The Celestial Minds (Spacetime Universe Book 2)

by J. Benjamin

  At two and a half meters in height, the four-legged creature could crush Edie under the weight of one of its massive claws. That was the least of Edie’s concerns. What concerned Edie was that the creature bore a striking resemblance to aliens she met not long ago.

  “Impossible!” Edie said.

  “Holy shit,” Alex followed.

  Unlike the A’biran who lived among the Krayasee, this one lacked the metal exoskeleton as well as the bowl-shaped crown with the symbiotic parasite living inside. This taller, deadlier, and far more intimidating A’biran had dark blue skin with pulsating veins. This looked like a deadlier cousin to the red sentients that lived inside the city-sphere.

  “It took years of careful calculations and risky maneuvers to plan this encounter,” the A’biran giant said in a natural human voice. “Welcome.”

  Edie and Alex both gasped.

  “It . . . it speaks . . . English?” Alex said, shocked. “How?”

  Edie looked at Alex, perplexed. She then looked back at the A’biran and then back at Alex. She chose her next words more diplomatically.

  “What is going on here?” Edie demanded. “How do you know our language?”

  “We have your drones. We’ve seen your planet. We have your Golden Wave. We know everything about you and your species. Everything you know and have been told is a lie.”

  Chapter 51

  New Tokyo - Situation Room - April 15, 2083

  Val lost track as time seemed to run on auto-pilot. This wasn’t how it was supposed to happen. She was supposed to be enjoying scenes of the Kenyan prairie and feeling the warmth of sunlight on her forehead.

  Instead, she was trapped at the very place she wanted nothing more than to run far away from.

  By now, images of Saturn’s broken rings had blanketed every holo-screen and news feed from Madagascar to Mars. Stock markets collapsed to lows not seen in decades, and trading was halted in several exchanges. Supermarkets were raided. Riots and chaos reigned in most major cities. Every military force was on high alert.

  “These wankers should have been detained while they were still on Earth!” screamed the British Prime Minister.

  “They were,” Thomas said defensively.

  “And who pardoned them?” the South American president joined in. “You Thomas. You pardoned them!”

  “Don’t you dare put this on me,” Thomas shouted. “The UN agreed to it, and every single one of you and your countries took Ivanov’s money when it was convenient. Talk about hypocrites, some of you have ring deeds going back a decade.”

  “Yeah, before we knew he was a madman,” the South American president shouted.

  As they argued, Seiji quietly walked over to Minister Endo and whispered into her ear. Val couldn’t hear his words, but they were enough to make the minister’s expression light up.

  “Excuse me,” Minister Endo said.

  “This is so like you imperialist types,” the president of West Russia interjected. “Always acting like you know what’s best for the rest of us.”

  “Excuse me,” Minister Endo said again, this time more impatiently.

  “Oh God forsake us,” the president of the Philippines wailed. “The Solar System we’ve left for our children. It’s ruined!”

  A high-frequency pitch quickly shattered the argument. Minister Endo, having no other option to shut them up, sent the obnoxiously loud effect from her smart lens.

  “Now that I have your attention, we just received an urgent message from Titan.”

  “Please proceed,” President Stanton acknowledged. Without interruption, the lights dimmed, and a video message appeared.

  A grim-faced man stood before what appeared to be the main hall of Titan’s main colony, Huygen’s Landing. Val quickly recognized the setting from the many Cosmineral ads filmed in the ornate, grand bubble. Now, the walls appeared cracked, lights missing, and panicked miners scurried about. The grandeur was gone.

  “My name is Glen Hollings. I am Cosmineral’s chief operating officer for the Huygen’s Landing Colony on Titan. By now, you have witnessed what has become of Saturn’s rings. So I won’t waste your time and will get right to it.

  “The explosion was instantaneous. The impact severed Saturn’s rings and sent debris flying in all directions. It was like watching a planet explode. By our measures, more powerful than any nuclear weapon. Hell, more powerful than all nuclear weapons combined,” Glen explained, then taking a deep breath.

