Earthman Jack vs. The Secret Army (Earthman Jack Space Saga Book 2)

by Matthew Kadish

  Green looked at the room of the bridge around him. “Like a friend,” he said, getting to his feet.

  “What are ya doin’?” Scallywag asked, eyeing Green curiously.

  “I’m asking it nicely to help us,” Green replied. “Complete with a ‘pretty please.’”

  Scallywag sat back, an amused smile on his face. “Right-o,” he said. “This oughta be good.”

  Green fidgeted nervously and took a deep breath. He looked around at the walls of the ship, as though he expected them to be listening. “I know you can hear me,” he said loudly. “I imagine you can hear everything people say while they’re on board. And other than Jack, you’re probably not used to having people talk directly to you. But, I want you to know, that’s what I’m doing right now.”

  Green hesitated, as though expecting some type of response. But nothing happened.

  “I just… I just wanted to tell you that… I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m sorry for the way I’ve treated you. I’ve been looking at you all wrong since the first day I set foot on board. To me, you were a… curiosity. Just another artifact that needed to be studied. Don’t get me wrong! You’re amazing! Wondrous! But I could not see past the puzzles you presented to realize what you truly were. I wanted to pick you apart. Figure out what made you tick. I thought because my motives were pure, that made it okay… that I was different from someone like Armonto Virtuoso. But I wasn’t, was I? To you, I was just another scientist looking to dissect you. No different from the Deathlords. No different from the Maguffyn technicians. It didn’t matter why I wanted to do it. No matter my reasoning… it was still wrong.”

  Green looked at Scallywag, who glanced around the room to see if the ship was responding to the Professor’s words at all. So far, there was no indication it was. Green felt somewhat foolish talking to thin air, but he felt he had to continue. Even if he were wrong and the Earthship wasn’t listening to him, for some reason, he felt the need to say these things out loud.

  “I hope you can find it in yourself to forgive me,” Green said. “I meant no harm. I just… I simply lacked an understanding of what you are. And what you are is… a miracle! You’re alive! And that is something that is deserving of respect, and love, and kindness… three things I’m sad to say I have not always granted you in our time together. But I make you this promise, right here and now – I swear, on everything I believe in, on the Ancients themselves, on my very soul… I am, and always will be, your friend. I will be loyal to you. I will take care of you. I will protect you to the best of my ability. When you need me, I will be there. But most of all…”

  Green trailed off, a feeling of emotion choking him up slightly. He sighed and forced himself to continue. “Most of all, I will love you, as though you were a member of my own family,” he said. “And the same goes for Jack. From this moment on, where the two of you go, I shall go, as well. That is the pledge I’m making to you. If you accept that, then please, help me. I am trying to protect you and reunite you with Jack, but I cannot do it on my own. I am your friend, but I need you to be my friend, as well. So, I guess I’m asking the question… will you?”

  Green looked around. The bridge was quiet as it had always been. It seemed his theory had proven false. He frowned, disappointed.

  At least until the lights came on, and the bridge fully powered up.

  Scallywag hopped to his feet, looking around as though he couldn’t believe it. “Blimey,” he muttered. “Looks like ya got yerself a new best mate, greenskin.”

  Green’s smile was so big, his cheeks ached. He could even feel a tear of joy welling up in one of his eyes. “I say, I’ve never been friends with a spaceship before,” he said. “It’s quite exciting, isn’t it?”

  “I suppose, if yer inta that type o’ thing,” Scallywag said, giving Green a slap on the shoulder. “Now, let’s get ta work, shall we?”

  With the ship’s full cooperation, it didn’t take long for Green to wire it up to a slicing station and connect it directly to the Maguffyn mainframe. Once the Earthship had by-passed the security encryption and gained access, Green started his search for the information Scallywag was looking for.

  “I never knew there were so many prisoners in the Volunteer program,” Green said as he looked at the records on the screen.

  “Right now, I’m only interested in one,” Scallywag said, studying the names on the display. “See what comes up for Cailyn U’Tagon.”

  Green did a search and pulled up U’Tagon’s profile. It contained a headshot, along with all relevant body metric data, as well as his prison records. “Here we go,” said Green. “Hmmmm. It says here he was assigned to something called Project Locutus.”

