“Nothing lasts forever,” I said as I cleared the condensation off the mirror as I looked at my reflection staring back at me.
Those words echoed in my head. Nothing lasts forever. Nothing. That’s what we had now. Nothing. I’d never been so far away from Earth, yet felt so close to it. Close enough to touch it. To smell it. To embrace it. But not to warn it. They didn’t know what was coming. But I did. And because I knew my future consisted of nothing, much like theirs, it brought a strange feeling of contentment to me. I was content in knowing that me, my crew and the people of Earth all were in the same boat. We were as screwed as each other.
“No way to warn them,” I said, turning around and reaching for my clothes. I grabbed them in a bunch and made my way out of the humid and moist bathroom. As I walked into my bedroom, the contrast of heat and coolness made my skin prickle. I sat on the edge of the bed and started to slide my boxers on.
“No way to warn them?” I said once again, but this time I wondered. I wondered if there was someway to warn them. But then my wonder soon turned into anger.
“Pah!” I said, sliding my trousers on in one continuous motion. I’d remembered what Roderick Freeman had told me. I remembered him saying that Earth knew we were coming. That they knew what was ahead of them. And this was all but a set up. We’d be fine. We were the ones in control.
I put my shirt on and stood up. Suddenly I felt faint. I steadied myself and took a deep breath. All of the stress was starting to get to me. There was no denying that. In the past week, I felt as if I’d aged ten years. And looking in the mirror, I’d seen that that was very much the case. I was just about to reach for the door when another thought popped into my head.
“They know?” I said, remembering what Roderick had said. I stood before the door, standing deadly still, staring at the grainy surface of the metal in front of me. I became transfixed as I replayed the conversation that had gone on in this room earlier on.
“They are sending these things gifts. Gifts in the form of spaceships. Weaponry. Technology. Even blueprints for brick work, like buildings and structures. Ask yourself this, why on earth are these things so much like us? Why do their buildings and their ships look so much like ours?”
I remembered wondering that exact same thing when I’d seen their buildings for the first time. They resembled ours down to the T. But then I remembered what Roderick had said about them sending other humans. That apparently we weren’t the first ones. That others had had the misfortune of being sent there before.
“What a load of crap,” I mumbled as I reached for the door. Usually these doors swooshed, and opened on their own. But being a quarters for sleeping and whatnot, privacy was to be taken into consideration when designing such a door. This door, like every other private quarters door, had a handle, from prehistoric, pre-automatic-era where doors would be manually opened. And as my hand touched the handle, a flurry of images flashed before my eyes. Images of the Ursines. Their structures. And their home world.
And then it struck me. I looked at my hand and the handle. I turned my hand palm side up and stared at my fingers.
“Holy shit,” I said, opening the door and running down the hallway. It was empty and dark, the usual ambience of the ship making the place look like something out of a bad horror movie set in space. But the horrors I was feeling were real. They were profound, and like a bolt out of the blue, it hit me hard.
“Roderick was right,” I said in disbelief as I ran down the corridor. “Their paws, their damn paws!” I said, not believing that I’d hadn’t noticed it in the first place.
***
After ten minutes of running around like a headless chicken, I’d finally found Roderick and his two young conspirators. They were hanging out in the theater room. It was basically a movie cinema, where Pilgrim Tech would play various movies on its very many channels. The problem was, we were too far away to pick up their feed and wouldn’t be within range for at least two months, so movie time was out of the question.
“No signal,” Roderick said as I burst through the double doors to the theater. Prior to that, I’d been searching high and low, and had only stumbled upon them by luck. If I’d decided to give the cinema a miss, I’d have wasted a good hour traversing the mighty big Alpha Ship One in search of them. But looks like my luck was improving. And hopefully, if I was right, so would humanities as a whole.
“You were right, I mean, you ARE right! I can’t believe I didn’t see it before,” I said, rushing up toward him, probably flailing my arms about like a madman. I reached him and sat down on a chair. He was sat at the back of the complex, on the end chair, whilst his two younger friends were sitting next to him. I was sat on the next row of seats, which was split in the middle, to allow the steps to descend down toward the big screen. But I found myself leaning in as close as I could, an expression of excitement and terror on my face. The realization that I’d come to had been banging about on the inside of my head on the way to Roderick, and I’d spent ten minutes bottling up my emotions, so the fact that I could finally express my findings was a tremendous relief to me.
“What’s up?” was all Roderick said, his face sporting a frown.
“What’s up?” I said, repeating his comment in the same tone he’d delivered it in.
“Yeah, you look troubled,” he said, still frowning.
“Well, excuse me for feeling a little flustered, but I was giving your theory a think over in the shower, and then it hit me,” I said, trying to get my words out in one, and finding myself stuttering a little.
“That I’m right?” he said, not surprised in the least, or at least he sounded as if he wasn’t.
“Yeah, well kind of, there’s a few things that I don’t exactly see as being possible, since your story lacks proof, but then I found some,” I said.
He looked at me and smiled. His frown disappeared, and deep wrinkles creased his face.
“So, spit it out; enlighten me with your proof,” he said.
