It All Came Tumbling Down (48B/?)
Title: It All Came Tumbling Down
Warnings: Some mature content used. AU but some material from all seasons
Characters: Kara/Lee of course!! some Karl/Sharon and all cast appear
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters unfortunately they belong to to Ron Moore and Universal. I'm just borrowing their brilliance!
***
STUPID LJ MADE ME CUT THE CHAPTER IN TWO
Part B
Slowly their ship turned away from the planet and looming even closer to them he saw a large ship. The pictures he had seen of her did not do justice its true size. It was massive and looked almost menacing with its long body with two wing-like extensions on the side. Up ahead he could see the other smaller ship heading towards the beast.
“We are so behind on Earth,” said Ford leaning forward in his seat, his eyes focused on the ship as they neared her.
“But at least you still have Earth,” said Blondie. “Which is more than what we’ve got.”
Ford felt a sudden pang of guilt and sadness at her words. In his excitement about the mission he had forgotten that the ship in front of them was probably what their guests would consider to be their home.
There was a crackle over the comm system and another male voice sounded over. “Starbuck, this is Pegasus Actual do you copy?”
“Copy that Pegasus, this is Starbuck.”
“Are you on a private comm?” the male asked, his voice holding a tone of authority and Ford guessed he was Blondie’s superior.
“Erm, no sir,” she replied and glanced at Ford briefly. “Switching now.”
Ford couldn’t fully hear the next conversation between them, which mainly consisted of Blondie listening. At one point he could see her rolling her eyes. At other points she spoke quietly into the comm, which the translator couldn’t pick up.
“Copy that sir,” she said loudly and then straightened in her seat.
“What’s the verdict?” asked Rugby from the back.
“Well, we’re allowed to land,” she replied, “but he didn’t sound too happy.”
“He never does.”
“Everything okay?” asked Ford.
“The Commander is just never happy unless he’s handing me my ass on a plate,” replied Blondie.
“Sounds like me and him will have something in common then,” he replied with a smile, which made Blondie laugh.
She thrust the ship forwards, heading for the ship. As they neared, Ford could see the true enormity of the ship. It must carry hundreds of people yet it had no windows and certainly looked like a ship ready for battle. Blondie steered the ship into the wing like structure, before slowing and lowering until Ford could feel the clunk as they touched down.
Blondie grinned at him and then unharnessed her seatbelt, slipping into the back. “Everyone okay?” she asked. Ford struggled with his belt for a few minutes before finally setting himself free.
In the back he could see that Langley looked ashen, but he had managed to hold his stomach. Blondie took away the helmet and passed it back to Rugby.
“It’ll take a few minutes to tow us to the deck,” she said.
The others all unfastened their belts and Swanson went to take a look out of the front. His face looked as eager as ever.
“This is fantastic,” he said.
There was a series of clunks and then Ford realised that the ship was being lowered down. A series of doors then opened, which he guessed was the airlock. A number of people in bright orange uniforms entered and duck down in front of them. The ship then shuddered suddenly and moved slowly forwards. The room they were towed into looked massive with dozens of people milling about, mostly wearing the same orange jumpsuits, but others looked to be wearing the same spacesuits as Rugby. The ship was being towed through the middle of a line of ships that Ford recognised from the photograph of Blondie and Blue Eyes. They all looked battle worn with scorch marks all over.
And then they stopped.
Various eyes were looking right at him from the outside, gathering around the ship. He was starting to appreciate how their guests must have felt being watched every day in wonderment. Then he noticed that surrounding the ship, all dressed in black, were a number of people with guns.
The hatch door of the ship opened and Blondie stepped out first onto the wing, signalling for them to stay on the ship. Ford couldn’t see what was happening outside as he had moved to the back. A few moments later and Blondie returned, motioning them out this time.
Ford looked around the large room as he stepped out, trying to take in everything that was around him. The room was full of people who looked to be wearing a variety of uniforms. From up above, walking along a gangway, were a few people wearing a smarter blue uniform. One of them was much larger than the others and seemed to be flanked by some guards. He then walked quickly down some steps to the deck and Blondie walked up to him saluting sharply.
Ford stepped down from the wing and tentatively walked ahead of his comrades who seemed to have shied away and bunched next to their ship. The imposing man in blue, who appeared to be Blondie’s superior, walked past her and up to him. Ford wasn’t quite sure what to, so he reverted back to his training and saluted. The man appeared taken aback slightly.
