Intrinsic: Book One of the Terran Cycle

by Philip C. Quaintrell

  The lecture theatre was full up to its thirtieth row of eager new starters. It always amused Kalian that history had been a rather dull subject in ancient times. The birth of Solar Drive had changed that. Before Solar Drive history had comprised the corporate takeover in the twenty third century and of course the rise of Central Parliament, which waged war against the corporations in the twenty fifth century. Kalian always wondered what the world would be like if the corporations had won that war and discovered the Solar Drive in that next century. It was common knowledge that the corporate wars had stunted the growth of technology. Central Parliament had done everything it could to get the future back on track.

  The Glass Board behind him suddenly lit up with information on Solar Drive as it connected with his Datapad. The board showed a quick image of a chunky looking ship flying towards the sun before it streaked across the stars, out of sight. The glare off the board reflected his image back at him. His dark hair was getting long again, at least by Kalian’s standards. He had strong cheek bones thanks to his father, but from the images stored at home of his parents, he knew he had his mother’s dark eyes.

  Most of his students teased him for his youthful looks, but then again he was young: he had at least two hundred years left. At twenty eight he had done well to secure his position at the university- his passion for history had driven him academically. Sometimes though he wished he’d been born centuries earlier, just so he could experience life without all the technology. Doing the maths however he realised that he would have to go back a thousand years to experience life with minimal technology.

  A student in the middle row spoke up, “That was the year everything changed.” A good answer but he was looking for something more than that.

  “Care to elaborate?” The student hesitated in front of his classmates.

  “It was the year we discovered faster than light travel.” Again a very accurate answer but he was only getting snippets from them. Kalian could see he would have to coax them a bit.

  “True, very true. And discover is probably the right word for it. As I’m sure you all learnt growing up, faster than light travel was discovered on an alien ship on the edge of our solar system.”

  With his Datapad he used the eyetrak to connect an old video log to the Glass board. It showed a huge meteor shower flying through the solar system.

  “Records taken at the time showed that the meteors ranged in size from the size of your hand to entire cities. Two of the asteroids on a collision course for Earth were said to have been world enders. Thanks to the United Defence Corps the asteroids were knocked off course. The majority of the shower found its way to the surrounding planets and moons. Any meteors that didn’t, began a new journey orbiting the Sun.” Kalian knew the footage he was showing them wasn’t new; in fact every human being alive would have seen this footage on the news and in documentaries and even in a few movies.

  “It didn’t take long before exploration and mining began on the rocky remains. The trajectory of the shower indicates that it had all come from the same point in space, though it has proven to be too far to reach. Now I find geology to be as exciting as the next guy, but the unknown mineral in these alien rocks was a catalyst for a turning point in human history.” He turned to the next file on his Datapad with a flick of his eyes. The images were clearly being shot from a vessel flying over Pluto on the edge of the solar system. The camera moved to focus on Charon, Pluto’s largest moon. A dark trail was visible several miles across the crystalline surface. The focus increased until it found the point of the trail, where the alien ship had obviously crashed.

  “After the video log had been spread across the globe, human beings looked up to the stars for the first time and knew they were not alone.” That was his favourite line. He always used it on the freshers. “However, four hundred and twenty one years went by with no further evidence of other life. Even the ship itself was devoid of any beings to study. But in time humanity came to terms with this revelation; it then turned its attention to the wonders the ship had to offer.” He pulled up some side images of various scientists examining the ship’s engine. Kalian had no real idea how they replicated the technology, or figured out that the meteorites contained the necessary fuel, Solarcite as it was later named. He remembered the mechanics had been somewhat overwhelming in his own years at school. In his lectures he simply used the term re-engineered, this seemed to suffice.

  “However technical, it was this discovery that led to the creation of the Solar Drive and humans’ eventual exploration of space beyond our sun’s light.” Even though the discovery was primarily scientific, it was still considered to be the most significant event in human history. For this reason it was one of Kalian’s biggest teaching subjects.

  Damn, he was starting to lose them. To his dismay the majority of students appeared to have gotten distracted by their own Datapads.

  “Ok guys, let’s try and stay focused.” A girl with frizzy dark hair near the front looked up from her Datapad like she had seen a ghost.

  “Mr Gaines sir, you need to see this.” He was hesitant, on the brink of reprimanding them, but her face was the same as everyone else’s. He walked over as she turned the screen around for him. He looked around thinking it to be some prank or a hoax. He couldn’t believe what was on the screen; it was too much of a coincidence.

  “Is this live?” He couldn’t take his eyes away. The girl gave a silent nod. “Connect it to the Glass board.” A couple of quick movements of her eyes and the old video log was replaced by the Central News. The larger image caught everyone’s attention. It was clearly being shot from a lens on Earth somewhere as the backdrop was blue skies. In the centre of the image was some kind of ship. Kalian had seen plenty of UDC ships before as they were always in the news for something, but this was definitely not UDC. To be seen in such detail from the ground it must be massive in size. The news heading simply read:

  UNKNOWN ALIEN SHIP SLIPS PASSED UNITED DEFENCE CORPS.

