Sullivan Saga 3: Sullivan's Watch Read online

  SULLIVAN’S WATCH

  A NOVEL BY

  MICHAEL K. ROSE

  BOOK 3 OF THE SULLIVAN SAGA

  EDITION NOTICE

  SULLIVAN’S WATCH. Copyright © 2013 Michael K. Rose

  Cover Design by Alexia Purdy

  All rights reserved. Except for fair use as determined by the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the author.

  This is a work of fiction. Similarities to any actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  First Digital Edition: 25 December, 2013

  This Edition: 08 July, 2014

  Contents

  SULLIVAN’S WATCH

  EDITION NOTICE

  I: CONTACT 1

  2

  3

  4

  5

  6

  7

  II: ENGAGEMENT 8

  9

  10

  11

  12

  13

  14

  15

  16

  III: CONSEQUENCES 17

  18

  19

  20

  21

  22

  23

  24

  25

  IV: INTO THE BREACH 26

  27

  28

  29

  30

  31

  V: FRAGMENTS 32

  33

  34

  35

  36

  37

  38

  39

  40

  41

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  ALSO AVAILABLE

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  I: CONTACT

  1

  ADMIRAL RYAN LONG asked for the message to be repeated. It had come from one of the observational posts orbiting Mars, and while Long was fairly certain he had heard it correctly, he wanted clarification. He listened again and bit his lip. There were protocols for this sort of thing, but when the unbelievable finally did happen, Long found himself responding on instinct rather than by the book.

  Long tapped on the computer in front of him and checked the current distance between Earth and Mars. It would take almost fifteen minutes for his message to reach Mars and another fifteen for a reply. It frustrated him that in hyperspace, ships could span the distance between two planets in the blink of an eye, but real-time communications were still limited by the speed of light.

  “Damn it,” he said. He needed the information sooner than that. He pressed a button on his screen. “Scramble a squadron of F-88s. I want a report from Mars ASAP. Patch them directly into me once they return.”

  The confirmation reached him a few seconds later. The F-88s were the only fighters capable of hyperspace travel. In fact, they were the smallest hyperspace-capable ships ever built, but even so, they were more than twice as large as the standard F-66 fighters. What they lacked in overall maneuverability was made up for by their hyperspace capabilities. The ships could be launched, arrive in Mars orbit and be back within a few minutes.

  Admiral Long watched on his monitor as the fighters left the docking bay and disappeared in a flash of blue light. He turned his attention to the large bay window spanning the length of the Vigilant’s bridge and glanced down at the globe of the Earth. It looked so peaceful from orbit, and even though the visions of Jesus and Allah and Krishna and countless other deities seemed to have subsided for the moment, the entire planet was still on edge. On top of the near chaos that had been spreading across the planet over the past few weeks, now there was this. If the report was confirmed, it would certainly lead to further panic. There was no way news of a strange ship over Mars could be kept from the people on Earth; there was too much travel and communication between the two planets. But whatever the fighters reported, Long had an obligation to keep at least the men and women aboard his ship calm.

  He reached forward and replayed the message from the Martian observational post. What did a “large, unidentified ship” mean, anyway? Long knew for a fact that no military ships would have been in orbit above Mars without him knowing about it, at least no ships operated by the Stellar Assembly Armed Forces. And none of the non-Assembly planets had the resources to build a ship of that size without the SA knowing about it. One of the large passenger liners was a possibility. It could have made an emergency drop from hyperspace, startling the people at the observational post. But if that was the case, why hadn’t they said so? They would have certainly been able to recognize a passenger ship. An uneasy feeling crept its way into Long’s mind. He shivered. Even if the people—if they could be called people—aboard this ship were friendly, he didn’t think humanity was prepared to handle this. Not now.

  The light indicating a message began flashing. It was the commander of the fighter squadron. They’d returned sooner than he’d expected. Admiral Long pressed the receive button.

  “Admiral, this is Commander Olson.”

  “Go ahead, Commander.”

  “I’m sorry to report, sir, that Mars is under attack.”

  “By whom?”

  “Unknown, sir.”

  “Did you engage?”

  “No, sir. The attacker’s ship is too large for a single squadron to handle. I thought it best to report back to you as soon as possible.”

  “Thank you, Commander. Dock your ships as quickly as you can.”

  Admiral Long sounded the emergency alarm. He hit the ship-wide intercom. “All hands to battle stations. Repeat: all hands to battle stations.”

  He turned to the helmsman beside him. “I want us a hundred thousand klicks out from Mars.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  He turned to one of the stations behind him. “Are those F-88s in?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Lay in the course, Lieutenant,” he said to the helmsman.

  The massive carrier accelerated out of Earth orbit. After half a minute, blue light began flashing in front of the big window at the front of the bridge. A final, bright flash filled the bridge then blinked out. The Vigilant had crossed over into hyperspace.

