by T. R. Harris
He returned the passionate hug, along with the full, wet kiss she planted on his lips. His involuntary reaction to Arieel’s body warmth was hard to hide. He cursed under his breath. He thought he was ready for this. Apparently not.
Lila came to him next. The hug was affectionate, yet they chose to keep a respectable gap between their two bodies. To do otherwise would have been…well, creepy.
“Father, I am so glad you came,” Lila said with genuine warmth once all the formal greetings were over. “I have missed our interactions. Out of all the beings in the galaxy, I receive the most stimulation when associating with Humans.” She looked at her mother and smiled sweetly. “Other than Formilians, of course.”
Adam could sense Lila had come to accept her uniqueness, knowing she was neither Human nor Formilian. She was a species all her own.
“So where is my little buddy Pogo?” Adam asked.
“I’m sorry, father, but I now refer to her as Zee, her traditional name. She seems to prefer it.”
“Of course. Is she around somewhere?”
Lila frowned. “She is; however, I must prepare you. I have noticed a strangeness in her actions recently.”
“What do you mean?”
“She remains alone more often, coming to me only when summoned. This is compared to her near-constant presence when I first acquired her from you. I sense she is…homesick.”
The entourage moved farther into the huge great room, with its fifty-foot high ceiling and columns of stone. It all had the look and feel of ancient Greece, even as the Formilians had no idea who the ancients Greeks had been.
“She misses me?”
“No, it is something more. I believe she has had time to realize her place in this new reality, and it doesn’t feel right to her. Perhaps she is developing more emotions as she interacts with us. They are confusing her. At least these are my conclusions.”
“Then I’m sure that’s what’s happening. Still, I would like to say hi.”
“Of course. Zee?”
A moment later, a small orb made of light green metal appeared on a table nearby. Welcome, Adam Cain, said a voice in his mind, made possible through his ATD.
“Pogo—I mean Zee. How have you been? I’ve missed you, you know,” Adam said aloud.
A voice spoke out through hidden speakers in the vast room. “I have missed you, as well, Adam. My Master has been anticipating this moment for a long…time. She is pleased by your arrival.” Zee had the means to link with computer speakers, bypassing the need for telepathy. Lila could speak with her mentally, as could Adam and any other being with an ATD. She used the speakers for the benefit of the others.
Adam noticed the subdued tone of the response. It felt almost cursory, devoid of feeling.
“Let’s spend some time together while I’m here,” Adam said, hoping this would cheer up the tiny, three-billion-year-old orb. “I’d like to hear what you’ve been doing since I last saw you.”
“That would consume your entire stay, and much more.”
Adam smiled. Zee had taken him literally. “Then how about just the highlights?”
“As you wish.”
“Thank you, Zee,” Lila said. “You may now go back to what you were doing before I called.”
“I was doing nothing, Master. I will go back to doing nothing.” The orb disappeared.
“See what I mean?” Lila said to Adam.
“Sounds like you need to get him—her—more involved in things. She’s bored.”
“I agree. Yet unlike when you were her master, I do not have as much need for her abilities. With you she was constantly being called upon for assistance…if not rescue. But let us not dwell on that. There is a grand feast prepared for you, after which quarters will be provided where you may rest. The main festivities begin two days from now. You must be well-rested by then. They will weigh more upon you than on me.”
The feast was indeed grand, with a mixture of gourmet dishes prepared for both Humans and Formilian palates. Of course, Lila didn’t eat. She absorbed energy directly without the need for metabolic conversion, as she called it. That was all well and good—for her. But by the time the mortals called it quits, it was all Adam could do to make it to his room without falling asleep.
The accommodations afforded the father of the leader of the galaxy were as expected. The Formilians were taking their role as hosts of a new god seriously, and everything on the royal floors was beyond opulent. They had always provided their Speaker and Temple priests with extravagant accoutrements, but this was beyond the pale. His suite of rooms was larger than his Lake Tahoe log home back on Earth, and this was just one of the ‘guest’ rooms.
The sad thing…he’d been expecting this, seeing what else the natives had provided his daughter. He barely reacted to the enormous size of the room, instead focusing on the twenty-foot-wide bed set against the far wall. He fell into its welcoming arms and was asleep thirty seconds later.
A presence in the room snapped him awake two hours later. He wasn’t concerned; the occupant had made its presence known through his ATD.
“Po—Zee, is that you?”
Yes, Adam Cain. Zee spoke within his mind. A soft light grew above the bed, allowing Adam to see the four-inch diameter globe resting on the silken sheets next to his head.
Adam propped himself up on an elbow and cleared the cobwebs from his mind. He was still stuffed and tired, yet he sensed something in Zee that made him set all that aside.
Something’s bothering you, my friend, what is it?
Adam always got the feeling there was a front and back to the orb, although none was evident, and that he—she—would look at him when speaking, if even mentally.