  HAVE THEY RETURNED?

  It had to be alien; it was just too, well, alien. He couldn’t quite make out any defining features from this distance, but it looked to be purple. A smaller headline appeared at the bottom of the screen explaining that the ship was directly over San Francisco. He had to stop his jaw from dropping. He looked up to the ceiling as if he could see it. En masse all thirty rows jumped up from their seats and crowded round the window next to Kalian’s desk. People were pushing past each other to try and catch a glimpse of the alien visitors.

  Kalian looked back at the ship on the screen. Alien? Yes. Returned? He wasn’t so sure. He was no expert in ship design but this one looked nothing like the crashed ship on Charon, it was much bigger for starters. The other one had been bulkier and less smooth looking. The door to the lecture theatre opened stopping his train of thought. Four men in black and grey UDC uniforms entered the lecture theatre.

  “Sir we’re with the UDC, are you Kalian Gaines?” Kalian was speechless.

  What the hell do they want with me?

  “Sir?” The soldier had a feeling of urgency about him. Kalian hesitated.

  “Yes, I’m Kalian Gaines.” Before he had even finished the sentence one of the soldiers broke away and approached him. He held up a small transparent square to Kalian’s eye, the glass lit up with a picture of his face and several personal details about his life.

  “ID’s confirmed sir- this is him.” A small nod from their commanding officer was all they needed to proceed. As one they surrounded Kalian and grabbed him by the arms, not rough but firm. Everyone was whispering about the possible reasons the soldiers might be in their lecture theatre.

  “Mr Gaines, my men and I have orders to escort you off campus.” Before Kalian could protest the commanding officer simply stated, “As you can see sir,” he pointed to his men holding onto him, “this isn’t optional.”

  As he was forced out of the room he noticed one of the soldiers packing his Datapad into a bag. He didn’t know why, th
ere was nothing but lecture material on it. Waiting outside on one of the campus lawns was a large UDC craft bigger than any Mag-transport. Everyone around them was almost oblivious to his predicament as they looked on at the looming alien ship. Only the group of touring children stopped to look at him before returning to the view above

  “Where off campus are we going exactly?” Kalian could see the thrusters underneath; this was designed for flying not driving. Only the UDC had permission to use air space for travel. Kalian could see the logic in it, this way they could respond to emergency situations without worrying about mid air collisions, as well as air superiority. That’s why the Mag Hyperways had been built across the oceans five hundred years ago.

  The commanding officer didn’t halt his stride, “It’s a matter of planetary security, sir.” It occurred to Kalian that he had only flown once before as a child; it was on a school trip to Armstrong, the capital city of the moon. At least on that trip he knew what awaited him on the other side.

  He stepped onto the craft where he was directed to his seat. The soldiers took their seats either side of him.

  Am I a prisoner?

  The craft rose vertically into the sky; Kalian felt a strange sense of pressure pass from head to toe. One of the soldiers in front of him noticed his expression of discomfort.

  “It’s just the Grav Enforcers.” He looked down to floor. “It stops us from sliding all over the place.” Kalian nodded in understanding, well at least of the theory of it.

  It felt to Kalian like they had been travelling for a lifetime, but he realised it had probably been less than an hour. He had bombarded the soldiers with questions about where they were taking him and why, but their expressions never changed. He began to wonder if the soldiers even knew why they had been ordered to retrieve him.

  It can’t be the incident this morning; there’s nothing to connect me.

  For now there was nothing he could do, he would just have to wait.

  There were no view ports in the cabin, only a screen that allowed for a camera image of the pilot. With the Grav Enforcers below them, Kalian could have sworn they weren’t even moving. If it hadn’t been for the low hum of the thrusters, he might have worried that he had broken the craft as well today.

  Just keep calm and stay in control.

  He kept thinking it like a mantra over and over in his head. The craft shuddered and a loud thud came from underneath.

  “Clear to disembark.” The pilot’s voice came through the speakers above them.

  Sunlight flooded the cabin as the heavy side door slid open. Walking into the shadow of the ship were two more soldiers wearing UDC uniforms, each bearing a rifle that looked too heavy to hold. They instantly noticed Kalian.

  “Who’s the civilian?” The lack of uniform was a dead giveaway. The commanding officer stepped out first.

  “Orders from the Chief Commander himself. He’s a Priority One.” The guard checked his Info-band to confirm the orders were legitimate. The spherical emitter’s inside produced a miniature holographic image above his wrist. That particular order was flashing red to signify a priority order.

  “Order confirmed, proceed.” The guard pointed somewhere out of sight.

  Kalian stepped out of the craft. He instantly felt the heat of the Sun and the air was dry making it initially hard to breathe.

  I’m definitely not in San Francisco.

  Kalian felt his lips part as he took in the view in front of him. It couldn’t be what he thought it was. It looked like he had been brought to a UDC base, and judging from its size it couldn’t have been just any base; this was central command.

