by C. J. Odle
Tasha disappeared for a moment to rummage around in the props cupboard, then came back with a large whiteboard and a couple of colored magnets. She picked up a magic marker and sketched a somewhat discombobulated world map, with LA, Shanghai, and Tokyo highlighted. When finished, it was relatively easy to hold it up to the camera, using the two magnets to provide a running commentary on the latest updates.
“The second sphere is currently closing on Shanghai, being escorted by one of the pods from the alien spacecraft,” Tasha said. “From the reports received so far, it looks as though it will reach the city in a few minutes.
“As for what will happen after…” Would it be coming back here? Would the destruction of one sphere achieve anything? Eventually, Tasha had to do one of the hardest things for any anchor to do, and admit the truth. “I really don’t know.”
After initially making good progress and releasing 6.92 percent of the population of Tokyo, Sirius was alerted by a signal on its console that Vega’s pod had suffered a serious malfunction and was now completely out of contact. Even more alarming was the data some minutes later of the other sphere vanishing without a trace. Sirius followed protocol, changing course immediately, and it now proceeded rapidly toward its selected location, the large populated land mass nearby—China,” as the humans called it. The sphere streaked ahead like a comet in front of the pod.
While they darted west over the water, Sirius analyzed. There were two hypothetical explanations: humans had found a way to destroy Vega and its sphere, or Vega had aborted its mission. Given the level of primitive technology on this planet, the first hypothesis was inconceivable. Therefore, only one conclusion could be reached—Vega must have terminated its mission and cut communication.
More weapons were aimed at Sirius’s pod, this time from gleaming black vessels that surfaced from beneath the waves, firing weapons the console informed Sirius were designed to obliterate whole cities. If only they could see the irony, Sirius thought, as it quickly destroyed both the missiles and the submarines they came from.
Sirius flew in the direction of the nearest and largest city. It contained such a high density of population, with so much smog and clumsy technology, it was difficult for Sirius to understand how a species could live there and prosper.
Sirius watched as the crystal sphere moved into position over the nightscape of Shanghai. The psychic dynamo pulsed out blinding white light and celestial sounds, until it must have looked from the ground as though the gray smog was lit from above by a giant flashbulb. Sirius was not given to such flights of fancy, so it merely monitored the situation, keeping track of the pulsing connection to the universal consciousness as it started to overwhelm the minds in its vicinity.
Sirius’s pod detected an approaching craft long before Sirius became telepathically aware of Vega’s presence. The other alien’s craft shone brightly as it rocketed through the atmosphere, closing in from above on a direct route from the desert. As it neared, Vega’s voice sounded in Sirius’s mind.
“Sirius, you must stop this.”
“Why?”
“I have seen visions. Ones that change everything,” Vega replied as it pulsed across the whole of its experience. Sirius felt the power of something it had never expected to see.
“You can feel the truth of it,” Vega sent. Sirius could. Even so…
“These visions change nothing,” Sirius replied. “The judgment has been given. I have a duty to fulfil.”
“We have to make our own decisions,” Vega pulsed. “You know what is at stake.”
“I will not destroy this sphere,” Sirius insisted.
“If you will not, then I must. Do not attempt to stop me, Sirius.”
Vega’s pod shot up toward the top of the alien orb. Sirius stared for an instant, then worked the controls of its console, setting off in pursuit.
Vega put its pod into position above the sphere and prepared to unleash the necessary burst of dark matter. Jake watched through the glass-like dome as Sirius’s craft hurtled toward them and then swung directly underneath their pod.
“Sirius will not permit us to destroy the sphere,” Vega sent. “It is blocking the opportunity to fire into it.”
“Can we persuade Sirius?” Jake pulsed.
“I do not believe so,” Vega sent back. “It is set on this course.”
“So we have to find a way through.”
They tried. They darted forward and backward, but Sirius always managed to block the way. Whatever position Vega placed its pod in, the other alien swiftly positioned its pod between their pod and the sphere. Every second of delay was costing lives.
“Will Sirius shoot us down if we get too close to stopping the sphere?” Jake sent.
“Of course not!” Vega sent back. “Our species does not act like humans!”
Jake considered the alien’s words as a flash of inspiration hit his mind.
“I have an idea,” he pulsed. “The shields on this pod keep the sphere from affecting us, yes?”
“The shields and because we are not directly underneath,” Vega pulsed back.
“So lower the shields and put us underneath.”
Vega didn’t hesitate. Jake had to admit, the level of trust was impressive. The alien made an adjustment to the controls of the console, and the space surrounding the pod began to buckle and warp as the shields came down.
“I hope you know what you’re doing,” Sarah whispered.
Jake forced a smile. “I hope so too.”
As Vega maintained the pod’s position diagonally above the sphere, Jake felt the increase in the energy around them as it started to push at the edges of his consciousness. He erected his own psychic barriers as best he could, folding them around Sarah even as he felt her attempting to do the same, and they clutched tightly to each other.
“Vega,” Sirius sent over, “the action you have just taken is exceptionally dangerous.”
