The Prize: Book One

by Rob Buckman

  “Holy crap! Just how long did your civilization survive?”

  “My records and memories of my creator's society go back 850 million years.”

  “Lord alive!”

  "Two point seven five billon years after this universe came into existence, my creators reached sentience. Four million years later, they reached the stars and began to search for other sentient being. But, there was great sadness among the populace, as they did not find any. They did find star systems with primitive life, yet none ever passed a certain point in their evolution.”

  “Must have been a bit lonely.” Ellis said.

  “For my creators it was. Collectively it was decided that where possible they would help nature in aiding other species to become sentient.”

  “So, you gave us and others a leg up on the evolutionary tree.”

  “No Mr. Penn. It was a disaster, which they quickly neutralized. The last beings they helped was a race of spider-like being, similar to the one your successfully defeated. Once they attained star flight, they began migrating from star to star, stripping the systems of all life.”

  “Holy…”

  “By then, my creators had matured, and came to the final understanding that they were not gods. However this cosmos came into existence, it had to mature and grow to its own plan. Races would grow, and come to sentient awareness of their own accord in their own time. To interfere with the development of a species was arrogant.”

  “So what did they do?”

  “They neutralized the threat and, using their own genetic material, they seeded suitable star systems with the mechanism for life. As species matured, and reached out to the stars, they withdrew, erasing most of the traces of their existence.”

  “Except for places like this.”

  “Correct Mr. Penn. This building contains their history, art, writings, poetry, music. All the things that made their civilization what it was, and a monument to any sentient species technologically advanced enough to land here.”

  “We didn't exactly 'land' here, more like crash landed.”

  “That was expected, and made no difference. Any species arriving here must, at some point enter this building, like so many others before you.”

  “And once inside they didn't have a choice whether they took the test or not.”

  “Yeah, until they died.”

  “No one died, Mr. Penn.”

  “Come again? We saw them die…”

  “At the moment of what you call death, I returned each to his or her home world.”

  “Oh crap!” Ellis suddenly straightened and snapped her fingers.

  “What?”

  “I wondered about that report Tandy showed me, about all the other off-world information the Director collected. It explains how the stories and cults sprung up in so many different parts of the galaxy.”

  “Makes sense, but what about you?” Penn asked, looking at the sphere.

  “I was created to solve the never-ending question of who should govern.”

  “Why didn't they leave it up to you? You're sentient.”

  “Very perceptive, Mr. Penn, but I was not self aware in the beginning by design.”

  “They were concerned you might take over,” Ellis guessed. Surprisingly, the sphere chuckled.

  “You are correct Sub-Major Ellis. However, after several million years of refinement by my creators, the neuron density became such that I became self aware.”

  “You crafty old bugger. You never told them.”

  “Correct, Mr. Penn. I never told them. Their system worked, and worked well. Being sentient enough I realize, that in their maturity they had surpassed anything I might add. Yet even now, as the last of my creator left this structure, I had the impression they knew I was sentient.”

  “But to recognize that you were sentient, they couldn't shut you off.” Penn noted.

  “Penn?”

  “Once they knew he was an independent, living being, it would have been the same as infanticide.”

  “Oh I see. Yes, if they were as advanced as you say they were, they could never kill their own child.”

  “It took me a thousand years, to come to the same conclusion.”

  “Slow learner, huh?” Penn laughed and kissed Ellis. ”Me too.”

  “I can see from your thoughts that you were expecting something more.”

  “I… we hoped we could use whatever was here to help Earth.”

  “From the moment you landed on the surface, I have been monitoring all your thoughts, and each of your party had different reasons for being here.”

  “That's true. Mostly they wanted to turn off the gravitational effect so the Empire can start mining operations.”

  “I understand, yet you, Mr. Penn and Sub-Major Ellis, were the only ones who had any clear idea of what you wanted to do with the prize, if you found it.”

  “So you created all the traps and puzzles to test us.” Ellis added.

  “I have little control, nor moral imperative to stop, or change what you yourself create from your own mind.”

  “But you do have primary directive to test whoever comes here.”

  “Yes, Mr. Penn, I do. My creators established the guidelines of what a leader in all walks of life should possess, and you Mr. Penn have demonstrated your ability to serve in the highest capacity.”

  “Me! You sure you haven't mistaken me for someone else?”

  “Quite the contrary, Mr. Penn. It was you who broke Major Ellis's train of thought, and possibly prevented her from suffering a similar fate as the first female in the entry chamber.” He felt Ellis shudder at the thought.

  “Well, I did have an ulterior motive…” Ellis blushed.

