pace. It took a few momentsfor John to realize Michael had left his side. John followed.

The two women were speaking softly toeach other. It wasn’t until Michael and John were beside themthat they could understand what they were saying.

“I’m going to get you outof here, but you have to be brave, ok?” Jennifer said. Shedid her best to sound convincing, and managed to give her a smile.

“Excuse me. I’m sorry tointerrupt. We were looking for a way out of here. We were hopingyou could help us by answering a few questions,” Michael said.“If you need a few more minutes with your daughter, I’msure it can wait.”

Jennifer looked at him, consideringhis proposal. “Who put you two in charge of the rescue?”she asked.

“Somebody has to lead us outtahere, and I reckon I’m the only military officer here. Itseems to me that puts me in charge of the rescue,” Michaelsaid. He placed his hands on his hips, and waited for her torespond.

“I see,” she said. “WellI have a lot of valuable information, but I would like for both ofyou to tell your stories first.”

“I’m thinkin you should gofirst. That way I can start planning a way out of this room,”Michael said. He stood up straight and stared her directly in hereyes as he spoke.

“So you don’t have a plan?Maybe I can help with that. Tell me how did all of you get aboardthis ship?” she said. Myra looked a bit disappointed at hermother.

“I just appeared here. Onemoment I was talking to you, and the next I was in this room withall of these people,” Myra said. She then looked at John. “John, did you arrive with all of these people?”

“No, I had a similar experience.One minute I was sitting down to eat, and the next I just appearedon the bridge of this ship,” John said. Jennifer looked athim in surprise.

“Did everyone just appear atrandom places on board this ship?” she asked with a raisedeyebrow.

“No, everyone else we havetalked too seems to have been brought on board via a shuttle,”Michael said. “I’m not seeing how this helps us gethome. We aren’t sure how we got here. It an’t likelywe are gonna go back the same way.”

“When?” Myra asked.

“What?” John asked.

“When did you guys appearonboard this ship?” Myra asked. “I appeared almost 3hours ago.”

“What?” John said again. “It has been only about an hour for me. Hey do you have awatch?” He looked at Jennifer’s wrist, but didn’tsee anything. He then looked at Myra’s, but she was alreadyholding it out. He looked at it. “Your watch is a couple ofhours ahead of mine. Does anyone else have a watch on?”

Jennifer walked up to another man nearby. John and Myra followed. Michael just shouted something like,“I’ll tell ya what time it is. It’s time we gotout of here!” He wore a plaid shirt and dress pants. He haddark messy short hair, and big ears. It was one of the peopleMichael and John had talked to earlier. John couldn’tremember his name, but did remember he was a high school scienceteacher.

Jennifer smiled at him. “Excuseme. May we borrow your watch?” she said.

He looked perplexed. “Why? Didyou come up with a plan to escape? Maybe use the battery in thewatch to short circuit the door? I’m not sure that willwork,” he said.

“No, we just want to see thedate and time you have,” she replied. He looked disappointed,but looked at his watch. “It’s 28 past 11”

“A.M. or P.M.?”

“A.M.”

“And the date?” Jenniferasked.

He looked confused at this. “Whywould the date matter?”

“Please humor me?” sheasked.

“It’s the 7^th,”he replied.

“Of October,” she asked.

He again looked confused. “Yes,of October. Why? How long have you been on board? Has it beendays for you?” he asked.

“Thank you,” was her onlyreply. She turned and headed back to the group a few feet away.

The man followed her and joined them. Jennifer hesitated for a moment, but obviously decided they were allon the same side. “Mr….um, I didn’t get yourname?” she said.

“McKay. Please call meRichard,” he replied.

“Richard said it is October7^th,” she said. Both Myra and John gasped.

“What?” Richard asked. “We were all brought on board about the same time right? Itwas sometime yesterday.”

“The four of us seem to havedisappeared from Earth 3 days ago and appeared at various places onboard this ship at different times today,” Jennifer said.

“What? How is that possible? Why did they bring you on board that way and drag all of us here ina crowded shuttle? It doesn’t make any sense,” Richardsaid.

No, it doesn’t make any sense,John thought. Why would they send us to places that are obviouslyoff limits to prisoners? Was it a mistake? Were they experimentingwith transporters, and we were the unlucky subjects? No, the oddsof us all surviving is astronomical. Unless they beamed hundreds orthousands of us at the same time and only us 4 survived? It stilldoesn’t explain the time difference.

“Where did you say youappeared?” John asked to Jennifer, interrupting Myra sayingsomething to Richard.

