Karma of Kalpana

by T. L Smith

  I stared at her. “What’d you do, grow wings to get over here?”

  “No, we tubed it over. My ship to the cruiser, to your ship. They lined us up perfectly for the boarding tubes. Seriously, no offense to my crew, but I’m hiring some of these guys.”

  Gardner let the excitement shiver through her as she tugged her jacket down into the proper commander again. “All right, have I missed anything?”

  “Toasting, as you said it, how fucking amazing this is.” I gestured to the glasses. She grabbed one, making sure her colonel joined us too, and finished with an excited IGF whoop.

  “So, seriously, didn’t hold you up any?” She took the open seat next to me.

  “No, really didn’t. Everyone here was pretty much blowing off their shock too. But, now that we’ve proved this is possible, I’d like to know what effect it’s going to have with IGF cooperation.”

  Gardner’s eyes still glittered with amazement, and validation. “Every ship commander we have is going to be chomping at the bit to see L12. When we’re done here I’ll turn in my official report to commence the full operation. The next ships will only be a few days behind us, and you’ll get the immediate flow of soldiers you’re wanting.”

  My relief was joined by that of the Elders, rushing through me with approval. We couldn’t wage a war without our EH soldiers and now I would have them. “Great. Let’s get this debrief done so you can get on with it.”

  I turned control over to this smaller council, listening as they discussed our transport, communications, and cooperation between the Collective and IGF ships. Our scout ships were already one day out on their search of the invaders, transmitting regularly to let us know they were still alive and well, and in the same awe as the light years disappeared behind them.

  Our recon team still had days to go before reaching the first coordinates the Elders provided, traveling at FTL speeds. The Elders had the unique formless ability to travel at the speed of thought, seeking the imbalance of the universe, a break in the harmonic resonance that only they could hear.

  But their reconnaissance wasn’t sufficient. We needed to see this threat with our own eyes. Our Recon team would gauge the extent of damages on a physical scale and translate that information back to us. We needed it to be real data of what to expect when we came after them.

  In the meantime, the Elders were leading us on some mystery hunt for the tools they swore we needed before facing this enemy. Calculations estimated two weeks to reach our destination, at L12. Another galaxy even the Collective hadn’t visited.

  I pulled my attention back to the meeting as Everett opened displays. One the depiction of our places in the universe. The Milky Way galaxy. The Regurak’s neighboring galaxy, and galaxies of the other allies, all seemingly tossed into the expanding universe haphazardly, but when displayed as a whole, their proximities were linked by clouds of matter.

  Faraday approached the map, studying it for a moment before he looked back at Huracid. “I’m impressed with the territory the Collective encompasses, but at the same time find it odd how certain areas have gone unexplored. The Milky Way Galaxy has been ignored.”

  “The Elders forbid exploration, under harsh penalties.”

  “But you crossed over anyway?”

  “Our galaxy was forbidden to protect us.” I interrupted. “The Elders wanted us to mature independently, but once the Punitraq started to reach out again, they sent the Collective to find us…me… all of us. They allowed Collective ships to cross into our territory, just as the enemy reached this far too.”

  Faraday shook his head, using a hand to measure the distance between Huracid’s destroyed colony world and our abducted one. “At L5, the best we have, this would take us at least a hundred years. Yet we… you, can do it in weeks. You can do this, while we have almost an entire galaxy yet to explore.”

  “Hopefully at the end of this war we’ll possess the technology to get back home again.” Gardner said patiently. “Let’s get back on topic.”

  Faraday quelled his enthusiasm and sat down again. I listened as the meeting wore on, but my focus diminished by the minute. They barely noticed when I excused myself. Everett remained and I dismissed my guards, so it felt odd as I wandered Faraday’s ship alone.

  I hadn’t been alone since the first IGF ship arrived. Eventually I ended up in a training room assigned to my purposes. Here we could help EH connect to their Elder, or simply commune.

  At my mere thought the Elder’s iridescent energy shimmered into existence. I sat down in a portal and let them surround me, glowing embers of life and intelligence, not painful anymore, but uplifting, reinvigorating. I wondered if I had an effect on them. I wondered if we affected their community as we stole away ancient souls to merge with our own.

