Far From Home: The Complete Series

by Tony Healey

  “Okay.”

  “The Commander mentioned a Directive in the meeting? Well I believe you have another Directive prohibiting the pollution of primitive races?”

  “Yes. Directive 17.”

  “Well, this mess is ours. It’s ours because we didn’t follow our own Directive. Our own limits,” Dana said.

  “I see …” Captain King said. “So what do you suggest we do about it?”

  Dana laid out her plan.

  10.

  The next morning, Captain King assembled a meeting between herself, Commander Greene, Lieutenant Chang and Doctor Oriz.

  The big room seemed so empty without everyone else there, but Jessica hadn’t thought it urgent enough to call everyone away from their duties. For the time being, it was need-to-know; and that was often best.

  She laid out Dana’s plan to Chang and Greene, and they listened without interrupting or asking questions. When King was finished, she sat down and waited for one of them to speak.

  “So when you say you want to stop the rains, what do you mean? Stop them for months at a time? What?”

  “No,” Dana said with a shake of her head. “No, I mean give them proper seasons. They should experience a dry season. Normal, natural stuff like that.”

  “Take away their comfort zone,” Greene said.

  “Yes. That’s it. Of course, it’d be great if they continued to live by the laws Lukas ordered them to obey all that time ago. And in a way, I think they will because they came direct from God himself, didn’t they? But the idea is to get them back on track.”

  “Some people might question my decision to authorize this,” King said. “However it’s only fixing something broke a long time ago. He had no idea the damage it would do. He thought he’d done them a favour. In Thy Image and all that.”

  “So we set it so that it’s not wrapping them up in cotton wool all the time, then just hope for the best?” Chang asked.

  “Kind of, yeah,” Dana said.

  “Is that any better than what Lukas did in the first place?”

  King leaned forward over the table. “I think of it as fixing what’s broken.”

  “My people spent a long time persecuted by regular humans, Commander,” Dana said. “We were the mistake. Now I get to set a mistake right. One made by one of my own kind, a long time ago.”

  “Okay. So when do we go through with this?” Greene asked.

  “In a couple of hours. Let the girls get everything they need. Can we get Lieutenant Harper to cover the helm so that Banks can fly them down there?” King asked.

  “I’ll see to it,” Greene said.

  “Then I think this little meeting is over,” King said as she stood. The other three followed suit. “We’ll be watching. We’re right over that mountain, and I’ll have the viewer on maximum magnification.”

  “The eye in the sky …” Chang said with a smirk.

  “Always,” King said.

  11.

  “Shuttle in transit,” Harper reported.

  “Good. Keep track of her. And the black mountain?” King asked.

  “No change,” Commander Greene reported from Chang’s station.

  “Good.”

  Should have gone with them, Jessica thought. Or at least sent some more bodies. Doesn’t feel right letting them go in there like that, on their own.

  “They’ve breached the atmosphere,” Greene reported.

  “I can get them on the screen, Captain,” Harper said.

  “Do it.”

  The viewscreen changed to a view of the shuttle, streaking through the air like a fireball.

  Good luck girls, King thought.

  * * *

  The mountain opened for them. They stepped inside.

  “You know, it does kind of give me the creeps in here,” Chang said, trying to see through the darkness.

  “I know what you mean,” Dana said.

  The voice of the mountain spoke to them both at the same time. Just as it had when they’d witnessed Lukas’s story. They stood in the pitch black, as they had their first visit to the mountain, with only the tiny glow-pads attached to their belts for illumination.

  YOU RETURN

  Chang knew there was a console nearby. The same console they’d downloaded the recording of Lukas, and the logs from the Sophie. But she could only see a foot in front of her. And now the voice filled both of their heads.

  YOU RETURN, it said again.

  “Yes. We wish to access your programming.”

  FOR WHAT PURPOSE?

  “We believe that when one of our race changed your protocols all that time ago, he was in error doing so,” Dana licked her lips. “We’d like to resolve that.”

