The Missile Silo

Considering that she was now officially unemployed, Elizabeth had never worked harder in her entire life. She was not alone in this, every single one of them was helping with some project, advancing their objectives.

Her sister was constantly busy with building a positive public face of Genesis Corporation. Writing mission statements for several projects, making websites, and promotional materials, which were being prepared in advance for some of Max’s schemes. Elizabeth often wondered if Anna was keeping herself buried in work so she wouldn't dwell on all the things that happened to her. In spite of everything, she seemed much happier, more driven than ever before, and full of optimism. Max was keeping an eye on her and would tell them if Anna was having problems.

Jack was still traveling the country, conducting interviews and judging if people would be good candidates for their future society. From retired and disabled soldiers from every branch of the military, to those that never got to call themselves astronauts, but were involved with various space programs. He was calling in every day and sending them selfies, from some of the more interesting places he visited.

Robert, Michael’s father, was doing something similar. All over the continent, he was establishing think tanks similar to the one Dr. Ross created in Texas. In addition, Max was already getting some hard data, which in turn changed their plans to some degree. Particularly concerning the structural designs, social structure, and demographic makeup of potential habitats.

Even Dave had to travel a lot, with constant complaining, of course. Max’s hunger for building material was starting to surpass what could be hauled to Dave’s nano-factory. Therefore, the old man, with a new constitution of a twenty-year-old, was flying around in his own personal transporter and was making deals to buy as much e-scrap or entire scrap yards, as fast as he could. He made Max customize his transporter, with a regular bed, bathroom with a shower, a fridge, microwave, and a cooking plate. Creature comforts of civilized life as Dave called them; he was perfectly fine to sleep inside the aircraft at night. It couldn't be said that he was roughing it since he had transformed that transporter into a futuristic version of an RV.

Alice and herself were doing the work that would normally take dozens if not hundreds of people. However, they did have a fully functioning AI, an advantage that no government or agency in the world could compete with. In fact, most governments would even be jealous of the size of their intelligence network, and various assets all over the world. Besides, everything was done electronically and with Max’s help, made almost untraceable. Max could have done most of it alone, but he had a problem with subtlety. His approach was a bit blunt since he tended to use the stick much more than a carrot. The fact that they had dirt on so many people was one thing, but you needed to make them do the things you want, without crossing the line. Alice was natural at this; she could blackmail, cajole, and bribe people in the same sentence.

The entire task was done in preparation for the things to come, as Max said, there were inevitable storms on the way, it was only prudent to make a bulletproof umbrella.

Today was a special day, the spaceship in which Max was housed in was about to come out of its tomb. There was already a parking space made for it, inside the silo’s garage, and she personally couldn't wait to see the alien shell which housed Max.

She hoped there would be no more situations like the one in the Millennial Sports Arena. In addition to being dangerous, it could seriously jeopardize their plans if they were discovered prematurely. There was no question that eventually they would need to come out into the open; too many people were now involved in their plan for a secret of this magnitude to remain a secret indefinitely. Despite being a successful mission, the Millennial Sports Arena was also an operational secrecy failure. Her experience as an FBI intelligence analyst told her that right now there were dozens, if not hundreds of people all around the world, analyzing the entire incident. Going through every piece of evidence, every testimony. And when so many inquisitive minds were concentrated on a singular event, they are bound to find something even an AI overlooked.

Despite all that, she was proud that Michael did not stay on the sidelines. Proud that he did not have it in him to let people come in harm's way and not intervene. And yes, their plans may change and new problems may emerge, but the lives of innocents were worth a thousand times more than hypothetical obstacles. If a similar situation presented itself, ten out of ten times he would do the same, damn the consequences.

Only time will tell.

***

Ozark Mountains

The Spaceship

An hour after the gruesome death of Ziad the assassin, Michael and the team were all waiting close to the place where the ship was about to rise from the ground.

Max had created an entire supporting structure above him, to prevent potential cave-ins. He even constructed a false roof door, similar to the one that closed the roof on the silo’s garage; with soil and grass on top, so nobody would suspect that something was buried underneath. They were all standing in silence, except Al, who was mumbling about never making another wager with Pete again.

“It’s time.” Max transmitted to his CEI.

The large rectangular patch of ground in front of them lifted for half a foot, then split in the middle and slid to the side. There was a big black hole those sliding doors were covering, and from the bottom, a spaceship slowly ascended into the air and then stopped, hovering above the hole with its bottom level with the surrounding ground. Bright rays of the sun reflected off its pearly iridescent surface, for the first time in 12,900 years.

Michael knew its shape from the diagrams Max had shown him; even so, seeing it with his own eyes for the first time was quite a rush. The lines were very organic and flowed from the tip to the end. The ship was designed by someone who had an eye for beauty and was trying to make a serviceable spaceship that was a work of art at the same time. For all technology it held, the ship itself was barely thirty feet long with a shape that reminded him of a smooth apricot pit.

"So Max, how does it feel to be free from the… stone?" Michael asked.

“That sounds like I was the Excalibur, would that make you King Arthur?” Max joked.

“I don’t want to burst your bubble Max, but you are little extra heavy at the back to be a sword,” Al said, kneeling on the ground to see underneath the spacecraft.

