by Kyle Perkins
Kepler:
Humanity’s Ark
By
Kyle Perkins
&
Virginia Johnson
All Rights Reserved ©2017 Kyle Perkins All Rights Reserved ©2017 Virginia Johnson. No portion of this book may be copied, retransmitted, reposted, duplicated, or otherwise used without the express written approval of the author, except by reviewers who may quote brief excerpts in connection with a review.
The characters, names, and events as well as all places, incidents, organizations, and dialog in this novel are either the products of the writer’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
Dedication
This book is dedicated to those that believed we would finish it.
~Kyle Perkins and Virginia Johnson
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Orrin
Chapter 2
Aya
Chapter 3
Orrin
Chapter 4
Aya
Chapter 5
Caius
Chapter 6
Aya
Chapter 7
Orrin
Chapter 8
Aya
Chapter 9
Orrin
Chapter 10
Aya
Chapter 11
Orrin
Chapter 12
Aya
Chapter 13
Erikk
Chapter 14
Aya
Chapter 15
Caius
Chapter 16
Orrin
Chapter 17
Orrin
Epilogue
Aya
Chapter 1
Orrin
Captain’s Log – Final Entry:
I have to admit these journal sessions have been therapeutic – even though they seem somewhat pointless now that we know Earth is gone. I do grieve for the loss of our home planet and those who shared it with us, but I find solace in the fact that there is hope for human species – all of it now residing on this very ship.
The others took the news as well as you would expect. The skeleton team that was designated to assist our mothership’s return to Earth felt great disappointment that there was nothing to return to, but they have adjusted well to the prospect of a new future on Kepler.
We are on the verge of something great, here. The crew seems to feel it, too. Perhaps the knowledge that we are all that is left solidifies their resolve to make this work. I know for me, it does.
Kepler-186f is now in our sights. All of the planning, all of the sacrifice, has boiled down to this. I started this journey when I was an infant - like the rest of our crew. We were molded, trained, and prepared for this moment. I wish all of you on Earth could have been around to see the beauty of this vast green planet.
A few short years ago, none of this would have been possible, but now, we finally have a way out. All of us.
I hit ‘save’ and stand from my captain’s chair. The nearly five-hundred-pound suit protecting my body feels weightless, even with the gravity fixed to that of Earth’s.
Some time ago, the humans of Earth decided that our mortal bodies were something of a burden slowing us down on the road to progress. While the people of Earth had their implants keeping them alive as long as possible, my team and I were designed with almost exclusively new tech. We think faster, react faster, and are geared to handle anything thrown at us.
Scientists in the twenty-third century started replacing human organs with new technology once people became ill, and their biological organs failed them. Once the twenty-fourth century rolled around, they were implanting babies with the tech. Towards the end, most humans on Earth could live to nearly four hundred years old, even in adverse conditions.
Myself and my crew, on the other hand, will live indefinitely, barring some major trauma that the nanotech cannot fix quickly enough. We are a new breed of human, not entirely human at all. Something else. Something… better.
This ship, despite its cold metallic air and unforgiving nature, has always been home to us. We weren’t selected from birth; we were crafted for the mission. It is all we have ever known, and the mission is paramount. We must find a suitable planet, colonize it, and start this next chapter for humanity, a new beginning for the human race. Kepler-186f is our final stop – our new home.
All of our research has shown that this planet will support us, though preliminary unmanned journeys have gone radio-silent upon arrival here. So, we are the cavalry. We suspect the planet is already sustaining life, though the extent or capacity is unknown. Our job is to eradicate any pests, and pave a way for humanity to flourish.
I have no idea what problems are ahead of us, but I can tell you that we are prepared. Whether it be extreme heat, extreme cold, radiation or aggressive species, we have trained for such eventualities. We cannot, and will not, fail.
I press the intercom button sitting at the edge of my chrome desk and wait for the sound of crackling to let me know I’m live.
“Attention crew, we are nearing Kepler and I need all of you to suit up and prepare for the worst. We will be entering the planet’s atmosphere within six hours, and we have no time for mistakes. This planet has been classified as potentially hostile by the UFAF. That means I need your weapons to be in perfect condition, and your suits charged. All personnel are required to keep their weapons at full charge, and to head down to medical bay for your yearly injections. We do not know what biological threats we will face on the surface that might try to attack us from the inside out, so give the nano tech time to learn your body. I do not want a stampede, so form an orderly line once your suit and gun are charged. I will see all of you in the docking bay in five hours to for a final address before we explore the surface. If you have any questions, find me on the firing range.”
I walk to the gun cabinet and pick out my pride and joy. The P-Cannon 670m. This baby fires balls of lead that are super-heated to the point of being an unstable plasma. It doesn’t have a lot of range, but if you are within range, you will be vaporized. A giant two-meter hole in anything, cauterized on all sides.
