Friction

FRICTION By Rick Dobbertin When the Moon disintegrates amidst a trail of fire and smoke the entire world takes notice, as scientists scramble to determine the cause. Within two hours, four additional, inexplicable events occur, including the disappearance of a high-Earth-orbit construction crew, in the process of constructing an immense mirror in space; the removal of the top third of Mount Everest; the total annihilation of a cruise ship in the Mediterranean Sea, and the complete eradication of a small village in Morocco. It soon becomes apparent that the Earth and Moon had passed through a series of invisible 'atmospheres' lying dormant in space – and it was the Earth's own 67,000-mph orbit around the Sun that was responsible for the devastation. In a seemingly unrelated event it is soon revealed, through declassified documents, that the fortnight earlier destruction of Earth's Martian colony had not actually been a random meteorite strike, as reported by the press, but rather a deliberate attack from a massive alien ship. Even more disconcerting was that the entire Martian atmosphere had immediately been siphoned off, and pumped into the ship's massive storage tanks, only to re-emerge in the form of five distinct anomalies in the direct path of the Earth's orbit. The missing pieces of the puzzle begin to fall into place with the horrific discovery of another stationary mass, nearly twice the size of Earth, lying within our planet's orbital path, forty-four days ahead. It was now painfully obvious that the five earlier encounters were most likely a series of experiments to confirm the Earth's orbital trajectory – and the aliens were preparing for a global-scale strip-mining operation of planet Earth. Further calculations confirm that the Earth would come into contact along the edge of the mass, now designated as the Intruder, and would generate enough force to actually accelerate the rotation of the Earth itself, within an instant, and shatter the bond between the Earth's Crust and Mantle. A think tank comprised of the world's preeminent scientists is brought up to speed to devise a plan to remove the Intruder from the Earth's orbital path. Since the mass is made up of non-flammable elements, it can't be ignited; and since the force of an explosion isn't transferable within the vacuum of space, it's determined that the Intruder will need to be moved by physically pulling it out of the Earth's orbital path – but with what? The scientific community unanimously enlists the aid of the Project Night-Light company to assist in the construction and deployment of an immense 'parachute' to get the job done. Project Night-Light is a private company owned by Sarah Jennings and John Cooper. Their mission statement: To deploy an immense mirror in high-Earth-orbit, to reflect the sun's rays deep into the sea 24/7 to accelerate the growth or undersea vegetation and defeat world hunger. Already introduced with a first-hand glimpse of the devastation the Intruder is capable of; having been assaulted in space, only moments after the disintegration of the Moon, the Night-Light crew is well versed in weightless construction techniques, plus their ship, the Aurora is outfitted for the quick transfer and assembly of their mirror material. Then there's Sarah Jennings, Night-Light's mission commander, who was temporarily blinded by a freak accident that exposed her eyes to direct sunlight, filtered through a specimen of the Intruder, leaving her with the acute ability to detect even the smallest fragments of the Intruder, which remains invisible to others. Tooling up to speed with worldwide government support, Project Night-Light's 'parachute' is soon ready for deployment. Comprised of a grid made from the mirror material and augmented with hundreds of force-field generators, the mission will utilize the Salvation One – a colossal ship, originally designed for the colonization of Mars, as the base of operations. By the time the grid is completed, only twenty-one days remain before 'First Contact' with the Intruder. The 'parachute' design performs just as expected, but the process is slower that first calculated. With only nine days remaining, a second, smaller grid is constructed to pick up the pace. With the procedure progressing only slightly behind schedule, and a mere six days remaining, the entire armada is attacked, destroying or disabling the remainder of the fleet – well before the mission can be accomplished. With a mere fifty-five percent of the Intruder relocated, the Earth grazes the edge of the mass, resulting in their projected worst-case scenario. Simultaneously, within a three minute period, the Earth’s rotation is accelerated eastward by nearly ten percent. Buildings are obliterated worldwide. Their fragmented remains strewn for miles as their foundations are ripped out from under them. Oceans, lakes and rivers simultaneously shift to the west, in the form of great tsunamis. East Coast cities worldwide are assaulted by unfathomable tidal waves, disbursing even the mightiest structures within seconds. West Coast cities are instantly toppled onto the barren floor of their formerly water-covered coastal reefs. With barely enough time to form a consensus on how to rebuild, the unimaginable occurs with the discovery of a second Intruder, lying sixty-one days ahead. Unlike the first Intruder's cylindrical shape and offset positioning, Intruder Two is a near perfect sphere, fifteen thousand miles in diameter and placed dead center, on the Earth's orbital path, designed to peel the planet's crust completely off – right down to the Mantle. Because of its size, it's decided that a tunnel will be bored through it, large enough for Earth, instead of attempting to relocate the mass. Hopefully, its cohesiveness will work to their benefit – like a snowplow; with each pass shoving the mass farther out from the center of the tunnel. With thirty-nine days remaining before 'Final Contact', the tunneling process begins. It continues without serious mishap until T-minus twelve hours and counting, when an automated alarm is triggered by a series of incoming projectiles, emanating from deep space. The majority of the fleet is quickly taken out or disabled with a barrage of smaller fragments, followed by a massive stone, slamming into the