Another reason why I’m glad that I’m not going, he thought, as he approached Seiss Theniass’ office. Imagine if a family was split up, arriving to find that their children are older than they are. Candor believed it was a horrific prospect, and he quickly banished the thought as he activated the chime on the doorplate.
“Come,” said a voice on the other side. The soundwaves resonated through the doorplate, broadcast so that only the one who called could hear the response. The door opened, and Candor stepped inside, finding Seiss Theniass standing over a large photonic schematic.
Then, quite suddenly, Candor heard a voice. Only he knew by the inflection that it wasn’t a member of his family.
“Candor,” said the voice.
He stopped, and looked around. Except for himself and Theniass, the room was vacant.
“I’m right here, Candor.” The voice said with a vengeful growl.
“Seiss Candor, my son,” said Theniass. “I’m delighted that you agreed to help me.”
“Did you just hear that, Father?” Candor kept looking around instinctively for the source. In his mind he asked the question, who are you? But there was no response, as the voice went silent. Theniass looked around the office, following Candor’s movements.
“I don’t hear anything. Are you well? Is there something wrong, my son?”
Candor shook his head, attempting to clear the fog that hung over him like a dark cloud. “No, I think I’m just tired. I haven’t been sleeping well, and I’ve been working on a new movie with Thador, and Jinx. Plus, with Vesspa due to arrive, you can imagine the constraints upon my time.”
“Imagine?” replied Theniass. “I can not only imagine, my son, I can sympathize with you. Perhaps you should rest here for a while. I can always say that you are busy…”
“I’ll be all right, Father. Now, what can I do to assist you? I must say that I’m honored to have a part in The Exodus.”
From the look that Theniass gave him, Candor got the sense that he was about to get more than he bargained for. Or, at the very least, he stepped into something completely different from what he expected. Looking past Theniass, to the photonic image, a three-dimensional cube hung in the air. It rotated, and at different intervals, Candor could see that the sides were condensed into specific geometric patterns. And something inside of him recognized the shape.
It doesn’t look right, he thought. Where have I seen this before? I know that I have.
“Exodus, no,” said Theniass. “This is something that I have been working on privately. Something that I hope to activate before the Out-World Faction departs Penticore Prime.”
“It looks like the matrix for a quantum singularity,” replied Candor, taking a step forward.
Theniass stepped back, blocking him while activating a control rod next to the image. Immediately it disappeared as he explained. “It is something special, and it isn’t ready yet, I’m afraid. I would sincerely appreciate your discretion in this matter.”
Candor was positive that he had seen the shape somewhere before, yet his mind refused to forward the information from his subconscious. His inclination was to press Theniass, but seeing that his father’s mind was resolute, he decided to let it drop unchallenged.
“Very well, Father, you have my word. What can I do for you?”
“Ah yes,” replied Theniass. “Come and sit down.” He motioned for Candor to take a seat next to the photonic imaging table, and he was hesitant, but he complied.
“Good, good. Now here, I’m going to put these on your temples.” Theniass reached up and placed a small pad on each side of his forehead. Candor spied a glimpse of them, and saw that they were like the medical pads that Zyphon used.
“Is this going to hurt? Are you giving me a dose of Healers?”
“No,” Theniass replied as his hands moved over the control rods. “I need an image of your mind.”
“Why not use yourself?”
“Because I’m a scientist, and I might add, a touch boring. Plus, I’ve been incarnated, and I’m not sure that it will work. Even though I am myself, Zyphon’s studies would indicate some minor fluctuations in my brainwave activity, but I’m getting off topic. You are a tale-smith, so your imagination should do quite nicely. Or as I indicated, you shall be less boring than I am.”
“How long will this take, and what are you using the scan for?”
“There, all done,” replied Theniass, as he removed the pads. “As for an explanation, I’m afraid that it is in concert with the project I’ve been working on. I would most humbly ask for your patience and again, your silence.”