“Frak, they even salute like us,” he mumbled, obviously not expecting Ford to understand, but the translator picked it up.
“And they can understand you too sir,” said Blondie with a smirk.
“Right,” said the man, seemingly unsure of what to say. “I’m Commander Fisk and I welcome you to the Colonial Fleet.” Ford saw Blondie roll her eyes and he tried not to laugh. “You will be our guests here, but until I finish debriefing my two officers you will be confined to some quarters.”
Ford frowned slightly, “okay, how long will that be for?”
The Commander looked puzzled, then Blondie stepped forwards so he could hear her translator. Ford repeated his question.
“Hopefully not long, but let’s not forget that you’ve held six of my people for months and we have no idea what was done to them, or is still being done to them.”
“I assure you that your people are fine and being taken care of,” replied Ford cordially.
“We’ll see, follow me.”
The Commander turned and walked away, followed closely by Blondie. Biggy walked up beside him and together they followed.
“How are you holding up?” asked Biggy quietly.
“This whole thing, I never imagined…” whispered Ford in response.
“You had the best view getting here. All I could see was Langley deciding whether or not he was gonna puke.”
“We’ll all get our chance.”
“I want to get out in one of them,” he said pointing to the fighter ships.
“Well at this rate we won’t be going anywhere fast.”
“At least they’re not holing us up in their equivalent of the brig.”
“Yet, I think that might depend upon what those two tell them,” said Ford just as they stepped through a doorway that took them into a corridor, which had numerous metal crates stacked on both sides.
“But they won’t have anything bad to say would they?” asked Biggy. “I mean, I heard they were locked in a room for a while and I guess they were questioned, but under the circumstances…”
Ford winced slightly, “there was one incident.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah, Blondie tried to escape.”
Biggy chuckled, “come on, what harm could one woman do?” Ford looked at him, his eyebrow slightly raised. “Seriously? Wow, what happened?”
“She pushed me through a glass partition and then I thumped her in the face.”
“That’s where she got the mark,” said Biggy motioning to his face.
“I’m not proud of it.”
“Never suggested you were.”
The group ahead seemed to slow down slightly letting them catch up. The Commander seemed to have stopped to speak to a woman who was in a spacesuit with short blonde hair. Ford moved next to Blondie and she nodded at him.
The corridors seemed like a maze, with long stretches and then many that branched off in no particular order. He had once been on board a Royal Navy Aircraft carrier for a few weeks, which had been very similar. This ship, however, was much bigger and the corridors were much wider and less claustrophobic. On the aircraft carrier, though, there had been the option to go up to the deck and see sunshine. This beast was a lot more like an enormous submarine.
Up ahead he saw a few people rounding the corner, one of whom had two children holding her hands. Ford heard the small gasp come from Blondie and then she darted forwards. The children let go of their minder’s hands and scuttled towards her shouting “momma.” Within seconds Blondie was down on her knees and scooping them into her arms, hugging and placing kisses to their head. It was if he was seeing a radically different woman, far removed from the brash person who had slammed someone’s head into a table.
“Where momma go?” squeaked the little girl, her ringlet hair in pigtails. She looked as if she was starting to cry.
“I’m sorry,” said Blondie placing another kiss to her head. “Momma had to go away for a while, but I’m back now. I’ve missed you so much.”
The little girl was now crying and Ford felt very subconscious that he was intruding on this personal moment.
Blondie pulled the girl into a hug. “I’m so sorry sweetheart,” she said, her voice cracking.
“Where dada?” asked the little boy with a sniff and tugged at Blondie’s jumpsuit.
“Dadda’s still away, but he wanted me to give you both a big hug for him.”
“Want dada,” squealed the girl.
“You’ll see him soon, I promise.”
Ford turned his head away slightly, feeling ashamed that he had been partly responsible for diving up a family.
“I bet seeing that makes you feel like the biggest arsehole,” commented by Biggy quietly, which Ford chose not to respond to. The man was right though, he did feel like the biggest arsehole ever.
“Want dada,” squealed the girl again and stomped her feet. The little boy just stood there beginning to cry.
Blondie got to her feet, scooping up the girl into her arms in an apparent attempt at calming her down, which seemed to fail as she continued to squirm about. The boy jumped up at his mother, tugging at her clothing, sobbing “up, up, momma.”
