“We’re not a tech-gifted people but we are an intuitive one.” He straightened his pose and continued, “Nikolai Kardashev came up with a scale to measure a civilization’s technological progress in 1964, highlighting type I, II, and III civilizations based on how they harnessed their energy and evolution. Later, that same scale was updated with type zero, IV, and V and even VI for certain visionaries. In simple words, present Earth”—he fluttered his fingers—“is a type zero subglobal planetary civilization sustaining life solely on the energy received from our Sun and primitive advances in harnessing our own renewable and nuclear energy. We still haven’t reached our full potential.” Jasper’s gaze followed Beck.
Zoey too could see that he was putting on a show for them. He liked to walk and gesture as if giving a Ted Talk, captivated by his universal truth.
“In every planet’s history, the jump from type zero to type I comes with great sacrifice. Isn’t that right, beautiful?”
Jasper prevented Beck from coming eye to eye with Aline, the blonde soldier whose patience was already running thin. “The scale exists everywhere! It’s called Kardashev’s scale here, Andro scale on Opt, and so on. Mathematics married theoretical physics on every single planet with intelligent life. It does not mean this scale is entirely accurate, nor does it justify any of Etienne’s actions nor yours.”
“The moment we have the tools to harness energy from other stars is the moment we save ourselves another x-hundred amount of years and jump from type zero onwards. Type I, you see, will allow us to control the geological makeup of Earth, the weather, expand our mass-energy equivalence and exploit antimatter and energy into creating the fusion power that will act as a booster for our next levels.”
Lilou took a menacing stance, ready to jump at Beck. “That’s where you’re wrong! You do not yet possess the knowledge behind fusion power, it takes years of evolution to reach the levels you’re speaking of. That’s only a figment of your imagination, Professor, and we’ll allow no more harm!”
“Why don’t you tell your friends how you got to level IV, Ambassador? The real reason behind Etienne’s demise?” Beck’s fist tightened under Zoey’s stare. A thick vein was already pulsing under his temple.
Mia stiffened. If Beck enjoyed anything as much as science, it was grandeur, showing everyone he was the master of the game.
Everyone’s eyes shifted to Jasper. He pulled up his sleeves and rested his fingers on his hipbones before he spoke. “Opt got to level IV due to the Alliance and its members, and this goes for Zoey, Rufus, and Mia to know,” he countered. “When entering stage I, all planets apply to become part of the Interplanetary Alliance. There’s a routine planetary background check to see if the planet’s evolutionary progress is clean, among other things, and once all boxes are ticked and the planet becomes a full member, all planets forming the Alliance assist the new member in reaching the following stages. They import foreign tech and resources for megascale engineering in order to avoid mistakes that have been made in the past and led to the implosion of superclusters and therefore the extinction of said intelligent life. I fail to see your point, Professor, I honestly do. You’re trying to get to level I on the Kardashev scale by cheating your way in. You’re defeating the only chance Earth’s ever had at evolution, at ever being part of the Alliance. What for?” Jasper’s eyes radiated amber. His question cast an echo over everyone’s thoughts.
Optans couldn’t understand Beck’s motive, and Rufus was getting impatient with the present conversation as he watched Mia’s jaw tighten.
Professor Beck broke the silence. “Because Earth will be shattered before reaching level I and the Alliance will let us perish if we don’t evolve before Andromeda collides with the Milky Way, if not sooner! You, my ignorant optans, have not been blessed with the faintest clue as to what lies beyond your dictatorial Alliance.” The professor stepped closer to Zoey and stared knowingly into her eyes.
Zoey turned to Rufus. “The Milky Way and our neighboring galaxy, Andromeda, will collide in four billion years they say…” She remembered the endless debates between Anthony Bush and Christopher Grave over what would terminate Earth first.
Beck pressed his lips. “Make that 3.7! Now in their case,” he signaled to the optans, “Opt has been a member of the Alliance for six billion years! They reached level I and were relocated before their Sun swallowed their first planet. We’re not even close to the level of progress Opt had made by the time it was the age Earth is now. Time is a luxury Earth does not have!”
