Paradigm 2045- Trinity's Children

by Robert W. Ross

  There was another crackle, and the slightly artificial voice of the machine learning translator said, “This is Nerr’ath. I am here and ready to decompress my pod upon your command.”

  “So, no luck on regaining control, then?” asked Charlotte.

  “No, Captain Omandi. I am locked out of all pod controls, even life support, which should not technically be possible.”

  “It appears, some in your government really want you dead, Chief Xenologist Salmix,” offered Damien cooly.

  There was a several second pause, then Nerr’ath said, “It would certainly appear so. While I know it falls far short of acceptability, I would like to, once again, apologize for—”

  “There will be time for that later,” said Charlotte. “I’m risking the life of a valued crew member to retrieve you so, for now, please stay focused on precisely executing the plan we provided.”

  “Understood,” replied the Drac’athian. “I will comply.”

  “Chief Xenologist Salmix,” said Damien, “you will need to decompress your pod in exactly ninety-seconds. Please confirm your status.”

  “I have successfully accessed the manual override for the explosive bolts of my pod’s airlock, and synchronized their activation to your security officer’s arrival. Unfortunately, my personal safeguards have been less successful. My environment suit was not designed for full vacuum and will provide minimal protection. The forced decompression will likely render me unconscious. I estimate being able to survive without pressure or oxygen for approximately sixty-five seconds.”

  Misha cut in. “Simulations showed me picking you up in thirty, and needing about another thirty to get you back under pressure, so things are going to be tight.”

  “Understood,” said Salmix again, then continued, “Captain Omandi, should I not survive, I want you to know that I am so very impressed by both your scientific achievements and empathic nature. I only wish Doctor Howard were awake so I could tell him, as well.”

  Charlotte felt the sudden weight of her crew’s eyes, but kept her face impassive as she said, “Well, you never know what the future may bring, Nerr’ath, but I’ll leave you with this. You owe this crew a debt, and I am the Bladerunner’s Hath’sede. So, when you survive, not if, when you survive, I will expect your commitment to expunging that debt.”

  There was a long pause, then Nerr’ath said, “You honor me beyond words, Hath’sede of Bladerunner. My life will be yours. My service will be yours. My loyalty will be to none but you.”

  Charlotte’s eyes widened, and she made a cutting motion. “Muted,” said Linnea.

  “What the hell did I just do?” asked Omandi.

  Sorenson smiled, “I’m not sure, Captain, but I think you gave her a path to redemption, and from what little I can pick up at this distance, that’s a pretty big deal to her. I also picked up some significant intensity when she mentioned Doctor Howard. Perhaps you should let Nerr’ath know he’s not just sleeping, he’s—”

  “No,” said Charlotte, “I don’t want to distract her.” Omandi motioned for the communications officer to take them off mute, and Linnea nodded. “Ok, Nerr’ath,” said Charlotte, “you just work on staying alive and we’ll discuss your path to redemption once you are onboard.”

  “Understood, Captain Omandi. Decompression in twenty-seconds. Closing communications.”

  “Coleman, place the Sokolov-Salmix intercept vectors on the main view screen,” said Chao, and a diagram immediately appeared. A curving gray line extended from both the blue dot representing Bladerunner and the yellow representing Nerr’ath’s pod.

  “Releasing mag-boots, and initiating ten-second environmental suit burn,” said Misha. Instantly, a blue line began to extend from the Bladerunner’s blue dot.

  “The pod has decompressed,” said Damien. “Nerr’ath is free of the pod.” As with Sokolov before, a yellow line began extending from the pod and toward Misha’s blue line.

  Misha’s eyes swept the heads-up-display in her environment suit and scanned the information. She ground her teeth, as one thought came to the fore. I’m not going to make it. A split second later, she tapped a control on her arm and felt a burst of additional acceleration. “Intercept in fifteen seconds,” said Sokolov.

  “What the hell, Misha,” yelled James, “You executed a secondary burn. You’ll never be able to hold on to her.”

