by Ken Lozito
“What’s in there?” Connor asked.
“It’s them,” Dr. Kim said. “Or at least it would be if it were to come into contact with humans. Watch.”
Dr. Kim accessed one of the transference chambers and put a tiny ball of pinkish skin inside. The ball seemed to quiver. Dr. Kim closed the chamber door, pressed a button, and the ball of skin was deposited inside the chamber. The dark substance that was allegedly a Vemus had no reaction to it.
“That is a living tissue sample created from the DNA of a mouse. Observe how the Vemus sample has no reaction to it,” Dr. Kim said.
Connor glanced back at the container. “We already knew the virus was modified to target humans.”
Dr. Kim nodded and loaded another flesh-colored ball of skin into the transference chamber. “This was created from human DNA. Though it looks similar to the last sample, I assure you it’s quite different,” he said and then deposited the second sample into the container.
The dark liquid reacted almost instantly and began to move across the container toward the human tissue sample. It covered it completely. Connor glanced at Dr. Kim and then back inside the container. The Vemus sample was absorbing the human tissue sample and then it just stopped. The dark liquid sank back to the surface, becoming a pasty gray substance. The human tissue sample looked as if it had been only partially consumed.
Connor’s mouth hung open in surprise. He leaned closer to the container, looking for some indication that the Vemus sample would begin to reform, but it didn’t. He looked at Dr. Kim, who was smiling proudly.
“Please tell me this is something we can use,” Connor said.
“Oh yes, General. We can kill them now,” Dr. Kim said with an excited gleam in his eyes.
Connor swallowed. “You need to explain to me exactly what just happened. How this works. Everything.”
“Earth scientists had been trying to stop the Vemus for years before they lost everything. You’ve had these samples for barely an hour,” Major Elder said.
Dr. Kim waved them over to the wallscreen. “We’ve been collecting samples of microscopic organisms from New Earth since we arrived, cataloging them and their properties. What we found was a native virus that breaks down the proteins in other viruses—the very same proteins the Vemus uses to keep itself together. In essence, it sterilizes the virus and starves the parasitic organism. We break the symbiotic chain. We know the Vemus are highly adaptive and that the virus is capable of absorbing the DNA of an infected host. This is then transferred to the parasite that then takes over the host. It introduces new DNA to the host with a set of instructions that causes genes to express at a geometric rate. It’s quite literally like being reborn. Think along the lines of a human embryo in its early stages of development.”
“And this is possible because we modified the virus?” Connor asked.
Dr. Kim’s eyebrows rose. “That’s the really interesting part. We already knew the virus the Vemus uses had been modified and we were told it was modified to avoid humans, that it was their plan since they couldn’t cure it. This was to buy the people of Earth time to come up with a more permanent solution,” Dr. Kim said.
Connor narrowed his gaze suspiciously. “Are you implying that someone deliberately modified the virus so it would target humans exclusively?”
“Once they modified the virus, by its very nature it would take in new DNA to improve itself . . .” Dr. Kim shook his head. “My point is that once they modified the virus, it became a synthetic organism that was designed to behave in a very specific way.”
“You mean a weapon. The Vemus are a biological weapon!” Connor said, hardly daring to breathe.
“Precisely,” Dr. Kim confirmed.
Connor leaned back and tried to get a handle on his racing thoughts. He clenched and unclenched his fists while he paced.
“But who would do such a thing?” Major Elder asked.
Dr. Kim shook his head. “I’m sorry. I don’t know who actually did this. It could have been anyone—government agencies, terrorist organizations, corporate research conglomerates, or some rogue agency. Take your pick, but the evidence is there. The most catastrophic event of our time is of our own making.”
Connor couldn’t believe it. He didn’t want to believe it, but it all made sense. “Someone back home seized an opportunity to become more powerful and it backfired on them.”
“My guess is that it simply got out of control,” Dr. Kim said.
