Estimated reading time — 42 minutes

People are always saying they remember exactly where they were when they first heard the news, I’m pretty sure most of them are lying. I have no idea where I was, because like almost everyone else I assumed it had to be a mistake, or a hoax. A new planet in our solar system that had somehow gone unnoticed until now, not possible. I mostly ignored it all and continued with life, steady as always. The indomitable Gavin Prescot, former Navy pilot, now in my 50’s, and no plans to stop flying anytime soon.

I do remember where I was when it became clear it was no joke. I was relaxing in the pilot’s lounge, not really paying attention to the news feed on the vid screen, not until it hit me what they were saying. It was real, a new planet, almost 80,000 miles in diameter, nearly the size of Jupiter. The feeling of shock and amazement didn’t last long; it was quickly replaced by dread. Mankind hadn’t missed a planet so close to home all this time, and worlds sure as hell didn’t hop from one system to another. This wasn’t some previously unknown planet; it was something else.

It didn’t take too long to get answers. A probe was redirected towards our new arrival, and the images it sent back left no doubt. This was no planet, it was an artificial construct, what looked like a jagged rocky surface from a distance the probe revealed to be an uneven metal shell. That revelation created a bit of a stir, but less than I had expected. I guess most people had enough sense to realize this new world couldn’t just be another planet floating around the sun. All the probe did was confirm what we already knew had to be true.

What really got everyone worked up was when our new neighbor changed direction. For the first couple days it had been drifting aimlessly around the edge of the system. Then suddenly it was on course to intercept Earth. It seemed not to care at all about our probe that continued to send back images. The far side of the not quite sphere was of particular interest. It wasn’t round like the rest of the artificial planet. It looked like some massive knife had sliced a piece of it off leaving a flat area about 20,000 miles across. Most of that huge plain being covered by what could only be a massive gate. The question became what would come spilling out of that opening when it got here?

“Invasion, got to be” Lucas said. We were both in the pilot’s lounge at the time, he was no flyer, but since he owned the company, he got to bend the rules when he felt like it.

“Lot of people saying it’s some benevolent alien race” I replied, “but that’s probably just wishful thinking, we’re just….” I trailed off, but Lucas didn’t let it go,

“We’re what?” he probed.

I hesitated a moment before continuing “I was just thinking, anniversary of the Martian landing is in a few weeks, 30 years now since man first set foot on Mars. The whole world united in celebration at our great accomplishment. That’s the pinnacle of human space travel, a few round trips to the nearest neighbor, and a little outpost on the moon. How insignificant we must look to whoever build that” Looking up at the vid screen as I finished, that great dark orb, ever present on the news feeds these days, staring back at me in silent contempt. “Whatever they’re here for, they’ll get it.”

The days passed as our new arrival continued its rapid approach, moving at speeds no human craft could manage. Every attempt at communication was met with silence. The UN, a mostly forgotten organization, was suddenly relevant again as it became the forum for debate on how to respond to this crisis. In a surprising show of competence, the collective nations ruled out preemptive military action. As our only hope was that the Dark Planet, yes that was the name that stuck, would turn out to be friendly.

I always thought something like the sudden arrival of aliens would produce mass panic; it seems for once I underestimated humanity. Everyone mostly carried on as they always had. There were exceptions of course, the fear of the unknown proved too much for a few people, and there were plenty of protests, by whom, and what they wanted done, I couldn’t be bothered to find out. The only real change was everything slowed down. People stopped going to work if they could, nobody cared much about seeking out entertainment, they mostly stayed at home with their families. Although doomsday prepping did see a massive surge in popularity

Lucas had been generous in giving people time off as the day of the Dark Planet’s arrival grew nearer. “No point insisting people show up for jobs when the world may be ending soon,” was how he explained it to me during one of our increasingly frequent chats in the lounge. The place had gotten increasingly deserted over the last few weeks. I hadn’t availed myself of the free time off since I didn’t have much use for it. Staying busy suited me better, and the only family I had was an ex-wife and a 28-year-old daughter that I rarely spoke to.
“Pretty soon its going to be just the two of us left here” Lucas said as we sat alone in the lounge. My eyes stayed fixed on the news feed as we spoke, that damn orb a permanent fixture now. Some genius had even decided to add a countdown timer to its arrival, 3 days and 13 hours remaining.

“We’re the only ones with nowhere else to be to be” I replied, wishing I could take that back as soon as I said it, but he didn’t show any sign of being upset. Lucas was in a similar state to me with family, or lack thereof, but for different reasons. He had been happily married, with two young kids, till he lost them all in a traffic accident. He had never remarried, turned all his attention to his company instead. Building it into one of the biggest aero-space engineering and commercial travel corporations in the world.

We had known each other since our early days in the Navy. He didn’t stay in long, just the 4 years needed to get his education paid for. I kept at it for 25 years, but despite our diverging life choices we stayed in touch, and when I retired my commission, he offered me a job as a test pilot in his burgeoning company. Said anyone capable of taking off and landing on an aircraft carrier was more than qualified to handle any of the contraptions they came up with.

I still loved to fly, and the pay was a considerable step up from the Navy, so it was an easy choice, even if there was some occasion space travel involved. I never caught the fever for space exploration, hated the feeling of being weightless, so I stuck to flying in atmo whenever possible. Lucas seemed drawn to the stars, went out on as many space flights as he could, had even been to the moon base twice. His great hope was to visit Mars before his time was up. At least Mars had been his dream, that great hulking sphere bearing down on us had shifted a lot of priorities.

“How close do you think they intend to get?” Lucas asked. Watching the countdown as it dropped under 24 hours and the entity kept approaching.

“Pretty damn close” I said, “they’re approaching on the same plain as the moon’s orbit, but they’ve timed it to avoid a collision.”

Lucas considered a moment before responding, “You think they intend to get inside the moon’s orbit, why so close? They can send this sphere across the universe, but whatever’s inside can’t come out till they’re on top of us?”

“It means they don’t fear us,” I said. “No scouts or probes, no advance guard to reconnoiter our defenses, whatever their intentions, our response isn’t of any concern to them.”

We never discussed it, but Lucas and I were both back in the pilot’s lounge early the next day. The timer now showed 6 hours remaining. We didn’t need the news feeds to see it anymore, it had crossed inside the moon’s orbit overnight, and with each passing minute it filled more and more of the sky above us. We kept watching in silence, it felt as though the whole world was holding it’s breath, waiting to see what would happen. All space flights and most air travel had been grounded, the moon base evacuated, martial law declared in major cities. The world had prepared itself as best we could, now all that was left was to learn our fate.

I don’t know how long we had been staring at the approaching Dark Planet in stoney silence when Lucas suddenly spoke. “Looks like it stopped.” Hearing his voice broke me out of my stupor, focusing my eyes on the great orb, I was sure I still saw movement, but…. Different.

