Abductees

by Alan Brickett

“In a sense, yes. Look, we have learned a lot about this place and what we have been equipped with, but I still don’t have any idea why we are here or what equipment and supplies we have, and our last discussion got interrupted. I know we are all frustrated and I’m sorry that I keep pushing, but unless you think we have more than enough time to get things straight I believe we need to make our own destiny. So, can we please try again?”

  “Sure, boss lady, but only because you asked so nice.”

  Connor could have swatted the man. “Your attitude isn’t helping, Ormond.”

  “But he’s right, though, I mean, who decided that we should get involved in all of this, go out and almost get killed? I ended up killing someone. Was that even real?” Meriam didn’t sound calm.

  “Uh, not that I want to take sides, but we have kinda been going along with you leading us, Lekiso. I know we spoke about it outside the airlock, but should we really treat this as a military exercise?” Marc was tentative, but his tone was still firm.

  “Come on, guys,” Connor said, but Lekiso broke in.

  “No, they’re right. A lot has happened, and I did push us into going out there.”

  She sighed audibly. “Look, we could have decided to leave most of you behind and just gone with volunteers. I could have gone out and scouted alone and come back. But we all started this in a bit of uncertainty, and we were all sticking together, so I kept us moving. Meriam, I am so sorry that happened to you and that you had to kill someone. How are you doing?”

  When Meriam spoke, she seemed to have calmed down a little at Lekiso’s sympathy. “I’m okay, I guess. It still seems unreal, all of this. And he was so different. I don’t really feel like I’ve killed a human. Is that weird? I mean, he’s dead, all the same, right?”

  “Hey, it’s ok, luv. It’ll take you time to process.” Ormond sounded concerned, which still surprised Connor.

  “Just remember that they were threatening us with some pretty horrible options, so you got him instead of the other way around. Where did you learn a move like that by the way? It was fantastic!”

  Meriam smiled slightly at that comment. It brought a certain warmth to her features that Connor found endearing.

  “I’ve practiced a few martial arts. My father, he, well, he insisted I be able to take care of myself. Taught me some street survival skills and enrolled me in any fighting program he could find. He always used to say that with my looks, I’d need to be able to look after myself.”

  She looked down at the metal floor and then around at the carriage flying through space.

  “I don’t think Father really expected anything like this, though.”

  Ormond locked her gaze and gave her a friendly smile.

  “Yeah, probably not, but your father seems like a good bloke. Without that training, it might have gone differently for you, hey?”

  Meriam twitched her eyebrows up and her head to the side in a facial shrug. “Yeah, probably.”

  Ormond took his turn to sigh, then he grumbled something barely audible.

  “Lekiso, I am sorry, I don’t mean to be such a chump meself.”

  Connor had wanted to cheer Meriam up after Lorraine, he wasn’t sure he was ready to really get along with another woman as beautiful as Meriam. He was okay with Ormond making a connection, and even happier with his apology.

  “Thanks Ormond.” Lekiso put it simply but the feeling behind the words, even in their heads, was gratitude.

  Lekiso, he could handle; she was all cold purpose and drive, no chemistry for him there.

  “So, whoever equipped us wanted to make sure we could survive, what with these energy fields in our suits and all?” Connor said to get the conversation back on track.

  “Plus, it seems we weren’t chosen at random. If Meriam has had training, then it makes more sense, at least to me. Lekiso has a military career. I’ve been a fighter.”

  The others looked sideways at him, not entirely disbelieving, but still skeptical.

  “Long story, guys, but I was in cage fighting as well as my day job, okay.”

  Lekiso spoke up before anyone else could comment.

  “Sure, Connor, and you’re right. That does start to make a connection. Ormond?”

  “Yeah, boss?”

  “Come on, spill it.”

  “Heh, yeah, sure, okay. I got some training too, alright.”

  “Care to explain?” This time, Lekiso raised both of her eyebrows.

  “No, not really, luv.”

  Lekiso gave a small smile. “So, that just leaves Marc.”

  Their silent conversation would probably have looked strange to an outside observer: five humans in the carriage standing around and changing facial expressions before four of them made slight turns to look at the small man.

  Obragon Vax, who was watching, assumed they had some kind of private communications channel. What impressed him was that his systems couldn’t even detect the carrier wave.

  “Uh, no.” Marc looked embarrassed.

  Connor had been watching a passing Domum cargo vessel while the others carried on.

  The ship was essentially a front compartment for the crew and engines, with a long spine structure trailing behind. Cargo pods and other generic containers or modules attached along the spine in whatever order was necessary. Like a massive cargo train in space, the spine could even be extended up to five miles in length.

  “What, really? No secret, hidden kung fu interest or practicing Aikido in a small dojo you built in a back room?” Connor tried not to sound sarcastic.

  “Um, nothing like that at all. Really, guys!”

  Marc held up his hands to either side in a helpless gesture.

