The Return of Hayden

ISS Research Facility: April 15, 3:00 a.m.

"So what do I call you?" Annie says as she opens the door to the incubator where the cloned rat has resided since her conception. The all clear to remove her from the controlled environment had recently been received from Commander Smyth. Because the virus that created her had self-terminated, the quarantine was lifted.

The rat clone responds to Annie's inquiry through telepathy. You may call me ... Myra.

"So you are more like a female version of Kirac then?" Annie questions.

Yes, Kirac is my mate, Myra explains. We foresee a time in the future when we will be together for all time.

"You can really see into the future? What does the future hold for us? Will it be a good outcome?"

We of our mischief can foresee a time when Kirac and I will be united. As for the future of your race, the vision is distorted. The rift the Xzebulien race created in our universe caused cosmic ripples that echoed out into the void and beyond. Now that both our universe and theirs have returned to where they belong it will be some time before the universal quantum matrix affected by these ripples dissipates. At that time, we will be able to see the possible outcome more clearly. There are too many variables to consider.

Cmdr. Patrick Smyth enters the research facility. He approaches Annie, who has Myra on her shoulder.

"Is she ready to go, Annie? I am about to proceed to the dome to participate in the christening ceremony to celebrate the completion of the biosphere, but I need to know what to call her."

"She calls herself Myra, sir. She is looking forward to the event."

Myra jumps onto the commander's shoulder as he approaches her. Commander Smyth then leaves the research facility with Myra's tail wrapped around his neck. "Myra, I like that," Smyth remarks as he proceeds down the corridor to the transport tube. The other rats in the facility begin to brux and boggle, grinding their teeth as their eyes pop in and out of their heads very quickly. Through their telepathic connection with Myra, they will witness the event through her eyes.

A space shuttle is positioned just outside of the dome as visiting groups of high-ranking officials, along with those who reside on the station, congregate inside the biosphere to witness the event through the panels in the dome. The rest of the station's occupants are witnessing the event on the video screens in the common areas. The event is transmitted via satellite for the entire world to see. Commander Smyth joins them with Myra the rat on his right shoulder.

A small object is jettisoned from the nose of the supply shuttle stationed several hundred meters outside the dome's panels. The object is spinning end-over-end as it approaches the outer perimeter of the dome. It is a wine bottle with the label's logo displaying its origins—Earth2. It's the first bottle of wine produced by the winery on the station from the grapes collected in the biosphere's vineyard.

It is also the very first bottle of wine ever produced off world, in space. The picture behind the caption displays the vineyard and the dome's clear panels with the sun's rays shining through them in the background.

The congregation inside the dome witnesses the bottle as it draws nearer to the air lock at the top of the dome. The bottle collides at the top of the dome's airlock hatch and displays a fantastic array of breaking glass. The frozen contents explode into a colorful display of ice crystals and glass shards before they dissipate into the vacuum of space. The congregation applauds after the remarkable display. The same eruption of excitement is heard throughout the station and from around the world upon the completion of the event. After the ceremony, a group of vineyard workers approach the commander with the second bottle ever produced off world and present it to him.

"We present this second bottle of Earth2, representing our thanks and gratitude for the wonderful job you did in protecting and saving this station from certain destruction, sir. We all are forever in your debt."

Commander Smyth accepts the bottle, visibly moved by the offer. "Thank you," he says. "Thank you all for your generous offer and well wishes. I will have a special place to display this in my quarters, but I am not the only one to thank. If it weren't for Myra here ... well, it was a combined effort to save this station. She and her mischief are just as much to thank—in fact, even more so. I offer my sincerest apologies to Myra for attempting to jettison her into space. If I had been successful, then none of us would be here today. Can you ever forgive me, girl?"

The commander faces her as he scratches her behind her ears. Myra begins to brux, and her eyes start to boggle.

You are forgiven, Commander; in fact, we commend your actions. You were merely trying to protect this facility and the lives that reside here. You were simply dealing with the unknown, and you had no idea what the outcome would be. It was natural for you to assume the worst. We had to earn your trust, and we found the means to do so to insure a favorable outcome.

The group of people begins to applaud, louder and louder as the commander proceeds to the transport tube to return to his duties.

April 15, 4:00 a.m.

Shortly after the initial rift collapsed into nothingness, a similar rift appears in another part of space for a brief period. This is caused by the alien moon base exploding into a ball of highly charged plasma energy. As it too begins to collapse into nonexistence, an object appears spinning out of the vortex before it closes. It is a ship. The name on the side of it says USMS Hayden. The red emergency lighting in the interior of the ship goes out and is replaced by normal lighting.