I ignored his diva-ish tone and decided to lay it on him thick.
“The Ursines. Their paws. They have them, you know,” I said, struggling with my sentence structure a little.
He looked at me and nodded slowly. Roderick looked worried, like I was acting out of character and displaying some odd traits. I guess I was. He hadn’t known me for long, so wasn’t aware of my quirks yet. And to be honest, my crew, Dale and Jess that is, were also unaware of my quirks. Those sort of human characteristics tend to be suppressed by leaders of men and women. I’d done my best in doing the same throughout the years.
“Yes, they do have paws,” Roderick interjected as I attempted to accumulate some sense of clarity before I spoke.
“Well, doesn’t it strike you as odd that these things had buildings built for them using the specifications and standards that humanity would use? And not something purpose-built for their own shapes?” I asked.
Roderick looked at me plainly. He had a way of slow blinking that alarmed me. It was the look in his eyes that made me wary of him. The glint. The way they stared at me. The hollowness that was buried deep within his iris. The problem with Roderick, or at least the problem I had with him, was that his face said one thing, while his eyes said another.
The way I saw it, you can never trust somebody like that. But I had to. I mean, what choice did I have?
None. Zilch. Nada.
“I don’t quite see what point you’re making here, captain Flynn. Last time I checked, we’d been through this before. I remember it clearly. You shot me down, telling me how absurd my opinion was and that it doesn’t make sense. So please forgive me when I say, just get to the point.”
I nodded my head and drew a big breath. I felt like I needed as much air in my lungs for this thing to make sense. Which was silly really. But we all have weird thoughts under pressure.
“Okay, I admit that when you first mentioned that Earth had sent humans to the Ursines as gifts I was a bit skeptical,” I said, clearing my throat
a tad. “But now I’ve had a bit more time to think about it, I’ve come to the conclusion that you are right. Now, don’t see this as an opportunity to gloat. We have six months on this ship, and I don’t want to spend it wanting to throttle you.”
“Understandable,” Roderick said, both the young man and woman were smiling now. But I was ignoring them. I had to get a few things straight before I completely changed my opinion on the man or his theory.
“Firstly though, I’d like to point out that you aren’t completely right,” I said, feeling a grin popping up on my face. I didn’t hide it. I didn’t have to. I was the captain, damn it! And if I wanted to grin a little, I would!
“Okay, lay it on me, tell me what I’ve missed,” Roderick said, slow blinking again. I felt as if he was suppressing his true feelings. Or that he was enjoying this. Either way, it was strange, but I continued.
“Well, first things first: your idea is in the right ballpark, but you’re playing a whole different sport. For instance, you say that the humans were sent here by the humans on Earth and made to make buildings and such for these aliens.”
Roderick nodded again, moving his head along with my voice. He was locked in and listening very closely.
“Yes, I did say that,” he said, his eyes a little wider now as he prepared to take in what I was about to lay down.
“Well, it got me thinking. Thinking about their anatomy. Let’s put it in laymen’s terms here. We aren’t scientists and we certainly aren’t free thinkers. I’m a ship captain for a rust bucket that’s seen more criminal smuggling missions than good old fashion legion war battles to protect Earth. I don’t see myself as much of a man. In the sense that I am not brave nor am I honorable. Me, my crew, and the people who have stepped foot on this ship all share the same common goal; to make loads of money and make it fast. But that’s neither here nor there, really. I guess, the point is, I’m no boffin and don’t claim to be. But I am smart enough to see when things just don’t add up.”
Roderick remained quiet and continued to nod his head in all the right places.
“I don’t mean to interrupt, but I fail to see where this is going.”
I ignored the interruption and continued.
“The Ursines have paws, am I correct?” I asked.
By now, Roderick and his two followers were looking at me with impatient scowls on their faces. They weren’t impressed with my delivery, but as I said earlier, I’m the captain damn it! So I didn’t give a hoot.
“Yes, they have paws. We have been over this. It is nothing new,” Roderick said, impatiently.
“Well, explain this to me: why do all the doors on their planet have knobs?”
There was a stint of silence. Roderick pulled a few faces as the cogs in his brain grinded away for an answer.
“Because that’s how doors are designed?” Roderick said after he came to his conclusion. I’ll give the man credit; he is no dummy. But neither am I.
“Correction, that’s how human doors are designed!” I said, secretly proud of myself. But I hid it deep inside me. Didn’t want people thinking that I was a simpleton who liked the sound of my own voice. I’d hold it in until everybody thought I was a genius. That could take some time though.
“I still fail to see where this is going. We’ve been through this before. The humans designed their cities. So it makes sense that they designed their doors as well, doesn’t it?” Roderick said, his slow blinking had stopped and now he was visibly annoyed with what I was saying. Patience was definitely not his strong point. But I guess if he is to be believed and he really is three hundred plus years old, I’d probably run out of patience as well.
“You’re not getting it, are you? Look, it’s simple, the humans not only designed their cities but they designed everything for them. Just look at their home planet. The cities on it. And the ships they fly. All built to resemble humanities creations. But that’s where your theory goes out of the window. The ships and the planet and everything on it weren’t designed to resemble the same tech we use; they were designed to be beaten by the tech we use!” I said.
