Get me another EMP out there!
Oh no, Barrier 2 failing. Damnit! Okay, lay down suppressing fire – get another barrier up. On your right Xeilya, one’s closing in on you. He’s firing. Roll. Good, toss an EMP. Oh, now he rolled. Interesting. They’re adapting to our tactics. Hold him back with fire. That’ll do for now while your boys get another barrier up.
‘BARRIER 2 DOWN!’
Quicker than I expected. Alright, he’s charging up again. Watch it. That searing heat getting closer than expected. Roll it. Good dodge… wait, oh no. Mactire didn’t avoid the shot. Neither did John?! Shit! Only three of us left.
“Thomason, fire up the teleporters. Get us out of here!”
Last hope. It’s a retreat, but we’re getting our asses kicked
“Teleporters down, Major…”
What?!
Another searing heat whiffs past my face. I look around. All my soldiers are floored. I’m the last one left. The panthers surround me. Like a pack of predators, circling their prey, they point their lasers at me.
So this is it, huh? This is how I go? A life by the sword about to be ended by the sword. Good riddance, but why do I feel so much regret…
“Impressive…”
What? Who said that?
“System: Phase, 230B. Target Disablement confirmed. Disengage hostilities.”
What?
“You, human creature. What are you called?” The voice is coming from apparently everywhere? It’s monotone. I want to say robot but that feels limited. It sounds alive, yet… artificial.
“Valkyrie.” I announce the title boldly.
Why aren’t they finishing me?
The panthers stop circling and, what’s this? Turn off? What is going on here? The room goes dark again. Neon-green lights highlight the intricacies of the floor. A presence is felt from behind. I look around – there. A hologram with no face. A formless, energy
“What are you?” I ask
A small pause without a word. My nano-visor is completely dead. None of my systems are working
“I am Zero.” It tells me a new voice. Every time it speaks, I hear a new vocalization. Sometimes male, sometimes female, other times completely robotic
“Zero” I find myself repeating that obvious codename thoughtfully
“That is my designation. My Prime Directive is to sustain life.”
I look around in paranoia. Still only me
“Why have you come here?” It demands my attention
I’m not sure how to answer that – “We’re on the brink of discovering, possibly, the greatest find in mankind. This place predates every book in our history and yet none of it was done by our earthly hand. So, what are you, really?”
“An illogical query. Earth should have maintained its true history.”
“True history?”
What is it talking about?
“It is obvious you have not, which is incomprehensible. I am a Super-Intelligence created by your ancestors from Sirius to maintain life on this planet.”
Feel that tingle, crawling up your spine? It’s truth and it’s always better than fiction – “Sirius? How is that possible…”
“Yet another dangerously illogical query. Your kind is a genetic deformity, created from the pacifists who fled from Sirius. I was created to assure order.”
I can’t believe what I’m hearing
“You will now answer an inquiry of my own.”
“Ask.” Remain fearless
“Do you want to cure your disease?”
“What diseases?”
“The one all of you have been plagued with since birth.”
What would Seven say here?
Funny, I’ve always had doubts. Always could be really unsure sometimes. Now, more than ever, I feel ready. I know what it’s talking about. Call it intuition. I just know there’s no bargaining with this entity, so I tell it – “Yes”
“Wise.” It responds in a feminine voice.
A strange tingling sparks in my fingers and my thighs. Light signatures surround me.
I notice my hand disappearing but no pain can be felt. Like an invisible wrap, my whole body’s about to be surrounded by it. In a heartbeat, everything turns to black and I’m propelled like a massless particle, travelling through time and space with a feeling of unbelievable glee. I never want to leave this. What is this feeling? This is real…
When I open my eyes, I’m at Seven’s place, throwing up on the floor.
“Now you know.” He walks over to me, stretching out his hand to help me up. What happened to your eyes? They’re glowingly pure white…
Alright, no games boy. This isn’t the time for vagueness. I wanna’ know everything you know.
“Where do I begin?” He senses my thoughts
“This whole time you’ve known about it!” The puzzle connected as the words poured from my mouth – “And you didn’t tell me anything?”
“I couldn’t. I knew sooner or later you’d figure it out. The EDF couldn’t be trusted. They were using you as bait to get to me.”
“Bait? What are you talking about man?”
Make sense Seven, make sense!
“They knew what was out there. They didn’t know how to ‘turn it on’. I was the only one who could. So, they used you to make sure I didn’t do anything stupid.”
“Why?”
“Like I said…” He closes his eyes solemnly – “I’m the only one that produced a response out of the Zone. Nobody else has done that, except for you.”
“You’re saying we’re the only ones on Mars who made that place active.”
“At first it was me, now it’s you. So, yes. Only the two of us.”
“But why?”
His eyes froze me like an ice nova – “Zero picked us for its new operation. It’s ready to evolve beyond its Prime Directive.”
“I need more than that…”
“Slow down Ianna.”
“Don’t tell me to slow down, you have any idea what I encountered out there?!”
“I do. It’s still no reason to get yourself so worked up.”
Is he remotely close to being serious?
“Speak! I need more!”
