by Trent Falls
“This is indeed a mystery.” Lieutenant Zao said aloud, looking blankly ahead before directing his gaze at Euler.
Euler stared back at Zao for a moment sin silence.
“What happened after, Lieutenant” Euler asked Surgh aloud. “After you secured the crash site and started your search.”
Surgh eyed Euler then turned his gaze towards Magnuson. Clearly Surgh didn’t like Euler nor did he like Terrans on his ship.
“Answer, lieutenant.” Magnuson said crisply.
“Yes sir.” Surgh replied. “We dispersed into a broad two-by-two line formation. Each two man group was separated by about fifty meters or more. We swept through the jungle in folding flanks, making sure we were covered but moving as quickly as we could. We saw nothing for the first eighteen hours or so.”
“Then you saw them.” Magnuson pressed.
Surgh paused. Clearly he was a bit visibly shaken.
“What happened when you spotted them, Lieutenant?” Magnuson pushed him. “Explain your report.”
“Well, one of the suns had risen.” Surgh began to explain. “It was getting pretty bright out. The air was still but heavy with moisture so we could hear pretty well. Russo had noted that he had heard something ahead in a thicket of trees. The tree cover was average in the thicket so we spread out and entered from the west. I personally encountered Carn as I walked a few meters into the jungle. He was hiding within a thick group of shrubs. It looked like he was trying to keep aim on one of my men but missed me in his peripheral vision. I had him, sir. He was in my sights, dead bang, sir!”
“Then what happened, Lieutenant?” Magnuson pressed on.
Surgh again was hesitant to respond. The images in his head were just too unbelievable. To have attained his objective and to fail in such a disturbing manner was not just embarrassing. He sincerely worried that his Captain would send him for a psyche evaluation and strip him from command of his unit.
“Lieutenant!” Magnuson raised his voice, demanding an answer.
“There was a bright light.” Surgh replied finally. “When it was gone Carn was gone too. I…. I can’t explain it, sir.”
Euler looked over at Zao in a kind of blank disbelief. Surgh and his men were advanced recon in the Xen army. They were the best of the best. For them to be fooled by a cheap trick was unlikely. There were greater forces at work, it seemed.
“Then what, Lieutenant.” Magnuson asked.
“The light was gone.” Surgh breathed. “We searched the area but found nothing. A few minutes later we heard the roar of jet engines. I guess that was them taking off.”
“Yes,” the tech lieutenant replied, “based on your account of the information and the mission time, we detected their ship about seven to ten minutes after the events Lieutenant Surgh describes. We picked them up on tracking and had fighters sent out immediately.”
“Fighters that were destroyed by those red laser beams from a… cloaked vessel?” Magnuson looked to his tech.
“Yes sir. Another new development it seems.” The lieutenant answered with certain clarity, even though he was unsure of what he was describing. “We’ve gone over all our sensor logs and only could come up with the vague outline of a ship.” The tech tapped at his tablet computer, then pointed to the main viewscreen.
A black wedge shape appeared on the screen. The image was hazy. It looked to have two rear engines and resembled a cone with three sides pushed in so they were flat.
“What the hell is that?” Magnuson asked. “The return signal is barely noticeable.”
“Yes sir.” The tech lieutenant replied as he looked to the main screen. “It looks to be an advanced RF shield combined with gamma ray scatter jammers.”
“Maybe this ship helped pull the BAE Explorer out of the mud?” Zao guessed.
“Unlikely, sir.” The tech replied. “The stealth technology of this craft apparently is dependent on having open space behind it. The scatter jammers working with its RF shielding and, obviously, its black color allow it to blend into the cosmic background. This vehicle put against the backdrop of a planet would be much more visible, especially in an unpopulated surplus planet like Altair Nine.”
“Agreed.” Magnuson noted. “I don’t see how we could have missed a second ship entering the atmosphere. I’d seriously have to review the concepts of vigilance and training with my executive officer if that happened.”
“So, it begs the question.” Zao noted. “Who was at the controls of that stealth ship?”
“And who owns it?” Magnuson added. “It certainly isn’t…” Magnuson eyed Euler, suddenly remembering he was in the room, “… ours.”
