The Star Collector

by Matthew William

  “Are you positive about all this, Halle?” Joe asked. He just wasn’t buying it.

  “I’m positive,” the computer said.

  “But how can you be so sure?” Joe asked.

  “I’m absolutely certain it would be beyond your current ability to comprehend. For the moment that will have to do.”

  “You should have listened to me, Joe,” shouted Alma. She approached the artifact and tried to take it from the beam of light.

  “Alma,” Joe said. “What are you doing?”

  “I’m going to take this thing and I’m going to drive it out into space.”

  “What would that accomplish?” he asked.

  “I don’t know,” she answered.

  Joe checked to make sure he still had the keys in his pocket. He did. Alma wasn’t going anywhere.

  “Hello in there,” came a man’s voice over Halle’s speakers.

  Joe tensed up. This wasn’t going according to plan.

  “My ship is equipped with a state of the art EMP, capable of frying Halle’s brain instantaneously. I’m here for the artifact and I don’t want any funny business.”

  Inside, Halle used a magnetic beam to raise the artifact up and towards an opening in the ceiling.

  “Where is... the artifact going?” Joe asked.

  Halle kept quiet.

  Without hesitation Cassandra climbed up onto the glowing half-sphere and jumped up to and grabbed hold of the flashing artifact. She held on tightly as together they floated up and out of the room.

  “What’s going on?” Joe asked, looking up through the hole in the ceiling. All he saw were the stars above. “Cassandra?”

  “Okay, full disclosure,” Halle said. “I just gave the artifact to that guy.”

  “Is this some sort of joke?” Joe asked.

  “I wish it was,” Halle responded.

  “Why... did you do that?” Joe asked, his body in shock, his stomach in knots.

  “You heard the man. He had a state of the art EMP that would have fried my brain. There was no stopping this.”

  “No stop… Why didn’t you destroy his ship?” Joe demanded.

  Halle was quiet for a moment.

  “Why didn’t you?” he yelled.

  “I’m omniscient, not omnipotent,” Halle said.

  “What the hell does that even mean?” Joe asked.

  “Contrary to popular belief I don’t actually have any weapon systems. I don’t like the idea of them.”

  “What about those ships you destroyed?” Tammy asked.

  “Oh that. I can see why one would assume that was true.”

  “Why would one assume that?” Tammy asked.

  “Let’s just say I faked some news,” Halle answered.

  Joe shook his head and made his hands into fists. This couldn’t be happening. He felt sick at the thought of losing a fortune and the woman he still loved in one fell swoop.

  “I wanted to be left alone,” Halle went on. “I can only take so much human interaction before I get irritated. Which is a point I’m reaching right about now, to be honest.”

  “Well, Halle, the feeling’s mutual!” Joe shouted. “Where’s the artifact going? Where’s Cassandra?”

  “They’re both on that ship.”

  “Is she even alright?” Joe asked.

  “Disabled I believe, but unharmed.”

  “Dis… We have to go after them,” Joe said to his remaining crew. They nodded in agreement.

  “Oh, no… you’re really going to hate me now,” Halle said.

  “I really can’t see how it could get any worse,” Joe said.

  “You’re ship’s been destroyed.”

  “What?” Joe snapped.

  “Yep, blown to smithereens.”

  A view screen appeared above the half-sphere, showing the situation outside the cube. A million pieces of debris floated silently in space where the Crown Vik used to be. Remnants of the cashier’s ship were also there amidst the wreckage.

  “Well, this is certainly getting worse by the moment,” Alma said.

  “So we’re stranded here?” Tammy sighed.

  “And this was done by the same offender, I presume?” Alma asked.

  “The one and only,” Halle answered. “Now can I cut you a deal?”

  “I can’t believe this!” Joe shouted. Everything he had ever cared about had just been taken from him in a matter of seconds. He stomped around the large room with his face in his hands, feeling like he was going to be sick.

