Overrun: Project Hideaway (14 page)

"We've lost contact with
the observation deck, Commander!" Lieutenant Chris Shriver, Science Dome
15 senior communications director, yelled from his station.

“Do we know what’s happening on
the ground?” Dome Commander Steve Corrado shouted from the other side of the
smoky command room.

“There’s still a lot of activity
down there. Multiple explosions. Rockets being fired. Several impacts. We've
lost communication with most of the base stations."

"How much of the ground
crew is out there?” Corrado screamed back punching at his own communications
station.

They were the only two left in
Science Dome 15’s command center after the ignition of the Death Wall and
orders for evacuation had been given.

"Unable to tell, Commander.
We lost contact with the landing bay more than twenty minutes ago! There’s too
much smoke and flame. It’s hard to see anything through it."

"Find some goddamn way to
tell!" Corrado yelled over his shoulder as he worked furiously at his
control panel.

The room had filled with black
choking smoke making it nearly impossible to even see the monitor screens
directly in front of them. Sparks leapt from bare swinging wires that jutted
from structural pressure tears in the walls and ceiling. Chairs and entire
control stations were overturned. Two small fires lit the otherwise dim
interior of the command room with an eerie sense of coming doom.

"Steve, I can still tell
they’re coming,” Shriver replied solemnly. “Our forces aren’t stopping them.
And the evacuation isn’t happening fast enough. That I can tell.”

Corrado turned to his lieutenant
and locked eyes briefly with him in acknowledgement. He then ran over to
Shriver’s command station.

Corrado reached over his
shoulder and punched at a series of blinking switches jutting from shattered
consoles hanging over Shriver's head.

Shriver kept one hand on his
headset and pressed it tightly against his ear. With the other on his console,
he toggled through several different video surveillance feeds coming from the
outside perimeter of Science Dome 15. Smoke wisped from frayed wire dangling
near the top of his head.

"Is anyone getting
out?"

The smell of burned plastic,
seared flesh, and the constant roars of the outside rocket attack permeated the
stale air of the command room.

"I don’t know,” Shriver
said still listening intently to the transmission chatter coming across his
headset. “A couple convoys were able to blast out the back about an hour ago.
They got past the initial attack force.”

"But, did they get
away?"

"I haven’t been able to
confirm that, sir,” Shriver said looking up. “I’m hearing reports of flanking
troops all over the place. Even if they did get past them, those vehicles don’t
hold a lot of people. I don’t think a lot of people are getting out."

Before he could completely
finish, a series of explosions ripped through the dome jolting the room hard to
its side and knocking Corrado to his knees.

Next to him, Shriver clasped one
hand tightly across the control panel to keep his body upright. His chair flew
out from beneath him, but he managed to keep his balance and not fall. He
continued punching madly at the control panel in front of him.

Corrado grabbed the control
station next to Shriver and pulled himself back to his feet. He stopped to
watch Shriver press his earpiece closer to his head to monitor some new
transmission chatter. Even in the darkness, Corrado was able to see his face
fade to a sick pasty white.

"They’ve breached the
facility," he said hurriedly. "So far, reports only on Level One and
Two. Received instant confirmation on those reports. Their troops…they’re
coming in."

Shriver punched a control switch
which brought an outside ground-level view of Science Dome 15 across the
holovid. Black smoke and flame billowed through a gigantic gaping hole in the
side of the dome. The facility was now easily penetrable, and the J.G.U.
vehicles were charging through.

"How long before they get
to the command room?" Corrado said standing up again. He picked up
Shriver’s overturned chair and slid it over to him.

“Not long,” Shriver said sitting
back down and continuing to concentrate on the fading number of voices coming
over the communications link.

"Scan the banks!"
Corrado yelled while sprinting back across the room. "Start with the
science levels. Search for and manually destruct any remaining electronic
files. Make sure no one missed anything before the evac. See if you can
initiate self destructs in the equipment rooms. Destroy everything you possibly
can."

"Roger that, sir!" Shriver
bent over his control board. His body shook with adrenaline and fear.

Another explosion shot flames
and scorched plastic from a control panel to Shriver's right. The blast lit the
dark command center, and the smell of burnt electrical filled the air. Shriver
pushed his chair away from the growing fire and moved quickly to another
command station.

Behind him, Corrado worked
frantically at the stations across the room.

