by Ryan Frieda
Ruthless was fighting an enemy barehanded and was tearing him apart. She had some how tore his arm off with her bare hands and the man was trying to float away but she kept pulling him back by his leg. She was covered in his blood. Captain Steele pushed hard to get to her. Ruthless had a smile on her face as she tore the man apart. The man grabbed his knife and swung at her and she moved quickly to get behind him. She reached under the man and grabbed his leg then twisted it at just the right location to snap it. The man let out a blood curling scream that echoed down the corridor. Ruthless then used the her strength to tear his leg clean off causing more screaming. She then punched the guy in the throat breaking his vocal cords then pushed him down the corridor towards Captain Steele as he was still alive.
“Ruthless. We got survivors,” Captain Steele said.
“Just when I was starting to have fun,” Ruthless said.
Captain Steele stopped as the man came floated near him. Captain Steele grabbed him and looked him in the eye. The man was clearly alive and very afraid.
“Rest now,” Captain Steele said right before he killed the man, putting him out of his misery.
Captain Steele, Shadow, and Ruthless continued toward the survivors when another explosion happened. The ship creaked and more explosions started to happen.
“How are the survivors?” Captain Steele asked over the coms.
“There still with us.”
“Anyone got an extraction plan for them?” Captain Steele asked as more explosions ripped throughout the ship.
Captain Steele knew he would need a suit that wasn't shot up or destroyed to put them into so that they could be extracted from the ship. Getting them away from the solar system was another whole challenge. Their extraction ship was gone.
“We have about 30 incoming hostiles Omega. We need you now.”
“On my way,” Captain Steele said.
Captain Steele pushed his team hard to get there. He sneaked up on one guy and was able to tear the helmet off and shove his knife through the guy's throat without damaging his space suit. Shadow did the exact same thing to another man. That solved the problem of getting the VIP's out of the ship and into the vacuum of space.
Captain Steele's team pushed forward until they reached the survivors. Ark Angel and the others were taking heavy fire. Captain Steele's team opened up on the enemy clearing the area.
“Their behind these doors. Catalyst's still working on unlocking them,” Ark Angel said.
“There! Done!” Catalyst said as the doors opened.
Captain Steele looked into the now unlocked area. He saw about 50 people. He looked around and saw six kids, no older than six years of age.
“Omega to actual we have a problem. Come in.”
Captain Steele waited to hear back.
“Omega to actual. Come in.”
Captain Steele waited again.
“Omega to actual, we have young kids on board. Need extraction.”
Captain Steele waited.
“Negative Omega. Your mission is diplomat and general. We need that intel. We can not bring in a ship, scans show too much debris for safe extraction.”
Captain Steele stood in disbelief. He knew for a fact that there was more than enough space to get the survivors off of the ship. There wasn't too much debris either. Was this the military he was fighting for? To leave kids to die when they didn't need to? This wasn't the way his military normally did things.
Another large explosion caused the ship to shake violently. Captain Steele knew that as bad as that explosion was it wasn't long before the the ship's life support fell and the general and diplomat would die right where there were.
Captain Steele pointed at the diplomat and general and said “You two, get into this. We're leaving.”
As the diplomat and general moved towards the group, Captain Steele looked at the kids one last time. A little kid held out his hand for help and started to try and float to him. Captain Steele turned away knowing that if he tried to help this child he wouldn't and couldn't abandon him but would need to.
“I'm sorry,” Captain Steele whispered as he turned and signaled Catalyst to lock the doors shut.
Catalyst locked the doors shut as the ship shook again. Captain Steele pushed his team to leave the ship. As they left a breach in the hull he looked around and saw that there was enough room for a rescue ship but he pushed aside his emotions for now. He knew that whatever he was being trained for and the military intelligence that they would get was far greater than six small kids. He didn't know what that could be, but he knew that it was needed.
Captain Steele wandered around the tail end of the object for several hours while Jamie downloaded all the information possible. He stayed in close proximity as if to guard her from any unknown threats. He was trained to protect anyone downloading valuable information. After several hours he decided to sit down for a quick bite to eat. He was lucky that the DSSM suit allowed you to choose what you wanted to eat. He decided it had been several weeks since he had a bacon cheeseburger with seasoned fries so he chose that. As he sat there and drank his cheeseburger paste he wondered about what had made he feel like he was being watched. It had been over eight hours since he felt watched and that concerned him greatly.
What could have made him feel watched but then stop when he was in the large Mendelevium room. Was it something alive in this object or was it the object itself? Why did it stop after he entered the large Mendelevium room? Why would it stop there and not when he was blown out of the ship? The more he thought about it the less he liked this object.
“Jamie have you found out anything about the creatures that lived here from the data on the console?”
“No because we cannot translate their languages.”
“Wait, what? Languages? You didn't think about this before now?”
“Yes, there seems to be many different types of writings. However I have found something that appears to be some kind of cipher.”
