The Pattern Ship (The Pattern Universe)

by Roote, Tobias

  There was an immediate scrabble in the room as awareness of his arrival impinged on the scientists.

  Those closest to him had felt the change in the local air density as he materialised behind them and had half turned in reaction to see what was going on. The others facing them had leapt from their seats and while some were visibly making for the exit, one or two Zeke noted were curious.

  Ferris’ hand was frantically searching for his gun, as was Jannson.

  “You have been disarmed Ferris, you too Jannson. Please,” Zeke indicated the chairs.

  “Sit down and listen to what I have to tell you. You are not in danger and I’m not here to return the hospitality of my recent stay with you, even though by rights I really should,” Zeke glared maliciously at Jannson.

  Ferris, who was standing nearest to him, launched himself at Zeke taking an aggressive stance and began to call for the guards outside the door.

  As he went to attack, Ferris found himself inexplicably face down on the floor with a boot on his neck and a very painful shoulder. With absolutely no idea how he had got there, but in no condition to fight.

  Zeke himself was surprised at his own speed. It seemed as though he no sooner thought the action through in his head than it was in motion. His foot on Ferris’ neck was a surprise to both of them.

  Zeke removed his foot as two guards that had been called entered, their rifles pointed at him and seemed about to shoot when their weapons just vanished leaving their fingers holding fresh air. Their looks of astonishment over rode any sense of fear as they looked down at their Commander on the floor they made as if to come to his assistance.

  “Leave the room, guard the door and make sure nobody else comes in. Do not call for further assistance, you will all be neutralised if you do,” Zeke commanded.

  He looked down at Ferris who was glaring at him with fury at being bested. Ferris realising that he needed to make an immediate command decision did so. He reasoned that if Subject Z was capable of materialising out of thin air, then flooring him and disarming his men, he probably could do much more if he needed to.

  “Do as he says,” he commanded.

  Both men backed through the doorway withdrawing cautiously, confused and vulnerable at the sudden events that had disarmed them. Seeing their superior on the floor and knowing that it would take more than their best to put him there, they realised they were somewhat outmatched and on the basis of applying the last order followed, did as Ferris commanded.

  As the door closed Ferris stood up and very warily walking around in front of Zeke, keeping his distance until he was back to his chair at the head of the table he finally felt able to ask.

  “Callaghan, how the fuck did you get in here and what happened to you, how did you just do all that?” he gestured, his hand whirling in the air in an expressive motion.

  The immediate babbling from the fourteen scientists as they all began to talk at the same time suddenly stopped when a second figure emerged beside Zeke.

  Zeke turned to the scientists.

  “I would like to introduce you to Zirkos. He and I have some things to discuss with you that concerns your research and a lot more besides. Are you interested in knowing more?”

  Jannson stepped forward quickly realising something extraordinary was occurring and taking immediate command of the situation away from Ferris. without thinking he put out his hand to offer a welcome to Zirkos, not knowing how it would be received. He was relieved when the silver skinned alien took his hand and shook it.

  When Jannson got his hand back he couldn’t help, but look at it as if counting all his fingers or searching for traces of silver paint on his palm. He looked back up as he put his hand back to his side surreptitiously wiping it on his white coat and laughed nervously. “Sorry, I....”

  “No need,” Zirkos reassured him smiling confidently. He was enjoying himself immensely.

  Zeke resumed his introduction and explanation as the scientists and Ferris all resumed their seats. Zeke and Zirkos remained standing having no desire to sit with these people as equals, they needed to stay aloof for the moment until they saw the necessary change occurring in attitudes and outlooks.

  “Zirkos here, as you have probably surmised, is an Alien.”

  Ferris couldn’t help himself, he guffawed.

  “That’s a ridiculous statement Callaghan, so why don’t you two just explain how you just did all of that stuff and then we can...” he suddenly remembered the embarrassing incident on the floor and quickly subsided.

  Zeke, however decided to move things forward in a positive way and looked at Zirkos, who nodded.

  “Ship, transport the human named ‘Ferris’ to the porthole viewer,” Zeke commanded into the thin air.

  Ferris disappeared. The scientists who up to this point had shown no fear, suddenly began to look alarmed and nervous. Goeth stood and approached Zeke.

  “I would also like to view this ‘porthole’ wherever it is,” he offered recognising something the others hadn’t quite grasped yet, not even Jannson.

  Zeke smiled at Zirkos and suddenly Goeth was also gone from the room. Ship anticipating again.

  The remaining scientists continued to chatter. Jannson deciding that enough was enough called them to order.

  “Enough!” he glowered at them turning what effectively amounted to a one hundred and eighty degree shift in attitude.

  “This is a débâcle, these two people invaded this room, disarmed the guards, me included, attacked Ferris, and have now abducted two of our people, and all you can do is sit there and chatter like school children” he ranted.

  “Well, what do you propose you do about it,” asked a porky, bespectacled scientist who’s white coat had certainly seen better, if not cleaner days.

  “Well Griffiths, umm... I certainly would like to see us presenting a united front in dealing with this threat. He dissembled.

