Amongst the Immortals

by Luigi Robles

  In the wake of the ISCO, ESAF was forced to allow ambassadors and staff from other countries to join the communications initiative.

  “Do you think we’ll lose the lawsuit?” Fain asked.

  “Who knows,” Green said. “ESAF is doing everything it can to remain independent under US law. Hopefully, it stays that way.”

  “If not, we’ll just have to move to another planet,” Fain said as they walked out of the elevator.

  “You know what? That’s starting to sound like not such a bad idea after all.”

  Green and Fain took a few more steps along the well-lit hallway and then turned to face an inconspicuous door. Green knocked on the door a few times.

  “Come in.” Truman’s voice sounded muffled through the door, but Fain was still able to distinguish it.

  Without hesitation, Green opened the door and walked into the room, and Fain followed.

  Truman was behind a large wooden desk with a hefty ESAF seal on the front of it. The seal was circular, with the words “Earth Space Armed Federation” around it, and a globe in the center with a dot making its way around the globe. The desk had a few things on top of it; to the left was a small American flag, to the right an ancient mechanical typewriter and next to the typewriter an old lamp. At the center of the desk there was a large leather writing pad with plenty of papers on it, and innocuously placed next to the large writing pad was a computer console.

  The wall behind Truman was covered in floor-to-ceiling shelves filled with books, and in front of the desk were two comfortable-looking chairs.

  “General Truman,” Fain said and saluted as he came in.

  “Gentleman, Green,” Truman said. “At ease. Please take a seat.”

  “Very funny,” Green said with a sarcastic tone as they sat down.

  “Fain, we’ve read the reports from the ISCO,” Truman said as he scratched his beard and sighed. “When it’s not one thing, it’s another. The only little bit of good news that I was able to extrapolate is that this time we aren’t the only target.”

  Fain nodded slowly.

  “This puts us at a numbers advantage,” Truman continued. “At least when it comes to finding out their next move. This is where the ISCO will come into full play. If the enemy does appear, we’ll know about it. Green and I’ll craft a message and send it out to the known civilizations in contact with Earth. We also need to be ready to render aid if need be.”

  “Understood,” Fain said. “According to Kya, a good part of the fleet can travel within Sodenia’s drive bubble.”

  “That might be necessary,” Truman said. “We still don’t know exactly how a mass movement of our fleet will work with the Ochilenes jump gates.”

  Before the Ochilenes left for their home planet a little over three months ago, they constructed two massive five-ring gates capable of jumping anywhere in the galaxy, as long as the distance didn’t exceed the jumping capacity of each ring. Each ring could cover a jumping distance of eight thousand lightyears at a time. If the target destination exceeded that amount, then a second ring would need to be deployed. Kya suggested building such gates due to the low number of jumper core power cells the Ochilenes had left.

  “So, what is this?” Fain asked. “Why announce themselves?”

  “Who knows?” Truman said. “A scare tactic, a ritual?”

  “A challenge,” Green said.

  Fain and Truman turned towards Green.

  “When a hunter is after his prey,” Green said, “he goes to great lengths not to make a sound. But sometimes, the old and bored hunter wants a challenge. He wants to scare his prey, to make it run, make it fear for its life so that when he finally puts an arrow through his prey’s heart, he knows he is the apex.”

  They were quiet for a few moments.

  “Yeah, could be,” Truman said. “But for all we know, none of this will happen, or this could be some type of Acram plan to distract us.”

  “No, that can’t be it,” Fain said. “The Golden Armada could have destroyed us if they wanted to. Noble Saavan pulled his armada back because we had unintentionally united the galaxy against a single cause. This might be that cause.”

  “Hopefully we can keep it that way,” Truman said. “I’m thinking of replacing a few of the ambassadors in the ISCO just to make a point and remind them why they are up there.”

  “That would be good,” Green said.

  “Let’s bump up our visit to the Ochilenes’ homeworld,” Truman said. “We are keeping our promise, but we are doing so early. Make all necessary arrangements.”

