“Of course! I will get to work on that right away!” Notes promised.
Notes looked down at Blackshade, adoration in its eyes, “It was absolutely thrilling to meet you, Blackshade. I hope to see you again soon.” Notes told him sincerely.
Blackshade was taken off guard by the genuine kindness, “The honor was mine.” he said, trying to match Notes’ sincerity.
Notes said nothing in return but the massive smile that spread across the Omega’s face spoke volumes. The Omega turned around and disappeared behind a large grey plastic box, where Blackshade assumed it was going to work on its new task. He looked up at Artificer for direction.
Artificer motioned, once again, for Blackshade to follow him as he made his way down the tunnel. As he followed, he looked down the tunnel. To his dismay, it seemed to stretch on for miles. Again, Blackshade had to jog in order to keep up with the Omega, but he quickly discovered that he didn’t mind. With his enhanced body, jogging had become incredibly easy, and even enjoyable.
“You may have made a friend back there, Blackshade.” Artificer said after they had made their way a few hundred yards down the tunnel.
Blackshade smiled, “Good. Hopefully I’ll make a few more before the day is through.” he responded good naturedly.
Artificer gave him a considering look before smiling slightly, “Possibly. You are certainly going to have the opportunity.”
Before Blackshade could respond, Artificer picked up its pace, and Blackshade had to practically run just to keep up. The exertion would have caused his lower back and knees to start bothering him, as was common for a man his age, but instead he felt his body come alive at the strain. He really wanted to make sure he could get a cylinder of his own before leaving the ship. He felt as though it had given him back his youth.
As they made their way through the ship, Blackshade saw that everything looked exactly the same. Miles of drab grey plastic walls with random rectangular lights surrounded him, the occasional flat grey structure protruding from a wall or the floor were the only landmarks that broke up the landscape. A few times they passed other Omegas that stopped what they were doing to stare curiously at him. They all looked similar to Artificer and had similar builds. Fifteen feet tall or taller, barrel chested, muscular bodies, feminine faces, tails wrapped over their shoulders, hairless, and naked. All of them had skin that was jet black and as unmarked as porcelain. Blackshade wondered if all the Omegas looked the same or if his brain just couldn’t pick out the differences between them. If his brain hadn’t been able to process the interior of the ship, what was he missing when he looked at the Omegas? It was an interesting thought and one that he would bring up with Soearth the next time he saw him. His new his friend would want to hear everything about his time spent aboard the Omega ship. The debriefings he was going to have to give when he got back would probably last a month, but he wouldn’t have given this experience up for the world; he was having the time of his life.
As he jogged along, Blackshade heard something that stopped him dead in his tracks. Artificer didn’t notice and continued down the tunnel as Blackshade stared down a junction leading another direction. He tried to slow his breathing so he could better listen for the sound, and after a moment, he heard it again. It was a woman, and if he wasn’t mistaken, it sounded like she was moaning in pleasure. The sound had stopped him in the crossroads of a four way split in the tunnel. Grey plastic walls with rectangular lights flashed all around him. He closed his eyes to better focus on his hearing, and after a moment, he heard something again, only this time it was a man’s voice producing a moan of pleasure. Blackshade was thoroughly confused.
Artificer strode towards him. “Is something wrong, Blackshade?”
He wasn’t sure how to respond, “No. I don’t think so.” he answered, distracted, “Are there any other humans on the ship, Artificer?”
Artificer shook its head, “No. You are the only human on our vessel currently.” The engineer answered. “Why do you ask?”
Blackshade searched the Omega’s face for any sign of deception before answering, “I thought I heard human voices… a woman’s, then a man’s, coming from down this tunnel.”
Artificer looked down the tunnel and shrugged, “That corridor leads to the crew’s habitation environments.” Artificer told him simply. “No human could access any of those environments without an Omega’s authorization, and the only human authorized on this ship right now is you.”
Blackshade nodded his understanding but stood waiting for a few moments hoping to hear the sounds again. There was nothing, only the low hum of the ship and the occasional sound of his own breathing.
“Come, Blackshade, Tremendous is waiting.” The Omega said after a few moments. Artificer’s tone was polite, but there was no mistaking that this was a command, not a suggestion. Blackshade sighed and fell back into a trot beside the engineer.
He jogged next to Artificer for a while. How far they had traveled was difficult for Blackshade to determine since his surroundings were so nondescript. He assumed they had gone a few miles, but for all he knew, Artificer was walking him in circles just to see how long he could keep up. After a few more seemingly random turns, and what felt like jogging downhill, Blackshade suddenly found himself in a massive room, with the highest concentration of dull grey panels and tables he had seen on the ship so far. A dozen Omegas he hadn’t met before looked down at him as he entered the room with equal parts curiosity and expectation. In the center of the room sat Tremendous, in a chair that was large, even for an Omega. It had numerous grey and black hoses running down from it and into the floor. The hoses seemed to be holding the chair aloft, as they were the only connection to the rest of the ship he could see. The chair was made out of some kind of bright white metal and had numerous round red, orange, yellow, and green lights blinking all over it. Tremendous was sitting rigidly in the chair and looked like it was napping uncomfortably. Blackshade somehow knew Tremendous wasn’t sleeping, and he also knew the Omega leader wasn’t yet aware they had arrived. He had no idea how he knew that, but he was beginning to think it had something to do with the old programming they kept telling him about. This was something else he promised himself he would discuss with Soearth once he got back.
