e-Ghosts of Rogue Planet

Chapter 19

I was sitting at the command station when it came in.

“Ryan, I have a COM request from the alien vessel.”

“Put it on, COMA.”

The alien’s image appeared to be identical, and I assumed that it was the same individual.

“We have analyzed your data and have obtained a connection to the main element.”

I assumed that he meant that they had hacked into their system and were able to download programming.

“That’s . . . that is helpful. Can we initiate a process to send us back?”

“We have completed that operation.”

I felt my heart rate go up. I had to struggle to remain calm.”

“When will the operation take place?”

“We are not certain.”

“You had better retreat from this location,” I said. “You might be sucked into the . . . anomaly event.”

“We are leaving this space.”

“Could you explain how you were able to change their programming?”

“We will send you the location to attack the system.”

I swallowed hard. “Thank you.” I’m not sure they understood what I meant by that, but I couldn’t think of anything else.

“Ryan, the alien vessel is moving away.”

“Listen, COMA, I want you to make sure the engines are ready to fire when we arrive at our home system. I don’t want to end up being stuck around this rogue planet.”

“I understand, Ryan.”

“What’s happening?” James said as he approached the command station. He cast a curious eye at what I was looking at on the screen. “What is that?”

“The aliens hacked the e-ghost system and have set in motion our return.”

“No kidding! How’d they do that?”

“That’s what I’m trying to figure out. They claim that the indicated spot near a central nexus is where they managed to get at the programming.”

Alisha and Marie showed up.

“The alien claimed that they hacked into the e-ghost system and we should be returning to our solar system soon.”

“Even if that’s true,” Marie said. “What’s to keep them from sending us back here.”

“I instructed COMA to be ready to fire the engines the instant we get back.”

“Where did the alien craft go?” Alisha asked.

“They boogied on out of here.” I gestured at what was being displayed on the screen. “This is how they supposedly hacked into the e-ghost system.”

Alisha bent forward to get a better look. “They must have used a laser beam to disrupt the optical signal passing through the indicated spot on the cable that leads to a nodal point.”

“They called it a nexus,” I said. “Or, that’s what their translator called it.”

She turned to look at me. “They didn’t indicate what kind of a laser they used to do this, did they?”

“Not specifically, but if you look closely, they made some sort of a marking on the location of where they hacked into the system.”

Alisha rose up in her seat to get a closer look. “Interesting. That looks like the atomic number of cadmium.”

“How did you get that?” I asked. “It looks like a bunch of dots.”

“Yes, but the dots are grouped. There are four in the left group and eight in the right group. That’s forty eight, the atomic number for cadmium.”

“Okay, so let’s go with that. What does that mean?”

“If you notice there is a group of two dots above the cadmium groups. That would be the atomic number for helium. A helium-cadmium mix is used to create a blue laser light.”

“Are you suggesting that they used a helium-cadmium gas laser to hack into the e-ghost system?”

“That’s what I believe,” Alisha said.

“COMA, do we have a helium-cadmium laser on board?”

“No Ryan, but the plasma-pumped space debris blasters use the same 325 nano-meter wavelength.”

My lips twisted into a confident grin. “Oh COMA, you are a dear.”

“I don’t know what that means, Ryan.”

“That’s okay, COMA. You’ve just given us a weapon to destroy the e-ghost system.” I rubbed my face. “Assuming we get the chance.”

“Why would the debris blasters use that specific wavelength?” James asked.

“It’s in the blue part of the spectrum, which is more energetic than higher wavelengths. My guess is that it may be at the right wavelength to cause organic material in space rocks to heat up rapidly.”

“Ryan, I am detecting a sudden increase in energy.”

“That means we’re going home,” I said.

We hoped and prayed that the aliens had made the e-ghost system take us back to our home system. If it didn’t we would be essentially lost in space and probably prisoners of the e-ghosts