by J. Benjamin
Kiara stood speechless, her mind racing as it processed the events cascading around her in real-time. She sensed Matt, as much as seeing him, his whole body tensed. Still, her gaze held the secretary-general, the other woman’s eyes burning with a cold, hard intensity. She raised the weapon. Kiara closed her eyes. Click…. Click. Click.
Kiara opened her eyes. The weapon overheated and wouldn’t fire. It was, after all, a first-generation gun, complete with all the first-generation bugs. Matt seized the opportunity and lunged at the secretary-general, attempting to take the weapon from her. Isla swung it back at Matt as if it were a baton. Kiara jumped back up as Manuel Carter lunged at her.
“I am the world’s most dangerous man,” Manuel proclaimed, clearly on the same comms channel as Kiara. He swung his left fist in Kiara’s direction. She ducked, and his arm sailed over her head, missing her by a fraction.
“What world?” Kiara asked, moving reflexively to stay out of his reach, knowing somehow that if they closed in, it would all be over. “We’re in space, dumbass,” she said, trying to distract him, then finally saw her opportunity and swung her clenched right-hand into his gut. “As for the world’s most dangerous man, that means you’re the best of only forty-nine percent of the human race.”
“Shut up!” The words were strained, the punch seemingly having winded him, even as he lashed out his left fist a second time. This time he hit Kiara’s helmet directly, knocking her to the ground. She was taken aback by the strength of his blow, the impact to the helmet causing her ears to ring. She wondered if he had brass knuckles under his spacesuit gloves.
Without a second thought, Kiara swung her right leg and snagged both of Carter’s legs in one fell swoop, knocking him down. Kiara popped right back up. She grabbed the back of Carter’s spacesuit, lifted his head up, and slammed his helmet hard into the ground.
“I’ve taken on Fistbots stronger than you,” Kiara said, baiting her opponent, desperate to keep him off balance.
Carter flipped over, sprang up, and with a quick movement, jabbed his right hand into Kiara’s torso. It wasn’t a punch, but it was quick and deliberate, and Kiara didn’t feel any pain, but the suit felt different.
“Danger, suit breach! Oxygen levels depleting,” said a robotic voice in Kiara’s helmet. She looked down and saw a thin slit in the abdominal area of her spacesuit. Carter had stabbed her. The knife, which he ripped from a dead SPG agent, did not cut deep enough to pierce her skin, but she was nevertheless running short on air.
Carter stood up and took a few more swings, the switchblade clearly visible. Kiara wasn’t having it. She ran at Manuel Carter and grabbed his spacesuit with both hands, completely ignoring the hole in her own suit. Kiara punched him square in the helmet. She couldn’t feel the impact through her spacesuit gloves, but he definitely could. Before Carter could respond, Kiara hit again, and again. She struck him so hard that his head rebounded into the transparent faceplate and bloodied his nose.
Finally, Kiara took Manuel Carter by his left arm. She twisted it behind his back and snapped it. His screaming through the comms almost made everybody present go deaf. Kiara ignored his pain. It was merely dull background noise, and giving it a second thought would get her killed. Kiara grabbed the world’s most wanted terrorist and slammed his face into the side thruster of the GSF Lancer Mark IV.
The slam was so powerful that they could all hear a thud through their comms. Manuel stopped screaming. In fact, he stopped moving. Her HUD display showed that he was still alive, though knocked out cold.
Kiara turned to Matt and Isla, who appeared to be in a very intense fight of their own. She ran over and helped Matt subdue Isla. The secretary-general looked at the two gammanauts as they bound her arms and then turned to the newly-deposed Manuel Carter.
“Is he… is he dead?”
“Like hell, he is!” Kiara snapped at Isla. “He’s knocked out.”
“Careful, Dr. Lacroix. You and Captain Ashford here are already in a world of trouble,” Isla said.
“What are you going to do?” Kiara said. “Even if you get out of here, the truth will still come out.”
“If you make it out of here alive,” Isla replied, as she prepared to trip up her adversaries. “Activate scramble!” A near-deafening, high-frequency noise blasted through Kiara and Matt’s headsets. Though it lasted all of five seconds, it was enough to drive the gammanauts mad as Isla freed herself.
