THE ENDLESS DARK OCEAN_A space epic that will change the history of the universe

by Boris Mosso

  —Your people must bring the object back to the Solarian System. We’ll take care of it from that point on.

  —Forgive me, but I insist on my question. If we’re evacuating, it’s because the Council is expecting an invasion in our system; if this happened, we would bring the object directly to these bastards.

  —It won’t be your problem from there on. Captain, we will find them at their return to the Solarian System, I can’t tell you anymore. Thus, I also trust in your decisions when the time comes. I trust your instinct.

  —I’m sorry to contradict you, but this venture is unachievable. In case of achieving what you’re ordering me to do, considering near zero possibilities, do you know how much time it could take? It could be years or decades and there’s war now!

  —Lena, everything has a purpose. You will find out the way to tackle difficulties and distance for sure, even the time to accomplish this. You’ll come back, I have faith in you. I know you’ll come back one way or another…

  —First Counselor, I have faith in my crew and in my spaceship’s weapons, nothing else.

  De Kraun couldn’t stop from smiling; it was clear now that Tronius was that woman’s father.

  —You’ll achieve it; I have no doubts about it anymore.

  —I don’t understand. Why was I chosen? You had thousands of better options…

  —It’s not my place to explain that to you, since I didn’t choose you.

  Lena, completely displaced and disoriented already, couldn’t argue anything else. Her teeth hurt from tightening them. She would have rather gone in first row against the invaders in the Atirov System in an unarmed spaceship, than to depart in a useless and unrealistic incursion, like the one she was facing ahead.

  —How will it be done then?

  —We have a couple of very well equipped and ready Vector spaceships for you. The main Vector is waiting for you in hangar eight; the escort Vector is outside, in the nearby space of our Flantart, it’s what’s required for the incursion.

  —Why did Commander Terilian’s expedition have twenty spaceships and this one only two?

  —This time we’ll take a low-profile position. A small group departing at full speed and immediately leaping into hyperspace in consecutive leaps already programmed, trying to quickly get away from the system in tens of thousands light years in a few days.

  —I understand, are you afraid the Browns could pursue us?

  —It’s a real possibility, yes… You should be alert of possible pursuers.

  —Then, did the Browns intercept Terilian?

  —We don’t know what happened to him, but we’re sure that he left the Galactic Spiral a few days after taking off. Then he got lost in the depths of the endless dark ocean.

  —An area I’ll cross with only two Vectors.

  —Yes, you’ll have an excellent crew.

  —And my people… my crewmen, weren’t they fit for this?

  —They’re not yours; they are the Espacians’ fleet crewmen and as such, they will know how to comply with their tasks wherever they have to.

  —They trusted me, they knew me, and I knew them…

  —Forget about them, you’ll have a new crew. There are reasons for it. It’s not up to you to question them, nor for me to explain them to you.

  Lena turned around and took a few steps. She moved her head from side to side restraining harsh words which filled her mind by dozens.

  She understood that she had been rudely out of line several times, and she wouldn’t risk herself by abusing from the unexpected and benign First Counselor’s tolerance again, who, unexplainable for her, looked at her with undisguised respect and affection; even sweetly.

  She tried to remember that she was in front of the Spacian breed’s highest authority. This very tall, friendly looking old man standing in the middle of the room, and who she contradicted and vehemently already questioned for long minutes, was the person who commanded the entire Solarian System; he was even over the other Counselors and the Espacian fleet’s Admiral himself. She didn’t even know someone who had been with him at any time.

  —Are they Vector spaceships then?

  —It’s not the same type of spaceship led by you up until now. We’re talking about a new version. Identical to the ten which Commander Terilian took with him.

  —Weren’t they twenty spaceships?

  —He also took ten Black Stars.

  —I see, very wise of you.

  —Your specific orders are waiting for you in the systems on board. Your experienced First Officer, called Pranus, will instruct you about the journey’s plan details; you’ll understand everything after comprehending that information and meeting with the scientists. Your spaceship will be the Operation Center. The other spaceship is led by Captain Irgo Fromdert, which has a reinforced endowment of robotic hunters. The role of this second Vector will be to protect the main spaceship at all costs. You’re leading the mission regarding the operational and military’s decisions. The experts and scientists will help you find System X and, lastly, the object.

  —Are civilians in this mission?

  —Of course, Lena, this expedition requires all the knowledge and experience available in Espacia and from the specific scientific field, to assure the highest success probability. Professor Trivian, a notorious geneticist, leads the scientist’s group.

  —I don’t know who he is.

  —You’ll get to meet him. They’re waiting for you now; we’re all waiting for your departure.

  As soon as you depart, our Flantart will go into hyperspace. In fact, we’re the only ones here, Lena; we’re the last Espacians in the Solarian System and we should leave now; we can’t risk ourselves and have the invader come into our system and find us, they could follow us.

  Lena had no qualms about that argument. It was unfortunately known, that the invader possessed the abilities to follow the spaceships at hyperspace leap time, by all the unified fleets. If they were near.