From behind Rugby brushed past, with a little girl holding shyly onto his hand, who Ford guessed was his daughter. She looked like her mother and completely ordinary despite her unusual lineage. Ford didn’t think he would ever be able to get his head round the logistics of it all. Rugby scooped up the boy onto his hip, seeming to calm him down, which made Ford feel like an even bigger ass for not thinking of that first. Blondie seemed to give her comrade a “thank you” gaze before turning to her Commander.
“Permission to take these two back to my quarters before reporting for my debriefing sir,” she asked as the girl tugged at her hair.
“Permission granted,” he said with a frown, seemingly uncomfortable with the children. “You have until 0900 hours tomorrow morning.”
“Thank you sir,” she replied, struggling to hold onto her daughter who was wriggling about and getting agitated. She turned quickly and walked briskly down the corridor with Rugby following along.
The Commander turned to the rest of them with a small smile, “having children on board was not my idea.”
Ford resisted stepping back from the man. He was all too acutely aware that they were now alone with strangers on a foreign ship with no chance of escape and their only links had disappeared down the corridor. He had come to know their guests quite well, but this man he couldn’t read at all. The others must have been feeling the same, because Ford felt their presence close to him.
“This way,” said the Commander and motioned them down the corridor. They hesitated. “Please.”
They were led down a series of corridors until they reached a door which had two people standing outside, both holding guns. The door opened automatically and they were motioned inside. It was surprisingly spacious and four put-up beds had been laid out.
“This is just a temporary measure,” said the Commander. “I have to debrief my two officers and then we can discuss how to go forward. You will be confined here until tomorrow, but I will arrange to have an armed escort should you wish to have a walk about the corridors. I’ll have some food brought to you shortly.”
The man didn’t wait for a response, merely turned and walked away and closed the door leaving them locked inside. The room was eerily silent, with the only sound coming from the hum of the ship.
“Can I throw up now?” said Langley weakly after a few minutes.
Ford turned to the man who looked ashen and appeared to be sweating. “Knock yourself out.”
Langley dashed through an adjoining door, followed a moment later by the sound of him retching making Ford turn up his nose.
“This is to be expected,” said Swanson sitting himself down on one of the bunks.
“The scientist is right,” added Biggy. “Their military protocol seems similar to ours. In these situations we’d want to question our men first before deciding what action to take. They’d be asking them exactly what we know about them.” Ford nodded his head, thinking the same. When he had been rescued from captivity he had been questioned for four days about what had happened. “Listen,” continued Biggy. “What did they tell us?”
“You mean you don’t know?” asked Ford with a frown.
He shrugged his shoulders, “someone pulled me off an aircraft carrier in the middle of the Mediterranean, only telling me that I was needed for a highly classified mission with the promise I would get to fly something really cool. It was only when I reached the base that they told me about your alien friends, who, may I add, look very human. I was expecting something green.”
“Shit,” muttered Ford a little too loudly. He gestured his arm towards Langley who was walking in from the bathroom. “None of you thought to tell him what he was getting himself into huh?”
Langley looked a little taken aback. “But that’s what I was told too. The mission was to establish communications with an alien civilisation.”
“That’s it?” asked Ford incredulously.
“Well, yes, isn’t it?”
Ford looked over at Swanson and could tell the man was thinking along the same lines as him. He had not been privy to the interviews with Blondie and Blue Eyes but he had been fully debriefed and then present at the larger hearing.
“So are you going to tell us or just leave us guessing,” said Biggy folding his arms in front of his chest. “What have I let myself in for?”
“Won’t these people be listening to what we say?” asked Swanson pointing upwards.
“How?” replied Ford. “We have the translators, and the other two are with Blondie and Rugby who seem occupied for the time being. Besides, they know everything anyway.”
“So what is everything,” said Biggy impatiently.
“They are human, pretty much, apart from a few evolutional differences.”
“What? How is that possible, we’ve never gone out into deep space?”
“They said they were searching for us, that Earth is said to be their thirteen Colony. Some of their ancestors chose to go out on their own and create a new civilisation. Blondie was shocked and looked upset when I told her that we had never heard of the Twelve Colonies.”
“Twelve Colonies?” asked Langley.
“Twelve planets.”
