The base was surrounded by landing pads that stretched out into the desert, further than he could see. Considering there hadn’t been a war for nearly five hundred years, they were certainly prepared for one. Kalian had heard of the occasional separatist faction here and there, but nothing that required this level of security. At several points on the wall were groups of soldiers manning high powered rail guns - all of them were watching Kalian. The high walls blocked any view from the ground of what might lie on the other side. It all felt so disorientating.
Kalian recalled a segment on a documentary, stating it had been built in the Nevada desert. It was the perfect location when they were building The Hub, centuries ago; this particular desert was one of the few that had never been altered for living space.
The only visible door, at least two-feet thick, parted in half upon their approach. Before entering, Kalian took one last look at the sky, trying to spot the massive ship. The vista of blue was completely devoid of clouds, but he couldn’t see the massive ship from here. Why was it above San Francisco?
The soldier tugged on his arm a little harder. “Come on, the Chief Commander is waiting for you.”
Kalian remembered hearing that name; something about new security measures the UDC was taking on Mars. The man he had seen on the news looked like a man of power. He had been wearing his uniform with several medals on his chest, but his most striking feature had been a scar that ran from his jaw up to a point below his right eye.
Surely I’m not about to meet him. He’s in charge of the entire UDC!
The only people above the Chief Commander were the council members in Central Parliament.
Kalian was ushered into a lift at the end of a large square foyer. The commanding officer entered with him, but the remaining soldiers took their stations surrounding the doors. Kalian may have been a priority, but he obviously wasn’t considered a threat to be left with just one guard.
He felt the jolt as the lift began to move. “Are we going up or down?”
The ride was so smooth he couldn’t tell. The commanding officer didn’t move, oblivious to Kalian’s existence.
“You guys don’t talk much, huh?”
The doors parted, revealing a wide room filled with lots of monitors, surrounded by glowing holographics. Behind each monitor sat men and women in technical headgear and microphones; they all appeared to be talking at once. At the end of the room was the largest monitor, at least twenty feet across. Spread from edge to edge was a much clearer image of the massive unknown ship.
“Welcome to The Hub, Mr Gaines.” A tall woman with cropped, black hair in UDC uniform was stood by the entrance to the lift, obviously awaiting his arrival.
“I’m Lieutenant Walsh. If you would like to follow me.” The lieutenant extended her hand towards a door at the far side of the room.
Her smile eased some of Kalian’s tension. The lieutenant made him feel like he had come here of his own accord, rather than man-handled out of his lecture theatre.
The room he was shown to was long and rectangular, taken up by a table and large chairs made of synthetic leather. Two men were sat near the far end, pouring over Datapads and holo-projections. Despite the air conditioning, both men were sweating with frustrated looks on their faces. Kalian couldn’t see the face of the man behind them; he had his back to the door and his hands clasped behind his back. Lieutenant Walsh pulled out a seat halfway up the table and gestured for Kalian to sit down. Before he had taken the seat, the lieutenant had already left the room.
The man turned to face Kalian. “Thank you for joining us, Mr Gaines.”
A small pit opened in his stomach. Perhaps the most insignificant man in the world was being addressed by the most powerful, and he had no idea why.
“I realise the way you were brought here wasn’t... ideal.” His voice was rough and full of authority; it commanded attention immediately.
It was this voice that ordered thousands of men and women across the stars on a daily basis. The Chief Commander appeared less composed in comparison to his public interviews. He had the face of a man who hadn’t been sleeping well for years. Who could with all that responsibility? The scar across his cheek was paler in the flesh. Kalian wondered why he had never had it removed. The Chief no longer had the look of a soldier; his hair had grown out, along with his stomach. Cold grey eyes rested on the history lecturer. It was as if he was being inspected from the inside out. The tension crept back into his muscles.
“I am Chief Commander Hendricks.”
Kalian stole a quick glance at the other men, but the Chief Commander apparently had no intention of introducing them.
“Do you know why you’re here, Mr Gaines?” The Chief moved around the table until he was standing opposite Kalian.
The spotlight above them shadowed his eyes and accentuated his scar. A lump formed inside Kalian’s throat preventing him from answering.
The Chief continued, “Judging from your expression, son, I reckon you’ve got no idea what you’re doing here. Am I right?”
Kalian managed to clear his throat this time. “No... sir.” He had never been a soldier in his life but, for some reason, he felt as if he shouldn’t speak unless spoken to.
“Well, that makes two of us then.” The Chief turned to glare at the men seated at the end of the table.
Now Kalian was even more confused.
How can he not know why I’m here?
One of the seated men wiped the sweat from his balding head with a handkerchief. “Kalian, can I call you Kalian?”
He had never liked being called Mr Gaines. Except for the freshers, even his students called him by his first name.
“Sure.” Kalian was starting to get annoyed. How could they drag him all the way out to the desert and not know why?
“I’m Commander Barnes, this is Commander Laney.” He flicked his thumb towards the man next to him. “Let me start by saying that anything you see or hear in this facility is never to be reported.”
