by John Vassar
‘They have. It was something of a revelation.’
‘That is understandable. It is unfortunate that our ‘first contact’ as you call it has arisen under such difficult circumstances. We will do our utmost to retrieve our emissary with the least possible further loss of life.’
Charlis stepped forward and said, ‘We understand that this emissary was sent to Earth in error. Can you give us more detail on how this happened?’
Ga’naal turned towards him so slowly the movement was almost imperceptible. ‘Perhaps ‘error’ is a misleading word. Several cycles ago the Elders of Vis’haan discovered, by chance, a criminal within our society.’
Mitchell interjected. ‘Commander Ga’naal, we are unfamiliar with the term ‘cycles’…’
‘One cycle is the time taken for Vis’haan to complete one orbit of our sun. In your language it would be called a year.’
‘Thank you. Please continue.’
‘Criminal activity of any description is an unusual occurrence on Vis’haan, at least in the recent history of the Fa’ran Maraar. What we uncovered defied belief. A despicable act of treason by a citizen named Ka’laat, an individual of high-breeding and well-respected in the City Prime. His own father had been an Elder of Vis’haan before his untimely death. We learned that Ka’laat had set into motion a chain of events that, if successful, would overthrow and subjugate an entire world. That world we now know as Earth.’
Ga’naal paused, as if waiting for a reaction.
Mitchell decided not to disappoint. ‘Then you’re telling us that there was an invasion plan? It was not simply a deluded notion on the part of your so-called emissary?’
Ga’naal’s fingers slowly furled and unfurled.
Mitchell wondered if he had gone too far. Way too far.
The Vis’haani commander’s reaction gave nothing away. ‘That is only partially correct, Lee Mitchell. Even Ka’laat’s wealth and resources would not permit him to launch an attack on an entire civilisation. It is best that you understand something of Vis’haan’s history before we continue. It is the nature of evolving civilisations across the universe that they undergo an extended period of barbarity. Vis’haan, like Earth, was no different. In our own history, the depths of savagery that we had sunk to ultimately led to a total rejection of arms. Every type of advanced weapon, from the smallest gun to the most devastating of fusion devices, was made illegal. It took almost a century to achieve the peace that Vis’haan enjoys today. Ka’laat, therefore, had no access to weaponry of any kind. His plan involved the clever use of Earth’s own resources and the most powerful intellect that he could find – and control. The unfortunate youngling was named Ja’faal. He was abducted and indoctrinated by Ka’laat into the belief that the Elders had been deceiving the people of Vis’haan for hundreds of cycles. That our missions of peaceful exploration were, in fact, ones of conquest and brutality.’
Mitchell stared at the Vis’haani commander. ‘I have one question to ask at this point, Ga’naal of Vis’haan. Why? Why this grand plan to destroy a world half a million light years from his own?’
Ga’naal returned his gaze, unflinching. ‘We do not know for certain, Lee Mitchell. Ka’laat has so far resisted our attempts to reveal his true motives. One theory postulated is that he intended to reveal Earth’s subjugation to the Vis’haani people. In this way, he could discredit and overthrow the Elders, seizing power across the planet. But this is just a theory. The only truths we hold are that Ja’faal of Vis’haan became Roderick Deucalion Thorne of Earth. And, that Ka’laat is criminally insane.’
To the SenANNs, Mitchell pushed out a single thought: “Is he telling the truth?”
‘Commander Ga’naal has said nothing to make Us doubt Our original belief that they intend no harm to the people of Earth.’
Charlis asked another pertinent question. ‘Commander Ga’naal. We must act to neutralise Ja’faal, whatever his original motives. Did you discover any specific details concerning his mission? Anything that might be used against him?’
