33, 32, 31…
“Anil, connect the reactor to the grid. Hurry!”
A query pops up in his smartglasses. “Accept request from Austin Sanders?”
“Yes!” Anil cries. In his field of view, a blue tracer fans across the dirt field. He gets up and follows the arrow, sprinting as fast as he can and searching the ground in all directions. A rifle goes off and a bullet whizzes by him.
“Stop where you are!” a paratrooper orders.
With the help of the navigator, Anil locates the other high-voltage lead and springs towards it. His arms cramping, he grabs the end and runs back towards the hangar, facing the soldiers head on.
12, 11, 10…
He scurries as he stares down the barrel of a soldier’s gun. “This is your last warning,” the gunman screams.
Anil closes his eyes and races forward as gunshots reverberate across the field. He leaps in the air and lands hard, opening his eyes to find the other cord a few feet away, the junction box at its end open and waiting. The thunderous whir of the laser and accelerator shake the ground.
“He’s still alive. Kill him!”
He frantically crawls forward with the cable in his hand, trying desperately to make the connection.
6, 5, 4…
Covered in dust and sweat, he grabs the link and shoves it in the other end. Sparks fly as a magnetic force snaps the leads together. Suddenly lightning strikes a utility pole and a violent explosion hurls him in the air.
Instantly, the sky brightens and intense daylight glows above the San Francisco Bay Area. The ground teeters and the building tilts forward.
Anil falls feet first and collapses on the swaying earth. His wrist shatters against the ground, leaving him immobilized in pain. Waves of agony rip through his body.
Am I alive?
He tries to open his eyes but a piercing white light blinds him. His ears ringing loudly, he forces his eyes open and spots a mushroom cloud rising to the sky.
“It’s an atomic bomb!” someone hollers. The soldiers cover their eyes from the intense heat.
Anil turns to the east and spots the sunrise. He looks up and catches a glimpse of a massive star, its light several times brighter than the sun.
Two suns?
The high-voltage line buzzes as electricity flows from the reactor, sending thousands of gigawatts into the world.
Anil tries to sit up but the ground spins and he collapses.
30.
“ONE MINUTE till the EMP strike.”
Aboard the USS Hawkeye, Lionel Mercer and Abe McNair prepare for the bombardment of Mars. The ship’s missile ports open and the electromagnetic guns charge for the coming strike. In the cockpit, a console displays the highlighted map of New China.
A red siren flashes. “Warning, bay doors exposed.”
Abe trembles. “What is she talking about?”
Lionel calmly guides the ship. “Relax, the A.I. is programmed to say that.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, we’re ready to fire.”
“I have a bad feeling about this.”
Lionel scans the radar for signs of the enemy. “Thirty seconds left…”
A countdown appears on the display. “Prepare for launch,” the A.I. says.
Abe looks from the window, shaking in fear. Suddenly his head violently snaps back as an explosion rocks the spacecraft, disabling the systems and shutting down the airflow. All electronics and air flow turn off. As the Hawkeye goes silent, a glowing star appears in space ahead of the ship.
The force hurls Lionel upwards and smashes him into a storage barrel. He rubs his pulsating head and shouts, “Colonel McNair?” His ears ring loudly. “Sir, are you okay?” He turns to find his boss unconscious in his chair. “Can you hear me?”
Panicked, he swims to the controls in dead silence. The star’s piercing radiance blinds him as he tries to power on the spacecraft. He taps a display but the radar and monitors remain off.
“Colonel, wake up!” Not hearing a response, Lionel reaches for a first aid kit, his vision aided by the aura from space.
Abe opens his eyes. “…what happened?”
Lionel breathes relief. “Sir, you’re alive.” He grabs an ice pack and hands it to his boss. “Can you hear me?”
Abe appears frazzled. “My neck… I’m in so much pain! What’s going on?”
“I don’t know. We’ve malfunctioned… the system is down.”
“Did we strike Mars?”
“I’m not sure.”
Abe writhes in agony. “Let’s just head to Earth.”
“Sir, did you hear me? The ship’s offline. We are in trouble.”
Abe points. “Why are we facing the Sun? Did we spin around?”
“I don’t know.”
Air begins to flow through the vents and the spacecraft comes back online. The console restarts and cockpit lights up. “Prepare for reset,” the A.I. says.
Colonel McNair squints. “Can you darken the windows? I can’t see anything.”
Lionel floats to a panel and activates the visor, restricting the light from space.
“Thanks, captain. Much better now.”
As the intense luminescence fades, a large star comes into view. Lionel stares from a window and stiffens in alarm. “Colonel, that’s not the Sun ahead of us. Come take a look!”
Abe drifts towards his colleague and sees the Sun to the left of their spacecraft. He turns and finds a large, luminous object straight ahead. “What the hell is going on?”
“It looks like a meteor.”
“That large? No way.”
“What could it be?”
The radar resets and Lionel heads to his chair. “Whatever that is, our navigation isn’t picking it up.”
“That’s impossible.”
Lionel loads the shuttle log. “There’s something else—the EMP blasts never fired.”
“Are you sure?” Abe asks. “What caused the blast?”
“Perhaps a malfunction. I don’t know.”
“So we never struck Mars?”
“Nope.”
“Well, what the hell is that bright thing ahead of us?”
“No idea.”
“Strange. Let’s ask Central Command.” Abe picks up a headset. “Houston, do you come in?”
“Hawkeye, we read you. Can you tell us what happened? We’re at a loss for words here.”
Abe makes eye contact with his coworker. “…we were hoping you would inform us.”
The operator replies after a lag. “We had a massive 8.1 earthquake here in North America with a mushroom cloud over the West Coast. Did you mistakenly fire the EMP at Earth?”
Lionel grabs his headset. “This is Captain Lionel Mercer. Our missiles never launched, Houston, do you copy?”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“Why is there a giant star in the sky? We see two suns from here.”
Lionel nods and points. “Affirmative! We also see a star in front of us.”
Silence fills the cockpit.
“Central Command,” Abe proclaims, “we are returning home, over.”
“Negative, Hawkeye, please explore the unidentified object ahead of you. Repeat, fly towards it and report your findings back to us.”
Abe closes his eyes. “I can’t take any more of this.”
Lionel shushes his boss. “We copy, Centcom. We are on our way to solve the mystery.” He reprograms the ship and accelerates towards the intense light, hurling them into their seats. The spacecraft travels at 10,000 miles per hour away from Earth.
Abe grabs his neck and fights off waves of nausea. “Let’s head back, Captain. This is too dangerous.”