The Lost Colony Series: Omnibus Edition: All Four Volumes in One
Page 19
“Never seen anything like this before,” John said.
“Me neither,” Catherine said. “So, who wants to go first?”
“I do!” John said, unable to contain his enthusiasm.
“I’m going second, provided John comes out in one piece,” Catherine said.
“Be my guests,” Craig said. The elevator descended far behind him, and the rest of the crew got out.
Come in, the machine seemed to whisper into John’s head, beckoning him silently. He gingerly approached it, no longer aware of anyone or anything else. He stopped at the edge of the block of static, and put his hand up to touch it. As his fingertips neared it, he felt his mind expanding, almost like an out-of-body experience. The surface rippled.
“It’s okay. Go in,” I-Mesa-I said from nearby.
John heard him dimly. He put his arm inside. The sense of clarity and expansion intensified. He was aware of the entire cavern and everything inside it, and then the solid rock surrounding it. He felt them.
John stepped all the way in. Immediately, his consciousness expanded to all of the Constantine system. It should have overwhelmed and shorted out his limited human mind—but it didn’t. It was an inner knowledge that surpassed all his senses and mental capabilities. He watched as Constantine gave off a coronal ejection, sensing the particles beginning their outward journey. He could feel Epsilon; not only its rough surface and superheated core, but each and every footprint that humans had left on its surface. Then, the Constantine system got smaller, as his area of consciousness kept expanding. But something else was now happening.
John felt Falcon’s arrival there, the V’Sha’s activities over the past twenty-two years, and then the furor of the rescue. In an instant it was past, the Hercules mission happened, and then the robotic precursor missions. He was seeing back into time.
At the same time as the clock went backwards, it also went forwards—and the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. John became of aware of a hot, red malevolence exploding into existence close to Vissan. It was none other than the return of the A’araka! By simply willing it so, John zoomed in on the interval of time between the present and when the splotch of evil deadened the immediate universe. As his awareness of space and time continued to expand, somewhere deep within, an urgent voice spoke. Tell them. Warn them. John was entranced by what he was experiencing, but he forced himself to eschew it for his limited human consciousness so that he could be aware of his body, to command it. He turned around and walked the few paces back out of the field as though through a thick fog, before being blinded by the bright lights in the room. He stepped out into a space that now seemed no larger than a single molecule, as his omniscience faded. The others were looking at him, stunned and motionless.
“What happened? What did you see?” Craig demanded. I-Mesa-I was flashing and rippling intensely, as were the other priest-scientists.
“Um… we’re going to have to give them the warp drive,” John said shakily, feeling like someone else was speaking through him. “It’s only ten years until the A’araka come back.”
CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
The shock was enough to stop humanity dead in its tracks. People from pole to pole looked on the sparkling silver rounded forms of I-Karu-I and I-Naan-I. John and Craig flanked them on the enormous stage, sandwiched between the remainder of the Falcon’s crew on either side. Draped over the blue tablecloth in front of them were flags of the American, European, African, Asian, and Outland Unions.
The bulge atop I-Faru-I glowed royal purple. “People of Earth,” he began, “we appeal to you as one race to another, for your help in avoiding oblivion. As your delegation to Constantine already knows, the V’Sha have developed a technology now known colloquially as the God Chamber. This allows humans, and only humans, to see into both time and space which are unknowable by any other means.
“The only exception that has ever existed among the V’Sha was a prophet of long ago, who foresaw this technology and the arrival of humans to unveil its secrets. He also foresaw a war, several thousand years ago, in which a hostile race known as the A’araka would almost annihilate us. All of these prophecies came to pass. Your delegates, using the God Chamber, agree to a person that only ten years remain before the return of the A’araka to finish what they started. This will entail the murder of approximately 360 million V’Sha.
“We need your warp drive technology to allow us to escape Constantine for another star system, where I-Fara-I foresaw peace and safety. The V’Sha will of course trade all technological advances that humans don’t yet have, including the God Chamber, for the warp drive. We assure you that our intentions are only peaceful, and we will not come to your star system unbidden even after we are relocated.
“The V’Sha fully admit to our earlier hostility towards the crew of the Hercules, including the death of one crew member. Our attempt to gain the knowledge we needed was misguided. We also understand that humans value all life, and therefore appeal to this instinct in order to save the V’Sha from certain destruction.”
I-Karu-I’s words echoed into silence through the minds of the billions of viewers.
Craig began to speak. “As leader of the delegation to Constantine, I attest that the God Chamber is real. It does indeed allow one to know the otherwise unknowable, by tapping into the zero-point field in ways that we don’t yet understand. Every delegate present has stepped into it and seen the things I-Karu-I described.
“It is our collective opinion that the V’Sha are being truthful, including their peaceful intentions towards humanity. We therefore add our voices to his appeal to Earth for permission to release the design for the warp drive to their scientists. We also add that time is extremely short, as there are only ten Earth years in which to complete the evacuation of Hydra’s moon Vissan. To the delegates of the Assembly of Unions, we add our voices to those of the V’Sha in their appeal for our help in avoiding genocide. Thank you.”