‘As I have intimated, Axel Charlis, our best attempts to extract detailed information from the traitor Ka’laat have so far failed. The exception to this is the precise date of the planned attack, hence our presence at this time in Sol System. We do suspect, however, that Ja’faal was to devise his own strategy once on Earth. Ka’laat is intelligent and resourceful, but not skilled in the sciences – something which eventually led to his discovery. The behaviour of a noted Vis’haani scientist had become so erratic that The Elders sanctioned an official investigation into his activities. We discovered, too late, that he had been brutally coerced into Ka’laat’s service. We believe he was instrumental in designing and building the apparatus that was used to indoctrinate Ja’faal.’
‘But you’re not certain?’ said Charlis.
‘Ka’laat became aware of our investigation. He murdered the unfortunate individual.’ Ga’naal bowed his head, his companions following his lead. ‘It was the first recorded case of murder in over one hundred cycles of Vis’haani history.’
Mitchell said, ‘We are saddened to hear of this. However, we must formulate a strategy to neutralise Ja’faal. And we must do this quickly.’
‘We agree, Lee Mitchell of Earth.’ Ga’naal looked up, his yellow eyes shining. ‘The only obstacle we can foresee is our own total lack of offensive weaponry.’
49
Ja’faal struggled to remain conscious. The episodes were becoming more frequent and he had isolated his intellect from the automatic functions of the autom’s systems. It made controlling the machine more difficult, but he could not risk the consequences of his subconscious overriding the Sentinel’s basic operations. He needed full control over his host for what was to come.
Ja’faal of Vis’haan was now truly alone. His own people were within touching distance, but they had somehow betrayed him. Only Ka’laat remained true to the mission of the Provider Prime, but if the commander of the Vis’haani vessel was to be believed, Ka’laat himself had been betrayed and was now imprisoned.
His allegiance was clear, as was his course of action.
The traitors from Vis’haan had to be destroyed. In the process, his own death was a virtual certainty, but at least his life and his mission would have some meaning.
Achieving that end would not be easy. Although he had never seen one, a Vis’haani warship would be carrying weaponry far superior to that of Earth. The MDU prototype had been destroyed and there had been insufficient time to complete the manufacture of any more units. The hybrid army he had created was effective only against humans. However, their activation could still prove useful. It may still be possible to lure the Vis’haani traitors to him to prevent the further suffering of their human allies.
One of the access flaps on the Sentinel’s chest had been damaged as Ja’faal had ripped out the coms unit. It broke away near the neck plate and swung down into his vision. He pulled the twisted metal away and noticed the three-fingered pincer. Slowly, he held up the machine hand in front of him.
This was the closest he would ever be to being Vis’haani again.
The transference had been successful. The Earth youngling known as Roderick Deucalion Thorne had surrendered his body to Ja’faal of Vis’haan. Alongside his own intellect were the suppressed memories of the human and his language skills – the bare minimum that he would need to avoid detection in the early stages of his new life on Earth. The first step in his mission as the Provider Prime was complete. Now he was alone, abandoned by Ka’laat and left to recover in the strange surroundings of this alien world. There would be no help other than the data which had been stored by Ka’laat on the machine that he alone would have access to.
He was lying on his back on something that the human attendant had referred to as a medicom table, covered in a sheet of white material. His new body was sending messages of pain, but in truth the injuries were superficial. The most acute sensation was in his chest, although he could not understand why as th
ere was no apparent wound. Not so fortunate were the victims of the staged space vehicle accident that Ka’laat had engineered. The human race was backward in comparison to Vis’haan and such accidents were a frequent occurrence. Ka’laat’s cloaked ship had easily overridden the controls of one of the two vessels involved. The other ‘shuttle’ had a young passenger named Roderick Thorne on board. Many cycles before, Ka’laat had identified the human youngling as one of six potential hosts. He was extracted from the vessel immediately before the collision. Following the transference on board Ka’laat’s ship, he had been placed in a human survival suit and left among the wreckage of the Earth vessel. Roderick Deucalion Thorne’s discovery and rescue would later be described as ‘miraculous’.
