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  Jules felt her head go light and she wobbled slightly, feeling a tingling of pain as it started to rise up her leg, towards her knee. Neil supported her and tried to assist her to sit, but instead she hobbled over to the alien console and rested a hand and hip on its edge. “When did this happen?”

  “Not long after we landed,” Neil said. “We arrived without incident and the outer doors opened and closed automatically, both sets of airlock doors. The outer doors are probably designed to do that in order to maintain the structure’s pressurized atmospheric integrity. Once inside, we had to pry those interior doors open.” He was referring to the doors that met in the middle and retracted into the side walls. They were identical in shape, size, and motion as the airlock doors.

  “That could be a good thing. It means Maria may have gotten the doors back on automatic before the attack. Did we regain communications with Houston?” she asked.

  “We did, briefly,” Neil answered. “We actually received three of their queued messages, but had no time to respond before our ship went down.”

  “Is the Horizon damaged or is it just the communications that are out?” Jules was confused and horrified for a moment.

  “We were able to get a visual on it the last two orbits using the lander’s optics,” Neil said. “However, there has been no communication from the ship. We’re ready to return, but fuel is limited, and Carter didn’t want to leave before you regained consciousness and we retrieved Officer Mayer.”

  Jules grabbed her head and closed her eyes, trying to process everything she was being told. She opened them and looked at the side of the room where she had fought the alien orb. Its shell was moved slightly out of the way and the slimy, clear fluid that had discharged seemed to have hardened somewhat on the floor around it.

  Her companions were giving it a wide berth and Carter saw her looking at it. “It has no moving parts ... at least none that we could tell.”

  Neil added, “That thing you destroyed, its interior is basically a hollow shell. There are some silicon-based pathways in the interior lining of it, but the entire orb was empty of any mechanical devices. It only held that liquid goo, as far as we know.”

  “Heavy as hell, too. What do you think it was?” Carter asked.

  Jules shrugged. “I’d want Maria to answer that question, though I’d guess it was some sort of thermodynamic power source?”

  “Why do you think that?” Neil asked.

  “Because I felt the heat from the fluid as it spilled out. I’m surprised I don’t have burns on my body.” Jules stuck out her hands and looked at them and then her suit.

  “Well, it wasn’t hot enough to melt or mark the floor,” he said, noting her interest for the first time in her space suit. “We patched the suit breach after healing your wound.”

  Jules saw the patch that covered the back of her lower left leg and noticed the blood stain around it. When she looked at Neil, he seemed to anticipate her next question and held up a small, metallic dart with a wicked-looking barb on its end that flared backwards to ensure it stuck into any target well.

  “You pulled that out of me?”

  He handed it to her. “Yes. It was difficult since it didn’t go through your leg completely and pulling it back was doing considerable damage. The metal line has incredible tensile strength, but it cut easily enough. We laid it over there by the orb after taking a sample.”

  “It feels like it did,” Jules said, running her free hand down her leg and remembering the pain as well as feeling the dull throb pulsating further up. With a look around, she noticed there was no hologram running, not even the basic one that she was used to seeing of the outer airlock doors. “What’s up with the hologram?”

  “We don’t know,” Neil answered. “It was off when we arrived, and we dared not touch any of the console buttons for fear of activating those things again or ... worse.”

  Jules let her eyes move to each military officer before returning to Neil. “Do you gentlemen have a current plan or were you waiting for me?”

  Neil nodded at Carter, who spoke. “Technically, command of the mission transferred to me once you were attacked. However, I’ve been working with Commander Sullivan to develop a plan of action that we’re currently following.”

  “Go on,” Jules said, wanting to hear specifics.

  “I have two of my men, Anderson and Flores, conducting recon in the interior.” Carter bobbed his flashlight up and down the dark corridor to emphasize his statement. “Your co-commander was to patch you up and care for your wound until you regained consciousness. So far, we’ve managed to achieve one of our two objectives.”

  Jules placed a hand on Neil’s shoulder. “Thank you,” was all she could muster.

  “No problem, Commander.”

  Turning her attention back to Carter, she said, “I feel that I owe you an apology.”

  “How so?” he asked.

  “I’ve been so focused on our mission and Maria’s abduction that I haven’t mentioned the loss of your man....”

  Carter nodded. “Understood. He was a fine soldier, an honorable and brave man. Don’t you or your crew fret none about his passing ... at least not yet. We’re in it deep and we need to focus if all of us are going to survive recent events.”

  “Thank you,” Jules said, nodding at Carter and then gingerly walking about the room, feeling pain with each step. She tried hard not to grimace.

  Neil walked to the far wall, where they had brought their plastic supply boxes, and dug around a small white one with a red cross on it. He pulled out a needle and a bottle. Jules ignored him and tested her limb, gaining confidence in it; she noticed that Carter had resumed his attention on the hallway, while Harris was watching her intently.

  He spoke softly. “You’re a tough one, Commander Monroe.”

  “You, too, Lieutenant Harris. How’s your head?”

  “It’s fine, though I’d feel more comfortable if I managed to stop banging it around on hard surfaces.”

