Last Stand

by Jeffrey M. Fortney

  “My God,” Jarrod said under his breath. He looked at Captain Bradley who responded with a low whistle. “All of our distant ‘cousins’ out there in the galaxy and we are first to reach Z’La. Wow!”

  The trio had talked while walking down a long corridor. At one point, Harlu Az stopped before a closed door and faced his friends. “I understand that our time is short but I would ask a favor of you, that I might spend a moment in the room beyond.”

  “Harlu Az, you and the Z’Laan have offered us a lifeline,” said Mac Bradley. “A moment is a very reasonable request.”

  “Thank you, Captain Bradley!” replied Harlu Az. He turned and faced the door then began to sing to it in the Z’Laan language. The door slid open and Harlu Az waved to Bradley and Caulder, “Please, join me. There is something I wish you to see.” The alien avatar led the way into the vast room beyond.

  Thousands of slender silver cylinders rose from the floor and extended to a height of about 15 feet into the air. The Terran officers noticed beautiful designs and Z’Laan script covering each of the cylinders. Harlu Az led them with solemn confidence toward one particular cylinder set back about 100 feet from the doorway. He paused before the cylinder and stared at it silently for a few minutes. Sensing the solemnness of the moment, Bradley and Caulder stood silently by their friend.

  “This cylinder represents my house…my family. Behind its metal surface, the discorporate atoms of my original body were interred to honor my service as an Alpha. My memories lived on though my physical form did not,” Harlu Az said softly. He carefully examined the Z’Laan script etched into the cylinder then traced the alien lettering with a finger of one hand and said, “This states that the atoms of my spouse, Tyia, and our children and their children were interred within when they too died…to honor the sacrifice I made for our race.” The avatar of Harlu Az placed his hands flat upon the metal plate and spread his thin fingers out against its surface. He bowed his head until his forehead rested against the metal of the cylinder and remained there for a moment.

  The moment passed and Harlu Az turned to face the Terrans once more. “Thank you, my friends. I may only be a nanite colony avatar with the memory emgrams of Harlu Az but my time spent with you has made me…feel…as if Harlu Az is alive again within me. Such are the strength of his memories upon my programming.”

  “We understand, Harlu Az,” answered Jarrod. “I think we have both come to think of you as Harlu Az of Z’La; not just his memories. In many ways, you are like an incredibly old grandparent, long absent, who has returned to check up on his family.”

  Harlu Az tilted his head slightly to the left and his large, dark eyes focused intently upon the two Terrans. “When we first met, I called you my children. And, it is true, as you and the others of your race are descended from the Z’Laan. Perhaps some small genetic component of Harlu Az was utilized in the genetic matrix that seeded your world. Perhaps, in some manner, I am your grandfather, just many times removed!”

  “Well then, ‘Granther’ Harlu Az,” said Bradley. “I am proud to be related to you!”

  “Same here, ‘Granther’!” said Jarrod.

  “Thank you, my sons!” responded Harlu Az, profoundly moved. “Now, let me take you to the Z’Laan depot that you may see what the Z’Laan can offer to our children in assistance.” Harlu Az cast one last glance at his family’s memorial cylinder then turned, and taking the Terrans in hand, led them from the room.

  Back in the corridor, a transport was waiting for them. The trio boarded the small vehicle and it whisked them back through the corridors to the landing zone where their larger transport waited to fly them back to the Bennu. Within the hour, they were on the bridge of their Z’Laan scout vessel.

  Harlu Az programmed the Bennu’s destination into the ship’s navigation computer and Captain Bradley gave the order to launch. “Aye, sir!” responded Lieutenant Commander Maria Esteban-Smith and the Bennu shot into the air. Once above Z’La’s atmosphere, the Bennu left orbit heading toward the star at the center of the system. Their destination was the star’s second planet, a short distance for a ship of the Bennu’s class and speed.