“What does it say?”
“I have been translating it for about the last hour. It is very complex and will take another hour or so. I will let you know when it is done.”
Captain Steele ate his paste while sitting on the floor. After he was finished he made a quick scan of the area again and pulled out his data pad to play a game on it while still scanning the area. He had nothing but time. After another two hours he was alerted by Jamie that she was done with the cipher.
“John, I have translated the images and code. It is still complex and hard to translate. From what I understand is that this object has been around for nearly 8 billion years.”
“How could it be around for 8 billion years? Also, any information on any life forms or defense systems?”
“I am unsure, and no. I have not translated everything and what I have I have not come across such information.”
“Keep checking.”
“I will.”
After being awake for 55 hours Captain Steele decided he needed a nap. He did not feel safe with that thing lurking about so he set his DSSM on high alert for any external movement.
“Jamie tell me you have something on defense systems.”
“They are all dead or powered down and will not reboot.”
“Good. Lets keep it that way. I'm going to take two hour nap. Watch my back. I don't like being out here alone. I have a very bad feeling.”
“You can return to the ship John.”
“No, I have ventured too far into the object to return and explore this deep again without loosing dozens of hours in traveling back and forth. If anything happens to me I will finish you...”
After several hours of sleep Captain Steele woke up. He sat up and looked around him. Still safe thankfully.
“Status Jamie.”
“Still translating and transmitting.”
“Anything good?” Captain Steele said with a yawn.
“Several. These things came from the galaxy we now know as “destroyed galaxy”. The destroye
d galaxy was a galaxy that was observed in the year 2009. It was then called NGC 6240 and it's main feature was the two supermassive black holes that were about to collide. They collided much sooner than anyone could understand. The two black holes should still be on a collision course today but are not. This ship is from that galaxy.
“They were able to engineer black holes in that galaxy and they appeared to be running from it. They used them for power thinking they could control them but it got out of control. They made two very small black holes at the ends of their galaxy and it ripped the galaxy apart. The galaxy then became two galaxies then were pulled back towards each other.
“This object you are on was an attempt of survival for the best species in their galaxy. They fled after the black holes became unstable and ripped apart their galaxy. This object was an ark of sorts to try and keep them alive. They set off in a direction hoping to make it. They didn't know where they were going but they knew they needed to change galaxies.
“The destroyed galaxies are not old enough to produce this object. This object is roughly 8 billion years old while the destroyed galaxies were a starburst galaxy back then,” Jamie said.
“How is a starbust galaxy that old? Don't starbust galaxies use their gas so fast that they die out?” John asked.
“Exactly.”
“So what your telling me is that this object is alien even to them?” Captain Steele asked.
“Not exactly. The galaxy that is there today is much younger than the one that was there before now. The original galaxy was ripped apart by the two black holes so fiercely that the galaxy was recreated as a starbust galaxy due to all the left over gas that was ripped from the stars. The black holes ripped apart the very cosmic dust of their galaxy and tossed it around only for it to be compressed and then formed into two smaller galaxies. The two black holes that they created then pulled on each others gravitational pull.
“This defies galaxy formation as we know it. If the galaxy was closer to the place where the big bang started then it would be older because it was closer to where the universe started and would have been formed sooner than rest of the universe. That is not the case here. The location of the galaxy is too far from the center of the big bang to be as old as it is.
“They also have theory's on how the universe started. There are calculations here that prove that our understanding of how the universe was created might be wrong. The big bang is both omnidirectional and sent in one direction,” Jamie explained.
“Let me try and see if I'm seeing where your going with this. That because the universe isn't 2D, or flat like a piece of paper, it would have had to exploded in one direction and that that direction had to be shaped like a cone so that there would be three dimensions instead of two dimensions?” Captain Steele asked.
“Correct John.”
“So I'm guessing then that the big bang exploded in one direction in the shape of a cone but it also exploded multiple cones in every direction?” Captain Steele asked.
“Yes. As the funnels moved outward from the starting spot they grew wider and wider on the ends leading away from the big bang and eventually ran into each other causing various 'rifts' in space time. These rifts caused black holes,” Jamie explained.
“Gotcha. Well I'm glad I don't have to write reports on my mission's anymore because that would be rather hard to explain to lots of people.”
“John this discovery is revolutionary. This is ground breaking.”
“Jamie calm down. Just tell me about this thing I'm on. That's all I care about right now.”
“This object you are on is an ark of some sort. It contains a treasure trove of information. There is something else John.”
“What is it Jamie?” asked Captain Steele.
“This object has information on how to make and control black holes.”
“Destroy that info.”
“John this information could save...”
“It destroyed their galaxy twice! Not once but twice! Lock it up and destroy it!”
“The scientific value-”
“I said do it! It will kill everything we are trying accomplish here. Destroy it!”
“John, I...”
