"You need this," Kyle grinned, displaying a small gap between his upper front teeth. "It's all in the dentistry. Breakfast, at the canteen?"
"Absolutely! I'm starving," she replied, patting her stomach. Having not eaten anything since yesterday afternoon aboard the transit liner, she had been hoping there would be time for a leisurely meal. The final briefing started at 1000hrs and was scheduled to run into the evening. Where was her info-wristband? Probably still in the bungalow. "I hope there's time for a breakfast", she said. "What time is it, Kyle?"
He licked his finger and held it into the warm morning breeze. "It's a quarter to, ouch!"
"A quarter to ouch already!" she grinned, pinching her long-time colleague and best friend again. "It's great to have you here, Kyle," she continued. "Admiral Morrison is pretty easy-going but can't tell a joke to save his life." She linked arms with Kyle and broadened her stride to set a brisk pace. "Move it soldier, I'm wasting away here."
"Shouldn't you lock your door first?" Kyle replied, indicating the open door of her bungalow.
"Rampaging gangs of underpaid command staff are a big problem around here then? Oh I bet they’re waiting to loot my kitbag and huckster, then sell my smalls to an Adelaide curio store," she chuckled.
"I wouldn't rule out the possibility," Kyle grinned.
"Wait a minute." She hurried back to her flat. "I've got something for you, from Europe." She reappeared a few seconds later, locked the door and returned to Kyle, conspicuously concealing something in her right hand. "Close your eyes and hold out your hand."
"What's this?" Kyle asked, feeling the object. It was a small sphere, it felt half the size of a tennis ball, and it was heavy, much too heavy for its size. The surface was incredibly smooth and cool to the touch, yet Kyle felt there was also a curious kind of warmth that somehow transmitted itself straight into his fingers.
"You can open them now," Elena instructed.
The sphere had a wondrous lustre, a rich blend of blues and whites, like an over-sized marble whose colours undulated over its surface, forming tiny turbulences in the white, which roiled as he watched, revealing green and earth contours. It was, he realised, a dynamic miniature Earth, constantly forming new cloud formations, alive with unceasing movement, like a living being, a magical creature from the realm of fantasy.
"It's beautiful, Elena!"
She smiled. "Now let it go."
Kyle let the sphere roll gently from his hand. It fell a few centimetres, as if sinking into cotton wool and then rose to the level of his chin and began rotating, slow and majestic, around its own axis.
Elena watched, as if spellbound. "Now," she whispered, almost to herself. "Name one of the planets. Any one."
"Mars," Kyle said, without thinking.
The sphere was motionless for an instant, and then, slowly, it reversed its rotation and the colours transformed with blues and whites metamorphosing into unmistakable red and orange hues. The Red Planet was suspended before him.
"Wow!" The staggered Kyle managed to say, "Can it also… how about… Jupiter?"
The sphere began another transformation, expanding to four times its previous size and donned the ochre, cloud-striped face of Jupiter, the giant perpetual storm of its famous Red Spot, rotating into view as he watched.
"The scale's wrong," he observed. "Compared to Mars."
"It would be correct if you'd stepped back," she replied. "Morphing Toys are all the rage at the moment. Terrific isn't it?"
Kyle nodded in agreement. "What else is it able to do?" he asked, touching it with his hand. The surface was still totally smooth, smoother than anything he had ever felt, almost frictionless, and it still had that strange cold yet warm sensation.
"All the planets, the more interesting moons, a few comets, the Sun, the night sky from various locations, views under the oceans of Earth and Titan."
"The Moon," Kyle said. He watched the sphere change dimensions and colours again and plucked the now marble sized ball from the air. "It must have been expensive." He observed, feeling somewhat god-like as he held the satellite in the palm of one hand.
"A friend of mine made it. Gisbert, you knew him I think, the love of Ayse McCallum's life?" She took his hand and gently folded his fingers around the sphere. "He created it especially for the man who is going to lead us back to the stars. He made it for you Kyle."