Zoey intertwined her fingers and fixed her gaze on Jasper. “So your initial Opt was shattered when?”
“In your time unit, exactly two billion years ago, so Opt as a planet had a life of nine billion years.” He watched her swallow hard at his statement. “The Alliance relocated all of us to a new planet—in fact, that’s the only planet optans today actually know as home.”
“So who’s going to protect Earth when our Sun reaches its terminal stage?” Zoey crossed her arms in concern.
Jasper turned to her. “Like Beck said, your biggest pressing concern is the collision between Andromeda and the Milky Way, merely 3.7 billion years away. The Sun otherwise will engulf Earth in a few billion years before collapsing into a white dwarf.”
“What if we don’t reach the level required to join the Alliance by then?” Zoey voiced Mia’s thoughts.
Lilou gave Zoey a reassuring look. “You will. Earth is on its way to progress.”
Beck though, felt a little differently. “We won’t. Do tell them, Ambassador, what does your Alliance do to planets in imminent danger that haven’t reached level I and haven’t made contact with your superiors?” Trenton Beck was playing his winning cards.
Jasper’s shoulders tensed. “They allow the universe to follow its course.”
“Their Alliance is not some savior, some galactic NGO coming to the rescue of all planets with intelligent life. It’s a most selfish organization focused solely on gathering powerful allies. They encourage the deaths of species that can give them nothing in return. It took Etienne one year to realize this planet had no future, because, unlike the lot of you, he was first and foremost a scientist.” Beck walked to face his altered subjects.
Rufus glared at him, trying to contain his rage. He refused to believe a man who killed and kidnapped for his quest. He rendered Mia silent and meek, she hadn’t said a word and stood behind him, too submissive for her own good.
“Zoey, Rufus…you might see me as the bad guy now but Etienne and I had to take our chances and risk everything to create you. The Alliance is set to conquer intelligent life by disguising control as the helping hand of evolution. So they send in their spies,” he gestured towards the optans, “to keep us in check until it’s time for them to seize us.” He tightened his fist in a dramatic grasp. “If Earth were to surrender to the Alliance, we’d be stripped of our human rights, our ability to decide our own cosmic purpose and forced to follow theirs.”
“And who gave you the right to decide my cosmic purpose, Beck? Or Mia’s or Zoey’s? Who gave you the ultimate right to play God, murdering over forty-two innocents?” Rufus stepped from the crowd and went for Beck’s throat. In a matter of seconds, he found himself immersed in a floating antigravitational bubble, his voice now echoing incomprehensibly from the inside. Beck did fear him. He feared his enhancements, which were not contained within the limits of the lab given that he was a hybrid just like Mia.
“Rufus!” Mia ran to him but it was too late. He was floating, powerless, unable to get a grip on his enhancements and make them work. Beside him, Zoey draped a hand over her mouth in horror.
“Relax, Mia!” Beck grabbed her shoulders. “I promised you I wouldn’t hurt him. And I promised Zoey her friend back. I need you to get back and release Sam. I am, after all, a man of my word.” Mia wiped her tears and slammed a hand to the floor, which swallowed her in a blue hole, her departure sending up a gust of wind and pressure. They all felt it like a small quake except for Zoey, who, f
or the first time since Sam’s kidnapping, felt some strange hope.
“Don’t make her forget! We all owe her the truth of the last forty-eight hours. And never dare to touch her again! Promise me!” Zoey’s words came quickly, hanging on the desperate hope of safety.
γ
“Alex, something is definitely wrong!” For the tenth time in the last thirty minutes, Emma’s words slammed against Alexandre’s scrutinizing look. She traced the flickering red dots on the intersat. They were not supposed to be flickering, they were supposed to track full red dots unaffected by any external factors.
“What’s making them blink, Alex?” she insisted, jolting to his side to compare intersats. There was no mistake, no power surge, no life threat as far as she could tell, and the worst possible occurrence was that in the midst of not raising Beck’s suspicion, Zoey had been left without a tracker. The kalenium trackers on the soldiers showed that they were relatively still, in close proximity to each other, heart rates easily elevated—apart from Rufus, whose heart was pounding like a caged beast’s wishing to be released. In fact, the only one showing slightly abnormal functions was Rufus, but how couldn’t he be when he was face to face with the man holding his lover prisoner? Alex had filled Emma in with the details of Rufus and Mia’s story once the rest had departed.