  They didn’t laugh at my question, but their answer made me feel the infant, twiddling my tiny fingers in the ocean of their knowledge. Of course we had no effect. Once evolved to this level, they survived as pure energy. They pulled me in further, trying to show me what the other side was like. Showing me in sensations of unity and balance, a sense of peace no human or EH had ever felt. It was heartbreaking.

  “There you are.” Everett smiled through their brilliance.

  “Meeting over already?” I then realized more time had gone by than I felt inside this bubble of energy. “Oh, guess so.”

  “Everybody is thrilled, chatting up a storm with the IGF when I left.” The Elders allowed him to pass through them to sit beside me. His smile faded away. “You need a day or two off from these introductions.” He fluttered his hand and the Elders left me, taking up a spiral in the center of the room. “Your team can’t take over unless you let them.”

  “I already handed it off.” I turned myself around in the portal so I could lean against his chest. “I need to work on myself, maybe refresh my hand-to-hand skills.”

  “Humph!” Everett wrapped his arms around me, his soul wanting to protect me. “I certainly hope we don’t get that deep in the trenches, but if we do, I’ll be there with you.” He gave a sigh, looking to the Elders as they danced. Their mass changed shapes, looking like small galaxies spinning, then melting into the next form. I could feel sadness in his soul. “Many of us are going to die, aren’t we?”

  I gripped his arms closer to my chest. The thought of losing him flashed in my head and seized my heart. “If we lose, everything will be gone.”

  Everett’s lips brushed my neck. “If we win, we get our future.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  On Faraday’s bridge, Everett and Huracid stared at the main view screen. Faraday leaned over the telemetry workstation. “Any idea yet what that is?”

  “No, sir.” The ensign adjusted resolution on the scans, totally awed and frustrated. “It’s right there, but radars still indicate nothing. Something’s cloaking the object.” He tapped more computer keys. “Spatial disruptions indicate the orb’s diameter at 175,000 kilometers.”

  “That’s bigger than Jupiter!” Everett leaned closer to the screen, all but pushing the tech from his chair. “Can you zoom in? What are those rectangles?”

  “I can zoom in all you want, Sir, but the shapes cover the entire orb, no definition to make out their purpose. They look like…like that rock…” The tech tapped at his console, trying to remember something from his childhood education. “Cubic pyrite.”

  Several other techs nodded in agreement. The object did look like a giant rock of crystals, only in the shape of an orb. The young man looked back over his shoulder to Commander Faraday. “I’ll have to launch a lot more drones to do a full survey on something this big.”

  “Do it, Ensign. Let us know if anything changes.” He turned to me, looking up at Huracid behind me. “Neither of you can tell me anything either?”

  Huracid shook his head and I could only shrug my shoulder. An artificial planet bigger than Jupiter. I’d seen plenty of planets bigger, but never anything artificial, huge and invisible to our sensors. I couldn’t help but
feel Huracid’s total awe, and a sense of fearful respect for the creators of this strange orb.

  I patted the giant’s armored chest. “Welcome back to the kiddy table.”

  Everett burst out laughing at my reference, everyone else as confused as Huracid at my odd comment. “I’ll explain later.”

  Gardner leaned on the rail next to Everett, frowning. “Wonder what the hell we’re supposed to do with this?”

  I smiled at her, mimicking her own smirk when she knew she had the upper hand. “There’s only one way to find out.” I jerked my head at Everett. “Time to explore.”

  “Wait, wait, wait…” Faraday bounded back up to the observation deck as I headed for the door. “You’re not going over there? We don’t know if it’s safe.”

  I edged away from his intense emotions, freaking out that I wanted to just go over there. Wanting to go himself. “Commander, the Elders brought us here to get something, so let’s go find out what.” I frowned at Everett, feeling the same hesitancy from him. “Ask your Elder. They want us over there.” I leaned back towards Faraday. “The sooner I go, the sooner you go.”