The eighty-two gathered began to file off stage to the right, the V’Sha drawing open-mouthed stares as they rolled. The cameras stopped rolling, and the sixty dignitaries that made up the audience began their debate.
* * * *
Nandi hugged John tightly after they emerged with the others into the fresh Reykjavik afternoon air. After a long moment, she backed up, her hands still clasping his sides.
“I bet you didn’t see this coming,” John said.
“No, I sure didn’t.”
“What do you say we grab some coffee? The beverages on board the Falcon were terrible.”
“Sounds good.”
After walking in silence for a few minutes along the ultra modern streets in the city’s downtown, John said, “Thanks for letting me go.”
“I had no business getting in the way of such important work.”
John looked perplexed. “Of course you did… well, having a say, at least. You were right, there was every chance I might not have come back. I could have been killed after entering the God Chamber.”
“Well, I’m sure you wouldn’t have gone in if something happened to the person in front of you.”
“Uh, I was the first one.”
“You, what?”
“Yep,” John said.
Nandi stopped and stared at John, open-mouthed. “Good Lord! You’re crazy!”
“Yeah, probably.”
“Like I said once before, you never cease to surprise me!”
“Are you upset with me?”
“No. Far from it, love. You went and did what you needed to, and what the V’Sha needed you to. It was your life’s purpose.”
“You think so?”
“I know so. Saving people, or even aliens, is your life’s purpose.”
John’s eyes moistened. A lone tear made its way down his left cheek. He and Nandi hugged for several minutes.
* * * *
The placards read ‘Humans first’ and ‘V’Sha go home’. They were wielded by several thousand marchers, as they headed towards th
e Assembly of Unions headquarters. Their chants could be heard in John and Nandi’s hotel room over a kilometer away, where the wallscreen showed views of similar protests in New York, London, and many other cities.
Nandi sighed. “I’m not sure why people think helping the V’Sha is going to hurt us. It’s not like we’re giving them any kind of resources; just some knowledge.”
“I don’t get it either,” John said. “People are bitter, angry and irrational. I suppose it’s just an extension of the stress and fear they already feel from all the fighting.”
A female news presenter with an Australian accent said, “As you can see, worldwide unrest has for now largely been channeled into protests against the V’Sha, no doubt fueled at least partly by anger towards them from the capture of the crew of the Hercules twenty-two years ago. Meanwhile, we await the outcome of the deliberations of the Assembly of Unions as to whether we will give the V’Sha one of humanity’s greatest inventions. They’ve promised a decision by tomorrow.”
“Giving it to them seems like a no-brainer to me,” John said. “It might even lift people’s spirits a bit to know we were doing so much good, especially at so little cost to ourselves.”
“When are I-Naan-I and I-Karu-I being taken home?”
“It’ll take about two weeks to prep the Falcon for the trip. And no, I’m not going this time.”
* * * *
John, Nandi, Craig, Chris and many of the other Falcon crew were gathered among thousands of others in the cavernous Great Hall of the Northern People, a few kilometers outside Reykjavik. From the outside it appeared to be built of vast, clear crystals, intersecting to form a cathedral-like structure. The main space inside was one open area, currently dominated by an IMAX-sized screen, showing news coverage as the world awaited the decision of the Assembly.
“Chairman Verda has emerged,” the news woman said. “He is heading to the podium now, to announce the Assembly’s decision.”
The picture cut to show an old black man stepping up to a bank of microphones. He cleared his throat. “People of Earth and beyond, the Assembly has debated at length. Our opinion is that humanity will not involve itself in affairs beyond our own Solar System. We will let the V’Sha and the A’araka work things out as they see fit, and will not be sharing the design of the warp drive.”
Craig and John stared at each other open mouthed. Nandi gaped at the screen, looking distraught, as cries of indignation and frustration erupted all around. “But… why?” she said.
“Because we’re a brutish and piggish race, unable to see beyond the end of our own noses,” John fumed.
“Let’s take a look at reactions around the world,” the newscaster said. A throng of people in London’s Trafalgar Square cheered and hollered.
“I just don’t get it,” John said. “How on Earth does it help us to not help them?”
“Oh well, not to worry,” Craig said brightly.
“What do you mean?” Chris asked.
Craig held up a plastic device the size of a small candy bar, grinning like a Cheshire cat. “I’m taking them back to Constantine in two weeks. I’m going to store the blueprints on this thing in Kiruna during pre-launch, and it’ll ‘accidentally’ end up in their possession before we head home.”
Should one man be judge, jury and executioner? Lee Savage plots the perfect crime: hunt and kill his sister’s murderer using an armed drone. How will he cope with the diabolical situations he finds along the way, and will he kill the man responsible?
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The Lost Colony book 1