Zero Sphere: A Space Opera Thriller

by Jedaiah Ramnarine

  Lea immediately nodded, then Andrew, then Michael, and finally Logikos gave the nod of a reluctant approval to keep the peace, stating this – “So be it.”

  I looked back at Colin and he too nodded at me.

  “LARS, are we ready to go?” I needed not say anything more on the matter. We had to move on

  “Repairs are complete. We may jump into hyperspace.”

  “Good. Take us into orbit.”

  Our ship ascended into the skies, past all the clutter and pollution to unveil the dark space above it. I took a solid glance over the world we were about to leave, and part of me wondered if they too had suffered the same cruelty of my own people, hundreds of thousands of years ago at the hands of men who thought they were greater than Creation. I tried shaking off the bother but Arilia’s eyes made me more determined to complete this whole chapter, once and for all.

  Solar Opus

  The final frontier awaits for those who keep searching, relentlessly without stopping or giving in. What treasures will be unlocked could be shared for an entire humankind and above all, there, she will discover her haven. The time has come to let go of the past, let go of hurt and the pain to move on to greater and better things. Should one open their eyes to the gold in front of them, they will unleash a power greater than any nation can dream of, because it is an unbreakable power from within.

  Those with strife are those with gold.

  After the Hyperjump of The Timeless Drifter…

  A strange, metallic object lays wait in the cold, darkness of endless space – seemingly, the object contains the makeup of what appears to be an older model of the Martian beamships. Inside, in the small dark command room only lit with the computing system’s lights, a black-haired woman dressed in a form-fitting space suit leans with her arms crossed as she peers out into the spectacle wonder of space; reflectively wondering if she’d done the right thing.

  “Can we catch up to them?” Her hoarse voice asks as if another were there with her.

  Out of the shadows, another figure emerges – this time, a man, also dressed in a similar space suit. He simply nods at her

  “This is just as much as our responsibility as it’s theirs.” She says

  “We’re past the point of explanations, Ianna.” The man rests his arm on the shoulder of the one they once called the Valkyrie. Light hits his face and it cannot be denied who is there with her. Seven – “All that’s left is for us to do is, ‘do’ and we’re already here, so…”

  A smirk shoots across his face – “Let’s do.”

  At the Border of Sirius, The Timeless Drifter…

  The jump is complete and we are now in the region of Sirius. No one asks anything initially, they only go to fielding their reports on the vicinity, the space and where we might end up. To me, it’s like being at the gates of a finished quest – at least, that’s how I want to perceive it but is that how it really will be? Walk in and demand a democratic movement between our peoples? Truly, this may simply be the start of a hard painful process for humanity yet one that is necessary.

  “We’re here.” Michael sounded unsure in his own statement but he couldn’t deny his findings. He slid his fingers across the keystrokes of his hologram terminal and presented the data in the middle of the room for all to see. At long last, Sirius, we were finally here.

  “We’ll need direction to the local sentient settlements. Let’s find out what’s around here. Less surprises are a better thing for us at this point.” I passed the instructions along in a mild-toned manner, my focus still pointed on the wonder outside the windows and honestly if I must confess, I was slightly lost in the thought of achievement.

  “Found.” Branson noted in collaboration with LARS and Logikos, presenting his data to the middle of the room in a hologram like Michael before him. He got out of seat to point the direction through the cluster of stars on the hologram – “This is where we are.” He made sure we were all paying attention, “This is where we need to go.”

  The problem with where we needed to go, was that it was held up in a star cluster this time being pulled together by a greater gravitational-magnetic giant, this time what I’d estimate to be a black hole but there was also something else. Not far from that black hole, a white hole existed in the area – shooting out enough energy to fuel the hungering dark star.

  “As you can see, there will be turbulence. The ship can’t handle another hyperjump and it’s more than likely that if we were to perform another jump, we might overshoot our destination.”