“Wow,” said Biggy. “There’s a huge flourishing civilisation of humans out there? They could teach us so much, become a new home for us too, the possibilities are endless.” Ford nearly grimaced at his words, glancing over at Swanson who looked down sadly. “What are you missing out?” continued Biggy.
Ford took a seat on one of the beds that creaked from his weight. “Their entire civilisation was wiped out, billions of them dead. This ship was one of a small number to get away with only about fifty thousand survivors.”
The air escaped from Biggy’s mouth. “How?”
“They created machines which rebelled against them, found a way to infiltrate their defences and launched their own nukes against them.”
“I think I need to be sick again,” said Langley and disappeared into the bathroom.
“It gets worse,” said Ford with a dark smile. “These machines also know about Earth and they’re looking for us too.”
“I think I’m going to join Langley in the head,” said Biggy after a minute of taking in Fords words and then walked away.
Ford sighed and laid down on the bed with his arms behind his head. The day wasn’t going quite as he had planned it and his body felt tired.
“That could have gone better,” commented Swanson as he sat down on the bed adjacent to his.
“What was I supposed to do, sugar coat it?”
“I’ve watched those interviews, you can see the emotion in those people’s eyes as they told us about their extinction, we can understand it. None of that was conveyed in what you told those two. They’re probably laying all the blame on them for the threat that now looms over us.”
“Regardless of what those two think, the rest of the world is going to blame these people if those robots come, but at least we can have their allegiance to help fight them off.”
“They’ve been running for years because they lost. What makes you think they could win now?”
Ford shrugged, “our resources and man power combined with their technology?”
Biggy emerged from the bathroom, “as long as I get to fly one of those fighter ships I’m happy with any alliance.” Ford sat up slightly to turn to him. “Hell, I’m amazed that we haven’t destroyed ourselves yet, so let me train in one of those vipers and I’ll help blow those robot things out of the sky if they come.”
Ford relaxed back down onto the bed with a smile and closed his eyes, at least he had Biggy back on board. He felt absolutely exhausted even though it was only early afternoon. He had plenty of time for a quick nap.
Closing his eyes he thought of Caroline, wondering if she was looking up at the skies wondering what he was doing. One day he would bring her on board this ship. He imagined them walking together along the shores of an ocean far away on another world, the water lapping at their feet.
All he had to do was get through the next 28 days.
Warnings: Some mature content used. AU but some material from all seasons
Characters: Kara/Lee of course!! some Karl/Sharon and all cast appear
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters unfortunately they belong to to Ron Moore and Universal. I'm just borrowing their brilliance!
***
STUPID LJ MADE ME CUT THE CHAPTER IN TWO
Part B
Slowly their ship turned away from the planet and looming even closer to them he saw a large ship. The pictures he had seen of her did not do justice its true size. It was massive and looked almost menacing with its long body with two wing-like extensions on the side. Up ahead he could see the other smaller ship heading towards the beast.
“We are so behind on Earth,” said Ford leaning forward in his seat, his eyes focused on the ship as they neared her.
“But at least you still have Earth,” said Blondie. “Which is more than what we’ve got.”
Ford felt a sudden pang of guilt and sadness at her words. In his excitement about the mission he had forgotten that the ship in front of them was probably what their guests would consider to be their home.
There was a crackle over the comm system and another male voice sounded over. “Starbuck, this is Pegasus Actual do you copy?”
“Copy that Pegasus, this is Starbuck.”
“Are you on a private comm?” the male asked, his voice holding a tone of authority and Ford guessed he was Blondie’s superior.
“Erm, no sir,” she replied and glanced at Ford briefly. “Switching now.”
Ford couldn’t fully hear the next conversation between them, which mainly consisted of Blondie listening. At one point he could see her rolling her eyes. At other points she spoke quietly into the comm, which the translator couldn’t pick up.
“Copy that sir,” she said loudly and then straightened in her seat.
“What’s the verdict?” asked Rugby from the back.
“Well, we’re allowed to land,” she replied, “but he didn’t sound too happy.”
“He never does.”
“Everything okay?” asked Ford.
“The Commander is just never happy unless he’s handing me my ass on a plate,” replied Blondie.
“Sounds like me and him will have something in common then,” he replied with a smile, which made Blondie laugh.
She thrust the ship forwards, heading for the ship. As they neared, Ford could see the true enormity of the ship. It must carry hundreds of people yet it had no windows and certainly looked like a ship ready for battle. Blondie steered the ship into the wing like structure, before slowing and lowering until Ford could feel the clunk as they touched down.