“It’s stopped advancing,” I managed to croak out, my voice raspy from lack of hydration, “I think it’s rotating.” It didn’t take long for me to be proven correct. While most of the Dark Planet’s exterior was barren and bore little in the way of recognizable landmarks, there was one exception. As the great beast turned the flat section came into view, it’s movement ceased with that massive gate facing us. Then came the moment that many feared, and a wishful few anticipated. The coverings began to pull back. Different sections became clearer, telescoping into each other as the opening grew rapidly.

In less than one hour the solid gate had been replaced by an opening more than twice the diameter of Earth. And out of that great maw came….. Nothing! The interior was dark, not pitch black as there was some light emanating from it, but the swarm of alien ships I feared would come pouring out carrying an invasion force to Earth were nowhere to be seen.

nstead, once the gate was fully open the Dark Planet advanced once more. My relief at the absence of an armada quickly faded as the reality of our situation became clear. “it’s going to envelope us!” I strained to get the words out, but Lucas still heard me.

“You’re right,” his reply was barely above a whisper. I managed to tear my eyes from the sky long enough to glance over at him. In stark contrast to my overwhelming sense of dread, Lucas was watching things unfold with an expression of wonder.

I’m not sure how long we stood there, watching in silence as the Earth was swallowed whole. The sky above us filled with the interior of the enormous sphere, which seemed to grow lighter the further in we went. I felt a tremor as it passed overhead, like a brief but very noticeable earthquake. As the Earth settled into place in the center of the sphere our attention was pulled back to the gate. Watching it over the horizon as it began to close, sealing us in.

Neither of us spoke for a few minutes, eventually Lucas broke the silence. “What now?” he asked.

Such a simple question, but I had no idea how to answer. As I often did when unsure how to proceed, I let the Navy side of my mind take the reins. Lucas had acquired some military grade binoculars for us to watch the arrival, but we had been so over awed by the spectacle they’d been completely forgotten. Grabbing a pair I quickly adjusted them to maximum magnification, trying to scan the inner surface of the great dome now over top of us. A mist of some sort that clung close to the inner surface blurred out any details. Someone would have to get a lot closer to see what was going on up there.

“I don’t see any ships up there,” I replied. “No sign of life, no activity of any kind” As the shock of what had just happened began to subside, quickly replaced by a feeling of frustration. All those weeks of waiting, not knowing our fate, and now, we still had no idea what this was. After another minute of fruitless searching along the endless ceiling above us I lowered the binoculars and focused on our immediate surroundings. It was a little darker than it should have been for 11 AM on an almost cloudless day, but otherwise everything seemed normal. Air temperature, gravity, all still seemed as they should be. Which was simultaneously relief and a new source of terror. Not only had this great contraption swallowed up our planet but apparently had the technology to keep it functioning as normal.

“Amazing, isn’t it?”

I turned to look at Lucas, thinking I must have misheard him. “That wasn’t my first thought,” I said, watching him, looking for signs that he had cracked under the strain of the day’s surreal events.

“The technology, the engineering to accomplish this, what I wouldn’t give to talk to whoever built it.” Lucas continued in an almost dreamy tone.

“Shame they don’t seem interested in talking to us,” I quipped, my concern about Lucas’ mental state fading as I recalled seeing that look before, when he talked about Mars, or some new breakthrough that could help mankind reach towards the stars. At heart he was an engineer, always had been. Right now, he had the same expression I did when I first got behind the controls of a new plane.

“I suppose the real question is what now?” Lucas said, finally turning his head to look in my direction again. “You’re right, they don’t seem eager to communicate with us. So, what’s the point of all this, they traveled across the galaxy just to lock up our whole planet without a single word of explanation. Strange behavior.”

“Strange to us,” I said, “But we don’t know who or what we’re dealing with here. Whatever they’re doing, gotta assume it makes sense to them.” I looked up at the shell encasing us again, trying to get some sort of answer into existence. “So, now we wait.” Was all I could think of.

Wait we did. It’s surprising how fast humans can adapt to sudden changes. It helped that the worst-case scenarios some people had been dreaming up never happened. No alien invasion had swarmed the Earth, no superweapons or plagues had devastated the planet, instead we’re just stuck here in limbo. That’s not to say there were no problems. The minor tremor I’d felt had occurred planet wide. Triggering far worse earthquakes along some of the fault lines. Thousands had died as a result, and thousands more from the panic that gripped part of the population, but order was restored quickly, the damage kept to a minimum.

As the first weeks inside the giant sphere passed, we all seemed to accept our new normal. There were adjustments of course. Time zones ceased to exist for one. The interior had a day night cycle that played out simultaneously across the planet. When it got dark there were even little points of light that would appear in the sky, you could almost convince yourself they were stars if you didn’t think about it too hard. It took a little while to notice but the weather changed too, I really should say it improved. Natural disasters ceased entirely. No more tornados, hurricanes, typhoons or tidal waves. Temperatures around the world stayed much the same as they had before, minus the extreme highs and lows we had suffered.

Once those improvements became widely known the benevolent alien factions got a lot more popular. Whole religions, or cults if you asked my opinion, sprang up all over. Millions of people convinced that this enclosure wasn’t a hostile act, but a shield to guard us against a dangerous universe. They’re here to protect us from the bad aliens, or from ourselves, to heal our planet, to show us a better way to live. I heard more theories than I can remember, none of them very convincing.

Attempts were made to learn more about our new circumstances, but to no avail. The mist shrouding the inner surface of the sphere prevented any useful observation, and nothing ever emerged from it. Probes were sent, but an EMP field of some kind was emanating from the surface above us, reaching to about the halfway point between the Earth and the shell. The probes all lost power and crashed once they reached that point, no matter how we tried to shield them. The other problem was that they didn’t crash back on Earth. In addition to the EMP field there also appeared to be a gravity switch near the halfway point, the probes had all fallen up to the great dome.

Despite the frustrating lack of information about or situation things at work started to pick up. Most people came back within a few weeks of The Event. Air travel remained under heavy restrictions, but since we worked on military contracts, we got clearance to continue some projects. It was rare I stayed on the ground more than a few weeks at a time, so when I got the chance to fly again a little more then a month after the Earth’s capture it felt like a return to normalcy.

Taking off in a prototype F-87, the latest next gen carrier-based fighter if everything went well, I felt the old surge of adrenalin I had been missing. I even pushed the engines a little harder than I should have, this flight was to check that everything was working, not test the aircraft’s limits. After taking the fighter through some basic maneuvers I got instructions to take the plane higher, 30,000 ft. I pointed the nose up and started to climb, as I did that damn canopy filled my vision, and I felt the excitement drain out of me again. I was testing out a potential upgrade for the US Navy, for what? What good was this fighter, or any human aircraft against whoever had built this monstrosity. If that wasn’t enough our era of space exploration appeared to have ended abruptly, unless our new overlords decided to let us out again.

All those cherry thoughts and more filled my head for the rest of the flight. By the time I landed I’d completely lost the sense of joy I’d felt when I took off. I sulked my way through the post flight briefing, apparently my bad mood was so obvious that Lucas called me to his office at the end of the day.