  I folded my arms thoughtfully contemplating the best way to deal with the whole thing. I would’ve preferred another hyperjump for safety’s sake, even though it may not have been needed, we would’ve been in a nulltime-nullspace. Nevertheless, we could not wait around and twiddle our thumbs.

  “LARS, what is the ship’s total integrity? Would a hyperjump be out of the question?” I asked

  “Given the current state of the ship, yes, it will be until I have updated the ship.”

  “Update the ship?” Colin silently asked me personally

  “Yes.” I leaned to my right shoulder to return the quick chat, “LARS is able to continue upgrading our technology, this ship included. Generally happens in an adaptive form after we’ve faced something seemingly insurmountable. In this case, it would be defenses and space travel.”

  Colin nodded in understanding. I moved to the windows of the ship to take a good glance at what we’ll be dealing with. It’s funny, the human eye can only see so much and still I felt a comfort to whatever decision I had to make just by looking out there. I faced my crew, particularly Branson.

  “Branson, what do you…”

  For one second, Branson’s face looked to me expecting an order and then in the next second, his mouth dropped in horror and he was taking steps back. Lea’s expression followed a similar regard and that was enough for me to know something was very wrong without eyeing the whole crew. When I turned around, I had the absolute pleasure of greeting the Sirian ships, but this time it wouldn’t be the Sirians we wanted to meet, instead, it’d be our relentless pursuers from all along – The Remnants.

  Armed for war with several battalions at their disposal, these bloodthirsty savages were scraping every corner of the galaxy they were allowed to in order to find us and at last, their hard searching paid off. I did not feel scared. Don’t ask me why, but I only felt an inclination of readiness. The mothership in front of us, big enough for me to consider it perhaps 3KM wide – started gathering energy around the vessel, transferring it to the cannons of the ship, prepared and ready to fire.

  Is this how I really die? At ‘The Gates’? The irony…

  Felt like everything was going in slow motion. I could hear my crew screaming for LARS and panic erupting like an explosion had went over before the actual firing had begun. Seeing the particles form into a solid, sun-like supernova that was targeted for us had passed my consciousness into the death state’s acceptance. I held my hands out and embraced my end. Last thing I remember? White light and everything around me being engulfed in it.

  Had I done enough?

  That was all I could think of…

  The Valkyrie Returns

  I watched from the sidelines as my son’s ship crumbled into nothing more than junk and ash, but fear not my child, I’m here. Seven had already vanished from inside the ship. He was inside theirs, rescuing whoever he can. Me? I had my own part to play you see. All this time we’ve been out here, I’ve had the chance to catch up on my driving. Seven wasn’t the one piloting this bad boy, it was all me. I laid down covering fire against the bitch who shot at my son. It was our time to step in and boy, I was more than ready for it.

  Our cruiser was strapped with all kinds of tech we salvaged along our journeys out here in deep space. 25th century Martians would probably laugh at the sight of her, but she had been upgraded to a level centuries ahead of our time as well. We were equipped enough to give these old aliens a run for their money, the
only issue was, we weren’t exactly prepared for a whole army! Doesn’t matter – I just had to buy enough time for Seven to get them out of there. I unleashed everything my cruiser had to offer; we’re talking from beam missiles to laser shots, to orbital cannons and you name it, I was firing it at the olden alien mothership to the point where that bitch had no choice but to confront me and leave my family alone.

  “Come at me!” I hissed on the commander’s seat, knowing full well these ruthless savages had already pointed their eyes at me. No problem, that’s the way I want it. But that, yeah – all those other guys with you? Not really the way I want it. That’s a bit too many to be following me. I got one advantage – and that’s that I’m small, fast and agile. I can outmaneuver them through their lines. It’s a longshot but what the heck, gotta’ go in all out or don’t go in at all.