There was a noise at the doorway to the room. The already familiar stench of human bodies drifted into his nostrils and he felt nauseous again. As well as the odour, the human form was just as ugly as Ka’laat had told him it would be. Short with stumpy limbs, tiny eyes and patches of fur on the heads of most but the aged. He had just become accustomed to telling the two sexes apart. Squinting, he saw that a man and a woman had entered the room. The female was losing fluid from her eyes and making strange animal noises.
‘Oh, my God, Deuce!’ She stumbled towards him and put her head on his chest. The smell was overwhelming. He knew this was the wrong reaction, but he had to push her away. Before he could do so, he caught sight of his own hand moving towards the female’s head. He shrank back in horror.
He had five fingers.
50
Mitchell looked at the giant viewscreen on the bridge of the Vis’haani ship. He had been gazing in wonderment at the technology, operated by the crew in a similar way to their own neural links, but without any obvious manual back-up controls. Before leaving the meeting chamber they had replaced their cam-suit helmets, but at Ga’naal’s request left the ear-devices in place. Mitchell had avoided using their direct coms link in case those same devices were capable of intercepting their conversation. In their own atmosphere, the Vis’haani were now all unmasked. Watching them talk was both fascinating and unnerving. Their mouthparts were multi-jointed with no apparent hinged jaw. When they spoke, the mouth moved laterally rather than up and down. Charlis had given up reminding him not to stare.
On the screen, the wreckage of the FedStat dreadnought smoked silently a few hundred metres to the right of the exposed hangar area of T-1. No human, apart from himself and Sub-Commander Charlis, knew that the Vis’haani vessel was here. The SenANNs had reiterated to Mitchell that it must remain that way.
Charlis was still deep in discussion with Ga’naal. ‘You are certain that Thorne has no more of these Mobile Destruct Units available?’
‘During our last communication with Ja’faal, he opened his machine host’s memory banks to us. It was a touching display of humility. We are certain.’
Mitchell turned back from the screen and said, ‘How much did you learn before he severed the coms?’
Commander Ga’naal’s slender fingers once more furled and unfurled. ‘We learned much, Lee Mitchell. We learned how Ja’faal had been abducted and indoctrinated with Ka’laat’s evil. We learned how he destroyed an intelligence regarded by your SenANNs as their Brother. We learned how he has been responsible for many more human deaths over the time he has spent on Earth.’
‘His guilt is beyond doubt,’ agreed Mitchell, ‘at least as far as mankind is concerned. Under our own laws, he should be brought to justice and tried for his crimes. If Roderick Deucalion Thorne were human, there would be no issue. But he is not human. He never was.’
‘We are confident that we can resolve this peacefully,’ said Ga’naal. ‘We respect your laws and understand that Earth has been wronged. We would have preferred to extract Ja’faal covertly if possible. Now that we have learned of his crimes against your people, we accept that this may not be possible.’
Mitchell glanced at Charlis before risking a thought to the SenANNs:
“This sounds too good to be true. Can you predict if Ga’naal will keep his word?”
‘As We have stated before, Lee Mitchell, We can only speculate. However, it is Our belief that the Vis’haani are fundamentally benevolent and would therefore avoid any action that would promote conflict.’
“But if they wanted to, they could simply brush us aside and take him?”
‘We believe that they are more than capable of such action. We also believe that they have already had ample opportunity to achieve this whilst remaining undetected.’
“Agreed… so why didn’t they?”
‘Again, We cannot make any kind of meaningful prediction, Lee Mitchell. We are the same, but We are different. Perhaps they wished to use this opportunity to demonstrate their good intentions from the moment of First Contact.’
Mitchell nodded, then cursed his mistake and glanced around furtively in case it had been noticed. Only Charlis was glaring back at him.
‘Commander Ga’naal has made direct contact with Us once more. He has opened up his ship’s data banks to Us in an effort to devise a way to neutralise Ja’faal.’
“Then you also believe that they no offensive weaponry?”
‘We can confirm this as fact. We are currently accessing this vessel’s schematics. There are no conventional weapons integrated into the ship’s systems. However, their shield and the equivalent of their Chameleon Circuitry are far in advance of your own, as are their propulsion systems and communications.’