"But…" Kyle was suddenly left groping for words. "I'm little more than a guinea pig. I… I have to call him and thank him for this amazing gift."
Elena gazed at him with her dark, almond eyes and linked arms with him again. "You can't Kyle, he died in a deep-sea accident over two years ago. His mother gave me this last week, with a message for either you or me, whoever was chosen. Do you want to hear it?"
Kyle nodded.
She touched her wristband, which she had retrieved from her apartment before. It played back the message.
"I want to believe that Ayse's death hasn't been completely in vain. I want to believe that she has helped push open the gates to the stars once again. I want to believe she has opened the way for humanity to flourish again, without repeating the same mistakes. Wherever you go, whatever you do – Lin or Kyle –, be guided by the human heart, not the sterile logic of the machine. I've created this morphing sphere so that you will always carry a memory of our beautiful home, keep it with you always and return it to Earth, unharmed and in peace, someday."
CHAPTER 4
Martinus Sandas is a slob. What's more, he's a fanatic. No one will remember his name this time next year.
Nyana Gunne
Year 205 bzt.
Nopileos sat back on his sleeping table, leaning against the wall, his claws resting comfortably on the humidifier. The title bar of the reader in his claws luridly blared the title of an adventure novella, "Space Station Antigone Does Not Respond", a fast-paced anti-war story describing the lives of an Argon Egg-Couple during the Xenon Conflict around Jazura 214.
Nopileos peered absently over his reader into the Egg-Nest, the big community and sleeping room he and his colleagues used for rest and recuperation between classes. He wondered, what exactly an "Egg-Couple" was. As far as he was aware the Argon were non-oviparous, did not reproduce by eggs like his own species. Could it be the Teladi translation lacked accuracy?
His attention moved to the window. It was a splendorous morning, as were most mornings here at the Hatchery. The planet, Platinum Ball, was the seventh planet of the sun Company Pride and home of the famous Hatchery of Company Pride and was one of the nicest places a Teladi could imagine. Unfortunately, it was totally useless in any other regard due to the lack of natural resources or native fauna. Reportedly even the atmosphere was generated by huge sub-surface gas converters at the poles of the planet, built by mysterious beings a long time ago. However, despite three dozen suns of occupation no Teladi had ever bothered to explore the poles. Instead they had noted with surprise and satisfaction that the Argon seemed to have a similar idea of paradise to the Teladi – a very strange observation indeed.
A beautiful blue ocean, broken by only a few medium-sized islands, covered more than 80% of the planet surface. The rest was covered by the small continent of Holmaseos, a Teladi enclave and location of the Hatchery, and the large leisure continent Ebelon. Every year it was infested by millions of Argon in need of recreation - an unexpected source of profit that had secured the lucky discoverer of the Argon wanderlust a seat on the Teladi Board of Directors.
Nopileos snorted in surprise as the reader snapped forwards and hit his nose.
"Hello, dear colleague!"
He looked up and saw Hegebalios, who looked at him tilting his head to the side and raising his scale crest, amused. Hegebalios' scales shone a bright hatchling green that was a permanent source of hilarity, making him a bit of an outsider, too.
"What's up, my friend?" he said by way of a greeting.
"Well, you know, the first few lessons after a Wozura of directed studies are always the worst. But
still, the class begins shortly. Financial management and profit science."
Nopileos sighed loudly through his nostrils. Of all things, those were the most boring subjects he could imagine!
"Oh Egg-… wasn't history and brood care on the agenda?"
"Yes, but the classes have been cancelled due to recent news. Anyway, brood care is horrible, not to mention history!"
Nopileos wiped his nose with his tongue. Discussing with his colleagues which subjects were boring and useless was a pointless exercise he'd found, especially since the teachers seemed rather bored themselves when it came to these things. Several times Nopileos had caught a teacher stating something that was obviously wrong, but he quickly learned that nobody was interested in his corrections.
"What news?" he asked trying to sound interested.
Hegebalios raised his claws, spreading his vestigial webbing in a gesture of uncertainty.