  “Shut up, Branson, I will too. That lizard is going to get a big old Russian bear hug in about five seconds.” Misha focused on Nerr’ath’s slowly tumbling form. She wasn’t moving her limbs or trying to look for Sokolov. Not good, thought the security officer, as she focused on the rapidly approaching Drac’athian. Misha opened her arms and slammed into Nerr’ath. She struck so hard that her teeth rattled and vision blurred. Instantly, hormones flooded Misha’s system like an ice-water bath, and everything came into sharp focus. Salmix had started to rebound away, but Misha’s hand blurred forward, wrapped a safety line around the unconscious xenologist, and secured it with a carabiner. The thin cable grew taught and Misha was tugged forward until the two slammed into each other again. Misha enclosed Nerr’ath with both arms, then activated her safety tether’s retraction motor.

  Aboard Bladerunner, all eyes watched as the yellow and blue lines intersected. Everyone held their collective breath. Nothing happened. “Misha,” said Charlotte, “Status. Misha?” Still nothing. Omandi tapped a control on her chair. “Doctor Carpenter, what are Sokolov’s vitals?”

  Annchi responded. “Sorry, Captain, the doctor left his hand terminal in the med-bay. He’s already in the hangar, but I’ve confirmed Misha’s vitals look good. Heart rate is a bit elevated, and her blood shows high levels of what I assume are her enhancement hormones, but otherwise, good.”

  “If Carpenter is done having you help him, Annchi, you should be on the command deck,” said Chao.

  His daughter pushed up on her biobed, and stared at glowing amber motes that surrounded both legs, as her nanite flora continued to knit the bones she broke earlier. “Still working on some things down here, Father,” she said.

  Charlotte shared a knowing look with Linnea. The captain locked eyes with Keung and said, “Commander, she’s fine where she is for now, I want—”

  The command deck’s speakers crackled, interrupting Charlotte. “I’m here Captain,” began Misha, “sorry for the delay. Branson may have been right again and that’s two times more than I ever thought possible. I had to come in a bit hotter than I would have liked and lost my grip on our target. I’ve got her, but the impact knocked me around a bit. She’s unconscious or possibly worse. I can’t really tell right now, but should have us both under pressure in ten-seconds.”

  “hangar bay,” said Omandi, “Doctor? Are you there?”

  “I’m here,” said Richard. “Apologies, I left my hand terminal in the med-bay.”

  “That’s fine, Rick. Misha says they will be arriving in seconds and Nerr’ath is injured. Are you ready?”

  “I see them, Captain. They are in the airlock. Pressurizing now. I’ll do my best.”

  Chapter 49

  The Titan's Ghost

  Charlotte pursed her lips as she stared at Nerr’ath’s still form. She pointed at the biobed readouts and asked, “How different are these from that Drac’athian android body?”

  “Well,” began Carpenter, “for starters, Nerr’ath does not have a capacitive organ that can emit lethal energy charges.”

  Sokolov shifted her weight and snorted, “I’d say that’s a pretty important difference since lizardzilla’s capacitive organ almost killed James.”

  “Oh, it did more than almost kill him” murmured Rick, as he tapped on several biobed controls. “James had been clinically dead for at least six minutes. Fortunately, the repairs were actually quite easy to affect, although if he’d arrived here even a couple minutes later, it would have been too late.” Carpenter looked up and said, “What I find most interesting is that Annchi’s bone regrowth just finished. It took longer than did Jame
s’ resurrection. Isn’t that interesting?” The doctor’s eyes lost focus and he murmured, “Perhaps it was because of the additional damage she took trying to walk on shattered—”

  “Doc,” said Misha flatly, “you are not making things better right now.”

  Rick blushed, and said, “Sorry, I was paying far more attention to what I was doing, than what I was saying.” He frowned at Omandi, then added, “Actually Captain, I owe you an apology for not recognizing the danger of that android’s organ.”

  Charlotte waved away his concern, “Don’t give it another thought, Doctor. It was your first alien-death-organ. I’m sure next time you’ll do better.” She paused a moment, then asked, “How badly was Nerr’ath injured?”

  Carpenter brightened, “Actually, far less than I expected. Apparently Drac’ath bodies are much more durable than our own. I suspect the thick scaled nature of their skin provides some protection from vacuum, while their cold blooded nature requires more resilience to extreme temperature changes. I believe low temperatures create something akin to forced hibernation.”