  “Can ya find out what that is?”

  “Already on it,” Green said as he began a new search. Finally, he found a file associated with the project and called it up on the screen. “Strange. There doesn’t seem to be much in the database about it,” he said. “You’d think it would be as meticulously documented as all their other programs.”

  “Not if they didn’t want ta keep it from blowin’ back on ‘em,” Scallywag said. “What does tha database have on it?”

  “Just an address, it would seem,” said Green. “Down on stratum one.”

  Scallywag took out his datapad and typed in the address. “Perfect place ta hide a program ya didn’t want anyone ta know about,” Scallywag said, before turning and heading to the bridge’s teleporter platform.

  “Wait!” said Green. “Where are you going?”

  “I’m gonna go see what’s down there.”

  “You’re really going to go to stratum one?”

  “Ya want yer evidence Maguffyn is linked ta the assassins, don’t ya?” Scallywag replied. “This is how we’re gonna get it.”

  “But isn’t that… incredibly dangerous?”

  “Don’t worry, Professor,” Scallywag said with a grin. “I don’t plan on goin’ alone.”

  When Scallywag was gone, Green looked at the screen of the console once more. He tried searching for anything else related to Project Locutus, but the database had no additional records. Whatever it was, Armonto Virtuoso seemed careful to keep data about it off the Maguffyn servers.

  If he’s doing one thing that’s illegal, he must be doing others, thought Green as he cycled back to the Volunteer program to investigate further. Green quickly lost track of time as he meticulously poked through the files, looking into each experimental program that was being tested on sentient subjects. They ran the gamut from weapons, to drugs, to new forms of cybernetic implants, and some truly ethically questionable fields of experimentation. Then, something in one prisoner’s file caught Green’s eye.

  Project Soulgazer.

  Green remembered that name in reference to one of the locked files in the Great Seal research to which Armonto had denied him access. But what was it doing there in relation to the Volunteer program? Green did a query and found the project folder, accessing the files within.

  >>PROJECT:SOULGAZER>SUMMARY>RESEARCH & EXPERIMENTATION INTO THE CAPTURE & TRANSFERRENCE OF NEURON-BASED ENERGY FROM LIVING BRAINS INTO INANIMATE OBJECTS (ref:CONSCIENCE TRANSFERRENCE)

  “Oh, dear,” Green muttered after reading the summary. He then called up a video file which played a recording of a prisoner strapped into a chair. The prisoner screamed as a cone shaped device whirred in front of him, the opening of the cone emitting tendrils of energy that appeared to be pulling at the subject’s face. To Green’s horror, he could see the man’s soul being pulled from his body by the tendrils, much like he’d seen Deathlords do. He looked at the notes attached to the video.

  >>PROJECT:SOULGAZER>FILE-11325-12>CONAL NEURON CENTRIFUGE SUCCESSFULLY PRODUCES SEPULCHUR-LIKE EFFECT ON TEST SUBJECTS, REMOVING RELEVANT BRAIN NEURON ENERGY (ref:CONSCIOUSNESS) AND BODY ELECTROMAGNETIC ENERGY (ref:SOUL). SUBJECT MORTALITY RATE: 100%. ENERGY EXTRACTED UNABLE TO BE HARNESSED.

  Green clicked on another file. His jaw dropped when he saw another prisoner strapped to
a chair, but this time, Anna was in the room, talking to him.

  “Do not be afraid,” Anna said, soothingly. “I am the Blood of the Ancients. And through me, you shall be granted eternal life…”

  “This… this can’t be…” said Green. He quickly checked the notes.

  >>PROJECT:SOULGAZER>FILE-43265-38>SUCCESS HIGHER WITH ENERGY REMOVAL AND HARNESSING WHEN SUBJECT IS WILLING. SUPPORTS THEORY ANCIENTS USED SOULWALKING (ref:SOULWALKING) IN CREATION OF GREAT SEALS. HIGH-QUALITY MANUFACTURED HOLOGRAM OF PRINCESS GLORIANNA USED TO GAIN SUBJECTS’ COOPERATION. RECORDING OF PRINCESS TO BE USED IN OTHER PROGRAMS WHERE SUBJECT COOPERATION MAY BE REQUIRED.