"Especially scan for all
info on the Project Hideaway!" he screamed over the increasing roar of the
exploding room. "Make sure you can’t find anything. If you do, get rid of
it by any means necessary. If you find records on hard paper files, I want you
to go down there and burn them with a match for Christ’s sake!"

Another blast shook the command
center. Metal piping and half the command ceiling crashed to the floor just to
Corrado's left side. Steel shavings, flame and dirt filled the air making it
nearly impossible to see.

Shriver turned towards the wall
of debris that now divided the room.

"Shriver!" Corrado
screamed at him from the other side.

Corrado could hear him try to
answer back when another blast threw him to the ground across the room.

The large metal entrance door
guarding the command center obliterated in a flash of heat and metal. Huge
jagged pieces of the door flew inward. Bursts of small weapons fire followed
tracing through the air over Corrado's head. Half-blinded by the flying debris,
Corrado dove beneath one of the command consoles for cover.

Soldiers came in after the
blast. Their dark shapes moved quickly around the room firing their weapons at
anything that moved in the smoke. Bullets ripped across the command equipment
tearing the consoles to unrecognizable shreds. Corrado pressed back as far as
he could to the wall and tried to protect his eyes with his hands.

He heard Shriver howl in pain.

Quickly under the cover of the
flash fires and smoke, Corrado jumped on top of one of the last undamaged
equipment consoles and lumbered madly across it towards the destroyed entrance
door. He kicked his feet through the flames and ducked his head beneath the
wreckage hanging from the ceiling and poking at his face.

The J.G.U. soldiers were
securing the room from the other side and had not yet noticed his presence in
the command room. The pile of fallen ceiling at the center of the room further
helped keep him from being seen.

Corrado took two more quick
steps over the command console and threw his body up and over the mound of
fallen rubble. His body crashed across three J.G.U. guards. The force of his
weight and the grasp of his flailing limbs knocked them down hard to the
command center deck.

Corrado grabbed the dark helmet
of the closest soldier and slammed it into the ground. A fourth soldier that
had been standing further back swung his fist hard into Corrado's chin.

A loud sickening cracking sound
came from the dome commander's jaw and face.

Moving more slowly, Corrado
grabbed a jagged piece of the metal ceiling that was still falling around them
and stabbed it into the soldier's thigh. The soldier let loose a shrieking
howl. He grabbed at his leg and fell back away.

One of the soldiers on the
ground maneuvered around on his back and lined his weapon up across Corrado’s
chest.

Corrado kicked at the barrel
just as he managed to fire. The weapons rounds tore into the command consoles
to the left of the pile of struggling bodies.

Ricochets off the equipment
ripped into the flesh of two of the soldiers.

Surprised that he was still
alive, Corrado quickly stood.

Before he could escape into the
passageway, he saw something that made him stop. Shriver was still alive on the
other side of the rubble that divided the command room.

Most of his body was covered
with debris. But even through the smoke and flames Corrado could see him moving
slightly.

Before Corrado could run back to
help him, a rifle butt slammed into the side of his head. And then darkness
followed.

* * *

Corrado returned to
consciousness in a quick burst of agonizing pain. Through a nearly debilitating
sting of broken bones and ripped flesh, he raised his head from where it
drooped across his chest.

A dark-visored J.G.U. officer
stood in front of him.

Corrado sensed his body swing
gently backward until his back pushed lightly up against a wall. They were in
one of Science Dome 15’s white metal briefing rooms. Completely stripped of its
furnishings and equipment, every movement in the room made a light echoing
sound.

A small squad of troops stood
behind the J.G.U. officer. They trained their weapons across his shoulders at
Corrado's head and chest.

In front of the officer’s feet,
a thick trail of blood stretched across the floor.

Tight steel manacles bit into
the dome commander's wrists, and large thick chains yanked his arms into the
air. Corrado’s stretched beaten body hung about two inches off the ground. He
could feel blood rapidly leaving his body through a gaping wound in his left
leg. It ran down the outside of his boots and dripped onto the white metal
deck.

His face and body were battered
and bruised, and his limbs were completely numb.

Another fist slammed into his
face.

This blow bounced his body
around so that it hung sideways against the wall. His shoulders bumped up
against its bright white surface staining it a dark sickening red.

His body swung slightly
side-to-side. Through a haze of pain, Corrado felt his skin brush against
something wet and soft.

The dome commander struggled to
open his swollen eyes and focus through the sweat and tears. His face brushed
against what he knew was someone else’s damp hair.