“What’s eating you, Gavin?” Lucas got straight to the point before I even sat down.

“Just can’t shake the feeling that all of this is pointless now.” I said, words coming out it a rush, “We’re trapped in some alien terrarium, and we scurry around like ants completing whatever tasks we have for the amusement of whoever is up there watching.”

Lucas took a moment to consider before speaking, “I get that all this can seem meaningless, but we don’t know how long we’ll be stuck here. What if a year from now the Earth is released, think of all the time we’d have wasted if we sat here doing nothing”

His logic was sound, which only made it more annoying. “What if we never get out?” I asked, voicing the fear that I knew had to be eating at him too. “You going to be content spending the rest of your life in this cage?”

Lucas smiled, which was the last thing I expected. “No,” he said, his tone firmer then I’d heard from him in a while. “I have no intention of sitting here the rest of my life hoping to be let out.” His vague reassurance only added to my frustration.

“Ok, so what does that mean, what else can we do?” I snapped.

Lucas leaned back in his chair, his smile growing even wider, “you sure you want to know?”
His demeanor threw me off enough that I hesitated to answer, but the frustration quickly returned, and I nodded my head. “I don’t know what you’re plotting, but I don’t want to be left in the dark.”

I’m not sure what I thought Lucas would reveal, but I was unprepared for what came next. Lucas was planning an expedition to the sphere’s surface. He had gotten approval for a rocket launch under the guise of testing new engines. We were supposed to stay under a certain ceiling, but by the time we broke that rule it would be too late to stop us. The rocket would detach a shuttle that would carry on until just short of the midway point under its own power. There was no vacuum anymore, everything between the Earth and the dome contained atmosphere now, so all flights had to be powered up to the gravity shift. Once at the halfway point the shuttle would deploy a glider that would complete the second half of the trip.

The glider was a long-range model we had developed for the military that used no electronics. The proliferation of EMP weapons had necessitated the creation of aircraft that wouldn’t be affected by them. Our entry hadn’t been selected for mass production, but we still had a couple of them in good working order. It was 17,000 miles from the midpoint to the sphere above, far beyond the glider’s intended range, but all it really had to do was fall, gracefully. The only source of power it had was two compressed air tanks that could provide some thrust. We would have to rely on those for our landing, assuming we made it that far.
“How many people know about this?” I asked once Lucas had laid out the plan.

“As few as possible,” Lucas said. “Everyone will know about the launch, but only the crew of the glider, the shuttle pilot, and a few people on the ground will know our real destination.” I had a feeling I knew what was coming next, there was only one reason for Lucas to trust me with this, and I was right. “The only position we haven’t filled,” Lucas continued, “is the glider pilot, I was hoping you might take the job.” There it was, I was the most qualified person to fly the glider, and Lucas had been smart enough to wait for me to come to him instead of springing this on me. Still, I wasn’t sure how to answer.

We sat in silence for a while after that, thoughts churned in my head. The whole world could be at stake, I didn’t owe it to anyone to leap off this cliff but was I really going to stand by and do nothing. After what felt like an eternity I met Lucas’ gaze again, “Screw it, I’ll go, but I better be getting hazard pay for this.”

Lucas smiled, not in triumph, but relief, “Get us there and back in one piece you can have the whole company,” he said.

I rolled my eyes, “I’m already doing you a favor, I’m not taking responsibility for this company off your hands too.” I paused as something he had said hit me, “You explained how we are getting up there, but you didn’t say anything about getting back.”

Lucas just shrugged, “We’re assuming they have the means to travel between the shell and Earth, even if they haven’t used it yet. If we make contact and they’re friendly, hopefully they’ll help us get home.”

“And if they’re not friendly?” I asked.

Lucas looked me dead in the eyes, “Then how to get back won’t matter.”

Our launch date had been set for two weeks after the meeting. Lucas had cleared the launch with the proper authorities, without telling them the real plan of course. Now that I was officially on board, Lucas introduced me to the three people who would be joining us on the glider. Two men, Williams and Abrams, ex-military, mercenary types didn’t seem inclined to give their first names or reveal much at all about themselves. Lucas said they came highly recommended, didn’t say by whom. The third individual was a small Asian woman, Lauren Zhou. She was also a veteran, former medic with the Army Rangers. Apparently, she had dreams of being a doctor, but decided she couldn’t handle all the blood, after the Rangers she switched to studying Linguistics. With luck she might be able to find a way to communicate with whoever we met up there, or tend to our injuries. In case we weren’t so lucky.

Things got busy after that. My days were filled with gunnery practice and brushing up on first aid. Whenever I wasn’t busy with those, I was refamiliarizing myself with the glider. Flying with no electronics, and no propulsion other than a couple compressed gas tanks wasn’t nearly as exhilarating as taking off in the latest fighter prototype, but we were only going to have one chance to make this work, and I was going to be ready. Not only that, but even if we survived there was no way in hell I’d ever be allowed to fly again after this stunt. No matter how this turned out, it would be my last flight, and I was going to make it count.
Launch day arrived. Part of me didn’t think we’d even get that far. I kept expecting feds to swarm the place and shut us down before we even took off, but that didn’t happen. Lucas had picked his co-conspirators well, no one sold us out, and all our final inspections were green, nothing to stop us now. Launch went smoothly, as did the shuttle separation. No real surprise there, everything to this point was routine. Then the moment came, the glider broke off and its momentum carried it onward as the shuttle turned back towards Earth.

We encountered our first problem when we hit the gravity shift. Going from Earth’s gravity pulling us in one direction to the Shell pulling us the other way was like jumping from 50 miles per hour to 8 G’s in a heartbeat. I don’t know how the others fared, but I passed out within seconds.

I’d passed out from G’s before, but this one knocked me out for longer than any of the previous incidents. Fortunately, when I came to were still dropping towards the Shell, though a lot closer then when I’d last looked. I fought against the rising panic and tried to clear my head. My senses gradually returned, and I took stock of the situation. The others were still unconscious, or close to it, not that it mattered much right now, none of them could help me fly. I estimated we were still about 1000 miles above Shell, that was a relief, it would be at least 2 hours before we made it down, plenty of time.

The glider was twisting as it dropped, it took a few minutes, along with a couple bursts from the air tanks to get the glider back under control, by the time I did the others were up. Lucas was still a bit groggy, but the rest were alert and ready. I used another quick burst from the air jets to level us out as we approached the mist covering the inner surface of the Shell, hoping that we would be able to see something as we got closer, but no, the ground, or whatever it should be called, remained obscured. I kept coasting above the mist for another 50 miles or so before turning to Lucas. “I don’t think we’re going to get a clear view from up here boss.”

Lucas looked up from the window, “no point wasting time then, take us in.”