  Jules smiled at the quiet man and then heard something coming from the corridor. Carter raised a hand and pumped it in the air with his hammer still in it. They were quiet until they heard Flores speak. “Double Foxtrot.”

  “Acknowledged,” Carter said, lowering his light as Flores and Anderson arrived a few seconds later. “Report.”

  Both men took a split second to look at Jules, then quickly, their attention was back on their commanding officer. “The corridor tees at an intersection about twenty yards further in, past the edge of your illumination.” Flores pointed.

  “We think we know where the AO took the civilian,” Anderson finished.

  “Specify,” Carter said.

  “Three door range, based on blood trail, sir.”

  Jules hobbled over, and the men paused to acknowledge her. “Are you saying you found Maria?” she asked.

  Carter looked at Flores, who nodded. “Yes, ma’am—I mean Commander Monroe,” he corrected himself. “It’s difficult to spot; she wasn’t bleeding profusely, and the blood trail is 360, but we believe we know where the orb took her. At least, we narrowed it down to one of three doors.”

  “What do you mean by the blood trail being 360?” Jules asked.

  “There are small drops of blood that dried, but they are all over the corridor.” Anderson waved his arms in a full motion around his head and down to his waist. “We found them on the floor, side walls, and ceiling.”

  Carter looked at her. “This mean anything to you?”

  “Well, the gravity was removed briefly, setting the area to zero-g,” she began. “The blood drops would float around in whatever direction inertia was given to them upon their release from her body.”

  Neil walked over holding a syringe, and added, “Or her suit. How did you narrow your suspect area down to three doors?”

  Flores answered, “We measured the largest gap between blood spots and did the same from the last one identified. It was about forty feet. The doors are spaced twelve feet apart,
ergo three doors fall within the measurable range.”

  Neil nodded. “As long as her bleeding didn’t stop or slow, your calculation sounds correct.”

  “That’s very good work.” Jules smiled at the two SEALs. “Can we open those doors?”

  “Unknown,” they said in unison then looked at one another before Flores nodded for Anderson to continue. “We reconned about a klick down each corridor before marking and returning. The place is huge.”

  Jules looked at the doorway where they were standing and back to Carter. “So you risked manually opening the doors anyway?”

  They had a mission protocol not to force open any door, hatch, or entryway, unless it was an emergency situation, and by emergency, NASA meant life or death. This protocol was designed to demonstrate to the aliens, if they were observing or monitoring their behavior, that humans were a species willing to follow rules. As Marge had once said months earlier, they were going to knock and not bang on the aliens’ doors.

  Carter nodded and looked anything except apologetic. “Damn right we risked it.”

  Neil gave that look, indicating he didn’t want to get into an argument. Jules had seen it on more than one occasion when the man had to deal with Doctor Hill. “Now, Commander, I signed off on opening the—”

  Jules cut him off with a wave of her hand. “It’s fine, Neil, I concur. The question is how far do we go? If you don’t have weapons, Major, then what will you do if several of those things suddenly appear?”

  Major Carter didn’t hesitate and held his claw hammer out further for emphasis. “Who said we’re not armed?” Then, motioning towards the floor on the far wall with his hammer, he said, “You took one of them out easily enough. We’ll do what we must to retrieve Officer Mayer.”

  Flores held up a mini sledgehammer and Anderson showed her a crowbar. She looked at Harris, who sheepishly reached around his back and pulled out a pneumatic gun that was attached to his belt. He let it fall back down and out of sight to his left side. There was more than one grin from the SEAL team. They seemed in good spirits despite not having the use of their primary weapons.

  Jules looked at Carter. “Did your team prepare for this?”

  Carter answered, “We train with everything. It wasn’t something we foresaw, but hand-to-hand combat with tools, utensils, or natural objects is something we are prepared to do.”

  There was a long pause as though the men were waiting for her. Jules felt her head go dizzy again but she shook it off. This was no time for any sign of weakness, she thought to herself. Taking a deep breath, she said, “Let’s find our science officer.”

  “Sounds good,” Anderson said.

  “Harris, you stay here with....” Carter looked at Jules and then Neil, allowing the two a moment to decide the inevitable.

  Neil dropped his formal demeanor, saying, “Come on, Jules, you’re banged up and—”

  Jules cut him off. “No way I’m staying behind on this one, Neil—not after sitting on my hands for the last three days. I came here with her, and by damn, I’m going to leave here with her.”

  Neil saw that he’d lose this argument. “Fine, then, Jules, but under one condition.”

  “What?”

  “You take this local and a spare drill.”

  Jules smiled at that, saying, “Deal.”

  Her second-in-command administered the shot directly into her calf though the self-sealing patch, and she felt the pain subside almost immediately. Harris walked over to a locker and grabbed a drill identical to the one she had used earlier and took it to her. They were about ready to enter the dark corridor when their radios came alive.

  “Do you copy, Red Two?” The voice belonged to their mechanical engineer, John Royal.

  Jules reached up and realized her headset had been taken off and laid on the console rather unceremoniously; she had to retrieve it before she could speak.

  Neil quickly keyed his PTT. “Red Horizon, this is Red Two, we copy you loud and clear. How do you read us?”

