The Cross of Mithras Vol. 1: EOD Operation Welcome to Hell

by Douglas Howell

  As he quickly step into the door to the maintenance shaft the first group of dead Demon Cy-Xs hit the large metal floor of the elevator. Their speed, combined with their weight, bent the metal floor causing it to throw Dawson to the floor. As more hit the floor it started to fall into the coolant far below. When Dawson got to his feet he heard another one, still alive, land on it’s feet. Dawson then turned to look at it and noticed that it was near death because of the fall. The Demon Cy-X started to come at him and stopped after Dawson started to load his gun. It then laughed and died. As Dawson turned to walk away (while still loading his gun) another one landed, jumped at Dawson and ripped his back open. The Demon Cy-X then fell over backwards at the same time more Demon Cy-Xs hit the floor. The metal floor than gave way and felled into the reactant coolant. Dawson, still standing, turned to look back. He then dropped to his knees and fainted.

  (2)

  The engineers finally arrived at their destination aboard The Hammer of Doom. It was part of the ship that haven’t seen humans there since the days that the ship was first built. That part of the ship housed one of the ship’s many impulse engines, and because of that, it was cold, dark, and quite foreboding. It indeed told all those (mainly the engineers) who may enter, that it might be their resting place. For if anything should ever go wrong there, there is only one or two possibility for them; the impulse engine would explode or, they would get radiation sickness. More often than not, it was the latter and it told them that their career is over.

  When they finally made it to the impulse engines they close the blast doors, and as tradition demands, they written their name, rank and serial number on the door. It was a very sober moment for each of them, but as engineers onboard a ship they already made their peace. Off to one side of the blast doors were all the equipment, uniforms, and medicine that they will need. Between that space, and the blast doors, on the floor, was a hatch that would lead them to the other side of the door. The hatch on the other side was designed with the hatch facing the impulse engines. It was design that way because in case of an explosion, the explosion would force shut the hatch. Yes it would be quicker for them if there was a door, but the door is a weak point that could give way during an explosion.

  They were sent there to deal with a problematic impulse engine. The very one that off-and-on would give them some type of problem over the course of the life span of the ship. Because the engines were temporary offline while maintenance was repairing all the effected parts that was damaged from the EMP burst, this one troublesome engine was causing the ship to slowly lose orbit. In due time they will fix the problem, discover why the engine was off-and-on giving the ship problems (and fixing it), and save the day. But it came with a price, especially for the ship and crew. One engineer died, and the rest had radiation exposure of varying degrees. And that meant that they could no longer be used and they had to be taken to the surface since they couldn’t be treated onboard. It would take three days longer to fix the ship now. And that is time that they can’t afford to lose.

  (3)

  It was nighttime at the lab complex and a few of the surviving members of Task Force ZH-3C was watching as fuel tanker airships were dropping napalm on the south field to kill any Demon Cy-X’s that was still alive. Although it was too surreal, the darkness, the cries of the dying Demon Cy–X’s being burned alive, the smoke and fire, the explosions from munitions, nobody seemed to care. They watched in quiet detachment until the whole episode was over. It truly was a scene straight from hell and they knew, and feared, that it was only the beginning.

  Throughout the rest of the night, and well into morning, Lenkov had his crew quickly remove all that remained on that field. He knew that there was a strong probability that the next wave would certainty come from there, and he wanted to get his defenses up and running as fast as can be. As more of his crew landed he had them immediately began to work on securing the rest of the lab complex. He did a lot of traveling back and forth between locations making absolutely certain that everybody got it right, and there were no weaknesses. He was not going to leave anything to chance.

  Omori spent the whole time grudgingly going over the data at the lab complex and decrypting data. She seemed to have thrown herself into it even when it was no longer necessary for her to go over the data. She was just too preoccupied with what she was doing. It was obvious that she was looking for something. But what, nobody could tell (or get an answer from her). It was only when Lenkov (who was taking a break) started to talk to her that he finally realize what was wrong.

  “Aren’t you going to answer me?” Lenkov asked Omori when she didn’t respond to his question.

  “I know you mean well… but can this please wait? I’m kind of busy.” She responded. Lenkov could tell that she was holding back on her real feelings and it ran deeper than normal. He then walked over to her and sat on the computer table facing her.

  “I know you.” Lenkov was saying. “You know me. And we are at a impasse. We’ve been here before and you know how it ends. What’s wrong?”

  Omori took a deep breath and thought long and hard before she spoke. “It’s everything. Illes, this so-call army of demons, that damn Liquid Death… “ She then said something in Japanese, but it was too low for Lenkov to hear. It was clear to him that her problem was more spiritual than anything else. It was not a crisis of the faith, more like a rude awaking.

  “If it gets too much… you know how we can solve it.”

  “I know. Just give me a little more time.” Omori responded. Lenkov then kiss her gently and then left. She then sat back in her chair to think long and hard.

  (4)

  Captain Dawson just woke up, struggled to stand up, and check the ammo in his rifle and realized that he is out of ammo. With the amount of blood that he’d lost, combine with his injury, he know that he is close to death and if he doesn’t get help soon, he will be dead. It was his body armor that gave him the chance to live, if only for a little while longer. He is beyond hope, for who would save him now. For he is the enemy to everyone, and everybody wants him dead.

