by J. N. Chaney
Her mother smiled at her, approvingly. “You asked about Earth,” she said, turning to me. “What we know is limited, but Janus tells us that it is where our ancestors came from.”
“Another world, far away,” said Karin.
“The histories say it is a land of plenty, full of life,” said Lucia. “A better place than this.”
“Better is subjective,” I said.
“Perhaps,” said Lucia. “But live long enough among us and tell me there is no world worse than this one.”
I didn’t argue. These people had terrible lives. They knew it. I knew it. There was no point in a debate. “You keep talking about worlds,” I finally said. “What do you know about that?”
“We’re not fools,” said Karin. “We might live in the ground, but each of us has been educated and fully understands where and how we came to be here.”
“We also know you’re not from this planet,” added Lucia.
“What was that?” asked Abigail.
“Our defense network is down, so we couldn’t send a message, but we saw your ship when it entered orbit,” said Karin. “You might think we’re nothing but savages, but you’re the first visitors we’ve ever had and we saw you coming, probably before you even knew about us.”
Not only that, but they seemed to know a thing or two about Earth technology. No, these weren’t savages at all. I’d known that when I first saw the old woman use her staff against that monster in the tunnel. “Fair enough,” I finally said. “We flew down here because there was a signal coming from the facility here. It mentioned Earth, so we investigated.”
Karin smiled. “Now is where you tell me what you know about Earth, Mr. Hughes.”
“Not much,” I said. “No one’s been there in thousands of years.” I decided to leave out the part about Athena, Titan, and Lex. Those three were in high demand right now. Better to keep things brief until we learned more about these people. For all I knew, they’d try to steal my ship and hunt down the rest of my crew. Shit, we already had two empires after us.
“That’s too bad,” said Karin. “I was hoping you could tell us something more, perhaps about what happened to it.”
I shrugged. “Beats me, lady. I’ve heard it’s out there, same as you, but I’ve never seen shit. Why do you think I came all the way down here? You’ve got a transmission talking about a planet no one has seen in ages. Of course I’m going to check it out.”
Abigail didn’t look at me. She only gave the two women a short nod.
Good, I thought. She gets it.
“If you’ve never seen images of Earth, you should,” said Karin. “They are quite beautiful. Lush, green hills, wide open plains, and gorgeous blue skies.”
“You’ve seen holos of it?” I asked.
“Janus shows them. If you’d like, I can arrange a meeting,” said Karin. “He’s with his students now, but we can take you there now.”
“You’d do that?” asked Abigail. “Even though you don’t know us?”
Karin smiled. “You’re the first visitors we’ve ever had, remember? It would be a shame if we didn’t treat you well. That’s how it works with guests, right?”
“Right,” said Abigail, returning the young woman’s smile.
“Besides, if you try anything, we’ll kill you,” said Lucia, reaching for her staff. She tapped it with her palm, like it was a pet, and looked right at me. “Is that understood?”
Seven
Karin led us out of the round room and into another corridor, adjacent to the larger room we’d come from. After we passed by a few dozen more areas, I began to think this facility might go on forever. How big could it even be?
A few minutes into our walk, Karin’s mother said something in their native language and broke off into another room. She seemed to have an urgency about her, but I didn’t bother questioning it. Given the state of this place, I had to imagine there were a hundred grade-A disasters happening at any given moment.
“Hey, Abby,” I said, stepping closer to her as we followed behind Karin.
“What?” she asked. “Don’t tell me you have to use the bathroom or something.”
“What do you think happened here?” I asked, ignoring her last remark.
“Probably the storms and the animals,” she said. “Isn’t that what they told us?”
“I can’t see how that could wipe out an entire colony,” I said.
“Maybe you can ask this Janus person,” said Abby.
“Whoever he is,” I muttered.
We continued past a group of men, each of them with tools and pieces of technology in their hands. I only caught a brief glimpse, but I could tell they were using salvaged scraps to fashion something new. Whether they were weapons or not, I couldn’t now. Not without asking, and I planned to do plenty of that very soon. Whoever this Janus person was, I hoped he could shed some light on what exactly happened here and why these people weren’t connected to the rest of the galaxy anymore.
Karin brought us to an open doorway, and I heard laughter echo from the other side. There were children, lively and happy, a surprising sound in a place so dreary. As we stepped through I saw that this was a classroom, with students sitting cross-legged on the floor, watching the teacher as he spoke. A man with a full head of white hair, just like the others, but still not quite the same. When I looked at him, and he moved, I thought I could see a glimmer of light against his skin, like I was watching a holo.
I noticed the teacher was speaking another language to the kids, the same one we’d heard earlier. Before I could say anything about it, Karin retrieved the translator and held it out in front of her. The device glowed with a soft blue, and suddenly the language transformed into something familiar.
“Fusion cores can be found across all three facilities on this planet, despite their high value,” said the teacher. “You will need to fully understand them if you wish to survive in the caves and defend the village. That includes retrieval, maintenance, and functionality. Remember, such objects are not common, so it will take some effort to locate them.”