Roderick smiled.
“Okay, I’ve heard enough,” he said, getting up from his seat. I also stood up, just incase he was going to walk out on me. I had more to say. Much more. And I didn’t want him disappearing on me. But what he did next, I admit, I wasn’t expecting.
Roderick took his shirt off and threw it on the floor.
“What are you doing?” I asked in shock.
He stood in front of me bare-chested and turned around. On his back there was a scar. But that’s not what caught my eye. Under the scar, just under the skin, a faint red light flashed every other second.
“Is that a tracker?” I gasped in dismay.
Roderick turned back around, his pale and loose skin hanging freely as he stared at me. If he was lying about being three hundred plus years old, his body wasn’t. It looked haggard.
“The thing is Captain Flynn, I have all the proof in the world when it comes to the plot against these creatures. I am the man they used to make first contact with the Ursines. I’ve been on their planet for three centuries. Three centuries to learn from them. To understand them. And to pity them. I knew that my mission would be long. Why else would they use me? The only genetically immortalized man in history? Their own creation? Worth so much more than money. Within me, I hold the secrets to immortality, and that was the gift of all gifts to these aliens. That was a way that the humans could gain their trust. Give them a prisoner that would never die. And it worked. The Ursines had loads of gifts sent to them. Builders. Pioneers. Settlers. A few even cross breaded with the Ursines, and super bears like Borch and Ern were born. But in all that time, both humanity and the Ursines were plotting and scheming. They played dumb. They acted as if they needed these gifts. That without them, they’d be nothing. And then the day came. The day that they’d learned all they’d needed to learn. They were now smart, armed and dangerous. Humanity recognized it, so they tried to be diplomatic with them. But it fell on deaf ears. They didn’t want anymore gifts. You and your crew were the last ones. Two weeks ago today. And now they’re returning these gifts right back to the original senders.”
“So this whole thing is about the humans arming the Ursines to gain their trust so they can control them?” I said, puzzling it out. “This whole thing is a false flag operation?”
Roderick reached for his shirt and put it back on.
“No, this isn’t about control, this is about decimation. This is about war. This is about Earth 2.0. And when we get there, everything will be ready and waiting for us. The buildings we built. The cities. And the slaves left behind. The common Ursines will work the fields and produce goods for us. They’ll take care of us. And their planet will be the first planet other than Earth to be home to humans.”
I looked down at the floor and then back up at Roderick. I was feeling deflated. Usually, in history, or human history at least, we are perceived as heroic. But if Roderick was telling the truth, then we’d not only be the bad guys, but we’d also be breaking every galactic law in place. And then we’d have much more to contend with than the Ursines.
“Fighting these things and taking over their planet is an illegal act of war. It will garner humanity a bad rep and that rep will end in us being exterminated,” I said, looking back down at the floor, my mind washed with many conflicting thoughts.
Roderick sat back down on his seat and sighed. Then he began to laugh.
“Oh Flynn my boy, you are too clever for your own good. But luckily, there are a few clever ones like you on Earth. So you’re not alone. I hate to break it to you, but humanities depravity stretches far beyond this. They are not stupid and for many years before space travel, on Earth, they would wage wars in the same way. This is no different. What humanity are doing is simple. They are honey trapping a race. They are sending them many technologies. Technologies that would seem like black magic to a primitive race. They are saturating them with ever
ything they could ever want on the hope that one day their primal instincts will take over. Because lets not forget, alien or human, we all share the same sort of traits in one way or another. So this is no different than a country being supplied arms by another country back on Earth, and hoping that the country you supplied the weapons to ends up using them on your enemies for you.”
I shook my head.
“But we don’t have any enemies,” I said, feeling confused.
Roderick smiled and returned to his slow blinking.
“We all have enemies my boy. And our enemy is them.”
“Them?” I asked.
“Yeah, the Ursines. They are our enemy,” he said.
I sat there in silence as I digested all the information. At first I didn’t get what he was saying. But then the penny dropped. My eyes widened and I stood up.
“If the Ursines attack us, then Earth will be in the right. They’ll be able to defend themselves and take the spoils of war with them.”
Roderick smiled.
“The perfect con,” he said.
“So humankind can expand. We can become bigger and be the first race to colonize two planets. That will make our standing in the galaxy and the universe very interesting indeed,” I said.
Inside, I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t believe that my own people would do this. But then again, it’s all hearsay. Once it’s over, it’s over. There will be no proof and life will go on. But can I go on? Can I move on? Will I be able to keep my thoughts to myself?
“I know what you’re thinking Flynn, and the answer is no. At the end of the day, what’s done is done. It doesn’t change the fact that humanity as a whole is now in danger. We have a nuke on board carrying a payload that could wipe our planet out eight times over. There won’t be any picking sides on this one. We are who we are. And who we are is being threatened.”
I shook my head.
“It’s one thing to defend your planet. It’s another to plant a nuke on a ship to give justification to wipe out an entire alien race,” I said.
Stasis (Alpha Ship One Book 1) Page 14