  “Aren’t any of you a little concerned to note that ‘Subject Z’, the very person we have been experimenting on with the Ferrazite, no longer has the stuff in his head.” He pointed.

  Suddenly they were all looking at Zeke’s head and the absence of a metal plate.

  “The last time he had been observed he was on death’s door, yet here he is today, not only healthy, but without his metal skull cap and apparently able to do at least some of the things we were testing for,” Jannson ended his rant and turned to Zeke.

  “Would you mind...?” his voice trailed off seeing the look in Zeke’s eyes, suddenly realising he was stepping on dangerous ground.

  Before Zeke could respond both Goeth and Ferris re-materialised near to where Ferris had originally stood.

  Ferris was looking decidedly ill, and relieved to be on Terra Firma whereas Goeth was evidently extremely excited.

  “I was right,” he bragged to the others, “the Ferrazite is in outer space!” He rubbed his hands gleefully as he returned to his seat.

  As Ferris sat down in his chair still clutching a brown paper bag, Goeth, eyes shining, began to describe to the others everything they had seen. Even to the ship’s ability to speak with apparent self awareness which had several of the group writing frantic notes.

  Jannson began to pale as he realised the full truth of their situation. Many people, even scientists have innate belief systems that hold them rock steady throughout their lives. When something occurs to shake that belief it becomes a traumatic event for them. Jannson was a devoutly religious man. What Goeth was describing and what he was seeing in Zeke and Zirkos, the ‘Alien’ were contributing to a sudden sense of crisis deep within him.

  Ferris though, began to recover his wits. He grasped what was going on around him, saw that Jannson his staunch ally amongst the learned was losing the plot and Goeth’s star was on the ascendant. He decided that he needed to pull things back. This was after all his show, not Goeth’s or Subject ‘Z’.

  He looked over at Zirkos and Callaghan and saw them watching the whole scenario with something akin to bemu
sement. He decided to play the straight up guy to get this on an even keel.

  “Callaghan, okay I am convinced that your friend here is an Alien, there is nothing on this planet that can match that level of technology and I am sure you have other stuff we haven’t seen. So, in the interests of not wanting to travel to any other far off places, like the moon without an oxygen supply, what is it you want?”

  Zeke turned to Ferris, “Good, finally we are at a point where our reason for interrupting your meeting can proceed.”

  The other members of the committee became silent, not wanting to miss anything of what was going to happen next. Jannson was lost in his own little world. Zeke absently thought what an excellent idea it had been to disarm everyone prior to arrival, he didn’t trust Jannson’s mental state.

  “Ferris, if you would first please telephone the White House? Ask to speak to the President, when you are queried please give them this code.” He handed Ferris a slip of paper.

  “Are you serious? this is the code that will get me the President?”

  Zeke nodded.

  Ferris without any argument at all, picked up the phone and dialled the number he knew by heart, his immediate boss, the Secretary of State worked there. He put the phone on speaker. It answered after three rings.

  “Put me through to the President...”

  “Hello caller, do you have an authorisation code?”

  “Aah, yes! I have the code here...Authorisation code is 'The truth is out there.”

  Ferris looked nervous and expected to be cut off immediately as a crank.

  The line clicked several times and then...

  “Hello, this is President Garner, is that you Ferris?”

  Ferris stunned, immediately shot out of his chair and stood to attention.

  “Err! Yes Sir, Mr President. This is Ferris, Sir.”

  “Good! You have in front of you two gentlemen, one is silver and both are in Grey tunics. One you know as Subject ‘Z’ and to whom you and your team owe firstly an apology and secondly your undying gratitude for not having you visit the Space Station to clean their windows from the outside.”

  Ferris gulped, as did a couple of the scientists. Zeke noticed which ones. They were the worst offenders in his eyes.

  “The second is an ally of ours called Zirkos and to whom you and your team are to offer blanket acceptance and approval to all projects under our roof and in return you will advance American science further in the next twelve months than we could achieve on our own in the next one hundred years.

  As Mr Zirkos is the Ambassador for his race, you are to accord him full diplomatic title and protection when he and Mr Callaghan are on Earth, wherever they are. You will have direct access to me and in the event you or your team need support, assistance or access to resources you are to direct them to me with the same authorisation code you just used. Understood Ferris?”

  “Err, Yessir, Mr President. Completely. Thank you sir.” Ferris still at attention was now visibly shaking.

  “Good, I expect a report from you weekly on progress amongst your team which is now totally reclassified as ‘BLACK-ZERO’ and you will be issued with proper authentication within the hour by the NSA. You will be relocated to a safer location and all communications will be monitored by Mr Zirkos’ ship. Secrecy is as never before, more important than anything in this world, literally Ferris.”

  “Yessir, understood Mr President.”

  “Good. I leave the matter with you to deal with as you see fit, don't let me down Ferris.”

  The phone went dead. One of the scientists reached forward and clicked off the speaker. Ferris collapsed into his chair. Everyone now was sat very quiet and waiting further instruction.

  ***

  Zeke took over the meeting, it was going to go a lot quicker now and he had enjoyed putting them through it in part repayment for their treatment of him. Now, though he had to get beyond that and pull them together for the benefit of not just the USA, but the rest of the world.

