Washington, D.C.

Underneath the White House, Presidential bunker

It has been days since he had last seen the Sun and the sky. Consequently, the bright morning light hurt his eyes for a moment, before he put on his sunglasses, and took a refreshing breath of unsterilized air. Michael Freeman was dead, and the world was once again full of possibilities.

Ever since giving that second order, to destroy that spaceship with the nuclear missile, acting President Philip Cain lived underneath the White House, in an opulent presidential bunker… afraid for his life. Everything would have been fine if the nuke had managed to destroy the spaceship. When he gave that order, there was not a doubt in his mind of the likely outcome. Yet, Michael Freeman managed to survive; the massive spaceship did not suffer any damage, as far as their telescopes could see.

He knew that the man had kinetic weapons, and that is why he entered the bunker, afraid that one of them would be sent to his location. He could not think straight, knowing that above his head, like an angry God, his enemy was watching down on him. That is why he could not even sleep, or attend another of those videoconferences afterward. Deep down inside, he was terrified. By all official reports, a disposable submarine Captain was blamed for the launch, a man with deep psychological problems that took his own life after giving an order to shoot down the spaceship with a nuke.

Philip Cain was mostly sure that nobody should be aware of his personal involvement. But then again, Michael Freeman had his own AI, so who knew what that infernal intelligence could dig up.

The amount of flack he received because of that nuclear explosion was vexing and annoying; what did he care about those people who didn’t understand that you needed to break a few eggs to make an omelet. Their small minds could not comprehend his greatness. But the thing he always came back to, was an insufferable fact that Michael Freeman was still alive… and a threat hanging over his head.

When the NSA director told him that they had managed to find out the location where Mr. Freeman would be, out in the open, he could not believe it. Apparently, NSA computers intercepted a conversation that a child of one of the astronauts had with a friend. He was bragging that his father would be coming down soon, from the spaceship; how he and his crew would be flown down in a flying saucer and all other astronauts’ families would be coming to the ranch to wait for them.

That was all the information he needed; of course, there was no assurance that Mr. Freeman would be escorting them, but it was a chance to bury his fears, once and for all.

He took a bet—and won the pot.

Using military assets again would have been out of the question, everybody was still in the uproar over one small nuclear bomb, so he needed to get creative. Besides, being a President was not the only source of power available to him. He had enough assets of his own to make the plan work. Over the years, the ‘High Council’ had acquired several Navy’s predator drones. On paper, they were all reported as destroyed in action; in reality, they were perfectly fine. And one of those drones was in the vicinity of the ranch.

A feed from the drone was relayed to him, and he saw the flying saucer appearing, already on the ground behind the ranch house; after a few moments’ people started to exit the strange craft. And there, on that grainy live video stream, stood Michael Freeman, dressed in a three-piece suit and smiling. Unblinkingly, he observed as the drone operator zoomed on the confirmed target. Philip Cain held his breath for a few seconds as the Hellfire missile flew through the air and detonated. The entire image turned white, but then it returned and a great fireball appeared where the group had been standing. There was no way for his nemesis to survive… his will was finally done.

A slight smile was all celebration he allowed himself in this moment of triumph. To be on a safe side and to ensure this could never be traced back to him, he activated a remote detonator, which was linked to an explosive device that would obliterate the drone operator station.

That was the reason he finally went outside, all threats were gone, nothing will now stand in his path to rule the world. He would be perfectly happy at this moment if it were not for one thing. The emergency services who came on the scene could not find any bodies. It seemed that Michael Freeman’s people took away the corpses before they could be identified, and they took with them even those astronauts and their families.

He would have liked nothing better than to stand above Michael Freeman’s body and to spit on his face, but knowing that the man was dead will have to be enough. He took a deep breath and returned inside. Despite these setbacks, he was the ruler of the strongest nation in the world.

***

City-Ship Ascension

The Hospital

Michael was floating in the middle of infinite nothingness; barely aware of who he was. The last thing his mind remembered was intense heat and overwhelming pain. Yet, there was something he needed to remember, something important. That memory was so close he could almost touch it.

“… Wake up…”

The memory was associated with pain and anger.

“… Wake up…”

Intruding into this world was a repeating noise, and no matter how much he tried, he couldn’t escape it. Part of him wanted to stay here, where it was safe and empty; there was certain peaceful tranquility in here, the absence of pain, and all feelings.

