He pulled away, frowning. “Lieutenant Dempsey, are you feeling all right?”
“Don’t you mean Deedee?”
“Dee...” he shook his head.
“That’s what you call me. Deedee.”
“I do?”
Her grin faded. “You don’t remember.”
Remember... She had somehow assumed a level of intimacy with him that he didn’t recall. Remo tried to remember the last time he’d been black-out drunk, but that had been with Sergeant Torres, and he hadn’t blacked out.
“My memories are more recent than yours,” Lieutenant Dempsey said, nodding slowly. “We were together before...” She swallowed thickly and grimaced. “Before we died.”
A chill ran down Remo’s spine. Assuming she wasn’t lying, the discrepancy in their memories only served to drive home the fact that they’d died and now, somehow, they were back again. He felt like the same person, but clearly not everything was the same, or else he would have remembered his relationship with Lieutenant Dempsey.
“We were... in love?” he asked wonderingly. Had this woman somehow accomplished the impossible and gotten him to fall in love with her?
She nodded slowly. “We were.”
“Not just a one-night stand?” he pressed.
She bristled at that. “I should slap you.” She turned and stormed away, but there wasn’t anywhere to run to. His quarters were the standard size—small. He walked up behind her and touched her arm. She flinched, but he wrapped her up in an embrace that felt all wrong to him. He didn’t recognize the version of himself that this woman remembered, but he owed it to both of them to rediscover whatever they’d lost.
“I want to say I love you back, but I don’t feel it, and I don’t want to lie. I’m sorry, but I don’t remember us being together.”
Lieutenant Dempsey twisted out of his arms and turned to face him with her arms crossed over her chest. “So where do we go from here?”
He thrust out a hand. “Lieutenant Commander Remo Taggart.”
She scowled at his hand for a long, tense moment, and he wondered if she really would slap him this time.
To his surprise, she uncrossed her arms and accepted the handshake. “Lieutenant Desiree Dempsey.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” he said. “I look forward to getting to know you better.”
Her scowl turned to a sly grin. Walking backward, she tugged him along by his hand, leading him through the small living area to his bedroom.
“Woah, slow down,” he said. “How about we start with dinner? I’m hungry.”
“So am I,” she said with a sultry grin. She waved the door to his room open and pushed him back onto the bed, giving him a nice strip tease while she climbed out of her jumpsuit.
Remo watched, appreciating each of her curves in turn and marveling at his luck. Maybe she really did get me to fall for her.
After they made love, they lay in each other’s arms staring up at the ceiling.
“I missed you,” Deedee said.
“How long have you been awake?” he replied.
“Only a day,” she replied, “but we’ve both been... dead—” she said, struggling with the word, “—for more than three weeks.”
Remo nodded, and his stomach growled noisily. They lay in each other’s arms a while longer, and Remo dozed off, dizzy with hunger. He woke up to an announcement coming over the PA system, ordering everyone to head to the nearest mess hall for an orientation lunch.
“Let’s go,” Deedee said, and climbed out of bed.
Remo took a second to appreciate the view of her naked backside before getting up and pulling his jumpsuit back on.
They left his quarters, walking hand-in-hand. Outside, the corridor was crowded with passengers and crew leaving their quarters, too. They were back where they’d started a few weeks ago. Problem was Remo couldn’t remember any of it—his knowledge of everything felt second hand, a dream-like summary he remembered before waking from his tank. He knew what his role was on board the ship, but there were gaping holes in his memory that left him feeling uncertain about everything. The corridor was crowded with people like him, all looking confused, all shouting to be heard above the rising tumult.
A group of Marines riding two-wheeled vehicles—patrollers, he thought, remembering the name—came rolling down a lane in the center of the corridor.
“Make way! Please proceed in orderly lines to the mess halls. This way!”
Deedee tugged on his arm. “Come on,” she said.
