Chapter Ten ~ The BIG Plan

Rob gathered everyone together that evening in the rec room. He wanted to talk about the things he had been able to find out with Joe's help.

"It was a stroke of incredible luck that we could get into the military's computers," he began. "I was able to get information that otherwise we would never have access to. Because we humans are doing most of the 'selling, monitoring and distributing of the merchandise' (their words not mine), it was important that the military know their way around the station and have a basic understanding of how it works in case of emergency. So there are detailed layouts and plans for most of the decks. Including ducting, pipes and electrical conduits, etc. I'm not an engineer so I don't know how we can take advantage of this information but I've downloaded all the information onto our computers here and everyone is encouraged to look at it and see if any of us can figure something out that may put a stop to what's going on up there. "

"Oh, I can't wait to see it," Jilly said enthusiastically. "I'll have some great ideas!"

Lucas started to say something but Carolyn put her finger up to her lips and shook her head back and forth. "We'll take all the ideas we can get," she said. Lucas pursed his lips and leaned back in his chair.

"I've got a background in structural engineering as well as computers so I might be able to shed light on some weaknesses if they even have any." Ethan offered.

"Absolutely anything and everything will be taken under consideration," Rob said. "I'm not good at planning but I can try to get any information in addition to this if needed."

"I think we should all take some time tonight to relax and take some time to look at the info Rob got for us and then we can get together tomorrow morning and brainstorm." Frankie suggested. "I am good at planning so if we can get some ideas going, then I can put together a step by step outline to get us towards our objective of stopping this atrocity."

Everyone agreed so they broke up into groups. Frankie, Rob, and Sylvia went to eat and Carolyn went with the brothers to look at the plans, while Lucas, Jilly, and Pat hung back in the rec room talking.

 "So," Jilly said to Pat "So, you know, I was wondering, are you a girl or a guy?"

 Lucas smacked her in the arm and then buried his face in his palms. "Geez, you don't ask someone that" his voice was muffled through his hands. Then he looked up at Pat "I'm so sorry. We potty trained her with no problem but haven't been able to fix her mouth."

Pat laughed out loud. "It's Ok. I am a girl. And I'm not bothered in the least. I appreciate it when people are straightforward. It's refreshing."

Jilly smacked Lucas back. "See? I'm appreciated! AND refreshing."

Lucas shook his head while rubbing his arm "There's no accounting for taste I guess."

                                   ****

Most everyone was up early and eager to get started. Jilly was the only one still asleep but even though they knew she would be upset if they started without her, they grabbed some breakfast and met up in one of the conference rooms where Ethan had drawn a simple, yet detailed picture of the station on the whiteboard.

After they all got seated and worked out room on the table for all the dishes of food they had each brought with them, Ethan started explaining his drawing.

"I've got a basic layout of the station here," he said "The uppermost level, I'm calling deck 1, appears to be the command station or bridge." He pointed to it with a long wooden stick he had found leaning up against the wall. "Below that, we have decks 2, 3, and 4. On the left side (from this point of view) there seem to be crew quarters while the same decks on the right side are main engineering. Decks 5 and 6 look to be offices and the lower decks 7 through 10 are for storage along each side and the middle is one large open area (3 decks high) which is apparently where Carolyn and Lucas docked in the hangar bay.

There are two elevators that service the bridge. One comes from the engineering area here," Ethan pointed with the stick, "and the other from deck 5 near the offices here. There are four elevators directly off the hangar bay that access all other levels in this hallway here and again, on the other side here." He tapped on each location.

"There are stairwells between each level that appear to be marked for emergency use only. I presume they are locked at all other times.
This area all the way on the right hand side of level 10 is where the affected are being kept. There are 3 very large rooms connected by double doorways so it looks like they can be closed up or sectioned off depending on their needs. All of the hallways coming away from that area lead back to the hanger bay so it's hard to get lost.
That's pretty much all I can tell you about the layout but it does give you an idea of how the place is set up. Now I will turn over the floor to Kyle who will tell you about the systems that keep the place running."

Everyone clapped and Ethan blushed profusely as he made his way to his seat. He grabbed an individually wrapped package of cookies and pretended to be overly interested in figuring out how to get them open. Kyle came up to the front, picked up the stick Ethan had left on the table, and pointed to the engineering section.

"This is where almost everything is routed from and to" he explained. "There are ducts and piping everywhere delivering oxygen, water, electricity, and any number of other things that I'm not fully sure of.

 The entire thing is a giant pressurized can with artificial gravity. None of us have even the first idea of how they are creating that but that doesn't hold a candle to how they move through space. No matter how much information I can get through looking at the diagrams and schematics that Rob got a hold of, I cannot even begin to understand the science behind either of those things.