  Faraday’s lip turned up on the edge, my words hitting that deeper desire. “All right. Go!” He looked at Everett. “You’re in charge. Keep com lines open and full video.”

  Patience suddenly seemed a forgotten concept as the Elders prodded at me anxiously. Everett’s companion compelled him as well, rushing us to the shuttle bay. A squad of soldiers selected by the Elders greeted us as our exploration team. The anxiety was at an all-time high as they mentally pushed us aboard the shuttles.

  The old me would have rebelled at their mental manhandling, but this wasn’t about me anymore. It wasn’t even about the whole human race we were supposed to save. It was about the strange alien Orb and our own insatiable need to see where we came from, where we were going.

  Inside the shuttle Everett helped me into a suit, as if I hadn’t spent my entire life in space. He gave me a smile as frustration caught up with me. “I have more motivation to keep you alive than anyone else, so indulge me.” He examined the helmet, but didn’t force me to put it on yet. “This can wait until we dock.”

  I watched Everett pull the snug suit over his uniform. The skin of his hands and face glowed, radiance from the Elder within him. My contact with them was far different, so I didn’t have to get accustomed to cohabitation.

  I saw Everett jerk his head a few times as he finished sealing his suit. “Are you all right?”

  Everett caught my hand, kissing the palm. “Your thoughts of cohabitation distracted me. Some old alien movie flashed through my head and I made the mistake of asking if this is what it felt like to have a symbiotic entity inside.”

  Several soldiers laughed as the question and answer transmitted through their collective minds. “We’re going to have to work on boundaries if they intend to hang out with us.” Everett clamped his thoughts down before his companion transmitted that too.

  Everett was right, we needed boundaries.

  “Ma’am, we’re ready, if you will?” The pilot opened the cockpit door, letting me in. I felt drawn to the pilot’s seat, but this wasn’t my bird. I took one of the jump seats behind him. “Is there anything you need before we launch?” He pulled the harness from above me and adjusted it to my shoulders, before lowering it over my head.

  “A double shot of something strong.” I looked back at the soldiers, their excitement overwhelming. “I’m sure I’m not the only one.”

  “If I had it, I’d share, believe me.” He smiled as I took the harness to finish strapping myself in. Everett belted in next to me, the pilot returning to pre-flights. I heard flight control give permission to leave the bay and really wanted something to steady my nerves. Everett reached across the aisle. It was all I’d get, but it was enough.

  Out my side portal I could see the other shuttles taxi ahead of us, taking launch positions. Atmospheric barriers flickered as the ships passed through the threshold and soundlessly blasted out of the bay. We were last.

  Through the pilot’s eyes we took an escort flight pattern, then they gave over a good part of their wills to their companions. To be led towards the Orb’s surface. Without a companion of my own, I was left in a strange quiet, watching our approach.

  From ship to target, it only took an hour with sub-light bursts. When all four shuttles were positioned only meters from the surface, the hair on my arms stood up. A pulse wave rolled through the shuttles, a scan so powerful several stomachs behind me tumbled. In a reverse effect, excitement took over as the impenetrable surface below glistened, then faded away, revealing a wide cavern.

  A silent invitation into the Orb.

  Maintaining formation, we accepted. The channel we traveled was as dark as starless skies, lit only by our ships’ beams reflecting off walls resembling the exterior, but spaced far enough apart we could probably fit Huracid’s ship inside.

  It should have been ominous, but I felt anxiously drawn deeper and the men itched to dock, ready to bust down the shuttle doors. Their energy shouted in my head. I keyed in the com link. “Can we bring it down a notch? You’re all about to make my head burst.”

  The men immediately clamped down on their talents. I monitored the progress outside our shuttle. We found what looked like a docking pad, getting less-than-subtle nudges from our hosts to land. We passed through another invisible scan as our shuttles settled onto huge metallic plates. I held tight to Everett’s hand as engines went to stand-by mode.

  I gripped harder as the Elders shared with us the next level of their plan. Reactivating the Orb. Images swirled in my head, and to every other EH on board. This was a moment, thousands of years in the making, just as our creation had been part of the plan.

