Nanomachine War series Box Set

by Don Viecelli

  Doug rolled out of bed and headed for the bathroom for a quick shave and shower. He was dressed in his brown uniform and finishing his first cup of coffee for the day by the time Jan was out of bed and getting into the shower. He said goodbye through the door as he was leaving.

  Doug stepped outside under the glass walkway and noticed the sky was unusually clear this time of year, which was early spring on Mars. The sun was rising in the eastern horizon, but was much smaller in size and lighter in color than he remembered from Earth. He could see the three tall dormant Tharsis Montes volcanoes in the western distance. He planned to explore the region with Jan on her next research mission looking for early signs of life on Mars. He and Jan had explored some areas on the valley floor of Valles Marineris canyon and found that experience to be truly remarkable.

  Doug caught the public train at his local stop and arrived at the UN office building within a few minutes. It was now just after 7 am and he noticed barricades going up in front of the building as well as a few media crews setting up equipment. He knew several of the media people and said hello as he walked past. A few tried to ask questions, but he politely declined to answer any questions at this time.

  He made his way up the elevators and went straight to Haruto’s UN office on the top floor. He knocked on the door and heard Haruto say, “Come in.”

  Doug opened the door and saw that Colonel Hayward Jackson was there with Captain Shirley Tills. They stopped talking when Doug entered the room.

  “Hello, Doug. I’m glad you’re here. Colonel Jackson and I have been discussing what to say to the media at the press briefing today,” Haruto said.

  “Press briefing? I was not aware you planned one,” Doug said a bit surprised.

  “I had to schedule something to update the media. The rumors are flying and I’m trying to prevent panic among our citizens. I scheduled a press briefing for ten o’clock this morning. I want you and Colonel Jackson to be there with me.”

  Doug looked at Hayward and then back to Haruto. “Certainly. What are you going to tell them?”

  “I’m going to tell them what Colonel Jackson’s team found on the starship; about the damage to the starship, finding the ten dead aliens, meeting First Leader Utor, what they look like and what they want. I don’t plan to tell them about the Intruder aboard the spaceship or about the Yoyka threat until we have more information from Utor.”

  “Do we know how the information about the dead aliens got out?” Doug was curious.

  Colonel Jackson said, “One of my Marines told a friend who told someone else. It spread to a media person who reported it on the news. The Marine has been disciplined, but it was only a matter of time for this to leak out.”

  Haruto interrupted. “It’s too late to be concerned about who leaked the information. I’m more concerned about what we should do about the aliens. I really want to defer this whole issue to the UN authorities on Earth. The problem is they can’t do anything about it themselves directly. They will have to go through us because of the logistics. We’re here and they’re not.”

  “Has there been any more contact with the starship?” Doug asked.

  “Not a word. I’m getting concerned. I’m thinking we should heighten our alert level to all cities on Mars just in case something more happens.” Haruto clenched his hands tightly.

  “I could notify the Peace Keeper stations in each city to be on alert, but I don’t think we should do anything more until after the press briefing or until we talk to Utor again,” Colonel Jackson offered.

  “I agree with the Colonel. Let’s wait until the press briefing is over at least. I don’t see any reason to alarm our citizens before it’s needed,” Doug said trying to help calm Haruto down.

  “Fine. I need to call the Secretary-General on Earth and discuss matters with him before my press briefing. Let’s all meet again at nine-forty-five before I speak to the media,” Haruto motioned for everyone to leave the office so he could prepare for the day’s events.

  Doug went down two floors to his office. As UN Security Director for Haruto, Doug was in charge of eight UN security employees: two located with him in Haffen City in the western region of Mars along the equator near the Valles Marineris canyon and the Tharsis Montes with three volcanoes; two in Mars City situated further away in the western region called the Tharsis bulge near Olympus Mons, the largest volcano on Mars nearly 22 kilometers tall; two in Polar City North near the northern polar ice caps in a flat region called the Planum Boreum; and two in Polar City South near the southern polar ice caps, a mountainous region called Planum Australe.

  All total there were approximately fifteen hundred multinational Earth colonists, now Mars citizens, living and working in four main cities under UN Member World Planet status and government control. Haffen City was the main UN headquarter site. Mars City was mainly a secondary tourist site for visitors to Mar’s tallest volcano. The polar ice cap cities served mostly as scientific and research locations, but this was beginning to change rapidly due to the abundance of frozen ice water.

  Doug entered his office and was greeted by Gwen Rollins, a thirty-two year old former police woman originally from Chicago, Illinois. She was tall at five feet ten inches, athletic and smart. She had short brown hair, brown eyes and a pretty face. She arrived on Mars six months ago and was proving to be a good addition to Doug’s UN security team. Doug let her run the office when he was away because she was also good with people and had a lot of common sense; something truly useful when trying to survive on a hostile planet with very independent minded people.

  “Good morning, Gwen. Anything new?” Doug grabbed a cup of coffee and headed for his desk.

  “Good morning, Director. I guess the only news is the calls I’m getting from people concerned about the aliens. I’m hearing rumors you found dead aliens on the spaceship. What should I tell people?”