  “If I am reading your thoughts correctly, Mr. Penn you are here in the first place, because you were forced by Director Markoff, and to protect your fellow humans back on Earth. Secondly, to protect Sub-Major Ellis.” Ellis sat up with a gasp.

  "Penn! What's it talking about?”

  “Nothing!” Penn sighed. ”The Director and I had a deal…” He couldn't bring himself to look at Ellis. “If I did the Director's dirty jobs, he wouldn't exterminate any more of our people back on Earth.”

  “What do you mean 'any more'?”

  “The first time he…” Penn trailed off. How could he tell her he'd condemned over a million people to death out of nothing more than arrogance and pride?

  “Tell me!”

  “The first time I refused to do as he ordered, he wiped out a city of over a million people.” Penn could feel the ghosts of those million people crowding around him. ”My own stupid pride, I guess.”

  “So you went to work for that monster? And now?” Ellis looked Penn. ”Are you still working for him?” Ellis's anger turned quickly to compassion as Penn shook his head.

  “Shit! How dumb can I be…? Everything makes sense now. Helping when you should have run. You were defending the rest of our people back on Earth, the best way you knew how.”

  “As I said, Mr. Penn, you demonstrated your dedication to the service of others long before you landed.”

  "Yeah, well, like I said, I did have an ulterior motive."

  "And did you and Sub-Major Ellis have the same ulterior motive when you almost sacrificed yourself to save the life of Captain Carras?" Penn and Ellis looked at each other, not sure how to take that.

  "You demonstrated the principal of sacrifice that all advance species attain."

  “So what?” Penn snapped in irritation at having his motives examined under a microscope. “Do I get a shiny gold star on my report card?”

  “I do not understand the reference, but ruling this Empire you are against is within your power now.”

  "I don't want to rule a bloody Empire. I just want to find a way to protect Earth!”

  “This was supposed to be a weapon storage facility or something.” Ellis muttered.

  "There are no weapons here.” The globe answered.

  "Like hell! I… we saw them!”


  “We saw what we wanted to see,” Penn growled in frustration. ”Either way, this technology is so advanced I doubt we could even understand, let alone reproduce it.”

  "I don't understand.” Ellis leaned closer.

  "Remember Mohammed and the mountain. …You have to come to knowledge, knowledge can't come to you’... It's like that old Earth saying, you can't railroad 'til its railroading time. We don't have the technology, or material to build any of the advanced weapons.”

  “But, if all those weapons weren't real, how could we eat real food down there?”

  “I simply replicated 'real food' from available organic compounds, and from what I found in your mind.”

  “If there are no weapons here, how can we help Earth?”

  “You already have the capacity to produce advanced weapon to match those of this Empire you seek to destroy.”

  “We do?” They both looked up at the glowing sphere.

  "You are not thinking clearly, Mr. Penn, or the answer would be self-evident. I will regenerate you both so you have your full faculties.” Ellis gasped as a golden light surrounded them, and her body began to vibrate to some unknown frequency. Moments later, she felt completely whole and well again, her exhaustion gone.

  “Is that satisfactory?” She looked at Penn, seeing the same transformation and he flexed his bad leg. She felt clean and wonderfully alive.

  “Good God, yes,” Penn stood and tested his leg. It was completely healed.

  “Excellent. I have also corrected some anomalies to your genetic enhancement.”

  “Anomalies?”

  “Yes, Mr. Penn. A short life span, and both your inability to have children.”

  “What?” Penn and Ellis said at once.

  “You were both sterile, and would have died within another ten years.” For a moment, they both sat there in stunned silence before turning to look at each other. The implication of that hit each of them like a sledgehammer.

  CHAPTER - THIRTY NINE: Party Crashers

  For Ellis, it felt as if someone had just reached into her chest and ripped her heart out. No children! She could never have borne Penn's sons and daughters, never heard their laughter, or seen them grow up. A bright tear of sadness trickled down her cheek and she buried her face in Penn's neck. She found little comfort there, as Penn shivered in anger.

  “What the hell…” Penn surged to his feet again, fist bunched, ready to fight, but there was no one to fight. They were all dead. “Those rotten, stinking bastards.” Penn turned, slamming his fist into the wall.

  “Penn! What are you talking about? I don't understand.”

  “The old Earth Government. They had labs set up all over the place. I was born in a lab in South America as part of some super soldier program, at least that's what my parents told me.”

  “It looks as if I was part of the same program.” It didn't make her feel any better knowing she was just part of some failed experiment. “I guess they didn't want us breeding. We might turn out to be a threat to them after the war.”

  “Can you tell what they did to us?” Penn asked.