"I am not totally sure - there are signs of a real storm brewing over the stock market."
"Now isn't that terrible," Nopileos commented, his voice deliberately laced with boredom.
"Tss-shhh-hh," Hegebalios hissed. "Nopileos, you are an incorrigible ignoramus. Are you coming now?"
Nopileos glanced briefly at his reader before he switched it off, got up and followed his nest colleague. He was cherishing the last haunting sentences as he trudged along to continue making his stand against the inevitabilities of life:
"Nyana, my heart is yours forever. My life is empty without you and nobody else shall ever be my sun. Will you wait for me? Please promise you will!" The image on the tiny monitor flickered due to the magnetic interference of weapons fire. Still, Martinus saw a single tear running down the cheek of his beautiful truelove.
"Forever, my love", she whispered.
An explosive glare illuminated the night sky, briefly turning darkness to day. Martinus was blinded for a brief moment and once his eyes re-adjusted to the darkness again the small screen was just empty static. His blood ran cold in a fear that strangled his heart with an iron grip that left him paralysed for a dreadful, timeless, moment.
Only when dawn broke did he turn off the communicator and slipped it into his pocket. Adrift in memory and walking in a daze he stepped outside into the cold of the Argon winter.
CHAPTER 5
Humour, intelligence, imagination and true love are inseparably linked with each other. They did not come into existence by chance, nor did they emerge from nothingness. They're a quintessential part of qualia. Every human being shares a part of it, every self-conscious creature throughout the universe, no matter when, where and under what circumstances it is living.
Carta Frends
Argon historian, 174-214 bzt.
"Seven years ago," Admiral Molander summarised, four hours later, "we were able, at the cost of two lives and the heavy salvage vehicle Rii-4, to capture a heavily damaged space ship that had emerged into the solar system. It was a Terraformer craft, with a drive system capable of inter-stellar travel without jump-gates. We are quite sure it was a prototype that dropped back into normal space near the QUASI Synchrotron due to either failure or miscalculation." Admiral Molander took a deep breath and waited until the images of the salvaged ship on the large screen behind him finished scrolling. The last shot showed the QUASI installation.
Kyle threw Elena a pained glance. The facts were known for years, repeating them was unnecessary, particularly in long, convoluted detail, presented in a hasty speed as if someone was hunting the Admiral. Elena lifted a finger in a discreet gesture, familiar through long friendship. He knew she wanted him to have a little more patience – and that soon she'd be adding some new important information. He forced his attention back to the Admiral.
"We are relatively certain the Terraformer ship did not get to send out a distress call before we deactivated it. According to current science, faster-than-light communication is impossible, as you all know." The Admiral stole a quick glance at his audience. "We also believe there's no imminent danger of a new Terraformer attack. According to our latest findings, the arrival of this single prototype ship was an accident, and thus it was preferred not to inform the public to avoid a global panic. Nevertheless, we started a precautionary program to reconstruct and possibly improve the principle of the gateless jump-drive, aided by reverse-engineering the remnants of the Terraformer ship." Finishing with these words, the Admiral summoned Elena with a curt nod. She joined him at the front.
"I'll try and make this succinct," Elena said. "We know the facts, the mission plan is firm. Captain Brennan," she indicated Kyle with a short nod, "has been fully trained and is ready to handle any eventuality." The screen behind her now displayed a large antique-looking space ship against a small dark green moon, catching the distant sunlight. The hull of the ship looked old, battered, and its white paint, grubby. Only the USC symbol, gleaming from the flank, looked new.
A murmur of recognition rippled around the fifteen officers looking at the screen. "Okay, yes, it's an old model that should have fallen to pieces a century ago. A Jupiter B, Series 1, one of only seven ever built and all of them still in service. This particular one here has been in active duty for over 130 years. Its name is Getsu Fune – or moon ship, and yes, that's Io in the background. Appropriate, no?" She paused to allow the group to absorb the next image. It showed a circular bluish-white light, a blurred shape seemed to be emerging from it. It was the Getsu Fune, obviously frozen in a moment of immense speed.