  He signalled Zirkos to organise carrying out phase two of their plan.

  Calling them to order Zeke began to advise them of what was going to occur shortly.

  “Firstly, all of you I need to advise you that as of now this room is no longer secure enough for anything we want to discuss. We have purpose built accommodation, offices and laboratories awaiting your arrival at an undisclosed location. When you walk out of this room you will be there, not here.”

  Goeth stood, “Callaghan... Zeke, are you saying that we won’t be here, as in not in Kennedy Building? or not on this planet?”

  “That’s a very good question Dr Goeth, and one I am happy to answer. You will be on Earth, but this might change in the future depending on a variety of issues, not least your personal and the operations’ security.”

  Now he had their full attention.

  “Gentlemen, I’m going to be frank with you. I know of no reason at all why I should personally work with any of you given our history together. However, the end result of everything that has occurred has bought us to this point in time, one that is actually going to be crucial and beneficial for mankind.

  I will bear no grudge against any of you provided you do me the courtesy of accepting that I am no longer a subject for your testing, examination or observation, direct or indirect. Any further attempts to track me using the Ferrazite will be dealt with.”

  Several had the decency to look chagrined and looked at each other.

  “Now, as to why you are all here. Zirkos and his people have available to them technology that goes beyond ours by such a large degree that we are infants in comparison. However, that said he has been impressed by the way this group have managed to progress research into the metal they refer to as Pheson Alacite, and you know as Ferrazite.

  Pheson Alacite is an extremely rare space metal, and I mean that my skull plate was the only discovered sample of this metal in this solar system. As such it is too valuable to be used unwisely as it has a very specific purpose in the technology used by the Jenaris, that being the name of his people,” indicating Zirkos.

  Ferris coughed, and Zeke gave way to him.

  “What can you tell us about that ship up there, and more importantly why Mr Zirkos here is interested in us here in this room, specifically?”

  Zirkos interceded. “Ship is a model we refer to as a T-Ship due to the shape of its hull. You will come to terms quite soon with new sciences that will build on what you already know, or theorise, and this will help you understand such things as the build structure, integrity, shielding, tractor beams, artificial intelligence, nanotechnology and the propulsion systems. We’re still in development mode with the matter transfer technology and this too will be shared along with immediately useful products such as anti gravity fields and protective shielding, two sides of the same technology.”

  “What of us, there is little that we can do in the fields you mentioned, although I suddenly feel an urge to specialise in something more akin to space technology than human biology, where do we fit in here?” This from Dr Griffiths, the grubby white coat still causing Zeke offence.

  “Dr Griffiths, the work you have been doing on Ferrazite is actually very important. I can tell you that the artificial intelligence processors use Ferrazite/Pheson Alacite as their base. However, we have discovered through recovering the metal in Zeke’s blood that the human physiology affects its molecular structure. Whilst we have not yet worked out how, or why, the end result is the processors improved performance by a massive seven hundred percent, perhaps more.”

  The table buzzed at this news.

  “Mr Zirkos this is interesting, we had no idea that Zeke’s blood was actually modifying the molecular structure. We were seeing it as an oxidisation process of some sort. Can we have access to the metal retrieved?” asked Dr Goeth who seemed to have taken over as lead speaker while Jannson continued to sit in despondent silence.

  “Yes, some of this will be made available to you.” Zeke confirmed a
little reluctantly, he still felt a little reticent in aiding these people where the Ferrazine was concerned.

  Zirkos resumed. “Now, I have to ask you all to file out, when you leave the room you will be able to follow a personalised glow globe that will be your personal guide through the new complex you are now housed in.

  The Globe, if you ask it, will answer any question you put to it, help you to find your way about and will also act as your personal secretary and communicator. It will instantly put you in touch with us, or any of your colleagues. You can even name them. They have limited functionality, as Artificial Intelligences they are categorised as a ‘Two’.

  We will meet up again when you have had a chance to take a look around your rooms, lounges, and new laboratories. We expect it will be work as usual. All of your experiments have been moved over and your new labs are identical to your old ones.”

  Zeke began ushering everyone out, Jannson had come back from his reverie and was walking like a zombie, but more alert and Zeke thought that he was beginning to get a grip on his new situation.

  “Thank you everyone.” he said as they filed out.

  Ferris stayed behind. Zeke turned to him, giving him his complete attention.

  “How did you get the President up to speed so quickly Mr Callaghan? Are you into mind control?” he said half seriously.

  “Ferris, how did you feel while you were up there?” Zeke asked.

  “Ah, yes, point taken.” He hesitated seemingly a little embarrassed.

  “I guess I owe you an apology, Mr Callaghan. You were treated pretty rough and I wouldn’t have blamed you for giving me a lot more than a sore shoulder.”

  Zeke was taken aback. Ferris seemed like the kind of man that was tattooed with ‘never retreat, never surrender’, the kind of guy he hadn’t expected to backtrack. He certainly didn’t expect anything near an apology. He perhaps should be suspicious though, leopards and spots, he thought.