“… Wake up…”

The voice repeated the same phrase over and over, intruding and insistent, preventing him from just existing, and nothing more.

“Michael, wake up!” The voice screamed in his mind, so loud he wanted to put his hands over his ears to shut it out. But other things kept coming back to him, important things… Elizabeth!

He opened his eyes with a start, and the flood of memories came rushing back in an instant. His eyes caught sight of Max’s hologram, standing over his bed.

“The fire… what happened?” He immediately asked.

The AI closed his eyes and whispered, “there was an attack; a predator drone fired a Hellfire missile on us, I saw it too late…” In those words was a deep and painful note of sadness.

“Who?” Michael asked, knowing that Max would understand.

“Dad… he is gone.”

Michael’s whole body tensed, he wanted to scream in rage at the finality of that statement. The immense sense of loss threatened to drown him, and images of time they spent together flashed in his mind.

Coldness spread through his body, washing away everything in its path. It was a feeling of deep-seated hate mixed with the consuming desire for revenge.

“Show me the recording.” He said to Max in an emotionless voice.

“Michael… it is—”

“Show it to me right now!” He hissed through the clenched teeth.

A ping in his CEI informed him that he had received multiple video files; the entire event, from various angles. Satellites above had documented what happened, so did the cameras in the team’s battle-suits.

The videos started at the time they landed close to the house and soon displayed a happy reunion of astronauts and their families. It was a scene of joy, with children hugging their parents, and spouses reuniting after a long time.

In a blink of an eye, a great explosion started close to where Michael and the others were standing; the entire image was filled with fire, dust, and bodies being thrown from the impact. After the dust cleared, he saw Tyron, Pete, and Al picking themselves up. Tyron lifted up his weapon and shot down the drone immediately. The team was functional, but not in top condition, yet they started moving bodies, which were all over the place, into the transporter. They helped injured astronauts and their families, and after everybody got on board the spacecraft lifted off the ground and climbed into the air.

He manipulated recordings to run much slower, from a few moments before the explosion, he watched it frame by frame. They were all standing there, but he noted the exact moment his father realized something was wrong. He was already turned to the direction the missile was coming from. An instant before the missile struck, his father pushed Elizabeth to the ground, and placed his body in front of hers…then fire was upon him.

“They were closest to the explosion, and he saved Elizabeth’s life with that. If it weren’t for the nanites, most of the group would be dead too. You all suffered severe burns over most of your bodies, concussions, and extensive soft tissue damage. The astronauts and their families were further away and out of the blast radius, but every single one of them had some injuries. Tyron, Pete, and Al were in their battle-suits and they got away with minor concussions. And Alice… lost an arm and both legs. I ordered everyone present to be brought to the Ascension for treatments, and in case there was an additional attack.” The AI informed him. “Dad… I tried to revive him, but even nanites couldn’t do anything… I’m sorry,” Max quietly said.

“He was your father as much as he was mine, and it wasn’t your fault. Who did this?” Michael asked, in an even and unemotional tone.

“Ares dug up every lead we could find; the drone used to belong to the US Navy, except its records indicate that it was destroyed in action, a year ago. Tyron shot it out of the sky as soon as he could, which was a good thing as it was coming around to execute another attack. We found from where it was remotely controlled, not that it was of any help, a few minutes after its destruction, the whole place was blown up. Probably a bomb to cover up the tracks of those that issued the order. Firefighters found two bodies inside, but couldn’t make any identification.”

“So, we are not sure who did it… damn.”

“We don’t lack for enemies, that’s for sure. We will get them in time; I have no doubt about that.” The AI said in the same tone of voice Michael was using.

“How long was I here?”

“Five days, you were in a state of coma, and I was afraid you wouldn’t wake up. Elizabeth needs two more, and Alice will need a lot longer.”

“Dad’s body, where…”

“It’s on the ship. I waited for all of you… for the funeral.” The AI answered.

Elizabeth and Alice's beds were next to his, so he stood up and put his hand on Elizabeth’s opaque sterile field. He stood there for a while, silently promising them that everything will be alright.

