I hadn’t been down to the Gulf to do any scavenging for about a week, but for some reason I felt I just had to go. I thought of Blake as I rode the dirt bike down onto the dried up mud next to the buried ship. Haven’t heard from him in months after that day he joined me to look for more useful junk. I was worried that this area was becoming unstable as I could hear some rumblings under the surface.

I started seeing a lot of metal and even electronic components strewn all over the ground in the vicinity of the old ship’s conning tower. Last week there had been almost nothing. Was this stuff falling from the sky? I guess it’s possible if fighters are getting shot down from space.

I grabbed my bag and started approaching the nearest piece of metal. I grinned as I bent down to pick it up. This was going to be a very profitable day!

Suddenly the ground started to shake. I heard large chunks of the dried Gulf floor cracking and clouds of dust billowed out of the ground around where the ship was buried. There was another shake like an earthquake that knocked me to the ground and I saw the conning tower, which had been leaning over ever since I could remember, unexpectedly righted itself. What the hell?

That’s when I noticed a ship shaped ridge rising from the dried surface, rocks and dirt sliding down from the raised area. I jumped on my dirt bike and sped over to what for all the world looked like a ship rising up from the ground. The bridge broke through the dried mud and more of the deck was exposed. The rumblings and shaking stopped as quickly as it had begun.

Gritting my teeth as I often do when I’m about to do something stupid, I down shifted and hit the accelerator to climb the newly formed ridge. I backed off on the throttle when I crested the ridge to drop the front wheel down quickly. As I hit the brakes, I couldn’t believe what I saw. It was a deck of a ship…an old battleship, fourteen inch guns and all. Instead of rotting wood, the deck was newly placed steel or at least some kind of metal.

I couldn’t imagine what was going on. Why did this old ship suddenly rise from the dried Gulf floor? And why did it all look so new? The main guns were fitted with pipes and tubing that I’m sure wouldn’t have been there when the ship was in service.

I jumped off my bike and started running around the deck, amazed at everything I saw. As I rounded a corner, there was a group of men in uniform inspecting some equipment. Between them and me was an open hatchway. I fought back an urge to run to it. “Don’t be stupid!” I thought. I looked at the uniformed men and then back to the open hatch.

I took a deep breath and gritted my teeth. “What the hell, right? What are they going to do to me? The Earth is dead in a few months anyway. I had to see inside. Another deep breath and I bolted for the open door.

After a moment, my eyes adjusted from the bright sunlight outside to the more subdued interior lighting. There wasn’t much to see in the companionway, but what I saw shocked me. This wasn’t the interior of some old world war battleship. This was a modern setup, with computer screens and next to me was an unoccupied glassed in office area.

I heard some people approaching from just ahead of me. I darted to my left down a narrow hallway. The ceiling was low and covered in cables, hoses and tubing. Hatches lined the hallway. What the hell is this thing?

I had to make a quick dodge into a small room off the hallway that had boxes with levers and lights, attached to the wall. I could barely squeeze in to avoid some people walking down the hall. “Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea after all,” I thought.

I peeked back out into the hall and didn’t see anyone. I decided to head back the way I had come and get out of this thing. I was running and looked behind me. And then, right in front of me, before I could react, a hatchway opened and a person stepped out. I ran right into them almost knocking them down.

“Hey watch where you’re going, you idiot,” said a familiar sounding voice.

My eyes went wide when I looked at the person’s face. “Blake?”

Blake just stood there a moment and blinked a few times. “Tyler? What the fuck are you doing here? How did you get on this ship?”

“I was scavenging and this thing just rose from the ground,” I said honestly. “I just had to check it out.”

Blake grabbed my arm and said sternly, “Well, we need to get you out of here before you’re spotted. We’re running through our final trials before leaving for orbit.”

“Orbit? In this thing? What is this?” I asked as Blake tugged on my arm and we headed back to the entrance I’d come through.

Blake grinned down at me. “It’s the USS Battleship Texas. It’s been re-commissioned for space duty.”

I stopped and pulled my arm free. “You can’t be serious!”

Grabbing my arm again, Blake said, “I am serious. We’re going to defeat the Gahjins with this.”

Just before we got to the doorway, a female officer stepped out of the glassed in office. She looked over at us curiously.

“Lieutenant, what is this civilian doing here?” barked the officer.

Looking sheepish, Blake pointed at me. “Last minute recruit, Capt. Jennings.”

Frowning, Captain Jennings said, “I wish they’d tell me these things. Has she been assigned? What’s her rate?”

Looking flummoxed for a moment, Blake said, “No ma’am. And she’s a communications tech.”