"She carries the first prototype Quantum Singularity Tunnel Drive, to avoid twisting our tongues we like to call it a jump-drive. So far, the Getsu Fune has successfully absolved more than a dozen unmanned jumps of up to two light hours. Gentlemen, I'd like to spare you the ugly details. I'm not a physicist myself, and you know more or less the same as I do about its mode of operation. To cut a long story short, it creates a singularity that's stable for a few nano-seconds, long enough to pull the ship through hyperspace to its destination instantaneously. And it's perfectly safe for humans. Or so our instruments assert."
Kyle flashed her a comic-book grin of glee, which as he was in the front row, none of the audience could see. Elena managed to suppress her own smile.
"Captain Brennan's mission tomorrow will be to put some empirical flesh to the theory."
The display shifted again to show another spacecraft. This ship was a medium shuttle, modern, streamlined and atmosphere-capable. Only the longitudinal bulge, running above the cargo bay and down the hull, distinguished it from the standard model. "We had to remove life-support from the Getsu Fune to fit the test instrumentation, so Captain Brennan will fly this for his mission. I'm sure he'll prefer this sporty little number, given his playboy charm." The audience laughed. Even Admiral Molander forced a smile onto his face.
"Oh, and by the way, we kept it quite simple when it came to christening the craft. The proposal to name this experimental ship simply X, though, came from the civilian scientists, not the military. It got stuck quickly, as you can certainly imagine." They smiled again and Elena judged by their relaxed faces that they had recovered enough from the trauma of the Admiral's briefing to follow her more detailed analysis. For the next fifteen minutes she described in detail the structural modifications carried out on the X and went over each step of the following day's scheduled test flight.
Kyle listened attentively, absorbing each new detail. A small deflector shield and a single laser had been added to the normally unarmed ship. He wondered what they expected him to fight on a short, two light-month jump into the void of inter-stellar space. He wouldn’t encounter anyone or anything en-route, nothing at all he could possibly shoot at. He guessed it was because the military never walked anywhere without a stick, big or otherwise. Hell, some of the officers he knew would drive their grandmothers to their bridge parties in an APC if the regulations only permitted it! Well… then again, he was one of them himself and shouldn't be too surprised. A slight smile played around his lips as Elena wound up the briefi
ng.
CHAPTER 6
Sometimes I can't help but wonder – why me? Why did the universe choose me to unravel these hidden laws of nature? I have no idea. Should I be grateful?
Well, sometimes I am.
Dr. Siobhan Inja Norman
ArgoNet::Science View, Issue 8/504 z.t.
The halls of the Hatchery were almost deserted, just the odd Teladi hatchling dashing past Hegebalios and Nopileos, hastily heading for their nest group class-rooms. They'd probably be a bit late but with luck the teachers would not notice. Nopileos had sort of a jester's licence anyway – the rules of the hatchery didn't include a punishment for late appearances and dalliance. The law-givers of the institute had clearly not anticipated this sort of attitude.
To Nopileos' astonishment, Sissandras, who usually was dead on time without fail, was waiting for them in front of the classroom looking uneasy. Why wasn't he duly seated inside?
"Hi brother?" Nopileos greeted him, looking puzzled.
"Brother," Sissandras responded, which surprised Nopileos even more. How long ago was the last time Sissandras had called him brother? Suns ago! Something seemed to be worrying the young Teladi.
Sissandras turned to Hegebalios, "Hello colleague, just proceed inside, we'll follow shortly."
Hegebalios waved his scale crest in acknowledgment and stepped into the classroom. Nopileos glanced in as the door closed. The students hadn't taken their seats and the lecturer was not visible, if they entered now nobody would notice they were late.
Sissandras did not waste any time and came right down to business. "Have you seen my AutoBroker?"
"Which?"
"The small one." Sissandras did not appear to notice the pointlessness of Nopileos' question.
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