  “You both have increased reflexes and strength, increased stamina and healing abilities. Now that I have corrected all your genetic anomalies, you are now faster and stronger than you were before.”

  “What about our skin changing color in strong sunlight?”

  “Apparently, that was added to give you increased tolerance and protection from many forms of radiation, including heat.”

  As the sphere's changes coursed through his body, Penn felt his clarity of vision and thinking improve. To his surprise, he could now read the glowing red script on the walls between the colorful motifs. It wasn't directions as he'd first thought, but a history of the race that built this place. It felt as if he'd been living in a fog all his life, and just now could lift himself above it and look around at the world as it really was. The written language was so compact it was all there on the circular wall of the room, and as he read he begin to understand their love and compassion for life. As the sphere said, they were the descendants of that race, having seeded or colonized many life-bearing planets across the stars. It also explained why many of the humanoid raced looked similar. Another thought struck him, and he looked at Ellis for a moment.

  “You said something about an attack, and your parents being killed.” Penn asked.

  “Yes, I was living on some sort of military base just outside Tucson. I must have been about fifteen at the time, and one night we came under attack. I don't know who it was, but I remember a man, a soldier rescuing me and pushing me down a storm drain and telling me to run.”

  “Something similar happened to the base I was living on, but in my case it was Empire troops that attached. I was lucky as I was out hunting at the time.”

  “You think it’s significant?”

  “Our base was so well hidden the Empire never found it.” Penn stood up and began pacing again. “I'm betting every other base where children like us were hidden got hit at the same time.”

  “Someone sold us out.”

  “Right! The experiment that created us would be a perfect bargaining chip for someone seeking power in the Empire”

  “If we get back to Earth, I think I'll look that person up.” She muttered darkly.

  “Not if I get to him… or her first, if they are still alive.”

  "I can tell Mr. Penn, that you seek retribution against this Empire.” Feeling as if he was thinking clearing for the first time in his life, Penn realized that destroying the Empire wasn't the answer.

  "I do and I don't. Bringing down the Empire would only cause more problems than it solved.” He sighed. ”The stability in this part of the galaxy, such as it is, would be gone the moment the Empire collapsed. The Thrakee and the Silurian would invade, and cause more death and destruction. Once the Empire collapsed, Earth would be in the line of fire as well, and without weapons, we would be defenseless… again. There has to be another way.”

  "And what would that be, Mr. Penn?"

  “You mentioned something about manufacturing. What did you mean?”

  “As I said, your species already has the capacity to build weapons equal or better than the Empire. What is it that you need, Mr. Penn?” Like this pyramid itself, the entity was posing another problem for them to solve. Penn took to pacing again, and Ellis let him alone, deep in thought herself about the question.

  “Time.” She said at last.

  “That's right.” Penn snapped his fingers. ”We need time to design and build the weapons without the Empire finding and destroying our research or manufacturing facilities.” He shot Ellis a smile.

  “And how would you go about accomplishing that?”

  Penn's face creased into a deep frown. Two elements struck him at once. First, they needed to get the Imperial troops off Earth to stop them finding and destroying anything they built. The second find some way to stop them coming back. A fake order from the Emperor, or the Director of IMPSEC might accomplish the first, but how to stop them coming back.

  “Penn. How do starships get from star system to star system?” Penn froze in mid step. It was as if Ellis had switch on a light in a dark room.

  “Oh my lord, yes! All we have to do is erase Earth's coordinates from the central navigational banks on Telluria Prime. Without the constant update concerning their position before they departed, a starships couldn't get there, or at least not until they resurvey the region, and reestablish Earth position again.” Suddenly, the solution was blindingly obvious to him.

  With the great wheel of the Milky Way galaxy forever turning, and the star system and planet all in constant motion, every star system had to be surveyed. With their base line position, and orbital motion entered into the central navigational data bank, ship navigators referenced the destination stars, and set his system to that of Telluria Prime. It was the same as setting the ships clock to GMT on Earth. You had to have a base line from which to start from to calculate the exact positi
on of the star system you were jumping from, and the star you were jumping too. With a known value, its relative motion to the rest of the star system, and to the rest of the galaxy at large, it was relatively easy to calculate where you were going to from any location.

  “It's like using GMT to calculate your time/distance journey for ships before the invention of GPS.” Penn muttered off-handedly, rubbing his chin and deep in thought.

  “If we could get into the central data banks on Telluria Prime and erase the information to Earth's location, the Empire wouldn't be able to pinpoint it. They'd have to resurvey the whole region from some other known location first. That could take up to five, maybe ten years. That would give us time.