You are very perceptive.
It doesn’t take a lot to know you’re troubled. Tell me what’s going on.
Now it was as if Zee’s eyes shifted away, although the orb didn’t move. I have done something I was designed to do yet have now come to regret.
Adam flinched. The tiny sphere was a three-billion-year-old service module, created by a race of extinct super-beings. Her primary job had been to channel energy from the ether to her creators, which was their form of nourishment. She could also levitate and teleport over short distances and contained computer processing capabilities beyond anything the Milky Way had developed—at least in this eon. Was there now another purpose, something Zee had not revealed to either Adam or Lila?
I’m listening. I’m sure it’s not as bad as you think.
I will differ with you on that opinion, especially since what I have done involves your offspring and my new master, Lila.
Now Adam was concerned. Call it paternal instinct, but anger erupted inside him. The emotion quickly passed. This was Lila the orb was talking about. There certainly couldn’t be anything that could harm her?
Just tell me, Zee, Adam’s thought commanded.
I made contact with…my creator.
Adam turned cold and his breath shallow. This was the last thing he expected the orb to say. You’re going to have to provide a little more detail. I thought you said your creator was…gone.
He—the pronoun is correct—did leave, yet he was never gone.
That’s not the impression I got.
I told you I didn’t know what became of them. That was correct. They moved into another state of being, the results of which I had no way of knowing.
Adam slipped out of the bed. He was still dressed in the clothes from the starship. Through his ATD, he commanded the rest of the lights in the room to come on.
“So they’re still alive?” He didn’t bother with telepathy any longer. Speaking the words aloud had more impact, at least for him.
Yes. And I have now learned more of what happened to them.
Adam looked around the room. “Wait, let me get Lila—”
No! I fear for what she would say to me.
“Say…not do? You’re afraid she might yell at you?”
It is much more serious than that
. And now that it is time, my feelings of regret are overwhelming.
“Regret for what? Why are you telling me this and not Lila? She’s your Master now.”
Not any longer.
The thought in his mind made him shudder. “You mean the Aris are coming back?”
That is correct.
Despite Zee’s request not to do so, Adam reached out with his ATD for his daughter, but something wasn’t right. He felt a void, an emptiness in his mind. He looked at Zee. The orb vanished from the bed before reappearing on an ornate table with gold edges. Adam whirled to face her. “Why can’t I contact her? Have you done something to prevent it?”
I have simply put a block on your communications until I have fully explained.
Now Adam was mad. “Then start explaining.”
My creators were very intelligent, more so than anything that came before them or since. They had evolved a million years beyond what you would call Prime beings, requiring less of their physical bodies as they did so. They would think and postulate on the questions of the universe and on the very meaning of existence. My creator, and others like him, began to explore the young galaxy, visiting many worlds still in the throes of early life. They experimented, they manipulated, and they played. They did this on thousands of worlds before gaining direction and purpose for their experiments.
“You’ve told me this before. So what happened to them?”
It is not so much what happened to them, but what they did to themselves.
“Stop talking in riddles and get to the point!”
I am, but I must provide context. As I have said before, our world was about to be destroyed, so service modules like myself were given the task of building chambers for the creators, chambers where they could sleep…for eternity.
“You said they traveled to thousands of worlds, so why would the destruction of their planet be such a big deal? Obviously they could have just traveled—or teleported—to another world. This doesn’t make any sense.”
It does when you realize the building of these sleeping chambers was more a coincidence with the timing of the planet’s destruction than anything else. Perhaps witnessing the events taking place around their homeworld made them realize that everything changes, including the Aris. A decision was made to stop it.
“Stop what?”
Change.
Adam snorted. “Bullshit. You can’t stop change. No one can.”
The Aris could, at least when it came to their bodies. They had evolved for a million years, giving them the ability to speculate on what they would become if evolution was allowed to continue. They didn’t want that to happen.
“Why not, didn’t they want to keep evolving, to the point where they could…would, well I don’t know what? Whatever’s beyond super-being?”
That was their dilemma as well. They were satisfied with what they had become and had started so many incredible projects that they feared they would no longer care once their experiments reached maturity. My part in this endeavor has only recently been revealed to me when a program hidden within my logic board created a link with the chambers holding the creators. I was not aware of this, nor did I have any control over the link. It just happened. Then my creator awoke and contacted me directly. That was when I learned more.
“Did it work? Did they stop their evolution, or are they now something even more powerful?”
They are the same as before. That experiment worked, as well as others. Yet it is not the logic of what they did to themselves that now troubles me. Instead, it is knowledge of the experiments they began, some of which are just now coming to fruition.
“So the Aris are back. Where are they?”
They are on an artificial world created to remain in the general vicinity of their homeworld, even as the galaxy continued to move throughout time.