 But fortunately, we don't have to understand how they do that stuff. What we need to do on the other hand is to figure out what we want to do to stop them. That will help us make a more educated decision about the systems we need to learn more about." He looked around the room hoping someone had suggestions.

Mostly all he saw were perplexed faces looking back at him.

 "What we want to do may not line up with what we can do," Frankie said at last. "Do we want to blow them out of the sky or simply drive them away?"

"Blow them out of the sky," Jilly said as she came into the room. "And why didn't anyone wake me up?"

"You were snoring and I didn't have the heart to disturb you," Lucas said.

"I do not snore!" She said sliding into a chair next to Pat.

"You just keep telling yourself that."

"Getting back to the matter at hand" Carolyn spoke up from the end of the table giving both of them the side-eye. "What DO we want to do? We have to decide that before we continue because it's going to dictate our course of action."

"I think we need to figure out what we CAN do then we can modify that into what we want to do," Frankie said.

Everyone was nodding.

"Well we can't blow the place up," Carolyn said. "At least from the outside. We don't have access to any ships with weapons capable of that. Not that we could fly all the way to the moon anyway. And if we blew it up from the inside, we'd blow up with it."

"Not if we got off before it exploded." Jilly pointed out.

"Exploding the entire station would take everybody left on board with it. How would we get all the affected off? The whole point of this is to save them. And are we OK with killing who knows how many aliens?" Rob asked

"I am," Jilly said, "They don't care about us."

"But that makes us as bad as them. I don't feel good about intentionally killing anyone even if they aren't from our planet," Rob said.

"I agree," Pat said and everyone turned to look because this was the first time she had spoken up in a group.

"Me too," said Frankie. "I've done enough things that resulted in the deaths of enemies and even when it was me or them, I never felt good about it. I think we should start this whole thing with the objective of disabling them without killing."

"But what happens when we disable the entire station?" Carolyn asked "What do the aliens do, just hang out behind the moon until they run out of supplies and die of starvation? Or maybe they will have called for reinforcements and when backup arrives, instead of just taking some of us for slaves they blow the entire planet to kingdom come in retribution?"

Silence. No one had an answer. Jilly sat up and opened her mouth to say something, realized she didn't have any ideas and leaned back with her arms crossed.

"This is exactly why we are sitting here brainstorming," Frankie said. "Because someone is always going to see an angle that no one else does."

"But what if we do blow them out of the sky?" Lucas asked. "Maybe others would come and blow us away in return like Carolyn said."

"At least we have taken some of them out" Sylvia piped up. "At this point, I really don't feel bad. It would be like we are saving other planets as well because when they are done here they are just going to do this someplace else. Maybe if enough places they go to fight back they may rethink what they are doing, or at least make it harder for them. I vote that we go for doing as much damage as possible."

"ME too!" Jilly said

 Rob looked extremely pained. "I hate violence," he said, his brows knitted together. "but maybe Sylvia is right. And I don't mean that just because I want to agree with her. Maybe if we show some sort of real force they will think twice about ever coming back here again and if we get rid of this ship, it can never do this to anyone else. So if we think about it like we're saving others maybe that would help."

"But we're right back to how we're supposed to do that," Lucas said. "Even if we figure out how to blow the place up, how are we supposed to get ourselves, not to mention all the affected, out of there before we go boom with it?"

"Maybe we blow it up slowly," Jilly said.

Everyone turned to look at her. "How do you blow something up slowly?" Lucas asked

"Well, I don't mean the explosion happens slowly like in slow motion on a TV show, I mean you build up to it. We start by doing something bad that makes one small thing stop working. Then the mechanics, or whoever, go to try to fix that, and then we do something else that breaks another thing they have to fix and we keep doing that until enough things are broken that they can't fix them all and they realize the whole thing is going to blow up soon so they evacuate and don't die but the ship is destroyed and in the meantime, we save the affected when they are too busy to notice us."

Just as Lucas was about to say that was the dumbest thing he had ever heard, Frankie started shaking her finger. "Now wait a minute," she said. "Now that doesn't sound too far-fetched. As a matter of fact, I think that's a really good idea. I mean it needs a lot of refining, but I think the basic idea is sound."

Kyle was practically standing up in his chair. "Yes, yes that sounds like something we can do. Little things that aren't noticed until they create bigger problems and if you have enough of them go wrong at once it could create a cascade failure. It will take some planning and figuring, but maybe we can work it out."

"Jilly, I think you're really onto something. We will have to be very meticulous about it so we not only don't get caught but so we can get out of there safely and take any of the affected with us." Frankie was pacing back and forth. "But this might be the very thing we need."

Jilly looked shocked that her idea was so well received. And even blushed a little while she was trying not to smile too widely.

"Now it won't be easy," Kyle said, "but I think we might be able to figure something out."