  “I know the terms, and I’ve watched movies like that, but honestly, I think I’m here because I’m a geek. I mean, I get the science stuff and all the software a lot quicker than you guys. So, I was probably selected because I’d adapt to this environment and help you guys understand it.”

  “That makes sense,” Lekiso said as she considered everything.

  “If I were going to make up a team, it would need tactical skills, muscle, and support skills. We don’t just put effectiveness down to fighting.”

  “Okay, sure, but that still doesn’t tell us a lot about why we are here, just that someone put a lot of thought into putting it together.” Connor was frustrated.

  “Um, think about it a bit more than that, Connor.”

  Marc had his eyes narrowed while he thought hard.

  “This has had a lot of thought and preparation. Assuming everything is real, of course. But someone was careful to make sure that we would be equipped to survive this and possibly to do more. We’re finding out about this place and what we can do from implanted memories and the software that we can see. Think about it. This isn’t the way you go about collecting people for amusement. Lekiso is on the right track, and it’s like a setup for a mission.”

  “You’re right, Marc. Okay, so there is a lot, but what about that kick of Meriam’s? That wasn’t normal. Sorry, Meriam, but I don’t think you kick that hard.”

  “Not hard enough to kill someone, anyway. Do you think they experimented on us, changed our biology or put us on drugs?” Meriam asked worriedly.

  “Uh, hang on. Just after Meriam kicked him, my display gave a warning about something called ‘Gravitonics.’ Did anyone else get that?”

  The information had opened in Connor’s mind when Marc had mentioned the word, a complete definition of Gravitonics, the manipulation by humans of the particles called gravitons. The implanted memory carried a lot of scientific explanations and applications, most of which blew past his conscious mind while some of the thoughts arranged themselves.

  Science had proven the existence of the superluminal particle known as a graviton. Initially, it was considered to be subatomic and moving outside the normal plane of reference. In the twenty-first century, the graviton was a theoretical particle that was thought to contain the energy wave that produced the effect of g
ravity.

  According to the implanted memories, science managed to not only test but also prove the existence of gravitons, individual particles that contained enough “gravity” to have mass.

  The Earth’s sun had enough mass to bend light by up to one-twelfth of a degree, a noticeable change in the angle of light around a celestial object that was almost one and a half million times the mass of the Earth. The sheer scale of volume and mass that it took to bend light by even that small factor was difficult for Connor to conceptualize, but the knowledge kept coming.

  A single graviton could bend light by up to ten or more degrees depending on the environment and the graviton itself.

  In essence, the understanding Connor got from the memories was that a single graviton, which existed as a particle smaller than an atom, could put out enough gravitational energy to mimic hundreds of suns in mass.

  This was why these particles were superluminal, meaning that they were in constant motion and moved faster than the speed of light.

  They existed on a completely separate plane of reference than humans and other typical objects with mass and volume. If a single graviton were to stop for even a minor fraction of a second, entire solar system would shift orbit around them.

  Various terms flitted about inside Connors' head, like “quantum electrodynamics” and “bosons,” with explanations from Feynman diagrams and string theories, but the explanations just didn’t stick. Marc was right: the memory implants had different effects depending on the individual’s neurological wiring.

  But at least Connor picked up that the graviton was a powerful little particle with an immense amount of energy and counted as one of the primary building blocks of the basic makeup of the physical universe.

  It’s probably all sticking inside Marc’s brain, he thought.

  Gravitonics, his memory informed him, was the manipulation of gravitons to create specific effects by harnessing even a fraction of the “gravity” energy of a graviton in a variety of ways. There was a whole lot more on gravimetric measurements and the application of Gravitonics, which drove a spike of pain into his forehead, leaving him senseless for a moment.

  “Woah, now, that was an overload of note.” Ormond was holding his head with one hand and supporting Meriam, who was holding hers with both hands.

  Connor didn’t feel much better and was about to say so when the carriage notified them that they had arrived at the Enone Hub. Somehow, the last fifteen minutes of the trip had just slipped right past them.

  “Uh, hey? Did we just get lost in all that information for fifteen minutes?” Marc looked around, confused.

  “Yeah, buddy. I think so.” Connor looked over at Lekiso, who was coming out of the same daze. “What do we do now?”

  “Back to the airlock, our ship. See what else we can learn. Oooh.” Lekiso staggered a bit, but she held up her hand to ward him off when he moved over to help.

  “The other memory implants didn’t affect us like that.” Marc came up beside Connor, moving a bit like a drunk.

  It took them a few minutes to get out of the carriage and through the disembarking area to the set of lifts. They had to wait a while for one to come to their floor and then some more time for it to take them all the way up to the docking arc they had arrived on. They passed Izzix the Dadarian as they left the lift; the alien greeted them happily as they went past.

  When they opened the door to their airlock, they found that instead of the previously empty space, they now had five bunks set up at angles along the walls.

  “What the…?” Connor got out.