  As the Bennu approached the planet, Harlu Az relieved Esteban-Smith at the vessel’s helm. The Z’Laan avatar placed both of his hands flat upon the console, fingers splayed. An exotic trilling sound filled the bridge and the other crew members stopped what they were doing to watch Harlu Az closely.

  The Bennu altered course ever so slightly toward the ice covered pole displayed at the top of the primary monitor. It seemed to Bradley and the other Terrans that the Bennu was entering the planet’s atmosphere at an extraordinarily steep angle and at a high rate of speed. Still, they refrained from commenting. It was only when Harlu Az angled the ship into an even steeper dive…straight down toward the polar ice…that Bradley spoke up.

  “Uh, Harlu Az…I hate to backseat drive but that ice is coming up might fast!?!” said Bradley.

  “Rest easy, my son,” replied Harlu Az calmly. The Bennu suddenly accelerated and passed through the polar ice sheet as if it were…a hologram! Harlu Az looked at Bradley and asked innocently, “Would it be appropriate for me to say, ‘Got you?’” Bradley and the rest of the crew suddenly realized that Harlu Az had played a joke upon their captain. Laughter rang out on the bridge with no one laughing harder than Captain Bradley himself.

  The Bennu slowed as the light at the end of the wide tunnel grew larger. The vessel left the tunnel and entered a chamber that had to be thousands of miles across following the interior curvature of the planet’s mantle. Suspended in the center of the vast sphere hung a small, white star-like construct.

  “My children, welcome to Z’Laenarii, Z’La’s Primary Armory. Our gift to our children in their time of need,” said Harlu Az, waving an arm towards the image on the primary monitor.

  The harsh white light of the miniature star illuminated the interior of the sphere. Everywhere the Terrans looked, the interior surface of the planet was covered with giant structures and what appeared to be space vessels of all types and sizes.

  “My God!” Jarrod exclaimed. “The Z’Laan turned this world into a miniature Dyson Sphere!”

  “A what?” asked one young crew member. “What’s a Dyson Sphere, sir?”

  Jarrod Caulder responded, “In the 20th Century, a scientist named Freeman Dyson postulated that a highly advanced race could use all of their star system’s materials to construct a megastructure that would encapsulate their star. By creating a bio-sphere within the giant sphere, they could then harvest all of the star’s energy to power their civilization.”

  “While Dyson wrote about it in one of his scientific works, the concept was originally attributed to a science fiction author by the name of Stapledon. Some say other authors, like Edgar Rice Burroughs, had an influence on Dyson’s thought experiment.” said Captain Bradley. When Jarrod and the others looked at him, Bradley added, “C’mon, everbody! You all know that Commodore Rivers is a science fiction buff…books, short stories, television programs, you name it. And that he often recommends things for his personnel to read or watch to broaden their thinking!”

  Jarrod nodded, having received some of the commodore’s suggestions of certain books to read or movies and television programs to watch. “In this case, instead of encapsulating their own star, the Z’Laan did things a little differently. Harlu Az, did the Z’La modify an existing planet or create a new one?”

  “Jarrod, once again, you and your friends have proven my assessment of you to be very accurate,” Harlu Az replied. “You are sufficiently advanced to consider a variety of possibilities based upon your understanding of what you can observe and what you have learned of the Z’Laan. In this case, we constructed a new world in an orbit least likely to have detrimental effects upon Z’La and our civilization or the other worlds within our star system. We employed the materials from an asteroid belt as well as a number of troublesome cometary objects that we wished to eliminate.”

  �
�We used those materials to construct the inner framework of the sphere’s crust and layered other natural materials upon the surface. We finished the exterior with an oxygen/nitrogen atmosphere, oceans, and plant and animal life. Then we used controlled fusion reactions to create the ‘star’ you see on the primary monitor. The interior, as you can see, was constructed to house power and infrastructure systems, research and development facilities, ship construction and repair facilities, communications, command and control, and many other types of systems. There are portals at both poles, consisting of force fields to retain atmosphere and holographic projectors to disguise the openings,” said Harlu Az as he showed them a time-lapse video on the primary monitor. The Terrans watched as the Z’Laan constructed the artificial world. With the exterior and interior almost complete, the Z’Laan ignited their ‘star’ and their Primary Armory came to life!