“We’ll find it.” Zao noted with some certainty. “I have a feeling we may run into this vessel again.”
Max Dekker breathed heavily. At 61 years of age, he had to summon every bit of strength that he could. Every breath was becoming pained. Each breath was a luxury. A wired helmet was fixed tightly to his scalp. Essentially, it was a group of copper metal strips wired into a single cable leading away to a sophisticated computer.
The device was an experimental Xen cerebral encoder. Originally, the device was intended to implant memories from one human to another. The device was invented during the war as a possible means for implanting the memories of an experienced soldier into the mind of a new recruit. While the encoding feature could never be perfected, the secondary use of the device was successful in a few subjects; as a means of extracting information.
The Xen had used the device in only a handful of occasions to extract critical information from EEF prisoners of war. EEF soldiers were tortured to extract information, though not brutally. Methods like sleep deprivation, water boarding, or a solid beating would often suffice on successful extracts. The machine worked by overlaying theta and gamma wave activity from the human brain. Severe discomfort, in many cases carried out via torture, aided in the retrieval of memories. This method was especially useful if the subject was trained to resist torture or was very hesitant to comply.
In Dekker’s current session, the mercenaries were using electroshock. Dekker braced himself. The jolt hit him angrily, searing through his body in a horrific electric grip. Every muscle in his body contracted. His teeth clenched down on a mouth guard that had been molded to his jaw. The shock dissipated quickly but the pain remained. He didn’t scream. The mouth guard and his convulsions left him labored for breath. He could barely breathe, let alone scream. The mouth guard left him without the ability to speak.
The technicians and his torturers didn’t need to ask him any questions. Images from his mind flashed on a two dimensional screen in the lab. For the most part, the screen was filled with a kind of white noise. Blurbs of color would bubble across the screen with an image appearing now and then. The image that flashed on the screen was of Dekker’s wife when they were younger, then of his old home in Modesto.
“Eh! Fuck! He’s still resisting.” One of the techs watching the screen commented with some disappointment.
There were four mercs in total watching the display. One was Xen the other three were human – contractors hired by Scott Euler. With the help of the Xen, Euler had deep pockets to hire techs and mercenaries.
Andrew Rochette stood at the back of the dark room. His thick arms, covered in a grey suit jacket, were folded over his chest. The former EEF Marine and current mercenary tried to keep his eyes fixed on the screen glowing in the darkness ahead. Once in a while he would turn his eyes over to Dekker’s weak elderly form. Dekker had been his former C.O... Now, Rochette was betraying him. He would kill the old man to get hold of the secrets of the universe. Rochette felt a great deal of shame for what he was doing, but he buried it beneath calloused cynicism. Guys like Dekker, Rochette told himself, were ultimately responsible for the war that essentially pitted humans against one another. The corporate entities on Earth and the Xen had both profited from the war. Rochette had profited too. Rochette’s should have already been crushed by the death and destruction he
had witnessed during the war. He might as well have profited from it as well.
All the same, Rochette had a hard time looking upon Dekker. He was old; much older than he had remembered him. Dried up grey hair. Wrinkled skin. He guessed Dekker could no longer run. He rationalized that he was probably doing the old man a favor.
Dekker was electrocuted again. A high-pitched whine was barely audible as the voltage gripped Dekker’s body. Dekker’s back arched up in severe pain. Torture gave the old man life and energy to move sharply, something he wouldn’t have without the stimulus of pain. The voltage was gone in a few seconds but Dekker continued to convulse. One of the techs stood up and tried to get Dekker to settle down.
“You hit him too hard that time.” The tech tending to Dekker said as he labored to keep the old man settled.
In a few seconds, Max Dekker’s breathing steadied. Though still in panicked breaths, he was not longer panting furiously.
“Nothing! He’s giving us nothing!” another tech watching the screen blurted in insensitive disappointment.
“I’m telling you there’s something blocking it.” The Xen tech noted. “His LTP readings are highly abnormal. He doesn’t exhibit this reading when we interrogate him about another topic.” The Xen tech pointed sharply to data on another screen.