  Dawson was at the ground level of the secret storage level and because the elevator floor fell into the reactant coolant, radiation was coming into the area and it was not being vented out since at the top of the shaft a emergency door was shut to seal off the radiation. Trapped, nowhere to go, and not knowing what’s down there, he had to explore, he had to know. He will find something that will change his life forever and he, in return, will change the lives of Golden Hyperion forever.

  It was strange and even he himself realized it, that he should feel at peace as he stumbled down the long corridor that led to the control room for that level. When he reached the control room he realized that it held new, never before tested, cloning equipment. One equipment could ramp up the production of clones (until the vats broke down) without any degradation in the DNA of the clones, another was a genetic modifier that could combine the DNA of two different clones into one without any significant degradation in the DNA. Both equipment would be considered to be the most advance technological breakthrough in the field of cloning if word ever got out that they exist. And he was the worst person to be down there with all of that equipment.

  “I have you now.” Dawson said after he’d noticed that with one of the control panel he could let out Medusa Pandora.

  “Who are you?” Medusa Pandora asked Dawson through the video monitor after he’d let her out. In the background the alarms were going off.

  “It’s not important. The facility that you are in is controlled by your enemies. I can do no more from my location.” Dawson honestly informed her. She then left without saying a word. He then turned off the monitor and smiled at the havoc he just caused.

  What Captain Dawson did next was even more unimaginably cruel to the people of that world. It is the one thing that everybody will remember him for. He first turned on both of those experimental cloning machines and then he left to add whatever genetic material in
the genetic modifier in the other adjacent room. The only thing that was in that room (besides a cloning bed) was a bleaker with some type of red pod in liquid. Whatever it was it needed a host. A host who had to drink it without eating the red pod. And Dawson decided to become that host.

  After Dawson waited the required length of time, he took off his clothes and sit naked on the cloning bed. He then had to insert long needles into his calves, thighs, solar plexus, forearm, and his jugular. All he had to do next is turn on the machine, close the bin, and go to sleep. It is the machine that will do the last part, it would even monitor his health and try to keep him alive but unconscious. Even if he should die (giving his state it’s still possible) he would die peacefully. But if somebody wanted to kill him… the machine could do that as well.

  (5)

  Sayaka Omori finally made her decision after she saw that Lenkov was losing his cool. When Captain Dawson let out Medusa Pandora it finally hit a nerve with Lenkov. Like a raging angry bull, he went around curing at those who let her escape (even thou it wasn’t their fault), he almost gave orders that would have greatly comprised their mission if it wasn’t for Captain Maxwell who talked sense into him. Omori knew that the only pathway to victory relied upon her and her decisions. But she’d also knew that he was too focused upon the task on hand.

  “I’ve finally made my decision.” Omori told Lenkov after she was finally able to talk with him. He was too busy to care and she’d knew it. But she knew that he would still listen to her. “I decided that it would be best for us to inform the others about Solaris.” She told him after he did not respond.

  “Yeah, alright. I’ll call a meeting.” Lenkov remarked. He was somewhat relieved that she made that decision and not the other one. But he also knew that once the EOD finds out that they, not only told their own crew about Solaris, but also the enemy, the EOD will hunt both of them down and kill them. Very few people knew the real truth about Solaris. Yes it was the name of Sayaka’s former company (she called it that because she was never good at naming things), a company that no longer exist, but it was something that she helped to create within that company why the EOD would not split the two of them up and would go to extreme measures to keep it a secret. It’s also why he didn’t care about her decision.

  The only people who were allowed to show up at the meeting was the senior staff on The Hammer of Doom and Task Force ZH-3C. Although the media was there both Lenkov and Omori made damn well certain that they were too preoccupied with interviewing the non-senior staff crew of The Hammer of Doom to ever notice that the meeting was taking place. Both of them feared that as soon as the EOD found out they would rush there hunt them down and kill them.

  “We have called you here to inform you of a secret that the two of us, as well as the EOD, have been keeping.” Lenkov was telling them. He continued on. “Please note that by both of us informing each of you of this secret the EOD will hunt down each one of us, and that includes each of you, and liquidate us. Believe us when will tell you that they will stop at nothing to bury this secret.”

  After Lenkov finished Sayaka continued. “Each of you knows that I once had a company that I called Solaris. You may or may not know, with me being the lead scientist over my R&D department, we created something that shortly afterward my company folded for unknown reasons. Once again, you may or may not know, that during that time period both of us was trying to join the EOD. We were able to join at the same time period that my company folded. What nobody will ever tell you… is why. Why were we able to join, and why did my company folded? And just what happened to those who were apart of my R&D department? What we are about to show you will answer any questions you may have. Especially why would the EOD liquidate all of us for us telling you this.”

  “Please note that this is an experiment and we have no way of knowing what will happen. It has never been tested before, until today. There is a chance that the two of us may die. So please understand that both of us feels that this is important since we…” Lenkov was saying. He continued on after he took a deep breath. “…we are starting to lose our cool. We feel that this is the only way that we can regain control of ourselves.”