“I don’t understand. How could it have gotten out of control? They modified the virus,” Major Elder said.
“They must have had some way to protect themselves or thought they had a way to stop it, making themselves into heroes in the process,” Connor said.
“They could have done that anyway without obliterating the population,” Major Elder said and shook his head.
“Think about it. They found a way to remove any obstacle in their path, except they underestimated what they’d done. They tried to play God and the whole thing blew up in their faces. This whole thing makes me sick,” Connor said in disgust.
They were silent for a few moments while they all digested what Dr. Kim had told them. Connor rested his hands on his hips and shook his head. One of the primary objectives of the Ghosts had been to stop things like this. Human ingenuity, which had spawned their most amazing creations, also came with the threat that the worst part of humanity could also rear its ugly head as well. If so, in a celestial blink of the eye, they would all be gone—just another intelligent, advanced race snuffed out of existence because of someone’s blind ambition.
Connor looked at Dr. Kim. “You said we can kill them. How?”
“We can synthesize the virus. I’ve already spoken to Dr. Morgan. She’s a nano-robotics engineer and she believes we can combine the two,” Dr. Kim said.
“What good is that?” Connor asked.
“It will make our virus kill the Vemus faster. We can also do our own bit of manipulation to make it seek out the synthetic virus from Earth,” Dr. Kim said.
“There has to be more to it than that. You said the Vemus operate like a hive. We’ve seen them function as if there was a centralized intelligence commanding them. Could you make enough of that stuff to take it out?” Connor asked.
“Most certainly, General,” Dr. Kim said.
“How long will it take to make it?” Connor asked.
“We can have a batch ready in about seven or eight hours. Subsequent batches will be much faster as we perfect the process,” Dr. Kim said.
Connor frowned as he calculated the time.
“What’s the matter, General? I thought you’d have been pleased,” Dr. Kim asked.
“We need it a lot faster than that,” Connor said and opened a comlink alert message from the Command Center.
“We’ll do the best we can,” Dr. Kim said.
“You need to. The best way to stop the Vemus is to get aboard the Alpha ship, find wherever the hell this centralized brain is, and kill it at the source using whatever you come up with. You’ve got less than three hours to do it,” Connor said.
Dr. Kim’s brows drew up in a worried frown. “Why so little time?”
“Because we just got another update from Lunar Base. Colonel Hayes believes they’re preparing for another attack on New Earth. Our best speed in the combat shuttles we have to reach the enemy ship is two hours. You’ve got one hour to prepare. We can bring whatever equipment you need with us,” Connor said.
Dr. Kim’s eyes widened. “Me? Go with you?”
“Will that be a problem?” Connor asked.
“We have a mobile lab that we can put on the shuttle, but we haven’t perfected the process. I’m not sure we can do what you require in the time we have,” Dr. Kim said.
“We don’t have a choice. Lunar Base is reporting Vemus scout ships are searching the main continent. It’s only a matter of time before they discover where we’ve hidden our friends and families,” Connor said.
Dr. Kim’s gaze darted around.
>
“General,” Major Elder said, “why don’t I stay behind and help Dr. Kim?”
“I think that would be best,” Connor said. “One more thing. We need to send whatever method you come up with for creating this weapon to Lunar Base and they’ll broadcast it to the colony.”
Dr. Kim frowned in confusion.
“This way, if we fail, at least whoever’s left will have a fighting chance. Some chance is better than none at all,” Connor said.
Dr. Kim swallowed. “I’ll do my very best, General.”
Connor nodded and looked at Major Elder. “I’ll see you in one hour in the hangar bay.”
He left the lab, Captains Walker and Randle following him.
“General, I’d like to be on the away team,” Captain Walker said.
“And there’s no way you’re going without me, sir,” Captain Randle said.
“Don’t worry, I’m not leaving you guys behind. I aim to bring everyone I can on this. We’re going to end this thing one way or another,” Connor said.