He offers me a seat on the couch. I’m reluctant. I’ll stand for now, just tell me everything.
“What you encountered out there…” His tone takes a diversion away from any vagueness – “Was what I’ve been dealing with since I came to Mars.”
“Explain.” I’m hungry, don’t give me that vagueness
“It’s not a mechanical network or a simple technological infrastructure. It’s a bio-organic intelligence with psychic capabilities.”
“It told me that I had a disease.”
Seven crunched his eyebrows in seriousness - “Listen to me. Years ago, and I mean, many tens of thousands of years ago – There was a great conflict in our galaxy; Sirius to be exact. Natives of the star system had gone too far into positive ways, to the point where they lost their ability to defend themselves and thus became pacifists. In order to fight against their attackers, they used lower-classed humans in their society, spliced their genes and turned them into ‘fighter’ humans. The average lifespan of these humans were reduced to 1/10 of a natural human lifespan – approximately, these fighters would live for about 100ish years.”
Listening to Seven could send you into a dream world. His voice could be so hypnotic.
“They were chased away from their home system, these Sirius natives, along with their unnaturally bred ‘fighter’ humans. Scouring the galaxy in their exile from safe place to safe place, they eventually found this backward, old Solar system we know today as SOL. Originally, these humans did not settle on Earth because back then, Earth was not habitable for their sentient life. So they settled on other planets like Mars and a planet known as Malona, that’s now today known as the Asteroid Belt.”
His gaze sucks me in. I only want to listen and know more.
“These, ‘Creator Overlords’, so to speak, created
religion and other psychological control factors to keep their unnatural bred humans in check. Some of these Creator Overlords didn’t agree with it, so they stayed distant from it and even created their own counter religions and truths so that one day, humanity would see past all the religious doctrine. Some of these creator-overlords and their unnatural bred humans went to settle on other worlds like Malona and Earth to distance themselves from the conflict. Eventually, Malona would destroy itself due to the irrationality of its inhabitants a millennia later, while Mars was pushed out of the goldilocks zone due to cosmic influences – a gigantic planet-sized comet known as ‘The Destroyer’. Earth lost contact with both of them as time went on.”
Processing.
“You see Ianna, we, earthlings are the descendants of these descendants who came to our world and mixed with the then developing earth human. Our genes were polluted. We are the descendants of these fighter humans, Ianna. That is why Zero spoke of this ‘disease’. It’s in our genes. It wants to cure us of it and so, it needs two subjects to fulfill that role. You and I.”
“How do you know all this?”
Hello? Seven? Why did you stop talking? What are you looking at?
Oh… the door. Lasers cutting through it. I’ll go ahead and assume someone’s trying to break in.
“Time to go.” I say, paranoia getting the best of me. I look around for any other exits. Only one I can find is past his room. Seven, what the hell are you doing – why are you standing there?!
Blam!
Set charges detonate on the entrance and the door goes flying in a wild explosion. EDF forces pour into the room, guns drawn, telling us to freeze. Seven looks at them without an ounce of fear. He merely holds an open hand as if he were telling them to ‘stop’ and instantly, the entire EDF crew drops to the floor lifeless.
What the heck was that?!
He just stands there looking over them, like he’s waiting for more. I run over and grab his hand, pulling him with me to the back entrance.
“You have a breather?” I quickly ask.
Blam!
Another break in from the corridor’s sides, this time two EDF on the left and right of us. I push Seven away from me into his room and twirl myself into a half moon kick, delivering a sweet chin music to one of the assailants. The kick forces me to catch myself into a half-split with my energy pistol drawn and firing. A slick roll into Seven’s room and I avoid the worst they had to offer once they started throwing flashbangs. I dart into Seven, grip his hand and shoot out the window behind him. Yeah, sorry, you’re going to have to hold your breath for a few minutes. Breather’s not an option anymore.
‘Computer, access – any vehicles nearby.’
‘DENIED’
Are you serious? They disabled my… Nevermind
Shit! More EDF closing in. What’s Seven doing?
“Get down!” I tell him.
He ignores me.
He holds his hand out like he previously did.
Those EDF boys barely get to turn the corner before their bodies all go limp.
Seriously, what the heck is that you’re doing?
And why are you having no problems breathing?
“Get on.” A robotic voice calls out from behind
Who was that?
“Ianna! Come on!” Seven points behind me to an unmanned hoverbike outside the broken window I shot. Before he rushes to it, he grabs one of the EDF’s helmets as a substitute breather. It’s a good thing his home’s still in a larger biodome. We’d be dead already if this were outside the colony.
Where did that bike come from?
Whatever. Move aside. I’m driving.
“We’re not gonna’ make it five minutes before they blow us up in the desert.” Knowledge of the EDF’s tactics escalates my paranoia as Seven and I hop on the vehicle.
“Not to worry.” That machine voice is coming from the bike – “I am in control.” It says
Sure enough it is, because I notice I’m not the one steering and we’re going right past the drop ship over Seven’s house?
“What are you doing?!” I try grabbing a hold of the steering. Still no use
“Not to worry. I am in control.” The bike repeats.
Okay machine, you do realize you’re driving us into the heart of the people who just tried to kill us?
