by J. Benjamin
Chapter 39
Solar Sentinel - BREAKING NEWS - April 3, 2083
This is a breaking news bulletin from Solar Sentinel, Earth Orbit HQ. Interstellar pings are being reported from the JAXA arrays at New Tokyo. This event occurred more than thirty minutes ago.
The pings match the signatures from one of the many Pelican fleets launched more than three decades ago. Normally, they arrive after the Pelicans have arrived at a destination.
These pings are suspected to have come from the Pelicans headed for Luyten’s star. Luyten is nearly twice the distance from Sol as the settled stars and its Pelican fleet isn’t due to arrive for another thirty years. Any communication from the Luyten Pelicans would be highly unusual as HiveAI does not send its initiation pings until the Pelicans are one day away from arrival.
Why the Pelicans would prematurely send pings from interstellar space has baffled scientists both on and off Earth. So far, there are no answers, only rampant speculation.
One theory is that a surge of cosmic radiation interfered with the Pelicans’ onboard circuits and forced HiveAI to awaken. Another theory is that solar winds knocked the Pelicans off-course, and that HiveAI is responding accordingly to alert us.
However, one science official with the UN discounted both these theories, saying the Pelicans were specifically designed to navigate both potential scenarios. That official, Dr. Gurmeet Srivastava, says that HiveAI would only send such pings under two circumstances. The first would be if the Pelicans arrived at their destination. The second circumstance would be if something arrived at the Pelicans.
Chapter 40
New Tokyo - April 4, 2083
“How was this even possible?” President Nelson Stanton asked. His hologram made it look as though he were actually sitting in the same room.
“Your guess is as good as mine,” Val said to the dignitaries from around the Solar System. Their holograms filled every seat of the long table in Minister Endo’s conference room overlooking the majestic Ginza Mizumi. The sun’s reflection on the water outside shined along the walls inside. Minister Endo and Thomas were also present.
“You’re the Pelican expert here, Dr. Alessi,” said the President of China. “Could they have crashed into something?”
“Into what?” Val asked. “It’s interstellar space.”
“Procyon!” exclaimed the president of India.
“Procyon is a light-year away from Luyten, and several light-years away from the fleet’s estimated position. The Pelicans can’t be that close. Not a chance,” Val explained.
“What are the odds there’s an asteroid or unbound planet floating somewhere out there?” the chairwoman of the South American Union asked. “Could there be an undiscovered brown dwarf perhaps?”
“Highly doubt it,” Val said. “If there were a brown dwarf, we would have caught it by now. It is absolutely possible an unbound planet got within spitting distance of the Pelicans and set them off. It’s also possible that I could win the Mars Lottery three times in a row. Likely to happen? Very doubtful.”
“Dr. Alessi, the markets are in full meltdown. People are panicking. The eyes of the most powerful people in Sol are on you,” the chairwoman replied. “I’d spare us the sarcasm.”
“With all due respect Madam Chairwoman,” Minister Endo interjected. “Val saved our lives, and possibly the lives of billions. I think she’s more than earned her seat at this table.”
“My apologies,” the chairwoman said.
“Dr. Alessi,” President Stanton said. “You know more about Pelicans than anyone in this meeting. Frankly, more than anyone alive. If it wasn’t an unbound planet, or brown dwarf, or solar winds, or any of the other options we’ve discussed so far. What could it be? In your honest opinion.”
Val considered his question carefully. “I don’t know,” Val said. “I just don’t know. If the initial ping was sent, that means the First Report should be days away. That is, if the Pelicans weren’t destroyed by whatever woke them up.” Her words immediately elicited multiple gasps from the world leaders.
“Destroyed?” President Stanton repeated. “Dr. Alessi, I will ask you this once. Is there any possibility that the Pelicans were intercepted?”
“Intercepted?” Val repeated. “You mean by something that was . . . extraterrestrial in origin?”
“Correct,” President Stanton replied. “What are the odds?”
“Honest answer,” Val said. “Fifty-fifty.”
“I see,” Stanton acknowledged.
“If I were you all, I’d calm your country people,” Val said to the room of holograms. “Until the First Report arrives, panicking is the worst thing any of us could do right now.”
“What if it doesn’t arrive?” Thomas asked, from across the table.
“We will know in five days, tops,” Val said. “That’s the maximum interval between the arrival ping and the First Report.”
“Very well then,” said Minister Endo. “We will give it five days and revisit this topic should any new developments unfold. For now, I think we all have our work cut out for us.”
The world leaders acknowledged Minister Endo, thanked Val, and left the conference one by one. That is, all except for one.
“Minister Endo,” President Stanton said.
“Yes, Mr. President?”
“I’d like to speak with Dr. Alessi, one on one. If that is possible?”
Minister Endo appeared stunned and then looked to Val and shrugged. “Sure, go for it.”
“What about Thomas?” Val asked.
“Oh no,” the President said. “Just you.”
“Fine with me,” Thomas said, barely masking his contempt for the person on the screen. “Yuna, let’s give them the room. Shall we?” They rose from the table and proceeded out the main door. Val sat alone in the room with the hologram of the President of the United States.
