by Amanda Rose
They’re in my head, he thought, perturbed by the tendrils. It had been an excruciating experience recounting the events that had happened on his expedition into dead space. I’m imagining things… he tried to tell himself. The imagery was all too real, like a dejavu yet to happen.
Vex replayed the nightmare in his mind and tried to slow it down. The ships attacking his planet were like none he’d ever seen before, and yet they looked so incredibly familiar. He wanted to understand why. The more he tried to get a clear sight, the harder it became to recall how they looked.
“Dammit!” he yelled, opening his eyes. Vex was tired of living in constant fear. He wanted nothing more than for his nightmare to be over, but it was just beginning.
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The first few days as a cadet Suki had found to be much like being in school. They’d spend most of their time reviewing materials and studying. It would be over a month before any of them got in a cock pit, and many more before their first flight. It was 0600 hours and they’d made their way into Bay E to practice pre-flight exterior ship checks. Suki stood amongst her fellow cadets as their flight commander walked them through the drill.
Suki was having a hard time concentrating. The night before she’d been having nightmares, though she couldn’t recall any of them. She’d tossed and turned the entire night.
On the other side of the bay from them Zavion and several of his engineers were fixing up some of the ships. Suki found herself gazing over at them and watching them work. “Cadet Rose, am I boring you?” Ken Adama asked, staring Suki down. Ken had recently been promoted to Private 2nd Class, and as part of his new duties he was to instruct new cadets on flight basics.
Suki felt her face flush, “I, no, sir!”
“Eyes front then,” Ken said sternly, and then continued his lecture.
Suki kept her eyes on Ken, but her mind wandered. Ken had been in the middle of running down the pre-flight checklist when Blaine suddenly came storming through the door and ran towards Suki. Ken saw him and stopped his lecture. The students turned to see what Ken was looking at. When Suki saw Blaine, and the seriousness to his face, she felt her heart skip a beat.
“Excuse me, this is a closed session, you can’t be here,” Ken said, but Blaine ignored him.
Blaine ran right up to Suki and grabbed her by the shoulders, his eyes even more intense than normal. He stared into Suki’s eyes and she felt like he was staring right into her soul, “You saw it didn’t you?!” he asked frantically, desperation in his voice.
Suki, wholly unprepared, was entirely confused, “I, what? Saw what?”
“They’re coming!” Blaine yelled.
“You need to get out of here!” Ken said marching up to Blaine.
“What’s going on over there?” Zavion called from across the room and began to walk over.
“Suki, we have to warn them, warn everyone, they’re coming! Oh, god, they’re going to kill us all… it was all a trap! You saw it, didn’t you?!” Blaine’s words were urgent and fearful.
Suki stood there, shaking, feeling his fear. Does he mean those dreams? She wondered. Ken separated Blaine from Suki and stood between the two, facing Blaine. “Leave. NOW! Or I will call security to have you dragged out!” Ken said with authority.
Blaine stumbled back, “Suki, you know,” he said with finality.
“Listen to him, son. Time to go,” Zavion said to Blaine.
Suki nodded, and Blaine finally left. Ken straightened his uniform, then faced the cadets, “Back in line.” Everyone rearranged themselves with eyes front. “Thank you,” Ken said to Zavion, who nodded in recognition and then returned to his work.
Ken walked in front of Suki, “Cadet Rose, what was that all about?”
“I don’t know, sir,” she told him.
Ken stared at her questioningly before returning to the front of the room to continue his lecture. Suki’s mind raced, What did I see? She tried to remember the chaos of her nightmare, but it was all a haze. The look in Blaine’s eyes had left her feeling spooked.
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Dr. Takei was finishing up a lab report in his office when Knock! Knock! Dr. Xena Nakamura knocked on the door and startled him. Seto spun around in his seat to see her standing in the doorway. Xena stifled a giggle at seeing the surprise on his face, “I’m sorry, didn’t mean to barge in.”
“Need something?” he asked.
“My curiosity is getting the better of me. What’ve you found out about the tendrils?” she asked.
Seto turned around and grabbed a data pad off his desk and handed it to her. Xena took it and began to read through it. “So unusual…” she said as she reviewed it. Once she got further in she looked up wide eyed at Seto, “They regenerate?”
Dr. Takei nodded, “Yes.”
“How fast?”
“I last recorded at 48hours, it had tripled its size from when I’d received the sample,” he told her.
“Show me,” she said, dying to see it.
Dr. Takei led her into the lab and showed her the tendril within the incubator and the comparative photos. Xena looked at them all with intense fascination.
“I had no idea you were interested in xenobiology,” Seto said.