She grabbed the weapon and started to raise it again. Both gammanauts rushed toward Isla Perez. Her gun fired several shots, but not before they managed to force the barrel upward, sending the beams of energy toward the hanger’s ceiling.
Despite the temporary reprieve with the scramble, Isla was still no match for them, and holding the heavy laser weapon proved unhelpful in hand-to-hand combat with two opponents. Finally, Matt elbowed Isla’s helmet while Kiara ran in to snatch the turret off Isla’s arm. She handed it to Matt, and he now had it trained on the secretary-general. Isla stumbled backward, in utter disbelief of the turn of events.
“This is Secretary-General Perez. I have successfully knocked out the terrorist, but his two accomplices are holding me hostage. Please! Help!”
“Matt, what are we going to do with her?” Kiara asked.
“We’re not letting her off this ship,” he replied.
“She’s the secretary-general. If they see us here aiming a gun at her head, they’ll arrest us on sight, or worse.”
“We’ll have to take that chance,” Matt said
Meanwhile, the Nebula’s ferry craft was approaching the opening of the fighter bay.
“This is Secretary-General Isla Perez. Please assist!” This time, twenty seconds went by. No response. Kiara and Matt turned to one another. She could see the puzzled look on his face through both of their protective helmets. The ferry softly landed on the runway.
“Goddammit! This is the secretary-general of the Global Space Federation!” Isla shouted in an uncharacteristic display of rage. “Arrest these terrorists at once!” Another thirty seconds went by. However, this time, another voice spoke up.
“This is Sagan Defense Unit Alpha. Your request has been denied.” The deep, baritone voice said.
“What?” Isla screamed loud enough to make Kiara’s ears tingle. “You can’t deny me! Who is this? I will have your ass executed by firing squad!” Another twenty seconds elapsed.
“By executive order, we have been commanded to disregard any requests from you.”
Kiara and Matt’s attention was quickly diverted as all of the metal doors leading into the fighter bay burst open. Immediately, dozens of armed GSF soldiers in spacesuits poured onto the bridge. All of them carried assault weapons with laser-guides. However, the guns were not aimed at the gammanauts, but rather at Isla Perez.
Kiara felt her heartbeat pound frantically. She was quickly losing oxygen. Before she could react, two soldiers ran up to her and grabbed her by the arms. One immediately clamped a white, circular device resembling an old smoke detector to her suit.
Oxygen-levels stable, oxygen levels stable, said the voice in Kiara’s helmet. The red alerts showing the depleting oxygen were now going back up toward the green area of the bar.
“Dr. Lacroix is secure! I repeat, Dr. Lacroix is secure!” a female voice shouted. It was the soldier on Kiara’s left flank. The soldier turned to Kiara as she rushed her behind the armed soldiers with the trained guns.
“What’s going on?” Matt demanded.
“Captain Ashford, Dr. Lacroix,” the female soldier responded. “This is Commander Gwen Jackson. We have orders to escort you to safety.”
“Whose orders?” Matt asked. Before Commander Jackson could respond, the main hatch to the ferry opened. Eight GSF soldiers stormed out the back with guns aimed at Isla. A ninth individual followed from behind them. Isla’s expression turned to one of absolute horror as soon as she saw who it was.
“No fucking way!” Isla said, with a face that looked like it had just seen Lu
cifer itself. “It’s impossible!”
“Holy shit!” Kiara said.
Thomas Adler, clearly alive, marched down the ramp of the ferry and toward Isla.
“Isla Perez, you are under arrest for high treason and for the conspiracy to assassinate the secretary-general of the Global Space Federation.”
“These are outrageous allegations!” she shouted back at him.
“Turn off her mic,” Thomas demanded. The eight soldiers from the ferry rushed in to apprehend Isla.
Kiara could see that Isla was resisting arrest but to no avail. She was pinned to the ground and handcuffed in her spacesuit. The soldiers withdrew their weapons and immediately saluted Thomas.
Adler made his way over to Commander Jackson, who also saluted him promptly.
“Sir, it is an honor to have you back,” she said to him.