Michael used his CEI to access video files of their return trip to the Ascension; it was like the aftermath scene from wartime field hospitals. Tyron and the guys, with the help of conscious members of astronauts’ families, were giving first aid to the victims. Commander Dax and Al were putting tourniquets over Alice’s stumps, and Pete was applying additional nano-patches to those that needed them the most. The cries of terrified children and screams of those in pain filled the entire spacecraft. Max used the transporter’s maximum speed to get them to the ship as soon as possible, and he managed to safely evacuate everyone, except for his father. Robert Freeman’s body laid on the floor until Tyron covered it with an emergency blanket.

He will never have another conversation with that kind man. That time they always talked about, where they would just sit by the lake and fish, will never come. Michael wanted to crawl into some dark corner and cry, to give into his pain. Except he couldn’t, not now; every person on this ship counted on him to protect them, to keep them safe. Besides, there were those responsible to hunt down… there was a blood debt he needed to collect.

***

Tyron, Pete, Al, Emma, Ben, Dave, and Jack were waiting for him outside the hospital room. Offering condolences for the death of his father, and wanting to help however they could.

He visited with commander Dax and the astronauts’ families, to express his sorrow for all that happened. “I am so sorry for the pain and trauma your families and your children had to go through. We were the target of that attack and you were the collateral damage for our enemies.”

Commander Dax shook his head slowly from side to side. “Michael, that was not on you, that was on those who had fired that missile without any thought of who it would harm. I have a lot of experience with situations that were not in my control and then having to talk to the families of the men I lost. Being burdened by the guilt of what you didn’t cause and couldn’t prevent, leads to despair. You have lost your father by no fault of your own; now do what you have to do to settle the score, but do not take any more blame on yourself.”

He stayed with them for a while, and found out, to his surprise, that they have collectively agreed that they wanted to stay on the ship. Their letters of resignation were already in the mail, and that decision was as final as it could be.

In the last five days, many things have happened, and none of them were good. Everyone who met him expressed their condolences, but most of them pleaded for his help. Therefore, when Max explained what it was all about, he almost lost it. Some lines should never be crossed, but it would seem that a few of the earth’s governments had gone over them.

A number of world leaders made a move that broke all ethical and moral rules that they swore to uphold; not all of them, by all means, but the most powerful ones.

“We had to issue a press statement about the attack since the whole world was waiting for the astronauts to return back to Earth. The world leaders demanded a meeting with you, but we could only say that you were recuperating from your injuries, and basically directed all their calls to an answering machine. I am not sure who instigated it, but two days after the attack they started taking people connected to us into custody. That idiot, Dr. Nikolov, managed to find his way back to civilization and he gave them a list of names of our people.” For the first time, Michael saw an expression of rage on Max’s face. “Michael, they took parents, sisters, cousins… thousands of people. We managed to collect a few when we figured out what was happening, but the majority of them were already taken and put in ‘protective custody’, as they call it. After that, they started sending private messages to our citizens, in which they promised that everyone would be released if the ship was returned to Earth and given to them.” The AI finished.

Michael had to swallow his anger and gut reflex that urged him to bomb those responsible back to the Stone Age, he took a deep breath and forcibly pulled himself back from the edge of the precipice.

“Fine, if they want to play hardball… then, we will too.”

To calm the people in the ship, he organized an impromptu meeting in the Central Park, and Max transmitted his speech to everybody on the ship.

He could see the fear and desperation in their eyes as he was standing in front of a big crowd.

“I won’t lie to you that things are good, God knows that we all have suffered in the last few days. I know you are afraid for your loved ones, and your instinctive response is to do anything to protect them. Nevertheless, simply submitting to the demands of those who broke their own laws will not work. Those governments acted like thugs; doing everything in the name of greed. If we do what they want, you and your families will never be free; they would use you to ferret every morsel of our technologies. The men, women, and children in their custody would be nothing but leverage and a constant reminder for you to cooperate.

“That is why I am asking you to trust me; I will do everything possible to free every single member of your families, and if that means I have to break the will of those responsible… I will.”

They believed him, giving him a chance to make things right. Those world leaders did the worst possible thing they could do and forgot one of the oldest rules in the book of life—all actions have consequences. He had already made the decision about what their response would be and told Max what preparations they needed to make.

The new videoconference was scheduled for tomorrow morning, and it would be more than anybody expected.