  “I just met with Haruto and Colonel Jackson upstairs. There will be a press briefing at ten o’clock this morning. Haruto will update the media about the situation with the aliens. There’s not much else I can tell you until Haruto releases the information. Everything is still confidential. I can say we’re hoping the aliens contact us again soon so we can begin helping them repair their starship.”

  “You visited the starship with Colonel Jackson yesterday. Anything you can tell me about the aliens? What they look like?” Gwen clearly wanted more information.

  “You’ll see them soon enough. Haruto will release pictures at the press briefing. The aliens are humanoid. Not all that different from us; just different body features like skin color and facial structure. They’re not monsters. That’s all I can say for now, Gwen.”

  Doug didn’t like keeping secrets from his people, but he was under strict orders from Haruto not to say anything to others about what was going on aboard the starship or about the dead aliens. Haruto needed to clear everything with his boss on Earth, the UN Secretary-General first. All he could do at the moment was provide security for the press briefing and continue to do his job.

  Doug called all the city offices where his people worked and updated them on the situation. Then he called Jan and told her about the press briefing. She promised to stop by to watch it with him. Doug checked with Gwen and the second person in his office, Chuck Williams, a former U.S. Army officer from Waco, Texas, now forty-two, married with a wife and two kids. Doug verified with them that the security barriers were up in front of the UN building in case the protestors became too rowdy and that other security precautions were in place to protect the Deputy Secretary and other government officials during the press briefing. Since there was no official police force in Haffen City yet, Doug would have to rely on the UN Peace Keeper force to help him out. Doug checked with all his people to see if they were expecting any trouble in their cities. They were not, so he decided to review the video taken when he was on board the starship. He had more questions than answers and a worried knot tightening in his stomach gave notice that he did not feel full
y prepared for what was happening in the sky above his planet.

  Chapter 16

  The Press Briefing

  The press briefing was fast approaching and Doug barely made it back to Haruto’s office fifteen minutes before the start of the briefing as requested. Haruto and Colonel Jackson were looking over notes on comtablets Haruto’s press secretary had given them to study.

  Haruto looked up when Doug entered his office and picked up another comtablet and handed it to Doug to read. “The speech I’m going to give to the media is ready. A copy will be sent to the attendees and the media news channels as soon as I start the briefing. It’s not long. Read it and let me know what you two think.”

  Doug took the comtablet and read the two page press release. It covered the main points about when the starship appeared, the team sent to investigate, finding the dead aliens, first contact with the A.I., what caused the damage to the starship, where the aliens were from, why they left, who attacked them, who their passengers were, finding more crewmembers, the search for the Intruder and speaking to the new alien in charge.

  Doug turned to Haruto and said, “You didn’t mention what the Yoyka threat really is.” He was referring to the nanomachines used as a weapon by the Yoyka.

  “I’m keeping that a secret until we know more about the Intruder and if we need to take more precautions with the aliens. I don’t want to panic the people here on Mars. The Secretary-General is aware of the situation and advises us not to say anything about the Yoyka nanomachines yet. Earth plans to send people here as soon as possible to meet with the aliens and find out what is going on. They do agree we should help the aliens repair their spaceship and see what medical, scientific and technical knowledge they are willing to share with us.”

  “This looks good to me,” Colonel Jackson handed the comtablet back to Haruto.

  Haruto looked at his wristcom. “Well, I guess it’s time.”

  “If you don’t mind, I need to go downstairs and check on security measures for the press briefing,” Doug said.

  Haruto nodded his head and prepared to leave the office. Doug went down to the ground floor lobby of the UN Building where the press briefing was being held. It was a large open area with a high ceiling that allows a clear view of the Mars sky looking up through the geodesic dome structure above. In the middle of the lobby was a raised dais with a podium for the Deputy Secretary to give his press briefing. There were several representatives from the various media networks standing around the dais with camera crews backing them up.

  Outside the door to the lobby entrance were approximately a hundred people carrying signs and shouting slogans while marching in circles protesting the arrival of the aliens. Some of the signs expressed warnings about alien invasions, a few were more positive and more than a few were religious in nature expressing the fear that aliens could not be part of God’s creation.

  Doug thought the security inside the UN building was adequate and walked outside to see what the protestors were up to. He saw several UN Peace Keepers patrolling the area and watching for trouble makers, but everything seemed to be under control for the moment.

  Doug went back inside and noticed Jan standing with James near the dais. He joined them just as Haruto and a few members of his staff along with Colonel Jackson exited the elevator and walked to the dais and stepped up on top. Haruto went to the podium and checked the microphone. Then he started speaking.

  “Ladies and Gentlemen of the media, thank you for attending this press briefing. I invited you all here this morning to deliver an update regarding the current situation with our alien visitors. I will start by reading a short summary of the situation and then answering a few of your questions afterwards. A copy of this press briefing has been sent to your comdevices and media companies.

  “As you know, the aliens arrived in a large starship around seven am yesterday morning and settled into high orbit around Mars. After futile efforts to make contact with the starship, I sent a team yesterday afternoon to make contact with the aliens and investigate. From our satellite and observatory space telescopes, we were able to determine the spaceship suffered serious damage to its outer hull and probably needed our help.