They walked with the crowd, following the Marines to an echoing mess hall. Two-wheeled bots rolled around getting everyone seated. Remo remembered those bots were called drudges, and he marveled at how he could remember that. Everything he knew or remembered had been implanted in a new body, a clone of his original self, a feat that simultaneously proved and disproved a life after death. If there were something else out there, then how could he still be here? Remo frowned and shook off his unease.
A server drudge delivered two trays of food to their table. Remo went on frowning, now at the food—a pile of rice and canned beans with a side of gelatinous pink meat.
“What’s this?” he asked, nose wrinkled as he poked the pink jelly with his fork.
“It tastes better than it looks,” Deedee said.
She was right. When they finished eating, a familiar-looking man stood up from the mess hall to address them all. “For those of you who are new here, my name is Mikhail Markov,” he said. “I’m your section Councilor. And this is Commander Audrey Johnson,” he said as a woman stood up beside him. “We’re in charge of this section.”
Remo found that he recognized both of them, and he knew they were in charge, but he couldn’t pinpoint any specific memories of them. He commented on that to Deedee as Councilor Markov droned on about the routine on board the Liberty, and the layout of the ship.
“You don’t remember them because you’re missing the last six months from your memory. I’m only missing three.”
“Why the discrepancy?” Remo asked.
“Because our most recent backups weren’t all taken at the same time.”
Remo regarded her with eyebrows raised. “Bandwidth issues?”
Deedee shrugged. “Something like that.”
“So how do I recognize who’s in charge if my memories date back to before I met them?” he asked.
“Part of the Grays’ attempt to fill in the blanks for us.”
He frowned, wondering what else they’d “filled in” for him. Remo turned from his food to listen to Councilor Markov’s speech. The councilor was explaining that they’d arrived at their destination a week ago. The Liberty had already split into its ten sections, each of them orbiting the planet below from a different location. They didn’t have any shuttles left on board, so the Grays were helping them get people to and from the surface in their ships.
“So much for our job,” Remo said. “What’s a pilot supposed to do without a ship to fly?”
“We’ll make new ships eventually,” Deedee replied.
“Eventually,” Remo repeated.
Councilor Markov went on. “The colony on Forliss is expanding rapidly. In just a few days you’ll all go down to your new homes on the surface. There you’ll learn a trade and begin making your contribution to the colonies. Are there any questions?”
The mess hall erupted with a roar of voices, all shouting to be heard.
“One at a time!” the councilor said. He had to shout three times before people began to quiet down. “Raise your hands if you have a question.”
Remo thrust his hand up along with a thousand others.
“You—” the councilor pointed to a woman close to him.
“What about Earth? When will we go back to our real homes?” she asked.
“Earth is in the middle of the Federation. The time will come when we are able to fight back, but for now we need to rebuild. Someday we will return to take back our homes, but that day is not today. Today,
we build new homes. Today, we start our families. Today, we ensure the survival of our species.
“The Grays are at war with the Federation, and I’m told that thanks to the cure we gave them, they’ve been able to make great strides against the enemy. One day, when we are able, we will join that fight. Next question.” Councilor Markov pointed to someone else.
“Is it true that now we’re going to grow old and die?”
“Yes, but—” The councilor never had a chance to finish what he was about to say. Chaos erupted in the mess hall. Food flew through the air, flying past the councilor’s head. Remo watched as people jumped up on their tables to get a better aim.
Marines fired back with stun guns. People fell with noisy thuds and a crashing of plates and cutlery.
“We need to get out of here!” Deedee yelled.
Remo took her hand and ran for the nearest exit. They had to push and shove their way through the crowd. Some of those people shoved back. Remo dodged a blow from an enraged man only to get cut down by a sharp jolt of electricity. He fell to the deck, his limbs jittering uncontrollably. His eyes rolled up in his head, and he knew no more.
