by Dorian, Mars
Wasteful behavior be damned.
eLoom searched the network for the command:
The second she sent out the request, eVax responded to her verbally. For some reason, he preferred wave chatter over mind matter.
"It was a carefully weighed decision from the Exec. There are some pressing issues coming up that require your personal assistance."
She ignored what he said. Because with her brain booting up, she now remembered the most important thing of the past. The reason why she was dis-bodied in the first place.
"What about the biomorph?"
eVax hesitated.
"After taking control of our ship, it crash-landed on the Martian surface. It is being contained in the Midland section. Recon droids are monitoring the life form."
eLoom tried to access the relevant section where the droid data would be saved, but she couldn't find it.
eVax said,
"The Exec want to speak to you."
The trio of the wisest Newtype projected in-between the two. Three humanoid avatars, flickering in their Tri-D resolution.
"Respawning your entire crew has cost us resources. You have violated at least five protocols by bringing the unknown organism into the ship without proper preparation."
Oh no, eLoom thought.
Here we go again—the protocol lecture parade.
A tiny bit of adventurous rush and the galaxy was ready to stick to it to her.
The trio of the Exec paused, as usually, when they unleashed their demands.
"However, what happened can not be undone. We have to focus on our circle of influence now. eLoom, we have a mission for you."
"What is my directive?"
The Exec simultaneously spoke to her and eVax in the most neutral voice imaginable. It always felt like an inner voice lurking in the back of her mind.
"The American Commonwealth of Earth is sending a civilian ship to our Ares Nexus. It is already on its way and will reach our station in 504.3 hours. We have allowed them to access our sector under the condition of restricting their personnel to only two people, using non-lethal equipment. The military advisor and the scientist will first board our ringstation, then descend onto the Martian surface to investigate the life form under our surveillance."
So many news.
eLoom still didn't know what to make of this. It looked as if every humanoid faction wanted a piece of that new organism.
"May I ask why the Earthlings are getting involved?"
For some reason, she didn't find that info in the databases.
The Exec spoke again.
"Earth knows about our first contact with the alien. The AC government in particular is worried that we won't be able to deal with the life form in a proper matter. Their expert team is supposed to gauge the threat level of the organism."
eVax chuckled. The Exec picked up on it.
"Is there a problem?"
The Newtype spoke with a stretched face.
"Those primates dare to think we cannot deal with this on our own? Their planet’s pollution is probably messing with their critical thinking ability.”
The Exec sounded.
"eVax, that is an unproductive thought and adds nothing valuable to the conversation."
They focused on eLoom again.
"We see this as a chance to further deepen our relationship with Earth. If we work together on this issue, we can look forward to an ongoing peaceful alliance. We can finally leave the primitive times behind. Progress is the only way."
Everyone seemed to nod, except for eVax.
He crossed his arms and raised his chin.
"There is no peace with savages."
A rare tension filled the hall, so eLoom quickly trailed back to a constructive approach. If the Exec had spent precious material to respawn her, they must have really needed her assistance.
"That sounds interesting, but why did you pick me?"
"Reason 1: you are the first unit to make contact with the biomorph, which makes you the formidable candidate for the mission. Reason 2: you are fond of Earth's culture and its habitants. This positive bias will ease the communication between the interracial nature of our representatives. Your directive: eLoom will accompany the AC team to Mars and assist their investigation while acting as an ambassador between our races.”
eLoom wanted to squeal inside.
No more rusting in the station.
No more mundane work in the quarters.
She was going back to the home planet.
Getting closer to the foreign alien object now known as the biomorph.
And maybe, just maybe, she was going to lift its mystery.
"It will be an honor. Thank you so much for giving me another chance."
"Thank us by being useful. We will track your progress closely. If you choose to waste our time and resources, we shall never respawn you again."
Sounded drastic, especially when delivered with the Exec's lack of emotion. But eLoom was glad she existed again. She had missed her body.
"That won't be necessary. I will do what is asked of me."
Every avatar of the Exec nodded.
"You may go now. We will update the information about the duo's arrival soon. It is wise to study the AC's customs to properly negotiate with them. Your success, or lack thereof, will dramatically influence the future between our two collectives.”
eLoom bowed one last time.
"I will access every info concerning their behavior again. These Earthlings will receive the best service they have ever experienced in their short lifetime."
She paused with a giggle.
Passion was getting the better of her.
"In fact, these Earthlings will leave our sector with glowing smiles painted on their imperfect faces."
eVax twisted his lips. He hovered his palm, telling her to keep it down. He even added a B2B message.
You're getting emotional again.
Do not>
She took the cue, toned down her movements and spoke with a flat voice.
"I will simply maximize my hospitality," she said.
The avatars of the Exec nodded one last time before their Tri-D motions vanished. Only eLoom and eVax were physically present in a radius of ten meters. She hugged him with all her might and smiled at his frosted face.
