by Ivan Kal
Mathias saw Gloria’s jaw open, and Mathias’s did the same, it took him a moment to gather himself.
“66 years? You are telling me that you were here for that long?” He asked.
“Yes.”
“That can’t be. Humanity had ships and facilities in space, but only very little, and that was before the war, we did have the capability to come this far into the system, but every ship was destroyed in the war, the facilities abandoned, and the Ra’a’zani either took over or destroyed the rest when they came.” Gloria said, she grew up in one of the cities that managed to survive the war, where she went to school, so Mathias guessed she knew what she was talking about.
“You are wrong.” Asumy said.
“Then who left you here? And why?” Mathias said.
“I was instructed to remain here by my friend, Professor Hyeon Seo-yun of Olympus. She wanted me to monitor the progress of people on Earth, in the event that humanity ever manages to unite in a single entity. And if they were worthy enough in my opinion, to release to them the technology that Seo-yun left with me.” Asumy said.
“Olympus? What is that?” Mathias said, he ignored the part about the technology, one step at a time, he thought.
“Olympus was a country that was based in space, its territory spread out throughout the Solar system.” Asumy said.
“A country in space? Why didn’t I never hear anything about it? And where is it now?” Gloria asked.
“Olympus left the Solar systems 66 years ago, they took all their people and technology with them.” Asumy said.
“You are talking about the lawbreakers, the ones that stole the Earth's technology and left.” Gloria said.
“The lawbreakers?” Mathias said. “They are only stories told by those born before the war, a story to justify their greed.”
Gloria looked at him. “One of my teachers was born before the war, they did have better technology then. He was almost eighty years old and he still looked as if he was twenty. He told us that before people didn’t age like we do now, that they aged only the last few years prior to death, he also said that the lawbreakers were real.” She said.
Mathias looked at her skeptically, he was aware that he didn’t have any kind of an education, everything he knew about his own world and its history came from stories told by those that survived the war, and the rest of his education came from the Ra’a’zani, he learned more about technology from them than from his own people. He looked at the hologram.
“Is she right? Is this a lawbreaker ship?” He asked.
“Olympus is the ones she is referring to, but they were never lawbreakers, nor did they steal any technology from Earth. None of technology Olympus took with them belonged to Earth, it was Olympus that developed it and owned it.” Asumy said.
Mathias looked at the hologram open-mouthed. “But why did they leave then?”
“One of the Earth's governments instigated an attack on Olympus station, hoping to steal information on Olympus technology, resulting in its destruction and the deaths of Olympus citizens. Not wanting to have something like that happen again, Tomas Klein leader of Olympus decided that they should leave the system, and start over somewhere else, far away from the greed of those on Earth.”
“But why did they then leave this ship?” Gloria asked.
“The ship was left on orders from Professor Hyeon Seo-yun, Tomas Klein ordered all technology, ships and stations that weren’t being taken with them to be dismantled or destroyed. He was disappointed in humanity and did not believe they were ready for the technology Olympus possessed. Humanity only reinforced his belief by going to war after Olympus left, instead of joining together. Seo-yun on the other hand still hoped that humanity would change, so she left me and this ship here behind his back, so that should humanity ever become worthy, I would release technology left with this ship.”
“Wait, you were here when the Ra’a’zani came. Why didn’t you help?” Mathias asked accusingly.
“There was nothing I could have done, the Earth was devastated. You had no presence in space, you were trying to survive. I don’t have the control over the ships maneuvering, and even if I did send a message to Earth, there was no one that could have gotten here in time, and even if they did, there was nothing they could do. Star Gazer is still just one ship, and even though she is armed, she is not a warship.”
“Alright, I understand why you didn’t contact us prior to the Ra’a’zani arrival, but why not after they came? You could have made contact with the resistance, taught us how to fight them!” Mathias said angrily.
“I did contact the resistance, why did you think they sent you here? I sent them a message with these coordinates.” Asumy said.
Mathias looked at him surprised. “But why wait until now? The Ra’a’zani have been here for ten years…” And then it dawned on him. “You didn’t think we were worthy.” Mathias said.
“You were still bickering amongst yourselves, the resistance was fractured into many factions, each working for its own interests.” Asumy said.
That was the first Mathias heard about that, he believed that the resistance was united, everyone working for the freedom of mankind.
“But that isn’t the case now?” Gloria asked. She took the news in stride, suggesting that she knew about the different factions. She had been a part of the resistance longer than him.
“No, the resistance had finally realized that if they want to free humanity, they need to work together, towards the same goal.”
“Alright, how do we contact the resistance?” Gloria asked.
One of the panels in the room turned on. And Gloria approached it.
“Just speak, I will transmit your message.” Asumy said.
Gloria looked at Mathias for a moment and then spoke.
“This is Gloria Adriano, code 765143-Sunshine.” She said. Every resistance member had a verification code that told to those listening to the frequency that they were the part of the resistance. Actually, they had two, one that was real, and a fake one, that they were supposed to give in the event of being captured, to let the resistance know that they were compromised. And to give them a chance to plan an operation, or feed the Ra’a’zani false information. Gloria continued her message.