  “The Hub...” the words barely left his dry lips. The name had always seemed appropriate to Kalian since this was the base from which all security protocols were made. From security patrols in the cities to orbital defence ships in space, all orders came from here. Kalian had heard it mentioned on the news whenever a new security act had been passed through Central Parliament. He could see why they didn’t need to keep the place a secret, it was a fortress. It was at least five miles in length.

  The base was surrounded by landing pads that stretched out into the desert further than he could see. It had high walls and turrets surrounding it. Considering there hadn’t been a war in nearly five hundred years, it seemed they were certainly prepared for one. Kalian had heard of the occasional separatist faction here and there, but nothing that required this level of security. At several points on the wall were groups of soldiers manning high powered rail guns, all of them were watching Kalian. The high walls blocked any view from the ground of what might lie on the other side. Kalian looked around at the ground and sky, feeling disorientated.

  He recalled a segment on a documentary stating it had been built in the Nevada desert. It was the perfect location when they were building The Hub centuries ago; this particular desert was one of the few that had never been altered for living space.

  The main door opened from the middle as they approached, it must have been at least two feet thick. Before entering, Kalian took one last look at the sky trying to spot the massive ship. The sky was completely devoid of clouds, but he couldn’t see the massive ship from here. Why was it above San Francisco? The soldier tugged on his arm a little harder.

  “Come on, the Chief Commander is waiting for you.” Kalian remembered hearing that name, something about new security measures the UDC was taking on Mars. The man he had seen on the news looked like a man of power. He had been wearing his uniform with several medals on his chest, but his most striking feature had been a scar that ran from his jaw up to a point below his right eye.

  Surely I’m not about to meet him, he’s in charge of the entire UDC!

  The only people above the Chief Commander were the council members in Central Parliament.

  He was ushered into a lift at the end of a large square foyer. The commanding officer entered with him, but the remaining soldiers took their stations surrounding the doors. Kalian may have been a priority, but he obviously wasn’t considered a threat to be left with just one guard. He felt the jolt as the lift began to move.

  “Are we going up or down?” The ride was so smooth he couldn’t tell. The commanding officer didn’t move, he was like a statue, oblivious to Kalian’s existence. “You guys don’t talk much, huh?” At that moment the doors parted revealing a wide room with lots of monitors. Behind each monitor sat men and women in technical headgear and microphones; they all appeared to be talking at once. At the end of the room was the largest monitor, at least twenty feet across. Spread from edge to edge was a much clearer image of the massive unknown ship.

  “Welcome to The Hub, Mr Gaines.” A tall woman with cropped short black hair in UDC uniform was stood by the entrance to the lift, obviously awaiting his arrival. Instead of the fitted combat pants and boots the soldiers wore, she was wearing a skirt and heels. Round the side of her head she wore similar technical headgear to the other staff; it covered her left eye with a blue holographic screen, streams of information running over it.

  “I’m Lieutenant Walsh, if you would like to follow me.” The lieutenant extended her hand toward a door at the far side of the room. Her smile eased some of Kalian’s tension. The lieutenant made him feel like he had come here of his own accord, rather than man-handled out of his lecture theatre.

  The room he was shown to was long and rectangular. The majority of it was taken up by a long table surrounded by large chairs made of synthetic leather. Two men were sat near the far end, pouring over Datapads and Holo projections. Despite the air conditioning both men were sweating with frustrated looks on their faces. Kalian couldn’t see the face of the man behind them; he had his back to the door and his hands clasped behind his back. Lieutenant Walsh pulled out a seat halfway up the table and gestured for Kalian to sit down. Before he had taken the seat the lieutenant had already left the room.

  “Thank you for joining us, Mr Gaines.” The man turned to face Kalian. A small pit opened in his stomach. Per
haps the most insignificant man in the world was being addressed by the most powerful, and he had no idea why.

  “I realise the way you were brought here wasn’t... ideal,” his voice was deep and full of authority; it commanded attention immediately. Kalian realised that it was this voice that ordered thousands of men and women across the stars on a daily basis. He appeared different in real life, he was slightly less composed. He had the face of a man who hadn’t been sleeping well for years. Who could with all that responsibility? The scar across his cheek was paler in the flesh. Kalian wondered why he had never had it removed. He no longer had the look of a soldier; his hair had grown out along with his stomach. He looked at Kalian with cold grey eyes, it was an intense stare. Kalian felt like he was being inspected from the inside out. The tension crept back into his muscles.

  “I am Chief Commander Hendricks.” Kalian gave a quick glance to the other men but apparently he had no intention of introducing them. Most likely advisers, he thought.

  “Do you know why you’re here, Mr Gaines?” The Chief moved round the table until he was standing opposite Kalian. The spotlight above them shadowed his eyes and accentuated his scar. A lump formed inside Kalian’s throat preventing him from answering. The Chief said, “Judging from your expression, son, I reckon you’ve got no idea what you’re doing here, am I right?” Kalian managed to clear his throat this time.

  “No sir...” He had never been a soldier in his life, but for some reason he felt as if he shouldn’t speak unless spoken to.

  “Well that makes two of us then.” The Chief turned to glare at the men seated at the end of the table. Now Kalian was even more confused.

  How can he not know why I’m here?