Battleship

He started to nod but then quickly shook his head. “Not me. Them. Others. I mean, yes, I work for the Project, but I tried to tell them this could happen. The program really just hoped that if we ever made contact, they were going to be…”

“Nice?” said Mick.

Zapata nodded.

“Yeah, well,” and he nodded toward the remains of the police officers. “They’re not.”

Understatement of the year, thought Sam.

USS JOHN PAUL JONES

Hopper had managed to pick up some of the damage he’d inflicted on his quarters. Now he lay on his bunk, staring at a photograph of himself and his brother. The picture was intact, but there was a crack in the glass. The crack ran lengthwise and divided the two brothers from each other. Not too damned symbolic.

There was a knock at the door and it swung open before Hopper even had the chance to signal that whoever it was could enter. Beast loomed in the entranceway, and Hopper could tell from the all-business expression on his face that he wasn’t there to inquire after Hopper’s health.

“Sir, we need you.”

Hopper didn’t respond at first. Then, his voice low and heavy, he spoke—not to Beast, but to his brother’s image in the picture. “I can’t do this.”

“We need you, sir,” Beast repeated, as if Hopper hadn’t spoken, or even heard him.

This time he looked straight at Beast. “I. Can’t.”

“If you can’t, who can, sir?”

Hopper propped himself up on his elbows. “What the hell’s so important? What do you need me for?”

“We’ve pulled one out of the water. During the Myoko rescue—”

“What are you talking about? I thought we pulled all of them out of—” He stopped as he realized what Beast was talking about. His hands started to tremble. Immediately he sat fully upright. “One of… them?” Beast nodded. “But… how—?”

“Judging by the bullet holes in its armor, I’m pretty sure it’s the one that Raikes shot to hell.”

“But if that’s the case, why isn’t it just lying at the bottom of the ocean?”

“Best guess: some sort of internal buoyancy device in the armor.”

“And how would that work?”

“I don’t know. But I thought you’d want to be there when we dissect the bastard and find out.”

Damned right I want to be there. This is the one small triumph we have over those creatures, and I want to be there for every second of it.

“Where is it?”

“Helicopter bay.”

Hopper gave one more determined look at the picture of Stone and him. “We killed one of them,” he said grimly. “And if we did that, we can kill all of them. Let’s go.”

Minutes later Hopper entered the helicopter bay. Raikes, Ord, and various crewmen from both ships were gathered around a table upon which a dead alien warrior was lying. Nearest to it was Nagata, who was staring down at it with cold fury. He looked ready to rip the thing apart with his bare hands. All eyes went to Hopper as he entered.

They were waiting for me. Of course they waited for me. I’m the commanding officer. He was still having trouble thinking of himself in that capacity. “Let’s have a look at it,” he said briskly.

Ord said nervously, “You’re gonna touch it? Maybe it’s radioactive or something…”

“Running a Geiger counter over it was the first thing we did when we brought it on board,” said Beast.

“Okay, but maybe it’s got some kind of alien virus or something.”

“No one’s putting a gun to your head to make you be here,” Raikes said to Ord with obvious annoyance.

“It’s first contact, Raikes. It’s freaking history. Where else would I be?”

“Hiding under your bunk, swabbing yourself down with Purell?”

“Stow it, both of you,” said Hopper, having no patience for his crew’s banter right then. He looked silently at Nagata, who simply nodded his head, and the two of them got down to business.

It took them several moments to work the helmet free. Finally they managed to turn it counterclockwise and there was a loud click-clack. Taking that as a good sign, they slowly pulled the helmet free. It produced a strange sucking sound and then the creature’s face was exposed. It was even more hideous than when Hopper had seen it from a distance.

He and Nagata looked down at it in bewilderment. Then a burst of liquid from some sort of tube spurted out at the two commanders, hitting them in the face.

“Acid!” Ord cried out. “It’s spitting acid at you!”

“No,” said Hopper, blinking furiously. “Salt water.” A handkerchief was being thrust toward him. He turned and saw that Nagata was holding it, offering it to him. Without a word he took it and wiped the salt water from his face. In retrospect, maybe wearing a pair of goggles might not have been a bad idea.

“Must be some kind of hydration system,” said Beast.

His comment barely registered. They were all dealing with various degrees of shock, and it was easy to understand why. Mankind’s first extended encounter, face-to-face, with an alien life form, and it was happening right on their ship. And it was happening under the most mundane conditions possible. Not with a flying saucer descending into Central Park or perhaps on the front lawn of the White House—with an alien being in a silver lame space suit stepping out and announcing in a stentorian voice, “Take me to your leader.” No, instead it was on a makeshift operating table, like something out of a damned police procedural. CSI: ET. Or maybe SVU: UFO.

Hopper tried to keep his hands from trembling as he turned the head of the alien left, then right. In addition to the blue-green of its face, it had strange markings that he couldn’t even begin to translate, and what looked more than anything like a growth of stalactites coming from its chin. The alien equivalent of a beard? Bone structure extending from its skull? He had no clue.

“My dad used to say they’d come,” said Raikes softly. “Said it his whole life. ‘We ain’t alone. There’s no way.’ He said one day we’re gonna find them or they’re gonna find us.”

“Yeah,” said Ord.

“Know what else he said?” said Raikes.

“What?” said Ord.

“He said, ‘I hope I’m not around when that day comes,’” said Raikes.

“Uh—” Ord paused and then asked innocently, “Did he say anything about you being there and shooting the crap out of it?”

“I’d do it again in a heartbeat. You want a firsthand re-creation of how it went down?”

“Last warning, the both of you,” said Hopper sharply. He turned to Beast. “Give me your flashlight,” he said.

“Gloves,” said Ord urgently. “At least glove up, sir.”

Hopper stopped and turned to him. “Ord, I understand you’re a little freaked out. So I’m going to say this once, nice and patient: Calm the hell down.”

Ord forced a nod. “Roger wilco, Captain. I’m calm. I’m, like, neurosurgeon calm. Buddha calm. Buddha Buddha Buddha.”

“One more word and I’m going to let Raikes shoot you.”

Raikes smiled in anticipation.

Ord promptly shut up.

Beast handed Hopper a Maglite. The reluctant captain leaned in close to the alien’s face, studying it. He