by Steven Oaks
Deathship
Book one of the Outsiders series
by
Steven Oaks
Copyright © 2014 Steven Oaks
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
http://stevenoaks.wordpress.com/
Cover Art by Samantha Hartsock
https://www.behance.net/SamanthaHartsock
I dedicate this book to my son Keir. You were only with me a short while but you changed everything. Thank you for coming into my life and letting me find the importance of life. Without you this book never would have been made.
Special thanks to Samantha Hartsock for her wonderful cover art and her patience in assisting me with editing. Also, I need to thank Debra Woodings for putting up with my unreasonable demands when it came to editing. Thank you for letting me explain things to you while we edited. Without either of them this book may have had the same story but it would not have the same feel. Also thank you to all who have shared their lives with me. Friends whom I consider family, and those who have spent years listening to my rambles, thank you so much.
My name is Michael Lang and this is my story. It may be difficult for me to remember everything, but I will try. It is important to remember the past so we do not repeat the mistakes of our youth. That is why I am telling you this story. So mankind will not make the same mistakes twice. To help you understand I will have to describe what we all experienced when they arrived.
When they came I was in my early twenties. Old enough to know not to trust too easily, but not wise enough to understand there is no such a thing as a free lunch. I thought offering my services to them would be enough to garner their rewards. While I did benefit, I still am unsure if it was worth the cost. Of course had I not life might be very different for all of us.
It was nearly nighttime in my country when their craft filled the sky. It was so massive as to blot out the barely visible moon, and eclipse the sinking sun as it passed across the heavens. Their ship looked how people had imagined an alien craft would appear, but far larger than imagination had led them to envision. It was an almost a perfect disk, but as it rotated you could see a slight bulge in the middle along the top and bottom sides. As the rays of the setting sun touched it, the surface reflected a metallic sheen that ignited the evening sky with its brilliance.
All of mankind was fearful and some nations reacted violently to this intruder. These visitors had sent a message of peace in all languages, but few believed their intentions. When our rockets filled with an amalgamation of high explosives and nuclear warheads reached their ship, the explosion filled the heavens, and night was as day.
Those in power congratulated themselves over the successful strike against this obviously powerful intruder. Their feelings of jubilance were soon crushed, but for that instant humanity felt mighty.
Those with more trust in these intruders into our lives felt sorrow at the loss of the possibilities of no longer being the lone sentient beings in the universe. Few times in history could it be said that our warlike stance against the unknown could have saved us. Instead we were damned by their overwhelming might.
Unfortunately as the cloud of debris and the flashes of light dimmed, the shape still loomed in above us, only obscured by the clouds as they passed beneath its massive shape. As the waning sunlight caressed its surface it reflected back light with no apparent damage. Those that felt celebratory at the idea of its destruction grew anxious. They knew in their hearts that retaliation was at hand. Surely a ship that had traveled through space, and was as colossal as this one appeared, could hold within its powers to annihilate all life on our planet. Even we humans, who have barely escaped the confines of our own world, let alone our solar system, could have caused our extinction multiple times over. We who think of ourselves as the masters of this sphere, with delusions of grandeur that we somehow will one day take all of space as our own, know that our power is limited.
But what monstrosities might this intruder possess? Could it be that we will never see another sunrise? Have our leaders doomed us to extinction? Did we even have a chance? Did we even have a choice?
Again the message of peace was transmitted in all languages, on multiple frequencies. Some dared hope that perhaps we had not doomed all life to destruction. Perhaps this strange vessel somehow only offered new possibilities. Some nations sent replies offering apologies for their reaction to the alarming appearance of an imposing ship in the sky.
A response was given. They wished to offer mankind the stars. They wanted our representatives to speak with them. They implied that they wanted a trade of sorts. That is when they transmitted their images to us.
Their faces filled the screens of televisions around the world. Computers, cellphones, and radios ceased their normal functions to present the visitors’ message. Any monitor on or off suddenly flared to life. Even the screens in sports stadiums where people sat watching their diversions, oblivious to the bright thing in the sky, were filled with three indistinct shapes.