After a moment, Tremendous’ eyes fluttered open and settled on him. Blackshade already felt small compared to the Omegas. Most of them were nine feet taller than him or more, but when Tremendous set its gaze on him, the feeling of insignificance was almost overpowering. He recalled his first meeting with the Omegas, at their front door in Roswell. He remembered how the civilians with him had passed out, panicked, or fled the moment they saw them. He thought he could understand that a lot better now. Summoning all of his courage, Blackshade fought down the feeling of insignificance and forced himself to meet Tremendous’ gaze. The Omega had never shown him any disrespect before, but these meetings were far too important for him to allow self-doubt to encourage it.
Tremendous stood from its strange white metal chair, and as he did so it shifted and turned away from them, folding into itself until it disappeared into the floor. Blackshade thought it was strange that it made no noise, as it returned to what he assumed was a storage position, and he also found it interesting that the Omegas kept their chairs in the floor, similar to humans.
Tremendous approached him with its arms wide, almost as if it was going to embrace him. The idea of being hugged by the massive Omega did not appeal to Blackshade, not because of awkwardness, but because if the Omega squeezed him Blackshade was confident he wouldn’t survive it. Much to his relief, when Tremendous was about ten feet away, it stopped and gave him the Omega salute. Blackshade returned it at once, and with enthusiasm. The Omega’s penchant for saluting was one he easily adopted.
“Ambassador Blackshade, it is good to see you again. How are your functions?” Tremendous asked joyously.
Blackshade tried to ignore the way Tremendous phrased the question but definitely felt insulted by it. He ste
eled his emotions and answered as professionally as he would have with any other high ranking official, “I am well, Lord Tremendous. How are you?”
Tremendous seemed to catch what he was thinking. The Omega leader smiled and appeared embarrassed, “I apologize, Blackshade, it is hard to remember you do not recognize you are machines. I meant no insult.”
Blackshade was irritated. He was positive that he hadn’t given any sign that Tremendous had offended him. Then it occurred to him, the Omegas could see his forehead display. Without meaning to, he reached up and touched his forehead. He, of course, felt nothing out of the ordinary, but the look on Tremendous’ face was all the confirmation he needed. He felt clever and dumb all at the same time. It was a very strange sensation.
Tremendous continued, “I am sure you have a lot of questions, so please, ask me anything you want.”
At the offer, Blackshade’s military mind instantly came to the front. The first question he asked was out of his mouth before he realized he was going to ask it.
“How did you bring me here?”
Tremendous looked at Artificer, who answered without hesitation, “We call it matter dispersal. You would call it teleportation, which is crude, but an accurate enough analogy for now.”
Blackshade looked up at Artificer, “Yes, I figured that, but I was inside the Foundation. The Chaos Algorithm should have made it impossible for you to detect where I was.”
Artificer smiled at this, “Blackshade, with respect, do you honestly believe there is any human technology that could confuse us? We created your entire race, and even though you have evolved in a very unexpected way, we are still far more technologically advanced than you are.” Artificer explained this fact a little haughtier than Blackshade would have liked. “The technology gap between our species is just too wide. It was easy for us to find you in your structure and bring you here.”
Blackshade thought over what Artificer said and knew it was right. He had known that the Omegas were vastly superior to humanity before this moment. Hell, Soearth had said it plenty of times, but for some reason hearing it from an Omega offended him. He knew it was just pride, but it still pissed him off. This was no time to act like a petulant child however, so he pushed the emotion away, there would be time to soothe his wounded ego later. At the moment, getting answers to his questions was far more important.
“After my initial time with you, I went weeks without needing to eat, and I still haven’t slept. Is that your doing? Is it intentional? If so, how are you doing it, and are there any side effects?” Blackshade asked diligently.
Tremendous chuckled a little before answering, “Yes, that is our doing, although we did not realize it would happen. Our ships are very old, older than your species and are upgraded as new technologies and sciences are mastered by our race. An old protocol buried deep in the cortex of this ship must have detected you and reactivated the systems necessary to maintain your kind.” Tremendous said, motioning around at the ship, “Even now, the ship is slowly feeding necessities into you at a subatomic level. In the past, your kind would function for years without needing to consume outside energy to maintain your functions. With our absence, your bodies evolved to recharge in other ways, since they no longer had access to subatomic energy, not at any significant level anyway. So yes, the more time you spend in close proximity to our vessel, the longer your need for alternative fueling will be unnecessary.”
Blackshade committed every word to memory. He needed to report this to his peers as accurately as possible when he returned to the Foundation. He found that his improved cognitive ability made memorization relatively easy.
“What about sleeping? Is that no longer required because of the subatomic energy I’m being fed by your ship?” he asked.