Cmdr. Geordie Benson and Lt. Cmdr. Ian Bishop are sitting in their seats, unconscious. Their breathing is shallow and unsteady. Commander Benson suddenly opens his eyes and gasps for air. He looks over at his copilot Lieutenant Commander Bishop, who is also in a state of unconsciousness. He reaches over and shakes Bishop's shoulder, waking him out of the trance.

"Fascinating, sir," remarks Bishop. "Where did the rift go? And for that matter, where are Earth and the moon?"

"Unknown, Bishop," Commander Benson replies. "At this time, we could be anywhere in the universe—or the multiverse, for that matter. Who knows what we will find in this one. Even if we are in our own, we could be light-years or, dare I say, millions of light-years away from Earth by now. Talk about being lost in space. The rift must have thrown us into another area of space when we entered it. Power systems are back online. I am initiating thrusters to stabilize our flight path, and then I will take a star chart reading to try and figure out where we are."

"How long were we out, sir? That would be a primary point of reference to start."

"According to the ships chronometer, we were only out for a few minutes, Bishop. I can calculate precisely where we came out of the vortex and establish how far we jumped with the star chart reading."

At that moment, the ship's main thrusters come back online, and the stabilizing thrusters flash up to bring the spinning ship back into a normal state of flight.

"I am going to check on the stasis pods to make sure the rest of the crew is secure," Bishop announces.

Bishop releases the support straps from his chair and then proceeds to the back of the cabin to check on the pods. When he gets to the back of the cabin, he checks the physical state of the pods and the crew members who occupy them. A diagnostics check on the stasis computer confirms that the switchover from emergency power back to normal power has been successful for all but one of the pods. Bishop isolates the problem and resets the pod's configuration to ensure the pod is functioning properly. When he is done, he returns to the bridge deck of the cabin.

"The stasis pods are secure, sir," Bishop reports. "I had to reset the configuration on one of them. The problem is fixed, and I am entering it into the ship's log." Bishop straps himself back in when he returns to the copilot's seat.

"Look at this, Bishop. There are Alpha Centauri, Ursa Major, the Big Dipper, and Orion," Benson points out. "The star positioning is not that much different than you would see on Earth. Could it be that we are still in our own solar system? What do you have on sensors, Bishop?"

"I am detecting a planet with two small moons on the port side, sir—bearing 127, mark 216. It is about half the size of Earth and has a red appearance, much like Mars. Could it be?"

Bishop and Benson stare at the sensor screen while the course correction directs them to proceed to the planet.

"It is Mars!" remarks Benson. "How is this possible?"

"As I am somewhat of an expert in quantum mechanics, sir, I have a theory," Bishop says. "When we entered the rift, our ship behaved in much the same way as an electron does, with the ability to jump from orbit to orbit in its nucleus without traversing the space that separates them, only on a much larger scale. Because we were already on our way to Mars when we entered the rift, we simply traversed the space of the orbits that separate Mars and Earth and ended up here when we reentered normal space. The rift we entered ultimately made a momentary opening here for some reason, but where are the aliens themselves? Is this not where they came? Is it possible that the aliens even came from Mars itself? Their civilization may be hidden from prying eyes on Earth in spite of recent Earth probes that explored its surface. This may be why we lost contact with the Genesis."

"I have another theory, Bishop. Perhaps the rift was a one-way gateway. Instead of going into the alternate universe where the aliens reside, entering the void simply threw us to some other part of space in our own solar system. Maybe we simply didn't have the capacity to make the trip. Surely we would have noticed if there was some suspicious activity on or around Mars throughout the mission of the Genesis before, during, and after it landed—unless, of course, these aliens could somehow hide all traces of their existence."

"We could shoot theory after theory throughout eternity, Commander, but we will never really know for sure. Our next priority would be to contact Mission Control to let them know we are all right. Let us see what they can make of this. It will take a few minutes for the messages to transmit back and forth because of our distance from Earth. They are not going to believe where we are, but they will tell us more about what's going on," says Bishop.

"Of course," agrees Benson.

Benson switches on the transmitter to transmit a message.

"Mission Control, this is the Hayden. Do you read me, Mission Control? This is the Hayden. Over."

Several minutes later the message reaches Mission Control in Houston. The operator who receives the message gasps. "Get me the general. I just received a message from the Hayden!"

One of the individuals in the control room picks up a phone to summon the general about the message received.

Benson Residence: April 15, 10:00 a.m.

Commander Benson's wife, Wendy, is doing some housework when the phone rings. She almost misses it over the drone of the vacuum cleaner but hears it just in time and switches off the vacuum before answering the call.

"Hello?" she says. As Wendy hears the news about her husband, she can't help but ask question after question. "What? Are you sure? ... Where are they now? ... How are they? Is everything okay? ... I will be right there. Thank you, General. Thank you so much! I will see you soon."