Candor shrugged, and stood up. “Very well, Father. Is there something else I can do to help with The Exodus? I feel isolated, and I would very much like to participate.”
Theniass smiled and said. “I see. The Exodus will be the greatest event in our race’s history, and you want to be a part of it.”
Candor nodded, and Theniass chuckled. “I tell you what. I will speak to Seiss Sador, and I give you my word that we will find a task where you can assist us. Perhaps you would be interested in leading the team responsible for housing assignments on the ships? It is a large task, with over seventy-thousand corporeal citizens to place.”
“That sounds wonderful. I would be honored.”
“Excellent, I shall take up the matter with Seiss Sador immediately. How are my daughter, and my precious grandson?”
“They are quite well, although Thalia is feeling distressed at the end of her term with Vesspa. I believe that we will be inviting all the family to dine with us shortly. We have an announcement to make.”
“Really, can you share it with me?”
Now it was Candor’s turn to smile. “Thalia would like to make that announcement when the family is together.”
Theniass looked at him, his stare like that of a scientist examining some new and interesting conundrum. “Then I suppose that I shall have to wait,” he replied with a shrug.
“So,” said Candor, changing the subject. “Is everything else going according to plan?”
Theniass perked up at Candor’s interest. “Yes indeed, although the timetable is strict. Seiss Sador helped us to perfect the drive systems for the ships, and construction is on schedule.”
“What of preparations for the In-World Faction, has my father given any indication?”
“Your father and I work very closely together now, as you know.”
Candor did, as a matter of fact he knew that both of his fathers had adjacent offices, although Sador wasn’t there now. Candor questioned the reason behind his absence during a work cycle. As a matter of course, his father worked twice as long as the average Penticorian.
My father has a work ethic that is second to none, he thought with a smile.
“And just yesterday, he informed me that four of the fifteen cities are in the final stages of their preparations for the journey through time,” Theniass continued.
“Four out of fifteen, the In-World Faction is ahead of schedule.”
“Indeed, my son,” replied Theniass. “I must say, Seiss Sador is the hardest working citizen that I have ever known. Look here, he even aided with the design of the ships.”
Theniass activated a sequence of controls, and the photonic table glowed. A ship appeared in the air. Although to Candor it didn’t look like a ship at all, more like an elongated egg that was standing on four toothpicks. Scale was everything, however. And Candor realized that each one of these ships was roughly two-thousand meters in height, or one-point-two miles, which was more than four times as tall as any skyscraper he remembered as a human.
I should stop thinking like them, Candor thought. It was just a dream, wasn’t it?
Theniass rotated the angle of the ship. Around the circumference, a series of curved protrusions formed a star shaped configuration, giving the ship a graceful profile when balanced against its imposing size. In addition, each vessel was designed to join with its twin. By forming one massive ark-ship, ea
ch citizen had adequate space in which to thrive. Since each ship would be home to some two-thousand-five-hundred citizens, for several hundred years, it was imperative that the ships be fully equipped. And that was just the corporeal citizenry, as there was another five-hundred-thousand that would be spread through the fleet of twenty-eight ships, their souls downloaded into virtual cities. For them, living space was not a concern, neither was food, nor carbon dioxide, even though all of it was meticulously simulated, right down to their respiration. That way, once they reached their new home, transferring to incarnated bodies would not be such a shocking experience. But above all that, joining together required only one singularity to be created, instead of two, which avoided the massive destruction that would ensue should two singularities come close to one another.
Other accommodations went far beyond propulsion, living quarters, scientific and medical research, space exploration, and navigation. There was entertainment as well, in all its various forms. This included walking paths, exercise facilities, photonic theaters, eating establishments, and orchestra houses. Not to mention the production of food, and the systems required to circulate and generate carbon dioxide. Candor knew that they were fortunate to have advanced technology, which drastically condensed the size of those latter systems, leaving more habitable space.