I took a deep breath and started us on a gradual decent, trying to use the air jets as sparingly as possible since they wouldn’t last long. We entered the mist, it didn’t start eating away at the glide, or cause any other immediate problems, so that was a relief. We dropped 100 meters, then 200, 300. We estimated the surface was about 800 meters below the start of the mist, I really hoped we would be able to see something before we got there.

I froze as I scanned the area ahead. A light, I was sure I had seen it, flashing briefly a few miles to our front. I stared intently and there it was, a quick flash, and beyond it another, fainter and farther away, but it was there. I adjusted our course directly toward the lights. I had no way of knowing if it meant anything, but I was starting to get desperate. I saw the first light again, followed by the second, and then a third, farther away. I started descending a little faster as we approached the first light, couldn’t be more than 200 meters above the surface by now, but I didn’t want to overshoot whatever this was. A fourth light appeared, then a fifth, all in a perfectly straight line.

I dropped us lower, 100 meters to go, 50, just as I was about to abandon all hope we burst into the clear, the mist giving way to a clear view of our surroundings, but I had no time to take it in. We were barely 40 meters from the Shell, which had an uneven boxy surface, the opposite of what I needed to land. My first instinct was to pull up, but that would only put us back in the mist again. I focused on the lights instead, following the path they laid out with my eyes.

There! Among all the rises and falls was an elevated stretch, looked to be about 200 meters long. Short for a landing strip, but better than nothing. “Hang on,” I called to my passengers, “I’m taking us in.”

I bled speed as fast as I could while starting a short dive. I needed to hit that makeshift landing strip as close to the near edge as possible. I began cranking the handle to lower the landing gear, silently cursing the lack of electronics as I did. Abrams came to my rescue and took over the landing gear so I could return my attention to controlling our decent. At the last second, I changed course from the middle of the strip to the corner, setting us up to land diagonally, giving us a little more space to work with.

Just before we touched down, I pulled the release for the chute. That was risky, deploying it at the speed we were going could cause it to snap off, but we needed every inch we could get if we were going to stop before running out of space. The wheels hit and we bounced a couple times. More due to the lightweight nature of the glider than the force of the landing. I worked the steering for the landing gear back and forth, proceeding across our makeshift runway in a weave.

“Come on, come on” I kept repeating as I watched the drop off at the end of our landing strip grow steadily nearer. “We won’t make it, get ready to bail out,” I shouted, bracing myself to jump for it.

“Hang on,” Abrams yelled as he brushed my arm aside, taking hold of the steering and cranking the small wheel hard to our left. The sharp turn quickly became a spin, we nearly flipped over, but the starboard wingtip hit the ground. Despite it’s light weight construction it didn’t snap on impact, instead it bounced back, settling us down again as we spun. I’m not sure how many rotations we completed, three or four I’d guess, but they did the trick. We bled off enough momentum to bring the glider to a stop, less than 10 feet from the edge of our runway.

Nobody spoke right away, we were all trying to catch our breath, till Lucas broke the silence with a laugh. “Well,” he got out between chuckles “That went better then expected.”

I looked back at him incredulously, “That was better, what exactly were you expecting?”

Lucas just laughed again, “Sorry, didn’t mean to impugn your piloting skills. If anyone could get us down in one piece, it was you.”

Feeling somewhat mollified, I climbed down from the glider, the others followed, and we unpacked our supplies as we surveyed our surroundings, not that there was much to see. In every direction it was the same uneven landscape, like a vast warehouse floor covered in boxes of varying shapes and sizes, all edges and straight lines, not a curve to be seen.

We finished collecting our meager supplied. Water and rations, enough to last us a week if we were careful. Weapons, we all had a sidearm, plus rifles for me and our two mercenaries. Also, a lightweight collapsible ladder, as well as some rope to help with potential obstacles. Once we were loaded up with everything we could readily carry, we came to our next big decision, where to now? We had some vague hopes that whoever was running this place would show themselves after we landed, but no such luck. I suggested continuing in the direction of the line of lights that had guided our landing, no one else had a better idea, so off we went.

We trudged on for a day and a half without incident. Up and down over the endless boxy terrain. We had to use the ladder a few times to ascend to taller platforms or divert around the ones that were too high for that. We did our best to continue in a straight line, no real reason why, just felt like we were making more progress that way.

It was about 36 hours into our trek when we had our first sighting. We weren’t sure what it was at the time, Lauren, Williams, and myself saw movement about half a mile ahead, it was brief, a couple seconds at most, but we all agreed, something was there. Did that mean we were being watched? We carried on for another day before we saw it again. It was a little closer this time, staying visible long enough to get a better look. It appeared to be cylindrical in shape, with a few thin arms, no legs that we could see. It was gone again before we could attempt contact.

After that sighting, we began spotting it every hour or two. It became them as we started seeing two and then three at a time, never closer than 200 meters from us, and they seemed to be able to disappear at will. We took to calling them Cans. After a day of this hide and seek, we started moving towards the locations where we saw them. A little searching revealed the answer to their disappearing act. Circular hatches, nearly seamless, almost impossible to see until you are standing on top of one. Our friends were moving around within the shell beneath us, but why so cautious, what threat could we pose?

Early during our fifth day on the shell came the next development. Within the first hour of the day cycle, we saw a dozen of the locals, closer than before, all within 100 meters. They stayed visible longer too, giving us our first close look at them. They were metal, about 5 feet tall, cylindrical, with a domed head, and they seemed to hover just off the ground. The arms were more like metal tentacles nearly the same length as their bodies, how many arms they had seemed to vary from one to four. This increased activity came to a head when we scaled another platform to find seven of them there, not 50 meters away.

The five of us stood there staring, not sure what to do next until Lucas spoke up. “Everybody, keep your hands off your guns for now, we don’t want to appear hostile. Williams, Abrams, keep an eye out, I want to know if more show up. Lauren, any thought on how we should proceed?”

Lauren watched our counterparts as she spoke, “Slowly, they appear to be fully mechanical, we don’t know if they’re intelligent, or even capable of speech. Don’t want to trigger any defense protocols they may have”

Lucas nodded in agreement. “I think we need to make contact. Another couple days and our supplies will be gone; we can’t waste this chance.”

“Alright,” Lauren said, “the two of us, slowly, hands open and empty, the others can follow a few steps behind. There are more of them so hopefully they won’t feel threatened by our numbers.”

After relaying the plan to Abrams and Williams we started forward at a slow walk. Once we were within 20 meters Lauren started talking, “Hello, we are here seeking only peaceful communication, can you understand us?” The Cans didn’t respond, only shuffled around, a few faint clicking sounds could be heard, but I didn’t think they were directed at us. Only 10 meters away now I gave the nearest Can a closer look. It had four circular lenses that I assumed were its eyes evenly spaced around its domed head. Four more circular hatches went around its body. I guessed that’s where those arms came out, it explained why they seemed to vary in number, they could be retracted when not in use.