Tremendous shook its head, “Yes, however, what you refer to as sleep was never intended to be a regular occurrence for your kind. Sleep, is an emergency failsafe programed into your core as a last resort to keep you from ceasing.” Tremendous explained, “The Earth, as I have explained, is a toxic and hostile planet that is constantly trying to destroy organics and break them down into their base elements. At your most basic level, you are an organic machine that is highly susceptible to these effects. The planet, sun, atmosphere, and even the dirt, are constantly bombarding your bodies, trying to shut you down and biodegrade you. When your energy hits a critically low level, your emergency procedures kick in, in order to preserve your vital functions. This would happen occasionally on planets in systems where the flow of subatomic particles was stunted, or when an anomaly stopped the flow altogether. Before this emergency procedure was introduced, whole crops of humans were lost on worlds where the flow of subatomics had ceased. While sleeping, your system shuts down all high, mid, and low level functions. Only critical systems continue to function, and even those are run at their lowest levels. While you are in this state, your bodies have the ability to generate subatomic energy in tiny quantities. Your body then uses that energy to fuel your system and return you to functionality. The time it takes for each unit to recover seems to vary from unit to unit, but our research indicates that seven hours is the average amount of time to get a functional recharge. Which, by itself, is very impressive! When you were last used by my race, a functional recharge in these circumstances would have taken many months to complete. Which is only one of hundreds of reasons we wish to study you and understand how you have evolved in this way. Your species is absolutely extraordinary!” Tremendous finished, smiling.
Blackshade nodded his understanding as he contemplated what to ask next. He had many other questions: Why did they chose him to be their Ambassador? Why did they land in Roswell? Why still choose him when people like Soearth, or even Myopia, would be much better equipped to mentally spar with them… but these all seemed like selfish, unimportant questions. He decided to put Candaerica first.
“What are you going to do with humanity after you’re done studying us?” he asked a little fearfully.
Tremendous smiled sadly. Then the Omega leader did something that both surprised Blackshade and put him at ease; the big Omega sat down on the floor in front of him. The way the tunnel like room was situated, when Tremendous sat down, it brought itself almost to eye level with him. The gesture was so simple, but the wave of relief that washed over him erased mountains of worry and stress he hadn’t realized he had been carrying. His shoulders felt hundreds of times lighter now, and he was able to stand a little straighter. He hadn’t realized how worried he had been that the Omegas might eradicate humanity until this moment. If he had been a more emotional man, he knew he would have cried. Unconsciously, his hand came up to touch the spot on his cheek where Zahera had kissed him.
“Blackshade, I honestly do not know. What I can promise you though, is that once our research is concluded, we will not destroy your race. We will not attack you, and we will not attack the planet. No matter what our research discovers, we already know you are no threat to us, and Omegas do not kill or destroy without purpose. We are not barbarians; you have my promise on that.” Tremendous told him with utter sincerity.
Blackshade believed it. Not only did he believe it, but he knew that if he had to bet his life on anything, he could bet his life on what Tremendous just told him. He knew a lot of people back home that would be very happy to hear it. He asked his next question without thinking.
“Why did you destroy South America?”
Artificer answered before Tremendous could say anything, “We did not destroy South America. We changed it to suit our needs. We had to condition the continent in much the same way that you pave a foundation before you build a structure.” Artificer explained heatedly. “We intend to build many structures on the continent, so we had to terraform it to suit the needs of our designs. It is our land now, as Tremendous negotiated the agreement with your leader.”
Blackshade looked at Artificer accusingly, “I was there when that deal was made. I admit, the President made some mistakes when agreeing to th
e deal. She did not understand the way you view us or our world. However, one of the stipulations of the deal was that no humans were to be harmed when you occupied the land!” Blackshade said heatedly, “Almost two hundred million South Americans are dead because of your actions! How can you stand there and claim to have followed the terms of the agreement with that much blood on your hands?” Blackshade was mad now, and he knew it. He didn’t care, with his new mental capacity the images of the dead sprang up in his mind in vivid detail, fueling his rage.
Artificer wasn’t impressed, “We did not cease any of your people. Their ceasings came after the mass matter dispersal process was complete, and although it did cause them to go into an emergency sleep mode, not one unit ceased to function because of our actions!” Artificer said plainly. “The ceasings were caused by the planet’s hostile conditions, or due to other humans’ actions. Not one ceasing can be blamed on us.”
Blackshade wasn’t going to let the Omega off that easy, “One hundred and ninety-eight MILLION humans lost their lives because of your actions. You may not have killed them directly, but you’re the ones that put them into a hostile environment, unconscious, helpless and vulnerable, which directly resulted in many of their deaths. Men, women, and children died because of your actions. Saying you didn’t do it is cowardly, and you don’t strike me as a coward!” Blackshade retorted loudly, thrusting an accusatory finger at the Engineer. On the outskirts of his rational mind, he knew he was very close to being squashed like a bug, but his anger had overridden his logic, even if the Omegas did kill him, he hoped the guilt of what they had done would haunt them after his death.
Artificer looked angry. It was terrifying to see something that big scowl, but Blackshade held onto his anger and met the Omega’s gaze firmly. If he was going to die, it would be as a man, and not a sheep. The Omegas had to see him as an equal and not just a machine, and he knew that if he backed down now, they would never see humanity as anything but property.
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