Wendy's hand trembles as she hangs up the phone, almost missing the cradle. She picks it up again and quickly calls her best friend, Rhonda. The signal is busy, and she tries again. This time, Rhonda answers.

"Rhonda, they found them!" Wendy exclaims. "They are all right; they're alive and well!"

"I know!" says Rhonda. "I just spoke with Gen. Darrin Holden. I am on my way to the base to talk to them. I will see you there."

"I am going to pass by the school to pick up the kids before I go. I am sure they will excuse them for this. I can't wait!" says Wendy.

Wendy quickly puts on her coat and shoes, grabs the keys hanging on a hook by the door, and rushes out to the car. She heads out to the school where her kids are in class. The fraternal twins are in the same classroom in the third grade.

As Wendy is driving to the school, she does not realize how fast she is going. When she sees the stoplight at the corner turn red, she slams on her brakes, sending her vehicle careening through the intersection. Wendy barely misses another vehicle when she passes through, and the other driver lays on his horn.

"Slow down and pay attention!" shouts the other driver as the two vehicles pass each other.

Meanwhile, a police officer in a nearby patrol car witnesses the incident. He immediately turns on his sirens and emergency lights and follows Wendy's car to pull her over for the infraction.

After she's pulled over, the officer approaches Wendy's vehicle, his hand covering the holster containing his gun. He motions for Wendy to roll down her window before speaking.

"Do you know you just ran a red light, miss? You nearly got yourself into a serious accident."

The officer scrutinizes Wendy and then suddenly realizes he'd met her at the memorial when the Hayden had been lost almost two weeks ago. "I know you. You are Wendy Benson. I saw you at the base. I was one of the guard officers that participated in the memorial!" says the officer, smiling.

"I need to get to the base to talk to my husband," says a tearful Wendy. "They found them. They are alive and well. I need to get there."

"Wait here a moment," the officer replies as he takes out his walkie-talkie to contact his superiors. "This is Officer Johnson. I need another patrol car right away. Can you dispatch one immediately? It is urgent."

Dispatch responds, and a second vehicle arrives within minutes.

"We will give you a police escort to your destination, Mrs. Benson. We know where to go."

"I have to go to the school to pick up my kids first; they need to know that their daddy is all right."

"Of course, Mrs. Benson; we know where your kids' school is," the officer responds. "Follow me, and we will get you there as quickly as possible."

"Thank you so much, Officer. You don't know how much this means to me," says a relieved Wendy.

"I can only imagine, ma'am. Just stick close to us, and we will have you there in no time."

The police escort leads Wendy to the front of the school with their lights flashing. There are a number of students looking out of their classroom windows as Wendy gets out of the car to enter the building. Wendy goes to the classroom door where Jodi and Mark are and looks through the window. The teacher sees her and motions with her hand to enter.

"I am here to pick up Jodi and Mark. They found them. They are all right. We need to go down to talk to Geordie and Ian," says Wendy to Miss O'Leary.

Wendy's two children turn to her and exclaim in unison: "They found daddy?!" The kids jump out of their desks and run into Wendy's outstretched arms, hugging her as the rest of the class cheers them on. They quickly leave the class to proceed to the base.

Mission Control

The crowd in the control room huddles around the station where the Hayden message had played out. The operator is just preparing to respond as the general joins the group around the station.

"We read you, Hayden," the operator says. "We read you loud and clear, but tell us something. Just where in the hell are you guys anyway? We thought we lost you several days ago."

A few minutes pass by before the Hayden receives the message. Benson furrows his brows and, with a puzzled look on his face, contemplates his response. "Did you say several days ago? Did I hear you right?" he asks. "It's April 7—a few days after we launched. We entered the rift and came out here into the orbit of Mars as we went through after we left the ISS on the morning of the fifth. Explain!"

Several more minutes pass as the message makes its way to Earth. The group in the control room looks equally as puzzled when they hear the response. The general takes over from the operator in order to explain the situation in detail.

"Commander Benson, this is General Holden. Apparently, you missed a great deal about what happened in the past few days. We lost you on April 7, a few days after you launched; you disappeared without a trace just over a week ago. Evidently, you missed all the action here. It turns out the rift behind the moon was a gateway from an alien race that used it to try and invade our world.

"To tell you the truth, the past few days have been very unusual; I do not know where to start. The rift collapsed a short time ago when the deflector dish from the alien space camp exploded because of some very strange events that helped us. We will try to fill you in as much as possible to answer any more questions you might have.

"It's a complicated series of events that you may need to sit down to hear. The time here, by the way, is April 15, ten forty-five in the morning. What does the chronometer on your ship's computer read? Over."

Several minutes pass before Benson receives the message. Bishop, who is listening nearby, is busy checking the ship's systems and controls for damage and stability.

"Bishop, what does the chronometer read on the ship's computer?" Benson asks.