  “We built a skunkworks facility in Saturn’s orbit. It was built in the body of an asteroid, so as to avoid detection and hack attacks from Earth-based intelligence. Dev used it to test interstellar sequencing. This was no secret to the Earth-based governments, which long sought to curtail subspace experiments, ever since the Spacetime Sequence of 2082.

  “But what was more important was Ivanov’s goal, to establish a permanent bridge between Sol and the greater Aquarian node network. With spacetime sequencing, humans were able to tap into this network, even though the nearest node was five light-years away. After our initial spacetime sequences, the mercenary, Edie Brenner figured out how to open temporary wormholes for interstellar travel. We were going to have a two-way gate between Sol, and the Aquarian network.

  “Dev Ivanov, Sook Nguyen, and Carlos Montez are dead. They were vaporized, along with the entire skunkworks station. We’ve received no communications from the Herschel, and at this time, we don’t know if the remaining crew survived. The blast sent shockwaves into Titan’s atmosphere and damaged the colony,” Hollings explained, then paused.

  “Our main hanger collapsed in several parts. Only a few ships are operable, and they aren’t enough for a full-scale evacuation of Titan. Even if we did manage to flee Titan, the skippers that would get us out of Saturn’s orbit are all on the Herschel. To put it bluntly, we are sitting ducks here.”

  As he spoke, a loud, metallic groan caught him off guard. Behind him people fled the main hall, as cracks in the ceilings widened. He turned back to the camera, panicked.

  “To anyone in Greater Sol who is seeing this, there are nine-hundred and seventy-two of us, miners, spouses, and children! Please, I beg you, send whoever you can. Our death is imminent.” The message ended.

  Was this really happening? Val wondered. It felt like an out-of-body experience. Seeing Saturn’s rings severed was terrifying enough, but now there were human death tolls and many lives trapped helplessly in the balance.

  The long silence was broken by the flamboyant and opinionated Prime Minister of Britain.

  “I know it is impolite to say this, but they made their bed when they signed up to join the biggest leper colony this side of Dev Ivanov’s fat ass.”

  “Classy, George,” retorted the mortified President of South America.

  “Well it’s true!” George shot back.

  “Nine-hundred and seventy-two lives?” The Prime Minister of India chimed in. “Is there any way we can save them?”

  “Uncertain,” answered Seiji. “The nearest skippers would have to leave from Jupiter, and they would still take weeks to arrive. The nearest trader vessel could fire on all cylinders and take the same amount of time. By then, it would be too late. And that’s assuming any of these ships have landing capabilities.”

  “Well then its settled,” George the British Prime Minister said. “Not our bloody problem!”

  “These people can’t be serious,” Val said.

  “I’m afraid they are,” Minister Endo replied, turning to face Val.

  “We have to do something,” Val said. Minister Endo looked at Val and then turned toward the holograms. In one swift movement she stood up, slammed her fist against the table, and commanded the attention of everyone present.

  “We are not going to let a thousand people die. Not on our watch! I don’t care if they’re Cosmineral. I don’t care if they’re Earth. We space-bound have a code and that is to treat all space colonies as our own. We built our entire structure of laws and governing bodies around this p
rincipal. I’ve had it with the pettiness of some of you. For an entire year, I’ve had to put up with threats on my life, military threats on my colony, and by many of the people in this very conference. But here I am, and here is Thomas Adler, and we’re here because we care so much for humanity that we’re willing to sit down with the people who wanted us dead just a few months ago. Now you Earth people get your god damn heads out of your asses, or get the ever-living fuck out of our way!”

  Everyone went silent. Some of the faces showed expressions of embarrassment while others showed remorse. The British Prime Minister looked unrepentant. Val imagined he knew he was wrong, but wasn’t going to acknowledge it.