  That technology was and is still unknown by the Espacians and its allies up to that moment.

  With a fait accompli, Lena was only able to bid farewell resignedly and withdrew. Four members from the Boreal guard were waiting to escort her outside the rooms, to hangar eight. Lena then ended up understanding that nothing was left to chance.

  De Kraun remained staring at the closed door for an instant, until an old man’s hologram appeared at some three meters away from him. The lights changed its luminosity and shading, changing noticeably to light blue.

  —First Councilor, you’ve done it very well.

  —Trivian, could you ever call me by my first name?

  —It’s too late for that… No one in the entire system can call you by your first name, how could I, Councilor De Kraun?

  —It’s never late, my old friend. Specially you and Tronius can call me like that privately.

  The elderly Professor Trivian was seen tilting his face in the hologram, hiding it for an instant, then he began talking again about another subject:

  —It’s very tough to see her for the first time in person, isn’t it so?

  —Yes, I thought it wouldn’t affect me… have you ever seen her like that, face to face?

  —Yes, when she was still a little girl, I visited her often but without her knowing it. Long after, I saw her from afar, when she graduated from the navigators’ school in the Baltar Moon, twenty years ago. I couldn’t resist it and I went incognito to the ceremony, so she wouldn’t recognize me later; however, at the end of the graduation, I carelessly almost bumped into her. We looked at each other a few seconds and then I slipped away amongst the crowd.

  —I see.

  —Did the Admiral calm down?

  Yes Professor, he thinks it was just a favor for him; it’s better that way.

  —What a coincidence.

  —Could it be a coincidence?

  —Maybe that was also destined to happen, we don’t know what action can change things. It’s something beyond our understanding a
nd from the limited advanced options that we’ve had and will have from now on.

  —We won’t know it until the end, when everything is revealed.

  —That’s the reason I’m going with them. We’re counting with this only real possibility to find the object. We won’t have another chance.

  —It exists… the rest, everything else is uncertainty. Even so, it’s enough for me to believe. How long are we going to keep the secret?

  —I don’t know, any situation could cause a counterproductive change; that’s the reason why not even Doctor Zenda has been informed about Lena’s real condition in this plot; even the agents from the Espacian Intelligence Office assigned to the incursion, ignore its importance.

  They know we’re going after the object. Of course, they know the rest of the strategy, but they don’t know anything about Lena except the basics. The time to reveal our game will be at the journey’s last minute.

  De Kraun remembered the educational discussion about the coverings or information layers carried out with Director Umbaga, just a few minutes ago, a sea of anguished thoughts flooded him.

  He was about to confess that the Espacian Intelligence Director, didn’t give much importance to Lena nor the other expedition members’ return and, that he only cared about the object’s recovery and Trivian’s life.

  —It could well be that way. Trivian, maybe needless to say, but the identity of the Intelligence agents should be kept completely secret.

  You know about the great possibility of carrying an enemy’s undercover hidden or camouflaged in one of the spaceships, or even in both. Our agents will be on alert to act and for that, they should be kept in anonymity. Only Doctor Zenda is aware and that makes me a little nervous, although I understand that she knew Renar from the beginning.

  —I know, First Councilor, don’t worry. She’ll know how to keep the secret, even if it doesn’t look like it, she has a strong and determined character. Regarding the safety of our contingency agents and their underground activities, you shouldn’t worry about it either. I’ll be watching out for them. For your peace of mind, Mr. Umbaga has given me an espionage professorship a couple of days ago.

  —It’s all in your hands, Trivian. Besides, you’re traveling with a second mission. Your personal project.

  —I wouldn’t be able to tell you which one is the most personal. You are aware of the countless difficulties we had to keep this scientific option open. To count on the hundreds of needed specialists, plus the substantial resources used during four hundred years, has been exhausting; everything was about to be lost many times, like that day we met… You were a Council’s diplomatic delegate around those times.

  —I was a very much anonymous figure at that time, something pathetic and very ambitious. A self-conscious provincial stuck in, half forced, in the political plot from the burocratic equipment of the troubled government in that era. I think it was kind of naïve and cynical also, even when he had served the Systemic Council for fifty years.

  —Could be, I rather remember him tearing his comfortable burocratic clothing protected by the First Councilor with a splendid future assured, to dress up as a leader of this cause with courage and determination, worthy of some of our fireproof heroes from the past.

  —I didn’t have any other alternative.

  —Yes, you did, but you chose the hardest and most dangerous one. I remember that after that day, the First Councilor De Mediaret wanted to kill you. If it hadn’t been for Gotkela…

  —Gotkela was one of the best men I met. I owe him my life and both of us owe him more things that you very well know.

  —Yes, it’s true. But you paid a high price for turning your back on Isban De Mediaret… Years of diplomatic stagnant career and its truncated ascension to the Council.

  —De Mediaret was a very intolerable guy, so I didn’t lose a big deal.

  —Anyways, he reached the highest power levels.

  —It’s true, but from there on it was for the right reasons, my great friend.