  THERE IS NO ERROR

  Dana turned to Chang. She was lit from beneath by the little light on her belt, and her face was thrown in exaggerated relief. Chang drew a heavy breath.

  “There is,” Dana said.

  HE SAID THAT ONE DAY OTHERS WOULD COME. YOU HAVE. HE SAID YOU WOULD TRY TO ALTER MY PROGRAMMING. YOU HAVE

  “Because the way in which he programmed you was wrong. Totally wrong.”

  EXPLAIN

  “Well, when we -“

  TO HIM

  They both exchanged looks, then turned around in time to see a holographic display flicker into life several feet away. It was a man. A tall man with blonde hair.

  “Lukas!” Chang said in disbelief. This was a recording, evidently. But a different type of recording. This one spoke to them.

  “Dr. Oriz. Lieutenant Chang. Welcome,” Lukas said. He opened his arms to indicate the whole mountain, or the planet, or the galaxy into which they’d found themselves thrown. Everything. The lights came up.

  “Hello,” Chang said nervously, blinking in the sudden light.

  “As you may have gathered, I am not real. What am I? More a representation of all that I was, based upon a complete scan of my mind. And yet I am not completely myself. I am … it, too. We are one. It’s quite a remarkable machine, isn’t it?”

  Dana nodded. “Yes it is remarkable. Is it a machine?”

  Lukas smirked. He walked around them, slowly. “Of course. What else?”

  “But what’s it for?”

  Lukas rubbed his chin as he circled them. “A good question. It does not know. Neither do I. It was left here, a long time ago. Before the sands of this world shifted like great oceans. Before great parts of it lay wasted, barren. Back when this world showed promise. It was left here, and instructed to wait.”

  “Why?” Chang asked.

  “Again, I don’t know.”

  “But it can control the weather …” Dana said.

  “Yes and much more. I was able to program it to ensure the L’ucrah - that is what they call themselves - would survive. They were dying when I arrived here,” Lukas said.

  “We noticed,” Dana said. “The trouble is, your little adjustment has caused them to stagnate. To become lazy. They might just as well have died.”

  Lukas frowned. “And I feel that you would rather that’s what they did.”

  “No, no,” Chang said.

  Lukas peered upward. There seemed to be no ceiling to the place. Not that they could see. Perhaps it was so high up the light didn’t touch it. Instead it just faded into darkness up there.

  “I cannot allow you to put these people into jeopardy. They must be protected,” Lukas said.

  The mountain did something. A rumble under their feet. Dana and Chang both noticed a change in the air. A shift, however subtle it might have been.

  “What was that?” Dana asked.

  “Your ship up there,” Lukas said. “I see it. I see it probing this mountain with its sensor beams. Assessing whether or not it is a threat of some kind. You wish to bring about the L’ucrah’s destruction. You wish to put an end to the power that has protected them all this time. I cannot allow that.”

  He waved a hand and a holographic display next to him showed the Defiant floating above the planet. It also showed
a beam of light arcing from the tip of the mountain to the underbelly of the ship.

  “What the -“

  “They must be protected,” he said again, his words heavy, echoing in that giant space like a bell and hammer. “At all costs …”

  * * *

  The peak of the black mountain glowed white hot. Harper barely had time to register it before a beam of pure energy raced up through the atmosphere and struck the underside of the Defiant. She shuddered from the impact of the beam against her hull. Sparks flew from the overloaded console next to him, and he covered his eyes as it died. The front viewscreen went dark.

  The systems and lighting flickered and faded, suspending them in an inky darkness. In a moment emergency lighting took over.

  “Report -” Jessica had time to say before even that dim illumination was taken from them.

  * * *

  Chang and Dana watched as the holographic display showed the Defiant sink powerless toward the planet. It tumbled crazily, nose down, helpless against the mighty power of the mountain.