Kalian could tell that there were consequences behind that statement. He simply nodded in agreement.
“As I’m sure you are aware by now, at oh-seven-thirty-two this morning an unknown vessel appeared in orbit.” He tapped a few commands into his Info-band and a holographic image appeared in the middle of the table. It was a detailed picture of the unknown ship.
“At oh-seven-thirty-three, every monitor in our command centre received the same message-”
Before Commander Barnes could continue, he was interrupted by the Chief. “They broke every damn firewall we’ve got inside of a minute!”
Kalian could tell there was a hint of fear behind his anger.
Commander Barnes continued, “They only sent one message and it was very clear.” This time he tapped the table and sent the image across the surface until it stopped in front of Kalian.
We Come As Friends To Mankind. Select Location. Choose Representative and Two Warriors. Bring Kalian Gaines.
Underneath the text was a layout of someone’s DNA, stretching from end-to-end of the screen. Kalian couldn’t believe what he was seeing. He read it two more times to be sure.
There are actual aliens in that ship, real aliens...
Kalian couldn’t form a coherent thought due to the shock of seeing his own name in an alien message.
All three men were staring at him trying to gauge his reaction, to see if he had some insight they didn’t.
“Are you even sure this is me? I mean I can’t be the only Kalian Gaines that exists across two solar systems?”
Kalian could feel his fear mixing with desperation, but it was too late. The static on his arm was building again and his spine felt hot beneath his skin. He didn’t even think to try and control it; he couldn’t stop seeing his name in that message. The lights in the room flickered for a moment, sending them all into sporadic darkness. Even the holo-projectors blinked out.
“What the hell is this?” The Chief’s question brought Kalian’s attention back.
In his panic, he hadn’t realised what he had done. Concentrating on the chair in front of him, he convinced himself there was nothing else in the universe except that chair. Everything else fell away. Kalian regained his focus and slowly brought himself back to the present. Years of self-meditation had taught the best techniques that worked for him. The lights and projectors winked back to life.
The Chief tapped his Info-band. “Lieutenant Walsh, report.”
The Lieutenant’s voice came back over the inbuilt speaker. “Some kind of electromagnetic pulse sir! We can’t trace its origin but it appears to have hit half of the facility, we’re analysing for any damage now.”
Half the building? How the hell did I do that?
The Chief sucked in his breath - just one more thing for him to worry about.
“Are we under attack?” The leather chair creaked under the Chief’s grip.
“All systems have rebooted as if nothing happened, Sir,” she replied.
“Keep me updated, Lieutenant.”
The older man turned back to Kalian, who felt like sinking into his chair and disappearing forever. A moment of nausea swept over him.
The Chief continued, “You see that strand of DNA at the bottom of the message?”
Kalian took another look at the image, but it meant nothing to him.
“That’s you, son. Your specific DNA. We ran it through the Birthing Databank - it’s a perfect match.”
The Birthing Databank was the largest database ever created; it stored all the DNA and genetic structure of every person at the time of their birth. It allowed for instant identification, which was useful if retinal scans failed.
“What... what could they possibly want with me? I’m just a history lecturer from San Francisco.” Kalian was doing his best not to lose control again.
“Since receiving the message, my guys here have been going over every scrap of information there is on you - and there isn’t much of interest.” The Chief looked at the eyetrak on the table, and with a flick of his eyes changed the holo-projection of the ship to a page of information about Kalian. “Kalian Gaines, born in San Francisco in 2913 AD, parents Joseph and Mary Gaines...” He paused for a moment, reading the next section in his head first.
“They died in 2920 due to an accident involving a Mag-car. The report came back as a malfunction of the magnetic generator.” He said the word malfunction as if he had never heard of it. “I was under the impression that Mag generators took centuries to degrade.”
Was there an accusation in there?
Kalian elaborated for them, “The car slipped off the track at about seventy miles-per-hour. It went straight through the railing and off a bridge...” His memory was disjointed after that. He remembered waking up in hospital, alone.
The Chief took another look at the information. “The hospital records show that you had no injuries, not even a scratch, but they couldn’t explain why you were unconscious.” He was staring at Kalian again. “I guess we found something interesting about you after all...”
They know something isn’t right...
The subject of his parents’ death had always scared Kalian. Deep down he felt that he was the cause of the accident, but he wasn’t sure how. The generators have multiple fail-safes to prevent that kind of accident. Growing up, he had done some research into Mag-cars to find a possible cause for such a malfunction - he had found none.
“...You’re one lucky son of a bitch. I don’t know anyone who could walk away from a crash of that magnitude unscathed.”
Kalian tried to hide his relief.
They don’t know.
“You spent a few years in and out of foster homes until you got your qualifications in the subject of history.” He placed the Datapad down on the table, ending the holo-projection of Kalian’s file.
“And that’s the end of your story Kalian Gaines... so what the hell do they want with you?”
Kalian sat back in his chair, just as confused and curious as them.