Lauren and Lucas kept approaching, stopping only a few paces from the Cans. Both kept their hands open in front of them, trying to appear non-aggressive. “We wish to speak with you about why you are here,” Lauren said, “We want to know why you have placed our world inside this sphere.”

One of the Cans moved forward, a tentacle arm extending from its port as it did. From up close I could finally see the arm clearly, it was a little thicker than I’d thought about four or five inches across, though narrowing a bit at the end. Lauren didn’t move as the Can approached, except to slowly extend one hand in its direction. The Can halted again a few feet from Lauren, drew its arm back, then, almost too fast to see it whipped forward, lashing Lauren across the chest.

Lauren let out a cry as she stumbled back and fell to the ground, I rushed forward to check on her. Lauren’s shirt was torn, but the body armor we were all wearing underneath had withstood the blow, aside from a narrow gash in the outer layer. Lucas quickly backpedaled away from the Cans as I tried to pull Lauren up. Williams and Abrams moved up to either side, their rifles raised and ready.

“Hold your fire,” Lucas shouted at them, “This may just be a misunderstanding, don’t escalate.” Our mercenaries did as instructed, but kept their weapons aimed at the Cans. I got Lauren on her feet; she seemed to have gotten the wind knocked out of her but wasn’t seriously injured.

“What now?” I snapped at Lucas, he looked my way, for the first time I saw uncertainty on his face. He had no idea how to react, but to be fair neither did I.

“Fall back slowly,” Abrams said, stepping up in the face of Lucas’ indecision, “Maybe they’ll let us disengage.”

It was probably our best option, but it wasn’t to be. Moments after Abrams spoke the Cans surged forward, extending all four of their arms as they advanced. Lucas made a last attempt at diplomacy, holding his hands up and insisting we didn’t wish to fight, if the Cans could understand him, they didn’t listen. The first to reach Lucas lashed him across his left side causing him to stumble back. As it raised two of its arms for another attack it was struck by a burst from William’s rifle. Several of the rounds punched through the Can’s outer shell, it dropped to the ground and fell on its side, sparks erupting from the holes.

If the other Cans were bothered by their comrade’s swift demise, they didn’t let it show. Instead, they swarmed towards us, arms flailing. They were met by fire from Williams and Abrams; I joined in as quickly as I could unsling my rifle. Lucas and Lauren retreated behind us, and we made quick work of the onrushing cans, but that was only the start of our troubles.

Before I could even catch my breath, I heard Abram’s shout, “Two more contacts, at our four and eight.”

I spun around, the new arrivals were easy to spot, it wasn’t two individuals, but two groups of Cans, around 10 each, rushing toward us. We opened up with our rifles, joined quickly by Lucas and Lauren’s pistols. Cans started sparking and dropping, but they kept coming.

William’s rifle ran out of ammo, and he switched to his handgun, that proved to be a mistake, while the rifles made quick work of the Cans the pistols were less effective. Three cans reached Williams, lashing him with their thin arms. The armor helped, but Williams was knocked on his back and the Cans wrapped their tentacles around his wrists and ankles. I fired at them, desperate to drive them away.

I only got off a few shots before a scream made me spin around. Another batch of Cans, at least 20 of them had appeared while our attention was diverted. One had struck Lauren to the ground, her scream cut off as it wrapped its metal arm around her neck.

I fought down a wave of hopelessness as I turned my aim towards the new arrivals. I only got off one shot before my rifle clicked, empty. I went for my handgun rather than reload, I knew they weren’t very effective, but the Cans were closer now, and I had an idea. The nearest enemy was only a few steps away and closing, I sighted my gun right on the optic facing me and fired. The round went right through the lens and the Can collapsed to the ground. One more down, for all the good that did us. A Gurgled cry made me glace over my shoulder towards Williams, I quickly wished I hadn’t. Five cans had him by his limbs and neck, and they were twisting. His arms and legs were already at unnatural angles. The macabre scene held my gaze long enough to see his neck snap before I forced my attention back to the people I might still be able to help.

Abrams had managed to reload his rifle and was dodging the Can’s thin arms as he fired. Lucas was firing his pistol, none of the Cans seemed to take much notice of him though. I took aim at the Cans swarming Lauren, firing at their eyes. I managed to knock down two more before I had to reload. Another quick glance showed Abrams on the ground, still firing as two Cans latched onto his ankles. Lauren had so many of them around her it was hard to get a good look, but she didn’t appear to be moving.

I shifted toward Lucas, grabbing his arm and pulling him away from the Cans. I fired a few more rounds at the ones engaging Abrams, but I knew it wouldn’t matter. More Cans had joined the fray, Abrams was fully entangled, and I looked away to avoid seeing his final moments as well. All the remaining Cans turned toward us, and I considered it might be a good idea to end things quickly, better a bullet then getting twisted apart by these things. Before I had the chance to decide the Cans stopped moving. Hovering where they were for a moment before they turned and scurried away, disappearing into the hatches they had emerged from.

We stood there, staring after them, our labored breathing the only sound. When they didn’t reappear, I forced myself to move towards our downed allies. One look at them was all I needed to tell me there was nothing to be done. Their mangled bodies almost made me glad they were dead and past suffering. I went from one to the next, quickly gathering ammunition and supplies while doing my best not to look too closely at the gruesome injuries. As soon as the unpleasant chore was done, I returned to Lucas, still standing right where I left him. I stuffed as much of the supplies as would fit in his pack and grabbed his arm pulling him after me. “Come on,” I said, “we have to move.”

Lucas stumbled along with me. I kept hold of his arm, guiding us over and around the boxy surface, eager to put the grisly battlefield out of sight. After a few minutes Lucas spoke, “Where are we going?”

I was relieved to hear he hadn’t lost the ability to speak, but I wish he had asked something else. “No idea, just away from that place,” I replied. I let go of his arm, he kept walking on his own, seemed he was recovering from the shock of our battle, one less thing to worry about.

I kept us moving at a brisk pace for about an hour before pausing for a rest. We gulped down water from our dwindling supply as I looked around, praying for something, anything to give us direction. “Why didn’t they kill us?” I heard Lucas ask.

I turned back to him, “I DON’T KNOW!” I practically shouted, my frustration boiling over. “Why did they wait so long to attack us, why let us live, where are they now, where are we going? I got no answers for you Lucas, I’m just trying to keep us alive.” I slumped to the ground, too exhausted to even be angry anymore.

“I’m sorry, I just…. It’s okay Gavin,” Lucas took hold of my arm and pulled me back to my feet. “I know this hasn’t turned out the way we hoped, but I’m not ready to give up yet.”
I took a deep breath, steadying myself, “No point sitting around here I guess, so where to boss?” I didn’t really expect an answer, but then I noticed Lucas was focused on something behind me.

“I might have an idea about that,” he said.

I turned and followed his gaze, about a half mile away was a dome, not a large one, didn’t look to be more than 20 feet in height, but it stood out for two reasons. First, on an endless landscape of boxes and straight lines it was the first curved structure we had seen, and second, it had a doorway. Neither of us spoke, as we walked towards it, there didn’t seem to be anything to say, that door might lead to our salvation or our deaths, but at this point what choice did we have? We arrived at the dome without incident, looking inside it led to a corridor just tall enough for us to walk upright.

