by Lea Tassie
"The Grays built a device called a time-lock machine; we think it will be invaluable in our fight with them."
"I see. So with this device, you can do what? Time-lock the Grays?" asked Jillian, not really understanding what a time-lock was or what it did.
"No Miss Jillian, we have other needs for this device." said Vee.
"Well, after we get this time-lock thing, do we go back home?" Jillian continued.
"No Miss Jillian, we have one more stop before we can leave Earth."
"That wasn't mentioned in the council meetings. Where are we going next?" Jillian tried not to show concern, but the Taskoids were being secretive. Whatever they were hiding must be important, or Jana would not have insisted, over their protests, that humans accompany them on this part of the expedition.
"A place in Earth's literature known as Dhuusamareeb, Somalia. We need to retrieve an item from another underground city complex," Vee politely replied.
With the entrance cleared and opened, the team had no trouble walking the passageways that led deep inside the complex. Lights magically turned on, clearing the halls of darkness and shadows. The entire structure looked new and fresh, as if no time had ever passed in this place. They did find human remains, no doubt those of scientists caught inside the complex on the Night of the Black Rain. The Taskoids all clicked and buzzed in that funny communication they used, expressing their admiration for the nature of this complex.
"What are you saying to each other?" Jillian asked Vee in a whisper, not wanting to disturb the aura of this place.
"We are talking about the power source this complex uses. We cannot locate where the power is coming from."
At the lowest level of the complex, in the center of a grand room, stood the time -lock machine. The Taskoids immediately unhooked the device and made it ready for transport back to the ship. The group ascended back to the surface and resealed the complex. Then the great Tasker ship lifted off and made course to Somalia.
The trip was brief. The three humans had to don protective gear before exiting the ship, for the surface here was well over 130 degrees Fahrenheit. The air was too thin for human lungs and the gravity had a strange warping effect. Some areas seemed to have a noticeable increase in gravity, some areas less.
Again, the Taskoids easily found the entrance to the city complex, but this time getting in was more difficult. The city had been partly destroyed, but not by time. There was evidence of a great battle; mummified remains littered the floors. Some resembled humans, but others were clearly a little different.
"Who do you suppose they were?" asked Jillian.
"The records of Earth list them as 'the First Ones.' They were genetically modified by the Grays. The records are sparse, but as we understand it, these are the oldest intelligent humans who ever walked the surface of Earth," Vee explained.
As they walked through twisted wreckage deeper down into the complex, Vee continued. "Through humanity's digital archives, we learned that the church discovered the existence of these first humans. They could not release this knowledge, for the chaos it would have caused might have destroyed any hope of humanity progressing further. The pope of that time locked away these records, thinking them safe from discovery, but we Taskoids are made of data, we have no difficulty finding information. What we learned is that these First Ones reached a level of evolution so advanced that they can only be described as fourth-dimensional beings of pure energy and light. They may not have a physical existence, but they do live. Deep in this city complex is a sister device to the time-lock. It should allow us to communicate with these beings of Earth's history."
The group had reached the lowest level, which looked exactly like the city under Stonehenge. There in the middle of a grand room stood the communication device.
Jillian was suspicious of this sudden revelation of detail. She asked, "Why are you telling me all this?"
"Because your knowing the facts doesn't matter now," Vee said. "I'm afraid, Miss Jillian, that we cannot allow you or the other humans to leave this complex. We need this equipment to defeat the Grays, which will save the rest of Neo Terra humans, but we cannot allow any interference with the task. We know you will report back to your prime minister and she will cause us trouble. It could be disastrous."
Jillian felt a cold shiver run the length of her spine. "You cannot just leave us here, that's murder!" The other two humans looked around, hearing the fear in Jillian's voice.
"We understand that, Miss Jillian."
The Taskoids immediately drew their weapons and killed the three humans. They felt no regret, for the act had been necessary. They then hauled the communications device back to their ship and lifted off the surface of Earth, back on course to Neo Terra.
Chapter 18 Preparing for war
Dayton did not enjoy the trip to Earth. His Tasker ship was old and the ride rough, especially the landing, which caused every human aboard to vomit profusely. However, this ship had been chosen because it could carry heavy loads and, if the need arose, had the power to tow the Grays' ship back to Neo Terra.
With the craft firmly grounded in the Antarctic location Quat I had chosen, the crews dressed for the bitter cold of this barren region. Leaving the craft and setting foot on humanity's ancestral world was a horrific experience. The oxygen was ripped from Dayton's lungs. Numbing cold seeped through every layer of his clothing and brought tears to his eyes. The tears froze the instant they oozed onto his cheeks.
The world here was flat and black. Lack of moisture and oxygen meant that no snow had formed. The sky was bone white and the unrelenting roar of powerful winds made Dayton's head ache.
"Unbelievable!" Dayton shouted to one of the other workers bundled up in heavy clothing and trying to move some simple equipment to the craft site. "The tools freeze to the ground if I put them down. That is, if I can get the tool to leave my frozen glove."
"I know what you mean, sir. A moment ago, a man's boot froze to the surface. He had only stopped moving for just a second."