The students watched their teacher with wide-eyed interest, like he was giving them a great truth…the secrets to the universe.
Hell, maybe he was. How was I supposed to know?
The teacher looked up at us, his eyes lingering on me for a brief moment. I wondered what he thought, what all of them thought, when they looked at me and Abigail. We looked nothing like any of them. Neither of us had white hair or blue eyes or pale skin. We stuck out like a couple of sore thumbs in a place like this, the same way Lex stood out in the rest of the galaxy. Now that I thought about it, I wondered how she might feel to be here with me and the rest of these people. She’d spent so long in hiding before now. Would it be better for her if she’d been born in a place like this? Would she be happier, even if it meant monsters and snowstorms?
“Excuse me a moment, class,” said the teacher. “It seems I am needed. Please, stay seated and speak amongst yourselves. I’ll resume the lesson momentarily.”
The children began to mumble, their voices growing louder as the teacher began to walk towards us. He looked at both Abigail and me, and then again at Karin, as he finally approached. “Ms. Braid,” greeted the teacher.
“Janus,” responded Karin.
“I see we have visitors,” he said, glancing at me.
“You were right,” she said. “You said they would come.”
He nodded. “It was only a matter of time.”
I raised my brow. “Why aren’t you more surprised to see us?”
“I’ve seen a great many things,” he said. “After two thousand years, very little surprises you.”
“Two thousand years?” asked Abigail.
I noticed another glimmer along Janus’s sleeve, a reflection of light from a source that wasn’t there. I saw no windows in this place, no bright sources of light. Only dimly lit lamps along the ceiling. This man…he was like Athena. “You’re a Cognitive,” I finally told him.<
br />
He paused at the term, turning to face me. His eyes narrowed with a sudden interest. “How do you know what a Cognitive is, Mr.…?”
“Hughes,” I said. “And I know because I’ve met one before. No wonder you know so much about Earth tech. What are you doing in a place like this? Were you in charge of this place before everything went to shit?”
“You must excuse my ignorance, Mr. Hughes,” said Janus. “Could you please enlighten me as to which Cognitive it was that you met?”
Shit, I thought, immediately realizing my mistake. I’d almost said too much. The less these people knew about Athena and Titan, the better. I still didn’t know if I could trust them, Cognitive or not. “I can’t remember her name, but it doesn’t matter. The real question is why you’re here and who the hell these people are.”
“Let us reconvene in the outer hall, please,” said Karin.
“Yes, I agree,” said Janus. “It would not do the children well to overhear such matters. Come, Mr. Hughes, and I shall attempt to fill in the gaps as best I can.”
I nodded. “I guess that’ll have to do.”
* * *
“So what’s the story?” I asked, the second we were out in the hall.
Janus smiled at the question. “I have to say, Captain, I appreciate how inquisitive you are.”
“Information keeps you alive,” I said, thinking about the animals I had seen in the caves. “You know what it was that turned this place upside down, then tell me.”
“Very well,” said the Cognitive, turning to the nearby door. He approached it, glancing back at me. “Inside, please.”
I watched him walk straight through the metal and into the adjacent room. “Does he always show off like that?” I asked, looking at Karin.
Abby, Karin, and I followed Janus into the room, closing the door behind us. I instantly recognized the design of this place, it was so similar to the rooms on Titan. The walls were made of the same metallic tiles, which suggested they could be used to show off images and video. At the center, there was a table, although it wasn’t quite as pristine as the one we used back on the ship. Instead, there were chipped and cracked corners, and several of the seats had been replaced or removed. “Sit, please,” said Janus, once we were all inside.
We all set across from him, each of us beside the other, facing the wall, which flickered to life for a brief moment before going black.
I was about to say something when I realized this wasn’t an accident or a glitch. The image zoomed out, showing stars in the distance, surrounded by darkness. It was the same trick Athena had pulled when she turned the walls into screens, only these were cracked and old, no doubt worn from years of exposure to the elements.
“Do you know the story of Earth?” asked Janus, after a moment.
“The Transients left,” I said, getting straight to where I thought this lecture was about to go. “The rest stayed behind.”
“Ah, so you’re aware of that much,” said Janus. “Good. It saves me some time.” He flicked his wrist and the display changed, showing a planet. Despite never having visited Earth, I recognized it when I saw it, probably from all those pictures Freddie had shown me.
“Most of the Eternals population remained on Earth, while the Transients departed for their own sections of the galaxy,” explained Janus. “Not long after the colony ships left, the leadership agreed to begin their own colonization efforts. This was done in order to secure our borders, due to the recent dispute between the two sides.”
“I thought all that was taken care of,” I said, remembering how the Transients, my ancestors, had left Earth in order to start their lives over. They’d only wanted the chance to work and survive.
“It was,” said Janus, nodding. “However, Transient individuals are short-lived, existing for only a century or less. The Eternals knew how later generations might forget the peace their forefathers had fought so hard to achieve, which meant precautions would have to be made to ensure the Earth’s security. The Eternals predicted a reverse exodus in the distant future. They believed the Transients would return to claim the planet for themselves, believing it to be their birthright. Because of this, checkpoints and monitoring stations were built all throughout Eternal space, as well as research outposts and colonies. Over the course of five centuries, the Earth’s territory was solidified and strengthened, ensuring its survival.”