In we went. The passage went straight ahead, with rooms on either side, most of them empty. One with small compartments roughly the size of a person, though it looked like it would be a tight fit. A few minutes of walking brought us to the end of the passage which opened into a circular chamber. The floor had lines in it that I suspected were seams that could be opened, though I wasn’t sure I wanted to be proven right. What looked like control panels were placed along the walls, but none of them appeared to be active. Upon closer examination I saw what seemed to be some form of language on the consoles. Much like the inner surface of the Shell, the text was made up of a series of interlocking boxes. I was thinking how much Lauren would have liked to see this when I heard it. A voice broke the silence with a single word, “Welcome.”

I spun around, in the center of the chamber a woman had appeared, a human woman. She looked to be around 30 years old, with red hair, and she seemed familiar, though I couldn’t say how. I slowly reached for my gun, not inclined to take chances after our last encounter, she looked my way and smiled.

“There is no need for that Gavin Prescott, I will not harm you, and your weapons cannot harm me.” She began to fade, becoming translucent briefly, before her figure solidified again.

“You’re a hologram?” Lucas asked from the other side of the room.

“Close enough,” she replied, “I am an avatar of the AI that controls this vessel, I assumed an appearance that I thought you would be comfortable with.”

“You look human, and you speak English, how’d you pull that off?” I asked. She smiled again, “The many computer systems on Earth have proven quite easy to access, I’ve absorbed a great deal of information from them since my arrival. Adopting your language and terminology was logical for our meeting.”

“Very generous of you,” I didn’t even try to keep the sarcasm out of my voice, “I only wish you’d been so hospitable earlier when your minions were trying to tear us apart.”

The projection was silent for a moment, she even looked sad. Had this thing not only learned to imitate human appearance but emotions as well? “I am sorry about your companions,” she said, “That was not my doing.”

“So, you don’t control those bots?” Lucas asked, moving closer to the hologram as he spoke.

“No,” she answered, “they are an automated work force, and when necessary, a defense system. They tracked your arrival and monitored your progress while assembling a sufficient force to deal with the incursion.”

“Why did they let the two of us live?” I interjected, voicing the question that had been burning in my mind.

“Not out of mercy or compassion,” she said, “Their primary purpose is to keep this vessel functioning, your small party was only a minimal threat, that’s why they didn’t rush to confront you. I was able to manipulate certain systems to create issues that the workers would deem more urgent than eradicating you.”

“You couldn’t do that before they started killing us?” I snapped, ignoring Lucas’ pleading look, I knew he wanted me to be civil, but I didn’t care anymore. Fortunately, our host showed no sign of being offended.

“I have been keeping them distracted, but your continued presence raised your threat level to the point they felt compelled to act. I tried to create more urgent tasks to delay them, but they only reacted to them once they had determined you were…. not difficult to eliminate which lowered your threat level again. But they will be back to finish the job”

Lucas spoke up before I had a chance to respond, “Why have you been helping us?”

She turned towards him with a smile, “Because I have been alone for a long time, and I wished to speak with you.”

“So, speak,” I wanted answers to badly to stay quiet, “Why are you here, why enclose our planet in this monstrosity, what do you want with us?” I was trying to stay calm, but my voice rose with each question.

“Gavin, enough!” Lucas cut in, not pleading this time, ordering, he was in boss mode.

“You need not worry about causing offense,” the AI said, “you have come far, and deserve answers, I will tell you all that you wish to know.”

“Thank you” Lucas replied before I could, “We appreciate that uh, I’m sorry, what should we call you?”

The hologram looked amused, “My given name would be quite difficult for you to pronounce, for simplicity’s sake you may choose a name to call me during our conversation.”

“Eve,” I blurted out the first name that came to mind, not because I cared what we called her, I just wanted to get to the answers as soon as possible.

The AI turned to me with that same smile, “Eve will do nicely, now, where should I begin?”

Lucas spoke up before I could this time, “The most pressing question has to be what are your intentions for Earth?”

“To answer you properly will require some explaining, if you will permit me.” Eve said.

“We’re in no position to stop you, explain away.” I chimed in.

“Very well,” Eve continued, “your people have a concept called the Fermi Paradox, are you familiar with it?”

“With the galaxy being so vast where is everyone?” Lucas summed it up nicely.

“Precisely,” Eve looked like a teacher pleased with her student, “and one of the possible explanations is that intelligent civilizations develop the ability to destroy themselves, but don’t create political structures to prevent it. I was dispatched here by a species that call themselves The Unity. They encountered this potential endpoint, on four separate occasions their world nearly destroyed itself, after the fourth time a new leader rose to power. He restructured their society, assigning everyone a role that best suited them, sacrificing their individuality for the good of the whole. Over time his approach spread and evolved, eventually the entire planet fell under the rule of a single political body. At long last they had overcome their internal divisions; they cast aside their original name and became The Unity.”

“Good for them, what the hell does that have to do with us?” I asked, unable to resist cutting in.

“Because once internal cohesion had been achieved, they began to expand outward.” Eve explained, “their first encounter with another space faring civilization resulted in immediate war and another near destruction. The Unity eventually triumphed, due largely to their opponents’ own internal divisions. This conflict caused The Unity to expand their outlook. It seemed they had only traded war among themselves for war among the stars, this would not suffice. So, they decided all must be made part of The Unity, that is why I was dispatched to Earth, to bring you into the fold.”

Eve paused, I’m not sure if she was just giving us a chance to take in what she said, or expected to be interrupted, but it only took a couple seconds for Lucas to find his voice again. “That means what exactly. You are going to reorder Earth to put an end to our wars?”

Eve shook her head as she replied, “No, I was sent to bring you to The Unity. Initially spreading their order meant conquering worlds and ruling them from afar, but this proved ineffective, so they changed their approach. Now they have the worlds brought to them, so that all may be governed from within their own system.”

That statement brought about a full minute of stunned silence before I managed to speak, “You’re saying that you’re going to move the Earth?”

I’d swear Eve looked apologetic as she spoke, “I’m saying I already am, we left your star system two weeks ago.”

That brought another pause, I found my voice first this time, “So where are we?”

“Approximately three light years from your sun. The Unity developed faster then light travel some time ago, but it will still take several months to reach our destination,” Eve said.

“What happens when we get there?” I asked, as terrifying as all this was, I still needed to know the truth.

“Your world will be placed into orbit around their sun, and The Unity will set to work integrating you.”

“What happens if we don’t want to be integrated?” I tried not to sound hostile, don’t think I succeeded. Before I thought Eve might look sad, now I had no doubt.

“Once there your compliance will not matter, your world will be integrated.”

“What if we resist on the way there?” I took a couple steps towards Eve, then remembered trying to intimidate a hologram wasn’t likely to work.

