The ride through the wormhole was especially unnerving, mostly because we were unsure where we were going, and when it ended, we were anxious to know as soon as possible if we were back home.

“We’re home,” Marie said after a quick look through the astronomical system. “This is our solar system.”

“Bless you, aliens!” I cried, tilting my head back as if I were invoking heaven. “COMA, begin the return sequence as quickly as possible.”

There was an unusual and scary delay before COMA replied. “I am unable to complete that order, Ryan.”

“Why is that, COMA?”

After another long delay: “I am unable to make contact with the engine circuitry. Something is interfering with my . . . ”

I slammed my fist against the command terminal. “Damn those bastards! They hacked into our computer.”

“What are we going to do?” James asked with a breaking voice.

“COMA, can you aim the space debris plasma disrupters at the planet’s surface?”

After another delay: “I am unable to connect to that circuitry, Ryan.”

I rubbed my face in frustration. “There’s only one way to take care of this. We’ll have to go to the surface near that nexus point and cut the damn cable.”

“How are we going to get the shuttle out of the hanger bay?” James asked.

“We can cut the lines to the computer system and do it manually. It won’t be easy, but it’s the only way to get down to the surface.”

“How are we going to cut the optical cable?” Marie asked.

“We have those CO2 laser cutting tools. They should be able to cut through just about anything, and the good thing is that they’re not computer controlled.” I stood up. “Let’s get moving people. This is not going to be easy, but I’m not going to give into these damn electronic gangsters.”

We got into our space suits. Normally, this wouldn’t be necessary because we were going down to a planet with an atmosphere, but we didn’t want to get caught without suits if the e-ghosts caused the air in the hanger bay to be decompressed.

After we made our way through the axis tunnel to the hanger bay, James and I disconnected the hanger bay’s systems from the computer and manually opened the bay door. After settling into our shuttle seats, I used the manual controls to separate the shuttle from the bay and then fired the thrusters to move the shuttle away from the main ship.

Fortunately, I could now use the computer to get us down to the surface. My shielding was protecting the computer from the e-ghosts’ attempt to hack into it.

“I hope they didn’t screw with the computer on this shuttle,” James said. “The ride down to the surface is wild enough.”

“They didn’t,” I yelled over the noise of the engines and the sonic shock of going several times faster than sound.

I took over manual control to aim the shuttle at the nexus point. I had to make some very hard turns to get into the proper landing approach. The G-forces added to our anxiety and fear. With a blast of the landing thrusters, I sat the shuttle down near my intended location near the nexus point.

We got out of the lander and hauled the laser-cutting tool to what looked like a crystal dome. The dome was twenty meters in diameter and five meters high. We could see light shooting around inside the dome along hundreds of optical cables bunches that contained thousands of individual strands.

“Okay, I said. We have to cut the cable coming into the nexus from this side.” I pointed at what looked like a crystal pipe approximately a half-meter in diameter.

“Can this laser device cut through that?” Alisha asked.

“That’s what we’re going to find out,” I said while mounting the laser on a tripod. I wasted no time in activating it and focusing it on the optical cable pipe. The invisible beam sparked when it impacted the pipe’s surface.

“Uh, Oh!” James yelled. “We got company.”

I turned to look at where he was looking. A large robot was approaching. It was at least six meters high and was walking on four pods, each of which had four toes. What I was worried about was its two long arms with huge serrated claws that looked as if they could cut us in two with little effort. What was weird is that there was a hominid-type robot sitting in a chair on top of this monster machine. Was he the one that was driving the mechanical beast?

“Is this a e-ghost projection?” Marie asked.

“I think it’s real,” I said. “See how its pods are making marks in the soil.”

“What the hell are we going to do?” James asked, sounding panicked.

I wasn’t sure, but I knew that our lives depended on me doing something, and doing it quick.