“For fuck’s sake, Alex, talk to me!” Emma warned, dropping her intersat.
“I’m calculating possibilities, Emma. You’re not making it easy right now. This is not how it works! I know humans need to talk all the time, but this is complex for me too and I really need to focus.”
“Where are they, Alex?”
“That’s just it. We’ve lost their coordinates, your guess is as good as mine. They’re all alive, no signs of an active fight, no signs of any of them using their enhancements. I can’t alert the Council yet.”
“You must!”
“On what grounds, Emma? They’re all alive but their trackers are blinking?” There was no despair in his tone, no precipitated speech, nothing that gave away any sign of worry until he tilted his head as if he heard something.
There was a sudden panic in his eyes as he sharpened his senses and searched the room with his eyes. Whatever he was hearing, she wasn’t.
“Earthquake!” She signaled at the shuddering tech spread all over the counter.
Alex grabbed and pushed Emma behind him, shielding her.
She recognized all the signs she’d felt earlier and it wasn’t long until the tremor turned blue and blinding. She popped her head from behind Alex only to see Sam, tied up and thrown on Zoey’s living room floor beside a woman in white.
“Emma, no!” Alex yelled as he saw Emma launching herself at Sam, who was twitching in agonizing pain. He had not anticipated this, there was no trigger to notify him of what was to follow and who was the person facing him.
Mia stood there swallowing her tears. Beck had managed to have them all dancing to his tune like string puppets. She hated herself for handing him control over her.
“Look, my name is Mia, I don’t have much time! I’m one of Etienne and Beck’s experiments. He has everyone at the lab in a room where optan enhancements don’t work. I don’t trust you, but at least you’ve shown more humanity than Beck has. Is Rufus safe with you? I have to join them now.” She spoke quickly.
“He’s safe and he decided to come for you even though he knew he was a liability to this mission.” Emma said, not letting go of Sam. “They want no more damage, no more casualties. They all went to seize Beck and rescue Sam and yourself. Stay here, Mia, nobody’s safe there!” She watched Alex trying to get himself together, glancing from them to his intersats.
“You don’t understand, they can’t get out without me, none of their powers work there, and Beck has them! Beck has your ambassador and my Rufus! I have to kill Beck but I don’t know how.” Mia held panic in her voice as she wiped her forehead, planning her next move.
“There will be no more death!” Alex broke. “Plus, the Alliance wants Beck alive to question him.”
“Portal me there with you, Mia. Alex needs to monitor things from here and you’ll need all the help you can get.” Emma pleaded.
Alex hurried to assist Sam and kneeled to untie her. “Emma, you’re not being rational! You have nothing to fight against Beck. I can’t give you anything either, I don’t have weapons, Lilou does. Why is it that humans fail to see the outcome and take unnecessary risks? You’ll endanger all of us!”
“I’ll take all the help I can get! None of your weapons work at the lab!” Mia was quick to answer.
“Alex, please look after Sam.” Emma said and bounced to her feet.
She was ready for action—scared, but ready. What followed was a splash of blue and a turbulent landing on her back.
She fought to get on her feet and saw the same layout her tracker had identified earlier. The optans hadn’t changed position and they were easy to recognize: the soldiers in their dark blue coveralls, Jasper as she remembered him, Rufus floating in a translucent bubble, and Zoey, wide-eyed, running towards her.
“Emma!” Zoey screamed and rushed to her side. “What are you doing here?” There was palpable dread in Zoey’s voice.
One man was standing in front of the group like a lecturer and Emma zoomed in.
This has to be him, she thought as she fearlessly scanned his grey attire.
“Enough is enough, Beck!” Emma’s heels echoed on the marble only to be met by a surprised stare. She had caught him off guard and everyone noticed. Before he could do anything, she shoved her heel in his groin with all the amounted rage she could gather. He cringed and fell under the pressure, shriveling on the floor in a mute scream.