"Thank you for orchestrating this."
"Do not thank me yet. The Exec are not letting you off that easily."
Her smile vaporized.
She looked for clues on his face and tried to read his channel.
"What do you mean?"
"They have assigned a probationer asset to you."
"That is unnecessary. I am capable of taking care of myself, thank you very much."
"You dis-bodied our entire crew through your so-called passionate approach. eTrinity wishes to never see your model again."
"That was an accident. The life form was sealed up in my lab."
Silence buzzed through the air. Only the adjacent pods and their life support system could be heard humming.
"Look, eLoom, check the network. The Exec has made up their mind. You must accept or they are not letting you enter Mars."
There was no room for arguing now, eLoom thought. She had to be glad the Exec allowed her to investigate the biomorph with the Earthlings.
It was only a matter of sols before she would earn her original value again.
"Okay. Get me the asset unit.”
21
"O-hello, eLoom. It is my pleasure to serve you from now on."
The probationer asset found eLoom like a homing missile. She approached her while the two Newtype traversed the shutter gate from the recreation hall. eVax excused himself and resumed his current directive.
"If you ever need help, ping me," he said before stepping into the capsule of the tube transportation device.
eLoom’s eyes belonged to her asset now.
So this was eKazumi, sh
e thought.
A doll-like model with female traits that reminded eLoom of an Earth-based race springing from the territory called Asia. eKazumi was the model's name, and she was rather tall for her thin build. A basic skintight tech suit wrapped her body, with sockets for exoframe and medium-armor upgrades. It would have been far more useful if the Exec had sent her a heavier model, but hey, she abided.
For now.
She looked her probationer asset into the azure eyes and tried to sync.
"Are you going to follow my every step from now on?"
"That is my directive. But please, do not worry. Consider me your friendly neighborhood asset. I will help you and politely remind you in case you violate the protocols."
"Thank you very much for that."
Not really, but it was the Newtype thing to say.
eLoom shifted her thoughts as they both took the tube to her office.
With an exoframe, eKazumi might be able to carry heavy loads and maybe even help her out in the labs, doing all the mundane work that would distract eLoom from her biomorph analysis.
eKazumi thought-asked,
"I would like to reside in my pod and study the background data of our guests from Earth. You can go offline and save your energies. I will ping you if I need you."
"Very well. I will stay within a five meter radius."
"You do not have to."
"But I do."
So much for negotiation.
eKazumi bowed, located her spot in the office and switched to the standby mode. Her body assumed fetal position and beeped out, at least on the surface. A probationer asset never shut down until they were severely damaged.
eLoom crawled into her recharger pod, dimmed the transparent hull by 50% and sent one last glance at her window-wall. Planet Mars glowed in its crimson-colored beauty, like an orb-shaped ruby.
Soon, eLoom would enter the majestic home again and continue her quest.
She searched the databases for recent biomorph entries and mind-read all the information the recon droids on the surface had gathered so far. Interesting info, but the most important bit was still absent: why was the biomorph here, and what did it want?
22
Distance to the alien: 21.3 million kilometers.
The AC civilian freighter type Pilgrim II roared its atomic engines while its two-men crew nested inside. Dr. Rao, with the help of Aida, the board AI, watched over Bellrock like a guardian angel, making sure the electronics, e.g. the generator and the air circulatory system, did their job. Bellrock appeared tense, even in his sleep. Dr. Rao smiled as he looked over the biometrics of his military partner. Bellrock, the lovechild of a SEAL soldier and a Siberian bear, now slumbering like a baby after the stun shot.
ZZzzz.
Of course no one could hear him snoring.
The only noise came from the nearby life support system, blinking its rainbow-colored LEDs while humming like a digital bee.
The artificial intelligence followed the coordinates programmed by NASA. The Pilgrim II treaded into the cosmic territory where the satellite reign of the Newtype began.
ETA: two weeks, four days, three hours, five and a half minutes and some squeezed-in seconds.
Soon...
23
During her uptime, eLoom spent the majority of her energies consuming the informations about the Earthlings. She was looking forward to meeting the scientist, but the soldier unit disturbed her. There was very little data on this human called Nobert Bellrock. Besides, his psychological profile showed a heightened sense of aggression, something which could be conflicting to the operation. With so many peaceful humans on Earth, why did the AC government send someone like him? His profile image was scary enough: a scar scratched the hawkish nose of a brutal grimace. The portrait frosted the enhanced blood in eLoom's articulatory system.
But maybe that was a challenge worth solving.
Yes, Bellrock was an opportunity to learn firsthand about the aggressive part of humanity. He would make a formidable test object like the biomorph on Mars.
Mostly splendid.
eLoom deepened her studies when a ping from the Exec reached her.
