John sat beside Sam in Admiral Valentine’s office. He rubbed his fingers across the little bump on the back of his neck. The stress of his situation manifested into painful acne. It ruined his image. He avoided every mirror. When he saw Sam watching him, he forced his hand onto the arm rest. She eyed him, curiously. She couldn’t stop tapping her foot. Admiral Valentine’s face reddened as he glared at the computer monitor on the wall and tapped keys to refresh the updates from President Bridges.

  “This stupid thing,” Valentine said. He shoved his keyboard away and clasped his hands together. “President Bridges wants us to deal with the Meridian Gate. He initially wanted us to continue our research, but that’s all changed. He’s about this close to destroying it. President Bridges wants us to tell him our thoughts so he can authorize the mission under proper guidance. So…what are our thoughts?”

  John leaned forward and slammed his fist into his hand. “We have to destroy the Meridian Gate. It seems obvious. We may have had big dreams about how this could propel us hundreds of years into the future or some other grand scheme, but at this point it’s a ticking time bomb and we don’t know how many times it’s going to activate and let another horde of monsters through. Next time could mean our extinction. We can’t let that happen.”

  Sam waved her hand. “We can’t do that.”

  “Why not?” John said. “Sam, it took everything from us.”

  “The Hyperions took everything from us,” Sam said. “It’s a tragedy, but the Meridian Gate did nothing wrong. The ring is a doorway of some sort. That much is clear. It needs further investigation.”

  “What else is going to walk through that door and stomp on our heads?”

  “Don’t think that I don’t care. I’ve already taken three hundred phone calls with grieving families. I hate the Hyperions as much as you do.”

  “We’re all stressed about this…and I know that you care…but we can’t simultaneously leave the door open and ring the dinner bell. Now that the door is open, those alien freaks are going to tell their weird ugly friends. Why wouldn’t they? Believe me, our trouble has only begun. We are in for a world of new problems.”

  “We don’t know that they’ll return. I pray to God they don’t. But you have to understand, John, that studying that ring could give us exactly the kind of technology we need to defend ourselves against those machines.”

  “We don’t know that.”

  “We’ve never had another opportunity like this. That ring may hold the secrets of alien civilizations across the universe. Who knows what secrets it holds? If we can find a way to disable the Meridian Gate, we could learn from it and expand humanity’s reach across the galaxy. The possibilities are endless.”

  “From the way I see it, we’d be marching into a galactic death squad. We’re not prepared for what’s out there. Think about Thariel and his nine goons. We fired everything we had at Thariel. It only made him angry. I think they’ll return. The only way we can prevent their return is by destroying that ring.”

  “Destroy? Kill? Is that your only solution? We should use science and investigate, learn and adapt to changing circumstances.”

  “Admiral Valentine asked for my opinion and I’m giving it. This is a military matter and I’m offering a military solution.”

  Sam shook her head, frustrated. “I served in the UEF Marines, same as you. I served in intelligence. I now serve as Ambassador of Earth…John…you have to look at the situation from more than one perspective.”

  John gritted his teeth. “They killed Emily. I’ll never forgive them.”

  Sam squeezed her armrest. “They killed my sister, Rebecca. They killed my mother. You weren’t the only one who lost someone. The difference is, I’m trying to look beyond my own anger and look toward a future.”

  John pressed himself back into his chair. A couple moments of silence lingered between them. Then he looked at Admiral Valentine. “Mark, you know my opinion.” He turned back to Sam. “We have to take action on this, Sam.”

  “You’re wrong,” she said.

  Valentine squeezed his hands together and contemplated their arguments. He spun the wedding band around his finger. “Those alien cretins deserve to be squashed like the bugs they are. Unfortunately, we don’t have a fly zapper that’s big enough to kill them. I think Samantha is right. We have to study the gate. But I also think John is right. We can’t keep that ring in the Oort Cloud forever. It’s wide open for any new alien bully to walk through and beat us to death.”

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  “What are you saying?” Sam said.