“We have arrived at the set coordinates, and have discovered a space ship, upon boarding it, we identified the ship as Olympus Explorer Ship Star Gazer, it was left here 66 years ago. Requesting a rescue team with someone who has knowledge of piloting a space ship, the ship is operational. Also, there is a computer aboard the ship, it called itself an Artificial intelligence.”
She turned and nodded at the hologram.
“Message sent.” Asumy said.
An hour later the comm panel pinged and Asumy played the responding message.
“Message received, expect a team in ten days, no contact until then.” The voice said. There was no verification, he didn’t introduce himself. Mathias looked at Gloria and sighed.
“Ten days, our food will just barely cover that period if we spread it out very thin. But we have water for maybe two days.” He said.
“There is plenty food and water aboard the ship.” Asumy said.
Mathias looked at the hologram.
“That food is more than 60 years old, I don’t think that we can eat it. And as for water, I don’t know if it is still drinkable.” Mathias said.
“Food and water are stored inside stasis units, they are as fresh as the day they were put there.” Asumy said.
Mathias looked at Gloria, she had a bewildered expression, she like him didn’t know what stasis unit was, but if the food and water were fresh as Asumy said, then their ten day wait would pass a lot easier.
“Alright can you show us the way towards this stasis unit?” Gloria asked.
“Of course.” Asumy said, and a line made of light appeared on the floor. “Follow the line, I can still monitor your progress and speak to you, but you won’t see this hologram.” He said.
Mathias shook his head, and started in the direction of the line.
Chapter Two
Sol
Jacob Kelly the leader of the resistance sat impatiently in the copilot seat of a Ra’a’zani shuttle. The resistance acquired it during the early days of the Ra’a’zani occupation, when they still dared to fight back. The Ra’a’zani believed the shuttle destroyed, and the resistance used it only for very important missions. They conquered Earth in less than a month, and their idea of keeping us under control was rather simple. They destroyed all of Earth’s technology, and taught us how to use theirs. So now we depended on them for survival, humans lived in special encampments, and worked for food and water. But they also didn’t monitor us all that close, they knew that we couldn’t escape their rule, and early on they showed us the price of fighting back. In the beginning the resistance organized frequent raids on the Ra’a’zani, until they grew tired and executed a third of the population. Humanity’s enslavement was all that easier because the Great War devastated the population. The Earth population at the end of the war was around 3.5 billion, and only a very small percentage of those left were people born long before the war. Jacob was one of the few remaining humans that was born well before the war, and also one of the few still alive that went through the life extension treatment, before the knowledge was lost during the war. Jacob was 120 years old, and would live at least another 30 years, the rest of the population that was born after they lost the treatments, aged normally with an average life span of 90 years or 100 if they were lucky, since the treatment isn’t passed on from parents to children. After the Ra’a’zani executed the third, there were only 2.7 billion people left. And very few of those remembered a time before the Ra’a’zani, or the Great War. Those left knew very little about humanity’s history, since they only knew what they were taught, or what they heard as stories from their parents. History lessons seemed unimportant when one struggled to stay alive. And barely anyone was left who knew the human technology, the third that the Ra’a’zani chose to execute were all from the cities that survived the war and had the knowledge of the past.
That made it all that more important that they arrive at their destination safely. They were close now, after ten days of traveling, the Ra’a’zani shuttles were very fast, and the Resistance hideout was close, they were situated in the Asteroid belt, on an old forgotten mining station from before the war. They did not send anyone to inspect the coordinates from their hideout because they were so close, they did not want to give away their base. But now that was changed, Jacob was the only one in the resistance available to inspect the ship they found. And also the only one old enough to remember Olympus, and the truth of the events that happened, he was working for the League government then, and remembered well the day when Tomas Klein stood before the leaders of the world and announced that Olympus was leaving the Solar system. He was in the League party then, a part of the team that was sent to the meeting at Sedna city, he remembered the actions of the world leaders upon hearing the announcement. They tried, and failed to obtain Olympus technology, and then immediately they turned their sights on the new opportunities, each pushing to get the biggest share of Olympus territory and facilities that they left behind. Thinking back on that period brought great shame to Jacob, as he was among them, arguing in order to increase his own countries standing. None of them cared that Olympus was leaving, in fact they were relieved. Now Jacob could clearly see where their greed brought them. Each country focused on increasing its own wealth, they neglected their people, and started a war that had all but ended the human race. They learned nothing from the previous war, when they unleashed nuclear weapons on each other. Jacob thanked God that every country at least honored the treaty and didn’t use nuclear weapons during the Great War, at least they remembered that lesson, he had no doubt that there would have been no humanity for Ra’a’zani to enslave, had they used nuclear weapons. Though in truth it didn’t much matter, that just pushed them to find more inventive ways to kill each other.