I place the gun on my back and the magnetic strip snaps it into place firmly. I bring my wrist up to eye level and check my battery percentage on the suit. Nearly empty. It’s a short walk to the recharge station situated against the wall opposing the gun rack. I climb in and an array of tubes and wires find their way to various ports on my suit. As the suit charges, I can already feel my strength increasing. Every muscle fiber in my body tightens as the surges of electrical charge course through my nervous system. My bionic eyes scan the room in standby mode and I notice that three of the guns on the shelf have not been charged. I could kick Eckerd right in the teeth.
My suit finishes charging, and I step out of the station to give my body a few good stretches. At capacity, this suit, along with my genetically engineered muscles, allow me to bench-press nearly five tons. Without the suit, I can only muster one. That is why keeping these suits charged is so important. Down on Kepler, they will be our lifeline.
I leave the room and begin walking through the cold and desolate hallways of the ship. Not many people roam on this level. This is the captain’s level, only three people have clearance to be here. Even though I am called a captain, most of the ships navigating is done by the ship itself. I am here to keep people in line. Being out here, away from our home world, it’s easy for people to slip into madness. I have had my own episodes, truth be told. We all have.
I pass by a mirror in the hall to make sure everything is in order. Even though most of my body is mechanical or engineered, I still look completely human. The only thing that would aler
t a person from Earth that I was different would be my eyes. Apparently, yellow irises are not found outside of this ship. In space, we have had to adapt to pitch black darkness, along with blinding light of nearby stars, and we needed the eyes to do it. Aside from that, I look pretty normal. Dark wavy hair, trimmed short to not impede my helmet, and a chiseled jawline – the product of our rigorous workout routine to keep us from losing bone density, though our bones were engineered to handle it. Better safe than sorry. I think that’s the old phrase.
I climb into the elevator and press the button for the 47th floor. The elevator hums for a few seconds before the doors slide open to reveal a five-mile-long shooting range. I pull my gun from my back and take aim down the narrow alley, walled on both sides. Stepping up to starting position, my feet lock into place and a familiar voice is heard overhead.
“Good morning, Captain Windhelm,” the floating metallic orb says.
“Good morning, E-7,” I return the greeting as the machine scans my body.
“Blood pressure… good. Heartrate… stellar,” E-7 replies.
“Yes, everything is in order. Set up five targets, one mile out.”
“Right away, sir.”
The orb zips off down the range and projects five stationary targets. My eyes lock onto them and the words “Non-hostile targets” appear in my vision. I pull the trigger five times in rapid succession and watch all five targets explode almost simultaneously. E-7 whizzes back to me and begins beeping wildly.
“Well done, sir. Spot on, as usual.”
“Thank you, E-7. Is everyone at the medical bay?”
“Mostly, we have a few stragglers. Everything will be done on time.”
“Perfect. I will head down now, then,” I say as I reattach my gun to my back.
E-7 flies into one of the interconnecting tubes on the ship and disappears. I begin walking back out towards the elevator and press the “up” button. The doors quickly slide open and I press the button for the 97th floor. After a moment of buzzing, the elevator stops, once again, and I am looking at the entire medical wing. Doctors and nurses are frantically running around with their syringes out, looking for people that have not yet had their injections. I don’t make it one step into the room before I feel a sudden burning in my neck, following a quick pinch.
“Hold that there,” the doctor orders as he presses gauze against the injection site.
“Do I have a choice? A little warning next time,” I groan. I pull the bandage away once I’m sure the wound has had time to seal up.
“Sorry, Orrin. Busy day,” he says.
“That’s Captain Windhelm in front the soldiers.” I give him a stern look.
“Apologies, Captain Windhelm,” he replies with a grin.
“Sorry, Erikk. Protocol,” I say, returning a smile.
“Exactly.” He waves the needle to emphasize his point.
“Has everyone reported in?”
“We have roughly 97% of the crew completed. A few trouble makers still haven’t shown – you can take a wild guess as to who.”
“Caius,” I say without waiting for confirmation.
“Bingo.” He nods before moving on to another task. He may seem overwhelmed, but I know he appreciates the distraction and purpose.
Erikk was one of the crewmembers slated to man the ship back to Earth, only to learn that the mission was over before it even started. We received her final transmission several years ago, a somber relay to the crew that can be paraphrased by, ‘Don’t bother, Earth is lost.’
So, Erikk and team will be joining us on Kepler, now… while our mothership shoots off into the stars, embarking on a pre-programmed journey to the remains of an empty planet. All attempts to override the programming have failed. Watching a massive vessel of useful resources float off into the galaxy is going to sting, but I try not to dwell on it. I have plenty of other things to think about – like defiant botanists. I walk over to the intercom on the wall and hold the button.
“Caius Adams, report to medical bay, immediately.”
“You rang?” I hear a voice approaching from behind.
“Damn it, Caius! When I say to get to medical bay, I mean it,” I say, not hiding the annoyance in my voice.
“Yeah, sorry, I was charging my suit, like you also said to do,” he says with a glimmer in his bright yellow eyes.