When his vision cleared, he saw
the body of Science Dome 15’s communications director Chris Shriver swinging
next to him along the wall.

Shriver also hung by bloody
wrists. But life had left his body long ago.

Falling back beneath his weight,
the chains holding Corrado’s wrists pulled his bruised body back flat against
the wall. He raised his head again and stared out towards the still eyes of the
J.G.U. officer. Blood spatters stained the mask the soldier still wore across
his face.

Corrado could hear their voices.
And did his best not to succumb to their tortures, threats and jeers.

But, it was ultimately not
enough. His brain was starting to die and his senses were starting to leave his
body. He didn’t know what they made him say or what questions the J.G.U.
interrogation force even put forth.

Corrado could only feel his body
swing. He felt the metal dig deeper into his flesh. And he felt the leather of
the soldier's gloved fist slam again and again into the side of his jaw. He
sensed his teeth loosen from the inside of his face. Some fell down his throat.
Others dropped onto the floor.

And then after awhile his body
was just entirely numb. His lips had stopped moving. The questions had come to
an end.

The soldiers turned and quietly
left single-file through the doorway once his life had finally passed.

The bright white overhead lights
were dimmed. The battered bodies of Science Dome 15’s command crew were left
alone swinging gently in the dark.

The clinking sound of their
chains echoed softly through the room.

Parker ducked through the low
opening and reentered the ship’s cramped cockpit.

Before settling back into his
seat, he reached absently at the flashing switches and controls in front of
him. After shutting down the last of the ship’s emergency override systems, he
pushed the hovering command console away from him and eased back into his
flight chair.

He rubbed his hand at the pain
across his scalp and stared at the thin drops of blood that marked where Barnes
had cracked his head against the cockpit window.

"Son of a bitch," he
swore quietly.

Parker settled back into his
seat and pulled the floating command console over his lap. His ears searched
the ship’s silence awaiting sign of his copilot’s return.

Parker took a breath and gazed
at the darkness of the moon floating ahead of him. There was no light and no
stars within its shadows. And absolutely no sign of life. There was nothing to
look at and nothing to be seen. It was enough to make a single soul feel
completely alone in the universe outside of Earth.

It was the perfect place to
hide.

It was also the reason they
spent most of their mission in hypersleep. So that the souls in charge of this
ship would not lose their perspective. So that their actions would not be
affected. To keep the madness from completely settling in.

The crew on board the Hideaway
was there to save the world from complete destruction.

And Parker knew that success of
this mission would not be left entirely up to them. Army psychologists and
personality specialists had delved in painstaking detail into their
psychological histories to plan for the unforeseen.

It scared him now how they had
been able to predict and plan for what had just occurred. One of Parker’s last
briefings before going up focused mainly on reviewing contingency plans in the
event of a Jeff Barnes panic attack. They had outlined several scenarios and
solutions in painstaking detail as to what to expect and how to bring him back
down.

Despite successful containment
of the panic attack, Parker still had more to do. Events were now set in
motion. To protect the ship, many more actions would now be required of him.

Parker always knew the
significance of the mission they agreed to undertake. And he understood the
need for the extensive networks of safeguards and action response scenarios.
But up until now, he had always been doubtful. Doubtful as to how relative
they’d be to actual situations experienced on the ship. And doubtful as to the
extent they’d ever be used.

He was shocked and sickened at
what he had just done and now was about to do.

They guessed everything to this
point. Parker prayed they weren’t about to be right about anything else.

A quick loud thumping sound
jarred Parker from his thoughts. Acting like nothing had happened since Barnes
had left the cockpit, Parker turned his head around.

"Goddamn this fucking
ship!"

Barnes rubbed roughly at the top
of his head where he had just smashed it against the low entrance to the cabin.

He brushed lightly past Parker
as he moved to take his own seat. Barnes’ body moved stiffly and a slight limp
hampered his gait. Shreds of dark ripped fabric speckled by tiny drops of blood
dangled from his uniform. Avoiding looking directly at Parker, he dropped
heavily back into his vacant command station.

Parker kept his eyes straight
ahead. With a rigid punching action, he made a few more entries into the
console to his left.

"You know we have to go
back, Jed," Barnes’ tone was very low. "Despite everything that may
have happened, we can't just sit up here. We have to try to make contact. What
good is any of this stuff, if no one is ever going to use it? We have a
responsibility to do what’s right, Jed. If not for our country then maybe for
the rest of the world… and for ourselves."