  “This is our largest armory. There are four lesser armories hidden in or near other star systems,” Harlu Az added. “The Primary Armory inventory update that I received on Z’La states that there are currently 500 of our super-carriers, each equipped with 150 attack craft; 750 destroyer-class vessels; 1,000 frigates; 1,500 scout vessels such as this vessel, and more than 5,000 vessels of other classes docked here. Additionally, there are supplies, equipment, munitions, and other materials stockpiled in warehouses within the Primary Armory.” As Harlu Az mentioned each type of vessel or item, an image of them appeared momentarily on the primary monitor.

  Bradley and Jarrod both let out soft whistles of appreciation upon seeing the massive super-carriers. Imagine a silvery rectangle a mile tall, two miles wide, and six miles long. The exterior bristles with offensive and defensive weapons while the interior is filled with fusion generators, attack craft hangars, limited crew accommodations, and the massive engines needed to drive the vessel through interstellar space. The ships of the destroyer and frigate classes closely resembled the Bennu…but were each much larger and more heavily armed!

  Captain Bradley asked Harlu Az to scan the interior of the Primary Armory and display the results on the primary monitor. There they sat, docked securely throughout the Primary Armory…thousands of vessels, just waiting to be put into service in the defense of Earth and her colonies.

  “We’re going to need a lot of people to crew all of those ships!” said Maria Esteban-Smith. All Captain Bradley and Commander Caulder could do was nod in silent agreement.

  Chapter 11

  Ship's Log

  The Bennu

  Earthdate: 17 January 2231

  Captain McLelland Bradley, Commanding

  We’ve reached the Z’Laan homeworld and have, apparently, passed muster with the caretakers of the Z’Laan repositories of knowledge and technologies. We have been taken to their Primary Armory containing an armada of their vessels, weapons, equipment, supplies, and other materials. Somehow, we have to find the personnel to crew these vessels and get them trained to fly them. Then we need to get back to Camadin Station ASAP!

  The Bennu sat docked atop a mountainous pyramid that served as the Primary Armory’s command, control, and communications center. Harlu Az led Captain Bradley, Commanders Caulder and Huntington-Smythe, and several other crew members into the C3 center.

  As with other Z’Laan facilities they had visited, the Z’Laan nanite systems had maintained the Primary Armory, its systems, and its contents in a state of operational readiness. Lights came on as personnel from the Bennu entered corridors and rooms. Consoles and displays activated, quickly running through their diagnostics. The Terrans were surprised to see the displays and controls using Terran letters, numbers, and symbols.

  “The data I downloaded on Z’La has been transmitted to the computer systems of Z’Laenarii,” Harlu Az commented. “As we speak, maintenance nanite colonies across Z’Laenarii and aboard each vessel are reconfiguring computer systems, controls, and facilities for Terran use. This will help your people utilize the Z’Laan technology more efficiently as it has aboard the Bennu.”

  The tour through the C3 center continued with Harlu Az pointing out the critical systems, controls, and facilities. Finally, the Z’Laan avatar led them to a conference room where Bradley convened an impromptu meeting.

  “Okay, folks,” Bradley began, “we’re obviously overwhelmed by all of this but we need to focus our attention on what we can and cannot do. We need additional personnel to crew all of these vessels and those personnel need to be trained. We…and when I say we…I mean Humankind doesn’t have the time for us to recruit and train additional personnel. We have sufficient personnel to crew one or two of these ships, but which ones?”

  “Pardon me, Captain Bradley,” said Harlu Az.

  “Yes, Harlu Az?” asked Bradley.

  “We have sufficient supplies of nanite colonies to replicate thousands of drones such as the ones aboard the Bennu,” replied Harlu Az.

  “But wouldn’t they only be useful for performing routine tasks, old boy,” Huntington-Smythe said.