  “I”m sure that will come in very handy during their invasion,” grumbled Misha.

  Charlotte ignored her, and was about to respond to the doctor, when her hand terminal vibrated to indicate a private message had been received. She slipped it out, glanced at the scrolling alert text, and barely managed to maintain a neutral expression. Howard-Prime Stasis Terminated. Revival complete. Omandi smiled up at Carpenter as she clicked off the device, and asked, “Any idea how long she’ll remain unconscious?”

  Rick’s eyebrows raised. “Oh, I’m sorry, Captain, she’s not technically unconscious. I’m keeping her sedated because, well, because of the last incident.”

  Misha grinned. “I’m rubbing off on you, Doc. Excellent decision.”

  “Please wake her up,” said Charlotte softly.

  Misha tensed, and drew her weapon. She noticed Omandi staring at her and said, “Don’t even think about it. I’m not letting her out of my sight and will shoot her at the first sign of aggression.” Charlotte continued to stare at her security officer, until Sokolov grimaced, and said, “Fine, but the best I can offer you is to not point the weapon at her…initially.”

  Omandi sighed, but nodded in reluctant agreement, then said, “Happy first contact…no shooting without my direct order.”

  “She’s coming around now, Captain,” said Rick. Nerr’ath’s eyes fluttered open.

  She stared up at the doctor for several seconds, then turned her head and focused on Misha and Charlotte. Nerr’ath sat up and slid off the table.

  Misha shouldered Omandi to the side and raised her weapon. “Don’t move,” she growled.

  Salmix froze in place, then slowly shook her head, and tapped at one of her ear holes.

  “Don’t shoot her,” cried Rick, as he waved his hands. “I have not activated Linnea’s translation program.” He quickly moved to one of the wall terminals and tapped several controls. “There, we should be good now.”

  “Do not move,” said Misha again, and the translator echoed her words with a series of hisses and clicks.

  “I think,” said Charlotte, as she rested a hand on Misha’s still outstretched hand, “that she got the gist of your last message even without the translation.”

  Nerr’ath’s eyes widened at the sound of Charlotte’s voice. She slowly raised both hands to her head, bowed, and lowered them again. “Hath’sede?” Salmix asked. Omandi smiled, and what looked like fear crossed Nerr’ath’s face.

  “Oh, Captain, I wouldn’t do that,” said Rick, “I very much doubt a broad smile means the same thing to us as it does to them.” The doctor shook his head, “Showing your teeth like that…she probably takes it as aggressive or possibly even an indication that you plan to eat her.”

  The translation flowed through the med-bay and Nerr’ath cocked her head. When it finished, several soft hisses came from her mouth, as she locked eyes with Charlotte. Slowly, her lips curved up to reveal a row of long sharp teeth, then she replied in her native language. The slightly artificial translation filled the med-bay. “Forgive my reaction, Hath’sede of Bladerunner, although my lucid dream interactions with Doctor Howard were informative, my understanding of your language is not yet complete. Is he awake yet? I would very much like to meet him, with your permission of course.”

  Misha frowned. “Howard’s dead. He’s been dead for months.”

  “I don’t understand,” replied Nerr’ath, “We were just communicating via stasis-link, prior to my having been awakened. He told me of your arrival and of my people’s betrayal. He said he was looking forward to finally meeting me.” Nerr’ath paused, then bowed her head toward Charlotte, again touching three fingers and thumb to just above her eyes. She raised her head again and said, “I understand if you believe me unworthy to meet such a man.”

  The med-bay door swished open. A soft voice said, “Nerr’ath my old friend, the question is not whether you are worthy to meet such a man, but rather is he worthy of meeting you?”

  Both Misha and Charlotte froze for the briefest of seconds, then turned as Doctor Damien Howard took another slightly unsteady step into the room.

  Charlotte stared at him and quietly mused that it might be the first time in her entire life she felt at a complete loss for words.

  “You!” shouted Misha, as she closed the distance between the old man and herself, “are the absolute biggest fucking asshole in the entire fucking universe!”