  It’s like you said baby, we either ‘do’ or ‘don’t’ and this is me doing right now. Don’t be too pissy when you see this, because I’m going in – all the way in, and yeah, they’re firing at me without two shits given. They want me dead and that’s the way I want it. Get whoever you can off that ship and get em’ back here. Especially my boy. I won’t be able to do all these space acrobatics for much longer, Seven – get your ass back here!

  ‘Where are you?!’ His telepathic nudge slams me harder than anything those savages can muster up.

  Not much in a spot to answer him, seeing as I have a whole army chasing me. I’m doing my part going off the hope he can feel the strain. I mean, it’d be obvious when you see it from outside – spinning about in a ship that shouldn’t be spinning, dodging a space lightshow and well, taking a few hits here and there so you could say I’ll be going down soon.

  Seven teleported back on the ship, our son in his arms. Immediately the moment I saw the two of them, Seven was already gone again. Temptation claws at me. For a moment I consider letting go of the controls, running over to him and just holding him. My little boy. I don’t want it to be the last time I do so, though, so I just clench my fists tighter on the controls, as if my body was going to jump out of the pilot’s seat on its own accord. Colin’s ship was blown to bits but there were a few of them free-floating in space.

  “Mother?” Colin could barely scratch the words in disbelief. “How did…”

  “Hold on!” I warned him, taking a sharp turn.

  Seven teleported back on the ship, this time with very black human. I had no idea who that was, but obviously it was part of their crew. Colin seemed disturbed. He was wanting his father to rescue all of them but someone in particular and how could I forget who?

  “We have to go back!” Colin demanded

  “Are you crazy?” I blurted out of frustration in piloting. I was already headed for clear space for a jump.

  “She’s still alive.” Colin noted, “He would never leave you behind. Please, let me go out there and do the same!”

  I smirked at my son’s wise little mouth

  “Patience, kid, your father’s on it.”

  Although things weren’t as bad as they could be, wait, I take that back – they were about to get a whole lot worse. The remnant cruisers began taking a formation as old as space flight itself, attempting to surround and pummel on us with everything they’ve got. This is when I knew what they were up to. They were about to eradicate the final threat – us. All I could tell Colin was to hold on. I punched in some random coordinates on the hyperdrive, remembering full well what I said almost another lifetime ago.

  ‘The issue with the hyperdrive is that we haven’t perfected it nor can we use it around the vicinity of nearby planets. It’s possible to suck them in with the ‘hyper jump’. Not to mention, we’re still very new in this area so the technology is very unstable. We’ve had many crashes into other suns and other planets or being randomly flung into another space or time with no contact and no possible return. It’s messy, but we’re getting there, step by step.’

  But hey, this baby I was piloting was centuries ahead of the tech we had then, right? And still, I was terrified where we might end up. Then, Seven showed up – with the blonde maiden, seemingly unconscious, or maybe even dead, in his arms. Colin rushed to her side while Seven moved to mine.

  “We have to jump!” I told him

  “I know.” He’d already came to that conclusion too

  Suddenly a formation of smaller ships cut us off from the front, discharging an inferno of lightning rays at us. Seven held his hand forward and the ship’s energy field became active, absorbing the violent fury our enemies had to offer. After that, I knew it was my turn to save our asses. I dialed the clock on the hyperdrive and forced us into taking a risk into the mysteries of deep space. Space bent around us, the ships in front of us turned into paper and next thing you know we sailed through the finematter transition into the fringes of another time, in another place.

  “Everyone good?” I swung the chair around the second we were back in normal space, only to catch a glimpse of Colin over the unresponsive body of the woman I once scorned. Seven had his arms folded in introspection as I jumped out of my chair and walked over to my son. I bring him to his feet and hug him, squeezing him as tight as I could. As if a burden has been lifted off my shoulders, my heart feels light for the first time in years.