First we only saw them as three figures, each one draped in white. They were out of focus in a soft light. The only distinction between them were their differences in height. The one on left was much taller than the rest, while the one on the right was slightly shorter than the middle figure. Another distinguishing feature we were able to perceive was that all three appeared to be bereft of any hair upon their heads. There was nothing else we could tell about them until one started to step forward. Its form was slowly brought into focus. Its body was shrouded in a white robe and showed no hint of breast nor curve of hip. As it finished coming closer its face resolved into startlingly detail on our screens. Its eyes were a deep coffee brown. The way they set into its face made it indiscernible from male or female. The androgynous being displayed an air of calm and serenity as it said, âGreetings humanity, I am Abihail. We three have come to bring you into the universe. We have seen you, and we have an understanding of you. We knew what the reaction might be upon our arrival, and the violence was not surprising to us. But that is understandable given the suddenness of our appearance and the considerable size of our vessel. But we deemed it necessary as we wished to offer you not only the use of our technology, but also our understanding of the universe.â
Its voice still did not distinguish its gender, if it even had one. Its face had not changed from the zen-like expression that it had begun with. It betrayed no emotion or feeling, or even if such a thing was possible from these outside intruders. It retreated back to stand with its still out-of-sight companions fading once more into obscurity.
Another stepped forward, and she was undeniably female. She was the shortest of the three. While she was clothed in the same white cloth as the other, you could still see the curve of her small delicate breasts outlined against the fabric. Her face had an angelic beauty that mankind has rarely seen outside their own imagination. Her eyes were the blue of the deepest oceans with whorls of another blue, the kind seen on a clear summer afternoon sky, circling her irises. They were deep and pulled everyone into their mysterious vastness, hypnotizing everyone with her gaze. Set perfectly on her face were her rosebud lips. They were full and plump and begged to be caressed. The upper curve of those lips were eye catching without being in anyway angular and her lower lip pouted out like an invitation. Her nose was small and slightly turned up at the end. She was at once both erotically
enticing and motherly. As many others I was dazzled by her face, and forever it is ingrained into my mind. That first glimpse of her will haunt me to the last of my days.
As she spoke, her words were as honey, sweet and delicate, and ever so rare to taste. Anyone might roam the Earth to hear her speak of trivialities, to hold on to every phrase that passed those delicate lips like a precious treasure. Her words came out as an almost pleading whisper, âI am Ava. We only wish to assure you that our intentions are good. That our gifts will bring nothing but positives to all. Please, we entreat those of you who represent your people to speak with us so that we may have your consent to our offers.â
It was almost a sound forbidden to be experienced. But it lead to a hypnotic effect on those who listened. She stepped back, and many sighs were heard from both men and women throughout the world. All were saddened to have her once more fade to a blur.
Again the neutral and unknown gendered one stepped forward. âWe do not expect you to come to us. Therefore we ask that you might provide us with a place to meet. We shall not descend with this large ship, but we shall be where you suggest. We ask that this be accomplished within the next few days. This urgency will become apparent when we are able to speak in person.â And with that the transmission ceased. All of our screens were then returned to their previous state.
Many shared an initial confusion around the world as people were at a loss as to what this could mean for humanity. Would it be possible there was a coming disaster that would cause us to be in need of these outsiders help? Or was this some alien concern that we could not comprehend?
I had watched all of this transpire within my small room, and was left feeling a longing that I had never felt before. Sitting in my small apartment that night I had contemplated prospects. Some were fantastical in nature. Would they lead us into a new world full of possibilities?
Others scenarios entered my mind where they would enslave us and carry us off to conduct menial labor on some mysterious planet. Or perhaps they had just come to warn us of our impending doom.
Government officials throughout the world gathered to decide where a meeting might be held if we agreed to such an encounter. There were few nations who held back. Even to the hardened xenophobes it was obvious these visitors could brush aside our most powerful attacks as if they were nothing. Yet we knew little of their offensive abilities.
After two days of debate it was settled the meeting would be held at the United Nations Headquarters. There had been some argument for the European Union to be the meeting site as it was centrally located for all of Europe, Asia, and even Africa. Also it was argued that the largest attack was launched from The United States, and since the UN Headquarters were located in New York it may look as though we had more of a military stance against these visitors. But the age of the institution weighed more heavily and finally late in the evening of the second day the decision was made.
Once the world representatives arranged for their travel, a message was transmitted. It offered the use of the UN headquarters for this occasion. A response was given in kind. They stated they would be there the following morning. Having given themselves less than 12 hours to convene in New York many of the delegates who had traveled from outside the US were in various stages of disarray. Some were not as well dressed as usual when they arrived, showing signs of jet lag and fatigue. As the cameras recorded from the sidewalk, we saw the two visitors who had spoken to us waiting just outside the entrance. Even then I found it interesting the third entity was missing. I stayed glued to the news to find out all I could about these aliens, but I was surprised there was no mention of the anonymous third being. Some independent reports speculated on the absence, but I do not recall it ever being addressed later.
Most of this first meeting was not broadcast to any outside news source, save for what could be seen from outside. At the time we could only assume if there was an imminent threat, as their initial message implied, the governments decided it would be better to not have public panic. Nothing was recorded from that initial meeting. If any threatening words or actions were given to our delegates, it is unknown. It was said of observers the delegates all appeared shaken as they left.