Because the Taskoids were of an insect-like design, they had no problems moving about the frozen surface. The advantage of multiple legs in motion were plainly obvious.
"Hey, Quat I, where are we supposed to place this command trailer?" yelled Dayton over the howling wind.
"It would be best if you just let us Taskoids set things up," replied Quat I, moving closer in order to be heard.
"You'll get no argument from me," said Dayton. He and the other humans quickly returned to the craft. They had never experienced cold like this on Neo Terra; that world always had a comfortable temperature. He had ventured outside and endured possibly two minutes of cold but felt it would take an hour of heat to melt the chill in his bones. The Taskoids were immune to cold or heat, having been were designed for mining tasks on worlds that held no oxygen and had incredible extremes of cold or heat.
Dayton returned to the command deck of the Tasker ship. From there, he could monitor the work on viewing screens and speak with Quat I over the communicator. The worker Taskoids had no concept of time; they knew they had to meet a deadline, but that was the limit of their understanding. They worked ceaselessly and, in a few days, had removed the 'capstone' of iron, exposing the ice underneath. A short time later, the Taskoids drilled a tunnel at a downward angle which ended exactly where they had predicted – a hatch to the inside of the ship.
Dayton and Quat I were the first two to enter the Grays' ship. To Dayton's surprise, the interior was warm, though just barely warm enough. The interior of the ship started to grow brighter as light emanated from the walls. However, no source was detected. The ship's systems began flickering to life, cracking and sparking in the ice tomb.
"Incredible! This ship has been in the ice for hundreds of years yet it seems new," Dayton said to Quat I as they walked the corridors of the massive spacecraft. Quat I seemed to know where it was going, so Dayton just followed along.
"According to records recovered from General Harris's computer
, the bridge of this craft is just one level up from where we are," Quat I said. It was moving with purpose as Dayton tried to keep up.
"There are no doors," Dayton said.
"I'm sorry, what?" Quat I stopped for a moment to look at Dayton.
"I just noticed every hallway that leads into an area has no door to close it off," Dayton said, his curiosity piqued.
"I'm missing your point," Quat I replied, seeming puzzled.
"I've never seen anything that was built without doors. It seems so odd."
"I had not noticed. You are correct," Quat I responded calmly.
Within the hour, every member of the human crew was aboard the Grays' spacecraft. Quat I had learned that the systems would respond only to human interaction. Which of course was logical, since this was the ship that humans, under orders from the Grays, had piloted to the center of the galaxy and back again.
Quat I began teaching the humans where their stations were and how to interact with the ship. They only had to wait now for Genga's ship to arrive with the missing component, then they could try starting the great craft.
With the remaining Taskoids on the exterior of the ship clearing the ice away, the team was ahead of schedule. As they waited for Genga and Quat II to arrive, the humans explored all parts of the massive craft. What they discovered was alarming, even terrifying, for the spacecraft had many features they didn't understand. The complexity of the Grays' science began to raise heavy doubts in Dayton's mind. If the Grays were this advanced when they created the ship, how advanced would they be today? Was it wise to actually attack these advanced beings?
"We're like bugs compared to the Grays," Dayton thought.
Genga and Quat II arrived with only a day to spare. If the device they had brought didn't work to remove the Grays' ship from its icy tomb, they were doomed. There was much scrambling, but the Taskoids had prepared for this event and, like clockwork, pulled it off. The drive systems of the Grays' ship hummed back to life and, with little effort, the massive vessel broke free of the ice and lifted skyward. Dayton and Genga were at the controls, as well as a few other human operators. The massive exploration ship, with the other two Tasker ships, safely returned to the hollow world of Neo Terra.
***
The deaths of the three humans who had traveled with the Taskoids to Stonehenge and Dhuusamareeb, needed an explanation when the ship returned to Neo Terra. Several Taskoids of lesser design and rank were jettisoned into the black depths of space, after scavenging useful components from them. Upon returning, Vee would explain to the council that the three humans and six Taskoids had been killed in the city beneath Stonehenge, in an underground cave-in. This terrible tragedy was both brave and sad, and Vee would assure the council that the sacrifices were not in vain. The Taskoids had decided to reveal to the humans the reclaiming of the time-lock device. They would not reveal the trip to Dhuusamareeb and the discovery of the communications device. For this device, the Taskoids had other plans.
The ship that Vee commanded was the first to return to Neo Terra, well ahead of schedule. Vee presented their explanation and, though Jana was saddened and skeptical, she had no better evidence.
The Taskoids had realized much earlier, after their initial arrival on Neo Terra, that they faced a significant problem with their plans. They were three hundred and forty strong in five ships, and this hollow world held millions of humans. The Prime's command of 'get power, find Charger, and kill Grays' was paramount for these biomechanical beings. They had power now, and were inventing ways to kill the Grays, but they only had one portion of the god fragment. They needed the other fragment to resurrect Charger.
The Prime was continuously running programs to find an advantage. Somehow they had to control humanity, to have these people do their bidding. And they needed Charger.
