Sojourn Sol (Eternal Sol)

by Landsbury, Morgan

  He felt a cognitive signal push through him, and gave the command to answer the Senator's call. “General,” the Senator looked like he had just left a pleasure hall. His eyes were bloodshot, and he was swaying just a bit.

  “Senator, it's nice to finally speak to you.”

  And to you. I'm afraid that it won't be on good terms though.” He was going to turn the General down. “We have a situation in the outer edge. A source named Cress Warlog contacted a member of my staff just yesterday. He told me that a new species has been discovered.”

  “With all due respect, Senator, how does this effect the military?”

  “The interstellar race committee believes this species could cause grave damage. They're not carbon based, see.”

  The general sighed. It couldn't be true; it wasn't possible. “Are you sure?”

  “Yes. I've received samples of what appears to be an RNA based race which is comprised of arsenic compounds. As you probably remember, General, this compound is completely volatile to everyone who comes into contact with it. If they were to enter into the galaxy, there's a chance they could contaminate our worlds.”

  “Is the species hostile? Is it wise to simply exterminate them?”

  “They have yet to attack the ship that was stranded there, but they do appear to have an aggressive nature. They also take on the appearance of insects.”

  “Now,” the General leaned forward to deliver his message. “I'm sure you wouldn't use a racist argument to justify extinction senator, you're better than that.”

  “No, but racism is a large part of human nature, and I'm afraid the people will take the matter into their own hands. I know it's hard, general, but the Banu can wait. We will fund the project as soon as you exterminate the species.”

  “I can't do that.” The general was clenching his fists, trying not to think of a way to kill the man. He could do it. It wouldn't be hard.

  “Somebody will if you won't, and you'll lose your job if you refuse.”

  “But senator...”

  Haj looked down at him with an understanding smile. “Do the lives of one of countless species matter in the grand scheme of things? Think of the trouble they could cause if they were to become hostile. I know it's a harsh truth, general, but we have to think of ourselves, or the human race will face extinction. I'm authorizing the use of a 3rd level. I want you to begin assembling the proper fleet and have the ordered carried out as soon as possible.”

  The visual went blank and the general was left staring at a white wall. He had to choose between his livelihood and trillions of lives. He'd never completed an extinction order before—it was done, but he'd vowed to himself that he would find a way to stop it even though he was sure there was no way he possibly could. They'd kill him if he even tried.

  Chapter 12

  Henny was shivering from the cold, which was bursting in from the air vent above her head, and slamming into her entire body. She thought she would get used to after a while, but it kept going and going. She wasn't sure if she could take any more of it.

  The ship took off the next day. That first night was fun. She was filled with excitement, ready to begin a new journey, but all she really did was sit and watch old visuals on her console while waiting for the ship to take off. She had some of her favorite food with her, candy strips and red bells. She could watch whatever she wanted, she thought she was set, but when the ship did take off the cold, and the danger involved started sinking in.

  She didn't know where the ship was going. It would stop and go throughout the day, they must've made thirty trips in less than 24 hours, and every time they stopped, they opened the cargo hold to take out more cargo. It was getting emptier and emptier and it wasn't filling up. That must mean that they were getting rid of the merchandise, which also meant that when the boxes were all gone, either she could get off of the ship and find another way to get around, or she could stay where she was and wait to see what happened.

  The next day, they got rid of the last crate and made their final jump to their destination. The cargo hold never opened, but she could hear the merchant talking outside. “You really need this that badly? I don't wanna have to pay 3000 just to get a freighter off this chunk of ice.” It was a woman with a bad attitude. Henny had seen her several times before.

  “It's an emergency, a matter of life and death.”

  “Well, return her quick. I don't care what the Kendall's say, I live on this thing for fuck's sake.”

  “I can't guarantee anything, Landra, but I'll try.” The voice was sympathetic.

  “That ain't enough.” Landra sounded like she was ready to fight.

  “The Kendall Center owns this ship, we will compensate you well more than it's worth if it's destroyed. You know that.”

  “I do. I guess I've just grown a bit attached to her.”

  “I'll take care of her, I promise.”

  The two parted ways and Henny didn't think twice, she ran to the hatch and felt around for the handle so she could open it. She ran her fingers along the smooth metal and over the sides, and collapsed in disappointment. The door would only open from the outside. She couldn't believe she could be so stupid as to forget about that. The only thing she could was wait and hope to jump out when they opened it, but she would be trapped, and they were heading into danger. She would rather brave the cold of an ice world a 100 times than enter into a galactic life or death situation. The man had said that he didn't know whether or not he was coming back.

