ALIENS: VOYAGE IN TIME  

Chapter Two

       The year: October 12, 1850. The place: hundred yards off the coast of Florida.

       The sky above the warm October waters begins to crackle, spit, and open. Spilling out from the widening hole in the sky are five ghastly aliens. Pitch-black creatures with thick horns peaking from their humping spines, their heads gargantuan. Splashing into the water, the aliens begin to tread ocean with their long wing-like fins.  The largest one---possibly the King – lifts its head above the waves around it and opens its mouth. A thick long tube sporting serpentine teeth exits, white slime oozing off it as it extends. The King, spotting the coastline ahead of it, anxiously moves toward the beach. And so, like drones to a queen bee,  the other aliens  follow him.

Entry file number 175.4: The Cornerstone has somehow been torn from the ocean’s depths, and sucked into the sky.  Possibly by an electromagnetic beam. The origin of this beam is still in question.

        None of my Marines were hurt  during this strange ordeal.  However some did develop  sour stomachs and a few head aches, but nothing permanent.

        The even stranger thing now is that this beam, that had sucked us out of the ocean, has now dumped the Cornerstone right back onto the ocean, and get this, the storm from a few moments ago has utterly vanish. End entry.

       “Do we have power yet, Sgt?” Lt Stall asks, straightening himself.

       “Corporal Able is still working on the power stabilizers, but we’ve pretty much have all systems up and running, Lt.”

       “Good.  How bout Radar? Is it  working?”

       “Yes, Sir.”

       “Sir, radar is picking up something moving due east. Could be a warship. Maybe one of ours,” Gunner Jackson interrupts.

       “Make radio contact with the vessel, Jackson,” Sergeant Wu orders him.

       “This is the U.S.S. Cornerstone, please identify yourself.”

       Static scrambles.

       “I’m hailing the vessel, Lt., but I’m getting no answer.”

       “Can we get a visual yet, Jackson?” The Lt. asks, his eyes bearing down on the video monitor below him.

       And then the weirdest of things appear on the monitor, an old naval warship heading eastward. Perhaps as old as two centuries.

       “What the hell is that?” Corporal Able asks, awing the vessel.

       “That, Corporal, is a naval warship,” Lt. Stalls answers him.

       “Lt.,” Wu interjects, “that ship is not of our time. What’s it doing here?”

       “I haven’t the slightest idea. Perhaps from a naval show of some sort. I'm guessing."

          "Not yet Sir."  The gunner eyes suddenly open wide.  "Rader is picking up multiple signals...heading our way.  They're coming from the warship.  I think," He pauses and looks up at Stall and Wu, "we're being fired upon."

            "By what?" Wu asks.

            "I believe cannon fire, Sergeant."

            "Take evasive action," Stall orders the gunner.

            "Aye," The gunner replies.  "Should we return fire?"

            "Hold on for a moment."

While on board the warship, its captain lowers his telescope  and hollers.

“Lt. Prayer, did we hit the creatures!”

“The monsters move with great swiftness, Sir. We missed them.”

“You do know that if those creatures reach the mainland, many lives shall be at stake.”

“The cannonry is ready, Capt.,” Sergeant Lyndon confirms his captain.

“Fire at will!”

The thunderous sound of cannons violently shakes the warship as thick plumes of smoke from the cannons spew into the blue skies.

In the distance, the Cornerstone  counters the second barrage of cannonballs, easily shifting south of the fatal volley.

The captain of the warship, angered by the second miss, shoves his telescope into his long coat pocket.

“Captain Abraham, Sir, the creatures appear to be raising a flag.”

“American?”

“Too far to make an accurate judgment yet, Capt.”

Captain Abraham pulls his telescope out  and looks through it again, pointing it at the Cornerstone.  To his amazement, he sees a flag waving in the sea breeze; it  appears to be an American flag, but with one contrasting point, this American flag has more than the common amount of stars in its blue corner.

“Cease fire, men!” The captain bellows.

“Cease fire!” The Sergeant Repeats at the top of his lungs. 

“Is there a problem, Captain?” Lt. Prayer asks.

“No. None so far.”

“Why the cease fire?” Prayer asks.

“That’s an American vessel,  that’s why.”

“American? But how Captain? It isn’t a warship.”

“The monsters that we are familiar with aren’t as fast as the object we see before us. The cannonballs should have taken at least a few of those things out. 

“Besides, those suicidal bastards would have been upon us by now, tearing half of the crew to bloody shreds.

“That thing out there has other plans, Lt.”