Parker didn't answer. His
features remained stoic and stern. He reached ahead of him and began entering a
series of numbers into a keypad over his head.

"We're not going back,
Jeff,” Parker continued to work the controls and enter number sequences into
the keypad. “At least not now. You have to know that."

Barnes settled back and rested
his head stiffly against his seat.

"We are not going
back," Parker said hitting a final switch and then resting his hands in
his lap. "Because if they didn't call to wake us up then we are at war.
What we’re carrying is the key to what is going on down there. We are up here
hiding the beam cannon technology to keep it out of the hands of the J.G.U. And
that is what we are going to continue to do."

"Well, what if we’re up
here forever?!" Barnes snapped at him. "Did you ever think of that!
Christ! We could be up here fucking forever. The whole world could be gone for
all we know. We have to bounce some detection sensors to find out what the fuck
is going on! Jesus!"

"You are going to have to
find a way to calm down," Parker said softly with a coolness to his tone.

"It’s quite possible we are
the last two fucking people alive in the universe, Jed,” Barnes said not
looking at him and jabbing at his own command console in front of him. “The
time for being calm is completely past.”

Barnes’ command console started
to hum quietly to life and lifted from its cabinet. Disengaging from the
console, it floated out toward his lap.

"I don’t give a fuck about
any of it, Jed!” Panic rattled Barnes’ voice. “We're firing up."

His hands shook as they flew
over his keyboard until Parker reached over and grabbed them together by the
palm of his one large hand.

"Major Barnes, I am captain
of this ship and head of this mission,” Parker hissed. “And even if we are the
only two people left alive anywhere in this universe, you will still follow my
orders. You will listen to me. And you will adhere to the direction I set
forth.”

Parker released his grip
allowing Barnes to yank his hands away. Only the quiet hum of the hovering
equipment consoles filled the cramped cabin. Parker’s tightly clenched fingers
left white indentations on both of Barnes’ hands.

The time had finally come. He
had almost waited too long.

Parker sat back into his seat
and punched three green buttons in succession. A small square panel broke away
from the main console and stretched itself to a resting space directly before
his eyes. It made a quiet sucking sound as it attached firmly across his face
like an oversized Halloween mask and made a seal.

"Emergency war procedures
initiate," Parker said into the panel. "Captain Jediah M. Parker
requesting."

“What the…?” Barnes turned
looking at him quizzically.

A soft light flashed from the
unit and danced across Parker’s eyes. His body remained rigidly still except
for his right hand which he clenched and unclenched slowly.

"Emergency war procedures,
initiate," the console repeated back in a digitized voice. "Captain
Parker, Jediah, M., Science Dome 15 Captain requesting war procedures."

The apparatus clicked and hummed
for a few seconds. The lights in the cockpit dimmed briefly. A large rumble
came from somewhere at the back the ship.

"War procedures
initiated," the console reported. "Ship primed for emergency mission.
Nuclear warheads activated. Beam cannon area sealed. Access currently
restricted."

"Warheads?" Barnes now
spoke with alarm in his voice.

A small hole opened in the
flight equipment at each man’s side. Two black cylindrical devices appeared
from inside. Parker took a deep breath and closed his eyes. With large slurping
noises, the cylinders shot behind their heads like striking snakes and bit into
their skin.

"Ahhh, what in the
hell?" Barnes yelled grabbing at the back of his neck where a trickle of
blood flowed from a small wound.

The black cylinders hovered
briefly in the air next to the men and then retreated back into the equipment
consoles.

"Pilots primed for
emergency war procedures," the digital voice droned again. "Two
hundred meter safe zone initiated.”

“Safe zone?” Barnes questioned
under his breath.

“Perimeter breach initiates
nuclear secretion,” the voice said again.

Parker swallowed hard at the
lump threatening to choke him at the center of his throat.

“Is Major Jeffrey Barnes still
alive and aboard the ship?"

"What the fuck?"
Barnes’ eyes were wild and wide. "Why the fuck would it ask you that?”

Parker drew in another deep
breath not yet answering the device across his face. He relaxed the hand he had
been clenching and folded both across his lap.

"Is Major Barnes, Jeffrey
K. still alive and aboard the ship?" the mechanical voice asked again.
"You have five seconds to answer. Poison gas being primed."