  Long watched the clock counting down. After a few quiet seconds, they emerged from hyperspace. The red planet could be seen a hundred thousand kilometers away.

  “All stations report,” Long said.

  He listened as the reports came in from the men and women around him. There was a debris field surrounding the planet. Neither the orbital posts nor any of the colonies on the surface could be contacted.

  “And no sign of an unidentified ship?”

  “No, sir. No sign of any ship. No ships, no satellites. Only the debris field.”

  “Put the video from those F-88s on my screen.”

  As the carrier cautiously approached Mars, Long studied the video from the fighters. The enemy ship was unlike any he had ever seen. It was long and narrow, jet black in color, and all along its hull were spaced a series of rings. Long guessed they were doors leading into docking bays or perhaps weapons ports.

  There was no other structure that might indicate the presence of a bridge or crew section and no windows that he could see. What he took to be the ship’s nose was gently rounded. The other end tapered to a point. Nowhere did he see any type of standard propulsion system. Long didn’t know where the ship had come from, but one thing was certain: it hadn’t been built by humans.

  A flash of white light lit up the screen. Long could see the flash was coming from the ship’s nose, but Commander Olsen had been approaching from behind it
so didn’t get a good view of what was happening. Admiral Long guessed Olsen had recorded the ship firing some sort of weapon. Several more flashed followed, then the view changed as Commander Olsen and his squadron banked to the right and prepared to jump back into hyperspace.

  Long stopped the recording and turned his attention back to Mars. All the inhabitants of Mars lived in half a dozen colonies. The planet, lacking a breathable atmosphere, necessitated a compact living arrangement. From orbit, the cities didn’t look that impressive: just a handful of domes, solar arrays and other structures; much of the Martian colonies lay underground.

  “Sir,” said the officer next to him, “we’ve scanned all the colonies on this side of the planet. They’re gone.”

  “Gone? Let me see.”

  The magnified images from the surface appeared on the screen in front of Long. He put his finger on the screen and scrolled the image. All the surface structures were destroyed, reduced to rubble. Half a dozen craters had been blasted into the ground, exposing the underground structures to the harsh environment. “This is Syrtis?” he asked, recognizing the dark volcanic rock surrounding the destroyed colony.

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Let me see Tharsis.”

  Another image appeared of a smaller settlement. It, too, had been destroyed.

  “Launch the lifeboats,” said Long. “The colonies’ emergency systems would have sealed off each section where there was a breach. There still might be survivors in areas that weren’t directly hit.” He turned to the helmsman. “As soon as those lifeboats are away, take us back to Earth, Lieutenant.”

  Long gazed at the images of the destroyed colonies as the carrier jumped back into hyperspace. There had been over two million people on Mars. An alien ship had attacked them and, before anyone could respond, seemingly vanished. Long wiped a hand across his brow. Had they vanished, or simply moved on to the next target? He didn’t know if god existed, but he said a silent prayer that the same thing hadn’t happened on Earth in his absence. Within seconds, he would know for sure.

  2

  THEY HAD SAT in silence for several minutes as Kate absorbed what Sullivan had just told her. Frank Allen was alive—or at least, seemed to be—and, if it wasn’t a trick, his warning meant what Sullivan had suspected all along: the hyperspace entities, whatever they were up to, did not have the interests of humanity in mind.

  “I have no choice,” Sullivan said. “I have to go to Earth.”

  “Don’t you think you should wait?” asked Kate. “Frank couldn’t tell you what was going on there. Until we know that, there’s nothing you can do.”

  “He told me to go, Kate. I have to believe he wants me there for a reason.”

  “If it was Frank at all.”

  “I know. I’ve thought about that.”

  “What if it was one of the entities? What if they’re just trying to get you into hyperspace to finish you off?”

  “They could have done that at any time after Frank and I completed their task on the parallel Earth. They could have killed me right at that moment.”

  Kate shook her head. “No, they couldn’t have.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because Frank was with you. And they wanted him to cross over for some reason. If they’d killed you, he wouldn’t have.”

  “You’re making the assumption that they even needed his permission to take him.”

  Kate’s expression grew thoughtful. “Rick?”

  “Yes?”

  “Did you ever actually see the entities kill someone?”

  “No. But Liz damn near stopped my heart. She reached right into my chest, and I could feel those icy fingers squeezing tighter and tighter.”

  “But what was she actually doing? How was she doing it? They don’t have physical bodies.”

  “They do in hyperspace.”

  “Are you sure? I mean, what if everything she was doing to you was psychological, making you believe she was stopping your heart? What if they can’t really kill someone at all? At least, not without their cooperation, the way Frank gave his?”

  “I don’t know, Kate. If what Liz did to me was all just in my mind, it’s a hell of a trick.”

  “But if it is just a trick, that means you can go back into hyperspace, you can go to Earth, and they can’t stop you.”