"Joe says he wants to help with whatever we are going to do," Rob said. "He feels like he can't do anything where he's at because everyone there is afraid to even leave the compound where they're staying. But he doesn't have any way to get to us. They only have one vehicle so he can't take that. I was thinking Sylvia and I could drive out and pick him up. He's about 100 miles west of here. We could get out and back in about half a day. We would do well to have another able-bodied military guy if we are really going to try to do this whole crazy plan."

"That sounds like a good idea," Frankie said "You can take one of the smaller trucks. It will be faster and probably easier for you to drive."

"I'll go contact him now," Rob said "And if he's OK with it, we'll leave as soon as we can."

"I'll have George load you up a couple of guns and supplies that you might need"

"Ugh guns" he grimaced "but I guess it would be prudent" He headed out and down the hall with Sylvia tagging along next to him, hoping he wasn't making a mistake.

"Ethan and I will go back through the station schematics and see what we can come up with that will work. I've already got a couple of ideas that I think might be exactly what we need." Kyle said

"I have faith in both of you," Frankie told them as they headed out to the computer room. "Now, Carolyn and Lucas, the two of you will be in charge of the plan for getting whoever is going to implement this whole thing back onto the station since you've been there and have a better idea of what will work."

"We'll give it our best shot," Carolyn said, "We're going to have to decide who's going to do what, and that will help figure out how we're going to get each person up there."

"I swear if I had a choice. it wouldn't be me" said Lucas. "I've had enough of alien spaceships for a lifetime."

"I hear ya" Carolyn agreed.

                                    ****

As promised, Frankie had a small truck set up and ready to go and pick up Joe. He had been extremely enthusiastic and certain he could be of help and he was tired of hiding.

Rob and Sylvia pulled out of the compound about 10 AM and headed south. The sky was a brilliant blue and when they hit the highway they rolled down the windows and let the warm air blow across their faces.

"I wish we could just drive forever," Sylvia said. "No cares. No worries. Just you and me on the highway. Maybe stopping every so often to have a picnic or take a walk along the river." She watched the world fly by outside the window.

"Maybe that will happen if we can make this thing work. Maybe life will get back to normal again. We have to keep hoping and staying positive because at this point that's all we've got," Rob said.  

"That's true. And if it weren't for all of this, I never would have met you," she reached out and touched his arm. He felt his stomach flip flop and he gripped the wheel to make sure he didn't drive straight off the road.  

 "See, there is always a way to find something good in every situation." He couldn't believe he was feeling good in the middle of all this but he wasn't going to question it.    
 