The captain looked me up and down. “Good. We’re short-handed in that area. Get her assigned to my team and get her a uniform.” She then turned from us and hurried away.

“She thinks I’m a girl!” I sputtered.

Blake shrugged. “Not really all that surprising. You’re still a runt. But that doesn’t matter because she’s never going to see you again. You’re leaving the ship now.”

We both became aware of a whine, deep inside the ship start to rise in pitch and the ship began to shake. Several men came through the hatch we were heading for. The last one through pulled the hatch closed and pressed a button by the door that locked the seal in place.

The last man looked at Blake. “You’re going to be needed on the bridge, Lieutenant. Emergency activation.”

Over the 1MC speaker system it was announced, “All hands. Battle stations. Emergency launch. Pilot to the bridge.”

Looking very worried, Blake shouted, “Shit! We’re not sure if we’re space worthy yet. I’m the pilot. I got to go.”

“You can’t leave me here!” I shouted, feeling suddenly numb.

Blake grabbed my hand and started to lead me through the companionways. “Come with me. I’ll have to explain you later.”

It was an orderly madhouse we passed through on our way to the bridge. Men and women were running in all directions. It was chaos, but there oddly seemed an order to it. We finally reached an elevator and Blake pulled me in and hit the button to go up.

We exited the elevator onto the bridge. An admiral was sitting in an elevated command chair over-looking the bridge. Facing forward was a large glass window which I’m sure wasn’t there on the original ship and a central control console.

“Well, lieutenant, I’m glad you finally decided to join our little emergency.” snarled the admiral from his chair.

Looking like he wanted to run away, Blake said, “Sorry admiral. I was distracted.” He was still holding my hand.

Frowning the admiral said, “You can be distracted by her later. Right now I need you to get this ship in the air.”

Blake let go of my hand and saluted and then took his seat at the control console. He started punching buttons.

The admiral looked over at me. “I’m guessing you have a reason to be here?”

I hadn’t seen her when we first entered the bridge, but Captain Jennings was at a station near the admiral’s chair. “New recruit, sir. She’s a communications tech.”

The admiral pointed at an empty station along the bridge wall. “Man your station, miss!” He turned to Captain Jennings, “Just how new is she?” The captain shrugged.

I sat at the station. This is insane! I picked up the set of headphones and put them on. I looked over the panel. I dabbled with communications in high school, so it wasn’t completely unfamiliar to me. I thought I could probably fake my way through it. At least until Blake could get me out of the ship.

Blake shouted, “Launching now!”

The ship creaked and groaned and rocked. The screech of tortured dried mud and rock being ripped from its grasp of the ship. The whine from the ship’s innards grew even higher in pitch.

Blake said, “Main engine power at eighty percent, admiral. We can launch at ninety-five.”

A girl at a console near Blake shouted, “We have a target lock! Incoming missile from orbit!”

“Launch us now!” shouted the admiral.

Sweat popped up on Blake’s brow. He checked his instruments and tried to sound calm, “Flex engine at insufficient power to launch, admiral.”

I heard a beeping sound over my headphones. What the hell? I looked down at my panel. In an unsure voice, I said, “Incoming transmission.”

The admiral said, “Put it on audio.”

I looked down at the panel. There was a switch labeled, “Bridge audio.” Was it really just that simple? I clicked the button.

In a strange metallic voice, most likely coming through some type of electronic translation came a calm, but eerie voice, “Gahjin command to Earth vessel. We detected the moment you brought your Flex engine on-line. You’ll never get your ship off the Earth.” And then nothing but static.

The girl next to Blake sounded scared as she announced, “Fifty seconds to impact.”

The admiral said calmly to Blake, “Lieutenant. Status of the Flex cannons.”

Blake checked his panel. “Flex guns at ninety-nine percent charge, admiral.”

The admiral said, “Target and lock incoming missile. Fire Flex cannons at one hundred twenty percent.”

“Aye admiral.” Blake bit his lower lip as he raised the Flex cannon fire control mechanism and peered into it. The device was equipped with view screen and a pistol grip with a trigger. I noticed everyone on the bridge putting on dark goggles. I quickly looked around and found a pair of goggles hanging from a post near my station. I slipped them on as quickly as I could.

The girl announced “Thirty-five seconds to impact.”

Blake said in a strained voice, “Flex guns at one hundred ten percent.”

The girl bravely announced, “Twenty-five seconds.”

His voice straining, the admiral said, “I suggest you fire, lieutenant or this is going to be a real short trip.”

Taking a deep breath, Blake announced “Flex guns at one hundred twenty percent.”

“Fifteen seconds…”