The Altered Moon by James McGettigan

Author:James McGettigan [McGettigan, James]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-06-19T04:00:00+00:00

Shortly after we regrouped with the rest of the squadron, the doors to the conference room opened and the Diramal emerged. “Gentlemen, ladies, if you will all please enter my office for the briefing.”

We all gathered in his office. He had an odd smile on his face, and if my neuro-chip hadn’t suggested otherwise, I would have even said the expression was devious. Now that I think back on it, perhaps he was hiding something, and fear would be as good a guess as any.

But then there was something else about the Diramal’s expression that felt . . . stimulating. At the subtle curvature of his lips, suddenly my mind fluttered with thoughts of praise, holding the Diramal in a greater prestige than I would normally care to. There was something about his aura that made me feel abnormally trusting. Though all these things were random, it didn’t occur to me in that immediate moment. Something suppressed my dubiousness, deep inside of me, but the feeling to ignore it was stronger.

“Gather around, I want to make sure everyone can see what I have to present,” the Diramal said pleasantly.

We all positioned ourselves around a flat, reflective table in the shape of an oval.

“Good,” he began.

The lights in the room dimmed and a hologram appeared above the reflective table, presenting Galiza and the alien ship upon Anua. Purple waves moved quickly from Anua to Galiza and back. All but my father gasped at the sight of it, he merely widened his eyes and tightened his jaw.

“Precisely the reaction I anticipated from you all,” the Diramal continued. “What you are all seeing here is a gravitational field being produced by the alien craft. From what our best aerospace engineers tell me, the amplified gravitational field is five times stronger than our normal gravitational field between the moon and Galiza. If the ship was not producing this field, then naturally, since the body of the craft is so large, our normal field would fail and natural disasters occur across the planet. Given the position of this massive ship, a head-on collision between Galiza and our moon is highly certain should this flow of artificial gravity fail. So, if these beings had any desire to harm us, the presence of their own craft would be enough to wipe out humanity and potentially Galiza itself. Which should hopefully ease some of the thoughts that may be rattling through your minds.”

I shifted as I stood intrigued by the Diramal’s words.

“The mission you are all about to undertake is considered highly classified. For the sake of time, you will be given access to the CX-17.”

The Diramal swiped at the hologram and in place of Anua and Galiza, the CX-17 was displayed. A ship with a similar design, only smoother looking, compared to the CX-16. It had a large horizontal tube at its center with two cylindrical wings on either side and at the front of both wings were two cone-shaped rail guns.

“A far more advanced craft, fit with an MHD accelerator.

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