  “But if it’s not a trick, they’ll kill me as soon as the ship crosses over.”

  “Then maybe you shouldn’t….” Kate closed her eyes, trying to fight back the tears. She knew Rick was leaving her again, no matter what she said. If she fought him, it would only make the time they had together uncomfortable. “Rick, do you really believe it was Frank who came to you?”

  “I do.”

  “And we know he wouldn’t tell you to go into hyperspace if it was dangerous, right?”

  Sullivan smiled. “I thought you didn’t want me to go.”

  “I don’t, but you’re going to anyway. And if you’re going to do it, I want you to be prepared.”

  Sullivan got up from the couch and paced the room. “I don’t know what I’m going into. How can I be prepared for it?”

  Kate also rose and stepped over to him. She put her hand on his cheek and leaned her head against his chest. “By accepting the situation as it is. By being at peace with what you have to do, no matter what it is.”

  “I don’t want to leave you, Kate, it’s just that….”

  “I know.”

  “I thought this was all over.”

  “But it’s not. Not yet.”

  Sullivan nodded. “I’m the one who’s made up my mind to go, but you seem more at peace with it than I am.”

  Kate lifted her head from his chest and looked up into his eyes. Once again she fought back tears. She had to stay strong for him. She couldn’t have him worried about her. She thought of her father and what he would say. She took a deep, steadying breath. “There’s no point in worrying about the things you can’t change. Hasn’t Epictetus taught us that?”

  “What if I don’t come back?”

  “You will.”

  “We can’t know that, Kate. I’m already living on borrowed time. I could have—should have—died a dozen times already.”

  Kate smiled. “That’s why I know you’ll come back, Rick. With everything you’ve been through, you’ve always had something to live for. First it was Edaline’s freedom. Then it was me. And it’s still me. As long as I’m here waiting for you, you can’t die. You just can’t.”

  Sullivan sighed. “We have to be realistic.”

  “No, we don’t.”

  Sullivan smiled down at her. “All right, then. I can’t die.”

  She bit her lip and looked away. “When will you go?”

  “Tomorrow. Whatever is happening, it can happen another day without me.” He leaned down and kissed her. She grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him back over to the couch.

  Sullivan watched as she lifted her shirt and pulled it up and over her head. “Maybe,” he said, “the day after tomorrow will be soon enough.”

  Kate unhooked her bra and let it fall. Sullivan reached out toward her, but as his hand touched her skin, he felt it prickle with goose bumps. A second later, the cold air hit the back of his neck.

  He whipped his head around as Kate pulled her shirt back on. Behind him, a cloud of vapor was forming. As it solidified, he saw the face of Frank Allen come into focus.

  Sullivan stood and stepped toward Allen. “Jesus, Frank! What the hell is going on?”

  “I’m sorry about earlier. Energy here… it waxes and wanes. Sometimes I’m stronger, sometimes they are.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “It’s difficult to explain, Rick. When I crossed over, they thought they could use me to direct events, to control people… like you. But I’m stronger than they expected. They can’t keep me under control all the time. Just some of the time.” Allen tilted his head as though he were listening for something.

  “What do I need to do, Fran
k?”

  Allen looked back at Sullivan. “Get to Earth as soon as you can. Take the hyper-hyperspace ship. It will be safe, I promise.”

  “What’s happening?”

  “Those aliens we fought on Captain Quinn’s Earth? The only reason we were there was so they could pick up our trail, follow us back home. The entities planned the whole thing.”

  “Why?”

  “It’s simple: humans are a nuisance to them, as are the aliens they’ve sent against us. They know that we’ve reached the point where hyper-hyperspace technology will become commonplace. It may take fifty years, but it will happen. And when ships travel that deeply in hyperspace, it causes them unbelievable pain.”

  “So what they told us when we first encountered them was true?”

  “Yes. But these aliens… their wormholes are even more excruciating. They don’t just travel through hyperspace, they punch holes through it. The entities are hoping you’ll destroy each other, or at least do enough damage that you’ll both be set so far back technologically that it’ll take decades to recover… time they can use to figure out how to finish the job.”

  “They could have just told us this, Frank.”

  “And who would have listened? Benjamin Alexander probably would have stopped his development of the hyper-hyperspace ships, but someone else would have figured it out before long. And these aliens… there’s no bargaining with them. Their very survival is at stake. Unfortunately, that means ours is as well.” Allen frowned. “This isn’t the first time this has happened, Rick. The entities have laid waste to dozens of advanced civilizations in the past. It explains why in all this time, we’ve never before encountered intelligent life.”

  Sullivan put his hands on Kate’s arms. He could feel her shivering beside him. They knew the hyperspace entities were capable of influencing people, making them do their bidding, but to learn that they had used this power to destroy civilizations over and over again? Kate’s response was justified; it was a chilling revelation. “What do I need to do on Earth?” he said, turning back to Allen.