  “Take what you can get. I really need to sleep that last one off.” Lekiso didn’t say it with any authority, but not even Ormond voiced a complaint. All five of the humans went inside and found their own bed as the door closed with a hiss to seal them in.

  **

  Dadarians have a sophisticated cultural interaction.

  Where most species initial reaction was that they would be a hive mind insect race.

  Much like the ants on earth, perhaps even Bees.

  Dadarians culture was more like those of insects and birds, locusts or grasshoppers in their build but with the protection and high esteem given to their females. Although not a queen, every female was a valuable resource as only they could produce the eggs which would carry on the breeding cycles.

  The male Dadarians would work to gain the female’s attention, their colors, wings and behavior would determine if the female would allow the male to fertilize the eggs. In this the insectile race was like a hive, the female did determine the actions of the males.

  It was only due to respect though; the communication of chattering and pheromones was a big part of Dadarian conversation. Males had conversations; the females would talk to the males and other females.

  So while there was a swarm of males and very few females in a travelling group, the females set the goals.

  There was a system of dominance; stronger females who could produce more eggs would have a higher protection status and more males looking for her attention. Older females were wiser and commanded the other males and females.

  Male Dadarians never had a higher status, when chosen to fertilize eggs it wasn’t a promotion, it was what it was. The rest of the time they chose the jobs they wanted to perform.

  In this the Dadarian were more like ants and bees, they could build and construct, research sciences and wage war. They didn’t feel pain, they didn’t question the females, and they would work at anything with endless patience and attention to detail.

  Any Dadarian male was strong, able to survive various extreme environments and could work with great dexterity. When a large group of them and their females had been around long enough, they would number in their tens of thousands.

  Resources were then of value, food, and supplies as well as raw materials for building and later more sophisticated engineering and technology.

  Battles were fought, and the winners would absorb the males from the losing group. A group would lose when all of their females were killed, simple evolution in their decision-making process.

  There wasn’t war as humans would understand it, no alliances or world wars, just a group against another until they became large enough to be too risky to challenge. Only another large enough group would try to absorb another, after a lot of consideration of the casualties involved for both sides.

  If their territory was large enough then expansion wasn’t needed, so over time there became fewer groups who held onto large areas of their planet surface.

  When the Domum came to the Dadarian solar system, after monitoring their expansion to the outer planets and asteroid rings, things changed for the better.

  With the advanced technology, power supply and faster than light travel each group and their females could own territory in other solar systems. Suddenly the semi-hostile growth which had been developing over the limits of the solar system evaporated.

  Diplomacy started, with the help of the Balimdor species which could also communicate with pheromones and learned languages quickly.

  Over a relatively small time, less than a century, the Dadarians migrated outwards and joined the Galactic Citizenship.

  **

  Lanillans evolved on a world with a thinner atmospheric defense than most planets.

  Their sun, Lanilla, emits constant radiation of various kinds, a planet that can sustain life requires as one of the criteria that the atmosphere can protect biology from this radiation. Sometimes a thicker atmosphere produces evolved life which is weaker to various forms of energy.

  The Lanillans and all life on their homeworld evolved through some form of chance or evolutionary advantage on a planet with slightly less protection. Slightly less being measured in terms of more of microwave or ultraviolet and gamma radiation which could boil an egg on earth if left outside.

  This made Lanillans extraordinarily resistant to the wasteful energy from various forms of nuclear power. Since their planet had evolved u
nder the same rules, they also weren’t polluting their environment.

  This made their industry cheaper to build since it was less complicated and required less expensive shielding than what other species did.

  Expansion into their solar system and slower than light ark-ships occurred earlier than standard development of a race. Later faster than light travel caught up with these starships and collected the crews to colonize nearby worlds, worlds with a broader spectrum than other species could tolerate.

  It was while they were establishing colonies and deep space facilities close to suns and anywhere near available resources in five other solar systems that the Domum found them. First contact went smoothly with the Lanillans having the typical variety of good to bad examples of their race.

  It wasn’t until a few decades into being part of the Galactic Citizenship that a radical group of Lanillans emerged. This group considered themselves to be a superior example of life in the galaxy, able to survive harsh environments which would destroy lesser beings.

  Among their own people and the Galactic Citizenship, this group didn’t make much progress into becoming a strong influence on the council or among other species. Instead, they became a criminal element with a standard of rank based on the performance of strength and cunning.

  Most of their race settled where other species could not and worked in peace.

  These Lanillans tended to look after themselves and spend little time off-world except for those traders and starships which enjoyed the galactic exploration. This left the criminal elements to enter the larger galaxy, under the pretense of being as peaceful as the example their species gave.

  After some centuries the Galactic Citizenship caught on, and it became the task of the Domums of Manor Vax to monitor and deal with these Lanillans, based on the law.

  By then though the criminally biased Lanillans were already well settled in devious schemes, corrupt politicians, black market trade and anything else they could manipulate.

  **

  The Domums and the Galactic citizenship alien species followed the same kind of technological advancement curve as Humans did.