“Good and bad in equal measure. It would have been useful to bring some advanced firepower to bear…”
‘We are providing the Vis’haani with data on the Sentinel Weapons System unit that Ja’faal is using as a host. We are jointly analysing it for potential weaknesses that can be exploited.’
Charlis moved next to Mitchell. “Care to let me in on the conversation?”
“The SenANNs are working with the Vis’haani to find a chink in Thorne’s armour.”
“Why? It’s a waste of time and effort.”
Charlis addressed Ga’naal in a tone that made Mitchell wince. ‘Commander.’
‘Yes, Axel Charlis. We are working with your SenANNs to-’
‘Forgive my directness. I have a very simple question. Since we now know that Thorne - I mean Ja’faal – does not possess any more of the mobile weapons he used against our initial assault force, why are we looking for weaknesses in the sentinel host? We know his precise location. We have two fully-operational sentinels of a more advanced design on the ground at T-1. We need no further strategy to neutralise him.’
Mitchell couldn’t believe his own stupidity. Charlis is right, goddam him…
There was silence for a moment on the bridge of the Vis’haani vessel.
Ga’naal turned back to face them. ‘Your point is valid and logical. However, there is a potential risk in this course of action. A very significant risk.’
Mitchell said, ‘Please elaborate, Commander Ga’naal.’
The Vis’haani commander glided across the bridge deck to face them. ‘When Ja’faal revealed himself to us, we discovered how he intended to subjugate the people of Earth. The mobile weapon he had devised was a small part in that plan and was intended only to be used against Earth’s technological defences.’
‘I don’t understand,’ said Mitchell. ‘If he had been given time to construct more, we would have been defenceless against him. Look at what a single unit was capable of…’
‘That is true, Lee Mitchell of Earth. Doubtless your world could have been conquered with enough such weapons. However, the true extent of Ka’laat’s evil was only revealed once we came to fully understand Ja’faal’s mission. I had hoped to avoid the necessity of revealing the depravity of that plan.’ Once more, Ga’naal’s head bowed and again the crew followed his example. ‘It shames the people of Vis’haan.’
Charlis said, ‘Then I strongly suggest you reveal it to us now, Commander Ga’naal, before there is any further misunderstanding.’
&
nbsp; ‘As you wish,’ Ga’naal replied. His head raised and the resulting orders to the bridge crew were not translated to his human guests. ‘I have passed command to my senior officer. Please follow me to my private quarters.’
51
‘We’re wasting time.’ Charlis was pacing the deck of the commander’s cabin. ‘We have no idea what Ja’faal is planning.’
‘Your own observational device is monitoring Ja’faal,’ Ga’naal responded calmly. ‘In addition, my crew has the android host under constant surveillance. There has been no significant activity.’
Mitchell said, ‘I agree with Sub-Commander Charlis that speed is of the essence.’ Pointedly towards Charlis, he added, ‘ I also believe it is critical that we understand what we’re dealing with here. Please tell us what you know of Ja’faal’s plan.’
Ga’naal turned away, unable to face them. For the first time, his movements were stilted, unsure. ‘Ka’laat indoctrinated the youngling Ja’faal with the notion that all Vis’haani nourishment must be prepared in a certain way. Whilst it is true that we as a race have certain customs surrounding the animal flesh that forms most of our diet, that truth was perverted beyond all imagination.’
‘What does this have to do with Earth?’ Mitchell asked.
‘Ka’laat made the youngling believe that the worlds conquered by Vis’haan became what he described as Harvest Worlds. The people of these worlds were… farmed as food for Vis’haan. Ja’faal himself was to become what Ka’laat called a Provider. The one who would lead the conquest and later rule over the people of Earth.’
‘You discovered all this from the brief time you were in contact with Ja’faal?’
‘When Ja’faal was forced into transferring his intellect to a machine host, he also transferred all the available data on his mission with it. Our technology allows a great deal of data to be transferred in a very short space of time. Ja’faal realised too late that we were reading this data when he opened himself to us.’