  He puts his arms around me, not the tiny boyish arms that I remembered. These strong, muscular arms make me proud and sad at the same time. Proud of the man my boy has come to be, sad that I missed out on that. Tears roll down my cheeks. I’m sorry, my boy. Sorry I couldn’t be there for you. Nobody’s going to separate us again. He lets go, I bring my hands to his face and cup his cheeks in them. What a handsome man my boy has become. Save for the visible signs of the ordeal he has just been through, his boyish features gave way to strong, masculine lines that reminded me of his father in his prime.

  He got back onto his knees and lifted Astraea’s head to his chest.

  “Don’t give up now.” I heard him whispering as he hugged her lifeless body in his arms, “You’re the strongest person I know. Don’t leave me again.”

  I kneeled at their side, keeping my mouth shut as I observed the situation, still unable to take my eyes off of him.

  Colin was far more muscular than his father and clearly the strongest-figured human on the ship but here I was, watching my strong boy reduced to tears over this woman. He turned to me, bloodshot eyes weeping a tale of sorrow and regret.

  “I never got to tell her how much I love her.” His shocked voice ached across the room to me. I don’t know why, I’d never felt much care for that girl other than a quick bang on the ship, back when I was on my way to Mars, but now, I’d begun to see something in my boy I saw in myself a long time ago and then that little wise mouth he gave me on the ship nearly had me tearing up too for Astraea. No, I’d never leave Seven behind and he’d never abandon me either and all these situations, all our letdowns and perished dreams were forcing us to do so.

  And we still held on.

  I wanted to reach out to my son, tell him it’ll be alright but I was frozen there with him. Seven came to our side, checking Astraea’s pulse.

  “She’s alive.” He calmly whispered, “But not for long. She’s fading.”

  Colin got up and punched the wall behind him screaming ‘No!!’ as he did so then he crunched his fists, trying to keep his cool as he thought about how to fix this mess. With his back turned and his head raised up high he asked – “Can we do anything?”

  “She needs serious medical attention.” Seven replied still pondering on anything he can do for her personally, “This is beyond our capability.”

  Colin finally faced us, then took a minor glance outside the ship’s cockpit

  “Where are we?” He asked

  “Sirius.” My eyes were still on Astraea as I remembered the destination, hoping that would bring some kind of good news. Colin didn’t speak but it was like a raging beast was about to unload. He moved away from us, viewing whatever supplies we had in the s
hip. Seven went to his son while I combed Astraea’s hair aside, wondering if she would make it, or if she would just become an addition to the tally of wasted potential.

  Our other passenger came to, just as distraught, as Colin was rummaging through the shelves and cases.

  “What are you doing?” Seven asked his son

  “I’m going to finish the mission.” Colin fearlessly said to his spectral-eyed father

  “Colin, don’t you go risking your neck out there because of this!” I intervened

  That’s when he snapped, “We can’t do anything in here. Our only hope is out there. For the mission, for our family and for her.” He pointed his head down in my direction, moreso to the woman, he loved then he went on to look for the escape pods.

  “Colin stop.” I warned him as I got to my feet while our passenger took over watch on Astraea, “Are you really planning to go out there alone? We’re outgunned, outmatched…”

  “Why did you come here?” He stopped me.

  My tongue became twisted

  “Why are you out here? Both of you.”

  I turned to Seven, he nodded at me to speak our minds, “This is as much our mission as it’s yours. We knew you weren’t dead, so we came looking for you. We came to finish what we started. This is The Spheres’ mission and we are in this as much as you are .”

  “You can rest assured you’ve done your part. Let me do mine.” He coldly replied

  ‘Let him be.’ Seven telepathically warned me as I tried again to stop my son

  “All I need you to do is keep her breathing. I can reach Sirius quicker on my own.” Colin didn’t bother getting a new suit, he went into the solo pod alone with the damaged suit he arrived in, setting his destination

  “Colin Sphere.” I firmly called out to him outside the pod. My stern tone surely did catch his focus because now he was looking at me, “Don’t you try and pull another ‘hero’ stunt like you did years ago. I want you back home this time.”