If the message they received was true, and the discovered ship was an Olympus vessel then they might just have a chance against the Ra’a’zani. Up until now the only thing that they could do was watch and wait for a chance, their military strength paled in comparison to the Ra’a’zani, they had no ships of their own and had no way of destroying the four warships patrolling the Solar System, not to mention the transport ships that carried materials mined here back to the Ra’a’zani space. The message from his people said that the ship had an Artificial intelligence. Jacob was present when they received the message, and saw the confusion of his people, they didn’t know what that was, the concept was foreign to them, as Ra’a’zani had nothing like that, and as they had little to none knowledge of human technology. There were few books or movies that survived the war so they couldn’t have learned about it that way. But Jacob was old enough to understand what that meant, a sentient computer. He was surprised when the message came, he knew that Olympus was advanced but not that it was advanced that much.
“We are here Jacob. There is the ship.” Tamara, his pilot and second in command said. Jacob looked outside the shuttle through its forward windows. He saw the ship immediately. It didn’t match what he remembered of Olympus warships, nor did it match any other Olympus ship he ever saw. Though there was no doubt that it was made by them. It had soft angles, rounded, it was perhaps 140 meters long, with its rear end being bulky, wider and taller than the rest of the ship. The rest resembled the Olympus warships with its rounded box look.
“Contact them.” Jacob said. This was the riskiest part, if this was a Ra’a’zani plot the resistance would end with him. But Jacob knew that the resistance would have ended if they didn’t find the ship, there was nothing they could do against their conquerors. They had no means to fight back.
Tamara contacted the ship and a moment later, they were given instructions to dock with the ship on its port side. Jacob stood up and went to the back end of the shuttle. There were four more people there, they were armed with the remnants of the war, plasma rifles, they were developed during the war by Concordis. The Ra’a’zani gathered all the weapons that Humanity had and destroyed them, these were ones of the few that they managed to hide. Four people were Lars Rickman, Bella Nunez, Kristofer Gates and Nicole Smith. They were all born after the war, and survive in the slum cities, all save for Nicole, she was born in Denver, one of the few cities that survived the war. Jacob nodded to them and they waited until the shuttle docked. When Tamara came out they went to the access hatch and entered the ship.
They were met by two people, he knew that they were Gloria Hernandez and Mathias from their profiles, the boy didn’t have a last name, or didn’t remember it. Seeing them Jacob released a breath, he had a small fear that this was all a Ra’a’zani ploy, though they rarely showed the capacity for elaborate plots. Jacob approached the two and greeted them.
“I’m Jacob Kelly, the leader of the Resistance. You have done a great job here.” Jacob said. And offered his hand.
They shook his hand, and Mathias answered.
“We didn’t really do anything sir.” He said.
“Jacob please.” Jacob looked around. “It is an impressive ship.”
Mathias and Gloria looked at each other. “That it is sir. But why did you come personally?” Gloria asked.
Jacob sighed, he had spent a long time keeping secrets, but there was no need to hide anything from those present here.
“I am old, I was born a long time before the war, and I remember Olympus. So I am the only one who could have verified that this indeed is an Olympus ship. You said that there was an Ai on the ship?” He asked.
They looked blankly at him for a moment, and then Gloria understood. ”Oh, you mean the Artificial intelligence.”
Jacob nodded.
“Well you better come with us to meet Asumy.” Mathias said.
“Asumy?” Jacob asked.
“The artificial intelligenc
e.” Gloria said.
He and the rest of his party followed them to the bridge. The first thing he noticed was that the bridge room was a half sphere. When they all entered, Mathias turned towards a floor plate in the room.
“Asumy, the leader of the Resistance is here to speak with you.” He said.
“I am aware of his presence.” A voice said. And a moment later a hologram of a man appeared. The rest of his party was startled, but Jacob took it in stride, he remembered that Olympus had excellent holo technology. The hologram was dressed in standard Olympus fleet uniform, black with Olympus symbol on its shoulder, though there was no rank insignia. Jacob stepped up to the hologram.
“I am-” He started, but was interrupted.
“Jacob Kelly, born May 2049 in Sidney, Former chief of staff to the President of The League, current leader of the human resistance.” It said.
Jacob looked at the hologram taken aback for a moment.
“Well, you might know me, but I don’t believe we had the pleasure of meeting before.” Jacob said, he had a feeling that he should treat it as an equal, and to be direct.
“My name is Asumy, and you are correct, we have not met before, though I know about you, I have access to the files Olympus had on you, and have since added to them in Olympus’s absence.” The artificial intelligence named Asumy said.
“May I know how you learned that I was the leader of the resistance?” Jacob asked.
“You said so yourself when you boarded the ship, but I had prior knowledge, I have been monitoring all communications inside the Solar system since I was left here.”
“That is an amazing capability, I don’t believe that even the Ra’a’zani are capable of monitoring all communications inside the system.” Jacob said.
“You are correct, they don’t have that capability, they use mostly focused laser comms and have limited radio capability.” Asumy said, it confirmed Jacob’s suspicions. Ra’a’zani might have taught humans how to use their technology, but there were still things that they kept secret, like their communications, and weapons.