“I’m not seeing how any ofthis helps us get home. That’s what we need to beconcentrating on! Let the scientist figure it all out when we getback. We need to figure out how to get through the door,”Michael said. He was obviously used to people listening to him.

Jennifer considered the question. “Iappeared in the room of an alien woman. She isn’t one ofthem, but another species all together. I appeared several hoursago. She had a long time to explain many things to me.”

“Now we are getting somewhere,”Michael said. “Did she tell you how to get to the shuttles?”

“Yes, but she doesn’t knowhow to fly them,” Jennifer said.

“I’m sure once we makecontact with the ground they can help us fly,” Michael said. Both John and Richard looked at him as if he were an idiot.

“That isn’t likely. Forone, they would have no idea how to fly it,” Richard said. Michael gave them a frustrated look.

“I think its best if we all telleveryone everything, then we can decide what to do,” Myrasaid. The group looked at her. “What?”

“I’ll go first. Let mestart at the beginning,” Jennifer said. She then went on toexplain everything Rogalia had told her. About how the Biaz hadinvaded both the Velarian’s and the Kults, and how it lookedlike this scouting mission was designed as political cover forordering an assault on Earth.

She then went on to explain about theship they were stuck in. Where everything was, what she couldremember of the passageways, and the crew complement.

When she was finished, John asked, “Soif they are just assessing what threat we pose to them, which isnone by the way, then why are all of us here? They can do thatwithout kidnapping any of us.”

The group remained silent. Myra tooka deep breath. Jennifer looked down towards the floor. Michaelstoically stood still, as if in defiance. Richard shifted his wait.“Maybe they want to just ask us a few questions and then takeus back home with a crappy souvenir?” Myra asked.

“John why don’t youexplain how you got on board,” Jennifer asked.

Thankful for the distraction, he beganto speak. “I appeared on the bridge, in the back behindeveryone. It didn’t take long for them to realize I wasthere. Then they brought me here. I did see them make a coursecorrection though. That was interesting.”

“Michael can you tell us how yougot here?” Jennifer asked.

Michael considered the question for aminute. “I appeared in an empty room. They found me a coupleof hours later, and threw me in here,” he said.

The group fell silent, eachconsidering their circumstance and what they just learned. Thevoices of the others joined together to form a chorus of whispers. It seems nobody was brave enough to speak in a normal tone.

Michael tried to comfort Myra. Myraresponded to him in kind, but kept close to her mother. John reallywasn’t paying attention. His thoughts went from who broughthimself, Michael, Myra, and Jennifer on board and why, to what theseBiaz people wanted with them all, to how he could get the group ofpeople out of here safely.

He was sure he could find some way ofdoing it. He thought maybe Michael was right and they should try tosteal a shuttle. He had seen them fly this ship, maybe he couldfigure it out if he saw the controls to the shuttle? No, it wouldbe far too dangerous. It would be safer to take a larger ship likethis one back into orbit. It had to have a faster than light drive,which meant it had to have some kind of inertial dampeners.

He walked towards the nearest wallaway from all the people and sat down. He thought better when hewas alone. In this case however, it didn’t help. He came upwith nothing. I have to come up with something. All of thesepeople are counting on me! He thought to himself. He leaned hishead back, closed his eyes, and receded his consciousness into deepthought.

After about an hour the sound of thedoor opening interrupted his thoughts. Two armed guards came in. One stood near the door, while the other walked to the nearest groupof people. He grabbed one of the people by the arm, and began todrag him towards the door.

The kid he grabbed couldn’t havebeen more than 15-year-old boy. He resisted with all of hisstrength, but the guard was much larger, and easily dragged himtowards the door. Michael came out of nowhere and knocked the guarddown. He then kicked him. The kid ran to the far side of theroom. Michael began to kick the guard again, but a bang stoppedhim. The guard at the door had fired a shot that just missedMichael and everyone else. It hit the wall on the far side.

Michael backed away from the guard onthe ground. The guard got up drawing his own side arm and pointingit at Michael. He then looked around the room until he found whathe was looking for. The kid was now hiding behind a group ofpeople. He walked up to them and shoved the people out of the sway.He then grabbed the kid and forced him to the door. This timeMichael could do nothing. The guard at the door had is side armtrained on Michael the entire time.

The two guards left, closing the doorbehind them. The room, that had been rather silent, now eruptedwith whispers, as different groups began to speculate what they weregoing to do to the kid, and who might be next. John thought aboutlistening in on others conversations to see what everyone elsethought. He then decided that nobody would really know and it wouldend up being a waste of time.

He closed his eyes once more and beganto think of a way of getting everyone home. The key was definitelythe entire ship. If they could get it on Earth, they Military couldeasily help them.