Thanks to Candor’s movies, members of the Governing Council for the Out-World Faction insisted they develop both defensive, and offensive weapons. Because you never know when you’ll be accosted by a hostile race of aliens bent on world domination. Candor wasn’t happy to know that he was the impetus for his species becoming more militant, even if it was only by a fraction of a percent. Not to mention that the thought was a bit silly, given the vast distances between worlds. Yet that debate took on a life of its own.
Since the time of Seiss Nophte Halsshik, the manufacture and design of weapons was strictly controlled. Penticore Prime was a world of unity and peace. For centuries, the only ones who were allowed any form of weaponry were the Law Givers. A minimalist police force comprised almost entirely of simulacrums, who were under the control of the Senedos Seiss.
Their only weapon, if it could even be considered that, was a sonic instrument called a huessenthrim. They were long staffs that made a heck of a racket, and caused any Penticorian in the vicinity to either become unconscious, or flee. And if that didn’t do the trick, then it had an additional setting which encapsulated an area in a directed forcefield. Candor had never seen one used, and most citizens regarded the Law Givers as an elite guard that was for show, not for action. Their uses were for rescue missions, ceremonies, or standing watch in the Great Hall. Citizens considered it disgraceful to be detained by a Law Giver for a social construct violation. Not to mention the obvious drawback, that Penticore Prime had no prisons. Individuals who displayed abnormal behavior were reconditioned using Healer therapy, and even that was almost unheard of.
The prison is inside anyway, he thought, watching the schematic turn into a deck-by-deck walkthrough of a ship. Healers have only been used a dozen times in the past two-hundred-thousand years to rehabilitate citizens. And only once was the Senedos Seiss forced to deploy the final solution.
He shuddered at the thought of that final solution, as he had lived it himself during the Chain of Ascension. Because when no other choice was left, Penticore Prime had one prison that needed no guards, and that prison was outside the dome. Banishment and certain death within hours, he thought, as you slowly suffocate. It’s a heck of a deterrent.
Of course, in space the same rules applied. Citizens could always be forced out an airlock. Yet the impact of Candor’s movies was to ignite a collective xenophobia concerning other forms of intelligent life, and the prospect of violence in those species. So, with that in mind they designed two offensive weapons. The first was called a Phyruss. A light-based weapon effective in close quarters. While the other weapon, called a Zesslock, was infinitely more destructive. Loosely translated it meant, “to divide.” It was a dreadful weapon that Candor hoped with all his heart they never used. Healers always created things. Whether it was constructing, repairing, or reanimating dead tissue. But the Zesslock was the ultimate reversal of all Healer technology, as by controlling ultrasonic carrier waves, this virulent form of Healers had only one purpose. Once active, their mission was to deconstruct everything they encountered at the subatomic level, and then go inert after a specified amount of time.
That alone wasn’t so bad, except for the fact that they replicated on a one-to-one ratio at the end of each cycle, so long as the Healer before it signaled that there was more material to be deconstructed. So if they encountered a hostile alien species on the way to Enos Penticoras, they could unleash a wave of these Healers before them. The Healers would then go about the task of disassembling the enemy ships, and any inhabitants, molecule by molecule. Reproducing and dying as they went along, until all that remained was empty space.
For the species on board those ships, the end would be horrific. Imagine watching as your hands and feet begin to disintegrate, along with the floor beneath you. Then the vacuum of space rushes in, and before you die you feel yourself being taken apart piece by piece, in dreadful ways that you can’t even begin to identify. Candor shivered, as a chill swept over him. It reminded him of the threat posed by nuclear weapons, and the horrors committed during the Holocaust. And yet here was an even greater threat. It was the threat of total annihilation by a weapon that left behind no radiation or destruction of any kind, and allowed the ones using it to emotionally and spiritually remain detached while extinguishing life.
What if the Zesslock ever got into the wrong hands? What would happen if it was ever let loose on a planet? And what if the Healers could be programmed to distinguish between Penticorian DNA, and other living things? Humanity couldn’t even begin to scratch the surface of the brutality that Penticorians are now capable of unleashing. Humans were never able to master the art of death without destruction…but we have.