Caius has always been a trouble maker and a pain in my ass. We didn’t activate his fetus until my crew was nearly forty years old. The reason being, is that botanists are not in high demand. Every new set of lungs working near our food source is another chance to infect it. Kid now has a chip on his shoulder, and is too quick to act on most things. Always aching to prove himself. I can respect it, but the officer in me needs to keep it in check.
“Just go and get your injection. There is not a lot of time before we depart,” I sigh.
“Yes, sir,” he responds dramatically, bringing his hand up in an exaggerated salute.
I shake my head, and watch him walk to a nurse to ensure he doesn’t skip out again. Satisfied once he takes his seat, I walk back to the elevator and press the down button. Another symphony of buzzes fills the air as elevator doors slide open again. I step inside and press the button for the 1st floor. The elevator hums briefly before the doors slide open again. I walk out onto the deck and admire the fleet of smaller ships before me. We are just on the threshold of Kepler’s atmosphere, and it’s going to be a bumpy ride down.
Even though the wormhole placed us just a few years from this planet, the wait has been killing me. Honestly, though, it has given us the ample time we needed to prepare. The time I needed to whip this group into shape, and retrain the return crew for non-return procedures. It will feel so odd walking on soil for the first time, breathing natural oxygen. I still can’t wrap my mind around it.
Again, I find an intercom and hold the button down.
“Once you have received your shot, please head down to the docking areas. I need all of you in your ships and strapped in for the descent. Reminder: we need to hope for the best, and be prepared for the worst. See you all in fifteen.”
I release the button and move to the center of the room as men and women begin to pour in from doorways situated all over the docking area. Most are soldiers, suited up similar to myself, but there are support staff wearing lighter armor. To move quickly in and out of battle, our team of scientists are virtually naked in their protective lab coats and helmets, but if all goes well, they will never see any fighting.
A loud siren goes off overhead and everyone begins piling into the vessels docked at the edges of the room. I climb into my ship and take a seat in one of the cold metal chairs that is welded to the wall. Once the ship is full, the doors slide upward, forming a seal. I fasten my safety belt, and moments later, we lurch forward.
When we pierce the atmosphere, the ship feels like it’s hit a wall while rocketing at the speed of light. Everything starts to vibrate wildly and I feel like I’m being shaken right out of my skin. My bones and teeth rattle, and my vision blurs; I am on the verge of blacking out. I can’t hear the intercom in the ship over the sound of the continuous explosions.
As the ship begins to stabilize, a sudden rush of adrenaline hits me. Our smaller ship deploys out of the side of our mothership and the vibrating increases - even more violent than the first time in the larger vessel. I can feel my stomach twisting inside of me, and the urge to vomit increases tenfold.
Then, as quickly as it happened, we stabilize again.
“Everyone alright back there? We just hit fifteen G’s,” the pilot asks. He sounds exhausted.
I give him a thumbs up and unfasten my seatbelt. We begin descending slowly and the crewmembers around me start walking around, preparing for our landing. I look out the ship’s windows and take note of the sprawling green landscape that is dotted with pools of water. Anxiety begins to build inside of me, though I’d never let it show.
We land softly on the surface and the doors swing op
en. As the air fills the ship, our suits read our bodies, causing our face masks to pull up over our airways. I stand up and walk over to the doorway, scanning the area for potential threats. My onboard targeting system finds nothing, except for a few animals flying high overhead. Apparently, they are no threat.
I jump out of the ship and feel my feet sink a few inches into the soil. Purple particles dust the earth beneath my feet, presumably some sort of pollen from the abundant flora of Kepler. Caius and Erikk are going to have a field day in this place.
The men behind me follow suit, exiting the ship and taking a beat to stabilize on the spongey surface. As we begin to walk in formation, the other ships land all around us, creating a small city. The mothership eclipses the local star and hovers overhead until all the ships finally land. As the last vessel touches the soil, the mothership disappears forever, off into the horizon.
I pull my gun from my back and begin marching forward towards the canopy of trees.
Chapter 2
Aya
I awaken to the soft blowing of the leaves outside of my window. I crawl from my bed, quietly making my way to the door of my home. As the darkness fades, the steps winding around the bark of my tree become easier to follow. I glide to the bottom step, anxiously awaiting the request that is sure to greet me.
Aya,
I must hunt before
I can meet you.
Wait for me.
Ricon
I can’t help but feel hurt that he won’t be able to meet me until he returns, but he does have to provide for himself. I turn the page over and pick up a black rock; drawing my words in return to him. I place the rock on top of my letter, alongside my stairs, and skip to the trail connecting our paths.
The morning glow begins to cast shadows across the floor of the woodlands as a flightless animal scurries alongside me, following the dirt path to the water. My soft steps cause no fear to the creature, as I continue my daily journey to the awakening of the light. The warmth of the rays provides a welcomed luxury to the chilled breeze we are accustomed to within the shade.