“Looking forward to it, sir. I’ll head to the hangar bay and see about getting the combat shuttles we have ready to fly,” Captain Walker said.
Connor and Captain Randle went back to the Command Center. They had a lot of work to do and very little time to get it done. Captain Thorne saluted Connor as he approached the command area.
“Captain Thorne, I need to know what we have left regarding infantry weapons and combat suits. Everything. Do we have enough to equip every able-bodied person left on this station?” Connor asked.
Captain Thorne blinked his eyes a few times while he processed Connor’s request. “I need a few minutes to look that up, sir.”
“Understood, Captain,” Connor said and looked at Lieutenant Rawn. “Ops, I need an intercept course that will take us right to the Vemus Alpha executed at once. Best speed possible.”
“Right away, General,” Lieutenant Rawn said and began typing furiously on his holo-interface. “Course laid in. Best speed will put us there in five hours.”
Connor frowned. Five hours wasn’t the best time he could have hoped for, but it was what he had to work with. “Course correction, Lieutenant. Put us in geosynchronous orbit with New Earth. Should be about the same travel time.”
“Yes, sir. Course correction updated,” Lieutenant Rawn said.
“Very well,” Connor replied.
“I have those figures you asked for, General,” Captain Thorne said.
Connor went over to the tactical workstation with Captain Randle at his side. “Alright, let’s see what we’ve got.”
Chapter Thirty
Nathan had hardly left the Command Center on Lunar Base, and instead of returning to the mission briefing room, he had his staff join him there. After spending the last several hours planning their attack on the Vemus Alpha, they detected multiple nuclear detonations on the planet where the cities of the colony had been. Delphi had been the first to be destroyed, and within a few hours, New Haven followed. It wasn’t until ten hours afterward that there was a massive nuclear explosion at Sierra. He immediately sent an update to Connor on Phoenix Station. Lunar Base had later received an encoded message simply stating that the CDF ground forces were still intact.
Learning that the colony’s three major cities had been destroyed was hard to take, but it was Connor who’d figured out what Major Quinn had done. There was brutal efficiency in the plan Major Quinn had employed in his fight against the Vemus. Nathan wasn’t sure he could have even conceived it. Though he outranked Major Sean Quinn, Nathan knew the man was a brilliant strategist and he found himself wondering what Sean would do if he were in command of Lunar Base. There were times when Nathan felt his own promotion to colonel had been born out of necessity rather than achievement. But regardless of the reasons General Gates had promoted him, he would carry out his orders and achieve the objectives of the CDF to the best of his ability.
“Tactical, have those Vemus scout ships returned?” Nathan asked.
“Negative, Colonel. They haven’t been seen since they entered New Earth’s atmosphere,” Lieutenant LaCroix said.
Nathan pressed his lips together. They could only guess how long those scout ships would take to locate the civilian bunkers and Sanctuary. The Vemus seemed to increase the complexity of their tactics the longer this engagement went on. If their previous attack had been them asleep at the wheel, Nathan hoped they could take out the Vemus Alpha before the damn thing became any smarter. He’d considered sending a few of their combat shuttles to New Earth to investigate, but they had little chance of escaping detection by the Vemus cruisers patrolling the moon. They were stuck between a rock and a hard place unless they wanted to begin their attack on the Vemus.
“Colonel Hayes, I have a comlink from General Gates,” Sergeant Boers said.
“Put him on the main holoscreen,” Nathan said.
The tactical readouts disappeared from the screen and were replaced by the head and shoulders of General Gates.
“General, we’re showing that Phoenix Station is heading back to New Earth,” Nathan said.
“That’s correct. We couldn’t send an update before this time due to the communications blackout. How stands the battle preparations?” Connor asked.
“We haven’t seen the Vemus scout ships since they entered New Earth’s atmosphere, so they probably haven’t found our civilian safeholds. We have a strategy to bring the Vemus Alpha to Lunar Base,” Nathan said and proceeded to tell Connor their plan for engaging the Vemus Alpha in an all-out assault. Before the attack began, he’d send out four assault teams that would attempt to sneak aboard the enemy ship while it was en route to the moon to plant the bombs they’d made inside.