  Green opened up a new file that contained various schematics, all of which were labeled “Digi-Matrix Unit.” There was another video attached to it, showing the transference of a prisoner’s soul into a box containing one of the digi-matrices. Once the soul entered the box, the matrix inside roiled about as it absorbed the energy, transforming itself into the shape of a brain. On the display screen to which the digi-matrix unit was plugged, a pixilated image formed of the soul-less prisoner, screaming out in agony.

  >>PROJECT:SOULGAZER>FILE-63241-34>CONSCIOUSNESS TRANSFERRENCE INTO DIGI-MATRIX UNIT SUCCESSFUL. MERGING OF LIVING ENERGY AND INANIMATE MATTER ACHIEVED. PROCESS BY WHICH ANCIENTS CREATED GREAT SEAL EFFECT BELIEVED TO BE REPLICATED BY 78%. ISSUE OF PSYCHOLOGICAL DAMAGE TO TRANSFERRED CONSCIOUSNESS STILL PRESENT. PROCESS CONSIDERED TOO TRAUMATIC TO PRODUCE STABLE DIGI-MATRIX.

  “Great Observer,” Green breathed, terrified by what he was seeing. He was almost afraid to keep looking at what the folder contained, but then he saw what appeared to be notes from the project leader in a special folder. He opened them and began reading.

  >>PROEJCT: SOULGAZER>VIRTUOSO/ARMONTO>LOG-025>Though we have found success in our trials with both the collection and transference process, I have come to the conclusion that at this point, we are unable to successfully replicate the process by which the Ancients imbued the Great Seals with consciousness capable of large-scale manifestation using purely scientific methods. However, I believe we are far enough along to be able to mimic a Great Seal, provided we had a pure energy source to harness, preferably one created by the Ancients. The only source of energy like this I know of is the one connected to the Portgate network. By replacing the Great Seal with a digi-matrix unit, we would destroy the current portgate network, since it is unlikely the digi-matrix would be able to replicate the Seal’s programming to the level required. However, once plugged into the power source, the digi-matrix unit would be capable of manifesting any number of things at will, giving whoever controls it the power of a god.

  A cold chill went up Green’s spine when he read that last line. He knew of Armonto Virtuoso’s proposal to replace the Great Seal with one of his digi-matrix designs. But according to this, Armonto already knew it would fail! Which would mean his reasons for wanting to replace the seal must be to gain the power to manifest anything he desired without the permission or resources of anyone else.

  And the Professor shuddered to think of what a man like Armonto Virtuoso could create when there were no limits placed on what he could do.

  “Great Scott!” Green exclaimed, looking around frantically, his mind racing in a million different directions at once. “I have to warn someone! Wait! No, I have to copy these files. Wait! I have to inform the Princess! Oh, dear…”

  Before Green could settle on what to do, there was a flash of light on the bridge, and he was suddenly surrounded by a group of armed Imperial Royal Guards, all with weapons aimed directly at him. Green looked at them, shocked and surprised by their rather dramatic entrance.

  “Thadius Green,” one of the guards said. “You are under arrest for the theft of Imperial secrets, espionage, and treason.”

  “I… what?” sputtered Green as the guards grabbed him and put him in shackles.

  “All your rights have been suspended under Imperial decree 4-33-6. You are to be imprisoned until your sentencing, after which you will be exiled to the Nexus.”

  “The Nexus!” exclaimed Green. “Now see here—”

  Before Green could finish his sentence, the group was teleported off the Earthship and back into the hangar where Armonto Virtuoso himself was standing, smiling smugly at Green. Green looked at Armonto in surprise, as the guards marched him toward the man.

  “How… how did you know I was on the ship?” Green asked.

  “I knew it was only a matter of time before you made this play,” said Armonto. “It seemed like the most logical choice after what the Earthship did when hacking into the Deathlord mothership. I set up a system alert to notify me directly when any of the files I’d locked you out of were accessed, so even your sneaky little Earthship wouldn’t go unnoticed. Frankly, I’m surprised it took you as long as it did to decide to hack into our mainframe. Then again, I never did put much stock in your intellect.”

  Green blinked at Armonto. “You… you set me up?”