Blondie grinned at him and then unharnessed her seatbelt, slipping into the back. “Everyone okay?” she asked. Ford struggled with his belt for a few minutes before finally setting himself free.
In the back he could see that Langley looked ashen, but he had managed to hold his stomach. Blondie took away the helmet and passed it back to Rugby.
“It’ll take a few minutes to tow us to the deck,” she said.
The others all unfastened their belts and Swanson went to take a look out of the front. His face looked as eager as ever.
“This is fantastic,” he said.
There was a series of clunks and then Ford realised that the ship was being lowered down. A series of doors then opened, which he guessed was the airlock. A number of people in bright orange uniforms entered and duck down in front of them. The ship then shuddered suddenly and moved slowly forwards. The room they were towed into looked massive with dozens of people milling about, mostly wearing the same orange jumpsuits, but others looked to be wearing the same spacesuits as Rugby. The ship was being towed through the middle of a line of ships that Ford recognised from the photograph of Blondie and Blue Eyes. They all looked battle worn with scorch marks all over.
And then they stopped.
Various eyes were looking right at him from the outside, gathering around the ship. He was starting to appreciate how their guests must have felt being watched every day in wonderment. Then he noticed that surrounding the ship, all dressed in black, were a number of people with guns.
The hatch door of the ship opened and Blondie stepped out first onto the wing, signalling for them to stay on the ship. Ford couldn’t see what was happening outside as he had moved to the back. A few moments later and Blondie returned, motioning them out this time.
Ford looked around the large room as he stepped out, trying to take in everything that was around him. The room was full of people who looked to be wearing a variety of uniforms. From up above, walking along a gangway, were a few people wearing a smarter blue uniform. One of them was much larger than the others and seemed to be flanked by some guards. He then walked quickly down some steps to the deck and Blondie walked up to him saluting sharply.
Ford stepped down from the wing and tentatively walked ahead of his comrades who seemed to have shied away and bunched next to their ship. The imposing man in blue, who appeared to be Blondie’s superior, walked past her and up to him. Ford wasn’t quite sure what to, so he reverted back to his training and saluted. The man appeared taken aback slightly.
“Frak, they even salute like us,” he mumbled, obviously not expecting Ford to understand, but the translator picked it up.
“And they can understand you too sir,” said Blondie with a smirk.
“Right,” said the man, seemingly unsure of what to say. “I’m Commander Fisk and I welcome you to the Colonial Fleet.” Ford saw Blondie roll her eyes and he tried not to laugh. “You will be our guests here, but until I finish debriefing my two officers you will be confined to some quarters.”
Ford frowned slightly, “okay, how long will that be for?”
The Commander looked puzzled, then Blondie stepped forwards so he could hear her translator. Ford repeated his question.
“Hopefully not long, but let’s not forget that you’ve held six of my people for months and we have no idea what was done to them, or is still being done to them.”
“I assure you that your people are fine and being taken care of,” replied Ford cordially.
“We’ll see, follow me.”
The Commander turned and walked away, followed closely by Blondie. Biggy walked up beside him and together they followed.
“How are you holding up?” asked Biggy quietly.
“This whole thing, I never imagined…” whispered Ford in response.
“You had the best view getting here. All I could see was Langley deciding whether or not he was gonna puke.”
“We’ll all get our chance.”
“I want to get out in one of them,” he said pointing to the fighter ships.
“Well at this rate we won’t be going anywhere fast.”
“At least they’re not holing us up in their equivalent of the brig.”
“Yet, I think that might depend upon what those two tell them,” said Ford just as they stepped through a doorway that took them into a corridor, which had numerous metal crates stacked on both sides.
“But they won’t have anything bad to say would they?” asked Biggy. “I mean, I heard they were locked in a room for a while and I guess they were questioned, but under the circumstances…”
Ford winced slightly, “there was one incident.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah, Blondie tried to escape.”
Biggy chuckled, “come on, what harm could one woman do?” Ford looked at him, his eyebrow slightly raised. “Seriously? Wow, what happened?”
“She pushed me through a glass partition and then I thumped her in the face.”
“That’s where she got the mark,” said Biggy motioning to his face.
“I’m not proud of it.”
“Never suggested you were.”