  Minutes after the meeting, Fain was on his way to the space elevator on the other side of Soden Island. A two-way five-mile-long bridge connected the island to the space elevator. Soden Island and the bridge looked insignificant compared to the mammoth structure of the elevator. Its shape was of an inverted parabolic cone with a cannon-like structure on top. The seven-mile-high structure seemingly disappeared into the sky.

  It was previously thought that for the space elevator to work, two things needed to happen. One, it needed to be placed along Earth’s equator, where the centrifugal forces caused by the rotation of the Earth were greatest. And two, the space elevator needed to be lightweight and yet strong enough that it wouldn’t crumble under its own weight. Earth’s first space elevator, dubbed Ouranos by Truman, was neither. Rather, it was two sperate structures, one on Earth and the other in space, rotating in synchronicity. Instead of having a 60,000-mile cable connecting Earth and space, Ouranos launched pods into space using pulse energy that would accelerate the capsule halfway towards the space part of the elevator. Once halfway to space, the space dock would begin pulling on the capsule. It took three hours to get to the space dock and around thirty minutes to come back to Earth in a controlled descent.

  “Officer on deck,” an ESAF officer said as Fain entered the Ouranos lobby.

  “At ease,” Fain said as he walked towards the main desk.

  There were two ESAF officers behind the desk, one of them waiting for Fain to approach while the other typed away at a computer.

  “How can I help you today, Captain?” Smith, as his nametag showed, asked.

  “Heading up,” Fain said. “I’ll just need a small capsule.”

  Ouranos had an assortment of capsules, from two-passenger capsules to capsules that could fit up to thirty-five-passengers at one time. There were also capsules for the sole purpose of moving freight to and from space.

  “Sure, no problem,” Smith said. “I’ll just be needing clearance.”

  Fain let out a cough; he was caught off-guard. Since he had become captain of Sodenia, clearance to visit his own ship was not something he had ever needed before.

  “What?” Fain coughed once more.

  “Clearance is needed for everyone going to the space dock,” Smith said. “Those are orders from the top down.”

  The other officer behind the desk stopped typing and turned to see what was happening. Recognition was painted across his face. He quickly got up and pushed Smith aside to get behind the main desk computer. He promptly started opening display windows.

  “I’m so sorry, Captain Jegga,” Yanks, as his nametag showed, said. “Forgive ESAF Apprentice Smith here. He must not have recognized who you are. He’s just doing his job. I’ll get your capsule sorted out for you right away.”

  Fain nodded. He found it both amusing and refreshing that they actually didn’t know or understand who he was. Fain didn’t mind whatsoever, but he was in a hurry.

  “Hey, what are you doing?” Smith said in a low voice. “We were told that everyone needs clearance, no matter what.”

  “I don’t think that applies to him,” Yanks hissed. “That’s Fain Jegga, not a Fain Jegga, the Fain Jegga, Captain of Sodenia. Do you really want Kya coming down here to give him clearance, or Truman? If that happens, we are all gone.”

  “OK, but what if he’s an impostor or something?” Smith hissed back. “We need to check his papers. What if that’s not hi
m and he goes up to the ship?”

  “Are you for real right now?” Yanks turned to Smith, voice still quiet. “Who in their right mind would go up there with Kya if they had no business going up there in the first place? You do know who Kya is, right?”

  “Yes…” It looked as if Smith was finally grasping the concept.

  “Alright then,” Yanks hissed and turned back to the computer.

  Fain enjoyed the back and forth between the two officers, and it looked like Kya had gained quite the reputation among ESAF.

  “Captain Jegga,” Yanks said, looking up from the computer screen. “Your capsule is now ready in bay one. We currently have clear skies, so you should be on the space dock within three hours. Is there anything else I can help you with, Captain?”

  “Nope, that’s all.”

  “Alright, alright,” Yanks said. “We’ll be ready to climb as soon as you enter the capsule, and I’ll take it from here.”