* * *
Riots. Commander Audrey Johnson scowled, holding a pack of ice to her jaw where someone’s fist had found its mark. She sat in a conference room opposite a pair of children and an alien. She was still having a hard time accepting those two kids as having any authority whatsoever, but between her broken fragments of memories, and the way the Grays all seemed to assume that those kids were in charge, she didn’t have a lot of choice.
“You see what you’ve done?” Audrey demanded, allowing some of her outrage to bleed into her voice. “We’re going to tear ourselves apart before we ever have a chance to rebuild.”
The alien said something, and the young boy—Benjamin—translated.
“People are frightened. Fear is a logical response when faced with one’s mortality.”
“We shouldn’t have to face it,” Audrey replied. “We conquered death. You’re the ones who decided to undo all of that.”
The alien said something else, and Benjamin translated once more. “It was necessary. People will find comfort in religion, just like they used to.”
Audrey glared at Ben, and then at the Gray sitting beside him. “Your religion,” she said.
“Y-es,” the alien replied.
Audrey shook her head. “Athiests and agnostics don’t suddenly become religious without proof.”
The Gray went back to speaking in its language. This time it went on speaking for a while. When it was done, Benjamin translated once more.
“We are wasting time. You and the others can choose to believe whatever you like, but we are not going to undo what we have done. Instead of arguing with us, you should be focusing on the future of your species.”
“That’s exactly what I’m doing,” Audrey countered. “Death is our future thanks to you.”
“You’re all still young,” Ben said. “You have at least sixty years before old age will start to take its toll.”
The Gray inclined its head and rose from the table. “Ex-act-ly. Y-oo sh-ood foc-us on t-ee t-ime y-oo h-ave l-eft.” The alien turned to leave the room, but instead of heading for the doors, it reached down to its waist and produced a black sphere from its palm. That sphere hovered out and opened a shimmering portal with a dazzling flash of light.
Audrey blinked furiously to clear the spots from her eyes. “We’re not done here!” she said.
“Y-oo arr n-ot, b-ut I am.”
The alien walked through the portal with another flash of light, and Audrey turned back to Ben. “This is all on you,” she said. “You helped them do this to us.”
“There was no other way. Besides, the Gray is right. People will find comfort in religion.”
Audrey snorted. “Easy for you to say. You’re immortal. So are the Grays.”
Ben stood up. “I suggest you do everything you can to control the spread of this information while people are still on board the Liberty. Let them find out when they join the colony on Forliss. Etherianism has already taken root there. They’ll find people waiting with open arms to explain everything and help cushion the blow.”
Audrey smirked. “How’s your work on the codices going, Your Holiness?”
“Very well, thank you.”
“Is there any way we can help? I’m sure there’s an artisan on board who can fashion some stone tablets for you.”
Benjamin smiled. “I prefer digital storage mediums, but thank you for the offer, Commander.”
“Let me know if you change your mind.” She watched as Benjamin and Jessica left. The two of them wore gaudy sashes and crudely fashioned necklaces with six-sided star pendants that they called the Star of Etheria—shameless copies of the Star of David. In a matter of just a few weeks, Benjamin had found his calling as the founder of a new religion—a mash-up of old monotheistic religions from Earth and the Grays’ absurd theology.
It was all a lot of nonsense as far as Audrey was concerned. Unfortunately, that nonsense had sentenced them all to death. So much for coming back from the dead. More like returning to them.
* * *
Alexander sat beside Catalina in one of the Grays’ shuttles. The seats were uncomfortably small, made for the aliens’ narrow hips and short legs. Fortunately the trip down to the surface wouldn’t take more than a few hours. Seats were arrayed in three concentric circles around the outer circumference of the saucer, while the Grays controlling the ship sat in the center. The inside wall of the shuttle became invisible soon after they left Section Seven, treating them to a panoramic view of space and the planet below. Space was bright and lively around the planet with crescent-shaped tails of stars and nebular gas streaking into the various black holes that surrounded the region.