“That’s a good plan and it won’t have to change all that much when you hear what I’ve got to say. But given the time constraint of this communications window, there’ll be very little time for explanation or questions. We’re sending multiple comms drones loaded with the relevant data that will validate what we’re attempting,” General Gates said.
“Just say the word and we’ll do everything we can, General,” Nathan replied.
“I know you will. We’ll need to coordinate our efforts because your assault teams won’t be the only CDF soldiers on that enemy ship,” General Gates said and proceeded to lay out their plan of attack.
Nathan listened, and for the next fifteen minutes, General Gates informed him of the discoveries they’d made using the data and samples collected by Dr. Brian Walker. When he’d authorized Brian’s mission, Nathan had had no idea of the potentially profound impact it would have on all their lives. If it worked. The comlink to Phoenix Station closed, and there was a stunned silence in the immediate vicinity of the main holoscreen.
“A way to kill the Vemus,” Major Shelton said in a tone that suggested she didn’t quite believe it.
Nathan’s mind raced. He had so many questions he wanted to ask the general, but he knew there simply wasn’t time. He knew Connor had glossed over many of the facts and he also accepted that he didn’t need all the facts in order to achieve their objective. They were going to throw everything they had left at the Vemus and there would be no second chance.
“We need to settle down and focus,” Nathan said.
The CDF soldiers in the command area went silent.
“Coordinating this attack won’t be easy and the battle plan has just become a lot more complicated,” Nathan said.
As Nathan began to put the entirety of the plan together in his mind, along with its implications, he faced the grim reality that much more sacrifice would be required if the colony was going to survive. He glanced around the command area at all the CDF soldiers. They didn’t realize it yet, but when he caught Major Shelton’s gaze and then Lieutenant LaCroix’s, he saw that they understood. In a few hours’ time, none of them would probably be around to see how their war with the Vemus ended. This had always been a possibility and was one they’d taken steps to prepare for should the wo
rst happen. They still had a bit of time, precious little though it was. There were still preparations to be made, and what remained of mankind depended on the actions they’d take over the next several hours. It was a terrible burden to bear, but they’d do it together—just as they would die together so their loved ones could live.
Sergeant Boers called him over. “Colonel, I just had a comms drone report in from the surface.”
Nathan frowned. “Where did it come from?”
Sergeant Boers swallowed. “It’s from Sanctuary. There are personal messages from the people there. Sir, I need your authorization to send the messages out since we’re officially still under Dark-Star protocols.”
Nathan pressed his lips together while he considered. Messages from home could distract his staff from doing what they needed to do. He looked around the Command Center at all the CDF personnel and the scientists who had elected to come here to help with their fight against the Vemus. He had no doubt that some of the commanding officers could deny those final messages from home in order to achieve their objective, but not Nathan. He couldn’t do that. He had more optimistic tendencies and believed it was those messages from home that would enable his soldiers to fight much harder because they’d have been reminded of what they were fighting for. He looked down at Sergeant Boers. “Send them on, Sergeant.”
Sergeant Boers smiled in relief. “At once, Colonel . . . and thank you, sir.”
Nathan gave her a nod and turned to go back to his own workstation.
“Colonel,” Sergeant Boers called out to him. “There’s a message for you as well. It has Colonel Cross’s identification on it.”
Savannah? Nathan thought. “Send it to my console, Sergeant.”
Nathan went over to his console and put on his headset. The new message flashed in his inbox and he opened it. A video recording file opened, and he took a moment to savor Savannah’s beautiful face. She’d let her thick blonde hair down and it surrounded her face like a lion’s mane. He felt the edges of his lips curve up into a smile. God, how he wished he could be with her, but they’d chosen to keep their relationship a secret.