  Armonto chuckled. “Why else would I allow you to be aware of the existence of such incriminating files?” he asked. “If I didn’t want you to find them, you’d never know of their existence. But I needed a legal reason to be rid of you. This was the most expedient way with which to do that.”

  Green scowled at Armonto. “You know what will happen when you break the Great Seal,” he said. “You want to destroy the portgate network! Why would you do such a thing? What are you planning?”

  “Oh, a number of things, none of which I care to share,” Armonto replied. “I’ll just say this - sometimes science requires short term sacrifice for long term gain. I am looking so far down the road that those like yourself cannot even see the possibilities of what lies ahead. But fear not. The future will be here sooner than you think. And when it comes, it will be glorious.”

  “You’re mad!” cried Green.

  “Well, if you insist on lumping me into the mad scientist cliché, then you’re going to really appreciate this,” Armonto said slyly as he took out his datapad and tapped the screen. There was a clanking sound, causing Green to look up to the roof of the hanger as a scaffolding descended over the Earthship, cone-shaped cannons attached to each of its four corners. The cannons all oriented themselves toward the Earthship and opened fire.

  “NO!” Green cried as long, thick, arcing beams of turbulent white-hot energy erupted from the cones and began licking at the Earthship’s hull, the cannons panning back and forth, running the beams all along the surface of the ship.

  “My latest inventions. Do you like them?” inquired Armonto as he clasped his hands behind his back and looked at the cannons with satisfaction as they ravaged the Earthship. “I got the idea for them after analyzing the data we collected during the rescue of Kimlee Evenstar.”

  “What are you doing???” the Professor demanded.

  “The cannons are designed to emit a high intensity quantum-based electromagnetic disruption beam,” Armonto said. “I won’t bother to go into more detail since I doubt you’d grasp the science behind it. Regardless, they’re designed to attack the energy signature that’s been imbued in the vessel, while leaving all its systems and machinery intact.”

  A cold shiver ran down Green’s spine as he grasped the meaning behind Armonto’s words. “You… you’re trying to destroy the ship’s soul!” he gasped.

  Armonto rolled his eyes. “Again with the religious nonsense,” he muttered. “I guess if you want to put it that way, then you could say that I am simply performing an exorcism. My QED cannons will strip away the ghost in that machine bit by bit until there is nothing left. It will be a slow, painful death, and the more it resists, the longer and more agonizing it will be.” Armonto looked like the thought of the Earthship fighting back and prolonging its suffering amused him. “Once the energy signature has been completely removed, I’ll install a digi-matrix unit of my own creation, bringing the ship fully under my control. And once I am able to map out all of its technology, I will be able to create an entire flee
t just like it.”

  “This is wrong!” Green cried. “This is not what the Ancients intended! You’re corrupting their concepts! Perverting their technology! You’re not unlocking their secrets! You’re trying to destroy everything they’ve created!!!”

  “The Ancients were a sniveling lot of elitist snobs,” sneered Armonto. “To think they’d achieve such incredible technological advancements only to squander their use on a select few based on something as random as genetics. Take this ship for example. That brat from Earth is not deserving of it, and yet, the Ancients saw fit to make it so that he is the only one who can fly it? Nonsense. I am sick of placing the Ancients on a pedestal. They were an inferior, greedy, short-sighted race. I’ve spent my life unlocking their technology, and in that time I’ve come to the conclusion that they are highly overrated buffoons. True science is true freedom. I will not be denied the wonders of the universe simply because I was born without the proper genetic markers in my DNA. I am forging my own path, Professor. And one day, all sentient life will look upon my creations with the same wonder and awe as they do now with those of the Ancients. The only difference will be that my creations will not discriminate.”

  Green glared at Armonto, the Professor finally seeing him for the man he truly was. He was not a man to be admired. His was not an intellect to be respected. He was nothing more than a villain. And with that in mind, Green was no longer afraid or intimidated by him.

  “The Ancients, in their wisdom, knew the danger their creations would present should they fall into the wrong hands,” Green replied coldly. “That is not elitism. That is a safeguard to protect us from those unworthy of operating them. And you, sir, are unworthy.”

  “I do not need to be worthy as long as I am smarter than some long-dead race of fools,” Armonto replied. “And I assure you, I am. But you will not be around long enough to appreciate that. Take him away.”