  —I remember when they finally elected him as Councilor. From that moment on I began to rely on you, I must acknowledge it. And later, when you took on the First Councilor’s position ten years ago, it was the first time I slept peacefully in centuries.

  —What else would I have done, after seeing the Dormant with my own eyes? Besides listening to that secret recording which came in the capsule… Even today, I cringe recalling that voice.

  —Thanks, your excellency, without you, everything would have been lost.

  —Trivian, the countdown which you found hidden in the sequential vibrations in the Dormant’s inside cells … remains without changes, right?

  —Yes, your excellency. Nothing has changed… It’s very close.

  —I know it’s very close, but we still don’t know what it is for.

  —It’s already too late to keep on guessing about it. I trust that after the countdown ends… something marvelous will happen.

  —We all expect it… even though more than one of your scientists predicted a disaster.

  —Trivian’s face turned pale before speaking again.

  —For centuries we have studied the Dormant and, however, it still has a lot of secrets. Up until now, all the signs have guided us to this point… I’m confident we haven’t made a mistake. It would be detrimental.

  De Kraun understood that nothing he could say then, would change anything else. The cards had already been drawn, by which he decided to change the discouraged course, the conversation was taking.

  —I’ve been with Miseran…

  —When?

  —A couple of hours ago,

  —But… How was he able to reach the Solarian System?

  —He managed to be sent as a messenger by the Unified Command, to take the latest battle fronts’ developments. He met with Tronius and then arrived at this spaceship.

  —You’ve never wanted the Scardians to link to the object and the Dormant… Despite Miseran also having visions about it. Reason why he approached me some years ago. I have a feeling he is hiding something from us also.

  The First Councilor’s face showed an unmistakable mixture of nuisance and anguish upon answering. Trivian understood that De Kraun fought in his inner self to clarify the right path.

  —I’m still not convinced that involving Miseran in this is the right thing. We already know that he’s a noble and courageous being, but… he’s still a Scardian, and on top of that, a member of the Scardian Army and if at the end, the object happens to be a weapon capable of wiping out entire planets…

  —We don’t know that.

  —In any case, Umbaga has always been suspicious of him and of his story. He keeps thinking that it’s a tale only made to infiltrate in our discoveries and seize our secrets.

  —Umbaga believes that Miseran wants the object for the Scardians to use it against us then. He believes that Miseran is a Scardian Intelligence agent.

  —Exactly, and there’s nobody to get him away from that.

  —I’m very sorry. I believe we’re making a huge mistake by alienating Miseran from all this. Did someone else come with him?

  —Yes, Blatias and Orben Drak.

  —Orben Drak was here?

  —Yes, he was… but don’t worry about it anymore. Besides, nobody should know it, not even Umbaga.

  Trivian moved away from the holographic screen for a minute, to then ask another question which caused him great concern.

  —Did you tell me that Blatias came with Miseran? Did Admiral Tribar see him?

  —No, he never knew his son was on board.

  —It’s something cruel. The Admiral still thinks his son is dead and a traitor. If Tribar dies fighting in the Vintar Constellation, he’ll do it thinking that his son is a renegade who died betraying the Spacia’s fleet.

  —I know. Bitter sacrifices are the ones that the wars push on us… It could not be another way for the time being. The fact that they both work secretly for me, can’t be disclosed. Only Tro
nius knows about Orben Drak, although in this coming through, he didn’t know he was on board of Miseran’s spaceship either.

  —I understand Orben Drak coming… but why did Blatias come?... It doesn’t make sense.

  —He wanted to see his father before the Admiral left to the great battle in Atirov… that’s about it. He watched him silently during the entire time that the holographic contact lasted, but without revealing his presence.

  —I feel extremely sad for them all. They have sacrificed a lot.

  —Trivian, the time to depart from each other is approaching…

  —I know.

  —It’s been an honor meeting you. If I helped you in any way, it doesn’t mean anything compared with the hope you’re giving us now, when we finally understand which the last and crucial purpose of what could have been discovered hundreds of years ago.

  —We don’t even envision the last purpose which randomly was thrown in our hands. Although it shouldn’t have been at random.

  —We believe that within the Council, finding the object, its whole purpose will be resolved.

  —I regret contradicting you, First Councilor, but I have a feeling that the future is going to go beyond us completely.

  —Trivian, before we were all born, you already worked in our future salvation; it’s something unbelievable…

  —I didn’t have any idea of what I was doing, apparently, I’m another instrument of our Ancestors or our fate.

  —You still haven’t answered my question. Are you taking your second self-imposed mission ready? The genetic cylinder. So much knowledge and power locked in such a small receptacle. The Council never intended to give it back to you; it’s something between you and me. Although I don’t honestly understand your view point.

  —Thanks for that huge consideration. You shouldn’t worry. We’ll use it in an extreme situation and in a distant place. A place with the necessary conditions in the event of seeing it all lost. It could, and hopefully our Ancestors don’t allow it, be the last chance for our species to live.

  —Even if some of us had no memory left from Espacia and the Solarian System? Even so, Professor?