Adam seemed to be missing the point, the reason for Zee’s trepidation—and guilt. “This means you get to return home, or at least be with your creator again. Lila thought you were homesick. This should make you feel better, not worse. Lila will understand.”
You misunderstand, Adam. This isn’t about me, it’s about Lila.
Adam’s gut tightened. “Lila? What do you mean?”
The Aris know of Lila.
“Did you tell them?”
The data was downloaded beyond my control. So, yes, I told them.
Adam was quiet for a moment, trying to figure the repercussions of what he’d just learned. He was at a loss as to the relevance. “Why would the Aris be interested in Lila? She’s a mutant, a one-of-a-kind being, the result of something everyone said couldn’t happen and could never be predicted—” His eyes grew wide. “Except by the Aris!”
That is correct. Lila is one of their experiments.
Adam jumped to his feet, clenching his fists and glaring at the green-tinted orb. “How is that even possible? That was three billion years ago.”
That is correct. I do not know all the details, but according to my creator, the Aris manipulated the early form of Humans and Formilians, allowing for such future inbreeding, the result of which would be something…different. As time passed, and the ability for the two races to link, it would be a signal, a trigger. Even the attraction felt between the races was programmed.
“Does this mean every mating between the races will produce a Lila?”
That is unknown, but probably unlikely. Genetics is not an exact science. And now I have these feelings from which I cannot escape. That is the reason for my current condition. I am torn between my loyalties.
Adam leaned forward, staring at the tiny orb. “Loyalties? What the hell does that mean?”
It means the Aris now wish to study the results of their experiment—
“They’re going to take her?” Adam placed his face only inches from the globe. “Where…when?”
Where, Adam Cain? Here. As for when? Now.
44
The jump had gone well. Two thousand gameships, including nine battle-carriers, had successfully transited the Compressor and appeared in the Kac Galaxy.
Daric was in the lead group, and immediately set his task force on a course for the planet Formil, while others set out on other missions of acquisition. The Compressor had been aimed at the edge of the galaxy closest to the meeting taking place. It was a journey of fourteen days, and now the system was on the screens.
The Lead-Player—now classified as Game-Master, as the head of a fleet—was overflowing with emotion. Never before in the history of the Nuor were there such an abundance of immunity challenges available. It was almost too much to comprehend; an entire galaxy, fresh and new, and ripe for domination by the Nuor.
As had been reported, the star system was teeming with spaceships. Daric knew the technology used in this galaxy; it was very similar to that used by the Nuor. Gravity drives and plasma energy weapons. No actual battles had been monitored in the Kac, so Daric had very little information regarding the defensive capabilities of the aliens, but he assumed they followed along the same line as the Nuor, with diffusion screens and flak. The estimated military capabilities within this new galaxy had been some of the most encouraging news he received. They were substantial, yet on par with the Nuor, allowing for more competitive challenges and higher award points. If the aliens had been generations behind in technology, then much lower challenge points would have to be assigned. If vastly superior to the Nuor, then Daric and his fleet wouldn’t be here. The Nuor were gamers, yet not suicidal.
“Threat level…low, Game-Master,” a screen monitor reported.
“Explain.”
“The bulk of the alien ships are not warships. They appear primarily to be transports.”
“No offensive capabilities?”
“Very little.”
Daric thought for a moment. The news made sense with respect to the purpose of the congregation. According to the communication intercepts, it was not a planning or negotiation conference, but rather a celebration. There would be lit
tle need for a show of force. In a way, Daric was disappointed, but then he shrugged. This initial contact was designed primarily to collect game specimens for evaluation, his task made easier by the proliferation of various species in attendance. Now it was made even more so by the lack of a military presence.
It would also hasten the acquisition of his most-prized specimen, the Human Adam Cain. His name and image were featured prominently in the communications, revealing to Daric that he was in fact a close relative of the current leader of the largest stellar empire in the Kac, something called the Expansion. He dismissed the confusion he had at the time regarding this strange affiliation, choosing to wait until he had Adam Cain in his possession for the answers to be forthcoming.
To this end, Daric focused his personal responsibilities in the coming action on securing this super-player, and thanks again to the proliferation of information being broadcast, he knew his exact location. It was in the main governing building for this Expansion empire, a place which was squarely in his sights as the task force closed on the planet Formil.
The Nuoreans entered the star system on full drive and from three directions simultaneously. Their objective was not to destroy the alien ships, but rather to disable them so live specimens could be removed. They accomplished this with energy bombs.
Since most starships use diffusion shields for defense, the bombs were designed to overload the shields and then penetrate the bulk of other electrical systems aboard the alien vessels, causing catastrophic failure within. With life support down, the Nuor could make their rounds, rescuing willing occupants of the ships before they either died of suffocation or hypothermia. It would be a very efficient and speedy process of collection.
The aliens on the surface were another matter.