Judgment Day (62 page)
Authors: James F. David
"Doing good" is as easy as breathing. Doing the right thing doesn't prick your conscience, and you don't wrestle with your conscience later. "Doing evil" is altogether different. For most people, doing the "wrong" thing is difficult. It's not the weak who can override years of cultural conditioning, it is the strong. However, once the line has been crossed, doing evil gets easier and easier.
—
A HISTORY OF GOOD AND EVIL
, ROBERT WINSTON, PH.D.
NEW HOPE STATION
I
ra ordered the control room evacuated when the troops broke through the outer airlock door. Ira and Shelly herded the others from the module, Ira holding back, making sure everyone else got out first. Slowly, through narrow corridors, they herded men, women, and children into the next module and through it to shuttle
Redemption
. The shuttle was nearly full of staff and colonists, a pilot at the controls, waiting for orders to leave. Stephen O'Malley was at the door of the shuttle and yelled to Ira.
"We're nearly full. We can squeeze you in but the rest will have to go on
Covenant."
"Take off," Ira shouted to Stephen. "We'll get away with the others."
Stephen hesitated, not wanting to leave his friend and leader in harm's way. Just then the stream of pellets from the
Atlantis's rail
gun ripped into the shuttle. Made from depleted uranium, the steel-jacketed slugs stitched a pattern diagonally across shuttle
Redemption
. As the slugs tore through the flight deck, the pilot was nearly cut in half, the windshield blown out. The unharnessed copilot was ejected into space by the explosive decompression. While the atmosphere escaped through the flight deck, the slugs continued across the bow of the ship, puncturing each level of the shuttle and the attached sphere, killing some passengers and wounding many more.
As the shuttle
Redemption
decompressed, the atmosphere of New Hope station rushed to fill the vacuum created in the shuttle. The sudden hurricane strength blast of air knocked Stephen into the
Redemption
. The automatic airlock doors on New Hope slammed closed a few seconds later, cutting off the loss of atmosphere, trapping Stephen and the others in the crippled shuttle. Shelly and others rushed to the airlock door, trying to force it open, to save Stephen and the others, but the pressure differential was too great.
"It's no use," Ira said. "They're dead."
Shelly froze in shock, thinking of the men, women, and children on the other side of the door, gasping for breath, blood boiling, vessels in their brains bursting. Images of Jews packed into gas chambers came to Shelly's mind and the horror was too much for her. She sobbed in despair, then thought of her own children. The same thing could happen to them. With mounting panic, she hurried with the others toward
Covenant
.
In the New Testament we are told not to resist an evil person. Jesus then gives examples to illustrate what He means. His examples include being struck on the cheek by the back of a hand, sued, and being forced to carry a load for someone. Nowhere does He explain what to do in the face of systematic extermination.
—
THE CASE FOR CHRISTIAN VIOLENCE
, JAMES D. FOSTER
EARTH'S ORBIT
F
rom his vantage point in the belly of shuttle
Atlantis
, Kent Thorpe had witnessed the destruction of one of the Fellowship shuttles. Furious, Thorpe screamed into his microphone at the gunner who had fired at the
Exodus
and hit the shuttle instead. On the monitor he had seen the front end of the ship torn apart, the flight deck riddled, the ship explosively decompressing.
"Get us free," Thorpe shouted as the module they were welded to floated away from the station. From the radio he knew they had captured
Genesis
intact, but a half dozen of their men were trapped in the segment that had been pushed free—three of them officers. Those men were trying to get back into the shuttle but unfamiliar with zero gravity they were having trouble.
He picked another call out of the cacophony in his ears. They had reached module six where
Prophet
was docked. Once through that module they would have the biggest prize of all.
Martyrdom does not end something, it is only a beginning.
—INDIRA GANDHI
NEW HOPE STATION
S
helly nearly collapsed from relief when she saw Micah in the hatch of
Covenant
, helping people inside. As soon as he saw her and Ira, Micah pushed through to them, taking Shelly in his arms.
"Evelyn's watching the kids, Shelly," Micah said before she could ask.
"How did you get here?" Shelly asked, holding him tight.
"We docked
Jacob's Ladder
with
Covenant."
Still hugging each other, they were pried apart by Ira, who pushed them both toward the hatch.
"We've got work to do," Ira said.
"Bobby Johnson is preflighting
Covenant,"
Micah said.
"He's not even a pilot," Ira groused.
"Many of our pilots are dead. Some are trying to get to
Prophet and
the other ships."