  Henny wanted excitement, she wanted adventure, but she didn't want to know what it meant to put her life in danger. The reality of her probable doom hit her in the face like an icepick, and her lungs exploded in a sea of wailing agony. Her screams were drowned out by the sound of the thrusters which were firing up to leave the atmosphere. She reached in her pocket for the orange condensed plasma pistol. Her fingers fumbled around for a moment. She didn't know where it was, and she was wasting precious time. When they finally got a hold of a pill, she ripped it out of her pocket only to find that it was a gray spacesuit, and the ship had taken off, so there was no way she could've left in the first place. She would have to make the journey into battle, and hope that she wasn't killed.

  Chapter 13

  The Kendall Center was started by Richard Kendall, an exobiologist from Earth before the Yttrium plague. He was an early explorer whose philosophy was simple. He believed that since man is an animal, he will behave like animals. The smartest animals kill creatures when they meet them in the wild rather than take a chance as to whether or not they'll be killed. In order to preserve alien species, he started an exploration center, which served as a front for protecting all races.

  During the great holocaust, when men worked to destroy all other species, they played a huge hand in making sure that the process ended as quickly as possible, and their efforts were recognized, earning them a place in history. Their stance was not well known, though many people understood what they had done in the holocaust.

  Only their higher ranking members are given the task of protecting alien species, because not all of their members had managed to purge their racist sentiments, just like Cress who laying on the floor of the ship, bloody and dying while Ren lay near him with a gash on his right side.

  Cress struggled desperately to get over to the communication console when they were sleeping to contact the senate, and when Antioch heard him, he raised a gun and ordered him to stop, but he completed his communication. Ren heard the ruckus in time to jump on top of Antioch to stop him, but the blast grazed him and tore through Cress' chest.

  Ren turned to Antioch. “Are you fucking satisfied,” he hissed.

  “No. He was successful. Now we're all fucked. You've been given the same charge as I have. Why did you try to stop me?” Antioch raised his pistol.

  “I was going to stop him, but you rushed up and shot him,” Ren's pleas were exploding through clenched teeth. “Get me a fucking med-kit - they're in the back.”

  Antioch
hesitated for a second, but he did eventually put his gun down. He ran to the back closet, which was in between their bunks, and pulled out a red box.

  “There's a healing accelerator in a tiny black bag, and you can find some cleansing spray there too.” Antioch ran over and sprayed down the wound in order to clean it while it healed, then he gave Ren the pill, which he swallowed dry. “Fuck you,” he said, staring at the shooter . “This is FUCKED!”

  “They're all going to get killed, Ren. What are we supposed to do now?”

  “Leave,” he scoffed.

  A sound like a supernova blasted through the sky, and the ground began to shake with the force of the blast. The two men couched down on the floor and made their way to the viewing hatch near the front door. What they saw astounded them. A fleet of center ships, many of them with weapons had landed on the outskirts of town and the spiders were swarming to see what was going on. They rode white hover transports, and carried tiny banners made of sheets of aluminum with letter inscribed on them. Even in his wounded state, Ren found the entire scene to be quite absurd. He would've laughed if he could muster the energy.

  * * *

  Henny was shaking and cold. She'd given up on leaving the ship and was trying to dispel thoughts of what would happen to her. She decided that she would live, and that if she kept an optimistic attitude it would happen, but she wasn't sure if she would be able to do that. She kept thinking about disgusting creatures and hateful wars. She imagined that when the hatch opened, she would see bodies and organs lying on the ground in front of her.

  She'd never heard of the Kendall Center, so she wasn't sure what was going on, but she was certain that it must have something to do with a war, or the man would've known whether or not he was coming back. Dark thoughts crowded her mind like unwanted sea buzzards at a beach picnic. She pushed them out of her mind and tried to think happy, optimistic thoughts. The pushed the angry birds away but not for long – they kept returning to feast upon all her mind. Focusing on action seemed to help her ward off their paralyzing grip and help her formulate a plan of sorts.

  She found that getting into her space suit would help with the cold. It was designed to maintain body temperature, which meant that it would be the perfect antidote to the bitter cod.. She might even be able to get some sleep if she could only slow her mind down, but it was proving to be impossible. What she did do was enter the digital world, where she could sit in the sanctuary once more.

  She decided, when she started walking around her little cube that she would recreated the dining hall, where he had finally confessed her love to him. She materialized a piece of paper and an ancient quill, which matched the scene perfectly and strode over to where they'd sat.