Captain Steele let out a big sigh. Jamie was a robot and was supposed to be logical but instead was being emotional. It was probably some programmed attempt to make him feel like she was a human when there was no other human around. If a computer was being emotional then there was no way to make it think logical.
“Fine, lock it down, send it FTL speeds to secure facility and tag it with something like 'alien virus-do not open'.”
“Thank you John!”
“I trust Earth's government not to use it, others, I don't know,” said Captain Steele.
“There is one other thing John.”
“What?”
“Their are... videos. There are video's of the effects of black holes. Both time lapse and normal time of people, planets, solar systems, and even their galaxy. They are... graphic. They are recorded on this console to persuade others not to use the technology”
“Send them to my personal computer on the ship. I'll watch them when I get back.”
Chapter 7
More Questions
Captain Steele wondered where to head next.
“Jamie, whats the best path from here? Anything else interesting in those archives?”
“Yes, go to the bridge. There is another console there. Take a left and head down the hallway until you reach a corridor and then take a right.”
“I'm on it.”
Captain Steele walked down the corridor for about a mile before coming to another hallway. The lights on the floor where still heading toward the big room with the diagrams. He wondered why.
“Jamie, why the diagrams on the floor and the lights?”
“I don't know I'm hoping the bridge will tell us.”
Captain Steele walked down the hallway until he came to a “T” intersection. As he was turning right the corridor disappeared.
“Jamie, you get that? What was that. I thought this thing was inactive.”
“Correct. I think we may have turned some power system on when we scanned the console back at the back of the object,” Jamie said.
“You think?”
“Yes, I think so.”
“Well you better figure that out. This thing is 8 billion years old. It's kinda a death trap already and I don't need some 8 billion year old security system trying to jack with me.”
“Understood. I will see if I can fix that, until then take a left then a right at the next hallway.”
Captain Steele headed in that direction when he reached another “T” intersection. The hallway he needed to go down disappeared again. He took the only path way that was open in hopes that he wasn't going to be funneled into a trap. He continued down the hallway twisting and turning as the corridors changed their directions hoping that his good sense of direction would lead him towards the bridge. After walking for some time he found himself back in the large room of Mendelevium with the diagrams.
Captain Steele walked up to the square and stood on it. The room lit up, glowing red, with the lights in the floor started pulsating faster and faster. He tried to move and was unable. He was slowing being lifted up into the air by an unknown force. The alien language suddenly started being wrote on the floor beneath him. The writing then jumping from the ground up into the air and swirled up around him. He heard sounds... voices. Sounds he has never heard before and would never be able to explain. He would never be able to repeat them even in his head.
Captain Steele thought he was on fire. All he could see was orange swirling around him with intense pain. He screamed at the pain and the writing spun around him, shut up into the air, and down into his helmet and down his throat. He saw things he didn't understand. He tasted things he couldn't comprehend. He smelt things that were so unbearable and so very foreign. All his senses where on fire but yet he felt so alive.
Captain St
eele felt so powerful, so strong. He felt like he knew everything. The pain grew more and more intense. It grew so intense that he fearing it would rip him apart from the inside. The images became so intense he couldn't see anything. The tastes became so powerful he felt his tongue was going to dry out. The smells were so strong it was as if his nose was filled with the objects that he smelt. The pain became so strong that he was fainting. Every time he would start to fall into a coma the pain would rip him out of it. He felt his sides starting to tear apart. His arms and legs felt as if they were bursting at the seams. He tried to get free but the pain was to intense for him to move. He tried with all his might to get away but nothing helped. He wanted to die but it continued. He felt warm liquid run down his arms and legs as they were in sharp pain. He felt his bones ache and felt them being stretched. He begged for his life to end, he begged to die, but there was no death. The pain continued then it suddenly stopped and he fell to the ground and became unconscious.
When he came to he was on the middle of the square with his face down to the diagrams.
“John! John! Wake up! You need to move now,” Jamie was yelling into his suit's earpiece.
Captain Steele started to use his arms to lift himself up and he felt intense pain in his arms and fell back down. His DSSM was registering multiple fractured bones and broken skin. His face plate had cracked seeping radiation into his suit. What was left of his DSSM readout was not good. Fatal vital signs, multiple open fractures, severe bleeding. His DSSM registered lethal levels of radiation in his suit through the multiple cracks in it.
“John get out of there now! You need to move now!”
Captain Steele tried to get up again and fell back down. The pain was incredible. He saw multiple threat indicators coming from all directions. He told his suit through neural input to give him the maximum dosage of pain killers, adrenaline shots, anti-radiation medication, and gave the go ahead for his DSSM to do a “medical tend” to his bones. His DSSM shoved his bones back into the skin and “glued” them back for temporary fix. As soon as his suit did this he heard a bone chilling shriek came from deep within the ship that echoed down the hallways and throughout the ship. The shriek caused his bones to vibrate and hurt.