What was relayed to us was that these visitors were offering knowledge of deep space ship construction, making it possible for us to colonize other habitable worlds. We had even been offered a few planets that had been terraformed before these entities had come to our world.
This news was welcome as our world was becoming fearful it would fill up faster than we could cope. Where I was, the Corn Belt of the United States, we still had the urge to spread out as far as possible. Cities here had never become as crowded or as populous as in other countries. The idea of spreading out in space was a premium selling point because of this. The chance to escape and be a part of creating a new home that would favor your own visions of a perfect world was enticing. Many were willing to jump on board the frontier space idea.
Personally I had always felt that limiting ourselves to just one planet was foolhardy. It could mean the extinction of all of mankind if something were to go wrong. The appeal of space, to me, was always about having leg room to grow and to prevent such an event.
But the offer did have its limits. The visitors were here to offer an exchange. It was a seemingly strange and terrible price. While we would get the construction science for the new ships, the drives would remain in the hands of our benefactors. They pointed out its design could be used for nefarious purposes, and we had proven we still had much to learn. Until we lost at least a portion of our warlike tendencies we would not receive the knowledge of the technology that would propel these crafts, nor how to terraform new worlds ourselves. They also warned any tampering with these drives could, and would, cause something more terrible than any explosion we were familiar with. They explained in simple terms these drives used gravity as the means for propulsion. If the drives were opened they would cause a massive gravity flux, also known as a black hole. Without their knowledge we could cause the downfall of any planetary mass we were near.
Some found that a reasonable stance. Others were terrified of being stranded in mid flight, or being unable to return home as there would be no one able to repair the drives. Some wished to reject the offer all together with all the dangers involved.
We were assured they would use predesignated routes between worlds so there would be no issues with travel. There would be continuous traffic between colonies to bring supplies and assist those who may have been stalled or stranded during flight. They stated there would be a fleet of specialty ships manned by human pilots to accomplish this task. These particular ships would be crafted by the visitors, and would be able to both self repair and mend other ships. As they would travel regularly between worlds, they would be readily available to help those in distress.
The pilots would be trained to help any sick or injured. They would also be responsible for communication between worlds, as faster-than-light transmissions would only be possible with the use of the new ships.
This was just the restriction of the offer, this was not the cost. The cost is what I got myself involved with. You see I was one of those first human pilots. To this day I do not know how the world was so complacent as to view this invasion as a natural event.
The cost it seems was we were to give them all of our dead. When any human died we were to ship them back to a rendezvous point with the aliens’ giant ship. They said they would transport all the bodies to a realm of pure energy. It was an almost religious belief that our bodies contained all that was us to these aliens. According to them the only way in which we would ever achieve harmony with the universe was to be passed on bodily to a plane of energy.
There did not seem to be much debate in government at all about this proposal. It was universally accepted by all parties. This trade would be feasible. This caused some serious tension from the rest of the public. It was as if their views were not being represented at all. B
ut like most things, if it did not interrupt their ability to entertain themselves with television, games, and the Internet, they soon lost interest. There were those that still felt resentment at being ignored, but their concerns were not heard by the general public.
Religious groups found themselves on either side of this arrangement. Some denominations rationalized that the world of energy was God. Others found they were opposed to this, convinced that being passed bodily from our living realm left no room for the soul to continue. Believers of either theory had their own set of arguments based on whatever scripture they were interpreting. While they debated about the moral and ethical implications, the majority found they could live with not caring what happened to their bodies after death.
Others were concerned about the rights of the deceased’s family. As the trade proposal had its legal verbiage fine tuned, it was agreed that everyone would still be allowed to hold a personal ceremony, but afterward they would be visited by an official who would transport the deceased to another facility. Retrieving the deceased from those facilities would be another duty of the pilots with their specialty ships as they traveled between planets.
Various news personalities paraded in their slew of experts and consultants to try and explain why anyone would be interested in being a pilot. If there was any mention of a potential uprising against these intruders by the hosts or their experts, it was quickly derailed to other topics or downplayed as comedic interest. Any public outcry continued to be suppressed by all the media channels save some fringe groups online.
Why anyone would work with them was apparent. There was a major incentive to be a pilot, the restoration and continuation of youth. No matter your age when you joined, you would be returned to your most healthy self in the full bloom of youth. Stronger, smarter, more attractive than you may have ever been, while retaining the wisdom of your years.
I saw all of these offers, and felt a deep desire to explore any new worlds. To live long enough to come to an understanding of myself, and existence in general was something I had always desired. While wisdom had yet to come to me, the desire to pursue knowledge had always been with me. This looked to be the greatest opportunity I could ever have.