“At this level we could get EEF fleet strength out of him if we wanted.” The other Xen tech noted.
Rochette gave the tech a sideways glance, expressing some silent aggravation.
“He’s hiding it from us.” Rochette grunted aloud. His eyes, then his attention, turned towards Dekker. He looked down scornfully on his former commanding officer. “Where the hell is it Max?!? Where’s that fucking planet?!?”
“Nothing.” The tech reported. “Not even in the secondaries.”
“Hit him again.” Rochette demanded.
“Sir?” the tech was about to protest.
“Hit him, damn it!” Rochette shouted.
Another invisible jolt ripped through Dekker’s body. His back arched in a high involuntary arch. If Dekker hadn’t been restrained he might have broken his own back. A few seconds later Dekker fell limp with the deactivation of the electric current. He panted heavily as he bit down hard on his mouth guard.
“Wait….” One of the techs saw something amidst the white noise on the screen.
Rochette turned around to look at the monitor as well.
The snow on the screen vanished, replaced instead with an image of several EEF Marines. Kyle Jensen stood in the middle of the screen. He was a captain then, appearing much younger than the man who had been cut down by a laser sniper on the Dekker Ranch. Euler was in the frame, as was David Troy, Sergeant Euler, Jim Owens and John Carn. They were all in some kind of container ship, possibly in the cargo hold.
“No… this doesn’t look exactly right.” Rochette noted. “Euler wasn’t there either. This is something that happened earlier.”
“You want me to hit him again?” one of the techs asked with some reluctance.
“What’s his vitals?” Rochette asked.
“Pulse at 132 BPM. Blood pressure at 148 over 92. Cerebral activity is 71 Karev’s in the Blue range.” The tech pointed out.
“Blue.” Rochette noted aloud.
“Yes sir. We’re deep in his conscious memory.” The tech noted.
Another image appeared on the screen. This time the skyline of a large city appeared beneath a nighttime sky. The buildings along the skyline were colonial in design; reminiscent of mid 20’th century Soviet Sci-fi architecture with a bit of Chicago thrown in. Several parts of the skyline flashed over as bombs exploded within the city. A steady stream of tracer fire blazed up into the night from various parts of the city, flying up in serpent streams towards some unseen enemy craft in the sky.
“The Battle of Saint Sebastian.” Rochette identified the scene accurately. The battle had taken place early in the war when the Xen had launched a massive attack on the Proxima Centauri city.
One of the Xen techs exhaled sharply at the sight of the battle on the screen. Presumably, he had lost a relative or two in the battle. The Xen had lost the Battle of Saint Sebastian. A gigantic explosion rippled through the sky. It was like atmospheric lighting, only with more amber and red hue to its brilliant light. The image turned with Dekker’s line of sight. A large Xen battleship, burning heavily in several areas, fell from the sky against the backdrop of a nearly full moon. The battleship was larger than an old seafaring aircraft carrier. Its hull blazed from massive damage caused by EEF weapons fire. The massive ship fell from the eerie night sky to crash somewhere at the outer border of the city.
“GOOD GOD!” Dekker could be heard speaking on the screen.
“This is bullshit!” Rochette observed. “He’s offering us cookies.”
“Yeah, he’s defensive.” One of the techs agreed, checking the data readout on another screen. “He’s trying to distract us.”
The screen changed again. The point of view remained Dekker’s of course, only now he was looking down at a naked brunette. They were mid coitus. The woman was moaning but trying to remain silent. She was on her back on a nice leather couch, her breasts heaving with each thrust.
“Hey! What’s this?” another tech grinned at the unexpected illicit scene.
Rochette shook his head slightly. He recognized the surroundings. It was Dekker’s office after he had been promoted to Major. Rochette had seen the inside of that office frequently. He also knew the brunette as Lieutenant Sylvia Donovan. She was Dekker’s long-time assistant. Her jacket was draped over a nearby chair where it had been thrown.
“That’s not Mrs. Dekker I’m guessing.” One of the techs noted.
“No, it isn’t.” Rochette exhaled. “He’s still trying to throw us off.”