  Within a few seconds both Lenkov and Omori, not only proved that they were nanomorphs, but also they could merge into one. A nanomorph has always been the holy grail of computer related science and nano technology, but nobody has ever created one. Although it’s not well known but when Sayaka was in college she written a paper about the ineffable fall of cyberspace. It was her arguments and her proofs that caused it to go viral (she never got the credit because she didn’t use her real name) within the respective sciences. Even when tested against new technologies, theories, huge amounts of money, the best brains that money could buy - even the EOD tried in vain to debunk her but couldn’t - her tenets held true and fast. Tenet one: in order to understand the future of cybernetics one must look at it’s past. The first computer was a calculator, thus all computers are the same. Tenet two: calculations does not create life. And thus, life is not a calculator. Tenet three: humans are error prone. That which they create are the same. Life is not an error. Tenet four: the human mind can trick itself into believing that something is true when the facts dictate otherwise. Tenet five: human pride is blinded by delusions of grandeur. Tenet six: when money is concerned, money is always right even when it is wrong. It is the eternal truth that nobody likes to waste money for no apparent reason. Tenet seven: fit in or fit out. Nobody wants to be latter. Tenet eight: the previous tenets supports the current one – that pride goes before a fall. Tenet nine: only God can create life, and humans are not a god. And thus, humans will never be able to create machine life. Is it any surprising why the EOD would be so accommodating to allowing her to join them? And what of Lenkov?

  The EOD is not such the fool that it will allow anybody to join them and then become an officer in their army. You must past a test to prove your worth to them. How else can you explain Commodore Parker and his failure to keep his rank? The EOD saw huge potential within Lenkov but he needed further training in an effort to develop the experience that he will need in order to match his rank as determined by his potential. It is not well known (the media was focus mostly upon Sayaka at the time) but while the two of them were stationed upon Valkyrie at the time, Lenkov was deeply involved in his studies as a future EOD officer. Even when he was promoted to a higher rank he still felt the need to study as an EOD officer to which he obviously excelled at. The EOD was deeply overjoyed at the gold mine that they had just inquired in both of them. Can you imagine how they felt when they saw that her theories in nanomorph and AI technology was the most advanced that they ever saw? And the real reason why the EOD sent them to Valkyrie?

  The EOD did one more psychological test upon them after they “discovered” their gold mine. In it they realized that the two of them loved each other so much that they wouldn’t mined becoming the first guinea pigs over, not only becoming a nanomorph, but also merging into one. This was in spite of the fact that the EOD, Lenkov and Omori knew the potential risk. And they were high indeed. All three knew that the entire history of the worthless enterprise of trying to create a nanomorph was wroth with the greatest peril of them all. After the century of delusion was over (humanity thinking that it will be quite easy to create a thinking machine) and the century of pessimism, the century of thinking began to flourish. It was then realized that the reason why a true nanomorph could not be created rested within AI technology. During this time period people started to turn to philosophy and one dominate thought started to flourish – life is not a program, so don’t program. At first the successes were marginal, but all that changed when… Sayaka came around. And that change occurred only after she’d joined the EOD. But Valkyrie was important for a different reason then what anybody, including Lenkov and Omori, knew about. Valkyrie was a resource rich planet as well as being secluded (which is one reason why the rebels more so than the EOD committed war crimes – it was good PR to
do it and then blame the enemy), but the resources that it had was perfect for the creation and experimentation of creating a nanomorph army – hence the Flip Jumpers. By any means necessary the EOD had to control the planet (which is why the EOD wasted so much of it’s political empire).

  From the get-go the arrogance of the EOD started to sour the milk of their so-called gold mine. It was Sayaka (who was far more willing to join the EOD than Lenkov) who started to show the first cracks in her loyalties. Her tactics was simple: delay until either the EOD change (to her satisfaction), or some new opportunity arises that will give both her and Lenkov a way out. Unfortunately, the opportunity that both of them got was to stay in. But still she continued to delay them each time her loyalties was put to the test by the arrogance of the EOD. Ultimately the arrogance of the EOD, which never factors in love, let alone true love, is why Sayaka was able to get away with the cracks in her loyalties.

  “Goddamn she is smart.” Ramirez said after he saw both of them merge. Solaris only gave a smile of extreme intelligence combined with the confidence to boot when he heard that. But something was not right. Only Vaistll could see it in his face. And she wanted to know what it was. She will wait until the others leave and then she can talk to Solaris in private.

  (6)

  1st Lieutenant Illes finally found what he was looking for after a very long search. It was quite some time on Golden Hyperion after the situation was finally settled and peace was achieved. It was a very bitter sweet moment for him as he stood over the pod that held Captain Dawson’s lifeless body. Oh, how he wanted to be the one to take that evil man’s life only to have had that cruel bitch known as fate to snatch it from him. Nevertheless, the job was considered done and Illes decided not to let fate have the final word. Yes he will claim the credit, but he still wanted fate to give him something back. He did needed something, anything, so that his soul could rest in peace.