  “Sounds good,” Fain said as he turned around and headed towards bay one.

  It was Fain’s second time using the space elevator to go up into space. He didn’t like the idea of staying put all that much, but he also didn’t mind because this time around he would be able to get some work done on the long ride. The space elevator capsule was simple: four large windows surrounded the capsule, giving the passenger a top-of-the-line, 360-degree view of Earth. The higher the capsule got, the better the view. Between the two passenger seats, there was a computer console connected to the ESAF mainframe. The capsule’s interior was white with a hint of gray for the seats and not much else going on, at least when it came to the design.

  Fain opened a new digital screen, where he would set everything in motion for them to visit the Ochilenes’ planet ahead of schedule. Within one hour of writing emails and contacting all the necessary people to make it happen, Sodenia would be ready to depart to the Ochilenes’ home planet within twenty-four hours.

  Once he was done, he got up from his seat and stared outside each one of the windows, taking in the breathtaking view. For a second or two, he wondered what the Ochilenes’ planet would look like. Would it be as beautiful as Earth? Without having much else to stare at other than the same view from a higher angle, he sat back down.

  He spent the next two hours contemplating the situation they were in, trying to figure out what he was missing. Immortals, why would the Acram call them that? Even after listening to Mikey’s full report, he still couldn’t wrap his head around the name. In his mind, everything had an end, and the fact they had a name at all meant they’d been here before. Did the Herrion know about them? He went over every little detail he could think of in his head, but it was all the same. He ended up exactly where he was now. Kya would be able to answer one of the questions, at least, and as for the rest, he knew of only one other that had the answers: Acram Noble Saavan. There was no way around it; Fain had to contact the one being that had come so close to ending humanity in order to save it.

  The capsule’s bell rang, snapping Fain back into himself. He had already arrived at the space dock. The gravity on the space dock covered a ten-mile radius, making it hard to tell when passengers had arrived.

  “Welcome to the Ouranos space dock,” a charming disembodied voice chimed as the capsule’s doors opened. “Please watch your step as you exit the capsule.”

  Kya was the first thing Fain saw as he stepped outside the capsule. She was standing in the middle of the lobby, bearing her weight on one leg and stretching the other. Both of her hands were behind her back, and a wide smile was visible from across the room. She looked more human than before, and the slight lines she had across her face were completely gone. Now there wasn’t a single thing that differentiated her synthetic body from a human’s, at least from what Fain could see.

  There were other ESAF officers on the space dock, but they were busy typing away in their respective stations.

  “If it isn’t Fain Jegga.” Kya’s smile was still present. It looked genuine and warm. “You know, I’ve been waiting over fifteen minutes for you.”

  “It’s nice to see you too,” Fain said, feeling a smile grow. “You know, is it really necessary to have the voice in the capsule say ‘watch your step’? Don’t we automatically know to watch our step?”

  “There are fifty-two lawsuits pending against ESAF,” Kya began, walking towards Fain. “Most of them appear to be bogus and relating to slips and falls, injuries due to alien technology, that sort of thing. So yeah, I would say it’s necessary.”

  “Geez,” Fain said as he stopped just a step away from Kya.

  An alarm began blaring out from each one of the ESAF officers’ stations, and just as Fain was going to ask what that was about, Kya stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Fain, hugging him warmly. Fain eased into her embrace. Kya’s perfect smell wafted towards him during the hug; she smelt clean, with a hint of glycerin.

  “It’s been way too long,” Kya whispered. “Formalities suck when you miss someone.”

  Fain nodded as he squeezed Kya back and then let go.

  They began walking to the shuttle, and the blaring alarm in the ESAF officers’ stations stopped.

  “What the heck was that,” one of the ESAF officers said out loud.

  “Next time pay more attention,” Kya said, turning slightly towards the officer. “The restroom hasn’t been cleaned today. Make sure you keep it clean. Don’t let me hear that alarm again.”