“Thank you, commander,” Thomas replied. “Sadly, I wish it were under better circumstances.” He walked up to Kiara and Matt. Kiara could see Thomas’ face through the helmet. It was partially scarred from the Shanghai attack, but a mask of white medical nanites was already at work repairing the skin damage.
Matt and Thomas saluted each other.
“At ease, officer,” Thomas said. He looked at the two gammanauts before him. “Your brave actions today saved a lot of lives and will never be forgotten. A grateful planet is forever in your debt. They just don’t know it yet.”
“Thank you,” Matt said.
“As for you, Dr. Lacroix…” He turned to look at the unconscious Manuel Carter as he was being removed from the GSF Lancer Mark IV. Then, he turned back to Kiara. “I had a feeling your celebrity boxing skills would come in handy, but damn.”
“He had it coming,” Kiara said.
“Indeed,” Thomas replied. “I feel I owe you a great apology for all the troubles you experienced while onboard the Jellyfish.”
“Thank you. If I may be frank, though, I put my trust in GSF’s hands and almost died for it. I have a lot of questions and want answers,” Kiara said.
“I hear you,” Thomas replied. “Today has been a dark day for all of us. In the next hour, I will be taking you and Captain Ashford back to Sally Ride City aboard the Nebula. We are going to have a very long chat, and I promise to answer every question you have. Once we get back, I will also be making a public statement and attempting to undo Perez’s mess.”
“Getting off this station would be nice. No offense,” Kiara said.
“None taken.”
“Good,” Kiara replied. As they spoke, Isla Perez was escorted from the fighter bay.
“Dr. Lacroix, one more thing I want to ask you. I know you have been through a great deal these past few weeks. I know you probably want to get as far away from all of this as possible. However, I would be remiss if I didn’t ask… Are you still interested in going through with the spacetime sequence?”
28
Eleventh Report Sends Shockwaves Around the World - June 3, 2082
Anaya Johar - New York Times
It was a typical lunar morning at New Tokyo. Then a series of HiveAI pings arrived. It was the eleventh report from Wolf 482. However, it is the contents which have scientists around the world reeling.
To better understand the eleventh report, one must backtrack. In the Eighth Report, Pelican #164 spotted an anomaly drifting away from Kennedy’s orbit. A closer examination confirmed that this anomaly was the first-ever, active, space-faring alien vessel to be detected by humans. Whereas the Zelthrati colonies showed zero signs of life or activity, this bright, blue, rose-bulb-shaped space object is active and moving.
GSF Intelligence was initially unable to conclude if it was the creation of the Aquarians or whether, like our Pelicans, it too belonged to another species from beyond. The alien vessel was nowhere to be seen in the ninth and tenth reports. Nevertheless, the subsequent reports did confirm that the HiveAI had reconfigured its algorithm to prioritize searching for similar space vessels. The eleventh report confirms that this programming change yielded fruitful results.
It was Pelican #53 that picked up the command in the HiveAI queue. Given its distant, elliptical orbit around Kennedy, it was best positioned to lead the search for the mysterious object. With a slight shift in trajectory and sail momentum from Wolf 482’s star, #53 broke from Kennedy’s orbit to search for the elusive blue structure. From there, Pelican #53 embarked on a two-day journey beyond the airspace of Kennedy.
* * *
GSF General Assembly, Executive Suite, Sally Ride City
“Is it ready?” Thomas asked Kiara as she prepared to address the Cabinet.
“Yes, Mr. Secretary-General,” Kiara replied. She stood up from the seat identified by the holographic label that read ‘CHIEF EXOBIOLOGIST.’ Next to her sat Matt, whose label read MISSION SPECIALIST.
“Very good. Start the video,” Thomas requested.
To his left, a holographic video feed illuminated accompanied by a command-line interface. The hologram was black with a white intro reading “HiveAI: Wolf 482 Swarm - 11th Report: 02-03-2077.”
The video started playing though not much seemed to be taking place. The Pelican was moving, but stars were all that was visible. The fast-changing time stamp on the upper-left-hand corner showed that the video was fast-forwarding at several times the regular speed. A label showing Watson’s position confirmed that the mega-planet was in the Pelican’s view (though barely visible due to its distance). The console at the right of the feed showed the outputs sent from Pelican #53. The speed returned to normal.