  “Within the hour your vessel will burn up in the atmosphere,” Lukas told them with cold detachment.

  “Please,” Chang said. “You don’t understand.”

  “I understand all right,” Lukas said. His face was bitter. “I was little more than a slave to your kind. A lesser being. And now you would ruin this paradise I have created. You would spoil it. Just to enslave these primitive beings.”

  Chang looked at Dana.

  “We only mean to set things right again. You must see this,” Dana said.

  “Everything is right. They thrive. I have created perfection,” Lukas said.

  “You’re not Lukas. I know that. You’re some kind of simulacrum of Lukas and whatever consciousness this machine has,” Dana said in a panicked voice. “But please listen to me. There must be something of the man who was.”

  Lukas watched intently, his eyes burning with rage as the Defiant was pulled into the planet’s wake, to join the Sophie as yet another falling star.

  * * *

  The emergency lanterns gave limited illumination within the dark confines of the Defiant. “Nothing. No power at all,” Boi said.

  “Then why do we have -” Greene was about to ask. He stomped his foot on the deck plating. They should have been floating around by now. With artificial gravity out of order …

  “It’s not our gravity, Commander,” King said through gritted teeth. “We’re falling into the planet. And at a rate of knots, too.”

  “My God,” Greene said.

  “We need power. Get to engineering. See if the Chief can do anything,” King ordered. Greene left straight away. “The rest of you, keep checking those systems.”

  Jessica was glad for the darkness. It meant none of them saw her swallow, her throat dry with panic.

  * * *

  “They will all die, and then my people will continue to live in peace,” Lukas said.

  “But we’re your people,” Chang said.

  “No … you’re not.”

  Dana came to within inches of him, holograph or not. “I’m you’re people. We are the same.”

  He looked into her eyes. Recognition flashed in there.

  “I have to do it,” he said, with perhaps more of the human-replicant he’d once been showing through.

  “No you don’t. You made a mistake. We’ll fix it … together. Work with us. Help us reset things. Give these people a challenge. Let them stumble. Let them learn. Allow them to grow as a society. It’s what you wanted all along, wasn’t it?”

  Moments ticked by. And then Lukas nodded with a sigh. He waved his hand, and the image of the Defiant dissipated away like smoke.

  “You listened to me,” Dana said, relieved and surprised.

  He lowered his head. “You speak the truth.”

  “Release your people. Let them go. You saved them once. Save them again.”

  Lukas looked into her eyes. She wondered if the huge device had feelings. Desires. Any of the things that made human beings and their ilk so fallible.

  “You know, they believe in a Sanctuary. A paradise. And that’s what I tried to give them,” Lukas said.

  “I know.”

  “I read in a book once: ‘So many people want it to exist, they want it so much that a place called Sanctuary becomes real. But it doesn’t exist. It never existed. Just … just the hope. That’s all.’ Do you think that’s right?” Lukas asked her.

  Dana shrugged. “Paradise on Earth is what you make of it. Now it’s up to the L’ucrah to have their turn.”

  * * *

  The ship boomed into life. Every system returned. The curve of the planet filled the viewscreen from one side to the other. A sea of sky.

  “Quickly! Full thrusters! Climb!” Jessica snapped.

  At the helm, Harper took control of the ship’s engines. The deck shook with the sudden burst of power from behind. The engines strained to push them upward, fighting the pull of the planet’s gravity. The front end of the Defiant glowed as it scraped against the abrasive upper atmosphere.

  When they were high enough, Harper executed a swift manoeuvre to get them into standard orbit again. Though this time, they were well clear of the pyramid.

  King relaxed back into her chair. “Good work, Lieutenant.”

  Too close for comfort, Jessica thought to herself.

  12.

  Hours later Jessica found herself at the entrance to the mountain, accompanied by a large band of L’ucrah, curious to see what was going on.

  Dana and Chang waited for her inside the open doorway. She peered about. It was unlike anything she’d ever seen before.