  It was hard for Fain not to laugh. He knew that it was probably true that the restroom had to be clean, but he also knew that Kya had sounded the alarm on purpose.

  Boarding the shuttle that would take them to Sodenia, Fain was already feeling goosebumps at the sight of the magnificent ship. There wasn’t a thing that came to mind that he didn’t like about the ship; it was as if it was made for him.

  “Are you aware of everything that’s going on?” Fain said as he sat, taking the co-pilot seat. There was no need for him to captain the small shuttle; Kya was more than capable of handling the small ten-minute ride to Sodenia.

  “I believe so,” Kya said as she took out a thin auxiliary cord with changing ends. She plugged one end of the cord into the side of her hand and the other into the shuttle’s control console. Seconds later, the shuttle separated from the space dock. “Unless something new happened within the last five minutes or so.”

  “What is that?”

  “You mean the analog cord?” Kya smiled and dangled the cord.

  “Yeah… I think that’s what that should be.” Fain’s eyebrows furrowed. “And why did I see it change shape?”

  “It’s something I’m trying out. I’m trying to measure just how much more direct or faster this kind of connection is versus wireless. It’s nothing special.” Kya shrugged. “It changes shape due to some added nanotech on its end, so it can connect to pretty much anything.”

  “Reviving old tech, huh?”

  “Reviving? I believe it never went away.”

  Fain smiled and nodded, but he had something else on his mind, something only Kya could answer.

  “Did the Herrion know about this?” Fain asked, striking a more serious tone.

  “I’ve checked the Archives, though perhaps not as thoroughly as I should, and I found little information about the Immortals. They seem to be a myth throughout Herrion history, though recent events and some of the Acram past lead me to believe they are real and truly frightening beings.”

  Frightening? Fain thought. This is the second time Kya has mentioned that these Immortals or whatever they are scare her. Not even when we faced the Acram Armada and the odds were overwhelmingly against us did she fret.

  “I need to talk with Saavan,” Fain said.

  “Perhaps it would be best if you speak with him after our Ochilenes trip. I believe we’ll be able to gather more information while we are there. I’m currently working on making a net to detect the presence of artificial influences.”

  “Maybe you can work with Pycca,” Fain s
aid and felt a sudden jerk in the shuttle. “I mean, if you’d like.”

  “I can. I don’t mind.”

  Fain wasn’t able to sense whether Kya meant what she said or not. Could it be that she didn’t like Pycca? But Fain quickly dismissed the thought. It wasn’t that Kya didn’t like Pycca, no. That couldn’t be it.

  “I asked her to come up with a way to trace the signal back to its source. She might be almost done with it.”

  “I don’t think it will be that easy. A device capable of tracking the source of sporadic glitches will be anything but easy to make. In any case, I’m willing to help.”

  “Good.” Fain nodded once. “This time we won’t wait for them to come to us.”

  Fain felt the need to move fast due to the pressure of current events. He wanted to find out everything he could and then act on it. He was ready to answer the challenge. He wouldn’t be intimidated. Though something inside of him told him that this might be a battle that he wouldn’t be able to win. He hated himself for thinking that way, but he also knew it was close to the truth. Yet it was a small price to pay to achieve peace in the galaxy once again.

  “Whatever you decide to do, I’m with you.”

  “Thank you,” Fain said wholeheartedly. “But I have to ask you, what do you think of all of this? What’s really happening?”

  “It’s hard to say. But I’ve come across several hints that suggest that every few million years the galaxy undergoes an adjustment of life. This is one of those adjustments. Many civilizations throughout history have written about the end of the world, something they foresaw coming. Though I believe they didn’t foresee it coming; instead it was written based on the stories of the few that survived. And now, that same end is here.”

  They lapsed into silence for the rest of the trip to Sodenia.

  Kya’s words had sent a chill down Fain’s spine, further cementing the urgency to act. Fain knew they had to hurry. There would be no more leave, no more waiting around, and no more time for enjoyment.