“Hey now, that can hurt my feelings, I think I’m rather easy on the eyes.”

“Undoubtedly, with a new paint job, you are going to look like a million bucks,” Pete said.

“You mean like this.”

The entire ship started to psychedelically change colors, going through dozens of them until it settled on being completely transparent.

“Where do you think I got the idea for the camouflage?” The AI smugly replied.

Michael approached the ship and laid his hand on an invisible surface that after a few seconds returned to its off-white iridescent color.

“Every ship deserves a name and I think you already came up with a perfect one for it,” Michael said and after a little pause, continued. “Excalibur… the spaceship in the stone.”

Michael’s proclamation caused a completely new round of jokes, mainly instigated by Al, until Max, who was strangely quiet for some time now, interrupted them.

“Some new information has appeared inside my memory banks.”

The tone of Max’s voice and the seriousness of such information silenced them all.

“What do you mean appeared?” Michael asked.

“It would seem that when the ship reached the surface, a physically disconnected memory module slotted back into place. It was done by design. There is only one thing on it… a map of the world with one location distinctively marked on it.”

Michael could feel his heartbeat reaching a new tempo. “Where?” He asked, holding his breath. This could be it, the answer to the origin of the ship. A topic all of them had discussed numerous times.

“I checked with modern maps to confirm the location, but there is nothing there on the surface. It is in the Western Pacific Ocean, a place commonly known as the Mariana Trench.”

“Mariana trench? The deepest part of the world's oceans. That Mariana trench?” Michael incredulously questioned, looking at the ship which housed Max’s mind.

“Exactly; I guess if you want to hide something you place it somewhere where nobody can ever find it. No human civilization in the past could even dream of reaching those depths, and only recently did we managed to construct a few vessels that could withstand such pressure for a short time which is why only a few people have dared to make the descent. Unfortunately, almost the entire Trench is marked on the map, so it is going to take some time to reach it and scan it all.”

Michael ran his hand through his hair. “So far, this is the only clue we have of the ship’s makers, maybe there we will find the answer why the spaceship was buried here.”

“I already have some basic designs for undersea robotic drones; they would need some redesign due to the immense pressure on the bottom, but it’s doable. I will set the entire operation in motion and as soon as they find something, I’ll let you know.”

“Okay, let’s gather all the things that we managed to salvage from the cabin, and then the rest of you head back the silo in a transporter. I’m going to take the Excalibur for a little test flight; don’t worry, I’ll be back soon, and perfectly safe within it,” Michael said and touched the surface of the Excalibur one more time with a small smile on his face.

***

Spaceship Excalibur

Earth’s Orbit

Michael floated within the Excalibur. He asked Max to turn off artificial gravity and to project outside view on the holographic walls. For the first time in his life, he was experiencing the same conditions the astronauts did. Floating above Earth, free of its gravity pull… weightless.

He came here alone because he wanted to get a bit of perspective and to think. What better place than this, where the whole planet could be seen with a glance of an eye; the beauty of it was leaving him speechless.

The ship had climbed into the sky effortlessly while the camouflage made sure that no detection systems would see it. Max flew it to the approximate place from which that ancient recording of the planet was taken. There were some differences, but all human endeavors, throughout all history, didn't really make a great mark on such a vast scale. Oh, the night lights that came from the big cities were something new, but if you turn them all off and if you disregard all the ice that melted away from the poles, the planet would look almost the same as it did all those thousands of years ago.

His eyes encompassed this beautiful jewel of a planet that held the entire human race on its surface. He turned towards the Moon and all its countless impact craters; they were testaments of the uncaring nature of this universe. A constant reminder that Earth was under unceasing bombardment from space. If only one big asteroid hit it, in just the right way… it could bring that eternal night, the end of humankind.

He returned his gaze back to Earth, trying to find the position of the silo by only using his eyes. Everything he cared about, everyone he loved was on that blue ball in front of him. And the uncountable number of mothers, fathers, and children. All of them trying to make life better for themselves, succeeding and failing in constant struggle. Maybe he could not change the entire world, but he could change one small part of it, and ensure that the species would survive.

He turned around and looked into that vast deep blackness, only interrupted by the faint glowing lights of the far-away stars. The distances were almost unimaginable, but the very existence of this ship proved that life, different from the one which evolved on Earth, existed there as well. It was simultaneously a comforting and frightening thought. They may be friendly… or not.

“Max, do you think we will succeed?” He asked the invisible AI, who out of respect for Michael’s private, introspective time, didn't show his hologram.

“If we play our cards right, and with a little luck… we will. I could give you percentages, mathematical equations, and probability predictions, but in the end, the deciding factor is the person’s will. That willingness to push on, to see the goal in the distance, and to strive towards it. You get enough people working towards the same objective, and you can do wonders. Besides, it’s not a question if we can do this, it’s if we can afford not to.”

Michael floated there for a little while longer, enjoying the weightless state and tranquility of the space. For all that, he realized that no matter how profound this experience was, he was experiencing it alone, and that felt hollow. Besides, there was no need to do that anymore.

“Max, take us home.”

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"Everything is air-droppable at least once."

Schlock Mercenary maxim

;)