HiveAI {2077-02-03 04:56}: maintain(“Pelican53”)
HiveAI {2077-02-03 04:56}: “Pelican 53, maintain current course.”
The Pelican continued on its course into deep space. Two seconds later, an alert appeared on the console.
Pelican53 {2077-02-03 04:57}: abnormal
Pelican53 {2077-02-03 04:57}: “HiveAI, an unknown object has been detected, please respond.”
HiveAI {2077-02-03 04:57}: received, “Pelican #53, please change course and proceed toward unidentified object.”
The Pelican shifted left, and there it was. A bright-blue alien creation similar to the one that Kiara and Intelligence had witnessed a few months prior was now in clear sight. Pelican #53 set its focus squarely on the leviathan of a structure that continued to move closer with each passing second.
“As you can see, this vessel does not have anything close to the markings of a human spaceship. It’s a giant blue, glowing, rose bulb. There are no signs of weaponry. It doesn’t even have a visible propulsion system,” Kiara explained as the blue anomaly became more prominent in the video.
“Then how do we know it’s even a ship?” Thomas asked.
“It’s complex,” Kiara replied. “The energy readings from this thing are off the charts. We’re talking three-thousand times the energy capacity of Space Station Sagan. The surface is something beyond human comprehension. Something that goes beyond even the Periodic Table. I don’t think it’s a stretch to suggest that this vessel may have biological components in it.”
“Biological? You mean it’s alive? This thing is living?” Thomas asked.
“Its construction may have a hybrid of organic compounds though that doesn’t say for certain that the vessel is a living, breathing, creature in and of itself. Keep watching. We haven’t even started to crack the ice yet.”
Kiara fast-forwarded the video. On the right-hand side of the video, white text continuously poured down the screen.
Pelican53 {2077-02-03 07:31}: autolog(“unknown object measures 7.54 kilometers in length.”)
Pelican53 {2077-02-03 07:32}: autolog(“unknown object approximately two clicks out, proceeding to—————— @$P&UT@LNISKsf
D(^)@&82nfu2HB#KH)!!!
…
84nm0#@y4blqad9pg8hn3pgl;3wihgap98c———-
A bright flash of light disrupted the feed. The command-line interface also transformed into completely unintelligible text. The Pelican was clearl
y spinning in circles, thus revealing that the single alien vessel was no longer the only one present. There were now fourteen identical blue rose bulbs hanging in the space surrounding Pelican #53.
“What just happened?” Matt asked.
“This is where the entire report took a very different turn,” Kiara replied. “We don’t know what caused the flash. We don’t know if it was the abrupt appearance of the other ships or something related to the first ship. All we know is that at seven thirty-two on February 3, 2077, HiveAI lost control of Pelican #53.”
“Why is the feed continuing then if HiveAI lost control?” Gwen Jackson asked.
“Madam Defense Secretary, that is a good question,” Kiara replied. “Many decades ago, when the Pelicans were designed, the HiveAI system was programmed to prioritize data retrieval. If for whatever reason, the HiveAI system loses flight control of a Pelican, but the Pelican is still operative and sending data, it will continue receiving it until the Pelican is non-functional. That’s what they were programmed to do.”
“I see,” Gwen replied.
“Things got even more interesting after the flash. Watch what happens when we flash forward by six minutes,” Kiara said as she sped up the feed. “It stabilized. The Pelican stopped spinning. Completely inexplicable. Keep watching.”
The Pelican was now closer than ever to the leviathan. As it closed in, the details of the exterior were clearly visible. ‘Biological’ and ‘space’ were two terms that seemed utterly incompatible. Yet the veiny, plant-like surface of the ship evoked a living presence that could be felt five lightyears away. It did not act like a ship. It reacted like a living, breathing organism.
As it got closer, it became apparent that the bright veins were ridges that cut deep into the skin of the ship. One of those ridges drew closer until its light blinded everything else from view. Moments after, the screen turned to something completely unexpected. The Pelican was no longer in the cold emptiness of space. Instead, it had crossed the energy threshold of the mysterious ship and undoubtedly now was traversing inside it.