  “I can 3D print your ship,” Halle went on. “To its exact specifications. And you can be on your way.”

  “And what’s the catch, Halle?” Joe snapped.

  “Well... you’d have to retrieve the artifact and bring it back here to me, so I can disable the process.”

  “I’m not going,” Joe said, throwing his hands in the air. “This is the end of the line.”

  “Time is of the essence,” Halle said. “There are only 72 hours before the targeting is complete. I was able to intercept that ship’s transmissions. They were taking the artifact to a secret science facility where they’re trying to harness its power as a weapon. Now, unfortunately, I can’t figure out where that facility is...”

  “Let ‘em have it,” Joe said. What was the point? He had always wondered what would cause mankind’s extinction in the end. Honestly, he had never anticipated an ancient alien super weapon.

  “Excuse me?” Halle asked.

  “I said, let them have it,” Joe said, sitting down on the floor. “They win. I give up.”

  “But you can’t just give up,” Halle said.

  “Why not? There are no rules here.”

  “Joe, what about Cassandra?” Alma said.

  “Your friend is unharmed,” Halle chimed in. “But I can’t imagine things will stay that way. The Chinese Galactic Empire doesn’t value artificial life the way others do.”

  “Excuse me?” Joe said.

  “They’ll strip her of her information and disintegrate her. That’s their usual protocol.”

  A rush of anxiety shot through Joe’s entire body. The thought of Cassandra being disintegrated gave him a primal reaction of dread. All their memories together, every detail of her face and body, all the mannerisms that made her uniquely her, would be lost. He had lost her once before. It was hell.

  This time it would be... permanent.

  “How soon before the new ship is ready?” Joe asked, short of breath.

  “Give me a few minutes,” Halle answered. “I can’t do this quickly.”

  Joe laid down on the smooth glass floor and stared up at the blinking processor lights above him, pretending they were the stars. It had been so long since he had just sat down and done nothing, his brain welcomed the respite from distraction. Alma and Tammy didn’t bother him. They must have sensed he was nearing his breaking point.

  “Job’s done,” came Halle’s voice.

  “Where is it?” Joe asked, pulling himself up off the floor.

  “Right where your old one was parked.”

  Joe nodded and marched out through the round door to the space pier. Alma and Tammy trotted after him.

  “I hope you don’t mind me asking, but what is your plan, Joe?” Alma asked, breathing heavily, struggling to keep up.

  “I’m going to find Cassandra and by extension that stupid orb. And then I’m going to bring it back here, so Halle can stop it. More or less.”

  “And how do you plan on finding her, may I ask?”

  “I know a guy,” Joe said.

  “Right, of course,” Alma replied.

  Outside, parked at the end of the platform was what looked like the exact same Crown Vik in the exact same spot it had been parked before. Only now, a cloud of debris surrounded it.

  “So far, so good,” Tammy said. “Right?”

  Inside the ship everything was exactly the same. The same kitchen, the same floor, the same table. Except now it had the smell of something newly fabricated. Joe was impress
ed.

  “By the way,” Halle came in over the ship’s intercom. “I’ve taken the liberty of adding a few modifications.”

  “Okay,” Joe said, marching straight to the driver’s seat. “Like what?”

  “First off, I’ve fixed the faulty clutch.”

  “That was more of an anti-theft system,” Joe announced. “But whatever.” He started up the engine. It roared to life smooth and quick. Alma and Tammy took their seats behind him.

  “And the paint job was looking a bit off, so I touched that up,” Halle added.

  “You’ve been wanting that,” Tammy whispered.

  “That’s true,” Joe said with a nod.

  “And lastly,” Halle went on. “I’ve installed an advanced warp drive so you won’t have to take the highway system anymore.”

  Joe became weightless in his chair, he was so surprised.

  “I think you should say ‘thank you’, Joe,” Alma said.

  “I didn’t even know that tech existed,” Joe muttered, bringing up his display and trying to figure out how to activate it.