They drove along in silence for the next few miles, both lost in thought.
"What were you doing before all this happened?" Rob finally asked.
"You mean my job?"
"Yeah. And other parts of your life too."
"I was a professor at Jamison University. I've got a doctorate in social psychology with an emphasis on how computers affect relationships and daily life. That's why Frankie sent me into the computer lab and also why I didn't have a clue as to how to get anything done." She laughed. Rob's stomach got all fluttery again.
"Where were you when this all started?"
"I was having lunch on the patio of one of the little cafes on campus. I heard this awful noise and looked up and there were the ships directly overhead. They just seemed to appear out of nowhere. People were screaming and running. My girlfriend who was with me tried to get up but got tangled in her chair and fell over. She struggled to her feet, fell back down again, then managed to figure it out and took off running. I remember just sitting there staring after her laughing. I think I was in shock."
"I seem to remember that same feeling."
"I picked up my purse and just walked back to my classroom.
 I don't know how I was so calm. I gathered my computer, my jacket, and backpack and walked the mile or so to my apartment and just went inside, locked the door, turned on the TV, and sat on the couch hoping it was going to tell me it was all some stupid prank."
"I was at work and went home and hid in my basement" Rob admitted.
"That was probably smart. My apartment is on the fifth floor so if the aliens were going to start shooting things up, being up in the air was a stupid choice."
"I only had a choice of the first floor or the basement. And when the siren went off I didn't see any of the affected because I was underground with the windows boarded up, so I didn't even know what was happening for days when I finally started to run out of food and had to leave the house. I had no idea what had happened until I met Luke and Jilly and they told me about it and then I didn't believe it until I actually saw the affected in person."
"After that first alarm went off, I heard people in the hallway and I cracked open the door only to see my neighbors wandering down the hall towards the stairs. I tried to talk to them, but as you know they completely ignored me. I reached out to Mrs. Landers, the old widow down the hall and she just pulled her arm away and kept going. That's when my false sense of calm left me completely. I ran back into my apartment, slammed that door so hard I knocked a picture off the wall. I ran around the apartment looking for my cat, Felix. I found him hiding behind the TV cabinet, scooped him up, ran into my bedroom and slammed THAT door and pushed a table in front of it. When my heart calmed down enough for me to think, I went to the balcony and looked out and I saw hundreds of people all walking together. I guess they were going downtown. I stayed in my apartment, scared to death, for a couple of days. I sat on the bed, holding Felix, scrolling through the TV channels hoping I was going to find some sort of broadcast about what to do, where to go. Some clue as to what was happening but only the streaming channels were working so I watched old reruns of I Love Lucy until I realized I was going to starve to death if I didn't go out and find some food."
"How did you find Frankie?"
"I was in the local grocery store, which had already been ransacked so I knew there were still some people who didn't go all zombie when I ran into Ethan in the canned vegetable aisle. I think I nearly scared him to death because he screamed and when he tried to run away he slipped on some cans and fell onto a pile of Top Ramen which in retrospect probably helped break his fall. Kyle came running around the corner waving a large shovel until he saw me laughing. It was all kind of silly I guess."
Rob nodded. "I had something similar happen except it was in a church."
Sylvia raised an eyebrow. "A church?"
"A story for another time. You were telling me how you found Frankie."
"Oh yeah. Well once Kyle realized I wasn't a threat, we got to talking and he was telling me about these signs they had been following and asked if I wanted to come along with them. Since I didn't have anyplace else to go I figured why not. We went back to my apartment, got Felix and I packed a bag and we headed out together. It took us at least three cars, and another week to eventually make it to the compound. We had to dodge guys with guns and be creative about where we slept but we were very happy we ended up there. We finally felt safe. Well as safe as possible given the circumstances.”
"I know what you mean. About all of it. When my group was trying to get to Frankie's we ran into some guys with guns who tried to rob us. Somehow we got away but it was the second scariest thing that's ever happened to me. After the whole alien thing."
Sylvia laughed and Rob's stomach fluttered some more. He wondered if he was going to be able to get them where they were going if this kept happening.
"Hey look," Sylvia said, pointing in the distance. There's the barn that's painted green just like Joe said. We're almost there."  
Rob turned left onto a road that used to be flanked by growing fields but now were just overgrown weeds that were taller than the truck. "He said it was about a mile down this road, and we should look for a red mailbox with the number 65 on it, on the left-hand side."    
Sylvia leaned forward and squinted to more carefully look for the mailbox among the tall weeds. Rob slowed to a crawl trying to look and drive without hitting potholes.
Just as they were approaching the mile mark, Sylvia called out
"There it is! And you can just see the driveway."   
Rob turned left directly beyond the mailbox and started down the long dusty driveway. He sounded the horn 3 short times like Joe had asked so everyone would know it was them and not some stranger heading their way.       
A quarter-mile in and suddenly the weeds were gone and they turned into a large open area bordered by a two-story clapboard house on one side and a large faded red barn and some outer buildings on the other.
Joe emerged from the house waving, smiling from ear to ear. He was quite tall, with white-blond hair and piercing blue eyes. He got to the truck as they parked and got out and clasped Rob's outstretched hand with both of his. "You must be Rob. Thank you so much for coming. And you are Sylvia!" He rounded the truck and took her hand and pumped it up and down. "I'm excited to be able to help you with anything I can do."
"You've already helped us more than you can imagine," Rob said. "Getting the station schematics is helping us formulate a plan that we wouldn't be able to do without them."
"I've got some good ideas that we may be able to implement. We can talk about them on our way back" He ran up to the porch and grabbed a small duffel bag and ran back to the truck. "I'm ready when you are!"
"I guess we won't meet any of your housemates?" Sylvia asked. There had been several sets of eyes watching them from behind the upstairs window curtains until she saw them and waved. The curtains closed with such force that they were still swaying back and forth when she glanced back up.
"Oh," Joe said, smiling and laughing a little. "The people here aren't exactly open to outsiders. I'm lucky they let me in. They're a good bunch but older and scared to death."
"Will they be OK if you're gone?" Rob asked
"Oh, they'll be fine. They are armed to the teeth and the owner of the place who walked off with the rest of the affected, was a survivalist (at least near as I can tell) so they have more food and supplies than they can eat in a year. They probably would never use the car" he nodded to an older model sedan parked near one of the corrals "but I still didn't think I should take it just in case."
"That's kind of you," Sylvia said.
"Well, you gotta look out for other people. It's been my motto."
"Wish more people thought like you," she said with a sigh. "I'll hop in back since my legs are shorter and you boys can talk upfront."
"Oh, you don't have to do that," Joe said, starting for the back seat.
Sylvia beat him to it. "Oh yes, I do. I plan on stretching out and taking a nice nap." She hopped in and closed the door.
"You can't change her mind once it's been made up," Rob said
"Got it. I guess we can throw around some ideas."
"Sounds like a plan. And we're going to need some good ones."