The Taskoids had learned that the First Ones reached an advanced level in their evolution. That these fourth-dimensional beings were ancestors of humanity might work to the Taskoids' advantage. If they could be contacted, the Prime might be able to manipulate the humans into asking the First Ones for help. The Prime needed a reliable army, and it was already formulating a method to convert humans into Taskoids. This had happened once before in their history. On New Eden, driven by the grief and desperation of Elvin and Eden, Nigel had found a way to blend Taskers and humans into one. And so it might be done again.
***
The Grays' ship was too large to use the passageway into the landing bay of the planet, so it was landed on the surface and anchored by the Taskoids' mining equipment. The other Taskoid ships returned the humans to the hollow world. The jubilant people of Neo Terra celebrated the successes and mourned the losses. Soon the realization of what lay ahead would be revealed, as the Prime counted its victories.
Prime Minister Jana's face appeared on every viewing device in all corners of Neo Terra as she gave the citizens an explanation of the plan these people would now carry out. "My dear and good friends, we greet you today from the city of Neo Terra. To our friends in Canda and your great city, we greet you. Mexca and Hamerca, your achievements can never be denied, we greet you as family." Jana's voice and presence were strong and bold as she spoke the cultural platitudes. "This day in our collective history will be as great as any ever recorded; we as a people stand on the precipice with our cousins, the Taskoids, facing a new and powerful destiny. Not content to wait for our destruction at the hands of the Gray monsters, we have valiantly set our own course of action!" The cheers of the masses rang throughout the hollow world.
"With the help of our ancestors' creation, our cousins the Taskoids, I will now reveal to you our destiny!" Cheers again rang out. Jana stated the bold plan as only a commander could, with forceful conviction.
"We will build a world ship!"
The cheering stopped; people were stunned. No one had ever conceived of such an undertaking. "I believe that we should do this thing, not because it is easy, but because it is hard, and because we are resolute and destined to achieve what no other beings in creation could ever hope for!" The cheering began again and became a frenzy.
"I stand before you, a descendant of our common heritage, unwilling to go peacefully into the night, unwilling to resign my right to exist. I will not be put down like a common dog!" Jana thundered. The roar of millions of voices cheered in unison, standing together as they had at no time in the past. One people, of one mind and heart, stood united.
"We have a plan that will require total commitment from the smallest citizen to the largest in the creation of our world ship. The drive system of the Grays' own technology will propel us to their home planet. We will arrive on their doorstep unannounced and uninvited and we shall see how they like that!" The cheering continued unabated.
"With the help of our cousins, the Taskoids, we will recreate the terror these Grays imposed on our ancestral home of Earth. The Night of the Black Rain will be repeated, but for our benefit this time! We will cover our world's surface in a shield of impenetrable armor so that Neo Terra is indestructible!" Jana was shaking her fists and yelling now, something she had never done before. Her passion and commitment was absolute, and the cheers rang on.
"Our people, our fight, our right to exist, will become the Grays' worst nightmare. We will spare none, and we will repay their hostility without kindness, without mercy, without remorse! Here are the pictures of our ancestors' world. See what the demons did to our kind!" On the monitors ran a video of the mission the three ships undertook to the bleak and destitute world of Earth.
Cheers turned to rage. The masses knew that the Grays had obliterated a people clinging to existence. They all understood.
Save one.
Pennington had never married, never had kids. At seventy, she was the last member of her family, and her clearest memories were of the stories her great grandmother, Peony, had passed down about the little Gray, Buttons, that she'd met and played with as a child. This destructiveness the prime minister spoke of, Pennington though
t, could not be true of all Grays. But the rage of these descendants of Earth went on for days, as the peoples of Neo Terra all pulled together as though of one will.
The world-ship would be built.
***
Dart speaks to Reader:
How do you build a world-ship? Even now, when we can do it in far less time than it took the Taskoids and the people of Neo Terra, it requires extremely sophisticated equipment and technology. I'll explain how they did it.
The drive system from the Grays' exploration ship was relatively small and compact, about the size of a small room, with a power source equally restricted. Although no one truly understood the mechanics of the device, they did understand how to use it. The two devices were brought to a safe location within the city, and linked together, then powered on. The control panels from the Grays' ship were also reassembled in this safe location. The operation of the device was surprisingly simple to describe; it would scan its surroundings, and search the cosmos for a quantum-entangled particle in the direction it was required to travel.
That's right, Reader, I've explained about quantum-entangled particles several times. Do you understand the principles? All right, let me continue.
Once a lock had been established, the device would send information from the one particle to its counterpart at some unknown distance in space, allowing the receiving particle to operate in the opposite charge of the sending particle. At the location of the receiving particle, the device would begin gathering matter to create a replica of the sending unit.
This could be described as building a four-dimensional printer at the location where you wanted to go. Whenever a printer was created at a location, the original sending unit would remain intact, this allowed for two-way travel. The matter gathered at the destination point was replicated endlessly, using fractal geometry as its core design. Matter was simply recycled into whatever one wanted to have printed at the destination. Sending a wrench meant sending the information of what an iron molecule was, then endlessly rebuilding that particle until there was enough iron to print out a wrench at the destination.