“He doesn’t like me very much, does he?” Stanton said, clearing the air.
“You overthrew the GSF and forced both of us into exile. Would you like you either?” Val replied.
“And you’ve both been pardoned and could come back to Earth whenever you want,” he said impatiently. “Besides, it’s not like you were of much interest to us. We simply wanted our sovereignty back. We saw an opportunity. GSF was already dead. We simply picked up the scraps. You know it. Adler knows it.”
“So you admit that none of it had to do with protecting humanity. It was just a power game for you,” Val said.
“Of course we wanted to protect humanity. Humanity was better off when there were multiple governments ensuring accountability. Now we have that.”
Val sensed the conversation was hopelessly moving in circles and changed the discussion. “I’ve been analyzing the data outputs from January 15th.”
“And what did you find?”
“Starscraper sent a lot of data during the incident,” Val said. “Except there’s an issue.”
“What issue?”
“It’s all computational. So I decompressed the data and fed it through AIs. Basically the ship talks a whole lot about itself. Talks about its biology. Talks about its current health state,” Val explained.
“Were you able to extract any deep knowledge about the species themselves?” Stanton asked.
“Negative. Nothing on the Aquarians’ origins. Nothing on their motives. Then again, if you were an advanced civilization, would you want others to be able to know all your secrets? Of course not,” Val said.
“So you think Minerva is hiding more information from us?”
“Not exactly. I think Minerva told us all it knows. Curiously though, when I examined Minerva’s cell structure, I found an interesting development that might explain why we don’t know more.”
“From a cell structure?” Stanton replied curiously.
“I examined tissue samples from before and after it turned fuchsia. If you were to look at the vessel, not much changed physically. However, if you look at the alien’s cells, you
start to notice a pattern. I found that the concentration of cells thinned after the incident,” Val said.
“Thinned?” Stanton questioned.
“Minerva is purging information and it’s showing at the microbial level,” Val said without hesitation. For a moment, Nelson Stanton looked at her in stunned silence.
“They’re not telling us everything they know?”
“Probably? But also remember that Minerva was depleted of resources for six months,” Val explained. “This could just as much be a biological reaction to nearly dying. We don’t know, and I don’t feel comfortable taking any actions until we know more about what and why they chose to clean information from their biological systems.”
“By the way, Dr. Alessi. Why did you agree to confide in me? After everything that’s happened these past three and a half months? We all know Minister Endo and Thomas aren’t exactly my biggest fans.”
“My wife almost died, and in a very horrible and torturous fashion,” Val said. “We need more accountability for how we deal with the Aquarians. You’ve always been a voice of skepticism. I think the conversation could use more pushback.”
“And now you understand why,” Stanton replied. “Let’s continue this dialogue. Next time we speak, it will be with everyone else, and after we see the First Report.”
Chapter 41
The Hypernova - Deep Space
Edie’s hands and feet flowed freely in suspension. Looking out the main cockpit, she trained her eyesight on the rings of ice dominating the furthest reaches of the triple brown-dwarf system. She could feel the coldness of the failed star-system. This place was deader than the surface of Pluto.
Perfect for flight training. Standing two feet from the ground, and with a series of A’biran diodes anchoring her mind to the Hypernova, Edie was in full control.
Admittedly, learning to pilot an alien starship with her mind was not an item on Edie’s bucket list. Her mind connected to the Hypernova on such a deep level that she almost felt she was the ship. As it flew through space, she felt the movements. If a part of the ship overheated, she felt that too. Edie had a rude awakening when a meteor struck the ship two months prior. It hit her like a gut punch.
Learning to use the ship’s warp-drive was the strangest part of all. Mainly because it ran on the Aquarians’ node map. Edie realized she could now mentally move node to node on the Aquarian path and traverse to star-systems previously unexplored by humans.
Edie and Alex’s travels took them across gas giants, terrestrial planets, and the occasional nebula. In many cases, they’d find Aquarian hosts already stationed in the system. Wherever they went, Agamemnon trailed Edie and Alex through their journeys as they explored regions of Aquarian space. Agamemnon also kept watch to ensure Edie didn’t destroy the ship the A’biran built for them.
The ice rings were an important exercise for Edie. She wanted to be prepared next time a piece of debris hit the ship. She put the ship through corkscrews, barrel rolls, and daring twists. As she maneuvered, the ship took several hits from the ice rocks. Each time felt like a punch against her. The ship was strong enough to withstand the impacts, and Edie herself felt stronger and less sensitive to each impact.
“You’re going to make me vomit,” Alex interrupted mentally. Edie grounded the Hypernova to a halt. She heard Alex make an unpleasant sound. “Too late.”
Edie used her mind to activate auto-pilot and set the ship on a course through a calmer part of the system, away from the rings. She lowered herself to the ground. There were no chairs in the cockpit. Rather, it was a v-shaped space with the floating pod and sand-colored walls with unreadable inscriptions of A’biran text. Edie’s biggest regret was still failing to understand their translations.