  “I’m going to assemble a team of engineers, scientists, and tech guys to study the Meridian Gate. I’ll send more drones. We’ll gather new intelligence, study what we can. I know we’ve tried this plan before, but that was before those things came through. I’m hoping we get new data. I will authorize a one month research mission. If we don’t find anything useful, we destroy the Meridian Gate.”

  “One month?” said Sam. “That’s not enough, Mark.”

  “It could take years to discover anything useful,” said John. “And by then, my money is on some new monster poking their head through the gate.”

  Valentine snarled. “Come on. I’m trying to compromise here.” Mark turned away. He wiped his forehead, sipped from his coffee mug, then turned back to them. “The decision is final. We study it for a while, but we can’t leave that ring open forever.”

  “Did you lose anyone sir?” John said.

  “My eldest cousin Tommy and his wife Tabby.”

  “I’m sorry,” John said.

  “Me too,” Sam said.

  “Thanks. I’m still trying to process it. I just…I can’t do my job and think about that right now.”

  An alert chimed on all three of their cell phones.

  John glanced at the message. His heartbeat raced. He felt a slight sting of pain in his chest. His thoughts flashed back to the massacre in New York City. He envisioned the bodies laying on the streets.

  “The Meridian Gate…it’s turning back on…” Valentine said. His voice trailed. He held his hand to his heart as if feeling for its beating pulse. “This can’t be happening again.”

  John projected a holo video in the middle of them which displayed the Meridian Gate. Arcs of lightning snapped back and forth in the middle of the ring. It spun faster and faster, the storm inside growing more violent by the minute.

  “Orders, sir?” John said.

  Sam’s gaze fell to her feet. “Not this again. I’m going to be sick.”

  Valentine pulled himself around his desk, trying to get to the door. “We have to get—if we leave now—there’s a bunker not far from here.”

  “What about the people at Camp Jericho?” John said.

  “Shuttles will collect them,” Valentine said.

  “There’s already a chopper waiting outside,” Sam said. “If we hurry we can make it.”

  The three of them raced out of Mark’s office and down the corridor. How could this be happening again? Humanity always believed that when they met aliens this could have been one of the possibilities, but they placed the bulk of their hope in peaceful first contact. They believed they were special. Maybe their beautiful little planet and its colonies weren’t so special after all, left to the whims of intergalactic criminals and murderers. Was that all it was? Intergalactic Darwinism? The strong kill the weak? It sickened John to his core even as he climbed into the helicopter.

  The twin tilt rotors of the AH-94 Ironveil beat the air into submission. Its sound shrieked across the ash-smeared camp like a banshee call. Wind whipped John’s face as they climbed aboard. The craft carried the scent of scorched rubber, sweat, and something fouler he didn’t recognize. Sam gripped the edge of the open door. Her eyes darted toward the horizon like something was already on its way. Valentine hauled himself inside last and slammed the door shut. The pilot shouted something. The helicopter lifted and trembled.

  Inside the cabin, everything felt wrong. The benches were cold steel. The walls rattled as if the bolts loosened with every foot they climbed. John sat hunched forward, helmet in lap. Sweat dampened the collar of his jacket. Sam kept checking her cell phone and kept checking it for updates. But there were no new alerts, only the terrifying realization that something was going to pop through that ring at any moment. Everyone in the entire solar system held their breath.

  Outside, the gray ruins of New York City fell away beneath them. The black scar of Central Park remained visible like a warning carved into the heart of humanity’s greatest city. Nobody spoke. Every vibration in the hull created flickering lights which felt like a prelude to a post-apocalyptic film. They lived through a world-ending encore as they raced toward a mountain bunker like children racing to hide under the covers in the middle of a storm. They were left to fate’s mercy.

  Valentine’s cell phone buzzed. He cursed under his breath. He expanded a holo video. The light settled in the middle of the cabin. A live feed from the Meridian Gate came into view.

  John leaned in. So did Sam.

  The ring spun faster than before. Electricity crackled across its frame like a storm which brewed more violently by the second.

  Then—something emerged.

  Spaceships.

  Another—then another.

  There were hundreds of them, all massive.

  One thing was certain, they weren’t Hyperions.