The expert team from Earth had arrived in the hangar membrane of the main bay. eLoom grinned, climbed out of her pod and entered the tube transport capsule embedded into the wall of her quarters. eKazumi online'd and bowed.
"I am looking forward to serve you."
eLoom shone.
"Glorious. Follow me to the hangar. Our ancestors await us."
24
Bellrock and Dr. Rao stepped out the Pilgrim II and entered the hangar hall with their EVAs still activated. The first difference to Earth-based architecture already became visible—the bay sported a curved design with organic features. A tube system was embedded into the walls, reminiscent of veins roaring through a body hull. Ground and walls melted into an elegant white. It looked like plastic but must have been something else, something more durable. A group of three Newtype awaited them—one third female, one third male, and the last one something in-between. Seriously, they all looked like asexual, bio-engineered models. The female unit in the center of the group stepped forward and stretched out her delicate hand. She looked like an Asian Barbie Doll with creamy membrane layers. Her light blue, skin-tight tech suit seemed to wrap her body like second skin.
"Welcome to the Ares Nexus. I greet you on behalf of the Exec. Let us work together in dealing with the biomorph. Let us overcome our past differences and step into the future, hand in hand, glancing at the horizon of hope and harmony."
That doesn't sound artificial at all, Bellrock thought.
Even that male-ish Newtype to her right threw her a bewildered glance.
Looked like even some of the shells weren't convinced of their blabber. Still, Bellrock was the leader and the highest ranking officer of the two-men team. And with his sensitivity training from Earth, he reciprocated the friendly welcome. After all, he was representing the entire home planet.
"Well, thanks for letting us board your station. We're excited to work with your kind."
He grinned and shook their slick hands. The tall Newtype with the short-trimmed circuit pattern wrestled with his face when it was his turn. He eyed Bellrock's gloved hand with utter disgust and moaned.
"Is your suit germ-free?"
Bellrock couldn't tell whether the male was joking, so he took it as an off-beat remark.
"I actually carry a highly infectious auto-immune disease that eats through your CPU. Can you feel your neurons getting burned as we speak?"
The Newtype contorted his face.
Bellrock cracked up.
"Just kidding, man."
He patted the male's shoulder and watched as he cringed.
"A joke. It's what we tell on Earth to loosen up."
The other Newtype unleashed some strange sound effects that must have been their version of laughter. Sounded like a bunch of penguin kids getting mangled by subwoofer, but hey.
Bellrock wasn't judging.
The woman bowed.
"I have heard all about the human humor. It is a unique feature that delights me. By the way, you can call me eLoom. And you can turn off your helmets. We've changed the life support perimeters in the station to meet your demands."
Bellrock exchanged a confused glance with Dr. Rao. The scientist was the first to open his helmet, despite Bellrock's warning glance. The dark-skinned man breathed in the air and smiled.
"The oxygen tastes like bubblegum."
Bellrock flipped open his helmet and had to agree. But this kind of flavor tasted superior to the one found on the International Astroport.
"True."
eLoom waved them over with a service smile.
"Please follow us, guests from lovely Earth."
During the walk, Bellrock investigated the slick-organic interior design of the hangar bay. Few ships resided in here—mostly cruisers and freighters. Strange construction
frames arched over them. Bots crawled along their grid and worked on the hulls and mechanical parts of the ships. Drones carried crates and hummed around the hangar. Lots of traffic, but well orchestrated.
Symmetry in motion.
And now Dr. Rao chimed in. The guy's eyes bulged out as he marveled at the hangar tech and the walker units and drones transporting the cargo. The SoCal doc was probably flying high on cloud 9.
"By the way, that's some remarkable architecture. It looks like you have fully automated the entire process."
eLoom bowed.
"Oh thank you. We're using bio-mimicry for most of our technology. Nature gives us the blueprints and we take her ideas to the next level. So far, it is working splendidly."
She closed her eyes.
"May I lead you to your quarters? We have upgraded them to meet human needs."
This trip started to sound like a holiday resort, but Bellrock remembered the purpose of the operation.
"When are we boarding Mars?"
"In 0400 hours, 23 minutes and 16 seconds, according to Central Ares Time."
"Why wait that long?"
"We thought we'd give you a generous amount of downtime from your journey. After all, humans are more susceptible to long-term interplanetary travel than we are."
"Believe me, eLoom, I've seen more action and stress than you in your puppy years. I don't need to recover."
In the corner of his left eye, he saw Dr. Rao cringing. Was he already overstepping it? He just made a simple statement. But then again, these Newtype were so sensitive, you had to treat them like children with glass skin. Maybe turn it down a notch or two, at least for now, Bellrock said to himself.
He forced his lips into an upward position.
"Well, maybe some resting time is good. Helps us getting used to your ways. I'd love to check out our suite. What about you?"