The group ahead seemed to slow down slightly letting them catch up. The Commander seemed to have stopped to speak to a woman who was in a spacesuit with short blonde hair. Ford moved next to Blondie and she nodded at him.
The corridors seemed like a maze, with long stretches and then many that branched off in no particular order. He had once been on board a Royal Navy Aircraft carrier for a few weeks, which had been very similar. This ship, however, was much bigger and the corridors were much wider and less claustrophobic. On the aircraft carrier, though, there had been the option to go up to the deck and see sunshine. This beast was a lot more like an enormous submarine.
Up ahead he saw a few people rounding the corner, one of whom had two children holding her hands. Ford heard the small gasp come from Blondie and then she darted forwards. The children let go of their minder’s hands and scuttled towards her shouting “momma.” Within seconds Blondie was down on her knees and scooping them into her arms, hugging and placing kisses to their head. It was if he was seeing a radically different woman, far removed from the brash person who had slammed someone’s head into a table.
“Where momma go?” squeaked the little girl, her ringlet hair in pigtails. She looked as if she was starting to cry.
“I’m sorry,” said Blondie placing another kiss to her head. “Momma had to go away for a while, but I’m back now. I’ve missed you so much.”
The little girl was now crying and Ford felt very subconscious that he was intruding on this personal moment.
Blondie pulled the girl into a hug. “I’m so sorry sweetheart,” she said, her voice cracking.
“Where dada?” asked the little boy with a sniff and tugged at Blondie’s jumpsuit.
“Dadda’s still away, but he wanted me to give you both a big hug for him.”
“Want dada,” squealed the girl.
“You’ll see him soon, I promise.”
Ford turned his head away slightly, feeling ashamed that he had been partly responsible for diving up a family.
“I bet seeing that makes you feel like the biggest arsehole,” commented by Biggy quietly, which Ford chose not to respond to. The man was right though, he did feel like the biggest arsehole ever.
“Want dada,” squealed the girl again and stomped her feet. The little boy just stood there beginning to cry.
Blondie got to her feet, scooping up the girl into her arms in an apparent attempt at calming her down, which seemed to fail as she continued to squirm about. The boy jumped up at his mother, tugging at her clothing, sobbing “up, up, momma.”
From behind Rugby brushed past, with a little girl holding shyly onto his hand, who Ford guessed was his daughter. She looked like her mother and completely ordinary despite her unusual lineage. Ford didn’t think he would ever be able to get his head round the logistics of it all. Rugby scooped up the boy onto his hip, seeming to calm him down, which made Ford feel like an even bigger ass for not thinking of that first. Blondie seemed to give her comrade a “thank you” gaze before turning to her Commander.
“Permission to take these two back to my quarters before reporting for my debriefing sir,” she asked as the girl tugged at her hair.
“Permission granted,” he said with a frown, seemingly uncomfortable with the children. “You have until 0900 hours tomorrow morning.”
“Thank you sir,” she replied, struggling to hold onto her daughter who was wriggling about and getting agitated. She turned quickly and walked briskly down the corridor with Rugby following along.
The Commander turned to the rest of them with a small smile, “having children on board was not my idea.”
Ford resisted stepping back from the man. He was all too acutely aware that they were now alone with strangers on a foreign ship with no chance of escape and their only links had disappeared down the corridor. He had come to know their guests quite well, but this man he couldn’t read at all. The others must have been feeling the same, because Ford felt their presence close to him.
“This way,” said the Commander and motioned them down the corridor. They hesitated. “Please.”
They were led down a series of corridors until they reached a door which had two people standing outside, both holding guns. The door opened automatically and they were motioned inside. It was surprisingly spacious and four put-up beds had been laid out.
“This is just a temporary measure,” said the Commander. “I have to debrief my two officers and then we can discuss how to go forward. You will be confined here until tomorrow, but I will arrange to have an armed escort should you wish to have a walk about the corridors. I’ll have some food brought to you shortly.”
The man didn’t wait for a response, merely turned and walked away and closed the door leaving them locked inside. The room was eerily silent, with the only sound coming from the hum of the ship.
“Can I throw up now?” said Langley weakly after a few minutes.
Ford turned to the man who looked ashen and appeared to be sweating. “Knock yourself out.”
Langley dashed through an adjoining door, followed a moment later by the sound of him retching making Ford turn up his nose.
“This is to be expected,” said Swanson sitting himself down on one of the bunks.