“You are deep in thought, my son,” said Theniass.
Candor shook his head in a vain attempt to clear the grim thoughts that had overtaken him. “I’m sorry, Father. It is a brilliantly conceived ship, and I know that everyone will be well cared for during the journey.”
“True,” Theniass agreed, “but would you like to tell me what you were really thinking? You know, I might look young on the outside, but inside, I’m more than twice your age. I would think that my council would be both fair and amicable.”
“Father, do not think that I would hold anything back from you on purpose. As always you have my deepest respect, love, and loyalty. I would tell you that my thoughts grew dark as I pondered the Zesslock Healers.”
“Ah, those,” grumbled Theniass. “It is a formidable weapon, and I did not agree with the rest of the Penticoras Senedos. On this your father and I are in total agreement. We should adhere to the tenets of Nophte Halsshik, and continue to observe our peaceful nature. I can assure you that I will continue to work in favor of dismantling all offensive weapons.”
“I know, and that is not what worries me. What concerns me is the possibility that they might be used in some perverted manner. Imagine the devastation they could wreak on a planetary scale.”
Theniass shivered at the thought. “I understand your concern, my son. I can only say that until this issue is resolved, I am the commander of the ark-ships. Only I can give the order to use the Zesslock Healers. That is an order that I do not intend to give, not ever. For now, the prototypes are in a secure location, under the care of Sir Zyphon. They are contained inside a vault, and I tell you that no force on Penticore Prime could get to them. Both the Senedos Seiss, and the Penticoras Senedos, are fully informed. For now, that must be enough to assuage all concerned.”
“Yet once the door has been opened,” replied Candor.
“It is impossible to shut, I know, and you are wise beyond your years,” said Theniass. “We must remain vigilant, of that I have no do
ubt.”
“What about the cable, and the launch complex?” asked Candor, looking for an opportunity to change the subject. “Thalia mentioned that the Senedos Seiss made it clear that nothing of our civilization was to be left behind.”
“Indeed,” agreed Theniass. “However, even at its current distance from the city, the cable is too close to the towers to sever the link. Look here,” he said, as a schematic appeared. The photonic rendering was godlike in its overview of both their planet, and the ground complex. Wispy clouds moved through the atmosphere, while the towers of the city stood side-by-side with the launch cable.
“After the city of Tulacoss departs, a remote timer will be activated on the lift by the last remaining city.” The city disappeared, along with thirteen other cities on the continent of Ruxoss. While Deshon, the last city, stood tall against the sky. Then the view changed to ground level at the site of the launch cable. Even with Tulacoss in the future, the resulting swap of raw materials through space and time left only a discolored stretch of ground; and given enough time, and erosion, even that would be erased.
The arms of the t-shaped launch vehicle spread out on each side of the cable, extending for a half a mile in either direction. As it ascended, Candor leaned in, curious to see what would happen; especially since there were no ships attached to the massive arms. The view receded, as the vehicle gained momentum and pierced the atmosphere. A display showed that the field generators on the counterweight were at full power, and the station’s base groaned as the counterweight at the top of the cable strained against the gravity of Penticore Prime.
As the launch vehicle approached the station, Candor noticed that it wasn’t stopping. He watched hundreds of launch simulations, and he knew that the arms always stopped two miles from the counterweight when the ships were released. Yet this time, the last time, was different. Instead, the vehicle accelerated toward the counterweight. And just before the two collided, the breaking system stopped the arms in less than a quarter of a mile. The sudden change threw a massive amount of kinetic energy past the point of counterbalance, forces which strained the cable taut as the counterweight thrusters fired. With the added energy of the counterweight’s momentum, the cable ripped the entire station from the ground. It hurtled through the sky, as the cable was dragged through the atmosphere and out into space. The thrusters on the counterweight exhausted all their energy, and then went silent as both the station, counterweight, cable, and launch-t hurtled through space, towards…
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