Commander Barnes sat forward in his seat. “Here’s what we know, Kalian; the ship found on Pluto’s moon Charon was indeed of alien origin, but our analysts can’t find any similarity between that ship and this one.” He pointed towards the ceiling in the general direction of their new visitors.
“Do they have Solar Drive technology like the old ship?” Kalian felt more comfortable asking questions now that he knew his secret was safe.
“Honestly, we have no idea. They didn’t come from the direction of the sun, they just appeared from nowhere. Most of our scans are just bouncing off the hull. We have no idea what’s going on inside that ship. Hell, we can’t even figure out what the hull’s made of.” He rubbed his eyes; looking at monitors all morning had obviously given him a headache. “The only thing we know for certain is it’s five times the size of the Hyperion. It’s eight miles long.”
He was referring to the flagship of the UDC fleet; it was the largest ship they had ever made, the pinnacle of human engineering.
“So you think these might be different aliens to the ones that crashed here centuries ago?” Kalian’s curiosity was growing; he found himself eager for more information.
Commander Barnes sighed. “We don’t know that either, it’s one theory. It’s also possible that in over four hundred years they just got better ships.”
Kalian was starting to get a sense of how frustrating this must be for them. The UDC had been in control of all security matters for five hundred years, they knew everything about everything. Now, for the first time, they were in the dark.
“I want to help you, I really do but... I just don’t see where I fit into all of this.” A thought suddenly occurred to him. “What about Century? Has a ship appeared in their orbit?”
Kalian couldn’t believe he’d forgotten about Earth’s sister world, Century. Terraformed centuries earlier, it had taken one hundred years to create a breathable atmosphere and start colonisation. Situated eight light years away, it was now home to six billion human beings. Thanks to Solar Drive powered ships it could be reached in a couple of days, jumping from star to star.
“We’ve been in communication with them all morning, but they’ve reported no activity.” Commander Laney checked his own Datapad in case of updates.
Kalian asked, “Why would they only be here? Why not Century too?”
It was the Chief Commander who replied. “We suspect they’ve been watching us for a while now. That’s how they know our language and forms of communication. We’re assuming that with this knowledge they also know that Central Parliament is located on Earth. They know that all the decisions come from this planet, not Century.”
It was clear the Chief wasn’t happy with the situation. Knowledge was power and right now, he had none. These aliens were an unknown factor and as long as they remained a mystery, they were a potential enemy in his eyes.
“Also,” Commander Barnes added, “we think they’re over San Francisco specifically because you were there.”
Kalian found that piece of information overwhelming and disturbing.
Aliens chose that exact place just because of me? What is going on here? Why am I so important? There must be billions of people more important and interesting than me!
Kalian had so many questions which he needed the answers to, but he looked at the faces in front of him and realised they knew as little as him. They could at least answer his next question.
“So, what happens now?” Kalian looked at each of them in turn, he didn’t care who had the answer, he just wanted someone to have one.
The Chief took command again. “We’ve already picked out the location for this little get together.” A slight smirk appeared at the corner of his mouth, twisting his scar. Picking the location gave him some measure of control. “As we speak, the Icarus station is being evacuated of all personnel.”
Kalian had heard of this place, it was a security way-station built to stay in orbit between the Earth and the Moon. There had been a
news report on it a few years ago, something to do with freeing up UDC ships. This way they could patrol further out into the solar system and beyond.
“The station is perfect. It’s isolated and completely under our control.” The Chief began to pace up and down the room as if he were giving a motivational speech or a plan of attack. “Right now, the big-wigs in Central Parliament are choosing their representative to speak on our behalf.” The Chief turned on Kalian mid-step. “If nothing else Mr Gaines, remember this; the representative that goes with you is there to speak for all mankind. You, on the other hand, are there because you’re a condition. You will not speak at this meeting unless spoken to. We have no idea what the outcome of this is going to be, and I’m sure you appreciate the complications civilians can bring.”
Kalian knew what he was saying; civilians are hostages, civilians are untrained, civilians get in the way and civilian deaths are reported on the six o’clock news. Kalian was sure that if the Chief had it his way the entire population would be conscripted into the UDC. He agreed with the Chief to a point, he just wished he wasn’t such an asshole about it. Kalian simply clenched his jaw and nodded silently. Even if he was allowed to speak to the aliens he wasn’t sure what he would say. There were so many questions, not just on their apparent fascination with him, but also everything about them. It suddenly dawned on him that this meeting would be a monumental piece of history; that he would be a part of that history.
To think, I might have to give lectures about myself!
The sinking feeling in his stomach brought him back to the present; he was yet to find out what part of history he would play.
“Speaking of such complications,” the Chief continued, “we’ve already selected two warriors to accompany you.” He emphasised the word warriors as if it was an archaic term. He looked to Commander Barnes to provide the details.
“We believe they’ve allowed us to pick the location and send guards as a sign of trust. Our scans can’t tell us anything, but if their ability to sneak up on us undetected is anything to go by, they’re more advanced. So at this point, any sign of trust is good for us.” He gave a quick glance to the Chief as if he had said something he shouldn’t.
The Terran Cycle Boxset Page 3