Atlantis Rising (4 page)

“Twenty-plus,” Atlanta said.

“My god,” Terri said. “We have to
help them.”

“I’m rushing an assault shuttle
through diagnostics now in bay two,” Atlanta said.

“Brad, you stay here and monitor
the situation. Terri, Mike, Andie, and I will go. Andie, I need you to get a
medical kit and meet us in docking bay two. Atlanta, upload what Terri needs to
know to fly one of the shuttles,” Jonathan said.

He was already heading towards
the door, people in tow.

“Uploading now, Commander,”
Atlanta said.

Jonathan ran down the corridor as
he shook his head. He didn’t know if he liked this. Every time something went
right, another thing went wrong. He hoped this wasn’t a sign for the future.

erri swung the shuttle around, so the back of it was towards the
lifeboats just before it broke the surface. Water cascaded down the wings as it
surfaced. The people at the oars on the lifeboats began rowing away as fast as
they could to put distance between them and the strange vessel. Some of them
leveled M-16 rifles at the strange ship, preparing for the worst.

Terri was sitting in the pilot’s
seat as Jonathan stood up from the copilot's seat. Mike was sitting at the
Tactical Station monitoring the situation.

“I count twenty life signs,” Mike
said. “They’re all armed, and I would guess they’re all panicked.”

“Panicked?” Jonathan asked.

“Yeah. The way they’re rowing
trying to get away, has panic all over it. Jonathan, be careful, some of them
have weapons leveled at the shuttle,” Mike said.

“I guess I would, too,” Jonathan
said. “Some strange vessel surfacing right next to me would scare the hell out
of me.”

“No shit,” Terri said.

“I’m going down to talk to the
survivors,” Jonathan said.

“Be careful,” Terri said after she
rotated her seat to talk. The shuttle was now on autopilot and set to hold
position. Jonathan winked at Terri as he nodded.

“Yeah, all we need is our
Commander getting his ass shot off, the second day on the job,” Mike grinned.

Jonathan rolled his eyes, “What,
and leave you, my second, in command? Never. The whole place would go to rot.
I’ve seen your room at home. I mean, who would pick up after you?”

Terri laughed and said, “He has
you there.”

“Yeah, yeah. Live it up. Go on,
get out of here,” Mike said, smiling.

Jonathan smiled and winked at
Terri. She just giggled again, as she swung back around to monitor the shuttle.
He stepped onto an oval at the back of the room and floated down past the
mid-level armory and the day cabins, to the departure bay. It was like the
lifts on the base. You had to think about where you wanted to go, the nanites
then told the computer and it moved you there.

Several people could move through
the tubes at the same time. Atlanta had told him the tube's magnetism affected
the nanites in each individual in the tube because
an
individual’s
nanites coding is unique.
Though
magnetism
did not affect nanites, they generated a
field when someone used a lift. The computer locked on to this and used this to
move the person through the tube. Of course.
There
were still ladders on the walls and in the tubes, and
there were conventional lifts, too. These were just faster. The farther you had
to go, the
faster magnetism
transported you.

The one thing that bothered
Jonathan when he understood how the system worked was if there was a loss of
power. However, he soon found out the system was powerless. The transport tubes
generated through a special coil that created a field. The computer used power
to interrupt the field
, turn
it up for
descending, and off for ascension. It was strange, thinking about it. More
power equaled weaker field, and less power equaled stronger field. Therefore,
if the power failed a person would just hang in the air and not go anywhere
because all the fields would be the same. Then they just used a ladder to pull
themselves to the next level, or to wherever they needed to be. He just thought
of it as a human rail gun … same principles. There were, of course, special
harnesses for visitors who didn’t have nanites.

Jonathan’s feet lightly touched
the deck as he stepped off the lift. Andie was there, sorting through her
medical supplies. Bill handed Jonathan a dark blue suit. It was made of some
type of flexible polymer. Jonathan looked at Bill as if asking a question.