Now inside the ship, Sandy directed two men to seal the hatch, getting the giant ship ready for flight. Climbing to the flight deck they found Bobby in the copilot's seat, Cynthia next to him holding the preflight checklist. Bobby looked relieved to see them.
"You and Ira fly
Covenant
, Shelly," Micah said.
"Atlantis
is out there somewhere. I'll run interference for you to make sure you get away, then rendezvous with
Exodus
to put the Daniel Option into effect."
"Let's just leave," Shelly said. "Leave together."
"They'll follow," Micah said. "They'll never leave us alone. We have to stop them now while we still can."
Ira rubbed under his eye patch, settling into the engineering station, checking to see if Bobby had the ship's fields properly aligned.
Shelly and Micah were hugging again, but soon broke, Micah kissing her long and hard.
"Kiss the kids for me," Micah whispered. "I'll see you in a few months."
"What about Mark?" Ira asked.
"I'll do what I can," Micah said.
With a last kiss on Shelly's cheek, Micah was gone. They had come to Earth as a family, unwilling to ever be separated again. Shelly understood that serving God meant putting yourself second, but it was a hard path to follow, especially when she felt she and her family were pawns in the war between God and Satan.
Shelly took the pilot's chair, much to Bobby's relief, Sandy sitting behind her at the communications console, announcing to the passengers they needed to secure themselves. A few minutes later Shelly felt the ship shudder when Micah's shuttle separated from
Covenant. Ira
confirmed that all the systems were ready and Shelly reduced internal gravity to zero and released the docking clamps. Reshaping the gravity fields, she moved away from the station. The ship's radar was cluttered with reflections from the pieces of New Hope, but cleared as they moved away. Soon the screen showed three distinct segments of the station,
Prophet
still docked to module six.
"What's happening with
Prophet7."
Shelly asked Sandy, who was trying to raise
Prophet
on the radio. When Sandy didn't answer, she turned to see tears in Sandy's eyes.
"They're begging for help, Shelly. They're killing our people and they're taking
Prophet."
Powerless to help those on
Prophet
, Shelly determined not to lose
Covenant's
refugees.
Covenant had
been loading settlers and was half full when the attack came. Hundreds of terrified families huddled in the bowels of the ship, praying for God to deliver them.
Ira searched space with radar and cameras, trying to spot
Atlantis
.
"I've got contact with
Jacob's Ladder," Ira
said. "He's below us, passing under the station."
"They've just broken into
Prophet's
control room," Sandy said. "The radio just went dead."
"I've got the middle segment on
radar," Ira
said. "It's still moving away from the station." Then Ira switched back and forth from radar to the monitors, saying,
"Atlantis
is not there. It's broken away."
Shelly searched the tiny segment of space she could see through the front port, vainly looking for the enemy shuttle.
"I've found it," Ira said.
"Atlantis
was behind
Prophet
. It's coming up on us from behind and below."
"Warn the passengers," Shelly said, then without waiting she increased power, accelerating away from the pieces of New Hope. The Ark-class ship's engines were powerful, but its mass great.
Atlantis had
only a sphere to move it, but it was already up to speed, catching
Covenant
, passing on the starboard side.
"They're calling us," Sandy said. "If we don't return to New Hope they're going to fire."
Shelly ignored the threat, continuing the acceleration. If they could get enough speed, the slugs would warp around the ship. In response a stream of pellets traced across their path.
"Micah's coming in
Jacob's Ladder
, Shelly," Ira said. "Keep the faith."
Shelly checked the monitor and saw
Atlantis
slipping behind
Covenant
, its weapon swinging toward the ship. A stream of pellets spurted from the end,
Covenant
vibrating with the impact.
"We're losing air," Ira said. "We've lost pressure on the cargo deck."
"Let me speak to them," Shelly said.
A second later she heard " . . . return to New Hope immediately, or we will fire for effect."
"We've got families on board," Shelly said. "Women and children. My children are on this ship."
"Their lives are in your hands," the voice replied. "Return to New Hope or you will be destroyed."
Checking her monitors, Shelly could see
Atlantis
losing ground and she wondered what kind of range the weapon had. Then behind
Atlantis
she saw
Jacob's Ladder
, climbing, angling on a collision course. "No, Micah, no," she whispered to herself. Then
Atlantis
was firing again, the weapon tearing through the hull of
Covenant
just in front of the drive.
Covenant
shuddered as precious atmosphere blew out into space.