  “The seventeen member team I sent to investigate was led by Colonel Hayward Jackson who is in charge of our UN Peace Keepers on Mars. I also sent my UN Security Director, Douglas Martin, Doctor Janice Martin and Doctor James Colbert. The purpose of the visit was to establish communication with the aliens and investigate the source of the damage to the starship.

  “The team was successful in making contact with the aliens. The first contact was with the ship’s Artificial Intelligence entity who calls itself, Shonya. This entity is intelligent and appears self-aware or sentient. She allowed our shuttlecraft to land inside the starship’s hangar bay.” The media murmured among themselves and showed surprise by the statement.

  “Upon entering the starship and reaching the main Command Center Bridge, Colonel Jackson’s team found ten alien crewmembers all dead from sudden decompression and air loss. Shonya, the AI, explained what had happened to their starship. The damage was caused by an explosion set by some unknown saboteur or Intruder aboard the starship. Shortly thereafter, more crewmembers awoke from cryostasis and took control of the starship.

  “These aliens are not much different looking than us. They are humanoid in appearance around six feet tall or less with two arms and legs. They have four fingers on each hand. Their heads are bigger in size compared to ours with large eyes, small mouth and nose. Their skin is pale green. They are obviously very intelligent.

  “The AI explained that the aliens are from a planet called Qum, which is located ten thousand light years closer to the center of the galaxy than our solar system. The Qumru people are able to travel between star systems at faster-than-light or FTL speeds through hyperspace; what some scientists explain as Minkowski four-dimensional space-time continuum.

  “The AI says their home planet of Qum has been attacked by another race of aliens called Yoyka who strive to subjugate other alien races. This forced many of the Qumru people to flee their planet in the starship orbiting our planet.

  “The AI calls this starship Solruku. It is a Passenger Vessel, but in this case the passengers do not have physical bodies yet. By explanation, this means the starship has a billion “Passenger Minds” only stored in the ship’s computer data system waiting to be uploaded into new bodies to be regenerated once they reach their new destination. It is the only way the Qumru can safely transport so many of their race at one time. They all agreed to leave their old bodies behind on their home planet.”

  Haruto paused while the members of the media spoke to each other in a rush of loud voices. Once they quieted down, Haruto continued. “I know this is hard to believe, but this is what the aliens told us. Our team found another twenty aliens sleeping in cryostasis pods aboard the spaceship. Ten new crewmembers awoke while our team was there. The alien in charge is named First Leader Utor. He asked our team to leave while they search the starship for the Intruder who caused the damage to their ship. Once the Intruder is found, Utor will get back in touch with us. That is all I have for now. I will take some of your questions now.”

  For the next twenty minutes Haruto answered questions from the media. He did not say anything more about the Yoyka or what type of threat they posed for the Qumru or even humans. That type of information was confidential and he was under orders by UN officials on Earth not to disclose anything public to the media. He did mention more UN people were on their way here from Earth to meet with the aliens. Haruto said he would hold another press briefing as soon as more information was available.

  The press briefing was over. Haruto left the dais and went back to his office hoping things would quiet down and the protestors outside would go home. One question still nagged him the most; who was this unknown Intruder that would risk total destruction to the starship and kill all the passengers in the process? The Intruder had to be a Yoyka alien. He
was a monster!

  Chapter 17

  The Intruder

  The Intruder aboard the starship was running out of time. He did all he could to prevent the starship from reaching its final destination. He killed the original ten Qumru crewmembers by blowing a hole in the outer hull of the spaceship just below the Command Center Bridge causing sudden decompression and oxygen lost. This forced the AI to drop the ship out of hyperspace and go into orbit around a small planet in a foreign solar system. Unfortunately, this solar system also had intelligent beings that are now under grave danger.

  To further prevent the starship from leaving this solar system anytime soon, the Intruder had also destroyed the control panel for the FTL hyperdrive system. The main goal of this subterfuge is to keep the starship in one location long enough for help to arrive. This would take many daily rotations of the planet below the local human inhabitants called Mars.

  The problem now was all twenty of the remaining crewmembers were searching for him throughout the starship. They would destroy him if given the chance. Of that he had no doubt. He knew he could not hide indefinitely on the large starship for the fact that the ship still had a functioning AI entity looking for him as well. It was not possible to deactivate all the surveillance tools the AI has at its disposal to find him, even with his cloaking armored suit.

  The Intruder was currently hiding in the central computer archive area in the center of the starship where the Qumru passenger minds were all stored. There were racks and racks of quantum computer machines humming quietly in the darkened space. The racks filled much of the deck on Level 12, which spanned the entire width of the starship. Tiny green lights glowed on each computer panel and each light represented a single Qumru mind waiting patiently for a new body.

  The Intruder paused in front of a rack and selected one of the buttons with a green light. He pressed the button and a small 3D image appeared before him in a hologram. It showed a small child, which rotated 360 degrees in the air. Each stored mind included a complete DNA record of the body saved in digital format. A perfect clone of this small child could be regenerated in a special growth chamber when the time came to bring the child back to life. It was a marvel of Qumru technology; something any alien race would want to obtain for its own use.