“Power armor, it should stop a
bullet if they start shooting,” Bill said.

Bill was already wearing a
similar suit. His rank had transferred to the left breast of the armor.

Jonathan put it on over his head.
He pulled the instruction manual for the armor into view in his head.

Jonathan's manual defined the
armor as type-three assault armor. It came standard with a personal shield and
a built-in personal computer. The armor used a material called smart fabric
that came from a special Cardinium alloy that didn’t conduct energy or create
it.

The suit molded itself together
when the wearer pressed the front and
back together
. Then it created the rest of the suit that would
eventually cover the limbs of whoever wore it. This allowed suits to fit
multiple races, as long as the wearer had the nanites to control it. The key to
the suit was the personal nanites, they told the suit it was on a person, and
this person had authorization to wear it.

‘Suit construction complete,
self-check initiated. Diagnostics complete. All systems are normal. Power
output is within operating parameters,’ a metallic voice echoed in Jonathan’s
head.

“Wow,” Jonathan said.

Bill grinned, and said, “Yeah, I
said the same thing. The suit acts as an environmental suit, too. If it detects
any harmful contaminants, it will construct the helmet to protect the wearer.
You can also put it in battle mode by thought. It will do the same thing, as
well as power up the personal shields. Atlanta prepped me as we went to the
shuttle, she said there were heavier models on the base, but these should
protect us just fine.”

“Nice,” Jonathan said. “Well,
let’s get this show on the road.”

Jonathan reached the back hatch
and cycled it open. The Coast Guard personnel gasped when he came into sight.
The rowers even stopped rowing once they realized they were looking at another
human. Jonathan stepped out to the edge of the lowered hatch in a slow
deliberate manner. His hands held open and slightly out from his body.

“Who are you?” a man wearing
sergeant stripes asked.

“My name is Commander Hunter. Are
you in need of assistance?” Jonathan asked.

“What branch of the military?”
the man asked.

“Well, I’m, uh, from a secret
branch,
and
it’s need to know,” Jonathan said. “I take it you’re
in command?” Jonathan saw him glance over at a woman in the back of the boat,
who gave a slight nod.

“Yes, I’m in command. We require
assistance, our ship sunk before we could get word out,” the man said.

Jonathan nodded, “Well, let’s get
you people on board and then we can take you wherever you need to go. I’ll have
to ask you all to give up your arms though.”

Several of the people looked at
each other, mostly the people with their weapons trained on Jonathan. “I don’t
think we can do that,” the man said.

“You can’t get on this vessel
while you’re holding arms. I won’t allow it as it would put us all at risk,”
Jonathan said.

“You mean you,” another man said.
He was one of the people with a weapon trained on Jonathan.

Jonathan locked the man with a
gaze that left no room for argument, “No, I mean us. This vessel will be
traveling underwater and if a weapon went off accidentally it could be very
hazardous for everyone. We will give you your weapons back once we reach our
destination and make sure everyone is okay.”

“We’re not giving up our
weapons,” the first man said.

“Well then, you’re not getting a
ride. I’ll offer anyone who wants a ride and is willing to give up their
weapons,” Jonathan said.

Several people stood up as they
all looked at each other.

“You’re going to leave us out
here to die?” the second man asked.

“No, I’ll call it in. However,
once I leave you’re on your own,” Jonathan said.

“You can’t do that,” another
person said.

“You’re wrong, I can, and I will.
I’ve offered you assistance and told you what it takes to get that assistance, but
you don’t want to comply. I’m putting trust in you by allowing you on this
vessel. If you don’t care to return that trust, that isn’t my problem,”
Jonathan said. He pointed at the four people who had stood up. “The people who
stood up can come aboard, just hand Lieutenant Commander Hawkins your weapons,
before you enter.”

Ten of the people handed Bill
their firearms as they stepped into the back of the shuttle where Andie started
checking them out. The woman the man had looked at, the one Jonathan assumed
was actually in command, stood up, and made her way toward the front of the
small boat.