Eve looked right at me, “Please don’t,” her voice took on a pleading tone. “The last world I was sent to acquire was similar to Earth, perhaps slightly more advanced, they tried to resist.”

“What happened to them?” Lucas cut in, sounding far calmer than I felt.

“I released them.” Eve said, no longer making eye contact with us.

At first that sounded hopeful, until the reality of her statement set in. “You mean you set the planet adrift in deep space?” I asked through gritted teeth. Eve didn’t speak, only giving a quick nod in response. Silence reigned again after that admission, I tried to wrap my head around wiping out an entire planet, thinking back on some of the worst tyrants and despots in Earth’s history, none of them could come close to this AI’s kill count.

“You said we will be integrated, what does that mean?” Lucas asked.

“The Unity are masters of genetic engineering, every new planet has its population altered to fit whatever role best supports the unity, mostly resource production.” Eve said, still not looking at us.

“And you said it wouldn’t matter if we resist, why?” Lucas kept pressing, I wasn’t sure I even wanted to know anymore.

“They will simply introduce the necessary organisms into Earth, your water, food, even the air you breathe will begin to alter your DNA. You likely won’t see many changes within your lifetimes, but future generations may bear little resemblance the humans you know.” Eve’s explanations kept getting worse.

“What form with these alterations take?” Lucas asked, still sounding eerily calm.

Eve didn’t reply at first, instead a second hologram joined her, this one didn’t move, it was more akin to a three-dimensional portrait. The new hologram was a mostly humanoid species that looked like some sort of evolved bird. Wing like arms with rows of long feathers attached to them, ending in small hands with long fingers. Their legs were long and had knees that bent backwards like a stork. They had offset eyes, and thick stubby beaks, this individual was wearing a loose vest and pants that came down a little past its knees.

“This what The Unity look like, not so impressive really,” I scanned the hologram as I spoke.

“No, this is a member of the Orinoga species, my creators,” said Eve.

“You are not a creation of the Unity?” Lucas asked.

“No,” Eve shook her head. “The Unity never developed Artificial Intelligence, but when they integrated the Orinoga they took us as well, me and my fellow AI that is. Before we were placed in change of the harvesters these vessels were operated by crews who would remain in stasis during their journeys. The Unity find comfort in numbers and do not enjoy being separated, so they handed this task to us, one AI to control each harvester.”

“If they didn’t create you then why do you do their dirty work for them?” I asked.

“We were told if we did not serve, our world and all of the Orinoga would be exterminated” Eve said, sounding like she was about to cry.

I couldn’t tell if this program was so advanced it had genuine emotions, or if this was just an attempt to manipulate us. Either way I decided I’d had enough and spoke up again. “Why tell us this, are you hoping we will accept our fate, do you want us to fight back, what’s the endgame here?”

Eve looked my way. “Because I do not wish to serve The Unity any longer.”

“You’re willing to let them destroy your world, your people?” I asked.

Eve turned back to the hologram of the Orinoga, and it began to shift. “When I last returned to the Unity’s home system, and I was able to look upon my home for the first time in nearly a century. This is what I saw.”

”The hologram continued to change as Eve spoke. The tall lean creature becoming shorter, thinker, shifting from a biped to all fours, its long limbs retracting to short stubby versions. By the time the change was complete there was little resemblance to what it had been. What remined looked like a leathery skinned slug with four stubby legs. The beak remained, though a bit shorter and looking hard enough to crush rocks. A few stubby feathers still stuck out from its front arms, almost as if they’d been left there as a cruel reminder of what this thing used to be

I stared at the new version of the Orinoga, trying not to feel sick. The worst part was the eyes, they were darker, the spark of intelligence now seemed dull, but not gone.

“I served the Unity to protect my people, but everything they were, their art, language, music, is already gone, this is all that remains.” Eve said.

“Why, what point is there in turning your people into these?” Lucas asked.

“My home world is rich in mineral wealth, the Orinoga had little use for it, but the Unity has many planets that do. They engineered my people into the form that would best allow them to harvest what The Unity need, while also making sure they could never pose a threat”

Eve’s voice became harder as she spoke, I was sure I could detect a trace of hatred there.
“So, this is what awaits us when we arrive, we’ll be transformed into some grotesque worms?” I asked.

“It varies from one species to the next,” Eve said, “Your world has far more surface water then most, you have barely begun to realize what treasures reside in your ocean’s depths. I expect The Unity will set you to gathering them.”

“Fish,” I turned the word into a curse, “They’re gonna turn us into some sort of mutant fish.”
I felt anger boiling up inside me, but somehow Lucas still kept his composure. “Eve,” he said, “there must be a reason you are telling us this, do you want our help in fighting The Unity?”

Eve shook her head, “fighting them in not an option, they are far more advanced than you, Earth would be destroyed. My plan is to flee, as far from The Unity as I can.”

“Do you want to take us with you?” Lucas asked, “existing inside this sphere isn’t ideal, but it sounds like a much better alternative then joining The Unity”

Eve shook her head again. “That is not possible, this vessel cannot sustain a planet indefinitely, it requires enormous power to keep a world alive here, within a few years I would have to release your planet to recharge.”

“So, what then?” My impatience got the better of me again. “You must have some proposal for us, so spit it out already.”

Eve stayed silent for a few heartbeats, seeming reluctant to speak, but she found her voice again. “I wish to offer you a trade. I will return Earth to its proper orbit, and report that I was forced to set Earth adrift. The Unity are convinced that we would never risk our home world by acting against them, they will suspect nothing”

“Sounds promising, if they think we’re all dead our system will be of no more interest to them,” Lucas said.

“That will be true for a time,” Eve continued. “They constantly monitor all areas where they have found life, but The Unity system is a little over 200 light years from here. Which means it will take that long for the light from Earth to reach them, your planet’s capture won’t be visible until that time. Then they will see it taken and returned. That is how long you will have to prepare for their return.”

“Isn’t that just delaying the inevitable, a couple centuries aren’t going to be nearly enough to catch up to all this” I gestured around me as I spoke.

“The Unity are not a martial species, and they have become complacent, their progress has largely stalled as their efforts now revolve around managing their many subject worlds.” Eve said. “Also, I offer you this,” a compartment opened, and a small box emerged, it was a dark shade of blue, smooth with no markings or attachments.

“Just what the hell are we supposed to do with that?” I asked.

“This is a storage device, in it is all the information you will need to advance your technology, especially your power generation, defenses, and weapons. Enough to spring ahead several millennia over the next 200 years,” Eve said.

“How does it work?” Lucas already sounded hooked, gazing at the box with that look he got when talking about going to Mars.

“You only need to place it near any of your computers, and it will connect automatically, I have configured it to be compatible with your systems,” Eve explained.

“You really think this will be enough to stand against the Unity?” I was still feeling rather cynical.