“And they decided to call this place Dark Space?” Alexander wondered aloud. “Seems like a misnomer to me.”
“I think the name refers to the black holes, not the brightness or darkness of the actual space,” Catalina replied.
He watched the saucer dip toward the planet below. It was a homey green and blue sphere frosted with white swirls of cloud—an ideal surrogate for Earth. If anything, Forliss was even greener and more habitable than Earth. It was temperate to tropical with a breathable atmosphere, a tolerable 1.16 times Earth’s gravity and 1.2 atmospheres of pressure at sea level—extremely habitable but for one small detail: the colonists were encountering deadly predators in the jungles.
“I’m going to find a way to save you,” Catalina said.
He shook his head, confused by the sudden change of topic. Maybe she’d inferred mortal dread into his silence. “Even if we do manage to crack our new genetic code, it won’t be in my lifetime.”
“We don’t have to crack it,” Catalina said. “They digitized us once. They can do it again. From there we just have to figure out how to grow a new body—ideally one like mine that doesn’t age. If Benevolence did it with me, he can do it with you, too.”
“Benevolence is aboard the Avilon, probably thousands of light years away from here by now.”
“We’ll find him.”
Alexander regarded her dubiously. “How?”
“I’ll figure it out!” Catalina snapped.
He frowned and looked away, back to the swelling surface of Forliss below. He could make out rolling green hills and craggy ranges of mountains. The edges of that panorama began to glow bright orange with the heat of atmospheric entry, and their view shuddered as turbulence took hold of the saucer. They didn’t feel any of those vibrations thanks to the saucer’s inertial dampening, making it feel like they were watching a holo video.
Catalina grabbed his hand and squeezed. “I’m not giving up on you, Alex, and you shouldn’t either.”
He nodded agreeably, but the truth was that Catalina had set an impossible goal for herself. Eventually she’d realize that and give up.
“Let’s just try to enjoy whatever time we have,�
� he said. “However long that is,” he added with a glance in her direction.
She set her jaw, saying nothing.
In time she would get used to the idea of him dying. And hopefully I will, too.
* * *
“It would have been easier if you’d appeared to everyone and explained things the way you explained them to me,” Ben said.
He stood in his quarters aboard Section 7, looking out at the holographic view from his terrace. He’d configured it to show a real-time holo feed of Forliss from orbit—a verdant green jewel every bit the equal of Earth.
The luminous being standing beside him replied, “If they knew beyond a doubt that I exist, they wouldn’t have a choice; they’d have to believe in me, and they’d be on their best behavior. The uncertainty is what makes it possible to see what they really want. To see what they’re really like.”
“And then?”
“Then I can decide whether or not they can safely return to the paradise they left.”
Ben looked up at Etherus, squinting against the glare of the being’s luminous skin. “Has Benevolence arrived yet?”
Etherus regarded him with dazzling eyes. “I’m helping him to give the androids bodies. When your work here is done, you’ll join him in Etheria.”
Benjamin felt a pang of jealousy. Benevolence and the others were all in paradise, and he was stuck here in Dark Space, in the chaos of the burgeoning human colonies.
“You won’t have to remain here for much longer,” Etherus said, as if he’d read Ben’s thoughts.
“I hope not,” Ben replied. He hadn’t seen Etheria yet, but if Benevolence had agreed to go there, it had to be everything Etherus claimed it was. “What about the Entity?”
“The Grays created it; it’s only fitting they be the ones to destroy it. When they’re done cleaning up their mess they’ll come join us in Etheria, too.”
Something occurred to Ben. “You didn’t have anything to do with creating the Entity?”
Etherus regarded him, waiting for Ben to elaborate.
“You didn’t want humans to live forever, and the Entity gave you the perfect opportunity to rewrite their genetic code and erase their knowledge of genetic engineering. It’s hard to imagine that’s just a coincidence.”
Exodus: Book 3 of the New Frontiers Series (A Dark Space Tie-In) Page 25