side of the Salvation One, nearly severing the ship in half. As the alien ship approaches the opening of the tunnel the Earth can be clearly seen in the distance, while the crew of the disabled Salvation One can only wait and watch. Surmising that the alien ship's colossal storage tanks remain filled with enough of the Mars atmosphere to refill the tunnel, tensions rise to a panic level. Their only hope of stopping the alien vessel's approach is the Salvation One's laser cannon. Positioned near the rear of the main ship's hull, it remains out of reach and most likely damaged beyond repair, but Sarah is hoisted into the ship's aft ventilation network in a last-ditch effort to thwart the alien's plans. Soon after she's hoisted into the ductwork, all communications are severed. Within the observation deck, every crew member on the Salvation One is intently focused on the alien ship as it slowly comes about in their direction. Swinging over thirty degrees starboard, several blasts from the alien ship's retros line it up perfectly with the Salvation One. With nearly all hope expired, there is a deafening 'BOOM' accompanied with a decisive jolt from the aft section of the Salvation One, as a red, glowing ball of fire streaks toward the alien ship. The crew watches as the laser cannon’s projectile closes in on the alien ship. It's a direct hit, sending fiery fragments of the ship in every direction! Pushing through a layer of dense smoke, the alien ship is building speed as it prepares to ram the Salvation One, when a second red projectile streaks from the Salvation One, violently piercing the nose of the port side pressure tank, resulting in a catastrophic decompression of an epic magnitude. Spinning violently rearward, amidst another series of explosions, the alien vessel quickly fades into the distance, leaving only a faint trail of smoke behind. Back at the ship's massive observation window, the Earth can be seen as it converges on Intruder Two. There are sporadic outbreaks of flames as it enters the tunnel. The sporadic contacts continue as the Earth barrels its way through the mass and soon returns, mostly unscathed, back into the welcome void of unrestricted space. Once the Salvation One's systems have become stabilized, John and Sarah retire to their quarters. They have an unencumbered view of the Earth as it gently fades into the star-filled tapestry of space – when suddenly – rising rapidly into view – the alien ship is back – and only feet away from the Salvation One – and this time, without its massive storage tanks! Caught completely off guard, Sarah momentarily locks eyes with the alien ship's captain. Alarms sound ship-wide as the life support and artificial gravity systems shut down. Sarah shouts for everyone to pile into the Aurora – still linked to the Salvation One's gangway. The alien ship stealthy passes by the side of the Aurora, with dozens of probing search lights homed in on their position. The moment the aliens pass the ship, Sarah fires all four engines simultaneously, and they're off – but only for a split second. The alien ship has clamped onto the Aurora's remaining tail fin, and is reeling them in! Sarah fires every starboard retro, then alternates to the port side retros and back again, creating a powerful motion that severs the entrapped fin. Breaking free from the alien ship's grip, Sarah full-throttles all four main engines and heads for open space. While strapping in, Sarah shouts a command to the computer , then wiggles the joystick from side to side to verify that she has control. Several pieces of stone and debris shoot past the port side of the Aurora as Sarah banks hard to starboard. A loud bang at the rear of the ship puts the Aurora into a slide, but Sarah quickly recovers. With their attackers closing the gap, Sarah yanks the joystick completely back, sending the Aurora streaming upward and the entire crew to the floor. She then rolls hard port, then hard starboard, to no avail. She can't shake them. Midway through a hairpin turn, she catches a glimpse of the nearly invisible mass that had been dredged from Intruder Two. Sliding into another tight, 180-degree turn, Sarah fires everything the Aurora can muster, engaging every propulsion system on the ship and speeds up to maximum velocity. She makes a few minor course corrections to line the Aurora up with the nearly invisible mass – as close to perpendicular as possible. Still at full-throttle, she checks her rear-view screen, then throttles down momentarily, allowing the alien ship to close the gap. It nearly collides with the rear of the Aurora. Relying on her acute ability to accurately detect the outline of the Intruder, Sarah again throttles up to full power, heading straight for the dredged mass. Pausing only for a moment, Sarah jams the joystick to the rear, nearly ripping it out of the console. The Aurora shoots upward, barely grazing the outer edge of the mass, while causing the Aurora's entire crew to blackout from the extreme G-forces With no time to change course, the alien ship plows directly into the mass at maximum velocity. The alien craft's outer hull begins to glow red, then yellow, as it plunges deeper into the mass. Small fragments begin to break away from the craft, followed by its engines and remaining claw. Moments later it disintegrates in a shower of sparks, flames and debris. Sarah wakes, momentarily disoriented, then snaps to full consciousness. Frantically hunting for the alien ship, she homes in on hundreds of fragments streaking through the mass. She gives a little sigh and smiles confidently. The rest of the crew makes their way to the cockpit. Sarah points out the glowing fragments within the mass. The crew members gaze out into space for a moment of quiet reflection. The Aurora is floating motionless in space, nearly a hundred miles from the crippled Salvation One. Soon a squadron will arrive with food, supplies, medics and technicians. The Salvation One's hull will be repaired and life support reinstated, to serve as the crew member's home for an entire year – until the Earth returns on its next orbit. LED flares, placed around and through the Intruder will continue for a thousand years, to serve as warning buoys for passing space travelers. Friction is also available on Amazon as a 180-page graphic novel.