Another device detached itself
from the mask on Parker's face and slid across his nose and mouth.

"What?" Barnes gasped
incredulously again.

"Major Barnes, Jeffrey K.
is still alive and on this ship,” Parker said evenly his voice muffled by the
plastic device covering his lips. He stared straight ahead into the floating
console. “Code yellow declared.”

"Acknowledged," the
digital voice responded. "Code yellow declared. Gas release sequence
temporarily delayed."

Barnes’ eyes looked like they
were about to burst from their sockets. Blood trailed from the back of his neck
and dripped onto the black collar of his flight suit. Sweat poured from his
forehead.

His hands shook as he pulled
them away from the command controls in front of him. His personal console
retreated and reinserted itself back into the main panel.

"Acknowledge and set time
for temporary delay," the voice said again.

Parker did not immediately
reply.

"Thirty seconds has been
allotted for response," the voice continued. "If no response is
received, suspect Major Barnes, Jeffrey K. will stand accused of mutiny and be
executed via poison gas for the murder of Parker, Jediah M., Captain. You now
have twenty-five seconds to suspend this order."

Barnes’ face was ashen. Violent
tremors racked his hands and arms. His hair and the material of his uniform
across his chest were soaked completely through with nervous sweat.

"Captain Jed Parker. You
now have ten seconds to reply," the metallic voice spoke again.

The plastic device covering
Parker’s nose and mouth pressed harder against his face. There was a quiet
sucking sound as it further strengthened its seal.

Parker turned his head. The
protective gas mask only allowed him to turn part of the way towards Barnes.
His entire face was covered, and his eyes were completely hidden. Only the grim
set of his jaw was visible beneath the mask.

"Major, I need to know if I
can depend on you," Parker said evenly. His voice sounded like he was
talking through a thick balloon.

"Please shut it down,"
Barnes pleaded calmly.

"Barnes, I need to trust
you with this ship and my life,” Parker said again. “It’s not possible for it
to be otherwise. You need to think a great deal about how you are about to
respond.”

Barnes moved closer to Parker
and looked with fascinated horror at the device that almost completely covered
his face. He moved so close he was almost sitting with him in the captain's
seat.

“Barnes, are you with me?”

Barnes didn’t answer right away.

“Barnes, are you with me?”
Parker asked again.

"I'm with you sir,"
Barnes squawked quietly back.

Parker nodded acknowledging
Barnes’ reply. The plastic mask made a crunching sound as it bobbed up and
down.

Parker’s mouth remained set in a
thin red line, and his stern expression did not change.

"Major Jeffrey Barnes is
mentally functional and does not currently pose a threat of harm to the
ship," Parker said evenly. His voice sounded muffled and slightly
digitized beneath the mask. "Deactivate gas sequence. Again, repeating the
order for gas sequence deactivation. Code yellow cleared.”

With a loud exhale through
inflated cheeks, Barnes slumped back in his seat. He rubbed absently at the
wound at the back of his neck.

A slight whirring sound filled
the cockpit as the mask detached itself from Parker’s face. It popped slightly
when it broke free from his skin.

"You have to find your
composure, Major,” Parker spoke calmly once it was completely away. “If there
was ever a time, this is it. You need to find it. Stay calm. And hang on. It’s
the only way this will work.”

Barnes didn’t respond.

“It’s the only way you’ll
survive,” Parker said again.

Parker’s own command console
pulled back from where it floated in front of his face and moved between them
in the small cockpit.

Parker winced slightly and
pressed at the huge welt he also had on the back of his neck. The bleeding had
stopped, but he rubbed at it furiously for a few seconds trying to make the
sting go away.

Barnes didn’t respond. He stared
out the cockpit window towards the dark surface of the moon. Still not saying
anything for many long minutes, he pressed his head back against his seat and
closed his eyes.

"Emergency mission
instructions commence,” Parker commanded the console breaking the silence.

"Commencing emergency
instructions," the digital voice repeated.

The console hovering between
them emitted a soft hum and settled into an opening in the command board in
front of them. A round piece of metal fell inward at its center revealing a
small holovid screen. A red light at its base blinked twice, and then the
screen became blue.

"Barnes," Parker spoke
softly while the holovid breathed to life. "This is not something I can do
on my own. I need your help. What we’re doing out here is of great importance.
Our success…or our failure will have far reaching effects. Our actions will
extend well beyond the two of us."