  There was an audible sigh, as if John had forgotten to unkey his mic. “Loud and clear. Damn good to hear you finally.”

  “Likewise,” Neil said, nodding towards Jules as she fixed her headset over her hair. “Commander Monroe is alive and well. Officer Mayer is still missing. How’s the ship?”

  Jules couldn’t wait and keyed her mic. “John, what happened to the Horizon?”

  “She took a blast of EMP energy from the alien transmitter at Alpha site,” John said. “I had to solder a new transistor from our spares and replace the fried one on the transceiver. Seems to be working now.”

  “What about our life support systems?” Jules asked.

  “Solar arrays are working just fine. Lucky for us, the alien technology hasn’t messed with sunlight. I’ve had to manually adjust a few valves for temperature control as well as resetting the carbon scrubbers and H2O distiller, but I should be able to replace all the critical chips within the next twenty-four hours. In the meantime, MAX has rebooted and taken over most of the mundane tasks while I’ve focused on fixing the critical failures.”

  “I was just about to ask about MAX,” Jules said.

  “The counter EMP measures, as well as radiation shielding that our engineers gave him, seemed to have worked well enough.”

  “Plus, he’s a quantum computer,” Neil interjected. “His electrical states and hardware are different from silicon-based computing.”

  “Agreed,” John said.

  “Good work, John,” Jules added. “Any word from Houston?”

  “Only one new transmission after our report of your ... encounter.”

  “Can you forward it?”

  “Already on its way—should be visible in your HUD or tablet.”

  “Roger; stand-by,” Jules said, taking a work tablet from Neil, who had retrieved it during her conversation. Together, they read the message after punching it up on their screen. It was short and simple: Red Horizon. Do you require special forces assistance? (Spetsnaz). “Major, you may want to read this....”

  “I see it.”

  Jules noticed that the man had tucked his flashlight in his belt and brought his helmet up to his face to read his HUD. He let the helmet dangle from his belt and resumed his stance at the door.

  “Well?”

  After a thoughtful moment, the large man said, “Let’s find your science officer.”

  Jules nodded and keyed her mic. “John, is Doctor Hill there?” It felt odd not hearing from the ranking crewmember on board during the middle of what should be their work day.

  “Ah, he is, but he’s off duty at the moment,” John said.

  “What does that mean?” she asked, not wanting to interpret something incorrectly, and she was glad she had after hearing his response.

  “We needed a round-the-clock watch on the environmental systems to tweak as necessary with the computers off line,” John began. “Doctor Hill took the overnight watch and only retired an hour ago.”

  “Alright,” Jules said. “Let the man sleep a couple hours more, but in the meantime, ensure that all data and....” She looked at Neil.

  Neil said, “Two reports.”

  Jules continued, “Both reports that were filed during my absence are sent to Houston ASAP. Also, don’t give a response yet to the request for assistance. Does that inquiry have its own identifier?”

  “It does—inquiry seventeen-bravo,” John replied.

  “Ensure that you show seventeen-bravo as received and under assessment.”

  “Will do, Commander.”

  “We’re going into the construct.”

  “Luck, Commander,” John replied.

  “Let’s go,” Jules said to Carter.

  Carter motioned, and the three special forces men spread out and walked down the hallway, weapons out, while Jules brought up the rear. When they reached the junction at the end of the corridor, Jules looked back and saw both Neil and Lieutenant Harris peering at them in the dark, their heads sticking out fr
om the illuminated room that had been their sole foothold within the alien construct for the last few days.

  Flores was waiting for her when her attention was focused back on the mission at hand. He motioned at a small drop of blood that had dried and was hard to see on the obsidian floor. She nodded, and Carter motioned for her to standby for a moment while they moved to their right in a triangle formation. One SEAL moved while two kept watch. Flores was looking back at the left-hand corridor while the Major covered the right; Anderson was moving quickly towards the doors lined on the inner side of the construct.

  “Suit up,” Carter ordered. The SEALs took a moment to don their helmets and gloves while Jules did the same.

  “You expecting a drop in pressure, Major?” she asked.

  “Not really,” he said, “but after seeing what you and Mayer did to our Chinese counterpart, as well as the aliens alternating the gravity, we’re not going to take any chances. No telling what environmental changes we may encounter in here.”

  Jules hesitated, knowing that the entire team was hearing her, but she spoke anyway: “You know, I meant what I said back there about your team member.”

  “I know.”

  Jules watch as Flores continued to unroll the small strand of communications wire that they used to support their transmissions as he brought up the rear of their formation.

  Anderson reached the first door and pointed. Carter brought his claw hammer up and was ready to insert it along with Anderson’s crowbar when Jules spoke.

  “There’s a control pad right there, to your right, though it’s not lit.”

  Both men stepped back and studied the wall to the right of the door. Barely visible was a simple control pad with two buttons and symbols on each one. The symbols were all too familiar—one for open and the other for close.

  “It can’t be that simple, can it?” Neil’s voice came over their headsets. He was watching them on their helmet cams via his tablet and video feed.

  “You’re getting a good visual on this?” Jules asked.

  “I’d hardly call it good, though we can just make out the pad from the feed,” he said.