  “Thank you,” President Stanton acknowledged. “What happened today was a travesty of astronomical proportions that will live with us for generations to come. Yuna is right. Dev Ivanov may have been a deranged ego-maniac, but his miners, and their families, are our fellow humans. If they die from our inaction, then the destruction of Saturn’s rings will be the second-worst tragedy of today.” His words stunning both Val and Minister Endo. A few months prior, he was the last person either would have expected to take their side.

  “What do you suggest we do?” asked the President of China. “You heard Seiji. Even if our intentions are well-meaning, our options here remain limited.”

  “Are they now?” President Stanton shot back. “Last I checked, there is a technology capable of getting to Saturn in lightning-fast time, possibly enough to evacuate Huygens Landing before the worst happens.”

  “What? The space cannon? That thing’s made for Pelicans. No human-piloted vehicle could withstand the G-forces it would exert,” the President of China replied.

  “No, no, I’m not talking about the space cannon. I’m not thinking of human spacecraft at all.” The mention of those words raised a lot of eyebrows. “Dr. Alessi, how much weight can it hold? What condition is it in?”

  “You can’t be serious,” Minister Endo chimed in.

  “Minerva?” Val asked, surprised. “Fine. Ever since we submerged it and gave it the right resources, it’s returned to its pre-warp strength. As for weight, I’d say each of its eggs weighs well over a ton. So, it can carry quite a bit.”

  “Very good,” President Stanton said, grinning. “How fast can it get to Saturn?”

  Chapter 52

  Edie and Alex followed the blue, four-legged, muscled beast around the city-sized Ark as it traversed through the vast expanse of the cosmos. The A’biran look-a-like led the humans away from the Hypernova and toward a section of the Ark occupied by a forest of tall, blue and orange organisms. The angelic beings who could read minds hovered overhead.

  “Do you have a name?” Edie wondered.

  “My name is Mandyur,” the A’biran answered.

  “How did you end up with a name like that?” Alex asked.

  “The processes which determine how the A’biran are named is a tradition that dates back thousands of years,” Mandyur said.

  “Are there others with your name?” Edie asked.

  “Of course,” Mandyur answered. As they spoke, new bodies appeared in the trees. Several A’biran climbed the towering trunks with ease. Seeing A’biran in this far more natural-looking setting conflicted with Edie’s understanding of the species. This was especially considering how the A’biran in such an environment, appeared as natural as geckos crawling up a palm tree.

  “How many of you are here?” Alex asked.

  “Eight thousand of our species cohabitate on the Ark.”

  “I thought you were all a bit more . . . urban?” Edie said in the form of a question.

  “The A’biran are creatures of nature. While we have the means and technology to build cities and ships, we choose to live among wildlife for the long-term sanctity of our species,” Mandyur explained.

  “But we saw A’biran and they were living in a giant planet-city. About as close to natural as an ion cannon,” Alex said.

  “If you are referring to the Krayasee, we are familiar with its existence. Like all things affiliated with the Yonapi, we consider it to be an abomination to our species,” Mandyur said, emotionless.

  “What’s going on? How did you get here?”

  The A’biran guide cocked its hind legs and aimed its compound eyes toward Edie. She could feel them looking at her.

  “Many human lifetimes ago, the A’biran were a proud civilization. Like you, we were builders and idealists. Like humans, we started on one world, but our path led inevitably to the heavens. We jumped from star to star, finding new worlds and setting up colonies. It didn’t take long to learn that we were one of many in just the local part of our galaxy,” Mandyur explained.

  “Is this how you discovered the Yonapi? Or did they discover you?” Edie asked.

  “By the time we left our home-world, we long knew that we were not alone in the galaxy. We knew there were others like us. However, when we discovered the Yonapi, it was more than nine thousand Earth cycles after the first of our species exited our home system.”

  “Nine thousand years?” Alex stammered. “You were in space for nine thousand years before you saw the Yonapi?”

  “Yes,” Mandyur replied. “The nearest Yonapi planet was several hundred times further from our star than the closest colony is from yours. By the time any of our early drone technology could reach such a distance, our interstellar jump technology would have leapfrogged it.”