Shelly studied the shape of the fields on the computer monitor. Improperly aligned they could tear the ship apart. Then the ship shuddered again from another volley and her instrument panel lost power. They were now flying blind.
Homo sapiens
has already reached the point at which a full-scale nuclear war could end Earth's civilization—perhaps forever. And even if such a war does not take place, he stands a good chance of poisoning his planet with industrial or chemical waste, of releasing a new plague created in the genetic engineering laboratories, or simply of succumbing to the strain of a fruitless attempt to meet the needs of an increasing population.
—
UNEXPLAINED I MYSTERIES OF MIND, SPACE AND TIME
, PETER BROOKESMITH (ED.)
EARTH S ORBIT
Y
ou're letting them get away," Thorpe shouted into his microphone. "Give us more speed," the gunner replied.
Thorpe pounded the wall of the sphere. He knew the sphere had more power than it was showing, but he didn't know how to align the fields to maximize acceleration.
Covenant's giant
bulbous drive unit was showing on his monitor now, the ship and Ira Breitling getting away. A stream of crystallized atmosphere was venting from the starboard side of the ship where they had torn open the hull, but still the monster accelerated.
"Destroy the drive," he shouted into his microphone.
"Orders are to capture it intact," the gunner said.
"If possible!" he shouted. "It's getting away. Disable the drive before it's too late."
Seconds passed as the gunner talked with his commanders.
"We're doing it on your authority," the gunner said.
"Yes. Just fire."
It was too late. As the gunner aligned the weapon a Fellowship shuttle appeared on the monitor, passing just over
Atlantis
, shearing off their weapons arm, the scream of the metal vibrating through
Atlantis's
hull and into the sphere. Then the shuttle was gone, into space. Thorpe pounded the walls, bloodying his hands, oblivious to the pain. Helpless without the weapon, he could only watch as
Covenant
escaped into space, Ira Breitling out of his reach.
McDonald's sells hamburgers. Ford sells cars. I sell news. The only difference between what I'm selling and what they're selling is . . . there is no difference.
— GRAYSON GOLDWYN, EDITOR OF THE
SAN FRANCISCO JOURNAL
SPACE
T
he Ark-class ship
Covenant
accelerated uncontrollably, instrument panels dark, monitors blank. The control systems were redundant, so the damage to the ship was extensive. Blind, Shelly and the others on the flight deck had no way of knowing whether
Atlantis
was preparing to fire
again
, or whether Micah had destroyed it. And what of Micah? With no radio, Shelly wouldn't know for months whether he had lived or died. Suppressing her anguish, Shelly refused to let the world make her cry again,- besides, she had her children to worry about and
Covenant
was in trouble.
"Before we lost instrumentation I could see that the animal deck had depressurized," Ira said, "but most of the top two decks were still holding atmosphere. The aft compartments were breeched. We haven't felt more vibrations so I'm assuming they didn't hit us again. Either Micah stopped them or we've moved out of range."
Remembering the teenager who was helping to fly the ship, Shelly reached out, touching his arm. Bobby was white-faced, perspiring heavily.
"Stay calm. We need you to help us get control of the ship."
Bobby swallowed hard, then took a deep breath.
"Just tell me what to do," he said.
"Stay here and watch the panels. Let me know the instant we restore power." Then to Ira, Shelly said, "We've got to stop
Covenant's
acceleration."
Nodding gravely, Ira said, "There is no deadman's switch," he said. "Until we tell it otherwise the drives will push us faster and faster." After a rub under his eye patch he asked, "What's our heading?"
Shelly shrugged and said, "I didn't have time to plot a course. Out there, somewhere," Shelly said vaguely.
"Let's find out how badly we're damaged," Ira said.
Ira looked grave and she understood why. The lower deck and aft portions of the ship were open to vacuum and the drive couldn't be shut down. The drives could also be controlled from an engineering station midships and from the aft compartment; however, the midships station was useless since the damage was between it and the drive. It was possible the third station was still functional but it was in one of the damaged compartments.
The heavy acceleration made it even more difficult.
Ira released his harness, then let himself "fall" to the rear wall, fumbling with the backup controls that would turn the gravity on. Shelly touched Bobby's arm again and pointed out the window.
"Let me know when we reach light speed," Shelly said.
"When the stars go out," Bobby said. "Right?"
"Yes, when the stars go out," Shelly confirmed.
Then with the gravity coming on, she released her harness and pushed herself to her feet, at least two gees pushing her toward the bowels of the ship where the settlers were. With every step she took, dread of what she might find when she reached the settlers grew.