  “Wow,” she said.

  “Over here we have a console where we can monitor the weather and adjust it if need be. For the moment we’ve gone with establishing a regular season pattern. The way it should be,” Chang said.

  “So the beam that nearly killed us all, you’re saying it was some kind of defence mechanism?” King asked.

  “Yes. As soon as he … it … they … thought we were going to tamper with the way things are, it kicked in. But we managed to talk him around in the end,” Dana said.

  “I see. So how do you interact with it?” King asked them both.

  Right then a voice entered her head.

  TO WHOM DO YOU WISH TO SPEAK?

  She thought for a moment. The sudden presence of something other than her own mind in her head threw her. “Anyone who can give me answers.”

  IT DEPENDS ON THE QUESTION

  “You don’t make -” Jessica stopped dead. In front of her a holograph had flickered into being. At last she found herself face-to-face with the same Lukas from the recordings.

  “Greetings Captain. Welcome.”

  “Much obliged,” she said, unsure of how to respond. “So, you must be able to answer some of my questions.”

  “About us? Yes,” Lukas said primly.

  Lukas and the Mountain. She’d forgotten that the two were now both the same. Two different apples growing on the same tree.

  “What is this thing?”

  “We don’t know,” Lukas said flatly.

  “How did it get here?”

  “There are a great many like it scattered across this galaxy. And they all have great power. Don’t underestimate them. But they are mere tools.” Lukas warned.

  “Tools … ? Used by whom?”

  “Well, that’s the fundamental question, isn’t it? Who holds the control stick? Who has their finger over the firing button?” Lukas asked. “The answer to that eludes us I’m afraid.”

  “Firing button? What do you -“

  “I’m sorry.”

  Lukas faded away suddenly, as if he’d had the plug pulled. Jessica became suddenly aware of a presence in her mind again. Now the mountain was just itself. Nobody else’s personality to give it colour. It felt like something accommodating within her mind, pushing on the sides of her consciousness to make room for itself.

  A LIV
ING BEING IS REQUIRED

  “What for?”

  A LIVING BEING IS REQUIRED TO TEACH THE OTHERS

  “To act out your teachings? To liaise with the locals?”

  CORRECT

  “I don’t know about that,” Jessica said.

  IT IS REQUIRED. TO COMPLETE NEW OBJECTIVES

  “New objectives?”

  “The one’s we’ve given it,” Chang said.

  “I’ll do it,” Dana said. “I’ll stay.”

  Jessica shook her head. “I won’t allow it.”

  Dana placed her hands gently on King’s shoulders. “Captain, I want to. The chance to shape an entire civilisation? Who would pass that up? In my field, it doesn’t get any better than this.”

  “I don’t know …”

  “I’ll do it!” Dana told the machine. King just looked at her.

  IT IS DECIDED

  “You sure?” King asked Dana.

  She nodded. “More sure than I’ve ever been.”

  “I don’t know if I could ever come back to get you. You know that. You may be stranded here forever.”

  “I’ll take the risk, Captain,” Dana said.

  King smiled. “It’s Jessica. And you both did a wonderful job today. Well done.”

  Chang looked down at her shoes, embarrassed. Dana beamed. She took Jessica in a big hug. Then the Captain addressed the machine again.

  “I have your word, you will ensure the development of this world? These people?”

  THE PRIMITIVE’S WILL EVOLVE. THEY WILL LEARN. WHAT WAS BROKEN SHALL BE REPAIRED

  “Thank you,” she said.

  It said nothing back.

  * * *

  “Look at this,” Jessica said as she plucked a tall red flower stem from a sunny spot in the jungle. They walked back to the awaiting shuttle. King sniffed the magnificent flower, recognised honey and spice. Not unlike the flora of Earth. It made her feel homesick.

  “Excuse me Captain, but why the flower?”

  “No particular reason. Just wanted something bright and cheerful. Reminds me of something.”