Free Ecstasy Bound by Ruth D. Kerce

can it be? There’s no way we wouldn’t pick up on this thing. It’s huge.
    We would have been informed by the brass. There!” A technician pointed to the screen as the signal once more registered on the tracker.
    That didn’t look like a K-blip to her. Her eyes narrowed as she stared at the screen.
    “It’s definitely large.”
    “Large? It’s gigantic,” Kirk responded again from across the room. “Getting specifics now.”
    “Are you sure it’s metallic, not natural?” she asked, trying to figure out the computer’s reasoning for its classification of the object.
    “It’s definitely not a natural formation from what I’ve compiled so far. It’s either metallic or something of a similar grade. It’s on a direct, plotted course,” another tech chimed in.
    “That’s the second time you’ve said direct, people. We don’t know that yet. I’ll need verification from the computer in my hand. Get me coordinates and a trajectory.” It sure looked like a programmed line of direction from the history she was reviewing but she wasn’t about to jump to conclusions. Yet. “Let’s make absolutely certain. Who else will be picking this up?”
    “Nobody at this distance,” Kirk said. “But if it keeps up current speed and the projected course—I’m approximating from what data we do have—the space agencies will begin tracking within ninety-six hours or so.”
    This underground facility was the most sophisticated on Earth, with advanced technology. Highly protected and constructed using secret alien technology. Nobody picked up deep-space tracking before they did. Not even their sister facilities. “Okay.
    Transfer the data to my station.” She rushed over and sat down in front of her computer screen. To her it didn’t appear as a single object. It almost looked like two clusters of—
    Shit! Her heart rate kicked up at least three more notches. She automatically slipped on her communication headphones. She keyed in a few commands and began studying the data, frantically making notes as she went along.
    “Damn it!” Kirk shouted from his station. “Boost power. Now!”
    Her head snapped up.
    “We’ve lost the signal. It vanished in a snap, like someone flipped an off switch.”
    He punched several control pads, a grim look on his face.
    She checked her own panel. Yep. Definitely gone. “Did you save what we already received?”
    “Did you really need to ask me that? Transferring the remaining data to your station now.”
    “Check all tracking programs for any malfunction,” she ordered. “I want a full system diagnostic. We need this verified. Keep monitoring in case it reappears. Pull resources from our other facilities if necessary. This stays with us until we’re certain that we were tracking something real and not some computer-generated ghost.”
    She saved what data they had from her station and transferred a copy of the file to the network set up in her personal quarters, so she could work on the file after hours.
    Even from what little they’d gathered, she knew the computer would be able to track the object or objects’ ultimate destination, provided it maintained course. And its arrival time, provided it maintained speed.
    Trying to figure out where the signal could have originated from, she tapped her chin. If it was a targeted project, then the signal had been cloaked to disappear like that.
    Which meant really bad news. A purposeful act to disguise an approach. And if it was headed for Earth…
    She had cautioned everyone not to ignore the signs. The brass had rejected their intelligence, her theories and what others in the field knew and had warned was the inevitable. Alien invasion.
    Why they even kept her around if they weren’t going to listen to her, she didn’t know. Why they kept this facility operational, she didn’t know. Just to see it coming? To wait until it was too late, then pretend surprise with the public? In this case, she prayed they were right and she was