  Edie watched in wonder while this alien spoke. Their English was perfect. Not perfect simply because of linguistic accuracy, but in their usage of nuance and slang such as leapfrog. They truly did absorb the information on the Golden Wave. It made Edie anxious to dig into their array of knowledge.

  “You mean the first contact was literally a first contact? You were physically there to meet them?” Edie inquired.

  “Unfortunately, the details of that event were lost millennia ago,” Mandyur admitted. “All we know is that when the A’biran and Yonapi met for the first time, it was a singular event that changed the entire course of our civilization. In a way that no other species ever did. The Yonapi targeted us with a relentless and surgical campaign of destruction and chaos. The scars of which are still felt today.”

  “When was this?” Alex asked.

  “Five thousand Earth years,” Mandyur said.

  “Five thousand years and you’re still feeling the effects?”

  “Well, if your home world was wiped out, you too would take millennia to recover,” Mandyur said.

  “Home world wiped out?” Edie asked.

  “That is correct. The Yonapi found our home world and killed billions of our species. They used the same mental intimidation they have been known to use on many a lesser species throughout their known reaches of space.”

  Edie took a minute to absorb what Mandyur was telling her. After everything she had seen and lived through the past year and a half, this was a shocking revelation.

  “But the Universal Crescent,” Edie replied. “We came from one of their colonies. They harbored us. They taught us the ways of their civilization. They created a habitable zone just for us. They protected us, helped us heal our injured.”

  “And they even prepared a planet, entirely for your species,” Mandyur added. “Do I have that right?”

  “Yes!” Edie said. She turned to Alex, who seemed equally perplexed. The alien stood quietly.

  Two of the angelic, lion-fish aliens floated back in their direction. Edie was certain they were the same ones who showed them the vision of the blob-fish. Edie nervously flinched as one of them inched close, its pointy snout nearly touching her.

  “There’s nothing to be afraid of,” Mandyur said. “However, I think you need more enlightenment.”

  A flash of light took Edie to another world. Like her last vision, she once again found herself swimming. Her body lacked mobility. She felt as if she had no control over any of her motor functions. It put her into a fit of panic.

  The water was bright gree
n. She could see it in all directions, similar to how a Yonapi could see. Except unlike a Yonapi, she did not have the thousands of appendages to feel and sense. She was a gelatinous, invertebrate mold of slime.

  Her body moved, but she wasn’t doing the moving. It was a force greater than her. Above her was a murkiness that grew with each millisecond, as she floated up. She emerged above the surface. A crisp, cool breeze whisked along her amorphous body.

  Before her sat a giant oval space, with a metal door that opened like an old hatchback. Inside the oval were hundreds of tiny wires and prods. The core of the mechanical space sat empty, as if awaiting something to fill it.

  Edie’s alien body slithered in. As quickly as she filled the spot, the metal door closed over her. Edie felt sharp pain as the seven-hundred-and-ninety-nine prods plugged into her slug-like body and lit her up. She screamed. The pain was brief.

  “Edie?” a voice called. She opened her eyes, human eyes, to a sight that would likely sear her memory for the rest of her days.

  A humanoid figure stood five feet in front of her. Humanoid because it was shaped like a human, complete with arms and legs. That was where the comparison ended.

  She saw a six-foot-tall creature with teal, jelly-like body that one could see through. It was hideous, like Frankenstein’s monster but uglier. It had a metal exoskeleton running down its arms, legs, and back. It had no skin. She looked at its see-through head. A bright, green blob sat at the center of it, with hundreds of wires feeding into it.

  “Edie, is that you?” the creature asked.

  “Alex?”

  “What the Hell happened to us?” it asked, not moving its lips. She stared into its deathly-red eyes. There were no corneas, nor pupils. It was just two dots of burning, bright red.

  “What do you mean us?” she asked. Alex pointed to the water next to where they stood. Edie hesitantly crouched to the ground and slowly held her head over the water. She looked to see a monstrosity similar to Alex staring back at her.

  “No,” Edie said. “No, no!” She gripped the sides of her head and screamed.