Excerpt
He had been in and out of sleep for the past hour with the repeat programmed on the entertainment unit. Piano Concerto number 20, one of Mozart’s most dark and moody concertos, was just beginning again for the sixth time when his com-unit silently blinked its incoming light. At first, he felt like ignoring it, but since his siesta was disturbed anyway, he arose to his desk to answer it.
“Admiral here,” he said into the com-unit after he turned it on.
“Admiral, it’s me, Doc.”
“What’s up, Doc?” Richard couldn’t help himself.
“I’m getting…very funny by the way, ha-ha! Seriously though, I’m getting something on the holo-sensor relays we left around the black hole at Gienah. And by the way, Mozart rules.”
“You could here that?” a perplexed Richard asked him. “I can barely hear it myself in this room.”
“I have very acute hearing, Admiral.”
“Never mind about your cute ears, Doc. What have you picked up?”
“A single craft has exited the black hole and is holding station just outside of its event horizon.”
“They’re back?”
“Looks that way, Sir.”
“I’ll be there in a minute.”
True to his word, Richard rushed onto the nearly deserted bridge, wearing the same Admiral’s uniform he had on during the debacle at Sadr. It was the quickest thing he could grab as he dashed out of his quarters and it reeked from his sweat and body odor. Two other officers were on duty, the relief crew as it were, filling in for the ship’s main bridge crew. He leaned over Doc’s shoulder and peered at his screens. “What do you have for telemetry?” he asked.
Doc punched in a series of keys on his console and a real-time image of their favorite friendly UFO appeared. He leaned to the side to let Richard get a closer look.
“Son of a beehive,” Richard exclaimed. “How long has it been parked there, Doc?”
“About thirty minutes ago it showed up and hasn’t moved since.”
“Thirty minutes!?! How long have you been here on the bridge?”
“I, uh, never left the bridge, Sir.”
“You mean, you’ve been at your station this whole time when the rest of us are all on down time? You allergic to sleep or something?”
“Insomniac,” Doc admitted and thumped his chest. “I can go all day on two hours sleep.”
“When’s the last time you’ve even had two hours sleep?” Richard asked suspiciously.
Doc looked at his wrist chronometer, and then looked up at the Admiral, “Around two days ago,” he said sheepishly.
“I’m calling the crew to the bridge and when they get here, you’re going to your quarters and getting some sleep,” Richard firmly stated.
“But”-
-“I’m not listening to any arguments,” Richard said. “You look twice as bad as I smell. You’re getting some rest, even if I have to get the guards in here and drug you. And that’s an order.”
“Yes, Sir,” Doc said reluctantly.
“Any theories as to what our friend is doing out there?”
“I think maybe they’re waiting for us.”
“Are they in the same position outside the black hole as last time?”
“Umm, that would be, no, Sir.”
“Show me,” Richard asked.
Doc’s screen came to life after a few keystroke commands. The little UFO shot out of the black hole at a forty-five degree angle, came to a stop and then shot over to the position it was now currently holding.
“Play the telemetry from yesterday alongside this new one. I know the actual image of the UFO was erased by them somehow, but we have its flight path on record nonetheless.”
Doc’s screen split in two; the right side showed a red line that indicated the UFO’s flight path from the day before, while the left side, colored in blue, played the entry of only thirty minutes ago. Both entry points were distinctly different.
“I wonder what this means?” Richard speculated. “And why it is that they’ve let us record their ship this time without erasing it from our equipment?”
Before Doc could offer an opinion, Richard’s terminal on his console began incessantly beeping an incoming message warning. With a raised eyebrow he said, “I wonder who could be calling at this hour?”
They both looked at each other blankly and then simultaneously scrambled over to Richard’s console, stumbling over each other and shoving for position to be the first to see what was on the screen like a pair of children. It was a tie.
A series of numbers and letters scrolled across the screen, repeating at certain intervals. A chill ran up Richard’s spine when he realized what they meant.
“These are coordinates,” he said icily. “How did they know we’d be on the bridge monitoring them just now?” His eyes roamed around the bridge, looking for a hidden camera he knew he wouldn’t find.
“Beats me, Admiral,” Doc said.
“No wonder why they haven’t deleted our telemetry yet,” Richard ventured. “They want to be sure that they have our attention.”
“Well, they’ve succeeded, Sir.”
Richard pointed at the screen. “These are the precise co-ordinates of their current position outside the black hole of Gienah. This is an invitation.”
Doc’s eyes started to gleam with excitement. “Are we going, then?” he asked, hopefully.
“I’m great fun at parties. Wouldn’t want to insult our hosts. I’ll wake the kids and set the course myself. I take it now that you’ll disobey my orders for rest?”
“Fat chance I’ll sleep through this! Forget it, Sir. I’m not missing this for anything!”
“Figured as much,” Richard said and began programming the ship for the trip. “Go get your high tech equipment ready. And get us both some hot coffee; black, with plenty of sugar. I have a feeling this is going to get very, very interesting…”
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