  She began speaking immediately. “Tamil. I love you and always will, but I think my time is almost over, and I don't know if I will ever see you again. I am in the cargo hatch of a carnival ship I stowed away on. I thought they would go to Fyrion or someplace nice, but I ended up on an ice world where the ship was commandeered by the Kendall Center who plans on using it on some dangerous mission, which they believe may be fatal. I can't leave the ship, and I can't dDao anything but tell you I love you and that if I don't see or hear from you again, I want you to know that I will always be there with you.” As soon as she finished her message, she left the room. She missed him so much that she couldn't bear to stay there any longer.

  The shipped landed with a soft boom, and it seemed to sink just a bit in the process. They had landed on sand, which meant that she was right to put on her space suit. They could be on an inhospitable planet.

  The hatch opened almost right away, and when she found his eyes staring at her, she felt a wave of electricity pulsing through her. She didn't even think about trying to hide herself. She had been too scared to even think about whether or not they saw her.

  “What are you doing here?” It was an elderly man with a rough voice.

  “I-I...”

  “It doesn't matter. You're here now and I don't have time to take you back to your parent's house. You're gonna die if you don't stick with me, so let's go.” He grabbed onto her hands and pulled her out with surprising force considering his tiny frame.

  The first thing Henny noticed was that the entire landscape was made up of blue sand that sparkled just a bit in the light of the tiny white sun which was shadowed by pure black clouds. Clearly this environment was far too cold for humans; it must've been lifeless. “What is this place,” she asked.

  “It's an unknown world. The Center discovered a strange lifeform here.”

  “Are they hostile?”

  “That's what we're here to find out. Can you wait in the ship?”

  “No,” she laughed. “This would be my first encounter with aliens. I'm not missing something this rare. If these guys are different, then I'm coming with you.”

  “It's too dangerous,” the man tried to take her hand, but she shook it off and stared him down.

  “What does it matter to you if I come or not?”

  “You're probably going to die anyways.” he started walking away and she followed.

  “How are you going to know whether or not they are hostile?”

  He struggled to make his way through the thin sand. “I have a device that will analyze them and their language in order to discover what they are saying.”

  “That's impossible. How will it know if they talk?” She went ahead of him to see where they were.

  “It will watch them interacting physically, and measure when they make a reaction in order to tell whether or not they are communicating.”

  He told her to stay behind while he made his way to a complex made of tiny silver strings. She watched as he pulled out the device from a pill and set it up on a tripod, not far from the entrance to the complex. Several strange, spider-like creatures came out to inspect it, but they didn't interfere. Soon enough, a crowd was surrounding him, and Henny decided that she'd better make her way over and see what was going on.

  When she started, little tiny spiders popped up from the ground and started following her, making gurgling noises with their tiny proboscis. She realized that these were children and bent down to see them. They gathered around her, keeping a respectful distance and looked up. They were only a 2 or 3 inches tall, but they had clearly developed intelligence judging by the way they moved.

  “Hello,” she said to nobody in particular. One of the bigger spiders pushed his way up to the front of the group and seemed to look up at her. He took one antenna and pointed up. He did it several times until she realized that the child wanted to be held so she carefully picked him up and got a closer look at him.

  He was made of tiny, metallic-looking scales that covered his entire body like an exoskeleton. He scampered around, eyeing the curve in her suit then walked over to her fingers. With a hint of affection, he began rubbing them gently and looking back at her. She felt a sense of companionship with him. He was tender and kind. It was strange to see such a thing moving the way it did. When one sentient creature sees another, they recognize the intelligence in each others eyes and when he looked at her, that's what happened.

  A dozen other little guys climbed on top of her, as she made her way over to the man to tell him what was going on. Then, all of a sudden, he blew up, along with the rest of his complex and she was thrown back onto the sand. Many of the children ran, but quite a few of them hid on her as best as they could. Their parents could already be dead, and she would have to find a way to make sure that they were safe. They were looking to her for guidance, but she was in such a strange place that she wasn't sure she could give it to them.

  Chapter 14

  Tamil couldn't possibly have imagined the mistake he made when he joined the military, and there was never any way that he could take it back. It was sad, but once again, he was a slave with a crown on his head, walking the halls of the Main Aster Station to load his ship up with a weapon that could wipe out a specie's entire existence.

  They said
it was uninhabited when they came and gave him the mission, but he knew better, now he was being forced into killing off an entire species, and there was no way for it to be stopped. He had been thinking for quite some time as to how he would handle a situation such as this. If it came down to it, he knew that he would have to pull the trigger, but he was a determined man, far more determined than anyone he'd ever met before.

  He was walking mechanically down a black metal walkway, towards the entrance to the holding pen for the most extreme weapons known to mankind, solar charges. These weapons were meant to drive a star into overdrive, causing it to burn its energy in a matter of minutes and causing a supernova, a shock wave that would destroy everything in the system.