“My names Carla Taldage, I’m the
ranking officer here,” Carla said.

Jonathan’s eyes flicked to the
man who had been speaking.

“Don’t blame him,” Carla said.
“They were just protecting me.”

Jonathan nodded, “Yeah, I knew
you were in command.”

“How did you know that?” Carla
asked.

“Eyes don’t lie. At one point, I
asked a question and he looked back to get your answer. Even though you gave a
subtle nod it was enough to tell me who was in charge,” Jonathan said a small
smile on his lips.

“I would like to apologize for
the deception,” Carla said.

Jonathan smiled. He was going to
like this woman. She might be rough around the edges but she had a good head on
her shoulders. That was if they decided to join his crew. He had decided to
extend the offer, they would need a security force and there were probably a
few engineers and such mixed in. “No need to apologize, I understand.”

{Jonathan.} Terri’s voice said in
his head.

{What’s up?} Jonathan replied.

{We need to get moving, Mike has
intercepted communications from two F-16 fighters. They have picked us up on
their radar. Their base has ordered them to do a fly over and inspect the
area.}

{Great, get ready to move out.
I’ll try to be fast.}

“Are you OK?” Carla asked.

“Yeah. I’m fine. I’m sorry to
rush you but can we talk inside. I have other important matters to deal with
and I’m afraid it’s do or die time,” Jonathan said.

“You are going to take us back to
mainland America, right?” Carla asked.

“Yes, probably not right away.
But, I promise you I will get you back to wherever you want in the next week,”
Jonathan said.

“For some reason, I trust you,”
Carla said.

She was looking deep into his
eyes looking for the littlest sign that he was lying to her and saw nothing but
honesty.

“It’s my looks,” Jonathan said as
he winked. “I’m just so damn handsome women everywhere trust me.”

Carla laughed as several of the
other women giggled.

“What?” Jonathan put a look of
hurt on his face.

“I don’t know if I would go that
far, although you are kind of cute,” Carla said.

Jonathan grabbed his heart, “I
think I’m wounded.” This got another round of laughing as a few of the guys
rolled their eyes. “Sorry to break up our fun but can we get people loaded? We
need to get underway.”

It was a fast process; the last
ten people joined their comrades in the back of the shuttle surrendering their
weapons as they entered. Jonathan reached out, shoved the lifeboat away from
the shuttle,
and then
cycled the back hatch
shut.

{All loaded. Let’s get out of
here.} Jonathan transmitted.

{Just in time too. Those F-16s
are about 2 minutes out and closing fast.} Terri replied.

{You know me, I like to make an
exit.}

Terri snorted through the
connection, {estimated time to base less than one minute.}

Andie made her way over to
Jonathan, “I have three people with fractured ribs. But, that’s the worst of
it. From what I gathered, they were shaking the ship down and had a minimal
crew. That’s why there are only twenty of them.”

Jonathan nodded and quietly said,
“I’m going to offer them a spot on the crew. The ones who take it will need a
full physical.”

Andie nodded then turned back to
her work.

Oojoung watched the shuttle land
from his hidden spot. He double-checked his cloaking device, to make sure he
had engaged it. He watched them disembark. When he saw the new people, he
moaned silently. More people were not a good thing. How was he going to explain
this? He could already hear the yelling his master was going to do. It just
made his stomach flip, and his heart rate pick up.

He had already sabotaged the Main
Reactor so it would fail if put under stress. Oojoung patted the pouch at his
side, it contained the control circuit he had replaced with a weaker version.
He smiled to himself at least that was one thing going his way. A few more
little things here and there and the base would fall easily.

Oojoung moaned once more as he
slipped from the bay. It was time to report in, and this wasn’t going to be a
very good report. He thought about what to say all the way back to his small
craft. He shook his head as he disengaged his cloak and took his seat in front
of the communications console. He tapped a few controls as he shuddered.