“Now, Mia!” Emma demanded, turning to her only to watch six open mouths at the horror of what she’d done. Or at least that’s what she thought, but there was no time for aftermath. Mia pressed her hand to the floor and signaled everyone to join. One thing was clear: escaping the nightmare of Beck had to happen now.
“Somebody grab Rufus!” Mia shrieked, allowing the trepidation of the matter to sink in. Every inch of her body pulsed. She merged with the magnetic waves, accessing all the corners of her brain in trying to focus on the location she’d portal them to, expanding her limits to include all of them, exhausting every bit of her core till they all fell back breathlessly on Zoey’s living room floor. Wood hurt a tiny bit less than marble.
Jasper ran to catch Zoey before she crashed against the coffee table. She found him carrying her to the couch in a quick move before returning to the others.
Thank you, she thought, but the words never came out.
What just happened? Everything came in a blur and she was still connecting the dots.
The optans regained themselves quickly, Lilou steadying Aline and Gerard, the soldiers who never got a chance to show their true colors while facing Beck.
Alex ran to get Emma, who accidentally (or not) had broken yet another heel but managed to balance herself. Adrenaline ran high.
“I need healers down on Mia and Emma!” Jasper demanded, glancing from Alex to Mia, who was lying face down, passed out on the floor.
“I’m still working on Sam, Jasper.” Alex announced.
“Sam?! She’s here?” Zoey echoed and sprang to her feet.
“Alex, go work on Sam. Lilou and I will manage.” Jasper turned to Zoey. “Please allow Alex to heal your friend, he needs to concentrate. You can see her when he’s done. Are you in any kind of pain?” he asked, examining her.
Pain? Who could feel any pain when she was flooded with questions and eagerness to hold Sam. Her eyes widened with hope and she suddenly looked at Emma. They got their girl.
“She’s fine, we’re both fine, Jasper. Go ahead and heal Mia, she needs us more than ever now.” Emma’s words hit everyone like a bitter truth. Everyone but Rufus, whose absence caused a unanimous gasp.
Zoey’s joy was short-lived. “How are we going to tell her? Where is he?”
�
��Rufus had been trapped in an antigravitational bubble, one of Beck’s new tricks. Not only could he not be moved, but antigravitational bubbles make portalling impossible. He would have perished in the process, disintegrated before our eyes and Mia’s.” He sounded defeated.
“We’ll get him back, whatever it takes.” Zoey replied, determined.
“No doubt we will,” Jasper said, staring into nothingness. He straightened his shoulders and recomposed himself, although nothing seemed to wipe his frown.
“Gerard, Aline, I need you to go to Emma’s and Sam’s places, gather some of their things, and get back here. I also need surveillance for all of their family members. Make sure you freeze their timelines.” he ordered.
“I’ll be on the intersats!” Lilou announced and took two steps towards the kitchen area. If there had been more steps to take to give them privacy, she would have taken them gladly.
“Freeze their timelines?” Zoey raised an eyebrow.
“Zoey, we’re on alert here. All your life on Earth has to continue without you until we can guarantee your safety. Now you see what I meant when I told you I didn’t want any more people involved. We’ve got you, Emma, Sam, and Mia and all of your loved ones to look after. The more we branch out, the weaker we get.”
“It’s not like they asked for any of this, Jasper. I was the source of the problem, it’s my fault they’re all trapped here!”
“It’s not, sweetheart,” Emma said, “and I certainly do not think of myself as collateral damage. Do you, Jasper?”
Jasper nodded. “You’re the reason why we’re all alive in the first place, Emma. You and Mia. Beck never saw it coming and he wasn’t fast enough to react! Nice aim, by the way.”
“I see no reason why we shouldn’t help each other, then. Beck may be outnumbered but we don’t really know what he’s capable of, from what I understand. Sam can certainly bring her grain of brilliance to the table. Give her a chance!” Emma was as sharp out of the courtroom as she was in it. Human or alien, she could spread the truth on a canvas for everyone to see.
Lost in Amber Page 13