“This is a little against regulation for the EEF.” a human tech smirked somewhat jovially.
“Sex with a subordinate officer? Yes. Same as your military.” Rochette replied.
“Well, if this is one of those deep dark secrets then we’re in the right part of his brain.” One of the tech’s observed.
“This is getting us nowhere.” Rochette stood up straight and turned back towards Dekker. “I want to go with the thiopental.”
“You’ll have to do it at another session. His BP is way too high for that.” The human tech protested.
“We don’t have much time. We’re in the right part of the brain… like you said.” Rochette countered.
“If you give him sodium thiopental now you could crash his blood pressure. You could kill him!” the tech protested.
“We have the equipment here to keep him alive.” Rochette argued.
The tech stood up quickly and walked over to Rochette. “This man is sixty one years old. Even a healthy man in his prime would have a hard time going from electroshock to thiopental under the brainwave scanner. It’s too risky!”
“Your protest is duly noted, Mister Roberts.” Rochette replied seriously. “I needn’t remind you who your employer is.”
Roberts looked at Rochette, trying to restrain his bitterness. Rochette was right. He was an Earth-side nurse who had been hired for this very job; extraction of highly guarded information from a sedated subject… or one under duress. He had known what the job would entail when he was hired by the Xen.
“Give me a day.” Roberts pleaded. “We’ll give him propofol and microdose him thiopental with nanites. We’ll go Deep Blue and get that info.”
“We’re in the right part of his brain and he’s receptive.” Rochette argued. “We can defibrillate him if he crashes. Dekker is in good health. The risk can be contained.”
Roberts gave Rochette a flat unemotional expression in reply. Rochette was wrong. Even if Rochette had participated in other similar interrogations the former EEF Marine didn’t have formal medical training. Roberts knew there was a good risk that Dekker wouldn’t wake up again.
The continuing sound of Lieutenant Donovan having sex with a younger Dekk
er became audible in the silent pause.
“Alright” Roberts conceded. He turned to walk towards a nearby counter.
A container with several vials of drugs was set on the lab counter. Roberts grabbed what he thought was sodium thiopental. He checked the label of the vial to make sure. He then retrieved an auto-dosing tool and 22 gauge needle. He attached the needle and filled it with about 7/8 of a gram of thiopental. Once confident the dosage was correct he walked over to where Dekker was lying.
Donovan’s moans continued via the mindreader device.
Roberts scanned Dekker’s aged arm with the autodoser. A red LED lit up on the device when he was in proper position over a good vein. Roberts pressed the needle down. The doser pushed the thiopental into Dekker’s vein and into his circulatory system.
“Oh! Oh! Oh God yes! Oh….” Sylvia Donovan’s aroused moans suddenly ceased. Her image faded to snow on the two-dimensional monitor.
“His BP is crashing!” the Xen tech shouted.
Roberts let out a deep angry exhale. He had been right. He was fuming mad that he had been right. “Hit him with microshocks. Target the heart with 10 milliamps.”
“Running.” The Xen tech noted. He paused as he studied the returning data. “Looks like he’s stable. Pulse at eighty BPM and falling. He’s… leveling off. Alpha waves returning at twenty two cycles.”
“He’s asleep then.” Rochette observed. “Dreaming?”
Roberts turned his eyes up from Dekker’s body to Rochette. Clearly Rochette had more medical knowledge than he let on. Roberts wondered how many interrogations Rochette might have carried out – and how many with a prototype Xen memory reader.
“Yes sir.” The Xen tech clarified.
The image on the vid screen faded from snow into black. The outline of several figures appeared.
“We’ve got something.” The Xen tech noted aloud.
All eyes, including Rochette’s and Roberts’, turned towards the wide 2D screen. Like kids watching a TV special in the dark, they were all fixated on the vid screen.
The forms on the screen again turned into something definably human. John Carn, again in a younger incarnation, appeared in an EEF Marine field uniform. Dekker appeared to be wearing the same BDU’s as John’s and the other Marines in the group. Like the other brain scan images, the replay was from Dekker’s first-person perspective. One could only catch glimpses of Dekker’s own body as he looked around.