  “No, Doctor Howard, I will not let you finish,” said Charlotte, “You took too long when explaining it to me the first time, and I do not feel like suffering through it again.” The Captain turned from Howard to Misha, who sat on the edge of a biobed. Her face was set in a scowl. “Bottom line is this,” began Omandi, “Howard really is dying…of old age, apparently, and couldn’t count on surviving the rigors we’ve gone through these past weeks. He wanted to use stasis-induced lucid dreaming to connect with Nerr’ath. All his talk of trying to trap a soul and then get defrosted, well, that was just bullshit.” Charlotte glanced over and noticed Nerr’ath’s expression. Omandi affected a closed lip smile and asked, “Do you have something to add?”

  “Just this,” said Salmix, “generations ago, the Drac’ath were successful in creating biological immortality. It nearly caused a system-wide societal collapse. Without natural aging, almost all deaths were due to violence or accident. Disease had long ago been managed though a combination of eliminating environmental toxins, medicine, and bio-repair nanites. It was that near extinction event which caused us to hard-code all nanites with both an unwillingness, and inability, to alter the natural process of senescence, or physically lengthen cell telomeres. For what it is worth, Misha Sokolov, I can assure you that Doctor Howard was being truthful. There is simply no way to alter the nanite’s primary functional code without them becoming at least partially self aware, and we took great pains to make sure that was unlikely to happen.”

  Doctor Carpenter hopped on the biobed next to Sokolov and said, “I have to agree, Misha. In the past, I’ve tried to use my nanite flora to reverse, or even slow, the natural aging process with several patients.” He shrugged, “Each time, without success. Whenever I tried, any nanites so instructed simply ceased to function.”

  Nerr’ath nodded. “They are designed to become inert before facilitating biological immortality.”

  Misha slid off the bed and walked over to Howard. She stared at him a moment then said, “I don’t think I can ever forgive you for this. You were like a father to me.”

  He nodded, his face shadowed with sorrow. “I know, but if there were any other—”

  Sokolov raised a hand. “No, I’m not interested in hearing it right now and I hope you don’t have any designs on this crew. We have a Captain.” Misha pointed to Omandi. “And she’s it, so—”

  The med-bay’s wall terminal chimed. Chao Keung’s voice filled the room, interrupting Misha. “Captain, Damien has detected a singularity g
ate opening on, or near, Europa and we’re getting some kind of repeating signal.”

  Charlotte let out a breath, then said, “Thank you, Commander, please have Linnea work on that signal. I’ll be there as quickly as I can get up the access ladder.”

  “Yes, sir,” he said, then added, “but you can use the mag-lift. Karishma deployed repair-bots to work on it shortly after the, eh, incident. She says it’s fully functional with only cosmetic issues remaining.”

  “Understood,” replied Charlotte. “Have James plot a direct course to Europa at best possible speed.” She noticed Misha’s expression, then added, “best possible speed without doing anything stupid.”

  Sokolov nodded, then asked, “What do you think it means? More pathogens?”

  “No,” said Nerr’ath, “I am almost positive that it is simply a relay beacon using a gate to reduce communication delays. The relay beacon is looking for confirmation that the pathogens have been successfully deployed. Normally, the associated pod would remain in orbit to deliver the expected response, but since mine was programmed to terminate into your star no such confirmation can be provided.”

  Charlotte took a deep breath, then slowly let it out. “No offense, Nerr’ath, but the last time we interacted with some version of you, it tried to kill us. Misha, please take our guest and Doctor Howard to one of the empty crew quarters and stay with them. If they need something to eat or drink, use the in-room printers. I don’t want any of the crew bumping into Howard’s ghost in the galley. I will assess the situation once we get to Europa, then have you bring both Nerr’ath and Howard to the command deck conference room.”

  “That should be fun,” said Misha icily, “I can’t wait to see what the others think of our patriarch’s miraculous resurrection.”

  Charlotte stepped out of the mag-lift and quickly surveyed the command deck. Keung rose from the center seat as she walked toward him. Damien and Karishma were both huddled around her engineering console while James and Linnea seemed preoccupied with their own.