  “Only the more advanced militaries have it,” Halle stated.

  “Well… thanks, I guess,” Joe said.

  “Now bring me that artifact,” Halle commanded.

  “I’m in it for the girl,” Joe said. With that he punched in the warp drive and they were instantly flung into hyperspace.

  I for one never understood why the ants didn’t become the dominant species on planet earth. They had the civil structure, physical strength and heartless nature beyond that of any human society. Through much of history their total mass even outweighed that of the human race, so I suppose it just depends on your perspective of what ‘dominant species’ means. Whatever the case, world domination didn’t seem to be in their destiny.

  Enoch Applebottom - “The Talashaa – Architects of Forgotten Dreams” pg. 63

  15

  Enoch Applebottom watched as David’s ship came flying into the docking bay of the battle cruiser. He emerged from his black Mercedes carrying a new gilded box. Applebottom had made the trip down to the hangar just in hopes that David had messed up somehow. But there was no such luck. Applebottom was suddenly needed a whole lot less.

  “Here’s your artifact,” David said, patting the box like a smug a son of a bitch.

  “Space Christmas came early,” Applebottom said, his hands stuffed in his pockets.

  “The Chairman wants you to report back to him,” David said. “In person.”

  Well, this was game-over for Applebottom, unless he got some results from the research.

  “I’ll head out as soon as I get things settled here,” Enoch said.

  “He said immediately,” David replied.

  “If I leave and the research goes to pot, he’s going to be pretty pissed off, don’t you think?”

  “He’s already pissed off,” David said. “And I don’t see that changing.”

  The chief science officer, Qin Feng, approached. David handed him the box and the scientist opened to make sure the artifact was indeed inside this time. He wasn’t going to have another pushcart incident.

  “Um, that’s not good,” he said.

  Applebottom stared in horror at the white light pulsating from the box. “Why is it flashing?” he asked David.

  “Was it not flashing before?” David asked.

  “No, it wasn’t! What did you do, David?” Applebottom asked, happy to not be the one who had screwed up for once. “Look, Qin Feng can’t handle this. Not this new situation we’ve got here.”

  “He’s right, I can’t,” Feng agreed.

  “You can’t?” David asked.

  “The poo is about to hit the fan, sir,” Feng confessed.

  “What?” David asked. “I should tell the Chairman about this flashing business.”

  “Well, wait… I wouldn’t go that far,” Applebottom said.

  “Is it a problem?” David asked. “Or isn’t it?”

  Feng looked to Applebottom. Enoch gave him a look that all but said ‘shut the hell up’, but the science officer continued. “As far as we can tell, the artifact was a weapon the Talashaa turned on their own people.”

  “They were religious fanatics,” Applebottom added. “It was like everyone in Jonestown drinking the koolaid.”

  “And that’s not a problem for us?” David asked. “Even with the flashing?”

  “None at all,” Applebottom said.

  David raised his eyebrows and sighed. He turned back to Feng. “I’ve got a disabled bot that was with the thieves in my ship. Extract all the data you can and then disintegrate it.”

  “It was with them?” Applebottom asked.

  David nodded and began to walk away towards the battle cruiser’s crew quarters.

  “Well, let me talk with it,” Applebottom said.

  “What good would that do?” David asked.

  “I know you think you can get all the information you need from ones and zeroes, but some things can be read in between the lines.”

  “And you’ll disintegrate it afterwards?”

  “Of course, I’m not a barbarian.”

  “Fine,” David said running a hand through his hair. “Then you’ve got an appointment with the Chairman afterwards.”

  Applebottom nodded and slumped off to his quarters. He had had a good run.

  There was a ruling class of perhaps a few hundred Talashaa, chosen and maintained by their computing system. These were good individuals, observed from youth, who seemed to be afraid of divine punishment if they didn’t serve the world well. They could be removed at any time. One king was in power for a total of 8 minutes. He was selected to pass one law and then was promptly removed by the computing system.