“Any biology,” she smiled, “I reveled in the joy of biology class growing up, animals, humans, even plants, it didn’t matter. I like to know how living things work. Xenobiology is just that next step, I only wish there was more time to study outside of medical practice… hmm, this really is strange though, isn’t it? White blood cells with no expiration date that don’t come from bone marrow… Do you have a slide I could look at?”
“Over there,” he pointed at the computer which still displayed the scans feedback.
Dr. Nakamura walked over and sat down in front of the computer and began to play around with the magnification. She took her time, adjusting the sites, and processing what she saw. She increased it to its maximum magnification. “They’re unnatural,” she said at length.
“Of course, I’ve never seen anything remotely like them,” Seto agreed, while reading some notes.
“No, I mean they’re artificial,” she explained, sounding concerned.
Dr. Takei furrowed his brow, “How did you come to that conclusion?”
“Look,” she said, tapping the computer monitor. Seto walked up behind her and looked. “You can see they’re spherical,” she said.
“That’s not wholly unnatural. Spherocytosis occurs in humans,” Seto rebutted.
“In red blood cells, not white. But let your eye adjust,” she instructed.
Seto exhaled and tried to let his eye fully relax to look at the cell. The translucent nature of it made it challenging to fully perceive. After a few moments he wasn’t seeing anything new. He looked at Xena, “What is it?”
“It’s not just a sphere, it’s a geodesic sphere. Perfect symmetry between the triangles creates the sphere and makes it an abnormally strong structure!” she exclaimed. “Here,” she said, taking over.
Xena used the computer to amplify the image and then she enabled the 3-dimensional enhancement. Once it was blown up on the screen there had been no doubt, it was a geodesic sphere. Seto gazed upon the screen and couldn’t believe he’d missed it.
“Nothing like that in nature exists. There’s no reason this creature should have these qualities. It’s a product of genetic engineering,” Xena said with absolute certainty.
“That explains everything, and why the DNA sequencing kept giving me an error,” Dr. Takei said, all of his findings now making sense to him. The newfound understanding quickly gave way under the weight of the repercussions, “This is a feat of genetic engineering beyond anything I’ve ever read about. But if they were created, someone had to have put them out there in the middle of the space between our galaxies.”
“That thought is incredibly disturbing,” Xena said grimly.
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Xan had just helped Raiden finish moving the last of his belongings into his new quarters. Her own
dwelling on the Bastion was a mere five-minute walk away from his, and she was happy to have a friend on board. After all of her years in the Ethlana military, she hardly knew anyone apart from the soldiers on the ships she’d worked on, and all of them never docked for too long at the Bastion.
They set down the last crate and then both sat on the floor to catch their breath. The endeavor of moving had been a bigger proposition than Raiden had ever realized. He was glad it was over, though dreaded the unpacking ahead.
“You have a lot of stuff,” Xan said, looking at him with fatigue.
Raiden laughed, “Yeah, I guess I do. I lived on that ship all my life.” He looked around at all of the crates they’d hauled in, “That’s weird.”
“What is?” Xan asked.
“This,” he said, gesturing at all of the crates, “This is my whole life.”
Xan laughed, “No it’s not,” she said and then tapped her head, “This is your whole life, your thoughts, and your memories. That’s just stuff.”
They said nothing for a moment and just enjoyed each other’s company. A yawn then overcame Xan and she rubbed her eyes. Raiden saw how tired she looked, “Didn’t sleep well?”
Xan shook her head, “No. I think Vex’s story got to me, can’t get those tendrils out of my head.”
Raiden put his hand on Xan’s shoulder, “It was intense on that ship too. Our minds like to play games.”
“Yeah, maybe,” she said, clearly not convinced.
“What?” he asked.
“I just think we haven’t seen the end of it. Have you ever had a dream that’s come true?” she asked.
“Like a premonition?” Raiden asked. Xan nodded, and he thought for a few minutes before responding, “I think so. Once my pilot squad and I were doing some drills, and suddenly I had this feeling, almost like dejavu but not quite. Then one of the pilots, Masato, he was flying to my right and one of the thrusters on his ship gave out and his ship started spinning wildly. I knew I’d seen it before, I think I dreamt it as a kid. Why?”
“Our species really aren’t that different. Ethlana are sensitive too. Most of us are highly empathetic, and, if we focus on it, we can develop our precognitive functions. It’s not something I’ve spent much time doing, though. Military life, well, you know. But that dream last night… it was more than just a dream,” she said uneasily.
“If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s to expect the unexpected. A few months ago, we humans thought we were alone in the galaxy, and now we know there’s this massive intergalactic civilization. So, there’s something out there? OK. But whatever it is we’re not fighting it alone,” Raiden smiled.
Xan nodded, “You’re right.”
Chapter 19: Science
Only a few days after the many scientists around the Bastion had received the tendril samples they submitted their preliminary finding to the Conclave. While speculation on the specifics varied, they had all drawn the same conclusion about the tendrils being genetically engineered. The information sat heavy with the Speakers.