  “With basic programming such as the Bennu’s drones possess, I would agree,” responded Harlu Az. “But at this facility, we have the technology to provide them with advanced programming and thus create true avatars, such as myself.”

  “That wouldn’t really solve our personnel problem, would it? Where would we find enough personnel to have their brains sucked dry to create avatars?” Bradley asked. “The process tends to use up the source material, doesn’t it?”

  “No, Captain Bradley…it does not,” said Harlu Az in a matter-of-fact tone.

  “But your living body died, didn’t it?” asked Bradley

  “Yes…it was already dying when I underwent the process. My body had reached the end of its natural lifetime and would not last long thereafter. While I think like Harlu Az, I am merely a copy of his memory engrams added to the programming of a Z’Laan planetary computer control system on Kulera,” the Harlu Az avatar replied. “When I used a nanite colony to create this form, I downloaded a copy of that gestalt program into it. Through previous updates, I learned that the original Harlu Az outlived the memory engramming process by several of your weeks. He oversaw my installation into the planetary computer control system where you later discovered me. After verifying that I was operating efficiently, he returned home to his family, where he died a short time later.”

  Jarrod, Bradley, and the others perked up. It was Jarrod who asked, “So you’re saying that we can duplicate the memory engrams of our crew, download those engrams into nanite colony avatars and potentially double or triple the size of our functional crew?”

  “Yes…and no!” Harlu Az replied. “Your Terran minds are sufficiently advanced to undergo the engramming process with no difficulty. But we can download these copied engrams into hundreds of avatars, if you wish to.”

  Bradley shook his head. “Speaking for myself, I’m not sure I want to be duplicated. Others may feel the same way.”

  “And we must respect that decision,” Harlu Az stated. “I merely wished to point out that there is one additional opportunity to be explored. The duplicate Terran avatars can be spread throughout our fleet as crew members and provide us with a force of sufficient size to launch perhaps 35 ships. One or more humans should be in command of each vessel. That is not much against the superior numbers of the entire Azairi armada but perhaps it would be enough to save one system initially. Camadin, perhaps?”

  “At which point we can recruit additional personnel,” said Jarrod, “and crew more vessels!”

  “That is my thinking as well, my son.” Harlu Az said looking first at Jarrod, then at Bradley. The other Terrans turned their attention to their captain. They would follow his lead.

  Bradley shook his head. “Damn! If time wasn’t so critical, I wouldn’t even consider this. But our people on Camadin Station, Camadin, and many other worlds are waiting for us to come to their defense…to take the fight to the enemy. We can’t do that without the Z’Laan vessels…and the personnel needed to crew them. I don’t
believe we have another option at this time…other than to return to Camadin with a much smaller force.” Bradley rested his elbows on the conference table and brought his hands together then rested his chin on his hands.

  “We’ll ask for volunteers. Harlu Az, you’re certain they won’t be harmed?”

  “Yes, captain,” the alien doppleganger answered. “You are children of the Z’Laan, after all. We would not wish to harm you.”

  “Alright, then!” said Bradley. “Let’s get the show on the road. Commander Caulder, work with Harlu Az to get the mind copiers up and running. Commander Huntington-Smythe, work with the base computers to get vessels ready to launch. I’ll speak with the crew and ask for volunteers.”

  “I’m in, Skipper!” Jarrod volunteered.

  “Me, too!” responded Maria Yolanda Esteban-Smith.

  “As am I, Captain!” said Ian Huntington-Smythe.

  “Well, damn!” Bradley exclaimed. “Looks like I’ll need to volunteer as well. I wouldn’t want my senior officers showing me up!” With that, the team got to work. They had much to do and relatively few hours to accomplish it.

  **********

  Five days…120 hours later, they had made significant progress.

  Harlu Az programmed the base’s computer systems to increase the nanite colony replication process. Blank drones were rapidly assembled in human form from nanite colonies. As their number grew, Harlu Az brought online the mind scanners and began to process the Terran volunteers. This took time, as all of the Terran aboard the Bennu volunteered to undergo the mind scan and replication process.