  The images eased off and Everett pulled me to my feet. He held my helmet in his hands. “Wait…” I grabbed his arm before he dropped it over my head, stretching up to kiss him quickly. “…before our lives change.”

  He kissed me back, but stared at me oddly as he settled the helmet over my head. “It’s going to be all right. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

  “I know.” I lied.

  He flipped seals and ran tests, then donned his own helmet. Once everyone’s safety checks were complete, the shuttle doors opened. Violating protocols, I descended the ramp first. Behind me the soldiers gathered, eager to be led to their stations, ready to fulfill their tasks. We’d reactivate this enormous Orb and discover its secrets through our own eyes.

  They were eager, but I needed a moment to sort out my feelings. I could feel the hum of the Orb through the deck, welcoming me. Welcoming me… home. Deep down I knew this place. Logically I shouldn’t, since I didn’t have a companion whispering somewhere in my frontal lobe, or wherever. But I did know this place and felt a wave of apprehension.

  I was their key. Through me they would unlock our futures, or our deaths. I couldn’t say which, but I knew. It was the feeling of that word, just on the tip of your tongue, but it just wouldn’t shake itself loose. It was that sense of déjà vu, all stirred up with extreme dread and unbridled anticipation.

  Despite the urge to run, a current of familiarity pushed me across the bay floor to enormous atmosphere doors. To the side of the doors, a large control panel dominated the wall. Odd symbols spread over the face. A sequence flooded my mind and my fingers tapped through the code as if I’d entered it a million times.

  Doors, large enough for six Regurak to pass through, opened silently onto a corridor just as wide. It led in three directions. I looked behind me, at the squadron waiting to be released, feeling their own degrees of familiarity. I reminded them again they were soldiers, before I chose the corridor directly ahead of me.

  The squadron split up, Everett and his team followed me. The walls shimmered to life with light, while side corridors remained dark. It was a blatant flag, ‘go this way’, but I didn’t need the Orb’s guidance. My soul led the soldiers through corridors, changing levels, almost forgetting
them. Everett stuck close enough to brush my arm. Close enough I could feel his uneasiness. But he was a soldier. No matter what his Elder whispered to him, he was on alert.

  Finally, the strange compulsions drew me to closed doors, a scanner flickered up and down my body. Like the skin of the Orb, they faded away. Everett shifted his weapon to ready as we stared into the empty blackness beyond.

  He waved more soldiers forward when no lights appeared as an invitation. It was an ominous void, but in that airless atmosphere I heard a voice calling to me. I stepped over the threshold.

  Everett tried to grab for me, but a barrier flashed back into place, blocking him and the team outside. I looked through the energy field at Everett’s shocked face and shook my head. This was my journey now, the destiny set in place for me so long ago.

  I turned away and walked into the darkness, following a path long ago lost to physical beings. Memory told me where to put each foot, how many steps to climb. I knew when to sit, knowing there would be a chair to catch me. My arms settled onto the raised edges of the invisible seat.

  A compulsion ordered me to remove my gloves. Every ounce of training told me that the dead atmosphere of deep space that permeated the Orb was too cold to do this, but I undid the seals and peeled them off. The wrists of my suit tightened instantly to prevent oxygen loss. My hands fit perfectly into the impressions cut into the arms of the chair. My whole body fit as the chair molded around me from head to foot. As if it had waited for me. Built for me.

  It had been made for me. I felt that with unbending certainty. I was supposed to be here, in this chair. “What now?” I asked out loud, as the compulsions went away. My fingers were quickly freezing, burning as blood forced itself to the surface of my skin. “Enough of this.” I wanted my gloves back on. I tried to pull my hands free, but I couldn’t move my arms.

  Panic hit as light exploded around me, a clear shield circled up around the chair, entrapping me. I fought the invisible bands restraining me, but a paralysis froze me inch by inch to the chair, until I couldn’t move at all. “What are you doing to me?” A stabbing pain answered, something biting into my wrists. I could feel blood being sucked from my arteries. “Stop it!”