“Not as dangerous as this one,” Vega sent back, and plunged the pod down thousands of feet before swinging into position underneath the massive crystal orb.
Energy battered against the edges of Jake’s mind, vision after vision threatening to burst through. Vega seemed to be having trouble as well, struggling to hold the pod stable as the power flooding down hit them. For a moment, it seemed as though they might spin out of control… then Sirius positioned its pod above them, shielding them like an umbrella.
“Stop this foolishness, Vega,” Sirius sent. “You are placing your life at risk for these… for these creatures.”
“They are worth the risk, Sirius,” Vega pulsed and then shifted the position of their pod again, moving out from under Sirius’s protection. Another brief burst of power followed, then Sirius adjusted its pod once more. Even with its shields on, the alien’s pod wobbled with the waves of energy being emitted by the sphere.
They kept up a kind of cat-and-mouse game, Vega moving its pod down and to one side to lead Sirius away, spiraling out and changing direction so rapidly that even the other alien eventually struggled to keep up, its pod repeatedly battered by the onslaught received from shielding Vega.
Every time Vega moved briefly out from under the umbrella of Sirius’s shields, the crystal sphere’s power flooded down. Jake held on to his mental shield through each barrage, trying to keep his awareness focused as much as he could, looking for the one moment when Sirius would have followed them far enough from the sphere it was guarding to…
“Now!” Jake yelled, both aloud and mentally. He wasn’t sure if Vega heard him, or if it had just spotted the opening for itself, but the alien’s hands flashed across the pod’s controls.
The pod jumped upward as Vega raced toward the opening, rising so fast that, for a moment, the world blurred. Sirius had been drawn away from the crystal sphere, and now Vega shot quickly into the gap. The pod’s shields slammed back into place, blocking out the power of the sphere as they moved into position directly above it before Sirius had a chance to stop them.
&n
bsp; It tried to follow. Jake could see the alien’s pod rising up, but Vega worked the crystal buttons of the console, and dark matter quickly gathered in front of the pod, shooting down into the orb below and disappearing into its core.
“No,” Sirius sent. “What have you done, Vega?”
“What I must,” Vega replied.
As with the first sphere, the introduction of the dark matter slowed its spinning, making it list and flicker, wobbling in the air as it struggled to keep pumping out its deadly energy. Then the web of darkness started to spread, looking like a network of capillaries as it rapidly forged to the surface, distributing its imploding power throughout.
This time the crystal sphere darkened fully before shrinking back into itself, hanging still for a moment or two, then exploding in a spray of crystal shards that rained down on the city, clattering off rooftops and glancing away from the sides of buildings.
Sirius’s pod floated up in front of them. They saw the incredulous form of the alien, its hands flickering over the controls. “This changes nothing,” the alien sent. “I will return to the main ship. With enough time for renewal, my craft can deploy another sphere.”
“And mine can destroy it,” Vega pulsed back. “You know what I have seen, Sirius. I will not permit you to remove humanity if there is a chance of the vision becoming true.”
“You would really destroy any sphere I create?” Sirius demanded, its large black eyes glaring through the front of its pod.
“Unless you are prepared to shoot me down,” Vega sent.
It wasn’t much of a bluff, Jake thought. After all, Sirius had already shown itself unwilling to let any harm befall Vega. There was no way the other alien would attack another of its species.
“Very well,” Sirius sent back, calmer now. “But you will have to live with the consequences of this. Humanity will become everything the Supreme predicted, and you will be the one responsible.”
“It is possible. I might become responsible,” Vega sent back. “But I will not be the one responsible for this genocide. You have pushed for this from the start.”
“Because the species is a mistake,” Sirius shot back, and for the first time, Jake could feel real emotion behind the words.
“We gave it a beginning,” Vega sent back.
“And we’re not done yet,” Jake put in.
“Not done with trying to kill one another, along with the world on which you live?” Sirius retorted.
A few hours ago, Jake might have agreed. Now he couldn’t help feeling more optimistic. If they could do this, they could do anything. “We might surprise you.”
“You are assuming, of course, that you will all be allowed to continue,” Sirius sent.
“You’ve already said you’re not going to launch another sphere,” Jake pulsed back.
“And you think it stops there?” Sirius pulsed. “Do you really think this is just about you, or me, or any of us?” The alien paused. “Wait, it’s coming.”
What was coming? What could possibly happen now after they’d managed to stop the destruction? He got his answer a moment later.
Chapter Thirty
Jake’s vision blanked out, and he felt weightless. He floated in a void, everywhere and nowhere at once. It felt familiar, the same dimension he had entered before, when he’d communicated face-to-face with the Supreme after the trial.
Sirius and Vega were there with him, and their faint translucence showed this wasn’t a physical space in any conventional sense. This space existed only because of their connection to the universal consciousness, all of them drawn together by the power of the Supreme.
Or Supremes. Jake realized with a start that there were multiple presences. Dimensions within dimensions, shifting planes of light and space, intersecting and overlapping, taking other forms beyond his capacity to perceive. Jake struggled to imagine more than one creature like the Supreme. One being with so much power proved hard enough to fathom, but a group of them, a multitude?