“The scientist is right,” added Biggy. “Their military protocol seems similar to ours. In these situations we’d want to question our men first before deciding what action to take. They’d be asking them exactly what we know about them.” Ford nodded his head, thinking the same. When he had been rescued from captivity he had been questioned for four days about what had happened. “Listen,” continued Biggy. “What did they tell us?”
“You mean you don’t know?” asked Ford with a frown.
He shrugged his shoulders, “someone pulled me off an aircraft carrier in the middle of the Mediterranean, only telling me that I was needed for a highly classified mission with the promise I would get to fly something really cool. It was only when I reached the base that they told me about your alien friends, who, may I add, look very human. I was expecting something green.”
“Shit,” muttered Ford a little too loudly. He gestured his arm towards Langley who was walking in from the bathroom. “None of you thought to tell him what he was getting himself into huh?”
Langley looked a little taken aback. “But that’s what I was told too. The mission was to establish communications with an alien civilisation.”
“That’s it?” asked Ford incredulously.
“Well, yes, isn’t it?”
Ford looked over at Swanson and could tell the man was thinking along the same lines as him. He had not been privy to the interviews with Blondie and Blue Eyes but he had been fully debriefed and then present at the larger hearing.
“So are you going to tell us or just leave us guessing,” said Biggy folding his arms in front of his chest. “What have I let myself in for?”
“Won’t these people be listening to what we say?” asked Swanson pointing upwards.
“How?” replied Ford. “We have the translators, and the other two are with Blondie and Rugby who seem occupied for the time being. Besides, they know everything anyway.”
“So what is everything,” said Biggy impatiently.
“They are human, pretty much, apart from a few evolutional differences.”
“What? How is that possible, we’ve never gone out into deep space?”
“They said they were searching for us, that Earth is said to be their thirteen Colony. Some of their ancestors chose to go out on their own and create a new civilisation. Blondie was shocked and looked upset when I told her that we had never heard of the Twelve Colonies.”
“Twelve Colonies?” asked Langley.
“Twelve planets.”
“Wow,” said Biggy. “There’s a huge flourishing civilisation of humans out there? They could teach us so much, become a new home for us too, the possibilities are endless.” Ford nearly grimaced at his words, glancing over at Swanson who looked down sadly. “What are you missing out?” continued Biggy.
Ford took a seat on one of the beds that creaked from his weight. “Their entire civilisation was wiped out, billions of them dead. This ship was one of a small number to get away with only about fifty thousand survivors.”
The air escaped from Biggy’s mouth. “How?”
“They created machines which rebelled against them, found a way to infiltrate their defences and launched their own nukes against them.”
“I think I need to be sick again,” said Langley and disappeared into the bathroom.
“It gets worse,” said Ford with a dark smile. “These machines also know about Earth and they’re looking for us too.”
“I think I’m going to join Langley in the head,” said Biggy after a minute of taking in Fords words and then walked away.
Ford sighed and laid down on the bed with his arms behind his head. The day wasn’t going quite as he had planned it and his body felt tired.
“That could have gone better,” commented Swanson as he sat down on the bed adjacent to his.
“What was I supposed to do, sugar coat it?”
“I’ve watched those interviews, you can see the emotion in those people’s eyes as they told us about their extinction, we can understand it. None of that was conveyed in what you told those two. They’re probably laying all the blame on them for the threat that now looms over us.”
“Regardless of what those two think, the rest of the world is going to blame these people if those robots come, but at least we can have their allegiance to help fight them off.”
“They’ve been running for years because they lost. What makes you think they could win now?”
Ford shrugged, “our resources and man power combined with their technology?”
Biggy emerged from the bathroom, “as long as I get to fly one of those fighter ships I’m happy with any alliance.” Ford sat up slightly to turn to him. “Hell, I’m amazed that we haven’t destroyed ourselves yet, so let me train in one of those vipers and I’ll help blow those robot things out of the sky if they come.”
Ford relaxed back down onto the bed with a smile and closed his eyes, at least he had Biggy back on board. He felt absolutely exhausted even though it was only early afternoon. He had plenty of time for a quick nap.
Closing his eyes he thought of Caroline, wondering if she was looking up at the skies wondering what he was doing. One day he would bring her on board this ship. He imagined them walking together along the shores of an ocean far away on another world, the water lapping at their feet.
All he had to do was get through the next 28 days.