She walked away from the cockpit and into the main cabin where she and Alex spent most of their time. It was a spacious, open arboretum filled with ample amounts of greenery, plants, and vegetation provided by Agamemnon. Along the walls were port windows looking out at space beyond. The same space included beds which Edie and Alex built themselves.
They had everything they needed for living, including a bathroom, place to wash their clothes, and a place to dry them. They even crafted their own furniture. There was also a large water containment unit, which Edie realized was now running close to empty.
Alex’s reddened face aimed at the toilet. She was thankful he threw up in the correct place.
“Feeling better?” she asked.
“A little space-sick, but I’ll manage,” he said. “Where are we? What’s with all that ice outside?”
“You didn’t see it?” Edie asked.
“I think I slept through the last two warps.”
“Well we’re in a very dead system that has three brown dwarfs, all closely orbiting each other. Tons of ice floating around,” Edie explained.
“Perfect timing because we’re running out of water,” Alex replied.
“I got this,” Edie said. She walked to the far edge of the room to where the massive water-harvester stood floor-to-ceiling. She put her hand on a panel next to it and gave a voice command. “Begin extraction,” she said.
Edie and Alex looked through the windows. Atop the Hypernova sat a mounted laser with the ability to rotate 360 degrees. It aimed its sight on an asteroid closest to the ship. In a fleeting glimpse, a powerful surge of green light blanketed the asteroid. The asteroid drew closer to the ship until it exploded into billions of pieces.
By the time the debris hit the ship, it was the size of dust particles. On the side of the ship, ventilation shafts opened to suction the particles. Edie and Alex turned their sights back to the harvester. Water quickly poured into the tank. Enough to sustain them for at least a week.
“Incredible,” Alex said. “It gets us what we need. Water. Gas. It’s crazy.”
“We need to constantly keep our eyes on both tanks,” Edie said. “Remember that neutron star?”
“How could I fucking forget it?” Alex said. “We almost went thirsty for a full day.”
“That’s why we need to fill up before we jump. We never know when we’ll end up in a dry system. Lucky for us, this place has water up the wazoo,” Edie said.
“How are the plants coming along?” Edie asked.
“I have a special surprise for you,” Alex said, pointing to a half-chopped eggplant resting on a cutting board by the small kitchen area.
“No,” Edie said excitedly. “You didn’t.”
“Babaganoush,” he said with a smirk.
“You know I love babaganoush.” She planted a kiss on his cheek. Alex went back to preparing their meal. Edie took the opportunity to check on the special cargo at the back of the ship. She made her way to one of the curved halls which jutted from the stern in a V-shape.
There it was, the terraformation engine which miraculously held to the ship, even after everything Edie put the ship through. In that moment, she had a thought she no longer wished to ignore.
“Agamemnon,” Edie commanded, with her hand on the Aquarian patch still attached to her arm. In the blink of an eye, the Aquarian host’s consciousness floated besides her.
“Edie Brenner,” the host said.
“We’ve been doing this for three months now. We’ve explored several systems of Aquarian space. I feel I have a very strong grasp on this ship. Alex feels at home in managing the living space. I think you know why I summoned you,” she said.
“You want to know what comes next,” Agamemnon said.
“Correct,” Edie answered. “You would agree that we have demonstrated mastery over the A’biran technology? That we’ve demonstrated we can navigate the Aquarian nodes with ease?”
“We do agree,” Agamemnon said.
“So then, what next? What are your plans for the big, metal, terraforming ball we’ve been carrying around?”
“As we have mentioned before, the answers will be known in due time, Edie Brenner.”
“We want more answers sooner rather than later,” Edie
said. “I believe we’ve earned that right. What is your plan with this thing?”
For several seconds, the Aquarian consciousness paused. “Very well,” Agamemnon said. “We’ll move forward to the next step.”
“What next step?” Alex interrupted. He walked over to Edie and put his arm around her.
“As you learned at the Krayasee, the A’biran left you with a gift. A machine that propels the processes of life generation,” Agamemnon explained.
“I think terraformation engine is a good way to put it,” Edie said.
“The terraformation process does not happen in a vacuum. It takes time and incubation.”
“Incubation?” Alex repeated. “So you’re saying this entire time wasn’t just about training Edie how to fly? It was also to prepare whatever’s inside that thing?”
“Correct,” Agamemnon answered. “And we believe that process is now complete.”
“So what comes next?” Edie asked.
“Edie Brenner, Alex Harper,” Agamemnon started. “It is time for us to take you to your new, permanent home.”
Chapter 42
New Tokyo - HAB 3 - April 7, 2083
Ty had been more on edge than usual since the Starscraper crisis. Val had to constantly remind herself that she hadn’t experienced what the humans outside the host experienced. That included the engineers in the Research Bay as well as Minister Endo and her security detail.
Val was amazed at how Minister Endo was able to continue functioning without skipping a beat. It was as though work allowed her to not have to relive what happened on that fateful day. Val wished the same could be said for Ty.
They were sitting on the balcony of HAB 3 in their morning track suits, overlooking the business district below and the green fields in the distance. Ty stared down silently with her shoulders slumped as she sipped her black tea. Val knew when Ty was quiet it meant she had a lot on her mind.