A Veick scientist, Krass, suggested taking his research team through the far-reaching Heaven’s Eye to the edge of the galaxy to better understand the effects of dead space on the tendrils. He requested to take one of the fully formed tendrils from the containment field that held them captive within Bastion space. The Conclave approved, and the science vessel departed shortly thereafter.
A confinement beam had been used to isolate and immobilize one of the tendrils as it was tractored behind the science vessel. The operation was going smoothly. They made good time on their way to the outlying Heaven’s Eye and went through the wormhole that led them to the edge of the galaxy.
When they arrived on the other side of the wormhole the expansive black sea of absolute nothing was pervasive. “I’ve never been out here,” Hark, Krass’ lab assistant, said absently.
“Why would you? There’s nothing this far out,” Krass said as he readied the scanners.
They flew several hundred thousand kilometers out into the desolate black of the void. Once they were deep enough into dead space they release the tendril and backed the ship away from it, then began monitoring it. After several hours it was frozen and unmoving.
“It’s effected by the cold… how did they attack the Ethlana ship if they were frozen?” Krass said, thinking out loud.
“They must be able to sense nearby energy sources and come out of hibernation when they need to,” Hark said.
“And unthaw themselves at whim?” Krass pondered, “It must be related to their electrical nervous system. If they had enough reserves the electricity could be converted to enough heat energy to warm them. There’s nothing like these in nature. Whoever conceived to create these beings did so with precision. If only we knew their purpose.”
“Guardians?” Hark conjectured.
“Perhaps. They certainly act like a security system,” Krass nodded.
They continued to monitor the tendril. After 26 hours no change had been witnessed. They decided to send out a small probe, which had its own power source, to test their theory on the tendril’s preceptory senses. The probe sat within 10 feet of the tendril, and within an hour the tendril had begun to move and propelled itself toward the probe.
“How is it moving?” Hark asked as he watched.
“I’m not certain,” Krass said, looking at the incoming data.
The tendril latched onto the probe and began to eat through the outer metal casing. It was working its way through the probe to get to the power source. “See how it lays its mass lengthways along the exterior of the probe? It has no head, no mouth, I think the skin itself processes the matter,” Krass explained his theory.
“It’s not growing, is it consuming it, or pulling it apart?” Hark asked, as he zoomed in on the computer feedback.
Krass took the magnescope to view the tendril in action and viewed it with maximum 1000x magnification. Viewing the process down to the microns he could see it all clearly.
“Incredible! Hark, come see this!” Krass said.
Hark came to look through the magenscope and saw tiny sparkling metal shards flying off into space, invisible to the naked eye. The metal was passing through the skin of the tendril as the being broke down the metal plating of the probe.
“It’s like it’s a wood chipper for metal!” Hark said in awe.
The science team continued to watch and take readings and notes on the tendril over the next several days. The tendril had managed to absorb most of the probes power without draining it entirely. The seeming intelligence of a creature without a brain was most confounding. Without a complex brain for thought processes, they were unsure of how the tendrils made decisions and didn’t act purely on instinct. Despite all of the tests they tried, that remained an unanswered question.
On the fourth day, without warning, the tendril flew the probe off deep into dead space. The crew scrambled to power up the ship in time to set a course before they lost it on their long-range sensors. They followed the tendril-driven-probe for nearly two full days before it suddenly stopped just as abruptly as it had begun. Then they picked up a strong frequency it began to emit.
“What in the world is it doing?” Hark asked as they listened to the low-pitched sound it created.
“It seems like it’s searching. It may be looking for the other tendrils that are back through the wormhole,” Krass speculated.
“It flew the wrong way,” Hark said.
“We still don’t know enough about how it processes information. It likely has no sense of direction,” Krass said.
“Why stop here?” Hark wondered.
“It probably was using too much energy. They seem to be aware enough to be cautious with power levels. What I wonder is, why wasn’t it emitting that frequency before? If it’s searching, sending out a signal the entire time would have increased its odds of success. Maybe it’s just not that intelligent,” Krass shrugged. “My guess is it will continue to move on once it realizes th
ere’s no response.”
But the tendril did not move on. For three days it didn’t move and continuously emitted its frequency. Nothing else had changed. Krass and his team attempted to simulate the frequency in response, but the tendril did not seem to acknowledge it. After so long without any change in behavior Krass decided the next day they would recapture the tendril and tractor it back through the wormhole with them.
That night the crew was awoken to the sound of the proximity alarm. Hark, exhausted, got up from his bed and went to the cockpit to shut off the alarm. He checked the logs and the radar showed a massive incoming structure. He turned on the ships flood lights but couldn’t see anything except for the tendril’s encapsulated probe.