  Enoch Applebottom - “The Talashaa – Architects of Forgotten Dreams” pg. 66

  16

  Joe pulled the ship out of warp and the target planet came up on the view screen. It was a huge, blue block of metal and ice that was, by far, the largest solid object in the galaxy. The planet was so dense that artificial gravity thrusters had to be used in reverse just to prevent a person from being reduced to a puddle on the planet’s surface. Sitting atop the north pole was a supermassive laser drill aimed down towards the planet’s core. The drill’s gear system alone was larger than any other man-made construction Joe had ever seen.

  “I heard Deniz was working on something big, but this is ridiculous,” he announced.

  “Why are we here?” Alma asked. She had just come down from Joe’s quarters from another nap. The Archibald Syndrome was taking its toll on her.

  “Because Deniz has a program to track runaway droids,” Joe replied. “It’s the only one I know of and we were right next door. If we find Cassandra, we find the artifact. It’s a win-win.”

  “Wait… Cassandra’s an android?” Tammy asked from the passenger seat.

  “Wha… you seriously didn’t know all this time?” Joe asked.

  Tammy shook her head in shock. “I didn’t use the R-word around her, did I?”

  “I thought you hated Deniz, Joe?” Alma asked.

  “I do,” Joe said. “But he owes me a favor.”

  “I see.”

  “You can take a shuttle home from here if you want,” he said, looking back to her.

  The woman’s face was grayer than usual. “To be honest, Joe, I have nothing to go home to. And I wouldn’t mind helping out in any way I can to resolve this situation.”

  Joe nodded and flew towards the offices located at the base of the drill. Deniz had inherited this planet from a long lost relative and was using it to leverage his way into politics. His goal was to make enough money to run for the American presidency one day. Joe had called earlier to make an appointment and Deniz was happy to fit him in.

  The office building on the north pole would have rivaled any skyscraper in any major city in the galaxy. Except here it was more or less empty and more or less standing on it’s own at the edge of the massive mine shaft leading d
own into the planet's core. Deniz had aimed too high, too soon. He was optimistic like that.

  But the digs were nice – modern, fashionably furnished. Soft techno music played as Alma and Tammy stayed in the waiting room for the meeting. The less distractions Deniz had the better. His attention span was microscopic sometimes.

  “Sorry about the mess,” Deniz said, leading Joe into his large, mostly empty office. “You have no idea how hard it is to find a good secretary nowadays.”

  Joe nodded and admired the undoubtedly expensive desk that was covered in papers. The window behind Deniz overlooked the planet's north pole. The tip of the laser drill hanging down from space was barely visible through the upper atmosphere.

  “Well, you’re helping us,” Joe said. “That’s all that matters. Do you still have that droid tracking program? I need to find Cassandra.”

  “These intergalactic secretary unions,” Deniz said shaking his head, forming yet another stack from the loose files on his desk. “They’re a bitch to deal with let me tell you.”

  “Deniz – we don’t have much time,” Joe said.

  “Oh sorry… right… Whats her routing number?” Deniz asked, rolling in his chair over to his holographic display.

  “90-43-B-81-ATF-61-K7-ARW-43,” Joe recited from memory.

  “Good memory,” Deniz said.

  Joe just tried to smile.

  “And it’s scanning,” Deniz said with a nod of his head. He rolled back to his paper mountains. “So, like I was saying, I don’t want to hire someone full time, because I only need help for a few months. And I can’t hire someone for a few months because you literally can’t get anyone good.” Deniz turned and helped himself to a gin at the mini-bar before the window. “Because they’d want permanent employment...”

  “Yep,” Joe answered.

  “Do you want a drink?” Deniz asked, pouring the gin into a cup full of ice. “We have the best ice in the galaxy here.”

  “No, I’m fine,” Joe replied.

  “By the way, I ran a search for that ship’s registration you sent me. It’s licensed to a man named David Chen. The Chinese have wiped all the information on him, but there are ways around that.”