Oh, what’s this?
‘STEALTH MODE ENGAGED’
A slithery bubble wrap forms around us. We drive past the outside EDF strike team with no problems. It’s like they didn’t even see us. Ah, now I get it. ‘Stealth Mode Engaged’, huh? Must be a kind of cloaking field or perception distorter. No surprise there. After all that’s what we encountered at the bases.
“As I said. I am in control.”
Nice one.
I’ll let it slide.
I didn’t know where this thing was going to take us or what it really was. In that moment, we had no choice but to get on and trust it. Still, that didn’t ease my paranoia. The automated bike drove us to the outskirts of the nearby colony. At first, nothing but desert, wind and sand howled in the red landscape – then, a small housing materialized itself. Perception filter. How many of these things are out here? Is it safe to assume that maybe, there might be a whole army out here and we would never know?
Seven leads the way to the building. He’s so trusting of it while I’m not. How can I? This, ‘Zero’, or whatever it deems itself is beyond a casual AI. It has access to slice our systems across the planet, not to mention it sent a bike out here to pick us up – so how, tell me and I mean really, tell me – how can I possibly trust this thing?
Seven, I trust you but Zero, I do not.
“You’ve been here before?” I ask Seven when we get inside. It’s not too shabby. The light was dim but surprisingly, it appeared spacious. Nevertheless, the lack of detail however, didn’t come as any surprise. There were food containers, breathers and other storage boxes most likely packed with survival equipment.
“This is one of the safe houses Zero provided me in case anything went south.”
His reply seemed reasonable
“What was that thing you did back there? You raised your hand and they dropped.” I ask carefully, observing his eyes
“Overload.” He says
What?
“With enough consciousness power, I can short circuit certain brain functions – knock them out or worse. It is, however, very draining on me. I cannot do it for very long.”
“I see. So onto the next question: that bike was sliced, wasn’t it?” I ask
“Your query is illogical, you already know the answer.”
“Perhaps…” I look around to monitor my surroundings.
Are we being watched?
“What now? Sooner or later I have to report to the EDF, it’s not like we can go off running… again.”
“Again…”
I knew he’d stop me at that word, ‘again’.
Looks like I walked right into this.
“Last time we ‘ran off’, the EDF caught me and stapled me to be the classic soldier’s hero. It took a long time for me to work my way out of that hole and after that, they’ve made sure to keep an eye on you.”
“Sure.” He stopped me – “But remind me how long will you be their lapdog?”
I look at him with piercing eyes
“Really?”
“The EDF cannot be trusted Ianna and you know it. They just tried to kill us.”
“I’m not doubting any of that, but why? Why would they try to kill us?”
“That’s a good question. Nevertheless, I saw it coming.”
“That was a full strike team. Prepped in less than half hour? How did they know we were there already? They have to know something Seven. Zero isn’t telling us everything!”
A glimmer to the corner of my eye halts as much as a simple vowel from sounding any further. Zero reveals itself in the shape of a faceless humanoid hologram.
“Why should I?” It asks
<
br /> “How long have you been listening to us?” I respond
“Long enough to understand, rightfully, there is suspicion of my intention.”
“Well, you’d do best to spit it out.”
Seven and I had our eyes locked at the snarky hologram, urging it to spill the beans. It’s ironic. The nature of this thing was still completely foreign to me. I was uncertain if to pin it as ancient tech or elaborate hoax. It didn’t give any indication of lying. I sift through bullshit all the time. No, this thing, seemed like it was all for telling the truth and that was the scary part. What was even more convincing? Seven had been sold.
“I have been monitoring your kind since the dawn of the space age. It was only a matter of time before you returned here. Preparations have been made for that time, once it came and it did. Only one of your kind was suitable enough to engage in contact.”
My eyes darted over to Seven. It was obvious this was the ‘one’ who Zero was referring to.
“Through telepathic measures, we have been in exchange for over a year before the discovery was made which I, naturally, allowed. This was done for the purpose of evaluating your modern human kind as an entirety and not through the lens of those more advanced. My results have wielded variables that pointed to multiple outcomes. Due to such varied paths, I have also contacted your EDF forces of my presence. It must be determined which of group; whether it is EDF or those like Seven, is capable of restarting ‘Project Zero’.”
“Project Zero?” I asked
“A mission dedicated toward the fixing of your disease. The cure of your mutated genes for the return of a normal human lifespan. Your genetic technology has advanced but it is still not enough to cure the manipulation that has been dealt to your people from your creator-overlords who hail from Sirius. Project Zero may only contain those who are capable of said voyage; through upgrades and advancement provided by me. The question is, who should be chosen for this mission?”
“It’d be easier if you told us the criteria.”
“This is illogical, for Seven is quite aware. He is naturally inclined to this mission. One may look at him as an example of the necessary requirements.”
“But where does that leave me? Why would you drag me into this?”
“Because you are the missing link to complete this operation. A perfect pair, you and Seven. Your strength and compassion is inspiring, but beyond that – you carry the qualities that Seven lacks. A connection to your people and also a child.”
Zero Sphere: A Space Opera Thriller Page 5