“What is so difficult to understand?” one asked, the words appearing with a sonic ring at the back of Jake’s head. “Where one is possible, many are.”
A second communicated in words that seemed to burn themselves into the void. “Why has the process that had begun on the planet Earth been halted?”
“This human halted it,” Sirius sent, “in conjunction with my colleague, Vega.”
“It is understood,” a third spoke, its whisper echoing through Jake. “One of our council oversaw the trial. It gave judgment.”
“The judgment must be overturned,” Vega sent.
“Share with us what you have learned,” another Supreme asked, and somehow, Jake knew it was the one who’d given judgment.
He could dimly sense thought waves being transmitted, of Vega sharing its visions, but he didn’t have access. Jake concentrated and tried to force a connection. He glimpsed fragments: A young girl practicing martial arts, tumbling and flowing around a luminous dojo. Now as a teenager in a cave full of crystals being taught by a strange priestess. Then as a young woman sitting in full lotus, strands of light emanating from her body and permeating throughout Earth.
“The being known as Vega has seen one who is to come,” one of the Supremes sent.
Another paused. “Perhaps this is the Startoucher we have sought for so long.”
“Perhaps,” a third agreed.
The Supremes fell silent, the shifting levels of light and space becoming perfectly still. Finally, the one who’d pronounced judgment spoke again.
“Perhaps we have been given something else to consider.”
“You are reconsidering your judgment?” Sirius demanded. “You are allowing them to remain?”
“This is yet to be decided,” one of the others announced. “This outcome is… unprecedented. For now, you will return to the Pleiades. It is requested that the two humans accompany you.”
Sirius looked as though it might argue but then bowed its head. “It will be as you say. We will return to the ship, and then to the Pleiades.”
“Leave the main craft,” the Supreme who had judged commanded. “The Pyramid can continue to observe and transmit.”
Abruptly, Jake was back in the pod. Vega blinked; it appeared the alien was also coming around.
“What just happened?” Sarah asked, hands clasped on the lap of her dress.
Vega swiveled around to face them. “We just had an audience with the Supremes. The judgment against humanity has been suspended. Sirius and I have been recalled back to the Pleiades. It is requested that you and Jake return with us.”
“Do we have a choice?” Sarah asked.
“A request from the Supremes must be obeyed,” Vega sent.
“What is a Startoucher?” Jake pulsed. “Is that the girl in your visions?”
Vega frowned and peered at him. “I am not permitted to say. For now.”
Jake could sense the alien’s resolve not to reveal more. He decided to ask about something else.
“What will happen to the people left here on Earth?”
“The crystal spheres have been destroyed, but there will be many humans who were in the process of transformation when this happened. Those humans will experience a far stronger connection to the universal consciousness.”
“So they’ll all be like Jake?” Sarah glanced over at him.
Vega paused. “Some will have gained real power and insight yet still retain very selfish tendencies. Others will have powers but be more evolved, with a much greater focus on living peacefully. The results will depend on what people were like before the process, and on how far along they progressed toward releasing.”
Jake looked through the glass-like dome at the metropolis below; the smog had cleared, and thousands of lights illuminated the skyscrapers and the roads. He wondered about the changes in the years to come.
“Won’t it be difficult for you if we try and stay?” Jake asked.
“Stay?” Sarah said.
Jake turned toward Sa
rah. “Whatever the Supremes request, I won’t go anywhere without you. If you don’t want to do this…”
“A chance to see an alien world?” Sarah said, eyes sparking. “Count me in.”
“It looks like we’re coming,” Jake pulsed.
“You have decided well,” Vega sent. “Life on Earth will be… complicated. The Supremes were right, this is unprecedented. The trial was rare enough, but no species has ever been reprieved partway through its removal from a world. The results cannot be predicted.”
“We’ll come back,” Jake sent. “But first we want to see the stars.”
Even with its analytical intelligence, Sirius couldn’t piece together the chain of events since the trial. There were numerous variables to consider, all of them highly unpredictable. Available data indicated the full release of 4.1 million humans. Never before had an extinction process been aborted, and much observation and analysis would be required to verify both the number of humans partially released and the subsequent effects on the species.
Could the female specimen’s unborn child possibly be the Startoucher? The visions Vega had transmitted had been persuasive. Still, there had been disappointments in the past, and the Startoucher prophecy remained just that—a prophecy.
Recalled by the Council of the Supremes. It was a precaution. At best, it meant the two scientists would spend an extended period explaining their actions. At worst, it might have consequences for the metaphysical project dominating its life. Despite the new opportunities for research presented by the aborted process, Sirius had been planning to finish the task here on Earth, then return to its work.
Instead, there would be deliberations about what to do next, probably lasting many cycles. The immediate priority would be to ascertain whether this really did represent the success of the Startoucher project.
Sirius knew that bigger threats were coming from both within the galaxy and beyond. The only viable solution to those threats required a huge evolutionary leap from the physical plane to the metaphysical.