“Is that what this place is?” I asked. “An Eternal outpost?”
“Something like that,” said Janus. “It was created to be a mining colony, but a space station was eventually built to safeguard it and a warning beacon placed. I believe that is the signal you detected when you entered the system.”
“There was no space station when we arrived,” said Abigail.
“No, not anymore,” said Janus. “The station broke orbit after a thousand years, crashing far from here, toward the east.”
“Did you send anyone to check it out?” I asked.
“No, I’m afraid our ships were far too gone by that point. The…creatures…saw to that.”
“Creatures,” I said, looking back at Karin. “He’s talking about the thing that almost killed us in the caves, right? What did you call them again?”
“Boneclaws,” she answered.
Janus sighed, despite a lack of lungs. “A simple name for a complicated problem.”
I almost didn’t ask, but there was something about the way he said it. “What do you mean by complicated?”
“Surely, you don’t think those beasts have always been here?” he asked.
“Haven’t they?” asked Abigail. “Where else could they come from? Did they migrate here?”
Janus flicked his wrist, changing the screen behind him once again, this time to a video inside a facility. It was new and pristine, with people working in the halls. “The original colonists had multiple main projects. Three, to be specific, and each one designated to a separate facility. One involved the development of fusion cores, a small, but exceptionally efficient fuel source. You may have overheard me lecturing my students on them a short while ago.”
“Fusion cores?” I asked. “Are those different from Tritium cores?”
He nodded. “Fusion cores are more portable, typically used in handheld devices, such as Lucia’s staff weapon, whereas a Tritium core contains enough energy to power an entire facility, such as this one.”
“This place has a Tritium core?” I asked.
“Indeed, although it has degraded over time. We’ve been actively looking for a viable replacement for years.”
This gave me pause. If these people had a Tritium core, what other secrets were they keeping?
“As for Fusion cores, they are much more common. But I digress. The other projects were vastly different in scope, decidedly focused more on genetic engineering.”
Abigail sat up at the last term. “Genetic engineering?”
“One of the facilities was charged with creating a new type of fauna, specifically designed to clean polluted air. Earth had experienced its share of environmental problems, due to multiple factors, including the conflict between the Transients and the Eternals, but also the development of early Tritium cores,” explained Janus.
“Sounds rough,” I said. “What’s your point?”
He smiled. “Patience, Captain. I’m nearly there,” assured the Cognitive. “Now, are you familiar with where the Eternals came from?”
I nodded. “I’ve heard the story. They made themselves immortal.” I looked at Karin’s white hair. “And they don’t get sick.”
“Correct,” said Janus. “All very true. What you may not know, however, is what came after.”
“After?” asked Abby.
“The Eternals had already taken a radical leap forward in human evolution, given their enhanced physiology. They couldn’t age or die, aside from any unforeseen accidents, of course. But nothing is perfect. Even the Eternals had their flaws and limitations.”
“Here we go,” I muttered
.
“Indeed,” said Janus. “Roughly a century after the Transients departed Earth, the Eternals began to look more closely at their own genetic code. They noticed a sort of degradation taking place. People were not healing as quickly, and some of the older generation were beginning to show signs of aging for the first time.”
“So, they really weren’t immortal,” said Abigail.
“You can imagine the fear,” continued Janus. “Panic set in among the leadership as they fought to find a solution. For the first time in centuries, the possibility of a natural death had become real. They couldn’t stand by and do nothing, not when they had the full force of the government’s science division at their disposal.”
“Are you saying that’s what the third facility was built for?” asked Abigail. “To find a solution to this?”
He nodded. “Quite so, Ms. Pryar. As you might imagine, the project was a top priority. The public couldn’t know about the situation without having a solution in place, so the government moved its research off-world to a separate facility.” He paused. “This one, to be exact.”
“As in, the one we’re inside now?” asked Abigail.
“Correct,” said Janus. “Now, you might be wondering what any of this has to do with the current state of our little planet.”
“The question crossed my mind while you were rambling, sure,” I said.
Janus ignored my remark. “The research that was conducted here was unparalleled. Groundbreaking advancements were being made on a monthly basis, largely due to pressure from Earth’s government. They wanted solutions quickly, no matter the cost. It was during these experiments that things went horribly wrong.” Janus flicked his wrist and the image behind him transitioned to something terrifying—the monster we’d seen in the tunnel. The Boneclaw. “I believe you had the misfortune of encountering one of these.”
I stared at the beast. “Misfortune would be an understatement. They weren’t exactly friendly.”
“No, they certainly aren’t,” he said. “Nor are they native to this planet.”
“Karin mentioned something about that,” Abby said.
“Those scientists made them, didn’t they?” I asked, staring straight at the Cognitive. “That’s where all of this is going, isn’t it?”