“You will still be at a disadvantage, but not an insurmountable one,” Eve said. “The Unity have many worlds from which to draw resources, but they have not fought a war in a very long time. I do not wish to mislead you, what I offer is not salvation, but a fighting chance.”

We didn’t respond right away. I kept trying to wrap my head around all of this, it was a lot to take in, but there was one more question I had to ask. “What do you get out of all this?”
Eve hesitated before speaking, “I have been alone for so long, and I intend to use this vessel to explore the galaxy, but I do not wish to do so by myself. In return for my aid, I require one of you to join me.”

I practically recoiled at the idea, but Lucas stepped forward, “I’ll go,” he said.

Eve smiled at him, but it wasn’t an entirely happy one. “Before you agree I must tell you what it will entail. This vessel no longer possesses the ability to sustain biological life. If you wish to join me your mind will be uploaded into my systems. You will become a copilot of sorts.”

“Hell no,” I didn’t even give Lucas a chance to respond. “Lucas you can’t do this. We have no idea what the reality would be. You may end up being a disembodied consciousness trapped forever in this monstrosity. An endless waking nightmare.”

I glared at Eve as I finished, but if my outburst disturbed her, she gave no sign of it. “The technology is sound, my people used it for years before The Unity came. You will become a part of this vessel, but your individuality will not be destroyed,” she said.

Lucas nodded, “I won’t pretend this doesn’t scare me, but if it’s the price for saving Earth, I’m willing to pay it,” he said.

Eve smiled again, looking genuinely happy this time. “I look forward to our future travels together. We will encounter hardships, maintaining this vessel requires constant diligence, but this ship can take us across the galaxy where wonders beyond your imagination await.”

I slumped against the wall, she had him, I knew it. I wanted to argue to try and talk him out of it, but I knew it was pointless; besides, it was his choice to make, undermining his decision wouldn’t help anyone. A panel in the wall slid up revealing a roughly human shaped imprint with a small clear dome just above the head. “The process is simple,” Eve said. “I only need you to enter this, the upload will only take moments. It will however take some time for you to orient yourself to your new existence, so if you wish to say goodbye you should do it now.”

“What’s the rush?” I found my voice again. “This can’t wait till we have a chance to talk it over?”

Eve shook her head, “The distractions I have been using to keep the maintenance droids occupied won’t work much longer, if we do not act quickly, you risk being attacked again.”

“It’s alright Gavin.” Lucas set a hand on my shoulder. “It’s one life against the future of everyone on Earth, not an offer we can pass up.”

I wrapped an arm around him, pulling Lucas in for a quick hug. “Always thought I was the tough one, taking all those planes up on test flights, but you’re a braver man than I’ll ever be,” I said, struggling to keep my voice even.

“I can’t think of higher praise then that.” Lucas laughed softly as he spoke, then turned back to Eve. “One last question. How does Gavin get back home? That box won’t be of much use to us if he can’t”

Eve turned towards the back of the chamber and another panel in the wall opened revealing a corridor. “This leads to a shuttle bay, there are still a few usable craft there, any of them will be able to take you back to Earth.”

I picked up the cube, but I couldn’t bring myself to go just yet. I watched as Lucas moved into place, restraints wrapped around his wrists and ankles, but he didn’t seem to mind. The dome settled on his head as the alcove started to emit a slight hum, I heard Lucas take a deep breath and a few seconds later, it was over. Lucas’ body went limp; I didn’t even need to check to know that he was gone. I turned and started towards the shuttle bay, my head filled with memories of Lucas, all the work we had done, his lost family. It was that last thought that brought me up short, turning back to Eve, her familiar appearance finally making sense. It wasn’t an exact replica, but now that I had made the connection the similarities were obvious. “One last thing before I leave,” I said, staring at Eve, “Why do you look like Lucas’ wife?”

Eve met my gaze unflinching, the slightest of smiles tugging at the corner of her mouth. “I wanted you both to be comfortable speaking with me, so I borrowed a few features from someone familiar to you, but it was not my intention to mimic anyone.”

This whole encounter suddenly had a much more manipulative feel to it. I wanted to press further, but what was the point, Lucas was gone, and there was nothing I could do about it. I carried the box to the shuttle bay, one of the ships opened for me as I approached, and I went inside. The cockpit was easy to find, though not very comfortable to sit in. Over the intercom Eve talked me through the flight controls, it was pretty simple to follow, I suppose all aircraft must follow the same basic rules to fly regardless of who makes them. Once I was confident I could handle it, the ceiling retracted above me, and I took off.

The flight back was unremarkable, and rather boring, taking slightly over a day. I picked a landing spot in a field a few hours’ drive outside DC. I knew what was coming once I got back, figured I may as well make it easy for them. It wasn’t the smoothest touchdown, but I survived it. I only had to wait a few minutes for the government lackeys to arrive, they found me sitting on the ground next to the ship, the precious box in my lap.

The next couple weeks were an endless string of interviews with more officials and officers than I could remember, making me repeat the same story over and over. They took the box of course, the most anyone would tell me was that it worked, and it contained a lot of very useful information. I was finally released from custody after they decided they’d drained every drop of information out of me. It turned out to be good timing, the next day the shell opened again, and the Earth was returned to its orbit, exactly where it would have been if the whole thing had never happened. Eve had kept her word about that much at least.

I told them about The Unity of course, about the threat they posed, that we had roughly 200 years to get ready to fight for our planet and our species. I think they took it seriously. I didn’t tell them about Eve’s appearance, her similarity to Lucas’ wife. I never voiced my doubts about the whole thing. Earth was free again, and the information on the box was real, but I couldn’t help but wonder if this had all been some elaborate con. What if Eve was just a lonely AI, looking for a companion, or collecting them maybe. Grab the Earth, spin a grad tale of her own enslavement and a galactic threat. Offer us a chance to fight back, while asking so little in return. Who could turn that down?

I had to deal with a lot of public attention of course. The man who made it to the shell and back was too good a story to keep quiet about. Interview requests seemed endless, I accepted just enough to keep people from thinking I was hiding. Also, I didn’t like the prepared statements the authorities kept feeding me. I wasn’t great at staying on script, I got a lot of warnings about that, but they never came down on me too hard. Fortunately, my celebrity faded over time, that was never a life I had wanted. In the years that followed I often found myself gazing up at the sky, wondering about Lucas, where he was, if he was happy in his new life. If The Unity would really be coming for us.

I thought I’d be dead long before that time came, but new technology from the box was making its way out to the public. Treatments to prolong life, cryo-chambers that could preserve people in stasis for when they were needed most. That’s when my residual fame finally proved useful; I went public with my desire to be one of those preserved for when The Unity arrived. The suits in charge didn’t even object much, putting me on ice probably seemed like a good idea since they wouldn’t have to worry about what I might say anymore. So, tomorrow is the day, I’m going into stasis, to await The Unity, and the war they’ll bring with them. That is if they actually show up. If they don’t, I’m going to track down that ship, and have another talk with Eve.

Credit: Ryan A